Lonesomechunk's page

with this likely causing a bit of hit to the paizo's finances, I hope there won't be any layoffs to the employees working there

even though the design is a bit different from what we're used to seeing with orcs I feel like orcs and half-orcs have always been a little inconsistent and that's okay! Some half-orcs look like full blooded orcs and vice versa and some orcs by certain artists look more distinct. Wayne Reynolds also has his own style and some of the ancestries look a little different there. I really like Ulka's art and I am curious if we'll be seeing any more orcs in this kind of style

This is a really exciting AP, although that logo is *really* hard on the eyes. It might be too late to change it but I'm having a hard time with it and it might be good to tweak it to make it more accessible

Who's the artist for this? Their work looks nice

i dont know if this is gonna be changed in the final version but i did always find it weird that in the playtest witchwarper was way better at using grenades and area weapons than mystic and now technomancer has feats and abilities that encourage grenade use but theyre ALSO still stuck at trained. I feel like it should probably increase to expert along with their weapons and it wouldnt break anything

It'd be neat if Intelligence could be incorporated more. I don't feel like its necessarily *super* lacking but it feels like its on the edge of being too little for my tastes so I'd prefer they lean on it a bit more.

On a related note, it is a little weird how coordinated fire works with Drone as opposed to a turret. It makes sense that both subclasses have access to it and its a neat "teamwork" style ability which I think are always cool but spending two actions to let your companion make an extra strike feels very redundant in my opinion since you can command them to make two strikes or even use two of your actions regularly to give them three. It feels like for the Turret, this ability works great, essentially ranged double slice, and works well with the Turret sharing MAP with you and not being a proper minion, but it doesnt quite work as well for the Drone. I feel like in cases like this, it would be to each subclass's benefit to have a slightly different effect (kind of like how the multidisciplinary mechanic feat has the three discipline options nested under the one feat. I could see there being an alteration for drones specifically under there to make it work better)

1000 percent agree. I feel like Technomancer is an amazing example of how to build a class oozing with personality and flavor. In particular the Programming Languages are my favorite since they tell you not only about the world but about who might use it while reinforcing that flavor text with fitting mechanics. I genuinely love it and I think its a great example of how even just taking familiar things like the Widen Spell spellshape and giving it a new name (Denial of Safety) along with a new mechanic really helps sell the whole fantasy. The original technomancer was great but it absolutely felt closer to a "space wizard" than a true magic hacker, but this technomancer totally fits the class fantasy

I really love the flavor of Viper and the idea of really focusing on spell gems and chips since its a surprisingly underutilized space for a caster class but I do agree with some of the observations here on the mechanics needing to be cleaned up. I feel like early on there's definitely a sense of awkwardness that comes with your overclock and spellshapes being reliant on spell gems and chips which means you can run out of your class resources a lot more easily than say DPS++ or Fortrun can. (I also do agree that Spell Circuit feels a bit underwhelming. Its not the end of the world but I feel like the benefit is kind of niche). That being said it is super cool that you can do some weird stuff like casting an off-tradition spell as arcane when you overclock, its really cool. I love the concept and vibe of Viper.

I like Technomancer a lot but i feel like for being 3 slots per level i do actually wish its mechanics had a bit more juice. Having to wait till level 3 to get access to jailbreaks feels really weird since its like, half of your class mechanics and you dont get it at level 1.
Getting features at higher levels isnt unusual but usually theyre either passive boosts or something standalone, so i feel like with them having less hp and slots it would probably help them a lot in the early game to have that change

Of course, we don't know how the final version of Mystic or Witchwarper will look but going just off of whats been shown so far, Technomancer feels a bit reserved in comparison, and with Overclock relying on casting spells either with slots or with your focus pool, having less slots than the other two casters might be even rougher on them since Overclock encourages you to use them to gain access to most of your abilities

i do also kinda wish they got more skills. Witchwarper from the playtest is also INT and gets like 2 more skills than the Technomancer does while also having more hp and slots so it feels a bit odd (unless they change that in the final version)

there's also the weirdness of Overclock where your most recent action has to be a spell you cast and RAW it has the same issue as Magus's arcane cascade premaster where you couldn't say, cast a 3-action spell (like Servoshell's summon robot) and then Overclock as your first action on the next turn. I feel like the action economy could use some cleaning up because theres some stuff that doesnt quite function properly and I don't think thats the intent but its still worth mentioning.

