What are the stats for the automaton heritage? Any cool stand-out automaton heritage feats?
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Thank you! At least I know where this comes from and I'm not crazy. Also good to know I can Opportune Backstab with impunity :)
I'm hoping this will be a short thread, but I noticed something on HeroLab and I'm trying to figure out if it's something dumb that HeroLab is doing, or if it's a rule that I missed. I think either are equally likely. On Herolab, under each of my 10th lvl Rogue's individual weapon entries, there is a note: "Situational bonuses and penalties:
What is this about? Reading Opportune Backstab is reads: "Trigger: A creature within your melee reach is hit by a melee attack from one of your allies.
That's it. So, I'm wondering where HeroLab is getting that note about the -2 to hit with Opportune Backstab. P2E is very good about making a rule in one place and then never referencing it again, like we're all going to remember every situational rule every time, so that seems equally likely as HeroLab just having a weird bug, but I'd appreciate if anybody knows if there's something I'm missing. Thanks!
Prone is also doubly good on a rogue because it's flat-footed, it means your wolf is handing you your sneak attacks. First, not retraining Beastmaster. Disagreeing with my choice to go this way is beyond the scope of this build. Second, I appreciate the links, it makes having a conversation much easier. Third, I don't think I'd take either of those Feats. Preparation is an action that gives me an extra reaction. Considering I only have You're Next, that's not super helpful to give up an action on my turn for. Even if I had Opportune Backstab, it'd be giving up an attack to get an attack. Spring from the Shadows is nice to get a move and strike with one action. It's like a less flexible version of Skirmish Strike that allows you to get sneak damage if you were hidden. The downside is that, if I don't want to move, it's not helpful. If I am not already hidden it still gives me a move and strike for one action, but it comes at the same level as Bloody Debilitation, which I'd probably use every round. Since Gortle pointed out that reactions on your turn suffer MAP, I've been looking at other things and I think I'd use that feat every turn. Since I've taken Gang Up, I think I've attacked zero times (in melee) without Sneak Attack, so bleed damage seems pretty sweet to add.
Thanks! It seems the general consensus here is that, if you have an animal companion, you should make it as powerful as possible as soon as possible. Also, boosting my companion at this level allows it to keep within 1 AC of the Champion in +1 full plate for defense (with +1 light barding) and 2 points of AC higher than me, which is nothing to sneeze at.
I recommend against this combination...Kinda unproductive, don't ya think, given the character is already live in an ongoing campaign? Not every build has to be hyper-optimized and we really don't know if the party is actively supporting the animal or not, which seems like it would be good advice given the circumstances. Thank you. If you don't like that I've decided to play this character, that's fine, but it is beyond the scope of this thread. I'm not going to be retraining out of Beastmaster; it's super RP appropriate. I'm simply looking for advice on how to build the character which I'm going to play in a way that keeps this character as viable as possible. As for Gang Up, I thought about retraining it, but I like the option for sneak attack for rounds when the wolf has to move to attack (trip is an additional action) or when the wolf is tanking for the sorcerer and I'm helping the champion take down big targets.
*Update* After some consideration, I will likely do Indominable instead of Nimble (my GM will let me take Indominable since the only difference in Megafauna is that advancement) if I go with Incredible Beastmaster Companion
I have a character that I am playing and I'm debating what to take at 8th level for his Class Feat. He is a Human Rogue (Thief) with a Beastmaster dedication At this point he has: 1 - Twin-Feint
For his 8th level feat, should I take Opportune Backstab -OR- Incredible Beastmaster Companion? The animal companion is a wolf, so I would go with Nimble advancement, if I go that way. At 10th level I can't not take Precise Debilitation, so whichever I don't take now, I'll likely take at 12th, but that's 4 levels of adventuring we have to survive. Any constructive advice is appreciated!
I was looking at making a fighter who punches, grapples, etc. Why would someone take the Monk dedication over the Martial Artist Dedication and vice versa. They look pretty similar. So similar that I wonder why they wasted the space making the Martial Artist at all. Does anybody have any thoughts as to why you would take one over the other?
