GM Rednal's page

As far as underground stuff goes, I know Frog God Games has a couple of really good products for that, and you could probably edit-and-paste a fair bit of them when trying to build a larger underground adventure.

One generally-useful option is to reveal that the characters didn't die, but were taken captive somehow while they were blacked out and unconscious. This gives a reasonable explanation for how people are still alive and can help avoid feeling like too cheap of a rescue if they have to work to escape and get back on track.

Paizo automatically adds extra spaces to URLs unless they're formatted as hyperlinks. You can also copy it into your bar, delete the space, and then hit enter.

I'd like to see Mythic Adventures options for Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might first.

Yeah, about that...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure a 2E conversion is planned, but the main goal is to release Ultimate Spheres of Power. Once that's done, the PF2E and D&D 5E conversions become much, much easier and can start moving forward.

You can make pretty much anything into a Spell Engine - Spheres of Power encourages this - but that's not the same as being able to use that power at the same time as other stuff. So it would basically just be a Spell Engine that looks like a bow unless you dive a lot deeper into crafting.

-Looks in-

Okay, so first off, very important point: Armiger is a Spheres of Might class, not a Spheres of Power class. The two systems are separate, though usable together. Assuming DungeonmasterCal is referring to the class he wrote, the character probably won't have any spellcasting.

Well-built Armigers usually have distinct builds with each weapon - maybe one regular sword to attack with, a bow for long-range attacks, a lance to impale people with... Armigers with three flavors of slashing with a sword in slightly different ways tend to be very sub-optimal from what they could be. XD I personally recommend asking the player what types of talent sets and weapons they plan to use, and sprinkling in a few encounters designed to let them use different parts of their build.

As far as multiclassing goes, martial talents generally advance by BAB or Skill Ranks, so they will continue to get stronger even if a character multiclasses out of Spheres. They won't get more of those talents without further investment, but they won't be 'stuck' the way traditional spellcaster progression can be.

That third one is actually not that ridiculous, given some of the... I think they're calling it Legends stuff now? The old Expanded Universe.

As a side note, I'm hoping that the battles are better in Episode 9 - not just the one-on-one fights, but fleets and whatnot. I've always liked big space battles, but I like them more when the people in charge are smart and have interesting tactics.

I'm okay with the story of the Skywalkers ending, although I'm very curious to see how they plan to do that, given who's left of that particular group...

I'd also like to see a proper Obi-Wan movie that displays him as the Jedi negotiator, finding real solutions to complex problems. None of this "they just needed to talk to each other" stuff - the Galaxy is in the midst of the Clone Wars and hard decisions need to be made in situations that certainly seem to have no truly good paths.

Well, given the way Episode 8 went, you almost have to have a greater-scope villain... and that's probably for the best. Might get something out of the wreck of Episode 8 after all...

I've always liked the way Bard's Gate handles it.

"Open use of magic is frowned upon — particularly spell casting. The casting of low-level personal spells is tolerated, though not in shops or stores. Destructive spells or spells affecting others are always outlawed, though unless done in the open one most likely avoids detection. This draws the attention of the constables and a sheriff, and possibly a low-level wizard with the sheriff."

Why does this suffice for law enforcement? Because the city of Bard's Gate also has an enormously powerful and phenomenally well-known Wizard's Guild that has a vested interest in magic remaining accepted within the city and you'd have to be a complete idiot to cause magical trouble bad enough to get high-level casters involved. Especially when they completely understand the concept of Divination spells and how to circumvent your lower-level protections through creative application of magic.

Add Poison Dragon template to Fire Dragon, rename it to Radiation. That's about all you need to do. ^^

To detail my idea a little further...

Paladin and Cleric are from friendly but different churches and follow different deities. However, they do respect each other's roles. Cleric is the one with the Quest, and Paladin was sent along as support, and they consult each other in different situations. For example, Cleric occasionally goes "What does Deity of Bravery say about attacking this enemy camp?", and Paladin goes "What does Deity of General Goodness suggest doing about these goblin babies?" They clearly value their own rules, but they're basically split between command of military and social matters.

Fighter is an older, experienced warrior. No magic or special powers, but lots of experience and fights in an extremely practical way, and more than once he helps get rid of nasty, largely non-magical threats. He's going along mainly to supervise Rogue (a female tiefling) and Wizard (a half-elf of indeterminate gender), who he's somewhat fatherly towards. Rogue and Wizard probably stumble across the Quest by accident while running away from trouble and Cleric ropes them into it (getting local law enforcement to stop chasing them), then Fighter steps in and insists on helping, and so the group goes forward and has some adventures.

