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Reading over the entries in the appendix, I noticed that all the deities concerned with magic (Abraxas, Isis, Nyarlathotep, etc.) give a spell to their clerics at *each* spell level instead of only three -- just like Nethys in the Core Rulebook.
I love these kinds of rules "Easter eggs" :-)
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Mechanical options that stood out:
1. Blessed Blood, Sorcerer feat 7, works well with worshiping one of the "super magic" gods so that you can select three of their off list spells to add to the divine spell list as your advance your character.
2. Evangelize, skill feat 7, is very nice as a diplomacy skill based debuff to compete with intimidate for spell casters. (You get stupefied instead of frightened).
3. Syncretism, Cleric feat 1, is going to be very popular indeed, I think, for cloistered clerics. Allows you to worship two gods. You get both sets of anethma and edicts, and depending on cloistered or warpriest you get either a domain from the second god or also its favored weapon.
4. Evocation spells - surprised to see that the elemental god spell lists demanded that the druid and wizard benefit with some new options.
5. Time Beacon, spell 7 arcane/occult is a very nice option at high level to take a high risk/high reward shot with a save or lose spell and fish for a crit fail. 1 action Time Beacon, 2 action cast offensive spell, if they don't get the save result you want you can rewind and either cast a different spell or cast the same spell (and slot) again.
6. Eject Soul, Focus 1 of soul domain: This might actually be a great short range scouting spell when cast on an ally, although the line of effect requirement is a pain. Fly invisibly straight up when outside to get a quick look around?
my wizard player is chomping a the bit for time beacon
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I've read that there may not ever be a serpentfolk ancestry, since 1) some races work better as monsters and antagonists and 2) there are already so many ways to a PC can play a reptile person.That's totally a serpentfolk that's a follower of Ydersius.Kinda weird how Ydersius isn't in the book nor is there serpentfolk in advanced race guide...*looks at the conspiracy board*I tend to agree here, with even the plurality of "serpentine" humanoids being overloaded, above and beyond "reptilian" in general. Serpentfolk in particular don't seem to have vibe conducive to PC play, and while full Class builds for BBEGs can be valid, it's not really necessary.
I'm not really clear on how Paizo has developed "Vishkanya" in setting at all, they feel a bit too intersecting as well. I kind of feel inclined to want them to BE Serpentfolk of the kind that altered themselves to infiltrate humanans, but a mutation that became self-reproducing while also not 100% passing as normal humans (which could be Ancestry Heritage, and normal purecast Serpentfolk aren't PC-legal?). Sort of like Gill-men of Serpentfolk in a way.
my wife plays a hysterical Yuanti hybrid in one of the 5th games we are in, serpent folk can be a fun pc race depending on the idea
I have been reading this book and I have to say just glancing at the goddess of doorways/pathways/transitions her anathama is can't destroy a door or block a passage. That seems like it would be REALLY a bad choice as an adventuring cleric. Breaking open doors and blockading stuff is kinda what adventurers do.
I mean, you can always pick the locks or finagle the key instead of breaking the door.
Let someone else blockade the door. Put up a token resistance when the tankiest person volunteers to stand in the doorway.
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I have been reading this book and I have to say just glancing at the goddess of doorways/pathways/transitions her anathama is can't destroy a door or block a passage. That seems like it would be REALLY a bad choice as an adventuring cleric. Breaking open doors and blockading stuff is kinda what adventurers do.
*enters the DMV*
Cleric of Alseta: *narrows eyes* ”Heresy.”
Creative Director
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I have been reading this book and I have to say just glancing at the goddess of doorways/pathways/transitions her anathama is can't destroy a door or block a passage. That seems like it would be REALLY a bad choice as an adventuring cleric. Breaking open doors and blockading stuff is kinda what adventurers do.
Perhaps, but then again, if every deity was a great perfect choice for any sort of adventurer, they'd start to feel samey in that regard. I think it's good to have some out there who challenge the classic (or even cliched) adventuring habits.
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I believe that anathema should be somewhat inconvenient. Not a huge problem, but something that sometimes stops you and makes you think about what you're doing.
An anathema which you can ignore 100% of the time in pretty much every campaign is probably not a good idea unless the thing is an important part of the concept of that deity. Like the Lantern King's anathema against "explain a joke" is seldom inconvenient, but is really flavorful (and the anathema about "being totally honest" makes up for it.)
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I believe that anathema should be somewhat inconvenient. Not a huge problem, but something that sometimes stops you and makes you think about what you're doing.
An anathema which you can ignore 100% of the time in pretty much every campaign is probably not a good idea unless the thing is an important part of the concept of that deity. Like the Lantern King's anathema against "explain a joke" is seldom inconvenient, but is really flavorful (and the anathema about "being totally honest" makes up for it.)
