#3E-Community Building

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Again, not an exhaustive list but for anyone else in the UK, these are where riots are expected today:

Aldershot - Immigration Advisors at 40 Victoria Road GU11 1TH, starting at 19:30.

Bedford - Immigration INN (Inn?) on Ford End Road MK40 4JT, at 20:00.

Birmingham - Refugee and Migrant Centre on Frederick Street B1 3HN, beginning at 20:00.

Bishop Auckland - outside the Town Hall on Market Place DL14 7NP.

Blackburn - Rafiq Immigration Services on Whalley Road BB5 1AA, at 20:00.

Blackpool - Immigration Solicitors at the Enterprise Centre on Lytham Road FY1 1EW, starting at 20:00.

Bolton - Deane & Bolton Immigration Lawyers on Chorley New Road BL1 4QR, at 20:00.

Brentford - UK Immigration Help in The Mile on 1000 Great West Road TW8 9DW, starting around 19:00.

Brighton - Raj Rayan Immigration in Queensberry House at 106 Queens Road BN1 3XF, starting either at 19:30 or 20:00.

Bristol - Gya Williams Immigration on West Street BS2 OBL, at 20:00.

Burnley - at Thompson Park on 111 Ormerod Rioad BB11 3QWat, starting at 13:00.

Canterbury - UK Immigration Clinic in the Canterbury Innovation Centre CT2 7FG, at 20:00.

Chatham - Immigration Status UK on Maidstone Road ME5 9FD, at 20:00.

Cheadle - Intime Immigration Services on Brooks Drive SK8 3TD, at 20:00.

Chelmsford - UK Immigration Information Centre on Violet Close CM1 6XG, at 20:00.

Derby - Immigration Advisory Service, Normanton Road DE23 6US, at 20:00.

Dover - Kent Immigration and Visa Advice at 5A Castle Hill Road CT16 1QG, reportedly around 20:00.

Durham - in Crook at Market Place, at 18:00. (Unsure as to whether this is the same one as in Bishop Auckland as I know Crook is near there?)

Finchley - Immigration and Nationality Services within Foundation House at 4 Percy Road N128BU, around 19:00.

Harrow - Yes UK Immigration and North Harrow Community Library within the Business Centre at 429-433 Pinner Road HA1 4HN, in North Harrow, at 19:00.

Hastings - Black Rock Immigration at 37 Cambridge Gardens TN34 1EN, at 20:00.

Hull - Conroy Baker Immigration Lawyer in Norwich House, 1 Savile Street HU1 3ES, at 20:00.

Lewisham - the Clock Tower, SE13 5JH, 19:00.

Lincoln - Immigration Lawyer Services on Carlton Mews LN2 4FJ, at 20:00.

Liverpool - Merseyside Refugee Centre in St Anne's Centre on 7 Overbury Street L7 3HJ, at 20:00.

Liverpool - Sandpiper Hotel (might be on Ormskirk Old Road? if any scousers can clarify where that is, that'd be great) at 13:00.

Middlesbrough - Immigration Advice Centre which is the Co-Operative Buildings at 251 Linthorpe Road TS1 4AT, at 20:00.

Newcastle - United Immigration Services in Artisan Unit 3, The Beacon on Westgate Road NE4 9PQ, at 20:00.

Northampton - Zenith Immigration Lawyers at 2 Talbot Road NN1 4JB, starting at 20:00.

Nottingham - East Midlands Immigration Services at 15 Stonesbury Vale NG2 7UR, at 20:00.

Oldham - somewhere on Ellen Street 0L9 6QR, at 20:00

Oxford - Asylum Welcome in Unit 7 in Newtec Place on Magdelen Road OX4 1RE, around 19:00. [Updated as of 15:53]

Peterborough - Smart Immigration Services in Laxton House at 191 Lincoln Road PE1 2PN, at 20:00.

Plymouth - in a Morrisons car park, I don't know which but I saw Victory Parade associated with it? If anyone from Plymouth can clarify, please do. Not sure on time.

Portsmouth - UK Border Agency at Kettering Terrace PO2 8QN, at 20:00

Preston - Adriana Immigration Services at 109 Church Street PR1 3BS, at 19:00 or 20:00.

Rotherham - Parker Rhodes Hickmotts, The Point S60 1BP, at 20:00.

Sheffield - City Hall on Barker's Pool S1 2JA, at 13:00.

Sheffield - White Rose Visas at 101 Wilkinson Street S10 2GJ, at 20:00.

Southampton - Y-Axis Immigration Consultants, Cumberland Place on Grosvenor Square SO15 2BG, at 20:00.

Southend - MNS Immigration Solicitors on Ditton Court Road SS0 7HG, at 20:00.

Stoke-On-Trent - ZR Visas on Metcalfe Road ST6 7AZ, in Tunstall, at 20:00.

Sunderland - North of England Refugee Service which is in Suite 12 in the Eagle Building at 201 High Street East SR1 2AX, at 20:00.

Swindon - I have no details for this, just seen that something might be kicking off there.

Tamworth - Lawrencia & Co Immigration Solicitors within the Amber Business Village on Amber Close B77 4RP, no details on time unfortunately.

Walthamstow - Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau at 187 Hoe Street E17 3AP, at 20:00.

Wigan - Support for Wigan Arrivals Project, Penson Street WN1 2LP, at 20:00.

York - only detail I've got it is York Stay City Hotel.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

What's OSR? I've seen you mention it several times in your RPG posts. Is it like a genre of rpg or...?

Hey, sorry I took so long to reply to this lol you probably already just googled it by now.

But like. Anyway.

OSR (Old-School Revival, Old-School Renaissance, and more uncommonly Old-School Rules or Old-School Revolution, no one can really agree on what the R means) is less like a genre and more like a movement or a loosely connected community that seeks to capture the tone, feel and/or playstyle of 70's and 80's fantasy roleplaying games (with a particular emphasis on old-school editions of Dungeons and Dragons, particularly the Basic D&D line but pretty much anything before 3e falls under this umbrella), or at least an idealized version of what people remember those games felt like to play.

There isn't exactly a consensus on what makes a game OSR but here's my personal list of things that I find to be common motifs in OSR game design and GM philosophy. Not every game in the movement features all of these things, but must certainly feature a few of them.

Rulings over rules: most OSR games lack mechanically codified rules for a lot of the actions that in modern D&D (and games influenced by it) would be covered by a skill system. Rather that try to have rules applicable for every situation, these games often have somewhat barebones rules, with the expectation that when a player tries to do something not covered by them the GM will have to make a ruling about it or negotiate a dice roll that feels fair (a common resolution system for this type of situation is d20 roll-under vs a stat that feels relevant, a d6 roll with x-in-6 chance to succeed, or just adjudicating the outcome based on how the player describes their actions)

"The solution is not on your character sheet": Related to the point above, the lack of character skills means that very few problems can be solved by saying "I roll [skill]". E.g. Looking for traps in an OSR game will look less like "I rolled 18 on my perception check" and more like "I poke the flagstones ahead with a stick to check if they're pressure plates" with maybe the GM asking for a roll or a saving throw if you do end up triggering a trap.

High lethality: Characters are squishy, and generally die much more easily. But conversely, character creation is often very quick, so if your character dies you can usually be playing again in minutes as long as there's a decent chance to integrate your new PC into the game.

Lack of emphasis on encounter balance: It's not uncommon for the PCs to find themselves way out of their depth, with encounters where they're almost guaranteed to lose unless they run away or find a creative way to stack the deck in their favor.

Combat as a failure state: Due to the two points above, not every encounter is meant to be fought, as doing so is generally not worth the risk and likely to end up badly. Players a generally better off finding ways to circumvent encounters through sneaking around them, outsmarting them, or out-maneauvering them, fighting only when there's no other option or when they've taken steps to make sure the battle is fought on their terms (e.g. luring enemies into traps or environmental hazards, stuff like that)

Emphasis on inventory and items: As skills, class features and character builds are less significant than in modern D&D (or sometimes outright nonexistent), a large part of the way the players engage with the world instead revolves around what they carry and how they use it. A lot of these games have you randomly roll your starting inventory, and often this will become as much a significant part of your character as your class is, even with seemingly useless clutter items. E.g. a hand mirror can become an invaluable tool for peeping around corners and doorways. This kind of gameplay techncially possible on modern D&D but in OSR games it's often vital.

Gold for XP: somewhat related to the above, in many of these games your XP will be determined by how much treasure you gather, casting players in the role and mindset of trasure hutners, grave robbers, etc.

Situations, not plots: This is more of a GM culture thing than an intrinsic feature of the games, but OSR campaigns will often eschew the long-form GM-authored Epic narrative that has become the norm since the late AD&D 2e era, in favor of a more sandbox-y "here's an initial situation, it's up to you what you do with it" style. This means that you probably won't be getting elaborate scenes plotted out sessions in advance to tie into your backstory and character arc, but it also means increased player agency, casting the GM in the role of less of a plot writer or narrator and more of a referee.

Like I said, these are not universal, and a lot of games that fall under the OSR umbrella will eschew some or most of these (it's very common for a lot of games to drop the gold-for-xp thing in favor of a different reawrd structure), but IMO they're a good baseline for understanding common features of the movement as a whole.

