ikarinokami's page

I've ever been so disappointed in Paizo. When the first edition psychic came out, the psychic was that way because Paizo didn't want to step on Dreamscarred press toes who had done an amazing job with psionics, I understand and respect that however that reason does not exist anymore.

The new psychic is just a rebadged sorcerer, there is nothing about it that says psionic. it does nothing to even try to mimic how in general psionics/psychics are portrayed, instead it is literally just another spontaneous spellcaster whose lore makes no sense. they cast spells with their minds, is that in any way different how from literally every other spellcaster in pathfinder 2 works? d

Come on guys do better. if you are going to do psionics/psychics, do it right.

there should be the basic powers - telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, etc.

the ability to sustain etc. typically psychic stuff.

why are we getting just another version of the sorcerer? sigh

1. bracers capping dex. I understand it's for game balance, however there is no logic way to justify it. what's the in game explanation for why bracers would make you less agile? bracers +1/dex 7 would make so much more sense in a logical way and accomplish the same balance reasons.

2. the bastard sword isnt versatile - again I cant even fathom an in game reason for that, is there divine intervention at work?

3. great sword doesn't have reach? there isnt even a reasonable physical way to use it, so you dont have reach. the entire point of it's invention was to have a sword with the reach of a polearm.

anyone got any others? we aren't talking about magic, or people walking on water, just things that if we accept the rules of game world just dont make sense.

Unlike many classes witches have different and equally popular conceptions.

You have the arcane witch that goes to the academy and keeps spells in a spell book, very popular with YA.

You have the witch that makes pacts with powerful entities, and communes with a familiar

and perhaps the oldest tradition of all old witch in the woods.

I think that the witch should be determine by the archetype. you should have a

1. the arcane witch, that case with int, has a spell book and studies magic
2. the witch that made a pact with some outsider. uses charisma, has a familiar and uses the spell list most appropriate to the outsider.
3. the witch in the woods, uses wisdom, and casts from the primal list.

So my group finally finished the first part of the playtest.
We have been playing pathfinder since the first day of release.

Our group

Elf monk (human monk) Iomedae AC 14

Human Paladin - Iomedae (LG) AC 13

Halfling Ranger

Goblin rogue (NPC)

We all had a great time.

all of us took about 30 minutes to make our characters, but found the layout of book to be terribe, and that was the kindest words. But we all felt that once you knew what you were doing it was very fast.

We all loved the new action economy. We all loved the bonus hit points, and the increased challange of the adventure. It was noted that this was the first time in the 10 years we have been playing, that our melee characters had to take cover. The third action is really great, and added a lot of tactical decision making for all the characters.

One of the biggest issues was our prior knowledge of the old rules, so a lot times, we were trying to figure out, if they were new versions of old rules, like firing into combat, or attack of opportunites and what triggers them.

The rest hp regeneration seems a little strict. We were all happy about healers being needed now, potions were actually treated as being special. we definatly tried to conserve them.

Healing is super important, if we didnt have that paladin, i dont think we would have survived.

Potential issue we saw was the death and dying, since our paladain was KO'ed by the boss, the save Dc was huge, he had to use a hero point. which i suppose may have been the point.

All and all we had a great time, and can't wait to continue the playtest. The biggest gripe was just the layout of the book, no one had anything postive to say about it.

Included in the over 20 hours of paizo gencon twitch streams, was the reasoning behind the changes in the death system.

The main issue as seen by the dev team was that dying was not even across the levels. that the threat of death was greater at higher level than it was at lower levels, which I think is in fact a positive not a negative.

1. that characters have a been chance of dying at high level is good thing. first is that it's realistic. if you were a mercenary by trade, you would be way more afraid if your opponents were spec operation operators versus some wet behind the ears gang members. an increase in your opponent skill level creates an increased risk for yourself as it should.

2. it gives high level meaning besides more power. high level also means greater stakes, the character life is on the line. you should absolutely be more fearful that failure against an adult dragon is likely to mean death, while you might fell you could walk from a failure against a goblin with your life intact.

3. I like many of the changes in the game, as it's brings about a more even experience, however I believe there is a line where the game becomes too board gamey where the human emotions is lost you abstraction and longer becomes heroic fantasy experience. the fear of death should not be equal. I should not have the same fear fighting a goblin as I do dragon or tarasque. The fact that a dragon or tarasque can end my life the lower my hit points get is apart of the role playing drama and experience of being a hero fighting a dragon.

Now it could be, that because I grew up playing second edition that my views on death is skewed and well as what is expected of a role playing game, but I can't imagine having the a o level creature posing the same risk of death as a adult red dragon or tarasque a positive.

Why is master of many styles a 16th level feat. it takes my monk 16 levels to switch styles as a free action? it should be available as soon as a character is able to use two styles. Wouldn't that be first think you would want learn after you could learn two styles, is how to switch between them?

is it one roll -4?

do you add your strength damage 2x?

Armor as damage reduction is obviously the correct choice.it works so much better logically and thematically.

second why cant players dodge or block. the biggest dislike I have with D&D to PF is how passive combat is. it would be so simple, you roll to hit me with bonus, I roll to block with bonuses. higher number wins, either side win more than 10 critical sucessess. defender wins the ties.

and damage reduced by armor.

please consider using spell level modifiers to initiative similar to 2e in balancing spells, rather than the heavy nerf to all spells that is present in this edition. Magic does not feel dangerous or deadly in this edition. I dont see why anyone would fear or cower from mages in the real world of pathfinder.

It is my opinion that a lot of the balance issues 3.0 and 3.5 was due to the addition of concentration checks, do I agree with their removal, but another issue was the removal of speed modifiers. casters were able to cast extremely power high level spells with no tactical considerations. high level spells should be powerful, giving the casters an initiative modifier equal to the spell level is to me a better solution, than the watering down of magic, to where the word I would use to describe many high level spells is quaint.

