Craig Bonham 141's page

The City of 7 Seraphs by Lost Spheres Publishing. A Planar Metropolis specifically designed for exactly what you're asking for. It's a massive tome with incredible art and absolutely cool and interesting character options. Lots of fluff, lots of crunch.

Being played in our game. A trollkin lunch-lady. Combined with the cook archetype for Blacksmith from Spheres of Might. Works very, very well. And is really enjoyable to play with. Good fit for my half-ogre Bio-mancer for whom I took the Gluttony flaw.

High-level play has sucked in every variant of D&D produced to date and PF2 shows no signs of breaking that trend based on the current rule set.

In your experience. My group has successfully and happily played a dozen or so campaigns up to 20th level with Pathfinder. It's been a blast and honestly I've thought that the focus on the lower level end of the power spectrum was a little limiting and honestly boring.

I play this game to play heroes. Big, bold, bright stars that make a difference. Now, if you don't dig that, it's easy enough to limit your game to the lower tier options. But it's harder to play what isn't provided.

So while everyone is welcome to express their opinions however they like and I will do my levelheaded best to read them all and analyze them in an unbiased fashion, being less hostile is probably a way to increase your chance of success (basically, Diplomacy works better than Intimidation at getting ideas across for someone to change the way they are...

That makes total sense. People should be aware that if they act beastly that the impact of their words will be lessened due to their vitriol. And if they aren't aware of that well....tough poots on them.

I wouldn't be surprised if the vocal hostility that seems to fill every single thread had something to do with it. They have tried to get player and customer feedback before and the forums were so lacking in constructive criticism that it all seemed to stall.

I know reading these forums makes ME less likely to take part in the playtest process.

Hopefully it is just the just con schedule and technical problems.

The thing is, hostility to 2e is legitimate feedback. There is a portion of the fan-base that want to have nothing to do with this new edition. They get to vocalize this. And Pathfinder should want them to so they can be aware that there could be some impact to the size of the audience they're selling to.

Trying to dismiss that voice isn't going to help 2e at all. It's simply trying to deny that 2e might not have the same number of fans that 1e did.

I currently have a player who has a 17th-level slayer with archery feats and sneak-attack feats. He has an eversmoking bottle, a goz mask to see through smoke (and party allies with goz masks as well), and he can, with little effort, do a full attack that deals 60 damage per arrow after being buffed by the bard, by haste, using manyshot, DR penetrating feats, rapid shot, a holy enchantment on his bow, and the several ioun stones spinning around his head, all while being hidden by smoke that prevents him from being targeted by the enemies. I've nerfed this combo by modifying the eversmoking bottle, but every week I get a new combo from him that he usually gets from the internet and hasn't created himself.

I love PF1; I've run it for 8 years; and I'm ready...

That's a player/gm issue, not a rules issue. Once PF2 has been around for a couple of years there will be these same combos and the like. Because Paizo will create new content and someone with the eye for it will figure out how to work it into something truly impressive.

Changing the rules isn't going to change the people. It only gives Paizo a chance to sell us much of the same, but with modified mechanics. Which is smart for them. They are a business. They gotta sell to be successful.

I am a PF1 GM, and what strikes me about the OP is that everything is from the perspective of the player wanting to be powerful, and without consideration for whether it might break the balance of the game.

I have GMed high-level PF1 and it can be exhausting -- not only having to be familiar with all the players' abilities, but also having to adjust published adventures to account for the ways my players find ways to combo and break the game. I approve of much of the direction PF2 is going in as a result. (That said, I would like the individual choices to be powered up some within the current structure; Skill Feats in particular are not very exciting at the moment.)

I think you have hit on exactly what the disconnect is for the OP.

He wants to have fun. He wants to play a wild and loose game with lots of options at his fingertips. He wants to be able to come up with a concept and through delving into the rules find a way to make it happen.

And PF2 isn't about that. It's designed for you. For PFS play. It's designed to put a brake on the wild and wooly designs. See, no design can break a game. You're the GM, you have everything under your control, you have the entire universe at your fingertips. But, if you don't want to have to study as much as the player does, if you don't want to have to keep up with all the various options out there then it can be difficult to keep the game balanced. So you, and others, look to Paizo to do it for you.

