I got it, long post to write, a lot of reading, and then I had to retype it all because my net went out :o
Would've worked better if I hadn't passed out early last night :p
I'm a huge fan of learning how things work too. I don't think I'll ever get tired of learning new things. And hooray for modern day magic ;)
Pharmacogenomics (and Epigenetics, which is relevant I think) is really cool. I like reading about that stuff in general (New Scientist is a great magazine for that sort of thing!), but I've tried to read some journal articles about it and my brain goes comatose after half a page of gene names and chemical names :o
Thinking about it, that probably would've killed me in O.Chem if I'd taken it.
That is awesome! It's in fact really cool. (badoosh!)
You're going to incur the wrath of Markus with jokes like that ;)
It worked fine! It just wasn't the most... user-friendly thing to throw at a group of sophmore students. I was fortunate in that where my dad is a computer scientist also, I grew up with that kind of stuff. But it was still really hard to get used to.
Yeah, I can imagine that. That's really a pretty hands-on course. We had labs for the physics students, but nothing so fancy. I think our students would've gone into open revolt if we'd tried to do that.
I did force all the students in my labs to learn how to wire circuit diagrams though. I would tell them that one day when they wound up with nothing but a circuit diagram, a pair of pliers and a choice between a red and a blue wire, and that they would remember and thank me for it. Always got a chuckle out of them ;)
I do love my job! :D Well.. most of the time. I do a lot of tediousness/paperwork since I'm a neophyte but it's nice going to work knowing I'm helping people!
Honestly, if I hadn't fallen in love with my husband I probably would have pursued a dual pharmd/phd program and gone into pharmaceuticals but there wasn't a local university that offers that. C'est la vie :)
Being able to enjoy your job is a huge thing I think. I did the "get paid really well and hate your job" thing for 5-6 years, it's not worth it :P
C'est la vie, indeed! It's funny how things like that go. I'd be taking a completely different path if I hadn't met and fallen for my wife during grad school :)
A tad hesitant to post an action since everybody and their mother is #2 in the initiative order, but here goes nothing. :P
For one last time the dire badger ineffectually assaults the peryton, driven by its bestial rage. Between its critical wounds and the faint vestige of fear lingering in its mind however, the majority of its attacks fail to reach their target. The badger looses one last vicious snarl before abruptly vanishing, leaving only a pool of blood and a few clumps of fur in its wake.
"An chuid eile éasca, cara," Ehren murmurs, knowing that the battle would only get more difficult from hereon out. Flinching when Ary is abruptly nailed by a crossbow bolt, he quickly prods her with the healing wand once more, expending another charge.
I really don't like prerolling or setting up actions with 6 enemies before my turn and endangered allies and the like... buuuut!
Ary cuts a vicious swath out of the Tiefling standing before her, almost as a matter of course.
If he goes down (seems unlikely):
Ary slips forward even as the creature falls, to allow Valaria to find flanking with Hinagiku, while moving into a position to defend her allies more easily.
She's only vaguely aware of Irabeth vanishing, and intoned, "I will be temperate in my actions and moderate in my behavior. I will strive to emulate Iomedae’s perfection."
If you don't feel comfortable posting an action until I get a chance to update its no big deal! :)
Slow day at work :3
Guess everyone's enjoying the holiday weekend and not coming to see a doctor *weeps*
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Sorry that you're stuck at work, but nice that it's slow at least :)
You know, I've always wanted to play a cleric in a campaign where we were in a tall building with glass windows so I could command an enemy "Defenestrate!" :)
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I need to remember to mark that Ehren has barkskin up somewhere. :P
I need to remember to mark that Ehren has barkskin up somewhere. :P
ooh my bad! put it in your header next to AC if you wanna ensure i remember
i may or may not fix the OP in time but thatll be a miss ;) yay buffs!
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Markus in melee combat!
I don't know why, maybe I'm just a masochist but I love it.
Hey, no sense in missing out on all the fun!
It's a shame you don't get scythe proficiency so you could snag one of the Deskari cultist's weapons.
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I love Valaria's trash talking and Ehren's in your face attitude!
Ary, you can either copy paste your preroll or make a new one, whatever!!!
