Oh, yeah, I saw those but didn't see them as ending the kensai's usefulness. They are just preserving the dervish dancer tradition. Fine fine. The two most popular weapon choices for magus are still in play. I actually got to play a rapier using precise strike magus before the nerf,lots of fun and still not the highest damage dealer in the group. Oh well.
Oh, you can still be useful, sure... just not for very long. You've got to nova, which is especially bad if you're also a Bladebound (since that reduces your Arcane Pool and gives up another Arcana in addition to Kensai giving up an Acana, reducing spellcasting, and replacing Spell Shocking Grasp Recall); a popular combination for being thematic and one of the few things that is actually applicable alongside Kensai. Next thing you know, they're probably gonna force Fiend Flayers to take the two crappy Arcana they get access to instead of just gaining them as options.
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It was just kind of a royal dick move, though. Slashing Grace wasn't hurting anything, and it wasn't really stepping on the Rogue's toes that much.
Yes, you could get it at lv1, but ONLY has a pure-blooded Human.
Everyone else had to wait 'til Level 3, when the Rogue gets its Finesse Training, or MAYBE level 2 if you took a dip into Fighter. Either way, because Slashing Grace only worked with Slashing weapons, that was fine - the Rogue still was able to play ALL Light weapons and everything that was Finesseable; they each hit about the same number of weapons total, doing it two ways. And the Rogue got it for FREE, in addition to getting Sneak Attack, a Rogue Talent in the meantime, and a whole bunch of other abilities.
And, in reality very few "Swashbucklers" actually were one-weapon fighters - a large number of styles made use daggers as a secondary weapon... so the whole Errol Flynn thing was a little completely inaccurate.
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And, in reality very few "Swashbucklers" actually were one-weapon fighters - a large number of styles made use daggers as a secondary weapon... so the whole Errol Flynn thing was a little completely inaccurate.
While this is true, you'll be much happier if you don't expect any historical accuracy from pathfinder game mechanics. crossbows are much deadlier in real life than in game. A vast number of shields do not have straps and are not worn. Bucklers are almost always held I one hand and are not strapped to the arm. You can also bash with them quite well.
Still forming opinions but...
The really really cool stuff doesn't work particularly well. (I'm looking at YOU chakras)
The stuff that works fairly well is serial number filed off spellcasting.
I am abit disappointed with the pain discipline for Psychics, since it cannot do what it says in the flavour text.
Anyone else notice that the Psychedelia Discipline ability Hallucinogenic Aura can't be turned off?
Imagine walking through a city, how many people would roll "Attack nearest creature" on their confusion table?
Yeah, you're kind of doomed to a hermit existence just growing your shrooms and tripping out in peace, man.
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You could add your alchemical cure to the water supply.
The trails man! Am I the only one seeing this....
The Dream Scan spell is kind of an amazingly overpowered way to gain information about a subject. All you need to target it is the subjects name/title/accurate description (per Dream), and as long as they ever sleep you get an unlimited range ability to ask questions of their deep subconscious unless they succeed at a will save (repeat for consecutive questions) or Bluff you with no/false information.
Any Wizard with 6th level spells could be using this every night to ask anything he wants of anyone who sleeps and whose name he knows. Where are you? Where are you going? What's your current goal? What defenses does your home have? Where is your treasure hidden? What are you strengths/weaknesses?
Great thing to pull on PCs, have them wake up knowing an opposing Psychic/Wizard/whatever knows who they are and knows the answers to whatever he asked. You can take action to change your plans, but he might visit your dreams again the next night...
It is just another product that makes me wonder how much more affordable it would be if authors weren't paid by the word. No more useful to me, mind you, but at least affordable.
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It is just another product that makes me wonder how much more affordable it would be if authors weren't paid by the word. No more useful to me, mind you, but at least affordable.
That's... not how it works at all.
Writers are commissioned to write entries and are allotted a certain amount of space.
They can go OVER that space, but more than likely will be required to cut back on unnecessary wording or mechanics in an attempt to trim the book down to as few pages (in multiples of 4) as possible.
Pagecount is a big issue facing anyone who publishes material, because more pages means a higher price, but usually it's a matter of cents per book once you get up to the large quantities that Pathfinder books are printed in.
