Some Kind of Chymist's page

Any advice for a first PFS character (for PF2)? I know PFS (in PF1) kind of expected a certain level of optimisation is that still the case with the more squashed power diffrence.

Hoping to play PFS for the first time with some folks on FG or Roll20 (would also be first time playing and RPG, very familiar with Pathfinder 1 and 2 [and Starfinder]) and want to make a character that isn't terrible.

What are the key points to hit in a build for PFS, damage output? Healing? Diplomacy? Skill Monkey-itude? Spell casting?

Any advice would be welcome.

I have been actively interested in and being reading rulebooks / splat books / lore / forums / etc. since 2010ish (I was fairly young at that time) for various Tabletop RPGs, especially Pathfinder. I've been following Pathfinder in more depth since about 2013/2014, and also Starfinder since it was intially announced.

I have actually played a tabletop RPG once, for 2 hours, at a demo game at a convention, in early 2011, which means that, given the booth was run by WotC (they also had MtG at the same spot), means it was most likely DnD 4e (memory's hazy, it was quite a while ago).

Mostly due to a lack of time (Soon I will be free of the horror of studying full-time, soon, please dear god let it be soon), not having friends all that intrested in the idea and living in a medium sized city without a huge gaming prescence (and in a weird timezone to boot) i have yet to sucessfully find a RPG group (or start one as a GM)

I really want to finally play a tabletop RPG; paticularly Pathfinder 2E which I've been following on and off since the announcement of the playtest (and very much on since about a month before release through to now). Obsessively creating characters is fun and all, but I feel like there is supposed to be more to it than that.

So, internet community of fellow PF fans, how would you recommend someone final play the game instead of just reading the game.

What level of development of musical instruments is present in the inner sea?

What is considered uncommon in terms of instruments on Golarion. Guitars? Accordions? French Horns? Marimbas? Theremin? Fiddle? Oboe?

Golarion doesn't exactly map to earth in time periods for a whole lot of things so what do people think the line is for what would be a weird instrumemt for a bard to be carrying around?

As the title says; what are peoples favourite spells, any tradition; any level [if anyones working on a spell guide feel free to link it here].

I'm working on my sorcerer build and ned to pick all my spells known (yay) and want to know what people better at identifying good spells than me like about certain spells.

Is 14 Dex too low for a wizard, leaving an AC of only 15, (18 HP @ lvl 1) or will it be fine?

I really like the idea of a Dwarf wizard (or Alchemist) but they can't get the 18 INT / 16 DEX set up i would usually want for a Wizard.(Not a fan of using the optional flaw system)

Is 16 INT / 16 DEX the better way to go or is 18 INT / 14 DEX okay. I'm also thinking Abjuration specialist so will that be enough to offset a low AC?

Any advice appreciated

Other than bomber alchemist of course what sort of class/ancestry/stat array would you go for a character focused on throwing axes/darts/clubs/daggers/etc.?

Gnomes are a pretty awesome ancestry for spellcasters, and can be used to cast 6 focus spells without refocusing. A wellspring gnome (Arcane) that is a wizard with a school can grab the following feats and cast 6 focus spells without refocusing once per day.

Ancestry feats of animal accomplice (to get Familiar Focus) and Energized font. Then for class feats grab Bard Dedication at 2nd and Bard Muse's Whisper at 4th to get Loremaster's Etude. 6th and 8th class feats are Linked Focus and Advanced School Spell.

This absolutely terrible build can cast 6 focus spells in a once out start of the day Nova (That do very little because wizard focus spells aren't brilliant) at 8th level.

Can anyone else figure out a way of casting more focus spells than this withouy refocusing and what are some focus favourite ways to Nova? 15 minute working day adventurers unite!

As the title says.

Specifically; could a say 12th level druid using wildshape undercast it to turn into a say a medium size bear (the lvl 2 version) instead of a huge bear? Just thinking about how many of those spells make you bigger when heightened, and how that could sometimes make things tricky.

Options in the new edition have shown me how awesome the idea of lawyer is as a character background.

It's just so thematic for so many types of characters: Clerics of Abadar, Asmodeus, Sarenrae, Pharasma, amongst other dieites along with scoundrel rouges, bookish wizards, charismatic sorcerers and many more.

