Lia Wynn's page

The caveat here is that I have never played an Oracle, but wouldn't the simple solution here be to give Battle Oracle Martial Weapons proficiency as a sub-class feature that scaled whenever Oracles increased Simple Weapon Proficiency, and then rework Weapon Trance into some type of short-term personal buff?

It seems to me that all Weapon Trance does is give Martial Weapons, and while this is useful, it's also a little boring, so giving that as a baseline and making Weapon Trance do something fun seems to be the best solution to me, but I may very well be missing something due to my lack of experience with the Oracle class.

My playgroup has been theorizing a multiple Necromancer playtest group.

As a result of this, I have gone over the abilities that need a thrall to be consumed to trigger.

Some of those abilities say your thrall and some of them say a thrall. This can lead to confusion, and I hope that in the final version of Necromancer that it has all of the abilities using the same language. I'd prefer the a thrall since that would give more combo abilities to groups with multiple necromancers and not harm groups with just one in any way.

I disagree that if you have 10 minutes to refocus then you have 30.

The 10-minute between-fight thing makes sense. In previous editions of, well basically any RPG, post-fight you did first aid, reloaded weapons, gathered loot, searched for secret doors, and what have you depending on the game.

The thing is that those games never defined how long that too.. It was handwaved as normal. PF2 did define how long that took - 10 minutes.

99 percent of the time, the party should have that time period to do the normal expected things.

To assume, however, that you will always have 30 minutes is just not accurate in a well-run game. You might sometimes, but not every time.

But, more importantly, even if you do in your game, you can't analyze something from the perspective that every game will have that much dead time between rooms because the odds say that they won't.

I would agree that you still need to make the flat check. While I can see the other perspective when you cast Force Barrage at something you are still targeting it.

Hence, I agree with Megistone and SuperParkouio.

I think something that is being missed with tying the saves of the spell part of Spellstrike is that this change would impact *players* as well.

Would you, as a *player* be happy with the DM saying something like this:

"Ok, the enemy magus makes a Spellstrike with his halberd. He rolled a 20, so you're crit. It's greater striking, with no other runes for 3d10+whatever damage, doubled, and he was using Distintegrate. He crit you, so you have auto-crit fail (or down two on whatever you roll, one from the proposed changes, and one from the spell), so take 24d10 more untyped damage."

As Deriven has said more than once in this thread, Magus might be the best-balanced class in the game. It's great the way it is; it does not need changes.

Universal dying rules are a PITA for the GM.

Party vs. lots of monsters.

Tracking each ones Dying level adds a ton of extra non-PC facing rolls, and bookkeeping for the GM for no appreciable gain.

For a given encounter, it might be useful. For every fight in a campaign, it's just a massive amount of extra work for the GM, as anyone who GMed in older editions of PF/D&D will know.

Batman uses Coerce 'in play' all the time. That's the best example I can think of.

Yes.

Confusion can be effective. I have seen it in play, and it can be very effective.

Not only does it give Stunned 1 on a save, which is useful on its own, but the confused creature treats everyone as an enemy and picks its targets randomly among all creatures it is aware of.

This might make it spend 2 or 3 actions Striding towards a PC or one of its allies.

It might, as Finoan said, attack or even kill, one of its own allies. Also, while Confused, the creature cannot use Reactions and this can be pretty amazing, especially on something like a Hydra with multiple Reactive Strikes. On top of that, it can only use offensive *cantrips* for spells, meaning that the confused monster (or PC) can't AoE or use a powerful effect on its target to try and get around the confusion. It also can't use special abilities. IE: No basilisk stone attempts, no dragon breath weapons, no special 2 or 3 action attacks.

Also, even with ending on a DC 11 flat check, there is no assurance that the enemy will roll 11+ on its first try. It could last a very long time,

Confusion is not a bad spell in any way.

I agree with what Deriven said a few posts above.

A player can remind a GM about an ability, or a GM can say "If you fail, do you want to use your reaction from Ability?"

You can also just let your players roll the Secret checks. That way, if they think they failed, or you tell them that they did, they can choose to roll a reaction.

This is just basically communication between GMs and players.

I don't think it is missing at all. I don't think that one is needed.

Bestiaries are not player-facing books. The lore information given for Divine Warden would allow the GM to create some Lore behind one being used as an NPC to either a) assist in the defense of a shrine that the PCs are protecting, or b) to be an adversary when the PCs attack an enemy temple.

