drakkonflye's page

I don't get to play much PFS2 because there are no local games and I am totally ignorant about playing in online groups, so this is just based on what I have been reading across this forum, but instead of having a cantrip to Create Thrall and an innate ability to Consume Thrall to gain a focus point, why don't we just make both abilities innate abilities for the Necromancer and make the thralls manifestations of the necromancer's focus pool?

I'm seeing a lot of posts claiming sacrificing a thrall AND spending a focus point is too high a cost for most of the Necromancer's focus spells, so what if it was one or the other, with the downside being that the thralls ARE the focus points, so the most any necro can have at any one time of 3 per focus spell rules. They would have to consume one to use a focus spell, but can use an action to create another one, and can still attack with the newly created thrall as per Create Thrall (with applicable MAP, of course).

Granted, this means they won't be able to flood the battlefield with thralls, but maybe this can open up the possibility of letting the thralls perform simple basic actions (Fetch, Step, Stride, Strike) instead of just standing there, although the Necromancer should still have to use an action to Command a thrall. If you still want Necromancers to create multiple thralls at higher levels, let them choose to Create or Command the same number at said level.

I am guessing the cost of focus point AND thrall for some focus spells is probably more for crowd control and keeping the number of thralls down, but most of the spells aren't really worth the cost, and the ones that are could simply cost two or more thralls to cast, while the ones that create additional effects if a second thrall is destroyed stay the same.

Yes, this changes the dynamics for focus points and spells, but let's be honest, this class is all about changing the dynamics of those anyways.

Oh, and will there be a paperback version of the remastered Treasure Vault like there was for the original? I would assume yes, but it doesn't list it in the Products page

Kalaam wrote:

Crossing fingers for a SoM one too lol

Though very curious to see what might change

The odds of Secrets of Magic getting a reprint in its current state are low. Considering:

1. Several pages of lore regarding the old D&D schools of magic that are no longer valid.

2. Several of the options presented in the book have been reprinted in other books:
- Elementalist got reprinted in RoE
- Runelord is set to appear in Rival Academies
- Several spells got reprinted across Player Core and Player Core 2.

If they have to replace the reprinted/OGL content, we would be looking at a completely different book.

Then again, what do I know?

I don't know, but something tells me because so much of the Secrets of Magic material has already been incorporated into the Core books, is it possible the upcoming "Impossible" book might not contain just the two new classes we are playtesting, but also might contain remastered versions of the Magus and Summoner? I mean if a remaster of SoM is redundant, it would make more sense to incorporate them in the new book, especially since we have no idea what the book is about except possibly Impossible Lands, which themselves are excellent areas where Magus and Summoner might hail from

This is more akin to stowing the item in an additional location, one that has a distressing tendency to go boom and drop whatever it is holding if something so much as raises their voice at it.

This made me laugh so hard I cried. Thank you for that LOL

So Arcade Cascade is still useless if you take Starlit Span? I was really hoping this would be just an oversight *sigh*

drakkonflye wrote:

Unless I am mistaken and focus cantrips don't cost points to use?

Correct. Presumably the designation 'focus' on focus cantrips is to separate them from cantrips that any member of any class can take. For example, Courageous Anthem is a focus cantrip (and also a composition cantrip)

Okay. Someone else just pointed out to me as well that per remaster rules, all classes that gain focus spells always gains focus points up to a maximum of three points to their pool and no longer explicitly states that in the spells themselves. My apologies, but I am not up to date on all the changes as I have not had very much gaming experience lately (full table every time I try to sign up), so I didn't know.

Since the remaster you always have as many focus points as you have focus spells. It's no longer spelled out in each individual class or feat.

You can absolutely go up to 3 focus spells as a necromancer. The problem is that you only start with one as a focus-based class and that you never get a bigger pool unless you pick up more focus spells. This will most likely happen eventually for pretty much all necromancers but dependong on your feat priority, your lower level will have you pretty focus starved.

