Arutema's page

I see nothing but positive changes.

And I was not prepared for Chk-Chk in those sunglasses.

I don't see anything about Campaign Points on page 19.

Does anybody know how to achieve them?

Should be just before the faction missions section. If not, you may need to download a fresh copy.

...sneak things past somebody who... fails their society check to know the very specific thing a very common ancestry is famous for? ...

Keep in mind what's common in the Pact Worlds might not be so wherever you're adventuring. It's a big galaxy.

the question is: does SF 2E have a separate GM Core, or is it just one big tome??

It'd be strange to announce cover art for GM Core, then not make a book.

Revive Wayfinder on Infinite?

Still not sure I like digital miniatures much, but I do kinda wonder if they keep showing a black dragon because they changed things or because they are trying to avoid spoilers despite that dragon's demand adventure cover has a green dragon xD

They may just be removing the OGLism of dragon color=dragon type.

Hmm, I see Luwasi Elsebo and Iteration-177 in the cover art.

Are these two still working with Zo! years after the Scoured Stars events?

Doubtful, but it looks like the cover art is recycled from the Scoured Stars AP.

So scrying is in the Enginering phase and Scan (Helm Phase). Does this mean you ould have a science officer do a scan in the helm phase followed by the magic officer scry during the engineering phase?

Engineering phase comes before helm phase. I do believe you could scry, then scan if you want more information about the enemy ship than a single check will give. (Or you are facing multiple ships.)

The game engine is designed around hands and action economy more than most anything else.

If the engine can't handle ancestries with more than two hands, why include them at all? The current meta of "you have 4-6 arms but you can only use 2" just shines a spotlight on how badly the engine handles extra hands, and makes multi-armed a waste of word-count in a given ancestry.

Fix the engine instead of crippling ancestries that were just fine in 1e.

Na, I have a rebuttal since people seem to be leaning hard on Unwieldy.

The Unwieldy trait doesn't stop you from using a second weapon. It doesn't even stop you from using a second of the exact same weapon. You can also bring yourself another not Unwieldy gun to use with reactions while having an Unwieldy main weapon.

Multiple arms effectively eliminate the downsides of wielding an Unwieldy weapon. They're basically unaffected by the trait.

It's somewhat likely that this kind of gameplay is the intention behind the 9th level feats to let you use all of your arms for a single turn.

Also, I've seen the idea of being able to swap your hands as a free action at the start of your turn thrown around. Such a thing would remove the option, or at least limit the usefulness of, of them making feats that benefit from having multiple arms. There's at least one Soldier feat that I saw that is basically better if you have multiple arms and are carrying around two guns. Limiting them by default, while still making them useful as they have, is more healthy for the game and gives them more design space to work with.

That entirely depends on how you phrase Unwieldy in 2e. If it's phrased something like "Attacking with an Unwieldy weapon is a Flourish action." then the problem of multiple unwieldy weapons is solved, since you get only one Flourish action per turn.

Tempest_Knight wrote:

The only other issue I have seen, and that I personally agree is an issue, is fixed by Ungainly/Heavy weapons having a built-in limit of 1 at a time, that can be baked into the Traits/Rules for such weapons/items...

Agreed. I've been saying it since last October, but shouldn't Flourish / Unwieldy / Whatever Other Space-Trait handle most of the problems, that stem from "what if a Skittermander did it three times?"

This would also be my preferred solution. We already had Unweildy in 1e which limited you to 1 attack per turn with a given weapon, I see no reason not to port it to 2e.

ElementalofCuteness wrote:

I got to say i am massively impressed with everything in the Playtest. However after reading Solarian I had a couple quick thoughts on what could be improved immedately. This is fully based upon my play style.

Solar Nimbus

- Reaction at level 1 feels incredibly weak
- Solar Shield level 1 feat feels like a much better use of your actions
- Why does Empowered Nimbus need to be a feat and not rolled into the Nimbus Reaction at character creation?

Solar Flare
- Very fun concept but this is why I feel Solarian should be Strength or Dexterity based for KAS.

Twin Weapons
- With the above change to Solarian allow me to Manifest a Finesse weapon even at the cost of going to d6 as the weapon die.

I was looking for a way to add more damage dice to Solar weapon, it doesn't look to scale within the power (like Elemental Blast) and no way to add runes.

See Solarion crystals on page 194.

DMurnett wrote:

I do think multiple arms need some sort of buff. It's underwhelming and critically it doesn't fulfill the fantasy, which should be the point of a roleplaying game. They for sure shouldn't just all work always, we're 2e players, there's some baseline of balance we should aspire to, but full action tax is a lot. I do think getting to designate your active pair at the start of your turn would be a good start. I think this should just be an innate rule of multi-limb, I don't think it needs to be more restrictive. Still, if that's overpowered, a free action with a trigger could work so there's a potential opportunity cost of not being able to do it alongside other start of turn reactions.

