kaineblade83's page

Perception being the most -common- way to roll initiative is certainly not saying it's the -only- way to roll initiative, I'll point out. It really depends on the situation; I imagine stealth is going to still be pretty often used by people that have it for initiative, when they can, depending on the exploration activity going on before combat.

What I wonder, though, is how often a Charisma based skill would be used for initiative outside of social situations; does that raise its value at all or push it back to being really only useful for social situations? I lean towards the latter, but I guess it's worth noting that Wisdom isn't the ONLY initiative stat out there? I feel like I'm grasping at straws.

I definitely see the Occultist showing up in PF2 as "the king or queen of focus points" considering that they were the inspiration for the whole resonance/spell points mechanic which became focus. Like the niche for that class is "the casteriest focus point caster"- you get the most focus points, can do the most with them, can refocus more efficiently, etc.

I think they said something about the occultist kind of being an inspiration for focus points (or spell points, before, I believe) at one point during the playtest, but please someone correct me if I'm wrong because I ...wouldn't even know how to source that. If that's the case, occultist absolutely makes sense to behave exactly like that

Inclusiveness and representation have been two of the big things keeping me firmly attached to Paizo and its people, and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences!

A lot of my own personal realizations have come about from gaming and the characters I've made/people I've interacted with, and I'm really comforted seeing that I'm not alone in that. Our 'finder games are always a safe space for my group to explore aspects of themselves that they might not be comfortable exploring in society at large through their characters and interactions with the world (I'm sure that's true of a lot of people's games here). I think a lot of that came about because of the welcoming attitude that I saw expressed through the Paizonians.

Longwindedness aside, thankyou all and Happy Pride to everyone!

Jason may be using a different number of xp to level up, too; they talked about that being a sliding scale for your group if you wanted. Could be that it's 500-750 xp between levels instead of 1,000. Those behind-the-scenes things we don't really know, but it makes sense for 1 hour office sessions to not have to take 1,000xp to ding

I'm glad to see other folks having this discussion, and liking a lot of the proposed houserules. Cha for Will saves is one we've considered using even before this edition (what with the way Charisma has sort of moved towards your sense of self/strength of ...y'know, will).

I haven't been able to think of a meaningful way to help it represent magic item expertise, though. One of my players who was involved in the playtest and has been keeping up suggested maybe reducing the number of items we can wear, baseline, but adding charisma modifier to it, but we both came to the conclusion that that wasn't as satisfying and interactive as we were looking for.

Or a cleric of Urgathoa eating copious amounts for 10 minutes, or a cleric of Cayden toasting the party and/or having bar-game style fun. Would a cleric of Desna be able to count exploring/traveling through a new area, one wonders? The rare cleric of the Lantern King (Eldest) gets their focus back while concocting a particularly lengthy prank on a fellow party member...

I know those all seem tongue-in-cheek but I'm genuinely curious, I kind of love the idea for all of them being able to represent something for their faith and count as prayer. Honestly the Desna one's the only one that makes me hesitate.

Access might be related to the rarity system, maybe larger weapons are normally uncommon/rare and thus unable to be obtained without special GM permissions?

My hope for PF2 Medium is to actually go back to the Harrowed Medium from the OA playtest, with each Spirit being a scaling Class Feat (which is an upside, since those usually don't scale directly), but the downside being that you can only use some of them at a time.

I think that would be super neat. It makes multiclassing into or out of Medium tricky...but those issues seem solveable if you work it right.

It would be cool to see them take that route. I could also see following the 'path' route, mechanically. Meaning, you pick one spirit initially and gain benefits from it right away (a skill trained, weapon trained, maybe a spellcasting tradition, or focus spell) but can take feats related to for other spirits as well, similar to the bard's muse.

