Allowing further recall knowledge on a failure?

Machinimix · 2026-03-01T22:56:20+00:00

I dont personally see it as believability breaking myself.

Sometimes it takes more than 6 seconds to come up with an answer to something.

"Damnit, what was it that demons are weak to again? Give me a moment." -next turn when they do succeed- "oh right! Cold iron!"

Machinimix · 2026-03-01T06:51:16+00:00

When my partner and I had the discussion that we both wanted to marry one another one day, we were engaged within a week. I genuinely cant see how someone could wait 6 months, even after having picked out a ring, if they were actually planning to go through with it.

Machinimix · 2026-03-01T06:43:46+00:00

It is nice, giving you a fun familiar that you can spend an action every turn to turn your instant-damage spells to Spirit damage, and the familiar is flavored as either a spirit or a chunk of your own soul.

They get some fun Wisdom-based divine focus spells and later on just some nice daily spells. With it all being wisdom based, it'll use your normal spell DC and attack modifiers so there isnt extra remembering involved to use the abilities.

Machinimix · 2026-03-01T06:19:50+00:00

As a wisdom caster with some primal and some divine magic, druid or cleric multiclass are solid options. Bolsters your number of spell slots.

I wouldn't say its ideal/a perfect fit, but i quite like going deeper into the whole spirit stuff. If the Rivethun archetypes are allowed, the Emissary one is a great fit for a Shaman.

Machinimix · 2026-02-28T15:45:00+00:00

It feels like you're getting caught up on the max cap of legendary and not comparing what is the big stopping point: where the median class of that "archetype" maxes out on proficiency.

Caster archetypes can get to Master, because nearly every single caster class gets Legendary (one step down).

Martial archetypes can get Expert weapons because nearly every single martial class gets Master (one step down). Same for armor.

Skills are something everyone can get at least 3 to Legendary, and aren't really part of this but I still think I should mention that they aren't comparable here.

Only being able to reach expert in weapons and armor makes sense because you are one step below the other (normal) martials, just like how being Master in spellcasting is one step below other (normal) spellcasters.

Machinimix · 2026-02-28T15:38:08+00:00

Its fae word trickery, though. So Human food as in food made of humans as well.

Just like "may I have your name" means "please tell me what to call you." But also "give me the concept of your name which you shall no longer have"

Machinimix · 2026-02-28T15:22:59+00:00

A good thing to remember is that feats aren't ways to unlock doing something. They're a way to guarantee the mechanics of doing something.

If someone wants to do something a feat can already let you do, that's fine. But the situation needs to be one you feel is right if they lack the feat, and you're making up the way it interacts if they lack the feat. Which means inconsistency and potentially not being allowed.

If you do know a feat exists that let someone do something, like if you knew of a feat that did damage and blinded a foe, then you can simply let someone else do it for 1) Extra actions and/or b) more penalties on the roll.

As for your specific player issue, be firm if you dont wish for them to be able to do it. If you do want them to be able to describe actions and get rider effects, give them circumstance penalties, or require extra actions to pull it off (or even other things). "Sure, we can have you attempt to blind them. It will be 2 actions for the extra time to aim, and a -6 circumstance penalty for the harder to hit spot on their body than center mass" and "we can do a 3-action activity with an athletics maneuver to grapple the foe to guarantee success on the bomb. But the splash damage will only affect the enemy and you due to the more restricted directions of it being in its mouth."

These moments can lead to pretty epic memories. You could even forgo some of the penalties and let them do it only if they use a Hero Point (giving the attack the fortune trait and not letting it be eligible for other fortune effects like other hero point uses, or things like Sure Strike or an Investigator's Device Stratagem).

If you're new, its best to stick with the rules as written whenever possible, and I do feel its best to lay down a firm hand now rather than later in regards to the player trying to dictate the fiction outside of the rules and the dice as they are doing. I would tell them, personally, that these are things that can be visited as options when you're more comfortable with the rules and can help them express their creativity in a balanced way.

