Serisan's page

Ok, and back with some review and critique action.

Intro and Commandments:
Good. I think these are solid. Only thing I would recommend is changing Shall to Shalt in each. If you're using 'thou,' it would make sense to properly conjugate the verb.

Feats/Bloodlines/Race:
No substantive disagreements.

Spells:
Cold Snap / Acid Burn / Flame Jet: You missed the critical text of these cantrips:

If the wordspell with this effect word has only a single target, it requires a melee or ranged touch attack to hit and does not allow a saving throw.

The word "it" in the second clause refers to the wordspell, not the effect word. You can pair these with "please don't fail" spells and roll a touch attack instead of allowing the target to save. Not always great, but since this text is missing from the other blasts, it can also be good to tack one on to a blast if you plan to single target it.

Lock Ward: This is the single best Effect Word in the entire system. It is a feat-equivalent with benefits (Brew Potion+, if you will). Cast buff spells on your allies' combat potions. Uncork, trigger spell, drink, trigger potion. Prepare lockets with buffs. Explosive Runes, but sillier. We love WoP for the action economy. Lock Ward does that, plus it gives you something to do with your left-over spell slots. It has unparalleled utility.

Corrosive Bolt: I'm not sure what you have against a spell that, with the Lengthy Metaword, is 20d4 Acid damage split over 4 rounds at 5th level or 40d4 if you get Intensify. No save, no SR, and it can crit. Plays well with blasting bloodlines.

5th level blasting and up: Ice Blast + Frost Fingers is invalid. Both are Cold Words.

No other obvious issues. Your spell selection is solid besides the above.

Builds:
Friona has an invalid archetype mix (Crossblooded/Wildblooded is invalid).

I think it's a good guide. These are just my recommendations.

Dot. I intend to read and critique tonight.

@Matrix Dragon: You linked the incorrect Effect Word. The correct one is this:

Disappear (Concealing)

School illusion (glamer); Level alchemist 2, bard 2, inquisitor 2, magus 2, sorcerer/wizard 2, summoner 2, witch 2

Duration 1 round/level

Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

Target Restrictions selected

This effect word functions as fade, but with a longer duration.

Boost: The target does not become visible if it attacks or takes an offensive action. Boosting this effect word increases its level by 2.

That makes it a 7th level Wordspell. If the caster has 9th level slots, it could be made even more crazy with Accelerate added on.

@Question: Yes, Lock Ward is only good once you have higher level spell slots. That said, you were looking at taking Experimental Spellcaster once you actually have slots that could make use of it.

@Orfamay Quest: Lock Ward forces the Selected target word. This makes it better than Explosive Rune for targeted killing, but worse for other things. It also specifies that only the person opening the object is the targeted.

False Focus is PFS legal. Many spells have non-trivial material costs besides Animate.

Funny action economy thought: You could lock ward your Alchemist's vials after he preps extracts, or lock ward the vials of store-bought potions if you wanted to. Still the normal "find and drink potion" actions, but you then get a spell, too.

Expanding on my Lock Ward rant because I have more time, here are some Wordspells that utilize this brutal Effect Word.

9th level:
Selected Lock Ward Permanent Paralysis

7th level:
Selected Lock Ward Unfetter
Selected Lock Ward Boost Monstrous Form
Selected Lock Ward Energy Immunity

6th level:
Selected Lock Ward Crush Will

5th level:
Selected Lock Ward Perfect Form
Intensified Selected Lock Ward Lengthy Corrosive Bolt

4th level:
Selected Lock Ward Friendship
Selected Lock Ward Complex Command
Selected Lock Ward Enhance Body
Selected Lock Ward Disappear
Selected Lock Ward Soar
Selected Lock Ward Translate
Selected Lock Ward Fire Blast

This is just a selection of 2 Effect choices. You can move up to 3 Effects pretty easily.

Lock Ward is the single most powerful Effect Word in the entire system. It is your Brew Potion equivalent as a Word instead of a feat, but it also handles the Explosive Runes role. Every spare slot at night can be spent casting buff spells onto lockets or blast spells onto vials.