In the Athletics description it lists: Untrained - ladder, steep slope, low-branched tree
Does this not mean that you need to be trained to climb rigging/rope/typical tree? Or Master to climb a rock wall? If not, I would be grateful if someone can point me toward how this is supposed to work RAW. FWIW, I think that doing 15 damage to each character seems fair to me, assuming the catching character makes the Reflex save. EDIT: I think I found it. Is this correct: The GM sets the DC of a skill check, using the guidelines in Chapter 10: Game Mastering. The most important DCs to remember are the five simple skill DCs below. Simple Skill DCs
So, anyone can try to climb a rope, but, because it is a Trained task, the DC is 15?
So, I apologize if I've missed it, but I don't see anything that would give rules for jumping off of something and being caught. For example: During Encounter mode, Character A climbs down a 60 foot rope to the bottom of a dry well. Character B cannot climb a rope, not being trained in Athletics. If Character B simply jumped into the well, they would take 30 damage (distance fallen/2) and land prone at the bottom of the well. Are there rules for Character B jumping down and Character A catching them? Since it would be on Character B's turn, would that be Character A's reaction for the round? Would either character take damage? If so, who and how much?
The Cracked Die Podcast is an actual play podcast for Age of Ashes.
I have a different question about Canny Acumen: when a saving throw normally goes from Expert to Master, you also get the additional (success=critical success) ability. Does Canny Acumen also grant that ability at 17th level when it improves the save to Master? Or does it just provide a +2? That's what I thought, but I was hoping that there was something which I had missed that said otherwise. Thanks for the reply!
I have a different question about Canny Acumen: when a saving throw normally goes from Expert to Master, you also get the additional (success=critical success) ability. Does Canny Acumen also grant that ability at 17th level when it improves the save to Master? Or does it just provide a +2?
I'm not interested in the game per se, but I'm very interested in that way of multiclassing. Can you tell me something? If you multiclass, and become 1st level [insert class here], what do you actually get? Nothing at all and wait to get to 2nd level? At least spells, one would think. How does it work? For Stargate SG-1, they used action dice (a pool of dice that you can use to boost rolls) and all of these Core abilities (the ability that you only get if you take the class as your first class) typically effected how your character interacted with the action pool. For instance, when the Soldier spent one action die from her pool to modify an attack roll or Str or Con-based check, she got 2 dice instead. For the Scout class, you can spend one action die to grant one terrain feat you possess to the rest of your party for the duration of one scene. The Scientist class can spend one action die to grant one skill feat that he possesses to the rest of his party for one scene. Clearly, Pathfinder doesn't have action dice, but you could do something with Hero Points or give each class some ability that they each only get if you are taking that class as your 1st level class. For instance, maybe we do that with Domains for a Cleric, or Wild Shape for a Druid, or Inspire Courage for a Bard, or Weapon Training for a Fighter. There are a load of ways to make this work so that you could give each class some cool ability that represents their years of training without tanking the class for people who want to multi-class.
I would really love to see muticlassing done the way that the (pretty much unknown) Stargate d20 RPG did it. At first level in a class, you got a cluster of abilities that you only got if that was your first class level. So, a fighter might get heavy armor, martial weapon proficiency, and +2 Fort save as the 1st level only bundle. If you dip into it, you don't get those abilities, but you get the rest of what the class has to offer. That way, you don't have a ton of one level dips that can break characters. Also, it makes more sense that, if somebody has been training to get abilities for years and years prior to level one, a fight with a few goblins doesn't suddenly grant the same abilities as years of prior training. In case anyone is interested: https://www.amazon.com/Stargate-SG-1-Role-Playing-Game/dp/1887953957
As the Playtest gets closer, and I am setting up my Playtest games, I realize that I don't think I've seen anywhere that it has been explicitly stated how many players the PF2 Playtest is supposed to be for. I would assume that it is for four PCs and a DM, but is that correct? Will playing with three or five PCs make a huge difference? I can only imagine that a group's perception of the challenge level of the adventure or power level of a character is going to be skewed by adding in 25% more or working with 33% less PC power than intended. It's hard to gauge the validity of feedback when everybody is playing in a different way while, at the same time, it could be hard to see certain glaring weaknesses that might only be exposed when you add or subtract a player, like so many of us do in our regular games. I guess it will all come down to the feedback form. If a DM runs a group of six halfling barbarians, that seems like something Paizo should consider when evaluating their feedback. Paizo staff: How structured are you making the playtest and feedback? Other players: How many people are going to be in the group you are going to playtest with? Do you already know that your group is going to be weird in some way? Does your group have (as mine did in college) that player that is going to take one level of every class? Are you going to have nobody playing a rogue?
