Archpaladin Zousha's page

What's funny to me is that since there are several coffee drinks named Melange, I am forced to assume the Spice that everyone is talking about in Dune is just espresso.

That's nonsense. Everyone knows it's pumpkin!

45. A collection of logged surveillance footage and intercepted messages from an Absalom Station residence that observes a family exhibiting increasingly odd behaviors, mostly related to paranoia about a possibly fictional disease, as well as unexplainable phenomena such as a family member phasing through the kitchen floor or the presence of an emaciated, pink humanoid hiding in the house.

Mixed in with the footage files appears to be an episode of a public access tri-vid show hosted by an amateurish and mentally-unstable sculptor seemingly obsessed with the same disease referenced in the logs.

The assembly ooze holds a special place in my heart. If this were just fantasy, it would just be a magical ooze. If this were just scifi, one would wonder why they made it an ooze. It would only really truly exist as written in scifantasy.

I agree. I didn't think you could MAKE a gelatinous cube scarier than it already was (most pics forget that they're colorless, which is why they're so dangerous, you don't see them unless you're REALLY paying attention to what's in front of you), but somehow they managed it! You're not just dissolved painfully, but now it poops you out as an inanimate object!

Why not just be a full-on orc? :P

Go with Jeffrey. Cause nobody's afraid of a Jeffrey (and shirren need lots of friends).

I dunno, Ravingdork, I can think of at least one Jeffrey to be scared of. Though Jeffrey WOULD be an interesting girl's name...

I'm struggling to come up with a name for a new shirren PC. While there IS a name generator that's okay, it feels a little...short on options, given if you click it several times, you'll see the same names appear. Plus...Schneider is apparently a shirren name it can generate? I know Wes left for Wizards of the Coast, but I didn't know he became a bug person! :P

So...are there other resources I can look into for inspiration?

EDIT: Dhyanesh and Hridayesh popped up, which of those seems more interesting?

I'd also add that it's VERY important to remember that Pathfinder's "occult" is VERY different from what most other fantasy RPGs label "psionic." There's much more focus on things being esoteric and mysterious, touching on barely understood powers, as opposed to just having a very powerful brain.

Would it be okay for me, as a person who's never seen a Godzilla movie, to see the recent one on its own, or should I watch the previous movies in th series first for the full context?

Is it true that if you increase your Intelligence, you retroactively gain enough skill ranks to bring a new skill up to max right away?

For example, my Solarian has just reached 5th level and his INT has increased from 11 to 13, and selects Culture as a new skill. Does he then get 5 ranks in Culture, equalling the skills he's previously been putting ranks in from 1st level, or does he only get 1 rank in Culture and 5 ranks in the other skills, meaning his Culture will continue to trail behind his other skills?

I'm looking to get a character set up in case someone does a recruitment here for the Dawn of Flame adventure path, and I've got a core concept, but need assistance elaborating on that concept to create a complete character.

Since I'm already playing a Sarenrae-worshipping half-elf solarian in a game of Dead Suns on these boards, I started looking around for something different and was inspired by the description of Eclipse Academy on Apostae, reproduced here for convenience:

My idea is to play a drow survivor of this academy, with possibly the Death-Touched theme to reflect how close to death its methods pushed her, and now that she's completed her training, she wants to leave the cruelty she suffered during her training and under Apostae's society as a whole behind. I'm struggling to decide what class she should ultimately be. My first instinct was another solarian, but with a solar weapon as opposed to my Dead Suns character, who uses solar armor. But a Star Shaman mystic would be thematically appropriate too, since what is the sun but a star?

I'm also trying to decide what kind of deity (and alignment) she would gravitate to as she's desperately looking for a purpose in life, but not Sarenrae as my Dead Suns character already is a Sarenite and because I imagine Sarenites will be a cred a dozen among potential applicants to a Dawn of Flame game. I've been thinking of possibly having her be a Knight of Golarion and worshiping Iomedae, deciding to use her star power for good, especially since in this video on the organization, the Knights protect and patronize any species that can trace their origins back to lost Golarion. While that's primarily humans, it also includes space goblins, dwarves, and yes, the drow. On the other hand, Desna is an appealing choice, given how she seems to attract bad people looking to become good, even a succubus, and I think James Jacobs stated that the Forgotten Realms goddess of good drow, Eilistraee, was an inspiration for Desna (I can't remember if it was specifically Desna he mentioned, so I could be wrong), and Desna isn't very demanding, plus travelling to interesting places like the sun and stuff would appeal to her, especially with the theme of discovery and exploration of the unknown the adventure path has.