Personally, I'd enjoy a story like that. XD

It might do well with a classic five-man band, too - a power trio and then two additional figures. Maybe a Paladin added to the standard party? Partnered with the Cleric for the duo, and then the Fighter/Rogue/Wizard are a trio that know each other and are a little newer to the whole adventuring thing, but get wrapped up in the quest?

Does that work for you, Hadran? I'm guessing yes, but I don't want to assume on behalf of my players. XD

Mythic Spheres of Power is currently in public playtest, and has already undergone some revisions and updates after a Discord-focused beta. In its current form, this product covers mythic traditions (basically casting traditions for having mythic power), a new mythic path, an assortment of universal and class abilities, and a couple of feats. If you'd like to provide any input on this product, now is probably a good time. XD

This city is big enough to have pretty much anything in your price range - all of those are available. Do you have anything you'd like to note about using them?

"Wait, what!?" But you were off, and Midfoviing could only look down at the faithful hound as you two made your way towards the wall. As you passed over its midpoint, a flash of red light came out of the tree - but ahead of you, sitting on the massive trunk and nestled by branches, you could see a shining white gem that seemed to pulsate with energies... not safer than those of the Abyss, exactly, but at least cleaner.

"Put your weapons away, if you would be so kind!" One of the monks called as Isen made himself visible, their voice rather melodic and almost song-like. The other three harmonized with the speaker's words - an unusual, though apparently mundane, way of communicating. "We have not had guests in some time - what brings you to us today?"

Price drops for class restrictions are okay for the GM but easily abused by players and shouldn't be used when creating original items. It's basically just a straight boost.

As a good rule of thumb, anything duplicating a spell effect shouldn't have a caster level below the minimum amount needed to cast that spell. Especially if it involves saving throws, because lower caster level also means lower saves and that's kind of counterproductive. XD

The Steam page advertises a "Unique character progression through cloning (if you die, you progress!)", so that seems to be in. XD

Burkhardt has the right of it. With Recharge Magic, you don't really *run out* long-term, but may not be able to spam things short-term. XD It basically makes casters into better all-day characters and a little less overwhelming when spamming the most powerful spells. Conveniently, it also helps us avoid niggling little things like gods wanting to rest after 15 minutes of work.

It's hard to tell when the eggs might hatch - they're pretty rare and not much is known about the lifecycle - but as near as you can tell, it's not likely to be anytime soon.

You travel on, and day turns to night, then back again, several times over. Finally, rather further north than before, you hear four garlanded monks sing and chant in the distance, standing along an adjacent ridge to the riverbed trail as they raise their arms to the rising sun. Each seems small in stature, and their voices almost child-like.

How would you like to prepare? You have plenty of time - including to go shopping if you want to pick anything up - so you can make pretty much whatever preparations you want.

I think Jolly wrote most of these. XD He's done a lot of Kineticist additions. Overall, they should be fine for your game.

The place did have bathrooms - in fact, outside of the slums, the place smelled at least mostly not-terrible. Possibly because even demons might not like the smells, and if you could rely on them for anything, it was selfishness. That said, most systems seemed to be fairly self-contained. This wasn't a particularly advanced town, and while there were public bathrooms, there didn't seem to be any large sewer systems.

On the bright side, the demons probably didn't have truesight. There were a few mid-strength species represented, but none with that particular trait.

Defensively, the basic effects of the Berserker Sphere and the Guardian Sphere combo extremely well, allowing you to soak up damage and then tank it with temporary HP. You may find this overview of the spheres helpful. Similarly, what role(s) do you see yourself taking in the party? Do you want to tank and distract foes? Deal damage? Inflict debuffs? Support allies? There are plenty of ways to make a Martial Armorist, so having an idea or theme in mind will go a long ways towards helping us give good advice. XD

Taking the eggs would be easy enough, although you'd probably have to make sure they didn't end up hatching. Not unless you wanted them to, anyway. Goodness knew the area was warm enough to serve as an incubator.

In general, don't use spellbook cards from different editions. It doesn't work out very well. XD

For what it's worth, some previously published content has addressed the idea of creatures with Wish/Miracle using it for themselves. It's *very* powerful, enough so that many creatures might actually keep it in reserve for emergencies rather than burning it and being more vulnerable for a time. Even so, the assumption probably should be that if they can improve themselves with it, they have.

