bsmith709's page

For example, fire oracle's mystery benefit is scaling Reflex saves, while the the minor curse is a net 25% failure chance to target goes, and it becomes worse. Tell me what you want but those effects don't compensate each other, which IMO should be point of the class.

The scaling Reflex saves are not supposed to compensate for the minor curse (Which, by the way, is only for targets further than 30 feet away from you); the minor curses are, like it says on the tin, minor drawbacks. Between Incendiary Aura and the fact that most targeted spells have a 30 foot limit anyway, this is rarely going to be a problem.

The minor curses lead into the moderate curses, where there's a tangible benefit; yes, all creatures and objects are concealed to you unless you're casting a Fire spell, BUT you're also concealed to all creatures. That is such a powerful defensive buff, and all you have to do to play around it is cast fire spells or area of effect spells which is exactly what the subclass wants to do anyway.

The whole "downsides are way worse than the benefits you get" IS a serious problem for many Oracle mysteries, but the Flames mystery is one of the best designed ones. Just give them access to Burning Hands/Breathe Fire at level 1 and the class is good to go.

But I don't think angels, undead, or demons get to choose to be holy or unholy, and sorcerer powers are not just derived from those planes-- they are literally descendants of angels, undead, and demons.

The errata for the Remaster makes it pretty clear that angels aren't all Holy and fiends aren't all Unholy (Page 110: In the Fiendsbane Oath feat, replace replace "Add the following tenet to your champion’s code after the other tenets:" with "You gain the following edict:". In addition, replace "good fiend" with "fiend that isn't unholy"), so I can't realistically imagine a world where Paizo decides to tie Holy/Unholy sanctification to bloodline rather than player choice.

bsmith709 wrote:

Solarsyphon wrote:

It would be nice if rather than the divine list just being offensively weak it had a specific role related to attacking the spirit and discriminating between the holy and unholy.

Isn't that the way the Divine list has always been though? I played a Divine blaster in Abomination Vaults, and it worked great because there were so many undead and fiends running around. Holy Cascade is just better than Fireball depending on what you're fighting. One time a boss Devil critically failed his save against Divine Wrath, and I felt so bad for the poor guy.

The Divine spell list has never been offensively weak, it just excels at a very specific niche.

Yep, and that niche is being further improved upon here (do yourself a favor and look up Divine Immolation if you're prepared to change your underwear) while also now working more effectively on a significantly broader chunk of the bestiary with alignment disappearing.

I remember seeing that spell before, but I couldn't find it the other day because I couldn't remember the name, so thanks. I wasn't THAT impressed until I finished reading the heightening section...+1d6 damage per level AND +1d6 persistent damage? Yikes.

So as a level 8 spell it deals 9d6 fire damage PLUS 5d6 persistent fire damage? And if they're weak to Holy (And you're sanctified) OR immune/resistant to fire, then it automatically switches to Force instead. That's pretty sweet.

It would be nice if rather than the divine list just being offensively weak it had a specific role related to attacking the spirit and discriminating between the holy and unholy.

Isn't that the way the Divine list has always been though? I played a Divine blaster in Abomination Vaults, and it worked great because there were so many undead and fiends running around. Holy Cascade is just better than Fireball depending on what you're fighting. One time a boss Devil critically failed his save against Divine Wrath, and I felt so bad for the poor guy.

The Divine spell list has never been offensively weak, it just excels at a very specific niche.

Xenocrat wrote:

RIP City of Brass.

It's still around, it's just renamed to Medina Mudii'a.

"Bright City" in Arabic... It's a much more welcoming sounding name.

Here's me crossing my fingers hoping for Metal and Wood domains for the new elemental lords.

It's still a little ways out, but someone's gotta ask - any chance we can peek at the Table of Contents for this one?

They give us at least a peak at the ToC during the Paizocon previews:

-Introduction
-Elemental Characters
..........Kineticist Class
..........Elemental Impulses
..........Elemental Allies
..........Elemental Backgrounds
..........Ardande Geniekin
..........Talos Geniekin
..........Elemental Instinct
..........Elemental Spell Changes
..........Elemental Archetypes
-Air
-Earth
-Fire
-Metal
-Water
-Wood
-Churn of Elements
-Appendix
-Glossary and Index

I feel like I might be the minority viewpoint, but if Drow "died on there way back to there home planet", I wouldn't be terribly upset.

Agreed. Between the Drow, Mualijae, Jinin, Ilverani, Vourinoi, Aquatic elves, etc., it feels like maybe 5 or 6 elves left Golarion to avoid Earthfall and everyone else stuck around.

