kaid's page

Gaulin wrote:

Honestly I'm a little worried runesmith might be too strong. I really like the class conceptually and mechanically but it does seem to do silly amounts of damage even still. Hopefully there's pieces of the puzzle we don't have yet, like you can only invoke once a turn or one of each rune etched at a time, etc.

From what I've gathered, apart from runes dealing 1d8/spell level instead of 2d6/spell level:

- You can only invoke one kind of rune once per round
- You can only invoke once per round, and no more than two runes at once.

So you still can do some impressive single target damage, but you have to work for it.

Yeah sounds like you can still pull off some big booms but requires time/actions to set it up. I think that likely works out and should be fun for those who enjoy setting up fireworks to go boom.

Have paizo always done book releases this way where they send out previews? I'm quite enjoying it as it's putting new sites and creators on my radar.

For the real big ones and major gen con releases they have done stuff like this in the past. Given this book has 2 new classes and two apparently really reworked popular classes it was a real prime candidate for it.

BotBrain wrote:

A magus necromancer should be possible through your standard multiclass archtype method. Summoning thralls and your magus rotation will probably be action intensive but not insurmountable.

Magus getting more spells is important because magus previously had so few spell slots. For a class built around casting as many spells as they can to use their signature abilities, this made them struggle if you had several encounters in a day. This lead to a lot of people archtyping out for (focus) spells to compensate.

Not to be trite, but does 2 spell slots/day per rank really change much? It's still 2 of your top and 2 of your second from top slots, same as it ever was, now there's just more lower level spell slots.

So ultimately, has anything really changed? Won't you run out of meaningfully impactful gas as often as previously and still may need an archetype for an ever refilling decent focus spell?

It really does I think. You now can get a lot of the lower level utility/debuff stuff like sure strike without having to alot one of your four precious spells on it. It takes a lot of pressure off the focus spells and allows you to pack a lot more versatility of spells to spell strike with.

Mathfinder has a video up showing off some magus changes, looks cool. And it's confirmed it has psychic spell slot progression which is great for you magus players

Which means summoner will be following the same progression. Honestly it is just a lot easier for people to figure out/handle than the wave casting which is a bit odd to keep track of.

I am curious if this means the more martial focused necro winds up with weapon/armor options like the magus. Not full martial but nudging that way.

This is minor, but in Lost Omens Divine Mysteries, in the entry on Milani on p. 151, her edicts read:

"confront oppression in all its forms, defend the common folk, overcome despair to **sieve** victory"

I think that last part is probably supposed to be "overcome despair to **save** victory". I'm not sure how I'd actually sieve victory.

You have to sieve victory to make sure no defeat is left in the mix.

The class is very very "starfinder" and overall seems good if maybe a bit conservative on power and possibly look at the action costs of role/spotlight.

I do kinda hope there are more feats that lean into the hardlight aspect but overall I really like the playtest version and I am certain the release version is going to be even better.

Sleeping in armor makes their bones ache.

Automaton gets two pages, so it's not a reprint of the ancestry itself.

Points to new "heritages" likely non jistka ones and some feats to help "flesh" that out.

LoreMonger13 wrote:

Happily surprised to see that they will in fact have the Automatons reprinted here!

Seems like a bit of a waste of space considering they came out with Guns & Gears and we already got Guns & Gears remastered so we already have automatons remastered, or am I missing something here?

I suspect there are adding non jistka automaton options. The previous ones were cool but were a very pidgeon holed origin story.

That makes a lot of such souls for just one Necromancer. The Summoner has only one.

Easier to attract and control a flock of weak souls compared to one very strong soul.

Leliel the 12th wrote:

Invictus Fatum wrote:

This is from my post on the new Blog that Paizo dropped.

In the encounter we see a number of abilities used, but the one that really caught my interest is the lore on how Thrall creation works. Seems that the thralls are simulacra rather than the actual raising of the person. He's still using necromantic energy and he is using the actual remains of the person to draw the power, but he's using it to create a copy of them as a thrall.

To me, this is a major distinction. Even in the story it implies that he calls the same people (or rather copies them) for each specific task over and over. Frankly, I'm a big fan of this approach to the lore.

That's something I thought might happen, and it works for an ethical necromancer. You are not enslaving the dead, they are your allies - and you have a close friendship with a few who don't mind being unliving cannon fodder since they'll come right back.

Also neatly allows for things like Undead Familiars - this is something you've helped one of your buddies possess in the long term.

Sounds cool, but that would be the Necromancer deceiving themselves.

