I should also stress, once again, that this mess started in September, and literally every single trans person I know who's been taking part has been unbelievably burned out at this point. None of the points you or Sanityfaerie here are remotely new to us. That doesn't mean they have no validity, but familiarity breeds contempt. When someone bursts down the door and immediately starts trotting out the same tired "people here are getting so offended lately" take, without first asking us in good faith what our feelings on things are, it's the thirtieth time we're dealing with it.
(I'm not certain, but that's quite possibly an underestimation.)
As someone who for his own sanity is only popping in once every week or two and thus doesn't see all the things that have been deleted or everything folks have been dealing with, I just want to say I see this and am sorry if anything I've said has contributed to it. Emotional exhaustion and loss of patience are inevitable when feeling constantly under assault.
I think the OP has a point about "nuance" becoming a verboten topic lately, but this explanation really helps to put the tension and raw feelings into context. Thank you and, again, apologies if I contributed to it.
I remember one of the more uncomfortable moments I had in a PbP campaign was Hells Rebels and trying to make an alliance with a certain slave-owning character. The benefits of the alliance were clear, as were the risks of offending the person. We decided to buy the slaves off the person to free them but even that was fraught and at least two of us felt a bit foul talking about what the price of a person was.
Honestly, I'm perfectly happy to see it dropped as something that is emphasized in the materials. That said, if we're establishing the standard as Paizo not writing about "problematic content," I have notes. Genocide (ongoing today and there are refugees of it throughout the world), child murder, torture (I know survivors) ... Perhaps as with many things this is a more nuanced conversation and not one easily distilled into polemics.
A lot of us play these games to be with friends and have a good time. Sometimes, and I would argue when RPGs are at their best, we also play them to explore difficult and complicated topics and from that experience gain a better understanding of the topic and ourselves. (In fact, I had a long conversation with a psychiatrist who thinks the role play of darker themes and characters can be therapeutic and a constructive outlet for our antisocial tendencies.) Does that mean we need more material from Paizo on slavery in Goladian? Of course not; I have never had a campaign centered around it and I agree: Paizo had bungled its handling in the past. But the implicit characterization that those saying Paizo shouldn't shy away from difficult content are ipso facto racist trolls is problematic in itself.
After giving it some thought and going back to basics, I take Cori Marie's and others' points better than I did a few days ago. There is a real disconnect between stating (or implying) you're looking at DEI/B and then hiring a law firm. In my experience, DEI/B is more of an HR and hiring initiative. It's not really a "lawyer"-thing. If you are an employee and you get into a fight with an employer, you're either hiring a plaintiff-side employment lawyer or your union is hiring a labor lawyer. If you're management, you're hiring a management-side employment firm or a firm with experience fighting unions or representing management in grievance processes.
The lawyer may say they have experience in DEI/B (and they do), but I don't know any lawyer who calls themselves a "DEIB lawyer." I'm not saying none of them do (it sounds like Cori Marie hired an attorney who described themselves thusly and I respect that), but this was literally my practice area and neither I or my husband, also a lawyer, know anyone who refer to themselves this way. Lawyers can help craft policies and guidance around DEI/B since it can be heavily intertwined with the law and liability, but DEI/B is more about workplace culture, hiring and retention.
Honestly, I just spent twenty minutes googling for a law firm or even a lawyer who "specializes" in DEIB and what I got were a bunch of links to law firms' heads of diversity and inclusivity. (I'm not saying you won't find any if you look; I'm just saying it wasn't easy for me to find.) Of the two bar associations I belong to, one has a DEI section and for that the focus is on increasing diversity within the profession (not about representation of clients); the other association only has a Labor/Employment section and no mention of DEI/B at all.
If that sounds like I'm arguing the point, I'm actually not. As I've sat and thought about it, I think it really goes to the fundamentals of the position that a law firm may not have been the best type of service for Paizo to retain. And perhaps that does reflect on their intent. Even though I don't agree with that conclusion, after thinking about it for a while I better understand and empathize with it.
A lot of good will has certainly been lost and many folks are understandably waaaaaaay beyond assuming good faith. I get it. I'm not persuaded it is ipso facto a sign of bad faith or nefarious intent, but I do understand why folks feel that way.
All that said, one of the deleted posts said something about being kinder towards one another, not trying to score points, and so on. To me, this thread and subforum generally has grown amazingly hostile and toxic despite the moderators' best efforts. I've also contributed to it at least once back when all this broke, and I'll own that and apologize for it. (Looking at you, thejeff; sorry I was a jerk.) I think we can all point to plenty of examples.
