Elan

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Organized Play Member. 125 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 1 Organized Play character.




Imagine a combat with a spellcaster at the top of initiative. He casts Ear-Piercing Scream at somebody. They fail their save, so they take some damage and a Dazed for a round. Next is another spellcaster, who casts Command at somebody else, who also fails their save. On their turn, they will be forced to flee at top speed.

Next is me, a bard. I begin a Countersong with a very high Perform (Sing) result. Both the target of the Scream and the target of the Command use this result as their new saving throw, and they succeed.

What happens? Is the target of Command still obligated to flee? Is the target of the Scream still Dazed? Does the damage done by the Scream go down by half?


A wizard can learn a spell from a scroll by copying it into their spellbook, or from another wizard's spellbook by copying it over. Does this imply that I could simply purchase a non-scroll sheet of parchment with a spell on it with intent to copy it? If so, what's the price for such a thing?

I once had a gm rule that purchasing a new spell for your spellbook costs half as much as a scroll of the spell, but I'm now finding out that he was wrong about a lot of things.

Also, how much of this situation changes if I'm a Witch and not a Wizard? Someone said I can burn scrolls and feed them to my familiar to learn spells, but I can't find that rule anywhere either.

If the answer is "I don't know, ask your GM," it's worth knowing that my GM is a rookie and doesn't know the answer either.


Here's the way it seems to be: crafting a magic item has a DC of 5 + the caster level you want it to be. As a Witch with 20 INT, even without trait bonuses or skill ranks or anything like that, I get a bonus of 8 + skill ranks to Spellcraft, simply because it is a class skill. And this skill can be used for every kind of magic item creation. From what I can tell, that means I can just make magic items of my caster level without even rolling, because even a 1 is 4 higher then I need.

Adding onto that, as best I can tell, you can Take 10 on item crafting skill checks, because you're not rushed or distracted. This brings me up to a guaranteed 18 + skill ranks. Ignoring a pre-req increases the DC by a measly 5, so I can ignore up to three pre-reqs and still make any item. (not that I can do spell-trigger things like Potions or Wands without the key spell, but that's obvious) I can also attempt to make an item of caster level 19 as long as I meet the pre-reqs, and I still can't possibly fail, even at level 1 with just 1 skill rank. (the FAQ here suggests this is possible)

Is it really this easy to craft magic items?

(I do know you still need the relevant crafting feats and such. But as a level 1 Witch, I can already brew potions, and if I can scare up the coin for it somehow, I could make a CL 19 potion of a 1st level spell, if all my math is right.)


I've finally managed to get a group of 6 together to play Pathfinder, 5 players and one GM. All but myself and one other player are extremely new, less then 3 games under their belt each, some as few as 0. Even the GM - who isn't me, I tried and failed - has only played once and never GM'd before.

But the veterans, including you at Paizo, say we shouldn't let that stop us.

The question is, how do we get started? It seems like the simplest way would be to pick up one of the Paizo Adventure Paths (though if you can think of another idea that wouldn't be too hard on our rookie GM, let me know) but then the question is, which one should I go with? These things cost money, and even if they didn't, I'd rather make an intelligent decision then just pick at random. My gut is not to be trusted; I've seen evidence of this time and time again.

For reasons I don't care to explain, we can't play Runelords or Jade Regent. But any of the other ones will work. (yes, I have heard Runelords is great for newbies. We still can't, so it's moot.)

If you have any advice for 5 greenhorns and their ambitious, yet foolish leader - that's me - I'd love to hear it. I'm flying by the seat of my pants and I have no idea what the hell is going on. I crave guidance.


I'm building a first-level Witch for a new group, all of whom are total rookies, some of which have never played before. I'm probably the most experienced player, but even I'm still pretty green.

The other members of the party are a Paladin, a Swashbuckler, a Ninja, and a Shaman who's building for melee combat. Frankly, I'm worried. I'm worried that I might struggle to participate in combat, apart from slinging Evil Eyes around, and more importantly, I'm worried that we might get crushed utterly by something we weren't prepared for.

