Aldrakan's page

I've looked to it as a guide when creating a few, but I'm not sure I've ever made something purely legal through it because the concept always included something it couldn't generate. The weaknesses especially have very limited options.

It's also blatantly obvious the race builder was reverse engineered from races they'd built without it, hence the inclusion of things like Shadow Travel, so I feel no guilt about eyeballing the RP for a new ability.

I don't think it's something that should ever be offered to PCs without a lot of collaboration and discussion, it's far too easy to minmax it for a specific build.

Yeah, I'd suggest aberrant, and carnifex rather than mawloc (those are clearly serpentine, but that base form has worse stats for what you seem to be looking for giving them a bunch of limbs is very inefficient). Tyranid are technically closer to bipedal, but I agree quadruped is near enough and is more efficient. Until you have enough evolution points and natural attacks allowed its second set of arms can be vestigial. At 1st level it would just be:

Abberrant, quadrapedal shape
default evolutions, claws. That gives you three primary natural attacks, and will get you started.

By 9th level it's really taken shape. It's got immunity to mind-affecting, which works with the hivemind thing tyranid have (though I don't know if there's any relevant lore or just the appearance you want), and 8 evolution points without extra evolution feats.

Those could be:

default evolutions, claws, limbs [arms], claws again (bringing it to the max 5 natural attacks and giving it the classic tyranid four armed functionality + bite) energy attacks [acid], and leaves you with 2 evolution points to spend on whatever you think fits best - rend, poison, ability increase, scent, skilled [stealth], natural armor, and the ability to increase that to four spare points by taking extra evolution twice.
You could spend that on pounce (with a point left over), breath weapon (which is awful but worth wasting the points for noxious bite), or large size.

I've always been vastly underwhelmed when playing a Witch and their spell list. It never feels fully thematic, I think more illusion and necromancy spells would help it and far more dips into druidic spells as well.

On that subject, it would be nice if patrons were a little more impactful. It's good they can give access to spells not normally on the witch list, but their only effect being spells known means you're likely to forget who your patron even is except at level up. I could see being able to cast patron spells spontaneously to make it feel a bit more present.

Phantom Blade Fractured Mind Spiritualist would replace everything except the capstone, and there's an alternate capstone you can take without archetypes. Phantom Blade replaces everything to do with the phantom, Fractured Mind swaps out all the spell-like abilities (and as a bonus effectively alters cantrips as well as spells by swapping casting to Cha base).
I guess they don't actually stack though, because while Fractured Mind doesn't replace or alter your emotional focus or phantom, it does assume that your phantom has one, and the Phantom Blade replaces the phantom entirely. Requires pretty mild GM permissiveness.

MrCharisma wrote:

Slim Jim wrote:

What are you going to do with a bomb in melee? Drop it at your feet and take them out with you?

The whole point of this thread is to make a melee alchemist who doesn't trade out bombs.

That's not what either the thread title or the first post says. Let's take a look:

The First Post wrote:

I know that Vivisectionist is the best ultimate super melee alchemist that everyone online loves beyond all other. But personaly I dont like trading away bombs... Having a good ranged attack can be good for a melee character too, And Bombs are not just damage, They can be so useful with all their utility aswell!

Someone indicating that they don't like giving something up does not parse to meaning that retaining said thing is "the whole point" of the thread when they did not say so.

The whole point was an melee alchemist with bombs because that's what they asked for.

1. I know [thing] is best.
2. But I don't like [aspect] of [thing].
3. Can anyone suggest [alternate thing]?

Means that [aspect] is a dealbreaker. It's literally the only reason they gave for not just using a vivisectionist.

Everyone else understood this because it's obvious, and there are you complaining directly to the OP about rejecting your suggestion because it ignored what they asked for and arguing that you technically fulfilled it because the Oxford English dictionary defines the word "like" as...

It is a hard choice to make if referring to the real world.

Since in the real world magic doesn't work they would only be worth their aesthetic or intrinsic material value. We don't know what combined items look like, so the first is impossible to judge. The vast majority of items don't describe precisely what they are made of either, so the second is hard to determine as well.