So what do you folks think? Should my drow be a solarian, or a star shaman mystic? Should she worship Desna or Iomedae? Should she take an archetype like Star Knight or Divine Champion?

As you are Paizo's elfspert, I have a question regarding drow:

Were a drow destined for PC'hood to decide to abandon her culture's ruthless, social-Darwinist ways, what's the deity that would most likely attract her curiosity besides Sarenrae? Desna?

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should be asking more specific questions.

• How much "Chaotic ally" content am I going to miss if I play something like a paladin, i.e. allying with Tartuk, Armag, etc.? Should I ditch the paladin concept and just play something like an Inquisitor or Cleric who can be Chaotic Good?
• Is there any particular magic items/weapons/armor I should be keeping an eye out for aside from Briar, which I'm not likely to keep, instead giving it back to Nyrissa? Are there essential items that necessitate building your character around them like the Silver Sword of Gith in Neverwinter Nights 2?
• When I asked about the Varnhold's Lot campaign, I was asking more about how it figures into the Main Story: if you start in the Main Story, do you suddenly get a new Character Creation screen when you reach the Varnhold's Lot content in it, and then jump back and forth between the Main Story and Varnhold's as thing progress, or do you need to play through the entirety of Varnhold's Lot separately on its own, and then import its results into your Main Story?
• Is there any "penalty" for beelining straight for quest objectives to avoid running out of time anytime I get a quest, or are there solutions that can only be reached when certain times are hit? What worries me in regards to the timers is the overall time-limit for whatever chapter I'm in getting eaten up while I'm running around making sure all the sidequests are done. Plus, my understanding is a lot of quests are "tangled" together, and I'm concerned the optimal solution for one sidequest will guarantee an unoptimal solution for another (for example, if I romance and save Nyrissa, does that mean I can't save both Octavia and Regongar and thus one of them is doomed?). Are there scenarios like that?
• While the fact that skill challenges always use that of the companion with the highest score is a relief, meaning my character doesn't have to do everything themselves like in Neverwinter Nights 2, are there any MUST HAVE skills or ability scores to max out or at least keep in mind when building my main character if I want to get the optimal results for each quest?

Now that the final DLC and Enhanced Edition for Pathfinder: Kingmaker are out, I'm making plans of attack for my playthrough. I'm the kind of guy who likes to strive for 100% completion of quests and seeking the best endings for the game, barring specific mutually-exclusive stuff like romances or alignment-based branches, and so I like to do research and seek out spoilers and walkthroughs. Unfortunately, it appears that Pathfinder: Kingmaker doesn't really seem to have a lot of guides and stuff written for it the way games like the Baldur's Gate series or Neverwinter Nights games. Even the game's wiki has a lot of unfinished articles and dead links.

As a result, I'm at a bit of a loss as to where to begin, especially since there's a lot of moving parts with this game right from the start (Neverwinter Nights 2 for example, has Crossroad Keep but not really until the middle of the game's second act, whereas in this game you've got your kingdom right from the get-go after the "prologue" of dealing with the Stag Lord). In addition, alignment definitely seems to have MUCH greater impact on the storyline in this game than in any previous one, given how a lot of enemies can become allies only if you're Chaotic, which is kinda hard for me as a roleplayer, as my username implies. Add to that the DLCs and I'm not sure what to play first. Do I play Varnhold's Lot like a prequel, or can I start in with the base game and do it as I move along in-game? How do I utilize Beneath The Stolen Lands, since it's clear you're not necessarily meant to get the whole experience of that with your main character, and characters in that DLC are EXPECTED to die at some point?

So, how do I begin to approach this? How do I design my character to be best equipped to get as close to "the full Pathfinder: Kingmaker experience" as possible in a single playthrough? How do I build proper cities so I don't just impulsively build myself into a corner? Am I overthinking things the way I do for my play-by-post gaming? Thank you all in advance for your help and advice!

Any thoughts on the announcement of Baldur's Gate 3?

Please excuse me while I run around flailing my arms and screaming in an equal mix of excitement and fear.

