There's been a lot of mixed reactions to this game, some justified, some not.
My experience so far (and I haven't gotten very far yet, just hit level 20 and unlocked specialisation and have yet to recruit the last two members of the Veilguard).
This game owes a lot of DNA to God of War (Dad of Boy), a lot more than what it owes to previous Dragon Ages gameplaywise. It turns down the tactical RPG elements and turns the action elements way up, with the companions you bring with you acting as a way to widen or specialise the ability load-out.
The story and writing so far are pretty entertaining, and I'm enjoying that this game goes heavy into the ancient lore stuff.
Necromancer having so many unique focus spells and Occult Casting just feels like working our way back around to class-specific spell lists.
I do wonder if the book this class is released in is going to get a big heaping spoon of extra spooky undead related spells to make the Necromancer work, but at what cost to the Psychic and Bard?
I altered ship-to-ship combat to make it run a little faster, and simpler and definitely more interactive for the whole party. This is absolutely stolen from Narrative Starship Combat from Starfinder Enhanced.
Narrative Ship Combat Overview:
The combat takes place over a series of rounds, during which the PCs attempt to destroy, disable or board one or more enemy ships.
Each round, the GM chooses a tactic for the enemy forces, which might affect the actions the PCs take on their turn.
Each PC crew member takes an action related to their role on board the vessel, which might prompt them to attempt a skill check. The enemy forces take a number of hits based on the number of skill checks the PCs succeed at.
The combat ends when the enemy forces take a certain number of hits or when the PCs’ ship takes a certain number of hits. (A GM might rule that a narrative starship combat ends due to other criteria, such as the enemy forces surrendering or the passage of a specific number of rounds.)
Ship Stats:
Like standard ship combat and tactical combat, narrative ship combat requires stats for the enemies the PCs face as well as stats for the vessel (or vessels) that the PCs control. However, the stat blocks for this system are more streamlined and contain only a few pieces of key information.
Name: This is the name of the ship or threat.
CR: This is the tier of the ship or threat. CRs in narrative ship combat work the same way as in standard starship combat for the purposes of determining the difficulty of the encounter and awarding XP. See page 326 of the Core Rulebookfor more information.
Average DC and Hard DC: Use the below tables for the Average and Hard DCs.
HP: This is the number of hits a starship can take before it’s taken out of the fight. Most ships have 5 HP.
Threshold: This is the number of skill checks that the PCs must succeed at to deal a hit; this statistic appears only on NPC starship stat blocks.
Skill Bonus: This statistic, which appears only on NPC starship stat blocks, is used when an NPC ship attempts a skill check.
Skill Modifiers: Some ships grant bonuses and penalties to certain skills as determined by their systems. These modifiers don’t affect an NPC’s skill check, so this line usually appears on PC ship stat blocks.
Special Abilities: This section of the stat block details any special abilities a starship might have. They’re usually only the purview of NPC ships, but that doesn’t mean a PC’s ship can’t do something unique as well!
Step 1 - Determining the DCs: Use the CR of the Enemy ship to determine base DCs for the ship.
Step 2 - Determine hp. Medium Ships have 1 HP. Large Ships have 2 HP. Gargantuan Ships have 3 HP. Colossal ships have 5 HP. If the ship is larger than Colossal, add an additional HP.
Step 3 - Determine Threshold: A ship with no defensive upgrades has a threshold of 2. Armor Plating increases Threshold by 2, Magically treated control device, hull or sails increase Threshold by 1 each, Wooden Plating increases threshold by 1. These all stack to a maximum of Threshold of 6.
Step 4 - Determine Skill Bonus: Use the Profession (Sailor) skill of the captain of the NPC ship.
Step 5 - Consider Special Abilities: Some stat blocks (especially those of ship sized creatures) feature interesting special abilities, and ignoring them could cause the ship to lose what makes it special. Some special abilities can be used as written as the foe's tactic for the round, while the others require more adjustment. Compare the special ability to the listed tactics and tweak it to allow it to work within narrative starship combat.
Building and Advancing the PC Ship:
Step 1 - The Player's ship level starts at level 1, as the crew builds familiarity with the ship their level increases. The maximum level of the ship is equal to the APL of the Command Crew (the PCs).
Step 2 - PC ships list the following items.
For a colossal ship the HP are listed as follows:
Fore 4 (Fore Weapons - Gunner Weapons)
Aft 4 (Aft Weapons - Gunner Weapons)
Port 4 (Port Weapons - Gunner Weapons)
Starboard 4 (Starboard Weapons - Gunner Weapons)
Sails/Masts: 3 (Lookout)
Control: 2 (Pilot)
Crew: 1 for every 10 Crew (Captain, Officers)
Cargo: 1 for every Plunder (Shipwright)
Step 3 - Mount Weapons - Choose positions for weapons, Fore, Aft, Port, Starboard. Rams are always mounted Fore.
Weapon Range Bands:
000 - 049 feet - Close
050 - 100 feet - Near
101 - 200 feet - Far
201 - Further - Wherever You Are... I mean Extreme.
Indirect Weapons: Cannot target within Close Range.
Earning Ship XP:
After each ship battle the Ship gains 1 XP. Gain an additional XP if the opposing ship was of a higher CR than the Ship Level.
Once the ship gains XP equal to their current level the party can level up the ship whenever they reach port by spending gold equal to the new level x 100 gp. (Level 2 costs 200 gp, Level 3 costs 300 gp etc.)
Before Combat Begins:
In narrative ship combat, as with standard ship combat, each PC should know which role they’re performing before combat begins (see roles below). In addition, the GM describes the foes (though they need not go into specifics about the stat blocks) and area in which the combat takes place to the players. The GM should also inform the players of any special rules or victory or loss conditions added to this particular combat.
You can use a combat map, draw concentric circles around each enemy ship to represent range bands.
Combat Rounds:
[1] Determine Range "There are 4 range bands in Ship-to-Ship Combat.
Extreme: Out of range of weapons and spells, a ship can escape if they use the tactic at this range.
Far: Usually only can be targeted by indirect-fire weapons. Extreme range spells.
Near: Can be targeted by indirect and direct fire weapons. Long range spells.
Close: Can be targeted by direct fire, grapple, ram, boarding weapons. "
[2] Determine Ship Roles Each player assigns a character or NPC to a ship role. Characters can change roles from round to round.
[3] Determine Advantage The Captain of each vessel makes an opposed Profession (Sailing) check. The winner gains combat advantage granting the entire Crew a +1 circumstance bonus to skill checks for the round. Each consecutive advantage won increases this bonus by 1 to a maximum of +3. This bonus resets if the opposing captain wins the check.
[4] Opponents Choose Tactics Opponents set their tactics for the round or utilize special abilities.
[5] Players Act "Players select their actions from their role on the ship, and make appropriate checks to try and beat listed DCs.
Enemy ships have thresholds and hit points."
[6] Cleanup Any uncleared damage becomes permanent and will need to be repaired in downtime. If opposing ship is at 0 Hits remaining, has succeeded at an escape tactic at Extreme range or has put up a flag of surrender the combat finishes. Otherwise go to step one.
Taking a Hit "If the enemy succeeds on their check on a tactic that counts as a hit, the PCs (default to Captain) determines where to assign damage.
If the roll is a Natural 20, the GM doubles the amount of hits, and can choose where to apply them. "
Same Tactic Twice Using the same action twice in a row inflicts a -4 penalty to the check as the enemy learns to anticipate the move.
Ship Level vs CR The difference between ship levels acts as a penalty on all checks.
Enemy Tactics:
Each round, the GM chooses one of the following tactics for each enemy vessel. GMs can also create their own tactics tailored to a particular setting or foe, basing them off the ones presented here. No two enemy ships can choose the same tactic in a round.
Each tactic notes how it affects the combat in that particular round, usually by granting a bonus to an enemy ship or by imparting a penalty on the PCs or damaging their ship. Some tactics require the enemy ships to attempt a skill check before the tactic takes effect; these skill checks use the skill bonus listed for that ship.
All-Out Attack
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
An enemy ship concentrates a salvo of attacks!
Effect: The enemy ship attempts two skill checks against the Hard DC of a PC ship. If both succeed, that ship takes 2 hits. If even one check fails, the PC ship takes no damage.
Special: If successful, this tactic can’t be chosen again by any enemy starship until after the following round.
Cruel Taunt
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
The enemy unleashes a barrage of threats and taunts.
Effect: The enemy starship attempts a skill check against either the Average DC or the Hard DC of a PC ship. On a success, characters on board that ship take a –1 penalty to all skill checks until the end of the round; this penalty increases to –2 if the check succeeds against the Hard DC.
Evasive Maneuvers
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
An enemy ship flies in a manner that makes them hard to target.
Effect: All ranged attacks (page 180) and Piloting checks attempted against the enemy ship use the Hard DC for that ship until the end of the round.
Flee
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 177
A foe tries to escape the battle.
Effect: If the enemy ship has more than 0 HP at the end of the round, it flees the battle, likely ending the narrative starship combat if there are no other enemy ships remaining.
Special: If the players want to give chase to the fleeing enemies, the GM can, at their discretion, run a starship chase (Starship Operations Manual 44).
Sailby Stunt
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
An enemy ship crowds the characters’ ship as it sweeps past.
Effect: The GM chooses a PC ship. Acrobatics and Athletics checks attempted by crew on board that ship use the Hard DC for the target until the end of the round.
Make Repairs
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
Enemy shipwrights scurry to repair the damage inflicted on their vessel.
Effect: The enemy starship recovers 1 HP (up to its maximum). However, that ship’s threshold is lower (minimum 1) until the end of the round.
Open Fire
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
An enemy ship fires upon the characters’ ship!
Effect: The enemy starship attempts a skill check against the Average DC of a PC ship. On a success, that PC ship takes 1 hit.
Sail Defensively
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
An enemy ship diverts all their skill to avoiding enemy assault
Effect: The enemy starship’s threshold is 1 higher until the end of the round.
