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I’m curious, is the elixirs PFS legal? I would love to play an alchemist who does the transformation elixirs for trans folks?

By Organized Play Rules (unless they changed) a character may be the gender they choose at the start of an adventure (picture Society-subsidized transition care) if memory serves.

And the 'craft item' thing would be a downtime activity so if I was GMing I would definitely allow it to be crafted. Probably along with some positive sounds of encouragement because that's awesome. Just like if someone was crafting prosthetics or aid devices.

The Puppies of Tindalos remain ever so cute and ever so TERRIFYING...

As always, read one's table.

If someone has had addiction issues in the past (whether personally or someone they cared about), they may not feel comfortable bringing it up and/or do not desire special treatment/consideration of that.

In addition, glamorizing addictive substances too much may give casual players the wrong impression of one's GM style and/or RL substance issues.

It would depend on the situation and what sort of deific power the character was looking for.

A full 'class respec' might actually grant more power than any ascension/descent in the short term.

The bigger and more important thing is How does the contractor come out ahead?

Starting with that and going from there should provide a roadmap.

So this would be chock full of all the flavor one can imagine?

How is this even a concern unless it's hard-written into a scenario?

So far as I know, the starships that PCs get to use in OrgPlay have a number of missiles on-board, and there are Boons that allow for 'extras' that do not cost money.

Did I miss an important rules update somewhere?

The few player options that are available from Quests/Bounties are useful to a character in some cases but are so niche in most of them that it shouldn't have a dramatic impact with those that are currently not flagged as Repeatable.

In addition, making Quests repeatable might help with some outliers that got missed (I'm looking at the incredibly fun but criminally under-run and under-played Little Trouble in Big Absalom)

YuriP wrote:

Oh God!

I never thought about give Aid to a Boss using its "minions" this would end pretty devastating!

But you are right this is RAW. Just a bit too much but it's RAW.

Aid is a reaction, and it's a circumstance bonus which means it doesn't stack. So it's not like 10 minions = +10 with no other downside. In other systems that's exactly how it works and it's how a pack of weenie minions can work together to land a single or a few blows on tougher PCs. But PF2E didn't go that route. 10 minions = +1 and then they don't get to shield block or whatever else they were going to use their reaction to do. So the vast majority of the time, the minions are much better off just doing their own thing.

Well, if it's an 'Aid per action' then it'd could theoretically be up to four Aids (barring other abilities)

One for each action and one for a reaction if the person aiding has the same sort of reaction (maybe? Seems sort of in the weeds there but I'd allow it.)

Sometimes, depending on when the scenario was written, the availability was much more restricted prior to subsequent printings and rulebook releases.

In such cases, the Boon acts as 'early access' or a 'sneak preview'.

In addition, being on the Chronicle chances accessibility to learn and use things versus 'basic' access in OrgPlay.

The Lump Sum gives more choices to the player (and potentially less work for the GM).

Otherwise the GM has to figure out what the items are for Standard (and not turn it into a 'game of favorites').

At least, that's my take on it.

For PFS2:

1-06 has been a mixed bag, with about a 50-50 split fun/slog between GM and player issues (resolved but still jarring during play).

I have only played this one on-line, but have prepped it to run in-person and on-line (but the tables didn't 'fire' so I haven't had a chance to run it yet)

Some GMs will take the barebones, run it like so, and then either expect players to roleplay to fill the gaps or are in 'speedrun' mode. It is also heavily dependent on the level mix of the party, as L1 characters will struggle and L4 characters tend to blow things up (again, based on play experience).

For SFS:

1-32 is one of my absolute favorite scenarios, both as a player and a GM, online or in-person.

The GM is empowered in that one to create a diplomat (if desired) and it is often fun to see what the players assume is a 'boring milk run' turn into a mad chaotic mess as their 'escort mission' turns out to be CR INAPPROPRIATE FOR ENCOUNTER and the party is battling to calm their mission down to prevent an outright slaughter.

