I’m looking forward to seeing the completed review. I was debating whether to even try to save my battle oracle with a rebuild into a new class and have heard the animist is a viable option. Once I get the book and read through it, I might return here for some ideas. Thanks for putting this together.
Nahoa has never seen ice before? Has his power never generated it before? Interesting, but also worrisome. Nahoa seems to be giving in far to much to the divine power his items have given him. Almost as if he's experiencing arrogence from the possessing the power. Could the ice now be a side effect of that? I think he doesn’t know what hailstones are (I’m not sure about ice specifically) because he’s from a region of the world in Golarion that doesn’t have that type of weather. Paizo’s equivalent to Earth’s Polynesian islands provides a nice background for making characters who haven’t experienced all of what there is in their world.
My battle oracle might take a significant change to make it worthwhile in PFS. He was already ranged, so that might work in my favor. However, following all the bad press, he’s not high on my list for remastering because it might take a notable amount of work to either make him functional as an oracle with the same flavor and style, or get to the point where I realize that it’ll take a completely different rebuild, including class shenanigans.
Great story and it really makes me want to give the animist a try! I also like the tie to Book of the Dead, reminding everyone that pre-Remaster content is still valid and not going away.
Most importantly to this discussion, not all dragons have the Terrifying Presence aura. I love what Paizo has done with dragons, making them less cookie-cutter, tying them to the magical traditions, and providing a diversity of frightening creatures that can fit whatever campaign narrative the GM has in mind! However, assuming that ALL dragons scare the pants off people with a particular aura is demonstrating meta-gaming that I would discourage in my own campaigns. Someone with Recall Knowledge might know that most dragons have that presence, but that’s still a steep RK check.
I agree with Henro about a lich with a mortal’s appearance going against the Whispering Way. However, if your Tar-Baphon enjoys manipulating mortals, then he would surely understand the value of using illusion to appear like them when necessary. He would rather show his true form most of the time to convey his power and spread terror in the hearts of the living, but a good illusion can go far towards drawing in the weak-willed with promises of power!
I'm bummed this is for Awakened Animals and not all of the Howl options! Surely including some Merfolk and Minotaurs wouldn't spoil the fun? I don’t think they’d spoil the fun, and would definitely add to it! My awakened animal character would be a wolverine monk who travels with his well-armored minotaur friend. Their favorite opening tactic, if his friend gets a higher initiative, is for the minotaur to use the Friendly Fling feat to get my character into melee range for a claw strike.
Since leadership made it into GM Core, I was hoping it would be fixed to provide a little more fun, with a nod towards what was intended when first created. It was supposed to provide an option for gathering useful allies and creating a PC’s organization. Although it still operates to make an organization, that becomes more a lesson in spreadsheet tedium to document all the lower-level noncombatant NPCs—not what most people want to do in their RPGs. These NPCs, even the higher-level lieutenants, are not strong enough to help the PCs in combat. I am guessing the subsystem was designed to get away from players taking the 1st edition leadership feat so they have an army of followers, thereby unbalancing game play in combat, or allowing an army of scroll and potion creators. However, I think it is possible to have both these things under the subsystem. I want to see what people’s experience with the leadership subsystem has been. Do you think it needs to be changed or does it work for the needs of your group? How have you used leadership in your game? Do you have ideas of how it should be used? How can it be altered to be more interesting?
As if I wasn’t already looking forward to rebuilding my champion with Player Core 2, this excellent story makes me even more excited about the release. Thanks for a great low level tale! Now that I think about it, we’ll have to rebuild my son’s barbarian as well.
Well I guess that is it folks thanks for the answer, I will have to wait and hope someone makes a pathfinder 1.5 much like pathfinder itself was the answer to 4th edition abandoning 3,5. Or use the ORC license to reverse engineer a retro version of Pathfinder using the 2E ruleset. Then you have a much larger - and growing - population of fellow gamers. I moved on from first edition primarily because it is sooo much easier to GM in 2E. I can understand the joys of game mastery but I’m not looking back. I would recommend you look forward and, more importantly, do something about it.
