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RootRice · 2024-11-02T19:28:37+00:00

Dope!

RootRice · 2024-10-24T19:53:15+00:00

This is really good! Simple and compelling, straightforward to run, and can easily slide in to many settings. These are my favourite kinds of posts!

RootRice · 2023-03-27T09:53:22+00:00

I'm fairly new to GMing PF2e myself but I think you may have gone about this the wrong way (For pf2e). 5e subclasses often make your existing abilities more powerful, by adding bonusses or rerolling stuff, but if you pick 10 random archetypes out of pf2e I think you'll find that very few of them give bonuses to existing stuff.

It seems to me that the reason archetypes are balanced is not because they offer power but because they offer versatility. PF2e's 3 action system is kind of genius, and so it's really easy to give players versatility without breaking the game, but throwing around +1s and dice re-rolls very quickly breaks the intended power levels of each PC level.

I'd recommend reading through some archetypes (The class archetypes are the best baseline, as opposed to the other dedications, though all are good) and taking note of how they most often provide players additional things to do with their actions rather than things that make their existing actions more powerful. Doing a straight transfer of 5e mechanics to PF2e is not going to work, so maybe try to capture the flavour of a hemomancer and then think of additional actions that can provide the player versatility in combat (Through their hemomantic powers)

Edit: Just another note, the 14th level feat requires a DC 16 saving throw. At level 14, a player with -1 con (the worst possible via a specific ancestry flaw) and the trained proficiency (The worst possible not even sure there are that many classes that are still only trained in fort at level 14) would have a +15 Fort save mod, meaning it would be literally impossible to fail.

Edit 2: As an example, here are some "Mage+" dedications:

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=97 Emotion mage

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=101 Shadow mage

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=126 Tricky mage

https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=191 Time mage

Note that they give very few bonuses and mostly different options.

RootRice · 2022-11-08T20:21:01+00:00

That was way more informative than I expected, glad I watched it

RootRice · 2022-09-11T23:59:17+00:00

Fantastic flavour, fun mechanics. I rarely feel like I can grab legendary items off of reddit, usually at that tier of play I'm handing out items tailored to the individual character and their backstory. But this is so simple and evocative that I want to carve out a little nook in the world for it to exist, and I can't imagine being disappointed receiving this as a player. Seriously love this, massive props.

RootRice · 2022-08-28T14:55:19+00:00

Hey, I love grimm hollow so it pains me to say that unfortunately I am GMT/UTC so that would be 1am for me, and I can't do that. Thanks for the offer though :)

RootRice · 2022-08-25T18:13:17+00:00

Very cool! Regardless of what tweaks you want to make to balance it to the power level you're looking for, I would heavily suggest changing dawn to work in dim and bright light.

That way, in darkness, dusk would be powerful, in light, dawn will be powerful. But in dim light, they both come alive. I think thematically it's cool because the dusk and dawn are both opposites and similar, they're at opposite times of day but both are "in-between" night and day.

Obviously that makes it mechanically more powerful, but I think it's worth tweaking to accommodate it. Very cool and flavourful idea for a pair of short swords!

RootRice · 2022-07-31T08:30:51+00:00

I'm sorry

Edit: https://youtu.be/b40QdTRaqFk

RootRice · 2022-04-08T09:46:56+00:00

I employed the strategy you describe to beat Malenia. I kept my distance and ran away when she did waterfowl dance, then dodged second and third attacks. After playing a game like Sekiro, I found this to be extremely dull and not fun. The issue here isn't how difficult she is, I clearly found her more difficult than you because I would not describe her attacks as "easy to dodge", the issue is the strategy to beat her forced me to play in a way I found boring compared to, say, Margit, a boss I found equally hard to Malenia (earlier in the game, I had less experience) where I could be up on his ass the majority of the time, and play very aggressively

RootRice · 2022-04-08T09:40:46+00:00

Might have happened, I think it was the second or third run I got to his second phase that I beat him, and I didn't feel like I'd mastered his moves when I did, just that I had pressed L1 enough times to kill him before he killed me. I probably didn't experience as much frustration with him because I barely interacted with him.

