From what I've heard, it isn't what people do or don't do that kills them, it's the fact that monsters have a relatively high chance of hitting, critting, and sometimes even killing the PC in one blow -- and that's if they're optimized. Battles are very swingy when optimized (apparently the average chance for a fully optimized character to land a blow or a spell against a same level opponent are never better than 55%) and tend to flatten you if you're not.
I agree. While I didn't have a TPK, I did have to use the dying rules in the very first battle I ran. An enemy had gotten an easy first hit on a PC, then crit on the second.
Any battle since that lasted beyond the first round has involved a PC falling to five or less HP. Enemies are basically stronger and better than PCs, including free magic bonus damage despite not having magical gear.
I can vouch for it not being PF1 assumptions, I didn't use AoO in PF1.
This was our experience with the Lost Star scenario. We never TPK'ed, but it was close a couple of times. Enemies would regularly knock out at least one of our party every encounter. This was even with retreating from the dungeon and healing up in town several times.
For our party healing we had one Paladin with the improved (d6) Lay on Hands. Which is not nearly enough.
We also weren't poring over the rule book trying to build the most optimized characters either. We like to play characters based on them being cool and interesting characters. So we pick skills and feats based on what interests us.
As a result, Drakus could one-round KO any one of our characters. And did so twice. Two hits in the same round, no crit needed. Once was after being hit with enfeebled(2) by the Paladin. That guy was seriously unable to miss our player characters.
I was part of a group that TPK'd during the Lost Star and a lot of this was similar to our experience. One of our members felt we could have beat Drakus if we had rolled less unlucky, but I don't really know if I'm convinced. We just started In Pale Mountain's Shadow and almost every encounter has been whack-a-mole, with the two martial characters quickly dropping and the other two rushing to spend actions to heal them again (we lost two members, so we're down to 4).
Part of my personal goal in joining this playtest was to see how characters that weren't optimized played. I built my characters similar to breithauptclan's group, something that seemed interesting and fun, and could contribute to the party in a few meaningful ways. I was hoping there would be more flexibility for characters like this in Pathfinder 2e, but now I'm getting worried. I thought TPKs and near-TPKs had been much more common but the stats say otherwise.
Okay there's definitely stuff here that didn't even come close to crossing my mind. Thank you for this! Water being a scarcity was something that I wanted to play up, and exactly how that effects the creatures and societies and how they interact.
Razoack wrote:
Is there a max level that they may reach on this planet? (Could suggest a few higher CR mobs as final threats / Enemies if they stray to ice caps etc)
I'm hoping to have the players travel off this planet by around level 5-6, mostly because the end goal is for them to find their way to Golarion with an artifact. But I mean, as a homebrew, realistically the players could find any number of reasons to stay longer if they make it work (or even return to the planet). I guess it wouldn't be the worst idea to be prepared for that.
Hello friends~ It's been quite awhile since I last ran a pathfinder game, but I've gotten a group of friends who are eager to play. A few of them are new to Pathfinder, but not especially new to tabletop gaming, so we're running a homebrew campaign.
We're doing a sci fi/fantasy mix with some planet hopping and a little bit of limited tech (trying to keep the planet hopping mostly to portals so I don't need to replace a bunch of the fantasy stuff with tech rules), and I'm using the same universe Golarion exists in (along with the rest of the established Pathfinder stuff for ease), but most of the planets the players are going to be visiting are going to be in a solar system outside of Golarion's system, which is where my homebrew stuff comes in.
I've written up a small description of the first planet, and a few of the most important civilisations/communities roughly around the parts of the planet my players will be playing in, but peeling open my old bestiaries has me feeling lost about which monsters I should be adding into encounter tables/plothooks/etc. and reskinning to fit the planet. I'm also pretty sure there's been new monsters released in the few years I wasn't really playing the game. So I'm looking for suggestions!
My players will be on this planet until probably roughly level 5-6, so I'm trying to focus more on monsters lower level parties could take on.
