Question: can we use the TCoE optional rule to replace the ability scores granted by a race or subrace with whatever we want? I want to make an elf druid, and I think it might be interesting to make him actually be a high elf rather than a wood elf.
Hi! Would it be okay to apply to this even though I’m also GMing a Ruby Phoenix campaign? I won’t do anything metagamey, just want to see what the experience is like from the player side.
Hi! Would it be okay to apply to this even though I’m also GMing a Ruby Phoenix campaign? I won’t do anything metagamey, just want to see what the experience is like from the player side.
OK here we go! Even if you don't accept me it was a lot of fun making this character haha.
Guardian
Class: Wizard (Abjuration School, Spell Substitution Thesis)
Ancestry: Automaton
Background: Sponsored by Teacher Ot (for simplicity’s sake, maybe she could be considered co-sponsored by Ot and Okajo)
Langauges: Common (Mwangi), Utopian, Jistkan, Taldane, Garundi, Dwarven
10 Minute Background + Flaw/Quirk:
Step 1: write five things about your character’s concept and background, five things that you think are the most essential parts of your character. You don’t have to stop at five, if you like…this is just a minimum.
1. She is a millennia-old automaton from the Jistka Imperium, a living soul in a construct body.
2. She spent an unknown amount of time comatose/deactivated in a Jistkan ruin before being rediscovered on an archaeological dig two years ago.
3. She has no memory of her life before being reawakened in Rahadoum, but knows that she was tasked with protecting something or someone.
4. She has been a subject of study by the arcane theorists of Magaambya, who did not initially realize that she was intelligent before she regained the ability to speak.
5. She has limited access to the energy within her arcane core, which increases as she learns to exercise and develop her magic. This can also help her develop a a better physical connection to her body and may even allow her to begin regaining memories.
Step 2: List two goals for the character that you, as a player, think would be cool to see accomplished in-game.
1. Guardian’s highest priority is to protect others around her. It is her strongest driving instinct, and what encourages her to become stronger.
2. Her secondary goal is to learn who she is/was and regain her full strength, however much that was.
Step 3: List two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet.
1. Guardian is afraid of what she might find out about herself if she gets her memory back.
2. She does not know that it was a conflict with her creators/fellow automatons in the Artificer Conclave that led to her long period of dormancy.
Step 4: Describe three people that are tied to the character though blood, romance or honor. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile
1. Selam Yider, the archaeologist who initially rediscovered Guardian and brought her to be studied at the Magaambya Academy. Still stops by sometimes to check in on her.
2. Teacher Okajo, the construct expert who studied her and has become her sponsor. Always encouraging her to seek the truth about herself.
3. Garokh, a Tiefling Automaton who has traveled the planes for ages but never forgotten her grudge against Guardian from the end of the Imperial age.
Step 5: Describe three memories that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.
1. Hazy flashes of otherworldly environments and scenes of battle.
2. Teacher Okajo’s shocked face when she started moving while being studied in the Academy.
3. Birdwatching by the river with Teacher Ot and his wife and feeling a little bit at peace.
Flaw: Guardian has a tendency to feel down on herself for being so different from the people around her, and worries that interacting with her is a burden.
Quirk: She finds nature calming and fascinating, particularly because organic life is so alien to her own experience.
Is there an archaeologist or adventurer teacher who might be able to be a sponsor? I have an idea for a character who would be good to be sponsored by a teacher but I'm not sure if Teacher Ot is the right fit.
Actually a professor who's interested in arcane constructs would be even better.
Almaka Rorun was born into the Zaphyrie Clan in the Mwangi Jungle. Orphaned at a young age, they were taken in by the monks of the Sky Keepers, who instilled in them a deep faith in the gods Apsu, Ranginori and Uvuko. From Apsu, they learned the importance of protecting others and helping them stand on their own feet; from Ranginori, they learned to value travel and freedom; and from Uvuko, they learned to embrace change and the future. They also learned to channel the grace and ferocity of the venerable cloud dragons through martial arts.
Almaka spent much of their time growing up at the Shrine of All-Faiths in Zaphyrie, learning about the various divinities of Golarion, but they never wavered in their devotion to the Sky Keepers. As a young adult in their 30s, they left their village to live as a wandering mendicant monk, helping others and spreading the word of the Sky Keepers to those interested in listening.
As is typical of the Taralu, Almaka is honest and kind. They will always seek a peaceful resolution before engaging in battle. However, an electric energy crackles within them, and this can lead them to act quickly without thinking things through, despite their best efforts to keep to their people's oath of patience. They are prone to following flights of fancy and becoming distracted while traveling, drawn by an almost childlike curiosity. And when they must join combat, they become intensely focused and difficult to sway.