So, Let's see what Lawyer PCs people have put togther; I'm sure some folks have thought up creations beyond my wildest dreams.

Also, I feel, depending on the GM and campaign, that legal lore can be a super useful skill (shame for my Cleric of Sarenrae that it keys of INT though).

The only thing that's a negative for the lawyer concept is that the Truth domain isn't very stong. (Don't get me wrong; I love the Word of Truth thematically [and vaguely remember something in PF1 that was similar that I also thought was cool], but it isn't very strong unless you have a very nice GM that is on board with it).

The standard text for familiars is that it can communicate empathically with you to a range of 1 mile, sharing emotions. The question is, how much information is this?

For example, if Quoth, the hypothetical raven familiar, were sitting on their masters shoulder and they succeded their perception check to spot the trap and their master didn't. Do they send out a message saying watch out for the trap or do they just send out a generic danger, danger Will Robinson signal.

Also, can anyone clear up the phrasing on Cantrip Connection. Also, Also, with Familair focus, the wizard/sorcerer/druid/etc. Spends 1 action to give its familar 2 actions, so that you gain a focus point; correct?

And, on Familiars/AC/Minions/etc. Do they act when you give the command on your turn or immediately after your turn i.e. could you chain 1 action focus power, Familiar Focus to immediately regain a focus point and then another focus power or does the minion action happen at the end.

I'm trying to make fun new characters in PF2 but at the moment I'm stuck in a rut and am always making the same basic sort of character; and they're always human.

So; Here goes out the call for any and all non-human characters you've made. To see if they can't serve as inspiration to me and others.

I want to see what weird and wonderful Goblins; Gnomes; Halflings; Dwarves; and Elves are out there; whether there playing to or against type; big or small; rare or well-done.

And if anyones got a Dwarven Bard stashed up their sleeve I would be extra happy to see it. [Also; how do you deal damage with a bard with the instrument and all]

Trip weapons let you do four things

1. Perform trip without a free hand.
2. Use the weapons reach to perform this trip.
3. Add the weapons item bonus to the athletics check
4. Drop the weapon to downgrade a critical failurw to a normal failure

How does this interact with Wolf Jaw strikes; which a monk can do in Wolf Stance if they are flanking?

I assume you can add your item bonus from handwraps of mighty blows; but can you 'drop' wolf jaw (leave the stance) to avoid a crit fail.?

Bonus Question: You can't enter a stance outside of encounter mode; does that mean you can't deal piercing damage with Wolf Jaw strikes outside of combat to an object?

Post your build challenges here and your responses to those challenges. Lets see what strange monstrosities of min-maxing we can come up with.

Build Challenge 1: Run Away

Fastest Character wins.

The Rules
- Up to Level 20.
- Most squares moved in one turn is the winner (excluding teleport and similar but including focus powers and such that allow for moving X times your speed or similar)
- Buffs allowed only if they are applied by you on your turn where you are moving as far as possible (chugging a potion, casting haste on self etc)
- Assume no AoO
- No external help from Liberator Champion or similar.

Bonus Points for a fast wizard that runs away (Rincewind Style)

Let the Race Begin!

Yay! Pathfinder Friday and Starfinder Wednesday are back.

*starts dancin'*

The TLDR version first; Is there a mechanical reason to use spell delivery instead of reach spell?

Longer version;
I'm creating a wizard (Human / Animal Whisperer Background) with the Improved Familiar Attunement thesis with the title A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study on the Magical and Mundane Methods of the Training; for the Purpose of the Delivery of Spells to an Individual that Usually Require Tactile Contact (Excluding the use of Standardised Metamagical Techniques) Between the Primary Caster of the Spell and the Individual to Experience the Magical Effect; of Squirrells and other Small Mammals, with a Paticular Focus on Spells that Fall Within the Purview of the Arcane School of Transmutation. So it is a foregone conclusion I'm going to use spell delivery on that character for flavour reasons. [Recommendations for how to get the ability to talk with animals without MC into druid (I imagine throwing squirrels at your enemies is anthamea to druids (unless in the pursuit of protecting nature i guess) would be appreciated]

But i was wondering if there is any actually mechanical reason (other than maybe saving on a wizard feat) to use spell delivery instead of reach spell? Spell delivery has a shorter distance (25ft speed + attack to touch) and a bigger chance of failure because its a lower modifier when the familiar is doing attack roles.

