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dirkdragonslayer wrote:

I want an Untamed Druid battle form that doesn't scale size too big, or maybe a feat that reduces the size of a battlefront. As cool as it is to transform into a huge or gargantuan monster and stomp around... Sometimes you need to be regular bear sized to fit in a dungeon or tavern.

Yeah, it'd be really nice to have an actual high-level Medium battle form before the literal capstone shapeshifter feat. Some extra forms for some of the spells could also be nice - plant form literally only has two options, for example, and monstrosity form only has three!

Heck, I would take an errata to the Form Control feat. Add a stipulation of "You can reduce your size to any previous sizes for when transformed into a battle form" or something. Maybe with an AC penalty if you reduce size if that's too strong. Form control already shrinks you if the spell rank decrease goes below heightened effects anyway.

But I was just looking today through all the Bestiary monsters that went un-Remastered. I'm surprised Ettin didn't make the cut, the word's a not-uncommon bastardization of Norse Jotunn, and even if you had to change that, the way the 3 action economy interacts mechanically with having two heads feels like a good example to have in your Core monster book.

Oh, so this one I know. As you said, Ettin is just another older way to say Eotun/Jotun. Two-headed giants have been around in myth for a long time too. Ettin as a name to refer to a two-headed giant was created by Gary Gygax. Before him, they were just called two-headed giants.

It feels dumb because an Ettin *feels* like an older thing, something that's always been around, and I guess that's how foundational 1e D&D was. In my opinion it's one of those things that had become genericized, I knew what Ettins were years before I knew what TTRPGs were. But I guess that's for lawyers to argue...

While I'm not bothered by most OGL monsters leaving (I never cared for Drow, and Pathfinder has enough Drow-like peoples in the Darklands), but I do mourn the loss of monsters that had specific mechanics and niches.

Mimics; The biggest loss of the remaster, no monster fills their story or combat niche. It's such a classic hazard that it's worked it's way into countless RPGs and video games. I'm very surprised Paizo didn't make up a new fey or abberation that shape-shifts into objects/treasure chests and prey on adventurers.

Rust Monster; A low level creature that rusts and destroyed equipment I think is important to teach players about these hazards while their gear is still cheap. There's still a few other monsters that destroy equipment, but they are all around level 10 or 12 IIRC where players lose their magic sword to rust breath is gonna be a hard wake-up call. A low level metal/water elemental that feeds on rust could be a good replacement.

Doppelgangers; Yeah the Ugothol are basically the same exact monster, and we honestly didn't need both in the monster core... but the Doppelganger just had better art. The Ugothol looks like a ground beef man, not scary. Pathfinder Doppelgangers were scary horror monsters you could see contorting themselves through a cracked window.

Golems; I understand the name change, I understand the mechanics changes, but they needed to lump these ex-golem constructs (Brass Bastion, Noxious Needler, Stone Bulwark) in the same family/keyword. It's wierd that they still share mechanics and lore, but aren't grouped for ease of searching anymore.

Sorry, I meant that the monsters you mentioned could be added as new Advanced Companions. The one issue is that Paizo seems reluctant to release animal companions that are sapient- Pegasi, Unicorns, and Wyverns are all noticably smarter than any other companion released to date.

Actually there is a Wyvern advanced companion option now. It's in Triumph of the Tusk, I think book 2 or 3.

I want an Untamed Druid battle form that doesn't scale size too big, or maybe a feat that reduces the size of a battlefront. As cool as it is to transform into a huge or gargantuan monster and stomp around... Sometimes you need to be regular bear sized to fit in a dungeon or tavern.

I didn't really think about them until recently, but D'ziriaks. They have a symbiotic relationship with Wayangs as far as I can tell. Tian Xia guide added Wayangs, but their buggy brothers aren't playable.

Bugbears would also be cool, but they seem like a basic thing. It's been so long without them, it's probably an intentional choice to not have them. I heard it may be due to their increased reach, but Minotaur has a stance feat to do that, I don't see why Bugbears wouldn't have the same feat.

Monster Core was certainly a highlight of this year for me. It collated most of my favorite monsters from bestiaries 1-3 into a single book. Apart from the tragic loss of Mimics, of course, but maybe we can get some object mimicking fey or fiend in the future.

Also I learned at an antique store last week, the Sargassum Heap monster isn't just a new invention to replace the Shambling Horror. I was flipping through an old adventure book and saw my soggy new friend, the former Sargassum Fiend from 1e. It was cool learning something new was a remaster of something left behind in 1E.

Though the REAL best thing to come out of 2024 was the Shanty Chanter fey from Curtain Call. Whoever wrote it, whoever did the art for it, you are all perfect, no notes.

So if my interpretation of this is correct.

"Many students become witches by finding a single powerful being willing to enter a pact, with a chosen few even managing to catch the headmaster’s direct attention."

