paizo.com Recent Threads in Doomsday Dawn Player Feedbackpaizo.com Recent Threads in Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback2018-11-07T10:19:00Z2018-11-07T10:19:00ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Rising of the Shield guyBAMF_Opshttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42jdo?Rising-of-the-Shield-guy2019-04-19T16:44:51Z2019-04-19T16:44:51Z<p>Hey can you guys make the bonus AC from raising a shield an item bonus please?</p>
<p>It doesn't make sense thematically or mechanics-wise that using two actions to raise two shields wouldn't make you harder to hit. Other situations where the circumstance bonus of a shield conflicting with another circumstance bonus don't make sense either, for example cover. If you're behind partial cover and raise your shield to protect you in manner that protects the exposed parts of you, you should be harder to hit, so their ac bonuses should stack. If the argument is that the cover supersedes the shield's ability to protect you in some way, then shouldn't your AC bonus from your armor be removed as well, since the cover technically supersedes that as well? </p>
<p>The only way making the bonus of a shield a circumstance bonus works is semantically, you are circumstantially gaining ac based off of another action. But it doesn't make any sense beyond that, especially if the gained AC still has the cost of an action.</p>Hey can you guys make the bonus AC from raising a shield an item bonus please?
It doesn't make sense thematically or mechanics-wise that using two actions to raise two shields wouldn't make you harder to hit. Other situations where the circumstance bonus of a shield conflicting with another circumstance bonus don't make sense either, for example cover. If you're behind partial cover and raise your shield to protect you in manner that protects the exposed parts of you, you should be harder to...BAMF_Ops2019-04-19T16:44:51ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Paizo Blog: Order of the Amber Die--Doomsday Dawn Playtest: Wrap Up!TriOmegaZerohttps://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sgfm?Order-of-the-Amber-DieDoomsday-Dawn-Playtest#discuss2018-12-20T22:25:15Z2018-12-20T22:25:15Z<p>Huzzah!</p>Huzzah!TriOmegaZero2018-12-20T22:25:15ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: The misadventures of Joseph Joestar, and how not having range will kill you!nick1wasdhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42eqx?The-misadventures-of-Joseph-Joestar-and-how2018-12-18T19:44:54Z2018-12-18T19:44:54Z<p>This is a Heroes of Undarin story! Prepare to laugh at us not caring about death. We used 1.6, and started with 2 paladins, but ones of them switched to cleric when we realized that we NEEDED magic.</p>
<p>[TL;DR, in every party ever, have a heal engine, a tank, and SOMEONE WITH RANGE!]</p>
<p>So, let's talk about the Heroes and how we went from stomping face to getting murderized<ul><li>Myself, Joseph Joestar, Str monk, trickster extraordinaire (never got to use pocket sand much, too busy kicking people to death). I took the Fist Wraps, Bracers, and a Ring of Ice as my 3 items, and I got the goggles of Night, 2 major heal pots, and the Cape of Mountebank, and the holy rune! from the group share (I also used my gold to buy Bracers of Deflection, I got shot at once... REAL efficient)
<br />
<li>Bruce Leeroy, another Str monk, but MUCH more Ki heavy (we both took Ki powers, but Bruce went with WAY more Ki powers than me), he took the same 3 items that I did, but his ring was acid. From the group share, he took 1 greater pot (more Ki meant more Wholeness of Body), ring of Climbing, and Boots of Elven Kind
<br />
<li>Shay, Paladin->Cleric of Desna and Grey Maiden. She (the player is a guy, so forgive me if I fudge the pronoun game) got as her 3 items, +3 armor(Grey Maiden variety), +3 weapon (don't remember WHAT it was exactly) and a Ring I think (or a +2 property weapon, I don't remember). From the share, Shay got the wand of healing, the Slippers? We lost track of those. And the +1 cold iron dagger
<br />
<li>Akbar Kaboon, Paladin (redeemer) of... not-Desna... NG god(dess), didn't mean much plot wise. He got the +3 armor, +3 weapon, and the Adamantine shield. He got the Evocation staff (he took the Fool Magic Item feat), MAYBE the Slippers, all the ammo (He had a mundane shortbow, you can tell from the post name that he forgot about it, wasn't much point in it anyways, Ray of Frost did more damage) Lesser fire ring, and the Quickness pot. Shay and him split the rest of the pots from the group share.</ul></p>
<p>So, with that, let's start with how pitiful the first encounter was at killing us. THE DEMONS ARRIVE! They used Dominate, and Shay was the only one to fail, she attacks Akbar... And misses, because Akbar has INSANE AC, my turn! I blow up my demon in 1 round... Dragon Kick Flurry (d12s if both hit... They did...) kick kick, with Metal Fists and the holy rune, I removed all of it's health in 1 round. Bruce (with Tiger stance) Did HIS flurry, crit his demon so he bled, and then Disrupt-ed Ki, 2 procs later after running away, THAT one died. Only 1 person got hurt, and it was from a single hit.</p>
<p>TREACHERY DEMONS! This one was kinda hard, the Treaches were kind of annoying, the Toad demon's only point was casting the Swamp, we had some kinda serious injuries, but nothing life threatening.</p>
<p>THIRD EVENT! I was nuking Blood demons left and right while Bruce focus fired ol' Slimey, he knocks Bruce out (first time someone is downed) Shay does a Burst (with Fiend channel), waking Bruce back up and disrupts some spell Smiley had going. Akbar nails the last Blood, so it's all hand on deck with the Slimer. He's gone, so now it's 3 Treat wounds and half an hour of lolly-gagging later.</p>
<p>E4! Not that hard actually, 1 Ki strike to each of them from me and Bruce (with POSITIVE damage) and another Channel Burst (low level, they only gave us scratches) and that's done...</p>
<p>NOW we get screwed, because you know how we've all fought these things so far? WITH MELEE! And spells (which Shay is almost out of!). Now we face a lich. Who can fly.... And ghost mages. Who can fly.... We did NOT have a fun time with this Event, me and Bruce kept wall running off pillar into Flurry-ing, and dive bombing from the holes in the roof. Akbar was using Ray of Frost and MM from the staff, and Shay spent a Searing Light on the Lich..'s mirror image. Lichy blinded Bruce who used Wind Jump to get in the air and strike the bastard, so I was on the ground using the Aid reaction to help Bruce peg the lich in his stupid face, meanwhile the Mages were Cone of Colding us CONSTANTLY since Shay only had Disrupt left to deal with them. 3 people downed->ressed later, I run up a pillar, hop on Lichy's back, and hit him to death. We're BADLY hurt, out of healing (other than the wand), and Akbar is hasted, but has a negative soul. (He "did lines with the lich powder")</p>
<p>THEN THE GOSH DAMN FRIGGIN DEMILICH SHOWS UP! He has his tornado (which means Melee sucks). Our only option to deal with Demi-boy is for me to run up and bring him to pound town (Akbar and Shay are dealing with the Banshee, Bruce is still blind)... I couldn't land a single hit on him... AFTER USING KI STRIKE! I was LIVID I needed a damn 15 to hit the MF-er in the face. 2 rounds of debris later, both me and Shay were on the ground, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! Soul bind! I DIDN'T instantly die (Shay did the next round, marking the first death) and Bruce (STILL BLIND) was Kamehame-Ha-ing the Skeletons that were coming out of the graveyard. He died from the sheer quantity of flankers chipping away his life force, and then we called it a night with me dying, then Akbar, since we had to leave in 5 minutes (we play at a diner, they were about to close).</p>
<p>So, what lessons should we draw from this? A. 1.6 neutering cleric channels did the job it was meant to do B. Monks are REALLY good against everything that can touch and C. MAKE SURE SOMEONE IN YOUR PARTY HAS RANGED DAMAGE! DO NOT REPEAT OUR MISTAKES, FOR THE LOVE OF SARENRAE GIVE SOMEONE A GOSH DAMN BOW! If we had someone with range, the Lich wouldn't have been SO hard to kill since the bow person could just take pot shots until he was dead (again), and YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE IN THE DEMI'S TORNADO OF DOOM TO KILL HIM!</p>
<p>All in all, until the Lich/Demilich fight, it was actually quite fun, it was challenging (but not TOO hard) and overall the tone was this nice mix of horror and goofiness (NONE of us took this seriously, we roughly knew this was the genocide adventure and thought a bunch of semi-comedic character who used gallows humor to deal with the messed up stuff they see in the World Wound was a neat party idea). Then the salt mines opened up once we knew that our only way of hitting anything was terrain manipulation and BS skill checks. So do yourselves a favor, and make sure you're at least packing a hand crossbow! (that's enchanted, mundane weapons are sheer trash after level 5 unfortunately). Sorry for the word salad, I just felt like giving context of the whole adventure would help get my point across</p>This is a Heroes of Undarin story! Prepare to laugh at us not caring about death. We used 1.6, and started with 2 paladins, but ones of them switched to cleric when we realized that we NEEDED magic.