I've been pretty optimistic about the content put out for Second Edition so far, but these simplified stat blocks... I hate them. Please break out the AC, at the very least. I can't count how many times that information has been critical, especially in APs where it's hard to tell if the stat block represents having already cast spells per the creature's tactics. Has this wizard already cast his Mage Armor spell in this stat block or not? Is this counting in the fighter's shield bonus? If this attack bypasses natural armor, how much of the AC does it bypass? If this whip doesn't effect creatures with x AC points from armor, does it effect this creature?
Looking at how the rules are supposed to work for upgrading rooms, I believe that the upgrade to/from on the sports field(pg 102) and the battle ring(pg 95) are reversed. The battle ring is more expensive, takes more time to build, and gives an added bonus to combatants. It feels like the sports field should upgrade to the battle ring, and not the other way around.
Here's mine, without all the formatting (original submission had all the bold and italics and whatnot) Hunter's Collar
So, I am debating between a Barbarian who specializes in making balloon animals and a Ranger who specializes in hunting Barbarians who specialize in making balloon animals...
Gah! I did this, too. I originally had it formatted correctly and then removed it at the last moment for some stupid reason. Well, guess it's another year down the drain.
Boots of the Skittering Sorcerer
Right, but does it make any sense for the replacement and care cost for +1 swords for 100 people to be the same as buying 100 +1 swords? I submit that it does not, which is why I changed it in my model.
As a disclaimer, the following post is about the Mass Combat Rules as presented in the Kingmaker Adventure Path as well as the revised Mass Combat rules presented in the Pathfinder RPG compatible Book of the River Nations. As someone who has both played with the Mass Combat rules as well as is a DM in the process of running the Kingmaker AP, I have some issues with the system, many of which I'm sure you out there have had as well. I also know that there are similar posts out there, but this is my take on the system. For the purposes of my post, I have made the following assumptions: Assumption 1: The most effective way to increase the stats of a unit for the least amount of cost/consumption is to either add more soldiers to the unit, or make the unit up out of higher level soldiers Assumption 2: Your DM is using the size of your nation to limit the number of soldiers you can raise. Common sense would dictate that a nation of 100,000 people which can conscript its inhabitants probably has, at best, a standing military of 10,000 soldiers. For comparison, the US has about 1% of its citizens in the armed forces. For those of you not familiar with the AP or the Mass Combat rules, here is a short list of terms that you should know. Everybody else can skip down to the meat: CR - Challenge Rating
The Meat Okay, so, I've thinking about Mass Combat as written and I thought that the following made no sense: 100 lvl 3 fighters - CR 2 / 11 HP / OM +2 / DV 12 / Cost to Raise 1 BP / Consumption 1 BP
100 lvl 3 fighters w/ magic weapons & armor - CR 2 / 11 HP / OM +4 / DV 14 / Cost to Raise 66 BP / Consumption 66 BP
100 lvl 3 fighters w/ heavy horse mounts - CR 3 / 16 HP / OM +5 / DV 15 / Cost to Raise 1.5 BP / Consumption 1.5 BP
I think I've finally figured out both a.) why this is so out of whack and b.) what you can do to fix it a.) Why This is Out of Whack All standard armies without resources (as well as mounted armies) derive HP, Attack, Defense, and Cost/Consumption from the CR of the unit
in this way, a +2 bonus to OM AND DV AND 7-13 HP = 1 BP to raise and maintain Magic Weapons (and all other Resources besides mounts) have absolutely no basis for any cost increase.
b.) What You Can Do to Fix It I think the disconnect comes in two places: same cost for different army sizes and Consumption b-1.) Same Cost for Different Army Sizes For this, I would recommend saying that the listed cost to give the resource to the army as well as maintain that resource is for a Medium Army (100 soldiers).
