So with all you Folks discussing the merits of mobility and how to play second line characters, doesn't that leave the barbarian (i.e. the front liner with poor AC) in a bit of a bind?
Sure I could go around and be creative and have my barbarian Jumping up walls and hiding in nooks and crannies, but that doesn't seem overly barabric to me. And if I'm playing a giant instinct barbarian a GM might actually come to the conclusion, that such behaviour is actually not conform to my anathema.
The only strategy that comes to my mind is to use a reach weapon, but until Level 6 and AoO that won't actually disuade enemy movement.
Oh nos! I was always assuming that you got the size increase damage boost. Well if that's the case, then the trade off of -1 to hit and AC for +2 damage is just as much of a downgrade as the superstitious barbarian.
I think taking away the beastkins ability score bonuses was legit, otherwise it's just a stright upgrade to the standard barbarian. I generlly agree with caster martial disparity, but show me a caster that wants to be alone in a room with a beastkin berserker...
Anyways I've been doing some brainstorming and have come up with a rather wicked build that tries to circumvent the beastkin's lack of defenses by debuffing. Specifically the Untamed Rager Archetype from Dirty Tactics Toolbox can be stacked with Beaskin Berserker. It gives you improved and greater dirty trick in place of uncanny doge and imp. uncanny dodge and also gets a scaling intimdte bonus in place of trap sense.
Add in Knockback/Savage Dirty Trick and Cornugon smash with 6 natural attacks and you can leave a foe with the following debuffs in one round while still dealing 50some damage at level 6:
Prone AND Blinded AND Staggered AND Shaken AND Deafend
OR
Prone AND Dazzled AND DAZED AND Shaken AND Blinded
OR
Prone AND Dazzled AND DAZED AND Shaken AND Deafend
The possibilities are nigh endless...Also Dirty Trick gives you something nice to do in the first round of combat before aquiring pounce.
Thanks to size increases, Rage, AoMF and Reckless Abandon you should have a fairly competitive CMB throughout your career. Also STR surge means you can land single combat maneuvers agianst pretty much anyone.
Human Barbarian 10 (Beastkin Berserker/ Untamed Rager)
STR 19 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 8
Alt Race Traits:
Heart of the Fields
Traits:
Death Touched
Bred for War
FCB: Superstiton
1 Rage / Savage Raport: Dechynodronus / Feat: Power Attack / Bonus Feat: Extra Rage Power: Reckless Abandon (Retrained 5PP)
2 Rage Power: Knockback / Improved Dirty Trick
3 Extra Rage Power: Superstition
4 Feral Transformation: Beast Shape 1
5 Savage Raport: Large something / Feat: Extra Rage Power: Elemental Blood I / Greater Dirty Trick
6 Rage Power: Savage Dirty Trick
7 Damage Reduction / Feat: Cornugon Smash
8 Feral Transformation: Beast Shape 2
9 Feat: ???
10 Rage Power: ???
Due to being bored I sorted through the Monster list above to identify creatures sized tiny to huge with interesting (not claw, claw, bite) natural attacks:
Name Size Type Senses Aura Speed Melee
Crocodile Large animal low-light vision; Perception +8 20 ft., swim 30 ft. bite +5 (1d8+4 plus grab) and tail slap +0 (1d12+2)
Ankylosaurus Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +14 30 ft. tail +14 (3d6+12 plus stun)
Deinonychus Medium animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +14 60 ft. 2 talons +5 (1d8+2),bite +5 (1d6+2), foreclaws +0 (1d4+1)
Stegosaurus Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +16 30 ft. tail +16 (4d6+12 plus trip)
Eagle Small animal low-light vision; Perception +10 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average) 2 talons +3 (1d4), bite +3 (1d4)
Electric Eel Small animal low-light vision; Perception +4 5 ft., swim 30 ft. bite +3 (1d6+1) and tail -2 touch (1d6 electricity)
Hawk Tiny animal low-light vision; Perception +14 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) 2 talons +5 (1d4-2)
Owl Tiny animal low-light vision; Perception +10 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) 2 talons +5 (1d4-2)
Squid Medium animal low-light vision; Perception +7 swim 60 ft., jet 240 ft. bite +4 (1d3+2), tentacles +2 (1d4+1 plus grab)
