If you activate a magic item that requires a spell attack modifier or spell DC and you don’t have proficiency in the relevant statistic, use your level as your proficiency bonus and the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers. If you’re a master in the appropriate skill for the item’s tradition, you instead use the trained proficiency bonus; if you’re legendary, you instead use the expert proficiency bonus.
No longer is using a better spell proficiency locked behind heavy investment into the correct skill. You can use your own! A Level 20 Wizard can cast Cleanse Affliction from a scroll using his full legendary proficiency!
But which attribut does he use to dertermine his spell attack/DC? Can he use Int for all items activated by TMI since that's the attribute linked to his class's spell proficiency?
I just want to point out that what I say about Create Thrall is by far my biggest issue with an otherwise supremely amazing class and kindly ask any paizo designer who might happen to read this topic to pay special attention to that particular bit of feedback. Thank you.
This is my initial feedback after reading the Necromancer class and thinking about it for most of the weekend. For now, this is just theory. Should I somehow find the time in the busy holiday season, I'll try to set up some combat demos and see how those go.
First, I love the class. The design, flavor, and mechanics. I will focus my feedback on some mechanical things I think could be improved without changing the overall feel or power level of the class. Or just things that could be a bit clearer. Anything that I don't mention is either tried and true (most proficiencies, Quickened Casting, etc) or borderline perfection.
I'll put each feedback category in spoilers to keep the post better digestible.
Proficiencies:
The Necromancer needs medium armor.
I'm a big gish lover, known to turn all kinds of casters into melee characters, even if it's mechanically … let's go with “less than ideal”. It’s amazing that the necromancer has some in-class abilities that promote melee combat. The weapon proficiency you can get at level 2 with Reaper's Weapon Familiarity is all about grabbing the biggest, meanest blade you can find. None of the martial weapons you can get even have the finesse trait - other than the hand adze, which frankly isn’t better than a dagger and shouldn't be martial in the first place.
So you're stuck with needing intelligence for your class, strength for your weapon and dexterity for your AC. That's not a good place to be and limits melee necromancers to either being extremely fragile at level 1, be human, or be one of the ancestries that can pull off Str +3, Dex +2 and Int +4 like gnollkholo or android – which still leaves their AC sub-par until at least level 2. Medium armor proficiency would make the melee playstyle much more feasible without forcing the player to jump through extra hoops.
I think even with medium armor, you're hardly as effective as a martial or even as a warpriest in melee. The frequent need to create thralls as an “action drain” on most turns even when you want to Stride and Strike things seems enough of a balancing factor to make melee necromancers in medium armor somewhat playable but not too strong in any way.
Create Thrall:
For the love of all that is (un)holy, please let this create two thralls at level 1. If you think two offensively placed thralls at level 1 is too much, limit one of them to be created within 10 ft of the caster or maybe even force it to be adjacent. Having a second thrall seems almost mandatory to get the class to where it should be. Waiting until level 7 to get there feels terrible and the class is extremely clunky without it.
You have psychic like spellcasting but only one focus point at level 1. Consume thrall is great to generate another focus point in combat but it effectively takes two actions to pull off which is extremely awkward with the action economy of a caster - especially one that relies heavily on focus spells and needs an extra action to set those up.
Assuming you don't need to move, a typical combat at level 1 would probably look like this:
Turn 1: Create thrall > 2-action Focus spell.
Turn 2: Create thrall (preferably in a spot where it's save like behind you) > Cast a spell. With only one slot per day, this is most likely a cantrip, which significantly limits your impact on this turn.
Turn 3: Consume thrall to regain your focus point. But now you're out of thralls to use that focus spell on. And if you create another thrall, you don't have enough actions left to use your focus spells this turn.
You could also consume your thrall on turn two, but that leaves you in the awkward “one action left and not really accomplished much this turn” spot.
I get that making decisions about how and when to use your thralls is a great part of the class. But it just seems so much easier to manage at level 7+ that anything before that feels like you're playing only half of a class.
Thralls:
Thralls are fine but could use some clarifications.
How do thralls interact with effects targeting their save DCs? Since they automatically fail all saves, does that mean anything targeting their save DCs is an automatic success? If that's the case, their usefulness as barrier is severely hampered since enemies can just tumble through and only treat the thrall's square as difficult terrain. I think at the very least they should use your spell DC against tumble through.
Thralls could need some spelled out interaction with other movement types. They seem impossible to use in aquatic or aerial combat. Technically there doesn't seem to be a rule against them being created in water or thin air but the language of Reoccurring Nightmare seems to imply that they usually can't Fly or Swim.
And how do thralls interact with initiative and turn order? How/when are they affected by ongoing area effects that for example deal damage when a creature starts its turn in it? Would a pre-existing thrall who stands in it at the start of the necromancer's turn take that damage and be destroyed? Would a thrall summoned into such an effect immediately take damage and be destroyed? And if yes, would he still be able to make the initial attack from the create thrall spell?
Grim Fascination / Subclasses:
Does the spirit monger's ability to change damage types only apply to the attack damage of create thrall or does it also work with abilities that sacrifice the thrall for some physical damage effect? The former seems underwhelming and the latter maybe even a bit too strong. I can't tell what's the intent here.
Could you maybe consider adding a fourth, blood-based subclass? I'm sure you can come up with something even though I can't think of a good way to do this right now.
