Tsubame-taka's page

Monday I sat down to GM a brief one-shot with Pathfinder Playtest for my regular gaming group. I had 4 players with level 6 characters: a Monk, a Wizard, a Druid, and a Paladin.

During Character Creation, the Wizard player selected Fighter Dedication as his first class feat. As he explained, he had zero reason not to aim for Fighter Dedication, the prerequisites were easy to obtain, his class feats were weak, and none of the other archetype/multiclassing feats matched it in raw power. So the Wizard marched into the adventure in Chainmail. The Monk player (who was the newest player) focused hard on Wisdom over all the other stats, took Cleric Dedication for the flavor, and went with Tiger Stance as his primary weapon. The Monk was the most damaging character at the table. The Druid player took one look at the changes to wild shape and animal companions and selected the Order of the Leaf. They prepared primarily healing spells (more on that later) and fought primarily with Ray of Frost. The Paladin player decided to specialize in Unarmed Combat and put their class feats into Lay on Hands. They were slightly more accurate, but slightly less damaging than the Monk

The first encounter I created was 2 Clerics of Calistria. While admittedly a severe level encounter, the party was in no real danger, as they have all of 2 effective combat spells, a bunch of defensive spells, and piddly whips. What did happen, however was I learned one very crucial thing about how 2e works: In-Combat Healing is way to strong. These clerics had 7 4th level Heal spells per day, and with only one player able to make attacks of opportunity, they were able to heal with impunity. Each heal healed 7d8+4 hp with 1 action. Then they'd whip to chip down the party. Only the party had a Paladin with Channeled Life and was able to counter with his own healing to counter the chips. The fight (that would have probably taken half an hour or so in 1e) took 90+ minutes to resolve. The Clerics had an AC so high that the Paladin needed an 11 to hit (then a 15, then a 19), and when he did hit he dealt 2d6+4. The monk and wizard needed 12 (then 16, then Nat 20) to hit and did 2d8+3 and 2d6+4 respectively. The party would wail away at them for a couple rounds, then the clerics would step away from the Paladin, undo all the damage, and whip somebody. The Wizard burned a few spells on the fight, but realized eventually that his +1 Shortsword was more powerful in the long run than his small allotment of spells. As for the Clerics, they burned their combat spells in round one and round 3. Enervation 1 got saved against by the Monk, the rest either missed or were saved against.At no point during the fight was the party even remotely imperiled.

The 2nd Fight was against a pair of Driders. The Driders opened combat with a Fireball each. The Party Responded with a Channeled Life (he still had 2 left at that point) and the Druid's 3rd level Heal, almost completely canceling the effects of the spells. The Driders folded in less than half an hour, as they lacked the In-combat healing, however the party felt more threatened by the Driders as the Driders posed an actual threat with their jaw attacks up close and their spells at range.

After that the party engaged in some exploration mode content, which was very smooth and easily grasped. They bypassed the final encounter by throwing the Wizard under the bus, which was disappointing but understandable given how their impromptu party dynamics had come together.

At the end the feedback they gave I will sum up below

Edit: The Party and I collectively realized that persistent damage and poison are BRUTAL because of how difficult they are to stop.

In my opinion, 2e is a good skeleton for a potentially great future game. Please take community input to heart.

One day later I've already got ideas on how I'd houserule games I run with this system.

All Classes
Attack of Opportunity is a Bonus Feat for all. It is gained at 1st level

Alchemist
Alchemists are mostly changed by the house rules on alchemical items

Barbarian
Superstitious now only applies against Arcane and Occult magic for the purposes of anathema and class features.

Bard
Bards are unchanged

Cleric
Clerics are Unchanged

Druid
Wild Order Druids gain Form Control as a bonus feat at 1st level. The feat itself is now a level 6 feat.

Fighter
Fighters get an additional bonus feat (of up to 2nd level) to compensate for everyone having Attack of Opportunity

Monk
Monks get Monastic Weaponry as a bonus feat at 1st level

Paladin
Paladins gain Sense Evil as a bonus feat at 1st level.

