I recently started a thread here on the idea of porting PF1-style 50-charge wands to PF2. The general consensus, which I have come to agree with, is that it was not one of my better ideas. However, in the course of conversation I hit on something that I though might be better. Before I get into the details, a little preamble about the perceived issue I am attempting to address: Both PF1 and PF2 have their near-mandatory post-combat procedures, which are different but both can be kinda annoying in their own ways.
PF2's version is making a whole bunch of Medicine checks, consuming quite a lot of time both in and out of universe. At my table we have already houseruled them to consume less of both (fewer die rolls, more generous results). But they still require someone (preferably at least two someones) to invest heavily in Medicine to keep the party on their feet. Which would be great if it were one option amongst several, but ATM it does not feel like it is.
TLDR: Mandatory Medicine checks are kinda annoying.
So how does making wands rechargeable help? It kinda brings back the PF1 "happy-stick dance" without the elements that made that annoying (ie, the supremacy of low-level wands even at the very highest levels, leading to huge numbers of charges being used). What I am currently thinking is this:
Chargeable wands are "spells in a stick" like PF1 wands were, except that a fully charged wand only has 30 charges. Actually casting a spell from one works like a standard wand, except there is no daily restrictions (there may be a once-per-round restriction). They cost quite a lot up front, but the a significantly less to add charges. Restoring any number of charges takes two hours (you can do four per day if you have nothing better to do).
My grasp on how to price them is less solid than in the PF1 version of this thread, largely because the relationship between rank and wand cost is not obvious to me. But I am leaning towards having the upfront cost the same as a standard magic wand. The cost to recharge would be linear with spell rank (maybe 4 gp per rank - same as a scroll at Rank 1). Because the HP restored per spell rank is linear (at least for heal and soothe), that conveniently keeps the cost per hp consistent across all versions (ignoring the upfront cost).
To charge the wand, you would probably need Magical Crafting, and would definitely need to match the spells level and provide a casting of the spell (from a slot). To make the thing in the first place, you would need all that plus an appropriate formula (and more time/castings, of course).
So what do you think? Any suggestions on price. Any flaws with my cunning plan that I have missed? Anyone want to weigh in on the costs? Any thoughts on a better name for the standard PF2 spell wand than "magic wand" (to differentiate it from this, and in general)?
EDIT: I meant to say, although I have focused on spells which restore hp, I was intending this option to apply to any wands. Are there any spells which would be particularly broken under than paradigm? I guess it would cut across the extremely restricted spells slots that PF2 caster have, but I am not sure how much of a problem I consider that to be!
I recently started a thread over in PF2 Homebrew on the idea of porting PF1-style 50-charge wands to PF2. The general consensus, which I have come to agree with, is that it was not one of my better ideas. However, in the course of conversation I hit on something that I though might be better. Before I get into the details, a little preamble about the perceived issue I am attempting to address: Both PF1 and PF2 have their near-mandatory post-combat procedures, which are different but both can be kinda annoying in their own ways IME and IMO.
PF1's version is the "happy stick dance": Tapping away with a wand of CLW (or occasionally infernal healing) after each fight. This is fine at lower levels, but it gradually gets more ridiculous as levels and hit point totals rise, and the number of wand activations balloons, which is not a problem mechanically but feels kinda weird. Higher-level wands would be better for this, but unfortunately the way costs scale make them much worse mechanically. The cost per hp restored is massively higher. But if you made them massively cheaper (apart from potentially breaking non-healing wands) you risk inverting the problem - everybody just buys whichever level of wand is now the most efficient.
TLDR: The "happy stick dance" is kinda annoying.
So how does making wands rechargeable help? It allows higher-level wands to have a higher up-front cost, keeping them out of the hands of lower-level parties, while keeping the cost per hp around the same. This is an idea I have had before, but I could never figure out the specifics before - now I think I might have. What I am currently thinking is this:
Chargeable wands are still "spells in a stick" and work in exactly the same way when activated. But a fully charged wand only has 30 charges, and cost more upfront, but obviously it is possible to add charges to them. And the recharge cost is considerably less than the upfront cost. Restoring any number of charges takes two hours (you can do four wands per day if you have nothing better to do).
Initially I was thinking that the upfront cost should double the standard wand, but 42k for a level-4 spell feels like a tough ask even if it works out well in the long term. Maybe 500x the spell level, so costs would range from a nice round 1000 gp for CLW to 2200 for CCW (assuming minimum caster levels). That seems pretty reasonable to me.
