Merry Holidays of whatever sort you celebrate.
I got Corona from a semi-compulsory work event just prior to x-mas, so a.: could not actually celebrate with the little ones as I was in isolation, and b.: felt quite like shyte. Been the first time for me.
Either way, starts to be better again, I'll try and get a post up tomorrow.
PS: If not Corona, we would have visited family and I would also possibly have not been able to post, but would have given a headsup. I did have my computer transferred to my room a few days ago but simply felt too bad to really do much. I think I played EU4, mostly, in a rather passive way.
Ewww, the crud strikes again. Glad you're feeling better though and take your time.
Ugh, sorry to hear that--stay safe and rest well.
Sorry to hear that. Let's hope the new year treats us better :)
Thanks for the well-wishes. Yeah, here's hoping for the new year.
With the track record of the last couple, can't wait to see what this one has in store for us.
Thanks for the well-wishes. Yeah, here's hoping for the new year.
With the track record of the last couple, can't wait to see what this one has in store for us.
I'm putting my bets on sapient ape uprising, China eats Taiwan but gets hungry again an hour later, politicians (on all sides) continuing to demonstrate why entirely too people shouldn't be allowed to vote OR run for office, and humanity in general giving aliens another year's worth of reasons not to make contact :D.
Does wings + serpentine body = dragon? Because that sounds dangerous if so. How big are we talking about?
Size is an important consideration. If we can tell from a distance?
(I'm pondering something dragon-like but more aztec myself. Still trouble!)
Throw me a knowledge-local -
That said, knowledge is weird on those things. To identify it and know something about it, you need to beat the CR.
So for creatures that, say, have age categories and grow very old, on a pure technicality, you would know things about them when they are young, but have no idea about them when they are old.
Which does not really make sense imho.
So yeah, your assumption is quite spot-on. We are talking a sufficient wingspan that I'd suggest you consider taking it on in the next book, not during the foreshadowing.
I would try and make that clear when it approaches more, but then, sometimes players are very very brave and do suicidal things, so I figure I can throw that one out there.
That said, how you intend to handle it still is very much relevant.
Throw me a knowledge-local -
That said, knowledge is weird on those things. To identify it and know something about it, you need to beat the CR.
So for creatures that, say, have age categories and grow very old, on a pure technicality, you would know things about them when they are young, but have no idea about them when they are old.
Which does not really make sense imho.So yeah, your assumption is quite spot-on. We are talking a sufficient wingspan that I'd suggest you consider taking it on in the next book, not during the foreshadowing.
I would try and make that clear when it approaches more, but then, sometimes players are very very brave and do suicidal things, so I figure I can throw that one out there.
That said, how you intend to handle it still is very much relevant.
Considering how long it's taken us to get to this point, I'm very much in favor of NOT doing something stupid that gets us a TPK reward :D. I figure if we keep at it diligently, we might make book 6 of this AP around the time I hit 50 :p.
Oh, there's been some long stretches of time where..."we" have been moving very slowly.
Besides the Rona, there was also the usual holiday stress in general and I may have gotten some cross-infection - or aftereffects, not sure which - really had not been feeling well last week.
But we should be able to move faster again. We may make it by the time you hit 40 :D
(That said, just as reminder, my 4th minion will spawn in about 2 weeks, so I may be a bit indisposed around then, as well, but that should swiftly return to normal(I usually do have time to post and do things, and unlike online games, pbp has no issues with unexpected interruptions mid-post/game).)
We may make it by the time you hit 40 :D
Not unless you're hiding a time machine or a tricked-out DeLorean in your garage. Because that's the only way I'm going to see that number again on my birthday cake :D.
Not unless you're hiding a time machine or a tricked-out DeLorean in your garage. Because that's the only way I'm going to see that number again on my birthday cake :D.We may make it by the time you hit 40 :D
Working on that.
Well.Mostly procrastinating on it waiting for a future me to deliver me the research and construction instructions involved.
Which may be self-defeating.
Sooo hiding for "right now" and then "time machine" for later :)?
If you folks are in the market for some budget gaming material, DriveThruRPG currently has Chaosium's Basic RolePlaying book for a jaw-dropping $0.99 (normally $25).
It's been a good long while since I purchased (or was even interested in) anything outside of PF or Battletech, but that's a discount significant enough that I couldn't resist.
Also, I know I am up to post, basically. The due date of #4 is this saturday, and there's still so much that needs to be done or dealt with.
I started to post twice, but cancelled as I could not express myself properly. I know I said short posts and posts posted are better than longer, not posted ones - and I'll go by that. But right now, my mind is kinda preoccupied.
