My group likes to joke that we were born in the crucible of early 2e adventure paths. Extinction's Curse, Agents of Edgewatch, and Age of Ashes forced us to get really good at the game or really good at rolling up new characters. While it was pretty challenging, it was also really rewarding at the same time. From an objective point of view its probably better for the new player experience (especially at early levels) to not get so deadly.
That being said, while we haven't played Shades of Blood we have played through the first book of Curtain Call and the first two books of Seasons of Ghosts (amazing AP btw best I have ever played in). The combat has been noticeably easier across both stories but more reasonably so in SoG. With us now approaching the end of the 2nd book having gone down maybe once or twice to bad rolls but otherwise having a decent time.
Curtain Call however is a different story. I'm not sure if its just us getting a lot better as a group or the change in how the adventure path was balanced. But we have basically caked walked through every encounter in the first book without breaking a sweat. While this has lead to us certainly feeling like legendary heroes with stories worth telling, it also makes me feel less invested as a whole in the combat sections of the game. The GM even made some of the final dungeon harder (which consisted of mostly low-moderate) and made the boss a Severe encounter.
I think Prey for Death is largely an example of difficulty done right with some combats being complex puzzles where players need to approach them strategically and cautiously and others that they can batman and take care of without a second thought. An excellent example of what high level difficulty can look like.
I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I would really like to see higher difficulty in the 11-20 APs. I think that it adds a meaningful element to the story that is lost when omitted.
My players played really well, using mythic points to boost their initiative scores and immediately caging the boss in a wall of stone which bought them a whole turn. Despite this the last fight can turn into an absolute slog.
The adjustments I had meant that there were 4 vampire guards on top of the BBEG herself. This meant 4 additional (low DC) dominates on top of the boss's + the mythic points she can spend to cast them again. Each vampire also has 3rd level dispel magics which can hit key buff spells like haste, fly, and heroism. They also all have drain bonded item to try again if they fail.
The final fight isnt impossible by any means, my players won in the end, but the amount of stuff going on really slowed things down, especially if the party's main DPS gets dominated.
Another weird quirk about the scenario's callings is that a lot of checks specified to recharge mythic points on a crit don't come up much or bait the players into trying to game the system (long jump until you crit ect...) I would suggest being more flexible in which checks can regen so the players feel like they can spend the mythic points a bit more freely.
I appreciate the heads up! Do they explain why Guns and Crossbows get a very similar but not identical damage boost?
I think its about reinforcing the fantasy and weapon design of each weapon type. Crossbows tend to have larger damage dies and some come with traits like repeating. This tends to emphasize a more consistent, reliable weapon, which deals good damage over time. Just like how its crit spec. does persistent damage.
The design of firearms on the other hand are all about big explosive hits, lots of variance, and that "headshot" moment. We can see this with things like the fatal trait adding a ton of damage and the firearm crit spec. stunning to lend even more of that "punch" to the attack.
So d4's for firearms have the potential to deal more explosive damage while sometimes having softrolls while the +2 is just a consistent factor which will build up over time. Also on a crit the average for firearms just eeks out an advantage over the flat bonus for crossbows on average.
Wow!! This is the first level 12+ adventure in pfs 2nd edition. There's a decent amount of content now for 10-12 that I may well dust off the chronicle sheets for my original barbarian.
Aside from Necromancer's Generosity and Harm, what are the spells on the Divine and Arcane list you think that are missing on the Occult list? What would you add?
The bespoke spell lists like Elemental are forever stuck not expanding unless there's a lot of upkeep. It was a huge problem in 1e and is already a little problematic with the Elemental list. I don't see a bespoke list working.
I've said this in other threads, but I'm completely in favor of Occult for this list being the bridge between Arcane and Divine. It does a pretty good job of getting most undead themed spells. I also fully expect there to be more feats and abilities which empower spells with the use of a Thrall -- a sort of custom Spellshape for a Necromancer.
Personally, I am against a bespoke list but there are some classic "necromancer" spells like Massacre, Execute (Finger of Death), Eclipse Burst, Necrotize and Sudden Blight which just are not on the occult list. Maybe a clause allowing you to learn spells with the void trait regardless of tradition? It would tie in well with in-universe theories of necromancy being its own form of magic.
I would love to see an AP centered around "death", the cycle of souls, and Pharasma's judgement. I think Ghost King's Rage (BL book 6) really opened my eyes to how cool and full of opportunity the boneyard has as a setting. The idea of all the PCs starting off dead and helping out a problem in the cycle of souls in exchange for reincarnation (or perhaps redemption) for deeds they did in life. The psychopomp ushers and the different courts all seem begging for a fleshed out AP.