I sincerely doubt they'd want the backlash of replacing Shardra, The Trans Iconic™. This reeeally reads more like shifter, anyway.

I never played 1st edition and had no idea Shardra even existed...You're right, there's no way they'd erase her like that. With Grandmother saying "you’ll fly far from here", plus a few other hints throughout the stories, it really does sound like a Shifter, but I still have a hard time seeing Paizo go Occult (Dark Archive) - Primal (Rage of Elements) - Primal again (???).

I really want a divine book, but maybe they'll go with a different theme entirely? I don't know, but I hope you're right, I'd much rather Shifters than ANOTHER pet class.

I believe this is teasing an upcoming class of either Shifter (I hope) or Shamen. I can see either fitting right into these stories of transformation, natural instincts, wild wisdom & animal cunning. Gencon (or possibly Paizocon) will likely announce a nature themed book.

I can definitely see Baranthet being the iconic for the next new class to be announced, but I really doubt it's going to be a nature-themed book. Or at least I hope not; following up 2023's Rage of Elements with ANOTHER primal book seems excessive. My money is on a Shaman class from a divine-themed book.

Where is the term barbarian being thrown around these days outside of the gaming context? That "one specific context" is the words usage.

Are...you really trying to argue that 'barbarian' is ONLY used in a gaming context? Seriously?

No, I'm not some sort of barbarian who would open a bottle of wine to enjoy some before offering it as a gift. That would be uncouth.
—Irv Erdos, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Dec. 2016

Through its barbarian policies, it has contributed to weakening the authority and profile of the United Nations, as well as its credibility.
-UN Security Council Record, 2008

Eighteen years ago a barbarian totalitarian regime came to an end in these countries.
-Anna Záborská, Slovak politician 2007

Using Conan the Barbarian as an example of how the word is "fine" is pretty questionable as well, it's not exactly free from racial and colonial baggage itself.

Also, is the word ubiquitous outside of D&D, or not used outside of gaming? Because you've said both and I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Like, I get that you think the word is fine, and that's wonderful for you, but you don't just get to say "Nah, it's fine' and ignore everyone else's concerns and discomfort.

Witches current focus is the hex cantrip given by lvl 1, which can be sustained regardless the witch patron, making a focus spell that gives free sustain excellent for any witch.

Basic lesson is ok as a lvl 2 feat, and a witch can get it asap if they want.

I would 100% rather select a Basic Lesson at level 1 than get Cackle...The lessons aren't overpowered at level 1, they allow you to finetune your spell list AND get a decent/interesting focus spell instead of Phase Familiar. Cackle is fine, I guess, but it's pretty boring compared to the focus spells from Basic Lesson, and at least as things stand it's just not as useful at level 1 for certain witches as for others (A rune witch is rarely if ever going to want to sustain their cantrip, and the arcane spell list is broad enough that you can go a long time without needing to use a sustained spell).

Edit:To be fair, I'd really love to have a rune witch with lesson of life at level 1 to add just a smidge of healing to the arcane list, so I'm biased.

I love the player content from the Stolen Fate player's guide, but I have some misgivings about the power level. Rewrite Possibility, the level 5 focus spell for the Harrow Bloodline Sorcerer, seems weirdly powerful. The ability to use a reaction to reroll any failed check with a +2, keeping the highest so you can't make things worse, every round for a minute, PLUS a +1 to initiative (That part's not a big deal, but it adds even more value to what already seems like a huge amount of value)? Is it just me or is that overpowered compared to other similar level focus spells, even considering you can only have one active at a time and it eats your reaction?

A second article is also around on Wargamer, spoils a few other things including elemental barbarian (I was so hoping to see it!) and metal order druids?! Cannot wait for this book.

Interestingly, the Wargamer article mentions the Iron Druid ARCHETYPE, not order...So, maybe a class archetype? Or maybe just a mistake, who knows.

Let the elemental class deal elemental damage, IMO.

I think that ship sailed when they made the Air/Water/Earth Elemental Bloodline Sorcerer do bludgeoning damage with re-skinned fire spells. If air elemental kineticists can do electricity damage, that's going to beg the question of why air elemental sorcerers are stuck throwing bludgeoning Airballs at people.

I know it probably won't happen, but I do wish Elemental Fury would do something about that; in addition to the kineticist, I'm excited to hopefully see Wood and Metal bloodline sorcerers, but that's tempered by the knowledge that it's probably going to be bludgeoning Woodballs and Metalballs all around.

"Preorder, expected approximately 27 Jul 2022"

Didn't the Product Availability say 04 August 2022 as of a couple days ago? Did a book get reverse delayed?