Came here excited that JJBA Stand users could decently be replicated with the Summoner playtest, especially when I saw someone with a thread mentioning it before I got here.
Disappointed to see a sizable part of the thread is people crying wrongbadfun. One of my favorite things about Pathfinder is that Paizo works well to make most fantasy concepts able to be replicated in their rules, kind of a bummer for this to be met with such vitriol.
The final line of the Former Aspis Agent legacy background reads
Quote:
You gain access to any uncommon options as though you were a member of the Aspis Consortium.
I have read thru all of my materials a few times now and have not found any uncommon options regarding the Aspis Consortium, am I missing something obvious or is this an instance of Paizo planning for future content?
Is why the class is called Vanguard? As far as I can tell the only reasons are because it is a CON based class and it uses shields. Every other class in the game has a very fitting class name, but Vanguard is so generic and just doesn't paint a picture of that the class does like all of the others.
I feel like Vanguard should get a name like Solarian has, where it is tied to the game universe in some way and more accurately describes what the class does.
Anyone have any suggestions for a better name than Vanguard?
1. A rage that lasted the whole fight but was not as powerful.
2. A rage that lasted a variable or shorter amount of time but was more powerful.
3. A rage that lasted as long as you wanted it, but was mostly all about dealing more damage and a bigger cost to accuracy or defense
Not scientific... just kinda curious of the pulse of the folks reading this...
Personally I would like to see a variation of 1:
1 action; Rage
Barbarian, Concentrate, Emotion, Mental
Requirements: You are not fatigued, raging, or wearing heavy armor.
You begin raging. You gain a number of temporary Hit Points equal to your level plus your Constitution modifier and enter a state of pure rage that lasts until the end of your next turn. While you are raging, you are affected in these ways:
*Gain a +2 conditional bonus to damage rolls with melee weapons, thrown weapons, and unarmed strikes. This bonus is halved if your weapon or unarmed Strike is agile. This bonus increases by 1 at level 3 and every 4 levels thereafter.
*Take a -1 penalty to AC.
*You can't use actions that have the concentrate trait unless they also have the rage trait. The Seek basic action gains the rage trait while you're raging.
After you have stopped raging, you lose any remaining temporary Hit Points from using the Rage action, and you are fatigued for 1 round for every 2 rounds you were raging. You can't voluntarily stop raging.
Free action; Feed Rage
Barbarian, Concentrate, Emotion, Mental
Requirements: You are not fatigued, fleeing, frightened, (possibly stupified?) or wearing heavy armor.
You fuel the rage burning within you. Your rage becomes extended until the end of your next turn.
This would keep the bonuses where they are at, make it possible to rage the whole fight. and remove the awkwardness of transmutation rages shifting back a forth every few rounds. It would also add a new dynamic to combats involving barbarians, which I see as a plus.
(the saving throws heritage is still terrible though...)
Actually, that's a pretty cool ability, even ignoring the resonance drawback. So long as you can find work-arounds for no magic armor and no potions for about 4 levels, Magic weapons, most runes, and bags of holding don't use resonance, and in return you get a +2 to any one save per turn. Just have the alchemist or cleric back you with Spells or Elixirs, and you can have save that are basically two levels higher. I could see some fighter, cleric, or barbarian builds that would do pretty well with Ancient Blood.
Quote:
...and humans being able to start with 2 extra general feats at level 1, meaning a wizard could start with medium armor even without multiclass
I honestly have to wonder if that's a typo -- though we won't know until later this week. Given that, for most other races, they removed certain duplicative feats when putting them into heritages, I think they might have meant to remove the +1 general feat and +1 trained skill feats for those heritages. Otherwise, Versatile Heritage is CRAZY good, because you can use it to front-load anything from saves, to movement, to hit points, etc.
I am assuming it was intentional to stay competative with the half-blank ancestries. Half-blank gets access to a good number of options with their ancestry feats, so versatile and skilled are front loaded with some extra oomph.
Similar to Razata, I think most of the choices have mechanically not been distinct enough to warrant translation to a new class in Pathfinder Second Edition. Thematically, perhaps, but mechanically most have been nearly identical. I am going to talk about how other classes can or likely will be accomplished by the 11 base classes before I talk about my choice.
Antipaladin is really just an evil Paladin, and I don't think any class should exist on the premise of "basically class but minor difference". Instead I would like to just see the Paladin remove it's alignment restriction and be written more as a champion empowered by her deity. Maybe even have a few more elements from the Sentinel and Evangalist prestige classes worked in to the Paladin.
Arcanist isn't distinct enough to warrant a class in my opinion. It can mostly be accomplished by multiclassing Wizard and Sorcerer in some combination. Currently Sorcerer multiclassed with Wizard, but we know we will be getting a Sorcerer multiclass option. I actually think if you are going pure caster that this is a strong option. The only thing mechanically distinct for the Arcanist was how they cast spells, using a combination of prepared and spontaneous. Rather than make a whole class for just this thing, I personally would like to just see our prepared casters changed to cast this way, but admittedly this is because I hate vancian spellcasting.
