Queries for The All-Seeing Orb

[RicoTheBold]

RangerWickett wrote:

How do deity choices line up with the different champion alignment options? Can you have a 'paladin' of a NG god, like Shelyn; or a redeemer of a CG god like Desna?

I hear there is a Hellknight armiger background. What's it like? How can wizard hellknights wear that lovely infernal armor?

These are old spoilers, so I'm going to leave them plain. Champions can be any good alignment, paladins are the lawful variety. Deities have defined alignments for their supporters; it's no longer the "one-step" rule.

Spoiler:

Desna takes NG, CG, or CN. Sheyln takes LG, NG, CG, so any champion can be for Sheyln. By contrast, Torag only takes LG and LN.

I believe the Hellknight armiger background will be in one of the world guides that were delayed until next month.

[RicoTheBold]

Dinky_Dog wrote:

Could I possibly get a little insight on the sorcerer hag-bloodline (if there is one)? Specifically, granted spells and bloodline powers. I'm assuming the spell list will be Occult.

Also, any improvements/changes to familiars? They seemed to only have decent utility once you got the master abilities. Thanks!

Spoiler:

There is, and it's occult. Granted spells are daze, illusory disguise, touch of idiocy, blindness, outcast's curse (the only Misfortune effect I've found), mariner's curse, baleful polymorph, warp mind, spiritual epidemic, and nature's enmity. Seems like a good list to me. The focus spells are jealous hex, horrific visage, and you're mine.

Blood magic is that the first creature that deals damage to you before the end of your next turn 2 mental damage per spell level and must attempt a basic will save (which are generic saves to negate/halve/full/double the damage).

[RangerWickett]

Thanks!

Speaking of Desnan champions, can only LG paladins get the 'smite evil' feat? Or is there some comparable offensive option for NG or CG champions to deal with evil creatures?

I tend to think of PF1 paladins as being defined by having smite evil, lay hands, and detect evil. I believe in the playtest Smite Evil is a level 8 feat. Is there any 'good at hurting evil things' power/feat/spell that champions can get at low level in PF2?

[Shisumo]

Does the primal list have any worthwhile 1-action spells or cantrips? Something like what shield is for the arcane and divine lists?

[The All-Seeing Orb]

The Sesquipedalian Thaumaturge wrote:

Are there any strong combat cantrips which don't deal damage (and aren't bard compositions or shield)? If so, which spell lists have them?

The Orb shall take its time to really go through all the spells so as to answer this one. Sit tight!

Dinky_Dog wrote:

Could I possibly get a little insight on the sorcerer hag-bloodline (if there is one)? Specifically, granted spells and bloodline powers. I'm assuming the spell list will be Occult.

Also, any improvements/changes to familiars? They seemed to only have decent utility once you got the master abilities. Thanks!

Spoiler:

Some of the spells granted by the Hag Bloodline are "Illusory Disguise", "Touch of Idiocy", and "Blindness". Very on-theme. The final Bloodline Power is called "You're Mine", which can allow you to either partially or completely control a creature for a short duration, depending on their will save.

Familiar info will be included in the coming cantrip review, unless Rico gets to it first.

[Coldermoss]

Could you give us a brief overview of the Undead bloodline for sorcerer?

[Vali Nepjarson]

Has the Dragon Bloodline Sorcerer undergone any changes from the playtest? More specifically, has the Dragon Claws Focus Spell been better defined and what is the blood magic of the bloodline (the rider effect on all of their Bloodline spells and focus spells)?

How does the Liberator Champion look when compared to the Redeemer and the Paladin? I am definitely a Chaotic Good fanboy, but most of the time I find chaotic good "powersets" to be sort of lackluster, if that makes sense.

[The All-Seeing Orb]

Shisumo wrote:

Does the primal list have any worthwhile 1-action spells or cantrips? Something like what shield is for the arcane and divine lists?

