Forbiddenlightbulb's page

If each Dapsara, Shelyn's servitor race, are dedicated to a single form of music, dance, etc. does that mean that somewhere there's a divine creature whose life is entirely dedicated to mumblecore rap?

One of my biggest desires from the monsters in 2e is better representation of animals, and I am ecstatic that it sounds like you're going that direction. Just because animals are in the real world in no way means they should be unexciting or not dangerous. I'm also very excited to see how druid mechanics interact with these animals. Maybe the animal companion "class" will have its own set of unique options?

Ocelot's gun twirling exists already.

Dang. I'll figure something else out for it.

Been working on some Metal Gear options for the last couple weeks, so I'll just toss them up here. I originally wanted all of FOXHOUND and the Cobra Unit to be represented but... Not sure what to do for some of them. Not super happy with the Psychic Discipline, but I wanted to do some weird things with it and it's a new mechanic that I don't quite have the handle on how powerful it's supposed to be yet.

FEATS

CQC Style
Using both a ranged and melee weapon at the same time give you the ultimate amount of adaptability.
Prerequisite: Combat Expertise, proficiency with any one-handed firearm, base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: While using this style and armed with both a one-handed firearm and a light melee weapon, Combat Expertise grants an insight bonus to your CMB when making a disarm, grapple, sunder, or trip combat maneuver equal to the dodge bonus to AC granted by the feat. In addition, the melee weapon you wield when fighting in this way gains the disarm and grapple weapon qualities.

CQC Shot
By holding your firearm with both hands, you can stabilize your shots and increase your accuracy.
Prerequisite: CQC Style, Point-Blank Shot, Improved Disarm, base attack bonus +6
Benefit: While using CQC Style and armed with both a one-handed firearm and a light melee weapon, you may add your Strength modifier instead of your Dexterity modifier to attack rolls made with your firearm. In addition, when you successfully disarm a one-handed weapon when fighting in CQC Style you may choose to drop one of your weapons and equip the disarmed weapon.

CQC Slam
It is important to remove enemies from the combat entirely with CQC, and you have learned to hold targets down while continuing to fire.
Prerequisite: CQC Shot, CQC Style, Improved Grapple, base attack bonus +10
Benefit: While using CQC Style and armed with both a one-handed firearm and a light melee weapon, you may grapple and pin a target using your melee weapon hand and your legs, allowing you to continue to use your firearm with no penalty in these situations. In addition, you can use your enemy’s body to help stabilize your aim; when you have a target grappled, you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with your firearm.

Ocelot Style
You have trained to fight like the noble ocelot and know how best to take advantage of your environment.
Prerequisite: proficiency with any one-handed firearm, base attack bonus +2
Benefit: While using this style and equipped with either a one-handed firearm and nothing else or two one-handed firearms, you gain a +2 to all attacks against creatures who are not threatened by any creatures, including you. In addition, while using this style you may ricochet your bullets off of the walls to hit targets that you could not normally. As a standard action, you can fire a single shot (or two if you have two firearms equipped) at a wall or solid piece of terrain; the wall or piece of terrain is treated as the origin of the attack to determine line of sight, cover, and concealment.

Ocelot Display
You have learned to make a display of your attacks, so as best to throw your enemies off-guard.
Prerequisite: Ocelot Style, Improved Feint, base attack bonus +6
Benefit: While using Ocelot Style and equipped with either a one-handed firearm and nothing else or two one-handed firearms, you may make a feint attempt at any single creature in sight by twirling your firearm in a dramatic fashion. If you successfully do so, any firearm attacks against that target that you make before the end of your turn do not allow the target to use its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). In addition, when you ricochet an attack using Ocelot Style, you may choose to ricochet the bullet off of two walls by taking a -5 to the attack roll.

Ocelot Tension
You are attuned to the ebb and flow of combat, and have learned to crave the dangers of reloading your firearms.
Prerequisite: Ocelot Display, Rapid Reload, base attack bonus +10
Benefit: While using Ocelot Style and equipped with either a one-handed firearm and nothing else or two one-handed firearms, you may choose to reload all of your equipped firearms as a full-round action, despite the number of your free hands. If you do so, you may add the enhancement bonus of all of your equipped firearms as a luck bonus to all saving throws and to AC until the start of your next turn. In addition, when using Ocelot Style to ricochet bullets, you may do so as part of a full-attack action.

Pain Wielder
You have a particularly strong connection with hornets, wasps, and bees and can command these creatures to aid you in combat.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast cape of wasps
Benefit: When you are under the effects of the spell cape of wasps, as a free action you may make the wasps cling to your weapon, allowing the weapon to poison any creature hit by the weapon as if they had been hit by the wasps in the swarm. This can be performed with ranged weapons as well as melee weapons; the wasps replace the standard ammunition being used with a ranged weapon covered in wasps, replacing any enchantments present on the ammunition with the poison from the wasps.

ARCHETYPES

Spotter (Familiar Archetype)
Some snipers train their familiars, such as parrots, as spotters, alerting them to nearby dangers and assisting them in seeing their targets.
Alertness: A spotter gains Alertness as a bonus feat, rather than providing it to its master.
See Through Familiar (Su): At 7th level, as long as the spotter is within 1 mile of its master, the spotter’s master can close his eyes and see through the eyes of the spotter as a swift action. When the spotter’s master opens his eyes, this effect ends. This ability replaces Speak with Animals of Its Kind.
Early Warning (Ex): At 11th level, as long as the spotter is within arm’s reach, its master gains Improved Evasion and a +4 bonus to Initiative.