[TL;DR, in every party ever, have a heal engine, a tank, and SOMEONE WITH RANGE!]
So, let's talk about the Heroes and how we went from stomping face to getting murderizedMyself, Joseph Joestar, Str monk, trickster extraordinaire (never got to use pocket sand much, too busy kicking people to...nick1wasd2018-12-18T19:44:54ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Finally squeaked in some playtesting. Here's my thoughts on the classes I played.darker_phoenixhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42e8p?Finally-squeaked-in-some-playtesting-Heres-my2018-12-06T20:11:29Z2018-12-06T20:11:29Z<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>So I filled out the class survey and was a touch disappointed there was no room for open feedback on the forms. I absolutely understand why, and in lieu of that option I figured I'd come here and share my experience with two classes I played and a third that I •almost• picked up, but just couldn't.</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>Final thoughts. I was a pretty big critic of 2e when I first read through the system, at least in my circle of friends. After playing with it I've gotta say I really enjoyed it. Everything felt so much faster in our 2e game compared to our low level 1e campaign. The three action system is great, and I'm a big fan of the new shield mechanics. While I had some criticisms for the cleric and druid I always felt like I could do something cool and/or useful. I was surprised, but I had a ton of fun. My table is super close to the end of Rise of the Runelords. While the playtest will have been over for a short while by the time we end, we're looking forward to going back to Doomsday Dawn and finishing it up, and I can't wait to see what the final version of 2e looks like.</p>Hey all,
So I filled out the class survey and was a touch disappointed there was no room for open feedback on the forms. I absolutely understand why, and in lieu of that option I figured I'd come here and share my experience with two classes I played and a third that I *almost* picked up, but just couldn't.
[Spoiler omitted]
[Spoiler omitted]
[Spoiler omitted]
Final thoughts. I was a pretty big critic of 2e when I first read through the system, at least in my circle of friends. After...darker_phoenix2018-12-06T20:11:29ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: I Hate Dispel Rules with a Burning PassionBaprrhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42e68?I-Hate-Dispel-Rules-with-a-Burning-Passion2018-12-05T10:13:41Z2018-12-05T10:13:41Z<p>Let me tell you about a time I had in the sixth chapter of DDD. I will try to be as spoiler free as I can, sorry about that.</p>
<p>While investigating we found out that there would be a spell preventing a certain kind of behavior. Well, good thing we found out about it, right? I can simply burn all my 4-5 spells on Spell Immunity and that would protect us - there is a dispel check, but I like my chances and it doesn't hurt to have a back up plan, right? And in case I do fail the check, I will prepare some Dispel Magic to give me a few more checks, I can't possibly fail them all, right? Wrong.</p>
<p>Dispelling works like this: you automatically remove a spell of equal or lower level, and attempt a check to remove a spell of a higher level (+5 to DC per level difference).</p>
<p>When the need did arrive, I found out that the spell in place was impossible to dispel with the spells I prepared, and when our sorcerer with spontaneously heightened Dispel Magic tried, well - for him it was merely unlikely, since he only needed a nat 19. OH WELL.</p>
<p>We went ahead and some stuff happened and we were away from the social part of the adventure and cast our buffs - See Invisibility for me, True Seeing for the sorcerer. Well, when the need did arrive we again noticed that True Seeing wasn't. See Invisibility, a 2nd level spell, is somehow way more useful than a 6th level spell because dispelling. GM ruled that you can roll a check every round, but no dice.</p>
<p>We discussed it later with our GM, and found out that both spells were only 8th level vs our 4-7th spells. They were almost impossible to dispel (I think we attempted about ten checks) with our best spells! Without that blasted +5/level I would need to roll 15+, which would be fair, with it - 30+ (well, 20, I guess).</p>
<p>I actually really like that spells like True Seeing now require a check, but it's difficulty means that I would be way better off simply preparing Heals and Flame Strikes in all those wasted 4-6 slots - and not for the lack of recon and preparation! I mean, the enemy spellcaster could be ONE LEVEL HIGHER than you for his spells to be undispellable.</p>
<p>I hate how in 2e a few levels can be so significant, especially since PCs are unlikely to be on the higher side.</p>
<p>Now I am reluctant to prepare anything but damaging spells, and it sucks - I have no polite words to describe how much.</p>
<p>Get rid of that +5 to DC.</p>Let me tell you about a time I had in the sixth chapter of DDD. I will try to be as spoiler free as I can, sorry about that.
While investigating we found out that there would be a spell preventing a certain kind of behavior. Well, good thing we found out about it, right? I can simply burn all my 4-5 spells on Spell Immunity and that would protect us - there is a dispel check, but I like my chances and it doesn't hurt to have a back up plan, right? And in case I do fail the check, I will...Baprr2018-12-05T10:13:41ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Paizo Blog: Order of the Amber Die--Doomsday Dawn Playtest, Part 7TriOmegaZerohttps://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sgev?Order-of-the-Amber-DieDoomsday-Dawn-Playtest#discuss2018-12-04T20:10:09Z2018-12-04T20:10:09Z<p>Huzzah!</p>Huzzah!TriOmegaZero2018-12-04T20:10:09ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: “Let’s Make a Deal”: Mirrored Moon (session 2) blow-by-blow report, 1.6 rules.Mats Öhrmanhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42dja?-Let-s-Make-a-Deal-Mirrored-Moon-blowbyblow2018-11-22T20:33:13Z2018-11-22T20:33:13Z<p>My notes from session one are <a href="https://paizo.com/threads/rzs42del?57-Dice-Rolls-and-Nothin-On-Mirrored-Moon" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>
<p>Note: There may be mistranslations: My GM translated the scenario on the fly from English to Swedish as we played, and I translated from Swedish to kind-of-English as I wrote notes on what happened</p>
<p>== Characters ==</p>
<p>The characters were:
<br />
Arami, Cavern Elf Maestro Bard.
<br />
Deena, Cavern Elf Cleric of Honey, passion domain.
<br />
Frag, Dwarf Fighter.
<br />
Keyt, Cavern Elf Rogue.
