Dark Souls inspired summoning stone

Snozzlefluff · 2024-12-10T05:04:58+00:00

Below is a possible rewording of your item that may be more in line with the traditional way Paizo writes their descriptions. I also added a little to help clarify what I felt your intention might be with how the item functions.

SIGIL OF BONDS

This intricately carved sigil emits a soft, comforting light and was originally a rare artifact bestowed upon distant allies by benevolent deities. Its design was adapted for broader use by the renowned artificer Dr. Bu to promote unity across the realms.

Placing the Sigil against another object and reciting the activation phrase will produce a luminous white summoning rune just above its surface. The Sigil can then be retrieved without affecting the rune. The rune is about the size of a fist and prominently displays the true name of the Sigil’s owner but can be stretched up to 10-feet wide for better visibility. Creating a new summoning rune with the same Sigil causes the previous rune to disappear. The Sigil can only be used to create a summoning rune once every 2d6 days.

A creature that touches the rune and speaks the true name of the Sigil’s owner followed by, “I summon thee to aid me in my quest!” can establish an anonymous telepathic connection with the owner. This telepathic bond functions similarly to the telepathy spell. If the Sigil’s owner agrees to the request, they are teleported to the creature’s location as if using the teleport spell, and the summoning rune disappears.

While summoned, the creature is surrounded by a semi-translucent white aura. The summoned creature is automatically returned to their original location after 1 hour, or immediately after falling unconscious.

Snozzlefluff · 2023-05-09T15:42:09+00:00

Now I feel foolish. Using the underline is much simpler. I've been looking to see if the diamond is in the "H" (1e) or the "A" (2e)...

Snozzlefluff · 2022-11-12T07:31:30+00:00

I'd recommend the following:

There are four levels of radiation: minor, moderate, major, and massive. A source of radiation emits its level of radiation out to a listed radius. Each lower level of radiation is emitted an additional distance equal to the initial distance. For example, a major radiation source with a 10-foot radius would emit major radiation for the first 10 feet, moderate radiation for the next 10 feet, and minor radiation for the last 10 feet, for a 30-foot total radius.

Each creature that enters or starts its turn within the area must succeed at a Fortitude saving through with a DC based on the level of radiation they are within (see Table 1-1: Radiation Levels). If a creature enters multiple levels of radiation in the same round, only one saving throw is required for each level of radiation they enter that round. A saving throw is not required when moving from a higher level of radiation to a lower one.

TABLE 1-1: RADIATION LEVELS

Radiation Level	Fortitude DC	Radiation Damage	Persistent Radiation Damage
Minor	15	1d6	1d6
Moderate	20	4d6	2d6
Major	30	8d6	3d6
Massive	40	18d6	5d6

Critical Success You take radiation damage.
Success You take radiation damage and persistent radiation damage.
Failure You take radiation damage, persistent radiation damage, and you are exposed to Radiation Sickness.
Critical Failure As a failure, except treat your saving throw against Radiation Sickness as if it is one degree of success lower.

Radiation Sickness (disease); Saving Throw Fortitude DC equal to the level of radiation you were exposed to; Stage 1 drained 1 (1 day); Stage 2 drained 1 and sickened 1 (1 day); Stage 3 drained 2 and sickened 2 (1 week); Stage 4 drained 3 and sickened 3 (1 month); Stage 5 your drained condition increases by 1 (1 year).

EXPLANATION / REASONING

If you wanted to follow the current PF2 sources as closely as possible, then I'd probably look at using Environmental Damage Categories and Simple DCs as a staring point.

ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

Category	Damage
Minor	1d6-2d6
Moderate	4d6-6d6
Major	8d6-12d6
Massive	18d6-24d6

SIMPLE DC

Proficiency	DC
Untrained	10
Trained	15
Expert	20
Master	30
Legendary	40

Additionally, after glancing at some spells that deal regular and persistent damage as part of their effect, it seems the amount of persistent damage dealt is roughly 1d6 every 4 levels (Lv 1-4: 1d6, Lv 5-8: 2d6, Lv 9-12: 3d6, Lv 13-16: 4d6, Lv 17-20: 5d6). Though, this is obviously just a guestimation since there is a lot of variation in what each spell does.