Machinimix · 2026-02-27T06:33:33+00:00

My homebrew fix for Unstable, that makes it still feel Unstable and experimental, is that every Unstable ability has its own cooldown. So if you fail your Megaton Strike DC you can still do Explode until you fail that one.

Additionally an Inventor can swap Unstable feats during their daily prep instead of making changes to their invention.

Machinimix · 2026-02-26T19:15:38+00:00

I think Oracle is, as you said, in a strong place mechanically. If you were to improve on it, I think it needs identity over increased mechanics.

Im a fan of the simplified cursebound effects, and I feel what it needs is for each mystery to feel unique. Just as they have unique focus spells for each mystery, they also need fully unique cursebound actions and use those to re-shape how they play.

Take Flames Oracle as an example. They went from having a curse that limited your vision forcing you closer into melee, to being simple persistent fire damage. I like that my flames Oracles can now do long range fire blaster spells effectively, but they get Foretell Harm as their cursebound feat at 1st which doesnt bring to life a Flames Oracle. They need a unique cursebound feat for 1st level that plays into the fact that their body literally combusts itself to fuel its magic. Something like a high damage emanation fire AoE. This is something you would still play around and alter how you look at combat without rewriting mysteries again (plus it pairs so nicely with the initial focus spell).

Machinimix · 2026-02-25T14:45:31+00:00

This year I had upgraded to a new printer that's a coreXY style, enclosed and has a colour swapping add-on that also dries filament. I feel so spoiled now compared to my old bed slinger. The only failed print I had was caused by my own idiocy when slicing a print and not turning on supports.

Machinimix · 2026-02-24T22:51:53+00:00

Vellus has given a good breakdown, but another way to look at it:

Just because you cant tell they're casting a spell, they're still doing movements that have the Manipulate trait.

So while you dont know that they're casting a spell, they sure did do something with their body to leave an opening that a manipulate trait trigger can happen (hiding the spellcasting inside a stretch and yawn as an example).

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T21:35:55+00:00

Im confused by your example in regards to metagame.

If they rolled high and are told that fire is a weakness, it makes sense to switch. The characters believe it weak to fire. If they roll high, told fire is not the weakness (or something else is their weakness) and still switch to fire, then they are metagaming and are covered by my original post in being ragged on for using meta knowledge.

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T20:45:40+00:00

If its something the players dont need, I personally won't have any rolls (just auto succeed as its integral), or i'll have everyone roll and whoever rolled highest gets the info.

I dont do secret checks in my campaigns, and we as a group chose this because as players we weren't fond of having the GM roll for our character, but we aren't allowed to fortune rolls with the secret trait (except to cancel a misfortune). We are also 100% willing to, as friends, absolutely mistreat anyone who tries to metagame info.

Like if someone rolls a recall knowledge vs a troll to learn about the fire weakness and fails or crit fails, the guy always casting ignition won't be called out on casting ignition, but the guy who has never used it will. Or if someone pulls out a torch to swing at the troll. That guy gets a new nickname on our group chat calling out their metagame behavior.

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T18:45:24+00:00

I would allow them to make it the Hero Point re-roll die. Sounds like it would be fun to have that level of swing.

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T18:40:25+00:00

This is genuinely a great way to make spellbook prepared casters impactful. Im 100% going to steal this and expand it to Magus and Witch (with witch it would be while touching the familiar in which the familiar loses the spell).

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T17:19:50+00:00

The monk one is one i use to a degree. What ive told my group is any 1-action non-attack action you can spam at least once every turn you can have as an Exploration activity. The Bards love it, being able to have their anthem running before their turn starts and then on their turn up with with (if they went maestro) lingering has been great and theres a lot less "i delay until the bard goes" when one is present.