Bloodrager, a much as I love the class, can be accomplished with multiclassing a spellcasting class as a Barbarian. Basically Barbarian, but minor spellcasting.
Brawler seems to have been spread across Fighter and Monk, which I am fine with. The only thing distinct about the class was Martial Flexibility, which I think could exist in this system but less effectively than in Pathfinder First Edition. If they were to decide to implement this I think I would like to see it as an archetype that allows you to temporarily get some feats from a non-spellcasting class. It would allow people to build characters like Taskmaster from Marvel comics.
Cavalier is already an archetype, and I think a good example of how some classes are better suited as archetypes. Now my options when building a Cavalier are much more broad than First Edition as I can use several different classes as the base chassis of my build.
Gunslinger was a class everyone talked about but few people stuck with for more than a dip, or 5 levels to get Dex to damage, which speaks volumes for the poor class design in my opinion. If they decide to implement guns in Second Edition, I don't think a class should accompany them. Some feats working them in to each class, allowing spellcasters to use them like the Spellslinger Wizard or martial classes to use them as the Gunslinger did in the previous edition. Otherwise just make guns an exotic weapon that anyone could get proficiency in. Basically Fighter, but with guns.
Hunter never seemed distinct enough from the Ranger or Druid, so just speeding them back across those classes would be fine by me. Basically Druid, but spontaneous casting.
Inquisitor can be accomplished by multiclassing a Cleric or Paladin and I don't really think anything would be lost. Basically Cleric, but mean.
Investigator was in my opinion one of the few hybrid classes that seemed distinct enough in it's identity to warrant a class, but I don't want to see it in Second Edition, instead I would like to see Inspiration given to the Alchemist to remove their reliance on burning through resonance. I would also like to see something in line with Studied Strike to given to Alchemist. Basically I want Alchemist to be less reliant on bombs and mutagen, and more in line with a Batman type character that uses alchemical items and gadgets to greater effect than any other class.
Kineticist is interesting. I feel like they could probably be implemented without a whole class though. Maybe an archetype who's first feat gave you a cantrip that could further be modified, and further feats that let you do various things for spell points. That way you could build your Aang or Korra or Goku able to do more than just blast and blast but different.
Magus is entirely unnecessary with the class system as they are trying to establish it. It can easily be replaced with an archetype, or quite honestly a single feat. Basically Wizard, but with scimitar magic.
Medium is, kind of a nightmare. I honestly really enjoyed the Medium in PFS for it's ability to fill multiple roles, and for their versatility in crafting ability for home games. Could it be it's own class in Second Edition? Probably, because it absolutely couldn't be an archetype. But I think it needs a lot of polish to keep players from needing multiple character sheets. I think it is mechanically different enough to warrant it's own class, I just don't know it is worth the effort. The easiest way to pull this off would be to make a Druid or Bard and give them something like Martial Flexibility and Spell Kenning, but that wouldn't mechanically capture the Medium of First Edition. I feel like I could go on and on about the Medium so I am gonna stop before I get ahead of myself.
Mesmerist always seemed so much like a Bard but for debuffs, and there were several archetypes in First Edition that further blurred this line (I'm looking at you Negotiator). Some class feats for the Bard could entirely replace this class as far as I am concerned.
Ninja should have never existed. Basically Rogue, but with ki.
Oracle had proto-class feats in First Edition and were otherwise only distinct because they were spontaneous 9th level divine casters and for those curses. Since class feats are a thing everyone gets now, all spellcasters are 9th level casters, and the Sorcerer is able to get the divine list through bloodlines there is simply no reason for this class to exist in it's current mechanical concept. Only a small number of curses ever saw play in my experience, which just comes off as poor design. One thing I think is great about Angelic or Abyssal Sorcerers replacing Oracles, besides trimming the bloat of First Edition, is that the name is opened up for something more in line with the historical and mythological namesake. Maybe an archetype that gains some foresight and aoothsaying abilities. I think that would be awesome.
Psychic can be replaced by a Sorcerer with an occult spell list. Basically Sorcerer, but psychic magic.
Samurai shouldn't exist, it and Ninja are both a result of fetishization and mystification of east Asian culture. Basically Cavaliers, but with katanas.
Shaman never stood out to me as a class, and everything it has could be replicated with class feats, so it doesn't really need to make it's way to Second Edition in it's current form. I also have never really cared for new classes who's names are synonyms of existing classes. Basically Witch, but with chanting instead of laughing.
Shifter was just, not a well designed classes. It was championed as being for Druid what Paladin was for Cleric, but we already had that and it was called a Ranger. If they were to implement a class like this in Second Edition I would like it to be not tied to the Druid in any way. Make it capable of shapeshifting in to more than just animals. The ability to change in to other humanoids, objects, etc. would give the class a niche that was not already able to be done with other classes. A Shifter being able to change her arm in to a sword to fight with would allow people to build their Edward Elric types, which is something this game needs. It doesn't need another class that used Wild Shape.