Ram
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
Heedless of danger, a foe barrels into the characters’ starship.
Effect: The enemy vessel attempts a skill check against the Average DC of a PC ship. On a success, both the PC ship and the enemy ship take 1 hit, and all characters on board the PC ship take a –1 penalty to all skill checks until the end of the round.
Counterspells
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
The enemy vessel emits mystical interference.
Effect: The GM chooses a PC ship. Computers and Mysticism checks attempted by crew on board that ship use the Hard DC for the target until the end of the round.
Take Cover
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 178
An enemy ship ducks behind an island, rocky outcropping or cover.
Effect: The enemy ship can’t be targeted by PC skill checks this round. On the PCs’ turn, the PC pilot can attempt a special Piloting check against the enemy ship’s Hard DC to negate this effect, but this action doesn’t count as a successful skill check for the purpose of meeting or exceeding that enemy ship’s threshold.
Use a Special Ability
Source Starfinder Enhanced pg. 179
One of the enemies activates one of their special abilities.
Effect: The effect of this tactic depends on the special ability used, as described in the ship’s stat block.
Crew Actions
Each turn the Command Crew can take actions in any order they wish, encourage discussion to decide the best course of action each round.
Command Crew take a penalty or bonus based on the difference between their ship's level and the opposing ship's level.
Any Command Crew:
Provide Aid
You help out a crew member by providing your expertise.
Preferred Skills: Any
Effect: Choose an allied crew member who hasn’t taken a crew action this round, and attempt a skill check against your ship’s DC. If you succeed, that crew member gains a +2 bonus to the skill check they attempt this round. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this bonus increases to +3.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, you can provide the same bonus to second allied crew member who hasn't acted this round.
Harrass the Enemy - Range: Near or Close
You order the boarding crew to bang their weapons, shout threats and fire potshots at enemy.
Preferred Skills: Persuasion (Intimidate), Sense Motive, Attack Roll
Effect: Roll a check against the enemy's standard DC, on a success the enemy takes a -2 penalty on their next skill check to resolve a tactic, if you beat the DC by 5 or more the enemy takes a -3 penalty instead.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, you can provide the same bonus to a second enemy.
Order a Volley - Range: Near or Close
You order the crew to concentrate fire from spells, bows or guns at the enemy crew.
Preferred Skills: Concentration, Ranged Attack, Perception, Profession (Soldier)
Effect: Roll a check against the enemy's hard DC, on a success this counts as a success. Success by 5 or more counts as two successes.
Captain:
Enact Cunning Stratagem
You come up with and have the crew execute a clever plan to outwit the enemy!
Preferred Skills: Lore (Shackles Pirate), Knowledge (Local), Profession (Sailor), Stealth
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Encourage Crew Member
With a few words, you bolster a crew member’s determination.
Preferred Skills: Deception (Bluff), Persuasion (Diplomacy/Intimidate)
Effect: Choose an allied crew member and attempt a skill check against your ship’s DC. If you succeed, that crew member regains 1 Fortune Point (up to their maximum).
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, a second allied crew member regains 1 fortune point (up to their maximum)
Give Orders
Your orders could spell the difference between life and death for you and your crew.
Preferred Skills: Any
Effect: Choose an allied crew member who has already taken a crew action this round and attempt a skill check against your ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, that crew member can take a second action this round.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, the targeted crew member receives a +2 bonus to the skill check on their second action.
Taunt Enemy - Range: Near or Close
You relay some choice quips to your enemy
Preferred Skills: Deception, Persuasion, Insight
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes
Officer Actions:
These actions can be taken only by a member who's filling a 1st or 2nd mate role.
Haul the Ropes - Range: Ship
You know which ropes are best to haul and tie off to get the best performance of the ship.
Preferred Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an allied crew member in an ship wright or lookout role who hasn’t take a crew action this round and attempt a skill check against your ship’s DC. If you succeed, the shipwright or lookout can roll their next skill check twice and take the better of the two rolls.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, you can grant this bonus to a second allied crew member, though they must be in a different role.
Deride Enemy Ship - Range: Near or Close
You point out a number of flaws in your foe's ship's design or performance.
Preferred Skills: Kn. (Engineering), Profession (Sailor), Lore (Ships)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Maximize Crew Efficiency - Range: Ship
You know how to get the most out of your fellow crewmembers.
Preferred Skills: Any
Effect: Choose an allied crew member who hasn’t taken a crew action this round and attempt a skill check against your ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, the next time this round that this allied crew member succeeds at an action that grants skill check successes, the number of skill check successes that action grants is doubled.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, the targeted crew member receives a +2 bonus to the skill check on their next action
Provide Targeting Solution - Range: Varies by Weapon
With some solid tools and some muscle, you manually align the siege weapons to better fire on the enemy.
Preferred Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Perception
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Gunner:
These actions can only be taken by a crew member in a gunner role. For a gunner, a ranged attack roll counts as a valid option for a skill check; when a gunner chooses to make a ranged attack during narrative ship combat, they gain a +3 bonus to the roll.
Draw Fire
Your attacks draw the attention of the enemy vessel
Preferred Skills: Athletics, Intimidate, Ranged Attack, Profession (Siege Engineer)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, that ship must take the Open Fire tactic against your ship next round.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, the enemy ship must roll twice and take the worse of the two rolls when firing upon your ship next round.
Fire at Will
You open fire with your ship's weapons on the enemy.
Preferred Skills: Acrobatics, Profession (Siege Engineer), Ranged Attack
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, it counts as a skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Harry Enemy
Your shoot not to damage but to harass an enemy ship.
Preferred Skills: Deception, Profession (Siege Engineer), Ranged Attack
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, that ship takes a –2 penalty to skill checks in the following round
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, this penalty applies to an additional enemy ship of your choosing next round.
Target Weak Spot
You attempt to hit an enemy ship in a vulnerable area.
Preferred Skills: Any (including ranged attack).
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 10 or more, you also automatically deal 1 hit to that ship; this is in addition to any damage through normal skill check successes gained.
Magic Officer:
These actions can be taken only by a crew member filling a magic officer role. When a Magic Officer attempts a Concentration check to perform a ship action they gain a +3 bonus on the check.
Channel Eldritch Energy - Any
By pulling magic into the winds and tides, you can hinder the enemy ship.
Preferred Skills: Concentration, Kn. (Arcana, Religion, Nature, Planes), Spellcraft
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, the targeted enemy ship’s threshold is reduced by 1 in the next round.
Empower Crew
You use your magic to support the rest of your crew.
Preferred Skills: Concentration, Perform, Kn. (Arcana, Religion, Nature, Planes), Spellcraft
Effect: Attempt a skill check against your ship’s DC. If you succeed, each other allied crew member on board who has yet to act this round gains a +1 bonus to any skill check they attempt. This bonus increases to +2 if you beat the DC by 5 or more.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, this action also counts as a skill check success
Prognosticate - Range: Any
You attempt to predict the future by reading the weft and weave of the wyrd.
Preferred Skills: Concentration, Kn. (Local), Sense Motive
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, the GM must immediately decide on that ship’s tactic and perform that action next round. The first action that targets that ship next round gains a +2 bonus.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, the first two actions that target that ship in the next round gain the +2 bonus.
Divination - Range: Any
You try and use divination on the enemy's command crew.
Preferred Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Perception
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes
Pilot:
These actions can only be taken by a crew member who's filling the Pilot Role
Release the Mainsail! - Move up to 2 range bands.
You order the mainsail open to escape or close with enemy forces!
Preferred Skills:Acrobatics, Profession (Sailor), Kn. (Engineering)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, that ship must use your ship’s Hard DC for any tactics, and it takes a –1 penalty to its skill check.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, you can increase this penalty to -3
Hold Steady - Move 0-1 Range Bands.
You try to keep an enemy ship within range of your gunner's weapons.
Preferred Skills: Athletics, Perception, Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an allied crew member in a gunner role who hasn’t take a crew action this round and an enemy ship. Then, attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, the gunner gains a +3 bonus to any action that grants skill check successes and targets the same enemy ship.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, you can grant this bonus to a second gunner, though they must target the same enemy starship.
Outmaneuver - Move up to 1 Range Band.
The enemy forces are no match for your piloting skill
Preferred Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Perform Audacious Stunt - Move up to 1 Range Band
You sail the ship in such a way to confound and surprise the enemy
Preferred Skills: Deception, Profession (Sailor), any
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, you gain 2 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold.
Ram Enemy Ship - Range: Close
You ram your ship directly into the enemy.
Preferred Skills:Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship's Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed you and your opponent each take 1 hit. All other characters take -2 on skill checks for the rest of the turn.
Special: If your ship is equipped with a Ram, your ship does not take a hit, and your crew do not take a penalty, however your Ram gains the broken condition and can only be repaired via downtime action.
Lookout:
These actions can only be taken by a crew member who's filling the lookout role
Shout Warning - Range: Any
By keeping watch for enemy attacks you can help the ship and crew avoid damage.
Preferred Skills: Perception, Profession (Sailor), Profession (Siege Engineer)
Effect: Attempt a skill check against your ship's DC. If you succeed, your ship's DC increases to the Hard DC against enemy attacks for the next round.
Fortune: By spending 1 resolve point, an allied crew member in the shipwright role can attempt a Patch Hull action immediately for free at a -2 penalty; this doesn't count as the shipwright's action for the round, and they can attempt it even if they've taken an action this round, but they can't spend a fortune point on the action if they are successful.
Scan Enemy - Range: Any
You look over the enemy's vessel with your spyglass to learn more about it.
Preferred Skills: Perception, Lore (Ships), Kn. (Engineering), Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Consult Logs - Range: Any
You quickly scour your ship logs for pertinent information about the enemy.
Preferred Skills: Kn. (Local), Profession (Sailor), Lore (Shackles)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, all skill checks attempted against that ship’s DC gain a +1 bonus this round. This bonus increases to +2 if you beat the DC by 5 or more.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, this action also counts as a skill check success
Call Target: Range: Varies by Weapon
You call out to the crew and gunners to target a specific area of the ship.
