Black_Lantern's page

I'm made of fire and yet weak to cold? Who knew.

@OP Increasing attributes for lower scores does have its uses when it comes to making a character that will develop as time passes. Of course if you're starting out at a higher level and not considering how the character has grown then I agree with you.

Also, Roberta Yang please stay on topic. Wizards barely have an attribute dependency and monks have nothing to do with this discussion.

pH, please go make your own topic if you want to talk about house rules.

I don't understand why you think charm person makes you able to interrogate them. Do all of your friends tell you everything?

People say that tripping is viable at lower levels, but there are many things you could be doing with all of those feats and attribute points you're losing to feed your one knack pony trick. So in the regard I don't think it's worthwhile unless your DM scales CMB to match CMD and makes tripping less feat intensive.

"I fuel my spells with my pretty looks and confidence" -sorcerer

Rocket tag parties and defense oriented parties both work at lower levels. However, as time progresses in the game it's more efficient to go the rocket tag route because of how health and defenses don't keep up when it comes to higher levels. Granted, if you go the rocket tag route then you're prone to encounter a DM that will TPK you because he wants to challenge you. So in the end it really depends on your DM and how you want to play.

Well, monks are a good counter to bards, pass the will saves, beat them in the attack, number of attacks, damage, greater movement, some better saves. The monk is not the weakest, I am not sure the bard is the weakest, but monks are not on the bottom (if there is a bottom).

Weak classes comes down to opponents and situations.

Meh, countering other classes really doesn't matter to be quite frank. I just am upset about the fact that the monk class can barely utilize its mobility to its full potential when other pouncing classes can. Perhaps that's all that have to change in order for the class to feel like it's good. Maybe Full attacks should be changed opposed to monks. It just seems to me that full attacking and not full attacking is a huge difference DPR wise.

@The Equalizer
I'm glad that you expressed that you think everyone on the forums are idiots. However, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the people on the forums are people that actually care about the game they play and want to see it improved.

Optimal familiars grant initiative, have defensive abilities, have good utility abilities, and/or can umd.

Alchemist, Zen Archer, Ranger, and Summoner are also good options. An alchemist has the skills, buffs, and damage to do well as a rogue and not die. A zen archer is basically an archer that is hard to kill and moves faster. A ranger is good at tracking and can be a decent switch hitter. A summoner ties into the later game and is extremely versatile.

There is a couple of reasons why the rogue is behind. The rogue is going twf with two different weapons. Also the rogue is going twf. Also the rogue(one of the worst classes)is being compared to other classes that are known for being good in combat. Also why are you depriving a party of money when it hurts the rogue the most that I don't really understand. Another thing I'm wondering is why would you give a rogue something that sheds light when he attacks.

I'm not trying to insult you or anything I'm just pointing out somethings I observe to be wrong with your train of thought.

Monk uses wisdom for hit and damage.
amulet of unarmed strikes. (same cost progression as a normal weapon)
Old FoB
1 ki point to take a move action and full attack

Here's my guide.
Take things that boost your melee damage and chance to hit. Find a way to rage cycle, go two handed, and boost your strength. Guide complete. ;P

I'm just kidding though. It's good to see more guides come out even if it's for a simple class.

Black_Lantern wrote:

2 handed paladin with fey foundling. You'll basically be unkillable and with the bard and master summoner will break his campaign.

"...break his campaign."

If your goal is to break the campaign, will it also break the GM's or other players fun? See, here's where I differ from some folks on the boards. Why break the campaign? Do you not want any sort of challenge? If you don't want a challenge, by all means break the campaign. Build the most effective, optimized character you can, and play below your APL. Level up a time or two before tackling the next bit, just in case. Just be sure beforehand that that's what everyone else wants, too - and that includes the GM, because he or she is playing the game as well.

...sorry, ranting a bit. Or maybe more than a bit. But you get my point, I hope. Before you decide to optimize to the point where the GM will have to alter the AP to challenge you, be sure that's what everyone wants.

I'm suggesting it because it's the only way he's going to keep up with the bard and master summoner. Personally I think the master summoner is the strongest build at lower levels. Coupled with a buff class it becomes next to impossible to deal with. So if he plays a paladin that's unkillable he'll be somewhat on the bards and the summoners level. This is the DM's fault for not banning the master summoner.

It's not a fault of metagaming, it's a fault of the rules.

Depends on the spell and if you plan on echoing or not.

2 handed paladin with fey foundling. You'll basically be unkillable and with the bard and master summoner will break his campaign.

Asimars and Tieflings have some very good resistances and they are immune to any spell that targets humanoids specificaly. They were considered powerful enough to be ECL +1 races back in the day.

