Personally, I’d like it if SF2 diverged from PF2 in some core rules, and the soldier was basically a fighter but based on the new paradigms.
For example, if Stamina is core, the Soldier getting some abilities pertaining to that. Plus a higher emphasis on ranged and new weapon types, things filtered through that lens, but is still very recognizable as “fighter.” Maybe give them bombs, jet pack-based movement, but also things that a fighter could 100% have without being out of place.
Compatibility is great and all, but forcing SF to have essentially no overlap with PF is only to the detriment of both games. After all, if a class appearing in PF is enough to prevent that same role from being in SF, the reverse is also likely to be true. And given plenty of people won’t want to mix SF and PF to a high degree, that means you end up with two half-games instead two full games.
Might be interesting if they make ancestry feats something more akin to ancestry/background feats, to make it easier to just give base stats for a new ancestry without outright crippling them from lack of options.
Heck, maybe that’s where themes could go- instead of Ancestry feats, they’re Theme feats.
Regarding a lot of people’s back and forth about stamina, it’s presence in PF2 as an alternative rule, and bemoaning the lack of support alternate rules get, I feel like the *ultimate* solution is to have some of the PF2 alternate rules be the core rules in SF2. That way, the baseline experience is different between systems, while still remaining fully cross-compatible.
As a bonus, if each system has different mechanics getting the bulk of the focus, then people who want to play with stamina, or whatever, in PF2 can do so, with the benefit of all the resources of a second system supporting it.
Maddie shakes her head, "Nu-uh. They cane in right here," she taps the stone, "Buncha geomancy, lots of stone shape spells have been used riiiight here." she notes.
Yeah, I had a great time as well! I don’t have any complaints about the story or anything, though I do agree that Roger was probably on the top-powerful side overall, so I tried to fold that into my personal narrative as time went on. Perhaps, doing it again, I would have tried to play him far more inoptimally and never really nova the bosses, but that’s neither here nor there.
I’m not sure if any one particular storyline I enjoyed above the others, they were all good.
I had a great time, and hope everyone else did too.
Thanks again, and I hope to see you all again elsewhere!
So, the Gestalt feat allows you to gain the class features of a class 1/2 your HD, other than spell casting, or increase the class features you have by that amount as well (no cap). So, if you go to the extreme end of allowed classes, you get level 12+1/2 your HD=18. Then, Mythic Gestalt increases the bonuses you receive by a number of levels equal to your tier (though the bonus itself cannot exceed your HD). This means that you end up with the class features of a level 20 or 21 class. Finally, Arcane Archetypes and the free archetype rules means that you can grab, for example, a sorcerer bloodline, and gain all of its bloodline abilities (at level 20/21) for free.
The ultimate sorcerer-bloodline build, I would say, would probably use Crossblooded and Mongrel Mage, for two full bloodlines of your choice that change every day. You could also just use the Arcane Archetypes to gain a bloodline instead of using crossblooded, as well.
This might have been missed, and it's possible it's not covered in Seb's first post(I didn't read most of the rules, as they are more or less the same as the Dark Sun and Rise games, plus I wrote a lot of them myself), but
Each class can have two gestalt archetypes, in addition to the base class features.
What this means is, you keep all of normal class features and then *add* the ones from each archetype.
For example, Hamza has the Brutal Slayer and Vigilante archetypes for the Stalker. He has the class features of all three, base class and both archetypes.
Wait so I could go crossblooded sorcerer, snag both bloodlines with no penalties to spells known or will save?
I’d say that’s undershooting yourself. I managed to cobble together an unholy combination that granted me the level 20 abilities of three classes, other than spell casting, before I gave up on the complexity.
Oof. As much as it pains me to say it, I'm going to have to drop out. My character is just taking far, far too long to make compared to the time I actually have.
It’s sort of interesting. Normally, I always build with the intent of squeezing every drop of efficiency and power possible out of my builds, but with build restrictions this... extreme, I know that the real power limiter will be entirely my own time spent considering action, and any character I build will be insane, so I can build more for flavor (such as burning half of the gestalt, an Overpowered feat, and a Mythic Overpowered feat on a class that will have very little actual impact on the actual combat-effectiveness.
I would be interested, but unfortunately my schedule rarely allows for a fixed-time game. On the other hand, I can usually check in several times a given day to see if there's something to be said if it's via messages.
