RPGBOT.Podcast

The real horror in Ravenloft wasn't ghosts, vampires, or eldritch patrons. It was Riverside updating its interface five minutes before recording. Suddenly the buttons moved, the fonts shrank every time someone mentioned the layout, and Tyler entered a state of existential panic usually reserved for failed concentration checks. By the end of the night, we had learned two important lessons. First, change is terrifying. Second, apparently none of us can remember how to spell Ricky-Ticky-Tavi.

In Part 2 of our review of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, we tackled the remaining subclasses and discovered that the second half of the book delivered some of the strongest player options in the entire release. Between ghost-powered rogues, shadow puppies, and undead warlocks, there was plenty to like.

We started with the Phantom Rogue and found ourselves impressed by how well the subclass grows over time. While the early levels still feel sparse, Tokens of the Departed remains one of the coolest thematic mechanics in the game. Collecting fragments of souls and consulting them for answers creates exactly the kind of spooky roleplaying we want from Ravenloft.

Next came Shadow Sorcery, and to everyone's relief, the beloved Hound of Ill Omen survived the transition to 5.5. The shadow puppy is back, the subclass still delivers incredible battlefield control, and several improvements make it one of the standout options in the book. This may finally be proof that Wizards remembers sorcerers are allowed to have nice things.

We wrapped up with the Undead Patron Warlock, which continues to deliver strong flavor and solid mechanics. Form of Dread remains fantastic, and the subclass still excels at making enemies regret standing anywhere near the warlock. Meanwhile, we somehow spent far too much time debating damage dice, exhaustion mechanics, and whether exploding yourself counts as a valid combat strategy.

By the end of the review, we came away feeling far more positive about the second half of the book than the first. Not every option is perfect, but there are several subclasses here we'd happily bring to a full campaign. Assuming, of course, that the recording software doesn't change its layout again first.

Links

• Ravenloft: The Horrors Within (affiliate link)

• RPGBOT.store - Pish Pash, My Memory is Trash!

• Other Stuff

• Rikki Tikki Tavi

• Roxane but it gets faster

• Spirited Away

• Content from RPGBOT.net

• DnD 5e Dark Gifts Guide

• Phantom Rogue starts slowly but becomes increasingly interesting at higher levels.
• Tokens of the Departed remains one of the most flavorful mechanics in the game.
• Shadow Sorcery successfully preserved the fan-favorite Hound of Ill Omen.
• The shadow puppy is still the best boy.
• Shadow Sorcerer is one of the biggest winners in the book.
• Undead Patron Warlock retains its strong theme and useful combat tools.
• Form of Dread continues to be one of the coolest transformation abilities available to warlocks.
• Several subclasses benefited from updates that fixed earlier Unearthed Arcana concerns.
• The second half of the book contains more hits than misses.
• Software updates remain more frightening than anything found in Ravenloft.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Ravenloft is supposed to be full of gothic horror, tragic villains, and creeping dread. Instead, we somehow spent twenty minutes imagining a Midwestern Strahd saying You betcha before drinking your blood, arguing about wet burritos, and debating whether North Dakota counts as a real place. By the time we actually opened the book, the greatest horror wasn't the Dark Powers. It was realizing that someone somewhere willingly ordered a hot wet beef sandwich.

This episode is sponsored by Mithos, a modular, system-agnostic digital toolkit designed to make life easier for Game Masters. With customizable layouts, built-in player views, fog of war support, encounter tools, and an active community sharing content, Mithos helps keep your game running smoothly without juggling a dozen browser tabs. Whether you're running Dungeons & Dragons at a convention, Call of Cthulhu in a cabin, or your favorite indie RPG at home, Mithos puts everything you need in one place. Best of all, there are no subscriptions and no internet connection required. Learn more at rpgbot.net/mithos.

We finally returned to Ravenloft with The Horrors Within and dug into the new player options from Wizards of the Coast. Along the way we examined the subclasses, talked about what survived from the Unearthed Arcana playtest, and debated whether some of the changes actually improved the designs or simply made them safer.

The Reanimator Artificer immediately caught our attention with its wonderfully creepy flavor. We loved the concept of Frankensteining together an undead companion and modifying it over time, even if the final numbers often felt disappointingly conservative. The subclass oozes atmosphere, but several features left us wishing Wizards had trusted the design enough to let it hit a little harder.