Making it a once-per-turn free action could also maybe work (but definitely not alongside the other buff, that would be too much), that way you can make a tactical mid-turn change for a cool play but you can't just wave around whatever you want. Maybe doing this (or even the other one) could be a general feat that multi-armed characters can take. Oh and for sure make multi-limb augments. If that happens (which it should) maybe innately multi-armed creatures start with the better limb-switch general feat so there's a real actual point to picking a Kasatha. I'd love to have literally any reason to play a Kasatha.

I remember in one of the playtest boards for Field Test 3, a main concern voiced by a dev was they didn't want a skittermander using 3 rocket launchers in one turn. Your solution would right away do away with that, while still giving multi-armed characters a heightened sense of versatility. I think the idea of allowing you to select two hands to be primary hands for free at the beginning of your turn sounds very reasonable.

I like this idea, even if it turns out to be a level 5 ancestry feat.

Iron Gods hints that Androffa is in another galaxy beyond Desna's Path, and Drift engines can't reach that far. So it depends on your perspective.

I'm of the same opinion, there don't seem to be enough ancestry feats to relax the restrictions as you level up either.

If Paizo is afraid of PCs wielding too many heavy weapons or shields, just limit heavy weapons or shields to one at a time regardless of arm count.

It appears to be live here.

15 minutes remain.

If WOTC owns IP rights to the word "focus" in the sense of an item used to aid in casting a spell, then IP law is seriously fscked and needs to be corrected.

I thought that was changed not because of legal reasons, but to avoid confusion with Focus Points.

If Rakshasas are no longer fiends, then we need a Beastbrood heritage.

You seem to be assuming a crossover campaign as the default. Yes, there are balance and thematic issues for the GM to be aware of in such a campaign. Just because the systems are compatible doesn't mean mixing them will be the default assumption.

Even if there is a market for more SF1, it's licensed under the OGL, which for very valid reasons, Paizo has indicated they wish to move away from.

One thing I want to know with SF2e being PF2e compatible is if we'll see medium armors in SF2e. It'd help some classes like solarion a lot if they were proficient in a set of armors between light and heavy, which didn't exist in SF1e.

Are poppets now free (no ACPs needed) for Society play?

It appears so.

Osprey

Is this no longer being offered as a physical, printed product?

It was announced here that there was a production error with this map, resulting in a recall.

I agree that the time for 3e is many years in the future still, but my wishlist for it:

Divorce ability modifiers from ancestry and background completely, use something like Starfinder's ability quick-picks variant rule as the default.

Front-load ancestries a little more.

Bring back level 1 general feats for everyone.

Maybe make stamina and revolve from Starfinder 1e a core part of the rules.

To expand a bit on Michael's response—we won't "promote" an established NPC to the status of iconic, because an iconic's story is flexible.

Careful, The Red Raven from 1e might dispute that claim.

I thought athamaru were ceratioidi renamed due to OGL licensing reasons.

An alternative to the combat pad is a simple stack of index cards. Write each players initiative on a single card, and stack them in initiative order. Flip a card to the back of the stack as turns end, and move a card in the stack if initiative changes. You can also use spare index cards to track monster HP.

If I write my campaign notes in this, will they be blank by the time I go to consult them?

As for conventions vs home settings:

* Expect lots of background noise, you may need to talk louder then usual. This can be tiring, so bring throat lozenges and water as permitted by the venue.

* If you're GMing low-level games, expect players who've never played before. You may wish to bring dice and minis to loan them. Establish who is responsible for providing pregenerated characters and new society member cards. This will often be the event organizer.

* Be sure to print off plenty of chronicle sheets from the final page of the adventure. You may need up to 7 per table you run. I like to print 8 in case of major mistakes.

Maybe they cost much more to produce too. I feel the overall quality of PFS scenarios has grown a lot.

The overall quality of scenarios has definitely gone up since the early days of 1st edition PFS. They're also using more original art since those days.

When people start making massive essays on east post, it becomes really hard to keep up with thread.

Anyhoo, I haven't commented on my feelings on multiple pairs of arm thing so I'll do it now: I'd honestly prefer more type of "you can only wield one heavy weapon at time regardless of number of arms" type balance than "we have to make sure you have only two active arms when balancing heavy weapons".

Like I get the idea of "what if big gun is balanced around with shooting and reloading taking all there actions, if you had six pairs you could shoot it three times per round instead of reloading!" but I kinda feel like balance should be on equipment rules side and not arm rules if that makes sense.

I agree, and it's an easy to solve problem too; "This weapon has the Unwieldy quality. Attacking with such a weapon is a Flourish action, meaning it can be done once per turn."

Not PDF, but browser-based. Loads/saves to local files.