More than anything, it's the cost of transporting and housing books that makes the price rise substantially. Materials also plays into it, especially the cost of making books hardbound, as do the costs of advertising, etc.
You of course need to pay creatives (authors & artists) and editors, as well as other employees like sales reps, etc.; having on-staff employees is substantially cheaper in the long-run than having freelancers, however (freelancers can negotiate their price based on the amount and importance of what they write; employees write whatever they're assigned to, regardless of length and or importance, without a change in price), so when producing a big hardbound book, each individual author, editor, artist, etc., barely makes a dent in the final cost of the book.
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I am kind of sad that the Psychic has no healing spells... I mean, for me the 'psychic healer' is a thing I was looking forward to making.The Psychic with the Faith discipline can heal.
Themselves only. Totally not the same thing. Plus, it's faith healing which puts religion back into it.
Themselves only. Totally not the same thing.
You can channel spell energy into cure or inflict spells. This ability functions similarly to the cleric’s ability to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells, and the type of spells you can convert depends on your alignment in the same way. The cure or inflict spells don’t count as being on your psychic spell list for the purposes of any other effects. Each day, you can convert up to one spell from each spell level you can cast. Each time you use this ability to convert a spell, you regain 1 point in your phrenic pool. The maximum number of points you can regain in this way per day is equal to your Wisdom modifier.
It seems pretty clear to me it can replicate cure spells to heal others.
Plus, it's faith healing which puts religion back into it.
As if Occultism isn't strongly tied with religion. Contacting otherwordly beings anyone?
Anyways the Faith Psychic is strongly implied to have his powers become this way possibly from sheer conviction rather than divine intervention.
The other psychic classes have healing spells in the proper sense if you want to have a psychic healer, the Kineticist too has an archetype for it.
And it's not like there aren't already casters that can use healing spells without having any religious theme.
...having on-staff employees is substantially cheaper in the long-run than having freelancers, however...
If you're looking solely at creative output...maybe. But employees get things like benefits and healthcare that a freelancer doesn't necessarily get, so maybe not cheaper overall.
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...having on-staff employees is substantially cheaper in the long-run than having freelancers, however...If you're looking solely at creative output...maybe. But employees get things like benefits and healthcare that a freelancer doesn't necessarily get, so maybe not cheaper overall.
AS a freelancer, I can say that freelancers are MUCH more expensive in the long run if you use them again and again.
When you're an employee, your salary + benefits add up to an amount that's pretty substantially less than what you'd make as a freelancer, but the pay-off is that you're GUARANTEED to be paid and get benefits.
As a Freelancer, you HAVE to milk a commission for what you can to a degree, because there's NO guarantee that you'll be getting any work again for quite some time (that being said, many/most artists will give discounts to repeat-clients because they know they're very likely to continue getting business again). The life of a freelancer is basically seeing how long you can make your last paycheck last...
Freelancers, however, provide a service that has some intangible qualities to it, particularly that:
a) if you don't like an artist's work, or even just don't like an artist, you can choose to not use them again, and call the experience (and money) a loss.
b) you don't have to pay freelancers for sickness, injury, vacations, maternity... if they can't provide work for a commission, you just pass the commission onto someone else; with an employee, if they can't do the work for any of the aforementioned reasons, you have to not only still pay them but also pay someone ELSE to cover their job for them, possibly doubling the all-around costs.
b) is much more of a gamble than a) is, but it's still something to consider.
Artists, especially, are generally freelancers, too, because the need for art is on such a case-by-case basis. Unlike comics where you have hired-on artists who can either be signed on as a project-by-project basis or are employees of the company and produce comics for years or decades, you might not need artists for much in a book.
Wayne Reynolds, for instance, is probably THE most-iconic artist for Pathfinder, yet he's far from the only artist to have works produced in the Big Books; at the same time, while the art is needed, authors are a much-higher priority than the artists - after all, the game has to have content first and pretty art second... great-looking art in a gamebook will only sell so many copies before people stop buying it 'cause they don't like the system.
As a game-designer and publisher, Paizo will ALWAYS need authors churning out content, but they don't need character artists or illustrators doing the same, especially since art is a surprisingly small amount of product realty in the long run of a book.