<br />
The characters were played by two players, each playing two characters. All characters had Darkvision, Fleet and Nimble. Yes, even the Dwarf had Nimble, as he had been adopted by the Cavern Elves. </p>
<p>My GM used his Greyhawk setting to tie in with other campaign, so some dieties and place names have been changed. Honey is an old ascended player character.</p>
<p>== Continuing from the previous session ==</p>
<p>We ended the last session just as the two rocs had been killed by the characters. That meant that there were some unhealed damage: Arami had taken 16 HP and Keyt 27 HP in the fight. </p>
<p>It was time to roll out the healer's kit and get to work:</p>
<p>Frag: Treat Wounds: 19 - fail.
<br />
Frag: Treat Wounds: 28 - success.
<br />
Deena: Treat Wounds: 31 - success.
<br />
Deena: Treat Wounds: 25 - success.</p>
<p>So, 40 minutes later we were all topped up and ready to go.</p>
<p>— Day 20 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions southwest, southwest: hills</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 19 - fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 26 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 34 - success.
<br />
Keyt: Survival - ?</p>
<p>Nothing interesting.</p>
<p>— Day 21 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions west, west, west: The gnome village.</p>
<p>We arrived at the gnome village with proof of the Rocs' demise. We were happy to have succeeded at the task, and the gnomes were in a festive mood too, so there was only one thing to do: Party!</p>
<p>With a bard and a cleric of a performing arts goddess present, partying also meant performing, now that we had an adoring audience:</p>
<p>Arami, bard: Perform 29
<br />
Deena, cleric: Perform 27
<br />
Frag, fighter: Acrobatics 29
<br />
Keyt, rogue: Acrobatics 19</p>
<p>The performances were enthusiastically received, and we were showered with gifts and vigorous declarations of support.</p>
<p>In mini-game terms this could be translated to 1 Treasure Point and 2 Ally Points. Yay!</p>
<p>— Day 22 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions southeast, southeast, southeast: forest</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 21 - fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 20 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 25 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 31</p>
<p>Needed to stay a second day in the same hex.</p>
<p>— Day 23 —</p>
<p>Same hex.</p>
<p>4 x rolls, no natural 20.</p>
<p>Nothing interesting.</p>
<p>— Day 24 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions southwest, southwest: hills, river.</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 14 - crit fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 25 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 24 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Survival 26 - fail</p>
<p>Needed to stay a second day in the same hex.</p>
<p>— Day 25 —</p>
<p>Same hex.</p>
<p>4 x rolls, no natural 20.</p>
<p>Nothing interesting.</p>
<p>— Day 26 —</p>
<p>On foot, directions east, east: hills, river</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 14 - crit fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 30 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 21 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Survival 33 - success</p>
<p>Nothing interesting.</p>
<p>— Day 27 —</p>
<p>On foot, directions west: hills, river</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 14 - crit fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 33 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 37 - success
<br />
Keyt: Survival 17 - fail</p>
<p>Nothing interesting.</p>
<p>— Day 28 —</p>
<p>On foot, directions northwest: forest</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 21 - fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 26 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 21 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Survival natural 20 - critical success! </p>
<p>Keyt noticed that the vegetation seemed unnaturally lush to the east. </p>
<p>Knowledge Nature rolls:
<br />
Arami: 12
<br />
Deena: 11
<br />
Frag: 23
<br />
Keyt: 26
<br />
The lushness might have come from energies leaking over from the First World, which meant that there might be fey or fairies in that direction. </p>
<p>— Day 29 —</p>
<p>On foot, directions east: forest.</p>
<p>We decided to adopt an entirely different exploration tactic for exploring the presumably fey hex: Draw as much attention as possibly and try to attract the interest of whatever was in the hex.</p>
<p>So, we rolled for these not-at-all-by-the-book tactics:
<br />
Arami: Performance 30
<br />
Deena: Performance 16
<br />
Frag: Perception 31
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 19</p>
<p>Frag noticed that the vegetation was subtly steering us in a particular direction. We decided to pretend we had not noticed this, and followed these guiding hints, into a lovely open spot among the trees.</p>
<p>We found us surrounded by applauding and smiling trees. We managed to identify eight of these as treants, while the others probably were animated trees.</p>
<p>As we took our bows, the branches of some of the trees lifted like a curtain, and a dryad stepped out. She introduced herself as Tulaeth. </p>
<p>She did not want to talk at once but wanted more performances. So as Arami and Deena danced and played, Keyt sat down in the grass and tried to extract some information while pretending to make light conversation.</p>
<p>Arami: Performance 29
<br />
Deena: Performance 29</p>
<p>Both were successes but not criticals. The GM was irritated, as we had rolled very well. If we had used the DCs for a dryad of Tualeth's given level from the bestiary, these would have been critical successes instead, but the scenario used inflated DCs...</p>
<p>Anyway, the performances put Tualeth in a good mood, and she let us enjoy her company for the evening, as she professed to dislike messy adventurers, but love talented performers. </p>
<p>She claimed to have some problems with cyclopses, who had appeared about a season ago and done some logging in her forest, which irritated her.</p>
<p>There had been many more fey in the forest before the gnomes had burnt most of it down, but now there was only she and her treants left. </p>
<p>Yes, she knew where the Cyclopses lived, and could point it out to us on our map.</p>
<p>The lake? Before the fire a nereid had lived there, and when she left she left her pet behind. It has since grown to a humongous size. </p>
<p>To the southeast a dragon had recently appeared, and Tuealeth did not like the way to was eying her forest. It was the fire breathing kind, you know. </p>
<p>The Moonmere? Wasn't that supposed to be at the source of one of the tributaries?</p>
<p>She did not mind helping such lovely people, so two more ally points. </p>
<p>We stayed the night in her pleasant glade, and in the morning we discussed Cyclopses. What did we know?</p>
<p>Arami: Know Occultism 20
<br />
Deena: Know Nature 26
<br />
Frag: Know Nature 13
<br />
Keyt: Know Nature natural-1</p>
<p>So, cyclopses can see into the future (which gives an auto success). They can take an extra hit when they are blow 0 HP. They like to use crossbows, and in melee they can it several opponents in one hit. They talk Jotun and Cyclops, and most also speak Common: "More well-spoken than the average adventurer".</p>
<p>This led to a rules discussion on Comprehend Languages, in case these cyclopses did not speak Common. In order to cast Comprehend Languages, you have to hear someone talk the language. But that usually means that you cast a visible spell in the tense first moments when you meet strangers - which can be taken as a hostile act, as they don't know it is a harmless spell. How •do• you handle this?</p>
<p>— Day 30 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions southwest, southwest, hills</p>
<p>Arami: Survival 21 - fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 23 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 23 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 16 </p>
<p>This was supposed to be the Cyclopses' hex, but we could not find them. Oh well, on to next day. </p>
<p>— Day 31 —</p>
<p>In the same hex. If the cyclopses were here, we would find them. So we thought we would start with stealth tactics to avoid confrontation:</p>
<p>Arami: Stealth natural 1 - crit fail
<br />
Deena: Stealth 24 - success
<br />
Frag: Stealth 22 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 35 - crit success. </p>
<p>So Keyt is the one that found the cyclopses' viking-style timber longhouses.
