Blaydsong's page

So, right off the hop, I checked out the pregens, and found that only 3 PFS pregens are available for free. All others are locked behind a paywall.

Isn't the whole point of the pregens to be available for new players to try out without being bogged down by learning how to create a character immediately? (I realize that this is not the complete picture, but probably makes up a close majority of the time.) Why would you lock down those characters that are supposed to be freely available to all users?

Blaydsong wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Unfortunately, the digital one-shot adventure line ended up not being something we had the capacity or the proifts for to continue. I like all the adventures we did for that line and wish it had been more successful, but not all experiments are, in the end, successes to the bottom line.

We have no plans to release remastered archetype info early.

There's a lot of new lore on the Red Mantis, Achaekek, the Crimson Citadel, Ilizmagorti, and all of that in the adventure.

I realize in advance that you may not be able to say, but I'll give it a shot anyways. :)

Does this mean that the Remastered Red Mantis Archetype will be included with the adventure? While it generally works, there are definitely going to need to be some tweaking to bring it in line.

Answered early in Page 1 of this product thread:

James Jacobs wrote:

Lebombjames wrote:

Will this have a remastered version of the Red Mantis Assassin archetype?

Yes.

As for details about it, here's an excerpt that JJ said during PaizoCon:

James Jacobs wrote:

QUESTION:

“I would love to know more about what it was like fleshing out the Mantis as a player facing faction if you can divulge
Did the remaster change anything?”

ANSWER:
James Jacobs (he/him) — Today at 5:50 PM
There's not a lot of new player-facing stuff in here, honestly; it doesn't spend a lot of time talking about the faction since the bulk is the adventure. It IS the first standalone Remastered adventure though, so we do reprint and remaster update the rules for Red Mantis Assassins that appeared in Lost Omens World Guide and Lost Omens Legends, plus several mantis-themed spells and magic items to buy or find during the course of the adventure. The biggest change to the archetype is that since we can't say that you pick your spells from arcane spell schools for the Basic Red Mantis Magic feat, we had to build a Red Mantis school.

So most of the "fleshing out"

...

Thanks for that. Somehow completely missed that. :)

Unfortunately, the digital one-shot adventure line ended up not being something we had the capacity or the proifts for to continue. I like all the adventures we did for that line and wish it had been more successful, but not all experiments are, in the end, successes to the bottom line.

We have no plans to release remastered archetype info early.

There's a lot of new lore on the Red Mantis, Achaekek, the Crimson Citadel, Ilizmagorti, and all of that in the adventure.

I realize in advance that you may not be able to say, but I'll give it a shot anyways. :)

Does this mean that the Remastered Red Mantis Archetype will be included with the adventure? While it generally works, there are definitely going to need to be some tweaking to bring it in line.

Hey folks!

I was looking this up specifically for the Everstand Stance feat, and came to the realization that the Remaster has officially fixed this issue.

Stance: A stance is a general combat strategy that you enter by using an action with the stance trait, and you remain in for some time. A stance lasts until you get knocked out, until its requirements (if any) are violated, until the encounter ends, or until you use a stance action again, whichever comes first. After you take an action with the stance trait, you can’t take another one for 1 round. You can enter or be in a stance only in encounter mode. You can Dismiss a stance.

Action: 1; You end an effect that states you can Dismiss it. Dismissing ends the entire effect unless noted otherwise.

Thought that I would share this information after coming across this post.

I know that this was mentioned somewhere, but I don't recall where the information is at the moment. Are these new quests worth 1 or 2 XP? I'm fairly certain that they aren't worth a whole 4 XP.

You are correct that the rules don't give any hard rule for this.

If this is for PFS, they probably have guidelines for this.

If this is for a game among friends, the ultimate authority on that would be your GM.

Personally I would have it be the longer time for retraining class features.

Definitely for PFS. Unfortunately, if it's in the OP documentation, I can't find it. They mostly just refer to the rules in the CRB.

I would have to agree with you, though. Thanks for the input! :)

Hey all,

I'm trying to see if I can get some clarification on this, as there doesn't seem to be a clear ruling.