Now GRAPHIC artists, however - they DO need them constantly and need them to churn out materials like logos, iconcs, etc., on a basically-daily basis. So you're much-more likely to see a graphic designer on-staff than an illustrator.
Comics, on the other hand, are 1/2 art, 1/2 writing. Since the art is much, MUCH more integral to the product, the investment of on-staff illustrators makes a lot more sense.
Generally, a Freelancer will ALWAYS cost you more on a case-by-case basis: if you're going to spend $15 once a month every year, for example, for a service that you know you're always going to need, and can get instead for a contractual $3 a month, you're better off spending the $3 a month. However, if you're only going to use that service once every 4 months, that contract isn't so hot.
So, having on-staff authors effectively pays for itself both in overall costs and in convenience; having on-staff illustrators, however, might not, but having on-staff graphic artists will probably end up being somewhere in the middle.
Basically, it comes down partly to money and convenience, and the company determines where the happy medium between them lies when deciding if hiring on someone full-time or leaving them as a freelancer is worth it.
Loving it so far. The classes are all great (save the Psychic witch feels like a reskined sorcerer with an arcanist's exploits), the mechanics are great ( save chakras witch are underpowered), most things are great. It gets my recommendation at the least.
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Themselves only. Totally not the same thing.You can channel spell energy into cure or inflict spells. This ability functions similarly to the cleric’s ability to spontaneously cast cure or inflict spells, and the type of spells you can convert depends on your alignment in the same way. The cure or inflict spells don’t count as being on your psychic spell list for the purposes of any other effects. Each day, you can convert up to one spell from each spell level you can cast. Each time you use this ability to convert a spell, you regain 1 point in your phrenic pool. The maximum number of points you can regain in this way per day is equal to your Wisdom modifier.It seems pretty clear to me it can replicate cure spells to heal others.
Plus, it's faith healing which puts religion back into it.As if Occultism isn't strongly tied with religion. Contacting otherwordly beings anyone?
Anyways the Faith Psychic is strongly implied to have his powers become this way possibly from sheer conviction rather than divine intervention.
The other psychic classes have healing spells in the proper sense if you want to have a psychic healer, the Kineticist too has an archetype for it.
And it's not like there aren't already casters that can use healing spells without having any religious theme.
Ah, thanks so yeah that actually DOES work... except again it specifically says you MUST have a deity and if you deviate from your deity's alignment you lose all powers... So it's still that deity requirement that annoys me. The psychic I made in another game, based on stuff from various novels and 'real' stuff is she's atheist, believes only in herself. Which, by the RAW is not possible. Yes, yes, GM can allow it but better to assume RAW than to expect deviation.
Also, wait where was the Lay on Hands thing? Was that the playtest? I might be getting them confused...
EDIT: Ah found the Lay on Hands thing, that's part of Pain... I just got confused. Apologies, Paizo! Now I just need to find a GM willing to let me play a Faith Psychic who is atheist... hehe... or try to find a fitting deity to her persona and alignment...
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How about Nethys? His only real tenet is that you think magic is cool.
You better do that, the base anger phantom with all his "buffs" active but without maybe items and feats will have a base valve of 4AC at lvl10 (including the +2 attack bonus for enemies within your aura).And what i "noticed" at lvl 17 he gets an ability that works like "wail of the banshee" but the text still misses the "excluding yourself" part. So if you fail the fort save the anger phantom basically kills himself, but hey at least its one of you better saves (around a 50/50% chance without items and worse if you dont put at least one bonus ability point in con).
Excluding yourself is a clause contained in the description in wail of the banshee spell. Does the phantom ability explicitly override that? If not then it would be redundant if it already says "works like ..."
Very cool! Tons of interesting flavor. All around a REALLY great addition.
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Why not make her from Rahadoum, and her "deity" is the Laws of Man.
Um, don't think that's a valid deity choice is it? You can't be a cleric of the "Laws of Man" which I believe is the intent of the Faith discipline, that you are a psychic but with divine faith. I mean yeah that would be killer, but... Just for example purpose... would it work in PFS? Psychic Faith Discipline, Laws of Man? Pretty sure the answer would be no.
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This is a product that feels like it needed more play testing before release.
