If no one wants it, I'll take the spot after Choon. I can definitely get my thoughts together by then. :D I'll plan for us to still be level 3 or 4 by then.
Welcome, Dorian. I’m adding you to my reading list. *puts on reading glasses*
Kló frowns over at Xun. "But did we look inside the horse?" He shrugs grimly, "I mean, if the wayfinder got stuck on the way down ..." He doesn't get a chance to complete the thought, his dark eyes being drawn to the horizon. He scowls, squints, then his eyes widen in fear. He points at the movement on the horizon. "Those are big undead." He looks at each of his fellow pathfinders in turn, "REAL big. We should hurry."
When Xun calls out for medical help in the chapel, the big ulfen jogs over, tossing the oats in a spot where anyone can put them to good use. He lumbers cautiously into the chapel, frowning at general burned smell as he moves to the burned body. He stoops low, sniffing and pawing carefully to learn what he can.
Not sure, but we can keep looking for a bit. And about splitting up: we're in a pretty serious timer. We only have a few hours and we're spending those hours in 10 minute increments, meaning we only have about 12 activities we can try before a potentially much larger zombie horde descends upon us. I really it's a bit reckless, but it gives us more shots at finding stuff before that happens. ... hopefully it doesn't get one or more of us killed.
Kló shrugs and nods to Sky. The monk had certainly earned his share of the healing. Then, he pulls back out the dossier, slowly looking through the entries. His dark eyes then scan the courtyard, finally landing on the facade of the Flaming Wheel tavern/inn. He points to the inn with his longspear, ”That’s a good start.” The big man lumbers over towards the Inn, searching for clues or threats.
Consciousness slams into Kló like a cold northern wave, jarring his senses to life. ... which is unfortunate given that he's in the rotting embrace of something so disgusting. Instinctively — and with a wordless roar — the big man tries to throw off the undead.
Kló then retreats to lick his wounds, giving Xun a thankful nod as he takes up a position behind him to ready his shield.
EScape Attempts:
Huc's equipment is going to be pretty straightforward. Studded leather, thieves tools, falchion, shortbow (maybe some specialty arrows for city climbing) ... stuff like that. As for Background Skills .. what rogue turns down extra skills?! :D
Edit: It occurs to me it might be useful to summarize where I envision my character going mechanically. DON’T NEED A RIDE! Oh, that’s very useful (I certainly wasn’t able to keep up with everyone’s submissions in the Recruitment thread, so this is incredibly helpful to know). Here’s how I’m hoping to develop Bladud. Bladud’s plans: Bladud is basically going to be your team’s blunt object (ya know, your basic barbarian build turned up to 11). So in combat, he’ll mix explosive spells with explosive damage, heading straight into Dragon Disciple to get some MASSIVE strength bonuses. That should also give him his final form … basically turning into an actual dragon for short bursts every day. Greater Beast Totem + flight + Charge Through feat = rushing down single opponents pretty fast (hopefully).
Out of combat, he’s a good intimidator (massive strength + high Charisma + Intimidating Prowess = 1 scary dude), he’ll be pretty athletic, and he’s good being the group’s muscle. Go here. Lift that. Break this thing. If we need a wilderness Survivalist, I can keep that skill up, too.
I did love that take on half-orcs. Very cool! Then again, you initial write-up was pretty cool, too. Hmmmm....
Very cool! Let us know if there’s more you need from us to make an informed decision. Looking forward to hearing who gets in. :)
Happy Holidays, folks. Hope you’re staying healthy. Looking forward to seeing how this game shapes up!
*stokes the fires* *pours a warm drink to settle in until after Christmas*
"Nice to meet ya, Ritcher," says the athletic, half-elven Varisian, "You haven't missed much, really." He goes around the group, giving quick introductions. "Janira told us we should rub some elbows ... so we've been doing our best to pick up some odd jobs to make a good impression." He shrugs, ticking each item off on his fingers, ”So far we have to check out a possibly haunted boat. Recruit some potential academic. Search a haunted house.” He nods over towards the final faction leader, wiggling his pinky finger as the fourth task, ”plus whatever that one tells us.” ”Other than that, we’re pretty much just enjoying the party.”
1) Player name: Ben Jolly
Ritcher, I believe it's the rate at which your character progresses based on their Scenarios completed.
Lol. Yes, skinwalkers. I've been looking back over Eberron stuff lately. ... carry on, people. Nothing to see here.
