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steinrokkan posted:That character looks like she took a nosedive at the scrapyard while taking a shortcut to the papal conclave Cythereal posted:Just me, but I think that looks like garbage and 'we want a Warhammer Fantasy witch hunter but don't want Games Workshop to sue us.' Welcome to Wayne Reynolds Art™ everyone!  He makes every character look like a walking scrapheap*, so if you look at a lot of 1st party artwork, you'll be seeing it a lot. In any case, Pathfinder Inquisitors are less a Warham fanatic, though their duties do include hunting down enemies of the faith- it's just that an Inquisitor of Sarenrae (the son goddess of mercy, redemption and the sun) is going to be a lot nicer person than most Paladins you'd meet. An Inquisitor's focus on team-based skills and feats is also great for a party-based game.That being said, the powergamer in me is kicking me in the head and screaming at me in strange languages, so I'm just going to suggest the following: Class: Oracle (Dual-Cursed Archetype if possible, with the Blackened and Lame curses if I might suggest them) Race: Spitespawn Tiefling Deity: Sarenrae  Name: Cythereal (or LPer's choice)That being said, as long as the MC is a tiefling that'd be cool; maybe it's just me, but Wrath just seems right playing as a heroic Tiefling, powered not by Iomedae's self-righteous ego, but by Sarenrae's emphasis on forgiveness, redemption and mercy. Praise the sun, brothers and sisters and non-binary pals! *EDIT: Personally, I think Reynolds's most scrapheap-looking dude is Alain here:  This dude is PF's iconic horse-riding character, and I can't think of this dude getting on a horse without carving it to bits. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Feb 10, 2024 |
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Feb 10, 2024 22:21
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Cythereal posted:Human is not allowed. Huh, I can't say that was a combination I was expecting, but I guess it could mechanically work. Mind if I ask what classes you played? Also, would you also welcome fluff posts on Pathfinder itself, as long as it's not spoilery? I mean, I might not really have the time to keep up with the LP myself on a regular basis, but I admit I just want to nerd out about what might simultaneously be my most and least favourite system and setting
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Feb 10, 2024 22:57
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Cythereal posted:I'd rather not. That's not the point of this thread. Shoot me a PM on SA or discord if you really care. Fair enough; I was just curious if you managed to find some class/race/deity combo that really worked for you. Cythereal posted:Within reason as we get to things during the LP proper. All right, thanks for clearing that up! And don't worry, I'll do my best to keep things on-topic; if there's one good thing to be said for Pathfinder's general compartmentalization of its setting elements, it's that it's easy to talk about certain aspects without having to read or write up a million pages on interrelated topics.
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Feb 10, 2024 23:17
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Solitair posted:Every country in the setting is basically its own subgenre, which I found pretty fascinating when I read the sourcebook. I can see why that would get on someone else's nerves, though. Yeah, it makes for great theme-park gaming, and really simplifies running things for both GMs and players, but for anyone even remotely familiar with how interconnected RL society was even in ancient times, it can be low-key annoying, haha! I mean, there's no mechanical reason you can't, say, play a Gunslinger in the northern realms, but good freakin' luck trying to wrangle how your dude is getting their ammo and powder in Not-Russia.
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Feb 10, 2024 23:34
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From what I remember, Mythics can stay within one step of their alignment and not have to take steps to remedy things, so NG Azata are 100% game legal.
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Feb 11, 2024 16:21
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(Adventure) Path Of The Righteous: Where The Abyss Did This Game Come From? All tabletop RPG lines have premade adventures in case the party are newbies and need a jumping off point, or if the DM's lost for ideas. Sometimes these are small affairs attached at the back of sourcebooks, sometimes these are arranged into small collections, and sometimes these are large-scale affairs covering multiple books- and Wrath of the Righteous is one of the latter.  The Worldwound Incursion is the first book in the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path. Those familiar with the CRPG might have already noticed a major departure in the AP and CRPG's canon events. Also, holy hell does Wayne Reynolds (artist involved in many Paizo works, from AP covers to the art of Pathfinder's iconic characters) love making things look bulky. The thirteenth of Pathfinder First Edition's Adventure Paths (APs for short), Wrath was released in August 2013, with a new book coming out every month until the final one in January 2014. Like First Edition's other APs, it is a collection of 6 books of 96 pages each, and was designed to showcase Paizo's new Mythic systems for Pathfinder. As Cytheral said, Mythic Paths are massive boosts in power for player characters, and the AP really does its best to make you work for and with those Mythic powers, though how well it does so depends on the group- new players might find the AP's mechanics challenging, maybe even a little unfair at first, but for those who see breaking character optimization over their knee to be as important and fun as playing the game- yeah, Wrath isn't going to push them very hard mechanically, and adding in Mythic systems makes it even more absurdly easier. There are some narrative issues with the original AP, but in my experience I think Owlcat's done their best to adapt the original PNP systems to a CRPG. Which I suppose is the major point of this post. While I strongly suggest not reading the AP itself if you want to completely avoid spoilers, speaking as someone who is familiar with the original Wrath, there were still a lot of surprises and elements I had to adapt to, not least being the fact that Paizo's Mythic Paths and systems are completely different to how they are presented in the game. There are also a few easter eggs and adapted elements from the original AP that I'd say Owlcat did better than Paizo; don't get me wrong, I think it's clear I enjoyed the original AP way back when, but there is a certain bias in how the original AP was written that makes it clear the authors were making the AP for a predominantly Good party with at least one Paladin of Iomedae, something that certainly does not come across in the CRPG. With Cyth's permission, I'll point out these changes only when doing so will not be spoilery. In any case, I think I'll stop here for now; after all, this was originally a nearly 600-page published adventure dealing with what is ultimately one of the smaller parts of Golarion, the world in which Pathfinder is set. There'll be a lot more to cover in the coming updates, trust me on this! CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Feb 11, 2024 |
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Feb 11, 2024 18:17
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Gun Jam posted:Speaking as a 3.5 fellow, but not PF 1e one - how much of these 20+ classes serve a purpose, how much are bloat? Oh man, there's quite a lot of it, but if there's one thing I can say about PF1e compared to 3.5, it's that at least Paizo didn't seem to intentionally add Monte Cook-style trap options (that they didn't carry over from 3.5, like Toughness). Don't get me wrong, I think most of the regular classes are all cool, and I really like some of the archetypes, but man oh man there's just so many options that exist solely for niche RP cases, over-complicated solutions for RP questions that a feat/extra published ability or two couldn't have answered.
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Feb 11, 2024 18:22
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Cythereal posted:All I'll say on this is: yes, folks, romance is in this game and a good romance story is catnip for me. My requirements in this game are simply to be a woman romanceable by women and not be a cannibalistic serial killer. Down to two Personally, I'll definitely have Opinions about romances in both Wrath (CRPG and AP) and how it's presented in the other APs, but that might have to wait for a while.
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Feb 12, 2024 13:14
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Volmarias posted:More particularly, the Min/Max version of That Guy. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda feeling called out here (especially since I'm not really that good at it) 
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Feb 12, 2024 22:31
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Say, Cythereal, since it seems quite clear as to what class is in the lead, might I suggest the Dirge Bard archetype? They give up some relatively minor bardic abilities for excellent crowd control and summoning, and while the fluff portrays them as relatively grim fellows, I always saw their Dance of the Dead ability as something akin to the Day of the Dead celebrations of those who've passed on.Volmarias posted:And if you had said nothing, none of us would have known! Um, I'm not dumb, you're- uh, unsmrt! Quackles posted:What about if you're The Loonie? Honestly, I'd take powergamers over loonies any day- at least you know that powergamers take the game seriously on some level.
