tlotig's page

Woodwine wrote:

It's here! www.starfindersrd.com/

Im getting sick of the pop ups on that site. I look forward to paizo's site being completed.

Seems like the SF prd is not happening, Fall has been and gone, maybe next Fall?

Operative gets more attacks than a soldier.
most of the people he kills are low level so he needs high attacks per round rather than outright damage.

Ships don't dock, just shuttles. The ships orbit
This prevents teleporting to a moving ship.
Also makes sense that Space stations and planets would not want A starships reactor that close.

EC Gamer Guy wrote:

Skip the formulas and just eyeball it. It's not like our characters stand in combat with calculators and slide rules figuring this out.

Not with THAT attitude they're not.

Because you know your deadly aim bonus and average damage ahead of time you can reduce the formula to "If i hit on X i should deadly aim"

The only situation where I think Deadly Aim is good, is with an operative quad attack, because you add the bonus damage x4,

No.

Deadly Aim is useful if you are hitting easily, if the envoy is giving +4 to hit maybe it is worth it.
Also note that if Damaged is being reduced DA becomes more useful.

true cry weapons.

They shall be known as "Wah Wah" Guns *grin*

N=Number of chances in 20 that you hit.
D=Damage without deadly aim
B= Bonus Damage from Deadly Aim.

Damage over 20 rounds without Deadly Aim = (N+1)*D. [N+1 because criticals cause an extra hit]

Damage with Deadly Aim = (N-1)*(D+B)

Use deadly aim when:
(N-1)*(D+B) > (N+1)*D
ND+NB-D-B > ND+D
NB-2D-B >0
B*(N-1) > 2D
You should use deadly aim when Your number of hits in 20 -1 multiplied by the bonus damage is more than twice the regular damage.

For example:
Say you hit on a 12+, That's 9 hits in 20.
Say you average 10 damage.
this gives
B*8 > (2*10)
8B>20
B>2.5
You should Deadly aim if your Bonus from Deadly aim is 3 or more.

Plasma sheathe will add another 2 and Photon attunement another 1:
So 1d6+1d3+9

Comprehend Languages, without a doubt. Why?

Starfinder Core Rulebook Page 344 wrote:

You can’t use this spell to read magic writing or encoded messages (though it does reveal if a message is magic or encoded), but you can use it to read raw computer code or foreign programming languages, allowing you to understand enough to attempt Computers checks on those materials without penalties.

Seems like the ability to hack into computer systems you normally couldn't even understand would be a pretty useful trick for a hacker to have.

And that's what I am switching to for an android

How is life bubble not the obvious choice?

only use I can see for it is qualifying for feats,
start at int 13 so you can get to 15 and get Technomancy dabbler, life bubble seems an important spell

they should just ban necromancers in general

Ban paladins, they have far more class features restricting who they can play with.

Having just played this I agree it can be very swingy.
The biggest problem is the nerf will cause some players to not have fun at the table.
I would suggest warning players before they start what will happen, it should public knowledge from the blog anyway.
Because the game runs over multiple days classes that can recharge overnight will have a much easier time.

It is a nice idea to see how character go when stripped of their gear but the execution needs work

A few contrasts:
A wizard loses their spell book but the witch does not.
an alchemist loses most of their class features but the cleric just buys a holy symbol tattoo.

use a wakizashi, it's a light Katana

This feels like another trap question. You keep asking these trap questions as though you are trying to get something over on your GMs and other players.

Just let your GMs run things fairly and stop trying to get something that is obviously overpowered or anti-social with other players to happen.

Empowering GMs to ignore rules they believe overpowered seems dangerous.

you can however use a whip as your black blade

Witch list has the flavour of the Druid list, ley-line witch is a spontaneous caster.
or
Arcanist using both Unlettered Arcanist and Brown furred transmuter.
this gets you the witch list and some wildshapey stuff.

Other option is an oracle with the Nature or moon mysteries

note life bubble scroll must be purchased from the sorcerer/wizard list.
so level 5 CL9

Wouldn't the game just have technically been standard campaign? Guess nobody would appreciate that outcome though as all their core characters would be transferred over.

Technically yes, but as you say the core players may not be to happy about forced "enlightenment".

What recourse does a PFS Battle Host Occultist have if their Panoply Bond is destroyed or, worse, lost/stolen?

