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This is a little thought experiment I've been working on for a while. Finally decided to put it down in a document.
The build uses the Flame Dancer Bard archetype and fog spells to great effect.
The guide is more about fun and theory-crafting than about optimization.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think!
This build uses Core, ACG, APG, ARG, UM, UC, and others.
**I've noticed that when viewing the document online, the links in the table of contents don't work.
If you'd like to download a more easily navigable version of this document, click here.
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There are a few other ways to create fog/smoke you haven't mentioned that might be handy.
1. Have a friend. Most bards operate as part of an adventuring party. Most parties have someone who would be able to cast obscuring mist. Leadership (when allowed) is a feat some bards like.
2. Summon a friend. Some mephits have relevant SLAs. They're not exceptional summoners but the summon monster spells are on the bard list.
3. Use alchemy. Light a smokestick or open a stagnant fog sack.
4. Use magic device. A scroll or wand of obscuring mist isn't expensive, and scrolls of the higher level versions at least should be practical.
5. Use wondrous items. An eversmoking bottle or a horn of fog require no skill to use and aren't expendable, which is a plus to some. There are many more, those are just examples.
6. Put on a ring. A ring of spell knowledge can add spells from other lists to your spells known.
7. Put out a fire. Pyrotechnics is on the bard list.
8. Gain prestige. Some prestige classes add spells to your list - pathfinder savant (arcane savant on d20pfsrd) & veiled illusionist I know would work.
9. Just fake it. Shadow conjuration is on the bard list too.
Edit:
10. Have faith. The faith singer bard archetype is compatible with flame dancer, and some domains have fog or smoke spells - air, water, weather and the smoke subdomain at least.
There are a few other ways to create fog/smoke you haven't mentioned that might be handy.
1. Have a friend. Most bards operate as part of an adventuring party. Most parties have someone who would be able to cast obscuring mist. Leadership (when allowed) is a feat some bards like.
2. Summon a friend. Some mephits have relevant SLAs. They're not exceptional summoners but the summon monster spells are on the bard list.
3. Use alchemy. Light a smokestick or open a stagnant fog sack.
4. Use magic device. A scroll or wand of obscuring mist isn't expensive, and scrolls of the higher level versions at least should be practical.
5. Use wondrous items. An eversmoking bottle or a horn of fog require no skill to use and aren't expendable, which is a plus to some. There are many more, those are just examples.
6. Put on a ring. A ring of spell knowledge can add spells from other lists to your spells known.
7. Put out a fire. Pyrotechnics is on the bard list.
8. Gain prestige. Some prestige classes add spells to your list - pathfinder savant (arcane savant on d20pfsrd) & veiled illusionist I know would work.
9. Just fake it. Shadow conjuration is on the bard list too.
Edit:
10. Have faith. The faith singer bard archetype is compatible with flame dancer, and some domains have fog or smoke spells - air, water, weather and the smoke subdomain at least.
1. A valid point. I guess I was trying to see if I could make a self-contained build that could utilize the Fiery Gaze ability without outside help. There used to be a preface to this effect in an earlier iteration of the guide, but I took it out to save a little space.
2. Summoning a mephit would work, but we're level 10 by the time we get Summon Monster 4... still a fine suggestion and worth mentioning.
3. Smokesticks are fine for very small areas, but the idea of the build was to provide concealment or total concealment to the whole party.
I had never even heard of stagnant fog sacks. Good call! Its concealment effect is a little weaker than a fog cloud's, but still worth considering.
4. True enough. If the player is fine with relying on devices, those are good alternatives. I should add another section to the guide discussing an item-based Fog Chanter.
5. See 4.
6. See 4.
7. Pyrotechnics is a pretty sweet spell, it just requires some setup. I should definitely mention that it is on the Bard list. Thanks!
8. Yeah I didn't discuss any prestige classes. I know there are several that would do the trick. I'll add a prestige section to the guide in a later iteration.
9. Shadow Conjuration is good, but it's also a 4th level spell. And it allows a Will save to disbelieve, doesn't it? For sure it's worth mentioning regardless. Thanks again!
10. Another good catch! It's getting late here (Korea time), but I'll definitely update the guide tomorrow to include a lot of your suggestions.
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It has been clarified that Improved Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) doesn't work like that.
Oh, has it? Thanks, I'll remove that then.