Skald was a Bard by another name. Basically Bard, but angry.
Slayer seems to have been mostly absorbed by Ranger, which I am cool with. I think his Hunt Target class feature needs to be brought closer to the Studied Target class feature of the Slayer to help the Ranger stay competitive with the other martial classes of Second Edition.
Spiritualist was a class I preferred to the Summoner, but in design it really just seemed to polish what the Summoner had. Basically Summoner, but ghosts.
Summoner was an unnecessary class in First Edition, it took a single aspect of magic and made it an entire class. A conjuration Wizard should fill this niche, not an entire class. I also took issue with the standard action Summon Monster SLA being such a force multiplier. People who just built pounce eidolons probably missed out on this, but this made the Summoner able to out-Wizard the Wizard if they familiarized themselves with the summon monster lists and the SLAs of the monsters contained within. All that being said, I could see the Summoner having a place in Second Edition filling the niche of the class entirely about having a companion. Either fighting simultaneously with his creature, giving it the minion trait, or the option to have their creature appear temporarily in his place in a style like Final Fantasy. I think the ability to customize their companion would be very important, but Paizo would have to take care in the design process to avoid every eidolon becoming a pounce machine.
Swashbuckler was a poorly designed class for the same reason a Gunslinger was, a class should never be designed around using a single weapon because it stifles creativity. I also seldom saw Swashbuckler levels taken beyond a dip, or the 5 levels to get Dex to damage. Basically Gunslinger, but with a rapier.
Vigilante is perfect archetype material for Second Edition. You will be able to emulate almost every First Edition archetype by selecting the base class you want and gaining the disguise of a Vigilante from the archetype feat.
Witch always seemed like a Wizard with a more narrow focus, which I don't like. Their unique class feature could be accomplished in this edition by just using class feats. Basically Wizard, but hexes.
The observant may have noticed I skipped one class, and it is the class I see as being most suitable for a full class entry in Second Edition. And that class is the Occultist. They are all about investing magical energy in to objects, which sounds a lot like a system that is a major part of Second Edition. A class that could play off of the new resonance system would be fantastic, and possibly help make the system a little more palatable to the people against it as a whole (I personally think it could be cool and helpful, but it needs some changes from it's current state). I think some elements from Investigator could help enrich the class even further as well.
Tl;Dr: Occultist, make it have unique interactions with resonance and splash some Investigator in there and it will be a great class for Second Edition.
It's slightly faster because you have so few options. You can't use General Feats or Ancestry Feats for Class skills, so you're extremely limited in what feats you can put where.
I completely disagree. I don't see the specific feat categories as limiting at all, it is a guide for newer players and a correction for the power creep from Pathfinder. There were hundreds and in some cases thousands of options in principle, but in practice you saw the same couple dozen options recycled over and over. Now when moving forward, the categories being given at different levels will result in less pseudo-choices from certain must have feats only being able to be taken with certain slots. And the downtime retraining options will result in hyper specific options being taken outside of APs revolving around the applicable uses.
And yes, there are less options in the playtest book than the 10 year Pathfinder catalog, but that is an entirely unrealistic expectations. Core book to core book, the playtest has way more areas and options to customize your character. Comparing this single books the the entire Paizo catalog isn't even an apples to oranges comparison, it is an apples to grocery store comparison.
I actually plan to run a little experiment with the character build times. My partner has never played a tabletop game before and I am going to have them try building a character using the core book from each version and see which option they are more satisfied with.
I have built a few characters now, and I agree that the process of making a character is slower, but it is much faster to plan a character's progression to 20 in my opinion.
Specific supersedes general. You can't generally take any actions when asleep, however if there is loud noise around you at the start of your turn you can attempt a perception check to wake up.
-701 [android mercenary envoy] frostbite class zero rifle and static arc pistol
-702 [half-or spacefarer solarian] standard taclash and tactical semi-automatic pistol
In a home game a medium with crafting feats can be an incredible boon to the party in downtime.
In PFS I have enjoyed the fact that my medium is a pretty effective filler for party roles that might not be covered by the rest of the table. He isn't as good as a specialist in that role, but he does pretty okay. Medium, if you will.
Spiritualist I enjoy a lot more than summoner, if for no other reason that thematically they are more concise. I also like their spell list, there are a few early access gems hidden in there. Same is true for the medium actually.
I don't generally consider my characters all that unusual compared to others I meet in play and overall this list feels really quite negative.
Considering that I myself contribute to several of the items on that list, it wasn't really made to be negative. It was more to point out things that were rare amongst the people I have met in play.
The biggest problem I run into is how different GMs interpret what it means to 'interact' with an illusion. GMs who don't know the rules very well often constitute interaction to mean just seeing an illusion, many of them also automatically believe all illusions are mind affecting (which they aren't).
UI specifies at least a move action must be used to "interact" with an illusion, which help with the people with that point of view.
I have actually even have a GM go so far as to have someone try to disbelieve an invisibility spell, because according to them all illusions could be disbelieved.