Of course, the OSR movement covers A LOT of different games, which I'd classify in the following categories by how much they deviate from their source of inspiration:

Retroclones are basically recreations of the ruleset of older D&D editions but without the D&D trademark, sometimes with a new coat of paint. E.g. OSRIC and For Gold and Glory are clones of AD&D (1e and 2e respectively); Whitebox and Fantastic Medieval Campaigns are recreations of the original 1974 white box D&D release; Old School Essentials, Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord are clones of the 1981 B/X D&D set. Some of these recreate the original rules as-is, editing the text or reorganizing the information to be clearer but otherwise leaving the meachnics unchanged, while others will make slight rules changes to remove quirks that have come to be considered annoying in hindsight, some of them might mix and match features from different editions, but otherwise they're mostly straight up recreations of old-school D&D releases.

There are games that I would call "old-school compatible", that feature significant enough mechanical changes from old-school D&D to be considered a different game, but try to maintain mechanical compatibility with materials made for it. Games like The Black Hack, Knave, Macchiato Monsters, Dungeon Reavers, Whitehack, etc. play very differently from old-school D&D, and from each other, but you generally can grab any module made for any pre-3e D&D edition and run it with any of them with very little to no effort needed in conversion.

There's a third category that I wouldn't know how to call. Some people call then Nu-OSR or NSR (short for New School revolution) while a small minority of people argue that they aren't really part of the OSR movement but instead their own thing. I've personally taken to calling them "Old School Baroque". These are games that try to replicate different aspects of the tone and feel of old-school fantasy roleplaying games while borrowing few to none mechanics from them and not making any particular attempts to be mechanically compatible. Games like Into the Odd, Mörk Borg, Troika!, a dungeon game, FLEE, DURF, Songbirds, Mausritter, bastards, Cairn, Sledgehammer, and too many more to name. In my opinion this subsection of the OSR space is where it gets interesting, as there's so many different ways people try to recreate that old-school flavor with different mechanics.

(Of course, not everything fits neatly into these, e.g. I would consider stuff like Dungeon Crawl Classics to be somewhere inbetween category 1 and 2, and stuff like GloG or RELIC to be somewhere imbetween categories 2 and 3)

The OSR movement does have its ugly side, as it's to be expected by the fact that a huge part of the driving force behind it is nostalgia. Some people might be in it because it harkens back to a spirit of DIY and player agency that has been lost in traditional fantasy roleplaying games, but it's udneniable that some people are also in it because for them it harkens back to a time before "D&D went woke" when tabletop roleplaying was considered a hobby primarily for and by white men. That being said... generally those types of guys keep to themselves in their own little circlejerk, and it's pretty easy to find OSR spaces that are progressive and have a sinificant number of queer, POC, and marginalized creators.

[thydungeongal]

have you ever posted anything about what you dislike in pathfinder 1e? i’m quite fond of both editions (although i will say i’m biased towards 2e for a number of reasons), and i’m curious what your critiques of 1e are.

My biggest issues with Pathfinder 1e are the proliferation of archetypes to the point where class pretty much ceased to mean anything, as well as it having some pretty bad design, a lot of which was simply grandfathered in from D&D 3e, but they developed their own unique ways of turning the already messy system into even more of a mess.

My favorite example is the overly specific feats that actually ended up prescribing certain actions (that were already possible under the rules previously) so that they now required a specific feat. Like the feat for gnomes that allowed them to pretend that their manacles were chafing them to get their jailors to take pity on them and loosen them. That sucks, imo!

There's also the whole thing with Paizo being very bad at communicating the intent of their rules, which led to a bunch of very questionable rulings becoming accepted as the intent of the rules through their FAQs.

And like even though I'm very fond of D&D 3e it was kind of a mess, so Pathfinder 1e was kind of built on very shaky foundations to begin with. But idk, even so I think there are better ways to build a game on the foundations of D&D 3e (Fantasy Craft comes to mind).

But yeah, not significantly different from D&D 3e to see it as an improvement, and accidentally replicating some of the worst design trends of 3e, as well as otherwise sloppy design.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Bee people in my D&D world

The Abeil are an obscure race of bee people from D&D 3e that I decided to make playable in my world and give some worldbuilding and lore expansion to. Stats at the bottom.

The Abeil line in the continent of Rakada, which was originally part of its own planet before a magical catastrophe ripped a piece of it off of its world and deposited on my main campaign world. The piece that ended up on my world, the Lost World of Alvestra, is only a fragment of the original Rakada, whose fate remains unknown. The region of Rakada the Abeil originate from is known in Rakadan as N’Zar NiTotalu-i (N'Zar = land, Totalu = bones, i as a suffix = people, also seen in the Tabaxi (cat people) and Tlincalli (scorpion people), and Ni as a prefix = without) and in common as the Land of the Boneless People, for its primary occupants are the Abeil and the Kreen, both of which have exoskeletons instead of endoskeletons.

The Abeil mostly inhabit the outskirts of the Land of the Boneless People where rain is abundant, massive flowers grow, and the mighty wasp dragons dwell. They avoid the arid interior of the region, which is inhospitable to them and the homeland of the Kreen. An abeil resembles a humanoid bee, with a very human or elf-like upper body and face (though their eyes are compound and they have antennae). Their lower bodies are much more insect-like, with four narrow legs and a curved, flexible abdomen that ends in a venomous stinger. Two pairs of translucent wings emerge from their upper backs and their hand have three fingers and a thumb. The wings allow flight and can produce a droning noise that triggers drowsiness and unconsciousness in those that hear it.

Abeil are innately social beings, even moreso than other sapient species. While a human or tabaxi could shun company and go become a lone wolf, the Abeil are so innately social that being alone is extremely stressful to them. Lone Abeil will instinctively seek company and become highly attached to whoever they find. They are also biologically programmed to place the needs of the group over the needs of the individual. This is not to say that individualism is shunned, it is just a secondary priority to the health of the group. There are Abeil artists, Abeil games, and other things that do not directly contribute to the survival of the group, they are just not as heavily emphasized as in the societies of other species. Abeil are raised to understand that they are all part of the whole that is the community and everyone needs to support each other. Abeil build hive cities with hexagonal districts organized by what purpose they serve. These cities can be very difficult to navigate for members of flightless species, so there is usually at least one district built for trade and diplomacy with outsiders that is built accordingly. Smaller outlying communities such as farming or mining villages help support the cities. Trade with the other residents of Rakada (and more recently, Alvestra) is common. As with the other inhabitants of the Land of the Boneless People, Abeil tame and domesticate native massive bugs, using huge beetles as beasts of burden, dragonflies as mounts, and cat-sized isopods as pets.

Like the bees they resemble, Abeil have distinct castes: queens, soldiers, and vassals. Queens are always female, but soldiers and vassals may be of either sex. Queens are also not the only Abeil to reproduce, all Abeil can. An individual hive city will usually have one queen, with 1/3rd of the population being soldiers and the rest being vassals. The primary visual difference is that soldiers stand about about a head taller than queens, who stand about half a head taller than vassals. Queens act as the spiritual and authoritative leaders of their hive cities, usually with a council of advisors from the other sects. Soldiers are bred to take up martial roles as the warriors that defend the hive and scout out into unclaimed territory. Vassals fill all other roles, from laborers to traders to artists to scholars to clergy and everything in between.

Abeil are born as larvae who hatch from eggs. All larvae will grow into vassals unless fed a special diet. Abeil larvae are raised communally in nurseries and spend about a year as large grubs before pupating and emerging six months later as a young adult. The tenders of the nurseries will select the largest and most aggressive larvae to be fed the diet to become soldiers. When they finish pupating, the young Abeil are sent off to learn the tools of their future profession based on their temperament and the hive's needs. For example, an inquisitive Abeil may be sent to become a scholar and if their is a shortage of farmers, young Abeil will be sent to fill those ranks. There is usually only one queen, but if a hive city is growing too large, new queens will be raised and sent out with a portion of the population to found a new hive city elsewhere. If new queens are needed, the current queen (or council of advisors if the queen dies) will visit the nursery and take the most promising larva with them back to the palace. This larva will be fed a special diet of royal jelly that triggers maturation into a queen. This young queen will then be trained by the current queen or advisors in the skilled needed to become a leader.

As with most of the sapient species of Rakada, the Abeil claim to have been created by one of the divine Animal Lords, the Bee Lord in their case. As with the other Animal Lords, the bee lord has many aspects or masks, each of which can be thought of as its own god while also being part of the greater whole. The Abeil worship the various masks of the Bee Lord, with the most widely-worshiped one being known as the Queen of Queens, the Lawful Neutral mask of order, leadership, and society.

The Abeil are generally expansionist and their hive cities can be found in most of the wetter, coastal regions of the Land of the Boneless People. Attempts to expand into the arid inner regions of the region have mostly been thwarted by the native Kreen, leading to a great deal of animosity between the races. So far, political infighting between hive cities and the threat of retaliation by Thri- and Tohr-Kreen have prevented attempts to expand hive cities into the southern Tabaxi lands, but this state of affairs may not last long. There is no central government for the Abeil, each hive city acts as an independent, self-governing city-state. Relations between the hive cities are complex, with rivalries and alliances. In addition, hives may form alliances or trade agreements with the Tabaxi to the south or (in more recent years) Alvestrans. In particular, Abeil-produced honey is considered a delicacy in Tabaxi lands and fetches a high price.

Homebrew Abeil race stats for 5e (note: this has not been playtested)

ASI: +2, +1 or +1, +1, +1

Size: medium

Speed: 30 ft. Have a flying speed equal to walking speed, but cannot use this speed if wearing medium or heavy armor

Languages: common and 1 other

Sting: you have a stinger which counts as a natural weapon with the finesse property with which you are proficient. When you make an unarmed attack, you can choose to deal 1D4 piercing damage. When you successfully attack a creature with your stinger, you can force them to make a constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 11 + your proficiency modifier. On a failure, the creature takes 2d8 poison damage and is poisoned until the end of your next turn. On a success, the creature takes half damage and is not poisoned. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses when you finish a long rest.