Bardarok wrote:

citricking wrote:

I hope there's a way for monks to use normal non monk weapons and be effective. It's really just way too limiting for a lot of concepts to have them stuck with specially selected monk weapons. If it's about being afraid the weapons would be too powerful, then they could need stances to use with monk features, and those stances could change their stats.

But really there needs to be ways for monk to use normal weapons effectively.

I think that's what fighter dedication is for. From the UK games expo thread the image on the fighter dedication page is a monk and the text says "monk fighters are great at combining unusual weapon styles. For instance a monk isn't hindered by a restriction to keep one hand free because they want to punch you with that hand anyways"

That's saying monks are good at using the free hand fighter feats, which I understand. That's about an unarmed monk, not a weapon using monk which I want.

Yes the monk can MC fighter for weapon proficiencies, but they need a way to use those weapons with monk class features. I want to have a character that can viable use weapons, not one that should use it's fists because they're much better.

Right, that just takes us right back to the issue shortswords had in 1e.

This is going to sound dumb but...what are dedications?

I'm hoping we get Jian as a "monk short sword", or at least some feat to expand monk feats.

That's really what I'd like as well, considering the information we've been given. In 1e if you wanted to play a monk with a jian you were pretty much out of luck unless you followed a really specific build (worship Iomedae and multiclass into cleric, and take the Crusader's Flurry feat).

Something that always bugged me about 1e Pathfinder was that monks got proficiency with shortswords, but couldn't really DO anything with them since they didn't have the "monk weapon" tag that other weapons like the temple sword or kama had, so if you wanted to use shortswords as a monk, you had to cough up the money for a ki focus enchantment or beg your GM to include one in a loot pile somewhere.

Is this being addressed in 2e, either by allowing monks to use their monk features with the weapons they start out proficient with, like 5e D&D has done, or simply by removing the shortsword from a monk's starting proficiencies?

So I know very little about Jade Regent, what am I missing for having neither read nor played it that couldn't be summed up in a paragraph in a world guide?

Like I have played Carrion Crown and Strange Aeons and I'm pretty sure the reasons to play those are "they are fun" and not "to make sense of Tyrant's Grasp."

That it's dependent on Ameiko Kaijitsu surviving the events of Rise of the Runelords, which isn't a given. And you also have to have experienced that, Curse of the Crimson Throne and Second Darkness to get the full context for Shattered Star, and then Return of the Runelords actively encourages you to have former PC's from those campaigns put on cameo appearances, unless you want to use the generic iconics.

And imagine how cool it would be in Tyrant's Grasp if your Carrion Crown or Strange Aeons PC made a similar cameo?!

I feel your pain. I can't catch up with even half the news on Earth, let alone that on Golarion, even if I were to subscribe to all the major newspapers . . . .

I just miss when the APs could kind of be considered standalone and if there were connections to other ones they were more like fun little Easter eggs, rather than how the PCs handled one AP directly creating the status quo of one later, which started with Jade Regent. That made it feel like I had to play the first AP before playing the next, rather than things just kind of going on "simultaneously" in the setting like the first three Varisian APs, which means you can't just "dive in" anymore...and then PFS scenarios and novels start getting in on the action and I just feel...left behind. Like I couldn't keep up with Golarion and it's moving on without me.

That's why I'm more scared than excited for the impending edition change. I feel like everyone's going to move on to that new status quo and no one will want to do the old stuff anymore because it's old and clunky and everyone's already played it and got their own headcanons, while I barely got a chance to start one. To say nothing of the fact that if I wanted to try and "Marvel Cinematic Universe" 1e Pathfinder, I'd probably have to GM, and that means I can't use all the cool PC ideas I've tailor-made for APs that have either started in play-by-posts that have died or are specifically designed for APs that nobody likes like Council of Thieves. It just makes me feel really anxious and exhausted at the same time, to the point where thinking about Golarion (and frankly TTRPGs in general) doesn't "spark joy" the same way it used to, to borrow Marie Kondo's catchphrase.

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Michael Sayre wrote:

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

[...]I know that's irrational, but it still chews away at my brain and I don't know how to get rid of it!

All of our past scenarios are available for purchase (many of them in bundled seasons). You don't need to go out to a convention to play them, and you can run them for your home group with or without reporting them for organized play credit. Many GMs simply use them as one-offs to fill an evening or pick up some extra experience points. The events of specials almost always come up in later adventures, and the specials themselves typically become available to anyone who wants them once their exclusivity window has ended (though there's a bit of a cycle on that and I think the last special to become publicly available is from season 7).