1. Elemental damage is something to be used as a tactical consideration, as evident of enemies having high resistances or total immunities. The kineticist's focus onto one element is easily comparable to playing a Fire Mage in World of Warcraft back at its release and attempting to run Molten Core. Fire does not work well on fire elementals. On the other hand, the physical blasts bypass almost every form of damage reduction, and the damage reduction scaling is far more forgiving than elemental resistances. Plus, an intelligent antagonist with access to magic is definitely going to be stocking up on resistance potions for his minions should a kineticist rely heavily on an elemental blast.
2. Negative emotional effects really shouldn't require more than a concentration check to allow the psychic caster to use his abilities. It is fairly easy to be afflicted with the shaken condition, and intelligent antagonists will play to a PC's weaknesses should they know about them. Telling psychics to bring potions of remove fear is not the answer: It only points to how severe the affliction is in the case of psychic casters.
3. The psychic is great except their spells tend to affect only a single target, which makes them notably worse than sorcerers who have access to both area of effects like grease, clouds, and pits, along with equally powerful single target control spells. More importantly, sorcerers can target a wider swath of saving throws and can select spells that effect all kinds of creatures equally, whereas a psychic has to expend phrenic pool points just to effect undead with a will saving throw, arguably any undead's best save.
About the only dud for me was the Occultist... 'cause it feels like what should be an Archetype for Rogues or Investigators stretched really thin over a base class.
Everyone else is at least playable, and all of them are extremely flavorful.
About the only dud for me was the Occultist... 'cause it feels like what should be an Archetype for Rogues or Investigators stretched really thin over a base class
I don't really understand the link between rogue or investigator with occultist. Could you expand on this?
About the only dud for me was the Occultist... 'cause it feels like what should be an Archetype for Rogues or Investigators stretched really thin over a base classI don't really understand the link between rogue or investigator with occultist. Could you expand on this?
It's a thematic, not mechanical link- part of of my beef with it, really.
An occultist seems to be based off of guys like Abram Van Helsing or numerous Lovecraft protagonists- guys who find and use specific objects and symbols to achieve desired effects without actually channeling magic through themselves.
As a Rogue or Investigator Archetype, it would play up Skills (especially various Knowledges) to inidcate the focus on research and ancient lore, while not shackling us to a sort of demi-warrior/hobbled spell user.
It's a thematic, not mechanical link- part of of my beef with it, really.
An occultist seems to be based off of guys like Abram Van Helsing or numerous Lovecraft protagonists- guys who find and use specific objects and symbols to achieve desired effects without actually channeling magic through themselves.
As a Rogue or Investigator Archetype, it would play up Skills (especially various Knowledges) to inidcate the focus on research and ancient lore, while not shackling us to a sort of demi-warrior/hobbled spell user.
Except rogues don't really seem the.... use relics type, they seem more... find relic and sell it to highest bidder type. And investigator is more.... scientific to me rather than getting power from something as immaterial as sentimental value.
Except rogues don't really seem the.... use relics type, they seem more... find relic and sell it to highest bidder type.
But they are skill machines- an Archetype already heavily modifies the base class, sometimes changing entire basic motivations and skillsets in the process.
And investigator is more.... scientific to me rather than getting power from something as immaterial as sentimental value.
But an occultist shouldn't be about "sentimental value" empowering magic.
Neither of the examples I cited as the apparent inspiration for the Occultist work that way- they are cold-blooded in their rigorous examination of how the things they do work.
Even Van Helsing, an ardent Roman Catholic, uses very scientific explanations for why his mumbo-jumbo works, even if the underpinnings are religious.
"This little doodad was used by the Azlanti in ages past to blah blah blah. Works like a charm."
Even Van Helsing, an ardent Roman Catholic, uses very scientific explanations for why his mumbo-jumbo works, even if the underpinnings are religious.
That's more the relic based inquisitor archetype than rogue or investigator.
"This little doodad was used by the Azlanti in ages past to blah blah blah. Works like a charm."
Even Van Helsing, an ardent Roman Catholic, uses very scientific explanations for why his mumbo-jumbo works, even if the underpinnings are religious.That's more the relic based inquisitor archetype than rogue or investigator.
"This little doodad was used by the Azlanti in ages past to blah blah blah. Works like a charm."
