Some character creation questions before I begin.
1) Are background skills in use?
2) Are you allowing the usual 3rd trait for a drawback?
3) Can characters with the appropriate skills (and feat, for Scribe Scroll) use those to get a discount on the relevant equipment at game start?
4) Are tax feats (Power Attack, Piranha Strike, Dead Aim, etc.) available as freebies for character who meet the requirements? I'm seeing this optional (but non-PF) rule pop up more and more often lately, and was curious about it. I think it's based in this.
hello all, for now i'm just dotting right now i have some work i need to go do. but rest assured i'll have my character wriiten and done by day's end
so my race human, maybe half elf. idk, half elf would save feats for what i want to do but human raised by elf makes more sense for the character.
class, probably alchemist. i've been looking at the promethean archetype, it seems cool but i'll probably skip it till i can figure out how to build with it.
the idea beyond that is he's a smart kid, with little social skills and he doesn't fight fair...despite being raised in the care of a paladin. his connection is that Shalelu started mentoring him after said paladin's unfortunate death.
anyway that's just a brief thing, i'll have a full thing later.
long story short, high int and can fight
1) Surprising, but all right. Frankly, I figured this--as an actual PF rule--would be in before the tax feat thing.
2) Yay!
3) Cool, every bit of stretch on that precious starting gold helps!
4) As I stated on #1, surprised to get this in over the background skills. But not complaining. So many feats, so few slots, and everything I don't have to pay for is one more slot I can cram with something else, you know?
Followup on #4, which just occured to me, but is relevant to both of my possible characters: what I select a class or archetype that gets a tax feat as a bonus feat?
Regarding the caravan rules, if you want them in, but don't want the hassle of tracking them, I'll be willing to jump on that grenade. Or make the attempt, at least.
So, as mentioned in the interest thread, I can go with either a kitsune fighter/oracle or a tengu ranger. Here's a bit more detail on the pair.
Kayin would start as a fighter (lore warden), then go to dual-cursed oracle (wrecking mysticism and haunted), with an eventual dip back into fighter for a level a bit later on. He'll be a two-weapon combatant, eventually using a rapier and a whip, with the later serving to initiate trips and disarms for others to play off of. Very much a support character, and the spells would reflect that: buffs and debuffs over damaging stuff.
He's a stereotypical shounen pretty boy, with his ambiguous looks played more for humor ("yes, I am a guy, no, I'm not curious, yes, I am very sure I'm not curious) who's native to Avistan. He's making the journey to Tian Xia because he got into some heavy stuff at home that left him stuck with a really ugly curse, and the family elders decided that the kitsune ancestral spirits in the former homeland hold the only cure for what ails hi. Plus, and they're not really saying this, but it's sort of obvious to everyone who knows about the problem, they want Kayin's jinxed butt well the Hells away from them before his s*** splashes any of them.
Pazeek is a ranger--likely infiltrator, maybe sky stalker on top of that--with single level dips into UC rogue and UC monk. He'll be another two-weapon build, but the monk level and a few feats will eventually allow him to add his beak to his full attacks, and use style feats in the process. The rogue dip will let him do some trap work on the party's behalf as well.
Pazeek is in dire need of someplace far, far away from Avistan to visit for a time, the sooner, the better. He got piss-drunk, picked up a friendly lass who--unbeknownst to him--was a long-time admirer of his, and made some drunken vows which she takes quite seriously. He sobered up, tried to flutter off into the sunrise as he does... and got stopped butt-cold by her numerous, burly, and highly capable kinfolk, who think he should be a good little bird and do as he promised. He somehow managed to "nope" on out, but their on his tailfeathers, and he thinks it's a lovely time of year for a long-a** caravan haul to distant lands. He's a shameless flirt (which has cauaed him no end of problems lately, but why let little things stop the fun), has a loose idea of the concept of property ownership (for those that get the reference, think Dragonlance kender), and is more than a bit mercenary when it's time to divy up the loot. He's also fearless, loyal to his friends, and surprisingly generous in light of how he is about actually getting his claws on his money to begin with.
