GM Blake's PF2 Extinction Curse Campaign

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Still working on level-up.

I'm a bit stuck --

Given how heavy Leaf-On-Wind has gone into Medic Dedication Feats, pretty much the only stuff available (via HLab, at least) appear to be new Dedications, among which is Eldritch Archer though he qualifies for even things like Druidic or Cleric Dedication.

Not quite sure what direction to go here, are we seeing a lack of anything at the moment we need to cover?

So the Medic is your Free Archetype, you still get full Monk feats. It shouldn’t interfere with your combat capability. You already have Continual Recovery, so you probably don’t need to spend more skill feats either.

My reading of Monastic Archer Stance is that you can combine that with Ki Strike to improve your damage for one flurry of blows with either Unarmed or archery attacks. That seems pretty useful.

If you worked with Ephie/Mr. Splinters, the Familiar Focus would even allow you to recover a focus point and do it more than once in a single combat. Otherwise it would be once per combat until you got another focus point from somewhere.

I’m trying to figure out how you get critical specialization with your bow. Normally you would take the Brawling Focus monk feat. That even combines with Monastic Weaponry to give critical specialization to those weapons. I may be missing something (I haven’t studied the Monk class in enough detail) but there should be a way to get critical specialization with your bow. A crit with the bow causes a foe to waste an action. Maybe you are expected to take Pinning Fire to get that effect?

Stunning Fist is another option that should work with your bow.

The other thing is look at getting some Handwraps so that you can switch hit between melee and archery. It looks to me like that would be a possibility.

Eldritch Archer doesn’t look that great to me at least at the start. You can use three actions to make an arrow attack plus a cantrip. I think in most instances you would be better off shooting more arrows. There are a few feats later in the archetype that would work, like Magic Arrow or Precious Arrow, but I’m not seeing a lot of synergy there with the Monk archery.

I don’t see any reason for you to go for Cleric or Druid dedication. Is there a reason other than that you qualify that you were looking at those dedications?

All of the above is focused on combat ability. If you are looking for something else then I need an idea of what sort of something else you are looking for.

Archer archetype gives crit specialization with the initial dedication feat.

Archer archetype gives crit specialization with the initial dedication feat.

That could work. You would want to avoid the stances since it is a stance that allows you to Flurry of Blows with your bow, but some of the other feats in that archetype could be useful.

Not quite sure what direction to go here, are we seeing a lack of anything at the moment we need to cover?

Medic archetype is very much front loaded. It runs out of new stuff at about level 6 and only gets another feat at level 16.

We don't have anyone permanently doing thievery for locks and traps. I am covering it with Tome bonus at the moment, though I may retrain a skill into it permanently if I am going to do it full-time.

So maybe Rogue archetype to augment skills and dex fighting. Sneak attack costs another feat and it is harder to get that going with ranged attacks, but that would still be another 1d6 of damage. Mobility is good for enemies that have AoO. Things like that.

Leaf-On-Wind wrote:

Not quite sure what direction to go here, are we seeing a lack of anything at the moment we need to cover?

Medic archetype is very much front loaded. It runs out of new stuff at about level 6 and only gets another feat at level 16.

Huh?

So Leaf has the dedication and Doctor’s Visitation already.
This level he can add Treat Condition or Holistic Care.
At 8th he can add Preventative Treatment to the list.
At 10th he takes whichever of those he hasn’t done yet.

It isn’t until 12th level that you don’t have an archetype feat to take until 16th level.

We don't have anyone permanently doing thievery for locks and traps. I am covering it with Tome bonus at the moment, though I may retrain a skill into it permanently if I am going to do it full-time.

So maybe Rogue archetype to augment skills and dex fighting. Sneak attack costs another feat and it is harder to get that going with ranged attacks, but that would still be another 1d6 of damage. Mobility is good for enemies that have AoO. Things like that.

Ranged Sneak Attack is a little difficult to pull off with ranged combat. Might be better off to take Investigator archetype if that is what he wants to do. Not sure how well that would mix with his style of Monk combat, would have to do a little digging to figure that out.

As for the thievery, since that takes a skill increase it gets a little expensive for classes other than a rogue and investigator. The archetypes would have Skill Mastery to help with that, but I’m not sure how well that would work with Monk. Probably work better with Thaumaturge since it feels like that class is less dependent on their class feats to be effective than other classes.

I'm not saying that you couldn't fill out all of the archetype feat slots with Medic archetype feats, just that there is nothing new past level 6. So if Leaf is looking at what is available currently and is not impressed, there won't be anything new for a while.

I'm also not entirely sure what feats are already taken. The profile sheet only lists:

Ki Rush, Monastic Archer Stance[APG], Medic Dedication, Doctor's Visitation[APG]

At least, as far as I can interpret.

Which doesn't look like quite enough class feats and free archetype feats for a level 5 character. Looks like the list is missing a level 4 monk class feat?

IMO continual recovery AND ward medic is the must-have conbo to be a decent healer. I iften take them before or instead of battle medicine. I don’t see that on Leaf’s profile. (Also its just a skill feat, so easy to pick up).

I'm also not entirely sure what feats are already taken. The profile sheet only lists:

Quote:

Ki Rush, Monastic Archer Stance[APG], Medic Dedication, Doctor's Visitation[APG]

At least, as far as I can interpret.

Which doesn't look like quite enough class feats and free archetype feats for a level 5 character. Looks like the list is missing a level 4 monk class feat?

Yeah, does look like he is one Monk Feat short.

Supposed to get Monk Feats at 1st and every even level, meaning he should have a total of 4 at 6th level. Guess he can look at more options.

Holistic Care requires Diplomacy be trained, which Leaf does not have, which is why he's got a dead space to fill with something new at 6th.

I am also trying to think utility over combat focus based on GM advisory about Social/Research/Investigation.

Handwraps would be nice, but Leaf-On-Wind is already using First Aid Gloves.

Well, that's just for the next segment not the whole rest of the next chapter. However, archaeologist is a decent one to add for non-specific utility. Or rogue multiclass archetype.

Handwraps would be nice, but Leaf-On-Wind is already using First Aid Gloves.

Heh. They do both have Usage: worn gloves. I hadn't noticed that before.

I also hadn’t considered that they were both gloves. We could put first aid gloves on someone else if you want to consider switch hitting.

I had never looked at archeologist, that does look nice. I don’t think it works with Leaf’s skills at the moment, but it brings in some nice utility. Automatic increases in skills are also always nice.

I am pro getting the hand wraps and transferring the gloves to someone else. Let's get you switch-hitting!

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Meanwhile, Song-of-Air has made the following changes:

Class Feat: Dirge of Doom
Archetype Feat: Basic Spell Casting (Witch)
Skill Feat: Bon Mot

I picked Bon Mot because I really love hideous laughter.

I also changed up my spells a bit:

Spells Known
Cantrips (cantrip level):
◈◈ Dancing Lights
◈◈ Electric Arc (DC 20)
◈◈ Prestidigitation
◈◈ Read Aura
◈ Shield
◈◈ Telekinetic Projectile

Focus Cantrips:
◈ Inspire Courage (f)
◈ Inspire Defense (f)
◈ Dirge of Doom (f)

Plus one prepared cantrip from Witch & one from cantrip connection,
Adventuring Days:
◈◈ Ray of Frost
◈◈ Disrupt Undead

1st Level:
↺ Counter Performance
◈ Liberating Command
◇Lingering Performance (f)
◈ Life Boost (f)
◈◈ Magic Weapon - touch
◈◈ Soothe *
◈◈ Spirit Link
◈◈◈ Unseen Servant

Prepared Witch Spells (pick one):
Alarm
◈◈ Charm (from Witch)
↺ Feather Fall (from Witch)

2nd Level:
◈◈ Animated Assault
◈◈ Hideous Laughter
◈◈◈ Magic Missile *

Prepared Witch Spells (pick one):
◈◈ Loosen Time’s Arrow (from Witch)
Speak with Animals (from Witch)

3rd Level:
◈◈ Haste
◈◈ Comprehend Languages
◈◈ Invisibility Sphere

Tengu Feather Fan - 1 activation of each per day
◈◈ Gust of Wind

TL/DR:

I am going to be learning new spells Alarm, Featherfall, Loosen Time's Arrow, and Speak with Animals from the Witch Dedication, but can only prepare one of those a day.

Alarm covers a 20 foot burst and we could use it to guard a small part of our Circus from Celestial Menagerie interference.

Magic Missile was retrained from Magic Weapon, and I heightened Comprehend Language to third so that we can just speak with others.

Hmm

Rogue has been mentioned twice but it's really not helpful with armor proficiency (cuts out the unarmored bonuses) or Sneak Attack (have to be within 30' using Stealth or Deception and acting before others).

Some characters it might work with, but Leaf-On-Wind is probably not geared towards that.

Now, I was also looking at Dandy, but not sure if that'd be on-brand.

Now, I was also looking at Dandy, but not sure if that'd be on-brand.

Hilary has an Investigator with that dedication and has found it quite useful for her. The character in question is a charisma based investigator. It really depends on what you are trying to do. The dedication gives some nice out of combat utility, but mostly around Charisma based stuff.

Well, you have to decide what On-brand is.

Dandy also requires Diplomacy trained. Unless I am reading something strangely.

As for Rogue, yeah the armor proficiency wouldn't be useful. It is strange that it gives it in the first place though. Sneak Attack is a bit hard to pull off since we don't have anyone on the team normally doing trip or grapple. Dread Striker at level 8+ would work. Especially with Song having Dirge of Doom. But the big thing about Rogue archetype is the extra skills and skill feats. And some of the mobility and skirmishing feats.

Yeah. The real value of Rogue Multiclass Dedication is the free Skill Feat and 2 skill trainings. If you can make use of Surprise Attack, that's extra. And I don't know many who make use of any granted armor proficiency from a MC archetype except the Champion for heavy armor on certain builds.

Going with the Rogue Dedication and then taking Trap Finder as Basic Trickery, Robust Recovery and Ward Medic for Skill Feats (Had Continual Recovery already) is actually really handy.

Plus having someone who can disable up to Master Traps would be kind of Handy.

Might I ask someone to glance over this and make sure I didn't miss something?

Going with the Rogue Dedication and then taking Trap Finder as Basic Trickery, Robust Recovery and Ward Medic for Skill Feats (Had Continual Recovery already) is actually really handy.

Plus having someone who can disable up to Master Traps would be kind of Handy.

Might I ask someone to glance over this and make sure I didn't miss something?

** spoiler omitted **...

Sounds good to me. I'll probably hand you the +1 thieves tools then.

I didn't check all of the math - there are tools like Pathbuilder, Herolab, and Wanderer's Guide that will do the math - and other tracking. I looked at the feat choices and it looks good to me.

I don’t think you can have Basic Trickery yet.

Medic Dedication requires you have two feats from it before taking another dedication. You can’t do that until 6th level. That means you can’t take Rogue Dedication until 6th level.

You need to give up Basic Trickery until 8th level, so you will need another Monk feat.

I don’t think you can have Basic Trickery yet.

Medic Dedication requires you have two feats from it before taking another dedication. You can’t do that until 6th level. That means you can’t take Rogue Dedication until 6th level.

You need to give up Basic Trickery until 8th level, so you will need another Monk feat.

Archetype skill feat Treat Condition.

Took me a while to parse what you were saying.

So Leaf took Treat Condition as a skill feat rather than a class feat. Not sure at what point that was taken. Assuming it was 4th level or earlier they could have taken Rogue dedication at 4th level.

At this point, I will leave it to GM Blake since that is changing something at an earlier level rather than just updating from level 5 to 6.

I see Treat Condition on the 4th level version of the character in profile. So taking Rogue Dedication as the FA slot and Trap Finder as an archetype feat in the Monk class slot would be only level 6 additions.

It might not be a bad idea to list out the feat choice build per level. Something like I do:

I can't remember when I took Treat Condition, but I think it was after having to deal with the endless parade of lizardly types with poor hygiene practices?