Of course, I'll spend as much time with the newborn as possible, but I'll also be home for bed time of the girls, so I should have some time in the evenings regardless. I'll get a post up within 3-5 days, and from there, we can aim for a steady pattern again, I hope.
(which actually is easier as many sparetime activities such as watching movie with SO or playing online with friends suddenly become much much harder to organize, for at least around half a year.).
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Our poor GM, he's just too damned virile for his own good :D.
It is a harsh world indeed :p
Aye. Cursed with virility.
As it turns out, i spent my evenings collapsing exhausted.
But the kid is home now so no more all-day hospital visits in parallel to full night "pre-existing" child on-call service and getting everybody ready for school/kindergarten and fed and all that.
I know people adapt, but as a single-parent, I would likely resort to substance abuse just to get through the day.
Anyway, things should return to a more regular schedule now, and I'll try and get posts up in the next 2 days(while there's still school and kindergarten because I expect the weekend will be busy again...)
I'm entering a busy period at work that may keep me tied up until February 12 (Super Bowl Sunday). I'll still try to check in and post, but I can't guarantee I'll make a consistent appearance. Please feel free to bot me.
Don't recall how many of you are paying attention to Humble Bundle, but there's a 2e PF lot going for $25 as the lowest price for the full offer.
Roll call, who's alive and who's not?
Still here-ish :)
I am still alive. I took some extra time off after the birth and for dealing with everything connected with it.
My previous estimate of "kid home, things go normal" was a bit utopian.
There'd been some extra hoops for documentation added since the pandemic hit, there'd been family visits, a broken washing machine, some minor medical complications for the SO, and a week of no school with the kids all home - I've only had sparetime occasionally.
Tomorrow school/kindergarten starts again, the day after my third has birthday, but since most stuff is dealt with AND I'll finally get to have some hours during the day to myself(on parental leave) I think now's the time I can somewhat reliable return.
I'll check back on where we were, and get on it tomorrow.
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Okay, for over a minute, Miranda's alias portrait wasn't loading on this thread, and I was like, Miranda is really taking her attempt to Hide seriously!
I'm alive, if I have to, I guess.
I'm alive, if I have to, I guess.
Your enthusiasm is noted.
And another reminder, Humble Bundle has a hefty 2e PF intro bundle going for $25 as the lowest "get it all" price. There's the full set of basic books, a bunch of maps and token sets, a few adventures, and a full AP.
If you're curious about 2e but don't want (or, considering how times are right now, can't really afford) to go in on a new system that you're not sure about, this is probably the best way to dip a toe into the water. Of course, there's also the maps and tokens, which can be used elsewhere for the canny GM.
Alive? In this economy? Look at that rich kid over here.
I can't even afford to die.
That's fine with me, getting on with things is fine and dandy, and this is a pretty good way to get around the logjam of neither party really trusting the other enough to disarm for a chat.
I got a question for you lot.
I've been reading up on some of the stuff that the PF bundle comes with, and it seems that there's a decent bit of stuff meant specifically to take players from the starter box into the AP.
If I decided to run this, as a PF2e thing because I doubt I'll have the patience to convert it to 1e, would you be interested?
My thinking is that we're all pretty accustomed to a slower play speed here, and the AP looks well-suited to a slower, episodic style of play that wouldn't be too far off from this. There aren't a ton of 2e supplements out as of now, so content bloat would be minimal and (in theory) easier for me to keep up with as newbie GM. And, depending on how things work out, I might have an idea for something to do after the AP is done with as well.
I'm all for trying a new game, and I'm perfectly happy to explore PF2e. Very kind of you to offer.
That sounds fun indeed!
And I think my other commitments are low enough at this point that I can afford another cool thing :)
I did try PF2 a while ago, but the game was shut down by the GM shortly after.
Wouldn't want to have looked into mechanics and character options for nothing, so I'd be happy if you'd have me, too.
Right now I'm still busy and all that, but on the other hand, I do have (very) basic familiarity with the system, and the effort on player-side is significantly lower - and 2 of the games I play in are dead in the water.
So yeah, I wouldn't look in recruitments for additional games right now, but by invite, I'd gladly take part, also because I like you guys as a group and it'd be fun to be a player with you at a table, too.
Cool, that's 3 of 4. I'll start looking things over and seeing what (and how) I need to set up to make it happen.