I have a character that took the Elementalist Class Archetype, which means that he took the Dedication feat at lvl 2, as expected.

I'm now thinking about retraining out to choose a different (regular) Archetype instead, but I'm not sure how much time that I'll need to spend doing so.

Do I spend 7 days retraining out of the feat, and leave it at that? Or would the Class Archetype also be considered a "class feature that required a choice" and have to add 28 days onto the total?

Personally, I'd probably lean towards the latter, if only for this line from Secrets of Magic:

Class archetypes always alter or replace some of a class's static class features in addition to any new feats they offer.

I'm curious about what others think.

Thanks in advance! :)

Exclusive: Pathfinder Adventure Path: Sky King’s Tomb preview

Senior Pathfinder developer John Compton uncovers details for Mantle of Gold, the dwarf-heavy first volume in the upcoming Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path

That sounds so good!

I'm really hoping that Highhelm has more stuff than just the Stalwart Defender (though I'm very stoked about this, as well). Been looking for Foehammer and Stoneheart and other popular dwarf goodies for quite a while now.

That's what I was originally thinking, but something about the wording just tweaks my brain a bit.

Thanks for the confirmation. :)

So, my group just finished up the Starday Tournament (which they loved, btw), as well as the First Masking. I know that they have plenty of XP for level 3, at this point, but I'm a bit confused about the wording for XP for the tournament.

Award the heroes 80 XP for victory in the first bout, 120 XP for victory in the second bout, and 180 XP for victory in the final bout.

Does this mean that they get 380 XP if they win all three bouts? That's way more than the value of the creatures, unless they are taking into consideration the fact that it's 2 PCs only in each bout.

Wow! This got a lot more attention than I expected. Some great discussion going on here. I appreciate everyone's input.

The Reload 0 and discussion of AoO is something of a red herring here I believe due to the fact that the Strike and the Reload are for all intents and purposes part of the same singular Action of making the Strike with the Bow. The OP is asking about the Flat Check specifically so I'll discuss that in isolation.

So lets look at item by item:

1) The Archer is Grappled.
2) Grappled creatures must make a Flat Check and succeed or any Action with the Manipulate Trait or the Action is lost.
3) Making a Strike or any other typical run-of-the-mill Ranged Attack with a Bow includes a Reload 0 subordinate Action.
4) Reload has the Manipulate Trait.
5) A Strike/Attack from the Archer inherits the Manipulate Trait and is itself an Action.

So, taking all of that together it tells us that while Grappled an Archer is performing an Action with the Manipulate Trait and thus must make and succeed the Flat Check or the Action they are performing is lost in which case the Strike/Attack never resolves. The Archer loses the Action(s) spent on the Strike/Attack and the attack roll is never made in the first place. As an aside, this also means that because the Action is lost they never actually perform the Action WITH the Manipulate Trait and as a consequence don't actually provoke an Attack of Opportunity due to failing the Flat Check and having lost the Action where they attempted to Strike.

Not to discount anyone else's input, but I definitely found that this helped to lay it out quite nicely for my brain to wrap around. Thanks for that!

"Subordinate Actions

An action might allow you to use a simpler action—usually one of the Basic Actions on page 469—in a different circumstance or with different effects. This subordinate action still has its normal traits and effects, but is modified in any ways listed in the larger action. For example, an activity that tells you to Stride up to half your Speed alters the normal distance you can move in a Stride. The Stride would still have the move trait, would still trigger reactions that occur based on movement, and so on. The subordinate action doesn’t gain any of the traits of the larger action unless specified. The action that allows you to use a subordinate action doesn’t require you to spend more actions or reactions to do so; that cost is already factored in."

Reload 0 is a reload that doesn't take an action of it's own but is part of the attack: "This subordinate action still has its normal traits and effects, but is modified in any ways listed in the larger action."

I also found this quite helpful. I didn't even realize that the specific definition was in the book, which I suspect will help for future rule clarifications as well.

Hey folks,

I just had an interesting interaction in my game tonight, and I wanted to see what people had to say about it.

