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I just graduated from Wrath of the Righteous as a 18th-level/10th-tier Inquisitor of Ragathiel and have been wondering whether becoming a herald of Ragathiel would be a possible long-term outcome for me. I'm certainly significantly more powerful than the typical 15th-level heralds normal deities seem to have... but can demigods have heralds, or is that restricted to capital-G Gods? Cheers, Lady Jādhanakṛti Vārima, Sixth Wing of Ragathiel, Avenger of the Worldwound, Wielder of Symmetry
Dear developers, I'm a bit late to the party, but would you be interested in commissioning custom writing systems for the cultures of the elemental planes? I happen to be a type designer and conlanger (language developer) and would be all too happy to contribute to Golarion in some way. :) I figure making language sketches for the cultures might be a bit overkill (it's too much effort for most players and GMs to learn, and it would impose constraints on naming characters and places that writers might not appreciate), but writing systems are easy to use and add great visual identity and flavor to illustrations. For example, here is the alphasyllabary I created for Netflix’ Shadow & Bone. You can see it in use in season 2... Cheers!
Welcome to an account of the best Pathfinder campaign ever written, at least according to the GM . Should be fun! We're playing in German, so apologies if I'm re-translating the proper names incorrectly. The plan is to play biweekly, alternating with Kyrademon's War for the Crown game.
Hey, so even though we're only halfway through our current campaign, I've already started brainstorming for my next character. We don't know yet what we'll play next, but WftC is probably the top contender. Now, a lot of the concepts I'm toying with include heavy armor and/or heavy weapons. I've been wondering whether that's a problem in this campaign — after all, a lot of it is supposed to take place at court, in ballrooms and in undercover missions, where a full plate and an earthbreaker might at best draw undue attention and at worst get oneself barred from entry in the first place. As a player of a «heavy» class, I wouldn't mind having to «travel light» on rare occasions, but I wouldn't want to be stripped of my essential equipment for large parts of the campaign. The PG doesn't explicitly dissuade players from playing heavies, but it certainly encourages characters with «courtly flavor». Then again, for all I know, Taldan veterans might like to strut around court in their decorated armor... Tl;dr: Is reliance on heavy armor and/or heavy weapons a problem in WftC? No campaign spoilers, please!
I've been looking around for cool character concepts to play in War for the Crown, which has a high probability of being our next campaign (even if it's still at least half a year away). The Mesmerist is looking particularly promising, since it fits the social and humanoid-centric focus of WftC. The Kitsune race would match the class nicely with its perfect ability boosts and the boost to enchantment magic. I do have a question about either of them, though: Mesmerist: The Painful Stare triggers when someone «hits» the target with a damaging attack. I'm pretty sure that doesn't necessarily have include an attack roll, so damaging someone with the fire component of Blistering Invective would presumably count. However, the case is less clear-cut for ongoing damage. If the targets catches on fire from Blistering Invective and continues to take damage in subsequent rounds, does that still trigger Painful Stare, even though the spell has «hit» the target in a previous round? (If so, DoT spells would provide good action economy in delivering the Painful Stare damage to an enemy without having to commit actions to damage-dealing round after round.) Kitsune: According to the Player's Guide, the Taldan high court is racist and doesn't look kindly on «mongrel» species. Luckily, a Kitsune can spend an indefinite amount of time in their «human» form. They get a +10 bonus to Disguise checks to appear human. My question here: The bonus implies that a Disguise check is needed for a Kitsune to pass as human, even though they literally have a «human form». Does that mean I would get made out as a Kitsune on a daily basis when someone inevitably rolls lucky on a Perception check? Or would I only need to roll when someone has a reason to suspect me to be non-human? If so, under what circumstances would that happen? There's supposed to be a lot of undercover intrigue in WftC, so I wouldn't want everybody to be like, hey, there's that fox lady again!
It’s a spell, obviously, but the spell’s effect is not damage, it’s to manifest a lightsaber that you then «wield like a scimitar». Does is profit from bonuses to «weapon damage», as from Bardic Performance? Does it crit like a scimitar? Does it profit from Weapon Focus and Specialisation? I’m assuming Power Attack is out of the question, since there’s no Str bonus either. But Deadly Aim works with the touch attacks from firearms and energy weapons, so it’s not entirely obvious. Sorry if this has been asked before; Google didn’t find anything useful. 
I briefly died when a ghost used Vital Strike on her Corrupting Touch on me. Re-checking the rules, I don't see how that can work. Vital Strike specifically calls out weapon damage dice, which Corrupting Touch does not have. Instead, its damage is a bag full of d6, like a damage spell. I think we all agree that a ghost's damage dice do not scale with size, so they are clearly not weapon-like. I believe the same argument is used to prohibit Kineticists from using Vital Strike on their Kinetic Blasts. On the other hand, the DM said the module specifically recommended using Vital Strike with that enemy. Was that simply a mistake? Have I died in vain...?
One thing I noticed in my playtest so far is that having a large number of minion-type enemies (like the centipedes or skeletons) can result in a stupenduous number of attack rolls, sometimes concentrated on a single PC. This is not only exceedingly dangerous for the PC (even at -10, an attack is still dangerous), but also requires a lot of die-rolling. I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to change the way attacks work for minion-type enemies. Rather than rolling 2 or 3 attacks, they only roll 1 attack and get a +1 damage bonus for every extra attack they could otherwise have gotten. Sound fair? This sort of attack could be hard-wired into some enemies and could also simply be applied on the fly to regular enemies used as minions at higher levels. It would streamline the «large mass of enemies» scenario, making it more enjoyable for everybody at the table and more survivable as well.