Ranger
Rangers can select Fighter Bonus Feats as if they have a fighter level equal to their current level-4 (minimum 1). Hunt Target also applies Forceful to weapons (and stacks with Forceful if the weapon already had forceful)

Rogue
Rogues are unchanged.

Sorcerer
Sorcerers are unchanged.

Wizard
Quick Preparations costs 1 spell point to use, and grants +1 spell point.

Archetypes
Archetypes can be selected as general feats in addition to class feats. Multiclass feats do not interfere with other archetypes

Resonance
Items with the Consumable Trait consume a resonance point when crafted of they would require Resonance to be used. Any resonance use with the item after the initial consumption uses resonance as normal. The Infused Trait applies to temporarily crafted alchemical items.

Probably more to come, but that's what I've got.

Below are the notes I took in the first few hours of reading the book yesterday.

Halflings have the most situational ancestry fears and no extra bonuses like the ones Gnomes or Goblins get. Is there a reason for this?

Why are ancestry feats so wildly variable in power?

Seen a couple of dead levels in Barbarian if you go Fury totem. Hopefully the final product will have way more rage powers that aren't totem gated?

If Sarenrae no longer grants spells to True Neutral creatures, does this mean the Church of the Dawnflower just collapsed?

I guess that "fringe believer" type of cleric is no longer a thing? Deities now vocally contribute to orthodoxy so these Lawful Neutral Asmodeans, True Neutral Urgathoans Chaotic Neutral Lamashtans, and Chaotic Good Gorumites cease to exist?

No more Negative Channeling Pharasmins? Why not just make Pharasma Good Aligned?

Thank you for putting a hard limit on Undead Manipulators. This shift is one I actually appreciate, as having too many player controlled undead can grind combat to a halt.

Monk should get Monastic Weaponry for free.

Why is Ki Strike so weak?

Why did paladins lose all their defensive immunities and divine grace as it existed in 1st edition?

Was Detect Evil too powerful for Paladins?

Shouldn't Hunt Target be more powerful, since Animal Companions require actions to order around?

Why are snares so weak when the Ranger class assumes they are awesome?

Who put all the class powers in with the spells? Wouldn't it make more sense to put the powers either with the class or in their own subsection for ease of access?

Align Armament has no duration?

Why does Rogue multiclass cap at 1d6 sneak attack? Would it be game-breaking to have sneak attack scale more considering the caster multiclass feats scale so effectively?

As a veteran of the first Pathfinder Humble Bundle, I have a question.

Has Paizo taken steps to ensure that when their playtest document is released next month that we will actually be able to download it?

Please cancel my subscriptions

Can I get my Campaign Setting Subscription suspended for a month? Not interested in the Poster Map Folio.

The Masquer are shifters who walk the paths of civilization, sacrificing their connection to nature for subtle versatility

Urbanite: a Masquer gains Bluff, Diplomacy, Disquise, Intimidate, Perform, and Knowledge: Local as class skills and removes Knowledge: Nature, Handle Animal, Ride, Profession, and Survival. This alters class skills.

The Masquer does not add Sylvan and Aklo to their bonus language options.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: a Masquer is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, short sword, and sword cane. They are proficient in light armor and shields (but not Tower shields). This alters the shifter's proficiencies.

Shapechanger (Su): At 1st level, a masquer gains the ability to transform herself into another form. This ability functions like alter self, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per Masquer's shifter level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to another form or back) is a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. The Masquer is fatigued for 1 round each time she changes shape.

A Masquer can use this ability once per day at 1st level, and an additional time per day at 4th level, and every 2 shifter levels thereafter, for a total of nine times at 18th level. At 20th level, a masquer can use shapechanger as a free action once per round, either before or after all her other actions, with no daily limit.

This ability can also function as monstrous physique I at 4th level, as monstrous physique II at 8th level, as monstrous physique III at 10th level, as monstrous physique IV or giant form I at 12th level, and as giant form II at 14th level.

