Mr. Fred's page

Just to translate the previous post (don't shoot the messenger)

There is an issue in the solarian Pregen where the solar weapon is not into it
1st level : no information but Solar shot is decibed
the same with the level 5
----
I haven't checked the pregen sheet, but I know this is actually the case in foundry. I will contact the author to learn more about that

Jared Thaler - Personal Opinion wrote:

umopapisdnupsidedown wrote:

I would also like to see a provision explicitly allowing GM discretion for enemies to retreat or surrender when it makes sense for them to do so. It's written into some scenarios but not others.

This is already explicitly allowed, though it could be clearer. Morale is a part of the tactics section, and tactics are one of the things GMs are already specifically allowed to change if the existing tactics no longer apply due to player actions.

I would like greater clarity on this as it wasn’t clear to me how much leeway a GM had in calling a battle.

Actually you could run those scenario in the time if you switch to a pure mechanical approach (what I refer to the Hero Quest mode, with no connotations), where the game is mainly a tactical board game. some like it, other doesn't and consider the experience as not fun.

I'm planning my games on 5 hours slots (online) and most of the time I don't have to skip battles. This happens
- With adventures containing influence encounter, where players tends to spend lots of time on
- With some adventures like "Ukuja the First Wall" or "Island of the Vibrant death" ... sometimes it is just because players got unlucky and one of the previous battle last too long, or sometimes it is because there were too much encounters (which happens, as someone said above, authors are also humans).

I am sure I have also to improve my time management somehow

As a rule of thumb, outside convention, When I plan a tier 5 or more I organize it on 2 sessions of 4 hours, to ensure we have enough time. Between Rushing a battle with silly monster strategy or take the time to provide (some) tactical challenges to the players who are looking for it at the price of skipping another less important-to-the-story battle ...

We're getting slighting out of scope, but those are the guidelines I fell I am missing in the run as written.

BTW thank you for all your reaction, it's important we don't feel alone against this topic !!

Hello,
I am Glad that this discussion is opened as I've had a lot with Organized play GMs, be they Venture officer or GM. To start with I'd like to remind that this section about run as written should be read along with the GM Discretion section available here : https://lorespire.paizo.com/tiki-index.php?page=Guide-to-Organized-Play:-Pa thfinder-Society---Second-Edition#GM_Discretion .

This section provides guidelines and some freedom to the Game Master like rewarding roleplaying or creative ideas. Some of the players/GM I am discussing with are for instance frustrated that their life within of their character the society is not taken into consideration; i.e. if they have already encountered this creature, they should know some of their identified weaknesses (who can count all the battles against skeletton ;-) or if they have already visited Oppara, they should get a bonus with recall knowledge. I usually that it is "unfortunately" at their GM discretion and that they should try (but not insist).

In my games, I am quiet unconfortable with batles as I usually spend more time on social and investigation, it happens often that I have to skip encounters. I would expect a "good" rule regarding this
- Encounters without Treasure bundle and no direct impact on the plot (let's call them side encounters) -- Could be Skipped or played through story telling

But what about side battles with Treasure bundle ? Should I give them the TB or not , oes it mean that If I am late in my time keeping or just let the player have fun where that want to have fun, they should get a penalty in TB. Battles with a direct plot implication shouldn't be skipped, and though they can be easily identifiable, I wonder if we shouldn't tag them in the future to ensure that they happens always at any table)

I'd say that for the rest I do agree with the propose text !!

I am glad to see the CUP back, and the FCP staying and be used for "small" profit use.

I hope there will be a good way for Paizo and its community to protect properly Paizo's IP

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you !!

Hello,
Unless mistaken, I haven't seen this discrepency on the Erratum related to the Suppressed condition. I've noticed a difference in it definition
- P112 : " A suppressed target takes a –1 circumstance penalty on attack rolls and takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds."
- P255: "You take a –1 circumstance penalty to attack rolls and take a –5-foot status penalty to all your Speeds.

there's a difference in the penalty to speed (10 or 5 feet). if I remember well, during the field test the suppressed condition was errated from 5 to 10. So I guess the valid answer is "10 feet" :-)

I wish the FCP would extend Videos to tutorials and not only .. liveplay

This is so messed up. Mark, Paizo... a game lives and dies by its community. You can't just shut them out like this. This is worse than the OGL debacle, because this was done TO YOU first by Wizards. And now you're pulling something similar with Pathfinder's community? How is this remotely fair?

Orion, I don't think we should go on that direction, we are providing input to mark. I really think that we are missing a part of the CUP that facilitate non-monetized fan content that contributed to Paizo's successin the last years.

I wouldn't have adopted Paizo without those content and decided to contribute because the CUP allowed to do more. And I know I am not the only one by speaking with other players accross the world.

