I think Trip.H is right. Currently every instance of area damage type should trigger the area weakness, e.g. if your AoE spell does bludgeoning damage, fire damage, and spirit damage, then you'd trigger area weakness 3 times.
The surgery is still risky, as you suffer 1d8 slashing damage, which could kill a -1 commoner. In other words, you're just that good as a surgeon that the surgery succeeds, but whether the patient survives... well, that's unknown.
Well, now we know that Assurance (Medicine) definitely works with Risky Surgery, so your crit successes are right there.
The Oracle's mystery feature Granted Spells should state that additional spells are also added to the Oracle's tradition. This language is present with all other spellcasters that received bonus spells, but was failed to be added with the Remaster because the Oracle only had cantrips in the Premaster (which didn't need this language). Example, a Cosmos Oracle gets Dizzying Colors as a 1st-rank bonus spell but cannot add that spell at higher spell-ranks because it's not a divine spell (which sucks for incapacitation spells). And let's hope the Sorcerer's Blood Magic gets a major overhaul because it's so complicated (and often useless) that a) 90% of bloodlines never really care about it, and b) nobody runs it as written. A simplification & broader application would be a small but much appreciated change, e.g.:
No more rules as pretzels, only sticks please! The Time Beacon spell should replace "If it fails at any of these checks, you can’t return" with "If it fails to counteract at any of these effects, you can’t return". Because you can still successfully counteract an effect on a failed counteract-check, and you can also fail to counteract an effect on a successful counteract-check – all due to the counteract-rank differences.
So the Psychic… just kidding, this is about the Oracle's Time mystery! :-D I can see why the Time mystery was included in the Dark Archive Remastered since it was in the original Dark Archive book. But this mystery in particular had already been remastered in the Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries book. And it's confusing to me why they had to change the mystery: You now have 2 remastered books that have 2 different Time mysteries for the Oracle. When creating a Time Oracle can you choose which one to use? And for Pathfinder Society Play: Can you play a Time Oracle if you have only one of the two books, do you need both, does your mystery change depending on which book you own? As for those unfamiliar with the change: The initial cursebound feat was changed from "Oracular Warning" (a very good & thematic feat) to "Trance of Celerity" (bad; 1st-rank Tailwind for 1 minute). The fact that it is 1 action and gives a bonus to all Speeds is nice, but still… does everything have to be around movement? Isn't Time Skip enough of that? At least make it a circumstance bonus! Nothing else was changed though, same spells and no changes to those spells, though Time Beacon could still use clarification because I still believe they mean "failing to counteract" instead of "failing the counteract check". I have also uploaded an image to Imgur with the new feats. The new "On Borrowed Time" level 10 cursebound feat is… unique. I don't know what to think of it just yet. There are really a ton of options here, so I am very happy with that new feat, it's definitely better than "Trial by Skyfire" and the other 10th-level cursebound feats.
The 3d6 persistent mental damage is low enough that you might want to use it on yourself or an ally even to tick down some negative effects.
I'm really glad I brought that up so fast. Errata for a book published just a few days earlier is a rarity (novum?).
No, the real danger is flurry rangers and monks. I don't think so. Most Flurry Rangers and Monks will go for Hunted Shot, Twin Takedown, Flurry of Blows, et.al. and these abilities specifically combine damage (and thus damage instances) for weaknesses on their Strikes. So these two Strikes won't trigger weaknesses more often than a single Strike. No, the real threat are agile weapon Fighters. EDIT:
One thing you might want to point out with the Movanic Glimmer spell: Awakened Animal characters can have this spell cast on them, giving them a daily (wand=permanent) +2 status bonus to Will saves and Perception.
This is basically a lesser form of Hidden Mind + a status version of Improved Initiative folded into one, and others can cast it on you – totally worth a wand!
It's not like Tangible Dream psychic is some theoretical build that no one does because they know melee spell attacks are bad. It's a genuinely attractive playstyle for some people, and the nerf is pretty painful. Yup, I played one in Season of Ghosts (level 1-10) and it was pretty fun! I've also took the time to read through this thread (felt like a duty at times, being the OP), got quite angry at some of the stuff here, but want to thank Kitusser, Teridax, and Tridus for speaking my mind in a more calm & collected way than I could have. Thank you!
