No, edited to correct my flaky memory.
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Though the snake's sudden appearance catches Uchendu by surprise, sheer momentum carries his blade on through to the spider. Weakened already by Amisi's magic and Quetza's fangs, it has no chance against the half-elf's blade, and dies with barely a whimper.
Crux's acid dart sears the dog's hide, causing it to squeal in pain, but it continues its mad dash forward nonetheless. Hurling itself through the door, it turns its teeth on Kazadarin, standing just inside the doorway.
The dog's attack seems more for show than real intent, though, at least judging by the results it produces. Even caught somewhat off-guard, Kaz manages to fend off the bite with his blade.
Quick clarification: Amisi's magic missile is on round 2 (she's already zapped the spider this round), and Natalyah will go before her. At the same time, though, the point is moot, because the snake's considered to be in combat with Uchendu at the moment, what with it biting him and all.
A burst of light appears in front of the spider's eight eyes, causing it to jerk back. The pause is momentary, however, and the spider returns its attention to the quetzalcoatlus that is attacking it.
I might in the future, but at the moment, I'm sick as a dog and still working (can't afford the time off), so this pace is just about all I can handle. I'll keep it in mind for next time, though.
As Uchendu rushes forward, he fails to spot the large snake curled up in the grass next to the tree; enraged, the serpent's fangs strike out at him.
Quezta's bite is vicious, and sinks deep into the spider's flesh. Almost immediately, though, he coughs and hacks, spitting out vile ichor.
The sound of claws clicking on wood grows slowly closer, but pauses while still well inside the next room. There is a moment of silence, and then the still and darkened fishery is suddenly filled with loud booming barks, enough to shake the wood in the boarded-over windows. A massive, mangy-looking dog bounds into the light, still barking like mad, its teeth flashing in the illumination of the cleric's orison.
Natalyah readies her bow and fires a shot toward the spider, but in her haste the shot flies wide, the arrow disappearing into the jungle foliage. Amisi chants a quick incantation, and an arcane bolt of force sears the carapace of the spider.
Evred and Kaz: There is the sound of movement through the partially open door in the first room. It sounds like claws lightly clicking on wood.
There is little to worry about with respect to keeping an eye on the camp - none of the NPCs are willing to strike out into the wild if the rest of you are willing to do so, so they agree to watch the camp while you head west. Aerys, a little shamefacedly, volunteers to serve as an entertainer for the group while the rest of you are away, though her hands are already shaking a little again. As you head out into the jungle, she has produced a notebook from within her pack and - to your astonishment - starts reading original pirate-themed poetry to an enthralled, if also shocked, Jask and Ishirou. The jungle slows your travel greatly; though Natalyah and Atzi have no difficulty making sure the party stays on course, there's simply no easy path through the dense forest as you head west. The sharp cliffs that surround most of the island prevent even a beach passage, so travel is a struggle, and by the time the sun reaches its noon peak, the group has only managed about two miles of progress toward the western tip of the peninsula... and, based on the map, your best guess is that the tip is still a good three or four miles away. With the heat of the day rapidly building, you seek the shelter of the jungle shade to rest and consider your options. GM stuff:
:
: : Unfortunately, the shade of the tree holds darker secrets of its own - for even as you begin to relax out of the sun, a massive, fast-moving spider four feet high and five feet across its massive spread of legs.
...It may be that D&D reclaims the top spot next month and this came about at least in part because of the relatively light 4E release schedule leading up to the release of Essentials. These are the ones that seem most likely to be big releases in the long run, but it's not clear whether their impact will be felt most in Q3 or in Q4, given how late in the period they came out.
Okay, caught up on the NPC interactions - will get the exploration moving tomorrow.
Higher-level ray spells worth taking. Preferably including ones that do damage + something, because I want to make a zapper-caster sometime, and that concept really shouldn't be 20th level and still running off of a second-level spell.
The southeastern door opens on a smaller office, but it almost immediately bumps into a desk that is partially blocking the doorway from the other side. Squeezing into the room reveals it to be tiny and cramped; the desktop is covered in slates, each with numerous scrawled notes and tiny equations, and a large cabinet slouches against the eastern wall, next to a another door. The south wall also holds a door - likely the exterior door leading out to the boardwalk and dock - but it has been nailed shut by a series of rotten, moldy boards.
Gelik smiles, waving dismissively, but it is clear that the humility is feigned, and he is eating up the flattery. "There's really only one story I want to be in - or, rather, one set of stories: the Pathfinder Chronicles. You know of them, I assume? The finest tales of exploration and adventure in Golarion, and every word true. (Or at least, no word that can be proven false by any other observer.) Of course, getting into them is no small challenge! A Pathfinder must be courageous, skilled, quick-witted, and above all, dashing; naturally, I can only assume my entry into the august ranks of published Pathfinders is but a matter of time."
The smile comes back, though, and Gelik's expression takes on a crafty cast. "Hearing the priest's tale about a shipwreck, however, sparked a memory," he continues, "and I had a thought about a means by which my return to the Society's good graces might be expedited. Smuggler's Shiv has been the gravemarker for dozens of ships over the years, like as not. One of these, or so I have heard, is a ship called the Nightvoice, crewed and captained alike by Pathfinders. The tale of what happened to the Nightvoice has yet to be told, but I have no doubts that learning its fate would do much to shorten my sorrowful sojourn apart from my beloved Society. Perhaps we might be able to add searching for the Nightvoice to our list of endeavors?"