The cost to add charges would also be linear with spell level rather than quadratic. Noodling around in Excel, SL*15 gives the same cost per hp as a standard wand for CLW (about 2.7 gp) falling to 2.4 for the higher level wands - that feels about right to me (although that's ignoring the upfront cost of the wand, of course).
The other question is who can add charges. At a minimum, you'd need the spell on your spell list and known/available to cast, and a CL equal to the wand. It feels like it should be a bit more restricted than that, but restricting it to people with Craft Wand seems a bit too restricted.
Making them in the first place does require Craft Wand, of course. And if you have that feat, you can also convert a standard wand into a Rechargeable wand by sacrificing 20 charges and paying the difference in price.
So what do you think? Any flaws with my cunning plan that I have missed? What do you think about the "who can charge" question? Any ideas what to call now to contrast them with these?
As in X charges, use them until they are used up, then buy another one (X was 50 in PF1, but need not be). Obviously, nobody would want to buy PF2-style wands, but that is hardly different from now. Aside from that, what would happen?
I am running Abomination Vaults, and in the last chapter the PCs found a couple of runestones with useful runes on. Obviously, they wanted to transfer them onto their actual equipment, but AIUI the PCs need the Magic Crafting feat to transfer runs and none of them have it. After a bit of digging the only official option we could find for outside help was hiring a "skilled labourer" on a day rate and hoping they made their check, but even at low levels that was a long shot and it will quickly become impossible as item levels increase and labourer levels do not.
Is there a better official option that we have missed? Or failing that, how would people go costing a more appropriate/useful transfer service if one does not already exist? How have people tackled this in their own games?
Or does everyone just assume that the group will take Magical Crafting and make it moot? That would certainly make my life easier, but nobody seems keen so far!
By which I mean, if you take a second dedication feat, that doesn't prevent you from taking further feats from your first archetype, right? I cannot find anything that stops you, but I might have missed something.
For example, one of my players has recently taken the Medic dedication. Which has a couple of level 4 feats, 1 at 6 and one at 8. Then a big gap until 1 at 16. Since we are using the Free Archetype variant, the PC would be basically forced to take a new Dedication at 10th level at the latest (and in practice, they might well do so earlier). Having done so, can they still take Resuscitate at 16th level if they want to?
It probably doesn't actually matter for this particular PC: We are doing Abomination Vaults so he is not going to make 16th level unless we take the same characters into another AP afterwards, but it got me thinking.
Quick note for the mods: The first question is a rulesy question, whereas the second is more appropriate to this forum. But I didn't want to start two separate threads for two related questions. I suspect the second will generate the bulk of the discussion, hence my putting it here. But if you think it would be better in Rules obviously feel free to move it.
As the title says, a couple of questions:
1. AFAICT, the Flexible Spellcaster class archetype not no feats at all beyond the dedication, thereby making it impossible to ever comply with the "two more feats" rule. Unless there is some exception I have missed for that rule, that means that a Flexible Spellcaster can never take another archetype of any kind (rather than just being prevented from taking another class archetype, which of course they are). Is that the case?
EDIT: Actually, although I think of that rule as being a general one, it is stated specifically in each dedication feat. And now that I look more closely, it is notstated in the Flexible Spellcaster Dedication. So perhaps that is my answer.
2. The Medic archetype (amongst other things) increases the Medicine skill to Expert. This is obviously a useful thing, especially for those character that do not get a skill increase at second (ie most of them). But at first glance I cannot see any other which do the same for other skills, but I assume that there must be at least a few. Can somebody point me in the right direction? EDIT: I now notice that Acrobat and Archaeologist do that too (for two skills in the latter case). I will keep looking.
I am sure there must be some, but I cannot find them for the life of me. Presumably it works similarly to identifying magic items, but it is obviously not an identify magic activity per se, so what is it?
One of my players at the weekend told me his character had bought a "silversheen weapon". I of course pointed out that silversheen was one-shot and called it up on AoN to prove the point. He OTOH called it up on PFSRD and sure enough, there was something that they called "silversheen" that was a slightly upgraded version of alchemical silver.
I assume this is something that originally had a name that PFSRD could not use; anyone know what that name actually was?
(The source was apparently PC:QGttE which after a bit of digging I assume to mean Qadira Gateway to the East, but I do not have that one.)
EDIT: Never mind, apparently it is Silverhseen on AoN too. Weird.
Basically what the subject line says. I am aware of Dual Wand Wielder from Complete Arcane and Cannith Wand Adept from Sharn City of Towers (both 3.5), but is there a PF1 native method?
I am considering a homebrew feat that would add a small number of level-0 spells to the spell list of partial-caster classes that currently do not have them (plus the slots to prepare them in or spells known as required).
