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I have succumbed to the stereotype.
I bought the stripey socks.
yesss we got another one folks
Oh, that's lovely! I hope the patches aren't driving you too crazy. Mine itched terribly--so bad I lowkey wondered if I was allergic. missed you. Hope you and girlfriend are eating well. My and my three girlfriends are doing great! X3
I think the play is let him fly around in the worm chamber, honestly. I combined it with the big worm for a much more cinematic battle. The party actually had to flee the first time and then scry-and-fry later on. I did also give him time stop. it was fine. they were fine. almost no one died.
Good luck, Orthos! I 100% get the body hair thing, that's always been one of my biggest problems. I used to feel bad or shallow about being so turned off by body hair. Then I realized I just didn't like thinking about body hair period, on anyone, because it was such a driver for my own dysphoria. XD Anyways, haven't been here for a bit, but it's so nice seeing you making your way through this! Through some pretty rough times, it's some of the most hopeful news getting posted on this thread. In a way, transfems getting to live happily as transfems is our most basic form of activism.
As an update, for anyone still watching, we went on a lengthy hiatus after our landlord decided to subtly force us out of our home, likely in hopes of selling it. Then everyone got sick, and then... well, it's been hectic. We're going to do our first session in ages either this week or the next. They'll be finally heading to Thistletop! I may link the recap document Aktri's player has done, although it's a lot rougher than my prose recaps. More likely I'll just try to summarize more of my changes.
You got it, Carina. Back to Redhand to buy dresses and accessories for the next two months.
The enormity of the task would in theory make the surgery an easy matter, but Carina already spotted the fine filaments trailing from the roots of the Mournful Song deep into the tissue of the great wyrm. Even with Viruinne lying on its stomach and staying as still as possible, she needs the help of her stronger partymembers to reach some areas or to hold enormous roots up while she crawls underneath. She is covered in gore and ichor. The foulness coats the roof of her mouth, drips into her eyes, clogs her throat like revolting, carrion-sweet oil. A few times she has to retreat just to brush away filaments that have begun to creep beneath her protective gear. And the tree does not cooperate. Even as Carina works, she can feel the foul, ancient thing squirming and writhing beneath her scalp. The spell holds it from striking her, keeps it too dazed to fight back, but it can still tense its hideous musculature, twitch and burrow away from the knife. But Carina has been doing this for years, and over the last six months, she has gotten very, very good at cutting out parasites. The music of Eben's spell rings in her ears, guiding her slices, steeling her resolve. She doubles her efforts, noticing the tree's struggles beginning to solidify, realizing the single precious minute is almost up. Her heart is pounding. She can feel Viruinne's pulse, fast and frantic as the dragon struggles to control its involuntary pain spasms. She can feel the drumming of the Song start to creak back to life, can feel its voice echoing in her mind, whispering, hissing, screaming, howling, promising horrors beyond despair mere seconds from now. Eben's song, though, echoes louder. And then, with one last incision, the drumming stops. The tree twitches, flicks, and then spills off of the dragon's back like wet seaweed. Viruinne tenses, then goes almost totally limp, its eyes squeezing shut in desperate, devastating relief. Everyone feels a sensation sort of like their ears popping. It's like a ringing they didn't even notice has finally dropped away. The interplanar distortion breaks apart, and the world returns to normal, fiery leaves dulling back to their oily hues. The night twist is gone, and where it once stood at the clearing's center there is now only a black, charred snag bound with rusting iron chains. The forest is back to its true unpleasant nature, and yet... something is different. The forest feels different. The ichor dripping from the leaves looks more like ordinary pitch. The shadows seem shallower, the canopies above less oppressive. For the first time in millennia, the Mournful Song is perfectly silent.
Oh gosh, sorry, this slipped my mind pretty hard. So, we're still moving in. It's been an intense process, and we still aren't that close to unpacked. Simply moving out fully took all week. Then the election happened. And then we all got sick! This game's still a priority, just wanted to be clear! I just haven't been able to focus much on anything. We're recovering now and hoping to finish the move next week. Or I guess this week, now.
