So I noticed in the 2nd Edition playtest, it says elves reach physical maturity comparable to humans. How does this affect how Forlorn elves are handled? I mean, it could simply be years of me misinterpreting the lore but from what I understood a big part of the Forlorn attitude came from quite literally taking decades to properly physically mature, basically watching friends and associates grow old and probably die while you were still functionally an adolescent.
Weird question about an equally weird subject. Obviously there's no rules for it, but from a purely lore perspective, can Goblins breed with any other races? Like, could a Goblin and Halfling make a baby? Similar size and all, probably makes the most sense in this weird what-if. This is the kind of morbid curiosity that embodies shower thoughts lol.
Odd question, I haven't read the whole catalogue of Paizo products so I'm not sure if this has ever been touched on and I'm wondering something from a lore perspective. Does Golarion (Really, the universe that Golarion exists in all things considered) operate on multiverse logic when it comes to timelines? Or is there one "cohesive" timeline? For one example, if one were to travel to the past and stop House Thrune from coming to power, would that change the history itself or branch off into a whole new timeline that exists concurrently with the old one?
Swashbuckler is definitely the primary class, elegant and the umbrella is more or less a sword cane/rapier. Then take a few levels of Ninja, for the following Ninja Tricks: Shadow Clone, Sudden Disguise and Vanishing Trick. Those three abilities basically let you do anything Neo has ever done with her illusions. Plus Ninja has a bunch of acrobatic options. Then pick up Imp. Unarmed Strike or, as the above suggested take a one level dip into Scaled Fist Monk for Imp. Unarmed Strike plus a sweet bonus of Charisma to AC. Now, the only thing to keep in mind is that Monk requires Lawful Alignment to enter, but you don't lose monk powers for changing alignments, just can't gain new levels. But since this would only need a one level dip it's not a problem. :P This above example is probably one of the best ways to recreate Neo in her entirety. But doesn't really work until later levels, so it may not work for a campaign at such low levels the OP says. For example, at level 15-16 when an Adventure Path is over, the build would look something like Swashbuckler 9/Ninja 6/Monk (Scaled Fist) 1. Which would work reasonably well once you get to higher level and all your stuff is online, but at low levels it kinda sucks for a while. Now I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the classes, feats and abilities in Pathfinder so someone else may be able to figure out an easier way to build her without having to wait so long for everything to come together. EDIT: For something that doesn't requires as much multi-classing, straight Ninja and a one level dip of Scaled Fist Monk would also work really well. Just kinda lose a lot of class features that give the graceful fencing dancer thing Neo has going on.
So I watched the promo video for Return of the Runelords recently, and saw Sorshen's artwork had her with a double sided weapon, I thought I remembered from a while back that you said that wasn't correct and a previous artist got it wrong and it was supposed to be a double headed weapon, as in two blades parallel to each other. Did you guys decide to just go with a two sided weapon instead? Not really and earth shattering question, more a mild curiosity.
I've got a player who brought an interesting character idea to my table and was looking for some insight. How would reactions to a Half-Drow be in general society on Golarion? What about in particularly heavily populated/more "learned" places like Absalom? For a specific example. On that note, are there any Drow settlements/Darklands entrances near Absalom? Something that would increase the likelihood of a Half-Drow popping up there.
[Archives of Nethys] September Update - Horror Realms, Inner Sea Temples, Planes of Power, and more!
[Archives of Nethys] September Update - Horror Realms, Inner Sea Temples, Planes of Power, and more!
Tahlreth wrote:
Hmmm, that just might work. I'll have to see about trying that. Also a quick question about the Grenadier rogue talent. It's been stated that's how you make Alchemist bombs in Kirthfinder but I was wondering, since the wording is kinda vague to one of my players. Does the talent actually change the damage amount of the Alchemist flask or simply let you sneak attack with it?
Alzrius wrote:
I would like to respectively disagree, as a long time player of a couple very very well put together d20 conversions of shounen style anime, I've found d20 can work just fine for fights like this, you simply need to go about it the correct way. Is it harder to make that style fit into d20? Certainly, but I find that there in lies the fun of making it, it's challenging. As well, d20 tends to be one of the systems most people are really familiar with, so it is often the most easy to homebrew something for.
