Your Favorite Class Feature?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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Liberty's Edge

Hey guys! What's your favorite class feature in PF? Paizo content only please. By class feature, I mean a specific ability that is listed in a class or archetype's section (stuff like Smite Evil or Rage, not spells or rage powers or rogue talents).

Your decision could be based on the power of the ability, the utility of the ability, or just how plain cool it is thematically. But let us know the reason as well!

I'll start. My favorite class feature in Pathfinder is the Dancing Flame supernatural ability from the Fire wizard (Arcane Elemental Schools, APG). This ability just epitomizes everything I think a fire mage should be able to do, and I'm depressed that sorcerers don't get it because I feel like it displays an innate control over fire rather than something you studied to get.

Picture this, the ability to raise your hand and instantly move any nonmagical fire 30 feet. If the fire has a new fuel source, that fuel source catches fire and the fire continues to burn. If it doesn't, the fire is extinguished. So awesome! In a game without electricity, this gives you unchecked power at night. Sure, we can all assume the torches are lit, but unless those flames are completely covered in glass, I can move the flames and extinguish them and instantly disappear from sight along with the rest of my party. Or I can move fire from a guard's torch to his leather boots and laugh as I run away while he tries to put himself out. (Again, all of this seems like a sorcerer's innate ability rather than a studious wizard).

So, that's my favorite class feature. What's yours?


Hexes!

nails, prehensile hair, cackle, healing, CHILD SCENT, water lung... and many more...

They are very useful and thematically awesome.


Hexes (from Witch or Hexcrafter) for casters and Judgments (from Inquisitor) for martials.


The Brawler's version of weapon training is neat, as is his ability to disrupt nearby allies. Inquisitor Bane is cool. Alchemist Mutagens are cool, too.


The Wizard's arcane discovery feature.

Specifically the level 20 discovery: Immortality.

Remind me why people become liches again?

If you mean only stuff that shows up on the level tables, I'd have to say the alchemist bomb class feature.

Silver Crusade

Bardic Knowledge.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Spellcasting. :D

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

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Bardic Performance, especially when combined with Spellsong.


Bardic Music: Distraction and Bardic Music: Countersong. They're thematically awesome, especially if your GM follows the Rule of Cool. I love the idea of an enemy using music to attach the PCs ... only for a PC bard to step up and turn it into a music battle.


A more general one: The Oracle Curses. Obviously, they're not terribly powerful most of the time - but they never fail to give the character some awesome flavor. I rarely encounter an ability that forces the player to think some about what it means for their character, but having a serious disability usually does the trick. Also, the progression they offer from harming you to being a major strength is neat.

And a more specific one: The Rogue Talents, Obfuscate Story and then Steal the Story. I just love these. The first one lets the rogue interject during someone else's account of an event with an opposed Diplomacy check, which causes them to confuse or omit details about the event. The second lets your further alter the story to the point that it insults or discredits the teller to anyone who hears it. Mechanically, this just gives them penalties to Diplomacy and Intimidate, but flavorwise, this is hilarious. Sure, you can use it to insult or harass your political or undercover enemies, but you can also use it to mess with your party members to no end without seriously harming them - and when has that not been awesome?


Smite Evil, Domains, and Judgments.

What? I like divine characters.


I also love the Court Bard's bardic performance: mockery. That lets the bard create a penalty on the target's charisma-based skill checks. I imagine a minor courtier about to address the king (Diplomacy or Perform: Oratory) ... only for the court jester to constantly interrupt him with fart noises.


The real answer is spells. The overwhelming variety of stuff they can do is just staggering sometimes when you think about it. And I just about always want to play a character with some kind of spell casting ability.

Liberty's Edge

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Starfinder Superscriber

Cantrips. They're listed in class features, so by the OP rules they count :)

The ability to do diddily little magic tricks at will all day long is very important. It allows wizards (and other casters) to feel like wizards, to just be cool and do little magic things, in a way that low-level 1st edition wizards never did. ("I cast my Magic Missile, now for the rest of the day I'm just a weak guy with two hit points.")


Eidolon.

So many possibilites


There's so many swimming in my head, I have to say if I had to pick one, Fast Movement, whether from Barbarians, Travel Domain Clerics, Fighter Armor Training or some of the Oracle Mysteries.

I currently have a Travel Cleric of Kelemvor in a FR setting and with his Mithral Breastplate, Longstrider which lasts like all day and Fast Movement, I can charge 100 ft across a battlefield. I can hold the line and catch up to my teammates when we have to retreat or run back and give that life saving heal.

Silver Crusade

rknop wrote:

Cantrips. They're listed in class features, so by the OP rules they count :)

The ability to do diddily little magic tricks at will all day long is very important. It allows wizards (and other casters) to feel like wizards, to just be cool and do little magic things, in a way that low-level 1st edition wizards never did. ("I cast my Magic Missile, now for the rest of the day I'm just a weak guy with two hit points.")

+1 to this.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Ki Pool/Arcane Pool/(and to a lesser extent)Rage: I like the idea of a flexible pool of abilities, especially ones that can be used as trump cards in emergency situations.


