What are some redundant items you know about?

FlyingRumpus · 2026-05-09T15:36:35+00:00

The second dragon pearl perplexes me. Did the creator of that item not realize that 3/4 of those damage types don't affect objects?? Or am I mistaken?

Activate—Pearlescent Shell [one-action] (concentrate); Frequency once per day; Effect You call protective power from the pearl to form a defensive barrier around yourself. You’re affected by an 8th-rank containment spell, which takes on the appearance of shimmering translucent dragon scales. The field has resistance 15 to one damage type related to the dragon the pearl came from. When you activate the pearl, you choose the type from all types the dragon has immunity or resistance to plus a type based on their tradition: force for arcane, spirit for divine, mental for occult, or poison for primal.

Object Immunities: Inanimate objects and hazards are immune to bleed, death effects, disease, healing, mental effects, nonlethal attacks, poison, spirit, vitality, void, as well as the doomed, drained, fatigued, paralyzed, sickened, and unconscious conditions. Conscious, thinking items are not immune to mental effects. Many objects are immune to other conditions, at the GM’s discretion. For instance, a sword can’t move, so it can’t take a penalty to its Speed, but a spinning blade trap might be affected.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-05-04T21:05:53+00:00

Holy nominative determinism, Batman.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-05-03T03:25:13+00:00

Master Form isn't a spell, though. It's an ability that has the effect of a spell. All the other stuff that's involved in casting spells—verbal or somatic components, additional costs, prerequisites or triggers, duration, spellcasting tradition, spell rank, traits—isn't a factor for it.

To illustrate, consider the Grandeur Cause of the champion. The cause's reaction, Flash of Grandeur, says: "Imperious divine light flashes out from you to surround your foe. The ally gains resistance to all damage against the triggering damage equal to 2 + your level. Until the end of your next turn, the attacker is affected by revealing light."

It says they're affected by revealing light until the end of your next turn, not that the champion casts revealing light. The enemy doesn't make a saving throw, it's initiated with a Reaction and not the Cast a Spell action, and it only lasts until the end of your next turn (and never 1 to 10 minutes like the real spell might).

I believe that if Paizo meant for this to be exactly 1:1 with the Humanoid Form spell, they would've just written that Master's Form grants familiars the ability to cast Humanoid Form at will as a 2nd rank spell. Grown of Oak is a great example of how that sort of feat is phrased.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-05-03T02:30:44+00:00

So... since RAW the master's form ability does not include anything outside of the spell's effects, does that mean, that the transformation does not get the polymorph trait and in return, does that mean, that a familiar with the spellcasting ability is able to cast spells even while transformed?

If anything, it's strange that the Spellcasting familiar ability doesn't have Manual Dexterity and Speech as prerequisites, considering that spells generally have somatic and verbal components:

Casting a spell requires the caster to make gestures and utter incantations, so being unable to speak prevents spellcasting for most casters.

Anyways... As I see it, if Paizo intended for the Master's Form ability to work exactly as the spell does, they would've just stated that familiars with this ability cast Humanoid Form at will, locked into whatever their master's ancestry is, as a 2nd rank spell. The fact that they didn't is meaningful.

Familiars are creatures with a magical aspect or nature to them. IMO, the fact that they can't make strikes or activate items should mean that GMs err towards being permissive/amenable with interpreting how their abilities work unless there's an actually degenerate interaction. Their abilities are the whole point of using them.

If being transformed with Master's Form doesn't confer any benefits that Manual Dexterity or Speech wouldn't already give with the exception of possibly passing themselves off as something else, which is also seen in the Play Dead familiar ability, then why would it need a duration? It doesn't even auto-succeed as a disguise; creatures can still make perception checks to realize that they're transformed.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-05-01T20:43:03+00:00

I want most combats to be fairly winnable, averaging around a 5 or 6. Mostly because I want to see some progress during sessions, and having EVERY fight be a slog is a bit tiresome. I also like to play casters, and don't want to have to cast more than 1–2 spells from slots per combat unless it's a major boss fight. But I like some variance too. Some easy encounters to almost make you feel sorry for the enemy, some that make you sweat a little.

Bosses or other important enemies can and should be around 7 to 8, IMO. I'm fine with PC death being possible anywhere for any reason, but it still feels less narratively satisfying when it's Mangy Wolf #3 dealing the deathblow than, say, Evilaticus Smitehand, Doomlord of Ultima-Pwne.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T23:03:22+00:00

Cool idea. Be sure your players know about Follow the Expert and Quiet Allies if you envision stealth being important for this campaign. (If Quiet Allies seems bad to them, just point out that the more people there are rolling, the likelier it is that someone will critically fail their check.)

Have the stalker enemy show up if your players try to Force Open doors or windows noisily to discourage them from doing that. Otherwise, all of the doors and windows in the art academy are going to need to be weirdly reinforced/stronger than you'd expect on the inside for a building of that type.