It looks like consensus is being reached here. So, given all that, which way do you want to head out - west, toward the tip of the peninsula; south, toward the other side of the peninsula; or east, toward the rest of the island?
Added to APG FAQ.
I love it when sanity wins. :D
Kaz's picks work their magic in a few seconds, and though there is a faint scraping and squealing from the door, he manages to ease it open without making too much noise. The room beyond looks to be some kind of office, with a single desk and a chair behind it against the far wall. The area looks fairly disused, though there is a small pile of ratty furs and straw heaped in a corner. Four doors - one on the north wall, one on the south, and two on the east - lead out of the room; only the one to the north stands open, though, and Kaz cannot penetrate the gloom inside the building to see what lies beyond it.
Sounds like an awesome con, and I hope you have fun with it! For everyone: I'd like a firm decision from the group about where you are headed next by the end of the day tomorrow, so we can get moving. As a quick recap, the following possible leads have been presented as exploration targets (some of which might be doable simultaneously): * Finding the lighthouse believed to have been built somewhere on the island
(I don't think I'm giving much away at this point when I also note that Gelik has a personal quest to offer as well, if/when you make him friendly.)
The priest of Desna looks around the dock, "Is there anything we can use as a battering ram for the door? Perhaps a bench or a sawhorse?"
"That is fine, Atzi. I will ponder for a while and see if I can remember anything myself - after all, it is not exactly something I have come across that often, in the past..." Uchendu: Uchendu recalls hearing about a particular plant, the viper nettle, whose berries are said to be of great help in overcoming various addicitions, particularly alcohol. The viper nettle is fairly rare, but it is a tropical plant found most often in western Garund, so there might be some on the island somewhere.
Okay, I'm back and things are moving once again. Sorry for the delay, guys, but I think we should be good to go now!
Okay, I'm back and things are moving once again. Sorry for the delay, guys, but I think we should be good to go now!
The doors around the building are locked tight for the night, and all the windows are boarded up; Kazadarin hears nothing within the building. On the building's north side, next to the loading ramp, a set of stairs drop a few feet off to the east, over the river; at their bottom, a third door leads into a lowered section of the fishery, less than a dozen feet above the river's surface. There is no way to circle the building on the river side without jumping across to the boat (which, despite Crux's concerns, seems unlikely to be used as a means of escape for anyone, as it is seemingly being held together only by the ropes and chains that loop around the barge and bind it to the dock; accordingly, Kaz circles around to the south side, proceeding along the boardwalk there toward the eastern dock. The southern walkway is slick and creaks ominously under Kaz's feet as he walks - though the boards hold him up, there are several moments where it seems as though they might not. Here he finds another door, also locked, and can step onto the shaky-looking deck of the moored barge if he wishes.
Waking up Just after sunrise, Inka feels Re-freshed, She can feel the burning magic running through her Vains. She Smiles, Collects her Gear, and steps out of the tent.
When morning breaks on the castaways’ second day on Smuggler’s Shiv, it is clear that the night’s rest has helped at least some of the group gain a grip on their emotions. Jask and Gelik are in noticeably better moods than the day before; the dour cleric is actually humming to himself as he begins his morning prayers, and Gelik’s jokes are slightly less caustic than they were the day before. Sasha and Ishirou still seem uncertain, though, even if Sasha seems to be covering it with brute force optimism. Aerys is the last to roll out of her tent, eyes bloodshot and blinking heavily in the morning light. She picks up the empty bottle of brandy on the ground nearby, studying it for a moment before throwing it aside with an oath.
"All ships have a rum ration; not just pirate vessels," Storian says. "The idea, I believe, is it helps the crew to relax after a hard day working, and it is one of the small pleasures that makes the crew more willing to put up with some of the harsher aspects of sailing. A happier crew is a more efficient crew - so long as they're not drunk on the job, which is why it's rationed."
Suddenly surrounded by people, Aerys looks taken aback, staring wide-eyed from one member of the party to the next. "Cayden’s nose," she mutters, seemingly to herself. "What did I do last night?" After a long pause, she looks around at everyone, then shakes her head and drops to the ground with a grunt. "Okay, yes. I really, really would like a drink. I want a barrel of rum so deep I can crawl inside it and drown. I want to get so hammered that I can’t remember a thing about this island, or dead bodies, or that a*#hole I beat the s!*^ out of whose name I can’t even remember now and who’s probably dead so I feel like s!*^ for still being mad at him." "But you know what I want even more than that? I want to stop wanting it. I’m so damned tired of always reaching for a drink every f#%~ing morning, and not remembering what the f#%~ I did yesterday. This s!*^ is killing me, and I can’t die yet, dammit. I still have a book to… well, f#%~ that. I can’t die yet." She looks back up at the people standing over her, shaking her head with a grimace. "So you want to know what I want to go looking for? Something that would make that happen."
Everybody gets 25 more XP for making Ishirou friendly. Just a head's up guys: life threw me a hell of a curveball today, and I'm not sure if I will be able to post much for the next day or three as a result. I will try to keep things moving as best I can, but it might be Friday before I manage much of substance in the game.
Just a head's up guys: life threw me a hell of a curveball today, and I'm not sure if I will be able to post much for the next day or three as a result. I will try to keep things moving as best I can, but it might be Friday before I manage much of substance in the game.
