Harrowed Wizard's page

So when I ran my party through Curse of the Crimson Throne, I also threw in Academy of Secrets, partly because we had a character that was an ex-student Arcanist that had gotten expelled due to reasons and I thought it would be cool to revisit now that the Arcanist had grown in power.

I'm going to move forward assuming GMs or folks that have played AoS and CotCT are reading this...

During AoS, they had confronted Toff Ornelos and ended up fighting him, killing him before he could escape. Upon the conclusion of CotCT, the Arcanist player (well before Shadows at Sundown was ever announced) liked the idea that his character would become the Headmaster of Acadamae and start the rebranding process. This paired with the party creating a Council of different cultural representatives to rule the city.

Even more importantly, at this point the heroes that defeated Illeosa had stymied Lothract's plans twice now (I think at the time with a successful knowledge check, I had let the players know at the end that Illeosa's contract was ultimately held by Lothract and he was not pleased)

Working in the Council instead of Queen Cressida is going to be easy enough, my difficulty arises in replacing Headmaster Toff Ornelos in SaS particularly since part of his motivation is knowing he is just a figurehead.

Would having a Deputy/Assistant Headmaster that is in unwilling service to Lothract (maybe always opposed to the Arcanist's progressive policies) is the one that interacts with the PCs? (Potentially the new Headmaster is down in Absalom visiting the Arcanarium for a symposium or something, getting that high-level PC out of town)

Any other fun thoughts? I've got about 6 months before we get close to me running this, but I know I'll be running it!

Hello!

Just had a chance to re-try the download and it looks like the Single File version is still downloading a 1KB archive with a 0KB PDF.

I can download the Files by Chapter version, so I at least have access to the information.

This has happened with the "Pathfinder Adventure Path: Abomination Vaults" PDF as well to me now.

So we've started a new game of Fly free or die. and one thing is kinda vexing us. we cant' find the rules or numbers of how much the players get paid at the end of their job runs.

We all know the corp we work for is a soulless dreg of a company. But There is as far as our gm can tell, NO MENTION of how much the party gets paid from jobs regardless of how well we did.

Our group did the kindhearted thing on the first job. and got half payment. the other we went the corporate route because we didn't' want to A: throw Tarika under the bus for helping us f!%+ up another job. and B: MY character didn't want to aid another bloody rebellion.

Not only does the AP have NOTHING for us if we side with the corp ever. but it doesn't apparently mention us getting specifically paid for anything.

I just want some clarification. on a few things to help my GM out. They really want this group to enjoy the game, but it feels like we're missing a few pieces to run things smoothly.

Up to the point that your party has played, it does look like they've done it correctly.

This AP rewards players not just with credits, but with EXP based on their choices. (For instance, helping out Runo Prat should have garnered some additional EXP).

As for pay from EJ Corp, I basically told my players its enough to cover the lease of the ship (because PCs are leasing BD514) and basic subsistence.

I have been generous with giving the PCs plenty of time to loot enemies.

If you're short on cash, especially in this part of the AP, that is exactly what Jason Tondro wanted the characters to feel. The hard-scrabble, no good answer, no good pay life the party is living under the thumb of EJ Corp.

After meeting with Sinjin before heading to Horse Eye Orbital Plate, one of my players really latched onto the "releasing the null-space tech to the rest of the Pact Worlds" argument that Sinjin was using. So much so, they actually want to broadcast as much details about the technology and/or the Oliphaunt that they can before going to hand it off to Sinjin and the Golden League.

So much of Eline Reisora's motivation throughout the later books is to get the ship back before the loss of the ship is known throughout the rest of EJ Corp. Even the "partnership" between Eline and Sinjin in Book

My question: How would this impact the story in later books?

My initial thoughts: Eline might still go after the PCs for revenge and Sinjin might still go after them for the ship. However, it goes more towards pure revenge instead of being a cover-up situation.

What do folks think it might do to any particular encounters in later books (thinking in particular books 4,5 & 6)?

Arcee667 wrote:

Is this going to have a good-quality PDF? I want to use it for online play, but I was disappointed in the quality of previous pawn collections.

