Excaliburrover's page

Organized Play Member. 39 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 2 Organized Play characters.




Hi all. Sorry guys, but I'm here to shoutout our initiative of a full italian live stream where we play Ruins of Azlant with 2e rules. I know that the vast majority of you won't be interested wince you don't speak the language. However I feel like there is a pocket of italian players that may scout the paizo community so I hope to reach them.

Quindi, popolo dello stivale, ecco a voi Ventimila 1 sotto i mari. In questo rudimentale (eppur unico?!?!?!?) actual play live stream giochiamo l'Adventure Path Ruins of Azlant convertito per la seconda edizione. Se siete curiosi perchè vi intriga l'avventura (vi invito a leggere la sinossi qui sul sito della Paizo) o se non avete ancora provato la seconda edizione ma siete curiosi di vedere come gira, fate un salto.

https://www.twitch.tv/mezzesedie (è dove streammiamo live tutti i Mercoledì sera alle 21 circa)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPGoBO_vJx1DgW51khKJvxQ (è il nostro canale Youtube dove carichiamo gli episodi in modo da poter essere recuperati per chi non riesce a vederci live)

Infine ci trovate su Instagram come Mezzesedie dove potrete trovare abbondanti meme di finissima qualità.


Click bait title, I know, but it's actually sort of accurate.

So, my friend has found this guide that says that Time Beacon let's you repeat your turn till you obtain the outcome you would like.

I always thought it was a single dose of "prince of Persia Sands of time", in the sense that you cast it, do something hazardous and if shit hits the fan, you rewind and do something else, or retry.

Reading the spell, I must say that in actuality it isn't specified how many time you can repeat those 2 actions, letting open the chance to go non stop. This means you can try several turns, ideally casting several spells till you get an outcome you like.

This is a "giga buff" to the spell, borderline game-breaking, if that's the case. If you accept this reading, you can play it out in 3 ways:

A) you actually play and roll all the iterations of turns the player wants to do. This incurs in the old "summoner" issue. The turn of a single guy takes forever and other players, GM included, start searching for a gun to shot themselves in the balls. You can solve it with the same means used in the past when a summoner conjured 5 dire tigers for 6 attacks each: you spread the dice rolling amongst all the people at the table. This is the way to play RAW, if that's what is written.

B) you decide to nerf it and house rule a fixed amount of rewinds. Something between 2 and 4.

C) you automatize it. Meaning that the caster choose a follow up spell and then apply the best case scenario to it. In fact, by "brute force approach", "big numbers law" (idk if these are international expressions, in Italy we call it in this way) by trying an endless amount of times you can get the best case scenario. Meaning, for example, a critical max damage Disintegrate. And I didn't even start to think if there is an awful way in which this can break campaign by forcing failures on incapacitation spells. This the Avengers: Endgame approach, so to speak.

Opinions?


So, in Fires of the Haunted Citadel there is this monster which should just be a haunt that is called Soulbound Ruin. Here's the stat block:

http://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=475

So, in the chapter where it's met, this monster has listed "Special Soulbound Ruin Abilities" which let you think that it is supposed to have customizable abilities like skeletons and graveknights. Which is always a cool thing.

Only problem? There must be a typo out there because either they forgot to list and rule said abilities in the monster stat block (which would be utterly shocking) or they decided in the end that this monster didn't deserve such a layer of complexity and the line listing the abilities is a typo.

Also, of course this non mindless construct-undead isn't immune to mind-effecting so a barbarian can demoralize it.

I keep finding these things that are clearly overlooked and i don't know. It didn't happen to me in first edition. It is a bit sad.


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In an era of rampant manga/anime culture D&D 4E broke the mold of the sword and board rpg by adding named attacks to all the goddamn classes. You had at-will, encounter and daily powers.

It was a system that completely denaturalized the game we knew till that moment.

Years later Paizo comes up with the Focus Poins System and it's genius. They hit the perfect middle ground.

This is one of the systems that make me excited the most, expecially because it makes the adventuring day longer and more realistic. Gj Paizo!


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So we had his massive dump of spoilers that started to foreshadow how the game will be. I'm grateful and it's all fine and dandy. However I'd like to see some foreshadowing regarding the GM side of things too. I mean, I'm a big supporter of this new edition because I feel like, regarding 1rst edition, player material out scaled and power creeped GM material.

Some things I'd like to know are (all regarding the version presented in the playtest):

1) will encounter building rules stay the same?
2) will monsters keep having no math? Will they keep being an aggregate of numbers based on a level table of avarage values?
3) will NPCs follow the same phylosophy?