Consume Thrall is barely a bandaid on a severed arm. Spending two actions in combat to regain a single focus point doesn't mesh well with the action economy of a caster.

Okay, I haven't had much play time with the remaster rules, so I did not know this, thank you. I do think the Consume Thrall should upscale as the necromancer levels up to let them fill out to their maximum pool though at higher levels, even if they do still limit how often they use the ability

I would just like to point out one thing regarding this discussion: Create Thrall is a focus spell, so it costs a focus point to use. and as things are currently written, necromancers only get ONE focus point, TWO if they Consume Thrall, and the class as currently written does not have a means to gain any more points, so they can not as currently written do "endless spamming' of thralls. They can do a one action casting to create maybe 4 thralls with legendary necromancy, 8 if they Consume Thrall and use three actions to get them all in one round, and then nothing for 10 minutes.
Unless I am mistaken and focus cantrips don't cost points to use?

So someone pointed out the class as currently written does not gain focus points to its maximum pool by taking focus spells as other classes do, which seems to make Necrotic Focus a useless feat since you only get back one focus point by refocusing with or without the feat. Not sure if this is an error, of if the intent is to have the necromancer rely on its ability to Consume Thrall to regain focus points. If this is intentional, then maybe instead of making Consume Thrall once every ten minutes for only one point, perhaps have it upscale so the necromancer can use it once per minute at level 6, and once per round at level 12, but limit the focus pool to no more than 3 focus points as any given time to be more in balance to other classes that DO gain focus points as they learn focus spells? Just my thoughts on this..

I saw this review! I cried a lot reading it, but it's very heartfelt, explore a LOT the dangers and omnipresence of "orientalism", and ultimately gives GREAT PRAISES for the book. :3

Lost Omens: Tian Xia World Guide Review on reddit

Just read through this myself and it really hurts that the author had to endure such bullshit. Like I said there, *I* would have let him play his druid and if anyone else said anything, THEY could play the damn monk or take a walk. I don't tolerate racist bull at my tables, and if I ever say anything that might offend, I encourage my players to tell me and I will strive to not do it again.

Please change the name of BATTLE-TESTED WAR HORSE to BATTLE-TESTED WAR MOUNT (or STEED). I have been in groups where someone will see the feat as written and insist the mount must be a horse, even though the prerequisite feat (Commander's Steed) just says "young animal companion". On the other end, "Typically, the steed is an animal companion with the mount ability" suggests this is not always true, so any young animal companion large enough to bear a rider would work even if it doesn't have the mount ability (Ex: catfolk warriors who ride lions and tigers as mounts).

Is it possible to train an animal to be a mount and give it that ability?
I am guessing yes, but not sure where to find the rules for that in the Remaster edition

NOT sorry to revive this as I hope we can build an interest in this as well. As much as I enjoy the lore inside the hardcover books, it is a lot of work to bring my hardcover library to a game session. I would so mush prefer to bring the pocket editions, especially any Lost Omens books that have character development lore (feats, spells, archetypes, etc.). Add me to that list of those wanting more pocket editions

I prefer to wait for the pocket edition to come out for portability purposes; I was one of those GMs with an overstuffed backpack of tomes and those were way too heavy to go through that again (please keep pushing for those Lost Omens accessory books to be made into pocket editions, Aaron!). Will the pocket editions be exact copies of the hardcover ones just released? Or will they be updated with the errata by the time they see print? I have no idea how far ahead of printing these layouts are done

..it's exciting having your culture be seen for once (instead of treated lesser).