I thought hardtack was Item 0. I’m not sure what level those others are, so they must be in rule book that I don’t own. I bet that rye is at least Item 4.
What part of the game did you unexpectedly like?The end. Groetus? Wasn’t he around in 1e?
Although I usually use milestone leveling, I generally say they need a full night’s rest before they can level. The assumption is that they’ve been incrementally working on new battle actions, trying new magical formulas (not necessarily literal alchemist formulas), researching things related to their class, etc. At a certain point all that training results in everything clicking and the PC waking up refreshed with some new tricks. I’ve allowed that to happen in dungeons or the middle of outdoor exploration - whatever works for the campaign.
Lots of great experience and ideas here! I really appreciate the OP’s idea to show spell casters some love.
For those of us grognards, and those without access to cool tools like Pathbuilder (my young son), please make a character sheet that is not taken up with a bunch of ‘designed’ dark space and lines in the wrong locations. We need space to scribble all the rules on the sheet and then write notes in the margins. Additionally, when preloaded sheets for the specific character classes come out, please have an editor look over the feats and class abilities to confirm they are in the correct spaces/levels. Thank you for all the hard work you do to facilitate our fun!
A Champion doesn't have "Champion" stenciled on his brow, neither.No, they have high AC. When the monsters fails an attack that should hit everything else, they know they face a tank and switch target. So the Champion will take an attack or 2 before being ignored. That's not metagaming, that's tactics. That’s absolutely good tactics, to those creatures smart enough to figure it out! But as you pointed out, that should take at least a couple of attacks, or rounds, to determine (if your GM is not metagaming) and that could be 50 hit points of damage not going to someone else at mid-levels. In fights that usually only last four or five rounds that’s pretty significant.
Eberron is one of my favorite settings and I’m shocked I haven’t seen this post over the years as I enjoy collecting conversion sources for when I finally get that Eberron campaign started. Thanks for your work on this and I plan on returning to dig deeper when I have more time.
Thanks all, as there are a lot of really good ideas here!
Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the eldamon but this contest has me very excited for the next Battlezoo Bestiary. The categories of elements should make it easy as a GM to find the right monster for a lot of different contexts.
Danger, Will Robinson! Here there be trolls!
That is indeed insane. But insanely wonderful, as in well-developed. I'm curious as to what others think regarding the balance of this thorough porting of Eberron into 2e. One of my favorite campaigns to GM was the Age of Worms AP that I set in Eberron. Thanks for sharing this!
There’s a lot of really good ideas in this thread. I want to also request a tech book, but with a broader focus. My two reasons are that, first, future tech is fun and opens up interesting options (including making it easier to port Iron Gods over to 2E). Second, I want to see an update on the campaign world going into more detail on the Lost Omens story thread in the region after some major upheavals in the area (e.g. dethroning of the Technic Guild, closing of the Worldwound, stabilizing of Irrisen by a queen from another world, etc.).
The only time I've seen something even close to temporary abilities being used is when they're integral to an encounter. For example, if there's a fire that is clearly spreading during a fight and burning down the building they are in, then the PCs might use some of the surrounding props to put it out. It seems that if temporary abilities are going to be used, there needs to be a strong motivation to overcome the usual actions of the PCs. That motivation should be somehow built into the encounter.
I'm hoping there will be a further development of relics. In addition to the lack of beast runes as gifts in the Gamemastery Guide, the expansion of gifts by referencing any additional runes in newer source books would be extremely helpful for providing options to these wonderful items that level with the player characters.
I took the survey, started reading through the write-ups, and am planning to return to this thread (and the guide) when I have more time. This is a great overview of Paizo's story-telling in past years!
Ok, with exploration of the Spellscar Desert and the new rules surrounding magical dead zones, I'm convinced. I'm hoping there will be space for a mostly "normal" adventuring party so that spell casters aren't completely nerfed for this part of the AP. "Magic warped" sounds like a great step in that direction!
