Pathfinder

[solar storm]

Soooorta

The historical “ninja” is probably a samurai from Iga or Koga who practiced their secret schools for intelligence and recon

That’s all a historical thing - a lot of it is relatively mundane ISR spycraft

[echo briar]

yea, Ninjas as we know them are less based on the real spys of Japan, and more based on the exaggerated plays about those spys (again, the stereotypical spy literally wears a stage hand outfit)

However to go back to the original point, those are very Japanese plays. This is a trope Japan made

[solar storm]

Yeah a historical ninja doesn’t really have a “uniform” per se outside of like forgettable civilian attire

They did dress up as traveling performers some apparently

So it’s plausible a ninja would wear stage-hand clothes in a different context :p

[echo briar]

The closest they actually wore was dark blue clothes, as that would blend into the light of the moon more

[rapid wagon]

in general, ninja were not supermen, but they were usually skilled spies who gathered intelligence in the ways that actually make sense rather than what you'd see in say, an anime; they'd perform sabotage, occassionally attempt or complete an assassination, and iirc later on also worked as bodyguards. Effectively the normal suite of clandestine operations.

[echo briar]

All of this is also complicated by the fact that spys don't want to be known as spys, nor do spy masters want people to know how their spys work

[rapid wagon]

The best ninja were probably physically extremely capable, especially comparative to the people around them, but generally a ninja's skills were built around the traditional skill set of someone who isn't there to fight 30 people alone. I.e. wilderness orientation, survival, tracking; long term observation; performing as a citizen or househould member for extended durations. Not so much doing shadow teleports or outfighting every person in a castle for fun.

[solar storm]

But yeah for the overall point - even an unrealistic ninja depiction is sort of different from an exoticism

It’s like idk

Fraught example

Calling James Bond occidentalist

[rapid wagon]

as a side note, im fully prepared to believe (though this isn't based on documentation), that some of the tropes built around ninja in japanese history were created in the same spirit that swordmasters seeking a patron glazed themselves up really hard when engaging with a local lord.

"Hire me, I can fucking teleport at night. The other guy can't do that"

not to say they're a sham, but there was a bit of vested interest in building your own or your professions rep to support your livlihood

[echo briar]

Also, calling samurai racist is even more ridiculous, because they objectively existed. The most that happened is the exact same thing that happened to European knights, we believe them to be more noble then they actually were

and that they used swords more often then they did

[solar storm]

I broadly agree that if you have classes like “fighter” also having classes like “samurai” is weird

[rapid wagon]

its mostly a pop culture inspired choice rather than a historical one

[solar storm]

But in a game where idk “lancer” (in the French mounted unit sense) and “samurai” are classes it’s different

But you shouldn’t have a double standard with exotic national types and also “generic” western inspired types

[warped orbit]

We do have Cavalier as an archetype

[solar storm]

Oh yeah the whole conversation was hypothetical

[echo briar]

Absolutely. I think an archetype would be nice, but it should be named after a in world fighting style rather than "Samurai"

[warped orbit]

I think a Samurai archetype would have been fine personally

[solar storm]

The closest pathfinder 2e gets to a samurai class is Monk and monk is weird

[warped orbit]

Or something differently named, yeah

[solar storm]

I agree naming it after a sword style would be cool and would work better

[light gyro]

if we see a 3e i'm betting monk gets renamed to martial artist or something. which is also a little silly next to fighter but it's easy enough to Get It.

[warped orbit]

In general i think archetypes can work well for this sort of thing

[warped orbit]

I see Adept floated as a name replacement for Monk sometimes, and I kinda like it

[rapid wagon]

The platonic goal of a monk character is at odds with a fighter in terms of expected output. Which is to say it's expected for fighters to put on heavy armor and fight with a good weapon. The monk platonic target is fighting unarmored and using a variety of non standard weaponry

[solar storm]

I like adept

[light gyro]

oh my god, i forgot this was the splat book with the magical girl archetype. what a hill to die on lmao

[warped orbit]

Yep

[rapid wagon]

I mean if we're gonna get historically inspired here, it's weird in general that pathfinder wants you to pick one weapon and only use it, when the historical inspiration from various places almost always had a bevy of additional weapons

[warped orbit]

Also cultivator archetype

[echo briar]

I think monk has the advantage of recognition, and its so popular as a name for the archetype in SEA that I don't think there's a cultural issue there

[solar storm]

Monk is weird because it’s biggest point of inspiration is martial arts movies

[echo briar]

although if you wanted to substantially broaden the class I could see it, like how the concept of a paladin was too narrow so they made it a subclass of the broader champion.

[rapid wagon]

I'd also be a bit resistant to the idea of folding every physically combative class into fighter because of concerns that it becomes a singularly bloated class that has to deal with a path of exile esque mass web of possible options that inevitably have a "best" one.

[rustic cape]

So like, there were espionage and assassination professionals, many of whom were samurai, but others of whom were mercenaries. In both cases it was sometimes a skillset passed down through families. In the case of mercenaries, a few provinces were renowned for the skill and professionalism of their hired spies and killers. The ninja or shinobi is a derivation from these regional reputations combined with the exploits of certain famous samurai spies.

[echo briar]

but I'm not sure how you could broaden it at this point. It's already fairly broad.

[solar storm]

No one is saying that

[craggy thunder]

huh, interesting

[rustic cape]

This is not really unusual of Japan, tbh, it’s just the particular resulting image

[rapid wagon]

Twas lightly implied by the idea that having a generalized martial artist class would be silly next to fighter.

[solar storm]

Oh I interpreted that as the naming collision

[rustic cape]

But like, Hattori Hanzo? He was an espionage guy, and he was also Tokugawa Ieyasu’s standard bearer

[echo briar]

Personally, if you needed to change the name, I like cultivator

[rapid wagon]

Adept sounded nice to me as a fairly neutral name

[echo briar]

Make it about cultivating energy inside you, Qi or otherwise

[rustic cape]

So on the one hand, ninja: on the other hand, battlefield combatant, man of the court, and close personal friend of his feudal lord

[rapid wagon]

I do like what the monk does, it's traditionally my favorite class, just as a side comment

[solar storm]

I really like PF2’s monk mechanically

[rustic cape]

I enjoy that it’s a class with more of a focus on passives than many others

It fits the theme

A fighter has special moves, but a monk Just Generally Performs At A High Level

(Monk does have some special moves but not nearly so many)

(And they tend to be more omni-situational)

[solar thorn]

I feel like generally the tools to make a pretty good samurai are available
Fighters have that attack bonus to aim for 1 slice kills, and then you stack charisma to be the face and in combat intimidate your foes by being a stone cold badass

Can even go two weapon fighting with katana and wakazashi for the classic combo

Like, that's the generic samurai expression - a more accurate depiction has a lot more to talk about. Bows, polearms, artistry, peasant abuse, etc

[novel merlin]

Precision ranger also works for the same vibe

[echo briar]

I feel like an archetype for the movie thing of "sheathing and unsheathing your weapon mid combat" would be nice

[solar thorn]

We are missing a cool ijitsu strike feat

[novel merlin]

There was a 1e mechanic like that and it was really janky. Feels like something that could just be flavor.

[echo briar]

I mean, its just loading for melee weapons

[solar thorn]

Yeah I remember playing in a RotR campaign with a samurai in the party and it was pretty all or nothing

My "The Kid from Bastion" fighter with an earthbreaker did more reliable work

[light gyro]

a strike as a reaction to rolling initiative might be cool if a bit much, i dunno game balance too good yet :))))

[solar thorn]

Also it doesn't work if initiative starts more than 5 feet apart, which... it usually does.
Very sick high level feat where you get to stride too like you're dashing though

[surreal basin]

Player drew my horror home game party

[trail nova]

That was a gunslinger deed in 1e, IIRC.

[rapid wagon]

The issue is always if you want to play as a historical samurai or pop fiction samurai, as i think both can be fun ways to play

but a normal fighter covers the historical side somewhat decently, you just move your skill investment around to suit; champion works real well too

and for pop fiction... robes n sword could be a few classes right? Generally they're inspired by like edo or restoration period/post war samurai tails of duelists and so on.

[rustic cape]

I think fighter or monk has that covered just fine

[wary yoke]

I miss Mithral Current...

[trail nova]

Yeah. When I was poking at the iconic options for classes, I kind of wanted to pull fighter apart and reconnect it with other similar classes.

[keen raptor]

Is Paizo's site going screwy in Firefox for anyone else? It accepts my account and password, but doesn't actually log me in. It works fine in Edge though

[solar storm]

I've had issues with firefox on Paizo's site before

Clearing cache can help

[echo briar]

They are overhauling their website Soon ™️

[keen raptor]

I just made the order I wanted through Edge, so nbd. I'll try clearing the cache next time. Planning on ordering a few more rulebooks once my tax return comes in.

[echo briar]

I wonder if they are going to roll out the new website along with the spring errata or starfider 2e

[thorny berry]

idle thought: investigator archetype could be a cute combo with runesmith (or vice versa). Tracing runes seems like a pretty great 'filler action' on poor Devise turns.

