[...] Now the math works out when you add in his heritage bloodline adding an additional +2 to his STR [...] The five man I have are at level 7 average [...]
Just to point this out, Orc and Abyssal bloodlines give a +2 to Strength at level 9, which becomes level 11 if he accessed them through the Eldritch Heritage feat line.
That said, I just want to say I agree with Claxon above. It is pretty frustrating when you play a martial character and you spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how to contribute in some situations when the answer isn't, "I full attack.".
I read/skimmed, so I didn't catch everything, but what I did see looked awesome. The choice to completely ditch the usual human/dwarf/elf and go with an entirely monstrous society really set it apart. It has a very "Dark Sun" feel to it with the powerful races and minimum 4th level part.
Map looks great, and I love the sheer customization of all the races. Very nice.
Spoiler in case anyone doesn't know what Radiance is:
One problem with using an artifact is that you cannot enhance it yourself. That leaves you at the mercy of the weapon's normal special properties and enhancement. I don't have my books in front of me, so I cannot recall what all Radiance eventually gets, but with a Paladin weapon bond you can add up to a +6 worth of enhancements and special abilities, including Keen, Speed, Brilliant Energy, and Axiomatic.
On the other hand, a mount requires magic items to have better survival, you need a couple feats to really take advantage of it, and you are using a sword, not a lance anyway. And all that is even ignoring if you ever have trouble charging.
If you do decide to go with a Mount:
If you do decide to go with a mount, you will want to make friends with a Cleric with a Karma prayer bead and Greater Magic Weapon to get a higher enhancement bonus - and that doesn't even stack with Radiance's normal bonuses, Weapon Bond does.
Check out Weapon Master's Handbook, it has a paladin archetype that trades spellcasting for bonus feats (at 4/8/12/16/20 I think) from a decent-sized list (including Fighter only feats) and gets the Warpriest Sacred Weapon scaling damage. Pretty nice and probably pretty close to what you want.
Edit: Found it!Tempered Champion It also locks you into the weapon divine bond, but lets you burn uses of lay on hands to activate it. Nice!
As to your homebrew, the only thing I would point out is that if you use the Monk bonus feat progression you will get two feats by 2nd level, and Paladin doesn't even get spellcasting until 4th. I would say spells are more powerful than feats and over the whole class it is balanced, but just as long as you don't multiclass out at 3rd level or something.
Ok, so first off you should know that you will only hit 17th level by the end of Kingmaker, so you have a few less levels to work with than you thought.
So the Cavalier build that seems to show up a decent bit is a Gendarme with Order of the Sword (as master_marshmallow pointed out). This builds to a pretty nasty mounted charger. Good levels to cut it off are at 4th, 5th and 8th. 4th for Expert Trainer (and therefore Horse Master), 5th for a bonus feat and banner, 8th for a bonus feat and the ability to add your mount's Strength on charge attacks.
Dragoon provides a lot of feats, not just for mounted combat but also enough to be decent when not mounted. Remember, you can use a lance when unmounted, it is just a two handed weapon. Good cut off levels are 5th, 7th, and 9th. 5th for sweet spear training (compatible with Gloves of Dueling), 7th for the ability to strike adjacent with your lance, 9th for an increase in spear training and the ability to stack you banner with cavalier.
Personally, I would go Fighter 9, Cavalier 8, alternating every other level, with a "capstone" of Fighter 9 granting +1 to hit and damage with lances, +2 to saves vs fear/attacks made on a charge.
See also magic items like Champions Banner and Sash of the War Champion.
Reach is powerful, specially in the hands of a martial. Beware!
Reach weapons can be purchased for 5 gp and wielded with Simple weapons proficiency. Ugh
Anyway, I find it is helpful to see if anything like this has been designed before (especially by Paizo or WotC). In the Magic Item Compendium on page 31 is the Changeling property. To paraphrase:
Once per round as a swift action, you can change the weapon between:
Shortspear: One-Handed, 1d6, Throw 20 ft range
Spear: Two-Handed, 1d8, Brace, Throw 20 ft range
Longspear: Two-Handed, 1d8, Brace, Reach
[Replying to Robert Jordan] Following that logic, you would prefer we were selling new players the exact same Core Rulebook that we introduced several years ago, complete with all the problems that we've identified and fixed in the years since? I'm not a fan of that plan.
