Umutuku's page

I've seen various discussions on both the Paizo forums and reddit over time that demonstrate a pain point when it comes to the tuning of content that could be done after release (not counting rules compliance errata).

We know that PRINT is the elephant in the room of design considerations, and time and money are limited when it comes to what can be done to produce the best content around that elephant.

What if there was a digital fork of the game where balancing wasn't as set in stone or limited by trying to keep rulebook reprints down? What if there was an environment where it was easier to rapidly roll out buffs/nerfs/tweaks and fluidly roll them back as needed if they aren't working? What if it could support print content as that comes out, but could also support its own digital-only content that wouldn't fit nicely into the print model due to being to short/long or just a little too innovative/weird for a traditional book sale?

In balancing passes, flavor options could get playability buffs, and playability options could get flavor buffs, and variations of each could be explored in a more dynamic way to really pin down what works best.

I'm wondering if this is something Paizo could feasibly do or if it would be feasibility-limited to a community-produced " balance mod"?

How could/should something like this be done and what form might suit it best?

What is the best measurement tool for Golarion that is currently available?

The inspiration for this post is the Teleport spell specifically, and the desire to know if something is within 100 miles, or 1000 miles for the purposes of spell preparation, but it would also be great to know for other means of overland/sea travel.

Is there some way to ask "Can a teleport spell of this level reach from here to there?" and get an answer in a matter of moments rather than having to take a break and figure it out?

How far is it from Otari to Escadar? From Absalom to Nantambu? From Mechitar to Nerosyan? From Magnimar to Isarn?

I've been searching for them and all I've found is forum discussions about someone receiving one.

The order is still listed as "pending" in the emails as well as on the Paizo website order history. I received two emails. One listed the subtotal as having an authorized payment, and the other listing the combined taxes and shipping as a separate authorized payment.

I just want to make sure that the "pending" doesn't mean it's stuck again.

Could someone PM me about this order.

I think the order was initially pending because I didn't move enough money over to my online hobby purchases card to cover the full shipping.

I shifted over the appropriate funds (I've made sure there is way more than necessary to be safe), but didn't see a way to reactivate the order, and the only option related to it was updating the payment method.

After updating the payment method it still says it is pending, and I didn't get the confirmation email as expected (the button mentioned updating payment information and sending a confirmation email).

If someone is going over this order then I am also wondering if it is too late to remove the hardcopy purchases of Guns and Gears, and Grand Bazaar so that I can make those purchases as part of a first time subscription instead. I didn't see a way to subscribe without immediately buying a rulebook/lost-omens-book (and this order should already include all of the hardcopy rulebooks and lost omens books released so far that are still available). I was holding off on subscribing until the original demands of the striking freelancers were addressed, but some people made good points about the union recognition likely leading to that happening, so I'm wondering if we can work that out so the Guns and Gears, and Grand Bazaar purchases are made as a subscription.

Thanks

Let's go!

Gonna be getting Guns and Gears, and Grand Bazaar tonight. I was holding off on that until the UPW was recognized.

As for what's next on the consumer side of this:

When Paizo announces that it will accommodate the original demands of the freelancers and commit to improvements on that front then I will get my first subscriptions to the PF2e rulebooks and Lost Omens.

And, if Paizo announces a way to tip all the contributors to each book on their storefront then I will begin the process of going back to each book (I currently own all digital rulebooks and Lost Omens books from the Core Rulebook through Secrets of Magic) and purchasing the hardcopy version as well as the tip option.

I haven't looked too much into SoT yet (Our Extinction Curse group may be running it after we finish up, and I put moderate effort into avoiding spoilers for the sake of my GM/party even if they don't bother me much), but I can definitely vouch for Mwangi Expanse. It's a HUUUUUUUUGE book full of high quality content and a breath of fresh air from the default medieval European fantasy setting. If you're into both of those then I would also recommend Secrets of Magic because it has some really cool lore about how the magical scholars of the Magaambya (the setting for Strength of Thousands) approach and interact with the very concept of magic.

All that being said, I recommend picking them up AFTER Paizo makes a prompt and satisfactory decision to support the organization efforts of the workers.

My Characters: I want Guns and Gears and Grand Bazaar!

Me: We have Guns and Gears and Grand Bazaar at home.

The Guns and Gears and Grand Bazaar at home: https://ibb.co/stYPtwF

Oh, no! A rampant wizard has transmuted my order of the two new books into an order for UPW swag.
I hope Paizo recognizes the worker's organization soon so I can finally buy the new books.