I think that could make for a wider variety of mediums, but it does kind of shy away from the idea of them being able to channel any spirit on a given day. That might be a little too fiddly in PF2, anyway, to be fair, though... Speculation is fun, whatever the case, though!

kaineblade83 wrote:

Considering how easy it is to start with an 18 now I would be surprised if she didn't have one for Charisma. Given that, 2d6+4 could easily be up to 16 healing, so 14 is, like Mark said, achievable... of course, that's assuming the healing was literally doubled from the playtest version, but given that it's (probably) a 2 action cast vs the versatile casting of the heal spell that seems fair

It's also not impossible that it gained the same kind of buff that 2-action Heal got. 14 healing is plausible for 1d6 + 6 + CHA

Yeah that's very true, it might also be variable (which would be kinda cool, honestly)

Considering how easy it is to start with an 18 now I would be surprised if she didn't have one for Charisma. Given that, 2d6+4 could easily be up to 16 healing, so 14 is, like Mark said, achievable... of course, that's assuming the healing was literally doubled from the playtest version, but given that it's (probably) a 2 action cast vs the versatile casting of the heal spell that seems fair

I'd like to see Champion be specific for good alignments. While neutral and evil would have their own classes and sub classes.

Maybe Guardian for the Neutral class.
Gray Paladin being LN. Renegade for CN. If you are including N then Arbiter though it might be hard to come up with mechanics for a N class.

Conquerer for the evil class maybe? Not 100% on that name. Tyrant for LE. Defiler for NE. Antipaladin for CE. Not 100% on Defiler either.

My home group's been talking about the other alignments for champion, which we're all pretty well assuming will be other alignments but I can see why some people may not like that.

What we've come up with so far is;
LN = Arbiter
N = Monitor
CN = We were going back and forth between Zealot (mostly because of the Proteans, and I am not a huge fan of that one) and ...as you said, Renegade.

LE = Tyrant, we agree there!
NE = Reaver, but I do like Defiler, having heard it now...
CE = I think we're all on board with that one probably being Antipaladin

As to what new classes I hope to see, I'd really be interested in seeing an artificer, though I'd be happy to see it as an archetype, maybe even an alchemist-specific archetype?

Everything else I think could be pretty well represented by a previously existing class, truth be told, so nothing really -new- that I can think of at the moment.

DMW basically said my reasoning. The weapon properties may make them worthwhile, but do we know if there's an ability to let you use your unarmed damage instead of the weapon damage, maybe?

To the four people who had spoiler 85; you kept your secrets better than I could have.

I off-handedly made a joke to my partner, at one point, that maybe none of them had a social media account to post it on, but I'm wondering just how true that is with the spoiler not showing up -at all-!

1 hour and 12 minutes as of the time of this posting I believe... if we were holding out for a hero then now's the time!

Shisumo wrote:

I'm looking forward to homebrewing an Eberron conversion. The new rules for ancestries are going to make so many things so much easier.

Ahhh. I thought I was the lone one thinking of Eberron campaign uses for PF2.

That makes three of us now, and I can't wait.

Stay safe, all! That goes to everyone affected by the storm (Florida-man here, I'm so sorry x: )

That sounds like a wonderful journey, the there AND the back again; glad to have you back, and glad that you got to experience that!

Really happy to see Sig skills get the hammer, and all the additional options for training! Not just that, but that's my big happy-dance inducing note. Thanks for all the hard work, playtesters and Paizonians.

I don't know that it's been asked, or if it's remotely feasible, but is there any possibility of another version of the core book playtest doc being up for download sometime? With changes continuing I imagine it's only going to get more difficult to cram some of the changes into the existing one with edits.

I totally get if that's not a thing, I mean this is a playtest doc it'll get replaced with the core book down the line, but hey if you don't ask you'll never know, right?

I actually really like resonance, in theory. In practice, as I have yet to play an Alchemist, it hasn't been an issue for me and my group. Only alchemists have run out, and whenever anyone had to make a roll beyond their allotted points of resonance it just worked fine.

My problem isn't so much with resonance, but with the way it interacts with consumables and charges. Having to spend resonance AND a charge for a wand or stave or invested magic item feels... bad, it's double dipping. The same could be said for when an alchemist uses resonance to craft something and then someone else has to use resonance to use it, more double dipping.

