Yup!
Sweet. Also... *Greensprout* not Greenthumb. Was way too far past the editing window. My bad.
Question. Will this book be using innovations from Occult Adventures? Things like the aura rules and the new possession rules, maybe mindscapes . . . and well there are a lot of great ideas and subsystems here that seem tailor made for pact magic. Are there plans here, or will that wait for another book?
Question. Will this book be using innovations from Occult Adventures? Things like the aura rules and the new possession rules, maybe mindscapes . . . and well there are a lot of great ideas and subsystems here that seem tailor made for pact magic. Are there plans here, or will that wait for another book?
Waiting. Occult Realms is the only section that wasn't done before May. It is too late to add anything from Occult Adventures. The only possible reference is that there is an alternate rule that suggests calling the occultist class the 'ritualist' if you don't want overlapping names.
Hey all, I've been working on a list / guide to generally useful and situationally useful spirits. I've only gotten through 1st lv. spirits so far, but I figured I'd share it to either see what everyone thought, or get some opinions.
It is viewable HERE on the google doc, if anyone wants to check it out.
That said, all of this is just my current opinion and should be taken with a grain of whatever. Also I didn't list the specifics of most of the abilities on purpose. So either you have to have the play test or you'll need to wait for the official book to come out to understand most of it. Trying to keep support going for Radiance House best I can.
Let me know what you guys think. If you have questions on why I decided on certain things... etc...
Also, in the middle of writing out the 1st level, what is the action for Undead Bane for cave mother?
Getting new artwork was one of the major reasons for releasing this product via Kickstarter - I'm not sure they really want to release it without that. XD Still, it's nice to know that most things are done, and that once the art is in, the rest of it should be fairly easy and straightforward.
So... How's it going?
Haven't heard anything in a while. Haven't even received an email for an update from kickstarter in a while. Everything ok?
Is the art the only thing holding back release? If so, and I think I can speak for a sizable number of people when I say this, I would totally pay full price for an artless copy of the book.Is there an anticipated release date for this? It's killing me to see all the comments.Our promised Kickstarter date was August 2015. Its just about August, and I can say with certainty that the Grimoire won't be ready then. Almost all of our artists are behind on their work, and we can't really make them draw any faster.
Dario and I will announce more as we get closer!
Basically what Rednal said. Art is the whole reason we ran the Kickstarter in the first place, so choosing to make a release without art sort of smacks our backers in the face, to use an overused saying.
That said, an "artless version" is available to the backers as a perk (the Playtest Copy).
So... How's it going?
Haven't heard anything in a while. Haven't even received an email for an update from kickstarter in a while. Everything ok?
Yup. Put up an update today, in fact.
July was REALLY busy for Dario and I. He was asked to teach a college-level seminar on some computer engineering thing. I had to contend with several very large (and very important) commissions, as well as back-to-back road trips. (I went to GenCon, was home for three days, then went to South Carolina with family.)
But the craziness is dying down now; Dario's class is over and I'm back in Pennsylvania! We're hoping to have more art to show off either next week or next; its a question of volume, really. We're waiting to show off some of Adam's gorgeous new Chapter Openers. Dario's basically in love with Aza at this point, so he's been begging me not to do any more previous until we can showcase her more.
I was looking through the new witch patrons, and I noticed that the Fiend, Noble, Scholar, Seer, Skull and Thief patrons all have a large number of spells that are already on the witch spell list. The main feature of patron spells is getting access to spells you wouldn't otherwise be able to cast - other than in very low wealth games, the money saved by getting a single spell per two levels added to your familiar for free is negligible. Thus, characters with these patrons effectively miss out on a large part of the class feature.
The spells that are repeated are:
Noble - all except repulsion, overwhelming presence
Scholar - all except circle of clarity
Seer - all except true strike, blood biography
Skull - chill touch, haunting mists and wail of the banshee, and blight and slay living one level lower than normal
Thief - detect secret doors, shadow step, secret chest, phase door, refuge
As you can see, Fiend, Noble, Scholar, and Seer are particularly badly off, only gaining 1-2 new spells across the whole list.
