Ravingdork's page

Nothing has changed regarding the recent clarification on instances/sources of damage. eg, base weapon is still one instance, flaming rune is one instance, fire buff spell another, and Rage yet another, and so on.

It's just now that for any given action/activity you add up all like types of damage before accounting for resistances and weaknesses?

Am I understanding that correctly?

Forest? Don't be afraid to dream bigger, darling. They could make it look like the Plane of Fire if they wanted.

What is the deal with the Foundry macro? Doesn't it just roll a d20 and add your modifier from all the Recall Knowledge skills, allowing the GM to pick the most well suited one (or for the player to declare which one they'd like to use)?

How does that differ from playing normally, much less break any rules?

I feel like total darkness with overwhelming noise might be pushing it a bit.

Tall grass sounds perfectly reasonable.

I recall the spell being used in a novel by a traitor to slow down the army he was with. They were stuck in his swamp for a goodly while before the army wizard figured it out and disintegrated the traitor.

Ravingdork wrote:

So if my character is 10 feet away from an active dispelling globe and casts lightning bolt directly through the middle of it, does any lightning come out of the back of the globe? Why or why not?

Yes. There's nothing physical blocking LoE.

Globe straight up says that only the part of the area that's inside the globe is surpressed. So the line after the globe continues normally.

Sounds clear cut for area effects. What about non-area effects, such as a ray or other magical projectile?

So if my character is 10 feet away from an active dispelling globe and casts lightning bolt directly through the middle of it, does any lightning come out of the back of the globe? Why or why not?

I wouldn't worry about players wanting to turn their tanuki into an arrow and shoot it over a wall, or turn into a cannonball to be shot through the wall.

Just remind them that ammunition is destroyed upon use. >XD

If anything, I wish there were more abilities that were a little more open ended like this.

Isn't there a restriction on valuable items?

I assume you mean this rule?

A character gains training in certain skills at 1st level: typically two from their background, a small number of predetermined skills from their class, and several skills of your choice granted by their class. This training increases your proficiency ranks for those skills to trained instead of untrained and lets you use more of the skills’ actions. Sometimes you might become trained in the same skill from multiple sources, such as if your background granted training in Survival and you took the ranger class, which also grants training in Survival. Each time after the first that you’d become trained in a given skill, you instead allocate the trained proficiency to any other skill of your choice—though if the skill is a Lore skill, the new skill must also be a Lore skill.

Note the beginning where it frames the rest of the paragraph in the context of 1st level.

The introductory section for Backgrounds says something similar.

If you gain the trained proficiency rank in a skill from your background and would then gain the trained proficiency rank in the same skill from your class at 1st level, you instead become trained in another skill of your choice.

AT FIRST LEVEL is not something we can ignore.

I'm certain your rule interpretation that it is applied generally at all levels is the correct, intended one; I just have yet to see an actual written rule that confirms it. Everything so far appears to be framed in the context of 1st-level characters.

There's no evidence that the rule continues to apply past level 1.

You are missing something. It is a general rule that if you would become Trained in a skill and are already Trained or better in that skill, you choose a new skill to become Trained in. If the skill was a lore, the new skill must be a lore.

Where specifically is that rule located in the Remaster?

EDIT: I looked into it. The rules for Backgrounds only indicate that it is possible at level 1. The first page of the Skills chapter also appears to speak of it in context of a level 1 character in regards to Backgrounds.

I have yet to find anything that clearly states that this, as a general rule, applies past level 1. Is it somewhere else then?

Also, when I take Additional Lore in an existing Lore skill, neither Pathbuilder nor Hero Lab grant me an extra Lore skill.

Started stream. Heard "new classes" instead of "much needed support for existing classes." Closed stream.

NEW CHARACTER REMASTER UPDATES!

In honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow, today I'm bringing back three of my personal favorite characters, updated to the new Remaster rule set!

Whether it's the passionate love of a man for his wife, the paternal love a father holds for his daughter, or the obsession of a sick mind for his beloved victims, it's all here on full display this weekend.

Enjoy! Trigger Warning: This content includes potential triggers for child abuse, cults, kidnapping, and imprisonment in confined spaces.