CLASS OPTIONS

ALCHEMIST DISCOVERIES
FOXDIE: You have learned to tailor a poison to a very specific individual. You can craft the FOXDIE poison, as is detailed below. When crafting FOXDIE you must specify a specific creature or creatures (you can specify a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier) that the poison affects; all other creatures are completely immune to FOXDIE. You can only have a single instance of FOXDIE active at any given time. If you craft a new dose of FOXDIE, the previous FOXDIE dies and goes completely inert. You may inject your FOXDIE into a willing or helpless creature that is immune to the FOXDIE you have created; doing so is a full-round action, and that creature will always act as the center of 30 foot radius of FOXDIE’s effect. FOXDIE can only be active while inside of a living creature. If its host dies, or if its container is spilled or destroyed before you can inject it into a creature, the dose becomes useless.
FOXDIE
Price 2,100 gp
Type poison (inhaled); Save Fortitude DC (10+crafter’s Intelligence modifier)
Initial Effect 1 Con drain; Secondary Effect 1d3 Con damage; Cure 2 consecutive saves

PSYCHIC DISCIPLINES
Disgust
Your psychic powers developed when you were young, and the thoughts of every creature around you forced their way into your mind. You grew to hate these voices and developed your powers out of a desire to block them out.
Phrenic Pool Ability: Wisdom
Bonus Spells: delusional prideUM (1st), unnatural lust [Ultimate Magic] (4th), unadulterated loathing [Ultimate Magic] (6th), phantasmal killer (8th), utter contemptUM (10th), curse of disgust [Ultimate Magic] (12th), foe to friend [Advanced Players Guide] (14th), irresistable dance (16th), weird (18th).
Discipline Powers: Your powers allow you to force away unwanted thoughts and bring out the sides of creatures you most hate.
Worm Their Way In (Su): You were born with no control over whether or not the thoughts of creatures around you enter your mind or not. You’ve learned to ignore it to a certain extent, but it still affects you whether you like it or not. You may always act in a surprise round. In addition, as a swift action you can open yourself to the influences of those around you; you gain any numerical benefits or penalties granted to creatures within 30 ft of you via a morale bonus, spell or spell-like ability with the emotion descriptor, a mind-affecting effect, or a fear effect until the end of your next turn. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. If you accept any penalties in this way, you regain 1 point in your phrenic pool.
Fated to Bring Pain and Misery (Su): At 5th level, once per day you can cast dominate person as a spell-like ability and command the target to “Disturb.” This command cause the target to act erratically: it cannot attack, but it can gesture at allies and act like it is going to attack, and it continuously talks in a highly disturbing manner about personal things that the target knows about its allies and about the target’s connection to its allies. All creatures within 30 ft of the target of this ability who are not that creature’s enemies must make a Will save or become shaken.
Desire to Be Alone (Su): At 13th level, you are under the constant effects of detect thoughts. By concentrating, as a move action you can suppress this effect and drastically increase your mental defenses. While you are suppressing your constant detect thoughts and are not under any other effects that allow you to hear the thoughts of others, you may add ½ your psychic level on all Will saving throws. However, this is very taxing; in addition to the concentration that it requires, you take a penalty equal to your Wisdom modifier on all caster level and concentration checks that you make.

ROGUE TALENTS
Decoy Octopus (Ex): You have learned how to enhance your disguises and impersonations of specific individuals so that even magical detection cannot see through your lies. When creating a Disguise of a specific individual that is either helpless or willing, you may spend an extra hour taking blood from that individual and injecting that blood into yourself. If you so so, you receive a +10 circumstance bonus on all Disguise and Bluff checks made to convince others that you are that individual and you are treated as that individual for the effects of all spells and abilities that would affect the individual or his creature type. This remains in effect for a number of days equal to your Intelligence modifier, even if you remove your disguise before then.

SLAYER TALENTS
Sniper Wolf (Ex): When you use Studied Target, you focus on your target so much that you form a powerful emotional connection to them. As long as you can see your target, you gain your Studied Target bonus as a morale bonus to your saving throws in addition to the normal bonuses that the ability grants.

Thank you. :)

I've been asked to take this thread down by Little Red Goblin Games, is it possible to now that it's been more than an hour since I posted it?

After seeing that the Stalker Vigilante can gain a climb speed, the only thing in the whole world that I want is a magic item in the final book that lets you web sling.

Forbiddenlightbulb wrote:

"You may call me ‘Murray’! I am a powerful demonic force! I am the harbinger of your doom! And the forces of darkness will applaud me as I stride through the Gates of Hell – carrying your head on a pike!"

"Stride?"

"All right then, roll! Roll through the Gates of Hell!"

"You may call me ‘Murray’! I am a powerful demonic force! I am the harbinger of your doom! And the forces of darkness will applaud me as I stride through the Gates of Hell – carrying your head on a pike!"

For Telekinetics, a good source of inspiration could also be Mass Effect. Biotics have the ability to tear things apart with their minds with warp, doing direct damage. I don't see why a Telekinetic couldn't just... try to move a person's body in multiple directions to deal damage. :D

Oh, and an energy resistance option. Kinda weird that there isn't anything already.

Telekinetic: Invisibility! I can't get past the idea that Kineticist would be a great class to build an Invisible Woman type. Especially if there's a Force Blast option.

All occultists rock medium armour and heavy weaponry.

I think this is okay, thematically. You're an item specialist, and both armors and weapons can be implements for you. If you find a greatsword and study it for a minute, you're learning everything about it and who has touched it in the past. Why would you not know how to swing it effectively?

Hellboy was one of your examples of an occultist, and he's been known to carry a big weapon or two. :)

If every other Kineticist can choose to become the element that they're associated with by picking up Kinetic Form, I'm a little surprised that the Telekineticist can't at least bend light and turn invisible. The Human Torch is easy as a Kineticist, but I honestly think the Invisible Woman should be one, too. Besides, the Telekineticist is already the tricksiest of the bunch. I don't think it's much of a shift in character for what Aether can do.

