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I was inspired by the Player's Guide to expand one of the prologue adventures into a full adventure. So here's A Night At Valdemar Manor a prologue adventure for Seven Dooms for Sandpoint.
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
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:
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!
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.
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.
***
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?"
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.
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.
To be Continued...
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.
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...
Do you get tired of the predictability of PF2e? Do you want to use all your shiny math rocks? Then let me introduce you to Dice Based Proficiency! Instead of adding that boring static Proficiency bonus you're gonna roll the dice! Untrained: No bonus
But Dudemeister I'm scared! Okay, fine for you weenies out there who prefer a bit more of a bell curve: Untrained: No bonus
Will this mean more critical hits and critical fumbles? YES! But you only live once, why not get a bit swingy with it?
Hi all, 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.
If you'd like to follow the project bookmark johnpocalypse.com 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
What if I play Pathfinder 1e or D&D 5e
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!
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."
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
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
The Current State of the Campaign
What you'd like to accomplish during the Sword of Valor Adventure
What do you know of the forces arrayed against you?
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
Format:
The Crusaders
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.
Sundered Wave spoilers below, please be aware. 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)
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.
Encounter 6: Giant Pirate Skeleton (Creature 8)
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 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
Intelligence and Constitution specifically. 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)
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. Witchwarp:
Biohacker:
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.
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: 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: 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. Player 1: I'll try again. 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.
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: 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.
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.
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: 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.
This was brought to my attention elsewhere. 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.
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.
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:
(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
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...
Good day Customer Service Team, 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? Kind regards, John K.
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! Oh 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.
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:
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. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
Please let there be some method for every character to self heal, short rests in Starfinder to recover stamina are great for this. They let players recover hit points between fights, and recharge some abilities. It means you don’t need a dedicated healer (but are at an advantage if you have one for buffing/condition removal), and the wand of CLW can stay in the past where it belongs.
Is it possible to make the game so the players make all rolls? Monsters and NPCs can be given static statistics that players need to roll against, instead of PCs having static AC players gain an AC bonus they add to a d20 roll vs monster’s static attack number (11+ Attack bonus), and players gaining a Spell attack bonus vs NPCs static saves. This really helps free up the GM to focus on narrative and tactics, speeds up monster turns, and keeps players active and engaged when it’s not their turn. I think it would be a fantastic change to implement in Pathfinder 2nd Edition.
Hi everybody, next year a friend of mine wants to run a campaign based in Iblydos and heavily focused on Ancient Greek style myth. I want to build a warrior type character who might not be the strongest, fastest or smartest but is basically the most invincible. So I'm looking for tips on how to create someone who is nigh-unkillable and I'm willing to sacrifice offensive power to do so. My requirements are: Primarily Warrior-type class levels (Barbarian/Fighter/Brawler etc)
I actually don't care that much about AC, as I think it'd be thematic to take hits regularly and just soak them up. I know these boards know how to build an Achilles without that dodgy heel, show me what you got.
So I’m currently running Jade Regent and my players are at a point where they are in a tomb where many worshippers of Desna were once interred. I am putting a bonus puzzle in the dungeon where they can attempt to cleanse the tomb of an evil infecting it, however to do so they’ll have to open up some sealed crypts. The crypts can be opened by using the combination of two keys:
So what I’d like is for people to give me a bunch of Birthdates, Death Dates and Epitaphs for Desna worshippers. Some will be Absalom Reckoning, others will be Imperial Dates. For example: Shei Shen
So what effect do you think a rule that says: 1) Every Odd Level you gain a Combat or Metamagic Feat
With so many feats out there so many go unloved because they have to come from the same resource pool as the combat and metamagic feats. How much of a power boost is this? 2) What about a rule that says that once you qualify for the pre-requisites you immediately gain the the next feat in a tree? So if you pick Two-Weapon Fighting, as soon as your Dexterity and BaB is high enough you gain Improved Two-Weapon Fighting? There are so many feats you guys, shouldn't it be easier to play with them? 
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