I'm working on a project that will take place in 2023.
Every week I will post a 5-Room dungeon.
On Sundays will be the map, plot hook and useful resources.
Monday-Friday will be a room per day.
Saturdays will be a homebrew player option for Pathfinder 2e, inspired the weeks dungeon. Either an ancestry, treasure, feat, spell or other option for the players. Starting with the Dromite Ancestry for Pathfinder 2e.
The first post of the project will be Sunday 1st of January 2023!
At the end of the year there will be 52 dungeons, enough to fill a whole deck of dungeons.
FAQ How much will it cost to access this content?
Not a single penny, all monsters, npcs and creatures will be either published on the site or linked via the aonprd.
What if I play Pathfinder 1e or D&D 5e
This is a pretty massive project and unfortunately I don't have the resources to convert for multiple d20 systems at this time.
Primarily I want to do this project to familiarize myself with the Pathfinder 2e system. However, if I had the time I would love to post conversion notes for other systems. So never say never.
But I want to give you money!
I am not in a position at this stage to feel comfortable accepting money, for this project. I'm hoping to use this as an opportunity to build an audience and build trust in my writing and products. So if you want to contribute, please share the project on social media!
As the dust and smoke clears from the battle of Keeper's Canyon, the Knights of Kenabres take a moment to rest and take stock. The road ahead will take them into the Worldwound proper.
Some crusaders stand watch, while others take a moment to rest, clean their weapons and armour and others finish off the dying dretches on the battlefield.
Our heroes are in the center of the camp, along with key members of their war council.
"The going gets harder from here on out," says Irabeth, "We're headed into the worldwound, it only gets more dangerous from here. I recommend taking a moment to take a breath. The land itself is hostile, and the corruption of the demons can so easily spread. We'll need to rely on our bonds as we march towards Drezen, perhaps now is a moment we should take the opportunity to check in with one another before we continue our journey."
Take a moment to describe what you're up to in the war camp, I'll set up some checks once everyone's in.
Hail players of GM Losonti's Wrath of the Righteous campaign. Starting a discussion thread here for us to get the ball rolling on continuing the campaign and to discuss your hopes and expectations for this game.
I haven't run a Play-by-Post in a long time, but I'm not completely out of practice with it.
Maps and Movement
I can see previously you were using Google Docs to track maps and movement. Is that your preference going forward, or would you like to try using roll20 instead.
Roll20 Pros: It's very easy for me to set up a roll20 that players can jump into in order to move their tokens and such on a battlefield. It also means I can use roll20 to speed up rolls and the like on my end when posting here.
Roll20 Cons: It can be hard to use roll20 from a phone so if people prefer to use phones when posting, google drive might be the easier option for some people.
Posting Frequency
I'm in Australia so be aware that there will be a lag between player posts and mine.
That being said, I'll do my best to post daily. The only tricky days might be Monday and Friday, but I'll let people know if that's going to be the case.
I ask that every player try and post at least once every 48 hours. In order to keep things moving if a PC hasn't posted within 48 hours I may roll on their behalf or post an assumed action to keep the ball rolling.
The Current State of the Campaign
Can you let me know which important NPCs have come with you on your March to Drezen?
Did any important NPCs join the Queen on the march south to engage the bulk of the demon forces?
What are your character's opinions of these NPCs?
What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure
The main goal of Sword of Valor is to liberate Citadel Drezen and recover the banner Sword of Valor.
Are there any personal goals you want to accomplish during this book?
What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?
What do your characters know of the current commander of Citadel Drezen? What do they know of any demons within?
Hock the Loogie is a simple game for rum swilling, grog drinking pirates and low-lives of all skill levels and ages.
You will need:
4 coins (1 copper, 1 silver, 1 gold and 1 platinum) any 4 coins can work for this.
Set-Up:
Place the copper coin 5 feet from the starting line, place the silver 10 feet, the gold 15 feet and the platinum 20 feet away.
Each player takes a turn hocking a big ol' loogie. This consists of 3 rolls.
1st Roll - Quality: Make a Constitution check this is the quality of your loogie.
2nd Roll - Distance: Make a Strength check. The result of this check is the distance of your loogie in feet.
3rd Roll - Accuracy: Make a Dexterity check to determine your accuracy.
Scoring:
Quality: Divide Your Constitution check by 5 (rounded down) to determine points for your Loogie quality.
Distance: 1 point if you pass the copper coin, 2 points if you pass the silver, 3 points if you pass the gold, 5 if you pass the platinum.
Accuracy: If you beat DC 20 you hit the coin and earn an additional 5 points.
Highest Points Wins, taking home any coins they spit past or hit.
Top Strategies
Spoiler:
Increase your loogie quality by swilling some rum and grog beforehand. If you do that, you get advantage on the roll (roll twice and take the highest).
Use the prevailing winds to help your loogie soar! A DC 12 Perception check before you spit gives you advantage on the check (roll twice and take the highest).
Players work together to choose an origin for their party, and this effects their choices as far as alignments go. Also the party gains a benefit for choosing a party origin.
So without further ado, the rules.
Party Origin
Characters must be within one step of the party alignment (For example: A Lawful Neutral party may include Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil or True Neutral). For some parties this may effect class/deity choices, so be open to discussion.
Format: Suggested Party Name This is the name that will appear on the Kingmaker charter, the name of the adventuring party is completely negotiable.
