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I bought it on Amazon the day it came out. Its pretty good, better than what you would expect for a sequel to a 20 year old film series. The movie is funny, but not in a 'comedy' sort of way; it's an examination on aging and failure, but not in a 'drama' sort of way; it's uplifting, but not in a 'feel-good' sort of way.

Its a pretty mellow blending of the typical dramedy formula you might find in a Judd Apatow film, but made by a team that has less penchant for juvenile jokes and profanity than Apatow. Tonally similar with comparable pacing between 'funny parts' and 'sad drama' parts, but with very different substance in its makeup.

Alex Winter is the standout, though. His Bill hasn't reached the point of *sigh* like Reeves' Ted has, and he gives it his absolute best in the scenes with future Bills and Teds. Death kind of phones it in, and as much as I love Samara Weaving, she was one of the weaker performances as well.

But with the *TWIST* from the trailer referenced above, the final sequence in the movie gives a satisfying tie-in to previously established canon, building on 20 years of failure, and letting the new B-story leads (Little Bill and Little Ted) complete their arc as well.

Let's go with recurrent for a moment. MW has it defined as "occurring often or repeatedly." Sure, he has clerics and his void oracle wife could heal him *every single day*, but that would show weakness. Yeah, when the disease actually gets him in its throes, he just has his wife pull down her heal spell from the dark elder gods she serves and he's back to ship shape for a while. It keeps coming back though.

How is this recurrent though? Hakotep had 2 known Shory slave/prisoners at hand: the ghost in the Pyramid, and Chsisek who designed the Aeromantic Infantabulum for him. Its not a stretch to see other Shory POW's being forced into servitude in his immediate vicinity. The Shory were tech geniuses, perhaps as part of their long game against Hakotep's offensive, they engineered a disease that specifically made *HIM* sick. Infect some of his house slaves, boom, he's constantly battling a disease that only makes him sick. Ironically, this just fuels his hate for Shory as he *KNOWS* its a conspiracy as it only he is getting sick.

Eventually, as the Order of the Blue Feather begins to work on removing Hakotep from power, they begin paying off the clerics, begin whispering in Neferesis' ear that the elder gods' will is for Hakotep to be sick, begin preparing for their ultimate corpse desecration. Eventually, as his greatest pyramid completes construction at the Slave Trenches, his sickness reaches crescendo, and the Blue Feather jumps into action, tearing his soul asunder as they embalm him.

Then the funeral comes, his queen and his retainers all load up on their pyramids, ascend to their staging areas, then the Blue Feather coups all the rest of the Hakotep regime, erases him from history, and lets the pyramids drift through the skies for centuries to come.

Nethys, mostly because of Haty-a An-Keret, and the opportunity to stick it to her knowledge hoarding secret society. It gives a preachy spread the magic sort of cleric some real firepower against the Governess.

** spoiler omitted **

Fun aside, that was the same actor (Bill Cobbs) who played the old man cop in Demolition Man.

I really enjoyed the finale. The epilogue was a great touch that tied a bow on the series.

Also I am very glad they didn't try to hamfist the show into the MCU Film canon, and let it stay in its own corner where it has thrived mostly apart from the MCU since the earliest seasons.

Thomas Seitz wrote:

All I know is this kind of thing isn't good for the multiverse or temporal continuity.

Makes me wonder if this is their way of explaining how any inconsistencies with AoS and the MCU movies can be explained? Maybe the entire show is from an alternate timeline, and this season's "breaking" the timeline actually puts them in the main MCU timeline for the first time?

Eh, I'm sure we'll get some handwavium about splintered timelines along the stream of whatever "America's Ass"-verse where Loki escaped with the Tessaract or "Thanos never attacked Earth bc he was dead in the future"-verse end up having.

Most excellent. The buff Bill and Ted look hilarious.

First off, this is my favorite AP I have ran. Be sure to check out the respective GM Reference threads for each book. Tons of helpful info.