I noticed that this class had been "embraced" by LRGG, does anyone know what kind of changes were made, or if there was any changes at all?

There weren't any enormous changes made. Mostly editing and rebalancing some stuff. I highly encourage you to check it out. :)

Excaliburproxy, you named powered melee and powered fists as problem upgrades. Any others stick out?

Yeah, I went and took your advice. I changed Energy Boost to increase by +1 instead of +2, and I also made Redline deal a little more damage as you level, since 10 points of damage is just a silly amount to heal at a certain point.

This is a pretty neat class. I wonder out loud if Forbidden still checks it.

I do indeed!

You make a lot of solid points re: high level play. I was way more worried about making the armored viable in the early game when I made energy boost go up by 2. I will absolutely consider your suggestions.

This is why I like opening things up like this, though. I just don't have enough experience with super high level to make the same judgment as I can at early levels. Thank you!

I went ahead and added the two feats that are kinda needed to make a pure armorer viable

1) What Would Happen If You Kicked a Chihuahua?
When big creatures hit smaller creatures, it should move them. It should be built right into the size mechanics. Awesome Blow isn't good enough. If a Stone Giant hits a Halfling, that Halfling shouldn't stay in the same square it started in. My house rule is Any creature who hits a creature two or more size categories smaller than itself can initiate a Bull Rush as a free action. Use the Grenade Scatter rules to determine the direction of the Bull Rush.

In addition, what happens when a chihuahua runs right in front of you while you're walking? You trip, super easily if my experience is worth anything. I don't know if smaller creatures should have a penalty to trip at all.

Captain Golarion.. ?

:D

Our Powers Combined (Su): Witches with this hex may form a special coven designed to cast a powerful summoning ritual. For the purposes of this coven, a hag does not need to be present, and the normal spell-like abilities granted from a coven are not available to be cast. Any witch with this hex within 10 feet of another witch with this hex may spend 1 minute to perform this ritual. Upon completion, an eidolon is summoned as if by a summoner of a level equal to the average level of the witches performing in the ritual. This eidolon has extra points in its evolution pool equal to the number of participants in the ritual -2. The eidolon is loyal only to the group that summoned it (if it receives conflicting requests from those that summoned it, it will do nothing), and it remains for a number of hours equal to the number of witches who participated in the ritual. A witch must have the coven hex to select this hex.

Just bumping this so it gets more eyes on it; I'm very curious what the general consensus is (and am always looking for feedback).

Also, I think it would be wonderful to see something that encourages the use of a single weapon swashbuckler with nothing in the off-hand (though I suppose a feat tree or archetype could be coming for that). I think that's a far more iconic image for a swashbuckler, and the free hand could open up some fun in-combat options.

It's very unfortunate that the swashbuckler relies on light or one-handed piercing weapons. When I think of a piratey swashbuckler, I would immediately want to go for cutlass or scimitar before a rapier.

And if there's anything I learned from Metal Gear Rising, it's that katanas are fun for parrying. :D

I think the main reason why druids don't get scalykind is that scalykind was a late arrival on the domain scene. I would absolutely allow it; if you can be a dragon shaman, you should probably be allowed to have the dragon subdomain.

Made a few more changes. Trying desperately to get some more flavorful names for the powers he has.

I'm just gonna copy/paste my character concept right here. I fully admit that this was all inspired from me taking the Tongues curse WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

* raises a hand *

Um... Isn't the maturity mentioned in the ages PHYSICAL maturity? Not necessarily mental or emotional maturity?

There. I've changed it up so that the armorer actually has something interesting to do at first level. :P

I've added some very basic abilities to both help round out the table and his basic combat capabilities. I've also put in a clause about the bonded armor only working for the armorer.

seems pretty weak on it's own

however, if you have a cohort who is one of these, handing off this armor to say a caster giving it the casting armor upgrade.... then it suddenly makes the caster much stronger

That... brings up a good point, doesn't it. Nowhere do I specify that the armor only works for the armorer. Definitely not how I intended it.

Awesome Concept. I really like the class.

I think he'd need something more. All full Bab-martials have got some kind of numerical bonus(Rage, Weapon Training, Smite) to push their attacks further.
Also some of the awesome abilities like Powered Hammer should kick in earlier IMO. Shure it's quite strong, but it is also really depressing if one wants to play a Hammer wearing Amourer and has to wait till lvl 10 to get his concept work.

Fair enough! Maybe those dead levels can be filled with some sort of increasing bonus to something or other.

Okay, I DID just change the progression for Upgrade right before uploading it, from every 2 levels to every 4 levels... I maybe should not have second-guessed myself. Maybe every 3 levels would be better? I just worry about it being the same progression as alchemist discoveries.

The Armorer

This is my attempt to make a powered armor base class; I know it's a pretty commonly attempted class for people to make, but I've never been too satisfied with the ones I've seen before. I wanted to make it something that you could come in and have a TON of options with which to customize your armor.

I JUST finished it, so I'm not going to claim that it's completely finished. I'm pretty unsure about some of the numbers involved, so I'd like people to come in and look at it, rip it apart. (Also, I'm not completely sold on the name, but it's the best I have at the moment)

Have at it!

You could also try many of Dark Soul's themes; Gwyn, Manus, The Gaping Dragon, Artorias of the Abyss, and Black Dragon Kalameet.

I'm ashamed I didn't think of Dark Souls. =/

Nox arcana and Midnight Syndicate might have some suitable songs. I also enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean OST, specifically the songs played when the Kraken appears!

Another very helpful list of suggestions. Thank you!