The dead's actual souls are already in the Graveyard or beyond.

They could be like the summoner phantom eidolons not undead but souls who have for some reason not moved on or are still tied to somebody.

I think we will get the Create Thrall and Command as is, maybe with Command usable only when you Create a Thrall in the dedication and a 4th-level feat that gives you the ability to do it anytime.

And now I have this image of a Wood Kineticist MC Necromancer spamming Timber Sentinels and Thralls all over the battlefield.

Since necros = thrall casters it seems like they would need to be able to produce them. I am guessing their action economy and ability to use them is going to be what is limited.

The lore on how Thrall creation works is interesting to me here. Seems that the thralls are simulacra rather than the actual raising of the person. He's still using necromantic energy and he is using the actual remains of the person, but he's using it to create a copy of them as a thrall.

To me, this is a major distinction. Even in the story it implies that he calls the same people (or rather copies them) for each specific task over and over. Frankly, I'm a big fan of this approach to the lore.

Given summon spells are similar where it is not actually bringing a real creature in but a magic simulacrum would be a decent way for necros to maintain their dark vibes without really violating pharasmas edicts unless they really choose to by using rituals and the like to make real undead.

Book of the dead I think would be a pretty easy remaster I don't recall a ton of stuff that would be a big problem to change from OGL.

I think one of the issues that gets investigators rated a bit lower in general is a lot of what they do sort of needs GM buy in/support. To really shine they need lots of stuff to investigate. A very flavorful and fun class but some tables just don't let them play to their strengths.
But if you have a gm and an adventure that plays to their strength you can go full on sherlock holms goodness.

I'm going to be completely honest given how this game is, standard tier lists don't work because the entire game is between S and B. Even your usual suspects for worst class have nothing on the level of variance I've seen in other class-based TTRPGs.

Yup even the one sort of acknowledged as being the weakest the inventor is still a perfectly functional class. The balance in PF2e is really good and all the classes so far are mostly in a good place.

Inventor feels like the only real outlier although it is perfectly capable of handling adventures and is overall interesting.

Cleric/fighter/rogue are probably at the top end of the power range.

Fighters are pretty straight forward and their high accuracy means they perform real well.

Rogues are just packed with power this go round they are just real strong with some very interesting build options.

Clerics are just top notch at their role having a full extra set of top level heal or harm spells in addition to all their normal stuff.

Most of the rest float between those points some like animist are probably up at the top but are also a LOT more complex.

I was hoping for more grey shades on both sides. Andoran not always good and Cheliax not always evil.

AFAICT the APs and the PFS scenarios did not deviate from the easy black and white story of Cheliax = always Evil.

If you're playing a Hellknight in PFS, some scenarios become beyond absurd IMO.

While a lot of hellknights are tied to cheliax quite a few orders are much broader and have their own interests. There are a number of them that make total sense to see things in cheliax that they would feel required to act against.

I think one of the reasons they went with thralls for Necromancers is some kind of transient constructs like thralls has a bit easier for people to deal with as you are not really directly raising dead bodies but more kind of whipping them together out of spirit energy/materials from the area that only hold together as long as the necro is actively maintaining them.

You are not taking spirits from the boneyard and sticking them in some permanent construct but more just grabbing onto soul stuff to spackle a puppet together long enough to use and then the energy goes back from whence it came.

Harmless undead COMPLETELY contradict Golarion... except for the Exceptions, but those aren't Relevant because we're talking about "Generality Exactly" which sounds like a contradiction in terms to me, but whatever.

Oh, and the fact that in what is confirmed to be the same universe, just the far flung future, we have an entire PLANET of undead, which not only hasn't caused the Universe to end via their mere existence, but also were among the first to sign the peace treaty that is one of the pivotal parts of the setting.

but my idea of harmless undead must be wrong and is complete fantasy... in this fantasy game.

Like I said, I'm tired of being told I'm imagining wrong.

One thing EOX has going for it that is harder to come by than golarian is ability to manufacture artificial "food" and "drink" for its citizens. One big issue for harmless undead is they have hungers and it is a challenge on gloarian to satiate them in a way that is not HIGHLY frowned upon by people who feel like they may be the cattle.

Still eox seems to be a reasonable way to demonstrate that whole undead could be cosmologically problematic the threshold seems pretty high and some undead here and there does not seem to be an immediate threat.