It most certainly is, and please, keep sharing with us. I for one am so glad to see you so excited about this, and so willing to share more of your culture with us. I am US born and raised and have never had the chance to travel, so for me, reading about other peoples' cultures and folklore and lifestyles is exciting and enriching. I am glad when Paizo can represent those cultures correctly, and even more so when they turn to the people who have lived those cultures and stories and give them the chance to share it with the rest of us. Seeing how excited YOU are for these books makes ME even more excited for them as well :-)

I actually really like this as a variant on an urban spirit, but I agree it might be too specific, so maybe trickster spirit like QuidEst suggested?
Also, maybe something from the "spirits" that haunt an old theatre or similar venue as a type of urban spirit? Such a place would have a gamut of emotions and could sway easily between positive and negative energies as needed. Plus imagine the different spells involved: ghost sound, ventriloquism, hideous laughter, enthrall, hallucinatory terrain (gotta set the scene), uncontrollable dance...
Just a few ideas off the top of my head LOL

The original Harrow deck used the 9 alignments and 6 attributes as their base. Now that alignment has been removed as of the Remaster, will there be changes to the Harrow deck to reflect that?

Anyone read Tamora Pierce’s ‘Circle of Magic’ book series with Sandry, Daja, Tris, and Briar?

Look Briar and Tris will always be my favourites but let’s be honest- It’s Sandry- the stitch-witch who can literally weave different magics together -that stands out as most powerful. She literally bound their fates together as a group, and so as a buff/support caster- I think weaver might be fun -maybe it allows you to temporarily transfer abilities and statuses to one another.

With you on this one. I think that one of the new classes is a caster, and is most likely the rare class as I would not be surprised to see a caster that can alternate between the four magics, arcane, divine, occult, and primal, at will. Possibly a studied caster who must memorize spells as normal, but can swap out spells freely (limited times, I would assume) like the 1E Arcanist did. Imagine being able to learn any type of magic and prepare it, but spend 10 minutes refocusing and swap out a spell for another of equal or lower level. That would be pretty strong if you can choose any spells from the four different magics, and definitely a reason to be rare. Just a thought

Luna Ravenheart wrote:

The flowers on the minotaur's hooves, though! So pretty! I want to play one just so I can have hoof-flowers. :D

"Decorative shoe nails" was just one of MANY Kent Hamilton design flourishes that went into each crew member—we had drafts of the crew members and their personalities from each author, which Kent used to further develop them through their character designs. Creating a cast of characters who could appear persistently throughout the book (alongside the iconics) was a really collaborative process that could NOT have happened without him!

Each crew member, eh? So most likely the centaur and minotaur are not the only crew members/playable ancestries with hooves?

... Does having a hydra head mounted on your wall just make you look stupid?

Well, maybe if you only have one...

Friends. New classes require playtests. And you can bet on them being Gen Con releases. :)

and what about those of us who aren't able to attend any Cons? when will we get to see the playtest (assuming there actually IS one), considering the book is slated for spring 2024?

The Time Mage archetype as well, while you're at it.

Saw this as well (yes, I DO own a copy of Dark Archive ;-P), and again very nice, but still 1/2 or even 1/3 of what I envision a full class would be. Both archetypes seem like minor versions of a full class, as if Paizo HAS an idea in mind for a chronomancer class, but is testing the waters by offering these archetypes first, then reverse engineering the class itself. This line of thinking has also got me wanting Timescape setting, like MCU's Time Police headquarters, or a certain city in the center of the planar multiverse we can't mention due to copyright infringement, where time-related beings and entities (and maybe gods?) oversee the timeline and make sure nobody messes with it, which of course there are those who most certainly DO mess with it (chro9nomancer being just one of those).

As I sit here writing this, I see a campaign unfolding before me revolving around this entire concept...

Man, I would LOVE to to be part of buidling that

Chronomancer...

I did, and to me, it's a good start, bot not what I wanted. This archetype reads like most of the 1/2 class archetypes out there, covering the basics of personal magic, but not fully fleshed out. For me, the chronomancer should be able to do more than hop through a few seconds of time one way or another, but also "borrow" things from the timeline, or maybe have some minor summons ability to pull creatures out of time (mostly a variant of summon monster/nature's ally/etc.)