Spoiler:

"Guidance" seems to be the only 1-action cantrip that would be worth using in combat. Certainly worth an otherwise unused 3rd action, though it can't effect a target more than once per hour

[RicoTheBold]

Dinky_Dog wrote:

Also, any improvements/changes to familiars? They seemed to only have decent utility once you got the master abilities. Thanks!

I missed this the first time, sorry.

EDIT: Added more. I've already started to forget what cool stuff was actually new.

Spoiler:

Base familiars are basically the same mechanics. Enhanced Familiar is a feat at 2nd level for a couple classes (Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard off the top of my head, not Alchemists) to add 2 more familiar/master abilities. The Familiar-focused arcane thesis topic for wizards adds even more, so they can get pretty wild little dudes. They added a couple options for alchemists (lab assistant lets a familiar use your quick alchemy, extra reagents gives an extra batch of reagents). Familiars can also let you regain a focus point for 2 actions.

I want all the minions, so I think these are good and cool changes.

OH! Also, manual dexterity lets them have limbs they can use as hands, and kinspeech lets them talk to other animals of the same species, and lifelink lets you take a hit as a reaction to keep your buddy from dropping to 0 HP. Their attacks/skills aren't your level-2 anymore (just your level). And they added a burrow speed, so the gnome preference for animals with burrow speeds can actually mean something.

[Quandary]

Glad if Druids are getting Familiar love, I never liked how they were pushed towards "beatstick" angle (directly or via Animal Companions). On that note, is there "Caster Druid" path? In Playtest, people told me "use Leaf Order" which was pretty tangential to Caster focus. Anything better now?

[RicoTheBold]

Quandary wrote:

Glad if Druids are getting Familiar love, I never liked how they were pushed towards "beatstick" angle (directly or via Animal Companions). On that note, is there "Caster Druid" path? In Playtest, people told me "use Leaf Order" which was pretty tangential to Caster focus. Anything better now?

What? That's crazy. Storm order.

Spoiler:

Storm and Leaf order also get extra focus points (which is a little awkwardly worded, and I wasn't sure if they were actual extra points until I compared against the Animal and Wild orders.

The big thing is that the 2nd-level feat Order Explorer means you're not as arbitrarily locked into one order or another, and the feats don't taunt you with abilities you can't access because you picked the wrong order. The order is either a prereq for a feat or not.

But...reallllly, they're all good for casting because you're still a full caster no matter what. I think a summon and pet-focused druid would be a lot of fun, though. No order is needed for summon feats. Leaf order lets you turn into a plant, which is neat, just on principle.

[Bardic Dave]

Can druids get familiars that aren't leshies? Like a cat or an owl?

[Glimturen Runekeeper]

What stat does the Gnome primal cantrip use? Does it matter if the gnome has a primal class? Gnome Sorcerer vs Druid?

[The All-Seeing Orb]

Combat Cantrips

Spoiler:

There aren't many combat cantrips that don't deal damage or aren't "shield", but these 3 stuck out.

Ghost Sound (Arcane, Occult): In the hands of a clever caster, Ghost Sound can wreak havoc. Enemies don't get an automatic save to disbelieve, so if they don't know that it's you making the noises, they may be forced to investigate.

Tanglefoot (Arcane, Primal): Slows a target, with a chance of immobilizing them completely.

Forbidding Ward (Divine, Occult): Gives an ally a bonus to AC and Saves against the attacks of one specific enemy. Not a huge bonus, but the AC boost is as good as "shield' and gets better at higher levels.

[RicoTheBold]

Bardic Dave wrote:

Can druids get familiars that aren't leshies? Like a cat or an owl?

Spoiler:

No, but you can pick Gnomes, or Humans that are raised by gnomes with Versatile Heritage (for an extra general feat, that you use on Adopted Ancestry to take gnome feats), and then take the Gnome feat Animal Accomplice to get a familiar, then be a druid and pick the Animal Order and have two animal buddies at level one.

[The All-Seeing Orb]

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

What stat does the Gnome primal cantrip use? Does it matter if the gnome has a primal class? Gnome Sorcerer vs Druid?