My understanding is that they are good quality, but intentionally set below 300 dpi, which is commercial print resolution. Pawns are not designed for VTT play.

Is there a chance for a future where instead of even the PDF, there is just a generic VTT pack sold with the images formated for VTTs (potentially with transparent background for a full body image and a circle headshot token image?)

I know a # of folks that play exclusively online even before COVID was a factor and would jump at getting the right character art assets!

Excited to see some Bounties for Starfinder! Great little bites to introduce players to the game without necessarily all the trappings of the Starfinder Society.

Not to mention all the neat short stories that could be told!

Oh, maybe the AP title "Strength of Thousands" might be more literal than I previously thought!

With these lines: (bolding for emphasis)

“The last act that group performed was sending a magical message to Azure Leopard and Old-Mage Jatembe, a plea for help. Then the teeth and magic of a thousand Agohbindis overwhelmed them.”

“After a moment, Azure Leopard saw her teacher’s intent, and joined in with no prompting. Together their magic augmented the roots of the forest’s trees, which burst free from the soil. The pair sent out magical messages to the Tempest-Sun Mages to direct their energies into these roots. The magic roots stretched out of the soil, wrapping around each of the thousands of Agohbindi shards, holding them in place. Jatembe directed all the other warriors except Azure Leopard into the sky as he prepared the next stage.”

I may be reading too much into it, but it's fun to think about!

Regardless, this was a fun read!

Buahahahahaha! That rascal Zo! keeping everybody on their motor appendages

I'd love to see a new blog tag: "no-prep" or "Otari"

It would be nice to be able to call up all of these characters in a single search page.

And especially with new GMs and players, a quick way to find Otari information would be really helpful.

I can remember trying to piece together all the Sandpoint information when I first started. That was painful.

I have to agree 100% with this. I'm thinking of springing Otari onto some unsuspecting future players and having this sort of stuff easy to find would be aweseom!

I really like the Arc titles! I think it'll be a great tool for people to use in the future when they might want a specific character to play through particular arcs!

James Jacobs wrote:

As we get out of the editorial "rain-shadow" of launching two 1,000 page projects kind of back to back (first 2nd edition, then Kingmaker) and rebalance our in-house resources, the module line has taken some hits to its schedule, yes, but looking forward it's getting back ON that schedule. So hopefully, by this time next year, we'll be in a place where we're doing 3 to 4 standalone adventures a year—some of which will be pretty traditional in their stories and some of which will be experimental in one way or another..

Just gonna say the module lines scheduling has been having problems long before 2e pathfinder came out Also personally I find the none human thing would have worked better for an ap, a 1st lvl module or as the free rpg day module.

I have to disagree there with you.

I don't think AP works: They are too long, and forcing something as big as Ancestery choices is rough. Especially something like Human. Its one thing to bar an 'uncommon' ancestry (Like in Ironfang Invasion, you probably shouldn't play a Hobgoblin). A schtick like that isn't something that could sustain for 6 books, and it'd be a stretch for a 3-parter.

Free RPG Day -- It's been done before, its basically what Paizo has been doing since We Be Goblins started

1st Level Module -> This has more to do with the level of threats that they wanted to present in this book as well. There is something to be said for a niche adventure starting at a higher level, allowing for a bit more breadth in the story you can tell.

To Wei Ji, I think it comes down to relatability. Some people like to play characters they can easily relate to, and being the Human ancestry is a way to accomplish that. It isn't all Min-Maxer's either. My Dad plays a variety of Humans, and he is far from a Min-Maxer, and its just how he likes to play (Although his current Dwarf Wizard a lot of fun!)
-------------------------------

Beyond that though, once we're done with CotCT (about half-way through Book 5) and a short break for me, I plan on running my players through a start of [Plaguestone/Troubles in Otari/Dead God's Vault(right title?)] and then into The Slithering.

I'm thinking what I'm going to do is at the end of whatever my first Module is, an event is going to happen that grants everybody an extra Ancestry feat that may be used on a Heritage. With the rider, that if they're humans it needs to be a versatile heritage, likely due to something they were exposed to previously awakened something...