Just my thoughts on it

Before I decide to buy the pocket edition of the core 2E rule book, can anyone tell me if it will be the latest update? If it is not, I would rather wait until they DO update it. Thank you

Chronomancer: someone with time based magic who can call weapons and armor from the time stream for limited periods. Make him a mid-range caster with decent skills who can alter time to make a hit a miss, or a miss a hit, or alter a saving throw "by a few seconds". As for conjuring items, think of it as a "need it on the fly" where he "borrows" something from the time stream for a few moments (level based duration?), maybe even more powerful items as he progresses (magical and specific material?), and time-related spell abilities such as haste, slow, timestop, etc, that affect only him, and can affect others at higher levels, but as focus spells instead of full magic. One ability I can think of would be to be able to call duplicates of himself like he was pulling himself out of the time stream from different minutes. Another idea would be a sort of "do over" where he might rewind an instance (say a combat round?) as if it didn't happen, but yeah, this could lead to issues of redoing rounds that don't go in his favor unless limits are put in place. Still, it would be interesting to see what Paizo could do with this

Personally, I also think kinetic aura should be part of the base chassis and should allow the kineticist to Gather Element as a free action if their aura is active.

Make it a two action feat, so Gather Element to activate Kinetic Aura would be three actions, but it would last for the full combat unless the kineticist gets knocked out. Change kinetic aura impulse feats so they require an active aura to use instead of being one action less to use if an aura is active (and reduce the base action costs on them to begin with), and have only one kinetic aura impulse feat able to be active at a time instead of snuffing out the aura by switching them.

Honestly though, there's really not a lot of kineticist aura feats right now to make it worthwhile to follow this path. Doing this would just speed up a kineticist recovering from Overflow, unless Overflow would also suppress the aura (Flat save to maintain, or maybe an action to Sustain?), but let's be realistic, there are WAY too many feats with the Overflow tag with no real reason to have it. I'm on the side that Overflow should be an upgrade to an affect, like bonus damage or increased area, etc., at the cost of losing your elemental "focus". If Overflow was reconfigured, THEN I could see the aura being suppressed by "overdoing" it

Any chance of seeing pocket editions of these books in the future? As much as I love my hardcovers, they are quite a bit to lug around when I am traveling to a game instead of hosting it

Man oh man, the wait between chapters is driving me crazy! What a wonderful storyteller! SO eager for the next part

Love this character! Thank you for this truly awesome story

So, having just given the playtest document a cursory glance, here are a few of my first impressions on the classes:

** spoiler omitted **...

I want a tome implement, and a chime/gong/bell implement, so I can run a "bell, book, and candle" witchwife thaumaturge with cat familiar and a penchant for plants and animal talismans, one that lets the locals think she's a witch when in truth she's more of an investigator of the unknown who makes it her job to deal with the things that go bump in the night and that come from Beyond to prey upon those she's oathbound to protect, even as they fear and scorn her.

Well *I* figured it out, child, and rare it is to be gifted with such a presence ;-)
Seriously though, love these tales, and looking forward to hearing more about Azure Leopard and Jatembe and everything. Mwangi Expanse can't come soon enough!!

I am also amused to think of a tiny fey eidolon as the spellcaster and the summoner as the martial role, but that would be a big switch.

Sprites are going to become a playable class in the Lost Omens Ancestry Guide due out in march 2021, according to Amazon

I think the lack of evolution options is the single most universal complaint right now. Some people are thinking to solve this by going back to the 1e system and oh god no, for reasons you've already gone over.

We do need to see more things like other special attacks via evolutions, or sidegrades to allow different tactics. A combat reaction would be valuable to have available (all the core martials except Rogue have an AoO variant available, and Rogue gets Opportune Backstab). I'd want to be able to add more traits to the unarmed attacks (grapple is the big missing one). But for the most part, evolutions should be limited strictly to things like combat activities and special attacks (Sudden Charge, breath weapons, etc) or major sidegrades to base functionality (amphibious, flight, major senses like tremorsense, etc). They absolutely should not affect statistics (because that would become mandatory-ish under 2e math) or physical form (having to buy arms to then buy claws and s&#~ can stay in 1e).

