OmNomNid's page

ryric wrote:

As I've thought about this, I don't actually need monsters built like PCs (unless they are NPCs with PC classes) - what I really desire is that monsters are built with some sort of understandable logic. I need to know what happens if I alter some part of the monster, how all the rest of the parts are going to change and interact. What happens if I give the monster armor, or change out its weapon, or give it a wasting disease? What happens if the PCs befriend the monster and ask it questions? The 3.X style stat block is excellent for answering these types of questions.

What I don't want is an arbitrary pile of numbers that only exist for game reasons - this monster has a +X to hit and does Y damage with Z AC because it's CR is A. I want the stats to have an in-game justification that can be understood by the in-world scholars of the game.

Monsters just being a gamey collection of numbers with no internal rhyme or reason was the last straw that made me quit 4e. I went to put some magic armor on a goblin chief, spent about a half hour trying to figure out how doing so would change his AC, trying to figure out how his AC was calculated, until I realized that his AC had nothing to do with his armor, training, or anything else but was simply a number read off the appropriate line for his level and role. Ugh no. That's when I realized I was done with the system.

But you've have had your problem with PF1E already. Monsters with +8 bonus to something because the designer says so. Monsters with weird abilities made to overcome errors in how the type was designed (fey in PF1, undead in 3.5). In 3.5, the deliberately under-CR'd dragons. Monsters with stats pulled out of the blue.

Designers of monsters have been "cheating" since 2000. Gary Gygax was likely laughing at them, because they have self-defeated themselves by declaring that everything is made from the same set of Lego bricks and then had to use Duplo bricks to get things done, while earlier eds just eyeballed the monster....

While I will acknowledge that yes, I have seen a few cases were monster math has been flubbed to make some fit a niche, I can say I have only done that like once and I think it also goes without saying either that most did follow the math in PF1. Even then I have always looked at CR as more of a art than a since; it is a good guideline but hardly concrete. CR assumes the party is a balanced mix when in my experience the party will have all members of a be hyper damage dealers and zero healers. CR also doesn't take player experience into account.

Couldn't you put that creativity into designing monsters with new rules then instead of putting it into creating not!PCs?

That works only so long as your players are willing to allow it. You go to far once, make a unique ability for a monster that seems fair or even just a challenge your party can over come that leans too far on the side of difficult- and like that you have violated your players trust. And a GM without player trust does not end up running a fun game as your players second guess everything you do.

Now this is not to say making unique and interesting monsters from scratch should be a no go but I personally feel like that A.) Should be done sparingly. B.) Is a easier bit to swallow if you can show your player post game how you went about making the creature.

If Paizo does end up releasing in the first Bestiary how they got their stats for monsters then I am content B will not be an issue but A will still be a problem at that point. That one game I mentioned I am currently in but not the biggest fan of? The GM there has us fighting things of his own design that are not what I call the most well thought out creatures and it doesn't make it better that their unique abilities tend to change session from session on the GM's whims.

But that's getting away from the question I feel so I will stop there. Again, this thread alone shows the overwhelming majority of other players and I assume GMs do not share my views. I concede to being a dinosaur. I can say this though- if the stats for monsters and NPCs are going to remain in a state similar to what they are now in the playtest I will not end up GMing. I will try playing the game as a player to give it a chance and give feed back on ways that the game can be improved for players. But I refuse to GM so long as these are the rules for mobs we are given. And unfortunately, being the primary GM in all of my groups likely means that the amount of PF2 groups that will actually occur at the tables I play at will likely be sparse.

Mergy wrote:

Angel Hunter D wrote:

Monsters have such large hit values I dont think it'll matter that much

If the monster is hitting easily, maybe he would like to crit for often as well.

Good thing the monster's enjoyment of the game is a non factor

Except it does when you remember that there is a human GM behind the monster.

I have to say, I would prefer monsters be built in the same or similar method as players. In fact, like 50% of my anxious feelings for PF2 come from how they are intending to handle NPCs and monsters. This is in part of two reasons, one of which is that I am more of a simulationist, so the idea of things like that operating off of different rules just gets to me; I understand this is a view very much left in the minority so I expect to garner no sympathy points on that stance.

That said my second reason for disliking the current thought processes on monsters is due to the pact I really don't ever get to play Pathfinder as a player. Oh I GM it all the time but I rarely get to play what I'd actually get to call a character- and this is with me playing with over 15 different people at four different tables.