Well, a basic idea on weapons like Ruby's, Yang's and Nora's, who specifically utilize their gun's to enhance their melee attacks. Others do this, but these three are some of the most prime examples. You could do something like, spending an immediate action, or free action depending on preference and how things balance out mechanics wise, to add your weapon's firearm damage to a melee attack. Using recoil for movement could be something like spending an immediate action, or free action depending on preference and how things balance, when making a firearm attack, move X-number of feet. Or when moving, expend a round of ammunition from your firearm to increase your movement by x-number of feet. Just some basic concepts that came to mind when thinking about recoil stuff specifically.
Definitely, like Zavas said, off to a great start. I'm going to think on it for a little bit and see what input and ideas I can come up with. One quick question, have you decided or even thought about how you are going to handle the use of gun recoil for various actions? Such as how Ruby uses it to enhance attack power and how both she and Yang use the recoil of their guns to move around. @Zavas: Probably still too early to make a character. None of the classes are actually finished from what I can see. As well, most of the major pieces such as Aura, feats and weapons are also not finished from the looks of it. You should wait till more work is done before trying to properly build a character.
Howdy James! How have you been lately? Just figured I'd be pleasant before attacking you with questions! Well, really just one. My friends and I are going to be playing Jade Regent soon and to mix things up I've decided to try my hand at playing as Ameiko! In the book she's suggested to be played as a Bard who likely moves into Rogue, but would it be unfitting if I instead have her multiclass into Swashbuckler?
James Jacobs wrote:
I'm going to give a resounding hell yeah!
F. Wesley Schneider wrote: Whoa. Elaborate! Nice. That's got a very super sentai vibe to it too. I feel like somewhere we published an amulet or ring or bag or something that teleported your armor on to you. You could nab that and have the whole Ronin Warriors effect! :) Did you reference Ronin Warriors?(rhetorical question as you obviously did) You are now my favorite guy at the Paizo office!
LazarX wrote:
That might be true, except the pictured weapon in the core rulebook IS farmer Ralph's old wheat harvesting scythe. :)
Hello there James. How are you today? Onto my question. I'm currently getting a campaign up and running and the basic idea is that the players free a Thassilon wizard from stasis. At first this wizard seems to be a nice guy, teaching them about Thassilon's magic and other bits about the civilization and leading them through old Thassilon ruins to acquire treasure and magic items. In reality though he's got plans to awaken one of the Runelords and is just using the PCs to get his hands on the required materials. Now I know a lot hasn't been given about what Thassilon was like but what books should I look into getting if I want to portray an NPC from Thassilon as correctly as I can?
James Jacobs wrote:
Thanks for the answer. :) His outfit looked pretty normal so I wasn't sure though I can see the bits and pieces that could be called leather armor. Not directly related to Seltyiel but I have a few Magus related questions. How common are Magi in Golarion? Are they a recent thing or have they been around for a while? And do you have a general idea of who the first Magi were in Golarion?(I'm gonna guess elves due to the large gish feel they have always had in fantasy gaming) Also, a rules related question so feel free to defer me to the proper forum if you feel the need, could a Magus have a buckler and still use Spell Combat(obviously losing the shield bonus to AC that turn since his arm is doing something else). The wording is kinda murky in that regards to what makes a hand "free" and I'm only asking because I'm trying to step away from the flighty lightly armored dex based Magi I usually play and go for something a little more tanky.
James Jacobs wrote:
I thought that the NPC Codex only had characters from the Core Rulebook classes?(Seltyiel being a Magus) *goes and checks his friend's copy* I think you may have thought I was talking about Sajan as that's who's on that particular page.
Hey there James, got a random question for ya....though now that I think about it considering the questions you get here probably not so random. Me and a buddy got bored in the last few hours and have been trying to figure out some base stats for the iconics that haven't got official stats yet, as a morning mental exercise of sorts. Currently working on Seltyiel and was wondering what kind of armor he's wearing? It looks mostly like normal clothes(mainly in the chest which is a pretty vital area) other than a few bits here and there which I suppose could mean it's leather but honestly I'm not sure so I felt I'd ask here.