The fishery is a converted warehouse that partially overhangs the Jeggare River, a squarish building with a wooden boardwalk wrapping around the south wall and a dock, with a decrepit-looking fishing boat moored to it, on the river side. On the north wall is what looks like a loading dock for wagons, consisting of a shaky wooden ramp leading up to a broad platform, with wagon-wide doors leading to the fishery's interior currently shut tight. The reek of brine and week-dead fish hangs heavy in the air about the building, and the old double doors that face the street are closed and probably at least partly rusted in place. A drooping signpost holds nothing but a short length of corroded chain, whatever sign it may have once held seemingly long gone. There are no sounds or signs of movement from within in the gathering darkness.
If Amisi's blush is clear, then Ishirou's is bright enough to make the campfire unneeded for light in the midnight darkness. "I... uh... well..." he stammers, "I'm... er, I'm no dragon, miss. Er, my lady." He blushes again, and somehow manages to do so even harder. "I'm just a guy with an old sword, that's all. I mean, it's an important sword - I mean, it's important to me - but, I mean..." He stops again, looking down at the dirt like he's trying to find some way to burrow into it. "My family's from Minkai, though it has been years since I last saw my home. The sword was... ah, a gift, I guess, from the people I used to work for, the Aspis Consortium. I don't know if you've ever heard of them. Not always the nicest of people, but they paid me well, they took me in when... when I needed someplace to go. I've been working for them for about ten years now, I just left them behind when I left Bloodcove. I thought Sargava might be a better place to be, but now..." He trails off, looking frustrated. "It's like, every time I think I'm going to make things better, some kuso like this happens, and it's worse than before." He falls silent for a long time, staring out into the darkness away from the campfire, before speaking again. "And now it might be happening again. Because that map... It's like the kami are taunting me." He looks at Amisi, with an expression that amost looks desperate. "Maybe you can tell me, because I know my judgement's bakemono dung anymore." He pauses again, but this time, it is as though he were readying himself for something. He takes a long breath, letting it out slowly, before continuing. "The Aspis Consortium," he says hesitantly, "is... well, they're in the business of artifact hunting. They're pretty cutthroat about it. I mean, hell, you're from Osirian, right? They're everywhere there, you probably know that. But while I was working with them, I found a few things myself, things I didn't share with the upper levels, because, well, I couldn't tell if they meant anything. Mostly, I'm talking about maps, you know? Buried treasure, that kind of thing. The ones I kept were ones that didn't have markings or labels, so I had no idea if they were real or where they might link up to. But one of them... well, did you look at that map the Anghazan guy's got? You know how the island's got that long, curving peninsula in the north, and the whole island looks like a backwards 'S'? Well... one of my treasure maps looks like that. Exactly like that, in fact." He raises his eyes to Amisi. "I think I might know where there's treasure buried on this island," he concludes, "but I'm seriously afraid that I might get us all killed if we try to go find it."
Hearing Jask talk of how finding the Brine Demon would ensure his freedom, she places a hand reassuringly on the scholar's shoulder. "If this ship is here then we find it friend. We will secure your hope through the power of our combined strength and will, no matter what." Giving Jask a broad smile and a quick squeeze on the shoulder, she excuses herself from further conversation and wishing Amisi luck in talking to the other survivors, Atzi will begin trying to find some plants that could aid in healing. She will also take the time and try to figure out where they are on the island and hopefully be able to mark it on the map so they have an idea of which way they may need to explore next. In roughly the center of the northern shore of Smuggler's Shiv, there is a "notch" that seems to represent a steep-sided cove. Comparing that cove to her observations of where they awoke this morning, Atzi decides that the "notch" is probably where she and her companions found themselves after the shipwreck. They have moved a short distance inland, but are still quite close to that point. After going over the maps and digging at roots she will spend some time watching the clouds and hopefully predicting the weather in the coming day or two. She will relay her findings to the others as best she can. It is likely to continue to be hot, particularly in the early afternoon, and in the tropics, a daily rainstorm of some variety or another is almost a guarantee. It will likely not last long, however, and usually signals the end of the afternoon's worst heat.
As the afternoon wears into evening, the castaways settle into their tents to try to sleep away the day's strenuous activities and unsettling discoveries. A guard rotation is organized, but many climb into their bedrolls almost at once. For those who stay awake, Gelik tells a series of funny stories about "half-orcs I have known," which Amisi supplements with some dramatic lighting from her light cantrip. Jask checks on everyone (he shakes his head over Aerys' condition), then bids them all good night and turns in himself. Ishirou, before getting some sleep ahead of his guard shift, asks to look over the maps Atzi found onboard the Jenivere, particularly the one of Smuggler's Shiv. He studies it for several minutes, frowning at first in concentration, then turning it sideways once - and dropping his jaw in seeming shock. After a moment, he shakes his head, rolls up the map, and returns it to Uchendu. He will not speak of what the map seemed to mean to him, however, going to his tent without a word. Not long after sundown, those still awake hear what sounds like the flapping of great wings overhead. The night beyond the campfire is almost entirely black, though, even to Natalyah and Uchendu's eyes, and the sound is gone after just a few moments. Beyond that, though, there is nothing but sleep for those not on watch.
Moving camp is something that can be done, but is at least a several-hours process. The fatigue issue came about primarily from the timing; Smuggler's Shiv - and indeed, most of the tropical portion of Golarion, including the Mwangi and all of Sargava - hits the "very hot" environmental condition basically every day from about noon to three, and your morning activities (exploring the Jenivere, holding the funeral, etc.) took you to just about noon by the time it had all wrapped up. So you were basically setting up during the hottest part of the day - the kind of mistake new castaways might easily make, but that experience will quickly correct. And now I'm double checking again. The current plan is to rest in camp for the night, and then for the entire next day as well, to get settled in, try to work some more Diplomacy magic, and so on, yes? And this is the current plan for roles: PCs
NPCs
Is that all correct? I am going to proceed as if it were, and we can retcon if it turns out not to be the case.