Does that mean 2 new Witch Patrons, 1 common Fey themed Patron and 1 Rare Patron, Cobyslarni.

I wonder if Cobyslarni is powerful enough to be considered an Eldest, and thus a valid God for clerics? He wouldn't be the first "sentient location" amongst the Eldest, with Imbrex being a fey god statue with a town built around it.

Ooh, more Sarkorian art! I like the image of an old cathedral/school being reclaimed by depictions of the old sarkorian tradition. Also the two images of Sarkorian NPCs are going to find themselves used in Lyuba in my campaign..

The most important errata?

The Redcap had it's scythe replaced by a halberd in the Monster Core, but it's reaction still uses a scythe attack. Since it's been acknowledged that the Monster Core art was accidentally based on DnD redcaps (who have halberds) instead of Pathfinder redcaps, it might be good to change back to a scythe, or at least update the ability to reference the halberd.

Gamebreaking, heartbreaking, Paizo this needs immediate fixing.

More Eidolons could be cool. Like "demon" eidolon can represent any fiendish eidolon if you squint, but daemons/devils/qlippoths would also be neat things to bind to your will. I also don't believe anything represents a Protean well. You could even have some summoners draw power from creatures of leng, the netherworld, hunduns, etc... There's lots of extraplanar options still to be explored.

Mostly though I want more items for Eidolons, and Companion Animals. What's the point of Eidolons only being able to use items with the Eidolon trait if nothing has that trait? If you don't count "greater" versions of items, there are 2 Eidolon items. 2. That's it. And they are good items but it's an illusion of choice.

It's not something I really care about, but one of my players wish that there was some sort of "beastmaster cleric" subclass alongside cloistered/warpriest/upcoming divine mysteries subclass whose name I forget. They used to play a cleric with some sort of pet in 1st edition, but they don't feel like Cleric with Beastmaster Archetype scratches the same itch. I never played 1e so I don't really know what he means.

On Kobold variants using the new lore, one of my players is playing a Kobold whose tribe serves a dryad. They are forest green with branch-like horns and some woody growths. I think his branches look like birch or white pine tree branches?

Our Animist seems to be a Nephilim, and judging by the antlers, I think she'd be a first world spawn (what the actual term of it will be, I do not know). That or potentially an Idyllkin spawned from agathions.

But, if Nephilim got a First World spawn, I think a Netherworld spawn would be an apt counterpart, as where the first world is between the Universe and the Forge of Creation, the Netherworld is between the Universe and the Void. Plus, such a spawn would be a convenient way to bring back Caligni while making it to where you can have non-human caligni.

From the blog post

Samo was spirit-touched, born with the mark of the elk, an angel’s golden eyes, and unusual insight.

Seems like she might be touched by Erastil, maybe the descendants of a Qarna (Horned Archon). "Mark of the Elk" seems Erastil-coded to me, but I think having 2 Erastil worshippers among my players skews my opinion on this.

My elder daughter played a Dexterity-based champion in my Ironfang Invasion campaign. The 1st module of the campaign, Trail of the Hunted, favors a stealthy party, so she made a stealthy champion.

I posted descriptions of Tikti at Playing Against Type, comment #23 and Character Optimization in Pathfinder 2e: Areas of Expertise, comment #6, and How does a Liberator Champion Deal with Slavers?, comment #45.

Tikti ignored the heavy armor ability of champions. She never wore anything heavier than light armor and eventually went unarmored. A weakness of a high-Dex moderate-Str champion is reduced damage, so at 3rd level the player asked for a velociraptor (dromaeosaur) as her Divine Ally (Steed) animal companion.

The reduced damage of the dex-champion is one of the reasons I was drawn to Swashbuckler. I figured the precise strike damage would help a little. Using summon steed/faithful steed for a damaging companion is a clever choice though. I could see some interesting options in draft lizards, riding Drakes, antelope, and and terror birds.

Not at all optimized but looks like a fun character to play with options.

Pirate Priest of CaydenCleric 2
N
Small
Halfling
Gutsy Halfling
Humanoid
Perception +8;
Languages None selected
Skills Acrobatics +7, Athletics +4, Intimidation +6, Lore: Sailing +4, Religion +8, Stealth +7, Thievery +7
Str +0, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +2
Items Leather, Steel Shield (Hardness 5, HP 20, BT 10)AC 18 (+20 with shield raised); Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +10
HP 22
Shield Block Speed 25 feet
Melee Rapier +7 (Deadly d8, Disarm, Finesse), Damage 1d6 P
Divine Prepared Spells DC 18, attack +8; 1st Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal; Cantrips
Divine Prepared Spells DC 18, attack +8; 1st Runic Weapon, Air Bubble, Command; Cantrips Guidance, Shield, Stabilize, Light, Know the Way
Additional Feats Dirty Trick, Gutsy Halfling, Sure Feet, Swashbuckler Dedication, Underwater Marauder
Additional Specials Anathema, Cleric Spellcasting, Deity, Divine Font (Healing Font), Doctrine (Warpriest), Keen Eyes, Panache, Sanctification, Style (Rascal)

That looks like a blast. At first I wasn't sure about Rascal, but Dirty Trick fits the idea of a bar fighting well, and trickery isn't the worst thing to level when your party needs someone to open locks.