My players were in the middle of a big fight, where the Wizard started off by casting Black Tentacles into a room full of enemies. One of the enemies that was grappled by the tentacles was an archer. Rather than worry about trying to escape, the archer just kept shooting, but here's where it gets weird (at least to me).

Every time the archer tries to attack, he has to Reload (which is part of the same action as the attack, according to the Reload action with a '0' value). Reload is an Interact Action, which requires a Flat Check DC 5, but the Attack action doesn't. So, based on all this, does the archer: a) lose the attack if he can't reload, or b) completely ignore the Flat Check, as it technically doesn't cost anything?

To keep the game going, I went with the former, but am curious what others think about this.

Thanks.

Just curious, has anyone come up with a means for players to track their Branch Benefits? Something like a simplified extra sheet where they can track which additional skills/feats/etc that they get when they reach the appropriate level for their Primary and Secondary branches.

I may have forgotten to mention that there is a new map up for this combat. I'll get a post up as soon as I can squeeze a few minutes in.

Good point. :)

:)

Just waiting on Oriol to post before I move things along.

Lol! Didn't even notice. Must have been tired. Sorry about that, Nugat!

(Had to get one more in there. All good things come in 3s.)

Apologies, will try tog et one in asap.

Very busy at work currently, and moving house at the end of the month.
Makes for a bad schedule in posting.

No worries, Ahri.

If those kinds of things come up, please feel free to give us a heads up. :)

All good here! How dare you say he doesn'take a difference;)

Heh... he makes a difference... just not game changing. :)

At least, not enough to make a separate post.

True. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I thought that you were still up. But we are still missing a post from Ahri.

Putting aside the fact that I know I haven't responded to Futin's post (wouldn't make a tone of difference), I haven't heard from anyone else in quite a while.

Is interest being lost? Or is something else going on?

The group pitches their camp and settles down for the night with as much comfort as they can muster, given the circumstances. A fire keeps the cold mostly at bay for whomever is keeping watch, while the others bundle themselves up in the tent.

Nutar takes the first watch, and his shift passes quickly with little but the comforting flame to keep him company.

Casimir follows after him, and he is able to get in some quiet contemplation as his time passes uneventfully.

Junan takes the 3rd watch, which seems to be just as uneventful. That is, until he sees movement in the light of the fire. What would have been hidden in darkness for the rest of the party, Junan's eyes make better use of the existing light.

A small, blue-skinned creature can be seen, a look of malice on it's face as it looks at you, then surprise as it realizes that you are looking right at it.

It flies straight at Junan, screaming in rage, and letting loose a blast of icy frost.

Ice Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1 (DC 13 Reflex Save for half; Sickened for 3 rounds, if failed.

The other three are suddenly woken from their sleep by the close sounds of battle.

Initiative:

??? - 23
Oriol - 22
Nurat - 13
Junan - 12
??? - 8
Casimir - 5

Oriol, Nunat & Junan are up! Sorry for the wait! I oddly had a very hard time getting this written. Hopefully it turned out alright. :)

Keep in mind that medium and heavy armors can't be slept in. Junan, I'm assuming, would have put his on when he went for his watch.

Sorry guys. Have been struggling to get this post done up.

Going to do my best to have it up today, as work allows.

Alright. I'll get something post as soon as I can.

I don't recall if we had a watch order for camping. Any thoughts?

Sorry for the wait guys. Post is up! Looks like you'll get your rest. :)

Let me know if there's anything in particular that you guys want to do while making camp.

Deciding to soldier on, the ground walks away from the large corpse, leaving it to the scavengers.

After putting some distance between them and the corpse, Nutar realizes that they are entering a part of the forest called the Somir Valley. Despite the fact that it's the part of the day that would normally be the hottest in summer, the group feels as if the temperature may actually be dropping.

They are able to find a defensible place to camp just a little ways off the path.

You made it an hour without anything else happening!

Fair enough. I'll get something written up. :)

Sorry for the stall, on my part. Sleep deprivation and work have been wearing me down. Working my way out of the hole. :)

That said, also what to make sure as to what everyone wanted to do.

Just to be clear, are you continuing to follow the trail? Or just looking for a safe place to camp?

