Akerlof's page

So, after somebody mentioned the First Edition spells like Tenser's Transformation, Black Blade, Stoneskin, etc. that would let you play your magic user like a fighter, I got to thinking. I can't really do the fake-warrior-through-spells thing anymore, but I could still make a surprisingly crunchy caster with d6 HP: d6, 16 con, Toughness and favored class bonus give me 9hp per level, 13 at first level, which is up there with fighters and barbarians.

The question is, what class?

Wizard:
Pros:
--Can get good AC with Mage Armor + Shield to go with the HP pool (13hp and 18+AC at level 1? I'll just taunt martials, at least until I have to actually DO something,) and things like Mirror Image and Blur later.
--Gets a tremendous selection of spells, and an unparalleled range to choose from.
--I've always wanted to play a diviner who just knows everything, even the future.

Cons:
--What do I do outside of staying alive? My int will probably be 18 so my DCs won't be top notch.
--Early on, I won't have many spells available, and those I do have will go into making me survive.
--Very limited weapon proficiencies, not as useful to provide a flank for the martials.

Sorcerer:
Pros:
--I could be a gnome, pick up the right arcana to get a goat familiar, then cast reduce person on myself and Ride Around The Battlefield On A Friggin Goat! How cool (and annoying!) is that?
--Just as wide a range of spells to select from as a wizard?
--More spells per day than a wizard?
--Proficient in all simple weapons. Cloth caster with a morning star =)

Cons:
--Far, far more restricted list of spells known.
--I really don't know much about sorcerers, honestly.

Witch:
Pros:
--Can add to my spells known just as easily as a wizard.
--Hexes give me something to do outside of casting spells.
--Access to healing spells on my spell list, allowing me to play a support role instead of primarily a blaster or controller, if I so choose.
--Same spell progression as a wizard.
--Proficient with all simple weapons also.

Cons:
--Really dependent on mind affecting spells and abilities. I'd have to be careful with my build or I'll be twiddling my thumbs whenever we run into undead or mindless creatures.
--Everything targets fort or will saves, which seem to be pretty strong on a lot of monsters.
--The most restricted spell list of the three.
--really, Really dependent on my familiar.

So, which class would you suggest for a cloth wearing tank? I was initially thinking wizard, but the more I look at witch, the cooler I think it is. I'm pretty sure that the wizard would be sturdier, they get a ton of defensive spells, But the tradeoff is that, at least at lower levels, it wouldn't be able to do much to contribute to combat since all of its spells will be used defending itself. The witch would provide more utility, but is much squishier without shield, mirror image, or pretty much anything other than Mage Armor it seems. In fact, about the only "non-squishy" thing about the Witch is that it would have good HP.

I'm starting a cavalier and want to get my rules straight. Either my reading comprehension is bad or my search-fu is bad, but I still can't find answers that are clear to me:

Ride By Attack: "When you are mounted and use the charge action, you may move and attack as if with a standard charge and then move again (continuing the straight line of the charge). Your total movement for the round can't exceed double your mounted speed. You and your mount do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that you attack."

*This means that if I'm directly in front of my target, I can charge, get my lance attack while 10 feet away, and then my mount can move another five feet and get its charge attack in. Ride By Attack doesn't let me carry through the opponent's square, does it?

*Alternatively, if my charge path doesn't take me THROUGH an opponent's square, I can get my lance attack in when I'm a knight's move away, then keep on truckin' right past the target but my pony doesn't get to make an attack?

*Can I move through an ally's square AFTER I've made my charge attack? I expect that follow through movement still follows the rule of a charge, but am not sure.

Overrun with Ride By Attack
*If my charge path takes me through the opponent's square, can I make my charge attack, the move up to the enemy and my pony make an overrun attempt? If successful, can he keep on moving up to a total of twice his move speed? The rules state "As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square," but don't say you can continue your charge as far as you want. And if the pony fails the overrun attempt, we stop directly in front of the target.

Attacks of Opportunity
*Against an opponent with reach, a normal charge provokes an AoO when you move out of a threatened square, but Ride By Attack explicitly states "You and your mount do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that you attack." Does this apply to opponents with reach as well?

*Secondly, until my mount gets Improved Overrun, he will provoke an AoO when he tries to overrun the opponent. I assume Ride By Attack does not eliminate that AoO, but I can use my ride skill to try to avoid the attack? Does the opponent need to make the AoO on my mount or can he take it against me? I'm thinking it has to be the mount.

General mounted combat stuff
*I can use a lance one handed or two handed while mounted, but if I use it one handed I don't get the 1.5x strength bonus, right?

*If I hold the reigns, I don't need to take a free action to guide my mount, the way I would if I were using my knees, right?

So I could gain a free action and AC by wielding a light shield and holding the reigns, at the expense of 1.5 str and Power Attack damage. But I couldn't do that with a heavy shield?

*My mount is considered combat trained, does that mean all six of his base tricks known are taken by the "combat trained" package, so I can only teach him the 1 bonus trick he gets as an animal companion? And do I need to train him in Attack a second time to get him to attack anything beyond the basics, per the Animal Handling skill description?

*Also, carrying capacity. Is the animal companion pony's light load 100 pounds per the bestiary entry, or 75 pounds per the 13 str quadruped rules in the CRB?

