A Paizocon Pathfinder 2nd edition roundup: Thoughts and opinions

I mean, do we know how essentially the same people got on both Golarion and Akiton? Did someone learn interplanetary teleport? Wander through the wrong Aiudara? Highly improbable parallel evolution? Did a Wizard do it?

Blood of the Beasts introduces the Warp Psychic discipline in the ratfolk section, which learns Interplanetary Teleport as a bonus spell and includes some language about legends of practitioners leading caravans between the stars.

I think the Human thing is alot more complicated than Aboleths,
since I think not only Akitoni Humans had civilization distinct from Azlanti invasion,
but advanced Humans exist on Androffa and many other locales including predecessors of Eoxian undead.
Azlant was more simply a cultivation of specific mode of society whose ultimate role was as servitors to them.

I think the Human thing is alot more complicated than Aboleths,

since I think not only Akitoni Humans had civilization distinct from Azlanti invasion,
but advanced Humans exist on Androffa and many other locales including predecessors of Eoxian undead.
Azlant was more simply a cultivation of specific mode of society whose ultimate role was as servitors to them.

The predecessors of the Eoxian undead were Eoxian, not human. They are a separate race as outlined in one of the Starfinder AP issues.

Doktor Weasel wrote:

Rysky wrote:

Doktor Weasel wrote:

the name Ysoki, but that's for the Akiton Ratfolk who are kind of culturally distinct. The Golarion ones don't even have their own language,

That may have been true in 1st edition but it remains to be seen in 2e.

Honestly, I'd find that to be a bit sad if it changed. I like the idea that they're kind of a people without history, a language or a strongly defined culture. Their mindset is to just kind of go along with other cultures while still doing their own thing, and focusing on the present more than the past. They're kind of like eternal immigrants, constantly assimilating into the local culture wherever they go. It's one of the quirks that makes me really like the ratfolk. Well, also I'm a rodent fan and like the idea of rat-people. Particularly rat-people who aren't evil plague-spreading monsters. That trope is stale (the plague archetypes for them in PF1 kind of make me roll my eyes a little, it's backsliding into Skaven). The Nezumi from Legend of the Five Rings and the 3.0 Oriental Adventures are another fun one. A bit of a different flavor in some regards, but some overlap. Also they're both adorable but also badass.

A ratfolk language would kind of make them more of a 'normal' ancestry than the vagabond people they currently are.

This description makes me think of Halflings TBT.

Now that you mention it... yeah, they do have a lot in common with halflings. Don't know their past, assimilate into the local cultures and try to keep their heads down. Somewhat different focuses though, Halflings more domestic minded while Ratfolk more mercantile and technical.

Hrm, now I'm getting some interesting ideas of a Ratfolk caravan that works with the Bellflower Network. Either because of good aligned leadership who want to help the halflings out of sympathy, or simply because the network is paying them. Ratfolk tend to wear big concealing robes to keep their features out of eyesight because they know a lot of the naked people don't like the look of them. Halflings are the right size, so if you put them in those robes and have them travel with a bunch of Ratfolk, few would bother to check under the robes to see if they're ratty or not. Could maybe wear a mask to give the impressions of a Ratfolk muzzle. And Ratfolk caravans go all over the place. I could also see some halflings liking the traveling lifestyle and protection in numbers and becoming adopted members of some ratfolk tribes. They could even serve as 'faces' to do deals and such, because humans prefer the looks of them.

Since we're getting the time jump, I think it would be cool if the Ysoki from Akiton made their way through some underground, magical gateways to Golarion and started a cultural renaissance with the Golarion Ratfolk. Also, they could be instigating inter-planetary adventures both directions through the gateways, causing adventurers to go to Akiton to face threats there. Then, we could get some Barsoom-style adventuring material for Akiton and other worlds without having to resort to spaceships. Also, I want to see the android and kasatha races get some love for some adventuring in Numeria, post-Iron Gods AP.

