SilvercatMoonpaw's page

My questions are my spheres based on my class? How are spheres determined?

Any class can take any sphere (assuming they gain the option to take a martial talent).

You gain a sphere by spending a martial talent to gain the base effects of the sphere. Only after you have the base effects can you take other talents in that sphere (the exception is the Equipment sphere).

Now that Alignment is going away, and Paizo have made attempts to rehabilitate other "monsters" like orcs, goblins, and gnolls, are ogres still going to be inbred rapists?

Thank you for putting this list in one place! I knew there were some alt systems out there but wasn't sure where to start.

It's a lot of stuff, so please feel free to ask questions if you're feeling overwhelmed. I don't necessarily have experience with the systems (other than Spheres of Power), but I can probably help narrow down which specific things to look at.

And yes, I think you're right that each magic-using class should have a number of distinctions. It would be too easy to cookie cutter the classes and that would somewhat eliminate the point of them. All the classes, magic, utility, or physical damage focused, need to have a reason to exist on their own.

I very much support making each casting class more distinct in terms of what their magic can do: makes it easier to know which class the choose.

Are you concerned about infinite healing when out of combat?

Spheres of Power got around that by making at-will "healing" temporary hitpoints: good enough to keep standing during a fight, but not letting you steamroll the whole adventuring day.

I have wanted magic to work like this for quite some time; I feel like a lot of gameable magic can be boiled down into a few base effects.

Unfortunately, the best I can do is encourage you to look at 3rd party offerings to see if any of their variant systems can suggest mechanics to you. Freely available ones include:
* Spheres of Power: http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/
* Akashic: http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/akashic-mysteries
* Pact Magic: http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/pact-magic
* Strange Magic: http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/strange-magic
* Invocations: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/variant-magic-rules/invocations/

Combat is more deadly and realistic....

I'm sorry, you lost me right here. Incompatible tastes; this isn't intended as criticism.

PF1e.

I am trying to get into PF2e via a PbP game, but between that and the many times I've tried reading rules written for it my efforts don't seem to make the game attractive. I don't think there's anything objectively wrong about PF2e, but it's possible the "nearly everything is written like a feat" format is hard for me to evaluate. Or maybe I'm getting old. Or I have other D&D3e-derived games to use when PF1e fails. In any case, I will likely be sticking with PF1e and simply using a mountain of 3rd party offerings to get it where I like it.

I wanted to follow up on this and say my try of PF2e was not good: I couldn't enjoy my character or what was going on. It was a beginner adventure at level 1, so maybe that's not the best way to experience the game, but it felt like my fears about how PF2 and me would interact were confirmed.

I take it retconning a civilization into the Valashmai is part of the same push to de-pulp-ify we saw with Mwangi Expanse?

I like it, I'm just curious.

A wearable item that transformed you into another species so long as you wore it. Especially if it cold turn a Humanoid into a Magical Beast. (Just to note: I would want each item to only have one alt form to proof it against polymorph shenanigans.)

This product may be amazing for its expansion of how to use skills alone: I'm reading the Perform section right now, and it's actually making me want to have a Perform skill at all.

M.C. Hatecraft

PF1e.

I am trying to get into PF2e via a PbP game, but between that and the many times I've tried reading rules written for it my efforts don't seem to make the game attractive. I don't think there's anything objectively wrong about PF2e, but it's possible the "nearly everything is written like a feat" format is hard for me to evaluate. Or maybe I'm getting old. Or I have other D&D3e-derived games to use when PF1e fails. In any case, I will likely be sticking with PF1e and simply using a mountain of 3rd party offerings to get it where I like it.

What can be done with the Genius Guide to the Talented Bestiary?

It turns building monsters into a generic class-based understructure with things like Type and special abilities bought with points. (It is not the same thing as Savage Species from D&D3e.)

The primary use of this is to make monster stats that are easily progressable or regressable without the need for character or NPC classes or templates. They even give 242 pages of examples.

It also talks about using this system to make player options such as new summons, companions.....or races and monster classes (it's just not the book's main focus).

How are you using it?

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to use it, as I am forever stretching myself thin between different RPG focuses.

I too would like to see DDS make a npc book.

I don't need it as much because I have The Genius Guide to the Talented Bestiary.