I'm particularly interested in the last question. As much as some players like to push the boundaries of what they can achieve with their PCs (numerically wise) some GMs like the challenge of thinking the right boss npc that leaves a dent but ultimately can be beaten.

This would be extremely easy with a "monster-level-determined-by-stats" or vice versa system. However it would wipe away the challenge.

On the other hand, a stat-based system would prevent power creep during the years.

If I know that the rule of thumb is that a +2 lvl monster is supposed to be hit the best attack only 45% of the times, that will stay true forever and I will adjust the numbers accordingly.


So, my party has a couple of melee characters very strong one using the Dragon Style and the other using the Jabbing Style. We are level 14. So the first one scores into the 150 dpr but the other can easily do 400+ dpr.

The other members of the party feel quite trivialized by this.

I'm sure I've read something somewhere that at least hinder the use of Power Attack. I was wondering if there is something else that make more difficult (concentration check?) to use Style Feats. There must be something anti-martial-arts in the Martial Arts Handbook right?


So, ok, i know this is stupidly soon too ask with the game basically not even released yet but i keep wondering and i'm sure you have your business plan already in check.

So, my concern is that with the new dedication/archetype system you've pretty much cut the legs of a system that let you print a whole lot of books without ( i mean it in a non-offensive way) too much effort. What i mean is that, after making a class you would have easily printed around 10 archetypes by just shufling its class privileges with the ones of other classes. For example, pretty much every class has the Rage option somehow.

But this won't allow you to create extra content anymore because basically it's baseline. And, don't get me wrong, i love it. With a lvl 2 and a lvl 6 feat expense i can have what ever pc that rages or that have retributive strike. It's amazing.

But how will you print more class archetypes/books in general? Just frontload with hundreds of class feats?


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My "cleric with 10 wis " was closed. I'm happy. As Mr Buhlman said, it means my point was heared.

Anyway I feel like I forgot to mention the most important point in my thread. That is the fact that pretty much all the other changes of update 1.6 are cool as hell. I was upset because I felt like my class was left behind.

I understand that it is difficult to carefully test and plan all at once and that testing new feats and other changes has priority over a simple nerf. I'm sure that before the end all classes will have an equal share of love.

I have high hopes for the second edition as a whole and they are being met greatly and I'd like to remember everyone how much this product (thanks to the collective effort?) has improved in the past weeks.

In Paizo we trust.


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Warning: wall of text ahead
OTHER WARNING: every time you find sag it should be wis. I may miss someone while editing

TL:DR the optimized cleric (which gets the best of dealing decent damage via melee attack while still being able to heal and cast supporting spells) after update 1.6 has 10 wis which I think can’t be intended and must be addressed.

Let’s say you want to make a cleric of a deity that mainly (expecially at low levels) offers you situational/weak/reactive domain powers but still, you likes the theme and go for it. That would be someone like Pharasma,Gozreh,Desna,Abadar,Cayden, just off the top of my head.

Let’s say you are human, because now human let’s you space among half-elves and half-orcs so with the same stat array we hit multiple races as flavor. At lvl 1 with whatever background you may need you basically obtain stats like 18 16 12 12 10 10. When making my characters I assume that if you are taking 10 in either cos or dex you are looking for troubles. If you make 10 in both troubles will 100% finds you.

Also let’s abolish an old consensus: in pf 2e healing IS action efficient. You use one action to heal pretty much 1.5-2 hits worth of hp to an adjacent target if you are using a max level heal spell to an adjacent target. So you are trading one of your actons for 2 actions from enemies. It is worth it. So having the “panic button” of max level heal spells during fights, it can make big a difference.

So we must decide what kind of cleric we want to do, choosing between the caster and the melee one.

The caster would have stats like (str des cos int wis car obviously) 10 16 12 10 18 12. Now let’s just observe that as per update 1.6 with this build you have 1 channel energy lvl 1-4 and at lvl 5 they arguably become 2. Then you go and prepare your spell and realize that your spell list is quite damage lacking (as divine spells will always be, e xpecially pre 4th level spells). Not only that but you don’t have slot cheating ability like drain focus, you don’t have a companion that does part of the dirty work for you, you don’t have at will buffing music. You just have your spell, your subpar domain powers, your wacky no damage anti action economy chill touch, oh and a lot of the choices you have when selecting feats are related to that channel energy ability that you will use 1xday till lvl 5, 2xday till lvl 10. Fun eh? And I forgot to mention that when you hit lvl 7/9 and you get those 2 sweet slots to unleash havoc via divine wrath/flamestrike you will soon realize that your better use one for a max level heal. So just one round of fun per day.

Ok maybe I don’t like this character.

