Ravingdork's page

I would like weapons to be more of an option. Something like being trained in all martial weapons and monk weapons by default.

But I don't want those options to be so good that no one will ever bother with unarmed strikes.

Speaking as someone who has played from levels 1 to 18, I can confidently state that it's not really a problem in 2nd Edition.

Your post reads like a phishing attempt.

Hot Take: Shifter should be a class archetype for the Exemplar class. You know, go full Maui demigod with the shapeshifting.

I'm pretty sure Paizo's moves were mostly motivated by "keep Paizo in business". Every time something out of their control changed, they had to pivot to adapt to that change.

I figure "would we have Pathfinder if Dragon Magazine was never cancelled" is about as useful to discuss as something like "would Frosted Flakes exist if the Battle Creek Sanitarium never burned down?" I mean, maybe, but also maybe not. It was never inevitable nor necessary but a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into making the best of the circumstances they had.

There's a movie about that sort of thing.

Marvel made a whole series about the "never happened."

YouTubers talk about it all the time.

"What If" scenarios can be quite a fun mental exercise and are essentially just another form of roleplaying.

Kelseus wrote:

It affects all creatures within 20 feet, not all enemies, so you have to be careful not to tag your allies.

24 hour immunity.

GOOD MORNING, WEAK AND PUNY PARTY MEMBERS!!! CARRY ON, AND TREMBLE NO MORE BEFORE ME THIS DAY AS WE ENGAGE IN GLORIOUS COMBAT! TOMORROW I SHALL ONCE AGAIN REMIND YOU OF MY GLORY.

LOL.

The Raven Black wrote:

Why would a Monk raise a shield instead of just Striding or even just Stepping away from their opponent ?

I can tell you why my monk does it:

1. Striding away gets your allies hit who usually have a lower AC than you. Also risks the monster going after the backline casters or archers.

2. I have Disrupt reaction strike which only works in melee range and I still like my AC higher in melee.

I tried the whole stride away tactic as a monk, you have to build for it and give up reactive strikes and have other good martials in place who can take a beating as well or better than you. The only class with a better AC than the monk is the champion as you reach higher levels.

Monks are a low to moderate damage martial with great defense. They are built to move around, but it sets the rest of the group up for problems if they do.

I can attest to this.

My early monk days had my party getting the snot kicked out of them because I wasn't there to help tank the hits.

Such strategies can also land the monk in hot water. I skirmished away a little too far once. Once. I accidentally instigated a whole second encounter in which my monk, being too far away from the party for them to give any practical support, quickly perished.

Isn't Shifter just another name for an animal instinct barbarian?

I can't seem to find any Pathfinder Society Boons in the Foundry VTT beyond what appears to be Season 1.

Where can I find the rest of the boons? My fellow players and I have several boons from other seasons (And an adventure path) that we are seemingly unable to drag and drop onto our character sheets' boon section. It doesn't effect us much in our own little circle, but if my friends want to export their characters into a different Foundry game under a different GM, then they're not going to be able to easily show what boons they have.

That feat looks extremely strong.

That's basically a Quickened rank 3 Fear every hour.

Level 13 feats should be strong, or else their level should be lower.

Keep in mind, this is three levels higher than Quicken Spell, is far more limited in its use, and uses up 1 of only 2 available feat slots.

Here are my guesses:

One of them will be mentally, physically, and/or developmentally disabled, probably the Guardian.

One of them will be a Human with a Versatile Heritage.

They will likely both be women.

One of them will be at least middle-aged, perhaps even bordering on elderly.

Neither will follow the cultural norms of their actual ancestry.

I imagine the commander will be your human with the new dragonblood versatile heritage. Dragons are regal and commanding, like I imagine a military officer might be.

I'm hoping the guardian will be a gourd leshy reminiscent of Maple from Bofuri, and who is disabled only in that they lack a brain.

So I guess it has come out that a "dragonblood" versatile heritage is coming out in Player Core 2. [LEAK]

What are you going to make for your first dragonblood PC?

I'm considering updating my old draconic war hero, Fei Kune.

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

One thing I've said before that I especially like with the mythological inconsistencies is that you're not bound to pick only one myth that's "true". Like, Windsong talks like each of the first gods sprang fully formed, but it's not important to the myth to highlight how exactly each appeared, so maybe Asmodeus' account us accurate about each of them forming out of motes of light, and at one point Sarenrae was both one of the first eight but the first eight were also just a bunch of demigods for the first thousand years while they grew in power.