For party info, you *WILL* need someone who can handle a trap. There is no avoiding this. I don't necessarily advocate for a full divine or full arcane caster, but a party where 6th level casting is peak will raise book 5 and 6's difficulty significantly.

I will kind of half-disagree with Warped Savant slightly as far as moral ambiguity. Through books 1 and 2, there is no clear antagonist. You have some A-Holes here and there (mysterious cult, some N Pharasmins with a capital N, and some adventurers), but nobody outright bad ('cept maybe the shadow demon thing in Book 2). Book 3 and 4 give some nice antagonists (Tephu Government in book 3 and the Cult in book 4), but really until the Sightless Sphinx, you're not dealing with anything really *BAD*, just some apparent anarchists. Book 5 and 6 have clear goals against an antagonist, who's methods are decidedly more evil-with-an-E than Forgotten Pharaoh's drug dealing suicidal cultist. A self-serving party of greedy bastards will be able to profit just as nicely as a goody two-shoes party wanting to save Osirion.

Here are some of the more prolific topics in this AP's forum.

Bossfights: Harder Hakotep

Complaints: Dissapointed?

Deserts: Easy Desert?

I think its an excellent complement to Carrion Crown, and had planned on running it back to back before we got burned out on the campaign in books 4 and 5.

You have to remember, in-world, Tyrant's Grasp happens a decade after Carrion Crown. The PC's obliterated the Tar-Baphon focused sect of the Whispering Way. Their leadership, from Adavion, through the werewolf-ghost thing, down thru Vrood and the group operating in Caliphas, are toast.

TB's allies are noticeably fewer, which is why the Demilich guy had to use that gang to steal the shards.

Be sure to play up these facts, perhaps even in the juju zombie guy's dinner party, having him comment on how he's been able to raise through the thinned out ranks of the WW super fast. You might even raise some intrigue in Book 6 as the Gallowspire residents feud with the non-Gallowspire agents as the party is assaulting their respective camps.

Make a distinction that the Seal Breakers people in book 3 and 4 aren't WW, but are DOOMSDAY! people trying to piggy back the apocalypse off of TB's work.

N outsiders are called Monitors in PF2.

I would have to reread Age of Ashes...

Coronavirus claimed another victim: No Time to Die Delayed til Fall

The bloodrager in my game retrained some feats between books 4 and 5 to favor heavy mace instead of longsword (he was still using the one from the Lopper's pit in book 1, slightly upgraded). Even though none of the divine stuff was useful for him, the undead walloping power fit well with his character, and he wrecked shop with it.

On the Digital Content page, the Gamemastery Guide is showing up in a different section (Paizo Inc.: Second Edition Rulebooks) than the PF2 Corebook and Bestiary (Paizo Inc.: Rulebooks).

I've not ran it, but reading age of ashes, it's pretty compelling. I think it makes a good use of all three phases of PF2. Extinction Curse has only had one book come out, but reading the page about the overall arc of the AP, it seems more difficult to keep in story.

If you want to nudge them to the libraries across the river, perhaps have a random crazy person confront them with mad ravings about the mask, or just keep sending cultists their way, with clues leading them toward Tephu. Discovering Hakotep even existed is a book 3 revelation anyway, and the knowledge they find about the mask points them toward Chisisek's tomb and eventually the FP herself.

Nudge that direction, or even have Sebti or that goofy psychopomp get a vision from Pharasma that the secrets of the mask are found beneath the Blue Feather in Tephu.

It released last week.

store link

Good luck. Book 1 is great, and 2 is the Best in Show for this AP, your players are in for a treat.

Spiritual/Material could also fall to a summoner type spell list, but construct and undead creation does seem like the most iconic feel for those two. Bringing 'life' to objects.

Carrion Crown works *best* as a 3-part (1-3) AP.

Also warped savant is right. You can easily change the book 2 macguffin to be an off switch, and Mummy's Mask is a very solid 2-parter.