No, that's not enough. Not nearly. They remastered the Psychic and decided to change how Amps work and then did not adapt current Amps to reflect that change. This affects 11 psi cantrips (Reaction + Readied) in total that can RAW no longer be Amped. Guidance & Entropic Wheel are just those that are completely affected, the others only when readied, e.g. Amped Warp Step or Amped Message. When you change something as fundamental as Amps on a Psychic, you better take the time to make sure you adapt the old Amps to the new language. Not doing that is incredibly lazy in my books, and smells like bad errata from 1e times. And I don't think it's OK to just gloss over this negligence with "yeah, well, who cares, just ignore it".
I just want to chime in to say this isn't true at all. 3 slot casters can handle days of 4+ severe+ encounters just fine. At levels 1 to 4? I totally disagree.
I think we're long past the OP's original question…
This is phantasmal calamity, visions of danger, phantasmagoria and one or two others. Calamity especially is the usual 2 action, 500ft range, 30ft burst, +2d6 per rank. No, these are not Will-save Fireballs. → Visions of Danger is a damage-over-time spell (and rank 7).→ Phantasmal Calamity is rank 6, not rank 3. → Phantasmagoria is freaking rank 9! If you read my entire post, you'll see that my suggestion on how to make RK more attractive was to introduce Fort- & Will-save AoE spells that compete with the damage-output of comparable Reflex-save spells, especially at lower levels:
I also mentioned Phantasmagoria myself, noting that Fort- & Will-based AoE damage spells only get better at higher ranks, but are still lagging behind:
For since there are no such spells currently that compete – with Fireball around rank 3, Chain Lightning around rank 6, or Eclipse Burst around rank 7 – there is little reason to choose a Fort- or Will-damage spell over the stronger Reflex-damage spells. Phantasmal Calamity could compete with Fireball, if its base rank were 3, i.e. "de-heightened" similar to the Explosive Barrage example that I gave. But at rank 6 it's simply no longer competitive with equal-rank Reflex-damage spells: same-rank Chain Lightning deals a freaking 35% more damage AND has better targeting.
While Unicore is certainly right on the math, I agree with Deriven that RK plays no crucial role in this regard: First, you're often very likely to correctly guess their weakest save, or at least what's the enemy's highest save to avoid; in fact, you're often even able to correctly guess their immunities/resistances, e.g. "it looks undead" or "it looks like a fire creature". And second, you are still limited in what spells you have available to "do your thing", depending on tradition & preparation and what you desire to do. For if you want to deal lots of damage, you will most likely use one of the high damage Reflex spells like Chain Lightning, Frigid Flurry, or Eclipse Burst – the latter two deal ~30% more damage than other spells at that level.
The idea of using RK to find out high/low saves matters a bit more if you're a divine/occult caster, since you don't have the high-damage Reflex spells (until Eclipse Burst) and therefore have to decide whether you're using a Will- or Fort-save spell. Though in the end you're likely still stuck with a Fort-save spell for damage (e.g. Divine Wrath) because good Will-save damage spells are too rare (at least AoE's). Only very late at rank 8 & 9, do we even have Fort- & Will-damage spells that finally get better targeting & damage than before (Desiccate, Phantasmagoria), but they are still slightly lacking in damage compared to their Reflex-spell counterparts. For example, what good non-Reflex AoE damage spell options does an arcane caster with 3rd-rank spells even have? --- At that point I'm tempted to say that the issue might be the spells themselves:
I suspect Deriven's table & others would use RK more often if there were good Fort- & Will-based alternatives, like a Fort-based Chain Lightning and a Will-based Eclipse Burst option, right? --- Though here you run into another design decision: Different traditions are meant to have different strengths & weaknesses. The "damage" traditions are arcane & primal, so the high-damage spell options are (mostly) restricted to those traditions. The divine & occult traditions do not have (m)any Reflex-based spell options. This leaves little room for change (even homebrew) that respects those design decisions. The only option I see is to introduce new Fort- & Will-damage spells to the arcane tradition that deal good damage; and the same for the primal tradition, though restricted to some of the new Fort-save spells. For example, I think Explosive Barrage is such an option, but the spell should be base rank 3, not 6 (just de-heighten the damage), and the number of additional bursts should be determined by spell rank. And why isn't there a "Will-based Fireball" that tries to rip everybody's mind out or something? Exact same as Fireball, just Will save + mental damage? Or reduce the damage slightly but make it friendly-fire proof or the like. Not every Will-save spell needs to be single target or frighten or confuse. Just make people's heads explode for once! ---- tl;dr
I just came across this great video explaining the issues of low-level play in Pathfinder 2e: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNaUD53ZXsM. Absolutely worth a watch!
