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Heya folks, So I havent played a ton of PF2e, and knowing how tight the math is I'm wondering if anybody has tried the Decay and Ligneous isntincts. I like the theming of decay, but the 1/5/10 poison damage per round of rage seems like a lot. And the fire weakness of ligneous, while definitely more manageable that the poison, seems like it would come up a lot. So what do you folks think? Are these instinct just instant death or a decent risk/reward balance?
Heya folks!
-Twinning chains: Decent, scaling damaged BUT its only against unarmed attacks
Anything I might be missing? I dont mind if it's with various energy types, I just havent found anything else.
TLDR: Looking for potential high-dex, low-str ranger builds Hello folks, So I was hoping to play a grippli thrower ranger (with starknives) in an upcoming skull & shackles game, but the GM shot down all potential ways to get dex to damage while throwing. So I'm looking for a new build (and havent had any luck searching on google), so I thought I'd ask around here. I do set myself the following limitations: - Race must remain grippli
Otherwise, I'm open to pretty much anything. For the moment, I've been evaluating the following builds, though they all have significant issues. a) Archer build: Really, just a traditional archer build. Main issue here is damage; since I'm not in a position to increase strength, the damage per shot is going to remain low, and I will have to take clustered shots as soon as possible. In addition, Freebooter's bane does not synergize well with long-range combat. b) Finesse build: Fairly straightforward, weapon finesse + weapon focus + X grace (possibly going for the starknife again). The only issue is that it makes the "Combat style feats" pretty much useless, as none of the styles work well with finesse. c) ? Anybody got any ideas? I'll keep looking on my own, but any advice is appreciated.
So, to preface this, this is NOT a Torment: Tides of Numenara (TToN) review. All that I should say is that’s it’s an interesting game assuming you go in blind (as in without all the kickstarter hype), and one of those few RPGs you can get through non-violently. For a more thourough review see here . There may be minor spoilers. If you haven’t already been spoiled, go play the game. . Most of that’s review’s point are true in my opinion, and this article is a reflection on what I see as the complex interplay of Technique, Art and Marketing that go into making a game.
Note: They wanted to make a grand RPG, where violence wasn’t the main answer. They wanted strange worlds steeped in the setting of Monte Cook’s Numenara tabletop RPG system I myself fell in love with the game in 2012, after having played the Baldur’s Gate series. Note: . The project was headed by Inxile, a company that had many former Black Isle developer who had worked on planescape:torment; Inxile had also already crowdfunded Wasteland 2, (that came out of 2014), and the Team seemed ideal for the game. It unfortunately fell victim to it’s own overpromissing, a condition I call Love the setting, don’t love the tabletop RPG. This is one thing that I think TToN did well, plunging you into the weird post-apocalyptica of the ninth world. I would love to see that setting explored more deeply Molyneux Syndrome: .
Some apologies to Peter Molyneux should he ever read this, but some offense as well. He is a paragon of oveg. Every game of his I went into without knowing much I rpromissing enjoyed; every game of his I knew before release I was disappointed by. The previous review I mentionned catalogues all of their missteps. They promised a tremendous amount. They got lots of people involved. I would say about 25-50% of what they seemed to promise actually ended up in the game. Most major game-related stretch goals did not make into the final game . I am honestly happy that development took 4 years since I had forgotten much of those stretch goals, and was able to enjoy the game much more because I had forgotten most of my expectations. It’s a good game, assuming you forget all they said would be in the game. The stretch goal of “longer and more reactive story” is particularly disappointing since it took me a mere 25 hours (doing all the side quests I could find) to complete the game, with very little observable playthrough differences. It may have some of the spirit of planescape:torment but it is not it’s successor; it is a mere shadow, as many castoff’s are to the changing god. Wasteland 2 (made by the same people) cost less, was longer, and only took about 2 years to develop. The point I am slowly getting into is that the Kickstarter campaign suggested a much grander product than what finaly happened. Had I remembered all the stretch goals and the hype, I would have been bitterly disappointed. This disappointment is a symptom of Molyneux Syndrome; and unfortunately, even seasoned developers fall victim to it. I am fascinated by how much our expectations shape our enjoyment of the games we play. How much marketing, by showing their idealized version of they product, shape what we want from it to a point that its reality could never match. I wonder how the developers feel about the game. There