When one side of an issue has heavy populist vibes for half of its base (which goes BONKERS for turnout) and a cult-like following (who are even more reliable than simpler populist "I demand change" individuals) you are going to have a VERY reliable groundswell of support.
At the same time when the opposing side offers off-brand/diet versions of the actual policy that their opponents ACTUALLY support and push (but never actually TALK about) while trying to demonize and high-road/scold people you are going to end up with... well, what we got.
The elderly balcony muppet that heckled the people on stage should have been given the podium and mandate to lead over a decade ago because everyone in the crowd except for the cultists agreed with them on policy, ethics, vibes, AND sense of humor. Why the writing on the wall was indecipherable to the Mr. Pibb party until it was too late (and seemingly for much of those in charge at that factory even now as they squabble to blame the workers in the plant), I can't say, I think money and ego blinded them.
Without pushing the boundaries too hard... I'm hopeful that this will serve as a lesson that people who try to stand in the middle of the road in order to reach a compromise with the opposite side will only ever end up being run down and that offering a seat at the table to your enemies means that you never wanted it to be your table in the first place.
Compromise with the enemy isn't wise and won't make you a populist, it's self-harm.
I've come around just a bit on this based on a functional usability standpoint.
Since it is foisted on the GM to interpret so much with PF2 my group was forced to do it and this *gestures vaguely* kind of thing is one that came up more than once.
The ruling we agreed on is that for all intents and purposes there are two different mechanical silos that we had to make when it comes to how companions handle THINGS in their environment:
1) Activate a Magic Item
2) Activate a (mundane) item
Magic Items ALWAYS require the Companion Trait if a Companion is going to use it, period, full stop. Other non-magical items such as alchemical items, tools, and that sort of thing you just have to use your best judgment. The main "exception" to this is for Eidolons who are VERY clearly NEVER meant to wield Weapons or wear Armor (unless otherwise explicitly allowed).
So, with Manual Dex that allows our familiars, within reason, to strike a match, pour an elixir, open a door, press a button, or anything else that justifiably can be done with what works somewhat like a hand or similar appendage. Potions, Talisman/Spellhearts, "wondrous items" and other similar stuff that is innately magical though, that's a big nope, even IF the Activation is something as simple as pushing a button or saying a word (for companions that CAN speak), it won't work because... they arent (for lack of a better word) real and don't really exist or have any substantive existence outside of the scope of them being part of their master.
Scythes (as in the farm implement used to harvest crops or clear foliage/grass), despite their common depiction in fantasy content and art being what it has been, have never been used for combat, with possible super rare instances which are far less common than the use of something like a cup, chair, or even large melon) at all.
There are accounts of these implements being reforged, bent/straightened out, and fixed to straight shafts to be used as improvised weapons much like a spear or other bladed polearm in areas/times when traditional martial weaponry was scarce or time was of the essence. These were even occasionally used as a model for actual weapons that were purpose-built, war scythes which were, all things considered not what their namesake was and could never functionally even be converted for their traditional use.
I get the idea behind it being cool and also having been adopted in part due to the misunderstanding of how the personification of Death/The Grim Reaper carried a scythe which sort of implies it was a weapon when it was originally only ever associated with them as a kind of representation of the harvesting of souls as that is what the tool is used for.
As for the topic at hand, the Naginata is a VERY close facsimile to this but despite it being present in (or weapons extremely similar to it in form/use) in wuxia films, kung-fu, and related film/entertainment (as well as in real history) it actually LACKS the Monk Trait and can't really be used with any features of the Monk in any meaningful way, sadly... on another note though, whoever was tasked with creating the art for it got the dimensions/scale of the blade way off too but that's another thing altogether.
After talking it over when the Remaster hit in my group we decided to keep Alignment around as a purely flavor system to help stratify and make more understandable certain personality and morality patterns plus a somewhat helpful set of guidelines for helping to define a character's personality and priorities.
We ditched most of the various mechanical rules that went along with them in general except for the sense/detect/hide Alignment stuff as it is still a useful yardstick to sus out the disposition and true nature of characters and it hasn't broken anything at all. Of course, these types of things still only apply and function in the extremely limited scope that they worked from the CRB version of PF2 but that's working as intended, checking every NPC shopkeep or guard with these things to see if they're "worthy" or perhaps corruptable wasn't a thing anyhow unless they were secretly a magically endowed cultist or perhaps undead in disguise (who failed to properly shield themselves aginst properly armed threats.
Protection X and various attacks/spells that did specific things differently based on Alignment are gone because the new system to handle things is, IMO, far better made to deal with personally motivated individuals and the reality of how morality/ethics is entirely subjective.
It might be baggage so far as the OGL is concerned and much of it was inelegant and kinda pointless but that doesn't mean the entire suitcase full of stuff was worthy of being tossed in the trash. Keep the stuff that serves a purpose and helps guide your game down the path, abandon the excess.
A quick and dirty explanation of how rate cuts have accompanied fed confirmation of an existing downward trend/crash and evidence they occur shortly before a recession is publicly acknowledged and acting as a signal to the market this is already the case.
The housing market is in serious trouble as despite prices continuing to inch up there and mortgage rates decline (a bit) there isn't translating to more actual sales/closing on homes.
What seems to be going on rhymes HEAVILY with the last two recession cycles on just about every beat with the exception being that the fed is communicating LESS confidence in the market than they did in 01, 08, or 20. It's not doomerism, it's just looking at market trends in general. The AI trend is still REALLY strong but that is also a problem too because NVIDIA is, by itself, taking up way too much of the value in nearly EVERY mutual fund that props up most portfolios, retirements, and pensions because while they ARE doing gangbusters selling the shovels to tech that is doing the digging they are just about the ONLY company that is doing that well and even with that they're only barely keeping the market afloat. Even a slight NVIDIA correction down to somewhat sane levels would represent a massive loss for nearly every investor on the market.
