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Do we have a necromancer iconic yet?They're on the cover of Impossible Magic! An iruxi, which also means we'll be getting some cool non-human skeleton art. Iruxi necromancer? Ok. I'm still good.
Do we have a necromancer iconic yet?
I would still argue that this works for them culturally, even when draconic is not a default. They only speak the common language of the area because they are always ready and willing to adopt and appropriate the culture of their current benefactor. They drop it just as quick when that benefactor doesn't prove useful any longer. So this could be seen as a sign of a bizarre mix of cultural malleability and elasticity. Additionally, the gameplay implication could also have an effect in setting for their masters as well: having cute servants that sometimes babble incomprehensibly in their own tongue can be fun at first... but you start to become suspicious about what they are saying behind your back. Having your own language only goes so far to obfuscate when your master can just make tools to translate it. Better to forgo that entirely, and rely on a coded set of nonverbal codes and social cues. The kobold language is a squint and a quick glance at your tribesmen, the tone of one word your draw out a little too much, a glance at a bottle of ingredients that is a liiitttle bit too dangerous in high doses.
Personally, I think it's best to allow the soul to recognize the source of that attempt, otherwise it gets kinda potentially gross for a bad guy to kill someone, then resurrect them right into a prison or worse. And the whole idea of a bad guy that kills, resurrects, kills, and so on over and over and over, while a compelling idea for a horror movie villain, is kinda awful for a tabletop RPG about heroic PCs, in my opinion At the very least, that should not be a default option allowed to every evil cultist or mad inquisitor that happen to have access to a moderately leveled cleric. It should probably be a specialized niche ritual only available to certain groups. The scenario described seems more like a daemon or velstrac worshiper thing- Tenderizing the soul before they offer it to their masters. It seems like too inefficient for devils, and too much effort for demon worshippers.
How many deities have two favored weapons? Most of the examples that come to mind are situations like this- deities with a natural weapon- since their main power base is a race that has that kind of feature- and a melee weapon for other followers such as humans that do not have that kind of attack.
The only thing that scales with striking runes is your damage bonus. So if you have a base longsword, it becomes 1d8+1+str, but a +3 longsword is 4d8+4+str. Frightened is pretty powerful, since it debuffs enemy attack, defense, and saves. So sources to upscale to frightened 2 tends to be a bit more restrained. This ability tends to be nicer on builds with many small attacks. That would give them more chances to crit, and the damage bonus would come up more often.
With that many enemies, I think that shouter orders from captains could also help send the message: -"The Lord said to capture them alive at any cost! Take them down!"-"Keep the reinforcements coming!" -"Don't let them break through. We have to stop them here" -"Lord Kneecap-Breaker will be here any moment. Hold the line until he arrives. He will be the one to finish this. Hold steady, men." -"Make way and clear a path for Lord Kneecap-breaker. You all know what will happen to you if you get in his way". Then, if they ignore you... well... I am sure that healing spells work well on broken kneecaps. Kneecap privileges belong to those that can take a hint.
How to make a gargoyle? Well, traditionally, they are made with limestone, but it is common for replacements to use grey granite. This has better resistance to the elements, and might be a better option if you already had issues with routine upkeep and preservation.
As someone that plays weirdo races- Yeah, they ARE the same. Spock halloween costume level. Give me big meaty tails* *This comment has been sponsored by CALF (the Council for the Advancement of Lizard Folk)
The evil wizards are already in the real estate market. Who do you think is selling all these trap filled dungeons?
As many have said- the answer is no. But for fun, I would allow them to make "avant garde masterpieces". Which translates to soup that acts as an acid flask (lesser) and a souffle that acts as a blight bomb (lesser) when it goes flat. And a variety of things that turn into smoke bombs. Still not alchemy tools, so "wandering" ones cannot do this out in the open. Only (trainee) chefs in their kitchen can do this. And obviously they don't do it on purpose. This could be a scene for low level adventurers.
We are going a long way to define how this lights up, but my thought from the start was "so this is like a glow in the dark toy, right?" It is visible, but it might not illuminate. It could still be useful though. Like if you put a door in an empty doorway, you will see something that gets past it and stand between you and the door- obstructing your line of sight.