I think it would be helpful to rank the strength of each vessel's given spell list. There are some STINKERS on some lists (sigil, mending, safe passage) which I think impacts their overall enjoyability as your spontaneous casting is limited.
I use Automatic Rune Progression in all my games (ABP but for armor, weapons, and apexes only).
I also did not adjust any of the starting loot or the loot they got during the adventure so far. We are now probably 2/3rds of the way through chapter 1 and there haven't been any incidents. Whenever I use ABP this way it just gives room to my players to be more creative with their item purchases. It has never felt good to have an entire collection of items to choose from then feel like you need to spend it on a striking upgrade.
Il keep you posted if anything unexpected happens but my group has played this way for our past 4 adventures paths so I'm sure it'll work out.
You may run into the problem that most early level swashbucklers have. Enemies can simply perform a hostile action on you once to remove their fear and since they are then immune you cannot "taunt" them with demoralize again. Swashbucklers at level 9+ can finisher enemies to "reset" this immunity but you need to find other ways.
You can mitigate this in two ways I think. One is going the hobgoblin ancestry for remorseless lash. This will extend the frightened condition as long as you hit them leading to two conditions needing to be satisfied in order for them to lose the frightened condition (you missing and them not hitting you).
Or you can take the Aura of Despair feat if you are an unholy champion of justice. Meaning that creatures who don't target you also have to move away from you if they want to lower their frightened value.
One could argue that if you are spec'ing into either of these options to bolster antagonize then you may be better off just not going antagonize but it could still be a fun build that goes hard into demoralize.
Anyways, thank you to Andrew White for your advocacy, thank you to Mark Moreland for braving the community backlash and charting a new course, and thank you to members of the creative community like the Foundry team, who immediately took action to clarify and make sure Paizo understood what the consequences of this change actually were. :)
I want to second that thanks, Mark's presence on the boards was a great help in keeping calm and keeping faith that paizo's eyes were on the issue and in tune to the various grievances the community had. I was unaware of Andrew's involvement but double kudos to him. Its incredibly relieving to have someone championing the community's interests internally (not that all team members don't have the community's interest in mind at some level mind you!).
I'm glad at least someone tried and found the license. And I say that as a kuthite because it was harder than it should be.
I do think that this is a bit different than what WOTC did. As much as I don't like what Paizo has currently said about their licensing, it's not quite on the same level as the coastal wizards.
The coastal wizards wanted to revoke the OGL which would've prevented people from using any of the WOTC content unless they signed a new license that gave up a good % of money to WOTC.
Separately Paizo has revoked their CUP which, among other things, allowed free TTRPG content to use paizo IP. The reason why this isn't as bad as the OGL debacle is because Paizo still has content published under the OGL and going forward all their content is still being published under the ORC license. Meaning that regardless of what paizo does with their licensing here, as long as they continue to publish ORC content then anyone can continue to use their non-Paizo IP content for free or paid purposes, however they'd like...
Ah I see! Thank you for explaining, I felt like I was missing something. I can see that the OGL crisis and this situation are meaningfully different but also agree that, despite being able to do whatever they want with their IP, that paizo should make some revisions to make it less easily taken advantage of.
Try finding it, and if you do find it, give it a read. Understanding the full implications of the Infinite license is crucial for any creator considering publishing under it. Your rights, your work's future, and your ability to manage your content are all tied up in these terms.
Wow you weren't kidding, that took some digging to be able to download and read. Having done so, perhaps not to the full depth necessary, I have to say that I too am a little disheartened.
Was this not exactly what we were rallying against when WOTC tried to revoke the OGL? Against a walled garden where in order to publish you needed to give up all rights to your IP in exchange for the privilege of publishing on DnDbeyond/Pathfinder Infinite.
I was really looking forward to writing some adventure sequels for my favorite system but, while I agree that their intent seems to be in the right place, there is a lot of room for abuse in the system.
I do hope that someone with better reading comprehension then me will may shed it all in a better light.
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding but it sounds like some folks are treating a second exposure like an automatic increase of the stage, when the section on multiple exposures seems quite clear that this is the result of a new failed save. Just wanted to poke my nose in here in case it wasn't just me getting that impression
In my case the guys did make extra saves for subsequent exposures. However bad rolls + drained 1 + alchemist class DC meant a stage increase for most of them.
As far as I can tell there is nothing stopping it.
Player Core pg. 430 wrote:
Multiple exposures to the same curse or disease currently affecting you have no effect. For a poison, however, failing the initial saving throw against a new exposure increases the stage by 1 (or by 2 if you critically fail) without affecting the maximum duration. This is true even if you’re within the poison’s onset period, though it doesn’t change the onset length. If the poison does not have an onset time or it’s already elapsed, you are immediately subject to the effects of the new stage.