How worthwhile is building a Warpriest Cleric or Champion as a Dexterity build? I was talking with one of my players about Favored Weapons and it lead to us brainstorming ideas about a priest of Cayden Cailean or Besmara for a pirate-y character. Most warpriests and Champions I see posted online focus more on strength for their physical attacking/defense stat, using heavier armor and weapons to make up for lower dex. But I feel like to match the spirit of our dashing diety, they should be dex-focused.

For our follower of Cayden Cailean we thought about a human Liberation or Redemption champion with an initial stat-spread of (+2 Strength, +1 Constitution, +4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma). Leather armor, shield, rapier, try to support the party as a secondary frontliner and face. Why the Charisma? Well I figured the first few levels for Champions weren't too important for a Dexterity champion, and he could take a few feats from Swashbuckler Archetype to unlock Finishing Precision for some extra damage using a finisher in tandem with Smite or Enjoy the Show to become more damage resistant.

We haven't had the time to discuss a cleric of Cayden or Besmara yet. My initial feeling is the obligatory Wisdom +4, Dexterity +3, and drop the shield to a buckler so you can use throwing weapons. You won't be as survivable as a champion, so it might be better to throw spells and knives from behind your party's fighter.

Have you built any Dexterity-focused champions or clerics?

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

But I wonder if there'll be a way to roleplay a more "clinical" or "hygenic" bloodrager, to add some variety?

I want to play a leshy bloodrager who drinks blood with their roots. That seems cleaner than doing it with your mouth.

Dracaena Cinnabari leshy, where your sap is blood colored. Or just any carnivorous plant I guess.

Yakman wrote:

We are starting a new campaign and one of my players is going kobold w/ the dragonblood versatile heritage. He's pretty excited about it. I think they are way more fun now that they aren't exclusively tied to dragons.

Kobolds now thematically work really well with a lot of the various versatile lineage heritage options. Your kobold tribe stuck around the world wound then maybe most of your tribe have Nephilim heritage. Did your tribe hang out in qadira or jalmeray around a large concentrations of genies then the various genie heritages make a ton of sense.

No point recreating a ton of kobold specific feats to simulate what they are already able to grab. For a GM if a kobold player wanted that kind of heritage it is a lot easier justify as they are as an ancestry prone to just that kind of merging.

True. One of my players is a Kobold who is part of a tribe worshipping a Dryad using the new lore. To represent this he chose Caveclimber (since he would be a tree climber), and then the fey influence line of ancestry feats. Ardande versatile heritage would also be a good way to represent that, but he wanted to lean more into fey than wood.

The only ones I feel compelled to put skills into is Athletics and Acrobatics. Having the trained proficiency in those two has been very important for basic skill challenges, like climbing a simple wall or crossing a sheet of ice. Even as a wizard, I don't want to hit a rock wall with a +0. Medicine and Crafting too, if no other member of the party has it.

Otherwise, it depends on the adventure. The adventure path I'm running for my players, basically every skill check in the book is survival, nature, or religion. In another book, I would need society and occultism.

I have been on a character-building kick recently, ever since I finally got a chance to step away from the GM screen. As seen in another post, I have been focused on building with special unarmed attacks, but other feat-given options interest me too. I felt I might as well start making posts about ancestry-feat options to help work out my options and opinions. So I'm going to start with my favorite ancestries that also has one of the easier weapons list to critique;

KOBOLDS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Light Pick, Pick, and Greatpick; Common martial weapons, being able to use them as simple is flavorful but not game-changing now that rogues and investigators have full martial proficiency. Picks like to crit, and most classes with a good chance to crit in melee already have access to them. A universalist wizard throwing a great pick from 500 feet away with Hand of the Apprentice is a hilarious visual though.

Fangwire; Uncommon martial weapon, the first unique choice. It's a brawling weapon which means it has a nice crit effect, but stat-wise it's kind of a variant of the Kris knife. 1d4 damage with Finesse, Agile, Deadly D8, Backstabber, but also surprisingly GRAPPLE. It feels really flavorful since it's a garrote, but also a little out of place. Because it is a finesse/agile weapon, the wielder might not be using a build with good athletics to make use of that trait. I do really like it though. I could see it useful for a rogue or gymnast swashbuckler, maybe in the offhand. Maybe a mutagenist alchemist could appreciate having a grapple weapon to pair with their shield.