Party Alignment: The alignment of the party, remember, your character must be within one step of this alignment.
History: A brief history of how your party came to work together.
Origin Bonus: A mechanical method your party can reliably earn hero points during the campaign.
Recommended Ancestries, Lineages, Classes and Archetypes: These are recommended classes and races for your character, but the recommendations are non-restrictive. Find a way to work your particular choice into the party's history.
GM Opening Encounter: This will be under a spoiler tab, so that GMs have an opening encounter to draw the group together.
The Crusaders Lawful Good Country of Origin: Mendev
History: Mendev, home to countless crusades against demonic forces and terrible cults. You went to Mendev to enact some real good in the world, to make things safer, to fight back the chaos that threatens the stability of every decent hard working person. What you found was a corrupt war, that created more victims than it saved.
You find yourself in a Temple of Iomedae, the last remaining building in a burning village alongside a group of fellow crusaders. So much has happened to convince you of the destructive waste of these crusades, too much has been torn down or destroyed. Sickened by these crusades you long to find some new purpose in life. Working together you feel that if an opportunity arose to create something, then you would be living more truly to the values you treasure.
Origin Bonus: Whenever you use the Aid action on an ally while fighting an undead, dragon, or evil outsider either you or the ally gains a Hero Point on any result outside of a Critical Failure.
Recommendations: Ancestries: Human (Taldan, Mendevian or Brevic), Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc or Halfling. Versatile Heritages: Aasimar, Aphorite, Tiefling
Classes: Bard, Cleric (of Iomedae, Erastil or Torag), Champion, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Sorcerer (Celestial bloodline), Investigator, Oracle, Summoner, Thaumaturge.
Archetypes: Aldori Duelist, Bastion, Blessed One, Cavalier, Knight Vigilant, Marshal, Medic, Soulforger
GM Opening Encounter:
Spoiler:
The party is in a Temple of Iomedae, in the charred ruins of a village called Dalaska. The doors are currently being battered in by the PCs former "allies". 'Low Templars' who decided to loot and sack a village out of boredom and greed. While most people managed to escape the destruction of the village the PCs have remained to protect the aging priestess of Iomedae and her two young grand-nieces from the battle-mad 'Templars'.
The "templars" are taking time to break open the doors of the temple, so the PCs have approximately two minutes to figure out a way to defend the small temple. (Temple is shaped vaguely like a 40ft. long sword, with the entrance at the pommel. Rows of pews, and an altar at the sword's tip.)
High Moderate Encounter 1:
Low Templars (x4)
Sir Hawthorne, Battle-Mad crusader
Because the Templars are trying to break down the doors they will use Athletics for their Initiative roll.
Allies: Sister Brigid Thorne (Acolyte of Iomedae) (Swap Staff for Longsword, and swap Harm for Heal spells)
Jani and Lani Thorne-Aldori (Urchins) (2)
The objective of the fight is to protect the priestess and her 2 grand-nieces, and prevent any looting of the temple, gaining 10 xp for each objective succeeded.
After the fight, Sister Thorne thanks the PCs for their timely rescue. Realising that the village she was sworn to protect has been ruined by the Mendevian Crusades Sister Brigid asks the PCs to accompany her across the Lake of Mists and Veils to return her nieces to her sister in Brevoy.
The journey takes a number of weeks (montaged journey), but eventually the PCs reach the city of Restov where they are greeted by a grateful family glad to see their daughters safe. Jamandi Aldori will be impressed enough by the the story of the player's endeavours to invite them to a Feast she is holding, where she hopes to present an opportunity to those with courage and moral fortitude.
I managed to pull together a gaming group of relative newbies to the PF2e system (I include myself under that umbrella as I haven't run anything since the original playtest).
Our heroes included:
Ashling - Female Human Ifrit Kineticist (Dedicated gate: Fire)
Finn Kittso - Female Elf Undine Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Water)
Rocky Krakoa - Male Dwarf Oread Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Earth)
North Gozren - Human Male Sylph Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Air)
Vulkan Tempest - Male Human Suli Kineticist (Universal Gate)
1st Encounter vs 2 Vipers. (2x Creature 2)
Players won initiative and took down the vipers before they even got a turn. It's meant to be an easy encounter so I gave it to the players.
2nd Encounter vs Giant Ants
Players snuck into the room, and then used their combined adapt element and crafting checks to reinforce the partially collapsed wall and prevent the ants from entering the room.
3rd Encounter vs Living Waterfall (Creature 6)
This fight was a tough one. A couple of early criticals put Rocky on the backfoot. Finn had a couple of ways to deal with the Elemental between Voice of Elements and Extract Element. Unfortunately he couldn't roll above a 6 on Diplomacy, and the Elemental had a Fortitude of 16 vs the DC of 21, so mostly succeeded (for half damage). The poor Pyrokineticist could barely deal any damage at all, and didn't have a lot of good options around that Surprisingly the star of the encounter was the Air Elementalist with their boomerang. Eventually the elemental was reduced to less than 10 health, and Finn managed to talk the elemental into surrender. At which point Vulcan finished it off with a couple of lucky extract elements and a blast. Rocky the Earth Elementalist, was knocked unconscious after a few hits (seriously tanking as a kineticist is rough).