I think I am the only person locally who has tried to play an illusion focused character...who I retired after only a few adventures because so few GMs properly understand how illusion magic works.
Bringing a copy of ultimate intrigue with you to reference the section on illusions helps deal with these types of GMs, unfortunately there will still be some that refuse to budge. Just avoid them when playing an illusion caster.
Slyme wrote:
I've only ever seen an alchemist played via the pre-gen.
Additionally having multiple tables running will give the kids something to talk about, they can tell stories about how they handled the encounters. Considering I already enjoy discussing things like this as an adult for PFS, I can only image kids would have a blast doing this.
What is the point of playing if there is no risk of failure? Half of your grievances are just wanting to always have a way back from death.
If you want a level 20 character sheet and don't want to risk permanent death along the way, just write up a few level 20 character sheets. You get what you want, and you avoid all of the risk you are so worried about.
I would advise against Superstitious for Skalds, allies automatically accept the benefits of your song when unconscious, making it very difficult to get them stable or back in the fight when things get clutch.
Nothing feels worse than watching your character bleed out because they have to make a save on a spell or channel positive energy.
I selected Alchrmist because there is actually a discussion of how muddy the writing is on the Alchemy class feature amongst my circle at the moment, though I wish I could have selected more than one option.
I think Alchemist (and Investigator by extension), Magus, and Cavalier are all in need of a serious rework. Either because of poorly defined rules, or because they are very much a one trick class.
Edit: I wish Gunslinger was included on the list as well, because that is a rediculously poorly designed class in my opinion. Should have been a fighter archetype, not an entire class.
Using a tactical baton for your first few levels will give you a +1 to hit, after you get a personal upgrade or you hit 5 and get your ability score bump you can raise your strength and then use a tactical star knife. No reason to get another weapon early on unless you want to blow a large portion of your wealth to double up on ways to get a melee attack.
Another option to consider could be multi weapon fighting and sticking to small arms and operative weapons. You won't be doing the same damage as a STR based character but you will be more consistently hitting on a full attack.
Name: "Torch"
Alignment: Neutral
Race: Human
Class: Negotiator Bard 8
Description: "Torch" began his journey with the Pathfinder Society as a body double for Grandmaster Torch when he was leading the Shadow Lodge due to his rather striking resemblance to the faction leader. At the time he was a traveling minstrel with few connections, so the opportunity this career option afforded him was a rather lucrative one. He spent his first year learning the mannerisms and speech patterns of the faction leader, and even became conversational in all of the same languages so he could be a more convoncing decoy. He would also would regularly undergo brandings to leave his skin looking freshly burned in appearance, like that of the faction leader's. The guise proved to be rather convincing, as one of his first tests was to give several field agents briefings, or notes in Grandmaster Torch's handwriting without raising any suspicion.
All the effort was finally paying off when something rather unusual happened. The faction leader betrayed the Pathfinder Society and evaded capture ("Torch" may or may not have inadvertently played a part in his avoiding apprehension), leaving "Torch" without a job or purpose. He took some time to lay low, as he looked exactly like a man being hunted by many. But the Society had helped mold him in to the image he was now, they spent a lot of resources on him and knew he was out there, so eventually he was found and offered something he never expected. A job offer as a field agent.
He accepted, as the Society did offer him protections that he would not be able to get anywhere else. Having spent so long training to look like the man, he decided to keep the moniker, though he does now clarify this with statements such as "no, not that one" or "I am certainly no Grandmaster".
With his knowledge in Osirionology he began work as a Scarab Sage agent, his resemblance to the old faction head falling more in to the uncanny region as his burns had naturally healed and scarred. Over his time with the Scarab Sages he earned multiple accolades, his skill set being surprisingly effective as a field agent when the Society would send a group out due to many other agents lacking people skills.
After the Scarab Sages found that they were able to create new sage stones, "Torch" was offered the opportunity to become a jeweled sage himself for the unique knowledge and insight he could bring on Grandmaster Torch, having a better understanding of his motives or intentions than any of the other jeweled sages. The sages held a dialog to decide what gemstone would be given to "Torch" and peridot was decided upon, the emerald sage was smirking slyly as if he had a part to play in this decision.
NPCs frequently have abilities that PCs can not get in Starfinder. Take Precise Shot from Clara-247 or Awesome Blow from Hatchbuster in the previous book. Pulse Dart is another example of this.
Danger Will Robinson! If the same players are attending all the events and any of them have an extensive play history, you are setting the community up for problems. You’re offering games four times as often as they are produced (minus mods/APs). Over time, as players rotate in/out you are likely to have extreme mismatches between new/old players. Be careful. It’s a great “problem” to have a community that is that excited about OP to play so frequently, but it can be a double-edged sword.
We have people who regularly GM who attend both days, but that number of people is less than 1/3 our regular attendence.
Additionaly I am not a coordinator so I really have no say in how often we put up scenarios, it has been twice a week since before I came to this lodge, and it will be twice a week after I leave the lodge.
My point stands however, the less tables you run, amd the less often you run tables, the more likely people just won't be able to get in to a table that they can get credit for. Loosening up the replay rules would help curb this issue.