Just waiting to see what you guys are wanting to do next. :)

Sorry for the wait, folks. Getting this worked on now, as much as possible.

@Villar - At this point, it just means that your max hit points are reduced, and you are taking a penalty to Con-based checks. Crit-fail doesn't do anything further.

Unable to easily get past the knight, Talina attempts a feat of acrobatics to tumble past the enemy.

◆ Stride
◆ Acrobatics (Tumble Through): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Making her way through, she slashes at the wight.

◆ Longsword Strike: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Slashing Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Unfortunately, she misses her mark.

Cicero makes his way forward and launches piece of rubble at the visible undead.

◆ Stride
◆ Telekinetic Projectile: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

A solid connection seems to crack the creature's skull, but it barely seems to notice.

One of the wights makes it way around, so as to get a better angle at Talina, while the first one tries to get through Alak to it's original target.

◆ Claw Strike: 1d20 + 12 - 1 ⇒ (16) + 12 - 1 = 27
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
◆ Claw Strike: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 - 1 = 11
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
◆ Claw Strike: 1d20 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 - 1 = 7
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Fortitude Save vs. DC 17: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Alak takes a hit, and feels his life force draining away, but he still stands his ground.

Initiative:
Blue(30)
Red(29); -30 HP
Ahri(23)
Talina(22)
Cicero(22)
Alak(22); -10 HP; Drained 1
Villar(14); @13 HP; Wounded 1, Drained 3.
Futin(11)

Everyone is up! Sorry again for the delay.

Sorry guys. I let the weekend slip me by (mostly by sleeping), and yesterday was my PFS night.

Will be working on a post today, though depending on how the day goes, it may not be until tonight. :p

Yes. You guys only traveled for about a half-hour before your were attacked by the weasel.

Sorry for the late response. Been taking the last couple days recovering from the poke. Nothing major, other than a sore arm and sleepy.

With some quick work, they are able to stop Junan's wounds from bleeding out, though it winds up being a bit of a messy procedure. Pieces of the animal's corpse is lying all around.

Might wait a day or two to post. Got my poke tonight, and the after effects are starting to kick in.

We'll see how I feel tomorrow and go from there. Worst case, I'll definitely get something in by Monday.

Ahri quickly identifies the creatures as Wights, nasty undead that are often created by especially violent deaths, and drain the life energies from their victims to sustain themselves.

Her arrow finds its mark as she retreats to the back of the group.

Futin is nearly as surprised as the wight as he vehemently tells it to back away, causing it to be slightly shaken. (Success!)
It doesn't stop him from healing Villar's wounds.

Alak that's a job for you up there!

"I hear you, Lady Ahri," the knight calls back, and he quickly runs into the fray, barrelling straight into the wight.

◆ Stride
◆ Shove (Athletics): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
◆ Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Slashing Damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Unfortunately, the wight resist the push, so he just relies on his weapon.

Villar wakes up with Alak standing over him, facing off against the wights.

Initiative:
Blue(30)
Red(29) - -10HP; Frightened 1
Ahri(23)
Talina(22)
Cicero(22)
Alak(22)
Villar(14) - 13 HP; Wounded 1.
Futin(11)

Go ahead with your actions, Villar. I'll wait before I do the rest.

You aren't wrong, but tanking is still decent in PF2.

Honestly, the most effective tactic is almost always messing with action economy.

The weasel's wounds were clearly more detrimental than they appeared. Everyone gets a hit in on the oversized beast, and Junan finishes it off with his flaming claws, simultaneously ripping and burning the creature to death, making a horrible mess on the snow.

End of combat.

1d4 ⇒ 4

While the weasel is no longer attached, Junan's wound continues to bleed.

Lol... oh boy. :p

I'll be running Talina for now, but we'll definitely have to get a replacement character soon.

Villar looks in the room, but everything seems quiet - deathly quiet.

Futin definitely feels the presence of magic, most likely coming from inside the room.

Ahri is having a hard time seeing past the tall folk, but is pretty sure she sees some movement in the room... that is, just before the creatures round the corner of the coffins.