They are also an excellent chef, well-versed in a number of cuisines from around Garund, and keep plenty of spices on their person at all times.
Also think I'm gonna change their Heritage to Elemental Heart Dwarf, poison resistance could be useful in this campaign but it's not as thematic!
I want to try a Taralu Dwarf Monk/Barbarian, a wandering acolyte of the Sky Keeper pantheon (Apsu, Ranginori and Uvuko). I know there isn't a Player's Guide for this adventure since it isn't a full AP, but does the adventure have any recommendations for how to build a character that will fit well?
Stat block:
Almaka Rorun
Nonbinary Taralu dwarf monk 5
NG, Medium, Humanoid, Dwarf
Heritage Strong-Blooded Dwarf
Background Raised by Belief
Perception +12; greater darkvision, low-light vision
Languages Common, Mwangi, Dwarven
Skills Acrobatics +11, Athletics +11, Religion +12, Diplomacy +8, Medicine +10, Sky Keepers Lore +7
Str 18 (+4), Dex 18 (+4), Con 16 (+3), Int 10 (+0), Wis 16 (+3), Cha 8 (-1)
Items+1 striking crushing handwraps of mighty blows, minor sturdy shield, oil of mending, lesser antidote, lesser antiplague, runestone, clan dagger, pilgrim’s token (silver), climbing kit, adventurer’s pack, explorer’s clothes, 10 gp 9 sp
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AC 23; Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +12
HP 75 ; Resistances poison 2
Shield Block (reaction)
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Speed 30 feet
Melee+1 striking fist +14 (magical, nonlethal, agile, finesse, unarmed), Damage 2d6+4 B
Melee+1 striking dragon tail strike +14 (magical, backswing, nonlethal, unarmed) Damage 2d10+4
Class Feats Dragon Stance, Barbarian Dedication (Dragon Instinct, Cloud Dragon), Basic Fury (Draconic Arrogance)
Ancestry Feats Dwarven Doughtiness, Defy the Darkness
General Feats Shield Block
Skill Feats Assurance (Acrobatics), Pilgrim’s Token, Student of the Canon
Other Abilities flurry of blows, powerful fist, incredible movement, mystic strikes
Would a strix character be allowed, even though it's a Rare ancestry? I have this idea for a character who was captured in Cheliax after injuring her wing, bought by Mistress Dusklight and displayed as an oddity in the Celestial Menagerie. The ringmaster of the Circus of Wayward Wonders helped her escape when they broke off. She works behind the scenes at the CWW as a rigger and general helper, and is generally mistrustful of others but fiercely loyal to the ringmaster and others who have shown her kindness. Class would be Thief Rogue, especially if you rule that it's okay for me to use the Dex to damage for unarmed talon attacks as well as weapons (which is technically not RAW but shouldn't mechanically affect anything).
If that sounds okay, then I'll get to work on the background questions!
Can't edit anymore but I just want to add that the character is 20 years old, and speaks Common, Varisian and Elven. Also I think I'll switch out Diplomacy for Athletics.
Dhruva is an Otari native of Varisian descent. She has a natural curiosity and a love of the wilderness, but her hopes of adventuring far afield are tempered by the need to stay near the town and support her sick mother, the only family she has left. As a compromise, she makes their living as a wilderness guide, tracker and hunter, often helping the town’s lumberjacks navigate safely as they delve ever deeper into the dense forest surrounding Otari. Along with her faithful hound Georgina, she enjoys taking the opportunity to explore the ruins and caves around Otari, looking for valuable treasures or interesting stories. This interest has naturally drawn her towards Wrin Sivinxi, hoping for tales of exotic lands and magic.
Dhruva is enthusiastic and kind but awkward, getting along better with animals than people and preferring long periods of solitude over lots of interpersonal interaction.
Mechanical stuff:
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Versatile (General Feat: Fast Recovery)
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, Cooperative Nature (if we’re playing with Ancestry Paragon)
HP: 20
AC: 18
Perception: +7
Saves: Fort +7, Reflex +9, Will +5
Animal Companion: Georgina, Dog (uses Wolf statblock)
About the player:
I'm a 27 year old grad student, I've been playing/running PF2 for a little bit, my experience before that is mostly D&D 5e and PBTA games. I use they/them pronouns.
It's surprisingly kind of unclear. Fights seem to end at unconsciousness or surrender, but what if a bloodthirsty contender goes for a fatal strike, or someone is killed by accident? Would the tournament organizers provide healing and resurrection? If someone is killed in a match and comes back, do they stay in the tournament?
