Eli Burry Schnepp's page

One of the tricky things about paralysis with ghouls is that it's an incapacitaiton ability on a level 1 creature, so it never really gets to be incapacitating AND it's an unfair thing to throw at a party at 1st level. It's sort of a leftover from 1st edition D&D where things were a bit more arbitrary and unfair, I feel. PLUS by moving away from that trope we got to make Pathfinder ghouls fit better the role we've always had them playing in Golarion—as "sophisticated corpse eating scholars" like you'd see in lots of horror stories, while also moving away from the mindless flesh eating zombie trope.

Paralysis as a monster attack isn't going anywhere, and there are still plenty of creatures that can paralyze... but having this be something for higher level creatures than 1st level baseliners is good.

Yeah ghouls have always been notorious low-level party-killers in my groups, so I'm not too sad to see that ability go.

Yeah I usually read Fascinated as something you want to do outside of combat in order to distract people.

The new hags RULE. I've never felt particularly inclined towards using hags before but now I NEED to include them in my campaign. The fairy tale/literary themes really make them fun.

Ed Reppert wrote:

Hm. No ghast in here. Looks like the ghoul soldier replaces it. Yes? No?

All a ghast was was a level 2 ghoul. Only thing it had over a regular ghoul was stench, and now all ghouls get that.

Yeah I bet ghasts will be reintroduced as the Lovecraft version at some point.

NGL I was kinda hoping for an antlered nature god of a dragon, but I am still very glad to see the classics return.

Why does the concept art mention fire breath?

Troodos wrote:

Tridus wrote:

Still worried about Shelyn, here.

I’d be pretty pissed if they killed off Shelyn. She’s been used as a poster child of PF’s queer rep, and it’d be obnoxiously edgy to kill her off given her role in the pantheon.

I don't like this take, as I feel like it diminishes Shelyn as a character. Yes, it's easy to show her artwork with Sarenrae and Desna to a queer person and say "Poly Lesbians=Pathfinder Good" but if you presented me with the same characters with the same dynamic and told me nothing bad and permanent would ever happen to them under threat of being edgy or "burying the gays" I'd roll my eyes. If there are no stakes, there isn't really much of a conflict...

I'm not saying that queer characters should always be immune to death or other stakes. I'm saying that when a character is widely promoted as a queer character and embraced by queer fandom, it'd feel kinda gross if they were then killed off as what is, when it all comes down to it, a marketing gimmick. Because beyond what I'm sure are legitimate storytelling reasons for whatever death is coming, it is also very much being presented as a publicity stunt to hype up War of the Immortals.

The concern about being overly edgy is not about queer rep either, it's a separate concern on my part that killing off a goddess whose role is basically to be kind to everyone and to promote the idea that anyone can be beautiful would feel like it's just trying too hard to be as dark and mean-spirited as possible.

Still worried about Shelyn, here.

I’d be pretty pissed if they killed off Shelyn. She’s been used as a poster child of PF’s queer rep, and it’d be obnoxiously edgy to kill her off given her role in the pantheon. Plus it’d immediately make Zon Kuthon completely boring as a character. I’m against the move to kill off a deity in general, especially now that Asmodeus, the only one who felt like he’d contribute as much by his death as continuing to live, is marked as safe, but Shelyn would be the absolute worst choice for them to make imo.

Honestly, I find it confusing and a little frustrating that "nephilim" is used as a singular noun in this book when other 2e beings like the einherjar have been pretty good about fixing that error. -im is a plural suffix, and while religious texts always refer to the nephilim in plural it's easy to extrapolate "nephil" or something similar from it.

It should also be noted that while Arazni absolutely was a victim, she's now a GOD. That kinda shifts the power dynamic A LOT, and means that any actions she takes towards people who aren't at least demigods are not going to rationally be done for the sake of survival. While it's hard to say how a god's mind works, there's probably some level of trauma response there, but the actual danger has largely passed. It adds another layer of complexity to her situation. Obviously trauma doesn't make someone evil but if you are on a scale of power that massively outweighs 99% of beings in the multiverse, it can be trivially easy for that trauma to become something that is used as an excuse for abusing others.

In some ways it could easily become a sort of supercharged version of real-world cycles of abuse if she doesn't acknowledge that power in her interactions with others.

Honestly killing off a core deity feels really lame to me and more like the gimmick of a comic book event than something I want to see in an RPG setting. It feels super limiting especially since Pathfinder's pantheon is one of its strong suits which draws me to the Lost Omens setting over many others.

It also feels kinda mean to players who've built characters worshiping that deity or otherwise tied to them; while home games won't be directly affected and a GM can say that it didn't happen in their game it still doesn't feel great to people invested in that god and their faith as a part of the setting. Plus I assume for organized play it'll really mess up those whose characters are based on that god.

I have a very hard time seeing how this could open up more opportunities for stories, characters, and adventures than it closes.

Really hoping that the changes to the starship combat will make it feel more integrated with the rest of the game. My biggest gripe was that it felt like it was an entirely different game that's only loosely connected to what characters are normally doing

Love having a disabled iconic for Starfinder, that's super rad

As an autistic person who owes much of his social life to this company's games, this means so much to me, thank you!

Wait... HOW THE HECK DIDN'T I NOTICE THAT THE TASHTARI ONLY HAVE THREE LEGS UNTIL NOW???

Very happy for Stheno, hopefully they adapt the Euryale from 1e in this so we can finally have monsters based on all three sisters!

