The Nexus & City of Seven Seraphs - A planar metropolis with a new veilweaving class

Firstly, I am not a content creator for this project.

This is a discussion & hype train thread for The City of Seven Seraphs by Lost Spheres Publishing currently on Kickstarter.

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ign-capstone-f

It's more than just veilweaving - This book will have over a dozen designers contributing to this 400-page campaign setting inspired by Planescape that includes 7 new or expanded classes and 7 new and expanded races:
Classes: Nexus, Radiant, Echo, Aberrant/Aegis, Shadewalker/Eclipse, Aethernaut, Theurge
Races: Mirrorkin, Judow, Xodai, Veryx, Ceptu, Shadow Fey, and Rhyzala.

Backers are provided with a closed playtest alpha of the new Nexus base class to be included in the book, a veilweaver designed by Ssalarn with a strong planar flavor and access to a large variety of new veils, as well as a preview of a piece of one of the many districts to be included.

I encourage everyone to check it out, and discuss!

There's also an ongoing thread on the Paizo boards as well: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uiay&pa...-Seven-Seraphs

I barely even consider myself much of the draw for this book honestly. Colin "Planescape, Baldur's Gate 2, and Torment: Tides of Numenera" freaking McComb is working on this book, and he's basically RPG royalty. Plus a bunch of 1pp regulars like Todd Stewart and Liz Courts, 3pp royalty like Wolfgang Bauer and Dreamscarred's own Jeremy Smith in the stretch goals, my partner in crime from Spheres of Might N. Jolly is doing a new race... And this new artist Christen found, Vincent Coviello? Holy crap, he's awesome.

But yeah, if you like Akashic Mysteries I'm doing (at least one) new veilweaving class and (at least) 50 new veils that support not just the Nexus class, but the original 3 AM classes as well. It's a book with pretty equal measures of quality crunch and quality fluff, with dimension traveling ships and all kinds of adventure hooks.

What other 3rd Party system/world support will there be besides Veilweaving (Psionics, Path of War, etc)? Mostly I am curious about Drop Dead Studio content such as Sphere of Power, Sphere of Might, or Skybourne; However, I am not limited to only such.

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Originally Posted by Mehangel

What other 3rd Party system/world support will there be besides Veilweaving (Psionics, Path of War, etc)? Mostly I am curious about Drop Dead Studio content such as Sphere of Power, Sphere of Might, or Skybourne; However, I am not limited to only such.

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Psionics and akashic are the main two subsystems that will be supported. Since it's designed as a planar hub, the idea is that the cosmology and history of the City can click into literally any campaign, kind of like Sigil from the old Planescape setting, if you're familiar with that.

I'm going to paste my small review of the new Nexus class that I posted over on the Paizo boards:

"The Nexus certainly earns its place alongside the current Akashic classes, even in its early Playtest state...I love the synergy between the various veils in the Convergence 'packages', and with every new veil available to at least one of the other Akashic classes, it greatly expands the playstyle options of those classes!

As an example, the original Vizier veil selection leaned the class slightly towards evil characters; Two of the five Vizier-exclusive Ring slot veils have the evil descriptor, as well as the Vizier exclusive Heart of the Wight, while the only Vizier veil with the good descriptor is the Loyal Paladin's Spear of Light...this is remedied by five of the ten new veils associated with the Heavens being open to Viziers.

In closing, you knocked it out of the park again, Ssalarn...to everyone else, if you haven't backed the amazing City of Seven Seraphs kickstarter yet, you definitely should!"

Beyond that, this project will only get better and better with the 'Shadow Lock' puzzle/achievement system the creators are doing, which is completely separate from the stretch goals and are adding new races and classes as each puzzle-thing is solved!

Another cool reveal today on the blog, the veryx, a playable race of planar spiders. I love the art that keeps showing up for this book.

I honestly cannot believe the quality of the art for this project. Those Veryx and Judow? Totally amazing.

Having a new planar hub with new shiny toys has been on my wishlist for a while.

This book like it is one I am going to use a lot. I love planar adventures and I can think of dozens of stories just from the information that has been teased.

Just in case anyone missed, Christen revealed his 5th Shadow Lock today. The Shadow Locks are like stretch goals that go off of audience participation instead of funding levels, and the reveals so far have included two new races and a new shadow-themed base class, so if you're a backer it's worth checking out the latest Kickstarter update and seeing if you can tackle the riddle and solve the puzzle!