Oh, also, striped tights became a stereotype for a reason--tights and leggings in general can be very flattering for trans girls (we tend to have nice legs) and they also cover leg hair and make skirts/kilts a bit more forgiving when sitting down. That's obviously much more blatantly on the fem-presenting side of things. Anyways, good luck!!
You haven't at all! These are super normal concerns and worries, I feel like. I wish I had a how-to guide to offer you! I guess just keep looking into those medical options, looking for ways to keep transitioning socially, maybe get your ears pierced since it sounds like something you really want, and start thinking about names if you want to change yours. There's no right or wrong way to transition, but long hair, changed name, t-blockers and pretty skirts are very common ways that often seem to work for people.
At the same time, if you catch yourself feeling disappointed by the possibility that you might not be transfem, boy have I got good news for you. while you don't have to rush to a label, it's also like. It's okay to rush to a label! you can try the label out in safe spaces, nobody worthwhile's going to call you a fake gaymer and nobody worthwhile is going to penalize you if you later change the answer. Most of the time, I think people figure out their exact gender identity by trial and error. Anyways I'm on my phone so my grammar is lazy but I'm super super excited for you, Orthos!! (These are things people told me, for what it's worth. In my case, turns out they were what I needed to hear!) (They also told me to be careful about admitting any confused feelings to doctors, because we have a super cool health care system that definitely doesn't punish us for acknowledging nuance.)
Alright, that's definitely the last post I can wrangle before the move starts. We do the main trip this Sunday. See you all on the other side! Good luck on the roll, DCat! If Carina fails her check, it's still extremely unlikely the night twist with 50 hp will survive to its turn. Whether or not the surgery works, unsurprisingly, a power word stun has essentially ended the "fight" part of the fight.
Ancient sigils spill from Viruinne's toothy maw like living things, massing into a single ring of gleaming arcana. The dragon seems to struggle a moment, its mouth moving as if trying to piece together a sound it cannot hear. And then it speaks a single word of power, and the howling night twist shakes and flails like a reed in a hurricane. The magic settles, and it goes still. "Now, quickly, Carina," the dragon hisses, shuddering in pain, "cut it out."
Augh, I keep getting caught up with other obligations, but I got my first commission sent in and it's bought me some breathing room. I'll likely be posting pretty irregularly for the time being, but I'm still here! Just looking forward to the move being finalized. Just a few more weeks of limbo. :)
Cuetzpalli's sword slashes deep into the tree's foul flesh. Its horrifying song transforms into a high-pitched wail. The Mournful Song is badly hurt... but not as badly as its wound-sharing host. But Viruinne is silent, even as a mirroring wound streaks across its neck. It stares into nowhere, appearing strangely lost in thought.
"I can hear nothing." it says, its voice a low, rumbling growl. "Nothing at all. The music, it's... stopped." It shudders, grimacing in sudden agony as the tree contorts. "How lost I have been. The mighty Viruinne the Garden has grown blind and stupid indeed, if it now lets some caprice as small as the laws of time bind it to this doom!" Its voice rises. "Damn the words of fate! Cut this thing apart! Our wounds are shared and it is tougher than I, but if it is weak enough, I might be able to paralyze it, and we might cut the thing out of me yet!" It lands on the ground and turns to face its parasite. It cannot seem to reach the thing with its claws or teeth, but sigils pour from its jaws like acidic saliva, crafting ancient dragon-magic into blinding fire.
Alright, we've just about got the lease lined up. Just waiting for the new landlords to figure out how PDFs work!
Honestly, I'd love to see a nature-defending champion.
I don't think I could name a single thing I expect more in this thread than Spanish Inquisition jokes
If that's what you think...you really don't know what a Slayer is!Buffy is just the only fighter in a party of envoys, thaumaturges and a couple casters. Her apparent superpowers are really just that extra +2 to-hit.To me, "Slayer" should be some kind of magical rogue subtype - but I'm admittedly a 90s girl and when you say "Slayer," I think Buffy. "Trust me when I say you're gonna find out."
Then as soon as our current housing situation is dealt with, we'll start on the fast-track!
