I can't really remember how many resources you have to invest in being a good blaster, but I think you can still afford some options at each level. To be honest, the biggest reason why I would stay away from a sorcerer is that you don't have any incentive to have a high intelligence, and I like to imagine that I'm quite intelligent myself.
I agree with that second point. Not with a ten in constitution though. :(
Sage sorcerer keys off int, but for a blaster you want orc/draconic bloodline. For hydras, draconic bloodline is more feasible.
A draconic sorcerer knows 6 first level spells, one of which is mage armor, 4 second level spells, one of which is resist energy, and 3 third level spells, one of which is fly.
A draconic sorcerer can cast a fireball for 7d6+7, 5x per day? And he can only do it once per round.
I just did 16d6+22(to a single target) in a single round.
TLDR: leave the single target dps to martials
Isn't there more appeal? I think there is, but I'm too lazy to figure it out right now. I think you can do some metamagic shenanigans or something.
In any case, that's not a favorable comparison for the sorcerer.
To really ramp damage you need to take spell specialisation which requires 13 int, then do crossblooded(orc+draconic), which reduces your spells known per level by 1 for each spell level. So 5 first level spells, one of which is mage armor, 3 second level spells, one of which is resist energy, and 2 third level spells, one of which is fly.
The last third level spell is fireball, so you never get haste as a spell known. Then you get a 9d6+18 fireball.
Good news about fireball is it hits everything in a 20ft radius which is good in mass fights.
The best part about a blaster caster is being able to do things other than blast. :D
At low levels sorcerers have a hard time doing that, but once you get up high enough level that you can make your entire party invisibly spider climb on the ceiling of the fortress the fact that you can't do as much single-target damage as certain other classes starts to feel less painful.
Martial classes have more staying power.
MY NINJA IS DEAD
I'm talking about how long you can keep going in a day, not your hp, nub!
You're not dead, just... temporarily disabled. :D
Guys, maybe I'm talking about emotionally! Did you ever think of that? No, of course not. You're all too busy not bleeding everywhere.
I'm probably going to join you soon =) There's joy in shared misery ;
Kineticist at the end of the day, is about trading your hp for how fast you want to kill things.
I hope we all die for a bit and then the game is just us randomly voting which direction to send the body and GM just telling us what the body feels (since we can't see, hear, smell, or taste).
I'll pop back faster then you do, since I figured I'd eventually push over the limits.
Tom and Grash need to be precise about when they die, then.
Grash also has Swift Regrowth. He hates missing fights. :)
Tomorbataar can't die, that wouldn't be very dignified.
Also I'm willing to bet that tripping is a better strategy against the trolls if they're still at full health.
How long does the confusion last? I think we're in fine shape if it's a while. Also it may be in our best interests to kill Tomorbataar so that he can get some health back, but only if we've got 1d4 minutes to spare. And also he'll fight back. Maybe not the best idea after all.
Third and final thing: I'd definitely always take haste over fireball, even if I was playing a dedicated blaster.
Confusion lasts for 1 round/level. Long enough for our purposes. And yes, Haste is almost always more powerful than Fireball. Grash is quite likely to learn it as his next third level spell, though since Ziphora has it easily he may prioritize other things.
I've played a couple blasters in my time; the trick is to figure out how much to diversify and how much to specialize, as it can be a fine balance. Certain utility spells are just good enough you get them even if you're prioritizing attacks. Often you have to realize that you get better single-target damage by buffing up the melee characters, but better multi-target damage with attack spells.
The most fun as a caster that I've ever played was as a Transmutation Specialist that focused on buffs and battlefield control. I tried my very best to never have to do direct damage. Although one time I scored a natural 20 when throwing a thunderstone at a giant, flying bat. That was awesome. The GM ruled that the bat's sonar was ruined, and the bat did more damage to itself careening off of the cave walls than anything we did to it.
Hey all.
I've been working pretty hard on another character for a game which is currently in recruitment. If you'd like to read through his backstory and give your thoughts on my writing, that'd be cool. (Speaking of which, if anyone has any constructive comments on my writing in this game, that'd also be great.)
There's really nothing in it for you. I guess you'll have my gratitude and thanks, and if you ever want me to review a character for you, I can always do that. But honestly, I'm only asking because it seems like some people like to read characters and offer their thoughts, and that'd be great for me.
If not then don't sweat it, I've already got like six other people reviewing my character. I think it's actually five right now, but uh...it could be six soon. Anyway, the point is, if you want, click the link, if not, go back to whatever you were (hopefully happily) doing and forget about it.