I would love to see more relatable scenarios, or the option to replay older scenarios without burning GM stars.
I get cherry picking scenarios could be a problem, a possible solution is to just go through scenarios and pick which ones could be replayed and tack a tag on the PDF. Recently there have been lots of callbacks to season 0 or 1 scenarios, my characters who played or ran those scenarios have long been retired. Most have bad rewards and low WBL gold rewards, most people wouldn't game the system to replay them. Just make them replayable.
My lodge runs PFS games twice a week, and we consistently sit 25-35 players. A lot of our regular GMs have gone through a lot of scenarios, so when a new table gets put up and one of us misses and early sign up we might end up with 5 tables we can't play or GM for credit and hope we can hop on the table the next time it gets put up.
I feel a workable way to do it would be to make S=current season, S-7 scenarios relatable, restrict the gate by stars if you really feel it is necessary.
...I was going to be funny and hit almost all of the points Segovax said above with my characters but I then realized it wouldn't be funny and it would add nearly three pages to this thread.
Suffice to say out of that list there's only about a tenth I haven't seen and/or played.
I have several characters that hit some of those points, and several that do not.
And if you have a Hilltopple, welcome to the family.
Classes:
Alchemists that arent built to be bomb machines, arcanists, barbarians that aren't played as illiterate psychopaths, unchained barbarians, brawlers, cavaliers that aren't built to one shot enemies using their lance, gunslingers that are not built to solo combat encounters, investigators without the empiricist archetype, investigators who don't dip inspired blade swashbuckler, magi with any utility outside of spellstrike with empowered shocking grasp, mediums, paladins without a penalty in INT and WIS, rogues with a bonus in STR or CON, shaman, summoner with non-combat eidolons, swashbucklers with a bonus in STR or an understanding of precision damage, vigilantes, witches without the slumber hex, wizards that are played well.
Prestige classes:
Prestige classes in general, bloatmage, brother of the seal, low templar, any of the Pathfinder -something- prestige classes.
Races:
Dwarves without a charisma penalty, elves that aren't spellcasters, gnomes, halflings without the last name of Hilltopple, half-orcs with a bonus in WIS or CHA, ifrit with an initative modifier less than 8, male kitsune, nagaji with an intelligence higher than a paladin's mount, oread, sylph, tengu that don't make stupid bird noises, undine.
Factions:
Silver Crusaders who aren't paladins or clerics, Dark Archivists who are not spellcasters, Liberty's Edge freedom fighters who aren't one-dimensional, Scarab Sages who know both Osirion and Ancient Osirion (even rarer are the one's who also speak Sphinx), Exchange agents who remember their Sczarni roots, Grand Lodge agents who think of the Society as more than killers and thugs.
General:
Characters with no penalties in any of their ability scores, characters that are tied specifically to Golarion, characters who can reasonably contribute to circumstances outside of their gimmick, the aid another action used in combat outside of it being a character's gimmick, discussion of tactics during combat, characters carrying food or drink with them, characters with more than one social skill (usually Intimidate), characters that invest ranks in skills that are not class skills, characters not wielding greatswords or lucerne hammers, weapon and shield fighters, characters not wearing a breastplate, characters with more than a single outfit, characters with basic adventuring equipment, characters that can damage swarms, character development.
You would be able to brawler's flurry using the dwarven boulder helmet. And I would never say that brawler's flurry is a central part of the class. Martial flexibility perhaps, but not brawler's flurry.
Dwarf Brawler, archetypes optional (consider Steel-Breaker) but I recommend keeping martial flexibility and brawler's flurry.
Take weapon proficiency for the dorn-dergar and pick up a boulder helmet and dorn-dergar at level 1.
For your maneuver training make your first choice sunder. Take power attack, improved sunder, vital strike, combat reflexes, lunge, and the like as you qualify for them.
Eventually pick up an adamantine dorn-dergar.
You will have a character who can flex in to feats as needed, vital strike sunder things with your dorn-dergar and use it to get AoOs, and if necessary you can close and brawler's flurry with your boulder helmet.
It will make you good at all the things you want it to be good at and able to adapt for when that strategy is not ideal. Having played a sunder build for PFS to 12, there are lots of scenarios where if you make that the only thing you can do, you will have a bad time. Being able to adapt will be key.
I could come up with a much more specific outline if you were interested.
Have:
2017 GM boon #3 Reincarnated Heritage - Samsaran race
2017 GM boon #2 Simian Heritage - Vanara race
2016 GM boon #2 Elemental Ancestry - Suli race, bonus racial trait for suli, or energy resistance = 1/2 level
Gen Con 2014 boon #2 Ancestral Ally - bonuses for companion based on core race chosen
Regional Support 2017 boon #2 Lingering Resonance - bonus on DC of spell cast and saves vs one specific spell
Regional Support 2017 boon additional #2 Personal Physician - heal check and condition removals
Regional Support 2017 boon #3 On-the-Job Training - make progress towards making a skill a class skill
Convention 2017 boon #9 Arcane Ammunition - allows purchase of small batch magic ammunition
Can also potentially add my regional support GM incentive boons to give out a Skinwalker race and a Legacy Race for Starfinder if a good enough offer is made.