So our group just decided to start Return of the Runelords at the beginning of September. Before that, we had pretty much already settled on two other campaigns (Ruins of Azlant; War for the Crown) but reconsidered after reading the Player's Guide, since each time a player felt stifled in their character creation by semi-hidden constraints (Azlant: Something like 2/3 of the game happens underwater; Crown: Non-humans need not apply). Unfortunately, the Return of the Runelords PG is not yet available. Are there similar constraints on character creation in there, or is it pretty much a free-for-all like in the previous two installments of the trilogy?
Whoooooooo! :D I'm going to go out on a limb here and claim it was my limerick that tipped the balance.
The duality of ability scores and bonuses is confusing for new players, and given that PF2 does away with ability damage, the death threshold and possibly even odd ability scores, I say we simply identify the ability with its bonus. Kyra has a +4 Wisdom, Halflings gain +1 Wisdom, Heal grants 1d8 + Wisdom hitpoints, etc. So sing with me: Score, HUNH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
1. When a Weretouched deinonychus Shifter grows her claws, do they appear on her hands (giving her 5 attacks at lvl 4) or are they mapped onto her talins like in the major form? 2. In hybrid form, the Weretouched Shifter gains bonuses as if using Beast Shape with a Medium animal. Is it intentional that these bonuses remain the same for Small characters, or should they be +2 Dex, +1 natural armor instead like for a Small animal? 3. Is it intentional that Shifter‘s Edge can be taken at 1st level but has no effect there? Should it say (minimum 1)? That would certainly help make the feat useful. If you have to wait until 3rd anyway, I guess most people will just get an Agile amulet instead. 4. Is it intentional that the Weretouched Shifter stops gaining class features after 6th, except for the form upgrades at 8th and 15th? As is, it‘s almost mandatory to multiclass after 6th...
So our group is currently undecided on what to play next: Ruins of Azlant, or Ironfang Invasion. As far as the story goes, Ruins of Azlant sounds decidedly more interesting and appealing to most of us. However, there's one big problem keeping us from making our decision: We don't know how aquatic Ruins of Azlant is going to be. Speaking for myself, my previous experience with underwater situations in Pathfinder have been claustrophobic, deadly, and all-around uncomfortable. I was always glad they didn't last for long. The feeling persisted even with supporting magic: Being one dispel effect away from drowning is not my idea of fun. The Player's Guide unfortunately sends very mixed signals on the topic. The big box on the topic («Will I get wet?») says that while it will certainly happen, aquatic adventuring is «not the primary focus of the adventure path». In contrast with that, the rest of the PG is spent almost entirely listing aquatic archetypes and reprinting the aquatic combat rules (which just sound like a large bag of punishment). Also, all cover illustrations starting from book 3 look show underwater scenes. Our decision on which campaign to play basically comes down to this question. We would be totally fine if the game occasionally took place in full immersion, but if that's true for entire books or a large fraction of the entire game, we'd definitely opt out. On the other hand, say, if we had to dive to an underground complex which then turned out to contain a breathable atmosphere, that would certainly be fine as well.
Apart from the specific question asked, please post NO SPOILERS for either campaign.
So I've been toying around with ideas for a Ruins of Azlant character... moustached, tropical-helmet-wearing scholar touting an obnoxious anachronistic R-rolling British accent who just happens to be a fairly competent «sportsman» at the gentleman's blade. I've been wanting to try out the Unchained Rogue for a while, and that seems like a good opportunity. My idea is to invest in EWP: Estoc and pick it as my Dex-to-damage weapon. I could then two-hand it for charges, AoOs, etc. as well as TWF with a main-gauche when the opportunity presents itself (would probably need Quick Draw to make that work smoothly, or a prehensile tail to keep the dagger at hand). I wouldn't get Dex on the off-hand, but that shouldn't matter all that much with SA on it. The estoc is also well suited for underwater combat. Sound reasonable? Does anyone have play experience with the estoc? I suppose I could branch into Investigator after URogue 4 (Debilitating Strike), since that would help the «scholar» part of the concept and give me some access to magic (and a juicy mutagen!). The inspiration thing sounds like a decent consolation prize for stopping SA progression, though the 5-level delay is annoying. However, the estoc allows for Furious Focus, so I could just Power Attack for damage when not TWFing. Or I could take Vivisectionist after URogue 4, which is less scholarly but continues SA... I've played a Vivi before, though — Beastmorph, so a bit different in flavor, but still, perhaps something newer wouldn't be wrong. Or I could take a level of Urban Bloodrager for a Dex rage and access to arcane wands and stick with URogue for the most part... If I leave the estoc aside, a Knife Master URogue/Investigator could also be fun.