The College of Spirits Bard received some welcome improvements from the playtest version. Moving the random spirit effects away from mandatory immediate use made the subclass far more practical, and controlled channeling solved many of the frustrations we had previously identified. This version finally delivers on the fantasy of consulting strange entities from beyond without constantly fighting against the mechanics.

We also revisited the Grave Domain Cleric and looked at the redesigned Path to the Grave. While the old version was undeniably flashier, the new implementation is much easier to use in any party composition. It may not create those huge cinematic damage spikes anymore, but it provides reliable support every time it comes online.

As always, our review quickly spiraled into side discussions involving Call of Cthulhu, sturgeon festivals, Midwestern rivalries, taxes, and the eternal mystery of why so many fantasy character illustrations are suspiciously attractive. That's just another day at the RPGBOT.Podcast.

Links

• Ravenloft: The Horrors Within (affiliate link)

• RPGBOT.store - Pish Pash, My Memory is Trash!

• Other Stuff

• Rikki Tikki Tavi

• Roxane but it gets faster

• Spirited Away

• Content from RPGBOT.net

• DnD 5e Dark Gifts Guide

• Ravenloft: The Horrors Within delivers strong gothic flavor and some excellent artwork.
• The Reanimator Artificer has fantastic thematic design but several mechanics feel overly cautious.
• Lightning interactions with the undead companion create some amusing and creative tactics.
• College of Spirits Bard benefited significantly from feedback and is much easier to play effectively.
• Controlled Channeling fixes many of the frustrations from the Unearthed Arcana version.
• Grave Domain Cleric lost some of its explosive potential but gained consistency.
• The revised Path to the Grave works better across a wider variety of party compositions.
• Several subclasses showcase great ideas that feel slightly undertuned.
• Flavor and atmosphere are consistently strong throughout the book.
• No matter how serious the subject matter becomes, the conversation will eventually derail into food arguments, regional insults, or bizarre fantasy accents.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Warlocks are the only class where the phrase "I signed a terrible contract and somehow came out ahead" counts as a character concept. By level 20, your patron has become equal parts sugar daddy, eldritch therapist, and extended warranty scammer. Somewhere between your third Eldritch Invocation and your fourth existential crisis, you stop asking whether the power is worth the cost and start asking if your soul came with roadside assistance.

In the second half of the Warlock deep dive, we continue advancing our example characters from level 5 all the way to level 20, exploring how the class evolves from a reliable blaster into one of the most customizable spellcasters in 2014 D&D 5e. Along the way we discuss new spell options, increasingly specialized Eldritch Invocations, Pact Boon upgrades, and the always-interesting challenge of squeezing maximum value out of a very limited number of spell slots.

As the builds mature, we compare different approaches to survivability, damage output, and utility. The conversation highlights how Warlocks reward careful planning while still leaving plenty of room for weird and thematic choices. Whether you're building a Hexblade, Fiend, or something stranger, the class offers countless ways to personalize your character.

Naturally, no discussion of Warlocks would be complete without jokes about selling your soul, suspicious contracts, and patrons who definitely read the fine print that you ignored. Between optimization advice and increasingly ridiculous examples, we discover that eldritch power and bad life decisions make an excellent combination.

• Level 5 is a major power spike thanks to 3rd-level spells and additional Eldritch Invocation options.
• Invocations continue to define a Warlock's identity throughout higher levels.
• Pact Boons and invocation choices can dramatically change how two Warlocks of the same subclass play.
• Short rests remain essential because Pact Magic depends heavily on recovering spell slots frequently.
• Gift of the Ever-Living Ones and other defensive options can greatly improve survivability.
• Blade-focused builds use options like Thirsting Blade to keep pace with martial classes.
• Mystic Arcanum provides access to powerful high-level spells without changing the core Pact Magic system.
• Warlocks excel when players specialize rather than trying to do everything at once.
• The class rewards planning and understanding how individual features interact.
• Flavor and mechanics blend exceptionally well, making Warlocks one of the most thematic classes in 5e.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

The Plane of Water episode started exactly how you'd expect an episode about endless oceans to start: with stock prices, GTA 6 rumors, GameStop drama, and Randall suggesting you could solve inflation by storing barrels of oil in your apartment. Eventually everyone remembered there was supposed to be a podcast, which unfortunately meant confronting Ash's greatest weakness: deep water. What followed was less a lore episode and more a two-hour intervention where Tyler discovered underwater spiders exist, Randall weaponized ocean facts, and Ash spent the entire recording questioning every life choice that led him to this point. Somewhere beneath all the existential dread, there was also a Plane of Water.