I'm an Elf, if it matters, and I'm taking full advantage of those racial scores. 18 DEX and 20 INT. Hex is Evil Eye, bonus feat is Extra Hex: Cauldron, since it seems like potions will be useful pretty much right away.

If I'm going Cauldron, it's pretty much a given that I should take CLW. I'd go for Infernal Healing, but the Paladin might not like that. But what else? I'm tempted to pick up things like Charm Person and Unseen Servant, but I only get three spells... wouldn't it be smart to pick up something to help out with combat?


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(abridged; meaning not lost)
"You afflict the target with bad luck. On the next d20 roll the target makes, it must roll twice and take the less favorable result. A target who can speak and has at least one free hand and who is aware of the spell and its effects (such as from a Spellcraft check to identify the spell as it is cast) can negate one reroll by spending a move action to utter a brief prayer or good luck charm to appease the spirits of ill fortune."

Can the target simply negate the spell by making a reactive Spellcraft check to identify it? Spellcraft takes a d20 roll, after all....


Brew Potion says "Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price."

According to the Potion cost chart, where the hell are these prices coming from? No potion costs exactly 250 gp or any denomination of 1000 gp, so why are those numbers used to determine the time to brew them? I must be missing something here. And why does it not mention the time for a potion whose cost is between 250 and 1,000?

This might just be a nitpick, but I gotta ask anyway on the off chance that it's a sign that I am badly misunderstanding the rules here.


I've been pondering Pathfinder - playing on and off, when I can find a group - for 2, nearly 3 years now, and I still feel like a woefully inadequate newb wherever I go. I feel like the weak link in any chain, the one they laugh at and ridicule and tell to gtfo.

Where do the newbs play? I know a number of others who are even more green then me, eager to play, but no idea what constitutes a game. None of us are remotely fit to GM. How do we get started?

(I live in a very small town; there are no local games here, and all of the friends I speak of are people I know only online.)

If your answer comes from Google or Youtube, be advised I'm likely to say "I've seen this before, and it hasn't helped." Please be patient with me. I know I'm a fool. I need far more help then anyone should ever be expected to. I'm ashamed to come here, or anywhere, asking anyone for anything, but I'm at wit's end.


The spell Codespeak has a duration of 10 min/level, and it allows for targets to write things in the resulting magical language. How much can a person write in 10 minutes? I ask because I intend to write something very very long, long enough that it may or may not be possible to complete in the span of 30 minutes - the duration you'd get if a minimum-level wizard casts it. (I don't care to disclose further details. Better to avoid getting sidetracked.)


(this is gonna be a long one, so skip to the end for the tl;dr version)

A few months ago, I started getting together a Pathfinder group from the various Discord groups I'm in. Most of them were among the "I've never played D&D before, but I've always wanted to" crowd, with myself as the one who knew what the hell anything was, so I set up a tiny tutorial mission thing for them to teach them the rules.

It was a ton of work. Consensus was that I did a good job, but it took me almost a month of daily work just to get this one thing done, and I'm sure it would take as long for every session thereafter. I can't handle the responsibility of being a GM. x.x

(even if I could, I'd much rather be a player then a GM.)

So I stepped down as GM and became a player, bringing the player count up from 5 to 6. Oh dear... Not a good number. Well, no matter. It shouldn't be too hard to find a GM, right? Welll, wrong. Apparently it's very hard to find a GM for a group of six, most of whom are total newbies. I did find one, eventually, who almost agreed to do it, but right when it seemed the deal was nearly sealed, she asked, "So what adventure path do you want me to run?" When I told her we didn't have one, she told me she couldn't, and I was back to square one.

So I started looking through the Paizo adventure paths, and I found one which instantly captivated me: Jade Regent. The big draw I see is these caravan NPC guys, one of whom perfectly fills a void in my own character's backstory. I've decided that this character and this adventure path were made for each other, and I will not play one without the other.

But Jade Regent has a problem: the caravan NPCs themselves. With 6 players and 4 NPCs, combat is almost guaranteed to be incredibly cumbersome for everyone.

I do see solutions, but none that seem good. Mostly I just feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of cleaning up the big stupid mess I've made for myself. I should've thought things through better, but now that I'm here, I have no idea where to start.

TL;DR version: 6 players - 5 neophytes and 1 novice - want to play Jade Regent. What's the best way to approach this?


I've seen this topic around before, but apparently there is still some dispute, so let's see if we can put this puzzle to rest before 2017.

If a person has a DEX modifier of less then 0, does this affect their AC?

If at all possible, I'd like something as concrete and indisputable as possible, because I'm getting really sick of coming across this argument.


For lack of a group, I decided to make one. For lack of a GM, I've been chosen as the de facto one. I've only been playing for about a year, and though I know the rules of Pathfinder very well, I am not confident in my abilities. I do have some adventure ideas, and I could find some modules or ideas online, I'm sure. But what really worries me is my players.

About a month ago, I was setting things up much as I am this time: I asked around to see if anyone would be interested in playing Dungeon World, and I approved the first 5 names who expressed remote interest.

This probably goes without saying, but things didn't go well.

I spent days poring over the GM guide and making sure I understood the rules of play. I looked over every character they made and I even allowed them to choose an unusual race, for which I invented an ability to give to each of them. (relatively easy, in Dungeon World. Every race/class combo gets a fitting ability. It's not too hard, and it made them feel a lot more personal.)

When game time came, the very first player took his very first turn, and immediately attempted to use one of his powers in an illegal way. I told him he could not, and he threw a tantrum which ground the game to a halt. The resulting argument led to the group being disbanded, not because things were so intense that we swore never to speak again, but because I was too timid to tell certain players to leave. I found it easier to just throw everything away.

Needless to say, I'm probably an awful GM. But I'm all there is for this group, so I need to do my best.

The new group isn't quite as bad as the other. I'm personally acquainted with two of the five players, which should make things a little safer, but the other three, as with last time, are little more then strangers. And one of them is known to be very very young - under 13, in fact. I am worried that Pathfinder will not be what the strangers are expecting, especially the young one, but I don't want to turn them away based on what is essentially prejudice.

As best I can tell, only one of them has played 4th edition D&D. The rest have never played a TTRPG in their lives, so I'll need to teach them the ropes. I do have some ideas for a "tutorial adventure," as it were - mainly ripping off the 2nd adventure I ever went on, since it introduced a lot of basic concepts - but I'm worried about the possibility of pouring all this hard work down the drain because I didn't think to make sure my players were up for this sort of game.

What do you recommend? How can I ensure that my players are prepared play nice, and to stick around for a game that's a little tougher to get into then your average video game?


I love Pathfinder. I love the Roll20 systems in general, 3.5, Star Wars Saga, Call of Cthulu, and probably most any other system that follows similar rules. Since my first game about 14 months ago, I've been spending more of my free time thinking about Pathfinder then anything else. I must have written over 100 little essays on how the game works - things like guides to which armors should be used in what situations, or just my thoughts on what the difference between classes are or opinions on things, not to mention dozens of characters. (none of which are available to read online because I am too shy. x.x) This game is probably the first thing I've ever truly been passionate about.

But it is not a game that can be played alone, and this is where the trouble comes in.

Ever since I was forced to move back to northern Maine, I haven't been able to find a group that I've felt comfortable in. My first group ever was alright, but they were all highly optimized barbarians with no out-of-combat skill ranks and no faces or personalities. I struggled to participate, because each of the others could have taken on the entire module alone, every single week. It was PFS, and they strictly stuck to the recommended level. Very by-the-book, which makes sense, but we - they, I should say - could have been taking on modules 5 levels higher and probably had little fuss.

After that were several groups which came and went in the blink of an eye. One group was so brusque and vitriolic, I didn't even play a game with them before I decided they were too rude for me to put up with. The next group had all the energy and passion of a bank teller helping me sign up for a checking account. After that, it seemed like every group had the same problem: storytelling and RP was extremely high priority, and combat and skill checks were very very rare. It was like an improv radio play with an occasion d20 rolled. And this is how it's been for the last 5 groups. One even told me "Don't worry too much about which feats you pick."

I can only assume my poor luck at finding a group to suit my needs is not entirely luck at all. Are my standards too high? Am I looking in the wrong places? Are my methods not satisfactory? Or is it just that I am being impatient, that a good group is generally difficult to find?

I am desperate for some sort of input or advice. I want so badly to play, but every group I go to, it feels like they are not playing the game I was expecting to. It's as though it isn't even Pathfinder at all.


First, click here. Long story short: it's a homebrew bard/monk hybrid class.

I've utterly fallen in love with the concept, but the class itself is a bit outdated. It still uses the chained monk Flurry of Blows rules, and, well, look at the class features. Pretty barren, isn't it?

I'm of the opinion that every class should follow, or close to follow, the same format that classes like Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian, Witch, etc follow: class features being chosen on every even-numbered level. That way, every time you level up, you're making a choice. On odd numbers, you pick feats, and on even numbers, you pick a class feature. (Fighter bonus feats, Rogue Talents, Rage Powers, Hexes, etc.)

I can't see any quick and easy way to make this class like that, but I'm definitely not a fan of any class that has so few choices across the board. (looking at YOU, Cleric and Wizard.) I'm wondering, what sort of ideas do you guys have to update this into a sort of "Unchained Ascetic Entertainer?" One idea I'm seeing is "Style Strikes," lifted from the Unchained Monk.... but that comes in at 5th level. Would it be too early entry to drop it in at, say, 3rd level or something?

Any input would be appreciated.


Because I think spellcasters styled like stage magicians are cool. Still deciding whether the class name should be "Magician" or "Stage Magician," or something else. (I used "magician" as a default) Here's what I've got so far:

"" wrote:


A sorcerer draws magical energy from inner strength. A bard creates magical effects with their performance. To a magician, these two things are one and the same. Weaving magic into performance and performance into magic, magicians are among the most extravagant and outlandish spellcasters, creating the most impressive of arcane displays and performing impossible tasks with a flick of a wrist or a flourish of their cape.

Magicians are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as the whip, net, lasso, sword cane, and shuriken. They are not proficient with armor or any kind of shield, as armor interferes with their spellcasting.

A magician adds 1/2 their level to Sleight of Hand checks and Use Magic Device checks to activate wands.

A magician can use spells to augment their performances. Whenever they make a Perform check, they may cast a spell they know as part of that check; instead of the spell's usual effects, the spell adds a circumstance bonus to the check equal to the level of the spell cast. They can not use cantrips to gain such a bonus. (it's assumed they are usually using a cantrip such as Prestidigitation during performances anyway) Spell with no flashy effects (such as Detect Magic or Charm Person) cannot be used in this way.

At 1st level, a Magician gains one magic trick. The magician gains an additional magic trick at 2nd level, and every 2 magician levels from there onward. A magician cannot select an individual trick more than once, unless it says otherwise.

------------
Trick ideas:
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-Appearing Trick
As a swift action, a magician can produce an item from a flick of their wrist, causing an item from one of their bags or containers (including extradimensional spaces) to appear in their hand. The item must be light weapon or an item small enough to be handled with one hand, subject to GM discretion. You may use Appearing Trick three times + CHA modifier per day. You may use Appearing Trick to produce several items at once - provided they all fit in your hand at the same time - but this expends one additional use of the ability for each item produced beyond the first.

-Escape anything
The magician can, as a swift action, escape any bonds, including grapple attacks, as though they had succeeded on their Escape Artist check. They may do this three times per day plus their charisma modifier.

-Magic hat
When the magician gains this trick, they may designate one mundane item in their possession as a "magic hat." This can be a literal hat, a boot, a large jacket, or any other suitable item which could be used to hold or conceal items, subject to gm discretion. An item designated as a magic hat functions as a Pathfinder Pouch, but only for the magician who made it. Another magician may make a Spellcraft check, DC 15 + the level of the magician who owns it, to attempt to use a magic hat they do not own.