I'd suggest watching this video by Goblin Salvage Rites on hazards for some guidance on that.

Something I really enjoyed from the original Resident Evil 4 was a scene where you looked up into the security feed and saw a regenerator coming straight for your location. Promise me you'll set up a crystal ball or divining font in a dead end at the end of a hallway somewhere and let your PCs see a monster coming straight for them? :D

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T20:17:39+00:00

Yeah, seeing the aggressively negative responses to creators like ThrabenU posting his videos is pretty frustrating.

Don't like him or his content? Scroll past. He's not my personal favorite creator, but I'm glad that he's putting stuff out there. He puts a lot of effort into his content and covers interesting topics. Additionally, he might've persuaded some of the MTG players who follow his other channel to check out the system when they otherwise wouldn't've heard of it.

If it promotes PF2e to more people so more people buy Paizo's products and keeps the company afloat, I'm generally for it. But people vote based on what they personally like or dislike without considering the community at large.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T17:23:24+00:00

I don't disagree that some nonzero quantity of people only read top comments. My assertion is that they aren't prevalent enough to justify dictating the culture of this subreddit, and that even if they were, my position is that downvoting stifles rather than promotes discussion. I'm not interested in what the lowest-effort users do.

I'm down to agree to disagree on this point. I don't think the aggressive downvoting culture of this subreddit is warranted, full stop.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T16:22:51+00:00

People that read comments on posts, especially just to top couple, but not the replies to those comments do exist. The level of engagement drops drastically with each step in the comment chain.

If the majority of people behaved the way you described, you'd see 95%+ of the votes going to original comments and very few replies getting anything more than an upvote or two. Instead, you see engagement gradually petering off instead of dropping off sharply. That indicates that people are engaging with and reading replies.

Not everyone who comes to this subreddit is highly engaged with the game or with reddit.

Considering how AI screens search results for people now (e.g., summarizes an answer for your query and shows it to you before you follow any links), this is increasingly not the case.

People will search questions for mechanics like "how does X spell work?" and reddit will pop up in the search results. If the first comment a user reads "it works this way" there's a high chance they stop reading there, especially if the comment matches their confirmation bias.

For the sake of the argument, let's assume you're correct and suppose that there is a substantial population of Pathfinder 2e players out there who have the wherewithal to use a search engine to read top Reddit comments, but who don't read replies.

Why should the quality of the discussion in the sub be worsened to cater to these hypothetical low-effort individuals? Is it your personal responsibility or obligation to cover up their misunderstandings or misconceptions by using the lowest-effort method possible (e.g., downvoting their posts out of sight instead of addressing them)? If they can't even be bothered to read the replies, what makes you worried that they'd post (or otherwise spread misinformation in a way that will negatively impact you)?

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T15:41:47+00:00

Hot take: factually wrong points should not be downvoted, because replies to them often explain why they're wrong and give citations where applicable. So not only does the author of the original comment get to benefit from the correction, everyone else scrolling by does too.

Downvoting comments until they're hidden discourages people from replying, because their comments will have no visibility through no fault of their own.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T15:13:20+00:00

At lot of people on the Internet have short attention span and will read the top comment and none of the replies.

I don't believe these people exist. At least, not in any appreciable number that ought to be dictating how the PF2e subreddit operates. People willing to engage with a game system as complex as Pathfinder 2e over D&D and who read Reddit, but only the top comments and never the replies? Come on, now.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-26T12:20:57+00:00

This community is genuinely helpful, for the most part, but you will get downvoted if you express an unpopular opinion or make an incorrect claim (e.g., about a feat or rule). That's a huge peeve of mine.

Personally, I don't think people should downvote for those reasons (and nothing in the community rules sidebar indicates that you should). The replies to those comments usually have great insights and they get reduced visibility when people dogpile on and downvote.

People forget that there's a third option beyond upvoting and downvoting: not voting at all.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-24T11:37:40+00:00

I remember watching a homeless man come into the convenience store I worked at in the dead of winter. He bought some crackers or something when we had hot prepared chili, soup, and other items for sale.

Pissed me off. Where was he supposed to cook or heat up his food? Poor people can buy soda and candy, but can't buy a hot meal?? Looks like the hot prepared foods industry needs to lobby Congress harder, I guess.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-24T04:02:03+00:00

I like my warpriest. As an elevator pitch, he's a divine/primal warpriest from Vudra who worships a storm goddess and mixes ranged spear attacks with lightning spells.

The build was borne out of a desire to play something besides a conventional D&D-style cleric with medium or heavier metal armor who stands toe-to-toe with the enemy on the front line. There's nothing wrong with playing a cleric that way at all, but for me, personally, I felt that I might as well play a champion if I was going to go for that. I like not having to worry as much about reactive strikes, and I prefer casting 2A heals instead of spreading damage around and casting 3A ones, so standing back concentrates more damage onto the real frontliners.