This week we dove into one of the most intimidating locations in fantasy gaming: the Plane of Water. Despite containing an infinite amount of something every living creature needs, none of us sounded particularly excited to visit. We explored how the Plane of Water differs between Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, from endless oceans and violent storms to strange underwater civilizations and terrifying megafauna.

Along the way, we examined water genies, krakens, mysterious cities, giant jellyfish stretching across entire planes, and even an anglerfish so enormous that someone thought building a city on its back was a good idea. Pathfinder's version introduced even stranger concepts, including underwater suns, spheres filled with mysterious civilizations, and the return of elemental forces that literally control the tides.

As expected, Ash spent much of the episode reliving childhood trauma and explaining why the ocean is secretly the most horrifying place imaginable. Tyler accidentally made things worse by introducing underwater spiders, while Randall enthusiastically contributed increasingly disturbing facts about deep-sea pressure, giant creatures, and dream-fueled tsunami nightmares.

By the end, we learned that the Plane of Water contains incredible adventure opportunities, beautiful locations, and fascinating lore. We also learned that Ash would still rather spend a weekend in Hell.

Links

• 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide (affiliate link)

• 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide (affiliate link)

• Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (affiliate link)

• PF2 Rage of Elements (affiliate link)

• Forgotten Realms Wiki - Elemental Plane of Water

• Pathfinder Wiki - Plane of Water

• RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes

• The Abyss

• Arborea

• Archeron

• Arcadia

• The Beastlands

• Bytopia

• Carceri

• Celestia

• Elysium

• The Ethereal Plane

• The Feywild

• Gehenna

• Hades

• Hell Part 1

• Hell Part 2

• Limbo

• Mechanus

• Pandemonium

• Plane of Air

• Plane of Fire

• Shadowfell

• Other Stuff

• Dodgeball Movie

• The Plane of Water in D&D is an endless ocean punctuated by occasional islands, violent storms, and regions ranging from sunlit seas to terrifying depths.
• Pathfinder's Plane of Water differs significantly, featuring a spherical structure, strange environmental effects, and unusual landmarks.
• Water genies and merfolk civilizations provide opportunities for diplomacy and exploration rather than constant combat.
• Krakens, brine dragons, and other aquatic monsters make the plane dangerous, but many creatures are simply focused on surviving in their own environment.
• Several bizarre megafauna inhabit Pathfinder's version of the plane, including continent-sized jellyfish and city-carrying anglerfish.
• Travel to the plane is possible through spells, portals, storms, and occasionally terrible luck.
• The Plane of Water offers strong inspiration for survival adventures, nautical campaigns, and cosmic horror themes.
• Despite its beauty and rich lore, at least one member of the cast would prefer literally any other destination.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Nobody expected the second half of the cleric episode to begin with a discussion about wolves conducting hate crimes against coyotes, crows acting as aerial bounty hunters, and the lasting trauma of Game of Thrones season eight. Somehow this naturally transitioned into Pathfinder clerics, giant dragon towers, vampire bat transformations, and a godless revolutionary whose greatest enemy remains organized religion. In hindsight, this was probably the only possible outcome.

In the second half of our Pathfinder 2e Cleric build series, we advanced our morally questionable holy figures from level 11 all the way to 20. Before we even reached the introduction, however, we somehow found ourselves discussing wolf vendettas, crow conspiracies, Game of Thrones, British pronunciation crimes, and Pulp Fiction-inspired monologues. Naturally, this was exactly the kind of preparation required for high-level clerics.

Randall returned with his godless anti-religious war priest, continuing his crusade to dismantle divine authority while simultaneously benefiting from divine magic. The contradictions only made the character stronger. Ash continued building a dragon-obsessed kobold servant of Dahak, leaning heavily into domains, summoning magic, and draconic heritage feats. Tyler doubled down on his undead survival machine, creating a cleric who would rather become increasingly horrifying than ever experience death again.

As the builds progressed, the characters became increasingly absurd. Randall evolved into a social revolutionary capable of literally preaching atheism to enemies. Ash transformed into a majestic kobold empowered by dragons and armed with enough fire to solve nearly any problem. Tyler embraced his inner vampire, eventually turning into a bat, draining enemies, and becoming nearly impossible to kill.

