Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II

[Lemmy]

Is that company notorious for its heavy-handed errata and failure to listen to feedback?

[Tels]

Oh, you've heard of them too?

[Lemmy]

You know... In case any of you invite someone new to Pathfinder, I'm creating a Big List of Feats That Do Not Suck... It won't be 100% complete of course, but basic feats and cool/effective stuff will probably be here. This way new players only have to pick from 200 feats, instead of sorting out what's worth considering from 4000 feats, 90% of which are garbage.

I decided to do it since I often play with people who don't have the time and/or inclination to spend hours bin-diving into trash to find out hidden gems.

[Zilrax]

It's not that complicated to work with. I'd say it's too simplistic personally. My problems more in three ways. That npcs work off diffrent rules. Monsters doing strange things you can't isn't unusual, but npcs? Npcs just have stats if they're enemies and can have special abilities no one else get's because. And I'm not 100% of this yet but I'm a bit concerned about the number balances.

Better people than I will probably be mathing it, but this is the cr 3 excerpt for the premade soldier npc enemy, cutting down to the important bits.

He has 22 KAC and 19 EAC, or normal and touch for simplicities sake. 48 hp. Their armor has nothing to do with their AC, it's all just fluff. The CR3's ac is perfectly their equipped armor plus their base ac, but the cr 7 combatants ac is only 3 above the baseline even though their armor gives them waaaaay more protection than that. The cr 9 soldier has a similar thing, where he wears armor that should have his ac in the high 30's but only is in the high twenties.

He has +11 to hit with all his attacks as is standard for his cr, doing damage based off his gear, generally 1d8+3 or so. +5 fort, +3 Ref, +4 Will. No unusual abilities, just a couple soldier moves you could have too.

Assuming you're a soldier too of cr 3, your to hit, assuming you started with a full 18 dex and had weapon focus is +8. You'll have +3 to damage too. Now unlike the npc, who get's free ac boosts along with any gear, you actually have to buy or steal yours. Your weapon is about on par with his even at level 1.

Now everything sells at 10% of the cost but trade goods, so you can't simply upgrade in this. Even crafting costs full market price. So you won't be able to buy over your level very often. Your entire wbl at level 3 is 4000. At 1660 you can get golem heavy armor Mk II. That'd put you at 5+2 dex Eac and 7+2 dex Kac (max dex is 2). So ac 17 and 19. It's better than the light armor equivalents. If you're a Vesk, it's 18 and 20. 18 and 21 if you take the +1 Kac soldier ability on top of being a Vesk. for 475 you can pick up a Pulsefire Gauntlet for 1d6+3+str, and then have a little under 2000 for a weapon. You could spend 1400 to get the same weapon the npc has, but it does the same damage as a level 1 laser rifle so may as well just get that. Or for the same cost as that rifle, grab a Laser Artillery for higher damage. Then you can slap on Jumpjets for 1000 creds, and then for the last 500 put on whatever misclleanous stuff you want. Maybe a Seeking Fusion to negate concealment or something. You're probably gonna be on this gun til level 6 anyways.

The npc soldier does have gear I should note thats special to them, but the stats are basically identical to the gear above with a couple quirks that aren't too relevant for the numbers comparisons.

So then we've got hp and saves. Your saves are probably about the same as his. you've 3 1 3 base, and if you're maxing dex for ranged combat you probably are at something like 4-5, 4-5, 3-5. This puts you at probably about the same range. Hp wise, at minimum at level 3 you have 21 hp and stamina, putting you at 42 EHP (Effective hp). Race gives you 2-6 more hp as well, so you're probably looking at 46 EHP. Having +1 in con easily puts you 1 above him. This gap spreads a bit later but early on you'll generally have the same or more hp than your opposition of the same cr.

So assuming you min max for ranged attacks as a soldier all toghether we're looking at the following comparisons.

EHP 49ish vs hp 48.
Saves basically identical.
+8 to hit vs +11 to hit
1d10+3 damage against tough vs 1d8+3 vs normal
KAC 19 and EAC 17 vs KAC 22 and EAC 19

Oh right Skills.

As a soldier you're stuck with being the dumbstick again. 2+int skill points and unlike every other class, you get no scaling skill bonus. And perception still is not a class skill. I'm playing one myself right now so it's pretty aggravating. I'm still seeing if the "best at combat" is best ENOUGH to validate being all but useless anywhere else.

So you're looking at 1-3 skills at most probably for the start of the game. While trained skill checks are still a thing, the dcs seem to scale way more quickly in Starfinder so maxing everything out is way more critical. Especially if you are the one with Hacking, Piloting, or whatnot.

