Asgetrion's page

Although I’m an old-school librarian, I also like to call myself a ”gamebrarian”, because I’m an avid gamer, and my duties at work include acquiring new RPGs and board games for the whole city library (board games as part of a group, RPG collection development actually for the neighboring cities as well). Not surprisingly, I’ve always preferred printed books to e-books, as they’re easier on my eyes, but also because I like the feel of a proper book in my grubby dwarven hands. It’s also easier for my brain and memory (I don’t know how else to describe it) to process, analyze and recall information by leafing through a printed book, instead of navigating between segments of an electronic document.

I’ve been aware of this ”Humble Bundle” thing for a couple of years, but haven’t paid much attention to it, even though many of my D&D-focused friends (and a couple of my own players) have bought the books and been very excited about it. I already had my 1st and 2nd edition books on the shelf, why would I need e-book versions of them? If I needed to copy-paste something, like a monster or hazard stat block, I’d just use Archives of Nethys, or write/type it by hand.

But the last couple of years have been quite hard, due to the global pandemic and the ongoing war in Europe. My FLGS has had a lot of problems with availability, and new products have often been delayed, and occasionally they haven’t received certain titles at all. They’ve told me it’s something to do with prioritization by the European distributors (i.e. bigger stores in bigger countries get almost all of the good stuff). This actually initially prompted me to purchase some AP volumes as PDFs, because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get them as physical copies, even though I tried to preorder them. I hope the situation is improving a bit now, but to use a concrete example, our library is still waiting (after four, five months) for at least a couple of Paizo titles our distributors have been unable to deliver.

It doesn’t really matter these days, because my salary hasn’t changed, but all the prices have gone up so much that I can barely manage. And not just the price of RPG products, literally everything is way more expensive now around here. The last year has been especially rough, because first we moved twice, and then decided to renovate our kitchen in October. Truth be told, I haven’t been able to afford any new physical RPG products since last summer, and that is also the last time I actually visited my FLGS. Yet I can’t complain, because we still get by, we’re healthy and we’re living in a nice apartment -- with a renovated kitchen, to boot!

A few days ago I finally realized what my friends had talked about; I could get a whole pile of Pathfinder e-books via Humble Bundle, for less than 30 euros! Although I already have a few them (Abomination Vaults as a book and all the separate volumes as PDFs), I don’t yet have Secrets of Magic, for example. On top of that, I would get other essential books as PDFs, including the latest printings of Core Rulebook, Bestiary 1 & 2 and Gamemastery Guide. And then some pawns, adventures and flip-mats, which were a nice bonus, although I'm not sure if I'm ever going to download that VTT Foundry package, because I'm an old school kind of GM, and we use (and will be using!) physical maps and minis in my campaigns.

After all that rambling I just want to say: Sweet Asmodeus, what a bargain! Thank you Paizo and Humble Bundle! This old fiendish dwarven librarian could finally afford some new material, and also gain access to electronic versions of essential Pathfinder books! Don’t get me wrong; I still prefer my printed books and stone tablets to PDFs, but I’m beginning to understand why so many of my friends have bought the Pathfinder Bundle! :)

Welcome back, Dark Mistress! It's nice to see you've returned, especially when there are less and less familiar faces on these forums each year. :)

I mean, mostly I wish you would disappear, but all of the forum history has gotten kinda fuzzy in my memory so I might just be mistaking you for someone else.

Hard to say who deserves my vague displeasure and who doesn't when they aren't clearly sticking their foot on one side or other of the line.

It's true that many of the "Old Guard" have vanished from these forums, or hardly ever post at all. Yet I've seen Set hanging around occasionally, and it's reassuring to see you're still here! :)

Or maybe the demographic has shifted, and yesterday's well-off middle-aged gamers expected dark and grit to spice up their relatively serene existence, while today's struggling younger gamers who are looking at the world collapsing before their eyes are longing for a setting of wonder and colour, where xxxdgy drkns is only on the margins of the storytelling, not front and centre.

Hah, yeah, it may be that middle-aged grognards are thankless customers to today's gaming companies, and the expectations of the younger generations have shifted away from our own grim and gritty campaigns! :)

My own childhood and youth were pretty carefree, at least if compared to what is happening in the world today (and emphasis on that "today", as we're both Europeans living practically next door to a certain country).

absalom is only a shiny city full of sunshine and rainbows if you live in like, 80s new york

if it was some boring grimdark hellscape though, why would anyone live there and why would people adventure there? it's a city like any other

I'm not implying it should be some kind of "grimdark hellscape", but I think vast majority of the city (excepting the bits I mentioned above) is described in a lighthearted manner that does not fit my own mental image of a pseudo-medieval fantasy metropolis such as Absalom. Honestly, Puddles and Precipice District are the only ones wrestling with darker problems, the rest of the city -- including, surprisingly, Undercity -- seems to be more or less a place where very few seriously bad things happen. This is furthermore supported by those so-called "encounters" and most of the district art in the book. I don't mean the descriptions should be dripping with malice, and serial killers should lurk in every shadow, but I perhaps expected there would be more darker shades to Absalom, since it's this is the Age of Lost Omens, after all.