I didn't expect to get an opportunity to crank out a post with that many rolls at work so :p
I love Valaria's trash talking and Ehren's in your face attitude!
Hahaha yes! I'm enjoying this combat :)
It took awhile to stat up but it was worth it. I was sooooo not running the same damn cultist stat blocks from hosilla's goons haha. I get really bored of running multiples of the same henchman essentially
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It's fun making new insults. Plus, I find the image of a three foot tall gnome trying to intimidate me absolutely precious.
It's fun making new insults. Plus, I find the image of a three foot tall gnome trying to intimidate me absolutely precious.
I liked the idea of a gnome chick with a scythe!!!
Anyone know if there's a way I can make a gnome that runs around with a medium sized scythe? Because that sounds amazing.
This combat is interesting.
It's really opening my eyes to my need for Reach Spell. I was originally going to take Necrocrafter at 7th level, but I think that I have to do Reach Spell.
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Kiora - the Titan Fighter archetype is what you're looking for.
A dip in titan mauler barbarian would do it.
Markus: Do you want touch attacks at range, or to increase close -> short? If it's the former, spectral hand is spectacular for it.
edit: Hadn't seen titan fighter. That's pretty nice, granting it at 1st level instead of third. Of course raging gnome...
I liked the idea of a gnome chick with a scythe!!!
So do I :) It's just adorable at the same time as being evil.
Reminds me of Titchy Gren. Praise Nahr Alma. :P
Also, the titan fighter is so much better than the titan mauler that it's insane. What the hell?
It's definitely to get touch attacks at range (given that cure and inflict spells are a pretty big section of my spells known list and that isn't going to change anytime soon).
Animate dead is also a touch spell.
Spectral hand is an interesting idea - I might have to nab a ring of spell knowledge II. I dunno if I have enough spells known to get it on my own. I could also just take it at 7th level.
Kiora - the Titan Fighter archetype is what you're looking for.
Yessssss *cackles maniacally*
Page of Spell Knowledge would be ideal probably for it then. For a single spell it's just paying money to have the spell on your spells known.
Remember, Kioralady: Paladins can lay on hands themselves as a swift action, and lay on hands as a standard. So Irabeth may have opted for two uses of lay on hands there, if you think it would make sense.
Plus other options (like readied action to lop off a gnomish head the second it starts casting), but Ary might be angerface...
You know, Ary's suggestion is something I'd never considered before. Magic missiles can't miss, but can you use them to try to sunder something held by someone without a chance of failure?
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Nope, since magic missile specifies that it has to target creatures. :P
Just did a search on the threads, and it looks as though people frown on that kind of use of magic missile (cause it makes them too strong)
I'd hazard that they'd not be that great for sundering even if it wasn't 'creature only'. Hardness is a jerkmonster and -does- apply to spells. :)
Nope, since magic missile specifies that it has to target creatures. :P
This.
Remember, Kioralady: Paladins can lay on hands themselves as a swift action, and lay on hands as a standard. So Irabeth may have opted for two uses of lay on hands there, if you think it would make sense.
Plus other options (like readied action to lop off a gnomish head the second it starts casting), but Ary might be angerface...
I'm aware, but she has 4 uses of it, and you're in a three story building :p So she's conserving resources.
Also, I don't play NPCs like PCs - the idea is you guys are the tactical geniuses, right? ;) If you think she's doing something wrong, why not tell her?
Anyway
F2f is meeting now so, Hinagiku/Isilme you should just go ahead and go :) male #3 intends to step over and shoot Ary again.
Ary already did! She told her ot heal herself!
Plus, she's the boss lady. It'd be weird to be all 'ORC LADY THING. LAY ON HANDS. NOW. THREE TIMES. THANK.'
Edit: Is #5 still up?
Edit: Is #5 still up?
Nope, my bad :) Just got home sorrryyy
No problem. :)
Side note... for no particular game, I'm having a tough time picking out a feat for a rogue.
I've mostly narrowed it down to skill focus or extra traits... but I just can't figure out which traits.
