I was looking at the Reaching Vines fungal graft and ended up a little confused. It lets the character Pull as a free action but doesn't say anything about grappling or grabbing the target.
How does that work then? The vines lash out, wrap around the target, pull it closer, and then let go?
Some related questions about Reaching Vines:
They're grafted to the wrist. If I turn large or huge, extending my natural reach, what is the reach of the vines? 10' not matter what, 10' past the length of natural reach, or more than 10' based on how big I get?
Would using the vines interfere with other attacks using the same limb?
Large animated object should have 4d10+30 hp. I don't think he can add extra HD, even if he has CL for it.
Required CL is equal to the HD of the animated object, so he's fine here.
The price of the construct is (HD+CP)*1000 + the cost of the item that is animated. The cost of a large adamantine statue isn't specified, but you can refer to the notes about adamantine golem; its (Huge) body requires metals worth in total 100000 gp; Large creatured have mass approximately 8 times smaller, so I'd estimate the cost of a Large adamantine statue for 12500 gp. I don't think he's able to craft the statue himself, so he'd need to pay the full price of the statue. Then with 4 HD and 11 CP, the added price of animated statue would be 15000 gp. He needs to spend 1/2 of it during the crafting. So my estimation of the total cost would is 20000 gp.
Creating animated objects with Promethean Disciple feat counts as using Craft Construct feat, that is you're using magic item crafting rules, not usual rules for Craft (alchemy). That means you can normally make 1000 gp of progress per day. Therefore crafting should take 15 days (not including the time to create the statue).
As far as caster level, under creating magic items, the developers state that the creator should have a minimum caster level equal to the minimum level required to cast any spell necessary for construction (in this case, animated objects, clvl 11).
I actually figured it'd be more for the adamantine....a suit of adamantine full plate costs 15000 and that's not even large sized...
I was typing up a reply to the "What do you play" thread that got out of hand and realized I have more complex char building guidelines than I thought. On the face of it were things like "I always pick classes with a decent amount of skill points" and "Tend to have multiple archetypes and have never not multiclassed" but then I thought about why I do that and started looking at the little underlying "rules" I give myself. Which got me to wondering if anyone else had anything similar. Or dissimilar.
The criteria I give myself for making chars:
1. Make sure I fit in with the party and setting
2. Know my role(s) and contribute EFFECTIVELY and CONSISTENTLY in my chosen areas (although a little versatility is better than perfect optimization).
3. Have something to do in combat, in social situations, and in at least one other area (scouting/traps, healing, crafting, knowledges, etc). A bored player is more dangerous than a thousand enemies. Also, be able to do at least one thing that isn't reliant on expendable resources.
4. Survivability. A dead char is no good to anyone.
5. Have fun, be interesting. Once I know what I'm doing, I try to find an unusual way of accomplishing it.
6. Try to find good synergies...A trapfinder needs good WIS/DEX which also make for good ranged characters or finesse fighters who are also WIS-based classes. Knowledges tend to be easier for INT-based chars. Melee often works well with Intimidate. If I'm already maxing Bluff, what else can I use it for? Stuff like that
With regards to roles, I don't really follow the prototypical fighter/thief/mage/cleric paradigm. Rather, I view things more like a checklist of potential obstacles and ways for the group to overcome them. Not every person has to be able to overcome every obstacle but every obstacle should have at least one person who can handle it and ideally a second player who can help or handle the obstacle on their own if necessary
Obstacles:
1. Gotta deal damage. Enemies aren't going to kill themselves
2. Gotta have a way to prevent, mitigate, or restore hp, afflictions, and ability damage (especially ability damage). Prevention is often more efficient than restoration
3. Gotta have a way to deal with attackers at range, magic or mundane
4. Gotta have a way to set up enemies for attack, protect the squishies, and keep the heavy hitting enemies pinned down.
5. Gotta have a way to deal with hidden threats, e.g. sensory abilities and skills(darkvision, see invisibility, good perception, sense motive, etc.)
6. Gotta have someone who knows stuff or we stumble around like a buncha idiots
7. Gotta have someone who can deal with social situations
8. Gotta have a way to deal with and understand magic, whether enemies, items, or whatever
9. Gotta be able to navigate the environment. If you're on a boat, someone needs to know how steer the thing. If you're in a forest, or a city, or on the moon, at least one person should know how to get around safely
There are multiple means of accomplishing most of these and (as above) varying degrees of synergy effectiveness based on class/race/etc.
A number of spells and magic items utilize extradimensional spaces, such as rope trick, a bag of holding, a handy haversack, and a portable hole. These spells and magic items create a tiny pocket space that does not exist in any dimension. Such items do not function, however, inside another extradimensional space. If placed inside such a space, they cease to function until removed from the extradimensional space. For example, if a bag of holding is brought into a rope trick, the contents of the bag of holding become inaccessible until the bag of holding is taken outside the rope trick. The only exception to this is when a bag of holding and a portable hole interact, forming a rift to the Astral Plane, as noted in their descriptions.
Undersized Mount, as others have said. Dire Collar can make your companion bigger for a minute, pretty cheap if you wanted to buy a bunch and just use them during combat.
