Saithor's Infernal Inferno

 A bit over a year ago, I started a part-critique, part-comedy readthrough of the 2nd edition of Pathfinder, back when it had come out and was a cool new product on the market. Since then, college got more hectic, my job got more hectic, and I ended up playing a lot more of systems I actually was playing online for the most part, Shadowrun, 40k RPGs, 1st edition Pathfinder. Now, with free time to start posting here again, I considered returning to my old task and well...it seems rather pointless at this point. It's been out for over a year, multiple splatbooks are out, and even trying to pretend I haven't read it front to back when I have in fact done so multiple times at this point would be disingenuous. And also I rather doubt anyone is reading these anymore at this point anyway, so shrug . But if I do start posting stuff again, I want to focus on other things instead of 2e, and even if I do posts on that, not in the style of that readthrough. Instead I would rather focus on ...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Attacks The one thing you should never screw up. Players or designers So, attacks in PF 2e are at their core the same, roll a d20, attach all applying modifiers, see if it beats, meets, or falls under the Target's AC. There are some new things in this case. The first is Finesse weapons, mentioned here that allow you to apply your dexterity to-hit on the weapon, removing weapon finesse. Bit of playing catch-up to DnD 5e, but nice to see at least feat tax removed off of the field. Another is that with BAB gone, you can now do multiple att...

Yes I am aware the formatting has screwed up the image. It will be fixed at some nebulous point in the future.   Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Chapter 9 Saithor, where is the Human? What did you do? Why did you skip almost four hundred pages? SAITHOR! Okay, so yes, I am skipping ahead massively to this chapter, for one simple reason. Because I can't understand anything about what I'm reading. The entirety of the racial chapters mechanics are filled with terms that I either don't understand or can only guess at the meaning of thanks to my experience with...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Halfling If this section has something about Kender I'm putting worse of 2019 on this instead of Shadowrun 6e Starting off, art is good, even if flower gatherer has been a tier 3 class for years now. As far as fluff goes....it's fine. It's just fine. It's your typical halfling stuff, and there really isn't anything here that is unique in either a good or bad way. I really wish I did have something to joke about but it's essentially what you expect with a halfling. The only thing I can comment on is how their short sta...

So, I started this blog for a variety of reasons, none of which I'm really going to go into here because it's drama that is not going to be dredged up here. I reposted a bunch of stuff where I was looking at PF 2e's core rulebook and doing a half-serious, half-joking page by page analysis. Then I just kinda stopped....Life got in the way, I forgot to continue, and when I did remember there just wasn't time to put in the effort I wanted to. Things have changed to the point where I do have time again, but I can no longer really claim it's a fresh readthrough of PF 2e anymore. I debated just ending the series...then I remembered I literally have a section of the first post discussing my hatred for the stubby nose horn of a dragon. Eh, let's continue it anyway. I'll be doing posts related to general game mechanics, Shadowrun, DnD editions, and anything else I can think of TTRPG as we continue, since apparently I do get hits (somehow).

