Tikkle answers even as he floats away. "Plucked it from my own belly after the previous owner had no use for it. I'll let you look it over sometime!"
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A deep sadness alights in Tikkle's eyes. "I'm so sorry. You favor her countenance. She was a kind person, and had the loveliest smile. I'm sure it would suit you to try it on sometime." he said with a wink.
"Unfortunately I can't bring you to the Wildcat tonight. I'm just contracted to get you across the river safe. Perhaps soon, though. I'll be back in Kintargo in a few weeks, after some business in the Shackles." The Longboat is large enough for the six of you easily, with Gremlin nervously curled up in one of your laps. It has no oars, however, only a small black sail adorned with a single white pinion. Just as you may be thinking that the sail would never propel the boat at that size or in this still air, Tikkle blows into it, and a magical wind seeems to drive the boat forward smoothly and silently. After a moment, the incorrigible dog splashes into the river and paddles silently behind. Tikkle, wrought with silent mirth over the dogged pursuit of your companion, guides the boat expertly around the lantern light of the watch along the Yollubis. The boat drifts lazily downriver and gradually across. Near the other shore, he speaks up a bit to Septima. "I don't mean to pry, milady, but, would you perhaps be of the House Gallus?"
"Well if it isn't the little Gremlin what tried to sink me!" The hood falls away to reveal the toothy grin of the ashy colored catfolk sailor. "Good eye, lass." He flicks the bone. "Reminds me of a bone I have to pick with ol' Barzie. Speaking of which, I got a message that a group of gals might share the sentiment and have a way to prove it. I assume that'd be you? Allow me to introduce myself, Captain Tikkle Ashcoat, at your service." He bows with an exaggerated flourish and kisses the back of Alexis' hand. "Anyway, next patrol comes around soon. Everyone in! More chat later I suppose."
I'll assume the Yordles will catch up eventually. First post is up! If it's not too much trouble, would you mind putting a few important stats into your header? HP, AC, Perception, and/or important consumable stats are my suggestion. I'll post in Tikkle's alias to show my preferred array and give a template if you wish. If you click through to the profile you'll see how I did it. Just makes it significantly easier for me to gm from a phone when necessary.
I'm gonna have one of my probable NPC's put up an app just as an example and because I can't sleep. Tikke, the Swashbuckling Catfolk Character Description.
Me and League.
Jayce, Shen, Katarina, Yasuo, and Heimerdonger can all go to hell. Here's a writing sample from another campaign for Tikkle:
The Little Girl:
As Tikkle approached the docks, he noticed a lone little catfolk girl standing at the edge of the road leading to the ships. "Ahoy lass! What are ya doin' out 'ere? Don't you know Cats are scared of water?"
"How rude!" She said before turning around. "I'm not a cat, I'm a- You're catfolk too! And a sailor! So you're clearly not afraid of water." Tikkle chuckled at how well spoken the little one was and comically looked both ways and held a finger to his mouth as if it was a secret. "What brings you out here love? Where are your parents?" "Mummy's asleep, but I had a nightmare. My papa's on a ship, and I dreamed that he didn't come back. I dunno why I came to look for him, he's not supposed to be back for another week." Tikkle grabbed a scrap of rope from the dock and kneeled in front of the little kit. He started working on a complicated knot as he spoke. "Have you ever seen the bright orange butterflies that come here every summer? They fly for miles and miles on their own, some even all the way to the mainland. But at the end of every summer, they all come back to the place they were born, because that's where their heart is. That's why sailors make these," He holds up the finished butterfly knot, "To remind us that we always go back to where we left our heart. Your Papa will come back to you, because where else could his heart be but with his beautiful little kit here in Tarth?" "I'm not a kit! I'm thirteen!" she exclaimed. "My mistake young miss!" Tikkle then bowed to her, presenting the butterfly knot to her as a gift."For you. Now, may I walk you home my dear?" NOT OPTIONAL
Just for Kicks ;)
I was among the ones affected by the Mythweavers crash, so I have no crunch. However, I would like to submit Tikleurious Renz Aka Tikkle. Certainly his chipper demeanor is ill fit for such a horrid story, but how much more fitting could it be than to dampen the brightest mood? He is a Human Swashbuckler, primarily Charismatic, and secondarily dextrous. (Sorry if you see the profile before I change that. Old character living on in spirit) How did your parents die?
