MadamReshi's page

Please do remove the links to Twitter, it's very much not a good thing to have linked.

Wonderful, wonderful post ^^

Hmm depression and other writing projects took time from me figuring out whether it would be better to do two statblocks or one page adventure plus statblock :'D I wonder if its too late now, at least won't be time to have anyone else proof read

Do the latter; I'm trying to get something done, and originally had two custom stat blocks, and had to cut it down to one. To be fair, I have some lengthy abilities, but two pages I have found to be fairly restrictive - and a fun challenge.

The next prophecy concerns one of the Prismatic Ray. Let the speculation begin!

I will be immensely terrified for Shelyn if Desna or Sarenrae is the one to get the prophecy.

I was completely wrong in my guesses. The fact that Sheyln also loses so much from this is terrifying.

I'm filled with fear for the Prismatic Ray.

Oh wow! There's a gazetteer in here for Sandpoint!

I was at some point going to pick up the AP; being a newer fan of the system and setting, I really do want to dive into a special moment and at-least read and appreciate it (if not run it at some point).

But I was also interested because my party in my own campaign are coincidentally going towards Sandpoint, and will probably be there by the time the book drops.

The fact the Sandpoint gazetter is in the player's guide - oh this is going to be SO useful to me.

Really fascinated to read this AP and be inspired by it.

And yeah. Congrats on 200. That's something special.

If a beast starts devouring gods the first thing I'd check is if anyone's seen Achaekek recently.

Yes. What IS Achaekek's role in all of this?

He's supposed to protect the gods, right?

I suspect he's going to be the first death in all this, as part of the prelude to the main event. His death opens all sorts of nasty things to happen to the gods.

It's going to be down to the way its handled.

I think I have a certain amount of favouritism towards Sarenrae and Shelyn for a variety of reasons. Either of them being taken out would sadden me and complicate things; but if it's done in a compelling way it could work out well.

I do, however, have this fundamental feeling that the changes to the Prismatic Ray will not be because of death, but either an addition to the pantheon, or as I suspect, a partial breakup.

There's a reason Zon Kuthon is high on my list of who is going to perish; and his relationship to Shelyn, and what she may do if he passes, is a big one for me.

Thank you for your stories and for the wonderful items!

The diversity of different cultures here is simply wonderful.

An entire setting book covering cultures of indigenous peoples and their cultures translated to the world of Lost Omens would be pretty cool.

I think the always clear clarified but always RAW changed why Paizo why 'deadlier' rules would make for an excellent official variant rule, for those groups wanting a 'grittier' game.

(Struckthrough text added for some light humour about the huge arguments we've all engaged in for the past few weeks - I am solidly behind Mark Seifter's probably over-optimistic hope on Reddit for this to bring about a "peaceful conclusion to the discourse")

I think it'd make for a great rules variant too for particularly deadly game and a particularly well optimised group; rather than throwing harder encounters consistently and making things too difficult in that area, having a game where death can come more suddenly could be quite an interesting variant.

Basically what I'm taking away from this is that Sandpoint deserves those Seven Dooms.

I am personally quibbling whether this is pure errata or clarification because of the fact that this discrepancy has existed between two sources - the Core Rulebook and the GM Screen - since the start, but the Core Rulebook has won out, because it is the main game source over an accessory product and it is what is available on online sources. However, neither have been errata'd to match the other until now.

And it's causing a lot of confusion because it seems to make the game harder and lead to major debates over the 'right' course of action to take when someone is unconscious, that didn't exist before. And it affects anyone playing PFS who are going to use the clarified / errata'd rules.

Is there any variant in the new GM Core that has less deadly rules around Dying, Wounded and Recovery Checks?

A different rule preference does not confer whether a group is 'sane' or not. Can we stop using loaded language? I don't even like what the rule is supposed to be. But insults do not lead to a constructive conversation.

The thing is, the Core Rulebook and the GM Screen have always disagreed; and they were released on the same day. The GM Screen states:

"Any time you gain the dying condition or increase it for any reason, add your wounded value to the amount you gain or increase your dying value. The wounded condition ends if you receive HP from Treat Wounds, or if you’re restored to full HP and rest for 10 minutes."

This verbage is apparently what playtest documents stated before.

So. Is this a mistake in the GM Screen, or the Core Rulebook?

It seems the Remaster assumes that the Core Rulebook was wrong.