That's pretty cool to see.

The main thing I was calling for on the consumer side once this aspect of the drama became apparent to me was for a more convenient way to support all these creators and laborers as one instead of having to track down all the freelancers/writers/artists/etc. individual patreons after Mark Seifter recommended doing exactly that as a short term measure.

Hopefully they'll have something like that set up soon that can accommodate the freelancers as well. How are the freelancers affected by this btw? Any of y'all around to chime in?

I would love an option to throw a tip down for a book/product and have it automatically shared among the labor force that made it. I'm hoping Paizo would be willing to work with this union to make that easy to do on the store front. Like, if I could go to the store page for Mwangi Expanse and see, for example "Add Print Edition: $49.99... Add PDF $39.99... Add Patron Upgrade: $10." I'd happily pay the equivalent price of the print edition to get my PDF (which is all I need for my use) and the Patron donation, and know that more money is going to the workers so "keep making my favorite RPG more awesome" is a more viable personal finance decision than "look for another job that pays the bills and makes non-zero progress towards retirement."

I figured I'd give it a few days for the controversy to cool down before posting this so here goes.

One enlightening thing to come out of the dustup was this insight into the financial situation of the people who build Pathfinder by Mark Seifter: https://twitter.com/MarkSeifter/status/1439296955088179201

He brought up some great points about the difficulty in providing a living wage at any TTRPG company that isn't raking in WOTC money, and recommended discovering and supporting the patreons (and the like) of the individual people that put the labor into these products.

I want to reference this section of his tweets specifically for context here (I am cutting some for length):

"The razor sharp margins in the industry, the low amount people are willing to pay for these books, is a huge factor in the poor pay. And this is not to say that there aren't ways out of this prophecy of doom other than just increased salaries."

"But what I am saying is that a movement to make RPG books cost closer to what they are worth will make a big difference, only if it's supported by the public at large"

"(we can't have like 1% of the fanbase support this, and the price goes up, and the other 99% stop buying or it just makes things worse)."

"One thing you can do if you want to personally "pay more" for Paizo books is to create your own price bump in your own mind, whatever it is, and then go find patreons of Paizo staff and similar places and donate the difference."

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There are a couple key things to think about here from the Paizo side as well as the customer side.

It's hard to mess with the base price of the products. You could squeeze people out of the customer base doing that, and as Mark said, just make things worse.

It's hard for customers to track down all these individual contributors and figure out ways to deal with their preferred means of tipping and payment processing.

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I have a proposal that may get to the root of both of these issues.

I would like to have an option to pay somewhere between the base PDF price and the hardback price for a Deluxe Patron version of each Pathfinder book that I purchase in digital form. What I would expect in exchange for this is for the price difference (factoring in taxes, transaction fees, and whatnot) to be directly distributed to the people in question (ideally with a ratio negotiated a little more towards those most in need), and for my digital product to be appended with a transparency report clearly showing where that money is going.

Appending a digital product with such a report should be much more fiscally viable than trying to produce multiple hardback variants, and the personalization process already exists for Paizo digital products.

There would obviously be some logistical startup costs to begin doing this, and I'd be curious to know if they would be worth it to help with employee/freelancer quality of life (from their perspective) and turnover (from a business perspective).

I think this could be a win/win/win for ethical consumers, the Paizo brand, and the people who make the game/world we love to act, strategize, play, and create in.
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My personal notes, secondary to that proposal, in case the feedback/perspective is useful.

I buy the digital products, I don't buy the hardbacks, and I'm not sure how indicative I am of the rest of the customer base.

The reasons I purchase digital Paizo products are as follows:

1. I don't like to keep hardcopies around of anything except for some old university texts that I paid way too much for to get rid of. They take up storage space on shelves, weigh more than a single laptop when traveling, and are material objects which I do not feel a need to collect.

2. PDFs have this little thing I can do called "Ctrl-F".

3. I can go anywhere and have my entire Pathfinder library available with an internet connection.

4. The reduced digital price compared to a hard-copy fits in my "windmill slam the new one without thinking about it" price range.