I like limitations, it should be clarified; I don't think a caster should be able to cast all day, nor do I think a wand or stave should be able to unlimitedly be used all day. I never liked the feeling of chugging the happy stick all the way up until we're about to fight Karzoug, either. I like that the team is looking for ways to make resonance work, but I'm not a huge fan of how things sit right now. Alchemist is the most heavily punished for it, that I have seen, hands down.

I've run (and been run) through the first book, and we had wildly different experiences with the ooze.

First time through was with 3 players (cleric, rogue, and alchemist) and mostly it was a cakewalk but it managed to get a crit on the rogue and almost down him.

The second time (wizard, fighter, cleric, and paladin) it was annoying but we took care of it very easily. The only annoyance was the AoE, we had 3 of the players fail (bad luck), so the fighter did the heavy lifting on that one.

The centipedes have sucked both times, and it's mostly the poison. That fight has downed someone (though not killed anyone) every time, even with removing one of the centipedes for the small group it was difficult.

I really like this idea in theory, and want to see more from it. My big concern is Fighter, though.

Presumably the dedication feats are class feats, which fighters get every level, yes? So what's stopping a fighter from doing everything and still having some class feats for their own base class?

They get their weapon proficiency increase baseline so they wouldn't need to feat out for that, meanwhile they also have 8th level spellcasting in 2 other classes, if they'd like, and some rogue skills. I know there's a dedication limit for the feats, but still, 20 levels of class feats doesn't make that feel totally like a stopgap.

I'm absolutely on board with this and I want to see where it goes, as I said, I'm just voicing concerns I have. I know we haven't seen the full system yet and there may be reasons NOT to be that monster I mentioned building above, but it's worrisome to imagine it'd be easily achievable for fighter; does that make sense?

Too many words T_T It's good to know you'll still be freelancing and that we'll see your name on things 'round here at Paizo, Crystal, you've been a big influence on me and the community and ...yeah. Best of wishes, can't wait to see what's next in store for you!

I'm really liking what I see, for the most part. I've been really excited about RP and it's nice to get to kind of see it in action.

I did have a couple of questions, though, not about resonance but about items in general. I'm not sure if they can be answered but for staves, and I assume other items that work similarly, I see it lets us use a spell slot, but do you have to be a spellcaster to use the charges? And do you have to have the available spell on your list if so, or could, say, a wizard use the staff of healing as a backup healer?

I play with smaller groups, generally, and it'd be great to open up some more possible healing options.

kaineblade83 wrote:

I really like this concept, and it feels like a good place to make the prestige classes of old go. Knowing that the feats are available later feels really cool too, but it does make me question; isn't that how all feats work?

It hasn't been stated as far as I've seen, and if it has I welcome correction! But, can you go back and pick a lower level class/ancestry/skill feat at a later level, as we could in PF1, or are they locked into that level? Or, perhaps, is it a matter of selection, and if you pick one at a certain level you can't go back and pick another?

No, you're right on that. The contrast Jason was setting was with PF1 archetypes, where if they overlapped in one tiny way, even if the two archetypes are really amazing together for a concept, they weren't legal to take together.

Thanks for the reply, Mark! And that's good to hear and has me even more excited than I was before. I love adding more options without completely locking out old ones, that's one of the things that kept me away from some of the archetypes in PF1 that I might have otherwise taken.

So for example, even if you only took one archetype, you could come back later and pick up any class feats you might have wanted to take but missed out on at the time by picking archetype-related feats. There are, of course, only so many feats to go around, but still, I like this a lot!

I really like this concept, and it feels like a good place to make the prestige classes of old go. Knowing that the feats are available later feels really cool too, but it does make me question; isn't that how all feats work?

It hasn't been stated as far as I've seen, and if it has I welcome correction! But, can you go back and pick a lower level class/ancestry/skill feat at a later level, as we could in PF1, or are they locked into that level? Or, perhaps, is it a matter of selection, and if you pick one at a certain level you can't go back and pick another?