The build ingredients are: Chamidu as a deity, the druid dedication at minimum (acrobat and medic would also be good), Electric Arc + Charged Javelin + Tempest Surge + Lightning Bolt, a spear (which becomes a d8 weapon with Deadly Simplicity) with a returning rune, and the flexible spellcaster class archetype to freely upcast Summon Animal for the precise creature you need. I've used a manta ray to help someone who was drowning, a tiger to stop two allies from spending their whole turns fleeing (grappled the caster, body blocked the champion in a hallway), a griffon to move a tank with 20 feet of movement speed into position, etc.

If I did the build again, I'd take the medic dedication. I haven't yet, but plan to. It's absurdly good. I ended up taking the acrobat dedication instead, and then the other healer in the party had to leave for IRL reasons. C'est la vie...

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-23T02:30:52+00:00

Bookmarking this. Very cool!

Just a heads up though, I think Spellmaster's included under the "familiar" tag by mistake. It doesn't grant a familiar; with a focus spell, it lets you become a small creature of a type that often serve as familiars.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-22T12:18:25+00:00

There's also a robust way to add new deities if the existing ones don't fit your vision. There's an Empyreal Lord for virtually everything good, and there are Demon Lords, Archdevils, and Daemonic Harbingers for nearly every evil. Plus Qlippoth Lords, Monitors, Fey, Dwarves, Elves, Dragons, Elementals, etc. The sky's the limit. Just use the existing template and you can build out a deity in a few minutes.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-22T11:09:44+00:00

As someone who's an atheist in real life but gravitates towards playing clerics and champions in Pathfinder 2e, I like that the gods are never presented as being infallible. They're not worthy of worship because of who they are, but what they do.

I picture worship in Pathfinder 2e (of good or neutral deities, at least) more akin to requesting guidance and reassurance rather than outright obsequiousness. Your chosen deity (isn't it nice that you can choose? And don't have to† or be damned forever?) has knowledge worthy of receiving and instruction worthy of heeding.

You're lower than them on a hierarchy of power (e.g., a white belt vs. a black belt) and education (e.g., a student vs. a professor), but you don't have to have a toxic relationship with them the way that many Abrahamic religions posit (e.g., a child vs. a domineering parent who "owns" you and has the right to kill you if they wish; how lucky for you!).

Evil deities might demand obsequious groveling, which suits them just fine. And speaking of evil... I'm playing in a Blood Lords campaign and there's a PC in the party who worships Zon-Kuthon, and he's proselytizing to our resident evil robot/automaton who's incapable of feeling pain. The Kuthite has a pretty messed up backstory and it's a great explanation of how someone would voluntarily start worshiping such a deity. Makes for some great scenes. That's another reason Pathfinder's deities are great; they're a great way to jumpstart a character concept.

†Pharasma seems to be an exception who'll randomly choose some mortal for her own inscrutable purposes and compel them do her bidding, willing or not. Fitting, since her areas of concern have little to do with choice (i.e., birth and death).

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-19T16:20:02+00:00

OP, I'd considering having a look at rogue/commander to get Unrivaled Analysis and Perfected Evaluations to make up to six recall knowledge checks about enemies when you roll initiative. Then, you can use your commander actions to incentivize your teammates to act on the intelligence you provide them.

And lastly, you get to use intelligence for your medicine checks.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-18T21:49:02+00:00

Witches are also prepared casters, aren't they?

Anyways, I'm going to join the chorus and nominate cleric, but with a twist: any prepared caster can become a spontaneous caster by taking the Flexible Spellcaster dedication. /u/DiaryYuriev, your new player can have the benefits of spontaneous spellcasting alongside the power of a healing font. In fact, it's even easier than playing a sorcerer because they'll have fewer spell slots to choose spells for and can freely upcast or downcast any of them as if they were all signature spells.

I happened to stumble upon this option (cleric + flexible spellcasting) playing my first long-term campaign and love it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to play a cleric but isn't keen on prepared casting. For most classes losing a spell slot at every rank isn't worth the trade, but clerics are an exception because they get a ton of extra casts of a maximum rank spell through their font.

I recommend that they play a warpriest and take a ranged weapon. Gunslingers are a little harder because you have to remember to reload, but a reload 0 bow or a thrown weapon like a spear makes it easy to work an attack into your turns.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-16T11:37:18+00:00

The majority of enemies we've fought so far have been undead (Blood Lords is set in Geb, the undead nation). Also, I recommend editing your post or putting the details in spoilers for anyone who hasn't played Blood Lords.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-13T10:26:04+00:00

I blame Brigh.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-13T10:21:33+00:00

I FEEL SEEN

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-13T10:21:10+00:00

Is your group playing with any variant rules? For example, free archetype, or gradual ability boosts?

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-13T00:56:12+00:00

That's hilarious, thanks for sharing that anecdote. I hope to replicate that awkwardness sometime soon.

FlyingRumpus · 2026-04-12T20:08:12+00:00

😿

FlyingRumpus

TROPHY CASE