If you've "gotta catch 'em all", the scenarios are out there for purchase. Essentially you've just been ignoring an entire product line, but fortunately the back-catalogue is always available for you to get caught up if you're so inclined.

But then that's only the first step: I'd have to play through ALL of those things to get the "base headcanon" established that I can then spin off to write my own campaigns set in Golarion, and besides that, the shift to the new edition basically means anything I've created now is irrelevant since things have "started over." I still feel like I've been left behind in terms of the setting and I'll never be able to catch up, since who wants to run or play PFS scenarios over 5 years old for no real credit just for my creative peace of mind, and how would I be able to run all that stuff before I die, since I'm already 30 years old, and all the play-by-posts I join keep dying!?

I think the only solution for you is to let go of your notion of having to know *everything* about the setting and running games so that they *100%* conform with established canon. The problem is in your head, not with Paizo.

And I'm sorry, but you...

And then what happens when a book comes out that contradicts whatever I've done? That means I won't be able to use whatever comes AFTER the contradiction, meaning I'm now cut off from all possibilities for a better story, since I'm a terrible writer and am desperately clinging on to the framework Paizo's provided so my stuff is at least "okay."

How do I shake this aggravating feeling that I'll never fully be caught up on Pathfinder lore and that I've wasted all the time and money I've invested in it by enjoying it wrong?

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

[...]I know that's irrational, but it still chews away at my brain and I don't know how to get rid of it!

All of our past scenarios are available for purchase (many of them in bundled seasons). You don't need to go out to a convention to play them, and you can run them for your home group with or without reporting them for organized play credit. Many GMs simply use them as one-offs to fill an evening or pick up some extra experience points. The events of specials almost always come up in later adventures, and the specials themselves typically become available to anyone who wants them once their exclusivity window has ended (though there's a bit of a cycle on that and I think the last special to become publicly available is from season 7).

If you've "gotta catch 'em all", the scenarios are out there for purchase. Essentially you've just been ignoring an entire product line, but fortunately the back-catalogue is always available for you to get caught up if you're so inclined.

But then that's only the first step: I'd have to play through ALL of those things to get the "base headcanon" established that I can then spin off to write my own campaigns set in Golarion, and besides that, the shift to the new edition basically means anything I've created now is irrelevant since things have "started over." I still feel like I've been left behind in terms of the setting and I'll never be able to catch up, since who wants to run or play PFS scenarios over 5 years old for no real credit just for my creative peace of mind, and how would I be able to run all that stuff before I die, since I'm already 30 years old, and all the play-by-posts I join keep dying!?

I'd also like to add something that's been on my mind for months, possibly even years, and I've alluded to in other threads:

I've constantly felt like there's a metaplot undercurrent to Pathfinder's setting that I've missed out on because I never went to cons or participated in PFS Organized Play, which then gets referenced in the books I do have: How did the Pathfinders get the Hao Jin Tapestry?! Who are the Blakros family?! What's the Sky Key?! When did the Untouchable Opal get found?! Who killed Runelord Krune?!

So even if I read every Pathfinder book, Campaign Setting book, Player Companion book, Adventure Path book, and Module and Pathfinder Tales novel, and play the Pathfinder: Kingmaker PC there will STILL be information on the setting I've missed out on that are now barred to me. I found a recruitment for a play-by-post that combined the Mummy's Mask with several PFS modules, weaving them together in a way that looked like it would be fun, but I was not allowed to join because I didn't have a PFS character with the Scarab Sages faction, which I CAN'T make now since that faction no longer exists in PFS!

I feel like I've wasted my money and time and emotional labor by getting involved in Pathfinder as a campaign setting since I'll never have all the information so I can spiral my own stuff off of it, so there will always be the potential for someone playing with me to "Um, Actually..." and provide some information on the setting I didn't have that contradicts whatever I've come up with on my own, ruining everything, and I know that's irrational, but it still chews away at my brain and I don't know how to get rid of it!

I've been emotionally grappling with a bit of a thorny set of thoughts, but I'm not sure who I could really speak to about it. In my immediate circle, I feel like if I explained the context, it'd either sound extremely petty or frivolous, or my thought process to get to it is kind of weird. It is related to gaming, but it touches on topics that I'm hesitant to discuss in public on these boards, since it's regarding Paizo specifically...