<br />
They had two posted guards, but they spent most of the time looking up into the sky. More worrying was their sabre-toothed tiger pet. </p>
<p>The roofs were singed. GM: "You can roll perception to see what might have singed the houses." Players: "We don't have too. We've already decided it is the dragon."</p>
<p>So, those two that had found the cyclopses with their good rolls withdrew. Time to make a plan. </p>
<p>We decided to make a pompous entrance as questing dragon-slayers. Keyt was best at crafting, so she painted a big colorful standard for us. On it was a dragon, on its back, with a big sword straight through the body. We brushed up our armor, and made sure to sit straight up in a heroic pose as we rode into the Cyclops place.</p>
<p>Arami: Diplomacy 28
<br />
Deena: Diplomacy assist 15
<br />
Frag: abstained from assisting, as a crit failure would impose a penalty
<br />
Keyt: Intimidate assist 30 </p>
<p>Keyt's assist was a crit, so it gave Arami a +4 for a total of 32. Deena's assist did not stack, which was especially unfortunate as we were 2 short of a crit.</p>
<p>Anyway, our entrance got a "too good to be true" reaction, and the cyclopses started cheering as we entered their place. </p>
<p>Soon they were gathered around us, more than willing to offer any information they could. </p>
<p>We wanted to talk to their leader, but they had none. They had followed a prophet up into this area. This prophet followed the proper god Obad-Hai rather than the random demons Cyclopses tended to worship instead. Unfortunately that prophet had been eaten by the dragon, and they were in the midst of discussing whether they should go back to demon-worshipping or not. (Deena made a mental note to try to send some enthusiastic missionaries their way if she could. The cyclopses were not prime material for her Goddess, but there were allied cults that might fit better...)</p>
<p>As reward for killing the dragon we were offered a chest of gold. Well, not purely gold, but a chest of treasure anyway. </p>
<p>— Day 32 — </p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions northeast, northeast, east: mountains, rivers joining. </p>
<p>Arami: Survival natural 1 - critical fail
<br />
Deena: Survival 27 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 27 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Survival natural 20 - critical success</p>
<p>We spotted a giant-sized helmet that came floating down the river. It had a nose-guard in the centre, so it was not a Cyclops helmet.</p>
<p>Arami: Society 23 - success
<br />
Keyt: Society 16 - fail</p>
<p>The helmet had belonged to a Hill Giant. That means that someone had given it equipment, as they were too stupid to get things like helmets themselves. </p>
<p>Discussing plans for the dragon, we got to roll knowledge for it too:</p>
<p>Frag: Nature 29 - Dragon had immunities to sleep, fire, paralyse and cold. Their frightful presence depended on age, and this one might be old enough to have one. They have good perception, scent, and darkvision, but don't have blindsense. </p>
<p>Deena started rearranging spells to make room for resist energy and remove fear. </p>
<p>— Day 33 —</p>
<p>Followed the river upstream. Directions: southwest, east: mountains, river.</p>
<p>No exploration to avoid drawing attention from the dragon.</p>
<p>— Day 34 —</p>
<p>On foot, direction east: mountains, river. The Dragon's hex. </p>
<p>We decided to use a recon tactic of mixed stealth and perception.</p>
<p>Arami: Stealth 18 - crit fail
<br />
Deena: Stealth 21 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 32 - success
<br />
Keyt: Perception 29 - fail</p>
<p>Frag spotted the lair in the distance, but we didn't see any way up.</p>
<p>— Day 35 —</p>
<p>We tried to find a better way to the Dragon's lair. </p>
<p>Arami: Athletics 35 - success
<br />
Deena: Perception 34 - crit success
<br />
Frag: Athletics nat-20 - crit success
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 30 - fail</p>
<p>We found the rear entrance, a narrow path that wormed its way up the mountainside. And not only that, but while the dragon was away, the lair was guarded by a fire giant. Looking her over, she looked more of a bored mercenary than some kind of fanatic dragon cultist.</p>
<p>We quickly made a plan, and as usual, it was hard to keep to any kind of semblance of the official exploration rules. Ah well, we had to make it work somehow. </p>
<p>Deena kept a lookout for the dragon's return.</p>
<p>Arami would try to charm the giant, and then try to talk it over to our side.</p>
<p>Frag would be in reserve if the Dragon returned early.</p>
<p>Keyt would use the Dust of Disappearance we found with the cultists to keep close by while invisible.</p>
<p>== Not Quite Fight ==</p>
<p>— Initiatives —</p>
<p>Keyt: Stealth 37 (dice counted as a 20 since she was invisible)
<br />
Deena: Perception 33
<br />
Frag: Perception 21
<br />
Arami: Diplomacy 19 (sigh)
<br />
Giant: 23</p>
<p>— Round 1 —</p>
<p>Keyt: Delay</p>
<p>Deena: Delay</p>
<p>Giant: Scan 37 - noticed the invisible Keyt. Draw Sword. Activate Sword.</p>
<p>Keyt: "No-no-no-don't hurt me, I'm not dangerous!" Deception 18 - fail. </p>
<p>Frag: Delay</p>
<p>Arami: Move out in full view of the giant. Cast Charm on giant. Giant save: 18 - fail. Giant was now friendly for an hour - better reinforce it with some quick diplomacy. We noted that charm only got penalty if •we• had been hostile. That the target had drawn weapons and advanced on us did not matter. Phew!</p>
<p>— Round 2 —</p>
<p>Giant: Wanted to use intimidation to coerce Frag to reveal himself: "Come out!" but Coerce takes a minute... Frag stepped out anyway. </p>
<p>Keyt: prepares for diplomacy assistance: "What's your deal with the dragon? Is it any good?" - Critical success on the support roll.</p>
<p>Arami: "Let's have talk! I'm sure we can offer you so much more than a stingy dragon!". Diplomacy with Glad-Hand: 35 - 5 (for a fast Glad-Hand) + 2 (for friendly target) + 4 (critical support) + 2 (situation bonus) = 38, a critical success.</p>
<p>Not-quite-fight over. </p>
<p>The giant told a sad story about being outcast from har tribe, drifting around, getting a raw deal from the dragon...</p>
<p>Well, we negotiated a deal with her. After some haggling, we decided that the giant would get two shares of the dragon's treasure. To her credit, she did keep a good face on when Deena rejoined us, revealing that the giant's share would be two sixths, not two fifths.</p>
<p>Frag kept an eye on the giant to judge her sincerity: Perception 32 - she seemed to mean it. </p>
<p>While Arami, Keyt and the giant negotiated, Deena cast a Sanctify Ground versus Dragons in the middle of the dragon's very lair. </p>