RAW doesn't apply the buckler rule language is a complete mess, as has been observed here, the only "RAW" that can be leaned on is rule 0 because of the various contradictions, lack of mechanically denied terms, and inconsistencies.
Retreat is almost always a valid option unless there are hostages at stake or your party genuinely has their back to a corner and when encountering a new/unknown foe for the first time is typically the wisest move you can make as it will provide opportunities to rest up, research, and prepare with more knowledge.
Uh oh... Warren Buffet just pulled out of Apple and Bank of America BIG TIME, J-Pow is moving toward an interest rate cut, employment predictions are all being reevaluated/updated now that we have a better idea about just HOW many job listings are fake/ghost jobs, the RV and Boat markets/prices are crashing, and recent estimates on the housing market are showing really poor signs with nearly 45% of homes selling at a significant loss because nobody is buying, pretty much all of these coming on the heels of one another and being developments since this July.
I hope nobody here is heavily invested in the stock market right about now, and if you are... you might just want to look into those sweet sweet 5.5% treasury notes instead because it looks like things are going to get rocky and QUICK once the fed pulls the trigger and the temporary morale boost fades.
... I think tv should be allowed to be mid sometimes. Acolyte had some sweet action scenes, character arcs that appealed beyond the normal demographic of these shows, interesting twists and plots.
I don't disagree with you here but Star Wars isn't just "TV" at all, it is, for whatever reason, treated for all intents and purposes as if it is essentially the capstone Royalty of all entertainment media and for the last 25 or so years has been held to standard so unbelievably high that practically nothing could ever hold a candle to the expectations that people have for it despite it having always been, in my opinion, very remarkably "mid" as you say.
Folks can't accept that their "peak culture" SW can ever be anything except exemplary and will cry foul every time it fails to live up to that lofty standard let alone be happy with the general below-average entertainment that Acolyte turned out to be.
Couple that with the way that Disney has been treating the SW IP and, well, this is what we get. Even Andor had a fair bit of gripes about it and that series is probably the best thing that's ever been done on film with Star Wars (ever).
Speaking personally only: For the life of me, I don't know how or why TTRPG publishers haven't all come to the an agreement and consensus in the modern era that PHYSICAL books are luxury products and should be priced accordingly. I don't mean luxury as in "something you don't need" but rather something that is not only replaceable with a functional equivalent that but also only really even continues to exist because of its own collectible or aesthetic appeal. The VAST majority of people who actually play TTRPGs these days use electronic devices to look up information for their games, use reference tools, PDFs, builders, free online databases, 3rd party services and similar options to play the game.
I'd be willing to bet, if I were a betting man, that 9 out of every 10 physical books sold, even when they are USED at least once for the purpose of "adding" material to the content a group can use at their game never actually get USED or looked at more than a very brief browsing to enjoy the art during character building or as a reference during gameplay.
They are bought because people want to support the publisher and the folks want to feel like they own a piece of the game for themselves. As such, it's not really so much of a tool, and it's also not a commodity but it's more like a piece of art than anything else but... it's not PRICED like one.
Personally, I say that it would be for the best to charge $100 USD for anything larger than 220 pages, $80 USD for books that are smaller than that. Special variant cover books should go for 20% more, and the "leather" cover ones should be twice the price. NOW, bear in mind that I think these marked-up physical books should have ADDITIONAL packaging, be non-refundable once the packaging is opened and all universally come with a 1-time code to unlock the PDF for an Account and that would add some weird friction with regard to how subscriptions on the website work but... yeah, maybe it's a hot take but the margins being so freaking slim on the physical books makes no sense as they are priced that way as if they are a necessity to play the game when, again, they are actually the LAST thing anyone could ever even begin to try to justify as being required and even then that argument only makes any amount of sense in a hypothetical world where civilization collapses, the internet fails, and electricity becomes a scarcity/unavailable.
I know you want to do the best for the most people, be altruistic and whatnot but... the thing is endemic at this point. It's already everywhere and the people who are most harmed by catching it are people who haven't already been through the wringer already which... if you're simply existing in any public space where errands and social events take place then there is almost sure-fire going to be someone else there who is walking around with a contagious case of it who doesn't even know they're shedding it...
It's already been shown to be contagious with zero symptoms, sure it's less contagious, but it's been everywhere and exists in a constant state of circulation and adaptation in every known pocket of civilization, even the scientific colonies of Antarctica.
If you or others are feeling like actual garbage you shouldn't go out for sure but I really don't think you should continue putting it on yourself as if you're saving anyone exposure by choosing to do so, they're getting exposed all the time, most of the time it doesn't stick but sometimes it does and here is the thing, most folks don't even realize they have it when they're active carriers anymore because most peoples immune system has adapted through a combination of previous infections and past vaccinations they've had.
All this to say, now that it's endemic no individual can really be considered personally responsible for spreading it any longer, it already exists in your community, and yeah, you can do your part to keep others from catching it in a direct sense but there is absolutely no behavior that individuals can adopt that can keep the "community" covid free anymore, it's going to exist with us until humanity either all dies off or we find some miraculous hyper-futuristic system of medical treatment where we can universally treat the entire planet to eradicate SPECIFIC viruses (not even all viruses since there ARE functionally beneficial/necessary viruses that certain people and forms of life depend on) with a 100% kill rate while not impacting any other biological organisms.