Okay, if we're dealing with a Wizard here, we'll need to do some work, but for working with Fireball, my Nuclear Sorcerer might be a good starting point.
The primary pieces of the puzzle are Fireball, Magic Trick (Fireball), and the interaction between Cluster Bomb and Concentrated Fire.
Do note that this depends on your GM being lenient and saying that you can apply Magic Trick before Mythic (not too unreasonable, I would hope).
At CL 20, you're throwing 10 2d6- 10-foot fireballs. Throw them all at the same place, and it deals 30d6 to a 5-foot radius sphere. With Mythic, this would hopefully increase to 30d10. But we're just getting started.
Widen means each of those mini-fireballs is doubled in size, and the damage jumps up to 5d10 each, or 50d10 total. Now, we take Spell Specialization, Varisian Tattoo, and Spell Perfection, pulling us up to 65d10. If we're an Exploiter Wizard, Potent Magic pulls us up to 70d10. Wild Arcana gives you 75d10, Elemental Bond boosts us to 100d10, and Channel Power + Empowered effectively doubles that.
Of course, that's just with a Wizard. A Sorcerer loses Potent Magic, but could be Crossblooded and with the capstone ability of Unique Bloodline, plus Blood Havoc as a bloodline power could get +4 damage/dice, for a base total of 95d10+380, at the low cost of 3 Mythic Power and a 3rd-level spell slot. Up it to a 4th level to Maximize it, a 5th level to Empower it as well, and an extra Mythic Power to deal a grand total of 1710+95d10 damage in a 5-foot radius.
Just a note, I have yet to finalize my spellbook/gear selection. That always takes the longest for me. Could I wait until/if I'm selected to do that?
Also, as I'm not entirely sure about the setup for the start of the first adventure, my current background is fairly light on how Alkorian ended up in Longacre, but that can be easily adjusted.
Appearance:
Alkorian is the picture-perfect image of a pureblood Chelaxian noble, with sharp, high features, dark hair, and violet eyes. While he prefers elaborate mage-robes, he's recently made several concessions based on practicality, and his current outfit primarily consists of a black and red tunic embroidered with runes and Diabolic imagery.
Backstory:
The child of Hellknight Jarad Grulios and Binder Viralane Leroung, both noble and well-off, Alkorian (not his birth name, naturally) always knew that Cheliax was, without a doubt, the greatest nation on Golarion. After all, no other nation could claim to have subjugated the Outer Sphere with their cleverness, could outwit even devils at their own game. No, Cheliax truly is deserving of its high status. Naturally, with a bloodline so pure he had Azlanti eyes, and taking after his mother's mind more than his father's strength, there was only one choice of career for the young wizard - an official Binder, in service of the Crown (may House Thrune stay in power as long as Hell itself stands!). Therefore, when given the chance to prove himself while putting down some ungrateful wretches, he jumped at the chance.
Questions:
1- Alkorian is in Longacre as part of an official convoy to put down the rebellious, treasonous mutterings that have come from the town lately. His academy was requested to send a few promising students to aid in enforcement, and Alkorian jumped at the opportunity to gain experience, prestige, and prove his loyalty to the Throne! So, he was promptly sent off to the distant corners of the empire. While his personality forbids him from admitting it even to himself, he is starting to get a little fed up in such a small town with so few resources for him to refine his Diabolism.
2- Alkorian thinks of Zltherai, a fellow student from his academy, as one of his closest friends (and rivals, to an extent, despite her emphasis on necromancy over summoning, like a proper Chelaxian). They have known each other most of their lives thanks to their parents, but she stayed behind to further learn in the academy rather than head out into the field and prove her loyalty, an act Alkorian thinks is somewhat cowardly.
3- Alkorian seeks to prove his loyalty to the mightiest empire on Golarion! Nothing else matters to him. (Okay, so he takes himself a little seriously, but he does mainly want to bring glory to both himself and the Empire)
I can confirm, Snowheart is an awesome GM, and for a while, the Way of the Wicked campaign I was in with him as GM was my favorite game on the boards.
As it stands, I think I'm going to actually dust off/adapt a backup character I had from that game, a Void School/Worldseeker wizard, which actually pair awesomely with Diabolist, as both of their coolest abilities (Worldseeker's reduction on Planar Ally costs, and Void School's Reveal Weakness) scale with Caster Level, not Wizard level. Plus, you know, they both fit thematically in.