High-level spells stole much of the spotlight. Summoning dragons, collapsing enemies with Implosion, unleashing Massacre, and transforming into avatars of divine power all showcased just how spectacular Pathfinder's spellcasters become in the late game. Meanwhile, Randall's philosophy remained unchanged: peace is important, and anyone who disagrees can discuss it with the business end of a glaive.

By the time we reached level 20, our collection of short kings had somehow become terrifying demigods. None of them were remotely good people, but they were certainly memorable clerics.

• Levels 11 through 20 dramatically increase a cleric's power through doctrines, master spellcasting, and powerful class feats.
• High-rank divine spells provide some of the most cinematic effects in Pathfinder 2e.
• Harm-focused builds can become incredibly durable through self-healing and defensive feats.
• Domain spells continue to scale well into the highest levels of play.
• Heritage feats can dramatically shape a character's identity and capabilities.
• Avatar provides one of the most flavorful capstone spells available to divine casters.
• Additional 10th-rank spell slots are difficult to pass up at level 20.
• Warpriests gain survivability but still lag behind dedicated martial classes in weapon proficiency.
• Pathfinder 2e offers many ways to support unusual character concepts, including technically illegal godless clerics.
• Team Fun Size successfully evolved from weird clerics into full-blown nightmares for any GM.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Every Warlock player starts with the same innocent thought: I just want a mysterious patron and some spooky magic. Three hours later you're reading invocation combinations like you're optimizing a tax return and trying to explain to the party why your character absolutely needed a sentient book, a telepathic connection to an ancient horror, and a cantrip that solves all of life's problems. Somehow, the answer is always Eldritch Blast.

We kick off our look at Warlocks by exploring the first four levels of one of the most customizable classes in 5e. From choosing your patron to selecting spells and invocations, we discuss how early decisions shape the entire character and why Warlocks punch far above their weight despite their limited spell slots.

Along the way, we break down the strengths and weaknesses of Pact Magic, examine the importance of short rests, and discuss which options provide the biggest impact in the early game. We also talk about common traps, favorite spell choices, and how invocations turn a simple spellcaster into something uniquely weird.

Whether you're building a blaster, a battlefield controller, or just someone who made a very questionable life decision with an extraplanar entity, levels 1 through 4 are where the foundation of your character really comes together.

• Patron choice defines much of your playstyle and provides important features right from level 1.
• Warlocks rely on a small number of spell slots, making careful spell selection extremely important.
• Short rest recovery is a major source of the class's power and changes how the class feels compared to other casters.
• Eldritch Invocations are one of the most flexible customization systems in the game.
• Eldritch Blast often becomes the foundation of many builds, especially when combined with key invocations.
• Early-level spell choices can dramatically improve survivability, utility, and damage output.
• Level 2 is a major power spike thanks to invocations.
• Level 3 introduces Pact Boons, opening up very different character concepts and playstyles.
• Level 4 provides an Ability Score Improvement or feat, allowing players to further specialize their build.
• Warlocks reward planning and system mastery, but even simple builds can be highly effective.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Somewhere in Golarion, a tiny halfling cleric stands on a battlefield declaring that war is bad and violence solves nothing. Seconds later, he charges into combat with a hammer-and-sickle-decorated glaive, threatening to enforce peace by force. Meanwhile, a dragon-worshiping kobold is handing out experimental body modifications like coupons, and an undead enthusiast is one bad day away from becoming a lich because dying once was already one time too many. Somehow, this became a cleric episode.

This week we tackled Pathfinder 2e Clerics from levels 1 through 10 and quickly discovered that none of us had any intention of making wholesome heal-bots. Instead, we ended up with a collection of morally questionable short kings dedicated to violence, dragons, and undeath.

Before diving into the builds, we spent some time discussing Pathfinder's deities, faiths, and philosophies. Ash walked through the Laws of Mortality philosophy, which somehow manages to oppose religion while occasionally becoming just as fanatical as the people it criticizes. Randall immediately embraced the concept and created a pacifist war priest whose solution to conflict is apparently more conflict.

Ash also shared details from a new Starfinder campaign involving amnesiac characters trapped aboard a failing space station, creepy recordings, reality-bending horrors, and accusations of stealing ideas from Randall. Ash clarified that any theft was actually from Knights of the Old Republic II, which is apparently perfectly acceptable.

Once the episode officially started, we built three very different clerics. Tyler embraced undeath through Urgathoa, focusing on survivability and refusing to ever experience death again. Ash created a dragon-obsessed kobold devoted to Dahak with enough fire and draconic abilities to make every problem look flammable. Randall built a tiny anti-war field medic whose philosophy boils down to peace through overwhelming force.