[frank crystal]

Thinking of having a boss fight that’s a sentient sword that posses it’s used

Where whenever the possessed body reaches 0 it can use an on death reaction to throw the sword to the next person

Giving them a buff and new actions

Basically requiring my players to choose to cut through the fodder to lower the level of potential resurrects or focus the possessed one because they’re the biggest threat in the room

[limber comet]

Anubis moment

[light gyro]

strength of thousands book 6 - god the chapter 2 battlemaps are so ass

[light gyro]

example of my above gripe - this is the battlemap presented for three encounters. the ms paint scrawling is my attempt at expanding it, but its still super anaemic.

[warped orbit]

oh that's very small

[echo briar]

personally, I would just make it bigger rather than add extra

these are ||ants on a gourd. they should be much smaller relative to the gourd||

[rustic cape]

Yeah, my GM definitely altered that one

... I think

It looks familiar but maybe we haven't gotten to it yet

[novel merlin]

Paizo map sizes are wacky

SoT had a ton of tiny ones and FotRP has ones so large they don't fit on my kitchen table at home

[solar storm]

Paizo is generically weird with map sizes yeah

[solar thorn]

Abomination Vaults was reliably in spaces so small that I've seen reccomendations to just double the size of the maps outright

And after playing it I'm inclined to agree

[warped orbit]

AV is definitely very cramped occasionally

[solar thorn]

It gets better by the last floors but there's some space in the middle that's downright claustrophobic

[warped orbit]

Yeah

[solar thorn]

If your players are really eager to play maximally effectively you need to consider how to wedge them out of doorways and chokepoints
Luckily my team was extremely bloodthirsty and bumrushed any and all fights

[solar storm]

I kinda like the claustrophobic areas in the vaults

Feels dungeony and underground

[turbid dagger]

Yeah, it fits the vibe
And makes big wide open areas feel more impactful
Like ||the grand concourse and arena on the arena level||, or ||the big spiral staircase going through the arena-lab-prison floors||

[wary yoke]

God, the map stuff reminds me of another problem with my Saturday game; not only did we have to fight three swarms as our first fight of the campaign with the 2E versions of our characters, we did so in small, 1-square wide tunnels

There wasn't even enough space for the swarms

We could change it, if we used fire damage to bake the earth and shatter it, we could expand the tunnels, but the only person with fire damage was a wizard using limited spell slots

[surreal basin]

Is that from an AP?

[wary yoke]

Nope

Just me griping about my Saturday campaign

[light gyro]

27 damage on a miss
lel alchemist

[worthy stump]

splash damage gaming

[limber comet]

Alchemist Gaming lfg

[craggy thunder]

I wish there was a feat like splinter faith for clerics but for their deity's favored weapon

[clever cobalt]

Just got my order notice for AF Galaxy Guide

[wary yoke]

Could also be useful for other divine classes that rely on a favored weapon

[silver geyser]

smh no mention of Shield Block.

Untrained Improvisation.

[rustic cape]

Robust Health, Feather Step

Diehard isn't terrible either

Depending on your party, Incredible Initiative may be completely useless, too

[fossil dome]

Untrained Improv my beloved

[frank crystal]

https://tenor.com/view/lebron-dunk-lebron-james-levronjame-gif-1038771198631298897

Titan Wrestler

[silver geyser]

Yeah, this is before we hit using your general feat to get skill stuff. 😛

[keen raptor]

Fleet and Toughness should just be baked into every character IMO. Do what the remaster did for a few classes and fold in the stuff everyone takes to give more opportunities for more interesting builds

[rapid wagon]

could also just remove them from the game if thats the sentiment; dont know if every single character neds to be faster or have more health necessarily

im again also faced with like... my table does not play on the pathfinder optimization train, and we just make builds that seem interesting normally

are they always good? Hell no

but its not like those feats are actively taking any opportunities away

[solar storm]

The problem isn’t them so much as many general feats being bad

And tough/fleet/II being always relevant

[warped orbit]

Fleet especially is just really good

Because almost everyone can use speed, and its sn untyped bonus

[rapid wagon]

Oh I'm not saying they're not really good, I'm just saying they're not an obligation and no one needs to treat them as one

They're explicitly not stopping any of us from making different choices

[warped orbit]

Yeah bit there just aren't a lot of other good choices

[rapid wagon]

But yeah I do think if the idea is just make everyone faster and have more health from the get go, I think a better option would just be to remove the feats, I feel as though the base speed and health values were intentional design decisions that I don't really have a problem with personally

And just add new, different feats

[keen raptor]

I'm also just not a big fan of "number goes up" feats. I like picking flavorful or fun stuff over them whenever it's viable to do so.

[warped orbit]

We just need way more general feats tbh

[echo briar]

personally, I think they should just get rid of general feats entirely. just merge them with skill feats

[rapid wagon]

I'm generally of the opinion that a lot of discussions around "viability" artificially narrow down what's actually "viable" in terms of being able to play and succeed

[keen raptor]

I see your point, though usually when I think "viable" I just think "something that won't break my character or make them a detriment" rather than "How can I minmax with this?"

I'm certainly not a munchkin lol. I like making flavorful stuff

[echo briar]

I think 98% of all options are viable. the other 2% are literal mistakes

[rapid wagon]

yeah in my experience a lot more is viable while suboptimal than some optimization circles will accept

[warped orbit]

For me it's basically
Unless you need something like the extra ancestry feat (most likely because you are human and wanna take Natural Ambition), or you need a specific skill feat ASAP, picking Fleet as the first general feat is basically an auto pick for me

[rapid wagon]

just from playing with tables that dont care about that kind of engagement and just choose whatever they like and creating a skew of more and less optimal decisions

[warped orbit]

No other general feat even comes close to how good it is

[echo briar]

toughness is better for casters IMO

[keen raptor]

I usually go for Toughness first but I play a lot of casters so movement isn't quite as important for me.

[warped orbit]

I'd probably still go Fleet on casters tbh

5 ft of speed is more important than 1 hp per level IMO

[keen raptor]

Every little bit helps when you're starting with single digit HP

[echo briar]

depending on the spells, II can be huge

so many spells are really good if you can go before your enemies, and only ok afterword's.

[warped orbit]

Incredible Initiative is also good yeah

Especially since a lot of casters for some reason have terrible Perception prof

[echo briar]

going first is often just getting an extra turn

[wary yoke]

Wait, how? Even with a Con penalty, even an elf wizard that dumped Con should still be starting with at least 11 HP

[keen raptor]

Damn, you're right, I was misremembering

Still though. 11-12 HP is "You're downed if you take an unlucky crit" territory

[echo briar]

they use a base 12 counting system

[wary yoke]

That would be the most cursed mechanic

[echo briar]

The technomancer should use hexadecimal

[solar storm]

Per-class counting systems would be hilarious

[wary yoke]

New Sacred Geometry

[rustic cape]

I personally would consider Fleet an obligation, but not Toughness or II

oh, also we’re all forgetting a very strong general feat

Adopted Ancestry

[echo briar]

adopted ancestry is weird because it doesn't do anything until a later level

[craggy thunder]

smh no Home in Every Port

[echo briar]

it feels narratively weird that it doesn't come online until level 3 at earliest for most ancestries, and also mechanically I just choose a ancestry with feats I want to beguine with, or take a versatile heritage

[warped orbit]

Well you can just take it as your heritage now effectively

[echo briar]

yea, taking it as you heritage or even a ancestry feat like the one halflings and hobgoblins have, can makes sense, but as a general feat?

[warped orbit]

I think Adopted Ancestry is fine, and is also generally a pretty strong feat

[echo briar]

I'm not saying its weak, I'm saying its weird and I would prefer to avoid it because there are other options that do the same thing without the weirdness

Same reasons I don't take canny acumen except for level 19. It feels weird to take a feat that does nothing when you take it

[warped orbit]

Canny is mostly weird because the value of it is both so level and class dependent

[keen raptor]

Adopted Ancestry has a lot of great build potential and possibilities for narrative flavor, but it's just a bit mechanically weird because of how late it comes in, yeah

[surreal basin]

Home in every port has to be some kind of fuck up

[crystal walrus]

https://bsky.app/profile/paizo.com/post/3lmzlkjqg6o2y

Paizo (@paizo.com)

Save money while exploring the elements with our Earth Day Sale! Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, Rage of Elements, nearly 100 maps, and more are waiting to take root on your shelves, starting at 25% off!

Bluesky · Apr 17, 2025, 5:03 PM

[warped orbit]

it's so weird

like I get the idea, but it's just such a non factor by the time you can take it

[surreal basin]

Yeah level 8 is

Silly

[rustic cape]

I almost always end up playing with Ancestry Paragon, where taking it as your general at 3 or 7 allows you to start grabbing things immediately

[paper inlet]

I wish older nephilim lineages got some more feats {*}

And I mean like, more unique feats for various lineages, aeonbound get like fucking 4 it's unfair Cries in tiefling

[craggy thunder]

beastkin landsknecht battle harbinger

[craggy thunder]

so funnily enough

there is a janky af way to do this

as a warpriest, if you take syncretism

you gain their favored weapon

[echo briar]

My SoT campaign is going well

[frank crystal]

What’s a good NPC statblock for a vampire hunter character?