I think the idea of bonus evolution feats every so often may be valuable to consider, depending...

The issue here is again, the Eidolon is not a class feature, but the entire class as it is currently written. We might as well call it the Eidolon class instead of Summoner. The Eidolon could use more abilities, yes, but the reality is it still leaves the Summoner just sitting in the back row "boosting" the Eidolon when IMO at least, they should be working in concert as a team. I would like to see more Tandem feats where they complement each other instead of the Summoner just sending in the Eidolon and using their limited actions to Boost, Reinforce, and Call Eidolon back when things get too tough.

KrispyXIV wrote:

Bestiary/monster version of things like Constrict.

That's one thing we all have to take into consideration here: According to some data I have, summoner is a class whose high concept is extremely attractive to brand new to RPG players (or it was in PF1), but then the complexity of building them caused some issues. That wasn't immediately obvious to an options junkie of a player like me who just wants to make lots of different decisions at every step, but whatever the final method of building winds up being, it needs to be simple but powerful, allowing as much depth as well as narrative customization and variety of options for your eidolon's story, thematics, and visuals as we can without too much complexity.

I am so, so, SO liking the concept of playing a Summoner Synthesist who's Eidolon is actually his alter ego, a Devotion Phantom who manifests any time the Summoner is overwhelmed with choices he can't or is afraid to make, where he takes a back seat and let's the Eidolon take over. I can even picture the Eidolon as having his appearance, only amplified to being the "perfect" being and physically augmented, sort of the "I wish I was this" persona. I can even see when the two of them are separate beings, the Eidolon acts as his subconscious, arguing with the Summoner's choices and playing devil's advocate and sounding a lot like the Summoner's parents (and other ancestors). Those spells, though...

Sorry, but I am on the "give them one spell per level even if it is only a Summon spell" bandwagon

Need more Conduit spells and more Tandem feats, really. I know you have the Inquisitor on the back burner to reintroduce at some future time; wouldn't it make sense to let the Summoner and his Eidolon have access to some of those future "teamwork" feats now since they ARE a team?

I did, and if I understand how you mean (that the Familiar is actually a creature created by the pact, otherwise I'm not sure what the different is) then I would prefer for the familiar to be a regular spirit- the important thing to me is that it has it's own personality and agenda, I don't want the Witches familiar to be something completely mastered by the...

No, not an agent created by the pact, but a servitor of the Patron acting as its emissary and sent to forge an alliance with the Witch. The Familiar acts as the Witch's mentor and a vessel for the Patron's power, but it definitely has its own personality. Someone compared the Familiar to Sabrina's cat Salem, and I assume they meant the Sabrina the Teenage Witch series, but I would be more inclined to compare it to the Salem of the Netflix Sabrina; it's a supernatural being that takes the form of this animal but is far more intelligent, sent to the Witch by some mysterious Patron to guide her in her studies. It might choose to be her friend, might be spying on her for the Patron, might even BE the Patron taking an unassuming form to use the Witch to further its own goals. Anyway you look at it, this Familiar is not your standard Familiar and should be more supernatural in its own nature. Hence why I suggested is be treated more like a Summoned creature than a normal Familiar

I prefer that the familiar comes from the Patron as an independent entity, and I want it to be your spellbook, it's a really cool idea and I don't want to see it disappear for balance reasons, I would rather they just implemented some kind of mechanic to adjust how quickly you can get it back, or give it some benefit to make it sufficiently tough to survive adventuring (but not stupid decisions)

I actually really like the fortune/misfortune idea- they get a reroll when attacked or have to make a saving throw, so for instance, they can still die, but they have a much better chance of surviving.