On the question of grappling odds in Pathfinder: something to remember is that there are far more ways to improve your odds in PF than there are in 3.5. As far as I know, there are exactly two ways a 1st level character in 3.5 can improve their grapple checks: enlarge person and Improved Grapple. By contrast, in Pathfinder, you have both of those... plus bardic music, flanking, true strike, bless, and pretty much anything else that gets you an attack bonus of any kind. It's far, far easier to build up useful CMB bonuses than it was in 3.5, so in fact a dedicated maneuver build has better odds than a comparable 3.5 character does.
Um...yeah...switch hitter...oops. It's a build that's designed to use multiple attack options rather than specializing on just one. The most common usage seems to be builds that specialize in ranged combat as well as at least one form of melee combat (such as ranger who uses Combat Style feats to get important ranged attack feats like Precise Shot and Deadly Aim while using standard advancement feats to get melee feats like Power Attack).
To make finding these rules easier, I'm going to stick them into my profile, so you will know where to look for them later. Just FYI, I am also keeping some information for my Serpent's Skull PbP on my profile as well - watch out for potential spoilers.
This adventure is not supported by PDF to Foundry and no further content is being added to that module. It is, however, supported by Deidril's PDF Importer, which works similar to PDF to Foundry but has a different set of PDFs it can import.
You can still play with all the legacy options. Some things will get tweaked slightly but we are moving copies of the renamed and reprinted items to a module, and while alignment will be vanishing from the sheets in a dedicated section it will stay accessible in actor data and the same module will make it show up in the actor traits (which, they probably should have been in there all along actually). The remaster is not the giant change people seem to think it is, and we are trying to make it as seamless as possible for people while also not ballooning our compendium size to unmanageable levels or offering conflicting sets of legacy/remaster data and rules to people. We're treating the remaster as errata, and most groups will hardly notice the changeover. If roll 20 works better for your group, great. Use the VTT that works best for your group. We'll keep working to make the PF2e system better, and trying our best to manage a fairly difficult situation data wise in a way that makes the most sense going forward.
In fact, that makes the price even more absurd. In what way? You really don't know the amount of work that went into this. Try to do all the work yourself: remake the maps, make your own journals, code up hexploration and macros, source music and sound effects, and make tokens for every single creature used. I think you'd find that it would take you an absurd amount of time and even if you only valued your time at pennies an hour this would still be an absolute steal at the full price of the module. If this was sold at a low price point then Foundry would be losing money making it. Video games rely on selling millions of copies to make back their money, this one isn't going to sell millions of copies. The market just is not that big. So, yes. If you don't like the price don't buy it, it is in fact that simple. Don't try using the fact that the core Foundry software is a great deal as an argument against charging fairly for the work they did.
Edit: foundry team is fantastic so should be able to have fun putting them through their paces this 3 day weekend. Also so glad the name wasn’t actually demigod. The classes are both done already and the playtest module will go live tomorrow when the playtest document drops. Animist is basically designed in a space that is nigh-unautomatable for us, with swapping of spell lists and lore skills being one of the largest gaps in what the system can do right now. Exemplar is in a good place though, there's only one thing I left unfinished that could still be done and maybe I'll circle back but I wanted to take a day off last weekend too :D
I don't know what they did specifically but I can give some insight on how you would run a comprehensive playtest in Foundry. I am one of the system devs for PF2e on Foundry, and did the module for the Starfinder Field Test. The PF2e system on Foundry built out a lot of homebrew tools, allowing GMs to quickly add traits, languages, damage types, etc to the system and then the way we automate most things, rule elements, let anyone tie proper automation to their new homebrew traits. For a playtest this kind of stuff should change often, likely even mid session, so setting up automation beforehand may be overkill. But for things that are stable in the game you can solidify them either inside a test world or as a module which could be shared among testers by just sending a zip file around. We have a guide on how to make modules and have those modules contain some basic automation like pre-registering custom traits, adding trait descriptions for easy reference on hover, custom base weapons, etc. Once rules become more locked in place it's easy to add them in to things like that for automation purposes. Stuff like class features, etc require more knowledge of rule elements which is a specific skill but it's easier to pick up that skill than it is to learn to code and we have a wiki detailing how to use them if you want to implement your own automation for something. Simple things like a bonus to X in Y circumstance is easy to do because we have a form for that kind of rule element. More complex things like selecting class features, granting abilities, modifying how rolls are made, implementing auras, etc are all doable but require a deeper dive into the system. If we get more official field test documents I will happily update the module to reflect the new rules, and yes we will put out a module for the upcoming class playtest when we can just like we did for Kineticist, Magus, etc when they were in playtest.