Preferred Skills: Kn. (Engineering), Perception, Profession (Sailor)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, and if that ship takes at least 1 hit this round, it takes an additional hit.
Fortune: By spending 1 Fortune Point, this action also counts as a skill check success
Shipwright:
These actions can only be taken by a crew member in a shipwright role.
Experimental Ship Upgrade
You have provided a temporary upgrade to the ship that can help turn the tide of battle.
Preferred Skills: Any
Effect: Choose an action that grants skill check successes and attempt a skill check against your ship’s Hard DC (regardless of the skill used). If you succeed, the next time this round any ally succeeds at that action, the number of skill check successes that action grants is doubled.
Fortune: By spending 1 fortune point, the next time this round an allied crew member rolls a check for the targeted action, that crew member can roll the skill check for the targeted action twice and take the better of the two rolls.
Tension the Lines
You know the right lines to overtension to outmaneuver or outgun the enemy.
Preferred Skills: Profession (Sailor), Knowledge (Engineering)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
Patch the Hull
With a few quick repairs you restore your ship's hull integrity.
Preferred Skills: Any
Effect: Attempt a skill check against your ship’s DC. If you succeed, the ship regains 1 HP (up to its normal maximum).
Fortune:By spending 1 Fortune Point, you also increase your ship’s DC to the Hard DC against enemy tactics the next round.
Drop Dangerous Cargo - Range: Near or Close
You throw explosive booze, flammable oil or alchemical waste behind the ship.
Preferred Skills: Athletics, Craft (Alchemy)
Effect: Choose an enemy ship and attempt a skill check against that ship’s DC. If you succeed, you gain 1 skill check success toward that ship’s threshold. If the result of the check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, this action counts as 2 successes.
I ran Part 1 of A Cosmic Birthday yesterday in a 6 hour session.
Platforms
Character Generation and Sheets: Demiplane
Maps and Tokens: Roll20
Party:
Blasto - Barathu Vidgamer Operative
Player Prior Experience:
Player: Extensive PF1e, moderate PF2e, Light Starfinder 1e, Blades in the Dark, D&D 5e
GM: One book of Dead Suns AP in PF1e
Sprax - Skittermander Genetic Expert Witchwarper
Player Prior Experience:
Player: Some 1e
Qrush - Vesk Brutaris Player Solarian
Player Prior Experience:
Player: Some 1e, Some 2e, Blades in the Dark, D&D 5e
Jor'Val - Pahtra Street Rat Mystic
Player Prior Experience:
Player: D&D Extensive 3.x, Pathfinder 1e, some 5e and PF2e
Intro:
Our gig-workers met up outside of a dive bar in the Vesk quarter, and got the details of the job. After some brief questions, they took to the train, seeing a mad prophet outside the station, checked the infosphere for news and met with an enthusiastic Skittermander who booked them a shuttle to the Armada. They used this transit scene to set up their mystic connection.
I noted that the elevators to the Armada are timed like a vertical train service. So the characters hurried to the elevator which is where the real adventure begins.
One Way Trip[/b:
Blasto won the Initiative against the elevator, Moved to the console, used Computers to figure out whether they could activate the brakes from the Console. Triggering the trap. All characters succeeded on their reflex saves, and the subsequent Crafting Check allowed the characters to activate the emergency brakes and get to the bottom safely. Qrush easily forced open the doors (would have been a real short adventure otherwise).
Spoiler:
[Spoiler=Ghost Levels A1. Corridor Intersection]
Qrush easily crushed the first maintenance robot with a single attack. Maintenance robot failed to land a single hit.
Players moved to the central nexus, activating the other three maintenance robots. A couple of the robots managed to get some attacks off on Sprax and Jor'Val. Jor'Val used his mystic connection to activate auras of darkness so concealment could protect the casters. Qrush absolutely smashed every maintenance robot he got near, while Blasto floated up to the catwalk and sniped whatever was left over.
They investigated the robot cores and found unusual Aucturnian Glyphs, and the repeating code by connecting their comm units. Then chose a direction at random.
[Spoiler=Ghost Levels A2. Holo Hallway]
Blasto noted the computers around the edges of the room, and hugged the wall to the nearest termianl. With an awesome roll of 25 Computers, was able to identify the two hazards in the room, and deactivate the Scamp spawning projector. Qrash, raced into the room and pulled the malfunctioning holo-projector from the ceiling like a Brutaris Hoop. (I upped the DC to 19 for an unlisted skill, but he Qrushed it with a 21).
After a little more slicing and hacking the party learned that this room belonged to a defunct ad agency, a control center for holo-boards around Absalom station, but being pulled away from the area of the station this room belonged they were still unable to access the outer infonet.
Following the room to the next door they headed into the hallway leading back to the nexus as well as some other spokes.
Ghost Levels A7 and A6:
The party activated the observer robot when they walked down the hallway. The robot used cover, Jor'Val activated their Shadow Snap focus spell. I ruled since it was the creature's own shadow attacking them that the cover bonus couldn't apply. Sprax used Injury Echo, but was frustrated to realise that the bleed wouldn't apply. After a couple more traded shots, the Observer robot died (since all the nexus maintenance bots were already dead, it had no back-up).
The PCs took some time to refocus, use medical packs to heal up before moving into room A7. They activated the Vesk Statue and Qrush decided they wanted the Bronze Doshko as a souvenir. Qrush swung hard, but missed, and raised a shield just in case. That Shield saved his life as 27 damage was reduced to 20, leaving poor Qrush on 3 hp, and a shattered shield that couldn't be re-manifested without waiting 10 minutes. Another hit from the statue would be very dangerous.
Unfortunately between their pistols, spells and the immunities and hardness of the statue the spellcasters were next to useless.
The fight was intense but a lucky Nat 20 from Blasto deactivated the hardness, which allowed the spellcasters to contribute some real damage and Qrush was able to finish the statue with a mighty blow shattering the statue and claiming his bronze doshko as a prize.
Heavily injured our party once again used medicine, medpatches and the last of the Mystic's healing network to heal. Refocusing and following the final northern spoke.
A3. Gremlin Gauntlet:
Jor'Vahl was the first to enter the room, using his Urban Survivalist ability he identified dangerous heat vents in the room (got a 16 on his check in between the two DCs). Heading into the room, the door slammed behind the two last people to enter, they narrowly avoided damage as the door slammed and locked behind them. Hearing the giggling of the Gremlin hidden in the room. Jor'Val had entered the room first,
Jumping into initiative, Jor'Vahl's initiative was survival based, and he used his first action to find the Gremlin hidden in a vent. He used an action to Identify the creature, including how difficult it was to befriend it, he activated his shadow snap focus spell again to try and disrupt any future shenanigans. Since I described the gremlin as having a weird little remote control, I also ruled the Mechanical Trickery ability should have the manipulate trait. Gremlin went next, but because the disrupt attack failed, it activated a steam vent damaging the three characters near the vent. He opened the door with his second action and headed down the hallway leading back to the nexus with the vents.
Sprax gave chase, triggering the vent in that same hall, damaging both her and the Space Station Gremlin at the same time. Unfortunately that knocked poor Sprax out. Deciding to cut the enemy off at the pass Qrush triple moved to the central nexus, while Blasto disabled the door trap with an action and followed 40 feet down the corridor.
Jor'Val moved to Sprax used his healing pool to heal her awake. Unsure of whether to try and talk to the gremlin or not, he sustained the shadow snap to try disrupting again.
Since Sprax was awake but still in the open door, the Gremlin gave a little grin and went to activate the door trap. The Shadow Snap succeeded on disrupting 24 on the attack, a crit! I narrated the shadow stealing his little remote control. Frustrated, it used its tech-travel ability to enter the heat vent and pop out in the room behind Blasto (and frustrating Qrush who was now even further away). The round that followed was hilariously frustrating as poor rolls (even with Hero Points) resulted in so many misses, but Jor'Vahls sustained Shadow Snap knocked the Space Gremlin out.
Another medicine, rest and refocus break later, the PCs followed the last door in the Gauntlet Room to the south, the one not leading to the Nexus.
A4. Maintenance Room and A5. Catwalk Platform:
I somehow missed the line where the door was jammed shut. But either way the party was quick with diplomacy checks and agreed to help the tourists.
Ascending to room A5, Blasto was confronted with a pair of Ysoki that dropped a Frost Turret. Winning the initiative Blasto used Computers to "reprogam the turret". I ruled that Blasto could spend an action to activate the Frost Turret like a minion.
He shot at one of the Ysoki Ghost Couriers, but missed.
Ghost Courier 1 shot back at Blasto, hitting with one strike, moving to the other side of the room. Qrush headed up the ladder, and absolutely destroyed Ghost Courier #2 in one strike.
The rest of the fight was pretty quick. The party looted the sweet treasure, and weapons and a little recon later the party decided to head south.
A10. Abandoned Observatory:
The party entered the observatory and with a high perception they noticed the central control panel was surging and sparking (but the Electrovore hit a nat 20 on its Stealth), concerned the floor might be electric they stuck to the tiles around the edges, and Blasto hanging near the cieling stealthed along and found the entry to the escape elevator. I ruled the Observatory was drawing too much power and preventing the elevator from working. Jor'Val used survival and figured out there was a creature hiding in the room with them. The party set themselves up and got into a fight. It didn't take long to take down the Electrovore.
One Craft check later they rerouted the power to the elevator and escaped.
The party successfully escaped the Ghost Levels, tourists in tow. They skipped rooms A8 and A9 (without some plot reason to continue exploring there was no reason not to just leave). Rather than fiddle with XP, I just leveled the characters up and we'll play part 2 in two weeks.
General Observations
Between mental immunity and bleed immunity robots can really suck the fun out of encounters for spellcasters with an Occult or Divine focus.
Hardness also can suck the fun out of spellcaster fun too at low level.
Space Station Gremlin - mechanical trickery should have the manipulate trait.
The players overall had a great time.