KingOfAnything wrote:

tivadar27 wrote:

We don't know this for sure. In fact, all the evidence we have suggests that the increments are +2 even for higher stat boosts (note that Mark gave a bunch of stat arrays and none of them included an odd number...). Personally, I like this way better. Essentially forcing characters to generalize (or get half the usual bonus) is bad in my book.

Confirmed in this thread, actually

Logan mentioned a stat progression with 18 Str/16 Dex at 1st level, 19/18 at 5th level, 20/19 at 10th level, etc.

If this is true, then how did Mark arrive at a Strength of 24 in is example stat spread upthread? Also, Mark's examples have far more stat points then is possible given Starfinder's progression.

Someone will probably answer this before I post but;

Starting with an 18, +1 at 5, 10, 15, and 20, and +2 more from a magic item would lead to 24, yeah? Now if it was achieved without a magic item, I don't know, stats should cap at 22 without them, unless I'm missing my math, which is possible.

I haven't thumbed through the entire post yet, though this is skill related... Do we know what Assurance in a skill does, yet? I've seen it mentioned, and I believe Mark mentioned it in a post about the Medicine skill.

Doktor Weasel wrote:

Although monks, barbarians and druids might reignite the paladin/alignment debate if they don't have their alignment restrictions anymore. And possibly still if they do.

Judging from the first two pages of the Druid in the rulebook that they showed at the banquet, the Druid almost certainly does not have an alignment restriction. If they did, I'd imagine it'd be right there in that sidebar with their key ability score, skills, etc. So from that, I'm going to guess Paladin is the only class left standing with an alignment restriction.

I imagine they have an Anathema based on violating natural rules or wearing metal armor or something, but yeah I didn't recall seeing anything about an alignment restriction.

I'd like to see more on resonance, personally. I really like the idea but there's one thing about it that's been nagging me that I've only just figured out; if it limits how much magic your body can accept, as it were, why doesn't it affect spells?

The easy answer is because it's a game mechanic meant to limit/do away with the "happy stick" exploit and others like it, and I do get that, but there's likely to come a moment in my group's RP where I'm going to have to figure out and explain why the Wizard CAN cast haste on me but I can't DRINK a potion of haste (poor example, I know potions are changing, but you follow the logic I imagine).

I want to like Resonance, I like the limiting factor, the name, the whole idea of it, but there is that one nagging concern.

New folks! Welcome welcome to all, and I hope you're as delighted to be here as we are to have you.

Are you kidding?

It'd be AWESOME to not have that for Paladin.

They'd actually have to ROLEPLAY instead of using the EVILDAR ARRAY to discover the motivations and inclinations of PCs and NPCs, and they'd have plenty of coverage in the event that they were duped rather than having the MUST STOP EBIL alarm going on in their head every ten seconds.

It's a far more heroic story, after all, for a paragon of good to be duped into doing evil unawares and then making it right than side-stepping the whole thing because 'oh, that's evil, shouldn't touch it, or maybe even just preach that they're bad people and need to repent'.

Bring roleplay back to the forefront. Get rid of Paladin Detect Evil.

...and then the Code becomes a lot more powerful.

...That's 100% fair, actually. It's definitely more heroic, and iconic, even, to see such a do-gooder get wrapped up into something more evil, or at least sketchy. I can see how some DMs or groups may have trouble with that aspect of play but I'd love to toy around with it more; not with the intent of having a Paladin fall, by any means, but it's good story telling.

If alignment detection still exists, and as Deadman said, we know Detect Evil does, it would seem a huge shame for the LG Paladin not to have it. We heard very little about their spells beyond the litanies, though, unless you count Lay on Hands.

To those worried about the LG Paladin not in the playtest, they mentioned doing surveys and fine-tuning is what the playtest is about. We also have... what, 10 months? 10 months or so of playtesting before the core book comes out. I can imagine during that time iterations and changes coming out to help us tweak and change things, and I can see other Paladin alignments being one of those things.

I could also be wrong entirely and it could just be LG Pallies, but in my experience Paizo has been pretty good about updating playtest documents in the past, and for much shorter length playtests than this will be.

