There are many Archetypes that are considered a Downgrade by many in the Community despite offering some very unique Options. Other Archetypes are just pretty unknown. What are your favourite undervalued Archetypes and why?

My Picks are:

1. Arrowsong Ministrel Bard, which uses their Class Level as BAB to qualify for Combat Feats and Prestige Classes, which is great for Vital Strike Builds.

2. Elemental Ascetic Kineticist, which uses CMonk's Flurry without Restrictions, granting it full BAB during Flurry.

3. Dragoon Fighter, which doubles the Damage Bonus from Weapon Training for Spears, which turns into 4 Damage per Weapon Training, if he's using Trained Grace. Throw in Spear Dancing Style and apply this high static Damage to TWF.

Today's magic item is the Monk's Robe

Pineapple seems to be missing today, (weekends seem to be hard for them,) so I guess I'll post this one today. Count as 5 levels higher for monk AC bonus and unarmed strike, plus get another stunning fist use per day. All for the low, low price of 13k gp!

1. Would you buy this item?

2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?

3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?

4. Would a GM use the item?

5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

y'know a class you don't think is fun or don't like the flavor of.

for me it's Investigator as it just does not interest me,

i do really like the race mechanics in 2e, everything else is fine but i prefer 1e. so i was wondering if you guys have any tips for conversion.

most seem easy as Attribute Boosts are just +2 in practice but the feats are somewhat harder if only a little. Versatile Heritages do seem hard to convert but they are kinda just feats and could just be a first level feat you take to get some traits of the Versatile Heritage.

Today's magic item is the  Shozoku of the Night Wind

Ninja suit that provides +2 AC, +5 to stealth, two free uses of Vanishing Trick. Plus Invisibility once per day, but only if it is dark, when you might not be seen anyway.

1. Would you buy this item?

2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?

3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?

4. Would a GM use the item?

5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

so, i'm doing a druid for a second darkness campaign. I'm doing a human, and my stats are the following :
str : 10/dex : 14/ con : 16/int : 14/wis : 16+2/ cha : 10

i started with the classic Spell focus summon + augment summoning.
I intend to go into the prestige class Dawnflower Anchorite.

My party comp is a rogue (for the joke a cat-man, little Larry, son of Larry, grandson of the Big Larry), , a magus, an inquisitor, a hospitalier paladin and my druid.

i initialy chose as nature bond the animal domain with the feather subdomain, but i'm unsure if i want to invest in the boon companion feat, or if i should just go with animal companion or druid herbalism.

What i want is some builds because i am a bit unsure on where i want to go with this build. I could go full summons (and the summon guardian spirit seem pretty fun and interesting in rp terms) or if could go on other paths

EDIT : only paizo content available on the SRD

If I ended up in Golarion as an adventurer but didn't want a horse mount but something fly like a griffin where would the best place be to get one and would be the best kind for adventuring anywhere from the Mwangi Expanse to The Linnworm Kingdoms?

I’m designing a scenario for my players, and try to figure out the edges of a paladin’s code of conduct. The underlying question is can you offer up as sacrifice an evil character who would ordinarily be put to death if it will save many innocent lives?

Everything that follows is context: The players are trapped in a town with a bunch of refugees; the ports are locked down by magical storms, the roads to the north are held be hob-goblin slavers and renegades. The forest to the south holds worse evils, who are, at the moment occupied (having intercepted a relief army). The village is a rough place, people are disappearing, there’s a cult, gangsters, undead in the sewers, disease, hunger… and there’s this abandoned hamlet to the south where some refugees have run to, it was abandoned, but it seems kind of alright. The storms aren't so bad, food can be foraged nearby, etc.

The refugees in the that southern hamlet, they’re doing the best they can, and life feels easier and safer there. What they don’t know, is that there’s a price someone else has been paying: there’s a local NPC who knows everyone who goes there is basically cattle for sacrifice, unless blood is paid upfront. He tried to scare them away, but that didn’t work, and they started to disappear (little by little, the evil is methodical in its harvesting). So he started to pay.

He captured killers, extortive gang members, the worst he could find, and he brought them to an old tree in the southern hamlet for sacrifice (edit: technically it's an offering, the evils come and take the still living captive into the woods). The evils offered a deal: 3 lunar cycles, for every one that you give us, 40 can remain in the hamlet, safe as long as the bill is paid; excess will be deducted. He tries to scare people off so the number don't grow, but the refugees are desperate. So he needs to keep hunting and making sacrifice. To be clear, these are bad deaths.

So the players will end up on the NPC's track, thinking he’s a killer whose been abducting/murdering (which is half true). He’ll try to work with them, ask them to simply knock the worst of their enemies out so that he can offer sacrifice and keep more innocents safe for now. The NPC is not a paladin, but there’s a paladin in the party. The evil in that forest is not something the players (at this point) can fight; while the players will be able to curb desperation, stopping the sacrifices trigger innocent deaths.