And the kicker is, at this point, I think we're all basically on the same side: we want to see things improve for the employees so what happened to Sara Marie, Crystal and others doesn't continue to happen. We just disagree on the particulars or how we interpret certain steps along the journey.
Thank you for this. Really great to see representation on this (yes, representation matters!) and get a glimpse of folks beyond the names we see on the products. Huge respect to these creators.
Sigh. So, I'm not interested in arguing the point over much because, as I said, I'm no longer confident in senior management to accept the recommendations. But I can assure you hiring a law firm to provide an assessment of workplace conditions is neither uncommon nor innately malicious. I've been one of those lawyers and I most assuredly did not go about it to destroy the employees. Rather, we interviewed the relevant people, prepared reports that assessed risks including problems with policies and procedures, including acts or omissions by management and made recommendations for improvements. And that was the extent of the engagements. But if folks want to see ill intent in this too, who am I to argue. Maybe they're right. I doubt it, but I've been wrong before.
PS, In defense of the profession, if you see your job as a lawyer is to destroy other people and you're taking clients who want you to do that, you may be in the wrong profession. I always saw my job as protecting people and their rights, whether it was employer/management side or employee. It saddens me to think people see their professional obligation in such a way.
Please cancel my remaining subscriptions. I'll resume them if/when the union is able to say work conditions and protections for the staff have improved.
I've believed Crystal's take on everything; I've always had tremendous respect for the quality of her work, breadth of knowledge and interpersonal skills. Where she corroborated others' allegations, I took notice because she said so. And I parred back on my subscriptions partly because of what she'd said and I was no longer confident Paizo actually lived the values I thought we shared.
Yet even with all of that, yes, SKR's take says a lot to me. There are serious problems at the top. While I actually think hiring a law firm to do an assessment is a good step (this is my professional background so I see it differently than some others), there will only be positive results from that if senior management is willing to implement them. I may well be late to the party on this, but I'm not seeing a capacity to enact meaningful change after what sounds like years of mistreatment and indifference.
I want to support the staff and the union, so I'll continue to monitor and see what happens, but I'll be canceling the last of my subscriptions.
Just... Wow. I really don't know how else to express the depth of my disappointment.
Thanks for writing this. Not to diminish the validity of anyone's feelings or understandable anger but, as someone who has been taking a break from the forums for my own mental health, I admire the effort at positivity and kindness.
- No longer mandatory to share hotel rooms (directly addresses one of the complaints)
I agree that this is great since it's archaic to force those to share. I just hope this doesn't come at the cost of fewer cons/travel or employees who choose to share rooms are the ones who go to cons.
The discriminatory policy wasn't addressed, but one of the items behind it has been changed. It was described as a "business decision" originally.
100% ending shared rooms means we'll see less company-sponsored travel to conventions and it will also likely means we'll see a less varied presence too as it consolidates around a handful of people.
Well, you're right that it certainly means company-sponsored travel will either be (a) more expensive and require a larger budget or (b) fewer people will be going. It's often easy for non-managerial employees and outsiders to look at a company as a bottomless pit of money. "Just pay the workers more!" or "Single-rooms for everyone!", "HEPA air-filters in all rooms," etc.
The reality is that everything costs money. That's not an excuse to discriminate; ensuring all employees get equal opportunities is a cost of business. But the business also has a bottom line to maintain.
So yes, of course there is going to be a balancing here. We can either accept this as a step in the right direction or damn them no matter what they do.
Given that you can't just "copy-paste-publish," I think Paizo knows exactly how hard it would be. The work that goes into writing, editing, the art, layout, publishing, etc...
The bigger risk to Paizo, IMO, is that many people came to Paizo because we appreciated the values espoused by the company and had grown to dislike WotC/Hasbro. It would be easy to just go back to D&D if folks wanted.
I'm taking all of this with some skepticism (some of the allegations seem legit while others seem rooted in either bad blood or emotional distress). I can also tell you, as someone who has represented management and employees, there are always two sides to every story -- even when you think the merits weigh more heavily on one side than the other.
Hey guys. I have been meaning every day to get back here and get an update up, and life has just been unrelenting. Not all in bad ways (my in-laws have the vaccine, father-in-law is recovering well from the stroke, my mother is getting better from her health travails), but work, family and life are not leaving me a lot of free time or mental energy.
