Samurai's page

For those like me that have issues with Pathfinder 2nd edition but still want to play in Golarion, I wanted to point you to the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Kickstarter that is going on currently here. It is far past $200,000 right now (day 2) and breaking stretch goals daily (The new Deadlands KS finished at over $568,000). The main book includes the new Savage Worlds Adventure edition rules, modified for Pathfinder, so there are no additional books needed to buy or reference.

Savage Worlds is a "fast, furious, fun" system that has been around for many years now, and there are already setting books for a wide variety of genres and worlds, from Deadlands (horror-western) to the Last Parsec (sci-fi space adventures), Space 1889 (steampulp space adventure) to Necessary Evil (Earth's super villains vs alien invades), Flash Gordon to Lakhmar, Rifts, Solomon Kane, and even Pirates of the Spanish Main! The rules are very adaptable, and you can usually port something from 1 setting to another easily because they all use the same base rules!

If you've never played Savage Worlds, there are free "Test Drive" rules you can downlead on their website here. Basically, your stats and skills are all die types, progressing from a 1d4 up to 1d12+. If your die rolls the max possible for that die, it "explodes", and you can roll it again and add to your total.

Check it out!

I tried to post it under the product's listing, but I couldn't get it to work, so I figured "Paizo Products" is the next best place.

Under the new Backgrounds, the first one is "Ex-Con Token Guard". Under the description, it just shortens that even further by saying they get a +1 bonus to interact with "Token Guards" and convicted criminals such as prison inmates.

I find this to be highly racist, and unnecessarily so. While the dictionary says a token is: a member of a group (such as a minority) that is included within a larger group through tokenism, especially : a token employee.

You don't need to make the character a "token" (a phrase which has a ton of racial meaning in America), just say "Reformed criminal". That could be a member of any race, and not someone seen as a token by his fellow officers. It may even be someone that the other officers look up to, proving that the system they work to uphold actually works for reforming criminal and putting them on a better path.

I'm an Ancient Elf, and I chose the Druid Dedication for my Ranger/Wizard dual-classed character. The APG is coming out soon, and my GM said that if I wanted to use something from it, I can rebuild my character a bit before the next game. While using Int instead of Wis as my casting stat would benefit me since my Int is 18 and my Wis is only 14, looking over the Witch Dedication, it looks completely inferior to the Druid Dedication to me.

The Druid Ded. includes 2 skills, Nature and the one from your order (Acrobatics, since I chose Storm Order). The Witch only gives me 1 skill, based on your spell list (Nature, since I want the Primal list).

The Druid Ded. includes 2 Primal cantrips of my choice each day. The Witch Ded. includes 2 Primal cantrips, but they are fixed, and only 1 can be prepared each day.

The Witch includes a familiar with 1 fewer abilities than normal, but I already have a Familiar with 1 more ability than normal since I chose the Improved Familiar Thesis for my Wizard class. Would the Witch Ded. give me a second familiar, or does it just add the witch spell abilities to my existing familiar?

So, looking at it, it seems to me that it's probably better to stay with the Druid Ded. The only real benefit I can see is using Int instead of Wis. What do you guys think? Why should I pick the Witch Ded., and what happens with the 2(?) Familiars(s)?

Link: Single Action Casting rules proposal by Samurai.

Right now, it is only 1 page long, and much of that is how it affects specific spells. Some of the changes are directly carried over from my House Rules, but I included some specific spell changes to aid in balance as well (Heal, Harm, Magic Missile, Force Bolt, etc). I welcome your feedback and ideas of what other spells may need tweaks to work with the system and maintain balance. I also included a change to using Metamagic to aid caster's action economy (it now spends their Reaction for the round instead of an action, since casters rarely have good reaction abilities), along with my existing rule that the first Sustain each round is a free action. Enjoy!

For instance, if a Wizard with a Druid Dedication takes the Cantrip Expansion feat at level 2, is that limited to +2 Wizard/Arcane cantrips, or could he choose Druid cantrips as well?

One feature I miss from PF1e is that if you miss with a melee touch spell like Shocking Grasp, you retained the charge and could try your attack roll again the next round. What if we created something a little bit similar in 2e to aid the attack roll spells?

Rules proposal: Attack Spell Conservation: If an attack spell misses the target and fails to have any effect, the caster can choose to try and retain the spell's charge to attempt the attack again the following round. As a free action, the caster can attempt a flat check of DC 10, similar to a death save. If the check is successful, the spell is Sustained until the end of the next round, and the caster can spend an action the next round to try the attack again. On a roll of a natural 20, the caster could also use an action in his current turn if he has one left instead of needing to wait until the following round.