Drone: you can use your wings to create a horrible, droning noise that can lull creatures who hear it into a deep sleep. As an action, you can force every creature within a 15 ft sphere centered on yourself that can hear you to make a wisdom saving throw (DC 11 + your proficiency modifier). Any creature that fails this check falls asleep for one hour or until they take damage or another creature takes its action to rouse them. Once you use this feature you may not use it again until you take a long rest. 

Caste: Abeil are born into one of three castes, which shape their physical features. When you choose this race, pick one of the following options:

Vassal: you gain proficiency with one set of artisans tools of your choice and one skill proficiency of your choice, picking from history, religion, medicine, or persuasion. 

Soldier: you gain proficiency in one weapon or set of armor of your choice and one skill proficiency of your choice, picking from athletics, acrobatics, survival, or medicine.

Queen: you gain proficiency in one weapon or set of tools of your choice and one skill of your choice, picking from history, persuasion, intimidation, or deception.

[krinsbez]

A BT/Pulp Heroes Thing: Scrooge McDuck's BattleMech

So, I know that DuckTech lost the poll by a considerable margin, but we had a lot of good convo about it on a certain forum board, and I wanted to share something with y'all.

Specifically, that poster Sciox came up with a build for what they thought should be Scrooge's 'Mech!

(I apologize about the formatting getting messed up, I've never done anything like this on tumblr before, and I am not sure how to convert)

Below the cut...

BattleMech Technical Readout

Name/Model: Banshee BNC-3E Scrooge

Technology: Inner Sphere

Technology Rating: E

Tonnage: 95

Role: Sniper

Configuration: Biped BattleMech

Era/Year: Star League / 2475

Rules (Current): Standard

Rules (Era): Standard

Rules (Year): Unavailable

Total Cost: 9,603,945 C-Bills

Battle Value: 2,295

Chassis: Star League XT

Power Plant: Pitban 285

Walking Speed: 32.4 kph

Maximum Speed: 54 kph

Jump Jets: HildCo Model 10

Jump Capacity: 90 meters

Armor: Starshield with CASE

Armament:

1 M-7 Gauss Rifle

2 Donal PPCs

1 Holly SRM 6

4 Harmon Starclass Medium Lasers

2 Magna Mark I Small Lasers

Manufacturer: McDuck Enterprises

Primary Factory: Hesperus II

Communications: Dalban Comline

Targeting & Tracking: Dalban HiRez-B ================================================================================================ Equipment Mass ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Internal Structure: Standard 9.50

Engine: 285 Fusion 16.50

Walking MP: 3

Running MP: 5

Jumping MP: 3

Heat Sinks (Double): 11 [22] 1.00

Gyro: Standard 3.00

Cockpit: Standard 3.00

Armor Factor: 240 15.00

Type: Standard

Internal Armor Structure Value Head: 3 9 Center Torso: 30 40 Center Torso (rear): 17 R/L Torso: 20 30 R/L Torso (rear): 10 R/L Arm: 16 21 R/L Leg: 20 26 ================================================================================================ Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Tonnage ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Small Laser H 1 0.50

Jump Jet CT 1 2.00

Small Laser CT 1 0.50

CASE RT 1 0.50

Jump Jet RT 1 2.00

4 Medium Lasers RT 4 4.00

PPC RT 3 7.00

SRM 6 RT 2 3.00

SRM 6 (Ammo 15) RT 1 1.00

CASE LT 1 0.50

Gauss Rifle LT 7 15.00

Gauss Rifle (Ammo 16) LT 2 2.00

Jump Jet LT 1 2.00

PPC LA 3 7.00 ================================================================================================ Alpha Strike Statistics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Point Value (PV): 48 TP: BM, SZ: 4, TMM: 1, MV: 6"j Damage: (S) 4 / (M) 4 / (L) 4, OV: 3 Armor (A): 8, Structure (S): 8 Specials: CASE

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Yagno Petrovna

Domain: G'Henna Domain Formation:  702 BC Power Level: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: Domains of Dread (2e) Circle of Darkness (2e), Domains and Denizens, Realm of Terror (109-110), Ravenloft 3e

Yagno Petrovna is a sickly man clinging onto his ever dying belief in a fake deity as the land of G’Henna dies around him. Blinders are a necessary component to religious zealots and the ones Yagno wears are endless.

Yagno grew up in Barovia. Though I am uncertain which village he hailed from, it matters not. One unremarkable village made up of dilapidated buildings and mud is the same as any other. Barovia is not known for its religious populace , but Yagno was…well, let’s just call him imaginative. 

He was physically weak in a family that prided themselves for their vitality. This resulted in much cruelty from his brother, Yoshtoi. Hmm. I can sympathize a bit there, though my elder brother was more the type to lazily insult me from his chair than actually excrete any physical energy against me. 

Yagno would make up stories about the monsters in the woods and he actually feared them himself. I’m not sure why one would need to make up more monsters in the svalich woods or why others would not believe such tales, but siblings will be siblings and Yagno’s brother and others constantly abused him for it.

His brother locked him out of the house one night, telling him to find comfort with his monsters. Yagno became hysterical with his own fear and sheltered in a small cave. The next morning he found the word “Zhakata” scrawled upon the cavern wall. Instead of realizing it was just one night in a cave, a feat most young people would survive, Yagno believed that Zhakata had protected him from the monsters of the woods.

Like a true zealot, Yagno didn’t bother to look into this deity of his or the source of the word “Zhakata” (a code word used between two Vistani), he set up an altar to Zhakata in the cave. And, naturally, decided that Zhakata required ritual sacrifices. 

He sacrificed a number of servants and family members, Yoshtoi included, to this “god” of his. Eventually, he was discovered in the act of sacrificing his sister’s baby. His family saved the child and chased Yagno into the woods, where he fled into the Mists and G’Henna was created.

Yagno rules G’Henna as a Theocracy, making those that dwell there worship his false god. The people of G’Henna believe Zhakata has two forms, the Devourer and the Provider, though none have ever seen the Provider. The Devourer was said to have walked the land, thinning and drying the soils, freezing the people and making the land hostile to all living things.

Having never communed with his God, Yagno is plagued with doubt in Zhakata’s existence. He hides this doubt behind religious decrees and punishes any who question his or their own faith. It is said that the Mists are the ones that grant Yagno his power. A strange sort of torment, to obtain power yet never know its source. 

So powerful was his doubt that he hired a wizard to contact Zhaktat and find the Provider. The wizard ended up summoning a nalfeshnee named Malistroi who mocked Yagno and told him his god was false and never existed. Enraged, Yagno killed the wizard and left the devil bound in the wizard’s summoning circle. Yagno then told his people that there was no Provider, just the Devourer.

In a way this is true, with Yagno being the Devourer himself. His laws require that all food grown in G’Henna are offered to the church. The church pointlessly sacrifices some of this precious resource to "Zhakata" and distributes the rest to the people, barely enough to survive off of. Buying and selling food is considered a crime. Honestly, is anyone upset that the Grand Conjunction threw this Domain out into the floating pockets? No, I only continually get blamed for the less desirable changes.

Yagno’s real power comes from the altar within his grand cathedral that towers over the city of Zhukar. There he can charm the masses as if using a charm spell himself. He can also transform any native G’Henna into a beastial humanoid. These transformations are used quite often on those whom Yagno views as transgressing against him, though they only work on those that believe in Zhakata. In making these transformations, he is simply destroying his own followers. Quite simply put, Yagno is nothing more than a fool's ouroboros.

[melancholia-ennui]

Some thoughts on PF2e

Context: I played PF2e for ~2 years in two campaigns. Concurrently, I have been playing 5e since release, including running a 4yr continuous campaign from lv 1-20. I have a little experience of 3/3.5e from the NWN games, but never PNP, and I've dabbled in short campaigns in a few other systems, including Cypher and a system a friend was designing.

So, with everything going on (*gestures at WotC burning every last shred of good will they ever garnered from the community*), a lot of people are currently looking for a new TTRPG system to pick up. A fairly common piece of advice that I hear is "if you want something like D&D, try Pathfinder". While this statement makes sense in the grand scheme of all TTRPGs ever, and both systems trace something of their genetic heritage to the same original system (3e), it over looks the fact that the play feel and play style of these games are actually quite different, and I worry that it is setting some people up for disappointment if they don't understand the differences between these systems before going in.

So here's a little primer on the vibes key differences between these games, to help you gauge whether PF is actually the right choice for you if you're coming from 5e.

Disclaimer: I'll only be talking about PF2e here, as I haven't played the original PF - however, based on everything I've heard and read about it, many if not all of these points will apply equally to PF1e.

I've divided this discussion into sections so you can jump straight to the part of the game that most interests you. More could certainly be said on each of these points - my goal here is not to give a perfect understanding of the nuances of the game, but rather an overall "vibe" so you can gauge whether it's likely to be worth your time. If you're still on the fence about it after reading this, give it a try and see for yourself how it stacks up!

Overall

A Rule For Everything. Where 5e is often quite hand-waivy in the details of what you can and can't do, leaving a large part up to a mixture of GM discretion and interpretation, PF2e has a specific rule for most actions you would want to take in most circumstances. Pros: this results in fewer "falling through the cracks" moments where it's unclear how you should rule a particular action (in particular, you're not going to see the frequently botched "is an ability check an action, bonus action, or free" you get at many tables in 5e); good for supporting newer GMs who haven't developed the judgement need to make rule callings well in a rules-lighter system like 5e. Cons: offers less flexibility and GM freedom; I found that often questions which would be answered with "sure, give me a X check" in 5e were answered with "you don't have enough actions" or "you don't have the right feat" in PF2e; and if you've got a rules lawyer at your table, you need to expect a lot more rules-lawyering.