Spoiler:

The Gnome's cantrip uses Charisma, as is the default for innate spells. Class choice has no effect on any aspect of this ability.

[Ishi1993]

The All-Seeing Orb wrote:

As has been the case in the past, when books manifest within The Orb's vision earlier than they do for other's, a thread is opened so that the sightless might query the All-Seeing. That is what is happening here! For those poor souls who have yet to see these new tomes (that is, the Core Rulebook and Bestiary), ask your questions below, but heed these rules!

1. There is no guarantee a question will be answered. Do not spam questions, though you might draw attention to it once more if it has gone more than a few days unanswered.

2. Do not expect specific numbers, detailed mechanics, or excerpts from the books. Prophecy is vague by nature, and attempts to wring undeserved information from the beyond leads only to ruin!

3. Waste no words beseeching The Orb! A simple "Thank You" or "Please" suffices if you insist on such courtesy, but The Orb has no patience for groveling. Ask your question and be done with it!

Now, go forth and ask below!

All answers will be hidden in a spoiler tag, so the precognition-averse need not worry themselves.

Also, if any dev feels this previewing goes too far, please let me know. I'll stop at once

Can i use the Trash feat from the barbarian with a poisoned dude to poison another dude? like a Poisoned Dude weapon?

[Glimturen Runekeeper]

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

[RicoTheBold]

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

What stat does the Gnome primal cantrip use? Does it matter if the gnome has a primal class? Gnome Sorcerer vs Druid?

Spoiler:

Innate spells use Cha by default, and pretty much always (hedging in case I missed something). A different Gnome heritage provides the possibility to get a different spell list's cantrip (i.e, arcane, divine, or occult), but you can't change it around once per day...and it makes any other spells you primal innate spells you pick up from being a gnome also match that other spell list.

Guys, keep asking questions about gnomes and druids. I'm all over these. I barely need to glance at the rules.

[Helmic]

If I were to allow my players to pick any one alignment's abilities regardless of their own alignment for the Champion class, how much is the flavor going to be off or not make sense? Or, to put it another way, how easy is it to handwave away alignment for Champions, at least for the law-chaos axis?

I dislike the change somewhat, it was rather easy to just say "you're a chaotic good paladin, who's gonna stop you, the cops?" before in PF1 and the playtest and the playtest update made it more awkward.

[Deadmanwalking]

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

I don't have the book, but it's been mentioned that Elves can previously.

[Tiene]

Is there any way for a barbarian to effectively benefit from rage and an animal companion or bonded animal? For example, did the Command an Animal/Minion action (or whatever it is) gain the Rage trait, or is there a feat that lets a barbarian effectively treat it as if it had the Rage trait?

[RangerWickett]

Do druids keep that 'thousand faces' power from PF1?

Any cool starknife-specific feats/magic items/spells? Actually, is there *art* of one?

[RicoTheBold]

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

Spoiler:

Elves still can, from the arcane list. Dwarves don't, but can get meld with stone as a 9th level feat. Goblins don't, but they still get bonus damage to fire spells. Halflings don't, but can increase their damage die size with a sling attack on a large or larger creature (because halfling sling rangers with bear companions are the best archers as previously discussed), and humans can do whatever if they like gnomes enough.

Gnomes have by far the most options for innate spells by ancestry.

[RicoTheBold]

Deadmanwalking wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

I don't have the book, but it's been mentioned that Elves can previously.

That's a crime, DMW. If there was one person on the forums I wish had a book to use to quash misinformation, it's you.

[graystone]

RicoTheBold wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

** spoiler omitted **

Does the cleric still have the feat Deadly Simplicity? If so, can a halfling with the increase their damage die size with a sling attacks vs big folk stack? A 1d10 sling sounds pretty sweet. ;)

[The All-Seeing Orb]

Vali Nepjarson wrote:

Has the Dragon Bloodline Sorcerer undergone any changes from the playtest? More specifically, has the Dragon Claws Focus Spell been better defined and what is the blood magic of the bloodline (the rider effect on all of their Bloodline spells and focus spells)?