Just off the top of my head, go for the God of War soundtracks, especially II and III.

Fantastic! Thank you.

My players are coming up to the final, dramatic fight with the BBEG they've been chasing around for a while. He's a Worm That Walks that is a powerful priest of Cyth V'Sug that's unleashed a massive plague of vermin and fungus that's covered about half the planet at this point.

I want to make this fight feel as important as possible, so I want to accompany it with a good, epic soundtrack, but... I haven't a clue of even a TYPE of music to go for that's both epic enough and still reflects the gross fungus-and-worminess of the fight.

Suggestions?

What kind of Order would a Captain choose? There are already order abilities that reward a high Charisma, so +1 to the Charisma suggestions. Were you considering homebrewing an order to go with the archetype?

I had been mulling over maybe needing three separate Orders to choose from, for air, land, and sea. No idea what each would offer yet, but...

Can banner not be siege weapons, as with, say, a chariot, it might be a bit tough to fit on a catapult.

I did consider making it just all ranged attacks. However, the standard cavalier banner only works on charges, which is pretty situational in a lot of cases, so I thought it may be best to keep it that way. I've been having an internal debate about it for a while now.

Maybe your archetype should allow the Captain to add his Charisma bonus on Profession (driver) checks in addition to Wisdom? There are plenty of precedents for that sort of thing.

Curse you and your good ideas!

"Welcome to my sleigh, it is out operational HQ." I think this could probably be dropped.

Does Santa have Leadership, and are his reindeer followers? I think these are important questions to ask. :) But! Actually, I can see it working for the smaller vehicles; expeditions across the North Pole often see people using sleighs as transportation for the pieces of their base of operations, right?

Other than that I kind of like it. I almost feel like you could distinguish between captains of large ships or airships and smaller vehicles like gliders, rowboats, or chariots. Smaller vehicles could use a rather different archetype. Just a thought.

I do agree that one of the major weaknesses here is that I tried to make a cavalier that can work with ANY vehicle, instead of just settling with one.

Hi Forbiddenlightbulb! Nice archetype. Reminds me of Hodge Podge's entry in RPG Superstar this year. Have you seen it?

I had not seen it! And now I'll try everything I can to not just directly steal from it. :)

Draft #2!

Captain
While a traditional cavalier spends much of his early career learning to train and ride animals, there are those who learn to become much more familiar with vehicles. Captains are those who have taken the time to learn every part of a galley, train day and night on a chariot, or begin to study the intricacies of making an airship fly.

Bonded Vehicle (Ex)
A captain is bound to a particular vehicle, of which he is the commander and pilot. At 1st level, a captain gains one of the following vehicles of his choice with which he forms a bond: wagon, cart, carriage, chariot, dog sled, glider, sleigh, rowboat, or wagon. If a captain wishes to bond with a new vehicle, he must put that vehicle through a series of rigorous tests to ensure it’s safety, a process that takes 24 hours. A captain with the Leadership feat treats his bonded vehicle as a base of operations for the sake of determining the captain’s Leadership score. This ability replaces mount.

Captain’s Maneuvers (Ex)
At 3rd level, a captain receives a +4 bonus on combat maneuver rolls with his bonded vehicle. In addition, the captain adds his his Charisma modifier to damage from a ramming maneuver with his bonded vehicle.
This ability replaces cavalier’s charge.

Expert Pilot (Ex)
At 4th level, a captain gains a bonus equal to ½ his captain level on drive checks made to pilot his bonded vehicle.
This ability replaces expert trainer.

Flag (Ex)
At 5th level, the flag a captain flies becomes a symbol of inspiration to his allies and companions. As long as the captain’s flag is visibly attached to a major part of his bonded vehicle, all allies upon the bonded vehicle (even those who cannot see the flag directly) receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear and a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made with a siege weapon. At 10th level, and every five levels thereafter, these bonuses increase by +1. The flag must be at least Small or larger.
This ability replaces banner.

Mighty Ramming (Ex)
At 11th level, when making a ramming maneuver against a creature or object, the captain’s bonded vehicle takes a quarter of the damage dealt instead of half. In addition, when making a ramming maneuver, any creatures pulling the captain’s bonded vehicle are treated as having evasion.
This ability replaces mighty charge

Supreme Ramming (Ex)
At 20th level, a captain’s vehicle is a truly terrifying force of destruction. When making a ramming maneuver with his bonded vehicle, a captain rolls d12s instead of d8s. In addition, when making a ramming maneuver against a creature or object, the captain’s bonded vehicle takes no damage and any creatures pulling the captain’s bonded vehicle are treated as having improved evasion.
This ability replaces supreme charge.

Why is this Archetype Wisdom-based? (Captain's Maneuvers)

Your Cavalier is a captain. That's a leadership position, so everything should be Charisma based, not Wisdom. Feels like this needs some sort of Leadership tie-in.

Mainly, I felt it should capitalize on Wisdom being the score that all of the drive checks are based on. Also, leadership options sound solid except for the fact that I wanted the captain to be able to pilot much smaller vehicles, like chariots, just as easily as he might a galley.

Also, you never note what kind of vehicle your captain gets for free? Can I take a longship? That's worth 10,000 gp. I could just take the most expensive vehicle possible and sell it for some fast cash, buy a cheaper vehicle, and still have several thousand gp left over to deck myself out in bling with.

That... is an honest to goodness goof. I could have sworn that I put in a clause similar to a gunslinger's guns that he can't sell for full price. I'll have to work on putting that in (again?).