Archery seems like it would be practical for this kind of religious order. If you are going to hang around giant spiders, the first thing you learn is how not to get caught in a web. And the simplest method is to never get close to it in the first place. You can use the ranged attacks to finish off prey to help your You can also turn this into you standard tactic- learn immobilizing spells like web, and then fire away. You can specialize your spell list to crowd control and debuffs.
I just checked it. It is legit. It has d12's.
Natural weapons were only a distinction in 1E because they were weird, and basically ignored MAP. So you could have as many as you'd like, and you'd get to throw them all out at max attack bonus. Such things were originally meant for monsters, and players would only get access to claws and maybe a bite- which nice early, but eventually balanced out to around the level of master rank proficiency attack with a one handed or light weapon. Once players got ahold of more options, it lead to a loooot of barbarian/alchemist catfolk raised by half orcs since more options=more 0 MAP attacks. In 2e, natural attacks just got roped into the unarmed roles to bring them more in line with monks.
Anything with fangs- You want to play a gorilla animal totem barbarian, you want options in case you can't rage, and you feel like a backup sword would be lame. I know this is the path I went for when writing up a grappler nagaji.
Thats is the thing about evil characters, they never think they are evil.Not exactly. Some know in one way or another. Just don't care or consider it normal. At the very least, well written evil characters usually don't think they are evil.
The Druid is “Nature red in tooth and claw’ My take was that selfishness and acting in self interest is not antithetical to nature. The "balance of nature" is just every single creature acting in its self interest. The rabbit eats the weeds, which stops the weeds from growing too much. The wolf eats the rabbit, which stops the rabbits from eating all the plants. Balance is born from many actors each trying to play their role. So denying your instincts and desires is going against nature. No need for a grand cause when you are just following your instincts. Kill what you want to kill. It is your fault if you cannot stop me.
I've read enough XKCD What If? scenarios to know that you need to be very smart to be that stupid. Most people just wish for something practical and end up dying after they have a lifetime supply of gold dumped over their head. Even more ambitious wishes usually only destroys the tristate area. And most wizards smart enough to do wish for something truly off the wall- and not wise enough to reconsider- probably kill themselves in some magical accident long, long before they can meet a genie. So we are talking about an extremely narrow band of possible scenarios that could lead to this destruction. And there are a variety of other ways to have those happen without having a genie present. If you are going to summon outsiders to come and destroy everything around you, it is simpler to just go with demons.
I always viewed alignment as a challenge. How can I make a LN monk that lies, cheats, and steals? How can I make a NE druid without it just being a captain planet villain?
As far as their original legacy, I think some stances do not need to add this kind of restriction. You go to Dragon stance for their attack as the main draw, and it doesn't offer much outside of that. But other stances worry you will have good benefits, and they worry you will take that and go elsewhere with them. For example, Stumbling Stance, which is feint focused. They worry you will just use it to gain deception check bonuses some kind of dip. Then again, there are stances that expect you to take their bonuses and run. Tangled forest stance was often used for reach builds to lock down enemies in your reach. But it is also a level 8 feat, which makes it too big of an investment for some kind of dip. It is a mid level culmination for existing weapon builds.
wouldn't they need to be some gold alloy or plating because of how soft gold is? Not being contrarian, just voicing the impression I'm under, eager to be corrected. The term "pieces of eight" comes from people literally cutting coins into 8 pizza slices.
Well, rocks and fire can also produce viable offspring with every ancestry. So biology is more of a polite suggestion in this setting. A quaint local custom, really.
I imagine because it risks going into strange alleys with unintended consequences. If you make combat familiars, you are tempted to write up archetypes and such that make those familiars 'worth it'. And that can be a can of worms. I remember going to strange places with the Elrditch Guardian (archetype for fighters). It let you share all your feats with your familiar. Since the edition did not have minion rules, this effectively doubled your action economy for maneuver based builds. And some feats had major pay offs because the designers assumed you would never be able to pull the trick off on your own. This is the problem- combat familiars have to be unique enough to be more than just animal companions, but they also can't be big enough beat sticks taht they take over the eidolon's territory. So they tend to get weird, risky stuff like this.