So I've been itching to play a Kineticist ever since the class came out — now I'm finally getting round to building one. Yay! :) I still find it a bit difficult to imagine how different Kineticists will behave in a real game. We seem to be aiming at Iron Gods so far. I like the idea of playing an electric Kineticist, perhaps even an android herself, who shorts out enemy robots with lightning strikes. I'd want a physical blast as well in case I meet lightning-immune or infinite-SR creatures, or simply creatures with low AC where the damage bonus from the physical blast would pull ahead. This would normally lock me into Thunderstorm or Charged Water, but my DM is willing to allow an Electric/Earth composite blast (Superconductor, maybe?) so as not to artifically limit my choices. I believe Mark Seifter Himself said the limitation on published composite blasts was due to space reasons and not for game balance reasons, so that should be fine. Now, assuming an Electric/Earth combo, would you recommend starting out Electric or Earth? I figure Electric touch attacks might help counter the many cover and concealment penalties I'll have in the beginning (or even just the lack of Precise Shot in case I don't go human). Then again, touch and regular AC aren't usually all that much different in early levels, I have Kinetic Blade for cramped situations, and hitting with iteratives will only become relevant once I have both attacks anyway. Starting with Electric would get me flight and Chain earlier (6th and 11th), but flight might not be as awesome as it sounds in what's supposed to be a dungeon-heavy campaign. Then again, Earth Glide also presumably doesn't work in metallic dungeons... I suppose I could go Thunderstorm after all to get Torrent at 7th, but then I'd miss out on the nice defenses of Earth. Argh! I suppose Charged Water would also be a possibility. Starting with Water blast and Slick, getting Electric at 7th and Torrent as my first AoO at 9th... It's hard to beat Earth in terms of defense, but if Earth Glide isn't applicable most of the time, Water doesn't fall behind all that much, and is perhaps more flexible. Speaking of AoOs, I must say I'm also tempted to go Fire/Earth or even Fire/Fire just to be able to use AoOs from the beginning. Then again, I'm scared of ending up useless against many enemies, and it would be a pity to give up the thematic advantage of electric vs robots... What are your experiences with these things? Is Fire or Electric a dangerous gamble in the early levels? On a side note, I noticed the Elemental Whispers utility talent (and its Greater variant) that seems to have come out recently and that is not yet covered in the Kineticist guides. Personally, I like the idea of being able to summon a familiar for scouting purposes and getting a familiar bonus on top. If you pick Greater, you can even get a +1/+1 on to-hit and damage from the resonance power of the Wysp. Worth it? (I might just get it simply for the RP value...) BTW: please.
This thread is intended to handle the kingdom-building discussions for the Hönggerberg Kingmaker campaign outside of the live sessions. If you are not a player in this campaign, you are welcome to lurk, but do not post any spoilers. Players:
Please use the forum to roll any dice that may come up during kingdom building, like this:
(You can reply to this post to see the underlying code.) Best of luck to your fledgling nation! You will need it.
Hi Mark, here are a few more questions on the Kineticist I posted on the General Discussion thread of the playtest, which seems to have gone silent. Smoke Storm: Does the open flame used as a source have to be in the center of the burst, or can I use a torch in my hand? Ice Path: Is it an action to use, or does it just happen while I walk or stand around? Telekinetic Haul: Can this be used to lift an object (such as a door) on which the Telekineticist herself can ride (albeit slowly)? To what degree can it manipulate the lifted object (e.g. can I unfold a folded metal bridge with TK Haul)? Telekinetic Invisibility: Is this meant to be self-only? As written, it can be cast on the whole party, one by one. Torrent: Is this really not supposed to work with electricity? :O Composite Blasts: It's just been pointed out to me that those require two specific Simple Blasts, not just two specific elements. If I pick Cold primary and Earth secondary, am I left without a Composite Blast? I seem to remember you saying that additional Composite Blasts can easily be constructed on the existing examples -- could you confirm this officially, so as to convince any future DMs of mine...? E.g. a "Permafrost" Composite Blast based on Cold and Earth that allows for the same infusions as Earth Blast, is physical, and does half bludgeoning/slashing/piercing, half cold damage? Cheers, and thanks for this awesome class! :D
So our party of landlubbers is about to embark on a long sea voyage. I've never played a nautical adventure, and am therefore rather clueless about the kind of equipment and spells that would come in useful at sea. Does anyone have a few good tips? I'm playing a Dex-based Sacred Fist, so I'm good at Acrobatics and Perception (I guess I'll spend a lot of time in the crow's nest) and decent at Climb, Swim, and Profession: Sailor (of which I just got myself a rank). I won't sink like a stone in the water, but we'll still keep a few bottles of Touch of the Sea around in case of rough conditions and emergencies. I figure Water Breathing will also come in handy, but I'll have to wait until CL 7th before I get access to it myself. I got myself the Snake Style feat so I can attack under water without penalties. In terms of equipment, I'm mostly thinking of rum and limes. ?-D Am I forgetting something obvious? In terms of resources, we're 5th level. You can probably guess which AP we're playing, so please refrain from anything spoilery or campaign-specific. Yarrr! :)
I'm interested in promoting Way of the Wicked for our new campaign, since it's supposed to be well-written and original. I'm wondering, though... Just how evil are the players expected to play? Does the AP work for "likable" villains, or does one need to commit unspeakable atrocities...? The latter would certainly spoil my fun.