1. If it's destroyed, you can die and get resurrected (a terrible solution, but a solution).

2. If an NPC obsconds with the item and you don't get them at the end of play, there's no way in PFS to track down the thief and get it back.

3. If it is lost in an (technically) accessible but time consuming location (like over the side of a ship) and there isn't time to play out the retrieval by end of play, there's no way to recover it.

4. If it was in an extra dimensional space that vomited its contents onto the Astral plane, there's no way to find it.

Admittedly, the problem of losing your Panoply Bond is not limited to PFS, but outside PFS you could technically adventure to get it back.

For PFS spend 5PP for a body recovery? that gets your gear back, so it makes sense that it could retrieve gear

I don't think any of my characters meet tlotig's requirements.

Hence the last lines

Ultimately everyone's character is their own and it is up to the individual to balance what they want from their character with what they perceive the social contract of an organized play environment to be."

Let's pull some numbers from the shadow plane.
Assuming combat is NOT your primary role I would hope you can do one of the following at level 11:
-75 damage a round
-Save or suck at DC20 across all three saves
-cast haste 3 times a day
-have high saves and the ability to negate crippling conditions (fear/charm & compulsion/nausea/

These numbers are completely arbitrary. They are not required, but each make a good fall back role if you can't do anything else.

Perhaps a better guide would be: if your character is the 5th character at the table do you make up for losing the 4-player adjustment? If you literally make the party's chances of survival worse though your presence then it may be time to improve your capabilities.

Ultimately everyone's character is their own and it is up to the individual to balance what they want from their character with what they perceive the social contract of an organized play environment to be.

of course with out ioun stones for wisdom being in core you may struggle

Spells to buff:mage armor and false life can help the familar take a hit.
Remember that they have half your hit points but all of your skill ranks.
Improved familiar can help.
Psuedodragon: telepathy and blindsense
imp/quasit/nosio psychopomp: at will invisibility

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Delay until after you see a kidney fly out of an orc an aim the fireball just left of there?

It's generally obvious from which direction someone got stabbed, so that's not the craziest tactic.

Except any rogue worth their salt will 5' step after sneak attacking to cut down the retaliatory attacks

Ummm ... It's an auto hit, force damage, bypasses DR, does full damage against incorporeal at range and is a 1st level spell that would do ~18 hp of damage on average. By 9th level you should also be able to cast an empowered version for an average of ~27 hp of damage, not to mention a quickened version in the same round for an average of about 45 hp of damage. Compare to a fireball which does on average about 32 hp of damage at 9th level and allows a save. Granted the fireball is an AoE, but depending on what you are fighting, it also could do no damage due to evasion, energy resistance or energy immunity (things which don't apply to magic missile).

All that said, I'm not sure I'm seeing how it sucks and deserves to be dropped.

EDIT: ninja'd by a gaggle of ninjas.

but at 9th level th fireball is empowered for 51 damage

He's using it responsibly, please don't let the theory-crafters on forums dictate the path for the vast bulk of sane, rational, polite gamers out there.

Thank you.

I still think it is so cheap.

It could be nice if they clarified that you can not end Beast Shape if your chosen shape can't form words.

That is before you give it to a psychic caster, imagine what a mesmerist or psychic could do.

All I can say that if you attempt to skin an animal companion around here, you'll face the wrath of Flutter and her pointy, pointy stick.

Hmm

Cast skinsend with share spells to my animal companion.

If I am reading the Scenario right the only way to get the 2nd PP is to impress featherseed?
Failing to impress featherseed -> go to fiery vengeance -> lose 2nd pp.
Is this correct?

... when the table roleplay as their characters, because the characters have a higher int/wis. :/

seriously-
... when you realize the party is playing up, at the only thing the scenario says in regards to "playing higher tier" is literally- double the monsters.

Actually doubling the monsters makes it easier, the AC and to hit doesn't change and they are more susceptible to mass crowd controll and AoE. Its when the monsters go up a size category and gain advanced template that things get scary

On Blizzard forums there is a link at in each threat to "Jump to Blue"
This skips to the next post by a Blizzard staff member.
Any chance a "Jump to Golem" feature could be implemented?
Particularly in PFS and rules advice forums this could be very handy.

perhaps if 1PP bought you 2-3 days of retraining?

greater teleport

RealAlchemy wrote:

1. Use it on a 1200 gp elixir of darksight.

1.5. Hand out 5 infused alchemical allocations to your teammates and pass around the bottle.

Quote:

2. Drop deeper darkness.

3. Profit.

THis is what you use it for.