Giant Squid Huge animal low-light vision; Perception +22 swim 60 ft., jet 260 ft. bite +14 (2d6+7), 2 arms +14 (1d6+7), tentacles +12 (4d6+3/19-20 plus grab)
Quetzalcoatlus Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +13 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (clumsy) bite +13 (2d8+7/x3), 2 wings +8 (1d6+3)
Parasaurolophus Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +13 30 ft. tail slap +8 (2d6+9)
Manta Ray Large animal blindsense 30 ft., low-light vision; Perception +6 swim 60 ft. tail slap +4 (1d6+4)
Stingray Medium animal blindsense 30 ft., low-light vision; Perception +8 swim 40 ft. sting +1 (1d4 plus poison)
Porcupine Tiny animal low-light vision; Perception -1 30 ft. tail slap +2 (1d3)
Giant Porcupine Medium animal low-light vision; Perception +6 40 ft. tail slap +6 (2d6+4)
Swamp Barracuda Medium animal keen scent, low-light vision; Perception +9 10 ft., swim 60 ft. bite +6 (1d6+3), tail slap +1 (1d6+1)
Nothosaur Large animal low-light vision; Perception +11 20 ft., swim 40 ft. bite +10 (1d8+6), tail slap +7 (1d8+3)
Giant Falcon Large animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +13 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average) 2 talons +4 (1d6+3), bite +4 (1d8+3)
Giant Dire Frog Large animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +6 40 ft., swim 40 ft. bite +8 (1d8+6 plus grab) or tongue +8 touch (grab)
Mammoth Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +17 40 ft. gore +19 (2d6+11), slam +19 (1d8+11), 2 stomps +17 (2d6+5)
Oliphant Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +9 40 ft. gore +13 (2d8+13), 2 stamps +13 (2d6+9)
Scythe Horn Large animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +10 40 ft. antlers +11 (2d6+6) or butt +10 (1d8+6)
Small Stingray Small animal low-light vision, scent, tremorsense 100 ft.; Perception +5 swim 30 ft. sting +3 (1d3 plus poison)
Medium Stingray Medium animal low-light vision, scent, tremorsense 100 ft.; Perception +10 swim 30 ft. sting +5 (1d4+3 plus poison)
Large Stingray Large animal low-light vision, scent, tremorsense 100 ft.; Perception +11 swim 30 ft. sting +11 (1d8+6 plus poison), wing +9 (1d6+3)
Mokele-Mbembe Huge animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +15 30 ft., swim 30 ft. bite +17 (2d6+9), tail slap +12 (2d6+4)
Snowy Owl Tiny animal low-light vision; Perception +10 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) 2 talons +5 (1d4-2)
Velociraptor Small animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +10 60 ft. bite +6 (1d4+1), 2 talons +6 (1d6+1/19-20)
Platypus Tiny animal electrolocation 30 ft. (while underwater), low-light vision; Perception +1 (+5 while underwater) 10 ft., swim 40 ft. spur +4 (1d3-4 plus poison)
Giraffe Huge animal low-light vision; Perception +8 50 ft. 2 hooves +6 (1d8+5), slam +1 (1d8+2)
Marax Large animal low-light vision, scent; Perception +20 40 ft. bite +20 (2d6+9/19-20), 2 talons +20 (1d8+9), tail barbs +18 (1d6+4 plus poison)
Peacock Small animal low-light vision; Perception -2 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (clumsy) 2 talons +2 (1d3-2)
Nothing really caught my fancy in the small or medium departement but Marax looks pretty awesome for a large form with up to 7 natural attacks.
Also giant dire frog targets touch AC with his tongue. That's oddly appealing...
Love the arsinoitherium and Vital Strike/Furious Finish idea. Too bad that build really doesn't work out before level 6 at the very earliest...
okay, so it is able to keep up with other full babs. that is good
It's able to keep up with the CRB fighter. That's not saying much. Optimized full martials should be able to put out something like 150 DPR at Level 12.
I'm pretty sure the weretouched shifter can do that as well. For other builds I'm not so sure.
The weretouched shifter really breaks the classes damage math as it can combine Rhino Hide with pounce. Boot trick (Sharp veer) and Dragon Style mean that you should be able to pounce on most rounds of the day (Humans cann pull all this of at 5th).
The major issue with the shifter's DPR is that your to hit will always be lagging behind other martials. Due to the number of attacks precision isn't quite as importants but other martials can easily aquire a dump truck of natural attacks as well.
