Hmm. That doesn't seem to address striking runes, or attacks that deal multiple damage dice.
A frost giant disarmed of his axe isn't going to be stuck doing 1d4 damage with his fists.
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Made even better by the fact that nothing in the spell indicates that killing the albatross removes the attack bonus granted to you and your allies.
Abilities that can directly target weapons or armor exist, but are comparatively rare. They're also often ill-conceived, if they aren't very low level, because there's no scaling of item durability to match up with the scaling in damage numbers. (Only precious materials have scaling at all.)Yeah, generally speaking there aren't a lot of abilities (NPC or PC) that do it. The game starts to fall apart if you start target PC/NPC equipment (assuming they rely on it). PCs because equipment represent a large part of both offensive and defensive capabilities. NPCs, because technically their weapons and armor are decorative and GMs have to improvise what their stats are if PCs break or destroy their weapons/armor. This is a point that is not brought up in these kinds of discussions often enough. Frequently, a character or monster's stats are not dependent on its gear, so removing it from its gear makes little to no difference whatsoever. That said, I do recall seeing some loose guidelines for what a GM should do if, say, an NPC knight's sword is destroyed. Perhaps in the monster creation rules?
This is when you cast non-mental illusions like illusory object. This. You use what you've got.
Brio Merryweather, circus ringmaster (Male gutsy halfling entertainer commander 1) - Pathbuilder Array “Every moment’s a stage! You choose whether to stand in the light or hide behind the curtain.” Brio Merryweather grew up on the road, born into a modest family of traveling entertainers who relied on quick wit and nimble hands to make a living. His small stature and boundless charm made him a natural fit for the stage, and his knack for timing and coordination quickly caught the eye of larger, more established shows. That attention eventually landed him a place in Mistress Dusklight’s Celestial Menagerie, a troupe that promised glittering opportunity but delivered cruelty and exploitation behind the scenes. In the Menagerie, Brio learned discipline under duress; calling cues for dangerous acts, improvising fixes mid-performance, and smoothing over mistakes so the crowd never saw the seams. His skill at holding a show together made him valuable, but the constant mistreatment of performers eroded his loyalty. When a group of fellow acts, weary of Dusklight’s abuse, chose to walk away and form the Circus of Wayward Wonders, Brio seized the chance to join them. In the Wayward Wonders, Brio found the family he’d always longed for. There he met Myron “Thunder” Stendhal, the booming-voiced ringmaster who saw potential in Brio not just as a performer, but as a leader. Myron made him his understudy, teaching him how to command the ring, inspire the troupe, and turn chaos into spectacle. Under Myron’s guidance, Brio’s confidence flourished, and so did the quality of every performance he helped run. That golden chapter ended abruptly when Myron was murdered, slain by poisonous snakes hidden in his costume trunk. With the troupe in shock and a major performance looming, Brio stepped forward, determined to honor his mentor’s legacy. That night, he directed the show from center ring, ensuring it went on without a hitch. The crowd roared in delight, never guessing the grief concealed behind the curtain. In the days that followed, Brio took up the ringmaster’s duties in all but name, working tirelessly to keep the Wayward Wonders together while quietly vowing to uncover the truth behind Myron’s death. Though his voice still carries the warmth of a showman, it now bears the steel of a man shaped by tragedy and chosen responsibility. Tactics: Consider opening up with a bola at range to trip an enemy. Then Signal a tactic (e.g., Gather to Me!) to bring allies into aura coverage around the fallen enemy. Use dueling cape and armor to soak punishment while allies reposition and mob your foes from all sides. Consider tanking hits with your dueling cape and armor and impeding enemy movement by standing in choke points while you command your allies. Use the shove property of your fighting stick to push enemies into vulnerable positions, such as hazardous terrain, or high drop offs. Inspiration: = Stage and Showmanship = Ringmasters & Circus Leaders - P.T. Barnum (theatrical presence, showmanship, commanding a crowd). Brio’s banner could be as much