Likewise, Entangling Flora causes a lot of plants and fungi to quickly grow - is that creation magic? I would rate that more like magic that creates something than a False Image that literally uses the word "create", to generate an illusion. I do recommend to look at the original (premaster) schools, at least in name, to get a better idea of what is most likely meant.
The Wrath (Evocation) anathema – cannot use your magic to protect or create – is originally against the schools of Abjuration & Conjuration. This means that Transmutation is not meant to be a part of the anathema, leaving merely changing already-existing things, like Entangling Flora, a-ok. Pride & Lust have Transmutation as an opposed school, and their anathema now lists "changing/meddling with physical things". Thus creating Aqueous Orbs or Walls of Stone would be fine here, but making existent Flora grow would not.
Yes, exactly. Though Tremorsense isn't really benefiting from mythic proficiency; there are also other ways to obtain special senses, e.g. a Saurian Spike. Sustained spells are pretty good options, as they continue to benefit from the mythic proficiency, like the Floating Flame you mentioned, but also Illusory Creature (2 x 8d4 mental damage per Sustain) or Spiritual Armament (4d8 sanctified spirit damage per Sustain), as both use mythic attack rolls for the duration.
Yes, you can take spells from any tradition. So it's a good opportunity to "steal" some good spells from the other lists, and since it's auto-heightened it's also a good opportunity to take incapacitation spells – like Calm, Sleep, Paralyze, … – or spells with counteract checks (at mythic proficiency!) – like Dispel Magic, Cleanse Affliction, Clear Mind, …. p.s.: RAW this feat would even allow you to take Focus spells like Earth's Bile, Sky Laughs at Waves, Trickster's Mirror, Untamed Shift, …
OP said he wanted help with spellcasters, but half the people in here tell OP to play something else instead. This is really bad behavior, the kind of obnoxious stuff you see so much on Reddit. No matter how well-meaning the intentions, please don't do that. If OP asks about non-caster options, then feel free to recommend your Maguses, suggest your Kineticists, and advertise your Thaumaturges. But as long as OP asks for things like this – "So I hope maybe the wiser Pathfinders here can point out some practical advice to play spell casters in these kind of adventuring days, that I am missing." – it's best to keep it to such advice on spellcasters. My advice remains:
No, because that only refers to the effects of the spellshape itself, which OP doesn't care about ("the extending effect"). But bloodmagic is something else entirely, a class feature that triggers upon any bloodline spell being cast, and Extend Bloodmagic is such a spell - just like a spellshape with the manipulate trait would trigger a Reactive Strike regardless of any spell being cast afterwards.
You put the URL you weren't supposed to share, IN the screenshot you shared :( OH CRAP! I hadn't noticed. I cut the link out from the text and made a screenshot just to avoid that... >.< But I hope it's moot now, for Starbuilder has now officially released in the latest version of Pathbuilder: https://pathbuilder2e.com/app.html?v=101b :D
Admittedly, part of this came about because I was looking at Psi Burst and noticed how it doesn't mention if the DC for the reflex save is based on Class or Spell. They don't. Psychics as a premaster class do not have any proficiency in Class DC. They only have Spell DC proficiency. Thus the Psychic's abilities never have to clarify which DC to use because there is only one proficiency. --ninja'd by Errenor--
It's done, apart from a few issues (like Google Drive saving). Patreons can already use it - the image I posted is a screenshot I made using Starbuilder.
For everyone who's not a patron, here's what it looks like:
They need to rework the crap mysteries like Ancestors, Battle, Blight, Bones, and Life. Horrific curses, utterly useless focus & domain spells, and garbage bonus spells render these mysteries unplayable.
The new mythic content from the Revenge of the Runelords adventure path - Player's Guide and Lord of the Trinity Star - can be found on Demiplane:
First thoughts: Both the new callings & destinies are cool & thematic to that adventure path. The mythic callings suffer a bit from many mythic feats not being updated to work with them, i.e. many mythic feats still have the old callings as prerequisite, thus cannot be taken with the new callings. The mythic destinies are more powerful/useful than the old mythic destinies and more broadly applicable than just to few classes. I bet a lot of people will like them and want to play with those more "mythic-feely" destinies. Though I hope there's a bit of an errata coming along to fix the issue with the calling prerequisites as well as an errata to the Avenging Runelord mythic destiny: When taking the Avenging Runelord dedication feat, a character should be allowed to choose which ability score to use for the spells gained from this destiny. Currently these spells are all innate spells, which means they're all exclusively based on Charisma. This makes this destiny a bad choice for Runelord Wizards (!!!) or any other non-CHA based character. Sorcerers, Oracles, Bards, and Thaumaturges can make much better use of this destiny than INT- or WIS-classes, like Runelord Wizards or Clerics of Lissala, which feels wrong.