That has some potential too. Although I kind of like the Martian Akitonian rats as culturally distinct, it would make sense that with more contact between the groups (like maybe a stable gate to Akiton was found and turned into a caravan route), some of the Golarion Ratfolk might start to "get in touch with their roots" and take on aspects of the Ysoki culture. There would probably also be groups that just want to stick to their current way of doing things, but maybe it'll be mostly young idealists who romanticize their cousins on Akiton who take up the Ysoki culture. So yeah, this could lead to the whole race being known as Ysoki.

I mean, do we know how essentially the same people got on both Golarion and Akiton? Did someone learn interplanetary teleport? Wander through the wrong Aiudara? Highly improbable parallel evolution? Did a Wizard do it?

If I recall, the books state that Golarion Ratfolk aren't quite sure how they're related to the Ysoki, although they're clearly the same race genetically. Theories are that possibly they originated on Akiton and some migrated to Golarion or they might both be remnants of spacefaring traders, they have stories of previously leading caravans between stars. Ysoki have also set up shop on Castrovel. Maybe they were ancient trading partners of the elves and used the elf-gate network.

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Did a Wizard do it?

Always blame it on the Wizard

And in Golarion, there's a decent chance that wizard was Baba Yaga. :P

Yes, yes, I know she's a witch. My group has just had a running joke since playing Reign of Winter; Baba Yaga turned out to be responsible for so many implausible things that we gave her the unofficial title of The Wizard That Did It.

Pumpkinhead11 wrote:

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Did a Wizard do it?

Always blame it on the Wizard

And in Golarion, there's a decent chance that wizard was Baba Yaga. :P

Yes, yes, I know she's a witch. My group has just had a running joke since playing Reign of Winter; Baba Yaga turned out to be responsible for so many implausible things that we gave her the unofficial title of The Wizard That Did It.

I rest my case. :p

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Did a Wizard do it?

Always blame it on the Wizard

Or the Aboleths.

Reminds me of this old Blog post.

Of course they haven't been able to stop it entirely. Wizards doing it is a trope that will not die.

Blood of the Beasts introduces the Warp Psychic discipline in the ratfolk section, which learns Interplanetary Teleport as a bonus spell and includes some language about legends of practitioners leading caravans between the stars.

Which I love btw because it makes Golarian Ratfolk and Werewolf the Apocalypse Ratkin share themes :P

Speaking of aboleth conspiracies...tomorrow's Arcane Mark (Saturday 6/8 at 10 AM PDT) is GM Tools: Plots and Intrigue. Want to introduce plots and intrigue in your game? No problem! We'll cover subsystems, converting intrigue games and subsystems to PF2, and more!

Pumpkinhead11 wrote:

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Did a Wizard do it?

Always blame it on the Wizard

And in Golarion, there's a decent chance that wizard was Baba Yaga. :P

Yes, yes, I know she's a witch. My group has just had a running joke since playing Reign of Winter; Baba Yaga turned out to be responsible for so many implausible things that we gave her the unofficial title of The Wizard That Did It.

I've only run 2 APs (Fires Over Blackcrag to start my Mythic game and then Doomsday Dawn) but I heard of Baba Yaga through wandering the SRD and ended up making her a bit of a... recurring character in my games in a way that's given her an interesting reputation with the party. It probably helps that I characterized her somewhat off of Master Popo from DBZ abridged. She can be terrifying and her hut is ABSOLUTELY terrifying. So much so that hinting at an appearance of the hut and/or Witch or even playing Ievan Polkka (long story but basically I have completely associated that music with Baba Yaga in the minds of my players) fills them with good-humored dread. XD So fun to mess with my players with...

She's mostly (painfully) helped my players since they try to stop worlds from ending and ended worlds aren't fun anymore, but they ended up actually fighting and killing her in the 20th level Post-Doomsday Dawn oneshot I made for New Year's. But it's unclear where that falls in the timeline of my games (all of my campaigns thus far have fit into the same wide continuity [with some shenanigans], though IDK if I can hold that too much longer. I was actually considering doing something weird woth timelines to explain any overlap in my games and possibly blaming it on Baba Yaga LOL) or if she's even truly dead, so they may see her again.