Combatant npcs have 4 skills, 4 good and 1 Master. A cr 3 has +8 in his good skills and +10 in his masters. Fortunatly class grafted npcs basically have what those skills are settled for them.

Assuming your skills are of your best ability score at an 18, you too will have a +10 in them with no extra items, and they were class skills. If not, you're probably going to be under them in them then. And that's assuming they don't have it in abilities they don't have good modifiers for. The enemy npc has a charisma of +1 yet has a intimidate of +8 instead of the 7 he would have as a PC.

So basically npcs are for the most part as good or better than you in every way but damage, and that's not always a guarantee either. What you have over them generally is the ability to not be dead at 0 hp, and to on your own get up over and over. You can only pull it off maybe twice-three times in a day, but you have a buffer where npcs are gone at 0. They're also as equipped as good as you are for the most part.

CR seems somewhat adjusted in encounters though. One of these npcs soldiers is an average encounter, but three of them is a cr 6 encounter. Honestly even hitting this guy at level 1 would be pretty damn hard and he'd just be a challenging encounter.

So let's look at 9 vs 9.

The CR 9 soldier is a melee based soldier. He has +22 for his melee attacks, as is normal for his cr, and +18 to his ranged ones, also normal for "weak attacks" on the chart. He has an ac of 25 E and 27K, which is about 3 over the baseline for the combatant cr. His saves are 14 12 10 which is above average for both fort and reflex. Don't know if he has save boosting feats because they don't list them, so I can only guess yes.

He has 142 hp, which is actually below average for his cr, but not by much. Only 3. Since this soldier is a Dragonkin he also can fly at 120 (Player ones can only fly at 30, and they can't stay airborne for a full round until level 5), which is worth noting.

For a player soldier, specced to melee as well, the highest a score can be at level 9 is 22, or +7 str. So the player soldier has +16 to hit. He probably has about 14 dex to max his armor. So he probably has the same armor as the dragonkin, so he should have identical AC to the dragonkin at 25 and 27. Possibly a bit higher depending on if is a Vesk and took the armor gear boost. Hp wise he at the very minimum has 140 hp and it's probably about 150 or so. So he's a touch better off there. Damage wise, the pc soldier beats the dragonkin with the same weapon again, but only because for whatever reason the dragonkin didn't take Heavy Striker. The dragonkin does 2d8+15, which is cr+str, and the pc soldier can deal 2d8+19 or level+str and a half. If the Dragonkin did it'd still be 1 less, which is basically roughly where it's been even at cr 3.

So how about against monsters then? What's the big end game look like for the soldier?

Well we got a hell of a monster here for them to face. this beast is all natural doom machine. also the weakest of it's kind.

It has a Eac of 35 and Kac of 37. It has +35 to hit, or +32 if it full attacks. Being a kaiju type beast it notably has a 60ft reach.
Meanwhile you've got the best of the best. Assuming you're a ranged character with maxed dex, you're looking at hitting the 28 stat cap of +9, so +29 to hit. Heavy armor is still better than light armor even at max, so you're looking at an ac of 41E and 43K, with the usual possible modifiers tilting it a bit. It has 485 hp while you have at least 280, but probably are looking at something like 400.

Now you're not like me who's trying to see if they can make shotguns worthwhile, and probably have the best heavy weapon you can wield. Possibly two in case you're facing things with energy resistance. Regardless your to hit is +29, or +30 with weapon focus if you've maxed dex out. Damage wise the beasts attacks vary, either 4d12+29 or 8d6+29 depending which hit it nails you with. It get's four attacks, and if all hit, which isn;t unlikely you're looking at 300 or so damage.

You meanwhile have either a kinetic heavy weapon at 9d12+26 for Kac or 9d8+20 at +31 to hit with Eac. You can use Deadly aim to boost damage by 10 at a -2 to hit, and make 3 attacks at -5 to hit, putting you at +23 for Kac or +24 for Eac. Or without deadly aim, 25 and 26 respectively. You'll probably have Haste by now which basically gives you shot on the run but against something this big it probably won't matter. Haste doesn't give attacks anymore, just a move action to move with. In any case you do about 96 damage and have 3 attacks, so if all 3 hits land, not guarunteed, you do about 300 damage as well.

You'll notice there's very few ways to boost accuracy but lot's of ways to lose it. The same goes for most buffs in general. Negative levels are the best debuffs now though as they lower AC now too. Enervation is like, the best spell.

As you can see, average challenges are roughly on par with a pc who maximises their combat stats. Not maxing your combat stat is a major detriment to yourself as accuracy bonuses are RARE.

Now, having enemies be a bit tougher than you does not bother me, what bugs me is when enemy npcs who are supposedly my class and "level" are better in aspects simply because npc is above their head.

Next time I'm going to look at how all the classes stack up against challenges and each other, to see if Soldiers lack of options is valid for their combat ability. At the very least offhand I can put to rest the idea Operatives out damage Soldiers at all levels. At low levels, yes, but there's a threshold where it divides. I'll have to figure out where but at least at level 20, the Operatives trick attack does about as much damage as the Soldier's normal attack, but if they full attack...

[137beth]

Holy slapstick am I late to the party. Then again, I tend to regularly forget GitP exists. It's not in my habitual "sites to visit" yet... Plus I've been busy with college and life and what not.

Grats on the treatment! Honestly I feel kind of jealous really. Being genderfluid has me at varying levels of body dysphoria, ranging from none to "GOD DAMN IT" levels on any given point of time... But, hey, I'll save whatever cash I'd have put towards hormone treatments so I can buy myself a nice synthetic body when humans finally perfect mind-transfer cyborg tech (and if it's not 'transforming', I'll just get several!)


That said, I'm working on a fairly radical new game... I think it's radical anyway, haven't seen squat like it and I've been keeping an eye out for years now. Looking for a few people I'm fairly sure I can trust to give it a once over and lemme know what they think. Interested? (Bear in mind right now it's primarily an 'idea document' only half-full of actual mechanics, since I lost my original and had to reconstruct it from scratch )

I've been told that there are analogues of HRT for genderfluid people. It's not quite as good as what binary trans people can get, but you could get hormone treatment to be more androgynous, and some gf people prefer to have a sort of consistent level of moderate dysphoria over having extreme dysphoria some of the time. Also, getting hormones to make your body androgynous can make it easier to quickly change your gender presentation, which for some people makes things easier to deal with.

So, it might be worth considering. Or maybe you already have considered it and I'm not helping anyone with the above post

[137beth]

I just got done doing a survey for a certain RPG company. Pretty sure they're going to ignore my results. My response could not be deemed kind about them.

This past July, I installed the public beta for iOS 11 on my iPhone. The first beta version that I installed (Public Beta 3) contained a significant bug related to the lock screen. The bug only affected users who lock their phones with a passcode but have not set up touch ID. (I can't use touch ID--my phone is unable to read any of my fingerprints). A majority of iPhone users do use touch ID, so even if this bug had persisted into the final release of iOS 11, it would only have affected a minority of iPhone users.

I reported the bug in Apple's Feedback app (which is automatically installed alongside Apple beta software), and waited. A week and a half later, Apple released iOS 11 Public Beta 4. They provided no details as to what changed in the new beta (all they said was that it contained "bug fixes and security updates"), so the first thing I did after installing it was to see if the lockscreen notification bug I had reported was gone. Lo and behold, it was completely fixed.

I'll never know whether my bug report made a difference. Maybe I was the only person who reported this bug, and that was how Apple found it. Or maybe 10,000 other people had already reported it and Apple was already working of a fix before they saw my bug report. Or maybe one of the lock screen programmers broke their hand or something and needed to turn off touch ID, and thereby found the bug themselves. What I do know is that I found an issue that made it harder to use a $550 device I had already paid for, and within two weeks a company with hundreds of millions of customers had managed to fix it.

And during the entire process:
--No one from Apple said "if you can't fix it yourself you're a bad iPhone user."
--No one from Apple said "we can't fix it until our current stock of iPhones is sold out, which will take a few years, and even then in order to get a bugfix you'll have to buy a new iPhone."
--No one from Apple said "you're a cancer on our hobby and we'd be better of if you killed yourself."
--No one from Apple said "you're just a VOCAL MINORITY who loves complaining."

Ironically, the last one would have been partially true: since a majority of iPhone users use Touch ID, and the bug only affected people who don't use Touch ID, it would only affect a minority of users. For that matter, less than 1% of iOS users install the beta versions, so any bug in a beta release is only affecting a minority of iOS users (which is why Apple tries to iron out most of the bugs before releasing it to a mass audience.)

As a result of this entire process, I'm more inclined to participate in Apple betas in the future, and in turn am more inclined to buy Apple products in the future. I'm less inclined to buy anything from Paizo.

[Lemmy]

Yeah... But did a famous member of the Apple staff say that people complaining about bugs/glitches and stupid design decisions "have an agenda".

[Tels]

Has anyone been to Vegas? What's there to do besides casinos and shows? I'll be there in December and I'm trying to figure out things for someone who is on the introverted side to do. When you look online, it's the same exact list of 10 things.

[Lemmy]

Has anyone been to Vegas? What's there to do besides casinos and shows? I'll be there in December and I'm trying to figure out things for someone who is on the introverted side to do. When you look online, it's the same exact list of 10 things.

I've been there twice, but both it was just so I could attend Evo. I spent pretty much the whole time playing/watching fighting games, so I really don't know anything about the city. I barely remember where I stayed... But I do remember it taking quite some effort to find a reasonably priced hotel that I could afford...

[Tels]

The world's first official Giant Robot Fight is set to premiere tonight on Twitch at 7 PM Pacific Time. Who's going to watch it?

[Lemmy]

So... Anyone got any news from Ash? Haven't heard from her in quite a while now. Hope everything is ok, and that her therapy is advancing as smoothly and safely as possible.

[Tels]

I haven't heard from her. I like to the think nothing bad has happened, she's just been super busy, if only because there are others who have a more direct contact with her and (hopefully) would have let us know if something bad happened.

[TheGrimPeddler]

I'm just gonna leave a really bad pun here for Ashiel when she gets back...

I've started to roll up a green-furred Gnoll Druid, "Gaz Ebo"...

I regret nothing!

[Honest Tiefling]

I've started to roll up a green-furred Gnoll Druid, "Gaz Ebo"...

If your backstory doesn't involve getting awakened by a paladin and killing him, I am sorely disappointed in you.

Ashiel, what is the silliest character you have actually played with?

[TheGrimPeddler]

If your backstory doesn't involve getting awakened by a paladin and killing him, I am sorely disappointed in you.

Of course it would. I also intend for him to wield two of a ranged weapon he calls a "Shooda", preferably musket but pistols would work... Brags about it a lot. If he gets disarmed, there's a second shooda on the grassy gnoll.

[Tels]

When was the last time you popped a TTRPG Players gaming cherry? My sister wanted me to run her group of friends through my Curse of the Crimson Throne AP and I have to say, it's honestly refreshing in many ways.

They just don't know things about the game. If I pull out a custom side adventure involving a rust monster, they don't know what horror awaits their equipment, and the look of terror and disbelief on their face when the rangers brand new masterwork seord crumbles in the dust is exhilerating in a way that an experienced players look of fear and recognition just isn't.

I get to use all of the old, cliche tricks and tropes all over again. I get to see the first time they venture into kobold warren, or the surprise when they look into a mirror, and the mirror looks back.

Having to explain the rules over and over again can get tiresome, but the fresh reactions are worth it.

[Lemmy]

I started one of my current groups about 18 months ago, when one of my friends suddenly felt like playing RPGs and the others thought it was a good idea. It's fun to pull all the old tricks again, and the players are already at a point where I don't need to explain the rules anymore. It's kinda of a sweet spot.

The disadvantage, of course, is that they also don't know a lot of the cool little tricks you learn after gaming for years, and sometimes let themselves be too constricted by class names and alignment (I make a point of always saying that a class name is just a description for a bunch of mechanics, not what defines their characters, and that alignment is descriptive and generally irrelevant in my games).

And the "neutral" side is seeing them try little things like gleefully pick-pocketing (or murdering) a random NPC just because they can. On one hand, it's nice to see people TRY things not explicitly spelled out in the rules, but OTOH, "random-acts-of-mayhem-because-I-can" got old when I was 12... But I let them have their fun. It's part of growing as a player... Besides, if I take freedom of choice and agency away, what's left for TTRPG? That's pretty much the only advantage they have over electronic games!

[Tacticslion]

Hey, all! Nice seeing you, again! Unfortunately, I haven't been hanging around: lacking habits and having kids can do that. Mostly I'm just popping by to see how everyone is doing! So: how are you all?

[137beth]

Pretty good, just busy. And we don't have aliases over here so I can't Maneuver you like a Moose would.

[Tels]

I haven't been very diligent in checking up on my usual haunts the last few days. My grandmother was rushed to the ER on Hallow's Eve because some friends found her passed out in the bathtub, still dressed.

She hadn't been eating because she forgot she hadn't eaten and was just drinking water. Apparently, she was "drunk" on water and had extremely low sodium levels. She's gotten a little better, but she's very sluggish and groggy in her speech and I think she has Alzheimer's.

She's trying to talk, but she can't remember what she wants to say and keeps forgetting things she's said or where she's at. It's terrible sitting here and watching her grow frustrated because she knows she can't remember what she wants to say and there is nothing she can do about it.