What is your greatest fear?
What is your greatest wish?
Who is your least favorite scholar and why is it Professor Togren?
I have not screened the other posts to be sure my question hasn't been asked, BUT...
Also, it would be nice if you'd all take advantage of the headers to track HP, AC, Perception, Saves, initiative, and important ability limits. Keep them up to date! I'll sometimes roll these things for you to save time. Here's Tikkle, as an example of a header stat block. He may make a guest appearance in the campaign as well.
Here's the old Tikkle. Just to put that out there.
Well. This is Tikkle. The campaign he was just in died, and it made me sad. therefore, I want to take another stab at him. He is not the most outdoorsy character, but after years on the open ocean, it seems time to him to find his roots and what may have happened to his father. I present to you Tikkle Ashcoat, Catfolk Swashbuckler and Pirate captain. His current stats I believe are level seven, and he is very poorly worked for what a Swashbuckler should be. That said, I kinda want a chance to redo him right. Character sheet link is in the header. Also, are you one of those that is against multiple submissions? I have other ideas that I've been itching to play, and ultimately I can squeeze into any party comp.
Tikkle takes a moment to breathe and get his priorities back in line. "Right, Regroup, explain better, then run off without a plan. got it. Where the hell was Gashka going?"
"I'm starting to think that each of us have something to find here. This is mine." He shows the map.
Tikkle looks up at the group with a hard set to his jaw. "We make for the center of the island, and we will likely be attacked on the way. Make ready all." His tone further emphasized that it was not a discussion. To Druuth, he says "I have reason to avoid the exact center of the island, but my destination is a few hundred yards east of it. Do you think you can point us in a way that will bring us there safely?"
"I see..." Tikkle pulls out the map and opens it, hoping the trek inland revealed something interesting.
"Aye. My treasure sense is tingling. I'll not run without having seen more of this place. Druuth, you said you have shelter? Might we impose a bit longer? Also, are there any other intelligent folk on the island, or maybe signs thereof?"
"I deserved that..." Tikkle mumbles from his upside down state.
With an incredibly delayed reaction, Tikkle leaps toward Terra with an exaggerated battle yell. He extends his brilliant energy rapier, but shuts it off at the last second so that only the bladeless hilt touches her. "Hahaa! You all should see the looks on your faces!" He laughs and skirts the inevitable punches from Gashka and Terra. Wiping tears from his eyes, he adds "But seriously T, looks good on you. Is it magical? I mean like one of those that helps you do stuff."
*Hugs Gashka* :3
Before entering, Tikkle answers Gashka with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. After, He stands at the ready, sniffing about for any other creatures in the area while the brainy types investigate.
Back for good for real guys. I'm so sorry about it all, but I survived. :)
"So Gashka's mama and papa were bigtime, huh? Does that make me some kinda step-prince?" Tikkles guffaw sounds behind the group. "Nah, I don't like the sound of that any more than she does." He gets caught up on the rest of the details during the hike and focuses on comforting Gashka until the stoners show up. Words fail him in comforting Gashka, so he just holds her and lets her speak her mind. When it seems that Flynt is doing ok with her, he moves to stand beside Terra. "The child of earth is a part of our fellowship, and would not be separated from us. Right Terra?" He nudges her and nods, indicating that she just needs to affirm the statement to the stoners.
More of a slight exaggeration I'm afraid. But not to worry, I never followed through, so unless cirrhosis of the liver can kill me at 25, I'll come out of it like I always do. Sorry to worry you.
Guys I'm sorry. Life happened, I have yet to succeed in killing myself, so, if it's ok, I'd like to jump back in. By Monday, life should be back in order, or I'll be dead. Anyway, to explain Tikkle's silence, I propose that shortly before we saw the Orc, Tikk had to turn back to signal the second landing party and didn't think to let you all know. Now, with a few roughnecks guarding the beach and tether, he's hustling back to the group, wondering who they are talking to.
Seeing the approaching danger almost before it happens, Tikkle feints being caught off guard and activates his blade at the last moment. With a flashy twirl, the encroaching mud freezes and shatters in several places.
