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"I cast Scrying on the BBEG."
"You don't see anything."
"Do I get a check to counteract—"
"No."

Private Sanctum is, atypically for PF2E, an abjuration effect that cannot be foiled under normal circumstances. Which makes it an extremely powerful GM tool, for when you absolutely need to avoid giving away a major twist.

But this is why the rarity system exists, right? If you're not confident enough in your GMing ability to trust that you'll be able to work around a PC casting Scrying at the wrong time, you can just not let them take Scrying. It's weird to see Paizo break away from how spells are generally designed in this one case in particular.

Of course, Scrying is one of the most disruptive spells in the game, if not the most disruptive. Maybe having some foolproof way of dealing with it is not a bad thing. It just seems to be something of a relic of the spells arm race I've heard about in earlier editions, where BBEGs had to be spellcasters that had counters for whatever PCs might throw at them.

Scrying also only imparts visual information, but that could be derailing in some cases, such as finding out that a major antagonist that you've discovered speaks to an unknown party at a certain time on a regular basis is talking to another villain and may be working for them.

I don't know. I just can't be the only one who was a bit surprised at seeing that you can't counteract Private Sanctum with a scrying effect or anything. Even Spell Immunity requires that the caster make a counteract check each time the target is affected by the spell.

What are your thoughts?

I'm not sure if there's already a thread on this subject, but the Lands of the Linnorm Kings is one of the few places that hasn't been explored in any canon AP that isn't set to have its lore reevaluated... outside this one spot.

The bulk of information about Hagreach, the easternmost of the Linnorm Kingdoms, comes from the 1e Pathfinder Campaign Setting guide for the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, written in 2011. This has been outdated for nearly a decade at this point. We know that Southmoor and the Thanelands have new Linnorm Kings (Ostog the Unslain and Thira Ash-Eyes, respectively) and there is also a Linnorm King of Icemark (Nankou, who receives a lot of odd glances for being Varki), but this is the extent of our canon updates. Hagreach's whole thing was being a bastion against the invasions of the White Witches who are no longer in power, and the Travel Guide makes it clear that the people of the Saga Lands as a whole know that Anastasia is somehow "different". So Hagreach's political climate has very heavily changed, but we currently don't know how. There's presumably still skirmishes along its borders, but they're no longer organized by the White Witches. The threat that previously pervaded the kingdom's culture is now gone.

I'm hoping that Hagreach becomes the subject of an adventure sometime soon. For now, what do you think may be going on there? Is the Castellan of the Trollheim Freyr Darkwine planning to become a Linnorm King himself, or is the position of King of Hagreach currently up for grabs? Is Hagreach scoping out what the new ruler of Irrisen is like, or are they raiding Irrisen themselves? Is the huscarl of Blackraven Hall Stenvast Trollkiller plotting to take back Irrisen using the resources stashed in the fortress and set to become a BBEG? Hagreach was so heavily focused around the White Witches that all these questions and more are yet to be answered. What do you think?

This is something that has been on my mind ever since I looked at the Bestiaries and noticed that every uncommon ancestry was common there. This implies that the uncommon ancestries are widespread throughout the world, but for one reason or another rarely become adventurers. I can think of a handful of potential reasons for this to apply, but no real explanation. Is it because the rarity system for ancestries assumes that the PCs are non-evil and the game is set in Avistan? This is a good explanation for most, but then I look at ratfolk, who have four ethnicities native to Avistan (Belkzen Creepers, Druman Dashers, Numerian Tinkerers, and Ulfen Leapers), are usually neutral, and enjoy traveling and collecting bits and bobs. At that point, the only explanation I can come up with is that they don't fit the traditional conception of fantasy that is assumed by the core. Is this accurate, or is there some other explanation?

The Religion skill is still useful for characters that don't worship a deity, by and large. Recalling Knowledge on religious subjects, deciphering scripture, and Identifying Magic is an essential skill for many characters that don't necessarily follow a deity. They could be a member of law enforcement that polices the faithful such as the Graycloaks or the Pure Legion, or they may be followers of a non-deific faith or philosophy that frequently come into conflict with cultists, fiends, and undead. Shoanti of the Skoan-Quah or Skull Clan, Sarkorian followers of the Green Faith, or members of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye are all examples of characters that would benefit from the Religion skill. Most Religion skill feats don't require worship of a deity. All of the skill feats focused on identifying magic work just as well whether you worship a god or not, Student of the Canon could be useful for characters who hunt down cultists and druids who study standing stones, Exhort the Faithful requires that the character follow a religion, but not a deity, Divine Guidance calls out philosophies in its description, and Pilgrim's Token requires that you've visited a holy site and received a token but doesn't specify that the holy site must be dedicated to a deity. Even Consult the Spirits doesn't mandate that you have to worship the deity the outsider you consult follows. Only Battle Prayer, Sacred Defense, and Sanctify Water require worship of a deity.

When you start looking for a constant item bonus to Religion, you start running into problems. The Thurible of Revelation would work, but is a held item that only provides a bonus to Religion for an hour, and it costs 5 gp to do so each time. The Cassock of Devotion is a high enough level that it must be crafted, and it requires that the crafter be a cleric that worships the deity it's dedicated to. One of its benefits is for clerics alone. The Phylactery of Faithfulness only works for followers of the deity it's dedicated to. You could potentially work around this as an occult or primal spellcaster, an oracle, or divine any list caster, using the Thurible of Revelation to make Decipher Writing and Identify Magic checks and the Staff of Providence to make Recall Knowledge checks, but if you ever have to make a Religion check that isn't one of those three, such as a check to Recognize or Learn a Spell, Trick a Magic Item, or use the Research exploration activity, you're out of luck. You can't use your hand for anything else when it's holding a Staff of Providence, either. And the Sage's Lash provides a +3 item bonus to Religion checks and isn't even divine, but is a 18th level apex item. Everything else is either a consumable or not of common rarity.

If you were a GM and were working with a player who wants their character who doesn't follow a deity to benefit from an item bonus to Religion checks, how would you go about it? Would you let the Phylactery of Faithfulness work with non-deific faiths, or provide access to an item that provides a bonus to Religion checks but doesn't require mandate that you follow a deity?

I'm not totally up to speed on what's going on with Paizo, but I know that with the establishment of a union that the company is going through some growing pains. I also know that COVID seriously slowed down production and led to a lot of books being delayed, but as we can see given that Absalom: City of Lost Omens has finally been released that doesn't mean they've been shelved. So I was under the mistaken impression that the Dead God's Hand, an adventure I've been thinking about running and looking forward to for a while, would be coming out sometime soon, so I decided to check in and found out that it has no estimated release date. I totally understand that there could be many reasons as to why this would happen, and also understand if those reasons are private, but I'd like to be informed on what is going on if possible. There may be a preexisting thread, but given this website's search engine I wouldn't know where to find it. If someone could update me, that'd be appreciated.

Some D&D 5e players are making the shift to PF2e. Like 5e, characters with proficiency in heavy armor in PF2e are encouraged to dump Dexterity thanks to the existence of the bulwark trait, but there’s a catch. Attack rolls with thrown weapons are based on Dexterity, not Strength. The wielder's full Strength modifier is applied to damage, but that means nothing if they can't land a hit. Martials that dump Dexterity have no built-in way of dealing with enemies they can't run up to and smash. If enemies are flying or located somewhere they can't reach, martials in full plate have to either focus on some other threat or rely on the party’s spellcasters for help. That said, that's only if they have no other way of fighting enemies outside melee range. Ideally, every martial that dumps Dexterity should consider how exactly they're going to deal with enemies outside their reach, as it will come up eventually. As the party level increases, flying enemies will become more common, and it's important that everyone is able to fight them on the same playing field. Note that while this guide is intended for Strength-based heavy armor users that would otherwise dump Dexterity, some of these options are also applicable to characters that cannot use ranged weapons or are restricted to the ground for other reasons. I will name abilities that are useful for builds that currently exist of that type where appropriate.