Adding a bunch of extra damage dice to a vehicle that already has a size-based damage system does not seem like a good idea. How is the cavalier causing his ship to do those extra dice of damage? The original Mighty Charge ability doubles the critical threat range and allows the cavalier to make a free combat maneuver check when he charges. I would take a hard look at the vehicle rules and see if I couldn't find some sort of maneuver (maybe boarding) to tie this to instead. Maybe, "whenever you successfully deal ramming damage to an enemy, you can board that vehicle as part of the action." Sort of like swinging from the mast and onto the ship sort of thing.

Also a solid idea! One that I may very well steal some ideas for in my revision. :D Thank you very much for the critique. It was extremely helpful.

Inspired by the fact that a Cavalier is a kind of incredibly stupid idea for a game like Skull & Shackles (but shouldn't be!!!), I present to you:

Captain
While a traditional cavalier spends much of his early career learning to train and ride animals, there are those who learn to become much more familiar with vehicles. Captains are those who have taken the time to learn every part of a galley, train day and night on a chariot, or begin to study the intricacies of making an airship fly.

Bonded Vehicle (Ex)
A captain is bound to a particular vehicle, of which he is the commander and pilot. At 1st level, a captain gains a land or water vehicle that he forms a bond with. No matter what type of vehicle it is, the captain’s bonded vehicle does not start with any weapons or other items attached to it. In addition, it is incredibly difficult for anybody who is not bonded with the vehicle to control; the DCs of any drive checks are considered 5 higher for anybody who is not the captain.
If a captain wishes to bond with a new vehicle, he must put that vehicle through a series of rigorous tests to ensure its safety, a process that takes 24 hours. This ability replaces mount.

Captain’s Maneuvers (Ex)
At 3rd level, a captain receives a +4 bonus on combat maneuver rolls with his bonded vehicle. In addition, the captain adds his his Wisdom modifier to damage from a ramming maneuver with his bonded vehicle.
This ability replaces cavalier’s charge.

Expert Pilot (Ex)
At 4th level, a captain gains a bonus equal to ½ his captain level on drive checks made to pilot his bonded vehicle.
This ability replaces expert trainer.

Flag (Ex)
At 5th level, the flag a captain flies becomes a symbol of inspiration to his allies and companions. As long as the captain’s flag is visibly attached to a major part of his bonded vehicle, all allies upon the bonded vehicle (even those who cannot see the flag directly) receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear and a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made with a siege weapon. At 10th level, and every five levels thereafter, these bonuses increase by +1. The flag must be at least Small or larger.
This ability replaces banner.

Mighty Ramming (Ex)
At 11th level, when making a ramming maneuver with his bonded vehicle, a captain adds +2d8 to the total damage dealt from the ram. In addition, when making a ramming maneuver against a creature or object, the captain’s bonded vehicle takes a quarter of the damage dealt instead of half.
This ability replaces mighty charge

Supreme Ramming (Ex)
At 20th level, a captain’s vehicle is a truly terrifying force of destruction. When making a ramming maneuver with his bonded vehicle, a captain rolls d12s instead of d8s. In addition, when making a ramming maneuver against a creature or object, the captain’s bonded vehicle takes no damage.
This ability replaces supreme charge.

Twilight2k wrote:

Really? Boutique outlets? Some of the largest European publishers give free pdfs with all physical book purchases (from their web store - I don't think any do it everywhere). 1-2 books in a product line per year is irrelevant when they operate close to a dozen product lines.

Like?

I've picked up PDFs for various Gumshoe products from Pelgrane Press. They are in the UK, but that is close enough to European for me.

I've used Bits and Mortar to get PDFs from Chaosium. And I think Evil Hat does that too. Both of them are in the US. I like this because it helps support my FLGS and still gives me an electronic copy.

I think PDF with hardcopy is the norm except for Paizo and WotC.

My takeaway is that Taldane is the only nationwide language of Brevoy. Hallit, Iobarian and Skald are used with some regularity. Varisian, Draconic, and whatnot are used, but in small, scattered pockets.

Does this seem like the consensus?

Brevoy has plenty of Iobarians, so I imagine their language would be spoken there as well.

Does Iobaria have a regional language? I thought most of the humans on the north coast spoke Skald (Ulfen) and in the interior they spoke Hallit (Kellids).

In addition to the ubiquitous Taldane (which the arrogant people of Taldor call "Common"), what else is spoken there? I figured the north (Issia) has some Skald because of the Ulfen. But what about in Rostland? I had thought that they were ancestrally Kellid with a lot of trappings from Taldor (such as "Common"). If I'm right, then the more remote villages would still be likely to speak Hallit.

This has been my working assumption for years. I started a Rostlander in Hero Lab Online and it says

Characters from Brevoy gain access to the regional languages Skald and Varisian when choosing languages.

I was surprised to see Varisian. I can imagine a few villages here and there, but I'm surprised to see it listed above Hallit. Looking it up in the pathfinder wiki I see

Having received waves of migration from all over Avistan, the people of Brevoy speak a large number of languages, depending on their own ethnicity. These include Hallit, Skald, Varisian, and of course the common language of that part of the world, Taldane. Strangely, a significant minority of people also speak Draconic, which is quite unusual for non-dragons to be conversant in.

So, what is the traditional language for the peasants of Rostland? If there is a group of Rostlanders who want to split Brevoy and go back to the glory days of "free Rostland", what language are they most likely to speak?

Etiquette question: If an Internet Rando (someone outside your geographical area and having no personal connection to the local Lodge) signs up to a full game, is that viewed positively ("Oh, cool, someone found our Lodge!") or negatively ("They're taking a space from one of us!")?

I explicitly tell the GM that I'm an interloper and I will drop if there are locals on the wait list. My goal is to grab an open seat, not to displace anyone. So far I've played 3 out of 3 times, so it has been a safe bet ;-)

Dumb question: The conclusion says that "In gratitude for their service, Valsin presents the PCs with an archaic wayfinder". That sounds like a free gimme. But the sheet says it costs 25 GP, which is closer to what I would expect. So, really this is just a 5 GP discount?