Bloodragers, paladins, and rangers are the classes potentially affected (I think they are the only ones), and each would get a customised list of thematically appropriate cantrips - not sure exactly what yet, as I would have to go through the lists in detail. But before I do that I wanted to sense check the general idea.
Obviously, how strong it is depends on the exact spells, but assuming they are useful and thematically appropriate but not too out there, does that sound reasonable? Too strong? Too weak?
Paladins in my homebrew campaign setting are long established not to worship particular deities (where exactly they get their power from is mysterious). But the PF2 Champion class (of which Paladin is now a cause) has a number of features which depend on deity choice. The obvious solution to this issue is a Class Archetype, but since there are no published examples yet I am kinda flying blind. Nonetheless, here is my attempt:
True Paladin
(Class)
Requirements: Character must be a Champion with the Paladin cause, and must not worship a particular deity. True Paladin class archetype must be selected at exactly first level.
Archetype Features & Proficiencies
Skills: At first level, a True Paladin is trained in a number of skills of her choice equal to 4 plus your Intelligence modifier. This modifies Skill Proficiencies.
Mysterious Divinity: True Paladins do not select a Deity, and their cause must be Paladin. This modifies Deity and Cause.
Weapon Versatility: When you make your daily preparations, you may practice with one unarmed strike that does 1d4 damage or one simple weapon that you have on hand. If you do so, increase the damage die of that weapon by one step (d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12) until you next make your daily preparations. This replaces Deific Weapon.
You gain a level 1 or 2 Champion feat for which you qualify. If you are a member of a knighly order which has an associated level 2 dedication feat you can instead take that.
Special: You must select this feat at 2nd level if you selected the True Paladin archetype at first. You can't select another dedication feat until you have gained two other feats from the True Paladin archetype. If you gained a second dedication feat using the benefit of this feat, you cannot select another dedication feat until you have gained two other feats each from the True Paladin archetype and the other archetype.
You can cast more divine spells each day. Increase the spell slots you gain from True Paladin archetype feats by 1 for each spell level other than your two highest divine spell slots.
Prerequisites: Expert True Paladin Spellcasting; legendary in Religion
You gain the master spellcasting benefits.
I am not sure if the "This replaces..." are actually necessary, since you can only have one Class Archetype anyway. The spellcasting feats are there because I was struggling to think of anything else, and because True Paladins cannot multiclass into most of the other divine classes (since they require deities which True Paladins do not have).
Obviously, it need some more feats, but I have had the tab open all day so I thought I'd better post what i have got. Thoughts so far?
There seem to be quite a few level 1 General feats, but as far as I can see you do not get a General Feat at level 1 by default. So the first question is am I missing something or am I correct about that?
The second question is, assuming I am right, how badly would it break things just to give the option of an extra General feat to everyone at first level?
As a result of a conversaion with one of the players in my forthcoming PF2 game, I went looking to see if you could buy a riding drake for cash or if you needed to get one as a minion with an archetype. EDIT: At least I thought there was an archetype, but I cannot find that either!
As far as I could see you cannot. But as far as I can see you cannot buy a normal riding horse (or a pony, camel, riding dog, guard dog, homing pigeon, pet cat etc...) for cash either, so I assume I must be missing something. Am I? If so where do I need to look?
What the title says basically - I have been playing and running PF1 since Alpha, and 3.0 and 3.5 before that, and it would be fair to say I am very comfortable with it. Conversely, I can count how many PF2 session I have played on my fingers and I not sure I even need both hands. I am sure I would have played and run it more by now if the pandemic had not put paid to PFS for me, but we are where we are. Nonethless, I have enjoyed what I have played and most of what I have read. And when my current Rise of the Runelords game ends I am planning to run a short PF2 mini-campaign.
So where is my PF1 mindset going to lead me astray? What are the pitfalls to watch out for as a player, GM, and (perhaps especially) an adventure designer?
I have been gving some thought lately to characters who for whatever reason need to enhance multiple weapons: Two weapon fighters, switch hitters, firearm users who do not want to reload multiple times in six seconds. ISTM that something (or several somethings) like an Amulet of Mighty Fists but for manufactured weapons would be helpful here. Each would be enhanced just like a weapon (albeit more expensive) and would then apply those enhancements to any appropriate weapon you wield.
I am thinking bracers for ranged weapons, but I am not sure for melee weapons. Belt would be the obvious item, but I do not want to conflict with stat boosters - gloves perhaps? I am also thinking a pair of rings, for the ultimate "all weapons" item.