Read what they are actually typed as and what that template does.

Seems like a very specific fix oriented towards a specific type of play.

... you do realize the Sorcerer is commonly viewed as superior to the Wizard right?

Now I agree the Wizard needs some reworking. Give me a few minutes.

I would simply make it to where they don't get any spells on level up. Those free spells alongside the favored class bonus being reduced similar to the Spontaneous casters would work much better.

Depends on how lenient your DM is with letting you get new spells as a wizard. However I would say that the wizard is stronger than the sorcerer.

Black_Lantern wrote:

You may or may not like it but power attack is one of the best feats for fighters. Even if you're one handing it's still statistically more damage nearly all the time to have power attack on then it is not to have it on. Your attack bonus should rocket past others ac at the end of low levels as well. It is one of those feats that give you enough damage to be considered a threat to be dealt with. You don't have taunts, shouts, and/or anything else like that. You have your damage and how likely they can hit you. People tend to target people they can hit and they also target people that are a threat. If you have high ac and deal low damage no one will target you. This is why I believe two handed weapons and twf shield bashing is the best melee options for a fighter. Consider putting your 17 in con and your 13 in dex. Preferably you should put that +2 in strength. The reason why I suggest con over dex is your health pool will allow you to tank those hits and at the same time give them more reason to attack you. Besides you're going to find out soon that ac doesn't scale that well when it comes to later in the game unless you really focus on it. Just make sure you don't get dominated and you should be fine as long as your health pool is high. Also consider picking up a couple potions of fly.

I think AC scales fine.

People (not just you) make the argument that AC doesn't scale with monster attack bonus, and then turn right around and say that if you boost your AC too much monsters won't be able to land hits, and so will just ignore you since people also tend to make the (erroneous imo) assumption that if you invest in AC you somehow won't be able to deal enough damage to make monsters pay attention.

high-level AC is not about stopping every attack, because let's face it, that first attack is going to hit, it's about stopping that second, third and fourth attack.

What I'm trying to tell you is that a martials presence is pathetic. Trying to boost ac is even more pointless then you think, consider touch, flat footed, and the fact that there are many monsters that don't rely on hitting ac, or even using multiple attacks. As for your campaign I don't understand why magic isn't allowed but magical items are. However that isn't for me to decide and for your group to. It's better to go shield bash or 2handed because it's more effective to kill someone faster and prevent future attacks than it is to give yourself a pathetic bonus to ac. Not only that but there are several items and spells that give percentage dodge bonuses.

If I want to play a melee oriented monk I usually just play a druid, summoner, or an alchemist. However if it's ranged I'll play a zen archer.

Can't you just throw in a piece of bloody meat or something? I mean ffs how hard can they be to deal with.

Yeah, spell resistance really is NOT a joke for casters that rely on save-or-suck/die spells. Even where the chances of getting through spell resistance are good, it still tends to decrease the probability of getting a spell off on the target rather significantly. HOWEVER, there are entire classes of spells which are rarely inhibited by spell resistance: Battlefield control, summons, buffs....

Like I said it's a joke for a good caster. They have so many feats they don't even know what to do with half of them.

You may or may not like it but power attack is one of the best feats for fighters. Even if you're one handing it's still statistically more damage nearly all the time to have power attack on then it is not to have it on. Your attack bonus should rocket past others ac at the end of low levels as well. It is one of those feats that give you enough damage to be considered a threat to be dealt with. You don't have taunts, shouts, and/or anything else like that. You have your damage and how likely they can hit you. People tend to target people they can hit and they also target people that are a threat. If you have high ac and deal low damage no one will target you. This is why I believe two handed weapons and twf shield bashing is the best melee options for a fighter. Consider putting your 17 in con and your 13 in dex. Preferably you should put that +2 in strength. The reason why I suggest con over dex is your health pool will allow you to tank those hits and at the same time give them more reason to attack you. Besides you're going to find out soon that ac doesn't scale that well when it comes to later in the game unless you really focus on it. Just make sure you don't get dominated and you should be fine as long as your health pool is high. Also consider picking up a couple potions of fly.

UEpg.388 wrote:

And it is Craft(jewelry) not Craft(gemcutting).

Craft (gemcutting) to cut an uncut gem and Craft (jewelry) to take the cut gem along with other materials to make nice jewelry.

Knowing how to cut a gem doesn't mean you know how to make an attractive brooch that someone will pay good gold for. Knowing how to smith silver into an attractive brooch doesn't mean you know how to cut the gem.