has been been some apologetic notes . And frankly, developers should know when to say that something doesn’t work in a game and cut it, or to take time to give it more polish. Considering the final result, I really don’t feel like that’s the case with TToM, though I would love some developer retrospectives in the future. It might give some meaningful insight. In the meantime, we will have to wait for a true successor to planescape: torment. I’m also afraid that this might “poison the kickstarter well” as a source of financing for experimental ideas. Kickstarter is a nice idea; users financing products. But in the end, it’s more of a gamble than an investment. You can’t always know what a product will be before it’s finished. And no matter how many good intentions you got, if you cant deliver what you claimed people will lose trust, and be less likely to support you later. I did after a number of failed projects that never came through. Even now, if I do aid crowdfunding, it’s at the minimum level possible; quantities of money I have no fear about losing. In conclusion, there are ways to mitigate Molyneux Syndrome symptoms, mostly for the user. Going into a story-based game blind is can reduce the effects. In my experience, the less expectations we got, the more likely we are to be pleasantly surprised. I myself have been avoiding most gaming press to avoid as much as possible the creation of such expectations. It isn’t perfect, but at least I won’t be overhyped. As for developpers, it’s hard to say what can be done. In the context of crowdfunding, they are mostly selling ideas. So over-promising is easy. And unfortunately, there are no perfect formulas for game development, meaning even otherwise good teams (like InXile) can fail to meet what they claimed initially. I would love to hear if other people have ideas about how to reduce the odds of catching Molyneux Syndrome. I’m also curious about other folk’s experiences with crowdfunding. Most of those I’ve seenhave been (in my opinion) a success (Shadowrun Returns, Wasteland 2, Pillars of eternity, Divinity Original Sin); but I did go into several of those after they were funded, so they may have their own unfulfilled promises.
Hey folks, TLDR: looking for new (or old but little known), interesting, narrative RPGs. With a fondness for isometric tactical RPGs. I have had excessive amount of free time lately due to illness, I have had way too much time to play video games. So I am turning to the collective wisdom of the paizo boards. I've gone through way too many RPGs and am looking for more exotic fare to stave off my boredom (that's never good for the mind). Pretty much all the D&D games gave been passed through (baldur's gate multiple time), pillars of eternity, wasteland 2, most spiderweb software games (and similar ones like Balrum and Eschalon), all the dragon ages, all the mass effects, most of the divinity series, the recent shadowrun games (very good, I wish they would make more...), arcanum, the fallout games, the stick of truth, the evoland series, Tyranny, the witcher series, the blackguard series (not as good as it seemed in my head), the elder scrolls series, jade empire, expeditions:conquistador, and probably some I no longer remember. I've also played procedural open world games so much I am sick of them (I love minecraft and starbound, but over 1500 hours over 3 years is too much). I would never have thought this situation possible, but here I am.
Hello folks! Been a while since I've been on the paizo forums, mostly because I've been playing a TON of shadowrun. I've been having some problems with one of my PCs however; I'm not having much fun playing her anymore. Part of the problem is with the character itself; when the game started, I felt like playing something simple, so I created a "barbie barbarian" type; a street sami ork who was raised in beverly hills, had an addiction to shopping, and was forced into the shadows because of significant rage issues. At first it was fun to play something uncomplicated, but it's becoming a bore. I have a hard time finding ambitions for her, goals to work toward, non-combat things for her to do that are actually useful. So I've been wondering what others have done when a character gets boring and they cant readily change it. Or what other people have done to make bruisers "fun" out of combat.
In the last year, I have played a lot of new RPGs, from some warhammer 40k, shadowrun, L5R, and dungeon world. I was particularly fond of L5R's "20 questions" which did a decent job presenting a character to the expectations of the world around them. I decided to try a similar approach in my current pathfinder game, making a series of 20 questions for the campaign's theme (in this case, the players where young warriors from a barbarian society). I was wondering, what other tools have people used to put players into the context of a world?
Hello folks, I was looking at the new style feats, and saw some interesting potential in the "slipslinger" line of style feats, but had a few questions:
-Does this still count as a splash weapon for the purpose of the alchemist's "throw anything" ability, and the underground chemist's "chemical weapons"/"precise splash weapons"?