For prices, I am thinking 2000 + bonus-squared x 4000 for the basic items and 2000 + bonus squared x 5000 for the ultimate version. That way, it costs the same as enhancing two items (one of which is cold iron) - at the cost of a bit of flxibility (and an item slot or two) you get your third and fourth weapons (and so on but diminishing returns) enhanced too.
The idea is not to completely replace enhancing individual items, but to provide an additional option alongside it which is hopefully more or less balanced - so am I somewhere close? Any comments on the slot assignments? Any other thoughts?
_
glass.
PS Speaking of pairs of rings, I am aware of Doubling Rings from PF2, which would also help with some of these use cases if they were back-ported. But I am not sure how to price them in PF1.
Part 4 (EDIT: Of Spires of Xin-Shalast) seems to imply, to me, that the best way up from the lower city is the hidden path in area N. However, after they go up and fight the Mountain Roper, there is no Development section to tell me where they can go from there.
Similarly, Part 5 says nothing about where the Hidden Path comes out AFAICS.
What am I missing? Where does the hidden path actually go?
They have a spell list on Archives of Nethys, but I do not recall their ever being mentioned in any of the actual books I have read. And I cannot find any classes on AoN to attach it to (either in base or prestige).
So what and where are they?
(Wasn't sure where to post this, so mods feel free to move it.)
I could have sworn that prepared casters could leave spell slots open when they initially prepared spells for the day, and then take 15 minutes to fill up any or all of those slots. But when I went to look for the rules to make sure I had the details right, I could not find any sign of it.
Am I thinking of a 3.5 rule that got dropped in Pathfinder? Or am I just missing it? And if the latter, can someone point me in the right direction?
(Either a page number of a AoN link would be great.)
Last night our party wizard was trying to get away from one encounter and accidentally triggered a second, resulting in his getting halberded to death before anyone could help him. We just about have enough cash for a Raise Dead and a couple or Restorations, but reading the former left us with a question.
The spell says you get negative levels "as if you had been hit by a creature with energy drain", and energy drain says you get one attempt at a save 24 hours later.
Except that the DC for energy drain is based on the creature, which in this case does not actually exist. So how do you determine the DC?
Or, did it mean gain negative levels "as if you have been hit by a creature with energy drain and already failed the saves"?
EDIT: Although I am a regular GM, I am not the GM of this particular campaign. However, the guy who is the GM tends to trust my judgement on rules matters and often looks to me for answers on cases like this. Which is usually fine, becuase I usually know the answers. But this time I don't....
I happened across this list a couple of days ago, and while you could certainly argue that “necessary is overstating the case, items in all these categories are certainly nice to have. Anyway, it got me thinking; with a few tweaks (like how death effects work), PF1 enemies are going to have a lot of the same abilities and PF1 characters are going to have a lot of the same vulnerabilities. So once they have bought the “big six” they are going to be looking so shore up a lot of the same things. Obviously in a “3.P” game they can just use the same list, but in a pure Pathfinder game that is not going to be an option (and even in 3.P there might be better options). So, I thought it might be useful to come up with a similar list for PF1.
So to get things started, these are the categories from the list, and the PF1 item that come to mind. I am sure there are many more, so if anyone wants to suggest additional items please shout.
Flight
Winged Boots. Foot slot. 16000 gp.
Headband of Aerial Agility (+4 and +6 versions) Also takes care of enhancement to Int for characters who need that in the headband. Headband slot. 42000 gp or 81000 gp.
Figurine of Wondrous Power (Bronze Griffon or Obsidian Steed. Give you a flying mount, so only usable where your mount fits. Slotless. 10000 gp or 28500 gp.
Stun & Daze Negation
Steel Mind Cap. Converts to confused, which may not be much of an improvement. Head slot. 33600 gp.
Fear Immunity
Torc of Lionheart Fury. High-level Barbarians only (anyone else just gets a save bonus). Neck slot. 8000 gp.
True Seeing
Truesight Goggles. Eye slot. 184800 gp.
Miss Chance
Minor Cloak of Displacement. 20% miss chance, but competing with Cloak of Resistance. Shoulder slot. 24000 gp.
Cloak of Displacement. 50% miss chance, but competing with Cloak of Resistance. Shoulder slot. 50000 gp.
Teleportation
Boots of Teleportation. Foot slot. 49000 gp.
Helm of Teleportation. Head slot. 73500 gp.
Cloak of the Mountebank. Dimension door but competing with Cloak of Resistance. Shoulder slot. 10800 gp.
Death Effect/Energy Drain/Negative Energy Immunity
(cannot think of any right now)
Freedom of Movement
Ring of Freedom of Movement. Ring slot. 40000 gp.