I second reflavoring another mount. In terms of similarity, a Styracosaurus gets all the same abilities as a boar (llv, scent, gore, ferocity). Just call it a dire boar. There's nothing quite the same as a Ram (nothing else gets improved bull rush) but a Megaloceros is pretty close.
I also think the Dervish feats can be a good way to level the action economy field in a 1vX fight and not just because it lets you attack multiple targets but also because you can still get away afterward. It's one of the few ways you can full attack and not be left vulnerable to a counterattack. Textbook hit and run tactic
Daring/Dashing/Drunken Detective (mix 'n match al dente...someone who likes you might call you daring, someone who hates you might call you drunken and use "detective" disparagingly)
Flair for panache and deeds. The Detective does everything with such flair! He's a showoff.
I like Knacks for both inspiration and talents. How did you do that? *Shrug* I guess I just have a knack for it
Experienced Combat, Cunning strike. The Detective has survived more than a few brawls in his time, you'd be surprised what a little experience and a lot of cunning can do
Drinkin' buddy is good. I like Homebrews as well, although it would realistically take too long to ferment. So maybe instead of Recipe Book, Fortifying Concoctions combined with a preexisting alcohol. Don't rightly know how he stands them concoctions he mixes in 'is liquor but I ain't never seen a beer do THAT before
Lucky guess and/or "A thing for details". How'd you know/remember that? Just a lucky guess? Maybe. I got a thing for details.
POCKET SAND. OBVIOUSLY GLITTERDUST IS POCKET SAND.
Sixth sense or Instinct. What's spooked you Detective? Why'd you stop? I don't know, I just have this feeling we should look a little closer at that doorway. Call it a sixth sense. (edit: OR A HUNCH)
Clever/Quick/Light Fingers for the actual disarming. Just let him work his magic, not one's got quicker fingers than the Detective, he'll make short work of that lock. Also doubles if you take Sleight of Hand.
If you take the Teleportation Mastery Item Mastery feat any build/class can start taking the Dervish feats at 7th as long as you dip for a quicker fort save. Obviously you'd want more DimDoors but this might let you take a class that gets 4th or 6th level cast progression (or monks) and Dervish earlier than normal. Or if you really wanted to go full martial, there are a few ways to increase your number of DimDoors per day.
For this string of feats, I'd argue that more attacks are better so I'd go TWF. You might also want to check how your GM interprets the various flanking feats/teamwork feats to work with this feat chain. Outflank, Seize the Moment, etc can really boost your damage if you're playing a crit-fishing TWF style
Sensten, this is amazing and I will be tackling it one at a time. Once thing I know is they will be finding me in a tomb/crypt/cave setting. One thing I know is that the Hunters pet does have tremor sense. With the fog tactic this beast will still find me. If there was a way to make it rain inside, would that throw off the tremor sense because of the constant falling rain?
Not sure about the falling rain, it could work but if you have flight on, you could simply be hovering off the ground. Also...
Boots of the Soft Step
Scent Blocker
Incense of Dulled Senses
And if you're underground earthglide can be especially good. You might also consider trying to do structural damage. Why use a sword when a cave-in can drop a thousand tons of stone for you?
Before we look at your build, here are some things to think about. If you're just wanting to make something to see how much damage you can do, disregard most of this. I'm assuming you want to win.
1. Previous posters were correct, you absolutely have to win initiative.
2. They were also correct about action economy. You absolutely have to overcome it.
3. You know about their builds. Do they know yours? If I knew I was facing a magus, I'd have a ring of evasion, resist energy, and probably spell resistance too.
4. Do you know where and under what circumstances you'll be facing them? Day, night, city, forest, etc? Will you have time to buff? Is there a time limit or space limit on the battle itself?
5. Do they frequent these forums? If they do, and they didn't know about your build before...well they do now. Also they'll know any advice you receive.
6. One good thing is you can build 100% for this one fight. Nothing else matters. And you don't have to worry about conserving resources either.
Now let's look at your opponents.
1. What are their strengths? All three are likely 90-100% ranged attackers (not counting the animal companion) and all probably do massive damage. And of course that means they can full attack from wherever. How can you avoid that?
2. What are their weaknesses? Will, Fort, or Reflex saves? AC or CMD? What's the best way to target them?
3. Do they get to rebuild like you do? If so, what is their level of system mastery and strategic ability?
Let's talk about strategy.
1. Don't do what they expect. This is especially true if they know what you're playing.
2. Identify your greatest threat. This isn't necessarily the one who can do the most damage. If one of them can cripple you, or rescue his teammates, that might be the greater threat.
3. Make every action count. Be effective without being wasteful. You don't need to do 300 damage every attack. Any damage over the amount needed to kill them is wasted. Although if you go in for the kill, it needs to succeed.
4. You can't afford to trade attacks. Even if you kill three of them (counting the animal companion), you might still lose the fight. You need hit and run tactics. Also, not every attack has to kill. If you can irreparably incapacitate them, that's an effective attack.
5. Pay attention to the little things too. AoOs and readied actions are their friends not yours. What items might completely hose you if they had it and how can you adjust for that?
6. Assume that they've read all of this and have adjusted accordingly. Assume their system mastery is equal or greater than yours.
7. Manage your resources wisely. Money isn't your only resource. Actions are a resource. Feats are a resource. Health is a resource. Speaking of which, if allowed, blood money is your friend.
