Sarah Gabrielle's page

my animist has been an android whose apparitions are previous souls who lived in the same body previously. they don’t really have a name, just going by the previous spirit’s names. also, their non-spellcasting fighting activities consists of using a double barreled pistol. they’re based off a pf1 medium i played. very different classes, obviously

it’s been going well. gonna start giving them my feedback pretty soon

Question, are the accessibility options priced so that a character could start out with, say, a prosthetic hand/foot/arm/leg without it eating *too much* cash?

bet it’ll cost you an arm and/or a leg

but the crb seems to suggest that they can just *have* a regular prosthetic

https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=489

Much excite. My body is ready. My bank account, however, is not. I pretty sure I won't get paid till the day after this order attempts to draw. So I'll have to wait much longer to dive into it. Sadness shall ensue. Lol

in a different thread, someone mentioned the idea of buying gift cards in advance, and having the subscriptions paid with the giftcards. that way they didn’t have to worry about when it would go through, they could kind of pre-pay via the gift cards

sooooo anyways. how bout them secrets of magic, huh? sure are pretty secret. so secret i don’t even have them yet <.<

soon

Kineticist +1

Special Mentions go to Gunslinger, Summoner, Inquisitor, and Bloodrager

In addition to what they’re saying, feats are listed by level in Skill Feats and General Feats, but then they’re out of that order when you’re looking at them, going back to alphabetical order. Meanwhile, class feats are separated by class, and they’re listed in the order that you can take them. You had a good order to list them in, then you went out of that order to put the specifics down. In the same vein, Ancestry Feats are also not in order of the level you can take it in, but also alphabetical. That’s less of a problem with so few of them right now though.

Very related to this problem with Feats is Alchemical Items, which are not listed anywhere in level order from what I can tell. And they probably should be since they’re the Alchemist’s not-spell-list. If you can’t put them in order of level, at least a list similar to the way spells are arranged. As is, you have to look at the description of each to see it’s level, and make note of the ones the Alchemist has access to. As opposed to having a list that more clearly shows that like spellcasters have.

And finally, I’d like to make my own thoughts know on Spells and Power organization. I mostly agree with JRutterbush. Though I’d put the text for the power IN the Class Feat that gives it. Or at the very least, directly after the rest of the class. Organized by level you can get them. Of course. If a cantrip is class exclusive, I’d like largely the same. While I understand that powers ARE spells, putting them with the spells and away from the class that gives them is just not great for people making their character. It’s a lot of back and forth that could have been fixed by having the description for the powers inside the Class Feat.

For any given class power, which appear to all be completely new things that most players won’t have had before, they have no way to know what abilities they’re looking at. Take for example the Wizard. The Wizard has 9 different Class Feats that essentially read “You gain the ‘Power you know nothing about’. It costs this many spell points. You gain this many.” And to know at all what any of those feats actually do, you have to find the corresponding spell where it is in the larger list. Admittedly, you listed the page number, but again, it’s a lot of needless back and forth. It should probably be considered that the Power’s description is in fact part of the Class Feat.

So. Conclusion. While we went the right direction with organization on Class Feats, and it’s easier than ever to pick an appropriate ability for your class, that organization was not used elsewhere. And it’s still not easy to pick General/Skill Feats or Alchemical Items. And even where it is used, in some cases it means little to the player because the full text of the ability isn’t displayed there. It’s just little fixes to organization that could make people’s experiences better.

What characters I’d like to Playtest...

Some of my oldie characters. Bring me back and try them out in P2.

Half Elf (possibly drow?, but maybe only in name?) Bard/Rogue multiclass to emulate the Archaeologist Archetype from P1. Maybe some more gish like abilities somehow.

Human Paladin/Cleric. Unfortunately using WIS and a Mace instead of INT and a book. To be my old Living Grimoire.

Elf (reflavored as Kitsune?) Feyblooded Sorcerer. Mostly Fire spells if possible. Also some trickery type spells if I can. Illusion and Charm. I want the Flame Blade spell intensely. They were a Kineticist with 9 tails. It was... rough.

Human Paladin/Bard multiclass. A Paladin of Shelyn that I never really got to flesh out.

And something new. I want it to be a Barbarian multiclassed with a caster. Possibly Sorcerer. I always wanted to try a Bloodrager. I might go Cleric or Bard though.

But I’m mostly going to be looking for ways to reflavor things for other people without changing it. Or possibly without changing it too much. Might have to to soothe some players. Data is still data, just massively less useful if it’s not what they wanted us to test.