Wow, I'm suddenly asking you a bunch of questions in a row. I hope I don't make a habit out of this. Anyways, in a recent game I'm running a few of the players have requested that I add Seltyiel in as a recurring ally/party member since they recently discovered the Iconics were more than just pretty pictures in the core rulebook. Now he was always one of the Iconics I've been the most intrigued by so I figured I'd put some thought into this. The party is made up of mostly good people, with one being chaotic neutral but he might as well be good with how he plays his character and I'm trying to figure out why the lawful evil Seltyiel might suddenly find himself working with them. I've seen him pictured with Seelah so I know he can work with good characters, it's just figuring out why he's working with them is the problem. The simplest way I can ask this without going on for too long is if you were placing him in a party of good characters in a campaign that's meant to start off as simple dungeon crawling adventure, how might you go about it?
James Jacobs wrote:
Thank you for the reply, I'm glad to hear that the basic idea is possible although you are right that the lack of released information about Thassilon would make playing such a character difficult. I'll definitely need to take that into consideration before I seriously decide to play that character. Could always use the tried and true amnesia plot. I bet not all the stasis causing magic worked exactly as intended. Another question that is connected to the last one. How common were Eldritch Knights in Thassilon?
So I've got this fun idea for a Mythic character in a friend of mines upcoming Mythic test game but he only uses "canon" Golarion so I wanted to make sure this would work in that setting and since you're JAMES JACOBS! I figured you'd be the one to ask. The basic idea is a Thassilon Eldritch Knight who was trapped in some kind of magical stasis shortly before Earthfall and was awoken somehow shortly after Rise of the Runelords took place. Could something like that have possibly happened in a "canon" Golarion setting? Normally I wouldn't ask questions like this but it's the kind of thing my friend likes to get the "official" ruling on.
Cavian wrote:
I see the thematics of it quite well, I in fact also noticed the Popeye one and the obvious mythological references are there but some heroes didn't have a single flaw that was related to them. From all my readings I can't think of what King Arthur or Heracles' would be. Sure you could bull crap that Heracles had Furious Rage but this was caused by someone else and not anything innate to him and wasn't all the time only those few times Hera decided to be meaner to him than normal. Some notables mythic heroes had flaws but not all of them did so that's why I think it should be an optional choice.
Adding to the list of thins that have shown to be something of a problem. Mythic Saves: This really makes many non-mythic enemies seems almost moot. Enemies that focus on saves from spells, spell-like abilities and general abilities that require saves are really made almost useless by this ability. My typical strategy for dragons of staying up high and strafing with breath and spells was made fairly useless as a CR 20 red dragon couldn't even seriously damage the level 14 wizard with his breath. To note, Wizard and party in question were level 14 with 6 Tiers. I think for the rest of my playtesting, I'll have to put the party up against mythic enemies, at least if I want things with lots of save DCs to be a challenge. Side Note: I've noticed a few other people have noticed this as well so it seems to be a general problem and not one just I've been faced with. I'll be putting up the stuff from an actual session later today, the last few sessions of playtests weren't been recorded so I didn't have a lot of examples off the top of my brain to give. EDIT: I've also once again noticed that Amazing Initiative wrecks the crap out of enemies that don't also have it so I think for next session I'll try either my solution or one of James' that was posted.
