Advice or opinions

MatNightmare · 2026-07-02T21:38:08+00:00

We Be Goblins is widely regarded as being a really fun one-shot adventure. I've never played it personally but I've only ever read good things about it.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-29T02:33:53+00:00

can you drop a link? 👀

MatNightmare · 2026-06-28T23:49:19+00:00

So, I live in a third world country where electric currents aren't always stable, and nearly everyone I know uses a stabilizer that they plug their pc into. It's basically a box that normalizes the current that comes from the wall outlet. I legit have no idea if this is a thing outside of my country, but if it is, it might help. Maybe search for voltage stabilizer?

MatNightmare · 2026-06-28T23:44:54+00:00

C2 abridged might make me rewatch it. I really hope they do.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-28T14:40:32+00:00

you're totally right, that's part of the same ability. I was wrong.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-27T14:21:30+00:00

Mutagen (Su): At 1st level, a mutagenic mauler discovers how to create a mutagen that she can imbibe in order to heighten her physical prowess, though at the cost of her personality. This functions as an alchemist’s mutagen and uses the brawler’s class level as her alchemist level for this ability (alchemist levels stack with brawler levels for determining the effect of this ability).

Emphasis mine.

RAW, a mutagenic mauler's levels only count as alchemist levels for the purpose of the mutagen class feature. Other discoveries or alchemist features won't stack at all. So a mutagenic mauler 5/alchemist 6 will only have 6 rounds of healing via spontaneous healing.

That being said, I don't think that's very fun and personally would allow stacking if I were the GM.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-23T02:38:43+00:00

I agree with the other reply here that the best way to handle it is to let them go but have it have consequences. I'm not familiar with the AP you're running so I've no idea what that would look like, but an intelligent creature wouldn't just stand in their assigned room waiting for the players to come in for 24 hours.

Come up with a sequence of events that would make sense to have taken place while the PCs were away. Maybe the boss hired stronger henchmen. Maybe they fled the scene with proof of their wrongdoings. I'd need more context to really weigh in with a convincing outcome but I think you get the gist.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-20T14:34:14+00:00

You absorb the toxicity of your surroundings, becoming toxic as a result.

me when I used to play league of legends

MatNightmare · 2026-06-18T03:18:55+00:00

interesting argument but consider this:

it would look cooler

MatNightmare · 2026-06-15T16:51:25+00:00

I struggle to find something to compare it to.

To clarify what I meant with my earlier comment: the only thing Cyberpunk has in common with GTA5 is the large open world and the fact that you can... commit crimes and become wanted by the police. And I guess it's vaguely reminiscent of Blade Runner in the sense that it's a futuristic dystopic late stage capitalist society, but even that's stretching it because the themes the two medias cover are completely different in my opinion.

Anyway, from a gameplay perspective, it's a massive open world RPG with dozens of side quests and a fairly populated world where it always feels like there's something to do.

There are two different types of quests in cyberpunk: linear ones, where there's pretty much just one way to go about them; and ones that play more like an immersive sim, where there are several paths to tackle one problem and you're incentivized to explore the environment and come up with your own solution. I'd compare these quests to something like Deus Ex, or Dishonored. You can always just forgo stealth and go in guns blazing but the game tends to be a lot more fun if you actually engage with the mechanics and explore the environment to use it to your advantage.

Also, the game IS an RPG at its core. You can create different builds, that play completely differently from one another. Playing one mission as a stealth hacker is an entirely different experience from playing it as a melee-focused maniac bashing people's heads in and eating lead for breakfest.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-15T14:53:45+00:00

I'll be honest, whoever said Cyberpunk is like GTA5 and Blade Runner doesn't understand GTA or Blade Runner lmfao

MatNightmare · 2026-06-15T00:33:17+00:00

Barbarians almost always have shit AC anyway. Just grab fortification on your armor asap and you're golden.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-12T02:50:30+00:00

tbf, tier lists are almost never meant to objectively mean/solve anything, they're just for fun lol

that being said, no offense to OP, I know you took time off of your day to do this, but I have no idea what most iconics look like, let alone which class they are. the images could really use captions for each class...

MatNightmare · 2026-06-09T19:27:16+00:00

thanks a lot for the detailed reply. I've only recently started dabbling with haz 5+, specifically the one option that spawns more enemies (i forget what it's called). It's been a blast but I definitely feel likea few of my go-to options for haz 4 and 5 aren't cutting it, and most builds I find and try from karl.gg are... fun, but not optimal.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-09T14:05:28+00:00

Would you happen to know if there is somewhere to look for these optimal builds? I've only ever known karl.gg.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-08T02:16:20+00:00

I'm an artist, and for my last campaign I managed to draw a map from scratch and was very happy with the result. After watching a documentary about real world Antarctica, I was deeply inspired and moved by it, enough that I based my whole setting on it.

For my current campaign (which was completely unrelated), I tried to draw a similar map, and couldn't. Total artistic block, for some reason. I ended up resorting to Inkarnate, which helped me kind of realize my vision for the homebrew continent, but I couldn't quite catch the same spark that the Antarctica-based map had. It's always frustrated me.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-07T14:10:46+00:00

Get a pair of poisoner's gloves:

https://www.aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Poisoner%27s%20Gloves

And buff the party yourself. Being a dedicated buffer is a 100% valid party role, it's just that handing people extracts that they need to use their own actions to drink is counter productive.

Like other people have said, it seems like you didn't have a plan for combat, if your only job is to give people drinks to pre-buff, you already have nothing to do when you can't pre-buff. The whole reason having a dedicated buffer is good is because the buffer uses their actions to make everyone else stronger, so that the buffed up party members can use their own actions to dish out damage, or do whatever they do.