Considering the heavy debt the Inquisitor and Investigator both owe to the Rogue in their mechanical underpinnings? Nah.
Especially since Inquisitors get their mojo from their deity and directly cast spells.
I don't see Van Helsing in Occultist...I see Harry Dresden and John Constantine myself. Which have elements of investigator granted, but IMHO are there own distinct thing
So... two outright wizards.
Really just feeds my point- It's a weird base class, neither fish nor fowl.
Constantine, however, is pure Occultist. He is more dabbler than mystic, more con artist than caster, and uses plenty of items to make up for his lack of pure grunt.
Just because he hates being a wizard doesn't mean he isn't one.
And the Occultist class hardly lends itself to the con man aspects of his persona even if one were to meet you halfway.
My thoughts? Great book overall ^_^
CLASSES
Kineticist: My personal favorite class at them all ^_^ Some people see it as a dark-themed class, similar to a misfit, but I'm seeing it as a elemental bender ;)
Medium: Pretty decent class, but kinda hate that 1) it has 4 spell levels and 2) the spirits require specific locations. Then again, I do get a 3.5 Binder vibe out of it.
Mesmerist: Possibly my least favorite class, because it relies a LOT of a single feature, the stare. If you can't stare at a target, you're screwed. Maybe I'm missing something, but the mesmerist doesn't have the ability to stare at multiple targets (not allies) at once. To me, it lacks offensive abilities.
Occultist: My second favorite class, because it's basically a relic hunter :D However, I question a little bit about the meaning of giving the class the ability to create circles. I don't know, I feel like the focus is more on the implements than on the circles.
Psychic: I'm indifferent about it, because I don't play sorcerers, wizards and witches. To me, it's just a variant sorcerer. Mecanic-wise, it's working nicely though.
Spiritualist: Great class that gives a twist to the summoner class. The only minor issue is that I feel like the phantom lacks abilities, it could have used a similar system to evolution points.
Racial Bonuses: ok overall.
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ARCHETYPES
Kineticist: These are hit-or-miss, such as entirely removing the Kinetic Blast for the Elemental Ascetic, when we could have gotten a monk that could shoot fireballs Hadoken-style. The elemental annihilator trades a lot for a much weaker little blast that it can use like a weapon, when technically, it could have gotten the ability to Blast using iterative attacks.
Medium: Looks good overall
Mesmerist: Since the class doesn't appeal to me, so don't the archetypes...
Occultist: Looks good as well, aside from the silliness of the Tome Eater :P
Psychic: Looks good as well...
Spiritualist: Looks good as well too
Other classes: The Ghost Rider and Mindblade look fun, the rest looks alright.
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FEATS
These look alright to me, although I could have used a feat that allows a Mesmerist to stare at multiple targets and a feat for Kineticists to lessen Burn.
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PSYCHIC MAGIC
I LOVE the new Psychic element, because it has no verbal and somatic components :P However, I do have a problem with the returning "psionic" spells:
- Ego Whip
- ID Insinuation
- Intellect Fortress
- Mental Barrier
- Mind Thrust
- Psychic Crush
- Though Shield
- Tower of Iron Will
1) They are all segmented in multiple spell levels when I could have used a single spell that scales up and 2) ONLY the Psychic can use them, when all other classes could have used them as well.
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OCCULT RULES
Most of them are situational, although it's good to see Possession being clarified and Rituals being introduced. Rituals in fantasy settings are commonly used, so it's good to FINALLY have some solid rules for them. Hey, you can now craft your own demon summoning ritual now.
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RUNNING AN OCCULT GAME
Not much to say here, because it's alright overall. Seeds, hooks and locations are always welcomed.
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OCCULT REWARDS
The items are nice... although I do wonder if having a pocket watch actually makes sense in Golarion. Have clocks being invented at this point?
Overall, great book, great material, great design ^_^
Have clocks being invented at this point?
Well considering their are constructs made through clockwork I would assume so (also the fact that Craft (mechanical) allows you to craft objects that function through gears).
Alkenstar produces revolvers- and the earliest functioning specimens of that design came around in the 1500s- but Alkenstar's feel more like Colts, which got going in 1836
Pocketwatches came into their distinctive size in the 1600s- and larger personal clocks existed in the mid-1550s.