In case of Atk:
GUYS WAYFINDER WORKS AGAIN!!! -Posted with Wayfinder
"Chris or someone, can you tell me whether this will cut them?" Tikkle raises his brilliant energy rapier, which can only harm living material. -Posted with Wayfinder
"Whoa easy there. We're not leaving the beach, just a few feet so we know nothing's waiting on us hidden somewhere here. We'll all head out together once we're set." Tikkle breathes for a moment and goes through the process for a landing party taught to him some years ago. Okay Tikkle, Three sets of three. Don't get anyone killed. One: Ship. Is she vulnerable, will the crew stay, and how quickly can we get back to her?
"That last one's a dead ringer here" He whispers to himself. He takes Flynt, Terra, and Jin to step off a safe zone and check the tree line.
"Oh and by the way, mates, as I figured the map is working different on the island. Take a look."
Tikkle checks the hitch on the tether and signals his crew. "Thanks T, it's nice not having to make guesswork. You and Flynt come with me to check our immediate surroundings and then we'll set off." After a second, Tikkle adds "Jin, you too, with the magicky eyes." As they gather, he pulls out the map to check if maybe it changes when actually on the island.
"Gashka. You know I'd die for you. I won't let you hurt any of us, but I know I won't have to. Look me in the eyes and listen, I know you could never hurt me. No matter how crazy you get, that bug heart of yours won't let you hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. You don't scare me at all." Tikkle holds her shoulders as he speaks, and then embraces her.
Tikkle smells the air. "Beautiful as it is, I don't like this. It's not natural, and not natural seems to get my crew killed." His tail swishes back and forth in an agitated manner.
Well I didn't get a chance to chime in earlier, so here goes. This is one of my favorite campaigns I've ever had on here, but yeah it did need some thought and a re work. I feel like even though we have a great party dynamic, we tend to beat around the bush. I'd say once you get a gameplan, don't be afraid to railroad us a little if we get off track or are sitting around. So far as the references, I like them, and I use such things in my own campaigns, but the trick is to make sure the characters have a point and develop like their own NPC's, not requiring prior knowledge. So far as the Party, we have a fantastic dynamic and we're all pretty good for roleplay and such. We do spend a crapton of time on my ship, which makes it tough sometimes, but I think it's more that not everyone knows how much creative license we can take. Any time I don't have something to do, I just make something up that needs doing. That would be chaos at a table, but here we have time to think it out and GMSCV can improvise around us just fine if we don't go crazy. I'm excited to continue with you all :)
she speaks truf. hopefully they know about the issue and are fixing it. just got to my pc today.
He rolls out of the perch, freefalling until slowing his landing with some rigging at the last second. Landing in front of Gashka, he starts. "I know what you're going to say, love, but yes, I had to. My crew is the best. We work with precise teamwork and we're the fastest crew on the seas for it. But certain things have to be punished harder. He stirred up trouble for weeks, and striking a mate bears a lashing. Even I've paid that one once or twice. He'll live." -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle slips out of bed long before Gashka will awake and goes to do his least favorite part of being a captain. As the others awake and emerge, they see the man who'd made the fuss the night before tied to the foremast, ten new stripes on his back. Tikkle is with Jeggs in the crow's nest, sulking a bit. When Chris begins his assigned duty, an Elven officer approaches him. "You're the healer, yes? Captain's orders, you are to see that that man's wounds do not become infected, but you are to be careful not to ease his pain in the least." -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle, not really knowing what to do, just holds her as he eats and converses with the other sailors. -Posted with Wayfinder