Planet Description:
Similar to Akiton, but located in a different solar system. Red deserts (mars style), orange-ish sky in the day fading to starry indigo skies at night. Forests made of a variation of bush to tree sized thorny plants and thin coniferous trees. Most living plants are dark in colour. Thin streams and the occasional lake are found in these ‘oases’ (to be generous), whereas the large stretches of wasteland imply there at one point may have been oceans. Tall, jagged mountain ranges can be found throughout the planet. There are icy poles, but it's very unlikely the players will be travelling there.
Other details:
no mechanical change in gravity
thin atmosphere but no mechanical effect beyond flavour
two moons
Description of societies established on planet:
itarii (Strix) - have civilizations in the difficult to reach peaks of the mountains. More advanced and established than Golarion Strix. Larger population. Largely xenophobic and isolated. Unfriendly to players but not aggressive.
Shobhad - similar to Akiton communities and tribal units. Often warring for resources. Mostly hostile to other societies and groups but a few communities have begun to capture and trade ratfolk as slaves to the imperial cheliax settlement and outposts in exchange for alien goods and technology.
Ysoki (ratfolk) - small communities and bands. Found mostly within the forests but travelling bands can be met within the deserts as they hunt for food or other resources. Highly mistrustful of other races but will likely be one of the races that is most easily befriended by the players. Most likely to flee conflicts unless in large groups.
Imperial cheliax (combo of many races, mostly human and tiefling) - small relatively new settlement on surface of planet. sustained by resources brought from other planets through portals. Also includes a handful of outposts. Not especially friendly with any other civilizations, but sustains relationships through contractual trading. Have begun to take on ratfolk slaves native to the planet. Will be the group that the players originate from, but will likely become hostile to them as the plot continues.
Will likely change some of the names/reskin the races to make them unique.
Any suggestions welcome~ I'm sure I'll probably overlook something important. Also if there's major geography/environmental continuity errors feel free to point those out too before my players do.
Thinking of making one of the next planets they travel to one of those orphan planets without a sun. Chilly.
Quick Edit: Bonus points if I can get said monsters in pawn form
I'm just going to bump this, since I haven't received any word on our missing copies.
I'd also like to point out two of my guild mates have reported that their physical rewards have not shipped. I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but both guild mates in question added my shipping address to their account, so that their items would ship to me. Previously, I believe neither had added a shipping address.
I’ve found the folks on this thread to be wonderful, and elsewhere on these messageboards, generally, when I dabble outside of here and a couple of play-by-post games. I’m a trans woman who’s recently started her transition, and I’d be happy to offer a cheery wave as someone headed in another direction than the one you’re taking, along with some personal experiences, if you think that would be helpful.
I don’t think I could give any serious advice, though. You know what they say: “Go not to the elves for counsel…”...
When you ask about handling transitions, do you mean how one started it, or later steps? Likewise, do you mean coming out, specifically, when you talk about “opening up” to friends/family? To the extent that I can, I’m willing to talk about any of these.
I should confess, though, that I’m a decadent lady who’s never lived beyond commuting distance of Canada’s major metropoleis, so my perspective will definitely be a bit skewed. 400 000 people is a small-ish town (OK, fine, city :) ) from my point of view, for example.
Welcome again, though, and I’m sure others will be happy to offer their salutations soon as well.
Another Canadian, cool! Nice to meet you.
As for the clarification, I'm not looking so much for advice on the medical side of things as I am looking for advice on the social end of the spectrum. Currently, my major concern is how to come out/ what to be aware of while doing it. I've been looking into a few of the community programs downtown Toronto to connect with others like me, but I live pretty far away (about an hour and a half west by transit), so I'm not sure how sustainable that option is. As far as I know, downtown is the best place for those kind of 'meet & greet' options, though.
KSF wrote:
Welcome, sir!