Want:
Interesting Pathfinder or Starfinder race boons, Ganzi immediately comes to mind.
Rebuild boons
Other interesting boons
Something I enjoy doing is making characters that utilize unique lore or mechanics, so make an offer if you have something you think I might be interested in.
If an ability score increase results in a change to an ability modifier, don't forget to adjust any statistics that rely on that modifier, such as attack bonuses, saving throws, total skill bonuses, Resolve Points, Stamina Points, and the DCs of class features and spells. Note that ability score increases are effective retroactively; when your character's ability score increases, it increases his total number of ability-based statistics-things like Resolve Points, Stamina Points, or skill ranks-as if he had the higher value at previous levels as well. For example, a mechanic with an Intelligence score of 17 has a modifier of +3, and thus gets 7 skill ranks to spend at each level (see Chapter 5). If at 4th level he increases his Intelligence score to 18, he'll have a modifier of +4, and thus get 8 skill ranks to spend from this level forward-but he'll also get 3 additional ranks to assign, reflecting the ranks he would have received if he'd had an Intelligence score of 18 at his first 3 levels.
Interestingly it looks like it slipped past the editors that this mentions 4th level instead of 5th. But yes, you do get stamina retroactively for increasing your CON.
This Tuesday I am having a group get together forna session 0 for the Dead Suns AP and I had a couple of house rules I was considering implementing, talked it over with my players and there were no objections, so I was looking to get some feedback here on the boards.
1) All ammunition will keep their standard pricing, and have the option to have it's capacity restored to full by paying 10% of it's modified price.
So for example, a container of adamantine alloy arrows could be replenished by spending 102 credits or a container of illuminating small arms rounds could be replenished for 10 credits.
2) Like ammunition, grenades can have their capacity refreshed by spending 10% of the item's modified price. So for example a frag grenade 1 could be replenished by spending 4 credits or a glamered shock grenade 1 made to look like a personal comm unit could be replenished by spending 19 credits.
3) Weapons and armor can be upgraded to higher level versions of the same item by spending the difference between the modified item price. So for example, a azimuth laser pistol could be upgraded to a corona laser pistol by spending 3920 credits or a called tactical starknife could be upgraded to a called sintered starknife by spending 11,880 credits.
If anyone has any thought, questions, comments, or concerns I would enjoy having them.
I'm aware of quickdraw limbs. If possible, I'd rather not have false limbs. Not everyone wants to be a cyborg.
A quickdraw adaptive biochains limb costs 3355 credits and replaces the cybernetic components with organic ones. It is gross, but you could technically avoid being a cyborg by going that route.
Conceptually speaking, how would someone aid another while hacking a computer?
Isn't hacking generally a solo endeavor? Even if you have multiple people interfacing with the same computer simultaneously, the computer is likely treating them as different users (meaning one person getting past a firewall doesn't necessarily help the others get past it, for example).
In short, it wouldn't be aid another, it'd be a bunch of people making independent checks.
When playing my shirren I make a point to speak on an inhale and more heavily emphasizing consonants. It makes for a very unnerving and alien when combined with a rasp and rattle from the throat.
It strains pretty badly, but I seldom use it as it only ever comes up when speaking over comms or out of telepathy range.
When speaking telepathically I just explain that the voice bwing projected is the as pleasant a voice as the recipient can imagine.
I imagine the bulk of the container contributes to the heavier weight of the ammunition, and once loaded in to the weapon the empty container that most of the weight comes from can be discarded.
I personally don't want to see revelations that boost saves. Most of the revelations as they currently stand let you do something new and interesting, and I don't think boosting saves is either of those things.
Also Starfinder's design philosophy is to avoid must pick options.
Enhanced Resistance doesn't have the clause stating it can be taken more than once, so it can only be selected once.
Additionally the developers have said that Enhanced Resistance apply to all kinetic damage was a mistake and they intend to be correcting that in the errata.
When I play my android envoy for SFS I speak with a monotone and make a point of stating my emotions for those not versed in the over one dozen emotions a typical android can experience.
Starfinder changed readied actions to occur after the triggering action, so readied actions to attack someone when they cast a spell now go off after the spell is cast.
Only purely defensive actions readied go off before the triggering action.
I bring up running cold because it is absolutely relevant, my focus was divided.
So divided in fact that the conversation got to the point of discussing the rules of using feint to bluff instead of just telling the player the attempt failed because the creature lacked an intelligence score.
And as I said before between Greater Feint's function, and the wording from the feint entry in bluff being worded as it is, I was under the impression that it was "your next attack on (this turn) or before your next turn"
The only reason I brought another person in to the conversation was because the player was being confrontational and would not let it go. And even after the the only VO present agreed with my ruling the player still refused to back down. And again, I don't know why the VO ruled with me if my reading was incorrect, but even after that the player continued to argue and eat up table time. I was just trying to keep things moving.
