Yeah not a fan of this. Just because Pathfinder 1e ans Starfinder communities are smaller than Pathfinder 2e, it seems callous to prevent them from engaging with Infinite entirely.
Even just removing OGL content from the options available to PF2e creators is a huge loss. I was hoping to see some interesting stuff playing with alignment and/or OGL extraplanar creatures and War of Immortals, but now that's impossible.
While alignment is not really necessary to run a monster under the currently existing rules, it is kinda important for deities since it's a large portion of the divine spell lists' damage and determines what champion subclasses you can play.
So... any chance someone at Paizo would be willing to share the pre-remaster alignment & follower alignments of the new wood & metal elemental lords so that we can actually play clerics & champions of them without having to wait 3/11 months and buy a whole different book?
The Ikeshti were by far my least favorite thing in Starfinder. I was hoping to see something other than "Ikeshti who don't have sex are turned into animalistic rage-filled monsters that are a shame to their entire species and should be killed". And while the transformation into a rivener is no longer explicitly tied to mating in this book, I don't think it got any better. As I read it, the transformation is due to being outcast for resisting gender norms, which almost certainly include breeding given the way the norms are described. Essentially, Ikeshti that are uninterested in sex are still doomed to become riveners, and in this book, Chaotic Evil, except now its because of the society and "evolutionary adaptivity" instead of hormones. Though I can only speak for myself, I feel hurt by this as a man who isn't very traditionally masculine and especially as a person who's asexual, and probably other people who don't fit into traditional gender norms and/or are asexual feel hurt as well. Asexual people are already stereotyped as animalistic, emotionally stunted, monstrous, and sources of shame for family. I'm sure it wasn't the intent to play on these stereotypes, but I'm still disappointed that this wasn't changed from Starfinder, especially since Pathfinder has had so much amazing ace rep before. (Hell, Pathfinder is how I learned that being asexual and biromantic is a thing that I could be.)
Other than that though, I love everything in this adventure, and I can't wait to run it, just without the Ikeshti.
Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I posted, not because I haven't been here but because I don't really say much unless I have something to say. I noticed people saying the forums on Paizo have been less friendly, and I figured I should let everyone know if they dont that there are a whole bunch of really great Pathfinder communities on Discord! I'd especially recommend the server for Dice Will Roll (which is also a really great Pathfinder podcast), its very queer and friendly. :)
Since I've last posted, I have been Unraveling the secrets of the universe itself majoring in physics and having a great time with it! Also been running some Pathfinder games for some new college friends. :)
*Hugs for anyone who wants*
*makes obligatory puns about ace pilots*
Today was my first day of classes in college, which was... a thing that happened (most of class was spent trying to virtual textbooks & stuff to work)
There's a bunch of group chats for the incoming class going, & one of the is for queer students, so I'm probably going to start a game there once everyone figures their schedules out. :)
HYPE!
I expect that while we may see new heritages for core ancestries, I don't think they will be tied to specific ethnicities/nations/peoples as that would kinda suggest that characters from those groups couldn't take other heritages, which is not great.
Yay! Honestly did not expect to see a 6-3 ruling, but I'm not going to say no! :D
Also, did not expect my high school graduation ceremony to be taking a picture of myself & my brother with my diploma, but I'm not really one for long speeches or big crowds, so I'm not really complaining.
Businesses being looted by civilians, many of whom do not actually care about the cause being protested is not in any way comparable to someone being murdered by police, whose job is supposed to be to protect.
Also, this is not a problem of individual police. The sheer number of times this has occurred should prove that. The problem is the system of policing itself, which has been used as a tool to oppress black people through fear, violence, and arrests for centuries, and has never been reformed in any meaningful way.
I, also, have a family member who is a police officer. This does not change the reality of the situation.
What's up with the two target-looking things orbiting Vesk-5? You can't just put those in the art, not explain anything about them, and not expect me to be curious.
Hemdar draws a simply made dagger and watches nervously watches the tooth faeries for movement.
Will ready an action to throw a dagger if one of the tooth faeries gets up.
Until then, go Enara! :D
1. You could say that any fictional setting is purely fictional and has no relevance to the real world. That ignores that literally every fictional setting has been created by people in the real world, and bears influence from the real world.