One of my players is set on Tiefling Witch though. I have ideas of ways to do that legitimately in the Playtest, and it might be fine honestly. But I might have to homebrew it if not. But I have ideas.

Pretty sure it was stated that paladins will be LG for the playtest. And they'll look at other alignments and possibilities once they figure out if the mechanics for the base paladin work.

Why get in a tizzy over a game that's not out yet?

Yeah, I’m fairly certain Mark said he was a big proponent for other alignment Paladins, but for now just Lawful Good. Make sure it’s solid. He was saying that writing class feats for 9 different alignments off the bat would take up too much space. So it might not even be CRB, but maybe a few books in.

Coming off of occasionally playing 5e, I was hoping prepared casters would cast like an arcanist and everyone was able to heighten any spells known on the fly like 5e. I don’t believe the analysis paralysis is as bad as they say. But I’ll live.

And actually, I was hoping things would be even more modular. But I kind of like the way it’s currently set up and the way I think everything works. And it’s pretty close to how I was going to create a massive(ly bad) P1 rewrite for my group. Now I don’t gotta.

Multiclassing and archetypes. See if there’s any info on approximating things from 1st edition. But I also heavily wanna know what they’re looking for data wise. And I’ll try not to stray too far.

"does that mean that your level 20 untrained and magic-hating barbarian knows more about arcane magic than your friend's level 1 bibliophile wizard does? Not really. Your barbarian, with her extensive experience in battle, might be able to identify a dragon's weaknesses much better than the wizard with his ivory-tower book learning, but when it comes to magical theory, identifying the gestures that compose a spell, or other such topics, your barbarian simply doesn't know anything at all."

"But the new skill system is more than just the bonus you gain. Each level of proficiency unlocks skill uses that are either intrinsic to the skill itself or that are uses you select as your character advances."

So we know that a lot of uses for skills are tied behind proficiencies. The example given in the skills blog is that anybody can use the Heal skill to Administer First Aid, but you have to be trained to Treat Disease or Treat Poison. And that makes sense, because even a level 20 Barbarian untrained in the Heal skill knows how to wrap bandages around a wound, possibly even quite well, but they won't know as much as somebody who's studied even for a moment about treating a rare disease that uncommon in these lands.

I too love archetypes in theory. But in practice, it means that you're missing a large chunk of your class features for awhile. Like. A really significant portion of them.

For Envoys, if you take Phrenic Adept for example, you only gain Envoy Improvisations, arguably the main class feature of the class, at levels 1, 8, 10, 14, 16, and 20. There's a 7 level gap of main class features in there. Sure you get expertise talents and stuff, which aren't nothing, but sure aren't improvisations.

I hope you like your Envoy Improvisation that you pick at level 1, because it's all you'll have for months of gameplay. In exchange for your level 2 improvisation, you get telepathy if you didn't already have it. You can take some feats with less requirements now. Your level 4 improvisation, when you'd normally be able to debuff and attack in one turn, gets switched out for a boost to a very specific kind of save if you spend a resolve. For your level 6 improvisation, you have Arcane Sight that you also have to spend a resolve for. Also blindsense (emotion).You don't actually get anything particularly interesting from the archetype for a loooooong time, and you've been stuck with 1 of 10 different improvisations for months of gameplay until you finally get to level 8 and pick up another one. At level 9, you can cast a spell once per day.

Envoys should uhh... be sacrificing expertise talents for most of this stuff. Or bonuses to expertise die. The other archetype gives up less, and gives some interesting options actually, but still leaves you with a total of 1 improvisation for 7 levels.

I like the concept of Starfinder's archetypes, but they should maybe have some sort of errata to make them more accessible. Either the archetypes need to be better, or they need to sacrifice significantly less.

I really want to like the archetypes coming in Pact Worlds, especially since they sound so cool. But I need them to be VIABLE in gameplay. Not just have a cool flavor to them.

The Penecontemporaneous One wrote:

First World Bard wrote:

If Shelyn doesn't make the cut, I wonder what that says about the Shelyn/ Zon-Kulthon duality. Did his cult "win" in some sense against the forces of beauty? What about {I]Whisperer of Souls[/I]? If this bit of history is unmentioned in the Pathfinder material, my headcannon will be that Shelyn conspired with some other gods to remain with Golarion, playing keep-away with said glaive and whatever else doesn't need to be found in the Pact Worlds.