Its a multiple exposure to the same effect for a poison. As far as I can tell theres nothing in the inhaled or poison traits that would disallow it? Its the first time for me running inhaled poisons so I could have missed something.
My group has had recent anecdotal success using poison. The alchemist was able to get an inhaled poison off against 3 targets (2 on-level, 1 level +2) in a choke point who's low save was fort. It inflicted some powerful bleed damage and drained 1 which further debuffed subsequent saves. The choke point forced enemies to run into the cloud in order to flee or enter the combat which did force the poison into stage 2 for some prematurely.
Overall a pretty big success, still wouldn’t have been possible without powerful alchemy increasing the DC. I would be really interested to see some feats that mess with inhaled poisons like making the area bigger or a different shape like a cone.
Marshal got a lateral buff in that their base aura size increased to 15ft from 10 and DC lowered to easy. However it can no longer crit the check for 20ft of aura.
I believe this allows you to hit the check using assurance most of the time (which may beg the question why is it still there).
A small correction for an enemy statblock since I suppose a lot of GMs are going to be looking at this thread.
Correction:
In the betrayal event of act 1 and a few times throughout the story, the Red Mantis use blightburn resin on their weapons. However, blightburn resin is a contact poison and not injury and cannot be applied to weapons (unless the assassins want to poison themselves when they draw them). Replacing all mentions of blightburn resin with blisterwort may work as both are lvl 11 and DC 30 with 6 stages. Blisterwort does slightly less damage but the weakness will work well with the group ambushes the Red Mantis like to spring on the players.
Prey for Death is, perhaps with a bit of hyperbole, the culmination of what I believe to be everything 2nd edition has grown to be loved for over these past 5 years. While it may not be a direct celebration of its history, mechanics, and lore (see 7 dooms for that!) I see, hidden in the pages, everything I’ve loved about pf2e to date. The adventure is wonderfully written with excellent plot, maps, and art. The villain seems believable and the narrative deliberately nuanced. The adventure is high stakes at appropriate levels and you won’t be seen fighting level 18 thugs. The narrative paints a picture we haven’t seen before of the Red Mantis and Achaekek. We do get to indulge in the expected assassinations we would want in this adventure but also get to hear about history we haven’t before and reckon with hypocrisies throughout the adventure.
On top of being really well written, this may be the first piece of pathfinder fiction I feel can be run cover to cover with absolutely no other supplements or books (besides the Core Rules of course). Many other adventure paths have had me delving into 1e lore books or other Lost Omens books to paint the full picture of the story going on. Prey for Death includes enough preamble and information in the toolbox that I never felt that way while reading.
The adventure makes great use of the pf2e subsystems (something I have always thought to be one of the system’s great strengths). It rewards well thought out and immersive play (thinking and acting like an assassin) while not overly penalizing those who want to get to the action. The adventure also respects the table’s time, never overstaying its welcome in one place or leaving the party wondering where to go next and why. This brisk pace may make some tables feel rushed but overall, I feel like erring on the side of a quicker pace and letting tables slow it down to their comfort is better then the inverse that can leave tables feel like cutting through a slog.
The ending is satisfyingly epic and that’s all I will say before spoilering. Vanessa did an amazing job bringing this story together and doing the justice it deserves.
Overall, I feel that this adventure was extremely strong start for the new larger adventure line of books. I think they will be at their strongest when they flesh out important themed narrative events like this. Another story I feel like would knock this format out of the park is The Test of the Starstone. I have always felt that an adventure like that would have to be set perfectly and not be held back by the limits that writing 3-6 books of content takes.
The following paragraphs breakdown the general plot and execution of the chapters. I’m still not talking about the BIG SPOILER as I do believe that’s best saved for street date talk ;-).
Introduction:
This very sensitively written introduction is exactly what I was expecting and Vanessa delivered. Playing evil PCs is a story written in the horror stories of past tables who have failed in the pursuit. The section perhaps is dripping with a bit too much of “I needed to write this to address THAT specific player…you know who you are” but honestly maybe a table out there will need it. Addressing and setting up safety tools, content warnings, and lines/veils is a good step 1 out of this book.
Following that though is a few pages guiding character creation. Since the players start at level 14 it can be quite the challenge! That being said I was impressed not only to find reasonable guidance (Ancestries, Classes, Skills ect…) but also mechanical benefits for fleshing out characters. The additional benefits for being close to Blood Mistress Jackalyn both provide some extra oomph to the starting equipment and also ensure a narrative reason for the PCs to stick beside her during the following chapters. Additionally, starting with Achaekek’s minor (or potentially moderate) boon is a really great way to set tone and feel like you are really playing some Red Mantis elite. There was also quite a bit of guidance in this section on customising/adapting the story for say a different deity dying or a PC worshipping Gorum. While I personally don’t find these paragraphs useful I am sure some tables will love them.