Have you checked out the Skills Challenge Handbook?

I have it.

Just from the first few pages, I think this is the most comprehensive expansion to d20 OGL skills I've ever seen.

(And I think the only things Drop Dead Studios hasn't given the Spheres treatment to by now is NPCs.)

It will be worth it,I believe. I'm still going through it, but it definitely adds a whole other level of game play. Think of the A-Team when Face is in charge. Another example would be when Deadpool leaves a target dumbfounded in the middle of combat. These rules capitalize on that.

I certainly like what I've seen from the playtest; it's a part of the d20 fantasy system that simply hasn't gotten as much attention as magic or combat.

I really want to get it, but I need to let my money recharge.

Something to consider: all the other ancestries have their names written singular (it's "human" for example, not "humans"), so there's no reason to assume these would be any different.

I have honestly never paid attention to humans.

Also kind of wouldn't help with Sekmin, as they aren't playable.

Sekmin seem to be the same in both plural and singular, but 'anadis' and 'iruxis' both pop up in LO Mwangi Expanse as a plural form, it seems. (With anadi and iruxi as the singulars - there is no 'anad' or 'irux'.)

'Kay. Thanks. :)

I'm going to use Anadi, Iruxi, and Sekmin (serpentfolk) in a game, but I don't have any idea what the singular form of each of those names is. Have there ever been examples of these being used singular?

Fencing for Fatal Thrust; Gladiator for Demoralization. You don't need Duelist unless you want to Bleed and Disarm; Lancer if you want to stab really deep with Impale. Dual-Wielding is self-explanatory, if you need it.

Those are all the spheres that seem "swashbuckling".

I picked this up from Drive Thru RPG. Unlike a lot of Legendary Games supplements rather than being a straight upgrade to the class this allows your druid to specialise.

So instead of your PF1 Druid being a bit of everything, it becomes very good at a few things.

What do the various talents do?

Are there any interesting archetypes?

So...am I a boring roleplayer because most of my characters fall into the special-snowflake half-elf category?

Ir race is the only thing that people remember about your characters then it doesn't matter which one you pick: they will all be equally boring.

I should maybe be the last person to say race doesn't matter when making a character, but I know from experience that memorable characters are memorable characters regardless of race.

What I'm thinking is: we could use one for creating new weapons. Spheres of Steel?

Does anyone know if it's "2 potent OR 1 potent + 3 auxiliary + 1 utility", or is it "2 potent + 1 utility OR 1 potent + 3 auxiliary + 1 utility"?

84) Spontaneous protean rave.

646) Book of Do Not Open This Under Any Circumstances, Not Even To See What Happens

This book only has a handful of pages, bound between two slabs of black iron, each more than 1/3rd the book's thickness. Four clasps with locks bind it closed. Closer examination reveals each clasp strap is made from the skin of an Outsider of one of the four pure Alignments (NG, LN, NE, CN). Occasionally, the book jumps and makes a grunting noise.

Stick of Limbo - A permanent gate to Limbo, but only when held by two people while a third traverses the gate while leaning as far back as possible.

Nod of Lordly Might - Sacred bobble-head of rulership. Must be worn on the head to activate. No one knows what it actually does because no one's been brave enough to look that stupid.

Greylurker wrote:

have you looked at the Incantation system from Kobold Press, in their Deep Magic book? It might be close to what you are looking for

This sounds pretty interesting to me too. I've been looking for a Ritual Magic system which would be tied to specific magics like Teleport for better use in a low magic setting. Thus the spells remain in the campaign but effectively means they are not castable within combat and are more of a plot hook mechanic at that point.

The incantation system from Spheres of Power can be used without the rest of the Spheres system:

My issue with 5 is lack of depth/customization.

Same or similar. At least, reading things like DD5e class abilities isn't very inspiring.

Adjusting the topic to ‘what might i want to include from other systems’, i like the more adjustable ability scores of 2e races and think that could port over to 1e well.

I like PF2e's method of building scores.

Lazlo.Arcadia wrote:

I'm finding it interesting that there is not a lot more engagement with this one. It tells me that most of us didn't really find all that much that they really connected with from the other versions. Interesting.

Well, it mostly tells me that the PF1 hombrew forum is not super high traffic at the moment, and those that are here are self-selected for people who prefer PF1 to other editions/games.

