Hi! I stepped away from PFS a little while back. I'm starting to look at migrating some of my PFS1 reference content to a new domain/site and discovered that a bunch of the rules and clarifications that were in the old product page threads and blog post comments have been lost in the recent store migration, plus some of the older blog posts (I think) have been entirely misplaced or removed. That makes me sad! I hope I have a copy of the missing conclusion for Heroes for Highdelve somewhere.
But the question I've got: does anyone have any up-to-date knowledge of what we should do with the lost clarifications? [em]I[/em] generally know what was going on with the links I was relying on, but I'm not sure if there's any official approach to dealing with the rules entropy.
If you're having a hard time wrapping your head around this you're probably not my target audience, but here's an example: PFS1 #10-16 What the Helms Hide is a quest-pack. In the PDF there's text saying that it's replayable at any level, but this apparently wasn't intended. (A common problem with those quest packs.) The clarification saying that it's replayable only at level 1 was on the product page, and it doesn't exist anymore. A legalistic approach would mean it's replayable at any level since that text in the PDF overrides the specific rules in the guide that's never getting updated. Pretty sure that's not the way to go, but maybe it is.
Why do I care? Eh, I don't entirely care, to be honest, but a lot of people still use my PFS1 references. Good reference material only works so long as it's clear and accurate, and some of those details have suddenly become markedly less clear. If it's easy for me to preserve I'd like to preserve the utility of the work.
This was not the Rasheen scenario I was expecting! (It's short on crocodilians, among other things.)
Noting some things as I come across them.
1. Hey, a good use of in media res for the intro! Sort of. Maybe not technically.
2. DR/wound? I guess bypassed by a weapon with the wounding critical hit effect? Hrm. I'm not familiar with a rule as to whether it's any weapon with the wound property, or on an attack that creates a wound, which would usually be a crit. I'm thinking any weapon with the property?
3. The sphinx's makeshift haste circuit is "broken." By using up a swift action as normal, but forcing it to only last one round (as abnormal), it means that she really only benefits from the increased movement speed. She doesn't have a swift action to use for her full attack, so she can't move and full attack in the same round like you would expect as someone benefiting from haste. Smells intentional to me, but I'm not 100% sure.
4. Keystone's mentioned (a possible victim of the editorial process?), but it sounds like they're supposed to be lumped in with the four other AIs that are working in the background and go undescribed.
Hey, new authors! Woohoo! I'm excited to see what everyone put together.
I was going to start with a question about page 5:
Quest 1, Endless War wrote:
PCs who rolled less than a 20 on their check feel an odd tingling around their heads as they recall these facts; this sensation is a manifestation of Myrrium’s assistance, as the orrery helps the PCs remember relevant information.
It's very confusingly worded, but I think I just put two and two together: the "actual" DC is 20, and the orrery is giving the PCs a +2 bonus which is already reflected in the DC, so if the orrery is responsible for the PCs succeeding at the check, then and only then do the PCs' heads feel fuzzy. I don't think that whole head-fuzziness-thing is supposed to happen if the PCs fail, but that particular bit didn't make it into the text.
I dunno, maybe that'll help someone else puzzle through it.
Just to let you all know: we are currently experiencing an unplanned, extended outage of organizedplayfoundation.org, which is the website for the Organized Play Foundation. It also hosts the Pathfinder Society Second Edition and Starfinder Society guides. We are actively communicating with the hosting service, who are working on restoring access. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA on when the website will be available again. As part of restoring access, we have taken steps that may cause the guides to remain unavailable until Monday morning. We will provide more information as we receive it. We apologize for the disruption, and thank you for your patience!
I'm a Society VC who's supposed to get the varied and sundry Society PDFs dropped every month. I got mine earlier, and Bounty #7 was not among them. Could you please
A. set me up with the bounty, and
B. check to see if there's something weird going on that would make me the one person who didn't get it?
I have no idea if this would affect anything, but I did recently asked to cancel an accessories subscription. Granted, it was for Starfinder, so it seems unlikely. But it might be a place to start if you need it?
Thanks much! I don't need the bounty super soon so don't treat this as an emergency. I'd like to get it sorted out before we all forget about it, though!
I'm a little puzzled. Pathfinder 1e confusion is all creatures in a 15-foot area. I'd been reading Starfinder confusion that way, but one of my players just read it very differently and as written, he seems to be right. In SF, confusion seems to... be an area spell that doesn't actually target creatures? It lists its effect as a 15' area burst (note: no targeting language, like in PF1) and the text says that creatures within the area are confused. Putting all that together, as written the confusion spell lingers in an area, and as long as you're there, you're confused. Leave the area and you're fine.
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area 15-ft.-radius burst
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
This spell causes confusion in all creatures in the area, making them unable to determine their actions. Any confused creature that is attacked automatically attacks or attempts to attack its attackers on its next turn, as long as it is still confused at the start of its next turn. Note that a confused creature will not make attacks of opportunity against any foe that it is not already devoted to attacking (either because of its most recent action or because it has just been attacked). For confused creatures that have not been attacked, roll on the following table at the start of each affected creature’s turn each round to see what it does in that round.
Is there something I'm missing in the Magic section or something? Or is this intended? I seem to have failed my will save.
you should be able to easily see the error in the map itself. More detail is available on the console, the most enlightening of which I believe is:
Google Maps wrote:
The Google Maps JavaScript API v2 is deprecated and will be turned off on May 26, 2021. Please visit https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/v2tov3 to migrate your application to v3.
I realize it's only described as deprecated in that particular error, but there are a number of important features that are now unavailable in v2, so it's largely unusable and marked as "for development only" now.
(Sending sympathy [empathy?] to those developers stuck supporting google APIs. I hated how frequently those got retired when I used them for tiny incidental projects.)
I was just trying to help out a colleague of mine access the paizo forums.
The error is that they can load the original page, but when the page makes an XHR to, for example:
https://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/Spinny/forumDisplay?forum =v5748dmtyzkl0&sort=-1&page=-1&_u=AUCForumDisplay&160704683 0952=
it 404s on them, or returns a "The requested application was not found on this server." error. Consistently, every time. Firefox 83.0, 64bit. Windows 10 I believe.
When I attempt to load the page, it works for me! I can even make the network request and it loads fine.
We've done the usual: private tabs, clearing caches, different browsers, different machines, clearing DNS caches, and so on.
Because this is a 404, that really strongly suggests to me that the request is getting to the Paizo servers and something's happening server-side.
One distinction between the two is that the person with the problem is connecting from Finland, while I'm attempting to connect from the US. I have no idea if it's related, but it's probably worth noting and I'm running out of other ideas.
