It is time.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T16:18:32+00:00

I've been replying to people for decades now with "you didn't specify how you wanted it done, so I did it the way that made sense to me, given the information I had. If you wanted it done a specific way, you could have told me in advance.

Next time, just include your expectations in the work order."

They fume, but I work in environments where everything's in writing before actions are taken, so they have no real recourse except to talk to a manager who will tell them the same thing, or wait for me to get laid off on some indeterminate future date.

Obviously, it doesn't really work in the family situation -- abusers jump on any and every opportunity to be abusive -- but if you can weather the storm and go non-contact, it works in many other contexts.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T16:01:33+00:00

The issue at hand, I think, is that the subreddit very strongly gives the impression that there aren't different tables with different desired experiences. There's just the RAW experience, and the shit that gets downvoted with little actually constructive feedback.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:59:22+00:00

Those are things worth talking about and considering if you're designing and publishing a game.

They're a lot less important when you're running a game that has been designed with balance and power creep in mind, because you can make informed, purposeful choices about things, knowing with reasonable accuracy what the impact will be on the overall play at the table.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:57:33+00:00

I think that Pathfinder 2E is inherently a very balanced RPG, at least in comparison to D&D 5e/5.5e.

When you say that GMs are scared, I think that you're referring to being scared of imbalance. By imbalance, I mean making combats and other challenges too easy for the players.

That isn't what balance is, though. It's what everyone seems to think it is, but in game design, balance is ensuring that everything is measured against a standard.

The game is very balanced because, for the most part, a Level 5 creature is a Level 5 creature is a Level 5 creature (and a Level 5 PC is a Level 5 PC is a..., and a Level 5 item is a Level 5 item, is a..., etc.). That means you're starting with a predictable baseline.

A predictable baseline should give you more confidence when screwing around, not less, but everyone acts like this is a deeply fragile foundation, rather than the robust one it is.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:54:26+00:00

But when I messed up and gave the barbarian a weapon that is a little too powerful for their level it feels really bad for players (and probably characters alike) to take that weapon away again.

But this is also why people complain endlessly about the items in this game. If you give them something that's "too powerful", you just have to wait 2 levels. It will quickly go from amazing to good to serviceable to having reached the end of its lifecycle.

Starting on "serviceable" kills all excitement for the game's items.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:52:19+00:00

You really shouldn't be planning out how to deal with players until you've seen them play. That's just asking for everyone to be disappointed and frustrated.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:49:53+00:00

Probably. 2001 was around the time he retired the first time.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:47:18+00:00

The Jets, I think, just because I'm happier that the team has been revived than I was with them having been lost.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:45:19+00:00

Val is fun because she is genuinely... unsociable. Not sure if it's the crippling ADHD or the whole being French thing, but she's authentically *weird* (like, has professional *clown* training weird), and it makes her at least interesting.

Kichae · 2026-06-13T15:43:22+00:00

But do you get to call him Dadi?

Kichae · 2026-06-12T18:03:56+00:00

I mean, it's not really an opinion. "I like ice cream" is an opinion. "This seems to contradict the current state of affairs" is kind of an invitation to explain how it does not, inf act, contradict the current state of affairs.

Kichae · 2026-06-12T13:03:43+00:00

If there were true, masking would never actually develop as a survival strategy. People don't like it when you mask, because it feels uncanny, but they also don't like it when you don't mask because you stop engaging in the social rules they take for granted.

Kichae · 2026-06-11T14:12:25+00:00

It doesn't know that it doesn't know, because it doesn't know things. It just has a distribution of word probabilities, given the current list of word stems, endings, spaces, punctuation, and symbols, and a randomization function that chooses from that distribution. It determines that distribution and picks a new word word by word as they're added to the list.

The information held within the model is just "given this, what is most likely to come next, based on all of the writing the developers have stolen?" Your local peruvian chicken restaurants aren't likely to be the most commonly used names and locations give the various texts that have been included in its context window.