I really consider the FCP should take non-profit usage with more consideration and flexibility... somehow aren't we hidden marketting force for Paizo TTRPGs ?

Mark,
Early this morning, people in Europe learned about the replacement of the PCUP by the FCP. In my community, Pathfinder-fr, the last time I felt this level of despair and low morale was during the OGL-Gate. WOTC decided to change the game, ensuring every product would be released through their platform, giving them the final word on what is acceptable in a creator’s product. This was just one of many changes the OGL-Gate brought.

On Sunday evening, the developer team in charge of the Pathfinder 2e game system for Foundry publicly praised one of our members for her work. The next day, after reading the content of the FCP, we realized that all the work done by our volunteers, not only for our translation projects but also all our adoption initiatives, would have to stop or be considered illegal. The PCUP was replaced by the FCP without any notice—this is a cold shower.

With this announcement, I don’t know if Paizo botched its diplomacy check or critted on a demoralized check for our community, but all our volunteers are totally discouraged.

From your previous answer to Rectulo, I understand that you are not aware of the situation abroad. Briefly, our community has been actively working on the adoption of Paizo products since Pathfinder RPG was released, providing translations where there were none, generating game aids, and building a community through wikis.

Yes, English can be a showstopper in non-English speaking countries, to the point of being a factor of exclusion. Your partner in France, although doing a great job, has a huge backlog. Neither the Book of the Dead nor Guns & Gears are available, and the same goes for many adventure modules or most APs. They have to be selective in what they translate and publish.
Thanks to the PCUP, our translators deliver translations of PF2E Foundry compendiums usually within a month of their publication instead of selectively month or years later. This unofficial fan-based French translation cannot be used for any commercial ends.

We had a team ready to translate the Starfinder playtest and run numerous playtest sessions to raise interest and adoption of this new game in French-speaking regions, but this project is now at a standstill.

Here are a few use cases for which I would like to understand how to proceed under the FCP (considering how it worked under the PCUP). Please keep in mind that all these:
• Fan-made translations to bring adoption to new players who don't speak English. Using Golarion or Pact World lore is crucial to facilitate their later transition to commercial publications.
• Publication of community-written adventures for beginners, including a VTT module, usually set in Golarion or the Pact Worlds to ease the transition to mainstream publications. Of course, we could use Infinite, though it means removing all illustrations as they are AI-generated and ensuring we choose subjects that you “unilaterally” consider suitable.
• Publication of YouTube videos intended to explain how it’s played or to introduce potential players to Pathfinder or Starfinder. These are not “live play of game sessions,” but tutorials that would need to quote rules and lore, showing illustrations of Verces.
• Use of the translations to populate a rule-oriented Wiki.
I also wonder what translations would look like where nouns (your IP) are replaced by others to fit the FCP. Pathbuilder replaced the “Pathfinder Society Agent” feat with the “Guild Agent” feat, but still uses Abadar, etc. However, a translation where every noun is replaced would be confusing when it comes to helping people adopt Golarion. Looking at the result as a whole, it would just be plagiarism.

I appreciate the part of the FCP where fans can monetize a modest batch of their work, but for people who have been using the PCUP and spending hours providing free content, we have lost a lot.

I hope you will have the time to answer these questions, and I would really appreciate a second thought about people who have contributed to Paizo’s success as volunteers.

awesome ... can't wait to get to know Dae as well !!

CalmCyborg wrote:

I don't see mention of Starship Combat so guessing this isn't going to be included in this playtest?

Also, should we expect the final version August 2025 or maybe sooner(hopefully)?

Final version of SF2E will be GenCon 2025's release, so it'll be around July/August next year. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

As for the Starship Combat, as of PaizoCon, Thurston and the rest of the Starfinder team are actively working on it, but from the sounds of it, we won't get those rules as part of the initial playtest, no. Likely it'd be either in a future playtest, or as part of one of the first expansion books. We'll just have to wait and see.

Wise enough, let's have an expansion with spaceships and mechas and mecha-spaceships :-)

Indeed, I think the name should be re-evaluated as I had the very same thought about it

Though happy to get those !!

Some of my friends are already thinking this season will involve Tar-Baphon... I wonder why, though it might be interesting to see how this super-vilain will be impacted by the war of immortal.

I can wait to get this season, but not too long !!!!

BTW, Is Paizo considering premium VTT modules for this season ?

a dead planet Hatching ... That Reminds me of an episode of Dr Who with the moon Hatching, I love it and eager to run it

There is no way we could start right now ? ;-)

And of course, I am asking it and praying for it ... A Foundry module for this season ... Please !!!!

Mr. Fred wrote:

Hello is this discount coming on top of Paizo advantage's ?