I'm also disappointed at the lack of what I'd call "adventuring content", because frankly, I think this book is a jumble of details that are not presented in a coherent manner (for example, there is no proper index in the book). That is my personal opinion, however, YMMV.

Umm... I assume you read the book, but with amount of focus on secret Norgorber worshippers and messed up stuff in Puddles and Precipe District and other political intrigue, along with lot of "x noble threw person into political prison", I don't really get how the heck you got idea Absalom is Utopian

Like... The carnival freak show in the puddles in itself is full of Pathfinder 3.5 edge <_< I'm just... There are lot of good valid things to complain about the book and you touched upon those as well, but I just don't get where you got idea book is family friendly? Is this purely about the pictures and occasional comedy?

I call it ”Utopian” or ”Disney Absalom” in the sense that the overall mood is very lighthearted, and the book represents the city as a ”Place of Awe and Wonder”, like I described above. It’s not just those silly, almost comedic (or even outright childish) sidebar encounters; it is also written in a very neutral, almost nonchalant style, and I feel most of the art also evokes and supports this notion. This is also evident to me in how certain evil NPCs are portrayed, such as the gang boss I already used as an example. Or how the city is now ruled by a high-level good-aligned NPC, who has handily replaced the previous ruler, a morally ambigious archmage. I mean, yeah, this is Aroden’s city, but if we’re talking about a pseudo-medieval fantasy metropolis, it’s very different from how e.g. Waterdeep or Ptolus are portrayed.

I guess the main problem is that the authors tried to bend over backwards to ensure that this book wouldn’t offend anyone’s sensibilities. And that means most (but thankfully not all) dark fantasy elements have been carefully removed (or edited out) from many parts of the city. Puddles and Precipice District are darker than the rest, and include some locations that are, indeed, not so family-friendly (such as Razorhall, or the Bonepit). Yet again, even their descriptions are more sensitive and superficial than I’d have expected for such important sites. And let’s not forget that the presence of the Knights of Lastwall is already turning the Precipice District into a safer and more hopeful place, so the happiness is spreading! ;)

The Cult of Norgorber is another thing, too, but I honestly don’t see much ”focus” on it. All the factions and some major NPCs are described, but very little is said of their methods or long-term goals, or how the PCs could become involved with them. There’s friction among the factions as one of them wants to get rid of another, but that’s pretty much all you’re given as a GM -- besides the book mentioning a couple of times in passing how Skinsaw cultists are murdering people in certain districts. What a surprise. If we’re talking about Norgorberites, it’d have been nice to see at least one or two ”juicier” boogeymen (like the ”Key-Hole Killer” I mentioned above) stalking the streets of Absalom. That kind of dark enigma alone would hook the players for sure, and make them want to involve their characters in the cult’s dealings.

I want to mention the bland writing style and tone again, because in my opinion most of the contents read like a travel guide, and not in a good way. There’s amazingly little GM-only information, and I honestly think you could just hand the book to your players, and let them read approximately 90% of all the district chapters without spoiling anything. For example, if you take a look at Wondervale you’ll see what I mean; the description takes a whole page, yet IMO conveys few relevant and useful details (unless you count the presence of bat swarms within some towers). And like Wondervale, too many other locations seem similarly ”static”; they’re just there, you get a superficial description of the place and which NPCs could be found there, but no quests, hooks or adventure seeds linked to it (think what they could have done with Clockwork Cathedral alone!). Another such location is the ”carnival freak show” you mention, which describes it being haunted, but there’s no actual information what those hauntings and ghosts will do to curious PCs. Likewise, if the characters stumble upon those poor children at the Drownyard, what happens if the characters refuse to join, or try to leave in the middle of a game? It’s also very unclear what those children are (probably ghosts with unique abilities?), and it’d be really useful if at least their level was mentioned.
I’m fine with a little mystery and not everything being spelled out for me. It’s even better if I’m presented with several options to choose from (just like in Monsters of Myth, which is a fantastic book). Absalom gives me practically nothing to work with. This is not a book with building blocks for your campaign; it’s a big, messy pile of puzzle pieces, and it’ll take a while to finish just a portion of it. :/

You’re also right that many political elements in the book involve shady stuff, but the whole War of Strings is quite a mess. Maybe if there were some sort of chart to map out different kinds of relationships (allies, enemies, lovers, neutral parties, etcetera) between all the houses, political factions and NPCs involved in it, then I might actually consider using these elements in my games. As it stands, it’d probably take me at least a few weeks in real life to find the time to get even a hazy idea of the basic structure behind it, and that’s just not worth it. And I’m certainly not the only GM who thinks that due to this, most of the intrigue will be happening backstage in the shadows, and thus PCs will often be aware of just the major events and plots concerning their own lives, acquiantances and activities.

So there. I hope I answered your questions why this city feels ”Utopian” to me, or ”Utopian-ish”, for the lack of a better term. :)

Great to see Isabelle having a major role as an author, it makes me really happy, too! :)

When this book was announced about two and half years ago, I was thrilled. In fact, I was the second poster (on 23rd September 2019) to comment on this very thread, and my first thought was that finally we’ll get a city book that will do justice to the City at the Center of the World! I didn’t mind that eventually Absalom was postponed indefinifely, because in my mind this was The Flagship Project for the second edition and the Lost Omens product line, captained by one of the best designers in the world. Let him take his time and work his magic, and the end result will make Waterdeep and Ptolus pale in comparison!