And they have. Slammed a big fat brake on the way options and the like can be applied. Limit starting stats. Hamstring what "multi-classing" actually means. Etc. Etc.

And to you, this is a good thing. And that's fine. You can run the game that you enjoy and possibly that your players enjoy. But it's not going to be fun for OP.

The change in the rules isn't for everyone. Some folks will be just better off finding a group that is sticking with PF1.

Craig Bonham 141 wrote:

Ssalarn wrote:

... and nexus, since those classes offered a much broader chassis that could support a lot more playstyles and concepts. Now that the zodiac is available, there should be very few akashic concepts that don't have significant support, from defensive nature casters to versatile summoners to full on wizard replacements.

Nexus rules so hard.

How so?

By being awesome. Fun. Effective. Full of flavor and style.

... and nexus, since those classes offered a much broader chassis that could support a lot more playstyles and concepts. Now that the zodiac is available, there should be very few akashic concepts that don't have significant support, from defensive nature casters to versatile summoners to full on wizard replacements.

Nexus rules so hard.

If only characters only had to worry about hit points, yes, Vitalist could be considered OP. But, nope. Imagine the party runs into some Shadows. Strength damage. Now take a look at the powers available to a Vitalist and help the party handle that in combat. Vitalists do hit points GREAT. But negative statuses and ability damage? Yeah....not so much. It's a nice balancing aspect.

I think Necromancers of the Northwest has some mythic items and the Four Horsemen as well. Others might include Fat Goblin Games, Lost Spheres Publishing (pretty sure they have at least one product that involves mythic items in some fashion), and Rite Publishing.

Hope that helps.

CB

Yeah, I have some of the NNW stuff. But I'm looking less for Mythic Items and more the Legendary Abilities you can add to items when you chose the Legendary Item mythic power option from the Universal Path. Thanks though.

Bueller? Bueller?

I have the offerings from Legendary Games and Genius that added a few Legendary Item abilities for mythic play. Have any other publishers created new Legendary Item lists?

Mythics. I want Mythic.

I want new mythic paths.

Mythic feats.

Mythic awesomeness.

Is it August 2018 yet?

I am so honking jazzed about this. Was jazzed before. But Planar Magic and Planar Feats to boot? Oh hells yeah.

Kytons.

Lots of them.

With art that makes you clutch your body and shudder at the nightmarish horror of what could do that to itself and others.

Something that would make Clive Barker throw up in his mouth.

I am an options junkie. I like sitting down at the gaming table and having 40 class options and as many races : ) So long as the options are quality material I embrace the new : )

This. So very, very much this.

Seven new races. And I could happily play each of them, which is kind of odd for me. But something about these are just calling to me. So...hmmm, do I start playing suicidal characters so I can get to them faster or invent new days of the week in which to play?

The shadeships are powered by Orrery Engine which take power or life force (in the form of spells, power points or Con damage) and heighten the will of the user to be able to visualize so powerfully they can achieve super-luminal speeds and collocation between other planes. While similar to the arcane ships of prior editions they will have some of their own flavors. The Coinspinner herself also is a biological construct and has additional oddities.

So we are looking at something that A) Can be used by non-spellcasters and B) Can be used to travel dimensions and planets?

Is the core class a paizo class or 3rd party?

Lost Spheres is a third party publisher so, 3rd party core class.

Since it looks like the book is more setting heavy I would be surprised if there was going to be any new classes.

Funny you should ask! Something nifty this way comes by way of Lost Spheres. Very planarly, I suspect as it's been described it will fit beautifully into most planar campaigns. And, so far they've revealed one core-class (available to backers for playtest) and two races. More has been teased.

City of Seven Seraphs

I sooooooooooo want this!