2. Please don't attack people on these forums. Rysky & Gorbacz have only refuted the content of your posts, whereas you have engaged in personal attacks in both of your posts. (Calling people kids or muppets is insulting, and you know that.)
Hi!
First, you should definitely try playing characters who aren't like you, as long as you commit to making them actual people. I'm an Asexual person with Asperger's syndrome, and I definitely want to see more allosexual and/or neurotypical people play characters like me, as long as they do them well. Seeking out advice from said people is a great way to do that!
To that end, my 2 main pieces of advice:
1. Doing some amount of research is probably something you'll have to do, at least for playing a character from a culture other than your own, or for playing a character with a disability, etc. At the same time, don't make that completely inform how the character acts. (Not every person from a given culture is going to hold all of the values of said culture, not every person with autism displays all of the signs)
2. Being different from the "norm" doesn't count as characterization. It may inform characterization, but it shouldn't mean you make their character any less developed. For instance, a gay character might have a different personality than a straight character due to how society treats them, but that doesn't mean that they should have more or fewer personality traits, flaws, and goals.
Hemdar shifts his gaze from the tengus to look at Lucius. "Even if these were ordinary times, it's hardly reasonable to expect them to carry out a sentence on their own family."
He looks back at the tengus. "I'm Hemdar." Tictic, having stayed hidden for most of the time in the bunker, peeks out from Hemdar's pocket, trying to see the new people. "And this is Tictic. We met Nan through a... mutual acquaintance."
Alright, level 2 now! :)
Took Order Explorer into the wild order to get Wild Shape & hopefully get more use out of my focus casting.
My skill feat is Battle Medicine since its always good to have more healing opportunities. :)
Despite the heat of combat, Hemdar eagerly supplies a likely unwanted answer to Rexus's question. "When rats live underground, they have no predators to hide from."
He pauses mid-explanation to blast a nearby rat with ice and maintain his warding spell.
Ray of Frost:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 201d4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 "Since they don't need to be small to hide, they grow larger with each generation. It seems fast to us because we live so much longer." Action 1: cast shield Actions 2 and 3: cast ray of frost at rat #1
@Enara: you accidentally used a d20 for damage. :D
Nono, it's fine, it's written in a mix of like, 5 languages, including unique script Emarel created, and and can't be read by anyone that's not him...probably.
Was half-expecting Emarel to have comprehend languages written in his spellbook with a statement like that... :D
Aw, poor flash beetle. :(
As the thug kills Hemdar's summoned beetle, Hemdar focuses his magic on the thug and blasts them with ice. The ice sticks to the thug's clothes, slowing them down. Seeing another thug strike an elf with their mace, Hemdar mutters a few Sylvan words, granting the elf a sliver of insight.
Ray of Frost:1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 7 + 1 = 281d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6 Wow! That's a lot of crits. :D Not sure if I should be rolling twice or just doubling.
crit damage in case:1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9
Actions 1 & 2: cast Ray of Frost at CCG thug 2. (takes -10 penalty to all speeds due to crit) Action 3: Cast [url=https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=142]guidance on Emarel.
As the protest grows, it becomes more and more apparent that the human dressed in hides and earthy-toned clothing who seems to be tending the plants in the park is watching with some interest. He often glances up at the crowd as though looking for someone in particular. On occasion, a small creature that appears to be a human made of leaves, vines, and other plant matter burrows up from the ground to observe before burrowing back into the ground a few moments later.
He said he would be wearing a black glove on one hand on none on the other. I don't see him, maybe I need to get closer?
100% yes. All of those, and analogues to the Swahili Coast city-states, the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Great Zimbabwe, the empire of Kongo, Benin, the Mutapa Empire, Aksum, the Ashanti Empire, etc would be great to have. Nubian and Amazigh/Berber inspired nations would be cool too, though that might be tricky with not-North Africa already covered.
The analogue to Axum's geographical location, unfortunately, is occupied by Geb. It could be further south, of course, but Casmaron starts getting prohibitively far away.
IMO they don't have to correspond to the exact location, since there is quite a bit of geographical difference between Garund and Africa (The Sahara doesn't have mountains or rainforest immediately to the south, for instance)
David knott 242 wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
David knott 242 wrote:
Since both Cheliax and the Shackles are now enemies of Vidrian, the open question is whether they make any sort of common cause against that new nation.