I have played around with the idea of a flurry ranger that golf bags through the use of doubling rings and a magic gauntlet. The gauntlet's damage is secondary to its role as an upgrade stick that is always on hand. You can then golf bag with your main hand for whatever works. Trip, disarm, bludgeoning, slashing, silver, cold iron. Whatever. And you can grab anything that is laying around.
The Arcane option just embarasses the Wizard. Embarrassing wizards seems like a favorite passtime for sorcerers.
Don't think of the tumbling as some kind of feint maneuver. Think of them as a gymnastic performance. You are doing sick backflips around that ghost. The ghosts are so amazed that they are flat footed. Anyway, a more serious response: Would grappling weapons with ghost touch help? You have martial weapons, so you could get a combat graplnel or something.
My issue is that the way they've handled him in 2e has always been a change from how they did it in 1e, where LN Asmodeus worshipers were at least theoretically supported. Yeah, but the moral ambiguity seems like a good strategy for a corrupting influence that tries to present itself as acceptable. For every LN cleric Asmodeus give leeway to, he gets to have 5 LE clerics running around with minimal suspicion. You can then argue that Asmodeus later does a "I have changed deal. Pray (to me) i don't alter it further" moment and cut off LN clerics once he gets into a dominant position in a target world.
I find the ghost oil economy to be weird. It is 18 gp for a minute of use, but ghost touch runes are 75 gp. So it is cheaper than 5 minutes. I understand that normal people do not need long term ghost solutions... but this is the enemy type that has the best options to run away when the fight turns sour. Just go through a wall, and start a 5+ minute chase. Then again, maybe the Pharasma temple uses this grift to help subsidize low prices on Astral runes. A death god provided the best weapons in town is a great way to drum up followers.
There used to be value for rogues that used skill feats to get a ton of legendary lore skills. You could use it to invest so you can ID monsters using ONLY intelligence. So you could get Lore (undead) and lore (fiends) instead of getting the religion skill and trying to jerry rig both intelligence and wisdom into your build. I say there "used to" be value in this. Thaumaturge has taken over the "monster ID skill monkey" route. They need almost no investment to just use esoteric lore for everything. They even still get trained in normal knowldge skills when you need non-monster ID knowledge checks. Admittedly, a wizard can still try to take the lore route. They have tons of Int, skill investment doesn't bother their build much, and unified theory requires you to wait until level 15. Also, it lets you be a know it all from practically level 1, so it is easy to be in character.
One thing I like about ranger is that they can just fly on their own with the animal feature focus spell at level 8. So if you just wanted to grab a hammer and smack things... this is a decent option since it removes some of the problems. There are other options, but flight is something worth investing into in some fashion.
I'm probably only going to have the crocodile use it with a good Avoid Notice either way. It seems like a lot of work to Stride back into the water, Hide, Sneak, then use Aquatic Ambush. Yeah, I can't see them doing it (without some kind of magical compulsion). The one thing to know about crocodiles is that they are lazy. As reptiles that can store a fair bit of fat in their tails, they can go up to a year without eating. So they are masters at picking their battles.
I would run it that the crocodile DOESN'T know, but it tries to do it anyway. As you noted, aquatic ambush is just a single action move+strike with some bonuses based off of the idea that it is attacking defenseless prey. If the prey is not defenseless, then I'd rule that there is enough of an actual engagement that the crocodile could not sneak anything in.
The group already has a beastkin so I can't be one. Probably to help provide some variety in the party. If this kind of detail is going to be used narratively, then it might get awkward since different characters have the same story beat. Do you for them to have the story beat at the same time? One after the other so they each get their own focus? But then the rest of the party might be a bit tired of getting the same story beat twice in a row. Example- two dhampir characters, each with their own individual vampire dad. It might mean two quest chains in a row where you deal with someone's vampire dad. Now there are ways around these problems, but they need effort and coordination, or else you are going to get a "we are wearing the same thing to prom" situation. Example- you can have the sibling dhampirs that share a vampire dad. Thus, the story beat is shared.