I'd say they're well within the default tech level's upper end.
Alkenstar produces revolvers- and the earliest functioning specimens of that design came around in the 1500s- but Alkenstar's feel more like Colts, which got going in 1836
Pocketwatches came into their distinctive size in the 1600s- and larger personal clocks existed in the mid-1550s.
I'd say they're well within the default tech level's upper end.
Yeah, but... what is the "time era" of Golarion? I feel like it's end of middle age/renaissance debut, but that's not saying a lot...
Yeah, but... what is the "time era" of Golarion? I feel like it's end of middle age/renaissance debut, but that's not saying a lot...Alkenstar produces revolvers- and the earliest functioning specimens of that design came around in the 1500s- but Alkenstar's feel more like Colts, which got going in 1836
Pocketwatches came into their distinctive size in the 1600s- and larger personal clocks existed in the mid-1550s.
I'd say they're well within the default tech level's upper end.
Whatever era includes Aleknstar's late 18th-early 19th century firearms, Numeria's plasma rifles, and Lastwall's armored, lance-wielding cavalry.
A pocketwatch is hardly taking matters too far.
Kineticist
I really like this class. It fills a niche similar to a martial class while still having lots of supernatural options. It only needs two feats to be decent at what it does. As someone who doesn't care much for the ranged bow million-feat murder comboes, it's nice. Could use a few tweaks still, but lots of fun all around.
Medium
Hoo boy. I just can't really get into this class- probably because the playtest version had so many fun unique powers and limited early access to things, while this... really doesn't. It's a featless fighter who can cast spells during extended downtime.
Mesmerist
The Bard I always wanted. The Bard spell list is what I generally lean towards, but the class comes with all this baggage that's weird to work with. Mesmerist just straight up focuses on messing with people's heads. All I want now is an archetype with better access to the Possession line.
Occultist
Definitely a cool class, but not one I'd play early on. Your spell selection for some schools is pretty terrible, so you don't have a whole lot of options, and can count on wading into melee. Level four and on is much better. I love that at higher levels, this gets more spells known than the other 6/9 spontaneous casters.
Psychic
Initially, I wasn't sold on the class at all. The addition of the Rebirth discipline was all it took to convince me. The base has plenty of fun spells, and the phrenic pool for emergency metamagic is handy. Throwing in the ability to grab a different spell known every day from off-list? What I've wanted since first playing a Sorcerer.
Spiritualist
I like pet classes. Let classes with an indestructible pet are even better. The class has a fun debuff-heavy spell list. While not exactly optimal, it's still enjoyable. A few things going for it over Summoner- it gets some nice weapon proficiencies, the pet has more unique tricks like stepping through doors to unlock them from the other side, and the seventh level auras for buffing or debuffing.
I love Mesmerist, my wife has an awesome one that's essentially the party's life coach, also Mediums are all sorts of bunches of fun (I have a wisdom of 10 so I don't channel heirophant spirits).
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Mesmerist: Possibly my least favorite class, because it relies a LOT of a single feature, the stare. If you can't stare at a target, you're screwed. Maybe I'm missing something, but the mesmerist doesn't have the ability to stare at multiple targets (not allies) at once. To me, it lacks offensive abilities.
The Mesmerist, like APG's Alchemist (is it a Bomber? Is it a Jekyll & Hyde? Does it use craft - alchemy or brew potions?), seems to be multiple ideas strapped onto one chassis.
I could see Archetypes exploring advanced use of Tricks (implanting Tricks in allies at range and with less of an action cost, more Tricks ongoing at one time, etc.) *or* advanced use of Stare (including the ability to stare at two people at a time, and eventually gaining a Third Eye and being able to stare at *three* people at a time while the Third Eye is open) *or* something something Touch Treatment (which feels kind of like an afterthought that could use some development to firm up), at the cost of less of one of the other features, or reduced spells / day or whatever.
Also, those Tower of Iron Will, Psychic Crush, Id Insinuation, Intellect Fortress spells totally need to be on the Mesmerist list (perhaps addable via a Feat?)!
Perhaps my views on the Mesmerist are colored by my desire to see a post 3.X Beguiler in it (just as I saw a post 3.X Duskblade in the Magus, even 'though they are different creatures entirely).