That aside, I'm really excited for what I see for Paladin here. I am a little concerned that we don't really see mention of spellcasting beyond the litanies and lay on hands (which is tied to Spell Points), but apart from that I like the code of conduct, the focus on defense, the way divine bond has been changed to righteous ally, and most of what i see.

Aside aside; my group usually had people playing as Paladins who were devoted to a God anyway, so that's not a huge change to me and my group, but I totally understand that locking in a deity might throw some folks off.

So I have questions, I don't think they've all been answered but it's possible;

1- What's the thought process behind the proficiency mish-mash between armor and shields? Why does AC change if one's lower, why not just add both?

2- Is AC 10+armor/proficiency or is it level+armor/proficiency?

3- Are potency runes the SOLE way to enchant items now, or do we still have the ability to craft magic items, and if we can still craft them then what's the difference?

4- Why do runes or magic give a bonus to hit, still, and does that stack with the weapon quality and your proficiency with the weapon? I thought we were going away from some of the base dependencies on magic items, but then a cloak of resistance is now part of your armor, so that seems odd...

Great post! I'm ...days late in commenting. Put me firmly in the camp of liking just about everything I'm seeing, save for a few things;

1) Two-handed versus using-an-item-in-two-hands just feels a little clunky.
2) Where's the ranged weapon love? We're still pretty in the dark about that.
3) I know it probably warrants its own blog for combat options, but I still wanna know how Two-weapon-fighting works now, with the new action economy. Is it two swings as 1 action doing less damage, two swings as one action but at a penalty to attack?

Still, I love weapon traits and really like the possibilities I'm seeing already.

I don't know if it's been said here but haven't there been documented instances in Golarion of Halflings preferring to stay as Chelish slaves rather than go on to claim freedom? Like, that's part of Lem's backstory, right? And aren't most Halflings more content to settle in one place and go unnoticed, keeping their heads down? What about that suggests a Charisma boost? Individual Halflings, sure, that's something the floater can represent, but overall I gotta go with the folks calling for a Wis bonus instead of Cha.

Gnomes and Goblins I'm fine with having their stats as they are; Goblins are full of themselves to the point that they can literally see a friend die next to them and think that it won't happen to them. That's both Wis penalty and Cha bonus in a nutshell right there.

<insert rant about Goblins being core moved to another thread>

My only objection is that "encounter mode" really means "combat mode", which is fine, but call it that.

_
glass.

I get why you'd say that, but there's more than just combat that might need to be taken care of on a round-by-round basis. Any tense situation that needs attention down to the wire (rounds) could be an encounter;

Hostage negotiation scene, or heated social encounter.
A chase scene.
Dealing with a victim of some sort of demonic possession.
Complex trap/haunt/hazard scenario.
Combat.

I agree that most of the time we'll be using it for combat, and most games don't necessarily utilize those other scenarios, but I think that's why they went with encounter as opposed to combat.

I for one am super excited about pretty much everything I've heard so far, which isn't much because... we don't even have a playtest yet.

I play 5e, and I've played every D&D edition since 3rd, I've played several others, and I've been a big Paizo fan for years and years. I don't have a problem with smoothing out skills or proficiencies, but the word proficiency doesn't automatically mean Pathfinder is 5th ed D&D.

I'm excited, can't wait to test things out and offer my opinions to improve the game. Complaining doesn't really do that, especially considering we know... like nothing, comparatively.

I'll bump this thread, me and my players have been wondering for quite some time now. We're really hoping the PRD will be updated for ultimate intrigue so that we can have our little vigilante party for the upcoming Taldor AP (or just, as others have said, more easily searchable resources).

Like many here I have trouble choosing just one "most fun". I'm often the DM of our group but on the chance I do get to play, I think that my top 5 go-to classes would be;

Wizard: I love the "controlling the universe" vibe, spellcasting, and sheer number of different options they have. Diviner and Abjurer at the top of those!

Kineticist: While I haven't gotten to play with every element, I tried a hydrokineticist and it was really fun! Some of the most fun I've had in 'finder, honestly. I played him in Skull & Shackles so I really got to take advantage of the water-based options.