Chapter 1:
A Worthy Contract sets the stage for the rest of the adventure as the party is contracted to assassinate a violent warlord in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Unbeknownst to them they are being set up to be betrayed by a member of the Vernai who plans to usurp the role of Blood Mistress. This chapter also sets up two important themes that are core to the adventure’s heart: Who is Achaekek, and What is a Rightful Ruler? Throughout the story the party is faced with these questions several times as the latter is manipulated quite frequently by the villain to get away with her schemes. This bold faced toying with a core premise of the organization exposes something that was perhaps upheld as iron clad by the fans (and players!) as something more fluid and up to definition.
The action in the chapter itself is phenomenal. Researching, staging, and performing an assassination is everything you would hope it to be. The chapter uses a modified set of infiltration rules mixed with exploration to capture that dungeon crawlyness that players love while keeping the objective of the chapter in focus. The characterization of the chapter villain Odulf is great (and funny) and the rewards players receive for thorough planning is substantial. I do anticipate the moment where I get to revive the thought-dead boss 3 times then drop a herald on them. My biggest critique of this part of the adventure would be its complexity. As an experienced GM I know I’m going to need all the resources I can pull to keep track of Infiltration Points, Awareness Points, and triggers. On top of the normal tracking of exploration mode, I can see some GMs (and players with their brand new level 14 sheets) struggling a bit with the amount of content in this chapter.
Chapter 2:
Now hunted for assassinating a rightful ruler (at least in the eyes of a manipulated Vernai), the PCs move into Unmasking a Traitor as they try to weasel out the rogue mantis in their midst. This chapter functions as a lovely exploration of Ilizmagorti making the reasonable (and much welcomed) decision to handwave travel from Land of the Linnorm Kings back to Ilizmagorti. Here the PCs must root out 5 conspirators with the rogue Vernai to submit evidence to the council of their innocence. While the trope is classic, I feel like this chapter shines the most of the GM hands out the Ilizmagorti article in the back of the book to allow the players to get familiar.
The minigame of managing visibility while also possibly getting into fights, finding clues, and skulking around the city is pretty entertaining but I feel will fall flat if both the PCs and the GM aren’t well acquainted with the setting. That being said, the combats here also take place in a variety of location and contexts (most of which being ambushes unless the PCs can get ahead of their enemies!) which can keep things exciting enough to make it to the next chapter.
Also, my favourite NPC, Mantis Keeper can be found in this chapter so there’s that.
Chapter 3:
The PCs must now prove their innocence and, most importantly, the guilt of their enemy. The initial influence with the Vernai does something I really like about 2nd edition. It keeps the story moving even on a failure or less desirable result. Compared to a similar Influence encounter in Age of Ashes where if you are unable to convince the guild, the party must wait another month to do so or completely forgoe their permission altogether (which in that case it perhaps may have been better to just skip the influence) this influence allows the party to move forward even on some really bad rolls. That being said the influence, instead of punishing you for failing, rewards you excessively for a job well done and for collecting the evidence required. If the PCs play their previous chapter correctly, they will most likely pass this challenge with flying colours.
However, delving into Sazari (the ancient library beneath the Crimson Citadel) perhaps proves to be my least favourite part of the adventure. With a return to a classic dungeon crawl the assassins search out their fleeing foe. The combat spaces and creatures are diversified and colourful with a series of traps/hazards to keep the party on their toes. However, twice during this section are the PCs offered the opportunity to research. The first on the location of Blood Mistress Jackalyn (who has been on leave since the start of the adventure) and the second on Achaekek himself. These checks to research take 4 hours and 8 hours +1 hour/per attempt respectively. Considering the key information this research reveals about the story I find it very critical for PCs to acquire this information in order to get the full picture of what is happening. However, it also feels like a lot to ask that the PCs spend upwards of 12 to 24 hours researching while they are chasing down their foe. The GM may know that the villain won’t complete her plan and that time is not a crunch against the PCs (in fact they are invited to use the lavish upper echelons of the Citadel to rest and recuperate) but convincing four vindictive assassins to slow down their chase may be a hard to press offer.
The information that we get in these books however is phenomenal, specifically the extra information on Achaekek being my favourite. Foreshadowed earlier by a key NPC (Vatumledor), Achaekek’s role has changed through the years and has not always been the patron god of assassins we know him as today. Personally, after the events of the final chapter, I think this sets up a very compelling arc where some of that previous portfolio may be returned to him but that is 100% homebrew.
Side note: There is an enemy celestial who makes an appearance at the end of this chapter who perhaps has the funniest bit of red text dialogue I have ever read.