(on a related note, while I understand why Overclock doesn't work with cantrips I feel like it maybe should? Focus spells technically count for Overclock so its a bit funky that cantrips don't, admittedly this isn't that big of a deal though and mostly only gets kinda weird on Viper with some of their shenanigans with spell gems n chips)

my guess is that its also a matter of timing, the OGL debacle forced the SF crew to get cracking on SF2e and trying to fit everything in one book would have probably taken a lot more time so splitting it up a little and dedicating a book to tech stuff and 2 tech themed classes was probably the best method to keep on schedule and keep the quality high

I really like both of these classes from an initial read, I have some concerns about the early game of the Technomancer however and its power level, it seems to be a bit weaker than Mystic and Witchwarper. I think later on it starts to come together more as you obtain jailbreak spell and more feats like the ones that let you stack multiple spellshape effects but before then it feels like its a lot more limited imo from my initial read. Less skill profs, hp, slots and about the same number of features as a witchwarper early on. I wonder if baking Jailbroken spell in at level 1 might alleviate some of those early game concerns? From my initial read it def seems like the 3 slot chassis makes sense for the late game but not for the early game due to how its abilities work and when I built some technomancers at level 1 it felt like huge parts of my kit were crucially missing and I didnt have the same kind of power as I might on the other two SF casters but this is all just an early impression, my thoughts may grow and change as I sit on this information

(that being said, on a conceptual and vibes level, these two classes are on point, I really feel like they nail the concept of feeling "techy" with being able to modify or overclock tech items and such and theres a lot of cool ideas!!)

a city of monsters????? Dhuraxillis mention??? I wrote some speculative stuff on the city for an infinite product so if its actually Dhuraxillis thats mega exciting!!!

IBLYDOS GAZETTEER LETS GOOOOOOOOOO

these changes look great but I hope the multi-hand rules are very carefully considered if theyre as unrestricted as this blog might imply. Having the potential to wield a 2-handed weapon and keeping a hand free for maneuvers and items is extremely powerful. I didn't hate the old method of hand management and the errata letting you get minor utility benefits like being able to climb with those hands while the other ones are free. I def understand wanting to buff multiple arms to feel as cool and exciting as the power fantasy of having them but PF2e and by extension, SF2e are systems where theres so many assumptions around only having 2 hands and being balanced around that. Even just opening the other hands up to items and actions is still a lot even if they cant wield weapons or shields.

Aside from that though the rest sounds amazing and im excited to see the final version!!!

I really like the concept behind this cover but the white font on the baby blue color for the frame is kind of... rough for accessibility, I really hope next time higher contrast colors are picked and people who are colorblind/visually-impaired are kept in mind when designing these

seconding the pirate suggestion, Id personally prefer something new but ill take anything lol. I'd also personally love to see Return as well

something that might be good to clarify or errata at some point is how Soldier's Primary Target works with Area weapons since RAW it...doesn't? But it seems like it should based on abilities keying off of it for Area Weapons. A lot of people ive seen have just been running it as like "you can normally not make regular strikes with area weapons but you can only when you use primary target" but i have no idea if thats intentional

yeah ive been pending for a while and im on the starfinder subscription boat but i know a friend of mine got theirs like almost a week and a half ago so i wanted to check here if orders were still being generated

I'm really excited to hear that you're considering ways to link 3 part APs in some cases, its not needed for every story but I think that sounds like a really good compromise for those wanting to go 1-20, having your cake and eating it too so to speak. I think that also helps with some cases where folks have complained about an AP changing its premise too much over the course of 6 books (something ive seen a lot with Extinction Curse or Blood Lords) but with two linked 3 parters those might have been received a lot better theoretically.

something im curious about after reading the pdf is what the enemy gun's capacities are, I'm not sure how many shots they should take before reloading for these encounters

Yeah the Wayne Reynolds art is probably still cooking, both of these pieces and the ones from PDFs are from older books

I'm LOVING the cover art and the new logo, its giving like 80s space anime and I'm super into it. I can't wait to learn more about the new Solarion as well, Pahtra being in core and as one of our iconics has me super excited!