One potential use, if you can get access to them, is all the symbol spells. ALL OF THEM. Just wear a covered wood plank with all the spells on it. Move action remove cover, watch your enemies make 18 different saves. Well, ideally watch them fail 18 different saves. There are actually a few spells with material components that might be worth the cost even without blood money. Visualization of the Mind/Body are pretty boss
Finally, your build. There are 6 categories to look at: sensory, initiative, action economy, movement, defense, and offense. But first,
1. Effectiveness and synergy are key. What feats, items, classes give you the most bang for your buck? You know your INT is going to be high, probably DEX too. How can you leverage those for more?
2. Why sensory? Can't do anything if you can't see anything. Can't attack, can't defend. Fortunately this is one the easiest to deal with. Max perception (plus whatever resources you can squeeze into it), get see invis or true seeing and maybe scent, tremorsense, or blindsight/sense because stealth is a thing.
One potentially amazing trick here is a Goz Mask. Useful if your opponents use mist/fog spells but even better if you use them. Few people carry with them a means to see through fog by default (if you do this, be sure to choose a spell or item that they can't easily counter; bonus points if you have necklace of adaptation or similar and use debuff clouds).
3. Already touched on initiative but it's probably worth repeating. Go first or die. Kensai, as someone mentioned is a really good choice.
4. Also already talked about action economy but it's definitely worth expanding on. You'll want to spend resources boosting your action economy. If possible, take leadership. Additionally, if possible, trade the black blade for a familiar (improved). You really, really need more actions. I'm going to assume neither of those is possible. However there are various things (items especially) that you can use for a bit of a boost.
Some things give you a direct boost, e.g. quick runner's shirt, staggerproof boots, corset of delicate moves, quickened rod. A few class abilities, feats, and spells out there can help too. Too many to list really. Just pick wisely.
Then there are a few spells, feats, abilities, items (like Companion Figurine or summons) that get you some added actions. One interesting trick you could try is to purchase some dire lions (or whatever scary beastie you can buy or tame). Cast Carry Companion on all of them, put them in a glass orb. Drop the orb at the start of combat as a free action and watch your enemies freak out as a dozen fierce critters appear in front of them. Distraction, meat shields, battlefield control, damage? Check. Action? None. Just maybe, ya know, make sure you taught them not to attack you first.
Related to this, shrink item (or a security belt) can really really ruin someone's day. Make a giant double walled crate. In between the walls, put nails, ball bearings, whatever. Inside the main space? Gunpowder. Lots and lots of gunpowder (the gunsmithing feat lets you make it at 1/10 cost). With a security belt, move action remove item, free action drop, swift action GTFO, standard action boom (or reverse the swift/standard actions). You know how much gunpowder is in 10 cubic feet? It's something like 350d6 worth of fire damage (for 7000g). Low reflex save but who cares? With all that shrapnel a nice GM would up the save and radius and make it half fire, half OMG-WHAT-DID-YOU-DO?!
5. Of course you'll want a way to fly and teleport/dim door and what not but consider some alternate methods too. Etheral/incorporeal travel and earthglide can really wreck someone's day if they aren't ready for it (and there's a couple things that give it). Say you pop some fog up, hit 'em from the mists, and then they get rid of the fog only to find you've vanished. They're going to assume you're invis or teleported but then BLAM, full attack from right beneath them. You'd need tremorsense and blind-fight/improved blind-fight (conveniently found in item and spell form) to target them but they won't be able to target you back.
6. There's a reason I put these in this order and it is because most of your defense should come from good tactics. Don't let them find you and DEFINITELY don't let them catch you! This is where those movement options come in. But also fog spells, invisibility, stealth, trickery. I'm a big fan of Hide in Plain Sight and it's easier to get cousin Hellcat Stealth...just flood the area with light and watch them squint and lose track of you. Just make sure your GM follows reasonable rules for HiPS and stealthing if you go this route.
However, there's always those pesky readied actions or unlucky rolls that leave you exposed. So let's go down the list.
AC is a sucker's game, especially with a damn gunslinger as an enemy. You'll get a lot farther with mirror image and displacement. Blink would be a good option as well but it can ruin your day too. Depends on what you use, really.
DR and SR are definitely worthwhile and there are a few ways to get 'em. Resists are a little less necessary although if the sorc has a tendency toward one particular element it wouldn't hurt. Some kind of emergency healing would also be a good idea.
Obviously get good saves (although I wouldn't spend a feat on it). Consider a ring of evasion but, again, tactical positioning should prevent this. Definitely invest in a few of the items/traits that let you reroll saves.
One thing to consider here: silent image/major image/whatever. If your enemies start readying actions, a common trigger is "when x appears/attacks". A wand of silent image (ideally used by a summon or familiar) can make them waste their resources while conserving yours. Also doubles as extra defense. Flood the area with images and play Where's Waldo? except Waldo in this case is waiting to stab them when they aren't looking
7. Now the fun stuff. Offense! Some of the others have already mentioned some good damage dealing builds (and again, if your opponent's know you're a magus that could be a trap) but I'd actually recommend something else.