Flying Talon; The advanced knife, though it's technically in the flail group. That is one tiny damage dice for an advanced weapon at 1d4. What does it bring for that? Well, it's agile, finesse, and thrown 10ft like you expect from a dagger. It also gains trip, ranged trip, and tether as you whip this knife around to trip people. A returning rune is level 3 so Tethered is going to become irrelevant quickly, and there are better martial weapons with the trip trait. I feel like this is for the offhand of a gymnast swashbuckler, though it does synergize with the acrobat archetype's level 10 feat to allow trips using acrobatics which might help any swashbuckler. Thematically I love it, mechanically I don't like it. Ask your GM for a bladed scarf instead.

Tricky Pick; The advanced pick. What if we took that standard 1d6 pick, we gave it modular for dealing with resistances/weaknesses, and gave it backstabber too? Pretty nifty weapon for a pick and shield kobold fighter or ranger.

Strongjaw Bite; The ancestry unarmed attack for Kobolds, and it's a pretty basic one. 1d6 bite with finesse, no other effects. At level 9 you can get an ancestry feat to add deadly D6, but it's probably not worth it. Decent backup melee weapon for a wizard or other caster, because they need dexterity for AC and would use most of their actions on spells. It also would let backliners provide flanking if their hands are full of items or ranged weapons. A martial could pair it with an agile offhand weapon, but at that point bring a proper martial weapon like a rapier.

Oh, that's a good point I didn't consider. A razortooth goblin crossbow ranger/gunslinger would always have a melee weapon available for flanking/breaking grapples.

I mean, I get the idea behind the flavor, but if mechanically you always have a % of failing horribly at stuff it isn't really funny. It would also be kind of cool is that "randomness" either disappeared or became almost non existant in the high levels, but besides overdrive a 20 level inventor seems as reliable as a 1 level one.

Like how Aid checks work, it gets easier as you level up. Levels 1-4, it's roll to see if you succeed the DC15. Levels 5-8, it's roll to see if you have a small chance to fail. Level 9+, you are rolling to see if you crit succeed.

Finoan wrote:

* Summoner, Thaumaturge, and Magus I can't think of many things that I find wrong with them. Or have heard bad things about from a lot of people.

Fey Eidlodon needs to be entirely rewritten. It's completely tied into spell schools.

Technically Illusion is still a tag on remastered spells, so it's only half broken. You still have access to a lot of illusion spells, but enchantment spells don't exist anymore. There isn't a good way to fix that;

* Either you substitute Enchantment tag for Mental and the Fey summoner gets twice as many spell options as previously intended.

* Or you make a bespoke spell list of enchantment-themed spells like the wizard's School of Mentalism which is much smaller than previously accessible and more focused.

Either way people are going to complain.

Okay, so giving an ancestry attack a combat trait like shove or grapple does actually do something, though - it allows you to add the item bonus from Handwraps of Mighty Blows to your checks, rather than needing a separate item to boost your Athletics.

True. Does the bonus only apply to explicitly spelled out maneuvers (Slag May's grapple for example) or does it also apply to regular unarmed attacks like fists with the unarmed trait that imply it? Do potency runes on a gauntlet apply to maneuvers? If it applies to regular fist attacks, whats the point of Slag May claws having grapple since you don't lose your fist attacks?

I always forget potency runes apply because my players love lifting belts, bestial mutagens, and armbands of athleticism, and the bonuses don't stack with the weapon potency bonus. But you can get the +1 handwraps 2 levels before the lifting belt.

The Cold Iron trait from Slag May can be extremely impactful at low levels, before cold-iron weapons are relatively cheap. Build a Slag May Monk, lean into ki-powers (or stances that don't require a specific strike), and just blender all the things if you in a fey or demon themed adventure. Sure 9th level Monk class feature will mostly obsolete it, but in the game I've been playing, its felt totally worth it.

Funny enough, the character that spawned this post was a Slag May Changling. I was experimenting with Clawdancer Swashbuckler (gymnast) builds and I needed claws for access to the archetype. The silly idea I settled on was using the new Kobold lore to justify a changeling kobold. He's from a warren that worked for an Iron Hag, using wrestling to kidnap people for the Hag's dungeon. The claws aren't finesse so it can't use precise strikes and the cold iron doesn't carry over to claw stance, but I figured using them as cold iron claws is more of a backup weapon for dealing with fey than the main weapon.

Note; I'm writing this ignoring the ever-popular Gnoll/Kholo bite and the Lizardfolk options. I'm more asking about the ones I hear less about.

I have been spit-balling some characters while I wait for my players to arrive and became fixated on having non-monk classes use what their parents gave them. But as I build characters there's been a few oddballs. So I wanted to ask the community if they built any characters using those options? I have been writing some notes on what I think about the options I was looking at for the army of fighters/rangers/rogues/swashbucklers clogging up my Pathbuilder app, and would love to see what people have come up with.

