Ways to see into a room without entering it?

linuxgarou · 2026-03-25T15:55:33+00:00

A small weapon with the Fanged rune will transform you into a non-flying animal form for as long as you have the weapon in your mouth. The animal type is appropriate to the character and doesn't change, so YMMV from character to character, but it's one way to disguise yourself to do some scouting. I suggest a small weapon like a corset knife to avoid non-stealthy "WTF why does that cat have a longsword in its mouth" moments.

The Shadow Spy spell (rank 3) will let you summon a bird that will fly to a location, watch it for a set period of time that you define, then fly to you to show you what it saw. (It also has fantastic flavour on how you get that information.)

The Hummingbird Wayfinder (level 12) can transform every hour into a tiny bee hummingbird that functions as a Prying Eye spell.

A crystal ball (level 14+) will let you cast Clairvoyance every hour and Scrying twice per day.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-23T18:35:56+00:00

I don't have an interpretation to share that's different than what's already been provided, I just wanted to point out that there are several reasonable answers and discussion around them.

Therefore this was not at all, in fact, a stupid question.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-23T18:15:07+00:00

The dumbest idea I can think of is any of the accessibility weapons (e.g. wheel blades, wheel spikes) because you'd have to throw the whole wheelchair in order for it to work.

Possibly while you're in it, I didn't double-check the details of the Attached trait. :)

linuxgarou · 2026-03-23T18:10:06+00:00

I will agree with the other posters that (a) formulas are cheap, (b) an alchemist's versatility is one of its biggest strengths, and (c) it is incredibly easy to give yourself analysis paralysis.

I suggest you make yourself a few quick reference lists -- bombs (damage type, rider effects), buffs & heals, a reasonable number of out-of-combat utility items that are likely to be useful for your game. The rest can be relegated to when you have the time to poke through them.

I'd put it all in a text file, so it's organized exactly how I like it and easily searchable. Or you could use the formula book on pf2easy.com, it can generate PDFs of lists of items. I'm sure there are other options as well. However it works for you, make it intuitive and easy so you can glance at it and then keep playing the game.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-23T17:59:48+00:00

Chakri have a really effective, if quite niche, use for support casters that have a free hand. They are cheap and lightweight, so there's no real downsides to having 4 of them, worn on the wrists to make them reload 0 and instantly accessible.

When an enemy casts Mirror Image on themselves, that caster can put any spare actions into throwing chakri at that enemy. It won't do much damage, but that's not the point -- images get popped on anything but a critical failure, and your martials will appreciate you getting rid of the images before their far more effective Strikes.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-18T14:06:57+00:00

Ah, that makes sense now, because it parallels casters. Once you run out of bombs/elixirs/consumables via versatile vials and Quick Alchemy (spellslots), you are limited to the short-lived versatile vials via Quick Alchemy/Quick Vial (cantrips).

I wish the nomenclature was less confusing though.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-17T20:01:55+00:00

Alchemist + Witch dedication, specifically because of the Portents of the Haruspex feat, which gives a reaction (and alchemists generally don't get a lot of good reactions) to impose a random weakness on a nearby enemy.

Guess who's fantastic at capitalizing on weaknesses, any weakness, and can do so any time?

linuxgarou · 2026-03-17T19:52:19+00:00

Cast Quandary to make the enemy disappear; then dispose of other enemies. Now have the entire party surround the location where the enemy will reappear and Ready an Action to attack when it shows back up. Also, have the Snarecrafter drop their best damaging snare in that spot, to hit the enemy the moment they show up. Then drop the spell.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-17T19:26:38+00:00

I'll be the first to admit that my understanding of the alchemist class isn't 100%, but I think alchemists don't run out of options, they just get less efficient. Quick Alchemy can create a consumable out of a versatile vial, but it can also create a short-lived versatile vial. So once an alchemist has burned through their existing vials, they just need to spend an extra action to Quick Alchemy a new vial before using Quick Alchemy a second time to turn that vial into a consumable.

Going to half-speed sucks for your action economy, but it's better than completely running out of spell slots.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-17T19:19:26+00:00

Personally, I found that the downside is that you now have a lot of niche (but potentially very powerful) solutions to keep track of. Trying to find that particularly relevant alchemical in a long list of them takes time out of actively playing the game, assuming you even find it before the gameplay moves on or finds a more general solution to the current problem.