Intro: The First Test can be a bit 'clunky' online, and run fast with a well-prepared GM. If the suggested route is taken, it can be done rather swiftly even with starting characters (kind of the point -- it's DESIGNED to have 'slack space' so the GM can walk new players through different aspects of play, while still having enough flexibility to tell a story.

That being said, one should feel able to mention to the GM concerns about pacing (in private message/via note/during break) during play.

Odds are it is either a 'blind spot' the GM has developed OR other RL factors occuring on the other side that are causing distractions. It often gets forgotten when folks are online that the other location may have pet/family/work aggro in addition to running the game.

That gets missed because it's 'invisible' to the other players, whereas in-person it'd be a person coming up to the table/table being too loud for GM to communicate/crushed time slots/etc.

Given that one has played a few, the suggestion would be to keep at it.

Admittedly, due to health reasons I've cut back significantly or I'd offer to run something of the above for you to give a contrast, hopefully.

And... sea of suck.

Just got a message from one of my colleagues that they were hit by a RIF today (Reduction in Force = Polite term for Layoff). I've complained directly to our upper executives about the whole, "Surprise! You're laid off!" approach, but they are of the opinion that it's kinder to the people being let go, so yet again today I got a "surprise".

I don't care for these surprises.

I know this is a bit late, but just an fyi...

WARN Act Avoid nasty surprises if you hear a rumor.

Oooooh I wouldn't say no, if you have one you're willing to part with! I'll send you a PM.

*Just* got the PM doing a Deep Think on options.

Odd Request: I find myself with a pile of GM Credit that I'm thinking about turning into an embri vanguard. Originally a doctor on Embroi, they noticed a few too many patients with oddly fiendish augmentations coming through, and maybe just a few too many errant whiffs of brimstone. After a bit too much "independent thought" about this, they were exiled from Embroi society, and upon too much further independent thought on that inversion of the natural order, they broke through their entropic potential, taking the Inversion aspect.

Strangely enough, embri are one of the few species that was, pre-Spacey Ps, possible to obtain via GMing, but hasn't yet floated over to the Boon Shop. Anyone have one gathering dust? I have any number of pre-Boon Store species available, but they're all available via Spacey Ps now, so not necessarily as valuable as they used to be. Still, if anyone wanted to save some Spacey Ps or grab a second same-species boon for a +2 on, say, a dragonkin, witchwyrd (they're so hot right now, in season 6), draelik, quorlu, verthani, damai, do let me know!
(Can you trade species boons you've purchased from the Boon Shop? I.E. if I use my own Spacey Ps to get, say, a Contemplative Boon, can I trade that to someone else? If so, I would trade anything from the Boon Shop for an embri!)

Alternatively, I'd happily GM anyone through any scenario online (schedule permitting) in exchange for an embri. If it sweetens the deal, I can even use one of the "anyone can replay any scenario" slots from the 2019 online cons boons, if anyone wanted to replay a favoured scenario without spending one of their own replays :)

Kishmo, do you still need an embri Boon?

Sorry for the delay in response got buried in RL issues and only just now digging myself out.

Personally, it's been a struggle since I came down with a significant world-altering illness in March to focus even on playing much less GMing.

Some venues lax response to that world-altering illness likewise have kept me away from in-person participation.

The tremors I picked up as an added bonus from that illness aren't helping, either.

It is my hope that I'll get some revitalization at a convention later this month, some re-connection as well as some of my focus back.

Not sure how to improve personal health/focus beyond that, time will tell.

EDIT: Part of my focus issue, but not a sole causal unit, is attempting to spread my limited mental bandwidth over three separate and distinct systems.

With the announcement of a *fourth* I've lost some willpower and motivation to continue GMing.

It was bad enough when SF was announced, then it intensified with PF being play-tested/released

I greatly appreciate milestone/story advancement in comparison to the rather fiddly bits of having to get acturial charts out to see 'how the party did'.