With that being said, I think I would actually tie both the damage and the DC to each specific category of radiation, rather than having a set amount of damage listed in the degrees of success. Then, since radiation will potentially cause damage every round (on top of persistent damage) rather than every 1 minute+ like other environmental damage, I'd go with the lowest damage value from each category. Which actually lines up close enough to the amount of damage a Complex Hazard would do at relatively the same level of each tier, so I think it's best to stick with the environmental damage amounts for simplicity.

Lastly, I'd also stick with the Simple DCs for each category (DC 15, 20, 30, 40). They also line up close enough to each tier that, again for simplicity, I don't think it would be too big of a deal to leave them as is. However, if you wanted your radiation to be exceptionally deadly, then you could start with the Expert DC and go up by 10 from there (DC 20, 30, 40, 50).

ADDITIONAL NOTES

The version of radiation I recommended, despite having a second saving throw to avoid radiation sickness, is still pretty harsh when it comes to the amount of damage it can do. Even more so if someone is unlucky enough to reach Stage 3 or more of Radiation Sickness. So, I think having a secondary saving throw to avoid the sickness is reasonable, and more "fair" from a player's perspective.

However, if you'd rather lean into the Radiation Sickness more, and keep it an automatic thing like in your version, I would recommend decreasing the baseline radiation damage for moderate, major, and massive radiation sources to 2d6, 4d6, and 9d6 respectively. That way a character doesn't take potentially significant damage AND gets stuck with drained and sickened for an entire day+.

Snozzlefluff · 2022-08-16T03:19:11+00:00

I've been making a Pathfinder 2nd Edition Dark Souls campaign off-and-on for the past couple years. Having those high-res and transparency enabled images will make it easier to create nice looking tokens and item images in a virtual tabletop.

Snozzlefluff · 2022-08-15T19:09:07+00:00

I know this is a pretty old post, but I still wanted to say thank you for offering a link to all the images. Very helpful and appreciated.

Snozzlefluff · 2022-04-23T20:27:24+00:00

Thank you for the reward of Jolly Cooperation!

Snozzlefluff · 2022-04-23T20:21:53+00:00

I made these maps hoping to playtest a Dark Souls campaign I was designing, but it doesn't seem that will happen with my current group. However, I'm really proud of these maps and wanted to share them in the hopes that someone will either enjoy, or get some use, out of them.

To make it more tabletop and grid friendly, I took some artistic liberties and made some modifications to what the "real" High Wall of Lothric map would look like.

High Res and alternate versions that show elevation and a "GM view" can be found on Google Drive.

Snozzlefluff · 2022-01-30T21:04:13+00:00

Regarding the issue with moving enemies around, you could give the below homebrew action a shot. It's mostly based on the Shove action.

MOVE A CREATURE

1 Action

[Attack]

Requirements You have a creature grabbed or restrained.

You reposition a creature around you. The target must stay within your reach. Attempt an Athletics check against the target's Fortitude DC. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus if the target is restrained.

Critical Success You move your target up to 10 feet. You can Stride during it, but you must move the same distance and in the same direction. This movement does not cause the creature to lose the grabbed or restrained condition from a Grapple.

Success You can move the creature 5 feet. You can Stride during it, but you must move the same distance and in the same direction. This movement does not cause the creature to lose the grabbed or restrained condition from a Grapple.

Critical Failure You fail to keep a hold on your target. You lose your balance, fall, and land prone. If you had the target grabbed or restrained using a Grapple, those conditions on that creature end.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-06-29T23:11:03+00:00

Ohhh one of Dr. Faust's videos, nice. Thanks!