Super excited about this! I think I have some great ideas ready for a basic write-up after GenCon!

I also went ahead and posted all over Discord too, gotta spread that word!

There goes Vanessa & Paizo putting what looks like a Hellknight on the cover of an AP I probably wasn't going to be running or playing, enticing me to at a minimum purchase it.

Unikatze wrote:

They didn't think of dressing up a bit for this special Day?

Merisiel even brought her daggers with!

Those are the same daggers she was wearing when they met!

And of course Kyra is wearing her Sunday best.

Also, as stalwart adventurers, they don't know if some evil cult of evil might attack during the ritual (or the ritual could go horrendously wrong for whatever reason and they need to react.

This was a fantastic read. My players are about a third of the way through Skeletons of Scarwall (Book 5 of CotCT) and this brings me back to the very beginning. I shared it right away with my players.

This was nicely timed to bring things back around to remind me (and hopefully them!) of where they have been on this crazy adventure!

The story was great and evocative. That artwork along with it is gorgeous!

Alright folks, the party's Arcanist, after watching the party Paladin get smacked with chains from 30 feet away got within 30 feet of Mithrodar.

The arcanist defensively cast Mirror Image, getting 5 images.

Does Spiritsense see through the Mirrored Images?

Mirror Image

This spell creates a number of illusory doubles of you that inhabit your square. These doubles make it difficult for enemies to precisely locate and attack you.

When mirror image is cast, 1d4 images plus one image per three caster levels (maximum eight images total) are created. These images remain in your space and move with you, mimicking your movements, sounds, and actions exactly. Whenever you are attacked or are the target of a spell that requires an attack roll, there is a possibility that the attack targets one of your images instead. If the attack is a hit, roll randomly to see whether the selected target is real or a figment. If it is a figment, the figment is destroyed. If the attack misses by 5 or less, one of your figments is destroyed by the near miss. Area spells affect you normally and do not destroy any of your figments. Spells and effects that do not require an attack roll affect you normally and do not destroy any of your figments. Spells that require a touch attack are harmlessly discharged if used to destroy a figment.

An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply).

Bolding is my emphasis. Blindsight doesn't list Mirror Image as one of the things it bypasses. It is my belief that it doesn't bypass due to just about all other forms of blindsense being sight or smell based, which a Figment like Mirror Image could mimic. However, Spiritsense says it acts as blindsight, but my understanding is that it is sensing the soul (or absence of soul) of the creatures.

At the time, we had totally missed the last paragraph of the Mirror Image spell, and most (if not all) of my players disagreed with me, so I ruled in their favor to move things along. Luckily for me, the next player's turn killed the last of the spectres and our session came to an end mid-fight. As that happened one of my other players pointed out that last paragraph of Mirror Image, and he reversed his thoughts on how it went down.

This matters, because either Mithrodar didn't hit silly Arcanist at all or Mithrodar drops the silly Arcanist, so the Death Druid has to spend a turn doing breath of life on the Arcanist...when the party is attacking Mithrodar before any of the anchors are taken care of because they let the Night Hag lead them up there (to be fair they're zig-zagging all the way through Scarwall, so...)

In the past, I've seen that Paizo Customer Support is pretty quick to help out.

In a situation like this, I would totally give them a direct call to start working on getting it resolved.

Paizo Customer Support #: 1-(425)250-0800

I sure have and I'm excited to see more details in the coming days!

About to run this next week Ron Lundeen! Thanks for the advise on the change, I'll be running with it!

I'm working on a google sheets for my game this weekend. I can send you a link to it if you'd like to make a copy of it.

I made one the other day that is pretty rough right now. It should do most of the calculations, but isn't colorful or anything yet. And I haven't made a proper instruction page yet either.

Also The Trick Sheet and the Show Sheet aren't connected in any manner, the Trick Sheet was just for reference for now.

Here it is

The more I've thought about it, the more you're probably right. Just wishful hoping for me at this point.

Hello!

I'm looking at building a Ysoki Soldier with the Hunter combat-style and am looking at also utilizing the creature companion and mount rules from AA3.