Thank you for the advice and the links! I'm currently at the stage where two people in my life are aware of my transmale identity (excluding my post on here): My partner, and my therapist. I opened up to my therapist about a year ago, and to my partner about 4-5 months ago. Surgery is definitely a long term goal for me, but being young and still partially dependent on my family's income (I'm currently still a student), I'm saddened to say it may have to wait awhile. A long while. I have pretty right-winged parents, and although they aren't homophobic, they've expressed what I'd describe as 'the minimum standard for being considered open minded' in regards to the LGBTQ community, and I can't imagine they'll be happy with my identity or even take it seriously at all. Coming out to them could either lead to them trying to 'fix' me, or end with me being a homeless, penniless student. I can hope they will accept me, but I just don't really believe it.
I think I'll be going the route you did, and come out to friends at first. I have my partner to support me, so I'm planning to do it face to face. That way I can build up the courage to eventually tell my folks.
It's definitely a relief to speak to someone who's gone through the same transition (well, sort of). I spent a lot of my Gender Dysphoria questioning whether or not I was 'just crazy' for feeling this way. I'm all to happy to leave those thoughts behind.
So I've been lurking this thread for awhile, and now that I finally have the courage to post something…
Hi.
I currently identify as transmale, and I'm in the process of opening up to the people I trust & reaching out to communities about my transition. I'm not at the point where I'm ready to be fully open, but getting there is a goal of mine. I'm stuck between wanting to share my self discovery with the world, and feeling the need to cover it up as much as possible, so that i don't lose people in my life (namely, family).
I don't have very many non-cis non-hetero friends in my circle, and I've grown up with very little influence beyond the cis-straight-white community (lived in a small town my entire life, and in fact, during my high school years there was controversy over the drama club performing a play that brought light to the prosecution of homosexuality. Sigh), so this transition has been mostly me trying to 'figure stuff out' on my own.
I guess I'm looking for advice, and/or personal experiences here. How did you handle/go about the transition? How did you open up to friends/family? What was their reaction?
Also, being really foreign to the LGBTQ community, I apologize if I use any terms/ say anything that's considered inappropriate. Or seem completely out of the loop on stuff.
Edit: Also, I'd like to thank Crystal for making up an item for FtM PCs in the Shaman thread, just based on my request. You're absolutely wonderful :)
That leaves the Advanced Class Guide iconics. I might not put those in normal sets. What would people prefer?
Personally, I love the fact that we get the iconics in the PFB sets, but it makes more sense to exclude them to their own predetermined packs.
It would make them easier to obtain, and I have a feeling we'd also be getting them faster (instead of waiting for the 1-2 iconic release in the PFB sets).
I usually GM, so I definitely had to think back for these ones. Sadly, most of the characters I've played barely made it past 2-3...
CG Human Samurai/Skald - Currently playing, fingers crossed the game lasts
LN Human Gunslinger/Slayer - Played during ACG playtesting, only lasted a few games
NN Human Alchemist (Vivisectionist) - Serpent's Skull character, put on hold (probably cancelled)
We had a lengthy discussion about Damiel in the lead up to defining our new iconics. While Damiel made an okay option if we wanted to retcon one of the existing iconics into a transgender character, it would be a retcon. Also, if you read Damiel's backstory, you'll see he's not necessarily a nice person, and that he's on pretty shaky mental footing. That's not the way we wanted to represent our first transgender iconic.
Rather, than trying to shoehorn an iconic into a role, we opted for a specific, strong, and positive characterization. Something Crystal has achieved here brilliantly.
All that being said, alchemists would make strong choices for characters with similar backgrounds. You'll see why when the Advanced Class Guide debuts.
Wes and I had a very long discussion about which iconic to go with (and I really appreciate being a part of that discussion), and touched on Damiel for a while. It would have been nice to have a trans man character after the excellent representation trans women got with Annevia, but we were worried about Damiel's past making it look like we were painting all trans men as sociopaths. In the end, we settled on the shaman because of the religious role of gender-variant people in many different historical cultures.
I especially appreciate that our first trans iconic was intentionally trans from the outset, rather than being retconned in later. I also appreciate that Paizo felt accurate representation was important enough that they not only sought out a trans woman to write her, but a trans historian (not to toot my...
Wow, thanks for the information guys! I didn't think we'd find out whether or not our speculation was accurate (or at least, not this soon).
I (and probably many others) appreciate the effort everyone at Paizo puts in to give members of the LGBTQ community a positive image.
And actually, my favourite character to date is my FtM Alchemist. Sadly, that Serpent's Skull game got put on hold...
Also, isn't one of the existing iconics also rumoured to be trans? My money is on Seoni. I don't remember why, though.
I think the popular guess was Damiel for access to alchemical...stuff, mutagenic...stuff, and a general lack of gender-based information.
Like other posters, I've heard it's Ezren (Wizard) as well, but I would absolutely love it if it was Damiel. He's hands down my favourite iconic, and him being trans would make me even happier.
I've obtained a printed copy of one of my statements from the bank, and copied the address into my Paizo account as best as I can. I've also sent you an email with a picture of my address on the statement, so if my entry still doesn't work, you have the information to try and make it work.
I'm going to bump this again, because I've reverified with my bank account that what's registered with my credit card is what's registered with my account.
Can I have my order reprocessed to see if it works this time? Others are apparently having the same issue this subscription run.
I called my bank and had them change my address to that of a friend's, because my address is slightly complicated (it's an apartment).
I think that changing it so something more simple has worked. It's no longer displaying a declined payment.
I received the contents of my kickstarter pledge, including all the physical rewards from the 2 print packs I ordered, except the two copies of the Emerald Spire Superdungeon. Is it possible they were shipped separately, or is this a computer error?
Hah, I was actually contemplating this the other day :) I wonder if character preference is a combination of traits we find desirable, mixed in with traits we can relate to.
I generally play high intellect characters, and avoid charisma-based casters (something about being able to shoot magic from your fingers with absolutely no training puts me off). Also, my characters almost always have a longstanding passion or goal, or at least a large sense of purpose.
... really excited to see the final version of the investigator.
Actually, I'm going to clarify: I dislike charisma-based full casters. I do enjoy playing Paladins as well.
I've had my order declined quite a few times now (each time placing a new charge on my credit card, then disappearing. I had 4 charges waiting to be processed on it at one time). My credit card is working for other vendors, and it's not at it's credit limit.
I attempted to change the billing address a few times to have it perfectly reflect my bank's registered address (as others posted with this same problem), but this so far hasn't changed anything. My order was still declined.
I want to cancel my subscription for the Player Companion line, and have The Harrow Handbook removed from my queue. No issues, just don't have interest in this one :)
Just to go out on a limb and try to be constructive, I know that you're limited by the account management software you're using, but is there some kind of "trial user" setting you can use?
- Trial users may make only one post per 30 minutes (adjustable based on complaints from REAL trial users)
- Trial users become real users after 30 days.
I don't know. They could still work past that, but it would at least take effort, and this seems more like someone who's just messing with Paizo because it's easy.
Or we take the "spamming this board isn't worth it" approach and get 50-60 dedicated Paizo users who will open communications via e-mail/phone and just waste oodles of the spammers' time. My favorite-ever phone solicitation was some poor guy who had to read me a 2-minute prepared speech. So I said, "What?" and he was required to repeat it. I said, "What?" again and he hung up on me and never called back.
If we have the time, wasting other peoples' time can be useful.
One small problem could be spammers making accounts on a regular basis, and allowing them to sit for a month to run the time out. Perhaps make it based on number of posts instead of a time limit. If an account makes enough posts without being flagged for spam, they could break out of the trial.
It would probably be most effective to just put a time cap on how often a new account can post. You don't want to punish a new player who's just joined the forum to ask a question, who finds out that they aren't eligible to make even one thread.