I backed this for $21 but have yet to recieve my closed beta pdf

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Originally Posted by AlmaPenzare

I backed this for $21 but have yet to recieve my closed beta pdf

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If you've backed you should be able to pull the playtest docs from this update link.

Ah, thank you very much

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Originally Posted by AlmaPenzare

Ah, thank you very much

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No problem!

Also, art for the female version of the new veryx player race came in and it's pretty damn cool.

Guys did you see the art fo-

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Originally Posted by Ssalarn

No problem!

Also, art for the female version of the new veryx player race came in and it's pretty damn cool.

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I was beaten to it. So is it just me or is she wearing a funny hat too?

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Originally Posted by Kaidinah

Guys did you see the art fo-


I was beaten to it. So is it just me or is she wearing a funny hat too?

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I'm not sure on the hat, I'll have to ask Christen. Also, I shared this over in the Paizo thread so I thought I'd drop it here too-

Spoiler: Part of a new veil set for City of Seven Seraphs, and maybe something else...?

Show

Aphora’s Belt of Fire
Descriptors: none
Class: Guru, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Belt
Saving Throw: Reflex
While Aphos studied darker paths, his twin Aphora reveled in the light and chaos of Fire’s purity.
While this veil shaped you gain a 5 ft. aura that causes any creature possessing an attack that can inflict poison or disease on a creature (such as an ettercap or mummy) to take 1d6 points of fire damage whenever they enter a square adjacent to you or when you end your turn adjacent to them (Reflex half). In addition, the duration of any poison or disease effect you suffer is reduced by 1 round. Poisons and disease whose effects are measured in longer durations such as hours or days (such as mummy rot) are instead reduced by an amount equal to 1 instance of their normal frequency. Effects that normally do not expire after a set duration are treated as having a duration equal to their frequency multiplied by 20.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil the fire damage dealt to poisonous or disease-bearing creatures is increased by 1d6 and the duration of poisons and diseases you suffer is reduced by 1 additional round or unit of frequency.
Chakra Bind (Belt): [G17, ?15, V16] While this veil is bound to your Belt chakra you gain the ability to summon up a chariot of flame as a standard action. The chariot remains until you dismiss it as a free action and occupies the same amount of space as a Huge creature and can carry you and up to 4 other Medium creatures (or 8 Small creatures, or 2 Large creatures) and possesses a fly speed of 60 ft. + 10 ft. per point of essence invested with perfect maneuverability. Any creature carried by the chariot gains fire resistance equal to 10 + 10 per point of essence invested as long as they are within the chariot. The chariot moves as you command it but requires your move action to do so. Any creature or object who moves through a square adjacent to the chariot or ends their turn adjacent to it takes 1d6 points of fire damage + 1d6 per point of essence invested. The chariot can be used to light flammable objects, such as ship’s sails, on fire by passing adjacent to them.

Ceradon’s Eternity
Descriptors: None
Class: Daevic, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Body, Chest
Saving Throw: none
Ceradon chose Eternity that he could love Hyandil always, and was rewarded with an eternity of regret.
Shaping this temporal veil grants you the powers of eternity itself. You gain the ability to place yourself or a willing touched creature in a state of temporal stasis, preventing any negative effects with a recurring frequency (such as disease, poison, or bleed damage) from occurring; this effect also blocks effects that heal over time, such as fast healing or regeneration, but not instantaneous effects such as a cure light wounds spell. You can only have one creature affected by this ability at a time and its effects remain in place as long as this veil is shaped. Suppressing or sundering the veil ends this protection. If this ability ends for any reason, including you willingly ending it as a free action, any effects immediately resume from the point they were at when the ability was first used.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil you may apply its effects to one additional creature.
Chakra Bind (Chest): [D19, V18] Binding this veil to your Chest chakra gives you greater control over the forces of eternity. While you or another creature is affected by the temporal stasis effect, negative conditions continue to move at their normal frequency but the protected creature is immune to their effects (so a poisoned creature would still be entitled to saving throws at the normal intervals but would not suffer the consequences of failing a saving throw, and the poison would continue to run its course expiring at the normal time). In addition, you may take a point of essence burn as an immediate action to attempt to counter a time-based spell such as haste, slow, or time stop.
Chakra Bind (Body): [D20, ?18, V20] In addition to the effects of your Chest chakra, binding this veil to your Body chakra protects you from the ravages of time. Each hour you have this veil shaped rejuvenates you, reducing your age by 1 year until you reach your minimum age for adulthood. Benefits for having reached a certain age, such as bonuses to your mental ability scores, are retained but can only be gained once regardless of how often you reach an older age category. In addition, you gain regeneration equal to 5 + the number of points of essence invested in this veil; this regeneration can only be suppressed by suppressing or disjoining this veil.

