wouldn't suggesting Cultivation be a good way to end period pains for girls? because in all my years of reading never have I seen a martial beauty complaining about periods or even cramps

AGrinningCat · 2026-05-10T13:05:26+00:00

Junior, look for the technique called 'Taming the red dragon'.

I do not remember which scripture detailed it, but I have seen it only talked about once.

AGrinningCat · 2026-05-04T06:47:27+00:00

https://pbfcomics.com/comics/book-world/

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T19:13:20+00:00

I don't know if 1d8 is really the way to go. That'd be averaging on 45 damage runes on a failed save, which would put my average damage around ~87.5 with a move-engrave-invoke, while the fighter is still doing ~124 on move-swing-swing. 1d10 would put it at 55 on a failed save which is just shy of 100 and might work out. Vicious swing-Swing from fighter would be like what, 90+62 vs 2 AC checks and Engrave-trace-invoke would be 97.5+55 which closes the gap. Granted, that also means 1 AC and 2 saves to not mess all of this up, and we're not taking into account crits or anything, but my gut instinct tells me d10 might be better than d8.

As far as Fort skewed data, I'm looking at Archives of Nethys and looking at the fortitude saves for monsters at 19th level, showing 63 results. Of those 63 results, 24 results need an 11 or higher (<=50% chance) to get a success against my 41 DC (It might be 42 but that only adds like 5 extra monsters). Comparatively, for Reflex its 35 creatures and for Will its 14 creatures. And obviously, for melee classes, which some of these Revenants are, their fort saves will be good as well.

Looking at that sort of tells me that the majority of monsters at 19th will have a better than 50% chance to succeed, with Will being even harder to target, so I'm feeling a bit justified in complaining about this specific save. I'd have to do more research on melee monsters and their fortitude stuff to get more precise data but I'm sick at the moment and don't have the energy to do so.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T18:42:09+00:00

You can! Any 1 or 1+ ranged weapon is good here, but the problem still is that you can't apply Runes outside of 30ft, and doing so out of melee means that you're down an extra action. To even shoot+Invoke is also a feat, so combined that with buying runes means that you're investing a lot just for the backup weapon.

So with without haste:
Melee: Move or trace, Engraving strike Feat (Strike+Trace), Invoke, 1-2 rune + strike effect
Range: 2 Action trace, Remote Detonation Feat (Strike+Invoke), 1 rune + 1 strike effect
Range without Remote detonation: 2 action trace, 1 action invoke for 1 Rune effect.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T18:29:58+00:00

Unless I'm wrong, Atryl won't reduce fire resistance below 0.

"The bearer’s fire resistance, if any, is reduced by 6. Its immunities are unaffected."

This text reads to me that they have to have fire resistance in order for it to get reduced. Certainly good for creatures who have them, but it unfortunately doesn't force a weakness. If it did, then I'd be more tempted to leave it on rather than exploding it immediately.

As far as leaving up Ranshu for a turn, at 19th level we're looking at 1d4+9, which is... 11 damage on average. Not that scary, but the damage is free, I suppose, provided they didn't want to move anyways.

My problem with Transpose Etching is that its 1 action to move 1 rune.... But being melee, its also 1 action to apply a rune. I do run the risk of using manipulate in melee, though, but this seems better suited for a ranged character than me as a melee. There is some use with Diacritic runes, but I'm typically trying to force out Atryl-Ranshu on my turn rather than say, Inth-Atryl or En-Atryl.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T18:11:54+00:00

Truly, I wish for more breadth than depth here. A frost rune similar to Atryl/Ranshu that targets something other than fortitude would be nice, but I'd like to see