Chapter 4:
Out of the library and into ELYSIUM?? The story takes a wild turn as the assassins chase their quarry into the Clashing Shores having to fight off waves of celestials amongst the dead bodies of their traitor former comrades. While handwaving travel in this section is also appropriate, I feel like if that was the intended case, a wand of teleport (or other fast move long distance spell) should have been in the loot tables at some point. The towering form of Gorum in the background slowly grows more furious as the PCs garners his attention. Something I love about this chapter is that your PCs can be apart of the great event of the Godsrain. Over the course of the chapter, 3 of Gorum’s servitors show up to face the PCs and each one can be slain at their hands. At the end of the adventure there will be nothing left of the host of Gorum. No God, No Herald, No Servitors (that we know of) and you were responsible for 2/3 of those things.
At this point, the set-piece of the adventure upstages the villain’s quest a little at this point as the action rises. However, the PCs to manage to corner her and put an end to her shenanigans. Shortly after, the Godsrain begins (as spoiler-less as I can get it) and the PCs must attempt to return home using a variety of their skills.]
[spoiler=Conclusion and After the Adventure] Blood Mistress Jackalyn, now returned, is able to be informed of the adventure. She has some different reactions depending on how successful the adventure was and the PC’s reaction to her secret in chapter 3. An otherwise satisfying ending with all the PCs being offered seats on the Vernai (coincidentally 1/3rd of 13 is around 4 seats that freed up from the villain’s attempts).
There is no official continuing the adventure part of the story but I believe there is plenty of content to be explored.
A big theme throughout the adventure is “Who is a rightful ruler?” What is divinity? By Achaekek slaying Gorum does that shake the foundations of the faith? Was Gorum a diety? Judging by Achaekek’s flinch at the violent explosion caused by his actions I’m not fully certain that even he knows. The conflict of the entire story is enabled by this uncertainty. Saviya enables your guilt by asserting that Ordulf (villain from chapter one) was a rightful ruler and plans to do the same to Jackalyn should she somehow succeed at killing Tar-Baphon (If she even ends up taking the contract. It remains unconfirmed). This definition is shown to be useless even in the face of deification as Achaekek slays Gorum. I believe that this leaves Achaekek’s story up for potentially potent change. Throughout the story we are also introduced to the idea that he was once long ago a diety of arbitration and judgement rather than assassins but has lost himself. If the PCs wanted, powerful as they are, I believe a storyline that followed up on Achaekek’s portfolio and perhaps returning some of that power to him would be a satisfying way to continue the campaign.
Adventure Toolbox:
Another thing I was pleasantly surprised for was the breadth of the player facing tools. Additional magical items both to find and start with, alchemical items and spells. All flavorful and setting your PCs apart from the others you’ve played before. The Red Mantis Assassin archetype has received a good deal of love. From my initial AMA however, I get the sense that people were hoping that the proficiency restriction had been relaxed. It is difficult for most classes to obtain advanced weapon proficiency by level 2 to qualify for the feat after all. I would suggest having the dedication make sawtooth weapons martial weapons for the purpose of proficiency in the PC is trained in all martial weapons (like they did the remastered archer and mauler I hear).
The article on Ilizmagorti is also well written, containing many interesting locals and NPCs for players to connect with and build backstories into if you are interested (as I suggested in chapter 2).
The creatures are all interesting and not incredibly complicated. I do question perhaps the kindness behind putting oozes and ghosts into a campaign where I am certain many players will be specializing in precision damage but since they are few and far between, I think I can overlook it.
TLDR: This adventure is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to take a look at the line or support it!
Which NPC or monster has your favorite new art? Also, are there any classes or ancestries which are specifically discouraged?
I feel comfortable answering this one openly. Beyond the obvious (holy, water-based or pacifist characters) the adventure is really open to any concept. However there is a caveat, there are classes that straight up will not quite fit as a red mantis assassin themselves. Perhaps such as a barbarian, bomber, or any other class that doesn't have a focus in subtlety and precision. That being said, the book gives guidance on how to allow characters with these class choices that go against the grain. PCs don't have to just be Red Mantis but can instead be allied mercenaries, loyal informants, trusted suppliers and other affiliated but not technically sworn in members.
The book elaborates that PCs such as this may have some trouble with the encounters in the book but can easily get past most challenges with the assistance of their assassin allies.
Personally I think this story excels the most when you are playing a Red Mantis in the thick of it but I could understand if you wanted some variety at the table.
As for my favorite monster well...
Heavy spoilers for the Final Chapter:
There is a powerful conjoined Keketar that shows up in the adventure who's art is phenomenal.