Feats:
Reaper's Weapon Familiarity: I love that this exists in a caster class! But mechanically, it's pretty bad. You can get similar mileage out of the weapon proficiency general feat and even more (critical specialization) out of one of the various ancestry weapon familiarity feats. Reaper's should do more, being a class feat. I know it covers more different weapons, but most characters will usually stick with one weapon. At the very least add a little bonus to it. Maybe give the weapons included in the feat a critical specialization that says something like “Your precise cuts sever the most usable parts from the enemy. On a critical hit, create a thrall in a square adjacent to your target.”
Body Shield: Amazing feat. And yet another ability that would greatly benefit from getting more thralls early on.
Draining Strike: Feels a bit like the Necromancer's version of Vicious Swing, which again is amazing to see on a caster! It’s also too limited with only a single thrall per cast of create thrall at low levels. And is maybe a bit weak at the high levels? 3d4 damage and healing for an extra action doesn't seem that amazing once everyone has 200+ HP. I do appreciate that you don't need to destroy your thralls on a miss, though.
Osteo Armaments: I would love the option to make this a two-action activity which creates the weapon and allows us to immediately Strike with it using either Int instead of Str/Dex or simply just our spell attack modifier. The weapon would then fall apart after the Strike, of course. Doesn't seem more powerful than a cantrip and would allow caster necromancers to swing a bone-y scythe as well!
Great feat, but in a very weird spot, level-wise. Getting a +1 striking weapon at level 8 is trivial and any weapon-using necromancer will already have picked one up ages ago. I assume that it’s level 8 because of the decaying rune. Just make the feat level 4 and don't make the decaying rune available until level 8.
Maybe add more property runes as well. We could destroy additional thralls to also add the wounding rune at level 12 and the unholy rune at level 18 or something like that. Might make the feat a bit too powerful when gained via the Necromancer Archetype, though. Not sure.
Desperate Surge: I'm not sure what to make of this one. Seem like a neat concept but what's the use case, really? A melee necromancer who wants to use combat maneuvers will probably have enough strength to make athletics the better choice and a caster will preferably not be in a spot where he can even use a combat maneuver, and definitely not once every 10 minutes. At this point a caster is more likely to use a quickened Telekinetic Maneuver if they need an enemy tripped. Maybe allow a thrall to take the action instead? Seems more useful even if that option would cost an additional action and/or an additional thrall we need to sacrifice.
Necrotic Focus: Seems a bit redundant since consume thrall will already allow you to refill your focus pool rather quickly. Maybe change it to allowing you to consume two thralls at once for two actions to regain two focus points? It would be essentially the same effect out of combat but feel more unique. Could also potentially open up some interesting tactics in desperate situations in combat.
Focus Spells:
Dead Weight: Why would anyone ever attempt to Escape the effect if even a simple unarmed Strike will automatically destroy the thrall? Give it some extra HP or maybe make the target take half of any damage dealt to the thrall (calculated by the full damage of the damaging effect, not just by using the 1 damage actually taken by the thrall, of course).
Why do Failure and Critical Failure say “[The target] can attempt to Escape”? This sounds like it can do so immediately upon being affected. Or that it can't attempt to Escape if it has a Success.
The spell could also use a minor damage component. I get that Flesh Magician is the control focused subclass but having your primary (and most likely only) focus spell at low levels not helping to actually kill stuff feels weird. Maybe let the thrall deal the damage of create thrall to the target automatically if the target doesn’t Escape the effect or destroys the thrall before the duration ends. So it would slows the target down and either deals some minor damage or forces them to spend an action (and some of their MAP) on Escaping.
Life Tap: I assume I can cast this on a thrall for the slowest out of combat focus healing in the game? How about adding an option that makes the healing effect a bit stronger if used on a thrall. Something like “the healed creature regains hit points equal to its level” sounds good to me. Would add some minor out of combat utility to it without stepping on the toes of Lay on Hands and similar abilities.
Bone Spear: This one's a bit weird. Range is 10 ft, which I assume means the thrall needs to be within 10 ft of the caster. That's quite limiting for a line effect though it might be a balancing factor for the potential to hit multiple creatures. It say “Targets 1 creature” but can hit multiple targets. At least make the target line say “1 thrall” to avoid some confusion. The spell attack is also defined as being a melee spell attack. So can it benefit from flanking? Probably not since the thrall is explicitly destroyed before the attack rolls happen.
Bony Barrage: Another necromancer ability that becomes ridiculously more usable once you get two thralls per create thrall casting – which it totally should do at level 1, in case I didn’t mention that enough already. :)
Flesh Tsunami: This one paints a wonderfully gross mental image. I love it! But its area is listed as 30-ft cone and described as 60-ft cone. I assume the number on top should be “Range 30 feet” not “area”. (Please let it be a 60ft cone!)
Skeletal Lancers: 5 thralls for one action and a focus point is nice but the 5 piercing damage seem a bit low for that level. Any creature with some degree of physical or piercing resistance will outright ignore it. I guess a Spirit Monger could turn that into spirit or void damage, making it far more useful. Maybe add an option to make the damage spirit for the other subclasses as well. It could make this focus spell cost one or two thralls or maybe an extra action. Maybe even a bit of blood (i.e. HP).