This has either always been because A.) The game lasts a session r two. When this happens I am overjoyed but typically when someone aside from me agrees to run a game it lasts long enough for session Zero and half of One before the other GM gets 'really busy' but you know, not busy enough to actually stop playing the game- just busy enough to stop reading the adventure Path hey were pumped to run. Seriously, I think the last character I actually got to play in a legitimate game of Pathfinder was some four or five years ago when I left college. I miss those days.

B.) The games I do get to play these days are just- look, I don't want to come off as mean but most of them are ran by people who want every minute of their plot to be 'oh-snap-panic' from the players. They do this by literally having every encounter be against something so godly that we have no chance of beating- which I am cool with until the godly monster feels oh so kind enough to enlighten us on the true nature of the universe where we then are sent off to tackle another monster that is so godly it does he same thing. So on and so. Seriously, just a few weeks ago i was invited to play in a high level game were we were sent to an unknown world were a GM-Proxy-Supreme Deity needed us to infiltrate a cave to kill a Titan. Which we did until the Titan told us that Baba Yaga was the real foe. And then when we tracked that witch down she was only doing it because the Tarrasque was escaping. Look long story short this went on with five sessions where we literally walked up to each of these monsters with no fighting, no traps, no puzzles, no dialogue beyond your 'foe is in another castle'. And once that game ended the next guy who volunteered to run a game had us role up level ones, much to my joy....up until we got three sessions in where we were suddenly gestalted with five free levels and the promise of even more magic power from an awakening bloodline coming, but then nothing to really do with all of our abilities as GM uber PCs did most of the actual heavy lifting and adventuring. I am still technically in that game but I don't really care for it. An adventure RPG isn't fun when someone else does all the adventuring for you.

Look, done with that venting, back to my long winded point- I easily end up GMing 90% of the time for those 15+ people, partially because no one else ever runs anything that really gets going long enough to be fun, and then also partially because the games hat do last sure are....something alright. Now while I did want to GM when I fist started getting into Pathfinder, I always did so with the assumption I wouldn't have to constantly be that GM, that i was going to get the chance to play the hero one in a while and be the protagonist. But once I realized that wasn't going to be the case I made my peace by hand tailoring everything in my games- the story, dungeons, traps, and of course the monsters/NPCs. Healthy or not these monsters/NPCs are the closet things I really ever get to playing a PC (which I know is an oxymoron but you get what I mean). The Starfinder through me off distinctly because I was encouraged to run paint-by-the-numbers mobs, much like how I see PF2 going with its foe creation system. If I cannot enjoy studding the monsters I will be playing enough to take them apart and reassemble them I do not call that a liberating or fun system. For me the prep work so many people in this forum seem to hate, many of them in this very thread, I enjoy. It gave me a very much needed method to keep my creativity going once I realized that me getting to enjoy Pathfinder as a player was going to be a rare and often fleeting happenstance.

With that said I am a varied player of the system and an advocate for third-party materials, so over my last decade or so of gaming I have seem many takes and variations of monsters I could see work if people really desire easier ways to make mobs for their PCs. One method I have been a fan of in the past is Minotaur Games Underling System; I typically do use the standard Pathfinder system for creating monsters but i did always like the Underling system of creating monsters on the fly for when players do something unexpected for an adventure or when I wanted my party to face hordes without feeling bad about having the party face down at times literally x4 their number.

To make a very long post short: fine tuning monsters are one of the few ways I enjoy the game. I do not feel the current method as provided by the playtest does this at all well and as such I want monsters to be built with more substance, something within keeping of the PCs. Thank you for reading.

I, for one, welcome our new muscle wizard gish overlords!

BAB was a "fair" mechanics for distinguishing combat skill of many classes, but it started to get tricky to balance the game when the differences in it bot big.

Now I think you add your weapon profiency bonus to attacks, so Fighter still has the edge! But something like Rogue and Cleric can keep up reasonably well if they don't neglect it.

And so can Wizards now. Everyone can swing just as good as everyone else. My money says everyone is going to play like pseudo-fighters now; dropping as much of their proficiency into being good with their chosen weapons. Oh boy, and people thought martials under before wait units 2ed drops.

Fighter: I swinng my sword at the orc with power attack. *Rolls attack and damage* 19 points of damage!