If no one at the table has Know(planes) in the Year of Aviation, knowing the party will be going to the Plane of Earth, they deserve a dressing down. Even then, they have a chance of success.

No!

I suggest a simple test:
Is the character turning up as player 5 worth losing the 4 player adjustment?

If it is great you have made everyone's' lives easier =)
If not, well then... now we have an awkward discussion as to whether a that player is making the game harder and how that interacts with the don't be a jerk rule.

Just... MLP plus Lovecraftian mythos... *shudders* Some things should not mix. And some of those are disturbingly effective when mixed. I had nightmares for a month because of that campaign.

Everything is better with tentacles

For a sorcerer at 1-3:
Color Spray: Wait a round for the monsters to cluster near the front line then hit 2- 3 at once

Daze: Remember sorcerers can swap spells at 4 and every 2 levels. Take Daze early on and use it each fight.

Bloodline power: Several bloodlines have 1st level powers that are about as good as a 1st level spell at low caster level.

All else fails 2 PP gets you a wand of magic missile. 2-5 reliable damage a round is quite handy at levels 1-3.

tlotig wrote:

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

There are the Devoted Blade and Bane Blade Arcanas.

The Devoted blade and Baneblade arcana are not available until 12 and 15.

Its not that I think the class is broken, was just wondering if the intent was to make spell combat that difficult.

Also the fact that you can't get aligned weapons makes fighting outsiders quite difficult.

Rynjin wrote:

What's your top 5 books and/or series'?

More recently, my little brother convinced me to read the Dresden Files. It wasn't an easy sell because I'm not really a fan of most urban fantasy, but Butcher won me over with his sense of humor and his fun take on the fey.

While I love Dresden files I would never describe Mab as fun.

tlotig wrote:

1. What are mindblades made of? Same

Yes. The Mindblade is not meant to be played identically to a normal Magus, so attempting to overwhelm your opponent with Intensified Shocking Grasp isn't going to work. You have a lot of new techniques and abilities you can utilize, instead.

Intensified Shocking Grasp is for chumps, 6 attacks a round with Frostbite is much more lethal (or non lethal)

A few questions regarding the Mindblade Magus Archetype:
1. What are mindblades made of? Same material as the normal weapon, psychic energy? can they be sundered or rusted?
2. What stops me from manifesting a Mindblade Chainsaw
3. Psychic Access: should the 3rd teir of psychic access kick in at 10th not 11th to match when 4th level spells are gained(this would allow a mindblade to select Psychic access spells as their spell known as they gain spells of that level)?
4. Is defensive casting while spellcombat intended to be so difficult? Due to the +10 to concentration DC for Though component spells and inability to take a move action to center your self during spell combat?

Blackbot wrote:

Wendy Bryan wrote:

There are no healers or rogues of any kind...and everyone is arguing about who is buying all the cure light wounds potions...

Why the rogue? To UMD?

Well, someone's gotta be the comic relief and I'm hard pressed to think of a bigger joke than the rogue class...

Mesmerist

The chronicle sheets for Maelstrom Rift and Serpent's Ire had level ranges listed, so I would start with those or reducing to level 1.

As far as actual play experience, I don't understand the trepidation around character death. It's part of the game, and is nothing more than a resource tax - you screwed up or got unlucky (greataxe crits in lvl 1 scenario grumble grumle), go pay 7k gold. In the event of a pregen, it's go pay 1k gold after selling off their gear. I put both chronicles on real characters, fully expecting to pay or retire if needed.

Because if my character is going to die I want it to be my fault, not because i received a gimped character to play

I have to agree the last combat was not fun. the players caught sat there unable to act for the whole time, not a good experience.

Max UMD,
Use a scroll of Antimagic Field
Grapple or restrain wizard.
If he is a diviner you probably still lose

happy stick: Wand of Cure Light Wounds (2PP)
unhappy stick: Wand of infernal healing (2PP)

I don't think it is that bad, you ned to have a familiar (either giving up bonded item or taking a selection to obtain one) choose an improved familiar that can UMD and even then you still need to pay for the scrolls.
Glitterdust has a far greater affect on combat and game balance

tlotig wrote:

I believe it is freely available from the Jingasa nerf

I'm not sure if the Tears of the Fate's Favored contain enough salt to harm a giant slug.

Their tears are enough to fill an ocean