Hey folks! I'm having a bit of fun theorycrafting, and I'm looking for ideas. I've always loved the "terrain dominance" feature of the Horizon walker PrC that gives 3+ wis dimension doors a day. Teleporting into battle is sweet, and the mobility it gives is (theoretically at least) awesome for martials. I've always wanted to make something cool that synergises with the need for extra wis, but I havent had much luck. (And the dimensional dervish feat will on kick in at level 13 at the earliest... but I still think it's cool) The idea of an "astral rager" (Barbarian 6/Horizon walker 3/barbarian 11) is cool, but the wis is not very useful and the barbarians have better sources of mobility. A monk might be cool, though most already get abundant step making this redundant. However, a monk 6/Horizon walker 3/Brother of the seal 10 could be cool; teleporting in front of someone then blowing them away! The fighter would definitly get the most out of the mobility, though I dont know any fighter archetypes that could use that wisdom (beyond the usual advantages). Any ideas? Earlier ways to enter the DD chain? I'm thinking of trying a samurai (sword saint) next.
Hey Folks! I know the paladin is far from OP (especially with casters in play), but I've always thought it would do better as a prestige class than a base one; I quite like the narrative of someone who starts mundane but gains great power for their faith. So I've been wondering, has anybody ever tried to do this? I was thinking of making it similar to the sentinel (another divine prestige class) and the Mantis warrior (who has 4-level casting). What do you guys think? I might post up a write-up if nobody has tried before.
Hey Folks! I've been thinking about running a game only with Path of War and Psionics classes from dreamscarred. I was wondering if anybody had any notes from their own (in-game) experiences.
So, it's been a while I've contributed to the messageboards, in good part because I havent been playing any pathfinder. I've been playing a "Rogue trader" game for the last 6 months, and I am having the worst case of GM fatigue I have ever had... I wont deny I made several mistakes. And the individual elements, in themselves, could be dealt with on their own; but I feel like I'm suffering a death by a thousand cuts... The system is slightly more elaborate than pathfinder, with a lot of rule systems that come into play frequently. I've had to hand-wave a lot away simply to avoid bogging things down, since the players are just as new to the system as I am, and quite unwilling to put effort outside the game proper. The system is also... swingy. It's supposed to be a "lower combat" game, with lots of social stuff... which only one player is competent in. Everyone is so specialised that I generally cant get everyone involved in anything unless it's combat. And unfortunately, several of my players disconnect completely when they arent directly involved, going for their phones or getting really moody. And now they've started complaining there is too much combat... ugh. Add into that a player that still hasnt learned the combat rules, players who are reliably late (despite having adjusted the start time for their sake), players who complain about not being powerful enough, and I am having less and less fun each game. But, I'm not a ragequitter. I announced at yesterday's game that I am working to finish it (in a few weeks, I provided them their "final mission", and will work to finish it elegantly (though I will avoid such players in the future). Then I will pass to another game, hopefully avoiding those players forevermore. So I was wondering, what other cases of GM fatigue have made you want to just stop? What has sucked out all the fun of your GM-ing? I usually quite enjoy it, but sometimes, things just dont work out...
So, I've been playing & gming games in pathfinder for almost 2 years now. And after all this, I've come to realise... I prefer GMing to playing. I'm unsure whether it's an issue of bad gms, good players, or some other arcane source, but I always come out of GM-ing in a better mood than playing. While I'm sure many see this attitude as abberant, I was wondering who else here is like this. What made you prefer GM-ing? Or dislike playing? I am quite curious.
So, most forms of actions in RPGs are abstractions upon the real world, based on PC abilities. You roll to hit (based on strength BaB, WS or whatever), you roll to succeed (at crafting, lock picking, etc.) and you roll to know (knowledge checks and such). You get no bonuses for being a good fighter in RL, you don’t need to be a carpenter in RL to do carpentry in game, and your personal knowledge shouldn’t enter into play (and for many pre-made settings this can be an issue). So why isn’t this always the case for the “social” aspect of skills in-game? I’m currently playing a priest/investigator type named Johan. He’s got the best charisma (or equivalent for the system) in the group, and has the right skills to play the role of a “face”. I, however, most definitely do not. Not that I can’t talk to people, but I react slowly, am not always the most diplomatic, and could definitely never play a face in real life. And this is a big problem. Why? Because the “social” stuff in the game (with NPCs mind you) is always done more as a freeform discussion. The only (rare) time that a roll is needed is to gage the reaction of an NPC (sense motive or equivalent) or to lie to an NPC (bluff or equivalent). So I bumble along, and I get the impression the other players get quite frustrated at me sometimes, either for not asking something appropriate, or timing it right, or so forth. In the end, I feel like I have to use my (as in, the players) charisma & skills rather than the characters, which makes me rather frustrated. I would love to role-play a “face” type, but I’m feeling that without having the skills myself, I won’t get the chance. This has happened in each campaign I have tried to play a “face” (3 up to now).
