So, Paizo announces that there will be a huge event in Golarion spanning several realms, from where a fucking core deity will not get out alive, and at the same time, that Shelyn, the goddess of art, who has dissapeared in the Starfinder timeline, will be returning as Zon-Shelyn and going full goth, AND I'M SUPPOSED TO CONTINUING MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS AS IF THOSE ARE NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT BITS OF LORE THAT THEY'VE ADDED TO THE SETTING IN THE LAST YEARS.

My autistic ass needs to know MORE, I NEED DETAILS, ALL OF THEM.

Worst part of it is that my swashbuckler/devoted muse half-elf from Korvosa started as an abandoned child who found hope and comfort in the Shelyn church, only to have that ripped from her through all the traumatic events she has lived under the rule of Queen Ileosa. In fact, she started as a paladin, but the corrupted city made her abandon law and pursue a path of almost vengeance against the people who hurt her friends, art, the city. She learned to dance and sing to cope with the pain during her infancy, then she used it to share hope and beauty with the people of the city... and now, she uses it to ease the darkness that's grown inside of her, after seeing the worst that people can get and do. I feel that if she survives the Curse of the Crimson Throne and lives long enough, she would be next to Zon-Shelyn, channeling the pain and darkest emotions into the most beautiful art.

Hi, I need to be autistic for a moment. Ahem.

STARFINDER SECOND EDITION REAL???

Okay I've got that out my system, what else is here-

FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH PATHFINDER SECOND EDITION???????

Alright, I should be good now.

No not really, but less shouting this time. I'm so fucking hype for this. Genuinely, I went looking for a spacefaring sci-fi TTRPG a little while ago and didn't find anything that quite did what I wanted.

Scum and Villainy is a great system, but it's also incredibly rules lite. That's an awesome thing for those who like those style of games, and there's a lot of merit to the Forged in the Dark system. Hell, there's a reason both Lancer and ICON take huge chunks from it for its narrative gameplay! But, it didn't exactly give me a lot to bite into. I'm someone who absolutely adores playing with game rules, theory crafting, etc. I like a like a little crunch. So this game, as good as it is, didn't quite scratch the itch. I do love the references in the book though!

I did take a quick look at Stars Without Number, and while it sure does have the crunch, it has it in places where I don't want it. The game in general feels very old school in a lot of ways, which is great if that's what you're after, but it very much was not what I wanted.

Even Starfinder 1e isn't quite what I wanted. It's probably the closest, but I've really become quite jaded to the D&D 3.5e and D&D 5e styles of gameplay. Having seen so many other systems now, they really do feel quite clunky and unintuitive to me. If you still enjoy those systems, more power to you! But I don't, so while this was close: it's no cigar.

And then there's the plethora of 5e hacks. Yeah no. There's a reason I dropped D&D 5e as hard as I did. Well... There's several, but shhh.

So, hearing that Paizo is making Starfinder 2e that's in line with Pathfinder 2e rules? That's almost literally a dream come true, that's exactly the kind of thing I was on the hunt for! It's no secret that I love Pathfinder 2e, I have several happy rants here about the topic (and one that haunts me because it keeps getting notes) and I do think it's very well designed in a lot of very important ways.

Finally, it seems like I'll be able to have the spacefaring sci-fi game with just the right amount and kind of crunch that I've been looking for!

You bet your ass I'm fucking hype.

As a side note: I love that they gave the giant lizard lady a giant gun. That's fun

Starfinder 2e - Field Test Review

Starfinder 2E Playtest Impressions

This week a report on the Starfinder 2E playtest from Owlcon 2024. Come see what's cooking!

Thinking so much about Starfinder 2e but I have nothing to talk about it yet, so I just have to sit here and vibrate

Starfinder 2: Soldier Up

So, I'm excited about Starfinder 2. I tried Starfinder back in the day, and I WANTED to like it, but it had just enough issues with the system that I never got into it.

Starfinder in PF2, however? I appreciate the concerns of the Starfinder crowd, but I on the other hand am HYPED!

I love the preview of the soldier. Yes, I do understand the worries about the DC stuff, but the theory is sound and I think it will fit fine in next to the existing classes in the niche.

Let's take a look at what the soldier was, why it needed to change, and how it looks to be made to fit into the Pathfinder 2 paradigm.

In case you're not aware, originally there was an idea that the Starfinder Classes could, if desired, work alongside the Pathfinder 1e classes. It didn't ever actualize, Starfinder was just different enough in the core mechanics that in effect new classes would have needed to be homebrewed in order to function. I'm sure some have done this, but it meant that for Paizo, they could make Classes In Space! as 'new' classes and they'd work.

Soldier was, therefore, Fighter In Space.

Full BAB, best armor and weapons, these are the core of both Fighter and Soldier, and the majority of their power budget. The Fighting Styles are a similar but different idea from the PF1e Fighter; previously the fighter chose their favorite weapon type and got bonuses with it

That said, the Solder's Fighting Styles were a joy. Bombard to destroy your enemies with area weapons, Blitz to focus on the fast part of "hard and fast," Armor storm to brain the enemy on the brick wall that is your abs, the list goes on and on and all of them are great fun.

PF2e Fighter went a different direction, going further into having the biggest numbers. Fighter has terrifying single-target damage potential just from running at +2 to attack over everyone else. Mix in with some Class Feats that give great party tricks for murdering with weapons.

So... how has Paizo elected to make Soldier different? Could the Fighting Style be enough to set it apart?

Paizo took a different direction: what if Soldier was, instead, a knockoff of champion? Higher AC, higher Con, higher staying power. Just guns instead of the Champion magic. Fighter is good, but not the epitome of durability. Soldier will be that instead.