So I've done a few sessions of Mythic so far and I must first say that I like the concept and feel of Mythic, but I've noticed a few things that I'd like to bring up. Amazing Initiative: There is already a thread for this but I figured I'd put forth my solution here as well since it's part of my overall thoughts on the playtest. You gain a bonus to your initiative equal to your mythic tier. In addition, you can spend one use of your mythic power to gain an extra standard action on your turn. At 6th Tier you can instead spend two uses of your mythic power to gain an extra full round Possibly not the best worded there but that's my thoughts at the moment. Lesser Trials: These have been a headache for both players and GM. Too much meta-gaming and needless bookkeeping in out opinions. If these make it into the final product I can safely say I won't use them. The Mythic Tiers progressing basically as the plot demands seems the best way given the general feel I get from Mythic and my players seem to agree. Flaws: This has been one of the biggest headaches for both me and my players. The Flaws are unnecessary in our opinions, they either don't come up or are needlessly debilitating. Had a player take the weapon weakness and chose scythe since he figured it wouldn't come up much, well as per Murphey's Law that was one of the random enemies I rolled for a battle and as one might expect he got seriously shredded by it. In summary, my players and I feel you don't need essentially a kryptonite to be a mythic hero. It's not he heroes weaknesses that make him noteworthy, it's the fact that he's better than you that does that. Mythic Damage: Players really didn't like the extra bookkeeping when this came up, I think this needs to be fixed, or streamlined somehow. One small gripe I have is the just how much the mythic characters stands above the non-mythic characters. I know that's the whole point of being mythic but the sheer number of abilities that give mythic characters bonuses when facing non-mythic foes kind of bothers me. Just a small personal gripe so nothing too wrong with the playtest in that regard. So far everything else that was used has worked fine, though just from casual look overs some Mythic Spells and some of the path abilities could be abused as they are now. Will post further updates as more playtesting is done. EDIT: If this is the wrong section to post this type of feedback feel free to move it. Put it here cause I wasn't sure and it's mainly GM thoughts and comments.
Pirate wrote:
I can't believe I was ninja'd by a pirate... but yes the Pirate has it right. The ACP shows that clanky metal armor makes it harder to stealth around compared to leather. Now, Mithral also helps lower the ACP but it still has a(admittedly marginally) higher ACP than normal leather. Now I'm not saying half-plate isn't poorly stated from a game standpoint, it's obvious mechanically a fair bit less optimal than full plate. I just don't think it's a problem most of the time. My half-orc Paladin did just fine in his half-plate from levels 2-12. My GM gave me some full plate at one point, but by then my character had become rather attached to the armor that he'd faced a horde of demons in and I just got it magically enchanted instead. I tend to pick armor based on the character at creation and if it makes sense upgrade to a more optimal choice later. My Paladin was for example a mostly self-taught Paladin so he wasn't part of a full order so it didn't make sense for him to have nice shiny suit of full plate, so he had some hobbled together half-plate. I will give you that the weight should be a few pounds less, though no more than 5 pounds IMO. However, regardless of what kind of changes we want them to make the core armors are part of the Core Rulebook and also part of the d20 srd as established by 3.5, they're VERY unlikely to change it at this point in time.
Lithdoran wrote:
That seemed needlessly antagonistic to me. Perhaps you could explain why you find Ravingdork's statement wrong instead of flat out calling it a falsity. Also, to quote Ultimate Equipment PG 11:
Quote: Half-plate armor combines elements of full plate and chainmail, incorporating several sizable plates of sculpted metal with an underlying mesh of chain links. While this suit protects vital areas with several layers of armor, it is not sculpted to a single individual’s frame, reducing its wearer’s mobility even more than a suit of full plate. Half-plate armor includes gauntlets and a helm. This implies that half-plate is mass produced and there by not as effective as full plate because of it. That aside, not all armors are going to be "optimal" that would go against the reality that must exist in these games. Is leather armor going to be as good as chain? No but it's cheaper and more readily available. Is hide armor going to be as good as a breastplate? No but same as above. The "less optimal" armor is included because these armors existed and people tended to wear them more often than the usually harder to get a hold of and expensive "optimal" armors. Just simply how this works. I place optimal and less optimal in quotation marks because those are terms that really shouldn't be used since the main goal of playing Pathfinder/D&D is generally to have fun not building optimized characters. Sure I could make the ultimate Rogue wearing special magical mithril plate that is as easy to move in as light armor but that generally doesn't fit the theme of a Rogue as well as some dark colored leathers.
James Jacobs wrote:
Well, glad to know that that's something to possibly look forward to in the future. :) I figured you might not want to talk about it but I figured I might as well ask. Never hurts to ask as me mum always said. I'll figure out how to handle it in my game. I'm pretty sure my imagination can think up something that'll work.
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