I’m also worried about this as a GM. My own current standard is “Roleplay it, you roll a proper check, with possible bonuses/negatives depending on how good an idea it was, though it will always mostly rely on your stats”. But it still worries me, because it’s not an easy thing to do, and I don’t want to start balkanizing people out of the face role. So I’m wondering what other GMs have done in this situation. There’s bound to be a solution, but I have yet to found a solidly built “social interaction/conflict” system, so I’m looking to everyone else. How do you manage those situations where someone would like to play a face but isnt one themselves?
Hello Folks, I've been thinking about WFRP & related RPGs recently. One particularity is that one's ability with weapons is represented by a distinct ability, Weapon Skill & Ballistic Skill. Those two specific ability scores got me thinking: could they be used for more than just combat. After all, "Weapon skill" (for melee strikes) concerns a form of hand-eye coordination; knowing where your body is, and how you move it. It could easily be used for skills that require fine manipulation, such as Sleight of hand, Disable Device, or certain craft skills. For "artistic" reasons, I could name it "Coordination" or "Proprioception". Now, "Balisitic Skill" is more complicated. For one, I cant for the life of me think of any associated skills that arent just combat. And I cant think of any simple names to represent it. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas.
Hello folks, I'm currently in the planning stages on a game for this summer, and I was thinking about doing a desert-island themed game. I was wondering if there were any adventures that had explored desert island themes, or folks who had run desert island games.Any advice would be interesting, as the lack of easy items can quite change the game dynamic.
So, I was traipsing through the d20pfsrd, and found this: While I highly doubt it's a playable race, it is interesting. Seems like a mis-filed addition. Surprised I heard nothing of it before. What do folks think? Edit: after a bit of research, it seems it's more of a misfile on the part of d20pfsrd, as I found the original source in a thrid-party thing.
Hello folks, So, for a campaign I'm playing I'm trying to create a "special forces" unit specialized in countering magical threats. This can include: -Casters (both divine & arcane)
Now, there are a few limits I'm posing on myself: -The members of the army cannot be casters
I've started collecting a few classes that can work with these themes: -Purity Legion Enforcer (to fight divine casters)
I'm looking for specialized archetypes that could work for such an antimagic army. I'm curious of what you folks think.
So recently I've been looking at a bunch of third-party goodness to spice up my games. So I was wondering if folks had found some weird stuff in their time, while posting a few of their own. Odd rules you would never have thought of yourself, interesting stuff to spice up games or just general weirdness, I'm quite interested. I'll start it off: - Dynasties & Demaguoges : bought recently, quite digging it for the moment. I had been a bit lost about more "political" campaigns, and there are a bunch of good tips here.
- Leadership Handbook : A nice book to spice up leadership and get more use out of it, some weird abilities & such. I havent had the chance to use it yet, but I plan to! Well I am quite excited to see what other people have liked!
So I was recently looking up some old 3.5 PrCs, and going on to the usual DnDtools , and noticed that it had finally gotten shut down by WoTC layers. Despite never having played 3.5, I quite enjoyed going on that site, using weird prestige classes for NPCs in my games, and looking at the history behind pathfinder. I was quite impressed with the numbers the creator posted (1000 classes! Madness!). In any case, a very useful tool has been lost, but I have more love than ever for paizo who has allowed their own "info" sites to flourish. I will be the first to admit that if those free info sites (paizo prd, d20pfsrd & archives of nethys) had not existed, I would never have been able to start playing. And now I have spent a hundred dollars on books... In any case, a useful ressource has been lost, but let it not keep us from continuing to play!