While I'mnot sure how that execution would pan out, I really like the idea of making the Human racials be less focused on Ability boosts. Let other ancestries be more specialized (Agile elves, strong orcs, rugged dwarves, etc). Let humans be the the flexible, adaptable folk. Don't give them ancestral ability boosts. give them more ancestral and general feats during creation, and give them unique options that then lets them attain similar levels of mechanical power if that's what they choose. So while Elves might be the best Rangers and Orcs might be the best Barbarians, humans can be the second best at everything while remaining competitive with those more focused characters.
I agree with others in this thread who've said it's a little too early to worry about Alchemist bias. We've only seen bits and pieces of the overall system, so we only know so much about how Paizo has focused their efforts. Overall, I'm feeling optimistic about the direction they're heading. I don't love everything, but I like more than I dislike. Am I totally stoked about the Alchemist? As a player, no. It's not my cup of tea. As a DM and fan off Fantasy in general, yes. It's a good include that many players and GM's really like in there. Adn it adds a lot of potential to the game and genre. I'm more concerned about the treatment of the Paladin and Sorcerer, but that's another can of worms altogether. :D
What about if humans were able to take other races ancestry feats. maybe they have some dwarf in the blood line or what have you. If that was the case would it eliminate the need for half elf and half orc to be their own thing?The need for half-elf and half-orc to be their own thing is a lot of people liking them. Patching them on to human wouldn’t really remove that. But what if the patch were good enough that those players felt like they were playing their beloved Half-orcs and Half-elves? I can't imagine this is impossible; it just takes careful consideration. And then it opens the door for other interesting races to be included in Core. I'd love to see Orc as a core offering (yes, i know many, many despise this as much or more than the goblin move, but there it is). But even opening up some other options (the beloved Tengu or similar) would be really interesting.
That halfling illustration does NOT look like he has a CHA bonus. O.o I completely agree on the ability score arrays on the small races. Small = cute / cuddly is not good design. Give us
I always imagined that a cleric preparing their spells would be more like prayer to regain the favor of the gods and be imbued with their power. And then when he uses spells it's more that he channels the divine favor bestowed upon him, so not really spellcasting. I'e always thought this was a better representation of what the Divine "spell casting" should be, and it should then actually be a series of Supernatural powers bestowed on them (as opposed to actual spells to cast). This makes it thematically and mechanically different (and conveniently explains why they can cast in armor).
And what you consider "proper" half-orcs. Ya know, with top hats, monocles, white gloves, and coat tails. (And the proper female equivalent thereof, of course.)
Just to reiterate and build up on what others have said (because adding weight to their arguments is important). I really, really hope the Rogue doesn't give us dex to attack or damage, at least not as a baseline assumption. Strength rogues should be a thing, especially given PF2's stated goal of flexibility ad modularity. Dex to attack should be a weapon quality, in my opinion. And I don't love Dex to damage, but I'm okay with it being an option for players that want to use it ... so make it a Feat. And if it's a Class feat, make it accessible to all the classes where it makes sense: rogue, monk, fighter, maybe even Ranger.
I'd honestly like that as the gold standard for all weapons generally. Have basically every weapon improve in its traits with increasing proficiency, from the flail to the longsword to the humble dagger. This would address many, many problems we're seeing people try to fix on the boards currently. It would certainly address the "Fix the spear" thread. Having the spears graduate to weapons with more advanced options would be completely awesome. Then combining this with the desire to see "monk" weapons maintain their unique role, certain classes could gain additional benefits (in addition to those unlocked through rising Proficiency) — like weapons with the Monk ability gaining the Agile quality, to reinforce the "flurry" mechanic — would be awesome.