The Witchwarper was a little confused about how their quantum field works and didn't activate it even once.
The sheer damage of a Vesk Solarian is not to be underestimated at level 1.
A brethelden flying sniper is incredibly rad and frightening at 1st level.
Bullets are too expensive.
Ammo/Capacity/Expend tracking is more fiddly than it is fun, and easy to forget in the heat of battle.
I'd rather this be turned into a flat check of some kind to see if a cartridge or battery is expended after a miss/critical miss.
Anyway, looking forward to reporting more next time :)
I've found myself in the enviable position of starting a new group of 8 players, and while I'm weighing up what I want to run, I have an itch of an idea but I need some assistance. I'm looking to run a "West Marches" style game in
Background: A few years ago I was running the Giantslayer Adventure Path, we finished books 1 and 2, and I realised that I was more interested in the fate of the orcs than I was in whatever the Giantslayer story was about.
Weirdly there is no mention of the events of Giantslayer in the timeline of the Eye of Dread in the Lost Omens world-guide. My assumption is that the setting assumes those events happened, but since defeating Volstus has no long-lasting repercussions they are barely a historic footnote (if they did occur it would have been in 4715 AR).
So my players took Redlake Fort as a keep, and decided to start a free territory called "The Patchlands", an independent territory with Trunau, Freedom Town and Arwyll Stead choosing to take up the banner of the Patchlands, and encompassing a region once called "the Conquered Lands", and some parts of the Northern Mindspin Mountains.
At this point the campaign sadly fell apart. However extrapolating from my plans at the time:
Recent History of the Patchlands and The Eye of Dread
With Redlake Fort as a capital and hub, the Patchlands from 4715 to 4719 became a Neutral territory that could act as an intermediary between Lastwall, the Orcs of Belkzen, and Nirmathas. Lord-Chief Vex Blackened Blade, son of Halgra Blackened Blade, a half-orc Eldritch Knight unites the remnants of the Broken Spine and the Skittering Ravagers and crushes the Bloody Gauntlet when they refuse peaceful negotiation. Vex forges a treaty with Grask Uldeth of Belkzen in 4716, days prior to his assassination. Vex and the Company of The Blackened Blade escape with their lives, and with the backing of two orc tribes and in no position to retake the territory while consolodating his rule Grask honours the treaty so long as it is convenient.
In 4716 Vex also signs an alliance with Lastwall, to act as intermediaries and negotiators with the Orc tribes and mutual defense if the Northern tribes unite to invade.
In 4717 the hobgoblin Iron Fang Invasion occurs in Nirmathas, some refugees of that war find themselves heading north and are welcomed to Trunau and the Patchlands, some choose to return to Nirmathas at the end of the war, others choose to settle in the Patchlands as tribes of orcs might prove a valuable deterrent from future hobgoblin aggression.
4718 - The Council of the Blackened-Blade has signed a 3 year peace pact with the newly formed nation of Oprak, and an alliance with Nirmathas to the South.
In 4719 everything pops off! The Whispering Tyrant escapes his prison, destroys the nation of Lastwall. The Tyrant demands the orcs return to his service and Ardax White-Hair leads a coalition of Orcs to repel the Tyrant at the battle of 9 broken skulls, with the assistance of the forces of the Patchlands.
Now:
Now waves of refugees fleeing Lastwall have found their way to the Patchlands, one of the few havens of safety in the hostile Eye of Dread, and Lord-Chief Vex and the Council of the Blackened-Blade are in need of adventurers, with regular raids of the dead, and no peaceful border to the East, the Patchlands have lost much of what they have won through blade and diplomacy.
With the announcement of Starfinder 2e, with full cross-compatibility with Pathfinder 2e Remaster. Do we think there's improved odds on getting Iron Gods Remastered in 2026?
Utilising both rule-sets in what can only be described as an incredible cross-over event?
Or will we see a sequel AP set in Numeria? Iron Demons? Demonic refugees from the Worldwound possessing and enhancing themselves with technology, presenting an all-new all-dangerous threat to the tech-haunted land!
Prologue: Tides of Fate Wherein the Fates of Six Pirates Intwine across the seas of Golarion.
On the island of Devil's Arches, four children sought fortune in the forbidden ruins of this island. Aubrey Wynn, a half-elven girl, Julian Skrith a half-orc boy, and two other girls Sandara Quinn and Natalia Devlin snuck out of the town of Hell Harbour, avoiding Admiral Endymion's Gendarme. Once in the jungles, the children followed goat paths and animal trails to one of the forbidden ruined arches. Luckily Julian cleverly packed rope for the expedition so the children could climb down safely. Following unseen by the children a terrible reptilian predator stalking the vulnerable prey.
Julian noted a strange rune at the top of one of the arches, unsure of the translation he was near certain the rune represented "Treasure". That's all young Aubrey needed to hear, she began clambering up ruins to reach the rune, unfortunately the ancient stone crumbled under her hand. Aubrey fell, crashing hard into the ground below, which crumbled underneath her sending her into some dark subterranean cave.
"Aubrey!" Called out Sandara, "We have to help her!"
She turned and saw why Julian and Natalia hadn't reacted to Aubrey's fall.
Rearing up on a serpentine lower half a vaguely draconic creature with a vibrating ring of feathers around its head full of cobra-like fangs, unusually this serpentine creature also possessed a pair of small yet powerful serpentine arms.
Hissing agressively as its feathers lit hypnotically Natalia was frozen either by some primal magic the beast possessed or fear. Without hesitation Julian stepped forward in front of the girl, prompting the creature to strike. Biting hard and wrapping around the slight frame of the half-orc boy. Pumped full of poison, and unable to wriggle free Julian passed out...
Beneath their feet, Aubrey rolled out of the way of the earth and stone that followed her into the hole. Unable to see her hand in front of her own face. Aubrey stood up, and shut her eyes. Relying on her hearing and smell to navigate the space. Overwhelmingly the room smelled of iron and copper... blood. Then that red glow beyond her eyelids, she looked up.
A mural, a shapely woman with 6 arms, each holding a piercing weapon, serpentine lower-half, a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth and in the center of her head a single glowing, red eye. A shard of a blood red jewel set in its pupil.
Looking up at this impressive relief, Aubrey could only look into the eye and desired it. Once again scrambling up the wall as quickly as she could she cut herself on one of the stone weapons depicted there. Reaching out with a bloody hand she grabbed ahold of the jewel. There was a pulse of power, and a thrum of energy through the island...
Elsewhere deep below the Shackles, an undine mercenary dedicated to Gozreh, named Aselia patted the clamshell of coin she received from the ancient sea hag. A downpayment for services rendered: "Get the Girl to the surface, where sharks can't track her scent." In the cosmopolitan subaquatic village of Coral, a pack of weresharks hunted. Aselia bided her time to set an ambush, her spot chosen she watched as the young undine princess Marina swam past chased by the weresharks.
Aselia struck! Stabbing the wereshark in the tail, and pinning him to a nearby coral structure. The other wereshark bit hard into the vulnerable flesh of Marina. She screamed silently and passed out. Blood exploding into the water from the bite. Marina began convulsing, and the blood in the water began to coalesce into the shape of a dread shark. Taking on form and substance the hemoshark tore Marina's assailant in half. Aselia dived out of the way as it torpedoed towards the other wereshark. Scooping up the young Aselia the pair swam towards the surface...
A small halfling girl sits in the dark hold of a slaver ship, along with a number of other halflings stand terrified. An older halfling puts a comforting arm on the shoulder of the girl: "Don't worry, this weather will pass."
She looked up at him wide-eyed and smiled a mischievious smile.
"Don't worry Besmara has it all in hand."
Suddenly the ship capsized as a massive tentacle raised up out of the sea, dragging the slaver ship beneath the waves. Water began geysering up the grate into the hold. The halflings began to panic, all except one. A great cephalapoidal eye looked up into the hold. Young Cephia Lopodia found her faith. When a drowning sailor pressed against the great the eye moved, and was replaced with a vicious toothy beak tearing through the corpse and planks alike. Seeing her opportunity Cephia dove into the water, swimming as hard as her tiny body would take her. Her body and lungs burning, she inhaled a reflexive breath under water, and found herself drowning, the dark water fading to perfect black.
She awoke, sitting on the surface of a black sea, an endless starscape above reflected on its surface and upon the surface of that water a massive ship built from the bones of some incredible draconic leviathan looked down upon the girl.
"Such a small catch Captain, I doubt she'll make a capable sailor."
The voice of Besmara's ship the Kelpie's Wrath echoed in the girl's head. A beautiful woman stepped up on the forecastle rail, looking down at the girl.
"Very well then, let's toss her back in so this minnow can grow into a marlin. Back to the living sea with ye girl!"
Suddenly the solid surface of the sea was liquid again. Cephia felt sand beneath her fingers and began coughing sea-water. Somewhere on the coast of Bag Isle a halfling voice called out: "Look! Over there! A girl, a survivor!"
***
Years later, far from the Shackles at the edge of the Inner Sea in some tiny Taldane port town a grizzled old sea Captain by the name of Morgan was interviewing a prospective young pirate to assist on his smuggling ship. A windswept young man sat across from the Pirate, spinning lies and half-truths saying anything he could to get aboard this ship and away from his pursuers.
"Quite an impressive resume," Morgan laughed, "Truth be told, ye've got a quick mind and that's all I need to teach ye the rest. Welcome aboard the Misty Mourner. Yer in like Flynn matey, though I suppose I should ask you what's your name boyo?"
The windswept man flashed a charming smile... "Why Flynn of course! Flynn Montair."
***
Years later still, at the edge of the Shackles, an older, more handsome Julian Skrith sits chained on a prison ship headed for Deepmar. Next to him a massive Mwangi Man called Breaker Bones sits alongside him. Exhausted from long days rowing, Julian drops the oar. The Chelish sailor guarding the prisoners stepped forward with a club. Ready to beat Julian.
"Hold sailor, I wish to talk to this deserter," a finely dressed noblewoman interrupted the expected beating.