So I'm joining a campaign around level 10, and thinking of building a Paladin. The group could use another frontliner as well as a moral compass. They have a Barbarian already, and I've played the tin-can type of Paladin before, so I'm thinking of something mobile and nimble for a change. How about something Dex-based? I suppose Dervish Dance could work, but the damage potential would be rather limited. There's the Agile weapon enhancement now, and I'd have the Dex for TWF, so that's a possible solution: two +1 Agile gladii or kukris, weapon finesse, and Piranha Strike. I might take 2 Ranger levels first to get the first TWF for free and to stock up on some nature-oriented class skills (which the party also needs dearly). The drawback on that would be that I'm highly dependent on those two weapons. I have Smite to get around some types of DR, but if I lose the weapons, my power drops steeply. Also, I can only use Divine Bond on one of the weapons. An alternative would be to take a level of Monk instead of Ranger. I'd get IUAS and TWF out of the box, as well as some nice skills and a saves boost. As far as I can tell, all that works even if I wear light armor, so I could keep Wisdom low. The big advantage is that I can wear an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists for a mere 4000 gp under my shirt, so that's much cheaper and safer than two +1 Agile weapons. I can use permanent Magic Fang for a +1 enhancement bonus, and later Greater Magic Weapon for more. I get the full effect of Dex-to-damage, Piranha Strike, and Divine Bond on all attacks, and only lose one level of Paladin progression. Finally, fighting bare-knuckles just looks really badass. :) The big downside is that I never get ITWF, but perhaps that's worth it. TL;DR: Is Monk 1/Paladin X with something like S 08 D 18 C 14 I 12 W 10 X 16 (starting stats Aasimar 20 pt), an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, Finesse, and Piranha Strike a valid build? I'm not going for an optimal build, but it should be able to hold its own. I don't suppose there's a way to get Monk-style unarmored strikes and Flurry from an archetype of another class somewhere?
My DM recently pointed out to me that by RAW, all emanations have a point-shaped center on an intersection of grid lines, and thus all 10' radius emanations must look like this: (this is
OXXO
I can see that make sense for something like, say, Cloudkill... but for Magic Circle Against Evil, the description says that the origin of the emanation is the target creature. So does this spell modify the normal shape of an emanation to originate from the surface of a creature out to 10'? OXXXO
Or do you have to pick an intersection within your creature's footprint as the origin? OXXO
The latter looks goofy and renders the spell increasingly less useful for larger creatures, but by RAW it seems the preferred solution (though it does require some extra assumptions as well — for instance, can you freely pick which intersection to use? can you use the corner of a 10' creature?). What's the official ruling on this?
So we're about to start playing Council of Thieves in the heart of Cheliax, and I'm tempted to play a Lawful Neutral Cleric of Asmodeus. The Fire and Trickery domains sound like fun, as does the concept of playing a black-and-red-clad, eye-shadowed, "bad cop" type of character. >:) Now, my question is: How much do I actually have to "worship" Asmodeus to pull off being his Cleric, getting my daily spells, and not be lynched by fellow Asmodeites? Can I basically despise him privately (or even semi-publicly, such as in front of friends)? Can I actively oppose the workings of the Church of Asmodeus that I don't agree with? Can I basically keep my "contract" with Asmodeus "purely business"? Also, how likely is Asmodeus to notice? Not at all? If so, would he — if anything — commend me on following his example on how to abuse contracts for one's own benefit? ;)
Suppose I am hidden or invisible when suddenly my party gets ambushed. I survive the surprise round and the first few actions of the first round undetected. If I now attack an enemy (who has already acted in this combat), is he flatfooted to me? Or just denied his Dex bonus? The distinction is important, because I might soon be playtesting my Vivisectionist with the sap feat tree. With a Ring of Invisibility, he has good chances of going undetected even if ambushed.
I find the wording of the Battle Dance ability of Dervish Dancer Bards and Dawnflower Dervish Bards rather confusing. Could someone clarify?
Hi all, I'm trying to build a Magus along the Dervish Dance route, and I like the way it's taking shape. There's only one thing I'm not sure works the way I think it does... it would be nice if it did, though. If I pick the Close Range arcana at 3rd level, does that henceforth enable me to effectively use TWF with a single weapon? In each round, I could do the following, using Spell Combat and Spell Strike together (which is explicitly allowed): - One scimitar attack at BAB -2.
Sure, I don't get the benefits of ITWF and GTWF, and the defensive casting won't always work (at first). But that's more than balanced by the fact that I can use my greatly souped-up main-hand scimitar with Dervish Dance for all attacks. Now, my questions:
Cheers
I realize this has come up before, but there seems to be no consensus or official ruling on the matter. I was thinking of building a character around this concept, so I need a decisive answer. Could someone from the developers please speak an executive word? My planned character is a Vivisectionist with the Feral Mutagen discovery, who uses his claws to sneak attack. At later level, he would greatly benefit from having silver and cold iron knuckles available to modify his damage type while still using his Amulet of Mighty Fists. The questions, specifically, are:
Hi all, I could use some help with the crunch for my next character. I've never played a Rogue-type character in a campaign before, and I feel it's high time to give it a try. I'm thinking of a creepy "doctor of anatomy" who's been kicked off the medical academy of Lepidstadt in Ustalav. He considers himself an unarmed scholar who just happens to have to fend for his life with his "scalpel" and his "reflex hammer" a lot, when he is merely "tryink to khelp". His name is Laslo Brzycieszęski. "Now, I know is difficult name. Khow 'bout you just call me Doctor Brzycieszęski?" Clearly, Laslo is going to be an Alchemist (Vivisectionist), possibly also a Preservationist for instant flanking buddies and an Internalist for Uncanny Dodge. Poisoning also sounds like fun, but is probably too dependent on being able to buy (or find) enough poison to make it worthwhile. Now, due to lack of experience, I find it hard to settle for a feat build. I'm thinking of these two principal styles, both of which are intended to be viable even without the opportunity to Sneak Attack:
The first has the advantage of good skills (Stealth, Disable Device, Acrobatics), excellent synergy with Dex-boosting mutagens and spells (to hit, damage, AC, even initiative), and nice flavor. The downside is craptacular damage at first level (no biggie) and generally lower damage output than a Str-based build. The second has the advantage of being cheap and easy, and doing a load of damage without even trying. However, a half-orc in plate wielding a greataxe is probably too far away from the original character concept to work out. Also, I'd be an unmaneuverable tinbox, might be harder to get flanking that way. Both styles will require one or more secondary styles to make sure Sneak Attack is appropriately exploited when the opportunity offers itself:
Here's a sample build, using the Dervish Dance primary style, Spring Attack secondary style, and Rapid Shot tertiary style, based on the Alchemist (Vivisectionist, Preservationist, Internalist) and Fighter (Cad) classes: 15-point buy, human:
Level | Class | Features | Feats | Discoveries
"Now, yesteemed colleague, your opinion, vhat is it?"
