Adam B. 135's page

Happy PaizoCon weekend, everyone! And a blessed Memorial Day weekend to my fellow veterans and all of you active duty service members out there.

I was thinking about what the best way to get this PaizoCon kicked off right is and I decided that the thing that makes the most sense is to tell you how many firearms made it into the finished version of Guns & Gears and what all of their traits are!

Based on this list of traits, I think it is safe to assume we will be getting a return of firearms combined with melee weapons! Hooray!

Can you name any of the guns that made it in besides the playtest guns? I personally am hoping for the axe-musket.

What kinds of archetypes will we get besides multiclass archetypes?

I tried searching the forums and could not find an answer. I ask this because I can imagine Firearm Ace and Fatal interacting very often based on Gunslinger's high firearm proficiency bonus.

Adam B. 135 wrote:

I am building a radiant and I was wondering what a good set of veils to shape at level 6 would be. I have a high Wisdom, high Dex build with low strength. I am focusing on party support, though I fully intend to have a companion veil shaped at all times. Character is good aligned as well.

The radiant, from City of 7 Seraphs is a buffer/healer akashic class, so like a lot of akashic classes, it's pretty flexible depending on exactly what you're wanting to do.

Since you're high DEX/WIS and want a companion veil always available, plus you're 6th level so you have a couple vivifications and Hands and Head binds....

Thank you for the detailed answer! You make an excellent point about companion veils. I will prepare notecards for multiple configurations of those companions.

I had completely forgotten about Spectacles of the Sheikh! That will be an excellent extra veil for levels to come past 6th. Glad to get another way to pump those skills besides items.

I am building a radiant and I was wondering what a good set of veils to shape at level 6 would be. I have a high Wisdom, high Dex build with low strength. I am focusing on party support, though I fully intend to have a companion veil shaped at all times. Character is good aligned as well.

The races have been updated with a few changes. Hopefully you will all find them more fairly balanced now.
Changelog:
-Duergar racial Trust Your Fear is now a reaction instead of free action.
-Elan racial Infiltrator has been changed to the following “Elans do not increase the DC of Disguise checks made to disguise themselves as members of another race of the same type. They still suffer the usual DC increase to Disguise checks made to disguise themselves as a creature of a different size category.”
-The following has been added to Atstreidi’s Assimilate Armor: “For all intents and purposes, an atstreidi’s armor shell is their body. It cannot be targeted individually or sundered.”
-The Half-Giant ability Overwhelming Force now costs a reaction, psionic focus and specifically does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
-The Half-Giant ability Heat Acclimated also applies to the burning condition now.
-Dromite’s teamwork ability now applies to Harrying Fire.
-Maenad outburst no longer grants +1 damage. It now allows the Maenad to reroll 1s on damage rolls.
-There have been a variety of grammar corrections

This book is confirmed to be bigger than 400 (!!!) pages! OO

And it's almost funded! I can almost taste my delicious Rhyzala race...

How delicious are they? Are we talking oyster mushrooms? Or are they tastier than the mighty truffle? I doubt they are less delicious than a simple white mushroom.

The only changes to Lashunta that bug me are that they lost the universal intelligence bonus and that they gained that weird "everyone loves them" fluff. That stuff bugs me. I don't mind the dropping of the sexual dimorphism. Hopefully dimorphism will return in a non-core race that isn't humanoid. I think that would be rad.

I'm not saying that there might be the possibility of an akashic healer class in this book, but look at the veils I teased,...

huzzah! Implications are implied!

Thank you Adam! I'm usually not a fan of it myself, but I liked the idea of the iconic "speaking" the phrase in question. :D

You are welcome. I think you knocked this layout out of the park. If the whole book is like that sample it will be very impressive! I look forward to showing it off to my graphic design friends!

We love wonder. And reward it... she is up on today's blog!

This is an amazing reward. She is very very VERY cool! But I must ask. Is she wearing a funny hat?

I need the veryx in my life. I notice the art specifically calls out that veeyx as male too! Makes me wonder how females may appear.

Seeing the PDF preview for the Nexus, something I usually don't think about came to mind. The layout work is exceptional! I love the way the text sits in front of the smoke from the Nexus Iconic art. Usually art and text overlapping bugs me, but this was tasteful.

Well, the Nexus is at 50 veils right now and Akashic Mysteries only had 75...