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Just updated the guide to include some new suggestions. Now I really need to go to bed, ha. I'll do some more research tomorrow.
With smokesticks they're obviously going to be more useful in constrained spaces like halls or tunnels than in the open. BTW - lighting smokesticks doesn't require any skill or stat or attack, an unseen servant can do it.
Exactly when or if you get a save to disbelieve a shadow conjured spell (or an illusion) which doesn't interact with the enemy directly, like fog cloud, is up in the air. Some people run it as getting such a save as soon as you see it, others only when you're in it, others just when you actively attempt to disbelieve.
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Sorry - one more. Gathlain bards can use their favored class bonus to add druid spells to their spell list and spells known, so long as the spell is one level below the highest spell level they know. Unlike wayangs the spell added doesn't get increased in level. There are several fog spells on the druid list of course.
The race isn't PFS-legal to my knowledge and not every GM in a non-PFS game will allow it, but there are some serious advantages to being a small flying creature in a cloud which the enemy can't see through.
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Sorry - one more. Gathlain bards can use their favored class bonus to add druid spells to their spell list and spells known, so long as the spell is one level below the highest spell level they know. Unlike wayangs the spell added doesn't get increased in level. There are several fog spells on the druid list of course.
The race isn't PFS-legal to my knowledge and not every GM in a non-PFS game will allow it, but there are some serious advantages to being a small flying creature in a cloud which the enemy can't see through.
Wow! That race looks really powerful. Near perfect stat distribution as well. With that favored class bonus, a Gathlain would probably be an even better fog chanter than a Samsaran.
I think I'll change the 'first method' in the guide to also include Gathlains. Another great catch, avr!
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Wow! That race looks really powerful. Near perfect stat distribution as well. With that favored class bonus, a Gathlain would probably be an even better fog chanter than a Samsaran.
I think I'll change the 'first method' in the guide to also include Gathlains. Another great catch, avr!
Just updated the guide again to include Gathlains in 'the first method.'
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Additional Witch archetype for you: Seducer Witch is Charisma-based instead of Intelligence-based, making your Fog Chanter less MAD. Not PFS-legal (at least as of the last Archives of Nethys update), and not in everyone's comfort zone, but could be really useful for a GM making an NPC/villain Fog Chanter.
Note that Feyspeaker Druid (which does the same thing for Druid) degrades BAB to 1/2; Witch is already at BAB 1/2, and Seducer doesn't degrade it any more.
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Additional Witch archetype for you: Seducer Witch is Charisma-based instead of Intelligence-based, making your Fog Chanter less MAD. Not PFS-legal (at least as of the last Archives of Nethys update), and not in everyone's comfort zone, but could be really useful for a GM making an NPC/villain Fog Chanter.
Note that Feyspeaker Druid (which does the same thing for Druid) degrades BAB to 1/2; Witch is already at BAB 1/2, and Seducer doesn't degrade it any more.
Thanks! I added notes on the Seducer and Feyspeaker.
I did see you mention the Eversmoking Bottle and the Pyrotechnics Spell from which you make the Eversmoking Bottle, and you mention them as positive things. But I still think your Guide underestimates them.
Both of these things actually makes all opponents BLINDED! Blinded is a devastating condition to be afflicted with: all opponents enjoy a 50% Miss Chance, and they can can't even be targeted by an Attack until the Blinded creature makes a Perception check of 20 or a Perception opposed by Stealth +20.
A build like this will be much more devastating in PFS than in other campaigns. In Golorion, magic items are generally available at market prices, so a PFS character of sufficiently high level--I'm guessing around 5th level or so-- will be able to just buy Eversmoking Bottles. A GM running his own campaign will be able to just change the encounters, making sure that more opponents have Tremorsense, Blindfighting, Echoloation Spells, Scent, etc. PFS GMs aren't allowed to change up encounters. So most combats will suddenly become cake walks for the parties with Flame Dancer Bards. I'm expecting Flame Dancer Bards to become illegal for PFS.
I didn't see any mention of Alchemist. Alchemists have the Smoke Bomb Discovery, so they have this ability to just spam a battle field with Smoke. Grenadier Alchemists can put smokesticks on their arrows. Vivisectionist Alchemists get do Sneak Attack Damage.