We answered this on the discord but I'll post something here to at least put our (The PF2e on Foundry VTT team) position on the remaster where people can see it. We will be treating the remaster as a large errata. Nothing we've seen thus far looks to be too big a change that the game won't be entirely recognizable. We are not going to fork the system or maintain legacy options unless Pathfinder Society also supports those legacy options. Things like the removal of alignment will likely come with guidance as to what to do with creatures that deal alignment damage on their strikes or abilities and we'll know more about how we'll handle that when we finally see the remastered rules. But things like negative damage becoming void damage is an easy switch for us to do. Removing ability scores, likewise, is something that should be easy to handle. For changes like creatures not being reprinted, we have no plans to remove creatures from our compendiums. We would need a real reason to actually delete an NPC. Some spells will be rendered useless, like Divine Lance, that will get removed and some new spell will be put in its place in theory but we'll know more when we get the remaster. Things that are getting renamed will just be renamed, and if needed we will migrate the name change. This is most likely in the case of Flat-Footed -> Off Guard, because our automation relies on the item "slug" (A version of the item name that is stable even for people using translated versions of the system) and that slug would change if we change the name in the main system repo. But that's an easy migration to do and for 99% of users they won't notice anything except the normal migration message on loading the system for the first time post remaster. For premium modules let's lay out what the premium modules even do so people know what the system controls and what the module adds. When you enable a premium module like Gatewalkers it asks you to import the adventure. That adventure is a set of pre-made scenes, journals, macros, etc. The module does not store the full actors it uses, instead it stores a reference to the system's version of those actors. So if the module needs a Mitflit it doesn't use its own version it grabs a new copy from the system and applies any stored changes they have for that actor (such as elite / weak or changing the name of the actor to be a specific NPC). This way the module doesn't have to update or maintain its own actors, they piggyback on ours. If we find a mistake in an actor that actor will be fixed in the next system update, and we have fast turnaround on system releases so we can get fixes out faster than the modules can. So, for the premium modules when you do an import it will grab the remastered versions of monsters when you import, and if you've already imported we will handle migrating any breaking changes on your world's existing actors. I personally am really looking forward to seeing more of the remaster. Additionally, if anyone wants to help out with our system data entry now is a great time to jump in and learn how to before the remaster comes out so when people get those PDFs we can make sure we keep up our streak of getting content into the system for major books on the release date. We have a Discord server where all us system devs hang out. Feel free to ping me if you want to try a starter data entry (or code) project, as I have a few things good for people new to the process and we can help you get set up.
It's real weird to see myself on the Paizo blog. Thank you to all of the other volunteers who help make the system, it really wouldn't be possible to keep up with Paizo's firehose of content without help!
You can load all the books at once. Generally it's best to wait until you are closer to finishing a book before importing the next one though. The reason for this is that Foundry works by having everything in world loaded in RAM and sent to each client. 3 books worth of stuff isn't going to grind your game to a halt but you may still notice some slowdown on the initial load into the world from it. It's also good to wait because the module works by pulling actors from the system's compendium, and we update those creatures all the time, fixing errors or adding in new automation. So by waiting until you are closer to using them you likely get more accurate and better automated NPCs in your game world.
The treasure actors being a generic icon is due to a bug in the Forge that will hopefully be fixed soon (is already fixed?). The module does in fact use a custom icon for them.
Name: Jangle, the Goblin Sorcerer
The Gory Details: The party pulled the caligni and some of the children of Belcorra into a fight at the same time. They were able to funnel them down but the cleric had to step back to heal. When they set off the first caligni a chain reaction tore through the group, of caligni setting off the next. This knocked the sorcerer down, but he was brought back up by the druid with battle medicine then casts dancing lights to blind the caligni. So, now at wounded 1, the sorcerer decides to stay in the fight given that the things they are fighting are pretty weak, blind, and funneled down into a line. He drops another caligni with an electric arc, the caligni's explosion takes out one of the children of Belcorra and hits the party. The last two caligni are all that's left and they are in rough shape and blind. One swings blindly into the square Jangle is in, rolling a 17 and 20 on the flat checks, then rolls double slice: 20, 20. The first critical hit dropped Jangle to dying 3 and the second finished him off. The party finished the fight and scurried home, they debated how to bring him back and settled on the only true answer for the chaotic goblin: reincarnation. So anyways Jangle's a shoony now.
Does this include versions of the tokens where the art doesn't extend past the borders of the "ring"? The module includes the tokens and the full portrait art, plus blank rings. You can easily use that ring and the portrait to stamp out a regular pog token of any creature you want. The pop out style isn't for everyone but from my experience the majority of people enjoy it. Only a few creatures extend far beyond the frame and those are ones that maybe deserve to be a bit more imposing or visually exciting I think.
Yes. The OGL and CUP cover the game rules and much of the other text (but not adventure text, so no room descriptions, etc). See the [PF2e system on Foundry](https://github.com/foundryvtt/pf2e) for an example that follows CUP/OGL while automating the game rules. You can even use our data entry for your own project as long as your project follows those two licenses and our own Apache 2.0 license.
So this is kind of a big one then that should probably be asked. The PDF to Foundry module worked off of purchased PDF's. Can we anticipate some support to those of us who have used this route to help create our games? And being as the Beginner's Box is very common in the Humble Bundles, will there be future support for that? PDF to Foundry is no longer being updated with new APs. Frozen Flame was the last one. The decision to end support for it was Fryguy's, he was spending ~30 hours a month doing the work on it and spoiled every AP, adventure, and society scenario in the process. He was going to retire PDF to Foundry earlier but when we got word that Outlaws of Alkenstar would be the first premium module he pushed on to close the content gap. There is nothing preventing someone else from stepping up and making a similar program, but they would have to start from scratch as his code is closed source and he won't be releasing it to help reduce piracy. He could decide to add future content into the module again, but given that these modules are beyond anything the importer could ever do it's unlikely to be revived. Nothing in the module as it currently is will be going away. All the APs up through Frozen Flame will be importable as normal.
Fantastic to finally get to talk about it! Everyone is going to be blown away by these modules!