If the caster rolls a 9 or less on this flat check, the spell slot is spent like normal.

If the spell attacks keep missing, he can attempt a new Spell Conservation roll each round to retain the spell and try again. If he decides to cast another spell instead, the retained spell is lost.

I'm interested in what folks think. The flat check means a missed spell attack is not automatically retained as it was in PF1, but it is at least a chance and helps even the scales with the saving throw spells.

We could also say that if you Critically Miss the target, the spell was released and just hit the floor or a wall with no chance of retaining it.

I had thought Gods and Magic would be a nearly complete listing of the Gods and their magic for 2e. So I was surprised that nowhere that I can see does it include the 5 pages of info from the core rulebook listing their Devotee benefits. From pg 52 on it does list that info for the lesser known gods, but for the main 20 you have to continually refer back to the Core Rulebook.

Why is this? You could have included it in the God's stat block, same as you did for the other Gods. Or, if there was not enough room, you could have put it under the Aphorisms in the side-bar. It just seems to be a big oversight as you include a line for "Alternate Domains", but not the regular ones.

While I normally am opposed to repeating info from 1 book to another, if you are creating a "This is your 1-stop book for Gods and religions in PF2e", and it only repeats 5 pages from the CRB, I would say include it to remove the need for flipping between 2 books to get the info necessary to use the Deity for most characters.

We are going to use the Gamemastery Guide's Dualclass option. So my Ranger/Wizard Dedication is becoming a full Ranger/Wizard Dualclass character. She tool the Improved Familiar Thesis which gives me a familiar with 3 abilities between master and familiar. I chose Manual Dexterity and Cantrip Connection x2 for Mr Sniffles the Rat. Is that legal, or can I only take Cantrip Connection once?

I finally found someone willing to run a game of PF2e for me and a new group of players on Sunday. I've created my character, but I have 1 question: He's an Herbalist background, and gets the Natural Medicine feat. It says you get a bonus if you are using fresh herbs in the wilderness. Does that mean I don't need a Healer' kit at all, or if I take the time to search nature for the fresh herbs I need, then I get the +2 bonus, or I can use the Healer's kit herbs for no bonus in an emergency?

It says on page 233 that during character creation, if your background and class each give you Trained in a skill, you remain Trained and must choose another skill to become Trained in instead. But this is unrealistic. It seems like if your background led you to your class you should be better than normal at some of those skills. A Street Urchin who has had to use Thievery all his life to eat and survive should be better at it when he actually becomes a Rogue.

Rule change: If, during character creation, your Background and Class both provide Trained in the same skill, the Player may choose to either increase that skill's rank to Expert or select to become Trained in a different skill.

This would apply whether the Class skill is required or the Player simply selected it as one of his free skill choices. Expert is allowed at any level it says, unlike Master and Legendary which require minimum levels.

Clerics all get a Divine Font for Heals or Harms depending upon the deity, so I figured it would only be fair for the Druid to get a Primal Font based upon his Druidic Order. Like the Divine font, it would be a special pool of spell slots (1+ Charisma modifier) that scales by level and can only be used for certain spells.

Order of Animals: Cast Summon Animal
Order of the Leaf:Cast Summon Plants and Fungi
Order of Storms:Cast Summon Elemental, but only Air and Water Elementals. Because this is a level 2 spell minimum, the level 1 spells would be Gust of Wind and Hydraulic Torrent
Order of the Wild:Cast Wild Shape and Wild Morph. These Font spell slots are an exception to the rule of never using spell slots to cast Focus spells, and a Wild Druid can only use the Primal Font and Focus points, not his regular spell slots to transform.

If the Druid takes the Order Explorer feat, I would probably allow him to cast the new Order's spells as well, but he gets no more slots, just a new way to spend the slots he already gets for free.

What do people think?

I heard that Paizo released some free fonts and icons to use with creating homebrew PF2e creations. However, I don't see any such file by name in the Community Use downloads. Could someone please show me where to get it? Thank you!

Just like my revised Witch, I've now created a Revised Oracle. There were not quite as many things I disagreed with on this one, but I still made some significant changes.

First, the Minor Curse is now a constant effect that the Oracle suffers just for being an Oracle. This is how it was back in 1e, and I've continued it here. I modified the Mysteries a bit. I've also changed most of the curse effects so they are not quite as deadly for the Oracle, but rather a serious inconvenience. This is just version 1.0, so I may make more changes based on feedback (for instance, I haven't gone through the feats with a fine-toothed comb yet).