This is why pouncing is so important as that +2 to hit is vital for a shifter. This also means that power attack is a comparably bad feat for shifters.
Also I'm fairly positive that with the erataded shifter's edge you are not gonna want to Focus on DEX (at least not on a build that goes from Level 1 to 12). For pure DPR reasons investing heavily in WIS for Mutated Shape is probably superior.
Not to beat a dead horse here....but do we have any idea when this book will become PFS legal? I've had the PDF (through subscription) for over 3 weeks now.
Since they just updated the Additional Resources, my guess would be in a few months.
The fact that UW was not included in the last AR update, despite hardcovers usually becoming avalable right after release, might be an indication that there's some considerable debate on wheter or not pouncing kittymen should be a thing in PFS.
And if pouncing kittymen won't be a thing in PFS the shifter discussion might be turn even more heated...
Why not just simplify like they did with barbarian's rage from 3.5 to Pathfinder?
You're absolutely right about the usage thing. It's incredibly strange that they changed the way Rage works to be less clunky and then left wild shape as-is, even when building an ostensibly simple wildshaper.
It's just... not a good feeling to hit level 4, pop into tiger form for a fight and then realize that you're stuck in tiger form for the next four hours because if you shift out your combat ability goes down the toilet.
Also means campaign dynamics really matter for how combat goes. If you're dungeon crawling and there's a bunch of encounters all in a row you're a pounce mauling death machine.
But if you're in a campaign that has a fight, then some sort of more social encounter you have to essentially make a conscious choice whether to either stay a tiger and essentially sit out that scene or change back and lose a lot of effectiveness if there's a combat later in the day. The shifter is billed as a simpler class for newer players, but is that kind of scenario really one we want to put new players into? It doesn't feel like it to me.
Obviously the problem gets less pronouncd at 6 when you get a second usage, but it's still not a fun dilemma to deal with. Not to mention as others have sad earlier in the thread it devalues utility forms.
Appealing for an unban of this archetype is an attempt at futility. As written it is better than the swashbucler and probably strictly superior to the base Paladin for any build mot relying on archery, or natural weapons.
Initially I was equally anoyed that PFS is so restrictive. Meanwhile I have come to understand, that if paizo as a company were as good at balancing it's content as PFS is, Pathfinder would be a much better game.
So, I know that for hard cover books PFS legality is usually pretty darn quick, but there seems to be a lot of editing/uncertainty issues with a lot of class options. Have we heard anything on when the resources will drop?
They are prolly currently debating whether or not to ban the Shifter's Tiger aspect. All that low level pouncing will make campaign leadership very unhappy.
As it was discussed above here's my take on the weretouched shifter:
As a 4 level dip it's prolly the best thing to get out of the shifter from an optimization perspective.
- Shifting into a weretiger once per day for 4 hours covers most of your daily adventuring need. Shifting focus has you competly covered. As you are still a completly functional demihuman being in weretiger form this also works from an RP perspective.
- You get pounce at level 4 and 3 natural attacks to go with it
- You get to wear equipment so enjoy the helm of the mammoth lord and rhino hide with your pouncing full attacks
- You get nice static bonuses (+2 size bonus to STR is equivalent to weapon trining 1) and a +2 to natural armor on top of half wisdom+1 and armor
What makes me so sad about Ultimate Wilderness is the fact that a company which has built it's sucess on listening to it's players from the start, is now locking out player opinions before and after the release.
Wow sad times on the paizoboards. So as a numbers guy this is what I see in the shifter:
Offense:
Natural attacks are the best way to get high DPR numbers up until about level 10. So being able to build around them is great. In higher level play you need to decide whether or not you want to rely exclusily on natural attacks (and get as many as possible) or mix em up with manufactured weapons or unarmed strikes.
However natural attacks don't really need full-BAB to function as you don't get iteratives. So the shifter's big selling feature (full-BAB) only grants it very minor bonuses for it's intendend combat style. This design flaw has already been pointed out elsewhere.
The shifter gets 2 claws to start with. Many other classes get this as well and a slew of racial options can also get you claws from the start. A number of magic items and feats can help you expand your natural attack arsenal and of course wild shape and that nifty new feat do as well.