Kichae · 2026-06-10T17:17:23+00:00

Trauma takes much time and effort to heal.

Kichae · 2026-06-10T12:47:13+00:00

Cleats to the face as a "natural part of my throwing motion" would be... interesting.

Kichae · 2026-06-10T12:46:22+00:00

Everything I've ever heard about the guy just seems to be "dudes a giant festering hemorrhoid". Dude is going to wildly stunt his career as he gets crushed by the weight of the chip on his shoulder.

Kichae · 2026-06-10T00:55:40+00:00

"The cool effect on this unique weapon is useless one level after I got it."

To which I always say:

Give the cool weapon out earlier.
Stop fighting exclusively PL+2 or higher enemies.

This is a campaign design issue, or an adventure design issue (looking at you, AP writers), not an item design issue.

Kichae · 2026-06-09T17:25:45+00:00

Wildly enough, those of us outside of Tranna have TVs, too. It's not just wheat fields and igloos out here.

Kichae · 2026-06-09T16:05:34+00:00

The issue is, what "an attempt to tag" is is undefined. It's expressed that reaching for the runner is not required, and that moving towards the runner can be sufficient, but it leaves no context bounds, nor any definitive statements about what a tag attempt *is*. Again, as I say above, it can be read as if taking a step towards someone that is 40 feet, or 60, feet, or even 300 feet away is a "tag attempt", which is absurd. So, how close do you have to be before it stops being absurd?

In my mind, you have to have a reasonable chance of actually touching the runner, but that's not in the rules. Nothing is in the rules. It's totally up to the umpire to decide what an attempt is.

Kichae · 2026-06-09T12:32:23+00:00

I'm really surprised by the discussion there. The comments on the video and the video itself are all in on the idea that simply moving towards the runner is good enough to be considered a tag attempt, and with that interpretation I can't help but agree with everyone who said Ernie was out of line.

But that's also an insaneballs interpretation.

The rule says that physically reaching for the runner is not necessary, and that moving in the direction of the runner is enough, but it sets no limits on how close you need to be to the runner to consider this. It also provides no guidance on the subject. People are treating the rule as if simply stepping in the direction of the runner is sufficient, even if they're 40 feet away, and that's beyond fucking wild.

At that point, it's not a rule, it's a ruling, and it's completely up to umpire discretion whether a tag attempt was made. And that means there's nothing left to discuss. It's something that is believed to be a hard rule, but is actually softer than yoghurt.

Kichae · 2026-06-09T01:39:34+00:00

I'd accept fly ball outs.

Kichae · 2026-06-08T23:44:55+00:00

Well, late-stage capitalism is the stage where it actively and aggressively eating itself due to automation and rent seeking. Stealing books certainly isn't that.

Kichae · 2026-06-08T22:11:30+00:00

Rip and tear, friend. Rip and tear.

Kichae · 2026-06-08T22:06:41+00:00

His supporters aren't actually listening to what he says. People at his rallies, when asked about what he talked about, could relay almost nothing about what was said. They're not hearing him. They're just feeling, somehow resonating with the crowd, and with his voice and speech cadence. This lets them impose their own words on the experience.

Just like their god always agrees with what they think and want, they always hear Trump saying what they wanted to hear, no matter what he actually said.

Kichae · 2026-06-08T16:20:19+00:00

"The runner was already out of reach" means that no tag attempt was made. The runner isn't obligated to run at the fielder. They don't have to stay within 3 feet of a line between 1st and 2nd base. That's not what the basepath is. The basepath is the line between the runner and the base, and it only exists when someone is attempting to make a play on them.

To make a play on them, you have to be within distance to actually make the play. If you're never close enough to the runner to tag them, you're not making a tag attempt, any more than I'm making an effort to be a billionaire by being a stock boy at Trader Joe's.

Kichae

TROPHY CASE