It's been a while so I thought I'd check in again. A number of us (although not all of us!) aren't seeing our full star and nova count displayed on the forums. I seem to have been knocked down to 4/0/0 (stars/novas/glyphs) although I should be 5/2/0. Not super urgent, but it's been a couple years now...
I'm looking forward to running this! The ambiance is fun. The race against the hellknights is a nice way to keep this from being a run-of-the-mill dungeon crawl, too. (That, and the relative lack of combat compared to your typical dungeon crawl.)
One thing I'm not 100% on: the infrared laser trap. I'm guessing that the assumption is that if someone has darkvision, they see the lasers. Should be a pretty safe bet that out of 3+ high-level Starfinders someone will have darkvision up. The thing I'm less sure of is, how frequently should a PC make the save? The trap's less a triggered single effect and more an environmental challenge. I'm thinking that it'll be a once-per-round thing, at the start of the PC's turn.
One other thing I'm excited about--a varied team to challenge the PCs at the end! I have to imagine those hackers will go down easily, but if they don't, for some reason, this could be fun.
I wanted to use some Paizocon vouchers for this order but it would be Even Better if it could be sidecarted? Is that something you can help me out with, please?
I think someone forgot to punch some holes in my box and then it got shipped through some Superfund sites. My wereleopards died en route and now, instead of a surplus of cute cat videos, I've got these half-melted undead monstrosities who keep wrecking my Geiger counters while roaming around the house! It's kind of a pain.
Er, I mean: I ordered a pair of "2019 Promotional Figure: Wereleopard" (WZK73655) and my box arrived with a pair of "2019 Promotional Figure: Radioactive Skeleton" instead.
Anything you can do to help? And what can I do to help you help me?
Thanks guys! Hope you're all staying safe and healthy. This isn't an emergency, especially not as long as you don't run out of backup wereleopards.
Hi everyone! I'm working on getting myself situated. More information (botting policies, etc.) coming soon.
Fair warning to you all: this (in concert with another PFS1 play-by-post I'm running) will be my first PbP GM experience! I've played some here, and I've got some experience in other mediums, so I won't be completely lost, but I'm sure I'll screw up at least a few things. Please have at least a little patience. I promise I will try not to suck. :)
Congratulations, graduates! You've passed your Confirmation and are now full members of the esteemed Starfinder Society--well, the formerly esteemed Starfinder Society. Since the Scoured Stars incident cost the organization most of its agents and almost all of its endowment, it's lost a lot of its glamour and influence in the Pact Worlds. This year, the ceremony's more of a hollow formality than ever. Years of training were condensed into months, and study abroad in the Veskarium was canceled due to budget cuts. You even had to bring your own graduation attire! Some Starfinder trainees got deployed to live missions before they matriculated--no surprise given how few agents remain.
The ceremony was brief, featuring only one speaker--Venture-Captain Arvin, of all the people they could have gotten. Afterward, you were instructed to wait on a bench in a hallway in the Lorespire Complex. Guidance, the artificially-intelligent Starfinder Society mainframe, should call you in soon.
The hallway is clean, but it's not aging well. The cushions on the bench are flat, and there's a dent in the alloy wall next to an unmarked door a few dozen feet to your right. Across from you is an old-fashioned inkprint portrait of First Seeker Jadnura here, a kasatha who led the expedition into the Scoured Stars. It probably should have been replaced with a portrait of Luwazi Elsebo, the new First Seeker, by now. A rumor you heard from your classmates claims that something's holding up the transition, and it's not the maintenance budget for once.
We've got a few "minutes" before your appointment. Feel free to introduce yourselves as your classmates trickle in, or poke around the hallway, as I get the rooms (and myself) situated.
I'm running a little behind! This coronavirus thing has been a real kick in the pants in all sorts of interesting ways, even though we've been lucky and nobody we know seems to have caught it. I am in the process of catching up and we should start on time or thereabouts.
Also: I would ask for at least a small measure of patience, as this will be (in conjunction with another game) my first time GMing a play-by-post!
(This is in addition to the usual complaints that Starfinder novas don't appear in the forums.)
Some new behavior as of today: multiple users (including myself) are reporting that our Starfinder table counts are showing as 0 despite us having earned one or more novas by running lots of Starfinder Society.
It looks like we got everything except for Forbidden Tides, which shows as purchased to me but didn't end up downloadable--either from the Digital Content page or from the product page.
Can someone please give the scenario-granting-process a good poke with a big stick please?
I thought I'd canceled two subscriptions, but it seems I didn't. Oops! Could you please cancel them for me? I'd like to cancel:
* Pathfinder Accessories
* Pathfinder Pawns
Well THIS is an interesting one. Can I say how much I love the maps? The water effects are really beautifully done.
Request: can you please please please include more information about weird races into the scenarios? This adventure has a race appear in it in a way that makes it kind of a cluster... well, you know what.
page 6 wrote:
However, the ongoing media smear campaign has soured the opinion of Lead Representative Tsisitra (N female syngarathrix) toward the Starfinder Society, and she keeps her distance from the PCs throughout the event.
First of all, no reference was added for the race. It turns out that that's because it's not from a book, it's from another scenario! Calling out the scenario would have been helpful, in part because the spelling of the race's name differs between this scenario and the other, so nothing I did (including full-text searching every PDF I own) got me to the right place. It wasn't until I started reading through Honorbound Emissaries that I turned it up, but I was really reluctant to do that because I haven't played the scenario! :(
For future GMs:
Syngnathrix
Syngnathrixes resemble a chameleon-seahorse cross, with coral-like growths on their heads which differ from individual to individual, with those of females being usually larger. Syngnathrixes move on land on hundreds of cilia, and manipulate objects with a prehensile tail. Male syngnathrixes carry young to term during gestation. (Honorbound Emissaries)
Mystic Haze is a Push action, but it doesn't seem to depend on any system in particular.
Quote:
If you have at least 6 ranks in Mysticism, you can spend 1 Resolve Point and attempt a Mysticism check (DC = 20 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier); if you succeed, you call forth a magical burst of static to block your enemy’s view. This obscuring field garbles your opponent’s sensors and hinders their ability to gain information about your ship’s defenses and positioning, providing your starship a +1 enhancement bonus to AC until the end of the next round. In addition, the increased interference means all science officers on the opposing starship taking the scan or lock on actions before the end of the next round must roll twice for their checks and use the worse result.
Anyone have any idea what to do with this one, other than ignore the Push tag?
You employ a substantial form of divination, such as dealing from a digital harrow deck, reading the future by interpreting the splatter of leaking coolant on your ship, or visually scanning the readouts of your starship’s myriad screens to pull deeper and predictive meaning from the lights and sounds around you. This functions as the scan science officer action, but you attempt a Mysticism check instead of a Computers check. For information about the effects of a successful scan action, see page 325 of the Core Rulebook.