I'm leaning towards Avid Reader (History) alongside Proper Training (History). But what's good for her -now- becomes bad as soon as I take a level in investigator as I plan. Should I just go for it anyway? (I think so... but a trait for a +1 to a skill ~level 4-5 feels sad) :)
Thanks Kiora, I was awaiting #3's move to write Hinagiku's.
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That's a nice build. I originally wanted to go with a curve blade for Li'an, but couldn't figure out how to go elf *and* get proficiency without wasting a feat :)
Actually, if you're going investigator eventually, why not start with Amateur Investigator? It gets you flavor early on, a nice little bonus on knowledge skills, and eventually counts as extra inspiration.
Oooh, that's pretty much perfect! :)
I'm very afraid of spending my feats since I'm going with Variant Multiclassing... and that keeps me from having to fret over a poor decision. :) Thank you very much, Wen'Fen!
Yeah, it's tough, but the Bard VMC is really nice!
Glad I could help :)
Mmhmm. My character transformed a lot during trying to build them. They started off as a Skald with the totem archetype taking Mouse. But... I have problems with being a Skald on the forums because, well... you're gonna have people that will never ever use your rage -and- you have no control over whether or not anyone will benefit.
That 'hustle for an hour' power is insane, though.
If the Skald uses the new rage it'd probably be better, since you can benefit non-Str melee as well, but still limited, yeah. Also Song of Marching is really nice. Better than the "Triple Time" masterpiece in many ways.
I'm sure that just about any Strength-based martial class would accept the rage, but that ultimately counts on party composition. I mean, a -1 penalty to AC is nothing, and the "no tasks that require concentration" thing shouldn't come up too often. I can see your point though; a shame, since being able to refuse the rage song is otherwise one of the ability's greatest advantages.
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I always struggle with character builds. I don't like thinking about my characters in terms of class, but rather in terms of abilities and rarely do abilities that I want line up with the classes that I can play.
For example, should Markus die, I want to play a mounted wizard. How do I do this? Four levels of cavalier? Animal Ally? Much investment in something sort of lame.
Actually, that's a problem in general - a lot of lame mechanical things take a lot of resources.
It's something I've thought about a lot as well. Getting the mechanics you want is definitely expensive, and usually in direct competition with things that are mechanically useful.
For instance, I often find myself torn between taking feats that are flavorful, like Breadth of Knowledge, and feats that are mechanically useful like Weapon Finesse or Lingering Performance. There are really neat feats like Voice of the Sybil or the Aasimar racial feats that would be a lot of fun to take. Even if I wasn't doing VMC I'd be hard pressed to take them for a marginal benefit when I could take feats that would provide a significant contribution in combat.
The mounted combat feats are another really good example. I wanted to make an Inquisitor of Erastil once that rode a white stag and did mounted archery. But to do archery *and* mounted archery on just the normal feat allotment was almost impossible. And in the end the mounted archery might be used once or twice in a campaign if you're lucky.
If you want specifically 'wizard', It'll be hard. A conjurer can totally get you a nifty mount for X time per day. Summoner would do it better, though.
Occultist actually has a few things going for that type of build as well, including its own mount.
Cavalier isn't really a dead end; you can likely grab quite a few things from cavalier that would fit your build, simply by virtue of cavalier orders being pretty spectacular overall, if a little pigeonholing flavorwise. But there's also that Ghostrider Archetype...
Re: Breadth of Knowledge: If it were available to my rogue, I'd have taken it without a second thought. It's -very- mechanically good, if you ask me. :)
I really run into the problem of 'who my character is' being an anchor for how strong they can be when it comes to more options being available. Somewhat paradoxically, unchained summoner is really, really bad for me because I want to make my Eidolon interesting and not just a killing machine, but with them having ripped half the class out (early access spells, 1/3 of your evolution points), I can't really -afford- flavor and still be a credit to the team. :P I'll still try, though. :)
It would've been a good choice for your rogue. With Bardic Knowledge stacking it's actually really nice as a flat bonus to a bunch of skills. The mythic version is quite potent as well. If I had extra feats available for Isilme I'd have snagged it for sure. But I'm grabbing Leadership at 9, and that's about the only "for fun" feat I've got room for :P
On another character it wouldn't be quite as good though, without int or skill points it's really just a means of being able to attempt aid another on knowledge checks.