I'm no expert, obviously, but my advice is to stick it out until you don't FEEL sick anymore, wear a mask for a few days, and get back to life like the rest of humanity did. Long periods of isolation at this phase is akin to self-flagellation over basically existing as a person in society. We screwed up the initial response out of ignorance, vanity, selfishness, and stubbornness and there is no going back.
One thing to keep in mind is that you can easily take the core statblock, all abilities, and theme from a published creature/monster and use it while describing them as something entirely different, full stop.
The use of a green hag as your witch does NOT mean you have to present them as that, they can be any type of caster that you like outwardly pitch as something else. You can strip the flavor of the miasma and pitch it as something else while keeping the number and function more or less the same or even just ditch it entirely and bolt on a different ability such as the Otherworldly Laugh feature from the Korred to play up the "witches cackle" ability to avoid the whole monstrous nature of hags and play into the more humanistic witch theme.
The moment you attack a dungeon/complex, in any situation other than there being 50 ft long hallways between each room and heavy doors blocking out sound (or there otherwise being a source of loud noise in every room such as manufacturing or a noisy kitchen, etc) every combat should at LEAST put the next room on high alert no matter what and set off a chain reaction through the entire area.
The whole idea that each encounter should earn the party 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted peace and quiet without having to retreat a significant distance is silly to the point of being unbelievable. The moment a dungeon has invaders, in basically any case other than super-sized mega-dungeons, it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes for the entire place to be on high alert, arming themselves to the teeth and rushing in to fight the invading forces.
In situations where the combat is executed in a manner where stealth is the point it is justifiable to let the status quo rest as-is but anything other than that... dungeons with only one entrance/exit should have the room the party was in nearly swarmed with enemy reinforcement ASAP and in situations where there is more than one entrance/exit the party should have to make a hasty retreat or learn to expect that they'll be retaliated against from not only deeper in the complex but also the entrance they came in.
Yes, it's not the brain dead clear one room, rest, clear one room, rest, buff up for mid-boss, fight, rest, rinse repeat that SEEMS to be the implied norm but that makes about as much sense as how NPCs in MMO dungeons operate without any sense of tactics, strategy or even in self-preservation. If folks are really playing the game like that they are getting a less tactical or realistic experience than they'd get playing the original version of Risk. If players want to be challenged and make decisions that are impactful at all beyond "how do I spend my 3 actions, one round at a time" once every 10-20 minutes of in-game time then you have to treat the enemies (unless they're fighting mindless opponents without any significant precise senses to speak of) like they are at least as self-aware and tactically sound as a group of young-5's kindergarteners.
I seriously don't understand how it seems to have become the expected norm that each area/encounter is self-enclosed and that intelligent creatures won't ever actively react to the presence of enemies, work to act as reinforcements to their own allies, or use any type of tactics to get the upper hand. There are plenty of pre-published works out there that DO write encounters with this in mind and the assumption that the moment the complex is noticeably invaded that deeper within operational changes, arming, and reinforcement tactics kick in but it seems like these are the exceptions rather than the norm because of just how hard it would be to write that kind of book and instead the authors left it up to the GMs who... just never did anything with it, seemingly lots of folks took that absence to mean that bad guys should just sit on their hands while their coworkers/friends/family are noticeably slaughtered the next room over.
It was time to replace my phone and I use celebrity mobile plan epsilon so I wanted to find a place where I could buy an UNLOCKED and ideally UNROOTED device after stopping by big box superstore number one, carrier brand stores triangle and quadrangle I was advised at the superstore that it was ILLEGAL for them to sell those which I knew was BS and at the two carrier stores that their corporate policy was that the couldn't do so at all.
So instead, I went to a local game store and device repair place that takes trade-ins for cash to ask if they had anything. Not ONLY did they have what I was looking for and also have it but the devices they had in stock were second-hand but unused MILITARY ISSUE smartphones that come standard with universal 2G emergency band wireless signal functionality, are unrooted, had no bloatware at all (unless you count the pre-installed PTT emergency services FM radio scanner app for EMTs/Police), unlocked, and on top of that the phone I choose was only about two years old for only $200. I DID have to manually configure my mobile data network settings and input my plan info to get the 4G to work but that was trivial once I knew what to search for.
Apparently, the original owner bought them through the Army or got them for free (probably the latter) for his parent who weren't interested in them so he just sold them for cash. Less than a day of tinkering later, installing ADB, some sideloading of Apps and I have the best phone I've ever had that will get cell signal functioning off EVERY cell tower globally and not just off T-Mobile towers. I didn't really believe it at first but I drove out to the boonies to see what my signal was and not ONLY did my actual cell service come through in a place where I couldn't get calls with my old device but I also had perfectly smooth 4G coverage too.
Never buy a phone from a big carrier, and if you can, try to get a military or police issue device. Even if you can't get the kind of awesome cost that I got you can still end up with a phone that has better coverage, is more durable (the thing doesn't have a case exactly because the case is built INTO the phone itself), and has none of the nonsense bloat that comes with any you'd buy at a normal store.
For the life of me, I don't understand why there isn't a 1-Focus Ability that enables a Wizard with their Spellbook in hand to Cast a Spell from the book without expending a Slot. Put a limiter on it that you can't do this for a Spell you've already Prepared for the day and that you can only do this for any given Spell once per day as the "magic in the page fades temporarily" until the next daily prep.