(emphasis mine)
The Scan action (after errata) reads:
Quote:
Scan (Helm Phase, Push)
You can scan a starship with your sensors to learn information about it. This action requires your starship to have sensors (see page 300). You must attempt a Computers check, applying any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. You can attempt this check untrained. The DC for this check is equal to 5 + 1.5 × the tier of the starship being scanned + its bonus from defensive countermeasures (see page 298). If you succeed at this check, you learn the first unknown piece of information on the following list. For every 5 by which you exceed the check, you learn another unknown piece of information. Subsequent checks reveal new pieces of information, continuing down this list.
1. Basic Information: Living crew complement and ship classification, size, speed, and maneuverability.
2. Defenses: AC, TL, total and current Hull Points, total and current Shield Points in each quadrant, and core PCU value.
3. Weapon: Information about one weapon, including its firing arc and the damage it deals, starting with the weapon that uses the most PCU. Repeat this entry until all the starship’s weapons are revealed.
4. Load: Information about how the starship’s expansion bays are allocated and any cargo the starship might be carrying.
5. Other: Any remaining ship statistics.
(Emphasis mine--see point 3)
The wording isn't great here and I'd like to double check that I'm interpreting this the same way as the rest of the community? My read is:
1. "This functions as the Scan science officer action"... isn't actually right. Instead it could be "Attempt a Mysticism check against a DC of [...]. If you succeed, you gain information as per the Scan science officer action." This is bolstered by the last line of the Scrying action (the word "successful" bolded above).
1a. Specifically, you don't need access to sensors, even though that's a requirement of the Scan action
1b. it's not a Push action, since it's not described as one under the Magic Officer entry--another point in favor of not needing sensors, although since it's not called out in the text it's hard to tell what the intent was.
2. The DC is the same: 5 + 1.5 × the tier of the starship being scanned + its bonus from defensive countermeasures
2a. This gets weird, though, because that DC is balanced with the assumption that you add your bonus from your starship's scanners to that check. I'm willing to say you don't get that bonus, but that does make this a little harder than just scanning. Which is okay. Although...
2b. Should the bonus from defensive countermeasures be added at all? In a home game I'd totally be comfortable ruling the DC was 10 + 1.5 × the tier of the starship being scanned but that doesn't work in RAW environments like SFS.
3. Can you attempt the Mysticism check untrained? :P (I mean, it does say that. See bolded text in the Scan action.)
1. Area A1, Waste Chute II. The hybrid scrapyard electromagnets (HSE?) say they pick up anything within 40 feet of them, measured from the center of the HSE. The scenario also goes to great pains to note that they're suspended 40 feet up in the air, with the waste piles 30 feet up.
- Subquestion 1: do the piles slope appreciably, or do they just have a sheer 30-foot drop at the edge?
- Subquestion 2: is this an actual 40 feet we're supposed to measure, or should it be measured only horizontally, as though the HSE is affecting a 40-foot radius cylinder 50' high?
2. Area A1, Waste Chute II. The "computer panel on the southern wall" is supposed to be marked with an X, but I can't find an X on the map. Assuming that's actually missing (and isn't user error or PDF reader error), where should it appear? I'm guessing between the two southern piles, but it'd be nice to know...
3. A Skillful Display: The DCs look wrong for interacting with Uko. Outside of the DCs seeming a trifle high for an "everyone try this, and count the failures" style check, anyway. The more specific skills have a higher DC, while any skill could be used... with the lower DC. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to taking the higher DC that I could see, though. Are these DCs correct? Should they be flipped, or something else?
4: Area C: Purging Guidance. A minor note: the map in C isn't labeled with C1 or C2. It probably would have been handy to note that on the map, as well as perhaps have a key noting that the dotted line is the glass enclosure that raises on Round 2?
*edit*
Actually, having the surprise glass enclosure flattened onto the map in such a way that a key even makes sense is kind of a problem... us GMs will want to edit that out if we want to use the map as provided I think. It makes sense that the PCs could notice the gates for the enclosure, but if Guidance is trying to lure the PCs in, it kind of sucks to have the area made super obvious on the map.
Obvious reference is obvious wrote:
"Good news! I figured out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a morality core they installed after I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin. So get comfortable while I warm up the neurotoxin emitters."
"That core may have had some ancillary responsibilities. I can't shut off the hologram defenses. Oh well."
Hey gang, it looks like we have a count of the replays we've been granted! I seem to have 30 to burn. (My wife has 28. And it seems like those are in the same ballpark as a number of other regular players and GMs.)
Thank you!
I've got some questions about how this will actually work in practice:
1. Is our use of these going to be tracked automatically?
1a. Many of us have a number of other sources of replay, like GM stars, that aren't tracked--but for the GM stars, they're the renewable resource. We want to burn those before we burn the nonrenewable replays. If this is tracked automatically, how do we represent the use of one of these other replays?
1b. Edge cases: if the system is automatically tracking things, how do we need to change reporting to compensate? Are there any rules we should follow? (Example: GM does not want to take credit; player is replaying a scenario for no credit, but with a non-pregen character)
2. These replays are just for Pathfinder 1 (and, I presume, Pathfinder 1 Core), right? (They're just labeled Replays at the moment)
3. We're still operating under the assumption that, if we've replayed something in ages past, we cannot use the new pool of replays to replay that scenario again, right?
I started wondering about this stuff because I've got a couple of GM star replays burning a hole in my pocket, and I'd like to make sure I use them (and not these new replays) before Gencon hits. I'll probably start finding out sooner rather than later, but some official guidance would be helpful for everyone!
Hey, there are some really awesome-looking new features! Thanks for getting us our playtest points back, and the new boons tab looks pretty spiffy.
Thou giveth and thou taketh away, however--it looks like I can't make any more (non-CORE) PFS1 characters, which is pretty frustrating for me as an IRL VO (we've been on a long crusade to get people to register their characters) but it's got to be a huge deal for the online crowd, particularly the Play by Post-ers who rely on creating characters in order to play.
Could you please bring that button back? And soon?
This sounds like a fun little romp. More goblins... I don't mind, but they're kind of being levered in everywhere. It doesn't feel very organic. Still, Dragbog seems fun and it's nice to see Dolok Darkfur and Nelket again! The centaur chieftain seems to really love kohl. Probably helps with the glare.