Dolgrin Tombguard, Kuthite high priest (male death warden dwarf shadow haunted cleric 13)

A descendant from a long line of Pahmet tomb guardians of Osirion, the once proud magistrate, Dolgrin, slowly devolved into insanity after seeing far too many criminal atrocities in his line of work. He has long since given up on the world, and now serves the Midnight Lord as a living atrocity himself. Empty of pity and empathy, utterly amoral and merciless, there is nothing he won't do to sate his masochistic and sadistic fetishes. The only thing that keeps his mind orderly is his unbreakable devotion to his Prince of Pain.

At his core, Dolgrin Tombguard lives to deliver pain unto others. Therefore, he relies heavily on high damage blast spells that allow him to better maim and murder his enemies, crippling debuff spells with which to torment and capture his targets, and a handful of battlefield control spells that deter pursuit while drawing blood. Craving pain himself, he chiefly relies on short range spells so as to always be in the thick of things, relying on his high hit points to endure any incoming trauma he might take.

Dolgrin generally opens up combat with a Battle Cry and harries his foes from a short distance, biding his time for when they close, allowing him to use his domain powers and focus pool to deliver powerful one-two punches. For example, he might cast a single action harm to deal 7d10 negative damage to a single target followed by cry of destruction for an additional 7d12 sonic damage to the target and anyone standing next to him. Should his enemies attempt to heal themselves or their allies, Dolgrin can punish them with anathematic reprisal (dealing another 4d6 damage and stupefy 1 to the healer).

Should his enemies live long enough to get past Dolrgin's allies, walls, and other deterrents, he can punish his attackers with retributive pain sending half of the incoming damage back at his foes (especially useful should they crit for high damage).

Should a foe prove especially resistant, Dolgrin can cast destructive aura to reduce their resistances, allowing his damaging spells to have more of an impact before following up with spells like phantom pain or savor the sting to prolong their agony and hasten their defeat with persistent damage.

Out of combat, Dolgrin is a bully who coerces others into doing his bidding. Though he is not the most clever villain and generally prefers a more straight-forward approach, he is no fool; subtlety is not beyond him. For example, though he might simply use his magic and minions to abruptly kidnap someone, he still sees the value in and might execute a subtler approach, such as befriending the target and offering them a drink laced with slumber wine. Generally, this depends on his level of control over the situation. When on his own turf surrounded by his own allies, or when he is otherwise certain to get away with it, he is more likely to use brute force. When there is a possibility of drawing unwanted attention, or becoming captured himself, he will generally opt for the more subtle approach.

When praying to Zon-Kuthon, Dolgrin relies on his marvelous medicines, stabilize spell, and Continual Recovery feat to ensure his torture victims do not perish (or lose consciousness) before his own desires have been sated. Should Dolgrin ever kill someone too soon (in or out of combat) he uses breath of life to prolong their miserable lives.

If forced into melee combat, he might use his poisoned spiked chain to deliver excruciating scorpion venom before following up with cry of destruction. A critical hit might also allow him to use his Battle Cry feat to debuff his foe for a time.

Before bringing a horrible fiend such as Dolgrin Tombguard into your games (as a PC or NPC), I encourage you to first speak to your group about their comfort levels when it comes to playing out evil acts at the table.

Jaha, seer of ill repute (male ancient elf acolyte and gambler oracle 7)

Unlike the other two characters, which were simply adapted to the Remaster, Jaha--being a diviner wizard--has been completely overhauled out of necessity to maintain his status as a seer. He is now a Lore oracle with the Knowledge domain and a wizard of the Mentalism school.

A former priest of Abadar, Jaha was excommunicated from the church due to a great many accusations of cheating and theft laid against him. In truth, Jaha is a talented seer whose greed and ability to see the immediate future caused him to develop a gambling addiction. Even as he preached the steadfast tenants of Abadar, he would use his powers of foresight to gain every edge he could in gambling games. To this day, Jaha adamantly defends his actions, claiming (truthfully) that he never (technically) broke any rules, committed any crimes, or took anything that was not due to him by the initial agreements of all who chose to participate in the games. Most tend not to see it that way, however, and much of his life has been dedicated to redeeming himself in the eyes of society.