I could also imagine a model where they just have a special rule that lets you bring them back if they do die much faster than the week of downtime- maybe a few hours of meditation? maybe it's a special ritual?

Did you see my post earlier suggesting the Familiar be more of a supernatural creature acting as the vessel of the patron? I suggested it should have some limited powers of its own based on the Patron, and be something the Witch Summons when she makes the pact (mostly background flavor, but makes it clear the Familiar is a Summoned creature instead of a normal Familiar). If it dies, she can bring it back the next day as part of her morning preparations with a special ritual using components to do so based on highest spell level. I also suggested she should be able to Banish the Familiar at will as a free action, so she can take it out of danger immediately, but it takes a one minute ritual to Summon it back, so that Familiar is out of the fight, but at least its not dead.

Oh, forgot one thing: my DM ruled that the level one "gift" she got for being Haunted was she was immune to the Silence spell since the curse was a supernatural effect and the "spirits" making all that noise around her couldn't be Silenced; yay, can't be stopped from using verbal components for spells, but DAMNED when the rest of my group was able to hide from that dragon and little ol' me sat there trying to be still while sounding like the world's largest wind chimes.

Maybe for P2 she could use the Abate Curse feat I suggested to quiet the spirits, but Abate Curse should mean if you turn it off, you can't use any of the gifts it gives you either. You should have to take the bad with the good, but I DO like the idea of using an action to "suppress" the negative effects for one round like the currently written Major Curse effect for the Flames Mystery (spend an action to quiet the poltergeist for one round so you can act without interference)

And I will shut up now and wait for someone to tear my ideas apart ;-P

Oh, and regarding bringing back some of the old curses:

For Haunted, we applied a -5 penalty to the Oracle's Move Silently skill, and her DC to maintain Concentration when someone attempted to disrupt her castings increased by 5 due to the voices around her trying to distract her. The first time we had an Oracle in P1, it was my character, a Vistani fortune teller Oracle/Harrower who wore her money as jewelry all over her person, bracelets, earrings, rings, chain belts, necklaces, etc., and the "spirits" that guided her fortunes were always playing with the jewelry to get her attention, and playing tricks on her by moving items around when she got too near them (more than one time she "accidentally" sat on the floor instead of the chair). Although this came in handy when for effect once when she spoke an omen and tossed her cards to have them fly around her in a whirlwind (a thematic effect of her casting Blade Barrier around herself).

Basically, Haunted should mean you have an unfriendly poltergeist attached to you and it follows you every where, feeding on your power. As you get stronger, so does it, but you learn to "cope" with it by channeling its energies into something useful.

Hmm..now that I think of it, I like the notion of taking the spirit's noise effect and for one round abating it by channeling it as a sonic attack somewhere else ;-)

How about "Casting a Revelation spell when your curse is at its worst gives you Doomed 1 if you are at your moderate curse and Doomed 2 when you're at your extreme curse."

Yes, THIS I can get behind, Doomed X where X is the stage of the curse. Maybe Stunned for the rest of the round as well unless the Oracle succeeds at a flat check to "shake it off" as well?

Regarding the curses, I agree the curse should be always on, like before, but I am also one of those who thinks the curse should grow stronger as the Oracle gains power. Make Revelation spells Focus spells like everyone else has, pool and all, and instead as the Oracle grows in power, the curse gets stronger in stages, from minor, to lesser, to moderate, to greater, to extreme, or something like that. Instead of the Major Curse and Extreme Curse abilities and the Advanced Revelation, Greater Revelation, and Blaze of Revelation feats as written, why not just have the curse grow stronger in stages and each stage gives the Oracle access to a new Revelation spell, as well as unique abilities tied to the curse. Then maybe a Lessen Curse feat that allows the Oracle to spend a focus point to reduce the effects of the curse by one stage (can not be reduced below Minor) and increases Focus pool by one, and another to Abate Curse that allows the Oracle to reduce the curse to minor or even turn if off completely for one minute at the cost of one Focus point, and increase the Focus pool by one. I would also like to see a Share Burden feat that allows the Oracle to "bestow" part of the curse to another character, with a save where Success bestows one stage and reduces the Oracle's curse on herself by one, and a Critical Success by reduces it by two levels and gives the target two levels of the curse, and a critical failure effects the Oracle as if she overcast (Stunned and Doomed, for example).