I wouldn't necessarily say that either is an "enemy" of Vidrian. Cheliax lost Sargava long before Sargava became Vidrian, and the Shackles will just have to go back to getting money from the Vidrians the old-fashioned way—piracy. While they aren't necessarily allies, they don't have an oblique motivation to full-out conquer them either.
Conquer them -- no, it wouldn't be worth it.
Punish them -- oh yes, they have plenty of motivation to do that. The idea of Cheliax taking action against Sargava is actually mentioned in the "Continuing the Adventure" section of one of the "Hell's" adventure paths -- I think it was "Hell's Vengeance". I don't think they would particularly care that there has been a revolution there.
I would argue that while both the Shackles and Cheliax certainly have a motive to raid Vidrian on a large organized scale, I think they both hate each other too much to actually ally together to do it. And I don't think either could do it on a large scale, with the Shackles being very loosley organized and Cheliax being far away and having much of its navy destroyed as of Skull & Shackles.
Really glad to see Paizo is elaborating more on the Mwangi, since most of the previous stuff has been very vague and purely from an outside (and often colonialistish) perspective. A few thoughts:
1. Mzali is so pretty aaaaaaaaa
2. I think its highly unlikely that Cheliax could conquer Vidrian, even if we assume that Vidrian is initially very weak, (which there's no guarantee that it is) given the events of Skull and Shackles I imagine that Cheliax's navy is severely weakened and the Shackles with its new Hurricane Queen is very hostile to them.
3. As Paizo elaborates more on Garund, I'm hoping to see more nations which parallel real African civilizations, perhaps in the 3/4ths of the continent that are not in the Inner Sea region map. For instance, a large trade-based empire in a savanna or sahel region based on Wagadu/Mali/Songhai.
Given the discussion about Norgorber's origins, I feel like this is a good place to propose the theory that Norgorber is actually a halfling, a gnome and a goblin, who are the aspects of theivery, poison, and murder, all stack and hiding in an intelligent cloak who is the aspect of secrets. After all, they say if the true identity of Norgorber were revealed, he would be undone... :D
Hi everyone :)
Been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd come back here in case anyone would like hugs or anything. :D
Also, here's a cool thing. Not LGBT+ related, but generally pretty awesome.
Welp, I'd (maybe naively) hoped things would go better, but all in all it went okay. Remember that while Republicans still control the senate, that's because of the way terms ended (Democrats won twice as many senate races). I'm also really happy with the way things went in my state, (we reelected Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay senator). From my understanding, the international community took the Democrat takeover of the house as a sign that we are not completely crazy, so that's good. :)
Today is my actual birthday! I'm 52, as of 3 AM EST.
Happy Birthday!
Side note: In my game group, we have a weird joke that 52 is the only number, because it kept showing up one session, and now we try to find ways to bring it up in random ways. :)
I generally picture Greek, Egyptian, Norse & Aztec (well, the roman pantheon pops into my head before the Aztecs, but they are literal clones of the Greek pantheon so I don't count them)
Between comic books (and now superhero movies) using the Norse and Olympian gods a lot (mostly Thor, Hercules and Wonder Woman), and the days of the week using some Norse gods and the months of the year using some Roman gods, I feel like those two pantheons get the most saturation, while I'd love to see more use of the Egyptian, Aztec, Chinese, Japanese and African/Yoruba pantheons.
I'd definitely like to see more pantheons in various fantasy worlds. I'm personally hoping that when Paizo reveals more of the stuff inside Arcadia, we get a Worldwound type place, as that could work really well with Aztec-like mythology.
Snowheart: You don't need a whole lot, just a paragraph or so, and some connection to Cedona.
Solicitor: What Snowheart said. I'm not pedantic about the rules, so you're fine.
Going to look over characters in a bit, but nothing looks glaringly wrong at first glance.
Hi everybody! I got tired of waiting for someone to run this, so I'm doing it myself. If you are at all interested in playing as guerilla rebels against an evil empire in a sci-fi setting (i. e. Star Wars), this is the Adventure Path for you! There's a cool trailer here, if you don't mind minor spoilers.
Character Creation Rules:
All options from Paizo's books are permitted (including all dem aliens. Helpful link to the SRD
1000 credits, which may be spent on items of 3rd level or lower.