<p>We ended with a final roll to seal the negotiations: Keyt support - critical success. Arami: diplomacy 36 - crit success: It was a deal!</p>
<p>Deena returned to her guard post to look for the dragon: Natural 20. The dragon was a bit away, but incoming. As it was a crit, we would have two rounds to prepare. </p>
<p>== Fight 2 ==</p>
<p>— Pre-fight round 1 —</p>
<p>Arami: Cast invisibility 4 on Keyt.</p>
<p>Deena: Move to Frag, cast Resist Energy Fire on Frag.</p>
<p>Frag: Move to Deena, then move to mouth of cave.</p>
<p>Keyt: Exit out the cave to hang on the wall just outside.</p>
<p>Giant: Ready action - throw rock.</p>
<p>— Pre-fight round 2 —</p>
<p>Arami: Move to Deena, cast invisibility 4 on Deena. </p>
<p>Deena: Cast Resist Energy Fire on Arami.</p>
<p>Frag: Ready action - strike when dragon was in range. </p>
<p>Keyt: Ready action - intimidate when dragon was in range.</p>
<p>Dragon backed away slightly when it spotted us, hanging in the air 80 feet away.</p>
<p>— Initiatives —</p>
<p>Keyt: Stealth 37 (take 20 for being invisible)
<br />
Deena: Stealth 28 (take 20 for being invisible)
<br />
Frag: Perception 26
<br />
Arami: Perception 18
<br />
Giant: 36
<br />
Dragon: 26</p>
<p>— Round 1 —</p>
<p>Keyt: Delay</p>
<p>Giant: Throw rock vs dragon: 30 - 26 damage. Throw rock vs dragon: miss. Throw rock vs dragon: miss.</p>
<p>Deena: Cast Resist Energy Fire on herself.</p>
<p>Dragon: Breathe fire on giant, Keyt and Frag: Damage 43. Giant: immune; Frag save: 30 - success. Keyt save: 21 - fail, hero point reroll: 30 - success, evade. </p>
<p>Frag: Draw shortbow. Shoot vs dragon: 28 - hit, 7 damage. Pick up polearm. </p>
<p>Keyt: Stow sword. Draw shortbow. Shoot: natural 1. </p>
<p>Arami: Inspire Courage. Move. Intimidate Dragon: 16 - fail.</p>
<p>— Round 2 —</p>
<p>Giant: Throw rock vs dragon: 32 - 25 damage. Throw rock vs dragon: miss. Throw rock vs dragon: miss.</p>
<p>Deena: Delay</p>
<p>Dragon: Flies away (to recharge breath attack)</p>
<p>Frag: Delay</p>
<p>Keyt: Move. Move. Move.</p>
<p>Deena: Cast Resist Energy Fire on Keyt.</p>
<p>Arami: Step. Cast Fly on Frag.</p>
<p>— Round 3 —</p>
<p>Giant: Throw rock vs dragon: 20 - miss. Throw rock vs dragon: 29 - hit, 18 damage. Throw rock vs dragon: 18 - miss. </p>
<p>Frag: Pick up bow. Shoot: natural 20 - crit, 18 damage. Pick up polearm.</p>
<p>Dragon: Breathe fire on Arami, Frag, giant: Damage 35. Frag save: 24 - fail. Arami: natural 20 - critical success.</p>
<p>Keyt: Delay</p>
<p>Deena: Delay</p>
<p>Arami: Move to Keyt. Cast Fly on Keyt. </p>
<p>Keyt: Move. Fly to dragon. Backstab dragon: 32 - hit, 20 damage, bloodied.</p>
<p>Deena: Move. 1 action Heal 5 + Healing Hands on Frag: 54 HP - completely healthy again.</p>
<p>— Round 4 —</p>
<p>Giant: Throw rock vs dragon: 27 - hit, 23 damage. Throw rock vs Dragon: miss. Draw sword.</p>
<p>Frag: Fly to reach distance from dragon. Strike dragon: 33 - hit, 21 damage. Brutish Shove: 26 - miss, but dragon flatfooted.</p>
<p>Dragon: Fly into lair. Frag: attack of opportunity: natural 1 - miss. Draconic Frenzy vs giant. Claw: natural 1 - miss. Claw: 33 - hit, 19 damage. Wing: miss. "The Dragon has landed."</p>
<p>Arami: Dirge of Doom. Move to reach distance. Trip dragon with whip: natural 1, drops whip.</p>
<p>Keyt: Fly to outflank dragon. Dragon AoO: miss. Backstab vs dragon: 29 - hit, 23 damage. Backstab vs dragon: miss. </p>
<p>Deena: Delay.</p>
<p>— Round 5 — </p>
<p>Giant: Sword strike vs dragon: 25 - hit, 27 damage, killed. </p>
<p>Fight over. </p>
<p>The giant definitely deserved her double share: In the fight she had done 119 in damage, while Frag had done 46 and Keyt 43. </p>
<p>The giant lifted one of the rocks in the lair, and there was the dragon's treasure: 6 treasure points! As we had agreed, the giant took two of those, while we kept four. </p>
<p>The giant also agreed to wait for us where the two nearest tributaries joined, to help us in the final fight. </p>
<p>So, four treasure points and one ally point. Not bad!</p>
<p>— Day 36 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions west, west, west, west. The Cyclopses' place. </p>
<p>We got a chest of treasure, and their promise of assistance. </p>
<p>So, one more treasure point and two ally points. </p>
<p>== Stake-out == </p>
<p>— Day 37 —</p>
<p>On Phantom Steeds, directions northeast, east, east, northeast, east. Mountains, cultist camp.</p>
<p>We did not even have to search the hex; the camp was so large that it was immediately obvious, especially as they had spread garbage all around. </p>
<p>There were Trolls, Hill Giants commanded by a Fire Giant, and cultists in the camp.</p>
<p>The GM now explained the next step in the scenario mini-game: we could collect Research Points by doing a stakeout on the camp. A success versus a DC of 31 would give two points, while a crit would get three. We would need four points.</p>
<p>We discussed stake-out tactics for a while, and the GM thought it was reasonable to use stealth to add some Recon, and when we discovered that Deena could cast two Prying Eyes per day, the GM thought them so well-suited for stake-out duty, that we would be able to roll for them too, even if they only lasted 10 minutes each. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Arami would use her Phantom Steeds, ride back to the base camp with the collected treasure in a Bag of Holding, inform about the alliance, and ride back with the magic items we could buy for the treasure. </p>
<p>Our wish list for items was:
<br />
Frag: +3 Guisarme
<br />
Keyt: +3 Short Sword
<br />
Arami: +3 Studded Leather</p>
<p>— Day 38 — </p>
<p>Deena: Perception natural 1 - critical fail
<br />
Frag: Perception natural 1 - critical fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 19 - fail
<br />
Prying Eye: Perception 25 - fail
<br />
Prying Eye: Perception 28 - fail</p>
<p>Not a good start. Total Research Points: 0</p>
<p>— Day 39 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception natural 1 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 34 - success
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 23 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception 35 - success
<br />
Prying: Perception 35 - success</p>
<p>Total Research Points: 6</p>
<p>— Day 40 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception 32 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 30 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 29 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception natural 1 - critical fail
<br />
Prying: Perception 35 - success</p>
<p>Total Research Points: 10</p>
