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sugar free jazz posted:I mean I guess but there was also like nothing written about the mwangi expanse other than the 30 page sargava companion which kinda counts? Actually paying attention to the Mwangi Expanse in a way that isn’t 30 pages of stereotypes and vaguely racist caricatures is itself a shift in style.
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Aug 21, 2022 22:25
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Mwangi is prominently featured in at least two adventure paths and there's a guide. Efb
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Aug 21, 2022 22:33
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yeah guess i forgot about serpent's skull and heart of the jungle, that ap was awful
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Aug 21, 2022 23:00
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Andrast posted:The Mwangi Expanse setting book is excellent. One of the best setting books I've read for any system. An awesome book and every piece of art is a character I want to play. The dragon worshipping dwarfs with integrated clans of kobolds is a particular highlight for me.
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Aug 21, 2022 23:35
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sugar free jazz posted:I mean I guess but there was also like nothing written about the mwangi expanse other than the 30 page sargava companion which kinda counts? Everyone else already mentioned the worse bits of the Mwangi Expanse's presentation, but the way early 1e tried to sell you on locations by presenting them as thin pastiches of real life countries actively put me off of Golarion. Do you like Egypt? How about China? Don't worry, a legally distinct version of the Roma people are there too. Once you get about halfway through 1e it feels like Erik Mona is the only writer who really enjoyed making that kind of IRL cultural expy, and in 2e all the setting info's first impressions feel like actual settings I'd like to read about and less like a racist travelogue.
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Aug 21, 2022 23:59
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Lurks With Wolves posted:Everyone else already mentioned the worse bits of the Mwangi Expanse's presentation, but the way early 1e tried to sell you on locations by presenting them as thin pastiches of real life countries actively put me off of Golarion. Do you like Egypt? How about China? Don't worry, a legally distinct version of the Roma people are there too. The Egypt expy gets points for going all in on the stupid though. According to the lore, the Earth's Ancient Egyptian pantheon is the same as Osirion's because they're literally the same gods. At some point they decided to gently caress off from Golarian and go and live on Earth instead.
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Aug 22, 2022 00:16
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CottonWolf posted:The Egypt expy gets points for going all in on the stupid though. According to the lore, the Earth's Ancient Egyptian pantheon is the same as Osirion's because they're literally the same gods. At some point they decided to gently caress off from Golarian and go and live on Earth instead. That's basically the excuse given for real-world gods being found in settings like the Forgotten Realms, or even more broadly, Planescape. It's a fine old tradition among D&D and its descendants that various gods just set up franchises in multiple worlds.
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Aug 22, 2022 00:39
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while i appreciate the effort in throwing out a lot of wildly different campaign premises, it doesn't stop golarion from feeling like a patchwork quilt of campaign pitches with no real coherence similar to how eberron basically level-gates its three continents
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Aug 22, 2022 01:10
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yeah I agree but I like that Golarion is just every-loving-thing in one setting, having to co-exist I think the 2e version just feels less afraid to have poo poo crossover.
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Aug 22, 2022 04:34
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Blockhouse posted:yeah I agree but I like that Golarion is just every-loving-thing in one setting, having to co-exist I think they're a little emboldened that they have a player base that's bought into the setting, not just "new 3.5 rules" so they can do stuff like focus on Alkenstar and Nidal, and that Pathfinder 2e is also a much easier rules framework for them to bring this stuff in than Pathfinder 1e was.
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Aug 22, 2022 04:37
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Now you get poo poo like how the Russian fairy tale kingdom ruled by literal historical Anastasia is importing tesla coils from Earth, and then technology leaks to Hammer Horror Land where scientists are using it to go full Frankenstein. that's great!
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Aug 22, 2022 04:40
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Yeah I kinda enjoy how dumb golarion is. poo poo like that works really well in a D&D-like imo.