There is a TON of fantasy out there which as Wizards straight-up casting their spells directly from their books full time and this would negate a TON of the prep headache as well as decision weighing that Wiz has to do when going to add free spells on the prospect of if something is TOO niche etc.
Yeah, it would be a few extra spells every day but if you limit to not be usable for spamming spells you already have set for the day or to reuse it endlessly it solves the "unlimited fireball" issue.
So in the strange new space that is the free time I've begun to have over the last few months, with the help of an "enthusiast grade" desktop that a friend gave me from 2018 (it was abandoned at his place by one of his former friends/coworkers who was trying to shelter assets in the run-up to him being caught on the lam by the IRS... long story that I'm not even fully aware of) I've finally gotten into a game that I have been dying to have the free time for: FFXIV
I played during the closed beta years and years ago for ARR and fell in love with it then even on my work computer which ran that at sub 30 FPS. Now that I have a good computer, probably what most would consider a great one but not top of the line (the thing apparently would have cost about 4000-ish to build back in 2018, all brand new, from the parts research I did) I finally just invested in it. Been playing with my brother and began just before the latest expansion and despite being way behind where the vast majority of players are in terms of what content I'm doing there is still an insane amount of content to dive into and surprisingly I've rarely had even to wait a long time for queues since SE was wise enough to provide incentives for even max level toons to do lower level stuff through roulettes.
It's a freaking blast and hands down the most fun I've had in an MMO ever (and I wasted nearly a decade on WoW back in the day being a no-lifer Raid leader). Rolled up as a Dragoon to start and got to around 80 before deciding to dip my toes back into my old healer niche, now I balance DRG with Sage which has the best "gamefeel" as far as healing goes, to me.
The only thing that really gets under my skin about it in general is that I'm not very good at making Gil yet so my crafting is lagging way further behind than I'd like, but that is what it is.
I know a few of you here said over the years that XIV is an on-again-off-again addiction. I'm doubtful that you're on the same Data Center, let alone Server but if you are and ever feel like kicking around even for roulettes hit me up with a DM. I hesitated posting about it here as it's... kind of weird for me to mix social groups and hobbies but after sticking to it for the past 60 days and it still being fun I figured, hell, why not.
The good old complex filled with true dead ends that are disguised as passageways to the place a party would want to go coupled with false dead ends that either mechanically or illusorily disguise the actual passageway.
The true dead ends should look well traversed with what looks like recent foot traffic and in them you place any number of mundane or magical traps.
Also, something to keep in mind is that if the kobolds have any inkling that they might be raided they should have hidden passages where the most well-trained casters can sit up as guards to either manually trigger hazards or just rain down pain on any invaders without first being seen, ideally, with ways for them to retreat after they "blow their load" so to speak.
This is something of an aside to the topic of the thread but it does touch on something that really fails to retain any semblance of immersion or, for lack of a better term, protection of the 4th wall. My greatest disconnect with the seeming system assumptions that every combat is going to be followed by at least ten minutes of downtime is that in most any situation except wilderness exploration encounters it makes no sense whatsoever as locations, where encounters take place, are usually buildings or building-like where the only thing separating most encounters are doors or in some circumstances hallways with doors attached to them... combat is LOUD and the idea the creatures in the next room over (usually less than 50-100 feet away) are going to just be sitting around with earplugs in staring blankly at a wall (or alternatively stubbornly insistent that their job is to stay in and watch over their room and their room alone despite imminent and obvious dangers to their own life and career) until a combatant opens the door to their own room.
The only way it makes any sense at all is if the assumption ALSO has another unstated rule of thumb that parties will/should always retreat either entirely outside of the building/dungeon or otherwise find a place to secretly hole up until they've all taken their breather, bandaged, and meditated. Even ONE combat within such a complex that is noticed (which would almost certainly happen unless the combat is done entirely with the aim of stealth and silence in mind) should set off an entire building/dungeon to the presence of a mortal threat and invasion which would result in reinforcements to rush the party ASAP and to harden/reinforce defenses further into the area where the most important things/npcs would be holed up.
Ten minutes is a LONG time to just abjectly ignore the sounds of your peers/family/coworkers being brutally slaughtered and then it going more or less silent (or worse quiet followed by the sound of strangers having idle banter and making jibes over the corpses of your allies) just one room over. I can't really fathom anything other than a tactical retreat after a swift looting making any amount of sense, these complexes would absolutely have constant movement of opponents between rooms to take care of duties, deliver messages, take care of bodily needs, actively patrol, or even simply wander around a bit bored with the aim of socializing with one another.
Investigator is already one of the few classes where any player interested in it really needs to have a serious conversation with the GM about how it should work out during actual play and to set expectations due to the nature of it requiring the GM being on board with either being an obsessive over-preparer or being comfortable improvising ACTUAL relevant plot/lore clues and mysteries on the fly.
With that in mind I don't see this being either too powerful or weak since the player and GM should really come to an understanding of how it works without either breaking the enemy Action economy (it forcing a relevant truth/lie every time) or it simply just always being a dud ("screw you!") during the course of combat and roleplay.
The reason Mana is so effective is that it is trivially easy to balance the overall cap and increase it over time as well while also providing affordable consumables and specific abilities that allow you to regenerate it.
To me, the thing that really puts the most nails in the proverbial coffin (even if it's not the last one) is that after you have access to more than two tiers of slots you will end up with your two highest tier slots being effective actually to use for various effects that can be used and then you have one to seven tiers of slots that, while still being limited by x/day, are always going to be weaker than the Cantrips that are unlimited use which creates a situation where players are heavily encouraged to retrain every time they get a new tier of slots for that growing list into things that are one-off spells that do a specific niche thing as enablers rather than as stuff you will ever actually consistently want to use.