Started in June 2020 and ended in January 2022, played entirely on Foundry. No deaths but a lot of close calls, the balor scored 3 crit fails on it's death explosion but I rolled abysmally on damage and 3 characters ended in the ~15 HP range (I was more than 30 damage below the average for that roll). Faccio - Human Mastermind Rogue, dealt out absurd damage on every crit. Father Meatbiter - Lizardfolk Cleric, multiclass champion. Tanked for the group and kept the bandages flowing. Toland - Gnome Wizard, loaded with other spellcasting traditions through archetypes Brokton - Catfolk Aberrant Sorcerer, learned blood feast and used it + tentacular limbs to kill an absurd number of things. Killing blow was by Toland, who critically hit with a hail mary Deity's Strike, dealing nearly 150 damage. Just barely enough to put the manifestation down.
Thank you for taking these steps.
One of the Foundry PF2e volunteer devs here. We appreciate the support from the community but we do understand Paizo's dilemma, and don't want to cause problems or headaches. Foundry does not have the same business model as the other VTTs, and for many of us that is why we like it so much. But Paizo has relationships with other companies that need to be maintained, and Foundry's business model makes that a finer tightrope to balance on. In the end we all love PF2e and Paizo and that's why we do the work that we do. The PF2e Foundry team is affiliated with neither Paizo nor Foundry. We do not want special treatment, and while we would like to see things like high quality art we understand both the position of Paizo and Foundry. We don't want to enable piracy, we just want to keep working toward building the VTT system that we all want to play on. Remember, regardless of whether you play your games in person, or on Foundry, Roll20, FGU, Astral, D20Pro, Talespire, Owlbear Rodeo, or any of the other VTTs out there: First and foremost we are all fans of PF2e, and while we certainly share your enthusiasm for Foundry we ask that you be respectful and remember that we are all playing the same game. If you want to show your support for the PF2e Foundry team then be positive about Foundry instead of negative about other VTTs, buy a Paizo PDF and tweet about running it with Foundry, buy the Battlezoo Bestiary Foundry module when it releases (Kickstarter has ended now). Definitely don't make life harder for Aaron, who we all like.
With a lot of people on VTTs these days I'd love to see the licensed dice designs wind up on them. The Rollsmith makes custom dice for Foundry and I'd like to be able to buy the dice on there too. I already collect the sets for the APs I run. Has Paizo considered licensing the current dice designs or new dice designs for digital dice?
Fantastic! I would love to see an official token pack for Foundry but it's great to have official support!
Name of PC: Toland
Even though the party cleric fixed it the next day with stone to flesh I'll still count it as a death.
I went with the buttons, beer, some matroshka dolls, and I found each of them a Russian silver coin from around 1918 on E-bay.
I made a festival for my players to participate in between Cult of Cinders and Tomorrow Must Burn. https://scribe.pf2.tools/v/t1pVhRSd-breachill-festival I figured I wanted some way to introduce Vusker and get the PCs to care about him before his story beat, but also give a little more flavor to the town. I'm not sure about the DCs for a few things but they are all roughly right for a 9th level party.
The Adventure Paths I have played all the way through or most of the way through: Council of Thieves - Very good, especially book 2. May need some tweaking later in the AP to keep it more connected, villain kind of comes out of nowhere for the party. Kingmaker - Fantastic AP, but kingdom building might be best done between sessions after the first time introducing how it works. The villain definitely needs to be foreshadowed. They are releasing a remake for 2e and 1e next year that adds more story and ties the villain in better. Serpent's Skull - Played books 1-4, players lost interest due to heavy exploration with little structure. If you do this I suggest almost entirely throwing out book 2. The rival faction stuff just gets in the way. Adopt the Kingmaker hexploration rules to the whole thing, it's a lot of large maps to explore. Also make sure you have rules for overland travel ready. Overall this is an AP I really want to run but I would essentially be rewriting so much of it, great ideas but I think it might have been better if it hadn't come right after Kingmaker when they had a chance to get feedback on exploration and travel rules. Reign of Winter - Running now, in book 5. Book 5 might be the best 1e AP book, and it's almost worth running the AP just for it. My party lost it when they figured out where they were. We will likely be finished by the end of the year. Books 3 and 4 seem a little out of place in the overall story but they had some really neat set pieces so even if the party doesn't know why they're fighting a dragon siege on an alien planet they still enjoyed it. Carrion Crown - I've run book 1 twice and it's amazing. You should really play up the mystery a bit, the first time I ran it the party heard "old prison outside of town" and they were like "oh so that's the dungeon let's just go there and find the ghost". Book 2 was hit or miss and both attempts at running it ended there. The trial was interesting but maybe consider implementing more of a victory point system. Also the dungeon at the end makes very little sense and is incredibly linear. Strange Aeons - Ran part of book 1. This is one of my favorite ideas for an AP and I may try running it for my current group some time in the future. Unfortunately I started running this at a time when my friends were doing things like having kids or going back to school. Mummy's Mask - Ran book 1. This one got derailed by my senior year in college and subsequent moving across the country for grad school. I love the theme and I enjoyed book 1, my party might have been a bit happier if the rogue hadn't always rolled 2's when looking for traps. Jade Regent - Ran books 1 and 2. I was looking forward to getting further in this because I like the theme and the idea but it just didn't come together. I think the party also didn't like the idea of traveling across the world just to make an NPC the ruler. Age of Ashes - Running book 2 now. This is a 2e AP and I really liked book 1, book 2 is a bit of a slog and might highlight that the tighter math of 2e doesn't play as well with open ended exploration where the party can blunder into higher level fights. My advice for anyone running book 2 is to put the easier pillars closer to town, and drop some heavy handed hints that dispel magic might be an effective counter to the pillars.