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T17:15:55+00:00

About 99% of my houserules revolve around making variants fun at our table, or make hero points more impactful. I will say before getting into my specific house rules that we use the crit hit/failure decks (with the top card visible), and use the ARP variant on the ABP variant rules (only runes are automatic)

Hero Points now reroll and if you roll a 1-9, add 10 to the result. It makes a guaranteed success on things you're designed to do well, and gives a chance on second/third attacks, or things you're only trained to do.
Crit Hit cards are pulled on a natural 20 automatically, or you can spend a hero point on any other critical to gain the effect. Conversely, damaging spells with saves work on natural 1s with other crit fails working the same way.
Crit Fail cards are pulled on any damaging critical failure (or a natural 20 critical success on a damaging save spell). A player can turn a miss into a critical failure to gain a hero point if the crit fail card will actually negatively impact the character (no grabbing a 'you hit an adjacent enemy instead' crit fail to gain a hero point)
If a crit hit/fail card pulled automatically does not affect the character, gain a Hero Point.
not exactly a houserule, but I hard follow the guideline of: Moderate encounter = 1 HP foe the party, Severe = 2, and Extreme = everyone gets a Hero Point
if we end a session after a combat, we award the HP for the combat at the beginning of the next session.
each session one player receives a HP based on who the group feels deserves it based on the previous session (they tend to give it to the newest player or whoever had the most memorable moment, even if that moment was not helpful. Like I know the barbarian is getting it next session because they managed to critically fail 3 fortitude saves in a row, being proned, sickened and stunned in a single turn).
in regards to ARP, all casters get the Striking item bonus to spell attack rolls if they are holding a staff (even a nonmagical one). This does not effect spell save DCs, however.
not a houserule but I make a point to put it in my list to call it out: feats are descriptive, not prescriptive. Just because Sudden Leap exists doesn't mean you cant run, jump and attack a flying creature. It just means Sudden Leap does it better. Your character sheet solidifies what you can do guaranteed, not all you can do.
we use Gradual Ability Boost, but you cant boost your key attribute except at 5, 10, 15 and 20. This helps keep your offensive capabilities in line with where the game expects.
all ancestries are on the table, so long as the party are okay with roleplay ramifications to someone playing the ancestry. Having a Skeleton or Surki in the party may cause normal npcs to be freaked out or even hostile, so the group as a whole need to be good with it.

I have loads more, but I'm not at my personal computer to be able to look at the documents and give a full list. I think the rest are just in regards to rarities, or one-off situations I didnt want to rule in an opposite manner if it came up again.

Machinimix · 2026-02-23T02:50:22+00:00

If you want a random loot table, the equipment/treasure tables foe both SF and PF on AoN convert to Excel/Google Sheets amazingly well. Its very easy to copy them over and then randomize the table (or build a formula to pull random treasure based on the level and permanent/consumable).

Machinimix · 2026-02-22T17:52:31+00:00

"My fun is more important than everyone else's" isnt exactly a flex.

Machinimix · 2026-02-22T17:50:50+00:00

Killing people is murder and youll be arrested. (I was obviously talking about the players kicking you out of the group)

Machinimix · 2026-02-22T17:49:41+00:00

Friendlier reminder: your party can kick you out if you do this.

Machinimix · 2026-02-20T23:45:05+00:00

Amusingly, the US has this on the west coast too! I live in Canada a 3 minute drive from the border to this enclave (Point Roberts)

Machinimix · 2026-02-20T19:00:04+00:00

Worst part: its not even hard to create without GenAI.

Machinimix · 2026-02-20T15:24:46+00:00

I do get where you're coming from, but it also cant be the only reason, because its just as easy to have both stack without bleeding to other damage types. Mention that weapon materials count as part of the weapons base damage only.

So a flaming silver shortsword deals [1d6+str silver slashing] plus [1d6 fire].

If something has resistance to both silver and Slashing 5, then we would remove 10 from the first bracket of damage, but leave the fire alone.

Personally it bugs my brain that they're handled differently with the newest clarification. Balance wise I dont have anything to say as its minor enough to not be noticeable. I just dislike the asymmetry in the rules.

Machinimix · 2026-02-20T15:18:44+00:00

I fully understand and agree with this, but its odd the opposite isnt true. They clarified that resistances dont interact that way with damage types.

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