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Goblin Reading the fluff...this is a fishmalk. Short, energetic creatures with a love for fire, comedy, eating disgusting food, hated across golarion. With a racial Drizzt treatment of turning on their Chaotic Evil comrades. Why Paizo thought their comedy race who specialize in animal cruelty themed weapons was a good idea as a core race was a good idea I do not know. Also, another short, specialized in stealth, tinkering, and short stabby things as a race also applies to two other races already in this chapter. There was a lot they could have...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines The Gnome The   artwork is of a blue-haired tinkerer examining a screw because gnomes are the most anime of them all. The fluff mostly focuses on their weird disease known as the Bleaching, where a lack of imagination slowly drains the color away from you and...wait a minute, is this the ending of character thing from Changeling where you lose all wonderment with the world and become a hopeless human? Anyway, onto other fluff. The Gnomes have not had an ancient empire, unique for now, and with an interesting view on marriage. Outside that n...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines The Elf Knife-ears, never allowed as an unarmed weapon in too many editions. Next up, the elf, whose fluff is around what you expect, cursed with absolutely no character flaws except being really sad that all their friends are going to die before they do, and not much else. Emphasis on Beauty, grace, etc., and little of forests. I'm keeping my raw animal eating stalker anyway. Anyway, the artwork is of an Elvish Painter. Interesting pick of class there, I personally feel that they were a bit under-powered in 1e, but maybe this is their tim...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Still Character Creation, Not Ancestries Yes I'm an idiot Okay, so more art that I mistook for the Ancestry chapter cover. What I assume is the new iconic goblins cooking a rat over a fire while Harsk sleeps and looks much less like a rodent that he did on the cover. Not much to note except apparently Rat are gobbo food, unless Harsk is a discworld dwarf and the gobbo is going to share the snack. Anyway, skills, it's a brief overview, but critically, everyone gets proficiency to Perception and does not need to select it as a skill ...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Character Creation There is technically how this book should be used and the action cost symbols before this, but they are not worth covering in detail unless people want a rant on my opinion of the symbols. Also I cannot read, so you can blame that for me forgetting this was before Ancestries. We have some new artwork on top of the Reading Rules section, and finally not a three-person party, instead it's a two-person party. Even better! Anyway, we have what I think is the iconic Monk, with a Khopesh...okay. And some random halfling ...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines Example of Play So, time to see some PF 2e in action as described by the makers before the majority of the rules are even known except an overview. I foresee no problems at all arising from this. Anyway we start with the group, which is three people...... Are you kidding me 2e? My brief bit about how all the art only featured three characters was a joke, not a challenge to embrace it! Then again, maybe because this party is the classic Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard except there is no Wizard, maybe they just removed the Wizard class from t...

Ah, the intellect devourer, a classic, well-loved monster that has been a staple of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, a well liked creature employed throughout all levels and is a fair challenge in whatever encounter you face it in. No wait, I'm talking about the Orc. Frack this thing! So, the first question when dealing with the Intellect Devourer is which one? Because depending if you are playing Pathfinder or 5th edition, you are facing too very different beasts. The 5th edition Intellect Devourer is a Challenge Rating 2 Creature, with 21 Hit Points, an Armor Class of 12, with no natural attacks, Blindsight, and the ability to detect creatures with an Intelligence score above 3 up to three hundred feet around it. Initiative is +2. It's main abilities are two-fold. First it forces a character within 10 feet to make a DC 12 Intellect Saving Throw. If you fail, you take 2d10 psychic damage, and then the Dungeon Master rolls 3d6, and if it exceeds your Intelligent score, ...

There are many types of monsters that one can fight in your typical d20 fantasy role-playing game, from the big dumb melee monster, to the ranged skirmisher, to the monsters that must always be avoided (Typically always the Rust Monster). In this series, we'll be discussing dealing with some of the more difficult variants of these monsters in some of those d20 fantasy gaming RPGs, starting with a subset of extreme danger, the monster that can both fly and has a ranged attack. This sub-type of monster is actually a pretty large percentage of the classical monsters people think of, specifically the Manticore, Chimera, Harpy (if armed with a ranged weapon), any Dragon, some demons and devils, and a whole host of others. These monsters pose the greatest threat early on in a party's career, because of one simple and undeniable fact: Your party likely has limited forms of flight/ranged attacks, and the monster doesn't. In both the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfin...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines. Basics of Play Really not much to cover for this section to start with, mostly just definitions of various Fantasy RPG terms that have been in use ranging back to the first edition of DnD. There is a sidebar abut the world as a participant and about how it also falls game terms such as traps having levels and so on, which gives me hope that pit traps will not be level 10 traps in this. There's also a definition of the narrative terms and how a narrative is constructed, and in this case does say that Player histories and personalities should...

Disclaimer: I was not a fan of the PF 2e dev diaries, or of the play-test. This does not mean I'm going to do nothing but bash this book, and I legitimately hope to be pleasantly surprised, but keep in mind this read-through is likely to be very biased. A fair bit of it is also for comedic purposes. It is by no means a declaration that people should not play PF 2e, that people are wrong for enjoying it, or anything along those lines. Chapter 1: Introduction Section 1: More Art, and actual text. Hoorah! Two more pieces of art on the way to this chapter from the end of the table of contents, including a two-page spread. Honestly I hope this is not indicative of the rest of the book, because I am not a trained artist. Anyway, since I will critique them despite that, the first piece of art is a trio of Iconics facing off against some Kobolds while a giant insect that I think is an off-brand Umber Hulk bursts through the far wall. Considering we have yet to see the iconic ...