Finely Balanced. We all know that 5e is a little bawked - PF2e, by contrast, is a ruthlessly well-balanced system. While I'm sure experienced players have found ways to break it, I found that even extreme builds rarely feel outside of a narrow scope of variation. Those used to playing martials will especially notice the difference, as casters are much more closely pegged to martial progression than the "casters are better at everything" state of 5e. Pros: Very difficult to break the game; GM is very unlikely to be surprised by player capabilities; martials are much less overshadowed by caster. Cons: While it's hard to make a broken character, it's easy to make a bad one that lags behind more experienced players; can feel more "samey" (see discussion on Spellcasting below for more details); progression often feels slow, and it lacked the "oh shit I can do that now?!?" moments I've often had with 5e characters.

No Bounded Accuracy. What little balance 5e has is based around the system of Bounded Accuracy, which sets DCs at any level as falling between 5 and 30, on the assumption that 5 is the lowest roll you can make with proficiency and a positive ability score, discarding 1s, while 30 is the highest roll you can make with proficiency and a maximum ability score, except for 20s. PF2e has no such system. Instead of absolute values, PF2e has a sliding range of expected results that increases more or less linearly. As such, monsters and traps that are even a couple of levels higher than the party can become overwhelming rather than just difficult, and monsters much higher level than the party are untouchable. Pros: Can feel more realistic (as incredibly powerful dragon can't be taken down by a lucky commoner); numbers get satisfyingly big. Cons: Can feel less heroic (a commoner can't even touch a powerful dragon, no matter how lucky); much more subject to GM error and harder to adjust for "on the fly"; progress can feel slow with few "omg I can do that now?!?" moments (see Character Progression below).

Crunch. PF2e doesn't have the advantage/disadvantage mechanic, it has four levels of proficiency with different attached bonuses, many bonuses also use your level as a factor, floating modifiers don't abound like they did in 3e but are certainly more prevalent than they are in 5e, and in addition to all of that every DC needs to consider the +10 critical hit and -10 critical fail levels as well as the DC itself. You will be doing a lot more maths in PF2e than in 5e, on a turn-by-turn and level-by-level basis. Pros: Allows for a fairly high level of complexity, especially when it comes to how effects combine to give you bonuses to various attacks, saves and checks. Cons: If you find doing calculations slows play too much, well, this system has a lot more maths than 5e.

Character Creation and Progression

PF2e character creation and progression allow a great deal of customisation, creating a lot of diversity between characters.

To take just one example: where 5e has the single choice of a race/species/lineage, PF2e has several choices - your choice as first level is split between an Ancestry (broad categories like Elf, Human, Dwarf) and Heritage (kind-of like 5e subraces, but including the tiefling-type options, so you can play an Elf Tiefling, for example), and both choices give you access to a pool of Ancestry Feats that you acquire throughout your character development. While 5e races often feel more impactful from the get-go (especially when we consider races which have spellcasting or very powerful racial abilities such as Trance or Fury of the Small out the gate), PF2e ancestry and heritage choice well continue to affect you character till level 17, gaining increasingly powerful abilities as you go.

On the flip side of this, within the bounds of the tightly balanced mechanics of PF2e, the scope of "what a class feature/feat/magic item can be/do" is quite narrow. A significant number of your class progression features, feats, and even magic items you receive will be focused exclusively on keeping your numbers at the level of big they're supposed to be. This can be quite a culture shock from 5e where, unless you choose to take an ASI, you will more or less never have an entire level where the only advancement your character gets is "number get bigger".

I found this most frustrating when it came to magic items. In 5e, the bulk of magic items (especially in the earlier books) focus on expanding options with new ways of interacting with challenges (think the immovable rod or deck of illusions), with relatively few that focus on simple numerical increases (pretty much exclusively weapon +X and shield/armour +X). Importantly, because the few +X items go above and beyond the scope of bounded accuracy, getting one of these items always feels like the game is being rigged in your favour, so even these relatively bland options still come with a certain power trip and excitement. By contrast, in PF2e, players are expected to have certain magic items by certain levels - in fact, the system is balanced around this fact, so tightly that there even an optional rule to skip the items altogether and just make their bonuses part of your level up progression. As a result, at least in my experience, magic items becomes much more mundane - getting a new item feels less like a huge break and more like a necessary and expected part of your progression.

Further, because many feats have requirements of other feats or particular levels proficiency, PF2e follows 3e in that you need to plan your character more or less in full, as you'll often need to take particular feats or proficiencies several levels in advance if you want to pick up a particular later feat. This is in contrast to 5e, where planning a character is generally not required unless you are very committed to optimization - very few parts of 5e have any kind of prerequisites, and so you can generally pick up a particular feat or spell as soon as you hit the level it becomes available, without much forethought. For my part, I prefer 5e in this regard, as I like being able to adjust my character direction on the fly in response to events in the story, but while playing PF2e I found those possibilities were often gated behind earlier feat choices and whether or not I would be able to make those sudden changes in direction became very dependent on GM leniency over the retaining rules.

Lastly, although there are a lot of choices on the table, not all of those choices are equal, and PF2e has a bit of an issue with "illusion of choice" - cases where either both options are fundamentally the same (differing only in flavour or minor details), or else where one option is simply just better than another. For example, although in theory both Monk and Cleric have a couple of directions you can take them, I've been told that in both cases there's one or a couple of builds that are so head and shoulders above the others that choosing the other(s) becomes effectively playing with a handicap.

Combat

Where 5e uses the action/bonus action/reaction/movement action economy, PF2e has a three action economy: every turn, you have three actions, and most things you do use 1-3 actions, including moving, attacking, making checks, and interacting with objects.

In its defense, the three-action economy introduces a lot of opportunity costs that make combat feel tactical in a way that 5e often fails to be, and the restricted distribution on opportunity attacks (you have to have a feat, so not every creature and monster gets them) allows a lot more battlefield manouverability than some systems.

Unfortunately, it also has some issues. Firstly, due to the way the numbers work out, despite in theory having lots of options in combat, in practice there's often a single mathematically best option, which results in very linear and repetitious combat. (For a breakdown of the maths behind this illusion of choice phenomenon and comparison to 5e, see this video by Taking20.)

Secondly, because movement uses the same action economy as everything else, choosing to move always means not choosing to do something more impactful, like attacking, casting a spell, or even just raising your shield. This contributes to the problem of illusion of choice in the system, but it also has a problem all it's own: it makes fights incredibly static. In my experience at least, PF2e fights typically involve moving to a good position on your first turn and then repeatedly attacking or casting spells from that one spot until you're forced to move by a moving enemy or your target dying. By contrast, if you've got a DM who plays with cover and you're using the flanking optional rule, I rarely find reason not to move around for every possible advantage every turn in 5e. Similarly, where "can I leap off the balcony, swing on the chandelier, and attack the troll from above" is a very doable thing in 5e, you're likely making one attack max and not getting any of your ability benefits if you do that in PF2e - and that's if you're allowed to do it at all!

Now this final point is pure ~vibes~ - I haven't run the maths on it at all so it's entirely possible I'm just wrong here - but at least in my groups it felt like PF2e combat also lasted significantly longer. Most 5e combats are over in around 3 turns - but it at least felt like many of the PF2e fights I was in went to turn six or seven at least. This is good if you really enjoy Pathfinder combat, but as I say I found it less dynamic and even at times less tactical than 5e combat so it really felt like it started to drag in most cases, something I only really find in 5e when playing with new or inexperienced DMs.

Spellcasting

Now I'm a sucker for magic characters, and PF2e certainly has those.

As I noted above, PF2e spellcasting excels in its balance - it's pretty well pegged to the martial progression, so spells feel powerful but not so powerful they outshine the martials.

Mechanically, PF2e has a strong distinction between prepared and spontaneous spellcasting, with particular implications for upcasting. If you're a prepared caster (wizard, witch, etc.), you prepare spells each day for particular spell slots (this will be familiar for those who played 3e) - for example, if your Wizard knows fireball and enthrall and has two 3rd level spell slots, you can prepare two fireballs, two uses of enthrall, or one of each, but outside of certain class features once you've made the choice for the day it's set until you next rest (no swapping to a more niche spell when the moment comes for it!). Prepared casters learn each spell once, and can prepare it in any spell of it's level or higher. For spontaneous casters (e.g. sorcerer), you do not prepare spells each day, but instead you have a repertoire of spells you can cast, and you can assign spell slots when you cast the spell. However, you must learn each spell at each level you intend to cast it - you don't only need to know the spell to cast it, you must know it at the correct level, meaning valuable upcast spells may need to take up several slots among the few spells you learn.

This style of spellcasting requires a lot more forethought, and in this regard it arguably really centers the resource management aspect of playing a spellcaster.

However, in my experience at least, it feels very limiting after playing with the freedom of 5e spellcasting, and I often found myself preparing the same handful of generally useful spells every adventuring day.

Additionally, and this may in part be a problem of me just not having the time to look through the full spell list but it does fit with the wider design principles of PF2e, I found a general lack of spells that horizontally open up entire new modes of interacting with the world. Where 5e has spells like thaumaturgy, minor illusion, and command right out the gate, I found very few spells of this kind across the levels in PF2e, and those that did exist were always very carefully circumscribed with little room for originality in their use. On the upside, this is an excellent hedge against the classic 5e problem of overly cunning players with an under-prepared DM creating something game-warpingly broken with a low level spell slot, but I also felt I really missed the creative feeling of playing at the edges of barely defined magical effects and seeing what I could achieve with that.

As a final point in this section, where Scrolls are a pleasant but often rare part of a 5e caster's life, they are a core part of PF2e casters, so much so that - say it with me now - the system is balanced around the assumption you will have plenty available. (If you ever wonder why PF2e casters have fewer spell slots more or less across the board, this is part of the reason why.) If you are playing a caster in PF2e, buy and use scrolls often!

Exploration & Social Interaction

Without using third party expansions, 5e doesn't have either a proper exploration subsystem or a proper social interaction subsystem, which means your experience of these two pillars of play will vary wildly dependent on the DM at your table and how much (or little) they actually bothered to read the relevant sections of the DMG and supplementary materials.

By contrast, PF2e has developed subsystems for both - several, in fact, with the Influence, Reputation, and Leadership subsystems providing ways of navigating different scales of social encounter, and Hexploration and the exploration mode mechanics providing tools for exploration.

Of these, I've played in games using the Influence subsystem and the Hexploration subsystem, as well as exploration that draws more casually on exploration modes and various obstacles and dangers. I'll deal with each of the subsystems in turn, before giving an overview of how this approach differs from 5e.

Influence. This subsystem focused on tracking social encounters in a series of rounds, as party members uncovered the particular interests and weaknesses of their interlocutor and used those discoveries to help push through their persuasion. Cards on the table, I absolutely hated this system, as did our whole group, and we dropped it after a single session. I found it incredibly slow and clunky, with the constant die rolls and abstractions to the level of mechanics killing any possibility for meaningful RP. That said, I can also see the appeal for those who dislike the more structure-less or improv-style approach often taken in 5e games, and there are definitely aspects of the system I like enough to adapt to other uses (particularly keeping track of what topics or approaches will be especially effective for persuading a particular creature, and conversely which ones will likely cause it to close off).

Hexploration. This system involved moving around a hexagonal map in various steps, revealing the map as you went. I have fairly mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it was initially quite thrilling to have that "discovery" experience and watch the map slowly unfold. On the other hand, I quickly found it got slow and began to drag, as it became clear how many hexes we would need to traverse to discover as much of the map as we could.

The more casual form of exploration was closer to how I'm used to seeing it done in 5e, though with slightly better defined actions to be taken while traveling, which was welcome - although we often found everyone using the same handful (someone repeat casting detect magic, someone Scouting ahead to help with initiative, and most of the rest of the party Stealthing).

One thing that must be said is that all these subsystems are optional, and so if you don't like the rules of some particular system you can simply opt not to use it - although do take note of which feats players have selected, as some so specifically interact with particular systems. However, given PF2e lacks the bounded accuracy system, setting appropriate DCs for a given level requires at least checking a table, which is more work than the constant 5/10/15/20 baseline available in 5e. Additionally, 5e players should be prepared for the fact that many social or exploration things you might expect to just be able to do with some appropriate check are actually gatekept behind feats which you'll need to pick up over the course of your character progression if you want to do those things.

All told, the plethora of subsystems in PF2e will be very appealing to anyone frustrated by the lack of good rules for social interaction and exploration in 5e, though dependent on your play style you may find the more strictly regulated approach to these traditionally more hand-waivy and cinematic parts of play to be a bit stifling.

Conclusions

Everything I've said here is just my opinion, based on my own experience of the tables I've played at. That said, from everything I've heard being part of both communities, most of these generalisations hold up across the board.

I hope that I've managed to convince you that PF2e is not just a simple replacement for 5e - because if you went in with that expectation, it's definitely not what you'll find. That said, I still have a soft spot for many aspects of the PF2e system, and I hope that if you've seen something in here that's peaked your interest you'll be willing to give it a shot. (As an added sweetener to the pot, all the content for PF2e is available free online at the Archive of Nethys, so you don't even need to buy a single book to give it a try - WotC could never!)

On balance, I would say you're likely to really enjoy PF2e if:

You want a crunchy system with a rule for every possible action

You liked 3e/3.5e but wish there was something like it that was more streamlined without being "dumbed down" like 5e

You care a lot about balance and equality between different characters

You like planning your characters in advance

You like a lot of options, even if those options may be less impactful individually

You dislike the lack of subsystems in 5e

You dislike the chaos created by rules-vague spells and items in 5e

You like when number get bigger

However, while you might still get something good out of giving PF2e a try, you're much less likely to love it to bits if you:

Already find 5e too mathsy, crunchy, or complicated

Don't like memorising lots of particular details

Find items, feats and abilities that just increase your numbers a little dull

Enjoy flashy, cinematic magic even if it's unbalanced

Like making lots of your own homebrew and other to design it in a flexible system with a lot of give for over- or underpowered additions.

Are happy with fewer options but like every option you choose to feel like it has an immediate impact

Prefer gameplay that develops horizontally (more options) rather than vertically (better at doing what you can already do)

Prefer vague and poorly-defined magic for its creative potential

Hate rules-lawyering

If you're still on the fence, my best advice would be to just give it a shot - and if you find (like I did) that it's not really for you, then you can always just take the bits of it you do like and use them in other systems. Because that, really, is the joy of TTRPGs at the end of the day - we all get to create our own games, according to what we and our tables find fun!

Edit because apparently I somehow posted the wrong version of this and it was missing the tail end of the conclusion lol

[jcmarchi]

Akhilesh Tripathi, CEO of Digitate – Interview Series

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/akhilesh-tripathi-ceo-of-digitate-interview-series/

Akhilesh Tripathi, CEO of Digitate – Interview Series

Digitate CEO Akhilesh Tripathi joined the company in 2015 to launch its flagship product, ignio™. Under his leadership, ignio became one of the fastest-growing enterprise applications, with a global customer base spanning many industries and Fortune 500 companies. Previously, Akhilesh  served as the head of Canada for TCS (Tata Consultancy Service), where he grew the entity from a small, relatively unknown firm to a perennial top 10 service provider. His 25-year career with TCS has also included serving as Head of Enterprise Solutions and Technology Practices for TCS in North America.

Digitate uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage IT and business operations. Its product, ignio™, is a cognitive automation solution designed to help IT teams identify and address outages quickly. Ignio includes pre-built knowledge aimed at enabling faster adoption of AI compared to other solutions. It connects various business applications, processes, and infrastructure to support decision-making and perform actions autonomously.

What was your vision for Digitate when you first joined in 2015, and how has that vision evolved over time?

When I first joined Digitate in 2015, my vision was to push forward a new way of thinking that shifts enterprises from a people-first model to a technology-first approach. By leveraging AI and automation, we would allow machines to become the initial handlers of tasks while humans became the handles of exceptions.  Over time, this vision has evolved to encompass a broader goal: helping enterprises achieve what we call the “autonomous enterprise” journey. This involves leveraging unified observability, AI-driven insights, and closed-loop automation to ensure that our customers can manage their increasingly complex IT environments with minimal human intervention. Today, Digitate is all about empowering enterprises to not just react to problems but to proactively prevent them, ensuring operational resilience and continuous value creation.

How do you foresee the future of AI-driven enterprise solutions, particularly in the context of automation and autonomous operations?

The future of AI-driven enterprise solutions is incredibly promising. We’re on the brink of a transformative shift where AI doesn’t just assist with tasks but fundamentally changes how enterprises operate at a core level. We’re already seeing AI-driven solutions becoming even more integrated into every facet of business operations. The goal is for enterprises to use AI and automation not just for automating routine tasks, but for making real-time decisions, optimizing operations across diverse environments, and predicting and preventing issues before they arise.

This shift towards autonomy is particularly exciting. As AI continues to evolve, we’ll see more systems that can self-manage, self-heal, and even self-optimize without the need for constant human intervention. This is already at play in our closed-loop model, allowing teams to focus on more strategic tasks rather than being bogged down.

What are the key challenges you’ve faced in scaling Digitate globally, and how did you overcome them?

Digitate is pioneering a new category, and as we scale globally, it’s important to build interest in our vision of the autonomous enterprise and communicate the value we offer. Many people still think that data silos and automation are the status quo, but we believe they don’t have to be. To tackle this, I’ve instructed my team to focus on what I call the 3Es: excite, educate, and execute.

Education is crucial because we need businesses to be open to taking risks, and this often requires a leadership mindset that embraces new technology and innovative perspectives. After we have educated and inspired our audience, we must follow through during the implementation phase. It is essential that we keep our promises – our goal is to deliver on what we commit to.

What inspired the development of Digitate’s flagship product, ignio™, and what sets it apart in the market?

ignio™ was developed with a vision to revolutionize how businesses approach IT operations by embedding intelligence and automation at its core. The inspiration came from our deep understanding of the pain points that IT teams face daily: lengthy resolution times, fragmented visibility across systems, and the sheer volume of alerts that overwhelm human operators. We wanted to create a solution that could not only detect and resolve issues faster but also predict and prevent them from occurring in the first place. This led to the concept of an autonomous enterprise, where ignio™ acts as the digital brain, continuously learning from the environment, correlating data, and taking automated actions to ensure smooth, uninterrupted operations.

What sets ignio™ apart in the market is its ability to combine unified observability, AI-driven insights, and closed-loop automation into a single platform. Unlike other solutions that focus on individual aspects of IT management, ignio™ offers an integrated approach that addresses the entire lifecycle of IT operations.