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Aug 22, 2022 05:35
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Mister Olympus posted:while i appreciate the effort in throwing out a lot of wildly different campaign premises, it doesn't stop golarion from feeling like a patchwork quilt of campaign pitches with no real coherence Eberron has four continents though. Though I suppose you do Khorvaire to start with, Xen'Drik to get the weapons you need to beat up the Quori, then go to Sarlona to beat up the Quori and maybe some Daelkyr on the side. Argonnessen is the postgame/expansion that's literally "here's where the dragons who machinate their inscrutable plans live, level-gated by really tough seafaring barbarians in the way".
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Aug 22, 2022 14:30
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I'm looking hard at the Kineticist playtest for my upcoming Eberron Pathfinder game. Gonna very much enjoy being a viking hobgoblin with water powers
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Aug 22, 2022 17:14
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Froghammer posted:I'm looking hard at the Kineticist playtest for my upcoming Eberron Pathfinder game. Aye, I was really enjoying my Mountain Style Monk in PFS, but depending on how the finished Kineticist stuff turns out, I might have to swap.
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Aug 22, 2022 20:18
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Pasha posted:How does PF2E handle encounters? Is there an XP budget (or something similar)? Yes, there's a budget, and it's very easy to understand: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=497. Figure out the total, pick the monsters and/or hazards, done. There are also very good rules for creating monsters and hazards. The one big thing to note is that each level of difference between the players and a target swings the math in favor of the higher-level entity by 1, so an Extreme-threat encounter filled solely with mooks at a -4 level will only be Extremely boring, and an Extreme-threat boss at +4 might be entirely unsurvivable with attacks only hitting on a 19+.
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Aug 22, 2022 20:44
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Okay, I'm reading through the PF2e rulebook and there's something that's bugging me about the armor chart: namely, there are a few cases where two armor options are identical (or near-identical) in stats, but have different prices. For example, Hide and Scale armor are identical across the board except that Hide armor is in the "leather" group and Scale is in the "composite" group, which boils down to whether the armor specialization effect givesyou resistance to bludgeoning or piercing damage. And yet, Scale armor costs twice what Hide does. The only other difference I can see is that, as predominantly-metal armor, Scale has more hardness and hp, but armor doesn't generally take damage the way shields do, so that seems marginal at best. Or, for another example, Splint Mail vs. Half Plate. Again, identical except for the composite vs. plate group, but half-plate costs 18 gp to Splint's 13. And in this case they're both metal, so they have the same hardness and hp in the unlikely event that comes up. Am I missing something here, or is this just one of those annoying D&D legacy issues where certain armor types are still on the chart for "tradition" and one is more expensive for "realism?" (And yes, I know this is a minor issue that only really matters at level 1 and a few gp difference in the base price of nonmagical armor stos mattering almost immediately, I'm just confused as to why it's there at all.)
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Aug 23, 2022 12:32
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Update the thread title to "It's better than OneD&D, we swear!"
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Aug 23, 2022 12:35
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GimpInBlack posted:Okay, I'm reading through the PF2e rulebook and there's something that's bugging me about the armor chart: namely, there are a few cases where two armor options are identical (or near-identical) in stats, but have different prices. For example, Hide and Scale armor are identical across the board except that Hide armor is in the "leather" group and Scale is in the "composite" group, which boils down to whether the armor specialization effect givesyou resistance to bludgeoning or piercing damage. And yet, Scale armor costs twice what Hide does. The only other difference I can see is that, as predominantly-metal armor, Scale has more hardness and hp, but armor doesn't generally take damage the way shields do, so that seems marginal at best. It's more or less that yeah. There used to be minor differences in weight (if you cared about carrying capacity), whether druids can wear it, susceptibility to stuff like heat/chill metal, etc. some of which has been smoothed over in 2e.
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Aug 23, 2022 19:29
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The Lost Omens Travel Guide looks gorgeous so far from all the previews. I'm pretty new to TTRPGs and thought I'd want to mostly stick to PDFs but Paizo's artists make it so hard not to get the books.
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Aug 25, 2022 07:47
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It’s really good. I got my PDF last week. It’s all fluff, but that’s what I want from the Lost Omens series. Some of the details are great, things like goblins measuring time by songs or the length of burning fires. There are some really useful GM details too, if you’re running a game in Golarion, especially the section on what ordinary people know.