Along the way we discussed doctrines, domains, divine fonts, Battle Harbingers, favorite weapons, and why evil gods consistently seem to have the coolest toys. By the end of the first ten levels, we had accidentally assembled Team Fun Size: three short clerics with deeply questionable life choices and entirely too much confidence.

• Pathfinder clerics are extremely front-loaded and gain many important features at level 1.
• Faiths and philosophies offer interesting roleplaying options but usually provide fewer mechanical benefits than traditional deities.
• Warpriests gain armor and weapon advantages while Cloistered Clerics focus more heavily on spellcasting.
• Divine Fonts are far more flexible after the remaster because they no longer depend on Charisma.
• Harm-focused clerics can become surprisingly durable through self-healing and temporary hit points.
• Domains provide powerful focus spells and can dramatically shape a cleric's playstyle.
• Battle Harbinger and class archetypes show how Pathfinder 2e can radically alter classes without creating entirely new ones.
• Short ancestries apparently became an accidental theme, resulting in Team Fun Size.
• Randall's anti-war cleric demonstrated that ideals and practical solutions do not always align.
• Ash's Starfinder campaign premise proves that creepy space stations never go out of style.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

After two actual play episodes, we finally sat down to answer the important questions. Why was there a demon in the basement? Why were people making drugs out of supernatural whale juice? Why did our cult immediately choose violence as a conflict resolution strategy? And perhaps most importantly, how many times can you accidentally make things worse before it becomes your crew's official business model?

As it turns out, the answer is "a lot." And somehow that's exactly how Blades in the Dark is supposed to work.

We wrapped up our Blades in the Dark series by pulling back the curtain on everything that happened during the score. Randall finally revealed what was actually going on behind the scenes, explaining the Grey Cloaks, the corrupt Bluecoats, the illegal refinery, and the fact that our crew only uncovered about thirty percent of the mystery. Somehow, despite missing most of the conspiracy, we still managed to completely ruin everyone's plans.

From there, we dug into the mechanics that make Blades in the Dark feel different from traditional fantasy RPGs. We talked about consequences, stress, trauma, healing, advancement, and how the game expects complications to drive the story rather than stop it. Coming from games like Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, we spent some time discussing how strange it feels when success and consequences regularly happen at the same time.

The downtime system ended up being one of the most interesting parts of the discussion. Recovering from injuries, indulging vices, reducing heat, building territory, and even potentially spending time in prison all create opportunities for new stories instead of simply resetting everything between adventures. Apparently prison gangs and ghost cults can coexist surprisingly well.

By the end of the episode, we came away with a better appreciation for how tightly the mechanics and setting work together. Blades in the Dark constantly rewards messy stories, weird complications, and players who are willing to embrace disaster. Which is fortunate, because disaster seems to be our party's greatest strength.

• The crew only uncovered a fraction of the conspiracy surrounding the illegal refinery
• The Grey Cloaks hired the crew to expose corruption tied to the Bluecoats
• The operation involved trapped spirits, electroplasm extraction, and an imprisoned demon
• Blades in the Dark expects consequences to create new stories instead of ending them
• Stress and trauma are resources that players are encouraged to spend and manage
• Downtime activities allow characters to heal, reduce stress, train, and pursue projects
• Heat and Wanted Levels create long-term consequences for reckless crews
• Prison and faction politics can become entire story arcs in longer campaigns
• Claims and territory expansion give crews long-term goals beyond individual scores
• Advancement is tied to roleplaying choices and embracing character flaws
• The setting and mechanics are deeply connected, making the world feel integral to gameplay
• Our cult somehow solved a major criminal conspiracy while understanding only about thirty percent of what was actually happening
• Releasing a demon may not have been the original mission objective, but it certainly made the score memorable

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Every adventuring party has that one person who looks at an ancient magical artifact and immediately thinks, I can improve this. In this episode, we continue our journey through the Artificer and explore what happens when a character combines magical talent, engineering confidence, and absolutely no respect for reasonable safety standards. The result is a class that can solve problems, create new problems, and somehow convince the rest of the party that both outcomes were part of the plan.

The Artificer continues to stand apart as one of the most unique classes in modern fantasy roleplaying games. In this second installment of our Artificer deep dive, we move beyond the basics and dig into the class features, mechanics, and choices that transform a clever inventor into a walking magical toolbox.