this would be rad on Foundry being a full 1-15 AP thats getting lots of praise, i'd definitely be interested

No file… looks like a system error or maybe it’s a ghost file.?

a season of ghosts file even

yeah multiple regions in the same setting are a much safer bet since people don't need to completely relearn the lore and history of the entire setting, in areas like Tian Xia there are some familiar deities from the Inner Sea and ancestries we recognize as well, which makes it a lot easier to introduce folks to areas in different regions due to those bits of connective tissue. Entirely different settings can be a risk but that's not whats happening here.
If anything it fits in with the themes that pathfinders been exploring lately, showing how the world is growing over time as we saw with stuff like Hao Jin being freed and her Tapestry being undone which led to the Fist of the Ruby Phoenix AP for instance and getting to see the ramifications of that plotline

same here, cant even download it

Yeah and like, I don't know if thats the intent or not, maybe this is just an early playtest thats a bit stronger/overtuned than most pf2e casters because its a playtest but its a bit unclear if thats an intentional boosting of overall power or an accidental one

im a little sad to hear that domains are getting removed from exemplar but otherwise everything else im pretty happy with, domain spells are cool and getting an archetype for it is a fine compromise, I just have a craving for more focus martial classes haha

Yeah, like, I'm not against SF2E casters being beefier to account for the firearms everyones gonna have, but if they're meant to be balanced against PF2E casters they should probably not have 4 spell slots per level like a sorcerer to justify the increase in defensive stats, vitality network & connection benefits

That being said, If SF2E classes are meant to be better than their PF2E peers im ok with that too but I just think it would be nice to know if thats the intent or if these are just some playtests that happen to be swinging pretty hard on power before they pull some stuff back just so I dont keep comparing them to say, sorcerer when I shouldnt be

also in terms other things mystic related, im loving the feats tbh, there's a lot of really fun and cool options! One of my biggest pet peeves about playing a caster in pf2e is that feats can often feel pretty underwhelming or uninteresting so seeing stuff like network spell or memory bank are really cool and interesting! (Animist is in a similar boat with having stance feats for a caster which is really fun)

im loving the mystic so far, I just have some questions/concerns on class balance and such for Starfinder 2e classes. I know the metas are different hence why certain options come online earlier such as flight but are the classes still meant to be comparable balance-wise to PF2e classes? If so, the mystic is currently REALLY strong (and I love it) but getting sorcerer amount of spell slots + a blood magic esque effect + a focus spell + vitality network + better hp and armor than a sorcerer means Id probably never want to pick a primal or divine sorcerer ever again with mystic on the table.
Understandably this is a very pre-sneak peek on the mystic and this is not a complaint, but I would like to ask if the whole "metas are different" thing is more meant to explain why certain options will be more useful or more common or if thats a way of saying that PF2E and SF2E won't be able to mix with each other without there being some balance wonkiness. They're based on the same core system and the FAQ says you'll be able to sprinkle a bit of starfinder into your pathfinder and vice versa which seems to imply that theyre meant to be comparable in terms of balance. I think it would be nice if that was clarified since I'm not sure how much I should be evaluating these classes to the baseline of PF2E Player Core if at all

also i am LOVING the new logo and the new pahtra iconic, their design is absolutely amazing and i get gender envy looking at them

this is exciting but i hope the archaic trait is tweaked a bit, maybe if its a magical weapon it bypasses the resistance

Thank you paizo, as an artist I respect you for taking a stance on this unethical practice, you can't remove the processes and the artist from the art, whether it be writing, art or otherwise and a lot of people don't really understand why when they look at a pretty picture it made from stealing the hard work of artists who did not consent
AI Art isn't Art, making creative decisions, mistakes, developing a style and refining a project based on feedback are all integral to the process

Sakuachi isnt a mary sue, its pretty clear that the writers were aware such a criticism would be made in the AP itself and included a sidebar to help explain that Sakuachi isnt mean to overshadow the heroes. She doesnt fight and basically fills the role of what would have been a magical relic in another adventure but I like that she's her own character. Having a friendly NPC to travel with the party is fun and the party is already fulfilling the role of a "chosen one" in a traditional story, just through an ironic lens.
If anything I hope paizo includes recurring NPCs in their APs more often, its fun to have friendly faces in adventures for players to build off of and grow alongside. In Strength of Thousands the students have been a major success with my players so I expect Sakuachi to be well received too