Bind Heroic Spirit: This is probably the only reason to still use a weapon as a Necromancer at this level. I'm just not convinced it's a good enough reason. The effect is powerful but a +3 status bonus gets your attack barely to where that of your (unbuffed) martial allies are. I guess you could use it for spell attacks at least, though that does leave out the free thrall on hit. I can't see myself casting this in the heat of combat, ever. It's a decent pre-buff at least but I'm not sure I'd spend an 18th level feat on it instead of simply getting a wand of 6th rank heroism or two which really isn’t that big of an investment by level 18 and the effect is close enough. Making this available earlier (like level 6-ish) and letting its effect scale alongside heroism while keeping the duration at 1 minute seems like it would make melee necromancers something that's actually worth considering instead of being a novelty option. The class would still remain rather action-starved, so I don't think there's any risk of it overshadowing martial classes or other gish-y options like the warpriest.
Living Graveyard: Does the emanation only happen once when the Graveyard is summoned or is it a permanent aura-like effect?
And that's it. All the things that crossed my mind while reading the playtest and thinking about it for (too many) hours. Maybe there's something of value in my rambling. I promise to ramble more if anything else comes to mind.
Disclaimer: I'm not looking for a loophole, I just want to know if there's a rule I'm missing and if yes, where to find it.
Martial multiclass dedications give you training in their class DC. But what if you already have a class DC?
Is there an explicit rule somewhere that tells you to use the archetype's class DC for its abilities? The only rule on class DC I could find says
Quote:
A class DC sets the difficulty for certain abilities granted by your character's class.
But would a fighter with the monk archetype actually count monk as "their character's class"? Or could he just use his fighter class DC for Stunning Blows? The feat just says the target rolls a save against "your class DC". It doesn't say "monk class DC".
I strongly assume the RAI is "use monk DC for abilities granted by the monk archetype" but other than the vague-ish definition I quoted earlier, I fail to find any real RAW on the matter.
So the Ranger in my Kignmaker game got a Fangwire and used it to grapple an enemy. Rolled a Crit Success, so the enemy was constrained and then utterly failed to Escape three times.
Next turn, target is still grabbed/restrained (doesn't matter for the question) and the Ranger attacks it again with the Fangwire. His argument was that he's basically pulling on the wire to inflict damage, which honestly does kind of make sense. I'm just wondering if there's RAW somewhere that explicitely says you can't Strike with a weapon or unarmed attack that you are currently using to grapple.
I couldn't find anything like this, but if no such rule exists, he could in theory by RAW use the fangwire to grapple one enemy and then still attack someone else with the same weapon, which seems a bit silly.
instead of the animal trait. The familiar is immune
to death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued,
healing, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, spirit, unconscious, vitality, and void. Your familiar
must have the tough pet ability (page 259) to select this.
This ability makes a familiar immune to healing. Previous construct companions (the one from the inventor and the clockwork specific familiar) had basically the same ability, but with additional text saying that they can be Repaired. The new ability lacks that language.
Repair says it only works on objects, not creatures. I can't find a general rule saying all constructs can be repaired.
So how does a construct companion regain HP? Only during rest and from other abilities like Focused Rejuvenation?
The new Remaster Spel Infuse Vitality (which seems to be the new version of Disrupting Weapon) says
Quote:
You empower attacks with vital energy. The number of targets is equal to the number of actions you spent casting this spell. Each target’s unarmed and weapon Strikes deal an extra 1d4 vitality damage. (This damage typically damages only undead, as explained on page 409). If you have the holy trait, you can add that trait to this spell and to the Strikes affected by the spell.
Emphasis mine.
Since the Holy Trait is added to the Strikes and not to the Vitality Damage, it should make the Strikes trigger Holy weakness of fiends, even if they are immune to the vitality damage, correct?
Before the Remaster-Errata, there was some evidence that Daze might - at some point - have made its targets off-guard, probably on a regular failed save. The Errata quickly cleared that up and we're back to just some minor non-lethal mental damage and the once in a blue moon stunned 1 on a critically failed save.
I wonder what the intended balancing factor is with Daze. The damage is abyssmal (or should I say "Outer Riftal"?). The damage type is fine overall, though some things are immune and it will nearly never trigger any weakness. It being non-lethal is not really an upside since some creature are outright immune to this. Even if you can apply it and want to knock someone out, it only ever matters if you reduce an enemy to 0HP, which is unlikely to happen with Daze's low damage.
Daze has only three upsides, as far as I can tell. It has decent range (though more and more new cantrips show up with similar ranges, it seems). It targets Will, which is unique among cantrips. And it makes the target stunned 1 on a crit fail, making it potentially the most disrupting cantrip.
The problem is, on anything but a critical failure, the spell just doesn't do enough. I can cast Frostbite and I will most likely still deal more damage even if the enemy succeeds on their save.
So what's the intended use case of Daze? It can't just be crit fishing, can it? The rest of the spell is has a low performance, that it's borderline a wasted turn to ever cast Daze.
The idea of making the target off-guard for a round (or maybe just against the next attack coming its way) seemed quite balanced in my opinion. Would it really have been too much to turn Daze into a "low damage with debuff attached" cantrip? Maybe we could add the incapacitation trait to the stunned 1 effect on critfail in exchange.
Chain armor specialization says it reduces the damage of critical hits, but it doesn't say it's actual resistance (at least pre-master). If I had this specialization and damage resistance from some other source (like Stoneskin), would I apply both?
Because if so, then my armor inventor desperately needs a malleable rune.
I noticed that Trick Magic Item might end up being pretty powerful in the hands of any spellcaster for using scrolls/wands of other traditions. Since spellcasting profiency is now universal and TMI lets you use your highest mental attribute, you would effectively activate them with the same DC and spell attack bonus as spells from your own slots.