Either way I'm looking foward to my squirelly wizard.

What is your favourite sorcerer bloodline for PF2 so far and why?

Currently I'm really liking the Hag bloodline for its debuffing but I haven't looked in depth at the Occult spell list yet so this may change.

[TOZ] Huzzah! [/TOZ]

YAY!!!!! *Starts running in circles screaming and waving hands*

<TOZ> Huzzah! </TOZ>

I recently learned via twitter that Chaosium published a remake of a setting supplement for Call of Cthulu called Terror Australis so I picked up a copy of the PDF to take a look (I haven't read it all yet) and it doesn't look too bad and had a reasonably good little article on the city I am from (Adelaide) which made me happy because it's fairly uncommon for Australia to show up in fiction or tabletop RPGs at all; and often when it does it is not very well portrayed (often falling back on stereotypes of the place, Kangaroos in the street, only the one city). So, it got me thinking, have other people encountered what they think to be a good representation of their hometown/city/state/country etc. in a tabletop RPG setting? How about in other fiction?

As we know most of the classes have some manner of sub-class (a big choice you make at level one) with the exception of fighters and I think monks. We have more information for some classes than others but this information is very spread out so i thought we might try and collate it here. To my knowledge (this may be wrong) the following are the big options you make at first level.

• Alchemist - Research Field (Bomber or Mutagenist or Chirugeon)
  
• Barbarian - Instinct (Animal or Dragon or Fury or Giant or Spirit)
  
• Bard - Muse
  
• Champion - Deity and Champion Cause (Paladin or Redeemer or Liberator)
  
• Cleric - Deity and Doctrine (Cloistered)
  
• Druid - Druid Order (Wild)
  
• Fighter - N/A (Weapons)
  
• Monk - N/A (Stances)
  
• Ranger - ??? (TWF or Ranged?)
  
• Rogue - Racket (Scoundrel)
  
• Sorcerer - Bloodline
  
• Wizard - Arcane School and Arcane Thesis
  

Does anyone know much more?

Edit: I can't spell.

Bestiary 1 has already hit the printers ahead of release day and we could probably guess a good 70 % of what will be in it with the old crowd favourites and genre staples but this thread is about the Future! and the monsters that couldn't make the cut for the first bestiary.

The 2nd bestiary published for a TPRG tends to be much cooler than the 1st, as they have the page count for all (well some; never enough bestiarys) the weird and wonderful creatures that can be imagined. So what are peoples bestiary 2 wishlists. Old favourites you wish to see return in a fun new way with the rebuilt monster rules? Eldritch Horror? Dire Turtles? Undead to make redead? etc.

At present mine is 2 item long.

Dire Flamingos (can never be to careful with birds of the marsh).
Variant Owlbears (Here's hoping for a misfit monsters redeemed 2).

Few things make me as happy as a new Bestiary and rampant speculation.

[and yes I know that no bestiary 2 has been announced yet but i strongly suspect that bestiary 2 will come out before the end of 2020]

What do people think of the new iconics revealed for the the Character Operations Manual at the PaizoCon banquet? You can see the excerpt with Rob McCreary on Youtube Here (It is towards the end he also talks about Attack of the Swarm!, AA3, and the threefold conspiracy).

The new iconics are

• Biohacker - A sort of aqua colored female Kasatha wearing a labcoat looking jacket and covered in vials.
• Vanguard - A redheaded male Korasha Lashunta in red armour with a blue holographic looking shield.
• Witchwarper A male Human and by far the coolest looking iconic of the three.

The witchwarper looks awesome I just wish he was striking a cooler pose, but those purple robes are just awesome as is the sword he's rocking (hopefully it gets mentioned in his meet the iconics blog post). The vanguard is slowly growing on me and I'm sure I'll like it better when I can see it up close in print. The biohacker will probably also look cooler to me in time but I'm not a huge fan of Kasatha (but hey, four arms means four needles at once).

