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"Come along Cogswork, we've got some rubble and ruin to sift through." The little kobold and his machine waddle out of the inn after Barak as he thinks out loud to himself, "Hmm.. my expectation of creepy houses owned by cultists is "spooky basement", he quotes with his fingers,".. so we should keep an eye out for any hidden doors or passages in the foundation."

don't know about anyone else, but I've been stuck in baldur's gate 3 land for a few days

The player shouldn't need to ask their GM and hope they acquiesce to patch over a design hole in the game. The rules should be functional and balanced as written.

The only way I can see curriculums not being a massive nerf (to a class that definitely didn't need it) is if players can make their own curriculum selections without needing to talk the GM by just choosing from common spells at each level to be their available curriculum spells PLUS additional overall class changes.

The kind of difference between 15 to 45 in spell choice is so vast that even if all 2-3 spells for a level in a pre-defined curriculum are standout spells within the theme, that will still be a loss compared to the school system pre-remaster. As I could simply prepare not just those, but any standout spells in my normal slots and then have a huge number of school spells to pick from to fill the school slots. Any way you cut it, if curriculums are going to fit a predefined list as given in the example, and players can only make their own through GM fiat, it is a massive loss in the freedom of wizards to prepare what spells they want.

I gave this example before to a fellow player in a game who seemed to not grasp the significance of the versatility reduction with the curriculums.

Comparing a 14th level wizard: with the curriculum example given, I have a maximum of 15 different spells I can prepare in the extra slots. Under the school system, an illusion school wizard of the same level has 45 potential spells to choose from for that extra slot. That is triple the choices. Keep in mind too that I did not even count uncommon or rare spells in the second count, but did in the first.

This change is concerning to me beyond the impact of this change alone though. Any competent designer should have been able to see that this was such a drastic reduction in the wizard's choices that it would obviously result in general concern and worry over the state of the class in the remaster if seen on its own. As a result, they would (hopefully) add notes explaining that this is one part of a larger overhaul of the wizard and should not be a point of concern. Or, at the very least, they would have simply avoided including the curriculum change in the preview by itself and instead waited until it could be viewed as part of the whole with the remaster release or a preview specifically on the wizard.

The fact that the designers apparently did not have that good sense, is worrying on its own with regard to their competency for the remaster.

Amperex looks at the first child and their injuries, and then the other two as they pile in toward the doorway. Unfortunately being only 3 feet tall at best makes it difficult to see past the curious children; glancing up at Aztryx after his question, he makes a quick clicking sound with his mouth.

"Damn my height challenges", he thinks.

Almost as quickly as the sound is made, Cogswork comes to attention and lifts Amperex into his hands, very gently holding him several feet off the ground, with the palms of the construct acting like a seat. With a new perspective, hopefully, he gets a serviceable look at things.

is it possible to tell, either at a glance, or with a visual check of some kind, what kind of injuries these might be generally? like, broken bones vs burns kind of difference.

"Who's "we" ma'am?", Amperex pipes up from the back of the room. "Did it 'take' from them too? Does it take from everyone that encounters it?" The low angle and near motionless state of his tail gives away his concern.

Some sort of memory manipulation maybe? Or something worse..

Amperex suddenly pointed his index finger skyward in a eureka moment, "Actually, Macondi, that brings up a good point." He turns to Galia, "Miss Farrsmith, aside from the standard antidotes, are there any local methods people have been taking to protect themselves, at least to some extent, from the mosquitos and the like? At least, ones you would recommend."

The door opens once more somewhat abruptly behind Aztryx. A construct standing over 6 feet and shaped akin to a sphere with stocky arms and legs and a dome shaped head looms in the open doorway. It’s size and stoic stance, shadowed by the interior, may give it a more intimidating appearance than was likely intended.. as indicated by the lopsided smile painted in white across its otherwise featureless face.

”Ugh!” calls out a small raspy voice from behind the construct’s legs. ”Move, bolt-brain!”

The construct takes a few steps forward before coming to a stop as it no longer blocks the doorway. The sound of leather boots gently smacks against the floor and the door is shut behind the machine.

A gold colored kobold steps out from behind the construct, his tail swinging back and forth rhythmically as it gives away his excitement. The small thing wears a heavy trench coat over leather armor adorned with small gears and gizmos, with a toolbox hanging from his shoulder under one arm, a holstered pistol on the other side, and sleek silver goggles covering his eyes with tinted blue lenses.

”Hello, hello, hello..” he says with a shifting gaze as if counting out the word for each present, ”I am Amperex..” with a gentle rubbery slap he pulls up his goggles and lets them snap onto the top of his head, revealing his light blue eyes, ”..inventor. Oh! And this is Cogswork.” He gestures with the thumb on his left hand to the construct still standing silently behind him.

In his right Amperex still grips a small sheet of paper. Obviously a bit scatterbrained, he glances down at it and mutters some words aloud, his thin tail flicking back and worth, ”… Weaponworks… dwarf..” He looks at those present, ”Since none of you match the description of..” he glances quickly back at the paper, ”a Mr. Smine?… I assume we will all be working together on this little venture.”

If Amperex is new, they are probably just looking for something low-level and fun because they don't know the story arcs.

Barak & Macondi might be interested in joining a Level One game with Amperex, especially if you're offering to GM, Super Zero. Macondi's player is also fairly new to PFS, but I'm a veteran.

Barak is a fighter with 8 Gm credit XP that I am setting up right now, and Macondi is an oracle who has 4 XP from 4-01. I need to look to see what Barak has already credit for, but I'm willing to expend replays for a fun non-repeatable if you offer one.

That's right; I'm not new to 2e at all, but I don't know any of the scenarios or anything for society.

..and it's my first time actually using these forums for anything other than googling rule questions