5. If a printing is updated, errata is included, etc. all I have to do is download the new PDF.

I have purchased all of the PF2e rulebooks and Lost Omens books released so far. If such an upgrade was added as an optional purchase in the store for already released items (and ex-employees/freelancers could be compensated appropriately), I would buy it for all of them retroactively, and would start utilizing that option for every future purchase. I'd subscribe to a Deluxe Patron PDF option if I could. The Lost Omens books are all about a $10 dollar difference between PDF and hardcopy (except for Mwangi Expanse, but that book is hella worth it). At the high end, $85 would get me squared away with the labor crews on Lost Omens so far, and I'd do that now if I had the option. The rulebooks have a higher spread at 30+ price differential, and that would take longer to work through, but it's doable.

I would like to be able to put my money where my mouth is in a reasonably efficient way that doesn't have me spending a ton of time cross-referencing credits and hunting down patreon accounts. Is this something Paizo can help me with?

Yeah, I was thinking about non-humanoid forms and visualized one with the orb and a wooden retainer dangling from a vine like a pendulum with a large wooden "spine" holding it over the locomotive/manipulator section. Kind of like a Necron Destroyer, but with the dangling orb instead of a torso, and the arms surrounding the rim of the lower section.

First, which Paizo artist did the Conrasu images? Assuming you read the boards, what was your conceptualization process like, and would you be willing to share a bit about your aesthetic inspirations for the Conrasu? Any chance of seeing some official Conrasu action poses, even if they were just some early doodles?

Second, what are you other players doing for Conrasu character art? There are only a few official images of Conrasu out there right now. This is a pretty original design and it's hard to find something non-commission for casual character avatar/token/visualization use that's close enough to a Conrasu while maintaining their core themes. Have you found any fantasy art sites with similar visuals, or keywords for image searches that get closer results than "wood golem/mecha"?

Conrasu are a pretty atypical to begin with, but what are your most outside-the-box ideas for your Conrasu character's body geometry/style?

I had some players encounter a Xulgath in a dungeon crawl last week and basically described it as... "Imagine you're working at a convention center and there's an MTG, Pokemon, and Yugioh tournament going on at the same time so you get permission to open some of the back doors of the hall for ventilation, but it's 100 degrees Fahrenheit, muggy as hell, and the back of the hall shares an alley with a bunch of McDonald's dumpsters that are upwind and wafting in."

Okay, hear me out... 3x 1-20 APs with interchangeable books.

Just a whole lot happening in roughly the same area. Maybe some side mechanics for what other groups of adventurers are doing in the area with the unused books, or for running multiple groups in parallel (like a Westlite).

The whole vibe sure does scream "Play a Monk!"

I feel like this is the kind of competition that would attract a Heavenseeker from Jalmeray.

IIRC FotRP starts at level 10, and we can assume Free Archetype (because who doesn't use FA, honestly?) so we'd probably have a Jalmeri Human (versatile heritage to taste) who would get right into Student of Perfection at level 2 and take Jalmeri Heavenseeker ASAP. The levels on those are a little odd so I'd probably talk to the GM to see about working it out like the Magaambya Attendant/Halcyon Speaker setup as far as archetype feat requirements go because the SoP dedication is more about flavor than an actual RAW pre-requisite. Should be able to get a good blend of SoP and JH feats in the FA slots by level 10. The monk feats would be obvious staples and maybe trying to squeeze one or two more archetype feats in. I'd go with a strength focus just for my own vision of the character, but the dex or ki-focused routes would do well, I imagine.

So yeah, that's the concept. Bollywood Thor action hero monk just wylin out.

I think the balance between IRL time and in-world time is something that there are some different player demographics for, and that this is something that adventure creators like Paizo, WotC, et. al. could be a little better at keeping that in mind during the design process and working into their marketing.

Something I've noticed in the PF2e APs/Adventures that I've played/run is that if you clear content in a way that makes sense you really don't get that many daily preparations per level-up unless you're making camp every few ingame hours. In the real life time domain I always want to be leveling up and getting new stuff to use, but in the game time domain I feel like my character is rushed (or that I'm rushing my players).

I wonder if there's a more ergonomic way to handle those kinds of things and bake them into the story than the "fifteen minute adventuring day."

That description of Ant Gnoll reminded that Kender existed at some point in time. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

I'm looking for more content to update my existing Magaambyan wizard who was so distressed about a lack of regional content that he opted for distance learning and ran off to join a circus.

We're getting The Grand Bazaar to flesh out the market of the world's largest city and the wonders that flow into it, but what about the rest of the world?