I love the cover art, I'm guessing that must be Sakuachi on the front, I love their design and I'm genuinely excited to meet them! I'm hopeful that their handling of Erutaki culture will be more sensitive this time around and Sakuachi seems like a cool NPC from what little we know of them from book 1

having more 11-20s would be nice, Id love it if we had 11-20 APs that could work well as "followups" to 1-10 APs but I understand thats a difficult task to manage, I just think of how Devastation Ark for Starfinder has a lot of lore and thematic followups to Dead Suns while still technically being its own AP

ooooh thats a cool idea! Heck, theres a lot of fun to be had with the idea of breaking a 6-part AP into two-3 part Arcs since thats essentially what I did with Strength of Thousands, turning Books 1-3 into the student focus and then edited Book 3 to be about proving your worth and graduating with books 4-6 focusing on the professor stuff and the other regions of the mwangi expanse (even though I did tweak things a bit to make it work that way)

On the topic of this AP though, Im very excited, I love APs like this or Outlaws of Alkenstar that are just begging for specifically themed parties to play in! Plus the idea of treasure hunting and spending time in Highhelm as a party of dwarves and such is very exciting! I can't wait to see what this one holds

I love both 3-part and 6-part APs but I think a neat compromise could be to have Two 3-part APs that can go together but are otherwise separate arcs (which I know is a lot to ask) but I can see how some 6-part APs already kind of play with this idea like how in Blood Lords, parts 1-3 and 4-6 while connected, seem to form two arcs in of themselves, that being the whole "proving yourself to be blood lords" and the "now we're blood lords and getting more involved in the plot and politics" so to speak. I know Keftiu has mentioned an 11-20 darklands AP that could serve as a possible followup to either this AP or Abomination vaults since it deals with themes of the darklands and underground most likely. Likewise there could be something like a 1-10 AP set in Tian Xia as self contained story leading into the Fists of the Ruby Phoenix etc etc

I would hate to see 1-20 APs go away entirely but I do absolutely love the 3-part APs and the many new stories we're able to tell as a result! Outlaws of Alkenstar wouldnt exist if 3-parters didn't and I'm excited to see what else is coming, so I feel like its ok if 3-parters are much more common and 6-parters are sprinkled in every now and then after some 3-parters but thats just me

thats fair, I feel like divine magic is odd because the others kinda just get away with being vague and not entirely explaining where the magic comes from in specific terms but divine magic is a little strange since it tries to make explicit connections to "Gods" but then that makes me wonder how that system works, what makes a non-divine being capable of granting divine spells? Do they simply "become" divine when they reach a high enough level? Theres a lot of little things that get me wondering

I like the idea that belief is tied to divine magic but then I get confused with classes like Witch that use Intelligence and can still tap into the divine or Oracles who don't need to worship a god

this makes me wonder where divine magic itself comes from since classes like Oracles can bypass the whole god thing and still make use of divine power, is it like how druids use the magic of the natural world but instead of the natural world its just the energies of the outer planes themselves or something?

Does Paizo or any of the executives have anything to say about Diego's posts on twitter about how he was denied a promotion because he didn't "need" it or he was "emotionally unstable" based on posts from many years past on a private vent account where he discussed his past struggles with mental health?

Don't get me wrong I support this, but this feels a little hollow coming from those same people

Also just because other people may have more diverse friend groups or know Jewish folks doesn't mean that "suddenly a bunch of people are claiming that their imaginary Jewish friends are happy with the change"

Like, YOU might not know very many but that doesn't speak to other peoples experiences and assuming as such is very rude and doesn't help your argument any

Not assuming tone is fine and all since it CAN indeed be hard to judge tone, but that doesn't mean its impossible, and after seeing dozens of messages like it, I find it hard not to notice patterns of wording used and the ways in which such messages have been used before to shut down people's complaints and tone police

One can also be "rude" while demanding for accountability and change and seeking improvement and it does not invalidate their concerns or their points. Being on the moral high ground means little when there is active Injustice at play

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the bending of the rules going on or really much of anything surrounding this situation. It's very concerning