Hyandil’s Flowered Crown
Descriptors: none
Class: Guru, Nexus, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Head
Saving Throw: none
Though she loved Ceradon most of all, all love fled Hyandil upon Aphos’s betrayal and Maelwyn’s death. Flowers that once spoke of life and joy now marked promises of death.
Shaping this regal veil crown’s your head in brilliant flowers of every color imaginable. You gain a +2 insight bonus to Diplomacy checks and are under the effects of a speak with plants spell for as long as this veil is shaped. You may use Diplomacy to influence creatures of the plant type regardless of their Intelligence; you still cannot convince a plant to perform an action it would not be capable of performing.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil, the insight bonus to Diplomacy increases by +1.
Chakra Bind (Head): [G8, N6, ?6, V6] Binding this veil to your Head chakra fills the crown with verdant life, granting you the ability to breathe life into a tree and transform it into a treant (use the statistics for a treant presented in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary). You can only have one treant formed in this way at a time. For every point of essence invested in this veil, the treant gains an additional 5 hit points and a +1 insight bonus to attack rolls, armor class, damage rolls, and saving throws.

The flavor text and names for this set are particular to the City of Seven Seraphs campaign setting and are discussed in some detail on the Lost Spheres blog.

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Originally Posted by Ssalarn

I'm not sure on the hat, I'll have to ask Christen. Also, I shared this over in the Paizo thread so I thought I'd drop it here too-

Spoiler: Part of a new veil set for City of Seven Seraphs, and maybe something else...?

Show

Aphora’s Belt of Fire
Descriptors: none
Class: Guru, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Belt
Saving Throw: Reflex
While Aphos studied darker paths, his twin Aphora reveled in the light and chaos of Fire’s purity.
While this veil shaped you gain a 5 ft. aura that causes any creature possessing an attack that can inflict poison or disease on a creature (such as an ettercap or mummy) to take 1d6 points of fire damage whenever they enter a square adjacent to you or when you end your turn adjacent to them (Reflex half). In addition, the duration of any poison or disease effect you suffer is reduced by 1 round. Poisons and disease whose effects are measured in longer durations such as hours or days (such as mummy rot) are instead reduced by an amount equal to 1 instance of their normal frequency. Effects that normally do not expire after a set duration are treated as having a duration equal to their frequency multiplied by 20.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil the fire damage dealt to poisonous or disease-bearing creatures is increased by 1d6 and the duration of poisons and diseases you suffer is reduced by 1 additional round or unit of frequency.
Chakra Bind (Belt): [G17, ?15, V16] While this veil is bound to your Belt chakra you gain the ability to summon up a chariot of flame as a standard action. The chariot remains until you dismiss it as a free action and occupies the same amount of space as a Huge creature and can carry you and up to 4 other Medium creatures (or 8 Small creatures, or 2 Large creatures) and possesses a fly speed of 60 ft. + 10 ft. per point of essence invested with perfect maneuverability. Any creature carried by the chariot gains fire resistance equal to 10 + 10 per point of essence invested as long as they are within the chariot. The chariot moves as you command it but requires your move action to do so. Any creature or object who moves through a square adjacent to the chariot or ends their turn adjacent to it takes 1d6 points of fire damage + 1d6 per point of essence invested. The chariot can be used to light flammable objects, such as ship’s sails, on fire by passing adjacent to them.