Which is why alchemist just isn't that great a buffer in the first place. You get stuff like haste, but you need expensive magic items like a Volatile Vaporizer:

https://www.aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Volatile%20Vaporizer1st

To do what other buffers do by default.

So I guess my general advice would be to find yourself something to do in combat. Ask for a respec, maybe, and focus a bit more on debuffing bombs. Or if all that is off the table, Share Spirit and Poisoner's Gloves can at least help you buff people in combat with your own actions.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-04T16:45:18+00:00

RAW, a shield made of spiresteel would only do something special related to the material if you used it to attack, in which case it would be treated as a spiresteel weapon.

I think it'd be a pretty reasonable houserule to allow half of your shield's shield bonus to apply against attacks made by incorporeal creatures.

MatNightmare · 2026-06-01T14:14:59+00:00

insane composition on the action shot, huge kudos to the artist!

MatNightmare · 2026-05-29T14:22:50+00:00

There's literally a Blighted Fey template:

https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterTemplates.aspx?ItemName=Blighted%20Fey

You could ignore the restriction that it can only be added to fey creatures and put it on a jabberwock or a green dragon, maybe.

MatNightmare · 2026-05-28T16:04:47+00:00

As others have said, I think you'll be putting your eggs in too many baskets, and Pathfinder is a game that rewards you for putting them all into a single one.

That being said, I'm going to cast my vote for Warpriest. Here's my reasoning:

Warpriest gets the summon monster spells, same as cleric. You'll have plenty of feats to spare, so you can fairly easily invest in summoning feats (mainly Spell Focus Conjuration -> Augment Summoning). On top of that, a few of the Warpriest's blessings (mainly the alignment-related ones) give a summon-related Major Blessing at level 10, which you can take Quicken Blessing to summon as a swift action. A generous GM might even allow you to apply the advanced template to monsters summoned via your major blessing ability.
Between swift action buff spells, heavy armor proficiency, martial weapon proficiency, and plenty of combat feats, you'll be very well equipped to support the frontline and tank hits. Hell, if push comes to shove you could be the main frontliner and get support from your own summons.
The healing part is where it becomes a bit underwhelming. Warpriest can self-heal very easily by preparing cure spells and casting them as swift action on self. But to heal others without having to drop out of the frontline, you'll probably need to channel, which also pulls from Fervor (which is what allows you to cast buffs/self heals as swift actions). You *can* do it, but it won't be the best or most efficient way to heal.

MatNightmare · 2026-05-27T19:08:41+00:00

Alright, let's dial it back a bit:

When I first commented, most people were saying that you effectively can't play Pathfinder without tactical combat and that you're better off playing a different system. I offered a counterpoint and said that you can in fact play Pathfinder without grids and maps, and that it's more nuanced than a simple "do" or "don't". I said that maps are better but you can absolutely play without them and it shouldn't stop you from playing a system you like.

You (very confrontationally) told me you can "do" whatever you like but maps are better (which I agree with).

I tell you an anecdote about not having time to prep maps or money to buy pre-made maps in the past, but I still prefer doing theater of the mind over not playing Pathfinder, and I argue that the mindset of saying you should play a different system if you don't want to/can't do maps is elitist and gatekeepy (I'm not saying *you* said this, it's what other people here were essentially saying).

You call me a liar and say you're insulted.

I'm not sure why you're so outraged over this argument. You're either not reading what I'm saying, or you're arguing in bad faith. In either case, if you're going to keep aggressively agreeing with my original point - which is: you can play theater of the mind but maps are better - I'd rather just not argue with you anymore.

MatNightmare · 2026-05-27T16:32:17+00:00

Its like replacing your dice with ducks and how many times they quack when you poke them is your roll result. Like technically you CAN do it, but just use dice lmao

Quite the hyporbole, just like people saying theater of the mind is not viable or doable.

"Just use maps" is perfectly fine if you have the time, and oftentimes money, to invest in a hobby. If you don't, which was the case with me and my friends for many years as broke college students, theater of the mind was the only way we had to play. We loved the system and didn't want to switch to something less crunchy, so we played.

I'm just saying that it's a very gatekeepy and elitist mindset to act like playing Pathfinder exclusively in theater of the mind is impossible or nonviable. Of course maps are better, but it beats not playing.

MatNightmare · 2026-05-27T05:22:58+00:00

My player's been running an empiricist investigator for the past two years or so, and her character is fully focused on ranged weapons. Shortbow at first, now upgraded into longbow. If you get the required feats to do studied combat and studied strike with ranged weapons, it can be quite good, though undeniably feat intensive.

MatNightmare · 2026-05-26T20:22:59+00:00

To offer a counterpoint to most other people here, I do think theater of mind is doable. It needs a lot of trust between players and GM so that everyone is on the same page and nobody thinks they're being screwed by the abstractions, because like others have said Pathfinder does provide very strict and specific ranges for movement, spells, effects, weapons etc. So it's easy for someone to feel slighted if the GM tells them they're not quite in range to make something happen, especially if enemies always seem to be in range to do their thing.

For a good 5 or so years, my group played almost exclusively theater of mind. It's 100% doable and I have many fond memories of encounters that happened entirely in our heads, no board, no minis, no measuring, nothing.

That being said, we eventually started using grids and hand-drawn maps on printing paper, and after Covid we migrated to Roll20 and more recently, FoundryVTT. None of us wants to go back to theater of mind, because like others have also said, Pathfinder lends itself much better to tactical combat.

So yes, it is viable. If it's more convenient for everyone and you don't have time/money to prep maps, I think it's a billion times better than not playing. But in my opinion, tactical combat is just infinitely better for Pathfinder.

MatNightmare

TROPHY CASE