Kavlor wrote:

I hope the introduction of an official Necromancer class will normalize attitudes and views toward necromancy in society. Ultimately, Geb demonstrates the potential of necronomics to increase economic productivity and eliminate the need for human labor on farms and mines, which could instead be channeled into crafts, science, and the arts.

Oh, yeah, and corral most humans to live as a food source.

I think other than pharasma going thou shalt not use of skeletons for labor would likely be reasonably common. It is a pretty good force multiplier for doing basic tasks like carry the heavy thing or walk on a tread mill to power a water wheel basic farm stuff that requires no brains and minimal overseers.

Errenor wrote:

Ok, now I have to ask. Do iruxi being cold-blooded(?) reptiles(?) generally even like hugs from warm-bloods? Maybe it's unpleasant. Or if not, still not comfortable. Maybe they don't like touches.

Also Usharak is an interesting enough iconic.

Pet reptiles can be quite physically affectionate =]

That said, particularly with a more sapient individual, one should always check the intended recipient's boundaries first.

But I could totally imagine an Iruxi glomming onto a willing warm-blood at night to keep cozy through sleep. A steady, reliable heat source with minimal fluctuation would be quite the benefit!

I used to have to help reposition a very large rat snake that liked sleeping on the 8th green of a golf course I worked at. I would get a call to move it by the grounds keepers and I would go there and offer my arm next to the snake. Snake sensing how warm my arm was would curl around it and then I could just gently lift it and go sit by its favorite sunning rock until it was warmed up enough from my arm it would just slither to its rock.

kaid wrote:

Zoken44 wrote:

I wonder if they added support for undead familiars or companions.

I have zero doubt the former will be an option and the latter seems like a no brainer too.

The Impossible Playtest Debrief Blog says they "do plan on including some undead familiar options in the final release of the necromancer".

Yeah I am sure it was left off mostly because familiar feats and companion feats are pretty well tested already and how they interact with characters. No point really testing that when it is easy enough to add the options should they choose to do so. I sort of suspect that Necro may be a bit action hungry to make the best use of a companion but it is very flavorful for them to have it so I do expect to see that as an option.

I wonder if they added support for undead familiars or companions.

I have zero doubt the former will be an option and the latter seems like a no brainer too.

I am very much looking forward to checking out the final version of the necromancer.

I am sure some necromancers are going to be full mustache twirlers but they also clearly want heroic necromancer options that likely are skirting stuff that pharasma would really put her foot down about.

For PC options, the standard answer seems to be that yes, they do need to breathe unless specified otherwise.

Looking at Construct Ancestries:

Automaton says that it doesn't breathe narratively, but mechanically it still does need breathable air and can suffocate like other PC creatures.

Poppet doesn't specify in the base Ancestry entry, but the Windup Poppet Heritage mentions that Windup Poppet needs to breathe the same as all other Poppet heritage options do.

Yeah stuff like that is more of an issue for a player ancestry for a familiar I can't see how it not having to breath would have any major impact on anything.

I never noticed it did not spell that out but I think it depends a bit. If it is an organic construct it maybe needs to breath. If it is inorganic stone/metal/undead bone it shouldn't need to breath.

Weapon rune tatoos for unarmed would be pretty dope honestly.

We already have several ancestries that have have armor runes carve don their scales and such after all.

Yeah a tattoo version of the handwraps would be both cool and a very flavorful option. When adding upgrades to it doing it as adding to the tattoo and making it more complex changing its design would be neat.

Same. And yeah Impossible Spells hopefully are the kind of insane broken stuff that will feel memorable whenever you get to use one.

I would have to suspect that such a spell would also have some long lasting effect/repercussion.

One interesting thing for summoner was it seemed like they were highlighting streamlining terminology/descriptions of stuff which sounds like it should slim down existing stuff and allow them more page space for new stuff.

I wonder if that will be condensing the stat lines for eidolons to make them consistent str or dex or caster favoring instead of having slight variants for each eidolon. Could free up a lot of space for more eidolon types.

Overall I don't think the summoner needs a massive rework so tightening stuff up and then adding more eidolon options should be pretty solid.

_shredder_ wrote:

Stellifera in sf2 would be awesome.

I'm actually legitimately shocked they're not in the game yet.

Although there are SO MANY SF1E aliens, I noticed that both myself and a lot of people who look through them tend to gravitate to about a dozen or so with really strong hooks and gimmicks.

Before the Galaxy Guide and Galactic Ancestries, I remember seeing both myself and a lot of people request the same aliens with extremely strong gimmicks: Contemplatives, Entu, Izalguun, Novian, etc.