Extradimensional Storage
Handy Haversack. Move action recovery and no AoO is nice. Slotless (backpack). 2000 gp.
Bag of Holding. Carries more than a haversack, but does not have the other advantages, so better for bulk treasure than equipment. Slotless. 2500 - 10000 gp.
Polymorphic Pouch. Small capacity, but sticks around if you charge your shape. 5000 gp.
Portable Hole. Not useful in combat, but massive storage capacity and no weight of its own. 20000 gp.
Darklands Goggles. 120 ft darkvision (plus some skill bonuses). Eye slot. 20000 gp.
Goggles of Night. Normal darkvision. Eye slot. 16000 gp.
Circlet of Mindsight. Sense thinking creatures. Head slot. 22000 gp.
Cat’s Eye Crown. +60 ft to darkvision, and can detach the gem and use it for clairaudience/clairvoyance 1/day. Head slot. 18000 gp.
And that’s it for now. I am sure there are many many items I have missed in my quick survey, but that is where you guys come in. I also left out the Mind Blank section that the original list had, because PF1 Mind Blank is considerably less impressive than 3.5 Mind Blank, but I could be persuaded to add it back in!
EDIT: I was not sure if this fit better in General or Advice. So I stuck it in one but flagged it myself, so the powers that be can move it if the like.
My players have just finished dealing with the Vekkers' cabin, received the missing jorunal pages, and started the long climb up to the Icemists, and I have a couple of questions, that I cannot figure out the answers to.
1. What happens if some of the party make their will saves and other do not?
2. How long is the climb supposed to take?
3. When it comes to finding the ghostly River Avah, the books says "A non-magical method to [...] ease the journey in Xin-Shalast exists as well (Emphasis mine). The "as well" implies that the non-magical method is in addition to a magical method, but I cannot find any other methods. What am I missing?
I am sure there were other questions, but that is all I can think of right now.
Simple question; is there any penalty to the Survival to avoid getting lost if you are doing it in a blizard? I kinda feel like there should be, but I cannot find any. Am I missing something?
Silly question, but I cannot find the answer anywhere. Do magic weapons with plain enhancement bonuses require the magic weapon spell as a prerequisite, or just the item creation feat and requisite level?
PF2 magic is based on the notion that the four kinds of magic are each based on two of four essences of magic. But the are six ways of picking two from four: If I am reading right, the combinations Matter/Spirit and Mind/Life do not currently exist. So I am wondering, what might those two types be called? What would the themes be? What would their associated Skills be called?
This is not really something I am thinking of implementing, hence putting it in General rather than Homebrew. Just idle pondering. Unless we come into something truely amazing, or course...
_
glass.
PS I am pretty sure Paizo have said that the other two are never going to officially exist, but that doesn't mean we cannot speculate, right?
I am obviously missing it, but I cannot find anywhere any rules for high-grade items (or low grade for that matter). I know they exist, because there are prices (and hardness/HP/BT) for them in the materials section.
So, do they actually do anything (other than change the afformentioned hadness/HP/BT), and if so where do I find out what?
Also, can you have high/low grade items that are not of special materials, and if so where are the rules for that?
Unfortunately in last night's game, I rather rain on one of the players' parade by pointing out that his build did not work the way he wanted it to. So now I feel a bit guilty, and woul like ot help him fix it (I am a fellow player in this game, not the GM, so I cannot fix it by fiat even if I wanted to). I did search, but I only found a thread from 2012, and hopefully things have moved on a bit since then.
The crux of it is, is there any feat/archetype/other ability that allows a pistol to count as a light weapon for TWF?
EDIT: Or any other way to make TWF with a pistol and sword work. Preferably a rapier.
I am running Rise of the Runelords and the party are currently half way through Sins of the Saviours. For various reasons, we may wish to continue past the Spires of Xin-Shalast (on the other hand we may not, APs are pretty long as is, and there are plenty more we could be running).
Obviously, it will be a group decission, but before I talk to the group about it, I need to have some idea about what I am talking about. And if we do continue, I will not have time to write stuff in real time so I will need to start preparing for it well in advance (ie nowish).
I have read the Continuing the Campaign section, but it does not give me a lot to go on. Has anyone continued RotRL, using their suggestions or otherwise? What did you do? How did it go?
Bonus question, is there any overlap with the continuation suggestions and Return of the Runelords? (no spoilers for the latter please - we rotate GMs so I might end up playing it).
Today I started runing a high-level mini-campign (specifically, the Feats of Dust module, although that is not particularly relevent to the questions).
