I've been meh with the run on the 2E era APs. Not that they don't have interesting themes. But at the end of the adventure, none of them seem to really impact the larger world. Extinction Curse was close, but you are fighting to preserve the status quo in a BIG WAY. 1E APs just had bigger stakes. Break nations, kill/make new gods, explore new regions, establish new kings/queens, etc. I know there was a bit of a cool down after the major world shake ups post 1E, but it seems the AP team is holding back on making massive metaplot/world shifting changes in the 2E meta setting. I say, it's time to go big or go home! We need to have our round 2 with Tar Baphon and put him in the ground finally. There is a massive unknown waiting for us in Arcadia. If I remember, there are a few major factions in Tian Xia waiting to go to war. And hey, we have 2 Runelords still kicking around...and the Aboleths are just waiting there to get all mucky and godlike with. I AM however looking forward to Strength of Thousands. The school theme is...okay. But actually getting to kick the tires in a non-colony nation in the Mwangi Expanse is something I'm 100% down for.
The Colt Walker...an 1846 developed gun had 6 cylinders that fired blackpowder charged bullets. These types of gun existed but only in that weirdly short era before cased ammunition become popular. However, multibarrel was WAY more likely. There were six barrel/chamber style blackpowered weapons going back to the late 1600s and early 1700. The Chamber's flintlock 'machine gun' was a VERY advanced weapon for it's time. In Pathfinder terms it would be reasonable to make multi-chamber firearms a form of 'magical' advanced kit that only higher level characters could afford. Just use the rules for making magic items and describe the tech behind hit as rare and unusual. (ie. Crib the magic item rules.) beowulf99 - there WERE quickdraw holsters for flintlocks but they were A:rare as hell, and B: prone to causing accidental discharge. So you are correct. Funny thing was, these holsters were primarily used by either horse cavalry or someone would have multiple pistoles ready in a belt. Just not primed. And it wouldn't speed up the draw/fire. But fixed the reloading issue. *shrugs*
Imo, covering fire could have been a chance to do something really cool with the Ready action. Make it so that if you ready a strike to shoot at someone who fires at or approaches a certain location, person, or group of people, you not only get the strike, but also interfere with their action in some fashion That's the problem. Out of the box the feat needs to stand on it's own. Not require a very specific build to make it effective. This is one of the starting feats in a class build. Those are critical. IMO the feat needs to do either 2 things. Force the use of a foe's action (which is expressly doesn't do now), which is useful but situational. (Better situational than it currently is.) OR...it needs to just provide a + AC to ally moving over your range with the gun while you are firing. Which is how Starfinder handles it. Honestly the Starfinder fire rules work awesome here and cribbing from feats from there is not a bad idea. Whatever the devs do, the core problem is the feat has too many if/then triggers in how it works. Keeping it simple to a flat test or modifier is best. Flavor wise they can create a few feats that advance what this one does by forcing movement, or causing an autohit if the foe doesn't take cover. Etc.
For the love of Vesk, please do these for Starfinder!
Criminal groups. Cool. Need that.
Studying the description of their powers and the tiny blurb we get about the class I got wondering about the style and themeing of the class. Solarians by contrast seem to be about balance of extremes. Stylistically they use a mixture of bright solar tones and darker gravity ones. But always there is a balance. They have a graceful monastic design with robes, loose clothing, and glowing manifestations of their power in iconic shapes. Sword/armor, etc. The Jedi of Star Wars, the Clerics of Equalibrium, the hackers of The Matrix. But when I think of Vanguards...something else comes to mind. They are armored, carry shields. Run down attacks almost gleefully inviting destruction and harm to begin the generation of their strikes. It screams PUNK, brighter neon colors, mismatch designs. Haphazard yet functional. They are very much the drunk masters of the Starfinder setting. I'd see them in stark cut armor with overly bright logos and symbols of disaster and harm. Nuclear Warning logos, Mangled hand warnings on riot shields, road signs showing falling rocks. Their embrace of entropy and the role it plays in the universe screams they go out and "live life to the fullest". A strong joyful nihilism, death may come but what of it? It is the nature of things, go, live, experience. Yes they train in monasteries, but that's just to learn to self control needed to harness their power. But no Vanguard's training is complete until they step out into the universe, bash their heads against it, and come back years later weathered and scared from the joy of the experience. Vanguard masters would be living tapestries of life lived to the fullest. Covered with scars, tattoos, as living textbooks on how to face down entropy itself and harness it for self discovery. tl:dr: Think Tank Girl meets 80's action figures. Gritty and Bright! Thoughts?