Literally the only alien I would repeatedly see from 1e that isn't in the game already by now is Stellifera. Their cuttlefish water bubble gimmick is fantastic!

I am sure the stellifera will show up sooner than later. They are pretty neat and the galaxy guide shows they can do some fun stuff with tiny ancestries.

It will be interesting having a hologram luminary. It is hardlight constructs all the way down.

The support angle of the class seems to have a lot of focus but basically no juice. The low level feats and focus spells seem to want you to also just mainly ignore the spotlight mechanic and have you leave it on yourself forever which feels odd?

Being able to do no savedebuffs that last a turn is useful but I don't see much to attract people to the class outside of the wacky fantasy (which doesn't work for me personally since it's a very niche pitch and this is a game with 6 second combat turns

I would have to see it in play but I suspect the spotlight should be moving around a lot turning on the roles of those it is currently on. The minus save ones I think should be pretty strong if you have people in the party capable of using it.

I think this is one of those classes though where people are going to need to play it a bit to get a better feel of how its combats flow.

Another thing I would like is a grenade focused archtype that gives you free grenades per day. I know there's that one magic item that can act as a 1/day grenade but man do these things drain your money.

They had a lot of that in SF1 so I would be surprised if we don't see something like this pop back up in SF2. Like a mechanic who can make a certain number of temporary jury rigged grenades per day.

I am curious how much will be covered about how sailing ships manage to defend themselves vs aquatic enemies. Sailing ships I would think would be really vulnerable in a setting where there are fully aquatic intelligent civilizations that have magical capacity. Seeing/hearing a boat rumbling around compared to beings that can well below the surface. There almost has to be a fair amount of detection magic that allows ships some better way of seeing the threats around them and protecting themselves.

There are questions about how long Quick Alchemy Poisons last.

The most common ruling I heard is "until start of next turn in your hand, 10 minutes on your weapon". But that isn't a actual rule.

Also, what about Familiar Poison Reservoir? Would it last 10 minutes in there?

There is errata that spells this out now and it basically is what was expected. Once it is "activated" by applying it to a weapon it lasts for 10 minutes. The familiar poison reserve should worth the same way loading it into the familiar would be like applying it to a weapon and good for 10 mins.

This is an excellent example of why friends don't let friends train their LLM on reddit.

griefninja wrote:

The movie Project Hail Mary is very fun and I enjoy how the aliens are depicted in that. An ancestry inspired by them would be super fun.

Having way different atmosphere requirements reminds me of how a lot of aquatic ancestries need to soak in water to avoid drying out. You'd just "replace soak in water for an hour" with "breathe in ammonia for an hour." The way they use their limbs could also be fun. Do you use all four as legs for more speed, or do you hop around on one to have three "hands" free? It'd be interesting to see ships or stations built with two atmosphere zones or space suits for personal use.

Their vision being totally different is also fun. They echolocate, basically, so not being able to see stars or most other species writing could be a very interesting hurdle for a species in a sci-fi setting.

Rocky has been what I've thought of pretty much every time someone has brought up Vlaka senses over the past year.

Yup it is a good demonstration of an advanced spacefaring race figuring out work arounds like using devices to translate one set of input into another. Once they realize that information is important or they need to interact with it whipping something up to translate it into something they can work with is reasonable.

The movie Project Hail Mary is very fun and I enjoy how the aliens are depicted in that. An ancestry inspired by them would be super fun.

Having way different atmosphere requirements reminds me of how a lot of aquatic ancestries need to soak in water to avoid drying out. You'd just "replace soak in water for an hour" with "breathe in ammonia for an hour." The way they use their limbs could also be fun. Do you use all four as legs for more speed, or do you hop around on one to have three "hands" free? It'd be interesting to see ships or stations built with two atmosphere zones or space suits for personal use.

Their vision being totally different is also fun. They echolocate, basically, so not being able to see stars or most other species writing could be a very interesting hurdle for a species in a sci-fi setting.

And the nice thing with environmental high tech armor is you can really go wild with stuff like this and not have it be some massive hinderance. Like rocky basically makes his own lil exo armor at the end to hang with his buddy in the bio dome.

Would be easy on space ships to have crew quarters setup with whatever flavor of air/water/other medium they are comfortable in and just use force fields to keep stuff where it needs to be.

Ugh I hope so. Maybe some tech core in there if we're exceptionally lucky.

For real though I'd imagine if any book is getting spoilers it's going to be LO: High Seas. That's the next one up, right?

