Lakesidefantasy's page

I just learned of Avistan's newest kingdom--Oprak, ruled by hobgoblins. Perhaps this figures into goblins new status.

I haven't gone through the entire process of Character creation, but I would expect less boosts for rolling because that method statistically starts you in a boosted condition compared to the standard method which starts with all 10s.

But, to answer your question (which I can't), I think a rolled character would get class and ancestry boosts and flaws, if not others as well.

Lakesidefantasy wrote:

Has anyone experience with Tabletop Simulator?

Tabletop Simulator isn't something I'd use unless there were no other alternatives for the game I'm trying to play, really. It has the "Simulator" moniker for a reason, the physics engine ensures that disaster will strike with some frequency.

Yeah, it seems a little too good to be true.

Don't actually perform the monologue in character (although that is more fun and immersive). Instead, simply tell your players the highlights of the monologue (perhaps while slipping into and out of character for added effect).

Has anyone experience with Tabletop Simulator?

I recommend Roll20 as well. However, my group had issues with the voice function. It was very unreliable so we used Discord in tandem with Roll20.

But it is a classic trope, so I would reward them for successfully secreting a blade and just allow them to escape in 1d4 minutes of cutting at the rope.

Otherwise it appears the rules prevent this scenario from happening altogether.

I don't know about the hardback edition of Curse of the Crimson Throne, but it appears that in the original edition the tentacles have darkvision and a perception score of 5.

I'll check my hardcover edition tonight, but if the developers changed their senses from darkvision to blindsense, it would indicate that the tentacles are intended to be blind and have a 50% miss chance on their attacks.

Fair enough, but the "special" part of the Perform skill says this:

Special: A bard must have ranks in specific Perform categories to use some of his Bardic Performance abilities.

This does not specifically call out countersong, but it leads me to believe that that was the intent. Unless of course there is at least one of the Bardic Performance abilities that specifically indicates the need for ranks in a specific Perform category.

I'm not trying to argue, I just thought it odd, and possibly an oversight on the author's part to list countersong within the stat block for a bard that possibly can't use it.

Thanks for responding, by the way, it is always nice to get others' opinions on these questions.

The storyteller bard in the NPC Gallery under Entertainers cannot use their countersong bardic performance ability because they do not have ranks in Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing)?

Correct?

The storyteller bard cannot use their countersong bardic performance ability because they do not have ranks in Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing)?

Correct?

I think the center of the planet is bottomless enough. On the hand, a bottomless pit could just be beyond mere mortal magic and play by its own rules (there are lots of such things in the world of Golarion).

I used the random encounter tables in the back of the book for inspiration. And, the best thing of all are the emberstorms! Mine were fatal. They were like tresses of sarenrae spiked forest fires--so you better run and take cover. Once my players took cover in a dark cave, and when they lit a torch they found themselves amid the coils of a deadly giant fire-rattler. They spent the next few hours quietly trying not to move and startle the snake as they all rode out the storm together.

In the original six books, there were also a series of journal entries at the end of each book written from the point of view of a pathfinder crossing the cinderlands.

That was helpful.

What was that pathfinder's name? He is very famous.

Yeah, I feel your pain man, I had to write my own rules for sredna to understand it.

"As soon as all spellcasting actions are complete, the spell effect occurs."

Yes, I made this change to my home campaign a long time ago. It was just as shocking to my players then but we got used to it.

It is easier for a gamemaster to give things to players than it is to take them away.

and I don't even mention the hordes of skeleton/zombies/gouls that are totally useless against such high level PCs.

Ooooh, I had fun with this one.

First, I did start messing with the economy. It started with fluctuations in the price of goods: down to 75% and up to 200% and 300%. It would have gone higher but the brakes were applied before that.

I put Grandbanker Darb Tuttle in the Queen's pocket. Eventually all bank accounts were frozen, including the players', and all coinage was transferred to Castle Korvosa, "for safety" (I had to account for the treasure hoard in the Sunken Queen). All significant magic items were confiscated and the magic shops were shut down

Toward the end, gold was replaced with brass and silver with tin. Anyone coming into the city had to exchange their coins; and of course the didn't get it back so trade ground to a halt, further isolating the city.

Oh what fun playing an evil queen.

We had a lot of fun exploring this dungeon, and I am very meticulous when it comes to mapping. This was especially fun for me because the entire party got hit with a symbol of confusion at the beginning and were confused in a confusing dungeon the entire time.