This ability replaces Shifter Aspect and Wild Shape

Hidden Fang (ex): the Masquer gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A masquer can choose to do bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage with these unarmed strikes. In addition, she gains the unarmed strike monk ability, treating her shifter levels as monk levels for calculating unarmed strike damage. While using Shapeshifter you can use unarmed strike damage in place of the standard natural attack damage for up to 2 attacks.

This replaces Shifter Claws.

Becoming the Masque (ex): a Masquer is adept at using deception in combination with their shapeshifting. A Masquer gains a bonus equal to 1/2 their shifter level (minimum 1) to Bluff and Disguise checks while using shapechanger.

This replaces Wild Empathy and Track.

Confident Guard (ex): A Masquer's Defensive Instinct class feature uses their Charisma bonus (if any) in place of wisdom. This otherwise functions exactly like defensive aspect.

This alters defensive aspect.

Crowd Stride (Ex): At 3rd level, a masquer can slip through crowded streets with ease. Her movement speed is not reduced when moving through a crowd.

This ability replaces woodland stride.

Adaptive Attacks (Su): at 5th level a Masquer's unarmed strikes and natural weapons count as magic, cold iron, and silver for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. At 10th level they additionally count as the alignment of the Masquer for the purposes of bypassing DR (true neutral shifters select any alignment, but cannot alter the decision once made). At 15th level they count as Adamantine for bypassing DR and Hardness.

This replaces 2nd, 3rd, and 3th Aspect.

Solid Masque (Sp): at 9th level a Masquer can hide their Shapeshifted form behind a thin veil of flesh. As a full round action while using Shapeshifter, a Masquer can assume the shape of a normal humanoid, as alter self, but without fully replacing the features of Shapeshifter. While in this state all natural weapons and movement types of the Shapeshifter form are replaced by the features of the alter self form. As a swift action a Masquer can dismiss the alter self effect, shedding the skin of the humanoid form and returning to their previous shape. At 13th level, the Masquer can make an intimidate check on all enemies within 30 feet of her as part of the swift action.

This replaces chimeric aspect and greater chimeric aspect

----------------------------------------

Yes, I did just copy-paste the Metamorph alchemist ability and tweak the levels forms are gained at. Crowd stride is from the Guildbreaker ranger archetype. Other thoughts?

OR "Why is Blitz style as good as it is in comparison to the other Soldier Styles?"

Please cancel my subscriptions

I've got a storm dreamer medium in a campaign and upon hitting level 2 I realized that the Storm Dreamer loses the Spirit Surge class feature, but keeps the Taboo class feature, as well as access to class features it can no longer use, like the Lesser power of the Marshal or the Greater power of the Guardian. Is this intentional, or should I try to modify things so the class doesn't have abilities it can't use?

Sorry to ask this question, but how do I cancel a preorder? I preordered the Starfinder Core Rulebook, but RL expenses are piling up.

That about sums it up.

I'm interested in getting back into Roll20 PFS games, but the community seems so quiet, and I can't seem to connect to the Discord server. Anybody able to help a guy out?

Have yet to receive a confirmation email. Hope it's an easy fix.

I need my subscriptions either paused or cancelled. Can't buy all 5 this month.

If I have a Metamorph Alchemist, and they use their shape-shifting powers to assume a form with 2 claw attacks, will taking a Feral Mutagen give them a second set of claws (bringing them up to 5 natural attacks) or will it simply reinforce the preexisting claws?

Yes this is a "metaphysical limbs" question,

When player characters reach a higher level, especially ones that use distinctive tactics, weapons and/or spells, it makes sense that they themselves would be the subject of much speculation within the world. As such, would NPCs trained in, say, Knowledge Local be able to make checks to identify PCs? Something like "The dwarf with the 4 pronged beard is Drangvos of Torag, slayer of [Insert Infamous Creature from character's career]. Specializes in divine self-buffs and melee combat, keep distance." Or "Human Male in the robes is...Sednis Morrigna Blakros. RUN."