After over two long years of waiting, I finally got it in my grubby dwarven hands a month ago, although I had to dish out almost 60 euros for it. After carefully removing the map, I lovingly put it on the shelf to wait for a couple of weeks, so that I could savor it in peace. When I eventually had a whole evening to spend on reading it carefully through, I felt confused. I had had really high expectations for this book, so why didn’t I feel excited and inspired by its contents?

The book begins with a nice history section, and then describes all the major players, guilds, houses and factions in the city, including the participants in the War of Strings. I also like the parts about architecture and culture, and the glimpses at what a typical day and a year will be like for average residents of Absalom. All of this is great material for GMs, although honestly, I thought something similar to the ”Entwined Destinies” section at the end of Lost Omens : Legends would have been super helpful, perhaps even mandatory part for a book about Absalom. And in my humble opinion, that is where the good stuff more or less ends, on page 77, unless you count those chapter-opening art pieces of each district, which are great.

Why am I so disappointed? Well, I had expected something like Worldwound, City of Strangers or Rule of Fear, with loads of inspiring locations, story hooks and NPCs. In secret I had even hoped this book would be just like the excellent Sandpoint : Light of the Lost Coast, which includes quests and adventure seeds for every location and NPC mentioned in the book. Well, I should have realized that it’s probably not going to happen in a book that describes over 250 locations and 400 NPCs.

And that is kind of my point; this book was (obviously) a very ambitious and time-consuming project. It is also a prime example why sometimes less is more, and why deadlines are deadlines. The number of NPCs and locations in this book is just overwhelming, and sadly, I think most of them are not very inspiring and some may even be completely irrelevant in many campaigns. In my opinion the writing feels very ”forced”, in the ”Let’s just get this done!” sort of way, and thus many locations feel like boring landmarks, and almost all of the NPCs lack interesting goals or ways to hook them up with PCs. If this book had fewer locations and NPCs, I think it would probably have resulted in better descriptions and more space for adventuring-related stuff.

And that brings me to another major failure in this book: the lack of any real adventuring content. There are many sidebars containing brief story quests and encounters, but IMO most of these are tired old clichés or outright jokes. A rampant owlbear wearing a pink collar, and chased by its gnome owner? A group of unregistered acrobats being chased by city guards for an ”illegal performance”? Or young nobles stealing heads of statues as trophies? Are you serious, Paizo? And even the better ones aren’t really very imaginative, either. There are living mushroom threatening a fungi farmer, and a kobold tribe harassing sewer workers, and that’s pretty much it.
Where are the Key-lock Killers, Choppers and other local boogeymen and legends of Absalom? Where are the local haunted alleys plagued by shadows, ghosts or ”mystery slayers” such as Walcofinde or Living Graffiti? Where are overall the mysteries, enigmas and secrets of this metropolis for the PCs to discover? Oh yeah, there’s the Grislyfair, and the spooky orphanage with its drowned children, but both are described so inadequately that they’re practically unusable without decent prep work.

In real life I’m a vegetarian, but I still want to use the expression: ’I want to bite, but where’s the meat?’.

I even felt a bit cheated to see those ”ready-built Undercity locale” maps, all of which were first published in Last Watch. I already paid for those maps once, you know, and I have a hard time believing there are no unpublished dungeon maps lying around in the Paizo office. That is just lazy, Paizo, lame even!

To be honest, there are a couple of decent campaign seeds mentioned in the book, but both are no more than just short ideas revolving around a single NPC, who suffer from the same lack of details and methods for their plans than the rest of the NPCs do. There are also a couple of dungeons mentioned which piqued my interest, but one of them is more or less inaccessible. And what of Starstone? I was really hopeful to get additional information on the Test and the Cathedral, but instead there’s a nasty surprise in the book for GMs and players who might have dreams of deityhood as the endgame of their campaign. And I think there’s also other crucial stuff missing, such as a proper description and map of Shadow Absalom, or descriptions (and maybe even some maps) of new siege castles.

The book describes a very Utopian city, where residents brush shoulders with marble-hewn and gem-studded gargoyles, and tourists ride prehistoric giant birds or elephants to sunset. Where monster-born crime lords dream of being able to visit restaurants and the opera as themselves, and moustache-twirling villains snarl helplessly at PCs engaging in witty philosphical debates and games of chance on flying carpets with visiting efreeti noble ambassadors. And whatnot. I guess the goal was to invoke a sense of wonder in players, but the end result reminds me kind of a Disney-style version of Absalom, where nothing REALLY bad ever happens. There’s even a list of NPC ”Kite Enthusiasts” and another of ”Children”, but not one for high priests or wizards. And that sentence alone describes to me what is kind of wrong about this book, at least from this veteran GM’s perspective.

I’ll give this book 2 stars out of 5, because I see it as a big pile of wasted potential. I think this could have been a LOT better, but maybe I’m not just part of its target demographics? Maybe it’s meant to be a family-friendly book without too many darker or offensive elements, and primarily targeted at (younger) newbie players? It’s also a lesson learned for me, because in the future I’ll probably first check out a library copy of each Lost Omens book, and then decide whether it is worth my money or not. :/

"The city is yours"? It's not mine, sorry to say.