Lesser aspects are a weak class feature due to only granting enhancement bonuses. They are also the only built in accuracy boost the class sports and fail pretty badly at that. Also copy pasting this from hunter can't really be seen as anything other than unispired. The strength of the hunter's animal aspect was it's versatility. The Shifter gets his second aspect at level 5.
Wild Shape, despite all the hate it gets, is of course a very powerful class feature. As verzen pointed out the dino and the tiger are prolly the go to forms at level 4.
Defense:
WIS to AC and a scaling AC bonus are nice. The fact that you still get half your WIS to AC while in armor means you can easily build a tanky shifter while wearing armor or while wildshaping. Also both DEX and STR builds will work for this.
Also some Wild Shapes can further enhance defenses.
A STR based tiger will actually appreciate the lesser aspects defensive boost.
The focus on wisdom as a secondary stat also partially helps to kit the poor WIL saving throws.
Compared to other full BAB natural attack builds (Barbarian or bloodrager come to mind) the shifters defenses look pretty good. Builds focusing on DEX and Wisdom should be really tough to hit.
Madness:
You need either high DEX or STR. Some CON and WIS. CHA and INT are prime dump stats. This seems manageable under 20 point buy. But folks who hate dumpstats might be in for a rough ride.
Versatility:
4+Int class skills and up to 5 creatures to wild shape into. Also nature flavored abilities like woodland stride. Some of the minor aspects help with skills.
Compared to most Full-BAB classes (not looking at you avenger) this seems like an okay amount of versatiliy. But compared to the druid or the hunter it's obviously very dissapointing.
Summary:
So what do we have in sum. A primary martial class with bland offenses, truffeled with a few real highlights like pounce at level 4, which sports decent defenses but lacks a bit in the accuracy department.
Compared to the Druid, the Shifter offers some great ammunition for those who argue that the caster-martial disparity in Pathfinder is too large.
For those primarily interested in wrecking face the shifter is an interesting option. I can see a lot of builds exiting the class after level 4 (and take shaping focus) as much like swashbuckler it scales poorly. Also I'm pretty sure folks will try to find ways to harm themselves or dip Barbarian for accuracy reasons.
Also due to the easy avilability of DEX to damage on all natural attacks (Agile AoMF) and shifter's edge, the class might actually make for viable DEX based builds.
The higher expectations are, the higher the risk of disappointment. If you put expectations aside (it's hard for me, I readily admit), you get at least a class where a level 1 dip nets you permanent claws. From there you might find a few other gems...
I see why Paizo didn't want a public playtest, but maybe one or two polls about the general direction of the class would have been a good compromise for both sides.
Except very many classes can get caws at level 1.
And honestly if "it's a good 1 level dip" is the best defense of a class than hat's a pretty poor verdict...
I'd stick with Savage Technologist all the way. However go Breaker instead of Hurler. That way you can ignore the penalties for improvised weapons and get a scaling Bonus to damage.
Alternatively get the Tools of the trade trait and surprise weapon trait that saves you 2 feats. Lets you ignore to hit penalties for using imrpovised weapons and provides you with a jucy +2 to hit.
Also check out the barbarian rage powers from Villain Codex (Archives of Nethys has them). They make Barbarians good at throwing.
Also get the amulet of improvised might from Adventure'S Armory 2.
Thought I'd necro this a moment because I'm not sure at all where the language for the ability states that your inquisitor level counts as oracle levels for the purposes of determining which revelations you can select.
I make my case here primarily using existing language from CRB and APG that has long since been FAQ'ed that there is in fact a difference between "X levels being treated as Y levels to determine the <ability>'s effects" and "X levels being treated as Y levels to determine which <ability> you can pick" and that one does not equal the other.
It's my belief that by RAW, especially in Pathfinder Society where FAQ > RAW > RAI, you'd pick a level 1 revelation at level 1 in Ravener Hunter, and a level 1 revelation at level 8 in Ravener Hunter, and both revelations are treated as if a level 8 Oracle was using them. I cannot see an RAI standpoint that is reasonable for this either as I feel many a level 1 revelation at mid-to-high levels compete well with 8th level domain and inquisition powers, particularly from the Nature, Battle, Life, and Shadow mystery, to name a few. I can see it being quickly homebrewed and allowed at a home game however so long as its stated that way. Thoughts?
She must meet the revelation’s prerequisites, using her inquisitor level as her effective oracle level to determine the revelation’s effects, and she never qualifies for the Extra Revelation feat.
Not sure how that can be read s anything else than: Inquisitor level counts as Oracle level for qualifying for revelations.
Seems like for the last 5 years whenever someone asks for Barbarian advice he gets the same advice. Some of which is good (Reckless abandon, Superstition), some of which not soo good (Two handed weapon deals most damage...that honor goes to natural weapons). Anyways Paizo has actually released a number of good Barbarian options recently that add new tricks or can work as well or better as the gold standard options.
As a replacement for Superstion I find this rage power rather interesting, particularly good for fate's favored half orcs as they start with decent saves in all departments and can best benefit from rerolls:
Ymeri’s Pyre (Su): The barbarian visibly burns with an
inner flame that consumes all impurities affecting her.
Each round that the barbarian rages reduces the duration
of negative spells and effects inflicted upon her as if
2 rounds had passed; this has no effect on the duration
of such effects against other creatures. Once per day,
the barbarian can expend 5 rounds of rage to attempt
a new saving throw against each nonpermanent effect
currently affecting her. Each successful saving throw ends
the related effect, and she can choose not to make a save
against an effect.
From the same book we also have this sexy little once per day trick availabe from level 2 onward:
Kelizandri’s Tide (Su): When the barbarian rages,
enemies find it difficult to escape the vortex of her fury.
As a full-round action while raging, the barbarian can
attempt a single combat maneuver check against each
creature within 10 feet of her. If her roll equals or exceeds
a creature’s CMD, she moves that creature 5 feet closer
to her. Once per day after attempting this maneuver, she
can attack each adjacent creature as a free action as if
using the Whirlwind Attack feat. If she has the Whirlwind
Attack feat, she can also use it as a free action in this way
one additional time per day.
If you are looking to make use of pounce be sure to find ways to make charging more reliable.
For martials skilled multiclassing is gonna blow most single class builds out of the water any day in the PFS Level range. Cherry picking of static bonuses, feats, save modifiers or flurry of blows is totally nuts. Anyone who claims the contrary hasn't run the math.
The worst offenders:
Unchained Monk 1 with a two handed Sansetsukon
Bloodrager 1 with a free Familiar and a free (maneuver) feat at Level 1
Bloodrager with free natural attacks (as of recently tail slap!)
Savage Technologist Barbarian 1
Ninja 2 for Ki-Pool and Feat
Warpriest 2
Oath of Vengance Paladin 4
At higher levels the progression of class abilities might actually catch up to match to cherry picking but I'm not sure if that's a given. You will probably be behind in raw numbers but can compensate a bit via access to higher Level abilities
The two martial classes that will probably be best when single classing are Cavalier and Paladin as their main damage boost is highly level dependent.
I'm pretty sure the concensus in this thread was that the rock ain't improvised if you have rock thrower.
I'll take your word for it. I didn't bother to read through the entire six-page, mostly three-year-old thread. Which Weapon Fighter Group did they decide that 'rock' belonged to?
Aside: Glancing through the thread made me kind of sad. I miss some of those now absent posters. :(
The thrown weapons group makes sense if you're throwing the rock, right?
The combo works smoothly from level one and especially at early levels "Healing" from Urgathoa's Hunger easily beats a paladins Lay on Hands. And the best thing about it is that the more dmage you can dish out on a single hit the more HPs you gain in return. With Bane up you are easily dishing out 25 damage per hit at level 5 and should you ever crit...
This can be supplemented with Fast Healing from Judgement. The following build uses the the Dwarven FCB to further improve Fast Healing.
Build:
TN Dwarf Ravener Hunter Inquisitor 11
STR 17 DEX 8 CON 16 INT 8 WIS 18 CHA 5
Dwarven Favored Class Bonus goes into Healing Judgement
Traits
Fast Drinker?
Fate’s Favored
1 Urgathoa’s Hunger /Judgement/ Life Link Revelation
3 Power Attack/ Demon Hunter (how ironic)
5 Heavy Armor Proficiency
6 Solo Tactics Teamwork Feat
7 Toughness
8 Revelation: Spirit Boost Second Judgement
9 Weapon Focus/ Teamwork Feat
11 Improved Critical
Equipment: STR Belt, Headand of Wisdom, +X Scythe
Spells ?
Any ideas for further improving on this? Any spells synergies I'm missing out on here?