Ceradon’s Eternity
Descriptors: None
Class: Daevic, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Body, Chest
Saving Throw: none
Ceradon chose Eternity that he could love Hyandil always, and was rewarded with an eternity of regret.
Shaping this temporal veil grants you the powers of eternity itself. You gain the ability to place yourself or a willing touched creature in a state of temporal stasis, preventing any negative effects with a recurring frequency (such as disease, poison, or bleed damage) from occurring; this effect also blocks effects that heal over time, such as fast healing or regeneration, but not instantaneous effects such as a cure light wounds spell. You can only have one creature affected by this ability at a time and its effects remain in place as long as this veil is shaped. Suppressing or sundering the veil ends this protection. If this ability ends for any reason, including you willingly ending it as a free action, any effects immediately resume from the point they were at when the ability was first used.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil you may apply its effects to one additional creature.
Chakra Bind (Chest): [D19, V18] Binding this veil to your Chest chakra gives you greater control over the forces of eternity. While you or another creature is affected by the temporal stasis effect, negative conditions continue to move at their normal frequency but the protected creature is immune to their effects (so a poisoned creature would still be entitled to saving throws at the normal intervals but would not suffer the consequences of failing a saving throw, and the poison would continue to run its course expiring at the normal time). In addition, you may take a point of essence burn as an immediate action to attempt to counter a time-based spell such as haste, slow, or time stop.
Chakra Bind (Body): [D20, ?18, V20] In addition to the effects of your Chest chakra, binding this veil to your Body chakra protects you from the ravages of time. Each hour you have this veil shaped rejuvenates you, reducing your age by 1 year until you reach your minimum age for adulthood. Benefits for having reached a certain age, such as bonuses to your mental ability scores, are retained but can only be gained once regardless of how often you reach an older age category. In addition, you gain regeneration equal to 5 + the number of points of essence invested in this veil; this regeneration can only be suppressed by suppressing or disjoining this veil.

Hyandil’s Flowered Crown
Descriptors: none
Class: Guru, Nexus, ???????, Vizier
Slot: Head
Saving Throw: none
Though she loved Ceradon most of all, all love fled Hyandil upon Aphos’s betrayal and Maelwyn’s death. Flowers that once spoke of life and joy now marked promises of death.
Shaping this regal veil crown’s your head in brilliant flowers of every color imaginable. You gain a +2 insight bonus to Diplomacy checks and are under the effects of a speak with plants spell for as long as this veil is shaped. You may use Diplomacy to influence creatures of the plant type regardless of their Intelligence; you still cannot convince a plant to perform an action it would not be capable of performing.
Essence: For each point of essence invested in this veil, the insight bonus to Diplomacy increases by +1.
Chakra Bind (Head): [G8, N6, ?6, V6] Binding this veil to your Head chakra fills the crown with verdant life, granting you the ability to breathe life into a tree and transform it into a treant (use the statistics for a treant presented in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary). You can only have one treant formed in this way at a time. For every point of essence invested in this veil, the treant gains an additional 5 hit points and a +1 insight bonus to attack rolls, armor class, damage rolls, and saving throws.

The flavor text and names for this set are particular to the City of Seven Seraphs campaign setting and are discussed in some detail on the Lost Spheres blog.

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Thanks for forwarding the question for me.

You know, it really looks like we might be getting another veilweaving class there. It really really does.

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Originally Posted by Kaidinah

Thanks for forwarding the question for me.

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No problem! Christen's response was
"In all honesty we asked Vincent to portray her wearing gear like a normal melee fighter would have, so her abdominal scalemail, leg-blade vambrances and her helmet-crown are all part of that. We like to imagine she won the helmet in a gladiatorial pit lending to its "Queen of the Ring" look."

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You know, it really looks like we might be getting another veilweaving class there. It really really does.

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It does look that way, doesn't it? I don't have a ton of room to talk on the subject at the moment, but I will say that Trinities are a big thing in City of Seven Seraphs and the full planned scope of this book is impressive; Christen intends it to be something that you can run an entire campaign with using no other book but the CRB (and maybe not even if that if you're an experienced enough GM). That includes being able to build an entire party capable of covering all the critical roles and functions a group might need.

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Originally Posted by Ssalarn

It does look that way, doesn't it? I don't have a ton of room to talk on the subject at the moment, but I will say that Trinities are a big thing in City of Seven Seraphs and the full planned scope of this book is impressive; Christen intends it to be something that you can run an entire campaign with using no other book but the CRB (and maybe not even if that if you're an experienced enough GM). That includes being able to build an entire party capable of covering all the critical roles and functions a group might need.

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We get it, your hands are tied, yadda yadda...until then, I'll be patiently waiting for the 'Rocket-punches people with trees' veilweaver to make an appearance. :smallbiggrin:

Seriously though, I first backed this project on the strength of the Nexus (and the associated new veils) alone, but it looks like we'll be getting a positively staggering amount of content! New races and classes, Akashic and otherwise. I'm particularly excited about the Shadewalker, as I've heard it takes inspiration (in part) from the old Shadowcaster...a class that I loved, even though it was pretty weak, power-wise.