Asgetrion wrote:

Ron, I get that there won't be many changes, but it'd great to have a separate illustration and handout section at the end of the book -- with maybe a few extra handouts and illustrations, if I can make a modest wish! :)

We have some additional art going into this (as of right now; it's not off to the printer yet, so nothing's final!). We haven't put them into an "art section" in the back like I've seen some RPG products do; that's not our style.

Thanks for your swift reply, Ron! It's fantastic that there'll (likely) be additional art in the final product.

As captain yesterday noted, I did indeed refer to Call of Cthulhu style handout section. I personally feel that it's easier to cross reference and photocopy handouts that way, but I understand why Paizo wouldn't want to do it (=additional work on the layout process, and it'd also probably increase the page count).

Ron, I get that there won't be many changes, but it'd great to have a separate illustration and handout section at the end of the book -- with maybe a few extra handouts and illustrations, if I can make a modest wish! :)

No idea why I would buy it, since I have the 3-booklets version, but maybe as a present for someone?

Due to global shipping delays, I ended up purchasing all three parts of this AP as PDFs. I eventually received my physical copy of Ruins of Gauntlight, but it took my FLGS months to deliver, so I decided that having the last two installments as digital copies is enough.

I soon began to regret my decision, however, because I just prefer printed books over digital stuff, always (and also find them easier to read and utilize as a GM).

Then this hardcover edition was announced, and I didn't even need to think twice about whether to pre-order it or not -- even though I've already spent close to a hundred bucks on Abomination Vaults. And why not? It is not only the best 2E adventure path so far, IMO it's the best Paizo AP Paizo has published in years. It features well-designed and consistent maps, plenty of great encounters and fantastic lore, and more than a few cleverly hidden treasures and secrets for the players to discover. And, as CorvusMask said, to me it makes sense to have the whole adventure in one book. :)

stese wrote:

Oh a new one shot! Can‘t wait to hear what that one‘s about. I love that series.

Thursty talked about it at Gen Con. We should have the product page live shortly. Michael wrote it and I'll interview him. I'll blog about it on the 15th. Then we will have a liveplay on the Wednesday the 27th. It will be great for playing around Halloween!

I agree with stese; it is a great series. I've purchased both released so far, and I think they feature solid maps and writing. They're perfect as one-shots for a busy GM, but also easy to drop into your own campaigns (although the first one needs a bit of rewriting to make it work, but it is doable). I highly recommend this series, especially if you're hard-pressed to write your own content.

The next one seems to be undead-themed, which is not surprising, considering Book of the Dead will be released in a couple of months. Maybe this adventure will feature some content from the book, eh, Aaron? ;)

Alright, at first glance *both* new classes seem (IMO) much more interesting in terms of both flavor and mechanics than magus, summoner, gunslinger or inventor. I really like them, and I'm intrigued about the idea of different chapters for different occult phenomena; the mini-adventures are also a nice bonus!

I have to say, I'm excited about the apparent new design principle that breaks away from the traditional RPG supplement format! :)

Is the book going to list actual knight hierarchy, meaning ranks and titles? I hope so, and also would love to see a lot of information on ”pre-Gravelands” era knight chapters/orders, such as the one featured so prominently on Oblivion Oath. Jason seemed to imply that are literally dozens (if not even hundreds) of different factions/orders within the Knights of Ozem. It’d be amazing if this book detailed at least the most eccentric and obscure ones (i.e. the ”most interesting ones" from a GM’s perspective): their history, customs, heraldry, and order-specific items, archetypes, feats and rituals.

It’d also be great if the art in this book featured rank insignia, coats-of-arms of Lastwall's major noble families and heraldry of various Knight orders/factions (symbols and badges).

Naturally, considering the nature of this book, I’d expect to get descriptions of uniforms, too; for example, how rank and awards are displayed, how different factions/chapters/orders display their badge, differences in Knight and Lastwall military uniforms (if any), and so on.

Speaking of that, I’m honestly a bit confused about how the Lastwall military worked, and what role did the Knights have in it, especially in relation to the ”other branches” of the armed forces. Was it as a separate organization akin to special forces, as commanders to ground forces and/or cavalry, or was it something else? Also, was the Lastwall cavalry part of the Knights, or the Knights part of the Lastwall cavalry? And yet, did the Lastwall cities have city guard or city watch forces, or did the Knights and/or the Lastwall army handle those responsibilities?

Finally, a short city guide + a map of Vellumis (and any other remaining Knight strongholds) would be fantastic. :)

I’m very excited about this book. What is even better (for my Gravelands campaign) is that this follows in the footsteps of Book of the Dead! More undead + more lore on Knights; what else do I need? :D

Berselius wrote:

I'm hoping this manual will reveal that Keren Rhinn and her wife Zae are still alive and what they've been up to since the fall of Lastwall.

Bringing back Gabrielle Harbowy to write something Pathfinder-related is always a good idea.

I think Isabelle has also done a fantastic job with Lastwall stuff, both flavour- and mechanics-wise! :)

The Crawling Hand has an ability called Grip Throat:

"A Medium or smaller creature that is grabbed by the crawling hand has difficulty speaking and must spend an extra action to perform any action with the verbal trait."