I'm inclined to try a more offensively minded build that uses Sanctified Slayer to further boost damage, but haven't found any convenient ways to Sneak Attack besides flanking.
So here's a new nifty teamwork feat from the adventurer's guide.
Tribal Hunter (Combat, Teamwork)
You are trained to take down large prey as part of a group.
Prerequisite: Animal Affinity.
Benefit: When you and an ally with this feat are adjacent
to an opponent that is larger than either of you, you both
are considered to be flanking the opponent as long as you
remain adjacent to it.
I'm asking myself. What if a creature sans natural reach (tiny or smaller) is adjacent to your foe? Are you considered flanking even when the creature is not flanking? I'm a bit confused as it doesn't call out threatening at all...
What's up with disciple of the pike and why is it awesome?
Gets rid of mount dependency. Gets better at charging by itself and can charge through difficult terrain. Gets better at dodging bigger stuff and gets really good with spears and/or polearms, like, really good.
Dwarf Samurai 6 Init +2, Perception +10, Darkvision AC 24(T 12 FF 22) HP 567/56 CMD 23 (27 vs. Trip/Bull Rush) CMB +11 FORT +8 REF +5 WILL +5 (+2 vs. Mind affecting) (+5 vs. Magic and Poison)
Wassup wit dem bugbears? Dey on steroids?
Beromar surprised that his feeble minded goblinoid foe is still standing whacks it once more but this time with feeling.
Stand up! Be counted! I would like numbers from everyone. If you have GMed (or are currently GMing) even one game this year, I want to know about it. Your numbers matter to us not only in planning, but also in selling PbP as a medium to PFS Leadership.
Hmm
A word of warning: doing a survey like this, in a spot like this, will not be a random sample of the PbP participants on the Paizo Boards.
You will have what is called selection bias, or more precisely sampling bias. Those who frequent these boards regularly and are engaged in the community are also far more likely to participate in the survey for three reasons: willingness, time availability and potential to see your link.
Thus any statistics you calculate on the basis of this survey will oversample the diehard PbP GMs and lead to skewed results.
If you have any way to find out whether or not a game is a PbP game from the 'my campaigns' tab that will give you far more reliable numbers.
If you had a tech guy who could count the number of times new new game threads with the string 'PFS' goes up this would prolly also give you better information. I'm not really good at programming myself but I imagine that it should be possible to also collect string which includes the alias or the internal PaizoID of the associated user account. Then just count all games associated with an alias. This wouldn't be 100% precise but likely a better database than a non-random survey.
Dwarf Samurai 6 Init +2, Perception +10, Darkvision AC 24(T 12 FF 22) HP 567/56 CMD 23 (27 vs. Trip/Bull Rush) CMB +11 FORT +8 REF +5 WILL +5 (+2 vs. Mind affecting) (+5 vs. Magic and Poison)
Any attemptsat an inconspicious entry are thwarted by the clanking of Beromar's full plate and the Dwarf's proud proclemation.
What is ye folks scurrying about like that? We the law in this place!
I was wondering: Does picking up the Lychantropy curse allow you to qualify for the Aspect of the Beast feat?
Aspect of the Beast:
Prerequisite: wild shape class feature, see Special.
Benefit: Your bestial nature manifests itself in one of the following ways. You choose the manifestation when you choose the feat, and then you cannot change it.
Night Senses (Ex): If your base race has normal vision, you gain low-light vision. If your base race has low-light vision, you gain darkvision out to a range of 30 feet. If your base race has darkvision, the range of your darkvision increases by 30 feet.
Claws of the Beast (Ex): You grow a pair of claws. These claws are primary attacks that deal 1d4 points of damage (1d3 if you are Small).
Predator’s Leap (Ex): You can make a running jump without needing to run 10 feet before you jump.
Wild Instinct (Ex): You gain a +2 bonus on initiative checks and a +2 bonus on Survival skill checks.
Special: A character that has contracted lycanthropy can take this feat without having to meet the prerequisites. A ranger who selects the natural weapon combat style can take this feat without having to meet the prerequisites (even if he does not select Aspect of the Beast as a bonus feat).
I'd never noticed the haunt collector archetype. It really provides a rather substantial damage boost but I was wondering which resonant power one should forgoe at level 2?
If I recall correctly the standard approach for melee occultists is to get transmutation and Abjuration early. Divination seems like a useful school for dropping mental focus as long as you have racial Darkvision.