Looking at potentially adapting an old character, Darivan Orlovsky. The question remains whether I'll keep him as a paladin, revert him to his original form as a Magus, or really switch it around and make him a wizard.
PC: Mladris
Class: Elven Hydrokineticist (psychokineticist) 8
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Pushing on too long
Story: After arriving in Turtleback Ferry en route to investigate Fort Rannick, our heroes pressed onward (after a brief scare wherein they thought the entire town were members of the Skinsaw Cult due to a recurring tattoo), only to be drawn into the woods by the sounds of a hunting party pursuing a wounded cat. After utterly destroying Rukus' hounds, the ogrekin made a despondent escape back to his farmhouse, with the party following along behind him. After a brief run-in with another ogrekin in the woods outside the Graul Farmhouse, the party ventured into the barn and managed to absolutely slaughter all the foes therein, rescuing the Black Arrows after a brief, but still quite damaging, fight with the ogre spider, leaving several party members with Strength damage, including the barbarian.
Making their way inside (and failing many, many saves to poison), most of the party had accumulated a lot of strength damage by the time they fought Mammy, who managed to escape after a short battle. Heedless of the sorcerer's worries about nearly being out of spells, and the impressive amount of Str and Dex damage held by the barbarian, they decided to press on, exploring the dining room and kitchen (and triggering the traps therein), before descending into the basement.
Hucker Graul started off his battle ferociously, nearly one-shotting the Ranger with a lucky crit on the first round of combat, then engaging with the barbarian for a short while before making a tactical retreat into the Tendriculous' room. Once the Ranger was back on his feet, the party pursued their foe into the next room, but stayed out in the corridor instead of going fully inside (with the exception of the Barbarian). After a couple rounds back and forth, the Barbarian was swallowed by the Tendriculous, Hucker Graul was at 1 HP and right in front of Mladris, and Mladris was low enough on health that one good blow would kill her.
In a truly epic move, the Barbarian clawed his way out of the Tendriculous' stomach with just barely enough damage, stumbling out of the plant's body just in time to deal the final blow to Hucker Graul before he could kill Mladris. Unfortunately, the next round, the Tendriculous managed to swallow Mladris, and, despite a heroic attempt (and many, many bad rolls) to save her by her party, she perished the round before the Tendriculous was 'killed' by a barrage of arrows, and the party went on to loot the bodies.
It was at this point we ended the session, and, as the party failed their Knowledge checks to determine the nature of the Tendriculous' self-healing, are in for a very rough time in the very near future as they try to retreat.
Someone had given a Beginner Box to a local youth organization I was a part of in high school. Unfortunately, it was used a grand total of one time. Then, a couple years later, I found my way onto the Paizo boards, joined some PBPs, and never looked back. Ironically, it was only last year that I actually first played IRL (other than the single game with the beginner box), and even then I was the GM.
Your best bet would to just multiclass past level 20, or to use prestige classes. Going Mythic after level 20 would be a good way to simulate continued power growth, though you may also be able to jury-rig something using the alternative capstones recently released.
I was incredibly turned off from 2e by the playtest, but I've heard that the final release actually turned out pretty decently, so I'm interested in trying it out!
I'd be most interested in trying Wizard, Cleric, or Champion.
Before you stands a terrible, wretched creature, whose entire life revolves around nothing more than perfecting itself and others through pain and mutilation, or simply inflicting pain on others for the sheer joy of it.
So far as I can tell with the book 6 cloud giants, though, is that they attack as a group and minor obstacle. I’m hopeful to use the mini as a boss of some form, to maximize the impact of it.
As the title. I'm running Rise for a group of my friends at college, but I recently got a handful of minis, the most notable of which is a Cloud Giant, and am interested in trying to use them. However, I'm not sure where I can insert one into the campaign. Ideally, it would be a fairly major battle. The natural time would be to replace Mokmurian with one, but I also can't figure out how to make that have story sense.
And I'm back! Xanesha was sadly not as deadly as I had kind of hoped, but that doesn't mean the party went unscathed!
PC:'MJ'
Class: Human Bard 7
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Being in melee range while buffing.
Story: So, after our valiant heroes set their recently-deceased comrade ablaze on the river, they backtracked to the temple of Erastil where they had previously gone for healing. However, when they found it closed (it was approximately 1 AM at this point), they decided to camp out on the street outside, bloody, half-dead, and with only the ranger's cheetah companion keeping watch.