PF2 has already come a long way to improve the QoL for tabletop play by shedding legacy rules and mechanics and if we are talking about the next edition here I think that it would be the perfect opportunity to finally rid ourselves of the worst of the baggage held due to tradition by ditching slots completely... I mean, any TTRPG veteran will recall how often intense arguments and debate have been waged regarding the flaws of so-called "vancian" casting and... I say bury that sucker, put it to rest alongside Leadership and the peasant rail-gun.
Now, does that mean Clerics and Druids are going to have to learn to get along without automatically being able to take a day off and then cast ANY spell under the sun? Yes, but my response to that is "Oh no... anyway."
The trouble with Power Points that Psions had in 3.X and forward was that it was just literally, in every way, a better and more abusable system than Spell Slots and it existed alongside those same Slots in actual games.
Spell Slots and Cantrips need to just go away, video games solved this problem way back in the 1980s, just create, test, balance, and use a system for Mana.
Terrible soapbox, absolutely atrocious. I gave up heavy drinking this last year for a multitude of reasons but I still have a can or two every now and then, and I'll hand it to you that most IPAs I've had weren't great but except for the truly wild experimental ones that are going for a gimmick and shock value they all completely rinse basically all mainstream lite beer/lager (sex by the lake) drinks that NASCAR and major SPORTSBALL leagues are sponsored by.
All day IPA and Two-Hearted Ale are fantastic. Yes they have an IPA flavor but complaining about that is like whining that coffee is dark and bitter.
People thinking that replacing the Ranger with the "imaginary BS weakness go!" class in the core for PF3 being a good idea is one of the wildest takes I've read on this forum and I've been around for a long time...
But those 2 books are probably in the “just a very expensive editing pass” could get them ORC ready, so I don’t see a good reason to try to pull the mechanics from them to put in a new rules book. Each of them work just fine with the PC1 and their own content.
Unicore, I will be direct here but please don't mistake it for disrespect or rudeness: Sometimes fandoms can get swept up in their own biases and think that their extensive knowledge and comfort with a thing means that others of similar or lesser interaction will understand and get the feel for how it works or how to learn it and I think that's probably part of what has been going on with your thought process.
If you don't see a good reason for making a PC3 with revised materials then either you're not listening or somehow you've failed to see the value proposition (for new and old players alike) of a PC3 that consolidates the actual rules that are used in the game from the various ORC supplements in a single hardcover made for the line of products explicitly made to be a one-stop shop for tables to choose new options for their games, the Player Core line.
A PC3 would provide more value in terms of time efficiency, cost to option ratio, and reduce new players from even having to think about, let alone research, what book to buy for what type of Character they want. On top of that, I am 110% confident that a PC3 would outsell (as well as generate more profit in general) as a single book the entirety of every OGL facelift book they COULD make that the premaster content came from. Shoot, and if they do that they can also make a newly revised Lost Omens book that contains all of the lore/setting info and regional info that is mostly flavor in a different larger hardcover to be sure nothing of value is lost and in the process it would be work creating two books instead of four or five which leaves a ton more room/time for the staff to make actual new content.
Somebody looking to get into PF2 will always opt to buy the core products first and if that can be made in a way to bring old content forward to the norms of the current iteration of PF2 it will also create less confusion for them since the vast majority of existing, let alone new users, who look at a physical book or own a PDF will never even know that errata exists, let alone if they do, they're going to have to wrack their brain trying to parse the (no offense tech and web-team) terribly organized FAQ and errata page.
I see absolutely zero downside from Paizos side to just doing a touchup of ALL of the remaining OGL published Classes that didn't get Remastered already (Yes, including Kineticist) and bundling them in PC3.
It would make it way easier for customers to be SURE they have the best and latest version of all the Classes and put it in the same product line as the rest of the Remaster Classes, a very simple and true no-brainer line of books for any new (or old) player/GM to just grab all three in order keep things simple for ensuring content density and value for the games they want to play.
I don't see anything but upsides for the project, lots of people are asking for it, creating it would involve less work and playtesting than making another book with brand new Classes, it will remove and negate all of the weird icky feels related to players using half-fixed via errata content as well as moving them all away from the OGL. Most of all it will give Paizo another eternal best-seller type supplement that people will WANT to buy no matter what kind of flavor they are actually into as it's a great value proposition.
On top of that, it gives an invaluable opportunity to condense the rather sparsely published materials from the OGL era of PF2 into something truly player-digestible (and player-focused) instead of the current model of those being included in a book with only a handful of other mechanical options and a ton of setting material that is mostly useful for GMs instead.
They said if there is demand for it they would do it and from everything I've seen I don't think I'm off base in saying that there certainly is demand for it and at the same time very few voices speaking opinions that range from "No, don't bother" to even just "Meh, take it or leave it" which frankly says a lot.
"What the heck did you just say about me, you little twerp? I'll have you know I graduated top of my Ranger class in the Eagle Knights, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on the Aspis Consortium, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in guerrilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire Andoran armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the heck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before in this land, mark my words. You think you can get away with saying that nonsense to me over the Internet? Think again, fool. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across Andoran and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're done for, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Andoran Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable self off the face of the continent, you little brat. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you fool. I will unleash fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're finished, kiddo.
Sorry Wald, the silence sort of speaks for itself, it's not been addressed yet and the latest errata, from what I have seen, doesn't touch on the subject at all so it's all down to a GM call.