Actually, I think that would be best. (Hang with me for a second).
You keep putting out the original book (update little things like spelling and typos) and you constantly update the Errata document with any other changes. That way older books aren't invalidated, and the new changes are free to anyone who wants them.
(Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the way WotC handled 3.5 errata?)
I saw this thread come up and I thought, "Hey, I should point this guy towards a couple threads I just saw where someone made some freaking awesome homebrew stats for Dragonhide armor and Dragonbone weapons."
A few questions, what AP? Do you have a general idea of his build? What are some of his successfull tactics right now?
I went through something similar in Wrath of the Righteous with a Paladin that crushed moat everything. Since it was a home game I was bumping HP, adding a mix of range and caster mooks, using terrain rules to make things more tactical.
The AP is Carrion Crown. He is committed to stopping the Whispering Way. His Tactics are using his Falchion with his warpriest powers, plus cleave, greater cleave and Strikeback.
Hmm.. Just a theory, does he have the rules for readying an action correct?
Specifically, he can only ready one action per round and it uses his standard action. If he uses Strike Back then he has given up his attacks for the round in order to make one attack.
He may also be trying to combine Strike Back and Cleave in order to make two attacks when someone attacks him. This does not work as Strike back allows a single attack to be readied, and Cleave is a specific standard action.
Lastly, be sure he is using the readying rules, not the attack of opportunity rules - i.e. he can only use Strike Back once per round - not once per enemy attack.
I agree with everything you said, chbgraphicarts, with only 1 exception (and only because I don’t think you went far enough).
I think switching between identities should follow the same progression as Bardic Music:
Standard at 1st
Move at 7th
Swift at 13th
And – it would be nice, but not necessary – if there was a last increase to an immediate or free action at 17th or so.
Always keep in mind that a 1st level caster can cast Disguise Self as a standard action with a +10 bonus. A class whose whole shtick is Clark Kent ducking into a phone booth should be as good as a 1st level caster who took one spell.
Lastly, an alternative is to make it longer (no more than a full round action though), but allow a Bluff check to create a diversion to hide and change as a standard action.
Hey! You're in luck. I did this exact thing with my group.
I started off with Dragon's Demand as you did, then:
Next Steps:
#2 Realm of the Fellknight Queen (7-9)
#3 Doom Comes to Dustpawn (9-10)
#4 Curse of the Riven Sky (10-12)
#5 Academy of Secrets (12-14)
#6 Tomb of the Iron Medusa (14-15)
#7 The Moonscar (16+)
The campaign fell apart halfway through #3 because I was studying for the CPA exam, but the group actually really wants to pick up where we left off.
Pull your players into #2 by changing the wedding to a celebration for Azmur and Rima's new baby.
Change the fluff a little for #2, describe everything as shadowy instead of woodsy, and place a threatening BBG in the mirror at the end with a glimpse of the falling star hitting Golarion to show the PCs where to go for #3.
After that, read the next adventure before the previous one is done and try to connect them as logically as possible. Dropping a message into the final bad guys possessions from his boss is a time-honored plot hook.
Whatever you do, FLUFF IS KING!
Adventure set on the wide open plains of the steppe? Change the grass to oily black tentacles.
Enemies are goblins? Now they have creepy black soulless eyes from looking into the void.
Trying to recover a giant diamond? It's now a statue made of a dark ebony material that only when the PCs are holding it do they realize it is made from petrified flesh of a creature they can't identify.
Español
Hola, perdón por mi español - Estoy utilizando Google Translate.
Para responder a su pregunta: Sí, el Arcano Archer Mejorar Flechas rasgo de clase permite que tu personaje para disparar flechas que tienen un bonus de hasta +5 realce al ataque y daño (no se acumula con cualquier bonificador de mejora ya concedida por su arco, utilice el mayor de los dos).