b-2) Consumption To me, it never made any sense for it to have the same cost to enchant a magic sword as it does to maintain a magic sword. How many of you have played games with characters with magic weapons? I'm guessing plenty. In how many of those games did your characters have to pay 2000gp a week to keep your +1 sword working like a +1 sword? I'm guessing nobody. That being said, I accept the fact that equipping 100 soldiers with +1 swords and +1 armor is expensive. In gp, that's around 3k gp a soldier. If we say that a BP is worth somewhere between 2k-4k gp, then 65 BP is about the right amount to equip 100 men with magic weapons and armor. Now, how do we balance the Consumption to satisfy the game balance of having magic equipment without breaking the suspension of disbelief? in the above model, +2 OM and DV should cost about 1 BP in upkeep. However, the only time a player is really going to use Resources that give them a direct bonus to OM or DV is when they can't just get it by adding more soldiers to a unit. With that in mind, I'm comfortable for Masterwork or Magic Weapons to cost a bit more than that, since you can use them to beef up your army past what the population limits of your nation would allow. After thinking about it, I believe that upkeep should be the bonus to your DV or OM that the resource provides divided by 2, but modified by how useful the resource is. In the following, I've gone over every resource and given what I think the Cost/Consumption should be and why (Consumptions with an * are explained in the text): Fortification Builders - Cost 2 BP/Consumption 0 BP - These are guys who get to the battle early and use axes and shovels to dig in and fortify a defensive position. While it does provide a +2 bonus to DV, it does so only if the unit doesn't use all of its movement (situational). Also, you're already spending about 6k on shovels, axes, and training. Situational bonus plus expensive axes equals no Consumption. Improved Weapons - Cost 5 BP/Consumption 1 BP* - Masterwork weapons grant a +1 to OM. This is good all of the time. I would say this has an Consumption cost of 1 BP for every 200 men equipped in this way, but no less than 1 BP. Alternatively, if a unit had both Improved Weapons AND Improved Armor, the the combined Consumption cost is 1 BP per 100 soldiers. Improved Armor - Cost 3 BP/Consumption 1 BP* - Masterwork armor grants a +1 to DV. This is also good all of the time. As above, I would say this has an Consumption cost of 1 BP for every 200 men equipped in this way, but no less than 1 BP. Alternatively, if a unit had both Improved Weapons AND Improved Armor, the the combined Consumption cost is 1 BP per 100 soldiers. Magic Weapons - Cost 50 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Magic weapons grant a +2 bonus to OM. Again, this is always good. Since it gives +2 to OM, I'm comfortable with it costing half of that in Consumption. Magic Armor - Cost 15 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Again, magic armor grants a constant +2 DV. +2 DV = 1 BP. Healing Potions - Cost 10 BP/Consumption 0 or 5 or 10 BP* - In the text it states that soldiers equipped with healing potions can forego an attack turn to heal themselves, up to twice a battle. Since it's not like healing potions go bad, I would say that a unit with this ability retains it with no Consumption cost until it uses the ability in battle. Once it uses the ability in battle, the until can return to a city with the requisite buildings to restore either one (5 BP) or two (10 BP) uses of this ability, up to a maximum of two uses. This also means that, if a unit uses this ability once in a battle, it can only use it once more in subsequent battles until it replenishes its stock of potions. Mounts - Cost CR/2 BP/Consumption CR/2 BP + 2 - Of all of the resources, I believe this to be the most vaguely written AND the text as written doesn't match the sample armies in the stat blocks. I would make it read thusly: Add the CR of the riders to the CR of the mounts to get the mounted unit's CR. All values derived from CR use this combined CR. Mounted units gain an additional +2 to OM and DV. They also cost an additional 2 Consumption. Ex. 100 Lvl 4 Fighters (CR 3) mounted on Heavy Warhorses (CR 1) would have a CR of 4 (CR 3 + CR 1), 22 HP (5.5 HP for d10s x CR 4), OM +6 (CR 4 + 2 for being mounted), DV 16 (10 + CR 4 + 2 for being mounted), and a Consumption of 4 BP (CR 4 / 2 + 2 for being mounted). Poison - Cost 6 BP/Consumption 0 or 3 or 6 BP* - Just like healing potions, poison doesn't need to be replaced just because it's Monday. I would limit poison to 2 uses per battle and structure replacement just like healing. Ranged Weapons - Cost 2 BP/Consumption 1 BP - While ranged weapons don't add any specific increase to OM or DV, they do allow a unit to participate in an entire round of combat that it couldn't have otherwise. That makes it worth