"Aye, grub it is." -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle was busy enjoying Gashka's embrace when Jeggs interrupted. He sighs and continues at the curious look from her. "We broke into his house. He snuck up on me and started hitting me with a pair of sticks." -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle was about to answer when a commotion broke out. "I said gimme more you old croon!" cried a sailor at Sticks. The sailor tries to swing a stool at Sticks, but the cook was unnaturally quick. Raising a cooking knife he hits thsailors wrist, deflecting the attack, and stepped in with the knife against the sailor's throat. "Je, si kufanya fujo, Sticks. Mimi itabidi kumfundisha somo lake baadaye." Tikkle says calmly. Sticks shuffles off to the kitchen as men take the loud one to the brig. "I found Sticks a long time ago. Following an old memory, I went looking for someone who knew my father. I finally found the place, only to find it barricaded. Turns out, he had been accused of poisoning some arse and needed a way out. I just hate that what was left of my papas machine was too big to bring. But Sticks has been around ever since, holdin' his own with these rascals." Kittehspeaks:
"Don't make a mess, Sticks. I'll teach him his lesson later." -Posted with Wayfinder
Aww I sorry... ice up! Btw I'm gonna post soon I was just waiting on a question answer :) -Posted with Wayfinder
"Sounds like a plan, love." Tikkle says as he takes her arm and leads her below deck. -Posted with Wayfinder
Thanks Homie. -Posted with Wayfinder
-Posted with Wayfinder
So just out of curiosity, what is everyone looking for on the island? Catnip and Rum Tacos. Is that a thing? Tikkle wants it to be a thing. In all seriousness, and obvious want of something to defeat the Piper aside, Tikkle would love nothing more than a Pegasus Sail. -Posted with Wayfinder
Looking back, he sees Jeggs at the helm. "I think I can walk with you, love."he says calmly. Walking her to the bow, he shows her the reef. "see the strip of white there beneath the waves? During the day that's a pretty colorful reef. Look just out over it there, and if we're lucky... Aha! Dolphins playing just after the sunset inside the reef. See there?" -Posted with Wayfinder
Woo! I have signal in my cabin! I should be able to post most nights at least! :D -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle grins. "I knew it was a good idea to let those bards aboard. Sailing with theme music is awesome!" -Posted with Wayfinder
Tikkle ties off the sheet he had pulled and joins the two at the railing, catching the tail of their conversation. "Aye. I didn't really want to either, but we could get caught up in avoiding other ships and lose our window. Brazenly flying the black flag will make merchants steer away and even the port authority will know we mean business. The only bad luck we might have is pirate hunters, and I don't think I have a big enough bounty on my head right now to warrant their attention." He looks around at the crew and adds "And I swear they work harder flying true colors." -Posted with Wayfinder
Well guys. It's that time of year again. I'll be at camp for just over two months starting Wednesday. This is a different camp at which my signal is worse and I'm not sure when my free time is. I'll try not to let a camper smash my phone again, but yaknow. .. I'll let you know as soon as I do about how often I can post, but I'm expecting one small window a day. GMSCV, feel free to move me along if ever I go MIA for long. :D -Posted with Wayfinder
I would rather build and play a PF1 character but GM a PF2 campaign.
Starting at odd levels up to 7th? A commitment to have most content available without boons, including ancestries? Two thumbs up in my book. I stopped playing OP back in like 2020 when the big drama about playable ancestries and the high XP costs to purchase boons for them was at its height. I decided that I wasn't going to play OP until that was addressed. This looks like it addresses my concerns, and I look forward to playing SFS 2E. Any chance you'll give me a way to play kitsune in SF2 with low/reasonable effort? ;3
Very excited to see y'all get your books next week. ^^ I had a lot of fun writing Gravelands Survivors, and there's a lot I love about this book. It has some of my favorite prose work out of any of the 3-4 adventures I've written for Paizo thus far. I'm curious to see if anyone can find the line I like the most. (Hint: It's in the opener, since most adventure prose is about setting the scene and all. :3)
Huzzah! Hopefully y'all survive this one. >:)
WHOA, there's no more product exhibit compatibility list for the new Paizo compatibility license? That's FANTASTIC news.
The Dead Walk seems SUPER cool and fun!
It's a lovely story! Now I need to know—how long does it take Shirren to go from larval size to adult-size like Chk Chk? GIVE ME ALIEN SPECIES LIFE CYCLES STARFINDER TE— *gets carried away by vulkarisu, frothing*
I'm looking forward to this for my swashbuckler. I think, "You always get Panache on a fail," is better than having scaling skills, personally. It means that when I roll my best skill and do poorly, I still get something. Having a higher bonus isn't going to help me when the die roll is low.