When I make maps I don't like to give anything away. It would be best to just draw out each room as we play but that takes precious time and momentum away from the game. Instead I draw out each room on one inch grid paper, then I carefully cut out each one. In the end I have a few dozen separately cut out rooms in file folders, neatly organized and labelled. Then, as play progresses, I lay the rooms down one at a time, pulling some off the table so players have to remember where they've been (or try to draw a map as they go).

This made the Vivified Labyrinth a cinch. I had my own maps of the four different configurations, so I could just refer to those when placing the rooms as the players discovered then.

What a great time. People got crushed when rooms shifted, confused people attacked each other, and the rogue got separated alli alone because he tried to Jeep distance between himself and the confused fighter.

This could probably be done easier in Roll20 with judicious use of cropping and saving each room as its' own image, then place reach image as the characters come upon it.

1. Do you currently like pathfinder 1e? (I know it sounds loaded, but please bare with me.)

1. Not really. It's too complicated.

2. Did you once like pathfinder 1e but now find it troublesome? (feel free to give details.)

2. I liked Pathfinder as a life raft against 4e Dungeons and Dragons. But, even back then I didn't like the focus on a "rules-based" game. I eventually came to the realization that 3rd edition and Pathfinder took the game in the wrong direction for me.

3. Do you like 4th or 5th edition D&D? (Also sounds loaded but again no judgments)

3. I like 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons a lot. Fourth edition is why I played Pathfinder.

4. Which are you looking for class balance, smoother high level play, more options, or even all of those things? (Small edit: these weren't meant to be mutually excursive, I just want the gist of what you're looking for, feel free to add additional thoughts/desires as well.)

4. I don't care much about class balance. I want high-level play to be easier, smoother, and better. I like more options for character customization, but I realize a distinction between core system complexity versus optional character customization complexity.

5. How do you feel about making the game more accessible in general?

5. I generally want the game to be more accessible to new players, but I have conceded Pathfinder to those who want more complexity.

6. Are you willing to give up on accessibility if you can still gain all of the benefits listed in question 4?

6. I am willing to give up accessibility in Pathfinder. All of the benefits in question 4 I have found in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, save for character options, but I believe that grows over time with any edition. Yet, I will concede that Pathfinder will always have the most codified options.

7. Would you be willing to play an alternative rules system then what we have been presented? (A different version of pathfinder 2nd edition if you will).

7. I probably won't play Pathfinder 2nd edition as a home game. I may play it as a part of Pathfinder Society because I don't like the way Adventurer's League is run. I probably wouldn't play an alternate 2nd edition rules system, but I also don't think the Playtest rules are what the eventual 2nd edition rules system will be. I expect that less than half of the playtest rules will make it into the final product.

8. And if you said yes to the above question what would you like to see in that theoretical game? (Most of you will see what I'm doing here, I'm finding common ground)

8. I didn't answer yes to question 7, but I'd like to see fewer modifiers during encounters. I find it next to impossible to keep track of it all. Plus, I'd like to see the sheer number of bonus types curtailed. I find that armor class, saves, skills, etc. are as fluid as hit points; and all of it with a myriad of durations and sundry conditions. If we need computer assistance to play a tabletop game--then it's no longer a table top game.

I'm sorry if it seems that I don't like 2nd edition Pathfinder (and should not have responded to this survey); I do, I 've been calling for a 2nd edition for years. Mostly I wanted less complexity and dependence on rules. But I got that with 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, and I've come to realize that gamers who want complexity need a game to call their own. I'm willing to concede Pathfinder to them. I'm not loyal to Pathfinder or Paizo. I'm loyal to Dungeons and Dragons, that's why I played Pathfinder. But, like I said, I think the whole 3.x/Pathfinder line took a wrong turn into rules adherence, which just wasn't what I wanted from the game.

In the end, I don't think we should play these games by the rules; but rather, we should play them despite the rules.

They did say a few months ago that they were trying out the most extreme versions of the rules changes that they were considering, so it is likely that they can and will walk back many of them. But which ones? That is where we need to speak up.

Thank you for pointing this out. I needed the reminder

This is playtest after all, it's not the final product. It would be weird if we were just playtesting minor changes.

I agree. A place is either desecrated or it simply is not.

For years now, with Pathfinder Society games, I have not been buying wands of cure light wounds. Instead what I do is resolutely mark off 750 gold pieces and write "healing 50" on my character sheet. Then, after a fight, I just assume the healer is going to assist me and I tick off the number of charges I need to heal up.

Well, that is what playtesting is for.

I wonder what kind of damage our opponents will be doing? From the description above it would seem that shields will quickly become useless.

This lists it in order from best outcome to worst outcome. Personally I think this is a less confusing way of presenting it.