Just got my PDF for this adventure a few hours ago and…WOW. From my first run through paizo may have even undersold this adventure. Its epic in every meaning of the word, delves into a lot of lore, a ton of interesting player facing options as well. I haven't given it a thorough read yet but I would be please to answer any relatively spoiler free questions about it to build up hype.
What new beasties will we be seeing in this adventure? How's the Red Mantis Assassin archetype? What's your favourite spoiler-free thing in this adventure?
Great Questions!
Creatures:
I've left out some of the more plot related monsters. I'm fairly certain you face each one of the monsters in the toolbox at least once.
Bloodfog A crimson mist cranked up to 11, the first of which were created by Nhimbaloth.
Einherji Host A troop of elysian warriors
The First Blade, Bloody Hands, Saint Fang, and Temperbrand The herald of Gorum and three of his servitors.
Frost Roc The cutest snowy owl
Valykrie Tempest A troop of heroic Valkyries.
Red Mantis Assassin:
The archetype got a real facelift in the book. The magic I mentioned earlier in the thread is nice but all the old stuff is in there mostly unchanged. The most important change though is that the archetype now gets access to some really nice rogue feats like twin feint/distraction, quick draw, underhanded assault and the poison weapon tree.
However the clear winners are access to Gang up (8th) and Opportune Backstab (10th).
These options really round the archetype out imo and make it so much more powerful.
Favorite thing:
Okay so this is kind of a spoiler as its an option you won't receive right away but instead later on in the story. But there is a new spell called Crimson Breath which involves you breathing a toxic miasma directly into a targets lungs Godzilla style to inflict them with a virulent poison that leaves them taking persistent bleed damage and drained.
Just got my PDF for this adventure a few hours ago and…WOW. From my first run through paizo may have even undersold this adventure. Its epic in every meaning of the word, delves into a lot of lore, a ton of interesting player facing options as well. I haven't given it a thorough read yet but I would be please to answer any relatively spoiler free questions about it to build up hype.
I'm very curious on the spoiler side of things but ignoring that.. how does the Red Mantis archetype handle spellcasting? Is it divine plus the new wizard school?
You’re pretty much on the nose
Mantis Magic:
The archetype gives Basic, Expert, and Master spellcasting at 4th, 12th, and 18th respectively. It prepares spells from the divine list and uses Charisma as key skill. It can also prepare spells from the new Red Mantis Assassin wizard school which has a bunch of utility spells like invisibility and translocate.
It can access the school spells at 6th and 10th as feats and gains a breadth-esque feat at 12th. The extra slots can only be used for assassin spells and not divine.
Just got my PDF for this adventure a few hours ago and…WOW. From my first run through paizo may have even undersold this adventure. Its epic in every meaning of the word, delves into a lot of lore, a ton of interesting player facing options as well. I haven't given it a thorough read yet but I would be please to answer any relatively spoiler free questions about it to build up hype.
Like no shade, but in what world do Barbarians need sweeping unequivocal buffs while people are still trying to figure out if the Investigator is even really meaningfully better at all.
I'm confused as to how this is a question - they now get a free action DaS against anyone who could answer a question about on of their 2 mysteries, which is a substantial combat boost over how the vast majority of GMs were running old DaS from what I've seen online. They get a +1 bonus on any perception check or skill check that gets them closer to answering the question of their mystery, so they're going to be getting that super reliably, which is a nice boost out-of-combat. It also gives them a concrete answer to where they're stronger than rogue out-of-combat - despite having the same set of skill boosts, they're going to be getting that +1 bonus on a large chunk of their skill checks. On top of that, they can discard a bad dice roll on DaS without incrementing their MAP (they don't get the damage boost on their next attack, but that's still way better) and they get a useful bonus on a skill check as part of doing so! If they're making a mental-based skill check to discard that bad roll in a way that could get them closer to answering the question at the heart of their mystery (like recalling knowledge on an enemy that they need to beat to get info, or demoralizing them, or using Bon Mot, etc) they're a full proficiency rank ahead of anyone else in the game. And again, free action DaS on almost every turn of almost every combat! That's a huge boost, how is it a question if they've improved?
There's also a 2nd level feat which allows you to designate a creature as your lead for 1 minute, allowing you to free action DAS in surprise encounters where you couldn't have been prepared. The 10 minute cooldown means this will be up almost every fight.
That feat alone is a nice enough of a change that I'm confident investigator will feel a little bit better at most tables (I had one at my SOT table from 1-13).
I would love to share my concept for Prey for Death of an Awakened Mantis Warpreist of Achaekek who worked in a garden assassinating pests and other unworthy pretenders while upholding the divine right of queen bees, ants, and other insects destined to rule.
Being able to rage constantly without enemies needing to be present and the additional bonus to speed at 3rd are also some really good quality of life. 11th level Mighty Rage giving you even MORE alpha strike damage?