A magician may designate another item as their magic hat once per day. They may only have one magic hat at any time. Choosing another magic hat without removing the items from the orignal causes them to be lost.

-Is this your card?
As a standard action, you may ask somebody to think of some piece of information, such as the answer to a question or the location of a hidden item; you then draw the information from their mind and speak it aloud. If the subject makes a Will save, DC 10 + your Charisma modifier, you learn a false answer instead, and you believe the inaccurate answer to be the truth.

-Endless scarves
The magician can take a mundane item and create an exact copy of it. If the item fits in one hand (such as a light weapon), this is a swift action, and is done by flicking the wrist. If it is somewhat larger (such as a one-handed weapon) this is a move action and is done by pulling the copy from behind the back or inside one's jacket, or some such place. For even larger items (such as two-handed weapons and beyond) this is a full-round action and is done by completely covering the item with a large sheet or cloth, then removing it.

You may use Endless Scarves three times + CHA modifier per day. You may create additional copies of the item by expending multiple uses of the ability.

-Flight
At 1st level, the magician can use feather fall at will and gains a +4 racial bonus on Swim checks. At 3rd level, they can cast levitate once per day. At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to their level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be spent in 1-minute increments.

-Signature Wand
A magician can spend 1 hour practicing with a wand to designate it as their signature wand. They can draw that wand as a free action, and can activate it without having to succeed at a Use Magic Device check. They can change their signature wand once per day.

-Wand Mastery
When a magician uses a wand containing a spell on their spell list, they use their Charisma bonus to set the wand’s save DC.

-Greater Wand Mastery
As Wand Mastery, but they also use their caster level in place of the wand’s caster level.

The way I'm envisioning it, this would be a 9-level caster like the Sorcerer, probably with its own spell list, not the sorcerer or bard list. One that probably has a lot of evocations and transmutations, and fewer divinations and abjurations. AKA flashy, dramatic stuff, not the more subdued unimpressive things. Haven't actually written out the spell list, but I doubt that'll be difficult to really do, just time-consuming.

What IS difficult is thinking of more Trick powers. As much as I like the flavor of this class, I don't actually know all that many magic tricks that would work well, or wouldn't essentially just do something that is already a spell. (teleportation, fire breath, etc)

I'm also tossing around the idea of putting Bardic Performance as a trick or some other ability. The trouble is implementing that in a way that doesn't just make "Bard again," especially if its already getting better spells then the bard is. But then, if I can't do this, then the ability that allows for using magic to fuel perform checks.... that's basically all flavor and no substance. Or worse, that's just multiclass fodder with no purpose to the main class. :/

Idk, I could flesh this out a lot more, but I feel like the concept is illustrated well enough with what I have, so I wanted to see what you guys think about it.


"Though a living creature, a dhampir reacts to positive and negative energy as if it were undead—positive energy harms it, while negative energy heals it. "

Obviously, this means when a cleric channels positive energy, it hurts a dhampir, and when one channels negative, it heals them, but when a cleric channels energy, they also choose whether to target living or undead creatures. Dhampir are not undead, but "they react to positive and negative energy as though they were undead." So, who does a cleric target to affect a dhampir - living creatures or undead ones?


The forums have a great deal of value in structure and whatnot - if you have a question that's already been answered, you can search for it and find it easily, or you can ask and almost certainly find an answer very soon from the helpful community - but is there a place that's more.... open, casual, some such thing? Like a Skype group or an IRC channel or what have you?

I mean, I'm sure places like that EXIST. What I mean is, does anyone know where one can be found?