Ever want your Sorceror to have the Bomb class feature from Alchemist? Yup, got that, but with a higher dice pool and 5-6 discoveries built in.

There is, hands down, no better Word in the system.

Expanding on a few other points made:

LOCK WARD - this mofo is a feat-equivalent Effect Word. You want Brew Potion? How about having up to 7th level Effects attached to a locket?

Much better blasts. Horror Slay comes to mind (flat 350 damage, 9th level spell, can tack on metawords to adjust the save) or Lengthy Intensified Corrosive Bolt (40d4 Acid damage over 4 rounds at level 10, no save, can crit, 3rd level spell with metamagic and metaword). Obviously, you pair the second one with the Orc bloodline and maybe Crossblooded for the bonus damage.

Speaking of Crossblooded, there's no disadvantage to the archetype in WoP. You still get the spell slots on odd levels, which means you can combine Wordspells into them.

Heightened is effectively a free bonus feat.

While you specifically call out custom spells, GMs frequently have mixed feelings on them due to unforeseen consequences or put a punitive amount of time on research. WoP are already written out and in a Paizo official source.

While many staple spells from standard casting are not duplicated in WoP, there are several in WoP that are not seen in standard casting, either. Body Words have a lot of these.

Spells known efficiency: Soar (the Fly equivalent) can be boosted instead of getting Mass Fly as a second spell. Other equivalents exist, as well.

Ranged healing: Healing Words are Selected target, which means you can ranged touch and crit with them. You can't do that standard casting.

This post assumes that the wizards would even allow an army to approach. If you have a diviner or two who figures out what's going on, it only takes a few enchanters/illusionists to mess with any organizers.

Ice Tomb is far superior to Slumber in that it can affect things that are immune to Slumber. There are a lot of things that are immune to Slumber, by the way.

The unfortunate thing, though, is that most of the other Major Hexes simply aren't that good. Most of the SoS major hexes have multiple saves, which translates to less reliability. If it's not an SoS, the likelihood is that it's a more long-term or RP-based hex, which means that it's effective in some situations, but not most, and would therefore be better handled by a spell.

I'm voting for the Shadowdancer.

Also, thank you for specifically posting the text.

And yeah. How many people level up doing normal everyday stuff? NPCs don't get roleplaying experience.

Are you so sure?

Queen CR 10

XP 9,600

Human aristocrat 12

Question: Do spell materials keep their purchase value, or do they respond to market forces in real time?

That could be funny.

Your best bet is, rather than Profession, to be Int-based and have Craft. The level 1 peasant is an Alchemist with Heart of the Fields who consumes a Crafter's Fortune extract before each check for his earnings.

Reasonably, the character can expect to earn 135xp per week as RP experience, per the CRB (RP encounters are APL equivalent encounters and we'll assume that the character has one RP encounter as part of their crafting to sell the goods they've crafted). On Medium progression, he will hit level 2 in 15 weeks. This gives you an additional +1 Craft (Alchemy) from Heart of the Fields (1/2 your CL).

This trend continues up the XP table. Thus, by his 20th birthday, assuming this was his sole source of XP, he is 14th level. At 3rd, 5th, and 7th level, the character gains Prodigy (+2, +4 once 10 ranks are invested), Master Alchemist (+2), and Master Craftsman (+2), respectively. At 10th level, both his Skill Focus and Prodigy feats improve.

At 14th level, the young man has +14 from feats, +14 from ranks, +3 from INT (of course all 3 stat increases went to INT), +3 class skill, +7 Heart of the Fields = +41 Craft (Alchemy) for the purposes of earning cash. If crafting a specific item, this increases to +55 for the Alchemy class feature. This yields 25.5gp average per week.