Off the top of my head Solarians power works in cycles. Rotating like orbits of the two forces that make of their abilities. They focus on balance to generate power. Vanguards seem to flip that on it's head focusing on the raw energy of entropy and how it is both self and externally destructive. Drawing from that chaos for strength. Very much a rivals schools thing. The two halves of a larger coin. I wonder what they use as symbols of their craft. Solarians have the sun and blackhole. I'd almost think Vanguards would be nuclear. Radiation Hazard emblems and bright neon colors by contrast.
Does the PC have enough strength to handle the drone's bulk? Is the drone active when mounted on their back/shoulders? Most the time this is going to be a no. As in the PC can carry the drone when it lands on them, but it's not going to be able to use mount rules. But you can do sneaky stuff like carrying a drone under a jacket and dropping it off covertly. But I wouldn't allow it to attack, etc if being carried by the PC. Remember the distinction is important carried NOT mounted.
I would like for some of the APs to have ended badly. That meaning that not everything had a happy ending. Maybe Jade Reagent ended but it set of a huge war among the various nations near by because they sensed a power vacuum. Cheliax lost a few colonies and provinces into new nations, but it triggered a massive polarization of the loyalists turning the core nation into a deeper hell hole. The Worldwound closed but it wasn't as clean as we thought and small pits into the abyss cracked open from the stress of the main opening closing. Taldor united under a new emperor who's really big into reclaiming old territory and is arming for war. Serpent cultists spilled across the Inner Sea after losing one of their main temples and are teaming up with other factions adding new players, etc. There is a mad rush to find the other Runelords before they wake up because they are ticking timebombs. Etc. A little good, a lot bad. And loads of new things to deal with. Oh, and Sandpoint? Taken over by Vikings! Stuff like that.
Jedi don't manipulate light and gravity (TK and Telephaty are differently themed powers.) And their lightsabers are not expressly part OF them. If anything this reminds me more of Tenchi Muyo characters.
Okay. I'm invoking my GRONARD CARD. Munchkin - a. Imature Power Gamer b. (typically) Younger inexperienced player uninterested in mutual fun over their own character power. c. see Rule Abuser. The term is from the late 70's early 80's. I have been playing RPG since at least 1984 and knew the term then. It got popularized in the early 90's thank the VERY early internet meme Real Men, Real Roleplayer, Loonies, and Muchkins. And yes, To Date I still use the term to describe problematic players. tl:dr - It's older than WOTC. It's as old as the Gazebo meme. Gronard Edit: Gods, it's like every 5 years the internet 'rediscovers' the term. Yes people, gamers are mean. We like to call each other names. *shakes cane* Now get off my yard and back to talking about classes!
You had me at Arcane Reserve James. I like the new direction with the class. Someone who monkies with the raw foundation of magic and allows them to spend a point pool to pull of feat/unique effects. I'm all down for it. It WOULD be nice to say at higher levels steal spells from other non-standard lists too. *koff Bard/Druid/Cleric* But I'm just saying. Also, consider giving this class a zinger. Quicker Countermagic!
Cheapy hit's it on the nose here I think. Having a studied attack that allows you to add combat condition riders on attacks, bypass DR or resistances, etc would make it different enough from the rogue I'd love it. Sure, extra damage is nice. But Sickened for 1d4 rounds is more useful!
Frankly Furthermore's rebuild look a lot better. The biggest issues for me was without a full BAB a lot of the 'fightery' options seemed to be constrained. I understand why they don't want to step on the Paladin's toes too much, but honestly unless the Blessings and Favored Weapon bonuses for a Warpriest are being used...what's the point? I'd like there to be some serious consideration as to what the Warpriest's role is in the church at large. Paladin's are rare being, one off exemplars of godly ideas. Most Clerics are 'okay' fighters, but flexible casters. Warpriests need to fill that middle ground more. The front line fighter, field medics, support guys etc. I'd like a lot of the Blessing/Channel abilitites to be tied to combat support and control mechanics. These guys need a lot more well Cavalier or "Marshal" in them. And yes, please fix the action economy. Too many move/swith action requirements to turn things are turn them into Clerics again.
I asked James Jacobs if he ever wanted to do a High Level Play book and he said, yes, but he has yet to sell the pitch to management who finds Player options books more viable. So it got me wondering. How would you make a High Level Play book, viable for GM's and Players alike. Give it enough meat that anyone who wants to play a more powerful game would pick it up. The GM uses would be great. Tips and Tricks for action economy control, ways of handling multiple sustained buffs, etc. Ways to speed up monster fights. For players, that's tricker. Maybe talking about the choice of options to multiclass or not, or to build for archtypes and how to get the most out of later feat trees? Finally ways of managing large sums of gear/money/etc. Can you think of ways to make such a book worth it to Paizo to publish, ie. worth it to player and GM alike to buy?
I've hit a bump in my reading. I don't know who to pick up now? I feel in love with Brandon Sanderson's works. Re-reading my way through Mistborn, but I'll soon finish. I am digesting part 2 of the John Dies at the End series. And now...nothing. I enjoy smart fantasy and sci-fi. I dislike overpowered chosen one characters. Assume I'm a Black Company kinda guy. The descriptions of say The Likes of Locke Lemora set of my Mary Sue alarms so I haven't touched it. That said, I could go for some romantic fantasy that doesn't make me figet at the dumb and I'm not too tight in my ways that romance has to be traditional. Gay, strange, whatever. Just as long as I can believe the relationship. But I turn a wan eye towards the excess Romantic Fantasy novels of the 90's. I detest stuff like torture porn (see Terry Goodkind skree/also The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant make me ill). If the protagonists can't make a meanful dent in the universe with out fate stepping into save their bottoms. Screw em. I'm being picky, but eh. I'd rather enjoy the book than suffer through the stuff that would have me groaning. I also enjoy hard(ish) sci-fi like the Culture series, Transhuman Space, etc. But I also can stand a bit of pulp. Any suggestions for my gronard heart?
Lets get the rumors and confirmed info all together in one place shall we? Just in case someone misses a post on the forums, a event at a con, or a reddit/facebook post. Stone Soup of news. Iron Gods - 2nd AP for 2014. Only confirmed book we can guess at is Guide to Numeria Pathfinder Wiki has a list of book titles: Fires of Creation
I'd LOVE to know where they got these names. Was it from GenCon? James has send the 2nd Book is heavily inspired by Mad Max. (Yay!) So expect the rules of Bartertown. And crazy "gangs". We've been told NOT to expect Kaiju vs Mecha fights. So sorry Pacific Rim fans. Obvious the main inspirations for this is Thundarr meets Barrier Peaks. Anyone got any other confirmed info?