Is it possible to revise these six patrons to reduce the amount of repetition?
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Seconding the request for avoidance of using spells already on the Witch list as this does indeed drastically reduce the appeal of a patron.
In fact I'd like to make a suggestion relating to the thief patron as it could be very nice for those wanting to play the white haired witch archetype in the base game which is a kind of combat/thief type of witch.
Some spells that would be nice for it are: Greater Magick Weapon, invisibility, Haste, magic vestment, mirror image etc which would be great for a mellee focused witch, that at the moment has no suitable patron.
Just wanted to chime in and say that I saw the witch patron issue. I'm looking into that.
When picking the new spells for the witch patrons, I tried to draw on the spirits that belong to each constellation for inspiration. Hopefully you enjoy the new lists.
New Fiend Patron: 1st–protection from good, 2nd–scorching ray, 3rd–wrathful mantleapg, 4th–aura of doomUM, 5th–dismissal, 6th–planar binding, 7th–blasphemy, 8th–unholy aura, 9th–meteor swarm
New Nobility Patron: 1st–moment of greatness, 2nd–eagle’s splendor, 3rd–contingent actionACG, 4th–glibness, 5th–greater command, 6th–repulsion, 7th–mage’s magnificent mansion, 8th–binding, 9th–overwhelming presence
New Scholar Patron:1st–heightened awarenessACG, 2nd–share language, 3rd–blood biography, 4th–lesser simulacrum, 5th–false vision, 6th–battlemind link, 7th–circle of clarityUM, 8th–protection from spells, 9th–wish
New Seer Patron: 1st–true strike, 2nd–obscure object, 3rd–borrow fortune, 4th–contingent scrollACG, 5th–false vision, 6th–mislead, 7th–phantasmal revengeAPG, 8th–screen, 9th–wish
New Skull Patron: 1st–phantom bloodACG, 2nd–ghoul touch, 3rd–animate dead, 4th–shadow projectionACG, 5th–vampiric shadow shieldACG, 6th–undead anatomy III†, 7th–finger of death, 8th–create greater undead, 9th–energy drain
New Thief Patron: 1st–disguise self, 2nd–knock, 3rd–gaseous form, 4th–jester’s jauntAPG, 5th–seeming, 6th–getawayAPG, 7th–ethereal jaunt, 8th–screen, 9th–time stope
Additionally, Dario requested a small change to Kaiya. Her graceful tongue ability no longer offers its former +2 bonus on saves against emotion effects. Instead, her grace of the martyr allows her to cast protection from evil as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + the occultist's Charisma modifier.
Hey all, I've been working on a list / guide to generally useful and situationally useful spirits. I've only gotten through 1st lv. spirits so far, but I figured I'd share it to either see what everyone thought, or get some opinions.
It is viewable HERE on the google doc, if anyone wants to check it out.
That said, all of this is just my current opinion and should be taken with a grain of whatever. Also I didn't list the specifics of most of the abilities on purpose. So either you have to have the play test or you'll need to wait for the official book to come out to understand most of it. Trying to keep support going for Radiance House best I can.
Let me know what you guys think. If you have questions on why I decided on certain things... etc...
Also, in the middle of writing out the 1st level, what is the action for Undead Bane for cave mother?
I read your guide and I like it a lot. I especially appreciate its focus on versatility rather than straight up, "This is better because that's my opinion." I see that a lot in guides.
Undead bane is a swift action to use; its basically the inquisitor's bane, but only for undead.
Good patron lists.
I was actually tinkering with some patron lists the other week. Since current pathfinder patron spells already sometimes lower the spell level of a spell for the witch, I came up with this general guideline:
Avoid spells already on the witch's list
If spell is already on the witch's list, drop spell level by 1
This allowed me to dive into the flavor of patrons without having to worry too much if a spell was already on the witch's list.
Food for thought for the next time you're making one.
Good patron lists.