I think the issue others are getting at is that it doesn't necessarily feel, at least in the APs, that prophecy getting "broken" was a big deal. Most of the impact we actually see was the formation of House Thrune's regime in Cheliax and the various nations that sharded off from it like Andoran and Sargava, which took place before the setting's initial "current year," and none of the APs really feature groups like the Harbingers of Fate or address the situation as part of its narrative.

I feel that, given the stronger emphasis on "Lost Omens" for the setting that's coming with the new Edition, that will change.

Do you think "Fantasy Counterpart Cultures" are inevitable in any campaign setting that eventually has a "global" aspect, rather than keeping tightly focused to a specific geographic area and its culture?

Sometimes it seems (at least from my perspective) like you have to make a choice between a shallow theme-park version of different cultures (like most D&D interpretations of Medieval China or the Middle-East) or going full-immersion with an RPG solely dedicated to depicting that culture's history and nuances (with a game like Ygdrassil or Qin: The Warring States).

Goatees. Goatees on EVERYBODY.

Platyparians! With bonus to treat and save vs disease, because platypus milk is a thing! https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43415998

And Pembrites too! Yes, the vlaka are techically doggie-people, but they're HUSKY-people, not CORGI-people! They could give skittermanders a run for their creds for the title of cutest Starfinder PC species!

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Question regarding Concordance of Rivals: The psychopomp usher Phlegyas, described on Page 16 of the book, is described as female in their statblock, but the actual paragraphs of text following that initially refer to Phlegyas using male pronouns before switching to female ones midpoint, approximately around the time Phlegyas' mortality ends and they become a psychopomp usher.

Was that done intentionally, meaning Phlegyas is a transwoman?

I wasn't involved in the writing or development of that book, so I have no idea if this is intentional or an error or what.

Representation of trans characters in a positive light in our products is VERY important to me. If the intention was to have a trans psychopomp usher (which is a great idea), we should have been more clear about that, I suppose. It certainly sounds like the intent was that as a mortal they were male and as a psychopomp they became female.

DEFINITELY a great idea, and one I know I'M going to use should Phlegyas show up in a game I run. Thanks, James!

Question regarding Concordance of Rivals: The psychopomp usher Phlegyas, described on Page 16 of the book, is described as female in their statblock, but the actual paragraphs of text following that initially refer to Phlegyas using male pronouns before switching to female ones midpoint, approximately around the time Phlegyas' mortality ends and they become a psychopomp usher.

Was that done intentionally, meaning Phlegyas is a transwoman?

Ashava: Dancing in the Moonlight, specifically Toploader's cover version, though King Harvest's original is delightful too! The True Spark DOES make everybody feel warm and bright, and her dance is such a fine and natural sight! :D

Here's the shows that we forumites came up with in this thread, which also has celebrities, movies and sports too!

12. The Nautalist
13. Elves in Space
14. Xeno Love Cruise
15. Adamantine Chef
16. ASPD Blue
17. Xeno E.R.
18. PHS Presents
19. Seeking
20. Our Magnificent Universe
21. Make That Choice!
22. All My Nanites
23. The Life Amongst the Stars
24. The Xeno Hunter
25. The Medium’s Corner
26. Tinker Time
27. Golarion: AG
28. Poppet Station
29. Comrades
30. The Felicity of Holo-Sculpture
31. Stannum Capp
32. Three Guns and Fuzzy
33. Mechhunter
34. Galactic Touring
35. Logical Conclusions
36. Haancoming
37. Junk-cycle Racing League
38. Downside Cycles
39. Hold My Swill!
40. Ouch'd
41. The Final Chronicle
42. By the Sword
43. Outpost Nine
44. PWWC: Pact Worlds Wrestling Championship
45. Abyssal Kitchen
46. Cafes, Cantinas, and Cafeterias
47. Julz, Ultimate Combat Veteran
48. Absalom's Top Spellslinger
49. Return of the Runelords
50. Shipp on Ships
51. The Kindler Chronicles
52. Battle Bots AG
53. Ancient Xenos
54. You Kill It, You Grill It
55. Goblin Court
56. Creature Contest
57. Implausible Journeys
58. Professor Gorkmork's Adventures in Knowledge
60. Extreme Makeover: Apostae Edition

Think I've counted it out correctly to 55 right now, to which I'll add:

56. Pinball Wizard

We want...no, NEED...pembrites and platyperians as PC species in AA3!!