I think that the increasing character complexity is a defining 2e game feature, as it rewards players for mastering the system , especially now that character building mastery is much less of a thing than back in 1e. If you're playing with PWL you also have the option of homebrewing things along the game design idea. So you can let players advance in level and give them the new things without improving the damage/heal & HP scale. This is often very easy to do with spells that have a H+1 entry, e.g. a 1st- or 2nd-rank Fireball for 2d6 / 4d6 damage respectively won't break anything, yet broaden the capabilities of your casters (& Kineticists). On martials you can withhold higher level runes. You'll have to be a bit careful with buffs/debuffs and multi-target options (e.g. Desiccate¹), but they work as well with de-heightening - it's mostly utility & "wall of text"-spells that need actual restriction. Slam Down & Synesthesia are strong options when playing at "damage level 5" for example, but they're not game-breaking and thus expand your character's options rather than power. ¹ I recommend de-heightening d10+ damage spells by reducing the number of dice by 1 and the die size by ½ per spell rank, so a 5th-rank Desiccate (H-3) would go from 10d10 to 7d7.
Acrobat/Celebrity/Dandy/Gladiator would have an awesome feat in Costume Change which allows you to remove your enemy's armor: You can remove any armor as a 3-action Interact activity. :D
That's a cool guide! In general, I would recommend to switch the ratings towards the different versions of the spellheart, e.g. don't rate the spellheart itself but the base/greater/major version. For example, the base Jolt Coil is the best spellheart around its level but the higher-level versions are less useful because of the static DC and it giving less resistance than other spellhearts. As for the ratings themselves: You underrated the Jolt Coil, as its base version is definitely the best spellheart (around its level), as Electric Arc is the best damage cantrip and electricity resistance is fairly useful. The Foxglove Token is also critically underrated, as there is no other way to get poison resistance that easily - you can always get energy-resistant runes for your armor against fire/acid/cold/electricity damage, but poison resistance is super hard to get and poison is fairly often encountered, especially as it reduces all persistent poison damage. The same is true for the Heartmoss: mental resistance is hard to get, but also a more rare damage type compared to poison. The Perfect Droplet is very campaign dependent, as its resistance is to the water trait, not any specific damage type. In an aquatic campaign this might be valued as if it were hardness. Same for the Polished Demon Horn: in anti-demon/anti-devil/anti-undead campaigns the resistance to unholy triggers very often. The Warding Statuette seems very overrated imo, as you have both the issue of fixed spell attack and spell attacks being weak in general; in other words, you never really hit with the spells and thus never get the bonus AC. The ratings of the cantrips should probably be based on Gortle's Spell Guide, as Puff of Poison is much worse than Scatter Scree - an AoE cantrip that you can use against swarms for example. The save bonuses in general can be disregarded, as people usually get a resilient armor rune as soon as they can, at least before getting a spellheart if possible, and the item bonuses don't stack. For that reason some of the spellhearts, like Jyoti's Feather would have a lower rating as far as I'm concerned.
I used Warping Pull yesterday to get our Exemplar out of a very bad situation: He got hit, grabbed, and swallowed whole by a monster. Since the initial damage was low I didn't react to the hit - and couldn't react to the grab - but fortunately Swallow Whole is a damaging effect! The 10ft teleportation saved him and also ended the grab. Can very much recommend this (purple?) spell! p.s.: I don't think Warping Pull works once you have already been swallowed whole, but only on the initial Swallow Whole attack action.
My other option merely says that you can get holy/unholy strikes for your monk without an 11th-level Holy rune on your handwraps. That it triggers both weaknesses is just the cherry on top. You're still hijacking this thread for another tangential topic, that has absolutely no bearing on gaining either A) reach or B) holy/unholy unarmed strikes – i.e. which this thread is about. This is not the rules forum. Go make your own thread to complain about Mark Seifter's "dubious" explanation.