So a cleric with a Wand of Synesthesia is a real possibility. And I think it should work on staves, so a staff holding spells from other traditions can actually become pretty useful. Scroll Trickster also looks much more appealing all of a sudden.
This all depends on how the feat will be worded exactly, but if it doesn't stray too far from its pre-master iteration, I think I want it for most of my casters going forward.
I have 5 players in my upcoming Kingmaker game and I'm unsure how to best handle XP and encounters. The group wants XP, so using milestone is not an option (unless I really don't find another solution and put my foot down). I have come up with 2 possible solutions:
1:
Simply adjusting all encounter XP-budgets for 5 players by adding creatures and/or the Elite template as appropriate would be the most obvious solution. But while I haven't read through the whole AP yet, I've already seen a handful of severe or even extreme encounter against single enemies. I can't really apply Elite to a level+4 creature without very likely killing the party. And for some of these encounters I have no idea how to add an additional creature without it feeling shoehorned.
2:
An alternative would be running all encounters as written, effectivly reducing the XP they gain by 20%. That would make the first dozen or so encounters much easier, but the party would most likely fall behind one level before long to balance things out. That would be fine for most encounters, but again the Extreme encounters don't seem to make this viable. Even with 5 characters, fighting a level+5 creature is too much.
I gravitate towards the first solution if it could make a few encounters feel artifically inflated. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask how other GMs have handled groups of more-than-4.
I'm planning to run Kingmaker2e starting early next year. One player will almost certainly bring a Kineticist and another one is thinking about a Barbarian with the Kineticist archetype.
We talked a bit yesterday (kind of like a very early session -1) and the Barb mentioned he considers getting Winter Sleet. Upon reading this impulse, I pretty much immediately decided to ban it (unless I find a good homebrew way to rein it in) because it seems a bit ridiculous. The players so far seem fine with my decision.
I'm not super familiar with the Kineticist and frankly, don't care enough about the class to do a deep dive. So I thought I'd ask here for anything you might think of as problematic in the class. Any other borderline OP impulses or weird interactions - within the class or betwen it and other classes/archetypes - to look out for?
Really not trying to be a spoilsport and there's quite a bit in the rules I'm willing to let slde, but Winter Sleet just seems way too much and now I wonder what else I might be missing.
How do they interact? Animists are both Prepared and Spontaneous casters and staves work differently for both types. Can an Animst just use both versions of casting from Staves?
And if they use the spontaneous version, can they use their spell slots to power all divine spells or only those that are in their repertoire?
So weapons with this trait can be reloaded by either switching to another barrel (which doesn't require a free hand) or by just regularly reloading (which does require a free hand unless you have something like the Drifter's Slinger's Reload).
I just want to make sure: I can directly reload the currently active barrel. I don't need to first reload an empty inactive barrel and then use another Interact action to switch to this barrel. Correct?
I'm currently in a campaign with relics. We recently hit level 10 and got our first major gift and the monk got Psychic Scream.
Now, I always knew it's a strong one, but seeing it in action makes me think it's beyond strong. Like WAY out of line. It seems brutally effective.
Now granted, we just had a fight against a large (like 15 or something) number of Hill Giants in their cave, so those were 3 levels below us, had low Will saves and were forced to fight in tight quarters. It was THE ideal situation for it and the monk used Scream multiple times, usually hitting at least 3 or 4 giants for 5d10 mental.
It just seems broken. Two actions for [Level/2]d10 mental damage in a 20 ft emanation that only hits enemies. Usable at will. And it's a purely mental effect (which kind of makes sense) so it doesn't trigger AoOs or require a free hand and can probably even be used while paralyzed.
So... am I missing something here? Is there some part of the rules that tones this down?
And if not: What would you suggest to change about it as a countermeasure? I think it at least needs a cooldown. Anything between 1d4 rounds and an hour. Not sure where the sweet spot lies.
First of all: No spoilers please! Thank you. I mention AV mostly to avoid build suggestions that don't come together before level 8. Or 10. Or 12.
I need a healing caster for an upcoming AV campaign and I can't make up my mind on which class to be or what build to use. We use free archetype. I want to avoid Medic, if possible, because it's boring and overused.
The Party has three frontliner: A Summoner (most likely arcane). A Thaumaturge. And some dex-based Frontline I don't know the class of. There's also an archery Inventor.
Before the other classes were set, I leaned towards playing a Wizard but I think having someone with actual healing potential will benefit the group and I don't mind playing a healer. I'm just stuck at building one.
I have ruled out Witch (played one, didn't like it), Psychic (not neary enough healing) and Oracle (don't like the class). My thoughts on the remaining classes:
Cleric: Warpriest seems unnecessary since we got enough people clogging up the front. Cloistered just seems... uninspired? No great feats (a few decent ones but nothing actually exciting) except Cast Down, which is a great trick but I don't want to be a one trick pony. Also the usual problems with the early game Divine Spell list being a bit ... meh.
Druid: Not a fan of Goodberry and would rather go with Storm Order if I play a druid at all. That might be a bit low on the healing, though. I'm also not entirely sure why the primal spell list has so many fans. For a pure caster it mostly gets you healing and blasting.
Bard: My last character was a bard so I'm reluctant to play another occult caster. The last bard was a melee guy, though (yes, you may laugh) so playing one as a pure caster might be interesting. I wouldn't mind getting Hymn of Healing early on to bolster my healing output and the buffs and spell list are obviously great.