Trying to put together a group to play this ASAP! I've read through the first two books and I really love the tone it sets for really making the players feel like a part of this universe! Honestly this is exactly the kind of thing I've wanted since the game was announced.

That said, I do wish this AP was available for Roll20. I've noticed that Starfinder APs dont have much support in that regard, which is a shame.

TBH I never found goblins particularly intimidating but seeing one in life-size would probably change that! This is spectacular, though I'm sure it's way out of my price range

As someone whose homebrew setting relies on guns, this is very exciting for me. That said, I'm quite sad to lose Lirianne even if the new gunslinger looks really cool.

I hope we get a book that similarly expands magic, it feels like the fantasy part of Starfinder is a little neglected, which can be disappointing since that's a big part of its appeal for me.

Seltiyel is wearing a SHIRT??? I am offended

TBH the main reason I'm buying this book is Meyanda being on the cover

Why does it say PDF unavailable?

Still disappointed about losing Alahazra but this character's pretty neat. Love the descriptions of Gozreh and the elemental lords, and the whole "drowning and returning as a prophet" bit reminds me of a more functional Aeron Damphair. Plus I'm just always a sucker for storm-themed characters.

Oh crap, Meyanda's staff is made from her old spiked gauntlet! :0

MEYANDA!? MY GIRL IS BACK!?

What do y'all mean "Gaston"? That's clearly skinny Obelix!

Yay, a full-body image of Casandalee where she doesnt have a gaping hole in her chest! :D

"Beyond the Beyond"

*Flashbacks to The Stone of Cold Fire*

For the record, I've always envisioned Desna's pre-humanoid form to be more like a glowing light space moth. Think Mothra, but made out of stars and prismatic sprays and sparkles.

That's pretty much how I imagined her. Love it.

I've read through the whole thing, but I still dont know what the robot thing on the cover is?

I personally like the idea that goblins and hobgoblins look alike.

I like them looking alike, but not TOO alike. I always liked the Bestiary 1 hobgoblin, where it looked similar but not just like a big goblin.

Not the biggest fan of the hobgoblin designs. They looked way better in 1e. Still better than the Starfinder ones, but still

Hanakans are small magical dinosaurs. They (along with many species on their homeworld) developed magical abilities very early in their evolution, and their modern society is powered by magic rather than technology. Curiously, they view electricity with the same disdain many technological species view necromancy.

Does their society run on... crystals?

I LOVE the Dirindi.
Are the Jinsuls playable?

Is it possible to get multiple companion creatures for a single character?

Yeah, I'm hoping for guns sooner rather than later, since they're very common in my home-brew setting.

They better not replace Quinn. He's the best.

Honestly, it feels like a breath of fresh air. There's still plenty of challenges and conflicts, but it's nice to see things get better for the setting in some ways. One of few issues I had with the setting in 1e was that it felt like Golarion was so doomed by a hundred different threats that it kinda felt over the top.

Any way I like that Cressida is Queen though I wonder why the city is still back sliding?

Presumably because of a combination of factors. Though Ileosa is gone, the Sable Company was disbanded, and the Hellknights left the city. Though both could return in time it would not be easy, so the (depleted) Korvosan Guard and Grey Maidens are the only military and police force they have, which given that people don't look fondly on the Maidens is a problem. In addition, Ileosa's vanity projects drained the treasury and did a lot of damage to the city's infrastructure. Finally, I'm pretty sure Lorthact is still around and given his contract with Ileosa he's probably quite pissed about her downfall and might be sabotaging things through the Acadamae students whose souls he's stolen. All of those things mean that even a competent, fair-minded ruler like Kroft is gonna have a hard time.

James Jacobs wrote:

Sorshen > Tar-baphon.

That'll help a lot in defending her new nation.

I stand corrected :D

(also, I kinda forgot Sorshen was CR 27 and Tar-Babhon was CR 26)

I like that there's an active, non-evil ruler who isn't vastly outmatched by the arch villains of the setting.

The one thing that I REALLY don't like is that we no longer get the quick descriptive blurbs at the beginning of the stat block. Those really helped establish the flavor of the creature and give the players a picture of what they were facing.

On the one hand, yay Cressida! On the other hand I hope Ileosa isn't QUITE down and out, given some of the Continuing the Campaign options in the anniversary edition.

Also, as someone who's great-grandparents fled Russia because of the Romanov's pogroms, I really don't mind that Anastasia's portrayed this way. Don't judge people by their forebears and all that, the real person was a child who never committed any atrocities.

BOOOOOO!!! Why would you give him a shirt1? This is unfair!

This one's a lot better than the Amiri art

She looks weirdly thin

Her chapter has awesome opening art, "Screw you, Satan!" Her section has some of the best art in the book, showcasing her? as a little cute baby spider, and an Anandi women (avatar/priestess?).

She's the younger sister of Acheakak.

Was brought into existence by older gods to weave order into existence... but got bored with that.

If her brother is the assassin of the gods then she's the court jester there to mock them. She loves playing tricks and upsetting exceptions, especially if it teaches a lesson (does not get along with Sarenrae).

I love her already

The monitor looks really weird, more like a bedazzled Gila monster than anything else, but the rest of them look great, especially the Smilodon!

I imagine the several tashtari (laser wolf) augmentations will also be popular choices...

Oh man, we can augment ourselves into the butcher from Fiddler on the Roof?! Nice!

I like the mention of Adoptive Ancestry. Confirmed we can make especially tall dwarves!

Finally my 6'0" dwarf fighter with a 30 Cha can come into fruition!