Usually, in cases like this, I'd say avoid the save or die stuff but in this case the Hexcrafter Magus with the slumber hex is a strong contender. Quickened Ill Omen (or someone with a wand of it) + Slumber will 9.9/10 times take someone out of the fight for at least a round. Normally that wouldn't be a super effective way of dealing with superior numbers (after all, they can still be woken up). However, IF you can squeeze a full round in for either you or a buddy, a coup de grace is practically certain death. There's an item that prevents AoO while CdGing but really what you want is to separate your enemy. Divide and conquer. Stone walls maybe or just taunt/trick them into splitting up. Alternately a good fog cover + Goz Mask. They can't wake/protect their friend if they can't find them.
Also, putting slumber on someone flying high enough can be pretty spectacular.
Alternately, look at your options and consider: what would my opponents LEAST expect me to do that still has a good chance of killing them?
For bluff specific stuff:
Bewildering Koan uses bluff and is crazy good. Dip for a Ki Pool or take one of these feats: Perfect Style or Secret of Steel-Shattering Spirit. Get some wyroot (or find another way to recover ki).
Taunt if you want to demoralize, coupled with Dazzling Display feat or Blistering Invective spell (or pre-errata Antagonize). Babble Peddler feat has some interesting possibilities too
For Knowledge specific stuff:
There aren't a lot of good ways to weaponize knowledge.
Know Weakness, Kathleen Scholar, and Cunning Killer can add a little damage for identifying enemies (but not much). Kirin Style>Kirin Strike is...problematic. And Exploit Lore, while decent, requires and Inquisitor dip and 11 BAB
One thing I'd look into are the occult rituals (they require a bunch of knowledge checks). Some of them can do some interesting things.
For high CHA:
Besides dipping into various classes for extra options (Swashbuckler is a strong option for melee, Sleuth investigator for skills, or Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger for ranged) or CHA to everything (via Oracles, Paladins, Noble Scion feat), consider this:
Take the Divine fighting technique Desna's Shooting Star (either as a feat or from Versatile Performance). Lets you use CHA to attack and damage.
And if you really wanted to get cute, use one of the Advanced Versatile Performance options to treat your bard level as 1/2 fighter for light blades and then take Martial Versatility (Desna's Shooting Star) to use CHA for all light blades, including rapiers.
For general 'turn the party into monsters' goodness:
Flagbearer feat + Banner of Ancient Kings. Extra +3 hit/damage for everyone, no action required.
Talking about Form of Flame, Water Form, and Magma Form (my revelation) here. The hours/level is great, but the 1/day not so much. I'd be fine with wandering around all day in elemental form but I foresee myself running into some situations:
1. As my size increases, my ability to navigate will diminish. Cities aren't built for Huge creatures, and while most dungeons have rooms that fit big folk, getting through the halls TO those rooms will be a pain.
2. I'll be an elemental. This will probably have an impact on any social interactions I might want to participate in.
3. Losing access to some of my gear (activated items) hurts a little. Okay, a lot.
So I was wondering if any of you know:
Q1. Is there a way to suppress the ability without ending it? Or, barring that, shift size without ending it (e.g. can you switch from one version of elemental form to another)?
Q2. Is there a way to keep my gear from melding into my form and/or allow it to change size with me? If there's no existing method, how would you price a magic item that keeps my equipment from melding or lets me activate it despite being melded?
Lore/Life Shaman VMC Bard with a one level dip in dual cursed Oracle for Misfortune
Protector Familiar
Hexes: Slumber, Life link, Channel, Benefit of wisdom, Arcane Enlightenment, Fetish (Craft wonderous)
Feats: Lingering Perf., Flagbearer, Eldritch Heritage (Maestro)
Maybe feats: Deific obedience (Milani or Erastil), Scribe Scroll, Improved Eld Heritage, Divine Interference, quicken spell like ability if you can, Imp Familiar, Spirit talker (Heaven's leap is a pretty boss hex for making your party be at the right place at the right time)
Go human, take Silver Tongue to improve attitude by 3 steps instead of 2
Take Skill focusx3 instead of Feat (Since you need a skill focus for eld heritage anyway, why not get three?)
Get a Banner of Ancient Kings, Dervish Sikke, robe of arcane heritage/otherwordly kimono (same slot, just make it yourself and pay the 1.5 cost; if you can't have both, take the kimono)
Between high wisdom and bardic knowledge, you know all the things
Between life link, shield other, channel, etc, you heal all the people
Between human fcb and arcane enlightment (with judicious use of scribe scroll) you cast all the spells
Between misfortune and divine interference you stop all the crits
Between slumber, beguiling voice (via maestro bloodline), and kimono you pacify all the threats
Between inspire courage (competence-std/mve/swft), flagbearer (morale-no action), prayer (luck-std), deific obedience (sacred-no action) you buff with all the bonuses (at mid-levels it's like a +9att/+9dam/+Xsaves in the first round once bardic performance is a move or less)
Imp Eld Heritage lets you talk to everything all the time and Silver tongue lets you improve their attitude by 3 steps. Should make you a lot of friends and if combat breaks out anyway, you can buff, heal, prevent crits/missed saves, and straight up stop anything with HD < your level+2
Want more? Okay!
