Nobody will ever convince me after having lived as an early bird and also a night owl due to differing work and/or school schedules that life has any redeeming value in being out and about before 9 am, period.
I choose a more balanced life waking up no earlier than 630 and staying awake as long as I can keep my eyelids open, typically around midnight or a bit later (I've NEVER felt restful on more than 7 hours of sleep, it only makes me feel like trash) since I have kids and can't live as the night owl I'd prefer to be.
Anyone who says being an early bird, to me, always sounds like they're not only trying to convince others but also themselves that it's actually better much like taking freezing cold showers, eating vegan by choice, or decaf coffee. Nah dude, thinking it's good is a trauma response from you choosing to suffer through that long enough to trick your own brain but you're not getting me with that.
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.
Busy couple of weeks between my children's schools (son is in a great pre-k preschool that I absolutely love) getting into full swing, fundraiser season kicking off like CRAZY (why do they pack it all in the first few months?!), homecoming, community events for the kids (turns out being a parent volunteer involves you being asked to help with TONS of things with massive silent guilt applied if you can't/won't help with every little thing... *grumble-grumble entitled unemployed/trad moms grumble-grumble*), redoing EVERY bit of important registration information logged for my finances, address, and the like (long story that I don't really want to get into here), and ironing out a new general daily life/work schedule to make it all work.
On top of that, a game I bought EA for years ago launched last month that I loved and has only gotten WAY better as it went to full 1.0 release, Satisfactory, which has been sucking up an absolute metric beltload of my free time and it all added up to being more or less absent here which is, fine I guess, but certainly feels a bit weird. Anyone who enjoys designing factories, logistics and/or progression-building games should have a great time with it and this time around this one actually has a remarkably great plot hook that makes you want to keep plowing ahead with mysterious stuff to uncover, I'd highly recommend it. If games like Factorio or the like scratch an itch for you as a gamer it's a fantastically well-done addition to the genre that actually brings the 3rd dimension into things in a PROPER manner while also providing satisfying (heh) movement tech, combat, and exploration into the mix in near equal parts. Coffee Stain Studios put it out and like their other games, Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Sim, and Valhiem it's been an extraordinary new spin on the targeted niche it's aiming for, 8.5 Stars out of 10 so far.
I'd be surprised if they did that. Shifting the genre of the core game from classic sword & sorcery to steampunk like that would be a major change. It is also very much not the direction PF2E developers are taking the game over the next year or two (I'm thinking Tian Xia and Godsrain), so we have zero indication (AFAIK) that the folks developing the line are leaning in tha direction.
So, I'd expect mechs and the like to remain in splatbooks and supplements. But I'd upvote for production of one of those with expanded steampunk, in the future.
Paizo generally uses the kitchen sink approach for Pathfinder and Starfinder as well, there is no reason whatsoever that it couldn't be made, shoot by canon it exists alongside early 1900's EARTH in cosmology and there is even an official AP that visits Russia as part of the story.
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.
Folks, if you inherit a 2017 desktop complete with the most expensive stuff you could buy off the shelf (with the exception of one super cheap and NON MATCHING RGB fan (that wasn't even the same size as the rest which wasn't even PLUGGED IN) at that time that was owned by someone who knew little to nothing about BIOS versions do yourself a favor and just sort all that junk out before leaning on it as your daily driver.
I was having a weird performance issue and fan throttling junk along with FPS DIVES very occasionally so I started to dig a bit deeper than just my initial getting it rolling once Win10 was installed with good enough drivers and found that the BIOS was from that time, 2017, and even the great RAM sticks I had weren't able to operate at their full speed.
Took a day of headaches after failing to EZ Flash the BIOS through the internet completely NUKING the BIOS and Boot functions which required doing a manual USB update and more command prompt work than I wanted to do (thank the gods for YouTube walkthroughs created, of course, by an English speaking Indian) but I'm all set now and things are working even better than I'd have hope to accomplish.
Once again, as this topic appears to have reared its head, I'll chime in to say that I NEVER interpreted the original language to allow Weapons to benefit from more abilities than is permitted normally on a weapon.
Getting a free property rune on a Weapon that you can swap out every day (and save you TONS of gold in the process) gives you an immense amount of functional utility, especially if you aren't the type to blindly just push ahead into areas/combats/dungeons/enemies that you know nothing about or just fail to even try to be prepared for.
Yes, it means you can't have X+1 Runes on your Champion Weapon where X is the number that is permitted via the Fundamental Rune rules but... why was that ever a question? The terminology update here isn't a nerf at all, it's a clarification that eliminates a silly interpretation that posited that Blade Ally Champions the best candidate to wield a capped-out Magic Weapon because by that logic it could be "overclocked" to do more than any Weapon is ever intended to be.