Attack, Attacks, attack, Action, Actions, action, and various combinations of those with the term Check and Roll/Rolls using shared language instead of it all being strictly codified with distinct mechanical names/terms with crystal clear delineation of what the all are and when they are meant to be used remains my biggest gripe about the system with an honorable mention of the ambiguity surrounding the question of what "Activities" are and are not.
I'm staying with my brother for a bit and a nice little windstorm hit a few nights ago.
The bad news: A fully mature tree fell and landed squarely on the very topmost peak of the building in the middle of the night. From inside it sounded like an actual explosion as it struck the truss and sent noise through the bones of the entire structure which woke up everybody including his toddler.
The good news: As I was the only "fit" person in the home I was the one to check the attic plus roof and there was remarkably little damage, like, shocking little. It was thankfully a birch tree and did negligible damage, a few damaged shingles, a slightly bent up rain gutter, and some siding was shaken loose. and a roof that needed sweeping of some bark and twigs. It wasn't even enough to bother filing an insurance claim since fixing it will involve replacing one section of gutter and two shingles, both of which there were some leftover pieces sitting in the garage.
I spent a few hours helping him take the chainsaw to the (now) dead tree and hauling it to a newly designated spot in the hedgerow for deadfall wood that needs to be chopped up and split for bonfires and I got a nice workout from it.
Well, it's TOO quiet, so here's a non-tirade: Our new neighbors continue to be non-entities; other than the brief parking struggle and seeing their kids wandering about a bit in their side yard I haven't much noticed them.
And I just spoke with my other neighbors and they HAVE met the family: Apparently there are at least six people living in that 1000 sq. ft. house, and possibly up to eight. And they have been whisper-quiet: No screaming. No yelling. Not even kids playing outside (a sound I personally find quite delightful). They have a baby under 6 months old and it's quieter than the baby across the street.
So, in spite of the fact that they have a collection of vanity cars and they did battle with us over the space in front of our house for the first few days they were here:
(1) My other neighbor vouches for them and says they're really nice.
(2) They have a veritable horde in that house and are pretty much the quietest house on the block.
Thus, I'm concluding that unless they start messing with "our" space again, I like them. It's impossible to be THAT quiet with THAT many kids unless you're really conscientious about disturbing your neighbors, which would also indicate why we haven't heard from them yet.
That sounds eerily like a Mormon family that I lived across the street from about a decade ago, a big family with the parents, four kids plus one cousin all sharing a roof and you would hardly know anyone lived there at all if it weren't for the two vehicles in the driveway with the occupants occasionally entering/exiting the abode. They never socialized with the neighborhood, hired a lawncare company to mow, and seemed to be meticulous about the whole home being lights out by 9pm.
... and that's a problem with the platform and how it operates... if 40% of purchases for any product resulted in getting nothing at all and another 30% arrive over two years later than intended that's not a skill issue, that's a systemic issue with the service and platform itself.
Trying to diss the people who are being sold on something they want to buy because they didn't know better in advance not to trust the creators/project is practically adjacent to victim-blaming. The website harvests 5-10% of the money generated for projects for itself, stubbornly refuses to take any accountability or hold creators' feet to the fire if they either intentionally are just out to score a bag or simply just fall short. "You should know better" isn't a valid excuse, it's survivorship bias.
Nobody should trust that they're going to get anything at all from KS, that's part of the foundation that keeps the company so profitable and isn't something I can support on sheer ethical grounds.
Note: As an hour has passed it is too late to edit a typo, it wasn't 48 people surveyed, it was 48 thousand.
People have lied about much more relevant and important topics than KS projects around here and the other social media spheres that make up the Paizo community. Besides, I never accused anyone of lying, I merely said that I didn't believe I was unlucky at all but instead just had about the normal and expected results from the projects that I backed, most projects that arise from KS are disappointing after everything is said and done even if the final product does eventually get made.
The fact is, KS isn't a platform that I think deserves any serious attention or support given the proven track record it has for letting down backers. As you rightly said, your results may certainly vary, but I've been burned too many times and seen how the sausage gets made, so I cannot support this project as it stands now.
If this goes really well and they end up getting a Steam page with an early access build that can be played/play-tested I'll absolutely give it a shot, PF2 as a game system absolutely deserves the kind of love and attention that would flow from a properly made CRPG but investing through KS, to me, is little more than gambling on a video game that is at least a full year from being released with an early build that even if funded might never actually come to exist since, well, KS doesn't actually require the creators to do much more than show a minimal amount of effort that they're trying to create what the project claims and once you checkout that money is gone forever.
If you don't like the way my two copper pieces shine in the moonlight that is fine but I'll stand by my opinion as I don't feel I've said or shown has been even remotely out of pocket.
Backerkit though, I'd be more likely if that was the avenue they used, yes it is smaller but the advantages it has for both creators and those who pledge are superior even despite it being a much smaller operation without as many eyes on it, especially since Backerkit has a MUCH more consumer-friendly policy in that it does allow refunds in some circumstances whereas KS practically has been built from the ground up to ensure refunds never happen.
If only one out of 28 failed then your definition of a failure is certainly a lot different than mine for sure. A few weeks or even months late is the NORM for KS projects and they consider anything that is shipped within two years of the estimated ship/delivery date a success and that makes up about 30% of all projects on the website and about 40% of projects on the site that are funded never deliver anything at ALL, these aren't numbers pulled out of thin air either, they're from concrete research done with over 48 buyers operated by a third party and NOT by the KS platform itself. Again, I'm no stranger to the platform at all. At the end of the day I've earned more income from the projects I was involved with than I've spent money inside the ecosystem (mostly because I don't have much expendable income). So, admittedly my view is a bit skewed and biased not only because of that but also due to the insane amount of stress that working on and fulfilling them entails.