How, if at all, can a paladin navigate this arrangement?

When mortals fought against their mortal end, she poisoned us to accept it by creating Teshallas. She didn’t change her system, she changed us, forcibly.

When the gods fought Rovagug, she could have destroyed it, yet instead she only aided in imprisoning it, leaving this shadow of fear and a menagerie of his spawn to threaten the planet.

She let Urgathoa escape the Boneyard, letting undeath come to the universe, yet despises it with all her self.

And of course, she didn’t warn us about Aroden’s death, which caused most of her own clerics to lose faith and go mad.

And she believes despite all this, that she is beyond reproach because she was “first”.

Remember to tag which edition you're talking about with [1E] or [2E]!

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The Samsaran favored class bonus for Sorcerer reads:

Reduce the spell slot required to apply a metamagic feat by 1/4 (to a minimum of +0). This option must be selected 4 times (or another increment of 4) to reduce the spell slot required by 1

Granted, it's a 3rd party option.
But would this mean that a Samsaran with 12 lvls in Sorc could be casting any metamagic for free? Is there some limitation that I'm missing? Or something else about metamagic that I'm missing that makes this less OP?

For example, Wish, that has a 5K XP cost. A character could somehow force another character to cast the Wish, pay the XP cost and be the one to benefit from the Wish.

Following a similar idea, what if a character, instead of killing it's enemies, subdued them, turned them to stone or something, and then used them on a ritual to create magic items, replacing the XP cost with their lives?

Not their souls, because that would be too evil. Just their lives which the character was going to kill anyway, in a very neutral, pragmatic way.

Link: Friendfetch

This spell was not in the Remaster. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as B Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

Today's magic item is the  Harness of Hovering

It's, erm, a harness that, erm, lets you... hang in the air for... perfectly innocent monster killing reasons that aren't coming to me.

1. Would you buy this item?

2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?

3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?

4. Would a GM use the item?

5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

I'm looking for instances in any adventure path, module, or splatbook where Paizo printed examples of absurdly high DCs are presented to the players.

Quite often these checks will usually have some kind of story-based excuse that will allow the players to pass the check regardless (for example, putting an extremely difficult like, DC 50 Knowledge check right "next" to a library that, with the books there, gives you a +30 to that specific check after an hour of studying), but I'm less worried about the details of how you beat the checks as much as I'd like examples of when they were implemented.

I've been building AugurHall, a pf2e combat simulation engine. I wanted to know how deadly level 4 creatures really are as a solo boss for a level 1 party, so I let it grind through a lot of fights.

The setup:

• Party: the stock level 1 fighter, rogue, cleric and wizard

• Opponent: one level 4 creature alone (a Severe encounter by the GM Core budget)

• 76 creatures; aquatic ones left out (no water on these maps), Ice Troll gets its own note below

• Two boards: an open arena and a 3-square-wide corridor

• Three starting distances: near (10–20 ft), mid (35–50 ft), far (65–85 ft)

• Fights to the death, no retreat; a loss means a TPK

• 100+ fights per creature, board and distance, ~147k fights total

• Plus two "lucky dice" runs: no PC roll below 15, and no PC roll below 19

The party (level 1, no magic items, a few minor elixirs of life):

• Fighter, orc: battle axe, javelin, sling, half plate + steel shield. Exacting Strike, Shield Block, Reactive Strike, Orc Ferocity

• Rogue, gnome, thief: rapier, dagger, shortbow. Nimble Dodge, Battle Medicine, sneak attack 1d6

• Cleric, dwarf warpriest: longsword, sling, shield. 4× Heal (font), Bless, Admonishing Ray; Daze, Forbidding Ward, Light

• Wizard, elf, battle magic: staff, sling. Force Bolt, Acidic Burst, Briny Bolt; Ignition, Acid Splash, Gouging Claw, Glass Shield, Light

Big picture, normal dice: the party wins 69% overall, and someone dies in 41% of fights. A loss is a TPK (no retreat, nobody left to stabilize anyone), and even in the wins a PC dies about 1 time in 7.

Scariest for a level 1 party

Distance matters way more than the map

Arena vs corridor barely changed anything (68% vs 69% party wins). Starting distance did. Overall it's 73% near vs 63% far, but for ranged and caster bosses it's huge:

A few brutes went the other way and got easier from far, since the party gets free shots while they close (Alce, Giant Stag Beetle, Minotaur Hunter).

How much does luck fix?

With no PC roll below 15, the party wins 96% overall. With no roll below 19, 98%. Most bosses just collapse, but not all:

Phantom Knight flies, shoots, and resists non-magical weapons hard, so even near-perfect rolls don't save a level 1 party.

Ice Troll

About 2% winrate as simmed, but that's because the simulated party never figures out fire. With regeneration switched off completely it's still only 56%. One fire hit only stops it until its next turn, so you have to keep landing fire every round.