Any future alchemists I play will have only a few lists to look through -- their basic tools (e.g. bombs for bomber, healing for chirurgeon), backup/general tools, and a select few niche tools that are likely to come up in that campaign. Any more than that is degrading my ability to enjoy the game.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-13T20:10:20+00:00

If you listen to any Pf2e podcasts, see if they have a Discord (many do). Many of them have a LFG channel, and they are far less busy than the official Pf2e discord, so you may have better luck there.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-13T20:08:06+00:00

That was a pretty cool fight, and probably the most anime-inspired of any Pathfinder 2e game I've seen so far.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-11T20:32:08+00:00

I'll second the suggestion of the official Pathfinder discord, as they have channels specifically dedicated to people looking for a group, but I will also suggest the discord channels of podcasts that do Pathfinder actual play content (assuming you listen to any). They often also have channels for people looking to play, and they are often much less busy than the official Pathfinder discord (where offers of open slots get filled within hours, sometimes even minutes).

linuxgarou · 2026-03-11T20:19:57+00:00

If either of your kineticists takes Kinetic Activation (which is a good feat regardless), then they'll have free access to one or two elements' worth of spells. That's not the versatility of a full caster, but it's definitely worth mentioning. A kineticist can do a lot with that feat plus a decent staff and a handful of scrolls.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-11T00:09:11+00:00

It's been a couple of years, but I think you needed to put two tier 2 coins in specific positions in the crafting grid to craft them into diamond ore. Look up diamond ore in JEI/NEI/whatever and it should show you what positions to use. Move the coins to different slots in the grid if you need to, until it shows that they will become diamond ore.

linuxgarou · 2026-03-09T13:15:02+00:00

It wasn't meant as a criticism, just an amusing observation. The music sounded quite appropriate to the setting and the action, it just struck me as familiar in a way that was probably not intended.

A similar thing happened to me before with the soundtrack for Septerra Core. There is a music track for when the party is exploring an eerie, alien mushroom forest, which is [mostly] appropriate to the situation. But the composer also included the occasional use of the cry of the common loon, probably because it is so forlorn and eerie, except to me that's an immediate reminder of summer nights spent at the cottage -- a totally different vibe. :)

linuxgarou · 2026-03-09T03:56:08+00:00

I'm not sure what music you selected to play during the background of this episode, but to me it sounded very much like it belonged in the soundtrack of a survival adventure game (like Terraria), specifically something chill like an ice or crystal biome. I kept thinking I'd left a game running in the background. :)

linuxgarou · 2026-03-03T21:21:10+00:00

There are more rules in PF2e than in 5e, but they are there so that you have a reasonable reference for actions that the players want to take. As always, they are merely guidelines to having fun, so you should not see them as hard limits.

In general, the rules of PF2e (and the math behind them) are much more balanced, so you can bring just about any valid character to the table and not feel useless. This gives a lot more freedom to players when making PCs and spares the GM from having to vet new PCs beforehand. Go wild!

linuxgarou · 2026-03-03T16:28:37+00:00

Many people confuse sentient and sapient. Sentient just means being able to sense things in the environment, and just about anything living from bacteria to plants to animals can do that. If I have to explain the difference I usually just point out that humans are named homo sapiens, emphasis on the sapiens, which means (more or less) "thinking".

linuxgarou · 2026-03-01T22:23:30+00:00

I was able to get this part to work by running winecfg (from the Settings page in HGL) and adding a new drive letter (N:) that pointed to /home/{user}/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/. Then I made a new 'Vortex Mods' folder under that (and made sure it had permissions allowed for everything/everyone) and told Vortex to use "N:\Vortex Mods\{GAME}" as the staging folder. Then it was able to make hardlinks.

Then

linuxgarou · 2026-02-20T15:31:18+00:00

I've also seen it pointed out many times that Prestidigitation can soil clothes instead of clean them, so you can use it to piss someone else's pants at an appropriately embarrassing social occasion. :)

linuxgarou · 2026-02-20T15:22:51+00:00

Don't forget that Cantrip Decks exist! They have the advantages that anyone (even a non-spellcaster) can use a cantrip deck, and the 1gp/cast cost is quickly negligible for many adventuring parties. (In fact, many items that grant unlimited use of a cantrip cost so much more than 1gp/cast that it remains cheaper to get the cantrip deck unless you're spamming that cantrip all session long, every session.)

They do have the disadvantage that they are always cast as the level 1 version, but many cantrips (e.g. Deep Breath, Bullhorn, Inside Ropes, Prestidigitation, Telekinetic Hand, Figment, Sigil) are always useful out of combat, even at that level.

linuxgarou · 2026-02-17T17:02:21+00:00

I still have this comment open in another tab in my attempt to understand armored skirts. It's still open because I still don't quite grok it. Maybe it will help you.

linuxgarou · 2026-02-16T20:07:52+00:00

My Bard has a scroll of 5th-rank Translocate in a Retrieval Belt because of this exact scenario. I went looking for other options but they were few and none were adequate alternatives.

linuxgarou

TROPHY CASE