My results, by the measure of it being a failure if it doesn't arrive within two years, are actually ABOVE the statistical average in terms of fulfilment. KS puts out its own marketing numbers based on their own intentionally bent stats they gather internally that are cooked to make the platform and the projects there appear far more likely to produce attractive results and the difference between a failure and a success according to what they would tell consumers is very simply if SOMETHING gets send to the person who spent money on KS at any point in time regardless of what IS shipped or when. Believing the numbers they put out about the success rate is like believing Pepsi Co. when it says they say they create the best-selling soda and fast food, it's all numbers bent around corners with smoke and mirrors to make them look good.
My own metric for what constituted a failure wasn't just "didn't deliver" and it is way less forgiving than fulfillment of something concrete (not even the whole project as pitched) prior to being 25 months later than the delivery date that the creator markets during the campaign, that's probably also part of why I think some here are misunderstanding me. Similarly, it's worth mentioning that two of the three that never showed anything meaningful as a return were again physical products (one was a tool and one was a book) failed in large part due to complications created by Covid so that's worth taking into account as it was more or less out of the control of the creators. Generally, if a KS doesn't at least deliver what they advertised with 100% of their stretch goals at the end of the campaign and does so within at most 6 months of the release date they pitch I don't consider that project as scoring even a passing grade.
All this to say, I flat out don't believe the accounts saying I'm unlucky, if anything the rate of success I had, if measured against the "did it EVER deliver" yardstick, was higher than average. The data does not back up the anecdotes that others have mentioned here that most projects people backed turned out well, if so then my best guess as to why that might be is that those projects were already complete before the page went up. For such already complete projects, there wasn't any need to run such a KS campaign for any reason other than an easy but expensive way to market the thing (while also running the risk of trying to keep up with demand for push goals that expand the scope of projects in ways that are almost always unexpected and unanticipated) or ... you're just super lucky mixed with having an eye for how to pick the right projects that will succeed.
If they were making a film, music album, writing a play or creating a digital book/comic I'd have much more faith that this is something that can meaningfully be delivered in the state it is marketed as or even remotely close to the deliver date they will announce but as this is software that will invariably end up trying to raise a mere pittance of the cost to actually develop/finish the game I'm apt to just see it for what it is, a penny pinching marketing effort that even if it goes 500% of its goal will hardly cover the wages spent to keep a handful of developers paid for a single year.
Owlcat DOES get the honorable mention here as they did a great job on their games and actually put out what they said they would but again, that's an exception to the norm and since Owlcat decided they're done with Paizo IP and a different studio is behind this then I'm entirely unconvinced they have the resources, staff, motivation, or ability to meet my own personal standard for what it takes to earn my dollar for what amounts to a scam-prone reserve copy of a game... maybe I'm holding too high of a standard for such projects and that's skewing the discussion a bit causing us to talk past each other somewhat but... yeah, I think PF2 is the best thing Paizo has ever produced and have felt since the Playtest days that it is absolutely RIPE for development and adapting into a video game but... through KS? No thanks.
Honestly, your best bet for a Skyrim Character is probably just an Eldritch Trickster Rogue that leans heavily into the ET schtick... and that's not ONLY because deep down we all know that most Skyrim playthroughs that aren't just "BEEG WEAPON FACETANK EAT FOOD DRINK POTION SURVIVE" end up being Stealth Archers with at least a handful of handy spells to boot, it IS the main reason I say so, but it's not the ONLY reason since, generally, Skills and talents are really crucial to Skyrim game feel and character advancement and the Rogue does that kind of thing better than anyone else.
As much as I am happy to see more Paizo IP being adapted into other media like video games I have to say that no matter how much promise the KS project appears to have that I simply cannot trust it.
I've been a backer of eight KS projects/products over the years and also helped contribute to two others myself and literally all but one of them had results ranging from nearly a scam to a very simple bad value. Precisely zero of them were finished and shipped on time and three of the eight never delivered AT ALL unless you count an apology update post on the KS page as a deliverable.
The one truly GOOD experience I had with KS was for a hardcover copy of The Slumbering Tsar for PF1, it DID arrive a few weeks later than they estimated initially but that's understandable and is a far cry from all of the other issues with that platform.
The two KS that I contributed to... well, one went okay but the project, being software, was extremely niche and while it did get made it didn't really make the kind of fireworks we were hoping for. The other is partially fulfilled at this point but was SUPPOSED to be finished nearly four years ago and the other 2/3rds of the product hasn't physically materialized yet. The work on it was stressful for me but moreso the people in charge of the projects who I've known for a long time and it put them under an IMMENSE amount of pressure and expectation given the weird half-promise wink-wink "KS projects are NOT a product and you have no rights to demand you receive anything at all" sort of honor system that makes the whole thing operate...
All this to say, I won't be backing this and I have absolutely no hope that whatever comes out of the other end of the pipeline with arrive on time or be very ... good, at all. I surely hope I am wrong, it hits the ground running, and ends up being published to Steam so I can give it a shot once it is actually complete but... yeah, I don't know how ANY reputable company in their right mind still thinks it's anything but a red flag when someone approaches them trying to use their IP for their KS, the dropout rate on them is just way, WAY too insanely high.
