Semanticman's page

Still no eye of robes? Sadness.

Errors on page 4:

A gnome in Hulkbuster armor. That is all.

That worked, thank you!

Semanticman wrote:

Still, I tried to track my package with the link in the order details, but I have been getting "no response from server" issues -- thought someone should know.

Copy and paste the link and then change the "http://" to "https://" and it should work. That's usually the problem in the emails for me.

I started to get paranoid that my order (30175545) which is marked shipped July 22, got lost in transit or stolen from my stoop, but I'm less worried now that I've checked this thrread.

Still, I tried to track my package with the link in the order details, but I have been getting "no response from server" issues -- thought someone should know.

Thanks, and happy GenCon to everyone, I really miss seeing everyone in person but I've been really happy to see all the streams.

Stay safe, James and Paizo et al!

Fixed now.

Oh, come to think of it, I think I also should have 1-00 available, and I also have the same ambiguous situation with my Starfinder Society complimentary subscription.

Neo2151 wrote:

Deadmanwalking wrote:

Backflipping sounds like Acrobatics, rather than Athletics (which merely determines the distance you can jump), and I doubt his Dex is great.

But yes, being Str 18 makes you very good at all Athletics stuff even if you're in Full Plate.

Flipping is kind of... acrobatic athletics.

You need to be very athletic to get the jump high enough, and acrobatic enough to complete the rotation correctly.

But since the game doesn't combine skills, I'd say athletics is the better fit in this case. :)

I'm over here staring into space wondering if an olympic gymnast is an acrobat or an athlete.

I've got your back. First, the linguistic take:

"Acrobat" means "someone who performs feats of gymnastics", so an olympic gymnast is a type of athlete that performs acrobatics.

But that's not what we come to these forums for, is it? Now, the Pathfinder take:

The naive take on STR vs DEX is muscles vs. coordination (e.g. hand-eye). However, I think it's more accurate to think of DEX as a composite of dexterity (which is about fine motor control) and agility (which is about fast-twitch muscle mass and sensory response time), as most of the skills that key off it require a good amount of what we think of as strength, not just coordination. For example, Tumbling Through probably involves some handsprings -- those things are impossible to do unless you can do handstand pushups.

So I take STR to be "steady" or "unidirectional" strength, like what's needed to bend bars, lift things, jump far, and swing a greatsword. Whereas the strength component of DEX is "fast" or "rapid response" strength, such as is needed to do handsprings...

...so an olympic gymnast is 100% an acrobat, in Pathfinder terms. Although they might /also/ be an athlete.

Oh, come to think of it, I think I also should have 1-00 available, and I also have the same ambiguous situation with my Starfinder Society complimentary subscription.

Hello folks,

This was the regular auth, not the GenCon pickup one. If you chose GenCon pickup you will not have an email confirmation until we run that report.

Oohhhhhhhhh...

I know I said I understand before, but *now* I understand. I think. :)

I didn’t get an email... oh, and the planar adventures book snuck into my sidecart, too.

Only the starting items for new subscriptions will be in your sidecart until the GenCon pickup auth is run. That is different from the auth we are running now.

Oohhhhhhhhhh..... now I understand. Thanks, Diego, I really appreciate how hard you’re working to get everything working right and and answer all our questions.

I think there are multiple wrinkles going on with my subscriptions and order right now. I spoke to Virginia earlier this week, but I don’t think all my issues are resolved.

These are my current subscriptions:

Pathfinder Adventure Path
Pathfinder Campaign Setting
Pathfinder Maps
Pathfinder Modules
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Pathfinder Accessories (not shown in "my subscriptions" currently, maybe because nothing from that subscription has been officially ordered yet?)

These things are currently in my sidecart:
S Pathfinder Core Rulebook
S Pathfinder GM Screen
S Pathfinder Character Sheet Pack
S Pathfinder Combat Pad
S Pathfinder Condition Card Deck
S Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide

Although I have selected GenCon pickup, on the My Subscriptions page nothing appears in the "Gen Con Indy 2019 pickup" section.

I've seen it said that the Lost Omens World Guide being in a sidecart will interfere with items being processed properly, so I think that's one issue.

Additionally, no adventure path subscription or adventure (module) subscription products are anywhere to be found in my sidecart or any upcoming order block... specifically, I can't find the last Tyrant's grasp book, the first Age of Ashes book, or The Fall of Plaguestone. Oh, or the Fall of Plaguestone map.

I’ve also subscribed to Pathfinder Accessories, and I notice that in addition to the upcoming items being in my sidecart, the subscription itself is not listed among my active subscriptions. (This has a side effect of requiring me to choose between Pathfinder and Starfinder Society scenarios, despite how I would have 6 subscriptions were the accessories subscription to be countered.)

@Feeroper: I do notice that in my subscription management page it lists all the accessories item as available for pickup at GenCon, you might find the same.

@Customer service: I also see Druma, Profit and Prophecy listed, although I should not be receiving that at all, according to an email conversation we had.

On another note: Woo-Hoo! New accessories! New Pathfinder! GenCon! Woo-hoo!