What sort of topics do you think could stand to be fleshed out in this theme?

I feel like the obvious first stop here is going into notable trading routes, land, sea, or otherwise. What are the "silk roads" of Golarion, and what sort of environments, landmarks, notable characters, and hazards would caravans and their passengers be likely to encounter while traveling them? Reefs, swampy highways, bandits, pirates, ports of call, and so on.

I'd like to see a deep dive on exotic materials and resources, their applications, and how they are acquired/traded. Maybe some content on unique mines, farms, hunting grounds, fisheries, etc., and the challenges or threats related to them.

A little section on how climate and seasonal weather affect the production and transfer of goods around Golarion would be neat.

Maybe a bit on how services of unique professionals are commissioned across great distances.

Maybe a section with more updates and details on the Aspis Consortium operations, what their agents are up to these days, and companies/organizations competing or in conflict with them. Maybe setting the scene for a future AP related to them (either a neutral-to-lawful-evil campaign where you actually play as shareholders/freelancers/tiered-agents travelling around and being honest about roleplaying greedy bastards for once, or as a more heroic campaign trying to build a an upstart trading company to compete with them). Are there any groups like this in other continental settings that we just haven't spent enough time in the area to hear about? Aspis butting heads with a new (or just previously unmentioned) global player coming out of Casmaron or Tian Xia could foster a lot of content.

I'm seeing a lot of discussions and debates on the subject while searching through the forums here, but haven't run across an official response yet here or in the errata.

What do we know about the existing monasteries in the world of Golarion, and what books/articles/Q&A-panels would have the most info about them?

Are there any canon hierarchies/duties/specializations that monks in specific monasteries would have?

For each of the national leaders, organization heads, and comparatively powerful individuals, what's going right now?

What is their current ambition?

What are the main problems they are currently dealing with?

Are they in their ascendency or are they diminishing?

What do they consider to be the greatest threat to their success?

What do they need?

What do they most lack?

Who do they consider to be their closest ally that isn't under their direct control?

Who is their greatest enemy?

What is the ace up their sleeve?

Geistwright

What if you could use spiritual magic to both control and make things out of ghosts?

Imagine an artificer, but spooky.

What are some things you could do with ghosts?

What are some things you could build or manipulate with ghosts or "ghost stuff"?

What if ghosts could be combined in varying ways to perform strange tasks?

What if you could make your own ghost-drawn wagon?

Forcesworn

These psionic guilds of master jewelers have perfected the art of interfacing potent crystals with the life energy of mortal bodies. This empowers them to amplify their conscious control of their own life force and use it to create resonance in the space around them that is limited only by their jewelcraft, their imagination, and their ability to impose their mind over their body. As a result, they can create localized force effects and can even reproduce force-based spells.

They "swear" to a particular pattern of crystal jewelry by permanently embedding sockets into their body in which they will insert a diverse array of carefully faceted crystals that produce different effects with each combination, but funneled through the lens of abilities that their permanent sockets support.

The socket pattern determines the general theme of effects produced by the psionically amplified crystals, and the number of each crystal type that can be slotted. One form may allow the Forcesworn to swell out into layers of empowered force armor and careen deafeningly through enemy lines. Another might channel force into bursts that lift them off the ground or blast their foes. Yet another may allow more independent force effects to be sustained nearby, like reverberating parapets, azure causeways, or magic missile turrets.

The crystal types inserted into the sockets work in a similar concept as runes do on weapons, but they may impact the abilities of the socket pattern in unique ways, and they can be swapped out on reasonably short notice as the Forcesworn craftily expands their collection.

If I'm a member of the Cascade Bearers, Emerald Boughs, Rain-Scribes, Tempest-Sun Mages, or Uzunjati then what sort of aesthetic concerns might I have when displaying symbols of my branch or themed clothing?

What's the Magaambyan equivalent to wearing the merch'/colors of your department/frat/"house"?

If I were to craft a small symbol of my branch to wear then what would it look like?

The opening banner art in the Magaambya section of the Lost Omens Character Guide seems to demonstrate multiple groups of people, each dressing with a coordinated theme. From the context in that section I'd assume that each group is "on-brand" with a particular branch. Is that assumption on point? Whether yes, or no, what are some canon tidbits related to that?

What are some telltale clues or signals that would show me someone I just met is a member of my branch or another particular branch?

I think he is talking about the advertising.

