Space Halfling

Vanellope VonSchweetz's page

No posts. Organized Play character for VampByDay.



1 to 50 of 529 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>
Scarab Sages

I have a question regarding lore of the 'bad planes' and devils and demons vis-a-vis the remaster.

Do demons and devils (as chaotic evil and lawful evil) fiends still exist?

Like, I know alignment is gone, I'm talking conceptually, not game-mechanics.

Do devils still like plans, contracts, and they can't lie (even if they can twist your words into pretzels).

Do demons still relish unconstrained, random chaotic death and destruction?

Are they called something else, do they do something else? Are the lower planes changed up entirely?

Because that devil/Devil thing is very much a DnD staple, so, I'm just wondering if they kept that concept or changed it up.

Scarab Sages

So a while ago they released all the ancestries that will be in howl of the wild, the centaur, Minotaur, etc. Have they released a full list of those ancestries in the Tian Xia Character guide? I know the product page has a few, Samsauran, Tanuki, but are all six revealed yet? I seem to recall Oni was one, but I can't tell if that's just me misremembering.

Scarab Sages

At level one, Bolan has a zero-resource cost attack that does 2d10 damage. That is enough to one-shot tpk the party.

At level 2, the party faces multiple creatures with aoe DC 21 save attacks that deal 3d6 damage, that’s 6d6 damage on a crit fail which is likely due to how high the saves are, and again, they can spam these abilities because of no resource cost.

Every single attack Kanepo does has the potential to do 4d6+1 damage.

Creatures just straight up immune to reactive strike?

Was this built as an 11-20 and then someone just went through and ‘reduced the numbers.’ By the book without realizing that lower level players have fewer resources to heal and stuff?

Scarab Sages

Super spoiler question about how willowshore works:

Spoiler:
In the mindscape that is Willowshore, do traders other than Shinzo show up to trade with willowshore? In other words, do. . . ‘Memories’ or traders or psychic simulacra show up to trade with willowshore? If yes, then getting enough food doesn’t seem like a problem. If no, then it seems like a small town of 220 (many of which die in the opening attack), could continue to pay the PCs a bunch of gold for level 10 earn income tasks and spend money at their tea house, I don’t think the town’s (mindscape) coffers run that deep.
Just trying to understand what is going on.

Scarab Sages

Thought I’d throw out my player’s characters here. Feel free to post your characters (or player’s characters) I’d love to see what variation we have!

Meadow Orchard (agender Leshy wood kineticist): A Leshy associated with the Leshy tea sellers. He’s a south bank traditionalist (having been in willlowshore for a long time. This is despite the fact that he owns and operates a small orchard outside of town on the northbank. He sells complimentary fruits and goat’s milk that pairs nicely with the Leshy’s tea. He realizes the town will die so long as things aren’t fixed, and then. . . who would take care of his goats?

Duye: (Male Nagaji thief rogue). Was found by the halfling ‘thieves guild’ operator Luda, who took him in as a son. He has strong ties to her and is sort of her go-to enforcer. She’s tasked him with getting commerce up and running so she can resume her smuggling business.

Galen (Male Human Monk). Found abandoned by a husband-and-wife pair of elves who were fleeing Avistan over the crown of the world, he is an Avistan human raised by elves. They are rangers, but spent so long on grilling Galen on the ‘basics’ of combat that he became a monk. He lives outside of town with his folks in a large treehouse.

Minji (Female Kitsune Primal witch) A very shy kitsune who lives with her grandmother outside of town. Her grandma is a healer, specializing in holistic, long-term care. She’s too shy to enter her kitsune form in town because she doesn’t want to stand out among the town’s mostly-human populace. Also worships Daikitsu.

Ryoushi (Male Nagaji Ranger). A resident of Willowshore. His parents wanted him to become a cleric of Nalinvati, but he was never very spiritual, and instead joined the Silvermist rangers. He’s an archer.

Saeka (Female Human Primal Sorcerer) A contemporary of Jubei, she was take. In by Anjul, who taught her to control her powers. She maintains a good relationship with the town wizard, though she has been known to go on long trips exploring the land. She was in between trips when the campaign started and now is not only trying to help the town, but also find a way out so she can go on more trips.

Scarab Sages

So, trying to figure out a rouge throwing dagger build, and I'm not finding much. I know there is the archer/fighter dedication feat parting shot, but that doesn't work with daggers. Any other way for a ranged character to get someone Off-guard so that you can sneak attack them that I'm not thinking of?

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So the book recommends that Shinzo’s first visit, he has around ‘a dozen items for sale.* The PCs can later request goods from him, but for his first visit, they can’t because they don’t know he’s coming. I decided to make a list of fun items that are useful to my party, and thought I’d post it here in case it was good for everyone else.

1) 100 GP worth of magical reagents that can be used to scribe scrolls, copy spells into spellbooks, etc.
2) 3 sets of artisans tools, one for building construction, one for blacksmithing, one for leatherworking. If no PC buys one, Granny Hu buys the building set to help the town rebuild.
3) 1 of each of the various common kits, a healer’s kit, a repair kit, etc. he has a clockwork kit that counts as thieves tools.
4) A set of Leaf weave armor, studded leather, Wooden Breastplate, lattice armor, and O-your armor.
5) A Runestone with a +1 potency rune: 38 GP
6) A +1 Shieldbow, 35 GP
7) A +1 dancer’s spear, 35 GP
8) A +1 Longspear, 35 GP
9) A +1 Khakkara, 35 GP
10) A purifying Ladel (32 GP, if no one buys this, Old Matsuki does in order to help the town with their food problems)
11)) A scholarly journal about ghosts, 3GP, note that that this is a level 3 item, but I’m allowing it.
12) Trollbane, A smoking sword, except it is a katana instead of a longsword, 60Gp, note that this is a level 3 item, but I’m allowing it.

In addition he has a spellbook with all first level spells and cantrips in it. He won’t sell it, but wizards can copy spells out of it for the standard fee.

Scarab Sages

Hgy guys, I'm racking my brain trying to figure out a way to give an elf a bite attack without dipping into an archetype. So far the only thing I can think of is to make them a Nephalim and give them the 'bestial Manifestation' feat . . . which works, but I'd prefer if there was another option. I've looked at at just about everything else. Is there a background that gives a bite attack or something? Anything I'm missing?

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

One of my PCs is a wood kineticist, and has the impulse that lets him just boom-grow trees. Like any tree . . . and it stays there. So he could presumably just grow acres of apple trees, and then use base kenesis to make them fruit again after all the fruit is picked? Plus, like, also, there's the mission in chapter 3 about needing peach wood, I guess that's solved without any rolls? Man that spell and ability is super overpowered in certain situations.

Scarab Sages

5 people marked this as a favorite.

Put this togeather for my friends after reading the Player's Guide on a long flight. It is essentially a quick-and-dirty guide to where a Local Willowshore resident may have trained. THIS LIST IS NOT EXCLUSIVE. Like I said, quick and dirty. It is essentially a list of NPCs that would be reasonable for every (or most) class to have trained under if they took the Close Ties background (or if they just want to add some flavor to their backstory.)

Let me know if you can think of any more. Like I said, THIS IS NOT EXHAUSTIVE, just some easy ideas.

The following are POSSIBLE pays your character could have been trained in Willowshore. To be clear, you DO NOT have to abide by any of these. Instead, this functions as a TL;DR for the Player's guide for options for characters native to Willowshore to have received their training.

Alchemist: There is one Alchemist/Herbalist in town, You-So Jin, an elf that both tends the local graveyard, and uses the mosses and fungi she finds to make alchemical concoctions. She is more of an herbalist than an alchemist, but it is possible to play an apprentice of hers.

Barbarian: There are no 'official' barbarian clans in the area, but it is certainly possible to be a town guard with anger management problems, or just a local fighter-Malcontent.

Bard: There are no official bard colleges in Willowshore, though there is a playhouse tended to by a kitsune (Kazuma Oono). Other than that, there is a strong tradition of storytelling and music-playing. The Cerulean Teahouse, a fancy-pants teahouse-turned Caterer-Turned bed and breakfast was recently abandoned, perhaps you were employed to find entertainment there and now find yourself out of work?

Cleric: There are several shrines around town to a variety of different deities, as well as two full-on Temples. One, to Pharasma, is known as the Lady of Souls and is run by a Taldan- descended woman named Elizeth Candora. The other, a literal hole in the ground, is to Daikitsu (Agriculture, Craftsmenship, rice, and Kitsune) and is tended by Ba-Ming, Ouh, a 15-year-old girl who was literally saved by divine mandate, and has dedicated herself to Daikitsu to repay the favor. There is also a prominent statue and shrine to Abadar, and a local leader of the industrial district who is a priest of Kofusachi (Abundance, happiness, prosperity) who might take on an apprentice.

Champion: As cleric, above.

Druid: There are no druids mentioned in town, but the wooded area surrounding Willowshore is rife with wildlife, and there may be a Druid Circle or two around there. For nontraditional druids, the is Zataku, a local fishing master who might have a water-based apprentice.

Fighter: There is Zheng Peng, leader of the local imperial barracks and town guard. When Lung Hwa Collapsed, somehow they kept going, providing safety for the town. Otherwise, self-tauht fighters seem like the way to go.

Investigator: Again, Zheng Peng may hire/train detectives to keep the piece. On the reverse side, less scrupulous Investigators may join up with Luda Bama, the local thief and smuggler. A third option may be to be trained by Luo Xi Zhang, the local lawyer for town affairs.

Kineticist: Wood/water kineticists make the most sense, but there are no kineticists in town to train you as far as I can tell.

Magus: Jubei is the only arcane teacher in town. Living in a wizard's tower set up by his Nagaji master (who died a few years back), maybe you and Jubei were contemporaries, or perhaps young Jubei has taken on an apprentice of his own just recently.

Monk: There are no active monasteries in the area, though there is a famous abandoned one, the Tan Sugi monastery. Perhaps you are a traveling monk seeking to revitalize/repair it.

Oracle: See cleric, above (if you need training at all.)

Psychic: While psychics are well respected, there are no psychics or psychic trainers in the area (if you need one.)

Ranger: There are many farmers and hunters in the area that could have trained a ranger. None are mentioned specifically.

Rogue: Luda Bama runs a successful smuggling operation in Willowshore, with an under-the-table handshake from the town's leader. For less conventional rogues, Zheng Peng runs the local town guard/militia, perhaps a ruffian rogue could be one of them.

Sorcerer: While most sorcerers don't need guidance, for those that do, the playhouse (see bard) might offer help to occult sorcerers, the shrines to divine might help divine sorcerers, Jubei (see magus) for arcane, and Zataku (for primal) are options.

Summoner: There are no summoners that we know of in Willowshore, and they generally don't need training, but if you want someone to help you stumble into discovering your power, see sorcerer, above.

Swashbuckler: See Fighter or Rogue, above.

Thaumaturge: There are no official thaumaturges in town to train you, but the Southshore Traditionalists have plenty of superstitions and folk-wisdom to spread around. Their leader is 'Old Matsuki,' though the game guide suggests you can't be super palsy with him. Perhaps one of his two-dozen family members has taken a liking to you? Or maybe you are part of the family.

Witch: See Sorcerer, above.

Wizard: See Magus, Above.

Inventor: There is one inventor in town, Huo Tian-Zhe, who runs a shop where he makes inventions. Young, Huo came to town thinking he was going to show all the local hicks what's what, only to find out that his inventions were sub-par. He now runs a shop while learning from local craftsman how to make higher-quality gear.

Gunslingers: Gunslingers are not well used, as guns are not in wide use yet in the game. Though you could make a crossbow-centered gunslinger. See the Fighter or the alchemist, depending on how you want to develop your gunslinger.

Scarab Sages

So I was going through the GM core and I noticed some changes to how precious materials worked. Specifically, Darkwood is now duskwood (fine, no problem). But all the info on how to build darkdood/duskwood armor/weapons is now . . . missing? It used to be that darkwood items were level 8, but a set of darkwood armor was level 12. Now there is no information on making darkwood armor or weapons that I can find. Are they just considered items now? Anyone know what's going on?

Scarab Sages

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Treasure Vault and I love all the cool new ideas it gave us, like the Whipstaff and Bow Staff. But there are a few weapons that actually existed in the real world that we haven't gotten PF replicas of yet. I say stick these in the Player Core 2 if you have room, a lot of them are fantastic and would solve some niches.

1: Throwing-Stick. I know the name is stupid, but this weapon was actually all over Europe and Egypt, as well as North and South America (in addition to Australia). It is a stick with an airfoil and can actually out-distance a javalin IRL. We do have the boomerang, but The throwing-stick is not designed to be returning. A simple weapon that does a d4 damage (throwing only) with a range of maybe 40 feet? That way it's not stepping on the toes of the Javalin or Light hammer, but it's still good to use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfUcGiM_Yk8

2: Sabre, C'mon, man. Just make a rapier that has parry instead of disarm, does slashing instead of piercing, and if you think that's too powerful, reduce its deadly to d6 or maybe even d4. We have the Spiral Rapier, but that thing is garbage compared to the normal rapier, who thought that was a good idea?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR976PhMbDM

3) Chinese Jian. This Straight-sword of Chinese design is actually pretty cool and I'm sorry to see it doesn't get a lot of love in RPGs. The thing is . . . I would probably give it the sames stats as the Aldori Dueling Sword, which we already have? Maybe just say remove the uncommon tag in Tien and treat the two as the same?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTsU7Ihqyg

4) Pitchfork: So we've all seen those shots where peasants grab their pitchforks and go to town on the monster . . . why do we not have that? Sure we have the trident, but that's a martial weapon. Treasure Vault gave us the Frying pan as both cookware and a weapon, why not have a pitchfork as both farming tool and weapon? Make it a simple weapon, two handed, d8, and give it the forceful trait instead of reach like the longspear. Boom, done.