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The Circlet of Persuasion says it gives a +3 bonus to Charisma-based skill checks. A Cracked Scarlet and Blue Sphere Ioun Stone (geez those things are a mouthful) gives a +1 bonus to one INT-based skill. If I have the trait Bruising Intellect, which allows me to use my INT as my modifier for Intimidate checks, and I have both of the above items equipped, how much of a bonus am I getting, +1 or +3? Or +4 somehow? (except they both give Competence bonuses so that doesn't work, but let's pretend one gives an Insight bonus for now. :P)


I'm working on making a gnome Witch, gnome primarily so I can be small and ride on a Pony while still only being Medium-sized. (why gnomes? Because I might be playing PFS, and halflings look kinda lame as witches. Also I like learning tons of languages, even though I know I have both a hex and a spell to speak every language. But I digress. :P)

I'm not really interested in getting an Animal Companion or anything like that, and turning my familiar into a mount robs it of all manner of more interesting combat activities. (like hiding, if the enemy is very dangerous. :P) I'd be perfectly fine with a combat-trained Pony, and at high levels, the Mount spell will last from dawn til dusk, or longer if I Extend it.

But there's a small problem with this: what happens if we come to, say, a ladder leading up to another level in a dungeon or some such thing? At higher levels, the solution is obvious: cast Mount again, or perhaps Fly on the pony. But at very low levels, I don't want to waste my spell slots like that. So, what kind of methods are available to get a 900 pound quadruped up a ladder?

Were I a wizard, this would be so easy. Spider Climb is the obvious solution, or even Monkey Fish to use just a 1st-level slot.... but those are not Witch spells. If Reduce Person could target animals, it would bring the pony down to ~112 pounds, possibly small enough to have a barbarian or someone carry.....

I don't know, I'm probably thinking way too hard about this when the answer might just be "You have no choice but to leave the pony behind," but I figured I'd toss it out there and see if anyone has an answer? How can a low-level Witch - without depending on her allies, since I have no clue what they'll be right now - bring her pony up a ladder?


I've been playing Pathfinder with a Society group nearby for about 7 months. It was a great way to learn the rules and get a handle on how things work, (I think I may have picked those things up even better then the veterans somehow :P) but after the initial hump, I'm finding that my group - almost all VERY experienced players, like more then 2 decades of play through the editions - is simply crushing every challenge with no effort, whether or not I participate in the slightest. Now that I know how the game works, I'd like to play with others who are closer to my own skill level so I don't feel like I'm dragging the party down and/or simply standing back and watching the carnage instead of joining in on the fun.

I live close to the corner of Holleman (600) and South Dexter (1000) in College Station. (not sure if the numbers mean anything useful) I don't own a car or a driver's license - though I am over 18 - but I regularly walk 2 miles to and from various places, and if need be, I could probably walk close to 5 without much trouble or complaint. Of course, if somebody would be willing and able to pick me up, that would be preferable. If you wind up driving a significant distance, I can pay a small amount for gas and the service, but probably not a huge amount.

I believe I have a firm grasp of the rules and mechanics, at least well enough that I can look up most any question I have about how things work, but my tactics and character building are still a work in progress. I've been playing about 7 months nearly weekly, so it would be ideal to find a group who's been playing roughly the same amount of time, but really, anything less then two decades + of experience would likely be a better fit for me then the group I'm with.

If your group has a particular roll it needs filled, I'm comfortable playing most any character type, though my preference leans towards INT-based casters and Rogues, I.E. characters liable to have more skill ranks. I have my own dice, probably enough to even spot one or two other players in a pinch, but nothing extravagant. I've never GM'd before, but I suspect I might be okay at it, especially if someone is able to lend a hand for a game of two. I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot.


I'm tossing around some ideas for a Witch I may want to build in an upcoming game. The Cackle hex mixed with other hexes seems to be a very effective way to debuff opponents, and since it takes a move action, it seems like a mount may be a useful investment, but I've never played a mounted character before, and I'm not certain I know how a lot of this stuff works. Particular questions that come to mind at the moment:

1) If I purchase a horse, can I decide which feats it starts with? Run would be mostly useless for a Witch, whereas Stable Gallop would be much more relevant. I understand that the monster templates basically represent the average specimen, and that an individual member of the species could easily deviate in a lot of ways; does that imply that I could pick a horse with Stable Gallop instead of Run when I shop for one?

2) In a similar vein to the above, can I choose the feats on a horse summoned with Mount? It would be a bit of a money-saver if it worked that way, but it may be worthless to use my spells to get an inferior horse just to save myself a couple hundred gold.

