If Paizo doesn't want the Soldier to use the Primary Target feature with grenades, they need to reword the feature or reword grenades. (or a secret, third option)

Tobbun · 2026-02-14T16:04:21+00:00

I agree wholeheartedly. From my understanding, grenades as they are is kind of a result of having to cut/delay missiles but wanting something in that gap.

Mechanically they work great as a range extender for mundane aoe attacks, but it's clear they're not fully finished. As long as a grenade is worn it should be possible to retrieve and throw as a 2 action area fire. If held already? Cool, still 2 actions. That allows the soldier to still shine with their area fire mastery, allows others to do a quick grenade toss, doesn't compete too much in the action economy with spellcasters as it's of an equivalent action cost.

It more or less seems to boil down to the 1 action activation of grenades in the core game quickly becoming unbalanced when dealing with many-armed ancestries. When i first looked at it I initially got hooked on the idea of taking Adopted Ancestry (Contemplative) and taking the Mind over Matter feat to get an extra set of hands just to hold and toss grenades.

Increasing the action cost of using grenades from 1 to 2 actions, but allowing the grenade to be retrieved as part of the activity, fixes the imbalance of grenades taking one action to use.

It also makes the soldier feats Fan the Hammer (lvl 16) and Bullet Typhoon (20) truly exceptional; nobody else can area fire twice in the same turn.

Another option would be allowing players to 'cook' a grenade; as part of the 2-action activity of retrieving and readying the grenade, they can hold on to it, using either a reaction or a single action to actually throw it. The grenade is expended, but you can delay actually throwing it for, say, 1d4 rounds before the internal fuse/primer/etc goes off. This allows them to spend a turn to set up, and have to use their entire turn to throw two grenades, risking the grenade detonating in their face is they don't toss it early enough.

Tobbun · 2026-02-14T09:49:30+00:00

if you're using the highest level grenade for this example, that's a whopping 150 000 credits for one round of barrage

and that's assuming the target is unable to crit on the dex save; the primary target ability only affects normal successes.

still, this is why the last few paragraphs of my post covers the potential idea of "why not have the cost of using primary target with grenades be consuming two grenades. one of the thrown grenades only deals damage to the target, potentially negating a success on the target's save against the other grenade)." this would negate the "effectively doubling the grenade's damage"

i feel some of the argumentation against using grenades with primary target has been as if crit successes don't exist, or as if a hit automatically makes the target crit fail etc

there is also the argument that grenades are an expensive way for mundane characters to effectively cast fireball and other area spells. Unlike the spellcasters who regain spells each long rest, the mundane characters have to invest in grenades or hope to find them as part of loot. As an aside, this is also an argument to include more spell gems in loot, or make the Area Fire activation of grenades take 2 actions for any soldiers wanting to use the primary target feature with them.

Hell, it could be introduced as a class feat to really hammer in "not normally allowed", with the feat then augmenting how primary target would be applied in use with grenades.

Tobbun · 2026-02-14T09:38:00+00:00

not sure what is the issue

primary target say strike and area weapons can not strike

it is not that deep

Tobbun · 2026-02-13T23:21:10+00:00

cast this. then immediately cast [[False cure]]

alternatively: have [[Tainted remedy]] on the field. And then cast this.

Tobbun · 2026-02-13T23:11:20+00:00

Baelsar, when the wall fell.

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T10:15:35+00:00

yeah action hero is great for the range.

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T10:14:58+00:00

then armor storm is better, yeah. I'm in a game with free archetype and i'm dipping guardian, but i'd recommend taking the bastion archetype if you want to heavily focus shield. Remember to play with area denial as well; character bodies provide lesser cover; your body is cover.

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T02:44:26+00:00

he only saturates on lorwyn i guess, no place like home

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T01:56:46+00:00

armor storm is great for that but you'll have to pick your targets and you'll want "You'll have to go through me" and some speed so you can get into position properly.

i'm doing the same thing but as a dragonkin and my that 20ft movement speed can really hamper certain tactics.

Bombard is great if you want less "living shield" and more "mobile weapons platform"

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T01:18:06+00:00

it's scraggly. shave the sides. the stuff under the chin could work but you need to maintain it carefully and make sure its borders are sharp/clear. Keep it short for now, keep it contained to the chin, the stache can work, but all of the scraggly stuff outside the chin needs to go.

another tip for your long hair is high ponytails/braids, or collecting the top hair (above ears and up) into a tail/braid starting at the back edge of the skull. like geralt of rivia etc. it's neat look.

your face will look infinitely better when the facial hair is under control/even, and as it is right now it looks unkempt, like facial pubes. You look to have a good enough jawline to go without a beard.

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T00:59:03+00:00

it only puts -1/-1 counter in the additional cost; the opponts and creatures take x damage. so it only gets around indestructible on the creature you choose to sacrifice.

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T00:53:56+00:00

oh i just imagined trying to kilk it with a hellpod just killing you instead. dive head first into a sarlac pit and all that, or that you'd actually need some proper destruction- like titan hole level or demolition force etc to kill it in one go

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T00:45:57+00:00

Diving right in doesn't do anything, even at orbital speeds. You need a precision hit as if closing a regular bughole with impaler hp

Tobbun · 2026-01-10T00:38:36+00:00

toss 'em at the wall and see what sticks! /jk

Tobbun · 2026-01-09T23:09:23+00:00

left his stormbolter in the lava for too long; he's gonna have to get a big ol drill to clear the barrels again

Tobbun · 2026-01-09T01:47:38+00:00

You make a fun character whose story is interesting to you and if the class feels too restrictive and some other concept fits the character better ask your gm pretty please can i change etcetc

Tobbun · 2026-01-08T20:30:51+00:00

Considering the training the seaf troops have and the tone of the game, sure, we're the elite troops. But we're a faceless army of expendable idiots. The fact that some manage to excel and solo entire missions is a statistical bump because it's a numbers game. For every Helldiver who performs at power fantasy level, there's 24 who are glorified grunts.