Atonement

School abjuration; Level cleric 5, druid 5

Casting Time 1 hour

Components V, S, M (burning incense), F (a set of prayer beads or other prayer device worth at least 500 gp), DF

Range touch

Target living creature touched

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

This spell removes the burden of misdeeds from the subject. The creature seeking atonement must be truly repentant and desirous of setting right its misdeeds. If the atoning creature committed the evil act unwittingly or under some form of compulsion, atonement operates normally at no cost to you. However, in the case of a creature atoning for deliberate misdeeds, you must intercede with your deity (requiring you to expend 2,500 gp in rare incense and offerings). Atonement may be cast for one of several purposes, depending on the version selected.

You may require additional McGuffin hunting if the party does not include a Cleric or Druid to cast the spell, as well as part of the terms of the intercession.

Well, you are in America right? You just have to become corporation to be people...

Soylent Green is made of corporations.

Why would it cost a feat? Chakram are Martial, meaning most rogues who want it would do the reasonable thing and level dip into Fighter for the bonus feat, weapon profs, and such.

There's not really enough bonus in straight rogue to justify doing so.

Space Marine - <3 me some Warhammer, FPS/TPS style

Dawn of War 2: Retribution - Ditto, RTS style

Titan Quest - Awesome game with a HUGE support base from the fans, given that Iron Lore went defunct shortly after the expansion. The fans have repeatedly patched the game.

Diablo 2 (haven't re-installed on current machine, but it's an old standby)

Civ V

Cthulu Saves The World

Lesser Wound (Wounding)

School necromancy; Level cleric 1, inquisitor 1, witch 1

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Will half; Spell Resistance yes

Target Restrictions selected

The target of a wordspell with this effect word takes 1d6 points of damage + 1 point per wordcaster level (maximum +5). Undead are instead healed by this effect and do not receive a saving throw or spell resistance.

Boost: The target of a wordspell with this effect takes 1d8 points of damage + 1 point per wordcaster level (maximum +5).

Both the touch attack (melee or ranged, at your discretion) and the Will save are required.

Yes, Will save, not Fort.

Actual arrays that I have on active PFS characters:

Diplomacy-focused, reach weapon Human paladin: 14 14 10 14 10 16
Reach weapon, combat-focused Angelkin summoner: 18 12 12 12 12 14
Dwarven Sky Druid: 14 14 14 14 16 6

I have an aversion to spending more than 5 points on any stat. The summoner was an exception to my rule.

I'm with Carbon. "Remaining" requires a non-zero number.

You can also EH into Abyssal. It's the same bonus and Core.

I'd lean towards a Norgorber-esque character with this. Stealth, bluff, etc. As such, a dip into Rogue or Ninja is a good choice in order to get more skill points, a side of sneak attack, etc. Ninja is a good synergy dip if you go 2 or 3, giving you a little oomph on your attacks with SA and the Ki Pool feature, which is tied to your CHA.

Honestly, it depends on the flavor of anti-paladin you're building. Brutal followers of Rovagug and corrupting followers of Calistria are very different, while secretive, murderous followers of Norgorber are very different still. Because of the different personality styles, you can expect to find significantly different builds that will accomplish the goal and, thus, different preferred dips.

Tell us more about the character and we can help fill in the gaps better.

You can Widen as a 2nd level spell slot if you have Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter traits.

I'm with HalfOrc with a Hat of Disguise on a lot of points. I'm playing LotRO right now, which just celebrated 6 years last month and is poised for its next expansion, Helm's Deep. The gameplay is much more deep than WoW ever was (there are no more than 2 ranks of a single skill, but you still get multiple skills at most even levels). That said, when the previous expansion has you fighting Saruman and destroying his ring of power, you'd think you could get a little more respect from NPCs in the next expansion, who exile you from cities, challenge you to races to reclaim property, etc.

On top of that, the current expansion contains virtually no real raid content. Last expansion: a dragon and a massive 12-man instance. This expansion: 3 12-man "raids" where one is 5 trash packs, another is 2 moderately difficult trolls, and the last is something that is almost comparable to the dragon fight of the previous expansion. Everything else is 3-6 man, mostly 3-man, which means that certain classes can solo it.