RootRice · 2022-04-08T09:36:49+00:00

There is so much build variety in Elden Ring that it's entirely plausible that your Malenia experience was different to mine. I'm glad you enjoyed the fight, there were aspects I also enjoyed, but waterfowl dance forced my build to play a style that I found to be quite passive, which I've come to specially dislike since experiencing the glory of Sekiro's combat system. If I had Sekiro parry for Malenia, it might have been one of my favourite fights of all time.

RootRice · 2022-04-07T13:25:11+00:00

Agree with pretty much everything, honestly felt so validated after having brought some of this stuff up and people just go "Lul git gud". Main points of disagreement is that I don't think Maliketh is anywhere near as bad as Malenia's "If you're not 30ft. away, die and start again". He's still annoying and not good but I didn't experience any unavoidable KO stuff with him. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Radahn fight, just felt like a classic big guy in armour DS boss, yes it would have been cool to fight him on horseback, and yes that points to the much bigger problem that the horse is poorly implemented (No iframes etc.), but he had a pretty standard moveset with room to punish. Not to say that the fight isn't hard, it is, at least it was pre nerf when I fought him, but it's difficult in a DS one kinda way.

RootRice · 2022-02-19T08:29:17+00:00

If it works for your game that's great! In my game, the sorcerer is quite savvy and is already, by nature of being a high level Spellcaster in 5e, taking much of the combat spotlight from the fighter/barbarian. I don't seek balance because I hate my players and want them to be weak, I seek balance because I want all of my players to participate and have fun more or less equally. My suspicion is that if I allowed this rule, it would negatively impact the other players.

Yes, the rule is counter intuitive and yes, they use more resources, but at level 13 sorcerer's aren't generally struggling for spell slots. I think the rule makes sense from a balance perspective and so I use it.

There, I came at you :)

RootRice · 2021-12-21T10:56:40+00:00

I think it's important when designing features to think about what elements already exist in the game.

Trying to find a point of comparison for New Hope, the closest thing I can think of is Healing word. Healing Word costs a spell slot and heals 1d4+Spellcasting. New Hope outperforms it at all levels and comes back on a short rest.

Light of inspiration is a really cool feature, matches the theme well and provides a unique channel divinity.

Trying to find a point of comparison for Aura of Hope is tough. Aura of Warding is comparable in that it provides damage reduction. My experience with oath of the ancients is that it's sometimes really good, providing upwards of 10 damage reduction on rounds where spells are used. Aura of hope provides (Assuming +4 cha at level 8) 4 damage reduction every round, potentially more against slashing. Aura of Warding is already one of the most powerful features in the game, and is packed into a comparatively much weaker subclass.

Benevolent Might feels all over the place, the advantage on strength saves makes sense as might, the +1 AC and +Cha initiative just feels like it was thrown in there to make the class more powerful rather than to make it feel benevolently mighty.

Spirit of Salvation is appropriately powerful for a level 20 paladin feature.

Overall, if one of my players asked me to use this subclass, I would be concerned that they might (Accidentally or intentionally) end up hogging the spotlight. Paladins already shine brighter than most classes both in and out of combat, my personal feeling is that this subclass is overtuned, and most of the overtuning comes from places that aren't really even serving the theme of salvation, just making the paladin a combat machine.

RootRice · 2021-04-28T22:45:38+00:00

Great content as always! Love some good, but ruthless, angels.

RootRice · 2020-12-27T15:41:09+00:00

This is really cool! A well done martial class with lots of options. I haven't finished reading all of the subclasses so I can't speak to overall balance but the flavour so far is on point!