Occultist: So many powers! I love choosing from items and relics and building story based around how the character gets them, what their history may have been, and really tying myself into the world, but also gaining a fair amount of power from it.

Bloodrager: Smash & cast, what's not to love? I find that elemental is my favorite bloodline, and just being this elementally charged behemoth bashing and leaping across the battlefield is just ...really fun. Don't think, just act, and bash.

Magus: I love the gish, what can I say? Like bloodrager you have smash and cast but there's more thought and versatility with magus. I feel like it really does combine the best facets of wizard and fighter.

I've been playing RotR for years and years now, but I don't have that many obits to speak of! Well, none that lasted. Does it count if they were rezzed?

Name of PC: Karromar Blood-of-Dawn
Class/Level: CG Shoanti Bloodrager
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: Sicknasty combo of Erylium and Sinspawn
Story: Karromar was always eager for a fight but this was the first real spellcaster we'd encountered and the poor fella had a terrible will save. He'd done some crazy things in his short existence but the well-timed combo of a sleep spell/hex and a Sinspawn coupe-de-grace were all she wrote for the poor fella. With the party's meatshield gone the Sinspawn were free to focus on our party's oracle and take them out as well.

Name of PC: Milosh
Class/Level: NG Varisian Oracle of Lore 2
Adventure: Burnt offerings
Catalyst: See above
Story: Sadly, also see above. Milosh, however, was mostly bodily intact and able to come back later! Him being but a poor farm boy who was caught up into things he didn't fully understand, however, decided to stick it out at Sandpoint and help teach the children with his newfound mystic knowledge.

Name of PC: Ailen
Class/Level: CG Chelish Oracle of Battle 3
Adventure: Burnt Offerings
Catalyst: A random encounter table gone horribly wrong.
Story: Y'know people talk about the Sandpoint devil... But it's a whole other thing to actually be dumb enough to fight it. Especially at lower level. The party tried to take what was left of his body, which was sadly only a lower leg with his boot still on, and were dismayed to find out that raise dead needs a bit more than that. Ailen didn't receive a proper resurrection until we scraped up enough cash to go to Magnimar but that leg was just never the same.

Name of PC: Mimlindia, Tennyson, and Aidan
Class/Level: All roughly around 9 or 10; Gnome Necromancer, Human Bard, Human Oracle, accompanied by Shalelu Andosana
Adventure: the Hook Mountain Massacre
Catalyst: Black Magga
Story: One of those nights with bad rolls, sadly. Magga's breath rendered us all confused save for the wizard who was summarily taken out the next round by a tentacle. Shalelu accidentally killed the Bard in her confusion, and the Oracle was the next target of Magga's tentacles. Shalelu nearly killed herself, but Magga retreated and she had the arduous task of dragging all the bodies out of the water.

On the note of the dex-to-damage being overpowered, it's perceived as such because dex applies to so much more than strength and it's easier to make a build with only one stat to apply to so many things. It's not for the damage so much as the added benefits having the dex would grant. Dex applies to;
* Acrobatics (highly useful in combat to avoid attacks).
* Reflex saves (ymmv but it's the save I've seen made the most).
* AC (because with a +10 dex mod that's also adding to your avoidance as well as damage for this feat/argument).
* Disable Device, Escape Artist, Stealth, and, arguably less useful, Sleight of Hand.
* Initiative (need I say more on that?).

One could make the argument that your dex bonus to AC is limited by your armor but there are easy ways around that. For example, using bracers of armor instead of armor; easily augmented armor (like mithral, darkleaf, or even simply a haramaki); using a buckler; relying solely on other sources of AC (rings, amulets, the normal progression items)... I don't wanna derail this thread, but I just want to make the point that there's some very valid reasons to consider why making a one-stat-for-everything build is considered OP.

Too many words, I've been typing and retyping things over and over, here. Wes, you're a wonderful person and your contributions have been manifold, to both Golarion and the community.

Best of luck in your endeavors from here on out, gonna be looking out for what's next!

I... am... at a loss of words for this. Rest in Peace, Carrie, and I really, really want things to start looking up for next year for those of us that remain.