Sorcerer: The Occult Bloodlines are bad. Divine ones are fine but still stuck with divine spells. Primal is either too cookie-cutter (i.e. Elemental) or too weird.
So I have successfully talked myself out of all caster classes. Yay? And even when I just say "I'm going to build a sorcerer now!" I get stuck on build minutiae and don't come to a satisfying conclusion. I'm usually mostly unsure what to do with free archetype. Caster don't seem worth it with a max level of 10-11, maritals are unnecessary...
The two "best" builds I've come up with so far are
- a Cloistered Cleric with Rogue dedication for light armor, extra cantrips (via minor magic), Mobility and Skill mastery.
- any primal or divine Sorcerer with Captivator for some interesting extra spells (our groups has the dedication set as level 2 feat).
Both are fine mechanically, but still not super interesting. I can still come up with fitting flavor for any build, but I would prefer the mechanical side to be solid AND interesting.
While browsing Archives of Nethys for character ideas, I came across the goddess Dajermube, who seems to be from this AP. She apparently belongs to a pantheon called the "Old Sun Gods", which I know nothing about.
I'm just curious if those gods - and Dajermube in particular - are still actively worshipped in Mwangi and if a cleric of her could reasonably appear in a close-to-current time AP like Abomination Vaults.
It looks like I'll be able to play a Wizard in an upcoming AV campaign. And I want this to be a Runelord.
Human with medium armor at level 1, using a polearm every now and then - but that's absolutely just a fallback option when I have nothing better to do. Thesis will be spell blending.
I'm at a loss as to which Sin to choose, though. And I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers. WITHOUT SPOILERS, please.
Just a general idea which Sin might not work well in AV in particular. Because it gives up an essential school. Or because the school of the sin is a frequent immunity for the enemies there. Or because the granted focus spells simply don't have (m)any applications in AV. Stuff like that.
I'm thinking about a few spare characters for our main campaign and got a bit stuck when designing a Champion. We play with free archetype and can have 2 archetypes at the same time, only needing to pay one off before getting a third one.
My current character is the party crafter and I'd like to keep it that way. My spare characters should be good at crafting if at all possble. So I'm going for medium-high Int and low Charisma on this one. Current idea is a dwarf oread paladin of Soralyon, wielding a pick and a shield; going all in on the stone/craft/bodyguard theme. But that's not set in stone (see what I did there...?). Stats would look something like 18, 10, 14, 14, 14, 8.
Anyway, I want some arcane magic so I'll go Wizard Multiclass. Maybe Witch if I'm feeling fancy, but more likely Wizard. Wizard class feats mostly suck for what I want to do so I'm limited to the dedication and the 4 spellcasting feats. Champion feats are also a bit meh at some levels, especially early on, so I got like 8 or 9 open feat slots for another archetype or two (or three).
My charisma is low, so no sorcerer, marshal or bard (which would usually be my go-to options). I thought about going Inventor but I somehow don't want a weird weapon and the armor innovation is useless to me since I can't get the heavy armor upgrade. I'd also mostly pick up Reverse Engineer and maybe Searing Restoration. Not sure that's worth going into the archetype for. Doubling up on Wizard and Witch would most likely give me more spell slots than I ever want/need in a single day, so that's out as well.
I thought maybe cleric? Not for spells but for the Emblazon feats for some extra damage. Replenishment of War seems like a great capstone for a defensive character.
Soulforger would also be an option but I'm not convinced that a half-decent once per day buff is worth the feat investment.
I even considered Sentinel for Mighty Bulwark and Steel skin. But the Dedication is completely wasted. Bastion is another favorite of mine but I doubt I can fit in yet another reaction between Retributive Strike, Shield Block and AoO.
Anyone got any good ideas that fit the build or theme?
Disclaimer: This build needs Free Archetype. It combines too many different things to "work" without that. It's also a "Let's have some fun!" build. Don't expect max DPR. I think the build is actually rather weak - even for an alchemist!
Also, our GM allows us to take 2 Archetypes at the same time. We only need to pay one off if we want a third archetype. With regular free archetype, you'll ned to shift a few feats around and probably come online a bit later.
Idea: A combination of Bomber and Toxicologist, attacks from medium range but can also go into melee in a pinch.
Acestry: Doesn't matter much as long as you get 18 Int and 16 Dex. I'm considering Hobgoblin for Alchemical Scholar and Recognize Ambush. Extra free Formulas are always nice and for a bomb user it's obviously good to draw a weapon on rolling initiative.
Research Field: I went with Toxicologist. You can probably make do with Bomber + Potent Poisoner if you want to focus more on the Boom side of things. But I feel it's easier to make lower level Bombs work than lower level poisons. Bombs only need an attack bonus from Alchemist Goggles or Quicksiler Mutagen.
Equipment: Main weapon is a Returning Throwing Knife. You'll also carry lots of poisoned regular Throwing Knives and Bombs at all times. Bulk could be a real issue. Might want to invest in Hefty Hauler early. And you'll need Doubling Rings if you want to mix it up in Melee occasionally. Also get Gloves of Storing for a free action "draw a bomb" once per fight. A Backfire Mantle will protect you from yourself when you throw bombs in melee.
Set up: You use Extend Elixir to make your Mutagen last a long time. Quicksilver whenever you feel relatively save, Juggernaut when you feel like you'll need to go into melee like when fighting in close quarters. Eternal Elixir can be whatever you want. Since the build is squishy beyond believe, I'd probably go with Mistform. Keep all of your Throwing Knives poisoned with Perpetual Infusion. Keep a few handy that are laced with your current top level poison. Also poison your allies' weapons between fights.