I have one request for authors or Paizo staff, even though they're the same in this case: could you pretty please list the tile IDs when you're using maps made out of map tiles? It would be really amazingly helpful, and the whole point of having those IDs on the tiles is so that you can list them in the adventure and save the players from digging through all 84 of their tiles to find the right ones. :)
For the record, it looks like we're using:
F00/05B ... F00/01B ... F01/04B
F00/31B ... F00/02B ... F01/01B
F00/17A ... F00/13A ... F00/40A
Separately, we have yet another different mechanic for putting out fires... previous users of create water may be disappointed that they can't just use that spell to put out a square. At least this one saves us the hassle of tracking squares and spreading flames! Seems solid, but the inconsistency with past fires will probably confuse some players.
All in all, I'm looking forward to it. It looks like this might run a bit short?
I'm winding my way through this scenario. It sounds interesting--makes me wish I'd had a chance to play or run The Hao Jin Cataclysm, though!
Some interesting characters. Is there a way I'm missing for the players to understand that Aislynn is responsible? (I know, I know, it's not uncommon. But it seems like an important tie-in here.)
A note to GMs: prep the stat blocks for this one in advance. If I'm reading things right, Lin Fen Hai's low subtier attack with her sword is 3 points too low. The high-subtier Onhae Guards statblock doesn't have a two-weapon fighting entry, although they're built as two-weapon fighters. In neither tier does the stat block for the guards include two weapons, so I'm making an assumption that's how they're supposed to be played.
Props on bringing a Silver Squall in--interesting that it neither uses the quick resolution nor the verbal duel rules as recommended, but rather a third solution. I'm not a fan of this system but it seems like the right choice for the scenario.
Well, that's an interesting bug. I posted in the PbP forum as an alias (familiar) and then as the primary character, and the posts appeared out of order with the post by a character being back-dated by about 3 minutes.
I tried to fix it by deleting the latter post, but it turns out I can't delete the post.
Any idea what's going on here?
I then posted an OOC note about the accident in post order that is blinking in and out of existence as I reload the page... but it seems to have finally stuck, so I'm less worried about that one.
Two things: first, something that was going on seems to be damaging these flip mats in the same way. Are you or the manufacturer misaligning these things under a press, or just sitting heavy things on them after they're done? If you have a pattern of these things, you might want to look into it. If you don't, then don't! :)
Second, as far as I'm concerned, Wizard's Dungeon is probably fine, but I'm worried about Ghost Ship since it looks like it's delaminating. Think you guys can help me out with it?
Everything else seems to be able to charge my credit card just fine, including Paizo subscriptions, but the Paizo website is failing to process an order for a couple of the new Concordance pins. Could someone take a look at that at some point and let me know what's going wrong, please?
My wife and I had a disagreement about how this works, and the example isn't helping!
Step 4: Four Free Ability Boosts
After you’ve chosen your character’s ancestry and
background, you have four free ability boosts you can
assign to her ability scores as you see fit. These represent
your character’s variety of experiences growing up
before she became an adventurer.
I read this as meaning that at level 1, if I wanted a dwarf to multiclass into wizard, I'd be able to drop a bunch of ability boosts into Intelligence until he (or she) qualified.
My wife doesn't think you can, based on this, though:
When your character receives an ability boost, the rules
indicate whether it must be applied to a specific ability
score or one of two scores, or whether it is a “free” ability
boost that can be applied to any ability score of your
choice. When you gain multiple ability boosts at the same
time, you must apply each one to a different score.
Has anyone heard anything official one way or the other?
I'm looking forward to this, but I have a lore question. Did you (author, developer, etc.) have any particular lore in mind for the grippli tribes? I mean, just stuff as simple as a tribe name and a quick description would be cool for consistency's sake and worldbuilding. I can make my own up, but I always like to get lore from the source(s) when I can. :)
I'm entirely confused about how this is happening, but here goes.
I made a post here. It's not got the most complicated formatting, but I wrote it on my laptop, previewed it, and everything seemed to look fine. I posted it, and everything still looked fine.
I later spotted it on my Android phone using Chrome (a Pixel 2 XL, if you care; I'm not sure it matters, but stranger things have happened.) The formatting generally worked, but the underline formatting did not.
I'm not sure how this even happens, where the BBcode is parsed in one browser but not in another, but it seems to be happening to me. My phone shouldn't be able to see the bbcode to begin with, I'd thought.
On the recently-rebranded Digital Content page, the Mark All as Downloaded link reloads the page but doesn't mark anything as downloaded. It's been broken for a few months, but now that I look, I don't really see a bug report for it, so I made one. Apologies if you already know about this!
If you could fix it, though, that would be useful for those of us with hundreds of things in our list. Managing those downloads is a pain! Especially when we don't care about having things broken out by chapters.
The Wonderer! Full of awe and epiph-wait, wrong class, the WANDERER!
Sorry for the ramble let's check this out.
The Wanderer is a martial, a defensive/avenger counterpart to the Swashbuckler to be succinct but that wouldn't really be accurate.
Aside from the Paths their Feats to either be either themed around their core Reaction Return the Favor (smack some fools that hurt your friends), intimidate meta, and the Parry trait. Not gonna go giving a thumbs-up/down for every feat (there's 75... that's a lot ), but pointing out ones that catch my eye.
But first the Paths, which affects their other class mechanic Grit, normally you only gain it when you roll initiative outside of your Path specialties.
The Marksman gets guns, can use guns, and you reGrit (horrible blend, like mayo and mocha, will think on something more apropos) when you reload after shooting someone.
The Outlaw gets outlawish skills, the outlawish poker skill feat to hide stuff on your personage, and get your Grit back when you hit someone whose flat-footed.
The Peacekeeper likes to talk about stuff, they're trained in Diplomacy and can go on and on how disappointed they are in you like a caring Abuela (and can also use Diplo for all their Intimidate focused Wanderer Feats). They get Grit back when dealing nonlethal and can use maneuvers for their Reaction.
THE RONIN (my personal favourite if you couldn't tell... I'll tell you anyway, IT IS) you get Access to a single Uncommon stabber or hacker and are trained in Athletics and Diplomacy so you suplex someone having a debate with you just like Plato intended. When greater awesomeness comes greater restraints however as they only regain Grit when they Strike someone and then Stride/Step after, so you gotta style on your opponents. Speaking of they can move as part of their Reaction, so Stationary isn't something they really have to worry about.
At the halfway mark you learn Honed Technique which upgrades your Paths,
For Marksman you can reload as part of your successful Reaction, even if the weapon takes multiple reload.
For Ronin (why are these in a different order?) you can use your full movement during the Reaction and can make the attack at any part of your movement, so that's really fun for hit and run styles.
For Outlaw you can flat-lock them after your Reaction.
For Peacekeeper you deal extra nonlethal damage with your Reaction maneuvers and treat all melee weapons as having the NL Trait.