3) If, for example, I buy a horse at level 1, and if, by a stroke of fortune or genius, the horse is still alive when I reach level 20, does the horse level up or any such thing, or is it the same horse it was when I bought it?

Let me know if I'm getting wrong what little I think I know, and also please let me know if there's anything that seems relevant that I haven't considered here. :P


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I am a complete Pathfinder newbie, a tabletop newbie, really. My first tabletop experience was about ten months ago when I found a Pathfinder Society location in town. I've been going there ever since, and it's been fun like I've never seen before. I like this game a lot.

Last game though, I got it in my head that maybe my wizard wasn't necessarily right for the group, that maybe I should make someone who better compliments the strengths of the party. I went to the drawing board and made a few concepts, but nothing felt right.... then I realized something:

I don't really need to play at all, do I?

The main regulars of our rotating party are a barbarian named Grog, a warpriest named Korveer, a zen archer named Kazeem, and a multiclass guy who sorta amounts to a barbarian/eldritch knight thing named Uruk. ANY of these four guys could probably take down a level-appopriate module designed for 3-5 players BY THEMSELF, and we almost always have two or three of them. (never all four, because Kazeem and Korveer are played by the same player) *I* do not need to do anything; every encounter we ever face is a foregone conclusion. Hell, if I tried to stop them? If I went total defense all day and suddenly switched sides at the toughest combat, throwing everything I have in an effort to force them to lose? I BET THEY WOULD WIN.

Granted, none of the fearsome four are much to speak of outside of combat, while my wizard, Solomon, is. And I DID say I've been having loads of fun. But now that I realize there's no drama, no chance of us ever possibly facing any kind of defeat, I'm not certain about this anymore. What's the protocol for a situation like this one? I kind of feel like I'm going to be looked upon as some kind of idiot, "What are you talking about? Winning is fun! Who doesn't want to be super strong?"

I don't know. If anyone's got any kind of insight into this stuff, I'd appreciate your input.


The short story is that I've built a tiny Unchained Rogue who can fly, and I'm not certain whether I have done a good job. You can skip the next two paragraphs if the details don't interest you.

--Skip this if you like--

I play with a weekly Pathfinder group every Saturday, Society usually, Runelords when that fails due to lack of materials or what have you. Last week though, RUNELORDS failed due to lack of players, we only had three plus GM, so GM decided to send us on a very strange adventure with very strange restrictions.

Since we were somewhere around the dawn of man (presumably) we could not use arcane spellcasting, as that had not been discovered yet (racial spelllikes were fine, and nearly inevitable for the following reason) and we could not play as any race which is Small or larger at adulthood, only Tiny or smaller creatures. This left us with a fairly small list, which got even smaller once he eliminated all the "usually evil" races and races with a high level adjustment. I rolled randomly and got a race called "Conshee," apparently some kind of mining fairy type thing. Between the high DEX, the flying, and the 2/day Invisibility, I thought Unchained Rogue looked pretty good, so I went with that.

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I spent my two feats and two rogue talents all on ranged combat feats - Point Blank, Precise Shot, Combat Trick: Deadly Aim, and Weapon Training (Weapon Focus) Shortbow. It seemed like a good idea at the time, being tiny in a world that I suspect will contain many foes bigger and stronger then me, I want to stay away from them as much as possible, but in the one combat of our session (it was short, and we spent a long time lost in the damn forest) the enemy managed to stay up in our business the whole time, and I never even saw an opportunity to fire even one arrow. I DID strike for heavy damage with my shortsword - 22 DEX and Finesse Training mixed with 2d6 Sneak Attack was VERY effective - which is great and all, but it's got me wondering if I shouldn't rebuild for melee combat while I can.

