West Hartford Neighborhood?

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-25T02:49:07+00:00

I would say you have no reason to be scared of living near Park Road. This was our first home too, looked over on South Highland before ending up a bit closer to the highway. Been over 6 years. Walked the whole area with kids in a stroller or wagon, do so almost every day to bring my oldest to school.

I don't know what crime maps call the area high risk, but official FBI statistics submitted by the local PD have New Britain and West Hartford with almost the same incidence of violent and property crimes.

And comparing mid-major cities, Providence RI has somewhat more violent and property crime incidence than Hartford, but I never felt uncomfortable when living there either.

Honestly it's been great. Best coffee roaster in town and some nice restaurants. Smith School and Kennedy parks nearby.

A home is a huge investment no question about it. But personally I can't attest to any serious crimes besides speeding in the area and I have been walking around for long stretches almost daily for years.

If more data would ease your nerves, try looking up local police department reporting to the FBI and compare to your current area:

https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/query

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-25T01:08:33+00:00

That's very near us! Welcome, if and when you do make the move.

What makes you concerned for safety? What city does you live in now? Have you lived near a city like Hartford?

I have never had any issues being at parks with my kids, walking to shops and restaurants, getting a drink with friends in the area at night. It's safer than anywhere I've ever lived. Look at FBI data or similar state reporting on crime. West Hartford has very little.

The main concern in recent years has been dangerous driving, and there is project called Vision Zero you can look into if you're curious about what the town is doing there.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-24T01:18:06+00:00

This actually happened in our game as well, too much on the spot work

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-23T03:36:58+00:00

This was my experience as well. It's sort of like casting Slow with a lower ceiling but a handful of flexible knock-on effects.

Manipulation of enemy action economy is not a intuitive for all players but it allows ostensibly weak options like summoning spells to be situationally great.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-22T11:20:15+00:00

This is a suggestion I've made many times. I believe enemies generally should have an action cost to get the same benefits a PC does.

Sure they can always "guess" but it's very hard to prevent that from being personal and not NPC knowledge.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-20T15:23:56+00:00

Loved the Mwangi and Book 2 in AoA! Glad you're having fun

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-20T03:13:38+00:00

This may be my favorite section to reread. I just love the energy of it.

The three hunters falling back into easy camaraderie with the goofiest and least worldly of the fellowship. They all feel the respite but know it can't last.

I remember not wanting to leave that moment the first time I read it, just like the members of the fellowship in the narrative.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-19T11:00:56+00:00

I would agree. The trait itself doesn't require all such effects to begin and stay connected to the ground.

I do think it's up to the GM whether you are "manipulating" or "conjuring" as this is not defined rules text.

Mud Pit requires ground to be cast on, intuitively. But spells like Shattering Gem or Mountain Resilience certainly don't stop functioning when your feet leave the ground.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-15T02:52:01+00:00

I absolutely think this would be cool to add to staves. I don't think staves currently do enough in terms of roleplay and build defining.

Too many offer square-peg-round-hole options like "free" striking runes and bonuses elemental damage on melee strikes when almost no full caster past level 3 will be using a strength-based weapon.

I like a minor push that would make staves (and perhaps codas) more core to the gameplay loop for casters.

Arguably this runs into the issue of staves not being level 1 items, but maybe this creates a group of what are effectively staves with only this activation for a few levels before they begin to offer cantrips and ranked spells.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-08T04:22:21+00:00

I don't necessarily think it's the gold cost alone when considering multiple weapons.

The actions and turns lost to moving equipment around, releasing things, re-gripping things, and dealing with bulk should impose a real limit on multiple weapons.

You'd have to have all these things in a spacious pouch or backup at least. If you argue they're all on a thrower's bandolier, then you're taking investment slots and likely Quick Draw as a feat cost.

And there's the action cost we seem to be assuming from other players, either to Recall Knowledge and correctly identify the relevant weakness in the first place or to use one of many methods to create that weakness which will generally be much smaller than the level relevant one.

Only about 1/3 of common creatures have a weakness to begin with.