I was not trying to ruin a person's fun, if that were the case when I found out that the table probably wouldn't make if I didnt GM it instead of play it, I would have just gone home. I was making a call on what I thought was a correct reading of the rules, I was wrong.
Clarification on the incident, as I was the GM who made the ruling.
It was a misunderstanding, the wording from greater feint and the redundancy of the wording "on or before your next turn" rather than something like "before the end of your next turn" as many other abilities use had me confused.
I was running cold as we have had a large influx of new players and a shortage of GMs due to GM fatigue from our regulars.
I tried to handle the situation as best I could in the limited time I could, by explaining why I was ruling it that way, and then getting the only Venture Officer present to help on a ruling (I am not a VL or in any way an organizer for the group, just a person volunteering to GM), who sided with my ruling either to not undermine the GM or because he understood it as I did.
Do not present it as if all of the players were on your side during the ruling, at least two said that they could see it being read either way.
Instead of assuming that I won't listen, try just talking to me before or after the scenario instead of being confrontational. You might find that I am a pretty agreeable person when you don't immediately put me on the defensive and dismiss everything I say with "we'll see".
Sorry for the incorrect ruling. Enjoy your time here at our lodge.
Wizards who select a bonded object begin play with one at no cost. Objects that are the subject of an arcane bond must fall into one of the following categories: amulet, ring, staff, wand, or weapon. These objects are always masterwork quality. Weapons acquired at 1st level are not made of any special material.
Specifies that the item is of the masterwork quality but can not be special materials.
Gunslinger and Gunsmith wrote:
At 1st level, a gunslinger gains one of the following firearms of her choice: blunderbuss, musket, or pistol. Her starting weapon is battered, and only she knows how to use it properly. All other creatures treat her gun as if it had the broken condition. If the weapon already has the broken condition, it does not work at all for anyone else trying to use it. This starting weapon can only be sold for scrap (it's worth 4d10 gp when sold). The gunslinger also gains Gunsmithing as a bonus feat.
Special: If you are a gunslinger, this feat grants the following additional benefit. You can use this feat to repair and restore your initial, battered weapon. It costs 300 gp and 1 day of work to upgrade it to a masterwork firearm of its type.
Specifies the weapon is treated as broken, and gunsmithing states that you can upgrade the battered weapon to masterwork. So masterwork weapons are off limit, it states nothing about special material so you could RAW select a special material that is not masterwork.
Bolt Ace wrote:
A bolt ace is proficient with all crossbows instead of all firearms and begins play with a masterwork crossbow of her choice. This ability alters the gunslinger’s weapon proficiencies and replaces gunsmith.
Specifies the item is masterwork and does not specify a material so RAW you could select special materials.
Battle Host wrote:
At 1st level, a battle host forms a supernatural bond with a specific weapon, suit of armor, or shield. This selection is permanent and can never be changed. The bonded item is masterwork quality and the battle host begins play with it at no cost.
Specifies masterwork quality and does not specify a material, RAW you can select an item of any material, including adamantine fullplate. I would like to specify that I do not agree with this, but as currently written this is how it would function in PFS.
Another interesting note, the classes that start with spell/formulae/ etc. books do not specify qualities outside of the number of spells, so as written it would appear that you could select special spell books as long as the number of spells is correct. So things like Nyzam's Remedies, compact spellbook, traveling formula book, and traveling spellbook could be selected as starting books.
From a majority of the examples I would deduce that creatures with a charisma of 2 seldom interact with their own kind or others outside of hunting or breeding. Perhaps play your character incredibly withdrawn, maybe even paranoid. Spend your down time away from the party in a private room at the inn, have the staff bring your meals and leave them outside the door before knocking so that you can take it without having to interact with them, and maybe even make a point to check it for poison afterwards.
Noticed a couple of what I assume are bugs. You are unable to select weapon focus in unarmed strikes even if you take the feat. Additionally the character sheet entry lists unarmed strike's damage as 1d6 instead of 1d3 for non-monk and brawler medium characters.
His backstory is that his mother was a field agent for the Pathfinder Society 60 some odd years ago and in one of her missions she encountered and efreet who in exchange for allowing the efreet to escape she was granted a single wish. The wish was "I wish for nothing to be able to harm me." In typical efreet fashion this wish was twisted, and nine month later she gave birth to an ifrit.
As the ifrit grew he had the powers of the void manifest, sometimes violently, and in one of these outbursts his mother was killed. After this he was sold in to slavery and spent most of his youth serving the wealthy. Some Andoran freedom fighters eventually liberated him from his bonds and a few years later he was tracked down by the Society and told that he was responsible for finishing the work contracts his mother had signed several decades earlier.
Now he reluctantly works for the Society under the Sovereign Court.
A gold piece and a gold Aspis Consortium badge are not really similarly sized. But a wayfinder and a silver Aspis badge sure look similar, don't you think?
And while you can't buy Aspis Consortium badges by themselves, you can get the Pathfinder Greatcoat which contains a few patches that are Consortium badges.