What I'm noticing though is that while the feat might be called Combat-Trained Mount, it is not in fact considered a combat feat. I'm looking at making this character Society legal (otherwise I would talk to a home GM about it and try and get it considered as a combat feat).

Am I crazy in thinking at least the combat-trained mount feat should be labeled as a 'Combat' feat?

I'm doing my first read through of this right now while we are on the last 1/3 of Plaguestone. I caught the similarities as well in at least Chapter 1 so far (as far as I've gotten is the opening box text).

Just adding to the noise and saying YAY for high level content! Great news for both home games and Society!

Also, I'm already thinking of ways to string SoS and this together once my group finishes up Curse of the Crimson Throne! (We're half way through book 4)

It appears that 1-day tickets can be purchased day of the Con at the registration desk.

I can't get the weekend off from work but I'm considering coming up for Just Friday. Is there anyway to get a 1 day ticket?

I am reaching out to the Convention Organizer right now, to look into that! Doesn't look like it can be done directly from the site at this time. I'll check back with you shortly!

Have you ever wanted to sit down to dinner with some of Starfinders lead developers? Or with the authors of some of your favorite Pathfinder products? Such as Inner Sea Gods and Inner Sea World Guide? Now you can.

Friday, July 19th, Sacramento Starfinder Society will be hosting a sit down taco dinner at InterGalactic ConQuest. There are only 22 seats available, and tickets are first come, first serve, and are currently only available to weekend pass holders.

Signups will be available Monday, July 1st, starting at Noon. Tickets will be purchased through warhorn. Sign up here:
http://bit.do/sacpfs-IGCQ-DevDinner

If you get your tickets now and register on Warhorn, within a day you should be able to register for the games you'd like to play!

Since "We Be Heroes" does not need to be reported, does that mean it does not count towards Conventation reporting/support?

What should Organizers do if we are planning on running a slot or two of this pre-2E launch if we were counting it towards Convention support?

So high-level pregens would be very much needed, and frankly while I would hesitate to run 12+ PFS1 material at a public convention, it might be perfectly viable to run a 9-12 or higher at a public event. Any table where new players can't legally play is problematic in some locations.

Outside of specials, like 2-00. I would love to see some level 12 pregens so that if I run a table at my FLGS, where I can only run 1 table, and I get a walk-in and I'm running a Level 9-12 Scenario, I would much rather say to them: "If you'd like to try out some high level play, I have a host of premade characters ready to go!" or if I have a new-ish regular that might've been coming the last 3-4 sessions, I can say to them that it is a fun time to experience high level play, and since these don't happen very often, come have some fun with us still, and play a pre-gen!

Basically, in my opinion, level 12 pregens allow for more inclusive experiences, especially at the local stores. I would hate having to turn somebody away just because they aren't super invested in Society play yet.

The group I GM'd for chose to lobotomize, and succeeded.

This isn't a mechanical note, but more of a setting note.

Will we be getting any sort of setting information in regards to how Solarion & Vanguards interact in the setting? I feel like their 'power sources' are fairly similar what with "suns form and galaxies die" in the Vanguard description and the Solarion using Solar Manifestations.

I feel like, for instance a Vanguard could just as likely train at the Pradulex Monastery as a Solarion, but I may be off-base and getting that clarified on the final product might be good.

Really nice to see the instructions clarified for filling out the chronicle sheet, especially with the Faction reputation increases!

I'm thinking making my first character a goblin druid in the Animal Companion order.

In particular, I am thinking of taking the Rough Rider Ancestry Feat, which reads as thus:

ROUGH RIDER Goblin FEAT 1
Any creature that will bear your weight can
become your loyal steed, and you know how to coax even the strangest beasts into service. You gain the Ride feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Nature checks to Handle a goblin dog or wolf mount. For more
about the Nature skill, see page 152.

My big question is, assuming an animal companion becomes Medium (which most will do at 4th level), will this allow a Goblin to ride an animal companion without the special Mount quality?

I'm looking forward to either myself or somebody in my group to give this a try!