And next week we are going on vacation (part of why this week has been insane). I feel terrible but am kind of feeling like I should put a fork in this as it just is not fair to you. If you like, I'm happy to check in after I get back from vacation to see if I'm in a better head space, but wanted to check in with you now and apologize.
You deserve better from a GM and I just haven't been here like I should be.
Hey guys. I have been meaning every day to get back here and get an update up, and life has just been unrelenting. Not all in bad ways (my in-laws have the vaccine, father-in-law is recovering well from the stroke, my mother is getting better from her health travails), but work, family and life are not leaving me a lot of free time or mental energy. And next week we are going on vacation (part of why this week has been insane). I feel terrible but am kind of feeling like I should put a fork in this as it just is not fair to you. If you like, I'm happy to check in after I get back from vacation to see if I'm in a better head space, but wanted to check in with you now and apologize. You deserve better from a GM and I just haven't been here like I should be.
I'm very sorry but now in addition to my in-laws having health problems (FIL had a stroke and MIL's best and last close friend just died), my mother is as well: shingles in (or behind?) the eye which is proving very debilitating. It's eating up a ton of emotional energy and time. I'm going to ask for a break for this week while I get stuff taken care of for her while she's recovering.
I'm sorry for the slow updates recently and aim to be back on March 1.
Hi all! I'm going to try to keep up with things this week but, to be honest, I'm an absolute ball of stress and anxiety at the moment, and our son's daycare is closed tomorrow so teachers and staff can vote. Depending on tomorrow night, I may also be completely hungover and out of commission on Wednesday. Anyway, I am going to try to stay up on stuff this week, but just wanted to touch base. If you're in the same boat, no worries, please just try to let us know.
Hi all! I'm going to try to keep up with things this week but, to be honest, I'm an absolute ball of stress and anxiety at the moment, and our son's daycare is closed tomorrow so teachers and staff can vote. Depending on tomorrow night, I may also be completely hungover and out of commission on Wednesday. Anyway, I am going to try to stay up on stuff this week, but just wanted to touch base. If you're in the same boat, no worries, please just try to let us know.
Ah shoot guys. I think I checked the posts in gameplay this weekend, then when I didn’t see any new posts today I thought I was waiting for you. I’ll try to have an update up before bed tonight.
Yeah, I think this last round may have finish poor Caggan off. If not, he should be shortly, then we can have Karik rejoin. Sorry, I never quite came up with an elegant explanation for how quiet he was being. :)
Just had one of "Those Moments" -- the type of moment that is the reason we game -- in our regular game today that I had to share, we were just dying of laughter.
I'm running the Hells Rebels AP for my regular group and they came up against an end-of-book boss but in very bad shape. Half of them wind up dead, the other two wind up in prison. The players for the two dead characters put together replacements, and one of them goes with a paladin.
Everyone starts in prison, nothing except a loin cloth, straw mat, and a chamber pot.
A couple of the players insist on provoking the guards into a fight, so the guards go after the arcanist, but the paladin is still locked in his cell. With the bars too thin to throw the chamber pot, he grabs a piece of excrement.
We all tell him, "that's not going to do any damage."
He replies, "Ah ha, but I have 'Smite Evil.' I activate it and throw."
We chuckle at the gag, but then he rolls a natural 20. He confirms.
He kills the guard.
We declared this "Holy S***."
While we were all a bit sad to have two PCs die and the players were sad to lose a big fight, the whole session wound up being one of those things we'll be talking about for years.
Sounds good. Thanks all for sorting that out. Gearing up for Friday night and the weekend here, with a tabletop (virtual) game tomorrow from 11a to 4p (Eastern) but will update as soon as I can.
Thanks, thorin. Maybe it's just a huge brainfart on my part. Your examples make sense, more so the Counterspell example (to my mind). Funny thing is when I presented this scenario to my F2F table for their input (literally linking to this), one player said, "This is so obscure it will never happen again."
I found an old, 500+ post thread on this topic that had 130+ nominations for a FAQ and, in the end, am still confused.
Situation is this:
A. Player readies a spell (Cause Fear) if NPC takes an attack action.
B. NPC declares attack action, triggering the readied action.
C. NPC fails save and is frightened, requiring them to flee the source of the spell.
Question: Did the NPC ever actually use his standard action?
AoN wrote:
Readying an Action: You can ready a standard action, a move action, a swift action, or a free action. To do so, specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action. Your initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your initiative result is the count on which you took the readied action, and you act immediately ahead of the character whose action triggered your readied action.