Yes, this would mean the curse if always on, and always at its highest point unless they spend Focus points to reduce it. This also means they have to choose, spend a Focus point to cast that spell? Or reduce the curse effects?

And yes, this is a throwback to how it was in P1, and yeah, the way the curses are written now, the extreme version is major suck without some balance in what good comes out of it, but considering you wouldn't be under the effect of the extreme curse until higher levels when you can actually deal with it, maybe not so bad after all.

Hmmm...the one thing that bothers me the most about all this discussion is everyone is treating the witch's Familiar as just another Familiar like anyone else would have, even if it DOES get a few more benefits. However, this is no ordinary Familiar. It is a vessel of power bestowed upon the witch by her Patron to act as the emissary of said Patron, so wouldn't it make more sense if the Familiar itself were more of a supernatural creature than merely being an augmented animal?

If it IS more of a supernatural creature, why not take a notion from the 1E Summoner and make the Familiar something the witch initially summons to her when she forges the pact with her Patron and remains with her at all times, but she can dismiss it as a reaction or free action to keep it from being endangered, and can Summon it back to her with a 1 minute ritual. If it dies, then she can't Summon it again until the next time she prepares spells, and then must perform a ritual with material components equal to the cost of her highest level spell (as if she bought a scroll) to appease her Patron so the Familiar may be "allowed" to return to her.

I also think the Familiar should have other abilities, weaknesses, or resistances based on the nature of the Patron, but for that, we need to determine how much influence the Patron has first, but let's leave THAT discussion in the other threads. I'll just say as an example, a Patron of Fire should give the Familiar damage resistance to fire that improves as the witch levels up, and maybe add one die of damage (varied by level?) to the witch's fire spells as long as she remains in contact with her Familiar.

Not sure if anyone else sees it, but I see a Magaambyan-themed adventure path coming down the line at some point. All this exposition, plus the previous stories, makes me think someone is planning something big to bring the Mwangi and lower Garund into the limelight, and it's about time.

I imagine that divine sorcerers would be viewed similarly to oracles: extreme distrust and likely violence.

Iconic Oracle

Annnnnddd....ninja

I am so looking forward to what the new Oracles will be like. It's a pity they didn't make the cut this time, but glad to know we WILL be seeing them soon. Love Alahazra; every picture I see of her, she looks fierce and very confident

love the story, and the "it was kind of pretty" notion of the fire, but mostly love the artwork and that s**-eating grin on Fumbus' face LOL
Very well done, James,. I am now seeing goblins as very playable PC characters

Personally, I LOVE that cocky grin of his. Kinda says, "yeah, I can take you". Or in his case, "what you gonna do? kill me? yeah..been there, done that, got better, try again"

I just want to say I am loving these short stories, new rules or not. Keep them coming, James. In the meantime, I'll start looking for other things you've written ;-)

The results look clean and clear.

FEAR Spell 1
Emotion, Enchantment, Fear, Mental
Casting [[A]] Somatic Casting, [[A]] Verbal Casting
Range 30 feet; Targets one creature
Duration by frightened magnitude
Saving Throw Will (S frightened 1 CS unaffected F frightened 2 CF frightened 3 and fleeing for 1 round)
You plant fear in the target. It becomes frightened and possibly fleeing with magnitude based on its Will save.

