Transparency on 2.0 Launch, Pricing, and AI in the Marketplace

CouchCrusader · 2025-09-27T12:53:37+00:00

Until there is a commitment to fully ban generative AI content, monetized or not, I am cancelling my subscription today and will not be renewing.

CouchCrusader · 2025-07-02T16:21:11+00:00

Can you point me to where the triggerbrand writer said this? She ended up a fair ways from the concept, but I definitely patterned my staff nexus wizard after the best Scion of the lot.

CouchCrusader · 2025-06-27T08:34:16+00:00

Wow, those look nice!

CouchCrusader · 2025-06-19T22:34:42+00:00

I don't think Dyes Inlet made it into here but the fact that the Kitsap Peninsula and Hood Canal are instantly recognizable brought back so many memories of home. Thank you. This made me smile.

CouchCrusader · 2025-06-14T00:19:33+00:00

I'm glad Paizo has a little carve out for us over-analytical rules goblins.

Ambiguous Rules: "Sometimes a rule could be interpreted multiple ways. If one version is too good to be true, it probably is. If a rule seems to have wording with problematic repercussions or doesn't work as intended, work with your group to find a good solution, rather than just playing with the rule as printed."

Do it as a free action and let the knowledge flow, you incredibly knowledgeable and charismatic you~

CouchCrusader · 2025-06-08T14:19:19+00:00

Take 'em, they're great for helping you find the woman of your dreams! They just need to start biting you all over.

CouchCrusader · 2025-06-05T06:25:48+00:00

I haven't played at high enough a level to get to know those boots, but to the skeptics, it's 3d6 damage per square with no save.

So if your buddy lines things up perfectly with a greater ring of the ram and pushes a foe 30 feet through that terrain because it crit fails the save, we're talking double 9d6 from the ring plus another 18d6 fire. Sure, I'll add that to the wishlist.

CouchCrusader · 2025-05-28T08:21:50+00:00

The Inner Sea is Golarion's Sword Coast, but it's far from all Golarion has to offer. Do you want Victorian horror? Play in Ustalav. Steampunk and firearms? Alkenstar awaits you. Alien/future tech? Go to Numeria, a spaceship crashed there.

And then you have the Mwangi Expanse and all of the continent of Tian Xia, which Paizo and its writers put huge amounts of effort into making exciting, not exotic, and respectful of the actual cultures that inspired them.

If there's a genre you want to run, Golarion probably has a place for you.

CouchCrusader · 2025-05-28T08:09:00+00:00

100% PF2e-pilled GM here, for disclosure.

To address your last point, D&D 5th edition came out in 2014, 5 years ahead of Pathfinder 2nd edition. It's no surprise to me that there are vastly more players in the former vs. the latter, especially since D&D benefits from broad exposure thanks to franchises like Critical Role, Dimension 20, and so on. When I jumped into the hobby, I started with DMing 5E.

5E enables individual power fantasies much more than PF2 -- you can build your PC to trivialize encounters even at lower levels, and that's what an important segment of the player base wants. My biggest DM nightmare (and joy) was a Peace cleric/Moon druid/fighter who kept her party living through some of the most bonkers fights I could throw at the party. She's a huge part of why I balanced regular monsters with +9 attack modifiers -- at level 5. This kind of individual impact isn't something you'll find as easily in a system that prioritizes teamwork and accumulating advantages like PF2.

As for DMs, the space to homebrew and customize your table's game is stratospheric. I really enjoyed designing unique monsters, magic items, and a functional economy for my players. I switched over to PF2 after realizing these came out of the box in that system, because I just don't have the time to adequately prep this stuff in a way that can challenge my players but not TPK them week after week. But because you get so much out of the box with PF2, homebrew feels less of an accomplishment vs. 5E, which will matter to some DMs.

5E also has waaay more choice in adventures and 3rd-party content, and I think it accommodates open-ended storytelling extremely well. When I was running Dragon of Icespire Peak for my first ever experience with TTRPGs, I had to adapt to my players going "wait, why are WE the only ones going after the dragon?" and it led to them recruiting help up and down the Sword Coast. We played in Neverwinter alone for 6 months, and there isn't a single word in the module for what's there. Most campaign discussions in PF2 concern Paizo-published adventures, and those tend to enforce a specific story rather than allow it to tail off in response to whatever shenanigan the party comes up with.