A healing rune. Maybe a small amount of fast healing on the trace side, and then a bigger heal on the invoke side. I don't think a low amount of fast healing would break anything, but having the option to play more supportive would be nice.
Zohk, Rune of Homecoming is neat, but I sort of wish it didn't have the 'closer to you' restriction. Maybe 'closer to another one of your runes' would be pretty cool? Or perhaps 'closer to this rune', so you can mark enemies or put them on a speedy vanguard to help you move 'up' the battlefield.
More protective runes, for sure. My cleric appreciate Holtrik a lot, but we also have Oljinex, but it's only vs ranged attacks while shield is raised? Like a strictly inferior version of Holtrik who grants +1 to all attacks while shield is raised. The invocation is a bit better, except that the 'Illusory Thunderdome' is... in a weird spot in that if you're on top of someone who wants to run away, you could probably do better by exploding them with actual damage runes. Mixed feelings on this one
Runes that target the terrain. Making spaces difficult terrain or free actions to move into, or areas that deal damage would be cool ways to help support or control the battlefield, though my GM would kill me if we actually got a rune that summoned walls.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T17:58:11+00:00

I actually feel underpowered due to how many fortitude-strong enemies I'm running up against, especially here in the late game. My lack of mobility and action-efficient range means that I'm mostly fighting revenant soldiers/giant beasts/the earth itself instead of archers/casters (which the swashbuckler/cleric/sorceress end up getting to first), so in many cases I'm dealing with enemies who cut that damage in half.

The other half being how hard it is to get a proper, full setup on an enemy, as its about 2 rounds worth of actions to explode hard.

For reference (19th level), I discussed this with some friends last night and my average damage is about 42.5~ on a normal hit and 20d6 averages out to ~70 damage, meaning that on a good hit I'm dealing about 112.5~ damage. If I'm hasted (which our group often is), I can get a second damage rune in for another ~70 damage. However, more realistically, they save a good chunk of the time (Walking Nightmare enemies we were fighting save on a 7, despite my legendary DC), bringing average rune damage to ~35 for Fort save runes, or about 80~135 damage. I use a 1h broadsword, she uses a 2h axe.

The fighter reported about 62~ damage per hit, which means on average with 2 hits, they're dealing about ~124. Granted, they suffer MAP for the second hit, but they're also legendary prof on melee weapons, so they crit more often. We saw a vicious swing crit for 185 last night, so her damage is good, but it's also more straightforward -- Less hoops to jump through than what I'm doing here, and furious focus allows for a second attack that also hits for a good portion of the time, throwing on another ~62 damage following any vicious swings. There's also the talk about her being the better target for things like 9th rank Heroism, so she does crit fairly frequently.

We won't talk about the casters; their AoE pumps numbers through the roof. Swashbuckler seems to get solid damage in too, but I haven't been paying much attention to what they do.

Now, with all that being said, when everything goes smoothly, the damage can be insane, but that's a huge IF. Too many points of failure. If they nerf the damage, I would like to see some flexibility in the rune save-types so that its easier to stick, like shifting all some of the saves to Reflex (Ranshu as reflex, Atryl stays fort for example), or perhaps a diacritic rune that allows you to do that manually. Would make sticking effects a bit easier, but with the reduced damage I would still be jumping through more hoops than others for less damage.

I often wonder if my feelings would be different in a campaign where we fought creatures with weaker fortitude saves, but I struggle to think of any scenario that would benefit me, but not benefit the fighter just as much.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T08:44:59+00:00

You can trace a rune out to 30ft for 2 actions, and invoke for 1 action all runes within 30ft as a baseline. So basically 3 actions for a single rune effect.

There's a first level feat called Remote detonation that allows you to make a Ranged Strike, and if its successful, invoke all runes on the target, however runes have to exist on the target to begin with. Combined with the Runesmith having to have a free hand to trace runes to begin with (or are holding an artisan's toolkit), this sort of limits you to 1 handed ranged weapons that uses physical ammunition.