[echo briar]

https://2e.aonprd.com/NPCs.aspx?ID=3516

[frank crystal]

Thank you

[craggy thunder]

https://tenor.com/view/spit-take-gif-1656048852932871321

[eager mountain]

https://bsky.app/profile/starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social/post/3lmzjhjizrc2r

Starfinder Facts, 2nd Edition (@starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social)

10 HP, partner bond is a species trait (not a feat!). Five heritages: Flame heart, Heartbroken, Mercurial, Shipborn, and Stormrider. 11 level one ancestry feats(!), tons of cool options that improve bonded partner abilities or lean into extra draconic energy

Nullivox (@nullivox.bsky.social)
If you have any info on the new dragonkin, could you share? Pretty please?

Bluesky · Apr 17, 2025, 4:25 PM

https://bsky.app/profile/starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social/post/3lmz3wqa6lk2g

Starfinder Facts, 2nd Edition (@starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social)

If you give a contemplative head scritchies, be careful of the sulci - they might say it feels good to work fingers into those folds but it's still exposed brain matter, use common sense and restraint.

(New art from SF2E's Galaxy Guide!! This book looks AMAZING!!!)

Bluesky · Apr 17, 2025, 12:23 PM

[keen raptor]

That's some amazing art.

Wonder how well Dragonkin will translate to a Pathfinder setting.

[eager mountain]

I mean they exist in pathfinder

just not on golarian

thier from the planet next door

[echo briar]

If true, this is the greatest work of worldbuilding ever made

[clever cobalt]

I hope we get SROs soon in Starfinder

[eager mountain]

https://bsky.app/profile/starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social/post/3ln64f47t2s2c

Starfinder Facts, 2nd Edition (@starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social)

More Galaxy Guide Preview: The canine Vlaka genetically may be born deaf, blind, or deafblind. Deafblind vlaka can identify people by scent, using telltale markers like perfumes, hygiene habits, and what you last stepped in and haven't scraped off your boots yet.

Bluesky · Apr 19, 2025, 12:15 PM

[eager mountain]

we will eventuallyu

[craggy thunder]

currently playing a blind vlaka, they're fun

can't target anything beyond 60 feet but I can 'see' people through walls in that range with blindsight lmao

also can drop spaces of concealment on myself and have literally no drawbacks

[carmine egret]

that's pretty fuckin dope

[unborn rain]

Why did the starfinder society do that

[craggy thunder]

I'm a flamewalker mystic so have fire resist

I've dropped an ash cloud around me and a group of hostiles once

[eager mountain]

Payed

Needed money

[frank crystal]

whats the name for the like, basic vampire bloodline?

like normal pale skinned humanoid vampires

[craggy thunder]

svetocher

[frank crystal]

thanks

[craggy thunder]

oh wait those are their dhampir children

The full vampires are moroi

[frank crystal]

Ah

[craggy thunder]

I just remembered off the top cuz I have svetocher bloodrager

[frank crystal]

Hmm, I’m kinda wondering what I should do

[craggy thunder]

which btw basically gives you a free spell cast as a rager without becoming drained lmao

[frank crystal]

Because I’m running a game set in my own setting where that type of vampire is from the Vrykolakas bloodline

But that’s a name for a different type vampire in Golarion

The weird beastial plague ridden ones

[frank crystal]

Oh that’s really nice

any really high level wolves?

Nvm I’m gonna use a modified greater barghest

[frank crystal]

How do I give players rituals?

[craggy thunder]

just adjudicate that they can learn them or give knowledge of them occasionally as rewards

they're all Uncommon or Rare so fiat is p much the only solution beyond a wider allowance of uncommon features

[warped orbit]

you just learn them like a spell

[frank crystal]

Ah ok

What are some good magic items for a vampire hunter sniper to use?

One who likes to take trophies

[frank crystal]

You think it’s to strong to give a NPC with an arquebus to let them attack of opportunity with it vs their hunted prey?

This party has a lot of mobility but not a lot of long ranged attacks

There will also be multiple of these NPCs

[surreal basin]

That’s a little rough

Cause guns are already scary

And you’re giving them essentially an extra Mapless chance to crit

[frank crystal]

Do you need to be a caster of a specific type to use a ritual?

[keen raptor]

Nope

You and anyone else taking part just need the skills the ritual calls for

[heavy fulcrum]

yeah anyone can do rituals

you just need the relevant proficiencies and level

[frank crystal]

Ok sick

Also, for ranged weapons, do they need to be made of a precious material or do they need ammo made of that material to gain the benefits?

Mostly asking for silvered resistances

[warped orbit]

The ammo needs to be precious

[frank crystal]

ok

[solar thorn]

It costs 200,000 gold to fire this aquebus... for 12 seconds

[trim bluff]

Nearly finished making my oracle character and i may have unintentionally made them the most horrifying thing ever

Dm didnt have the books for duskwalker so i ended up going for samsaran and now my character is a 7 foot tall activly rotting pupiless humanoid with pale blue skin

Tbh its a mirical i only have a -2 to all my non intimidation charisma checjs

[craggy thunder]

"COME ON, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW A REAL FUCKING DWARF FIGHTS!!!"

(author's note, the depicted character is the biological child of a dwarf and a tengu, and considers themselves both)

[rustic cape]

Fun things: one of my fellow players in Kingmaker is playing an Iruxi exemplar with a tail slap, claws, and a bite, each of which has a different weapon ikon

[true delta]

nice

[rustic cape]

Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing

Titan Breaker on the tail, Gleaming Blade on the claws, Hands of the Wilding on the bite

[upbeat ridge]

That’s a hella cool build

[upbeat ridge]

How’d they get the tail and bite attacks

Oh, iruxi armaments I see

[rustic cape]

Yeah, ancestry paragon so they can take it twice at 1st level

[upbeat ridge]

Oh nice

[rustic cape]

It means they always have a weapon ikon and their weapon ikons can do some interesting stuff

They describe Hands of the Wilding's transcendence as a giant ghost t-rex

Sometimes the ghost t-rex is on fire

Double Slice but without extra weapon costs, an AoE, and Power Attack But Good And Also It Kills Animate Objects

Animate objects can be such a drag to fight

[echo briar]

Between rage of the elements and howl of the wild, which one is the better read?

I do not care about the mechanics. I have AoN for that. I care about the lore, fiction, and everything else that is book exclusive

Bonus points if any of them have recipes in them

[solar storm]

Howl of the wild imo

[limber comet]

Howl of the Wild for sure

[eager mountain]

https://bsky.app/profile/paizo.com/post/3lnbsljzbz72d

Paizo (@paizo.com)

[incoming transmission]

4.21.25 1000

Get ready to hack the planet.

Bluesky · Apr 20, 2025, 11:30 PM

https://tenor.com/view/hackers-hack-the-planet-taogifs-zero-cool-crash-override-gif-5753306679943930050

[frank crystal]

What’s a two way communication magic item?

[eager mountain]

its called a radio.

but with the magic tag

[frank crystal]

I thought there might’ve been a magic item that just functions like one lol

[eager mountain]

io mean they might have, idk

if they can give a computer a biotech thing, to a commupter, then it can a magic walky talky

[frank crystal]

Ah ok

[rapid wagon]

You mean for starfinder or for pathfinder?

[eager mountain]

starfinder

[wary yoke]

For Pathfinder? There's the Slate of Distant Letters

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3031

My GM homebrewed a lower-level variant that only works once a day

[frank crystal]

Eh, doesn’t really do what I want

I was more looking for like, those stones in dnd that you can talk into

Like effectively a walkie talkie

[solar storm]

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1463&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

[frank crystal]

Oh yah that’s perfect

Thanks

[steel blade]

https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/starfinder2e/sources/tech-class-playtest
SF 2e mechanic and technomancer playtest is out on demiplane

o, also out on paizo's site too now
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6zwqx

[warped orbit]

oh interesting

huh, Mechanic gets the 2 action Command baseline, interesting

hmm, mines is interesting

being able to just chuck a mine at people and manually detonate is also pretty funny

and you also get quite a lot of them

[echo briar]

am I missing something, or does the mechanic not use int like at all

[warped orbit]

it uses it for some of the mods, but otherwise yeah

[echo briar]

which is a weird mistake Paizo keeps making. they keep making playtests where the class doesn't use its main stat (kineticists, investigators, and commander) and at the end of the playtest the feedback is to make the key stat more relevant. It feels more productive to just make it relevant at first so they could get feedback on their particular method of making it relevant

[warped orbit]

ooh, mines also gets a feat to add +Int in damage

that means together with the mod, you can deal like 2d6+twice Int

that's actually pretty solid

[echo briar]

yea, for mines in particular it seems integrated enough. Int also controls your DCs. But drone and turret still need more uses for int

[warped orbit]

the Mines are kinda winning me over honestly

seems pretty good

turret being able to add Int to damage could be something I think

[echo briar]

the turret should use your int to attack

currently it uses your dex for some reason

[warped orbit]

it would be nice, but I think they don't want to give an unconditional Int to attack feature to any class

Area Fire on the turret is kinda neat

ooh Coordinated Strike is actually really nice on a martial chassis

[echo briar]

Its not unconditional. It's just for the turret

it's like the kineticist attacking with con. it can do it, but not with a normal weapon

[warped orbit]

yeah but setting the turret down is very easy

and it can basically replace a regular weapon for you

and it's actually a pretty good weapon, as a d8 gun that never needs to reload

[echo briar]

Robots lack barring, which is weird.