Meanwhile, that Asmodeus formed in tandem with Hell doesn't necessarily preclude the story that he much later 'discovered' Hell filled with asura and conquered it for his own devices one day while having a disagreement with his brother that even later capitulated into him taking a host of angels with him to become the first devils.

This is 100% exactly the point. Pick the one that works best for you and run with it!

That said, it DOES get tricky when the one picking the one that works best is, say, me, and I'm picking it because I'm developing or writing an adventure that's based on some of that mythology. That sort of thing does, in time, start to lend facts to the mythology, but... that's I guess part of the cost of publishing stuff that builds on previously published stuff.

If the fate of the drow has shown us anything, it's that even stuff published in adventures isn't set in stone.

Your players are correct.

Heh. I've been cleaning my hard drive prepping to move to a new computer, and I found that mp3 file of "Beware of Hama, the Wandering Witch". "Where the heck did this come from?" I thought. So I just spent an hour or so reading this entire thread. Of course your post of the song is on the last page. :-)

Very nice song. I'm keeping it. :-)

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Listen to it as much as you want. Just don't try selling it or claiming it as your own creation.

They are int based, so more strategy than inspiring.

Ooh. I wonder if we will see a version of the old 1st Edition trait, Bruising Intellect, return in some form or another.

Ravingdork wrote:

RiverMesa wrote:

The Imperial Calendar was explained in the Travel Guide.

LOL. I guess that's one way to try and get people to buy Paizo's cookbook.

Recipes were a handful of sidebars in a book filled with setting lore (my favorite being an overview of international trade routes) and lovely art . This feels like a really strange potshot to take at it.

Nobody I know in person (outside of myself) has bothered picking up the Travel Guide due to its lack of mechanical options. The recipes and clothing styles and the like are pretty neat and fun, but they're the kinds of things my friends look up on the wiki, not buy a whole book for (at least, not a game book).

The Travel Guide also seemed pretty Inner Sea focused to me, so I'm not sure why anyone's first thought for Tian Xia calendar information would be the Travel Guide. Paizo really should have put that calendar information in the Tian Xia book as well. Without it, I'm sure numerous people aren't going to know what that notation means or how it coincides with Golarion's more Western calendar systems.

I've only ever seen it used in game shops where players waste 15 minutes scanning a QR code, creating new accounts/signing in, and filling out lengthy forms--where someone will inevitably mess something up.

Compared to the 15 seconds it takes to write your Society ID number on the sign in slip.

I wasn't aware that the GM could do it all themselves on the app prior to this conversation.

Thanks for the clarification! :)

The Imperial Calendar was explained in the Travel Guide.

LOL. I guess that's one way to try and get people to buy Paizo's cookbook.

Ravingdork wrote:

So when reporting the repeat session, I just...don't put in a character number in the GM section? Is that what is intended?

If that number gets filled out, does the system know not to award XP and a Chronicle?

(I'm wondering if I've got edits to make.)

Yea, just leave the character part empty - fill in your player (GM) number, but don't fill in the 2001 /etc.

Okay. So not idiot proof then. I'll give that a try.

Doesn't seem like a very good system if that doesn't work.

No.

Crafter's Workshop got errated to 1 day years ago.

Do also remember that you cannot start 2 crafting projects in the same 8day block. (I find that additionally this rule frequently trips people up trying to 0day start crafts.)

I'm aware of the errata, though I fail to see how that answers my question.

Maybe I wasn't being clear. Let me try phrasing my question a different way.

Errata'd Crafter's Workshop reduces the prep period to 1 day. Having the formula in Remaster reduces it to 1 day. Does having both reduce it by 2 days, so that I can immediately begin reducing costs from day 1?

Not sure about the second part of your post; I didn't even mention starting multiple projects...?

It looks to me like the system is giving the character full credit. It's marked as having gained 12 XP and reputation.

No messages or alerts or anything as yet.

If that's not the way it's intended to go, here's hoping that when Paizo gets around to that promised site redesign, they make this stuff "idiot proof."

Ravingdork wrote:

FallenDabus wrote:

I assume the timeline dates are in the Imperial Calender. Are they given with the AR equivalents, or do we need to calculate those ourselves if we are making a grand timeline of everything?

I did not see any AR equivalents, though I imagine the notation is explained early on in the book.

Do they go into detail at all about the Imperial Calendar?

The only mention of "Imperial Calendar" is in the Glossary.

Imperial Calendar The most commonly used calendar in Tian Xia, consisting of 52 weeks across 12 months. The current year is 7224 ic.

