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

[Ssalarn]

Regarding the Nexus, when adding their Planar Detonation damage to a weapon-like veil attack, is it only the base damage or can they take essence burn for the increased damage? Similarly, can the tier 2 abilities of the Convergences be activated during such attacks?

You can absolutely take essence burn to apply the increased damage from planar detonation to a
weapon-like veil attack. This is also true of the Tier 2 convergence powers, though this does mean that you'll be doubling up on the amount of essence burn you'll be taking: 1 to modify the blast damage, and 1 to apply the Tier 2 effect.
Note that this does mean you can only do this with elemental effects since all of the Tier 2 convergences only apply when dealing the damage type(s) provided by the Tier 1 ability. A 10th level Hells nexus could fire off a 10d10 cone of fire by taking 2 points of essence burn, but could not deal piercing damage with the cone.

[Awun]

You can absolutely take essence burn to apply the increased damage from planar detonation to a
weapon-like veil attack. This is also true of the Tier 2 convergence powers, though this does mean that you'll be doubling up on the amount of essence burn you'll be taking: 1 to modify the blast damage, and 1 to apply the Tier 2 effect.
Note that this does mean you can only do this with elemental effects since all of the Tier 2 convergences only apply when dealing the damage type(s) provided by the Tier 1 ability. A 10th level Hells nexus could fire off a 10d10 cone of fire by taking 2 points of essence burn, but could not deal piercing damage with the cone.

Great, thanks for clearing that up.

[Mithril Leaf]

Hey, got a question about the Flexible Forms trait in the Zodiac book, specifically in reference to The Archer constellation. If I were to use the trait to add the Orc Hornbow as a form The Archer could take, would it also have automatically scaling strength for the composite portion?

[Ssalarn]

Hey, got a question about the Flexible Forms trait in the Zodiac book, specifically in reference to The Archer constellation. If I were to use the trait to add the Orc Hornbow as a form The Archer could take, would it also have automatically scaling strength for the composite portion?

Yes, it would work just like the default composite longbow form of The Archer and always have a strength rating equivalent to its wielder's Strength bonus.

[NomGarret]

4th level lunar, with halfling fcb or extra essence feat from human makes it possible to summon a cr 9 marid and as long as its not killed its hp refreshes by leaving it gone for an hour. It shouldn't be possible to summon something that is twice+ your own level in CR. Need some kind of essence cap by level on what can be burned for a single constellation.

With the same investment you could also summon all three of the archer, lion, and ram. Not saying that the quantity equals quality, but I’d want to see it in play before passing judgement on that one.

[Mithril Leaf]

With the same investment you could also summon all three of the archer, lion, and ram. Not saying that the quantity equals quality, but I’d want to see it in play before passing judgement on that one.

Furthermore, those 3 companions could all be Buraqs, granting you some nice veil additions.

[khadgar567]

yep we are playing lucy heartafillia as lunar since the summon multiple celestial spirits are in the class as well and if i not forgetting uro meteoria is one of the veils as well.

[NomGarret]

I’m guessing since Devil’s Barbs are not explicitly called out as a weaponlike veil they do not add the bleed damage of Bloodeater’s Belt, but I’m not 100% sure. Thoughts? Wrong but reasonable?

[Ssalarn]

Just wanted to let anyone who's been following this know that Endzeitgeist has reviewed Akashic Trinity, the standalone release with the Nexus, Eclipse, Radiant, and their associated veil sets. You can read the review here!

I’m guessing since Devil’s Barbs are not explicitly called out as a weaponlike veil they do not add the bleed damage of Bloodeater’s Belt, but I’m not 100% sure. Thoughts? Wrong but reasonable?

I don't have the .pdf in front of me at the moment, but I'll double-check this and get you an answer shortly.
***Edit***
As written, Devil's Barbs do not add the bleed damage from Bloodeater's Belt, so you are correct.

[singera]

i am unsure if this is still an issue or if the playtest documents are just old, but when i preordered the book and got acess to the playtest documents i found what i suspect is a typo in the radiant class witht he mytar's renewel class features 11th and 13th level class features, if this is still an issue in the final product that might prove less then steller

[NomGarret]

Haven't dug up my playtest versions to crosscheck, but I'm guessing it was fixed as the version in my Akashic Trinity pdf looks just fine.