[warped orbit]

ranged AoO for turret and drone is also pretty big

I find myself pretty impressed with Mechanic so far

[echo briar]

dex minions are already the best ones because of their AC, and this just makes the problem worse

It also feels like they need to get some more modifications, either by default or the feats that grant them should grant more

[warped orbit]

I find myself least drawn to the drone so far

Turret and Mines especially actually have a lot of fun stuff

[trail nova]

I don’t get why, the math is exactly the same. It’s not like 1e where strength was easily pumped, so you couldn’t hook stuff off of it

[warped orbit]

I'm not quite sure either tbh

[trail nova]

And it’s not dipable

[warped orbit]

But they seem to really not want people to attack with other stats

[echo briar]

again, kineticist

or investigator

[warped orbit]

Investigator has a lot of restrictions on DaS

and Kineticist Blasts aren't a weapon

but anyway, I personally think letting the turret attack with Int would be fine

I just don't know if Paizo would actually do it

[echo briar]

The turret isn't really a weapon

I feel like that is the line in the sand for Paizo

[warped orbit]

it effectively is

but who knows

I'd definitely welcome Int attacks for turret

[echo briar]

the key difference is they can perfectly craft the turret to make sure its balanced. Unlike a normal weapon which has to be balanced for normal classes as well

[warped orbit]

also continuing to read feats, Tactical Team-Up just seems like a worse Coordinated Fire?

[echo briar]

Same reason the kinetisist blasts went from dex or str based unarmed attacks to con based spells.

[warped orbit]

did they typo this and meant for it to be for the drone not the turret?

[turbid dagger]

Yeah I did notice that
Very much felt like two different people writing two different feats while talking to eachother

[warped orbit]

okay Healing Mines is absolutely hilarious

my only regret is that you can't combine it with Smart Mine to exclude enemies

[warped orbit]

okay so Technomancer is just Cooler Wizard

[light gyro]

Magicka flashbacks

[solemn bison]

I've been running Crown of the Kobold King as the game when we are 1 person down from the Lancer campaign, and it's been pretty fun. Interestingly, have had more near-character death in PF2e than lancer. PF2e combat really makes me appreciate the sitrep in lancer

[keen raptor]

PF2e damage numbers can be quite spiky

[eager mountain]

sooooo

today is the dayyyy

[surreal basin]

Mrr?

[eager mountain]

SO

technomancer is the first prepared caster in starfinder.

[surreal basin]

Oh yeag

[frank crystal]

whats the spell list?

[eager mountain]

@frank crystal arcane

so we get magic hacks

[frank crystal]

cool

[eager mountain]

and every 10 minutes you download a spell

basically each of the subclasses are different programing languages

engineer gets mines

Drone, Mines, or Turret

[warped orbit]

the mines honestly won me over more than I thought

they seem pretty good

lot of good talents enhancing them too

[limber comet]

I think these need some tweaking but the foundation and concepts are solid

[turbid dagger]

I actually quite like mechanic yeah
Mostly turret but

[warped orbit]

Turret and Mines are both quite appealing to me

[rapid wagon]

Dang I've asked this before but forgot the answer, if I wanted to play into the fantasy of being a star wars jedi in pf2e, am I better served as a magus or a monk or something else?

[echo briar]

Solarian

Of all the star finder classes, it seems like it will fit into PF2 the most

[rapid wagon]

Yeah but that's out of sf2e and not quite fully out right? Still in play test

[turbid dagger]

I'd say ki monk fits the vibe better yeah
Jedi aren't really doing overt sparkles, they just Do Fightstuff Better and have a funky weapon

[light gyro]

five million credits to whoever rewrites the technomancer class in rust

[frozen hatch]

Trying to come up with a name for an order of knights who are all gunslingers. Any suggestions? One friend thought "Order of the Black Powder" but I was sure but what would you suggest?

[plucky snow]

Just Gunslingers

Have you read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King?

[frozen hatch]

Not a fan of Stephen king

[plucky snow]

Fair

[tight flare]

Not lookin' good. PF2. Playing magus. Final battle of book 2 of a certain avdenture path. First thing happens. Crit fail against some weird breath attack. Stupified 4...

Is it even worth trying to cast spells with four levels of stupefy?

The flat check is 9...

[light gyro]

ueh. unlucky. i'd probably focus on straight attacks/demoralise/repositioning if you can.

[ocean cobalt]

oh shit sf2 test

[tight flare]

Yeah strikes might be the best option

Muh spellstrikes 😦

[ocean cobalt]

mines mechanic looks cool

[warped orbit]

anyone in your party that can help you with that Stupefy?

[ocean cobalt]

2a to put it 30 feet away seems kinda brutal tho

[warped orbit]

the mines honestly impressed me a lot more than I expected

though having a level 1 feat that adds your Int to damage for them helps a lot

[tight flare]

We just ended the session. I'll have to ask around.

[craggy thunder]

eeeehhhhh, I'd say not fully applicable

In The Dark Tower, Roland and people like him are named Gunslinger as analogous to the fantastical conception of a knight

Not any specific organization necessarily

[surreal basin]

Thank u npc core

Using the Juggernaut statblock as a mechanized knight

[echo briar]

historical knights used guns. You can name them whatever you want

[craggy thunder]

If they're a knightly order focused wholly on the adoption of firearms, something like Those of the Black Powder would fit, but if they just have a knack for firearms I'd say name them for their goals or creed or nation

[tight flare]

Gunflinger

[echo briar]

The Hungarian black army is the example I can think of

[craggy thunder]

and have the adoption of firearms be a secondary feature of them

While I agree Polish, and think the adoption of firearms by the warrior classes of various medieval societies is historically interesting, not many people are envisioning knights with firearms lol

They're also not picturing their enemies with firearms because the root of both is the misconception the middle ages were technologically stagnant

[echo briar]

Paizo should fight this misconception by making samurai a gunslinger class archetype

They used guns for longer than they didn’t

[craggy thunder]

hnnnnngh

xD

[limber comet]

Actually the visual of a knight with a gun goes kinda hard

[frozen hatch]

Knight in shining armor who traded the arming sword for a shotgun, the dagger for a revolver, and the bow for the musket.

[eager mountain]

Solarian

[rapid wagon]

Responded to that earlier but that's sf2e is it not? And not fully released? I understand that it's compatible with pf2e though

Can it happily play in a pf2e adventure in a balanced way?

[craggy thunder]

yes but it's not common

in media

[steel blade]

the games are fully balanced with each other, and Solarian is actually the most fantasy-appropriate class in SF; you're someone who channels the power of the stars or black holes to manifest their gear

[vocal ember]

I don't think they're balanced with eachother exactly, they just use the same base system.

[surreal basin]

Yeag

[novel merlin]

It probably wont be wildly imbalanced in most situations but there's plenty of mechanics that will be janky

See: every spell that references electronics

[echo briar]

There’s also low level flight.

However that’s an easy fix I believe. Just make those options much higher level

[eager mountain]

the newe setting map for starfinder

[surreal basin]

Galaxy guide out?

[limber comet]

I prefer 1e's ports of call map but I do like this one as well

It feels like something you'd see like, in universe on a screen

[eager mountain]

no

[eager mountain]

tyhats also fair

ALSO PRIMEX KANTOL

primex of Absalom station

didnt expect her to be so ADORABLE

[eager mountain]

https://tenor.com/view/dirk-gently-holistic-what-huh-gif-8060068

Holsitic detective agency you say

[solemn bison]

an amazing show and im actually kind of hyped up for SF2e

[rustic cape]

Fun fact: the Polish hussars carried a brace of pistols instead of a lance

[unborn rain]

It depends on the era really, they existed for about 200 years.
And by the time them using a Brace of Pistols was standard, it was probably standard amongst most cavalry

[clever cobalt]

Oh did the book come out?

[steel blade]

Officially not yet, but subscribers are getting their early copies

[craggy thunder]

hussars also represent a move away from a knightly class to a professional soldier class, so I wouldn't necessarily use them as a reference point for 'knights with guns'

as far as I understand it hussars didn't really have the nobility and the expectations along with it that knights had

[unborn rain]

It depends, as the term hussar covers military units from the 14th into the 20th century
And the geographic region spreading out from Hungary to all of Europe and the new world.