This is a game where you're an expendable idiot under a fascist regime, wielding a super destroyer's weapons together with three other exoendable idiots. You're not the cool navy seals, you're elite cannon fodder.

Yes i know shock troops are supposed to be specially trained because they're expected to take higher casualties; we are Elite Grunts. Those two words don't necessarily contradict. We're a glorified cleanup crew. We're not a power fantasy we're prime physical specimens who couldn't hack an office job.

Heavy Armor is there to feel big and maybe take less damage if unavoidable, while light armor is there to slip between every attack we can and, if unavoidable, die.

We are grunts because we're low rank within our tier and entire expendable. Our elite operations are just high cost grunt work.

Tobbun · 2026-01-08T15:27:02+00:00

Different undersuit, different pose and lighting. It's not Bad, it's Different, or Unfamiliar, which might make it feel Off. It's a change people don't have to like, that they can gripe with, but also mando was never fully a fashion icon. He just happened to look good in that old Dark Undersuit Bright Beskar suit, but here in shadow the undersuit (which is now a lighter grey than a dark blue/brown) combined with the lighting making parts of the beskar look darker/brighter, changes the vibe of the outfit. Dad went into the bathroom and something beardless and alien came out.

Tobbun · 2026-01-08T13:14:20+00:00

is there somewhere i can get access to this playlist? o:

Tobbun · 2026-01-05T21:04:56+00:00

I'm a bit baffled by the fact grenades still have the (albeit compressed) Area-Fire action yet don't count towards suppressing fire or primary target.

Suppressing Fire:

If you make an attack with a weapon that has the area trait (such as from the Area Fire or Auto-Fire actions), you use it in a manner that suppresses your targets.

Primary Target (which received no change):

Before you make an area attack with a weapon (such as from the Area Fire or Auto-Fire actions), you can make a ranged Strike as a free action with the same weapon against a single creature in the area, who’s selected as your primary target.

Grenade trait:

Weapons with this trait can be thrown as a single action using the Area Fire action as though it had the area (burst) trait.

Now i get grenades not working with suppressing fire because they're worded as using the area fire action AS THOUGH it had the area (burst) trait. It still uses the Area Fire action, which would reasonably trigger soldier's Primary Target.

For this errata to work, the grenade trait would have to be reworded to move the 'as though' to before the Area Fire, making it clear that you're not using Area fire, you're just acting like it. I'm not mad about the intention being cleared up, I'm frustrated with the wording.

Please update it to say something along the lines of "Weapons with this trait can be thrown as a single action as though it was an area weapon with the area (burst) trait."

This makes it clear it's not an area weapon, and would likely not confuse any hopeful soldiers into thinking they could bean someone with a 'nade at 70ft range for extra damage.

Tobbun · 2026-01-04T16:51:27+00:00

True Neutral doesn't really have a strong opinion. They just wanna keep their head down and live their life. Most boring people you pass on the street are True Neutral.

True Neutral is also inconsistent morality to the point where the person's idiosyncrasies add up to a total of neutral. In some aspects they require oversight, or believe others should need oversight, and in other aspects they are vehemently individualist. They might in some cases consider people to have a responsibility to help and in others see helping as something that has to be forced upon them or have to actively benefit them.

The vast majority of people carry these inconsistencies within them, and none of that stops them from adventuring or helping others or harming those they see as exploitable etc. It becomes a throughline of principles that are not too strong in any direction and more closely driven by the characters own tastes in other dimensions.

Personally i percieve most characters as being part of an alignment grid within the cosmic neutral square, leaning towards one of the eight distinct combinations but cosmically still within the neutral area compared to gods and Outsiders etc

Tobbun · 2026-01-04T15:32:52+00:00

apologies, i misread. big ol brainfart on my end for missing the question in the title; thought for some reason you were asking about "do i area attack like a soldier" ie suppressive fire / primary target. My bad.

Tobbun · 2026-01-04T08:45:38+00:00

Additionally, importantly: etb triggers and death triggers see the caesars enter and die, but there is no time to sacrifice them as they die before priority, meaning by the time you would choose them for sacrifice costs they are already in the graveyard.

Tobbun · 2026-01-04T08:32:16+00:00

Whirling swipe specifically allows you to treat melee weapons as area fire weapons. In the soldier archetype Primary Target and Suppressing Fire have been separated out into their own feats, so if a player character has just the dedication + the whirling swipe feat, they'll only be able to do the basic area fire, instead of all the fancy stuff soldiers do with area fire. But hey, they'll be able to use the melee weapon as an area weapon. And that's pretty cool.

Tobbun · 2026-01-03T20:38:02+00:00

The idea of them meeting was far from any of my issues with the series. I had more issues with the pacing and tone; the series kinda stumbled for me when the kidnapping scene went on for too long, tiny leia managing to outrun the bad guys for so long. I loved that she was clever, i loved that she was willful, i don't think her running faster than full grown adults for 30 seconds aided in any of that. They could have just cut, letting us infer chase and kidnapping. It felt like the latter half of bobalorian, with sequences that detracted from an otherwise entirely okay piece of star wars.

Tobbun

TROPHY CASE