They were rudely awoken by town guards, who took them in for vagrancy, locking them in a cell for the better part of the day while they decided what to do with them. Eventually, they released them, accompanied by two escorts (a phoenix sorcerer, our replacement PC, and a PC whose player missed a few sessions), with orders to track down the leader of the cult.
After a hard-fought battle with the scarecrow, ending with the golem taking off for the sea, and a harrowing climb up the stairs (the bell hit all four PCs, nearly killing half of them), they dispatched the faceless stalkers with ease, but still gave Xanesha plenty of time to buff.
They entered the loft, and after many failed will saves to notice the nature of Xanesha's illusions, wasted their round attacking air, and their first sight of Xanesha was when she had her spear thoroughly impaled in the sorcerer's chest (rolled a crit, really good damage, but I forgot to add in sneak attack and power attack), leaving their new party member at exactly 1 HP as we broke for the week.
When we returned, we had recruited a pair of victims/HP sponges one-off allies, a telekineticist and a bard (MJ). When it was Xanesha's turn, she left the sorcerer bleeding out (I rolled insanely bad on damage), then struck at the barbarian, with most attacks missing. After a very rough turn for X, with MJ the Bard's buffs proving incredibly potent, she struck back with a vengeance, downing the ranger's cheetah with a single blow, and taking MJ from full to dead over the course of two attacks. Her luck didn't hold out from there, as the (still hasted) party managed to slowly chip away at her health. She put up a good fight, too. Her attacks brought our barbarian to negative health, but stayed raging as a result of being half-orc. He dealt one final blow, then collapsed (bringing him to -17/19 HP), but Xanesha decided to cut her losses and fled the tower with exactly 1 HP remaining.
They managed to revive the sorcerer and barbarian before either died, but there was nothing that could be done for MJ or the ranger's companion. And, with both the Scarecrow and Xanesha still out there, it's almost certain they haven't seen the last of them.
Thanks for the stream! I was fortunate enough to win one of the giveaways, and as a college student GM with a budget of approximately 0 dollars, I can’t wait to see the look on my player’s faces when I pull out a real, actual mini for the first time.
I doubt anything is relevant to this specific thread at this point (considering it’s almost 5 years old), but it would stack with your STR modifier, not replace.
I made a Nikola Tesla inspired Wizard for a Kingmaker on the boards, but wasn't selected. Translating the real-life person to a character was kind of entertaining, though.
Other than that? Not really. At least, not beyond vague inspiration. Also, it depends on how you define 'historical.' I have a gestalt Fighter//Wizard in a Aleyssos game based on Athena, which is going pretty good, despite it being an unusual game in general.
My first true death! I feel like a full-grown GM now.
PC: Greccen
Class: Dwarf Fighter 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Walking into an ambush
Story: After the party's scrape with death at the hands of Aldern, they made their way to Magnimar, fought their way past the faceless stalkers at the Townhouse, and made their way (after a few day's delay) to the Sawmill. Once there, they spent some time trying to get in (knocking on the doors, mainly), then left and returned at night. After several rounds of attempting to break down the door to the lowest level, they finally succeeded, having managed to attract the attention of the entire sawmill. After a short conversation with the workers in the lower level, they left right before they were about to be attacked and tried to break into the main double doors. Surprisingly, they opened easily, opened from the interior by a pair of sawmill workers.
After failing their perception checks to notice anything suspicious, they entered the room, only to have the doors slammed shut and locked behind them, and beset by all of the cultists simultaneously. Following an incredible series of rolls, a cultist managed to get off a sneak attack crit, rolling nearly max damage, and a few more rolls, and Greccen was on the floor, and bled out a few fairly anticlimactic rounds later. His player decided to let the death stand, and Greccen was set afloat on the river and set on fire (which is what my players decided was an appropriate burial).
Yes, I will confess: I do like science-ing everything (I'm a Physics major), and while I do like the mystery of how exactly magic works, I'm trying to piece together why it works the way it does as to add a little extra bit of fun for my players if they piece together some of the secrets of the underlying world.
(I'm also working on building a rational homebrew setting, so this is partially for that)
Greetings, deities and adventurers alike! Have you ever wondered what Magic really is? Yes, of course it's magic, but that's hardly a satisfying answer.We want to figure out some sort of actual rules for why magic is the way it is, and what that means!