Moar veils! MOAR! But in all seriousness, the Nexus pleases me. The class itself is pretty straightforward which lets me enjoy the complexity of veils more.

Also the preview art for the judow is my child I love.

Seriously its cool art. Anything you can reveal about their abilities? They look absa-tively deadly.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you write up so many monsters? Did you base your numbers off the Pathfinder conversion rules?

I got my copy from Patreon! Will be looking into it soon!

Looking forward to seeing what your team puts out!

Why do people keep listing Solar Weapon as free? The crystals necessary to keep its damage competitive are just as expensive as weapons.

Well, soldiers really shouldn't be operating ships. I mean, they're grunts. You don't really want a grunt to fly a ship around. Or do anything on a ship except stand around waiting to get off so they can shoot things.

I dislike that opinion immensely. Ship combat may end up taking a significant amount of table time. If a soldier cannot contribute during this time, then the experience becomes less fun for the player of the soldier.

I really hope we can get some official word in here. Are these DCs meant for the captain to get at least 5 aid anothers from NPCs on the bridge?

I hope they are rechargable considering their cost.

Amora Game: Xeno Files series

First pdf release is on August 18th.
Xeno Files: Umvee

Will be a monthly Starfinder/Starjammer pulp-ish e-mag.
Cover can be seen on our FB page.

I liked Kemonomimi a lot. Looking forward to seeing how Umvee compare

After finding out the bestiary is coming 2 months after release, I want a bestiary.

I want aliens that don't mirror humans in the placement and proportions of their limbs. There will be so many Star Trek style aliens that are essentially humans in make up. I want to see something else.

I want aliens like the Dug from Star Wars (Sebulba from episode 1. Uses feet as hands and hands as feet), the Hanar from Mass Effect (basically floating sapient man-o-wars), or the Nopon from Xenoblade (use ears as primary set of hands).

Glad to write one! It has been too long

Congrats on the grand opening! I will look though this later tonight!

Hello everyone, I apologize for the long silent period. There have been some major changes to the playtest document:

1. Released materials such as the atstreidi, eiremian and ethumion have been removed from the playtest document, as they are no longer in playtest (though if you spot any errors in those releases, you can let us know!).

2. New races have been added to the document!
Liath: Drow/Elf hybrids who are quite excellent at raising spiders.
Saremir: The strong and graceful children of elves and orcs with a tranquil sort of rage.
Svartálfar: Children of elves and dwarves with a natural affinity for geomancy.

3. New stuff for old races:
Catfolk: Cheetah, manul, lion, lynx, jaguar and tiger catfolk variants.
Kitsune: The buda variant of kitsune and a tightening of wording to yokai.

4. New feats:
Bigfolk training: A feat to help small folk hold their own against big folk.

5. Traits:
Bakeneko: A race trait for catfolk to allow them to transform into cats.
Hot-Blooded: A trait to help make burn a little less punishing.

Thank you everyone for waiting for this new material and for all of the feedback you have given us so far!

Looks like we don't have to worry about geting a bestiary or archetypes! We got both!

I also believe Spheres of Might to be a stronger name.

This sounds pretty hype to me! I look forward to seeing what kind of combos I will create with rhese spheres. Considering you said that any Soul Caliber character can be made, I assume sword and shield is well supported?

The playtest document has been updated! In this update you will find clarified wording to many race's abilities such as the Coreid's Vital Core and Entoli's Entrancing Voice. There have been a lot of changes here. More than I can recount.

Additionally, there are two new Akashic race variants. The mighty Rosmaro and studious Vritrith. Walrus and salamanderfolk respectively.

We even have more Tiefling variants! Idol-Born spawned from Namuci and Meldspawn with Yatudhana origins. These have been submitted by Taveena. I would like it if we got feedback on them along with any of the newer content would be appreciated!

Atstreidi, Eiremian, and Ethumion are looking like they will be in the first Bloodforge Infusion release, so if anyone has any final feedback on them, it would be appreciated as well.

I am forwarding questions on coereid and atstreidi to the rest of the development team. Hopefully we can get an answer though. I can confirm that a coreid who takes the deceiver archetype gets to enjoy Terminator 2'ing it up!

As for the Coreid fighter FCB, that is being discussed internally. There are a few wording glitches leading to unintended RAW. Changes may be coming soon to it.