<p>— Day 41 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception 32 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 29 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 30 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception 29 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception success - </p>
<p>Total Research Points: 14</p>
<p>— Day 42 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception natural 20 - critical success
<br />
Frag: Perception 33 - success
<br />
Keyth: Stealth 30 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception 23 - fail
<br />
Prying: Perception 35 success - </p>
<p>Total Research Points: 21</p>
<p>— Day 43 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception 23 - fail
<br />
Frag: Perception 30 - fail
<br />
Keyth: Stealth 34 - success
<br />
Prying: Perception 31 - success
<br />
Prying: Perception natural 20 - critical success</p>
<p>Total Research Points: 28</p>
<p>— Day 44 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception 34 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 28 - fail
<br />
Keyt: Stealth 33 - success
<br />
Prying: Perception 29 - failure
<br />
Prying: Perception 33 - success </p>
<p>Total Research Points: 34</p>
<p>— Day 44 —</p>
<p>Deena: Perception 34 - success
<br />
Frag: Perception 29 - fail
<br />
Keyth: Stealth 19 - critical failure
<br />
Prying: Perception 35 - success
<br />
Prying: Perception 19 - critical failure</p>
<p>Total Research Points: 38</p>
<p>— Day 46 —</p>
<p>Merenaries and Allies arrived, and we had our new magic items. </p>
<p>The mercenaries and the allies meant that we only had to take care of a group of:
<br />
• One Boss Mummy (some kind of old flan wizard)
<br />
• One Brain Collector
<br />
• Two Human cultist.</p>
<p>We did not get anything extra for our massive amount of research points, but having four or more gave us:
<br />
• +4 initiative
<br />
• Cast any number of preparatory spells. </p>
<p>== Fight 3 ==</p>
<p>— Preparation —</p>
<p>Arami cast Invisibility 4 on all four in the party, and Fly on Keyt. </p>
<p>— Initiatives —</p>
<p>Keyt: Stealth 41 (as usual, invisibility gives an automatic 20 on stealth)
<br />
Arami: Stealth 39
<br />
Frag: Stealth 35
<br />
Deena: Stealth 32
<br />
Mummy: 23
<br />
Brain Collector: 22
<br />
Cultists: 17</p>
<p>Keyt: Battle Cry vs Brain Collector: 22 - success, frightened 1. </p>
<p>— Round 1 —</p>
<p>Keyt: Delay</p>
<p>Arami: Inspire Courage. Move. Trip vs Brain Collector: 29 - success, prone.</p>
<p>Keyt: Move. Backstab Brain Collector: 32 - critical success, 51 damage. Backstab Brain Collector: 28 - hit, 19 damage.</p>
<p>Frag: Move. Strike vs Brain Collector: 31 - critical success, 66 damage. Strike vs Brain Collector: 18 - miss.</p>
<p>Deena: Flame Strike vs all four opponents: 55 damage. Brain Collector: fail, killed. Mummy: natural 20 - critical success (Drats!). Cultist 1 - critical success. Cultist 2: fail. Sneak: - success. </p>
<p>Here the GM remembered the Mummy's fear aura, and had us roll against it:
<br />
Frag save: 32 - critical success. Keyt: 31 - critical success. Arami: 11 - critical fail, hero point reroll: 23 - success.</p>
<p>Mummy: Move. Frag: Attack of Opportunity: Miss. Sandstorm Wrath aura: 42 damage. Frag save: 20 - fail. Keyt: 24 - success, evade. Arami: 24 - success. Deena: 28 success. Deena save vs fear aura: 19 - fail, hero point reroll: 30 - success. </p>
<p>Cultist 1: Cast See Invisible. Draw Mace. </p>
<p>Cultist 2: Cast Invisibility. Sneak: 27 - unseen. </p>
<p>— Round 2 —</p>
<p>Arami: Inspire Courage. Step. Trip Mummy: 38 - critical success, 5 damage.</p>
<p>Keyt: Backstab mummy: 25 - hit, 32 damage. Backstab mummy: 25 hit, 32 damage. Intimidate Mummy: 35 - critical success, frightened 2, fleeing. </p>
<p>Frag: Move to mummy. Strike vs mummy: 21 - hit, 32 damage. Strike vs mummy: miss.</p>
<p>Deena: Move to mummy. Channel Smite: 23 - hit: 51 damage, killed. </p>
<p>Cultist 1: Cast Invisibility. Sneak: success.</p>
<p>Cultist 2: Cast See Invisible. Sneak.</p>
<p>— Round 3 —</p>
<p>Arami: Delay</p>
<p>Keyt: Delay</p>
<p>Frag: Delay</p>
<p>Deena: Cast Invisibility. Perception vs Cultist 2: 34. Perception vs Cultist 1: 23</p>
<p>Frag: Seek: Perception nat 1 vs Cultist 1, 29 versus Cultist 2 - success. Charge Cultist 2: flat check ok, strike: 29 - hit, 15 damage.</p>
<p>Arami: Inspire Courage. Move to Cultist 2. Trip Cultist 2: flat check fail. </p>
<p>Keyt: Move. Strike Cultist 2 using blindsight: Flat check ok, strike: 19 - fail. Strike Cultist 2: flat check fail.</p>
<p>Cultist 2: Move. Frag Attack of Opportunity: flat check ok, strike: miss. Spiritual Weapon vs Deena: 21 - miss. </p>
<p>Cultist 1: Cast Soothe on Cultist 2: 38 HP. </p>
<p>— Round 4 —</p>
<p>Deena: Cast Faery Fire on Cultist 2. Move</p>
<p>Frag: Move. Strike Cultist 2: flat check ok, strike: 20 - miss. Strike Cultist 2: flat check ok, strike: 33 - critical success, 67 damage. </p>
<p>Arami: Inspire Courage. Move. Strike Cultist 2: flat check ok, strike: 21 - miss. </p>
<p>Keyt: Backstab Cultist 2 using blindfight: 24 - hit, killed. You're Next vs Cultist 1: 37 - critical success, frightened 2, fleeing. </p>
<p>Cultist 1: Fled, not to be seen ever again. </p>
<p>Fight over.</p>
<p>== Wrap up ==</p>
<p>Investigating the camp showed that the cultists had tried to summon a Mu Spore. </p>
<p>This led to a long discussion about the forum thread on the high Mu Spore Stealth skill.</p>
<p>== Session over ==</p>
<p>7h 20 minutes spent. </p>
<p>Hero points used: 6 (three save rerolls)
<br />
Death Saves: 0
<br />
Consumables: 1 holy water as spell component, 1 Dust of Disappearance.
<br />
Resonance on non-investment: 1</p>
<p>During this sessions exploration we rolled Survival or Perception 38 times
<br />
8 were failed 2nd day "fish for a 20" rolls.
<br />
4 were critical failures,
<br />
18 were failures
<br />
6 were successes
<br />
2 were critical successes.</p>
<p>== Scenario over ==</p>
<p>Total time spent: 12 hours 13 minutes
<br />
Hero points used: 6 (three save rerolls)
<br />
Death Saves: 0
<br />
Consumables: 1 holy water as spell component, 1 Dust of Disappearance.
<br />
Resonance on non-investment: 1</p>
<p>During the scenario's exploration we rolled Survival or Perception 105 times
<br />
28 were failed 2nd day "fish for a 20" rolls.
<br />
15 were critical failures,
<br />
39 were failures
<br />
20 were successes
<br />
3 were critical successes.</p>My notes from session one are here.
Note: There may be mistranslations: My GM translated the scenario on the fly from English to Swedish as we played, and I translated from Swedish to kind-of-English as I wrote notes on what happened
== Characters ==
The characters were:
Arami, Cavern Elf Maestro Bard.
Deena, Cavern Elf Cleric of Honey, passion domain.
Frag, Dwarf Fighter.
Keyt, Cavern Elf Rogue.