Rather than saying a limit on years, I would place a limit on content. Once you double the vanilla level cap, you're done. Cut off. No more.

In answer to the OP -- I imagine that a cleric of Norgorber, charged with keeping things secret and hidden, might be a challenging Pathfinder concept.

"I can explore just fine. Cooperate, too. I just can't allow any of you to report."

I like the way you think.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

-They have logo-emblazoned vans and generally are easy to find. Alternatively, just look for Kansas plates.
-They tend to leave if you have a sufficient counter-protest. This happened when they came to protest a school play in Hastings, MN. I was at that counter-protest.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Meetup site

373 members in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Virtually all of the gaming stores use the Meetup site to coordinate tables, scenarios, times, and locations. It's typical for each event to have 3-6 tables running. In short, AWESOME.

I'm going to step away from the Necro/Pharasma thing to bring up a related situation and its resolution.

My last session was City of Strangers part 1. I was playing my Shelyn-worshipping Paladin and another player was playing an Intimidation-focused Fighter/Rogue. The other player's MO was to knock at least one humanoid per combat unconscious, tie them up, intimidate them into giving information, then telling them to recount the encounter to all their friends and letting them go. At one point, said player extracts teeth from the corpse of an enemy combatant to add to a collection she keeps within her jacket. The character is relatively unscrupulous and the player even stated that his goal was to have a viscious character.

This borders on evil at a few places. One could make a case that this borders on torture. I was asked by another player, out of character, if my character was ok with this. I responded in-character thusly:

"So far, Trys has spared the lives of two enemy combatants and convinced them to leave us alone. How many lives have you left in tact today? About the teeth, while macabre, it's vaguely artistic. This makes her the most artistic and merciful Pathfinder I've ever encountered."

This sort of stunned the Sorceror and Monk, both of whom have Good alignments. My character has not been particularly at ease with the wandering murder hobo nature of the Society and has actively used Diplomacy to bypass combat whenever possible. The scenario did not give us such an option at any point (you're ambushed by [x]!), but Trys demonstrated a way to resolve combat without murdering the entire opposition.

I think that a candid, introspective moment for one's character can really lead to some great opportunities when conflicts like this arise and they do not need to be in the direction of PVP or DBAD violations.

You have to summon onto a surface that can support it. Otherwise, Communal Mount would be as good as Meteor Swarm.

Quest for Glory was an amazing series. Definitely agree on that. 3, 4, and 5 were all very good. 4 and 5 got rid of the "you're too awake to fall asleep" nonsense that I disliked for so long.

King's Quest, while great games, are puzzle games more than anything.

Jade Empire, as mentioned above, is very cool. The Steam version is tricky and you have to do some work to make it function on a more modern machine, however,

Ravingdork wrote:

Strong does not necessarily mean loud. You can have a strong whisper, for example.

...

Nope, don't need to add anything.

Edit: Is there anything you can't read to minimize weaknesses for players? It is remarkable.

I believe there are some goose/gander references to make here for GM evilness.

Urgathoa:

Nothing is more important than the goals, desires, and pleasures that cross your path. Chase them with the greatest zeal and let nothing stand in your way. Not even death itself.

Saw "owbs", immediately assumed that meant baby owlbears.

False. See FAQ here: How can Alchemists craft in Pathfinder Society Organized Play?

Edit: Also, it doesn't reduce the cost. It reduces the time required and gives a +2 to the Craft check.

I can already see the next one: "What if I'm Large or larger and take up two squares? Am I adjacent to myself then?"

It would be fine for an NPC ability -- a decent number of undead have the ability to heal themselves endlessly. I've run at least two of them in APs. But it would be overpowered for a PC to have endless free healing (I'm betting you're looking at Dhampirs, Death domain cleric or some other ability that switches your positive / negative energy affinity).

Bones Oracle with Resist Life and the Lame Curse. Multipurpose 1 level dip at that point if it functioned and plenty flavorful.

I'm fine with it not functioning. For the most part, I asked because I couldn't locate a good working definition of adjacent in the game rules when it didn't specifically reference squares.