By the by, there's now a Tan Ripper who's also one and two starring every Pathfinder 2e product.

I don't want to be cranky, but please Paizo, can this be dealt with? Or can someone explain an easy way to leave a review on a product? This is actually making it very hard to evaluate whether any Pathfinder 2e book is worth it, because a heckler's veto is being applied to the products and being one and two starred in such a blatantly false way. There's no way this isn't spam, considering they are all blank reviews and it's every 2e product.

Trained skills lose value over time as the game assumes proficiency boosts in all skills ever acquired. This is why Intelligence is a bad stat.

The GM isn't supposed to make every skill check an a level based skill check though. You are supposed to continue using both lower level and simple DC trained, expert etc. skills when it is appropriate. Mind you I haven't ran higher levels and I don't know how adventure paths handle this, but for a lot of skills, especially ones like Athletics and so, I think it's pretty important to have those less intensive checks still there

After all, it serves to help highlight those who have invested in those skills versus who hasn't when, say, your party ends up falling into a stormy sea, and some automatically always Crit Succeed their rolls, some nearly always succeed - and some need help to stay above water.

I think its weirder that some people are against playing the game for what it is: A combat simulator with a splash of RP and a heaping dose of worldbuilding.

Different people get different things out of a TTRPG.

Yes, a significant amount of focus on Pathfinder 2e is on the combat. But it's a flexible enough system that you could have skill challenges without combat and focus mostly on roleplay, diplomacy, and saving people rather than fighting something and still have a great time.

People just have a different way of playing and running things, so I think it's weird to say that people are 'against playing the game for what it is' when their concept of the game is different to yours and the system is very clearly designed to support that type of play. The subsystems available, including some for much more narrative based combat, along with the extensive skill and skill feat system, make that clear.

GameDesignerDM wrote:

DemonicDem wrote:

GameDesignerDM wrote:

DemonicDem wrote:

Aaron Shanks wrote:

Hey players, Happy Equinox.

As you’re discussing the remaster changes, kindly be aware that the remaster reflects the rules we are using going forward, but that no content is being banned at your tables. We need to publish what we need to publish for the legal health and safety of our company—and we’re adding improvements to the game along the way. But nothing we’re printing should be considered a subtraction from the game you love. All the options will still be in the System Reference Document at Archives of Nethys.

The Remaster Project is a process. We’re going to be remastering Pathfinder at least into Gen Con 2024 with Player Core 2. And that doesn’t even address the errata that our design team may consider for every rule published after the Advanced Player’s Guide.

In short, a blended OGL/ORC experience should be expected for many months. And we’re never, we can’t, put an end date on what you play at your tables. We’re not coming to your home and taking away your older books. We want you to keep using everything you’ve purchased. As always, we’re trying to deliver to you the best deep character customization options in the industry.

Adventures Ahead!

I love the Remaster, but options are *already* gone from Archives of Nethys.

Which options?

Secrets of Magic Elementalist Spell List is missing. The current one is just the Rage of Elements spell list, which doesn't have all the options Secrets of Magic did. Blistering Invective, Flammable Fumes, etc.

Deities that appeared in Rage of Elements but also was written before have had their alignment removed. ie Sairazul

The SoM one is right here, for example, and those other spells are still up and findable.

The Secrets of Magic spell list literally isn't there? What are you talking about? That's the Rage of Elements...

See the updated archetype.

Secrets of Magic Elementalist: This section updates and expands the elementalist class archetype originally presented on page 206 of Secrets of Magic. If you're using the version of the archetype from Secrets of Magic and are happy with it, you don't need to make any changes—that original version functions the same as using the new text and choosing Inner Sea elementalism for your elemental philosophy!

Captain Morgan wrote:

Because as of 2021 there was exactly one creature with weakness to acid.

I hate it when this stupid forum software truncates a quote, not quoting the part to which I want to reply. :-(

Interestingly, I tried searching AoN for creatures with weakness to acid. According to the documentation this is a complex search for "weakness.acid". When I do this, I get zero hits. However, when I changed the "acid" part to "cold", I also get zero hits, even though looking at the full list of creatures the first entry is Adult Gold Dragon, which does have a weakness to cold. So either I'm doing it wrong, or AoN is not working correctly.

Using the number filter on AoN to select creatures with at-least Weakness 1 to Acid, I found four creatures with a Weakness to Acid. For Cold, I found 77.

In comparison, about 133 creatures are resistant to Acid, with 199 resistant to Cold.

That indicates to me that there should be more creatures weak to Acid added. May the next version of the Bestiary take this into account.

I would not run it that way at my table. The character would have either attempted to cast the spell and not have jumped when it didn't work (sane and intelligent) or been allowed to cast Feather Fall with a normal action as a means of escape (I would also allow my players to do the same). Either is a better solution than what happened.

Feather Fall is a reaction spell that has the trigger that it has to be cast on a creature within range that is falling. Unless the creature is falling, it can't attempt to Cast the Spell before jumping. Changing the spells action economy to be a full Action to avoid the effect is also bizarre. If a creature jumps out, they could use Grab an Edge instead to attempt to hold on.

Whatever about players*, the second solution particularly strikes me as essentially denying the player's successful spell** against the boss, which would feel pretty bad. How could a player ever expect that a GM would rule that the spell essentially works anyway, especially in a context whether the loss of an action - out of three - isn't going to matter? I'd be gutted as a player.

Isn't that what we're trying to avoid here? You seem to be arguing against yourself in this case - or at the least, rewarding players for good play and being somewhat adversarial against them?

(* generally, I think players knowing metaknowledge is a lot more allowable than bosses knowing metaknowledge due to the power dynamics - but I think that's something to talk about at the table for spell effects that aren't obvious)

(** and the first one strikes me a little about it as well, because how does the boss know? But less egregious since it still blocks the boss from doing an escape, and forces them to engage).

graystone wrote:

Say what now? Casters don't use wands?

Optimized casters don't.

A Wand gives you an additional spell per day and 2 for exceptional circumstances for 10 to 15 times the price of a scroll.
A small bunch of Scrolls (you don't need many, 2 or 3 scrolls of your highest level is enough) gives you 2 things:
- First, it's a buffer for the famous unexpected tough fight at the end of the unexpectedly long adventuring day. Because you have this buffer, you can be more liberal in your spell slot use. And thing is: The unexpected tough fight at the end of the unexpectedly long adventuring day is a rarity. So the result is just that you go to bed with more spells used, roughly 30-40% more than a caster without scrolls and you rarely use a scroll because of that. That's extra free spells, and more than the Wand can give you for half its price.
- Second, for life or death situations, you will cast as much as you can and you will end up using your scrolls (that's the main case when I use my scrolls). You will also overcharge your Wand (because it's a life or death situation so you don't really count your pennies). The Wand will give you 2 castings with half the chance to be broken for 10 to 15 times the price of a scroll.

The effect of Scrolls on your character is much bigger than the effect of Wands. Buying Wands of spells you can cast is a weak choice, you should buy Scrolls instead. But I get it, it's a bit hard to accept (it took me a bit of time to realize the effect of Scrolls on my character, but after saving the party from a TPK and a potential character death I was damn sure it was the optimized choice).

So, as a GM, the impression I am getting is that it's better to give wands as loot while letting players buy a variety of scrolls?

What I'd love to see is better magic item scaling.

I hate when magic items are only usable for 2 levels, then become useless.

At the very least, an official variant rule for upgrading specific magic items would be useful. I'm going to allow my players to do that - because I want them to have cool items and be able to use them until the ydon't want to.

Personally, I dislike the fact that to get from 18 to 20 in an ability, I need to invest two ability boosts into it, but the first one provides me no benefit at all. I would prefer if the rules just said you can't reach 20 in an ability until 10th lvl, and allow us to use that 5th level ability boost somewhere else rather than being forced to waste it.

It's also the only time an odd ability score is used in 2E, which is strange.

Do we know what the balance implications of this would be? I think it would certainly make MAD characters stronger - which could be appealing.

What would be the point of playing Spontanious Casters if other spellcasters got Flexible Casting for free?

My argument would be that while class features and specific exclusive spells do make a difference, but there would still be quite the power imbalance when it comes to spellcasting versatility and being able to react to handle different situations.

I think it's good that you have a choice between maximum flexibility in exchange for less spellslots and only being able to prepare a number of given spells at a time; flexibility in spell rank and how many spells you can know but you have to plan out your day; and flexibility in what spells you can cast but only knowing a few and only getting a little flexibility in spell rank.

I am interested in seeing arguments for flexibile spellcasting to be a default thing, but I am somewhat skeptical.

