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I managed to download it again, and the 60+ MB package worked for me, while a slightly higher resolution for the various artworks included in the pdf is a bit low/more compressed, I know where to find them online, or equally likely, a staggering amount of cool fan art, the Warframe community is pretty creative. When it comes to the map, honestly, I like the choices here: you can buy the flip maps (slight variations like no ship on one), which is very convenient for those who want a physical map but struggle to print, or you can print them yourself or show them on a VTT/big screen on your table (the dream for many gamers). I am pretty happy with the package and will use this opportunity to showcase SF2 and Warframe to more people. (Need to write a review, but after looking over the protoframes, this is very much what I expected and hope for, and ... ... like many Warframe players, I am looking for versions for my own favorites ). I was busy GMing, but having snatched parts of the Warframe Twitch stream... pretty cool to have more people exposed to this game.
Thank you Maya having a precise time makes the waiting more bearable ^^You're very welcome! We're just glad you're so excited!! ^_^ Actually, having downloaded it, while I appreciated the alterations to the existing flip maps used, I really would like to use them for VTT use or print them but all the graphics in the pdfs are pretty rough-looking. Likely while the thing is under 3 MB. Can you maybe ask if we can get an updated version, this is looking rougher than I am used to from Paizo, and looks a bit ... unpolished for what I hope to be a good partnership.
Fair point. I just wouldn't expect something to change to 'unavailable' and not just still be listed as before. (I am assuming that the lack of ability to add to the cart is a time zone issue as they are Pacific US.) Thank you Maya having a precise time makes the waiting more bearable ^^
Why is it yesterday the PDF was listed as available today and physical pre-order as unavailable, but today the PDF is unavailable but you can now pre-order the physical book ... though there's no release date? And no way to add it to the cart.... It might be a time zone's issue, while it is afternoon on release day here, Paizo workers might still be drinking their first coffee. I would give it some time, even if the physical version is a surprise and maybe a mistake.
Interesting thread, I think a lot of very reasonable concerns and pain points were mentioned. One thing that has become apparent to me is that some of the newer Paizo pdfs have ballooned in size (particularly looking at SF2, but some AP volumes have also gotten to quite the size), which can be overwhelming to some older devices (like my old phone and tablet). Unfortunately, that is where not having everything in a single pdf can be an issue, pre-loading a single pdf with a certain number of pages can work even on older devices, but having to switch between different pdfs to access the stat blocks of different creatures... at that can really slow you down, even if your phone/tablet device is of a more recent make. Thus far, statblocks (but unfortunately not a copy of the elite/weak templates) were included in SFS2 scenarios (and they were using variants/custom enemies most of the time anyway), but I am expecting the issue of stat blocks to eventually become an issue once Alien Monster Core is released. I am not exactly looking forward to it, but it will be nice for people to actually be able to summon things.
I take it this is not canon to the Starfinder Universe, right?Nope! Also, to note, I heard that the product WON'T be released under the ORC license, so all content in it will use standard copyrights (and thus any stat blocks probably won't be in AoN or any other online SRDs). That will make it harder to run on Foundry, but not impossible, just more prep, still quite unfortunate.
Displaying "verified purchase" next to a review by someone who has actually purchased the product, potentially with a toggle a viewer has to press to actually see all the unverified reviews - sounds like a fair compromise here. Related to that, over the years, I often had to purchase products for players without a credit card, or for my GMs, I am assuming that a gifted purchase, or someone redeeming a Humble Bundle code, also qualifies them to give a review? Anything else would be pretty silly. At the end of the day, I fear that limiting the ability to give feedback via reviews is just going to cause people to voice that sentiment in other places, and thus far, "leave a review, they read those" was a good way to limit players from complaining while still at the table. Not entirely sure if players starting a thread or several complaining about something in the org play section is going to make the forums more pleasant, though that is usually the area where GMs have to run things as written, and feedback tends to be rather direct.
there’s absolutely no way for Paizo to account for what hundreds of different groups might have done. Yeah, all my my AOA players were either confused or unhappy about it as well, really a peculiar choice. That rift will likely flare up again, if they choose to reuse the map, or go for a map that really does not fit the existing map - there might be no good choice.
There isn't anywhere to report SF2 playtest. You just get a sheet with check boxes The GM can report the session of the playtest as long as it is one of the 4 scenarios, Empires Devoured or a Cosmic Birthday. If reported it should show up in the players sessions. The only thing the playtest does not have are chronicle sheets - this one just has a tracking sheet, but if the sessions are properly reported that one also feels like something the GM does not need to be involved with.
A lot of very promising changes, personally I fear that the Envoy change is a distinct power increase but in our playtesting we often had an operative that made enemies off-guard so I can see why they went into this direction. As I am still running playtests, it would be nice to get a couple of these changes spelled out as rules, so the transition to the final rules is less jarring.
There might be reasons for it, but it is certainly something to talk with your local VO about. It might also be the case that the GMs find it easier to see the dice than you calling out the number - or there might have been issues or worries about people cheating. Or maybe try some online gaming, where using a VTT is perfectly normal, and people wanting to roll their own dice are the minority.
It's a solid video, but I really did not vibe with that feedback about the mystic, though I can fully admit that the current method is not sacred.I can totally see that you could remake the pool with charges that heal X per charge and recover a charge per turn etc. though personally I really want to keep the aspect of recharging the pool. The way the recharge scales is may be something to consider.
Congratulations to the campaign coin recipient and the 5 donut GMs, org play would be a shadow of itself without talented and motivated volunteers like you. Special callout to Charlene, it has been a delight to see your GM skills improving over the last couple of years, and the recognition is more than deserved.