Julian and his fellow prisoner were led to the Captain's cabin, well appointed, but vacated for this noblewoman.
"Let me tell you about Angels. See you were rightfully convicted of the Sin of Dersertion. You made a solemn vow, and signed a contract with Admiralty of Her Majestrix's Navy. In Cheliax we take vows and contracts very seriously, the great nation invested their funds and faith in you. Yet you fled your duties, and your obligations."
Julian listened in silence, this woman liked to talk, and listening hurt less than rowing.
"In any case, I am a reformist, I don't believe every sin must result in an eternity of punishment. I believe in the possibility of absolution and redemption. And so I come as an angel to deliver you from the hell that awaits you at Deepmar with a simple deal. I let you free in the Shackles, to live your life as you see fit. On occasion you will be contacted to provide reports. Simply answer questions honestly when asked and you will avoid a painful death of black lung, forgotten in the depths of Deepmar. What say you?"
Julian considered the question for a long time.
"I'm going to need more precise terms than that before I agree to anything."
"I'm afraid this is the deal at the moment. So choose wisely prisoner Skrith, because there's one thing you should know about angels. Everybody only gets one."
Julian again took a moment to pull together his thoughts, before finally responding.
"Your deal sounds very good. But I must politely decline. I am not inclined to trade these chains for the invisible ones you offer."
"An interesting decision from a man facing life in a hole, but one I suspect will change with a little more perspective. Sailor?" She calls for the guard just outside the door.
"Put him in the box."
For a long week Julian was confined to a steel box on the deck of the prison ship, nothing but his sweat and waste for company. Once per day he was given a moment of freedom and air only long enough to answer the lady's question.
"Do you agree to my terms?"
The response, spoken through chapped lips and with exhaustion always was the same.
"No."
Julian was in the box when the leviathan struck, tearing the ship to shreds. Some kind of divine provenance kept that box afloat upon a piece of the deck. Locked in a steel box with no food or water, Julian had traded one death for another.
Upon the deck of the Misty Mourner one foggy morning Flynn called from the crow's nest: "Ship aftward Captain! Looks like a Chelish Galleon." Flynn grabbed a line to swing down to the deck. Morgan whispered some rapid orders to his crewmen. As a smuggling ship the Mourner had been through this routine a dozen times. He turned to his newest recruit "Miss Aselia, remind me do you have any outstanding warrants, bounties or debts in Cheliax?"
"No sir," Aselia answered promptly.
"Good, we've got contraband aboard, Ms Aselia and Mr Montair, you'll be lowered down the jollyboat on the port-side of the ship with a lockbox full of contraband. We'll play it cool, and be back to sailing with this patrol ship in our wake soon enough mateys."
The jollyboat was lowered to the water, Flynn and Aselia hidden under a tarp and the boat pulled close to the Misty Mourner. The Chelish boarded the ship.
"Good morning Captain?"
"Smith, we're a simple merchant ship, trading under an Isgeri flag, good to see an ally out in these waters."
"Indeed Captain, I'm sure our diviners will see to it that everything is in order."
Long tense minutes passed, with only the muffled sound of the Chelish mariners searching the ship.
Eventually voices from the deck: "All goods appear to match your manifests captain, we merely need to cross-reference your papers with our logs and we'll have you on your way Captain Smith."
Flynn released a long held breath: "Glad that's over."
Aselia's long history of ill-fated encounters caused a moment of dread to sink into her stomach.
After some minutes a voice, magically projected from the Chelish ship.
"Captain Morgan! It is my pleasure as a Captain in service to her Majestrix to pronounce you a smuggler and a pirate, guilty of multiple crimes against Cheliax. You and your crew have been sentenced to death, by cannonfire, until your ship burns to the waterline."
Flynn prepared himself to return to the ship to defend it, but Aselia already was prepared by capsizing the jollyboat. Their only chance of survival, hiding amongst the wreckage...
After the thunder and clamour of the canonfire was over eventually all was quiet again on the seas. Aselia and Flynn righted the Jollyboat, and began the long arduous process of rowing...
Witness reader, as we leave the sun boiled ocean for the city of Port Peril, crown jewel of the Shackles. A seedy dive bar by the name of the Formidably Maid. A beautiful Undine plays a soulful violin, and is accompanied by a beautiful half-elven singer. Marina and Aubrey enchanted the whole bar, every piratical patron stopped their brawling and chaos to watch and listen intently. After the song, a handsome young pirate, bald except for a single braid, shirtless but wearing a fancy coat, approached.
"Captain Harrigan was impressed by your music, and would like to invite you for a drink."
Excited to meet such an incredible pirate legend, Aubrey and Marina agreed. Marina signed an order for Rum, and Aubrey asked for "anything interesting"
"I haven't heard such beautiful music since my dear sweet mother, on the island where I was born. I had to buy ye each a drink."
The women were excited to meet the Captain and his officers, and soon the handsome pirate Plugg arrived with rum and a strange drink in a grail with smoke or steam rising out if it, a lot of umbrellas and a crazy straw.
The girls toasted their fortuitous meeting and drank, hoping to sign on with Captain Harrigan, until the room started spinning.
"You could have just asked," slurred Aubrey as she passed out.
Days later, somewhere in that water the Mourner's survivors discovered a metal hotbox, with a barely conscious half-orc inside, they pulled him aboard, but days from food and exhausted from the heat these survivors fell unconscious one-by-one, until only Aselia witnessed a ship with a great draconic figurehead.
"What have we here Master Scourge?"
"Looks like the fishing nets have caught some little fishies Mr Plugg."
"Ahoy there! Prepare to be boarded!" Called Plugg.
"No thank you!" Said Aselia rowing as quickly as she could away.
"Fire the cannon."
The jaw of the dragon opened and breathed cannonshot and flame, the explosion that followed sent the members of the jollyboat and its contents sprawling across the ocean.
The laughter of the Crew of the Wormwood was the last thing that Aselia remembered before falling unconscious...
Last decade in Jade Regent... A barkeeper in Sandpoint named Ameiko learned of her secret destiny as the Empress of Minkai. Together her friends stormed an abandoned castle and recovered the Seal that unlocked that destiny.
They travelled together to Kalsgard, the capital of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, and defeated a secret clan of ninja and rescued the sword of destiny Suishen, and hired a guide to take them over the Crown of the World.
For months they travelled the Crown of the World, following the path of Ordu-Aganhei. Along the way they angered giants, killed evil witches, recruited a good one, rescued towns from Dragons, played Demon Lords against each other, discovered an ancient futuristic city, outran and out-fought a horde of the dead, redeemed a clan of corrupted Yeti, restored a spirit tree, mapped a secret road over the Wall of Heaven, and blunted the Jade Regent's machinations in the region.
Eventually they reached the city of Ordu-Aganhei, where they stayed as guests of Prince Batsaikhar. While in the city they played political games against the Regent's Grand Diplomat Fragar, discovered a criminal conspiracy which they put a swift end to. They recruited some Minkai refugees, before departing. They also discovered Ameiko isn't the only heir, as her brother Mordred shares a father with her.
The party split between the Forest of Spirits and the Ruby Phoenix Tournament. The forest team discovered strange truths about themselves in the Pools of Forgotten Reflections, defeated hobgoblin patrols on the golden road, and plumbed the depths of an Oni Prison in the House of Withered Blossoms.
The tournament team entered the tournament, and through many dangerous games managed to win victory and a prize from the Vault of the Ruby Phoenix. They also discovered a strange creature, a remnant of the crimes discovered at Ordu-Aganhei, and protected it as best they could.
Reunited in Minkai, our heroes took all the resources and allies they collected over the course of their months-long journey and began prosecuting a rebellion against the Jade Regent and his August Council. They freed cities from tyrannical governors, rescued allies from imprisonment, avenged an old friend, discovered lost shrines, repaired the veil to Otherworld, gained the blessings of ancestors, played more political games to turn the people against their oppressors. Fought wars.
Finally, they were inside the Palace, where they saw even the Regent was a victim of the evil of Anamurumon, they teamed up with the Regent against the greatest evil in the history of Minkai. Slaying Anamurumon for all time.
These people who valued redemption and freedom ended it the only way it could, by talking. The Regent realising that the thing he valued most was his own freedom, and that his freedom was incompatible with the freedom of Minkai took his own life.
Our heroes met the goddess of Death. And so for the first time in a long time, the nation of Minkai knows peace.
But the story will not end here, our heroes have more to do, ambitions and hopes and dreams beyond this adventure. So we don't say goodbye, we say see you later...
I'm working on a project that will take place in 2023.
Every week I will post a 5-Room dungeon.
On Sundays will be the map, plot hook and useful resources.
Monday-Friday will be a room per day.
Saturdays will be a homebrew player option for Pathfinder 2e, inspired the weeks dungeon. Either an ancestry, treasure, feat, spell or other option for the players. Starting with the Dromite Ancestry for Pathfinder 2e.
The first post of the project will be Sunday 1st of January 2023!
At the end of the year there will be 52 dungeons, enough to fill a whole deck of dungeons.
FAQ How much will it cost to access this content?
Not a single penny, all monsters, npcs and creatures will be either published on the site or linked via the aonprd.
What if I play Pathfinder 1e or D&D 5e
This is a pretty massive project and unfortunately I don't have the resources to convert for multiple d20 systems at this time.
Primarily I want to do this project to familiarize myself with the Pathfinder 2e system. However, if I had the time I would love to post conversion notes for other systems. So never say never.
But I want to give you money!
I am not in a position at this stage to feel comfortable accepting money, for this project. I'm hoping to use this as an opportunity to build an audience and build trust in my writing and products. So if you want to contribute, please share the project on social media!
As the dust and smoke clears from the battle of Keeper's Canyon, the Knights of Kenabres take a moment to rest and take stock. The road ahead will take them into the Worldwound proper.
Some crusaders stand watch, while others take a moment to rest, clean their weapons and armour and others finish off the dying dretches on the battlefield.