Call out 'impossible' if you will but this is a frustration I have too. They've rolled in a box, with a cup, on a book, on the table, in a drawer we pulled out, with someone else's dice, and using several different 'rolling' styles: regardless, they still, on average, roll amazingly well. Three nat 20s in a row or better has happened on more than one occasion. Sadly no helpful advice for this one, if you have any luck let me know

I've got a Transmuter who focused heavily on the physical as being augmented by his magic (Transmute-tank), and his ritual was a strong morning workout. He'd perform a series of physical exercises and between each rep or when pausing for breath he'd stop to study another segment of his spellbook.

My Elven Diviner meditated on possible outcomes for events that might happen during the day, going through them moment by moment in his head like little plays. He picked through which spells would come the most in handy in the situation, testing each scenario out in his mind before committing any spell to memory.

An eldritch knight (who was a stormborn sorcerer) of mine in Eberron took to the highest point he could to commune with the wind, bonus points if it was raining or storming. Once we got the airship that became a LOT easier!

My first group was played with two friends (wife and husband pair).
My second group was a 2/2 split male and female.
My NEXT group was 2 female, 4 male.
My Longest Running Group Ever (TM) was 3 female 2 male
And my current groups are 2 male 1 female and 2/2 split

Of my various groups we've played with poly folks, gay couples, straight couples, trans individuals... I've really been blessed in the diversity of players we've had! My entire gaming life has been played with and around all walks. I was introduced to the game by a female friend. I'm currently lucky enough that one of my players (and oft-co-GM) is my wife and we've been playing together for.... 6 or 7 years now. I'd not change a thing!

I haven't seen, and don't know that there WILL be, an FAQ for the weapon design system from the Weapon Master's Handbook, but I had some concerns and was wondering if maybe they're either unfounded or my math was wrong or what-have-you. Searching over the forums I haven't really seen anything brought up so... here we go!

I found, using the system, one can't build some of the weapons that already exist in game with the restrictions listed in the system. A rapier, in example, is WAY overpowered for the limitations of a 1-handed martial weapon, even purchasing additional design points the maximum (twice).

Rapier
Type: One-handed Melee
Proficiency: Martial
DMG (s): d4
DMG (m): d6
Weapon Group: light blades
Qualities: 9DP total (martial = 5, one-handed = 2, additional DP twice = 2)
additional design points (+2DP), finesse (-3DP), improved critical threat twice (-10DP), improved damage twice (-2DP)

So that's a total of 15 DP, double what is avaiable. Even if purchasing improved threat were 7 points instead of 3 then 7, the total DP cost is way above the limit of 9.

The Elven Curved Blade and the Estoc are also problematic/unable to be built via this system. There's no listed damage type for 2d4, for example, so scythes also don't quite work.

Am I missing something? Is the weapon design system purely to build an entirely new weapon, which may not be comparable to the older ones, or is it supposed to be the system used to design weapons, period?

I ran into this when trying to make an old favorite from 3.5, the Elven Thinblade (exotic, 1d8 slashing finesse weapon, one-handed.) One could argue it's just a small elven curved blade, but even so it is far above what should be able to be made.

Am I missing something, maybe? Apologies if this isn't the right thread, also, I wasn't sure whether to post here or in the product discussion page.

The main reason Paizo hasn't elaborated is that there's so many ways to do it.

There's rules for PFS, as was pointed out by Vanlo.

Familiars don't roll OR take the average, they use half their master's HP and that's true wherever you play them.

If it helps, both Phantoms and Eidolons can't be out if you have another summon, so perhaps it's best to treat them similarly? I know all creatures summoned via spells use a pre-existing stat block, and all of those have the average for HD, and that's generally how everyone else in the game world, apart from the PCs, tend to function, unless the GM decides otherwise.

In the end I guess it's just another GM call, ask how they'd like to handle it since it isn't PFS

Well there's Shax as a demon lord but...I don't think that flies. Also CN at best and even then, from the fluff, I'd have trouble seeing someone following him and NOT be bat-guano crazy