Marius Castille's page

Mage's tattoo. There's also an orange prism ioun stone (not a feat but still an option). Caster level bonuses seem few and far between.

I use them sparingly. Usually for the first spell a character casts during combat (haste, etc) or a spell needed to shut down a bad guy (like blindness).

qutoes wrote:

Strannik wrote:

I have found the "reach cleric" to be loads of fun. I would suggest checking it out.

+1

+1= 2

+1 = 3. Great fun.

This thread got me to dig up my 3.0 rogue and convert him to Pathfinder. He's your basic city boy/trap monkey. Goals for 1st level: find and disarm traps, be able to sneak attack without a flanker, and bask in the glow of not having a stat below 12 (seriously). . .

My original rogue was somewhat jumpy. He ended up with lightning reflexes, combat reflexes, and improved evasion. I had no idea what an attack of opportunity was. Ah, youth. This time around, I'll shore up some of weak saves. Fun Fact: I didn't take UMD way back when. I thought it was "cheesy". It's easy to say that when your back up consists of clerics, wizards, and druids. . .

Yes, Stefan is 100% rogue. No fillers. He saw his share of monsters (e.g. purple worms, buggery gnomes, a talking weasel named Tourette) but most of career happened around dishonest folk with the decency to have discernible anatomies. . .

Well, he's pretty much how I imagined him: Able to draw, cock, and fire a crossbow in a surprise round. Doesn't have to search for traps (he's got his trap spotter "spider sense" for that). Owns a badass longcoat (and matching vest). Hard to hit in a duel (when he can feint). Absolutely clueless in the wild.

My games have gore, political intrigue and some times have moral dilemas. On the other hand sex tends to be ignored or rolled into the single line of "you and x had sex"

I read that last sentence as "Hand sex tends to be ignored. . . ."

Sometimes I shouldn't skim.

PG-13.

Hand of Apprentice does not give you proficiency with any weapon. It only gives you the ability to make a ranged attack with a melee weapon. You can attack with a longsword or greataxe or longspear but you would still suffer the -4 penalty if you are not proficient with the weapon.

How many times can you use this ability per round? Once or twice?

It's listed as a spell-like ability. This suggests it's a standard action and therefore only usable once per round. However, the ability functions as a move action, which suggests that a cleric could use it twice per round (utilizing two move actions). Thoughts?

Why are you farther then 30 feet away from the party? As the cleric you should have decent armor so being closer should not be an issue. AFAIK there is no way to increase a spell's range.

The enlarge spell feats doubles a spell's range. I would get in as a rod though, instead of burning a feat on it.

It's more the others moving around the battlefield (to get flanking, charge a particular bad guy, etc). We've run into situations like this:

Which I guess is the point of the spell: let's share the pain. It just feels a bit. . .unwieldy sometimes. Sometimes keeping characters on a tether isn't feasible.

Good idea about the rod though. Casting it after Blessing of Fervor might be an option.

TLDR: I hate having others operate on a tether.

The bad guys (monster types like worgs, rarer for humanoid types) use them often. The PCs--not so much.

Regarding damage mitigation, some people have recommended shield other. It's good on paper but I've had problems keeping recipients within the spell's range. Any tips or tricks to making it work?

I'm pretty squarely in the Option 2 camp. Circumstances such as party level, composition, the threats/challenges in question, and pure dumb luck will dictate my actual response. I will say that as my cleric has advanced in level (1st to 8th), in-combat channeling has become very rare, as the party has gained more tools to deal with threats. However, I am not above converting a 4th level spell into a cure critical wounds if that's what's warranted.

"Can familiars really be used for combat?" My first thought was "Wielded or thrown?"

@OP. How does wealth by level work in your campaigns? For example, if PCs find a lot of treasure, is the rerolled PC's WBL going to limited by his current level, or can he keep any extra gear?

I've taken steps to minimize my litigious nature.
1. Keep my books out of arms reach. I'm less tempted to look something up if it's mildly inconvenient to get to my stuff.
2. If someone asks me a question, point him to the GM. The GM should always get first crack at adjudicating. It's the GM's game and it's just good manners.
3. If the GM asks me a question, I'll answer it, or help look up the answer if he wants a book reference. Otherwise, I just go with what he says. I've been the source of enough strife that I've driven a player away; I definitely don't want that to happen again.

I've always had a soft spot for the core monk since he showed up in 3.0. Despite his shortcomings, he's a decent wingman, especially in lower-level games. Out of nostalgia, I've built one using only the Core Rulebook with an eye toward "support fighter".

