An Advanced or Persistent Weapon Infusion feat that would allow this would certainly have its fans, but the fiction is closer to a cantrip than actually wielding a weapon.
Basically, if you want reach flanking for a kin, carry a whip.
Narrow concepts like "pyromancer" are often narrow because of a lack of supportive options that allow a concept to be well-rounded in theme. The fire kineticist is a better example of what can be done, but misses things like fire-powered punches, melting terrain and objects, stoking the internal fires for an exhausting burst of energy, etc. which could allow a more varied set of options. This of course eats up page space and makes it harder to differentiate between builds, but the option go full Hunter X Hunter* with a theme is there, in theory. * An anime that made the guy with bubblegum powers one of the main villains because he used it in all kinds of deadly ways.
As a player, I'm more than happy to pay the treadmill cost as long as I get to keep doing the thing so I can make doing the thing part of my kit and my story. This also goes for things that don't scale in other ways, like the lifting belt being stuck at +1 athletics - it shouldn't be something that you automatically discard once Sash of Prowess etc. come along because of math and limited slots. Some people may enjoy the episode/comic-style scenario where you bust out a fun gadget during one adventure and it's never seen ever again, but I think it's more typical for people to want to build their characters up into a routine or theme. We have consumables and prescient planner for one-offs already.
Compatability between the systems is a bonus, but SF2 is intended to stand on its own. A pure SF2 experience should feel different than a pure PF2 experience and from a hybrid experience. It will take a bit for the options to be fleshed out; PF2E has quite a few more books to work with.
Session zero, X-Cards, etc. exist for any actual discomfort issues. GM fiat exists for the annoyance issues. Removing the divine element you could easily have things like warriors codes, personal ethos, etc. Certainly I would be distracted an ineffective if I violated one of my personal anethema, like ignoring the suffering of a friend or treating someone as a stereotype instead of an individual. If I were a terrible person, I would similarly kicking myself for failing to take advantage of someone being in a bad situation, like one if them bleeding heart goody goody suckers. It's all fiction in a world no more real than The Land of Oz or Wonderland, so what ultimately matters is the table experience, but I'm happy to use the rules as written.
All drink, no pay
Clumsy longshanks topple hard
Snatch the treasure, reap the spoils
Burn the doggies, horsies too
Eat a pickle, stab an elf
The point of a free hand weapon is being able to do multiple things instead of one thing. If you only want to do one thing they aren't going to be for you. For those who like to do multiple things, they save a lot of actions on drawing and stowing weapons.
There's room for developing essentially a punk metal version offshoot of Hellknights through a civil war that rejects devils but still carries some of the feel, but in a defaced way, in the way that tieflings might acknowledge their heritage while rejecting its ethos. They might even do things like Hack Hell to sabotage it, screw with their records, etc. Hellpunks could be a good time while further exploring the topic area. They could even be reforming devils here and there. Plus the art would be amazing.
More finesse weapons, body augment style weapons, and more themed weapons like the singing spear and singing coil. I want it to be possible to have a cross between the Silverhawks and Josie and the Pussycats.
Some folks struggle with making rulings, especially new GMs, so clarity is valuable.
I am of the position that each spell list should be as equal as such things can be, with different strengths and weaknesses, so that they can be treated as equivalent as often as possible. Otherwise, there would need to be special benefits that come with using a lesser source to make up the difference.
D&D 2E's Dark Sun setting had a trader class. Basically a rogue with no backstab but lots of languages, skills, and a fast-talking ability.
There's plenty of room for nuance yet with the Hellknights, but they're clearly starting to falter against the diabolic temptations. This feels *right* given that managing to stay clear of temptation for so many generations makes devils look bad at their jobs. This also opens up room for drama when they discover some pre-Gap information that proves how far they've fallen. Imagine a galaxy-spanning Hellknight civil war! And remember, it's not impossible for fiends to reform...
Kins get plenty of benefit from off-guard and standard bonuses while being able to control the battlefield in absurd ways with little risk. They can create all kinds of control combos and bottlenecks and solve problems in ways that are hard to match. They don't turn into rocket tag but who needs to when you can just seal the enemy in with a barrier and blast them through a murder hole. They can be a *slow* class, but they can turn the battlefield into a tomb.
I really hope this leads toward playable Mythic Monster-like ancestries, especially since some humanoid versions already exist in the lore and monster books. Bonus points of some of them are minimally humanoid.
Mystical ninja have always been around, but the concept was on top of the standard ninja whose skills were more like magic tricks that felt magical in the moment. Apart from the rogue, a swashbuckler that focuses on stealth, deception, and tools fits the bill nicely; the default tumbling covers the gratuitous ninja flips.
I will be disappointed if there is not a vague Kim Possible allusion somewhere.