So in your games you require two skills to make bows? Carving and stringing? God forbid you make them take wood classes.

^ Actually, in PF you do. Good can only apply celestial template.

Where does it say in the rules, why does my DM have to obey them, and why does the rule make sense?

Because spell resistances are a joke for real casters.

we are facing Pirana swarms for refrence

Are the piranhas intelligent?

Black_Lantern wrote:

Actually the reason why persistent was overpowered because of various prestige class dips to get it's cost down to around +1 only(including all other metamagic as well). This Item as it stands doesn't work with timestop for all intensive purposes(at least to the point of it being beneficial). A little bit of errata and martial hugging and everyone will be happy again.

There has been a lot of focus on timestop, but there are a number of other spells which this could be used with as well. I would personally be a bit worried about a Wizard with near permanent shapechange in my campaigns. As a standard action they can transform into a form appropriate to nearly any environment/situation all day everyday. Add in some minor boosts to physical prowess to back up their damage as, for example, a huge dragon with 6 natural attacks and they are competent second line fighters with full progression spellcasting.

Meh, I don't expect martials to keep pace with full spell casters anymore. They're classes designed to be played at lower levels. It's a shame really that's like that though.

Diabolical dabbler gives you history into your character's past. You don't have to be evil to summon evil monsters that obey your commands.

Monk uses wisdom for hit and damage.
amulet of unarmed strikes. (same cost progression as a normal weapon)
Old FoB
1 ki point to take a move action and full attack

You're welcome. :)

The class isn't offensive enough for me to care for it and its amount of skills sucks.

Subjective.

wisdom to hit and damage, old fob, 1 ki to full move and full attack(allowing movement between attacks). Fixed

I think bard would be a good choice.

a lot of builds do more than 80 damage at level 10. So in the end I don't think they were power gaming that much. However keep in mind that the AP's are quite easy and nearly everyone in your group built damage it's not surprising they crushed it. Deadly aim is the ranged version of power attack. It's pretty damn common for a character to have power attack or deadly aim to be quite honest. For the most part you could just make choices based solely on roleplay and end up doing fine. However most people don't because they don't want to be overshadowed by other players that take good feats and spells when making their character. Just do your own stuff and build the encounters in mind of them optimizing.

Reactionary +2 to initiative
(init is good for spellcasters)

Diabolical Dabbler

Benefit: Each fiendish animal you conjure with any summon spell gains +1 hit point per hit die for the duration of the spell that summoned it.(perfect for your character, think malconvoker.)

Wayang Hunter or Magical Lineage
Both do the same thing, reduce one chosens spell's level when applying metamagic feats that boost the spell's level.

Any trait that gives a class skill.

I'm hoping for a large alternate rules book to balance out aspects of the game and a way to digitally make characters at a fair price. For the most part the system is pretty solid, the art is fantastic, the organization is great, and content is great. Sometimes the editing is a little iffy, but they are becoming very responsible with their errata and faq's that I feel it's not a huge deal. The support Paizo has shown is just fantastic and I'm glad that I moved from 4e to pathfinder.

House rules.

That's a real shame they're not allowed to stack.

Black_Lantern wrote:

I would like to see a stat block before I jump to conclusions like some others have.

...its not jumping to conclusions when the OP says the player in question READ THE AP THEY ARE GOING TO PLAY!

There is always weaknesses in characters. The bigger problem is probably the information that he holds and not his characters power. In the end just kick him from the group, no one wants to play with a guy that does this sort of crap.

I'm actually hoping that you change the feat area into just a large box. This is because certain feats require a little more room than others.

Actually the reason why persistent was overpowered because of various prestige class dips to get it's cost down to around +1 only(including all other metamagic as well). This Item as it stands doesn't work with timestop for all intensive purposes(at least to the point of it being beneficial). A little bit of errata and martial hugging and everyone will be happy again.

Yes they are weak in comparison to the regular summoner and the master summoner.

Don't worry OP I think Fighters suck too. It's not like their are potions of fly or boots or anything like that man. God forbid I have to rely on my teammates.

Adventurers adventure... if you want to just fabricate high end gems with magic you should hand your character over to the GM to be an NPC.

--Vrock hound

So they're not allowed to have other professions they like to do?

This build is interesting to say the least, however I would say it's not going to perform well. It seems as if half of the DM's I know either target your mount quite often or use aoe spells. Because of this a lot of your character concept is going to go down the drain quite quick. You also probably shouldn't dip as many druid and cavalier levels as you have. Get horse master and get out.

if they are typed differently I'm pretty sure they stack.

bards can take a 10.

I would like to see a stat block before I jump to conclusions like some others have.