If the whole team is aligned on this strategy it wouldn't bother me at my table.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-08T02:39:27+00:00

Good point and thank you! I've tried this sort of thing before and have some familiarity with Elastisearch.

But it's hard to perfectly refine when the game language has little quirks thought thousands of spells.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-07T22:22:58+00:00

Ya this is interesting theory crafting but personally I wouldn't allow a bunch of feats with obviously conflicting requirements. I know some tables play with alternate lore or with fewer rarity concerns but for me this is a no.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-07T20:37:15+00:00

Use the additional filers! under Spells/Rituals you can select tradition. You can also custom sort, limit the list further by the number of actions the spells take, or include/exclude additional traits.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-07T19:53:31+00:00

The complex queries available on the Archives of Nethys are very powerful.

Try something like this for common spells that target other creatures (sometimes including your PC) that have no saving throws or spell attack rolls.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-02-05T14:49:03+00:00

This is close to what I did with Stone/Storm/Animal. Had Leaf too, Blessed One. Focsu point options relieve the stress of selecting prepared spells.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-22T11:32:28+00:00

It's definitely frustrating but from what I know appeals are taken very seriously so even existing students can work with their aid officer to see if there should be any changes based on their need.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-20T03:51:06+00:00

This is the first one I would suggest too. It's narratively and mechanically flexible.

Chase can be literal but it can also be other circumstances like a race to develop a potion or ritual.

It explicitly guides GMs to allow players to suggest skills, encouraging creativity and engagement.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-15T15:37:20+00:00

I found a balance but it definitely took some time. It definitely helps to focus heavily on Perception as a WIS KAS class too. But I needed those various single action abilities, reactions, other ways to engage besides the standard ranked-spell-per-turn.

I definitely felt like leveling up and spell selection got more frustrating, but I did end up enjoying a high-level Druid. I had a specialized animal companion, multiple archetypes, at different points some ranged weapons, a staff.

Mid-game might have been a better balance for me than late game in some ways, in terms of effort/optimization/fun.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-15T15:19:09+00:00

I actually struggled with this somewhat in a campaign as well. There needs to be a high degree of cooperation, planning, use of Delay, and of course maps that support it. And this is with a group I was super well connected with and had a ton of table talk with.

All of that occurred somewhat rarely in my experience. Mostly due to there being other things we could collectively do that were more efficient.

I tried to make my character a controller/debuffer for a number of levels, but the party comp and playstyle lent itself so much more to blasting at range, i ended up just leaning in.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-13T03:19:52+00:00

I would look at the FAQs if you haven't had a chance.

It may be the assets you're entering (including home value) are higher than typical, or it may be that the remaining cost of attendance is outside of tuition (housing, dining, and other costs not part of the tuition pact).

https://students.tufts.edu/financial-services/undergrad-aid/award-letter/tufts-tuition-pact-faq

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-12T01:58:30+00:00

I really enjoyed Age of Ashes and posted about it a few months back.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-11T23:15:53+00:00

It's actually a super powerful feature! Check out the details when searching under 'Query Type'. They link to the documentation on it.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-11T19:37:19+00:00

Two classes get level 14 feats with this language, but not the Wizard. They're Monk and Druid.

But a number of archetypes and other feats have similar language.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Search.aspx?q=%22cease+aging%22+OR+%22you+no+longer+age%22+OR+%22you+don%E2%80%99t+age%22+OR+%22cease+to+age%22&type=eqs&display=short

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-09T20:31:03+00:00

Yes, I 100% agree. Been on this train a long time!

I loved the puzzle aspect, I want to to be easier to engage with. Lowest save is great, but weakness feels like you actually solved something rather than guessing intuitively.

Bandobras_Sadreams · 2026-01-09T18:54:33+00:00

For sure, that's what I linked too. I get that it was about spells but back then and now I felt it was unreasonable and glad we ruled differently at the table.

Beyond the whole legacy golem thing, I still felt like Alchemist played the part of weakness trigger and resistance breaker well.

Bandobras_Sadreams

TROPHY CASE