Hello all, I'm in a silly mood, so I feel like making a list of all pathfinder spells that are a little "silly/funny". Here we go: -Mad monkeys: a swarm of thieving monkeys. -Vomit swarm: I dont know why, but my players laugh up a storm at every mention of vomit swarm. They even proposed a "strategy" of casting vomit swarm while kissing someone to infest them with spiders. They laughed themselves silly. -Strangling hair: to be murdered by one's hair is a hilarious thing. -Detect toughts : a "copper" (material component) for your thoughts has always made me chuckle. So, paizonians? Any other pathfinder spells that make you chuckle?
Hello Folks, I rencently discovered, thanks to a shaman playing friend, the following feat: spiritual guardian:
Spiritual Guardian Your spiritual guardians are more powerful than those of most others. Prerequisite(s): Ability to cast spiritual weapon or spiritual ally, spirit magic class feature. Benefit: Whenever you cast spiritual weapon, spiritual ally, or a similar spell that grants you a spiritual guardian, that guardian uses your shaman level instead of your base attack bonus to determine its base attack bonus, potentially granting it multiple attacks. Additionally, it gains a +2 bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance as well as on damage rolls. It's a cool little feat that gives a significant boost to spiritual weapon & spiritual ally. And I was wondering what was the full lits of spells that could be used. This is what I could find: Spiritual Weapon
I was wondering if anyone knew of other similar spells that would qualify, or of other ways of strengthening this concept.
Hello all, Does anyone have interesting city encounter tables? My next month or so of games are going to happen in a city, and I was looking for some stuff. Not just monsters though, weird stuff would be cool as well. I was sure there was some sort of "101 weird urban encounters" thread a while back, but I cant track it down...
Hello all, I was wondering if somewhere (like the game mastery guide) they had tables for mundane living costs, like food/day, appartments (renting costs) & homes, basic labor, etc. It's for a possibly somewhat mundane campaign in the future. Thanks all!
So, the elves have the following arcanist favored class bonus: -Increase total number of points in the arcanist's arcane reservoir by 1. Originally, I thought it added an extra point in the arcane reservoir each day, as well as increasing the maximum arcane reservoir. However, after seeing the Gnome FCB I was uncertain. -Add 1/6 to the number of points the arcanist gains in her arcane reservoir each day. So, my question is: What does the elf arcanist favored class bonus give you? A greater maximum to the arcane reservoir? Extra arcane reservoir points each day? Or a mere arcane reservoir point that is lost after use?
So, I one of the first game I ever loved was command & conquer red alert 2. It was silly, it was campy, but it was also fairly empowering. I always got the impression that the actors knew perfectly well how campy it was, but they did it well and it was great. And I was wondering if anybody knew of any games (be they RTS or any other genre) that have a similar tongue in cheek, campy nature. I know EA tried to do so with RA3, but it kinda fell flat (like they were trying too hard to be like RA2, I've never been able to really well explain it). I've been kinda burned-out of over-serious games, so I'm looking for something that has the fun and silliness of my old favorite RA2 to get back into the game(s). If anybody has any ideas, I would love to hear them
Hello all, I ran the free "Master of the fortress" module today, in the hope of getting some experience with the new classes. THe module is very combat focused, so non-combat stuff didnt exactly come into account. There was me: williamoak, and gayel_nord who plays & GMs a fair amount of PFS. Here are a few notes on the tested classes: Notes:
Notes :
Psychic : -Fun spells -LOVING emotional component -Good int & such -Fun to play -Lore powers not terribly useful (mostly combat scenario) -It was the easiest to understand, and the one the other player felt most comfortable with Occultist -Impression qu’il pourrait être une classe de combat, mais a eu de la difficulté (a slayer pregen kinda took a lot of space) -A lot of interesting stuff, but the fact i twas wayang was a big advantage -With agile legacy weapon did a surprisingly high amount of damage -Afraid of using too much mental focus and losing agile (thus going from 1d3+5 to 1d3+1) -Other player didn’t like the “inflexibility” of the implements, having to wait a hole day to use one; was hoping that any weapon it held would gain the resonant power. -He found the Occultist a bit limited in PFS since they cant use any of the stuff found in a single PFS game (since they need to wait t'ill the next day to change their implement. -Good mix of skills Kinetecist
My fellow player thought would of been nice to have some pregens to give us an idea of how the developpers thought the classes work.
Anyway, that's all for now folks.
Hello all, I'm hoping to run a playtest soon using pregens, and I was hoping to collect the various concerns for the various classes. As I have only been following the Kineticist discussion & occultist discussion vith great attention, I am interested in knowing what concerns there are for the Mesmerist, Psychic, Spiritualist & Medium. So let's start with what I know: 1) Kineticist concerns:
2) Occultist concerns:
I would love to hear what folks have to say about the other classes, as I have not had much of a chance to look at them.
So, with all the discussion recently with occult adventures & psionics and such, I feel like trying to slowly integrate DP psionics into my repertoire for future games I may GM. However, the formatting of my only source (d20pfsrd) is not terribly good, and I'm having a hard time picking up the vocabulary, the way psionics work, and more. So I was wondering how people would best reccomend I start. Is there any convienient (& well formatted) guide to DP psionics? Are the actual books well made (note: I would have to rely on PDFs, since I live in canada and shipping anything from the US is ridiculously expensive)? Are there any already made oneshots or short modules that use DP psionics that might allow me to experiment with some players? In any case, I await the input of others...
So, in the recent "Monster codex", they added an item called the bombchucker, which allows you to increase the range increment of the bomb. However, I'm unsure if it's considered a weapon and can be enchanted. Note: the item isnt on the d20pfsrd yet, so here's the description:
(in a super high-pitched voic)
As a sort of complement to the still ongoing "worst backstory" thread, I thought it might be cool to do a "worst setting" thread. For all those just nonsensical setting ideas you (and your GMs) have come up with. I'll start with a few of my own awful ideas I have brought into play. -Genericland: my more or less homebrew setting. Anything goes in genericland. At the moment, there have only been a few games within the setting, but it will get confusing eventually. -The "dream/illusion" world: this is one I have yet to bring into play, simply because the idea is too ridiculous. Basically the whole world (in some setting) would be an illusion(in this case by a "god"). I players ever got ridiculous will saves (IE +25 and over) they would start disbelieving reality (temporarily). The DC would be ridiculous (45 or higher). The idea is absurd, and luckily no players ever became willfull enough for this to be an issue. So, what ridiculous homebrew settings have you folks seen? I'd love to hear about them.
So, after obsessing over the possibility of a new game where I might play an Arclord of nex, I decided to experiment & write a little guide on the prestige class. Arclord Guide I am awaiting comments & ideas that might complement the guide.
So, I've been hoping to play a "Mage of the third eye/Arclord of nex". My regular optimization research kinda snowballed, and I had enough noted down that I though, why not start working towards a guide? I have my preliminaries here, and I plan to make a cleaner version once I get some feedback. I will also integrate this within my own construct crafter guide , since this PrC is tied to construct crafting. Let’s go:
Base class considerations :
So, I was wondering if some folks have better ideas. Quicker ways to get into the class (current earliest is level 8), best archetypes/schools/etc (for the moment, my best is universal school, though other schools could be nice).
Hello folks, So, I feel like trying to make a wildshaping-themed druid. I've been wondering how to best do this. High strength, moderate wis, decent con, and low-ish everything else.
I'M mainly looking for archetype advice. I dont know what would be best. Anyway, hoping for some interesting advice.
And I decided to try to sort through all my character sheets (for lvl 1 characters) and right a short backstory for each. One of them caught a little more attention than the rest: Dorry Chorach (welsh for "dwarf smash"), a barbarian dwarf that I've beent thinking about. So I decided to write a song about him as a backstory. And know I'm looking for a tune-preferably a "drinking song" type of thing. Well, here is the chorus (and 4 verses) and if anyone has any verse ideas (the verses MUST rhyme) I would love to hear them. Dorri Chorrach
Always angry, all the time
Verse 1:
Verse 2:
Verse 3:
Verse 4:
Hello all, I might be playing a hunter (feral hunter archetype) in an upcoming campaign, so I wanted to be sure I properly understood how some things about the class function, specifically pertaining to feral focus. The question:
1) What I do understand:
-For the (normal) animal focus, if you have no animal companion, you have a second animal focus active (in permanence) on yourself. 2) What I dont understand: -What does not having the animal companion do? Feral focus is supposed to work "as the animal focus class feature, except that the hunter always applies the animal aspect to herself". So what happens to the companion's focus? Does it simply not exist (which is quite possible)? How does this ability interact with "second focus"? Does it add another, permanent focus, or a minutes/day focus? In any case, I hope someone can provide some answers.Thank you.
So, I've been thinking about alternatives to the classical arcane bonds. There are 4 "official" bonds (I'm counting certain archetypes) which I allow indiscriminately in my own games: Familiar bond; (normal)
So I've been trying to cook up an alternative that would allow 2 players to "bond" and get extra powers for it. Companion Bond: (inspired by the “witchguard” archetype)
So, does anyone have any other ideas? I would like to create something more reasonable.
So, I’ve been DMing pathfinder for about 8 months now, and playing for slightly over a year. In DM-ing, I have one (pretty significant) weakness: I SUCK at balancing fights.
So, I am (kinda) convinced that there is at least one person working on pathfinder/golarion that's a fan of warhammer fantasy (WF). I first started thinking about it when I learned about mendev & the worldwound. The thematic elements were (somewhat) reminiscent of the chaos maelstrom in the north of the world of warhammer fantasy. Then, I noticed that the new "Monster Codex" included ratfolk among classic (and otherwise evil) races, despite not really having that history in any of their products. In fact, the only product that I know of where ratfolk are a significant evil is warhammer fantasy, with the Skaven/Ratmen. Of course, 2 data points does not make much. So I was wondering if people have noticed other similarities in golarion or the general pathfinder rules which are connected to warhammer fantasy.
I'd be curious to know if anybody has created a homebrewed "full caster" alchemist. I like the peculiar mechanics of alchemical "casting", and I'd like to try to create a full caster version if it hasnt been done before.
So, with the bloodrager, a lot of fighty arcane prestige classes become somewhat more interesting. So I was wondering how to make the best Bloodrager+arcane archer. Any ideas? I was thinking vanilla bloodrager+destined bloodline.
Hello folks! With the recent tech guide for pathfinder, I'm going to start a campaign using it this autumn. While reflecting on ways to engage my players, I wondered why there where no "datapads/smartphones" in the tech items. It seems like such a mundane thing... but considering the sheer diversity of uses, it could easily be considered an artifact. So i thought, why not have the players each obtain an "artifact" that, as they raised their skills, could unlock and give more useful stuff. For the datapad example, it could start as a mere journal, and as you raised a skill, you could unlock a camera, a radiation detector, a commset, etc... So I thought some more and came up with a few examples: Security Unit X
Color Encode
Medical Assistant X
The device also gives a bonus while using the “treat deadly wound”: you can add your intelligence bonus as well as your wisdom bonus to the amount of HP healed, or twice your intelligence bonus if you have the “precise treatment” trait. Pleasure Pad X
So, I am looking for ways to make these items "better", and to get new item ideas, in case none of these fit with the players. I'm also looking for ideas for the higher levels of the pleasure pad. I'm also looking for more creative ideas than just "auto-upgrading item that already exists", since my own creativity seems to be lacking. In the end, I want each player to have a personalized "tech artifact" that can aid their character (and the party) in unique ways. Other ideas I have had are: -Upgradeable Veemod Goggles that gain abilities as perception improves. (cause I aint original...)
Any ideas folks? The more I have, the best I can adapt to the party. Eventually, I plan to make a PDF of all items collected so that others may use them in their own games if so desired.