I have now seen this feat in action in a couple of sessions, and the -20- foot penalty is absolutely brutal, the stunned one on a crit fail is already pretty backbreaking, but the combination is something that worries me a lot. Especially if you want to use enemies from PF2, but even in the recent playtest adventures, a lot of enemies get reduced to 5ft movement speeds (because even if your movement speed is reduced to 0 you can still move 5ft as an action), and especially if they are written to use area weapons, it tends to break their tactics, and how they are supposed to work. My suggestion would be to either remove a higher speed penalty than -10 ft. from the game or at the very least limit it to -15.
For the final boss, it might make sense to split the ability to return home from the regeneration. My group was beating up on a regenerating enemy who stood up and spawned one of those bubbles. I allowed my players to separate the connection between the midwife and the reactor while it was knocked out/regenerating, as killing it was not in the cards, the group simply could not do this type of damage. Actually, sanctification is not something SF2 classes can get right now, that certainly makes it harder to deal that kind of damage at that level. The final area was pretty hard for my players.
I am prepping this on short notice, though I could manage to watch the stream where TMun ran it for Jenny and Jon Compton, so I am already a bit familiar with it. My one big question is regarding the Shimmerstone Exposure disease:
Unfortunately, the scenario is unclear how often exposure happens and what level the disease is (relevant for counteracting it). The DC would be correct for a level 12 affliction/disease (and that seems compare well to the level 11 Brain Worms disease on page 89 of GM core that uses the standard level 11 DC). Since multiple exposures to the same disease have no effect (source player core page 430) it might not matter too much if the players are fast, though the stupefied condition will be very brutal for any spellcaster.
You forgot it can interrupt movement too. My understanding is that like Reactive Strike it can only disrupt manipulate actions:
The striker operative exchanges proficiency with martial guns for a similar proficiency with unarmed and one-handed melee weapons (as long as they have the agile trait) - unfortunately, the level 5 class feature "Master Gunner" does not give the crit specialization for those melee attacks, it still only provides that effect to guns for which the operative has expert proficiency. That feels like an oversight, and as my group currently builds characters for Empires Devoured, a change would be most welcome.
A recent errata included this text that at least showcases the intention for how it work, it seems like an oversight:
I am still apprehensive about the ability to disrupt spellcasting at range, as that happened at a crucial moment in my A Cosmic Birthday game, it absolutely is a nerf, but I feel like the ability to interrupt spellcasting is an issue. It might be fine if it could just interrupt interact actions and ranged attacks.
The frequency of skill challenges has really ramped up, and personally, I feel like overusing them makes them more unpalatable, particularly the influence system, as I tend to think that it makes the RP worse, as you are busier navigating the system, and focus less on the RP. Those systems often devolve into a lot of dice-rolling, especially discovery checks. In general, the right subsystem can make sense - though I have seen too many chases used in situations that did not call for them - unfortunately, the issues do seem to get worse if an adventure chooses to include 2-3 of them. When they get used a lot they really mange to take up a lot of sessions time, and as a GM that runs a lot online... fights are super easy, but illustrating a subsystem that involves player choice and a lot of rolls is hard work.
Don't remind me of THAT special. It ended right when it would have started to become interesting!I'm not so patiently waiting for when we get to go back with higher level characters and explore deeper. Yeah... the way the special ended was pretty unfortunate - felt like it was cut short on the second of 3 acts. Our not going back for so many seasons, only makes it worse.
I am conflicted, I really love how you can express yourself via your choice of Solarian weapon, and I appreciate the idea that someone might want to use other weapons (and likely would enjoy a stronger flare in exchange for a weaker solar weapon). That said, I think the default weapon is not quite there yet, and I am not sure how their bespoke enhancement system via crystal compares to using a stock weapon, or archaic weapon with runes. We recently got the ability to get the two-handed trait, but I wonder if 1 or 2 handed could be a choice that might also discount something like reach so it could be combined with another choice.
Something starfinder 1 tried and immediately undid that might help here is the hand cannon. A large pistol with a bigger MAP good for taking 1 shot so it combines well with a save spell a get em or an aim but not DAKKKA multiple attacks. I think there is certainly demand for a 1 handed martial version of the semi-auto pistol
On my healer I can't work further away than 30 feet anyway, so I'm going to have to move along with the melee. Did you see the update they made to mystic? Page 82 (Mystic Feats): Add Network Connection as a 2nd level mystic feat with the same text as the ability from page 77. It has the mystic trait.
Admittedly, the old witchwarper was never my cup of tea (I never built one, and the ones I ran for/with... essentially tended to forget most class features that were not spellcasting -though Starfinder Enhanced should have helped). Unfortunately, I have yet to see a lot of playtest players that were really happy how the QF worked out. It takes a lot of actions to maintain, set down etc. and thus far has not been very impactful.
I might have one in my Empires Devoured game, but we will see. Compared to the mystic who feels very synergistic (thus far the rhythm mystic has been very popular), or the operative... it feels more like a chore to maintain the QF, particularly if you end up having to move to even cast your spells. The recent change was welcome, but I suspect that the players will try to talk their GM into allowing a PF2 class instead of trying to juggle the class features of this one - or rather more likely, totally ignore QF and spend all or most of their class features on unrelated things/archtype feats.
A lot of the adventure and org play maps in Starfinder was on the smaller side, particularly since a lot of tables struggle to accommodate bigger maps. My general suggestion would be to look at the Flip Mats and similar products Paizo has been publishing and expect more like that. Though with the operative gaining the ability to ignore(some) cover and AOE weapons and spells potentially ignoring it, I don't really see the benefit.
I question that a lot of this is necessary, helpful or that it would add a lot, particularly once the word "realism" crops up. While it is tempting to offer solutions, Paizo's playtests tend to work best when people post their problems and avoid offering specific solutions, after all the designers might already have their own, plans based on the feedback they have received. |
