Nigga, it ain't that hard to copy-paste shit. Why did you even bother?


>>IF YOU ARE ASKING A QUESTION, PLEASE SPECIFY WHICH GAME YOU'RE PLAYING<<

Previous Thread: >>96897393

/pfg/ (pathfinder 1e) link repository: https://pastebin.com/RSt0rF0T (embed)
/p2g/ (pathfinder 2e) link repository: https://pastebin.com/1zySxwm3 (embed)
/sfg/ (starfinder) link repository: https://pastebin.com/5yp9s2U3 (embed)

>>CHECK THE SHARE THREAD FOR MISSING MATERIALS<<

TQ: How big or small you like to make your PCs?

>>97007875
i forgot about the archive because i've never bothered to check before lol

>>97007716
>CotCT
how has it been going for you so far? Its my favorite Pathfinder AP, never got to finish it as a player (around 10 session) or as a GM (6 session), but I find it quite enjoyable, still needs a few tweaks and rewrites. Did you make any changes, and who are your pcs?

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>>97008024
Not making a ton of changes so far except changing a few NPC builds, since, like, 2/3 of NPCs are either bards or rogues. I'm also going to get some of my players from the RotR campaign I'm also running to join in as NPCs.
Right now party is
- Aasimar Witch, using a custom Charisma archetype. Her patron is Karzoug which is kinda fun for me, her whole gimmick is greed/gold/sparkly things. Picrel, friend got art commissioned of her.
- Human (Chelish) inquisitor of the Godclaw, with the blasphemy inquisition. She was a drug addict who killed Lamm as penance and is trying to get her life back under control. Also, her dad is supposed to be the head of the sable company (she doesn't know he's gonna die)
- Human (Chelish/Varisian) bloodrager with a custom Azata bloodline. Bastard child, wants to be a vigilante and idolizes Blackjack.
- Kobold (Gold) eldritch scoundrel rogue; on a quest to find a way to save his clan's gold dragon patron that was prophecized to be in Korvosa (it's gonna be the pool). I used the Umbral Kobolds from d20pfsrd since holy shit base kobolds SUCK lol

I'm excited, it's a group of friends I made from lit RP groups so the heavier focus on RP is perfect.

>>97008645
Sounds like a good party, especially the first two, cool art.
My group as a player also had a Bloodrager and a blackjack fan. Played a duelist bard, but after she died, switched to a Pharasmin inquisitor.

As a GM, I had a summoner; tiefling rogue; dhampir pharasma inquisitor, and sable company ranger (though he got kicked out of the company for insubordination). I planned to cut out book 4 and even the whole crown of fang/Kazavon involvement to focus on Ileosa plans with the pool+her infernal contracts, felt like it was a more compelling and focusing story. (granted that I would love to make a campaign with Kazavon as a centerpiece, pretty good base for a good BBEG, in one of my first draft, I rewrote him as human who became a dragon, kinda aped Griffith/Berserk in a way)

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>>97008883
Interesting, if anything I think I would have done the opposite and focused more on the crown and less on the infernal contracts.
Pic of the inquisitor.
>>97008645
Also, forgot to point out Castle Korvosa in the background there :P

Website's back, but looks like they broke it even more, so no early books yet

>>97007716
Yoooo this is cool. What monsters are those? Some of them have really cool silhouettes that make me wanna check them out. Can recognize a few of them.

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>>97009322
From left to right:
Otyugh
Giant spider
Dream spider
Ettercap
Alligator
Imp
House Drake
Gnome NPC
Orphan NPC
Dog
Bloodrager PC
Rogue PC
Inquisitor PC
Witch PC
Jigsaw Shark
Drain Spider
Half-Orc NPC
Gaedran Lamm
Reefclaw
Owlbear Skeleton
Derro
Necrophidius
Ogrekin
Carrion Golem

I make them for all my campaigns. Here's the one I have so far for RotR

Every single new dragon in Draconic Codex
>Barrage
>Bog
>Delight
>Executor
>Mocking
>Oath
>Rime
>Sage
>Stormcrown
>Time
>Vizier
>Vorpal
>Wailing
>Wish
People have not gotten their books yet, so no new information on any of them, we only know this much because with the new Paizo storefront they now show previews of the books, and the Draconic Codex preview includes the table of contents

why the fuck did paizo decide to called the weapons for operatives in sf2e "guns", they could've called them anything, like "operative arms" or something else other than a common-ass word that people playing will use for every fucking ranged weapon

>>97009733
Adding on this, the Bog, Mocking, Rime, Sage, and Stormcrown are the Remastered version of Black, Copper, White, Bronze and Blue Dragons.
Delight are renamed Havoc Dragons.
We do not know the Silver or Gold replacements.
The completely new ones are: Barrage, Executor, Oath, Vizier, Vorpal, Wailing and Wish Dragons. Of which two are the Silver and Gold replacements.

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The paizo site is back up, surely that means they'll be dropping that errata this week right?

>>97009917
>The completely new ones are: Barrage, Executor, Oath, Vizier, Vorpal, Wailing and Wish Dragons. Of which two are the Silver and Gold replacements.
Gotta say, if the Vizier dragon doesn't have a shitty goatee design on its face I give it an F

>>97009917
I think it's somewhat safe to assume Oath and Vizier are Silver and Gold.

2e
When a Thaumaturge Exploits Vulnerability with Diverse Lore. Do you add any bonuses when checking against the dc for that recall knowledge check? Like the item bonus from Brooch of Inspiration or the circumstance bonus from Tome Implement for example. Or do those not apply and you just use the rolled Exploit Vulnerability number?

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>>97008024
Not OP but I'm currently almost 2 years into GMing COCT for my group. Normally we play every 2 weeks when possible for long sessions. Currently my players are right at the end of Book 5 about to finish Scarwall, which admittedly has been abit of a slog mixed in with scheduling issues since the party entered it.
I made a few changes and added some minor extra scenes to give players to see more of Illeosa and Gaedren didn't die at the fishery.
Book 1 I just added an escape route for Gaedren from his room and he got out since my party didn't have a quick way to get through the door. Had the riot happen later so they got to do early quests for the guard when the city is normal, in exchange for them helping with deciphering Gaedrens ledger.
My favourite part has been book 2 with the plague since its quite nonlinear and has lots of fun encounters. Also there are so many hot but crazy women in this adventure path it's ridiculous.
Feel free to ask anything, overall it's been a blast outside of a few encounters

>>97007875
>TQ
Medium, but a fat fuck this time.

Heads up, looks like Lost Omens renewal is the 19th.

>>97010425
>Also there are so many hot but crazy women in this adventure path it's ridiculous.
Astute observation lmao
>Sabina Merrin
>Ileosa
>all of the red mantis girls
>the undead Urgathoa high priestess
>that one genki bdsm cleric
>not!Harley Quinn Elf serial killer
Probably missing a few other, though to, the cutest girl is the barefeet tomboy painter
A few question I would have in mind would be
>Did you change the hook/set up of the campaign?
I found that having Gaedren as the initial goal, and if he dies in the first session/escape don't give much motivation beyond that; especially if the group doesn't like the guard. I gave some pretty explicit warning about when I ran the game so the player at least stuck together thanks to a bit of meta-gaming on their part; I was thinking of making all of the players already working with the guard before the campaign started
>How did book 4 went?
From all of the reading I did, book 4 isn't really well liked, especially due to the fetch quest side of it, the Shoan-ti being assholes, all that for minimal reward. Its something I would attempt to run in a very condensed way, and only if I had a shoanti pc in the party
>Did you use the Hellknight?
I feel like its a shame that they go away so quickly, wanted to replace book 4 with the pc seeking them out to get support against Ileosa
>Did you do anything special with Rolth Lamm?
He is a bit one dimensional, but on my rewrite, I envision him as a more interesting npc, especially if a pc was a Little Lamb themself
>How did the execution at the end of book 1 go?
That scene is pretty very "cinematic", without much player input as written.
>"outside of a few encounters
Which one were bad to run? On my end, as a player, we somehow got our asses kicked when we explored the graveyard warrens in book 1, we were playing with the Savage Pathfinder ruleset and had no way to deal with the stirges (penalties to hit due to their small size)

Also do describe your party.

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What are some dedications/classes that go well the Mind Smith dedication in PF2e (with free archetype)? Never paid it much mind before but seems pretty interesting manifesting a weapon from your own mind.

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How are my Barbarian changes? Bloodrager coming... eventually.
https://scribe.pf2.tools/v/M89l6Vvf feedback is welcome, as always

>>97013997
I actually like the bonus feat fury gets, but think it needed to have unique feats at level 1 for that to actually work? Or at the very least to be the only one that has the early access to something like Invulnerable Rager. Hell. Scars of Steel could really just be like Adamantine Body from Martial Artist too imo (no cooldown, can trigger off any attack, and good vs all damage types) and not break a damn thing?

I like most of your feat changes, especially Raging Intimidation. The idea of Raging Thrower applying Brutal to thrown weapons is good, but I do worry a little about it being the only player source. Animal Hide I'm not sure about, because imo I think the bigger thing it needed was just to be an always-active thing instead of "while raging", but I also wish it was something available to all Barbarians (or at least SOME version of it was)? The whole "Shirtless Angry Dude" aesthetic is badass.

>>97014356
>Fury
I decided to make the changes based on Unstoppable Frenzy's name. If I added the lvl1 feat back, I'd probably halve the extra tHP.
But yeah, all instincts would benefit from lvl 1 feats.
>Scars
Keeping it as resistance makes it partly useless with the instinct resistance benefit, otherwise AB would have been my go-to.
>Intimidation
Yeah, getting two skill feats and the ability to use them isn't worth a class feat.
>Thrower
I might implement the trait somewhere else as well. The rage limitation ("what limitation lol") is good enough.
>Animal Hide
I don't think the raging part is a problem, you'll be raging during initiative anyway. Opening it for all instincts, I agree, the shirtless angryman is a nice aesthetic, maybe at a lower AC bonus?

Thank you for the feedback.

anyone using foundry version 13+ for the season of ghosts ap? i tried to updated to v13 back in may and again this week and the SoG AP module just seems giga scuffed - most of the pdf links are broken among other things and it doesnt seem usable, which is crazy given how long v13 has been out for.

Was the Leadership feat really as overpowered as forum users insisted it to be?

Subscription books will now be the 24th, next Monday

>>97015433
you get a whole-ass second character that's 2 levels (he'll close the gap to one level soon enough) and a bunch of sweatshop workers to pump out cheap consumables for you
yes it's busted as hell

>>97015537
2 levels behind*
I forgot to insert this word after the brackets

>>97015433
Yes. Sure, they aren't doing much in-combat for 1e standards, but in terms of what a max count of 135 people being around + a 17th level minion means there's not a lot of situations you can't out-attrition. It's also a very awkward feat at the table, given how you are your own adventuring party and the idea you are babysitting a sapient person and not some animal. What exactly is the other dudes at the table are for when you can rally an entire village to be your slaves?

The ONLY prerequisite too is being seventh-level, so it really is just your own self-control stopping you from picking up the Green Goblin Mask Army.

>>97015567
Excuse me, 163 followers at max, forgot to count the higher-level mooks in your entourage.
Again, all for one feat, in the game notorious for it feat chains and taxes.

>>97014579
The raging part of Animal Hide mostly just feels like it's pointless, because like you say, a Barbarian is going to be raging as part of initiative anyway, so at that point... Why even limit it to "only in rage"? As far as AC Bonus, I could see having the text be that it only upgrades its item bonus if you're Animal (and maybe "or Fury").

I also scrolled through to look at some of the other stuff, and while I like the general idea you were going for with your magus change, I don't think I actually understand what the hell is going on with your version of Spellstrike? Is this like, replacing the extra weapon damage die you would be getting from runes? I like passive cascade, and having bigger payout for higher charge would be cool, but that spellstrike doesn't seem right.