Im going to be honest this remaster is more than I could have ever asked for.
I am so excited for Prey for Death, I warned my players months in advance that I was going to drop everything to run it for them. The Red Mantis being one of my favorite organizations. I already ran Mark of the Mantis twice in anticipation.
I would love to post my party's composition now that we are aimed to start this Wednesday!
Mikazuki Kimura (female kitsune animist): Born into Willowshore, her family is a pair of refugees who fled the genocide of their people in Hwangott. Taking on their family tradition of magic and herbalism they operate a small supply shop on the south side of town. When the Lung Wa empire broke, her father left for their homeland to see what had come of it, he has not returned since.
Yang Zhao (female dhampir thaumaturge): A woman with some complicated heritage who lives in Willowshore with their extended family. They run a shop which outfits assistive devices to residents of the town, particularly to loggers and other laborers.
Bora Kang (female nephilim champion): A woman with a sufficiently mysterious past. Was whisked away by a stranger as a teenager only to return to the town a year ago without nary a word of where she went. Currently working as a clerk for the Thrice Blessed Inn.
Koharu Homura (female hungerseed nagaji psychic): Dwelling on the outskirts, Koharu rarely comes into town other than for business or to visit her friend at the wizard's tower. Some whisper of a malevolent influence in her blood or her uncontrollable powers.
My group is just completing this campaign (maybe 2 sessions left) and as the GM I gotta say I would have LOVED having an ash oracle in the party. We had a bones oracle and it still worked out great. The only advice I would have for you is careful of the amount of fire immune enemies in this AP. They are plentiful, especially in the later books. Ask your GM if they plan on "bastion-ing" the golems so that you will be more useful too.
My group came from 5e a number of years ago (and for the most part, haven't looked back) and the thing we were the most apprehensive about but ended up loving was Spellcasting.
At first glance we were nervous coming from a system where spellcasting rules in every sense of the power game but were willing to give it a shot. I know that Vancian casting isn't exactly beloved by all, but our group loves so much of it. It closed the distance between prepared and spontaneous casters and lacked any concentration mechanic.
In case the GM ends up forcing the locked door open you may want to apply a Lock spell to your lock. This makes athletics and thievery attempts roll against your spell DC or the lock's modifier +4. If you keep using this strat it will scale well as you level and you can even buy a wand of it for daily application.
Quick shout out to Inventor's Construct Companion which can be kept up in accuracy with Lock on if needed but truly shines in its breadth of immunities. Some of the biggest problems animal companions have at higher level are helped when the companion is immune to bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, ect...
Innovations not withstanding to give it things like resistance to all damage, ranged attacks, bonuses against magic.
Also since it can be healed with quick repair, damage dealt to it often takes seconds to repair. Should the worst happen you get your main feature back after only 1 day of downtime.
I also viewed it as giving the players access to undead companions. Though, now that I think about it. You probably could get away with giving every player the Pet general feat with their desired pet being undead if you wanted to reward everyone equally.
This is by far my favourite prophecy so far but I am a huge fan of Urgathoa, undeath, and Geb in the setting. To me, Urgathoa's death triggering something like a mass zombie apocalypse isn't too far from Asmodeus's wound or Cayden's false divinity.
Urgathoa afterall was the first creature to spontaneously, with force of will, come back from the dead. Her death relinquishing that ability from her domain and into every death seems very poetic. An infection, if you will, spreading from her corpse onto the notion of death itself.
The book makes it clear that a key facet of Twined Stories is that performances take place on both the Material and Ethereal planes. Multiple references are made to this applying to The Winnowing of Gachanta. The climax of Act III is said to split the party between the Material and Ethereal planes...but nowhere is there any explanation of how this is to be achieved, unless half the party just happens to be capable of going Ethereal on their own. Am I missing something?
Well besides the obvious...deaths that can occur to allow players to exist on the ethereal stage. Just before the play, the wardrobe department gives the players a Phantom Shroud which can be used once per day to cast Ethereal Jaunt. Due to the mechanics of PF2e I gather only 1 is provided for loot purposes but I suppose you could give out more to get a perfect split.
Just because I am seeing it brought up in terms of Kineticist effectiveness and damage. Golem anti-magic is going away in the remaster, replaced by resistance to spell damage except one damage type (if we look at the brass bastion its spell resistance is equal to physical resistance). This means that all of kineticist non-damage impulses will work against them and your damage impulses will be working against a resistance which you may be able to remove with extract element for stone/metal kineticists.