Además, a medida que adquiera niveles puede agregar varias habilidades (distancia, elemental, explosión elemental y habilidades especiales de armas alineación) que no están restringidos por la tapa habitual de +10.
Por último, al ser un nivel noveno Arcano Archer le permite añadir ráfaga helada, no sólo la helada!
English
Hello, pardon my Spanish - I am using Google Translate.
To answer your question: Yes, the Arcane Archer Enhance Arrows class feature allows your character to shoot arrows that have up to a +5 enhancement bonus to attack and damage (that does not stack with any enhancement bonus already granted by your bow, use the higher of the two).
Also, as you gain levels you can add various abilities (distance, elemental, elemental burst, and alignment weapon special abilities) that are not restricted by the usual cap of +10.
Lastly, being a 9th level Arcane Archer allows you to add Icy Burst, not just Frost!
If I could get more support from like minded individuals my DM Will let me run free with it. Right now he's on the fence he's afraid of the scales of balance flipping
Honestly, the overall power level of your group is really what will determine if you upset the balance. Do you know what the other people in the group are playing? That should tell us if you are going to "tip the scales".
I wouldn't think most groups where everyone has been playing for a little bit would be unbalanced by what you propose. With access to the PRD, there are a lot of far more powerful options out there.
I have read it and I am not sure what switching to a trade paperback means.
Does it mean we will be getting larger books? I am not talking about the size of the physical book (which will be bigger) I am talking about the actual word count of the novels.
I also understand that there will be better quality of paper, am I correct?
Both are the same written length, however a trade paperback (TP) is physically larger (around the size of a hardcover) while a mass market paperback (MMP) is usually 6 3/4" tall and 4 1/4" wide. A TP is normally of higher quality paper (usually acid-free) while a MMP may begin to degrade or fall apart after being read a number of times. A TP may also have better binding whereas a MMP can have problems with staying in one piece.
The Pathfinder Tales have all been mass market paperback up until this point. I never really had any problems with the format, in fact I prefer it so it matches all my other books.
Looking it over, it looks great. The Hungry Ghost Archetype is really flavorful (but not terribly powerful IMO) and fits the Ninja as an archetype well.
You are still going to have the traditional problems of the Ninja or Monk (difficulty hitting mostly). In this build using a wide crit range weapon (such as a wakizashi) would be advised. You'll get a lot of ki and I forsee spending most of it on Vanishing Trick and taking extra attacks.
Some may say you are trading a lot of defensive abilities for some more offensive abilities - and that is true. However, I think when compared to other classes occupying the same niche (especially Qinggong Monk, Slayer, Investigator, Sandman Bard, and Vivisectionist Alchemist) it does not threaten to overpower other options.
As a suggestion, if you are looking to get the Punishing Kick ability as well, I think trading your first d6 of Sneak Attack at 1st level and your 10th level Rogue trick would be a fair trade. (But I never thought it fit the archetype that well anyway)
-After writing the above I saw your comment about the Quingong Monk abilities as Ninja Tricks. I personally don't think there would be any problem with that at all. Many of the Qinggong abilities would fit a Ninja perfectly.
The overall power level would push it to equal the Qinggong Monk in power (as you are picking up his shtick) but it would be nice to see the Rogue co-opt something from another class rather than everyone just stealing from the Rogue. It would probably bypass the Sandman Bard in combat damage, and maybe the Investigator as well. However, I think it would still lag behind the Slayer or Vivisectionist.
All in all, I would let both ideas into my campaign.
One of my players wants to craft a magic item and I'm having a heck of a time trying to use the existing creation rules to price the item.
In short, my player wants to create a wondrous item that can cast Shield 3/day, as a swift action.
Avh has the main gist of the item your player is describing - but if I may offer a possible alternative?
The benefits of a shield spell is essentially a +4 shield bonus that protects against incorporeal touch attacks and negates magic missiles.