One of the players was playing an Elemental Sorcerer, and after the session wrapped up and we were talking about what he gets next level, and he gets Elemental Body III as a bloodline spell (already having I and II). He commented that they were badly worded to the point of being non-functional, and after looking them up I could not really disagree. I did think their might have been some errata since our very old CRBs were printed, but the PRD seems to have all the same issues.
Elemental Body I says you can assume the form of an Small Elemental. And then says "If the form you take is that of a Small air elemental..." etc.
Elemental Body II says you can also assume the form of a Medium Elemenal, but then each elemental types is "As Elemental Body I, except (better bonuses). Conspecious by its absence is any indication when those bonuses apply, so it inherits the if-you-choose-Small from EB I.
As written with EB II you gain the better bonus if you assume the form of a Small elemental, but just the base stats from the Polymorph Subschool when you assume the form of a Medium elemental. The same problem propegates through EB III and EB IV. This is clearly not intended, but unless I am missing something it is how it is written.
The intention is presumably either that you gain the bonuses for the spell you are using regardless of which size you select (with the only differences between size being damage and things auotmatically modified by the size modifier), or you use the bonuses appropriate to the size you select regardless of spell, but I have no idea which.
I have a character that has been stuck at 11th level for literally years, and with this being the last season of PFS1* I would like to get a crack at at least one of the seeker arcs sooner rather than later. Obviously, a 3 XP module would do it in one hit, but the trouble is finding enough players locally with high-enough level character to join me.
What would be a good module? Preferably one that can support slightly lower-levelled players be get me a level 11 chronicle sheet if I run it?
I have already played The Ruby Pheonix Tournament (that's how I got to 11).
I have volunteered to make characters for a couple of extra players who may be joining a Shattered Star game I will be playing shortly. If they do join, we will have quite a large group, which obviously has an impact on character choices. Pet classes are not so favoured, while anything that buffs the whole party is great. Bards or skalds are an obvious example of the latter, as are cavaliers for the Teamwork-feat granting (with an archetype to lose the mount).
And then I got to wondering, are there any Bard or Skald archetypes that do anything interesting with teamwork feats (preferebly without losing Bardic Performance or equivalent)?
On a largely unrelated note, are there any ways to build a character who punished enmies for attacking his allies, like a D&D 4e defender, or a PF2P Paladin (but hopefully better implemented than the latter)? I am aware of the Warder class from DSP's Path if War, but are there any other options?
I am currently running Rise of the Runeslords for my group. In the light of the humble bundle offer, one of the other players has offered to run Shattered Star. We are only about halfway through RotRL, so if we wait until we are finished it will be a long time before we get round to playing Shattered Star, which would be a shame since one of the other players bought the bundle as a gift for the prospective GM. So I am thinking about alternating sessions of the two.
This would also have the advantage of reducing pressure on the pair of us - GMing weekly canbe stressful sometimes.
However, my understanding is that Shattered Star is a sequel of sorts to Rise of the Runelords, so spoilers are a concern. Would playing or prepping/running Shattered Star give rise to spoilers for RotRL (or vice versa)?
Hopefully it goes without saying, but just in case it doesn't: Please no spoilers for either in this thread.
I have said several times on this forum and elsewhere I really like the idea of Resonance, but that something should be done about the specific implementation (and apparently something will be done). Inveterate tinkerer that I am, I have been pondering what that something should be.
Firstly, I think it should start a bit higher, but scale a bit more slowly with level. Maybe 3 + Cha bonus + half level. That way Charisma and level are still factors, but it is not so cripling if/when you are low in both.
Secondly, it should not cost resonance just to use a potion. The devs have hinted that there might be an enhanced effect for spending a point of resonance. I would implement that thusly: There is only one version of any given wand or potion. By default it operates at the base level (so level 1 for heal, for example). Pay a point of resonance and it gets heightened to half the level of the person spending the point.
Thirdly, it should actually replace daily uses of items and other resource tracking, as it was said to in the blogs, rather than being an extra thing you have to track. At least, a lot more comprehensively than it currently does. There may be a couple of exceptions to this, but apart from the spell-in-a-can items discussed above they would be few and far between (the only exampke I can think of OTTOMH is Ring of 3 Wishes). Not sure what to do about staffs.
I quite like Alchemists using it to power their abilities as it seems flavourful to me, but of they are going to keep that feature they need more of it. Possible Int as well as Cha rather than instead, and probably a scaling bonus on top of that.
Alchemical items, once made, would probably not interact with resonance at all. That would be a good way to differentiate elixirs from potions.
EDIT: This conspicuously does not limit spamming of healing items. This is because I think this is approaching it from the wrong end - I think if you are to going to limit healing, you should not just limit healing from items but all daily healing - items, spells, skills, whatever. Probably to some value (6-10) plus Con mod healing per day.