• Beat them at their own game: Even if no other options are available, if there’s a spellcaster in the party there's nothing stopping them from casting fly on you. A pair of winged boots or a winged rune is handy for many of the same reasons. You might also have access to flight through your ancestry or heritage. Flight does present some issues in PF2e that it does not in D&D 5e, which makes this a fallback instead of the go-to option. Fliers in this game must spend an action flying each round or fall. You can make an Acrobatics check to hover in place as an action in case you need to stay in a given space for whatever reason, but if you're a martial that’s chosen to dump Dexterity you'll have difficulty making that check reliably until higher levels. Air walk is an alternative, as walking on air does not come with the same restrictions, although you are limited in the angle you can move if your GM keeps track of such things. Notably, while fly is not on the divine spell list, air walk is. If your enemy is simply in a position you can't reach, your party's spellcaster is unlikely to have the right spell prepared outside of a game that leans significantly more vertical than average. That said, spells like 3rd-level jump and levitate are alternatives to fly of a marginally lower level that can help you reach an elevated position. Meanwhile, teleportation spells that aren't specific to the caster are rare, but some like collective transposition exist. Magic items can help out here, too. If you found some slippers of spider climbing, now's the time to use them! The downside to these movement-enhancing abilities is that few of them are at-will or permanent, and not everyone will have them ready, which means that in some cases you may have to fall back on other options.
  
• Invest in Dexterity: I know what you're thinking. “Full plate is so strong. If you have proficiency in heavy armor, you don’t need to invest in Dexterity!” And you're right, but the ability to use ranged weapons is just one benefit in doing so. Another is that most kinds of armor don't restrict your stealth capability provided you meet the Strength requirement, meaning that party stealth is possible even if someone is moving around in heavy armor. That said, the biggest reason is that full plate's bonus to Reflex saves only applies to saving throws against damaging effects. That is most Reflex saves, but there are exceptions. Engulf and Swallow Whole are common creature abilities that can be counted as non-damaging effects based on your Reflex save or DC. It's not being swallowed itself that's damaging, it’s what happens afterwards. The party fighter presumably doesn’t want to be digested by a gibbering mouther. And that's just one example! These effects are rare, but not nonexistent, and while most characters with proficiency in heavy armor have trouble justifying Dexterity as a secondary stat, this is absolutely an option for fighters, who have proficiency in heavy armor and no multiple ability dependency. If you end up going this route you’ll want to wear half-plate or splint mail instead of full plate, as the bulwark armor trait replaces your Dexterity bonus. There’s a catch in that in many games players will find it preferable to invest in mental ability scores and skills. Take this idea with a grain of salt. There are advantages in being smart or charismatic, and it’s not fun being the only player around the table who can’t participate in a social scene.
  
• Use cantrips: Some ancestry feats allow you to cast a specific cantrip as an innate spell. This is resourceless damage at range. The downside is that innate spells are almost always based on Charisma, making cantrips that allow the target a saving throw or require a spell attack roll undesirable for characters who don't invest in that score. Additionally, innate spells don't scale very well for non-spellcasters, if at all. Still, it's an option, and one that characters that invest in Charisma can lean back on. You can also potentially take an archetype in order to get access to cantrips, and if you pick up spellcasting feats these will scale, albeit more slowly than cantrips do for primary spellcasters. This also allows you to use Intelligence or Wisdom as your spellcasting ability. In any case, electric arc is notable in that it doesn’t suffer as much from scaling issues because it deals damage even if the target succeeds on their saving throw.
  