I was actually tinkering with some patron lists the other week. Since current pathfinder patron spells already sometimes lower the spell level of a spell for the witch, I came up with this general guideline:
Avoid spells already on the witch's list
If spell is already on the witch's list, drop spell level by 1This allowed me to dive into the flavor of patrons without having to worry too much if a spell was already on the witch's list.
Food for thought for the next time you're making one.
To be honest, if I were to make more patrons in the future, I would probably design them mostly with all-new spells. Witches get almost all the non-blasty sorcerer/wizard spells, so its difficult to design patrons that don't step on the toes of another at least somewhat.
Just noticed this and it's not a big deal. But under Lord Foxglove, instead of Minor Granted Abilities is says Major Granted Abilities again.
Also, under Taios, the wording seems odd.
"As an immediate action, you invoke Taios’s unchained power when you roll a d20 in order to roll 1d6 and add the result to your d20 die. You must use this ability before the result of your d20 roll is revealed. This surge die increases to 1d8 at 8th level and 1d10 at 16th level. After using this ability, it becomes expended for 5 rounds."
I'm assuming it means that, "When you roll a d20, you may roll 1d6..."
This may have already been mentioned though.
Mmm... there may be other ways to word it, but I don't think it's incomprehensible or anything. It basically says "When you roll a d20, you can roll 1d6 and add that to the result".
Yup. We actually haven't gotten the text through editing yet. We (Radiance House) like to wait until after we get the artwork so we know precisely how much space we have to work with when fiddling around with wording.
Also, under Taios, the wording seems odd.
"As an immediate action, you invoke Taios’s unchained power when you roll a d20 in order to roll 1d6 and add the result to your d20 die. You must use this ability before the result of your d20 roll is revealed. This surge die increases to 1d8 at 8th level and 1d10 at 16th level. After using this ability, it becomes expended for 5 rounds."
I'm assuming it means that, "When you roll a d20, you may roll 1d6..."
This may have already been mentioned though.
Looking at the bolder section alone is confusing, but if you read the entire sentence it does make sense.
Another way to say it, only adding a single word and changing the order, would be:
"As an immediate action when you roll a d20, you may invoke Taios’s unchained power in order to roll 1d6 and add the result to your d20 die."
But really, I think it's fine as is.
Mmm... there may be other ways to word it, but I don't think it's incomprehensible or anything. It basically says "When you roll a d20, you can roll 1d6 and add that to the result".
Very true. I did understand what it meant when I read it, it just felt awkward when I did is all. And it seems to be mostly just one of my minds that has the problem in this case haha.
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Huge fan of the first two books, been a while since an update I was wondering if a release date has been solidified yet. (have my wallet at the ready)
Not yet.
We had major problems with one of our artists, who was failing to meet our deadlines. We've since transferred his existing projects to other artists, who are trying to make up the slack. I'm hoping to do another update on Fridau with some examples of the re coloration process that I've mentioned.
(In addition to all-new artwork, many of our existing backers expressed a desire to see some of our classic pieces from the older books in the Grimoire. Re coloring is the process of taking those black and white images and making them color. Our recoloration artists basically color the pictures themselves the way you might color a coloring book, except they're artists so they look fantastic! Dario and Inare hoping that recoloring classic pieces will help maintain the feel that the older pact magic books had that our customers have this far been very positive about.)
I have a question (that again may have already been answered) regarding the spirit Xalen D'Marek. For his ability, Enhance Vessel's Mind, do you gain the normal retroactive skill points from the bonus, plus an additional set of ranks? Or is the ability essentially forcing you to use the retroactive skill points gained in a knowledge skill?
Also, on a side note, I have finished up to the third level spirits in the "guide" I've been fiddling with. I have some serious formatting to do (namely hyperlinking and font sizing). It may not help anyone else, but it has forced me to really look at the spirits further and with a more discerning eye. I've noticed that it's shifted my view a little on what spirits I had thought were good and so-so initially. For instance, I hadn't been impressed with D'Marek at first, but now I think he's pretty solid.
On an entirely different note, anyone else get a chance to do further playtesting? If so, how'd the session go? I'd like to hear (i.e. read) more about how your spirit interactions went.