Let’s do the melee one. As many knows magic melee weapons are the best way to deliver consistent damage and a cleric would have decent chances to be just slightly behind the curve(you can’t start in any way with str 18 because class skill is mandatory wisdom). The stats would be 16 12 12 10 18 10. And no you can’t put 14 in str and 12 in cha. Early on it would exactly like being constantly frightned/sick 2 compared to your ranger/monk/rouge buddy for example. With 16 you’re just sick 1. This, at a glance seems already a better build. Throw some ancestry/dedication feats in there and you are walking in heavy armor while hitting with a magical 2 handed weapon. Having a solid plan to deal damage also allows you to be more flexible when preparing spells. You can preare that 1 heal spell per spell level, 1 damage spell that come handy as ranged damage solution and 1 supportive spell of choice. Mmm, i’m liking it quite a bit (and it’s the build i’d go pre update). Only problem. You legit have no channel energy till lvl 4 and even then I would not put boosts in charisma, not until lvl 10. Imagine a cleric of Gorum which at lvl 4 may go channel smite for some whopping turns and wait… no channel energy for you bud.

Then you think. Wait a second, let’s assume I go for spells like bless, restoration, air walk, summon ecc that are not acually binded to my wis score. Can I accept my heals to heal 4 less hp and get extra uses of max level heal spells? Hell yeah, I can.

So, let’s mod a bit that melee cleric. Ok, the stats would be something like 16 12 12 10 12 16 (if you go goblin they may as well become 16 12 14 10 10 16 which are even better for what we want to do). We have a pc that is as effective as the one previously mentioned. You lose your domain powers but they were crap anyway and you better never try to counter an effect with a spell roll. Also your party is better find someone else to make those Treat Wounds checks. However this is easy to lay around because you can assist each other while Treating Wounds and also items can help. Moreover because of this use Medicine is one of the most important skill in the game and every member in the party should arguably have it (more Assists= more bonuses= more chances to crit the check= less waste of time).

So you have a decent melee fighter, which can neat you some fun, it has decent spell variety and 3-4 bonus max level heal spells for when the crap hits the fan. The only very big drawback is the lack of very effective ranged options when the need come but a returning trident and air walk should suffice.

So this is the tale of the update 1.6 goblin cleric with 10 wis. Just as planned.

Ah, also, high charisma let’s you go the demoralize/feint build if you want and it will often be a much better choice that that 3 rd attack.

Do 2-3 uses of channel energy make this big of a difference? Yes, in my opinion they does, expecially when you have 14 feats choices that have channel as requisite. Not quite elegant. There isn't this much of a reason to keep clerics bound to cha when this edition isn't MAD friendly at all.


Fair and simple. Is there a way (clearly stated in the book) to get Perception to Master or Legendary?

And don't pile me with all the options that give similar numerical bonuses.

I just want to know if you can do a character that is a master in Perception and do that level of stuff.

And the question boils down to: is Perception a skill that can be raised with skill increases?

Also is there a minimum level before you can hit some thresholds with skills?


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Obviously i speak just for my group(but apparently even for a portion of the reddit pathfinder_rpg community) but we feel that cantrips are way too much underwhelming. I'm coming here to post this because i've seen that many complains about other things got considered by the game designers so i feel that this little aspect of the game could get some love too.

So my take is that if a caster(expecially a divine one) decides to contribute to a fight with damage (which imo is a legit desire that should be accomplishable by every player at the table of every class)he can't stand up to the others, by a long run. I explain.

Now that you only have 3/4 slot of spells per level you must be very careful about spending your resources, expecially damage wise, unless you use 1 min concentration spells (and Flaming Sphere is a "ref negates" instead of "ref half" even in this edition), or you will drain you spells immediatly.

Second take: items do not supply enough resources in this manner to be meaningful. A staff basically just give you 1-2 bonus spells per day and wands eventually get outscaled (and they are expensive nontheless).

So there are 2 ways to add oomph to casters: auto-eightening to all spells(so that even at class lvl9 those lvl1 spells are meaningful) or making their at will spell more impactul. Becaus at this point, cantrips leads to a pattern of being a simple attack roll-damage roll in between phone sessions(we just finished Lost Star and for our Wizard it was like this).

My proposal (and TL:DR of the post) is this scaling. They start by adding half the class skill modifier (it may seem stupid but adding +2 damage is something) than proceding with the current damage scaling anticipating everything by 1 spell lvl. In this way cantrips (and never forget that they cost 2 actions) deal 2 damage dice at class lvl 7 instead of 9 whereas martials get their magic weapon at lvl 6. Casters are still behind but not so absurdly behind.

Another take could be to leave the damage numbers like this but remove the attack trait from all cantrips so you chain them with attacks at no malus. This would be an even more dinamic pattern (but with less sense).