Wizard: My turn! I cast fireball at that group of minions over there. 23 altogether! For my last action I to want to swing my sword at the ocean boss too. *Rolls attack and damage* Crappie, only nineteen points of damage. I knew we shouldn't have given the Fighter that +2 Longsword. I am able to use just as good as he can.

Necromancy is not my intention but I feel like this is the best place to ask- still a huge fan of your Alternate Paths books, with Ascetic Characters still in my top three, but I have a few questions/concerns about one of the classes.

So I finally got the chance to join a game that is pro-3rd party that is running Carrion Crown and I decided to role up a ajna. So far I have enjoyed the class as a balanced if unorthodox member of the party, having just leveled up twice in one session. So now I am level 3, which is great but three things:

1.) At 2nd level, on the Ajna's progression chart there is a class feature called presence of mind that I cannot actually find in the PDF; was this a scraped class feature that got rolled into the book, or is there supposed to be an actual class feature for me at 2nd level aside from Astral Warrior?

2.) The self discovery I took was mind beam which I really like but two questions- one, Mind Beam does not list a range; we have house ruled it for now to be 60ft plus 10ft per level, like everything else the class does but is their an official ruling? And two- mind beam states it is a swift action to use. While a super nice ability that sounds really strong to me so I ruled myself that it must be a standard action to use. Can you clarify if this was intentional or not?

3.) Finally, for my projection and astral warrior class features- if I am (as in my character's physical shell) grappled is my projection effected by the grappled condition as well? Does my Astral Warrior make those attacks at the grappled penalty? For frame of reference, I already had my projection out when animated cuffs found my physical shell and grappled it.

Thanks!

All sounds classy- looking forward to it.

Looking forward to it. In the middle of running a Strange Aeons game but afterwards I am doing a heavily modified Throne of the Night campaign; camp attendants in for a Darklands Expedition sounds awesome.

-More veils for are current classes; I like the variety we have of course but I still stand by my opinion that vizier could use a bit more offensive veils.

-A totemist-like class: I know you can't actually make the totemist as it was and that is fine but I'd love to see an official take on a character concept that steals monster special abilities. If it helps, I suggest making them mimic things besides magical beasts. For example you could do undead, revive the old 'necarnium' concept or such, or even construct themed, almost like an akashic cyborg. Heck, in my homegames I am trying to pull the concept off with Outsiders, though I am not very far along.

-Non-veilshaping, akashic classes: I remember you saying after the first Akashic Mysteries book you had thoughts of introducing two or three classes that used akashic essence but didn't inherently shape veils. I'd love to see you do something with the concept.

-Akashic archetpes for Occult classes: A akashic occultist that can invest essence in his implements or who can channel his focus into his veils would be awesome. I also think a Akashic kineticist (essenicist?) could work and be cool. Maybe even a spiritualist archetype that can grant its not-a-ghost companion veils?

RGG released alternate rules awhile back where guns attack AC, get to confirm critals against touch, and don't have a misfire value. Personally I like these rules and implement them into basically every game.

All righty, it has been awhile but a few things:

1.) The Psychic has been updated so it actually has a capstone now, gets Wild Talent at first level, and some wording has been updated. Specifically I am working on updating the actual Psychic Skill feats and I have decided to actually name them directly after the seven disciplines of psionic powers, as given to us by the brilliant Dreamscarred Press. This I credit as Dudemeister's idea as it I feel it's what he had in mind. I'm sure he can confirm for us at any rate.

Either way, this means we have two new psychic skills to stat up: Metacreativity- creating solid, mental constructs- and Athanatism- manipulating the dead with psychic powers.

So with those two we have:

-Psychokinesis, Psychoportation, Metacreativity [Int]

-Clairvoyance, Psychometabolism [Wis]

-Telepathy, Athanatism [Cha]

This setup seem okay with everyone?

2.) So part of the delay is that I have been trying out this update first hand in playtest. In one I am GMing while a player roles a straight Psychic (level 7, Psychokinesis and Psychportation) ) and then I am playing in a Skulls and Shackles game with a Tactician (level 5, Psychokinesis and Telepathy [with feats]).

Both of us are enjoying the rules but we are both finding it like we are not getting the most out of our feats as they are. Despite the Psychic getting a new use of their ability every three levels, and me getting mine through the Skill Unlock feat (Telepathy), we both don't get to commit to encounters with our psychic skills. For me it isn't that terrible as I still have class features to fall back on. However my player's class features are, essentially, these psychic skills and it seems wrong he impacts so little. So I have two solutions to propose to fix this:

A.) Psychic skills can have further abilities bought like the skill tricks from 3.5, with skill ranks and the purchase value being equal to half of your current abilities with a skill rounded up.