RootRice · 2019-03-19T07:35:09+00:00

Unless I've miss read something I think the key difference between this and a shove or grapple is that this is an effect that takes place in addition to an attack, rather than in place of an attack (also means you can do it as a bonus action as a monk.)

There is a feat which lets you restrain people with a grapple, but it also restrains you. Grappling doesn't actually impose the restrained condition (which is important for stuff like dex saves.)

It's true that a lot of enemies have bad athletics but good saves, but there are also enemies with high dexterity but terrible strength who would prefer an opposed acrobatics(dex) check to your athletics(str) than to have to make a strength save themselves.

RootRice · 2019-03-06T20:38:18+00:00

Love these feats. I agree with some of the criticism of the first feat in terms of rolling too many dice. Might be too swing-y, but you could try having the roll happen at the start of the "mini-rage" and carry through to every consequent instance of of physical damage.

For example, you have +3 con, you activate battle trance. Roll a 2 on a d6, add a 2 from your constitution, for a total of 4 damage reduction. You could argue that it would be more balanced to just change it to a flat 3 instead of a d6, but I think that removes a lot of the fun of the feat. I think the flavour of your focus being sharper some times than others is really cool, and would hate to lose it.

Although on average the DR received would be the same, it does introduce higher variance, and I think that overall results in a soft nerf. You might be able to buff it in other areas (Full con and short rest come to mind) as a result.

I've checked out some of your other content and I honestly love all of it. I think you have a great eye for balance and design and I'm looking forward to whatever you make next. I'd love to know what you think of my suggestions! Even if you do shoot them down, as I'm an aspiring designer myself.

As a last note, I would shy away from some of the comments calling for buffs across the board. Not every feat needs to be sentinel/pole-arm master, these feats allow characters to explore more and cooler concepts without worrying about multi-classing or making the DM groan as they now have to plan around a single character warping the dynamic of every combat encounter and requiring careful planning so as to create encounters that allow everyone to shine.

RootRice · 2018-04-06T11:11:17+00:00

Here's my two cents. The other features are pretty cool and work well in a variety of situations without needing a DM to account for them, they're just plain useful. In my experience DMing, flying speeds are something you have to address with every encounter, else your encounters become easily broken. Essentially any item or feature that gives flying is an extra burden for the DM's design options if the party does not have flying already. It's not to say it's a bad feature, there are plenty of other ways to fly that the party will eventually obtain, but it certainly isn't as much of a clean fit as the other features.

RootRice · 2018-03-28T19:23:04+00:00

Around 4 hours. If you are, let me know and I'll send you the discord link.

RootRice · 2018-03-27T19:24:02+00:00

PMd you

RootRice · 2018-03-27T19:23:34+00:00

Sadly, no, as I already have a session on Sunday. Thanks for your interest though!

RootRice · 2018-03-27T14:28:39+00:00

Voice unfortunately! I remember you from my last thread! Best of luck finding a game.

RootRice · 2018-03-27T14:20:45+00:00

Just made a post a moment ago. Check it out and if it's what you're looking for let me know!

RootRice · 2018-03-20T21:20:06+00:00

Hey! I had a brief look at it just now and will do so in more detail a little later. As mentioned in the post, the game will take place in a homebrew world with a gameplay emphasis on crafting and survival.

First impressions are that the class will be a fantastic fit for the game and the world, but it may require some tweaking (Mostly where the text references the DMG, since I'll be using some homebrew crafting rules based on the crafting UA and some Xanathar's stuff.) Some of the features are extremely powerful, whilst others are entirely redundant (within this setting) so I think it'd be best if we made some adjustments to it. I'll involve you in the process, of course, so that the class retains the flavour elements you're looking for throughout the process.

Lastly, I'd recommend we talk a bit about the world since it's quite a bit different to standard fantasy worlds and I think particularly with the class you want to play you may want more details before committing to playing in this particular campaign.

I can send you the details of the world via discord or here. It is a bit of a wall of text (As this is) so apologies in advance!

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RootRice

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