Can you share how Digitate is leveraging AI to enhance predictive analytics and proactive problem management in IT operations?

As the buzz around GenAI continues to captivate the tech industry, it’s easy for enterprises to get swept up in the excitement and rush into implementation. However, in this enthusiasm, there is a real risk of overlooking foundational principles and best practices, which can lead to significant challenges down the road.

To navigate this, we emphasize the importance of data readiness and governance. We know that AI, no matter how sophisticated, is only as good as the data it operates on. Our ignio™ platform, for example, leverages AI to enhance predictive analytics and proactive problem management in IT operations. However, these capabilities are only fully realized when they are supported by high-quality data and robust methodologies. This strategic focus allows us to harness the power of AI effectively, driving true digital transformation while minimizing risks associated with the hype cycle.

How does Digitate ensure that ignio™ stays ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving tech landscape?

At Digitate, we ensure that ignio™ remains at the forefront of the rapidly evolving tech landscape by continuously innovating and refining our platform to meet the dynamic needs of modern enterprises. We do this by leveraging a combination of advanced AI, machine learning, and a closed-loop automation approach to keep our systems ahead of the curve.

Our ignio™ AIOps platform is designed to tackle a wide range of problems enterprises face in IT and business operations across industries. “We use AI and automation to predict and solve issues before they impact key business KPIs, such as revenue assurance and customer satisfaction. Our proactive approach transforms IT from reactive to predictive, creating an environment where AI and ML systems solve errors automatically in real time, eliminating the need for tickets. With GenAI, we accelerate innovation and reduce manual effort in finding and solving issues, leading to faster time to value.”

In your opinion, what role will AI and automation play in shaping the future of digital operations across industries?

As we look towards the future of AI, we’re entering an era where human-AI collaboration is set to become more seamless and intuitive. The advancements in AI capabilities are leading us towards a new paradigm of augmented intelligence, where AI doesn’t just automate tasks but works alongside humans, enhancing our abilities through continuous learning and real-time insights. We’re particularly focused on how AI can mimic and adapt to human behaviors, making interactions more natural and conversational. This shift is crucial as it allows AI to fit more organically into daily workflows, whether it is through decision-making processes, predictive analytics, or even customer interactions.

However, with these advancements come significant challenges. For one, the opacity of AI systems, often referred to as “black boxes,” makes debugging and maintenance more complex than traditional software. This requires us to develop new skills and processes to ensure that AI systems are reliable and trustworthy. Change management is another critical area. As AI becomes more embedded in our operations, there is a natural resistance that can emerge, both from individuals accustomed to traditional workflows and from regulatory bodies concerned about the implications on employment and job roles. Addressing these concerns requires a thoughtful approach that balances innovation with empathy and strategic foresight. Cybersecurity and privacy risks are also escalating as AI systems become more pervasive. The more we rely on AI, the more attractive these systems become to malicious actors, including potential state-sponsored threats.

Despite these challenges, the potential for growth and innovation in AI-driven collaboration is immense. The market is ripe with opportunities, and businesses that invest in integrating AI with a focus on transparency, augmented intelligence, and seamless human interaction will be well-positioned to lead in this evolving landscape. At Digitate, we’re excited about the role our technology will play in shaping this future, driving both operational efficiency and transformative business outcomes.

How is Digitate addressing the growing demand for AI-driven solutions in sectors like retail, manufacturing, and financial services?

Digitate is addressing the growing demand for AI-driven solutions by developing industry-specific offerings that meet the unique needs of sectors like retail, manufacturing, and financial services. In retail, for example, ignio™ helps optimize supply chain operations and enhance customer experiences by predicting and preventing disruptions. In manufacturing, we enable smarter production processes through predictive maintenance and automated quality control. In financial services, our AI-driven insights support fraud detection, compliance, and risk management. By tailoring our solutions to the specific challenges of each industry, we help our customers drive innovation and maintain a competitive edge.

What are the most significant industry trends you’re seeing right now, and how is Digitate adapting to them?

One of the most significant trends we’re observing in the AI industry is the rapid advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs), particularly their evolving specialization and multimodal capabilities. These models are not just becoming more powerful in a general sense. They’re also increasingly tailored to specific industries and tasks, which opens up new possibilities for AI-driven solutions across various domains.

We’re closely following these developments, particularly the trend towards domain and industry specialization in LLMs. As companies look to maintain their competitive edge, they’re investing in LLMs that can understand and operate within the specific contexts of their industries. This means that LLMs are being customized to handle industry-specific jargon, concepts, and challenges with a level of precision that was previously unattainable. We see this as a crucial area for us to integrate into our own offerings, especially as we aim to provide more targeted, actionable insights for our clients across different sectors.

Commonsense reasoning and factual grounding are also critical areas where LLMs are making strides. As these models become better at understanding real-world contexts and maintaining factual accuracy, the reliability and usefulness of AI in enterprise settings will grow exponentially.

With over 20 years in the IT industry, what key leadership lessons have you learned, particularly in leading innovative tech companies?

In my 20 years in the IT industry, I’ve learned that having a clear purpose and a sense of curiosity is crucial for leading innovative tech companies. A strong purpose drives passion, creating an ongoing cycle of innovation. When innovation is fueled by a compelling purpose, it has greater staying power, enabling companies to overcome challenges and stay competitive in the long run. It’s important to note that each person’s purpose may differ, and as a leader, it’s vital to align an individual’s purpose with the overall organizational goals to maximize their potential.

Curiosity is equally important. The drive to learn, explore new ideas, and create something new is what pushes a company forward. The real magic happens when purpose and curiosity come together. This is where innovation and creativity thrive, allowing us to make breakthroughs and lead in the industry.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Digitate. 

[fractallion]

21 366 👮🏼‍♂️ The Seven Laws of Identity.

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I was listening to 🎙️this podcast and of course duly reminded of Kim Cameron’s 7 Laws of Identity, so replaying here for posterity. You can 🔗 read a quick summary here.

Law 1: User control and consent Technical identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user’s consent Law 2: Minimum disclosure for a constrained use The solution which discloses the least amount of identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long-term solution Law 3: Justifiable Parties Digital identity systems must be designed so the disclosure of identifying information is limited to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship Law 4: Directed Identity A universal identity system must support both “omni-directional” identifiers for use by public entities and “unidirectional” identifiers for use by private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles Law 5: Pluralism of Operators and Technologies A universal identity system must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers Law 6: Human Integration The universal identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component of the distributed system integrated through unambiguous human-machine communication mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks Law 7: Consistent Experience Across Contexts The unifying identity metasystem must guarantee its users a simple, consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple operators and technologies

Down here in sunny New Zealand, I have been helping a local man with his identity solution. More on that in due course - because - guess what - its pretty much ‘tops’ .. and expression I learned last night which is the antonym of ‘pants’ … but I digress.

It turns out his system hits all seven laws - and that’s just how it worked out, to because he designed to them. This gives me even more confidence that we are on to something. It would be kinda like building a robot and then realizing it is ‘Asimov compliant’.

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Biology: How Life Works 3e James Morris Test Bank

Biology: How Life Works 3e James Morris Test Bank  

Table of Contents

1. Life: Chemical, Cellular and Evolutionary Foundations Case 1. The First Cell: Information, Homeostasis, and Energy 2. The Molecules of Life 3. Nucleic Acids and Transcription 4. Translation and Protein Structure 5. Organizing Principles: Lipids, Membranes, and Cell Compartments 6. Making Life Work: Capturing and Using Energy 7. Cellular Respiration: Harvesting Energy from Carbohydrates and Other Fuel Molecules 8. Photosynthesis: Using Sunlight to Build Carbohydrates Case 2. Cancer: Cell Signaling, Form, and Division 9. Cell Signaling 10. Cell and Tissue Architecture: Cytoskeleton, Cell Junctions, and Extracellular Matrix 11. Cell Division: Variations, Regulation, and Cancer Case 3. Your Personal Genome: You, from A to T 12. DNA Replication and Manipulation 13. Genomes 14. Mutation and Genetic Variation 15. Mendelian Inheritance 16. Inheritance of Sex Chromosomes, Linked Genes, and Organelles 17. The Genetic and Environmental Basis of Complex Traits 18. Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation 19. Genes and Development Case 4. Malaria: Coevolution of Humans and a Parasite 20. Evolution: How Genotypes and Phenotypes Change Over Time 21. Species and Speciation 22. Evolutionary Patterns: Phylogeny and Fossils 23. Human Origins and Evolution Case 5. The Human Microbiome: Diversity Within 24. Bacteria and Archaea 25. Eukaryotic Cells: Origins And Diversity 26. Being Multicellular Case 6. Agriculture: Feeding a Growing Population 27. Plant Form, Function, and Evolutionary History 28. Plant Reproduction: Finding Mates and Dispersing Offspring 29. Plant Growth and Development 30. Plant Defense 31. Plant Diversity 32. Fungi Case 7. Biology-Inspired Design: Using Nature to Solve Problems 33. Animal Form, Function, and Evolutionary History 34. Animal Nervous Systems 35. Animal Movement: Muscles and Skeletons 36. Animal Endocrine Systems 37. Animal Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems 38. Animal Metabolism, Nutrition, and Digestion 39. Animal Renal Systems: Water and Waste 40. Animal Reproduction and Development 41. Animal Immune Systems 42. Animal Diversity Case 8. Conserving Biodiversity: Rainforest and Coral Reef Hotspots 43. Behavior and Behavioral Ecology 44. Population Ecology 45. Species Interactions and Communities 46. Ecosystem Ecology 47. Biomes and Global Ecology 48. The Anthropocene: Humans as a Planetary Force Biology: How Life Works 4e James Morris Test Bank Here    Biology: How Life Works 3e James Morris Test Bank Sample   Download         Read the full article

[bslack12]

Paris Solo Day and Wrap Up

As the final hours of our class in Paris begin to wind down, it was time to put a bow on the three week experience. Despite my continued solo adventures across Paris, even across France on one occasion, it was time for this seemingly natural action to be required. However, this excursion would be out of my hands, as I would be presented a destination that I would need to go to.