The system is weird. I need to study what does partial gestalt mean before I can really comment. I've done full gestalt before and it's less complicated then partial gestalt.
I would use blended view instead of darkvision to gain darkvision 60 ft. Alternatively even going human taking the dimdweller trait + Unstoppable Magic will give elf like Spell penetration. Also the thing is you have a tumor familiar – make him take valet archetype instead of bodyguard (the stuff in Rappan Athuk has such attack bonuses that bodyguard or not you’ll still get hit anyway), and then you take escape route instead of improved initiative. It means both of you never provoke for AOOs for movement ever again. Taking shake it off teamwork feat also means that you get a permanent +1 to all saves (if you want to go that route).
Colourspray – things you’ll meet at level 4 – eh quite unlikely colour spray will work on them. Get stuff like shadowtrap, ear piercing scream instead.
Silent image is too dependent on GM fiat – skip it. I’ve played with GM Choon before – he isn’t the sort that will let you get away with creative illusions.
Obscuring mist – chances are unless you coordinate with your party – it will screw your party over more then it screws the enemy – get it on a scroll instead. And GM Choon plays his monsters that they know where you are, obscuring mist or not, so they’ll just eat the concealment chance.
Create pit – double edged sword – at this level you can’t fly yet, so it means your guys can’t get to the enemy.
Levitate – waste of time – Rappan Athuk is very closed up so there isn’t much to levitate, besides you’re wasting combat rounds. Go for glitterdust or burst of radiance.
Stone call – provides DT – but usually you won’t want that much. For level 2 you may want summoned small earth elementals with augmented summons – they CAN pack quite a punch.
Now you know what class I REALLY am? :P
Thanks a bunch, if you want to read my fluff go ahead. I'm sleeping now, because I've been working for literally eight straight hours, and the sun just rose, but I'll look to incorporate your advice, which is quite helpful, in the morning.
Valet archetype means your familiar can help you craft stuff.
A valet’s master treats the valet as if it possessed the Cooperative Crafting feat and shared all Craft skills and item creation feats he possesses.
So you get twice the crafting done.
Fluff wise, sorry I'm not very helpful. I'm not fluffy enough :( My blood has too much cheese in it :(
For your alchemist side, you might want point blank shot and precise shot. Also carry acid flasks so you can apply your int bonus to the splash.
This partial gestalt is just the class features from another class every other level. You also get to take their skill points and hit dice at those levels, but not their BaB or saves. Alchemist seems like a good fit for a variety of reasons, in this case.
Is glitterdust fine even though we're underground, where there's not light? Seems like blinded wouldn't be too much of a penalty, but then, glitterdust is still a great spell since it reveals invisibility.
I'm not sure yet what the party is, so I can't decide on how good something like create pit is. I was already leaning towards web as my go to battlefield control option though, so I guess I'll be in favor of that.
Regarding familiars, I like the fluff of my character having a familiar which is out of place on the battlefield. I also like going first. I'm not sure how good crafting will be, but I plan to take Augment Summons and a metamagic feat at level five, so it won't be relevant for a while.
I haven't got summon spells because...uh...anyway, that's a good suggestion.
Would you take invisibility or mirror image over levitate? I'm leaning towards invisibility for out of combat application, but mirror image might be better as a defensive buff.
Thanks for the heads up regarding Choon and obscuring mist and silent image.
Regarding teamwork feats with the familiar, I 1) really like going first and 2) am a conjuration specialist who can teleport ten feet as a swift action, which hopefully alleviates that need somewhat. I'll do some math about the benefits of the +4 from improved initiative on opposed checks, see how much I need it. My character's backstory doesn't involve a lot of fighting, so I think something like improved initiative also makes more sense than a teamwork feat.
An alchemist already applies int bonus to the splash from bombs, right?
Thanks again, let me know if you ever want me to return the favor.
The problem with shift is it works like dimension door so after you use shift you cannot take any other actions.
Blinded is 50% miss chance. It is a good debuff. Being underground makes no difference to the spell effects, save, or you're still blind.
You can prepare 1 invisibility for combat applications.
Alchemist applies int bonus to any splash weapon,bombs,acid flasks etc.
Web gives total cover so it's also a thing of party can't hit bad guys.
It's true that glitterdust works underground. It's also true that the sun's light doesn't reach underground, which results in many creatures using non-visual means of getting around. Basically, when I make a bat as blind as a bat, I've not actually done anything. Bats actually have good eyes, but uh...they could still use echolocation. I think that darkvision is common enough that it's still a fine idea, though.
Definitely grabbing some acid flasks then.