However, there is no such thing as a "verbal" trait.

Did the author mean "any action with the auditory trait", or did they mean "any spell with the verbal component"?

It is likely the author of this monster misremembered that there is a trait called 'verbal' in the game, and that it affects all actions involving speech. After taking a look at the auditory trait and verbal component, I think RAI is that Grip Throat affects both of them. That is how I'll rule it at my table anyway.

(BTW, I'm a big fan of Crawling Hand, and my 1E adventures often featured both versions -- plus my own home-brewed Crawling Hand Swarm. I have not used them in 2E yet, but I recently acquired three Giant Crawling Hand minis that I'm just itching to use... :))

Wow. It's literally taken me weeks to read through this adventure. I like it a lot, although I found the map to be (sorry, James!) a bit boring, at least from GMing perspective. It pains me to say that, because I usually love all Jacobs Maps (TM), and I know James is one h*** of a map-designer and writer, one of the best in the business.

This is also a very plot-heavy adventure with lots of stuff going on; if you're going to run it, you'll need to take notes and do some serious prep for it. On the other hand, if you do it, it's going to be one memorable rollercoaster ride on the Horror Express for your players! :)

Oh man, there are lots of juicy stuff in this one, and I love how certain elements (like the research subsystem from GMG) is utilized in the module.

However, I thought some of the hazards in the adventure were a bit confusing, and maybe even contradict the game rules (CRB, specifically):

Wait we getting super big flip mats? O-o Huh

Not just super big -- they're going to be TITANIC! ;P

But, seriously, if that placeholder image is any indication, the map is going to look fantastic. I just hope there won't be any (wide) rivers, stone circles or other landmarks depicted on the map, because IME most forest fights take place on winding paths and/or clearings, deep inside the forest.

This is a great one-shot adventure, but it's also very easy (even easier, at least considering the hook) to drop it into your own campaign as a side-trek. Another great one-shot module from Paizo, I'm very happy I purchased it! :)

Good work, Jacobs! :)

Thanks for your reply, Zapp!

That's pretty solid advice there. One of the ideas I have is a murder mystery featuring a Living Graffiti as a local boogeyman or "back-alley slayer", kind of a side-quest type of encounter. I guess I was overthinking, so that I'd get everything "just right". You reminded me that one of the beautiful things in 2E is that I can customize any creature to make it truly unique. So my "back alley boogeyman" should be able to do what the story requires, not what it literally says in the Bestiary. :)

When Bestiary 3 came out, I fell in love with the Living Graffiti, and I already have a couple of rough adventure ideas built around this monster. Yet I have a problem, since I just don’t get how some of its defining traits (namely Backdrop and Surface-Bound) work.

It’s a two-dimensional creature, a bit like the Shadow, and it’s ”bound” to the surface it was created on. It can move 25 ft. per action, but only on the flat surface it is inhabiting. The art in the Bestiary seems to imply it can take on a three-dimensional form to attack, but this is naturally just fluff, as it cannot actually step out of the surface at all – it can just attack adjacent creatures.

So far so good, right?

Yet I just cannot understand how the boundaries of a surface are defined. For example, if it is drawn on the outer wall of a building, can it move around corners, or is it limited to moving only on one side (wall) of the building? How about inside a building; can it transfer itself from a wall to the floor or ceiling? Or from a painting (canvas) to the wall the painting is hanging on?

And what counts as ”flat enough” for the Graffiti? Does the surface need to be perfectly flat, or do cobblestones or rough tiles count? What if the surface is slightly cracked, is it enough to stop the Graffiti from moving farther in that direction?

Come to think of it, how do you even destroy the surface? Is it enough to deal any damage, or do you need to surpass its BT, or perhaps completely demolish it? It’d have been great to have at least one sentence explaining how this works. I also find the bit about crit failure potentially damaging the surface weird... so you might actually inflict 2d6 extra damage to the Graffiti, or outright destroy it, on a critical failure?!? Wouldn't it make more sense if you destroy the surface on a critical hit, and damage your weapon on a crit fail?

Finally, I just don’t get the thing about abandoning it in the desert. Why? Isn’t it easier to trap the Graffiti in a portable surface (e.g. a canvas), and levitate or fly 30+ feet up to safely destroy it? Also, it’s a low-level creature, in any non-desert campaigns a completely trivial encounter for teleporting PCs.

I love the concept and think this could be a great monster with lots of story potential, but sadly, I find the execution a bit lacking. Is there any additional information about this monster somewhere, or have I just misunderstood how its traits should actually work? Has anyone else had to wrestle with these same issues in their game?

Wow, previews of this set look GREAT, at least the photos on the WizKids site! I want all of them! :)

And I encourage you guys to post links, too, rather than spend time on writing blog entries with rendered images. I also agree with Yoshua; Gallant Goblin is my personal favorite of all the streamers showcasing miniatures, and they do fantastic job with each video.

Realm of the Mammoth Lords, wow! I've long felt it needs more love and attention, and to be frank, I've had my fill of Absalom and its environs lately. So I'm very happy this AP is coming out! :)

Fantastic! I want this! :)

I think it's clear how Retributive Strike work. It triggers against a single attack, and the resistance applies to all damage types separately. For example, let's say the target is hit by an attack dealing 8 points of slashing damage and 6 points of fire damage. The champion is 3rd level, so their ally would be dealt 3 points of slashing damage and 1 point of fire damage.