For me, this was the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers and its corresponding musée. After departing from Saint-Sulpice in the 6e, I began my stroll down Rue Bonaparte and towards the Seine. My ticket appointment was not until noon, so I took advantage of the almost two hours I had in the bank to enjoy a walk along the river and go against the gradient of the snail through the 5e, 4e, and eventually the 3e arrondissements. Along my walk, I decided to go up further and go across L'Île Saint-Louis in order to get into my district for the day. Needing to find a bathroom and stop for lunch, I made my way down the Rue de Rivoli for a mid-day break. After enjoying some fish and chips at a café, it was time to venture north and find my destination.

Upon arriving, I was quite excited by the antiquarian design of the building, which had been a priory until the revolution. The historic nature of the founding and site, as well as the dedicated works on display, were right up my alley. I made my way in and started to go through the collections, which featured a physical timeline of innovations in measurement, transportation, communication, energy, mechanics, materials, and construction. I think my favorite section would have had to have been the first one on scientific measurements. I think one of the more fascinating byproducts of the French Revolution was the way in which the metric system was developed. I also find the way in which official, but sometimes arbitrary measurements perpetuated inequality and poverty is such a fascinating principle that is often overlooked.

Another wonderful use of the space was how the old church was turned into a temple to science. With planes hanging from the ceiling, cars on display on multiple levels, and a Foucoult pendulum at the center, the best place to view everything was by climbing a ramp that led you to the top of the room, on level with the peaks of the stain-glass windows. It was an unreal sight, and you could appreciate the beauty of the art and architecture of the church from a whole new perspective.

Afterwards, I sat in the small garden on the ground to just take in the surroundings, as well as catch up on postcard writing, before setting off for another sight that had piqued my interest. On my walk to the CNAM, I had passed the Archives National and decided to go if I had time. In an old mansion with a grand courtyard, the museum itself was small and one of its two exhibitions (Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) was closed, but I still went in and was immediately greeted with the constitution of the 5th Republic. The opening room had various sections on the history of record-keeping with examples that I was perusing when an employee offered to take us through the apartments upstairs. Whether this was a part of the museum that happens regularly or something unusual I did not know, but I went up with the other museum patrons. Here were more stunning documents within French history including: decrees from Charlemagne and Hugh Capet, the last letters of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, a sketch of Joan of Arc from the Parliament de Paris, the Edict of Nantes, the Tennis Court Oath, and a journal from Louis XIV. One document that they had that was not on display though was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which I was hoping would be shown when I had first passed the building earlier in the day.

It was then time to make my way to the Weeping Willow at the very tip of L'Île de la Cité. So, I embarked towards the river and headed along the right bank until I reached Pont Neuf where I crossed and descended at the Henri IV statue and met the class. We had a nice picnic and everyone shared their solo day and it was a nice wrap up for our penultimate meeting as a group.

For our last full day in Paris, I got an early start and metroed to L'Arc de Triomphe for a walk down the Champs-Élysées and towards the Concorde. Now that the Bastille Day setups were taken down, I could finally take in all of the place and fully see the Luxor Obelisk (although constructed had the walk up to it closed). I then went to the steps of the National Assembly, by the Élysées Palace and through the Tuileries before taking a train back to Luxembourg. It was nice to take in the iconic sights of Paris one last time.

For our final class meeting, we met at an Amorino in the shades of the Pantheon to get gelato to eat in the gardens, even though everyone was done eating before the walk was over. Here, it was time to wrap up A Moveable Feast as well as out time in Paris. It was a nice discussion but I was just relishing the last moment of community between the 11 strangers that I had come to befriend over the month of July. I was quite wary about this aspect coming into the trip, as was bracing for the worst, but I actually made some great friends and am thankful for everyone who made my first time in Paris so special.

After returning to Maison des Mines to pack and nap, a few of us set out for one last night in Paris. We started with a French three course meal on a side street off of Rue Saint Jacques. I started with the escargot, obviously, and tried rabbit for the first time. I then finished off with a nice crème brulée. My favorite part about French food was definitely all of the new meats that I got to try and I liked every single one of them. It is also quite fun to eat snails and tell everyone back home that they are delicious. To finish our stay, we went to the giant roue in the Tuileries for an amazing view of Paris. Thanks to a bathroom break and the opportunity to watch the ducks of Paris, we showed up at the perfect time, as we got to take in an amazing sunset, see the flashing lights of the Eiffel Tower, and enjoy one final, beautiful night. As we disembarked, it began to sprinkle, but it was the perfect amount of rain that makes you enjoy the world and brings the most wonderful smell to your nose. After taking in the Louvre lit up, we walked back along the Seine to the Petit Pont and took Rue Saint Jacques to the building that had become home.

Waking up this morning, it was a stark find to see the opposite half of my room barren, hammering the reality that my time in this city was at its present conclusion. After a shower and final packing, I set out to a nearby café, broke my fast, and took in my neighborhood for one final time. I then walked to the Luxembourg Gardens for another stroll within the beautiful grounds before retrieving my bags and heading to the RER station.

Now, I sit at Charles de Gaulle after going through security and passport control, awaiting my return to the United States. These three weeks have been the absolute best time of my life and I feel that I have grown up so much and in ways that I will not even know for some time. Going abroad on my own, learning a city in a day, planning my own trip, and just exploring a world so different from my own have been so rewarding in so many ways that I will always hold onto. I hope to be back in Paris soon, but I do not know if any time here will ever be like my first. The length of my stay has allowed me to do so much and feel like I truly know Paris; I do not feel like a small blimp in the chaotic comings and goings of the city. The memories that I made here will always be special to me and I hope to draw on them frequently as I continue to move through my own journey of life.

Until next time,

À Bientot, Paris. Je t'aime.

[talenlee]

3e: The Excellence of the D&D Onramp

There’s a recurrent pattern of discourse in the TTRPG community, especially amongst indies, that, cooked down into its parodically simple position, goes:

D&D is hard to teach, and nobody plays it properly.

So let’s talk about D&D having one of the absolute best onramps of all time starting with when I started to play it, in 3rd edition D&D. I bring up this edition of the game because it is absolutely a pigs arse of a game, and I know that a lot of the systems of the rules are only attempted by extremely bold people who needed something systematised.

Lemme tell ya, you run one aerial combat in 3rd edition you quickly invest in every technique you can to ensure you don’t have to run another.

First, a qualifier. D&D’s existing onramp is that it is part of our culture and has been for nearing on sixty years. When I started playing D&D it was older than I was and some of the people I first played with are dead from having lived too long. The current edition of D&D is from 2014, which means it’s now two years older than 4e was when it launched. D&D has had multiple movies, it had literal physical stores for its own branding at one point, it is without a doubt one of the most infrastructurally entrenched RPG brands in the world.

That is a big part of how D&D’s onramp works. It’s everywhere and you can almost always find someone to talk about it with you, or someone on the internet to help you with some element. There’s what we call a paratextual industry around the game. Speaking as someone who has tried to promote the work of indie RPG makers, and for it been called ‘a weirdo who talks about shitty games that aren’t D&D nobody cares about,’ the communal infrastructure is part of D&D and it is powerful.

It’s also, very much not something you can brush off.

Like, it’s really easy to want to do that. After all, it can feel like cheating, right? D&D gets to have poorly written Dungeon Master’s Guides because there’s a huge communal pool of video, podcasts, and personal tuition happy to show it off, and people even learn about how to DM from watching actual tv series and stuff? Right? It’s like how the art of documentation feels like it’s being crushed under a world of video tutorials.

So anyway, let’s pretend for a moment that D&D doesn’t get to be judged on the basis of the sixty years of market dominance and successful entrenchment. Let’s pretend we’re just talking about the books.

D&D gets you playing almost instantly and the thing it gets you playing with is your stuff and that immediately pushes you towards understanding what that means.

The onramp to D&D is in the character creation, which is itself, something like a game. There’s a reason gigadorks like me have spent twenty years caring about 3e D&D builds even though we don’t play the game any more. The actual mechanical puzzle starts with a phrase like:

“Elf Wizard.”

“Dwarf fighter.”

“Half-orc bard.”

The game presents you two pieces to work together, and those things are, you may notice, incredibly stereotypical and basic. A lot of D&D’s racism problems start baked into this part of the game, because of how the game tries to present whole cultural groups. The demihumans, that grouping, yeah, them.

There’s this idea Mark Rosewater talks about in D&D, that he refers to ‘preloading.’ The idea is that if you approach game mechanics to express stuff the players already imagine, or that makes sense to them, when players engage with the mechanics, they’ll have a pre-existing handle on them and be able to imagine a way to treat them that gets them to care and invest.

And they invite you down two paths: What’s an elf do? Okay, cool, I can look that up. It’s over here. And over here there’s what a wizard does. And oh wow that relates to this stuff. And you might be looking at me like I grew a tentacle in my forehead because you’ve probably heard me bullying games for having a complicated, non-streamlined character creation system – how is it okay that D&D makes you look up tables and not okay that Rod Reel And Fist does it?