This is totally off topic, I know, but you were talking about Baba Yaga reputations so I wanted to share my story. XD

That's awesome, Edge. I love the idea of a Popo-themed Baba Yaga.

We had a weird meme about Baba Yaga and salt because of a salt item in some book that removed all curses and magical effects with no check or text about the power level of the magic, so we always said "Salt can defeat Baba Yaga's curses automatically!." To the point that a friend bought us a Baba Yaga salt and pepper shaker set.

In non-Baba Yaga related news, tonight's Arcane Mark (7 PM PDT) is GM Tools: Haunts and Storytelling! It's all about ways to build and run encounters that can evoke all that backstory the players usually never get to see, plus a look at the evolution of haunts and how that moved us towards the way we approach hazards in PF2!

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

We should do a new specific thread for these... :O

Mark Seifter wrote:

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

We should do a new specific thread for these... :O

Good idea; I wonder if anyone has teased out all the bits of info Luis dropped in the interview yet. For now, I've seen some KD threads, a GCP one, but not an AM yet, so I'll post here. Tonight's episode (7PM PDT) is on PF2 and the Anatomy of a Heist (with major War for the Crown spoilers, as we dissect last week's War for the Crown game and the heist the PCs pulled). So it's quite on point for those interested in PF2!

Elfteiroh wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

We should do a new specific thread for these... :O

Good idea; I wonder if anyone has teased out all the bits of info Luis dropped in the interview yet. For now, I've seen some KD threads, a GCP one, but not an AM yet, so I'll post here. Tonight's episode (7PM PDT) is on PF2 and the Anatomy of a Heist (with major War for the Crown spoilers, as we dissect last week's War for the Crown game and the heist the PCs pulled). So it's quite on point for those interested in PF2!

The shows are a little past my bedtime on the east coast, but I'll gladly do a listen through and see what I can pick up if there are spoilers to be had. :-)

Mark Seifter wrote:

Elfteiroh wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

We should do a new specific thread for these... :O

Good idea; I wonder if anyone has teased out all the bits of info Luis dropped in the interview yet. For now, I've seen some KD threads, a GCP one, but not an AM yet, so I'll post here. Tonight's episode (7PM PDT) is on PF2 and the Anatomy of a Heist (with major War for the Crown spoilers, as we dissect last week's War for the Crown game and the heist the PCs pulled). So it's quite on point for those interested in PF2!

The shows are a little past my bedtime on the east coast, but I'll gladly do a listen through and see what I can pick up if there are spoilers to be had. :-)

Luis's episode (which is still up on twitch) for sure had WG1 and WG2 tidbits that to my knowledge have never before been revealed. I tried to make the weeknight episodes possible for East Coasters, but realistically 7PM my time is the earliest Linda and I can start.

Captain Morgan wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Elfteiroh wrote:

Mark Seifter wrote:

Forgot to give advance warning here (and really, this being past PaizoCon news by enough, maybe this isn't exactly the right topic, it just sort of became where I said it after a while), but Linda's and my Arcane Mark interview with Luis Loza today (Video found here!) has, among a ton of other cool stuff, a bit of World Guide info Luis revealed.

We should do a new specific thread for these... :O

Good idea; I wonder if anyone has teased out all the bits of info Luis dropped in the interview yet. For now, I've seen some KD threads, a GCP one, but not an AM yet, so I'll post here. Tonight's episode (7PM PDT) is on PF2 and the Anatomy of a Heist (with major War for the Crown spoilers, as we dissect last week's War for the Crown game and the heist the PCs pulled). So it's quite on point for those interested in PF2!

The shows are a little past my bedtime on the east coast, but I'll gladly do a listen through and see what I can pick up if there are spoilers to be had. :-)

Luis's episode (which is still up on twitch) for sure had WG1 and WG2 tidbits that to my knowledge have never before been revealed. I tried to make the weeknight episodes possible for East Coasters, but realistically 7PM my time is the earliest Linda and I can start.

I REALLY need to watch it. The only recent episode I missed. :X