Encounters 4 & 5 were primarily puzzle based.
Our heroes spent some time resting, and getting healed with Combat Medic and healing wind. Not quite on max health, but close.
Encounter 6: Giant Pirate Skeleton (Creature 8)
Another tough fight (I did alter the skeleton to have a big scimitar as per its description), I allowed Rocky and Vulkan to use extract element against the skeleton (justifying it by allowing them to extract the calcium in his bones). Rocky ended up unconscious again, again AC was not nearly enough to prevent those critical hits. Gozren also got knocked out. I gave the skeleton Weakness to bludgeoning (rather than it being the only resistance it was missing). Our heroes managed to get solid hits in after flanking and extracting. It was a really tough fight but in the end our heroes stood victorious. North Gozren used Elemental Weapon to create an air flail to upgrade his damage dice from d4s to d10s (I ruled that handwrap runes applied to weapons).
Concluding thoughts:
The players felt that their characters had fun with managing the action economy of the Kineticist, and preferred to extract element over gather whenever it was available to their character (even with a chance of failure it felt more effective as a use of actions). There weren't any creatures that had available attacks of opportunity against the players, so shooting in melee wasn't a huge problem during this adventure. Players felt their characters were way to fragile for being a Con focused class.
I would like each of the elements to have some variable action impulses (1-3 actions) one of the big problem with variable action spells is it can feel wasteful to spend a spell slot on anything other than the 2-3 action version of the spell.
Kineticist doesn't waste a resource, and instead are just making the most of an opportunity. I think each element should get a variable action impulse at mid levels to play around with.
I think Monk Kineticist is a pretty iconic multiclass and allowing a kineticist to shape the material around their fists or feet would be a fun option.
Can anyone anticipate anything breaking from that?
I built a quartet of dedicated kineticists to playtest and I couldn't justify taking elemental familiar or elemental weapon over Flexible Blast.
With CON as a key ability score I needed Flexible Blast to ensure accuracy for the character. Also Geokineticists get the most from STR with their brutal Blast.
I suggest Flexible Blast be automatically part of the Kineticist suite of 1st level abilities or even 2nd level.
Or as some people have suggested Constition should do more for the class.
The Scenario
House Hiyosai fell to depravity and evil, all that remains are the undead members in the ruins of Hiyosai Palace. Their province now ruled by the city’s governer at the behest of the Jade Regent. The Regent has promised to return House Hiyosai to the ranks of the chosen families if they can use their magical expertise to subvert the power of the Hiyosai relic and grant its mythic power to them. Fragar is on-site to observe their progress.
They are still early in the process though as the Regent has grown only desperate enough to do so when the Rebellion defeated Sennaka, along with the Archmage. They have eked some mythic power from the artefact but it requires immense amount of Jade and the ritual requires a living sacrifice of people oathbound to house Hiyosai. There are precious few of those left. This has left the Hiyosai artefact inert. The players will want to retrieve this artefact in order to reactivate it after the campaign.
At this stage Fragar is willing to betray the Regent, but only if the heroes can convincingly fake his death at their hands, and to do so he will need someone to have their memory modified to truly believe Fragar is dead in case the consort tries to confirm by reading a memory. Fragar will also need the heroes to negotiate, steal, trick or destroy the contract that binds him to the August council’s service. He believes that House Hiyosai has records of the Contract Devil the Five Storms have employed for this as well as the ritual for its summoning.
Goals
Destroy the undead in the ruined palace of House Hiyosai.
Retrieve the Hiyosai artefact (guarded by the Archlich).
Turn or Remove Fragar from the August Council once and for all.
- Retrieve the ritual to summon the contract devil. (Held by Hiyosai Uchi)
- Bargain, Steal, Trick or Destroy Fragar’s contract binding him to the August Council in Jade.
Was thinking something along the lines of when the Eidolon is summoned gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to the Eidolon’s Con Bonus*Level.
Choose a number of skills equal to the Eidolon’s Int modifier, while summoned you are Trained in those skills. (Increasing proficient over time either with feats or some innate progression)
Building mechs is boring, lacks flavor, feels like a numbers treadmill (which might just be a deeper problem with the game), and also is too much like homework.
I’ll admit, I was excited for Agents of Edgewatch, but given recent events, and the long history that fuels them, is there ever a good time for an Adventure Path with player characters as Cops, especially in a game that doesn’t really handle non-violent solutions and de-escalation well?
Paizo recently released a statement, in support of the protests and their message. I know by now books are either printed or on their way to be printed and it would be a scramble or even impossible to cover that hole in the schedule.
I don’t have answers here, but I think it’s important that these concerns get brought up somewhere the company can see them and address them.
So last session in Jade Regent my players recruited a Tengu Sellsword. I described him as follows:
“Black raven feathers and long beak, wearing loose fitting clothing, at his side he carries a katana and wakizashi, a long sword and butterfly sword, on his back a nodachi. He wears a bandana around his head with a purple raven symbol, and strapped to his long bird legs are no less than 4 daggers.”
He was a fighter in a traditional (all-Tengu) adventuring party on his way to the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, but the party lost their sponsorship, and he’s the only one who wants to go on.
I want to go Fighter but what archetypes would most benefit a Tengu armed to the teeth with a bunch of cool exotic swords.