The obviously undead creatures head straight for the doorway, and Villar.

The first one quickly runs up and takes a slash at the tiefling.

◆ Stride
◆ Stride
◆ Claw Attack: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

The other has a shorter distance to go and manages to get in a couple of attacks.

◆ Stride
◆ Claw Attack: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
◆ Claw Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

The attacks overwhelms Villar's defenses, and fells the unprepared Investigator.
Sorry Villar! I need 3 Fortitude saves (DC 17). Either way, you're Dying 1.

Initiative:
Blue(30)
Red(29)
Ahri(23)
Talina(22)
Cicero(22)
Alak(22)
Villar(14) - Dying 1.
Futin(11)

Everyone is up! I'll do the NPCs at the end.

Sorry for the wait, guys. Working on a post. Should have it up in a bit.

Junan fearlessly charges the dangerous animal, ending with a massive downward slash of his bladed polearm.

Casimir follows just behind Junan, longspear at the ready, the standard of the High Sentinels flying from it's shaft. The doctor also manages to get in a hit on the creature.

Oriol runs to catch up, but is unable to quite make the distance.

The giant weasel closes the gap to bite and claw at Junan.

Bite Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Bite Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Claw Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Claw Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Claw Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Claw Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

While the claws only rake across his armor superficially, the bite sinks deep, and the creature doesn't seem want to let go. It also seems to be bleeding freely.

The weasel is Attached to Junan. It is considered grappled, but you are not, though you still have to break the attachment to move.

Junan Bleed Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Initiative:
Oriol (20)
Casimir (18)
Junan (17); -6
Weasel (15); -12
Nutar (13)

Everyone is up!

Sorry for the absence, guys. Sleep is still a bit of an issue, and needed a bit of a break from.... well... thinking. :p

Gonna get a post up today, after work at the latest.

EDIT: Feeling really dumb about posting in-game here. :p

Moved it to the Campaign tab. Not going to reroll. I'll just keep what was put in here.

Deciding to play it safe, the group takes their time to walk around the odd message and put distance between themselves and the creepy hut.

A cold wind blows through the valley, bringing a spray of sleet and broken ice. The sky ahead roils with thick, gray clouds and the sun is only a dim glow somewhere in the mist.

The group was been traveling for about the past half hour, when Nutar raises his arm to stop the group, having noticed movement off the side of the trail. It doesn't take Oriol and Casimir long to realize the reason the the halt, and Junan is quickly caught up to speed, when they notice a large, furred shape blending into the snow; or, that is to say it would be blending in if it wasn't for the bloody wound soaking the nearby snow red.

The large weasel is watching them from it's hiding spot, and suddenly bolts when figures that it's been seen.

Initiative:
Oriol (20)
Casimir (18)
Junan (17)
Weasel (15)
Nutar (13)

Oriol, Casimir & Junan react first! New map is up!

Okay. Sounds good.

As for marching order, I've generally had Oriol and Junan out front, but if Nutar is more of the scout, I can definitely adjust.

I'll have a post up this afternoon. :)

Sorry to hear that Talina. :(

Hope you feel better. Never a good feeling, that burnout.

Before I write my post, just want to verify something.

The message in the snow in covering the entire width of the path. Are you trampling over it as you carry on?

Hey guys. Sorry for a delay in my response. I'm going to be a bit longer in getting a post up. Between almost no sleep and work kicking my butt, I've got little-to-no thought process at the moment.

I'll get things going again ASAP.

Villar leads the others back through the crypts to the main hallway and heads for the last of the divergent paths.

Heading down the last of the southern hallways leads to a dead end.

While Villar stares at the wall, puzzled, Ahri notes the creases of a hidden doorway in the wall.

Six looming, raised daises stretch from east to west in this chamber, each bearing a massive stone coffin with a carving of a fully armed and armored Hellknight lying in stately repose. Upon closer inspection, the details of the various weapons and minor variations in the armor of the figures distinguish these tombs. Two of the coffins loom ominously open. The east wall bears a complex series of inscriptions composed of faintly glowing pale blue runes.

Okay. Just wanted to be sure. :)