Blood money + glyphs of warding/symbol spells (via arcane enlightenment) turn you into a walking booby trap. Get an imp familiar that can use bows, give him designating arrows (or pheromone arrows for +2/+2 if anyone in your party has scent...or both!).
What? You want more?!
Okay!
Take Evangelist prestige class. Major skill boost at the cost of only one class level. Dweomer's Essence for a CL boost in a pinch. Clear ear for when you need a knowledge boost. If you can somehow fit it in, take Eld Heritage (Orc) and the Community minded and/or Optimistic gambler trait. +1/2lvl morale bonus to att/dam/will saves for at least 2 rounds, just give it to whichever beatstick needs the biggest damage boost.
Oh, I see, you're worried about defense. AC is a sucker's game. You want mirror image (symbol of mirroring?!), displacement, stoneskin, blink, etc. Oh, you're worried about something with true seeing?
Well, you got one last trick up your sleeve. Rememeber that dip in Oracle? Even if you only took misfortune revelation, you still have the Water Mystery. Soothsayer/ring of revelation (Water Sight) + Obscuring mist/Fog cloud/whatever. You'll lose +2 (+3 if you went milani) in buffs but almost nothing will find you in there.
Edit: I lied. There's always another trick. Ghost syrup + ghost touch gauntlets. Now you're incorporeal!
Thanks for the response, Azoriel, but by your quote, glass blocks line of sight. I did some looking while I waited for a response and found this: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2jz67?Line-of-Sight-is-not-explained-anywhere#1
It seems to suggest that "line of sight = I see it", and one of the developers specifically mentions glass and walls of force as things that don't affect line of sight, contrary to what you've suggested. Of course, there's a lot of snark in that thread as well. Seems like they think line of sight is clear enough as is. Also, doesn't teleport work with scrying? Seems like it wouldn't since if you're scrying there're likely dozens of solid objects between you and your target.
Anyway, my take-away from that thread is "Regardless of method, if I can see it, I have line of sight to it". Is that wrong?
Because Oracle's misfortune revelation is an immediate action with no save. It's also something you can use beneficially on party members, since you'd only use it when you know they've missed their save or fumbled or whatever.
Tongues can interfere with debuffing since some of the debuffs are language dependent (I learned this the hard way). If you do take it, make sure your party can all speak the same language so you can talk to them in battle.
Blackened is okay, especially since you won't be making any melee attacks, and fairly thematic. Wrecker would be interesting unless you plan on using wands (I've used a wand or two). Then it can get a little expensive.
Keep in mind that one of your curses won't advance and any curse that gives you spells is useless since you won't have high enough oracle spell level to use them.
I don't know much about Wrath of the Righteous, but here's a breakdown on some of the curses, maybe that will help:
Clouded vision: great if you don't need to see anything past 60 ft. If you're spending a lot of time underground and in close quarters, this would be a good one to advance.
Lame: useful. The -10 to speed isn't that bad, especially since you'll probably end up mounted or flying for any real distance you need to cover. Never being encumbered can be useful for a low str char, and immunity to fatigue is okay in some cases if you advance it.
Legalistic: usefulness depends on how stringently your GM applies the "don't break your word" clause. If he views it as "Don't go back on what you've specifically promised", it's pretty decent. Just don't make a lot of promises. If he views it as "any contradictory action or speech", you could be in trouble.
Deaf: interesting. Silent spell can be very useful, and going last isn't always the worst thing, depending on your group. On the other hand, like tongues, some debuffs are language dependent and I imagine silent spell will interfere with that. Also, if you go this route, put a point in linguistics and pick up "lip reading", if your GM allows it.
Wasted: as long as you're not the "face" it's not terrible. Although the minus to Cha checks may extend to UMD checks, concentration checks for your oracle spells, and other unexpected checks as well. Eventually getting immune to sickened and diseases is nice.
I'd avoid wolfscarred face, haunted, and consumed, as the penalties are far more relevant to your build than the benefits.
I think the idea is that it would advance as a "shadow" version of the character himself, or perhaps an alt reality/alt personality of who they could be. I don't think they want to advance it as a monster.
So you're saying you wouldn't allow it at all, even with a good flavor reason?
Take a fourth level of monk to get the ki, which is generally pretty useful, and then go inq to level 12 to get stalwart and greater bane. After that, go back to monk maybe.
You're going to have amazing saves and stalwart lets you capitalize on that. And as you said, bane is amazing on an archer. Plus, a lot of the inquisitor spells are pretty useful.
Apologies for the post, I think I'm dumping some recent aggravation here.
I think I need to adopt this code, but I'm not sure that I can. Maybe I'm too new to the game, or too focused on "winning". Maybe you guys, being optimizers yourselves, can help.
Here's my situation.
I take the game pretty seriously, like Diablo Hard Mode serious. You die, it's game over. I don't like the "If I die, I'll just make a new char" mentality. Nor the "the GM will give you a way to resurrect" deus ex machina way of playing. Neither one feels very heroic to me.
Half of the group I'm playing with does not share my inclinations. One in particular has a tendency to act out whenever he gets bored and make things "interesting". His method of disabling traps is to just activate them and see what happens. Now, most times, this won't kill him, or the party. I know that. But sometimes, it can be a TPK (and very nearly was, when we recently triggered a symbol of insanity trap although this particular blunder was due largely to poor rolling).