I have a question (that again may have already been answered) regarding the spirit Xalen D'Marek. For his ability, Enhance Vessel's Mind, do you gain the normal retroactive skill points from the bonus, plus an additional set of ranks? Or is the ability essentially forcing you to use the retroactive skill points gained in a knowledge skill?
It works like a headband of vast intelligence that's tied to a Knowledge skill.
Also, even though playtesting has been closed since June, I am going to put out a final note here now:
I'm officially handing it over to Judah to begin art layout then. Mechanical issues found after that will be stuck until we can do an errata (and Dario and I have SUCH a good track record with actually getting those into print, LOL).
I have nothing to announce tonight; only that we just got MUCH closer to release. >: )
May I suggest noting that deadline through a Kickstarter update? Just to be sure as many people as possible can see it. ^^
Also I noticed Pevwyrn Pervon's vestigial boon says, "You can apply extracts created by the alchemical infusion granted ability to other creatures, functioning as the oiled extract alchemist discovery"...I presume you mean the infusion alchemist discovery?
Oiled extract is a new discovery in the alchemist section of the book. It allows you to rub your extracts onto another character as if they were oils.
I'll check the other things; thanks.
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Alex, I must say that it speaks volumes how much you've engaged with the community on this project. I've seen companies who try their damnedest to avoid dealing with their customers, and you've been the polar opposite of that. It's been great. Thank you.
It being the 9th and all, I guess I'm just going to put a hope up haha.
Still sort of hoping Verbose has the major ability changed from using stealth to bluff. One, because it fits the flavor of the character quite a bit more then stealth, and two, because it'd be a more generally useful ability to most all occultists instead of only stealth focused ones.
Another hope is for Occult Weapon to gain a few more possible abilities, like ghost touch, bane (chosen when taken) and maybe holy / unholy. Just a hope, but that won't stop me.
Aside from the Aries mermaid spirit which I forgot the name of and can't check right now because I'm using my phone, getting a way to undo permanently mermaiding people, those are the biggest hopes... that might be reasonable haha.
I realise this is now a day late, but the Capstone Surge duration doesn't seem to make sense: "1/round level". Even if it's meant to be 1 round/level, this contradicts the text which says the benefit is only gained "if [the major ability] is activated before the end of your next round".
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I'm looking forward to seeing the completed book--so far the illustrations and recolors have been great!
Also another thanks from me for you being so active with the community and reading through tons of feedback.
I know this is going to be an amazing product and welcome addition to any Pathfinder fan!
(Sorry for the long absence from the thread, but I wanted to pop in to give my thanks and praise one more time.)
So. I realize that its past change-making time, so I'm going to put this here for the future! ... Assuming that it hasn't been brought up... again.
Anyways, under Kaiya, The Avatar of Grace's detect evil ability it says, "Detect Evil: While You can sense the presence or absence of evil at will, functioning as detect evil. If you are a paladin with the detect evil class feature, double the range of your detect evil ability instead."
I'm assuming the while will need to go... eventually.
Anyways, I agree with the others. I may occasionally come off as a harsh critic (and I sort of am for a couple reasons), I definitely appreciate the communication and work you've put into both this thread and the book Mr. Augunas. :)
Question regarding the Prime Ravager spirit's vestigial boon... is there a save for it, or does it just happen? I assume it does give a save, but I just wanted to make sure.
Question regarding the Prime Ravager spirit's vestigial boon... is there a save for it, or does it just happen? I assume it does give a save, but I just wanted to make sure.
It functions like Magic Jar, right? Magic Jar has a save.
Question regarding the Prime Ravager spirit's vestigial boon... is there a save for it, or does it just happen? I assume it does give a save, but I just wanted to make sure.It functions like Magic Jar, right? Magic Jar has a save.
Fair enough.
So. I know the play test is essentially over, but I wanted to share the experience I had during our last game (this last Saturday) anyways, as it was quite fun.