There. I have answered as a real person in the real world.

Well the Helm of Brilliance contains 10 "large" diamonds and 20 rubies, 30 fire opals, 40 opals. Those are integral to its functioning, so any fusion with it should still contain them. That's gotta be worth a lot. The Crown of Heaven is described as being made of gold bejeweled with diamonds and sapphires.

In all seriousness, the 2nd person is used to refer to both players and characters constantly, everywhere. If you were unaware of this, you now know and should understand why your OP was easily misunderstood. If you were aware of this, don't act like people are being stupid or malicious by not abiding by your individual arbitrary standards of expression which you did not explain. You communicated your premise poorly, it's fine.

The outside answer is of course one of history - lawful evil and chaotic evil fiends came first and got all the focus, Pathfinder copied this, and when they put neutral evil fiends in they didn't bother adding a new language for them.

My opinion is that they should have one, which in keeping with the other fiendish languages is called abaddoni.

Abyssal seems to delight in its own irregularity and variety of expression. Infernal follows strict rules but of such complexity it can seem as disordered as abyssal to the novice speaker, full of homophones and words that change their meaning entirely with the addition of an apostrophe.
By contrast, a scholar who sets out to learn the tongue of daemons will find it a refreshingly straightforward endeavor to begin with, though this blessing sours once they learn the language better.

Most consider it extremely ugly, short sentences made from a combination of hisses and clacks and guttural noises, the most unpleasant of which seem reserved for words such as life, mercy, charity. The language also lacks synonyms or common idioms and its grammatical structure is rigid, hampering attempts to express a concept in multiple ways. As a result creating abadonni poetry is immensely difficult.

The limitations also encourage conversation that is brief and to the point, minimizing the time one must speak to another. It lacks loan words entirely - new words are created when necessary, and proper nouns that last long enough (such as the name of a world or god) are given new names in abadonni.

The only area the language seems given to any creativity is in words relating to pain and death. Some of these may be mistaken for synonyms, but in fact represent distinct acts that are usually lumped together - few mortal tongues, for example, have single separate words for being devoured alive by beasts, and being devoured alive by the larvae hatching from one's own flesh.

To be truly fluent requires memorizing hundreds of terms for all the forms of suffering that could befall the student. As such it is advised to make sure one is of stable mind, for malaise can spawn from the study of this vile tongue.

When to tell them varies wildly depending on the campaign and it's not about level. If you intend to get any use out of your social identity obviously the players need to know, so the impact of such a revelation is muted.

I'd just wait for a good opportunity to present itself, if it's taking too long prompt the DM and they can try to create one.

It's also completely fine for your allies to just know from the start. If you're starting at low level you can make creating your identity part of your interaction with them. It's very common for superheroes (which is not exactly what vigilantes are but it is a valid comparison) to have a close group that knows their secret.

I've seen a pretty crazy use of Gift of Consumption and it's upgrade. Specifically, willingly exposing yourself to the biggest Fort-based Save-or-die in existence: a coup-de-gras.

Oh wow that works, doesn't it. You still eat the crit, but that's awesome. I'm imagining a witch being executed by beheading, then the executioner's head falls off, or the judge.

I'd say it varies from shabti to shabti based on the preferences of their creator. Obviously the bit that fools divine judgement isn't their physical resemblance to the creator, as they're described as "idealized humans", so I think it depends if the creator thought a bellybutton was a feature worth including.

Seems like good changes. A couple other I'd like to see that feel non-disruptive:

Ability to activate minor aspects and shifter claws with the same swift action.
It shouldn't take two turns for them to go from civilian appearance their to mostly humanoid "battle form".
This is mostly a quality of life issue that won't come up that often, but lets the the shifter go undercover without worrying about being able to quickly be combat ready - something that seems like it should be of the least concern for someone whose own body is the weapon.

Slightly more impactful, no duration limit on minor aspects.