The characters were played by two players, each playing two characters. All characters had...Mats Öhrman2018-11-22T20:33:13ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Finished the playtest campaign.Gortlehttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42diy?Finished-the-playtest-campaign2018-11-22T12:15:34Z2018-11-22T12:15:34Z<p><b> Overall Feedback</b></p>
<p>Thanks for putting the public playtest out there. It is really good to see what designers are thinking about, and having the oppourtunity for feedback. We all enjoyed it immensly despite some frustrations.</p>
<p>My current group regularily game and all have 30+ years of gaming experience. We played 1-2 sessions per week and we struggled to keep up with the playtest. We have just completed the 7th Doomsday Dawn module and will be returning to our regular Pathfinder 1 game next week.</p>
<p>We tried hard to play the rules as written and put as little interpretation on them as possible.</p>
<p><b>Doomsday Dawn Modules</b></p>
<p>We played all 7 adventures. We had no character deaths, and all of the blessings of Pharasma were still left unused at the end. This reflects our experience, and a bit of luck against the Demi Lich, and that we called time before the third wave of the Heroes on Undarin. Apart from that we completed everything successfully.</p>
<p>The party was Cleric (buffer), Wizard (evoker), <a href="https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1758074" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Druid</a>, Fighter(barbarian) and Rogue (archer)</p>
<p>We liked all of the modules apart from Red Flags. This was because stealth/diplomacy missions often give you good reason to split the party and we felt obliged to. The mechanic of the Goddess watching over was really hard to put parameters around and most of that party were casters and were therefore reluctant to cast till Necrion did. Hence frustrated and angry players. We finished it by using Ethereal Jaunt to check the final room and avoided the encounter with the Kracken. Which was probably good, when missing players, and not organised for combat.</p>
<p><b>The feel of the game</b></p>
<p>The action economy was really good and is quite promising. It was always crystal clear what we could and could not do. Definitely a major improvement over 1st edition.</p>
<p>Kudos to whoever designed the weapons. Armour, weapons and equipment were great. The balance between weapon and shield, or two handed, or reach, and range seemed great. Two weapon seemed a bit short but we never really tried that. The exotic weapons were interesting.
<br />
Backswing, Forceful, Sweep traits seemed too narrow to be worth thinking about
<br />
No one liked the Volley restriction or could see the sense.
<br />
How about a limitation for "can't be used while mounted", applying to at least longbows?</p>
<p>The difference in ranks of skills didn't seem significant. Only a little required a rank above Trained.
<br />
90% of skill feats were irrelevant, most because they were too narrow. Perhaps the few useful ones could be used to improve the importance of skill ranks.</p>
<p>The new critical successes and failures was fun.</p>
<p>Level dominates all other effects strongly. +2 levels is crushing because of the critical hit rules. +1 to hit (each level) represents about 10% increase in damage output and a 10% reduction in damage taken. We think you need to flatten it a bit.</p>
<p>It was very hard to defend non melee characters in this game. Very little in the way of attacks of oppourtunity. Combat in Doomsday Dawn tended to be very open and almost no fighting occured in corridoors.</p>
<p>Reducing the bonuses to conditional, circumstance and item was nice and simple. But there are far too many conditions like hampered and enfeebled and drained. A lot have numbers on them. It was very hard and time consuming to track this. Often monsters would end up with 3 or more conditions on them. Please limit what the non casters can dish out. The Rogue was Entangling and Enfeebling 1 every hit. Nice but keeping track of it was a pest. Can we have fewer but more effective conditions?</p>
<p><b>Magic</b>
<br />
Buffing, utility and healing worked well. Direct damage spells were starting to get reasonable after v1.5 but I still think they could be increased further. Wall spells were too weak as they can all be easily destroyed with physical damage.
<br />
Generally save or suck spells were useless as
<br />
a) the saving throw DCs did not seem balanced.
<br />
b) many of the effects are just too weak to be worth while. For example spells like Fear and Entangle are only useful if the target critically fails their saving throw. Otherwise it was just not worth the casters actions, let alone spell slot. </p>
<p>The vast majority of the bloodline powers/domain powers/school powers/compositions are just too weak or too short in duration.</p>
<p>Magic has to be strong or it just destroys the whole feel of Fantasy RPGs. Especially at high level. Don't try to over balance things.</p>
<p>A few spells dominated: Sacred Ground, Heroism, Heal</p>
<p>Whole categories like Enlarge and the various Animal Forms spells are incredibly bad debuffs. Please throw them out and do them differently. Even 1.6 they are still no good at the minimum level that they can be cast at are still debuffs to AC. Too bad if its not your top level slot. I'd prefer something like add a small bonus to hit or a damage dice to the regular attack of the target. Maybe add a bonus to a skill. Plus movement and sense as they currently are. Allow some of them to be cast on willing targets.</p>
<p>Magic Fang doesn't have any effect on Animal Companions or polymorphed creatures - what is its purpose?</p>
<p>Glyph of Warding is abusable - Firey Body and 6 flasks trapped with a Glyph of a high level Fireball, or just Glyph of Heal incase any vampires open your empty flask.</p>
<p><b>The Book</b> </p>
<p>Was not liked. Its pretty and all, but major rules were covered partially in multiple places with details buried here and there, the glossary contained really important rules like how to calculate your spell casting DC. It caused confusion and extended rule debates. It reminds me of Hackmaster 4th Edition (a parady game of excessive tables where character creation is buried in appendix I)</p>
<p><b>Classes</b></p>
<p>Asside from an alchemist and a monk we tried all the classes over the course of the playtest. </p>
<p>Alchemist - we tried hard to build one and gave up. Obviously a bit better now but we lacked the energy to try again. Most of the mutagens look terrible for the cost.</p>
<p>Bard - please give him a real reason to use a musical instrument. Facsinate is useless - it doesn't stop the fascinated target from moving toward you and attacking you. Please Fix. Please make his composition untyped so it can stack with everything.</p>
<p>Barbarian - a bit weaker than the fighter becasue no attack of oppourtunity early. Please make his rage damage untyped so it can stack with everything.</p>
<p>Cleric - your best caster because buffing works well</p>
<p>Druid - full elemental spell list is nice. Animal Companions are still not quite right.The item restrictions are too steep. STR based animal companions far very far behind in AC. Wild shape was improved by 1.6 but is still inferior. All the Animal Form spells are too weak even after v1.6. My level 17 Druid transformed into a heightened level 8 and v1.6 Dragon Form using wild shape while in Druids Vestments. It cost him his first round in combat. It lowered his AC as he can no longer use a Shield, it reduced his melee damage by an average of 5 (from his +4 Dogslicer with 2 damage runes), gave him a breath weapon thats only as good as his wand, and stopped him from casting spells. He gains size, senses and flight. All things he can get elsewhere with out the penalties. I did it just for fun.
<br />
The form spells are all very much worse that this as you can't even use Druids Vestments with them, and require you to give up points of AC and to hit.</p>
<p>Fighter - excellent, your best class, simple, some nice options, top attack and good defense. </p>
<p>Monk - needs an extra point of AC, no one would touch it with a ten foot pole. Don't pretend STR is a key ability, DEX all the way.</p>
<p>Paladin - Nice class, excellent defense. Retributive strike seemed to require reach to be of value. Could you please add a 5ft step to Retributive Strike to make it work with Sword and Board? I did a nice Paladin with a FlickMace. Never tried the later Paladins. Lay on hands is nesrly pointless after Channel Life is available.</p>
<p>Ranger - mixed up and doesn't know what its doing. No focus. Fighter is much better at combat, Clerics are better at Survival, Druids have a better Animal Companion. Tired it. Hated it. </p>
<p>Rogue - cool. Works. Even as an archer, which is clearly sub optimal, our rogue was churning out 100 points of damage in a round.</p>
<p>Sorceror - please don't make it a half pregnant spontaneous caster. Let every spell be freely heightened or get rid of the class. </p>
<p>Wizard - fix magic and he will be fine. Too easy for him to get into physical armour without penalty. That's just wrong.</p>
<p><b>Specific Bits and Pieces </b></p>
<p>Hero points - feels too much like other games. The GM allocated some but all the players refused to use them.</p>
<p>Snares seem like fun but do they really need to cost money and be destroyed when used? Can you simply make them require maintenance and disappear after a while. These shouldn't be another type of magical consumable like a potions or a scroll. This is something you make in the wild</p>
<p>Size isn't defined, please fix that. </p>
<p>Walls, Structure and Hardness. It quite easily to destroy even legendary stone walls by bashing it, even a level 9 Wall of Force is gettable by characters at that level. And I'm remembering that objects don't suffer criticals. Some things should be beyond the players normal means.</p>Overall Feedback
Thanks for putting the public playtest out there. It is really good to see what designers are thinking about, and having the oppourtunity for feedback. We all enjoyed it immensly despite some frustrations.