We talk, find out that she was hired by devils to kill the reverend and take his place, so we have to figure out a way to deal with her. After more talk, we find out she'd rather work for anyone else besides devils, so we negotiate and she works for us for a fee. So we head to the club where these devils are chilling out. I and our arcanist go in, taking different points, looking as casual as we can, and just as I say the word which I knew before hand to be a trigger word to set off security by the staff, our other two stumble through an enchanted door and set off... the security. Roll initiative.
People fire guns at each other, but come my turn, I move use Imitreye's cloud (having made the capstone) and people start to fall asleep or are at the very least confused and sort of terrified. End up putting down a small gang that each had guns non-lethally, along with the bartender and some girls. Some rounds later, I hop behind the bar, get the earpiece the bartender had and listen in. Not good stuff was going on in the basement. We head down immediately after picking up / disarming the guns from those still alive.
Use detect magic ala constellation, finding a very powerful, very bright magic source in the next room. Uh oh. So... I move in first. Something like 6 kyton, one kyton auger and a hellscape with a termagent hovering near the entrance into our world are in there, along with people chained to the walls. Lovely.
I drop another fog from Imitreyes (5 rounds had passed) and am able to put 2 kyton to sleep for the time being. Stuff happens, I kill the auger, and make a knowledge roll to figure out how to shut down the hellscape. End up running to the wall and start pulling hard at the chains, all the while the Termagent is in my mind, taunting me.
"You can be returned to your true form if you stop this insolence now!" it says, knowing I'm a vampire.
"My name is Oliver Oath, and insolence is all I'm about bi***!"
Hindsight it may not have been smart to give a gigantic devil your name before taunting it. But, un-live and learn.
Anyways, 2 of my allies are poisoned via Termagent effect (28 to save for lv. 6 characters...), one's near death. I pull and finally break the chains (thank you vampire strength) and the hellscape dissapears, as the people chained to thew all were forming a seal / circle.
The 2 poisoned, get help from the shapeshifter, at least stopping the poison, while I finish off a kyton. DM decides to slip in his special house rules for what I might be becoming in the future (instead of a vampire). We finish off any leftover Kyton and my character is very upset about the people chained to the wall being poisoned by the termagent effect. Thinking he should have done more to save them. Blah blah blah, finish and level up to 7. I pick up leadership... and now get to spend 6 or more straight days to get a single lv. 4 spirit. *Sigh* Oh well... Baraddu and Moi seem worth it. Maybe I can persuade my DM into dropping a gnostic tome in my lap.
TL;DR: Imitreyes is a very solid spirit and I'm glad I had him available to me. When my DM saw me pick him, he said, "Damn it" as he knew I'd have a decent shot at putting a group of people to sleep and bending the fights in our favor.
Hey everyone! I had a question. Out of the spirits, which would be some of the best for support builds? My DM has given me the option of having an occultist binder as a cohort for leadership, and I'm seriously considering it.
I know Ubro is an obvious choice for support spirit and Pevwryn seems like he'd be pretty good as well if they use the Vestigial Boon. Although, I can't seem to find information for the Oiled Extract ability anywhere. So I assume it turns the extracts into oils for some reason, but I don't know the limitations or benefits of it from there.
Another possible support spirit seems to be humble ohbai. Group transporting is pretty solid. Perhaps Vandrae so they can sort of sit at the back and if lucky, knock an enemy spell or two out. I suppose Forash could be good if we need some backup. Having them sit at the back, vanish then summon nature things. Muse could be good. Illusions, divination and a sort-of-scry along with a buff seems just right.
Any others anyone can think of that stand out as support worthy?
The oiled extract discovery is on page 23 of this book. I got confused about it too, since it doesn't have the †.
Got it. It's odd. I did the search function and for some reason it didn't show up at the time.
Support spirits...Eos Dei is interesting for being help to help reroll bad initiative, and Marat's defend the ward isn't bad.
Humble Ohbai can definitely be fun, using genie jaunt and genie steeds. Pevwyrn, yeah, you can snag some interesting alchemist's extracts. Prince Ozsen provides false life as a minor buff for all, and can create pits to help with battlefield control. Ubro has obvious benefits, as you noted.