I am not a fan of the “smoosh two words together to make a class name” method of class naming. However I know that Paizo in the past has been tetchy about criticism of their class naming conventions.
If the class names are not up for feedback, that’s totally fine, it’s paizo’s game. But humbly, may we offer some alternatives:
Vanguard - It’s actually great. I’m totes fine with redefining words that exist for new contexts.
Hi folks, I remember there was a pretty large article on Casmaron in an adventure path not long ago, but my Search-Fu is weak, can anyone remember where that particular article is?
Does the game assume that there is a clock? That characters will be expected to always be facing multiple encounters in a day?
If the game assumes there is no clock, then that needs to be explicit in the GMing advice and playing the game section. This also needs to be the baseline assumption of challenge ratings (and challenge ratings should increase in any situation where there is a clock).
If the game always assumes the PCs are on a clock, then that needs to be explicit in the GMing advice and playing the game section. If a clock is assumed then the assumption of challenge ratings should decrease in any situation where PCs are not on a clock.
If this is explicitly noted in the rules it will assist GMs with understanding the power level of characters. Something that PF1E had trouble with.
During the Doomsday Dawn: Lost Star playtest my players got bogged down trying to unlock the door in room A6. The purification fountain.
DC 20 is an understandably difficult check for 1st level characters, three such checks are even harder, but then critical failures set you back two successes and break your lockpicks. My party had three sets of lockpicks between them, but the challenge basically took 10 actual minutes of tabletime.
In the meantime the players who *weren’t* trying to pick the lock were mostly growing bored after the initial couple of attempts and real life impatience caused them to bust through the other door.
In Pathfinder 1, my players could just take 10, fail then take 20, roll to see if a random encounter arrived in the time spent and if all was clear, moved into the next room and if the take 20 wasn’t enough they’d know the DC was too high for their skill and they’d go around the other way.
As it is the players are rolling dice when there’s no real stakes involved. It’s clunky. Three checks to unlock a door might work and add interesting tension in encounter mode, but exploration mode shouldn’t get bogged down.
The spell has a maximum duration of 1 minute, requires concentration in order to maintain/provide orders.
That maximum duration is pretty painful, considering it provides such minor tasks.
If the maximum duration is one minute then the spell needs to be a cantrip, so a caster can have their Unseen Servant provide all day cleaning services (even if it does leave them fatigued for doing so).
As is, why would any self-respecting spellcaster learn this spell, it would mean a maximum of 3-4 minutes cleaning per day. Barely enough time to clean your dishes, let alone cook breakfast.
Start with the fiction first.
Determine difficulty based on the fiction and circumstance.
For example:
It is a stormy night, and the duke's daughter has invited Valeros (Level 1 Fighter) to a secret tryst in her room.
Player 1: I'm going to look for a way into the lady's window.
It's a dark and stormy night, and Valeros has no darkvision or low-light vision. The GM looks at her notes (or improvises on the spot), there's a tree near the Princess' window. A tree is a fairly obvious thing to find so it's a Trivial Level 0 task (DC 9). It's dark (+1 severity), and it's raining (+1 severity).
GM: Give me a Perception check DC 12 (High Level 0 check)
Spoiler:
(The GM could make this a secret check, but in this case doesn't want to because they want their player to have fun today).
Player 1:Perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
GM: Great job Valeros! There's a brief flash of lightning, revealing an overgrown tree growing near the Princess' window.
Player 1: I'm going to try climbing the tree!
The GM knows that climbing a tree is a High Level 0 task, again the darkness and rain works against the PC (Severity increases twice to Extreme).
GM: Okay give me an Athletics check, DC 17.
Player 1:Athletics:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
GM: You fail to find any purchase this time. Fortunately the rain and the storm hides the sounds of your frustration, though you know the guard patrol is likely to pass this way soon. You can either try to climb again or find a place to hide before the guards patrol the area.
GM: Okay, a pair of guards approach your position. You recognize them as the ones you met earlier who ushered you into the Duke's feasthall.
"Who goes there?" Says the chubby one.
Player 1: "Oh hello there, it's me! Valeros, that guy the Duke hired to slay those goblins earlier. I thought I saw a goblin enter the keep grounds."
This sounds like a Deception check, definitely not one of Valeros' strengths. These are level 1 guards who are trained in Perception. It's not elaborate or particularly unbelievable (there were goblins in the town earlier after all).
GM: Give me a Deception check, DC 12.
Player 1:Deception:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10
GM: The guards look at you, look up at the window and the tree next to it. One of them rolls their eyes at the other.
"You're not the first adventurer to catch the princess' eye. Get out of here now adventurer and the duke won't have to hear about this, and I won't have to deal with the paperwork of transferring you to the militia cell."
Player 1: I count my lucky stars, and agree to leave.
GM: For sure, you head back to town alone. Thwarted. The princess' attitude towards you will worsen one step, she doesn't take kindly to being stood up.
Hero points are an interesting system but appear tacked on, they don’t interact with enough of the rest of the game to shine.
The guidelines for handing them out favor Good characters (selfless acts are called out as hero point rewarding behaviour). It entirely rewards “encounter mode” moments or out of game behaviours (I have no problem with that part).
But if you want to really put the RP into RPG, there are better methods of rewarding Hero Points and it exists in the class section of the book.
Each class has a: “Roleplaying your class” section, a list of common tropes for each class a player can use for roleplaying hooks and challenges for their character.
