Darth Bass's page

Absolutely WatersLethe. Kobolds would have been perfect!

I also wouldn't have as much issue with Goblins if they had a written reason to integrate.

Space Goblins in starfinder make sense because they have had centuries to get their stuff together. But in Golarion, especially Doomsday Dawn, they timed it even before Rise of the Runelords. Right in the evil-goblin time line.

For example, here is a blurb about Goblins right from the first couple of pages of the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

"Goblins have lived along the Lost Coast for as long as anyone can remember, but that certainly doesn’t mean they’re welcome. Viewed as pests by most and monsters by all, goblins’ reliance on the garbage of greater societies has ensured their simpering, cavorting proximity to better civilizations since the start. Goblins are naturally craven, gleefully foolish, and ever eager to visit atrocity and pain upon those they encounter, a combination that one might think would have led to their eradication by their betters long ago. But goblins are fecund and stubborn if nothing else. Much to the distress of the rest of us, goblins are here to stay."

People being disruptive at the table is always a hassle but that is a player problem not a game mechanic. The GM should put their foot down and tell said player that being a goblin is no excuse for their actions. It runs somewhat parallel to the CN=Chaotic Stupid problem I see on occasion. Goblins don’t have an intelligence penalty so they should not be played like they do. To me it was always pretty apparent that goblins’ problems were largely due to their culture. If integrated into “normal” society they could easily adapt. That’s my take anyway.

I’d also like to add that I’ve seen people play gnomes just as disruptively “because they’re eccentric” but no one complains about that.

Sure! There will always be those folks who derail, but even gnomes don't have the written-in pyromaniac tendencies. I can put my foot down, but goblins have a canon, pre-written excuse to be obnoxious and there are players who have taken advantage. And because of that written excuse, if I push too hard, I am stifling RP. Sure that wasn't every case, and most calmed down after I asked them to, but they weren't wrong in saying that's how goblins act.

I only have a slight nitpick on the goblin thing. Now it is no secret that I’m in the pro goblins as PCs camp. I generally think that goblins got PF appropriate ability mods but I do agree that the fact it makes them very solid paladins is odd and probably unintentional. However it may be something that can’t be helped.

The idea that goblins in general have the best ability mods I find very debatable (though I really don’t want to start one). Their mods are toned down from PF1, that +4 dex was nasty, and they are the only ancestry with a wisdom penalty which means in general that they will have the lowest perceptions and now that that determines your initiative in most circumstances as well the wisdom penalty hurts a lot. That’s just my 2 cents.

It's not JUST ability mods. It's not just their ability mods that make them powerful, but some of their racial stuff as well. I have seen goblins at higher level and the combinations are brutal. The most powerful combat due I saw were a Goblin Paladin and Goblin Rogue and oh boy... the carnage I witness compared to others was enough to make me cringe without the quirky "goblinness" on top of it. That just ended up making it worse.

Another concern is that almost every single Goblin at the table so far have used their characters as an excuse to derail the table. And this is on society where as GMs are not allowed to exclude anything. Foreshadowing for the future? I sincerely hope not.

Only part of my post, and the BLOG is not good enough in my opinion. Not everyone is a blog person, myself included. My point being, which still stands, is they could have very easily made it clear on the playtest page that everyone was required to go to get the materials in the first place.

Besides, that isn't my only or even biggest gripe. Nor is that limited to Doomsday dawn specifically, but playtesting in general that doesn't have to do with Society which is still going strong.

I thank Mathmuse for offering some words in regards to the other parts of my post instead of just rushing to try and correct me.

Yes they gave a time line for when they were focusing on those specific parts, but they also said that they would continue to take prior parts' surveys and they never stated that the ENTIRE testing period would end after that.

Which is my point.

Since this has been wrapped up for the most part I wanted to leave my final thoughts, both on the game and the process itself.

I was part of the original Beta Playtest back in the day and so I was more than thrilled that this would share that legacy as the most playtested tabletop game available.

However my excitement was mitigated by the fact that it seems there was only a brief window in which we could have our voices heard. Even these message boards are apparently getting shut down soon, despite the fact that there is still 6-7 months from the hopeful release. This wouldn't be so bad if they had been upfront about the actual time frame we had to work on it. Ending it on the 31st of December felt rushed to me. That could have been the plan all along I suppose, but then it should have been a fairly simple task of letting everyone know what that time frame looked like when it all started.

My group wasn't able to get all the way through the Doomsday Dawn because we thought there was time to get it done. That wasn't the case unfortunately. Then we at least figured that the surveys/message boards would be left open as folks would continue to play it, but again that is also over and cut off.

Overall it feels like we were given this thing to work on and try out and then it was yanked out of our hands partway through. Not a great feeling in general, and even worse for someone who is passionate about Pathfinder and Paizo who wants to make sure we get the best version of the game.