Oh, wow! Will there be lair maps and/or hand-outs in this book? It would be great if it did include both. :)

Asgetrion wrote:

My only ”problem” with this adventure is that the body text font is a bit hard on my eyes, and thus especially skill checks tend to be hard to spot among (occasionally lengthy) room descriptions. On the other hand, tighter format means more content, and in this case it truly is more "bang for your buck". Maybe the skill checks could be bolded in future APs to make them stand out better among all that body text?

One thing I do with my PDFs is when I am reading the adventure for the first time, I highlight all skill checks in yellow and treasure in green (most, if not all, PDF readers should be able to do this - certainly Acrobat and Foxit can). I also highlight other text that I think is important (maybe a fleeing from combat threshold for a creature, or something like that). I'd recommend giving this a shot as it can really help you remember the important bits. I then print out the PDF for use at the table, and will write in it as necessary, like crossing out items the party finds or traps disabled.

Well, that would certainly help. I didn't know that you can highlight text in different colors. I only have Acrobat Reader, but I'll try if I can do it. Thanks for the tip, Fumarole! :)

I pre-ordered this book at my FLGS, but eventually got tired of waiting for it (it finally arrived two weeks ago). However,encouraged by comments from Steel_Wind and others, I did something I’ve only rarely done: I purchased it as a PDF.

I was going to write a review of the book a while ago, but on my son’s birthday I was informed that my mild flu symptoms had tested positive for Covid-19 (UK Variant). I had contracted it at work from a colleague. What a birthday gift for my son, and actually my whole family, huh? It took a few weeks, but fortunately we’re all fine now. There’s also a positive aspect to this: I had plenty of time to read and write during the isolation period, more than I’ve had in years! :)

I’m glad I bought Ruins of Gauntlight, because it’s a fantastic adventure! It is a textbook example of how to write a great dungeon crawl. I love that it starts in media res, right outside the gates of Gauntlight, with minimal background exposition. You’ve been hired to do a job, and that’s it. In this regard it reminds me nicely of many old skool D&D adventures, specifically Castle Caldwell and Beyond, which was the very first D&D module I ran back in the day. This method also leaves a lot more space for the actual adventure.

I’m impressed at so many things, I don’t know where to start! James has managed to cram a lot of great content into these pages. As others have already noted, the whole place feels very organic and natural, even the maps are well-designed and ”logical”. This is a place where *everything* is there for a reason, and a great deal of thought has been put to hazards, encounters and treasure distribution. I also love how the history of the place is present everywhere, and there are many minor and major mysteries for the PCs to discover. I won’t go into any detail, you want to discover them yourself. In many ways it also reminds me of the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, which in my opinion is the best AD&D era superdungeon.

My only ”problem” with this adventure is that the body text font is a bit hard on my eyes, and thus especially skill checks tend to be hard to spot among (occasionally lengthy) room descriptions. On the other hand, tighter format means more content, and in this case it truly is more "bang for your buck". Maybe the skill checks could be bolded in future APs to make them stand out better among all that body text?

I strongly feel Abomination Vaults should have been a flagship product and the first Adventure Path for 2E. As a whole it is the best AP Paizo has put out in years, and Ruins of Gauntlight is definitely one of my favorite Paizo modules ever. It showcases all the best 2E mechanics in a fantastic fashion, and (IMO) this AP is way more approachable and easier to run than Age of Ashes. It takes place in a contained environment, yet close enough to smaller and bigger settlements, so that the PCs have access to lodging, gear and information. It has a well-written plot that probably fits most groups as is, without any modifications. It is just hands down better in every aspect than any of the previous 2E APs.

Even if you don’t like dungeon crawls, you should check out this adventure. The ground floor alone is worth the full price, and the rest of the levels are also chock-full of the same goodness! This adventure absolutely ROCKS, so gear up and haul your asses to explore the mysterious depths of Gauntlight!

Amazing work, Jacobs! Definitely five out of five! :)

Asgetrion wrote:

Because if Merchant #1 has 2 new runes and 5 talismans in their assortment, and Merchant #5 has 4 runes and 2 talismans, while Merchant #6 has 1 rune but no talismans... you'd need to have an amazing index, and still it'd be (IMO) a pain to use the book.

The items are arranged into thematic shops. For example, the monster hunter shop has a number of snares, but also includes a rune and some magical ammunition. We wanted to give readers the feeling of walking into a shop and seeing a variety of items rather than just weapons or just shields or just wands. We figured this would give the players the chance to stumble upon an item they weren't necessarily looking for, but is suddenly interesting to them. Basically, we want to inspire impulse buying!

We figured this approach might make it kind of difficult for readers who prefer the categorical listings in the Core Rulebook or eventually know every item in the book. To make things easier, we have a large table in the back that lists every item in the book by level and category for easy reference, much like the treasure table in the Core Rulebook.

Thanks for your swift reply, Luis!