"Advancing the Curse" is now optional. Oracles can now get and spend Focus points normally. This is so that if another class multiclasses into Oracle, or the Oracle multiclasses with another class, they can get and use focus spells normally. Advancing the Curse is only a choice when casting a Revelation spell, no other focus spells. It allows the Oracle to go beyond the 3 point Focus pool limit. (I did something similar with the Witch's Patron Knowledge and Patron's Secret feats) When casting a Revelation Spell, the Oracle can choose to Advance the Curse rather than spend a focus point. (This could be because he is out of focus points, or he just wants to get the benefits of a higher curse).

Revised Oracle suggestions

Here is my revised Witch suggestion. Rather than just the feedback, I wanted to show what I think it should be done.

I made Patron choice a basic class feature at level 1, and it helps determine what the character will focus on, and what the familiar is like. It provides the Key ability for the class and a skill.

Each type of familiar comes with its own benefits. The arcane familiar allows the Witch to Drain Familiar to refocus, The Occult Familiar is a Tattoo that usually stay's on the Witch (providing a bonus to Will saves), but is also able to dethatch and crawl or fly about for a few minutes each day. Both the Arcane and Occult Familiars also give extra points to spend on master and familiar improvements. The Primal Familiar is the most unique of all though. They are able to become an animal companion for a few minutes each day!

I modified the Basic Lessons to only give a cantrip + the Focus spell, but also offer a feat to allow a level 1 spell with the same theme as the lesson you learned.

I changed Witches to Spontaneous casters, since a Patron would not be willing to change the spells the Witch casts every day, it would take levelling up or retraining (begging and pleading to your Patron) to change the spells you cast.

Finally, I also changed Cackle, The free ability that comes with the class is similar to the Sorcerer's Eschew Materials ability, but it replaces the material components with a verbal component instead of a somatic one. Then I suggested a Level 1 feat (that would become the prerequisite for further Cackle feats) called Lasting Cackle that does the stated effects in playtest (extend duration for 1 spell with the verbal trait instead of concentration).

I really hope the devs and designers take a look at what I've done and get some ideas from my suggestions.

Link: Witch playtest suggestions

I don't know if I'm the only one, but my Pathfinder 2e core rulebook cover seems to be falling apart. It hasn't left my house since I bought it, and already the cover is splitting in the back crease and the corner tips. My 1e book lasted 10 years with weekly trips to games stuffed in my backpack, and it is finally starting to fall apart now (I had to re-glue the binding), but I'm surprised the 2e book is falling apart so quickly. Am I the only one having this problem?

Sorry to post another thread about this topic, but the first one was for gathering ideas.

The full class is now ready! Levels 1 through 20 and a full range of Feat choices for each Class feat level. It's a fully playable class just like the ones in the Core Rulebook. It has some similarities to the Sorcerer, but instead of being born into a Bloodline, he made a Pact with an otherworldly entity for power.

Yes, I know Fiends are Divine in PF2e, but the Fiend doesn't specify Demon or Devil so I went Arcane. I feel that Fiends are better suited to Arcane magic than Divine. Devils may have once been Angels, but maybe the attempt to harness arcane magic is part of the reason they fell, or a side effect of it. Maybe once cut off from Divine magic, they turned to Arcane instead. And I can't see any reason why Demons would have Divine power.

Anyway, I always welcome feedback and comments! I may even make some changes if people feel I should.

Samurai's full Warlock Class for Pathfinder 2e

Since a lot of people seem to be interested in this, I decided to give it a shot myself. This is just version 1.0 right now, I only have the basic Class features down right now. I still need to make Feats as he levels up, but I welcome thoughts, feedback, and ideas!

Samurai's Warlock for Pathfinder 2e version 1.0

In D&D 5e, you can trade your ability boosts to buy feats. What do you think of a more limited version of that in PF2e?

What if the rule were as follows: Whenever you have a choice of a 4 free Ability boosts, you can instead choose to get just 3 Ability boosts and 1 free Ancestry, Class, or General feat. You must meet all the requirements for the feat chosen.

So, for example, at Level 1 get 4 free ability boosts at the end of character creation, so you could instead just take 3 of those boosts and a free feat that you qualify for. This shouldn't be too game breaking, it would actually reduce the character's power level a bit, but open up more options for them.

What do you think? Should it be limited to only Ancestry and General feats? Does it step on the toes of Humans getting a free feat if they choose Natural Ambition or General Training?