an additional 1 Consumption in my book. Chalk it up to arrows replaced after target practice. Shields - Cost 1 BP/Consumption 0 or 1 BP* - Shields give a +2 DV against ranged combat. While it is a +2, it's only for one round of combat. If the opposing army doesn't have range, it never even comes into effect. Because it is so limited in when it provides a bonus, if ever, I wouldn't make this resource cost any Consumption. That being said, if you REALLY want to make shields cost Consumption, I would say that the shields provide the +2 DV, but are rendered useless after providing the bonus and must be re-bought, like potions and poisons. Ships - Cost 10 BP/Consumption 1 BP - Like ranged weapons, this resource can give access to a type of combat that would otherwise be impossible, or even be used to bypass a city's walls (since you can't build city walls on the water border of a district). The +4 DV is tempered by the fact that these are useless in hexes with no water access. I'd divide the usual DV bonus/2 in half again, getting 1 BP Consumption, considering the situational usefulness of ships. Siege Engines - Cost 15 BP/Consumption 2 BP - Siege engines not only give a +2 OM bonus, they also destroy the fortification bonus that city walls and castles provide! I'd give it 1 Consumption for the flat +2 OM bonus and another 1 Consumption for the ability to go full defense and whittle away an entrenched army's fortification, whether you actually do damage to them or not. I hope this was helpful to those of you who are struggling with what to do with Mass Combat in your game. There are other issues that I have with the Mass Combat system as written, but, if response to this is favorable, I will address them in a future post.
Bracelet - allows you to detach your hand and swap it with somebody else's hand, gaining one Dex related skill of the second person
Marvelous Metallic Draught of Heat Balls ...
Wow, getting into the top 8 but not the top 4 is a double whammy. No prize but no chance next year? Ouch Indeed!
Wow, getting into the top 8 but not the top 4 is a double whammy. No prize but no chance next year? Ouch
Now that we know what common themes were, and that the judges were surprised at the lack of stuff from new books, I'm curious if anything was suspiciously lacking from the entries that made it past the auto-reject pile? Like, were there no/very few Neck/Shoulders/Feet items?
I do appreciate the time it takes for even one judge to look at EVERY SINGLE ENTRY, let alone 4 (ish?), but I have a concern, which may just derive from misunderstanding. If Neil has gone through all of the entries tagging them "Keep" or "Reject", does the second judge still look at all the rejects to see if they disagree with Neil or do they not even give them the time of day? I'd just hate for my Item That Does Stuff Upon Activation or Possibly Continuously to be dismissed just because the first judge didn't like it that much when the others may have loved it, if given the chance. Now, I'm not talking about entries that obviously disregard the rules. 1000 word entries that are descriptions of weapons with no formatting and in Mandarin (or Mandalorian?) don't need to be poured over by every judge just to see that they should be rejected. I'd just hate to see somebody's work thrown away because the first judge wasn't thrilled with a cape that is worn as a bib and takes up the neck slot instead of shoulders. Or, you know, whatever. Disclaimer - If somebody really did any of those things, it wasn't me, I just got lucky
Best of luck to all who entered! Especially me! But, you know, good luck to you folks, too!
So, would somebody PLEASE tell me where the heck the basement stairs of the fort at the end of the adventure come up into the rest of the fort???? I swear I have read the adventure cover to cover and I still have no idea where my players are supposed to find the stairs into the basement.
Do you put notes in the shipment asking the store owners not to put the products on the shelf until x date? Other then that I am not sure how you can control this at the store level. I used to work in a big book store and we would get boxes of books with a big, green sticker on the side of the box that read "Street Date xx/xx/xxxx". That way you knew the stuff in the boxes wasn't to be put on display until that date. Tuesday was always the biggest lay-down date. Also, that smug jerk, Robert Patterson always had his own personal lay-down dates when nothing else was released. I called Amazon today and actually got some great customer service. I told them I could just go down to my local shop and pick up the book instead of wait 2 months. They cancelled my order for me and gave me a $15 credit toward my next purchase ($15 being the difference between what I was going to pay at my local store and what I should have been paying at Amazon). Probably putting that credit toward Ultimate Combat in August :) |