I thought about it, and yeah, it'd be silly if every shop only sells items from a single category. In this case, making a compromise is hard, unless you want to double the page count; you either publish a book with thematic shops, or it's a book that resembles Ultimate Equipment. I believe the table you mentioned will help a lot with what I had in mind! :)

I'll admit, the idea behind this book is kind of neat; for a GM running their game in Absalom, it's priceless. As for myself, I can always lift shops from it and place them in Vellumis, for example (that is where my next campaign is going to take place).

Hmmm... I kind of like it that this book resembles Magical Marketplace, but it can be messy with so many merchants. It works best if you use the contents only when the PCs are actually visiting the Grand Bazaar, or if you lift these shops and use them individually elsewhere. Or if each merchant only sells certain types of items none of the others do.

I guess I'm a bit concerned because I'd likely most often use this book in the same way as Ultimate Equipment, i.e. to equip PCs and NPCs, or to pick some items for treasure, say, in a goblin lair? It means I'm fine with shops and NPC merchants listing their wares, that's great, but I'd also want to able to quickly compare all the new runes, talismans, rings and other items when I'm choosing gear or treasure.
Thus my question is: are the items also listed (full stats) under their own chapters and headlines, such as they are in the in the Core Rulebook? Or alternatively, sold only by "The Rune Seller", "The Talisman Seller", "The Ring Seller" etcetera?

Because if Merchant #1 has 2 new runes and 5 talismans in their assortment, and Merchant #5 has 4 runes and 2 talismans, while Merchant #6 has 1 rune but no talismans... you'd need to have an amazing index, and still it'd be (IMO) a pain to use the book.

Squiggit wrote:

Castilliano wrote:

In your interpretation, when the Drained 1 condition ends, the creature returns to max h.p., without the original wound ever have been healed.
That's the wound that goes away.

Losing the drained condition doesn't restore the lost HP, only your max HP. You'd go from 30/30 to 21/21 from drained and then to 21/30 when the condition ends.

But that would happen to the person wounded before being drained too.

A different wound disappears depending on order of application, which to me indicates that's the wrong interpretation (though the part you're covering is correct).

I don't get what you're trying to say here; Squiggit and others have pointed out that no wound "disappears" when the condition ends. You don't heal any of your injuries, because your current HPs don't change, only your max. HP.

Very nice! I love these cards (I've got both Bestiary 1 & 2 Battle Cards) and will buy this set as well. They're very handy at the table, but storing them is another matter, since the boxes are a bit too small and tight. It'd be better if you could riffle through them.

I love unique benefits of different cards (such as the crit deck), so I'll most likely buy this anyway. Still, It'd be cool to see some previews of these cards.

Yes! Finally! Heart of the Jungle is absolutely fantastic, but Mwangi deserves its own hardcover book! I'm so excited for this! :D

Not sure if Krampus or Peri are what I'd have included in the last core Bestiary, but the rest of the list looks really good. Sahkils... yum yum! :D

I agree with Rysky; deities (even demigods) should not have stat blocks. Surviving an encounter with beings such as Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth should be (in terms of game mechanics) more like a high-level hazard or a complex trap. Besides, you rarely get to use deity-level monsters anyway, so those all-too-few-and-precious Bestiary pages should IMO be reserved for "regular" monsters.

Asgetrion wrote:

I prefer watching the episodes, and Jason's gorgeous maps are one of the (many) reasons why I'm attracted to the show.

I've probably asked this before, but I wonder if Paizo (or Jason himself) might eventually publish those maps as PDF bundles? I know Jason has made tilesets that can be purchased, but I'm an "old skool" kind of GM who does not understand much about these online applications, nor do I wish to
But let's say there would be bundles of digital Buhlman maps ("Buhlman's Bundles"?) on sale, maybe even broken down into sets by episodes, e.g. 'Episodes 1-6', 'Episodes 7-12' etcetera... now *that* would be another matter, I would buy them instantly. The duergar fortress, the iron mine, the temple of slime... those are just a couple of examples of the fantastic maps designed by Jason I'd like to get into my grubby dwarven hands! ;)

The tilesets are available as pure image files on DriveThruRPG. They are not published by Paizo, so if you want a different packaging, you might need to ask Jason directly.

Okay, I hope he sees this; I hate to ping busy people such as Jason to request something. Now, if it were possible to get his notes on some of the locations, that'd be priceless. Some map designers have published map "folios" that contain about a page's worth of quick notes about each location (e.g. "Room 11. Used to be a shrine of Gorum, now it is decerated. Three orc brutes with no treasure."). However, 'Band of Bravos', 'Knights of Everflame' and 'Oblivion Oath' are all fantastic campaigns that (IMO) deserve to be published as full-length books. I honestly wish that will happen some day... :)

I prefer watching the episodes, and Jason's gorgeous maps are one of the (many) reasons why I'm attracted to the show.

I've probably asked this before, but I wonder if Paizo (or Jason himself) might eventually publish those maps as PDF bundles? I know Jason has made tilesets that can be purchased, but I'm an "old skool" kind of GM who does not understand much about these online applications, nor do I wish to
But let's say there would be bundles of digital Buhlman maps ("Buhlman's Bundles"?) on sale, maybe even broken down into sets by episodes, e.g. 'Episodes 1-6', 'Episodes 7-12' etcetera... now *that* would be another matter, I would buy them instantly. The duergar fortress, the iron mine, the temple of slime... those are just a couple of examples of the fantastic maps designed by Jason I'd like to get into my grubby dwarven hands! ;)

Very excited about this, and I love that it's a low-lovel adventure; there are never too many of those! :)

Routamaa wrote:

Are those Skeletons old friends of Valeros as that emblem on the shield and banner is the same Valeros has on his shield in his Iconic picture??