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Aug 25, 2022 11:17
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The lost omens books have all been great. The Absalom one really is packed full of great art and setting details.
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Aug 25, 2022 12:08
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If you're a Strength Ranger is there a maximum Dex score that you shouldn't bother going over?
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Aug 29, 2022 22:22
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Epi Lepi posted:If you're a Strength Ranger is there a maximum Dex score that you shouldn't bother going over? If you're in chainmail you only need +1, but Reflex is always valuable, so I wouldn't dump it arbitrarily. Still, if you want INT or CHA (probably because you're doing Outwit), you can probably stop boosting DEX after the first boost.
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Aug 29, 2022 22:28
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Epi Lepi posted:If you're a Strength Ranger is there a maximum Dex score that you shouldn't bother going over? Whatever the max dex bonus of the heaviest armor you can wear is. Usually that means 12 for medium armor types, but a case can be made for 14 if you want to do occasional ranged attacks or something, and you can’t find a use for putting those two points into Charisma for some reason or whatever. In general, for all characters, if you’re not using Dexterity for attack rolls, you should stop at the max dex bonus for whatever the heaviest armor you can wear is. If that means heavy armor, then by all means stop at 10 because that’s what Bulwark is for.
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Aug 29, 2022 22:32
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Thank you, just hit lvl 5 and initially took Dex from 14 to 16, but wanted to be sure it was worth it.
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Aug 29, 2022 22:43
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Epi Lepi posted:Thank you, just hit lvl 5 and initially took Dex from 14 to 16, but wanted to be sure it was worth it. Yeah, 16 Dex on a Str ranger almost certainly not a priority choice. Assuming 3 of your other boosts are Str/Con/Wis (they should be), you're basically choosing between: +1 Reflex (already your best save remember) and +1 to dex based skills +1 to Int based skills, and another whole trained skill (IMO this is usually the best choice at 5) or +1 to Cha based skills (which, IMO, Deception/Intimidate are probably the two best/most important skill rolls to keep high and sharp from a pure combat charop perspective so...) I'd usually go Int or Cha, but Dex isn't horribly wrong at that point. The big thing is that at character creation, 12 is best, and 14 is fine and 16 is extremely questionable.
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Aug 29, 2022 23:40
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One thing I'm not digging so much in reading the Lost Omens World Guide: it seems like there are a metric ton of cool adventure hooks... that were resolved by some random group of heroes a few years ago. I assume these are references to older APs, and yeah, it's easy enough to just ignore the "and then a brave band of heroes stopped this threat and saved the day" ending and treat it s still an active threat, but it's not exactly super thrilling to read.
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Aug 30, 2022 09:12
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GimpInBlack posted:One thing I'm not digging so much in reading the Lost Omens World Guide: it seems like there are a metric ton of cool adventure hooks... that were resolved by some random group of heroes a few years ago. I assume these are references to older APs, and yeah, it's easy enough to just ignore the "and then a brave band of heroes stopped this threat and saved the day" ending and treat it s still an active threat, but it's not exactly super thrilling to read. Yeah, without looking at it in depth or at any specific examples, I'd guess that it's just the nature of making 2e a followup to 1e instead of doing the D&D thing and completely redoing the entire cosmology between editions.
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Aug 30, 2022 09:31
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Can someone explain rangers to me? I'm curious but my only experience with rangers for the last five years has been the 5e incredibly lame version.
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Aug 30, 2022 10:10
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Rangers are pretty much nature themed martials. Their gimmick is hunting down specific targets with their Hunt Prey action, which makes it easier to track their prey while also being able to hit them from a longer distance. Their hunter's edge modifies the prey, which allows certain builds like blendering your prey with a flurry of attacks, hitting your prey with deliberate precise attacks which your animal companion (if you take one!) can also take advantage of or demoralizing an deceiving your prety while becoming harder to hit for them. Rangers support a variety of weapon fighting styles depending on the edges. You can go for a ranged build or run around smacking baddies with a big hammer. Ranger feats builds on those particular weapon styles. Other Ranger feats allow you to craft and place snares, cast warden focus spells or have an animal companion that you can later mount! Rangers are pretty good and a far cry from the mediocre ones in 5e.