A duration of 3+ level minutes per day is enough to be active throughout combats, but is a tiny amount of time outside combat.
This severely weakens minor aspects that give "utility" benefits like the Falcon, and is harmful to the flavor of the class; it becomes capable of complete transformation all day, but a legendary 20th level shifter can't see like a bat while walking around for even half an hour. The impact on combat is minor, but enables them to better use their shapeshifting to aid the party when not fighting.

Several of the archetypes for non-initiating classes get it:

Rubato Bard, Myrmidon Fighter can pick it, Roil Dancer Kineticist, Monk of the Silver Fist, Hidden Blade Rogue

I like the theme a lot, combat necromancer is something I'm very fond of. I think you could loosen the origin fluff a little, so it's not entirely drawn from arcane casters dabbling in necromancy; see would-be clerics who lose faith and, in their time of doubt, a new voice comes in the night, or the survivor of an undead attack who finds undeath is not done with them.

Profane Anathema:

1. Call them Anathema. Profane is redundant and makes it too long - in a few places you've dropped it already.

2. Bone Dance: How long does the weapon created last, does it attack immediately? When you say it has the "spell effects" that were on the weapon does that mean it replicates the spell it was channeling through Spellstrike when it hit, or just that if it was under the effect of e.g. Magic Weapon and Profane Pool the copy will be too? Either way I'm concerned about the potential damage spike.

3. Cackling Minions is a cool idea but doesn't seem to do anything. Cackle applies only to hexes created by the person cackling, and it doesn't look like the minions or the bonedancer have any other hexes.

4. Rime blast currently scales horribly, even with Clinging Rime. I guess it comes by it honestly as the child of Pool Strike.

5. Spell Blending needs a rename, as it's no longer adding spells from another list. Dark Knowledge?

6. Coordinated Minions should clarify whether or not it stacks with the Charnel Soldiers feat.

7. The Circles: Very cool, I'm not certain giving them different radii is useful. Are they created centered on the bonedancer? If not they should have to designate a point within X feet. My suggestion would be to have it created centered on the bonedancer, then the effect ends and does not resume if they leave their circle. They're a melee character, creating a defensive area fits.

8 Swift Death seems like an upgrade to Sudden Death rather than the other way around.

9. Augmented Ally: Giving them a Char bonus in place of Con is a headache when they have half his HP instead of calculating it from HD.

10. I don't think an equivalent of the Close Range arcana would go amiss.

11. Last thing, just noticed that the anathema have DC = 10+ half the HD+Wis, rather than his level. Is this deliberate to encourage multiclassing?

Other features:

Spells: You appear to be missing a Spells Known section, though I would assume it's the standard bard/inquisitor spontaneous 6 level caster allotment.

Animated Ally: For convenience maybe consider having them act on his initiative.

Bone Weapon: Can you enchant it? If so Bane of the Living seems like overkill.

Profane Detonation is currently terrible. As much as 96 (and on a 2d6 that's a very real possibility) reduced health at the level you get it, all your remaining pool points, and exhaustion, in exchange for best case scenario, an enhanced fireball. If you're desperate enough to use it there's a very good chance you don't have the pool points to make it effective or the HP to survive the backlash.

Grim Reaper: The spell combat with bone weapon, do you mean spellstrike? I'd consider giving his bone weapon the Ghost Touch ability while incorporeal, or just all the time (it is the capstone after all).

All in all it's very well done. Very flavorful and just needs a few more tweaks.

The natural attacks section says that if a creature only has one natural attack it used with the full attack bonus and deals 1-1/2 Strength damage.

So I think the hair would deal 1.5 x Int mod after all, so long as it's your only natural attack and you're not attacking with a weapon.

That said, still better to wait until you can use it more than once a day.

Vidmaster7 wrote:

Trinam wrote:

Three words:

Totem. Warrior. Barbarian.

We still don't even know if it does anything at all.

What does that one even do?

it does literally nothing trades out no abilities and grants no extra abilities

Plus side, stacks with everything.