5) Gastraphetes: This 'super crossbow' is nicknamed the 'belly bow' because you had to lean on it with your stomach to cock it because the draw was so powerful. Since the Arbelest is now a martial weapon in the player core, why not make the Gastrophetes? Just make it a martial, maybe even advanced crossbow that takes 2 actions to reload, but is d12 deadly d12 . . . just make it super strong but also just a pain in the but to reload. I think there is room in the game for that. Also, it's the world's first crossbow . . . fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Jn8oBDNCE

Scarab Sages

9 people marked this as a favorite.

Okay, first of all, I know Player Core 1 isn't officially out yet, but all the commentators online have been talking about it, and there are plenty of previews out there for those who care to look . . . it may not be 'out' out, but it is out.

So I want the thank Paizo for their herculean effort of putting this together in only eleven months give or take. I know that sounds like a long time to us not in the biz, but upending their entire release schedule, designing four whole books, copy-editing two of them, finishing them, getting them printed AND SHIPPED is just quite frankly, insane. It takes something like 2-3 years for Reapermini to make a new batch of minis and that's with proper planning and logistics in the works, I can't imagine doing this was an easy task, so first off, hats off to Paizo, and I want to thank them for their work.

Now, now that I've said that, I just want to make my case for a Swashbuckler overhaul when it comes out next August in Player Core 2. The reason I'm typing this up is because I saw a lot of 'please overhaul warpriest' or 'please overhaul witch,' over the past year, but I'm not seeing a lot of people interested in overhauling the swashbuckler. For some reason, several of the other classes get overhaul requests, but the general consensus of the swashbuckler is "It sucks, just make a fighter and move on." Why does the swashbuckler get no love?

Problems with the swashbuckler that need to be addressed, (IMO)

-1 Panache is a problem. Listen, Panache is a problem here. I love the idea in concept, the idea that you are styling on your enemy, and that gives you the confidence to get more done. The problem here is that it just doesn't work for a couple of reasons
--A) A lot of fights only last 2-3 rounds. So if you spend your first round getting up to someone and getting panache, not only are they going to merc you for the whole of your next round, but that's 1/3 of the fight you aren't participating in.
--B) Getting Panache is dependent on beating enemies in a skill contest. If enemies are immune to your skill (such as intimidate), or just have really high saves, then you don't get panache. There are a lot of fights where my swashbuckler never got panache because I rolled a 13 with maxed out dex and acrobatics and still couldn't trouble through an opponent's square. If you are facing an opponent that is CR +3, you might as well just put up a sign saying 'no panache this fight.'
--C) It basically forces you to take feats that give you panache in alternate ways, such as ONE FOR ALL or AFTER YOU. My swashbucler never gets to 'feel' like a swashbuckler, busting into a room and fencing the bad guys because he HAS to let them go first if I have any chance of generating panache. If something is a 'must take' for the basics of the class to work, it shouldn't be an optional feat, IMO.

-2 They are MAD: Strength, Dex, Con, and often Charisma. Really? That was the same problem the warpriest had, so you got rid of the charisma requirement. Give the Swashbuckler something. I really think they should get the thief rogue's dex-to-damage. If anyone, the swashbuckler deserves it more than the rogue, I would think. In fact, this leads me to:

-3 They are just bad martials. They don't have the accuracy of a fighter, the defensiveness of a champion, or the reduced MAP of a flurry ranger, or the damage output of a rogue. They are just bad. Listen, I love the swashbuckler, but you can literally make a better fencer out of a thaumaturge. They'd do more damage, have better charisma, and have wacky abilities to boot like an ability to heal or a pseudo-reactive strike at level 1.

Listen, a level 1 Fighter, Ranger, or thief rogue putting all their points into strength (or dex for the rogue) does +4 damage base. A typical swashbuckler is going to have something like 14 strength, 18 dex, 14 charisma, so even with panache, they are even with them, and if they loose panache (and can't get it back, like we discussed) then they are just straight up worse.

-4 Skills are a problem. You basically have to skill increase both the swashbuckler's skills (acrobatics and whatever skill they have for generating panache) in order to have any chance of generating panache, which means no, you don't get to up any other skills until, like, level 11. Inspired by Will Turner from pirates of the carribian? Want to be a swordsmith fencer? No, not possible, you have to up your acrobatics and (what is Will, diplomacy?) so kiss the idea of increasing crafting to expert goodbye. If you have to keep the good skills, then at least let the skills auto-increase like they do for the inventor and the thaumaturge.

Okay, so I've said my peace. I just . . . I needed to get it off my chest. I love the swashbuckler, but having played one through Gatewalkers aside a champion, I loose in almost all aspects to the champion. I have worse AC, worse action economy, worse damage most of the time (unless, very rarely, I crit while doing my finishing move) less flexibility in where my skill increases go. I'm so MAD my con isn't as good so I have fewer hit points, can't heal . . . the only thing I have over her is I'm a little bit faster . . . sometimes . . . if I can get panache, and I'm better at acrobatics and perform (she's a battle dancer because nothing is immune to fascinating performance). Oh, I also go after her in inititive stack because I'm forced to use After You just to ensure I have panache and can do 2d6+3 (instead of 2d6+1) against her and her reach polearm with 2d8+4.

Scarab Sages

Hey guys, I'm trying to make a very specific build for entirely theoretical reasons. Not planning on playing the character, I just need some help to see if I'm missing something.

I'm trying to make a rogue Eldritch trickster that is ranged based. Also the ancestry cannot be human. Also not using the free archetype rules

I know, I know, that's hard to do. If it was easy I wouldn't be asking on the boards.

So far, I've basically got two ideas:

1) Have them drop prone, take cover, hide, then sneak attack. Since you can take cover while prone, that's enough to let you hide (stupidly) so you can fire off your sneak attacks every round. Downside of it giving you a -2 to hit no matter what that I can't seem to get rid of.

2) Eventually at level 10, you get the ability to do it if you go into eldritch trickster dedication, then archer dedication. Problem is that uses up all your class feats and doesn't come online until level 10

It goes:
1)Eldrich trickster racket-let's say wizard dedication
2) Any class feat
4) Basic wizard spellcasting
6) Wizard arcana-Any 1 wizard feat (You now have three wizard feats and can choose a new archetype)
8) Archer Archetype
10) Parting Shot (Two action activity, lets you fire and jump back and the target is flat-footed against the attack)

I considered other builds, like intimidation+Dread Striker, but that requires intimidation checks, and several creatures are immune to it . . .plus it only works 1/enemy/10 minutes so . . . y'know . . . not really reliable or repeatable.

Am I missing something? Is there another option here I'm not seeing?

Scarab Sages

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Okay, so this has bothered me for a long time. Paizo, sit down, we need to have a talk.

Listen Paizo . . . you're doing great. I like a lot of the stuff you do. I'm really excited about starfinder second edition, I'm happy to see Pathfinder 2e out there, I'm a fan of most of the stuff you've been doing. Sure, there's a few things that are rough around the edges. . . aiding another need a bit of fixing . . . I personally think the incapacitate trait is harsh and needs a reworking, but mostly we are okay.

But we gotta talk about you throwing the death effect out there all the time. I don't think you guys realize what throwing the death tag on something means. Y'see, undead and constructs have pretty much blanket immunity to 'death effects' which means, as far as I can tell, anything with the death trait. Now, that works great for things like finger of death. Undead are already dead, finger of death shouldn't work on them. Scare to Death, undead don't have a heartbeat, they can's be scared to death, got it.

But let's look over here at the Assassin's 'Angel of Mercy' Feat. Gives all of your attacks the death trait against the target of your Assassin's Mark. So, if I'm reading the rules right, if your assassin targets an undead for assassination to get that juicy backstabber and deadly trait on their attacks . . . the undead becomes immune to all their weapons trikes. All of them. Look it up, you CAN'T elect to turn angel of death off, so you level up, and suddenly become worse.

But the big problem here, the one I called you in for, is the Kineticist feat "All shall end in flames." Now I get it . . . it can kill people, including the kineticist, and reincarnate them . . . sounds like a death effect. But remember, that now means that it can't hurt undead or constructs now. All shall end in flames? Hardly, apparently if you are undead you can walk through them just fine.

So, listen, I understand that some things feel like they should have the death effect, but remember what that means. If you want undead to be immune to the 'complete and utter destruction' thing, add a rider to spells saying 'while undead are immune to the complete destruction portion of this spell, they can still be damaged by it, and destroyed normally as if the impulse did not have the death trait' or something like that.

I love your games man, but please remember to double=check the implication of a trait when you add it to an ability.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm going to try and remember to put down what happens here, from our adventures. We stared playing a few weeks ago and meet once very two weeks. Just gonna give a runedown of our group and how we are playing, along with any changes our GM has made.

The Party:
Me: Zarukt Starhammer (Male Dwarf Magus-Twisting Tree): A 200 year old elderly and curmudgeonly dwarf. A member of a branch family of the Runebinder clan. Esoteric Scholar background. He's fancies himself a wizard that 'just knows how to defend himself.' He's come to work with clan Tolarr so that the Runebinders can get more recognition in historical texts. He's tired of historical texts not giving proper credit to the skilled men and women who make the magic items that the heroes of Dwarven society use.

Caitia: (Male Ammarun Thief Rogue) An Ammarun Native of Highhelm who is a skilled dungeon explorer and looking to raise the status of Ammarun in Highhelm. Primarily uses a whipclaw.

(Forget Name) (Female Dwarven Air and Earth Kineticist). A member of clan Tolarr that has been pushed aside despite her prominent kineticist abilities because she isn't as good at history as the rest of the clan.

Delmerick "Pickle" Scrimgeour (Male Dwarven Cleric) Another, younger, member of clan Tolarr who bounces back and forth between worshiping Angvaad or the Dwarven Pantheon as a whole. He got his nickname from an accident with the rod of wonder as a kid that has turned him permanently green and no one has managed to fix it.

So we meet up in a local in and were told that the festival isn't for a few weeks yet, and that we've arrived early. We heard about plenty of rumors going on, and decided to make a little coin while we wait for the Tolarr historical festival to happen. While there were many rumors, the most pressing seemed to be about a missing Kobold trapped in a dangerous dungeon used as a test for the thief's guild. On our way there we found one of Pickle (and the Kineticist's) stupid cousins that had gotten himself trapped trying to climb down some cliffs, and we were unable to help him (My magus hadn't memorized feather fall that day.)

We get to the beginning of the gauntlet and start heading through. We found some traps, and Zarukt discovered a magical dart.

Spoilers about the dart.:

Because of a crit-success identifying the dart, we discovered it was cursed. We were eventually able to find a level 7 Cleric, one of Pickle's higher-ups at the church, and he un-cursed it. We then transferred the rune to Zarukt's staff.

Navigating the dungeon we manage to bypass most of the traps, and took very little damage. We found a suit of shadowed studded leather armor with a hole in it, and we were able to repair it and give it to the rogue. We found the Kobold, and Zarukt (with a nat 19 resulting in an intimidate of 22) managed to convince him that the life of the thieve's guild would get him killed. He then wrote the young lad a letter of recommendation to join clan Runebinder as a magical trap expert, and since that got him a job, he was happy enough.

On the way out, we had a fight where the rogue and cleric went down because of some poor teamwork (we were a new team after all) We managed to heal the cleric, he brought up the rogue, and we exited the gauntlet.

Afterwords we took a few days off to do substitute teaching for rich snobs learning other languages before we got back to work.

Session 2)
Caitian was eager to figure out what happened to their favorite restaurant, but on the way we had heard about some sick crabs, so we went there first (it was on the way.) We found out one of the crabs was infected with leeches as big as a dwarf's arm, and so we barely killed them in time to save the queen crab. We found out they got in though some illegal tunneling and the crab aquaculturalist who owned the crab promised to look into it. Our Earth Kinetisist plugged the whole with base kenisis.

While on our way from the crab habitat to the shut-down restaurant, we encountered some Knights of Lastwall that were being mistreated because some of their number were orcs or half-orcs. We made some medicine checks to heal them and tried to convince the local foundries to sell to them with mixed success. Zarukt promised to come back when he had set up his enchanting shop (i.e. reached level 4 and got the magical crafter feat), and they were grateful.

Then we explored the abandoned restaurant and concluded some ghorran or leshy had misinterpreted the situation and sabotaged the restaurant. The elf owner of the place decided to be done with it and start a new phase of her life, perhaps becoming a seafood chef with the crab meat from the place we had just been to. Got into a fight with some fungal zombies and the kinetisit got crit and went down in one shot, but luckily the cleric brought her back up easily. Otherwise, standard fight.

On our way back to the inn, we stopped by the cloud district because we had heard their 'head of security' was a dragon that was espousing the communist manifesto and then playing pranks. It took a lot of work and convincing, but we convinced the dragon that making his pranks something both parties could enjoy would improve the overall enjoyment of his pranks and make everyone happier. Zarukt suggested, instead of dumping buckets of water on people, using the cantrip "Rousing Splash" as that still dumps water on people, but also has a positive effect, and they were amiable. They still had trouble not laying down caltrops or filling purses with nettles though.

The next day we heard that the big basalisk game was coming up and they were short of players, so we went and tried out. To no one's surprise the Kinetisit was able to power through tryouts without getting tired. She got on the team and then just outlasted the competition, with some help from the rest of the party, allowing the hometown team to win. Zarukt lamented that Basalisk had 'gotten soft' in the past 150 years . . . a lot (He kept failing checks to know about the game and our in-universe explanation was that he was familiar with 'old' Basalisk. "When did they start using PADDING in these helmets?! Dwarves today have gone soft!")

The day after that was the Stickleberry fair, and while no one in the party was crowned stickleberry king or queen (Zarukt's plan for a suit with magical illusory stickleberries backfired spectacularly (nat 1), spraying him with stickleberry juice before he could even make it on stage), we did much better in the pie-eating contest. Again, to the surprise of no one, the kinetisit was a machine and was able to eat stickleberry pies endlessly (TWO crit successes at the pie eating contest) netting us a +1 spear that we gave to the cleric.

And that was it so far!

Scarab Sages

Faiths and Philosophies, like the green faith, intrigue me and I'd love to play a devotee of them one day, but how they work is a little questionable. Can you make a cleric of them? According to archives of nethys they don't have favored weapons or domains so . . . I guess I can't? Does anyone know what the official ruling? CAN you be a cleric of a faith/philosophy? If so, how do you determine their domains/favored weapons?