At first, this was one of my few real disappointments in the book, that Shelyn didn't even make the "other gods" list...but then I looked a bit more carefully, and found cause for hope :)

I wouldn't say hope, I'd more say terror. She's going places that might very well corrupt her.

:O !!

I neeeeeeeeed the book. But more importantly, actually, I want a graphic novel about what's going on.

Honestly, it was weird that it ever did anything else. Running fast does not make you more accurate. You're basically doing 2 move actions, something that would normally already be a turn, and then you get a standard action attack anyways, and with a bonus for actually no reason? Like, there's more momentum, but you're probably swinging more wildly too. There's a lot of tell to you charging too. It should be reasonably easier to dodge a charge than a normal attack.

ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAH

I might add Matt Mercer's rules for character deaths. Though maybe increase the amount of time that you have to resurrect them to a week. Depending on the state of the body. Maybe gentle repose to extend it longer? Sometimes you can be very far from home, and that adds drama too.

Yeaaahhhhhh. Not counting PFS stuff, they still come out with like, a Campaign Setting, a Player Companion, and a chapter of an Adventure Path every month. It's kind of absurd actually. Gonna cancel my Player Companion soon and my Adventure Path subscription after the next AP is done. Otherwise I'll go poor for Paizo.

Sending works differently in this version. 140 characters or less.

I could probably make Pandora and the rest of the Borderlands world take place in some starsystem in the game. That'd be some good fun right there.

As far as we know, there's actually 2 weapons at least that do 1d810. The Sarcesian's Sniper Rifle from First Contact is one. The second one is the advanced melee weapon: "Plasma Sword. Shock Truncheon. Pulse Gauntlet. Fangblade. Monowhip. Cryopike. Tactical Doshko. Swoop Hammer. Devastation Blade. Repeller staff."

Sources: First Contact for the Sniper Rifle, and this post: here for the second.

Note: The first is a typo, the second is a joke about the first. In case it wasn't clear.

Scro=Orcs backwards. Lfah=Half backwards.

I actually think Alchemist is a great example of another point. Granted, this has only been true for under half of the Alchemist's life as a class, but it is currently true. If you want to play a class that uses Alchemy without Bombs, a key Alchemist class feature, you can also play as an Investigator.

What I think is that now most classes have very few class features that aren't talents, and if you don't like one of the class features, then the class may not be correct for you.

If you want an Operative that gives up Trick Attack, some skillfullness, and some sneakiness for a higher BAB and more combat abilities, you may actually want to just play a Soldier.

If you want to play an Envoy that gives up buffing their allies for Trick Attack, just play an Operative instead.

A Mystic that uses a different spell list and also blends Technology with Magic? Technomancer.

It looks like the defining abilities are few and far between for the most part, and that there will likely be ways to do what you want without resorting to Pathfinder archetypes.

On another note. What's also exciting about say, archetypes that alter how spells are cast is that some people don't have to worry about there being no prepared spellcasting if you just make it an archetype.

Edit: I'll also take this space to mention that Archetypes might list ways that their abilities affect your core class abilities. For example, an Archetype for harnessing your inherent draconic bloodline might give you a small list of bonus spells known if you're a spellcaster, but a higher BAB class without spells might gain more powerful claws than normal. And yes, I'm insinuating that you guys should definitely turn Bloodlines into Archetypes.

Or there could even be different archetypes that have the same overall feel to them. Maybe a Draconic Archetype for Casters and another for Non-Casters.

I mean. You have extreme need to have a really high stat in Starfinder anyways though. Your Resolve is your most important point pool by far and you only get half your level + your main ability score modifier points for it. It powers a lot of class abilities, lets you heal yourself, determines when you die, is used for certain cybernetics, and likely more.

While there will be a lot of generalism to a point, there is still a vast need to specialize. Very few characters will actually benefit from an 18 in every stat. Not really anyways. Not in a way that's meaningful to the character or story. Pardon me for using a game that is only partially related to Starfinder here, but there's very little use for a Wizard to have straight 18s when they could have an Intelligence somewhere in the stratosphere and a couple of dumpstats. While dumpstats will no longer be something of mechanical benefit per-se, it doesn't appear that anyone not doing melee will require much in the lines of Strength, and so an 18 there will largely be not required.

Fardragon wrote:

If you think you can lower str to 7, I take it your GM ignores the encumbrance rules.

Besides, in Starfinder if you lower an ability score to less than its starting value, that is a heroic flaw. It's a choice you are free to make if it makes sense for your character, but it doesn't give you any ability score buy points back.

Bless.