I doubt Paizo would do such a think, but honestly I really, REALLY would love to have the 3.5 era AP's updated to Pathfinder updated rules and info in much the same way that RoTRL was. They seem to contain a lot of the iconic information and development that went into Golarion that we know today. Just grousing, since I know the devs said they were not doing more than RoTRL, but still. Pity. *sigh*
Mutant Blood Spider - Massive Spider with a bloated body that has taken to draining the blood of it's victims to brood more of it's kind in it's abdomen. You can fight it in it's sticky webs but if you kill it, a swarm of it's young errupt from it's bulging red back half, eating their way out! Leg Eater Worm - A metal coated rock/metal eating machine that look slike a dune work that sneaks up on PC's doing Dex damage to them if it successfully attacks from below. Biting at their legs. It seems to be guarding dropped pieces of ship. Intellect DevourerQueen - A massively oversized brain eating monster that cracks open the back of the head they crawl into. It walks around as a hollow eyed abomination with a large oversized brain pulsing out of the 'opened' head. The subjects mouth opens to shot out tendrips with pincers on them. Spawns a horde of loyal follwering Devourers. Scrying Fly - A small insect like metal bug that flies around reporting the PC's activities to the holder of the Fly's control rod. The PC's MIGHT be able to claim one for themselves. Radioative Shadow Stalker - A seemingly quiet shadow like intangible figure that follows a subject around before trying to strength drain it to death making another talker, however it also radiates a sickening field that slows down subjects and can project blasts of scalding hot energy. Think even GREATER, greater shade. Soul Shackled - A metal collar that clamps around s slave and slowly extracts their soul drop by drop creating an elixer of rejuvinating oils that the slave owner drink to extend their lives. Once compeltely drained the Shackled are turned into technological wights in the control of their 'drinker'. Void Form - Sometimes mistakenly called a Void Elemental, this being is actually a planer embodiment of the absolute idea of balance via absence. They travel around corroding reality eating at the very foundtation of being. Found near pieces of the vast engines of the Silver Mountain who draw power from a paradox of planer power. Inevitable, Progressives - A unique type of Inevitable created by experimetns of the Axiomites representing the idea of progress and invention. Progressives seek out those that would horde and destroy the spread of knowledge and punish them for allowing chaos to stifle creativity and the demand for progress. Drawn to sites of great innovation they act as lawful and tacit protectors. They however are also punisher of creativity gone wrong and just as easily will battle those that use innovation for the sake of chaos.
So lets get scary. What sorts of monsters would you like to see in the adventure? What sort of space/monster/technological nightmare fights would you like to go up again? Here's a few I daydreamed: Skeletal Hijackers - Metal skeleton creatures that nap living targets as internal hostages. The construct latches around the subject carrying them around and forcing them to move around attacking friends. Their goal is to get the hostage killed while making their allies less likel to fight back. If the hostage survives it begins guarding the spot until the hostage dies of dehydration/fatigue. Corpse Harvesters - Large walking tri-pods with carry cages underneath them filled to the brim with dead bodies. They walk around and attack with long metal coils bashing a subject to death if found alive, or till graveyards looking for bodies to be carried back to their dungeon to be deposited. Each coprse inside can be reanimated int a dozen fast zombies if 'full' and attack if the Harvester is at half health. Laser Elemental - Nothing like fighting a intangible elemental that can burn you and moves via near instant transport from place to place. Hard to spot during the day, but painfully obvious at night when the glowing wormlike being attacks you. Machine Chimera - A polygot of 3 different robotic/construct forms has rebuilt itself into a mish-mashed walking monstrosity of mangled body parts, gears, wheels, and moving parts. This often four legged/treaded THING tends to attack anyone carrying technology in it's serach for endless new parts. Cloud Tool Familar - A floating ball of gray microcopic machines that bonds to a user via magical attunement. It follows them around granting a +2 Knowledge: Engineering insight as well as having an ability to transform into any hand tool (including theives tools) of a masterwork quality the user need. More as I think of them.
I have a feeling that Razmir's running out of time. He COULD try the Starstone, but is too scared of failure (not to mention making his followres question his story). His other options include lichhood which would hamper the whole "living' god. I see him as a powerful but very cowardly wizard who's ego got the better of him and he's scrambling for options.
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