The whole, "Androids don't need to breathe" thing works fine in a game where everyone gets that blanket immunity via their armor. But honestly? That blanket immunity SUCKS like Thursty said several posts up. If you ask me, Armor is too important in Starfinder 1E; you basically have no ability to dodge or defend yourself against attacks on your own without it, and it literally renders entire chapters of the Core Rulebook into wastes of paper. Honestly, androids needing to breathe is fine in my opinion. I do, however, think that both teams need to look at giving a better benefit than just, "You get +1 to saves against this specific thing that monsters with your trait are generally immune to!" I know that one of the Three Action System's mantras is that, "Every +1 is important!" but that doesn't change the fact that a +1 in a sea of +1s doesn't feel fun. I'd love to see it change to something like, "If you get a critical failure against a disease, you get a failure instead. If you get a success, you get a critical success instead." I think that would feel a lot more fun and impactful then a small numeric bonus, but that's just in my opinion.
As a freelancer who worked on a significant amount of Starfinder First Edition, this document actually reinforces the vibe I got playing the envoy at PAXU last month—Starfinder 2E feels WAY more like Starfinder 1E then Pathfinder 2E felt like Pathfinder 1E. Like, for starters every feat and heritage in this document is a thoughtful conversion of at least one of SF1's alternate racial traits. Great example is the android heritage that lets you pick a function your body was designed for and specialize in it; I wrote that alternate racial trait in SF1's Character Operations Manual. Contrast that to a lot of what's been going on in Pathfinder 2E where the design often feels like it goes out of its way to avoid legacy conversions, and this has me pretty excited. I agree with some of the points that have been made about the conversion. Yeah, the system plays differently. My Starfinder 1E players can regularly take fights up to CR +4 with a lot of damage taken, but not too much difficulty, so the math is going to be pretty different there. And I definitely prefer everything about the PF1 Soldier to the PF2 Soldier we saw in the first Field Test, but the Developers have been pretty clear that their internal documents for the Playtest have changed substantially. I like the direction this team is going in, and I'm excited to see where they take Starfinder 2E.
God DAMN the rizz on page 27's illustration, am I right?
Unarmed Exemplars, by beloved! Here's hoping that ikon works with weird unarmed strikes like foxfire and seed pod!
Hey there, it's your GM here to tease you because for the first 5 levels of Teenaged Wasteland your mystic was a luddite who hated technology and preferred that his magic be "old fashioned." Fun factoid, as Dustin's GM I can confirm that this class OOZES with flavor from his kitsune mystic in our home games.
Title says it all. I'm getting ready to play my exemplar on Saturday, and this is by far the coolest class in this game. It literally has everything I wish other martial classes had: 1) It's not weapon locked. I know there's concerns about it not having an unarmed attack ikon yet, but Mike Sayre's comments make it pretty clear that it's on the table. That means this is one of the only martial classes that has support for every possible weapon style. Most other classes get locked into specific weapons like an MMORPG classes, and the exemplar can just do anything and has support for everything. I would like to see this as the standard for PF2 classes going forward. 2) Cinematic as Hell. The class just DOES cool things and makes you feel cool as you level up. I'm a big fan of the ability that just drops lightning bolts onto people. It's also got a ton of neat feat options. That's it.That's all I've ever wanted. This is by far my favorite martial class, and I can't wait to report back on it after our game on Saturday!
Jason Keeley and I are both huge fans of creepypasta and weird Internet things like Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared! I was really excited to use the data constructs in the Dataverse in that way.
...B-but I like alignment :( I don't like alignment personally, but I don't think its a matter of your preference versus my preference. Chances are that alignment is considered a mechanic that might be indefensible in the court if Wizards decided to sue Paizo over using their brand identity. The concept of, "a mechanic that measures your goodness" is definitely a game mechanic that probably couldn't be sued over, but using that rule and calling it alignment could be argued as D&D product identity, and it's probably easier to trash it as a result.
SO, I know nothing about what Paizo may or may not be doing, but here's some likely considerations. If the goal is to break free from the OGL, then there's a VERY legally gray zone regarding, "What can we use without using the OGL?" For example, the concept of, "rolling a die for an attack against a value to determine what happens" is not copyrightable because it's a game mechanic, but arguably, terms like "Armor Class" and "saving throw" might be. I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, but lawyers probably don't know either because basically every TTRPG company in America has been doing their best to avoid going to court because the ruling given could be ... interesting. This means it's VERY Likely that we're going to see soft changes, ie terms changing that don't change the actual rules of the game. This is likely necessary to play ball in the same stadium as a company of wizards that seems okay with ruthlessly dismantling the tabletop games community.
