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Is Barkskin still as laughably bad a self debuff as in the Playtest?
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What are Prestidigitation and Unseen Servant looking like in the final rules? Prestidigitation couldn’t flavor the party’s food all at once and Unseen Servant had a really short duration.
Is Barkskin still as laughably bad a self debuff as in the Playtest?
Am I reading the playtest wrong ? The benefit is DR1 for a level 2 spell - that is awful (even ignoring the downside )
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Does assist action for helping one ally get better?. Éven with coopérative nature, it dont seem to have great impact? Thx for tour work btw.
This one slipped through, but I was curious.
The final version of the Aid reaction is changed in a few ways:
- Critical failures only give your ally a -1, (playtest did -2) so they're less risky
- Successes only give a +1 (playtest did +2)
- Critical successes give a +2, but if you are a master with the check it's +3, and legendary gives +4 (playtest was a flat +4)
- The base DC is given as 20 with allowance for adjustment (playtest listed 15)
The final version of Cooperative Nature was also changed:
- The bonus to Aid checks is a +4 circumstance bonus (playtest was +2)
From this, I think it's reasonable to conclude that the developers felt Aid might actually have been a little too powerful at low levels when it worked, and too punishing when it failed. I think it's also reasonable to conclude that they also felt Cooperative Nature could use a boost. +4 is pretty dang huge.
You can't really benefit from multiple people aiding (only the highest circumstance benefit will apply), so it's not easy to game the system here.
The other thing is that untrained checks are much worse in final. If your buddy isn't adding their level to a check, they're probably going to need every single point they can get...but that's really only for skill checks, or if someone is attacking with a weapon they have no training in (maybe your wizard picked up the special sword you need to target a weakness or something; these would be pretty dire straits).
Don't forget that there's also Follow the Expert, which covers a lot of these circumstances outside of Encounter Mode.
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Is Barkskin still as laughably bad a self debuff as in the Playtest?Am I reading the playtest wrong ? The benefit is DR1 for a level 2 spell - that is awful (even ignoring the downside )
You're not! Terribly weak benefit that comes with a big vulnerability.
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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?
For an action, you pick a foe, and until the start of your next turn your Strikes with your weapon (blade ally) does an extra 4 good damage (6 if you have master proficiency). If the foe attacks one of your allies, the duration extends to the end of that foe's next turn (and can continue to do so each turn).
It's not a focus spell or anything so, like Captain America, you can do this all day.
The general rule is that only creatures with opposing alignments are hurt by damage with an alignment type, so they don't have to specify that it only does stuff to evil foes here.
That feat is not to be confused with Divine Smite, which is a 9th-level class feature for all Champions that applies persistent good damage equal to your Cha modifier to enemies subject to your version of the Champion's Reaction (Retributive Strike, Glimpse of Redemption, and Liberating Step; it's conditional as to whether it applies based on how that reaction went down and works basically the same as the 1.6 playtest rules).
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Kind of a loaded question but has anyone noticed a way to become immortal? As in, not die of old age. I heard they took out reincarnate and clone so far.
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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.
As for liberator champions, they're definitely the most situationally awesome. That said, freedom of movement effects are super powerful when you need them. And free Steps are no joke; stepping slightly out of range can burn an enemy action or grant/cancel flanks, or save a friendly action later, and all of those are pretty much always really strong.
In one of the streams, Mark Seifter made the point that people have a tendency to look at the most situational part of the ability and think that it's weak if they're not always getting that, even if the thing they do get is still really strong. I think it's a sleeper ability that people will overlook, but can do cool stuff for a tactical group.
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You know, I'm not sure there actually is any reason to make Smite Evil restricted to good aligned Champions or even bar it from evil aligned Champions; for example, a Tyrant of Asmodeus who primarily concerns herself with exterminating daemon cults would probably want Smite Evil.
In anything, I would except goodly Champions to be barred from Smite Good, but even then I don't think you need to waste word count on "people for whom this feat will usually be useless can't take this feat".
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How do NPCs work? Given that we no longer have Commoner, Aristocrat, Expert etc. what does an ordinary human person look like in the Bestiary? And how do we make her an expert (a sailor for instance)? Just give her Sailing Lore and Acrobatic proficiency? How are HP and other normally level-dependent attributes calculated?
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Can i use the Trash feat from the barbarian with a poisoned dude to poison another dude? like a Poisoned Dude weapon?
I assume you mean Thrash.
So...no?
You really wanted Collateral Thrash, the level 16 feat.
When you Thrash a grabbed foe, another foe adjacent to the grabbed foe also takes your Thrash damge, with a basic Reflex save against your class DC.
Still no. You're not technically using them as a weapon, poisoned or otherwise.
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How do NPCs work? Given that we no longer have Commoner, Aristocrat, Expert etc. what does an ordinary human person look like in the Bestiary? And how do we make her an expert (a sailor for instance)? Just give her Sailing Lore and Acrobatic proficiency? How are HP and other normally level-dependent attributes calculated?