It gives me far greater freedom as a GM to both pace my story and my players as they enjoy the path.

Having the 4exp/1 Scenario x3 for a level for PFS2 is a happy medium in that regard.

Give people time to tell their character stories while participating in an overall one, etc.

There is the matter linked above as one concern.

There are also other considerations for someone who might travel to and spend a significant amount of money, some of which will end up in the State that is holding the Convention's coffers...

One is an utter lack of respect for the bodily autonomy of a significant portion of the population over a series of topics.

Another is an inability to control the factors of the above linked concern by Some Yahoo for not just the Convention Center but the entirety of the eating area available for convention-goers.

Another is a concern for personal safety as someone whose body does not 'quite' conform to a 'normal' perspective, there was the potential possibility of being assaulted while en route to an in-person convention.

With the above stated, I do not fault Paizo (or even GenCon) for being contractually locked and unable to mitigate that contractual obligation.

However, as an extension of the above, since GenCon Indy would be putting money into the State coffers via tax receipts, I did not feel comfortable supporting a state that views people like myself, as well as other members of the gaming community as lesser individuals.

Therefore I did not volunteer for GenCon Online, either.

I am looking forwards, however, to SkalCon in the Twin Cities at the end of September.

May your day be productive and positive.

Odd Request: I find myself with a pile of GM Credit that I'm thinking about turning into an embri vanguard. Originally a doctor on Embroi, they noticed a few too many patients with oddly fiendish augmentations coming through, and maybe just a few too many errant whiffs of brimstone. After a bit too much "independent thought" about this, they were exiled from Embroi society, and upon too much further independent thought on that inversion of the natural order, they broke through their entropic potential, taking the Inversion aspect.

Strangely enough, embri are one of the few species that was, pre-Spacey Ps, possible to obtain via GMing, but hasn't yet floated over to the Boon Shop. Anyone have one gathering dust? I have any number of pre-Boon Store species available, but they're all available via Spacey Ps now, so not necessarily as valuable as they used to be. Still, if anyone wanted to save some Spacey Ps or grab a second same-species boon for a +2 on, say, a dragonkin, witchwyrd (they're so hot right now, in season 6), draelik, quorlu, verthani, damai, do let me know!
(Can you trade species boons you've purchased from the Boon Shop? I.E. if I use my own Spacey Ps to get, say, a Contemplative Boon, can I trade that to someone else? If so, I would trade anything from the Boon Shop for an embri!)

I'm out of town and away from my physical Boons but I can check on Monday for you, Kishmo.

Two "I'm an adventurer" moments from yard work.

Walkings a bit of an issue sometimes, so I have a large sturdy denim sack full of tools. Brush. whack whack whack with the machete. Low stuff, pull out the manual wheed whacker. Roots. out comes the ditch axe.

Yup. ~Literal golf bag of murder weapons.

Mow the lawn. Get to the old mower. Push both lawn mowers at once... wonder if the DM would let me dual wield them.

"Hmm. Lawn mowers are Unweildy and normally require two hands but if you have Titan Grip and a Strength modifier of at least +3 under Remastered Rules (16 under 'original PF2') I'd allow it."

And now somewhat recovered from issues with Former Employer, will be doing posting 'Soon'.

PFS2 gives 4 exp and 4 reputation if successful in a four hour scenario.

SFS gives 1 exp and 2 reputation if successful for a four hour scenario.

Would awarding zero reputation be acceptable for a Bounty failure?

Would telling someone new that they have a fraction of Starfinder rep points be a good sell point?

I do not like it, and if given the choice would almost rather run one of the intro scenarios instead.

That being said, I get it.

Bounties are built for cons to draw folks who 'only have an hour or so'.

If only there was a way to give a no-cost Bounty Boon that goes into effect after playing four Bounties in Starfinder that awards 2 reputation...

In all the games I've been part of, either as GM or player, only one character from one player had this particular thing going on with the Rod of Wonder.

It made things worse for them in a lot of ways without GM intervention.