[echo briar]

You know what I think the mechanic needs? more tech support options.

There needs to be a feat where you turn a glitching item off and then on again

There should be a feat named PEBCAC that lets you fire someone else's gun

[clever cobalt]

God i really want the Galaxy Guide PDF

[clever cobalt]

@eager mountain any notable lore drops?

[light gyro]

magus double spellstrike prismatic spray against four targets with like three eight rolls

[keen raptor]

https://tenor.com/view/cat-flashbang-gif-25002731

[eager mountain]

Yeah probably

[surreal basin]

do u think fury instinct is bad enough i should outright warn a player not to take it?

[keen raptor]

It's not unusable, just categorically worse than all of the other Barbarian subclasses in pretty much every way.

Maybe let them know "hey, this subclass is really badly under tuned", but if they have a flavorful idea for the character that meshes well with the Fury's vibe I wouldn't forbid it.

But that's just me. Flavor almost always trumps optimal building in my books.

[eager mountain]

no clue

[limber comet]

I wouldn't warn them not to take it

I'd just say "hey this isn't as strong as the other subclasses"

[keen raptor]

Yeah warning your players not to take something, even if well intentioned might come off as trying to dictate your players' builds and that's not a great vibe to give off. (Not saying that's what you're doing, just how someone else might see it)

[ocean cobalt]

i would if only because giant instinct is the same shit flavorfully so long as you don't take the giant-exclusive feats

so they can have the exact same character concept just with good mechanics instead of bad ones

[warped orbit]

that's pretty much it, yeah

it's just worse than pretty much any other option

I've wondered a couple times if Fury getting more bonus feats at later levels could be something for it

[keen raptor]

It's pretty disappointing. The remaster was a perfect chance to make Fury good, and they did do that to make Superstition not fucking stupid, but Fury is still mediocre at best.

(Original Superstition had one of the single dumbest downsides in TTRPG history I swear)

[worthy stump]

premaster Superstition was very much Not Good

[keen raptor]

It had some cool ideas, but none of them cancel out "don't get healed by the Cleric or you'll have to leave the fucking party"

[novel merlin]

My party is trying to throw a giant party in goka. Im running them managing it as a victory point thing. Anyone have suggestions for things that could go wrong at a rager?

[surreal basin]

Obviously, getting married

[novel merlin]

The players or someone else?

So far I have "someone is overdosing on something", "AV fuckup", "out of alcohol" and "level 16 party crasher (world ender)"

[echo briar]

The rhythmic thumping attracts the kaiju .

[novel merlin]

Its FotRP so the kaiju comes later

[ocean cobalt]

both

[echo briar]

The rhythmic thumping attracts a very, very slow moving kaiju

[surreal basin]

Oh in that case, a brawl

Drunken bar brawl w martial arts is a staple of the genre

[novel merlin]

breaking up a brawl is good

The last one is one of the party's rivals crashing the party, but statted as a level 16 world ender. The party is level 15 but the mechanical difficulty is going to be keeping an ever-encroaching crowd from getting hit by her AoE spells

[surreal basin]

If the players have been enjoying the Toughest, could have them help

[novel merlin]

Possibly yeah

We're in a "side stories" arc between books 1 and 2

[surreal basin]

||I wish he wasn’t trapped so u could have syndara swing by||

[novel merlin]

The former bar owner and bartender duo is on a mission from cayden calean to banish fantasy DARE from goka

[ocean cobalt]

what abt the venue getting trashed?

as a thing that could go wrong

[novel merlin]

And the party's changeling witch is taking them all to Hagcon in Absalom to go kill her mother

[ocean cobalt]

oh other rager complication: killer hangover

i assume there will be a hangover already, but like. even worse

[novel merlin]

Here's my outline

[ocean cobalt]

for the venue getting trashed i suggest a gp cost as well

you break it you buy it

[novel merlin]

the GP cost is like an instant bypass, but yeah good idea

The main reason for the AV one is because that floodlight is silly and I want them to have it

[light gyro]

that pf crpg kickstarter that failed is now double-dead due to trademark violation. ruh roh.

[surreal basin]

…. Oh?

….. did they not ask Paizo

[light gyro]

Big ticket issues are misuse of the "pathfinder compatible" label and IP terms like starstone, which the orc doesn't cover
https://www.kickstarter.com/dmca/moondrift-memory-prologue-canceled-submitted-by-azora-law

[surreal basin]

Ah

So just… didn’t pay attention

Well, probably for the best it didn’t get a ton of money then

[rustic cape]

Yes, although IMO you could also just bump the damage up to where Elemental has it

And it would suddenly be fine

[turbid dagger]

Oh my god that is
A way
For that whole debacle to end
😭
What a mess!

[keen raptor]

I wonder if they'll show up again at some point with every instance of "starstone" Find and Replaced as "godstone" or something stupid like that.

[steel blade]

kinda seems like they just looked at the ORC logos and said 'yeah just slap it all on there'

without reading what ORC allows them to use or what those logos actually mean

[turbid dagger]

The use of Pathfinder Compatible is realllllllly egregious
Like
Bro no it isn't
You don't know what that means

[rustic cape]

I’m still not convinced this wasn’t a money laundering operation

[craggy thunder]

So I'm playing a minotaur battle harbinger of shelyn

I uh

forgot large characters get extra reach

15 foot reach glaive moment

[echo briar]

Not by default they don't.

unless this is 1e, minotaur's have a 5ft reach like normal

There is a lvl 5 stance that will let you give a non reach weapon reach though

[craggy thunder]

Creatures and objects of different sizes occupy different amounts of space. The sizes and the spaces they each take up on a grid are listed in the Size and Reach table (see below). The table also lists the typical reach for creatures of each size, for both tall creatures (most bipeds) and long creatures (most quadrupeds). See here for more about reach.

A minotaur, being a large biped, has the large (tall) value for their reach, without a reach weapon

A Glaive additionally has the Reach trait, which states that if a character has greater reach than 5 ft, it increases their reach with the weapon by 5 feet

[echo briar]

2 squares long by 2 squares wide by 2 squares high. This means that they can, for example, Strike a creature that is flying 10 feet above the ground (or 15 feet above the ground when using a reach weapon). **However, Large PCs do not automatically gain additional reach**, though some Large ancestries (such as minotaurs) have ancestry feats that grant them additional reach.```

Howl of the wild, page 9, rules for large PCs

[craggy thunder]

I will accept this as the rules while also flipping off the person(s) who decided this

XD

[echo briar]

I mean, its so large ancestries do not become obviously the best ancestries for everyone with a melee weapon or spell

[craggy thunder]

Fair

[novel merlin]

You still threaten more spaces than a medium creature

[echo briar]

yea, but without reach its move of a give and take

you are also threated by more spaces than a medium creature.

you block more space, but its also harder to fit.

[turbid dagger]

Now
Minotaurs in specific do have a stance feat that gives reach on non reach melee weapons
So you could get 'large reach' on a greataxe for example

[warped orbit]

and they nerfed it and it's still really powerful

still really good for anyone that doesn't otherwise use a stance

[surreal basin]

oh hey i didn't uhhh

idk if i posted it but i made revolvers

for pf2e

The unstable nature of the magical compounds used in draconian ammunition leads to a significantly higher rate of misfires than usual. This is represented through the Cobbled Trait, although these weapons have been designed to be cleared easily, allowing the jame to be cleared as part of a reload action, which simply feeds the next round from the magazine. However, Draconian misfires are notoriously violent and have been known to take fingers whole with them if not handled correctly. When a Draconian Firearm misfires, the wielder takes 1d6 force damage per damage dice of the weapon.

Draconian Revolving Pistol
Rare Martial Firearm Level 1
200 GP
1 Hand
Cobbled, Fatal D10, Repeating (6)
Range 30 Feet
1d6 Piercing Damage

Draconian Revolving Rifle
Rare Martial Firearm Level 1
300 GP
2 Handed
Cobbled, Fatal d12, Repeating (6), Volley 30ft
Range 60 Feet
1d8 Piercing Damage

[echo briar]

A level 1 item should not be 200 gp

[surreal basin]

it's special and rare

don't worry about that part

[echo briar]

I mean, just make it a higher level

[novel merlin]

Is cobbled jam on crit fail?

I forget

[echo briar]

Assuming that the Shuan Ji is a balanced weapon https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=492 and using the known fact that reach equals 1 die size, then the clockwork macuahuitl https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=227 gains 1 die size for the cost of 547 gold.

These are short/long bows, but with deadly (2/3 of a die increase) for fatal (1 die increase), with the minor downside of repeating. The misfiring is arguably an upside, as after the first few levels, 1-4d6 damage is way less bad than losing an action.

The pistol should probably be the same cost as the rifle. it being 1 handed makes it arguably better, particularly compared to the bows.

[surreal basin]

fair

I wouldn't say the misfire is ever an upside, it doesnt give you anything or replace anything lol

and you still need to reload to clear it

[echo briar]

It says the jammed can be cleared as part of the reload action

[surreal basin]

but now you have to reload when u wouldnt have before

still have to spend an action to be able to attack again

[echo briar]

Ah, yea that makes sense

I think you can get rid of the misfire bit all together.

[surreal basin]

yeah?

[echo briar]

If you could get this at level 1 it might be necessary, but by the time you get this the damage is negligible

[surreal basin]

I mean it's just meant to be chip damage mostly

im gonna be playtesting it tonight anyhow

[fast hill]

we just killed the stag lord in our kingmaker game

we killed him in a single round

he walked up thinking he was cool and got bodied

[turbid dagger]

Him being a ranged boss may play a part

[fast hill]

I'm playing the commander playtest and we just sort of moved up on him because form up is an insanely good ability

(whole party gets to stride as a reaction? yes please)

[fast hill]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1166942797564227637/1365148114708594779/sparkle_on.gif?ex=680c40c1&is=680aef41&hm=a972f2a0e13a30b63551d1dbdf17b71464958f783cdbc1a710e33fc2e94c31ab&

friend made this

[limber comet]

I know what Starfinder is missing as a setting; we need Mandalorians

[surreal basin]

I have this now

Based on a wizard in my PF game

[surreal basin]

First test with the revolvers: pretty good tbh, hero pointed the misfires but honestly even without them, felt good - the short range feels like an appreciable downside

The 3 action reload is also really punishing compared to the shoot - reload - shoot - reload

You get to shoot more often so in a white room it’s better, but being locked out of attacking for basically an entire turn is rough

[eager mountain]

what should my last language be ?

nvm went with aklo

[rustic cape]

Polish

[echo briar]

Yes?

[rustic cape]

lol

[fast hill]

battle harbinger seems really cool

cleric with infinite team buffs but an actual frontliner

[warped orbit]

You could use a Gunner's Bandolier, and 'reload' for one action

Gets a little pricey with the cost of the weapon I guess, but it's one way

[fast hill]

Battle harbinger hellknight...

Unfortunately I'd need to take both BH and hellknight dedications...

[warped orbit]

My only wish for Battle Harbinger is that they had more action compression for setting up their auras
And some ways to scale the bonus other than just that one crit feat

[fast hill]

empowered onslaugh is really good

tbf

the auras themselves benefit your crit chance pretty substantially too

malediction and bless give an effective 10% crit chance

[warped orbit]

Yeah but if it's your Font, I feel like they could have given them some scaling innately

[fast hill]

that's fair

[warped orbit]

If feels really bad to me to have a non scaling spell font

[fast hill]

I feel like they scale about as much as any +1 bonus, which is to say they're always relevant and important

[warped orbit]

It's still good yes

But you're giving up free max level Heals for that, y'know?

[fast hill]

that's fair

I also have not played cleric

battle harbinger just has me interested in it

[warped orbit]

Especially when casting a bunch of low level spells gets much easier over time

If they just made your Font auras go to +/-2 baseline at some point, I feel like that'd be fair

[fast hill]

fair

[warped orbit]

I do like Battle Harbinger, just wish it got a little more juice

[fast hill]

I feel you

though higher level heals are healing more damage and bigger hp pools, +1 is always 5%. Definitely a gamefeel thing I think though

(and as you said, you can always get it otherwise)

Demoralize is so damn good...

[warped orbit]

This is also a big thing
If you play a regular Cleric, you can eventually just fill all your lower slots with aura spells if you want
Because those slots get less valuable over time

And it's why I think BH should get some kind of unique benefit for their Font, either scaling or something else

[fast hill]

yeah

hell, even just more slots

especially if you're going to be casting say, Malediction and Bless in the same combat, you've effectively only actually got 2 combats of full effectiveness

[craggy thunder]

from playing one session as one so far

it is quite fun

[rustic cape]

I’m got a friend playing one as well, likes it a lot

Interesting to see a turnaround on the skepticism

[surreal basin]

those don't work with repeating or capacity weapons

[warped orbit]

oh, huh

didn't know it doesn't work for capacity or repeating

...which really makes the Gunner's Bandolier even weirder

wonder what the point of it is actually supposed to be

I guess you could use double barrel pistols?

[surreal basin]

....... i guess with quick draw u eliminate needing to sspend actios

[warped orbit]

not actually, because the action to infuse the runes is not an Interact to draw an item, so you can't shortcut with Quick Draw

so instead of spending one action to Reload... you spend an action to draw a runed weapon from the Bandolier

[surreal basin]

huhah

[thorny berry]

I mean is it though, surely by higher levels you've got sources of higher status bonuses that won't stack

[fast hill]

I guess they are status bonuses

hm

[thorny berry]

like the crit idea is cute but it's by its nature unreliable and only going to affect fewer and fewer turns as it comes online later in combat

were I going that route I think I'd personally just stick with warpriest ultimately- which I do think they did a pretty good job with.

[surreal basin]

What’re some obstacles that an expedition to the plane of metal might have to bypass?

[fossil dome]

Plain of 1E+78 needles

[novel merlin]

Big metal wall

Uhhh Google myr battlesphere

[plucky snow]

Big lake of mercury

[novel merlin]

Heavy metal poisoning lake

[surreal basin]

hmmm

perhaps

I have a large field of overlapping blades, a swarm of blood drinking razor butterflies, and a plain that sound waves are traveling across

[ocean cobalt]

a flat plain of extremely rusty metal that the slightest pressure puts a hole through

[novel merlin]

There are stats for tetanus as a disease

[ocean cobalt]

aw it's level 1 apparently

make it level-appropriate. elemental super tetanus

[novel merlin]

It's from early in the alkenstsr adventure

[eager mountain]

the new starfinder map is reminding me a little of lancer

Or atleast a Gundam dynasty warrior game

good designs imo

[trim bluff]

doing a 1e campaign, dm says we get 3k gold to spend on any items we want, no one item worth more than 2k, any ideas for items? not too familiar with pathfinder so im a bit overwhelmed by the amount of options

playing a nature mystery oracle if thats relevant

[limber comet]

I wonder if you could overlay the 1e image under this and match them

[rapid wagon]

Minor Bag of Holding is always a great start

+1 Cloak of Resistance also great

+1 Bracers of Armor also good

[wary yoke]

I've never cared for the bags of holding, I preferred the handy haversack in 1E

Though cloak of resistance or getting magic armor is a good choice

[frank crystal]

What’s the name of the magic cloak that increases stealth?

[errant roost]

Elvenkind?

[frank crystal]

No the generic one

Ah nvm

I found it

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3067

[surreal basin]

Cloak of Illusions also

[frank crystal]

Yah, but I’m specifically using this for a villain who’s impersonated people in the past to kill them while staying unknown

So the ability to fade in the background serves special interests to him

Also the ability to stay hidden from tracking spells

[trim bluff]

I got this, a magic multitool that counts as every masterwork tool (forgot the name), and +1 chain shirt (i couldnt find that one in the books but dm said it was 1k so i got it for 1k), 250 gold left over just in case

[stuck bane]

Interesting development at the end of act one of my stolen fate campaign (spoilers for the overall campaign): ||My players are trying to recruit Arodeth after getting her to help deal with Drustan, but once they learn the villains are trying to restore prophecy and fate, depending on how the players respond that could end up biting them||

[echo briar]

What’s the closest thing to a god of propane and/or propane accessories?

[craggy thunder]

Sarenrae or Ymeri

or a weird syncretism of Sarenrae & Abadar

[ocean cobalt]

ayrzul

[true delta]

Heya. Are weapons generally considered to be drawn at the start of combat? Most games handle it that way but there's a bunch of feats in PF2 which help you draw. How do y'all generall play this?

[light gyro]

i'd say player characters should have their usual gear drawn if they know they're going into combat. if they're caught unaware in a setting they're not expecting trouble, maybe not.

so like, an ambush in a dungeon? they should see it coming, just not where it's coming from. ambush in the tavern? probably not expecting it.

[turbid dagger]

Yeah basically, in classic dungeon play they probably have weapons drawn until they're out of the dungeon
But they're not gonna be waltzing around town with a big axe out

[warped orbit]

That's usually how I handle it too yeah

[craggy thunder]

I think having a polearm is also a possible exception to not having them out in town because, at least with a spear or staff

shit is also a walking stick

[rustic cape]

I imagine you'd tie up the head in cloth or something

[keen raptor]

"You wouldn't deprive an old man of his walking stick, would you?"

[stuck bane]

“Sir it has a foot long blade at the end”

[rustic cape]

It would be funny if, for a well-organized fantasy city with lots of adventurers, they specifically require all staffs and sticks to be turned in on entry and provide an approved replacement if needed for accessability reasons

"You may not bring the pole that shoots fireballs in here"

[craggy thunder]

What's funny is I do think there would be a gradient for what's like

excusable

My own polearm character's is not

She has a 'glaive' that's basically got the proportions of a nagamaki

[frozen hatch]

In 1e would a endless bandolier or a beneficial bandolier be better for a level 4 gunslinger? GM is allowing a single item and I'm trying to pick between the two.