We don't have explicit answers to any of this, and we won't until the NPC creation rules come out in the GameMastery Guide.
EDIT: Also, an ordinary human person looks like this.
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.
This is super subjective. The flavor's basically the same as the 1.6 playtest, so your opinion will likely be the same.
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Are there Cantrips that deal damage but do not have the Attack tag?** spoiler omitted **
How well do martial weapons stack up against each other? Especially within the same category, such as the difference between a Longsword and a Warhammer? Or a Greataxe and Claymore?
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Did Bards get anything new or exciting? Most of what I've seen says they are pretty much unchanged.
This one has an underlying issue that bugs me, and I'll talk a little about changes to how all classes work more generally.
Second, anyone who describes any class as "pretty much unchanged" is omitting some nuance for simplicity or overlooking a lot of little things. Proficiencies were tweaked across the board, spellcasters have class feat count parity with martials, skill counts were tweaked, etc. Spellcasters also gain a level 10 slot without having to burn a feat to get it, although they can generally get another one with a level 20 feat. Signature Spells changes spontaneous heightening. Everyone has new feats.
For bards specifically, at 11, they gain expert weapon proficiency for a few weapons, and if a composition is active can apply critical specializations. They get expert proficiency with light armor at 13, and also some slight weapon specialization boost to damage.
For class feats, some options that look new to me: They can take Reach Spell (1st), get a defensive buff composition (maestro muse, 4th), get quickened casting (10th), use five simultaneous recall knowledge actions (enigma muse, 14th), and get Effortless Concentration (16th).
Bulk of a spellbook/formula book- 1 or L?
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Are there any fighter feats that let them pull off truly extraordinary moves?** spoiler omitted **
I'm going to disagree a little.
failed against your AC back at the caster. Like...that's pretty extraordinary. It's definitely a bit of an outlier, though.
Flinging Shove (10th level, requires Aggressive Block or Brutish Shove) lets you potentially shove guys your size or smaller up to 20 feet on a critical success for the prereqs, which is situational but pretty neat.
What are the exotic weapons available?
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Is there anything more on Bard muses that's changed from the play test, specifically around the flavor text around muses?
and what is the skill feat for Barrister background?
please and thank you.
Barrister gives Diplomacy, which I understand is not Deception largely due to the protestations of Ron Lundeen. It also gives Legal Lore, the Group Impression skill feat, and one of the ability boosts must be to Intelligence or Charisma.
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Have the Combat Maneuvers changed/improved from the playtest? They were very lackluster from what I remember. Can you give a quick run down on them? Thank you.
Combat maneuvers are always more situational, but they're still great for making enemies waste actions.
I think someone who builds around using the maneuvers will happily have them in their toolset. The martial classes generally each have a few feats to make these options more flexible, more reliable, or more powerful.
Do monk Ki Feats grant extra Ki/focus points as well or is there some other way to increase them?
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Here's a question for your morning: what Reactions do Wizards have access?
- Counterspell is a level 1 feat.
- The Energy Absorption focus spell for Abjuration specialists llets you gain resistance 15 when you would take damage.
- Life Siphon is a Necromancy focus spell that heals you 1d8 per spell level when you casta Necromancy spell.
- Shield cantrip gives shield block.
- Other spells can obviously grant other reactions.
Wizards are good candidates for taking more situational reactions from other sources like Goblin Scuttle and planning around them.
Is there any limit on summoned creatures using their spells besides only having two actions?
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How are the Domain Powers? Have they been improved upon?
There are close to 11 full pages of Cleric focus spells. There's no way I could do any justice to this question.
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How do the ancestral weaponry feat trees look? Can you still get expert in ancestral weapons at lvl 13 using ancestry feats?
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Is there any way to increase proficiency in a weapon above "trained" (e.g. non monks and unarmed attack)?
Otherwise the most likely method is to multiclass into fighter to get all simple and martial weapons to trained, and take the level 12 feat to bump them to expert (and advanced weapons to trained).
For some weapons, Ancestry feats will also help and are generally worded to match the proficiency of whatever your class already grants for the ancestry feats that raise proficiency levels (generally level 13).
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How do the ancestral weaponry feat trees look? Can you still get expert in ancestral weapons at lvl 13 using ancestry feats?
See the post immediately preceding this one.
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Do they have encounter tables that sort encounters by terrain or creature type?
I'm sure people will make those kinds of random encounter tables for those who want them.
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Does monk ability to increase unarmed from 1d4 to 1d6 stack with alchemist mutagens I think feral or beastial.
From an earlier spoiler weapon die increases don't stack.
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Did Bards get anything new or exciting? Most of what I've seen says they are pretty much unchanged.This one has an underlying issue that bugs me, and I'll talk a little about changes to how all classes work more generally.
** spoiler omitted **
The points about spellcasting changes across the board are super valid and I didn't mean to ignore them. In my head I was thinking about how, in my opinion, it felt like the muses had a little less overall impact on the direction of your character than a lot of similar level 1 "paths," did and I was particularly curious if that was adjusted in anyway. Obviously there was no way to get that out of the question I asked so my bad. Your answer was super helpful regardless of how poorly I worded my question so I appreciate it!