This attitude, combined with the fact that this player was responsible for two other player's characters (new players, his wife and friend) has left gaping holes in the "things a party should be able to do" list. Slowly, I started picking up additional roles in the party to the point that I'm doing way more than I should.
This, naturally, has caused some tension.
It kills me to "hold back". I don't like to fail at things. I want not only to succeed, but to send our enemies weeping to Hell. It just seems so stupid to do otherwise.
If he confined his pointless "zany" activities to things that only affected himself, I wouldn't have an issue. If he didn't argue with me every time I propose a smart solution to the problem (instead of ALWAYS kicking the door down and rushing in), I wouldn't have as much of a problem. If he didn't actively fight any attempt I make to follow through on such plans (let's pretend our ship is in trouble by making some smoke; okay, I light the ship on fire)... Or if his "zaniness" was in any way clever or amusing instead of just ridiculous, I wouldn't have as much of problem with it.
I like playing PF. I like the group, with the exception of this one player (and, really, it's just his playstyle I don't like; he's not a bad guy). I want everyone to have fun and feel useful. I don't like player conflict and I don't want to "Be a dick". But I also don't like to act like a moron. How do I reconcile this?
A lot of your choices will be based on your group's play style and campaign, but here are some general points.
As a healer, you have three main responsibilities: prevent death in combat, heal damage taken, and heal ability damage. So that's your starting point.
Next, consider the situations in which you'll need to address these responsibilities.
Ideally, healing should be done outside of combat with the occasional emergency save in combat. Life Oracles are great at this, but not much else, so unless your group is suicidal, you'll spend a lot of time feeling pretty useless. Life link makes this especially easy.
Generally, unless your group really is suicidal and/or tactically bereft, death in combat is the result of a failed save/unlucky crit (or two). Misfortune revelation is the single most powerful tool for instant death denial I've ever seen.
Ability damage sucks, and you want your restoration spells asap. So whichever your "main" class is, you want to minimize any delay in getting those spells.
What will you do when you're not healing? If things go well, you shouldn't be healing in combat, so what are you gonna do? You mentioned a bit of everything, which witches can do, though they tend to specialize in debuffing.
Taking levels in witch is also great because it's the only(?) full arcane caster that gets the healing spells you need. It also gets hexes, which increase not only your effectiveness but also your lasting power.
But witch spells/hexes are Int and level based and, like I said, you don't want to delay getting your restoration spells. So if you want to be an effective witch, it needs to be your main class and you need to take the least amount of other classes you can manage.
Since it sounds like you're set on Tiefling, this isn't necessarily a terrible thing. The base tiefling gets Int, Dex, -Cha, but if you're only taking one or two levels of oracle, that's not the end of the world.
There are three Oracle abilities that really stand out, and you can pick them up at level 1. Life link, Channeling, and Misfortune. Since you won't have great charisma, and you won't have many levels in oracle, you only need life link and misfortune. So take one level of Dual Cursed Oracle and pick up misfortune, then take extra revelation for Life Link. Keep in mind, having life link active stablizes anyone that might need it, stops bleed, and basically gives everyone fast healing 5 as long as you still have health.
Your level 1 feat should be fey foundling to increase your healing effectiveness. Since you don't have channel energy, you'll want to take the hedge witch archetype and the healing patron and the healing hex too probably.
You'll want as much Int as you can get. You'll want at least 11 Cha, to cast 1st level Oracle spells. You'll also want a decent amount of Con (14+). After that, it depends on your point buy and preference.
Due to your high Int, you'll have lots of skills. Between your two classes, you get most of the knowledges and the Int to really capitalize on them. I actually ended up only putting 1 in each and got 13 to most of them. You should probably also look into getting a social skill (intimidate fits nicely). After that, you'll have the freedom to fill in whatever holes your party is missing (mine was missing A LOT :| ).
I found mine was pretty flexible trait wise. You might pick up one of the ones that adds extra caster levels to make up for dip in Oracle. Or something that gives you a class skill you don't have and need. There's a couple threads out there on the best traits if you wanted to look through them.
So, on something like a 20pt buy, you might look like this.
Tiefling
Switch Skilled for Wings or Bluff
Switch Resists for Scaled Skin, +1 AC, 5 Fire
Switch Fiendish Sorcery for Tail
FCB: Witch>HP
STR 10 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 18 WIS 10 CHA 12
Reactionary (+2 Init)
Blessed Touch (+1 to all cure spells)
Level 1: Dual cursed Oracle of Life
Fey Foundling, Misfortune
Level 2: Hedgewitch (Healing Patron, Compsognathus or Scorpion Familiar, +4 Init)
Slumber Hex
Level 3: Healing Hex, Extra Revelation: Life Link or Toughness
Level 4: INT +1
Level 5: Extra Hex or Craft Wondrous (or Life link if you took toughness)
At this point just take your favorite hexes. In my group I discovered that we left... a lot of areas uncovered so I ended up taking craft wondrous, leadership, and improved Familiar, but you might just go all in on hexes. You'll be a level behind but as long as you prioritize increasing INT above everything else, your DCs will be competitive, and Misfortune will make it that much harder for critters to save against you. And between Misfortune, Life Link, Healing Hex, and spontaneous heal spells, you'll be fine when it comes to keeping everyone alive. Pick up Blood money and symbol of healing when you get the chance. You can spend your off days making symbols for emergencies for free :)
depends somewhat on your point buy and what you're looking to do.