As an intelligent and perceptive character with lots of skills, Jaha makes for a pretty good sage or detective. There's nothing he doesn't know a little something about and his astute observations of the world around him give him an edge when it comes to finding clues or ousting hidden criminals--to say nothing of his formidable divinatory powers!

Not one to take chances, Jaha is also a master of divine magic. His ability to cover wide areas in combat with deadly blasts, cast spells discreetly, or apply beneficial spells from a distance grant him a wide range of versatility in and out of combat.

Jensen, battle oracle (female aiuvarin acolyte fighter 11)

Jensen is a bastard-sword wielding town guardswoman who, between her wizard spell slots and staff of the unblinking eye, is capable of casting sure strike several times per day. This unique capability grants her unparalleled accuracy on many of her most important attacks and allows for frequent use of her Bespell Strikes feat for even more damage.

She also excels at disrupting opponents' actions and has a variety of additional tricks up her sleeve such as being able to boost her speed all day long, fly, turn invisible, use divine scrolls, and more!

It's not all build though! She comes with an exciting backstory detailing her terrible history as a former cultist of Zon-Kuthon, her unusual social rehabilitation and the ongoing threat to the future that it still represents, and her striving to be a defender of the weak despite having only one arm and a head full of dark knowledge. Unbeknownst to her the Prince of Pain's sinister agents are closing in, and it is only a matter of time before they catch up to their prized acolyte.

NEW CHARACTER AUDIO!

Don't have the time to read the backgrounds of the three new characters? Then give this condensed audio file a listen! (5 min. 50 sec.) I call it "Shadows of the Midnight Lord". Or perhaps "The Seer's Ward". I haven't decided which I like better!

It covers all three characters and their backgrounds in one tidy little narration. It is different than the written backgrounds too, so it's worth hearing even if you're already familiar with the three characters.

I love that Paizo finally puts words to clarifying "instances of damage" though I do with they had ALSO stated that you combine those instances of like damage when dealing with resistances and weaknesses. I feel that would be a good compromise between old and new rules.

Healing a broken limb requires the bone to be set, which can mean the bone grinds against itself, incredibly painful.

New skin is extremely sensitive, so a healed would slapped for 0 damage is gonna hurt like crazy.

The anathema is to give comfort. Make sure you describe how painful your healing is. the sensation of new raw skin growing in, causing even a gust of wind to feel like icy daggers against their skin. the burning sensation as bacteria are cleaned out of a wound before closing it up. the idea that your healing of the bleeding condition would literally feel like their wound is being packed in salt, because it has antisceptic properties. really look at what parts of modern medicine are done for comfort of the patient and just imagine a physician who will not do any of it.

*Stares wide-eyed*

*Shrugs*

I've often wondered that myself.

Dispelling Globe doesn't move. Much different. Requires tactical set up, in combat actions.

Yeah, I noticed. That'll make things FUN!

I recall the hole needing to be at least a foot across.

Reworking an old diviner.

How might I build out a "Seer" concept in Pathfinder 2e? That is, someone with the gift of foresight and/or the ability to accurately predict outcomes.

I'd prefer an arcane caster, such as a wizard, but I'm not dead set on that if something fits the concept particularly well.

Anyone have any good suggestions for mechanical options that might work to that end?

Well, they are listed in the rules--so yes, they are rules. That said, I agree that they are extremely open to interpretation.

Which is why I was hoping to get a few interpretations. :P

If I have a caster standing in a dispelling globe and an enemy tosses a fireball or ignition against him, it is likely to get dispelled.

But what if the caster inside the globe steps outside of it, while keeping it in between him and his foe. Does his foe have line of effect? Does he still need to contend with the counterspell effect? Does fireball simply work since, unlike previous editions, there is no magical bead streaking across the intervening space? What if the enemy attempted something like stupefy?

Do spells that simply emerge or target directly still need to contend with obstacles, barriers, and line of effect / line of sight?

there are dispelling globe

better than spell immunity anyway

Ooh! Thanks! Think I'll use that.

Now if I could just find something to replace anathematic reprisal the character will be totally Remaster aligned.

actually not sure how shield throw would work with this new shield clarification

can meteor shield be raised without attaching it to arm

if not what is the point of meteor shield

if player are using it to strike almost every turn than it will never get to be used as shield

That's why you get two. One for offense and one for defense. XD

Why do I get the feeling that if this thread goes on long enough, where going to see a "softer side" of Zon from Paizo?