Aside from the core book, or the SRD equivalent, you guys will need the AV player's guide. Beyond that, I'll allow anything from this collection, as well as the Advanced Player's Guide (which I picked up because I'm an utter fanboy for the swashbuckler class). If you want to use any 2e stuff that isn't in the stuff I listed, I'll allow it if you can provide an SRD source for it that I can reference (the bundle and APG ate up my nonessential spending for a good bit, so it's SRD or nothing for the rest right now).
However, for the time being, please confine yourself to first-party stuff when looking up character options. I don't mind third-party at all, but throwing that on top of learning new rules is a bit too much for my first outing as a GM :D.
I can tell you that the AP, and any side stuff, will be set entirely on Starstone Isle (where Absalom is located). So bear that in mind when making your characters. I also have an idea for how to get your characters started off that isn't the traditional "you all meet in a tavern," but it does require a bit of GM railroading to arrange. Let me know if that's an issue.
Also, I actually had you specifically in mind Mordred, when I started considering doing this. I know your schedule is absolute s!@* at times, and that puts some serious strain on your ability to get your game on (even if, as you say, the player side of things isn't quite as involved as the GM side). But, as I mentioned in another post, the rest of us are pretty used to that by now; Miranda, Varuzhan, and I have been in this campaign for almost 7 years now. So I'm not bothered by your scheduling issues the way another GM would be. If nothing else, it'll give me plenty of opportunity to figure out what in the f~$% I'm doing before I have to actually do it :D.
The archives have a lot of stuff to reference :)
I have a love hate relationship with Pathfinder 2E, in that I absolutely love the system they created, the underlying mechanics of the three action system and how they separated the different progression paths, and hate all the content they put on top of it.
"You know what's cool about Monks? Stances. Let's make them an integral part of the class, with a keyword and all."
"That's cool Paizo, what's it work like?"
"Well, with our clever 3 action system, you can spend an action point to enter a stance."
"Thats.. Uh, even worse than the old system, where it used to be a swift action competing with all your Ki abilities..?"
"And, we know everyone loved having an action tax of having to enter their stance first thing every combat, so we kept that. Only now it's even worse. And because all the core mechanics of the class now revolve around stances, it's MANDATORY unless you want your unarmed attacks to suck balls. On a Monk."
"Whhhhhyyyy..."
That does sound like a nuisance!
I've only briefly tried it; but iirc isn't it usually so that you won't spend all your actions on stab anyhow?
Yes, but it still feels like a tax, like when you're playing Magic the Gathering and someone's playing a card that makes all your spells cost 1 more. Sure, technically I usually have an extra floating mana, but it feels bad.
And, I have other problems with other classes. Like, how, I played a fighter, and took power attack at level 1, and never found any other feats providing any other options I needed.
Because it's an action, it's mutually exclusive with the other options, and the other options were all worse. So, I was literally sitting on multiple unspent feats that I couldn't use on things other than Fighter (because feats are now silo'd to their respective category) going "... Welp. I stride and I power attack". I was considering using a multiclass option to spend them, except I hadn't allocated my stat points correctly and couldn't do any of those either. I think I was considering Rogue just to translate my class feats into skill ranks.
I was the most effective combat character in the party by a mile, because Fighter's +2 to hit is super broken with the game's critical hits are successes by 10 and the way the monster math works out. And I hadn't taken a feat since level one.
-
TL/DR, the more I look at making a character again, the more I feel my old ire return, I think I shall bow out of any 2E PF experiences for now.
TL/DR, the more I look at making a character again, the more I feel my old ire return, I think I shall bow out of any 2E PF experiences for now.
A shame not to have you in the group, but I understand.
Oh no, Nez! I'm sorry that PF2e's been such a bad experience for you.
I'm totally new to the system, but my very early impression is that there's a certain flatness to the game such that there's no feeling of the character growing stronger over time. Just like Nez is saying, feats open up alternative actions rather than increasing raw power, which isn't as exciting if the other options don't matter 90% of the time. It kind of reminds me of the Brawler's Martial Flexibility--sure, you have a wide variety of feats to choose from, but a lot of the time you just take Dedicated Adversary to treat whatever you're fighting as a favored enemy, like a move-action rage.
I've heard a lot of people play with the Free Archetype rule, which may or may not help with that issue. Not something I've ever tried.
Separately, this is the part where I admit that I already have a Lizardfolk Ranger built for Abomination Vaults. If that seems like too much, feel free to shut it down--I can certainly make something more standard that will fit better with the plot hooks you have in mind.
It is such a weird system for me, because I love so many of the things they did from a structural perspective. Just... the class design bugs the hell out of me.