So here are my changes so far for P2. They cover a wide range of topics, from fixing the Alchemist's Research Fields (including adding a new one: Toxicologist), to adding a General feat for multiclassing, to fixes for lots of spells, and a new Condition: Entangled. I also included the Errata that we know about so far at the end, so you have 1 source for all the changes from the core book. This is version 1.0, and I plan to update it as needed. I welcome any feedback and questions about why I made the changes that I did, or suggestions for more changes, or concerns for the ramifications of these changes.

Samurai's Pathfinder 2E Changes

Under the Awesome Blow Barbarian ability, on a Failure it says "You gain the normal effect of Knockback." I can't find it in the status effects at the end or on the GM's screen. Is it hidden away somewhere? Is it a mistake and they actually meant "Shove" on pg. 243? That's my best guess.

In my house rules I gave spontaneous casters the equivalent of "Signature Spell" for free to all of their spells. Spontaneous casters/Sorcerers are supposed to have a limited Spell Repertoire, but be able to use them more often and more freely, so now they can. To balance this, I want to give something to Prepared casters too. Clerics and Druids already get access to pretty much all of their respective lists (the main restrictions being alignment, such as Good Clerics can use Heal while Evil ones can use Harm). But Wizards only get a portion of the Arcane list. By the book, they start with 10 cantrips and 5 level 1 spells. They add 2 more spells when they level up, and can find more in books and scrolls. In games I've played in, finding an enemy spellbook was a rare thing and usually only happened because it was in the module or because we needed a specific spell to continue.

So here is what I propose:
When a Wizard increases in level, they may add a number of new spells to their spellbook for free. They get either 2 or their Int. mod, whichever is higher. The spells must be from levels they can cast.

This will add some of the flavor of Intelligence adding to your spell lists, but it won't actually increase their power since they can only prepare a number of spells equal to their slots. This just gives them a few more choices (about double for most Wizards) in what to prepare, thus strengthening the Wizard's role of "lots of spells, but what to prepare?" to contrast with the Sorcerer's "this is my fixed repertoire, but I can use them a lot more and more flexibly".

It doesn't seem like some of the monsters are always using all of their attack/weapon properties. For instance, the Skeleton Guard has +2 Str and +4 Dex. His Claw attack is listed as Agile and Finesse, but it has the same +6 attack bonus as his Scimitar attack. Now there are plenty of other monsters that have Claw attacks, including the Skeletal Champion, that don't list Claws as Finesse weapons, only Agile. Should the Skeleton Guard's claw loose the Finesse quality, or should we make it a +8 attack?

I was going to title this "James Jacobs, you're wrecking my character!" because sensationalism draws attention! :)

Most forum goers seem to agree with me that the Oracle's Haunted curse names a specific action, "retrieving a stored item", which is listed on the Action table (Move Action, draws an AoO). Drawing a weapon is specified as a separate action in the rules, unless the weapon is stored away in a pack, and only in that case is it treated as retrieving a stored item. So, pulling out a potion, scroll, wand, rod, sunstone/torch, most unslotted magic items, rope, etc would all be hindered, but drawing your weapon usually would not be.

However, James mentioned in a couple posts that in his opinion, "retrieving a stored item" included weapons. My GM is pointing to that (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l7ns&page=308?Ask-James-Jacobs-ALL-your-Q uestions-Here#15397) as evidence for a broader interpretation of the curse. I feel that if Paizo meant for drawing a weapon to be included, they would have written "When you draw a weapon or retrieve a stored item, it takes a standard action." And since my Oracle, like most Oracles, only has access to Simple weapons, she uses javelins as her only ranged attack option, and this rule would ruin that, not to mention it taking a standard action every time she picks up her staff.

This question has been hotly debated on the forums for a while (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2nug3?Haunted-archer-Oracle-question#6 , http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mqn4?Haunted-Oracles-quiver#6 , http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2mmf6?Haunted-Curse , http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l5b2?Oracle-witch-multiclassing-win#25 ) among others, but aside from definitively stating that spell components were never meant to be included, I don't think Paizo has laid the question to rest officially.

Does the Haunted Curse also affect weapons that are not stored away and can normally be drawn as part of a move action, or does "Retrieve a stored item" refer specifically to the action on the Action Table, "Retrieving a stored item" and not include weapons?

Thanks!

I seem to recall reading a feat that gave you +2 on Concentration checks and also +2 AC on AoO resulting from spellcasting.

Now I can't find it anywhere. Did I imagine that or does someone recognize it and can point out the feat and what book it's in?

Thanks!

