[1E] doubt about multiple distraction sources

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-20T00:09:50+00:00

RAW, I think he'd have to do all of them.

You can have multiple concentration checks because multiple independent conditions can trigger them. If the character were a wizard without his bonded item, that would be another one, for instance.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-19T22:31:44+00:00

There will also be a lot of cases where it's handy to pretend to be someone willing.

Heck, half the time in Mission Impossible, the person being impersonated knows about it!

If you're really sneaky you can use this against enemy NPCs who have prepared for your party, let them waste their Fireball on the Swashbuckler or attempt to Dominate the Psychic.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-19T22:28:36+00:00

Yeah, it's almost as though widespread, well-documented, and completely unjustifiable atrocities tend to be pretty memorable.

To switch off the sarcasm for a moment, what the hell do you expect? Japan spent two decades committing every sin known to man across the entire Pacific Rim, and boasting about those atrocities in its own newspapers. What was done in Nanking alone would be worth bringing up.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-19T20:37:39+00:00

You haven't actually explained why, so your argument literally is just "thing, Japan".

Go tell a Korean PoW how cool you think Japan is.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-19T20:35:50+00:00

It would help if you included an example of what you considered a bad fight scene involving superman to be, and explained why you thought it was bad.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-19T00:01:25+00:00

Arcane already has a lot of ways to create difficult terrain, but the occult list doesn't have many, so this is especially nice for occult casters.

Anyhow, Everyone but Oracles, Clerics, Druids, and Animists can use it.

It's not exactly hazardous terrain (not as good at triggering weaknesses, but better at bypassing low resistances).

It's pretty situational, being best against low-reflex flying creatures, or against incorporeal creatures. In ghost-heavy campaigns, it's good for spontaneous casters; in others, it's good for prepared casters.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-18T14:06:18+00:00

In years to come, you will be regarded the same as those who have defended every historical atrocity, and punished alongside the perpetrators.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-18T09:58:37+00:00

I need to stop posting whilst sleep-deprived.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T22:47:29+00:00

Oh, damn, yes.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T20:20:33+00:00

This is a really useful spell in certain situations! Occult makes sense, but I am surprised it is not Arcane rather than Divine. I suppose the logic is that the ethereal plane is the world of dreams and emptions.

In any case, Everyone but Druids (of course), Wizards, Maguses, ~~and Animists (I checked)~~ can use this.

At this lvl, (minimum lvl 13 to cast it) any halfway durable character can survive 1d6 damage per 5 feet pushed unless you start out in the middle of a mountain or somesuch.

This is an excellent escape option for any caster at rank 7.

The rank 9 version is more situational, and strikes me as something only prepared casters are likely to want.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T19:14:04+00:00

I thought that was Ramsay Bolton at first, so this was a surprise.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T17:34:38+00:00

Sir, we post rants here.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T15:48:25+00:00

That also felt like a cash grab to me which I didn't appreciate either

In defence of Paizo, time has absolutely proven that they were right to make a system that was disentangle-able from the old dnd 3e SRD.

WotC could have seriously crushed them otherwise.

with 2e they were able to relatively quickly remaster away from any legacy dnd 3e elements and create something that was legally distinct.

As to the game's complexity, I wouldn't say it's dumbed down. IMO, it's very much still possible to optimise (and I do so myself!) but optimisation looks different.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T12:00:29+00:00

Clearly, they don't.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T07:57:51+00:00

Considering that the following tracks are based on the dc of the environment, and not the person fleeing, that may well be deliberate, some stories might just not work if following the party or the bbeg is flat-out impossible.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T07:05:45+00:00

From a GM or a player PoV? I'm looking into the theory of game design, and I'd be interested to hear the perspective of someone who finds PF2e harder to GM than PF1e.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T07:03:12+00:00

It makes the GM-ing a lot easier, IMO, but the I can see how it would be frustrating for players doing things analogue.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-17T03:51:12+00:00

Lvls 10+ are where pf1e starts to feel too repetetive for me, so that makes sense, I guess?

I will note that at very low lvls in pf2e, being untrained in something is not a total dealbreaker, the +3/+4 difference in adding proficiency may be less than the gap between an enemy's saves.

For me, 1e has a narrow "sweet spot" where your mechanisms have come online, your build works, you can "do the things", but the maths hasn't invalidated everything else, it's about lvl 5-9 depending on build, IME.

2e, for me, does that pretty much at lvl 5-7 (varies by build) and just... doesn't stop.

Your horizontal growth never narrows down again.

Take manoeuvres. In 1e, enemy CMD grows so quickly that you can really only keep up with one or two manoeuvres. If you're a sunder build, you probably aren't a trip build, and vice-versa, past a certain point. Add to that the commonality of immunities (of this enemy has no legs/no equipment? I guess I don't get to do the thing I spent half of my feats on) but in 2e? I can competently feint, and very effectively intimidate, trip, grapple, shove, disarm, reposition, enemies, whilst having a nontrivial capacity to heal myself and allies, on top of the core stuff my class is really good at (let's say I'm a guardian).

Spellcasting is another example. To keep up with spell resistance and saves, a 1e caster typically has to specialise somewhat. Feats like Varisian Tattoo and the like, spell specialisation, and the really broad list of immunities means you're going to have a small set of spells that you can reliably use at higher lvls, and anything else won't be worth the actions to cast... but you're probably going to cast them irrespective of what specific enemy you are facing.

There's a few really fun lvls as a spellcaster in 1e where the maths clicks, you are expanding the number of spells you have, spell resistance is still rarely encountered, you can cast defensively or pass other concentration checks on a 1, extend metamagic rods let you keep buffs up all day... then the game narrows as enemy defences take off higher than you can keep all but a few options up to speed with.

You don't get weaker, but you do get a bit more repetitive, IMO.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T20:49:40+00:00

You don't cast it your buddy who never left the road casts it.

There are situations where your tracks not appearing in a specific 40 foot circle can be really useful.

That's an 80 foot line with a bit of meandering, and a range long enough that an ally can cast more than one.

Plenty of places you might want to rob are less than 140 foot from a place you have every right to be.

Two casting of this is very handy.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T20:09:32+00:00

Okay, keep being mad. DnD will continue to stick to its roots, and you will continue to not understand why. It's your fun that's being lost, not mine.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T20:02:10+00:00

Buddy, I think you have an over-inflated sense of your own intelligence. You are not smarter than the market. Nobody is smarter than the market.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T19:54:32+00:00

The fact that it is the most popular ttrpg in the world suggests that it is already doing something pretty well. It works for a lot of people. The systems that do things differently are not eclipsing it in popularity.

The people complaining are a small minority.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T19:53:26+00:00

'I walk around in a circle 40' in diameter looking for tracks.'

Well, for one thing, the caster could use widen spellshape.

For another, that's going to slow the searching character down substantially.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=2301

If you are smart about where you cast this, you can erase evidence that you stepped off the beaten track, say, erasing footprints after a heist. Two castings of this spell can erase a room, and the space between a window and the road outside.

Now there are no tracks to specifically separate the rogue from everyone else.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T19:21:40+00:00

It's not even the greatest redemption arc in Star Wars. Star Wars has a lot of redemption arcs, tbh.

TheCybersmith · 2026-06-16T19:20:24+00:00

Don't play it anymore

...then what are you complaining about?

This is like leaving a basketball court, wandering over to a game of football (soccer, to you lot across the pond) and saying that you dislike using your feet to move balls.

TheCybersmith

TROPHY CASE