Specifically looking at this ability:

Spirit Totem, Lesser (Su): While raging, the barbarian is surrounded by spirit wisps that harass her foes. These spirits make one slam attack each round against a living foe that is adjacent to the barbarian. This slam attack is made using the barbarian's full base attack bonus, plus the barbarian's Charisma modifier. The slam deals 1d4 points of negative energy damage, plus the barbarian's Charisma modifier.

Can the barbarian count themselves as an adjacent foe? First, is a combatant considered adjacent to themselves? Second, can they consider themselves a foe for a specific ability? Lastly, can the combatant choose to be hit by this ability in some way (flat out get hit, deny DEX bonus to AC, or treat themselves as helpless for the purposes of the attack)?

Related question to adjacency:

Are two creatures in the same square adjacent for purposes of feats/abilities? (let's assume they're both Tiny or Diminuitive for that one)

Character creation: Know the table expectations before you settle in and build the character. For PFS, make sure you've read the Guide to Organized Play and the Additional Resources doc for all sources you intend to use. For home games, ensure you are familiar with any house rules that could impact play on any character concept you are considering. Audit your character after you've written it to make absolutely sure that it is legal before you bring it to the table.

Table etiquette: Everyone needs a moment of glory. Don't hog the spotlight, but remember that "everyone" includes you. Try to strike a balance that focuses on you doing relevant, useful, and awesome things along with allowing others to do the same. Minimize non-game talk unless the table generally behaves otherwise. The best times for non-game talk is before the game, after the game, or during table breaks. Try not to intervene with rules clarifications unless the situation is life or death.

GM bribing: This is heavily impacted by table variation. Try to determine if GM bribing is the norm to prevent rocks from falling. Remember, some degree of mortal peril is required for your character to advance in the story.

I'm going to be honest here: If anyone is going to bring a bison into First Steps part 2, you don't have to be a cruel, vindictive GM. Just wait for the bison to fail the will save at the haunt.

I think the gold and vanity options are both reasonable.

That said, I think I would recommend not resurrecting poor Bertram. Unless you have enough table continuity that the other players and the GM could appreciate the story arc, your character is far more compelling with the insanity than with a formerly dead husband.

Jiggy wrote:

james maissen wrote:

Jiggy wrote:

For instance, if you want to dispel bless, you would have to cast either bless (by default, any spell can be used to dispel another instance of the same spell)

This is incorrect. The same spell can be used to counterspell a spell as it is being cast.

You can use dispel magic to dispel it, or you can use a specific spell that specifically counters and dispels it.

You are confusing countering a spell with dispelling one.

Ah, indeed. Whoops.

it is a sad day when Jiggy misses one. :(

Reminds me of the Great Brownie Mis-call, where-in Jiggy claimed mushy center cut bronies were better than the prime crunchy edge cut brownies.

Yes, a dark day, when the Great misses a call - but thankfully it is a rare event. One day of morning, wearing black armbands, etc.

sign of a good "rules-geek" when you come on to show you recognize when you make a mis-call. Thanks Jiggy!

You may have your edge-cut hard-candies, good sir. I will take as much of the center cut as I am offered, for they have superior consistency and meld better with vanilla ice cream.

I'd be bringing something from a landlocked area that would be useful. If Darkwood were to fit the bill, I'd consider that. A special weapon or armor crafted specifically for the leader is also appropriate.

Now that I know what the enchantment is, I can happily start ignoring this thread. The suspense was killing me.

Why do people think the archetype is game breaking?

NOTE: Let's assume the person playing it is responsible and doesn't lag the game.

I see you haven't thought through this archetype much.

The point of the MS is to lag the game. It only gets easier for others to swallow if you hand out your critters. If they're not ambushed for major encounters, they pretty much roflstomp them on-demand. This is especially true after level 3, where they're virtually guaranteed to have Superior Summoning

My answer: the Material Plane is not an ideal place to conquer. Unless exiled, most enemies you kill that invade the Material Plane are going to return to their home plane. There are few real rewards to controlling the plane.