Yeah, this is what I'm getting at. Those are the opportunities to teach/preach the core concepts, and I think there's room for improvement.

It's there. People are missing it. Much of the promotional material implies there are only three steps. I feel like this is a solvable problem.

And by D, I mean "Do your 4 free boosts, dammit."

And by talk about it, I mean "Why does everyone at Paizo call it ABC so that many people miss the 4th step and end up with a -4 to their modifier total?"

When I started the groups I'm running now, I had people skipping that step completely.

Is there a way to get some accounting for this into the official promotional content?

"Ancestry, Background, Class" that's what everyone says, and there's something missing when this message goes out to people.

We've got a player wanting to add spikes to their armor, and searches for rules are only bringing up PF1e.

Is there an obscure blurb on spiked armor for 2e somewhere?

I've been thinking about hosting a series of one-shots for people to take on Treerazer.

Has anyone here ran TRZR yet, and if so what was your experience like?

Do you think a TRZR fight needs some other factors (environmental/situational or otherwise), or is "high-noon, roll initiative and go" compelling enough considering the challenge involved?

How do you get the most out of the old lumbersnack?

APG Typo

Witch Archetype: The 18th feat is shown as "Master Wizard Spellcasting" instead of "Master Witch Spellcasting".

I have the PDF. Not sure if the typo is in the hard copy.

This happened tonight.

Every time I tried to browse "Standalone Adventures" I got a new subscription item in my cart alongside the Plaguestone PDF I was buying (which won't download, but that's another issue).

I'm gauging interest in setting up a group(s) of GMs willing to trade sessions/campaigns for play time

Here's the gist for anyone not familiar with the concept of GM Trading. We get a group of players together who are all GMs, either experienced or looking to start, and willing to GM, but who also want more opportunities to take off the GM hat and play in multiple games. Each participant is responsible for running one campaign or equivalent session for the other participants on a cyclical basis (e.g. weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly), and they get included in the games run by the other participants.

For example: Let's say your group of 4 only has two days free each week with only enough time to run one session each day. So you agree to have each participant run a game every other week. Week 1 is player A's game and player B's game, Week 2 is player C and D, Week 3 is player A and B again, and Week 4 is player C and D. Player A might be running an adventure path. Player B might be running a long homebrew campaign. Player C might be running a new one-shot each week. Player D might be running some short miniseries that only last a handful of sessions. They all could be doing similar or different things, they just have to communicate and be honest about what they all want to run and play.

You might have a slightly larger group where it's hard to find time for everyone to put in their GM dues. You could always shift more time towards the GM who always has a ton of stuff prepared and likes to spend more time GM'ing, the new GM who needs more practice but is bringing a lot of fresh ideas, or the story that most of the players have become superlatively engrossed in.

Basically everyone agrees to take their own turn running a campaign or recurring one-shots, and they get to play in the other ones without a ton of extra LFG hassle all the time. The groupfinding for multiple campaigns is baked-in so for the scheduling effort of one normal campaign you can get a full docket of that rich and gooey rpg goodness. You run one game and you get a bunch of free tickets for all those other characters you were going to play in games that never materialized.

Schedule would be TBD and format/platform would be on a per-GM-session basis, depending on what you're most comfortable with running. We could probably get a couple groups set up by common windows of availability, and it will be up to them to decide how they want to do things. If a group decides to run two sessions in one day then one GM could do a theater of the mind homebrew on simple voice chat, and the next could do an official adventure path on roll20, foundry, fantasy grounds, etc. as long as everyone is good with it.

The logistics of trying to manage larger groups with something like 5+ separate yet simultaneous campaigns can be kind of heavy, but that's where we can work together, try some things, and find an optimization route that's in everyone's best interests. We'll workshop it.

I have heard some good things about the adventure paths for PF2 and I'd be happy to give any of them a go if someone has room.

I'm flexible as far as playstyle, tone, and characters go as long as it's not horrible or toxic in a way the group didn't consent to.

If you have existing players/characters locked in then just let me know if you or they need something specific to round out the party and I'll whip something up pronto.

Theater of the mind over voice chat, and virtual tabletop both work for me (just let me know in advance so I can acquire it if necessary and do initial setup without delaying a session). I've never really gelled well with play-by-post, unfortunately.

Time zone is EST (Eastern US), and ideal hours are Sunday and Monday afternoon to late-night. I can do other days, but only if it's late night (latest workday ends about midnight).