20 point buy ability scores, using the Pathfinder system, maximum of 18 after race and theme modifiers. I think not having the point costs increase with the score is weird.
Non-evil alignments only.
Your character must have some connection to an Cedona, an android scholar. The adventure includes theme-based connections if you'd like to use them, or you can invent your own.
The adventure also includes a new theme, colonist, which I've included below.
Connections:
Ace Pilot: A few years ago, you received an emergency commission from an android named Cedona. She needed quick transport into an asteroid-choked section of the Diaspora, no questions asked, and couldn’t find anyone else able to navigate the complicated route quickly. Cedona was impressed with your flawless piloting and contacted you a few times for other jobs, even when another pilot would have been more convenient for her to hire.
Bounty Hunter: You had a high-paying job that seemed to have gone bust, as your quarry had slipped away to another planet without leaving behind any clues. You were about to admit defeat when Cedona contacted you with some information—your quarry’s location. You collected your quarry and your pay without any difficulties. Cedona has provided you with unexpected but useful information from time to time ever since, and the two of you have become friends, although she hasn’t ever revealed her information sources.
Icon: Cedona happens to be a fan of your type of performance or field of study. The android is polite and friendly, and the two of you have bonded based on her appreciation of your work. She asked that you come visit her in Madelon’s Landing if you ever found yourself out in the Vast. You could tell that she didn’t really think you’d find the time in your busy schedule to get out that far, and you look forward to surprising her with your presence.
Mercenary: You took a job a few years ago clearing some invading forces out of a ruined factory, and one of the mercenaries working alongside you was an android named Cedona. It became clear to you that she was no ordinary mercenary but was seeking a particular individual you later learned was an escaped convict. Regardless, Cedona was cool under fire and very professional, and you appreciated that. She saw the same in you, and the two of you became friends. You have an ongoing, good-natured dispute about which of you could take the other in a fight, but you’ve never pushed it to the test—deep down, you might worry that you’ll lose.
Outlaw: Despite your back-alley dealings and efforts to avoid legal entanglements, you kept running into an android named Cedona. You might have thought she was a bounty hunter or a police officer, as she so frequently seemed to know where to find you, but she didn’t seem interested in capturing you. She was more interested in finding out why you were charged for your crimes, and whether you had done illegal things for the right reasons. Cedona seemed to actually like you, when so many others were willing to cast you aside or turn you in, and you struck up a friendship with her. She once showed up to provide you a transit pass and fake identification documents when forces of the law were closing in on your home, and you feel like you still owe her for that.
Priest: Cedona was a friend of a friend whom you tended through a difficult illness. Although Cedona doesn’t share your religious conviction, you learned over long hours at your mutual friend’s bedside that she is a good and caring person. When your friend passed away, you and Cedona both agreed to keep in touch, but you drifted apart nonetheless. You heard she retired to an AbadarCorp colony in the Vast, and you resolved to rekindle your friendship.
Scholar: You attended a short series of lectures a few years ago about the business of religion, but you found the presenter’s conclusions ill-founded and lacking in intellectual rigor. You met another attendee—an android named Cedona— and struck up a friendship while complaining about the lectures. Cedona was primarily interested in learning about AbadarCorp colonies; she hoped to join one of those colonies once she retired from her current job, although she didn’t mention what that job was. When she was approved to join AbadarCorp’s colony on Nakondis, Cedona asked you to come visit her when you could, to see “religion and business in the field.”
Spacefarer: You’re the reason Cedona came to Nakondis in the first place. You’ve been to the system before, although it seemed to have little to recommend it to anyone. Sure, Nakondis is lush with beautiful, healthy forests and thick with sparkling fog, but you aren’t the sort to consider settling down planetside. Your acquaintance Cedona agreed it seemed pleasant, and you weren’t surprised when you heard she retired to the AbadarCorp colony there. You would like to see her life on the planet you first introduced her to.
Xenoseeker: You chafed at the confines of civilization in the Pact Worlds, finding your center in remote gardens or little-traveled wildernesses. On these journeys, you occasionally encountered an android named Cedona. She never told you what she did for a living, but she talked often about how she was looking forward to retirement on a wilderness planet far off in the Vast. When she was approved to join the colony on Nakondis, she invited you to a going-away party to celebrate her good fortune, and she asked that you look her up some day.