Example: You have the Telepathy Skill feat and can use Sense Minds and Illusion with it. This gives you 2 abilities with Telepathy and now you want to be able to use Dreamwalk. Having just leveled you have 7 skill points to distribute but you can opt to spend one of those ranks, not distribute it, and unlock a further ability with Telepathy, Dreamwalk in this example.

B.) Every two ranks in a psychic skill rank grants you another ability of said skill.

Thoughts, ideas, or solutions?

They all sound great; can't wait to be a bander-snatch man!

Hmm, let me think of some ideas while you guys are taking suggestions:

- First of all, a African supplement would rock; I feel like your Heroes of the West line already covers America based adventures decently, but the Dark Continent rarely get any love. A real shame, as it has a lot of potential. Of course only take a stab at it if you feel like you could do it justice but remember this: your only real competition at this time would be the Southlands. Just saying.

- A Heroes of the Stars would be neat from you guys; I know Necropunk is your team's baby, but I think a book with some setting neutral, space faring player options would be neat. I could see a 'Rocketeer' archetype for the Cavalier replacing his mount for a jet pack, a Astronaut ranger alternate class, and rules for some pre-made rockets and spaceships.

- A long while ago you guys made a book with rouge options and said you were looking for more class suggestions to give a nice set of tools. Well I'd love to see you guys do something for mad science and make a similar books for Alchemists- new discoveries, archetypes, extracts, and of course BOMBS!

- I have always had an idea to change the sorcerer a bit but never felt like I was up to the challenge of the project in mind. See, while I like sorcerers, I think a archetype that replaces spellcasting could be done. The idea is every bloodline gives lists of supernatural options and spell-like abilities, kinda like the warlock of old. Like for instance a Verdant bloodline would have a bunch of bloodline gifts around shooting thorns, spores, and growing fines. I just figured it would be neat to have a mutant base class.

- Gonzo 3 and a Racial Guide Number 5 of course, hehe! I even have a class to offer this time around to Gonzo 3 and I think a race book centered around races made of others that have been altered would be cool- like a race of creatures born from plague carriers or another race that is born from those subjugated to a certain spell. Think vampires and Dreamscared's Elans.

- A book of archetypes and options for Little Red Goblin classes. In hindsight this should be the first one I listed for just how amazing it'd be to have.

That's all I got for now.

ladydragona wrote:

so what is the next book Alluria plans to release.

Very good question! It is not, as far as I am aware, the adventure that OmNomNid mentioned. My sources tell me that it will likely be the Trueform playable race book. Sorry I've been gone so long, I got a full-time job and haven't been able to log on as much.

~Even better! Soon I shall have a trueform shark bloodrager named Bruce!~

Hey, PDF is up on Drivethru but mislabeled as Really Simple Prestige Classes. Heads up.

I really should get around to supporting your Patreon- it's just that my situation means I never know how much cash I will have each week :( .

Anyway, happier conversation, the thane sounds awesome, can't wait to see it! I asked about it first because I can at least guess at what each other class does from its name. That said, the Tataued Warrior I am guessing gets tattoos, however I am none the wiser on how that works as part of the class. Explain, pretty please?

YES~! I have been waiting for this one- looking forward to it; any chance we can hear a little bit about the thane first?

Awesome but I think you mean 32 races in the third paragraph, not classes, lol~!

Dotting.

If you are facing an issue with players using social skills on NPC PCs, if I understand your problem you ar facing, either-

A.) Make such characters unaffected with social skills and make players roleplay interaction.

B.) Have players keep two sheets, one their online character, the other themselves as rolled by their fellow players.

Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

Desha wrote:

It's a book whose theme is classes that influence their surroundings? Sounds neat but a little vague. Is this going to be available for people who weren't in the Kickstarter to purchase sometime soon?

I would say the theme of Liber Influxus Communis is communal power, synergy and sympatico - either with your surroundings, your allies or your foes attacks, among other things. With more than ten new Base Classes I'm actually very pleased to see the theme developed so well.

Though Greg will clarify this for you, I am almost certain the book will be available for non-Kickstarter backers - this is the beauty of Kickstarting a book in this way. Case in point - stretch goals for the recent Southlands Kickstarter by Kobold Press included new Advanced Races PDFs that themselves will be unit-shifting items.