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Aug 30, 2022 10:51
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GimpInBlack posted:One thing I'm not digging so much in reading the Lost Omens World Guide: it seems like there are a metric ton of cool adventure hooks... that were resolved by some random group of heroes a few years ago. I assume these are references to older APs, and yeah, it's easy enough to just ignore the "and then a brave band of heroes stopped this threat and saved the day" ending and treat it s still an active threat, but it's not exactly super thrilling to read. The 2e campaign setting assumes all previous APs happened already, so there have to be references to adventurers accomplishing the challenges presented by the APs.
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Aug 30, 2022 15:49
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Is the beginners box a good buy for someone with a good deal of 5E experience who wants to dip into Pathfinder? Or would I be better off with the core book?
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Aug 30, 2022 16:15
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Quote posted:Is the beginners box a good buy for someone with a good deal of 5E experience who wants to dip into Pathfinder? Or would I be better off with the core book? The adventure in the Beginner's Box teaches you how the system works as you play through it and has all the stuff you need to start and since all of the rules content from the CRB is available online for free you can just look rules stuff up as needed.
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Aug 30, 2022 16:17
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Quote posted:Is the beginners box a good buy for someone with a good deal of 5E experience who wants to dip into Pathfinder? Or would I be better off with the core book? Get the Beginner Box. It's real good.
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Aug 30, 2022 16:40
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Kvantum posted:The 2e campaign setting assumes all previous APs happened already, so there have to be references to adventurers accomplishing the challenges presented by the APs. On the plus side, this means that if you see one of those hooks that you like, you can probably pick up a first-edition adventure path or module about it and use the story of it as a basis for a campaign even if a direct conversion doesn't work well.
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Aug 30, 2022 18:09
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Chevy Slyme posted:Yeah, 16 Dex on a Str ranger almost certainly not a priority choice. Assuming 3 of your other boosts are Str/Con/Wis (they should be), you're basically choosing between: Decided to up Int instead and take crafting as my character just pissed off the remaining blacksmith in town so we're going to need someone to help install and transfer weapons runes.
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Aug 30, 2022 19:51
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How long is the Beginner's Box? 5e's LMOP goes to about level 5 and has a solid town, a couple of decent dungeons and sidequests. Apparently the Beginner's Box ends at level 2 already, and should be followed up with Troubles in Otari and then Abomination Vaults? That sounds a bit short to me for the Beginner's Box to me, but maybe I'm comparing it wrong?
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Aug 30, 2022 20:09
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Rythian posted:How long is the Beginner's Box? 5e's LMOP goes to about level 5 and has a solid town, a couple of decent dungeons and sidequests. Nah, that's exactly right. It took my group of TTRPG neophytes 4 sessions to get through it, and since then we've been running Abomination Vaults. That said, it's a fun adventure that does a lot to introduce the mechanics of Pathfinder 2e to the players, so I thought it was worth the money.
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Aug 30, 2022 20:17
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Fall of Plaguestone is a pretty good self-contained starter adventure that goes from 1st-3rd (and 4th by the end), though you might want to bump down the difficulties of the fights a little for true newbies (the easy way is just adjusting enemy numbers by -1 or -2 across the board). It's got a nice mix of light investigation stuff in a small town (with a bunch of pretty flavorful NPCs), a pair of small dungeon maps, and a decent number of encounters designed to encourage use of various skills. It also works well for some thematic toe-dipping in a bunch of different areas, with ghosts, orcs, weird abominations, magic animals, small-town weirdos, a really depressed sad-sack paladin, a side jaunt where the PCs can help refurbish an old temple, etc etc, so there's lot of stuff to play off new characters against when it comes to getting a feel for the game.
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Aug 31, 2022 00:02
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