A general question about the Ancestries that are presented: Are they generally described as civilized like the crew of ye'old airshippe who seem to all be high-minded scientist philosophers or do these creatures hail from a more wild culture that befits the theme of the book? As it stands without having hands on the book it almost seems like the spokespeople at the center of things are MORE civilized types than the average joe which runs the "wildness" factor of them into an airborne sandbar as they are at the helm of an extremely sophisticated piece of technology with, as I understand it, some extremely serious academic credentials backing that paints them heavily educated explorers plumbing the depths or the wilderness for discoveries both biological and anthropological.
Why do people want to revive old threads just to say "I disagree with you from several years ago and I had to say it" and how do they find the threads to disagree with in first place
Personally, I think it's kinda funny, if anything. It has never bothered me at all, at worst it was an opportunity to badmouth necromancers in a light-hearted way.
Can I make an Awakened Giant Earthworm PC and just hand-wavium all of the fuss about hands/feet by just using my long tube shaped body/tail/head to gesture and grab stuff?
I'm not talking about Earthworm Jim, I'm talking a fully 6 ft long pinkish Earthworm that can talk and swing some clubs or knives around.
Make em a Bard with the Medic dedication and probably a severe case of impostor syndrome and we're cooking with gas.
This reminds me of some experiences that people have had with the Alchemist where, especially in a PFS environment, teammates just outright refuse the support benefits that the Alch was able to provide because the other players just simply didn't want to fuss with changing their "rotation" (for lack of a better term) or eat the Action costs to take advantage of the benefits their support could offer.
I experienced this myself one time in a rare instance where I played PFS as I had mutagens and other things I made for the martial to buff themselves and while they accepted the items they actually never got used because the players just ... didn't want to spend their own Actions to enable the buffs.
Minus fourteen hundred dollars later my Jeep for all new brakes, pads, rotors, sway bars, some wheel mountings, lugnuts, and splash guard in my front wheel wells. The fluids are all checked and good, the tires are in great shape, tuned engine is running smoothly along with a recently refurbished transmission (that was another fifteen hundred a few months ago) plus a nice amateur vacuuming and I think the old girl is going to be safe and comfy for a nice cross country trip to see my parents with my two goblins.
A lot of friends and family have tried saying I need to just give up on maintaining the thing and buy a new one but here is the thing, I've spent a grand total of about 8k on that vehicle from buying it outright to all the proper repairs but where it is now, perfectly safe and rides great, to get another one from a dealership I'd have to trade this one in (and only likely get 2-3k out of it) and get a loan for at least another 10k. No freaking way, that's a giant waste of money, I'd much rather live with some rust around the edges, a TINY bit of creaking and some handiwork repairs on the fender (cable stitching from a crack caused by a low-speed deer "collision"), and a CD player that likes to skip on dirt roads than eat another monthly bill for something newer. All this really makes me with I would have taken better care of my (I think it was either a 94 or 98) lesabre, that vehicle was a freaking MONSTER and was a joy to ride, plus it had basically as much seating room as the jeep just with a smaller trunk and the whole thing sat significantly lower to the ground, some people think they drive like a boat but that never bothered me none.
It's only a 12-hour drive plus some extra for pit stops, food, and site seeing on the way but with my monsters in tow... wish me luck ya'll, last year when I took the same trip the kids were just too excited, and only slept about four hours each during the overnight leg of the trip and I'm doubtful they'll get more rest than that this time around.
The more that I think about all of this more I'm convinced that I don't think Flurry of Blows is going to survive the Remaster at all. Not just changing the name to distance the system from the OGL legacy that FoB came from but also to simply get rid of all the half-measure options on how to fix the strangeness surrounding it and to keep it from being better used on Classes other than Monk via poaching but to also free up a ton of "budget" so each of the to-be-released sub-class options that Monk is going to get so they can each do something new that is actually meaningfully powerful.
I'm sure something similar to FoB will be put out via an option you can purchase at level 1 or perhaps 4 via a Class Feat but in terms of the chassis, it just soaks up too much room for them to do anything interesting with Monk unless they see other significant nerfs, probably to their defensive stats.
Nah, you're not listening though, you haven't since the first page of this thread so it's not worth debating you.
I'll just say this though, you're injecting your own personal perception of how you FEEL things should be run instead of actually reading or following the printed guidance.
No matter what the GM proides to the PC the player should usually never be able to determine if the info that was given came from a CS/S/F/CF and I really can't think of any better example for how a vague statement can be offered that better showcases how that can be true than responding to a question about Weakness with "You don't recall" as it could be true and it has no weaknesses, it could be false and they DO have one, and it ALSO qualifies for the general you get no useful information if they DO have a Weakness which is required on a Failure.
They learn that information because of the consequences of the action they are taking, that information isn't revealed to them until they take the course of action itself.
It's perfectly acceptable to discover your bad info is bad after trying to leverage it but doubting the memory of your PC after they performed an RK because you (the player) think that information is faulty is metagaming and a big part of why the entire reason Secret Checks were implemented.
Learning after the fact and when you act upon the results of it to discover is completely normal and expected but knowing the results of your check before being able to test it or act on it is metagame trash behavior. If as a GM you tell your Rogue who did a SC RK on a Skeleton that they are Weak against Piercing damage and they pull out a Light Mace afterward ignoring the check then both the GM and Player will have failed at collaborative storytelling and working on even footing at the table.
There sure is a whole lot of assertions going on here that just plain ignore the fact that RK is a Secret Check and the Player should NEVER know what the die rolled or where it falls on the SF/F/S/CS spectrum.
"You don't recall any" is pretty much a perfect response for every result other than a CS depending on the truth of the matter and it falls short for a CS only because it doesn't provide any additional bonus info the PC should be given in such circumstances.
