Looking for some class advice


Advice

Sczarni

I'm currently playing in the Serpent's Skull AP. I was playing an alchemist and was enjoying it up until the part where he got mauled to death by gorillas. I've already played a cleric, a cavalier, a magus, and now an alchemist.

The current party is made of a 2-handed barbarian, a Zen archer monk, and a life oracle (and maybe a 5th playing a magus).

I'm a bit stumped on what would go well with this party was looking for some class advice/ideas (with as little spoilers on the AP as possible). If it helps my character would be level 6 with ability scores 18,16,15,14,13,and 11. All books except for 3rd party are fine. I'm up for playing any kind of role. Only class I don't care much for is Summoner.


Arcanist sounds like a good fit, your party could use a hard caster.

Another good fit seems to be a Bard - lots of options here, Sound Striker, Arcane Duelist, Flame Dancer...

If you don't wanna step on the toes of the Magus, Skald would be a good option, as well as a good, solid Dread Guard Antipaladin on the front line.


Personally I'd go with a full arcane class, as you seem to have most of your bases already covered, and it never hurts to have another arcane caster. If the magus won't be playing, I'd recommend playing an inquisitor, to help out the barbarian and provide some utility spells if necessary.


I have some ideas, but could you share what spells the Oracle has? It would make it easier to narrow down what your party needs.


No Magus, I would go Arcanist.
Yea Magus, then I would go either Inquisitor or Bard.
Either way, trapper seems to be needed.

Sczarni

@HyperMissingno this life Oracle's spell list as fair as i can remember is all about utility. He has things like the cures, channels, life link, and spells for helping get out of jams like leviate. He doesn't really add damage but seems to have bent all his focus in keeping everyone else alive.

ON the subject of full casters I've mainly played martial classes and never played one and while I'm more then willing to try one out I don't really know what to focus on when making any of them.

For example what do I do if I somehow burn all my spells? I mean granted if i play the arcanist I could pick up one of its exploits that deal damage. But I'm not all sure on how to use the whole consume magic ability to keep that pool full.

Lantern Lodge

Basically for the arcanist, you can give up spells for arcane points. So a lv 3 spell, yeas 3 can't points, to a max of your class level, etc.

@Brak Stonevein, are you comfortable with casting summon spells? Cos the Occultist Arcanist archetype is a viable option to have. Summons are always good, they just need a lot more paper work and tracking.


You can go Fated Champion Skald or Arcane Duelist Bard, lots of good spells and solid martial abilities.


+1 for Bard. You don't really have a skill monkey so if you don't want to play a straight up rogue, I'd go Bard for party buffs, arcane spells, and skills.

Sczarni

I just looked up the Occultist and i gota say that its pretty interesting and the prsd comes with its own little table for the monsters you can summon with the spell so that actually would take a lot of the paper work out for both me and the DM.

I was thinking that a Bard or Skald would work well as support/damage for the group. I do wonder what would work best for my current group as the Bard and Skald seem to cover the same things. Besides that thank you for all the class advice so far this really helps me focus on what classes would be helpful to my party.

On a side note I was looking at the Shaman and thought that it would make a good support while I wouldn't need to say take the life spirit I figured the undead sprirt with a focus in creating undead cannon fodder and debuffer one would also be helpful but I didn't know if the thought in my head would work out on paper or if having 2 divine casters would be redundant.

Silver Crusade

Basic Forge of Combat Analysis:

Using The Forge of Combat metaphor, there are three combat roles:

Arm = Support
Hammer = Inflicts HP Damage
Anvil = Battlefield Control

A balanced group covers all three roles. This group has:

2-handed barbarian -> Hammer
Zen archer monk -> hammer
life oracle -> Arm

Group has 2 Hammers and an Arm, but no Anvil. This group clearly needs an Anvil-style battlefield control character. As people said above. Full arcane caster seems an excellent way to go, although other options exist. So Witch, Wizard, Sorcerer, or Arcanist.

A Bard isn't a particularly good choice in this case, as it's a small party with only 2 hammers. It would work, though.

Whichever option you choose, if you cover Battlefield Control your group should do well.

Summary: Yup, group wants an arcane caster.

Sczarni

First off thank you to everyone who gave me advice on what would help my party. With that in mind I've decided to try the arcanist, as I've never played a full caster before I wanted to ask what are some of the basics I need to keep in mind for making an arcanist one focusing on battlefield control? Also arcanists seem to get their spells later and less of them then all the other full casters. How is an arcanst suppose to stand their ground/compete on the same field as the other casters?


He gets his spells the same as a sorcerer, though he does have less. here is a thread and guide about the arcanist. The arcanist trades number of spells a day he can cast to be very flexible in what he can cast. He can prepare any spells he knows, and use any of those as he sees fit. Wizards are locked in a making a choice in the morning, and sorcerers only know certain number of spells.

Going the occultist can help shortcut you to power. It gets the summon ability same level that a wizard gets his spells, and since you can turn your low level spells into points, you can summon quite a bit. And summons really help control the battlefield.

Sczarni

Alright this is my first full caster so here's a rough draft of my arcanist character sheet I'm posting it here for some more advice to see if I'm doing this right or find out what needs to changing.