a prop of spectacle as a tool of war. Shakespearean Captains or Tricksters - like Henry V’s rousing speeches or Puck’s sly mischief. Brio could pivot between inspiring bravery and distracting foes. Vaudeville Performers - blending slapstick, timing, and charisma, which mirrors his Deceptive Tactics and Fascinating Performance. = Military Archetypes = Wellington or Napoleon (but pint-sized) - masterminds who reshaped battlefields with clever maneuvers, not just brute strength. Colonel Jack O’Neill (Stargate SG-1) - sarcastic but competent squad leader, who masks sharp tactical sense with humor. Band Leaders in Military Marches - historically, banners and music weren’t just morale tools; they coordinated troop movement. Brio’s banner is a direct echo of that. = Fantasy Figures= Samwise Gamgee (LOTR) - halfling resilience and the ability to keep spirits up in dire moments. Brio shares that “glue of the group” energy. Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones) - clever, underestimated strategist who uses words and wit to outmaneuver stronger foes. Matt Cauthon (Wheel of Time) - gambler-turned-general, with a mix of charm, luck, and battlefield brilliance. = Trickster-Commanders = Robin Hood’s Merry Men - a leader who inspires loyalty not through fear but fellowship. Cyrano de Bergerac - charismatic, theatrical, and skilled with both words and weapons. Jesters with Hidden Depths - Brio could play the fool to mask cunning moves (like a court jester who’s secretly the smartest in the room). = How It All Fits Brio = Brio Merryweather can be imagined as: A battlefield ringmaster: directing combat like it’s a performance, with banners, calls, and dramatic flair. A small but steady center of morale: allies feel braver and stronger just by clustering near him. A deceptive tactician: enemies underestimate the “jovial halfling,” but his feints and diversions create deadly openings.
XD
No, I don't think breath of life is the most egregious example. There are quite a few ability triggers that can't really work as written, or require GM (or other third party) to be 100% on the ball with giving the appropriate information at the designated time. Most GMs have so much on their plate they can't even keep from skipping a player's turn or flubbing monster tactics on occasion.
How does the caster even know the specific time of death? Does the spell grant some sort of death-detecting spider sense? I really hate meta triggers like these that require knowledge the PC would not or could not have had. Many such abilities are dependent on the GM informing you that the trigger has been met, which means it probably never will be met (that you know of, or that the GM will ever remember).
There are similar feats and abilities already. The Familiar Master archetype gets Familiar Conduit, which let's you cast spells from your familiar's position. Sorcerers have access to Spell Relay, allowing them to treat themselves as a point of origin for an ally's spell I'm sure there are other options closer to what you want; those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.
Claxon has the right of it. All save one of those things should be using the Simple DCs. Dragons who are attacking and not hiding are automatically spotted. If PFS/SFS doesn't do that in practice, then that is a failing of Society play specifically, and not of the general game rules themselves.
I love it when spells reference volume. Leaves a lot of leeway when it comes to shaping. For example, you may be able to make the statue bigger by making it hollow.
It was a "must have" before the Remaster and now it is better. But it doesn't break the game. "Must have" and "breaks the game" are synonymous in my mind. I've never seen a rogue take any other level 6 option. That lack of (practical) choice really hurts the game.
The power level of rogues before and after Gang Up is pretty hard to ignore, especially when comparing premaster and Remaster Gang Up. Very much a "must have or feel weaker than others" type of option.
Don't allow Starfinder rules in home games. Easy fix. For PFS it strikes me as a non-issue. PFS is Pathfinder easy mode by design, so as to better facilitate the onboardong of new players. Someone playing a slightly busted character doesn't really change any of the outcomes. That said, I do agree that there is a risk of power creep that we've not seen before.
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With War of Immortals having introduced the Exemplar class a while ago, I thought it would be fun to start a thread where we can swap ideas and experiences. - What Exemplar character concepts have you come up with?
I’d love to hear about all kinds of builds and concepts--whether it’s a serious campaign character, a quirky one-shot idea, or just a “dream build” you’d love to try someday. Looking forward to seeing what everyone’s put together! I for one made a gangly, cowardly thief who robbed a tomb, then became possessed by the imprinted memories of the long dead warriors that wore the stolen armor before him. His mind has thus become fractured by the weight of countless imprinted memories, leaving him uncertain where his own identity ends and others’ begin. He suffers sudden flashes of déjà vu, intrusive thoughts, and emotional swings as conflicting ideals war within him. Though his composure hides the turmoil, he is never free of the fear that one day the borrowed voices will drown out his own. His alternating between ikons mirrors his personality shifts. One round he could be a skilled swordsman, then an expert marksman in the next, and later on take on the personality of a braggadocio nearly impervious to damage.
Most instantaneous AoE effects, such as damaging fireballs and lightning bolts have their full normal effect. If you get blasted by two fireballs, for example, you will likely take damage twice. For AoEs that have ongoing duration and apply starus effects, it can get a little bit more nuanced. For starters, bonuses and penalties of the same type don't stack. So it doesn't matter how many overlapping malediction auras you find yourself in, you only take a -1 status penalty to AC. This is true even of different effects. For example, if you were frightened 1 from a fear spell, it would not lower your AC any worse than malediction already has. Disparate effects generally work normally. So an AoE that blinds and another that stuns, could leave victims blind and stunned in the overlapping areas. And then on top of all that you have the potential for opposing forces counteracting each other as described by Tridus above. For your two specific spells, slither and carrion mire, they would each have their full, normal effects. Keep in mind though that the latter requires you to sustain the effect, and the former takes three actions to cast, so under most circumstances you can only cast slither and then cast carrion mire, not the other way around. I hope that helps!
Well, I'm convinced. It's clearer to me now that the benefits of free-hand weapons, although relatively minor, are also many. Thank you all for the many enlightening responses.
...free hand + empty hand does let you perform activities that require two free hands. There aren't a ton of those now though. That's a good point. The only one that comes to my mind is climbing.
I understand it being alright on an archer build, but I'm not convinced it's better (or even competitive) to other existing options on any of the other situations or builds described in this thread so far. If you're dual-wielding, there are better weapons out there. If you're keeping your hand free to climb, use maneuvers, treat wounds, or interact with your environment, you can simply go without it. You still get what you want and your primary weapon is going to be better in nearly every way. If you're ONLY using a free-hand weapon, then you're not only holding yourself back, you're not benefitting from the one thing most people say makes it good (free-hand is useless if you already have a free hand). I can't think of a reason to use a free-hand weapon in conjunction with another one-handed weapon over nearly anything else. There are selling points: it's agile, and it can't be disarmed, to name two, but considering even your fist is better in some respects it's kind of a hard sell. Maybe someday something will destroy your primary weapon (somehow) and instead of drawing out a better backup weapon, you can save your SINGLE action to start making really subpar attacks. You never know. Not a total waste of page space, but very, very niche.
The more I look at the description of the free-hand trait, the more I wonder what the practical benefits of having a free-hand weapon are. This weapon doesn’t take up your hand, usually because it is built into your armor. A free-hand weapon can’t be Disarmed. You can use the hand covered by your free-hand weapon to wield other items, perform manipulate actions, and so on. You can’t attack with a free-hand weapon if you’re wielding anything in that hand or otherwise using that hand. When you’re not wielding anything and not otherwise using the hand, you can use abilities that require you to have a hand free as well as those that require you to be wielding a weapon in that hand. Each of your hands can have only one free-hand weapon on it. So, despite its name, my "free-hand" weapon gets assigned to one of my hands (even if it's, say, an armor spike or blade boot). Then, I cannot use that "free" hand to attack if I have another weapon. Ergo, there's nothing really free about it. The hand is occupied and being used by one weapon or the other. That seems oddly similar to, oh I don't know, just having two non-free-hand weapons. Why shouldn't my swordsman be permitted to Strike with his longsword, then Strike with his spiked gauntlet on the same hand? The motion involved wouldn't be dissimilar from a pommel strike of the sword, something we see in fantasy fights all the time. But, for reasons, this is not permitted unless each weapon has its own hand. Sure you can call yourself armed while you open a door or scale that cliff with a free-hand weapon, but the trade-off in weapon traits and damage ultimately make it a rather poor bargain--to say nothing of all the other balancing factors like needing to pay out the nose for additional runes. What do you like about free-hand weapons? What don't you like? How do you make use of them in your games? Do you feel that they should have a few less restrictions?