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So, one of my old axioms as a DM is 'Give the players what they need, not everything they want.' Before you yell at me, let me explain. By this axiom I mean, give the players all the magical items that they need at their level, but maybe not the exact magical item they want. This is actually easier in PF2 than in PF1. In PF1 there were many builds that required very specific weapons, but this is greatly reduced in PF2. So why not spice things up a bit? There are a bajillion weapons out there, why not throw something to the party other than that +1 striking longsword. So, without further ado, here are is a list of weapons you can hand out as treasure that can spice up your game while still giving the players the numbers they need.

1) Simple melee weapons, non-finesse
a)Frying Pan: This weapon from the treasure vault is not only funny, but is the only deadly simple melee weapon. The small d4 damage isn't great, sure, but the upside is you can walk into any kitchen and have a weapon without taking the improvised weapon penalty
b) Club: The most overlooked of all weapons, this is a D6 one handed simple weapon that you can throw. It's actually pretty good. A cleric who worships Halcamora or Shumunue can grab deadly simplicity and up it to a d8 throwing weapon. Vastly underrated IMHO
c) Longspear: D8, reach, AND it's simple? Your buff witch or sorcerer can stand behind the party tank and poke people from afar while still being relativly protected. Even early fighters can make good use of it as it vastly increases the range of their Reactionary Strike. And as soon as the fighter hits five and becomes master in swords or axes or whatever? Hand it off to the cleric or witch or whatever.

2)Simple melee Weapons-Finesse
a)Nightstick: Another d4 weapon, but this has parry and nonlethal, meaning you can use it in your off hand as a shield most of the time, and if you ever need to knock someone out instead of killing them (which comes up in several games) you have an option.
b)Forked Bipod: Not only can you use this weapon to stabalize your gun, as a single action, you can turn it into an emergency finesse weapon!
c) Throwing Knife: Another vastly underrated weapon, usable in melee or with a thrown range of 20 feet, it's really a solid useful backup weapon, especially if you put returning on it.

3)Simple Ranged Weapons:
a) Air Repeater: One of the best simple weapons in the game. D4 damage is bad, but you can fire it 6 times before needing to reload, and you don't have to spend actions moving to the next barrel. Great weapon.
b)Atlatl: d6 damage, double the range of a Javalin, but you only add half your strength bonus to damage. Great for those low-strength builds who want an emergency ranged weapon.
c) Flintlock Musket: d6 Fatal d10 and it has concussive, which is great because it automatically does bludgeoning or Piercing, whichever is worse for the monster . . . you don't have to choose!

4)Martial Melee Weapons-Not Finesse
a)Kusarigama: This is just a great weapon. Parry, reach, does a d8 . . . plus it has trip for all those trip builds out there. Pretty solid.
b)Leiomano This shark-toothed club is D6, but it is slashing/bludgeoning , one handed, and FATAL d10, which is great for fighter crit-seeking builds.
c)Griffion Cane: This weapon is two-handed d10 meaning you are only one die off from a greataxe or a greatsword using it, and it is a cane so you can usually bring it into fancy parties!

5)Martial melee Weapons-Finesse
a)Dancer's spear: Only does a d6, but it is finesse, reach, and versitile B for all those times you fight ocher jellies. Great for swashbucklers and rogues as soon as the remaster comes out.
b)Dueling Spear: Ditch the reach and upgrade to a d8 reach spear. Piercing/Versitile S gives you more options than the elven curved blade.
c)Flyssa: It's just a straight up improvement on the short sword. All the same stats, but it is in the knife group so crits cause bleed damage instead of . . . like maybe slowed for a single round.

6)Martial Ranged Weapons
a) Bow Staff: This combo weapon is essentially a shortbow that can be converted into a whipstaff (without agile) as a single action and back again. Fantastic! Two weapons and you only have to enchant one!
b)Boomerang: So, d6 damage, 60 ft range, and it returns to you regardless of the result of your attack role. Don't even need a returning Rune!
C) SukGung: So get this, stats of a light crossbow, except for the stupid high 200 ft range, except you can one-hand the sucker, or if you two-hand it, it becomes fatal d12. Congratulations, you can snipe peopel to death from across the battlefield.

Anyway, hope this helps when coming up with treasure to hand out to your party next time they need to find a weapon!

Scarab Sages

Our group is about to start this game and our GM is not really fond of the forums, so I volunteered to ask for him.

Some of the older APs do not allow for PCs to buy/sell items and don't provide enough magic items so that PCs can keep up with monsters (cough cough Frozen Flame cough cough.) Luckily Automatic Bonus Progression ususally fixes this. Just wondering if anyone has played this AP and if they have found enough magic items (at least fundamental runes/potency + Striking runes) to get your party though, or should our group use Automatic Bonus Progression?

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.

I know the playtest isn't over, but I think enough time has passed that I can give a comprehensive list of things that me and my friends saw, along with the general consensus of the internet and the other forum posters here, to give a pretty good idea of what we want to say about the playtest. If you haven't seen it, Ronald the Rules Lawyer did an entire combat with an all Animist party on youtube and he had some stuff to say. So, given what I've seen everyone say, along with my own thoughts and experiences, here are my hopefully non-knee-jerk-reaction thoughts.

General) Unlike previous playtests, its seems like these classes are just on average way too powerful compared to other classes. I'll go over some issues in general below, but for the most part, vessel spells and Exemplar abilities just blow what other classes can do out of the water. Unless the remaster is going to give other classes a significant power boost (which would be problematic without boosting enemies) than these classes just seem to to come out as S-tier classes.

Animist)

Sage vs channeler) Apparition's Possession does very little: There are no mechanics for non-spell rank controls like Harpies/kelpies, plus a lot of creatures get access to control spells super early like vampires and succubi . . . and control spells tend to have the incapacitation trait anyway so if they are at a spell rank below half your level your saves are treated as one better anyway. And while the Free sage feat is super flavorful and I love the idea . . . 90% of the time it is worse than Channeler's stance. You can use Channeler's stance in almost every fight, Apparition Sense is very situational. Combined with the fact that the ability to switch up your primary spirit in battle depending on what the party needs is SUPER useful, and the sage just falls flat.
The fix: Give Sages a special extra ability that only they get when their primary spirit is active (like the Witness to Ancient Battles giving them martial weapon proficiency even when they aren't in their vessel spell). Fix Apparition's possession to work off of enemy Creature level (immune to control effects from creatures up to your character level+3 or +2 or something). Make Channeler's stance just a normal feat anyone can take, and make apparition sense a class feature.

Sustaining Dance: Seems like a MUST pick for a class based on throwing out a lot of sustaining spells. If you meant to make the vessel spells more powerful by making them all sustaining (and thus cutting down your action economy) then remove this feat. If it's meant to be in there as an offset to all the vessel spells, then make it a class feature. Otherwise it is just a 'must pick' feat and basically feels like a feat tax . . . and no one likes a feat tax. It's like how every rogue in existence chooses Gang Up at level 6 . . . it's a no brainier, might as well not even give rogues a level 6 feat.

Groves and Gardens) The Spirit of Groves and Gardens is by far the best healing we've seen in the game. It outstrips just about any other out-of-combat healing, making things like the leaf druid's Goodberry almost laughable. If combined with Channeler's Stance it gets even crazier. It's also good in combat especially if you have a chokepoint so you can prevent the enemies from benefiting from the healing, or if you are fighting undead/constructs. Most other resource-less healing pales in comparison: Lay on Hands, Hymn of Healing, Lesson of Life, Restore the mind . . . all are a pittance compared to this. Plus, most of those are options you have to choose, feats you have to take . . . you can just grab this when needed and on days you don't need to heal, can grab another apparition.
The Fix: Limiting the healing to in combat might cut down the utility of it a bit but . . . it's still really good. Plus a lot of players hate combat-only abilities because it doesn't make sense in story. (See most GMs allowing emotional acceptance psychics to heal out of combat just to handwave out of combat healing). Maybe reduce the healing to 1 HP per spell rank per round? Or 2?

Stalker of Darken Boughs) So the Vessel Spell here is good for doing some recon by resource-less pest form, but I might give it sustained up to 10 min? Animal form and Elemental form are okay but then . . . there's no reason to take this as your primary spirit based like, level 11, because any combat form you assume will just be merced. Oh, and also, spell ranks 2-5 is a pretty big null space where the best combat form they can assume is an animal but they will get wrecked if they try at say, level 8, making this spirit pretty bad for most of your career.
The Fix I assume you will eventually give this apparition more options and better combat forms passed just 2 of them?

Steward of Stone and Fire: Like, best way to do spell damage in the game. Full Stop. Resource-less (well, focus point) AoE damage that effectively scales by a d4 every spell rank (or, technically 2d4 every two spell ranks) only costs an action, you can reposition it when you sustain it, and with sustaining Dance you can move, blast, and still cast a 2-action spell on your turn, and with channeler's stance you do even more damage. I know a lot of people have been complaining that casters are too weak, but having this good spell here just means everyone is just going to play nothing but Animists and no other spellcasting class.
The Fix I honestly don't know on this one. Anyone have any ideas?

Vanguard of Roaring Waters: Unlike a lot of the other vessel spells, this one seems pretty darn tame. To use it's special ability, you have to use up two actions (one to sustain, one to move) and a small bonus to AC and +5 ft move speed are pretty weak compared to near-infinite free healing and throwing out two damaging spells a round.
The Fix Play with the numbers, maybe a straight +2 circumstance bonus to AC (as if you had raised a shield) and +10 ft movement bonus might straighten it out. Then it would be a pretty good combat buff, competing with the witness to ancient battles?

Witness to Ancient Battles: The problem with this one is that your damage isn't going to be competitive really with your spellcasting to justify this one. Either remove the sustain so you can do more attacks, or increase the damage to make up for the fact that your sacrificing action economy. Also, making you proficient in martial weapons ONLY while on in the vessel spell is pretty limiting, as you have to decide weather you spend your hard-earned gold for a better martial weapon that you are only proficient in part of the time, or ignore the partial weapon thing and just grab a simple weapon.
The Fix: Increase the damage boost to make up for the fact that you don't get to start with 18 strength or get higher levels of weapon specialization . . . maybe +1 to hit and +2 to damage, then at 4th +2 to hit +3 to damage, and seven +3 to hit +4 to damage. Also, instead of making you proficient in martial weapons, just make simple weapons increase one step in damage die, so your longspear does d10 damage anyway.

Exemplar:

Base Class: One thing a lot of people have asked for is a side bar or optional rule to remove the 'demigod baggage' from the class in order to make it Non-Rare. I've said this in another thread, but I like the idea of a psychic channeling their energy into their body and weapons instead of spells to do extra stuff . . . or a monk using their ki to infuse their weapons. (If anyone has seen One Piece or HunterxHunter, a lot of this could be flavored as Haki/Reinforcement Nen). I understand that you want these new Demigods to be roaming Golarion in the wake of the War for Immortals, and I don't want to take that away. But a lot of us would like to make our own story about how we got these powers. Seems like there is room for both within this class.
The Fix Like I said, optional rule to make the class non-rare and remove demigod baggage, mechanics don't change.

Base Class pt 2) The Livestream promised the ability to make an unarmored hero, but the game doesn't really allow for that. Even Skin Hard as Horn isn't going to save you from being crit to kingdom come and back if you don't have enough armor.
The Fix Introduce two subclasses, one gets armor (maybe up to medium?) and one gets no armor proficiency but some way to deal with that (perhaps something like the Dragon Disciples Dragon Scales ability. Or like Nagaji Titan Scales but it counts as unarmored?)

Base Class 3) A lot of people have been calling for an unarmed build. Lots of folk heroes were good at unarmed combat, such as Heraclese (killed a nearly indestructible super-lion with his bare hands), and Beowulf (Killed Grendel by ripping off the monster's arm).
The Fix Add a 'weapon' ikon for fist wraps. I know unarmed strikes aren't weapons, but I'm sure you can add some wording in there like "You treat natrual attacks as weapon attacks for the purpose of Weapon Ikon abilties" or something like that.

Skills) The few amount of skills really limits role-playing for a lot of characters. I know you are trying to limit the power of the class by reducing their skills, but what you have done is made the stereotypical combat monster who does not participate in anything other than combat. What are the two skills they are going to choose? Athletics and acrobatics probably, which means during most skill challenges or meeting with the king or whatever they are not going to do anything, because if they open their big mouth they will most likely crit fail the skill check and cost the party. Sure you get a 4th skill at level 3 . . . but that one is chosen for you and by then you've already suffered through 2 whole levels of not doing anything.
The Fix Reduce the power of the class a bit and give them one more starting skill

Ikons) From what I have seen, most players just either put their spark in the weapon Ikon, or shift between the Weapon and Body Ikon, basically using their weapon Ikon's transcendence ability, and then getting their divine spark back to the weapon as soon as possible, never even touching the worn Ikon. This increases damage by a huge amount, and also, I don't think it's what you were looking for.
The Fix Maybe reduce the damage of the weapon's eminence ability to 1 per damage die? Also buff the worn ikon abilities slightly to make them more tempting.

Gleaming Blade)The transendence ability here is just redonculus. It's better than Twin Strike because you can do it with two-handed weapons (and it doesn't require two weapons), it's better than power attack, and you can do it with thrown weapons as long as they are in the Knife Group. And the damage is all spirit damage which bypasses a lot of resistances (basically only constructs are immune as far as I know.)
The Fix Either get rid of the spirit damage thing, or make it work like power attack but all damage is converted to spirit damage or . . . something.

Well, there you go, those are my thoughts as well as the thoughts of those I game with (I hope I did their comments justice) and I hope this feedback is taken in the matter it was intended: as a love letter to paizo saying "Thanks for all your hard work, I know you've had your nose to the grindstone for a long time and might appreciate an outside perspective. here you go."

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Just as the title says, are there any apparitions you'd like to see?

I have a few

1)Necromancy has been mentioned a lot. A groves and gardens like apparition that heals undead instead of living creatures seems appropriate.