Before the Feats a quick recap over things I haven't elucidated on, Grit is the class fuel full of essential vitamins and minerals (not to be confused with essential oils, these are actually useful) every growing Ron-Wanderer needs. You Discharge (yes that's the actual name of the ability) them as part of numerous Wanderer abilities but while you have you gain Physical Resistance (and you pass that along to your allies when you Reaction in their favor.
They gain the Incredible Initiative feat... it's just kinda there, not mooching but wasn't invited either so you're like okay but then they ordered pizza for everyone so yay!
Oh also you get a Perception bonus from Grit, keep forgetting it or the Resistance cause they're mentioned in separate things for some reason (smol complaint is smol).
Oh missed this the first time, at 13 they gain Unspoken Word, which lets you use Verbal skills/actions without requiring that you share a language with the other person.
Now for Feats!
1
Hardened Gaze - you can counter-Intimidate someone using that skill or the other two against (take THAT Bon Mot) you or an ally, Frightening them and worsening their result.
Tough to Kill - Diehard but better (no this is not an invitation to discuss which Diehard movie is best)
You're Next - ooooh how I like this one! You can Demoralize as a Reaction after downing an opponent.
2
Antagonize - a sorta Taunt mechanic that works, when you Demoralize someone they can't completely get rid of the penalties until they attack you or can't find you.
Whirling Assault - Flurry of stab stab cut cut, you can Step between or after the attack but I don't know why'd you wanna Step in the middle of the attack since you can't redirect the second attack *scratches head*.
4
Duelist's Challenge - the Duelist Feat of the same name, cool in theory, but has the same restrictions of locking you into a one-handed weapon and refusing to let you use your other hand for anything, so meh
Reliable Ally - Non-Denominational Ally! You can select a weapon to gives Properties, a trinket to give you more Resistance, or gain a mount. Can't designate an actual ally for jolly cooperation sadly.
Walk Tall - YESSSSSS now we're talking, not gonna lie, the Class was feeling really ehh up to this point, but then they drop this on us. I love the visual. A Stance, as long you don't move other than a Step you don't Discharge your Grit when using Return the Favor.
6
Gritty Acumen - While you're Gritted one of your Saves gets a bonus
Iaido Stance - the ACTUAL quickdraw, a Stance that lets you negate some reactions by drawing just that fast, also gives you more weapon damage die, so good good there, the shiny click clacks are pleased.
8
Bloody Demise - A Reaction that makes your kills rather messy, debuffing a nearby opponent as they get splattered by what's left of their friend.
Coiled Stance - Stance that gives you an extra Reaction, very useful for this class.
Loyal Ally - upgrades for your ally, but still not Jolly Cooperation
Patient Return - this is a very interesting Feat, for as long as you have Grit you gain an increasing bonus on Return the Favor's Attack. Meaning if you withhold or can't make the Reaction it keeps going up, a nice tranquil fury buildup.
10
Close and Personal - when someone tries to run away you chase them down and bonk them for being rude.
Grit Warden - you buff your allies (FINALLY SOME JOLLY COOPERATION) when you're Gritted.
Guarded Stance - When Parry builds really come online as something other than Reaction fishers, in this Stance you're always treated as having your Parry weapon poised, saving you actions and your opponent's reactions for that squirrely Wizard.
Rub Some Dirt On It - (do not do this cool thing in real life), it lets you suppress a Persistent damage effect, and you can also Discharge to full on remove it.
12
Cheat Death - your GM will hate you, a Reaction that will let you remain conscious with 1 HP, but you gain Doomed. Very thematic.
Remarkable Ally - Remarkably still no jolly Cooperation.
14
Dastardly Return - Outlaw exclusive (jerk), but they get to treat themselves as their Ally for Return the Favor, so can't really blame em.
From the Hip - Marksman exclusive, obviously stealing Outlaw's homework, you can treat yourself as your ally for RtF against an enemy you haven't attacked this encounter, so kinda niche there.
Peacemaker - Peacekeeper exclusive and quintessential f$*! around and find out, you treat yourself as your own ally if you haven't dealt damage to the attacker yet.
Whirling Return - yay some Ronin goodies! You may blah the blah if the attacker use a move action on their turn. More bonks incoming.
16
Don't Fear The Reaper - you don't go down or die till Dying 6. Make them regret their life decisions up till this point.
Reckless Assault - when at half health you trade your defense bonuses from Grit for Offense. Really fun. Not the most practical but what is in this situation?
Something's Off - roll Will or Perception twice against certain effects, and can counteract them with Perception by Discharging even.
18
Chosen Ward - WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG FOR THIS, THY JOLLY COOPERATION?!?! You can share your Grift benefits (so literally Friends with Benefits, maybe that's why it's at 18?) with a designated Ally. Almost feels taunting getting it this late.
Disarming Parry - a fight ender, A reaction that lets you disarm AND moves the success up by one step on the attempt, including yeeting the foe's weapon if it was already a Critical Success.
Don't Die On Me - This is GLORIOUS! You threaten someone back to life, how dare they die on you and make you shed tears without your permission.
just In Time - I didn't think you could be any more climatic than the previous Feat. I was wrong. As long as an Ally is there and they need you, you can get there just in the nick of time (this is the part of the movie with the cool screencuts and crescendoing music before the hero's motif kicks in)
Unwavering Ally - hard to compete with the other two due to no Jolly Cooperation
20
Nothing Personal - you can straight up kill or otherwise seriously ruin the day of someone hit by your RtF, but hey, they shoulda RTFM.
Surrounded By Fear - oozing coolness, you mass Demoralize your foes and they first time they work up the nerve to attack you you regain Grit.
True Grit - I would have been heartbroken if this wasn't in here. You don't spend Grit on your first Discharge each round.
Now for non-Feat goodies, WEAPONS!
We got stats for using the katana's sheath for some bonk time. The Saintie, which a Persian parrying spear, really cool looking. AND OUR BOI NODACHI IS BACK BABY!!! Makes up for the lack of Ronin love in this supplement (almost >_>)
There's also a section at the end going over Films and Appropriation talking about the problematic aspects that have built these style of characters in media since their inception, which was a rather nice addition (hint hint: cowboys weren't white for the most part)
Overall a fun and solid class, could their have been tweaks and polish to make it even more awesomer? Absolutely. It doesn't blow away other martials and there's serious competition if you're wanting to decide between them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if offered would I consider playing this class? ABSOLUTELY.
Every creature in here was something I was highly looking forward to or I was very interested in after, bundles of ideas from every critter. Highly recommend this offering, this is a Lost Omens quality book.