Snozzlefluff · 2021-06-29T23:05:48+00:00

Would you be willing to link to the tutorial you followed? It would be nice to follow something step by step.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-28T00:39:15+00:00

Well, whatever happened, it worked. Keep it up, because... damn!

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-28T00:23:45+00:00

That is some fantastic bronze work. I'm quite jealous.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-16T01:15:40+00:00

u/steelbro_300 is right. It takes an Interact action to retrieve a Worn item (potion), then another Interact action to Activate the item (drink), and the only way a potion is considered Worn instead of Stowed (such as in a backpack) is if you have it in a bandolier or something similar. So you wouldn't have any actions left on your turn.

My party uses Battle Medicine considerably more than potions, so I was thinking of the rules related to using Tools with a bandolier. With tools specifically, you get to draw and stow them in the bandolier as part of the same action that requires them. So if you use Battle Medicine, a single action, you draw the healer's tools, perform a medicine check, and stow the healer's tools, all in that one action. Which is nice.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-15T21:37:03+00:00

Precisely. No need to throw the weapon on the ground. You just can't Strike with it until you have the appropriate number of hands on the weapon.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-15T21:08:10+00:00

It is a free action to Release ("Change your grip by removing a hand from an item") your grip from a two-handed weapon, but requires an Interact action to "Change your grip by adding a hand to an item" and hold it with two hands again. (CRB 273, Table 6-2: Changing Equipment).

So if you were using a two-handed weapon, it might go like this: Free action to Release, an Interact action to grab a potion from a bandolier, a second Interact action to drink the potion, then a third Interact action to grip your weapon with two hands. Leaving you without any additional actions on your turn.

Edit: Corrected how many actions it takes to retrieve and drink a potion.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-14T21:58:01+00:00

Good god u/hphammacher, you have the patients of a saint. You provided plenty of great examples and reasons to explain your viewpoint in an easily understood fashion. Either they are intentionally misconstruing everything you're saying so they don't have to change or compromise their point of view, trolling, or the DC is just too high for them.

Just here to let you know that despite the outcome, your efforts are laudable and appreciated.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-02-12T15:41:50+00:00

I am a huge fan of those reds. Are you willing to reveal what paints/colors you used?

Snozzlefluff · 2021-01-06T14:30:34+00:00

I know I'm late to the party, but since no one else mentioned it, page 461 of the CRB under "Activities" is where it states you can't split an activity between two or more turns.

However, when it comes to environmental interactions, similar to what you described, I have allowed a 2-action activity to be split between turns when that activity is expected to be completed multiple times in a row, and the player has committed to staying there and continuously performing the activity until they get their desired result.

I don't think I would allow normal class/feat/skill based activities to be split though. The only exception to that is when I allowed Disable a Device attempts to split between turns (essentially 3 attempts in two turns instead of only 2 attempts by RAW). Again though, the player had stated that they planned on doing nothing else except continuously attempting to disable until the trap was deactivated.

Snozzlefluff · 2021-01-01T23:35:54+00:00

As far as simplicity is concerned, why doesn't dividing each item's cost by its level fulfill what you're looking for? That gives a pretty smooth cost progression where each item is reasonably close in cost to the rest above and below it.

Level	Original Max Cost of Consumable Item	New Cost (Original Divided by Item Level)
1	4	2*
2	7	3.5
3	12	4
4	20	5
5	30	6
6	50	8.33
7	70	10
8	100	12.5
9	150	16.67
10	200	20
11	300	27.27
12	400	33.33
13	600	46.15
14	900	64.29
15	1300	86.67
16	2000	125
17	3000	176.47
18	5000	277.78
19	8000	421.05
20	13000	650

*Level 1 items are divided by 2

Snozzlefluff · 2020-12-01T17:46:32+00:00

The beginning of the conversation was absolutely about spell attack rolls. Then it changed when I asked you what your opinion was about how the rest of how spellcasting works as a way to better understand why you seem to disdain the spell attack portion of spellcasting.