The other way that Paizo found to set soldier apart came from Starfinder's weapons: Starfinder has Martial AoE weapons. These are not entirely unheard of in Pathfinder, there's situations and details that give martial characters some AoE, but none of the 'everyone in the area rolls a save and takes dice of damage'. Starfinder does, it's the one of the biggest things that sets the sysetm apart.

So, Soldier has a focus on AoE as a martial class! Isn't that neat?

This is not without some considerations, and I fully expect that even just the full playtest of the class will have some notable changes, but the core idea of it stands tall: a martial class that plays to Starfinder's strengths as a system.

This is a good first sign! a VERY good first sign! It bodes well for Starfinder 2e as a system, and shows Paizo's dedication to making Starfinder and Pathfinder actually cross-compatible, which will be strong for both systems.

Oh hey! Tonight I'm running a One Piece inspired Starfinder series called 'The Vast'! There's gonna be pirates, and tragedy, and pirates, and starships, and pirates, and shenanigans. We're setting sail (in space) around 8:30pm est right here!

There's probably not enough time before this session but we recorded 3 prelude sessions that dive into moments from each character's backstory as well! You can listen to em right here

Each session will be split down the middle and uploaded to that pod feed as well. Sweet!

Ok bye

Chrryp in the Library

Chrryp likes the Library. It's rooms upon rooms of paper worlds. Snapshots of peoples lives. Internal thoughts made manifest. Tales of impossible lands. But most importantly. it's quiet. People aren't here to judge, they're here to read and loose themselves as well. Plus old parchent smells and feels so good. it's like being in a drug den to Chrryp when surrounded by such tastes.

So the way I make these photos and videos is I have several going on at once and then take photos all at the same time. This is why a lot of my minis are using the same scenery in a lot of the scenes. Sadly health means that after doing a batch It takes a while until the next batch gets done and I set up the photo secenes.

slowly converting all my friends into d&d players as a long con to actually get them to play pathfinder

I was at the bus station this night, since I had to make a sort of emergency trip, and as I was waiting for the bus in my first trip in several months, I noticed that bus stations are modern Desna temples.

I mean, Desna doesn't have too many temples, since her priests and priestesses are always traveling, but in a world where there are buses that help you with travel, their stations, along with train stations and airports, could be perfect temples for her. Regretfully, I haven't seen all her lore in Starfinder, so I don't know if her priesthood had taken the spaceports as their favorite places 🤔

Now that I think about it, maybe even functioning trains or busses could be the temples themselves 🤔

OK, I've decided that, if and when I play Starfinder, I'll make a Desna follower who will call their spaceship their Desnian temple 😬

Great haul this year for Free RPG Day 2023! Excited to learn 'Heckin' Good Doggos' and check out the indie games in this year's Level 1 book. Also got to learn to play 'Monster of the Week' and demo some board games!

New Worlds to Discover: A Look at Paizo's Gen Con 2024 Release Lineup

Starfinder News

This week a round up of upcoming Con appearances and Starfinder news. Catch the wave!

It's the Paizoverse update for Dec. 14, 2023! Come check out the latest Pathfinder 2e, Starfinder, Pathfinder 1e, discussion episodes, and other stuff that I've found.

You can read more at https://bit.ly/paizoverse2023-12-14

Starfinder 2: Operational

With the confirmation that Operative is coming in Starfinder 2, I think now is a good time to look at the Operative and explore what is up with the Operative and how it might look in Starfinder 2.

(I already did the soldier, if you care)

Because it was entirely possible that Operative could get axed. It isn't turning out that way, but it very easily could have, and I'll tell you why.

Operatives were originally just space rogues. Light armor, light weapons, skills out the wazoo, a special attack that does more damage, literally just space rogues. Now, mind, when Operative came out it was still notable: Trick Attack was strange an janky but introduced the idea that Sneak Attack can be done without needing the target to be flat-footed, instead relying on the user's skills.

Trick Attack itself is a bit awkward to use, but its impact is undeniable. A lot of things from Starfinder were beta versions of things that fully emerged in 2e. Really, Operative Stumbled so that Investigator and Swashbuckler could run. The issue, however, is making Operative run, too, now that it's getting an update.

That said, what we know about Operative's direction is good. Operative will have some manner of Aim action that somehow ties into its ability to do precision damage. This is great, because up until this point no class has been specifically built for ranged precision damage.

Yeah, both Rogue and Investigator can do precision damage with ranged weapons without too much difficulty, but they're not BUILT for it. Operative has both room to explore dedicated ranged precision damage and Rogue's high-skill assets. This could, feasibly, result in overlap with Rogue and Investigator, but it's far from guaranteed: even without new systems from Starfinder 2, having class feats and features that are built around ranged precision damage can explore a relatively undeveloped part of the system.

Not that there's no risk; Operative has a focus on precision damage and skills, which is... very normal. Investigator focuses on noncombat skills, skirmisher focuses on the combat maneuvers, and rogue gets that incredible every single level skill progression. To be honest, I'd really like it if some other class got Rogue skill progression, and Operative is a shoe-in for it.

But if it has rogue skill progression, and precision damage... why isn't it a Rogue racket?

Perhaps now you see why Operative is in a tough place. It's made to be space rogue, and unless it moves away from that definition it will be in a Rogue contest with the Rogue. This is not productive for anyone.

I do think Paizo can do it. Paizo has, up to this point, shown a lot of creativity with their class design and mechanic implementation. I just think that maybe Paizo has its work cut out for it in this case.

Quick Sketch Concept of my Starfinder character. Still figuring out looks & need help with naming. She's an Operative/Hacker & working as a Correctional Counselor, helping rehabilitate prisoners.