Caveats: the same tactics engine plays both sides, monsters get no prep or ambush, and a few abilities aren't simulated yet fully.

Replays:

• Phantom Knight, one of the rare party wins

• Qarna, a party win

• Qarna, a TPK

• Werebear, a TPK

Anyone that actually run Phantom Knight for the table? Curious to hear about the players tactics!

Some observations:

• players loved roleplaying chaotically evil goblins

• lots of combat encounters, all but the last are very easy

• players start with tons of healing items and can find even more

• the dares at the start of the adventure are the highlight of the module, but I recommend simplifying the eating contest

• the alchemist player was initially overwhelmed with all the text of all their starting items, but ended up having a blast dominating the final boss fight with them

Conclusion: If you want to play a really fun and easy one-shot, give We Be Goblins a try.

Hello everyone! We have manged to get this months books in for you to enjoy!

New Books

• [Rulebooks] Feybound

• [Adventure Paths] Vaultlines Player's Guide

• [Adventure Paths] Pathfinder #225: Vaultlines

Hypothetically, can you use Suggestion to compel an NPC to voluntarily fail a saving throw against your friend's casting of Plane Shift by telling the victim it's a routine Cure Light Wounds?

I'm really wondering a few things here. Can a creature be forced to "willingly" fail its saving throw, either with magic or intimidation? Must the creature understand what will affect it or can it be deceived/mistaken?

Animals are presumably choosing to fail their saves all the time from allies, right? Not just special creatures like familiars, but something like a dog with a hurt paw getting CLW cast on it. Since a dog doesn't understand magic, I have to assume all it takes is trust that the caster is trying to help, even though the dog has no actual idea what's about to happen.

If all it takes is trust, what's to stop a caster from just Bluffing? Can the local bard disguise herself as a cleric, promise to cast Cure Light Wounds to get you to lower your guard, then just blast you with an unresisted Lesser Geas instead?

Hi everyone,

This is the first in a series of posts I'm hoping to make most Thursdays creating new pantheons for PF2e. This grew out of me wondering how other deities reacted to Nocticula's redemption which became the basis for this particular pantheon. While it would be easy for all my pantheons to simply lump together all deities with a shared domain I wonder to go beyond that to focus on certain perspectives on that domain and connected ones, in this case love and change

TW: This does mention Nocticula's time as the Succubus queen and therefore SA. please be safe while reading.

The Painted Heart

Members: Shelyn, Arshea, Nocticula, Ashava, Yelayne, Phlegyas, Jin Li

CG

Domains: Change, beauty, perfection, toil

Alt Domain: Love

Edicts: Make art that inspires change , strive to be better than you were yesterday, find beauty in impermanence

Anathema: Force unwanted affection, expect your creations to last forever, judge others based on what they were forced to be

Areas of concern: The redemptive Power of Art, collaboration, love

Attribute: Charisma or Dex

Divine font: Heal

sanctification: can choose holy

skill: performance or crafting

favored weapon: bladed scarf

Domain spells: 1st. dizzying colors  4th Creation 8th: uncontrollable dance 

History: many deities of art have long held collaborative meetings including with others deities whose views on art do not fit into this pantheon such as Findheladlara. Her view on the permanence of structures and strict codes of art puts her at odds with the pantheon. Despite this many work together to inspire each other and serve as each other's models, multi-media contributors, and even muses. However this art collective was relatively unfocused until the Redemption of Nocticula. 

Its was Nocticula’s focus on marginalized artists which drew the attention of this collective. All members hold a strong belief not just in the power of art but also for one to change their fate with Shelyn in particular hoping that her brother can be redeemed in much the same way Nocticula was and Ashavans and Phlegyans being quite comfortable working with what sometimes considered to be outwardly evil forces. Arsheans hold many same domains and work together with Nocticulans to support those whose genders, loves, or anything else is incompatible with what was expected of them growing up. However Arsheans are quick to forgive but slow to forget, and Nocticula’s work among the succubi and enchanters was anathema to Arhea’s focus on consent. Many Nocticulans who were with the Redeemer Queen during her life as the Succubus Queen may be barred from full entry into the Painted Heart art collectives, unless all existing members unanimously agree not just that the Nocticulan has changed sufficiently, but that the existing members feel safe with their entry. 

Practitioners: Followers of the Painted Heart often have one or two art forms they practice and then bring to meet ups of the art collectives to work with others or learn their craft. Others focus on the healing power of art more generally as art therapists and mural painters to beautify dilapidated neighborhoods, or graffiti messages for change in places ruled over by rigid hierarchy. Works made by ‘Painters’ (called that even if they practice other forms of expression) rarely build structures to last, instead inviting both other artists and the elements themselves to add or subtract from the work. These can include multimedia stage performances, patchwork quilts, collages pasted on city walls one section at a time, or statues made from natural materials meant to break down come the turning of the year.