I also question giving Monk just full martial weapon access with no restrictions, rather than just being the monastic weapon feat, but I hesitate to go too crazy with my own houserule changes.

>>97015625
>I also question giving Monk just full martial weapon access with no restrictions, rather than just being the monastic weapon feat, but I hesitate to go too crazy with my own houserule changes.
NTA, while I value flavor in class identity and don't want the standard fisticuff monk to be forgotten, Monastic Weaponry does feel like an obnoxious feat tax. It doesn't help stuff like Monastic Archer or Shooting Star Stance just grants their respective weapon and more, while Monastic Weaponry only provide Crit Spec + Ancestral Weapon Familiarity. 2e is better when it has as little feat taxes for standard player behaviors as possible.

>>97013287
It is probably better to wait 'til February for Dark Archive to be Remastered and see what changes they do to it. It just not a particularly well-conceived archetype, it never does anything more than what just making a normal weapon + backup would give you. I would just recommend looking into Starlit Sentinel or Soulforger if you want more Super Special Weapon(TM) tech.

>>97015740
>Monastic Weaponry does feel like an obnoxious feat tax.
to be entirely clear, I was questioning why it was full martial weapons and allowing full martial weapons to work as a feature, and not just granting the effect of Monastic Weaponry (+maybe something for certain ranged weapons) instead, because I ALSO think Monastic Weapon is a stupid as fuck feat tax

>>97015785
Oh, yeah. That one is a question I'm still figuring out myself. Cause in practice, there aren't a lot of Monk weapons that AREN'T comparable to a bogstandard martial weapon in either value or power. The Monk tag is explicitly more flavor than balance and even several designers have stated that they would have done something different if they were allowed to. I think if they did Monk and the Monk tag nowadays, they would have flipped it and used the Starfinder Unwieldy tag to bar some weapons from being Flurried with.

On the other hand, beyond the lmao orientalism appeal of such, many Monk weapons do hold some cultural significance that should be uplifted some. If "Rogue weapons" are meant to be kind of gritty and easy to assassinate with, "Monk weapons" should be something noted of having a long history of extensive spiritual training with.

That or just split the difference and let them use the full roster of Deity's Favored Weaponry. Monk and Cleric should be brethren-in-arms more since they are supposed to be the same kinds of people split by continent, not by faith. The simple solution is right there, guys.

>>97015824
It's definitely a weird place because paizo can't seem to decide if monk is an actual trait worth weighing or an arbitrary flavor trait. Hell, I wouldn't care if monk could flurry with a longsword or Katana (and in fact am baffled they can't in both cases), but I would be a little skeptical of a 2H bastard sword, greataxe, or greatsword, if that makes sense?

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>>97015933
Absolutely. Paizo kind of futureproofed a bit TOO well in how other multistrikes function so that heavy weapons can't benefit from such and giving us no real visualization of how it could work. A "Greataxe Flurry" does just sound insane no matter how you slice it (lol). The various "flurry-like" feats for heavy weapons are all multi-target, not mult-attack. So they understand both the balance and flavor implications, even if Flurrying with heavy weapons would be a MAJOR buff for Monk (I would give a 40% odd of stopping any stupid Fighter comparison in this general if such were to happen).

But if the idea of being a monk with a weapon is literally "You went to a literal monastery to learn their martial arts and this was included", it is difficult to argue that they shouldn't have this distinct ability. Or that there should be a distinct buff on lighter weapons to justify the opportunity cost. The inverse of Barbarian where they lose out on damage if they use agile weapons, pushing them to use the stronger stuff.

It is an awkward situation all around, and I know they don't want to just say EVERY weeb armament is Monk-adjacent. But the arguments are so skewed in various directions, I can't make heads or tails of it myself. Maybe just a dedicated stance that allows for such would all that would be needed.

TL;DR: Further data analysis required.

>>97016008
>Maybe just a dedicated stance that allows for such would all that would be needed.
I would hate that, mostly because I don't want stances to be "turn this on to function at all", I want them to actually fucking DO SHIT. I already kind of hate that most of the unarmed stances all have unique unarmed strikes that they occasionally hard lock you to.

That said, right now the only real solution is just kind of "shrug and print more weapons with the monk tag I guess".

I would also argue that Monk waa very obviously originally trying to eat the "mundane brawler type martial artist that didn't train at a monestary" niche by not mandating ki as part of the kit, but it doesn't really commit to supporting it?

>>97016008
Monks can already flurry with d10 weapons normally with monastic weaponry (khakkara) or d8 stuff with Reach (kusarigama, bo staff). The idea that letting them flurry with d12s would be broken is fucking retarded, since d12 weapons suck shit anyway.

Honestly the most "powerful" option would be the glaive because Reach, Forceful and Deadly work really well with action compression, but glaives should already be fucking monk weapons and Ive let my players flurry wtih any weapon before with 0 issue. Paizo are just dumbasses.

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>>97015740
I might check out the dark archive remastered when it comes out for that since I wanted to spice things up for my martials (main idea was a schizo cultist fighter or champion using powers of Yog-sothoth or similar eldritch entities giving them the ability to manifest a weapon from their twisted mind). As for the other 2 recommendations, I usually assume when it comes to builds the rare ones are exempt from the list (unless its some silly one shot) and Soulforger seems kinda bare bones, though I appreciate the feedback regardless.

>>97015625
>Animal Hide
If I change it to work outside of Rage and open it to other instincts, I'll just lower the AC accordingly. KISS and all that.
Wait until I add Mountain Stance AC as a feature to Monk. Non-poachable, of course.
>Spellstrike
It is a bit complex, but the idea is that it deals damage depending on your weapon damage die size and cascading value. So basically ignores fundamental runes (kinda not, the maximum value of cascading increases about at the same rate) but applies property runes.
I think I did it this way since I wanted to add granularity to Spellstrike damage and also to encourage the Magus to use more different actions while at the same time not penalizing runes for other Strikes.
>Monk weapons
>>97017572 answered it pretty well, I've voiced the same argument on the (other) brain damage site (a fool's errand, I know)

>>97013997
Im assuming the changes to raging athlete are in addition to giving it adrenalinr rushes effects. If so the changes make sense, even though i'd argue barb is the last martial to need a proverbial handjob and most of the things that needed buffs the most were untouched.

>>97020531
Yeah, Raging Athlete got its level lowered, Adrenaline Rush added into it.
Can you point me to some sore spots? I'm working on stuff that catches my attention and my eyes catch only so much.

>>97020586
Bashing charge and barralling charge being two seperate feats that are as limited as they are for one. Oversized thrower being strictly worse than just using a throwing weapon in nearly all ways, some minor things like impressive landing not scaling with anything at all is kinda weird, not even rage damage.
Magus changes seem really lame and broken at the same time but the link broke so i cant refrence it again. It funnels you even more into dumping int and using a reach two hander while also making your action econ worse for no reason.

>>97020693
>Barbarian feats
I'll take a look at those when I can, I'm wrestling with Godbreaker atm.
>Magus
I'm not fully satisfied either. It's still a gambler and unfucking that means unfucking Spellstrike and its related feats, which I haven't figured out how to do.
The way Spellstrike works just makes INT not that useful. Sure, I could implement INT-to-damage and/or a once per round Arcana check to charge Spellstrike to make INT more attractive, but the elephant in the room is Spellstrike.
Cascade-as-condition and the various charging actions were implemented to make the turns more varied than "masturate to recharge > Spellstrike > repeat".

Would it make sense to have the Returned background if I was playing as a Reflection heritage Psychic whose whole thing is they’re a dying individual’s psychic echo projected onto a clone body? Would you allow this at your table? Why or why not?

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>>97008929
Art friend drew of her bloodrager

>>97009917
Finally, the two dragons in each category always bugged me
Still drives me insane that
>there was already a category of dragons called primal that hailed from the elemental planes (brine, cloud, crystal, magma, umbral)
>occult dragon was a species part of the esoteric dragons. theres also like. no difference in definition between occult and esoteric dragons they just decided they didn't wanna reuse them
>the two divine dragons are identical for two of their planar dragons (infernal = diabolic and empyreal = paradise)
like they could have just made new categories like esoteric and primal lol

>be a GM for a group of 4
> All friends from college
>Go to one of their weddings
>Reconnect with some old friends from back in the day
>3 of the players invite 2 new people to our game
>I consent only to not be a buzz kill
>Dreading having to teach 2 noobs how to play ttrpgs
>We make characters, run a 1 shot
>Goes pretty well
>Time for the main campaign
>They jump in at level 8 with free archetype
>They ask if I can just fill out the sheet to level 8 for them
>I'm afraid of the info overload but do it anyway
>We play
>They're actually more tactical then my og players
>They are actually reading their feats on their downtime between combat turns
>Session was actually a blast

I made one a dual weapon rogue- thief and another a heavy armor magus -senti al (his idea). Dual wield seems like a fucking meme since twin slash only procs sneak attack once but I guess flensing can make it worth?

I kinda want to make DMPC bad guys to "show off" the potential of making a build?

Like theoretically if I was a goblin monk with ancestral weapon familiarity I could use the explosive doglicer as a monk weapon

>>97027116
>DMPC bad guys
that's just humanoid villains in general anon

>>97027180
No, I mean like make a character sheet for the bad guy instead of just a stat block to add some "authenticity" to it

>>97027328
Huh. Do people not always do this? I thought that was just normal.

>>97029261
It's not something you supposed to do (least in 2e, 1e did attempt to make player and monster sheets follow the same rules), especially with a direct "one-to-one" PC sheet. Much like the issue with Player-Versus-Player scenarios, player powers aren't really balanced to be used against the party. And DMPCs do tend to be bad form, even for bad guys. But you can if you know what you are doing and properly double-check your stats, or just have a table that values creativity over "fairness".

how to fix pf2 magus?

>>97027116
I do it all the time. It works fine. A full party of NPCs built this way is gonna feel weaker than the PCs unless you also give them access to the death/dying rules, since they're effectively players that can't be brought back up with healing, but that's fine. They're equivalently powerful to the PCs at the beginning of a fight but it soon becomes clear that they're not a real TPK threat, since they have no staying power. I'd recommend leaving it that way, since letting them gain the dying condition just stretches fights out waaay too long, and you'll still have plenty of time to beat up the PCs anyway.

Individual NPCs built this way generally function how you'd imagine they will. It's fun to show off uncommon rules interactions with a villain in the middle of a fight, like Monastic Ancestry/Gobling Weapon Familiarity one you just mentioned. Mixing more complicated NPCs with player features (whether that's a fully PC-built NPC or just a creature with a couple of representative class features tacked on) is super easy, and my players seem to enjoy the moment of realization when they're like "wait that guy's literally just a swashbuckler."

Also, totally unrelated but the other Anon picked up on it so I feel like it should be mentioned: the term "DMPC" has a weirdly specific meaning. It doesn't just mean the DM building a character with PC rules. It specifically refers to the DM making a character to participate as a player in their own game. That's not what you're doing--you're doing something totally normal--but the term "DMPC" just has a lot of baggage attached.

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after 8 months, i've finally finished my homebrew skill tree for my current campaign

>>97029800
This looks super interesting! How do you traverse the tree? Is it Class Feats, Skill Feats? Something else?

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>>97031064
People/creatures corrupted by the previous campaign's world ending threat drop specific resources when killed/talked into letting go of their corruption.
It's mainly homebrew abilities/passives, but the main rings going around are picrel

>>97008645
Mind confirming the artist name? I can't quite read their signature and I'd like to see more of their work.

>>97029535
Make their feats not complete garbage, give them alternate uses for spell strike that are useful in scenarios where spellstrike isnt.

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>>97033089
Canjica, my player's commed her a bunch in the past. Twitter/vgen is astarofthedawn

>>97029535
>make Cascade either a free action, or else an action that you get to use a basic stride, leap (for that one subclass specifically), or strike as part of entering
>make Conflux Spells actually be remotely useful for moments when you don't need/want to recharge Spellstrike
>give them feats that aren't dogshit and also aren't just "use spellstrike with slotted spells to also do X"
>give them more class-unique reason to Invest in Int besides "muh spell DC"

>>97029535
>how to fix pf2 magus?