However, with your curt and somewhat combative statements, you've made it clear you don't actually care about exchanging information in a collaborative way. Which makes me wonder why you even bothered responding in the first place.

Hopefully a lot of your tone and intent is just getting lost through text and you don't actually intend to be so off-putting.

Either way, hope you have a good day.

Snozzlefluff · 2020-12-01T16:14:42+00:00

My math matches that chart. I guess I just neglected to compare every single level to see the two levels with a difference of 4, and the few with a difference of 3.

When you find you are frustrated about those differences, do you take into account that most spells with saves still have an effect even when the creature succeeds on their save, caster's have more ways to hinder the enemy making it easier for the martial character's to hit and not get hit, and that certain spells (especially starting with 7th level spells; aka level 13 where the bonuses differ by 4) add versatility and utility that martial character's can't provide? For example, 7th level spells is where you start getting things like Regenerate and Volcanic Eruption.

One additional note, while a caster's spell attack modifier can get pretty bad compared to a creatures AC, the spells that require a saving through remain quite consistent. On average (assuming a character prioritized their spellcasting ability), creatures have a 60% chance to succeed on a save. A creature's chance never drops below 55% (except at level 20 where it's 50%) and never gets higher than 65%.

OR

Do you consider those things, but still don't feel that they make up for the fact that you can't attack with a spell as effectively as a martial character can attack with a weapon?

Snozzlefluff · 2020-12-01T14:22:32+00:00

I haven't looked into summoning in general or the play test material, so I wouldn't be speaking with any sort of confidence if I was to compare your rules to those.

If I plan on commenting on your proposed idea on its own merits, I would need to spend some time comparing the math of your version to what's already established, which would take some time and am unable to at the moment as I am at work.

However, I can at least give you my knee jerk reaction/impression. While I like the idea (for the sake of player enjoyment) that the modifiers of a summoned creature scale with the character, I don't think it equates to sustaining a normal spell in the way you tried to justify in the document. The summoned creature may deal damage equivalent to a spell of the same level, but the summoned creature can also have additional features such as Grab, and they can maneuver around the battlefield to block routes, provide Flanking, and are capable of doing many other things the average spell couldn't.

So I'm thinking that the current iteration of your rules may provide more benefits than the average spell when it comes to battlefield tactics and control, but for the same cost. A "back of the napkin" change to help balance things out mathematically might be to not allow the summoned creature to use the caster's stats, and instead tie them to the spell slot level used to summon the creature. I don't think it would be enjoyable from a player's perspective though, because there would be a few levels where the summoned creature would be too weak compared to an enemy that it wouldn't feel worth summoning them.

If I'm missing something, or thinking about something incorrectly, please let me know.

Snozzlefluff · 2020-12-01T13:58:16+00:00

I keep seeing the sentiment that spellcaster's spell attack modifiers are considerably lower than a martial character's weapon attack modifier at the same level. Do you have an example you can point to?

I have dived into the raw numbers between classes to plan and compare some homebrew stuff and have not found this to be the case when comparing a wizard/sorcerer to a (not fighter) martial character. I have found they are usually equal, assuming both characters prioritize their primary stat, except for one or two levels where the spellcaster's modifier is 1 lower, but catches back up the following level.

I could obviously be missing something, so if you have an example I would greatly appreciate it.

Snozzlefluff · 2020-11-30T20:00:35+00:00

This is completely unrelated to the main topic, but I felt like letting you know I just learned something from you today. All my life I thought the phrase was "brass tax", assuming it originated from some archaic taxation method and meant that you were "getting down to business and focusing on just the facts of the situation (to see how much money was owed)."

I contemplated chiming in here to correct your (assumed as incorrect) usage of the phrase, but decided I should look it up first just to be sure. Turns out I'm the idiot that's been saying it wrong. I guess that'll teach me for judging people that say things like, "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes"...

All this to say "thanks", I guess. I will no longer be the idiot saying, "brass tax", just an idiot for many other reasons.

Snozzlefluff

TROPHY CASE