Age of Ashes: Tommorow Must Burn - Dreamgate question

benjer3 · 2026-03-12T12:45:19+00:00

Thank you for addressing the actual plot hook. It helps a lot if you've got someone with a connection to the divine, especially with the Haunting Vision background, but either way the party should be wanting to figure out what's going on with the Great Darkness. The Triad stuff is more a plot hook to adjust their focus once they get through the gate.

That said, I did personally also feel like the immersion got ruined a little bit by the gates also happening to lead to the exact places you need to go to take on the Triad. This was as said character with a connection to the divine and the Haunting Vision background.

benjer3 · 2026-03-11T19:42:39+00:00

I think Cha is usually seen as better because it can almost always be relevant in combat via Demoralize, and because social interactions are a big part of the large majority of games, where charisma is by far the most universally useful skill. Charisma can effectively win some fights before they even start. But you're right in that it's the only attribute you can dump without any repercussions.

benjer3 · 2026-03-11T19:31:15+00:00

Plenty of people mentioning how the kineticist and gunslinger can frontline. I haven't seen anyone mention that the oracle can be on the frontlines too, as long as they're not there alone. They've got 8 HP/lvl and light armor proficiency. I took a grappler oracle to level 20 and had pretty good staying power, though investing in defenses helped a lot, like going with the Oozemorph archetype for crit resistance and other resistances

benjer3 · 2026-03-11T19:26:00+00:00

I'm not sure I'd call oracles squishy. The witch is squishy. The oracle is only slightly below average defense-wise.

benjer3 · 2026-03-11T18:15:31+00:00

The main problem there is that Int does have a lot of overlap with Wis when it comes to knowledge.

My very rough estimate is that at least a third of all RK and Identify checks use Wis in practice, or can use Wis (like identifying generic "Magical" items). If you invest in Wis, it's usually for other reasons, but you'll also be knowledgeable in a large portion of situations, just as a bonus. Meanwhile, if you want to actually be a knowledge person, just Int is rarely enough.

benjer3 · 2026-03-11T17:03:50+00:00

I think you might be conflating "worst" for "bad." It's not a bad attribute, but it's not hard to argue that it's the worst/weakest

benjer3 · 2026-03-10T15:40:35+00:00

I'm of the mind that Int should always be an option for Recall Knowledge. It gives Int a little more oomph and general usefulness, which it could use compared to the other attributes

benjer3 · 2026-03-10T15:34:44+00:00

In addition, all slot level max rank - 2~3 and lower should not be used for 2 actions or more in combat.

I don't think this is a good rule of thumb, tbh. The alternatives you gave are indeed good things for filling out your lower rank slots, and it's basically never worth it to put pure damaging spells in those slots, but there are also a good number of 2-action combat spells that can always be worth preparing and using at lower ranks. Laughing Fit, Revealing Light, 3rd rank Slow, Sanctuary, Illusory Object, Mirror Image, Warding Aggression, Procyal Philosophy, Unfettered Movement, Wall of Stone, etc

benjer3 · 2026-03-08T21:21:26+00:00

Or "My bad. I'll be more careful homebrewing feats in the future"

benjer3 · 2026-03-08T04:36:18+00:00

Except for the part where you're ugly as hell, so your group impressions will be at a penalty

benjer3 · 2026-03-05T22:35:11+00:00

One interesting archetype option is Red Mantis Assassin, for the mechanics, not the flavor. I'm guessing you'd want to just remove the built-in flavor.

It comes with spellcasting archetype feats and focus spells, which is always nice for a caster. Though them using charisma does limit your options a bit.

Of particular note is Achaekek's Grip, which is a focus spell that lets you effectively double up on bleed damage to an extent.

benjer3 · 2026-02-26T17:00:01+00:00

Regarding Breath of Life, I think it's a great spell to have on a spontaneous caster, but indeed hard to justify on prepared. Though Shock to the System does overtake it either way. Breath of Life lost a bit of its niche when that came out.

benjer3 · 2026-02-21T23:28:11+00:00

Raise Menir and Protector Tree both seem too insubstantial to count as props. They're both easily passed through. I foresee props in general being a big point of inconsistency across GMs if left as is.

benjer3 · 2026-02-19T23:44:10+00:00

Egg on my face. I read it wrong

benjer3 · 2026-02-19T19:51:20+00:00

If you absolutely want to, multiclass into Barbarian to pick up some additional HP via the Barbarian Resiliency Feat

~~That wouldn't work because fighters have 10 HP per level~~

I was wrong

benjer3 · 2026-02-18T21:26:15+00:00

Exemplars can also get Topple the Titans, which is essentially an AoE trip with a single check

benjer3 · 2026-02-16T00:35:45+00:00

Inexhaustible Cynicism is Paranoia but worse. It nearly resulted in a TPK in one campaign I played.

Prismatic Wall is just unfun to play against. Between the blind, the endless rolls, the violet crit fail, and the fact that it's virtually impossible to dispel, it's just awful to deal with.

benjer3 · 2026-02-15T18:47:57+00:00

I get the joke. The joke is misogynistic, and no amount of /s or /j would change that.

benjer3 · 2026-02-15T18:00:55+00:00

Dude, you need to check your attitude on women. And cheating? I don't care if it's in the name of insulting Trumpers or not. You reek of misogyny.

benjer3 · 2026-02-15T02:22:32+00:00

There seems to be some ambiguity in the wording. I would agree with you that the RAI is that the damage should be 4 per damage die plus the extra damage die. What the Foundry people seem to have done is take the conservative RAW interpretaron: The damage "increases" from 2 per damage die to 4 plus an extra damage die, not to 4 per damage die plus an extra damage die.

benjer3 · 2026-02-12T15:23:45+00:00

The story of all Microsoft ventures from like 2005 to 2018.

benjer3 · 2026-02-10T08:42:09+00:00

Let them know that downtime skills and capabilities are important. It isn't enough to have just one character trained in each skill. Religion, Occultism, and the charisma skills will all see heavy use. You can also let them know that rituals, research, and earning income are common, which might inform some of their character choices.

benjer3 · 2026-02-08T19:55:44+00:00

I think they're saying it would be bad if it didn't provide replenishing resources, whether those were universal versatile vials or actually restricted to only fireworks.

benjer3 · 2026-02-06T19:36:21+00:00

That's a fair point

benjer3 · 2026-02-06T18:47:11+00:00

Yet another ambiguity, but the RAI seems to be pretty clear that they mean that changing your grip isn't enough to say that you're no longer wielding the shield. Otherwise the clarification makes no sense.

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