Good point on the Akashic subtype. I think it warrants reprinting.

For Entoli, the attack has to say its a ray to count as one. So like Ray of Frost, or Ray of Enfeeblement.

It begins. The (hopefully) long awaited playtest for more Bloodforge!

The first Bloodforge was a fun little book involving lots of crossbreeds, prestige classes, feats, and monster templates. Bloodforge Infusions will expand on a lot of ideas and themes presented in Bloodforge while also providing its own spin on things. The new races won't all be crossbreeds. In fact, most of them are not crossbreeds. Definitely less brain bleach required.

You can find the playtest document here!

Right now you'll find the following six new races:

Alafia—desert-dwelling superstitious viper folk with an Akashic connection
Atstreidi—a unique type of slime mold that grows sapience when it comes into contact with the psychic imprint left behind by a well-used suit of armor
Coreid—A psionic core that thinks its a real boy, building a body out of particulate matter from its surroundings.
Eiremian—Serene, detached planetouched with an affinity for negative energy.
Entoli—The entrancing offspring of maenads and sirens.
Ethumion—Supernaturally energetic descendents of ravids (somehow) and humans.

You'll also find variants for the sobek and suqur races from Akashic Mysteries, three new variant kitsune (and a universal alternate racial trait for them!), three new tiefling heritages, seven alternate tengu, a new rogue archetype, new feats including a psionic counterpart to Sanguine Sorcery & Spark of Divinity, and a new psionic power.

A lot of writer's hearts and souls went into this book, and we look forward to any feedback you all can provide. Thank you!

I want to see a veil that drains moisture from nearby, essentially making the area around you count as a desert (very strong for gamla!).

A veil that lets you swim in the ground would be cool too (Sobeks!)

New akashic monsters would be great too. I would want to see a wild Buraq, along with a few other non-daeva akashic monsters. As for Daeva, I want to see one that could be a familiar. The proposed akashic drake is definitely something I would want to see.

Archetypes for occult classes would be nice. I see a lot of potential with the spiritualist.

More variants of established akashic races would be great too.

I don't want to see additional binds added to old veils. That feels like too much book keeping.

As for the Green Thumbs veil, its base size is 20 by 20? does that mean it is gargantuan sized for the spell arboreal hammer? If so then I think that spell might actually start getting used.

25 point buy with races pulled from Dreamscarred's Akashic Mysteries and The Advanced Race Guide from Kobold Press,

Speaking of this, what are the chances of any 3rd party crossover? I would love to see that.

I am pretty impressed with the variety of archetypes, talents and feats in the book. Especially the tertiary identity feat and copycat talent, which can really help you keep your identity hidden. Sever ties/there is only the night are also a pair of amazing talents. They let you "kill off" "kill off" an identity and come with a built in retraining for the talent.

I am glad you were able to tie in the races of skybourne into these archetypes. Which of the racial archetypes did you find most challenging to write Ssalarn? For me the Ebon Phoenix and Deepstalker were the most unexpected.

What characters does everyone want to play? This is my list!

Male Angelkin Aasimar (or Ganzi or Shabti) Desire (love) Daevic
Male Vanara Vayist Guru
Female Reborn Samsaran Seer Vizier
Female Vishkanya Eldritch Scion (arcane) Snake Charmer Magus
Dromite Swarm Master Dread
Male Nisr Suqur Rogue or slayer

It also sounds like a party already!
@Ssalarn, would you let the magus use Cha for her veilweaving? since eldritch scion already changes Int bailities to Cha. I would have prefered a snake-y blood line but since eldritch scion uses bloodrager's... well.

Nice list! Vishkanya Snake Charmer sounds like a blast!

I want to multiclass Daevic and Guru with a Solhofaat. Beat people up with a crimson totem and have a decent amount of self healing.
Sobek Rageshaper too. There is just something awesome about being a big rampaging croc.
Nameer Veiled Lord.
Tiefling Swarm Master.
Kobold rogue/slayer using those akashic talents. I love playing as a spider-man rogue.

Now that the book has been out for a couple weeks, I'm curious what people's reactions are; how's the class and the new grappling options and such played at your table?

We love it. Being able to get immediate results from grappling made it a significantly more attractive option. I am planning a big wrestling event in my next campaign because of this.

