LoreMonger13's page

I got to dr. manhattan disintegrate a spawn of rovagug once when I/it rolled a double crit on my spell combination double disintegrate.

Total Protonic Reversal!

Not an odd interaction, but an immensely satisfying one I got to use during a 2E conversion of Shattered Star.

Played with the Time Mage archetype and picked up Into the Future, which was great to use with Time Beacon so that I had all of my actions available on the following turn. Typically this would be so I could have enough actions for a Sure Strike / True Target and Disintegrate and still have the option to rewind and try again if it came up a dud.

Against the BBEG I used Into the Future / Time Beacon to set myself up for Timeline-Splitting Spell, so I could effectively get four attempts to nuke 'em (the spells being cast were 8th rank Disintegrate and 9th Rank Dimensional Excision). Turns out I didn't need to trigger Time Beacon because the Dice Gods favored me strongly (Nat 1 counterspell check from the BBEG, nat 20 to hit them with Disintegrate, Nat 1 on their Fort Save to take them down), but it was fun to have that potential insurance just the same ;P

I would love, love, love lists of standardized class feats. I get why they weren't there initially, it's hard to guess which feats classes are going to share until you're pretty far into the game and can look back and see patterns. It saves so much space for the Starfinder 2e ancestries though, and like others have said it'd give the designers so much more room to create new feats for new classes, even if they're functionally similar to earlier feats but with small tweaks. They also help save on page space for those feats and features that may need more text to explain them, which IIRC is one reason why some feats or character options look a bit strange or feel incomplete; it's because the page space required a squishening.

Exactly that, yeh. And to Tridus's point on Class Features, I'd love to have all of those samey Class Features return rather than the bespoke names that are all tied to the exact same mechanics. Then you could save even more page space by just having a set of "Standard Class Features" that you can refer back to and save that space for interesting and unique options for the actual class writeups.

One of my biggest disappointments for SF2E in particular (though I LOVE the system and what the team are doing) was how much got lost from the move over from the Playtest to the Player Core book. As an example, there were loads of interesting Witchwarper feats that didn't make the cut because of space, like Butterfly Effect or Shifting Energy, and that same constraint also cost them Effortless Concentration which they had access to in the playtest (and yet Mystic, which aren't as Sustain-centric as Witchwarpers are, got Effortless Concentration printed in their feats. Wut??)

BUT I digress, don't want to hijack the post that is about Shield Fighters.

*Peeks from around the corner*
Clockworks, you say?? Well, color me intrigued!

Easl wrote:

I have no problem at all with it being a feat. I have a quibble with it being an exclusively fighter and champion feat. A much better gate would have been something like "trained proficiency in martial weapons".

Yeah, that makes sense. :) PF2 just doesn't have a good way to express "this class feat is open to anyone with X proficiency". It'd have to be a general or skill feat right now.

There's probably design space there, like having a pool of generic combat style feats that are open to any class and count as class feats but don't require archetypes.

A similar example might be Nonlethal Spell, which is Wizard only for some reason that I can't fathom except "we didn't have a way to make it more generic", and which causes all kinds of grief in campaigns where taking people alive is important.

This is EXACTLY what I want to see in the future, even if it has to wait until 3E. The Starfinder team introduced Standardized Ancestry Feats in Galactic Ancestries and its a truly fantastic way of allowing a bunch of those samey feats across ancestries to come all from a single column and for access to be a brief paragraph in each Ancestry entry before getting into their more unique and interesting feats.

I would love that for Class Feats too, so many get reprinted over and over again across different classes and archetypes, and some are just the same feat by different names (Whirlwind Strike vs Avalanche strike with very minor differences, or Quickened Casting vs Spell Acceleration) that it results in a lot of needless page bloat that eats up space for potentially cooler options. Plus, it's better for future-proofing when you can introduce new Standardized Class Feats in other books and just have a page or two for the classes with very concise lists of which gets access to the new goodies.

(Though don't get me started on Non-Lethal Spellshape, I HATE that it's a 2nd level feat and not 1st as opposed to Reach and overall really hope Paizo breaks away from the tired D&D trope of making the options for non-lethal styles of combat needlessly narrow and obnoxious. Just let players choose on the fly without needing to jump through hoops, please.)

LoreMonger13 wrote:

I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of a new edition, especially as Paizo begins to depart from their D&D roots more and more in both design and convention.

Maybe I just find that things are going in all the wrong directions for my taste. No one in my play groups was at all interested in the new playtest classes. The new design decisions seem largely negative to me. There is still lots of clean up to be done with this game. We still don't have a useful Shifter. I'm finding the designers are more interested in adding extra fluff than adequately covering the core game.

I want to see a more serious effort to simplify the game and fix or remove the dross. By which I mean things that don't work reasonably or are adding mass and complexity but not really contributing to the fun.

That's fair, I was also confused and underwhelmed by the Daredevil and Slayer. However, my point was more about the ability for the design team to no longer have to consider what was made popular in the past through D&D and to instead make choices that better suit their creative vision. There are a lot of things that I personally don't like that have been holdovers from their OGL roots, such as how obnoxious it is to try to employ non-lethal tactics outside of an extremely narrow range of options even when multiple in-canon factions favor that, like Sarenites and Shelynites. Or as you agree with in your post, the slot-based spellcasting and how Prepared and Spontaneous differ. Or just the idea that Wizards have to suck at just about everything except casting their spells, considering how they get minimal support for things like Recall Knowledge when their whole trope is that they study constantly. And even then, there's so little that they can do that other spellcasters or archetypes can't also do.

That said, I'll never dismiss someone who has concerns for the potential new direction that may be taken. I agree that some stuff in 2E has not been going very smoothly of late, and my hope was expressed more for what a future 3E would bring to the table once it would be wholly decoupled from its lineage and allow them to rebuild from the ground up.

LoreMonger13 wrote:

my hope is that we get another five to ten years out of 2E most specifically for Starfinder, because they're REALLY cooking over there! From minor QoL things like the Traversal trait streamlining movement rules to great new ideas like the Skill Paragon optional rule and Standardized Ancestry Feats that feel like they should be the new gold standard across both systems, and could pave the way for other ideas like Standardized Class Feats so you don't have so many martial or spellshape feats being reprinted over and over under multiple classes and archetypes and can instead use that space for more unique, flavorful, and interesting options.

I'll have to get around to checking out SF2 but the genre is much less interesting to me.

I would really encourage you to check it out, yes! Because it's also 2E, you don't have to play Starfinder at all and can just take some of the cool updates they add to the system into your Pathfinder games. The SF Team, though they've made some missteps, have also been really innovative with the 2E system in a way that is wonderful for both games.

One other thing I would love to see, which could be done right this second, in an "Unchained" style update, or in a wholly new edition, is to allow players to freely choose whether their damage is lethal or non-lethal. I hate that Non-Lethal Spell is a 2nd level class feat and not 1st, considering how much more function Reach or even Widen has. I also think it's annoying to impose the -2 penalty to attack rolls with normally lethal weapons, as an annoying vestige of D&D. So many different groups in the canon specifically encourage non-lethal practices (Sarenites and Shelynites chief among them) that it feels like a really needless hurdle to actually follow through with that class fantasy, especially as the favored weapons of the afore-mentioned deities are very much not non-lethal.

Now, I can see certain damage types and effects as being too inherently destructive to permit non-lethal functionality, like Void damage, anything with the Death trait or effects like Disintegrate, Implosion, or Awaken Entropy (which could use something like a "Destructive" trait as quick call-out). But I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume a spellcaster knows how to lower the wattage of an Electric Arc to incapacitate rather than stop the heart without having to burn an extra action, or to graze someone with a Telekinetic Projectile so it does non-permanent damage.

I would just like this old D&D holdover to be lifted so that people who want to play genuinely heroic, non-murderous characters can more easily do so.

I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of a new edition, especially as Paizo begins to depart from their D&D roots more and more in both design and convention. Moving away from decades-old tropes such as slot-based spellcasting and prepared versus spontaneous would be much easier with a brand new foundation as opposed to an expansion to the current framework, as much as I genuinely do deeply enjoy 2E. As would the idea of having clearer and more universal language about analogous abilities, like Finoan observed.

That said, I do agree that my hope is that we get another five to ten years out of 2E most specifically for Starfinder, because they're REALLY cooking over there! From minor QoL things like the Traversal trait streamlining movement rules to great new ideas like the Skill Paragon optional rule and Standardized Ancestry Feats that feel like they should be the new gold standard across both systems, and could pave the way for other ideas like Standardized Class Feats so you don't have so many martial or spellshape feats being reprinted over and over under multiple classes and archetypes and can instead use that space for more unique, flavorful, and interesting options.

EDIT: Addendum!

For question 2), the thing I want the most, either in a new edition or a new book for PF2e, is for a system that replaces vancian casting with something closer to focus spells, kineticist's impulses, or Magic+'s (a 3pp supplement) essence casting. The next thing I would really want to see is a revision of the simple/martial/advanced weapon categories and the light/medium/heavy armor categories since I think they are a vestigial system that PF2e inherited from its D&D ancestors but that doesn't really have a purpose anymore. The third and last thing I want is a revision or removal of the 6 attributes.

ALL OF THIS. I'd love to see what Paizo could make without it's old D&D baggage. And I ESPECIALLY agree with the removal of attributes, as heretical as it may sound. So many pain points exist in 2E because of them, such as "Martial" classes that don't get Strength or Dexterity as their key attribute, or having to center caster tropes around which score you utilize, or having to make weird edge cases around normal rules just to make your class concept work (like Thaumaturges requiring their own special Recall Knowledge that works off of Charisma instead of Intelligence so they can make it a Charisma-forward class). Ultimately they're just another batch of arbitrary numbers that don't really add anything in and of themselves to the game.

I'd go further and say get rid of Fundamental Runes too, if the math of the game assumes and thus requires them at higher levels, then just make those modifiers a core part of development OR redesign the game to NOT require them in the first place, and then magic items can be more interesting and consequential in choice rather than feeling like a competency tax.

Tridus wrote:

Finoan wrote:

Another thought is that Kineticist Impulses are their primary contribution to combat. So having those excluded from Mythic compatibility has more mechanical impact than excluding Oracle Cursebound abilities from it. Oracles can still use Mythic Spellcasting benefits, and their spellcasting is more of a primary contribution, while Cursebound abilities are more of a secondary thing.

This is the answer. Oracle has full spellcasting and focus spells, both of which are core system things and thus mythic handles them the same as it does any other class. Cursebound abilities are quite handy, but the fact that "mythic Whispers of Weakness" doesn't exist doesn't really impact the class at all.

Kineticist, OTOH, feels like it fundamentally doesn't work in a mythic game because it's core stuff doesn't interact with mythic at all. That makes the class just feel bad in a mythic game because you get so much stuff that doesn't function.

Agreed. It feels like core stuff to make a class function should be explicitly compatible with core game mechanics even if they are also distinct.

For example, Kineticist having their limited list of Impulses that they gain from feats is fine (mostly because there is explicit compatibility with spells regarding how things that interact with spells also interact with Impulses), but they should use the Cast a Spell activity to cast them with (or a Cast an Impulse activity that is compatible with all things that are compatible with Cast a Spell). That would make it work with Mythic Casting as well as things like Superstition Barbarian: Mage Hunter.

Exactly, no need for an enormous overhaul or rewrite, just make the existing mechanics function more cleanly within the existing framework of the game. And this specific direction of making their Impulses function in all ways like Cast a Spell and making a Spell Attack would work very well.

And to Easl's point: the incompatibility of the Kineticist has been a large problem since its release, and one that a lot of members of the community have since pointed out. An intentional decision does not make it a correct one or one that is healthy for the game itself.

And Tridus makes an excellent point that this could very likely be an issue with the forthcoming Runesmith which functions in a very similar manner to the Kineticist. Having a means for bespoke features to overlap with existing mechanical foundations would go a long way to fixing issues with compatibility both retroactively and moving forward.

I just hope that an update to Rage of Elements includes a rework of Impulse actions to be less bespoke and thus incompatible with much of the game system that defines so many things as either Strikes or Spells. Easily the worst playtest feedback they followed through on was to go harder in this direction and not have any means to correct for how limiting that actually ends up being.

Kineticists end up getting even less synergy with other systems and features than Caster classes do. Mythic Kineticists have even less going on for them than Mythic Spellcasters, and that's already not a great bar to meet.

Otherwise love the design of it, it's a great "slot-less caster" model that I hope they do more of down the line or that helps shape their vision for caster classes as a whole once we eventually get into 3E.

Seventh Seal wrote:

Cloud nymphs (Nephelae) are a thing in Greek mythology though...

Also, Pathfinder already has nymphs of sunsets (Hesperids) & seasons (Hora), and neither of those represent permanent landscape features...

(They do represent natural periods of time or natural phenomena, so a nymph representing storms/hurricanes/blizzards/etc. could fit...)

<shrug>

I know Hesperids are tied to "a place where the sunset is especially beautiful". I guess my difficulty is meshing Pathfinder's interpretation of nymphs with something like clouds- but I guess you can have places like the windward side of a mountain where clouds naturally form.

In fairness they'll need to break away from the locale-centric nature of Nymphs to have them as a player-character option, anyway. Hard to go adventuring if you're intrinsically bound to a specific location, after all.

BotBrain wrote:

I've just noticed there's a crow holding a dagger on the cover. Is this an awakened animal? Could we get more awakened animal options? (Please I need that armoured heritage to play an armadillo)

Makes a certain amount of sense, how else are you to play the Mock Turtle?

(I kind of assumed that was a Vilderavn playing it cool, though. Which, checking now isn't actually within their change shape wheelhouse but I'm willing to excuse some artistic liberty)

Maybe it's a Littlravn? =P

Oh excellent! I'm excited to see what they do for the nymphs - up until now the main option has been Battlezoo's, and the ridiculous emphasis on how hot you are all the time, how your abilities are half about being hot, 'YOU MIGHT: not realize how hot people think you are! OTHERS MIGHT: get upset that someone so hot is friendzoning them!' was not what I wanted out of playing a cool nature spirit. Fingers crossed they also add a gargoyle ancestry sometime.

I'm excited to see what the curses are too. And archetypes and items! There's so many weird fairy tales to be inspired by.

While there might be some of the OG "stunning beauty" stuff, I imagine Paizo will make Nymphs much more interesting, considering they're now a whole group that includes Dryads, Hesperids, Hora, Lampads, Naiads, and potentially new ones in this very book. (Winter/boreal theme, please!)

In fact I'd imagine each of those being Heritages, or their niches being represented through heritages (woodland, water, caverns, light, etc)

The store page for Feybound is up!

I really like the narrative conceit of the book taking place at an all-included Firstworld gala, that feels very apropos and fun ^_^

Excellent! I do love Paizo's take on the Fey and look forward to the expanded details for the Eldest.

My current character has been heavily implied to have a connection to "The Many", so I'm definitely looking forward to more info on Shyka (even if this will release many months after the campaign's end, which itself is likely two months away at most). Hoping that all of the Eldest get really off-the-wall Boon and Curse entries to really underscore their fickle and esoteric natures!

Ezekieru wrote:

As someone who has been attending PaizoCon and GenCon ever since they've been online events, this really sucks to hear. We're losing out on one of the most highly anticipated events of the year, a place to hear about the company's biggest announcements for the year, and most importantly, one of the only places to get a direct Q&A and form of teased details about upcoming books from the designers and developers themselves.

It seems like, more than ever, that we're losing out on the interactivity with the design team. With Maya and JJ being the main exceptions to the rule, we barely hear anything from the designers themselves. And PaizoCon was the best place each year to reconnect with and interact with the team on a more personal manner. I can't even tell you who most of the design team is anymore, to be honest with you.

I'm just hoping that whatever comes about to replace PaizoCon is better suited to everyone. But especially so, I hope there's a strong online presence in it. Being unable to afford to fly out and attend in-person conventions myself, an online event like PaizoCon is exactly the experience I want from Paizo. Hopefully that doesn't get cast aside like how the online component of GenCon did last year.

Question for Maya: Are the two additional streams we're getting this month being done due to the lack of a Keynote for PaizoCon? Or are the additional streams just unrelated?

Kind of both! We want to do more streams in general because you all seem to really enjoy our big announcement streams just across the board, but also with the lack of PaizoCon, we wanted to start doing these streams ASAP since we know you're all still interested in and very much invested in what we're working on! This answers LoreMonger13's question too!

Thank you, Maya! <3

WatersLethe wrote:

It would be REALLY COOL if we still got an Erik Mona keynote style presentation, just launched on youtube or something. I look forward to those the most!

We will be doing some other fun streams to announce new product, so be on the lookout for those!

Would this be in reference to the two extra Streams happening next week, or are those only partially or wholly unrelated? I remember those being teased as presenting "big announcements" for all of Paizo's product lines, so I'm curious if maybe those are the substitute?

Currently playing a Witchwarper in a 2E conversion of Shattered Star and have it automatically for Arcana (through Core Memories Anchor), and I have yet to ever use it because it's more accurate to say that I'm "taking 3" as opposed to "taking 10" because of how many modifiers get stripped out for Assurance.

Also playing with the Scrollmaster Archetype and have Bestiary Scholar, so I can use my Legendary Arcana for every creature type except those that fall under Society. Still very unappealing to use.

If Automatic Knowledge was more like Glad-Hand, where there was effectively no penalty or consequence for failure, then I think it'd be a lot more appealing.

But yeh, I get it for free and I still don't use it xD

EDIT: Though I DO have the Recognize Threat feat (Pathfinder Agent Archetype) which allows a free action RK check at the beginning of my first turn of combat, and since that's at my full bonus it's MUCH more valuable.

I'll second the notion that if the Shifter is to be realized in 2e, it really should not be locked to the primal tradition. As much as the game desperately needs more primal magic-users, locking the shapeshifting class to the primal tradition is bound to make it look like a worse Druid, while depriving it of the many things you could do with shapeshifting across traditions: a Shifter ought to have the option to shift not just into animals and beasts, but also aberrations, fiends, celestials, even constructs and dragons of any tradition. Any creature that you could think of an eidolon for is also a creature that I think players would want a Shifter to transform into, and that I think runs the gamut of magic traditions, not just primal magic.

That makes a pretty good case for the Synthesist as its own martial-centric class archetype, too, rather than making a whole class to do something similar.

Though I also think others have a good point of opening the "Shifter" idea to a broader archetype that potentially anyone could take just to fulfill that particular power fantasy.

Honestly if I were to want anything at all for a new class, it'd be another crack at the slot-less caster ala the Kineticist but making it better defined as a caster, rather than being stuck in limbo with its own bespoke "impulse action" that receives so little support through things that apply only to Strikes or only to Spells. (Honestly, my dream remake of a Psychic not stuck to the page count of Dark Archives would be in that vein)

I'll voice a likely unpopular opinion that I don't think the Shifter needs to be its own class, at least not as it was presented in 1E in being someone who transforms parts of themselves into more animalistic forms. If anything it can be a Druid Class Archetype that makes them more martial-focused as opposed to caster-focused like the Battle Herald does for Cleric.

And if they were ever going to bring a class back by popular demand, it would've been the Inquisitor which is instead a class archetype in 2E through the Vindicator.

Plus with Animal Instinct Barbarians, Beastkin versatile heritage, Werecreature Archetype, etc there just isn't as much of an empty niche for "someone who transforms parts of themself to fight more like an animal" that feels justifiable for a whole new class to fill.

Now I do like Teridax's idea for a fate-bending class that hits the flavor more acutely than the Oracle currently does, plus it'd be cool to have a class that interacts more with Circumstance modifiers and the Fortune/Misfortune system.
I had a similar idea where it was a variant-Tradition caster and either Intelligence or Wisdom with their "Medium" being the source of Attribute and Tradition (Chronomancy = Arcane/Int, Revelation = Divine/Wis, Astrology = Occult/Int, Geomancy = Primal/Wis)

Speaking also to the wonderful BIPOC representation to the setting, I have always love love LOVED how richly detailed Garund and the Mwangi are. Lost Omens: Mwangi Expanse remains my favorite in the LO series (the Mwangi depiction of Desna is my favorite of anything I've seen of her, such GORGEOUS artwork) and I've always loved the regions and the characters tied to them like Old Mage Jatambe and the Ten Magic Warriors, the Ekujae elves, the Matanji orcs, Nantambu and the Magaambya, the Bonuwat, and SOOOO much else.

I really really wanna play Strength of Thousands at some point, too! I've been itching to try it out with a Ghoran Kineticist who's applied to the Magaambya to try and see if their blending of Arcane and Primal magic might unlock the means for the Ghorans to finally start making new seeds.

(Tangent: I like the idea of Ghorans being kinda like the Trill in Star Trek where they have their given name and then their "seed" name)

For those who still don't have access to the remastered version. The Demiplane Nexus just added the Remastered Psychic. So you can read it even if you still don't have the book.

Also up on Pathbuilder for those who have it, both browser and mobile ^_^

Random pick, but I think Avery Brooks could do an amazing Zamir. Or LeVar Burton, honestly.

Maybe just wanting to manifest some Star Trek alums into Starfinder xD

EDIT: Actually, Avery Brooks for Zamir, and LeVar Burton for Quinn!

Any speculations on new and Remastered Magics from the Book of Unlimited Magic section?

Elemental and Rune Magic have both been remastered in Rage of Elements and Rival Academies.

But what about Shadow Magic or Ley Lines?(These two were my personal favorites)

Back when Secrets of Magic was announced, I remember Erik Mona said the was a Blood Magic section that was cut for spacing but would get added to a more appropriate themed book.
That's something I'd like to see as well.

What other types of Magic would you like to see?

I dunno how many optional systems we're going to be getting, considering that this book has four classes in it and only slightly more spells than Secrets of Magic (which, honestly, might just be extra focus spells)

Personally I'd temper expectations pretty low on that front. I imagine they might do less "experimental" options and more content for existing classes like Wizard with new Curriculum options. They also teased options to bring magic to "any table" so I'm low-key hoping we might see the return of their version of an Eldritch Trickster, maybe as a Rogue class archetype?

But more in the spirit of your question of what I would LIKE to see, is maybe their take on a slot-less casting system. Which is so wildly unlikely that I would legitimately be shocked to see it. I think Kineticist is going to be the closest we ever get to that in this edition (which, in fairness, was a really cool take, if held back by its whole limbo between caster and martial locking it out of so many features that affect only either Strikes or Spells)

Unicore wrote:

Then why is it a tradition? It’s not like stealing spells from other traditions is rare in the game. Why don’t wizards just have ways of learning any spell?

I argued back on PC1 release when the "wizard has been nerfed" threads happened that, among other changes I would make to the class, that it would be interesting if the wizard had ways to poach spells from other lists. The whole point of the wizard is that its a magical scientist that pushes the boundaries of what magic can and can't do further, so breaking reality and poaching spells from other lists seems totally on brand to me.

That's also why I think Experimental Spellshaping should be baseline feature of the class and not a thesis. Experimenting its what the wizard does.

Honestly I feel that way about the Spell Substitution thesis. You have an entire spellbook there with you at all times (barring very extenuating circumstances) and it feels like you should always be able to just take a moment to refer to a solution you might have for a particular obstacle.

As far as the Remaster, them getting interesting "Array" feats added some more flavor (though the Runesmith is going to poach that HARD) and adding Knowledge is Power was a nice but ungainly step to giving them more support as a Recall Knowledge centric class because, you know, they study.

I hope in future editions the Wizard really settles into what their role feels like it should be, which is to say someone who understands the fundamentals of magic and can do things with their spells no one else can, and who is broadly a very educated and knowledge-focused figure.

Honestly what I would have LOVED to see in the Remaster would be to have Wizards gain their increased Spell Proficiency ranks earlier than other caster classes to reflect their greater understanding of magic. Expert at 5th, Master at 13th, and Legendary at 17th. In the end they would still be only as powerful as other casters (unlike, say, Fighters compared to most other martials) but it would've been a nice bump to make up for some of the other hits they took.

ADDENDUM: ALSO, how easy would it be to have a feat to let Wizards take the initial Focus Spell from another Curriculum? Could've even called it "Extracurricular Study" and fixed their issue of being capped at 2 Focus Points unless you multiclass.

Little update I noticed: I was curious about the Pacts Witch and Time Oracle, both of which were already Remastered in Divine Mysteries, and while The Unseen Broker seems to be the same, the Time Oracle has been re-remastered, now with a new Cursebound feat instead of PC2's Oracular Warning: Trance of Celerity. Basically you get a status bonus to speeds equal to five times your Cursebound value -- restores a bit of the premaster utility and technically available to all Oracles.

There's also a new Time mystery-specific 10th level Cursebound feat, On Borrowed Time: deal persistent mental damage that also causes the target to experience two rounds at a time for the purposes of conditions, afflictions, etc. Does not affect the persistent damage from this action, but does for other persistent damage. Bit of a mixed bag there, fear won't last as long, but if your party's good at stacking persistent effects…

Also they kept the same art for "Rumored Owlbear" and just made it "Rumored Bear" lol.

Not even a Platypus-Bear? A Skunk-Bear? A Gopher-Bear? Or an Armadillo-Bear?

Just a Bear??

...This place is WEIRD.

I agree with Teridax and Tridus that the issue with Psychic is in their overall design itself, and supplementing with new Subconscious or Conscious minds, feats, etc just to make the class "work" would only serve to limit the class to only one direction if someone wanted to be "effective" in that regard.

I will say that I am a little more optimistic that, once errata does come around, Psychic might actually be a higher priority despite its recent Remaster because it's so clear the majority of people who were keeping track of it are very unhappy with the end results. Even then most have been tempering their requests to be in line with very simple changes that would do very little (if anything) to the layout of the book itself.

Homebrewing and/or 3PP probably is the best until then.

Doesn't "round" describe sling bullets?

Usually they're rather "oblate", actually *BaDumTiss*

Teridax wrote:

I recently have yes, and I actually have ScooterScoots to thank for pointing me to a very fun interaction with the Fury Cocktail, which grants imaginary weapon an item bonus to its attack rolls.

Sorry for the tangent question, does the item bonus to attack rolls from Fury Cocktail add to all 'Melee Spell Attack' rolls? Thank you in advance.

Since the only specification is that they have to be "melee attack rolls" and not Strikes, weapon attacks, or unarmed attacks, I don't see why it wouldn't.

It's just like the Bard's Courageous Anthem adding +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves versus Fear (note, not specifically Will saves versus Fear, even though that would be typical). Those bonuses apply just as much to spell attacks and spell damage as they do weapons, unarmed attacks, or the often severely underserved Kineticist Impulses.

Honestly, considering how cagey the staff have been about answering particular questions for the Remaster and the decision to cut it from the January stream, I was beginning to worry that DA:R would be very slapdash just to get it over with, rather than a real QoL update.

I'm hoping that my GM will allow me to continue with the Pre-Remaster Psychic archetype for the rest of the campaign, since we're only a few sessions from finishing anyway and I'd really like to not have to rework my already very complicated build (and I just bought in for Warp Step and some spellcasting to add more "chronomancy" flavor to the character design, I was not going crazy Magus-munchkin or anything and am playing a Witchwarper as my core class)

Definitely a disappointment, the bare minimum they could've done for the Psyhcic class itself (archetype changes aside and honestly far less of a problem, in my view) would be to make Unleash Psyche less painful both to activate and fall out of and make them a 3/Rank slot caster. The Amp ruling, to be clear, is a GREAT solution and honestly fixes a lot of the abuse that came from multiclassing with Psychic, and was very necessary. Also not concerned with Imaginary Weapon getting a lower damage die considering it's converted to Force damage, which is very powerful in and of itself assuming the Cantrip still Heightens at +1.

Also annoyed to see in the Reddit post that the Chronocognizance feat for Time Mage is still busted because of its absurd Master Perception prereq, which my group has chosen to ignore in favor of Master in your Spell Tradition's skill (makes infinitely more sense when you consider its extra features are based off of those skill proficiencies at Legendary and NOT Perception)

LoreMonger13 wrote:

I don't think that's happening, either. The Eldritch Archer archetype, which was Remastered in Player Core 2, doesn't have that caveat with their Eldritch Shot. Granted, theirs is a 3-action ability, rather than 2-action Spellstrike plus 1-action Recharge, but it effectively is the same thing unless you're contending with being Slowed or Stunned.

I'd argue there's a lot more besides action loss conditions that would make a character spend an action doing something else, such as if an enemy is getting too close, if the character is knocked prone, if an ally needs help urgently, and so on. Action deferment is a significant advantage in flexibility, and the lack of it makes a difference. I'd argue that the Eldritch Archer could do with this limitation as well, but even without it, Starlit Span would likely still win out.

Sure! My point was more that I don't foresee them making the suggested changes to Starlit Span because of the Eldritch Archer dedication not receiving such an update despite operating in a more-or-less very similar manner and having similar enough mechanics that it would effectively undermine the ability to make such a change really "stick."

If X thing has a limitation a player doesn't like but Y thing pretty much does the exact same thing they want to do without that limitation, then it doesn't really become much of a curb. Just means it takes a bit longer to come online.