SLAG MAY - 1d6 Slashing, grapple, and cold iron. Grapple seems like a wasted trait since you are already unarmed. If you are going unarmed, you are probably picking up a lifting belt for the athletics bonus anyway so being able to use +1 from hand wraps isn't major. Making a weapon cold iron isn't that expensive compared to other precious metals. Use case; toxicologist alchemist that is strength-based and needs a simple slashing weapon for injury poison? It competes with a cold iron spear, I think. Later changeling feats can add 1d4 persistent mental damage on crits and dazzle maneuver. Can use Clawdancer Archetype.

STRONGJAW KOBOLD / RAZORTOOTH GOBLIN / NAGAJI FANGS / IRONHOOF CENTAUR - 1d6 Piercing (bludgeoning for centaur), finesse, unarmed. Not bad but it competes with the ever-present rapier for dexterity builds like rogue/swashbuckler. It depends on what you value more; unarmed versatility or Deadly D8. Goblins and Centaurs can remove the finesse trait to make it a 1d8 weapon with a feat which is a neat gimmick for a fighter and has other feats to support it like Ankle Biter and Hungry Goblin. Kobolds have no such support. Still, it's a neat visual to have a kobold thief backstabbing with bite attacks, or a goblin swashbuckler disarming people with their teeth.

CLAWED CATFOLK - 1d6 Slashing, finesse, unarmed. Same as Kobolds/Gobbos, basically. Has the persistent damage feat like changelings, but with the weaker poison damage type. Being explicitly a hand-based unarmed weapon it might be easier to use with athletics maneuvers depending on your GM. Maybe your GM won't agree that you can disarm with your goblin mouth (is a mouth a grasping appendage?), but you can with your cat hands. Can use Clawdancer Archetype.

LESHY SEEDPOD - 1d4 Piercing, 30-foot range. Seems like a neat backup weapon for dexterity builds that might want it. They are essentially free throwing knives you don't need to draw, which could help rogues or swashbucklers who can't reach their foes. It's not a weapon, so it sadly can't be poisoned. Toxicologist probably would have appreciated the action economy if they could. Has one feat to give it persistent bleed.

KITSUNE FOXFIRE / KITSUNE RETRACTABLE CLAWS 1d4 Electric, Cold, or Fire, 20-foot range on the foxfire. Like Leshy Seedpod, but with a better damage type, less range, and can benefit from critical weapon specialization. It's actually pretty cool for a rogue. Retractable Claws is basically normal fists but slashing damage. Can use Clawdancer Archetype.

NAGAJI SPIT I think this might be my least favorite of the ranged unarmed attacks? Hooded Nagaji heritage gives 1d4 poison damage which is already commonly resisted and is a mere 10-foot range. You know what else is 10-foot range? The other heritage choice that increases your better fangs attack to 10-foot range. You can get a feat to spit on your own teeth or weapon to add damage at level 9 which I think is the actual use case for the heritage? There's also a feat that buffs the poison spit (or gives poison spit if you aren't a hooded Nagaji) but it just adds Dazzle to spit crits.

IRON FISTS ORC - This modifies your existing Fists attack instead of adding a new one. 1d4 Bludgeoning fists like normal but it loses non-lethal. Gains the shove trait for some reason, despite already being able to shove because you are unarmed.

As far as a serious romantic subplot goes, the new lore means that securing a sufficient source of magical power to raise a healthy family (whether through patron, location, or minor artifact) can be a motivation for adventuring. Or perhaps getting another kobold out from a callous patron they feel they can't leave. If you're only picturing a kobold craning their neck to look up at a human twice their size, yeah, that's a little harder to play seriously.

I wonder if kobolds can perform parthenogenesis? PF2E kobolds do look like skinks with those big heads. I think if they can, it would be an interesting plot hook for the kobold adventure to be out looking for this great power to start a new tribe.

Though I guess a similar story beat could be done with a kobold who is always writing letters home about his adventures, until he finally finds the right place to invite his tribe.

Now that Crossbows are their own weapon category, the Phalanx Piercer should be put into the Crossbow group, or have some rider text like "for the purpose of feats, this weapon is considered a Crossbow." I know it's a giant bow, but it needs the help. Currently it doesn't work with most bow feats due to being Reload:1, and it doesn't work with most crossbow feats because it's not a Crossbow. Gunslinger could like it if Phalanx Piercer was a considered a crossbow, but again it's not.

I like the idea of Hobgoblins using these door breaking, dragon slaying, giant Dark Souls bows... But the fantasy doesn't work, they fall into this very specific gap in the system. Just use a Composite Longbow or Arbalest instead.

Both Dwarves and Orcs come from underground, so they are maybe more likely to be related in that way.