I assume the timeline dates are in the Imperial Calender. Are they given with the AR equivalents, or do we need to calculate those ourselves if we are making a grand timeline of everything?

I did not see any AR equivalents, though I imagine the notation is explained early on in the book.

If I put their information in the system, then they later sign up, would they be able to see and edit their information that I entered previously?

So when reporting the repeat session, I just...don't put in a character number in the GM section? Is that what is intended?

If that number gets filled out, does the system know not to award XP and a Chronicle?

(I'm wondering if I've got edits to make.)

That's strange. I could have sworn the website said players needed to sign up.

If my snare specialist has Crafter's Workshop (Envoy's Alliance boon) and formulas for all of his snares, can he begin crafting with 0 days lead time, rather than 1 or 2?

LOL. I just had my players sign up for Paizo, then for Society, then Foundry, then Forge. If I ask them to sign up for something else YET AGAIN just so we can roleplay, they're going to revolt!

I've been given chronicle sheets with the information typed in digitally a few times. How do you do that? Whenever I attempt to add text to a Chronicle digitally, I get a "this document is protected" prompt.

I just finished reporting my having hosted Extinction Curse #1: The Show Must Go On for the 2nd time.

Is it possible for a GM to use a Replay to get the Chronicle Sheet and other benefits for a sanctioned Adventure Path volume? If so, how do I do that?

Also, can I report my having hosted an adventure path module to any benefit if the players abandoned it prior to completing it? I had one group that played halfway, but then then disbanded due to extenuating circumstances.

Ravingdork wrote:

To be clear, it was not my intent to try and get around anything. I already have the appropriate boon for the weapon. Since I DO have access to it, I should be able to invent the formula, right? That way, if I lose my weapon, I can more quickly craft a new one, using only one day of downtime rather than two.

Three points:

- With access, you can just buy the weapon. No need to waste downtime.
- Also with access to an uncommon item, you can just buy the formula for it. PFS Formula Rule here.
- How would you even permanently lose your weapon in PFS?

It's more to make my Invento feat do something, and to end up with a shoddy weapon that penalizes anyone except for my Junk Tinker.

Players also gain 80 Starfinder AcP, which is separate from 2e acp, and you can use that to buy System Traveler: Android, which allows you to play an android in 2e without spending any 2e achievement points.

Is that how the System Traveler boons work? I always wondered what those were aboutA

Damn. I wish I knew that before I blew a bunch of AP on my android a short while back. I'm not really using my Starfinder AP much these days.

Maybe Paizo will let me swap the boons.

Dancing Wind wrote:

Squark wrote:

The fluff will probably need less retconning since it wasn't tied to something that got remastered.

Because Varsovian is new here:

Paizo has a forum rule that asks us to refer to the flavor text in Paizo materials.

Jonathan Morgantini wrote:

As a reminder, we do not user the terms 'crunch and fluff' to refer to rules and lore on the forums. Rules and lore are the preferred terms. I will be enforcing that, and it will appear in the next update to the Community Guidelines.

I really appreciate that being part of the community guidelines. Crunch and fluff is great for describing the texture of popcorn not great for describing words on a page.

Doubleplusgood I dare say! /snark

Gah, my post edits timed out.

Addendum: How did you succeed in recruiting others? Were any reluctant, and if so, how did you overcome it?

Of the six, one of the new players wasn't interested enough to show up (she fears participating in more than one campaign might be too confusing) and another missed the first half of the meet up and was continually distracted by a newborn baby thereafter (which totally would not have been an issue, had they muted the mic from the background TV and baby cries leaking through constantly).

Of the remaining four, I think they are far more impressed with my presentation demo of Foundry's capabilities than they are of Pathfinder Society.

I had battle music, animated fire and smoke, interactive doors with amazing sfx, automated abilities, amazing interactive spell efects, and numerous quality of life tools. They loved it, and will surely want to see more of it. One of the other GM regulars complained that I set the bar too high. "What have you done to my games?" he lamented. I'm going to have to spend a downtime day with him teach him some of my tricks I guess.

As for Organized Society play, I discussed the benefits of shorter sessions that don't require much travel, cooking, or other heavy investments—things none of us really have time for anymore. However, I think I may have spent too much time emphasizing the advantage of being free to take their characters to other tables, even though they feel our table is "all they will ever need."

It also didn't help that my internet connection is so poor I was not able to share my screen, forcing me to walk everyone through the various processes from blind memory and from constant verbal back and forth descriptions of where everyone was and what they were doing.

