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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 7933425" data-attributes="member: 70468">There are 84 NPC stat blocks. They offer a similar amount of detail to a standard monster stat block. They cover a ride range of NPC roles. Each of them has a special ability unique to their role. They give some advice for customizing and tweaking them.There is not an armor as DR option. The following variants are in the book:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ability Score Variants (gradual ability boosts, point buy, alternative scores)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Alignment Variants (extreme good and evil, incremental alignment, no alignment, moral intentions)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Deep backgrounds (generate new backgrounds randomly)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Feats and Features (dual-class, free archtypes, extra ancestry feats, fewer ancestry feats, fewer skill feats)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 0 characters</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic Item Variants (automatic bonus progress, extraordinary/non-magical item quality)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Proficiency Without Level</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Skill Points</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stamina (gain half HP and half HP as stamina)</li> </ul>None of the variants seem bad, though I found a few a little underwhelming. We’re going to be trying out point buy, skill points, and proficiency without level.Most of the subsystems are based on Victory Points, which is also a new subsystem.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Victory Points: VP is a way to track progress towards a goal with small things that occur at thresholds. The frequency of thresholds depends on the total amount of VP needed. Generally, the actions you take gain you VP (or sometimes lose it). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Influence: VP-based subsystem for gaining favor with NPCs. VP is used to track the amount of favor (“Influence”) you have with an NPC.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Research: VP-based subsystem for doing research as a group. VP is used to track how effective your research has been (“Research Points”).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chases: VP-based subsystem for running chases. Chases involve obstacles the PCs must overcome, and VP is used to determine how long it takes (“Chase Points”) PCs to overcome an obstacle.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Infiltration: VP-based subsystem for infiltrating a stronghold. PCs must overcome obstacles to successfully infiltrate a location. Separate pools of VP are used to track how long it takes (“Infiltration Points”) to overcome an obstacle as well as how alert the defenders are (“Awareness”).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Reputation: VP-based subsystem for handling factions (“Reputation Points”). This is apparently similar to the system used for reputation in PFS.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Duels: Alternate initiative subsystem for running duels. Essentially, you pick a skill to use for initiative, and it gives you a special action you can use. Your special action is more effective against certain initiative skills, so it’s a bit like rock-paper-scissors. There’s a magical version that’s essentially the same but based on tradition.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Leadership: Some tables that show how many followers you get at a leadership level. It’s mostly based on GM fiat, so there’s no actual mechanics for doing that. This probably should have been a VP-based subsystem.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hexploration: a subsystem for doing hex-based exploration in an adventure. I’ve posted my thoughts <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/comments/deb2bo/running_a_hexcrawl_in_pathfinder_2e_or_how_i/fj2g3vl/" target="_blank">here</a>. It’s probably not bad as part of an adventure or story-based campaign, but it doesn’t have what it needs to be the backbone of a sandbox campaign.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vehicles: pretty similar to the PF1 vehicle rules published in Ultimate Combat but updated for PF2.</li> </ul>I’m pretty excited about VP. I plan to put together a VP-based subsystem for my campaign to handle hex clearing. I wonder if it might be possible to use it for handling getting lost. I’d liken it to an improved skill challenge system, though one of my players who’s familiar with Blades in the Dark describes it as similar to clocks.Unfortunately, no. Those will probably come in the Kingmaker reprint.No, but it should be possible to build something off of VP.No. Leadership provides a loose framework for followers, but there’s nothing really for retainers. It should be possible to build something off of VP.I like the creature creation guidelines. I skipped ahead to the subsystems and variants chapters, so I’m still reading through the first few chapters with those a few pages here and there as time permits.They provide a lot of seemingly good advice for running a game. They do have some structures you can use for campaign and adventure design, but it’s very much in the mold of their published adventures. Their conception of sandboxes feels like it misses the mark to me (“you give the players a sizable location to explore and let them decide how to go about it.”).There are some pretty cool and fun cursed items. I like bag of weasels, but I also love the arsonous curse.</blockquote>

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