Or would this be a vanity thing someone would drop prestige on?

As March descends upon us, I would like to ask when the thread for March releases will be made, so consider it asked. I don't want to come across as rude, I just budget future weeks based on these things, so I'd like to know which paycheck I get to use Throw Anything with at Paizo.

Now that my medium has reached a high enough level, I'm considering branching out with them a bit, and channeling the Hierophant spirits sometimes. As the character is Tian, I had them venerate the entire Tian Xia pantheon, but now that I'm considering using the Hierophant's divine spellcasting ability (and the ability to alter which deity I'm channeling a spirit connected to), I am faced with a rules question...

Will a Holy Symbol tattoo of all 20 Tian Xia deities cost 100 gp, 2000 gp, or somewhere in between?

While rereading Occult Origins I noticed the Id Rager bloodrager archetype. While very interesting I am confused about certain aspects of the archetype.

1. Do the emotional focus powers apply with slams, and only slams, or could a weapon, let's say a scythe, be usable to trigger on-slam effects?
2. If not, does the archetype grant the user slams in the same way the Abyssal or Draconic bloodlines for bloodrager grant natural attacks?

Has a list of which spells from pre-OA Campaign Setting and Player Companion books Psychics, Mediums, Mesmerists, Occultists, and Spiritualists get been released? I remember Alternate Class Origins had one, but Occult Origins didn't. This is a bummer for me because there're some pretty flavorful spells in books like Inner Sea Gods and a slew of Companions that seem thematically appropriate for them. Examples include Ancestral Memory for Mediums, Dream Feast or Telekinetic Volley for Psychics, Body Double for Mesmerists, and Harrowing for pretty much all of them.

As an Audible subscriber who's started acquiring Pathfinder Tales books, I have a question once again.

Will showing my Audible app booklist with my Pathfinder Tales audiobooks on it suffice as proof of ownership, as is the case with watermarked pdfs?

If a kineticist drops a kinetic wall blast in front of, say, a ship chasing after him such that the ship cannot be maneuvered around it or stopped how is damage to the ship applied? For that matter does the ship protect people belowdecks from taking wall damage? What does this wallpocalypse even look like?

While the rules for the Aetherkineticist's blast state that the projectile's material doesn't influence how it interacts with DR /Regeneration, does the same apply afterwards?

In other words...if an Aetherkineticist flings a chunk of Viridium at a human, and the damage to the Viridium will shatter it, what would the effect be on said human? What about a cold iron chunk to a fey, or silver chunk to a werewolf? (Please note I'm asking about aftereffects of a chunk of material exploding into shrapnel on its way through a target that has a certain vulnerability to that material. I know the DR will affect the initial hit, but what happens afterwards?)

Can you grapple a grappled target to pin that target? Could you also do the same to move both the grappler and the graplee?

Is there a way to keep an animal companion, or in my case a Promethean Alchemist Homunculus, from advancing to a higher size category? How does that work?

Odd question, but how do grapple feats interact with the Telekinesis spell? Do they function normally?

If a character had a fly speed, swim speed, climb speed, or burrow speed (Earth Glide), can they use this form of movement with spring attack? How about jumping over gaps with Acrobatics?

In the past couple of weeks, experiences have led me to ask 2 questions

1. Would it be inappropriate to, when readying actions, simply state "I'm readying an action", then write the readied action and it's triggering action on an index card and place the card face down in front of me until such time as the readied action goes off?

2. If I am GMing how do I avoid avoid letting out of NPC knowledge affect NPC decisions? If a party member (or even the whole party) has a property (defensive or offensive) that an enemy can't perceive (be it due to the nature of the buff or the intellect of the entity) but that I am aware of as GM, should I use tactics invalidated by party members anyway (using black tentacles on a party that all have freedom of movement up, Charm Person on native outsiders disguised as humans, Baleful Polymorph on pcs with Newt Prevention beads, etc)?