To be clear I agree that the suggestion to limit the spell to within its own range would be a fine adjustment, or to say that ranged Spellstrikes can only be used with ranged spells to get away from Gouging Claw and Imaginary Weapon spamming. My only reason for bringing up the alternative is to point out that, even if they did make such a change, people could still exploit those options starting at level 6 rather than level 1 (or level 2+ for dipping into Psychic for other options)

I'm honestly less excited about Impossible Magic now that I know it's going to be the Remaster's answer for Secrets of Magic. Sure, they would cut out a lot of the OGL fluff and special alternative rules, but that space was probably quickly eaten up by the two additional classes on top of Magus and Summoner, which themselves were not simple classes that were economical with page count.

I will hope that this will be more than half wholly new content, but the 240+ spells sounds a lot less impressive when you realize how close that is to the count from Secrets of Magic, and Spells made up a very, very large section of that book.

BUT, I will say it was a smart decision on Paizo's part as a means of getting the Magus and Summoner up to speed with the Necromancer and Runesmith. Just feels less "special" to have two wholly new classes introduced with a lot of upcycled content, if that makes sense.

I'll definitely still be getting this, don't get me wrong. I just hope we get some cool surprises that make this feel less like a revisit to old ground.

exequiel759 wrote:

You can't nerf starlit span because what it makes it strong are the things it has innately from being a ranged class. Out of all the hybrid studies is the one that less relies on arcane cascade and its feats aren't that good either, so unless you remove it from the book you can't nerf it.

While it's true that Starlit Span will almost always be able to use their Spellstrike each round compared to the on-and-off-turns of melee Maguses, I do think you could take the last line out of the subclass to nerf it substantially. "You can deliver the spell even if its range is shorter than the range increment of your ranged attack" is what lets Starlit Span Spellstrike with gouging claw and, above all, imaginary weapon, so removing that would force the subclass to look for less damaging alternatives like needle darts or fire ray.

With that said, and as monstrously overpowered as the subclass is right now, I would also like to see it improved, not just nerfed: as you mention, Starlit Span makes no use of Arcane Cascade, and while enabling it on the class wouldn't be necessarily a huge buff, it could be enough to make the subclass feel like they're making better use of the Magus's baseline tools, instead of trading them off in exchange for becoming this spammy Spellstrike turret.

I don't think that's happening, either. The Eldritch Archer archetype, which was Remastered in Player Core 2, doesn't have that caveat with their Eldritch Shot. Granted, theirs is a 3-action ability, rather than 2-action Spellstrike plus 1-action Recharge, but it effectively is the same thing unless you're contending with being Slowed or Stunned.

So even if they added that to Magus for some reason, there's already a Remastered means of getting around that rule through an Archetype.

LoreMonger13 wrote:

Really looking forward to the Paizo Live to get a look at the revamped Dark Archives, it was easily one of my favorite content additions to the game <3

Anything you might be able/willing to tease about any interesting changes to the classes as part of the Remaster in the lead-up to the stream?

This is actually not planned for a stream since the changes were not large enough for a feature, but I can tell you here what was done!

• All rules updated to the remastered ruleset
• Improved versions of the psychic and thaumaturge classes
• Adventures updated with new monster and item references

That's it! Do let me know if you have any other questions though! subscribers will receive that updated PDF next Tuesday!

Thanks! Mostly I was curious how the Psychic would be impacted, given how the Focus/Refocus system was dramatically changed and ended up making one of the unique gimmicks of the class obsolete (also I'm assuming the store page is showing the Pre-Remaster page previews, as the presence of the 18th level feat Deepest Wellspring still uses language from Pre-Master)

The only other real question I have for those of us who purchased the PDF version of Dark Archives: will our access to the Remaster be updated along with the Subscribers or not until general product release?

Thanks much! <3

pauljathome wrote:

Seems a bit misleading to me to call the Thaumaturge and Psychic Two new character classes (the bolding is on Paizo's blog) when they are existing classes remastered

That's fair to say! The classes by name are not new, but they have been reworked since their last release!

Really looking forward to the Paizo Live to get a look at the revamped Dark Archives, it was easily one of my favorite content additions to the game <3

Anything you might be able/willing to tease about any interesting changes to the classes as part of the Remaster in the lead-up to the stream?

There's a long list of needed forum updates. In the past, working on the new store was the reason given for not fixing them. Now that that is done, I'm hoping we'll hear soon about forum updates.

Besides the Errata page not being split up into SF1e and SF2e, the forums are not split up yet. Starfider needs more forum avatar art. The SF2e play-by-post lodge still isn't stuck to the top of the recruitment page, so it's hard to find.Augustana Station Lodge (SFS2).

At a minimum, as a quick fix, at least labeling the new errata as SF2e in the book title would help.

I think the next Paizo Live is this Friday. I'm hoping we hear what the plan is for the new year.