Still a week away from release but I've been combing through my PDF and I've found a couple things that may need to be addressed so I figure I should make a thread to help compile stuff as it gets spotted. Watch and Learn Pathfinder Agent feat - This feat does nothing. You already gain this as a benefit of the dedication feat without having to spend a reaction or see an ally using the skill. Reflexive Grip Swordmaster feat - Similarly the first part of this feat duplicates the benefit of the dedication. Loving the book though!
I'm liking what I see so far. I really like the new scrollmaster stuff, especially the recall knowledge feats! Lots of interesting player options here and some really neat items.
My party is getting closer to the end of the campaign, likely done in 2-3 months or so. I'm going to get them each a gift related to the campaign, since this is the thing we've been doing together for over a year now. I've found a button with Baba Yaga's hut on it, bottles of Old Rasputin beer, and a cross stitch pattern my wife is going to stitch together for them of a weasel (a running theme of my group is they claim to be weasel hunters). I was thinking about getting them a winter themed dice bag or something, but does anyone else have any ideas that fit thematically?
A mechanical fire breathing dragon? We've achieved Truckzilla!
PDF to Foundry. You may also want Compendium Mapper, which helps you put images on any compendium you want (ie they cannot distribute the images from the bestiary but if you get them yourself you can quickly map them onto the bestiary creatures). Also: Foundry is hands down the best VTT, $50 is all you need to spend. Fantasy grounds is crazy expensive to actually automate things and all that stuff is free in Foundry.
Thank you for this. When I first read about this AP the first image in my head was Sam Vimes from Discworld, but that isn't the image that many immediately saw when they read the announcement and it shows my privilege that my first thought was an idealized version of law enforcement from a fantasy book. It's hard to see your own blind spots, but we can address them when we're made aware and strive to do better in the future.
Both my parties have a wizard in them (level 10 in one and 2 in another). Both have been very useful. Wizards could probably use a slight boost (honestly just make thesis better or improve them st some level), but they aren't terribly far behind in combat and are ahead of sorcerer outside of a fight.
Darkvision isn't implemented yet, I kind of remember seeing the developer of Foundry say some things about it being on his to do list. I don't know of any modules that do this, and don't see any in the Foundry list (but this list is not exhaustive). Might be a good idea to ask in the Foundry Discord channel.
I'm all in on Foundry as well. I could write a huge list as others have done but there's a few points that I really want to underscore: One time purchase. I bought Foundry and none of my players need to have a license to join my server. I don't have to pay a huge license fee to do this like I would with Fantasy Grounds either. $50 and it's yours. You also don't have to pay to bring in the PF2e rules, the community built them into the PF2e game system which is freely available. Self hosted. I've used Roll20 off and on for a few years when my group couldn't meet physically, and at the beginning of the lockdown this year before I got Foundry set up. The number of times we would all have to refresh Roll20 was ridiculous. That rarely happens with Foundry. When I did pay for the dynamic lighting years ago on Roll20 it lagged things and was generally a pain to set up. Foundry runs on my computer which has the horsepower to avoid being bogged down by more than 40 walls at once. Active community. The community is super helpful on Discord and the devs of the PF2e game system are rapidly making improvements. In Discord the other day they said Bestiary 2 might be done as soon as next week. If there is some aspect about the system you don't like odds are there's a module that changes it. I didn't like the lack of a ping like roll20 has, well there's a module that adds one. I didn't like how dark the revealed fog of war was once it left direct line of sight, and there's a module for that too. Ease of use, with a high skill ceiling. It's easy to just drop things in and go like you would with Roll20 (I think easier actually, since the tools to make walls are very well done). But it's also got a ton of depth to it as well. Want a macro that toggles rage on a character? How about one that rolls medicine against the chosen DC and gives the result? Or one that pulls a will save for the whole party? All doable once you learn the macro system. One other thing that I don't see many people say often is that the GM can just drag select a bunch of tokens, then roll initiative for all of them. Anyone who's played on Roll20 knows the annoyance of not having your token selected when the GM asks for initiative. Like I said I really could go on, but others have said it already and those are my big 4 categories for why it's the preferred choice.
I've converted RoW to 2E fully and it's been great, consider just doing that. Most of the monsters are fairly easy to convert by just swapping out equal level ones. Treasure will need to be scrapped and converted from the ground up unfortunately, but it isn't too hard to do.
I'm not seeing where it says you can't cancel the flaw with a boost, in fact I see precisely the opposite: Dwarves, for example, receive an ability boost to their Constitution score and their Wisdom score, as well as one free ability boost, which can be applied to any score other than Constitution or Wisdom. I don't have my books with me but that's the wording from AoN https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=66
It's impossible for a 20th-level character trained in Thievery and possessing a +30 modifier to disable a trap of Master difficulty. However, the 1st-level rogue with Trap Finder and a +5 modifier can. The first character is indisputably more skilled, but apparently doesn't know what to look for, unlike the rogue.This actually seems like a problem with the game mechanics. I can't imagine a way this makes sense, and it sucks for anyone looking to take skills outside their normal class for flavor. Think about it like this: you memorize your times tables out to large numbers, you can rattle off 32*27 faster than anyone else. But a mathematician can solve a complex differential equation, and if you didn't put the effort into learning how to do those you can't. Going to expert isn't just getting better at the skill it's learning new ways to apply previous skills. You can juggle 3 balls all day every day but you can't just jump to juggling 5 balls from there without putting in more effort.