Themeless (or Other Theme): You were Cedona’s neighbor for a few months, and she was the only person in the neighborhood you really considered a friend. She had a pet named Cubber—a vulpine creature known as a squox — that she occasionally asked you to feed while she was away for work. You never learned what Cedona did professionally, but she seemed glad to retire from it. She was happy when she told you she’d been accepted to join an AbadarCorp colony on Nakondis, although it meant she’d have to find a new home for Cubber. Whether you now own Cubber is up to you.
Colonist theme:
COLONIST +1 CON
You have an unquenchable trailblazer’s spirit, matched with the training and fortitude you’ll need to carve out a new life for yourself and others in the wilderness. Although you might be the sort to go it alone on the frontier, you’re more likely part of a small group of settlers. You might be preparing for your first voyage, or you might be a grizzled veteran who has already helped found several successful colonies.
THEME KNOWLEDGE (1ST) You have amassed a vast knowledge of past colonization efforts, including those that have failed due to ignorance or carelessness. You know that basic knowledge about a new, uncharted world is the most valuable resource any colonist can have. Reduce the DC to identify average creatures using Life Science by 5. Survival is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from the class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Survival checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Constitution at character creation.
PROVIDING FOR OTHERS (6TH) You know that a colony’s survival means that each colonist look out for everyone else in times of hardship or privation. When you successfully use the Survival skill to endure severe weather or live off the land, increase the number of other creatures you can grant saving throw bonuses or sustenance to by an amount equal to half your level. You can give another creature any benefit that you would gain from a Survival check to endure severe weather or live off the land (such as a bonus to Fortitude saves or sustenance you would gain), but if you do, you don’t gain it for yourself.
PIONEER’S RESILIENCE (12TH) You are more resistant to effects that would overwhelm a less experienced settler. Once per day, you can reroll a Fortitude saving throw to resist the effects of a disease, poison, or severe weather.
AN EYE TO THE FUTURE (18TH) Up to twice per day when you successfully use the Survival skill to predict the weather, you can spend 10 minutes contemplating what the future holds to regain 1 Resolve Point; this doesn’t count as resting to regain Stamina Points. You must spend 1 minute observing the surrounding area and its weather patterns to use this ability, even if you have another ability that allows you to predict the weather in a shorter amount of time.
Again, my problem isn’t that there is a white person from a majority-Keleshite country. My problem is that there is not also a Keleshite person from an Avistani country, a trend that is often repeated in Paizo prducts and media in general. By doing this, the game deprives a group of people of representation without adding any.
And yes, real world sensitivities about race are relevant, since 1. Go Latino is heavily based on the real world, and 2. this game is made and played by real world people who hold real world biases and sesnsitivites. Lack of diversity and/or whitewashing are legitimate concerns, and ones the people at Paizo clearly care about. (If I thought they didn’t, I wouldn’t be posting about this. I also wouldn’t really be interested in playing this game.
He could also be from a Ulfen family living in the Padisha as well. Nobody is scratching their head about Ekundayo coming from Absalom.
We're not arguing that it's impossible, but rather that it's a bad choice.
As for Ekundayo: Absalom is a melting pot. If he hailed from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, people would in fact scratch their heads at the choice.
Whether it's a "bad choice" or not is purely a matter of opinion, but I'm guessing you wouldn't have had a problem if they had a dark-skinned character hailing from a region traditionally associated with light-skinned residents. Quite the contrary, you and others would likely be trumpeting and celebrating the "diversity" and how "progressive" the choice was.
Paizo has had dark-skinned people in light-skinned areas, and light-skinned people in dark-skinned areas. I don't have a problem with either of those, in fact I think its a good thing. My problem is that Paizo's ratio of light-skinned characters in darker-skinned areas is vastly higher than the reverse, (only 3 out of 8 iconics from Garund are black) and this sample of characters pushes that ratio higher. Ekundayo comes from Absalom, an area with no native population that is therefore very ethnically diverse, but whoever wrote this felt they needed to specify that he was from a Garundi family, whereas Tristian comes from Kelesh, an area with a majority population that does not look like him, and yet the writer did not take any space to specify his origins.