Demodands, in particular, have strong motivations to act in a way to inconvenience/cripple deities, as well. In short, you are too small for them to care.

I think you're misunderstanding my point, I wasn't debating the legality of the option up until now. Just warning folks that you can take it, but don't be surprised if it gets errata'd. This is true of ANY build that uses grey or debatable rules interpretations to work.

But actually, now that I am re-reading the content in question... people keep arguing you are not getting back "darkvision", you are getting a new ability called "acute darkvision".

However, the ability you gain from taking the Acute Darkvision alternate racial trait is NOT called "Acute Darkvision". Really. Read it.

It is simply "darkvision", with a range of 90 feet.

Arena Bred/Skilled states that the ability "darkvision" is removed.

-j

Another point to consider is that, if Acute Darkvision were intended to modify the existing Darkvision racial trait, it would read similar to Sneak Stab on the Knife Master Rogue archetype:

Sneak Stab (Ex): A knife master focuses her ability to deal sneak attack damage with daggers and similar weapons to such a degree that she can deal more sneak attack damage with those weapons at the expense of sneak attacks with other weapons. When she makes a sneak attack with a dagger, kerambit, kukri, punching daggers, starknife, or swordbreaker dagger (Advanced Player's Guide 178), she uses d8s to roll sneak attack damage instead of d6s. For sneak attacks with all other weapons, she uses d4s instead of d6s. This ability is identical in all other ways to sneak attack, and supplements that ability.

There are very, very few things in the rules as written that have this language, and for good reason, too. There simply aren't that many things that function in this fashion.

We also have examples like this:

Smite Evil (Su): This functions as the paladin ability, but the sacred servant can smite evil one additional time per day at 7th level, and every six levels thereafter (instead of 4th level and every three levels thereafter). This replaces smite evil.

Channel Positive Energy (Su): When a hospitaler reaches 4th level, she gains the ability to channel positive energy as a cleric equal to her paladin level –3. She can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. Using this ability does not expend uses of lay on hands, as it does with other paladins. This replaces the standard paladin's channel positive energy ability.

Smite Evil (Su): This functions as the paladin ability of the same name, but the undead scourge does not deal 2 points of damage per level on the first successful attack against evil dragons and evil outsiders. She does deal 2 points of damage per level on all smite attacks made against evil undead creatures.

These are all variations of the same theme: a modification of an existing class feature with a different set of mechanics. If we were to expect Acute Darkvision to modify the Darkvision racial, we sould have to see something similar in the language.

Regarding this particular bit...

However, the ability you gain from taking the Acute Darkvision alternate racial trait is NOT called "Acute Darkvision". Really. Read it.

It is simply "darkvision", with a range of 90 feet.

You receive a racial trait called Acute Darkvision. It has the effect of darkvision: 90'. Similarly, when you have Darkvision as a racial trait, you have darkvision: 60'. Just like an archetype, you wouldn't record what was replaced. It's not that you had Darkvision and cross it off your character sheet. You simply never put it on there, just like you wouldn't put Bombs as a class feature on a Vivisectionist Alchemist.

That is correct.

In PF, the training is presumed to have happened beforehand. All of levels 1-5 are training for level 6. Events just give the practical experience to crystallize the results of that training in your mind. So, once you gain the requisite experience (even in the midst of combat if you're tracking experience that closely), you automatically progress to the next level. That can lead to some interestingly heroic setups reminiscent of shounen manga where, after long and intense training-hell, the hero is struggling in a fight until he finally "levels up" and uncovers some new ability (a feat, stat bonus, class ability, etc) that helps him pull a bare win.

I agree with this interpretation. Leveling is not a matter of finding a trainer. It's a matter of self-improvement. GMs may be within their rights to insist that players make mention of working on some things ("I spend some time before bed fiddling with a spare lock I have handy" is a perfectly viable expectation for someone who wants to start learning Disable Device), but most things can be assumed off camera.