oracle mechanus's page

Many thanks Lightning Raven!

This app is amazing! Is it official? It's so much easier than tediously filling the tables I was painfully constructing. I've always liked the character creation part of RPGs, even the most complex ones, but I must admit PF2 is a bit overwhelming in this area.

I do agree with you, Malk_Content. I was previously misguided by the fact that I grossly overestimated the power of NPCs over PCs because I didn't know about adding the level to the proficiency. My bad!

Thanks Cyouni, this is very helpful! I completely missed that point! With the character level added to the proficiency bonus, the Signifer stats are not that much out of reach anymore.

Regarding the asymmetrical design, I can understand its value from the GM's point of view, but I don't find it that great from a player's perspective: as a player, I want to stand on equal footing with a NPC that should be roughly equivalent to my PC.

Deriven Firelion: you seem to regret that a single PC of equal level wasn't much of a challenge for a group. I find it rather normal and logical: IMHO a single character should be of a higher or much higher level to be a threat to a whole group. In PF1, TL was equal to CL+1 or +2, maybe it was overestimated.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your answers, it'll be easier for me to understand the rules now!

Thanks for your quick answers! It makes a lot of sense.
I'm disappointed that 2e went down this road (asymmetrical game) too... I didn't realize at first sight. It looks so unrealistic!

Hello there,

Not sure yet if I'm going to jump into 2e or not, so I was doing a little research in order to understand the rules. I began with character creation, and you find me struggling already...

I tried to create a Hellknight signifer, and then realised that one such NPC has been published (Hellknight Paravicar, Creature 11, from Character Guide).

And its stats baffle me. I must certainly miss something obvious, because I don't understand how it has, for instance, such high AC and HP or saves, so much higher that what I got with my mock-up character.

- from Creature level and Divine spontaneous spells I assume it must be a 11th level sorcerer.
With Con +2 and being human, its HP should be 8+11*(6+2) = 96. But it is listed with 145 HP! What am I missing here? I found 1 feat that increases HP, but it would only give 11 more...

- with likely no proficiency in heavy armors and wearing a +1 Hellknight Plate, its AC, as far as I understand it, should be 10+7 =17.Yet it's listed as being AC 30! How is it possible?

- being expert in will saves and having +3 Wis, its Will save should be +7. It actually is +23. What could possibly explain such a huge difference?

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for this detailed answer James!
You certainly made your point clear.
There seem to be a lot a cool stuff in this bestiary anyway!

Edit: formatting

Thanks James for your answer!

I'm sorry I will sound as a real mo(d)ron now, but it happens I do some statistics IRL.

• Assuming that it is indeed "random chance", it means that for each monster added to a bestiary each alignment is equally likely (1/9).
  From Luthorne's list I'm counting 214 monsters with known alignment.

• The simplified 95% prediction interval for the frequency is [p-1/sqrt(n); p+1/sqrt(n)] = [0,0427; 0,1794]

• The simplified 95% prediction interval for the relative frequency is then [9,1378; 38,3916] (multiplying by 214)

• Hence, if this is indeed pure luck, there is a 95% chance (at least) that the number of LN, LG, NG, or CG creatures (for instance) is between 9 and 39.

Thus my assumption is that it wasn't quite pure luck... - Nordom out! :-)

Thanks Plausible Pseudonym and Luthorne for your detailed answers.

I would hate to appear mono-maniac, but what struck me for LN is also true for NG,LG and CG then :-(

That's a shame, stories do not only need antagonists, but also side protagonists of various morality. I surely can understand that a bestiary needs more evil and chaotic creatures, but /that/ many?

I was told there was no LN monster in this bestiary, is it true?
If so, why so little love for this alignment?

Any kind of LN outsiders would be most welcome, for example:

- parai
- modrons
- axial dragon
- axiomite godmind
- varakhut (inevitable)
- quarut (inevitable)
- primal inevitable

oracle mechanus wrote:

Nice to see there are new LN outsiders! I hope they aren't all formians. Or are they?

Sorry, but there aren't any. :(

I don't know where someone thought there were new LN outsiders, but let's crush that right now. I think people are assuming that Pathfinder formians are outsiders. They aren't. They're monstrous humanoids from another planet.

Oh. Thanks for your quick answer! Odraude must have misread the entries when he saw LN outsiders, but assuming they were the formians was actually my mistake. I really thought they were native outsiders from Mech... er... Axis.

I hoped Paizo would give neutral creatures some love and get rid of the usual good vs evil cliches, but I believe we'll have to wait until the next bestiary... I'm still curious about the new monsters, though.

Nice to see there are new LN outsiders! I hope they aren't all formians. Or are they?

So, any new LN outsider?

Would anyone be kind enough to stick with the topic and throw a few crumbs of insight to the poor us who still have to wait to discover the crunchy bits?

So, any new LN outsiders?