A Ring of Force Shield provides a +2 shield bonus (made of force, so it applies to incorporeal touch attacks). A Brooch of Shielding negates up to 101 points of magic missile damage.
If you increase the shield bonus to +4 for a total of 32,500 gp (treating the original price of 8,500 gp as kind of a formula of +2 bonus squared x 2,000 gp plus a 500 gp "masterwork shield") and maybe triple the cost of a brooch of shielding so it never burns out, you have:
Brooch of Force Shielding Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot neck; Price 37,000 gp; Weight —
DESCRIPTION
This appears to be a piece of silver or gold jewelry used to fasten a cloak or cape. In addition to this mundane task, it can absorb magic missiles of the sort generated by the spell or spell-like ability.
This brooch also generates an invisible shield of force that hovers in front of you. The disk provides a +4 shield bonus to AC. This special creation has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance since it is weightless and encumbrance-free. It can be activated and deactivated at will as a free action.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, shield, wall of force; Cost 18,500 gp
In my opinion, it is still a little expensive, but I would definitely let it into any game I was running.
Disclaimer:
As always, compare to existing items, check with your GM, results may vary, the opinions expressed may not reflect those of the game creators or message board trolls, possible side effects include......etc. etc.
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Slot armor; Price 5,415 gp; Weight 20 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
On each of the studs of this +1 studded leather armor is inscribed an alchemical symbol. The whole suit of armor occasionally gives off ambient smoke and caustic liquids drip from creases in the leather.
Three times per day as a standard action a stud may be pulled off the armor and thrown as an alchemists bomb, dealing 2d6+3 fire damage, plus 5 splash damage.
In addition, up to three times per day as a standard action the armor can create an acid flask, alchemist fire, antitoxin, smokestick, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, thunderstone, or tindertwig. If the wearer has the swift alchemy class feature, he may create (and throw, if applicable) these alchemical items as a swift action.
Lastly, the armor gives partial protection from harmful contagions, granting a +2 bonus on saving throws against disease and the sickened and nauseated conditions.
CONSTRUCTION Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, alchemical tinkering, resistance, creator must have the bomb class feature and 5 ranks in the Craft (Alchemy) skill; Cost 2,795 gp
*Wording issues.
*This gives an awful lot of abilities for its price, and they really are more suited for a wondrous item.
*The bomb effect adds a "+3," which is presumably supposed to substitute for the pseudo-alchemist's Intelligence modifier, but it doesn't say that, and that modifier came from a class feature, so it shouldn't apply for non-alchemists throwing bombs (and in fact, due to not describing the +3, an alchemist wearing this armor can still add his Int modifier in addition to the 3).
*It seems like this armor makes real items that last forever 3/day, so eventually it will pay for itself if you set up a shop to sell them.
*Also, throwing these kind of alchemical items as a swift is crazy good for alchemists.
Wording Issues: If you have the time, could you be a bit more specific? (Re-reading it again, is it the dreaded passive voice?)
Pricing: Yeah it might be a bit low. I was trying to make sure it would see play before alchemical items were worthless.
Bomb +3: Good point.
Real Items: Good point again. I should have added a line about "going inert if not used in the round created" or something.
Swift throwing alchemical items: Only one I disagree with - I mean c'mon! They're alchemical items! It's nice, but hardly "crazy good"......Hmmmm, maybe I should have made it in place of an attack..
Thank you for the critique. I do appreciate the time and effort you are taking for all of us.
I think the CL 3rd killed me. I swear it was not a converted wondrous item. I just completely forgot Craft Magic Arms and Armor required CL 5th. Otherwise, I don't think it was too bad for throwing it together in under an hour.
(Edit: I just now realized I capitalized the entire name.)
HERMETIC ARMOR Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Slot armor; Price 5,415 gp; Weight 20 lbs.
DESCRIPTION
On each of the studs of this +1 studded leather armor is inscribed an alchemical symbol. The whole suit of armor occasionally gives off ambient smoke and caustic liquids drip from creases in the leather.