My dream: Spellstrike with save spells uses the attack roll to determine the target's save (only for the target of the strike)
More realistic: Spellstrike with save spells uses the Magus Class DC instead of the Spell DC (also only for the target of the strike)
• Spellstriking no longer requires "recharging", it just cant be used during the following round unless an ability says it allows it to be
• Arcane Cascade becomes a free action, frequency of once per round, trigger is Spellstrike or casting a 1, 2, or 3 action spell
• Arcane Cascade loses the damn stance trait
• Once cascade is active, Feats for hybrid studies that allow you to instead do things like raise a shield (targe), or stride half speed (laughing shadow), or reload (starlit span)
• Magical feats that aren't spells, like impulses.
>Example
>◆ or ◆◆ Surging Strike (arcane, concentrate, flourish)
>Requirements: Your arcane cascade is active
>Make a melee Strike. (or a ranged Strike if your hybrid study is starlit span) If the weapon or unarmed attack you use doesn't have the reach trait, it gains it for this attack. If the Strike is successful, you deal additional damage equal to your arcane cascade bonus multiplied by half your level, rounded up. The damage type is the same type of your current arcane cascade.
>If you use the two-action version, the Strike also adds a number of d4's equal to half your level, rounded up, to the additional damage.

>https://paizo.com/threads/rzs7arbh?Like-it-or-not-Psychic-Dedication-needs-a-nerf
I hate these retards so much. Why are the same six assholes so adamant about destroying the game?! All the problems the magus has and they trying to destroy the entire point of the class.

>>97038910
As insufferable as they all are, the one that recognizes that Magus and Psychic are bad and not yet remastered gets it kinda right.
Psychic dedication looks "too good" because the base class was meant to be a different type of caster and ended up being shit.
Magus was designed for big burst and all the best options are found outside the class.

>>97038910
Pretty much everyone agrees Psychic Dedication is way too strong an option for pretty much every non-WIS caster over actually playing a Psychic. It's just way too much value all at once. Magus getting a lot (not even the most, would argue Witch gets the most out of amped cantrips + focus point) isn't really a positive, especially if you are saying an off-class option is the "entire point of the class".

Sure, the bigger issue is that Psychic itself isn't a good class, but it isn't like Witch, Witchwarper, Sorcerer, or any other good caster class doesn't just give up and say "WHY DON'T YOU DO IT IF YOUR SO SMART!?" There isn't really a "smart" way of handling the archetype, admittedly, but I can't really say it is a well-designed option either.

Whoever decided that all Brawling weapons should be only d4's deserves to get their knees pummeled by brass knuckles

>>97039122
imo the biggest issue I have with psychic is that "class-unique cantrip with a focus point spender boost" is just a mechanic that should be on casters in general, so psychic's entire premise falls apart for me. Which isn't too say I think it's archetype should stay the way it is, but fuck's sake, man.

i just don't allow magi or witches. pointless classes.

>>97041711
>Witch is pointless
But I want to sell my soul for power and have a trusty familiar fren

>>97042971
>I want to sell my soul for power
you become an npc if you do that
>and have a trusty familiar fren
i don't see why it should be related to selling your soul for power

>>97043236
Gay
Why should pacts be restricted to npcs? What if the patron isn't even evil but a lawful good celestial or something?
>just play champ-
But I want to be a spellcaster
>just play cleri-
But I don't want to worship the source of my power

>>97043338
Oracle
>but i just want some good-aligned entity/spirit not an actual deity
Animist

>checking wealth by level for 2e
>go to level 20, 112,000 gp to play
>buy normal weapon and armor with full fundamental runes
>I have about 10,000 gp left
>even if I use the party's wealth by level, I have about 28,000 gp left
>I can buy about two high-level property runes and the rest will be low-level
>there is no gold for magic items or anything else
Okay, does anyone know a more reliable way to check what magic items a PC should be able to afford per level?

1e
We are really struggling with AC. The game just kind of assumes a setting where every campaign is loaded with magic shops with an inventory containing every magic item in the book? The PCs have unplayably low ACs unless they are stocked up with very specific magic items. That severely limits the types of games one can play. A survival game in a wasteland? Lemme stop by the magic shop and get my +1 AC ring first. Is there any sort of in game remedy for this? We are kind of resigned to just granting a +1 AC per level, but if there is a by the book way to fix this that would be way better.

>>97043236
>You weren't born with the power to cast spells, nor have you spent years dedicated to worship, study, or uncovering mystical secrets. Your magic instead has been gifted to you by a potent being, one who knows that by empowering you so, you'll further the being's agenda in the world, whatever it may be. This entity is typically mysterious and distant, revealing little of their identity and motivations. They make their will known to you in abstract signs such as omens, dreams, or similar subtleties rather than words.

Reminder that "sell your soul" is not a required part of the deal for a Witch. It may not even be a "deal"," they may have simply decided you were the means to carry out their ineffable will on the world and sent a familiar to empower you.

>>97044137
Your assessment is correct. Neither edition of PF is suitable for that kind of game. Now, considering that 1e has a decade of 3PP content behind it, I'm sure there's homebrew or published material that contorts the game into something like a functional resource-scarce survival exploration game, but that's effectively a whole lot of effort spent mashing a square peg into a round hole. You're better off playing something else. I wish I had more experience with those style of games, but I'm personally not a huge fan, so the only real survival-style TTRPG I've played is All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which is a modern zombies setting so I wouldn't recommend it to you. Even so, it's clear that the focus of the game shifted; things like lethality, access to out-of-combat healing, how "gear" works, character levels and scaling--all of that stuff is totally recalibrated for systems that run the kinds of games you're looking for.

Pathfinder (both editions) assumes that the PCs are a party of heroic fantasy Chosen Ones who have a steady stream of appropriate magic items coming their way (or some equivalent: see 2e's automatic progression variant rules) and easy access to magical healing. Even something as mundane as introducing ammunition scarcity (such as not always being able to reliably buy arrows for your bow) completely breaks the game, whereas rationing your bullets is core gameplay for other systems. It's just not what the game's made for.

TLDR: while I'm sure there's plenty of "fixes" that could render Pathfinder basically functional for that kind of game, the real fix is to play Pathfinder as the game it's supposed to be played and ditch it for games it's not meant for. /tg/ pretty regularly has system finder threads where you can pitch the game you're trying to run and other Anons will recommend systems that can do it for you.

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Would the Pact Worlds ally with the Tau?

>>97044137
You could use weaker monsters. Try monsters that are 75% to 50% strength of what the party would be facing if appropriately equipped.

Thinking of running Blood Lords soon and naturally, I presume some of my players will wanna play undead.
Anyone know if there's any resources I can dig up that rebalance the undead archetypes to not suck complete ass?

>>97044801
Starfinder has two brand new undead options. See if they are what you're looking for.

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I see that Starfinder continues the tradition of putting retarded feat taxes on shit that you should be able to do as baseline.

>>97044315
I was just presenting an extreme example, but we arent playing a survival game, we are playing heroic fantasy. But even heroic fantasy doesnt assume a post scarcity world. Its kind of bizarre to me that this is the base assumed setting, with no alternative presented. I just want AC without every PC wearing the exact same handful of magic items.

>>97043338
>restricted to npcs?
they aren't
>I want to be a spellcaster
you can be. you can also have a pact and be a martial if you want.
>>97044184
>>You weren't born with the power to cast spells, nor have you spent years dedicated blah blah blah
don't care. that can be your backstory with literally any class.

>>97045158
Eh, building a waist high bulletproof barricade out of trash bags, chewing gum, and a corpse is advance enough to be a Level 1 feat.

>>97045346
d&d was originally a survival resource management game, then during ad&d 2 edition it became about playing out your epic heroic saga. but the rules were still about dungeon survival. heroic journeys could still involve needing to survive out in the wild, but not in the same way a tomb robber trying to get gems back to the city and avoiding being one-shot by wraiths would need to survive. so echoes of those rules still technically exist, and you are under the illusion that you MIGHT be able to pull them out of the circumstances arise, but the truth is that they suck ass and are by design easily avoided because they just don't fit the tone of the game

>>97045158
i would require a roll to build a barricade out of random stuff unless there's something REALLY convenient to use (in the latter case it would just be a regular cover, not something that collapses after a round)

I recently watched Knights of Guinevere and now I want to do a Starfinder game involving Golarion World.

>>97044137
Have you tried using tactics other than standing still and autoattacking?

as a pure hypothetical without anyone else involved do you think taldor and your kingmaker kingdom could together gangbang galt? or would they VIVE their way to guillotining both our asses

>>97048621
Isn't the constant revolution state of Galt really only because there's a fucking Conqueror Worm that lives under it causing it to be in that state?

>>97048629
You are correct that's why they were such a shitshow. Though by 2e the worm is defeated and for the past couple years they've had a by Galtan standards stable government with Camilla as their leader.

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2e

Where the fuck is this feat from? I can't find it anywhere, is it even legal?

>>97048621
in WOTR's bad end where the Worldwound keeps expanding it's noted that Andoran and Taldor annexed and split up Galt between them.
So maybe? Would be much more costly compared to that obviously but I imagine Galt would have a lot of infighting if you handled it right.

>>97048722
I think it's from the relatively recently released adventure and whatever other sources you're looking at just don't have it yet

Credit where its due, Alien Core is far better than any of the Alien Archives which always tried to shoehorn player crunch into what should've been a simple list of monsters.

Granted, a most of the aliens existed before so the work was "converting" rather than writing, but its nice to get an index of creatures with 100+ entries.

In PF1E Mythic, how would you rank the following focuses for a high level wizard/sorcerer: shapeshifting, summoning and direct damage? Obviously

>>97048722
>literally just better Impersonate and it doesn't even use the performance skill
>level 2 skill feat
Holy powercreep. Meanwhile you need to take a skill feat solely to make an impression with deception or lie with diplomacy.

>>97049056
doesn't even use the deception skill*

>>97048869
probably in that exact order
shapeshifting is some strong buffing
summoning is kinda shite outside of summoning creatures that have their own utility spells (ie angels to spam Heal on the party)
let the martials give half a shit about direct damage

>>97049056
Like all things that aim to make performance better, it must first piggy back off all the skill actions you'd much rather be using

>>97048722
I found it, it is one of the feats cut from the Starfinder2e playtest. They said they cut most of the new (and way cooler) feats for page space concerns. This one seems to not be coming back any time soon, both with how powerful it is for Level 2 and that the name Method Actor is now taken and functions completely different.
https://2e.aonsrd.com/feats/994-method-actor

>>97049687
That's pretty fucking lame. I'm going to make the playtest version require master Performance and call it a day.

>>97048869
another woke modern zoomer player got into 1e. wizard is all about HIGH DC CASTING and CC.
i'm so tired of modern woke players

Soon, Dragons

>see they're releasing a Cheilax -Isger AP
>Of course youre freedom fighters
>Lose interest

Jesus fucking Christ LET ME SERVE MY LAWFFUL QUEEN

Can someone breakdown how the fuck magus works? A player just rolled up a new character and this shit is confusing me

>Lv 8 human/half elf Magus free archetype
>Laughing blade subclass
>All in on Str and Int, dump dex
>Free archetype into Sentinel, heavy armor spec
>Using a genie sword (I allowed it, doesn't seem that busted)
>Heavy armor
>Took fleet

So he has a 15 ft teleport strike (I round up) but how does spell strike work? He has to use an action to charge it or use his focus ability?

>>97051946
AP endings become canon so of course you're not allowed to be evil unless it's torpedoing an even bigger evil.
>B-but you're not necessarily evil in Blood Lords
Sorry, evil government means you are evil. You can't change a system from the inside. I'm sure Paizo will agree.