It’s a matter of why you’re engaging with these things. When you’re checking around the D&D character creation system, in these first times, you are playing with pieces, you’re playing with some of the most familiar pieces in literary canon. The idea of ‘our hero, and his dwarf fighter friend,’ that’s language that’s standardised outside of the game media. And that means that you’re building something that’s both very familiar, and gives you freedom to be playful in that space.

Can it be better? Absolutely, 3rd edition’s character building is extremely cumbersome. There are tons of problems in the game, in its systems, but the thing that starts you playing is so painfully efficient that people don’t even notice it. People act like making your character isn’t playing the game, because, when taken as a whole task people need to do perfectly, to achieve certain results, it is a big homework task. But making choices and learning about those choices is presented as a playful activity.

I’m not trying to be uncharitable with this summary, and I want to make sure that if you’re reading it, I’m not trying to make your position sound silly. Nor am I thinking of anyone specific – that kind of thing is for discord sessions of meanspirited gossip. This is about the general idea that D&D is ‘hard to learn’ or a ‘bad system’ because of it, and that ‘nobody plays it right.

And for that I have to pull one of those memey faces like ‘ehhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnn’ because I feel like people are speaking to an emotional truth while making factual assertions that don’t respect the way the actual game that exists exists, and this kind of talk makes for conversations about games and how to make games… worse.

It makes them worse.

And it makes them worse in an unhelpful way.

There’s an impulse in the not-making-D&D community, even those of us who play D&D, to overstate its weaknesses and minimise its strengths. I don’t know why necessarily. On charitable days, I feel like it’s because the problems D&D presents to a designer can seem large and obvious, and on less charitable days I feel like it’s because a lot of us are pretty pissed that we can put in tons of work to make original material and get passed over by someone pooping out stock-art modules on DMSguild.

But if you can appreciate what D&D’s doing good – and its unfair advantages! – then I think you get into better habits, and better perspective on how to make your own games more engaging. Technical superiority isn’t actually an inevitable good, and turns out that sometimes you lose in the Big Game of Capitalism even if what you made is great.

Waging a war against D&D for your life sucks, but I feel like it works better when you’re honest about it. If nothing else, it means someone who sees you talking about it will at least be able to test for yourself what you say. And when we appreciate this problem system, and the problem it represents in the ways it actually is, we’ll avoid weird brain-boiling conversations like ‘Players don’t actually like rolling dice.’

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[callme6olet]

Drengr devlog: dice and checks

Been working on Drengr, a homebrew Norse-inspired fantasy RPG. And the dice rolls, the skill checks . . . that's the core of any game, isn't it? I've come to develop a deeper respect and appreciation for the humble dice roll over the years. End of the day, every game is pretty similar in this regard: roll a randomizer, add bonuses from your skills. And from that point of view, it's hard to find a reason to deviate from a d20 system--unless it's to go to a d100 system. Either one provides a significant level of variance, which you can then tune by changing DCs and bonuses to taste.

But. Rolling a d20 feels different from any other system. The task resolution mechanic you choose is the most fundamental way of communicating the system's theme. It should have texture, flavor, but it should not be overly complicated.

This was what was going through my head when I designed (and redesigned) the dice system for Drengr. I wound up settling on a dice pool system: fate dice (d4s), skill dice (d6s), and gear dice (d8s).

Your character build determines how hard it is to score hits on each type of die. Wizards need only a 2+ on fate dice to score a hit; self-sufficient Wanderers, on the other hand, must roll a 4 on fate dice (but only a 3+ on skill dice).

Nothing revolutionary. But I think--I hope--that it meets the brief. It implies three forces of power, only one of which is truly a character's own. Fate and gear are external influences, but they can be every bit as pivotal as your own skill.

With that in mind, I built out the attribute system as simply as possible. For a game like this, I didn't want fiddly skills. I'm a fan of it in the right context, but after a good bit of tinkering, I decided against divisions like blades/brawl/clubs/polearms or run/jump/climb/swim. I wanted a simple skill list; but at the same time, the 5E skill list feels almost too simple. I think this is because the skill list, in 4E and 5E, is something of an artifact, a holdover from 3E. 3.0 and 3.5 both were too granular, had to be simplified. It's strange, though, to have a phrase like "Strength (Athletics) checks to jump." Why consolidate the skill list if you still need this degree of specificity?

Ultimately, I decided the answer was to look upstream, not downstream. I removed skills from the game and upped the attribute count to nine. The listing is: Arcana, Charisma, Craft, Melee, Might, Nature, Ranged, and Reactions. Again, nothing mindblowing, but I like the level of granularity it provides. Not too much, not too little.

[thecreaturecodex]

Steel Predator

Image by Sam Wood, © Wizards of the Coast.

[Nominally, this set of monsters is about D&D 5e conversions, but I do not like the 5e steel predator. It’s a magical assassin, of which there are plenty of already, and it’s a construct when the original was alive. Plus, it refers to a “rogue hexton”, which is weird because D&D 5e hasn’t bothered to stat up any modrons except for the drone tier, not any of the nobles like hextons are. And there’s no modrons in Pathfinder. Yet. I also dislike the change to its visual aesthetic. The 5e version is jagged in shape and has a matte finish, and I like the sleeker, shinier version that Sam Wood did. I probably should have included this in my Xenomorphitude post, since it looks like it came from an HR Giger petting zoo.

So I’ve hearkened back to the original, 3rd edition version of the steel predator, although I have borrowed the roar effect being a stun, not a deafen, from the 5e version. I’ve also made it a magical beast instead of either an outsider (3e) or construct (5e). The 3e flavor text talks a lot about their diet, and in PFRPG, outsiders don’t need to eat. ]

Steel Predator CR 14 N Magical Beast This creature resembles a metal sculpture, except that it is clearly, horribly, alive. It has a cylindrical head with four small eyes over a shearing mouth, and walks on four clawed legs. Its back has a series of ridges or fins protruding from it, and its long tail drags to the ground.

The inevitables may be the rulers of Axis, the Infinite City, but the steel predator is king of its urban jungle. Despite their alien appearance, they have a behavior and social organization much like the lions of more mundane ecosystems. Instead of preying on herd animals, however, steel predators eat magically infused magic items. The more powerful the magic of the item, the more nutritious the meal. So steel predators feed on and damage enhanced buildings, stalk inevitables to tear off chunks of their metallic bodies, and eat the arms and armor of mortals and outsiders alike.

Steel predators prefer to stalk their prey over long distances and attack from ambush. They often open combat with a stunning roar—if they can get a target to drop its delicious magic weapon or shield, grab it and go without a fight, all the better. However, if they encounter resistance, they will fight with lethal force, grabbing an enemy in their jaws and tearing it apart with all four limbs. A steel predator’s jaws and teeth are laced with super durable alloys, allowing them to chew straight through metal and stone. Steel predators resist magic and many elemental attacks, but corrode rapidly when exposed to acid. If opponents bring acid attacks to bear, a steel predator will typically flee.

Steel predators live in prides, with a single male or a few close relatives guarding and mating with a harem of females. These prides are more prone to splitting up and reconvening than those of mortal lions, as the steel predators can teleport, and may go on extended solo excursions if they don’t have young to raise. Steel predators are stone deaf, but are incredibly sensitive to vibrations in the air and surfaces. They are intelligent enough that they can theoretically be communicated with, but doing so would require visual or tactile signals, or telepathy, rather than speech.

Steel Predator   CR 14 XP 38,400 N Large magical beast (extraplanar) Init +9; Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., deaf, low-light vision, Perception +17, sense magic metal Defense AC 29, touch 14, flat-footed 24 (-1 size, +5 Dex, +15 natural) hp 207 (18d10+108) Fort +17, Ref +16, Will +13 DR 10/magic and adamantine; Immune electricity, language dependent abilities, petrifaction, poison, sonic; Resist cold 10, fire 10; SR 25 Weakness vulnerable to acid Offense Speed 50 ft. Melee bite +24 (2d8+7/19-20 plus grab), 2 claws +24 (2d6+7) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks pounce, rake (2 claws +24, 2d6+7), stunning roar Spell-like Abilities CL 15th, concentration +14 3/day—dimension door Statistics Str 24, Dex 21, Con 22, Int 4, Wis 17, Cha 13 Base Atk +18; CMB +26 (+30 grapple or sunder); CMD 41 (43 vs. sunder, 45 vs. trip) Feats Combat Reflexes, Greater Sunder, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lunge, Power Attack, Step Up, Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +19 (+27 when jumping), Climb +13, Perception +17, Stealth +15, Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Stealth SQ shearing strikes Ecology Environment any land or urban (Axis) Organization solitary, pair or pride (6-10) Treasure incidental Special Abilities Deaf (Ex) A steel predator is naturally deaf. It automatically fails Perception checks based on hearing, and is immune to language dependent effects. It does not suffer an initiative penalty because of its deafness. Sense Magic Metal (Su) A steel predator can sense the location of magical metal objects, and constructs made primarily out of metal, as if it had blindsense out to a range of 120 ft. Shearing Strikes (Ex) A steel predator’s natural weapons ignore the first 10 points of hardness of objects or creatures. Stunning Roar (Su) As a standard action, a steel predator can roar. All creatures in a 60 foot cone take 9d10 sonic damage and are stunned for 1d4 rounds. A successful DC 25 Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the stunning effect. A steel predator can use this ability three times a day, but must wait 1d4 rounds between uses.