It's especially hard on my Mom who had to sit here, at one point, in a conversation with her own mother as her mother told her about the things my Mom was doing. My grandfather passed away last year from Alzheimer's and dementia, and she had to sit there, powerless, as her father forgot who she was, and now her mother is starting to do the same.

I can't imagine the nightmare it is for those afflicted. Day by day, you forget everything you've ever learned until you're trapped in a building with strangers. You can't take care of yourself, you've forgotten how and you're too weak to do it. All these people are around, telling you what to do, moving you from place to place... You don't know who they are, what they're doing or why and you can't even defend yourself because your muscles have atrophied too much.

The victims are trapped in a nightmare of suspicion and co fusion, while the loved ones see someone they love look upon them with expressions of caution, confusion, and even fear.

I hate it, and I hate myself because I just want my Grandmother to pass so she doesn't have to watch the world drain away from her. I want her to go to her final rest still knowing who she is, and who her family is. I keep trying to tell myself that I just want her to be happy and whole, but it doesn't change the fact I'm wishing for my grandmother's death, even if it's with the best intentions.

It makes me feel like a monster.

[Rynjin]

Having watched three of my own family members go that way, I can't blame you. It's a rough way to go, especially if it lingers for years.

[Tacticslion]

137ben: 's'cool, 's'cool.

Tels: I'm so very sorry, to hear. I... empathize. You, and your mother and grandmother is going to be in my prayers.

[Lemmy]

Sorry to hear that, Tels. You have my empathy and support. I hope you and your family can go through this with as little pain as possible.

[Zilrax]

My condolences. I know that feeling, it's... Hard. Very hard. I don't think less of you for feeling like that. You shouldn't either.

[TheGrimPeddler]

Tels: As someone who's had family members who went that way, I wish you the best Tels.


Others: Can I bitch about the Paizo boards for a brief post? Mostly that whenever the topic of RP comes up as being a reason for not taking an option, they scream "STORMWIND FALLACY" when it's not. In this context, the rarity of a Mithril Kikko Armor in one of the "Western" nations (that doesn't trade often with Tian Xia), and a character who doesn't use armor would have little reason to wander into the armor shop to find specifically Mithril kikko armor unless already tipped off to it in their backstory or through in game events. All perfectly logical thought processes that, if a GM isn't running a Magic-Mart style game, would be in effect. Why when a GM does it, is it ok, but when a player runs by it for themselves, is it a Stormwind? Now I remember one of the main reasons I left, any conversation around RP eventually winds up with someone using Stormwind as a straw man.

[2D8HP]

....Can I bitch about the Paizo boards for a brief post? Mostly that whenever....

Really?

I saw people cite the Paizo Forum as more polite than this one (I looked at it briefly, and it's too hard for me to read on my phone, which leases my curiosity to read further).

If you tell me "No GitP is way better", then great, I may stay set in my ways!

But if otherwise is true, that may be good to learn.

[137beth]

Really?

I saw people cite the Paizo Forum as more polite than this one (I looked at it briefly, and it's too hard for me to read on my phone, which leases my curiosity to read further).

If you tell me "No GitP is way better", then great, I may stay set in my ways!

But if otherwise is true, that may be good to learn.

Paizo forums are where I regularly see people make death threats, or say various repharasings of the sentence "everyone else would be better off if you killed yourself."

It's far from the only place on the internet where that happens--most unmoderated online communities have similar comments thrown about regularly. What's really disturbing, though, is how Paizo themselves react. It's not uncommon on Paizo.com to see someone make a death threat, and have it followed up by a Paizo employee commenting that "[person who just made a death threat] is wonderfully positive and supportive."

No, making death threats or telling someone to kill themselves is not "positive." It is not "supportive." Ever. But on paizo.com, it's openly encouraged by the moderators.

[Groblutsnak]

Hey kids, how is your "Now please show us on the doll where did the bad Paizo touch you" therapy session going?

[Lemmy]

Shadiversity released a video about what weapons snake people would use... Whici is fitting since I'm adding some of those to my setting...

So Id like to ask you guys:

- What are your favorite (if any) snake people you've seen in media?
- How would you stat a (playable) snake-people race?
- What a (playabe) snake-people race absolutely can't lack (e.g.: poison resistance, having tails instead of legs, using daggers, etc, etc).

I'm also stating up centaurs, but they're difficult to create as playable race... The horse body is difficult to fit in urban settings and creates wonky visuals when we think about things as simple as climbing up a few stairs. :/

[TOZ]

Paizo forums are where I regularly see people make death threats, or say various repharasings of the sentence "everyone else would be better off if you killed yourself."

I've seen that on TGD, but last I heard Paizo had banned DIAF posts. Do you know where I can find these posts?