Cryptics


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So, I have a player who wants to play a cryptic... he used to love Warlocks and this has ...sort of the same feel with traps thrown in. We both worry thought that next to the groups Psion who is a Kineticist blaster and the Wilder who will be a raging barbarian/wilder... he might fall a bit short in damage. I know he has infinite blastiness but realistically the adventuring day is going to stop when the Psion and Wilder run out of PPs.

I was wondering has anyone added some new and interesting insights or feats that they can use. There are so many for Surge Blast I almost feel like telling him he can use those (but I'm not sure how unbalancing that will be).

I love the idea of the 4th level power that lets him use his blast with his iterative attacks, and wish there were more blast shaping powers (maybe instead of feats blasts could be modded by powers...

Anyway I'm looking for anything that might expand what my player can do or take. Is the Cryptic based off the thief.. maybe the thief abilities that allow you to treat damage dice 1s as 2s and 2s as 3s ... that would be realll nice. But again no sense of what is too much.

Embracing the Cryptic : )

Thanks


Not to be off topic or rude, but compared to those two other classes the Cryptic is not designed for damage. It's like comparing a Bard to a Barbarian in some ways.

Grab the feats in Ultimate Psionics associated with the Cryptic, I know they added a few. Grab the stuff that modifies your blast to inflict status effects. Come up with useful ways to do trap stuff. Use you PP for utility effects in the Cryptic Power list.

Basically play to the strengths of a Cryptic, don't try to make it something it's not.

Grand Lodge

Also, the game does not have to end when the power points are low. If they are in a dungeon or whatwver, suddenly sleeping for the night should come with risk and fresh guards, reset traps, and a prepared boss.


justicar347 wrote:
Also, the game does not have to end when the power points are low. If they are in a dungeon or whatwver, suddenly sleeping for the night should come with risk and fresh guards, reset traps, and a prepared boss.

It kinda does. Sure you can throw "time sensitive" stuff at the PCs, but this gets old real fast. And at even low levels it's not difficult to safely rest. Even more so at mid levels when home (or at least an inn) is only a teleport away. And if the current issue isn't time sensitive, then really why should people keep pressing on? Why fight the boss with no ammo, versus fighting a more prepared boss with *all* of your ammo (and maybe some new ammo)? Especially if you managed to reduce the bosses resources with your initial attack (which presumably you did, if you didn't you may want to bail on that).

Shadow Lodge

one note about "safely" sleeping in a dungeon. Rope trick seems to be the forum's go-to solution. I'd just like to point out that it's FAR from perfect, especially if the dungeon has denizens of above animal intelligence.

A rope hanging out of nothing in the middle of the air? Let's gather up the other orc warriors and watch this thing...it's some kind of magic, and we orcs don't trust magic. Especially when it randomly appears in our home.

So, you sleep safely for 8 hours, and then immediately drop into an ambush.


Nonsense. You find a hard to access area (or make one) and then hide there and rope trick. Gorrg not think to look in those places.


You wouldn't be against the dungeon denizens reorganizing themselves to be in bigger and more defensible groups though would you Anzyr?

Either way, shouldn't we give Cryptic focused advice? Are there any guides for the class?


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Insain Dragoon wrote:

You wouldn't be against the dungeon denizens reorganizing themselves to be in bigger and more defensible groups though would you Anzyr?

Either way, shouldn't we give Cryptic focused advice? Are there any guides for the class?

Nope that'd be fine, however I file that under the "if you didn't really reduce the enemy forces, you may want to bail" scenario.

Also this is the only guide I could find which is sadly pretty incomplete: Guide


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Brutal disruptor is probably the best bet as a damage cryptic, as far as I can tell. Some of the material in Ultimate Psionics will help you though, like the One Pattern feat or the Lost Mind archetype, which doesn't help with damage but (IIRC) adds some nasty effects to disrupt pattern.

Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

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The brutal disruptor looks good on paper, but the cryptic suffers from medium BAB without any class features to boost his chance to hit. When I ran the numbers on that at level 10, his chance of hitting was pretty poor. Most of his attacks miss.

What you need to remember about the cryptic is he's not a damage class - he's a utility class with a damage-dealing ability. He has manifesting, decent skills (and INT is one of his primary stats), average BAB, and some other class features to support it. His insights allow his disrupt pattern to do some neat and nasty effects, but it's never going to top the damage charts in practice.

I would advise your player that the cryptic is going to be about debuffing / debilitating rather than being about putting out lots of damage.


If guns are allowed the Grammaton can work too. Increases damage a bit and is super cool.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

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Insain Dragoon wrote:
If guns are allowed the Grammaton can work too. Increases damage a bit and is super cool.

Grammaton is super cool. And firearms can help mitigate some of the hurt that a 3/4 BAB inflicts with their ability to target touch AC.

Like Jeremy noted though, with the Cryptic you're much better off aiming for a skill-monkey with cool debuff effects than trying to compete in the damage department. Even pulling out archetypes, careful power selection, and smart feat choices, your best Cryptic is going to be about as good at dealing damage as an equally optimized Rogue. Granted, he'll have cool options the Rogue won't, but those aren't going to lie in the realm of "more damage".


We've got a Cryptic Brutal Disruptor in our game who's trying to out-ray the Psychic Warrior Martial Kineticist. So far the results have been...unsatisfying to say the least. Then I learn after my Psion (Shaper) has taken a skill rank into Disable Device and become the party Rogue that Cryptics get Kinetic Legerdemain and other Rogue-like benefits I have to bend over backwards for. What is going on? The Cryptic wants to ray, not do Rogue stuff.

So the best I can do is up his to-hit with Inevitable Strike power stones and let him play as he wishes.


Cryptics are excellent debuffers, not damage dealers. I've seen a dragon taken down with a disrupt pattern, entangling them and dislocating it.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Actually, Cryptics can do decent damage. At least more than enough damage to stand their own.

-brand: INT to damage as swift action on touch attack.
-exploding pattern: splash damage

Improved disruption is a flat +1 damage on every disrupt pattern rolled.
You roll for touch attacks and ge INT to damage anyway.

Even a brutal disruptor can get the insight that makes enemies entangled, which lowers AC for following attacks....


Ugh... this thread has got me thinking about an Elan Brutal Disruptor Cryptic. Damn, better pencil in Expanded Knowledge (Schism) for 13th level and figure out a way to boost accuracy, aside from Inevitable Strike, Precognition, Offensive, and as Hayato Ken said above, Binding Pattern.

While I'm here, random (not really) question: A Brutal Disruptor with the Claim Pattern Insight can claim magical traps with it provided of course they can make a successful Disable Device check against the traps DC yes? (Really more of a confirmation since I know they can, I just want to know it, you know?)

*plots*

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