It's like, how I love Slay the Spire, but I absolutely hate when I'm at a situation where my deck is good, and no, I shouldn't add any of the new cards I come across as rewards. It's a reward! I wanna pick a card!
(I do beg you continued indulgence here Mordred, talking about about my impending campaign in your thread and all :D.)
Varuzhan, I have no problems with you rolling in with a character already made up. I'd just prefer a minimum of two people to be from Absalom and willing to go with the bit of plot I'm working up to get them to Otari (which I'm vaguely hoping to turn into a larger plot to get into after the AP is concluded; at the moment, however, I'm still building up the start and anything past that will have to wait).
That said, would you be open to a bit of adjustment on the background? Because I'm actually looking to start the AP from the starter box's intro adventure, and that doesn't begin with anything related to the AP events. If so, send me a DM and I'll reply with the proposed changes.
Oh, definitely do keep talking about it. You may just push Nezari over the edge to give it another try with the free Archetype rule :D
I mean, she may decide to join for the company, rather than the system.
That said, the character i briefly played was a Sorcerer - and the low amount of spells plus the scaling cantrips were irritating me. Most of the time, I simply used one of the cantrips. Over and over and over.
But it wasn't so "bad" that I wouldn't give it another try, it just felt a bit weird to not have more "options", and those were only slightly better offensively than the cantrips (meaning it made more sense to go with utility and defense, which made them matter even less in most situations).
I'll check the players guide, then decide on something fancy to roll up.
Okay, so this is my rough timetable before we can get in and start playing.
Get maps sized and readied for use in Google Drawings.
Get tokens extracted from pawn PDFs, resized, and prepped for map use in Google Drawings (mostly just tedious, this one, but eased somewhat by enemies being reused in quite a few encounters).
Set up starting option for Absalom characters (well underway).
Set up starting option for Otari characters (still tenuous).
Read up on what I need to know, particularly alternate character options like free archetypes.
Get forum bits set up and, if needed, find one or two more players to fill out the party.
My goal is have us playing late this month or very early next month.
I agree that 2e has some weird stuff. Have you guys tried starfinder? It's like the proto version I think.
It has a little more game-y feel. Where regular 1e is more playing with lego. So far I prefer 1e.
But! If you think of it less as upgraded pathfinder and more as any other rpg on the market, it feels better. Because it's not a bad game at all - just not quite as modular and "fair" as 1e :)
Re spells - Yeah I tried the magus and boy there weren't many spells in that class. Probably better for balance but I love my tool-belt damn it :p
I'm trying to find a martial that looks fun to play, but like...
I go to the ranger and go "Okay, so, I can spend an action to get to reduce my multi-attack penalty by 2 with my core Hunt Prey class feature, and then spend a feat to get to make two strikes for one action. What has that achieved?"
The answer? +0/-2, worse than if I was a fighter getting +2 to hit and just spending two actions attacking. +2/-2.
To say nothing of if I took Double Slice on the Fighter, and got to make both attacks at +2/+2, instead of the ranger's +0/-2.
The math in Pathfinder is so bounded, and the classes so conservative with their design, that I can't find anything comparable to Fighter's "I just have +2 to hit".
Like, even in the best case scenario where the Ranger already cast Hunt Prey, and both of you are adjacent to the enemy, the ranger attacks for +0/-2/-5/-5 and the Fighter attacks for +2/+2/-2. That's arguably equal or even better for the Fighter still because of how the monster math makes -5 attacks usually like "hit on a 17+".
The only thing I've found where a Martial seems to have a decent niche the Fighter doesn't have is if you just go Barbarian and say "I trust my dice, I'm just gonna hope I hit you and rage adds lots of damage, also my defense is 5 Temp HP and a prayer."
Exxxcceept- The Barbarian doesn't get any feats that adds good damage, it's all just in the rage. Which scales with Weapon Specialization, which the Fighter gets at the same levels. And the Fighter only needs to spend 1 feat to get their "all rounder" attack action, meaning the Fighter can just pick up barbarian rage at level two and do everything the barbarian does but better cause higher attack bonus and heavier armor! And the Barbarian dedication to get instinct, the big damage scaling ability, comes in at level 6, right before the scaling at level 7!
Aaaarg, everything is so close to being amazing, and then just, all the classes.
also my defense is 5 Temp HP and a prayer."
You forget the fur loincloth, that counts just as much as the prayer and the temp HP.
So, you cool with a Sprite Bard?
^_^
(it's all on Nethys, just in case...)
Best part of 2e sprites is full sized damage dice :D