2)Archmage-Given how many lore skills the Animist gets, it seems like they are supposed to be one of the classes that solves problems with skills, but given their low intelligence, it doesn't work out that way. Giving us an apparition that bumps all recall knowledge checks, and gives us bonuses to monsters we identify (like a thaumaturge) would at least make us feel like we had the ability to call on a scholar's help. Maybe they give a bunch of utility spells like comprehend languages and stuff.

3)Rogue-like. I know we have the infiltrator, but let's be honest, they don't help us do things that a rogue should do, like finding and disarming traps and picking locks. Maybe some sort of trapper apparition that gives out Trap lore and Lock lore? Allowing use to pick locks and disarm traps with our intelligence? Their vessel spell could be some sort of sneak-attack like thing?

The best part of the medium from first edition was to slot them into any party role, and while they wouldn't be as good as the actual class they were fitting in for, they could get the job done. Group didn't have a rogue? Yeah, I can do that, gimmie until tomorrow. Group didn't have a fighter? Could do that too. Group didn't have a wizard? A healer?

Seems like the Animist has the potential to do the same thing . . . be a good enough 'stopgap' for any slot without stealing anyone's thunder. I don't want my animist to out-fighter the fighter, but giving them the ability to wake up at the start of the day and pretend to be a fighter well enough to get the job done would be nice. They kinda already have that option for tank with witness to ancient battles, and healing with groves and gardens, so I'd like to see trap disarming and egghead puzzle-solving.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So my friends and I did a playtest of the classes today, and they asked me to do the big long write up (I hope they intend to do the survey). We played PFS scenario 3-13 (Guardian's Covenant) at level 5 but it wasn't for official PFS credit as we changed some of the rules (like only having three players, and playing up when we shouldn't have)

The party:
Two animists, both channelers, both had similar apparition loadouts (one was the garden/healing one, one was the volcano/damage on, and then one had the soldier and one had the infiltrator)

Our Exemplar was a moody dagger-weilding high strength, high dex character with low charisma. His weapon ikon was a +1 striking returning throwing dagger.

Animist Notes:

-It was suggested that each apparition give something special when it is your primary apparition, other than the ability to into their unique focus spell. Also, some focus spells were way stronger than others. Standing back and activating healing from Groves and Guardans while chucking spells was a favorite; positioning yourself so that your friend could receive healing but enemies couldn't was a popular tactic.

-Both Animists picked up sustaining dance and agreed it was a 'must have' for a class so focused on sustaining animist spells. Seems like it should be a level 4 class feature or something, otherwise, it's no contest . . . everyone almost HAS to take it.

-For the most part, the spellcasting was okay, access to fun spells not normally on the divine list like fireball were great.

-One player wanted to use the soldier to do melee frontlining but found the issue a bit limiting. They'd have to invest in buying a martial weapon (longhammer in this case) but they were only proficient if they channeled the warrior. Even at level 5 with 18 strength he was way behind the melee damage curve, and felt the soldier spirit should give a small damage boost in order to remain competitive. Like an extra damage per damage die or something.

-Both Animists were channelers, and agreed the ability to change primary spirit in combat was WAY better than the sage. Even with the free feat the sage gets, the channeler is fantastic as it lets you react to situations you may not have been prepared for like ambushes.

-Volcano Spirit and the Garden's spirits were by far the most popular. The ability to heal everyone in the party to full after a 11 minutes was fantastic (1 min for the sustained spell, 10 min. to refocus), and the volcano guy could do a lot of damage that barely had any resource cost for a single action a round. Nothing else came close, not even the soldier.

-Both Animists agreed that there needed to be a boost to the lore skills you get from spirits. As a non-int based class, getting only trained in lore skills is eventually going to fail you, the DCs are just going to outpace what you have. Even at level 5, the bonus to lore skills were +7 or 8, and the DCs were around 20s, meaning you needed to roll a 12-13 to succeed. This problem is only going to get worse at high levels. By the time you are level 17, assuming your int is 10, the average DC is 34, meaning you'd need a 17 on the die to succeed at an AVERAGE check, let alone a difficult one.

-There was some complaint that the auras were indiscriminant. It really hurt the player who wanted to role-play with the infiltrator by giving enemies roll twice take the worst on attack rolls but that would have meant beaing near the Exemplar and hurting his rolls as well. Seems like having a few of the focus spells recognize friends might be good.

IN SUMMERY: Solid class, but some apparitions are way stronger than others. Soldier needs a slight damage boost to make them something other than a joke. Lore Skills need to progress, or else give them some other boost (maybe wisdom based?) Channelers way stronger than sages (especially since the sage ability really doesn't work, I go into that in other posts.)

Some fixes: The volcano and garden apparitions seemed really strong, and were 'auto picks.' Either up the other apparitions or tone down those ones. Maybe at level 10 your apparition's lore skills go to expert, and maybe at 15 master? Buff the sage. Sustaining dance should be a class feature. Buff the soldier. Maybe each apparition could give an 'ancalarry benifit' when it is your primary? Like giving you martial weapon proficiency for the soldier, or the infiltrator making it harder to detect you.

EXEMPLAR

The big issue here with the Exemplar is that they just stupid amounts of damage. Our Exemplar was using a throwing dagger, and his damage was still insane. Using the Gleaming Blade and Throw at the Horizon, he could make two attacks at his highest base attack bonus from 30 feet away doing 2d6+10 damage per hit . . . and it was all spirit damage so it bypassed any resistances or physical damage reduction he had.

So he got into a rotation of Throwing his dagger, doing stupid amounts of damage, then putting his divine spark in his body. Next round he'd use his transencence ability for Gaze as sharp as steel (to give him AoOs), be able to move due to his brave epithet, and then strike twice for 2d6+10 damage . . . some of which was spirit. Next round, Use the transendence ability of Gleaming blade again and start the entire rotation again. He never touched his worn Ikon, never needed to. He was doing as much damage as a giant instinct barbarian without any of the drawbacks like -2 to AC or anathemas . . . oh and also half the time his damage was spirit damage so it bypassed DR.

He did however, have a major problem, and that was he was fairly bad at skills. Limiting his skills to religion +2 was . . . not great and just straight up prevented him from role-playing with the party. He'd start to say something and then the GM would call for a diplomacy check, and all the sudden he's like, Oh, I mean . . . I don't say anything.

In Summery: Does A LOT of damage, even with a substandard weapon, seems to be little to no reason use your worn ikon, low number of skills severely hampers role play.

Fixes: Reduce damage by a bit. Gleaming blade transendence ability needs to be reworked. Maybe include some mechanic that emphasizes switching between Ikons, not just always going back to weapon.

Also, there were calls for abilities to make unarmored and unarmed options for the Exemplar

Scarab Sages

I was mulling over this exemplar for a while. I had a rough idea in my head, but I needed to sit down and think about it for a while to make it all work with the Exemplar class. I still say the Exemplar needs an unarmored build option. But, for now, here is what I came up with:

Mournful Leishil, Male Elf Exemplar
(From Jinin)

Leishil was born nearly three centuries agao in Jinin. Records from the time are spotty, but by some means or another, Jinin was orphaned at a monastery dedicated to Irori before he was even old enough to walk. Growing up amongst the monks of Irori, Leishil became immersed in their ways, dedicating himself to perfecting swordsmanship as both a form of meditation, and as a way to see the perfection in all things. He journeyed the land for a while, trying to take in all of the lessons he could learn, and trying to understand his own path to perfection so that he could enlighten others like Irori.

Finally, after almost two centuries of study, practice, meditation, and swordplay, Leishil could feel that he was approaching something monumental. Quelling his ego, and taking lessons from those who had come before, Leishil revisited his childhood temple, and began to meditate, sensing that this was the last step on his path to enlightenment.

It is said that Leishil mediated in his room in the temple without moving, eating, or drinking for over a hundred days as his spirit began to surpass his mind and broach enlightenment. For his part, Leishil sat, almost forgetting his body, as he began to untangle cosmic riddles and reach cosmic truths in the deepest states of mediation. He was almost there, he could feel it. His ego, his senses of self, his mortal body was stripping away as he glimpsed the golden radience of true understanding.

Leishil was suddenly jolted awake by the smell of blood and ash. He found himself, back in his body, int he middle of a ritual circle as it was being finished. Before he could react, he saw the several hooded men with unholy symbols of Sifkesh-a cult with which he had once quarreled, finish their ritual. And then-darkness.

Leishil awoke in the burned-out husk of the temple. As he stood, he felt . . . different. He tried to reach for his weapons and armor but found his movements weak, uncoordinated, unskilled. What's worse, he couldn't seem to recall any of the past lessons over the years. Somehow, the Sifkesh ritual had done something to him.

Over the course of the next few months, gradually, Leishil discovered what had happened. The Sifkesh cultists-devoted to their god who wished to undermine all other religions, had heard tell of his eminent rise to enlightenment, and had surmised this would be a great boon to Irori worshipers everywhere, and greatly help his religion. They had done worse than kill him, they had injected doubt into Irori's congregation that enlightenment was possible. In order to undermine Irori, they had somehow done a ritual that obliterated his experiences. He remembered what he had done, but it was as if he was blocked from learning anything from the past, and was forced to re-learn everything. But that small spark, that glimpse of enlightenment he had seen right before the ritual took effect, that could not be erased. That was true divinity, beyond the touch of mortal magic. He still had that spark, though he knew not how to get back to that place again.

And so Leishil took off again. He does not know if he has enough time left on Golarion to re-learn enlightenment, but he knows he must confront the Sifkesh cultists. If he is to achieve enlightenment, he has to stop them from doing the ritual again. He also has to stop them from doing what they have done to anyone else.

As Leishil journeys, he has learned that he can allow others to glimpse just the tiniest hint of enlightenment, and show how that potential was ripped away, which almost never fails to bring a tear to the eye of anyone, earning him the monicker, 'the mournful.'

Mournful Leishil (level 4)
Male Elf Exemplar, Perception (t)+7 (+2 to detect undetected creatures)(+1 if body invested)
Medium Elf Humanoid
AC: 21 (23 vs. ranged attacks if body invested) HP: 54
Speed: 35 (45 when divine spark in sandals)
Fort (e)+10, Ref: +10, Will(e) +9
Background: Wandering Preacher (Irori)
Heritage: Whisper Elf
Ancestry Feat: Elven Weapon Familiarity
Skills: Acrobatics +10, Athletics (e) +10, Religion +7, Survival +7, Irori Lore +6, Sifkesh Lore (e)+8
Str+2 Dex +4 Con+2 Int+0 Wis+1 Chr+0

Class Feats: Vow of Mortal Defiance, Claim Initiate Domain (Guided Introspection),
Class Features: Ikons (Gaze sharp as steel (body), Gleaming Blade (weapon), Thousand League Sandals (worn))
Class DC: 20
Focus Points: 1

Melee Attack: Elven Curved Blade: +11(2d8+2, or 2d8+2+4 if divine spark invested)
Ranged Longbow: GakGung +10 (1d6+1)
Skill Feats: Pilgram's Token (from Background), Additional Lore (Sifkesh Lore), Powerful Leap

Equipment: +1 Striking Elven Curved Blade, Leather Lamallar, Holy Symbol of Irori, Holy texts on meditation and enlightenment, Adventurer's pack,

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Last night while watching the live stream, I came up with this backstory for an animist character. I had to mull it over a bit, and it's changed up a bit, but the core concept is mostly the same. And now I'm going to stat him out because the creator of the Animist said he couldn't wait to see everyone's characters.

Gumant Pactbound
Male Gnome Animist (Channeler)

Generations ago, Gumant's ancestors were found nearly dead on the doorstep of Highhelm, having fled some terrible tragedy lost to time. An unusually kind Dwarven priest of Kols found them and took them into his temple, where he treated them. Gumat's great-great grandfather was so thankful to the priest, and so impressed by the teachings of Kols, that he vowed that he would dedicate his life to serving Kols, and so would at least one of his children, and his children's children, and so on so that the temple would always have a clergy like the Dwarf that saved them.

And so it was. Each Gnome in the family took the family name 'Pactbound' to show devotion to Kols. Generations later, Gumant was raised in this environment, where he constantly was told of the importance of duty, honor, upholding vows, and not shirking family duties. His father had chosen him to be the next child to take on the honor and responsability of being a priest of Kols serving the same temple his great-grandfather had. Young Gumant agreed with most of what was said, but deep in his heart, he disagreed with Kols strict and hard-line attitude, and believed there needed to be room for mercy. Of course, he dare not reveal his thoughts to his parents, whom he was deeply respectful of.

And so when he came of age, he was enrolled in the local Kols Temple. Of course, without utmost faith in Kols, young Gumant never did receive divine spells, because no matter how much he prayed, no matter how much he wanted to uphold family honor and repay all that his parents gave him, he just didn't worship Kols in his heart of hearts. As time went on, it became more and more clear that something was going wrong as all the other supplicants training at the temple graduated to become clerics, and young Gumant never did.

Eventually, Gumant had a mental breakdown, caught between his inability to worship Kols and his duties as a son, he ran into the crypt of the temple and had a complete emotional meltdown, crying, punching the walls, and screaming at the difficulty of it all. That's when he met Druha.

Druha was an apparition, an echo of a Dwarf cleric of The Perplexing Jest, a pantheon of trickster gods. Centuries ago,she had been fed up with a high-and-mighty cleric of Kols, and set out to humble him in his own church to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, she tripped a security measure and died, and the spirit of the church kept part of her soul bound there as punishment. While Druha does not regret her attempted prank, she does feel that her punishment has been repaid, and wanted out, and so she offered Gumant a deal: she'd teach him how to gain access to her old magic, if he'd let her 'ride in his body' enough to leave the church. Distraught, and in no fit mental state to make sound decisions, Gumant agreed.

Ever since that day, Gumant has had Druha as a constant companion. She's taught him to see other apparitions, whom he can occasionally commune with, but Druha always comes back to the forefront, no matter how much Gumant wants her gone. She is constantly whispering practical joke ideas and poorly thought out plans into his ear at the most inopportune times. At least she was as good as her word and taught him access to divine magic, which has tricked both the clergy and his father into believing he's a cleric of Kols . . . for now. How long the charade can keep up, he does not know.