Anetra wrote:

While I don't know what you might specifically be concerned about,

It's not so much concern, as that I have those two voices in my head, the one saying: "yay, finally, Planescape 2!", while the other is saying: "Oh come on, they better try something else, because noone can even come near to the heights reached with the Planescape setting." My brain is weird this way, and I'm not sure if you should even try to produce something that satisfies each of both voices. ^^

But to hear that it's on the plane of Shadows makes me even more excited, because that's probably my favorite plane and this might make it just a bit easier to introduce the City of Seven Seraphs into my own homebrew, which is very much cut off from large parts of the planes system. The Shadow plane being one of the few exceptions.

Hi. I'm a play-tester for the City of 7 Seraphs. Yeah...it fits real well as an add in to any homebrew. Since it's on the Plane of Shadow (one of the Transitive Planes) it's way easier to see it as being more "connected" and "available" when compared to places a little more planarly far-afield.

Also, part of the story is that the Lattice, the road on which the City is based, was very damaged quite some time ago and has been in a state of repair. So it's a super simple declaration of "Hey, the portal plaza that connects to Setting A has just been fixed. Welcome to the new, shadowy, kewl, awesome."

Pledge number 100!

I do find it interesting that you lump "Christianity" and "conservatism" together with "misogyny". Are you saying there's a connection? Or just that they're things leftists talk smack about?

Just things that leftists often talk smack about.

There's a very strong undercurrent in American culture that "rights" only apply to "people like us." (I usualliy see this as an article of faith among the Right, but there may well be a group of Leftists that feels that way, too. I don't know.)

There is. Freedom of speech only seemas to apply to those who agree with the regressive left. Talk smack about the evils of Christianity, conservatism, misogyny, etc, and you're A-Ok. Start to argue against any allowed leftist talking points and you're a horrible person who should be forced to shut up.

16. Clearly Kytons are merely engaging in the valid form of self-expression known as body-modification. Stop being so judgey.

Other Rite Publishing feats are scattered across many products, and not just in one place like 101 Feats. Every race guide, class/faction guide and other Rite Publishing supplements include feats along with everything else.

Here's a link to d20pfsrd.com list of all posted Third Party feats.

Thank you for that. I do go there to check stuff out for buying. Do you know of any not on that site? It seems it's more common for 3pp to not be on it than on it.

I have Rite's 101 feats books, Rogue Genius' feats, Lost Sphere's feats, and I'm looking for more. Any suggestions for good purchases? Especially anything that helps amp the Intimidate skill.

Thanks for the review Craig Bonham 141! Glad you liked the flavor as well as the mechanics!!!

Sending you a PM re: the nitpick.

Not "like", LOVE.

There is also King of the Ring by Little Red Kobold.

Any chance for a Pathfinder version?

Reviewed Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Favored Class Options, Mythic Paths of the Lost Spheres and Thunderscape:World of Aden.

Much respect to Forest Guardian here. And thank you for pointing out that yes, there are more steps to the process than I understood. Like I said, I don't want to be a jerk here. I really enjoy 3pp stuff. Use it in all my games. Currently running a Direlock and an Aegis in the two campaigns I'm playing in and one of the characters in the campaign I'm running is well..a WHOLE bunch of stuff, a lot of it 3pp.

Oh, I never meant print run stuff. I completely get that there can be a very cost-prohibitive aspect to that. I only meant pdfs.

And PDG, yes I have had "communication" with two of the publishers to the point that yes, I know they're aware of the issues. Which is why I asked. But some of these answers above at least let me know what might be happening. Thanks.

This is not me trying to put anyone on blast. That is completly not my intention. But I want to know something that has been bothering me. There are a number of products I've purchased from a number of folks that have had issues. Editing problems. Missing Data. Incorrect data. That sort of thing. And these are products that are a couple to a few years old. And I find out that the creator's of said products are aware of the issues, have been for some time.

So, here is my quandry.

I like the 3PP stuff. I really do. And I want to continue to purchase it, but as the guy who is shelling out the cash I'd love to know why this sort of thing doesn't seem uncommon. I'm goign to assume there is something about the process that makes it reletively a pain in the neck to update these items. Or that after X amount of time sales go down to the point where updates aren't cost effective. Or that changing a pdf with all the layout stuff is a major pain in the neck. I don't know.