Our heroes are in the center of the camp, along with key members of their war council.
"The going gets harder from here on out," says Irabeth, "We're headed into the worldwound, it only gets more dangerous from here. I recommend taking a moment to take a breath. The land itself is hostile, and the corruption of the demons can so easily spread. We'll need to rely on our bonds as we march towards Drezen, perhaps now is a moment we should take the opportunity to check in with one another before we continue our journey."
Take a moment to describe what you're up to in the war camp, I'll set up some checks once everyone's in.
Hail players of GM Losonti's Wrath of the Righteous campaign. Starting a discussion thread here for us to get the ball rolling on continuing the campaign and to discuss your hopes and expectations for this game.
I haven't run a Play-by-Post in a long time, but I'm not completely out of practice with it.
Maps and Movement
I can see previously you were using Google Docs to track maps and movement. Is that your preference going forward, or would you like to try using roll20 instead.
Roll20 Pros: It's very easy for me to set up a roll20 that players can jump into in order to move their tokens and such on a battlefield. It also means I can use roll20 to speed up rolls and the like on my end when posting here.
Roll20 Cons: It can be hard to use roll20 from a phone so if people prefer to use phones when posting, google drive might be the easier option for some people.
Posting Frequency
I'm in Australia so be aware that there will be a lag between player posts and mine.
That being said, I'll do my best to post daily. The only tricky days might be Monday and Friday, but I'll let people know if that's going to be the case.
I ask that every player try and post at least once every 48 hours. In order to keep things moving if a PC hasn't posted within 48 hours I may roll on their behalf or post an assumed action to keep the ball rolling.
The Current State of the Campaign
Can you let me know which important NPCs have come with you on your March to Drezen?
Did any important NPCs join the Queen on the march south to engage the bulk of the demon forces?
What are your character's opinions of these NPCs?
What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure
The main goal of Sword of Valor is to liberate Citadel Drezen and recover the banner Sword of Valor.
Are there any personal goals you want to accomplish during this book?
What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?
What do your characters know of the current commander of Citadel Drezen? What do they know of any demons within?
Hock the Loogie is a simple game for rum swilling, grog drinking pirates and low-lives of all skill levels and ages.
You will need:
4 coins (1 copper, 1 silver, 1 gold and 1 platinum) any 4 coins can work for this.
Set-Up:
Place the copper coin 5 feet from the starting line, place the silver 10 feet, the gold 15 feet and the platinum 20 feet away.
Each player takes a turn hocking a big ol' loogie. This consists of 3 rolls.
1st Roll - Quality: Make a Constitution check this is the quality of your loogie.
2nd Roll - Distance: Make a Strength check. The result of this check is the distance of your loogie in feet.
3rd Roll - Accuracy: Make a Dexterity check to determine your accuracy.
Scoring:
Quality: Divide Your Constitution check by 5 (rounded down) to determine points for your Loogie quality.
Distance: 1 point if you pass the copper coin, 2 points if you pass the silver, 3 points if you pass the gold, 5 if you pass the platinum.
Accuracy: If you beat DC 20 you hit the coin and earn an additional 5 points.
Highest Points Wins, taking home any coins they spit past or hit.
Top Strategies
Spoiler:
Increase your loogie quality by swilling some rum and grog beforehand. If you do that, you get advantage on the roll (roll twice and take the highest).
Use the prevailing winds to help your loogie soar! A DC 12 Perception check before you spit gives you advantage on the check (roll twice and take the highest).
Players work together to choose an origin for their party, and this effects their choices as far as alignments go. Also the party gains a benefit for choosing a party origin.
So without further ado, the rules.
Party Origin
Characters must be within one step of the party alignment (For example: A Lawful Neutral party may include Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Evil or True Neutral). For some parties this may effect class/deity choices, so be open to discussion.
Format: Suggested Party Name This is the name that will appear on the Kingmaker charter, the name of the adventuring party is completely negotiable.
Party Alignment: The alignment of the party, remember, your character must be within one step of this alignment.
History: A brief history of how your party came to work together.
Origin Bonus: A mechanical method your party can reliably earn hero points during the campaign.
Recommended Ancestries, Lineages, Classes and Archetypes: These are recommended classes and races for your character, but the recommendations are non-restrictive. Find a way to work your particular choice into the party's history.
GM Opening Encounter: This will be under a spoiler tab, so that GMs have an opening encounter to draw the group together.
The Crusaders Lawful Good Country of Origin: Mendev
History: Mendev, home to countless crusades against demonic forces and terrible cults. You went to Mendev to enact some real good in the world, to make things safer, to fight back the chaos that threatens the stability of every decent hard working person. What you found was a corrupt war, that created more victims than it saved.
You find yourself in a Temple of Iomedae, the last remaining building in a burning village alongside a group of fellow crusaders. So much has happened to convince you of the destructive waste of these crusades, too much has been torn down or destroyed. Sickened by these crusades you long to find some new purpose in life. Working together you feel that if an opportunity arose to create something, then you would be living more truly to the values you treasure.
Origin Bonus: Whenever you use the Aid action on an ally while fighting an undead, dragon, or evil outsider either you or the ally gains a Hero Point on any result outside of a Critical Failure.
Recommendations: Ancestries: Human (Taldan, Mendevian or Brevic), Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc or Halfling. Versatile Heritages: Aasimar, Aphorite, Tiefling
Classes: Bard, Cleric (of Iomedae, Erastil or Torag), Champion, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Sorcerer (Celestial bloodline), Investigator, Oracle, Summoner, Thaumaturge.
Archetypes: Aldori Duelist, Bastion, Blessed One, Cavalier, Knight Vigilant, Marshal, Medic, Soulforger
GM Opening Encounter:
Spoiler:
The party is in a Temple of Iomedae, in the charred ruins of a village called Dalaska. The doors are currently being battered in by the PCs former "allies". 'Low Templars' who decided to loot and sack a village out of boredom and greed. While most people managed to escape the destruction of the village the PCs have remained to protect the aging priestess of Iomedae and her two young grand-nieces from the battle-mad 'Templars'.
The "templars" are taking time to break open the doors of the temple, so the PCs have approximately two minutes to figure out a way to defend the small temple. (Temple is shaped vaguely like a 40ft. long sword, with the entrance at the pommel. Rows of pews, and an altar at the sword's tip.)
High Moderate Encounter 1:
Low Templars (x4)
Sir Hawthorne, Battle-Mad crusader
Because the Templars are trying to break down the doors they will use Athletics for their Initiative roll.
Allies: Sister Brigid Thorne (Acolyte of Iomedae) (Swap Staff for Longsword, and swap Harm for Heal spells)
Jani and Lani Thorne-Aldori (Urchins) (2)
The objective of the fight is to protect the priestess and her 2 grand-nieces, and prevent any looting of the temple, gaining 10 xp for each objective succeeded.
After the fight, Sister Thorne thanks the PCs for their timely rescue. Realising that the village she was sworn to protect has been ruined by the Mendevian Crusades Sister Brigid asks the PCs to accompany her across the Lake of Mists and Veils to return her nieces to her sister in Brevoy.
The journey takes a number of weeks (montaged journey), but eventually the PCs reach the city of Restov where they are greeted by a grateful family glad to see their daughters safe. Jamandi Aldori will be impressed enough by the the story of the player's endeavours to invite them to a Feast she is holding, where she hopes to present an opportunity to those with courage and moral fortitude.
I managed to pull together a gaming group of relative newbies to the PF2e system (I include myself under that umbrella as I haven't run anything since the original playtest).
Our heroes included:
Ashling - Female Human Ifrit Kineticist (Dedicated gate: Fire)
Finn Kittso - Female Elf Undine Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Water)
Rocky Krakoa - Male Dwarf Oread Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Earth)
North Gozren - Human Male Sylph Kineticist (Dedicated Gate: Air)
Vulkan Tempest - Male Human Suli Kineticist (Universal Gate)
1st Encounter vs 2 Vipers. (2x Creature 2)
Players won initiative and took down the vipers before they even got a turn. It's meant to be an easy encounter so I gave it to the players.
2nd Encounter vs Giant Ants
Players snuck into the room, and then used their combined adapt element and crafting checks to reinforce the partially collapsed wall and prevent the ants from entering the room.
3rd Encounter vs Living Waterfall (Creature 6)
This fight was a tough one. A couple of early criticals put Rocky on the backfoot. Finn had a couple of ways to deal with the Elemental between Voice of Elements and Extract Element. Unfortunately he couldn't roll above a 6 on Diplomacy, and the Elemental had a Fortitude of 16 vs the DC of 21, so mostly succeeded (for half damage). The poor Pyrokineticist could barely deal any damage at all, and didn't have a lot of good options around that Surprisingly the star of the encounter was the Air Elementalist with their boomerang. Eventually the elemental was reduced to less than 10 health, and Finn managed to talk the elemental into surrender. At which point Vulcan finished it off with a couple of lucky extract elements and a blast. Rocky the Earth Elementalist, was knocked unconscious after a few hits (seriously tanking as a kineticist is rough).
Encounters 4 & 5 were primarily puzzle based.
Our heroes spent some time resting, and getting healed with Combat Medic and healing wind. Not quite on max health, but close.
Encounter 6: Giant Pirate Skeleton (Creature 8)
Another tough fight (I did alter the skeleton to have a big scimitar as per its description), I allowed Rocky and Vulkan to use extract element against the skeleton (justifying it by allowing them to extract the calcium in his bones). Rocky ended up unconscious again, again AC was not nearly enough to prevent those critical hits. Gozren also got knocked out. I gave the skeleton Weakness to bludgeoning (rather than it being the only resistance it was missing). Our heroes managed to get solid hits in after flanking and extracting. It was a really tough fight but in the end our heroes stood victorious. North Gozren used Elemental Weapon to create an air flail to upgrade his damage dice from d4s to d10s (I ruled that handwrap runes applied to weapons).