>>97052019
Fine, just have the Hellknights have to mobilize to fight some demon incursion again

Anyone run their own campaign in the Golarion setting? I feel like it's kinda hard to keep track of the different regions

>>97051989
You've basically got it. Once they use Spellstrike, they need to either use a conflux spell (which costs a focus point) or spend an action just to recharge it. Obviously using conflux spells is better, but Focus Points are limited per combat, so you do have the option to just spend an action to recharge for no extra cost (since the cost is "wasting" an action to recharge).

Since your player took Laughing Shadow, his conflux spelk is Dimensional Assault, which is the teleport one. Keep in mind your player can cast that spell even if Spellstrike is charged, its just not really optimal.

Can somebody post that level 18 mob boss stat block from an AP?

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>>97052803
I have this

>>97051946
no way cheliax is staying nazi chud, at most you'll get some nazi remnants if they have the state outright collapse
they might let abigail ascend as a pyrrhic consolation prize though

>>97053495
Nothing can just be evil anymore...

>>97052900
think it was a woman

>>97052218
APs tend to be region-themed for a reason. Golarion is a huge sandbox of various sub-genres. Pick a theme and look up which area works

Is it me or is acrobat archetype kinda OP in terms of utility?

I guess this isn’t a Paizo-specific question but Pathfinder is all I play so my question is this, I wanna run a game where everybody is the king of a different nation a la KingOhger and they have to come together to face some sort of extraterrestrial/extradimensional threat, but I don’t know how to justify everybody starting at level 1 and not having unlimited access to their respective kingdom’s treasuries, any ideas on making this work?

>>97055401
It's a huge amount of value for a dip. The archetype's feats are pretty situational but the dedication itself is a fantastic deal, and at least in my experience it shows up in a bunch of different builds. Legendary scaling in a useful skill for the cost of a single class feat kicks ass, the only downside is that you need to either make it your last dedication or invest two more feats into getting back out of it again.

>>97055411
Mostly it's just handwaving. Fists of the Ruby Phoenix assumes the PCs are renowned martial artists who've been chosen to participate in essentially the Mortal Kombat tournament of Golarion. Those characters have gotta be level 20, right? Nope, level 11 AP. Why? Because a big part of the game is leveling up and getting new toys, and you want your players to be able to do that. The level 11 thing just basically isn't addressed. The characters are treated by everyone else in the AP as the martial arts hotshots they are, and it just kind of moves on.

"Character levels" in these kinds of games really only exist as much as you want them to exist. On one hand, they're 100% not an in-universe thing. Nobody talks about other people's "levels." On the other hand, character level is directly tied to things that DO exist in-universe, like auras, so people are at least kinda-sorta aware of something that's analogous to character levels. The solution? Once again, don't think about it too hard. These D&D-type games have been around for like 50 years at this point and the strategy is tried and true.

Money, same thing. Whatever they start with? They got it from their treasury. You could also dress up the scenario however you like. You're not going to slap a +3 longsword into somebody's hands, but you might have their citizens line up to see them off on their adventure. That's grand, but it's not gameplay-affecting. You can do all sorts of stuff to make sure the PCs know they're important without letting them raid their kingdom's coffers.

Another alternative, if you're comfortable with it, is to just not start them at level 1. You can basically pick a level that feels right, there's no rule saying you gotta start in rusty shanktown.

I'm finally going to run Kingmaker. Shit is going to be fun. So much that can go on.
The only worrying part is kingdom management. My players said they want to engage with it's mechanics to some degree, but I'm reticent.

>>97052900
Corto Maltese really let himself go

>>97048791
>shoehorn player crunch
Can you explain what do you mean by this?

>>97055411
Look into classic D&D's Birthright setting.

>>97055411
This is one of the only scenarios where it would genuinely make sense for them to be level one and not have shit. They're kings who have never seen combat fighting am extra terrestiall threat that jas infiltrated every facet of their societies they cannot trust anyone or anything.

any of you got draconic codex yet?

Very funny that new drake rider archetype has the only way in the entire game to avoid the godawful -2 reflex while mounted penalty, and it's tied to being in a goddamn stance, while it also eats into your ability to have flight or a mature mount. Thanks paizo.

Does anyone have the PDF of Pathfinder Lost Omens: Draconic Codex?

also hoping for someone to put draconic codex in the share file

someone got their PDF of draconic index and they are taking questions

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/1p5ztj4/subscriber_day_for_the_december_2025_products_is/

Be warned, it is Reddit and one of the biggest autistic retards of the Pathfinder2e subreddit

>>97059383
yea i can't stand the pf2e subreddit, the people there are insufferable, rather wait for someone to share the book

Yeah asking on the reddit wont get you far what we need is a subscriber hero willing to share their PDF. Paizo doesn't even Watermark their stuff anymore

>>97059673
I dunno. It's fun to see a lot of people rightfully shitting on the system

Question for PF1e; is there any class or archetype, 1pp or 3pp, with a real focus on your Familiar? Whether bonus familiar feats, improved progression, extra familiars or whatever else, I'm looking for a class where the familiar is more than a delicate spy and touch spell delivery mechanism.

>>97060590
what don't you like about the system

>>97009733
Dragonet details have been shown

>>97061084
Here's a reddit comment as an example
>PF2e is incredibly concerned with its precious balance. And for good reason. But I often feel like I'm at disney world when playing the system. Fun in moderation. Safety first. Don't peek behind the curtain.

>>97062579
The subreddit and /pgg/ can actually be surprisingly congruent on points, especially during content lulls. There's definitely more dickriders there than here, but some flaws of 2e are just in the way of everyone's fun, no matter how your Fighter can slice it. One of the more recent thread this week was basically people going "yeah, early game casters kinda suck and it only improves with a change of mindset so much. Just know you aren't doing nothing".

2e
How powerful (read: what level) would be a feat that costs your reaction and gives unrestricted quickened for your next turn, frequency once per 10 minutes?

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>>97063621
I screenshotted a truth nuke from that thread before the comment got deleted

>>97063812
The only out of line thing in bro's post is outright calling out the content guys. He's not wrong, but unfortunately he phrased it in such a way I fully expect him to have gotten a ban from the subreddit.

>>97063812
>>97063934
the only reason he got a ban was because he said a bad thing about the notorious gay paedophile. literally everything he said was true and worded in a fair and diplomatic manner, that doesn't matter because when you criticise a faggot you're being homophobic regardless of whether or not your criticism had anything to do with their mental disorder.

>>97063726
lv1
no feat tax
1/round usage limit instead of 1/encounter
the only thing it would actually do is give casters some flexibility with their turns to make them less miserable, and it definitely wouldn't put them into overpowered territory

>>97064099
Alright 4 action anon, but let's pretend it has to coexist in a game with Rogue's Preparation.

>>97064160
what part of that refutes what I said? reactions are more valuable to most martials than actions are so being able to burn a reaction for an extra action is a bad trade. preparation is good because it's trading up, this proposed "feat" would just improve the martial v caster situation because it's a trade up for weaker classes and a trade down for stronger ones.

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https://aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1066
>(...) Large or larger creature can use a siege firearm as a two-handed firearm, but the creature takes a –4 penalty for using it this way because [spoilers] it's too cool otherwise [/spoilers] .

>>97058725
>>97058743
Wait, they did Legacy of Dragons again?
Did they fuck it up again overleashing the dragons?
I actually liked the drakes in 1e .

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People often talk about Folca and how fucked up that whole idea is, but I think the wildest thing about him is that you can be a True Neutral follower.

>>97065004
>spoileR
You can also highlight a part of your post and push Ctrl+S.

>>97065024
Drake Rider is actually really good by the look of the teasers I've seen, so it's less that they fucked it up, and more that it has too much stuff you want to take and for some bizarre reason it is also the only way in the entire system to remove one of the normally entirely unavoidable, dogshit mounted penalties
Drakes in 1e fucking sucked so much ass bro, it was actually insane

I'm reading the Battlecry fluff and Andoran simply behaves like a complete rogue state. If you remove the moral framing with slavery (which is not even a thing anymore?) and everything, their actions are completely unexcusable and should bring international condemnation. Is Taldor, Kelesh and all the others just sit back during this Hellfire Crisis?

>>97065004
Would that be overpowered?
Couldn't you just Permanency Enlarge Person and lug a bombard around?

Is it true that Inventor is the worst PF2e class?

>>97066462
Least here, it is the most agreed upon to be the most dysfunctional and worst. But even then, it is still entirely playable.

>>97066462
>>97066507
To put it in a bit more detail, Inventor just...doesn't DO anything for how much it is hurting itself. It does have some unique qualities that can be synergized into some interesting and/or niche playstyles, but its ultimately just not focused enough to warrant a slot. Compare it to something like Thaumaturge which covers so many bases in terms of damage, support, and sustain, the local INT-Barbarian just struggles to compete.

Ironically, the Munitions Master CA, for as scuffed and bad as it is, is probably the most effective Inventor in terms in terms of adding things to the party. Constant elemental splash damage from the backrow does add a lot, especially when combined with Unstable powers. It still not good enough to compete with real casters, if not an Alchemist. But it IS a way to be an Inventor that feels impactful and not just the JRPG Gimmick Character You Either Bench or Solo the Game With.

Mind you, still more functional than something like 1e Shifter or Medium

>>97066649
>Mind you, still more functional than something like 1e Shifter or Medium
I take issue with the Shifter part, not because it doesn't suck, but I think it is more capable of standing on its own relative to other 1e martials than Inventor is to other 2e martials.

Shifter may be a lazy, boring hodgepodge of three other classes that comes out worse than all three, but it can accomplish the bare minimum you expect of a competent 1e martial (pounce on a guy and full attack") without actively hurting itself in the attempt.

>>97066507
>>97066649
I just finished a one-shot adventure tonight at level 5 with an Inventor. My party was a Monk, Bard, Gunslinger, and my Inventor. We needed another frontline skirmisher, so I went with Power armor innovation build with bastard sword for one handed and two handed shenanigans.

While the flavor felt like a huge win, I can certainly see why it is seen as so weak. Having your class abilities tied to RNG sucks ass. I hit a huge crit off Overdrive Crit success into a crit with my sword, but later I ended up failing the unstable check on the final boss fight and it locked me out of the healing and explosion which sucked!

I would still probably play this in a longer campaign because I am a masochist.

Build if anyone is interested. https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=1305908

>>97044137
Its called automatic bonus progression, designed for when you dont have access to the assumed magic items
+1 AC per level is insane though thats twice what you get automatic bonus progression

Moreover I dont know what unplayable AC you're seeing, you're probably 1 or 2 AC behind without magic items early, are you sure the player builds dont just suck?

>>97065944
They are fantasy America, after all.

Is anyone friends with a Paizo subscriber and can ask them to share the Draconic Codex PDF with us?

>>97068597
Or just wait until December 3rd like it says in the mega so that TPTB don't take notice and kill it.

2e
What are some good grapple focused combat feats? Helping a GM make a Gymnast Swashbuckler and he is wanting the character to grapple above all else. So i'm trying to find a good grapple feat that generates panache. So while Combat Grab is a good feat, due to the grapple being a rider effect, i don't think it lets you gain panache. The character is lvl 8 but will soon hit lvl 9.

>>97068812
Don't you gain panache when you simply do cool stuff? Last time I checked the rules outright say that extravagant exploits in combat count and the subclasses simply let you have panache for doing a skill check even if you're lame.

>>97068704
That'd be fair, if it wasn't for the fact that all previous releases were in the MEGA folder weeks before their street dates.

>>97069216
PDFs only went out to subscribers a couple days ago thanks to the site renovation. I'm antsy to get my hands on the thing too but so far this isn't an abnormal amount of time to wait considering the late release

>>97052900
btw thanks to whoever turned this screenshot into a shitpost thread I guess

>>97068449
>First president was Obama
>Current president is a gay black woman
Stunning and brave

This is going to sound weird, but I kind of liked 1E when Bachuan was just Fantasy North Korea with barely anything written about it.

I think it opening to Glasnost/Xiaoping style reforms was an interesting idea and prevents some fun opportunities, but Paizo literally pulled A Wizard Did It. I think it’s a missed opportunity.

>Off-guard is -1 to all defenses instead of -2 to AC
>Flanked applies to all hostile actions

>>97068449
I wish they would double down on this characterization, but Paizo wouldn’t dare. Would also admittedly be very weird to go on a Cheliax dindu arc.
But Molthune and Taldor should absolutely be furious at Andoran right now and do whatever they can to limit their power. Well, maybe Molthune wants a piece of Cheliax as well, who knows.

>>97070310
Isn't Taldor, even after the War and Eutropia's crowning, still kind of a rump state? I don't think they could interfere if they wanted to.

>>97070310
>>97070322
I’m interested in who they’re going to install as monarch when the Infernal Empire is deposed. The trend is obvious but they might swerve.

>>97070322
Politically, kinda, but Andoran is openly antagonistic against them, and I don’t see them nobility siding with them against the queen. Economically, the civil war wasn’t bad enough to devastate the country.
>>97070409
I don’t think they are going to end diablerism in Cheliax. The most likely end to the crisis is an independent Isger (ie. Andoran puppet state) and maybe some breakaway state in eastern Cheliax. Probably some shit with the Order of the Torrent as well.

>>97070216
I don't see a benefit in making off-guard the same as fatigued.

>>97070811
It's in combination with the flanking so that spells et al can benefit.

>>97070633
Westcrown becoming the capital (again) of a reborn monarchy would be interesting.

>>97070216
>>97070856
That doesn't really help that much as
>melee spells already benefit from flanking
>ranged options are still prone to getting AoO'd
>Mages and rangers aren't going to put themselves at risk when they can just Hide or Create A Diversion for it
>Just Demoralize at that point, it does the same thing with less risk now.

>>97070890
Oh, right, my bad, I forgot to explain that flanking would be expanded to range as well.
Reduced melee Strike accuracy in exchange for everything else getting better.

So with the new classes being Runesmith and Necromancer and Fantasy America vs. Devil Fascist Italy finally battling it out, what are the chances the Geb v Nex war popping off will happen?

>>97070811
One is circumstance and the other is status

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Making a Cleric. Purely on a RP level, what Evil Deity do you think it'd be funnest to RP a Neutral (yeah yeah no alignment in 2e shut up you know what I mean) follower of?

>>97071018
So they stack, sure, but I don't see how homogenising conditions makes the game more interesting.

>>97071093
Dunno it wasn't my idea. But gatekeeping defense reduction to AC penalty, and making conditions like Frightened and Sickened apply to everything at once and not stack, sure as hell isn't making the game interesting.

>>97071173
There's stupefied, clumsy, Bon Mot.

>>97071008
They absolutely are building up to that. The gates to the refuge are open, the machines have begun to stir, and the Blood Lords of Geb are displeased.

>>97071069
Depends on if you're strict on it being specifically a deity, or if a covenant works as well.
If you want a deity then I'd look to the Tian gods, namely:
>General Susumu, for a braggardly but mostly honourable warrior
>Hei Feng, for a scheming dickbag and trickster
>Lady Nanbyo, for an asshole that likes to make everything worse
>Lao Shu Po, would probably be your fairly normal CN thief type that takes care of their own but still eschews law and order
On the other hand, if a covenant works, you could be a cleric of the shadow cabinet and be a literal glow in the dark CIA nigger.
For other suggestions I'd look through the deities that are PFS standard (most of the PFS limited ones are straight up evil with little room to work with) with "can choose unholy" sanctification.

>>97065068
>>97071069

God of Discord Moderators and Epstein.

>>97071217
>>97071008
I'm not too sure what they can do with master jobber Nex. Without him, the nation of Nex is completely at the mercy of Geb if they ever were to attack, but Geb himself is so far gone that taking him out simply wouldnt do much for the setting.
Unless Tar Baphon takes over Geb (which is not very believable, imo) and starts a front against Nex and Osirion, I don't see much potential, but whatever.

>>97071453
Honestly I think a more interesting idea would be a threat from the Wastes they need to unite to survive against.

Not that I think Nex and Geb would ever set aside their rivalry. Quite the opposite!

But the people in their respective nation might realize their rulers are too fucking stupid and full of pride to prioritize their survival so they need to depose them before it's too late.

>>97071339
Lady Nanbyo seems fun with her whole "I want people to suffer natural disasters but not die from them because I want misery, not death." I wonder if her seeing to like natural disasters means she'd dislike undead as they are 'unnatural' ones.

I had to read Howl of the Wild because some player asked about the character options and what a terrible book that is. It's the most soft modern piece of work Paizo has put out recently, not to mention that it shits all over the previously estabilished lore.
There's something deeply wrong with some of their freelancer selections. It's especially jarring in some other books like Dark Archive where you can clearly tell that some of the chapters were directed by people who knew what they were doing while others give off this same weird feel as HotW.

>>97072048
Really comes across as a first draft that never got the second. I don't think they even SAY who assassinates the previous archdruid?

Can't just be modern Paizo, Myth-Speaker has been most fun my group has had since Kingmaker

>>97072196
It's not. It's clearly some lack of direction coupled with an overeliance on freelancers. Take Season of Ghosts, for example. It's a pretty decent AP, I'm on book 2 right now.
Book 1 has some pretty good setup, but the gameplay side of it is very poorly laid out. Book 2, though? One of the easiest, most seamless experiences I've ever had with a premade adventure. Book 3 seems promissing as well, and book 4 has me worried.
Same thing goes with splatbooks. War of the Immortals is pretty decent. Battlecry also positively surprised me.

>>97072506
I've done Book 3 and can confirm it's great if just for the fact you get to do The Reveal on your players

Golarion needs an evolving evil threat. The few fires they still had at the end of PF1e are getting stamped out.
>B-b-but Tar-Bappy’
He hasn’t done jack shit but kill some white men and settled an area nobody ever plays in to begin with.

>>97068597

If someone might go to the file of d/ cohdh5
they might find something Draconic there

>>97072940
A global threat simply makes no sense
You have countless super powerful entities across the setting, to make something a genuine threat you have to just make it nonsensically strong
Which things like Rovagug or the Earthfall were btw. In 1e shit like the worldwound or Ysedrius rising were still local threats

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>>97024989
Made some pixel art of one of my players' characters, gonna try to do the others. Dunno about the kobold since no experience, but we'll see.

>>97073661
Cute!

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>>97073062
Oh wow, that easy? I'll repay you, anon, with a silly cat picture.

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:)

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>>97075478
>If your draconic benefactor’s breath deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, instead of gaining resistance to that type, you must choose acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic.

>In the case of the whisper dragon, relationships are fluid, leaning toward polyamory and casual open relationships, while clever wordplay and poetry are hallmarks of their romance.
>For the bog dragon, love is a massive party, where they congregate en masse in murky wetlands, display their most valued items from their hoards in conversation, and then love freely before returning to their respective bogs.
It's over, they made the dragons queer.

>>97075587
Serial cheater dragon, and "the ugliest person you know hosts orgies" dragon (people only attend for the wealth).

I prefer the original dragons simply because they are much sexier

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Lady and gentlemen
Another woke pf2e modern player captured in our optic

>>97075661
>Serial cheater dragon
It's not cheating if all parties agree on the situation.

>>97075587
Simply imagine being a 2e player

>>97075587
Why don’t they just say that dragons don’t form couples and only mate occasionally? This isn’t remotely a new concept for them.
Why do they have to be weird about it?

>>97075587
It’s only two of the dragons so we can assume the rest of them are more traditional. This is Paizo being their usual obsessively queer self and going, “everyone else is straight but we’re going to ogle the ones who aren’t.”

Why the fuck is bludgeoning the only viable physical damage in the game? Holy shit what a stupid design decision. Jellies and undead in the same dungeon and you can't do shit. And the rune system is there SPECIFICALLY to stop you form having an alternate weapon.

>>97078390
Do you rike it?

>>97078138
This

>>97078236

But also probably needed to hit a word count or something. A descriptor is less boring than “Dragons fuck other dragons sometimes.”

>>97078392
Why does the Versatile: P trait have the same power budget as Trip?

>>97078138
That's called pandering, anon.
They don't do it because they like it, think it's cool, good worldbuilding, etc.

>>97078444
What are some other examples of pandering in Paizo's products?

>>97078390
You are right. They should make incorporeal creatures immune to blunt to balance this.

>>97078444
I assure you that shit like this pushes more audiences away than it attracts. You pander to, at best, 20% of the american and european demographic while repulsing a similar percentage and the vast majority of international market.
>oh, but the other markets are irrelevant, they don’t make up most of the sales
I wonder why.

>>97078687
I know, it's stupid. But as far as I can tell, they look at their audience and think that that's what they want.
I guess they aren't doing any broad market research.

>>97078723
>I guess they aren't doing any broad market research.
They are, that's the problem. Most market researchers don't understand the concept of an "Economic Niche" and come to the retarded conclusion that all products are capable of broad appeal.
They genuinely don't understand how trying to make their product appeal to more people dilutes the product, scares away old customers, and doesn't acquire new customers.

[pf2e] quick question is there a feat that's like quick draw but for shield? like, you draw and interact shield on a single action? also are there any "passive" shields where you don't need to have to raise the shield?

>>97079628
Afaik there's nothing that lets you draw a shield and raise it with one action.
>passive shields
https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2819 and all the 12th+ level stances

>>97079235
>>97078723
>>97078687
There's not really much you can do but gripe and groan. At least it's not like WotC where they hold active contempt for people. I think Paizo does a lot of their shit because they've got freaks on the forums that will shower them in praise if they do the mildest bit of pandering. Think about it logically, what's going to get more buzz for Paizo? Some chick with huge tits, or another lesbian couple.

>>97079827
>At least it's not like WotC where they hold active contempt for people.
uh they definitely do
if you give paizo a dime youre retarded
>I think Paizo does a lot of their shit because they've got freaks on the forums that will shower them in praise if they do the mildest bit of pandering.
JJ himself is one of the biggest fags at Paizo

>>97079827
They're setting themselves up to repeat wotc's and hasbro's mistakes if they don't stop accelerating on this course.

New dragons are cool.
I'm glad they added some "normal" looking dragons to the OGL-free repertoire, but I like the weird ones.

>>97080495
Really that's kind of my biggest relief, the early teases at the kind of new dragons we would get felt like they were going to be printing only freaks, but they actually have a pretty wide range

minor win from codex, magi can climhazzard with earth and sky, its rank 6 tho

20 foot emanation targeting Fort, you superman launch into the air up to 100 feet and it sucks other creatures into the air with you. You feather fall, they don't. Only way to avoid get caught and pulled is crit success(damn, this might be getting nerfed eventually)

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>>97080495
>>97080705
The chromatic replacements are fine and not too dissimilar from what they're replacing, but they absolutely raped the metallics. Hope you enjoy your new gold dragon grandmommy

>>97081212
I'm 50/50, some of them are like, okay, and others are bewilderingly shit like mocking. Vizier is at least a sort of funny kind of shit-babuska dragon is inherently more entertaining to me than "The Good Jonkler"

>>97081212
>>97081224
I thought the halo one is gold?
Can someone tell me what are the new metallics because I clearly got lost.

>>97079628
Thaumaturge can do something like that starting at 5. When they get their Second Implement they are allowed to swap implements to use its action as a free action. For example, if you have Lantern in hand, you can raise your Shield for one action and swap the Lantern for the Shield as a free action to do so. Other than that, Champions and Guardians have quite a bit of shield action compression but I don't know if they have a quick draw type effect.

>>97079827
Clearly lesbians with huge tits would be the real winner here

Do I run Shades of Blood or Sky King's Tomb as the 1-10 game before I run Spore War?
Players want more of an RP focus so I was thinking SKT but I'm not sure about the Dwarf theming. Would you guys say SoB has more or less RP than say, Seven Dooms?

>>97081962
Both suck ass but shades is probably better

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3307
>literally, hormone therapy in the form of an elixir
>it doesn't even fully change your sex, but do it slowly over the course of a year
Jesus, I hate those disgusting creatures, they fucking ruined genderbending

>>97081984
Damn, what would you rec instead?

Is Blood Lords fun?

>>97081615
Gold became Vizier (they mention Mengkare is a Vizier)
Silver became Oath
Copper became Mocking (though mocking has slightly edgier flavor)
Bronze became Sage
Brass is MIA afaik

>>97082124
Those names suck

>>97082124
Crossreferencing the wiki, I think Brass fits Conspirator the best.

Just to check,
Black = Bog
Blue = Stormcrown
Green = Horned
Red = Cinder
White = Rime

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How's 2e spellsword game?
I really like playing heavy armor + sword and shield, usually with a divine or holy bent and more spells than less.
These are just preferences, not requirements. For now I'm just trying to understand what the system has to offer when it comes to mixing spells and melee weapon combat.
Is it just the Magus?
Maybe Warpriest, FIghter or Champion with a multiclass archetype?
There's a lot of archetypes and feats and such, I'm still going through it all, so forgive me if I missed anything obvious.

>>97082244
Welp. Didn't mean to namefag.

>>97082244
Just play warpriest and be happy

>>97082009
There’s also a cake you can eat. There’s like, three different ways to get hormone therapy in PF2e. Which isn’t really that much of an issue if they didn’t also avoid giving us the cool fetish shit like the demon mother’s mask.

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>>97082257
That's my conclusion so far.
It has some really cool feats too like Channel Smite and the one where you use a spell to reinforce your shield.
I love that kind of shit.
What else is there?

>>97082294
Warpriest is your best option, followed by the Kineticist, but it doesn't have spells, only elemental spell-like effects, everyone else, like a Magus or Animist, you'll have to jump through retarded hoops, it won't be worth it, and they will feel like shit to play, and at that point it would be better to just play a Fighter that has only a bit of magic at the side.

>>97082124
>>97082185
Correction, Brass is Whisper.

Been trying to match the planar dragons as well:
Apocalypse = Resurrection
Bliss = Oath or Executor (same with Silver)
Crypt = Requiem
Edict = Rune
Havoc = Delight
Infernal = Diabolic
Paradise = Empyreal
Tumult = Barrage
Rift I'm not sure but Despair would be pretty close

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>>97082320
>Animist
I remember glossing over that one since it looked like a sort of shaman that was meant to be a pure spell-caster.
You can make a spellsword out of that?
That's unexpected.

>>97082124
>>97082185
>>97082321
Thanks!
IMO the weird dragons may be too much, but I much prefer Paizo going overboard with freaks rather than just recolouring the standard draconic bodyplan.

>>97079827
>Think about it logically, what's going to get more buzz for Paizo? Some chick with huge tits, or another lesbian couple.
It’s been 30 years and people still think the Nualia plot is the coolest shit ever.

>>97082114
Carrion Crown, but heavily cut back on books 3-6. Or just make an alternative ending early on, although you would be losing out on book 5, which is pretty cool.

>>97081962
Wardens is a more fitting lead in just bend the level range a little
You can also run the first 3 books of Second Darkness and change things to be more about demons than earthfall, since it leads to dealing with elves

Speaking of APs, I actually really like running War for the Crown but I always get hung up on the Kingmaker-Lite part of the second book, and can never implement the Agent system from the first even though it’s somewhat helpful for the final part.

The random subsystems they try and fit in are frustrating.

>>97075834
the old dragons are their own thing. a white dragon and a gold dragon are more similar to each other than they are to any non-true dragon creature.
paizo's dragons are just lolrandumb monsters themed after whatever bullshit passes by their mind and roughly vaguely shaped like a dragon

>>97082244
>How's 2e spellsword game?
Atrocious.
Your options are Fighter with a spellcasting archetype, or Champion.
Fighter can actually hit things.
Champion is a defensive support.
Magus is unplayable. Don't even bother.
Warpriest is ass for most levels (for your use case at least), you're a healbot and you will rarely have opportunities to hit things.

Don't get baited by the other suggestions, they are setting you up for a miserable experience.

The remastered wizard schools are fascinating in how much cognitive dissonance they cause. Actual take I saw
>With the old schools if you wanted to make for example a time wizard you would pick transmutation because that's where the time spells are, but then you'd be stuck with a body-enhancing focus spell
>Now you can just come up with your time school spell list and take the time domain cleric focus spell and it's done!
Ah yep, that's definitely how it works.

>>97083126
It's an unfortunate case where the basic system is better, since spell schools sucked and wizard being locked into them gave you no room for homebrewing new stuff, but the actual new curricula are dogshit. So it's easier to make a homebrew curriculum, but it's annoying that we even have to in order to cover basic concepts since most of them are dumb as shit.
Like, yeah of course we definitely needed shit like Civic Wizardry instead of a time mage. Yeah a teleportation specialist definitely had to be reserved for a splatbook and turned into an elfwank thing instead of being a core concept. Suck my nuts, paizo.

>>97082321
It seems you're trying to fit a round peg into a square hole with a lot of these. The truth is that not all the planar dragons have been adapted into 2e yet, I think someone at Paizo went on record and stated they had enough ideas for new dragons that they couldn't fit into the book to make a Draconic Codex 2.

I don't mind post-Evil dragons being freaks, but they could have made post-Good dragons a bit less ugly.

>>97083201
>we definitely needed shit like Civic Wizardry instead of a time mage. Yeah a teleportation specialist definitely had to be reserved for a splatbook and turned into an elfwank thing instead of being a core concept.
I don't like the spell curriculum system either but I'm not going to pretend those are concepts should be core. Neither Player Core book provides enough time or teleport spells on their own to fill the 18-20 spell minimum and those are pretty niche tech in their own right. There's a reason Time Mage is a dedicated archetype. "Civic Wizardry" is also both thematically appropriate to make a school around (as hilariously dystopian it sounds to have your meteor spawning wunderkin stuck building houses and digging trenches) and is an easy thing to make: combine Abjuration and Conjuration spells.

Also elves and teleporting have been pretty new-school D&D tradition, with stuff like Eladrin and Horizon Walkers. Elfwankery is eye-rolling but I see where they got it from.

>>97083524
"A bit less ugly" is how I would describe a lot of James Jacob art as a whole. Man's a very "westernized" artist, where you can tell he likes having a cute concept but have to slather it with "realism" and grotesquerie to make it intentionally unappealing so that no one accuses him of having a fetish and pisses off normies/grognards. I really do hate it and the art style of Pathfinder as a whole and easily my "old man yells at WOKE".

>>97082353
Because Animist consumed Medium along with Shaman, it is currently the only fullcaster that has a dedicated option to eschew their casting power for a status bonus to accuracy, with the Embodiment of Battle apparition spell. It's still a bit scuffed thanks to the Sustained requirement and still being a d8 Medium Armor class, but both of these are easily workable with Animist.

>>97083097
>Atrocious.
Are you speaking from first person experiences?
What would it take for it to be less awful?
The way you put it, sounds like either the action economy doesn't let you do the spellsword thing or you never get the chance because you are forced to be stuck doing a single thing (Ie, being a heal bot).

>>97084250
>it is currently the only fullcaster that has a dedicated option to eschew their casting power for a status bonus to accuracy, with the Embodiment of Battle apparition spell.
Oh.
I should have read the focus spells.
The idea that you have to empower yourself with a spell to wade in battle is actually something that I really like.
Reminds me of D&D 3.5e Divine Power, although that was broken as fuck.

>It's still a bit scuffed thanks to the Sustained requirement and still being a d8 Medium Armor class, but both of these are easily workable with Animist.
>easily
With Archetype feats I imagine.
Any comment on the other anon's statement?
I'd love to hear some actual in-game experiences trying to play a character that either dabbles in both spells and melee combat or wields both at the same time, if anybody cares to share.

>>97082548
>It’s been 30 years and people still think the Nualia plot is the coolest shit ever.
The culture that allowed Nualia, Greta, Shayliss and more is dead and gone. You can't really put, "lovely woman pines for (most likely) a man" anymore. Nualia was cool, but she's a technique that can't be made anymore. I can't even name a single NPC post-Tyrant that's fuckable.

Which isn't really that big of an issue because, in the end, the GM can do what they wish with their campaigns and that includes NPC art or behaviors, but it does speak of a time that's never going to come back. You can't do those kinds of gags anymore. Blame it on Paizo being full of middle-aged white guys that just want to feel supported by their fanbase. Praise comes easy when you're saying, "these three beautiful goddesses are actually in a polyamorous lesbian threesome" but you're really not going to see that if you make some hot blonde with double Ds. I've seen it happen on the Lancer subreddit. Mechs with LGBT flags are ogled and praised while the "pop idol" with huge tits gets people going, "uhh, how is she supposed to fit in the mech?" Or "a little weird but okay." Which in toxic positivity land is about as close as you can get to actually saying, "this sucks."

>>97084250
James Jacobs is not a graphical artist, what are you talking about? Wayne Reynolds is the man responsible for the visual identity of pathfinder.

>>97084329
I'm the animist-anon, but I am also a big fan of 2eMagus.
He's kind of right. 2e by default doesn't reward or provide a lot of support for that kind of widespread action. A lot of the options they provide only makes you a vanilla beater with no real oomph (battleform spells, Wildshape), only meant to supplement niche scenarios (Warpriest, Oscillating Wave Psychic's melee Ignition boost, Warrior Bard), or actively fucks you over because Paizo's gonna Paizo (Battle Oracle, Witch's Armaments, Battle Herald). And the dedicated gish options of Magus and Summoner haven't been fully reworked/Remastered yet because the book they came from is basically impossible to resell because of the OGL crisis, so they have some critical issues that isn't going to be resolved any time soon. 2e just isn't particularly welcoming, unless you really know what you are doing and willing to accept that you aren't going to be anywhere close to optimal or even sub-par, depending on your choice of class.

This is why I brought up the Medium thing. Because Medium was the class that tried to do everything (to...whatever you decide what Success means there, because traditional defintions don't fit), it was the only time that Paizo felt genuinely obligated to make a good gish option. It really just goes to show how...easy it could have been this whole time and that a lot of the problems were mostly deliberate (whoever made Weapon Trance should be beaten with hammers).

As for Animist, yeah. The Liturgist subclass automatically gets you the ability to move when you sustain a spell at Level 9 and Sentinel is a pretty easy take for Heavy Armor. There's also several other options between your apparitions, feats, and archetypes, so look around a little.

>>97084361
fuck me, always get them mixed up. don't even know why....

>>97084410
>fuck me, always get them mixed up. don't even know why....
I guess in your defense, JJ is a dinosaur with shit taste and worse opinions, but that's not much of a defense

>>97084410
>and willing to accept that you aren't going to be anywhere close to optimal
That's fine.

>or even sub-par,
Oof.
Yeah, that sucks.

>The Liturgist subclass automatically gets you the ability to move when you sustain a spell at Level 9 and Sentinel is a pretty easy take for Heavy Armor. There's also several other options between your apparitions, feats, and archetypes, so look around a little.
I will. Mostly out of curiosity since between you and the other anon it seems to be an essentially unplayable idea.
Thank you for the write up guys.
I think you two saved me some frustration.

>>97084361
The dragons in the Codex aren't drawn by Reynolds though.

>>97082568
Sadly, we're locked to 2e for a little. But I wanna pick up some 1e stuff down the line, thanks for the suggestion.
>>97082595
I've heard Wardens is complete dogshit. Anyway to salvage it?

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My DM is preparing to run Season of Ghosts for us. As I understand, Shenmen seems to be a Chinese-flavored setting. I admittedly, like most people, know little about Chinese fantasy aside from the whole cultivator meme. Anyone have any good resources for drawing suitable inspiration for Chinese (or even just generally Asian) characters beyond the standard I AM CULTIVATOR?

>>97085637
New Wuxia game, Where Winds Meet, came out like last week and I've been enjoying it. The gimmick is that it's got a Sekiro/Ghosts of Tsushima style open world single-player campaign, funded by multiplayer gacha whales. The multiplayer stuff is horrifyingly predatory and grindy, but the single-player is free and surprisingly high quality. The business model seems to be essentially to bait you into the multiplayer stuff, where you then need to pay to keep up, so just ignore that completely. Taken as a single-player game, it's a pretty enjoyable collection of wuxia tropes. You are, of course, the orphaned child of uncertain parentage who grew up as a martial prodigy in a backwater village, forced to venture into the world after a horrible tragedy to seek revenge etc etc. Good stuff, and I think it functions pretty well as a crash course on the tropes of the genre.

>>97085637
Shenmen is more like a weird mix of East Asian horror tropes than a real country.
You'll have as much spooky Chinese-esque stuff as you will Japanese, to be honest, having played through SoG it feels more Japanese than anything.

>>97083524
Holy shit dude , just got a look at the dragon codex and most art are utter garbage , they look more like draconic aberrations then dragons , is paizo going anime or something because some of them look like "yugioh" or "pokemon" inspired ( executor , phase ,whisper , umbral and worse of them all vorpal) . Others like empyreal , vizier ,sage and conspirator look more like dragonoids , its so bad that i would not be surprised if they decided to walk upright and grab some sword and shield ... empyreal could certainly some weapon with those humanoid hindlegs to help balance , some are quite good like adamantine , cinder , horned , brine , cloud and rime

Regarding the dragon gods , im glad they changed that dogshit art for apsu and dahak to a more unique look even though the angle they used for dahak art is fucking retarded and doesnt make him justice , the other dragon gods are fine with the exception Brixori who look like a medium size generic purple dragon wearing a wizard hat and earings . Well thats my opinion , kinda disappointed really how the new D&D bestiary book has better dragon art then paizo.

>>97040053

>Pretty much everyone agrees Psychic Dedication is way too strong an option for pretty much every non-WIS caster over actually playing a Psychic. It's just way too much value all at once.

raise the other dedications to non-shit levels

>>97084475
>unplayable idea
It's not as bad as that. Technically, you can turn any class into a spellsword because of archetypes, but you have to accept that you're going to sacrifice something for it, and most of the time, the sacrifice isn't worth it, you need to know the system to make it work with all classes, but if you're willing to accept that, it's a perfectly fine character concept to play. That's why I recommended the Warpriest, It's the easiest spellsword to create and the one that sacrifices the least, especially when you already want to play as a divine character, you don't really need to be a healbot if you don't want, and the Warpriest is specifically designed to be a more offensive cleric

>>97084329
>Are you speaking from first person experiences?
1-20 dex magus (laughing shadow, whip), 6-20 str magus (inexorable iron, greatsword). The class is basically unsalvageable.
As for warpriest, 1-11 and 7-20 heavy armour str warpriests. You aren't using that weapon, i'll continue on that later in this post
>What would it take for it to be less awful?
We need a full caster with full weapon progression and a choice between str/dex mainstat and their casting stat. Better yet, both. Also an action compressor for casting spells that isn't the gamblecore spellstrike that lets them stride or strike while casting a 2+ action spell or something along those lines.
>>97086736
>That's why I recommended the Warpriest, It's the easiest spellsword to create and the one that sacrifices the least
You have shit weapon accuracy for the overwhelming majority of the game due to not just being behind in proficiency but also lacking str/dex mainstat. You're -2 on AC compared to an actual martial, and you'll eat crits as a result. The one thing warpriest brings to the table is divine font - You are a healbot. There is no escaping that. If you are not healbotting with your warpriest, you are objectively griefing your party and playing the class wrong.

Can't speak about animist since I haven't played it. Maybe it turns out a little better than it seems, but I have my doubts. Still, I'll defer to the other anon's experience on the topic.

Ultimately, IMO if you want to swing a weapon around, you're playing a fighter. Multiclass proficiency progression means that you can also be a semi-competent caster at the same time. There's not really any other way to achieve this. Magus losing low level slots is lethal for the class, as low level slots are vital to the self-buffing spells that make playing a caster worthwhile, and being locked to arcane removes core options like heroism.

>>97086736
>you can turn any class into a spellsword because of archetypes, but you have to accept that you're going to sacrifice something for it, and most of the time, the sacrifice isn't worth it
This is really the opposite of the problem PF2e has. You don't give up anything except class feats, which are, beyond the taxed ones, not necessary or are just shit. You're giving up even less in free archetype games.

The problem is, you can't sacrifice *enough* to become a decent gish. You can't get rid of half of your spell slots for martial bonuses. If you forgo your powerful martial abilities, you'll only get a pitiful amount of spell slots of an uncompetitive level in return.

It's a problem with the system in general. The "high character customization" won't allow you to make even the basic character fantasies. Paizo would rather collectively shit itself than give you a bonus for using only fire spells, or make dual wielding two of the same weapon anything but suboptimal.

>>97086736
>>97087224
I'm a complete newfag who's going to be playing my first 2e game as a witch and picking up rogue dedication, how fucked am I if I want to try to play jack of all trades this way

>>97087272
>I want to try to play jack of all trades this way
That's Thaumaturge.

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>>97087515

>>97087272
Rogue Dedication on casters is top tier for defense and utility. But you're going to have action economy issues if you're trying to attack, with bad payoff thanks to low accuracy and damage. Things are even worse if you try going into melee.

>>97086736
>It's not as bad as that. Technically, you can turn any class into a spellsword because of archetypes
what? no.

>>97087704
Yes, I didn't say it was a good idea though

>>97087711
it's not a good idea because you can't actually do it

Which was larger: Taldor at its height or Cheliax at its height?

At this point I'm convinced that the only actual way a "spellsword" could reasonably exist in pf2e is by eschewing actual spellcasting entirely in favor of bespoke abilities the way the Kineticist has. But that would just mean people bitching that it's "not a REAL spellsword".

Hell, Solarian SHOULD have been exactly that kind of thing, but instead it's just a Soulknife that can cast a weird version of Fireball at 4th level. Exemplar can almost be kinda like one, but it takes it a while to actually ramp up-shitty low level feats are a caster special though.

>>97087029
>Magus losing low level slots is lethal for the class, as low level slots are vital to the self-buffing spells that make playing a caster worthwhile, and being locked to arcane removes core options like heroism.
Are we just ignoring studious spells or something? The low level slots they explicitly get back? The heroism thing is stupid as fuck sure, but solveable by just going "magus adds that to its spell list"

>>97088010
Who cares? It was Taldor because Cheliax used to be part of Taldor, but that doesn't really mean anything anymore because the writers just want to glaze Andoran.

>>97088216
Can't a Magus buy a scroll of Heroism to add it to his spellbook?

>>97088216
Studious spells? You mean the studious spells that are locked down like crazy to a few absolutely dogshit selections? The ones that don't even give invisibility to the magus subclass called laughing SHADOW? Oh yeah I guess I'll use them to sure strik-oh wait I'm immune to its effects lmao what a great errata. Those studious spells.
I guess they get haste and fly at least...?
>>97088292
No, lmao. You can only add Arcane spells to your spellbook. If a GM is gonna let you unfuck things then it would be easier to just replace their spell list wholesale with either Divine or Occult than trying to individually catch all the spells they should get.

>>97088365
Yea fair enough, it might be disingenuous to say they don't get their low level spells back, but it's definitely equally so of me to pretend Studious Spells is good implementation of regaining them. They need to just open that shit up fully and make the space wasted by specific selections be instead expansions to the Arcane list.

>>97088277
I ask because Cheliax at its height had territories Taldor didn't have at its height such as what's now Nidal and Varisia.

Though I kinda like Andoran because one of its cities is a reference to a 2005 One-Hit-Wonder which I think is really funny.

>>97087224
> Paizo would rather collectively shit itself than give you a bonus for using only fire spells
read: i want to ignore type immunities
Out of all the complaints about 2e's customization options and lack thereof, this one always gets me. Not only just that kind of single damage type focus is a bad idea in every practical sense, you can just do that now. There are plenty of options that rewards you in focusing on boosting elemental effects.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=4343
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=4727
https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1878
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=4743
But because it isn't as blunt as +4 to hit and damage and ignores immunities, no one cares! I get that it kinda blows that D&D clones aren't like some totally-not-pulpy fantasy book you read as a kid where the mage had one thing and that was it. But bluntly speaking, it just a bad idea in general to provide that option for many reasons. I even question the wisdom of making Single Gate Kineticist bonuses but at that point you are just admitting you don't actually want to play a caster but still want to do elemental damage.

also for the twin weapon thing exemplar got you covered
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=7156

>>97088377
>be instead expansions to the Arcane list.
There's really not a lot that Magus would actually want, to be blunt. Other than Heroism, Arcane has most of Magus's bread and butter. Hell, we even have a rinky-dink buff spell now as well.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=2308

Pretty much any real "expansion" will just comes down to new Arcane spells over poaching mechanics.

>>97088047
Yeah, I would totally be that the dude that says it isn't a real spellsword.
I kind of want to play with the spell mechanics in my spellsword class. If I just wanted my sword to be magic, I can just play Fighter with a runed-up sword.
Being serious, the fun of the gish idea isn't just having all the options, but having a unique method of combining such. Even if it is something as basic as 5e Eldritch Knight's "you can replace an Extra Attack with a cantrip", that is far more valuable and provides a whole greater than the sum of its parts. There are already plenty of ways to have it all, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't do anything unique or special with it. It's the problem with Wildshape and battleforms, being able to instantly switch-hit doesn't mean anything without something beyond just hitting them hard.

>>97088047
I'm the anon that asked about it originally.
Doesn't the strict action economy and well defined numbers framework mean that even if you had full weapon proficiency and full spellcasting you'd never be better than either a full spellcaster or a full martial due to how deadly and crit centric the combat seems to be?
One round you spend using a two action spell to buff yourself then move in position is a round the fighter has moved and hit a crit on the boss or the wizard has cast slow or something, being actually useful that round.
That's the impression I get anyways.

>>97089196
>the fun of the gish idea isn't just having all the options, but having a unique method of combining such.
This guy gets it.

>>97089225
Also,you can "fix" the Magus' lack of spells by taking some archetype like with, right?
I was giving the player options another read and that option jumped out to me.

>>97089196
>>97089225
"having unique methods of combining such" is kind of the problem, because everyone's idea of what that fucking means is radically different, and after a point of making unique shit I start to question why it isn't its own bespoke feature instead of trying to shoehorn two disparate things into one

>>97089241
"just take something outside the class to fix a problem it shouldn't have" is a sign that something about the class is fucked up, if you ask me. Just delete the limitations on what studious spell slots can be used for, the page space for listing that shit can go to literally anything else

>>97089225
>Doesn't the strict action economy and well defined numbers framework mean that even if you had full weapon proficiency and full spellcasting you'd never be better than either a full spellcaster or a full martial due to how deadly and crit centric the combat seems to be?
It is something more a white-room problem than a practical one, imo. Yeah, running up and hitting them is the natural course of things and anything that does this well is always better than not, but 2e is far from that binary with its tactics and overall gameplans. You'd be surprised how much a single flying enemy or a physical wall slows the game down to reasonable speeds where it can be played and not """"solved"""".
Action economy is more Magus's own particular fatal flaw than a big problem with the game's meta, thanks to how Arcane Cascade is holding the actual class mechanics hostage and Spellstrike + Conflux Spells don't innately interact with it. It's other issues sort of compound on that problem (for example every 1 action spell not name Shield or Message are ranked/focus spells which runs into the lack of slots issues), but that's the biggest issue and one that requires almost a full reworking of how Magus can function.

TL;DR: The strength of gishing in 2e is a case-by-case basis in terms of what problem they have and how bad it is. They just all have problems.

>>97089241
Yeah but runs into the classical issue of "but why do I have to do it myself?".
The very small number of spell slots is something that just genuinely became powercrept into unreasonability. Even Battle Harbinger still gets Divine Font slots, giving you way more than Magus.

>>97089262
Because the core bespoke idea of "hit someone with elemental damage" is really basic and uncreative as a whole.
The folly of Magus and Eldritch Knight's design does come from Spider-Man Pulling the Train Together(TM) the disparate ideas, but the attempt to go beyond that base idea is more than valid.

>>97089384
I do think there's room in the system for a gish that tries to actually use Vancian, and a "gish" that is its own unique thing disconnected from regular casting, at least, but both directions feel like paizo is half-assing it. Exemplar just doesn't feel like it can achieve anything close to that kind of goal until level 10+, focus spell martials barely count if at all given how theirs lists shake out, Solarian is half baked at its most generous read, and Magus has problems we've circled around and discussed into the dirt for years now. It doesn't even feel worth rehashing the design travesty of battle herald.

I'm just spinning wheels and huffing copium that errata might ever address... Anything, though.

>>97089034
Fire-themed spells don't need to only do fire damage. If you invest in fire spells, you should be able to do alternate damage types, like poison with smoke or cold from drawing out heat. And against enemies with the Fire trait, something like Extract Element is a great idea.

"specialize -> gain benefits in that specialization" is a simple concept that can be implemented in a great many ways.

There's nothing bad about focused builds, neither in design nor in flavor. You simply saying it's a bad idea doesn't make it so.

The exact problem with Elementalist archetype is that it doesn't provide a worthwhile benefit in exchange for the investment and sacrifice. And metamagic in 2e is terrible for different reasons (except when it's justifiably a free action, which gets paid by opportunity cost).

>>97090489
I've said it before, expanding Spell Trickster's shtick to more spells would do wonders.
E.g., [feat that modifies Fireball] would become [feat that modifies spells with fire trait and an area of X feet]

>>97090510
Spell Trickster is a great concept but shoving even more things into a single archetype is clunky.

>>97090489
Ignoring the silliness of "I'm the Fire Guy(TM) that can make Water Balls!" here, why am I rewarding you for taking zero risks or considerations ever?
That's essentially The Problem right there. That's not even a balancing concern so much as a dead-end in design. Even in the absolute extremes of having an ungodly limited number of options, you don't need that many in most campaigns, so you always profit in terms of opportunity costs. You can't be countered, you don't lose anything, and the rewards all have to be substantial for the backbreaking labor of choosing not to use things you didn't want to take anyway. Can't even have action costs...

And yes, I'm well aware Kineticist is right there and kind of That Problem in a nutshell, but it also goes to show why everything can't really be like that. Even it struggles to find both rewards and costs for Single Gates (ONE WHOLE AC!!!) and the chassis as a whole, and you have a class with a very rote rotation. Oracles, Witches, Witchwarpers, Sorcerers, they all get way more interesting designs and abilities. I wouldn't necessarily change it because it provides a valuable role in the game's meta and sales potential, but I'm not gonna pretend every caster should ignore every issue, perceived or real, that goes into casting.

>>97090510
You can't do that just because of how varied spells are supposed to be. Like, how would Blazing Dive, Wall of Fire, Ash Cloud, or Breathe Fire function with Fireball's modifications? How would Illuminate be split up or cost in damage?

>>97090731
>I'm the Fire Guy(TM) that can make Water Balls!
Do you really look at Versatile Blasts and The Oscillating Wave and think "water balls"? If so you're beyond saving. Even dumber considering water typically does physical damage in the system, not cold.
>you don't lose anything
No clue how you can think losing things like Fly, Invisibility, solid walls, teleportation spells, or a whole slew of other spells can count for nothing.

Paizo applying its extremely conservative design philosophy on Kineticist doesn't prove anything. Certainly not that it's impossible or even difficult to design thematic caster options.

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98 KB JPG

Any tips for creating an Ebberon like setting using PF2e rules

>>97091012
Human men can't satisfy an ass that size.

>>97090850
>Do you really look at Versatile Blasts and The Oscillating Wave and think "water balls"?
The point was more to say "At what point are you actually specializing/fitting the theme you put yourself in?" when you take options that just change the entire functionality and aesthetic of the spell.
>No clue how you can think losing things like Fly, Invisibility, solid walls, teleportation spells, or a whole slew of other spells can count for nothing.
Ignoring how even fire-focused thematics can have those spells or equivalents, you weren't going to use those spells. This isn't like something like OG Runelord preventing you from using any Evocation spell ever with some sins, where you have to upheave everything you know about the class to play this option (thank god for the new anathemas), they weren't going to be used even if they were your element. There's only so much you can "thematically buff" these kinds of spells with, they aren't doing damage. And no one expected the Elemental Blaster dude to be that supportive to begin with, no one expects the Barbarian to give you Haste.

And going back to the idea that an elemental spell equivalent can just exists, it is massively difficult that they shouldn't. Maybe a Metal-aligned Teleport can't reasonably exist, but some other autist will try to say it should and that Paizo would be retarded to stop themselves from trying because of the want to "balance" thematic casters. Running back into the issue of what are you losing and what really makes you "limited" compared to a normal caster?

This is what I mean by a dead-end in design.

>>97091012
Well, we just got a bunch of lore and mechanics on dragons and being blessed on them so making the Dragonmarked Houses is pretty easy. Pathfinder already have a high tech level, so many of Ebberon's stuff likely already exists if you flip through. And if not, Starfinder2e likely have it. Anything else is easy to homebrew.

>>97091413
(cont.)
One last thing: I know my argument is somewhat moot with stuff like Necromancer coming. Sure it still have access to full spell lists but it does say the point that "thematic casters" can come in and be built around such. You can make a class that does this specific thing really well and doesn't really have downsides to trying expand past that, even my beloved Magus is something like that after the errata that let them use Spellstrikes with DC spells. And yes, I'm not Paizo nor I know what they are doing or what they could do, especially with a more 1e-line of thinking of not caring about balance over fun mechanics.

But I personally do have a big axe to grind against the kind of "I need a bonus for elemental spells" arguments and designs. I don't really see the good in these ideas in these kinds of games. I don't see the value in such options that at the end of day would just be regarded as just traps, even in a 2e that's far kinder to casters. I can't really change minds on how many people want to shove square pegs in round holes, make a concept that can't really be good or all that fun in the system. Or stop them from saying that the system is shit that they aren't allowed to shove square pegs in rounds holes. But I can at least say I prefer how 2e handles these kinds of requests with its subclasses. They aren't going to be super potent or gamechanging, the nature of spells and how they are designed can only accommodate so much. But the vast majority of options like Fire Mystery Oracle or Silent Whisper Psychic or Phoenix Sorcerer all have quite clever ideas to make their playstyles and strengths standout. I feel like most subclasses and subclass options do a good enough job at promoting playstyles without restricting you into such or pushing you away from more standard tactics. And to be blunt on this, there's not a lot of times I would want to play a caster that DOESN'T have access to The Deadly Six Support Spells of 2e.

ANyone know of any guides/vidoes for GMS on running better combats

I dont feel I know how to balance danger and not feeling bad for the PCs or just making more fun encounters

I understand basic stuff like trying to make actions that make sense for the enemy but I just want to be better

>>97090731
>You can't do that
Sure you can, just make fitting requirements.
>https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3388
Requirements: Fire trait, no duration, cast with at least rank X slot, has an area
>https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3385
Fire trait, cast with at least rank X slot, reduce damage by Y dice, Y/Z persistent damage, combine if spell already deals persistent
>https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3386
Fire trait, area, divide area in two (maybe even more?!?!?)
>https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3392
Same as first, reduce damage by X dice

This shit isn't/shouldn't be hard.

>>97091504
holy shit dude nobody cares. the reason these options aren't fun is because they are weak. they reason you want to play the strong generic spells is because they are strong. "thematic spellcasters don't work so i like how paizo makes them deliberately underpowered AND not actually thematic to they can't work" sums your wall of text in two sentences.

To be blunt, it's just a bad idea. For reasons. Because it's not fun. Since it has weak options. Which no one cares about because they are weak. Which means they can't be strong. For reasons.

conplaining about casters is an inherent part of pf2e's identity. just like retarded theoretical optimization was an inherent part of d&d3.5. if you don't like it you have no soul and don't appreciate our traditions

>>97091504
Playtest Necromancer having no synergies with Create Undead is a very Paizo-y choice.

>>97092205
They were made for D&D, but Keith Amman’s “The Monsters Know What They’re Doing” and “How to Defend Your Lair” books are unironically helpful for understanding monster tactics.

>>97092205
Read some adventure paths and do the opposite. Less +3 APL monsters as bosses and more mooks and NPC core troops, add in complex hazards, play on a large map to add movement and chases and improvised cover and objects.

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35 KB JPG

>>97092960
Think that was more a "focus on the new stuff and not how to jerry-rig the old into compliance" deal there. I can imagine people getting stuck up on making "real" undead over the Thrall mechanic and they rather just not have the playtest results be filled with "can you make my skeletons even bigger and stronger???" Given they already said they will be giving ways of poaching all the Undead options on the Divine list, don't think it will be a stretch.

>>97092824
>>97092860
In a nutshell, elemental blasters are bad because Pathfinder isn't a DPS-race so much as a "Get them to stop moving" race. Both editions have HP bloat problems and weakness scaling is only additive, not multiplicative. Tacking on extra hit rate and damage to elemental damage doesn't really resolve these design points, especially when save-or-suck spells (in 1e) or hard CC spells with no saves (in 2e) do the "stop moving" thing far better. And even if it was a DPS race, even if casters were built to be or could be jerry-rigged into single-target menaces, you still aren't going to be any more practical than the martial characters who don't have to worry about short-term/long-term limitations, chassis complaints, or not having high base damage. There's no way for the Barbarian to fuck up so badly they do more damage to the party than the foe.
And if you want to argue you don't want damage but Fireball to function like Paralyze without needing to cast Paralyze, trying to stuff all the functions of every other good spell into a small handful of options (You) prefer just shits on the point of even having casters and spell design like this.

"Thematic spellcasters" either end up completely capped by this glass ceiling, just end up the same as every other caster but "does it with Fire!!", or requires the upheaval of every martial/caster design goal and weaknesses just to pretend you were big-brained, not even really challenging (You). There's a reason Kineticist is the apex of this design.

>>97093842
who the fuck is jerry
didn't read anything else btw

>>97093842
>paralyze
>>>>>>>>>>paralyze
It's so fucking funny how every single time, without fail, pf2e defenders out themselves as having never played the game.
It's incredible, honestly. You'd think there would at least be one poor sod out there who's genuinely stockholm syndromed into liking the game, but I guess not. It's all clueless shills all the way down.

>>97093842
What a bunch of non sequiturs
Next time think about what you want to convey and then condense it into max four sentences instead of barfing your stream of consciousnes in a post
>>97094081
It reads like a distilled reddit thread

>>97091413
>change the entire functionality and aesthetic of the spell
right at the first line you're pulling stuff out of your ass
and it just gets worse from here

>>97092205
A good combat encounter is fast, deadly and flavorful.
Fast comes mostly from gm turns resolving quickly. Not hard to pull off. Just plan your shit so that there aren’t dozens of actors. Use troops, they are a good solution to this issue.
Deadly is self explanatory. Ideally you would have a good grasp on the math and game mechanics to adjust the encounter to your players. They don’t need to die, but the closer they feel like they could die, the better. Also, deadly encounters one after the other make things feel samey. Space them out with weaker encounters or RP.
Flavor comes from monsters or the arena having exquisite interactions. Pretty self explanatory.

>>97092205
Only the context of the fight matters.

>>97095080
>>97095080
>>97095080
second try pf1e merged thread.
Wait 24 hours for skub and autism to die down.