• Tactic Problem #6: As per page 331, only one character can be Searching at a time: the character with the highest Perception. This is extremely well-hidden, away from the player version of the exploration mode rules, which means that entire groups can miss this key rule for several sessions straight. None of my players and I had noticed the existence of this rule for six sessions straight! Thus, only one character has a chance at noticing traps, hazard, hidden doors, and other secret points of interest. Furthermore, in order to be entitled to a Perception roll to notice anything inconspicuous, the party must be moving at an overland Speed of no more than 100 feet per minute. Not only is it up to a single character to make Perception checks; that character also has to slow down the group to a snail's pace.

No arguments that exploration mode is problematic, but you are all mis-reading this particular rule:

Playtest rulebook, p.331
To be absolutely certain of having a chance to detect any hazard or secret before walking into it requires an overland Speed no more than 100 feet per minute (1 mile per hour). If the group moves faster than that, a searching character should get a chance to attempt a Perception check to detect any secret that's in a place that stands out (such as near a door or a turn in a corridor), but not one that's in a more inconspicuous place (like a random point in a long hallway). If more than one character is searching, give the group a chance to detect anything that's hidden, using the skill bonus of the character with the highest bonus for whatever is hardest to notice.

This paragraph discussses rules for parties attempting to discover every hazard or secret. First it explains how parties can guarantee they get checks, then it describes the consequence of not adhering to the movement speed restriction, and finally it explains how even while violating the restriction, a party can get checks for everything by having more than one member searching.

And what It says about that is that if the group is moving faster than 100 ft/min, but more than one character is searching, they have a chance to detect all things, including those hiddedn outside of prominent positions, using the highest character’s perception bonus specifically for the highest DC.

It says nothing specifically about only giving the party a single roll, although the wording “give the group a chance” is ambiguous and should be clarified. It could mean they only get one roll (which is what I think is intended), or it could mean that they get as many rolls as characters searching, but only the character with the highest bonus has a chance to detect the highest DC secret.

I'm a huge fan of the resonance system, although as with many things in the playtest, it's likely that tuning will be required to achieve the design intentions. What I like about it most is how it makes players make choices. Choose to dump CHA or not. Choose to focus on consumables or not. Choose your magic item load-out, because you can't deck yourself out like a Christmas tree. Choose between more invested items and more consumable slots! Making choices that make a difference is the heart and soul of Pathfinder.

The new system shifts the focus from being on magic item *possession* to magic item *use*. I really like that, and I would urge reticent players to give it a chance. I suspect they will find that in context, with all the other system elements, it fits.

OP has a very good point about the advantage that classes with CHA as its key ability will have in resonance points, but I'm not sure it that is any more of an issue than other consequences of key abilities. It's possible though... I suppose it's more of an advantage than knowing a lot of languages because your class uses INT as a key ability.

No doubt Paizo will tune the system. They're *obviously* very keen to gather data on whether and which classes are running out of RPs. IIRC, one of the designers said on Twitch that they are waiting until data from higher level sections of the playtest comes in before they start taking action, but they are watching closely.

Anecdotally, I'm running Doomsday Dawn for two groups, and no-one has complained about resonance. Three of my players are major OG Pathfinders, and the consensus is "let's see how it works out."

Page 301 states:

Quote:

If a creature can see into a lit area, it can target creatures within that lit area, but it treats such targets as concealed

The RAW here is funky. First of all, apparently, if a creature, any creature, anywhere, can see into a lit area, it can target creatures within that lit area, but it treats such targets as concealed.

But let us treat this generously and pretend it simply means "if a creature in darkness can see into a lit area." How does this interact with darkvision? If a creature in darkness with darkvision can see into a lit area, does it have to target creatures in that lit area with concealment?

The RAW are, strictly speaking, ambiguous, and require clarification. I have every confidence that Paizo will take care of it. Meanwhile, there’s literally no right answer, only your take on it.

But we can do some forensics. Let’s start with the troublesome sentence:

If a creature can see into a lit area, it can target creatures within that lit area, but it treats such targets as concealed.

If it refers to “any creature”, then it directly contradicts the immediately preceding rule about Bright Light:

In bright light, creatures and objects can be seen clearly by anyone with normal vision or better.

A creature seeing into a lit area cannot both: 1) treat those targets as concealed (darkness rule), and 2) see them clearly because they are in bright light (bright light rule).

Because of this obvious contradiction, we should absolutely assume it was intended that the phrase “a creature” take its context from the surrounding paragraph. The problem arises because that context itself is ambiguous. Does it mean “any creature in darkness,” referring to the context created by the first sentence in the paragraph, or “any creature in darkness without senses that mitigate darkness,” as per the second sentence in the paragraph?

Based on the rules for Darkvision, which state that it lets creatures see perfectly well in darkness, it would be weird if they treated creatures in lit areas as concealed, so “any creature in darkness”, which would include those with Darkvision, seems unlikely. It’s also more likely that any given sentence be referring to the one that immediately precedes it, rather than one further back in the paragraph.

So here’s how I’d re-write these rules, while we await clarification. Italics are my additions; no deletions are required:

A creature or object within darkness is considered unseen (see page 303) to those without blindsense, blindsight, or darkvision (see Special Senses below). A creature within darkness without these senses is blinded (see page 320) with respect to everything within darkness, though it might be able to see lit areas beyond the darkness. If such a creature can see into a lit area, it can target creatures within that lit area, but it treats such targets as concealed (see page 302).

Separately, can I say, Colette, you are a true play testing hero. Your meticulous write-ups (I ready your DD session recaps) have to be a serious boon to Paizo.