So, just to get it out of the way: this is a bit of a work in progress. There's areas that need refinement, other areas I still want to work on, but this is just about the basics of understanding what Magic is and why it works. In addition, because I'm trying to synthesize the general 'concept' of magic as a whole, taking into account numerous sources (primarily Pathfinder, but also more generic fantasy magic), it may not work perfectly for any given example, but that's fine. My main goal is to get a good baseline, that can be refined in time. So, what are qualities of magic that need to be explained? Let's define our parameters.
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1- Magic is a thing that exists and can affect the actual, physical world.
2- Magic can break through the physical world and into other realms or locations (teleportation, for example)
3- Magic can last 'forever' in some conditions, but can also affect things only momentarily.
4- Magic has no respect for the laws of thermodynamics.
5- Magic can be stopped before it forms (counterspells), and it is possible to find an area where magic simply doesn't work or exist, with no apparent barrier between where it does work or doesn't (anti-magic and dead magic areas)
6- Magic can be impeded or enhanced selectively (some kinds of magic can be selectively stopped while leaving others unaffected)
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There's more as well, but those 6 points will be a good place to start our fundamentals. So, here's my hypothesis:
Magic is a other-propagating wave, originating from other planes of existence, that those who can use Magic can manipulate to affect the physical world.
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Magic, like all waves, though, requires a medium to propagate through, and unlike light, it is not truly self-propagating. Instead, it propagates through other waves of magic. (Confused? Welcome to any high-level physics) Basically, Magic, in order to affect something, travels perpendicular to other waves of Magic, each allowing the other to continue moving. Think of it like a woven piece of cloth, with each thread supporting and being supported by those around it.
Therefore, in areas with large amounts of ambient Magic, spells can move quicker and be more powerful. Areas with no ambient Magic, for whatever reason, cannot have magic introduced to them without a concerted and very careful effort, because there is nothing for the magic to propagate through. Perhaps ambient Magic waves can be specifically attuned to allow for the propagation of some magic but not others, or you can use a spell to counter or disrupt another spell, by affecting the Magic that it's traveling through. Spells that last longer include waves automatically travelling perpendicular to each other, allowing them to exist longer by utilizing itself in the maintenance of the Magic's structure.
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So, that covers what Magic is, but that's only half the picture. Where does it come from? Well, my hypothesis is that it originates from an alternate plane of existence. You know how in Doctor Strange, it's explained that magic is just energy drawn from other realms of existence? Basically that.
For whatever reason, within those who can use magic, there is a portal to another realm of existence (let's call it a Slip), and that Slip is where Magical energy comes from. When Magic is used, the user draws energy from their Slip and shapes it, sending out shockwaves in the surrounding Magical energy, directed towards a specific purpose. Once it reaches its goal, the Magic coalesces and, depending on the exact pattern of magic, affects some sort of physical change on the world. Or, alternatively, opens up a new Slip, allowing energy, matter, or both, to travel between realities.
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What do you all think of my hypothesis? Does it fit what is typically seen in fiction/RPGs? Do you like it? Does it make sense? What further insights do you have for the nature of Magic? If this proves popular enough, I'll keep doing posts like this, on the nature of Magic. I have ideas for the origins of Slips (including why I chose that name), breakdowns of different schools of Magic (along with analysis of other casting traditions), the origin of Magic from other realities, the nature of magical items, and lots more. Let me know what you'd be interested in hearing about.
Dang. I need to step up my spell game, it would seem. Here I was, putting different magical abilities not as an array. It’s kind of an interesting way of expression not really possible with Pathfinder, and one with an intentionally glaring weakness. When you’re a master of transmutation, how easy would it be to rely solely on your magic for everything?
Does that hold true for any Growth? Not sure I’ll use it, but I am considering picking up a shapeshifting familiar at some point, and it would be nice if Growing into something huge meant I didn’t have to lower my starting STR/STA to keep it under 5.
The original Christmas story has loads of room for adventure. There is an evil foreign king intent on killing the prophesied new born rightful Aasimar ruler of the land. He even goes so far as to proclaim an edict that all children under two years old should be killed. There could be a lot of fun in saving those children, helping the baby king escape, and fighting evil henchmen backed by demonic influence.
There's room for plenty of NPCs like the Three Eastern Magi who need to escape too, a collection of Halfling Druids with bonded Sheep, and a host of Trumpet Archons with a Star Archon in command.