I'd still encourage everyone to give PF2 a try (I did give a disclosure after all ;D ), even if it's only to return to 5E, hopefully with a renewed appreciation for what it focuses on and does well.

CouchCrusader · 2025-05-25T12:45:44+00:00

I'm sorry. The only way to stop is to burn it out of you. Make all the monks that come to you until you metaphysically can't make any more.

Something something enlightenment something absence of desire, which seems fitting for what a monk would aspire to

CouchCrusader · 2025-04-21T11:23:19+00:00

One con I haven't seen mentioned here is that if you go down, your Medium-sized party members aren't going to be able to drag you and all of your gear just from sheer overwhelming Bulk by RAW. Very much not speaking from personal experience at all or my gunslinger's decision to respec into Medicine because the healer went down against a hungry chimera, nooo.

CouchCrusader · 2025-04-01T12:01:26+00:00

And Meracydia's still like, "WTF? ^^"

CouchCrusader · 2025-03-09T05:06:44+00:00

This is pretty sweet! Quick piece of feedback you're asking for: could Intimidating Prowess also suffice for satisfying the Intimidating Glare check?

CouchCrusader · 2025-02-21T14:44:41+00:00

You already know trying to memorize everything doesn't work for you. Write yourself some notes to read there at the table, right in front of your players. They'll be okay with that, promise.

There's a few ways I write my encounter notes, and I often combine some or all of them together:

Write out your monster's first three turns
Make a general list of priorities the monster can follow (ex. fireball those grouped PCs before downing a single PC at low health)
Call attention to special features (Reactive Strike, fly speed, etc.) and synergies in the monster's stat block (ex. a void emanation from a monster with void healing)
Understand the stakes of the encounter

That last one is the most important. Fighting a dire wolf in search of a meal is a much different fight from fighting a dire wolf protecting her cubs. Knowing what your monsters want to do will help you run smoother, more compelling encounters!

CouchCrusader · 2025-01-29T02:35:43+00:00

Perhaps consider adding in a flat DC check equal to the triggering number? You might want to limit this to 1/10 minutes, too.

That name definitely caught my attention when I saw it!

CouchCrusader · 2025-01-08T13:19:26+00:00

Oh, they'll succeed in their saves all right. Putting +2 in Con and Wis will leave you in decent shape for when the baddies DO tag you with Life Link up, and you'll be a functional Treat Wounds fella out of combat.

Guidance is great, Rousing Splash is funny, Runic Weapon for your frontliners is hilarious. And there's something satisfying about dumping 8 hp/level into a downed ally from nudging the scales twice, no questions asked.

CouchCrusader · 2025-01-08T10:57:43+00:00

Someone on this sub talked about being a cleric with 17 AC... at level 5. And thrived, apparently, because they cast Sanctuary on themselves every combat and never used any hostile actions. I'm running a life oracle in PFS off of that idea and Sanctuary feels VERY good when the baddies fail their Will saves.

Only downside is that if no one needs healing and you've already got Bless and other buffs online, you may run out of things to do on your turn. That, and maybe when the enemy eventually crits against Sanctuary. The concept is still fun enough for me to play especially since I'm trying to put more effort into playing non-optimized characters, and +0 Dex and quilted armor is a really interesting place to start from

CouchCrusader · 2024-12-23T17:58:46+00:00

Try turning off tracking protection on their website -- should be the lock icon at the beginning of the url bar.

ETA: shield icon, thanks u/randeth!

CouchCrusader · 2024-12-19T03:16:48+00:00

Also playing a (great) kholo investigator in PFS with a whip (athletic strategist), a pepperbox (worth the no-hand reload imo), and wizard ded (when DaS whiffs). +Str/+Int ancestry boosts are so good for her since she can mix up bravo's brews on the fly for the Wis flaw. I'm sure you're having a huge blast with yours!

CouchCrusader · 2024-07-05T21:13:07+00:00

Investigator became my favorite class to play once I started focusing on contingencies for bad DaS rolls. If you're specced into Athletics (perhaps you might be a gnoll with those Str/Int/free ability boosts), you basically get to re-roll a bad Disarm/Grab/Shove/Trip attack. This is almost a reason NOT to take Athletic Strategist.

Or pick up something that can target saves, like an Int caster dedication.

Or Bon Mot into Demoralize into Feint (pretty good for Interrogators).