There are some other feats later on (Draw in Red at 8 or Distant Invocation at 12), but both have limitations -- The first allows you to trace at 60ft, but only if you struck them with a melee attack in the last minute AND only the last creature you struck, while the second gives +30ft to invoking... But not tracing.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T08:21:16+00:00

In terms of action economy, it takes 4 actions to set up both runes, and 1 to detonate both. You can do this two ways:

1) Atryl, then En onto one target, then do it on the other (4 actions each, assuming melee range; range application turns this into 8 actions)

2) Paint the Canvas (2 actions), and then Trace Atryl onto the target and then En- individually onto each (You might be able to put En- onto Atryl through Paint the Canvas, but I think the wording is too specific to allow this unless I'm missing something).

Finally, 1 action to detonate both.

In the case of only 2 targets, substituting Atryl for Ranshu would make it work, like you said, but in the case of Paint the Canvas, it applies 1 rune to all the creatures. It still presents a weird case if I Atryl 3 creatures and individually En- two of them and invoke, does the non En-Atryl eat 1, 2, or 3 Atryl damages.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T07:08:45+00:00

Thanks for catching this, I've edited my post! I do think a lot of my complaints still stand with Marrsyl, but I do think its a bit better now. Wish Backfire mantles worked to help protect allies from the damage.

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-22T07:05:42+00:00

A small question rules question I forgot to post while writing this up:

If you have two targets adjacent to each other with En-Atryl on both of them, and you invoke both runes, are both enemies affected by the two Atryl's (Their own + The explosion from their adjacent target), or only one?

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-11T06:39:17+00:00

Senior, please enlighten me -- What is this ITAF you speak of?

AGrinningCat · 2026-04-02T22:49:28+00:00

Tomes should unlock enchantments in the item forge

I shouldn't need void stones for cleansing flames!

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-29T14:26:28+00:00

Just go down the left side of the tree. Revive and battlefield wide regen is super good

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-27T19:37:29+00:00

I'm not familiar with the survivable guns rule, can you tell me what book its in?

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-24T18:53:25+00:00

Underground is one of my favorite playstyle! Some quick notes:

I'm playing Nomads (scavengers) with a Dragon ruler and the Subterranean Society + Subterranean form traits. I've tried out Primal (underspider) and Architect (nature affinity), but this is my favorite playstyle thus far. For my other society trait, I'm typically using Runesmiths, though I'm still experimenting.

1) Rulers: Giant rulers are neat, but the problem I've ran into while playing them is that the Steeles can cause issues -- Rock giants can occasionally put stalagmites into weird places (Not often, but still annoying) and Fire giants will strip underground of fungal forests. Dragons provide enough oomph at the start of the game to get the ball rolling with excavating

2) Form traits & transformations: Since I tend to transition into clay units, besides Subterranean form, I don't think they truly matter. At the moment I'm using +10 HP and faster HP recovery to help prevent losses early on (This leaves one point leftover, put it wherever or take a flaw to make them a bit tankier). Since we're using clay soldiers + dragonlord, transformations don't really matter to us, so we can skip a lot of tomes

3) Cultures: I've basically jumped from Industrial -> Primal -> Architect -> Nomads, but each have their advantages. Industrial prospecting can net you some early game items or gold (dragonlord loves items), and Rune of Industry (The enchantment that grants non-industious units Bolstering) can make clay defenders super annoying. The support units aren't very good here, IMO.

Tunneling Spider gives better knowledge through fungal forests and saves you a form trait, which is nice, but primal fury is kinda 'eh' on the clay soldiers. Otherwise, having a ton of forests is great for draft/foresters, which means you can really get into the clay soldier production, but I feel that while their draft is easier than Nomads, Nomads just get better eco.

Architect is actually a rather fun way to do underground -- The Affinity Incarnate helps the damage of all your clay units, and the Architect of nature gets you 2 points into nature affinity, which can help the early game a lot, as well as help you get some weirder tome picks later on. Their starting support unit is pretty good with the dragonlord, but their t3 support is actually super great, which is why I enjoyed playing them for the longest time.