If you were expecting a Mwangi Expanse equivalent you’ll be disappointed, the sum of this book is mostly a dry textbook/history book, which I’m sure is wanted/useful for some but not really interesting to me.
Some reused art (which doesn’t bother me honestly, save for 1 or 2 that were low quality), but a couple of nice ones, but altogether lacking too much for my tastes.
Also way too much time spent on slavery. It used to be legal there and now it’s not and that upset a lot of people. We get it.
Also via not lore checking we have “retcons” such as having Torius Vin, Protagonist of the Pirate’s Honor/Promise/Prophecy novels and associated fiction by Chris A. Jackson (good reads by the way) as a CE slaver…
I will start this off by saying Sutter has given us an excellent adventure, with the buildup to the main villain and the affect he has had on almost every other NPC in some way, directly or not, being absolutely delicious for both players and GMs alike as all the pieces start to fall in to place.
The Menagerie riot is an interesting step in that while it may give many players red herrings for the time being its a nice little set piece that ties into later parts, more so if the players are able to actually pick up on it.
Midway through when the party has to infiltrate a villain bar and schmooze numerous characters (setting up the rogues gallery for this AP methinks) through various unique challenges and games is an utter delight as well.
That said, this AP does have some pitfalls so I would not in good conscience or taste run/play it as is.
There’s a small bit at the beginning where it says the PCs aren’t cops but mercenaries hired by the force, oof, to save on money and the like. That’s... not good, but it doesn’t seem to be addressed in the adventure proper and the PCs are indeed treated as rookie cops rather than outside assistance with less liability so that was probably left in from an earlier draft, hopefully.
Then there’s the loot. I wish more thought and different actions were taken in order to make sure PCs could stay equipped throughout the adventure but anytime people are dealt with, either criminals or victims, civil forfeiture and bribes/“thank yous” enter the picture and just leave an obscenely sour taste in my mouth. This whole component needs to be rewritten I would suggest.
Then we get to the second act, a workers revolt. Leading/Reading up to it you think there’ll be an intense hostage situation to try diplomacy at (and there is, to a point) when dealing with the workers who have been treated poorly, but sadly and horribly the workers revolting, Kobolds, wanting to set up a union for better rights and pay and chanting slogans they don’t understand but parrot (explicitly said so) immediate devolve into a massacre before the PCs even enter the picture, and the hostage situation itself for those that survived can go even worse very quickly and easily. This is compounded by the fact that the architect admits she was underpaying the Kobolds after, but the book tries to frame her a victim and as someone you should like, even pointing out she’ll be important later on in the AP. So Architect treating workers like crap good, protesters and unionizers deranged and homicidal, gotcha.
I sadly cannot give this book and all of its authors and artists the justice and respect they deserve by going in depth on every Legend herein.
The entire thing though, front to back is groundbreakingily beautiful with all sorts of delicious lore and hints and potential plot hooks sprinkled throughout, harkening back to the likes of Faces of Sigil for Planescape.
This books is hands down my favourite Pathfinder book in either edition, jampacked front to back with concentrated awesome.
Like Lore? Like Art? Need inspiration? You'll love this book.
I love bestiaries, all sorts of new monsters, new art, gives me all kinds of new ideas.
And there's plenty in here as a bunch are updated to P2, but don't worry, there's some brand new faces as well.
In addition to needed Fey (and Linnorms) B2 gives us plenty of missing Fiends and other Immortals, from the Oni to the Qlippoth to those jerks the Jyoti. As well as rearranging certain monsters to make more sense since "Outsiders" are no longer a category, for example Xill instead of being Fiends have the Aberration and Ethereal Traits, which makes for some new interesting scenarios.
Also more Linnorms! More curse and raged fueled poison noodles!
My grumblings about how monsters are built aside (since the rules for such aren't included), the first Bestiary for Pathfinder Second Edition is a wonderful treat, even if you're not interested in playing it.
All of the art is brand new, with some monsters being scarier (the cover hydra, and the Otyugh, now a rather fierce sewer doggo) to adorable (I LOVE the Kobold redesign, they're like plushies!). I'm not entirely sold on the hobgoblin design although the General has some nice art, conversely I do really like the Ogre's new look, bulky powerbuilders more like. Michael Bay was consulted for the Leshies I believe.
The trans kitty Lamia and the John Carter of Mars snek Lamia were a nice sight as well.
As for presentation similar monsters are now grouped together more (such as Nymphs/Dryads) and their flavor, lore, and mindset are presented first before the statblock, which is much more pleasant to read as you go through the book.
As for statblocks I'm really impressed with the amount of new and unique abilities creatures get and how they are handled, a bunch that are also customizable.
Even if I don't really get into 2e, I will continue to enjoy these Bestiaries.
Don't know the art term for it but the first map is more painting than map, with a beautiful idealized illustration of Meratt surrounded by various other artistic depictions, definitely something you would see hanging up in a Taldor frame.
The second map is all map, a a basic outline of Oppara and its districts, which are labeled, with no flourishes.
Back to illustrations for the third we have the entire country of Taldor (and the isle of Kortos and Absalom, so bonus) lovingly painted.
If the first and last had a few more labels this would have been 5 stars, or if the Oppara map had been made like the other two. If the other two had been made like the Oppara one I'd be disinclined to buy the Folio, maps like that don't interest me that much.
Long shrouded with secrecy and terror this books finally dives into the shadowy horror that is Nidal. And it is wonderful.
The overview of the various areas and the art along with it are awesome, and an absolute treat for GMs and players who have long had/wanted characters to be from this dreadful place.
Warning: this book contains VERY disturbing themes and certain pieces of art, being, ya'know, the country of misery and torture. And now that you've been warned, enjoy ^w^
It’s actually something else rather than just the Barbarian and Paladin smushed together, and rather nice at that. Will try to have a more in-depth review later.
The AP opens with the PCs arriving at Absalom Station, most likely to join the Starfinder Society. While any races and classes are fine for this first adventure it does assume your characters are more than willing to work for the Eoxian Embassy midway through, so overtly Good characters, and followers of Iomedae, Pharasma, and Sarenrae will run into conflict with this development, and possibly many many more going off the synopses of later installments of the AP, to the point that these characters can not be enjoyed to the point they become unplayable. So fair warning trying to make a hero or crusader style character.
Ok now to the adventure. I love the beginning hook! That's a great way to moviate people, and the whole concept of a spooky derelict ship with mysterious cargo is a personal favourite of mine. That and even for the first adventure it comes with a rather climatic end! Or should I say beginning? There's still 5 more books...
The writeup on Absalom Station is informative, and I love the elected official in charge, Kumara, and her polices, it's a message needed right now. That and the Station itself is rather interesting... in that we don't really know what all it does...