It's not a new thing, I don't think?

I've slept at least once since that decision was made.

Also, used at least one or two class Feats on Medic stuff, too, aside from the Dedication. It was part of why I had a bunch of Dedication options available.

Chani, does the magic version require special expensive magic replacement picks?

Chani, does the magic version require special expensive magic replacement picks?

That is a good question. Thieves' Tools (infiltrator). It looks like yes, they are different. Cost 3 GP for replacements instead of 3 SP.

We should probably do some shopping. Does everyone have resilience runes?

I’m inclined to get one and armor rune for clothing or bracers of armor; mage armor is an option but it costs a high level slot and can be dispelled

I may or may not have said way back in the beginning that I wanted to keep class feats and free archetype feats separate, but none of you have abused the free archetype. So whether I said it or not--I could simply just flip to the early pages, which would probably take less time than typing this--I do not currently have concerns about anyone spending a regular class feat for an archetype feat.

So, if the missing monk feat was at 4th level, and Leaf is just filling in the missing feat with Rogue Archetype and taking Basic Trickery at 6th level as his free archetype feat, I'm cool with that.

Clover's (finally) all updated and good to go. Feats for this level are as follows:

Mature Trained Companion (Animal Trainer Dedication)
Ranger's Bramble (Class Feat)
Combat Climber (Skill Feat)

Thanks to the Mature Trained Companion feat Snowy grows from Small to Medium in size and can now use Mesmerizing Performance - not that I expect to be using that in combat situations but might be good for some of these tense downtime/social encounters we seem to keep having :)

*edit* Clover doesn't have a resilience rune, from what I can see.

Ph whoop[s, resilient is level 8. I meant +1 armor. Potency.

Oh! In that case, Clover's good.

I also have +1 armor rune.

I could use another +1 weapon rune for the crossbow. And neither mace or crossbow has Striking rune.

In the secret room within the Tower of Erran, where you (minus Chani) went to rest, there were five carvings on the wall depicting five towers of different architecture, including the Tower of Erran.

Thanks for the reminder. I had completely forgotten that and didn’t find anything in a quick search of the gameplay thread.

I will allow someone else to correct Rulean.

I think it is valid to choose a lore skill as a Tome skill boost. Let me know if that doesn't seem right.

I'm also not entirely sure how much use I will get from it, but figured it was worth a shot.

I believe Lore is valid. It's more niche by definition than the other skills that most would choose, but it's a good strategy when you know that you'll want your character to understand something super specific.

At one time, the GM mentioned an item that Constable Paldreen might be interested in. I decided to try and find it. About the only thing I found was a Cat Burglar’s journal.

I am assuming it isn’t St. Alkitarem's Eye given all the plot that involves Aroden.

If we are talking to the Constable, giving her the diary may help.

^That might be handy if we want to try and get formal permission to go down into the sewers/sink hole, rather than sneak in!

GM, please correct my estimate.

A couple of hours. Plenty of time to do any shopping if you want.

Are we not walking around with weapons out in the dungeon?

Was supposed to just be a sewer, lol.

I would assume that we will going forward.

Are we not walking around with weapons out in the dungeon?

Leaf-On-Wind wouldn't be carrying bow in hand for the reason that he may have to use more technical skills if we come across a lock or trap or something that needs dealing with.

If it looks like we're going to be in running combats like the tower, that might change, but I didn't think he'd have a weapon out.

I think that I would have had weapon out and shield up. Especially since I was expecting trouble around the pillars or walls.

You definitely had a shield up since your default exploration activity is Defend. :)

Apologies. I told every campaign I had easy access to but neglected you guys.

My home internet went out, so I'm slow moving through games.

Hope you get home internet back soon!

Just noticed, evidently Leaf doesn’t have a striking rune on their bow. They are only doing 1d6 damage. I had thought we got striking runes for all the primary weapons.

If we missed this, we need to fix it soon. If we didn’t miss it, Leaf needs to update their Botting spoiler.

Lately I can't help but wonder if automatic bonus progression is the way to go for campaigns in general.