My group finally managed get started on Doomsday Dawn on Thursday evening, which was my first opportunity to play (after the table to Rose Street Revenge I was signed up for at Shadowcon the previous weekend failed to fire). Based on making two characters, and playing one of them for one session, these are my initial thoughts:
The player of the Alchemist (who is new-ish to RPGs) found it rather confusing. Once I had time to sit down after the session and read through it in detail, I figured our how it was supposed to work (with one exception*) but it did take quite a lot of page flipping. Having figured it out, the class does still seem rather weak (even with the latest errata), but there is already a thread about that in Classes so I will post my specific suggestions over there.
There were a couple of things that none of use could figure out. The Arcana skill can be used to identify magic items (as we later realised can the other knowledgesque skills), but it refers you to table 4-2 which is only for identifying spells. Do you use the same DC for identiying items (in which case the tables should be renamed, and should gain some notes on how rarity factors into the DC - actually, it should probably have that anyway).
Feats seem to be of highly variable utility. My preference is for feats to be big chunky things, so that each feat pick really feels like something really worthwhile, and some of the feats rise to that standard, while others are considerably less impressive. I think that the class and archetype dedication feats are about right (although to be fair being only first level I have not had a chance to play with them yet). If the other feats were brought up to that standard, that would have the added advantage that the dedication requirements could be removed or at least reduced.
On that note, why are the dedication feats level 2? Would it really break anything to people multiclass or take archetypes from first level?
The other thing that confused us was putting out Alchemist's Fire. By default, it is a DC 20 flat check, which is brutal. The rules imply that you can take actions to reduce that, but nowhere could we find what those actions actually are or how they work. The monster failing to roll a natural 20 round after round and gradually burning to death was kinda OK, had it been a PC that was on fire it would have been considerebly less so...
The exploration mode strategies were a bit vague on what they were supposed to do, and were generally a bit underwhelming. We already knew that Sneaking allows you to use Stealth for initiative, but AFAICT that is actually the only way to use anything other than Perception.
Overall, my platest experience so far matches my initial impression on reading the rules. The principle are generally good, but the specific execution needs some work. I must have thought, "that really clever, I just wish..." about two dozen times.
This post has turned out rather negative, but just to be clear I am still largely positive about PF2. It is already a pretty good game, and it has the potential to be great!
I am trying to build a level 2 investigator (for PFS), and while I am primarily doing it for the skills and other utility stuff, I need to be able to do something vaguely useful when my turn comes round in combat.
And until Studied Strike and Studied Combat kick in at level 4, the Investigator has basically zero* combat abilities AFAICT.
Am I missing something? Or am I stuck with not being able to hit a cows arse with a banjo...and doing negligible damage even if I did manage to land a hit?
EDIT: IOW, how do I build a level 2, PFS legal Investigator who can contribute in combat without taking away from being awesome at skills etc?
_
glass.
(* Technically, inspiration can be used to augment attack rolls but until later levels there aren't enough points to do that enough to help...and that precludes using them for skills which is kinda the point of being an Investigator in the first place.)
I have a player asking me how much his allosaurus companion weighs. Since a full-size allosurus is huge and weighs 10000 lb, which suggests that a medium one should be 10000/8/8 = 157 lb.
I can't fault his logic, but 157 does seem to be light. I'm fine with it, but it is for PFS so I don't want to give bad advice.
Search does not turn anything up to the contrary, so what do people think?
In a thread in General, someone suggested that you Aid Another on a check if you could not hit the main DC of the check. At first, my reaction was "that can't be right", but it looks like it might be.
Which unfortunately makes aid another unusable just when you need it most (when even the best person in the group only has a mediocre bonus and you really need to make the check to keep a scenario on track). It also adds playability concerns as the GM has to go round the table and check whether successful aids count or not based on what DC they could have hit.
So, did we miss something, or is Aid Another really broken?
1. Is the Mounts a Companion for the purposes of feat prereqs? For example, does a cavalier, whose Mount features says:
Cavlier mount wrote:
Mount (Ex): A cavalier gains the service of a loyal and trusty steed to carry him into battle. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the cavalier's level as his effective druid level.
Qualify for Pack Flanking, which says:
Pack Flanking wrote:
Prerequisites: Int 13, Combat Expertise, ability to acquire an animal companion.
2. Do you count as adjacent to you mount when you are riding it? Clearly you are not adjacent to it horizontally, since you are sharing its space, but an argument can be made for vertical adjacency.