Humans do seem very adaptable, similar to Elves in D&D. In D&D there's a dozen elf varieties, in Pathfinder the human descendants seem to be; azarketi (sea humans), fetchlings (Void humans), caligni (cave humans), morlocks (cave humans but Gollum'd), Urdefhans (human souls warped into funky vampires by Daemons), Aiuvarin, Dromaar, then all the versatile heritages.

Alright, I think I found why I thought Lagofirs were too big. I think the area with the animal pen lists the wrong scale. It says 1 square = 5 feet on that map, which upon second glance seems to be the wrong scale for that map.

The huts are too small to contain what they are said to contain. Most are 5 diameter circles, with a large family or business inhabiting them. Even in such a modest community, there are beaver dens that are bigger in this AP...

My guess is the map was originally 1 square = 10 feet like some maps from other APs, but then was made 1 square = 5 foot to make the possible fights work better, or was accidentally labeled incorrectly. If the scale was changed, then the size of the pen tracks better.

Sanityfaerie wrote:

Pretty sure there was at least one transgender shopkeeper in Grand Bazaar, too. I think I recall there being more than one, but I'm less certain of that.

There are a a lot of explicitly trans or nonbinary shopkeepers in Grand Bazaar.

Lost Omen: Highhelm too, there's like 3-4 NPCs listed (not including Shardra who appears in art but isn't mentioned directly). But it is the home of the Rivethun Dwarves; the coven of trans shamans, animists, druids, and witches who practice the Dwarven old ways. Not all Rivethun practitioners are trans, but a core part of their identity is using spirit magic and potions for gender affirming care. Also they have a relatively important position as advisors in Highhelm.

Divine Mysteries is going to have a Rivethun Emissary archetype, which is hopefully going to be more useful than the Rivethun ancestry feats in Highhelm.

I'm Running Quest For the Frozen Flame, and I'm studying the encounters and monsters of the next book in preparation for a few weeks when we get there. I found something a little odd that I wanted to share;

Lagofirs are described as "the size of a large sized dog" which would probably make them Medium like a Riding Dog. But they are Large in size like a bear or horse. The environments where you find them (a cavern nest and a village kennel) are way too small for their large bodies. Without giving any real details about book 2, there's an animal pen that is described as "holding 12 Lagofirs," but it could barely fit 4 or 5. Maybe they are stacked on top of each other in a big pile.

Meanwhile the Castoroides are described as "beavers the size of bears" but all bears in Pathfinder are Large sized creatures. Then again, where you fight Castoroides would be very cramped too if they were actually bear sized.

It's not something I want fixed, I like having giant rabbit monsters that I can compare to Monster Hunter's Lagombi, I just thought it was funny.

It came up while talking to a player, but I'm surprised there's no Hryngar Heritage for Dwarves, either from the Highhelm book or the Sky King's Tomb AP. Just something like Spellscale kobold, where it gives an occult or arcane cantrip to a dwarf.

I had a player wondering about those big draconian Wizkids sells. I tried suggesting Minotaur with Dragonblood versatile ancestry when PC2 comes out, but that wasn't a satisfying answer for her. I guess a big lizard/dragon race would be neat, like Xulgath heritage where one is a roided out Large Xulgath.

So, are Boggards and Tripke (formerly Grippli) the same species/ancestry? They are both frog/toad folk, though Boggards are medium and Tripke/Grippli are small. Is it like a Regular Gnoll/Ant Gnoll size situation? Or are they completely separate species?

I was just GMing tonight and my players had an... unexpectedly friendly approach to Gogunta's favorite amphibian cultists. They surprised me and helped them perform a living sacrifice to the bog mother, drinking tea with some surprisingly hospitable toad cultists, and it left me with a question;

Why can't I be a Boggard? I want to keep doing my Kermit the Frog voice and being the friendly unholy swamp cultist.

Speaking of Howl of the Wilds options; Awakened Apothecary Bee. Whatever magic awoken you took away your ability to create potions naturally, but not your desire to make them. So you became an alchemist, a bee apothecary apothecary bee if you will. Maybe mix in some rogue dedication to steal other people's potions like apothecary bees do.

I always like the backstory that the person may be old/experienced, but it's in something completely irrelevant to being an adventurer. Maybe when he was a familiar this Leshy mostly helped in picking herbs and killing bugs in the druid's grove, but after 50 years the druid has gone missing and you are on a quest to find then. Your ginger-harvesting lore and bug-squashing lore isn't relevant to being a Leshy rogue. The animal familiar is always used to being the assistant but not the combatant so he's level 1.

IIRC it's why Ezren is a surprisingly old level 1 wizard. He was a merchant for most of his life, and hit his midlife crisis with a spellbook instead of buying a Mazda.

I tried looking up the list of NPCs for this, but could not find anything. I’m assuming it will have a good mix of lower to mid-level NPCs - similar to the Gamemastery Guide. However, I’m also hoping for some higher level NPCs. I know those levels aren’t commonly played, but those stats would be extremely useful for middle-upper and higher level home games.