[ocean cobalt]

haven't been in the pf1e mines for years but iirc firearm reload time is absolutely brutal in that game so beneficial imo

[trail nova]

First priority of pretty much every gunslinger is reducing it to free action.

[craggy thunder]

I love an entire tengu heritage that means I don't need Cat Fall 😌

[eager mountain]

2e has a cool haversack still

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=446

[wary yoke]

Yes, but that's a halfling thing

Also, Legacy

[eager mountain]

Doesn’t mean you can’t use it

[wary yoke]

I mean, the Uncommon tag means I literally cannot

[steel blade]

no, the uncommon tag means 'ask your gm'

[wary yoke]

From what I understand, ancestry-related Uncommon stuff is off-limits unless you have a way to access it

[keen raptor]

That's entirely down to DM discretion

Ask them. They could work in something as simple as "a halfling merchant in town sold it to you"

Also, RE: legacy content. The remaster is intentionally designed to accommodate legacy content, so that's not an issue.

AON will have a link to the most recent version for anything that got changed, in which case you'll most likely just use the most recent version

[solar storm]

Is this a PFS game or something?

[wary yoke]

No, but I already get on my GM for giving random access to uncommon stuff for no reason, I'm not going to ask for just a backpack

[solar storm]

IME GMs tend to be fairly liberal with uncommon outside of it

[echo briar]

The point of all published materials is to be used

Uncommon is just a small warning to look a little closer before using it

[wary yoke]

Which my GM does not do

Our bard and wizard both had rare spells, randomly

I have a single rare option, playing Exemplar, and he himself had to play test it before he allowed it

[echo briar]

Did the GM look at them? If so they are doing everything right

[wary yoke]

I hate that I have to jump through hoops because I'm familiar with the system while everyone else can randomly pick anything

[echo briar]

Some gms are not ok with the tone of spells like inside ropes. Some are, and will give you access without needing to jump through hoops

[warped orbit]

I largely ignore rarity personally

[silver geyser]

Rarity usually tells me how other people should react to the thing.

Automatons and Androids getting a lot of weird stares, for example.

[keen raptor]

Even things like that could be workshopped to change the flavor if it's an issue. "Inside ropes" could be changed to something less gross like "Conjure rope" or whatever

Basically, going back to the original point: DM's discretion

[warped orbit]

Also in a bunch of the regional books they just tag half the stuff uncommon for basically no reason

Anything from an AP is also automatically uncommon

[solar storm]

I check first with the GM but I’ve rarely had anything denied

[warped orbit]

And then some stuff is just uncommon/rare because it's literally more rare in universe

[keen raptor]

I think they do that because it's meant to be used for characters from that region but yeah most of those tags can probably be safely ignored.

[solar storm]

The stuff which gives me pause is mostly rare backgrounds haha

It’s not huge from a balance standpoint but a lot of them are weird

[warped orbit]

Rare backgrounds are a bit funky yeah

[clever cobalt]

Yeah

In my expirience, Rare stuff isn't necessarily unbalanced, it's more that it has some more narrative weight than other options at times

If that makes snsse

[rustic cape]

I think rare is generally at least weird

It does something odd

So rare backgrounds do not follow the normal template

[warped orbit]

rare backgrounds are some of the most weird

mechanically too

[clever cobalt]

Yeah

[warped orbit]

like the ones with three boosts

or weird stuff like Time Traveler, and the one that makes you resistant to magic

[steel blade]

i have a friend who limits choices in character creation so like, you can't be an uncommon/rare ancestry with an uncommon/rare heritage(only 1 or the other), and i'm just like
'my dude, adventurers are by definition exceptional and weird'

[warped orbit]

yeah for ancestries I'm pretty whatever

[eager mountain]

for me , most uncommon ancestry stuff is just a GM ask, and most of the time say yes.

[warped orbit]

the only ancestry I'd maybe caution someone away from is Sprite, but that's only because they have some pretty harsh mechanical changes that can make them weird to play

[eager mountain]

Items , its either ask gm Or something you have to ask to find in the world

[warped orbit]

and it's still fine, depending on class

[eager mountain]

I.E just go shoppin for it

Rare items , are YOU GOTTA FIND EM

or a reward or somethin

[steel blade]

its not even really a thing of like 'this would prevent me from making a character i want to play', i usually go human i just think its silly to limit people to only an uncommon/rare ancestry or heritage, because someone that weird is practically made to be an adventurer

[eager mountain]

came on to a starfinder problem.

ok, So conudrum.

CAN , you swap out a spell chip.

[warped orbit]

also small clarification
Access just makes something that's uncommon count as common for you
so that you don't need GM approval explicitly

[eager mountain]

and if so , how fast, how many actions

becuase they dont say

now , there is the words used " Installed in comm unit "

whcih would lead some t o believe it requires 10 minutes and a repair kit

like a mods , which use the same language

BUT personally, I think a chip in a comm unit is probably just a single action to swap out

if one wants to be obtuse about it , or more complex.

an action to remove it, 1 action to swap it with another, and 1 to install.

so whole turn

ALSO , do spell chips work with integrated comm units for armor ?

SINCE , to use a spell chip you need to have a comm unit in your hand

[steel blade]

dunno if there's an official answer anywhere but, my thoughts, spell chips are basically the sf version of wands, swapping wands is just a matter of putting one away and taking another out, so swapping spell chips should be just as easy

[eager mountain]

personally, I think yes, it just rquires you to touch the comm unit in your suit.

so put a hand up to your helmet , Or to your bracelet

Or wherever you put it on your armor

for flavor, Bracelet tho

https://tenor.com/view/power-rangers-cosmic-fury-power-rangers-dino-fury-power-rangers-dino-fury-cosmic-fury-gif-6875482733234796040

https://tenor.com/view/yugioh-yugi-anime-card-game-im-ready-gif-17959981

[ocean cobalt]

i think the only case ancestry-uncommon stuff matters is like specifically with weapons because the familiarity feats are balanced around those

[rapid wagon]

my own GM treats anything thats not common as "ask me" and generally the permissiveness ramps down as the rarity increases

[warped orbit]

Eh, it doesn't super matter for those either tbh

The ancestry weapon feats only really matter for advanced weapons

And even then they don't in most cases

But I don't think I'd ever stop someone from using an Elven Branched Spear just because they don't have that feat

[novel merlin]

The feat is less for access and more to decrease proficiency requirements

[warped orbit]

Yeah definitely

[echo briar]

I should do a one-shot where rarity is determined by magic 8 ball

[echo briar]

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo703ox?Spring-Errata-Updates-2025 spring errata dropped

Nothing too big. A few jump related things work better post remaster

Blessed armaments has been clarified to be in addition to your normal runes

Victors wreath is 1/day/condition, but can’t turn a fail into a crit fail.

[solar thorn]

I as gm would also happily change advanced weapon access to other feats. No, I'm not mad about falcatas being restricted to tengu ancestry. Stop asking.

[warped orbit]

That's actually very nice for Champions

[rapid wagon]

oh wait so you effectively have like 1 extra rune on top of what you can max out a weapon with?

[echo briar]

Yes

It’s how it worked pre remaster, and the intent never changed

[rapid wagon]

hummmm

my champ is currently blessed shield

but extra rune on sword seems real nice

[warped orbit]

Shield ally got much worse with the Remaster regrettably
It's basically just a gold saver now

So Blade being better again is very good

[surreal basin]

How is it worse than it was

Ohhh yeah you don’t get the extra hp anymore

That kinda yarfs but I guess you still get the hardness

[rustic cape]

Gotta play a sprite Spirit Warrior w/kaiju defense oath

The good stuff

[surreal basin]

Hmmm

How would yall build a Witcher type character? I’m thinking outwit ranger w alch ded

[turbid dagger]

That likely is a good fit, especially once you get hte monster hunter line going
I feel like there's some room for Thaumaturge but I understand that may be more esoteric magic than you want

[eager mountain]

https://tenor.com/view/hasbulla-gif-12654501364171447161

[limber comet]

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pathfinder-lost-omens-draconic-codex-paizo-inc/1147317353

[light gyro]

Strength of Thousands:
https://www.tpmblr.com/jame7t/781767967426953216/it-must-suck-to-be-an-etymologist-in-like-a-magic

[fast hill]

I wish the katana was finesse...

[light gyro]

there's the wakizashi, but you trade two-handing for agile *oh and your damage die goes down one

[true delta]

entomology != etymology

[light gyro]

does that bug you

[true delta]

Yes. 🐛

[fast hill]

yeah...

I wanna do a light armour build but no real reason to do that if you have strength

[eager mountain]

https://tenor.com/view/subrote-hackers-orly-oh-really-oh-really-gif-gif-27097696

[rapid wagon]

Think it'd be worth talking to my gm about potentially switching to blade? I do feel like the free rune has actually done good work for me, I frequently make use of the shield

[solar storm]

Did the Draconic Codex leak get posted here?