I think it is mainly a metagaming issue - on a VTT you as a player can clearly see... If a player can clearly see the map while blind on a VTT, then your GM is using the wrong VTT. Foundry is best. It curbs that metagaming by darkening the screen in such situations. (Among a thousand other great built-in features that help to facilitate gameplay, mitigate metagaming, promote player autonomy, and allow for more frequent and accessible games.)
A character actually called "baker 18" would be ... an eccentric baker who invented a very effective combat pie throw. LOL! Or perhaps he's an alien clown from outerspace? There's an index of NPC entries with things like "Level 8 Child | Dericia Foss " or for oddball ~professions like "Level 13 Kite Enthusiast" Have you not seen Home Alone? Children can absolutely hold their own against enterprising murder hobos!
Is there a specific rule that states that the level number is for their potential combat stats? I always understood it to be a means of estimating their non-combat skill abilities (where appropriate; a level 8 soldier is probably pretty capable in combat). An 18th-level baker would likely be renowned across the planes for their high level of skill, for example. I also recall it being said that the combat stats are divorced from their non-combat stats. For example, said baker might only pose as a 5th-level threat to an adventuring party when they leave an undeserved scathing review.
Yeah, if it's the same wall with the same conditions the DC should NOT shift just because the climber is higher level. Shifting the DC with character level would make absolutely no sense in this case, and is most assuredly not endorsed by the game developers as the way to go. Even if the conditions change on the same wall (such as climbing during a storm), I'd recommend applying it as penalty to the check for most things, rather than upping the DC, per Unicore's advice upthread.
The only time I would use scaling DCs for Athletics to Climb, would be if the character was in a rock wall climbing competition, and the fabricated walls were DESIGNED to become progressively harder and harder. I would also use higher set DCs for walls that were intrinsically harder (as shown below). Cross-posting this here as I feel it is relevant:
Being trained in skills is fairly meaningless as the game goes on. Your success rate plummets relative to skills with investment, but you can only really have 2 or 3 skills with investment, depending on your level. It is nice early, though, sure.
Never mind. Found it in the Historical Community Use package.
I am looking for a high resolution icon of Vigilant, the iconic Paizo golem. Does anyone know where I can get one? I want to use it to fancify my Pathfinder desktop icons.
If I were to house rule it--which I won't cause my table hates house rules--but if I WERE to house rule it, I would say it works as is, but you get to add your ability modifier to it. Or perhaps half the modifier if that proves to be too much.
getting a nat 1 on a Climb can just kill you. Yeah, imagine loosing a PC to a g!@ d~&n Climb check. I've experienced this as GM. Had the player characters attempt to scale a steep slope. Enemies ahead of them had nailed boards into the slope to make something of a rather steep angled ladder. Then there were the gargoyles at the top. Only the champion had Athletics. Only the champion made it to the top. Only the champion died making a stand alone as his companions repeatedly fell from high heights. Two others were lost to gravity. It was absolutely humiliating for all involved. To be fair, sometimes it feels like Ravingdork is carrying forum engagement on his back. *sniff* That's the kindest thing anyone has said about me on these forums all year.
I understand that Starfinder 2nd Edition has been made to be much closer to Pathfinder 2nd Edition in its mechanics and play experience. What I want to know are what are the little things (and big things) that are different in a way that a person coming over from Pathfinder might not expect? Are there any surprising changes, differences, unintuitive new rules, or avoidable assumptions? As I slowly venture into this new game setting, what mines and pitfalls can you help my table and I avoid?
...if climbing a wall with a rope is typically a DC 15 activity, but becomes a 20 in the rain or a 25 in a huricane, then assurance is useless. This is a REALLY important point that I feel gets completely overlooked at many tables, to the loss of those who should have been assured.