The entire living/undead distinction for targeting & healing/damaging effects in the 2e rules is a completely unnecessary pain in the behind. Paizo could have just scuttled it altogether and kept Undead as a mere creature type like Dragon or Animal, while running the vitality/void healing independent of the undead trait. Right now, if you're an undead character with the Nudge the Scales feat, you can become immune to pretty much all vitality & void damage simultaneously: immune to vitality because you have vitality healing, and immune to void damage because most void damage effects specify that they only target living creatures (e.g. Void Warp) or harm living creatures (e.g. Devouring Void). It's needlessly complicated. Just remove all "undead" & "living" from all spells and effects and run it purely on damage/healing type.
specially after Moondrift Memories burned a lot of people. That was not an official project backed by Paizo. This one is.
Introducing…
Launch into a new adventure in the Pact Worlds with the first-ever Starfinder CRPG from our partners at EpicTellers Entertainment! Starfinder Afterlight is coming soon to Kickstarter! About the game Gather your crew and venture into the Pact Worlds in a tale of unlikely heroes, cosmic wonders, and the bonds that define us. The galaxy faces annihilation, your captain has vanished, and doomsday looms. Assemble a crew of misfits from across the stars and become the legends in this single player party-based RPG. Build Your Legendary Crew Find 6 unique companions scattered across the stars—from android assassins to mystic prophets. Each brings personal stories and moral dilemmas. The bonds you forge through triumph and loss will determine their destinies—and whether the galaxy survives. Starfinder 2e Tactical Combat Experience turn-based tactical combat with Starfinder's classes—soldier, envoy, operative, mystic, solarian and witchwarper. Three actions per turn fuel endless strategies. Level up and collect alien gear while battling everything from Hellknights to holographic viruses. No Wrong Answers Experience a story-driven narrative where choices matter. Nothing is forbidden—everything has consequences. Choose salvation or profit, mercy or vengeance. Factions remember your deeds, companions judge your heart, and branching storylines ensure no two adventures are alike. Welcome to the Pact Worlds From neon stations to undead worlds, from digital gods to cosmic dragons. Explore the Pact Worlds across 40-60 hours of adventure where magic and technology unite. In this universe, anything is possible—and probably trying to kill you. Featuring Stellar voice cast directed by Neil Newbon [voice of Astarion in BG3] Multiple difficulty settings from story-focused to tactical nightmare Original soundtrack by Eduardo de la Iglesia Mod support and community tools (PC) The stars are calling. Your crew awaits.
You could take a look at what Paizo did with the Rune Lord Archetype. They were also based on 7 of the 8 schools, and with the deletion of them, they shifted the delineation to the function of the spells without actually naming the schools.What book are Rune Lord Archetypes in, please?
I'm playing an Oracle in a 2e remastered game and I want to take the Mummy Archetype. Question is: Would that automatically make my good character unholy? The others have already answered that question, but to expand it a little: As a Mummy Oracle you can even
The Thassilonian Rune Magic focus spells are all really good, except for the Sloth one ("Reclined Apport"), which is a focus-point Telekinetic Hand. Cutting Eye is a very strong Reaction, like a focus "Interposing Earth" but also works against all spells with saves. All-Encompassing Hunger is 1 Action for a bit of damage, though having a rank 1 (focus) spell with a death effect is unique. Precious Gleam adds a whole lot of damage to a weapon, 1d6 per rank, and makes it silver or cold iron on top. Stacks with Runic Weapon. Heart's Hook is really strong, with the 120 ft range and no incapacitation trait, and the fact that you can choose whom the creature has to approach (e.g. your party's Fighter or Champion). Crescent Scepter doesn't seem like something you want to use on a Wizard... but it's probably cool on an unholy Champion. Sloth... meh. I mean if your party uses Disarm (though I don't know many who do), you could ready the spell to immediately steal the weapon, but as a focus spell it's pretty useless. Vengeful Glare is useful to trigger fire/cold weaknesses, being able to freely apply persistent cold or fire damage to it. With just 1 Action to cast this can be a cool thing to add spellshapes like Chaotic Spell to it!
That's nonsense. Just look at it from the perspective that is already established in game:
Sure, you can summon a Fire Elemental, but once you command (sustain) it to attack someone, then that is definitely using your magic to cause harm with an element. For at what point would that be different than casting Floating Flame? Both are temporarily summoned forms of elemental fire that require your direct command to harm others.