Three times per day as a standard action a stud may be pulled off the armor and thrown as an alchemists bomb, dealing 2d6+3 fire damage, plus 5 splash damage.
In addition, up to three times per day as a standard action the armor can create an acid flask, alchemist fire, antitoxin, smokestick, sunrod, tanglefoot bag, thunderstone, or tindertwig. If the wearer has the swift alchemy class feature, he may create (and throw, if applicable) these alchemical items as a swift action.
Lastly, the armor gives partial protection from harmful contagions, granting a +2 bonus on saving throws against disease and the sickened and nauseated conditions.
CONSTRUCTION Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, alchemical tinkering, resistance, creator must have the bomb class feature and 5 ranks in the Craft (Alchemy) skill; Cost 2,795 gp
If there is a free copy up for grabs I would be very much interested. Please and thank you!
Cheers
Volf
Edit Derp ... just noticed that this was posted in Oct.:( Hopefully there is still a free copy up for grabs.
Yeah, the free copy thing (for the first ten posters) was mentioned on his Facebook page back in October. I just saw it and figured there was no harm in asking, but I understand I am really relying on his generosity as that offer could be considered very expired.
While a truly original magic item's pricing is equal parts art and science, certain basic things can be easy to extrapolate from existing rules.
Pathfinder Core Rulebook Page 553: Adding New Abilities wrote:
The cost to add additional abilities to an item is the same as if the item was not magical, less the value of the original item. Thus, a +1 longsword can be made into a +2 vorpal longsword, with the cost to create it being equal to that of a +2 vorpal sword minus the cost of a +1 longsword.
So, a Greater Cape of Daring Deeds that grants a +3 resistance bonus to saves that increases to a +5 for one round when using the Charmed Life class feature should cost 14,000 GP (9,000 base item + the difference between a +3 Cloak of Resistance and a +2 Cloak of Resistance [9,000-4,000])
Increasing it up to a +5 resistance cloak may bring concern to some, but there is a clear precedent - Bane weaponry. These also give increases above the normal cap in special circumstances. I would try pricing a +5 Cape of Daring Deeds at 30,000 (9,000+[25,000-4,000]).
Often I see the first reaction to any "How do I price this item?" threads is the response, "No one can ever truly know!" This is not a helpful response. Try saying, "A good starting point would be X, then see if that is too low or too high." Nothing against Nefreet, he is hardly the first to take a cautious approach, which I'm sure serves him well as a Pathfinder Society GM.
Quick Draw is cripplingly necessary to thrown weapon builds, who have an incredibly difficult time being effective.
My experience with throwers is that they do pretty well for themselves with both power attack and deadly aim as freebees. I do agree with you that it's a feat tax, but it's not an onerous one. It does something cool (if subtle) and lets you break the rules, and you don't absolutely need it until you get a second attack.
For switch hitters I agree. Quick Draw is a kinda niche feat that lets you full attack until the other guy has to run to you - very nice. But I know from making/running two dedicated throwers that you have all the feat tax of an archer plus a two weapon fighter with the disadvantages of both. Taking that one last feat always feels like the creators of 3.0 saying (unprintable) you!
Maybe with the other freebies (especially combined Two-Weapon Fighting and free Deadly Aim) the calculus may change, but it still kind of hurts. :)
Dasrak wrote:
White Templar wrote:
Point-Blank Shot: I've never had a problem with this. It's like Weapon Focus for ranged weapons and also gives you a +1 to damage. Not awesome, but solid. I get that archery is very feat intensive, but it is also a very strong fighting style.
This is actually a very recent addition to my houserules. I haven't had a real "killer" archer test my generosity yet. As you note, this isn't actually a bad feat in terms of how much combat power it adds. So I'm not convinced this makes archery a stronger fighting style, it just opens up more options to pick different feats. Maybe that is too much, but it might open up some interesting options at low levels.
My only concern would be that the option opened up at lower levels would be Rapid Shot. It would give a significant early game bump to archers about 2 levels early. In the overall scheme of things I don't think it would be bad (it would probably make their early game damage close to a two handed fighter), but the amount of damage archery can dish out already makes me nervous to give them more freebies in addition to Deadly Aim.