It's frequently a carryover from D&D, which has a long history of conflict between description and mechanics, eventually made explicit in 4E. This was a huge problem at tables where spellcaster players would break the game based on extrapolation. For example, Fireball being able to melt soft metals would turn into arguments that if it did so it must have reached a certain temperature which must accomplish a bunch of other things like damaging armor, scorching lungs, etc.I feel like everyone will disagree with me, but I don’t see the issue here. Why shouldn’t a level 20 wizard’s fireball melt someone along with their armor and weapons? I find it so bizarre when fireballs can be used in forests, cities, or tents and damage nothing. It’s so weird. Sure, it’s convenient because it doesn’t burn the loot or key items, but g#~*+~mit, it’s strange. We have durability in items for a reason. It makes everything more powerful and more complex than intended and turns every session into a bunch of arguing for additional power creep. It was a plague of frustration for decades and was a major part of why wizards got nerfed so hard in recent systems.
It's frequently a carryover from D&D, which has a long history of conflict between description and mechanics, eventually made explicit in 4E. This was a huge problem at tables where spellcaster players would break the game based on extrapolation. For example, Fireball being able to melt soft metals would turn into arguments that if it did so it must have reached a certain temperature which must accomplish a bunch of other things like damaging armor, scorching lungs, etc.
Ensuring items scale is the bigger issue. Items that are only useful for a few levels will freuquently be ignored and become noise. Having too many good choices is a good problem, having to find the needles in the haystack is not.
Size-changing rune plus aim-assisting rune can be quite handy if you have an aura ability, a reach weapon, or want to jam up doorways.
I'd be happy with something like Owlcat's work but for 2E, which is why I backed the Dragon's Demand kickstarter. In the modern area I am most interested in someone developing an engine that can be used for many adventures, like Neverwinter Nights crossed with VTTs. A full jumbo campaign is great, but relies on very strong writing, while a bunch of bite-sized adventures can have hits and misses without much fuss until someone comes up with The Script for a larger-scale romp built on by-then well-tested technology.
Sling is basically an opener or backup weapon in most cases. You don't want to be a dedicated slinger unless they introduce upgrade options. My rogue basically keeps it as a weapon that could be easily bluffed as a decoration that they can tuck away on their person with little effort.
I don't think kin *needs* anything new. For single-element kins there are a non-impulse options to consider which are harder to afford on a mixed build but which are worth exploring to expand on the element. I would love to see more impulses, but would also love to see other feats that go into different directions, like meta feats that allow for building more complex structures with igneogenesis, expanding weapon infusion options, or removing some of the limitations on extended kinesis.
Pulp fantasy before the 90s frequently had swords and guns side by side. He-Man and She-Ra come from this tradition. Harry Potter never brought a shotgun to deal with Voldemort despite living in the modern era. Warhammer is from 1983. Stephen King's The Gunslinger is 1982. The 90s brought us Interview With A Vampire, not guns, except for maybe holding pistols wrong. It's just a genre preference.Yes, but the roots of mainstream Fantasy, you LotR and D&D didn't, nor did many mainstream medieval fantasy settings. There were some in the 80s, even some that were popular, but they mostly failed to grab a foothold in the TTRPG space (Warhammer wasn't an RPG until later). As we moved into the 90s and self-publishing became easier, we started to see a lot more settings bucking the trend of Tolkien-esque fantasy in a way we saw far less of in the 80s. D&D had guns before the 80s even started. Early D&D even had ray guns and UFOs as far back as 1E. Tolkein's work certainly codified fantasy for a lot of people and remains the most popular expression, but the guns have always been there; similarly there have been wizards hanging out with space robots for generations.
Guns are a genre issue, not a realism issue.If you're stuck in the early 80s like a boomer, sure. It's not shocking that most new fantasy worlds, read 90s forward, aren't afraid to bring in guns. Pulp fantasy before the 90s frequently had swords and guns side by side. He-Man and She-Ra come from this tradition. Harry Potter never brought a shotgun to deal with Voldemort despite living in the modern era. Warhammer is from 1983. Stephen King's The Gunslinger is 1982. The 90s brought us Interview With A Vampire, not guns, except for maybe holding pistols wrong. It's just a genre preference. Personally I've been using guns since I was 5 and I was bored of them by 10, but of the guns we have I find the muzzle-loader the most interesting. Indeed my Dad always offers to take me shooting and I tell him I will happily shoot with him if it's with a bow. I follow the same preference in my fantasy purely as a matter if taste.
Guns are a genre issue, not a realism issue.
I generally don't care much for sci-fi and guns, but because I can repurpose SF2E for PF2E I'm willing to give it a shot and already picked up the Galaxy Guide. Worst cae scenario I fuzz the flavor to expand PF2E; I have a bunch of Ethereal-oriented ideas where crazy weird ancestries would fit in just fine.
I could see a two-action ranged feint with a penalty for distance being reasonable. Avoids stepping on melee's toes and could be improved or built upon with feat investment to make it less niche.
I imagine the fact that Paizo has major variety within the same ancestries also makes it hard to cram the details in without exploding the pages. Mwangi alone has so many pages on elves I had to take a break and flip through the deities while reading through.
It would probably help to have a variety of orc builds in the same image to better demonstrate what makes them clearly the same ancestry. As a standalone art piece it looks like a departure from other art. Ideally the same artist should draw Ulka along with some existing named orcs so the artist's stylization can be better discerned vs. the actual model concept.
Yeah, I just write off non-scaling magic items as a PFS player. So many wonderful items that are only useful for maybe four levels.
Eldritch Archer seems to cover some of this. A few more variations on that would be nice.
I can't give you your opinion. That said, a bunch of the ammo I listed isn't magical or has uses outside of combat. Personally I find a third action attack at -10 underwhelming compared to the status effects available in many cases.
How many are worth a full action to use?I could be convinced that ranged ammo would be a whole lot better. The DCs are so low as to feel not worthwhile. Be more worthwhile if ammo were tied to class DC or caster DC. All of them. They're all utility functions or combat boosters. Some are more niche than others, but even weird stuff like Trustworthy Round could be a lifesaver against enemies that influence your attacks or in a bunch of RP trickery.
I could be convinced that ranged ammo would be a whole lot better. The DCs are so low as to feel not worthwhile. Be more worthwhile if ammo were tied to class DC or caster DC. PF2E's handling of item DCs is an overall design issue with the whole system that at least needs a way to pay to scale things up. That said, these always work, as they don't rely on an initial non-flat DC, and most have no DC: Shining Ammunition
And this list is all Common, PFS-legal stuff.
Unroped net is 20'. Net and bola are both cheap, and you probably won't be spamming them. Unusual ammo starts at 3gp. You don't spam it, but you can certainly use it when it matters. Demoralize is 30' Create a Diversion has no range Recall Knowledge has no range. Command Animal has no range. Hide/Sneak are obviously useful. Thievery abilities are... their own thread. Aid, Point Out, and Sense Motive have no range. Seek is 30' Fascinating Performance and Distracting Performance have no range. Recognize Spell has no range. There is *stuff to do* beyond being a turret.
Throw a net. Throw a bola. Use ranged attacks to interact with the battlefield. Use unusual ammo. Use the various long-distance skill abilities.
Obvious solution: ifrit tanuki.
Paizo wanted people to have a gun option, and wanted it to have potential for cool guns rather than face the limits of the earliest firearms (who wants to try a realistic muzzel loading wheel lock pistol against a kraken in a rain storm?). They also didn't want them to be literally just crossbows, so they fudged a few things and mostly developed guns as low Rate of Fire, big crit weapons. Outside of action compression abilities, this works with how guns were used for centuries - as the one-shot surprise ultra wammy to tilt a melee in your favor. Guns in their modern form only came about in the 1800s. It's worth keeping in mind that PF2 firearms also have a strong baseline crit effect and a bunch of fancy ability options no other weapon gets. Concussive, scatter, kickback, and double barrel all have their use, and a ton of firearms are either combination weapons or can be combined with melee. Also there is the spoon gun.
Overall, fast flight should take a significant investment, short or long-term. A battle form that grants you a great fly speed but locks you into its limitations works well. A mutagen that granted you speedy flight but made you clumsy or sickened based on usage would be good, too. Burrowing is another one that needs special care.
Tailwind is powerful enough that many people consider a Wand of Tailwind to be a default part of a loadout, so any expansion of it should be limited. I would nerf the duration to 10 minutes for alternative speeds.
There's no need to denigrate the play preferences of others. It's fine to just say "I would not enjoy that". We all have different preferences for how a game runs. For some, anything where you don't have four characters ready to go because instant death awaits anyone who doesn't have a ten foot pole to check every single tile on the floor feels lacking, but they don't need to declare all easier games to be of a negative quality.
I would unironically love a feathered dragon though. It would be so fluffy. Plus it could be a nod to the theory that some dragon myths originated with dinosaur bones, and that birds are related to dinosaurs.I'd love to see a whole feathered reptile *event* centered around the coatls that could introduce a handful of feathered snakes, dragons, drakes, and dinosaurs, and maybe finally gave us playable serpentfolk (with or without feathers). Throw in some kenku, shisk, strix, and dragonblooded options, maybe a feathered serpent medusa for kicks. Whups. *anime sweat drop*
I would unironically love a feathered dragon though. It would be so fluffy. Plus it could be a nod to the theory that some dragon myths originated with dinosaur bones, and that birds are related to dinosaurs. I'd love to see a whole feathered reptile *event* centered around the coatls that could introduce a handful of feathered snakes, dragons, drakes, and dinosaurs, and maybe finally gave us playable serpentfolk (with or without feathers). Throw in some kenku, shisk, strix, and dragonblooded options, maybe a feathered serpent medusa for kicks.
Also, drakes are ducks. If drakes are a type of dragon, then it therefore stands to reason that dragons are also types of ducks.This comment made me pause and think to myself about how much I love our community. Can't wait to play a miserly Drakeblooded with a cane sword of pogoing.
Tiers of play being different is the default rather than the exception in TTRPGs. It also isn't typically taught in video games except for things with major focus shifts like Civilization. For the most part this can be expressed in a side bar, if it isn't already. *Lethality and Tiers of Play*
Etc.
The wonderful thing is that you can *add* things. Maybe there's a kind of vampire that sparkles. Maybe there's a kind of four-limbed dragon that sparkles. Reality has the platypus - fantasy doesn't need to be less weird than real life.
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