Currently, Quests 1,4, and 9 are repeatable.

if they stick to the pattern, #16 will be the next repeatable quest.

PFS2 character creation covers all the creation rules. I think that mentioned.

You've just unwittingly aided the band of assassins and murdered the carriage's only guard, ultimately leading to their targets' demise, and possibly yours as well. Even if you survive the encounter, you will have been responsible for a young noble's death, and quite possibly branded a criminal.

As-is, that is going down a dark path, and sounds like no fun. My immediate reaction would be to call out the GM and ask where this game was going, and verify that I wanted to play it. My RPG time is too limited to squander on nonsense.

Tweak it a bit and it would be a good intro to a "The Fugitive" type scenario. Instead of them killing the guards, the PCs disrupt the defense, and accidentally allow the bad guys to win. Then from there they have to bring justice to the assassins while not being arrested. That sounds more like a story worth my time.

I don't mind the GM "tricking" the players as long as it is setting up something interesting. Think of it as exposition, but with some player involvement. But this sort of thing has to be infrequent. People play RPGs to have input/agency, not to be be told that they got things wrong.

I imagine the Order of the Chain goes wherever fugitives do. Local jurisdiction is mostly meaningless, although if the local cops have arrested said fugitive, all is right in the world. Likewise, I think there are valid reasons for many of the orders to send knights to foreign countries. The rule of law transcends borders.

So, it is clear that they mostly operate in Cheliax, Isger, and Korvosa, they can be anywhere. Since quite a few went to Mendev to fight the demons of the world wound, I wonder if they have some chapter houses up north. They can still fight demons and trample the locals traditions.

Still I have the sensation that we are losing something (in relation to PF1) in every single class progression, not only in nerfed classes. If I wanted to make a characters with the same features as in PF1 (not speaking of power, just of features) I wouldn't be able to do so in this edition.

That isn't my impression. What is an example of a character concept that you could build with pre-APG PF1 that you cannot build properly with PF2?

Hellknights have very strict rules, and they follow those rules to the letter, regardless of local laws. Generally local laws do not conflict with order structures, so there are no problems. By nature, they follow all rules even if they don't respect the local government.

The Order of the Torrent is lawful good and focused on freeing kidnap victims. If that means breaking into a jail, then so be it. If the local government is involved, then they will be treated as part of the problem.

Likewise, if the Order of the Nail decided that some local practice is preventing growth of civilization and society, then they will fight it. If that is Cheliax, Molthune, or wherever the order will do whatever is necessary. Preferably using the local government, but that is not required.

He gets replaced by 3 halfling sorcerers in a trenchcoat.

Are you sure it wasn't three gnomes? In the run up to the P2 launch, Ryan from Know Direction wrote up the middle gnome from a trenchcoat trio. Kinda cool way to show off the new system.

For Southern Casmaron look into the Kelesh Empire. Its western most province is Quadira, which is in the inner sea region. You can start with https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Kelesh.

Then why do Backgrounds exist at all?

I think it is for two reasons. The first is a list of easy to understand concepts is less daunting than "build your own." The other is that if they introduce special backgrounds that have bonus skill feats, general feats or whatever, this mechanism is a bit more future proof. "Here, use this background as-is" doesn't require explaining deviations from the normal rules.

Had I designed PF2, I'm not sure if I would have gone with backgrounds, or just free form choices like you want. But I didn't, and this is fine.

I have used the custom background editor in pathbuilder2 to (re)build a beloved 3.5 character that I never was able to get quite right a decade ago. None of the existing backgrounds were exactly what I wanted, although "noble" was close and would have worked.

Not really. But you still have the issue of fitting. Getting centaurs up the stairs then to sneak across the roof to drop on the enemy from behind will still be difficult. And likely humorous.

The problem with basing more conflict on order v. chaos instead of good v. evil is that players in general will always avoid being too constrained by rules and laws in game, even if they're completely good guys. Seems most folks feel restrained enough by order in real life that they'd like to try some more free-spirited gaming.

Perhaps for casual gaming. I like Cheliax and how its sense of unity itand destiny have been corrupted by hell. This is playing with subtleties on the lawful end of the alignment spectrum. For a while now that has been my thing

I haven't seen an interesting concept of true neutrality yet, unfortunately. A true champion of balance would have to be truly horrific from time to time to balance out the heroic acts involved in saving the world or whatever that happens in most APs. The three neutral deities in CRB (Nethys, Pharasma, and Gozreh) are all very different from each other.

The common thread for those three is the relative disregard for mortals. Magic, nature, and a well ordered life/death cycle are what is important. Basically a TN champion is dedicated to a cause that has little to do with people. Focusing on something like that seems a bit niche, but in sure someone somewhere will come up with a good story based using them.

Must we have pan-neutral champions? I want one champion group for each of the four alignments. We have good, so evil, law and chaos are what I want to see. And I think the corners have to pick. A LG champion in the Godclaw has to be the lawful variety, not the existing good one.

I read a lot of Michael Moorcock when I was a kid. I want more law vs chaos to balance out good vs evil.

That said, I don't mind a true neutral champion, but it should be distinct, not bundled with LN and CN. I still don't like how Faiths of Balance handled things. LN and CN have as much in common as NG and NE, but no one tries to lump those two together.

I think most Rahadoumi would like to be gods. Most folks have power fantasies. They might want to follow in Irori's footsteps, or maybe Nethys. And the starstone appeals to them as well. They just won't subjugate themselves to any divine overlord to get there.