My current group regularily game and all have 30+ years of gaming experience. We played 1-2 sessions per week and we struggled to keep up with the playtest. We have just completed the 7th Doomsday Dawn module and will be returning to our regular Pathfinder 1 game next
...Gortle2018-11-22T12:15:34ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Mirrored Moon and the First Encounter TPKTridushttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs42c42?Mirrored-Moon-and-the-First-Encounter-TPK2018-10-22T02:38:59Z2018-10-22T02:38:59Z<p>I went outside my comfort zone this time and didn't play a Cleric. Had a Goblin Fighter with a Greatsword, which was actually conceptually pretty cool. Rest of the party was a Ranger, a Wizard, and I think a Rogue? I'm not 100% sure on the last person, but I think it was a rogue. There was a lot of discussion about how we'd do when suddenly the guy who always plays Clerics wasn't playing one and we had no healing, but we figured we'd try it out (we did have treat wounds available as I made sure someone had Medicine).</p>
<p>We did a bit of exploring, heard about the sea monster, and decided we'd go investigate that. My fighter's idea was to take its head as a trophy and go show it to the cyclops we had been told about, so it would recognize our power and join us. My fighter was not the smartest cookie, but she was good at combat.</p>
<p>So we went to the lake, and we built a boat using our three crafters and the Goblin feat to make stuff out of junk. That was thematically hilarious as two of the crafters were goblins and the third (the Wizard) was dismayed at the poor quality.</p>
<p>Then we went out into the lake to explore that hex. We found the sea monster when it made a Stealth check so high that it was literally impossible for us to succeed on Perception to see it. (By a large margin, it beat my max possible by 9 and I think nobody could have gotten within 5.)</p>
<p>On the first turn of combat, it crit the fighter (me) for half my HP. With 16 CON, that was pretty terrifying. I got to attack it and demoralize, which did work. Did 4 points of bleed from the wounding rune, which stayed up for 9 rounds and thus was arguably the most effective single attack in the entire combat.</p>
<p>It then swallowed me. While swallowed, I couldn't use my greatsword... so I tried to cut out with my goblin bite when I realized it was incredibly difficult to succeed on the Athletics to get out, and that only took me back to its mouth anyway (so it would just swallow me again). This really hit home just how big the gap is between a weapon with a potency rune and one without one, because my +2 weapon probably could have cut us out quickly, but a mundane one is just not doing good damage. Also it took several rounds before I could roll above a 3, and I didn't get many chances being slowed and grabbed inside the thing. And also suffocating.</p>
<p>It then proceeded to systematically swallow everybody in the party. The Wizard was particularly ineffective as it critically succeeded on every spell save and thus nothing worked on it except Magic Missle. He was pretty disappointed at how ineffective he was.</p>
<p>Once we were all in, my Fighter took the Wizard's +2 dagger (because why not?) and tried to cut out with that. But then the dying conditions started hitting from the damage every turn, and the suffocation as well. We used hero points. We were allowed to share an air bubble spell although you probably can't really do that (it reduced its duration when we did but whatever), and at one point I stuck my head in my own bag of holding to take a breath since it contains air until I opened it. Our DM was feeling open to allowing creative ideas with how badly this thing was pulverizing us... and that was with him forgetting to roll damage for people already swallowed for half the combat.</p>
<p>To make a long story short, on the last round before I suffocated and went back into dying (permanently, as nobody could get me back up and my wounded value was high enough that I wasn't going to be able to survive on my own, despite beating the DC and getting back up 3 times already in the fight and using a hero point), I hit it and did 1 less damage than required to cut our way out. DM said "here's a couple of her points, I'll let you use them to add an extra d4 damage."</p>
<p>That was done strictly to let us continue the playtest if we want to. Had he not outright fudged the rules, it was a TPK as we had no way to get another round.</p>
<p>With that, we cut ourselves out. With how much damage the wounding rune had done, and the other damage we did, it was blooded and he ruled it retreated rather than attacking us again (because if it had, it would have TPKd us anyway).</p>
<p>He remarked that it was probably the hardest fight, but he also remarked at how high some of the DCs to hit it were and how often we were failing. Of particular note was how low the Wizard's spell DCs were in comparison to this thing and how there was no spell save outcome <i>except</i> critical success. DM actually thought the Wizard had calculated it incorrectly because the number sounded so low in comparison to its saves.</p>
<p>The stats on this thing were WAY too high for our party of four and there was a lot of ineffective people. I think I had the most success, and I was still failing more than half the time (cold dice didn't help but I needed to roll a 12 against TAC with that dagger to cut out, and the number was higher to hit it normally).</p>
<p>I'm not sure if we're going to continue Mirrored Moon. I'd like to test out exploration mode and see how it goes, but I'm not sure people want to get into another encounter where stuff can blast us for half our HP in a single attack without a healer. Course, maybe the Wizard will just change characters and bring a Cleric, since Heal would actually work (unlike every spell the Wizard tried that wasn't Magic Missile). Since we already TPKd officially, the DM didn't mind if people wanted to change things. If not, we'll probably just call it the TPK it should have been and go on to the next playtest.</p>
<p>I will say that my Fighter was fun to play despite how ridiculous that fight was, and I don't usually say that about Fighters. RPing a Goblin was quite a lot of fun, as the other goblin and I played off each other, and someone that small with a greatsword charging in was really amusing.</p>
<p>Of course, there are also no stakes in a playtest. If we had come to end of a 3 year campaign and a fight simply crushed us that totally... maybe I would be more annoyed.</p>I went outside my comfort zone this time and didn't play a Cleric. Had a Goblin Fighter with a Greatsword, which was actually conceptually pretty cool. Rest of the party was a Ranger, a Wizard, and I think a Rogue? I'm not 100% sure on the last person, but I think it was a rogue. There was a lot of discussion about how we'd do when suddenly the guy who always plays Clerics wasn't playing one and we had no healing, but we figured we'd try it out (we did have treat wounds available as I made...Tridus2018-10-22T02:38:59ZForums: Doomsday Dawn Player Feedback: Armor Class range for partiesSnickersnaxhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs429li?Armor-Class-range-for-parties2018-09-11T22:17:39Z2018-09-11T22:17:39Z<p>I'm curious what kind of Armor Class characters are having in the play test. Starting with part 2 our group made a commitment to high AC to lower damage, and limit the need for healing. </p>
<p>Part 2: Our ACs ranged from 19 to 21 without conditional or circumstantial modifiers</p>
<p>Part 3: Our ACs ranged from 23 to 26 without modifiers.</p>
<p>I'm wondering how those might compare to groups who had a harder time.</p>I'm curious what kind of Armor Class characters are having in the play test. Starting with part 2 our group made a commitment to high AC to lower damage, and limit the need for healing.
Part 2: Our ACs ranged from 19 to 21 without conditional or circumstantial modifiers
Part 3: Our ACs ranged from 23 to 26 without modifiers.
I'm wondering how those might compare to groups who had a harder time.Snickersnax2018-09-11T22:17:39Z