Concluding thoughts:
The players felt that their characters had fun with managing the action economy of the Kineticist, and preferred to extract element over gather whenever it was available to their character (even with a chance of failure it felt more effective as a use of actions). There weren't any creatures that had available attacks of opportunity against the players, so shooting in melee wasn't a huge problem during this adventure. Players felt their characters were way to fragile for being a Con focused class.
I would like each of the elements to have some variable action impulses (1-3 actions) one of the big problem with variable action spells is it can feel wasteful to spend a spell slot on anything other than the 2-3 action version of the spell.
Kineticist doesn't waste a resource, and instead are just making the most of an opportunity. I think each element should get a variable action impulse at mid levels to play around with.
I think Monk Kineticist is a pretty iconic multiclass and allowing a kineticist to shape the material around their fists or feet would be a fun option.
Can anyone anticipate anything breaking from that?
I built a quartet of dedicated kineticists to playtest and I couldn't justify taking elemental familiar or elemental weapon over Flexible Blast.
With CON as a key ability score I needed Flexible Blast to ensure accuracy for the character. Also Geokineticists get the most from STR with their brutal Blast.
I suggest Flexible Blast be automatically part of the Kineticist suite of 1st level abilities or even 2nd level.
Or as some people have suggested Constition should do more for the class.
The Scenario
House Hiyosai fell to depravity and evil, all that remains are the undead members in the ruins of Hiyosai Palace. Their province now ruled by the city’s governer at the behest of the Jade Regent. The Regent has promised to return House Hiyosai to the ranks of the chosen families if they can use their magical expertise to subvert the power of the Hiyosai relic and grant its mythic power to them. Fragar is on-site to observe their progress.
They are still early in the process though as the Regent has grown only desperate enough to do so when the Rebellion defeated Sennaka, along with the Archmage. They have eked some mythic power from the artefact but it requires immense amount of Jade and the ritual requires a living sacrifice of people oathbound to house Hiyosai. There are precious few of those left. This has left the Hiyosai artefact inert. The players will want to retrieve this artefact in order to reactivate it after the campaign.
At this stage Fragar is willing to betray the Regent, but only if the heroes can convincingly fake his death at their hands, and to do so he will need someone to have their memory modified to truly believe Fragar is dead in case the consort tries to confirm by reading a memory. Fragar will also need the heroes to negotiate, steal, trick or destroy the contract that binds him to the August council’s service. He believes that House Hiyosai has records of the Contract Devil the Five Storms have employed for this as well as the ritual for its summoning.
Goals
Destroy the undead in the ruined palace of House Hiyosai.
Retrieve the Hiyosai artefact (guarded by the Archlich).
Turn or Remove Fragar from the August Council once and for all.
- Retrieve the ritual to summon the contract devil. (Held by Hiyosai Uchi)
- Bargain, Steal, Trick or Destroy Fragar’s contract binding him to the August Council in Jade.
Was thinking something along the lines of when the Eidolon is summoned gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to the Eidolon’s Con Bonus*Level.
Choose a number of skills equal to the Eidolon’s Int modifier, while summoned you are Trained in those skills. (Increasing proficient over time either with feats or some innate progression)
Building mechs is boring, lacks flavor, feels like a numbers treadmill (which might just be a deeper problem with the game), and also is too much like homework.
I’ll admit, I was excited for Agents of Edgewatch, but given recent events, and the long history that fuels them, is there ever a good time for an Adventure Path with player characters as Cops, especially in a game that doesn’t really handle non-violent solutions and de-escalation well?
Paizo recently released a statement, in support of the protests and their message. I know by now books are either printed or on their way to be printed and it would be a scramble or even impossible to cover that hole in the schedule.
I don’t have answers here, but I think it’s important that these concerns get brought up somewhere the company can see them and address them.
So last session in Jade Regent my players recruited a Tengu Sellsword. I described him as follows:
“Black raven feathers and long beak, wearing loose fitting clothing, at his side he carries a katana and wakizashi, a long sword and butterfly sword, on his back a nodachi. He wears a bandana around his head with a purple raven symbol, and strapped to his long bird legs are no less than 4 daggers.”
He was a fighter in a traditional (all-Tengu) adventuring party on his way to the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, but the party lost their sponsorship, and he’s the only one who wants to go on.
I want to go Fighter but what archetypes would most benefit a Tengu armed to the teeth with a bunch of cool exotic swords.
I am not a fan of the “smoosh two words together to make a class name” method of class naming. However I know that Paizo in the past has been tetchy about criticism of their class naming conventions.
If the class names are not up for feedback, that’s totally fine, it’s paizo’s game. But humbly, may we offer some alternatives:
Vanguard - It’s actually great. I’m totes fine with redefining words that exist for new contexts.
Hi folks, I remember there was a pretty large article on Casmaron in an adventure path not long ago, but my Search-Fu is weak, can anyone remember where that particular article is?
Does the game assume that there is a clock? That characters will be expected to always be facing multiple encounters in a day?
If the game assumes there is no clock, then that needs to be explicit in the GMing advice and playing the game section. This also needs to be the baseline assumption of challenge ratings (and challenge ratings should increase in any situation where there is a clock).
If the game always assumes the PCs are on a clock, then that needs to be explicit in the GMing advice and playing the game section. If a clock is assumed then the assumption of challenge ratings should decrease in any situation where PCs are not on a clock.
If this is explicitly noted in the rules it will assist GMs with understanding the power level of characters. Something that PF1E had trouble with.
During the Doomsday Dawn: Lost Star playtest my players got bogged down trying to unlock the door in room A6. The purification fountain.
DC 20 is an understandably difficult check for 1st level characters, three such checks are even harder, but then critical failures set you back two successes and break your lockpicks. My party had three sets of lockpicks between them, but the challenge basically took 10 actual minutes of tabletime.
In the meantime the players who *weren’t* trying to pick the lock were mostly growing bored after the initial couple of attempts and real life impatience caused them to bust through the other door.
In Pathfinder 1, my players could just take 10, fail then take 20, roll to see if a random encounter arrived in the time spent and if all was clear, moved into the next room and if the take 20 wasn’t enough they’d know the DC was too high for their skill and they’d go around the other way.
As it is the players are rolling dice when there’s no real stakes involved. It’s clunky. Three checks to unlock a door might work and add interesting tension in encounter mode, but exploration mode shouldn’t get bogged down.
The spell has a maximum duration of 1 minute, requires concentration in order to maintain/provide orders.
That maximum duration is pretty painful, considering it provides such minor tasks.
If the maximum duration is one minute then the spell needs to be a cantrip, so a caster can have their Unseen Servant provide all day cleaning services (even if it does leave them fatigued for doing so).
As is, why would any self-respecting spellcaster learn this spell, it would mean a maximum of 3-4 minutes cleaning per day. Barely enough time to clean your dishes, let alone cook breakfast.
Start with the fiction first.
Determine difficulty based on the fiction and circumstance.
For example:
It is a stormy night, and the duke's daughter has invited Valeros (Level 1 Fighter) to a secret tryst in her room.
Player 1: I'm going to look for a way into the lady's window.
It's a dark and stormy night, and Valeros has no darkvision or low-light vision. The GM looks at her notes (or improvises on the spot), there's a tree near the Princess' window. A tree is a fairly obvious thing to find so it's a Trivial Level 0 task (DC 9). It's dark (+1 severity), and it's raining (+1 severity).
GM: Give me a Perception check DC 12 (High Level 0 check)
Spoiler:
(The GM could make this a secret check, but in this case doesn't want to because they want their player to have fun today).
Player 1:Perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
GM: Great job Valeros! There's a brief flash of lightning, revealing an overgrown tree growing near the Princess' window.
Player 1: I'm going to try climbing the tree!
The GM knows that climbing a tree is a High Level 0 task, again the darkness and rain works against the PC (Severity increases twice to Extreme).
GM: Okay give me an Athletics check, DC 17.
Player 1:Athletics:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
GM: You fail to find any purchase this time. Fortunately the rain and the storm hides the sounds of your frustration, though you know the guard patrol is likely to pass this way soon. You can either try to climb again or find a place to hide before the guards patrol the area.
GM: Okay, a pair of guards approach your position. You recognize them as the ones you met earlier who ushered you into the Duke's feasthall.
"Who goes there?" Says the chubby one.
Player 1: "Oh hello there, it's me! Valeros, that guy the Duke hired to slay those goblins earlier. I thought I saw a goblin enter the keep grounds."
This sounds like a Deception check, definitely not one of Valeros' strengths. These are level 1 guards who are trained in Perception. It's not elaborate or particularly unbelievable (there were goblins in the town earlier after all).
GM: Give me a Deception check, DC 12.
Player 1:Deception:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10
GM: The guards look at you, look up at the window and the tree next to it. One of them rolls their eyes at the other.
"You're not the first adventurer to catch the princess' eye. Get out of here now adventurer and the duke won't have to hear about this, and I won't have to deal with the paperwork of transferring you to the militia cell."
Player 1: I count my lucky stars, and agree to leave.
GM: For sure, you head back to town alone. Thwarted. The princess' attitude towards you will worsen one step, she doesn't take kindly to being stood up.
Hero points are an interesting system but appear tacked on, they don’t interact with enough of the rest of the game to shine.
The guidelines for handing them out favor Good characters (selfless acts are called out as hero point rewarding behaviour). It entirely rewards “encounter mode” moments or out of game behaviours (I have no problem with that part).
But if you want to really put the RP into RPG, there are better methods of rewarding Hero Points and it exists in the class section of the book.
Each class has a: “Roleplaying your class” section, a list of common tropes for each class a player can use for roleplaying hooks and challenges for their character.
What if players received a Hero Point if they play up to those roleplaying hooks?
For example:
Bubblin Squeek, Halfling Alchemist has finally perfected a formula for a more potent acid. During the next foray into the Dungeon of Many Doors, he insists on using the new acid formula on every monster at least once to test its effects on multiple creature types.
This fulfills:
PF2E Playtest wrote:
Enjoy tinkering with strange formulas and alchemical reagents, often with single-minded dedication and recklessness that give others pause.