This might be a fun build for PFS which meets my criteria for fun characters: a) good at combat b) skills c) other out of combat utility
Edit: Also cheesy me already found a way to get the Champion Seance boon twice at level 6 by channeling the marshall into your 4th implement. Prolly pretty sweet when doing archery...
I was merely arguing that one could easily dip a level of Barbarian or Bloodrager for an Investigator. In regards to offense that actually comes pretty close to a full barbarian in the PFS level range.
But whenever the issue of Investigator comes up everyone's always: all you need is DEX and INT and you can kick butt like super man. But that's just not true because your limiting yourself to the suckiest combat style on earth: One handed DEX based. Inspired Weapon and Combat Inspiration are also quite swell but for PFS you are pretty much approaching the end of your career once you get there.
I do admit to getting carried away in the process though...
One thing to keep in mind is that combat in PFS rarely takes more than 3 rounds. So if your character needs more than 1 round to buff up and none of those buffs include powerful group buffs you are essentially a waste of space in combat situations. Similarly if you're damage potential is dependent on meelee full attacks you might find yourself lacking on a regular basis.
The other thing I've been noticing is that particularly in low level scenarios if you go in without a dedicated skill character you will often end up failing at least one important skill check (most likely a knowledge check). I've yet to witness this being a complete disaster however.
Lastly and sadly if your build requires cooperation or tactical acumen from fellow players in combat forget it. Not only will few players cooperate with you, no you might also be branded as a munchkin who is telling others how to play their character. That's one hell of a way to ruin everyone's fun at the gaming table...
I did a str based no dipping as well. But if you're going to dip I suggest bloodrager. You can trade your lv1 power for a familiar, or you can go ID rager and get power attack and more str as you rage, so take the extra rage feat instead of power attack and now you rage 12 rounds. Either way you also get wand use without UMD for a lot of stuff.
With the introduction of Bloodline Familiars a one level bloodrager dip can add so much to so many martially inclined characters it's not even funny.
Wow... I really feel like some of you folks have to step back, take your own hurt feelings and think about how you speak to others on the internet.
Sundokan is bringing up his opinion on the mechanical usefulness of rules options. He might be frank about it but nowhere in his posts is he insulting anyone personally. He is however criticizing a part of Paizo's product and for that he has endured personal, dismissive and non-constructive feedback from at least three parties.
Calling for policing and deleting of posts in a thread such as this speaks volumes about the discussion culture on these boards. As a paying customer I think you have every right to voice your displeasure about the product and a company interested in improving it's product should listen to these customers (how you react to criticism is a completely different affair).
Back on topic. I agree that unbalanced mechanical content is more of an issue in soft cover products. My personal opinion on the matter of quantity versus quality is that Paizo has looked to WotC and MtG for how to handle new rules content and how this rules content can be used to sell your product.
Many new splat books will contain a select few rules options which are very strong, or let players realize interesting concepts in new ways. There are people (like myself) who will buy a book for just such an option (particularly considering the PFS backdrop). A majority of options presented in books however will fail to appeal to optimizers (like myself or Sundokan) simply because there are better options or the concepts they support are so weak mechanically (Pain taster was a nice example) that you can not use them to build munchkined characters. Some of these options are flavorful and will inspire concept builds, others are bland and will likely never see actual play. And really that's just how it works with MtG cards. In my view this is a legit buisness model, especially considering the presence of sites like Nethys and d20pfsrd, but it does bear dangers for game balance and potential for bloat.
Hey folks, we've had a significant and unforeseen outage for a while now, so we've been focusing on the top-line job descriptions: namely getting the December scenarios to you and ensuring the rest of the production schedule stays on track. We'll be addressing Additional Resources soon after we're back in the office following a modest holiday break. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks for the update! And Happy Holidays!
On the seventh day of Christmas John Compton gave to me:
Rage Powers for tossing my tree!
Six psychics-a-spelling
FIVE ARCHETYPES!
Four fey boons,
Three brand new bloodlines,
Two grippli gloves,
And a legal feat from page three.
So an awful lot of books have come out in the last two months which include plenty of fun new character options which I, and prolly a few more folks, am excited to try out.
Any info whether we will be getting an Additional Resources update soon or a big one which will also cover material up to Paths of Righteous?