Having some extra generic soldier types but for higher levels would be nice. More swordmasters, royal guards, and arch wizards (would an arch wizard of Civic Wizardry be an arch arch wizard, or an arch arch architect?)

Benjamin Tait wrote:

So we know of unholy animals (like the Thrunosaurus), what holy animals/beasts are there in here?

Karkadann looks like an ugly unicorn. Creature 7 with Fey and Holy trait.

Alicorn- Flying unicorn Creature 11

Makes sense, the Karkadann and Unicorn come from the same original myth interpreted two different ways. The theories I heard in school was early traders saw african rhinos and told stories about them and they spread from South Africa to North Africa, then across the sea to Europe and the Middle East. An extremely long game of telephone.

Europeans heard the stories of a magical hoofed creature with a resistance to weapons (because of a Rhino's thick hide) and a single sword-like horn and assumed it was like a horse with a straight horn, and made the Unicorn. In the Middle East they heard that story and figured it was a lizard-horse with a curved sword-like horn.

At least that's what I half remember from a class about mythology...

Cloud1802 wrote:

Aparently Athamaru have a large option? While I’m at it I’m interested in what all their heritages are?

Heritages

Coral - Coral on body medium armor +4/+1 Dex cap
Hopeful- large, 10 ft aura +1 v. fear
Kaleidoscopic- Reaction, roll misfortune on flat check v. concealment
Quilled- unarmed attack 1d6 piercing, agile finesse

Hopeful seems sick. Now I need to drum up a Tidehunter style character, a jolly green sea monster with puns and an uplifting demeanor.

Thruneosaurus Rex (level 17) is not based on a real animal.

Thrune-osaurus, as in a devil dinosaur related to the house of Thrune? Sounds like it's potentially a small reference to Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur...

Alchemist and the Snarecrafter Archetype that is replacing Snare-focused Ranger. Alchemist I'm mostly curious about how Mutagenist and Toxicologist will be updated to be competitive with bomber/chirugeon. Since it's becoming an archetype for everyone, I'm curious how Snarecrafter is going to be changed and clarified, are we gonna see Int-classes with crafting like Alchemist and Witch with snare builds?

Also like every time player Core 2 gets mentioned; Kobolds. How will Kobold snarecrafting fit into this new archetype? Awkward-ish overlap like the previous version, or better designed to fit the idea of a Kobold trapmaster?

How high a deception check do I need to roll… to convince an Alicorn that I'm casting Heal… when it's actually fireball?

Could be an interesting story beat, actually. A fireball is lobbed at the party and their Alicorn NPC friend draws the fireball to themself to protect them.

p.77 Brimorak, Size listed as Medium but has always been Small. Not sure if intentional.

Flavor still reads "These goat-headed demons have glowing red eyes and flaming hooves but measure only about 4 feet in height....."

I think it used to say they were 3 feet tall? So they at least got a foot taller.

I guess someone felt that the "basic" soldier demon being just a little guy felt odd. The art looks like a big scary beastman, and then he's actually a gnome-sized bipedal goat. I think I'm still going to run mine as small, because I think it will be interesting to see how my players react to a single kobold-sized goat being more powerful than an ogre. Really emphasizes how scary the world wound was when even the basic little guys can kill a village singlehandedly.

Yeah, probably what Dani said. Basically all the Beginner's Box encounters are designed to "lead" your players to correct/optimal choice, or to teach them mechanics one at a time. So this very difficult check on the iron door teaches them that they need to use their more niche skills, instead of just brute forcing their way through every option.

I am learning in my own campaign that if you let players choose between Athletics or any other skill, the fighter pushes the other person out of the way and chooses Athletics 100% of the time. Crafting check to make a support/ramp to move a large stone, or just brute force it? Brute force all day. And since Athletics has use in combat and common skill checks like climbing up/down walls, it's important to let other people like the rogue/wizard use their skills too.

Drakes are the monkeys of dragons, they're quadrupeds with 'batwings' for hands/front legs. So it's either one with non-functional flaps or what happens if you strip a dragon of its wings

Ah, so they are related to other drakes. Then maybe a drake/wyvern that walks on it's front wings, like Tigrex or Nargacuga from Monster Hunter.

After talking with one of my players, I realized that neither of us know what a "riding drake" is. Is it a species of drake/wyvern that has non-functional wings (like a Diablos or Basarios from Monster Hunter)? Or is it a large 4-legged and wingless lizard that we call a "drake" as a misnomer, like how sea horses aren't horses?

Are there any depictions in the text or adventure paths? I haven't been able to find art of it.

Oh, the Culdewen is an interesting one. Looks like it would be a fun plot hook (ba-dum tish) to have him kidnap a player or companion. The party hunts him down afterwards, but he's lost his catch already and now you need to deal with merfolk/athamaru/grindylows who have your friend for whatever reason.