Edicts: Keep the Perplexing Jest Pantheon happy enough to keep granting him spells, do not allow his practical jokes to go too far. Show mercy to minor transgressions.
Anathema: Disrespect his family or traditions. Let down his family again.

(I've leveled him to 4 just to show some of the abilities I'd grab, no free archetype just to keep things simple.)

Gumant Pactbound
Male Gnome Animist (Channeler), Perception (t)+10
Small Gnome Humanoid
AC: 20 (22 with shield raised) HP: 48
Fort (e)+9, Ref: +7, Will(e) +12
Background: Raised by Belief (Kols)
Heritage: Umbral Gnome
Ancestry Feat: Gnomish Obsession
Skills:Deception (e)+10, Diplomacy+8, Religion+10, Nature +10, Society (from background)+7, Kols Lore (e)+9, Perplexing Jest Lore (e) +9
Str-1 Dex +2 Con+1 Int+1 Wis+4 Chr+2

Class Feats: Embodiment of Balance, Sustaining Dance
Class Features: Apparition's Whirl
Spells: (Cantrips) Detect Magic, Needle Darts
1st) Bless, Helpful Steps
2nd) Blazing Armaments, Heal
Apparitions: Typically-Impostor in Hidden Places (Druha), Custodian of Groves and Gardens, Steward of stone and fire

Spell Attack: +10
Spell DC 20
Focus Points: 2

Melee Attack: Knife: +8 (1d4-1)
Ranged Crossbow: +9 (2d8)
Skill Feats: Assurance (Society, from Background), Quick Identification, Confabulator
General Feat: Toughness

Equipment: Chain Shirt, +1 striking crossbow, dagger, Adventuring Pack, Religious Text of Kols, Holy symbol of Kols, Holy Test of Perplexing Jest (Hidden in false bottom of backpack)

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Playtest wrote:


Apparition's Possession
You relinquish control of your physical body to an apparition,
allowing it to fully unleash its spiritual power at the cost of
your own agency. Until the start of your next turn, you are
immune to control effects and spells that attempt to influence
your actions, such as charm or command, unless its spell rank
is more than half your level. However, the only actions you
can take are to Stride, Strike, Cast an apparition Spell, Cast a
vessel Spell, or use an action that has the apparition trait.

So, first of all, it only works on spells, not abilities (like a Harpy's Lure, Kelpie's stuff). Secondly, it only works on spell-casters who are either your level, or below your level (depends on how the math shakes out. A level 11 caster has access to 6th levels pells like dominate, meaning it works on a level 11 animist who isn't level 12 yet). Thirdly, there are a lot of monsters that get access to spells much earlier than their level would indicate, which makes this ability useless against them (Succubus, Vampire Count, Invidiak).

It also runs the opposite problem of, at level 20, there is no way to mess with them because max spell rank is 10, even if Tar Baphon is trying to compel them.

Easy solution: Change it so that you are immune to (yadda yadda) from creatures, traps, haunts, and hazards of up to your level+3. So if you are fighting some big boss who is party level +4, you can still fall victim, otherwise, immune. If you think that is too powerful, knock it down to your level +2.

Scarab Sages

9 people marked this as a favorite.

So I watched the stream last night, and I had one issue with the exemplar as it was described, but I thought I'd wait until I actually had my hands on the playtest before saying anything.

First of all, I like the class. I want to get this out of the way. I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into it, and I understand it must have taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I'm not trying to take away from any of that. Good job to Paizo writers, thank you for working hard to give us a fun, flavorful class. There are a few more build options I'd like to see, (the writers promised an unarmored build that doesn't seem to be in the playtest, I'd like to see maybe a feat or body ikon that gives you armor without wearing armor, not just DR of skin like horn) but I assume those will come with the full version.

The one issue I have is both bigger than all that, and also easier to fix. Why is the class so restrictive from a meta standpoint?

So I'm going to start off by saying I understand. This is supposed to be the Heracles class. The Sun Wukong, Kingarou, Maui. I understand the inspiration. I also get that it is supposed to be tied to the big world shake up coming in War of the Immortals. I understand your starting point. But I feel like that is it . . . it's a starting point.

I understand making the demigod class rare. You don't want 42 million new demigods running around Golarion . . . I get it. But it doesn't have to be that way.

The thing is, you have made something more versatile, that, with a bit of reflavoring and no mechanics changes, can be made much more widely available. What if your Exemplar is the equivalent of a Sohei monk from first edition? Someone who has meditated and studied swordplay (or whatever) for years? Instead of a 'divine spark' he focuses his chi/ki/spirit energy into one of his family relics that are attuned to him? Honestly, almost all of the stuff there still works. Any supernatural abilities are use of his ki channeled through his family heirlooms (or whatever). Domain powers? The character is either devoted to a god enough to get domain powers (like an archetyped cleric/champion) or maybe their supreme training and mastery of spiritual energy has given them the equivalent of a domain spell.

It seems like, with a bit of reflavoring, you could turn this into a much more common class, one that wouldn't have the rare tag.

Listen, it seems lately, the paradigm of Pathfinder is to NOT tell players how their class got their powers. How does an animist get their powers? Maybe some are born with it, maybe some train to get it, maybe it is a twist of fate? Same with Kineticists, psychics, summoners, thaumaturges. You don't tell any player HOW those classes gain their abilities, leaving the player free to make up their own story. Maybe you unlocked your psychic potential though intensive study? Maybe others did a ritual to open your kinetic gate, maybe it was some twist of fate that you got an eidolon.

Point is, Paizo has been really good about not limiting storytelling recently, so why backtrack now? I'm NOT asking to get rid of the divine power angle, that is fine, I'm asking you to make it one of several possible options. Maybe an nephelim decides to explore their celestial/fiendish heritage, becoming the martial equivalent of a sorcerer? Maybe someone with psychic potential develops their power differently, empowering their body and items with psychic energy instead of casting spells. Maybe a god needs a moral assistant, not a champion bound by laws and codes, but a devoted follower capable of doing the dirty work. The possibilities this class offers are really quite wide, and I don't see why it is restricted unnecessarily.

Like I said, I get where you are coming from. Got that. Don't want to take that away. Understand the original mission statement. But not only did you come up with a solution that solved that initial slot you wanted to fill, but it also works in a myriad of different ways and I'd just hate to see that potential wasted.

What's my solution? I dunno, maybe add a sidebar in the book explaining that you can reflavor some of the class and make it more widely available. That the War of the Immortals has in fact given rise to these new heroes, but that there is another, harder route to obtaining similar power. That it is rare that the power is just gifted to someone, but that it is possible to earn it.

Just two ending things I want to reiterate. 1) not trying to take a dump on the class, like the concept, like the idea. 2) I understand that this is supposed to be a 'new class' to the world of Golarion. You don't have to take that away. I'm just saying, Golarion doesn't operate (in-universe) as a world of classes. (A.K.A weather you are beaten up by a swashbuckler or a rogue with a rapier doesn't matter to the bad guy beaten up, they were, both times, beaten up by a 'fencer'). These new 'mythic heroes' can still be new to Golarion, whereas the world could have had Sohei monks who just happen to have mechanically similar abilities for a while.

Don't take away our ability to tell stories with our character, add new options.

Scarab Sages

Since Gencon came out with the information that tehre are two new classes coming out, and that each of them are NOT going to be classes we've seen before, we started talking and trying to think like Paizo. We basically asked ourselves 'What design space needs a new class? What hasn't been covered yet?"

We came to the conclusion that there were a few things that hadn't been covered. There's not a wisdom-based spontaneous caster, and only two wisdom casters in general (druid and cleric) whereas there are a bunch of charisma casters, and four intelligence casters (Wizard, Witch, Magus, and some psychics.) We also came to the conclusion that there isn't a wisdom-based warrior (There are int-based warriors, like Inventor and Investigator, and a charisma warrior in the Thaumaturge). So Wisdom seems like a good stat to key in on. We also like the idea of the partial caster like the magus/summoner, and thought more could be done with that design space.

So this all basically comes together, in my opinion at least, to make a sort of sage-like character, or a mental monk. This class would have some of the old abilities of the monk that they abandoned, like wisdom to AC, but be less MAD than a pathfinder 1e monk, and also focus in on 'ki' spells that used wisdom. This would also allow us to tie in to the psychic more, which kinda seems like an odd duck at the moment, so another class that is kinda-sorta psychic would be great.

How would this class work?

Well, I' haven't built it out, but I think it could borrow elements of the Kineticist, magus, and old 1e monk to do its job. Maybe they could add their wisdom INSTEAD of Dex to AC. Additionally, they could get some special ability (like Elemental Blast) that let them hit with their wisdom. This wouldn't be a Strike, but would be attack (call it something like Insightful Palm or something). They could have a zen-archery like feat that let them attack at range with their wisdom (again, not a strike, a special action). In addition, instead of gaining kineticist impulses, they would gain spellcasting like a summoner.

I think maybe they would have four subclasses, each one giving them access to a different spell list and a few special abilities, based on what they are a sage of. A sage contemplating the mysteries of the universe? Arcane. A sage contemplating the gods? Divine. A sage contemplating nature? Primal. A sage contemplating sense of self? Occult.

It's just a thought, but basically it would kinda fit a bunch of niches where Paizo doens't have a class in that design space yet, and it would also kinda work as a next generation inquisitor, which I know a lot of people like.

Anyway, just a thought. Let me know what you think.

Scarab Sages

I was looking at the Vampire from pathfinder 2e and now . . . there's only one way to kill them off permenantly? And that's exposure to sunlight? Like, staking them takes them out of commission, but you can't kill them except for sunlight. In 1st ed, there were a couple of ways, like chopping off the head, filling it with something holy (holy water) and saying a prayer, or just stopping the vapor from reaching their coffin. Arguably, rules as written, a coup-de grace would kill them as that just was a save-or-die.

But as far as I can see, in PF2, there's nothing. No spell that 'emulates daylight' for a vampire, no nothing. Even desintigrate doesn't explicitly do it (it says it 'reduces the target to a fine powder, but then, I guess, at that point it's at 0 HP and just forms a dust cloud again.)

Anyone know any other ways to kill a 2nd ed vampire?

Scarab Sages

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Ugh, finally came out with this. Still alpha build (as of this posting) meaning I have a lot of work left to do, but I have the general stuff up.

Couple of things:
1)Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to do a good star rating system. Still looking for one that won't take me forever and a day, so if you are color-blind . . . I'm looking for a fix.

2) Please, give me CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. I'm willing to put stuff in the guide if it works and you think of it (I'll even credit you.) Just. . . let's be civil.

3)I've repeated myself a couple of times throughout the guide because I figure no one is going to read all the pages in one go, and so I repeated the most important parts.

4) I copy-pasted the basic format from my psychic guide, so if you see a reference to psychics, let me know. It should be kineticists.

Anyway: here you go: I'd appreciate some feedback (and yes, I need to finish ranking the class feats and elemental feats and combination feats.)

Scarab Sages

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Hey all, looks like I'll be running Sky King's Tomb for my group (super sad, wanted to play it!) but I was reading through the free players handbook and I came up with some super short and sweet minor encounters/bits of flavor you can throw in for when your players are in Highhelm and just wandering around.

1) A cruel by savvy Goldhilt Dwarven Politician is degrading a lower-caste dwarf without technically breaking decorum by not saying the quiet part out loud.

2) There is an open forum religious debate between a cleric of Angraad and Grundinnar on whether it is best to welcome new friends with open arms or be wary of them until they have proven themselves.

3) A Droskar worshiper is arrested and being dragged out of his home for copying and taking credit for the design of a new type of Dwarven Clan Dagger.

4) A rather pompous dwarf is demanding that a Dwarven Druid who grows crops sell him his goods at a greatly discounted rate, citing that his goods aren't 'dwarven enough' for proper compensation.

5) A contingent of Elves in shiny gold breastplate and dual-wielding Flyssa have arrived to train with the Dwarves as part of the Dwarf-Kyonin Defense Pact. The Dwarves in full plate mail and with Dwarven Waraxes laugh at them for being 'under armed and under-armored,' but it is clear it is all friendly ribbing.

6) A small commune of gnomes has started up their own church to Folgrit. It is causing quite a stir for being 'non-traditional.'

7) A Human from Druma has journeyed to the Highhelm saying that he has proof of a debt that was never replayed from a thousand years ago, which is digging up old wounds. Negotiations have degraded into a shouting match on the street.

8) A Fiend Nefilim-Dwarf Child is being relentlessly bullied for their infernal heritage.

9) An Aphorite-Dwarf is heard shouting 'screw the rules! Just because I'm aphorite doesn't mean I don't appreciate freedom!"

10) A group of catfolk stand around in awe as one of their kind displays earth kineticist powers. Dwarven onlookers clap politely but mutter under their breath that he doesn't deserve it as cats 'don't have a connection to the stone like we do.'

11) An Oread-Dwarf is overheard saying "I have no idea why my gate connects to the plane of wood! I didn't choose it!"

12) A small contingent of Hobgoblins have a cart full of Phalanx Piercers and Breaching Pikes, hoping the items will catch on in Highhelm. Dwarves are looking over the weapons and considering it.

13) A contingent of low-income Kobolds from the depths are petitioning for improved living conditions, complaining that the waste management system in the lower city is intolerable.

14) A Fungus Leshy is holding a class on how to make effective use of a Katana. He has several for sale but will not reveal his source.

15) A half-orc disciple of Torag is working at a well-known forge, producing quality products (alongside many other Dwarven craftsmen) but certain racist dwarves are using this fact to try and drive this forge out of business.

16) A contingent of somewhat nice-looking Ratfolk are coming up from the depths to petition the council for a seat (or at least a permanent Ysoki advisor to the council).

17) Several well-spoken and extremely well-behaved goblins have recently opened a bank in Highhelm. They are extremely professional and it is weirding out some dwarves.

18) A Dwarven Skeleton is explaining to his sobbing wife that he's back from the dead on a mission for the ancestors. A cleric of Bolka is beside themselves on what to do.