Wingman is a team player. He's fighty enough to pair off with a fighter or barbarian and stealthy enough to watch the ranger or rogue's back when they go scouting. Unarmed strike plus a reach weapon is a nice combo so he makes the most of it. His perception and sense motive give him things to do outside of combat but he doesn't step on any of the social characters' toes. Even the GM likes him because his knowledge (history) shows his interest in the campaign world. His weapons and lack
of armor are also a reflection of his character. He keeps people at a distance (reach weapon) and follows his own path (monastic background.

Wingman's coming into his own. Combat reflexes gives him another opportunity attack with his glaive. Deflect Arrows adds to his survivability---also, it's too cool not to have (though using it and swinging the glaive in the same round may not be doable). The still mind class feature seems like overkill, but at this level, it's likely to save his bacon more than once.

So Wingman's learned how to hit harder (power attack) and fight smarter (trip). He has a belt of strength to increase his overall effectiveness but has had to devote the lion's share of his wealth to defensive items. He's practicing fighting blindfolded and expects to master the technique by next level. He's also looking forward to leaving behind his sai, which have served him well but are poor substitutes for unarmed strikes. "I wish his AC was as good as his CMD," he said as his gaze wandered over the Style Feats in UC, "but I will continue along my chosen path!"

So Wingman's hit 10th level. He's added ki focus to his glaive to give himself more outlets for his stunning fist (and possibly better battlefield control). Most of his magic items either increase his melee capability or his Armor Class. Ironically, his saves are low compared to heroes sporting cloaks of resistance. He's not bothered by this; most casters don't target him directly (he *is* a monk, after all) and his still mind and improved evasion cover him pretty well. With medusa's wrath, stunning fist, blind-fight, and deflect arrows, he is ready for his martial arts training montage!

My cleric of Cayden Cailean now wants that Libation domain. Cayden doesn't get nearly enough good press.

Prepared divine casters have the potential to be more useful over a larger range of challenges than spontaneous casters.

Don't have a lot of coin but still need to explore the depths of a lake in the middle of winter? Endure elements and water breathing. Need to shore up the walls of a collapsing mine? Stone shape. Need to coordinate with faraway contacts when your plans change? Sending. Need to fight that pesky shadow demon that's been stalking you. Daylight. Hunting drow in their own caverns? Delay poison. Getting rid of stat damage? Lesser restoration.

Doing all of this in one week? Cleric. ; )

You can always pick up a longspear. Two-handed reach weapon + combat reflexes = more opportunities for sneak attack shennanigans.

Ranged cleric would be okay but the cleric has no class features to really capitalize on it. Not a terrible choice but it would definitely take some planning for it to pan out.

For melee builds, you definitely want strong physical stats and moderate wisdom (just enough to gain access to your new spell levels as you advance). Self-buffing is okay but, in my experience, you really don't have to time to throw more than a bull's strength or shield of faith before wading in, so you want to be fairly brawny without buffs. Combat Reflexes + Longspear + decent dex is nice, as are heavy armor proficiency and power attack.

Caster clerics are okay. High wisdom is nice but you don't have quite the spell repertoire as a wizard or druid. Negative channeling cleric is intriguing but require a high charisma, asssuming you don't want to hit your buddies.

I play by the rules. If it costs less than 1 gp, it's in the pouch. If it's more than a 1 gp, I pay for it, use it and replace it as needed. I'll occasionally make mention of "shopping for supplies" in town or "checking the woods" for components. I've even occasionally put a point into profession (herbalist) or knowledge (nature) to help justify how I'm getting supplies in odd locales.

Seems like it would be okay. Also, if no one's playing a wizard in your game, it's not like they'd be stepping on anyone's toes. If there are prepared casters, then everyone has a reason to celebrate when they hit an odd level. Solidarity!

I like it. I'll take anything that makes the core monk more competitive.

I like arcane strike. One feat boosts the damage of every weapon you use. Pretty awesome for magic warrior types if you've got nothing better to spend your swift action on.

I've only done one multi-class/prestige character: an eldritch knight from 1st level. Even though it wasn't optimal (and sometimes painful because, y'know, losing caster levels), I ended up leveling him as ftr3/wiz5/ek1. I mean, if power was my goal, I would've made a single-class wizard and never looked back. Mixing classes and finding a balance ended up being a great roleplaying experience for me. The character had to prove himself to gain entrance into the order, follow their code of conduct, etc. Not that this couldn't have been done as a magus or some other class combo, but it was a very satisfying moment when I got to add Eldritch Knight to my character sheet.

You could always tweak the rules. One house rule I read about (in Unearthed Arcana?) changed things so that cure spells converted lethal damage to nonlethal damage, and nonlethal damage could only be healed naturally. The intent was to create a slightly grittier feeling campaign. I've never played with that rule so I can't say if it worked well. Just a thought.

Marius Castille wrote:

I've seen clerics prepare blessing of fervor but then abandon it once they discovered the party wizard or bard can cast haste. Haste's static benefits are easier to track and, if they had to choose, I can see fighty types prefering haste over blessing of fervor for this reason.