[singera]

my akashic trinity has the issue still specificly this chunk of text for 13 and 11 is wonky
13th level: The radiant gains the ability to draw the
paralyzed and stunned conditions out of her allies
when reclaiming essence. Whenever the radiant draws
the blinded or deafened conditions out of an ally, it is
automatically cured and the radiant does not suffer its
effects.

i suspect it should say blinded and deafened at the start and not paralyzed and stunned as that is what you get at 17 as well

[Ssalarn]

my akashic trinity has the issue still specificly this chunk of text for 13 and 11 is wonky
13th level: The radiant gains the ability to draw the
paralyzed and stunned conditions out of her allies
when reclaiming essence. Whenever the radiant draws
the blinded or deafened conditions out of an ally, it is
automatically cured and the radiant does not suffer its
effects.

i suspect it should say blinded and deafened at the start and not paralyzed and stunned as that is what you get at 17 as well

It is correct as written. The radiant gains the ability to draw out status effects before she gains the ability to automatically cure them. So at 13th level she gains the ability to draw out paralyzed and stunned, and automatically cures the blinded and deafened conditions when she draws them into herself. She still needs to attempt a save or be subject to the paralyzed and stunned conditions if she draws them in to herself. At 17th level she gains the ability to automatically cure the stunned and paralyzed conditions when she draws them into herself.

[singera]

thank you for correcting me, i was unsure and must of badly read the feature

[Ssalarn]

thank you for correcting me, i was unsure and must of badly read the feature

No worries! It's a relatively unique mechanic for healing. Basically the radiant typically can't heal the nastiest level of debuffs she can remove without running some risk of taking the condition on herself, but as she rises in level she automatically cures more and more of the weaker conditions, until 17th level when she can cure pretty much anything she has the ability to draw out. So that's where that staggered progression comes in of her gaining the ability to draw out the stunned and paralyzed conditions at 13th and then clearing them completely when she draws them into herself at 17th.

Unrelated to the above (and this is for anyone who cares to respond), if you could pick any one plane not currently covered to get a veil set and nexus convergence support, which would it be?

[AlienFromBeyond]

The lack of an Elysium/Chaotic Good one always seemed like a strange omission to me. Other than that, Shadow is always interesting (but maybe too much overlap with the Eclipse, Fey World instead?), Astral could allow for fun movement stuff. That's roughly my order, maybe PEP/NEP dual plane yin-yang type thing.

[Milo v3]

Unrelated to the above (and this is for anyone who cares to respond), if you could pick any one plane not currently covered to get a veil set and nexus convergence support, which would it be?

Lawful with inevitables and axiomite type creatures, I think it's OGL name in pathfinder is Utopia. Would fit in nicely with the megaman blasters, and would mean you can have things like veils that are floating mandalas of math and equations floating behind warriors backs.

[Mithril Leaf]

The lack of an Elysium/Chaotic Good one always seemed like a strange omission to me. Other than that, Shadow is always interesting (but maybe too much overlap with the Eclipse, Fey World instead?), Astral could allow for fun movement stuff. That's roughly my order, maybe PEP/NEP dual plane yin-yang type thing.

I second the Chaotic Good idea, the Heavens gives some of that tasty flavor, but some overall there could stand to be some more Good veils. Freedom of Movement type effects, maybe granting your friends a sacred bonus to saves against MInd-Affecting. Anything that feels Freedomy seems like a good fit. I'd overall just enjoy more group buffing options though, as there are good but slim pickings. An aura of CMD boosting maybe?

Alternatively Fey would be extremely super cool.

[khadgar567]

my pick would be either clasitras realm or midnight isles but who cares i am always up for more content but can we please give bit of leg up to sorcerers like a i dontknow bloodline with uinique monsters( akashic true caster).

[singera]

I personally would like to see some more feywild stuff, more crossover for the nexus and radiant, maybe with a possibility for a straight out healing ability or two such as a good berry like effect or just a flat out healing veil along with mobility or illusionary stuff

[Quarian Rex]

Far Realms. Many, many options for aberration-y goodness, or just general strangeness.

[ghanjrho]

I'd really love to see some Chaotic Good veils. And while it's probably too late to implement in the Akashic Trinity and Zodiac PDFs, I found myself really missing the combined veil table from Akashic Mysteries. While I enjoy the veil sets, and definitely see the logic in keeping them together, being able to see them sorted by slot (and all in one place) adds a lot to ease of use.

[NomGarret]

I also think Chaotic Good would be a good pick, filling out that last alignment corner. Plus, two Azata veils are already written, so it's already got a jumpstart. An Ulnuja's Starknife veil could be a neat addition. Have it chain targets as a bind effect. Desire daevics would love it.

