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I playtested a 1st-level human medium in the first level of The Emerald Spire Superdungeon (Tower Ruins) as a Pathfinder Society sanctioned game. The rest of the group included a human “battle mage” 2 (Shoanti transmuter with an earthbreaker—our front line), a human arcanist 1 (school savant, admixture subschool), a human ranger 1 (eventually aiming for an agile wild shape build multiclassed with druid), and a human telekineticist 1. We’re also expecting another kineticist to join us soon for the rest of the superdungeon—hopefully another human to keep up this atypically humanocentric party composition.
My medium Zanzeti is aiming for a fairly eclectic assortment of spirits but has chosen to focus on The Demon’s Lantern, which I find appeals to my play style and is very clever. My stats are 14/14/12/13/10/16, and I have Defiant Luck (ARG) and Skill Focus (Bluff) as my feats. As a playtest character, Zanzeti is exploring the full versatility of the class and some of the low-melee options available. Because I tend to play skill and caster characters, I feel this is where I can provide the best feedback. I also read the medium as being a very flexible, "grab abilities on the fly to combat any situation" class, and I want to test how flexible it can be by having fairly even stats.
None of our characters knew about the prevailing darkness effect on the entire level, and we panicked for a bit (neither of the arcane spellcasters had memorized light) in thinking that the Fool’s Lantern was going to be our only functioning light source, but I re-read the ability and realized that it also allowed unlimited casting of dancing lights. Expedition saved!
I served as the secondary melee combatant behind our fearless battle wizard, and we first battled a number of goblins in a barracks. One of them fell for the Fool’s Lantern and swatted it, taking substantial but not incapacitating damage. The rest fell to conventional attacks, and only one started to raise the alarm, attracting a few more goblins that we handily dispatched with ray of frost, bludgeoning weapons, telekinetically-imbued cheese (literally), and a ranger who could roll almost nothing but critical hits with his light crossbow.
I’ll summarize for the rest of the encounters. Most of them were fairly easy thanks to having highly mobile light sources, and for several combats that lasted only a round or two, I did little more than manage our visibility by moving lanterns back and forth to let our vision-impaired group function. I assisted in one combat with a sling, and I spent perhaps another two combats assisting on the front line with a heavy mace. We dispatched the zombie goblins by sending about half a dozen Fool’s Lanterns down the stairs and listening for the moaning to stop (success!). We also took out the goblins fighting over the coyote corpse by using the Fool’s Lantern to pretend that it was the spirit of the coyote, who was very displeased at having its face chewed off. The GM allowed me to attempt an Intimidate check (result = 27 with a natural 20), causing the goblins to drop the carcass. The telekineticist then used the coyote to kill one goblin. Good fun! My one trance connected me with The Cricket, and I made minimal use of the movement boost during that time (gave me a slight edge on keeping a bugbear ranger flanked).
Were it not for the party’s need to have my light sources in the right place, I suspect I would have spent a lot of time doing fairly little, so this playtest felt a bit misleading in that regard—like playing a character with limited abilities who succeeded only because he happened to speak the critical language needed for an adventure. I would really like to have something available at low levels that allows me to do spirit-y things several times per day (on par with a 3+Cha ability).
The Fool’s Lantern ability was very flavorful, but I found it hard to use actively to any great effect; it’s up to the creature whether or not to take an attack of opportunity, and beyond providing that opportunity, there’s little the medium can do to force the issue. Since a glowing orb presents little immediate threat, there’s not a lot of reason for a foe to “waste” his attack of opportunity on something trivial—especially if he already knows that doing so hurts. At higher levels, the orb becomes more sinister because the medium can disguise himself as a lantern, too, but until then, I’m stuck waving it around and hoping the fish will bite. I would greatly appreciate seeing some type of luring effect (Will save to avoid trying to whack the lantern, no more than one save per day) or some straightforward way of making the lantern a threat so that there’s a reason to smack it (it can zap someone for [lantern] damage X times per day, or maybe it can be used to flank). I would also like to see the damage progress by 1d6 every two levels rather than equal 1d6 x half level, as that means my damage doesn’t increase until level 4—far after 1d6 damage has begun to feel obsolete.
Overall: I like the flavor of the medium, and as a guy who enjoys fiddling with options and rules, the mechanical chassis gives me a lot to play with. I was a little disappointed by not having a lot to do that wasn’t melee, and I can imagine it being really difficult to make a “caster” medium who contributes in combat through the direct use of spirits rather than through weapons prowess (augmented by spirits). I would really like The Demon’s Lantern to have some means of provoking the enemy to attack, otherwise it’s too easy to just ignore it and nullify most of my class feature.
Much appreciated, John. We've struck out pretty hard on the last few posted playtests for more spoilers. I, for one, am really hoping to hit the goal of 7 so Mark asks really nicely if you and Mike will allow some of his revisions to be legal.
I rolled for you John, and no success even with the reroll. On the other hand, Serisan, given John's observations dovetail almost completely with it, it sounds like he may well be amenable to adding the new ability! :D
Well, good thing I'm scheduled for another round of playtesting on Monday!
John, you've inspired me to roll for my three medium playtests, which I didn't write up or roll for since I already know the data. But first, I have to write them up. So here's Medea's feedback with the Bear:
And the rolls...well look at that. I pulled off a natural 20 on myself (those following at home can check invisiblecastle for Medea's d20 rolls for those three scenarios). If I just pick it, that's lame. John, how bout you pick the next spirit to be revealed instead of me? It can be Paladin, Keep, Forge, Uprising, Brass Dwarf, Trumpet, Sickness, or Wanderer.
I get the feeling that you and I practically have the same character, Mark. Looking forward to John's selection. :-D
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It looks like we've already seen a lot of Strength spirits, but I think it's easy to see ways to make use of Strength/Dexterity spirits and get a feel for their power level. I'm more intrigued by the "more difficult" spirits like Intelligence and Constitution, which I find are harder to make compelling while still keeping them balanced against other spirit choices. As a result, I'm cutting Paladin, Keep, and Uprising from my list.
How can I say no to an Intelligence and skills option, though?
The Wanderer
Wanderer revealed! (in the medium thread)