Great, I'm so glad I won't be able to play this adventure. Because my only fitting character Hellknight. It makes me very sad. @Petrus Segoni, I'm not sure why you won't be able to play this adventure because your character is a Hellknight. The Hellknights consist of a variety of different organizations that are explicitly separate from the Thrune government (which rules Cheliax). Each of the Hellknights' factions focus on a specific aspect of hellish law; beyond the oversight of the House of Thrune. Sometimes those interests align, sometimes they don't. Therefore, it's quite possible that whatever Hellknight faction to which your character belongs is pursuing its own brand of justice that does not necessarily align with the ruling House of Thrune. Play the scenario and figure out how your interests don't align during the course of the scenario. The whole point is to have fun playing the scenario! Speaking of enjoying multiple scenarios, Paizo has not listed this is a follow up to #3-04: The Devil-Wrought Disappearance in that scenario's description. Since this is one of many multiple arcs in this season, I'm a bit surprised that Paizo doesn't list the follow-up scenario in the the initial description of part one in the two part arc. I would think that would result in more sales: consumer convenience = more buying of linked scenarios. Then again, it seems like there are staffing issues as the company doesn't really look at old posts (c.f. the venture-captain is still hidden in plain "sight" rather than at a secure "site"). Not to tell Paizo how it should run its business, but as someone who appreciates the great talent who writes these adventures, if I was able to easily click on a link - or at least look up the name - of a follow-up from a good part 1 of a 2-part scenario arc, I would be more likely to buy part two.
...oh, the forums did the thing where they move you to the wrong subforum, I think. I'm in the wrong part of town. Yes, I completely agree with you! I really had to search to find this thread to see if there were any responses to my post. I'm not sure what this has to do with APs. I surely wasn't limiting my comments to APs.
I don't like that it is so hard for characters to die. Sometimes a fight ends up like a yo-yo of people going down, then being healed, popping back up again to fight some more, and getting knocked unconscious to possibly repeat the cycle. It ends up resulting in some very odd tactics, like players sticking around when they should have run after most of their comrades have been knocked out. That has the unintended consequence of encouraging TPKs because PCs stay in a losing fight longer than is wise. Also, it's difficult if a player wants you to intentionally kill off their character for a plot point so they can bring in a new PC. It is pretty obvious you are targeting that character due to the multiple opportunities for their comrades to heal them before they bleed out. Yet, the GM keeps throwing damaging effects at them, despite the character clearly not being a threat. Thereby, you strain everyone's suspension of disbelief in ways that were not intended when you focus attacks on that PC. As one player/GM in my group noted, "it's so hard to die, you need to play every character with style [because that's the focus of the Pathfinder system]." I do like that most of my characters won't die, but that design choice has resulted in some strange game dynamics.
I am surprised that I enjoy the four levels of success (or not) so much. With basic saving throws it's pretty straightforward: a critical succes you take no damage, a success is half, failure is full, and critical failure is x2 damage. However, it really adds to gameplay when there can be significant consequences to everyone trying to make a skill check to identify an item or gather information/recall knowledge. Sometimes it's hard to come up with a believable fake item, good fake rumor, or a realistic falsely identified creature. However, within that design space is all kinds of opportunities for shenanigans, whether the PCs try to use an item in ways unintended for the object, are just confused, or respond by laughing out of character about the characters' assumptions (in my Extinction Curse campaign, certain demons are now known among the group as slime xulgaths).
Yaaas! I finally figured out what my hillock halfling needs as a snack after getting healed... a waffle for the win every time! (P.S. why is 'halfling' auto-corrected as 'half lingerie'? I'm glad I caught that one.)
Yes, a fourth-career adventurer! I love that this highlights a non-traditional family, and I can't wait for Guns & Gears. Pathfinder has done a great job of historical development from the perspective of adventures / scenarios furthering the plot. Now we might be able to see multiple generations of adventurers within the same family develop in Golarion - a very exciting idea!