Your best use of your actions is generally going to involve moving around and using a standard action grapple, or charging grapples with Aerial Takedown, and then getting your damage and debuffs or whatever you're focusing on through triggered abilities that let you better leverage your swift/immediate actions and attacks of opportunity. You get to move a lot without giving up your effectiveness and get to really occupy and impact a lot of real estate in combat...

This is another big reason why its fun. Getting to actually move and do your stuff is great.

Pretty excited! I look forward to seeing this book's contents.

I like releases that include new classes or support for existing (both 3rd and 1st party) classes. DDS's rogue book was cool, as was the war dancer. I love the Luchador too. More releases like that, with a bit of spheres in each one, would be fantastic.

Will review soon!

Makes sense. A house rule away for my group at least.

Well then, I guess that wraps up the playtest for the most hype class of all time. I'll let you know how future matches go with the Luchador!

Adam B. 135 wrote:

Raccoon dogs aren't actually raccoons. They just look kinda similar.

For the record: I know.

My bad sir!

I actually quite like this book. The art is great, and the races seem about Aasimar strength, which is my preferred strength level.

A raccoon and a tanuki ("raccoon dog")? Huh.

I guess I think of a raccoon as being a North American animal, and yokai as Japanese, so this surprises me. Not that it's a bad thing.

Raccoon dogs aren't actually raccoons. They just look kinda similar.

Thank you! I am feeling better about the mask now. I noticed the Masked Saint's capstone does not replace the luchador capstone. I do enjoy this archetype though.

I just noticed the Dragon Tattoo feat. I really love the mechanical implications of it! My only suggestion would be to allow the Inscribe Magical Tattoo feat from Inner Sea Magic to be able to enhance the tattoo, that way it supports the "I make magical tattoos" guy.

Yeah, the new belt is significantly cooler. I am a fan of it encouraging the wrestling playstyle.

The new mundane items are quite cool!I believe a Half Giant Luchador with a Steel Reinforced Table would be fantastic and fun to play.

As for the new magical masks, I feel like the Mask of the Saint could use a nudge. The Azure Demon Mask is expensive but has a very powerful effect and a downside. Its effect will stay useful forever. The Mask of the Saint however is expensive, but declines in use as your group often gains access to powerful healing magic such as Heal. If the mask had a secondary passive effect, such as increased effectiveness of healing on the wearer, or a bonus gained from taking on the pain of others, I think that would help it a lot.

Glad to see a renewable oil source. Carrying around tons of oil would be a pain!

Nice review? summary? Well, whatever it is its informative.

Yeah, I feel better about the laces than I do the belt right now, honestly. I'm thinking maybe the function stays basically the same, but some...

I am apprehensive about one item granting a +10 bonus to Ac, especially when the ring of protection goes up to +5. I believe focusing on something other than AC, such as temporary hitpoints, CMD, or even CMB would be better.

Thank you for being so quick to respond to feedback. Giant Slayer is just what the doctor ordered, and I appreciate the changes to Masked Beast and Lichador. If I were to request anything, it would be that Giant Slayer and Dropkick also be granted by some Stable Talents as bonus feats in the same style you wrote Iron Skull to give+enhance Nosebreaker.

You missed the Ki striker's surge fist replacing a 5th level stable talent instead of a 7th level stable talent however.

Blood Breaker is new. I guess you can't have something related to a vigilante without injecting comics into it huh? "Nobody cared who I was until I put on the mask." I love it.

Glad to see the Rudo. This will let me put a pretty mean heel+cronies in a wrestling tournament I plan to put in my campaign.

Is Dropkick new? I don't remember it. I like it though. Kinda like a charging vital strike.

Edit: ITEMS! Those laces are some nice shoes. The converting a nat 1 is kinda meh for me, but the extra speed (and thus big bonus to acrobatics) is really nice!

The belt I am less excited about. Getting 2 big 6 items in one slot is nice, but its also not exciting. I want to see the belt involve triumphing in some way for benefits.

Melech Gidon wrote:

The more I look at the Secret Police, the more I feel like there is more to explore for the class. I know the luchadore has some awesome wrestling type moves, but would it be possible to give the Secret Police some Monk-like unarmed combat bonuses or abilities? I'm picturing Jason Bourne, Agent 47 or Kato from the Green Hornet.