Link

Unless the remaster removed the massive damage rule, 25 max HP minus 100 damage = dead, because you have taken damage exceeding double your total HP in one blow.

This may also kill the poor sap who cast share life if 50 damage is twice his max HP.

I wouldn't count on it. APG FAQ, Remaster compatibility section states that those following the tenants of evil gain the unholy trait. This seems to clash with the Remaster in Society blog which states PCs may not be sanctified as unholy.

And congrats, Jeremy, on your first published adventure!

Starfinder 1e already had several weapon lines with the Stun property, letting you switch them between lethal and nonlethal. I hope these carry over into 2nd edition.

Arutema wrote:

Karmagator wrote:

And a big thank you to the devs for handling all of this without massively delaying the regular schedule. It can't have been easy, but you managed it!

Starfinder's much-delayed APs say "WHAT?"

Those are made by completely different people, are they not? Why would the Remaster affect them?

The remaster was explicitly an all-hands-on-deck project that pulled folks away from said APs.

edit: Source

And a big thank you to the devs for handling all of this without massively delaying the regular schedule. It can't have been easy, but you managed it!

Starfinder's much-delayed APs say "WHAT?"

I don't think I've ever seen an Irorian PC.

Irori's self-perfection aspect makes him an ideal deity for Monk players at least.

As I've posted before, a price increase from $3.99 to $8.99 is a 125% increase. All production costs for these scenarios has already been paid, years ago. The only ongoing cost is the cost to maintain the files on the server and the web description pages. Under Paizo's current business practices, customers have access to digital purchases on the Paizo servers until the practices change, so these are (small) ongoing costs.

Server space isn't free. The choice may well be increase prices, or wipe old 1e content from the servers to save space.

Please make a boon for Novians, even if it's like 500 AcP, for the finale of SFS1.

The boons page has been updated, and it's 120ACP.

3-action combat.

Skills, saves, and attack rolls all using the same progression.

My only question is this; Razmir already was too cowardly to take the Test of the Starstone before. That's why he set up the whole scam with Razmiran and his church in the first place. That's why he's been desperately trying to get his hands on the Sun Orchid Elixer to keep himself going. What about the gods infighting would actually make the actual Test any easier? The gods dont administer the Test or anything, it's essentially something Aroden set and seems to tailot istelf to whover makes it to the Starstone itself. And Razmir was at the peak of his power when he STARTED Razmiran, there's no indication he's done anything but stagnate. So what reason would Razmir have to actually try this time? Especially since it'd expose his lie for what it is? Even if he DID now have actual divine power his reputation would be ruined.

Possibly desperation. If he's having no luck getting his hands on Sun Orchid Elixir and at an age where he's likely to run out the clock soon, he's got nothing to lose.

As a player who is relatively new to RPGs (only since the summer of Covid) and is even newer to Pathfinder, I am interested in GMing and have already mentioned it to the local Ventureperson (I don’t know her rank offhand).

My biggest concern is exactly the concern I had when I first GMed for my kids, and later my friends. As a brand new GM, I felt that the adventure was vague in ways that forced some degree of adlibbing and/or improvisation. Not knowing the world or all the rules, that’s intimidating. I’m also an engineer, whereas my friend who is our regular GM was an English major and he has done this for years.

I would *love* to see some adventures written with a lot of handholding for new GMs. Even giving guidance and/or examples of how to deal with players not following the script the GM is reading would be an immense help. I don’t know how practical it would be, but it would definitely make it easier to onboard potential GMs who share my fears/concerns.

I like this idea. As a long-time 1e GM just starting to pick up 2e, it would be nice to see adventures designed and tagged for those learning to GM the system.

Currently, I have to look through available 1-4 adventures and rely on the reviews to see if a given adventure takes a more experienced GM or not. Having some scenarios designed around introducing GMs would alleviate that.

I never expected translation to be a problem...

Were sci-fi TV shows and movies lying to us this whole time XD ?

Depends which ones you mean? See, for example, Ivanova's less-than-stellar attempts at speaking Minbari on Babylon 5:

"<Hat rack rat-catcher to forward weapons. Brickbat lingerie.>"

And yes, magic is the problem-solver here, if you can convince someone whose language you don't speak to let you touch them with a charged spell.

Thinking of how heavily SF1e favors lots of guns and gunners, plus gunner and pilot feeling like the only roles that really move the encounter forward...

What if SF2e leaned into that and made lots of guns and gunners the norm? And finally, what if a starship gun's accuracy was completely decoupled from a character's proficiency in ranged handheld weapons? If a starship gun's accuracy was a function only of ship tier plus ship's tracking computer, it would solve a lot of problems such as melee fighters being sub-par gunners in SF1e.

I wonder if the SF1 mechanic, with all its alternatives to the drone, isn't worth a hard-split in SF2. One class that does drones very well, another that does custom armor, weapons, or augmentations well.