First of all, that's probably to prevent exactly what you're trying to do. That's why it's bad! It actively makes your check below average! Second, you can take it for any skill that allows recall knowledge and then take Automatic Knowledge, which will let you Recall Knowledge as a free action every round. Well, yeah, but that takes extra resource investment to achieve. Third, use it in rituals (either as primary or secondary, provided you set up some circumstances to make things easier). Rituals have some of the hardest DCs in the game, and as we've established, Assurance doesn't even get you the average DCs. This would only work on rituals MUCH lower level than you, and therefore would not be nearly as useful. The power of Assurance comes not from being able to auto-succeed on certain at-level challenges, but from being able to auto-succeed on checks where you're likely to succeed anyway... I'm confused. If I'm likely to succeed anyway, why am I wasting a valuable feat slot? ...your Medicine checks to Treat Wounds, but also your Athletics checks to High Jump, Long Jump, Swim, etc. There are some of those corner cases I mentioned. It can work out well for things with established, static DCs, but most of those auto-succeed without the feat after a while (or get bypassed by other abilities altogether like flying over a wall rather than climbing it). It also has some use with athletics maneuvers against weak enemies since it bypasses MAP. If the enemies are weak, why are you extending their time on the board by not just killing them? Auto succeeding on an athletics maneuver against a foe is like finding out a cheat code. It's such a rush to be able to bully enemies with impunity. I suppose it would be if said enemy wasn't at least -2 levels below you. It auto-fails on anything else. It's pretty easy to bully -2 enemies without the feat. Also, seek help. Bullying the weak for that dopamine hit is wrong. XD Also good at protecting a key skill (like Craft for Inventor or a Swashbuckler's go-to Panache skill) from Misfortune effects because it's a Fortune effect & you end up w/ your normal roll. Misfortune effects are pretty rare though. It is nice when it comes up, though I wonder how the statistics shake out when compared to rolling with much higher values, but with negative rerolls or numerical penalties. I'm willing to bet it's not as good or as big a gap as people believe. And another Athletics use is for low-Str PCs or those wearing armor too heavy for themselves. Some token rolls might be unintentionally hard if you don't have Assurance. Ditto for Acrobatics for a 10 Dex warrior trying to navigate an icy slope. That just sounds like encouraging bad builds. As with most static feats, its benefits help those at the bottom of the curve more than the top, against one's worst rolls or situations rather than for one's best. On this I think we can agree.
That seems like a good use case for it, though adventurer's rarely seem to perish from lack of food or shelter. Assurance on Recall Knowledge freaking sucks, though. You almost never know the DC, but usually the checks you really want to succeed on are against higher level foes. And by RAW you can't retry once you've failed, so Automatic Knowledge is worse than useless most of the time. I agree. The Feat is a offshoot of the Take 10 rule. Unfortunately it is now a Skill Feat that doesn't increase action cost and works in combat. Those buffs cause some issues. If I remember correctly, take 10 didn't take more time (you just needed a calm ennvironment). Take 20 was the one that took more time. It's biggest strength of that it avoids Critical Failure. That is the one reason you pick it up and use it. Another thing that avoids Critical Failure is rolling with much higher numbers. Unless you're rolling against a static DC that you knew about in advance, Assurance is going to cause you to fail more often than not. But hey, it probably won't be a critical failure, so you've got that going for you, as you said. Being able to auto-crit on aid actions at 9th level has some nice perks. So it does. At a certain level though, you're basically crit succeeding Aid all the time without Assurance. Being able to auto-crit on aid actions at 9th level has some nice perks.Assurance (Diplomacy) for a character with the One For All feat. One For All says to ROLL. Since you don't ROLL with Assurance, the two abilities are incompatible. You can't get Y without first meeting X.
Exactly right. I've been in that boat. The problem is, if you didn't know what feat to take and settled on Assurance as a result, you probably will have as much or more trouble deciding what skill to apply it to! XD
Outside of a couple corner cases, Assurance looks like a REALLY bad feat. I was thinking about taking it with Craft for my Inventor so that I could more reliably use Overdrive. Nope. The feat automatically fails the standard level DC at every level. Like, WTF? Barbarians, rogues, and others don't have to deal with this **** for their extra damage. Why would anyone ever bother taking this feat outside of Medicine/Treat Injury? Please tell me I'm wrong.