I think those are really great ideas, and Adam and I have been talking about ways we'd like to make the Secret Police archetype more accessible, so I will absolutely look into that. I think Kato and Jason Bourne are really great examples of where we could go with that.

Also, The Luchador is now available in its own stand-alone playtest doc, with a ton of new materials added in (and more on the way!). Let me know what you think!

This is pretty sweet! I see that the luchador has undergone some changes since I have last seen it.

Luchador:I am a pretty big fan of breaking down the Stable benefits into talents. I would like to see a few more generic Stable talents, including some acrobatics support, combat maneuver feats, and perhaps a talent to gain bonus CMB against larger creatures. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right? The new unarmed strike damage is pretty nifty too. I doubt this will cause any problems considering this guy is medium BAB. It wasn't a problem on the monk, brawler or unchained monk, so I doubt it will be here. The loss of bonus feats is a little disappointing, but there is also a lot of good choice available now.

Dancing Dervish: I am iffy on the Dancing Dervish's AC bonus. I can see it getting out of hand, but at the same time it will drain the user's swift action every round. I believe I would need to test it to be sure. Whirlwind Strike does worry me however, since it essentially gives out pounce at something more accurate than full-BAB and without taking the penalty to attacks for iterative. My apologies if I read it wrong, but this sounds quite powerful. Also, how does Momentum Strike and Whirlwind Strike interact with power attack?

Ki Striker: Ridiculously cool. Time for some Great Saiyaman action. Surge fist says that it replaces the Stable talent at 5th level. Probably a type for 7th level talent? Besides that, everything about this archetype is awesome. Just to be sure, the Surge Fist and Annihilating Surge Fist are resolved as melee attacks despite the range, correct?

Lichador: Top tier naming. Lichador? Soul Contender? This is the best. My only complaint is that Soul Contender feels like its only useful for slaying undead. The Ghost Touch part of it should at least work on anything incorporeal instead of just incorporeal undead, if nothing else.

Masked Beast: "truly, he was a beast in the ring."I love it. Early on it feels like they are missing out, since they will be using Totem Beast for one encounter. Later on though, it will provide an excellent amount of versatility, as I have seen hunters exhibit. I am unsure if losing the 7th level stable talent is necessary since the base stable benefits are permanent effects (mostly. Oil is almost permanent), and tend to scale. As I am reading it, if the Masked Beast wishes to deal nonlethal damage with their Beastly Weapons, they must take the -4 penalty to attack rolls for attempting to deal nonlethal damage with a deadly weapon. Do you mind adding some clarifying text? This feels like a glitch. Additionally, since the Masked Beast loses the unarmed strike feature, they have to take improved unarmed strike to gain access to the cool new feats. Any chance of Beastly Weapons counting as improved unarmed strike for prereqs? Call of the Wild is perfect. That ability will be a lot of fun to use!

I look forward to the Rudo and Mysterious Grappler. Their concepts sound solid.

Wrestling Races was quite the section. I especially like the links between the half-orc and orc descriptions. Cuazaj are "perhaps the most unlikely of luchadors" while elves are "Perhaps the least likely of the races to take up the luchador’s arts" and godlins are "perhaps the only race less likely to engage the luchador’s arts than elves." This is a little awkward. Though now I must know, who is less likely to don the mask? Cuazaj or Goblin?

Feats: Love them. Especially Shoulder Roll and Nosebreaker, as those will come up a lot.

This is a tragedy. His family with be in my thoughts.

Wow, I did not notice that combo! Marksman with bird is pretty iconic. I like this.

I saw Moon Knight once in a crossover with Spider-Man. He was a pretty cool guy. Definitely more brutal than Spidey. Since the Marine is an archetype, the Vigilante can still take one of the new specializations and really mix-up superheroes! Pretty fun if I do say so myself.

Melech Gidon wrote:

I love that I can see iconic heroes in every one of the archetypes in the guide. Just about everyone is there in some way or another.

That was definitely the goal!

And it looks like we have Green Arrow now! Pretty neat with all the trick shots this new Uncanny Archer archetype is capable of. Don't forget to include the name of which book that ranger archetype it draws its tricks from is in.

By the way, what inspiration did you draw from when designing the Marine? I kinda get Fury Road vibes from it, but I want to be sure.