How does the Liberator Champion look when compared to the Redeemer and the Paladin? I am definitely a Chaotic Good fanboy, but most of the time I find chaotic good "powersets" to be sort of lackluster, if that makes sense.

Spoiler:

The Dragon Claws spell seems straightforward enough, graining the caster a claw unarmed attack which deals additional scaling (haha! Scaling? Because dragons? Never mind.) energy damage. The Bloodline's blood magic increases either your own or a target's AC for a round.

The Liberator looks just fine on a cursory glance. In fact, their Champion's Reaction, "Liberating Step" seems the most useful of the three, granting damage resistance, an additional save, and a free bit of movement to an ally.

[RicoTheBold]

Tiene wrote:

Is there any way for a barbarian to effectively benefit from rage and an animal companion or bonded animal? For example, did the Command an Animal/Minion action (or whatever it is) gain the Rage trait, or is there a feat that lets a barbarian effectively treat it as if it had the Rage trait?

Spoiler:

Animal companions can be had up to "incredible companion" through multiclassing with 4 feats. Mature animal companions (for druids, at least) will still use 1 action even if not commanded. Badgers get rage automatically. Alternatively, as a callback to my first answer in the thread, the 8th level barbarian feat lets you share rage with any ally.

Command an Animal still has the concentrate trait, so you'll need a Moment of Clarity first, which makes commanding a 2-action combo. You could do Moment of Clarity for free with Mighty Rage (at 11) the first turn you rage...Anyway. I don't see any other options in core. It's not ideal.

[Nicolas Paradise]

Any good info about rangers? I was very disappointed with them in the playtest despite loveing the rest of 2e A LOT. But they seem like they don't do anything better than other classes(which makes me sad because they were my favorite core class in 1e and 3.5 and didn'thave to take away fromtheir own power to have a strong Animal companion) . Also does an animal companion actually look like a viable build since you lose out feats on your self to keep them up to level?

[cjstevenson]

I know that there are Divine spells to heal and remove status affects, but I'm interested in prevention.

What are some examples of spells (or powers) that Divine casters can use to keep their allies from being harmed?

(Or am I thinking about divine magic the wrong way?)

[The All-Seeing Orb]

RangerWickett wrote:

Do druids keep that 'thousand faces' power from PF1?

Any cool starknife-specific feats/magic items/spells? Actually, is there *art* of one?

Spoiler:

There doesn't seem to be anything that's specific to the starknife (though a number of feats would complement a starknife build), but there is art of the weapon in the "weapons" section.

[RicoTheBold]

graystone wrote:

RicoTheBold wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

** spoiler omitted **

Does the cleric still have the feat Deadly Simplicity? If so, can a halfling with the increase their damage die size with a sling attacks vs big folk stack? A 1d10 sling sounds pretty sweet. ;)

Edited for a correction.

Spoiler:

Yes, and I don't see why not, except that the core book doesn't have any deities with slings as favored weapons. HOWEVER, sling staffs are 5 gold, do 1d10 bludgeoning, have a range of 80 feet, reload 1, bulk 1, 2 hands, sling group, and the traits Halfling and propulsive.
So with the heritage feat it already goes to 1d12 against large or larger.

***There's a rule to only get one die increase that I missed, but did not escape the All-Seeing Orb.

And then when you hit, your bear mauls the target, because you took Ranger instead of cleric and brought a bear.

[RicoTheBold]

RangerWickett wrote:

Do druids keep that 'thousand faces' power from PF1?

Any cool starknife-specific feats/magic items/spells? Actually, is there *art* of one?

Spoiler:

Orb skipped the first half. Yes, it's level 4 and gives humanoid form to your wild shape list. I'd probably skip it.

For starknives...what Orb said.

[Iron_Matt17]

How are the Domain Powers? Have they been improved upon?

[Ossuman]

Were there significant changes to the druid orders? In the play-test it felt like you could only ever be part of what it felt like to be a druid.

[RicoTheBold]

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

Any good info about rangers? I was very disappointed with them in the playtest despite loveing the rest of 2e A LOT. But they seem like they don't do anything better than other classes(which makes me sad because they were my favorite core class in 1e and 3.5 and didn'thave to take away fromtheir own power to have a strong Animal companion) . Also does an animal companion actually look like a viable build since you lose out feats on your self to keep them up to level?

Well, if you've been paying attention to my spoilers...

Spoiler:

Halfling sling-staff rangers make the best archers (for some definition of best).

Real talk, though, rangers have options for shooting regular bows more often, shooting reload bows/slings more easily (running reload, precision damage options, working with your bear to add extra damage, etc.) I think a ton of builds are viable, because it's actually kind of hard to make something unplayable in PF2e with just the core rules. I haven't run hard numbers on the animal companions or anything, so I'm largely trusting the Paizo folks saying they adjusted the math appropriately. Because of the way action economy works, I think the threshold for how good a minion has to be to be "useful" is probably lower than what people are used to, and adding flanking buddies and the like can be really powerful.

There might not be enough snares in core, but I like the design space behind the snare resource options, which are totally unique to rangers. I think they're far and away the best "single-strike archers" (i.e. weapons with reload), because again, no other class really takes the option for crossbows or slings all that seriously. They're still great with regular bows if the goal is just to put out all the arrows. The favored terrain feat has some rider benefits, and there's a later feat to change it whenever you want, basically.

I think the thing that will take some time to get used to (and hopefully holds up over time) is that a lot of feats give different options, and that there's just so much less of "take this thing to make numbers go up, and if you don't you'll fall behind and your group will be upset." Animal companions are one of the exceptions there in that you probably want to keep taking the feats once you start, and it's a little sad but I don't have any better ideas than a feat chain, and even there, the higher levels grant more customization of the animals.

[Data Lore]

Are there Cantrips that deal damage but do not have the Attack tag?

[The All-Seeing Orb]

graystone wrote:

RicoTheBold wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

** spoiler omitted **

Does the cleric still have the feat Deadly Simplicity? If so, can a halfling with the increase their damage die size with a sling attacks vs big folk stack? A 1d10 sling sounds pretty sweet. ;)

Spoiler:

Cleric's still have Deadly Simplicity, but multiple increases to a weapon's damage dice do not stack.

[graystone]

The All-Seeing Orb wrote:

graystone wrote:

RicoTheBold wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

** spoiler omitted **

Does the cleric still have the feat Deadly Simplicity? If so, can a halfling with the increase their damage die size with a sling attacks vs big folk stack? A 1d10 sling sounds pretty sweet. ;)

** spoiler omitted **

Darn... Thanks for looking.

[RicoTheBold]

Ossuman wrote:

Were there significant changes to the druid orders? In the play-test it felt like you could only ever be part of what it felt like to be a druid.

Spoiler:

ALL spellcasters get the full 11 class feats now, which helps a ton in the bottleneck that existed after level 12 in the playtest.

I've mentioned it a few times, but Druid orders aren't all mutually exclusive anymore, there's a 2nd level feat to join another order and get nearly all the benefits. And the feats aren't written with little riders that tell you that you would get a cool thing if only you were part of this other order but you're not because you just really wanted a little cactus leshy.

I'm pretty happy with them. They're not as "get all the things" as 1st edition, but I hated basically every archetype printed for 1e Druids because they always had to give up something cool, like wild shape, or your companion, or whatever. You can definitely say "I want to to be a bear, and have a bear" and make that work. And later, it's be a dragon and have a bear.

[Ossuman]

RicoTheBold wrote:

Ossuman wrote:

Were there significant changes to the druid orders? In the play-test it felt like you could only ever be part of what it felt like to be a druid.