NO MORE ALIGNMENT!
Weren't Robot Dragons already in an Alien Archive? Or am I thinking of something else? They are, but when I wrote Into the Dataverse I wanted a disintegrator dragon, which doesn't appear in an Alien Archive. So I wrote one. >: )
As far as I'm aware, Owen was never contacted by Paizo to not do Shadowfinder. I think the stall was more about his health, which hasn't been great for a while. He's currently diagnosed with Stage II Colon Cancer and there are two different PDF Bundles (Bundle #1 and Bundle #2) up to help him try and cover the costs. I asked him a few months ago, and he said he's very intrigued by Starfinder Enhanced and is looking forward to seeing how a new crop of designers moved the game forward.
Re: the "Starfinder becomes PF2 Compatible" discussion, I know my personal hope is that when the time for a Second Edition comes, that Starfinder takes a few good ideas from Pathfinder 2E like the 3 Action Economy and transitioning the Leveled Equipment system to a Mk upgrade system that mirrors fundamental runes in PF2, but also gives itself the space to be it's own game. I'm not in Starfinder Enhanced (I was assigned to Into the Dataverse at the time, and that was a three-month project), but I think a book like this that turns Starfinder into the best version of itself is better than a theoretical book that turns Starfinder into a different version of a different game and am really excited for it to get into people's hands! Including mine.
Nice to look forward to the future of Starfinder I guess. I think that when you get a chance to read the adventure and how it leaves the state of the galaxy, it'll be pretty clear that the future of Starfinder is bright. Bright and weird, my favorite. ;)
I had the same initial reaction. Luckily mystics do have epiphanies as alternate class features, and there are some decent ones. Hopefully we get even more of them in this book!! I hope so too! I originally wrote epiphanies thinking that we were going to see a lot of new ones over time, and that hasn't been the case. We definitely need some customization love for the Mystic. Being the strongest spellcaster shouldn't mean that you don't get to customize much.
Name's in the thread. Why do I need to Play Pathfinder 2E to play kitsune, grippli, hobgoblin, or kobolds in Starfinder? Like, I get that it's supposed to be a cool crossplay thing, but now I feel like I have to use my Achievement Points for Pathfinder to play what I want to play in Starfinder. It just feels bad.
What do you still need? Interesting question! While there are definitely a lot of great class concepts out there that I would really appreciate seeing in Pathfinder 2E, I think the thing I can definitely say that I need more than anything else is that I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero until the end of the night. He's gotta be strong (key ability: Strength), he's gotta be fast (+10 Speed bonus for sure), and he's gotta be fresh from the fight (maybe something to help him regain Hit Points after an encounter?). Yeah, definitely think I need a hero, and I'll be holding out for one until the end of the night. Gotta double down on the Strength and the Speed. Ooh, I know! Maybe something to give him enlarge person? My PC really needs to be larger than life. ... wait. I just described a giant instinct barbarian, didn't I? Hm. I'll have to think more on this tomorrow.
I got a shout-out! <3 Spoiler: I love you too, my dazzling Knight. Keep on enhancing Starfinder with your talent and creativity!
Good. It’s about time!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Come along, friends! I have such wondrously fascinating things to show you!
I am VERY excited for y'all to see this AP next year.
But tell me, Luis, does this book have rules for property values?! I NEED TO BUY A HOUSE FOR MY PC, LUIS!
This could have been called the Deck of Many Faces?!?! WHYYYYYYYYY! (Still looks rad, though!)
I thought the same thing watching that video! The know direction beyond crew is nothing if not honest about what they think about products, and they gave this very high praise. Thank you! We try very specifically to be honest about how we feel about content so that when we offer praise, our fans (and Paizo staff) know that it means something. I mean, we're biased; my name's in the Starfinder CRB and V's written hundreds of pages of awesome Starfinder content, like two whole AP volumes at this point. But it's very important to us that we're biased with integrity, and I'm glad that our honesty shines through about the book! In addition to reviewing our early access PDF last month, we had John Compton on at twitch.tv/knowdirection to talk about the making of Drift Crisis, so if you want even more behind-the-scenes info about the book, check the episode out there. It'll also be available to listen to in podcast form tomorrow (5/13) at knowdirectionpodcast.com. You know, unless we get SUPER unlucky, it being Friday the 13th and all.