Bulk of a spellbook/formula book- 1 or L?
seconding this, weights of alchemist formula book and wizard spellbook would be neat.
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Could you share the beastiary stats and any cool abilities for kobold(s)?
I have a player looking to play one in Age of Ashes. Thank you!
I'm not going to type statblocks or put photos here, but I'll give a little advice and a few details based on how I thought about it when I pondered the same issue a few days ago.
For stat adjustments, Kobolds all have high dexterity, generally low strength, and wisdom is never low. Unlike PF1, they don't seem to be extra low in Con. I'd probably give them free boosts to Dex and Wis, and a flaw in Str.
They don't all have energy resistance, but the level 2 dragon mage kobold does.
They mostly have a Hurried retreat action that lets them do an action to stride a little fast with a bonus to AC vs. reactions. The dragon mage has a version that lets them leave behind an illusion as they retreat, but it's 3 actions.
These probably make good starting points for designing some ancestry or heritage options, but there are a lot of feats that you'd still have to make up. I'd probably look at the other different ancestry feats for inspiration, maybe a version of the goblin's junk tinker to build some low-level snares, the cooperation human feat, the goblin fire damage boost (but adjusted to dragon type), etc.
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In the Playtest, the Fighter feats Agile Grace (reduce MAP with Agile weapons from -4/8 to -3/6) and Two Weapon Flurry (one action, make one attack with each weapon, required both strikes to be at MAP -8 or worse to use the feat) were thoroughly incompatible with each other despite both being very natural choices for a dual wielder. Is this still the case?
Good news, everyone!
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Thanks for the bone about the Imperial bloodline, and now I got curious about the other 2 focus spells of that bloodline, I will be very grateful for that spoiler.
Both seem cool.
Is there anything super interesting or notable to you you'd like to share that nobody has asked about yet?
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I know we aren’t supposed to waste words beseeching the orb, but Rico ain’t no orb! So thank you Rico! You’ve been awesome! And I would thank the orb too, but I’m afraid of incurring its mystic wrath...
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Is Barkskin still as laughably bad a self debuff as in the Playtest?
The other big change is that the target can Dismiss the spell as a free action triggered by taking fire damage, which doesn't reduce the amount dealt, but will obviously prevent it from taking more on subsequent attacks.
DR against only two types is situational, but can be powerful. The drawback of fire weakness can't be exploited by a lot of foes, so it's something that only sometimes has a meaningful drawback for PCs. I might consider throwing it on myself if I was a wild shape Druid who wasn't going to be using spells in fights anyway.
Barkskin was never going to be what it was in PF1, because the AC numbers are designed to fall into a reasonable range.
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What are Prestidigitation and Unseen Servant looking like in the final rules? Prestidigitation couldn’t flavor the party’s food all at once and Unseen Servant had a really short duration.
Prestidigitation was one of my favorite spells in PF1.
I hated that in the playtest.
You can Cook (cool/warm/flavor) 1 pound of nonliving material, so I think this mostly depends on how you're preparing the party's food.
Bring some salt, flavor the salt, shake the salt on all the party's food. Easy peasy.
Unseen servant is still sustained (the new version of "Concentration") but doesn't have a 1-minute limit. The practical limit is typically 10 minutes, based on the guidelines (not hard rules) for exploration activities under the Repeat a Spell on page 480.
Stats for the servant are the same as the playtest.
How different from each other are the Longsword and the Bastard Sword compared to the playtest? If you could write their stats that would be great!
We know about the "Grab Edge" reaction for when you get pushed down a cliff or a pit trap opens under your feet.
What other general reactions are listed in the book? Anything to grab a potion tossed by a friend during their turn?
Is Barkskin still as laughably bad a self debuff as in the Playtest?** spoiler omitted **
I understand it will never have the same effect but resistance 2 seems low. But are base damage rolls lower in this edition due to:
- smaller weapon dice
- no traditional power attack / deadly aim
- no 1.5 strength bonus for two handed
?
Because the armour spec resistances also seem relatively low so it seems like a general thing ...
Any changes to the wizard's arcane focus? Is it still once per day for specialist and once per day and level for universalist?
Any interesting feats (other than the focus regenerating one that was already spoiled) that interact with it?
What is/are the primary attributes of champion? Only Str or are there other options?
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The 3rd level creature we've seen most recently (a Dryad) does 1d12+2 damage (average 8.5). DR 2 vs. that would drop the damage by nearly 25% (around 23.5%).
Scaling upward, the listed 13th level crature (a Ghaele) does 2d12+13+2d6 (average 33). DR 7 (from a 7th level version), is still over a 20% damage drop (21.2% or thereabouts).
That makes Barkskin seem reasonable enough considering that spells are supposed to not scale perfectly, though the Weakness is a bit of a downside, certainly.