I suspect they're put off by the extra paperwork, character restrictions, and shallow adventure quests too. I did get them all signed up for Paizo accounts and Society IDs though, and they've registered their first characters and have started talks about what they each might want to play. I believe that they are likely humorist me and are doing this more to help me out than due to any real solid interest in Society.

I'm hoping they will continue to do so until we get a couple formal Socety scenarios under our belts. At least then, even if they decide it's not for them, we'll all know we gave it a chance.

Anyone got any advice on better selling the positive aspects of Society Play? Are there very many over traditional roleplay?

Which ancestries and versatile heritages are freely available without a Boon?

My players want to know what their options are for their first characters, and I remember there were some new exceptions added in, but I can't seem to find them now.

Ravingdork wrote:

And the entirety of the rest of the book is pretty much a really fun almanac and cultural guide that introduces hundreds of NPCs and plot hooks, but no associated stat blocks or mechanics of any kind.

About the plot hooks, are they "hidden" in the description of the nations, or there is a separate section where they are listed? Like in the Guide to the River Kingdoms, where every kingdom had a paragraph called plot hooks/adventure ideas or something similiar.

Thanks.

They are not expressly called out.

Tonight I will be introducing 6 new players to Pathfinder Society and Foundry! :D

Four of them are long time friends and veteran Pathfinder roleplayers, but are new to Organized Society rules and Foundry. Two of them are new acquaintances and are new to Pathfinder (and roleplaying in general).

I've got a Discord server set up. I've got Foundry set up. I've provided links to rules resources and tutorial videos (listed below) 24 hours in advance of what is likely going to be our "Session 0."

I'm a mite nervous that I might have overlooked something or might do something to turn them off of it all. So I'm here now, hoping upon hope that the hive mind has some good advice for me. Things to look for when setting up for the first time, ways to keep remote players from getting distracted and to stay focused during play, useful Foundry modules, life lessons you've learned for yourself along the way, that sort of thing.

I myself am a 30 year veteran of roleplaying and longtime Pathfinder enthusiast, am a 1 star Society GM, and have been using Foundry fairly regularly (mostly as a player) for over 3 years. It amazes me that I still get nervous about this.

What info about Kaoling can you divulge? How much of an effect on its culture is the link with Oprak having?

Seems like Kaoling is doing well, for a nation of incredibly rigid workaholics that made generational slaves (in all but name) of those they conquered.

The Council of Nine accepted a tentative treaty with General Azaersi of Oprak. During their talks, General Azaersi asked for resources native to Tian Xia and questioned the weaponization of kaiju, while Kaoling has considered expansion beyond their continent and even plane.

At least one ruler of Kaoling hopes that Oprak will become part of their empire.

Other details below.

History:
Kaoling’s origins are riddled with war and battle, rising from the ashes of the Lung Wa Empire in 7106 ic.

Geography:
Kaoling has a great expanse of flatlands that extends through most of the kingdom, a boon for the movement of cavalry to support its borders.

A Day in Kaoling:
The citizens of Kaoling have a very rigid schedule, and that schedule has a set time to work and a time to relax.

A Year in Kaoling:
Kaoling only celebrates four holidays a year.

Culture:
There is an expectation that an individual must be productive for society. Respect is earned by the outcome rather than the individual.

Government:
Eight generals rule Kaoling alongside their emperor. They vote on important matters with the emperor serving as tie breaker.

International Relations:
Due to their expansionist aspirations, Kaoling does not have great relationships with many nations in Tian Xia. Outside of Tian Xia, Kaoling is currently allied with the Ironfang Legion and General Azaersi, as well as the hobgoblins of Rahk Lo in the Tian Xia Darklands.

Mechanically, it looks like there's only

- The gods/religions
- monsters
- rituals
- vehicles, marine

And the entirety of the rest of the book is pretty much a really fun almanac and cultural guide that introduces hundreds of NPCs and plot hooks, but no associated stat blocks or mechanics of any kind.

A, how many settlement stat blocks are there, and B, are their any interesting settlement abilities?

There are over 100 settlements described, and not one of them has a settlement stat block listed, nor even so much as a settlement level mentioned.

"Octopus-crab country" is most likely Wanshou, ruled since its 1e introduction by a kraken.

Ooh. They even have a gnarly picture of the mosntrous Zhanaghorr. "Octopus-crab-kraken" is spot on! And SO many eyes!