Cornelius Button can provide some pretty nice battlefield control, would probably go for Light Cornelius for some healing. Forty-Two can bring augury (usefulness depending on DM), a nice bonus on Knowledge checks, and possibly a robo-corpse. Iona Ophid can also get some nice arcane spells and potentially help block some spells. Kaiya can help shield other someone if you're a tank type, and In Harm's Way can help out with Abjure Missiles potentially, I think. Muse Istago can definitely be helpful with his illusions and ability score boosts, though realistically the latter may be of limited use depending on how many stat boost items you have. Some scrying isn't too bad, though. Sybee Rose isn't a bad choice, I think, her fireball and hexes are nice, and if you're running into fire (not uncommon), can get some protection from energy. Vandrae...yeah, might be able to get some counterspells in. Xalen isn't bad for utility, being able to shrink stuff, getting some more nice bonuses to Knowledge/Spellcraft, and handle reading some obscure stuff. If your DM is open-minded, could potentially use some glue/magical adhesive to stick a document to someone you want to track down, or in a more social situation, might use Sleight of Hand?
Some good input here Luthorne, thanks! I almost forgot about Cornelius.
Also, under Taios, the wording seems odd.
"As an immediate action, you invoke Taios’s unchained power when you roll a d20 in order to roll 1d6 and add the result to your d20 die. You must use this ability before the result of your d20 roll is revealed. This surge die increases to 1d8 at 8th level and 1d10 at 16th level. After using this ability, it becomes expended for 5 rounds."
I'm assuming it means that, "When you roll a d20, you may roll 1d6..."
This may have already been mentioned though.
This is the new wording:
Taios Surge: Whenever you roll a d20, you can invoke Taios’s power as an immediate action in order to roll 1d6 and add the result to your d20 roll or check. You must use this ability before the result of your roll or check is revealed. At 8th level, you roll 1d8 instead of 1d6 and add the result to your d20 roll or check. At 16th level, you roll 1d10 instead of 1d8. After using this ability, it becomes expended for 5 rounds.
Capstone Empowerment: If you have one or more mythic tiers, you can expend Taios surge for 5 hours in order to regain one use of mythic power.
I have a question (that again may have already been answered) regarding the spirit Xalen D'Marek. For his ability, Enhance Vessel's Mind, do you gain the normal retroactive skill points from the bonus, plus an additional set of ranks? Or is the ability essentially forcing you to use the retroactive skill points gained in a knowledge skill?
Also, on a side note, I have finished up to the third level spirits in the "guide" I've been fiddling with. I have some serious formatting to do (namely hyperlinking and font sizing). It may not help anyone else, but it has forced me to really look at the spirits further and with a more discerning eye. I've noticed that it's shifted my view a little on what spirits I had thought were good and so-so initially. For instance, I hadn't been impressed with D'Marek at first, but now I think he's pretty solid.
On an entirely different note, anyone else get a chance to do further playtesting? If so, how'd the session go? I'd like to hear (i.e. read) more about how your spirit interactions went.
Does this clear up your question?
Enhance Vessel’s Mind: While you are bound to Xalen d’Marek, you gain a +2 bonus to your Intelligence score. All skill ranks gained from this increase must be spent in one Knowledge skill of your choice.
Just had a quick question concerning the pactsworn knight ... in the final version does he swap out all of the mount related class abilities? I was checking it out last night and noticed that it actually retained expert trainer which I thought was a bit strange.
Thanks
Volf
This replaces the pactsworn knight's current clause about bonus feats.
Expert Binder: At 4th level, a pactsworn knight gains one binder secret, as the occultist class feature. He uses his cavalier level as his effective occultist level to determine if he meets the prerequisites of this binder secret as well as its benefit, and he must meet the secret’s prerequisites. In addition, whenever a pactsworn knight gains a bonus feat, he may select a combat feat, an occult feat, or a binder secret. This ability alters the cavalier’s bonus feats and replaces expert trainer.