19) A tiny sprite riding a Corgi has entered Highhelm and is cordially requesting of a smithy to make him a suit of full plate. He has been unable to find a smith to craft a suit of armor sized for him in the human lands, but has been told a Dwarf might be able to do it.

20) An eclectic group of adventurers, including a fiend-nephilim, half-orc, and a cow-beastkin are wandering around the city, looking for a legendary Dwarven Craftsman who died years ago to repair a sword.

Scarab Sages

Hey guys, I'm currently in the middle of making a Kineticist guide, But I need your help. I'd like to know anyone's thoughts on which races (particularly uncommon and rare races) would be good for Kineticists. I'm not looking for you to do a giant breakdown, or to do EVERY ancestry out there, just . . . I can only keep so much info in my head, so if you figure out an ancestry that has some good synergy with kineticists, let me know.

And yes I KNOW that anyone can choose human ability scores. I'm talking about heritages and ancestry feats that pair well with kineticist. Or if the base ability scores are better than +2 to any two, let me know. I'll read through them, and if you make a good point and it ends up being true, I'll credit you in the guide.

Thanks!

Scarab Sages

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Okay, so I know that the title sounds negative. I should start off by saying, as a whole, I like the keneticist. It seems fun, lots of room to play around with it, I like it. Wanna build a flying agile wind-blasty guy? You can do that. Wanna build a Naruto-style medical ninja that can also spy by becoming invisible? You can do that. Wanna build a bender from Avatar or a Z fighter from Dragonball? You can do that. But there are some issues here that I think need to be addressed. I'm not talking about errors or minor publishing things, I'm talking about major problems for the class.

1) Golems and Will-O-Wisps: so as others have pointed out:

Rage of Elements, Page 15, emphasis mine wrote:


Impulses are magical, and though they aren’t spells, some things that affect spells also affect impulses. Abilities that restrict you from casting spells (such as being polymorphed into a battle form) or protect against spells (such as a spell that protects against other spells or a creature’s bonus to saves against spells) also apply to impulses.

This gives Keneticists NO recourse against Will-O-Wisps and little recourse against golems unless they just happen to have the right damage type. And guess what, they don't even get every damage type! What happens if your kineticist goes against a glass Golem? No way to do sonic damage, are you just supposed to sit on your hands and do nothing?

What's worse are Will-o-wisps that are just straight up immune to all spells except a small few, and none of those are something kineticists can do. So while a bard can sing to give everyone +1 to hit and damage, and a wizard can haste people and the cleric can ranged heal, what is the kineticist supposed to do?

Listen, I get it, you wanna make a tough antimagic monster. I understand. But is there a reason that the sword I made with real metal summoned from the elemental plane of metal just . . . disappears when it gets near a will-o-wisp? Why I can suck the raw elemental energy out of an earth elemental but not a clay golem? Considering paizo's most famous AP is focused around a large number of Will-o-wisps, having a damage class that can do NOTHING to them other than feebly swinging a real dagger that they are not good with seems like a poor decision.

2) Okay, so, I understand wanting to make the Metal Keneticists Metal Carapace ability on par with the other abilities. Earth doesn't get a shield, Wood's shield has less HP . . . I get that. But here's the thing, having the entire thing fall off on a crit is . . . stupid. Really stupid. Do you know how often people get crit? When your APs and modules constantly send parties up against single monsters that are three levels above the party, crits happen a lot. Like, I am playing through quest for the frozen flame right now, and we just went up against a creature that hit me on a 5 and crit me on a 15, despite the fact that my AC is one off from being max at that level. And, if you do get crit, your armor falls off and the chances go up substancially that the next attack against you will be a crit. You have basically given every monster the free ability "If you crit Steve, reduce his AC by 3 until he can spend two actions to fix his stuff, in which case you can do it again."

I understand you want to bring metal carapace in line with the other two armored ablities, but give it some other downside! Maybe a 10 minute cooldown if you shield block like the shield spell . . . something? As it stands, I can't see ANYONE taking metal carapace.

3)Purify Element: So a minor gripe considering the other two but . . . once you try to counteract something and fail you can NEVER attempt it again? Like, I get the idea that you can't just sit there and spend zero-resource counteract checks until you succeed but . . . like . . . maybe have a ten minute cooldown? Like, other classes can do that. A Paladin can try to counter a clay golem's curse by lay on hands, pray, lay on hands, pray, etc. Heck, give it a cooldown of a day or week. But once you try to purify a well and fail you can never try again even 80 years later?

4) Cyclonic Ascent: Another super minor gripe . . . why does this have a duration? Unless you are fighting full-out for ten minutes, which I never see, there is no reason you can't take 6 seconds (one round) out of that ten seconds and just use the impulse again, resetting the duration and keeping you in the air. I guess it is useful for the upgraded level 14 version, but let's face it, you are an air kineticist, you should have the ability to just have a fly speed.

5) I have to admit this last one is scraping the bottom of the barrel for an idea, I just wanted to have five instead of four, but really? No water keneticist ability to walk on water? Like, you create a new spell called Lotus walk that is literally for walking on water and Water and or Wood kineticists don't get it? I understand there is return to the sea that gives you a swim speed and the ability to breathe underwater, but I'd just like the ability to let my party walk over the lake instead of getting wet swimming through it.

Scarab Sages

So I'm doing some writing for Pathfinder infinite, and with the remaster coming out, I want my stuff to be compatible with the new terminology. So I had a couple of questions:

1) I know genies were renamed for the most part, but what about Genie-kin? There was some mention that fire genie-kin were renamed from ifrit to Nari? But none of the other names were updated. Anyone know what the water genie-kin are called? Can I just call them Faydahaan-Kin?

2) I saw a month or two ago that there were merfolk ancestries available? Any idea what the rules are for those? Can they breathe in air and underwater? I can't find them on archives of nethys, and the monster merfolk cannot breathe air.

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.

So, let’s face it, there is a slight problem with refocusing in that some classes can do stuff while refocusing, and some classes can’t. RAW clerics can use medicine to bandage wounds and monks just gotta sit there, meditating. Let’s see if, while keeping still in the spirit of what is mentioned in the game, we can come up with useful things players can do while refocusing for each class:

Alchemists: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Barbarian: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Bard:
-Make a perform check (like in a concert or playing for NPCs
-Research/translate/read a book involving/related to their muse
-Make a medicine check to heal mental damage by playing soothing music.
-Work toward composing/writing a poem/song/ballad/story
-Identifying magic items based on sound/music/performance

Champion
-Praying
-If good aligned-> Treat Injury
-Reading/researching/deciphering a book about their god or warfare.
-Training the worthy in how to fight for their god
-Sorting through weapons of war

Cleric
-Praying
-If good aligned-> Treat Injury
-Reading/Deciphering/researching a religious topic they are interested In (involving their god, or their gods enemies)
-proselytizing (diplomacy check to influence NPCs to accept them based on their god)
-Identifying magic items based on their religion (or a religion they actively oppose)

Druid
-Something related to their subclass (Gardening for leaf, training animals for animal, etc)
-Identifying nature based magic items
-Reading/Researching/deciphering information about nature or threats to nature
-Leading the way for survival/navigating through nature.

Fighters: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Gunslingers: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Inventors: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Investigators: Don’t get focus points? (I think)

Magus
-Study while working out
-Identify magic arms and armor
-Read/Research/decipher info about war mages/battles with magic
-Practice or teach battle magic/weapons training
-Identify a staff (staff magus only)

Monk:
-Meditate
-Practice martial arts/teach/spar
-Do something related to a monk feat you have (Monastic archery->Take care of your bow. Stumbling stance ->drink)
-Read/Research/decipher a book on martial forms, meditation, or combat
-Treat condition through acupuncture/pressure point techniques
-Guide others on a tour of your temple
-Craft something that is meditative in nature,( like calligraphy, crafting sculpture, etc.)

Oracle
-“Meditate on the nature of your mystery”
-pray to the power you think gave you your mystery.
-Read/research/decipher something related to your mystery (Geneology for ancestors, etc.)
-Do something related to your mystery. (Set up campfire for fire, train for battle, take a swim for waves, etc.)
-Identify an item related to your mystery (staff of fire for flame, etc)

Psychic
-Meditate
-Do something related to your subconscious mind (Solve math problems for precise discipline, etc.)
-Identify a psychic magic item
-Read/research/decipher information related to your conscious mind (Manual on teleportation for boundless step. Etc)
-Train a fellow psychic
-Lead the team on something related to your conscious mind.

Ranger
-Lead the team through terrain you are familiar with.
-Hunt/forage
-identify a weapon or item with natural ties
-tame/train an animal

Rogue: Don’t get focus points? (I think)

Sorcerer
-Meditate to ‘connect to your bloodline’
-Read/research/decipher info related to your bloodline
-Identify an item related to your bloodline
-Talk/debate about a topic related to your bloodline, or something that plays into your bloodline.

Summoner
-Talk with/spend time with your eidolon
-Do something your eidolon would appreciate (angel->Treat injury, plant-> Garden, etc)
-read/research/decipher info that relates to/is in the same field as your eidolon
-Identify an item that is related/‘has the same vibe’ as your eidolon
-Research conjured creatures and summoned links in general

Swashbucklers: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
ThUmaturge: Don’t get focus points? (I think)
Witch:
-commune with familiar
-Pray/commune with patron
-research/read/decipher info related to your patron or their interests
-Identify a magic Item related to your patron or their interests
-Craft something related to your patron
-treat wounds (if your patron is good aligned or likes the sight of guts)

Wizard
-Read your spellbook
-Read/research/decipher times about your branch of specialty magic or magic theory/history
-Identify a magic item related to your field of magic (or arcane magic item if generalist)
-teach wizardry
-craft something related to wizardry (like a new spellbook)

Well, that’s it. Did I miss some? Do you disagree? Are there others you can think of? Let me know.

Scarab Sages

Okay guys, before I post the content here, I want you to read this.

I've been burned before. I know Lord of the Rings fans can be pretty . . . . energetic. I've posted LotR jokes, and fun, silly little discussion ideas and have been met with derision, called stupid, illiterate, people have told me I have no place in the fandom . . . I've received so much hate that I almost didn't post this . . . but then again, I guess if I didn't post this, I'd be letting the other people win wouldn't I?

About a week ago, a fellow Pathfinder Player said he wanted to set up an adventure Lord of the Rings style but using Pathfinder 2e rules as a means to introduce people to Pathfinder 2e, and wanted to know if anyone had made characters for him to use. I thought that it sounded like a fun idea, so I agreed to do it. I figured I could pump out the Fellowship as level 5 PF2 characters pretty fast with Pathbuilder. I guess I forgot about all the derision I'd faced for a second.

So, just, before you yell at me and tell me that I'm a horrible person and that Tolkien is rolling over in his grave, let me give you some context for how I approached making these characters.

I made them first as PF2 characters. I didn't want slavish devotion to the lore to mean that I ended up making a character that didn't work in PF2. So first and foremost, these characters were designed to work in PF2, (That includes making them all the same level, I settled on 5, so they could all play together) THEN, after that, I added as much Lore to them as I could. I had to bend things, tweak things, ignore things. Will the purists be upset, undoubtedly. But these characters are designed to help people learn Pathfinder, so if they die because they aren't doing their job, then what is the point of playing the game?

I also wanted to showcase as many different classes as possible. It would have been easy to make half the fellowship rangers an half the fellowship rogues, but that's not going to introduce people to Pathfinder. So instead I tried not to repeat any classes. I did have to do one class twice (both Boromir and Gimli are fighters), but that was it. So when you ask why I made Pippin a swashbuckler? Dude took down a super troll by himself. Why is Meridoc an investigator? Because he was the 'most perceptive and intelligent of the hobbits, always studying maps.' Why isn't Aragorn a ranger? Well because that clearly falls to Legolas, and I though it would be interesting to build Stalker out as a Spirit Barbarian with an army of undead at his back (and yes, I know all about the tribe that abandoned their oath to Gondor and how it was a one time deal and that's why he has the army of the undea . . .. I know all about it. I'm doing what I can with what I have.)

So, here you go. Best I could do in the confines of what I was given. I'm sure no one will be happy, not the purists, not the filthy casuals, but it is the best I thought I could do, and I hope that at least someone out there finds it useful. Just remember . . . before you attack and degrade and yell and scream . . . there's another person on the other end of that computer screen that just did this as a favor to another human being. That guy who only wanted to share his love of Pathfinder with some friends. Maybe don't try and use this as your soapbox to put yourself up by putting me down, and let people have fun with what this was meant to be . . . a fun little diversion.

Link to Google Drive Folder

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So, just for other people, this is a system I have come up with, partially inspired by others including ideas on Archives of nethys, I have just kinda set them into a very hard and fast system.

So I seperate all lore skills into Broad (b) and Narrow (n) categories. Then, if a broad skill is applicable, I roll at the normal skill difficulty -2. If a Narrow skill is applicable, I roll at a skill -5. On very, VERY rare occassions, I will roll a broad skill at difficulty -5 if the concept of the lore skill is in play. For example:

If the DC to identify a vampire is Religion check DC 25
Then it would be undead lore 23
And Vampire Lore 20

And if someone was asking about things like base concepts of undead, or what all undead have in common, then I would allow the DC 25 Religion check to be a DC 20 Undead Lore check.

Here are some categories of Lore skills, and examples of Broad and Specific applications of those categories. These are not extensive, just a taste of what you could do, and How I would say things work.

Occupations:
Broad: Labor Lore, Academia Lore, Engineering Lore, Cooking Lore
Narrow: Dockworker Lore, Magic Theory professor Lore, Gunsmithing Lore, Galtan chef Lore

Interests/Hobbies
Broad: Art Lore, Music Lore, Gambling Lore, Games Lore
Narrow: Taldan Renissance Art Lore, Chellaxian Opera Lore, 3-card Dragon Lore, Imperial Conquest Lore

Academic topics
Broad: Politics Lore, Elemental Plane of Earth lore, Azlanti Lore,
Narrow: Chelaxian Politics lore, Opeline Vault Lore, Azlanti-Ydersius war Lore

Survival
Broad: Forest Lore, Scouting Lore, Underworld Lore
Narrow: Chitterwood Lore, Cartography Lore, Smuggling Lore

People and cultures
Broad (Any large city, Like Oppara) Lore, (Any non-human ancestry) lore, (Myth/Legend lore about a broad legend, like Aroden) Lore
Narrow: (Small City Lore, Like Otari) Lore, (Specific ancestry, Like Licktoad Goblin) Lore,
(Small scale legend, like Roseguard) Lore.