Cool!
Thank you for taking the time to write this up, Mark! This is great. :D
Also, there were a few people who were like, "Your post got too heated and passionate so I stopped listening to anything you said." You're perfectly entitled to that response, but I'd challenge you to question in yourselves why perceived emotion devalues the quality of my opinions in a thread literally titled, "Respectful Opinions about PF2." I may have been emotional, sure. I am an emotional person. But being emotional and having feelings doesn't invalidate my thoughts and opinions. You don't need to be an unfeeling bastion of rationality to have valid thoughts and experiences, and respect doesn't necessitate a lack of emotion.
A lot of people replied to my post and I thank you for that (as well as 22 Likes!!). Out of respect for the OP and the spirit of this thread, I'm not going to engage in a discussion for any of them, but there was this one post I saw that I wanted to speak on: The only other major unaddressed issue I can think of is Recall Knowledge rules. Both in terms of clarity and structure. I agree with this, mostly because all the different rules for recalling knowledge are all over the place. The rules in the skills chapter don't, like, list DCs or anything. I found them later in the GM chapter, which is weird to me. I feel like it's okay for players to generally know how difficult something is, so why put that in the back of the book? Also, I agree that for the number of options that there are in the game that interface with Recall Knowledge in encounter mode, it's strange how vague it is. I'm currently listening to the Outcast and Outclassed 2E podcast, and there was one point where the GM-appointed Rules Lawyer was like, "Yeah PF2 handles it one way but that way is confusing so I recommend just doing it like PF1." I don't think that's a good look for a rule, personally.
1) The Math.
2) Feats
Similarly, the game doesn't give enough feats for how niche many of them are. This is evidenced by how popular Free Archetype is, in my opinion. One of the most common statements I see is, "Pathfinder 2E doesn't feel complete without free archetype," and in my opinion that means the game doesn't give enough feats baseline (or that those feats aren't meaningful, but that's another discussion). 3) Free-Bies
4) Rarity
5) Overcorrection Mechanics
There's sort of this design idea that games need to be catered to the GM because, "Without no GM, no one can play our game!" And I think Pathfinder 2E did a good job making a game that's legit fun to GM. I enjoy running Pathfinder 2E. But none of my local friends want to play Pathfinder 2E because of how the game treats players and character building (quantity of feats is not quality of feats), so I don't get to run PF2 unless I do it with strangers online. If a game isn't fun for players to play, they won't. 6) The Investigator Class
To me, it feels like they took every cool ability that could have been a neat thing for the investigator to do and gave it to the rogue instead, so I wish they just didn't make an investigator and folded all those investigator feats into the rogue. Maybe make an investigator racket out of them. Which is sad, because I think there's real value in having a skill-focused class that isn't flavored as a criminal, but the investigator is just flat-out worse than the rogue in every mode.
:( Fox form kitsune still have broken legs. (Why is it necessary to limit them to 10 foot speed when transformed?)That's more of a system-wide issue that we're just stuck with going forward, unfortunately. :/ The rules of a tabletop RPG are more than printed words on a page of a book. They're a prism of endless possibility. Where a single sentence can be struck and replaced at a whim, creating homebrewed systems radically different from the core gameplay experience. Each custom tailored to the individual needs of the people surrounding the table upon which it is played. Some rules will be beloved. Others will be scorned and scoured. But nothing will be the same. I am the Everyman Gamer. I am your guide through these vast new tabletop experiences. Follow me and dare to dabble in design, and ponder the question... What if (you just house ruled that a kitsune's pest form doesn't adjust their speed)? Also, shameless plug, I should have Kitsune of Golarion published on Pathfinder Infinite this week, and a tweak to this is something that appears in that PDF! :D
Vellero's vanguard powers activated for the very first time and crushed the boulder into powder before it could kill them. Yes! Specifically, I was trying to show what an entropic strike might look like; he touches the boulder and the bonds between the rock fall apart, changing from boulder to stones to pebbles to gravel to dust in an instant.
Thank you, Paizo, for the opportunity to write this tale!