...Death or Glory! I guess fighting giants in melee is just not dangerous enough yet. How about we sacrifice a full attack to make only a single strike for +4 extra damage, and give the giant an immediate counterattack for free? This is wrong on so many levels! That said, Ultimate Combat offers a few jewels as well. I love the sap feats, for instance, or Vicious Stomp, or Clustered Shots...
Does the metamagic feat "Focused Spell" require a spell that can affect multiple creatures (such as a Fireball) or one that does affect multiple creatures? In order words, do I need at least two targets to make the feat work? I would assume not? If not, a Lesser Rod of Focused Spell sounds pretty good for my Conjurer, who has lots of area spells and almost no single-target spells.
ATTENTION: This thread is written by players of an ongoing Kingmaker campaign. Do not post any comments or questions that contain any kind of spoilers. Do not make assumptions on what we've already experienced, figured out, explored, built, or suffered from. Conversely, if you are a player in an ongoing Kingmaker campaign yourself, this thread might contain spoilers for you. ==> If this piques your interest, check out our DM's chronicles of Gwendor in this thread! <== Without further ado, allow me to present our burgeoning barony in the Greenbelt:
Age: 10 months
Status:
Government: The Ruling Quattuorvirate Image of the barony's flag ("Quarterly purpure, azure, gules, sable; an annulet or"). Image of the Heraldic coat of arms of the Quattuorvirate. The four quadrants represent the arms of the four ruling council members, Lilac, Iaurinn, Hêmael, and Sempor. Obviously the barony's flag is just an abstraction of this arrangement, with a golden ring to tie the colors together, symbolizing unity despite diversity. This is also reflected in the motto: E Diversitate Vis, or "Strength from Diversity". PCs:
OotS-style images of Lilac and Sempor: here. OotS-style images of Iaurinn and Hêmael: here. NPCs:
To be updated soon... have fun!
Three quick questions, sorry if they've been asked before. Couldn't find an answer in the archive on a quick search. 1) If an nth-level Magus casts Chill Touch with Spellstrike, he can make n weapon attacks with his sword after that, each delivering the Chill Touch effects in addition to weapon damage, is that right? The spell or the right to deliver it through weapon attacks do not end prematurely? 2) If I recall correctly, some semi-official rulings on these boards have declared that the attacks provided by Chill Touch and Produce Flame can only be used once per round, since they are not weapon-like. Can abovementioned Magus still use them several times a round (e.g. through iterative attacks) because they are delivered in a weapon-like fashion here? Or would that Magus be allowed to make a full attack, but only the first attack would trigger the spell? 3) Shocking Grasp gives you a +3 bonus to attack enemies wearing metal; does this also apply to the weapon attack with which a Magus may deliver such a Shocking Grasp? By RAW I think this is the case, since the spell description says "When delivering the jolt, you gain a +3 bonus on attack rolls", which perfectly applies here. I just noticed that a wand of Shocking Grasp and the Wand Wielder arcana make Spell Combat very efficient against most humanoid enemies...
This is a spin-off discussion thread from my contribution to this thread gathering ideas for Ultimate Combat, in which I ask: Please help make Dex-based melee characters viable! I know Rogues exist, but they are horribly squishy. I know Rangers and Fighters can take Finesse, but they have an extremely hard time staying relevant in terms of damage output. I've heard about Dervish Dance, but it's extremely restrictive in terms of flavor as well as crunch. What is needed is a mechanic to increase the damage output of Finesse combattants, with the following properties:
The easiest way to ensure balance would be a slow, escalating bonus to damage hard-coded into an archetype's level progression, as Sneak Attack is for the Rogue. The problem with that is that you lock the effect into a given base class (and its archetype), leaving little wiggle-room for fluff. That said, if the mechanic is reasonaly robust and elegant, one might want to make several matching archetypes for the different base classes, all using the same mechanic. (A conservative way to do this would be to use the pre-existing Sneak Attack mechanic. Maybe give 1d6/3 levels of Sneak Attack to certain Fighter and Ranger archetypes? Though a static damage bonus (as it is seen in Arcane Strike) would fit the Fighter's design philosophy better.) Another mechanically easy way to do it would be to make it one or several feat. Feats are choosable by anyone and thus mesh with every existing melee base class. The problem there is the power balance. Some 3/4-BAB classes already have melee boosters build into the class (Rogues, Bards, Monks). One would have to take care not to make the new source of damage too powerful for those classes. My suggestions for that:
How about this? Surgical Strike (Combat Feat)
This rewards using Weapon Finesse without making Strength irrelevant. Opinions?