No_Name:M Sylph Occultist Arcanist outsider,native
Init +3, Senses darkvision 60 ft. Perception 6, Speed 30 ft.
Languages Common and Auran

AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 11
hp 36( before con mod) (6 HD)
Fort +2(+2), Ref +2(+3), Will +5(2)

ability score to allocate 18,16,15,14,13,11 (not including -2 con, +2 dex, and +2 int)
Abilities: Str 11,Dex 16,Con 14,Int 20,Wis 15,Cha 11 (including race)
Base Atk +3

Feats/Traits Armor Proficiency (none), Weapon Proficiency (simple), Airy Step, Like the Wind, Breeze-Kissed(not sure what other feats/traits to take. Improved init I guess?)

Arcane Reservoir Max 3 + arcanist lvl (9). Start each day with 3 + 1/2 lvl (6)

Exploits: Conjurer's Focus 1st lvl, Dimensional Slide 3rd lvl, Consume Magic item 5th lvl

SLA : feather fall 1/day

Spells per day: 4 lvl 1st, 4 lvl 2nd, 2 lvl 3rd

Spells Prepared: 4 lvl 1st, 2 lvl 2nd, 1 lvl 3rd

spells 1st lvl: grease, mudball, color spray, protection from evil,
spells 2nd lvl: glitter dust, create pit
spells 3rd lvl: spiked pit or ice spears for the chance to knock a target prone i guess

Skills ranks per lvl 7: Fly 6 ranks ( thought about getting the feat that lets me fly as a sylph so i guess some ranks in it would help), Knowledge (arcana, planes, religion ) 6 ranks, Perception 6 ranks, Spellcraft 6 ranks , UMD 6 ranks ( unaware of what other skills are important for an arcane caster.)

Side note: going by my spells per day I might need to take a feat that lets me make spell items like a scroll or wand so that I can consume them with the exploit to get more points for summons or maybe I should drop the occultist so that I can take a damaging exploit with my lvl 1 exploit or make a magic item like a wand that's shoots magic missiles I don't know. Looking for some suggestions on this.

side note 2: Whats the best way to make sure that I don't get hit at higher levels seeing how I can't use armor and my ac is terrible?


I would concentrate on your spell DCs.
Sounds like Conjuration school is going to be your go to school (nice choice).
I would definitely take Spell focus and greater spell focus.
You also add

exploit:
Potent Magic (Su): Whenever the arcanist expends 1 point from her arcane reservoir to increase the caster level of a spell, the caster level increases by 2 instead of 1. Whenever she expends 1 point from her arcane reservoir to increase the spell's DC, it increases by 2 instead of 1.

and with an Int 22, your spell DCs will be really nice!

A wand of mage armor.
Or if u want, but a minor rod of extend and cast it yourself.

If u r playing a caster, than u should never need to hear what is your AC? from your GM.

You can fly!

trait:
Lore Seeker

The secrets of ancient fallen civilizations intrigue you, particularly magical traditions. You’ve studied magic intensely, and hope to increase that knowledge by adding lost lore. You’ve come to pursue that study, and chose this place as your base because it was out of the way of bigger cities—meaning less competition to study the ancient monuments in the region, you hope!

Benefit You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana) checks, and Knowledge (arcana) is a class skill for you. If you cast arcane spells, pick three spells on your spell list. You are particularly adept at casting these spells, so they function at +1 caster level when you cast them, and their save DCs (if any) gain a +1 bonus.

I would go this way: Str 11 Dex 16 (14, +2) Con 14 (16, -2) Int 22 (18, +2, +2 level) Wis 13 Cha 15

Cha for any exploits u might want later.
And u get to be social!

Sczarni

What feats would work for arcanist I only have one so far and the only 2 i can think to get is extra exploit and imp init. cause at lvl 9 iI plan to take the sylph feat for perm flying which I think is neat.

And if I ever run out of spells would kind of wands/weapons do I need to make sure I have on hand for when things truly blow up in the worst ways? All I can think of is buy wands to consume so i can spam one of the exploits to deal damage and/or summon a mass of monsters to kill stuff with.

Lastly I see that there are staffs with spells in them i can eat for points are the spells I eat good and gone or is there a way to refill it with spells?

Sorry for all the questions but this is new ground for me.


I feel, don't worry so much about how many spells you can cast. In a fight you should use what, 2-4 spells MAX in that fight. Often you'd do fine with just 1 good spell and letting your team take care of the rest. and you'll have a fair amount of arcane points. And being able to change your low level spell slots, which probably can't do too much that's useful, for a strong summons should be fine.

good feats are general caster feats. spell focus in the spells you want to be good at. Greater focus if you want to really be good. If you are going summons, you probably want to get augment summoning and Superior Summoning can be pretty good. Metamagic feats are nice. I feel it's better to metamagic a spell than use a higher spell a lot of the time.


Spell focus and greater spell focus.

Spell penetration and greater Spell penetration.
It sucks when your spells can't bypass SR!


If you're going occultist I suggest Spell Focus (Conjuration) and Augment Summoning, it gives a +4 Strength and Constitution bonus to the creatures you summon.

Sczarni

which feat should I get when then? Do I get the summon ones at 1 and 3 or later at like 7 and 9? What level does SR start to come into effect?

would the order be 1st spell focus (conjuration), 3rd augment Summoning, 5th greater spell focus (conjuration), 7th spell pen, and 9th greater spell pen?

But wait I also chose sylph which after I take 2 feats give me perm fly which sounds awesome for staying out of the way from the melee should I get those as soon as possible or push them back to later?

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Looking for some class advice All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice