Amanda Barry's page

Bard with archivist archetype.

You buff, cast spells and can even take 10 on most skill rolls pretty early in your career.

Salvation of the sages.

I don't want to spoil too much of what happens, but the NPCs dealt the last points of damage since every PC by that point was dead or unconscious. It was an epic and brutal fight.

I grapple with this issue a lot, especially in PFS. I really prefer encounters to run properly, which means applying soft cover against ranged attacks, checking for ranges on spells, adjudicating Dispel magic correctly (seriously, that spell description is nightmarish) checking to see if buffs and debuffs were applied etc.

However, I sometimes feel like I'm slowing the game down or taking people out of the moment. So recently I've tried to check stuff a little less, especially for new players who, for example, choose to throw a dagger with a pre-gen sorcerer.

I'm still not sure the best way to handle the balance between having a good time and enforcing the rules so the encounter is fair. Advice would be great.

Herolab makes character creation/updating so much easier for me. It ensures I don't forget silly things like updating my CMD or pumping my base saves or bonus spells per day from high ability scores.

It is expensive and definitely has some annoying aspects (making sure money doesn't count vs. encumbrance, spending gold on spellcasting services). But on the whole I can't imagine playing pathfinder using only pen and paper.

Who let Tom Phillips write a scenario outside the Gloomspires!? Get back to your post and finish up your series!!! I need to know what happened to Sevenfingers!! *Whip cracks*.

(I'm totally kidding by the way, I'm sure this is going to be awesome, I just hope I can actually get a character to seeker tier for this.)

Anyone else really worried that the multiple options for spell casting is going to create a massive rules and complexity headache?

Just played a PFS game recently where I had to basically stop a game to show the GM how "Dispel Magic" works against a targeted spell effect (in this case stinking cloud) and that check is vs. the spell DC, not the caster level.

That the rule is buried somewhere in the fifth paragraph of a spell that's nine paragraphs long was a real pain. I've had similar rules discussions concerning the spell "blink" and it's various effects. It was not my favorite PFS experience and that's not a knock on my GM who is excellent.

Reading all the stuff about how different components create different spell effects and how there's now four tiers of saving throws... Well I'm just nervous that every third spell will going to require a trip to the rulebook to figure up one of the seven different outcomes.

1. Archivist
2. Invulnerable rager
3. the Genie Bloodlines
4. Duelist
5. Living Grimoire

I admit I don't know the best way to go about this. But there's got to be a way to grapple people without requiring a two page flowchart to be on hand at all times.

I'd also like a little more clarity on how many things one creature can grapple at once. I feel like some monsters somehow can "grapple" four people even though that's a little ridiculous for anything but the most bonkers enemies.

Don't some staffs let you do this or am I mistaken? Like, doesn't a staff of courage let a bard cast Prayer and Remove Paralysis since Remove Fear is on the bard list?

If you're on the western side of Mass. Welcome to the institution.
WarHorn .

Flagbearer might be a decent choice, but sadly banner of the ancient Kings isnt as good for me. Archivists don't have inspire courage they have naturalist (they lecture people about their enemies.)

It's basically as good as inspire courage, since it keeps the to hit bonus and swaps AC for damage, but it means items that synergize with inspire courage are no-gos for me.

Still, maybe flagbearer might be worthwhile?

Just spiked level 7 with my Bard archivist and I have no idea what to take as a good feat. She's obviously not optimized, but she still does serve her role of buffing and save or suck spells admirably enough. I'm just not sure what feats are good for buffer/librarian bards.

Should I take something generically good like Toughness, or Improved Initiative? Maybe expanded arcana for an extra spell? Is there some niche feat I've missed? Maybe buff up my saving throws? Assume access to basically anything PFS legal, I'm sort of paralyzed by options.

As an archivist, I am mostly convinced that naturalist is better than inspire courage, (except with animal companions, since it's language dependent), because I think AC and saving throws against all unique abilities is better than extra damage and anti fear stuff, and the bonus to hit is the same.

You have to identify stuff first, but you get lore master at like second level, so you can take 10 and generally ID anything since your knowledge should be solid.

The only problem I've had is that so many bard items only boost inspire courage, which is a big issue for PFS play sadly so I can't talk to the dm and make it work with naturalist.

I know it's technically the "best" race. But I honestly never pick human because I can't stand having normal vision.

I need low light vision at the least or I feel either blind or exposed in every dungeon (At least early levels).