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Feb 13, 2024 09:30
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Cythereal posted:I'll pass on the dirge bard, Pharasma wouldn't be happy about that one. Bah, who acres what that old hag thinAAAAARGH Cythereal posted:But, I am assuming that some of my readers may have never played a d20 system game before, and while I'm no character optimization fiend, I am conversant in crunch and will be making an effort to explain what everything means as we go along. Honestly, considering how crunch-heavy Pathfinder is, this would be the prudent decision even if everyone here was familiar with D&D 3.5's systems 
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Feb 13, 2024 16:00
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Class: Crossblooded Sorcerer (Black Dragon) Cancel my own suggestion, 'cos I'm gonna vote for this  EDIT: And combine the racial suggestion with the below class suggestion even though I think Electricity is the better option for that mythic.VVVVVV CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Feb 14, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 00:02
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To be fair, considering just how diverse the Inner Sea region (Pathfinder's own Not!Europe setting, which includes the Worldwound area) is has been for the past hundred years or so, as well as it being very possible to land travel from Minkai to the land of the Linnorm Kings (Pathfinder's not!Scandinavia), it's not entirely impossible that a Kitsune might have been born and raised in the local culture- and I'm talking lineages of several generations here. There are significant populations of foreign descent living in the nearby areas (say what you like about Pathfinder- I certainly will- but a lack of diversity is not really one of them), so if you want a Kitsune bard rocking out to AC/DC, go ahead!TeeQueue posted:Tian Xia is a whole continent either around as big as or bigger than Golarion That might be a little difficult, considering Tian Xia is a landmass on the planet of Golarion
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Feb 15, 2024 13:52
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AJ_Impy posted:Golarion’s Not!Europe, where this campaign is largely set, is Avistan. To the south of the Not!Mediterranean Inner Sea is Not!Africa, Garund. To the east is Not!Asia in the form of Casmaron, which isn’t directly connected to Tian Xia. Avistan is, via the Crown of the World, an arctic continent. (At least, I presume there are bears.) I wouldn't say Avistan as a whole is 'arctic' per se, as the freezing cold and ever-present winter associated with the concept is just the Land of the Linnorm Kings' and Irrisen's thing; technically, the Worldwound is also located near the polar north, but all the demons and such have really messed with the weather to say the least Varisia, Korvosa, Ustalav and everything along their rough latitudes are vaguely Northern and Eastern European (except Numeria, which is Conan Meets Star Wars meets Fallout), while Andoran, Taldor and Bloody loving Literally-Damned Cheliax™ are all not just Mediterranean, but I'd argue almost equatorial, considering Garund and Osirion are just across the Inner Sea and they're Not!All-of-Africa and Not!Egypt respectively. Cythereal posted:I was joking, for the record. No worries! Just me seizing the chance to nerd out about PF's setting.
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Feb 15, 2024 14:38
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Slaan posted:But where is Perfidious Albion in this setting. Surely there is a Perfidious Not!Albion Unironically, Cheliax. I'll probably get more into it if/when the god Asmodeus or Cheliax itself are mentioned, but they're a colonialist empire of devil worshippers who are also racist. Yeah, they have Spanish influences as well as Lord Koth mentioned, but I personally have always seen them as all the evils of European imperialism rolled into a single nation- so yeah, Perfidious Albion EDIT: Also, while Taldor kinda sorta looks like Not!France in aesthetics, in most other respects I actually see them as Not!Rome- a massive expansionist empire collapsing into separate nations, each with dreams of returning to their progenitor's glory? Definitely reads as Roman to me. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Feb 15, 2024 |
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Feb 15, 2024 16:49
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Such a pity you're not playing a Herald of the Horn Skald, then- their Horn Call ability would be a great way to reflect your growing... 'musical talent' EDIT: Taking this excuse to post the best fox video on the Internet.
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Feb 15, 2024 21:54
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Azata Yua And The Hopefully Last Crusade, Or, Why Are We Here Anyway? Once upon a time, there was a god named Aroden.  Pictured: Aroden being Aroden He was basically the last of the High Azlanti people (basically superhuman Atlanteans); when Azlant sank, he was basically the one person keeping its traditions and knowledge alive. In doing he became the god of humanity, as practically all modern Pathfinder humans descend from Azlanti, and all Azlanti revered Aroden. Of course, the fact that he also went around Arodoing hero stuff and generally helping out a post-apocalyptic society certainly helped.  Some of said hero stuff. Anyone here look familiar? Still, as godly duties became more and more important to him, he grew ever more distant (sometimes with disastrous results), but he did prophesize that one day he'll return for good and secure a golden age for all humanity. Since all prophecies up to that point had proven 100% accurate, people took it in stride and eagerly awaited Aroden coming back from buying milk and cigarettes.  WELP On the day of Aroden's return in the year 4606, all his clergy lost access to their magic- and the only way that could happen is if their patron god had died. Not exiled to the Outer Planes, not losing track of time while playing celestial Warcraft with the Unconquered Sun- no, I'm talking dead dead. Capital D-E-D dead. We're at Parrot Sketch levels here, that's how turbokilled Aroden was. Thus began the Age of Lost Omens, because hey, while we're at it, his death also broke all divine mechanisms of prophecy and rendered them useless. Divination magic still kinda worked (which is why we still have it as a spell school), but a whole lotta naive farm boys would end up meeting Pharasma because some doddering old twit was really sure this kid had what it took. Oh, and there's also the minor matter of a god's death causing enough of a metaphysical disturbance that it was possible to open a gate from Golarion to the Outer Rifts where demons dwelled. Yeah, probably should've mentioned that earlier.  One of them might even bear a bit of a grudge! The first Mendevian Crusade took place in 4622, 16 years after the rift opened in the wilderness of Sarkoris, because even in the face of demonic world conquest, paperwork needed to be done. To be fair though, fighting demons does require a lot of divine magic, and one of the biggest names in divinity had just carked it- even Erastil's clerics don't generally grow on trees. Still, things turned out relatively well, and while the first crusaders didn't fully push back Deskari and his forces, they still managed to gain a significant foothold, and everyone expected to be back by Candlemark. Unfortunately for the crusaders, the reason for their success was because they were at the point in the manga/anime where the bad guy smirks, says "At last, I can show you 100% of my true power," and then throws down a jacket laden with rocks.  You know, this bit. The next few crusades were a shitshow, to be honest. The second Crusade managed to shore up the defences at least with massive constructs called Wardstones, but the third collapsed when everyone decided to go full 40K and accuse everyone else of heresy- and considering Deskari had by this time recruited a lot of succubi and incubi, some of these accusations were even accurate! The Fourth Crusade ended in a stalemate, with the demons kinda-sorta pushed back but the crusaders too battered to push the advantage.  Artist's impression of the Third Crusade. And so here we are in the Fifth Crusade, almost a hundred years after Aroden kicked it, all our hopes apparently riding on a single fuzzball with a... unique singing voice and hopefully good personal hygiene (seriously, read up on how bad foxes stink, it's wonderful). It's a beautiful dream, at least. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 08:44
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Lord Koth posted:Assuming you're not aiming for that one ending, the only real difference here is whether you get a free Light Crossbow (if you choose to attack), or your helpful friend casting False Life on you (if you want to flee) before you still get dumped down the hole. The second one can actually be surprisingly helpful depending on just what class and level of difficulty you're playing on, given it's a huge HP increase for a 1st level character that lasts a non-negligible amount of time. Unless you're like playing a melee class on Unfair (already a dubious choice) though, it really doesn't matter. I'd say it's well worth making the attack regardless of your class, if for nothing else that you get a lasting crossbow out of the whole bargain that you can sell once it stops being useful as opposed to a buff that will run out sooner or later. This isn't Kingmaker, after all, there's no walking into caves at low levels where every enemy is immune to your attacks 