The relics of Golarion chapter is a blast, with one very peculiar standout in the lineup...
And Alien Archives.
AKATAS!!!!! MOONDOGGOS!!!! WITH AWESOME ART!!!!
The two Drift creatures are VERY interesting. Speaking of the Drift, it's f+!%ed up. There's really no way getting around that, especially with the reveals of the extent of what it does and what occurs within.
And now for my favourite part, the World Codex. HEICORON IV is a lovely tropical planet almost completely covered in water concealing vast and very recent ruins (as ruins go anyway). It once was more, "temperate", but something occurred during The Gap that caused the polar ice caps to melt.
It's a lot to go through for the hwole book so I'm just gonna ramble.
The classes all look interesting, enough to pry me away from the Solarion or Soldier and maybe make try one of the others.
A lot of this stuff I was hesitant about but i'm liking what i see so far, we'll just have to wait and see if I actually like it in play but I'm hopeful. Themes instead of traits look really interesting, and the new way point buy is handled has my attention. The two universal archetypes presented are kinda meh but that's one of the few downers I've seen in this book so far.
Well, that and all magic being the same and alignment not looking like it matters much but this is a whole different system so it's not enough for me to hold it against it, being well, a whole new system.
I'm, still finding stuff I'm wary of and stuff I'm really excited for but haven't really found anything I hate outright so I think that''s pretty good ^w^
Even if you aren't intending to play this AP I would recomend getting this (FREE) PDF just for the art alone, the border art by Francesca Baerald on the pages is absolutely gorgeous.
(this product uses the Research rules from Ultimate Intrigue, just a head's up)
Okay, this was absolutely wonderful. Within are a numerous different types of Libraries (10, if i counted right), from colleges to state-run to private collections to lost antiquities to the otherworldly (you have one that connects to dreams and one made up memories), and what and how they are available to characters who wish to use them and what help (or opposition) they might receive from the curators of said libraries. As well as suggestions for making new ones, such as a lost library buried in a glacier to tattooed corpses in catacombs to the spirits of the Akashic itself.
My favourites are the traveling gnome who makes sure children have books to read, and which children (and some adults) are able to pierce the veil and travel to the realm of dreams while still awake, and a Nurn who trades information for stories (whether true or fictional) and memories, which, I think is a grand plot piece, you know something and some other people are after that information? Simple, give it to the Nurn until you can return and reclaim the information, if you wish.
Which is what I think is so glorious abotu this product, in that, just like the books themselves, it provokes so many ideas and plot hooks from which to build with or add to.
In addition to libraries this also contains an Oracle Mystery and Cleric Sub-Domain, and overview of books and libraries through the ages, as well as the forms "book" have taken, such as tablets from the earth to scrolls to the common books of paper and hardback to CDs to virtual tablets we use today more and more.
And the optional rules of Fluency, for if you want to add more depth to learning, understanding, and speaking languages rather than simply putting a point into Linguistics and DING, new language acquired.
There's also the neat Bookring, a cheap-ish (as far as magic items go) ring that lets you store books for later viewing for your eyes only.
On and there's also a neat chart listing various thematic suggestions from Pathfinder products for dealing with books and libraries, from Archetypes to Traits to creatures from Bestiaries.
Actual review coming in the morning, sleepy time now.
Edit (nearly a year later)
Wow I dropped that ball there. *cough* anywho...
BUTCHERING AXE! I love this thing, especially with how the "prerequisites" are handled in how you are able to wield it.
Related I love the Hornbow (good Demon's Souls memories there), for when you want to impale a jackass to a wall and you left your ballista at the other keep.
Drow Razer gives me even more of a reason to play Drow, never have before, need to change that, while the sickle sword is lovely even as my brain wanders in how to picture it hehe.
The equipment packages are useful if you want to load up your players at the beginning or if you're starting at higher level and just want to grab a bunch of "essentials" without having to hunt everything down.
The Alkenstar Fortress Plate is nice, cause f&!# guns. So is the Erutaki Coat (it's fluffy and you can take it off fast), Spider Silk Bodysuit (swoon), and then you have the Varisian Dancing Scarves and Chain Coat, one I like more than the other.
The weapon and armor modifications are also a nice breath of fresh air, for everyone who was tired of their character wearing and wielding the same types of armor and weapons.
(I'm surprised it took this long to get a treasure chest into the game)
And possibly my favorite item, the Mirror Ball. It's a mirrored ball. You can roll it. Or throw it at someone's head if the fancy strikes you (and then them).
I am glad that crutches and wheelchairs have finally been statted out as well ^w^
Wing Sheaths are neat, as well as the Thief Trainer, which i can see plenty of people picking up even if they're not thieves.
(That Pharasman lantern is fancy as all f*!% and I want one)
Bear traps, yay! Moving on.
Corsets! Stiletto boots 9yes you can use them as improvised weapons)! Courtesan outfits! Squeeeeeee!
The expanded improvised weapon effects list is nice and something I had been interested in for awhile.
CONCOCTIONS! Who loves pretty and delicious drinks? Who loves miscibility tables?
and finally, POPPETS! Who wants to make their adorable little friend to help them out? No really, I about died when I saw them, they're beyond cuddable.
This was just some stuff that stuck out to me on a long overdue reread through, but it's not even a 1/3 of all the neat and useful things that are in this book. Well worth the money and highly recommended.
This is a truly beautiful product made by a wide assortment of wonderful people, both writers and artists, some who were able to break into the RPG market because of Wayfinder giving a spotlight on their creativity and dedication.
Collecting from 15 issues of Wayfinder there is no rhyme or reason here, similar to Paizo's Bestiarys, just a whole f+&!ton of cool monsters to throw at your players and to help you shape adventures. And even better, it's free.
Okay, first to address the elephant in the room, yes, this book has some reprints from other Pathfinder lines. The key word being "some". At first glance I thought it 1/3 of the book that had been reprints, most of which are from products from several years ago (Inner Sea World Guide and Pathfinder Society Field Guide came out almost 6 years ago), but after rereading a few times and going over everything within, the Archetypes, the Prestige Classes, the Feats, the equipment, I'd say it's closer to 1/4 (maybe even less) reprints, most of which have gotten updates and overhauls. Nowhere even near 1/2.
As for the Organizations coming from Golarion? That actually doesn't bother me, since it allows for much more flavorful options rather than intentionally blank by design drag and drop groups or character, it gives these groups and the options they offer more gravitas. Even then, if you don't like the organization or flavor attached to a specific option I don't see it being that difficult to strip it (d20 does it all the time). No more difficult than trying to add flavor to blank option, regardless of what setting you use.