Creatures
Broad Undead Lore, Abberation Lore, Fey Lore
Narrow: Vampire Lore, Will-o-wisp Lore, Unicorn Lore.

There are many more, but I hope that provides an insight about how I do things and how I run my games. Use it if you feel like it would help you out!

Scarab Sages

9 people marked this as a favorite.

So last year I put up a list of the top things I'd like to see fixed in PF2. Some of these are addressed, some of them haven’t, I’m sure my letter had nothing to do with it, but once a year I like to post my ideas for the year coming forward. This is just my opinion that I’d like to get out there and put my thoughts to paper (or well, internet forum). I don’t expect much to come of it other than to generate maybe some (hopefully polite) discussion and see if I am on page with everyone else out there.

Please don’t misinterpret this as me saying a bunch of nasty things about PF2. I like PF2, I really do, I just want to point out these small issues that I think can be fixed. To make a good game even better. This isn’t a ‘this game sucks!’ kinda rant. It’s more like me noticing one or two things that detract from an otherwise great game.

PART 1-Errata
1) Thaumaturges and Implement empowerment needs to be errata’ed. Right now it is just . . . not good. Heck, Mios, the iconic thaumaturge can’t even use implement empowerment because they violate the rules. They have a gauntlet and pick in the same hand.

Implement’s empowerment wrote:
The power of your implement can also be turned to the more common task of combat, its power adding to and amplifying the effects of runes and other magical empowerments. When you Strike, you can trace mystic patterns with an implement you're holding to empower the Strike, causing it to deal 2 additional damage per weapon damage die. Channeling the power requires full use of your hands. You don't gain the benefit of implement's empowerment if you are holding anything in either hand other than a single one-handed weapon, other implements, or esoterica, and you must be holding at least one implement to gain the benefit.

So things like a dart shield, which is worded as a shield with a dart thrower in it all as one weapon is okay, but a crossbow with an especially strong stock (worded as two weapons, a hand crossbow and a reinforced stock) is not okay? Punching dagger, okay, but put a skull to the outside and make it a Klar (shield with a separate ‘integrated blade’) and it is suddenly not okay?

2) Tell us the DC to counteract a Psychic’s Stupified condition. There are plenty of ways of counteracting stupified, including one the psychic gets that clearly is meant to be used on themselves, as well as things like Holistic Medicine, Elucidating Mercy, Moon Radish Shoup, and others. The DC to counteract the condition is nowhere to be found.

PART 2- General Class Fixes
3)Fix Alchemists: I realize that a lot has gone into fixing alchemists already, and it’s appreciated. But the fact remains that it is the only class that doesn’t get master in attack or defense and also doesn’t get spells. In fact, they don’t get legendary in anything, including class DC for their own alchemy. I dunno, maybe level 20 alchemical items are fantastic but, let’s face it, your chances of hitting with any bomb against an appropriate leveled enemy at level 20 are pretty low. I dunno what the solution is, but it would be nice to have alchemists on par with the rest of the classes. Maybe give them master in throwing bombs, but put in wording like with the gunslinger so that all other weapon proficiencies are at least one step worse. Actually, with that and the quicksilver mutagen, that would make them the most accurate bombers in the game, which is something that would actually make them attractive.

4)Fix Warpriests: Alright, we all know the issue here. A cloistered cleric can get most of what the warpriest gets with two feats, Sentinel dedication and the shield block feat, but there is no way to up warpriests to legendary spellcasting which, quite frankly, a spellcaster needs to be able to get high level spells to stick (or counter higher level afflictions.)

I’ve seen a few ideas on ways to fix warpriests. Like, master to ht at 19 with their deity’s weapon (including wording like from the gunslinger that says others can’t get as high), or maybe making Strength their key ability score instead of wisdom? I don’t know the answer, but I know that almost no one I know plays a warpriest past level 10 just because you can get a weapon you want by choosing the right deity, medium armor proficiency with sentinel dedication, and shield block with the shield block feat. Maybe just make some really strong cleric feats that require warpriest doctrine?

5) New Doctrine: Also, only having two subclasses seems weak for the Cleric, especially when every other class that has subclasses has at least 3. I’ve seen a lot of people begging for a scaled fist doctrine, and I can ge behind that. Have the warpriest’s holy symbol provide the same benefits as the dragon disciple’s ‘scales of the dragon,’ and have them treat their favored weapon as if it was unarmed strike . . . and you are off to the races.

6) New Swashbuckler Styles: I like the five swashbuckler styles we have, don’t get me wrong, but maybe a few more wouldn’t hurt. I’d appreciate an int-based swashbuckler style that relies on figuring out your opponent’s fighting style using, say, society. Or maybe a wisdom based style that intuits how the opponent is going to fight using perception (sort of an anti-feint style) Those are ideas off the top of my head, but it would be nice to see other swashbucklers other than athletic/charismatic.

PART 3-New Equipment.

7)Minor gripe, but I really wish there was an armor that was druid friendly but also a +4 item bonus/1 max dex. The Treasure Vault gives us four, FOUR new druid friendly items that are +3/ max dex 2. I’d be happy even if the item was suboptimal like Ceramic Plate, which always slows you down, or if it had the Ponderous quality. I’m okay with this armor being worse than Breasplate/chainmail . . . . I’d just like an option.

8) Just bite the bullet and make the exquisite sword cane a thing. I’d be okay with a minor nerf. Get rid of agile maybe. It’s just such a fun weapon and greatly thematic for swashbucklers, plus it is the only non-magic level 4 item and at that point it’s not as cool because your barbarian friend is hitting things with his greataxe for 2d12+10.

PART 4-New Feat Ideas.

9) So unconventional weaponry gives you scaling proficiency in uncommon martial (or maybe even advanced) weapons. The problem is that those weapons have to be uncommon and common to a culture or ancestry. What about a rogue that wants to use a Flyssa? Or a Bow Staff? I propose a feat that gives you scaling proficiency in ONE (and only one) COMMON martial weapon.

If you think that is too powerful, remember a single feat (Archer dedication) gives you scaling proficiency in all bows, Mauler dedication gives you scaling in ALL martial two-handed weapons, All the racial weapon familiarity feats essentially give you scaling proficiency in a slew of weapons (makes them count as simple, and simple scales for everyone but wizard.) I just think it would be a nice general feat to let a person get scaling proficiency with a single weapon.

10) I’ve asked for this as a skill feat since day 1. Just make a skill feat that works like Additional Lore, except it autoscales the lore you get from your background. It is objectively worse than Additional Lore and it doesn’t step on the toes of Gnomish obsession as that feat scales two skills. It’s just . . . stupid that the easiest way to become the world’s best cook is to NOT start as a cook, but to start off as LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE and then at level 2 pick up ‘additional lore-cook.’ Just make a feat that says that your background lore scales (expert at 3, master at 7, etc.)

Scarab Sages

3 people marked this as a favorite.

So I know that I've started a few other threads but now that we've have a few weeks to digest the new Treasure Vault, I thought I'd go through all the new (mundane) armor and weapons and talk about each of them in turn. I'll have to do this in batches otherwise the first post'll be about a million miles long, so just keep that in mind. Also, this stuff is just my opinion and my experience. I haven't had a chance to playtest all of these items yet, obviously, so I'm just going to guesstimate how good they are with a combination of my experience as a player and what I've seen to be true from Pathfinder 2e in general. If you have a different idea, please feel free to politely comment. Let's get a dialog going. Just try to be respectful to everyone else's opinions.

COUNTS AS UNARMORED

Gi While flavorful, sadly it is (mechanically) just more expensive Explorer's clothing. I get wanting to give more unarmored options, but why not just make it cost the same as explorer's clothes? While I like the idea, it's an extra silver for no mechanical benefit. You could have easily just reflavored your explorer's robes as a Gi before.

Scroll Robes A fun and goofy idea, I like the concept, though in practice, not that great. Saves you a single action, and you have to scribe the scroll which takes four days (unless you take the alternate crafting rules) Really not great until you get the magical version (Library Robes) which let you scribe a spell on them in an hour instead of four days. Still, they do save an action. Too bad you can't sleep in them.

LIGHT ARMOR

Leaf Weave You may think this is a just a more expensive version of Leather armor, but it has three things over leather. One is that it is technically wooden armor (despite the description saying it is made of leaves) so if you get armor specialization on it, crtis against you hurt the attacker. Secondly, you can turn it into Darkwood Leaf Weave, which reduces its strength requirement to 8 and makes it Light bulk, which is great for high dex, low strength characters (like Halfling rogues), Lastly it is easier to repair, and is less bad when broken, than normal leather. And that, given how often APs throw Shuln at us, is probably a good thing.

Leather Lamellar Pretty simple upgrade to Leather armor. A gold piece more but easier to repair. Provides piercing resist instead of bludgeoning resist if you are specialized. Not much to say here except I tend to encounter piercing damage the most in APs (usually from bite/claw attacks)

Buckler Armor In addition to being what the 3.0 sorcerer wore the Buckle armor is a decent light armor. It's noisy so, not great for rogues, but it lets alchemists, inventors, and investigators have out their healer's tools, alchemist's tools, and one other toolset with them (or artisan's tools and alchemist's tools) Great if you have quick repair and also either alchemical or medicine stuff.

Mantis Shell Armor Pretty expensive step up from studded leather, this suit of armor has a weapon cord, so if you are constantly dropping your weapon to swap out another, this might be worth it. Also, technically no metal, so a druid can wear it and persnickety GMs that don't let them wear studded leather armor can't complain. How you get your hands on it is another matter.
P.S. Technically the skeletal doesn't do anything because there is no entry for skeletal light armor in the armor specialization entry. Though we could reasonably guess what it should be.

Quilted Armor Not a fan of armor that doesn't get you to +5 between bonus to Ac and max dex, but this is +2 item armor that you can sleep in, so one step better than padded armor. So if you are an investigator or inventor with only 14 dex, I guess this is for you. Cheaper than the Armored coat

Sankeit Another wooden armor that we can apply the Darkwood armor to to make it lighter (and reduce the max strength down to 10). More expensive than Studded leather, but easier to repair. I think this would be good armor for mid game where you can get darkwood and have a mid-dex character with only 10 strength have no problems with armor.

Well, that is it for now. I'll try and come back later with my thoughts on the medium (and maybe heavy) armors. I hope that my thoughts have given you something to think on. And remember, if you spotted something I didn't see, or have a different opinion, let me know! We can work on this together to let other players know how useful all these new armors and weapons can be. I'm but one human being and I can't spot everything!

Scarab Sages

So my friends and I are about to run through Crown of the Kobold King, and the current plan for my Elven Cleric of the Elven Pantheon is to buy a small building in Falcon's Hollow and put in a bunch of small shrines, one to each of the Elven Gods, in the town. And maybe live there too.

I realize this is all theoretical, and probably won't come up in the game, but my guy does have the crafting skill and religion skill, so he could theoretically woodcarve some shrines to the Elven Deities.

Anyone have a rough estimate of how much it would cost to buy a building, and how much a shrine would cost (we are talking a shrine, small wooden structure that you kneel in front of, not a full blown church.) The closest I can find for a house is the private workshop, which is a magical expanding workshop, but the cost doesn't include the land it is built on. As for the shrine . . . I have NO idea how much a simple wooden shrine would cost to make with my woodcarving skills.

Scarab Sages

3 people marked this as a favorite.

So, after getting all hot and bothered by all the new weapons and armors, I decided to make a top ten list of all the new builds I could think of that are now possible using the new items. I included everything you need to build them, the new weapon/armor/shield they make use of, and even a little backstory about how they would be played (in my mind, that part is flexable of course.) If you have suggestions to add to the group, let me know and if I think it makes the cut, I'll put it up there with credit to you..

I tried to stick to new concepts that were in some way interesting new takes or new ideas that couldn't have been accomplished before. Like a Hobgoblin with a concussive bow . . . that's neat, I've never seen that before. Or a Swashbuckler with a bow staff, that's neat.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. If you have any questions, please ask them POLITELY.

Scarab Sages

Skimmed the treasure vault and wow, there are several new items to get excited about. I don’t have time to post a full rundown right now, so I’ll just post the few that stood out. Anyone else feel free to join in and maybe this will help stir some character ideas.

1) Dancing Spear: Wow! A reach finesse weapon that isn’t uncommon? Not only is this just fantastic for investigators, it also make a great rogue weapon if you can get proficiency (like fighter dedication). I particularly love the versitile B to deal with all those ochre Jellys or skeletons. Not to mention, swashbucklers can use it too!

2)The Falcata. A single handed fatal d12 sword that is common? That means we finally have a weapon that works with Tengu Weapon Familiarity. Great for any Tengu martials that want to use a 1-handed weapon.

3) Whipstaff: I always thought a staff should be finesseable. Plus the parry trait, what’s not to love??

4) Dragonturtle Shell Armor: Druids rejoice! If you want heavy armor all you need is to get this common level 9 armor instead of the super expensive level 12 uncommon dragon hide (at level 12)

Scarab Sages

So I’m kinda thinking of making a Halfling fighter, as a sort of anti-grapple monster using the Unfettered Halfling. I don’t just wanna use a boring sword and shield, so I was going through my options. Griffon cane caught my eye as it is L bulk (meaning you can use it while eaten) and you can 2 hand it for a d10, and it isn’t uncommon. (Can’t do a d12, but nothing’s perfect). Only problem is you can’t cut your way out of a stomach with a blunt cane. Any other weapon suggestions that aren’t boring like ‘long sword?’

Scarab Sages

So, despite the fact that I'm not great at painting, I've been doing it for years and I always get the same questions about how to get into painting miniatures. So I've decided to put my personal FAQ up here.