Do you agree? What other readability and formatting issues do you think should be addressed?

I very, very much agree with this.

I would also like to see TAC simply labeled as "Touch."

Do away with as many acronyms as you can.

What is up with stopwatches all of a sudden?

I think very common things like general group movements and searching will be Exploration Mode activities in the core rules. However, other Exploration Mode systems should be published in later supplements.

My well is beginning to run dry but I'll throw this one out there: I think recovering from a fight could be an Exploration Mode activity.

Oh, and camping! I think camping would benefit a great deal from codification as an Exploration Mode activity.

I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to argue. If searching the room takes 10 minutes, obviously 10 minutes pass for the spells as well. I don't see any confusion. I don't even see the *potential* for confusion.

I see your point Voss. If the Dungeon Master says it takes 10 minutes then it takes 10 minutes, case closed. But often things go unspoken and assumptions are made.

I think it was a Green Ronin publication (the Advanced Dungeon Master's Guide?) in which they addressed the issue and put a name to it. They called it a "clash of assumptions". In this case the player assumes a requested activity takes a certain amount of time and the Dungeon Master assumes it takes a different amount of time. So, in this case, perhaps the Player assumes searching the room takes 1 minute but the Dungeon Master assumes it takes 10 minutes. That is a clashing of assumptions, it creates confusion, and typically the player then wants to retroactively change their action. This happens a lot.

But searching rooms is just one kind of activity that may be able to benefit from codification in Exploration Mode. There are other things.

Like investigations and gathering information. Both sound like something that could be an Exploration Mode activity. What others can we think of?

Mazes.

I was just reading about hexcrawls over at the Alexandrian blog, as suggested by Yolande, and I was reminded about getting lost in the wilderness. Wilderness travel is pretty much the ultimate Exploration Mode activity, but I think some of the same concepts could be applied to the dungeon environment. For example: getting lost in the dungeon.

One classic trope that seems like it would fun, but rarely, if ever, works out at the table is--the maze. I've seen mazes handled in different ways. Sometimes you have small portions of the maze printed out and you only let the players see one section at a time. This is time consuming and potentially boring. Sometimes the Dungeon Master simply describes the convoluted passages, which is almost impossible for players to envision and leads to frustration and boredom. (I often laugh when I see a map, however painstakingly drawn, that has a maze or maze-like tunnels and corridors.)

I think this could be handled in Exploration Mode, with tension filled dice rolls to navigate the confusing passages.

I also think wandering monsters belong in Exploration Mode--leading to Encounter Mode of course.

I don't expect Exploration Mode in Pathfinder 2 to be a huge part of the game; but, like archetypes did, I see a potentially huge impact on the hobby as a whole.

I agree. It is best to do this in a free form way. For instance, if you want to search a room the Dungeon Master just needs to tell you how long it takes. However, often there is confusion at the table when the Dungeon Master tells you to subtract 10 minutes off the remaining duration of your protective spells because you searched the room. See what I mean? How much time does it take to search a room?

Perhaps a "casual" search of the room takes 1 minute and doesn't require you to touch anything. While a "thorough" search takes 30 minutes and you could set off traps and alarms because you have to touch things. There could also be a "ransack" option, which takes 10 minutes and automatically sets off alarms and traps.

Usually while one person is searching the room the rest of the party are doing nothing. But if a search takes several minutes, are the other members of the party really just standing around doing nothing?

As it is, searching rooms is a bit undefined, and could benefit from some codification. I think Exploration Mode is the best place to start making the stuff that happens in between combat encounters more fun and less confusing.

I too share your anxiety, but I've chosen to ignore it in the hope that something fun can come out of it. Typically, exploration has been handled in a very open way with very few rules, but it also often leads to confusion at the table.

That's very interesting. I'll give it a read tonight. Thanks for sharing.

I think Explortation Mode has the potential to be as big a part of the game as combat encounters--which I would welcome.

I'm excited to see what is done with Exploration Mode. This is a much-neglected design space that is actually a very important part of the game. It will be nice to see it codified and made into an aspect of the game that is more playable.

For instance, searching a room. This comes up a lot. How long does this activity take? What can you find? What are you looking for? It is awkward and boring to search every 10 ft. section of a wall, or to stand at the threshold for 60 seconds while taking-20 (as the Dungeon Master tries to estimate the distance to each hidden thing in the room).

How about marching order? Is everybody always adjacent to each other at all times? If so do they all fall into the trap together? What about scouting ahead?