I'm with the OP (and so many others in this thread), and I think moving into PF2 is an excellent opportunity to correct many of these out-dated and clunky weapons rules. Especially with PF2's eye towards simplicity and modularity. Kama? Sai? Siangham? I pretty much found them all right here. :D
This hits my stance dead-on. I was optimistic for both 5E and Starfinder, and both didn't quite live up to what I was hoping the systems could be. 5E was overly simplistic and I felt like I had a hard time actually making the character I wanted to make. SF ... I don't know; I just didn't like how the ideas came together, even though I liked the goals that paizo had as guiding stars for its development. For PF2, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd kind of moved onto another system for all my gaming (which isn't much lately), but was kind of wondering if I should dust off some PF when the 2E playtest was announced. I'm looking forward to it — and i'm excited about many of the directions they're moving, including modularity and overall design simplicity without sacrificing options — but I'll wait to see how it all hangs together in the initial full playtest doc before I get too worked up one way or the other. I think Paizo has at least earned this much from me. ;) EDIT: OH ... ahem ... we're in a Leveling Up blog? i'm encouraged by pretty much everything I read here. :D
Another wild hare thought as we're compiling a monk 2E wishlist: what about incorporating the old Soulknife (from 3.5 Psionics)? It seems like a crazy-awesome and thematically appropriate archetype for the monk. I mean, using your internal supernatural power to manifest a unique, personalized blade of energy? Sign me up!
I've always thought there as a seriously missed opportunity regarding monks and their unique proficiencies. Or, as I think would feel more appropriate and unique, give monks the ability to get more value out of simple weapons. Instead of using these really rare and underpowered "exotic" weapons like kama and siangham, let them take similar simple weapons (sickle and shortspear) to higher heights. That would give monks even more of a schtick: taking every-day tools (kama = sickle, for example) and making them lethal weapons. One way of doing this would be to allow them to deal their unarmed damage with these weapons (assuming that in PF2, the monk's base unarmed damage eclipses the base damage of those weapons).
Pray? I was running into the same problem with my own mystic concept (which is why he's still just a concept). I guess that's why Shepherd Book and Obi-Wan were always found in the ship's galley. :/
Kind of riffing off a few ideas up-thread, but what about ... 32. An AI brain that's gotten itself embedded on a former marine's (now brain-dead) body, controlling it like a big meat puppet body (mechanically: a human Exocortex mechanic, with the exocortex is the character, and the human is just his body).
Klo had been restless for yet another night, the trials of the morning weighing heavily on his mind. As he noted the subtle shift of full dark to the pre-dawn dark grays, he gave up trying to sleep fully, opting instead to take a walk around the quiet, sleeping town to prepare his mind for what was to come.
Finally, he finds himself in front of Father Zantus, and the short Shoanti must work hard to still his nerves as he awaits the results of the man’s attempt to repair his bow. He can’t hide a surprised look at the display, and watches the butterfly closely as it makes its mark upon Markov’s bow. With reverence, he reaches out to grasp the bow, a range of emotions playing across his usually-reseved features. He holds it up in both hands for a moment, simply wondering at the fact that it looks intact. Then he traces his fingertips along the length of the gracefully-curved ends, ending with a reverent touch to the new, stylize butterfly carving. ”It’s lighter than it was before,” he observes quietly, then he switches it to a firing grip. He grasps the string and pulls it back, gently at first, then to its full draw, sighting down an imaginary arrow. ”This,” he says as he releases the tension and looks up gravely at Zantus, ”is amazing.” His voice is quiet, and heavy with emotion. ”You have given me—“ his voice cracks, and he looks at his feet, recovering his composure before returning his steady gaze—is that a tear?—to meet Zantus’s eyes. ”I cannot express what you have returned to me, Holy Man. I cannot pay this back, and I will not forget it.” Silence hangs for a moment before he touches his quiver. A half-smile touches his lips. ”Suddenly all my arrows are too small.”
Or pirates setting up decoy beacons to ambush whomever uses it. :D
But Klo, no blades, blunt weapons, like this, she says matter-of-factly Klo doubles over, hands on knees, and begins dry-retching. "Next time *heave* I listen." When the stomach-emptying episode is over, the big man digs a water-pouch from within his leathers and washes his mouth out, spitting the foul water down on the festrog remains. "Dat was da grossest." He reclaims his torch, cleans his blade, and gives the festrog body a kick. Bad dog!" Then he makes his way to where the team is investigating the letters. He begins reading. Painfully slowly. Out loud. It takes about ten minutes ... unless someone reads it for him. He stands in the dim light, face scrunched up in difficult thought. Then, realization strikes. A dumb sun rising. ”Hey! Guys! We can find dis gnome, yuh?” He nods enthusiastically, genuinely. ”We’re pathfinders, yuh?”
Also, super-important piece of team information. When this scenario is open (or when Jak accumulates the Fame/Prestige for it), I'm totally buying this joint and converting it into a tavern/music venue called The Thunder Bucket. It's gonna happen. You're all invited to be partners in this venture. |