The worst vigilante archetype is most certainly the Brute, which gives combat bonuses barely if at all superior to the Avenger in exchange for a hideous drawback.
The magical child at least grants something. You can combo its improved familiar with a familiar archetype like mauler, which is unique and helps its in-combat ability.

Despite mechanics learning a language is a process, and druid is a trained class, meaning it takes at least two years to become one (leaving aside muticlassing because it creates a whole other set of problems). So at a certain point in your training you're considered sufficiently a druid that they can start teaching you, and by the time you're a first level druid you're fluent.
Or hey, maybe its an enlightenment thing and Druidic is just the secret language of nature, and anyone who's sufficiently in tune with nature will come to understand it.

The given reasoning is that the first sentence talks about spells with a target of you, and so this must apply to the entire ability. This is wrong, but let's break down why a bit more.

Summary: The text says you can, and there is no reason for the class feature to exist if you can't.

If it said:

The summoner may cast a spell with a target of “you” on his eidolon (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on himself. He may cast these spells on his eidolon even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the eidolon's type (outsider)

then Stormrider's reading would be correct, because "these spells" links the sentences; the next sentence must be talking about the spells from the previous sentence with a target of "you".

This isn't the case. The second sentence refers to "spells" in general and adds restrictions after, making sure to link the restriction to the previous two abilities granted by saying that spells cast "in this way" (i.e. using the two abilities previously discussed in the class feature) must be from the summoner spell list and must be actual spells.

(You could theoretically claim that the restriction only refers to the previous sentence, so a summoner could cast spells with a target of "you" on their eidolon regardless of whether they were on the summoner spell list so long as they could be cast on creatures of the eidolon's type, but that would be a very odd reading and the ability would have been written terribly if that were intended.)

It if had not included this link it would be saying that spells in general must be cast from the summoner spell list, obviously contradicting all the classes that use different spell lists.
The use of a demonstrative to tie the restriction to what came before, and what not including one would make it say, shows why them not using one to link the first two sentences is important.

That said, Pathfinder is not always written with the care that goes into reading it, and I have a particular annoyance with people who seize on what people reviewing actual laws would dismiss as inartful drafting to do something nonsensical, so let's also look at the effects of these rulings.

In the dominant reading, this class feature allows what are normally personal buff spells to be cast on the eidolon, which can often benefit from the more than the summoner would. This is a useful class feature that is thematically appropriate for the summoner, who entire concept is having a scary monster that does their fighting for them.

In Stormrider's reading, this class feature is a piece of worthless garbage that should be cut from the class entirely. I'm not going to say that there are NO spells with a range of "you" that are restricted to being cast on humanoids because there are a whole lot of spells out there, but if they exist at all they are vanishingly few in number. People asked earlier in the thread about any spells that met this criteria, and no one had an example. It's simply not how they write spells. And the fact that the ability still present on the Unchained Summoner, and is used for familiars, should be evidence that it actually does something.

The closest thing I have is the spell Blend, which was designed for use by elves, which are a humanoid subtype and thus implicitly that spell could only be used by humanoids while having a target of "you". But in addition to being a pretty long walk, and that spell being learnable by other races with the GM's permission, and that an elf could still cast the spell if they were transformed into a nonhumanoid because the restriction only refers to learning it, not casting it, Blend isn't on the summoner spell list anyway.

How do you get touch of fatigue?

The Two-World Magic trait lets you add a 0th level spell from another class list to yours. The Samsaran race could also get it through the Mystic Past Life alternate racial trait.

The spiritualist version seems interesting and has a lot of good debuffs, with almost no spells that deal damage without some more significant other effect (well, no good options, there's always Inflict Wounds). Until they get Harm and suddenly become amazing at nuking things down.
A shame they can't get the Close Range arcana without a lot of work though, Enervation would be a great thing to crit with. Samsaran also relevant here if you did want to increase your offensive options.

As a side note, this is the second spiritualist archetype that ditches their phantom for the ability to generate a weapon and pretends to be a magus (the other being the ectoplasmatist). The magus might want to consider a restraining order, it's getting a little creepy.