They're not intended to be mobile things that travel everywhere with PCs. Even if there is a use case for one being used in that way in your campaign, the easiest way to deal with it is to have it given to the PCs by the head of the temple or shrine. After all, if the Divine Warden is so key to the story that it has to travel with the PCs, then you don't really want a risk of the Ritual failing, do you?

Not every bit of flavor needs a mechanic tied to it.

Ravingdork wrote:

The Dedication says "You can take the Cleric Dedication feat without needing to meet its prerequisites and before you take two other feats from the Razmiran priest archetype, but you must choose Razmir as your deity."

But what if I DO meet the prerequisites? Can I select a deity other than Razmir then? It seems that, that requirement is only needed to cheat the standard prerequisites and gain the Dedication perks.

It later goes on to say "when gained in this way" implying that you can gain it another (the standard) way.

If you do meet the pre-requisites then yes you can take Cleric Dedication for any other Deity you want, following the usual rules. And you could still keep taking feats from Razmiran Priest, since the archetype doesn't require you to take Cleric Dedication for Razmir at any point, nor does it say you lose the benefits if you worship another god.

The thing is though, because Razmiran Priest only has 2nd, 6th, 10th and 20th level feats, the earliest you could take proper Cleric Dedication would be 12th, or 9th with Multitalented.

An interesting quirk here that I'm not sure is intended is that you could, technically, take Razmiran Priest Dedication and then, using either Multitalented or just waiting until level 12th, take Cleric Dedication and choose Razmir as your deity, gaining actual divine power from him. Since gaining devotee powers from him only requires having the Archetype, not the Archetype's particular brand of Cleric Dedication.

Or you could be a Cleric of a proper deity, take the dedication, then change your deity to Razmir. Which is even funnier.

Actually, you could take Cleric Dedication at 4 with Razmiran Priest. The dedication feat itself allows this in the first sentence of paragraph two.

When you do the math, it's 14 and a half cents per card. That seems really reasonable to me.

I would agree that it applies only to a single check.

I just use 10 percent of the rune cost, if the PCs supply the rune per what Loreguard posted above, and rune cost plus 10 percent if they have to buy it.

Shouldn't this be a question asked in the Organized Play forums?

It's pretty clear that it does. The first bullet point in Expansive Spellstrike is:

If your Strike critically fails, the spell is lost with no effect.

If it was lost on a regular failure, it would say that. The fact that the feat specifies that the spell is lost with no effect on a *critical* failure and not a failure, means that the spell still goes off on a failure.

Yes, they can. It meets the requirements. I would rule that they could only use the S damage with Barrow's Edge active. But, since damage type is chosen when you attack, and there is no action needed to switch damage types, that's a minimal issue if it is one at all.

Concealed is much better than 3/4 of a chance of being hit.

It works like this.

The target is concealed.

The enemy says "I am going to swing at the target." Then they roll a d20, and if they fail the flat check, they auto-miss and effectively lose the action(s).

If they make the flat check, then they roll as normal to actually hit.

As a GM, I've lost track of the times a monster has rolled a 20 on the Conceal flat check, and then something like a 7 on the actual hit roll. The Concealed condition has mitigated thousands of points of damage in the games I've run.

It's really undervalued by a lot of people I think.

But that also doesn't mean a low-level caster should stay tight in melee and rely on it to save them, all I'm saying is don't sleep on how good it is.

For the blood magic effect with an AoE, you designate yourself, or one target in the AoE for the blood magic effect.

For instance, with Blazing Bolt, you might say something like 'I target the orc with the bow, the orc with the sword, and the wizard one, and my Blood Magic will affect the bow orc.", as you have to declare the blood magic before resolving the spell. If your attack on bow orc is missed, Propelling Sorcery would have no effect.

All three foes will not be hit by Propelling Sorcery in your example if that is what you are asking.

So... had some second thoughts about THE LADY.

She's great. But boy oh boy... them leeches.

At CR 2, w/ 2 of them, their AC, w/ cover is NINETEEN.

That's just unconscionable, esp. while the PCs are dealing w/ the crab.

As I have ruminated on this a bit, I think it would be best if the WEAK template were slapped on them, reducing their HP to 22 and reducing their AC under cover to a still very high 17.

My party had no issues at all with the encounter. They took out both leeches without making any attempt to pull them out first. I called it 'hard mode'. They made ample use of Captivate Crab action and tossed heals on the Lady to show her they were trying to help her.

I think they were at level 2 when they took her on, but might still have been at level 1.

I would say yes and no.

Yes. You could store a bomb inside.

But, no, you would not get infinite bombs from that. The write-up specifically points out that items with Activations don't get it reset with a new copy. A bomb explodes, and I think that would count as not being able to be reused.