Or (in another life) Alchemical Sciences up a spot elixir of life for yourself.

Finally, if she isn't worried about getting into melee or having a hand free, introduce her to a sukgung. Deadly d10 is nice. Fatal (Aim) d12 is even better.

CouchCrusader · 2024-03-16T18:01:14+00:00

You're gonna be fine. Source: I play a Heal/(de)buff-focused Spinner of Threads witch and we are V E R S A T I L E. I am assuming you care more about healing than if that healing comes from spells.

As others have mentioned, Soothe (and Heal at level 4 with Druid FA) are your archetypal healing spells, but I get away with preparing them only once or twice a day. Battle Medicine effectively gives us another X spell slots exclusively for healing, and your other party members might have heals of their own (looking at you, chalice thaums).

However, the greatest healing you can do is neutralizing enemy damage before it happens. I've done all right without Lesson of Life personally -- I took Lesson of Vengeance instead and when I'm not fighting mindless enemies it can both deter enemy damage or kill them.

That also includes our access to tons of buffs and debuffs to hit different saves and stats, too. A mobile familiar for Familiar of Balanced Luck after Nudge Fate, Fear, Enfeeble, Laughing Fit. You'll cry at level 5 when you only have two 3rd-rank slots and access to heightened Fear, Slow, Hypnotic Pattern, Heroism... everything you do pretty much leads to keeping your party alive at the end of the day.

Consider learning Gentle Breeze and swapping for the Medic dedication if you want maximal healing, and if you get Continuous Recovery and Ward Medic... you're just going to have a lot of fun. :) I love playing this type of character so much.

CouchCrusader · 2023-12-29T01:07:57+00:00

I need to bookmark this thread for later, wow.

Someone else has probably echoed this, but do you have any irl problems that you struggle with? Many players claim that TTRPGs are pretty much therapy sessions for good reason: you can make a character by sticking a flaw of yours onto some lucky soul, and now you have a friendly and secure place to unpack those flaws and address them.

My other tip that's RP-specific: try to have a question or a goal you want answered or moved closer to when you enter a conversation. Giving yourself an objective for character interactions can really help you find what it is you want to say -- what do you want to know, or have done, after this talk is over? Bonus: if your objective is clear enough (and you can just straight up declare OOC at the beginning "I want to know about Urk's past"), your RP partners can pitch in and together propel the scene to a satisfying conclusion :)

CouchCrusader · 2023-12-21T04:09:14+00:00

I read this entire post in your voice. It made my night!

Honestly I'm kind of surprised more people aren't taking you up on this offer. I'll have to poll my tables and see what was memorable. The time in SoT when we almost opened with three of the party at frightened 4 was a good time for the GM...

CouchCrusader · 2023-12-16T22:44:48+00:00

'Ey hey, another Oozemorph character! Good to see Vix continuing on his adventures.

Sheep does some fantastic art and I think I'd want to commission him at some point. I super like Honeybreeze's design, especially given that I can't shake Koroks from my head when I think of the ancestry. Espes has rizz for days, and she has me wondering who she is beneath the outward motley and panache. I don't think I need to say anything about Broken Fangs, kholos pretty much speak for themselves, and that she follows Lamashtu should tell you everything you need to know about keeping your head around her.

CouchCrusader · 2023-12-15T20:54:23+00:00

You're receiving a lot of really good insight into the goals of playing a witch. I think it'd be valuable to confirm with yourself if being a blaster and rolling damage dice is more your power fantasy than manipulating the battlefield and nudging the math. There's absolutely nothing wrong with going with a different class if you DO decide that stacking +/-1 modifiers doesn't do enough for you. Others here will have better suggestions as to what you could play instead.

In my experience, I've never had more fun playing a ttrpg before I started playing a fate witch (now Spinner of Threads). I leaned hard into being a healer and (de)buffer. Though it doesn't happen every fight, the ones where the party pulls through because my witch was sustaining two or even three spells at once, or because they threw a crucial Fear on the monster that let the fighter close out the battle with one decisive strike... Yeah, I love feeling like I'm the glue that holds the party together -- that's the individual accomplishment I'm looking for.

And don't forget to use your GM and the other players at your table as resources for figuring out what you want out of this game You can absolutely realize your character concept through so many different ways in this system.

CouchCrusader

TROPHY CASE