As for the specifics of the game that I still have concerns on, there are only a few that merit this kind of post. There are certainly more but this is already more verbose than I would like.

Goblin PCs- Not only are they the best Paladins since Aasimars, but stat for stat I would say they are some of the most powerful characters period. This in my mind is thematically wrong in two ways. First, goblins have never been this powerful, nor should they be when compared to other goblins in the world. Second, no matter how many society specials were released with not-hated goblins, you cannot wipe away a literal decade of literature that shows how goblins are these nasty little creatures with a penchant for fire and explosives and death. I get it that they are Paizo's mascot, but Kobolds or so many other monsters could have filled that spot both for the quirkiness AND the decade of story that doesn't need to be rewritten.

Making it "easy"- Identify magic items, repairing a shield, "free hand" to cast, and others. In some cases the words "made it easier" were used exactly and I just have to wonder why. I've seen PC's spend several in game days working on the most inane stuff, yet an hour (10 minutes with feat) to identify an item is too much? Expecting someone to actually have a free hand when using magic is too much? Expecting someone to have to take time to repair something that had been literally beaten to pieces is too much? I feel like we are heading towards "easy mode" more and more, especially with hero points on top.

Spellcasting- I'm going through a home game right now and I am hopeful that the increased damage dice will do it, but I still feel like there was too much push to close the gap. Though the word gap is quite an unfortunate one because it wasn't a gap as much as they were simply different ways of getting the same job done. Magic eventually ran out, sword swinging arm does not. Etc etc. I'm concerned that Golarion is heading towards the realm of low fantasy which is really bizarre coming from the past 10 years of play.

All in all I hope that we aren't simply left with silence once these boards are archived. I would also love to see some more number crunchy data. Jason for example has mentioned that surveys are a lot different from the message boards or facebook groups or whatever the case may be. Is there a chance we could see some of that data? Even a graph or pie chart would suffice. I'm not saying that folks who say things like that are misleading, only that generalizations aren't really helpful and it would be nice to see where our fellow adventurers sit on the matter.

Greetings fellow testers/gms!

I decided, since I have gone through almost all of the available content so far, that I would try my hand at some encounter building.

An associate requested an adventure when I mentioned it to him, and I figured this would be as good a place to post it up for public consumption.

Match's First Dive

I put together all of the encounters with the GM tools provided and adjusted each one for party size differences.

If the math all works out then this should be runnable for a party size between 2 - 6, all level 1.

Let me know what you think! If the work is acceptable I may continue on with a series focusing on each level. In either case it's a good test of the GM world creation side of things.

So, I just ran my first 6 hour long session in the AP that is provided, and I'm beat. But satisfied.

I wish it had been released on a monday or something, but I was prepared enough to at least start with. However there is already a bit more to consider so far as a GM than with 1st ed. Just like track-keeping wise.

Some points on what I mean:

Each time a player drops they have their own DC they have to save against depending on what dropped them.

There are now Hit Points, Spell Points, Hero Points, and resonance that the GM now has to be aware of.

Combat is rough on the party so far. Like, really rough. And healing so far is as limited as I expected. No one has died but it's been a matter of saves.

Speaking of saves, poisons. Poisons and the save process for them are interesting to say the least. But definitely seems more crunchy than 1st ed.

Adjusting to the smaller numbers of everything is, hard but refreshing? I love how the economy was adjusted. It makes so much more sense. Also, highest skill we have right now is a 5 at level 1.

Dealing with the DC table is interesting as well, but I wish there was an easier-to-reference document for it instead of having remember it's on page 337.

That's all I have so far! I will add onto it as the games progress.

The tightening of the alignments is ABSOLUTELY story driven, and intended to curtail certain types of clerics who didn't make thematic sense with their deity. By abandoning general rules for allowed alignments and custom designing each deity's allowed alignments we have a lot more flexibility.

"Flexibility?" That word you use, I don't think it means what you think it means.

What I have read here, as many of my fellow players have already pointed it, is that the current alignments and restrictions put into place do the exact opposite of that.

You say it is not to stifle creativity but I am afraid that is exactly what it does, despite claims to the contrary.

Yes, not a fan of this system either.

Racial feats should not be spread out, such as half-orcs darkvision for example.

Apologies, I found a prior thread that covers this.

There is a correction.

http://paizo.com/starfinder/faq#v5748eaic9vwi

Hey guys!

I am wanting to give this online thing a try. I am all set up for this game.

This will be a CORE game. Levels 1-5.

First 6 people to confirm their spot gets it. There will be a maximum wait time of 15 minutes. If you are late your spot will be filled.

I will post all the info once the slots are filled.

I look forward to gaming with you!