While this doesn't retcon the previous appearance of golems in APs (I run Age of Ashes and if I see another one I may just keel over)I don't think its much of an ask to replace the golem with the bastion equivalent when it comes out. I've already posted about my enjoyment as a Kineticist in this thread so I'll just add that I'm still having a great time when I get the chance to play mine in PFS lol.
I could have sworn at one point I had found a map of the crimson citadel and the chambers below it. It described some information about the red mantis and their leader. It wasn't terribly detailed, it was a side portrait of the underground complex.
For the life of me I can't find it again and the recent news of a Red Mantis Adventure has me so excited. Did I make this up in my head?
Oh wow this is so exciting!! I wonder if Mark of the Mantis would make a good pre-shot with this before you jump into the future with your characters more experienced, taking on more dangerous jobs.
I really enjoyed the one-shot and I am vibrating in my seat for the chance to get my hands on this.
Is this likely to get a Foundry VTT module? I am unsure if standalone adventures have in the past.
I'm really hoping for more information regarding the deities of Tian Xia, their place in its culture and more of their portfolios.
Our group is slowly planning a SoG AP after our current AOA wraps up (just getting into book 6 soon) and it would be great to have this info for the prospective champion and animist in the party.
Also please please please more info on Hwanggot and the Chang Liao Jungle just for me please. As a treat.
I thought that it would be pertinent to add in here that bombs no longer deal their splash damage on a failure, or at least they may not. In Player Core bombs are describe with the following.
Player Core pg 292 wrote:
Alchemical bombs are consumable weapons that deal damage or produce special effects, and they sometimes deal splash damage. You throw a bomb as a ranged Strike. It’s a martial ranged weapon with a range increment of 20 feet and can’t benefit from runes since it’s a consumable. A bomb deals any listed splash damage to the target on a failure, success, or critical success, and to all other creatures within 5 feet of the target on a success or critical success. Add the damage together before applying resistance or weakness, and don’t multiply splash damage on a critical hit.
Notably this isn't the same case in GM core.
GM Core pg 244 wrote:
Most bombs also have the splash trait. When you use a thrown weapon with the splash trait, you don’t add your Strength modifier to the damage roll. If an attack with a splash weapon fails, succeeds, or critically succeeds, all creatures within 5 feet of the target (including the target) take the listed splash damage. On a critical failure, the bomb misses entirely, dealing no damage. Add splash damage together with the initial damage against the target before applying the target’s resistance or weakness. You don’t multiply splash damage on a critical hit.
Just thought it may be worth considering as GM core contains other text that wasn't updated and personally this vastly changes the balance/power budget of the bomber alchemist. Especially for triggering weaknesses.
I play a wood/earth Kineticist (Level 5) in society and it kicks ass. In combat as everyone said above its always a good time. I run weapon infusion which means I can engage no matter what range the enemy is which has mattered in every combat I've fought in. The area of effect is nice with hail of splinters and tumbling logs, I have heavy armor to tank with armor in earth, my impulse junction gives me 5 temp hp for breathing. In combat its a SOLID class and next level I get some amazing area control with the jagged berms composite impulse. Somehow I forgot to mention Tree Sentinel which deletes 30 damage on the board each round I use it.
Outside of combat I've invested in fresh produce for some healing and nature/athletics for my two major skills. Athletics is pretty consistently useful as a Str kineticist but I'm not super useful in exploration. My nature expertise does make me feel decent at RK in certain environments through. Along with survival when its necessary. Also thanks to this being society I have a hireling to talk for me when Im forced to make a diplomacy check.
Overall in combat is a helluva time, probably my favourite class in the game. Outside of combat you are about as useful as a barbarian or fighter. You can contribute if you're in a scenario built to your niche but otherwise, kick back a little and share the spotlight.
I recently homebrewed daze to be a 2d4 cantrip scaling 1d4 each level instead of every other. Turning the stunned 1 crit fail into off-guard. Its much closer to frostbite in power now with less range and non lethal damage. It shot to the top of all the divine player’s spell lists and we are having a blast with it.
Definitely would recommend for anyone looking for a change.
Do you also verify that the players own the rights to use any non-AI-generated artwork that they bring?
Its not really about rights :-)
Its more like if they use an artist's art I could (theoretically) tell from a signature or otherwise who made it. I am aware that a ton of people use uncredited art, I have no problem (in general) with it. But at least I know its art from a person who could be credited with its creation. Whereas AI just takes its data from a bunch of different people with little chance for credit.
I'm not really here to police art. Just finding my own boundaries with the tech and was wondering if paizo had something similar. Also recounting an uncomfortable experience a new player was having. The fact they don't is also fine! It would be impossible to enforce anyways lmao.
Oh just incase I wasn't clear before, I wouldn't force anyone to change their token/portrait either. I would ask them (and hope they ablige to the table rules) but its not really the end of the world if they don't.