Will Replays need to be done on different Character #s? I'm not seeing anything explicitly stating that. (Similar to Joe M's question directly above)

I anticipate Oracle Feats that represent sorcerer-ness being inflicted on somebody by something other than heritage. Feats that deliver potentially stronger abilities, but also carry hinderances in the bargain.

I like that idea. A feat (or Archetype, so series of feats) that provide a good bonus, but comes with an anathema as well.

I mean, given that the craft rules are devoted to making crafting no longer a financial multiplier, I don't see any reason that any game (including PFS) needs to ban it.

Item levels also gate access to certain items that low level PCs should not have or be able to make, so there's no need to restrict access via fame or anything, since level does this automatically for you.

But that's not a fix for PFS, that's just a fix of a problem PFS identified.

I'd like to also point out that while a different game and campaign, SFS allows for crafting now because they've done away with it being a financial multiplier as well. (Crafting just makes this have a higher hardness, and halves the time it takes to repair, which could be useful).

If we take that into consideration and if PF2E ultimately has something similar for crafting rules, where it is gated by level and proficiency and not financial multiplier, I feel there is a high likelihood of PFS2E allowing crafting.

Malk_Content wrote:

Temperans wrote:

Malk_Content wrote:

The counter arguement to that this is often brought up is that PF1 PFS isn't a useful area of comparison as presumably PF2E PFS scenarios will be designed around PF2E and not PF1.

I never understood why people use PF1 PFS as comparison for what you cannot do in PF2E. For example: In the Hunt Target thread it was stated most fights in PFS are < ~160 ft as a reason why range increment help was suboptimal except for thrown weapons. Yet we have no indication of what range will be used for PF2E.

I will admit however that PFS allows for a great base to measure some things like combat duration, average dmg, and effects of different composition/strategies on fights; under relatively controlled conditions.

The problem with the last part is all of those conditions are changing. What we need to evaluate those is for there to be PF2 Playtest PFS sessions. HP is changing, as is DPR expectations which will change combat duration and compositions. Even if we see similair compositions, the fundamentals of what those elements are has changed. E.G A PF2 Cleric is not equivalent to a PF1 Cleric.

And I agree with you.

What I wanted to express was that PFS makes for a great debugging/comparison tool. Allowing people to judge based on actual numbers (if available) or expected (if something is planned to be play there). However, it is not indicative of all play styles or the "ultimate way to play X class".

In other words, after a few sessions PFS can tell you if X combo is overpowered and needs balancing (Ex: the Oradin).

Again, pulling from SFS, I agree that we have no idea how many rounds the average combat will take in PFS2E or Playtest. SFS combat, I see take 4-6 rounds and typically the Solarion gets use their 3-round abilities at least once in most significant combats (some combats admittedly are easier/quicker).

My group is starting to prepare and schedule what we would like to do for the Playtest. Currently we have 2 regular GMs (myself and one other). We alternate who is GMing weekly between 2 different campaigns.

My primary question is this: Is it possible to have each of us GM different Parts of Doomsday Dawn? (i.e. he GMs Parts 1,4,7 and I GM the rest or some other set-up like that)

This is partly because both of us want to play (and honestly I think both of us want to tryout the rules from the other side of the screen as well). However, it also allows us not to take a huge 3 month break from either one of our campaigns. Ultimately we've already conceded we probably aren't following the quick schedule, but we'll complete the surveys as we complete the parts - since Jason Buhlman stated they'd be open for some time after the 2 week window (3 for Part 1).

The Sacramento Pathfinder and Starfinder Lodge is excited to announce that we will be offering Starfinder Society Scenario 1-99 as our Saturday night multi-table interactive special at Midsummer ConQuest on July 21! This is a special early access offering during the blackout period from Origins in June to Gen Con in August.

Come and join us as Nominated First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo sends the growing Starfinder Society to try and breach the impenetrable barrier surrounding the Scoured Stars region that is sure to shape the Starfinder Society for generations to come whether it is successful or not!

You can purchase tickets to MidSummer Conquest here.

Once purchased you can register for games here.

If you would like to GM at all (3 sessions for free weekend ticket!), register on Warhorn and then fill this out.

Super excited to run parties through both of these! I bet they'll be a lot of fun!