Will this be sanctioned for play in Pathfinder Society?
Agreed! This is a great encounter for high level groups. I am curious as to why there are numbers and letters on the map (e.g. 10A, 22B, etc.). Is this part of a larger scenario?
But it will be an archetype: all new classes include a multiclass archetype. As a GM, if you don't want to include gunslingers as a class you can tell your players, "Nope, they're Uncommon." However, if the multiclass archetype provides less of the game options you have issues with, you can also say, "But I will allow you to use them as an archetype [but only as a fighter, or only with crossbows, or whatever]." It opens up options for both players and GMs. I'm really looking forward to this book! Additionally, I'm hoping for more material related to both the Impossible Lands and the Broken Lands.
Yay! This thread about Recall Knowledge will definitely be useful for my future investigator build - DOT.
We would.I think GM1 is saying they expect a chunk of the book's play to be usable in Organized Play exclusively, not that there will be content that is excluded from Organized Play.How could that possibly be enforced? What would keep a home game GM from using that content? As my gaming group always says, "If you see the Gaming Police, run the other way! They are no smurfing fun!"
The bear is an animal and consequently not that smart. I would say that the effect of a short term spell will not wipe out the trust built up after months of being fed and trained by his new owner. There may be a some immediate mistrust, and I like Grivenger's idea of winning its trust again, but that shouldn't take too much and will just make a nice RP opportunity.
Rogatien was a widely traveled bard, so he had some world-gained smarts. Joining a circus seemed like a good idea, but what the heck happened to the ringleader? Multiple serpent strikes on both calves is very odd. So after a rough performance (Those drunken idiots! Who let them bring beer into the big top?), some circus folk came back from cutting wood for the fire saying they had seen some more snakes in the forest. The bard knew that going into the dark woods while everyone was tired, having used up a lot of resources, was a bad idea. He told everyone as much. First, a trap took down the front-line fighter, then after firing a bow at a strange creature by the river, things went even more quickly downstream. One critical hit by an acid arrow spell later and that was enough for the first-level bard.
Remember, if you do find a rules lawyer at your table, they can actually be your friend as you are all learning the game. Have them look up a rule that you are not certain about while you keep the game moving.
Yes!!! Finally a mechanic for polytheism. This book is looking better and better as we get closer to the release date. I'm hoping there'll be enough PFS-legal options to keep me busy with both divine classes and lay worshipers.
There are portals in Golarion to other planes. The elf gates are just one example of those. I'm not at home to do a search for portals. Are you trying to get the players to travel back to the genie's home plane or the city specifically?
I need to stop making excuses and sit down with the rulebook. The beauty of the situation is I can slowly read the PF2 CRB, while continuing to enjoy playing PF1. I'm very excited about the changes, although I've only gotten to the barbarian class description in the new CRB. Even the layout, and how the rules are introduced (despite the obvious typos), is more user friendly! I hope you enjoy cuddling up with weighy tome. I sure am!
Nice tools for comparing character options. Thanks!!!
On a related note, I'm excited to see what types of non-class related equipment is used to make characters unique rather than being stuck with magic weapons, armor, cloaks, etc. just to keep up with the power curve as you had to do in 1E.
*blog post meant to sell a meta-region is casually dismissive of that meta-region's defining elements, and would like you to pay attention to this other thing instead.* Huh? Casually dismissive? This is more like a major announcement that Cheliax no longer has to only worry about rebel upstarts like the Bellflower Network. The players don't just have to contend with Hellknights, they also need to figure out who, or what, is trying to take over Cheliax!
I'm intrigued! Is the Great Master the Whispering Tyrant? I like the tension between the two big bads.
Oh, "proof of concept!" Surely that means they wrote so much and/or generated so many good ideas that an Impossible Lands source book is coming soon, right?
Kudos to you! I will be returning to this thread when 2nd edition drops next year. |