Not really a typo just something that is more specific than it needs to be and comes out seemingly contradictory on first reading. On page 143 it says "Because a press action requires a multiple attack penalty, you can’t use one when it’s not your turn, even if you use the Ready activity." but under the Ready activity on page 470 it says "If you have a multiple attack penalty and your readied action is an attack action, your readied attack takes the multiple attack penalty you had at the time you used Ready" I take it that only things with the attack tag suffer from the penalty out of turn and so since no press attacks have that tag they can't be used as a readied action. But that doesn't seem super clear from how it is worded and if the intent is to keep press actions from being used out of turn it would be much clearer to just excise the "Because a press action requires a multiple attack penalty" part entirely. But that does mean that you could do a one action flourish then ready another one action flourish to get off two in one round which gets around the MAP and the flourish limitation.
If unarmed and simple are tied together then the text in mutagenist is redundant. I wonder if they'll replace it with something.
core rulebook page 331 disrupt undead is missing the cantrip tag.
Treasure is proving to be quite difficult to convert. :( Yeah, I just converted the second book of Reign of Winter and I know when my players hit the end of a big encounter and find their hard earned pile of 75 copper they are going to be very confused. The wealth by level changes are really tough to manage, but at least my group is OK with us fumbling at it for a while until we get it figured out.
On page 353 of the Bestiary it lists Pixie as being on page 310. Pixie is actually on 309. On page 356 of the Core Rulebook the spell Pest Form says "You transform into a the battle form of a Tiny animal". The "a" appears to be a typo.
Here is a version that doesn't need numpy, since someone on reddit gave me the stern look of programmer disapproval.
I realized in some down time this weekend that I hadn't downloaded my PDFs in a while, so I decided to take the chance to go download them. But it turns out I hadn't downloaded anything since Strange Aeons (grad school really does eat up your time). So I had well over 100 files to do. Since I didn't want to manually rename over 100 files I made a Python script to do it for me and figured I'd share it for others who might also be in a similar situation and don't want to spend forever unzipping and renaming things. https://pastebin.com/Q9HDgRbj It's written with comments so even someone new to Python should be able to follow it. If you don't know how to run Python but want to use it https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter0/ will walk you through the process of installing a basic Python environment (or just install anaconda). The only thing you would need to add on top of that is the numpy package which either comes with anaconda or just run python -m pip install --user numpy from your command line/terminal once Python is installed. Hopefully someone else finds it helpful.
They need to make a concentration check if they cast inside a threatened area or while distracted (like all spellcasters). The only real difference is that they can cast and attack in one turn however there are two important things to remember: If using a weapon to deliver a touch attack you can cast then move then deliver the attack (touch attack spells grant a free attack with the spell), also when making a full attack action and casting you can cast then 5 foot step then make your attacks so unless they have reach you avoid the need for a concentration check entirely.
So, seeing that some people think that the party needs more reason to interact with the townsfolk and more ways to earn trust, I came up with some extra stuff to throw into the town to help with that when I run it. Helping some townsfolk: I figure some easy haunts around town would help to get the PCs interacting with the people in town and give an opportunity to gain some trust. These are basically benign spirits that are becoming restless and serve not as a threat but as an irritation to the townsfolk. These still need some fleshing out but I figure they are at least a start. Each of these could give the PCs 1 trust point and should have some way for the PCs to find out the history of them. The missing ring: Anyone who tries to pull the bucket up from the well in town finds it much heavier that it should be. Once the bucket is lifted out of the well there is nothing apparently weighing it down and its weight returns to normal. A search of the well reveals a ring.
Good luck: Every night small bundles of twigs, or flowers and found spread around town. These are a good luck charm that appear seemingly out of nowhere. People find them in their stew, in shoes,anywhere really.
A rap on the knuckles: When people cuss, tell a dirty joke, or spit on the ground they find that they experience a stinging slap on the back of their hand.
Melody on the breeze: When the wind blows a faint song can be heard, usually played at funerals as an instrumental the townsfolk are worried about the music as a bad omen. No one quite remembers the lyrics.
Setting a mood: A horror campaign needs a good mood set, as such there should be some strange events going on. Things like one of the PCs hearing their name whispered in their ear with no apparent source. If you have the 3.5 Ravenloft book they have a list on page 15 of strange happenings that fit well in most horror games. If you don't they aren't too hard to come up with but here are some of mine: 1: Ashes in fireplaces form crude faces, enough to be disturbing but not enough to say it is not simply pareidolia.
These should not really have any sort of in game effect but should be used to set a mood and further the "something really wrong is going on here." vibe that should be cultivated with a horror game. Anyways, figured I would share these with everyone else.
Usually activating a weapon ability is a standard action, so I would go with that unless specifically noted.
I do believe that puts it in the lead of "most dangerous thing in the AP". Seriously that thing packs a punch.
I got 24 possible popularity points on my count, if the party goes in with 32 fame points and only spends the minimum (5 points is all that is absolutely required to avoid a huge ding to your fame points), then you have 27 unspent fame points. This would be a +87 (32 + 27 + 4 [bonus to cha checks from saving the nobles]) to the final fame check. The party would then also get +2 for every party member not making the check (This would be +10 for my group, 5 players one of whom has a feat that gives an additional +2 on aid another) they also add in the charisma modifier to the roll (this should be done by the party's smooth talker so I will assume a +3), and another +4 if anyone has leadership. So best case scenario: +100 (96 for most 4 person groups without leadership.)
Joriavah's initiative is listed as +134. I can only assume she isn't pun-pun in a succubus costume so i'm sure that's not right. |