Now onto the good stuff, which there is plenty, because of how much is in here. No really, I went through Bestiary 6 faster than this, looking over all the character options which make up the bulk of the book (flavor and information on each organization as well as prominent members takes up 2 pages for each organization, the book is almost entirely options) and coming up with and being inspired with character concepts (both ones I already had in my head and new ones taking root) and planning and putting everything together is a very fulfilling experience for me.
Grey Maidens! I really loved them, such a sorrowful and broken lot, and the character options expand them, whether for Evil or Good, and make them great allies. Cool feats, their signature sword and shield style, the ability to, as immediate action, grant a bonus to their allies damage when they hit someone, or to grant an ally a bonus to their saves when they make their throw (of which their is no daily limit on) with words of encouragement, as well as an awesome level 1 feat that lets them pick from a wide range of bonuses to better shape them as a Gray maiden. And then there's Unbreakable, which, if the name didn't give a hint, Unbreakbale Fighters (as well as normal Fighters) are going to adore.
The Prestige Class is badass, which it should be, being powered by the Queens of Night from Hell in their service to Queen Abrogail. The Cavalier archetype is interesting, combining two Orders and gaining all the abilities from both, but with a slightly weakened challenge and loss of mount (the latter I know is going to be a love it or hate it option. I love it, I have no interest in mounted combat).
Then there's the Vigilante archetype, the Masked Maiden. Unlike the much maligned Brute archetype this archetype has a borderline dissociative (the opener even mentions most Maidens enter a fugue state when their indoctrination takes hold. Most, not all, it's not required) state that is much more well handled, both mechanically and as well as the depth of playing someone in that state of mind) and infinitely more player and group friendly. And Armor training. Which means Advanced Armor Training!
The magic items look fun, two even complimenting each other, and the Maiden's Promise is my favourite, cheap (as far as magic items go), and very flavorful, a split locket formed from jewelry taken from the vain Illeosa's hoard, most of which were distributed during her final days as a sign of sisterhood, that give two allies a bonus vs anything that would compromise their loyalty towards each other, as well as a damage bonus against anyone threatening the other wearer if they're helpless for whatever reason. If one should fall though, then the surviving wearer must brace themselves against despair. Which plays into the them of the Grey Maidens excellently, you and your sisters can achieve so much, whether for Good or for Ill, but at what cost to yourself?
Would I recommend this book? Yes, unless you really, really don't like Golarion or the Organizations, but as I've stated this does not look to be that hard to change the flavor and information on the options presented. With all the talks of reprints I could see people being hesitant about that, but the new options far outweigh the reprints, most of which are from older books, some of which you can't get physical copies of anymore. And if you're still undecided the book is in the Core line so the PDF is only $9.99, so I'd say give it a try.
(I'll try to put up the other Organizations as well, I just went for my favourite first)
It's almost too much to go over with two new awesome player races to homicidal flying weasels that work very well as BBEGs to the all the demigods... I'm going to get so much mileage out of this bestiary.
This book is either gonna be a love it or hate it item, and for me I love it. It contains numerous options for going after different types of creatures as well as advice on how to handle said creature types. Are these options "niche"? For the most part they are but that isn't necessary a bad thing, and the family of feats that gives you a lot of incentive to take a Favored Enemy other than Human are nice.
Some highlights,
A feat that lets you track with Perception.
A feat that lets you use Knowledge skills against their corresponding creatures' stealth and disguise rolls and to track them.
I f+#$ing love the Cavalier archetype because it is badass and gets rid of the horsey. I like Cavaliers, but I hate mounted stuff, so this is perfect for me, I can finally play a badass knight that hunts monsters.
There's a feat chain that let's you be a skinwalker (not the race, this is more of the I wear your skin to gain your power kind of thing).
A magical necklace that alerts you to the presence of the type of creature it is made from and gives different bonuses and abilities against depending on which body part it is made from.
A cheap magical whetstone that lets you bypass a certain amount of natural armor and makes your weapon deal more damage.
So this books goes into a good amount of detail about the history and society of said BFT as well as the treehouse city of Portokali, the Dryad Goddess Endainne who inhabits the BFT (there's a deity write-up for her, as well as an Obedience and Boon!) as well as the all female amazonian race that dwells there the Daphanie, who can either get a cool vine that grows form them that can be used to fetch items or used as a whip or membranes that let them glide and avoid fall damage, VERY useful when you live in a BFT.
I do like that they included altitude rules for the higher up you get into the tree, as well as climb checks for actually exploring, there's also the ecology, with even random encounter tables for the different areas of the BFT, from the treetop (some Celestials filter in) down to the roots (said roots have unfortunately broken down into the lower planes) as well as other threats (Dragons don't like the tree) and the adorable Rattatoskir, awakened dire squirrels that serve as messengers, and also the Hyeorai, unique golems formed from splinters of the BFT.
There's also the awesomely named The Unkindness, a large swarm of ravens that operate as one creature and serve as a sort of Herald for the Dryad Goddess.
Sorry if the review is a bit disjointed, I'm pretty sure I'm just rambling.
I love the Setting line, it just keeps giving me such wonderful things to play with.
I don't think I could go over everything but I will state that you'll notice a definite difference when these are the love and sweat and angry jumbled curse words of a single person, the whole book just seems to flow together effortlessly in its depictions of Qadira and Kelsey culture and history, of which there is plentiful. From the kings to the couriers every delicious little bit of info you never asked for but always wanted has been laid out, or as much of it as can be in a book this size.
From the mechanics side of things the Ashiftah, or "Battle Witch" is now my absolute favourite Witch archetype, beating out the Wyrmwitch. Going invisible when you Hex someone? Casting touch spells at range? And extending the range of Hexes with nasty fog of war as well. And like the Hexes themselves, you can do this all day.
The Solar Sorcerer bloodline and Sun Totem Rage Powers are also cool (the former helps people with Fire, the latter ends them with Fire).
And there's also a bunch of cool stuff for mounted characters (would you like a second attack on your Ride by Attack?) including Geniekin horsies!
Tangent: for those who have been looking, there's some absolutely kickass art of a Qlippoth-descended Tiefling in this (as well as a rather lovely Harpy).
I absolutely love them and how they're designed, good for sneaky types and frontliners. Wizard? Not so much. And with their racial bonuses and abilities they're damn good at it, removing the things that have kept me from playing a small race for the longest time, either a hit to Strength, or having to use smaller weaponry. Not an issue for the Homicidal Bun-buns.
And that's without even getting into their cool alternate racial traits and race specific items. Abduction rope is sweet, also, LUCKY HALFLING FOOT! THAT'S ACTUALLY LUCKY.
If you like playing a smol but swol fuzzy bundle of adorable death I can't recommend this supplement enough.