Also love those Tooth Fairies on the cover, especially the one on the foreground that looks like salivating watching those skeletons and all those teeth ready to be pulled off.

Well spotted!

Critical success on your perception roll. :)

Oh no! They're not his friends... those skeletons have killed Valeros and taken his stuff! Bastards!

Although I think the atmosphere and art in DatDP feel a bit too "Victorian London" to my taste, it's a well-written module that features great encounters and great maps! Well done, James; this is IMO the best 2E adventure published so far! :)

Some comments and a question:

Feedback and Request:

Can we change it up from the Bestiary 1 Battle Cards and make the box vertical, so that all the cards can sit in it standing up? It would be much more useful that way!

Agreed; when I received my Bestiary Battle Cards box I was surprised how small and impractical it is. It's actually really hard to riffle through the cards when they've been packed so tightly in horisontal decks.

Siege castles and Sahkils? And it's written by Todd? Sold! :)

Thanks, CorvusMask and Ezekieru! I was hoping that there is a mechanical way to create them, so I'm *very* happy! :)

Asgetrion wrote:

Thanks, Payton! These are fantastic, and it's a real class act from you guys to share them with us for free! :)

I have another question concerning Band of Bravos; will it be possible at some point of time to purchase Jason's amazing maps, maybe as a "Band of Bravos bundle" or something? Or perhaps even in smaller packages, such as "Episodes 1-6", "Episodes 7-12" etcetera?

As a former graphic designer I appreciate the work Jason has put into those maps. Not only are they fantastic design-wise, because Jason is one of the best map-designers in the gaming industry, it's also taken a lot of work to get all the groundwork done. This has required artistry, Photoshop skills plus plenty of raw talent. The end result are those beautiful, well-designed, top-notch professional old skool style maps I can only admire! Bravo, Jason! :)

I can't speak for Jason. But the more people who message him on social media about it, the more he may feel inclined to do so. We're glad you like the maps though!

Hi Payton! And thanks for your reply. Alas, I do not have any social media accounts, so I personally cannot persuade Jason to do that. That's true, I'm not even on Facebook, so I can only hope other BoB fans will contact him. :/

I just realized Draugr, probably my favorite PF1 low-level undead monster is in the book! That's incredible! :D

A question for those who have the book (or have better eyes than mine), did Draugr Captain make it, in some shape or form? I don't think I saw in the preview video or the table of contents...

Thanks, Payton! These are fantastic, and it's a real class act from you guys to share them with us for free! :)

I have another question concerning Band of Bravos; will it be possible at some point of time to purchase Jason's amazing maps, maybe as a "Band of Bravos bundle" or something? Or perhaps even in smaller packages, such as "Episodes 1-6", "Episodes 7-12" etcetera?

As a former graphic designer I appreciate the work Jason has put into those maps. Not only are they fantastic design-wise, because Jason is one of the best map-designers in the gaming industry, it's also taken a lot of work to get all the groundwork done. This has required artistry, Photoshop skills plus plenty of raw talent. The end result are those beautiful, well-designed, top-notch professional old skool style maps I can only admire! Bravo, Jason! :)

VerBeeker wrote:

Report what...I really enjoy the art for 2e it feels much more cohesive.

And yeah, PF2B2 follows the general trend of having much more consistent art style. PF1 swung wildly, even if the individual pieces were excellent.

Watched the preview video on Youtube, and I completely agree; the art style is more consistent, and 99% of all the illustrations in the book are just gorgeous. This is due to excellent art direction, bravo! :)

I was surprised, too, how well this Bestiary mirrors the contents of its 1E counterpart, plus then some. It's an impressive collection of monsters, and the beautiful art makes it even more appealing to me. I think this may even be my favorite monster book for (A)D&D and Pathfinder so far!

I preordered Bestiary 2 at my FLGS, but they told me it's unlikely I'll get it before autumn. It's a long wait, but it's reassuring to know it'll be worth it. :)

That's pretty much always been the point of precious materials.

I know; I forgot to add that it's always been that way in D&D and Pathfinder, although Pathfinder did add some small bonuses to both armor and weapons made from precious materials. I had hoped 2E would have both cleaned up and improved the rules on precious materials; for example, let's say that wands made from adamantine, darkwood and silver might all have different tweaks to how they work, wouldn't that be great? I could create a wand of magic missiles that add one more damage die if it's made of silver, and maybe an adamantine wand lets you change the damage type to electricity or sonic? Things like that.

CRB 578 wrote:

Using purer forms of common materials is so relatively inexpensive that the Price is included in any magic item.

So it is assumed that higher quality magic items do require higher quality materials, it's just that the price of high quality steel or w/e is negligible compared to the price of the high quality enchantment.

Ah, it is kind of implied the quality matters after all. I wish it was clearly spelled out in game mechanics, not hand-waved in this manner and mentioned only in passing.