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Feb 16, 2024 08:48
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Szarrukin posted:Is there any Aztec/Maya/Inca inspired nation in Pathfinder? Or at least obligatory mashup of all three? I thought Azlanti might be one (it sounds vaguely like Aztlan, legendary homeland of Aztecs), but it turned out to be Totally Not Atlantis. The biggest such nation would be the ancient Razatlan Empire (big and powerful enough to rival Aztlan, and brought low in the same disaster), while the modern nations of Xopatl and Innazpa are probably the most Mayaincatec groups in Pathfinder. Unfortunately, because Avistan gets so much press, anything outside doesn't really get a lot of page space; people just can't get enough of Not!Western Europe in fantasy, it seems 
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Feb 16, 2024 12:18
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Cythereal posted:Our second cannibalistic serial killer for the party, Wenduag is mostly as advertised: a survival of the fittest dog-eat-man libertarian survivalist. She is also a certified BDSM enthusiast happy to bottom for anyone she deems strong, so if you want a murderous spidercatgirl sub who calls you Master/Mistress all the time, Wrath might be the game for you! Wenduag is, unfortunately, a victim of most of her character exploration and growth being locked behind romancing her. There is more to her than what you see on the surface, but getting to that part of her character is contingent on dealing extensively with the surface impression and playing your cards just right so that she opens up. To be honest, I have never romanced Wenduag (see: cannibalistic serial killer) so I can't tell you any hard details, but she has some very dedicated fans out there. I'm actually replaying the game and I'm one of her aforementioned dedicated fans; mind if I post her romance scenes when they would have come up in your own story? To be honest, even if I wasn't romancing her, I'd still genuinely prefer her to Lann regardless of what gender I'm playing. Also, while I did not play the alpha/beta for Wrath, from what I hear her combat barks and most of her dialogue was unchanged from before- guess most of us straight dudes really are suckers for pretty faces 
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Feb 17, 2024 21:35
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Ain't No Party Like An AP Party And here we are having met five people (kind of) from the original AP as well as one OC. Since Cythereal has done a good job of covering their mechanics and their general personalities, this is just going to be a post mostly showing off their original artwork and roles in the AP. First things first though- this might be my personal preferences showing, but I personally think Owlcat gave many of the OG Adventure Path characters a bit of a glow-up when porting them over, with the exception of Wenduag and one other character we won't meet for a while yet. And yes, I said Wenduag  SO! Let's start off with Lann.  I said Owlcat gave them a glow-up. I didn't say how much; say what you like, but if you're attracted to men, Lann ain't bad-looking, I say. In the original AP, Lann is the two mongrelpeople you meet after falling into the caves, along with another character named Dyra, who is described as "her face so warped by tumors that she's incapable of intelligible speech,'; as anyone who's played the game can tell, Wrath!Dyra will be quite a far cry from AP!Dyra, but I digress. In the AP, Lann's only purpose is to guide you through the caverns to the next plot point, with he and Dyra sharing the same generic mongrelperson stats. Also, since mythic paths worked differently in the general Pathfinder system (and have very specific details in the AP that the game doesn't really have) than they do in the game, the whole golden sword thing doesn't show up- instead, the PCs simply have to help Lann and Dyra clear some rocks before proceeding onward. Unlike the game, which places a lot of plot and character development after meeting the mongrels, the AP does quite a bit to develop the personalities of Anevia and several other NPCs before meeting Lann and Dyra. I'm not knocking Wrath for doing so, just noting the change of pacing. Next up, Wenduag!  Here's Wenduag's original artwork. Like I said, I don't think Owlcat glowed her up all that much, if at all. Don't judge me. RP-wise, OG Wenduag has even less of a role than OG Lann. Not only does she only make an appearance in the first real dungeon of the AP, she only serves as a meatshield miniboss who's only really there for players to see if they built their characters properly. Of course a DM can adapt things if the players decide to take her prisoner or somesuch, but considering most PF characters won't have access to the tools, mechanical cpability and/or feats necessary to recruit otherwise unfriendly NPC characters, it's very likely that even the most redemption-happy party will have to kill Wendy when they meet her. Mechanics-wise, I have to say she's quite interesting- her Strength and Charisma are lower, her Dexterity is quite a bit higher, but AP Wendy also has very good Wisdom and above-average Intelligence, as well as a CE alignment compared to her Wrath incarnation's NE. It kind of makes me wonder what she could have been built into if Owlcat had kept her original stats- one of the builds for her out there is as an axe-throwing Cult Leader Warpriest, and having 16 Wis would have certainly helped her out with that. And now we get to Seelah!  Seen here being badass in more ways than one. Not a spoiler for Wrath, fear not. Seelah is Pathfinder's Iconic Paladin, by which I mean that if an artwork requires someone doing Paladin things, they're going to feature Seelah.  Here we see Seelah dealing with the many moral dilemmas a Paladin faces. Without going into too much detail, Seelah makes the perfect iconic character for Wrath, and a much better match than Amiri the barbarian made for Owlcat's previous game, Kingmaker. As Cyth said, she's easygoing, boisterous and brave, and while this might not fit everyone's definition of a Paladin of Iomedae, she does fit the general Pathfinder ideal of a Paladin, in that she's righteous without being uncompromising, faithful without being fanatical, brave without being foolhardy, forgiving without being weak. That being said, she doesn't acually feature in the original AP as a character, per se, just as a featured iconic in the AP's artwork. Each AP features four iconics in their artwork showing off the things the party could be doing, and for Wrath, Seelah was one of them. The other three are Merisiel the Rogue, Alain the Cavalier and Seoni the Sorceress, but they don't appear anywhere in Kingmaker or Wrath so I'm just going to leave things there.  Remember when I said Seelah was 'badass in more ways than one'? Take note of the pendant the demon is now wearing  I'm not going to go into more detail on Anevia, the fourth member of the AP's original characters, but I do want to talk a little about the could-have-been fifth member of our party, Aravashnial.  Good night, sweet prince, we barely knew ye. Yes, Camellia's murder victim was actually a major character in the AP, accompanying and assisting the party for 4-5 books out of 6, and the fact that he dies right at the beginning of the game would have been quite the kick in the nuts for anyone familiar with the AP. And he wasn't a damsel in distress either. Having travelled from his homeland of Kyonin to learn ways to fight the demons plaguing his homeland, Aravashnial would have been the PC's primary source of anti-demon knowledge from his work as a Riftwarden, who travel the planes, guarding multiversal integrity and stability- so yeah, a legitimate badass. The festival attack would have blinded him, but he would still have had enough magical power and talent to assist the party if they ever got into a tight spot. Considering that the AP was supposed to start at 1st level, tight spots would have been in abundance. To be perfectly honest, I thought he would have made it into Wrath as a recruitable, romanceable NPC. Talented, handsome elf at risk of losing himself to darkness, just waiting for someone to save him? Yeah, this guy had 'tortured soul in need of a good man/woman' written all over him, and to be honest, I'm not sure Cammy's a good trade achtungnight posted:Kudos to CM for his original AP Lore. Thanks! Pathfinder's APs are some of the best parts of the system (even though there are quite a few misses, and there are some dated elements), and it's been a lot of fun nerding out about them! CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Feb 18, 2024 |
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Feb 17, 2024 22:45
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I have... thoughts on that One Character, and while I sure as hell wouldn't go so far to say that he rules, I do think the issues he has regarding people's perception of him and his actions stems from the writing of both the game and the setting. To be honest, it's one of the things I'm most looking to writing about.
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Feb 17, 2024 23:21
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Cythereal posted:
Fixed it for you Also, I do have a request: CommissarMega posted:I'm actually replaying the game and I'm one of her aforementioned dedicated fans; mind if I post her romance scenes when they would have come up in your own story? EDIT: I'm talking about Wenduag.