Bottom 10 first because that is an easier list for me.
10: Cavalier - The class is very much designed around getting mounted charges off. I hate classes that essentially force you in to a specific build, and while some archetypes correct this I just really don't care for the class.
9: Shaman - The Shaman has the smallest spell list of any 9th level caster, and the ACG errata fixed some huge flaws with their spell list, the class still comes off as lazy and uninspired. All of the concepts that I can think of for a shaman I can just as easily do with a cleric, oracle, or witch and probably end up closer to what I wanted to be able to do than I would have been able to pull off with the Shaman.
8: Monk - Conceptually the monk is supposed to be a highly mobile martial artist, mechanically with the flurry of blows class features they result in some of the most stationary fights in the game. The unchained monk fixed this a bit with the flying kick style strike, and while the unchained monk was a huge improvement it still lacks the feel the class was originally trying to capture.
7: Kineticist - The major problem with kineticists is the total lack of options. Many levels present you with a single decent choice for wild talents to select, this is getting better with time, but for now I have seen several people take kinetic blade not because they wanted a melee option but because skilled kineticist is terrible.
6: Magus - While I want to like the Magus for combining magic and martial prowess I just can't. The class favors one or two builds, all of them focused on crit finishing to get those multipliers on their shocking grasps and frigid touches. If I had a dollar for every Magus with the Dervish Dance feat I could publish my own tabletop system. Also I hate how easily brand new players are attracted to this class.
5: Oracle - I hate the curse mechanics, and I hate how singularly dependent on charisma that the class is. I understand the desire for a spontaneous caster that uses the cleric's spell list, something about this execution of it just does not sit right with me at all.
4: Rogue - For one of the staple roles in the classic party makeup this class has so little love from the design team. Ninja helped some, and Unchained Rogue helped even more, but rogues just can't really do anything interesting and contribute so little to the overall party makeup. And like the Magus, for some reason lots of new players want to play a Rogue and on several occasions that I have observed they ended up getting turned off to the game as a while because the class could do so little.
3: Summoner - This class probably never should have been a class as the concept could already be accomplished with several other existing classes, and it ended up being way too strong out of the gate. The Unchained summoner toned it down a bit but the standard action summon monster is still just too strong an ability.
2: Swashbuckler - One of the most offensive cases of forcing players in to a specific build, the swashbuckler should have never seen the light of day as a class, I think it would have been an excellent Fighter archetype though. It is also so heinously front loaded that it promotes dipping a single level far too often for my tastes.
1: Gunslinger - Like the Swashbuckler, this should have been an archetype, not an entire class. The terrible mechanics for guns don't help anything either.
10: Medium - The versatility of this class is fantastic and the concept of letting legendary spirits use your body as a vessel is just so cool. This class really shines in PFS play in my opinion where you get to pick up whatever role the table most needs to shore up the weaknesses of the table. But the utility in home games is also amazing if for no other reason than item creation and getting access it any spell you need for any particular item.
9: Spiritualist - This class did what the Summoner was trying to do without breaking too much around it. It has a balanced, thematic, and useful spell list and has the little buddy that has purpose being out or put away which is something the Summoner never quite got right.
8: Warpriest - This class is everything the Cleric should have been, fervor is such an excellent mechanic and the Warpriest has so many different ways you could build it. My one criticism is the lack of skill points.
7: Arcanist - Of all of the styles of spellcasting in Pathfinder, this on is my favorite. The Arcanist isn't the strongest 9th level arcane spell caster for sure, but the style of spellcasting and exploits definitely make it one of the more interesting ones.
6: Bloodrager - Thematically one of the coolest classes in the game, and I think the bloodlines are more well designed for this class than for the Sorcerer. I love the combination of magic and martial, and while it doesn't combine the two as much as have them side by side I still prefer it to the Magus. My only criticism of the class is that too much of it's class features are melee dependant which forces most bloodragers to end up as melee types.
5: Skald - I prefer the Skald to the Bard for one major reason, Spell Kenning. Honestly Spell Kenning probably should have been a class feature for the Bard and the Skald should just be an archetype but as is it is the reason I prefer the Skald.
4: Vigilante - Fluff aside, this is one of the more well designed classes in Pathfinder history, and that is saying a lot after Occult Adventures. They also finally have a class I can use to build a crime fighting superhero or a serial killer. Always a fun class to have at the table.
3: Brawler - Martial Flexibility is one of the greatest class features of all time, and should probably have been a Fighter class feature. The criticism I have for Brawler is that some of their class features don't work for the weapons they are proficient with, which is just confusing.
2: Investigator - While I am not a fan of how alchemy works mechanically in Pathfinder, I love this class so much. It functions in many ways like the Rogue probably should have functioned and while it is a little slow to start is one of the more interesting classes as far as class features goes.
1: Occultist - Probably the most well designed class in Pathfinder in my opinion. From the abilities that allow you to be less dependent on the big 6, to the amazing feel of the class, I love everything about the Occultist.