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Originally Posted by Bahumut

We get it, your hands are tied, yadda yadda...until then, I'll be patiently waiting for the 'Rocket-punches people with trees' veilweaver to make an appearance. :smallbiggrin:

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Would if make you happy to know that I did see a tree punch a Leng spider in last night's playtest? More than once?

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Originally Posted by Lost_Spheres

Would if make you happy to know that I did see a tree punch a Leng spider in last night's playtest? More than once?

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YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!!

As I said before, you guys keep going above and beyond, especially with keeping us informed and involved in the campaign. :smallsmile:

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Originally Posted by Ssalarn

The chariot remains until you dismiss it as a free action and occupies the same amount of space as a Huge creature and can carry you and up to 4 other Medium creatures (or 8 Small creatures, or 2 Large creatures) and possesses a fly speed of 60 ft. + 10 ft. per point of essence invested with perfect maneuverability.

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I feel like this could be worded better. Maybe:

"The chariot remains until you dismiss it as a free action and occupies the same amount of space as a Huge creature. It can carry you and up to 4 other Medium creatures (or 8 Small creatures, or 2 Large creatures) and possesses a fly speed of 60 ft. + 10 ft. per point of essence invested with perfect maneuverability."

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Originally Posted by Dr_Dinosaur

I feel like this could be worded better. Maybe:

"The chariot remains until you dismiss it as a free action and occupies the same amount of space as a Huge creature. It can carry you and up to 4 other Medium creatures (or 8 Small creatures, or 2 Large creatures) and possesses a fly speed of 60 ft. + 10 ft. per point of essence invested with perfect maneuverability."

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Was actually just tidying that veil set up! Thanks for the feedback :smallsmile:

I'll note too that we've done a lot of refining, even on the more developed classes and mechanics like the Nexus, so everything is going to be as smooth and neat as we're capable of delivering by the time it's through final layout. I've been actively writing and developing materials as the Kickstarter has progressed, and we've been making a point of trying to deliver previews as soon as they're presentable so everyone can get a taste of what's in store with the project. These are previews though, and in many instances are still being put through editing and development.

Well it looks like what it looked like was what it was. New akashic class called the Radiant was announced with a darn good looking art piece accompanying it. Will this class, and eventually the Shadewalker and Echo be getting preview docs like the Nexus?
https://lostspherespublishing.wordpr...t-is-revealed/

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The Radiant promises some of the most unique support-play in the Pathfinder RPG environment and backers will receive closed playtest access at the end of the Campaign!

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Looks like a 'yes' to me.

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Originally Posted by NomGarret

Looks like a 'yes' to me.

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You are quite correct NomGarret. Radiant will be a closed backer playtest right after the campaign funds, with more to follow.

Can we get wings bind for dark side just to complete the make your own evil guy set

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Originally Posted by khadgar567

Can we get wings bind for dark side just to complete the make your own evil guy set

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There will be some cool shadowy and evil veils available in the final product. Still hammering a few things out, but there's probably going to be a veil that lets you ride around on a dragon made of shadow.

Also, I'm at PAX atm so I'm going off of memory, but I remember I wrote wing veils for both the Abyssal and Hells veil sets on the Nexus that are available to a couple other classes. Pretty sure it's spore-shooting vrock wings for Abyssal and fear aura pit fiend wings for Hells.

Vrock and roll.

Your recollection is correct. Both shoulder binds for nexus and vizier (bind at 10), with daevic getting the vrock wings also (D10, shoulder is consistent that way).

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Originally Posted by Kaidinah

Well it looks like what it looked like was what it was. New akashic class called the Radiant was announced with a darn good looking art piece accompanying it. Will this class, and eventually the Shadewalker and Echo be getting preview docs like the Nexus?
https://lostspherespublishing.wordpr...t-is-revealed/

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I'm interested in seeing how the Radiant compares to the Rajah. It sounds like Radiant may be more Vitalist to Rajah's Tactician, and there's certainly enough room for both (especially since Rajah is an initiator and Radiant isn't, already a huge difference!).

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Originally Posted by Lost_Spheres

Radiant will be a closed backer playtest right after the campaign funds, with more to follow.

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Is it too much to request an open playtest?
Feedback is pretty limited even for something like Rajah open playtest,which is from Dreamscarred(which i assume provides free publicity).