One way I read this is the NPC never actually took his standard action, the spell went off before it, so he is able to take a full round action to withdraw. However, if the readied action "is part of another character's activities", then the NPC simply loses his standard action and is only able to take a move action.
Waking and standing should slow them a bit, so if the brothers are still in range...
Yup! Standing Twin used a standard action to wake up Sleeping Twin, then move action to head 20' north. Sleeping Twin move action to stand, then standard action to head 30' north. Caggan standard action to gore Cimri, then move action for 40' while avoiding AoOs. While trying to handle this a little looser than a typical combat, I'm also trying to stay honest. (It's hard.) :)
Yeah, I think we got it from our kid through his daycare. So far, I’m the only one whose test results have come back but I’m convinced we all had or have it. Fortunately it’s been super mild for us. I have it the worst with the aches and fatigue but nothing like a bed-ridden flu or worse.
All, I am fine and it is very mild, but I do officially have Covid-19; just got my results this afternoon. I mention it only because my predominant symptoms have been fatigue and aches, particularly starting in the afternoon. So, if I’m a little slow, that’s why.
All, I am fine and it is very mild, but I do officially have Covid-19; just got my results this afternoon. I mention it only because my predominant symptoms have been fatigue and aches, particularly starting in the afternoon. So, if I’m a little slow, that’s why.
Why Urban? You're str-based, you have Raging Vitality...
A will save of ~+11 at 15th level is horrible, that's something you should improve. Early on probably. Furious Focus and Extra Rage are worthless later on, replacing them with Iron Will (and/or Extra Traits -> Deathtouched) would be a good idea.
Thanks! I hated the idea of losing AC and was at one point trying to build the character around Dex, and I think it just rolled over. Is there a different archetype you'd recommend, or just pure bloodrager?
And yeah, Furious Focus is nixed. Might be helpful at the earlier levels when I'm using a weapon but the goal later is to use natural weapons, and it won't be helpful.
On Extra Rage, though only have 15 rounds a day at 15th level seems limiting?
I'm going to be a player in an upcoming Tyrant's Grasp game and would welcome some advice on a build. The general idea is a bloodrager going Dragon Disciple, but we have a few House Rules in place:
* 20 point buy
* Any archetype must be PFS legal (no primalist)
* Characters must be human, half-elf or half-orc
* We are using background skills
* We are using Automatic Bonus Progression Rules
* We are using the "Elephant in the Room" (aka "World is Square) House Rules to eliminate the feat tax (link); this tweaks a lot of things but most critically I get Weapon Finesse and Power Attack automatically
Thanks in advance for any feedback and suggestions!
I was generally thinking something along the lines of the following:
Half-Orc Bloodrager (Urban Bloodrager 5) / Dragon Disciple (10)
At 15th level, it results in something similar to this (without any gear)
Stat Block:
Male half-orc bloodrager (urban bloodrager) 5/dragon disciple 10 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Street 24, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 15)
NG Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +7; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural)
hp 199 (15 HD; 5d10+10d12+95)
Fort +14, Ref +6, Will +6
Defensive Abilities improved uncanny dodge, restrained magic; Resist draconic resistance, fire 10
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft., fly 30 ft. (average); dragon wings
Melee bite +20 (1d6+10 plus 1d6 fire), bite +20 (1d6+10), bite +20 (1d4+7), 2 claws +20 (1d8+7 plus 1d6 Fire), 2 claws +20 (1d6+7)
Special Attacks blood casting, bloodrage (22 rounds/day), breath weapon (15d6 fire, 60 ft. line, DC 22, 2/day), claws, claws (2, 1d6, treated as magic weapons, 5 rounds/day), dragon bite
Dragon Disciple Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +12)
. . 2/day—dragon form
Bloodrager (Urban Bloodrager) Spells Known (CL 12th; concentration +14)
. . 3rd (1/day)—fly
. . 2nd (3/day)—resist energy
. . 1st (3/day)—shield
. . Bloodline Draconic
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Statistics
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Str 24, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +12; CMB +19; CMD 32
Feats Arcane Strike, Blind-fight, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Deadly Aim, Dodge, Eschew Materials, Extra Rage, Furious Focus[APG], Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Raging Vitality[APG], Sunlit Strike, Toughness, Weapon Focus
Traits bloody-minded, the outsider
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+9 to jump), Climb +10, Diplomacy +6, Handle Animal +3, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Knowledge (geography) +14, Knowledge (nobility) +19, Linguistics +7, Perception +18, Profession (trapper) +4, Spellcraft +5, Stealth +20, Survival +1, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers +2 Intimidate
Languages Common, Draconic, Orc
SQ controlled bloodrage, fast movement, finesse weapon attack attribute, orc blood
Other Gear studded leather, backpack, belt pouch, blanket[APG], flint and steel, pot, soap, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 88 gp
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Strike As a swift action, add +1 damage, +1 per 5 caster levels and your weapons are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Blind-Fight Re-roll misses because of concealment, other benefits.