Perhaps with marching order there could be several choices, like the “Scooby-Doo”, where everybody crouches behind each other in adjacent formation as they creep down the hallway. Of course, if a trap is sprung everybody takes a hit. Or the more “natural” formation with 5-10 ft. between each person, but now your rear person can be attacked before the rest of the party can react. Or the “spread-out” formation with 20-30 ft. between each person--now party members can be abducted without others knowing (perfect for a doppelganger encounter).

There could also be the “two-abreast” formation, or the “sweep” formation with everyone lined perpendicular to the direction of travel. It makes things more complicated, but I think it could be fun.

I’m glad Pathfinder identified Exploration Mode, the ideas generated are bound to make the entire hobby better. What other things do you think can be explored with Exploration Mode?

We play this game despite the rules.

Often we ignore the rules in order to facilitate playing the game.

It's a good thing.

given that most of them probably can't use this mess either

3d6 six times averages 3 points.

But it was not easy to figure that out.

If you need a computer to play the game then it's too complicated.

One of the biggest obstacles for me is getting to know the monsters' and nonplayer characters" capabilities.

Many monster's have abilities that are better in some situations rather than others.

Some monster's have abilities that work off of each other and need to be used in tandem to work effectively.

Many higher level monster's and nonplayer characters have what I call "bookkeeping abilities" that are not expected to be used at all in typical encounters. Kind of like firstlevel spell for a wizard.

I would like it to be clearly spelled out what a monster or a non player character's capabilities are. This can sometimes be found in the tactics section of an adventure, but it would be nice to have a "tactics" section in the Bestiary entry.

I agree with the original poster Dudemeister.

I like the mysterious new ability generation system--where your choices of character customization heavily determine your scores. I'm very interested in ability score generation methods, and I've honestly never heard of such a way of doing things, even though it makes perfect sense. I'm excited to see how much random dice rolling makes its way into the process.

As for environmental dangers, I imagine emberstorms are pretty epic in scope. Don't forget to mention the mile-long sarenrae's tresses that are stretched out everywhere along the ground--thick hairs and thin bands of razor-sharp volcanic glass.

When a burning emberstorm descends upon them, they can either teleport away or per round deal with 1d6 damage from wind-whipped sand and rocks, 2d6 fire damage, and 2d6 slashing damage from the tresses by taking shelter (give them a Fortitude save for half of 5d6 damage each round). Plus there are probably lots of fire tornadoes within an emeberstorm, that're hard to see until they're right on top of you. But then again, maybe they could just cast a handful of protective spells for hours and walk through the storm.

Either way it has to cost something or its gonna be awkward later when they're asked to take shelter in the Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers to avoid a coming emberstorm.

Don't forget the sex factor.

I don't know if you can make a character look very sexy in a gambeson, and studded leather evokes sex appeal more than brigandine.

Well, the torture chamber is hidden by illusory walls so they're not going to "see" that it is an illusion. Your players would need to be probing and touching the wall to detect that it is an illusion. Why would they do that?

If they do detect both illusory walls and rescue Neolandis (who is disguised), he will insist that they go into the Vivified labyrinth to rescue Vencarlo. If your players decide not to rescue Vencarlo, then c'est la vie.

If they miss the torture chamber hidden by the illusory walls, then they will enter the Labyrinth, and rescue Vencarlo who will reveal the illusory walls and lead them to the torture chamber to rescue Neolandus. At that point, your players are likely to smack their heads as they realize their goal was right at the beginning all along, and they didn't really need to go into the dungeon at all.

As one who as a Dungeon Master had a generally good experience with Leadership, I agree that as a feat it should go away. My players didn't abuse it all that much, but then again I studied all the issues with it and outright banned the more egregious cohort concepts.

I think healing should be more abundant and spread around. I think maybe each character should be able to heal themselves, automatically, by just resting in between battles.

But, there are two distinct types of healing--in-combat and after-combat healing. I think maybe there should be more of the latter.

I don't know. They did say that some of the Big Six items will be dealt with, but that character development will still revolve around magic items.

9

I think Starfinder is the second edition of Pathfinder and will eventually replace it.

I had the exact same issue. My players went through Kear Maga on their way to the Cinderlands. I put together a couple of side adventures for fun and the players decided to settle down while the mage created some magic items.

I didn't mind that they were making magic items, but it started to get ridiculous and I wanted to move on with the actual adventure. So, some of the Player Character's family members were apprehended and executions were scheduled. Then, 2,000 Korvosans suddenly died in the streets (as Ileosa experimented with the Everdawn Pool). Finally, Vencarlo paid a visit to chastise them and introduce them to a new group of adventurers he assembled to go into the Cinderlands to continue the mission. This last one really got them off their butts.