Giantslayer, while slaying giants, also has a smaller focus on artifact loot, with one of the campaign traits even improving the usage of artifacts.

Finished earlier tonight. It was pretty good, and not all too confusing for someone with 2 hours in The Witcher and about the same in Assassins of Kings, and having never read the books.

The disparate timeframes thing is probably the shows biggest flaw, especially since I had no idea that Geralt and Yennifer are basically the elderly. I managed to get my head around it where it made sense midway through Epi 2. The final 2 episodes, though, where Geralt and Yennifer are catching up to Ciri in time really started to come together, and the finale episode was pretty on-point.

7/10 for the slow start and non telegraphed time jumps.

Maybe someone dug up some

How all over the map the pro (read: usually rave) reviews are, the movie sounds like an entertaining mess. I'll still throw my 12 dollars at it, as I have everything since TPM except Solo.

Really, even in PF1, a series of Bards or Alchemists could pump out the majority of the curatives that a divine caster would have access to. Cure spells, lesser restorations, enhance water, remove poison, remove curse, etc. Get a witch or an evil or chaotic druid on the payroll, there's even more easy access to stereotypical divine spells (reincarnate). Then toss in a cleric of any number of evil deities or powers who favor lies or deception, and you have a good ally for magic item purchases.

PF2 just really opened it up with the different ways non-clerics can access spells from the divine list.

Maybe they don't heal people, but clerics of mean evil gods wouldn't anyways.

I always see Razmiran priest as those who *DO* heal people. Asmodeus may require a hefty sum or a later favor for a heal spell, but Razmir? His cult will use your recovery as further evidence of his divinity, and to parley this 'miracle' into their protection racket. And its even easier now that healing magic is simply on the divine spell list instead of peppered through class spell lists.

"The Glorious Razmir blessed this man, curing his infirmities! For the low price of 12% of this villages income, the Living God can continue providing healing and protection... By the way, did you hear about the farmer just over the hill who's farm was razed by goblins last week?"

Stalking the Beast (PF Novel) probably has the most actual interaction with the Razmiran "protect you from problems we're making" racket.

Toss in oils of magic weapon in the loot, perhaps even in the ghostbusting kit in the fake crypt.

There is a magic sword in the lopper's gibbet pit that the paladin will be all over. +1 keen I think.

Make the animated scythe up in the grounds magical from being haunted for 50 years. It'll be a much better reward than the 170gp they'll get selling the MW Scythe.

Maybe toss in a weapon made from Cryptstone (Tyrant's Grasp, book 1) somewhere. Or maybe have enough Cryptstone in the fake crypt for one of the townies to craft a single light weapon with.

There are a group of outsiders known as divine servitors that function as this purpose. In PF1, they're all CR4 compared to the Herald's CR15. You can find them in Chapter 4 of Inner Sea Gods. Some examples:

Abadar: Orsheval, a celestial horse thingy
Erastil: Stag Archon, a anthropomorphic deer
Pharasma: Ahmuuth Psychopomp, a lady with floating headstone shields
Zon-Kuthon: Lampadarius Kyton, Two-Face, but shadowstuff instead of chemical burns

It will more than likely be the following three things:

1) *Very* entertaining
2) *GLORIOUSLY* divisive
3) And a pleasing high followed by a disappointing aftertaste

1 - Because Disney has making entertaining films down pat.
2 - VII and VIII both have their fair shake of internet vitriol.
3 - I think it will be less of a disappointment than the "OT's Greatest Hits" VII on the back end, simply because all of the (admittedly wild as hell) leaks are all over the place as far as bringing something new to the franchise.

That said, it will be a let down simply because it is a culmination and a fixed "period." Unlike MCU which will drone on and on for eternity until it gets a comic style reboot, the Saga has been 40 years in the making. And now it will be complete. Even the littlest missed landing will be amplified (ala the "okay" GoT Season 8 getting worse and worse in the cultural memory with time, and that was only a decade of story).