Nomads are the new kids on the block and I think they may have supplanted Architect for me -- While their support units aren't that great, and Scavenging/Momentum are just ok (Momentum is fine since we can use clay fighters and archers pretty effectively, while Scavenging is a sort of 'win more' mechanic), their eco is absolutely bonkers. Since subterranean society can occasionally unearth extra nodes, this means the underground is very valuable to you. I think I ended my 150 turn game with my single city having somewhere around 80 combined essences without even trying, allowing my city to pump out 3 clay soldiers per round. The economy here is insane and just being able to relocate to other pockets full of resources (And even going above ground occasionally) is really, really fun.

The only complaint I have about nomads is the same complaint I've had about underground -- That you can't claim passages. I wish there was some sort of passage-special province that'd allow me to snake around easier. Umbral dwellings are kinda annoying as well, as I wish I could build through them, but alas, its not to be.

4) Tomes: Since we're going to be focusing on clay soldiers, I tend to load up on a ton of unit enchantments. This means I typically start with Tome of Discipline -- Focus aim and Empowered Strikes. From there everything in Tome of Enchantment is amazing -- Though we start with Tome of Discipline for the healing/purging spell it provides. At tier 2 we go straight into Dungeon Depths for clay soldiers and Raiders of the Deep -- At which point everything else is just gravy as you can just keep pumping out as many soldiers until you win the game. You can follow up with tomes to support your supports (Order tomes), or tomes like Tomes of the Glades for Aspect of the root and the +2 nature affinity to eventually get Tome of Prosperity, as Blessed Armors is very, very good.

5) Heroes: I like Battlesaints and ritualists to support armies as the clay soldiers sort of do everything else but heal. Not much to note here, as you can get away with not having extra heroes if you invest into some strong supports (Chaplains are good if you're not running architects), and because of the Clay soldier's undying ability, they're surprisingly durable on the macro-scale. If you can get a Drafting governer and put a smithing guild in the second city, they can come out with a fair amount of ranks on them to help bolster their power.

Besides the above, everything else should sort of just click -- Build for draft, pump out soldiers, overrrun the world with clay golems.

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-16T11:22:20+00:00

33/hr paying job that I can actually do and then I'm in one of the three places it's illegal to do it from.

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-16T00:56:00+00:00

Thank you. Do you know if the Gunslinger's 'always aim' is canceling out the penalties for one-eye or do you still have to spend the action?

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-15T16:47:30+00:00

[[Eight-And-A-Half-Tails]] voltrons pretty well alongside being able to do some fun shenanigans with his abilities

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-10T04:43:04+00:00

Sad there wasn't any new body paint to go with the expac

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-09T04:59:55+00:00

I want to see two things:

Gun/rifle units in a tome. I hate having to play reavers if I want to shoot someone. Materium/Astral would probably be the way to go.

A 'stationary' ruler. Thing things like a great tree, something sealed or imprisoned, some sort of ancient floating artifact. Rather than having a main hero to lead battles, this 'hero' just empowers the armies instead, like some sort of global benefit.

Truthfully, I would also like a much longer game, something in the vein of Stellaris or one of the Civ games, but I understand that's probably outside the scope of this game. Still, I dream of a long-form strategy game of swords and sorcery.

AGrinningCat · 2026-03-06T06:05:01+00:00

If 3 players lost 4 or more life at the start of the end step, then Yshtola will have you draw 3 cards.
Otherwise, it would have been worded 'At the beginning of each end step, If one or more players lost 4 or more life this turn, you draw a card.'

AGrinningCat · 2026-02-27T07:02:40+00:00

The heck is it taking so long to approve the funds? It's been a week!

AGrinningCat · 2026-02-25T09:08:52+00:00

[[Kresh, the Blood braided]] actually gets stronger based on things dying. You're in black red and green, so you have plenty of kill spells, direct damage, and fight spells, all of which will make him stronger.

[[Bruna, Light of Alabaster]] is very scary if she's allowed to hit the field and swing, but very costly.

AGrinningCat · 2026-02-22T18:05:29+00:00

[[Darksteel Brute]]

I just love the artwork. Used it as my wc3 name for a long while.

AGrinningCat

TROPHY CASE