I'm fine with giving them total cover. It's a symmetrical effect, but I'm not going to use it unless that symmetry is broken, such as when I lock out half the enemies for a few turns.
Bats have blindsense in pathfinder, but blindsense still means you take 50% concealment even if you know where the target is.
Huh. That's a bit dumb, I'd think bats would have blindsight, considering they can locate small insects even at night.
I can only speak of pathfinder RAW.
Yeah, I did some math, I don't think there's anything that can convince me against running the +16 initiative.
It's a bit tough to figure out initiative by CR, but there is good data on dexterity. For CRs of 4 and 5, the average score is about 14, with a standard deviation of 3.5, so if I want to look at everything under two standard deviations I need to compare to scores of 21, which give a +5 modifier.
Opposed checks with modifiers of 16 and 5 result in victory for the 16 92% of the time.
Opposed checks with modifiers of 12 and 5 result in victory for the 12 only 82% of the time.
Against initiative scores of about 3, the 12 starts to catch back up, and against initiatie scores of 0 the difference between 12 and 16 is only 5%. This seems like it will be more common against CR appropriate enemies, considering that most of the dexterity modifiers will actually be lower than 5, but then, that doesn't account for any circumstantial modifiers like improved initiative.
Plus, higher CR foes get dex mods at two standard deviations from the average of 6 and 7, where the difference between a 12 and a 16 means going first about 13% less often. And the higher you go, the better the 16 becomes: against a monster with 10 initiative, the difference is more than 16%.
Basically, if I want to almost always go first at least 80% of the time, even against high CR foes with improved initiative, I need that +16 modifier. And I do, so I don't think I'm going to be able to pick up any of those sweet feats.
Hey just checked for fun, we've averaged 4.34 posts per day, including weekends.
I'd say that's pretty good.
The weirdest thing happened to me today.
I was starting to make a character, trying to get a name. I checked the d20pfsrd list of common names, and one of them was Tomorbataar. I don't think that was there when I made this character.
I thought you got it from there, honestly.
I had always thought that I got it from BehindtheName.com, which I use for all my naming needs.
It means iron hero in Mongolian, which I liked. I think I was reading a book about the mongols at the time.
Today I went for a ride in a German Army surplus vehicle, a big troop transport unimog. This particular vehicle had a penchant for the driver forgetting to put the parking brake on. Also for flipping over. In particular it seemed to do these things at times after I had taken my seatbelt off but before I had actually gotten out.
Anyway, I'm mildly concussed but otherwise fine. I had a hard time reading my book while the ambulance was on its way, but that's not necessarily a result of head trauma, it might have just been stress.
The point I'm trying to make, though, is that I might sound more like an idiot than usual.
Hopefully it isn't worse then me posting while tipsy...and guess what? I was GMing that game.
Anyway, urm don't overexert yourself because that's what medical experts say if you get a concussion.
Ouch! I hope it won't take long to feel better.
Update this evening, sorry I've been slow this week.
Today I went for a ride in a German Army surplus vehicle, a big troop transport unimog. This particular vehicle had a penchant for the driver forgetting to put the parking brake on. Also for flipping over. In particular it seemed to do these things at times after I had taken my seatbelt off but before I had actually gotten out.
Anyway, I'm mildly concussed but otherwise fine. I had a hard time reading my book while the ambulance was on its way, but that's not necessarily a result of head trauma, it might have just been stress.
The point I'm trying to make, though, is that I might sound more like an idiot than usual.
This post was an emotional roller coaster. I hope the brain damage isn't permanent!
Yeah, they said I'd be fine in a few days.
Every time someone tells me something I've written was an emotional roller coaster I feel good about it.
Yeah, they said I'd be fine in a few days.
Every time someone tells me something I've written was an emotional roller coaster I feel good about it.
This post was an emotional beanbag toss!
Hey all, I've been having internet issues but they're hopefully solved by now. I'm standing in the apple store as I write this, and won't know for sure if what they did worked until I get home.
How's your head?
Well maybe slight pun intended..
It's fine, I had a headache for a few days but I didn't notice anything wrong. I was on a boat the past few days, so when the room was swimming I attributed it to that. Luck strikes again I guess.
Call.
Sorry. I'm a little out of sorts today. A little blue.
For a moment I wondered if you were making pun. I hope your day improves!
Oh yeah that'd be punny if I were in the mood to laugh at it. One of the characters in a game I was GMing chose to destroy his soul...its sad.
I'm going to secretly enjoy the pun AND hope your day gets better.
I want to respond with additional puns, but the only one I can think of is about souls.
Just noticed your character header. Hydra, Head Skald is a great title!