I'm still fairly new at Pathfinder, I've only been playing for about 8 or 9 months, and I've never played D&D or any other tabletop roleplaying games like this. So far I've played a Wizard, a Cleric, and a Bard, so this is my first nonmagical character to date. I've been trying to find some guides, but all of the rogue guides seem woefully outdated - most of them recommend picking up Weapon Finesse, which.... is intrinsic to the Unchained. :/

If it matters, my other two party members are a brass dragon Oracle with the Child curse, and an Atami Oracle who is diminutive. I can't speak much for their abilities, since they never cast a spell or used their mysteries, nor did they do much out of combat or strike for very good damage in the fight. The Atami claimed to be able to strike Sneak Attacks as a racial ability, but he never saw fit to move into a flank position. I suspect the dragon is going for a support magic build, and the Atami is going for a brawling build, but I'm not certain.


Once again, I seem to have latched onto a character concept that sounds fun in theory, but isn't working out so great in practice. The wonky concept du jour is the Scholar, from Tripod Games.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/tripod-machine/scholar

I definitely think a non-magical INT class sounds like fun, as does a combat sage who runs into battle with a pair of maces and smarts their way through the fight. Early game, there's a lot of fun stuff. Smart Weapon and Smart Defense let you use your INT for attack rolls and AC, Lookout lets you give Evasion to your teammates, In The Bag lets you grab items faster, etc etc.

But, around level 10 or so, things start getting a little "meh," for one simple reason: the Advanced Scholar Secrets suck. There just isn't anything here that is going to keep a high-level Scholar relevant while the spellcasters are still getting better and better spells, rogues are getting tons of sneak attack dice.... even the fighter is at least getting combat feats.

I still do want to make a Scholar for play in the homegame I've been doing the last couple weeks (the GM is encouraging us to try out some characters before we commit to one) but I'm wondering what to do in the mid-to-high level game. I'm tossing around ideas like Dark Delvar and Sleepless Detxtive prestige classes, or switching to Fighter or some kind of homebrewed INT-based Bard at the halfway point.... but nothing is really jumping out at me. (also it looks like there isn't any kind of INT Bard archetype or 3rd party class available to just grab, so that would mean a lot of self-constructing stuff. not the ideal plan for a newcomer, I assume)

Any advice would be appreciated.


This is my second time making a character for Pathfinder. The first one was a fairly simple half-elf Wizard, he was cool. That was in Pathfinder Society, where there were a lot of restrictions. Now we're playing a home game and people are doing some frankly insane things. One guy is playing as a Lyrekein Artisan - that's a 3rd-party class and a race that is a FAMILIAR.

I guess I was kinda feeling pressured to do something crazy myself when I made a Samsaran Cleric of Healing and Fire. I do think this is a cool concept, I covered my bases nicely with the domains, Fire for spells and Healing for the 6th level Empower ability.

I really want to use my Mystic Past Life feature in a meaningful way, but I'm still really new at the game, I have no idea what to look for. For those who don't know, it lets you take 1 + WIS modifier spells from another spell list of the same type as yours. (since I'm a Cleric, that means 6 spells from a Divine list) The GM has also ruled that all of these spells must be from the same list, and I cannot add spells to my spell list if they are already there. (so no stealing a 4th level Greater Angelic Aspect from the Paladin list) I also don't know how long the game is going to last us. We started two weeks ago at level 3, and it LOOKS like we might be playing for a long time, but there's no guarantee we'll be reaching level 20, as far as I can tell. If I take a 9th level spell, will I ever be able to cast it?

I've mostly been looking at the Shaman and Druid lists. Shaman struck me as the one that would have the most spells that are unlike anything in the Cleric list, but I've run through everything from 1st to 5th level, and Druid has many more non-cleric spells then the Shaman list has. The thing is, I'm already the best class in the game at healing - even better once my domain power comes into play - and I've got the Fire domain covering my damaging spells if I need those (gonna be kicking some ass once the Artisan can make me a wand of Fireball) so I really don't know what else needs doing. Should I take some Lightning spells just to hit another energy type? Maybe something like Entangle or Baleful Polymorph?

I have a list of every Shaman and Druid spell from 1-5 that isn't on the Cleric list, minus the ones that are obviously unhelpful, such as ones relating to my familiar or my hexes or whatever, so I can post that too if anyone wants to see what I'm working with.