No but really. People say all the time that they want a low stat for "roleplaying" reasons. If it's for roleplaying, cool. If you want extra points, you're officially out of luck now.

Cool. That's earlier than I thought.

You realise that means it's nearly time to ask for subscriptions, right vic?

JUNE

How would universal Archetypes work? Is it like Variant Multiclassing? Are there certain tiers of Character traits every class has in one way or another? Or can you just stick one Archetype of your choice on every class?

I think it's similar to how Variant Multiclass works. But I think it's class features you lose, not feats from leveling up. I think that implies that at certain levels all classes get something that's easily swapped out. Like Alchemist Discoveries, Rogue Talents, Slayer Talents, Magus Arcana, etcetera. It could be that some archetypes could swap things at different levels, and maybe some will swap your leveling up feats. I believe they've once said it's class features that get swapped, but I'm not sure that that was a solid guarantee, if that makes sense.

Can anyone confirm that there'll be stats for folks to play Spaaaaace Goblins? My wife REALLY wants to play one. ;)

Supposedly Spaaaaace Goblins will be in "Starfinder: First Contact". Or thats what someone on that product discussion stated.

Owen KC Stephens posted a link to this on Facebook earlier. It's about whether or not "min-maxing" and pointbuy are good or not. The verdict: I came here to have a good time and play the character that I want to play, not get stuck with a random rolls character.

A quote from there, important bit bolded for emphasis:

"Path to the (Far) Future
This summer sees the release of Starfinder, a new RPG that takes the Pathfinder franchise into the realms of science fantasy. In that book, the main method for generating stats is point-buy with optional rules for rolling presented as a variant. But the point-buy method used in that game takes another shot at solving the problems that the divergence of ability scores causes at higher levels, but you are going to have to wait until this summer to see how."

I can wait for the technomancer class preview.

Huh. That's strange. I can't.

There isn't much to Elemental Knowledge, so it's tough to not give it all away, but it basically lets you add news skills to your class skill list for each new element you take.

Elemental Overload increases Elemental Overflow's ability to ignore cries.

Metamagic Invocation predictably lets you use a metamagic with your Kinetic Invocations.

Spells:

I counted 7 spells in total, none of which are necromancy, one is on the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

To expand on the previous statement:
6 of the 7 spells are conjuration (healing) spells, the other one is enchantment (compulsion)[curse, mind-affecting] as it is on the witch spell list.

What is the one sorcerer/wizard spell called?

Franz, you're talking about "Befuddled Combatant", yes? Which Dragon, as you might guess, is the other one. It's on a bit more than just WizSorc list, but it's the only one I saw that they get. The intent of the spell being that now that enemy can't do as much damage.

Oddly enough, the material component is cooked noodles.

I'm betting there will be a kineticist archetype that gives fast healing 1. Calling it.

Still jokes.

But I can't wait to see what talents ARE in here. And whatever Mark meant about Kineticists and versatility.

Can't wait for panoplies. Just in general can't wait.

Not quite the same, but a Aerokineticist can pull off some crazy speeds with ride the blast. I think they can go about 1000 feet per turn in the higher levels.

The weapon is a +2 short sword.

That's it.

Does anyone else find it odd that the PCs can acquire a +2 short sword in the admin area of the asylum when they are 2nd level? This seems like a pretty strong find for a regular AP let alone a horror themed one.

I noticed that as well. I wondered if it was like a video game where you find a random rocket launcher and realize you're gonna need it, because "it's about to get real". I think the sword is like that.

It can also be useful to sell in order to afford to bring some characters back to life should anyone die.

Source: In Search of Sanity (GM Reference).

Not trying to snark or anything. Sorry if it comes across that way. Oh. Also Adam Daigle holds a special place of importance in the Strange Aeon threads, being I'm pretty sure one of the main guys who did the book.

They start to talk about it on page 2 of the thread. Some people I think elsewhere were talking about making it more special, but honestly it probably is already pretty special.

I might run this game with Automatic Bonus Progression on... In which case, maybe it's a Keen Scimitar in my game? I'm unsure of what else to do with it. Maybe just Keen Scimitar. Or Keen Rapier.

It's recently occurred to me that Pharasma probably won't be getting anything in this? And now I'm sad.

** spoiler omitted **.

You could probably fit it in around Q2.

I for one welcome our whimsical furry overlords and their peculiar mammary glands.