I found that the misfortune revelation of the dual cursed oracle is massively useful, both as a means of saving my comrades (failed that roll? try again) and as a way to increase the effectiveness of my hexes (made that roll? try again).
I'm mostly a debuffer with a little battlefield control. And no one has died under my watch (no one, that is, that didn't want to). I did have a 25 point buy though, which made it easier (incidentally, I went straight witch...found I didn't really need the healing hex/hedge witch archtype but ymmv)
Middle-age Aasimar life oracle 4/witch 7
STR 10 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 19(27) WIS 12 CHA 16
Exalted of the Society (+1 channel) by GM Fiat, although I've never used
Fey foundling
Life link, Misfortune, Channel Energy (with aasimar FCB, 3d6 at level 4)
Slumber, Prehensile Hair, evil eye, cackle
Craft Wondrous, Leadership, Improved Familiar
Use life link to take as much damage to yourself and then heal up yourself. Fey foundling makes it that much better. Also extends the use of channel energy when you can spread the damage out a bit.
As long as everyone stay close, you can negate the crits and failed saves with misfortune and heal everyone up after the fight. I never took selective channel cause I only needed to channel once in a battle and I just waited for a mid point were all the bad guys were either dead or at full health so it wouldn't affect them.
With high int, I got tons of skills and my hex DCs stayed competitive. Slumber is like an instant win button against most critters and when I can't or don't want to do that, I have plenty of lovely debuffing spells. My GM hates me sometimes though.
Even still, rerolling one saving throw per day isn't necessarily better than a static bonus to every time you roll a saving throw. Especially if you need to take the lower result of a reroll.
Except,
A: you would only use this when you've already failed a roll, so it wouldn't matter if it was worse
And,
B: A reroll is about equal to a static bonus of +1 if you need a 1 or a 19 to succeed, about a +2 if you need a 2 or 18, and it only increases after that.
For a trait, that's pretty boss
P.S. Here's how your chances improve if you have a reroll:
Chance of success-----(Chance w Reroll)-----(total improvement)
5.0%-------------------9.8%------------------4.8%
10.0%-----------------19.0%-----------------9.0%
15.0%-----------------27.8%-----------------12.8%
20.0%-----------------36.0%-----------------16.0%
25.0%-----------------43.8%-----------------18.8%
30.0%-----------------51.0%-----------------21.0%
35.0%-----------------57.8%-----------------22.8%
40.0%-----------------64.0%-----------------24.0%
45.0%-----------------69.8%-----------------24.8%
50.0%-----------------75.0%-----------------25.0%
55.0%-----------------79.8%-----------------24.8%
60.0%-----------------84.0%-----------------24.0%
65.0%-----------------87.8%-----------------22.8%
70.0%-----------------91.0%-----------------21.0%
75.0%-----------------93.8%-----------------18.8%
80.0%-----------------96.0%-----------------16.0%
85.0%-----------------97.8%-----------------12.8%
90.0%-----------------99.0%-----------------9.0%
95.0%-----------------99.8%-----------------4.8%
100.0%---------------100.0%----------------0.0%
I was kinda hoping someone might have a different way of looking at them, something that I could apply to my own experiences. I tend to find myself consumed by the possibilities magic offers. "If I only had that, then I could..." Funny enough, it's rarely the "big six" that I get worked up about but rather all the things that do interesting stuff. Gloves of recon, wings of flying, the belt that lets you shrink stuff and store it. It's like I'm never quite satisfied with what I've got.
Is there a Lootaholics Anonymous?
(BTW, I'm not just complaining about the game, I know it's mostly an attitude problem on my part. I'm just seeing if anyone else has had this issue and has found a way to get around it)
Am I the only one who feels obsessive about acquiring loot? Or spending it? I don't like that we're dripping with magic items, but I also hate the idea of not getting anything from my adventures. I hate feeling like I'm always poor but I can't stop thinking about the next big shiny thing my character is going to get.
Does anyone else feel like magic items infringe on your enjoyment of the game? (both ways...if I get rid of them, I don't get the enjoyment of having them while if I have them, I'm constantly feeling like it's not enough)
Any ideas on how I could approach it a different way?
This could either be an enormously useful, almost necessary item or just an interesting kind of useful item. Depending on the abilities, you'd always have just the right solution to any problem (once per day, which is probably all you'd really need) or just a bit of extra damage.
For instance, if you could choose from among the various elemental damages as your +1s, maybe some kind of burst or holy as +2, nullifying/repositioning as +3s, and dancing as your +4, it would be a novelty item, useful but not must-have (although I think it'd still be worth more than 4000; it replicates, as you say, the magus arcane pool and items that replicated class features tend to cost at least 10k).
On the other hand, if you could choose ghost touch, keen, bane (untyped), courageous, or even just four different banes, or disruption, phase locking, anchoring, or speed, spell stealing, or brilliant energy, this is suddenly a different bag of cats. Something like that would run a bit more, I think.