Aura states:

"An aura is an emanation that continually ebbs out from you, affecting creatures within a certain radius"

I feel that contradicts assuming all emanations just pulse out from the caster.

At the same time, Bless and Bane seem really difficult to use without being auras.

I think we do need a clarification on this; it seems like a strange rules bug.

Vali Nepjarson wrote:

I am finding myself in need of stat blocks for creatures that are beyond level 25.

I am extremely curious what the purpose of having stats for a level 25 creature would be.

You couldn't have it directly fight the players. That would just end badly.

So... ?

Vali has stated players will also increase their level and that they are going for a Mythic feel. I assume they are planning quite the long campaign or want their players to feel an extreme powerlevel.

Wouldn't one of the best ways that Paizo could address trans rights and LGBTQIA+ issues would be to engage with organisations like Stonewall, etc.?

It's interesting how radically different different players' PF2 experiences are.

It is pretty cool to see. Makes me really interested in running the game with people who haven't kept up with this conversations like I have.

Reading this thread has been interesting, as I had been wonderign about Aid and aiding attacks, and whether the DC should be set to the AC of the creature, as that sounded like what would be appropriate following the rules.

But I think staying to DC20 to encourage its use and distinguish between success and critical success is important.

For those who have ran and played through the adventure; how well would this adapt to being used as an intro before going into Strenght of Thousands with similar or different characters?

For anyone who is male or masculine, please remember that you are not alone and that your mental health is important; opening up, particularly emotionally can be quite difficult, but talking and reaching out does help. You are valid.

If you can't see how religion (particularly organised religion) can be used to harm and hurt people; that it is okay to criticise that harm and hurt without spreading religious hatred / hatred of anyone of a particular religion (which is often tied to racism); and that those criticisms are different from the transphobia faced by trans people...

I don't know how else to explain it.

Thanks for this. This is making more positive that Paizo as a whole can turn the corner - but it's clear the workers and staff themselves are good peeps.

I think making claims about incidents without some sort of verification or proof of discussion, whether on or off site, is off-topic and does muddy the water somewhat, and increases moderator stress (there are like... what, three at the moment? Let's try not to increase their work).

Everyone is replaceable in a business.

Except, as clear as it seems, the main community managers who proved themselves time and time again, and were rewarded with being dropped suddenly.

Diego Valdez wrote:

To clarify, Tonya lobbied for and was given the Director of Customer Service and Community position. This was in effect a demotion for Sara. A few weeks later Sara was fired by Tonya. I quit when she was fired.

...well whoop me with a Lincoln Log...thank you for that informative bit Diego.

A lot of things are starting to make a lot more sense now.

Pretty disheartening, even with the small steps forward.

Let's see how the negotiations with the union go. Something tells me that they won't be particularly happy with this statement.

I find people's attitudes to moderation and forums strange here.

I have become somewhat active on forums such as enworld and rpg.net. Those places are both well moderated and warn users of infractions, publically, with quotes and without deleting posts. In addition, users are banned, sometimes permanently, if they break the rules.

I understand right now that the Paizo team is quite small and that they are under a lot of pressure and work to try and deal with current incidents. Removing posts to try and deal with incidents is logical in that situation and somewhat admirable; they have been some truly digusting things removed recently, that I can imagine have been upsetting to people.

However.

If users are not being banned for blatantly breaking community guidelines, and then their posts are being removed... then their behaviour is going to continue, as their intention is often to hurt specific people at specific times - which tehy wil lget away with if there is no longer term issue.

I have heard there are significant issues with Pazio accounts being linked to purchases, which I can see being an issue; I am not sure how viable it is to refactor how accounts work to separate user accounts and purchase accounts.

But this needs to be done, along with hiring more moderators and properly dealing with abusive and rude users. Otherwise, the forum's viasblility as a place to discuss Paizo and its products will be reduced.

Perhaps marginalised people (in particular members of the LGBTQIA+ community) wouldn't be so abrasive and 'rude' if we had the backing of more straight and cis people who would call out homophobic, biphobic and transphobic behaviour when they see it, and got rid of repeat offenders whos goals are to make us unsafe and unwelcome.

I certainly know, from my experience, so called 'abrasive' trans people tend to be, well, not be abrasive when they're around people who accept them. Almost as if coming under attack for existing is exhausting and draining.