A character like that is always going to have a lower Armor Class than they actually need to be a proper frontliner, though. You're deliberately nerfing yourself with no benefit, since you could just wear light armor and still get no speed penalty. A -1 or -2 net to AC is pretty punishing, and just because you can play it doesn't mean it's supported. Oh, you got me there. I was looking at the original quoted poster, but Squiggit seems to have pivoted to something more general.
Gosh, but that's such a cynical way to look at the game's success, isn't it? It's possible that WOTC fumbling the ball has helped PF2's business recently, but PF2 was successful long before WOTC pulled that crap. We're talking about the success of PF2 as a whole. I don't know, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth to dilute praise for skilled creators with a shot at another company.
Imrijka is not a priest, so she's not bound to the uniform. It's more an informal dress code. :P I still don't lose hope for exemplars having a way to boost their unarmored AC since Nahoa likely still neds a way to protect himself (mechanically)! Maybe that girdle is PF2's equivalent of the mail bikini? Only time will tell. Imrijka's new design is really cool, by the way. The artist did a really good job preserving her old feel while innovating and giving the outfit a lot of personality. I think my favorite thing about Imrijka, design-wise, is that a handful of iconics have been a little de-fanserviced over time to reflect more in-character fashion choices, but not Imrijka. And that implies that canonically, the scary grim-faced Pharasman vindicator does just like dressing this way. Maybe she is an iconoclast.
I dunno, I think it's fine? It's not like the Inquisitions themselves were super principled. The Spanish Inquisition ultimately amounted to a power grab. The cruelty comes across, and the cruelty is what matters with servants of an unholy god. An inquisitor of Rovagug goes around rooting out would-be artists and creators and servants of Sarenrae. The arguable real problem with an inquisitor of Rovagug is the ban on extended torture, but otherwise, there's nothing stopping a bloody Rovagug-worshiping Inquisition from overtaking Belkzen. Yet. We have a new orc goddess arriving on the scene, after all. ;) Also, not to belabor this point, but I think "chaotic" and "lawful" are much fidgetier concepts than they used to be, and that's useful here. An vengeful "inquisition" led by some especially cruel Calistrians is totally plausible.
Monk is kind of a poison pill. There really isn't a good name for it, and if any class would justify just bending the "one-word class" rule, it's monk. It's actually not dissimilar to the other class we're talking about--you're a warrior using a mix of esoteric and pseudo-magical techniques that nobody else really understands. Your accomplishments are downright miraculous, in fact. As such, I vote we rename it the thaumaturge.
esotericmetricismist if enough people like the post Paizo devs do legally have to use it
My girlfriend says there aren't enough syllables. I would like to amend my suggestion to the esotericismist.
I have just conducted an experiment on Michael Sayre's observations on the thaumaturge and exemplar. I showed a bunch of non pathfinder players both iconics, and asked them what they did. People thought the thaumaturge was a tank, and maybe a cleric or self healer, while the exemplar was very clearly a magical warrior of some sort. I do love the iconic themself, but my ideal thaumaturge for simply conveying the class's potential would be wearing way less armor, the better to show off their esoterica and their "utility martial" focus. They'd have tons of paper talismans and other trinkets, and they'd be wielding a lantern or bell in one hand and a pistol in the other, to really convey the idea of "dual-wielding a weapon and a weird trinket". And they'd be wearing 360 gp of lit candles. Also, it might be blasphemy, but I think the old "class art is just a picture of a guy staring at the camera" model is a shibboleth. I think the iconic class art should always show them *doing* something. Draw them parrying a vampire's attack with their bell! EDIT: And as long as I'm bullying my second-favorite class, rename it to "esoterician".
Funny thing is I mentioned a Monty python joke on page 2 of this thread and no one’s noticed.I noticed. But the 2020s are not a decade where gallows humor is considered more playful than painful, I guess. A large number of Python skits would not get aired today. folks it's just 2024 and we've all heard the same references 10,000 times unaltered at this point ;-;
I'm really hoping we finally get another armorless martial, at least as a subclass. The fact that the class was in part built around a character who is canonically shirtless gives me hope.