I would be more inclined to give them something else to do instead of more damage capability - like the ability to do combat maneuvers at range perhaps.
I've been running Combat Expertise as "free" for some time now, and I've recently added power attack and deadly aim to the list. So far I've been liking it. This is definitely a yes.
Quote:
Agile Maneuver
Weapon Finesse?
I've been allowing weapon finesse for free since day 1 as a GM, and agile maneuvers was one of the first feats to join it on my list of "freebees". I would never go back; these are wholly unnecessary feat tax that just cripple what you can do with dexterity-based characters at low levels. Another enthusiastic yes.
Quote:
Two-Weapon Fighting
Vital Strike?
I'd consolidate the feat chains a bit rather than giving the base feats away for free. I'll give you a maybe on these.
Quote:
Step Up
This is more of a nerf to 5-foot steps than anything. If you want to do that then go ahead, but the feat is good enough that it doesn't merit being made into a freebee. I'd personally say no.
Quote:
Eschew Spell Components?
While it's a generally a bad feat, it's not really a feat tax for anything important. It also gives a small but flavorful edge to the Sorcerer without precluding it from other casters. I'd say no to this one.
Quote:
Selective Channeling?
In-combat channeling (positive or negative) is a pretty niche and feat-intensive approach for a Cleric, but that's less because it's weak and more because the class is already so powerful! I'd be hesitant to give them anything for free. So no.
Quote:
Combat Reflexes?
Lunge?
These are decent feats. If you feel martials need more help than you're already giving them here, drop a few bonus combat feats their way. These ones in particular don't need to be free. Another no.
Quote:
Quick Draw?
I'd say no. It's a mediocre feat for most characters, but those who need it can really put it to good use. So, no?
...
YES YES YES YESYESYESYESYESYES EVERYTHING HE SAID YES!!!!!!
Two minor disagreements. Quick Draw is cripplingly necessary to thrown weapon builds, who have an incredibly difficult time being effective. Maybe you can limit this to being only with thrown weapons?
Point-Blank Shot: I've never had a problem with this. It's like Weapon Focus for ranged weapons and also gives you a +1 to damage. Not awesome, but solid. I get that archery is very feat intensive, but it is also a very strong fighting style.
What makes me laugh most about topics like this is roughly 60% of the freelancers who work for 3PP work for Paizo. When they are working for 3PP material is considered "overpowered" but while the material they place out for Paizo is "right on". Please stop it. It sounds silly. Just say you are a gaming snob and 3PP could never be as good because they are not Paizo. I would rather here that then hear the silly "balancing" issue of 3PP. Balance is gaming is false. Just compare and Elf to a Half Orc and tell me they are "balanced" and "equal". They are not, everyone knows that they are not and it is NOT an issue in gaming. if a 3PP did that, everyone and their mom playing would say how crappy and unbalanced they are. Gaming snobbery is what hurts 3PP, no matter how good the 3PP are.
One last thing I would add to LMPjr007- wasn't it just a few years ago that Paizo was a 3PP that many GMs wouldn't allow into their games?
And to take it one more step, wasn't it WotC that gave us Leap Attack, Shock Trooper, Divine Metamagic, Nightsticks, Leadership, Swiftblade, Divine Minion, and any number of other things you can find on the old theoretical optimization boards?
Everything should be examined on a case by case basis. Sacred Geometry will never see light in our campaigns. Double barrel firearm shenanigans, Synthesist Summoner, Finding Haleen, Slumber Hex, etc. all have in our campaign an unspoken agreement we won't abuse them.
On the other hand, don't let this scare you away from all the other 3PP. Some of their stuff is pretty awesome. I'm a fan of Adamants Swashbuckler, Kobold/OD's Elven Archer, Wordcastings Pugulist, and Rogue Genius' Armiger and Shadow Assassin, - and yes - LMPjr's Machinesmith just to shamelessly plug a few of my favorites.