Tactics: Keep your main Throwing Knife in hand at all times if possible. Use Recognize Ambush to draw an appropriate response once you see what you're facing, either a Bomb or a poisoned Throwing Knife. You can now use Double Slice (and potentially Flensing Slice) if an enemy is close. Whenever you start a turn with only your main Knife in hand, you have lots of options. Some possible turns:
Insert Awesome Stuff here:
- Command your Valet to give you a bomb/knife -> Double Slice -> have your Valet give you another bomb/knife to set up Double Slice + Flensing next turn. Decent standard rotation. If you hit with a Lightning Bottle the target is Flat-Footed against your poisoned knife, giving it a -2 penalty to its save thanks to Pinpoint Posioner.
- Command your Valet to give you an appropriate Elixir -> Drink it -> Strike with main knife -> get a second weapon from Valet to use on the next turn.
- (Re-)Poison your main knife -> throw it at an enemy -> use Quick Draw to follow up with anther knife or bomb. Especially good to spread poison or persitent damage across multiple enemies.
- Drop your main knife -> use your Valet (or Doule Brew) to get two Bombs -> Double Slice Bombs away. Probably your Nova option against big enemies that are hard/impossible to poison.
- Not sure if that actually works but a Double Slice with Acid Flask + Blight Bomb followed by Flensing Slice could give a foe three persistent damage effects in one turn.
Weaknesses:
- It's an Alchemist who tries to deal damage.
- Seriously, the damage without poisons or bombs is atrocious. Sneak attack might help a little bit but don't expect to do much when you run out of resources.
- You're using A LOT of manipulate actions and ranged attacks while being relatively close the the enemies or even in melee. You WILL die to strong opponents with Attack of Opportunity. Quicksliver mutagen doesn't help either.
Strength:
- Chances are, once or twice during a whole campaign all your attack rolls will succeed and the enemy will fail their saves. You will really ruin your GM's day and it will be glorious!
Doubling Rings do not require their user to predetermine which weapons are affected, correct? I could hold a +1 Striking weapon in the "Gold Ring hand" and any weapon in the "Iron Ring hand" would immediately become +1 Striking, yes? Even when switching weapons mid-combat? (Limited to melee waepons, of course.)
I'm like 99% sure this is correct, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything before following those rings down the "build a dozen new characters"-rabbithole.
Thanks to SuperBidi's Quick guide to the Inventor I became very interested in playing an Inventor and will do so in a campaign starting later this month. I have the build mostly finished, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to have you fine folks look over it to potentially improve upon it.
As usual for many of my posts, this is going to be long. You have been warned!
TL;DR
- I need a good third (free) archetype (non-magical!) for an armor inventor with the Alchemist and Bastion archetypes. My current choice is Overwatch.
- I'm looking for suggestions for a good relic aspect.
- I'm a Goblin but most of their ancestry feats don't do much for this character. What are my best options?
Party and Campaign:
- My Goblin Inventor/Bastion/Alchemist/Overwatch(???), focusing on being a sturdy frontliner. Not a tank, but someone who can take a beating if need be.
- Unarmed Dex-based Monk/Captivator/Acrobat.
- Gunslinger Sniper/Sniping Duo/Inventor. I will most likely be the spotter.
- Flame Mystery Oracle/Medic/Sorcerer.
- Str + Cha based Warpriest/Marshal/Dandy.
Campaign:
- Starts at level 3, will probably go to level 20.
- Free Archetype. We can have up to two dedications without paying off one of them. Can't get a third dedication before we pay off one.
- Acquisitions Incorporated style. So a lot of individual missions and a few larger story-arcs. Lots of downtime.
- We each start with a (not yet active) Relic of our choice and can also choose one of its aspects.
Character idea:
My character is a Goblin Inventor, wielding a steel shield and warhammer. I'm going to be the party crafter, traps/locks-guy and one of its melee damage dealers. Also light support via Alchemist archetype. We don't have a "real" tank, so I want to be somewhat sturdy. This is also to take some heat off of the oracle, since that player was our primary healer in the last campaign and now wants to spend more time burning stuff than healing and supporting.
The idea is to mostly limit myself to one Strike per turn and spend the rest of my actions on other stuff like Megavolt, Drawing/Drinking Elixirs, Raising my Shield, Overdrive, Strides, and so on.
Build:
Stuff in italics is in question and I'm primarily looking for suggestions on those. Feel free to comment on everything else as well if something catches your eye.
Unbreakable Goblin Inventor, Armor Innovation.
Tinker Background, Speciality Crafting for Blacksmithing.
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 8 - Boosts go to Str/Con/Int/Wis
Primary Skills: Crafting, Athletics, Arcana, Society
Power Suit
- Initial Modification: Speed Booster
- Manifold Modification: Muscular Exoskeleton
- Brakthrough Modification: Heavy Construction
- Revolutionary Modification: Physical Protections*
*Once I hit level 15, I'll change my setup to Otherworldly Protection, Metallic Reactance, Dense Plating and Physical Protection. I plan to get Fire and Cold resistance from rings/runes. According to the GM we will also often have some preparation time before ging on a mission. I'll adjust my modifications accordingly, whenever possible.