It does not stack.

So it is unfortunately no real sales for your subscribers, your Paizo advantage customers and Fans

Hum, that is a significant increase !! especially for bigger books.
If I am not mistaken a book like Mwangi Expanse would switch from 49,99 to 79,99 which is quiete Huge.
I'd say, I am more concern on the impact it will have on Europe VAT regulation, involving lots of administrative fees on Paizo's shipments because we will have subscription shipment order over 150$ more often.

I hope, this is not related with the big event that was announced for PF2e's golarion.
in 323 AF, Zon Kuthon and Shelyn are still distinct deities and I wouldn't enjoy that events from the past suddenly change the lore in a future we already know.
I've heard rumor of Thorag being the god who would die in this event... and that would feel cheesy as Thorag is supposed to have stayed on Golarion to protect it after the planet disapearance, during the gap

Mr. Fred wrote:

4) When looking at the field test document, I can't help wondering about the reactive strike (fka Attack of opportunity), the soldier doesn't seem to have it ... is this disappearing from starfinder ? or a basic for other classes / available for any PC

"Punitive Strike" is an ability of the Close Quarters fighting style, but only them.

As a matter of facts, punitive strike is not a reactive strike as we know it, it is a "Reactive strike" on additional condition, similar to PF2e's swashbuckler opportune ripost (it requires additional conditions).

Hello,
I am eager to see next year's playtest and I do have some expectations regarding Starfinder 2nd edition (SF2e)

1) As a GM, have a same engine so that playing PF2e or SF2e would be a smooth experience. And I'd say moving to 100% compatibility is a big announcements
2) Even though SF2e would be 100% compatible with PF2e, I hope we will be able to preserve the starfinder flavors with lots of species, spaceship battles and vehicle chases and getting more emphasis on space exploration (opposed to planet exploration). I think that lots of subsystems should be straight into what would be the GM core (i.e. specific rules from GOP and GEM)

3) I have great expectation regarding spaceships battle and vehicule chase , either a simpler / faster system or a narrative system or both (I know that lots of players like the strategic dimension of spaceship battles, I don't like the time those encounters are taking, with some players feeling excluded because of their build)

4) When looking at the field test document, I can't help wondering about the reactive strike (fka Attack of opportunity), the soldier doesn't seem to have it ... is this disappearing from starfinder ? or a basic for other classes / available for any PC

I honestly hope I'll have the opportunity to test the system as much as possible and provide feed-back

Hey, Since foundry VTT assets for SFS 6-01 and 6-02, I haven't seen any new modules. Any idea when you will propose the nexts episods as foundry modules ? I am currently waiting for them to propose them

Thank you for,you answer !!

PS : I think that all those modules for VTT should be easier to find on your website, with better visibility, I am sure there would be more purchases !!

This statement is extremely strong and will protect existing, established artists.
What about young author that can't afford an illustrator to enrich is brand new Pathfinder or Starfinder infinite scenario ?
Does it mean that AI artists that have spent hours to master arcana of midjourney or Dall-e prompts are not artists, Though the creative direction is still in their hand ?
What about illustrations initially generated by AI but then worked by a 2D artists ?

I hope that the statement you are working on will keep a certain sense of balance !!!

Hello, The PDF and JPG are now fixed !!
Thank you Paizo !!

I just went through the PDF and this scenario is awesome and the adventure path look extremely promising.
I am a disappointed by the digital content
- The interactive maps that states it is part 6 of 6 which is misleading and the map resolutions which is rather low
- the artwork in Seventh arch is wonderful, but the way images are stored in the pdf ((as a collection of squares)) makes it very difficult to prepare home made handsout to run the seventh arch on a physical tabletop...

I hope you will deliver a new version that will fix those

Hey,
I just went through the pdf quickly and wow !!! This is a huge work , I am impressed positively and eager to run it, though running it will be another challenge.

I'm just disappointed by the interactive map content and wonder if you the maps are not properly aligned with the document's frames. most images are of low quality, unusable on VTT.

Are you planning to update them ?

Fine.

With these price changes, will you happen to propose higher resolution images in some of the products like pawn or map with adventure modules and adventure path ?

We are more and more using VTT for our games, I have high expectation on getting higher resolutions assets and wouldn't mind getting those with this average price increase (pay more, get more).

Hello,

I am a bit puzzled with the VAT processing
In August my order incorporated VAT and my package was deliverred in 20 days.
I thus decided to get subscriptions and since then, all my order doesn't take VAT into account.

Hopefully, Paizo is refunding custom and VAT charges, but it end-up in having a delivery time of 40 days instead of 20 days.

I also understand that VAT is indeed taken into account for some customers and not for others... Is there a way to fix this (i.e. a tag in our account) ?