So I'll go with either of these, as the party needs. But it'll take a good day to bang out a character sheet, so knowing which one as early as possible would be very nice.
I will be leaning towards a fighter class probably. because this will be my first game in this format I assume it will be easier like dnd to play.
I had a mechanical question.
- 1) do you allow catch off guard feat to use hilt of crossbow, musket, rapier, other end of polearm etc..
Hmmm.... So, I'm not seeing a whole lot of casters. Thinking of going with either a wizard, warpriest, or maybe oracle. Anyway, I could cover some healing.
Ammon, you may want to look at the Tinkerer archetype, if you're looking for the whole "makes constructs" vibe. It handles the idea a bit easier, giving you a clockwork familiar you can upgrade in various minor ways.
ya I saw that too on casters, so I will be going a inquisitor (sin eater) of Irori, with military tradition (naginata), background younger sibling of Ameiko. that should give us at least a little healing, we will still need a main healer though.
Colin if your going cavalier, maybe a samurai? Ronin. for the more Asian flair?
i liked the weird humanoid companion in promethean. clockwork doesn't really feel the same, thanks though.
as alchemist i can do a bit, but we will probably need actual casters...i don't count... but anyway, between all of us i think we'll be fine as long as we coordinate a small amount.
i am going to have investment in the knowledges, for skills.
Okay, then I think I'll go wizard.
Actually, on second thought, I kind of want to try out the warpriest.
ok so it sounds like we have- out of the 5 that have spoken up. so I think we are good with healing then, weak on caster (wiz), ok on melee, and little weak on skill monkey that sound about right? I would lean then to sam playing the tengu.
Ammon- Alchemist
Daedalus- Warpriest
Chubbs- Inquisitor
Colin- Cavalier
Sam- tengu ranger/monk, or Fighter/oracle
Any chance to join in?
Maybe as a Kitsune sorcerer? Or Arcanist?
DM-
Would you allow the Guided weapon quality? It's Paizo-made, but from 3.5. It would be pretty good for my warpriest.
warpriest is really good if you want to use a weapon that normally sucks. i've used it a few times myself.
I think that with 7, we're already more full than the GM may realize.
Okay, given Chubbs's class breakdown, I'm thinking of one of three characters:
* An inspired blade / investigator skill monkey
* A Strategist Cavalier 1 / Exemplar 5 / Battle Herald (the ultimate support character)
* A Reach cleric
I'm open to suggestions.
Tarondor if you want to go skill monkey ill change my inquisitor to a mage class that fits. you wanna do that?
then we should have at least the following- until carrion speaks up.
Ammon- Alchemist with kinda a follower
Daedalus- Warpriest
Chubbs- Mage class (ill have to work on it)
Colin- Cavalier- ranged
Sam- tengu ranger/monk, or Fighter/oracle
Torandor- inspired blade. Skill monkey.
I want to use my Half-orc hunter, Greta. I'm thinking she can be a sort of switch-hitter to assist combat in the most effective way and also help with other wild-type survivaliy types things as well.
Also, my work load is much like the DM's. I work full time and then attend classes 3 evenings a week towards my Bachelor's. I will post as much as I can humanly achieve... :)
so, making this might take a bit longer than i thought but it is going well, now anyway's.
i'm going to build in a way so i can buff/debuff people and provide support on the front line.
basically i'm utility ...oh and i can disable traps and magical traps. turns out promethean is compatible with Trap breaker... i mean all i get really is the trapfinding and breaking in exchange for the poisoning but i wasnt going to use those anyway
I think I'm going to focus largely on casting in the early levels, then focus more and more on melee as time goes on. Of course, if Guided isn't allowed, I'd have to change that some, but that's the plan so far.
