She who Writes the Player's Guide Should Swing the Sword

Hooray! Finally!

In any case,

But how do elves fair in the bustling human courts?

I'm glad that elves are able to maintain their independence and stay fair even in human courts.

Good!

Still says unavailable. :P

D'oh! That sure was annoying. The Player's Guide should now reflect that it's available :)

Yay! Thanks, Chris!

Hooray!

Thanks again Crystal (and Chris) and all the Paizo development staff for all your hard work. It is appreciated. :)

Thanks Chris and Crystal!

Edit: Oh, so it's going to be like that, is it.

Thanks for the Player's Guide.

That said though, I find a little weird that Songbird, Scion, Saboteur makes it seem like the PC's are low-born, when the player's guide has two traits for noble PCs and two more mention minor nobility. One could even be a Stavian.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

My players have 23 hours to adjust their stats and finish their backgrounds!! :) :) :)

Thank you so much Crystal! you're the best!

Small issue: The Player's Guide doesn't have bookmarks. I'm not sure if this is intentional.

That said, the content is pure gold, very useful for making a character who is well entrenched in Taldane society. And a good primer on Social Combat.

The Taldor-specific Noble Scion variant feat is very cool.

Yay, Eutropia gets a mom!

I was not expecting to see Eutropia stated up. That was a good addition!

A major NPC gets stats in the Player's Guide? That seems.. odd, doesn't it?

I think its happened before, but I don't really remember who or where so it could have just been my imagination

Been done before.

Allows for more space in the AP.

Thanks for the Player's Guide.

That said though, I find a little weird that Songbird, Scion, Saboteur makes it seem like the PC's are low-born, when the player's guide has two traits for noble PCs and two more mention minor nobility. One could even be a Stavian.

...and finally:

YAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! These Campaign Traits are awesome and the recommendations for Class/Race/Skills/Feats/archetypes etc. is quite possibly the most clear and concise I have seen! Well done!

EDIT: BTW- Nice Game of Thrones reference in the Blog title! :D

Is that a take on Quinn on the cover?

Because whoever drew it clearly was just in the mood to draw Golarion Idris Elba.

But, glad to see this one!

But how do elves fair in the bustling human courts? What role does a woodsy hunter or foreign psychic have to play in events?

At a guess? "Poorly," and "a limited one" respectively. "Play something that fits in the AP's conceptual box, or play another AP" has been the perennial refrain from the Player's Guides, and it's not even bad advice.

Is that a take on Quinn on the cover?

Because whoever drew it clearly was just in the mood to draw Golarion Idris Elba.

But, glad to see this one!

Iconics don't get on Player's Guide covers. That's an NPC from the AP.

Swordwraith wrote:

Is that a take on Quinn on the cover?

Because whoever drew it clearly was just in the mood to draw Golarion Idris Elba.

But, glad to see this one!

Iconics don't get on Player's Guide covers. That's an NPC from the AP.

I didn't think so. It does, however, not change his Idris-ness!

Thank you.

Praise the SUN~!

Quote:

But how do elves fair in the bustling human courts? What role does a woodsy hunter or foreign psychic have to play in events?

At a guess? "Poorly," and "a limited one" respectively. "Play something that fits in the AP's conceptual box, or play another AP" has been the perennial refrain from the Player's Guides, and it's not even bad advice.

I would have thought that -- as representatives of a major nearby if not bordering foreign power -- Elves should be able to command some respect there.

zimmerwald1915 wrote:

Quote:

But how do elves fair in the bustling human courts? What role does a woodsy hunter or foreign psychic have to play in events?

At a guess? "Poorly," and "a limited one" respectively. "Play something that fits in the AP's conceptual box, or play another AP" has been the perennial refrain from the Player's Guides, and it's not even bad advice.

I would have thought that -- as representatives of a major nearby if not bordering foreign power -- Elves should be able to command some respect there.

If anything it's the other way around. Elves might fall under suspicion of being agents of the nearby if not bordering foreign power. Or of being in cahoots with the Verduran druids - you never know what uncivilized forest folk might get up to together.

The Taldor-specific Noble Scion variant feat is very cool.

And a bit overpowered, but considering it is kinda a "Campaign Feat".

Overpowered how? Basri (if you wanted one of those weapons enough to spend a feat it's better than the feat), Clement (for Clerics/Urban Druid/Monk), and Karthis (which already existed) are useful but not exceptional.