Paizo, please hire a moderator team, or get vetted volunteers. This place is becoming pretty distressing to come to, in the way the subreddit of all things isn't.

There is no path for career advancement at Paizo. Jim’s VP position was created for him, it was not something anyone was able to apply for. Staff didn’t even know it existed until we were informed he was hired. Likewise the position Mike is in was not one anyone was able to apply for, it was created for him when he was hired.

And as far as promoting upwards in the company, well after nearly 5 and a half years and still having an entry level title despite doing things like managing the satellite booths at GenCon, and training new hires (all of the CSRs currently at the company weren’t only trained by me, I was also the one who went through their applications, and set up interviews, likewise for some that are no longer with the company) I asked for a promotion in December 2019. After 3 months of leading me on, in March 2020 I was informed I didn’t NEED a promotion. I did finally get one a year later in January 2021, but that was because they had to, not because they wanted to. Incidentally before Paizo I was the front end manager at a Harbor Freight Tools for 2 and a half years, and before that the warehouse manager at a Borders for several years until the company liquidated. So it’s not even that I was unqualified for a leadership position.

There is no getting promoted up through the ranks at Paizo. Either you’re a friend or contact of Lisa or Jeff’s and you get hired straight into leadership positions, or you’re not and you have no career advancement options.

That's pretty horrifying. I'm hoping this is something that the union negotiations can discuss and solve, and that the new executives keep thise very much at the back of their minds that this has to change.

Thank you for speaking up Diego. Having this out in the open is important. Solidarity the whole way.

I hope that Butler and Webb both understand the importance of working with the union and workers, and they help to address the continuing concerns (as can be seen in other threads) about Paizo's exective team (particularly Jeff).

I would hope they help Paizo apologise for transphobic practices that occured in the past.

I personally rpefer Soul Vessal.

However I would suggest that each lich, based on who they are, would choose a shape, name and reference for their individual 'Soul Cage', and the term only be used as a generic reference.

Imagine, if you will, that the lich ytou're facing has a Waffle Iron of Soul Binding... how much flavour and stories can you great out of that?

Unsure about Magus, but for me for Gunslinger and very specifically anyone who wants to dual wield, it does feel awkward being unable to use your Way reload while having the Dual Wield feat from the Gunslinger itself. IMO, it'd make sense to mek to errata the Gunslinger version of that feat so that you can use it to reload a weapon without having to have a hand free, so that you can at-least use it when required. That doesn't save on action economy necessarily, but it would at-least make Pistolero or Sniper as safe paths for anyone who's going down that class fantasy.

Granted, I'm saying this without playing - it might be a different situation in actual play.

History being written by the victors is a myth. History is written by those who have the means and ability to do so, but also by what people leave behind and what spreads as cultural ideas or opinions.

Consider the fact that in Irish history, there were plenty of various different rebellions against the English and British administration on the island, all of which failed until the War of Independence. Yet, it is extremely clear that each one of these rebellions, despite their failure, continued to inspire future rebellions and inform Irish culture. This could not exactly have happened if the adage was always true, no?

... apologies, we're getting quite serious here.

While I generally prefer not to have alignment systems (though if I were to run Pathfinder, I would probably stick with it unless I had a compelling reason not to), I do agree capital G good gods should... well, not be outright bigots or engage in horrible things. While modern morality can be quite different fromn the past, history is not linger; it's not as simple as believing a medevial society, especially one where gods exist, would have misogny as a mainline view, to use the example brought up here.

UnArcaneElection wrote:

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Late to the party on this thread, but I'd definitely like to see more going on in Galt. Night of the Gray Death is GOOD, don't get me wrong, but it feels to me like the climax of an AP without the five or so books of build-up and getting to know Galt and its people. {. . .}

Really? It felt to me like just the beginning.

keftiu wrote:

A political AP about rebuilding a traumatized nation in the aftermath of one final revolution would be /so/ much fun.

And the beauty of it is, five years later, it's ready to rinse and repeat . . . Galt has one final revolution every five years or so.

Night of the Grey Death seems to mark a pretty definitive turning point. I won’t say more, but the future of Galt should look fairly different from its recent past.

I'm curious then - does Pathfinder 2e have a metanarrative, i.e., the results and endings of past APs will definitely tie into and become canon in future APs and lore books? I know the year advances to match the current year of our world in each material released.