Envy Runelords cannot deal damage with the elements nor the void. Careful here: the Anathema does not just prohibit damage spells, but all spells that harm someone: Anathema: Use your magic to cause harm with the elements or void. That can be interpreted in a wide way. For example, I think this also includes summoning creatures that utilize offensive abilities with the elemental or void trait/damage - a Skeleton Guard should be fine, but a Wraith or Fire Elemental is forbidden. You can make sure it's fine though if it corresponds to your sin of Envy: as long as the spell/ability is used to take away something, rather than just causing harm, you should be fine. That's why you have both Tangle Vine and Earthbind as sin spells, to take away someone's (fly) speed. As of RoE, we have defined the elements as: Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water & Wood. Yes and no. There are several different elemental philosophies, and each philosophy differs in what are elements. For example Minkai's elemental philosophy also classifies mental and void as elements. However, the Runelords of old were active in the Inner Sea region, which would imply the philosophy that knows only those four elements: air, earth, fire, water. Notably, the Runelords also existed during the absence of the planes of wood & metal, which would further corroborate the idea that neither wood nor metal are part of their elemental anathema.
Occult spells that can still be very useful at level 10: 1: Bless, Fear, Helpful Steps, Illusory Object, Liberating Command, Lock, Loose the Path, Sanctuary, Sure Strike
Going beyond the exact RaW, it is not spelled out if the 20ft burst is "Surface only" or if it's a dome of effect. I presume most GMs rule that it's surface only, and a creature airborne > 5ft off the ground will not be affected. The spell makes no mention of ground, surfaces or anything. I'm reading it as the slithering snakes to come from a globe of shadow and can thus be used in mid-air (spherical). I personally prefer that to make it more distinct from the Black Tentacles spell and to have a rank-appropriate effect against fliers.
How does Dragon play as a blaster? The starting focus spell d8+d4 per rank on two targets seems like a decent blaster build opening shot, but I've never tried it. Dragon is a very good blaster caster, and even better than Elemental below level 10. The Elemental bloodline suffers a lot from its blasting focus spell only coming on at level 10; before level 10 you only have Elemental Toss, which is a great 3rd action, but not a main blast. Meanwhile the Draconic bloodline has better damage on its Flurry of Claws right from 1st level and gets the Dragon Breath at level 6. The Draconic bloodline is also extremely versatile in that it can choose any spell-list and even has different damage type options for its Draconic Breath. So if your campaign ends at level 11, I would honestly recommend Draconic over Elemental. If your campaign goes/starts at 10+, then Elemental is stronger since the blasting focus spell is so versatile (choose cone/line/burst each time you cast it). In regard to the Draconic bloodline, I think it's also extremely important to mention that you are not limited to the Draconic Exemplars given in Player Core 2, as PC2 explicitly states that you can take other Draconic Exemplars and build them with your GM. From my experience every GM out there allows you to switch to the damage types listed in Paizo's PFS Organized Play section which you can find over at this link. The rules also state that you can then fill the 2nd-, 5th-, and 8th-rank bonus spells with a spell from that draconic exemplar's family spellcasting entry. For example, I'm playing an Umbral Dragon Sorcerer in a Gatewalkers campaign (will continue with Spore Wars), and the GM allowed me to use void damage (instead of fire) on my Flurry of Claws and Dragon Breath. As the bonus spells I chose from the Umbral Dragon spellcasters entry the spells (2) Humanoid Form, (5) Shadow Siphon, and (8) Disappearance; apart from the 2nd-rank spell these are amazing additions to the primal spell-list, where you worry more about having the spells rather than triggering the blood magic effect tbh. So depending on the campaign it can be quite worthwhile to choose certain damage types for your Dragon blaster. Especially noteworthy are those dragons that combine a spell-list with an atypical damage type or that offer you an atypical/rare saving throw against the Dragon Breath focus spell. Typical means something like getting mental damage on an occult spellcaster or a Reflex save blast on fire/cold/acid/... ("primal") damage. But Poison & Fort saves are atypical for occult casters, as is void damage vs a Reflex save, or early Will save AoE spells. Thus the most noteworthy dragons are, in my opinion, the Sky Dragon (divine tradition + electricity damage), the Mirage Dragon (arcane tradition + Dragon Breath vs Will save), the Umbral Dragon (primal tradition + void damage vs Reflex), and the Conspirator Dragon (occult tradition + Dragon Breath vs Fortitude). Finally, it also depends on your variant rules. If you have Free Archetype and go into the Flames Oracle to get Whirling Flames, then the Elemental bloodline focus