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Feb 17, 2024 23:24
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Cythereal posted:No, thank you. Fair enough! Hard enough to herd the cats here as they are, I suppose
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Feb 17, 2024 23:40
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Hi Neatholm, Bye Neatholm And here we visit Neatholm for the first and quite possibly last time in the game, depending on your choices and companion quests. I have to say it's a bit of a pity, since I personally think the mongrels are one of the AP's more unique aspects (I certainly don't recall other mongrel people making an appearance in the other APs), but eh, what can you do. In any case, there's not really much to say here AP-wise, so it won't be very long. That said, I also have to admit that reading Lann's dialogue is kind of odd. Not in how it's presented, but in that I've only ever taken him along instead of Wenduag once, and it's giving me an odd sense of deja vu reading his dialogue here  I still think he should've got a portrait in Wrath; I'd like to see what Owlcat's artists would have made of him. Chief Sull has a surprising amount of revealed backstory in the AP, and most of it can be naturally discovered by the players, as opposed to some other NPCs who just appear as minibosses (such as Wenduag). Unlike the relatively united, peaceful tribe among many he leads in Wrath, in the AP he's already dealing with a rebellion (of whom Wenduag is a part of), and is considerably a bit more hardline. More interesting is that Cyth is apparently taking a 'canon' approach, in that if the PCs need more help, Sull will send Lann off to further guide them and serve as envoy to the surfacers. Unfortunately for Wrath players, he doesn't give us the +1 morningstar AP players would have got  OG Hulrun, looking like even more of a hardass than in-game. I forgot to talk about Hulrun in the first AP-related post, so I might as well talk about him here. In the AP, he's infamous for both his witch burnings, but also for his leadership of Kenabres and his strategic genius in its defence. Unfortunately, all the strategic genius in the world couldn't protect against a demon the size of a building personally coming over to kick everyone's arses. True, it wasn't Deskari in the original AP, but honestly, for the average joe (hell, even for the average PC) it wouldn't really matter who Kenabres's butcher was, be it Deskari or some other greater Demon. There's a little more to say about his AP incarnation, but that can wait for later.  I can't be the only one who finds 'Horgus Gwerm' to be an inherently funny name, can I? And here we finally meet Horgus Gwerm. In the original AP, he, Anevia and Aravashnial were supposed to be the three NPCs who were with the PCs in the festival square and fell down the hole alongside them. Where Anevia and Aravashnial were both Good-aligned (NG and CG respectively) and highly capable (if somewhat hindered to allow the PCs to shine), Horgus was... neither. If Wrath (the CRPG) has hope as its main theme, the AP's narrative thread is one of passing trials and being rewarded for them- and Horgus is your PCs' first such trial. A Lawful Neutral merchant without PC classes and a Karen personality before we coined the word (heck, just look at his dialogue in the LP- that was him being nice), Horgus was there to test both the PCs' builds and their patience. However, a party that managed to haul his fat arse out of the underground and into safety would find themselves with a steadfast, actually-bluntly-honest ally for at least the next book, and perhaps beyond depending on how reliant the party was on spending money.
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Feb 19, 2024 13:40
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Torrannor posted:But in these settings, there are outside forces willing and potentially able to eradicate/enslave all of mankind, and I'm really not sure whether that should be reason to excuse some abhorrent behavior or not. I think it should depend on the scale and/or survival prospects; even assuming the non-involvement of PC characters, there are plenty of ways and means to root out most demonic infiltrators without resorting to witch burnings, for example. If a demon horde is about to burn down a city, then it might be worth giving anyone who isn't a mass-murderer a sword and crossbow, even if the Paladin's Detect Evil-o-Meter's pinging like a police siren.
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Feb 19, 2024 20:43
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Vargatron posted:Another one I saw is Law/Chaos being your view on a structured social order and Good/Evil being your value of human life. For Pathfinder, this is actually the better viewpoint, with the addendum of your actions/inactions also playing a part in it- it's entirely possible for someone who likes to consider themself a good person to be considered Evil (or at least Neutral) by both cosmology and Detect Evil effects simply because they're too apathetic to do anything but stand by when evil is done. It's also possible for someone who is a right Evil bastard to bump themself up a few alignment points to 'officially' Neutral if they take enough steps to mitigate the harm they do, e.g. a ruthless politician who sponsors good works and manages to keep their evildoing above-board by manipulating local laws.
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Feb 19, 2024 23:30
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steinrokkan posted:Same reason is why I hate that you must choose hyper-specific weapon specialization for one of the 200 nonsensical weapon types, in a game where all the important weapons are fixed but you have no way of knowing what they are before you come across them. I usually find it a safe bet in D&D-likes to always specialize in longswords; everyone loves a longsword. One weapon I didn't expect to get a lot of love in Wrath was the glaive- seriously, there's a lot of good glaives in this game! As a longtime spear/polearm enjoyer, I got all  over the love Wrath showed them, or at least that one small subset of them (seriously, they really should have done what that one mod does and consolidated weapons into groups).
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Feb 20, 2024 18:33
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Path(ways) Of The Righteous So, the Shield Maze. First thing first about the Shield Maze, this is the first big game-related diversion from the AP, in that the AP didn't have the Shield Maze. Instead, we got the Mongrel Lair™.  The OG AP OpFor HQ. I wouldn't worry too much about the location markers unless you're planning to play the AP for yourself. This was where the rebel tribe of mongrelmen (as opposed to mere mongrlmen cultists) set up their own cave home The first 'real' challenge of the cave rebels would have been Wenduag at H4, but since she's met alone to fight against 4-6 (most probably optimized) PCs and their NPC backup, she's less of an actual miniboss and more of a speedbump. She doesn't retreat when heavily wounded, which means that she's even less of a challenge if your PCs stealthed themselves past the guards who might have reinforced her or summoned reinforcements for her. Honestly, apart from a giant amoeba at H5, the mongrelmen portion of the caves isn't really all that hard, and it's easy to see why Wrath went around raising the general CR of the dungeon with demons and elementals and all sorts.  A Baphomet cultist doing the fanservice pose in heeled boots  Pathfinder tries to be as diverse and representative as possible, but it does stumble a few times (at least in 1st Edition) and you'd best believe I will have some things to say about that representation when it comes.The first actual challenge of the dungeon comes with two cultists of Baphomet at H10. 2nd-level characters with a level in cleric and fighter each, their real threat is in the scrolls of Cause Fear that they have. If they get the initiative and the PCs don't roll well on their WIll saves, that's up to two PCs out of the fight, and since they also target Paladins or any obviously Good fighters first, that's a good portion of the tankline potentially gone. Time to re-roll, or explore the RP opportunities of playing 'counts-as-tiefling' mongrelmen through Lann or Dyra (IIRC there weren't any actual unique racial rules for PC mongrelmen, which sucks). And that doesn't take into account any mongrelman reinforcements they have! IMO this is an AP encounter that doesn't really need DM intervention to make more challenging, even for optimized characters and counting the backup from Anevia and Aravashnial, since most builds don't really come into their own at low levels. Even the AP writers knew this, with one cultist running for it if the other dies to make things easier for your group.  Meet original flavour Hosilla! Thanks to the action economy, less difficult than her flunkies. Honestly, Hosilla is a bit of a breather compared to the cultists. Unlike Wrath, in the AP her only backup is a tiefling warrior with only 10 HP. She's not in the caves of her own volition; a traitor amongst the demon's forces ordered her into the caverns as a purge was coming. Ando she ventured into the caves, met up with a group of mongrel traitors whom she used as occasional spies, sacrificed their leader and his lover, then took over. It's quite the backstory for someone who is basically the first boss of the AP, and not a very hard one at that unless the DM has her reinforce the cultists or vice versa- but considering Hosilla is found at location H9 on the map and the cultists at H10, that's not very likely. The final challenge of the cave dungeon are a pair of dretches at H15 (the sole actual maze portion of the dungeon). By this time, the PCs ought to have at least a level under their belt and +1 weapons (the morningstar from Chief Sull, and Hosilla's +1 glaive). If need be, this might be a good place for AP Lann to do a noble sacrifice, or to replace a PC who's done the same since the dretches do have the same immunities and resistances they have in Wrath. Hopefully the DM's remembered to give you guys some cold iron weapons, or allowed to to rest a bit after Hosilla and Co. That said, once you're done with this bit, your characters are done, and free to go to the next big digression between this AP and Wrath itself.