A bit of a dead-horse beating rant:
It was another hiccup in the rules that was ironed out over time that was caused by a failure to be more strict in usage of purely mechanical language when describing what things do/are, a flaw that has been patched up significantly with errata and the Remaster implementations but underneath it all it still exists despite many saying it's intentional so as to allow more "flexibility" at the game table to allow for different GM interpretations which is, to be candid, a cop-out load of malarkey excuse because they weren't willing to prescribe a truly universal, codified, and strictly followed manner in which rules could/should have been written with to deny as much ambiguity as possible. Yes, that means the various rules would have had less flowery language and that every author would be forced to work within a tight box of phrasing and words that are specifically defined in the Core books but it would have come with consistency, understanding, and above all else eliminated countless opportunities for different interpretations on how X or Y is "intended" to work now that direct developer feedback within the community is considered a no-no, generally because of toxicity, argumentativeness between fans and creators, and also for the purpose of eliminating time wasted at their office justifying and explaining things on the forums. In short, they decided it was better to allow more freedom for slapdash "natural language" and point to a MUCH larger and more imposing "rule 0" than had ever been seen before, ask your GM is good advice when trying to do things that operate outside of the bounds of what IS written but in PF2 it was pumped full of steroids and pointed to as being the way to write off things that objectively were supposed to mean one thing but weren't written in any iron-clad way which allowed for grubby little fingers and minds to insist on alternative interpretations out of either misunderstanding, vagueness, or even bad faith assertions of players and GMs who wanted things to work they way that THEY thought was the coolest/best/most powerful.
The group typically takes however long it takes to rest when there isn't time or locale-based threats and pressure such as during any exploration style phase of the game such as traveling roads, wilderness, and the like.
In situations where the party is decidedly within enemy territory, be it a dungeon, a building, or part of town controlled by their opponents factions or otherwise is generally populated by those who would go on the offense if the group is located then the party will either use their daily/consumable resources to recover quickly to patch up and continue if things aren't dire or in situations where they absolutely need to take a full 10 minute (or longer) rest they retreat to a safe distance or hole up somewhere that they know (or believe) is defensible/hidden from enemy eyes.
So, yeah, it always depends on the circumstances but I will say that the group absolutely does not have the habit of sitting down for a 10-15 minute breather between every encounter or combat when they're within spitting distance of other enemies. The rule of thumb, if I had to give one, would be that if it would take less than the required 10 minutes that a real short rest requires of leisurely walking around in a place the enemy is comfortable/at-home being in for the party to be discovered (much less the far more common situation where their presence is known inside of such a place after the first handful of encounters when the entire are should be on high alert and probably at least actively snooping on the group) they will not even attempt to rest there as that is a recipe for being ambushed without your guard up, weapons drawn, or even remotely ready to act in a tactical manner.
... 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).
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.
Poison can be very potent and useful IF the group is willing to adopt a very uncommon approach to battle which is remarkably effective but most feel isn't very heroic/fun.
Hit and run, guerilla tactics, and tactical retreat once you've weakened/hurt/scared your opponents. Most gamers don't ever even think about retreat when playing these days and groups often would rather just face tank threats that could wipe the floor with them while losing one or more party members permanently than to do some chip damage, take out a few mooks, and potentially injure/poison/cripple the important enemies before backing off and/or just flat out running away.
If the party has a mind to ambush enemies, toss out some persistent nasty conditions, poisons, and maybe take out a few enemies before retreating to a safe area/distance where they'd not be easily followed you'd find that it makes even combats where you're outnumbered and are facing a stronger enemy than you could normally take without great pain/prep/buffing FAR easier and in most situations where the enemies don't have an experienced healer of their own with curatives/elixirs/antidotes (which is extremely rare) practically a trivial affair.
I started this last night, got it through GOG so that downloading it was easy as pie, no hiccups with that at all.
A few gripes I have: A complete and utter lack of GUI scaling, a FoV slider, graphic quality/performance options, a disable screen shake or motion blur option. There is also no real tutorialization in the intro section and I had to look up how to turn on my torch via google which wasn't great.
The NPC interactions have some very strange cutaway timings with each NPC speaking after another starting their line of dialog less than a half second after the last one finishes, perhaps it's a bit cleaner a bit further into the game but it was awkward as all get out in the first two script interactions. Mind, this is only about 2 hour in with quite a bit of just wandering/sightseeing rather than steaming toward any story.
Other than that it's very cool, I love the game feel of it, it's FO4 to a tee for sure, the new perks and setting flavor are really a breath of fresh air on FO and I'm genuinely excited to see how the game works out with enemies, challenges, and the like in a region that lacks the mutants and other madness created by the forced evolution virus.
My credit union doesn't do this, I had to change all my subscriptions myself like a peasant.
Same, in fact, one time I had a gym I signed up for REFUSE to allow cancelation of the membership and also a mystery google one subscription I couldn't locate coming out of my card so I just went down to my CU, had them completely cancel/void the card and issue a new one and number, worked like a charm.
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.
Yeah, I'm with Keirine here, to me this is concept stinks of nonsense where the player is just trying to abuse the Ancient Elf benefit that should never have been printed in the first place.
Everyone else gave the correct answer being, "ask your GM" so the only advice you can really get here is the opinions of others who play the game, and since that's the case my 2c is that this is silly bunk nonsense and wouldn't fly, it seems clear to me that you're just trying to flex in more free Class Feats than you'd normally get without any downsides, not to seem confrontational but I don't buy the "flavor" you say that you're aiming for here at all.
If they publish something like this I honestly think there is a case to be made for actual cash to fill the role, not COINS but actually high-quality paper(cloth) bills, you can call them dollars, sub-cred, whatever you like, but have them be technologically and magically difficult or impossible to manufacture and be worth 1/100th of a credit and carried around in their person. It is like real life where it is impractical to carry around cash for large/expensive purposes but the idea that you need to whip out your card/computer for EVERY little thing doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, especially in situations/places where power/electricity and net connectivity isn't really needed/easy to get.
Blade Ally (now Blessing of Armament) got a nerf I haven’t seen anyone mention. Blade Ally used to give you the effect of the rune. Now Armament gives the weapon the rune. That means it won’t stack with an existing rune on the weapon past the limit of the fundamental runes. This hurt my thrown weapon switch-hitter build, because I can no longer have a returning rune and keep up with everyone else in terms of the damaging runes.
I don't know about the other nerfs you are talking about and have no real input on them but I have ALWAYS been on the side of things that the "effect" was simply there due to an editorial failure and that stacking Runes on equipment in a manner that was impossible according to the normal rules was an error, never intended, and basically a loophole/exploit that Paizo never intended to create. I've never allowed it, just like how I disallowed Runes to be applied to Magical Staffs, it was an edge case caused by a failure to clearly phrase the rules properly so I don't see it so much as a nerf as it is cleaning up the RAW to be sure that the intended rules were followed.
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.
Sad noises @ Crystal, I'm on Primal/Leviathan, and given the renaissance that game is undergoing transfers to anything except Dynamis a no-go. What you mentioned about the Job quests though... yeah, I am personally guilty of that too, I haven't bothered to do my last two Job quests yet despite missing out on the abilities... I should really get around to that soon.
The fact that they went with OWA from 7 instead of Laughing Mad from 6 by itself has me cackling as if 6 is even that much older. Not to put Megalovania down or anything, Toby Fox put in SERIOUS work in his game but I can't help but wonder how many sleepless nights the insane stanbase caused him after the passion project went so super viral even the Pope was forced to at least learn about it.
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.
Nobody should ever trust anything that allegedly, or even factually, happens on the various dumpster fire unofficial (not that any of them actually do anything to flag that they ARE unofficial) Discord servers and/or subreddits.
There is one actual Paizo Discord but even that is not intended to be used as an official channel for staff to communicate with the community with the exception that they use those spaces to share ACTUAL announcements that are made either here on this website or as a method to quickly communicate information about things related to conventions and events in a timely manner.
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.
I was expecting this thread to get busy after the blog yesterday. I was not disappointed. I cannot hope to keep up with all the math you all are throwing around, but I appreciate not letting your emotions get the better of you.
Then the only reasonable course of action is to remove all the nerdiest posts, clearly if they can't be understood then they're surely up to no good!
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.
They are straight up going to need to put out some type of guide, webpage, spreadsheet, or tool for people who BOTH did and did not already remaster convert their Alchemists to figure out how to handle refunding 100% of their purchases for preexisting characters because the changes to costs, all sorts of feats, existing alchemical items, no longer existing formulas, still existing ones, and equipment will make for getting existing ones money back in any semblance of a fair manner the biggest headache in the world when upgrading to the PC2 version... the item recons for cost as well as "this doesn't exist anymore" stuff is going to be powers of magnitude worse for just one well build Alchemist than it would have been to convert an entire party of non Alchemists beforehand...
Organized play should just put out an announcement that any existing Alchemists should get X amount of coin based on what level they are PLUS 100% of the money and items they'd have ever gained from report sheets so they can do a full and complete refund and rebuild IMO.
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.
I think you're mistaking the term blind in this situation to mean something it does not.
When someone has a blackout emotional/rage event they aren't actually unaware of their surroundings or senses while they're in the midst of it, if anything those senses are actually heightened. What is actually going on in these situations is that their emotive state they lose awareness of their OWN actions and their mind fails to recall what they did during such an event, during it they are fully able to handle, move, and sense their environment and they are functionally just unable/unwilling to analyze on a critical level the meaning or consequences of their actions. Somebody having a blackout rage episode who acts out isn't unable to see, hear, or react to their environment and wouldn't walk into a pole or wall because of their state, it's just that they won't have a clear picture of events AFTER it happens or be able really to explain/justify them.
Perception is the right call here but I would advise that conflating this kind of disassociation during emotional outbursts with simply being truly enraged (even for a barb) doesn't really make that much sense given that kind of thing usually only occurs in individuals with serious mental or personality disorders rather than the average joe who is just really really angry. If this person wants to play into that type of individual then, in all seriousness, they shouldn't play a barb at all as they are undeniably able to far better control of their mental state and emotions than most everyone else in the setting given that they can willingly "turn on/off" their intense emotional state of rage which is actually an extraordinary ability that most of humanity is literally incapable of doing without serious meditative training and therapy.
I'm going to reserve judgment here, but just like the Justin Roilan accusations that turned out to be complete bunk, I think that the allegations alone are going to be enough to ruin NG's career even it it's determined that nothing illegal occurred.
I'm not saying I disbelieve the claims, after all, he is a wildly successful and wealthy known pervert, but investigations will end up getting to the bottom of it in time. I do agree that power dynamics like are at the center of this story are troubling for sure but anyone with half a brain has to come to grips with the reality that the rich and influential people have and always will take whatever they think they can unless they're met with direct and usually forceful rejection, it's not a nice reality but it is immutable human nature.
I will say though that it feels like a very dark timeline where folks have to feel like they need to either choose to believe a tale of sexual exploitation and abuse or that women are making false allegations for their own benefit.
Anyone has a good recommendation which free antivirus should I pick for windows 11, once the free trial of pre-installed mcaffe ends?
Avast? TotalAV? BitDefender?
Are there any other ones that are free, instead of offering a short time free trial?
AVG has a forever free shareware function that does 95% of the valuable stuff that the pro version has. Unless the company that runs it is bought out or is passed onto a new leadership team who decides to gut it and nuke their years of good will you can't go wrong with it.
Nobody who buys a VTT product or comparable item that "includes" a PDF is getting a real discount on the PDF at all, at best the company is taking a cut off the bottom line of the product that they are actually making.
The whole talk of getting a "discounted" price when you buy such a product that requires a PDF if you already own the PDF is smoke and mirrors marketing doublespeak, Paizo is either getting the full and normal price for the PDFs when you buy such a product or you are not being charged for that component of the product if you prove you already own it. There is no discount at all if you own the PDF, you're simply paying the company from who you buy that module/add-on for for the data and service they provide.
Anyone who tells you differently is either ignorant of how it actually works or has bought the marketing schtick/spin without understanding/caring how it functions. Frankly, I'm shocked the TMS of all people would have fallen into one of those camps because they are almost never so far off base that they're no longer even in the stadium.
There is no such thing as a free PDF, Paizo is always getting their money and you are paying for it regardless of if it's bundled with an external product or you already bought it previously and have it added to your Paizo Account. The only exception to this is for people who buy the various Paizo Subscriptions that ship hardcover books to you and provide the PDF at no additional cost.
20% APR is just about average for a standard credit card. I don't think it's ethical but thinking you'd get one issued to you sponsored by a big box wholesale store with anything less than that is, to be charitable, decidedly optimistic.
You can get much better rates from credit unions and the like or for loans that have collateral attached to them but for a traditional sort of "I'm sorry, I know you're just checking out with your groceries but I do have to read this CC pitch script for everyone" credit card I don't really know what else you expected regardless of your actual CS.
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...
My money is on neither the PC1 nor GMC definitions being correct once PC2 drops because both of them are insufficient to answer even half of the questions surrounding how it works.
I predict that they put out a completely overhauled Splash trait that, finally, has some real meat to is that dispels all of the questions and weirdness surrounding it, and at the same time, that version will be added as errata to PC1 and GMC.
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.
Sorcerer plus the Psychic Dedication to boost their Focus Pool and give them empowered Cantrips is hard to pass up for anyone who doesn't already have something else specific in mind when it comes to trying to spend your Class Feats efficiently. That is in large part because the first few mandatory MCA PSY Feats you have to get to escape the Archetype for another are just leagues ahead of options that any other Archetype offers.