Okay, I'm interested! Is there any idea when this will be available? From people who've seen it, what are your favorite classes? It sounds like there's a bender class, what are some of the other classes and how do they fit the "communal power, synergy and sympatico" theme?

All the classes are super neat and unique, though my favorite so far has to be the demiurge, a supernatural-philosopher that creates short lived servants through thought that act like one shot eidolins.

You know I will be doing the same thing.

Wow, you have no idea how much off a relief I felt after actually reading through the post.

Yeah!

#1- Dark Sun!

#2- The World of Midnight

#3- Dragonlance

#4- Dragon Star

Alright; get better Scott and keep up the good work!

PS: Before I forget to mention I loved the Gonzo PDF, especially the craven and the punk.

As an aside, what is a good example of third party companies that do some of these genres? Like steampunk or future or my favorite dieselpunk.

For Steampunk the Pure Steam Setting is a most.

If you like magitech, go with Thunderscape.

Little Red Goblin Games produced the wonderful sci-fi setting Necropunk (though note it's more in the line of Dune than say Star Wars).

There is also a setting called Conquests of the Universe being made by Tripod that will be a space-opera setting with psionics (which I know you don't like greatly but the space rules should be worth it).

Broken Earth is a great setting to get a Fallout feel.

Also, Rouge Genius Games has a series of classes (with pulp rules) called the Anarchistic Adventures series. They also have a apocalyptic setting (someday) known as Warlords of the Apocalypse in development.

Looking forward to this, though I seem to recall you guys mentioning a racebook with unorthodox races, like a swarms and oozes; is that still in the works or has this one taken its place?

Either way this book is on my must own list.

Did you spot the other movie monsters in the book? :)

clacks some spoons together

Oh yes, those evil insects that, hehe, Mimic people?

OmNomNid wrote:

I would like to see it done, though I wonder how Occult Adventures are going to be designed.

Well, if I recall from the info I read, some will be casters and others won't. From the context of the name Occult Adventures, my best guess about the overall feel is that it will be heavy on mysticism. I'd imagine they'd have a similar feeling to a non-eastern monk with a lot of focus on spiritual or psychic powers. As for mechanics I've got no clue other than that it won't be power points, but that's been established already.

Yeah, it seems at least one of the classes will be able to use heavey spell-like/supernatural abilities. I don't mind 'psychic mages' using spell slots, so long as they get an interesting mechanic like bloodlines or hexes- something unique to them.

Anyway, yes I'd love to see this implimented into Cerulean Seas. one of my favorite things about the setting is how it keeps different core/3rd party material in its exspansions; too few settings make room for new classes/mechanics/ect., let alone incorporate others into it.

This is all so exciting- I must admit I was a little worried the Paizo design staff was afraid of trying new things, but between all the Tech-Guide, Iron Gods, and now Occult Adventures I can see I was wrong. Very wrong. I know many are calling for Paizo to keep Pathfinder lean and not produce what is viewed as 'bloat' but I love getting new stuff to add to my game, whether I end up hating it, loving it, or never even using it I like to see expansion out of my games, not stagnation.

Gen-Con 2014; I salute you! A great, great year to keep me waiting for the next!

You guys seriously believe that Paizo will never do a new edition, even if they have to lay off half their staff to please you? You guys seriously believe that they can subsist on adventure related stuff alone at the level they are now?

Kinda; minus that bit about laying off employees.

In the Company of Dragons is an awesome read, but it is really hard to go wrong with Little Red Goblin Games (I'm getting Gonzo myself this Friday). Anything Interjection Games is also a must buy but remember those classes aren't for the most casual of players; each is a blast but a complex play.

I intend to get this Friday with my paycheck but I was wondering if anyone who's gotten it is willing to give feedback on the book.

Hey there! After subjecting myself to thread after thread of Martial Fix debates I have decided to throw in my own idea. However I don't propose altering any classes drastically or changing the core rules in any great extent; instead i have developing a sub-system to tac onto the game. And for that I'd appreciate help in hammering out the system.

The idea is to give every character, PC, NPC, monster, ect., a recovering vitality pool that lets them modify physical actions. The inspiration for this comes from two places, one being the Book of Martial Actions from Necromancers of the Northwest, which offered up the idea of a vitality/stamina pool to me, and Monte Cook's Book of Blood that had a list of martial actions that could be taken in exchange of penalties to hit. Basically I'm looking to combine the two, only letting players spend vitality to accomplish these actions instead of taking penalties.