Bard -> Conductor
that oughta clear everything right up
I really like the term "benefactor" for the kobolds' power source. It's nice and neutral; a benefactor might be a master or an ally, or even an enemy, a prisoner, an unwitting host.
keftiu, I don't know why, but you are exactly the person I would expect to know things about Dragon Age. XD One thing I want to say: Across this thread and elsewhere, I've seen a few iterations today of, "This story's version of the Inquisition is different, because the heretics really are evil in-universe." I really think that take misses a step. It's not 100% wrong, but it sort of nags at me. When a setting like Warhammer Fantasy declares, "well, actually, the bigotry is kind of justified in-universe because witches are canonically bad news", that's a choice the authors made. Not to bully WHF (I'm simplifying its lore to make a broader point), but the authors in that instance are choosing to transfer a real-world atrocity--in that case, organized religious witch hunts--and concoct a setting in which the atrocity is justified. Warhammer in general plays a lot with the idea of "diagetically-kind-of-justified atrocities". You know, lots of "no, but these enemies really are pure evil savage teeming hordes, so it's cool to genocide them". In-universe, that's a correct statement, but out-of-universe, people might be excused for asking "why did you want to write that? Might a story like that encourage a certain worldview?" I like Warhammer Fantasy. Not here to condemn it today. It's just a useful example, because it's pretty gleefully unsubtle. When you create a setting in which a church is justified in rooting out evildoers, and you call that practice an inquisition, you're choosing to tell the story of a "just" Inquisition. That's a choice you made, not an inescapable truth of neutral worldbuilding. I'm not saying that's good or bad--it's kind of messy and really depends on you knowing what you're trying to say--but it's definitely no less fraught than any of the other examples we're discussing here. EDIT: There's a really common trope in fantasy and sci-fi stories of the "willing servant race". When handled badly, these stories tend to inadvertently recycle a lot of vile antebellum propaganda for their worldbuilding. Is it okay when it's a fantasy species that genuinely likes being servants? Well, that's the in-universe argument. But why would you write it like that?
also, like, doesn't Dragon Age as a series deal a ton with the idea that the church is super oppressive towards various marginalized groups? I seem to have internalized that from several years being surrounded by DA2 Discourse nerds.
I think thaumaturge is definitely very popular among people who love talking
the thaumaturge is so good though aaah that's heartbreaking! We clearly need more thaumaturge content. We need to revive its image. We need to bring back the thaumaturge iconic, and bring them back hotter, sexier, more covered in insane paraphernalia.I for 1 support this agenda!!! cover them in candles! there aren't enough candles!
the thaumaturge is so good though aaah that's heartbreaking! We clearly need more thaumaturge content. We need to revive its image. We need to bring back the thaumaturge iconic, and bring them back hotter, sexier, more covered in insane paraphernalia.
Honestly, sitting on it, I think Paizo made a serious misstep with the inquisitor thing. I think they should have added a new subclass for the swashbuckler dedicated to globetrotting and staging improbable heists. Then they could have given Imrijka an elaborate story update where, after losing faith in her old methods, she decides to wreak havoc in the Gravelands by stealing Tar-Baphon's superweapons and cool monuments. Then they could have kept the outfit unchanged. :)
Yup! I want to be clear here that I'm not really judging PF1 for its choice back then. I liked PF1's edge a lot, even though it was a little hit-or-miss (loved Calistria and the runewells, wasn't so fond of the Grauls). I don't think "Inquisitor" was a great name, but it made more sense back then. It's just not the right pick for PF2.
posting is never a neutral act.
My guess is they're holding off on Hunter stuff until they're ready to face down the beast in the jungle that is adapting the Shifter to PF2.
I know I'm a little more aware of the Inquisitions not being just the Iberian nightmares--notably the French Inquisitions. And understanding that the term "inquisitor" MEANS "investigator". (Same root as "inquire" and "inquisitive".) Of course, the French Inquisitions were no fun for the Albigensians, despite them being much more restrained about torture (they even appropriated the right of torture to themselves as a way to keep torture from being used with any frequency at all, by appealing to papal authority! Then came Torquemada...). Yeah, like, "inquisitor" has other meanings, but in the context of a religious servant, everyone knows why that word was chosen.