I suspect not, since quite a lot of teamwork feats specify "adjacent or sharing your space", which seems to be aimed at mounts. But I thought I'd check.
ETA: One I forgot:
4. Is there any reason (other than the name) I could not get a Horsemaster's Saddle for something other than a horse?
Bonus non-cavalier question to avoid spamming threads:
3. If a Tengu attacks with just its beak, as a sole natural attack it adds 1.5x its Strength bonus, right? I think it should, but it seems odd that the Tengu entry in Dragon Empires Gatezeer does not include a reminder it since that is not a rule most players (as opposed to GMs) would normally need to know about.
When I made a Kineticist for the playtest last year, I picked the cure light wounds power. Then came the errata that made it useless, so I need something else to replace it (I am still level one, so rebuilding is no problem). But I am unsure what to go for.
I ran In Service to Lore again last night, so I've got a new PFS character to make (my -9, if anyone's keeping score). Since almost all of my active characters are human (and gaijin), I thought I'd take advantage of this seasons new choices and make something Tien.
So flicking through the Dragon Empires Gazeteer, and Kinsune, Nagaji, Wayangs, and Tengu all look pretty cool.
Nagaji look tailor-made to be bloodragers, and I've read here before (and agree) that, as small characters with no Strength penalty, Wayangs make nifty cavaliers. I can't see at a glance which classes go well with the other two. So what should I make?
I have a PFS character who is a grandfathered in Aasimar with one session of actual play way-back-when, plus enough GM credit that he just hit 3rd level.
If I understand correctly, as an Emberkin Aasimar, my Pyrotechnics SLA meets the "cast 2nd level arcane spells" requirement. I need a similar SLA from a domain to meet the "cast 2nd level arcane spells" requirement. As a Cleric of Nethys, I thought one of my domains gave me that without having to go Separatist. But I can't seem to find it now!
So assuming I'm right so far, what domain do I need?
And are there any other things I bear in mind to make a MT that doesn't suck too much?
-
glass.
PS Obviously, I need Kn(Arcana) & Kn(Religion), but that's pretty trivial.
PPS What do people think of the Ecclesitheurge? Since I won't be wearing armour anyway...
So I finally got a chance to play The Confirmation last night, and it was pretty cool. Now what I want to know is, is there any point in playing it again?
Obviously, it is legally re-playable for credit indefinitely (with level-one characters, at least), but that is not what I am talking about. I am more interested in what I like to call "structural re-playability", where the structure of the adventure itself lends itself to being re-played without being repetitive. Supposedly The Confirmation is meant to be like that, so I guess I'm asking if it lives up to it?
Of course, I could buy it and find out, but that would kinda defeat the object...
I finally got my hands on the boon that allows the recharging of GM star replays, and I just want to make sure I am reading it right and check a couple of details. I currently only have one GM star, but I will hopefully have the second one soon. I have not used any replays. So the questions are:
1. Can I start pre-emptively filling it in as I run stuff to have the recharge ready when I need it, or do I need to wait until I have actually used a star before I can recharge it?
2. The sections do not align with the the lines for the scenarios. If the scenario straddling the gap part of star its top half is in, or its bottom half?
3. I can only use one boon per season, but can I use the same boon over more than one season (until such time as it is full, or at least as full as it is going to get in a reasonable time frame)?
4. Relatedly, can I set aside a part used boon in favour of a new one come August (of whichever year)?
Lets say a 5-9 scenario with a level 7 pregen and hold the chronicle until the character you assigned it to reaches a high enough level. DO you apply it at 5th level, or 7th?
The reason I ask is that but the GtOP (both current and tomorrows) seem to quite clearly say 7th. But I was completely convinced that the answer was 5th, although I am now not sure why.
So I just want to make sure I am not missing anything. Am I?
I have given a number of my players downloaded numbers, and now some of them want to register online. Since I did not go by this route, I have no idea how to tell them to go about it. And I obviously can't experiment because I already have an account.
Presumably they need to input the player number and confirmation code somewhere, but where?
Last Autumn, I played The Eleven Entanglement with a pregen character, as it was the only single-session scenario I hadn't played and I was GMing in the afternoon, and I did not have a level 7 character.
Actually, I still don't, but my -1 character is now only a couple of XP short so hopefully I will get him there before this summer's con season. However, the vast majority of the last couple of levels have been GM credit so I want to slow down.
Unfortunately, as soon as I hit 7th level I will have to immediately apply The Elven Entanglement's chronicle, which was filled out for normal advancement. So I'll be stuck in normal advancement until 8th.
So the question is: Can I change my mind about that? Maybe getting a VO to initial it?