(The other suggestion was to say that if a creature had used a Wish-type effect to improve its stats beyond others of its kind, it shouldn't have that spell available when fought. Basically, it pre-buffed for the fight, so the spell is expended. XD Besides, there are plenty of other ways to power a creature up if that's what you want to do.)

Well, if it's based on the Divinity engine... probably similar to that? I guess we'll have to wait for gameplay footage, though. XD

I don't want it to end either! ...I've just been dealing with a combination of stress and burnout and depression and not much sleep. One day turns into another, and suddenly it's weeks later and you don't even know where the time went. That said, I don't want to give up on this game - it's a very special game. I had to stop some other games recently, but... let's keep this one going. D<

As for deities and love, canonically, sexuality in Pathfinder is pretty much "do whatever". Local situations may impact societal expectations - for example, the nations around and next to the Worldwound probably have a heavy emphasis on bearing children so the army can retain its forces, while pretty much any noble group at least demands heirs - but otherwise, it's pretty much do whatever. XD The important thing is that you don't make each other uncomfortable.

As the two of you moved through the merchant stalls, you saw more and more vices on offer. Unlike most mortal realms, though, the people here made no real effort to hide their desires. If they were upset, they'd strike others. If they were scared, they'd cower. And about the only thing holding back total anarchy was the patrols of demons who seemed... not organized, exactly, but at least doing a job and clearly working for someone else. As chaotic outsiders, they didn't much care for orderly activities, but that wasn't the same as at least tolerating situations that could benefit them.

Once out of the market, foot traffic noticeably dropped off, leaving it easier to make your way towards the apparent location of the crystal you were here to find. As you got closer, however, it was clear that it was likely located either in or beyond a much more heavily-guarded fortress. Simply not drawing attention wasn't going to be enough to get through. What was?

Congrats on funding so quickly!

Yes. The Enhanced Edition update is free for all previous owners, and will probably download automatically if you have Steam (or your other purchase platform of choice) set to do so.

Developer Owlcat Games and publisher Deep Silver just released Pathfinder Kingmaker: Enhanced Edition, an improved version of their recently-released, officially-licensed Kingmaker video game. According to the developer, the EE includes:

• numerous gameplay-enriching content additions and dozens of quality-of-life features

• new abilities and ways to build your character, including a brand-new class
• new items and weaponry
• improved balance, especially in the beginning and last two chapters of the game
• enhanced kingdom management system, both in terms of balance as well as usability and player comfort
• increased variety of random encounters on the global map
• thousands of fixes and improvements made since the game's initial release

I think Kingmaker will be fine. If I understand that one right, it's mainly Paizo's stuff with Legendary Games helping out, and I don't think there's any cause for concern there. Legendary Games has delivered a lot of stuff in the past - and, perhaps more to the point, a lot of Paizo's people have helped Legendary Games over time. Pretty sure they have a very, very vested interest in keeping their relationship good. XD

my suggestion is to just make Mystic Theurge its own class and solve the problem with access to two lists. Casting remains based on one ability score. It's simple and doesn't spam the low level spells. This also means casters can multiclass in and out of Mystic Theurge. There will have to be a trade off for access to two lists.

So, just the Theurge, then?

The priestess nodded - and particularly so at Rixa's words. "No ordinary haunting, then. We get some of those around here - you always do in the bigger cities, but most of them are exorcised simply enough. I'll see about putting a group together to do it properly. The Pharasmites don't care so much about good or evil, but they're always willing to lend a hand for haunted places. Iomedae's church, too, would be happy to lend some swords for it. I don't think you'll need to worry about that building any longer."

Eeeeeeh. Knowing that it's a threat, the first thing any sane player is going to do is go get themselves a few Greater Cleansing Potions (official item, cures all ability damage, 200 GP) and swig them down when they're dispelled. Maybe look for a quick-drink item to turn it into a swift action or something. That hands over a bit of gold but largely removes the threat this drawback poses, which feels like it goes against your goals. I'd make it either a time-based thing - like losing casting for 1d4 rounds - or limiting the use of spell points for a long time but leaving basic casting alone.

Still brutal if enemies actually take advantage of that weakness. For some characters, that's removing upwards of 90% of their options and restricting them to more-or-less sitting out of the game. I think it would be better for the dispelling to limit their ability to use spell points, but not prevent them from using talents that don't have an SP cost. That makes it like putting a lid on the boiling pot of water that your power is, but some steam is still gonna push out to escape.