I'd go with option 1, but I agree with everything Finoan said.

The more builds I see, the more I think that this is an advanced class not intended for new players.

Yes, exactly. Neither class in WoI is really a new player class, which is good IMO. Not every class needs to be, and Exemplar is Rare on top of that. As a GM, I'd steer a new player away from a Rare class, though if they really wanted to try it, I'd let them.

This is an interesting question.

Here is how I think I would rule on it.

First, as pH Unbalanced mentioned, I would see if you could carry the ally in the first place. If you could not, then you could not fall while holding the ally.

Second, you would take no damage. Your wings slow you enough to avoid that.

Third, they would still take damage as normal for falling. However, I would give them a basic Reflex save to negate some or all of that. The feat does not mention allies, so I do not think that it would reduce for allies, unless for some reason, like a familiar or a sprite, you could put them in a pocket, or your pack.

The Calling is more of a who your character is and not a dice-rolling mechanical element thing. (Yes, it does have a mechanical aspect, but that is not the focus of the Calling). Why do you do what you do, and what your destiny might be.

For your example, I'd go with Hunter's Calling. You are destined to find and grapple some legendary beast. Maybe a massive snake, or a hydra, or something like that.

The Callings help the GMs and Players shape the kind of mythic story that you want to tell. A key aspect of the Mythic rules is that the whole group shapes the world through them, and the Calling is one of the first steps.

All of the Unarmed Ikons are clearly labeled 'Weapon Ikon.' Feats that apply to Weapon Ikons apply to them as well. The feats point to the type of Ikon, not how the weapon is defined.

In other words, what they are saying is: Your Spark needs to be in this Ikon for this feat to function. It is not saying your unarmed Strike is a weapon, it is pointing to the Weapon Ikon itself. I think people are thinking the feats point to the type of attack they are making, instead of 'is your spark in your weapon Ikon'

Yeah, calling IDs something as a Calling. It has the same usage as the Dedication trait, ie This feat is a Calling. It's pretty standard trait usage IMO.

However, it is defined on page 69 of WoI in a Key terms sidebar and expanded on in the 'The Calling' section on page 74.

I would say one.

Why should a one-action ability, that also provides some other bonus on top of the reload action, count as three actions?

That would be giving you the equivalent of 4 actions for spending one. In general, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

While I have not played a Magus, I did have one in one of my games, and I would echo Deriven. The Magus loved Expansive Spellstrike and got good use out of it.

I don't know if I would take it if I ever played a Magus, but I think it's a solid feat that gives the Magus more options.

I have run all of Rise of the Runelords, as well as some D&D 3.5 and 4E stuff in PF2.

A lot of the time monsters are the same basic level/difficulty, so just use the PF2 versions, I tend to cut money by 90 percent, and magic items often need some work, but it's not overly hard.

It takes some practice, but it is very doable.

When we get the book?

It's available October 30th on PDF, so I would guess that would also be the store street date.

Lia Wynn wrote:

Yes, the player should run something like an Eidolon, AC, or familiar.

For a summon from a spell, I've always run those as the GM. It is convenient if the caster has a stat block ready, but with something like Nethys, that's not really needed.

If one of my players does want to summon things, we sit down and look over the options, so that they can decide what they think would be best for how they envision using the summon.

I don't think either way of handling them is right or wrong. I think you should do what is best for your table/GM.

I'm curious to know why you view summon monster type spells differently from Eidolons. Since summoners can also cast summon monster spells. (Or at least the could in 1e.)

And yeah. I still have to speak with the Gm about it. If I don't like it I'll just shift stratagems. Part of why I play wizard is to have the freedom to do so.

As Hammerjack pointed out, they are different.

An Eidolon, AC, or familiar is a partner of the character.

A summon spell is not. Now, I do not play summons as being resentful of being magically ripped away from what they were doing, and being made to risk their lives for someone they do not even know, but that is what they are being made to do.

From a mechanical perspective, it's something I got used to in D&D and other games where summons spells could summon tons of monsters, and it was just easier on me as GM, and players in general, to have me handle the 6 wolves quickly rather than have a table discussion for each wolf each round.

In PF2, with one summon at a time, it could be easier to give player control over, but as I'm used to running them, and my players haven't expressed an interest to run them, I just handle it.

Yes, the player should run something like an Eidolon, AC, or familiar.

For a summon from a spell, I've always run those as the GM. It is convenient if the caster has a stat block ready, but with something like Nethys, that's not really needed.