In a nut-shell here are a few basics I have figured out:

1.) Baring the exception of some feats and class features, a creature cannot spend more vitality in the course of a round than its HD.

2.) All creature types posses vitality barring Undead and Constructs, which use the following rules; corporal undead that have just finished feasting on the corpse (although other food may suffice at your GM's call) of a slain creature with a vitality pool gain there own, counting as non-undead to determine the size of their pool. Every hour an undead goes after feeding without feeding again loses on point of vitality from their pool. Constructs are unable to gain a vitality pool under normal means but have the option of taking on strain. Strain functions in part like nonlethal damage, as the Construct gains strain through its actions rather than spends it, with the construct shutting down once it's strain equals or exceeds its current amount of hit points. Many constructs are designed to recover from this sort of activity and repair a point of strain once every minute. Alternatively anything done that repairs a Construct's hit points can instead repair double the mount of strain.

3.) Any effect action preformed with vitality, unless otherwise noted, counts as an extraordinary ability.

4.) Vitality is a resource capable of being recovered in the field. Each round (six seconds) a creature goes without spending vitality it recovers an amount of vitality equal to its alliterative attacks. Example: a fighter with BAB of +5 would only recover one point of vitality if it didn't use any that same round. However at BAB +6/+1 he would recover two points of vitality that round. Corporal undead with their temporary pools only recover vitality when they are eating.

5.) When your vitality hits zero you are fatigued.

6.) Spending vitality typically modifies an existing action a player can take instead of taking its own; therefore vital actions are free actions that alter existing ones.

Now we actually move on to a rather simple question I haven't yet answered- what goes in to determining a max vitality pool. I have toyed around with some ideas and have decided that I definitely think you should add your highest BAB to it. I'm just not sure what else should be included in that formula. So far I have considered the following:

-Highest BAB + HD

-Highest BAB + CON Modifier

-Highest BAB + CON Attribute

None seem bad to me yet none feel right either. Would love to hear opinions on what works best.

Now onto what you can actually spend vitality for:

- Convert lethal damage into nonlethal damage: 2 vitality/ +1 lethal damage.

- Move an additional +5 feet when you take a move action: 1 vitality/ +5 feet, plus 1 extra vitality for each +5 feet movement. Example- +5 feet is 1 point of vitality, while moving an extra +10 feet is 3 vitality, and 5 vitality for +15 movement.

- Gain a untyped bonus to a physical (STR/DEX) oriented skill: 2 vitality/ +1 to skill, max of +5.

- Temporary gain a Combat feat for which you met the requirements; only one Combat feat can be active in this way at a time and it only lasts one round: 3 vitality.

- Perform a Combat Maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity: 1 vitality.

- Perform a Combat Maneuver as a standard action: 2 vitality.

- Preform a Combat Maneuver as part of a attack action, only once per round: 3 vitality.

- Move 10 feet and make a full attack action: 5 vitality, +2 vitality per additional +5 feet of movement made with the full attack action.

- Repel incoming attacks by parrying them away; use your highest bonus to attack with your current main-hand weapon as a shield bonus to your AC, taking a cumulative -1 to this bonus for each attack deflected: i vitality/ per round active.

- Knock an opponent back after a successful attack, up to 5 feet for every 5 points of damage inflicted: 1 vitality/ per 5 feet, max distance equal to the total damage roll divided by five, round down.

- Add +1d6 of precision damage to a damage roll; must be done before the attack roll: 3 vitality/ +1d6 precision damage.

This is what I have so far, with a couple feats in mind for the (even) more outlandish stuff, as well as a simple fighter 'archetype' called a 'Vigorous Warrior.' Basically they get 'Vitality in Battle'- treat BAB as +3 for determining vitality pool and recover one extra point of vitality whenever points are recovered. They also swap out Bravery for 'Vigorous Training'- a scaling bonus added to their level to determine the max amount of vitality they can spend in a single round.

This is an idea I have been sitting on for awhile now that I have finally just started testing out. I recently just used a simplified version of these rules in a one-session Dragon Age prologue. I only had one player running a martial that made use of this ruleset (the other was a mage you wouldn't bother with a sword) but they seemed to like it and wanted to see where I could take it. Please critique, criticize, and call out my idea for any faults you find but please also help me make this into a functioning, well thought out system.