And summoner-wise, the new changes make half-elf summoners even more powerful than they were before, which is kinda a shame. Half-Elf Wildcaller has huge benefit evolution-points wise.
Ugh, I know what you mean. I'm looking to get Leadership, but I barely have room as is. Getting a character to mechanically match a concept is possibly the hardest part of Pathfinder.
Ironically, with Ary... so far, it's more that I'm having trouble filling everything there at the end. :p Maybe Kiora will let me go True Marshal Style and start handing out Mythic Feats and Powers...
Nah. I don't think that'll happen. :p
And there are plenty of things that are nice, and fit the concept, so they're worth taking with the little bit I do have left. :)
But I also have a few bonus feats coming in due to Ranger. Without those, I'd have like 4 less feats than I want.
I'm also passing on 'boring' stuff to take as filler later, if at all.
Right now, I'm more having trouble with being wishy washy about what I definitely -do- want. :P
Yeah... character creation can be a hugely frustrating affair at times. I often have difficulty making something that is both mechanically "viable" and flavorful. Pathfinder has this huge wealth of character options, but there are a lot of concepts that can't quite be pulled off. Not without making some sacrifices, at least. For us it's a bit easier since any new character we make would be at a decently high level, but having to start a concept from level 1 is almost always horrible.
In Ehren's case, I underestimated the number of feats I wanted early on, so he's definitely going to be behind schedule. Which is a shame, because I initially didn't want to have to blow mythic feats on regular ones just to meet prerequisites. (In hindsight, I should have just taken Spell Focus [conjuration] from the get-go.)
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The dreaded feat tax! There's a lot of feats that could have benefited from getting further combined. The Two-weapon fighting feats might be the most egregious case. In 3E you had to take two feats just to begin two-weapon fighting. Combining those into one was a good start, but honestly what would it hurt to have greater/imp 2 weapon baked into two-weapon fighting? Same with the archery and weapon focus/weapon spec feats (as an aside, one of the things that irks me about the new stamina system is that a fighter has to pay for WF, GWF, WS, and GWS boosts seperately if you want to use them with another weapon).
I think spell focus could really stand to have more benefits for the schools that don't benefit much from increased DC. Especially since all the nice summons stuff is gated behind it. You're good at conjuration, but not really if it's summoning? Great at transmutation as long as it's slowing someone down? Just seems silly that it's such a narrow mechanical benefit. At the very least any feat that gives a basic mechanical benefit should also have some kind of flavor benefit to go with it, for example Spell Focus (Transmutation) lets you change form once per spell, and Greater might let you do it several times.
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I'm more of a mind that prerequisites that have nothing to do with what you want are the things that need to go. Like... what if Varisian Tattoo didn't require spell focus -and- counted as spell focus for feats? That would make a lot of builds a little more viable.
How about that Point Blank Shot requirement for FAR SHOT. Also, outside of Automated Bonus Progression, the Weapon Focus abilities being -single- weapons rather than weapon groups has always irked me.
Interestingly enough, I have a lot of characters that I've made over the years in different systems, and I've -finally- started being able to conceptualize some of them with the most recent book. I -love- empathic magic, and I -love- elementalists. So half of my roster from another game just kind of 'came online' as possibilities. :)
Sadly, my egregiously OP character that I added as my 'GMPC' to the world, is gonna be really hard to make. Barbarian/Kineticist Half-dragon, with a half-dragon cryophoenix cohort doesn't seem very likely. :)
On character creation - I know it doesn't help for your other campaigns, but for this campaign if there is a concept you're trying to get work and it's not working because you don't have enough feats or whatever I'm fine with working out a houseruled solution to try and make it viable. Probably by fusing feats together, or by allowing more feats for a feat-intensive character, or by handwaving stupid feat pre-reqs.
If you come at me from a "I have a neat concept that I want to make work" standpoint and explain your issues I'm pretty flexible :0 And you aren't trying to do something too egregiously powerful.
For my husband's grappling build, for example, I houserule'd to allow him a mythic feat at every tier so that he could get his idea working - because he couldn't get the things he wanted otherwise.