Problems and possible solutions:
I'm not completely sold on Overwatch as my third archetype. I've mostly picked it because Alchemist and Bastion don't have enough great feats to fill all 10 free archetype feat slots. That and I couldn't find anything better to get at those levels.
My ancestry feat selection is also questionable. Turns out being a Goblin doesn't mix well with a high strength build. Go figure.
I'm also undecided if I want Soaring Armor or Persistent Boost at level 16.
Possible Solutions:
- Get a better selection of ancestry feats by picking up a versatile ancestry. But: I kinda really want Unbreakable-er Goblin for its name alone. I'm also not sure how to include a versatile heritage into the backstory and wouldn't know which heritage to pick. My go-to-when-in-doubt is usually Duskwalker but that doesn't fit my story at all.
- Switch out Overwatch completely IF I find a better use for those feats. Control Tower would be pretty cool with greater Smokesticks, though.
- Get Adopted Ancestry at 3 or 7. But: I could only reasonably pick Human (for story reasons) and I'm not seeing too much use from that. I don't have (re)actions to spare for Aid, don't need most skill stuff and can't cast spells. Multitalent is always good but I don't see a good choice. Fighter for AoO would be nice but nothing else from it is interesting. Rogue for sneak attack (+ dogslicer?) might be an option. Fighter and Rogue would also both require me to get my Dex to 14 at level 5, which I wasn't actually planning to do.
Relic:
I know I don't want my relic to be a weapon and armor doesn't make sense. So it'll probably be a worn item. I also considered making it a kind of gem or amulet I've integrated into my armor innovation.
The most fitting aspects character-wise wold be fire, earth and mind. Fire seems to be the most useful, but we already have A LOT of fire in our party and I think even more is overkill. Mind would mostly give me Psychic Scream as an additional area attack which also targets another save then explode/megavolt. Earth seems good for 1/day wall of stone but the other gifts are a bit meh. The capstone is nice but ultimately useless to me since I already have physical resistance. Though I guess I could use it in combination with heavy armor and Energy Barrier. That might work.
Alternatively, I could go with some weird Relic Aspekt that doesn't fit the character at all. I more or less stumbled upon it not too long ago so it could be anything. I just haven't found any that's really good.
I'm trying to figure out the reason for the fixed DC of Aid.
Pretty much all other DCs in the game scale in some way, but Aid doesn't. It's always 20 (ignoring any adjustments the GM does on the fly).
DC 20 is pretty hard at level 1 and nearly an auto-success at level 10. By level 15 you can count on a crit success more often than not.
I get that it should be relatively easy to do because otherwise it wouldn't be worth an action and a reaction. But it also feels like it should be the easiest at the lowest levels when you haven't out-leveled some challenges yet (climbing up a tree is trivial at level 10 but can be challenging at 1). Instead it's hardest at level 1.
Note that I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm just genuinely curious why the DC is fixed and not something like "The easy DC of the task's level" or something like that.
I need some brainstorming help for my upcoming Gunslinger. He'll join a melee-heavy group of 5 in about a week and starts at level 5. No free archetype.
He's a Halfling Duskwalker. Halfling mostly for Distracting Shadows, Duskwalker mostly because I think they are cool and always wanted to play one.
I'll go with the Way of the Sniper, since the only other way I'm interested in is the half-melee Drifter and I think that would be too crowded. His weapon of choice is an arquebus.
What I can't quite decide on are my class feats. I'll definitely get Munitions Crafter for convenience at level 1 and Sniper's Aim at 6. Everything else is still up in the air.
My first thought was going Rogue Dedication for Sneak Attacker since I'll usually try to use Hide and hit my target flat-footed. A frequent +1d6 damage is nice but I'll rarely shoot more than once per turn. Not sure that extra damage is worth two feats. I would probably not get too many (if any) additional rogue feats.
Alternatively, I thought about getting the Gunslinger's various Alchemy feats.
- Alchemical Shot seems nice if you can hit a weakness with it but if I REALLY need to exploit a weakness I can always just throw a bomb, which also deals splash damage on a miss and doesn't risk a misfire. The Shot does trigger the Weakness twice, of course, which is a nice upside.
- Munitions Machinist seems decent to fuel Alchemical Shot. Alchemical Ammunition is also nice, but there's very few of them so far and I'm not sure the extra action for their activation is quite worth the investment. There's also the question if alchemical ammunition surpresses property runes of the weapon like magical ammunition does.
- Precious Munitions seems a bit pointless. Getting a few special metal rounds for the right occasion shouldn't be too expensive at that level.
- Shattering Shot seems nearly pointless with it's low damage unless you hit at least 4 enemies with it that are weak to the damage type.
The third version would be a wild mix, going for various gunslinger firearm feats like Cover Fire, Fake Out, Penetrating Fire and other "Special Attacks". But adding all those onto Sniper's Aim and the special shots granted by the Way of the Sniper seems a bit overkill. I'd probably end up not using half of them most of the time.
I've never really played or played alongside a ranged character in PF2 so far so I'm a bit at a loss. How many special attacks are too many? Is occasionally hitting weaknesses really worth the misfire chance (and losing our on the additional +2 attack from Sniper's Aim)?
I'm planning to play a Runelord and I'm still a bit undecided which school/sin I should pick. I feel like I might miss out on some good spells I might not be aware of, mostly because the arcane spell list is so large.
So, ignoring which schools go together in the Runelord archetype, what are in your opinion the most powerful/valuable spells for each of schools of magic? Other than divination, of course.