I kinda figured it'd be Ansed...you know, Desna spelled backwards? Short, sweet and simple! :P

So you're saying a corvette in the sense of a real-world/Stellaris ship is smaller than the "corvettes" we see in Star Wars?

So...mystic is a no-go? My impression was that mystics were the "psychic" class in Starfinder, while the technomancer is more "This is not magic! THIS IS SCIENCE!!!"

So how much CAN you fit into a shuttle, anyhow? I was under the impression they were cramped and you can't really "live" on them the way adventurers do. Am I picturing that wrong?

After tooling around the internet today, I discovered XCOM's wiki and its article on the Templar soldier type. My immediate reaction was "HOLY CRAP THAT'S COOL I WANT TO PLAY ONE IN STARFINDER!"

The question is: how? What class should I select? What equipment am I going to want? Will it be a viable idea, or will it end up as a "more style than substance" thing where it superficially resembles its inspiration, but in actual Starfinder gameplay just sucks?

Interesting interpretations, thank you!

My gut instinct was Explorer, since that seems to be the "default" ship type for a party of adventurers...I imagine this is because I don't really know what a real-world corvette boat is like, what it's like on the inside and what it's meant to do...anyone have a clearer picture of that they could contribute, please?

What kind of starship in this game could be used to simulate a corvette, like those in Stellaris? There are base frames explicitly labelled things like Destroyers, Cruisers and Battleships, which are other, larger military ships in Stellaris.

There are a lot of potential builds with the Envoy. A few of them are already listed. Although I bet the Envoy was inspired by Princess Leia. I bet she isn't a spoony bard.

I always more pictured Han Solo as the primary inspiration for the Envoy, personally.

How to have a "spoony bard" armed with a spoon in SFS:

1) Start with high charisma.
2) Take at least one level of solar weapon solarian.
3) Declare the general shape of your solar weapon manifestation is that of a spoon.
4) Proceed to defeat enemies with a spoon.

SFS approved and rules legal. No re-skinning necessary.

For bonus points, I recommend playing a korasha lashunta with low wisdom, wearing blue light armor. That way you'll also be a justice sandwich (no toppings necessary)!

"SPOOOOOOOON!!!"

You should never indulge in raw pizza.

Which is why you must use your intelligence to bake it!

A puzzle is a raw intelligence test.

Brief tangent, am I the only one who read this as "A pizza is a raw intelligence test?" :P

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Cole Deschain wrote:

John Napier 698 wrote:

If they have wooden floors and benches, yes. Wood is porous, and bacteria can reside in the cracks. Plastic, stone, or metal would be better. And those materials can be more easily cleaned with bleach and hot water.

...

Do none of you southern types use towels in a sauna?

I mean, getting your sweat all over the friggin' bench is just bad manners, so skin-to-wood contact is generally not a thing.

I thought you were supposed to sit there until you're drenched in sweat, and then you run outside and roll naked in the snow to get all the sweat off. Isn't that how the Vikings did it?

That's the Finnish, and you're leaving out the therapeutic whipping with the eucalyptus branch.

Ah, I forgot that part. Thank you!

Not a question but I'm sorry they're being jerks to you over on the Starfinder boards. You're an awesome person and you deserve better. :(

Using the other connections as examples, I think it'd be more along the lines of Pathfinder's oracle mysteries. There ARE elemental-themed mysteries like "Flame," "Stone," and even "Elemental," but there's also ones like "Occult," "Apocalypse," "Streets" and "Whimsy."

Given how a lot of the Mystic connections almost key perfectly to certain Oracle mysteries (i.e. Healer to Life, Akashic to Lore, Shadow to...well, Shadow), it wouldn't surprise me if future Mystic connections follow a similar pattern, so I don't imagine ones based on alignment would appear short of maybe being developed by 3rd parties.

John Napier 698 wrote:

If they have wooden floors and benches, yes. Wood is porous, and bacteria can reside in the cracks. Plastic, stone, or metal would be better. And those materials can be more easily cleaned with bleach and hot water.

...

Do none of you southern types use towels in a sauna?

I mean, getting your sweat all over the friggin' bench is just bad manners, so skin-to-wood contact is generally not a thing.

I thought you were supposed to sit there until you're drenched in sweat, and then you run outside and roll naked in the snow to get all the sweat off. Isn't that how the Vikings did it?