Also PF1e has a lot of quality 3rd-party stuff you can use to tweak a lot of the problem areas like casting and monster design.

I'm finding it interesting that there is not a lot more engagement with this one. It tells me that most of us didn't really find all that much that they really connected with from the other versions. Interesting.

I do, though, have to wonder how much of that is due to not having read the rules of those games all the way through: there might be interesting ideas in DD5e and PF2e, but maybe I just haven't read them.

Oh, that reminds me of another one: I wonder what it would take to incorporate poison and/or psychic (HP) damage into PF1e. I don't know why, but I enjoy having a greater variety of damage types to choose from. I could see integrating poison damage being hard, though, given how different it is from PF1e's poison rules.

So much more my style than Legendary Wizard.

For AoOs, I'd prefer to use the version in Fantasy Craft, where threatened areas just stop your movement.

(No idea what to do about other provoking actions.)

Just be aware that this effectively makes attack bonuses ~twice as powerful as they otherwise would be.

Heroism gives +2 to hit, which means there's a 10% chance your spell will affect the attack roll.

If you implement this +10/-10 rule then there's still a 10% chance that you'll take a roll from a miss to a hit, but there's also a 10% chance that you'll take a roll from a regular hit to a critical hit (or a critical miss to a regular miss). Now your +2 to hit has a 20% chance to affect the roll.

It's a little more complicated than that, so it's not exactly double the chance but it's near enough.

Personally I like the idea of more scaling effects with rolls, but adding it into a pre-existing system will change the balance fairly dramatically. That's not inherently a problem, as long as you know what you're changing and why.

Thanks. I may actually have been thinking of using the rule in a different game; Pf1e isn't that bad-off.

I'm thinking of incorporating "succeed/fail by 10 = crit" from PF2e.

179) You inherit a dungeon.

See, in the far-off country of [insert name here] you're required to stake a claim to old ruins before go in, kill what/whoever's living there, and take any treasure. And it just so happens that the "obscure relative who was too eccentric for anyone but you" named you the beneficiary of the stake should they die. You assume via dungeon hazards.

Except.....when you get to [insert name here] you find out said obscure relative died under mysterious, non-dungeon-related circumstances. Also, several other "adventuring" groups of various suspiciousness are trying to jump your claim. Clearly there's more to this dungeon than just monsters and treasure......

178) You inherit a door. You're told it belongs to "Bill", but not who that is. The door moves under its own power, following you everywhere, and is indestructible. You are to open the door whenever you hear a knocking without and let whoever you find through.

Sweet Jesús I forgot to add "The Xiao reviews" to the title sorry

You also for got to finish the sentence that starts with "What I want".

So are types like Monstrous Humanoid just bundles of vision types?

SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:

Since it doesn't have a point-cost for Magical Beast it's not really worth my time to use all that often.

Magical Beast would be 3 RP, same as for Aberration, Outsider (Native), and Monstrous Humanoid, each of which only has the “Darkvision: 60 feet” trait (and eat/breathe/sleep).

What about an adjustment for having no weapon or armor proficiencies?

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/Creature-types/#TOC-Ma gical-Beast

Since it doesn't have a point-cost for Magical Beast it's not really worth my time to use all that often.

...never needing magical healing...

A feature to some, though I understand your objection.

Have to be honest: out of all the non-offensive alternatives for "race", "kith" and "kin" are my least favorite. Maybe they sound too old-timey to me: I don't go in for "evoking the past" as much as a lot of fantasy does.

545) Because the Scottish guy said "There can be only one". Of course, he also mentioned aliens, and you're sure that's a contradic--

546) Because that's what the man dressed in a black suit told you were doing while he put away his funny silver wand.

547) Because your GM just got Bancalonia and wants to try out the Brawl rules.

... and no, I don't have a fixation on big girls just because 2 of the 3 1/2 giants I made are female... do I?

As long as it doesn't get creepy, I don't think anyone cares.

You could limit the Flight somehow. One option I've seen floated is that the characters has to land at the end of the movement or turn. Another option is start them with Glide and let it upgrade to true Flight later.

Of course, you may want true Flight from the get-go, in which case you can ignore my suggestions.

542) Someone moved a boundary stone that no one paid attention to until this exact moment.