Here's what the Rules Clarification said about AoO and ranged touch attack spells:

Ranged Touch Spells in Combat: Some spells allow you to make a ranged touch attack as part of the casting of the spell. These attacks are made as part of the spell and do not require a separate action. Ranged touch attacks provoke an attack of opportunity, even if the spell that causes the attacks was cast defensively.

Go to rule

I bolded the important parts... the attack is part of the spell, and not a separate action. Should a single action ever give the chance to make 2 opportunity attacks from it? I don't feel it should... if it were a separate action, then sure, but not when it's the same action and part of casting the spell.

If an opportunity attack does hit because of the ranged attack, and the ranged attack is part of the casting of the spell, shouldn't that disrupt the casting same as an opportunity attack that hits for spellcasting? You are being injured during the action of casting a spell, whether it's for the ranged attack or spellcasting doesn't matter.

Note: If a single action can't provoke 2 opportunity attacks, then you are better off not casting defensively for rng touch spells. You're going to take a disruptive AoO no matter what, so why cast defensively and risk losing the spell at that step? Better to just hope they miss.

Hi all. I'm considering playing a Black-blooded Oracle, and I wanted to clarify something. This Archetype is described on Inner Sea Magic pg 32, where it says "[the Oracle's] wounds are infected by her own magic and difficult to heal", but it doesn't give any penalties to Heal checks or anything else. I does say later on that positive and negative energies are reversed for the Oracle, such that Cures hurt and Inflicts heal. Is that what was meant, or is there also some other penalties to healing that aren't listed?

I had a question about the Specialist Druid types in the APG... each of them trades power for power, in generally equal X for Y trades, with the base Druid. However, they then mostly take an extra hit on Wildshaping, gaining it 2 levels later and always being counted as a Druid 2 levels lower. This means that the specialist Druid can never gain the Druid capstone ability, unlimited Wildshaping. Given that they do not get a net gain in power for their other abilities (some might even argue that they are much more specialized than a regular Druid and thus their powers a bit less useful), why was this done? Was it to preserve the original Druid's niche by making them better than their specialist counterparts?

As a player of a Druid, I was disappointed by this removal of the capstone power and general weakening of their wildshaping with nothing given in return, so I stuck with the base version.

Backwards compatibility is one of the great things about Pathfinder, and I'm using many things from 3.5 in my Pathfinder game. One of the most used is the Spell Compendium. Which brings up a problem with the new Advanced caster classes... they have unique spell lists. While this both adds to their unique flavor and limits their power, it means they don't work with all the spells in the Spell Compendium (and any other sources), no matter how appropriate the spell may be for their class.

So I have a couple solutions: First, you could limit their spells in a way that expansion is easy. For instance, if a Summoner can cast only Conjuration spells, then any new Conjuration in the SC are also usable, and his repertoire is expanded just like the Clerics, Wizards, etc.

If you don't want to do that, what about releasing a free pdf with "Expanded spell lists" for the new classes detailing which Spell Compendium spells they may use, assuming the SC is open content and may be referenced.

If a solution can't be found, then all the new classes will have spell lists far, FAR shorter than any basic class.

Beast Shape is the primary and most used form of wild shaping, so why don't Druids get Beast Shape IV? Was this just an oversight, and it will corrected in the errata? It isn't in the 1st draft of errata. If it is a mistake, should the get it at 10th level, which is where it would naturally fall in the progression?

Was it left out on purpose, for some reason? If so, what is it? How is Beast Shape IV less appropriate than the upper levels of Elemental or Plant, which they do receive?

Jason, 2 ideas that got discussed quite a bit in Alpha 2 were casters getting 1/2 Caster level increases when multiclassing (not spells per day or spells known, just caster level), and Universalist Wizards getting powers such as sudden metamagics, instantly rememorize a cast spell, and memorizing 1 spell per day into an empty slot in a round rather than many minutes, etc. instead of bonus spells like Levitate and Wish. Both were rather popular ideas in their threads, and I really was hoping to see them make it into Alpha 3. But no luck. So, any chance they'll be included in the Beta? Thanks.

Will multiclassing for spellcasters be modified in Pathfinder? I really think it should be addressed, and the changes would be very easily backwards compatible.

I think characters should gain Caster Levels from other classes... full levels if the 2nd class is a full caster of the same type (Arcane/Divine), 1/2 levels if they are a semi-caster (like the Ranger) or a full caster of the other type (such as a Wizard/Cleric), and 1/3 levels if the class is a non-caster, or only a semi-caster of the opposite type.

So, a Wizard 6/ Cleric 4/ Rogue 3 has an ACL (Arcane Caster Level) of 9 (6+2+1) and a DCL (Divine Caster Level) of 8 (3+4+1).