Here's your to-hit, % chance to hit, and dpr a creature of appropriate CR, lvl by lvl, with +1 weapon, wis headband, wis bump at 8, and buffs up:
hit ctc dpr
1 1 45 9
2 3 45 11
3 5 50 12
4 6 45 11
5 8 50 13
6 9 50 14
7 11 55 18
8 12 55 23
9 19 80 56
10 20 80 56
+1 to hit when you have inspire courage up (+2 at level 6), +2 from heroism at level 9, and +1 from divine favor (+2 at level 4, which divine power continues). -2 from using crane style(-1 one you get crane riposte). When you get power attack, that's going to hurt a bit.
at level 9 with inspire courage, heroism, divine power, you're hitting at +19/+19/+19/+14. 14 gives you a 55% chance to hit. You have 19 rounds of performance a day, 8 rounds of heroism, and 2 slots to cast divine power. At 10, it's 21 rounds/9 rounds/3 slots. Not terrible. Without charisma your channels and rounds of performance are somewhat limited though.
Some of the math might be a little off but overall not terrible. The first 8 levels will be rough.
Conceal scent feat (can't be tracked or pinpointed, detects you at half normal range)
Deodorizing agent from Animal Archives (for 1d3 hours, creatures cannot smell you, 30g)
Find a class where rolls don't matter as much. Support classes are good for that. Buffers/healers. Maybe an evangelist cleric or something along those lines would work
Hey all. I made a golemancer, but I approached it less from the magic side and more from the construct side. I based it on the alchemist class, losing the mad scientist vibe for a more gadgeteer based one. Less Jekyll and Hyde, more Asimov. Less Frankenstein's monster, more Tik-Tok.
The golemancer looks deep into life’s underpinnings and attempts to decipher the rules that it abides by. The golemancer’s greatest ambition is to replicate the beauty and intricacy of life with her own craftsmanship and, maybe, even improve it.
Role: In her quest to explore and understand, the golemancer seeks out the odd, the unusual, and sometimes the dangerous, necessitating alliances with anyone who can help them. In return, she offers her knowledge and expertise as well as the driving intellect that brought her here in the first place. If she doesn’t know the answer, she’ll figure it out.
In making some of the changes, I realized I didn't really like the mechanics behind extracts/bombs, so I changed those too. Now it's not a function of some "magical essence" that keeps others from using them but the complex nature of the components involved.
First, I like your version of PF. Thanks for making that available to folks
Second, PF is the only thing I played, so the x/day thing isn't a throwback (not that it really matters), it's there because I based the ability of the inquisitor judgments which are x/day. I could make it rounds if that makes more sense. Honestly, I kinda think the whole x/day or rounds/day thing is a weird mechanic; this guy who can do these things can suddenly not do these things for no discernible reason? anyway, i digress
Third ...yeah, I had a feeling the imaginary scenarios might be a problem. I guess i just wanted a second opinion. It seemed like such a cool idea I didn't really want to let it go :P
As far as initiative goes, is there a reason for hating the bonuses? I can see where granting big bonuses to allies might be over the top, but there's a bunch of classes with similar ability already and it seemed thematically appropriate.
Finally, thanks for looking over it and giving me some feedback. I really appreciate it :)
Oops. Ignore the difference in names in the class table. I was still figuring that out as I went and forgot to change it after. The names listed at each ability are the ones I want to use.
I've been trying to find something that's kind of like a bard but less...spoony. The battle herald is pretty close, but I thought I'd try my own class. I decided to base it off the inquisitor class, but it's really a mash up of bard, inquisitor, and cavalier. It's primarily a buffer with potential for some battlefield control and can be a face out of combat.
The lone inquisitor has a place in rooting out enemies of the faith, but sometimes the faith needs an army and, more importantly, someone to lead it. The strategist is pragmatic, cunning, and ruthless, seeking out the greatest threats to the faith and eliminating them.
Role: Strategists are often found in areas of great discord. They specialize in locating threats, analyzing them, and concocting strategies to defeat them using whatever and whoever is available. This means that though they prefer to work with those of their faith, strategists will even partner with those they hate as long as they are working toward their goals.
Alignment: A strategist’s alignment must be within one step of their diety’s along the good/evil axis. They tend toward neutral alignments due to their pragmatic nature.
Whenever I bring up the idea of using strategy and tactics to the people I play with, the response is not positive. Excuses run from "that's not what my character would do" to "no battleplan survives the first hit/engagement" to "I've played so long that I've played every optimized character and now I just want to have fun". I want to play a smart game and I get quite a bit of scorn for it. How would you go about convincing such people to play the game as though strategy and tactics matter? Keep in mind that for these people, anecdotal experience trumps any kind of statistical, conceptual, or structural analysis.
Edit: also, I really enjoy your write ups. I'd be interested to see your take on out of combat situations as well.
since you're picking up most of the prereqs anyway, consider shadowdancer for your missing level. depending on your GM, hide in plain sight is amazing and has great synergy with the dim. dervish feats
Maybe I just failed at searching, but can "silent image" work as a sort of camouflage screen? Sort of like a wall of "ocean" a ship could hide behind? Or maybe put it in front of sails/flags to change our emblem?
I've read a couple threads that suggested that you could create moving images within the silent image; is it enough to simulate the movement of waves or flapping of cloth in the wind?