Refusing to follow a god is not the same as opposing that god. An artist might be glad that Shelyn inspires works of art, and might even hope for inspiration, but won't actively ask for divine help. Some things are not worth the cost.

Any 20th level cleric can cast miracle. Would that make all of them candidates for sainthood?

I don't think of the familiar as being an independent creature, but as a projection of the witch. It has its own personality and free will, but it exists because of the witch. This is a bit like an Eidalon in reverse.

The first thing a patron teaches is how to create this being and how to bind it into an animal. The only spell a witch can prepare without a familiar is Bind Familiar. This means when a familiar is killed, the next day the witch prepares and casts Bind Familiar and is back in business. Finding a vessel (the right animal) is up to the witch. This could be tweaked for mirrors, crystals, etc.

This does nothing to stop the familiar from being so squishy, but it gets the familiar back on line more quickly. It does mean losing spells makes no sense.

What do folks think of lucky familiars? They always have Fortune for making saves, and attacks against them have Misfortune. It seems thematically right, and makes them tougher but not indestructible.

Initially I thought the witch should be able to access all four traditions, but I've come around to no divine witches. One of the cornerstones of witches is figuring things out. They are not granted powers, they are taught secrets and figure the rest out on thier own. That seems reasonable for arcane and occult. Primal is a bit more of a stretch, but OK. Divine is not self taught, even with a patron/mentor. Clerics, divine sorcerers, and oracles all do thier thing without understanding it. Totally different vibe.

The thing I really don't like about this is summoning demons and devils. Getting an imp or quasit to spy and cause mayhem feels right. If I remember summoning correctly, Summon Fiend is divine only. That means the Planar Binding ritual is how a non divine witch would have to do this. For some GMs, that won't be an issue. But for PFS, I expect it to be very rare. Summon Celestial is in the same boat, so Glynda cannot summon Archons either.

Would it make sense for the witch to have a class feat for summoning rituals? More generically, some mechanism to learn any ritual? Perhaps at the cost of fewer spells? I've never thought that standard spells were the bread and butter of this class.

That just makes the last focus point needlessly punishing to spend. I'm not a fan of the grit/panache 1+ stuff in 1e for the same reason. Anything that makes spending a resource more painful is bad - people already hold off on burning resources as is.

Agreed. I like cantrip hexes for weak, spam all day effects that are relatively small, plus focus hexes for the bigger stuff. I don't see any reason to limit the first because you have no mojo for the second.

I kinda like this. But it is a huge win for the witch. Wouldn't a single action to cast a spell break the action economy? Maybe it would be better to spend the actions normally, but the spells come from the familiar. Sensible witches will hide thier familiar on themselves (shirt pocket or whatever), but the risk takers can send it forward to engage the enemy at close range. Presumably the next round will be run and hide.

Panache Mode and Finishers are cool.

Agreed. And that would fit nicely in an archetype. Too bad that would mean no Confident Finish until 2nd level, if the Dedication even provided it.

My preference is towards fewer classes, so I have mixed feelings about this witch. I like the old witch better. As-is, it doesn't stand out, so I am not sure it deserves a class

To justify a full class, it shouldn't just be a spell caster. All hexes all day was the schtick, and I liked it. Some nerfing is fine. My main witch stopped using slumber because it was no fun. My second witch never took that hex.

I think I'd like fewer spells. That along with most hexes converted to cantrips would make the witch distinctly non wizard.

Overall I don't think the focus power mechanism feels witchy. Maybe for big stuff, but certainly not the basic hexes. And focus point cost with 24h immunity seems like a double whammy.

I think a focus spell to remove hex immunity for making a save would be good. Basically burn a point and two actions to gain the chance to try again. And perhaps a cackle variant that burns focus to sustain all active hexes.

Also I'd like a bigger tie in to rituals. Getting things done without spells feels right.

Finally I want to mention patrons. I lean towards keeping them vague. If you know who your daddy is, you are a cleric. I prefer The-Magic-Sword's approach #1 because I now *must* create a witch whose patron is the collective Godclaw. Hellknights and witches together is too awesome to pass up.

IF it had to be "not its own class" it could be an Archetype, which would be narritively interesting.

I think that investigator would be better off as an archetype. Just the essential abilities mixed in with any class. Making it a rogue racket could work, but that seems needlessly limiting. Wizard and alchemist seem investigator friendly.

I understand they want it for CSI:Absalom. Changing investigator to something other than a class could affect that AP. So I'm afraid that choice has already been made.

I guess I'm in the minority in that I don't think Asmodeus cares what your alignment is, and that includes divine spell casters too. Becoming a cleric of his means entering into a contract. As long as you fufill your end of the bargain, nothing else matters.

So, yes, I'm OK with paladins of Asmodeus. Sure, said paladin would be LAWFUL good and have Smite Chaos. So long as the mortal does as he is told, that mortal is an effective servant/slave. Perhaps one who can do things other servants cannot. But failure do as agreed means the punitive clauses in the contract will literally mean a living hell for the mortal.

Asmodeus worship isn't a religion based on love. It is all duty, obligations, and betrayal. Lots of Spock's Beard style promotion by getting superiors to screw up. Legalistic arguments about where the lines actually are would be common. "Lawyer Up" would be a class skill/skill feat for just about everyone.

I accept that this isn't the direction that the setting has taken. But it feels like some richness, subtlety, and moral ambiguity has been lost.

FWIW non evil worshippers will have trouble staying alive in the Church of Asmodeus, much less getting to positions of power. But if that is what a PC wants to try, sure

Agreed. I for one am tired of "neutral because society doesn't let me be evil" characters seeing how far they can push the boundaries and then complaining that good characters are the problem.