Castilliano wrote:

So throwing uses Strength on attack rolls?

I don't think it really goes off of anything. I think it's just what the designer wants it to be. The ogre has +5 mod on str. +10 to hit with his ogre hook, +8 with his javelin and does 7 static damage with each. No current understanding of the math makes all that add up.

While I expect much of the back-end math is different, I think they are going to be working on a similar philosophy as they did with Pathfinder Unchained and Starfinder, which is: Monsters/NPCs work off of different math than PCs do.

This has many merits in that it is super easy to homebrew/create your own monsters. It also makes it easier for Paizo and other 3PP folks make monsters and stuff for adventures and what have you.

However, it does make it a bit harder for consumers to double check math on published material (especially early SFS scenarios), until the Alien Archive came out.

Can't say I'm a fan of bundling mechanics with background - it always seems to result in clumsy mechanics and cookie-cutter backgrounds. This is, probably one of the better implementations I've seen, but I do have a question - since all the Backgrounds shown thus far share a similar template, what's the intent behind having the individual Backgrounds?

I imagine that just like Themes in Starfinder, this background system will give them space to, in the future make more specific backgrounds for different products. Much like the variety of Int-based themes in Pact Worlds are similar-ish mechanically (especially pre-6th level), but they each tell a different story about the character and where they are from.

Just commenting on here saying I like what I see about the Paladin so far.

Excited to see that there might be some non-LG paladins in the future. Also, I really like the new Code.

Super excited for this!!

Absalom Station ia a wonderful place for Wayfinder to begin for the Starfinder RPG! Starting to already come up with ideas that will hopefully be submitted to you fine folks!

So I would like to go ahead and add my voice to the crowd and say that as a GM I am super happy with the slow roll-out of races. Especially of some of the more 'weird' ones being harder to get access to.

My hope really is that all but the races is sanctioned sooner rather than later and not boon locked. Especially the themes, because right now some of the new themes will fit character concepts much better than current themes (I imagine we will see less Outlaws and more Space Pirates, and also less Scholars as there are more Int-based themes). I also believe that if the Archetypes are allowed right away we might start seeing some more players picking up Archetypes (some of them seem pretty neat at first glance!). I think the weapons added in Pact Worlds fill a lot of the holes from the SFCRB and will hold many people over until the Armory Guide comes out (I'm looking at you Weapon Crystals!)

Races though, I would like to keep sort of the way they are. Some of the races need to be individually considered before releasing them into the wild. SROs most definitely and even Astrazoans have some pretty important racial abilities

Edymnion wrote:

The fact that they already have a print date of only a year from now tells me one thing.

The playtest feedback isn't going to be given much weight. It might revamp a skill or feat, or maybe get a class rewritten, but thats it. It tells me that they are hard set on the system as a whole and will not change it no matter what the feedback says.

If this 3 actions a round thing ends up pissing off exactly 100% of the tester base, a year is not enough to rewrite it (and by extension everything that relies on it, which is pretty much everything) and re-test.

For good or for ill, 90% of what they've got at this point is already locked in stone.

Unfortunately you are probably 100% correct in this assessment. Things like a special edition playtest book really tip their whole hand about this affair being a done deal and how this "playtest" will likely be little more than a great big preview.

They offered print versions of the playtest version of the 1st Edition of Pathfinder and there were plenty of big changes made between the playtest version and the final version. Paizo has realized that they have a market of people that will purchase special edition collectible level material from them when it is offered. As a business, why not offer something like a Special Edition Playtest version of a book they are already sending to the printers? That is just leaving money on the table, since they are first and foremost a business not a charity looking to design and develop a game for us to enjoy.

I already know of a handful of people that plan on pre-ordering that Special Edition book and at least one other book. What does that mean for Paizo? They've now just sold 2 copies of the book, instead of 1. Is it a money grab? Maybe, but we all get to vote with our dollars and people that make the decision to buy both do so know that.

Whoops. Thought I was in the GM discussion. Apparently 2:30am isn't a good time for me to be posting things.

Thanks for your response!

I ran 1-08 Sanctuary of Drowned Delight for the first time the other day.