All the skills!

Society: Trolls are big ugly monsters who like swamps, caves, and under bridges!
Occult: Trolls can regrow basically anything but a head.
Arcana: Fire and Acid to keep them dead!
Religion: They are not outsiders or undead.
Nature: They're not good for you to eat.

But I would probably use a Lore (Common Monsters, Fairy Tales, Folklore) or something equally commonplace.

I hope it's a better game than D3 was. I mean it wasn't horrible but it was 1 run and done as far as I was concearned, it just didn't feel like it had any replay value to it (particularly for someone who has zero interest in PVP).

The video however has inspired me to start work on a "Hell on Earth" Pathfinder campaign.

I enjoyed Diablo 3 from launch, particularly after Reaper of Souls. That said, it felt like once I beat the game with each class, there was literally nothing left to do. Rifting isn't my flavor of play, and post Reaper, the entire Meta became greater rifts for equipment. Just not my thing, so I moved on, and haven't wanted to reinstall in the years since. Grim Dawn scratches my ISO ARPG itch when needed.

They have a lot of work to do to get me back after I got burned out on Diablo 3. It's nice that they're finally publicly working on it, but since Reaper of Souls, so much of Blizzs Diablo identity has completely left Activision's staff. With all the ill will that they earned in D3 among some fans and the corporate direction in the years since, I see it as a harder sell for fans than D3 was (omg really?) 7.5 years ago.

The throne guy, I'm assuming, is the "Dead God" referenced in Apollyon's PFwiki entry for his realm the Throne of Flies.

r/FreeFolk are celebrating today as D&D are no longer involved in the wars among the stars.

I don't remember them being mentioned again, but if you want to add them, you could have a group of them examining the ruins of Gallowspire in book 4, taking magical readings where the Great Seal once was.

I'm imagining the look on your players' faces when they realize that they are indeed at Absalom and oh, there is a book 3 villain. "No closer than Absalom you say..."

Well ok. What I'm saying is maybe it took him years to respawn as if he just did 1d10 days after the adventure it makes the PCs actions seem kind of pointless.

The point of Book 6 is to prevent him from obliterating Absalom, cracking open the Starstone Cathedral with the Radiant Fire, becoming a divinity, and winning. The PC's not only stop him from doing all of that, they also destroy his nuclear capabilities, leave his army to fall apart and/or get wrecked by the good guys, destroy his body for the first time since the Shining Crusade (potentially opening up some detective work to figure out where his phylactery is), and remove his Plot Armor in one fell swoop.

Aranzi's a special case, though. The books seem to tip-toe around a solid explanation, but they imply she figured a way out of lichdom through the RF. In my headcanon, however, I like to think it out like this:

When she goes to Roslar's Coffer before the first explosion, along with a portion of her Graveknight guards, to figure out what TB is whispering so much about, she gets destroyed. She reforms at her phylactery in Geb a few days later, and seizes the opportunity to steal said phylactery. This is why her Graveknights are so much more after her in Book 3/4. She is actually facing a chance to get away. Queue the RF at the end of Book 4, and her phylactery gets destroyed along with her.

Fandango sent me a notification a few mins ago they were on sale.

How about Khal Drogo after his failed Greater Restoration by Mirri Maz Duur in A Song of Ice and Fire. The body is healed, but its a hollow shell. Alive, but not living.

It destroys them, hence the obols in the PC's souls, which are splinters of the exploded shard at Roslar's Coffer.

It happens in the gap between book 3 and 4, arguably at the same time as Vigil bites it in Book 3.

Short summary, he basically destroys Gallowspire, the Great Seal, and the upper reaches of Gallowspire's sub-levels with the Radiant Fire.

Townsfolk: "Bah, that goofy moon is just some Ustalav leaking across the Border. Weird stuff happens daily over there."