What if players received a Hero Point if they play up to those roleplaying hooks?
For example:
Bubblin Squeek, Halfling Alchemist has finally perfected a formula for a more potent acid. During the next foray into the Dungeon of Many Doors, he insists on using the new acid formula on every monster at least once to test its effects on multiple creature types.
This fulfills:
PF2E Playtest wrote:
Enjoy tinkering with strange formulas and alchemical reagents, often with single-minded dedication and recklessness that give others pause.
The GM hands Bubblin’s player a Hero Point for the good roleplay.
He notices however that he hasn’t handed many points to Amiri, human Barbarian. So when the PCs return to town to rest and restock the GM puts an arrogant merchant in the shop the Barbarian wants to pick up healing potions from. Playing up the preconceived notions of barbarians they have:
PF2E Playtest wrote:
Believe you have bizarre superstitions and poor education and might be illiterate.
Amiri’s player can reject or reinforce the merchant’s notions, but it provides her an opportunity to feel like a barbaric outsider in civilised lands and will get an opportunity to earn her hero point.
You could place these same hooks in for Ancestries and Backgrounds as well so that each character will have a unique mix of methods for earning Hero Points from roleplaying in a session.
Players can accomplish heroic deeds via Hero Points, but they earn Hero Points by Roleplaying. It’s a good loop and will provide great moments for the table.
Looking over the Skill Feat section there’s a feat called Close Match, Requires: Trained in Deception.
According to the text of this feat, it makes you appear younger, older, more like another race or androgynous. Humans could get this feat at level 1, other characters wait until 2nd for their first skill feat.
First: The problem with requiring “Trained Deception” to play an androgynous character is a problem. There are more than enough gigabytes of digital ink spilled about associating androgyny, gender fluidity and trans experience with deception, disguise and impersonation. This feat’s wording and existence needs another sensitivity pass.
Second: It doesn’t actually do anything. Nothing in the Impersonate activity mentions penalties for disguising as a different gender, race, age or even size. The only thing that comes close is opposed Perception checks gaining a secret GM determined bonus.
So not only have you printed a feat that’s hurtful for members of the community, it doesn’t actually doesn’t even do anything.
Please revise the feat (or remove it entirely), androgyny or non binary gender choices are best left as flavor choices, applying game rules to them is at best silly, and at worst deeply offensive. This will make for better more welcoming tables.
I see that Wizards are proficient in Light Crossbows but there is no Light Crossbow listed in the equipment table. I assume either the Wizard should be proficient in Hand Crossbows, or Light Crossbows are missing from the playtest document.
You're probably playtesting the various kit load-outs players try out, but in the full-release can we have quick equipment lists in the sidebar that lists hp, proficiencies etc.
Shopping is likely to be the part of character generation that will take the longest, and having a recommended list will help players not miss important stuff they might need (like thieve's tools for rogues, material component pouches for wizards etc).
They made sure to make clear ideas about comfort and consent around the table right away. This is fantastic.
Character sheets look interesting, I'll probably design my own because that's how I learn games, but coolest beans.
Bulk is entirely determined by 5 + Strength MODIFIER, and 10 + Strength MODIFIER. Why are there still ability scores in the game, as far as I can tell they don't DO anything. Just vestigial limbs. Confusing for new players.
Sign Language is a selectable language <3
Even though the game assumes Golarion as the setting, there's still notes like in Dwarves' "Racial Hatred" ability, telling GMs if there are other ancestries dwarves commonly fight they can be added as choices to the list.
Ability mods for smaller races have been improved to differentiate gnomes, goblins and halflings better. Very rad they already took that feedback in.
Half-Orcs went from Darkvision to low-light vision. Interesting.
Humans can get an ancestry feat called "Haughty Obstinancy", which I'm pretty sure is a fancy way of saying "Go Eff Yourself" lol.
Giant Language renamed to Jotun. I like it, it's a flavorful change.
Cute symbols for classes!
Class tables take up a column instead of a page width. Which is cool.
They've tied ability score boosts in with the class table (similar to 5e), but because they changed multiclassing, it means you'll get your ability boosts at the expected levels.
Class Feats are listed on a table along with their level pre-requisites. Can't wait to see a sortable table for each class as a tool down the line.
The alchemist gives a starter formula book. A godsend for rapidly getting a hero to the table.
Rage gives a number of temp hp equal to level + con mod, rather than level*con mod wonder how the math will shake out on that.
Dragon Totem is rad, eventually you get so mad you turn into a large dragon.
PF2 explicitly states that Bards replace Verbal, Somatic and Material components with their performance which is cool. It explains their spellcasting in a way 1e did not.
Rangers gain Hunt Target instead of Favored Enemy, the only issue I see is that the target needs to be within 100 feet, which makes their extra tracking powers a bit useless (it's rare foes will escape). I hope that changes to: "Or a target who's name and ancestry are known to you" so a ranger can hunt someone by their liege lord or whatever.
I really wish effects were listed:
Critical Failure
Failure
Success
Critical Success
(Most effective to least effective, easier to track).
There's been multiple instances of secret checks. Which I'm not a fan of as a player or as a GM. It means I need to have a copy of every player's sheet on my end too, and it removes yet another layer of transparency between GM and player. If you remove all the stuff about Secret Checks and instead have a section about metagaming and dramatic irony that would be more productive I think.