We examine how the class blends spellcasting, utility, and support capabilities while maintaining remarkable flexibility. Along the way, we discuss infusions, equipment choices, subclass considerations, and the many ways Artificers can fill gaps in a party composition. Whether you're building a heavily armored front-line inventor, a battlefield support specialist, or a gadget-obsessed problem solver, the class offers an impressive range of options.

As always, we explore both the strengths and limitations of the design, highlight practical build advice, and discuss how players can get the most value out of their magical inventions without accidentally turning every session into a product demonstration.

• Artificers thrive on versatility and can adapt to a wide variety of party roles.
• Infusions remain one of the class's defining features and provide significant customization opportunities.
• Equipment selection often has a larger impact on performance than it does for many other classes.
• The class rewards players who enjoy planning ahead and thinking creatively about problem solving.
• Artificers excel at supporting allies through magical items, utility options, and flexible spellcasting.
• Resource management and preparation are important for maximizing the class's effectiveness.
• Different subclass choices can dramatically change how the character functions at the table.
• The class often shines brightest when solving challenges outside of combat.
• Creative use of tools and class features can frequently accomplish things that other classes cannot.
• Understanding how your infusions, spells, and equipment interact is key to building an effective character.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati

Every tabletop group eventually reaches a point where someone says, We should absolutely not do that.

In this episode, that point arrives roughly every thirty seconds.

Faced with a secret ghost-harvesting operation, a trapped demon, corrupt Bluecoats, and enough evidence to bring down an entire criminal enterprise, our heroes make a series of carefully considered decisions such as stealing haunted jars, feeding a paralyzed rival to a demon, and debating whether releasing an eldritch horror is a reasonable business strategy. Somehow, these are not even the worst ideas discussed.

The second part of our Blades in the Dark actual play drops us back into the depths beneath a seemingly ordinary apothecary, where Roper and Talon discover that the illegal leviathan blood refinery is hiding something far worse than drug manufacturing. What begins as a simple investigation quickly spirals into ghost prisons, demonic experiments, and the sort of moral decision-making that only a cult dedicated to a vampire bat god could justify.

After encountering a mysterious hospital-like corridor filled with dying victims, the crew discovers that the entire area has been sealed off from the ghost field using occult runes. The situation becomes even stranger when a dead body fails to trigger the usual supernatural alarms, leading Roper to investigate through the ghost field and uncover evidence of a much larger operation at work.

Following clues deeper into the complex reveals the refinery's true purpose. Rather than merely refining leviathan blood, the operation is harvesting spirits from dying people and draining them to produce electroplasm. Rows of trapped ghosts, spirit jars, and meticulous records provide the evidence the crew needs, but things become personal when Roper discovers that an old rival named Flint is directly involved in the scheme.

The score reaches peak Blades in the Dark chaos when the crew encounters a captive demon being drained for its blood. Faced with an immobilized enemy, a suffering demon, and absolutely no adult supervision, Talon and Roper decide that feeding Flint to the demon is the most efficient solution available. The plan works far better than anyone expected, which immediately makes it everyone's problem.

Armed with demon blood, stolen spirit jars, incriminating documents, and several future psychological scars, the cult narrowly escapes while the facility collapses into supernatural disaster behind them. The result is a perfect demonstration of how Blades in the Dark rewards bold decisions, terrible ideas, and players who are willing to embrace the consequences of both.

• The score showcases how investigation, stealth, and horror can blend seamlessly in Blades in the Dark.
• Attuning to the ghost field reveals hidden truths while often creating entirely new problems.
• The refinery's true purpose is harvesting spirits from dying people and converting them into electroplasm.
• Spirit jars, hospital records, and captured ghosts provide concrete evidence of the criminal operation.
• Teamwork mechanics allow players to combine actions and improve their chances of success during critical moments.
• Talon's alchemical abilities repeatedly save the operation, from paralysis poisons to perfectly timed smoke bombs.
• Roper's professional hatred of Flint becomes a surprisingly effective motivator.
• The crew discovers a demon being harvested for its blood, adding another layer to the facility's horrors.
• Sometimes the easiest way to deal with a rival is letting a demon handle the problem for you. Whether that is a good idea remains debatable.
• The episode highlights one of Blades in the Dark's greatest strengths: success often comes from turning disasters into opportunities rather than avoiding disasters entirely.

Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you.

Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players.

Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings.

Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community.

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

• @Lzr_illuminati