My Inquisitor of Asmodeus was trained to be LN specifically so he could operate outside of the Empire. He never did anything to jeopardize his position in the society, so he was squeeky clean. He never committed *any* evil acts. Ever. Well, just some minor mocking of Andoran (East Cheliax) and Halflings.

Personally I'm an old fart and I don't enjoy playing evil characters, but I do enjoy moral grey areas. This witch hunt to stop boundary pushing would prevent me from playing one of my favorite characters. Fortunately he is 14th level so I have a "been there, done that" attitude to this concept.

I don't have a solution to stop people from being dicks. But I want it to be clear that some concepts which are not problematic will now be illegal. Collateral damage is always unfortunate.

As the title.

I reviewed the proficiency scaling, and I thought it was strange that the baseline is now Level + 2, with it scaling up to Level + 8. I don't mind the scaling so much, but the baseline I feel will confuse players and might make them add things when they shouldn't. Or I might get players who ask "Why do we add +2 when we're trained," to which the only valid response I have is "The Devs wanted it that way."

Level+0 is the mod for untrained skills with the Untrained Improvisation feat. Feedback from the playtest said that folks wanted untrained to be less useful, so now you need a feat to get to Level+0.

Confirmed to be finished as of last night and on the final step before upload. :)

Where was this confirmation? Any place us unwashed masses can see? I feel like a kid at a candy store, but the store is padlocked.

Will regular rogues be able to do ranged ledgerdemain and impromptu sneak attack? I'm ok with regular rogues getting impromptu, but only a magical rogue (not necessarily arcane) should be able to disarm traps at 30'.

Bane could make you expert with the weapon and provide bonus dice. Greater Bane would be legendary with more dice. Likewise judgements could improve your save proficiencies, bump your skill level with weapons and/or armor. Fast Healing will still be a thing, right? I don't expect as-is for any crunch, but most of it can be translated.

I hope that the gish options (spell strike, arcane pool, bane, judgement, etc) are not tied to full classes, but rather are archetypes. Bane seems natural for divine and primal traditions, so it would be nice if a single archetype handled both.

The Citadel of Flame is a straight forward dungeon crawl. There is a little bit of non-combat, but only as a run up to fighting something.

I run the 12-18 year old game at the FLGS, and the biggest hit I had was with Mists of the Mwangi. I reskinned the gas to make the PCs impulsive. If you get hungry, you eat. If you get mad, you hit. They loved it and ended up having a souvenir collection of ears, and playing kickball with skulls. Not standard PFS, but the kids got into it.

But I will say I played a season 1 where my dwarf fighter literally didn't get to take a swing because of pets/eidolons.

Although off topic, I think any character which has companions, eidolons, summoned creatures, and so forth runs the risk of violating "don't be a jerk" if only because they have so many actions that they often end up hogging the camera. Even if the beasties are not overpowered, those players end up getting a larger slice of time/GM attention.

I agree with pretty much everyone in this thread. I play a number of games with my sons (12-15), and if they did something like that, I'd wipe them out. They would get a warning or three, and it sounds like you've already done that. So kill them all and say "I told you so." Then discuss it with them. Both why it is a bad idea, and review the hints that you gave.

And then it is time for new characters.

Are there any plans for boons for us GMs who don't attend conventions? Here in North Carolina there are only a few small conventions, and while I do GM at them, so far that has just meant the 3 race boon sheet. It strikes me as odd that I have gotten something for those 4 convention tables, but I've gotten nothing for any of the others. As I've earned 2 stars in the past year, I think I'm a reasonably active GM.

Is it that everyone else has to use conventions to play PFS, and we're just an exception to the rule? Last year we had a visiting V-L, and he told me he was surprised at the number of game store options that we have. There are 4 stores within 20 miles of my house that I know that run weekly PFS events, and I think they cover 5 days of the week. The store I frequent has to limit PFS to 3 tables because of space issues, but has kept up that pace fairly consistently every Friday for almost a year. If not 150 tables, it is pretty close to that many.

From the limited convention experience I have, I knew or had heard of almost everyone there. It is the same group of people who already played PFS at the game stores, just in a different setting. I hope recruitment isn't the motivation because I see more newbies at the stores, or the Teen PFS events I organize, than the conventions I've been to.

Are there any plans change any of this? Is the consensus that things are fine as they are? If there are plans to change things, what are those plans?

I'm certainly not a fan of too many races, but lots of people want variety. I had hoped that buying a hard copy of the APG would act as a "play a featured race boon". No photocopies or use of a PDF, so if you wanted a second one, shell out some more bucks. Likewise a real copy of "Kobolds of Golarion" has a "play one Kobold" boon page. While this isn't friendly to folks with a tight budget, if you really want to play a goblin, you can eventually scrape together enough for Goblins of Golarion.

Personally I find the whole Asian theme to more of a problem for "suspension of disbelief" than the monstrous and elemental races. The leaps of fantasy logic to justify a human ninja in Ustalav is worse than a tree hugging orc. Likewise for a drow PC: I don't want them to become routine, but I think that they're more thematically consistent around the Inner Sea than any kitsune or nagaji.

Lord Fyre wrote:

For example: what does the “Witch” add that would not be better served as an archetype of Druid or Wizard?

The fact remains that the Witch is a very, very different class from both the Druid and Wizard. If you describe it in a five word sentence, yes, it seems very similar (full caster with flavorful abilities) but in practice it's a completely separate beast, altogether.

Let's take your argument a step further. Why do we need barbarians and rangers and monks, or clerics and druids and wizards?

Well, because someone wants to play them.

The horse has left the barn a long time ago, but I wouldn't have minded only having 4 classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic User and Thief). All the customizations could be done with archtypes or spending development points of some sort to buy class abilities. If someone works on DND 3.875 maybe that would be something for them to consider.