Here are some fun facts:

Capital: Numijaan
Government: Monstrous Autocracy
Ruler: Zhanagorr
Peoples: Athamarus, Boggards, Cecaelias, Fleshwarps, Humans, Merfolk, Tripkees, Undead
Languages: Thalassic, Tien
Religions: Hei Feng, Lamashtu, Lady Nanbyo, Lao Shu Po
Resources: Gems, Mercenaries, Produce, Seafood, Ships

- Spirits seen in the fog and bog zombies rising from the mud during storms are a common occurrence.
- Even the humanoid leaders of the nation are terrifying to behold. Naoki's fierce gaze practically pierces my very being!

I'll try and tackle the more involved questions when I get home from work this evening. My time and book access is limited during the work day.

Do we get any information on the heralds of the gods in this book? So far the only Tian deities with named heralds are Tsukiyo and Shizuru. Though I'm expecting probably not, as this seems closer to the domain of Divine Mysteries.

Only Shizuru's herald appears to be mentioned.

I wanna now about the country with the octopus crab god watching over them

You're going to have to give me more to work with. Searches for "crab" and "octopus" didn't reveal anything worthwhile, and none of the gods' images that I saw matches that description. Do you know the name of the country?

For the immortality ritual... how do they manage to get "no, really, it takes very specific things to kill you" to be at all balanced?

New anathemas. Breaking one of them makes you mortal again and requires atonement and a repeat ritual to get the immortality back.

Given that it sounds like they're cracking the seal on "permanent power-ups through ritual magic" in general, how are they balancing them?

Are there any permanent power-up rituals that are *not* rare?

All the ones in this book are indeed Rare. Most grant a single specific feat. All have strict conditions both to obtain the benefits and to maintain said benefits after the ritual has been completed.

I heard Dokkaebi appeared as a regional Goblin heritage. What are the specifics, like any differences in Ability mods, rarity, 0th level features, et cetera?

They are described once (just once) as "magical goblins" though there is no mention of mechanical differences from normal goblins. Mostly, it just appears to be minor cultural differences.

So how hard is it to become immortal? Is it player achievable, or is it just for NPCs?

It's 10th rank, Rare, might very well kill you in the attempt, and you can lose the benefits of the ritual under very specific circumstances that are determined during the course of said ritual. Its DCs and costs are commiserate with its high rank.

Definitely player achievable once you get past the rarity tag and are high enough level that the attempt doesn't just wipe you from existence.

Favorite new monster(s) in this book?

The inkdrop is a tiny mindless construct that can remember the exact pattern of ink it flows over. The creature can literally be "killed" by erasing it.

Any nations change name besides Tang Mai?

Yes.

Is there an illustration that references Zatoichi, next to it?

Yes. There actually is.

Also, might I ask you to keep a running tally of how many times you go "oh I recognize that as a reference to XYZ piece of media"? And then share the end total once you've read the whole thing.

I'll think about it. For now, I'm just hoping to keep up until other volunteers can hop in and take over.

In the updated map of Tian Xia, what is that "metal sphere" on the Quain/Po Li/Nagajor border?

It's called the Round Mountain. Hao Jin carved it out of the Darklands, effectively cutting off the escape of an army of ysoki invaders hundreds of years ago. She trapped them there--sphere and all--within her demiplane. It reads as though it only recently returned to the Universe. Scouts of nearby lands claim the descendants of that army still live in and around Round Mountain.

Is Grandmother Pei still the leader of Bachuan?

It appears so.

In PF1 Dtang Ma (now Tang Mai) was ruled by a coalition of sorcerers with stormborn, fey, starsoul and maestro bloodline. Three of these bloodlines don't exist in PF2 (at least as player options). Is something changed?

The current rulers are a psychopomp sorcerer, an imperial sorcerer, two dragon sorcerers, and a nymph sorcerer. Past sorcerer founders are mentioned, but at a glance, I didn't see anything about their bloodlines.

Thanks!

You're welcome!

I got my PDF copy.

First ritual in the book? Immortality.

Not from old age. From EVERYTHING.

Those that follow are interesting as well. (Such as one that turns you into the "blind swordsman" trope.)

Ask me anything. Still getting into it though, so please be patient if I don't respond quickly.

Ravingdork wrote:

Can't a kineticist use proliferate to turn those saplings into big trees?

Proliferate is still bound by bulk limits per RAW.

While creating a sapling by itself is possible by mid levels, a full grown tree is probably above the bulk limitations of proliferate.

With respect, I disagree. The verbiage of the "cause the element to expand to fill its square" option is clearly intended to remove such limitations.

Probably should have said "unlike me." I was intending to imply that I do own a 1-sided die.