MysticYeti's page

I know its still in rough draft form but I have mixed feelings on the Demonic bloodline currently. I like the various elements, just not all of them together.

Thematically, it feels like it's trying to cover too much ground. We have a smattering of deadly sins without full coverage on all seven but portrayed in a way that they couldn't possibily be alluring except to the Demonic sorcerer. We have hellfire and destruction. We have monstrous self mutation. The demons this bloodline tries to represent are legion.

Demonic could go the weird mutating magical monster route and, indeed, seems like it mostly wants to. It could grant the sorcerer fire and destruction spells, an abyssal maw, and the like with no apparent thought to which deadly sin its commiting. As a rule of thumb, if the sorcerer were to cast a spell to grow colossal and rampaged Tokyo would the feature be cool? This route makes the Desintegrate spell cool.

Theming bloodlines off the seven deadly sins would work better if the entire bloodline was themed around it. Also, it's better to represent all seven in one bloodline or separate bloodlines for each. Anything inbetween can easily feel haphazard. I wouldn't mind seeing a bloodline or so in this vein, though devil bloodlines would allow for more subtlety in a way that could genuinely tempt the unwary. Watching that weird sorcerer conjure a bog of sloth doesn't teach witnesses to go on to indulge in laziness on their own. Seeing him open a maw of gluttony incarnate doesn't make onlookers gluttonous.

Mechanically, it's unfocused. It mixes elements of blaster, controller, and battler caster. For a demon bloodline I'd want to play a blaster with enough battle caster not to fear winding up in melee (Glutton's Jaw is perfect for this). For a devil bloodline I'd want to play more of a controller/blaster.

If Logan Bonner hadn't pointed out that the Slow spell was supposed to portray Sloth, I wouldn't have gotten the intent. With spells like Desintegrate and Meteor Swarm, I'd rather keep with the abyssal blaster theme and get Fireball in place of Slow. I imagine it's a safe bet that the divine spell list doesn't have fireball?

Will there be bloodline features above 10th level? It would be a shame if the fun stopped there.

I'd like to see Glutton's Jaw go all the way up to a +5.

I wish there were some passive features in the Demonic bloodline. If 2e wants to lean more heavily on the Spell Point mechanic that's fine but I don't want that to be at the expense of having any of the passive bonuses, defenses, etc. we saw in Pathfinder 1e. Having a little butter on the bread that doesn't require activation or resource managment is important.

If Demonic focuses thematically and lets other bloodlines pick up where it left off this has serious potential.

Using Ancestry Feats for mixed heritage make a great deal of sense. I look forward to being able to create aasimar elves and the like. We've talked about half elves, half orcs, and planetouched. What about dragon Ancestry feats?

So much of Pathfinder 2e relies on feats. If any of the blogs have said it's been a while but does anyone know how often characters get feats?

Using Ancestry Feats for mixed heritage make a ton of sense. I find the example of a half orc, half dwarf. I once tried to stat a race up in 3e with the intent to play one.

So much of Pathfinder 2e relies on feats. If any of the blogs have said it's been a while but does anyone know how often characters get feats?

The druid looks promising. I'm excited to see the full thing.

I wish Leaf druids didn't come preloaded with a familiar. The leshy doesn't fit all woodland druids and not the way I would play one. I think it would make more sense to have Leaf pick up the leshy through feats.

It may be a result of these blogs focusing on the highlights, like much needed improvements to active resource management, or my recollection but I feel there have been little to know passive class and subclass features. I wouldn't blame Paizo one bit for parring down the frequency of passive features compared to Pathfinder 1 but, personally, I like having some degree of always-on features that don't require any activation management or resource management. I'd be curious to hear Paizo talk in more detail about this if they would.

I'm happy to see them get a full spell level progression. Limiting their spells per day seems like a much better way balance out bardic music, which is now at-will!

Bards using the occult spell list intrigues me. I'm eager to see how this plays out with the full playtest materials.

I was glad to see that rolling Perform checks to enhance the effects of music didn't have a critical failure effect.

This system is an elegant way to manage burgeoning content before it has a chance to burgeon if it's used consistently. Pathfinder 1e could have used something like this at times. Rarity will certainly have its benefits.

If core races and classes are designated as common, there's a lot to be gained if races and classes with major RP or mechanical impositions are rare but available at character creation IF the GM allows. Races and classes are less practical as in-play rewards.

Drow, while awesome, should probably be rare and require GM consent to play. The GM should have control over whether or not another Drizzit joins the party, especially if the campaign is surface elf-centric or feature drow as the Big Bad.