** spoiler omitted **

Awesome! That's exactly what I was hoping to here. 1e felt like you were good all the things and you're right the archetypes really hurt for that reason. Excited at the idea of being able to be great at a couple things and fine at the others!

[RicoTheBold]

graystone wrote:

The All-Seeing Orb wrote:

graystone wrote:

RicoTheBold wrote:

Glimturen Runekeeper wrote:

Can any other ancestry get a Cantrip?

** spoiler omitted **

Does the cleric still have the feat Deadly Simplicity? If so, can a halfling with the increase their damage die size with a sling attacks vs big folk stack? A 1d10 sling sounds pretty sweet. ;)

** spoiler omitted **

Darn... Thanks for looking.

Don't forget, the first 2e world guide isn't even out yet, so more options may show up. That said, it kinda looks like slings weren't for any major deities in PF1, so you have to go to the more narrow stuff like Inner Sea Gods for options, which might take a while to get printed up.

[Nicolas Paradise]

RicoTheBold wrote:

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

Any good info about rangers? I was very disappointed with them in the playtest despite loveing the rest of 2e A LOT. But they seem like they don't do anything better than other classes(which makes me sad because they were my favorite core class in 1e and 3.5 and didn'thave to take away fromtheir own power to have a strong Animal companion) . Also does an animal companion actually look like a viable build since you lose out feats on your self to keep them up to level?

Well, if you've been paying attention to my spoilers...

** spoiler omitted **...

The real risk to animal companion viability is that with the loss of spells rangers can't get their companion to do stuff a normal animal can't like flying or fitting in your pocket. So in games vs mages and other flying enemies the ac doesn't have an equivalent to switch to ranged and just sits the fight out while the ranger becomes weaker since they otherwise would have had 4 more feats under their belt.

Back to topic what are the options if any for building constructs and can alchemists do it? I feel like alchemists not being magic steals some things like constructs, clones and simulacrums from them which were pretty themaic of 1e alchemists.

[Rek Rollington]

Is there any feats exclusive to thief rogues and what do they do?

[Ishi1993]

Is a melee full caster viable? Like, since the spell list is the same for everyone, i suspect that the melee good spells for the soon-to-come magus and already-here paladin are already there and acessible, right?

[Bruno Breakbone]

Bruno, a handsome and beautiful tetori, want to know if there any feat support for combat maneuvers ... specifically grapple.

[The All-Seeing Orb]

cjstevenson wrote:

I know that there are Divine spells to heal and remove status affects, but I'm interested in prevention.

What are some examples of spells (or powers) that Divine casters can use to keep their allies from being harmed?

(Or am I thinking about divine magic the wrong way?)

Spoiler:

Divine magic can do a lot more than just heal and protect. Some clerics might decide that the best way to prevent their allies from coming to harm is to incinerate their foes with holy fire.

There are some more run-of-the-mill protection spells though. For one, there's the cantrip "Forbidding Ward", which is a basic AC/save buff, detailed somewhere above. At higher levels there are spells like "Divine Ward" which grants a collective defensive buff that's strengthened against enemies of a particular alignment, and "Repulsion", which can prevent enemies from approaching you at all. A club-swinging troll isn't much of a threat if he can't get within 40 feet of you.

[RicoTheBold]

Data Lore wrote:

Are there Cantrips that deal damage but do not have the Attack tag?

Man, I hope not, and I'd be super surprised. I'll let the Orb take this one. I'm going to head to bed, but I might tackle one or two more real fast.

[Ossuman]

Did Bards get anything new or exciting? Most of what I've seen says they are pretty much unchanged.

[The All-Seeing Orb]

Rek Rollington wrote:

Is there any feats exclusive to thief rogues and what do they do?

Spoiler:

Yes, there are.

"Unbalancing Blow" makes a target flat-footed on a critical hit.

"Precise Debilitations" gives you some extra debilitations that can be applied with your Debilitating Strike class feature, namely extra sneak attack damage, or the flat-footed condition.