Blessing of fervor's extend spell buff is nice, especially in a party with many casters with lots of low level buffs to cast (mage armor, false life, longstrider). Whether or not to nerf this aspect of the spell really depends on party composition. Is the group really getting too much mileage because their mage armors last 14 hours instead of 7 hours? The cleric is still out a 4th level spell and the non-casters probably didn't see any benefit from the spell when it's used to buff the casters at the beginning of the day.

It get annoying when the casters go "the fight has ended and BoF is still running, let's cast our 1st - 2nd level spells, so they will get extended for free", especially if you have a large group with multiple casters.

As a "haste like" spell I see it as something made to buff the group for a small tiemframe, not for hours.

I understand that you may be annoyed by the practice---and possibly concerned about the precedent this practice set---but are there really any hour/level or day/level spells that become overpowered when they are occasionally extended?

I've seen clerics prepare blessing of fervor but then abandon it once they discovered the party wizard or bard can cast haste. Haste's static benefits are easier to track and, if they had to choose, I can see fighty types prefering haste over blessing of fervor for this reason.

Blessing of fervor's extend spell buff is nice, especially in a party with many casters with lots of low level buffs to cast (mage armor, false life, longstrider). Whether or not to nerf this aspect of the spell really depends on party composition. Is the group really getting too much mileage because their mage armors last 14 hours instead of 7 hours? The cleric is still out a 4th level spell and the non-casters probably didn't see any benefit from the spell when it's used to buff the casters at the beginning of the day.

I've used latin for arcane and divine spells. I never thought about Greek; I'll have to look into that. For command words, I tend to make up words. "Draconis" for a staff with meteor swarm or "Cirrus" for a wand of fly. I've even from the Zatanna school of wizardry: Etativel! for levitate or feather fall and Cigam Elissim! for magic missile.

They have that one elf army vibe. You can see one walking through the door of a tavern and not wonder how he or she survived the big, scary world. They can also be somewhat worldly with their Knowledge skills. For me, it harkens back to the bladesingers from previous editions.

We use them in our game. I usually use them for the extra standard action. It's like having Quicken Spell at 1st level. Most of my group, however, hoards them for defensive options.

Neutral unless the baby has celestial or infernal qualities. Toddlers smiting evil would be awesome.

Mechanically, there's not a reason to disallow it. Bump the level by one (i.e . CLW is 2nd level for wizards) mainly to prevent messing with potion and scroll costs. Allowing it could open up some interesting narrative points (why it hasn't happened before, etc).

Some ideas for a grittier, more old school game:

Wizards get a d4 hit die.

Clerics and druids drop to a d6 hit die.

Remove channel energy.

Remove the natural spell feat.

Remove spontaneous casting from druids and clerics.

Limit the number of zero level spells casters can cast per day.

Arcane casters cannot cast spells in armor unless they are elves wearing elven chainmail.

Bards no longer cast cure spells.

Increase casting times to a minimum of 1 round.

Casters lose their dexterity bonus while casting.

Casting while in melee provokes an attack of opportunity.

Preparing spells requires 10 minutes per spell level.

Remove the precise shot feat line. Archers can hit their allies when shooting into melee.

Cure spells only convert lethal damage to nonlethal damage. Cure spells do not cure nonlethal damage.

Withdrawing from melee combat provokes an attack of opportunity.

Remove item creation feats (or at least delay access until 9th level).

Casters need to create a circle of protection prior to summoning creatures. If they don't, summoned creatures can attack them.

---------------------------------

The idea, of course, is to look at the game, find aspects that made it easier (for casters mainly), and ruthlessly yank them away. ; )

Universalist! For a pure wizard, it's a comparatively weak option. That said, I like universalist for an eldritch knight type. Hand of the apprentice is cool at low level. Metamagic mastery is good but it takes forever to get.

Keep encouraging him to play what he wants. Just because he was last to choose doesn't mean he should be the party gimp.

It's funny how attitudes about coming back from the dead can change within a group over the course of a campaign.

In one game, our beloved fighter died while defending his home against marauding orcs. His death was much lamented, so much so that when news of his resurrection reached the masses, the celebration over his return lasted an entire week. It was a momentous occasion.

Fast-forward some months later. Death is a speed bump: a quick teleport to the NPC high priest, a smack on the head with his rod of resurrection, and back to the adventure. Not that the change was bad---we certainly developed a gallows humor over it---but we recognized the shift in attitude.

Pay someone to carry your stuff.