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Feb 22, 2024 07:50
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:patient zero of 'they wrote this sequence back when Lann was The Good One and Wendaug was The Evil One' Speaking as a Wenduag fan myself, I kind of disagree with this. Owlcat did a lot of rewrites between the beta and the final product, they could have redone this scene as well. I think they realized most people were going to side with the hot monstergirl over the guy on the cover of a forbidden love romance novel, and this was going to be their way of encouraging people to take Lann. Yeah, Wenduag was pretty open about being a "I AM IN CONDITION YELLOW" survival of the fittest character from the outset, but considering how many people were willing and able to overlook Camellia, it's hard not to think that some anvils might need dropping. Mind you, people would still rationalize things away regardless of how Owlcat wanted to present things. Me personally, I did so for my Good characters by reasoning that Wenduag would need a much closer eye on her than Lann did, and that Lann would also be a better influence on the mongrels than Wendy would have been if you left them to her and took Lann along. Finally, there is the fact that Sarenrae (who is my favourite PF deity and the one I always pick) would be disappointed if I didn't at least try to redeem one hardcase For me, the real "uh, let's skip over this bit quickly' moment was at the end, when your only dialogue options were either to threaten Lann to go away or to attack him.
CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Feb 22, 2024 |
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Feb 22, 2024 07:58
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I read somewhere that if your character was Urgathoan, then they'll remember a recipe for roasted aasimar and its associated marinade 
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Feb 22, 2024 18:20
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Cythereal posted:I'll talk about Azata in more detail once we actually meet that path, but of the other five early game paths at the start: Angel is associated with Iomedae, Demon is associated with Rovagug, Aeon is associated with Irori, Lich is associated with Uragothoa, and Trickster is associated with Cayden Cailean. As cool as that is, it kind of sucks that they tied the mythic paths to specific gods instead of alignments- where's the Sarenrae love, Owlcat?  Quackles posted:Wait, wouldn’t that be an aasimarinade? 
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Feb 22, 2024 20:43
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IIRC, there's a god(?) in Pharasma's Boneyard whose name I can't remember atm whose job it is to take care of the judged souls of atheists, and takes the most promising souls to turn them into psychopomps- basically the afterlife bureaucracy. They're still formidable in combat, but they mostly do stuff like paperwork and tidying things up, which shows that some things are just universal Still a bit of a punch in the face when compared to God people who get their own Heavens, or those stronger-willed Evil souls who become devils and demons. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Feb 23, 2024 |
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Feb 23, 2024 08:00
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Lord Koth posted:There actually is one final DLC coming - presumably later this year. The description basically sets it back in Kenabres as a postgame "you've won, now enjoy that celebration you were supposed to be enjoying at the beginning of the game with your companions and (possible) partner" kind of deal, though there may still be secrets and the like lurking around... Huh, then this might be the sole Wrath DLC I get myself. For those unfamiliar with Owlcat's DLC for Wrath, the DLCs cover side stories that are either parallel or in one case, a prequel to the main story itself, with the exception of one DLC that adds a character to the base game. From what I hear, they didn't really sell all that well, which is why Owlcat's going for more main plot-integrated DLC for Rogue Trader.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:38
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Took A Wrong Turn At Under-Kenabres And so we come to the first big diversion from the AP. In the original, we emerge from the caves into Kenabres proper as opposed to the Gray Garrison like we do here; indeed, assaulting the Gray Garrison is the climax of the AP's first book. As such, I'll hold off on talking about the city's encounters until we're out and about in the city proper.   Kenabres before and after. Turns out, demons aren't really big on landscaping. That said, there is one aspect of the original AP that does make it in, in that the players of both are expected to assault the Garrison multiple times, with the demons reinforcing it further every time. Since the PCs are still mortal at this point, this can be surprisingly difficult, especially once you consider the various immunities and resistances that demons have. With that said, AP-wise that's all I can really say about this section, and so that this post doesn't feel all that barebones, I'm going to expand on tthe reasons the AP's players might be here by referring to the Player's Guide for Wrath of the Righteous! Like the Campaign Traits of other APs, the campaign traits for the Wrath serve as character backgrounds and histories for why your dudes are there, but unlike usual Campaign Traits for other APs, these are very closely tied into its plot points and improve over the campaign,as opposed to to providing a little flavour and a minor bonus to your character's starting abilities and/or skills. In essence, they're premade, proper subplots for your PCs to follow (and to make the GM's life a little easier), as befits a squad of budding demigods. First up, is the Chance Encounter Trait!   Merisiel the Iconic Rogue and Harsk the Iconic Ranger, the Iconics who would have been associated with this Campaign Trait. Not the most flattering picture of Merisiel, I must admit. The Player's Guide posted:You always tended to get in over your head as a child, but your biggest youthful misadventure was the time you "accidentally" found yourself behind enemy lines in the Worldwound. You probably never would have made it back home to Kenabres if not for the help of a mysterious woman who helped you trick your way through a group of cultists. The woman never told you her name, but you remember her beauty and a deep sense of sadness she seemed to carry with her. Second, is the Child of the Crusade!   Welcome to the Fifth Crusade, starring Lem the Iconic Bard and Seelah the Iconic Paladin as the Children of the Crusade! The Player's Guide posted:Your parents were members of the crusade, as were their parents before them. (If you are an elf, gnome, or other long-lived race, these could be brothers or cousins instead, since it's possible that the Worldwound simply didn't exist at a time before you were born.) The righteousness of the crusades sometimes feels as if it runs in your very blood, and it bolsters you against demonic influence. The third Campaign Trait option is a bit of a downer, as it involves being Exposed to Awfulness.   Thankfully, the Iconic Monk Sajan is too serene to be affected, and the Iconic Barbarian Amiri was in Kingmaker, so she's gotten used to it The Player's Guide posted:When you were a child, you were nearly slain by a demon that managed to make its way through the wardstones into the lands beyond. The demon was slain before it could kill you, but you lingered at death's door in a coma for weeks before waking. Ever since then, you've been unusually hale and hearty, as if your body had endured its brush with awfulness by becoming supernaturally fit. Fourth up is the Riftwarden Orphan, who would have been great friends with Aravash- oh. Ooooh.   Who's going to tell Ezren and Seoni? Hell no, I'm not doing it- they're the Iconic Mage and the Iconic Sorceress respectively! 9th level arcane casters in a D&D 3.5-derived game! The Player's Guide posted:You bear a strange birthmark on your body-something you've learned is the Sign of the Seeker's Spiral, a rune associated with the secret society known as the Riftwardens. You have researched this rune, and have learned that the mark sometimes appears on the children of Riftwardens who have been exposed to particularly strange planar energies. Next, we're taking a look at PCs who have Stolen Fury!   They're not really the stealthy sorts, but Valeros the Iconic The Player's Guide posted:You were forced to take part in a demonic ritual as a youth after having been captured by cultists. Whatever the ritual's purpose may have been, it didn't work out the way your captors envisioned-rather than corrupting your soul, you absorbed the ritual's energy and made it your own before you escaped to safety. And finally, the most thematically and mechanically awesome Campaign Trait in my own personal opinion, Touched by Divinity!   Kyra the Iconic Cleric (and probably Iconic Everything in the eyes of her wife Merisiel) and Lini the Iconic Druid are the very obvious candidates for being Touched By Divinity, bringing a whole new level of meaning to the term '9th level divine caster supremacy'. The Player's Guide posted:As long as you can remember, you've had an unexplainable interest in one deity in particular. One of your parents may have been a priest of this deity, or you may have been an orphan raised by the church, but these alone cannot explain your deep connection to the faith. You've always felt calm and at ease in places holy to the deity, and often have dreams about the god or goddess visiting you-most often in the form of a sacred animal or creature. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Feb 24, 2024 |
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Feb 24, 2024 21:30
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Vargatron posted:Irabeth and Avenia are the best couple in the game! Honestly, I wish there were couples like that in your PC group; two people who were genuinely devoted to each other, and while they can be friendly with the PC, there's nothing sexual that's gonna happen between them (looking askance at you, Octavia and Regongar). EDIT: Seriously Owlcat, give us these two Iconics for the next game as a married couple! 
CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Feb 24, 2024 |
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Feb 24, 2024 21:32
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Gun Jam posted:Speaking of, @CommissarMega - how does the module handles the "something special about the PC" with a crew (assuming it's there, and not a videogame only addition)? The Campaign Traits handle that- I'll get into it when I talk about Pathfinder's actual Mythic Paths, but each of those campaign traits ties into a specific Mythic Path and have specific campaign events associated with them. Gun Jam posted:In a "this is a funny guy" kinda way, or "this guy life is suffering" like the iconic 3.5 human fighter before him? The latter- if any Iconic has to be the butt of a joke, or to find themselves in a pickle, Valeros is the one they usually put in those situations. SettingSun posted:I’ll let the lore master handle the specifics but I’ll say now I enjoy the AP explanation way more than here in game for a few reasons. Gotcha fam 
CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Feb 24, 2024 |
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Feb 24, 2024 22:00
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It's In The Blood (And Not Really): Tieflings Again, not much to say about the update here AP-wise, except that originally, we're supposed to reach the Defender's Heart after wandering around the ruins of Kenabres a bit. I have to admit that as someone who played the original AP for a bit, Owlcat did a bang-up job moving the Heart up a bit. It makes sense as a safehouse to have it introduced early, as opposed to finagle a way to have the players do a few sidequests in a demon-infested city without them either losing all their resources (especially if they're low-level casters) or significant DM fiat. From what I hear, most DMs have the players miraculously emerge near the Heart anyway, so Owlcat is merely continuing a fine tabletop decision That said, that isn't the AP's biggest sin by far, oh no. Anyway, so that this post is more substantial than a single anecdote, I'm gonna take the chance to expand on Pathfinder's take on the misunderstood loners and victims of prejudice whom everyone likes: Tieflings!  Behold, The products of a union between evil outsider and mortal (or rarely, mortal and other mortal with evil outsider heritage), Tieflings are usually held in contempt and fear because of said heritage- and in Pathfinder, this fear is sometimes founded. One of the dialogues that a tiefling PC can have with Woljif is whether or not he too ('he' being Woljif) can hear the call of his blood, to which Woljif replies in the affirmative, which he won't do for a PC of any other race. Because of this, planar scions (not just tieflings) really do tend to fall into stereotypes, though this does mean that anyone who doesn't tends to be more hardcore about it, having had a lifetime of experience denying the urges of their literal spiritual fabric.  Nualia Tobyn, an aasimar cleric of friggin' Lamashtu, Mother of Monsters. Not someone you'd bring home to meet your parents. But say you don't want to play 'just a Tiefling'. Maybe you have a certain, specific character concept in mind. Maybe your campaign has a theme, and a specific tiefling bloodline fits that theme. Maybe you just want to powergame without making it look too obvious by playing an aasimar (Editor's note: I'm guilty as charged ). Or maybe you want to be the specialiest-most-snowflakiest special snowflake that ever special snowflaked. If you fall into any of these catagories, then boy howdy does Pathfinder have the options for you!Finally, please take note that while the sourcebook I'm pulling this info from (Blood of Fiends, if anyone's interested) presents the various tiefling personality traits as innate and absolute, I'm going to present them as stereotypes because there is no mechanical or RP reason to actually play tieflings the way they're 'supposed' to, outside of dramatic "You won't like it when I'm angry" RP moments; defy that blood all you want!  Faultspawn, because bitter snake people need love too. Asura blood encourages its scions to be extremely misotheistic- that is, hating everything to do with the gods and religion, organized and otherwise. Even religious faultspawn tend to take more pleasure than their fellow worshippers in the destruction of opposing belief systems and their works. Good-aligned faultspawn have to be careful in their relationships, since carelessness in watching their behaviour can lead them to become emotionally abusive. Physically, they have strong reptilian features and also tend towards androgyny. Indeed, a vast majority of faultspawn are born hermaphrodites, since their flavour of bitter hatred is not limited to mortal sexes or genders. Surprisingly (and fortunately) enough, faultspawn are also one kind of tiefling that has some kind of mainstream acceptance in Golarion- the nation of Rahadoum is basically r/atheism The Country™, and a whole group of people who are predisposed by their blood to hate religion can often live comfortable, accepting lives there. Statwise, they gain +2 Wis and Dex, -2 Int, can switch out their skill modifiers from the default +2 bonus to Bluff and Stealth for vanilla tieflings, to +2 Appraise and Knowledge: Local (Perception and Persuasion: Bluff in Wrath, which is much more useful), and switch their SLA from the vanilla tiefling's Darkness to Hideous Laughter (MUCH, MUCH better). On the tabletop, PC tieflings may trade out their SLA to roll on a special table to gain a random bonus, but in Wrath, they keep their Hideous Laughter SLA and a specific bonus, which for faultspawn is a +2 to resist enchantment spells (again, very useful in a game with succubi and incubi). In a tabletop game that allows a player to pick Racial Traits instead of/in addition to Campaign Traits, faultspawn have two choices. The first is Arms Master, which gives a -2 penalty on weapons you're not proficient with instead of -4, which is kind of meh since it'd be one tedious campaign if this came up enough to be useful. The other Racial Trait, Prayer Breaker, is quite good though- if a divine caster has to make a concentration check to avoid losing a spell thanks to an injury the faultspawn causes, the DC is increased by 2. Personally speaking this is my favourite race to play in Wrath, as I see the game's main theme as redemption, and an asura-spawn cleric or oracle of Sarenrae denying their heritage to do the right thing in both this life and the next no matter what is right up my alley in both RP and mechanics.  Grimspawn, because creepy skeleton people need love too. The scions of daemons (NOT demons, both are totally different), Grimspawn are fascinated by death, decay, sickness and other forms of gradual destruction. Unfortunatly for them, their blood isn't so pure as to protect them from those same ravages, so in order to distract themselves from the unfairness of the situation, grimspawn usually go around as disaster tourists, immersing themselves in the misery that their blood calls out for. If there isn't enough suffering to go around, weaker-willed grimspawn often have no problem making their own. Physically, regardless of their physical stats Grimspawn always appear weak, unhealthy and frail. They also tend to exhibit signs of illness, regardless of whether or not they're actually sick, such as feverish temperatures and deathly pale skin. Unsurprisingly, they're usually found arising from plague-ridden areas. In terms of stats, on the tabletop their modifiers are +2 Dex and Int, -2 Wis, maiking them great arcane casters, though the penalty to Wis (and thus, Will saves) makes me a little leery. Their alternate skill modifiers are +2 to Disable Device and Sleight of Hand (so they make great rogues too), and their alternate SLA choice is death knell, which can kill a near-death creature to give you +1d8 temporary hit points, +2 strength and +1 caster level (though you don't get access to more spells) for ten minutes per HD of the killed creature. As such, these guys make excellent Eldritch Scoundrels. Sadly, Wrath depowers them by replacing their SLA with Frigid Touch and Acid Resistance 5, which isn't really a replacement for Death Knell. Tabletop racial trait wise, they're all about the killing. Death's Deputy gives +2 damage to any attack that would put an opponent's HP to negative levels without this trait, while Soul Eater gives you half your character level in temporary hit points when you coup de grace an opponent. This doesn't stack, but it does come in handy sometimes.  