Thank you.

OmNomNid wrote:

I get a very 'Brutal Legend' vibe from the rockstar.

as you should

Decapitation!~

I get a very 'Brutal Legend' vibe from the rockstar.

Being honest Little Red I prefer your Small and Quick products.

Almost all of your Large projects have been a little lack luster me (barring Necropunk) as they feel bigger, yes, but lacking in more interesting content. Dragon Tiger Ox is not by any means a bad book but I wouldn't be fibbing if I said it was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Meanwhile your smaller products are a huge hit with me, as what little I get in them (usually a base class and some feats) are interesting and truly add something to my game I lacked before. Plus you guys are my fall back guys during a release drought. Most companies release maybe a product every month and a half I feel like I need; you guys however make something I MUST have what seems like once every two weeks. I'm roughly getting three products out of you guys for every one product I get from everyone else.

....wait, if you are asking this because you're thinking about breaking up your Gonzo Book please don't- I'd like to have all my wacky supplement in one handy PDF.

The Sunken Relluk is now a go! It is awesome but leaves me hungering for more!

Emberion wrote:

We partnered up with Purple Duck games to work on the Turquoise Trident adventure path, which will be our first Cerulean Seas adventure series. The artwork is the sticking point on this book. It's written, it's play tested, but we suffered an artistic malfunction for months. Luckily, our buddies over at Purple Duck have their act together where Alluria fell short and agreed to help us out. Progress is happening, but we don't have an official ETA for this one yet. Likely before the end of the year.

I am insanely excited for this. I've purchased all the Cerulean Seas .pdfs as they became available, just grabbed the hardcover of the Campaign Setting a few months back, and am ordering up the print copies of all the other expansions to start a Cerulean Seas gaming night. The fact that an AP is coming out for the setting (with Purple Duck on board no less) is just awesome news.

Haha! Looks like I'm beating you Ssalarn; I own all of the Cerulean Sea books in colored print. Victory is mine today!

But yeah, I am with you. I can't wait for this adventure; the last Cerulean Seas game I ran was a mix of the Hobbit and Moby Dick but it went... belly up.

Any chance you'd be willing to let us have access to the pharoh early on? For beta testing of course, and not just because I'm an impatient person.

All of my want! This had better be out on time or I might just explo- OmNom just gained a level in living bomb.

A must have- will you guys ever make something I don't like/desperately want?

Well dang- guess I'm waiting. You cruel goblin, why must you pick on trolls like me?

This is going to be awesome but I might need to wait until next paycheck for this- unless this is still a week off of course.

Awesome news; I love all of the Cerulean Seas classes and often use them in any setting (minus the Mariner- works best in the water) but I have always felt my changes to the aquanaught have never been fantastic. I'd love to see that class get access to more philums that are land based.

Alright then, keep up the good work. All I do after and before work now is refresh my Kickstarter waiting for the update. A particularly frustrating prospect as I had five other updates today, each one my hope it was this update.

I have a great love for PMU, and have used it quite extensively in my campaigns (though I admit I have only used Occultists as NPCs). It's great stuff.

I can't really comment on how well it compares to 3.5 Pact Magic as I've never used the older material, but here is my point on convincing your GM that it isn't demonic possession: pactioners are no more vile than clerics- both act as conduits for greater beings whose values run the gambit. Sure, some occultists are evil but so are some priests yet I doubt he'd have problem if you ran a cleric despite some worshiping real nasty stuff. Thematically I believe the only difference between gods and spirits is that that one group (gods) seek dedication and worship from those that call upon them; spirits meanwhile (the good, the bad, and the indifferent) are a little more petty and are willing to aid those who appease them with tribute.

Also, if I recall correctly there is an angel one can bind, as well as other heroic character yet no actual fiends that I can remember (though there are a few evil still); just food for thought.

Another good one, though I have to admit I am noticing a trend: Rouge Genius Games Investigator, the Deductionist by TPK, Paizo's own Investigator, and now your Detective. Sherlock must be big right now.

Keep up the good work; I think the nomad is next but I just want to say I'm excited to see what your toon and rockstar classes are going to be like, not to mention your up coming race book; I want a swarm character so bad!

Wonderful mechanic; definitely going to used in my games from now on. Thank you.

I second this. I am a fan of screaming at my enemies until they die.