The GM hands Bubblin’s player a Hero Point for the good roleplay.
He notices however that he hasn’t handed many points to Amiri, human Barbarian. So when the PCs return to town to rest and restock the GM puts an arrogant merchant in the shop the Barbarian wants to pick up healing potions from. Playing up the preconceived notions of barbarians they have:
PF2E Playtest wrote:
Believe you have bizarre superstitions and poor education and might be illiterate.
Amiri’s player can reject or reinforce the merchant’s notions, but it provides her an opportunity to feel like a barbaric outsider in civilised lands and will get an opportunity to earn her hero point.
You could place these same hooks in for Ancestries and Backgrounds as well so that each character will have a unique mix of methods for earning Hero Points from roleplaying in a session.
Players can accomplish heroic deeds via Hero Points, but they earn Hero Points by Roleplaying. It’s a good loop and will provide great moments for the table.
Looking over the Skill Feat section there’s a feat called Close Match, Requires: Trained in Deception.
According to the text of this feat, it makes you appear younger, older, more like another race or androgynous. Humans could get this feat at level 1, other characters wait until 2nd for their first skill feat.
First: The problem with requiring “Trained Deception” to play an androgynous character is a problem. There are more than enough gigabytes of digital ink spilled about associating androgyny, gender fluidity and trans experience with deception, disguise and impersonation. This feat’s wording and existence needs another sensitivity pass.
Second: It doesn’t actually do anything. Nothing in the Impersonate activity mentions penalties for disguising as a different gender, race, age or even size. The only thing that comes close is opposed Perception checks gaining a secret GM determined bonus.
So not only have you printed a feat that’s hurtful for members of the community, it doesn’t actually doesn’t even do anything.
Please revise the feat (or remove it entirely), androgyny or non binary gender choices are best left as flavor choices, applying game rules to them is at best silly, and at worst deeply offensive. This will make for better more welcoming tables.
I see that Wizards are proficient in Light Crossbows but there is no Light Crossbow listed in the equipment table. I assume either the Wizard should be proficient in Hand Crossbows, or Light Crossbows are missing from the playtest document.
You're probably playtesting the various kit load-outs players try out, but in the full-release can we have quick equipment lists in the sidebar that lists hp, proficiencies etc.
Shopping is likely to be the part of character generation that will take the longest, and having a recommended list will help players not miss important stuff they might need (like thieve's tools for rogues, material component pouches for wizards etc).
They made sure to make clear ideas about comfort and consent around the table right away. This is fantastic.
Character sheets look interesting, I'll probably design my own because that's how I learn games, but coolest beans.
Bulk is entirely determined by 5 + Strength MODIFIER, and 10 + Strength MODIFIER. Why are there still ability scores in the game, as far as I can tell they don't DO anything. Just vestigial limbs. Confusing for new players.
Sign Language is a selectable language <3
Even though the game assumes Golarion as the setting, there's still notes like in Dwarves' "Racial Hatred" ability, telling GMs if there are other ancestries dwarves commonly fight they can be added as choices to the list.
Ability mods for smaller races have been improved to differentiate gnomes, goblins and halflings better. Very rad they already took that feedback in.
Half-Orcs went from Darkvision to low-light vision. Interesting.
Humans can get an ancestry feat called "Haughty Obstinancy", which I'm pretty sure is a fancy way of saying "Go Eff Yourself" lol.
Giant Language renamed to Jotun. I like it, it's a flavorful change.
Cute symbols for classes!
Class tables take up a column instead of a page width. Which is cool.
They've tied ability score boosts in with the class table (similar to 5e), but because they changed multiclassing, it means you'll get your ability boosts at the expected levels.
Class Feats are listed on a table along with their level pre-requisites. Can't wait to see a sortable table for each class as a tool down the line.
The alchemist gives a starter formula book. A godsend for rapidly getting a hero to the table.
Rage gives a number of temp hp equal to level + con mod, rather than level*con mod wonder how the math will shake out on that.
Dragon Totem is rad, eventually you get so mad you turn into a large dragon.
PF2 explicitly states that Bards replace Verbal, Somatic and Material components with their performance which is cool. It explains their spellcasting in a way 1e did not.
Rangers gain Hunt Target instead of Favored Enemy, the only issue I see is that the target needs to be within 100 feet, which makes their extra tracking powers a bit useless (it's rare foes will escape). I hope that changes to: "Or a target who's name and ancestry are known to you" so a ranger can hunt someone by their liege lord or whatever.
I really wish effects were listed:
Critical Failure
Failure
Success
Critical Success
(Most effective to least effective, easier to track).
There's been multiple instances of secret checks. Which I'm not a fan of as a player or as a GM. It means I need to have a copy of every player's sheet on my end too, and it removes yet another layer of transparency between GM and player. If you remove all the stuff about Secret Checks and instead have a section about metagaming and dramatic irony that would be more productive I think.
The DCs for various things like the Grab Edge action aren't listed in the skills. Again this is moving more of the responsibility of verisimilitude to the GM. Mixed feelings on this, GMs are fallible and if I give one character a DC 20 and a different one a DC 15 on a different turn because I forgot what I set the difficulty at could cause headaches.
Yet the DC for Identifying or learning spells IS listed in the skills chapter. That's weird.
"Ezren is a 5th-level wizard and an expert in Crafting. He has a
Crafting modifier of +10 and the Magical Crafting feat. With 13 days
of downtime ahead of him, he decides to craft bracers of armor 2nd,
a 4th-level item. The GM secretly chooses a DC of 17."
WHY IS THIS A SECRET? This is going to be my biggest bugbear in this playtest I know it. As a GM I hate this s**%, do I decide the difficulty class based on how likely it is I want an individual character to succeed, or base it on some universal constant or formula. And what does making the DC a secret accomplish in this situation?
Secret rolls for Dwarves and Elves for racial feats they might take. I don't like it. I thought we might be able to move beyond this, because one of the things I liked about Pathfinder is that players knew what to expect of the universe in some sense. But because I'm fallible, and I might forget the difficulty I made up a week ago during the last session of a game there might be weird difficulty spikes and dips for similar situations based on how I'm feeling at the time. Anyway, back to the skills section...
Yesterday I received a pending notification for some Starfinder and Pathfinder products. I specifically asked for my Starfinder RPG subscriptions to be cancelled.
However, the confirmation e-mail showed my Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder comics subscriptions also cancelled.
I would still like to continue my subscription for the Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder comics lines. Can this please be fixed?
Date LastDownloaded Date DownloadLast Updated Date AddedTo My Downloads
But nothing beneath it, no matter the product. It's more than possible someone else may have reported a similar issue, but I wanted to flag it just in case.
The Playtest hasn’t begun and I’ll gladly run the playtest as written no matter what the devs have decided. However, I do want to make a thread specifically about this topic because as a GM and player this is a matter near and dear to me.
What is Arcanist Style Casting
For those who are unfamiliar with the Arcanist the gist goes like this. An Arcanist learns spells like a wizard, from that list of spells they can prepare a limited number each level. When casting a spell they cast spontaneously like a Sorcerer using their prepared spells as their “spells known”.
Why this should be the default option
When I have new players try prepared casters for the first time, I have found one common error. They assume that’s how it works anyway.
Disclaimer! I know that my experience is not the default, nor is anecdotal evidence data.
However, there is something more intuitive about casting prepared spells in any combination rather than crossing off the spell after it is cast. Probably because popular fantasy fiction doesn’t depict the party Gandalf or Hermione Granger carefully selecting their daily spells ahead of time. (“I’ll probably need 3 expeliarmuses today! later that morningOh damn, all out guess I can’t disarm any dark wizard’s this afternoon.”) fantasy fiction shows wizards understanding the principles of magic, and then applying those principles as the situation requires. For clerics it’s even worse from a fictional positioning perspective.
It Means You Don’t Feel Stupid
When a wizard finishes a day with utility spells uncast, they feel like they wasted the spell-slot. If they are in a situation where they know the perfect spell but didn’t prepare it because the player can’t know exactly what situation they’ll be in during the adventuring day, they feel stupid. If you’re a cleric and didn’t prepare remove disease and you fail into a garbage pit full of filth fever, otyoughs and dire rats, you’ll feel unwise in your spell selection.
A wizard should never feel stupid, a cleric shouldn’t feel unwise because the player couldn’t anticipate what the GM was going to throw at them day to day.
With Arcanist style spellcasting, a prepared caster doesn’t need to feel like they wasted a prepared slot because if you didn’t encounter any magical locks, and knock went uncast you don’t feel so bad because you could still spend those casting slots on scorching ray.
It plays nice with heightening
The big new innovation for PF2E is that heightened spells offer additional effects. A prepared caster who prepared:
level 1 snowball, fly and magic missile
level 2 acid arrow, resist energy, knock
level 3 fireball, haste
Could find that when they enter the dungeon the wizard they’re hunting had summoned mostly fire elementals and devils to guard it. Normally, the wizard would be real unhappy because one of their level 3 choices has been ruined. Now however, that haste spell is valuable, but so is that clutch upcasted snowball which might scale to 5d6 cold damage, doubled on a critical hit, and additional bonuses against creatures with cold vulnerability. Against a single but very powerful elemental, extra actions are less useful than a juicy single target hit that might end the fight a round sooner.
The unspent fireball just becomes juice for a tasty damage spell, or a heightened resist energy that lasts longer or targets more allies.
It still rewards smart planning
Let’s say you have a more measured party, who does the research before kicking in the door of the dungeon. The clever player still can pick that perfect mix of spells that means they cast every spell at least once and were super effective. You feel clever for “getting it right”.
Its still different from spontaneous casting
Spontaneous casters should still have a limited pool of spells known, but be able to cast more spells of each level. Sorcerers (and theoretical oracles) with more spells per day (a meaningful amount, hopefully +2 per level) will be able to get those extra blasts out. The rare utility Sorcerer will still be able to unlock a whole castle by casting knock all day if that’s their jam.