My animal order druid has had exactly one session of play so far. We started Fall of Plaguestone.
Nagaji are the best "snake people" option in Pathifnder, and there's potentially some room to explore this with the vishkanya as well.
I really want to keep serpentfolk set aside as a monster, though.
I'm actually kind of surprised, the whole "sentient people who are exclusively monsters" thing seemed to be something you guys were intentionally trying to get away from, may I ask if there's something specific about Serpentfolk that makes them different from Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, etc? I wasn't around for any of the pf1e stuff.
I think the thing that sets Serpentfolk apart from Orcs, etc. is that Serpentfolk were the domiminant sapient life on Golarion long before humanity, and are pretty much extinct now. People who are long dead and lived in a harsher time are pretty easy to cast as antagonists. Like how "Aztec vampires" reads differently than "Mexican vampires".
Having serpentfolk come back in large numbers would be a major setting change.
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Creative Director
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I'm actually kind of surprised, the whole "sentient people who are exclusively monsters" thing seemed to be something you guys were intentionally trying to get away from, may I ask if there's something specific about Serpentfolk that makes them different from Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, etc? I wasn't around for any of the pf1e stuff.Nagaji are the best "snake people" option in Pathifnder, and there's potentially some room to explore this with the vishkanya as well.
I really want to keep serpentfolk set aside as a monster, though.
That philosophy is more of a Starfinder one—with most aliens in that game potentially being options for player characters. While we have adjusted the themes for some of the classic "monster societies" in Pathfinder's 2nd edition, such as what we've done with goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and so on, it's important that we do retain some creatures in the role of monster for the game so as to keep them thematic options for adventures without the potential of having a PC ancestry be an awkward fit for that adventure.
As a general rule, this applies to creatures that in 1st edition had racial Hit Dice, whereas creatures that did not and were presented as "characters" in 1st edition tend to be those that we want to explore as player character ancestry options. There's some exceptions—but usually only for creatures that in 1st edition had only a few racial Hit Dice, like lizardfolk. Once something gets 3 or more racial Hit Dice, chances are good that we'll want to retain them as monsters and not player character ancestries.
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I'm actually kind of surprised, the whole "sentient people who are exclusively monsters" thing seemed to be something you guys were intentionally trying to get away from, may I ask if there's something specific about Serpentfolk that makes them different from Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, etc? I wasn't around for any of the pf1e stuff.
PF Serpentfolk seem to be occupying the same sort of 'niche' that Mind Flayers occupied in AD&D of the underdark-dwelling prehuman arcanely potent monster civilization, intended as more mid- to high-level threats and masterminds, less as low HD 'people.'
That said, Green Ronin's Freeport setting has stats for PC-able Serpentfolk, which are easily ported over into 1E PF (they've already done the work, actually, in the Pathfinder Companion to Freeport, IIRC), and probably not too hard to update to 2E.
Everybody draws the line in a different place as to 'I want them to remain monsters' and 'let's make PC versions of them!' Some think goblins was a step too far and are bothered by the humanizing of orcs, gnolls, etc. Others want to go all Council of Wyrms and have stats for playable dragons. :)
I'm actually kind of surprised, the whole "sentient people who are exclusively monsters" thing seemed to be something you guys were intentionally trying to get away from, may I ask if there's something specific about Serpentfolk that makes them different from Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, etc? I wasn't around for any of the pf1e stuff.Nagaji are the best "snake people" option in Pathifnder, and there's potentially some room to explore this with the vishkanya as well.
I really want to keep serpentfolk set aside as a monster, though.
That philosophy is more of a Starfinder one—with most aliens in that game potentially being options for player characters. While we have adjusted the themes for some of the classic "monster societies" in Pathfinder's 2nd edition, such as what we've done with goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and so on, it's important that we do retain some creatures in the role of monster for the game so as to keep them thematic options for adventures without the potential of having a PC ancestry be an awkward fit for that adventure.
As a general rule, this applies to creatures that in 1st edition had racial Hit Dice, whereas creatures that did not and were presented as "characters" in 1st edition tend to be those that we want to explore as player character ancestry options. There's some exceptions—but usually only for creatures that in 1st edition had only a few racial Hit Dice, like lizardfolk. Once something gets 3 or more racial Hit Dice, chances are good that we'll want to retain them as monsters and not player character ancestries.
Ah understood, well more power to you then, that makes sense.
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I certainly see a bit of the PNW cultures in them, and being Tlingit myself I intentionally brought some of that into their lore and write-up. I've also been working with the regional corporations of Alaska and indigenous game dev groups to bring more Alaskan Native and indigenous writers into our pool of freelancers so we can keep expanding that voice and representation :)
Gunalchéesh!
too bad there is no Dahak.
Thanks!