Also I'm not even sure how Vinmark is supposed to work. Optional reroll on a reactive skill check is weird. Lotheed is garbage on "wizards and arcane scholars" who can cast those spells anyways.

I also mentioned it on the product thread, but Senatorial Hopeful is great for stuffing your spellbook/familiar full of lower level spells, expendable slaves (were it not for that neutral good patron...), or outfits (pure RP) and weird otherwise (Mom! Where's my weekly healing potion? No, I haven't used half of them yet.). Wonder what the AP's time span is.

UnArcaneElection wrote:

zimmerwald1915 wrote:

Quote:

But how do elves fair in the bustling human courts? What role does a woodsy hunter or foreign psychic have to play in events?

At a guess? "Poorly," and "a limited one" respectively. "Play something that fits in the AP's conceptual box, or play another AP" has been the perennial refrain from the Player's Guides, and it's not even bad advice.

I would have thought that -- as representatives of a major nearby if not bordering foreign power -- Elves should be able to command some respect there.

If anything it's the other way around. Elves might fall under suspicion of being agents of the nearby if not bordering foreign power. Or of being in cahoots with the Verduran druids - you never know what uncivilized forest folk might get up to together.

Not saying they would earn trust -- but since they are on the other side of a couple of hostile powers that do border Taldor, you might want to entice them into being not too trustworthy to said hostile powers, especially when Taldor itself has another hostile power on its border going the other way.

AP's time span in book 2 alone is assumed to be multiple weeks/months <_<

Anyway, do note that sense motive is active skill in Social Combat, its how you discover Personae' Biases/Weaknesess/Strenghts/Influence checks/etc

Huzzah, we finally have art of the princess!

I guess sense motive in social combat does work, though it's still weird the rest of the time.

Been done before.

Where?

So glad to see this, and many thanks to Paizo's staff for their hard work!

(One nit-pick: it's probably more a question of how well elves "fare" in human courts ...)

Is there any particular reason why the Rondelero Duelist archetype (IS Primer) was not included in the list of suggested archetypes (pp. 5-6)? Would it be because it's for a very martial class, with little to nothing in the way of social skills?

Also: what about potential prestige classes?

Would the players benefit from eventually taking levels in Ulfen Guard (IS Combat), Lion Blade (IS Intrigue), Enchanting Courtesan (IS Intrigue), and the like? Or would that get in the way of the AP's story-line?

WAR FOR THE CROWN PLAYER'S GUIDE

An excellent guide. If I may point out one thing that I really miss, though, it is the class-by-class breakdown. I know we have a huge number of classes now, so what I ask for becomes more and more difficult to achieve as new classes are introduced, but on the basis that Player's Guides do not come in a print edition I think that adding a few pages to the total would not be such a big deal.

I always considered the entry devoted to each class, detailing how its members relate to the adventure's setting, hands down the best part of Player's Guides and I would really love to see them coming back, if not now, at least in Pathfinder 2nd edition, where - at the beginning, at least - available classes will be limited to 12.

Apart from that, though, I consider this guide as one of the best I've ever read.

I'm surprised Lion Blade and Ulfen Guard aren't mentioned as a noteworthy prestige classes. Especially lion blade as you gotta start working for it at level 1.

Cool, thanks!

I really hope we'll get to see Captain Seferi's stat block in Part 2 of this Adventure Path! :D

I really hope we'll get to see Captain Seferi's stat block in Part 2 of this Adventure Path! :D

Sadly, no. Seferi is tied to Oppara and the Inner Sea, neither of which is involved with Part 2.

I'm surprised Lion Blade and Ulfen Guard aren't mentioned as a noteworthy prestige classes. Especially lion blade as you gotta start working for it at level 1.

Yeah, “a young Ulfen, come to the big city in hopes of joining the Ulfen Guard” was a character I was really hoping to play here. But between the PG saying barbarians* “will find their skills less useful and their presence less welcome” and there being no mention at all of the Ulfen Guard (save that one of the noble families was raised from the UG), I’m pretty disappointed. There’s also no campaign trait that really fits. Athletic Champion’s ok, but he’s here to be a mercenary soldier and bodyguard, not compete in the Olympics. Taldan Patriot seems the go-to for native soldiers, but doesn’t really make sense for an immigrant. As far back as the UG goes in the fluff, and as thematically obvious as they seem for this AP, you’d think there’d be some suggestion there.