But I'd really like to. I have sort of developed this "Well, if X or Y doesn't care enough to update this stuff I'm not sure I care enough to continue to buy their products" and I don't want to be in that frame of mind. I like a lot of what I've bought and I'd like to continue to buy more.

The Grimoire mentions zero level spells but there aren't any on thelist.

More mythic feats.

John Brazer Enterprises did exactly that.

And.....purchased.

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Okay, I know I have asked about cross-pollination of 3pp stuff before but this one doesn't seem like such a big deal and I'm curious if any 3pp would be willing to do it?

If you create classes as part of your offering what about creating the Favored Class benefits not just for the core races, but races from other 3pp? Or visa versa?

I ask because as I sat last night, putting together my Lizardfolk (from Kobold Press) Aegis (from Dreamscarred) I sighed yet again that I had only the base options for favored class bonus.

My group uses 3pp and we don't only use 3pp from one publisher, I doubt most people who have embraced 3pp restrict themselves to just one publisher. And a little cross company support is only going to encourage me to buy more.

I'm loving Liber Influxus Communis. Some fun new classes to really expand playing options outside of the accepted archetypes.

Still a big fan of of It Came from the Stars. Love the flavor and the style. Still hoping for more.

I don't think I'd enjoy playing Mythic if it wasn't for Mythic Paths of the Lost Spheres. I thought the mythic options were horrendously limited when they came out and this book really opened it up for me. I'm still hoping for more.

I'm one who doesn't really enjoy replaying classes but The Genius Guide to the Godling is one I have revisted a number of times and the only reason I'm not playing it in the current campaign is it was disallowed (for flavor reasons).

Lastly I have to shout out Thunderscape. The Golemoid, the Fallen, the races, the gadgets, love it all.

You can always do what big corporations are fond of, go to foreign nationals who will charge a small percentage of what locals charge.

I spray female hippo mating pheremone on Goat Toucher and let nature take its horrific course.

I've already been in a game where everything (races, feats, spells) except for skills from the Core Rulebook was verbotten. It was fun. Really gave us the encouragement to run new stuff, out of the box stuff. I say go for it.

I don't know if I have a top ten but there are a number of 3pp products that merely whet my appetite for more of the same.

1. It Came From the Stars. I want more symbiot feats, more equipment, more monsters and more MORE.

2. Mythic Paths of the Lost Spheres. I want more. My major beef with the Mythic Paths provided is I more often had characters that fell outside the presented archetypes than in. Lost Spheres opened it up so that you could really play Mythic without having to have such a limited box of toys to choose from. Want more.

3. Deep Magic. Good book. Big Book. But a big book with lots of concepts only slightly explored. I want more Ooze Magic. I want more Clockwork Magic. I want more of all the awesome presented within. And I'd also like some of the missing spells.

4. Divine Channeler. A favorite of my group. I'd love to see options for the subdomains so we can get even more play out of this class.

I enjoy using as both a player and DM 3pp races, classes, archetypes, spells, feats and occasionally magic items. I've grabbed a couple of Campaign settings but that's for the races, classes, etc included therein.

I don't tend to use monsters for an absurd reason: Art. Paizo spoiled me when it comes to presenting new monsters with really awesome portraits and the lower quality of most 3pp art turns me off. Like I said, I know it's an absurd reason. Art is expensive as hell to add in to a book, and a monster book is more art heavy than most.

I never use Adventure Paths, but that's across the board, Paizo and 3pp.

Now, that's what I use, what do I use them FOR? Increased options. A wider array for my players to pick from so that they can play the characters they want to play. Playing a Conduit, Godling or Vizier is significantly different enough from the Paizo offerings that they bring an appreciated diversity to our games.

Never allow 3pp!

Ummm...this is the 3pp area of the boards.

All that aside, are the other players having an issue with it? Maybe they enjoy their characters and don't mind having an Alpha rock the most damage. Is he fun and a good add to the table? Then likely he's bringing more than he's taking away.