If one of my players does want to summon things, we sit down and look over the options, so that they can decide what they think would be best for how they envision using the summon.

I don't think either way of handling them is right or wrong. I think you should do what is best for your table/GM.

This seems like a narrative question to me.

Do your players expect ash at the end? Then have ash at the end.

Does your narrative need an intact vampire body? Maybe for some clue? Then the body is intact.

Is it something in the middle, like the excellent examples Sibelius gave? Then do that.

@Finoan:

Do you do the same thing for Bless? If an ally starts in the aura of the Bless, leaves it (and loses the bonus), and then is back in it again, due to it growing or via the casters movement, does the ally still not have the bonus, or does he regain it?

This is just a curiosity question, it's not a criticism or anything like that.

I'm in. I'll get to work on Zaria's full profile later today. I want to thank everyone for making this a very fun recruiting process.

That said, if if the votes were tight, I'm still willing to slide into a reserve role since I do plan on still apping for SoT.

I've done this a lot. My IRL group is three people.

I have, sometimes, especially at low levels, adjusted encounters slightly. At high levels, it's been less needed, but it is a feel thing.

I have never had them a level over. In fact, they did AoA about a level under, as we were still using XP - I had not changed to milestone yet - and they felt they were leveling too fast to learn things so we slowed it down.

FA can be good, but it can also lead to a lot more complexity, so YMMV on that, especially with new players. I actually think FA is overused.

I've never had anyone use this ability in my game, so this is my first thought for it.

1. I would not have it trigger with Reactive Strike since it specifically says 'on its next turn', but I would have it trigger with things like Spellstrike since that happens on its own turn.

2. I do not think that it would trigger more than once, as it states that once the creature rolls the save against Forbidden Thoughts, it is immune for one turn.

However, if the spell was amped, and the creature did a multi-action attack - like Dual Slice, Frenzy, Whirlwind Strike, etc, I would rule that the Stunned 1 would disrupt that ability due to the action loss from the Stunned on a failed save.

Hi Dr. Evil.

I've also been RPGing since the start. On the boards, the Sky Kings Tomb game I'm running just hit a year. I can keep to the posting guidelines you outlined.

And, as much as I feel I play too many humans, and in an AP where other ancestries work so well, my application is for a human because it fits the idea best.

Iovia, who no longer uses her last name. She is Chelaxian. Her family was one of the many Chelaxian families that held slaves and controlled part of the Expanse.

However, Iovia joined the Vidrian Revolution on the side of the rebels. Not only had she come to realize that the colonization was wrong, but because of her interactions with the locals in her household, she had come to worship Tlehar, the Rising Sun.

When the Chelaxians left Vidrian, she stayed. She helped with the initial process of starting the rebuild, giving her former home - which as the last member of her family in the country was legally hers - to the new government to use as they saw fit.

She has come to the Magambya mostly to learn about her new home, and she considers that to be the entire Expanse. She expects discrimination until she proves herself to people. She is Chelaxian after all, and she does not hide that.

Class-wise, she'll either be a Cleric (which is where I am leaning), or a Champion of Tlehar.

I'm not sure about what background I'll use yet. I'm leaning towards Acolyte or Noble. Both are recommended in the Players Guide, and none of the AP specific ones seem to fit. I am open to other ideas.

I would go with the Druid archetype, and the Branches would be Tempest Sun and Emerald Boughs. I think in that order, but I might reverse it.

Zaria loads her crossbow.

"Go. I can cover from here, along with anyone else who is good from range. We can just smash the window and provide support."

"There are quite a few of us. We could scout both ways. If one group finds the missing people, it drops back, gets the other group, and we approach together."

Zaria has left musings on cults and the like for people who are better qualified for such things. She's been keeping an eye on both doors.

I don't actually think Dr. Evil would want us to split up during a RP test, but we have a large enough group of PCs at the moment where it would be viable.

"Red tends to mean danger, and we're following a trail of bug art. I say we go left." Zaria gives her opinion on which way the group should go.

I have been giving this some thought, yes.

I think, for me, the question has revolved around why Tuom had Jirelga tossed in jail. She has very few allies, why take one off the board?

What I've decided is that the destruction of Guldrege totally imbalanced Jirelga. If Thenur had lived, I think she would have put the reasons for the attack together and been able to adjust to it.

What if Jirelga could not figure it out? From her perspective, one day, out of the blue, the Avernal Worm, a legendary creature, just wipes out her village for, as far as she is concerned, no reason at all!

She is one of the few survivors and finds herself in Highhelm, and she becomes a conspiracy theorist.