Ammon, if you're primarily buffing, I won't take my Battle Herald. If you're primarily planning on skills, I won't take my Investigator. Let me know.
i'll have some skills mainly knowledges and disable device. benefits of high intelligence and human bonus skill ranks.
i do plan on taking the infusion discovery because it's useful. but i'm not sure how effectively the alchemist can buff,
long story short my role is skills and secondary melee. just due to my uncertainty on buffing
do we have someone who can talk and diplomance? cause Garidan only causes issues when he tries negotiating...turns out he's not very nice
Well, my Battle Herald can buff and diplomance nicely.
What does everyone else think? Chubbs wanted a pure skill monkey, which my investigator could do, but if Ammon's going to cover skills, I can take my Battle Herald.
There's also the cleric, who is also a decent buffer and a healer to boot.
I can pass as a cleric for the first several levels- I'm planning on a high Wis (higher if Guided is a possibility) and it will be a little while before there's much of a difference between my spellcasting and a cleric's.
Tarondor I think the cleric would work best then,
healing (tarondor primary; Daedalus secondary)
Skills (ammon who could cover off healing also ; with carrion and sam rounding out,)
fighting (melee Carrion, ranged Colin, sam secondary)
casting (chubbs)
does that sound right, the hunter animal companion will help. I am assuming with half orc he will be going melee.
I'll also fill in with melee. First couple of levels might be a bit rough, but I can hold my own (and likely do some serious damage once my build comes online).
*Blinks*
Huh. So, if we're going with the 'weapon focus applies to a weapon group' rule, does that mean I get my Sacred Weapon damage with all of the weapons in that group? Because that would be awesome. I've spent nearly an hour trying to decide what weapon I want to go with (currently I'm leaning towards Glaive, but I also like the starknife and kukri....).
Good new everyone, i am switching to the tinker archetype after all because of the line stating the clockwork familiar can look like whatever i want.
Meaning i can make it look like a person fairy-pixie thing, also it's mechanically better... robot...mechanical...get it...i'm sorry my jokes suck
what changes in terms of build? everything's pretty much the same but better. oh and i get my bombs back.
Without the ability to dump stats, the Reach Cleric concept doesn't work. I hated dumping INT anyway. So I'll be doing either a Caster Cleric or going back to the Battle Herald idea. Still working on it.
GM - The changes to the rules re: sacred weapon / feat tax / class ability tax are moving a bit fast for me. Can you summarize the house rules, please?
The whole "weapon focus applies to a group" really just means I have more versatility in my weapon choices. For instance, should I decide later on I don't want to focus as much on reach weapons, I'm one feat away from being able to use daggers, starknives, rapiers etc. instead. I'm fine with changing it if it turns out OP, but I'm not really expecting it to.
Thanks for Guided. That will be... very useful.
i love this no feat tax thing, it's just nice. just wanted to say that.
So are we basically looking at the link? for those are the rules we are going with or are only certain parts of that guide? or are you going to name the tax feats you feel are appropriate.
Torondor- you could go dwarf reach cleric that would allow a dump chr If that would work for you.
Nah. Reach cleric is out. At some point, you dump all the mental stats and you've created a less-capable warpriest. If you can't lower your stats below 10, you can't raise others to useful levels. A reach cleric is simply too MAD for that.
I'll get back to you with a caster cleric or battle herald later today.
because several of those feats written I think would upset the balance, I think if you allow only the "pure" feat tax feats (combat expertise, Power attack/Parhna strike) it wouldn't upset it too much but once you go into everyone can use Powerful Maneuvers it gives you a ton of feats for next to nothing. not to mention there could be if you look at the other side enemy's that could build extreme strong that don't normally have the feats would need to change e.i you could take a common ogre that does not have power attack and then wham a lot more dmg in addition be able to take full advantage of bull rush due to size deadly aim with a rock, etc, this is simply some dialog, its your game, this is coming from another experience DM point of view.
sorry for the grammar errors wrote it a little fast and didn't proofread, powerful maneuvers is on that link. and it goes off the assumption that monsters and characters should play by the same rules. would monsters that have any of the tax feats be switched out for others.
I'm willing to abide by the GMs decision, but I think the long-term effects of eliminating the so-called feat tax is at best a lot of work for the GM and at worst destabilizing.