The DCs for various things like the Grab Edge action aren't listed in the skills. Again this is moving more of the responsibility of verisimilitude to the GM. Mixed feelings on this, GMs are fallible and if I give one character a DC 20 and a different one a DC 15 on a different turn because I forgot what I set the difficulty at could cause headaches.
Yet the DC for Identifying or learning spells IS listed in the skills chapter. That's weird.
"Ezren is a 5th-level wizard and an expert in Crafting. He has a
Crafting modifier of +10 and the Magical Crafting feat. With 13 days
of downtime ahead of him, he decides to craft bracers of armor 2nd,
a 4th-level item. The GM secretly chooses a DC of 17."
WHY IS THIS A SECRET? This is going to be my biggest bugbear in this playtest I know it. As a GM I hate this shit, do I decide the difficulty class based on how likely it is I want an individual character to succeed, or base it on some universal constant or formula. And what does making the DC a secret accomplish in this situation?
Secret rolls for Dwarves and Elves for racial feats they might take. I don't like it. I thought we might be able to move beyond this, because one of the things I liked about Pathfinder is that players knew what to expect of the universe in some sense. But because I'm fallible, and I might forget the difficulty I made up a week ago during the last session of a game there might be weird difficulty spikes and dips for similar situations based on how I'm feeling at the time. Anyway, back to the skills section...
Yesterday I received a pending notification for some Starfinder and Pathfinder products. I specifically asked for my Starfinder RPG subscriptions to be cancelled.
However, the confirmation e-mail showed my Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder comics subscriptions also cancelled.
I would still like to continue my subscription for the Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder comics lines. Can this please be fixed?
Date LastDownloaded Date DownloadLast Updated Date AddedTo My Downloads
But nothing beneath it, no matter the product. It's more than possible someone else may have reported a similar issue, but I wanted to flag it just in case.
The Playtest hasn’t begun and I’ll gladly run the playtest as written no matter what the devs have decided. However, I do want to make a thread specifically about this topic because as a GM and player this is a matter near and dear to me.
What is Arcanist Style Casting
For those who are unfamiliar with the Arcanist the gist goes like this. An Arcanist learns spells like a wizard, from that list of spells they can prepare a limited number each level. When casting a spell they cast spontaneously like a Sorcerer using their prepared spells as their “spells known”.
Why this should be the default option
When I have new players try prepared casters for the first time, I have found one common error. They assume that’s how it works anyway.
Disclaimer! I know that my experience is not the default, nor is anecdotal evidence data.
However, there is something more intuitive about casting prepared spells in any combination rather than crossing off the spell after it is cast. Probably because popular fantasy fiction doesn’t depict the party Gandalf or Hermione Granger carefully selecting their daily spells ahead of time. (“I’ll probably need 3 expeliarmuses today! later that morningOh damn, all out guess I can’t disarm any dark wizard’s this afternoon.”) fantasy fiction shows wizards understanding the principles of magic, and then applying those principles as the situation requires. For clerics it’s even worse from a fictional positioning perspective.
It Means You Don’t Feel Stupid
When a wizard finishes a day with utility spells uncast, they feel like they wasted the spell-slot. If they are in a situation where they know the perfect spell but didn’t prepare it because the player can’t know exactly what situation they’ll be in during the adventuring day, they feel stupid. If you’re a cleric and didn’t prepare remove disease and you fail into a garbage pit full of filth fever, otyoughs and dire rats, you’ll feel unwise in your spell selection.
A wizard should never feel stupid, a cleric shouldn’t feel unwise because the player couldn’t anticipate what the GM was going to throw at them day to day.
With Arcanist style spellcasting, a prepared caster doesn’t need to feel like they wasted a prepared slot because if you didn’t encounter any magical locks, and knock went uncast you don’t feel so bad because you could still spend those casting slots on scorching ray.
It plays nice with heightening
The big new innovation for PF2E is that heightened spells offer additional effects. A prepared caster who prepared:
level 1 snowball, fly and magic missile
level 2 acid arrow, resist energy, knock
level 3 fireball, haste
Could find that when they enter the dungeon the wizard they’re hunting had summoned mostly fire elementals and devils to guard it. Normally, the wizard would be real unhappy because one of their level 3 choices has been ruined. Now however, that haste spell is valuable, but so is that clutch upcasted snowball which might scale to 5d6 cold damage, doubled on a critical hit, and additional bonuses against creatures with cold vulnerability. Against a single but very powerful elemental, extra actions are less useful than a juicy single target hit that might end the fight a round sooner.
The unspent fireball just becomes juice for a tasty damage spell, or a heightened resist energy that lasts longer or targets more allies.
It still rewards smart planning
Let’s say you have a more measured party, who does the research before kicking in the door of the dungeon. The clever player still can pick that perfect mix of spells that means they cast every spell at least once and were super effective. You feel clever for “getting it right”.
Its still different from spontaneous casting
Spontaneous casters should still have a limited pool of spells known, but be able to cast more spells of each level. Sorcerers (and theoretical oracles) with more spells per day (a meaningful amount, hopefully +2 per level) will be able to get those extra blasts out. The rare utility Sorcerer will still be able to unlock a whole castle by casting knock all day if that’s their jam.
Please let there be some method for every character to self heal, short rests in Starfinder to recover stamina are great for this. They let players recover hit points between fights, and recharge some abilities. It means you don’t need a dedicated healer (but are at an advantage if you have one for buffing/condition removal), and the wand of CLW can stay in the past where it belongs.
Is it possible to make the game so the players make all rolls?
Monsters and NPCs can be given static statistics that players need to roll against, instead of PCs having static AC players gain an AC bonus they add to a d20 roll vs monster’s static attack number (11+ Attack bonus), and players gaining a Spell attack bonus vs NPCs static saves.
This really helps free up the GM to focus on narrative and tactics, speeds up monster turns, and keeps players active and engaged when it’s not their turn.
I think it would be a fantastic change to implement in Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
Hi everybody, next year a friend of mine wants to run a campaign based in Iblydos and heavily focused on Ancient Greek style myth.
I want to build a warrior type character who might not be the strongest, fastest or smartest but is basically the most invincible.
So I'm looking for tips on how to create someone who is nigh-unkillable and I'm willing to sacrifice offensive power to do so.
My requirements are:
Primarily Warrior-type class levels (Barbarian/Fighter/Brawler etc)
Incredible Saves
Good DR
As many and as much Energy Resistance as possible.
Stacks of HP.
Good Charisma (This is a secondary thing).
I actually don't care that much about AC, as I think it'd be thematic to take hits regularly and just soak them up.
I know these boards know how to build an Achilles without that dodgy heel, show me what you got.
So I’m currently running Jade Regent and my players are at a point where they are in a tomb where many worshippers of Desna were once interred.
I am putting a bonus puzzle in the dungeon where they can attempt to cleanse the tomb of an evil infecting it, however to do so they’ll have to open up some sealed crypts. The crypts can be opened by using the combination of two keys:
One key represents a constellation from the Varisian Zodiac, the other a constellation from the Dragon Empires Zodiac. The PCs will have to choose the zodiacs from each that corresponds with the death date on a crypt.
So what I’d like is for people to give me a bunch of Birthdates, Death Dates and Epitaphs for Desna worshippers. Some will be Absalom Reckoning, others will be Imperial Dates.
For example:
Shei Shen Born:2130
Died: 2163
Epitaph: “I told you I was sick.”
1) Every Odd Level you gain a Combat or Metamagic Feat
Every Even Level you gain a Non-Combat, Non-Metamagic Feat
With so many feats out there so many go unloved because they have to come from the same resource pool as the combat and metamagic feats. How much of a power boost is this?
2) What about a rule that says that once you qualify for the pre-requisites you immediately gain the the next feat in a tree? So if you pick Two-Weapon Fighting, as soon as your Dexterity and BaB is high enough you gain Improved Two-Weapon Fighting?
There are so many feats you guys, shouldn't it be easier to play with them?
So I've been thinking of the problem of the Synthesist. It's a cool concept, however it breaks because ability score replacements really mess with point buy. It's the reason why polymorph spells provided ability score bonuses, rather than replacements in Pathfinder.
So below I present the Synthesist with one minor tweak. Instead of replacing your physical ability scores, fusion augments those scores.
Unchained Summoner Archetype
Eidoloncer
Fused Eidolon: An eidoloncer summons the essence of a powerful outsider to meld with his own being. The eidoloncer wears the eidolon like translucent, living armor. The eidolon mimics all of the eidoloncer's movements, and the eidoloncer perceives through the eidolon's senses and speaks through its voice, as the two are now one creature. The eidoloncer directs all of the eidolon's actions while fused, perceives through its senses, and speaks through its voice, as the two are now one creature.
While fused with his eidolon, the eidoloncer gains a +2 size bonus to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution. If the eidolon has a biped form the eidoloncer increases the Strength bonus to +4. If the eidolon has a quadruped form the eidoloncer increases the Constitution bonus to +4. If the eidolon has a serpentine form the eidoloncer increases the Dexterity bonus to +4.
The eidoloncer gains the eidolon's hit points as temporary hit points. When these hit points reach 0, the eidolon is killed and sent back to its home plane. The eidoloncer uses the eidolon's base attack bonus, and gains the eidolon's armor and natural armor bonuses and modifiers to ability scores. The eidoloncer also gains access to the eidolon's special abilities and the eidolon's evolutions. The eidoloncer is still limited to the eidolon's maximum number of natural attacks. The eidolon has no skills or feats of its own. The eidolon must be at least the same size as the eidoloncer. The eidolon must have limbs for the eidoloncer to cast spells with somatic components. The eidolon's temporary hit points can be restored with the rejuvenate eidolon spell.
While fused, the eidoloncer loses the benefits of his armor. He counts both as his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the eidoloncer. Spells such as banishment or dismissal work normally on the eidolon, but the eidoloncer is unaffected. Neither the eidoloncer nor his eidolon can be targeted separately, as they are fused into one creature. The eidoloncer and eidolon cannot take separate actions. While fused with his eidolon, the eidoloncer can use all of his own abilities and gear, except for his armor. In all other cases, this ability functions as the summoner's normal eidolon ability (for example, the eidoloncer cannot use his summon monster ability while the eidolon is present). This ability replaces the class's eidolon ability, bond senses, and life bond.