If I recall correctly, the next Paizo Live is going to mostly be Pathfinder-centric. They're for sure talking about Dark Archives Remastered, I think perhaps Secrets of Magic remastered as well (less confident on that), and a mysterious "third title" that will be revealed in the third part of the video. I imagine most people are hoping that will be the thus-far unknown book linked to the Impossible Playtest and thus the Necromancer and Runesmith classes, unless they want to hold off hyping that until next PaizoCon to build hype for GenCon '26

I am not able to buy the pdf for the Into the Apocalypse Archive, it's only available for wishlighting

I noticed that earlier today, too. But I checked again and it's working, now! ^_^

Really loved Alien Core, lots of great stuff for both PF and SF!
I particularly like the new Temporai Psychopomp and its animosity toward chronomancers and witchwarpers who manipulate time to avoid death.

My current Wizard in a 2E conversion of Shattered Star is a Time Mage and has used Delay Consequence to save quite a few people, so I imagine he'd be particularly aggravating for the Temporai xD

That has to be the roundest dragon-adjacent critter I have ever seen and I love them xD

LoreMonger13 wrote:

In fairness they really didn't say anything at all about it other than that it's kinda furry like old medieval European illustrations =P

We can't say everything all at once! We like the speculation and pontification from our community!

Oh for sure! I was more referencing how we're unsure where the successors of certain of the Metallics are and how Executor is as good a thought as any due to not knowing much yet ^_^

Definitely been a fan of the preview posts preceding Draconic Codex!

Animism wrote:

Ezekieru wrote:

VerBeeker wrote:

So do we have all of the OG DnD caste's replacements now??

The only one we don't know the name of is the replacement for the Gold Dragon. If I were a betting man, I'd say the Vizier Dragon sounds like the closest fit to them, compared to the other options (Wailing and Wish).

There's also the Executor Dragon...? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I mean, maybe? They didn't allude to whether or not the Executor Dragon was a new or Remastered dragon when Eleanor and Luis talked about it in the last Paizo LIVE!.

In fairness they really didn't say anything at all about it other than that it's kinda furry like old medieval European illustrations =P

LOOOVE the dragons introduced in Alien Core, and the artwork is fantastic! My favorites are definitely the Akashic and Cosmic, but all four are spectacular and rich with storytelling opportunities. Also, imagine a Host Dragon with the Nanite template o.O

Really looking forward to seeing what other dragons might come up in future books! Maybe a Drift Dragon, for example =D

The Mocking Dragon, also known as the Kefka Dragon in my game group.

The picture showed at Gencon screams Kefka from FF6 to us.

I can see it, though personally I get more Warhammer 40k Harlequin / Cegorach vibes. Probably the color scheme that does it for me.

Also saw a screenshot of the table of contents for Draconic Codex, and I feel vindicated that my initial guess on the Oath Dragon was as the successor of other silvery entities, given their historical Paladin/Champion-esque outlook and role! Cool to see it indicated up front that not every cause they choose to champion is necessarily a benevolent one, making them an even cleaner parallel to the Champion =]

Primal dragon with link to metal and "spark".

Lightning rod dragon

Better yet, a Dragonblood PC named Zapp Dragonman.

Fun and cute read! Also enjoying the theory-crafting here in the forum regarding the implications of Geb attempting to tie themselves more closely to Absalom and the ripple effects that could cause.

I wonder if such a scenario may in any way have something to do with a certain Impossible event involving Necromancers and Runesmiths! After all, we've had War of Immortals, the ongoing Hellfire Crisis, why not an instigation of another war between two nations already infamous for their animosity toward one another, each with their own "representative" ala the two classes...

I was really curious of the role that Requiem dragons would play, considering the very draconic (though technically not dragons) Yamaraj Psychopomps. Very distinct from one another, in that the former ferry souls to their afterlife while the latter are judges that oversee particularly sticky "cases" that aren't *quite* at the level of needing Pharasma's direct attention.

Hoping there might be a little blurb on how Requiem Dragons relate to the Psychopomps, particularly the Yamaraj =] Wonder if they're ever hobby-buddies?

I love the idea of a Rune Dragon keeping a handful of magical craftspeople around like feeder shrimp, where they just clean and take away shedding scales to then bring back to their own shops while the dragon benefits from some regular grooming and hygiene =P

Also happy for the return of a non-Diabolic fire dragon. Goblins who don't want Unholy influence for their Bloodlines or Instincts may now rejoice and enjoy their Sanctification-neutral fire!

With the Time Dragon featuring so prominently in Pathfinder Quest, I'm really excited to see their return to the TTRPG too!

And if their redesign is essentially in line with the art from PFQ, then I am SO very enamored with their updated look! <3

*Cues "Final Countdown" by Europe*

Hype! Hype! Hype! Soooo excited for this, and so happy that this has been doing so well!

Hype!!
The new Mythic Destinies from Revenge of the Runelord are all QUITE cool and mechanically interesting, and SOOOO excited to see how well the Pathfinder Quest campaign is going!!
Every new mini unlocked makes me feel better about going in on the Mini Menagerie tier =P