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Sneak Attack
because nothing gets players thinking about strategy like a fist full of D6s

Shadow Lodge

I know you don't want an answer to be a specific rage power but Body Bludgeon is my favorite class option. The idea of using an enemy like a baseball bat or a sack of potatoes is just too good to pass up.

Next in line is the Assassin/Master Spy death attack. I keep wanting to play a character that is Ranger 5/Assassin 5/Master Spy 10 that goes around the world trying to replace major world leaders for short periods of time.


The Summoner's ability to Summon Monsters as a standard action instead of a full round action for minutes/level instead of rounds/level many times a day. Pretty tough to beat.


Wild Shape

fear my velociraptor fury
can't find me, I'm a mouse
scouting? eagle shape!
triceratops with a howda = party bus

with feats to let me talk and cast spells

So yeah, wild shape.


Cornielius wrote:

Wild Shape

fear my velociraptor fury
can't find me, I'm a mouse
scouting? eagle shape!
triceratops with a howda = party bus

with feats to let me talk and cast spells

So yeah, wild shape.

Don't forget party boat in Orca form or even party plane in Quetzalcoatlus form. If necessary get a Roc or Giant Vulture companion if you have more than two medium sized party members to carry.


party boat was allosaurus with attached netting
party plane was triceratops with howda under effect of fly spell
(saurian shaman)

fun part was traveling through the jungle (with longstrider and ant haul), carrying the party, watching the halfling jungle warriors fall behind as we cruised through their sacred lands


The Cleric power for the Radiation subdomain of Earth!

Yes! Fall ill! Weaken, Sicken and die for the inherent awesomeness that I exude.

Well...basically the concept of radiation and similar effects in PF, there aren't many at all.


Blindmage wrote:

The Cleric power for the Radiation subdomain of Earth!

Yes! Fall ill! Weaken, Sicken and die for the inherent awesomeness that I exude.

Well...basically the concept of radiation and similar effects in PF, there aren't many at all.

Personally its Lay on Hands - self-heal as a swift action? With condition removal? Yes please.

I'm also a big fan of the Madness Domain's granted powers, but I'm not sure that's appropriate to the question. Visions of Madness has got to be one of the best buffs/debuffs in the game due to its tremendous versatility.

Silver Crusade

My favorite is the druid's animal companion.

Shadow Lodge

I am partial to the Urban Barbarian's Controlled Rage and Crowd Control. This is great because "Hey I'm going to get really really mad at these two junkies in front of me, turn them into food for the druids animal companion, and I won't suffer any ill effects until I'm done beating the S#!+ out of them." Also, the Invulnerability is great. Especially when all these three combine.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

A very big tie between the witch's Hex and the Eidolon ability of the vanilla Summoner


The Drunken Dragon wrote:
A very big tie between the witch's Hex and the Eidolon ability of the vanilla Summoner

Oh, right... Eidolon is a class ability, not the class itself :)

I like eidolon too


Cleric Domains.

Grand Lodge

Hmm... Smite Evil, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands... Paladins are very good...
Also in the running: 9th level spells, rage- spell sunder, body bludgeon, superstition, mutagen, arcane pool


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Spell Combat from Magus, first feature I've seen that makes a Gish really work out of the box.


The Brawler's Menacing Stance and No Escape abilities. I hate when enemies try to escape from my Brawler pounding them into jelly with his bare hands. Plus I like the idea of terrifying casters.


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The Fuse Styles ability (Master of Many Styles).

Also, not sure about "favorite" but a weird one I like the idea of is the Inquisitor's Solo Tactics ability. Makes Teamwork Feats at least somewhat worthwhile for once.


Hexes. Witch is my favorite class.

It gives them much more flexibility at lower levels than other classes, and while they might not have a very diverse spell lists, when I'm witching it up I look at my hexes first and spells second.

Liberty's Edge

Lots of good answers. It looks like there's plenty of love for casters and non-casters alike.

Shadow Lodge

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Fighter Bonus Feats. How else do you expect to make use of those feats that your caster can't pursue?

Shadow Lodge

What about Skills? *ba-dum bum crash*

Silver Crusade

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Spell Recall from Magus. Especially Improved Spell Recall...

Ranged Legerdemain from arcane trickster. I'm going to try to screw up disabling that trap, set it off from 30 feet! Unless it's resetting one, but then I can watch it, and get an knowledge engineering check to figure that out...


Cantrips and Orisons
(:

Liberty's Edge

Tough to ignore the eidolon and a summonres SLA. It really should be one or the other


spell combat.


The paladin's Smite Evil and the rogue's Sneak Attack.

Both are great fun for the player and perfectly epitomize the flavor of their respective classes.


A bit too detailed I suppose, but Air Supremacy (Wizard/Elemental Air) and Mage Hand. At will flying and telekinesis...


Shadow Jump. Step into one shadow and step out of another? That is just cool.


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Barbarian.

Rage power.

Body Bludgeon.

"Oh, I'm faced off against two dudes? I GRAB THE DUDE ON THE LEFT AND WHACK HIM INTO THE DUDE ON THE RIGHT!"

It's probably the most impractical, badass thing that's completely legal in PF.


Oracle revelations; One in particular: Misfortune.
Paladins Devine Grace, Lay on Hands and Smite Evil.
Fighter Bonus Feats


Sneak Attack or Hexes

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