Anyone's ideas on this would be appreciated, especially if you've run or played in the original Ruby Phoenix Tournament!
The PDF is very low-res. Is there a better version of this? I don't think this is worth getting if it's so hard to appreciate the details of the artwork.
So I was thinking about the ever-popular debate about whether casters are underwhelming compared to martials, and I decided to do some comparisons. Namely, how does the base, resourceless damage of a blasting caster compare to that of various martial classes, and how would it look with certain common-sense tweaks:
1. having casting proficiency keep pace with martial proficiency by mimicking the 1-5-13 progression of a standard non-Fighter martial.
2. use of potency rune spell foci (i.e. +1 to attack when a martial would expect to get their first +1 weapon).
These simple fixes overcome the more glaring discrepancies, such as the level 5-6 and 13-14 gaps where casters can expect to hit 15-20% less often than the martials for no easily discernible reason.
Some have suggested that changes like this would make casters too strong. I agree that cantrip damage should lag behind martial damage, to make up for the caster's greater utility options and nova potential with leveled damage spells. However, I think the data here shows that these changes would likely make a caster feel like they're able to contribute more to combat, without making the Fighter or Ranger or Rogue feel at all useless.
For example, at present, a caster using Telekinetic Projectile at level 5 (+11 to hit) on a level 3 enemy deals 11.6 damage on average, while a two-handing Fighter (+16 to hit) and a Rogue (+14 to hit) with Sneak Attack on both hits will expect to do around 35 damage with the same two actions. This takes into account crits and MAP on the second attack. If we bring the caster's attack bonus up to the Rogue/Barbarian/Ranger's +14 at this level, their average damage becomes about 16. The caster gets to feel a little less like they miss all the time, but their damage still doesn't threaten the martial's dominance in the field of hitting things hard.
Hit/crit rate is based on the average Bestiary AC of enemies at Party Level-2 (representing a standard group foe) and Party Level (representing a more significant challenge). I used this for my sources - note that I think it only includes the original Bestiary, so later books may change the balance.
To go further into the ramifications beyond cantrips, I also included Hydraulic Push, one of the most straightforward ranged spell attack roll spells that uses a slot. As noted further down, the tweaked version stays sort of on par with the single-target damage of Fireball against a strong Reflex save, which is also roughly equivalent to a two-hander Fighter's damage, and the tweaked version is closer to Fireball against a weak Reflex save, which seems like a better deal - you want the single-target all-or-nothing spell to be a little stronger than your area effect when it hits, I'd think.
Because so many spells have saves, I also included spellcasters' chances to get a crit fail/fail/success/crit success from average enemies at PL and PL-2. I included some calculations for Electric Arc (the main save cantrip) and Fireball (the most classic big-damage leveled spell). Note that these both are attacks that can hit multiple enemies, so the more enemies you can fit in their area, the stronger they are. Fireball at the highest available level (notably, a limited resource) approximately keeps pace with a two-handed Fighter's resource-free two-action damage, and Electric Arc does about half that. But of course that's single-target damage, which demonstrates that area effects are really where casters tend to shine. I included a version where DCs also increase due to spell focus fundamental runes as well, make of that what you will - I don't it's necessary the way it feels with spell attack rolls. Note also that Hydraulic Push as-is lags significantly behind Fireball's single-target damage, and comes closer to matching it in the tweaked version.
I wanted to get a good representative sample of martials and compare their two-action average damage for each level to those of a cantrip-wielding caster. Note that these simulations take into account universal class features, but not any feats that vary from character to character such as Power Attack or different Debilitating Strikes, etc.
This is the base, resourceless damage making full use of base class features, so the Rogue would be able to get Sneak Attack on both hits, the Barbarian would be Raging, and the Ranger would be attacking their Hunted Prey to benefit from Hunter's Edge. The Rogue is a Thief to maximize damage, and the Barbarian is Fury Instinct since it's the most generic Instinct.
I hope you find this interesting, let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see or if you notice any mistakes I made. Thanks for reading!
The Barbarian feat "Oversized Throw" references picking up a nearby object, such as a boulder or table, and throwing it at an enemy. The object then becomes a simple ranged weapon with the thrown property. This seems like the definition of an improvised weapon. With that in mind, do abilities from the Weapon Improviser archetype, such as Improvised Pummel which adds a +1 item bonus to the attack roll, interact with this weapon? It seems like a clear synergy (the definition of improvised weapon even uses furniture as an example, just like Oversized Throw does), but the thrown weapon isn't explicitly described as having the improvised trait.
This is an interesting discussion! I feel like just the addition of +1/2/3 spell attack runes for spell focuses would make a big difference, I hope they have them in the APG or a later splat book.