[clever cobalt]

yeah here

[solar storm]

Sweet

I’m hyped

The new dragons are very cool

[clever cobalt]

Yeah, I'm eager to see the Arch-Dragons myself

also I will continue to futily hope for a Lost Omens: Dark Tapestry or something

[fast hill]

wakazashi seems cool but grah I wanna play a katana swashbuckler

[rapid wagon]

sometimes i do wish there were reasons to wear lighter armor

for like a practical or pragmatic purposes rather than "If you can rock heavy and arent dexmaxxing, you just should wear heavy"

i dunno how that would pan out of course

[echo briar]

Monster core 2 was also leaked

[fast hill]

hell I would even do light armor strength build and just pump str/dex

no real reason to do so but yknow

[eager mountain]

and alien core

[fast hill]

wowie wakazashi sucks!!!!

[eager mountain]

why is that?.

[fast hill]

More specifically for the build I'm trying to make, which is I want to make an unarmoured ronin/swordsman type

Katana doesn't have finesse, so going unarmoured means you're going to be a lot easier to hit (and crit)
Wakizashi does 1d4 all so it can deal... a bit more damage than a regular d8 weapon on a crit

[echo briar]

Barnes & Nobles also spoiled the dragonblood heritage in PC2. Maybe Paizo should stop giving them marketing materials lol

[fast hill]

I think my best bet is just to make a fighter with big str/dex and use the katana

[echo briar]

you could also reflavor something

[fast hill]

Maybe

[rustic cape]

My hipster take is mutagenist

Maybe they turned it down in later games but in the first Witcher you lived and died on your ability to guzzle prebuffing potions

[keen raptor]

3 toned it down but in 2 it was even more so because you couldn't drink potions in combat

And yeah, some form of alchemist, maybe with a fighter or some other martial dedication.

[rustic cape]

What separate Witchers from any other monster hunter is their knowledge of Extremely Specific Bullshit

Thaum would also work

[keen raptor]

Not sure how you'd fit signs into a build though

[rustic cape]

Thaum borders on being The Witcher Class

[echo briar]

actually, wait, drakeheart mutagen

either buy them, or take the alchemist dedication

[rustic cape]

Thaum with alch dedication would be a very good Witcher

[fast hill]

that is neat

[tight flare]

Playing a magus in PF2. Finally hit level 17.

What's a good level 9 spell to pick?

[rapid wagon]

implosion seems cool

[echo briar]

9th level shocking grasp

[rustic cape]

Prepared caster means no need to get upcasted versions, no?

[rustic cape]

https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vTM1aBK2R2JYUHGie7C93kbODLO6nh79no8QQj4tgGLfXIqNYOaFQAKjXKTCL0RKO8MscnBRPbEPLjZ/pub#h.il721mt7189d While this is oriented towards sorcerers, it's a great overview of uh ... every spell list

[tight flare]

Oh nice

[rustic cape]

The ratings will vary for your magus

Since, very different play

But

Implosion would be very rough for a magus imo

Due to sustain needs

You could absolutely due worse than just phantasmagoria

[tight flare]

Been leaning towards that since it's a will save

[turbid dagger]

For a magus, 9th rank Heroism is a boring but inarguably extremely effective pick

[tight flare]

Alas difficult with arcane

And, possibly suboptimally, I have wizard dedication to cover utility spells

[turbid dagger]

Oh ack, my b
I thouht arcane was the one tat got heroism aside from divine, not occult

[rustic cape]

But in general, you benefit a lot from being prepared here

[warped orbit]

Occult has most of the strong buffs

[rustic cape]

You don't really have to choose

"just upcast fireball" is a perfectly valid choice

[tight flare]

True true. Right now I mostly upcast disintegrate

[turbid dagger]

I probably wouldn't be lookin at save spells for your top level slots, but

[echo briar]

Foresight is probably your best bet

[rustic cape]

Assuming your reaction is not spoken for

But yeah, extremely good defensive pick

[tight flare]

I'm playing an automaton magus, using a halberd as a weapon. Is it worth it to get the ancenstral feat that makes me large?

It gives me more range for sure, but it might be slightly annoying to be so large

[turbid dagger]

You can fit in medium sized spaces, its just diff terrain
Do you operate in 5 foot wide corridors enough for this to routinely come up?

[tight flare]

I guess not really... It'll probably be ok

[rustic cape]

Also worth considering if you have a reliable source of a status bonus to damage already

[frank crystal]

Hmm, y’all think green knights are a good name for like, a militarized Fey creature?

I wanna make it into a plot point that the Fey wolf has been sorta transformed as of late by an extremely military minded King Oberon who’s effectively transformed a good part of it into a mimicry of mortal nations

As a bid to stay powerful

[light gyro]

sounds good. maybe give them a gimmick where they can lop off a bit of themselves as a ranged attack

[frank crystal]

Oh yah that’d be sick

[clever cobalt]

The Wild Hunt also works

[frank crystal]

I could divide it between like, multiple creatures

like the wild hunt being some kinda high speed skirmisher

compared to the green knight being bulky frontliners

[errant roost]

for me, an important part of the Wild Hunt is that it's kind of...half chaotic raiders, half nobility on a fox hunt (but you're the fox). which isn't totally incompatible with it being a military activity, but it'd be more like the king and his knights chasing people down for fun, less meeting them on the battlefield

the Green Knight was 100% "what if normal thing (a knight) was spooky actually", which works well for a fey knightly order, or even just "elite guys with swords" at a stretch.
where do you see this fey as showing up? what do you want them to do, militarily? that might help guide your naming.

[frank crystal]

I want these Fey guys to show up as a newly formed nation attempting to conquer parts of the continent Esvalia during a war

Essentially seeing this larger war as a chance to take control of what he wants

Hmm, your point about the wild hunt is true though

Honestly, I kinda wanna make it so that’s what Oberon calls his personal war band

[errant roost]

always a strong option. or you flip it: he used to ride the Wild Hunt and the powerful fey who used to enjoy that are miffed that he's trying to be "respectable" and "human" with his green knights or w/e

[frank crystal]

maybe

[errant roost]

thinking about it more, I think using a human title like "knight" is probably important for the "he's trying to mimic mortal social structures" idea.

[frank crystal]

yah, it fits with the vibe I want for him

of uncanny valley imitations

that just dont quite make it

Also shit, there’s already a whole set of creatures for the wild hunt

Literally “wild hunt x”

Unfortunately they’re way to high level for the place they’re meant to be in the game

They are great templates for these creatures though

Being martially focused Fey

And their war beasts

[wary yoke]

In my campaign, due to the nature of the setting (most planar connections are blocked), there was one Wild Hunt in operation and they mostly served as mercenaries; the BBEG, a Vilderavn, was owed a few favors by them.

Notably, called them in when there was a massive dragon attack

[frank crystal]

I assume that dragon was killed?

[wary yoke]

She was driven off, but many of her children were

[frank crystal]

I see

[clever cobalt]

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo70609?Pathfinder-Society-Year-of-Battle-s-Spark

Looks like the intro to the Cheliax/Andoran war

[light gyro]

nuclear cavalier ass weapon build

[echo briar]

I don’t think enough people talk about how Paizo uses edible packaging peanuts

With every book you get a free meal

[carmine egret]

what is this devilry

[surreal basin]

What

[echo briar]

It’s true

Like, you probably shouldn’t eat a ton of them, but they are edible

[ocean cobalt]

wow, with every cardboard box and packing peanut meal you get shipped to you you also get a free pathfinder book

[light gyro]

Orichalcum weapons get four property runes

[craggy thunder]

I feel like 'edible' is really relying on 'entirely made out of starch' being technically edible

you really shouldn't

[warped orbit]

How do you have four runes on there?

[warped orbit]

Ah I see

[craggy thunder]

@novel merlin Overall, I think the Pathfinder Agent and Scrollmaster archetypes are gonna be good and even useful choices, but the reddit post you linked me overstates the impact imo

[novel merlin]

It does a fair bit

Diverse lore in general is stupid good, these two artchetypes just stack as many riders on to RK as possible in combat, and also make it really hard to fail the checks

[novel merlin]

Id say its less meta and more just a cool combo for a know it all thaum

[craggy thunder]

Ye

Definitely taking at least pathfinder agent arch

[craggy thunder]

hmm

gladius or longsword...

[clever cobalt]

what class?

[craggy thunder]

thaumaturge

[novel merlin]

No clue what the gladius stats are

But longsword is very good

[craggy thunder]

d6 piercing, deadly d10 versatile S

[ocean cobalt]

you arent gonna be getting enough crits on a thaumaturge to get your money's worth from deadly

[warped orbit]

Are you looking for swords specifically or just good onehanded weapons?

[clever cobalt]

I personally like the light hammer or hatchet for the Thaum

[warped orbit]

My personal secret tip for one-handed is the leiomano

Bludgeoning with Versatile S is actually pretty useful

[craggy thunder]

mostly swords in specific