I tweaked my caster cleric a bit to take advantage of the reach cleric strategy (our group has three non-reach front-liners). He's still primarily a caster (Str 14 Dex 12 Wis 16) but now he's much more confident when something closes with him. I never realized how nice a feat combat reflexes is---getting your attacks of opportunity while flat-footed is great. Also, the Grace spell from the APG works well with the build. It's a bit pricy for what it does (2nd level, swift action) but it's nice when acrobatics isn't viable.

Thanks for sharing. These look really great and are fine sources of inspiration. I noticed one typo for Jevicca Dehlonna. She has access to the Pant domain, instead of Plant. Also, I now want there to be a Pant domain. ; )

Very nice. My cleric started using a longspear mainly because our other melee use non-reach weapons. The guide definitely gives me some food for thought.

Concept, background, class. I also avoid making something similar to what someone else is playing. If our group is melee heavy, I'll go for ranged or a caster. Knowing the region and prominent races also helps, to better inhabit the GM's world.

I'd love the cleric to have some type of capstone but I can understand why there hasn't been a particular rush to correct this oversight. Every time a divine prepared caster gains an odd level, they gain access to an assortment of spells which can potentially change the shape of a game. Even if the cleric (or druid) doesn't have the right spell at the right time, he might the next day.

Have we all not had Dark Dungeons moments though?

I like the swirling runes explanation. It's evocative and cool.

My own reaction would depend on what happened right before the scroll use. Was a fight already in progess? Was the group in some kind of negotiation and the NPC pulled out the scroll to "provide his master's terms." For me, it all depends on context.

A friend once ran a long campaign that took my buddy's monk and my rogue from 1st to 14th level. It was a great, immersive game and I loved my character. One day, we ran across a sphinx and we had a classic riddle duel. We came up with a riddle the sphinx couldn't figure out. In turn, the sphinx scratched a drawing on a nearby tree. My rogue looked at it first and was immediately slain by a symbol of death. The monk killed the sphinx in retribution. The rogue had cut ties with the region's church so there was no friendly source to raise him. My last memory of events was standing in a misty area and being approached by a shadowy figure who offered to bring him back. The figure's malevolence was palpable, so my rogue declined, telling the figure "I'll find my own way back." before stepping into the mist.

It may seem like an ignominious end but it was actually very satisfying for the character, who spent his career being manipulated by different parties Machiavellian schemes. He preferred death to becoming someone eles's pawn.

It's all about context.

A cleric's (or any characters') actions are going to be informed by a variety of factors: party composition, equipment, environment, enemies, tactics, personalities, goals, and prior experiences.

Our current group has a couple of lightly armored melee types so my cleric carries a couple of shield of faith spells for them. It's a bone-chilling winter so three of his 1st level spells are devoted to endure elements. We've also encountered many poisonous creatures so he prepares a couple of lesser restorations. Most of the group is human and we've suffered night-time attacks by drow and manticores. For them, he keeps a daylight spell ready along with an obscuring mist if things go south. The cleric has twice found himself lured to the edge of a cliff by harpies so he keeps a pro evil spell ready. He carries a prayer spell for general combat and a blindness/deafness spell for any bad single targets.

Roll for hit points. Player can reroll once if the result is below a certain number (based on class). For example, a barbarian gets a reroll if he rolls less than six, fighter less than five, etc. Have to keep the reroll, even if it's lower. DM also allows burning a hero point for a reroll.

. . . because I know you do.

. . .because it's nice not having to roll dice every fight.

. . . because ranged weapons are bow-ring!

Think about your party members' capabilities and chosen roles. If you're traveling with a rogue who puts ranks in disable device, then avoid preparing knock. Does the bard like to chat with every stranger you meet? Charm Person is probably not needed. Do you have people who like to swing swords or use bows? These folk will always appreciate a haste spell.

Think about those situations that would hinder really your teammates that they can't deal with themselves. Your fighter can't locate an invisible, flying spellcaster but you can. A scroll of see invisibility is your best friend, followed by the glitterdust spell you've prepared.

Going into tunnels or forest? Web spell. Suddenly find yourself in the middle of the desert? Endure elements (probably multiple times beginning on the second day, split between you and whoever else can cast it), Knowledge checks can be a way to help you figure out what sorts of creatures and hazards are in a new area.

If you unexpectedly find yourself in a low wealth campaign and/or stranded in a swamp for weeks on end, congratulations! Your DM doesn't want the casters to have the answer to every obstacle. Lots of skill checks, knowledge checks, and saving throws for everyone to enjoy. Your job is survival and in the worst case scenario, you will probably be filling up your higher level spell slots with lower level spells (at least for a little while). Cherish those moments of wealth and civilization and spend every gold piece you have on new spells for your spellbook.

There will be days when you don't have right spell for the job (even if you have a bonded item). Don't sweat it. With luck, you have that spell in your spellbook, and have survived to prepare it the next day (assuming you still need it).