spell doesn't do much for you anymore, as Whirling Flames already offer a unique and amazing versatility in the positioning of the blasts. In this case I would recommend the Draconic or Imperial bloodline as well, since you want to have arcane spellcasting if you go for a divine spellcasting archetype already. I'm playing an arcane Dragon + FA: Flames Oracle blaster in Prey for Death atm, and it's a blast. With the Dragon Claws, the Dragon Breath & the Whirling Flames, I have all the versatility in blasting I need from focus spells, use my spell-slots for other blasts, and apply Foretell Harm to up the damage (especially when you hit someone's weakness). Btw, at levels 11+ you might want to choose utility cantrips over the usual blasting cantrips, as you can a) afford cheap Spellhearts to get blasty cantrips, and b) have enough spell-slots to no longer need to blast with cantrips. For example Message & Tremor Signs for stealth communication, Tangle Vine as free rope, Prestidigidation to clean things up quickly, Eat Fire for defense, Detect Metal to help find hidden doors/traps/items, but most importantly Deep Breath as air poisons and suffocation are bigger threats than at low levels. As an example, in the aforementioned Prey for Death campaign I had my Sorceress voluntarily engulf herself into the huge fire elemental as she took hardly any damage from being engulfed (high fire resistance), had no need to breathe (Deep Breath), had greater cover against the other enemies, and was also safe from being hit with the elemental's bludgeoning attacks, while the elemental was constantly offguard to her spell attacks; surpassing the Rupture value allows you to escape, but RAW you don't have to. :D
I agree with the others, though would add a little to that specific level range: The Free Archetype for a Flames Oracle would get you the wonderful Whirling Flames focus spell as well as the Foretell Harm cursebound ability, adding even more damage with rechargeable resources. The Whirling Flames also help you with a problem most non-divine blasters have, which is targeting enemies with AoE's without hitting your allies, as placing a few 5-ft-bursts is easier than placing a big burst, so this focus spell is good for following rounds once melee has begun. For Crossblooded Evolution I recommend the Psychopomp bloodline, since nothing is really resistant to both vitality & void damage (except constructs), and it's great for triggering weaknesses, as most Sorcerers have trouble getting both vitality & void damage blasts. Some other choices depending on the campaign and the rest of the party. For example, if you have a party member who can reliably tell you which weaknesses enemies have, you should absolutely go with the Sorcerer's Energy Fusion feat; this lets you utilize your low-level spell-slots to boost your damage even further and change half the damage to the type triggering the weakness. Thunderstrike and Swallow Light are very low level spells that cover 4 damage types already: electricity, sonic, cold, void. And if your campaign has very long adventuring days, with 5+ encounters per day (in some dungeon crawls), I can recommend the Wellspring Mage archetype for the Sorcerer (& Oracle).
PFS is a real-life Westmarches server.
Yes but the gifted power slot is only for your mystery granted spells, your divine access spells, and the spell you can grab from mysterious repertoire. The two extra slots from divine effusion can be whatever though. There are some really good options among applicable deities for some (most?) mysteries. I admit I'll never bothered with a Battle, Ancestors, or Blight Oracle due to their bad curses; Life & Bones are so flavorful and I'd love to play them more often, but it hurts that their curses are... well, others talked about that already. I took Kerkamoth on one of my Cosmos Oracles, so I could get Disintegrate right when 6th-rank spells came online; the Shadow Siphon spell is also amazing and you don't even need to make Shadow Siphon a signature spell if you have Gifted Power. The divine spell list is actually very rich at higher levels, even for offense, but still, taking Synesthesia on a Lore Oracle from Narriseminek is very flavorful and effective; Confusion I haven't used much, but with Gifted Power it's a good choice for that eventual 8th rank slot. For reasons others have pointed out, the Cosmos mystery was the best one to play, but lately I've switched my favorite mystery over to Time. As long as you're careful to avoid enemy reactions you can deal with the curse. I feel this is much better than the Cosmos curse, which never really mattered; the Time curse requires you to be very mindful of it, which makes it much more present at all times for me as a player and that increases the fun. Now if only there were a Spellshot archetype for Oracles so I can play Kurumi Tokisaki... p.s.: If you can, convince your GM to give you Time Jump instead of Time Pocket as your 3rd-rank mystery gifted spell; the latter reigns supreme upon the heap of garbage spells (unless you play some kind of Thief Oracle but don't have Trickery/Stealth?), while the former is one you'd literally kill for as a Time-cursed Oracle. I don't understand for one second why Paizo made this choice.