30-50 Corvid HogsStrigiform-ursine hybrids They could lean into the classic gryphon niche for an apex predator of lower level forest kind of vibe. But that tends to imply flight, in which case it might edge into a harder fight. So: Chicken-gryphs. As you would expect, they can't really fly (although they can glide. Fierce, highly territorial, and some nobles pay good money for live ones for use in live combat arenas.
I think being unshackled from the OGL is only a good thing. Just seeing all the different designs of dragons is amazing, they're all so much more unique and vibrant, and now that you don't need to worry about chromatic/metallic, there's much more room to design new true dragons without going to other planes. I think it is a good thing as well, but I still get very strong "messy divorce" energy at this point. Not saying it won't be great once everything settles. But we are at the "I have to move to a new city, get a new job, and form a new social circle" phase of that experience.
Other than mother vulture, I am pretty sure all of those are evil gods. And the only truly problematic part for mother vulture clerics is their...diet. The rest of the details are just normal murder hoboing as a good or neutral cleric. You know, murder for quests, horde every item you find, not really add anything to the local agriculture industry. Honestly, I think mother vulture might make a suitable Lamashtu replacement for a player goblin. everything on that list seems right up a goblin's alley.
Let's assume you go a straight line going from 20' range in from to 20' range behind the enemy. Let's assume one action for movement, since you want to attack twice. That needs 50' movement speed when tumbling through a medium creature. (40' if you are just trying to stay at the range of regular daggers). Possible, but it needs some work. I realize you aren't going full on ranged. I just imagine that you would want a hill giant to have to take a 5' step to reach you.
A large portion of the societies in setting are feudal. Which in your friend's terms means: "A nation with a relatively weak central government that is mostly ruled through the use of local warlords with minimal oversight. Action is usually only taken against them if they attempt military coups or treason with a neighboring power. The keys to power are held by a wealthy elite class that owns a large proportion of the country's property rights, and power is usually transferred in a despotic manner through hereditary inheritance. Only a very small proportion outside of the elite class have any say in governance, and it is typically easier to curry favor with the hereditary warlords. Democratic principles are a minority in most of the region."
I would question how much tumble behind helps a throwing build. You have to move in close, and it is considered difficult terrain when you pass through the enemy's space. So you might not be able to keep distance appropriate for ranged attack builds, and you might as well just melee at that point. Admittedly, switch hitting is one of the key advantages of throwing builds, but I don't think it is the flavor they were looking for here.
But the Remaster has not changed Calistria nor her followers one bit. So what is true now was true before and vice versa. I think the problem is that alignment as a verifiable concept might be gone, but general social concept would still be there- and without an objective metric to hold it back. Basically, it now seems very easy to just accuse a god of being "evil". I mean, she is a god that advocates wild sex, vicious revenge, and has been known to hang out with demon lords (sure, she was tricking them, but appearances). So there is material there to throw around wild accusations. I'd imagine that might be popular in a nation that really doesn't like elves. While having alignment as a palpable, verifiable aspect of the world can be silly, it does provide some advantages. Before, if you wanted to get a general read on a where a deity stands, you could just ping their clerics. "Oh, they got CG and CE clerics? Then she is probably chaotic neutral". Now admittedly, there could be some curb balls with concealment spells or maybe the god just forcing the matter with a CG oracle that they tricked. But outside of small time local deities outside of the wider public eye, these tricks only carry so far they are revealed. However, the removal of alignment provides "evil" deities with far more breathing room, and they can more easily in turn launch smear campaigns against all the other deities. Basically, what I'm saying is that Asmodeus' greatest trick was convincing the world that alignment didn't exist. He seems to be the one with the most to gain out of all this. So it is time to start a campaign to fight the cult that has taken over Paizo's offices.
I think any discussion about wild west style justice is moot since they were able to take 3/4 of the bandits in without any notable difficulties. Wild west justice was often dictated by the harsh realities of the environment. It would be a very different prospect if you are a 200 mile walk to civilization and you barely have enough supplies for 4 people. And the captives seem dangerous enough to slip out and cut your throats in the night. But that is not what we're dealing with. They even came with their own mule to carry them. You could hog tie them and wrap them up like mummies, and it would have little effect on your travels.
That's what I immediately thought of, but I thought that geas was specifically dog flesh, not generalized carrion.A reference to Cú Chulainn? You might be right on that one.
Let's go classical. A paired set of anathema 1. You cannot eat carrion meat (ie- no road kill)
Post-remaster, cavern elves are known as Ayindilar elves, and they descend from those who sought the Darklands as shelter after Earthfall. They maintain isolated, self-sufficient settlements in the Darklands, and may have had grander cities that are now ruins in parts of the Darklands. They replace what happened to the elves who fled into the Darklands in 1st edition lore and became drow but do NOT fill the drow niche. They'll fill a new niche and will represent a friendly element in the Darklands for people to encounter at some point, but we haven't yet explored this topic at all in print beyond a single paragraph in the "Return to the Darklands" article that appeared in the Sky King's Tomb Adventure Path. While I understand that certain "outside" pragmatic concerns require you to move away from drow, I am not sure how well a "friendly element" might work within the setting. When looking at these, I am forced to think about how the dwarves known for steadfast devotion to tradition and history- chose to leave the darklands. And for good reason, since the darklands are an unfriendly place to...pretty much everyone. It raises the question "why don't the cavern elves leave?", or at least "why don't they primarily stay near the surface, like dwarves". In comparison, Drow are unfriendly, to say the least, which helps them to thrive in that environment. Since they are hostile with most elves (and pretty much any culture that are familiar with their 'new employee recruitment programs'), they find it hard to establish a foothold above ground. But there would likely be a cultural resistance against full on attempts to abandon their underground empire. Their entire conception was born out of a desire to hold fast to their home, even when faced with an increasingly hostile world. Despite the warping they suffered, they managed to survive, thrive, and even dominate. So they are already well entrenched in a preexisting empire that serves as a major player in their region- which further limits desire to move and make a fresh start. Of course, despite all these concerns... I understand that there is generally a need to move away from drow, and trying to make the parts work in setting may have to take a backseat.
Likely intentional. PF1e had a long and dark history of catfolk barbarian/alchemists that were raised by half orcs.
Likewise Bastard Sword is still the only straight bladed sword or knife that doesn't have Versatile. Also the cost makes no sense either, four times the cost of a long sword or twice the cost of a Great Sword! Did they change anything at all that would make Versatile P useful? Piercing damage has traditionally been extremely situational. Most creatures with a weakness to it also have weakness to slashing. So unless you are fighting rakshasa under water, it has been limited in use. I could even argue that the older DnD editions relegated piercing as a punishment for weapons that were deemed too good- such as archery and half decent simple weapons that could be used by non martial classes (back when that was a thing that actually mattered).
Eh. An emperor is someone who has multiple kingdoms or even kings under them. At one point the Five Kings Mountains were a lot more strictly unified, enough that it's kinda a mountain empire. So did they elect a high king to rule over the assembly? Maybe on some kind of rotational system generation to generation among the five? I mean, obviously that goes out the window once the Five Kings become divided and everything devolves into internal bickering. But during the hey day did they effectively have an emperor?
You could go for a number of skills like Lore(undead) to cover the options under the wis skills. Even a wizard could RK on every creature type with Int at level 1 this way. Lore skills can also get automatically upgraded if you spend a skill feat on each one. ...but this is a LOOOONG way to go in order to copy what a Thaumaturge does without any significant investment. It is still fun and thematic for a wizard that usually doesn't have much use for skills related stuff.
How are bards Overpowered? I would also argue that they are good in a party with casters- at least once they get to level 6 and can grab Dirge of Doom. No save, AoE, single action cantrip that can frighten every enemy in a fight. It is a better evil eye than the actual evil eye from witches. Frightened is one of the general purpose debuffs you can add that helps everyone, since it lowers enemies' attacks, defense, and saves. So you could use it to help your save or suck characters better. I agree that bards have more to offer martials (or at least people with battle minions), but a bard is never left high and dry in any party.
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