I believe high seas is the next big thing on the horizon although we are getting to the time where it is possible for another playtest for SF2 to get announced in the next few months although they may wait for closer to gencon for that.

I also want a nice helping of new weapons. I think perhaps my biggest gripe with the system thus far is it feels like there's massive gaps in the weapon options right now.

No rocket launcher (stellar cannon deals piercing), no martial one handed laser gun (plasma caster is 2H despite apperances) and so on.

Also I want the super shotgun from doom. It's gotta be done.

It would be weird if tech core does not contain a whole bunch new weapons. The player core options are fine but clearly missing a bunch of options.

Side note on melee in zero-g. If there was going to be a melee class good at zero-g fighting, I think it would be Solarian.

Yeah Solarians have BYOG bring your own gravity.

An official ooze ancestry would be nice. (Or did one of those appear in Starfinder? It's hard to keep track.)

Definitely would like to see more creature types get ancestries.

There is a really neat SF2 ooze ancestry. They do have some small brains that are by default not fully goo but they can take feats that let them be squishy too so you can squeeze through almost anything.

Given how many aquatic/semi aquatic ancestries are around in starfinder I don't see much reason to restrict them. In starfinder just about everybody has/should have long lasting environmental protections. It isn't much of an advantage as long as you have some kind of ship/base to recharge your suites as well as lots of magic options to do the same.

Aquatic races and non aquatic ones still will need to do most of the same tasks gathering resources and what not because underwater breathing is unlikely to be much of a help/hinderance but finding food/shelter/equipment effects everybody.

kaid wrote:

ScooterScoots wrote:

My continual flame doesn’t take up a hand, it’s a helmet light. With a cover and everything. If I want multiple instances I can get multiple and chuck them.

Yeah if your party does not have low light/dark vision light cantrip is a champ. can just have it follow most of your group around with no hands required. Just fire it up and have it last all day. A real lifesaver for dungeon crawlers.

Of course, carrying (or wearing, etc.) light sources in a Darklands campaign (such as the upcoming Vaultlines AP) make the entire party detectable from a long way off...

If you are in the darklands and need light to begin with it may broadcast your location but it beats walking around totally blind.

While there was a lot of dwarves involved in the quest for sky it seems hard to believe that all of the underground orcs had to flee heck not even all of the dwarves fled.

From what I recall the orcs were not initially overly hostile but given how resource poor the darklands were and the dwarves moving such numbers up through a lot of their territory stuff got heated pretty quick.

Real question for you centaur fans. How many of you have played centaurs that were in dungeoneering parties that encountered…rope ladders, rope access, ladders, hatchways - all the things centaurs aren’t really that…good…at?

Sure, there is “but…magic” to help, however sometimes even magic ain’t going to assist…

What does the centaur…do? I guess there are other ancestries that suffer similarly…lamias, ol’ yuan ti types, bariaur from Planescape etc…

Playing a centaur has challenges. If you pick one some planning and conversations with the party are highly recommended. The medium sized centaurs are a lot easier to work with the larger ones like any large ancestry can be a problem if you are going cave exploring.

I had a centaur kineticist that I wound up taking earth for one of my gates. The various ways to make walkable stepping stones/molding/widening earth/stone helped. Also a centaur charging at somebody in earthen armor is like the juggernaut.

Also note that especially for the medium sized ones but even the larger centaurs they are less big domestic horse body and more wild horse/pony bodies and wild horses/pony can be very sure footed in mountains/rocky areas.

I've been playing a whole bunch of Subnautica, and have been thinking about what a Subaquatic Submarine Focused Hexploration/Base Building campaign might look like using Starfinder 2nd Edition rules, and whether there is a planet that would be well suited to such a campaign?

There is a galaxy worth of planets that would likely work on. Especially if you want to do a colonization type campaign or setting up a base. Take something like horizons of the vast and set it on a more aquatic world. Tons of aquatic ancestries are available for it. In the pact worlds one of the pact races the kalo are from a fully aquatic society based on a water moon of bretheda.

But if you are looking more at exploration/colonization super easy to just whip up a world in the vast.

Nice thing about starfinder is basically everybody with tech body armor is effectively wearing a scuba suit rated for moderate depths.

My continual flame doesn’t take up a hand, it’s a helmet light. With a cover and everything. If I want multiple instances I can get multiple and chuck them.

Yeah if your party does not have low light/dark vision light cantrip is a champ. can just have it follow most of your group around with no hands required. Just fire it up and have it last all day. A real lifesaver for dungeon crawlers.