She sees the worm everywhere. In the way that tea leaves fill her cup. In the way that grubs move, or mushrooms grow. In graffiti on walls. That's why she learns about the fey and wants to track the cult to the city.

It also explains why Tuom takes her off the board. When she is lucid, Jirelga is an excellent smuggler who knows plenty of secret passages in the Darklands. When she is not, she might just grab someone and spout nonsense at them - Tuom could worry that some of that nonsense might not be nonsense and decide to make sure that Jirelga can't give her away, but doesn't want to murder her. So, fake evidence, a bribe, and Jirelga is in the Broch, and no longer a liability.

It also lets me ignore the lack of stats for Jirelga. In combat, she screams and hides, and out of combat, she guides, and may offer advice, but isn't really coherent enough to use skills.

"It won't be hard to find them. We can just follow the tracks. Hopefully, we can talk the wizard down peacefully."

Zaria will stay towards the middle or back of the group, to better use her crossbow if needed.

"I think it would be best for us to stay together. Outside is one thing. Inside, well, it's best to stay together, so that no one gets lost. Zaria says.

Zaria had tended to scout ahead and then come back to the group to keep an eye out for threats, and she was used to tracking criminals through the wilderness.

Water beaded on her long jacket and off her hat. She didn't seem to mind the rain, she seemed pretty comfortable in it.

"If they are here, we will find them and bring them home. Remember that noise carries a long way inside caves and tunnels, so we should try and be as quiet as we can."

After speaking, she will check for tracks, as Phasetwo suggested they do.

DM DoctorEvil wrote:

Seth86 wrote:

White skinned orc. Druid with eventually going barbarian dedication.

as for the orc, i think any animal he transform into will be the Albino equivalent of the species

This seems like a fine idea to me. What makes him white-skinned? Is he true albino or just a strange mutation? Does that make him an outcast in his own society?

Do you mean full Orc? That may cause some acceptance issues in Torch just so you know. And why is he in Torch again?

I had a related question. Core ancestries preferred was mentioned. Core now includes goblin, leshy & orc whereas half-elf and half-orc were Core at the time the AP was written. Can you clarify core ancestries in regards to this adventure?

They still are. Aiuvarin (half-elf) and dromaar (half-orc) are in Mixed Ancestries, in PC 1. They were even adjusted to be more broad so that any species could be the other half of the elf/orc side, though it is suggested that you check with the GM before doing that.

Lia Wynn wrote:

The idea that I have is a local resident of Torch, preferably an Amruun (catfolk),

The idea is kind of Western-themed, since Numeria is a badlands with no real law in much of it, which reminds me of the old west. She'd have a job in town, something normal, but when there was trouble, she'd be one of the people who would be asked to look into it.

Class wise, she'd be a precision ranger, preferably with a firearm, since that fits the concept best, but a crossbow would be workable. Probably with Crafting skills, and more Cha than you'd expect, as she would try to talk people down before trying violence.

I think you may have to start out without a firearm, but who knows what you will find along the way? I'd lean against a catfolk character, but will allow you to present it if you wish.

Ok.

Looking over the Wiki entry on Torch, to see what the population is like, and I know your version might be different, but it is helpful nonetheless, I think I'll go with dromaar (half-orc) for ancestry, as they are the third most populous, as as much as I like dwarves in Golarion (and even with the iconic ranger being a dwarf), they just don't seem to add much for a ranger.

In addition, if I made the game, and the albino ord druid did, I could sort of be a bridge for him.

Would it be?

If someone doesn't know anything about magic, would a Hex look different from any other spell?

Bards cast spells. Karina posing as a Bard casts a spell. Why would it be automatically known that it was a witch spell?

I think the class posing as another class is a really fun-sounding concept.

I've been going around and around with concepts since I have so many I want to try. A few of the ones submitted are close to some that I came up with, which slowed me down some, but in a good way.

The idea that I have is a local resident of Torch, preferably an Amruun (catfolk), but I can go with other Ancestries, but not human since I play too many of them and want to explore more elements of Golarion.

The idea is kind of Western-themed, since Numeria is a badlands with no real law in much of it, which reminds me of the old west. She'd have a job in town, something normal, but when there was trouble, she'd be one of the people who would be asked to look into it.

Class wise, she'd be a precision ranger, preferably with a firearm, since that fits the concept best, but a crossbow would be workable. Probably with Crafting skills, and more Cha than you'd expect, as she would try to talk people down before trying violence.

@Codanous: I think an Andriod cleric of Brigh would be amazing.