FIREBALL Spell 3
Evocation, Fire
Casting [[A]] Somatic Casting, [[A]] Verbal Casting
Range 500 feet; Area 20-foot burst
Saving Throw Reflex (S half damage CS unaffected F full damage CF double damage)
A burst of fire explodes, dealing 6d6 fire damage. Creatures in the area take a multiple of that damage based on their Reflex saves.
Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 2d6.

The keyword "basic" is not necessary and would only add to the jargon to memorize.

YES YES YES!!! Best idea yet; simple, easy to read, and keeps the word count minimized. All you need is a simple paragraph at the beginning of the Spells section to identify the abbreviations (S, CS, F CF)

Oh, and my game had only three players with me as the GM; human bard, human paladin, and half-elf cleric. The bard loved using inspire courage and telekinetic projectile in combo, the paladin made good use of shield block and retributive strike, and the cleric liked using his whip to trip foes, then smack them down, but he absolutely HATED the three action use of heal ONLY healing/inflicting damage equal to his ability score modifier, which was 2 points in his case. Did we misread the damage part of the three-action ability?

"You disperse positive energy in a 30-foot aura. This has the same effect as the two-action version, but it targets all living and undead creatures in the burst and reduces the amount of healing or damage to your spellcasting ability modifier."

First of all, this is very awkward wording since he says it has the same effect as the previous step, but t hen it changes the damage; the player found this wording very confusing and we argued about how much damage it meant. Second, wouldn't it make more sense if the damage at least increased by the level of the caster?

Also, does spell level no longer apply to saving throws against spells? I would think a higher level spell would still be harder to save against than a low level one.

A little question about the Advanced Alchemy ability for alchemist: It says he can spend 1 Resonance point to create a batch of items with the infused trait, but can he choose NOT to spend that point to create items without them being infused? Or it is mandatory for him to spend the point and they must be infused?

To me, this makes a slight difference since if he doesn't need to infuse it at the time of creation, then I would expect the item to last indefinitely since it becomes a "normal" spend-the-Resonance-when-used item, right?

As for his bombs, I would think using a Spell Pool would make more sense than burning up Resonance for them, but again, it would still limit the number of bombs he could throw since Spell Pools are limited and there are no additional feats to grant more points for different bombs since they all fall under the same alchemical items list. I think it might be better to give him an ability to make a flat check when he uses his ability for Quick Alchemy to avoid spending Resonance instead of waiting until he runs out, and just increase the DC by 1 or 2 each time. If he fails, he burns the Resonance; on a critical fail, he uses double the Resonance, which is more likely to happen when he pushes his luck. Just a thought.

And speaking of Spell Pools, can anyone explain to me why the Cleric's Spell Pool and Channel are dependent on his Charisma when every other class that gets a Spell Pool has it dependent on their key ability (except Paladin, who also uses Charisma)?

Personally I am excited about this. I think it will work a lot better for many character types than traditional multi classing did. It's a shame that you can't do a total career change though, that might be worth adding in as an option in addition to the archetypes.

What Jason said: "If these archetypes work, you can expect to see one for each class in the final version of the game"

So yeah, if the playtest is a go on these, there WILL be one for every class, not just the four mentioned in the blog

EDIT: My bad is someone else already said this; by the time I read these things, the pages are already flooded with responses and I just can't keep up :-(

Okay, reading through this blog, there are some questions that I have... (etc., etc., etc.)

Just wanted to say, these are some AWESOME questions!!

Ikos wrote:

I will say, without knowing exactly how big ranged increments are or how much penalty they impose in 2e, TWF (or at least, agile weapons) seem like the go to with the 2e ranger. Going down to -0/-3/-6, and eventually -0/-2/-4 with iterative attacks seems quite powerful, especially if you can get some form of haste, such that you have a greater chance of making use of that third attack.

Agreed!

Yeah, but level 17 for the next reduction? I don't know, but to me that seems like an awfully long wait, especially when the average party only plays to level 16 if doing an adventure path.