*Yes, I know an Ulfen could be plenty of other classes, but barbarian, bloodrager, skald, and Ranger, seem the most obvious ones there and they’re all specifically called out for the quoted sentence. Fighters had also been mentioned earlier as being less helpful than other martial classes.

While I'm going to be a Mastermind Investigator, word is we're going to have a Skald... a Spell Warrior Skald of the Ulfen nouveau nobility...

Berselius wrote:

I really hope we'll get to see Captain Seferi's stat block in Part 2 of this Adventure Path! :D

Sadly, no. Seferi is tied to Oppara and the Inner Sea, neither of which is involved with Part 2.

Sigh...damn it.

KitsuneWarlock wrote:

I'm surprised Lion Blade and Ulfen Guard aren't mentioned as a noteworthy prestige classes. Especially lion blade as you gotta start working for it at level 1.

Yeah, “a young Ulfen, come to the big city in hopes of joining the Ulfen Guard” was a character I was really hoping to play here. But between the PG saying barbarians* “will find their skills less useful and their presence less welcome” and there being no mention at all of the Ulfen Guard (save that one of the noble families was raised from the UG), I’m pretty disappointed. There’s also no campaign trait that really fits. Athletic Champion’s ok, but he’s here to be a mercenary soldier and bodyguard, not compete in the Olympics. Taldan Patriot seems the go-to for native soldiers, but doesn’t really make sense for an immigrant. As far back as the UG goes in the fluff, and as thematically obvious as they seem for this AP, you’d think there’d be some suggestion there.

*Yes, I know an Ulfen could be plenty of other classes, but barbarian, bloodrager, skald, and Ranger, seem the most obvious ones there and they’re all specifically called out for the quoted sentence. Fighters had also been mentioned earlier as being less helpful than other martial classes.

Kinda weird, along with a lack of "you saved a noble's ass" trait.

Good to haz some free official War for the Crown Player's Guide out there. ;)

Ouachitonian wrote:

KitsuneWarlock wrote:

I'm surprised Lion Blade and Ulfen Guard aren't mentioned as a noteworthy prestige classes. Especially lion blade as you gotta start working for it at level 1.

Yeah, “a young Ulfen, come to the big city in hopes of joining the Ulfen Guard” was a character I was really hoping to play here. But between the PG saying barbarians* “will find their skills less useful and their presence less welcome” and there being no mention at all of the Ulfen Guard (save that one of the noble families was raised from the UG), I’m pretty disappointed. There’s also no campaign trait that really fits. Athletic Champion’s ok, but he’s here to be a mercenary soldier and bodyguard, not compete in the Olympics. Taldan Patriot seems the go-to for native soldiers, but doesn’t really make sense for an immigrant. As far back as the UG goes in the fluff, and as thematically obvious as they seem for this AP, you’d think there’d be some suggestion there.

*Yes, I know an Ulfen could be plenty of other classes, but barbarian, bloodrager, skald, and Ranger, seem the most obvious ones there and they’re all specifically called out for the quoted sentence. Fighters had also been mentioned earlier as being less helpful than other martial classes.

Kinda weird, along with a lack of "you saved a noble's ass" trait.

You'd have to stretch a couple, possibly unto the breaking point, but I'd advise my players to pick "Senatorial Hopeful" or "Rising Star" for the Ulfen Guard.

Rather than your noble family providing the good for Sentorial Hopeful, you have contacts within the existing members of the Ulfen Guard, possibly a friend of a friend or a distant cousin, and the item provided is either a gift from home or someone more local within the Ulfen minority community that wants you to succeed, possibly the Vinmark family.

"Rising star" is even more of a stretch. But... (soldier) is a profession. A really spiffy uniform, suitable to the high occasions your patron might want to attend with you in her wake, might just cost as much as a masterwork tool. You wouldn't want to copy the Ulfen guard's style, but the guard of a minor noble is there both to protect no impress, and suceeding at that task might open up other doors to you.

The "saved a noble" is much more straightforward. After saving the noble, they have either taking you on as a protege (informally adopting you into their own family's ranks) or decided to become your patron. Which, basically opens up all the traits. You don't even have to be particularly GOOD at your chosen profession or craft for "Rising Star." Although that would help.

New traits are super easy to write. If one of your players has a background that doesn't fit nicely into the existing campaign traits there are hundreds of examples of the power level you're shooting for.