The next time you would normally gain spell points...

So if they're dispelled, they get their magic back next level? Because gaining spell points is distinct from regaining them, as you mention elsewhere. That is brutal.

Can you tell us anything more about the build rules for your table? All Paizo, specific Paizo, some 3PP...? That impacts which suggestions your GM might allow (and the advice I can give).

Yup. Magical Training isn't quite the same as the casting class feature.

In general, XP rewards should always be divided unless they explicitly say something like "Give each character who participated in this event 500 XP".

The other statues generally look very old and withered - if they can be repaired at all, it'll need powerful magic, not just some minor mending. Like most things, it is possible in theory, but a bit harder to actually accomplish.

There's not much wind here - and after some discussions, you manage to cast your spells and dart over the walls when nobody's looking particularly closely at your section.

The inside of the town is worse than the outside. In front of you, you see what's clearly a market of some kind, and one that's hawking all kinds of merchandise. Weapons, drugs, slaves of all ages and species... this is a place that thinks nothing is sacred, and it shows. Your map still points towards the enormous tree, even as your skin begins to crawl from the tangible evil permeating the very fabric of reality here.

The following are mostly my thoughts, but...

1) Yes. Gods, when acting through specific spells, are not limited by their domains. That said, since they have essentially unlimited Miracles, spell lists don't matter very much to begin with. Personally, though, I feel that any intervention they choose will generally match their personality and interests somehow. So Infernus, the Fiery God of Fire, probably uses fire to solve problems. And Healeriffic, the Healing Goddess of Heals, probably prefers to restore people's HP. ...And Yidhra, Goddess of Paradoxes, will just do whatever's funny at the time.

1a) If it's anything like what mythic players can do, gods choose domains. It's not wrong to step outside of their specific domains as a situation requires, but those domains do represent the broad strokes of what a deity focuses on and cares about. Many probably prefer to stick with their interests, but there are always exceptions. (For example, Nethys just flat-out likes magic and would probably approve of any magic used as a solution.)

That said... I do think gods will never make choices that are opposed to their alignments. Good deities won't use evil powers - they'll find another way.

1b) N/A

2) Depends entirely on the deity. Canonically, Moloch (Archfiend of Malebolge, sixth level of Hell) is very likely to respond to any requests for aid as long as proper sacrifices are made. There's a price for his power, to be sure, but he is completely willing to sell to buyers and any followers in good standing can reasonably expect a response when they call upon him. Similarly, the eldritch entity Hastur is often described as personally visiting cults to provide various creepy gifts and guidance. Other powers are more likely to stay out of things except in extreme cases.

As such, there's no universal answer here. In my games, the gods are active in different ways, depending on their personalities. One of mine frequently manifests as an avatar to go do things and further their plots, while others are broadly content to let mortals do their own thing and just provide spells and general oversight for the church.

Aside from that, I have a tiered system.

The "faithful" are members of a church who don't receive power from their deity - the rank and file. Their prayers are heard, but they rarely receive more than small nudges at important parts of their lives.

The "devoted" are characters that directly receive power from the deity (all Clerics and Inquisitors, some Oracles, occasionally others). If they ask for a sign, they'll usually get one - it's rarely as clear as telling them exactly what to do, but they can, for example, describe a course of action and ask whether or not their deity approves of it. Because they can lose power for going against their deity's will, I let them have this option to give them a bit more control.

The "chosen" are personally selected by the deity - although why they're chosen isn't always clear. The gods know a great many things and in my games tend to see the big picture, so doing something in one place could just be about causing an effect elsewhere when no mortal would ever make the connection. Chosen may have visions of (or from) the deity and get to talk with them directly, as well as access to blessings or even miracles at critical junctures.

Can you provide a brief overview of the kind of content you're looking to playtest? Adventures, optional rules, classes, archetypes, gear...? (That may help people decide whether or not they're interested.)

Unfortunate, but not surprising. Thank you for telling us what you could.

That is... actually pretty smart. Minimal cost, potential for good returns... I hope this goes well. I hear a lot of the games themselves are actually fairly decent products, and Kickstarter has moved some pretty big numbers in the past. Here's hoping!

Frog God Games believes that knowing when to run is a valuable skill for players to have... and Rappan Athuk was not designed to be fair to the foolish. XD