This is by no means decisive, just what I prefer to do and what I find useful for beginners. If you have a different way of doing things, please respectfully ad your comment below.

0)Is there a video that just explains everything:

Sure is! Not made by me but this youtuber does a great job letting you know what to do. I don't agree with everything he said, but it is a great video for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-BlVYFxfRA

1) What do I need to start/how much with this set me back?
In general, you will need a few things to get started:
A)Depending on your models, you may need spray paint to prime your minis. While there are $10 'hobby priming" spray paints out there, any spray paint will do. If you don't have specific color scheme in mind, get tan or grey spray paint primer. (This is a good neutral color, and I also find it easier to see detail when primed in these colors, as opposed to black)
B) While not required, I HIGHLY recommend a clear matte spray paint that you can spray over your mini as a sealant to prevent paint from wearing away once your mini is fully painted.
C)Acrylic Hobby Paint. There are specific miniature paints that work well, but if you want you can just get a set of acrylic hobby paint that has all the basic colors in it for around $10. You will need to water these down most likely, but that's easy.
D)Hobby Brush: These can get quite expensive, especially if you want a full set. Luckily there are some cheap sets you can get online for about $10 that will get you started, even if they only last four or five minis.
E)Pallet, Towel, and Water Pot: The water pot can be anything that holds water (like a cup) just make sure you will never drink from it again, as the paint will never fully come out. As for a pallet, you can buy one at an arts and crafts store for cheap, or use the back of a slick cardboard box (or a penny sleeves). A simple paper towel can be used to wipe off excess paint. There are also 'wet pallets' discussed in the video above, but you don't need to make use of those, especially for your first time.
F) A Well-lit room, maybe with a lamp so you can really look at you mini close up and tell the difference between those colors.
G) A Mini!
All in all, I put together a kit for someone else for around $50 using Amazon, but that included an actual pallet an 25 minis. You might be able to do it for around 35-40 if you are only buying a few minis and brushes at a time.

2) What Minis do you recommend for a first-time GM on a budget?
Start with the most common and generic minis and work out from there. Things that show up in a lot of adventures. Dudes in heavy armor and shields are always great for town guards, evil armies, or dastardly mercenaries. Goblins, Kobolds, and Orcs are also common as well. Maybe a one or two spellcasters. Listen, there may be some cool minis out there that you see, but if you never get to use them, then they just sit on your shelf. So stick to the cool looking minis that can serve multiple purposes.

This includes monsters. Look for minis that can be used for many different monsters. An undead skeleton in armor can be anything from a skeletal champion to a grave knight. A evil tentacle monster can be any one of a number of abominations. Look for stuff that can be either a zombie, a ghoul, a ghast, or something else.

I would also start with the smaller minis. While that giant dragon looks cool, he's going to take multiple sessions to paint and an inexperienced painter may get board working through all that and give up halfway through. Learn to cut your teeth on the smaller things before taking on the bigger projects.

3) Any other tricks and tips?
For all of your similar minis, try painting the bases different colors (if you are not color blind) or painting tickmarks on the base if you are color blind. That way you can easily call out what mini is doing what to your players. (The Zombie with the blue base has been defeated," or "The Guard with three tickmarks attacks Steve.) This will make it easier to identify the mini you and your group are talking about.

4) Final words of wisdom?
Don't worry too much about being show quality with your first minis. Many of my minis don't even have eyes painted because I don't need them too. A lot of players follow the 'three foot rule' which is 'if it looks good enough at three feet it is fine." As you practice, you will get better and learn new techniques. Don't try to start off perfect.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So I saw a request for this several months ago and I had pumped out a Swashbuckler, Thaumaturge, and Psychic guide in quick order, so I figured I could do one.

That was a mistake.

This guide quickly got away from me as writing it was an entirely different beast altogether and I just had no idea how I wanted to approach it. Man, it was . . . difficult to write and I am sure parts of it are nonsensical. So, if you would like to help me out, I would REALLY appreciate some constructive critisizm here (not just "you are teh suck jump off a bridge") but actual, meaningful comments to try and improve my guide here.

I've tried to make it new player friendly, discuss pros and cons, talk about how some consider magic suboptimal . . . all that is to say, I tried my best, but now I need the community's help to polish it because I quite frankly, am at the end of my rope as for what I can do by myself.

Anyway, I hope this helps at least someone choose their character class.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tTfh-qJYoWPY-WoHoFo-nWWcEX_873zTth5Ohd1 u4Vc/edit?usp=sharing]Here is the guide

Scarab Sages

So my outlaws of Alkenstar game just crashed. We got about 1/2 way through the second book when our GM informed us that he just didn't have it in him to GM it anymore (Not is fault BTW, totally understand, not an attack on him.) Thing is, this is like the third AP I've gotten partway through and then it just ended (the other two were Agents of Edgewatch and Extinction Curse) and I'm getting sick and tired of it because it means I can't play those games again to completion unless I replay a large amount of the game that I've already played.

Listen, playing an AP online PbP isn't working out much for me, I've tried it in the past and it's taken me a year to do three levels (not books, dungeon levels) of Abomination vaults.

So I'm asking if anyone wants to do a game of Outlaws of Alkenstart over roll20 or discord or something. I'm willing to run the first book, then I can hand it off to someone to run the second (and I can make a character), and they can hand off to the third or whatever, I'd just really like to finish AN AP.

I don't have a lot of free time, the game would probably have to be on Sunday, which I know is asking a lot, but if anyone is interested, let me know.

Scarab Sages

Seen these questions often enough that I thought I'd just go ahead and answer them. Keep in mind this is how me and my gaming group see these terms, they may not be the same for everyone.

So, are you new to Pathfinder or RPG gaming in general? Are people throwing around slang terms that you don't understand? Do you keep seeing mention of terms you don't understand on the boards? Then I've got the thread for you! As many RPG terms as I could write up in half an hour (that's how much time I have to write this up today.)

1) Terms for games/types of games

PFS: Short for Pathfinder Society. It is the organized play version of Pathinder, like Adventerer's League for DnD. There are certain rules about how you can make your character and how your character progresses, but you can play them anywhere in the world. More info can be found here: https://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety

Scenario: A single game of PFS, usually takes 3-5 hours. These are pre-written scenarios designed to give a character roughly 1/3 of a level

Bounty/Quest: A short, 1 hour pre-written adventure designed for fast play for PFS. Gives a character roughly 1/12th of a level

AP: Short for Adventure Path, A series of adventures (usually 3 or 6) that combine together to make one epic story. Essentially an entire pre-written campagin. Can take you from levels 1-20, or 1-10 (one of them so far goes from 11-20). Not part of PFS, but if you play through an adventure path you can (if you choose) get some credit from it on a PFS character.

Module: A short adventure designed to go a few levels at random intervals. Maybe 1-5, maybe 4-7, maybe 11-15. Depends on what the author wanted. Unlike APs, this is just one pre-published adventure and isn't an entire pre-written campaign. Usually only one book.

2) Terms for Gameplay

Tank: A character with enough toughness, armor, and hitpoints that they can stay up on the front lines and not die from the big bad death enemy. At least not die too fast.

DPS: Borrowed term from MMORPGS (like world of warcraft) DPS stands for 'Damage per second' and it can refer either to how much sheer damage you are outputting, or a character designed to do as much damage as possible.
(Note that DPS calculations usually assume optimal conditions, like you get all three attacks against an enemy, don't have to move, etc. They also don't take into account vulnerabilities or resistances.)
((Note 2: Some people tried to change it to DPR (damage per round) to make it more RPG like, but it doesn't seem to have widely cought on.))

Caster: Short for 'spellcaster.' A class that gets cantrips and leveled spells, the works, not just a few focus spells (for example, most don't consider champions 'casters' despite the fact that they have a focus spell.)

Healer: Someone with copious and reliable healing. Willing to heal party members when they go down so that no one dies.

Rogue: The Rogue class. In a broader sense someone who is able to find and disarm traps.
ex. "Jannet is a ranger, but she's our rogue (finds and disables traps) for the game.

Save or Die: As the name implies, an ability where you either succeed at a saving throw, or you die. Rare in PF2, but things like basilisks and cockatrices can do it after two failed saves. Usually not attributed to damage, but to some 'death effect. Look up the spells 'phantasmal killer' and 'weird' for more information.

Save or Suck: An ability (usually spell) that can shut down a character with a single failed save, such as hightened sleep, paralysis, or confusion.

Gotcha/Gotcha Tactics: A situation, usually in a professionally written scenario, where the PCs are put at a deliberate disadvantage no matter how hard they prepare. Often taken as a sign of a bad scenario/writer.
ex: Man, that scenario the other night had these stupid rogues which were completely undetectable, even to true seeing, and they got to jump out and sneak attack us a whole bunch before we got to even go. It was impossible to avoid! Such Gotcha Tactics!

Loot/Party Loot: Treasure. Party loot in particular is treasure that is shared among the party, for example a wand of heal might be designated 'party loot' and used on the fighter one day, and the rogue the next.

Scarab Sages

So, I misread the rules on Thief Rogues and didn't see that their add dex-to-damage ability only works on WEAPONS. When I found this out, I was greatly saddned because I built an unarmed attack thief rogue that is now neigh-on useless now that I read that rule (this is for PFS by the way, so no houserules can fix this.)

I had resigned myself to just saving up a boatload of ACP to compleatly rebuild him (he's over level 4) but a friend of mine and my Venture Lieutenant for the area I live in suggested I double check on the boards to see if the game developers did an oversight before I spend a bunch of ACP needlessly.

To be clear, I KNOW I MESSED UP. I am willing to own up to my mistake. This is not an invitation for toxic board members to call me stupid and an idiot. I KNOW WHAT THE TEXT OF THIEF says. I was just encouraged to double check if that was the actual meaning of what paizo wanted to do, or if they made a small mistake when writing up that ability. I'm fine with either decision, I just want to double check before I spend a bunch of points to rebuild my rogue.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about:

[quote=Thief Racket, Core rulebook 180)

When a fight breaks out, you prefer swift, lightweight weapons, and you strike where it hurts. When you attack with a finesse melee weapon, you can add your Dexterity modifier to damage rolls instead of your Strength modifier.

The question is: was this intentionally limited to only weapons, or did the developers mean to let it work for unarmed strikes and just forgot to put it in? Again, okay with either ruling, my venture lieutenant just thought it looked like a typo and encouraged me to reach out on the forums.

Scarab Sages

If you are planning to run this game IRL, I suggest the ‘Core Spawn Crawlers’ minis from Wizkids ‘Critical Role’ line. They are medium sized creatures that look nasty and could easily be substituted for any number of abominations your players will encounter in the abomination vaults.

Scarab Sages

1 person marked this as a favorite.

So after replaying the kingmaker and wrath of the righteous videogames, I've been thinking a lot about how to play certain character classes that don't really exist in PF2. Things like the slayer, Inquisitor, shaman, etc. in PF2. I think I have some pretty good ideas.

Now note that this is not a 100% 1:1 translation of such classes! This is not a 'perfect solution.' This is a 'I'd like to play a shaman in PF2, how close can I get?" kind of situation. I'll list st a few options, and let me know what you think. I know nothing here is going to be perfect, I'm just going for a 'feel' and 'close approximation.'

A)Inquisitors:
Inquisitors were pretty versatile in terms of how you wanted to play them. So Ithere are a few options on how to build one.

1)Randed DPS: A lot of inquisitors went ranged DPS with a bow and judgements to do a ton of damage. An option to approximate this is to go Thaumaturge for the high ranged damage (between implement empowerment and Exploit weakness-which you could flavor as bane) they could do pretty well. Instead of a bow you will have to go with a one-handed weapon, but you could still have a pretty solid ranged DPS build. Pick up a divine sorcerer archetype for some divine spellcasting. True, you are charisma and not wisdom based, but it seems solid enough.

2)Melee DPS: For early-mid levels, going straight battle oracle could also get you a decent chunk of damage.

3) Hunter/intimidator/skill monkey: If you want to replicate the high perception/high intimidation build of an inquisitor, a rogue is your best bet. Again, maybe consider archetyping into divine sorcerer to get yourself some divine spells.

B) Skald
1) Warrior Bard. You can flavor your bardsong as making people angrier and more powerful, making spellcasters put their all into spells and so on and so forth. Sadly can’t find a way to barbarian rage while doing inspire courage, but someone let me know if you figure it out.

C) Shaman
1) One with Nature: The obvious answer here is druid. Gives you armor, gives you spellcasting, gives you a set of weapons, not too bad. If you want to replicate a familiar, you can just be a plant leshy to get a plant leshy familiar, or be an animal druid and your ‘animal companion’ can be flavored as a larger familiar, like a hawk.

2) Familiar-Focused: If you want to focus on the shaman’s connection to a familiar, you can either make a fervor or wild witch to get either divine or primal smells like the shaman had in PF1

3) Leader/Storyteller of a tribe: If you wanted to focus on the aspects of a shaman as a leader/storyteller of a tribe (like the Shoanti) you could just be a bard, possibly with a sorcerer archetype to get some primal or divine spells in there.

D) Slayer
1) Warrior or ranger with the rogue archetype for that sneak attack.

2) Investigator with the rogue archetype for that extra sneak attack.

E) Ninja
1) Straight rogue with skill feats like water sprint and wall jump.

2) Rogue with monk dedication to pick up feats like Dancing Leaf, Wall Run, Wind Jump, etc.

Anyway, those are just a few I came up with, let me know what you think or other ideas you had for approximating 1e classes that we don’t have.

Scarab Sages

So the new Grey Maiden Plate is Full Plate that only requires 16 Strength (and is a measly 5 GP more expensive). Seems to me like there is something there. . . A build that caps out at 16 strength and has heavy armor proficiency (maybe through sentinel/champion dedication?)? The best I have is my Dwarven psychic build with champion dedication. Caps out at 16 strength for wearing armor, originally she just wore half plate but now. . . Can take that 12 dex and put it into something else.

I dunno, anyone else have an idea? Grey maiden sorcerer with Champion dedication?

1 to 50 of 529 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>