What's everyone else's thought's, are they good? bad? TBD? Will ponytails be a game mechanics for vanguards? Will Kasatha dominate the Pact Worlds with their superior injecting ability? Will the iconics master the art of power poses?

A well known issue with clerics in 1e was that some gods granted domains that made sense for them to have thematically in an overview sort of way; but where the powers granted did not make sense to the diety thematically. The most famous case perhaps being Pharsma granting the death domain as she is the main death god on golarian, but that domain have a focus on her biggest anthema; creating undead.

So, has the problem of this occuring been solved, are/will the domains be specific enough and/or the powers granted generic enough that this sort of thing will be avoided? I feel as if the fact that Paizo is now less shy of putting lore elements in hardcover rulebooks, and less worried about alienating former 3.5 players mean that they should be able to get the domain/diety feel right from day 1. (This also goes for other mechanics; 2e has allowed them to impliment needed changes as Paizo seemed hesitant to change too much from 3.5 and risk not winning that fanbase but when 1e was first released and it was sink-or-swim).

Also, what new domains are y'all hoping for? Both in the new CRB and in the dozens of more books to come.

As long as I can still roll up cool and interesting clerics of Cayden Cailean and Sarenrae and all the rest I'll be happy because the domain mismatch was a never a deal breaker for me but it is something the edition change can hopefully fix.

As we all know nothing is more productive on the interwebs than rampant speculation; so lets funnel it towards the sorcerer.

The new direction 2e is taking the sorcerer pleases me greatly; at least thematically, I am neither smart enough nor experienced enough with TRPG's to tell what is and isn't mechanically great. What about this direction pleases me? BLOODLINES!!

New and Improved Bloodlines that make a character feel even more 'unique' and defines the sorcerer as the innately magical class even better than it was before. No longer must all sorcerers be the arcane charasmatic understudy to the Wizard; now they can truly fit the design space of a magical accident, or the scion of some long lost lineage; or the recipient of some dark pact with a lovecraftian horror and have mechanical abilites that match thematically with their story.

While I was to some extent hoping that 2e would replace the term bloodline with something that didn't imply direct descent as much (as not all sorcerers are necessarly the product of some ancestral extraplanar canoodling) the introduction of sorcerers with occult; divine and primal magic goes towards making the class able to touch on a much broader range of character concepts.

So where is the speculation you ask? in these new and improved BLOODLINES!! Of course. What bloodlines do you thing will be in the CRB? in the Lost Omens World Guide? In the Rulebooks to Come?

There are the obvious ones like:
× Undead (100% confirmed by spoiler)
× Imperial (99% sure Seoni has been confirmed as Imperial)
× Angelic (Qundle in Oblivion Oath)
× all of the others from the playtest (Draconic; Demonic; Fey and the Occult one i forget the name of)

But what are your outlandish hopes and dreams for the bloodlines of the sorcerers to come. Have any more been confirmed / heavily hinted at?

I for one am hoping for some manner of storm bloodline with primal spells and A-grade blasting potential so I can make something similar to a Storm Order druid without all the baggage that comes with being a druid and having be all druidic and such (To be clear druids are cool, and have their place in the game but there should also be a place for the character that is an aspect of the storm without having to concern themselves with notions of balance or the natural order). Like the stormborn bloodline that was in the APG but more exciting; more primal; more thunderous.

As in could a wizard watch another wizards prepare his spells and glean from that what spells are being prepared? Similarly for other prepared casters.

For example could someone discretely tell if the caster is preparing fireball the morning of the important peace treaty or if they're preparing comprehend languages?

Has anyone made customized animals from the templates provided in Alien Archive 2; if so how did you go about making them? (I'm a new GM so I want to see how more experienced GM's go about modifying creatures).

Greetings Internet !

I'm looking for build advice on a character that is a celebrity chef (an Icon obviously); however I cannot think of what class would best fit. As charisma will likely be a significant stat I was thinking Envoy or Solarian but maybe Operative or some other class would be a better fit. For race I was considering Human or Lashunta as I was thinking more of a Nigella Lawson type rather than Chef Elzar from Futurama. So if any of you have an idea of how to build Nigella Lawson in space (or Gordon Ramsay in space; or Anthony Bourdain in space; or Jamie Oliver in space; or Julia Child in space or ....) It would be much appreciated.