This reaction made me smile! Glad you liked it so much. <3
I agree that it's not very clear whether manifold array limits the maximum item level of weapon you can manifest as a gear array. I can see an argument that the effective level reduction of manifold array should apply to the maximum item level of weapon you manifest, but I also agree with Milo v3 that this interpretation essentially makes it so you can't use gear array to form a weapon, because weapon damage is bounded by your level and having a weapon that is significantly lower item level is not going to be helpful. (Would having a lower-level cybernetic augmentation be helpful? Maybe? But weapon certainly wouldn't.) It also creates an option trap where you basically have to keep lower-level weapon and augmentation options to not lock yourself out of being able to use one of your class features. I think this could use an FAQ clarification, but in the meantime it should probably be ruled in favor of player fun.
Hi people in my latest game I'm playing a kitsune outlaw from the Azlanti Star Empire and was wondering how they would be treated their Species in the Azlanti Star Empire fall into five categories: 1) First-Class Sapients: Pureblood Azlanti Humans2) Second-Class Sapients: Gathols, gosclaws, neskintis, screedreeps, shatoris, slivaras and vilderaros 3) Non-Citizen Sapients: Brakims, dessamars, elanayas, filsoks, mercoys, stelliferas and volotins 4) Enslaved Sapients: Androids, hortuses, iztheptars and tromlins. 5) Non-Sapient: All others. So, let's take a look at your question. Kitsune in Starfinder aren't on this list, so they're non-sapients. In your tailless form, you'd probably be considered a member of that sapient's class while you were disguised as them. For example, you'd be a non-citizen as a brakim, a second-class sapient if you're a gosclaw, or a first-class sapient if you're a pureblood azlanti. BUT let's say your tailless form is a pureblood azlanti ... and you get caught. You're something AWFUL to the Azlanti, then. You're basically a silverfish, right? A parasite pretending to be something far above your station, and therefore you're likely disposed of promptly like a parasite. Below non-sapient, likely reviled. There's a reason that the Azlanti Star Empire is an evil empire. ;)
In the spirit of this, I’m going to provide some of my own thoughts on what I perceive to be the evolutionist’s rough patches, aka my top 3 “concerns” and what would make me think twice about whether I wanted to play this class, below. I hope that we can start a dialogue that creates more top-rate feedback for the Star Chamber! 1) The description of this class made me think it was gonna be a shapeshifter and it’s not, and that frustrated me. Starfinder’s polymorph rules aren’t great for combat, so I thought based on the description that this was gonna be the combat polymorph class and it wasn’t, which was really disappointing to me. It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the negatively surrounding the Playtest stemmed from this missed expectation. 2) EP is too much like vanguard points. This is an aesthetics thing, but I feel the EP mechanic works too much like a vanguard’s entropy points in practice. They’re both even different kinds of EP, which is bound to get confusing. In talking with John, since this class is supposed to feel like “corruptions the class,” I think the stronger option is to model the progress after an affliction. Instead of EP bench marks, give the class steps similar to an affliction with each step having a minimum level requirement to attain it. A much more homogenized progression would likely help sell the feel of a transformation, since that way there is a tangible point where you’re “fully transformed” aka “transformed as far as you can.” 3) This class wants to be a combatant / expert hybrid, but it lacks the math to do either well. One of the biggest problems with the evolutionist is that in order to have maximum effectiveness in combat, they need to spend their points on a full BAB. Even if that isn’t the only way to spend your points, it’s always going to feel like the only way to spend your points. Additionally, this class doesn’t have enough starting skills, and since Intelligence isn’t it’s key score (unlike operative or
Additionally, instead of spending EP for a BAB bonus, it should just have 3/4 BAB but gain a scaling boost to attack rolls with unarmed strikes and adaptive strikes, similar to how the biohacker handles the same problem. (Though maybe with better bonus scaling, since the biohacker’s bonus doesn’t fully make up for not having full BAB.
Obviously because of the nature of the interview, we couldn’t ask every question we got and at this stage of the Playtest, the Star Chamber hasn’t been able to thoroughly assess feedback yet, so we’re hoping to have either John or Joe (perhaps both) back for our October or November show once the data’s been reviewed for an update on how the playtest went. But since it’s still going, please continue to give your feedback because it is being listened to!
D'aw, silly foxtato. You didn't have to thank me publicly like this. Being friends with you is more than enough.
Hey, you even used a picture from my Hao Jin assignment for the blog! Thanks, Alex! :D
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