[Mithril Leaf]

Shapeshifting of one sort or another would be a cool veil for fey realms to access by the by.

[Kaouse]

Are there any plans for a Mythic Akashic Path? You guys could call it the "Incarnate" Path, which is a homage to 3.5's "Magic of Incarnum" system that preceeded Akashic Mysteries, while also still fitting the general naming conventions of a Mythic Path. As for what abilities you could gain from it, some of them could give you access to chakra slots you lacked access to previously. Alternatively, you could create a new chakra slot specifically for "Mythic" power. Binding to this "Mythic" slot is only allowed for Mythic characters, and unlocks a chakra bind that boosts the strength of any veil shaped in that slot beyond what other chakra binds are normally capable of. You could even have it such that you need to spend Mythic Power in order to obtain Mythic Essence to power it. I'm just freeballing here, but it would be pretty cool to have, IMHO.

[Ssalarn]

Are there any plans for a Mythic Akashic Path? You guys could call it the "Incarnate" Path, which is a homage to 3.5's "Magic of Incarnum" system that preceeded Akashic Mysteries, while also still fitting the general naming conventions of a Mythic Path.

Magic of Incarnum is non-OGL, so associating such specific terminology from the book with a mechanically similar system is a hard no-go. That being said, mythic akasha is something I've been working on for a long time and which Christen and I have discussed quite a bit, so it's very likely we'll be pushing that out sooner rather than later. First though, I've got a big handbook with more constellations, veils, nexus convergences (including planar entries and veil sets), akashic feats, and other goodies to finish getting ready for review.

[NomGarret]

First though, I've got a big handbook with more constellations, veils, nexus convergences (including planar entries and veil sets), akashic feats, and other goodies to finish getting ready for review.

It’s like I’ve just finished my Akashic meal and here you come asking who wants Akashic dessert?

[Mithril Leaf]

First though, I've got a big handbook with more constellations, veils, nexus convergences (including planar entries and veil sets), akashic feats, and other goodies to finish getting ready for review.

Oh man, are we going full Ark and selling DLC before the game is out of early access? At least Zodiac was independent.

Not that I'm not excited for more content mind you, I'd just like for what I've already given cash for to come out before more stuff to buy comes out.

[Kaouse]

Magic of Incarnum is non-OGL, so associating such specific terminology from the book with a mechanically similar system is a hard no-go. That being said, mythic akasha is something I've been working on for a long time and which Christen and I have discussed quite a bit, so it's very likely we'll be pushing that out sooner rather than later. First though, I've got a big handbook with more constellations, veils, nexus convergences (including planar entries and veil sets), akashic feats, and other goodies to finish getting ready for review.

That all sounds great. Whenever you get around to the new Mythic Akashic (and/or Mythic Spheres if it ever gets down to it) it would be nice to also include some new options for the Medium and the Host of Heroes Aegis.

[Ssalarn]

Oh man, are we going full Ark and selling DLC before the game is out of early access? At least Zodiac was independent.

Not that I'm not excited for more content mind you, I'd just like for what I've already given cash for to come out before more stuff to buy comes out.

I don't want to make any promises on Christen's behalf, but I'm pretty sure the Co7S campaign setting will drop well ahead of Akashic Realms. As I understand it, most of Co7S is already through development and layout and he's just been wrapping up some bits that came in later than scheduled. I'm chomping at the bit to have that book in my hands as well, both because there's a new vizier mystic attunement I wrote for it that I'm dying to play with, and because my job designing is a lot easier when I don't need to keep bugging Christen for the pieces I need to read and incorporate in my work. I'm confident that Co7S is going to be a book well worth the wait!

It’s like I’ve just finished my Akashic meal and here you come asking who wants Akashic dessert?

Pretty much the first responses from customers after Akashic Trinity and The Zodiac dropped were "MOAR STUFFS!!!", so convergence feats, extra nexus planes and sets, and a set of constellations based on the Chinese zodiac were high priorities for expansion materials. Because I want to make sure all the akashic classes I work on continue to see evenly-distributed support, I had to make sure I asked Christen for enough word count to make sure that the other akashic classes got their due as well.

I'll probably take a short break from akashic mechanics after Akashic Realms and focus any non-Paizo-related freelance time I have available on doing a proper adventure (adventure path?) with lots of akashic NPCs and monsters to showcase the system and options in a fully integrated setting. Mythic Akasha is already mostly written and just waiting on some discussions about what we want to do with it.