If the eidoloncer chooses the ability increase evolution, it instead increases the size bonus to a physical ability score. The Eidoloncer may not choose to increase a mental ability with this evolution.
The following class abilities function differently for eidoloncer summoners.
Fused Link (Su): Starting at 1st level, the eidoloncer forms a close bond with his eidolon. Whenever the temporary hit points from his eidolon would be reduced to 0, the summoner can, as a free action, sacrifice any number of his own hit points. Each hit point sacrificed this way prevents 1 point of damage done to the eidolon (thus preventing the loss of the summoner's temporary hit points), preventing the eidolon from being killed and sent back to its home plane. This ability replaces life link.
Shielded Meld (Ex): At 4th level, whenever the eidoloncer is fused with his eidolon, he gains a +2 shield bonus to his Armor Class and a +2 circumstance bonus on his saving throws. This ability replaces shield ally.
Maker's Jump (Sp): At 6th level, whenever the eidoloncer is fused with his eidolon, the eidoloncer can cast dimension door as a spell-like ability using his caster level. This ability only affects the fused eidoloncer and eidolon. The eidoloncer can use this ability once per day at 6th level, plus one additional time per day for every six levels beyond 6th. This ability replaces maker's call and transposition.
Greater Shielded Meld (Ex): At 12th level, whenever the eidoloncer is fused with his eidolon, he gains a +4 shield bonus to his Armor Class and a +4 circumstance bonus on his saving throws. This ability replaces greater shield ally.
Split Forms (Su): At 16th level, as a swift action, the eidoloncer and his fused eidolon can split into two creatures: the eidoloncer and the eidolon. Both have the same evolutions. The eidoloncer emerges in a square adjacent to the eidolon if possible. All effects and spells currently targeting the fused eidoloncer-eidolon affect both the eidoloncer and the eidolon.
The synthesist can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to his summoner level. He can end this effect at any time as a full-round action. For the duration of this effect, the eidolon functions as a normal eidolon of the summoner's class level. This ability replaces merge forms.
I've made a new curse for one of my players who is very interested in Harrowing and is going to gain an oracular curse.
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Harrowed
Your destiny is irrevocably tied to the art of Harrowing.
Effect
You have a -2 penalty on all ability scores.
However, once each day you may perform a special harrowing on yourself which takes 1 hour, drawing 6 cards from a Harrow deck. You gain a +1 luck bonus to your ability scores related to the suits of each card drawn. Swords (Strength), Keys (Dexterity), Shields (Constitution), Tomes (Intelligence), Stars (Wisdom), Crowns (Charisma).
At 5th level as a reaction you may provide an ally within 30 feet with the luck bonus to one ability score that you have for 1 minute per Oracle level. You lose the luck bonus for the rest of the day after doing so.
At 10th level you may either choose to remove two suits of your choice from the deck or draw 9 cards in your special harrowing.
At 15th level you add vision to your spell list, and when you perform your special harrowing you may double the luck bonus you gain to ability scores.
I'd love some feedback, is the drawback too harsh? Are the bonuses to high? Is there any particular exploits you could see with one of these.
So I'm finally getting to play a Telekineticist this week.
I've read the various guides and right now the build looks basically like this:
Class/Level Telekineticist 3
Race:Kor (Racial features as Halfing but Medium, +2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Int)
Ability Scores (20 Point Buy)
Str - 07 -1
Dex - 18 +4
Con - 16 +3
Int - 10 +0
Wis - 14 +2
Cha - 10 +0
Trait: Trap Finder (From Mummy's Mask, gives Trap Finding, and Disable Device as Class Skills)
Wild Talents: Telekinetic Finesse
Infusions: Extended Range, Pushing (Was considering Boomerang)
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Skills: Acrobatics +11 (+2 Racial), Climb +4 (+2 Racial), Disable Device +10, Perception +8, Stealth +9, Sleight of Hand +9
Now I'm trying to figure out what to take for my level 5 feat when I get there. At this point I'm basically considering Toughness (to help with Burn), Combat Vigor (to keep myself topped up on hp between combats) or Kinetic Leap (to save Wild Talents by not taking Self Telekinesis) or Skill Focus (Perception), or Alertness (to help with trapfinding).
So I've been mulling over a house rule for the past couple of weeks and I wanted to hear some feedback before I implement it.
Houserule
If the target of a spell with "Saving Throw negates" succeeds the save, the caster does not expend the spell-slot, but the caster may not target the creature with the same spell again in the same day.
If cast from a scroll, wand or item with limited uses per day, the scroll, charge or use is not expended, but the item can not be used to cast the spell against the target who saved successfully.
If the spell targets multiple creatures, and even one creature fails the save, the spell slot is expended as normal.
If a prepared caster prepared the spell multiple times, they may attempt to cast the same spell on a creature who saved successfully again, a number of time equal to the amount of times they have prepared the spell.
Reason for the rule:
The most frustrating thing for a player is if they spend both an action and a resource, and it fails. As a GM when I roll a saving throw for a monster, the luck of the dice can basically mean a player feels like their turn is wasted for trying to cast anything other than a summon or damaging spell.
Basically on a "miss" with a spell that has a negating save, the PC doesn't expend a resource, but still must try an alternative tactic against the particular foe they're facing in subsequent turns.
Anyway, I'd like to hear feedback, do you think it'll improve quality of life at the table? Overpower particular spells?