We played a little, so just my initial reaction

Combat feels a little lackluster. I think it would be better if it were less passive. there should definitely be a dodge or parry reaction mechanic. Armor should just function as damage reduction. this edition suffers from the same problem 3.0, 3.5. 5.0 and PF1 all had in that you can't really have battles or combat that matches what you see in the comics or the movies, or read in books, or imagine, because the system is so passive. a character can't really show off their superior skills or agility in an active way.

I'm stealing shamelessly from shadowrun, but I think every time you get attacked and you are aware of the attack, the player should get a free reaction to roll to either block or dodge. parry using weapon skill modifiers and dodge using dexterity modifiers, and if you beat the attack roll by 10 then you get a counter attack that the attacker can neither block or dodge or maybe a bonus on your next attack against them, or a special action like a disarm or trip.

I think that it would be better player wise, to be able to say I blocked or dodge 50% of the attacks against me, rather the enemy missed 50% of the time.

After seeing all the sillyness regarding divine protection being a powerful feat, or a feat you would build around, when it's just an ok feat let's make a thread listing feats that are actually powerful. feats that make you exponentially more powerful, feats that allow for things that otherwise can't be done, feats that you would in fact build around

1. power attack - best feat
2. dazzing spell - second best feat- poster child for feat you build around
3. preffered spell - turn your God caster into a God and blaster caster
4.accursed hex
5. extra mystery (mysteries are in general more powerful than feats, most are far more valuable than dvine protection, allowing the oracle to break certain rules in the game)
6. leadership
7. master craftman, feat tax yes, but the payoff is huge.
8. extra rage
9. extra hex

I understand that paizo is proud of it's transgenered iconic, i game with a transgenered person, that being said, i don't think it's cool to supress those who disagree.

with the announcement of pathfinder unchained and the arrival of the advanced class guide, the only thing left is epic or a second edition, and i don't think a second edition is a good idea, and i really don't want to see something as lame as an advanced player's guide 2 or ultimate combat 5.

To me the most imporant goal of unchained isn't class rewrites (although the rogue and to a lesser of the extent the monk do need full BABS) it should be about making the game more playable levels 12-20, setting the foundation for epic and fixing systems like stealth that have an abundance of corner cases that expose the flaws in the system.

Dear Design team, prehaps these answers fell through the cracks, mistakes happen, please confer and resolve these mutually exclusive anwers.

1. faq resonse

Racial Heritage: Can a human with this feat take levels in an archetype that requires you to be of a specific race?

Yes, the Racial Heritage feat allows you to qualify for archetypes that have the chosen race as a requirement, assuming you still meet all of the other requirements to take levels in the archetype.

—Jason Bulmahn, 07/27/12

Here is the feat in question:

Racial Heritage

Prerequisite: Human.

Benefit: Choose another humanoid race. You count as both human and that race for any effects related to race. For example, if you choose dwarf, you are considered both a human and a dwarf for the purpose of taking traits, feats, how spells and magic items affect you, and so on.

The given answer and the Feat description, make it clear that racial archtypes are considered a "effect" related to race.

However compare to a later Faq answer

Half-Elf or Half-Orc: Can a character of either of these races select human racial archetypes (such as from Advanced Race Guide?

No. While half-elves and half-orcs do count as humans "for any effect related to race", racial class archetypes do not count as an "effect."

—Pathfinder Design Team, 03/15/13

These answer are mutually exclusive, they cannot both be correct, please look into this issue please, and resolve, one way or the other.

Thank you.

i assume pf monks are based on the shaolin monks legend. why the heck are these guys not full bab? they literally spend these thier entire life praticing and studing combat, many though you could only attain enlightment through the mastery of pysical combat. while i agree they did not set out with the intent to conquier They might as well be called the asian (chinese) version of spartans.

Does the oread stat bonus/minus make any sense to anyone? Wisdom is the last thing i would ever associate with the plane of earth. The description pretty much screams +str/con and minus - cha or +str/con and minus dex or +str/con and minus int. all those seem logical and in keeping with description of the race and the overall view of the element of earch. the +wis is so random and nonsensical that i am having difficulty figuring it out.

1. a person can always stealth, at any time.
2. make all modifiers made to the perception check ( so for distraction the observer gets the bonus to the perception check of plus 10)
3. a person who attempts to stealth while being observed at the start of the attempt automatically fails. no need to roll perception.

4. a person who uses stealth gains has the benefit of cover or concealment weather nor not there is actual cover or concealment if the viewer is distracted or not looking in the direction of the stealth character.- so stealthing against a distracted opponent or someone not looking in your direction, ie from behind, is the functional equvilent of chamoflauge.

5. a charecter who attempts to stealth against a non distracted opponent-A. if there is actual cover or concealment then the viewer gets no bonuses to perception for the lack thereof, it functions normally.
B. if there is no cover or concealment, ie, the open field in bright light with no shadows, the viewer gets +50 to thier preception check, however if the character is invisible then viewer instead gets -20 to thier perecption check - therefore the rogue is only likely to succeed if they are invisible, or very far away, has hips, or the viewer rolls a 1 which is as it should be.

Darkvision and stealth
the stealthing loses the benefit of cover and concealment due to lighting against a char with dark vision with 60 feet.

darkvision has not effect on ranger hips
darkvision negates shadow dancer/assasin hips as written. These skills seem to supernaturally extend dim lighting conditions around then for a longer area. therefore the darkvision should penetrate

true seeing and hips
true seeing should see hips with regards to shadow dancers and assisans because it can see through darkness.