It's easily one of the weakest points in Paizo's rule set / game design philosophy.
Will never happen. Paizo has nothing to gain from attempting to limit their customers like that. Such a move could only ever hurt them if they took such a rigid stance.
Sounds like a hassle. Some siege engines take a long time to deploy. I seriously doubt someone is going to take their time building a catapult that happens to be facing away from the target castle. That's moronic, not realistic. I'd argue that Aim is for when you change targets, or when the target moves out of the targeted area, or when there was no target at the time of deployment.
Can you select a target or area when deploying a siege weapon? After all, it's gotta be pointed somewhere, right? Or must you always deploy then aim before being able to launch at the start of a conflict? I'm wondering if my Munitions Master can deploy his light mortar as a free action with Spring-loaded at the start of combat, then immediately launch at a given target. Or if he has to aim first making it effectively a 2-action activity. Obviously you would still need to aim if the target moved out of the target area.
I concede the point.
I'd be fine with an distinct Item DC, especially if it got incorporated well with all the classes. It just seems unnecessarily complex to me.
I want to make a minotaur who can carry around his own cannon and blow stuff up with style. Here's what I've built in Pathbuilder so far. I'm seeking advice on optimizing the character. I like where the flavor is at, but the damage is so low and the action costs so high that I fear it will underperform compared to almost anything else in a theoretical party. Help me find ways to shore it up or, failing that, to make it even cooler. Currently, he has an axe and his light mortar for conventional attacks. When he has time to set it up though, he, his construct companion, and his fellow party members can setup his true cannon (with surrounding snares) for staged encounters (such as ambushes or sieges on fortifications). Any help further developing the character would be greatly appreciated.
In PF2, there are no surprise rounds, so if your GM is having someone make an attack roll without rolling initiative, they are already operating outside of the rules of the game. The sniper should be making a stealth based initiative check to see if they can get their shot off before anyone notices that something isn't right. A lot of GMs don't seem to be aware of that, sadly. :(
I much prefer the "use your Class DC" approach.
Course, considering we can't even get them to fix basic stuff like "how many spells do Oracles know", there's no chance this happens. Insofar as I'm aware that was errata'd pretty early on and has been a resolved issue for a long while now.
One way to really get those raw blasting damage numbers up is to use AoEs and always target your entire party. 4 to 6 more targets per spell is going to really make your DPR shine! XD LOL I understand now. But is this right? Being able to Sustain an extra time for free because Elf Step allows to Step twice in just one action? This really looks TGTBT! I'm still a bit skeptical myself. You're not taking the Step action. You're taking the Elf Step action. That's not the same thing. The rules for subordinate actions make it pretty clear that "Using an activity is not the same as using any of its subordinate actions." Developers go to a lot of lengths to keep things in isolation so that combos like this aren't possible. Why would they make an exception here? I agree that it may well be TGTBT.
I assume single action spells would be OK, and some hexes. Yes. I suspect "activities" was supposed to be a catchall term for things that took more than a single action early on in the game's design. However, in practice "action" and "activity" have been used interchangeably in several places throughout the rulebooks, regardless of number of actions required. So I wouldn't place too much weight on differentiating the terms.
I think the design intent is to make sure you eventually move on to new items as the old ones fade. That way, you'll actually care about new treasure, instead of going "yeah but all my investment slots are already taken". Instead of the Christmas Tree characters we had in 1e, now we have yard sellers in 2e. ;P
The chain distance is only 30 feet, not 500 feet, so the ability to chain targets is much more conditional than you're presenting it. I'm quite certain that Unicore is aware of this. I distinctly remember having to target my character with chain lightning in one of Unicore's games, just so that I could continue to chain the effect to additional enemies that would otherwise have been out of range and avoided it. He was rather surprised by it, as I recall.
So pretty much the animal companion is treated like a constuct. You should see how some GMs rule on familiars: Little more than magic granting pet rocks at some tables.
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