Foulspawn, because gross neckbeards with no sense of decorum or even decency need love too. I guess? Like faultspawn, foulspawn oppose the gods and their strictures. Unlike faultspawn, they take it even further beyond by hating ANY kind of law or restriction on what they want to do. This is thanks to their descent from demodands, evil outsiders of towering arrogance and power born from evil titans of even more overbearing arrogance and power. Those who obey their blood tend to corrupt and debase all around them, not because of any affinity towards those concepts, but because they want to and to hell with anyone who tells them 'no'. Physically, Foulspawn tend towards the 'horribly unique'. Some are grotesquely tall, some are grossly fat- all have something that makes them stand out in a crowd, and not in a good way. And that's before getting into their horrible standards of personal hygeine and grooming- something tells me that someone at Paizo had a really bad experience at a their FLGS and decided to vent here Societally, while people like to think they're confined solely to places of strong evil energy on the outskirts of civilization, foulspawn emerge everywhere on Golarion, much to the consternaion of all.For their stats, they +2 Con and Wis, with -2 Int, and switch out their skill modifiers to Intimidate and Knowledge: Religion, making them fairly obvious frontline Cleric tanks. They get Bear's Endurance as an SLA in the tabletop and Cacaphonous Call in Wrath, whih is pretty solidly meh in my opinion. Wrath also gives them +1 attack bonus to Cleric, Paladins and Inquisitors, which is even more meh, regardless or not of whether you're playing an evil character. In terms of tabletop Racial Traits, God Scorn is quite good, giving a +1 save bonus vs. divine spells, while Repulsive is more situational, giving +1 on combat maneuvers to overrun and reposition enemies.  Pitborn, because bad girls and bad boys need love too, not that you need me to tell you that. The classic femmes and hommes fatales, pitborn are the spawn of demons, and the classic bad boys and girls. They're not good for you, having a love of breaking things (indeed, breaking things gives them a high, which means your prized china is never safe even when they're in a good mood) and a hot temper that never truly cools. This means that unless they relly push down their blood's call, an enmity with a pitborn will never truly die unless the pitborn or their hated thing/person does. On the upside, this makes is surprisingly easy to play a pitborn as a passionate Spanish lover stereotype. Physically, while they're 99.9% physically perfect in a tiefling sort of way, pitborn always have some small but obvious imperfection like heterochromia, mismatched ears, a shorter horn etc, and they can get reflexively pissed when someone points these out, leading to the kinds of vendettas detailed above. That said, some pitborn have even more obvious deformities like spines all along one side of the body or the head of a vestigial twin- though again, this somehow doesn't detract from their otherworldly beauty. Obviously most pitborn in Golarion are found in and around the Worldwound, but this is only in terms of proportions, Otherwise, their numbers elsewhere are generally on par with those of other tieflings- anywhere where a lonely caster class summons a demon for companionship (look mate, Occultist-archetype Arcanists can summon outsiders for 1 minute/level, you can't tell me there wasn't some hanky-panky going on), you're probably going to end up with a pitborn along the line. Statwise they're perfect tiefling paladins, gaining +2 Str and Cha in exchange for -2 Int, though I'd keep the default tiefling skill modifirs compared to the Pitborn's +2 to Disable Device and Perception. On their tabletop their SLA is Shatter (not very useful unless you fight a lot of low-level constructs). In Wrath they get Stone Call instead, along with a +2 racial bonus on all rolls to confirm critical hits, which is certainly more handy for a frontline fighter. Their tabletop Racial Traits are kinds so-so, with Deadly Rush giving them +2 to confirm crits on a charge, and Flair for Destruction giving them +1 damage against objects and constructs, which seems very campaign specific to me.  Hellspawn, because the best lawyers need love they don't have to pay for too. The children of devils, hellspawn tend towards being insanely ambitious and insanely conservative/conformist, because their minds feel most comfortable when dealing in established laws and rules. As such, hellspawn tend to find themselves a niche they can excel at and rarely venture ouside their comfort zone, though they do tend towards being socially manipulative. Physically speaking, hellspawn are the actual stereotype of how tieflings look like, what with the horns, dark red skin, pointy tail and the like. Odd eyes in colour and/or pupil shape are also common. Another reason they're the common 'look' for tieflings is thanks to the nation of Cheliax, where the Church of Asmodeus is the state religion. As such, this means that trysts with devils is common, and the products of such relationships are often discarded or used as shadowy pawns in the convuluted web of Chelish politics, or even rounded up and sold into slavery outside of Cheliax- devils are either patrons or servants in Cheliax, and having one as a lover, however temporarily, is seen as extremely gauche, with the resulting offspring having no official rights. In terms of stats, they make good frontline druids with a +2 Con and Wis bonus set, and their -2 being to Cha. Skillwise they can trade their defaults to Diplomacy and Sense Motive (Persuasion and Perception in Wrath). SLA-wise tabletop hellspawn get pyrotechnics (which is all right at lower levels) and Wrath hellspawn get Scorching Ray (which is a much better offensive spell). Wrath hellspawn also don't suffer a penalty to their Cha if they have levels in sorcerer or eldritch scion of an Infernal bloodline- but if you wanted to play those classes, why not pick a race with a Cha bonus anyway? It's not like you'd need Con or really Wis if you were playing one of those classes. Their tabletop Racial Traits are Blood Stalker, which gives them a +4 bonus to Survival checks to track an enemy they wounded in the past week, and Unearth Secrets, which gives them +2 to Sense Motive checks to try sense a target's dark secrets and vices. I admit, I really like that one!  Spitespawn, because hateful assholes need love too. Lots of therapy as well, come to think of it. In fact, let's just start with that bit. Spitespawn are descended from divs, hatefully destructive spirits thought to be the first evil genies. Answering the call of their blood curses a spitespawn to be as hateful as their ancestor, never able to feel true pleasure or happiness. The closest such being come to feeling those emotions is the smug satisfaction they get when driving others to self-destructive despair. While they mostly look like 'regular' tieflings, what truly sets spitespawn apart physically is their skin. In minor cases, this is merely unusual skin colur or patterns (e.g. splotches of colour, patches of fur etc), but more dramatic manifestations like dry skin that continually sheds dust or mobile bulges skittering under skin can also occur. Some physical manifestations can also affect their tongues. Because divs can pass themsleves off as genies, spitespawn often originate in nations where genies are popular like Vudra (Not!India) and Qadira (Not!Arabian Niiiights~). That said, they can be found anywhere, though a spitespawn born outside genie-rich areas is often descended from another spitespawn forced to leave their homeland due to their schemes and manipulations catching up with them. Their stats are +2 Dex and Cha, with -2 Int, making them great candidates for the Virtuous Bravo paladin archetype on tabletop and Charisma-based spellcasters. They can also switch out their bonuses to Bluff and Stealth for Diplomacy and Linguistics (Persuasion: Diplomacy and Knowledge: World in Wrath, which isn't bad either). Tabletop spitespawn get misdirection as an SLA, while Wrath spitespawn get Sound Burst- both useful, but in different circumstances. Wrath spitespawn also add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against enchantment spells that they cast, which is not bad at all! Their tabletop Racial Traits are Buried Anxiety, which gives a +2 to saves vs. fear unless a relatively common colour, object, sound or other such phenomena are present (yeah, this Trait sucks) and Shift the Blame, which gives +1 on Bluff and Diplomacy checks to convince someone that another person is at fault for your actions (now this I like!).  