It is only considered a nerf if you were thinking that the ruling was that the dedication alone was sufficient. Well, that's what I was thinking because Logan Bonner said so. (This might be the thing that Red Griffyn was referring to.)
If that were true they would have changed Sure Strike to only work with spell attack rolls, not nerf it into oblivion. That would have stopped the abuse of others using it to enhance their Strikes, while leaving it usable for casters, who already have crap attack rolls.
Since the group put that huge demand on you, you should feel no hesitancy when it comes to using the rules to your advantage. Go for Imperial Sorcerer and take the Tap into Blood feat. Then use Arcana instead of whatever skill you want to Recall Knowledge with. You're facing a bunch of Zombies? Use Arcana instead of Zombie Lore. Investigating a murder in Absalom? Use Arcana instead of Absalom Crime Lore. Basically, by utilizing Arcana instead of a specific Lore skill, you drop the DC of whatever you Recall Knowledge on by 5. The Zombies might have needed a Religion DC 20, but with Arcana (Zombie Lore) it's just DC 15. This is equivalent to a +5 bonus to the Arcana skill for Recall Knowledge. You're still limited by triggering bloodmagic first, so you'll want to have enough focus points to use the skill. Once you hit level 6 you could also use the weird Extend Blood Magic spell, that should trigger bloodmagic on its own and extend it (though the spell is badly written and basically up to GM fiat), allowing you to Recall Knowledge up to 5 times for just 1 focus point (& 5 Tap into Blood actions, so probably good out of combat only). And while you're benefitting from bloodmagic, you would also get a +1 status bonus to either AC or saves from the Imperial bloodline, for extra defenses. If you use that, then there's no need to raise your Intelligence sky high, a +1 or +2 should suffice - a Sprite or Gnome would be a good ancestry here. Investing in bonuses to Arcana would make this even better, so ask the Warpriest to put Heroism on you if he wants to know something, because you have unfortunately forgotten everything recently. That should give you a very good stat spread -- STR-1 | DEX+2 | CON+2 | INT+1 | WIS+2 | CHA+4 -- with an effective INT bonus to Recall Knowledge equal to +6. Feel free to move 1 point WIS or CON towards INT. If that has you worried about too low defenses, the Cleric should also cast Dancing Shield on a Fortress Shield to give you +3 circumstance AC and have spells like Martyr's Intervention at the ready. Instead of Sprite or Gnome, you could also go for an Elf with Ageless Patience, so you can spend 2 actions on Tap into Blood to get that +2 circumstance bonus to the Recall Knowledge check. tl;dr
Latest legendary addition: Runesmith!
Just a little tip I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. Here are the rules on spells that last until your daily preparations: If a spell’s duration says it lasts until your next daily preparations, on the next day you can refrain from preparing a new spell in that spell’s slot. (If you are a spontaneous caster, you can instead expend a spell slot during your preparations.) Doing so extends the spell’s duration until your next daily preparations. This effectively Sustains the spell over a long period of time. If you prepare a new spell in the slot (or don’t expend a spell slot), the spell ends. You can’t do this if the spell didn’t come from one of your spell slots. If you are dead or otherwise incapacitated at the 24-hour mark after the time you Cast the Spell or the last time you extended its duration, the spell ends. Spells with an unlimited duration last until counteracted or Dismissed. You don’t need to keep a spell slot open for these spells. A lot of spontaneous casters, especially Sorcerers & Psychics, but also Oracles & Bards can benefit from this rule for spells they want to keep up indefinitely, like Mystic Armor. You only need to expend a spell-slot during daily preparations to keep the spell up, there's no need to have the spell still in your repertoire! For example, you can cast Mystic Armor at the beginning of your adventuring career at humble level 1, then replace the spell with something else at level 2 (or during retraining), but you can still keep Mystic Armor up and running as long as you diligently expend the spell-slot every day during daily preparations. Considering how few spells spontaneous casters have in their repertoire, especially at early levels, this can allow you to take that one extra spell you wanted to know besides Mystic Armor (or other daily buff spell of your choice). Have fun!
|