Well. Yeah? Nobody said unheroic stuff was inherently bad, just that making vindicators sound inherently unheroic made no sense. Our intent is to provide our players with a more heroic title for a class mechanic that we know appeals to a large portion of our audience. To repeat what I said above, the class mechanic appeals to a wider range of players, so they didn't want the mechanic to be named something that connotes a specific sinister flavor. There are vindicators of Shelyn and Desna. You wouldn't want to make players think they're expected to play a historical-style inquisitor of Cayden Cailean. It's just not a helpful name. Assassins, on the other hand, are an archetype you only really play if you want to play an assassin. It appeals to a less broad portion of the audience. The name communicates that this is an edgy archetype focused on poison and killing. You're literally giving your attacks the death trait later on. Like, everyone would complain if "assassin" was what they called the rogue. Because it's too edgy for a broadly applicable character option.
I dunno. Like, people love to say "you can find negative connotations anywhere", and it's sort of true, but it's also misleading. A connotation is "an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning." Definitively, if a lot of people associate "inquisitor" in a religious context with the Inquisitions, that word has the connotation. If nobody associates "wizard" with Crowley, it factually does not have the connotation. So, you can? But it's not really a meaningful connotation unless a lot of people share it. Which people do when it comes to an inquisitor. There's never really been another meaning to "inquisitor" in a religious context. By the way, part of the reason that connotations stick around more stubbornly when genocide is involved is that people keep trying to commit genocides, often against the same groups. EDIT: Let me say this more bluntly: You should not claim something has a connotation unless you have personally felt or met someone who felt that connotation. Do you connote "wizard" with Crowley? Has anyone here said they do? If not, it's bad faith to claim the connotation is a concern. People do have the connotation with inquisitor.
Assassin does exactly what it's meant to. Like, the powers are "assassinating people". You can argue about whether or not that's evil, but it's exactly as evil as the name implies.
To me, "Slayer" should be some kind of magical rogue subtype - but I'm admittedly a 90s girl and when you say "Slayer," I think Buffy. Buffy is just the only fighter in a party of envoys, thaumaturges and a couple casters. Her apparent superpowers are really just that extra +2 to-hit.
I don't really understand why the explanation would create any controversy. It's pretty clear, right? Our intent is to provide our players with a more heroic title for a class mechanic that we know appeals to a large portion of our audience. It's like I said above: The class mechanic appeals to a wider range of players, so they didn't want the mechanic to be named something that connotes a specific sinister flavor. I think we're in agreement on this overall! The change is good because it makes the class more accessible.
Oh, also, they renamed the slayer, too, pretty obviously because "slayer sounds kind of murderous". I'm not actually saying the inquisitor change was entirely about offensiveness. I think they probably thought "inquisitor sounds kind of evil and might distract players". Source, by the way: One of my players who didn't know the game well once played an inquisitor of Shelyn. His read on the class was that of an oppressive heel, so the joke was an extremely aggro orc Shelynite. The connotation is there. I'm pretty sure the devs would change barbarian to berserker if they could get away with it, just because it's clearer, but it was a core class.
I think when you're trying to argue that "wizard"--being linked to Alastor Crowley--is as dodgy as "inquisitor"--a word entirely tied in a religious context to a set of infamous genocide projects that left a permanent mark on the Jewish people, among other groups--you are officially reaching for the flipping stars. The original iconic's outfit was literally a reference to a comedy skit about the Spanish Inquisition, the project that killed upwards of 150,000 people. The class was designed as a morally dubious religious agent rooting out heretics against their god, which is exactly what the Spanish Inquisition professed to be about. It was not subtle. It was not even a little bit subtle. If you think a reference to the Spanish Inquisition is nothing to worry about, that it's not disruptive to the flavor of an alignment-neutral archetype, that's fine. But pretending it's not an extremely on-the-nose reference to specific historical events? Pretending "Inquisitor" is some sort of generic term like "barbarian" and "witch"? I don't say this lightly--I feel like I am embarrassing myself by trying to humor this argument. You know it's not on the same level. You may have a valid point for all I know. We aren't going to find it if this is how we're going to talk about the issue.
I hope it's pick a tradition, personally! Magus is already weirdly limited to arcane.
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