Shadow Siphon appears to be pre-Remaster.

Can clerics and other divine casters of Zon-Kuthon cast the heal spell?

One of Zon-Kuthon's anathemas is "provide comfort to those who suffer" which gives me pause.

I was hoping to prepare the spell on a Kuthite character for use in prolonging the suffering of torture victims that would otherwise die, but I'm not sure if that would really fly.

What do you guys think? Can Kuthite priests cast heal and/or use other restoratives during the course of their grisly work? Are they not allowed to use Battle Medicine even on themselves?

I am updating an old character to Remaster rules and noticed that AoN still lists spell immunity as being in the Core Rulebook. Is there a replacement spell for spell immunity in the Remaster?

It's very possible that we get it remastered into the Impossible Magic.

I hope so!

Ravingdork wrote:

Is there anything in the Remaster that duplicates the effects of the classic ring of wizardry, or perhaps comes close to it?

Why won't you just take a Ring of wizardry?

That works just fine for me, but half my characters are made for use by others, and not everyone's table has such freedom.

For you naysayers, how on Golarion do your players make use of things like hyperconition or true hypercognition at your table?

Interestingly, I'd say there are plenty of items that are significant cost when compared to the cost of fundamental runes.

As a GM, I'd probably just say if the weapon is under 10 gp and you're buying it after the level when fundamental runes become available then you don't need to worry about that additional cost. But anyone trying to take advantage of it to increase their character wealth is going to get a talking to.

So no free composite longbows at your table? Not like they needed another nerf, no matter how minor.

So I just need a different subject.

Instead of asking about giant specific things, I'll now ask about troll specific things. :P

Thanks for the quick response! :)

585gp for a Clockwork Macuahuitl and a suit of O-Yori armor is hardly a couple of gold pieces. :P

If you buy a magical weapon with fundamental runes, the cost of the weapon is subsumed in the cost of the runes.

Is the same true for armor? I don't recall.

It's generally understood that if you fail a check to Recall Knowledge, you can't keep making checks to learn more information with that skill (sorry I couldn't find the source to quote it). But what if you have multiple related lore skills, such as Giant Lore and the more specific Troll Lore? Can you make new checks using the other lore skill after you've failed the other?

You know basic facts off the top of your head. Choose a skill you’re an expert in that has the Recall Knowledge action and for which you have the Assurance feat. You can use the Recall Knowledge action with that skill as a free action once per round. If you do, you must use Assurance on the skill check.

Does anyone actually take, much less use the above feat?

It's nice to be able to get a free RK check when your lore comes up, but um, how often will it really matter the round after that, or the round after that?

The primary benefit of being able to use it every round as a free action seems, well, like it wouldn't come up very often. As written it just doesn't seem like it's likely to be applied practically.

Say I have Zon-Kuthon lore on my total edgelord character. Does he just not shut up ever about his dark lord? XD

Is there anything in the Remaster that duplicates the effects of the classic ring of wizardry, or perhaps comes close to it?

For the example given, I'd say no. Only the initial damage procs the weakness.

Ravingdork wrote:

Just move half the coins out of the area. Then keep halving the pile of coins until you detect the odd one out.

We do it with low level detect magic in hoards all the time.

That works okay, but becomes more difficult if there are multiple items (10 gold coins in a pile of thousands). And it generally takes a lot of time.

Yep.

Each damage chunk can only ever exist as a single *type* of damage. It's not possible for 5d6 to be both fire and cold, that chunk has to be one type or the other.

In practice damage often only has one type, for the sake of simplicity, but because of the trait system, and the ability to apply traits to literally anything, it's VERY possible (at least in theory) to have a single chunk of damage be both "fire" and "cold" and "dragon." Anything triggered by those traits would trigger.

That kind of game mechanic versatility is literally why the developers created the trait system in the first place.

Found the last bit, it's about Duplicate effects.

"Duplicate Effects
When you're affected by the same thing multiple times, only one instance applies, using the higher level or rank of the effects, or the newer effect if the two are equal. For example, if you were using mystic armor and then cast it again, you'd still benefit from only one casting of that spell. Casting a spell again on the same target might get you a better duration or effect if it were cast at a higher rank the second time, but otherwise doing so gives you no advantage."

LOL. I recall in older editions of D&D that I would cast redundant spells on myself so that when they got dispelled, nothing appreciably changed for me. Confounded many a GM and enemy wizard.

I'm glad to see it's been addressed in Pathfinder.

What I am left wondering, since Holy and the spirit damage come from the same holy rune, is what if the monster had weakness to both holy and spirit?

That sounds like a single source to me. Use the higher of the two weaknesses.

Assurance with Athletics for that 3rd attack is quite good IME.

IME that only seems to work well against lower leveled enemies, making it something of a waste of an action (since they tend not to last long enough for the maneuver to really matter much anyways).

I wonder how many monsters have multiple weaknesses. And if their defenses and HP total take the official definition of damage instance into account.

Arboreals and awakened trees come immediately to mind, as do many zombies.

So if I blast a swam with an area effect that does 2 or more types of damage, does it take its area weakness damage 2 or more times?

My thirdhand foundry dev team sources tell me weapon spec doesn’t count because it doesn’t say it has a damage type or something. Supposedly it’s only a separate instance if it specifics that it does “x type of damage”

That extra damage definitely counts if you're at least a 7th-level exemplar with Spirit Striking. Energized Spark helps you diversify it even.

So does the new "instance of damage" help clarify whether or not barbarian rage can be applied during a polymorph effect such as untamed form?

Page 10: Update the first paragraph under Psychic Spellcasting.

“You access the vast well of power that resides within your own mind, calling forth psychic magic with nothing but thought and will. You are a spellcaster and can cast occult spells using the Cast a Spell activity (Pathfinder Player Core 299). You don’t need to utter incantations to cast your spells, instead exerting your mind toward your intended effect as described in your subconscious mind class feature. Your spells still have clear and noticeable visual and auditory manifestations, as normal for a spellcaster.”

Does this mean psychics can cast freely underwater without having to give up all their held breath?

...are people really complaining that Stunned now only takes away the number of actions listed on their condition value in all circumstances instead of potentially getting 4 actions for the price of 1?

Just goes to show that you can't please everyone I guess. *shrugs*

Just move half the coins out of the area. Then keep halving the pile of coins until you detect the odd one out.

We do it with low level detect magic in hoards all the time.

The whole point is that they are contradicting themselves.

Except they're not.

You cannot have something both be a distinct and separate instance from other instances, but also have those instances be connected inside a Strike bucket at the same time.

Why not?

I can see how it might cause issues coding it out in machine language, but thankfully, we're not machines. People are capable of parsing the meaning in a way that makes sense AND falls in line with the new clarifications.

People cleverer than I can probably even find a simple solution to make it work in machine language I'd imagine.

If you've got resistance to "damage from demons," and get hit by some multi-type damage, wtf happens?

It's been a while since I've read the Resistance rules, so I might be wrong here, but following the same logic established by the Weakness example, I would imagine you would figure out the total damage (including adjustments for more traditional weaknesses/resistances), then deduct that resistance value from the total one time LAST.

In any case, I don't see why an example about Weaknesses would have any impact on Resistances.

Page 401 (Clarification): What happens to abilities that depend on your roll when you set your die to a certain result instead of actually rolling? Typically, it still counts as a roll for abilities that trigger off your roll.

For example, if you used Assurance to automatically get a result of 10 + your proficiency bonus and it would be a success, an ability that applies to that skill and says “when you roll a success, you get a critical success instead” would still upgrade your result to a critical success. Though this general rule should apply most of the time, a GM might rule otherwise in certain circumstances based on the specific abilities and their themes.

How can we best take advantage of the above clarification to ensure many, many automatic critical successes (or positive shifts) with our characters?

Let's brainstorm some fun combos!

Xenocrat wrote:

Except the text says the whole strike, not the base weapon. Even spell based additional damage is within that "whole strike" bucket, lol.

Seems like a dishonest reading of the new errata to me. They're clearly talking about adding the bonus damage from Holy weakness only once to the whole attack, not once per instance of damage within said attack.