I see a lot of discussion about potential abuse and misuse of the rarity system. If the rarity system makes it into print, I think it's essential the core books talk openly and frankly about how rarity can be misapplied. One way to combat bad behavior is to pull the mask off.

All in all, the traps look pretty cool. Armageddon Orb especially tickles my fancy.

Having traps roll Stealth makes sense. The notation feels counterintuitive, though that may be force of habit.

Some traps could benefit from involving more skills. Magical traps, like disarming Armageddon Orb with a gruiling Thievery or Arcana check.

I don't think the trap DCs should be so proficiency level dependant. It's more to spend time on for resolving traps and more to think about when character building and neither in a way that seems fun to me. Personally, I'd rather have most traps that care only care if you were trained or not. Do you actually know how use those thieve's tools? Okay, good to go! The Armageddon Orb, though, seems like a perfect exception. An epic trap should take a legendary (and fireproof) thief.

I do like the the haunt having a lower DC for using Religion as opposed to Diplomacy. Going with my previous suggestion, you'd have to be trained in Religion to get the lower DC but be able to Diplomacize untrained at a higher DC.

Cool.

I dig having base spell list determined by bloodline. (My caveat is that the Oracle remains separate from the Sorcerer. Oracles shouldn't de facto get Sorcerer proficiencies, etc.) The Evolution feats all look cool though for Primal Evolution once daily feels too limited, I'd rather pay spell points.

I don't feel simply using Charisma to boost magic item use via resonance is enough on its own to balance out the differences prepared vs. spontaneous casting. I'm not 100% sure how it would work in practice but I'd kind of like to see Sorcerers get to heighten every sorcerer spell the know instead of just "prepare" two heigtenable spells.

The Angelic, Draconic, Imperial bloodlines especially pique my interest though I'm eager to see them all.

The Demonic bloodline seems like it's trying to be all demons to all sinners. Mechanically, I see elements of blaster, control, and battle caster. Thematically, it needs to make a distinction between abyssal carnage and diabolic temptation. I'd rather see the 2e iterations of the Abyssal and Infernal bloodlines be separate even if I have to wait for one of them.

I'll also echo that there should be new bloodline features after 10th level.

I'm quite happy to see the ranger have no spells by default. It's always rubbed me wrong that the party's martial woodsman was forced to be in a mystical relationship with nature even if the character is just supposed to be a woodsman. Most rangers I've played with (or played) chose spell replacement options. Of course I do want to see the old druid lite spells as an option, just not the assumption.

I'm also pleased to see the ranger move away from favored enemies mechanic. The circumstantial effectiveness frustrated me probably more than it should have. Favored enemies are a trope, to be sure, though it seems better suited for class feat(s).

Admittedly, the idea of resonance felt strange to me at first but it's growing on me quickly. Personally, I'm bad at using daily item charges and consumables despite prefering to play spellcasters. RP looks like it'll genuinely improve item resource management.

One consequence of using Cha for resonance is that it oddly makes bards and sorcerers more of magic item aficionados than the wizard. Wizards have numberous gadgety archetypes in fiction; perhaps they're also a good candidate for Int to RP. Wizards also seem like a class that will want RP boosting class feats.

The idea of adding whole weapon dice to magic weapons sounds awesome but without more info it does look like it'll further ingrain magic item dependancy. Without that +3 longsword you'll be dealing 3d8 less damage, making monster hp that's blanced for the extra damage harder to chew through. It would be good to have support for low magic (or no magic) settings, not to mention magic item dependancy causes problems when the party is undergeared for their level. Sometimes loot falls behind by accident; GMs and players aren't infalible and sometimes the problem takes a while to fully correct. I love the effort going into making magic items more interesting, though I'd like to see some work go into making the game viable without magic items.

So let me get Vorpal straight:
You have to roll a natural 20, spend an RP, and then the monster must fail a Fort save?
*Limiting the snicker-snacker to 20s was smart of original Pathfinder (as compared to its former silliness attainable in D&D 3e).
*Spending resonance, I can stomach.
*But does getting your head lopped off really need a Fort save now? In my mind that's like making the guillotine a Fort save or die affair. This changes the whole French Revolution, not to mention the Jabberwocky. Honestly, I'm not a fan of this move even at the risk of Vorpal being OP. If it absolutely needs a balancing factor, maybe head lopping could cost extra RP? Everything else about Vorpal looks good to me on paper.

I'm eager to see how Pathfinder 2e magic items work out in the play and excited about the resonance mechanic. Here's to the playtest!