• Take some feats: Some class feats give martials ways to fight enemies in the air. Animal instinct barbarians for instance can't use weapons, but a boulder isn't a weapon. The Oversized Throw feat can help provided your GM doesn't interpret the description literally and treat it as a real weapon, as barbarians almost always invest in Dexterity. So can the Sudden Leap feat, which fighters also get and can combo with Felling Strike. (See the next section for more on that ability and others like it.) Jumping is based on Athletics and Sudden Leap heightens the jump you make as part of the attack to levels comparable to dragoons in Final Fantasy, so it works just fine. Meanwhile monks get an alternative in Flying Kick four levels earlier, in case they use a style that restricts them to a specific kind of unarmed attack such as Crane Stance. There's a limitation to Flying Kick though that makes it more difficult to use effectively, as it doesn’t increase the height of your jump. Some skill feats allow martials to jump up or climb to elevated positions, as well, in case your foe is not in the air.
  
• Bring them to you: Self-explanatory, but something that martials can rarely accomplish themselves. It's also difficult to keep enemies on the ground for long. Felling Strike can do that temporarily, but even if you land a critical hit they'll only stay there until the end of your next turn. The threat of an Attack of Opportunity might be enough incentive for a vrock to stay on the ground next to you if it's almost dead at that point and just wants to slow you down. A dragon is unlikely to be impeded. Earthbind similarly only affects the target for a round unless they roll a critical failure on their saving throw, and while immobilizing or paralyzing flying enemies would have much the same effect it’s difficult to manage for much longer. That said, that doesn’t mean that doing so isn’t an option, just that it isn’t one with much longevity. Even gust of wind can knock an enemy onto the ground and give you a chance to knock on them yourself. Just don't expect them to stay there. Make that turn or two count! Meanwhile, if your enemy is simply in a position you can't reach, environmental effects like obscuring mist can smoke them out, and spells like command can summon them to your position, to name two examples. Inventive use of a character’s abilities is one of the most unique parts of the tabletop RPG experience, so make the most of what you have. Some of these options might also work on flying enemies. It depends on the context.

I'd like my wizard to be fluent in Cyclops, but I'm a little bit confused as to how the boon of that name works. Do I just get to mark the Cyclops language on my character sheet, or do I need to learn it through taking the Multilingual feat or some other method? The name implies the former, but the description says "your characters can learn the Cyclops language", which implies the latter. In that case, is it correct for me to assume that you can't learn it using the Off-Hours Study boon, since Cyclops is not a common language? Or do I gain access to it and can learn it using that boon as well?

So, in the core rulebook, Torag is given as an example of how a deity's anathema might conflict with that of a champion's code. This is reiterated in Gods and Magic. Thing is, champions of Torag can't be neutral good in the first place, so this is irrelevant. Paizo's editors managed to miss this twice.

I'm confused about how, when, and where to spend Achievement Points and Fame on Boons. Until recently, I assumed that Achievement Points and Fame would be spent on Boons in some sort of online repository. My local group corrected me yesterday, explaining that all I need to do is note it down on my sheet and subtract the fame I spend. However, that still leaves me with the question of what exactly the Boons section under "My Organized Play" is for. Could someone please explain this to me? This is for 2nd edition Pathfinder Society.

Paizo has admitted they're struggling with mechanics for neutral champions, which I get. Thematically the neutral alignments are a lot weaker than the good and evil ones and a lot more difficult to hash out mechanics for. That said, I have an idea. Lawful neutral champions are something I assume no one is struggling with. They'd work to preserve order and have mechanics centered around ordering others around and making everyone work by their rules. On that note, they're likely to serve Abadar or Irori, whose servitors are aeons and inevitables in particular. So why not tie neutral and chaotic neutral champions thematically to psychopomps and valkyries?

Psychopomps are the servitors of Pharasma native to the Boneyard, the neutral Outer Plane. Psychopomps work to preserve the cycle of life and death from the Great Beyond, so neutral champions could from the Material Plane. They'd receive mechanics focused on healing and fighting undead. Proteans are a little too chaotic to tie to a code of conduct, but Calistria and Gorum are also served by valkyries, who transform fallen warriors into einherjar. Chaotic neutral champions could be warriors who fight for victory or death and are forbidden from using underhanded tactics. These champions would receive abilities that directly enhance their combat ability, turning them into a "mini-fighter."

I understand that this has likely already been suggested, but I'm offering it here as an idea for others to consider.