Sneak Attack Damage! When your opponents are Blinded, they don't get their Dex Mods to AC. When you don't get your Dex Mod to AC. All attackers get their Sneak Attack Damage. Usually from an effect like Smoke, the Rogue is Blinded, too, and even a Rogue with Blind Fighting doesn't get his Sneak Attack Damage vs. opponents with Concealment. But Flame Dancers completely eliminate this problem. An ideal dip from Flame Dancer would therefore classes that give Sneak Attack Damage, especially Sneak Attacking Archers like Ninjas. You'll be able to just pick off your victims at Range, Blinded and pathetic while you do your fire dancing. Also, even a 1 level dip in a class like Arcanist will enable the Flame Dancer to use those Ranged Touch Attack Cantrips or Wands of Scorching Ray. Just try saying the words "Ranged Touch Attacks vs. Flatfooted AC that also does Sneak Attack Damage" without breaking into your Super Villain Laugh.
I quoted you in the Item section of the guide. :) I hope that's okay. I'll also add Alchemist to the list of multiclass options.
Enabling constant sneak attacks is definitely another perk of being a fog chanter. For the single-class and item-based methods, picking up a sneak attack class dip is a definite option. Ideally you'd also have another sneak attacker in the party to fully take advantage of the fog. I'll add a note about sneak attacking to the guide.
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Oh yeah, arrows. incendiary arrows or bolts for casting pyrotechnics on, smoke arrows cover a tiny area but you may be able to fire more than one a round, and on a similar subject coughing dragon fireworks create a line of smoke.
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Ninja Smoke Bombs would also work. If you wanted to go mainly Bard rather than dipping 3 levels of Flame Dancer Bard in something else, you could dip 2 levels of Ninja (and use Magical Knack (Bard) to make up for caster level loss) and get the Smoke Bomb Ninja Trick, and go Flame Dancer Bard the rest of the way. To get more Ki, if you don't mind going unarmored, and could make good use of Monk Unarmed Strike (from 3rd level on), go VMC Monk, although unfortunately you have to wait until 11th level for the VMC Monk Ki Pool to kick in. Ki pools from different classes stack, but you have to choose which single ability score modifier applies -- naturally, choose Charisma. The Evasion you get at 7th level will actually be useful in case your enemies attempt to counter you with AoE damage spells. The static Dodge Bonus +3 that you get at 15th level will be useful (Dodge isn't a very good feat, but this is 3 of them for the price of 1, and it stacks with all AC bonuses including other Dodge Bonuses), and the Improved Evasion that you get at 19th level will be useful (see Evasion), although unfortunately this is really late to get it. Your +1d6 from the Ninja dip will partially make up for your Unarmed Strike damage being 2 levels behind that of a real Monk.
Note: Although the above would give you a legal entry into Arcane Trickster if you added 1 more level of Ninja or the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat, I wouldn't recommend it -- you would be going 1/2 BAB while still advancing only 6/9 spellcasting (otherwise this would be pretty good).
Good to have some free fog chantin' stuff out there for PF. ;)
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Thanks, guys. Added Ninja to the list of candidates and added the fireworks and arrows to the items section.
^Actually rather hard for an Orc to get full Scent -- the alternate racial trait only gives a half-strength version, and Keen Scent (the full version) requires Wisdom 13, while Orcs have a penalty to Wisdom (and every other mental stat), so oddly, Half-Orcs are more likely to have it than Orcs. Orc PCs, sure -- somebody could build for Scent; Orc NPC Rangers, Hunters, and Warpriests, sure; other Orc NPCs, not very likely (except possibly for bosses specifically built for it).
^Actually rather hard for an Orc to get full Scent -- the alternate racial trait only gives a half-strength version, and Keen Scent (the full version) requires Wisdom 13, while Orcs have a penalty to Wisdom (and every other mental stat), so oddly, Half-Orcs are more likely to have it than Orcs. Orc PCs, sure -- somebody could build for Scent; Orc NPC Rangers, Hunters, and Warpriests, sure; other Orc NPCs, not very likely (except possibly for bosses specifically built for it).Oops, yup, Half -Orcs get it as a Feat, not as a Racial Trait. But Blood Orc Leaders have Scent.
Once you start incorporating 3rd party stuff, things get a bit less certain . . . . (The Blood Orcs you linked are from Tome of Horrors Complete, by Necromancer Games.)