Selling the adamantine doors harkens back to the first time I GM'd through Carrion Crown where the party sold (30K) the adamantine hatch separating the Girallion Flesh Golem from the Abberant Promethean.

Lets see a few that pop to mind from our current playthrough.

B1 - The party basically got Grimburrow kicked out of the temple because of his continued neglect to purge the ghosts of Harrowstone.

B2 - The party came back to Lepidstadt (they were in Hergstag) too late in the evening the night of the Riot. The guards at the courthouse proceeded to massacre the rioters, killing around 20.

B3 - The party killed Mathus before any of the other wolves up in the Stairs of the Moon, triggering the lady wolf to rip out and eat his heart and claim Packlord status, as the other wolves from his clan started trying to bull rush each other off the tower to claim clan alpha status.

B4 - Party befriended the Cult of Dagon, well the one Vicar left at the temple. They set the tick swarm on fire and watched it kill one of the other Vicars. The third Vicar fled the flaming ticks, leaving the Priest and Giant to fight the party. Vicar at town thanked them for the insta-promotion, and began openly inviting them to the CE Demon Worship services.

B4 - Two folks lost their sanity when seeing Shub-Nub through the rift after killing the Dark Young. One of them became amnesiac (which later became a way to retrain into a diff class), and the other (an alcohol themed Cayden worshipper) gained a sexually satisfying mania any time he drank alcohol.

Geb is still around doing ghost wizard stuff.

I really need to buy the new world guide... Is he still basically ignoring his country in favor of being paranoid about Nex returning or has he had to move into an actual rulership role now that his Queen/Regent has left the building?

I like your theory. I hope with TB moving back to the Isle of Terror that we'll get more info one day about Xin-Grafar and the Wizard-King's Pit.

I like the idea that his trap in the Well of Sorrows didn't completely fail, but maybe poisoned the divinity of Aroden to the point where had he come back, it would have been under TB's thumb. Aroden squeezed some prophesy out of Pharasma to find that out, then offed himself to prevent TB from having a God as a lackey.

Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote:

JJ, is it known for a fact in Golarion that his death was a murder? Did Pharasma spill it or something?

It's not known. Some folks think it is, others do not. AKA a product's sales text or early desctription for a solicitation isn't automatically canonical.

I guess so pretty much like Razmir's divinity. Something that learned people in the setting could reasonably infer or discover, but to the average townsfolk, merchant, or adventurer "Razmir could be a deity" and "Aroden is dead" would be the result of their DC10 common knowledge rolls.

Also, is radiant fire supposed to be like a magic nuclear bomb? That's the impression I get.

The radiant fire is more of a bomb than a fireball. It is straight up an explosion of positive energy and negative energy. It wreaks havok on life, but doesn't have a huge shockwave like a nuke would (except maybe vs Gallowspire, which is a crater). Instead the negative energy affects structures in bad ways (decaying wood, settling stonework, dry-rotted bindings, etc) and the positive energy makes it weird (out of control plant and fungus growth). It would be like slapping the Planes of Positive Energy and Negative Energy into a mile wide burst both at the same time.

She didn't set of any of the Radiant Fires. Book 1's was set off by agents of the WW. Book 3's were planted there by agents of the WW. In Book 4, she uses her quasideity tricks to essentially time stop, message, greater teleport the entire party away before TB blows her up. The party are a means to an end for Aranzi 100%. She is still CE lich at that point and couldn't give a rat's ass whether the party dies, she just wants to stick it to TB for killing her, and indirectly contributing to her being Geb's lackey.

If he was still alive, wouldn't his clerics still receive spells? I always thought only death of the god can stop that.

A god can refuse to grant spells to a cleric, for example, in a situation where they have had an alignment change that precipitated the need for an Atonement. If, in someone's home Golarion, Aroden's playing the Long Con, he can simply just not give his clerics the spells they're praying for.

Same goes for divination. PF1 has plenty of instances where deities (and below) can avoid or outright ignore divination or summoning magics.