Blindsense (60 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Blood Casting (Su) Cast bloodrager spells while in bloodrage.
Bloodrage (22 rounds/day) (Su) +1 Str, +6 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Breath Weapon (15d6 fire, 60 ft. line, 2/day, DC 22) (Su) As a standard action, deal energy damage in area (Ref half).
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Combat Expertise +/-4 Bonus to AC in exchange for an equal penalty to attack.
Controlled Bloodrage Gain lesser bonus split as desired, but without normal drawbacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deadly Aim -4/+8 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Draconic Resistance (Ex) Gain Fire resistance 2 and +10 natural armor.
Dragon Bite (Ex) Bite atacks deal 1d6 damage
Dragon Form (II, 2/day) (Sp) Use Form of the Dragon II as a spell-like ability 2/day
Dragon Wings (Su) Gain flight when raging
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Strength on attack rolls.
Fire Claws (Ex) 2 Magic Claw attacks deal 1d8 damage + 1d6 Fire
Fly (30 feet, Average) You can fly!
Furious Focus If you are wielding a weapon in two hands, ignore the penalty for your first attack of each turn.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >= 9) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 9+.
Magic Claws & Fire Bite (5 rounds/day) (Su) As a free action, gain 2 claw attacks that bypass DR as magic weapons. Bite attack deals 1d6 damage.
Orc Blood Half-orcs count as both humans and orcs for any effect related to race.
Power Attack -4/+8 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Raging Vitality +2 CON while raging, Rage does not end if you become unconscious.
Restrained Magic (Su) Grant any in spell's area +2 to save vs. your spell, on success not affected.
Sunlit Strike (DC 24) +1d6 Arcane Strike damage if foe is vulnerable to light. They are also staggered 1 rd (Fort neg).
Weapon Focus (Natural Weapons) Choose one weapon group. You become better at using that type of weapon.
I need to resolve a damage/sunder attempt against a character's spiked-chain, but I can't figure out where on the chart of "damaging objects" a spiked-chain would fit, specifically whether it would be considered "hafted" or not. To me, it seems like a relatively fragile type of weapon that would have less hardness, but my personal brand of "common sense" frequently does not align well with the RAW.
So... Where on this chart would a spiked-chain fail in?
Short Version: Subject, or “If you’re simply trying to appear as someone from a different social class, but not as any particular person, so you need to make a disguise check or otherwise conceal your identity?”
Long Version:
Background: I’m running a Hells Rebels campaign. One of the players has selected the Noble Scion feat and the Child of Kintargo campaign trait. What this means for the game is they are a child of one of the nine major noble houses in the city, gain certain stat bonuses, and begin the campaign with a noble’s outfit, signet ring, and a nice piece of gear worth up to 200 gold. Same character took another feat/trait, I think ancestral weapon, that lets them have a silver or cold iron mwk weapon.
Scene: Party is investigating something and decides to find a low end bar frequented by criminals and folks down on their luck (think Mos Eisley Cantina). Before they go in, I ask if anyone is wearing disguises, trying to be stealthy, etc. Only one character says he is putting a mask on. I ask again, nobody else says anything.
They go in, the player running the noble speaks first and says he wants a drink. I have the bartender tell him to shove off, a poncy noble slumming it doesn’t belong in his bar. Player becomes upset; he and another player say the barkeep couldn’t have known he was a noble.
Additional Detail: on the players character sheet, his nobles outfit is in his backpack, he’s wearing an adventurers outfit. I was not told this.
I think for someone in the position of being the son of a prominent noble family, you need to make a disguise check. I think the implicit counter to that is “I’m not dressing like a noble, and I’m not trying to look like anyone else, so I don’t need to.”
Question: Is a disguise check the right approach, or is there another way to approach this?
Yeah, that's been a big part of it. All our clients wanted to get all this s%!% done so they didn't have to worry about it over the holiday. Plus, we have a new client whose environment is finally going "live" on Monday after six months of testing. Blah.