So, I came across the following video that has me concerned. It's a long video, but worth watching (it's quite convincing). Basically, the video states that with the current trends in automation (We already have automated drivers, store clerks & food service providers that work at an equal or better level than humans), there is a large portion of jobs where we have the technology to make humans unnecessary. Currents trends are also reducing the need for humans in more professional jobs (like lawyers). Past trends show that there are no known recourses to protect large numbers of jobs from automation. The author estimated that 45 % of jobs could potentially be lost today with full-scale application of automation. The whole idea is that these people would become unemployable "through no fault of their own", since machines would be better, more reliable and (in the long term) cheaper than humans. The author also notes that the "creative" jobs are also threatened. On this point I dont quite agree with his argument since he focuses on the craftsmanship of art, but I'm sure there's some coder out there trying to create a true artist AI. The author ends with the question: WTF do we do to deal with this? It's a bit frustrating that he doesnt really point the discussion in any direction (or propose any solutions) so I decided to post it here and get feedback from paizonians. So, assuming automation is as much of a threat to jobs as the author of the video indicates, what can we do? Here are a few ideas, and I would like to hear from others. 1) The evil answer: destroy all peasants. Basically, with no need for "poor" people involved in production, the rich would wipe us out. They would use the machines to provide for their own lives of excess & luxury. Unlikely, but might make a good plot for the next James Bond villain. 2) The capitalist circlejerk: Basically, the rich decide to give those below them a "fixed salary" that they would then spend on products the rich have produced by the machines. A sort of "closed cycle" capitalism. 3) BUTLERIAN JIHAD!: The masses of the people revolt against the thinking machines, and we become like the "dune" universe. 4) Wall-E utopia: if all the needs of humans are provided for at super-low cost, we all become fat, lazy bums. Class differences might dissapear, if only because production costs are so negligible. 5) Anihillation: The robots realize they have no need of humans and destroy us all. What they do afterwards is a mystery. 6) ? As you can see, none of my ideas are particularly palatable. I may be over-estimating the risk involved (for me anyway), seeing as I am in a creative field (Optical Engineering), I am nonetheless convinced that we (as a species) need to reflect on this before we lead to our own obsolescence.
Hello folks! So, I've been working on a new campaign using a lot of elements from the new "technology guide". One of the things I want to do is to have the players challenge a guy in the "power armor" artifact, so I've been trying to make a villain that would (mechanically) want this artifact. A few conditions I have are: 1) This guy needs high (14 +) int. He need a reason to be clever/ strategic type. Ideally a lot of skills. 2) He needs to be able to use the armor (so no arcane casters for one) 3) He should be about levels 7 to 9 So, my current ideas were this: 1) Siege gunner: this guy has "int" grit, a bonus to knowledge (engineering) (which synergizes well with technology), and decent skills. Feal like I could have him wield a siege weapon (like a double hackbut or a culverine). 2) Fighter (tactician)+ "Student of war" prc: The style of the SoW & tactician fits with the type of villain I want to make. 3) A custom thing: I'm tempted to simply take a techslinger and give it int to grit. Other options: A second-order villain ("the dragon" trope) could wear the armor, with another mastermind is in the distance (probably a technomancer) I was hoping someone would have some other ideas. What do you guys think?
So, i was reading an article today, and apparently some folks think we might have upcoming conditions for WW3. No guarantees of course, and of course there are no clear "reasons" for a possible WW3. But I have been wondering, where would the lines be drawn. I think the simplest would probably be "east vs. west". Got North America, EU, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Japan, South Korea & allies (some african states like Liberia, some south American states like Chile) on one side. Got Russia, China, Iran & allies (unsure what allies). A bunch of "loose ends" I know of would be India & Brazil. And to be honest, I'm unsure who would win. The west has strong militaries & the best tech. BUT they have almost no manufacturing left. There are also serious lacks in the resources department. The east has excellent manufacturing, a well-develloped resources sector (and the willingness to pollute) and massive numbers. However, they have poor naval forces (or at least china does), limited tech, and some social problems that can be exploited. So, where do you all think the lines will be drawn?
So, i've been messing around studying RPG rule systems. One thing that I have yet to play around with is the notion of "social combat" systems. Most social interaction (in d20 systems anyway) is handled by simple skill rolls. Same goes for all the other systems I've played: it generally comes down to the notion of diplomacy/bluff/intimidate/sense motive, simple rolls and very little in between. So I did a bit of looking up, seeing if there were some social combat systems in other RPGs. I've yet to find the money to pay for any of them, but the comments I've seen have not been very interesting. So I'm looking for some feedback from others who have had the chance to use some. Here are a few issues I can see. 1) Can you create some sort of equivalency/analogy for "social" attack score, defense, hp, etc? 2) What "end state" (IE unconsciousness & death) can be used in a social context? What kind of "end state" can we use that doesnt make the player feel like the choices of their character are being made for them (IE, avoiding mind control). 3) How do we give social situation the same "weight" as combat when they arent (normally) life or death? 4) "loss" of a social interaction rarely means absolute failure (in RL anyway). So what kind of rules can be used to determine success/failure? How can you represent the "longer-term" interplay of social interaction with a "straightforward" (if not simple) ruleset? Anyway, I'd love to hear some more from people who have played more formalized social interaction games.
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