You look great! All you need is a fox now... :P
Every year I plan to put together a cosplay of Lirianne, because I really think I could pull it off.
But I'm an artsy type, and I get distracted, and then it turns into a 'Lirianne inspired costume, that doesn't totally look like Lirianne anymore."
So. Have to work on that.
I assume they mean "quit buying the specific Pathfinder books that have this kind of thing in", because quitting the entire game over a specific adventure path and the support material for it seems kinda extreme.
True. Although if that's what they're implying, then I'm kind of confused why they'd post at all. I don't go to every product I unsubscribe for and post about it.
Anyways, not important. Technology supplements, yay!
Edit:
Liz Courts wrote:
It's happened.
Well, that just seems like a sad way to miss out on awesome Pathfinder stuff.
Seriously, there's people here who will quit playing Pathfinder, JUST because they've released some stuff you aren't interested in? That seems a little over-dramatic.
I'm happy that the overwhelming majority seems excited for Iron Gods/ the Sci-fi releases. I always got the impression I was one of few.
Keep 'em coming :P
Golem: Uh, Master I think the boiler is about to...
Damiel: Not now! I've almost got it....
Golem: But the boiler's about to...
Damiel: NOT NOW!
*Boiler next to golem explodes*
*Damiel covered in multi-colored soot looks at the golem*
Damiel: Not one word about this to anyone. Ever.
Have you seen, like, any other illustration with him in it? He kind of screws up everything. Always.
Dullahan is one of my favorite creatures, but this is a modern Dullahan, a shame :-(
Aside from the lack of tattered cloaks and possibly the pole arm, is there a real discernible difference between this Dullahan and the one in the Bestiary 2? Aside from those features, and the mount itself, it looks pretty close to the miniature from the Shattered Star series.
Agreed. I feel like not using it for the features you'd have to squint to see is being overly picky.
I've actually... never had a bad GM. I've had ones I don't agree with, but I wouldn't call them 'bad'. Every GM I've had has put a lot of effort into what they'd prepared, and ran a pretty fair game (Guess I'm lucky :) ).
Bad players, however...
We usually figure those out pretty fast. Me being the usual Gm (and, being a female), issues tend to arise quickly with douchebags, and they get asked to leave. Neither I, nor my boyfriend, are willing to tolerate that. Coincidentally, players with poor attitudes tend to have poor play styles that none of the other players enjoy, either. So it works out :)
Flaky players will be flaky. Set a start time, and start at that time. He can jump in an hour and a half later than everyone else.
Worked for our group!
4. More builder series, please. I know these will get easier as the backlog of sculpts build, but they are a wonderful value. I don't buy by the case, and haven't even picked up boosters for the last few sets, but I always buy a builder mini or two when at the FLGS. It's just such a great impulse purchase...keep 'em coming!
I'm not sure what the decision on those are at the moment, but Erik mentioned on one of his blog previews in the past that builder sets aren't selling well enough for Wizkids to be happy with making them.
Hey folks, I have a question for you: What is the one question you have about androids that you would like to see addressed in an article about androids? (I won't be answering those questions here, at least not until an article comes out.)
To manage expectations, I may not be able to answer all of the questions asked for whatever reason.
Nighttree has most of the questions I'd vote for. Personally the most interested in how they view other races (and how races view them). Will they also have the 'how Androids fit into different classes' section, seen in the companion line?
Well for starters I would definitely enforce that if they didn't say they did something prior to combat, cast a buff or draw a weapon, then that never happened. That forces them to keep their character and surroundings in mind. Obviously tell them before the next session you are doing this to avoid whining.
If they are so interested in the combat aspect then add a twist to that. Make it so that a bad guy escapes, combat focused PC's HATE that, and they will develop a real passion for pursuing that villain.
(emphasis mine)
I've had that backfire, unfortunately. Depending on the personalities of your players, they may instead turn on the GM, and blame them for the villain escaping. Or groan about how 'that isn't fair, why are you making this so hard, yadda yadda.'