I just hit level 3, have 3600 gp burning a hole in my pocket, and am not sure exactly what to do with it. This is a PFS character with 12 fame, so I can't purchase anything over 1500gp unless it's on a chronicle sheet.

What I already have:
+1 composite longbow (+3 str rating)
Backup melee weapon, spiked gauntlet
Wand of CLW, potion of CLW, acid Flasks, tanglefoot bag

What I'm pretty sure I'm going to get:
Cloak of resistance +1
Better armor (Mine is leather lamellar, +2AC and no penalties)

What should I get?
Armor: Should I go with medium armor and keep my movement speed now that I have armor training, or should I go up to heavy armor and not have to worry about keeping my encumbrance down.

Ring or protection/Amulet of natural armor?

Masterwork backup weapons?

Handy Haversack? (I have access to that)

Other utility stuff/potions/etc?

Something else? Should I wait for an adventure until I have 13+ fame and can buy anything worth 3000gp or less? I'm saving up for Bracers of Aspect of the Falcon as soon as I have the 18 fame to have access to them, so I don't necessarily want to blow all my gold now.

As far as armor goes, should I stick with medium armor and keep moving full speed until I get armor training 2? Even with 16 strength, keeping my encumbrance low is getting tough with all the stuff I want to carry and medium armor. Are a couple more points of AC really worth it for an archer? I'm sticking with Japanese flavored armor, so medium would be a Do Maru for AC 19 and heavy would probably be Tatami Do for 21 AC, that isn't really a big difference for a non melee character, isn't it?

Do you need to have enough fame to purchase the entire weapon, fully enchanted when you add an enchant with a flat GP cost, or do you just need enough fame to buy the enchant.

For example, the Adaptable enchant costs 1,000gp. If I want to put it on a mighty composite longbow +3, will I need 9 fame for the 1,000gp enchant or 18 fame for the 3,600gp total value? (300 for the bow; 300 for Masterwork; 2,000 for +1; 1,000 for adaptive)

So I just made my first ever archer, a human fighter (no archetype) with Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and Rapid Shot at first level. I played up a tier in my first PFS game with him, and did pretty well. But there were a few bad fights where I just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and one of the other players commented that I shouldn't be rapid shotting so much since the enemies had cover. (It was actually due to the fact they they had cover and I couldn't roll higher than about a 9 to save my life. My dice are another story.)

But that got me thinking: When should I be using rapid shot and when should I just take a single shot? That's realtively easy to figure out, but I've also got other questions. But first, Rapid Shot:

So I created a spreadsheet to give myself a handy chart of when the expected damage of a Rapid Shot would be higher than taking a single shot. Turns out they are even when Rapid Shot forces you to roll a 19+ to hit and taking one shot is unambiguously better when you could hit on an 18+ or Rapid Shot on a 20. So, the vast majority of the time, rapid shot is a big winner.

The spreadsheet is here. It's a pretty simple chart, but suggested improvements are welcome. I intended to use it as a reference in games, but really, there are only very limited situations when Rapid Shot is worse than taking a single shot, so I haven't actually used it yet.

So, my other questions about how to play an archer are:

* What order should I get my feats? I already have Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and Rapid Shot (yay human fighter.) Should I get Weapon Focus first, or Deadly Aim? I'm tempted to go for the latter since I'm doing as well as the level 3 PCs on damage when they aren't standing in front of me giving the bad guys cover, and weapon focus isn't enough to negate that. But I'm not sure.

* Should I hold off on buying a magic bow until I can afford to go with something like a mighty composite bow (+6 strength rating) and put Adaptive on it when I enchant it to +1? That will give me a lot more flexibility, but the way the Pathfinder Society rules go, I won't have enough fame to get that until some time during my 4th level. Is the extra point of damage for a couple levels worth the loss of flexibility down the road? (The adaptive enchant allows you to use a composite bow at any strength rating up to its max at no penalty. I think it only lets you go down, not up, though, so if I have 16 str and a +3 bow then get bull's strength I get no benefit, but if I have a +6 adaptive bow and get Bull's Strength I go up from +3 to +5 damage.)

* How valuable is the Snapshot line of feats? I can count the number of times I've seen GM run monsters eat an AoO. Admittedly I haven't been playing long, and I would probably be able to get an initial AoO off since nobody expects an archer to make AoOs. Or is this more about limiting the other side's options than getting in extra attacks? Are there other feats more useful than these?

* Any suggestions on avoiding LOS/cover issues? Most Pathfinder Society scenarios I've seen have focused on indoor combat and restricted spaces. Do I just grin and bear it until 5th level when I can get Point Blank Master? (And remind people to "please not stand in front of the guy with the bow! He would totally make a called shot on your bum if it weren't for the rules against pvp." Seriously, I've had people go "I can't get all the way there, so I'll just move forward, then over 1 space... right in front of the archer, so another meleer can... not make it all the way to the bad guys either.)

* Arrows: Blunt arrows do bludgeoning damage just as if they were normal arrows? That sounds too good to be true. And should I just be buying cold iron arrows and weapon blanches for max flexibility?

What other tricks of the trade do I not realize I'm missing?