Arcane Strike's prerequisites are simply the ability to "cast arcane spells". Arcane Talent gives the ability to "cast 0-level spells". Does that make you eligible for Arcane Strike? Cantrips appear to be treated somewhat differently from regular spells, e.g. in the Wizard's build table, but here the activity is clearly described as "casting spells". The Rogue's Minor Magic talent is a (Sp) ability, but it's described as enabling you to "cast" your chosen "spell"... would that count as well? I assume a Gnome's SLAs do not count? In either case, the caster level is equal to the character level, meaning it's equivalent to Weapon Specialization at 5th level and only improves from there.
Like many others, I like the concept of the Cloistered Cleric: Not every cleric should need to be an armored combattant, particularly not those of peaceable deities. Where are the priests, the mystics, the divine librarians, the god-nerds? The 3.5 implementation did its job well: Lose the combat effectiveness (0.5 BAB, lower HD, only light armor) but gain 6 skill points, Lore, the Knowledge domain, and an extra spell per spell level. That seemed like a fair trade. Less of the bashing, more of the casting. Given that the basic Cleric falls short of spells compared to full-time casters like the Wizard, he needs the combat-worthiness as a fallback. The extra spellcasting of the squishy Cloistered Cleric is therefore necessary. Now, in Pathfinder... the combat effectiveness is significantly reduced (only light armor and the cheapest weapons) AND a huge chunk of the spellcasting is lost (only one domain, -1 spells/day per level)! How can this possibly make sense? I couldn't believe my eyes. The Lore part and the skill points (only 4/level, mind you, and this guy definitely can't afford a positive Int) may be useful, but they are highly situational. The bonus on assisting others in skill checks is even more irrelevant. In everyday adventuring life, which consists largely of hostile encounters, that Cloistered Cleric is going to have to sit it out a lot while his friends contribute. That's just sad. I'm not saying that Lore and Knowledge skills are not worthwhile. I'm saying that contemporary game design has progressed past the notion of in-combat uselessness being an acceptable price for being the party's out-of-combat toolbox (greetings from the AD&D Healbot!). Am I missing something here? What's everybody's opinion on the matter?
Hey, the description of Elemental Body I tells me that I assume the form of a small elemental. However, it doesn't say that it changes my actual size to Small, nor that I get the appropriate size modifiers (e.g. to attack and defenses). So do I not change size, but merely "channel" certain aspects of a Small Elemental? http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/e/elemental-body-i Also, as an Earth Elemental I'm supposed to gain the Push ability, but looking at the description of said elemental, that ability is nowhere to be found. Looking up the description, it says I get a free CMB check to bullrush an enemy, but the distance pushed must be given in the description of the creature. Since this is lacking, I am assuming it should be 5' for the Small Earth Elemental. Still, am I really supposed to get an ability that the elemental itself does not have? http://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/bestiary/monster-listings/outsid ers/elemental/elemental-earth/small-earth-elemental Is this an oversight in the description of the elementals, or has that ability been removed recently? Cheers
I've been wondering whether there's a cleric guide out there that has been updated to include the APG. What domains have now become attractive due to subdomains? Are there any new spells that really bring new gameplay options to the table? For example, is poor Gozreh still drawing the short stick? I would think that the Feather subdomain considerably increased the value of the Animal domain, for example... Flight is extremely useful. If there's no such guide yet, feel free to just post your favorite discoveries in the APG. :)
I'm decoupling this from the Stab!racadabra because that thread is not meant for homebrew material. What do you think of the following Fighter archetype? It is intended to represent a highly trained guard as might be employed by nobles, crime lords, government offices, or temples. Arcane Guard (Fighter archetype) Dungeoneering, Engineering, Survival Class Skills --> Use Magic Device, Spellcraft, Sense Motive
Balance considerations: (1) The substitutions are so close to the baseline Fighter features in both intention and power level that they should work within the scope of an archetype. (2) I realize UMD is a powerful skill to hand out, but do consider that it is available as a trait (with a +1 trait bonus even). I did resist the temptation to put Perception on there too -- although it would fit the guard concept, it would steal some of the Ranger's most important conceptual territory. (3) The basic Weapon Training ability is equivalent to raising your weapon's enhancement bonus. Adding a +1d6 energy is equivalent to that in power, as evidenced by magic weapon rules. This is also matches the +1 to hit = 2-3 damage conversion rule of Power Attack. Note that the energy dice do not improve on a crit and can be resisted. Opinions?
I tried to figure out whether or not the casting of a spell from a wand suffers from arcane spell failure chance or not. I cannot find a passage that would suggest that it does, and indeed, triggering a wand is described as being a simpler act than casting (for example, it does not provoke and has a relatively low UMD DC), so that would fit. Am I missing something? It just occurred to me that a Fighter could profit from either a single Wizard level or a high UMD score to make use of wands of Shield, Mirror Image etc. and not care about ASFC at all.
This is a continuation of an issue that came up in this thread about perceived shortcomings of the playtest Magus class. Paizo Lead Designer Jason Bulmahn explained that the Magus was not intended as a full melee class and would definitely remain at 3/4 BAB, settling the original issue. However, the principle of a melee-focused arcane base class, modeled after the successful full-BAB and 4th-level spellcasting scheme of the ranger and paladin, was received with enthousiasm by many community members, and considered "interesting" by Jason Bulmahn. This thread is therefore intended as a humble petition of the community for the publication of a full-BAB, 4th-level arcane casting base class either in the Complete Magic (probably too late for that) or the Complete Combat books by Paizo. The proposed class is to fill its own niche rather than compete with or replace the Magus. This thread is not intended as a platform for homebrew gish base classes, nor for the Magus. There are plenty of other threads for that. For simplicity, I propose referring to the mouthful of "an official full-BAB, 4th-level arcane casting base class" by the provisional name of "Arcknight" that was introduced by Jason Nelson on the original thread (along with the word "stabracadabra"). Coming up with a better name for the final product is not a high priority for now, but of course suggestions are always welcome.
Although I won't have the opportunity to playtest the magus anytime soon, I can't help but be underwhelmed by the impression I get from reading the class. The main problem I see is fundamental and conceptual, so I have little hope that it will be mended in the final version, since it would require a complete rewrite of the class. Nevertheless, on the off-chance that it might, here it is: Being half-good at melee combat is as useful as having one leg. Allow me to elaborate. Even by relatively low levels (say, 5th), being in melee is deadly business. In order to survive melee combat, one needs a lot of hitpoints, good defenses, and the ability to deal good damage reliably. Any serious melee monster at those levels is going to put out so much damage per round that nobody should willingly expose themselves to such punishment unless they can (1) take it and (2) make it worthwhile. The melee classes -- fighters, rangers, paladins, barbarians, cavaliers -- all have access to full BAB, d10+ hitdice, good proficiencies, and more class features that make them even better at tanking, dealing damage, or both. The other classes that might be found in melee occasionally -- rogues, bards, clerics, inquisitors -- fall short on these basic necessities and therefore cannot constantly be in melee, lest they be ripped to shreds. Rogues risk melee because it gives them the chance to deal bursts of extreme damage, monks disable enemies with their ki abilities, clerics can deliver tide-turning spells like Harm or Heal in melee; in other words, these classes can situationally make it worthwhile. Now, what does the Magus have that makes it worthwhile to charge headlong into the lion's den known as melee? He gets the ability to fail at spellcasting and swordplay at the same time! Yay! Allow me to elaborate: (1) The Magus is a much lesser spellcaster than, say, a Wizard, on account of his retarded spell progression and limited choice of spells. That much is obvious. He must therefore be able to go into melee and make up for that. Just being able to survive a round of melee in emergencies is not enough -- the wizard can do that too, thanks to his defensive spells. The magus must benefit from being in melee. (2) Casting an attack spell in one round and then channeling it through a sword next round is equivalent in terms of action investment and effect to casting an attack spell normally and then attacking normally next round. It's just that the Magus has a worse chance of delivering the attack spell since touch attacks are much more accurate than weapon attacks. The fact that almost all touch spells are missing from the Magus spell list just makes this worse. (3) Dual-wielding magic and a weapon sounds like a fun concept, but I can't see the mechanics as written working. For instance, at first level, you're more likely than not to fail your concentration check, wasting your precious few spell resources, whereas your attack will lag behind an actual melee combatant by about -6 points (-4 penalty, -1 to attack stat from MAD, -1 BAB). At later levels when the penalties gradually disappear, your other shortcomings in combat will have accumulated to the point of anyway being crippling compared to other melee combatants (BAB, the fact that you're using the weakest possible combat style with single one-handed weapon). (4) Rogues, Clerics, Monks, and Bards all make decent ranged combatants, where their medium BAB can be put to use without unduly endangering the character. Magus abilities, on the other hand, force the Magus into melee if he wants to benefit from them. To sum this up: The Magus is a second-class spellcaster with the additional ability to go into melee and become a liability. I cannot think of an situation where a Magus would be preferable to a Bard. Given that the Pathfinder base classes are designed to fill niches that the other base classes do not yet cover, what the game needs in my humble opinion is a class that combines effective melee combat with arcane magic. This implies a d10 hit die, full BAB, good proficienies, very limited spellcasting along the well-established model of the ranger and paladin spellcasting abilities, and some flavorful class features to round things out. Such a class could easily be balanced to the same power level as rangers and paladins while finally offering the unique gish flavor that has so far been missing. Now I'm not familiar with all the fan-based content out there, but one particular approach that Does It Right in my opinion is the Iron Mage.
I've posted somewhat off-topic in another thread, which I'm correcting now by starting a dedicated thread. I've just toyed around with a few cleric concepts for the Age of Worms campaign that we're likely to start after our Legacy of Fire concludes (one way or another). Although I'd like to try out something new, such as an Archer or a Summoner, as I know my co-players no-one will want to play a healing-capable character, so I might bite the bullet and play another cleric. We started out with a no-healer party in LoF and let me tell you, those were the longest three levels I've ever played before my Paladin got to 4th... Anyway, I came up with three concepts for clerics with a distinctly different feel from my cleric of Desna two games back. I'd like to bounce them off you to see whether I'm gimping myself in any obvious way. I'm very interested in low-level playability, but since AoW theoretically runs up to 20th level, I don't want to build myself into any culs-de-sac either. In all cases, I'd like to be able to contribute meaningfully in combat, at least until my spells become useful and numerous enough. 1) Dwarf cleric of Gorum
The dwarven rager is quite a departure from my usual conscientious hey-do-we-really-wanna-do-that characters. I'm not sure I like the aesthetics much though. 2) Elven cleric of Calistria
This one sound like lots and lots of fun to play, and should be a decent shot with the longbow. Am I going too far with D 18 W 14 though? I figure I won't be using too many DC-heavy spells. Hold Person, probably, but does that +1 DC matter that much in the end...?
I realize Human would be better for feats and stats, but I'd have to buy longbow proficiency, and it would just be less stylish... 3) Human cleric of Erastil
Great combination of abilities and spells in those domains -- Entangle, Barkskin, FLY! --, and free longbow proficiency. What's not to love for an archer? Too bad all my ideas are going to be horrible at skills, but hey, can't have everything. Opinions?