There's an Enhanced Wendigo Psychosis in Ithaqua's bestiary entry. It's in the back of Strange Aeons #1. It's probably not as interesting as you'd like though. It's essentially a more difficult Wendigo Psychosis. Ithaqua as a whole however was a really interesting read. Especially the implication that Golarion might only have an Arctic Circle and magnetic poles because of Ithaqua. Ditto for every other planet out there with those conditions. But I guess I already gave that away.

I don't think Cayden does much pimp slapping...

[Citation Needed]

I see a lot of the conversation going on, and I'm hearing the cries for Wizards to get better access to the Cleric spells, particularly healing, but listen. What if we got a Cleric that casts with INT? I know it's not the exact same, but there's a lot of reasons that that too is nice. And this would maybe be just the place for it to show up. Even maybe limited to Nethys worshippers? Or all deities with knowledge domain. But maybe limited to Nethys worshippers.

We've got several divine casters that use INT already, but they're both just 6th level casting. It's time. Time for a Cleric who studies for their spells. The Living Grimoire (Inquisitor) and the Reliquarian (Occultist) are hella neat, but it's just a void in my heart that is waiting to be filled.

Mark Seifter wrote:

FedoraFerret wrote:

Totally unrelated to the Fencing Grace debate, what's the word on the Gray Paladin. I'm hearing conflicting reports about exactly what changes it makes, and if it makes the changes I prefer I will be a very happy ferret.

The report that it gets a flexible smite and constant nondetection for self and nearby allies, has a much more flexible code that lets you do a lot more before you fall (and be LN or NG), gains some of the more intriguey social skills, and then loses divine grace and flat-out immunities (keeping the +4 from the aura, though, so you still have really high saves against those things) was correct.

So that means the report that it's an Any Good archetype was wrong. *sigh* Mark, will my dreams of a Paladin of Milani ever come true?

Well. You can have a Sentinal of Milani. A Warpriest/Evangelist of Milani too.

Quickchange cloak? Hat of Disguise? Glamored Armor? There's too many solutions.

The Plasma Blade item will probably help. Pathfinder AP # 100, a Song of Silver adds it in. Kind of out of the way for what should have been in the tech guide all along, but it's here now.

Human-centric? Sure. A really huge amount of humans for my fantasy setting specifically, sure? But it's also not my fantasy setting. I love my Mos Eisely Cantina version of Pathfinder I use. And I'm sad it's not the norm, but to write this off as useless or bad, just because it focuses a lot on human culture? Nah. The thing about culture in Pathfinder is that it's region specific in a lot of cases. Particularly with a lot of the races that blend in more easily with humans, their culture isn't exclusively their race, but where they were raised and where they live. There's nothing stopping you from having a Sylph who is also Ulfen. Will it be somewhat strange? Quite possibly, but that doesn't stop it.

I'll give a little bit about an Ulfen Sylph now, I guess. They would likely be seen as very weak for a long time, but they would never be abandoned by their family. The family might regret the child, but would be fiercely loyal. The Sylph would grow up wanting to be strong for their families, to the point of overcompensation maybe. I picture them possibly being even the most boisterous of their accomplishments and power, but rather unwilling to reveal how hard it was to attain it. They'll study and work hard all the time, combining their natural intelligence with their willpower to become someone their culture can respect. Will they still listen to the wind? Sure. Probably while training with their sword. Knowledge is power to them, after all.

I'm picturing a Magus.

Ok, shipping has begun, who's got their PDF? And describe to me these two new kineticist elements.

I'm quite interested to hear about new Kineticist options in general.

If anyone is willing though, I could use some Occultist information.

This is one of the only times I'll recommend this. Split the party.

Split it into 2-3 groups. Only Gm those 2-3 groups separately. They're in the same world, and they can move between groups, but make sure you only rarely Gm the whole group at once. If you do get a co Gm, maybe you guys can run each group simultaneously, and keep notes between eachother in a chat or something, but if one Gm is running a game for 12 people at once, it will be extremely difficult.

Looks like all the casting the Medium has is Cha based. Doesn't matter what spirit or archetype you're in. Hopefully the 54 spirits will be released later.

Any new ways of not dying from old age?

Like migration to a new body? If so, who can do it?

I dunno about other ways, but the Blood Kineticist doesn't die of old age if it hits level 20. Probably not what you're looking for though.

Can Kineticists gather energy while holding stuffed owlbears?

Edit: Oh. She's not holding it. Still relevant though.

What?! Meligaster said I could lick his boots clean!

I, of course, would do it for free, but Meligaster said it may influence when I get my PDF, so a little extra reason to do so.

I hope you guys ship on Saturdays. And that if you do, you ship mine.