Shackleborn, because your weird ex working as a cashier down at the Walmart who's also the okay-ish lead singer in a struggling local band needs love too. Shackleborn are the descended from kytons (also called velstracs), BDSM-themed fiends from the Plane of Shadow who are obsessed with both giving and receiving pain. As such, their blood calls for shackleborn to be sadomasochists, and rarely kill their victims if they can help it. Instead, they prefer to enlighten their captives to the enlightenment of pain- and their blood is not keen on safewords. Physically, shackleborn are birthed already disigured, their skin covered in intricate lattices of scars, though many would see these as disfigurements and birth defects as opposed to otherworldy influences. As they grow up, shackleborn will gravitate towards more body modifications in both quantity and variety. In Golarion, while Cheliax has quite a few shackleborn (treated just like hellspawn are), in neighbouring Nidal where worship of the pain god Zon-Kuthon is common, shackleborn are seen as gifts from their patron god. For stats, shackleborn get +2 Con and Cha, with -2 Wis, making them even more like your weird ex working as a cashier down at the Walmart who's also the okay-ish lead singer in a struggling local band. In tabletop they can switch their skill bonuses to Escape Artist and Intimidate, while Wrath gives them Mobility and Persuasion: Intimidate, which has far fewer niche uses. Both versions also get Web (very handy) as an SLA, with Wrath shackleborn also gaining a +1 natural armor bonus to AC (probably thanks to all their piercing). Handy, given their stats making them good frontliners. On the tabletop, their Racial Traits are Chain Master which gives a +2 bonus to trip combat maneuvers with a spiked chain or whip, and Pain Artist, which gives +2 to Intimidate checks on physically helpless creatures. Both are decidedly so-so in my opinion.  Hungerseed, because brutish, randy drunkards need love too. Hopefully after they sober up. The children of oni, hungerseed share the extreme physical appetites of their forebearers. Food, drink, sex, fighting- their blood wants it all, wants it now, and wants it twice. They also tend towards bullying and intimidating people to get what they want, which means they have a hard time making friends but a an easy time making servants. Already tall and bulky when compared to other Medium-sized humanoid races, hungerseed have a tendency to grow even bigger when their emotions run hot- if you disliked them before, you sure as hell won't like them when they're angry. For those closely related to oni, they often also sport large mouth tusks, the better to rip and tear with. Though they're most often found in Tian Xia, hungerseed are found all over Golrion thanks to travelling bands of oni mercenaries making their way to Avistan. Hungerseed make for excellent frontliners due to their +2 Str and Wis, but their -2 Cha hampers their social skills a little. For some reason, their alternate skill modifiers on the tabletop are Intimidate (which works) and Disguise (which doesn't really, unless your campaign is heavy on the larger humanoids). Wrath changes this to a universal Persuasion bonus, which is much better. Their tabletop SLA is Alter Self, while Wrath gives them Invisibility, which is also much better. Finally, Wrath also gives them a +2 racial bonus to combat maneuver checks and combat maneuver defense, which can be kind of circumstantial. Racial Trait-wise, hungerseed can be Big Boned which gives them +1 to combat maneuvers to overrun people and a +1 CMD vs. trip attempts, and Superior Clutch which gives a +1 bonus to damage rolls when using weapons meant for larger-scale creatures. Big Boned can be nice, but Superior Clutch doesn't seem all that good to me.  The motherless, because even horrible things from beyond the ken of mortal minds need love too. Preferably with the lights off. These tieflings are perhaps the most  -inducing tieflings I've ever encountered. Born from qlippoth, murderous creatures from beyond reaity that hate all existence, their births always kill their unfortunate mothers as the blood overwhelms the immature baby's mind, causing the tiefling to literally tear its mother apart in its birth throes. Bereft of love and kindness from birth, the motherless are often extremely bitter and cynical, incapable of love, trust or affection. Both their blood and their experiences tell them that mortal hearts and souls are ruled by sin, and life is suffering- therefore, to end all suffering, one must end all life.Physically, they all have some degree of horrible deformity- insectoid features are common, as well as razor-sharp claws and gaping maws. The motherless are often the least-encountered kinds of tieflings around, since summoning a qlippoth is a hazardous prospect 99% of the time, and getting one to impregnate a mortal is also usually a recipe for utter disaster for all involved save the qlippoth. Even near the Worldwound such things are infrequent, as the qlippoth hate demons as much as they hate the rest of reality. Motherless are also good frontliners with their +2 Str and Wis, with a -2 Int being not so important. Their tabletop alternate skill bonuses are Escape Artist and Survival, with Wrath changing them to Mibility and Lore: Survival. Both tabletop and Wrath motherless gain Blur as an SLA (which only serves to emphasize their role as frontline tanks), and Wrath motherless also gain a free 1d6 bite attack in addition to their usual weapon attacks. IIRC this is also covered by the various bonuses that Monks get to unarmed strikes, so that's your character concept and class sorted, I guess. For tabletop players, their Racial Trait picks are the situational-yet-good-to-have Repel Sin which gives +2 on saves vs. spells and effects with the Evil descriptor, and Vile Trick which gives you +2 on dirty trick combat maneuvers.  Beastbrood, because cute catgirls and catboys need love too. And your checkbook. Born from rakshasa, beastbrood have a taste for the finest things in life. Like foulspawn, their blood fills them with arrogance, but instead of the foulspawn's tendency towards filth, beastbrood tend towards the classy. Even the lowest born beastbrood innately knows that they're descended from aristocrats, acting the part as much as they can- and thanks to their general attitude and good looks, they often get treated as such. Obviously, beastbrood tend to share animalistic features- slit pupils, fangs, a coat of fur. Even so, their tendency towards aristocratic behaviour and grooming means that instead of the revulsion other tieflings get, beastbrood often find themselves the object of positive attention- at least, outside the nation of Vudra, where rakshasa are so often the enemy of good folk, and beastbrood find it diffivcult to achieve and maintain the lifestyles they crave. It doesn't matter- a cat makes its home where it wants to, a tiger even more so. As befits their feline natures, beastbrood get +2 Dex and Cha, with a -2 Wis penalty; I'm not a fan of anything that reduces Will saves, but I think dex-based Paladins can get away with a beastbrood. They get Disguise and Sense Motive as alternate tabletop skill modifiers, which Wrath changes to Perception and Persuasion: Bluff. On the tabletop they get Detect Thoughts as their SLA, which Wrath changes to Blindness (a bit of a shame, IMO). For Racial Traits, beastbrood can pick between Bent Body which gives them a +2 CMD to any grapples, or Tough Skin which gives them a +1 bonus to AC when an opponent is trying to confirm a crit with a bludgeoning or slashing weapon. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Feb 26, 2024 |
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Feb 26, 2024 11:04
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Solitair posted:There are mods that fix this dumb alignment stuff, right? I've heard that this game has a lot of mods, so surely at least one has tried. Solitair posted:The last aborted LP of this game installed a mod that let benched party members participate in dialog as if they were in the active party. That's something I'd like to use in my hypothetical playthrough as well. Both of these features are covered by the Toybox mod, which I consider absolutely essential personally. It's so good!
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Feb 26, 2024 11:06
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Cythereal posted:In fact, I intend to eventually do an analysis of the Aeon story much later in the game because I found it the most interesting mythic story in Wrath! But much, much later once we have context for some of the things that Aeon does. Also, I mean interesting. Azata is far and away the mythic path I enjoy the most. Same here; I like that the Aeon path exists, I like the concepts it encompasses, and I'll never be able to play it. EDIT: Took out lovely nationalist joke. CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Feb 26, 2024 |
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Feb 26, 2024 16:30
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