I like the Oracle a lot in terms of concept, but whenever I try to come up with a concrete build, I can't help coming to the conclusion that a cleric could do it all better. What am I missing? In particular, most revelations hugely underwhelm me. I'm having trouble picking a number of revelations for the first 10 levels because there are so few choices I would even want to have. Get a blast with 1d4s, Fort save half, once per day. Ugh. Get a rider effect when you crit with your non-existent attack spells. Gna. Summon an armor that is entirely inferior to what you bought with your starting gold for a few minutes per day? Arrrgh! Maybe I'm putting too much weight on that, but if I compare this to cleric domains, arcane schools, and bloodlines, I weep in envy. Usually the best choices within a mystery are things that a Cleric gets for free even before choosing a domain, such as channeling or a decent weapon choice. What good is the Battle mystery if you don't get a strong Fort save? Remember when Favored Souls used to get all-good saves? I know the spontaneous casting is supposed to be a huge bonus, but unlike the Sorcerer, the Oracle doesn't have that many spells worth spamming all day long. Apart from Hold Person, all spells a 7th level Oracle can cast are buff and heal spells that are best cast outside of combat. I guess in combat I'm just supposed to babble in Tongues and fire my crossbow...? Also, the redeeming quality of Cleric casting, having the right tool for any kind of ailment, is gone due to the tiny number of spells known. A Cleric can break a curse, remove disease, restore ability damage, remove paralysis etc if needed. If my Oracle takes all those spells, what is there left? I guess it works for a Life Oracle, but that's the most Cleric-like Oracle anyway. I am aware of the Color Spray cheese for the Heavens Oracle, but that will wear off after a few levels. The later illusion pattern spells only fascinate, which seems rather underwhelming, given all the conditions that snap the target out of it again. What am I missing? I want to like the Oracle! Some help?
I like the flavor of the summoner and have started building a PF Society character using that class. I particularly like the idea of custom-building a companion monster, but the huge number of choices leaves me rather confused. I'd like to hear your opinions on whether the following build is sensible. (I say sensible rather than optimized because I'd rather not have a ten-armed freak with ten weapons. I want it to be good and thematic without pissing off the DM and my co-players.) For the record, the halfling summoner's parents died when he was a child, and he fled into an "imaginary friend" fantasy focused on his rag doll monster Ribbons. He was about to be sent into an asylum until other people starting seeing "visions" of Ribbons. Turns out the kid's raw arcane potential attracted an outsider's attention... hence he likes to refer to himself as Sulepsi Ptolemai Qufarah the Sane nowadays. Base form: Quadruped Level EP Evolutions
Feats: Toughness, Power Attack, Iron Will, WF: Claws This looks rather chaotic, I know. My greatest problem is that most of the evolutions I want cost 2 points, so I have to swap Perception in and out due to those annoying one-point increases... also, there are way too many good evolutions to be had. When I first read the list, I was sure I was going to take several Natural Armor improvements and max out the number of attacks, but give up flight for that? Or trip? In fact, I'd prefer to have flight as soon as it's available at level 5, but I can't pick any of the other evolutions to drop... maybe switch around the Strength increase? Or should I be getting a Gore instead of +Str? As for tactics, I intend to get a wand of Shield as soon as possible and keep the squishy Ribbons alive in the early levels with that and Mage Armor. I'm getting a Bull's Strength wand after that as soon as I can afford it to shore up its pitiful Strength bonus until I get Large size. I expect to be using most of my spells for buffing, so I should be able to get away with starting stats of S 08 D 16 C 14 I 14 W 10 X 16, right...? I like the Int for skills, especially since I'm going with Osirion ties, thus I should not suck at knowledge. Fire away, then! :)
MPIA players or Stephen: Do not read any further, this will spoil the Thursday session. That said, I'll be running a one-shot Pathfinder session next Thursday to entertain my former DM who is visiting my institute. The evening too short for an actual story, I envisioned some sort of "survive the arena to win your freedom" scenario. Can you help me come up with some encounters for a party of maybe 4 level 6 characters? In particular, they should be dauntingly scary yet survivable, hilarious for the arena spectators, solvable with creative ideas and out-of-the-box thinking, and yet simple enough not to clutter the entire evening with bookkeeping. The mimic is a beautiful example. Alternately, I would also be interested in a short enough written adventure for a single session, provided it is suitably action-packed and free. Anyone?
This used to be unclear in 3.5 already and has remained so even in the newest issue of Pathfinder Core. Produce Flame is not exactly a touch spell as e.g. Vampiric Touch is; touching a foe with the flame is only one of its applications. Does the standard action required to cast it include a free attack, as it does with other touch spells? Also, does the spell allow iterative attacks? I would think so, the description makes the regeneration of the flame sound instantaneous... but I could see how a picky DM would decide otherwise. I would welcome a clarification of these rules in a future issue.
One thing I loved about the beta rules was the possibility to get low-power but useful at-will attack powers at 1st level, such as through the Fire domain or the Elemental bloodline. In the previews, these seem to have been nerfed from at-will to 3 + ability times per day. Why-oh-why? What could possibly move the designers to consider such an ability overpowered? Is that minute adjustment in power really worth the bookkeeping? Why must the zombie of the crossbow sorcerer rise again? :( (Just for the record, I absolutely love what Pathfinder has done to the 3.5 rules otherwise.) |