With the approach of Pathfinder Unchained I've started thinking about rogues again, specifically starting a cliche wooden sword-using delinquent type character. Then I realized that wooden swords do not actually exist in PF materials. What would be a finessable equivalent?

What do I do in the event an online gm is unable or unwilling to sign off on a boon?

I ask because I played an Occult Adventures Playtest character during Aethercon back in November, and despite numerous requests for the GMs input on the boonsheet I have yet to receive a response. Do I just copy the chronicle sheet information onto a boon sheet document, or continue talking to the wall? I would dearly like to use my kineticist!

While looking for a good feat to take for one of my characters, I happened upon Stage Combatant

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/stage-combatant-combat

My question is this: would Stage Combatant work with Weapon Focus (Ray)?

I am about to begin a Jade Regent game with some friends, and would like to apply credit for it, but am confused as to how I should go about doing so, especially since several of my group are uninvolved with, and unlikely to become involved with, PFS games.

While watching the Peter Pan play last night, I was struck by inspiration and decided to attempt a Peter Pan build. This is the result.
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1069132

In my recently started Rise of the Runelords campaign one of the players has been trying to figure out the maximum possible distance theoretically travelable personally (no teleportation stuff) in one round in conjunction with the party's paladin, who is planning on using the racer mount archetype. How fast can this get assuming all involved are level 7 with a crafter Arcanist in the party, but otherwise at normal WBL?

Scenario: Module: Murder's Mark (Level 1-2)

Date/Time: Saturday, August 30th, 2014 @ 4:00 PM EDT US [-4 UTC]

GM: David Cleland

Game Client: Google Plus Hangout and the Roll20.net VTT

Description:

An urban mystery adventure for 1st-level characters.

Everyone in the fishing town of Ilsurian is excited when the legendary Umbra Carnival rolls into town—even if the show is run by members of the much-maligned Varisian ethnic group. With strange and exotic beasts, scandalous performances, games of chance, and all the other fun of a traveling fair, who could resist such an opportunity for entertainment?

Unfortunately for both the town and the circus, however, entertainment isn’t the only opportunity the carnival presents. Hidden within Ilsurian, a guild of thieves and scoundrels has been waiting for just such an occasion to launch a campaign of theft and murder—leaving the strangers from the circus to take the blame. With tensions mounting between locals and performers, and the body count rising on both sides, it’s up to the PCs to uncover what’s really going on and clear the circus’s name before the entire town erupts in a firestorm of ethnic violence.

Murder’s Mark is an adventure of mystery, illusion, and mob justice for 1st-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. This volume also contains a gazetteer of the traveling Umbra Carnival and a brand-new monster pulled from history and mythology, all of which can easily be adapted for use in any campaign setting.

Written by Jim Groves
Notes:

Free Roll20.net account required: http://roll20.net/

This game is a part of VTT Game Day 4. For more games and info check out the official game list.

Sign-ups:

Please e-Mail here: technarken@gmail.com

(I think I did this right, hopefully!)

I have started off with my grandfathered Aasimar Swashbuckler (with slashing grace on katana) and am womdering this: does cosmetic fluff, like short colored ribbons/tassels on the pommel, tinted blades, and eventually effects when the weapons are enchanted (subtle motion blur, Tesla coil like glowing traveling up and down the blade, etc) count as illegal under reskinning rules?

Yesterday evening one of the people I played with at my table was playing an Inquisitor of Ragathiel, the Empyreal Lord. Ragathiel's favored weapon is the Bastard Sword. Is the class granted weapon proficiency for this character an exotic or martial weapon proficiency?

One of the Witch patrons (water) adds Bless Water to your familiar. The false focus feat lets you substitute a divine focus for material components. If I understand this right I can use a silver holy symbol to churn out all the holy waters my spell slots can fuel.

Do I understand this correctly? If so, how many could I have at once, and could I sell them?