Grodairs seem awesome too, I like their exploding into water trick. Might be an interesting trap to have players in a small room that floods more each time a player defeats one, and they need to find their way our before killing the last one or calming the grodairs.

Never realized there were aquatic fey options like that, outside the aquatic gremlins. Though I'm surprised there's no klabautermann stat block.

Orc commander is my bet. I feel like with the new spawn of Rovagug, Firehair ascending, Belkzen adventure, Orcs in the core book... It's their time.

My group has just started "Quest for the Frozen Flame" and as the GM I was surprised by how many fey appear in Book 1. It's been a pleasant surprise for me. I thought this was going to be a Vikings meet Conan the Barbarian sort of campaign, but instead on this journey my players keep meeting various fey creatures.

So it got me thinking; what are your favorite fey things in Pathfinder? Whether it be a creature, an individual, companion animal, etc.

For me it's been the Twigjack. There's something so entertaining about how mobile and dangerous the little guys are. Despite their tiny size and unassuming appearance, these twig men are CR3 and will easily slaughter caravan guards or soldiers who come into their woods unprepared. And they are difficult to deal with diplomatically, because unless they need something from you they are very aggressive.

My only problems with the scamps are 1) I can't find the water scamp are in the book, only online. 2) The earth scamp art is hidden in the index, so people may not get to see it the delightful little beast. 3) Rage of the Elements lacks Metal and Wood Scamp art, so we're still missing two more delightful little elementals (probably because they needed an art redesign after the Remaster began, but still).

Or to make it simpler, my problem with the scamps is that I NEED MORE OF THEM.

My guess was the water scamp that was previewed was the prototype art, and then the art director said "No, go back and make them cuter and more elemental looking," before release. So then they made the other scamps for Monster Core and Water Scamp was left on the editing table.

Because the Water Scamp art we saw looks way different from the Earth/Fire/Air ones we can see. Completely different head design and body proportions, the water scamp was kinda just blue with no elemental signifier.

I imagine they'll get around to it in player core 2. That's where we expect the non-multiclass archetypes.

Bluemagetim wrote:

Outwit ranger with some charisma is getting the most out if crossbow ace. Even a +2 in cha with outwit is equivalent to having a +4 in cha.

I would say its in line with outwit being a more defensive and skill oriented path.

Turn 1
Hunt prey
Strike maybe with backstabber depending in how combat started.
Crossbow ace to take cover and reload (defensive use)

Turn 2
Strike
Crossbow ace to create diversion and reload (offensive use)
Strike with backstabber

Create diversion can be used then with a next action to hide making the turn more defensive.

Yes, this is the sort of build that can utilize the new version of the feat. But how many rangers have you seen with outwit? Is it more than 10%

It's me, I'm the outwit crossbow ranger! (Or I would be, if I wasn't the GM).

I do unironically think Outwit is an under appreciated subclass though, and it would be 100% my choice as a ranger. Being able to spam create a diversion, being able to be the face with hunt prey in social encounters, being the smart guy who can recall knowledge for weaknesses and call them out for allies, demoralize, maybe feint if the monster charges me, etc. It's a really versatile subclass that usually gets overlooked for the extra damage of Flurry/Precision. I like being the guy who can be smart about wildlife and how to fight them.

I wonder how niche "take cover + reload" bonus is, because I usually try to include some cover for my archer fighter whenever we get into fights, but maybe some GMs aren't as generous. I like to scatter rocks, barrels, and fallen logs when it seems right.

This thread started with gushing over the new Hags, so I probably shouldn't focus on it. Even if I love them very much. I like that the Iron Hag looks a little like a fighter, she's ready to throw hands.

My favorite new monster is either the Ofalth Larva or Sargassum Heap. The art for the Ofalth Larva is kinda cute in a weird way, and I like having a weaker "living mound" type of monster available to throw at my lower level players. CR10 is surprisingly high on the Ofalth, when other sewer/trash dwellers your low level party will fight is like rats, sewer oozes, and spiders. It's nice having more options. Though the new art raises a few questions; inside the Ofalth is there a spider (like that Monster Hunter creature that is a mantis with a rubble mecha suit) or are those legs just a different type of tendril? Because the normal old Ofalth looks like a beefy mass of plant matter.

Sargassum heap has lovely art, and I enjoy the idea of mirage spores. Like your players walk into a grotto or creek near the sea shore, and suddenly see their villain or their loved ones. They become fascinated, walk into the encounter, then from beneath the water they get grabbed. It's an awesome image, and I desperately want to use it. I think I'm going to have some Boggards worshipping one in their swamp, believing the mirage is their diety Gogunta. After "Gogunta" lures in and eats some Boggards, the tribe starts kidnapping people to feed her more. The party arrives and every member sees something or someone else... "Wait a minute..."