Ok, I know we've still have about 3 long months before Secret of Magic is released, but when has something like that ever stopped us from doing baseless theory-crafting, am I right?
Well actually, it's not quite baseless. There has been plenty spoilers on the Book and this Archetype in particular during PaizoCon. caffeinatedninja7 kindly summed up all we know on reddit. I have not seen much of PaizoCon so much of that stuff is second hand knowledge to me. But it seems like most things are covered well enough to do some thinking about this.
The Archetype is only viable for prepared full casters. That's currently 4, last time I checked. Let's see how well each of them would work with this.
A few things to note:
I have also no idea how Reprepare Spell and similar feats would work with flexible casting. I guess it locks the reprepared spell to be used for a spell without duration or something like that? Some feats like the cleric's Miraculous Possibility don't make any sense at all and I wonder how well those edge cases are handled by the archetype.
Reduced Spells per day most likely means you want a backup plan. Preferably something better than cantrips. Picking up a martial Dedication like Archer or Mauler would help. Getting a Caster Dedication to bolster your number of spells will also work. But since the Archetype eats your 2nd level class feat, you wouldn't even be able to do that before level 4. Early armor access via Sentinel or Champion Dedication is also unavailable. I could see this being a much more serious limitation than many players think - at least at the earliest levels and if you're not playing with free archetypes or using Ancient Elf Shenanigans.
With this limtation in mind, I'll try to judge each class by itself, without any archetypes other than Flexible Casting.
Wizard: Should work fine. It will be interesting to see how Specialization slots and the re-casts of Drain Bonded Item work with the Archetype. You probably won't combine this Archetype with Spell Blending. If you do this as an Universalist you could actually end up with NO spell slots at some spell levels, which would make recasting them with Bonded Item rather difficult. But still, a Specialist Wizard with this archetype should work. Best Thesis seem Staff Nexus for more overall spells and Spell Substitution.
Druid: Will probably be fine. Medium armor, Shield Block and a half-decent weapon selection make this already a class you can play with some martial prowess. Leaf Druids are the weakest pick since they don't have a combat-viable Focus Spell and might run out of stuff to do in a fight. But Goodberry is great for out of combat healing, of course, reducing the need to spend slots on Heal. The other Orders do have combat focus spells and if they make good use of those, a flexible Druid sounds pretty playable.
Witch: Oh boy... Reducing a Witch to 2 spells per level is a terrible idea. The class is in theory good with Focus spells. Except the only non-cantrip focus spell it gets is largely useless. And with the Archetype you can't even pick up another one before level 4! The focus cantrips are pretty hit or miss (with a strong tendency towards miss) and you only ever get a single one. Unless you happen to have one of the few partons with good focus cantrips, you'll probably run out of stuff to do much more often than you like. Well, other than regular cantrips, of course. I don't really see how a Flexible With would ever be a good idea, to be honest.
I'll split up the Cleric since the Doctrines make for such vastly different playstyle.
Cloistered Cleric: Seems ok-ish. The Archetype doesn't seem to affect the number Divine Font slots you get and being able to convert all spells into heals (once again) is a nice addition for support/healer clerics. More offensive minded caster Clerics will probably find themself in a similar predicament to the witch. At least they can pick from a variety of focus spells right at level 1 - and a few of those are even useful. The new sound-based attack cantrip added to the Divine Tradition will make caster clerics better overall as well.
Warpriest: Now we're talking! Being able to use each and any of your spell slots for Cast Down or Channel Smite at a moment's notice seems incredible. And as the most martial of the casters, the warpriest doesn't really run out of things to do either, as long as there's something to hit nearby. I can see this easily being the best application of the Flexible Caster Archetype.
I've been toying with an idea to make Telekinetic Projectile better. It's a decent enough cantrip but it is also well known that spells with attack rolls are on the weak side of things. This is NOT meant to be balanced against the current status quo of damaging cantrips! This is specifically meant to be a significant upgrade to the spell, that makes it viable to all kinds of characters but also comes with some downsides.
But first of all, here's what I've come up with:
Spoiler:
Telekinetic Resonance Item 5
Weapon Property Rune
Traits: Uncommon, Invest, Magical, Transmutation
Price: 160 gp
Usage: Etched into a thrown weapon of no more than 1 Bulk
A telekinetic resonance rune alters a weapon’s properties in subtle ways, making it more easily manipulated by telekinetic energies. Unlike most runes, you must Invest a weapon with this rune to gain its benefits. You can still use all other runes on the weapon even without investing it.
If you’re not a spellcaster, you can cast telekinetic projectile as an innate arcane cantrip while you have the weapon invested. If you’re a prepared caster, you can prepare telekinetic projectile as an additional cantrip of your spellcasting tradition each day instead. If you’re a spontaneous caster, add telekinetic projectile to your repertoire as a cantrip of your spellcasting tradition.
While holding this weapon, you can use it as the projectile for your telekinetic projectile spell. It doesn’t need to be unattended. After the spell is finished, the weapon flies back to your hand. If you don’t have a hand free when it returns, it drops to the ground in your square. If used in this way, the telekinetic projectile spell gains the Flourish trait and its spell attack roll counts as two attacks to calculate your multiple attack penalty.
Using the weapon as your telekinetic projectile allows you to manipulate it using your weapon expertise. You can choose to use your dexterity modifier instead of your spellcasting ability modifier for the spell attack roll. You can also choose to add your proficiency bonus with the weapon instead of your spellcasting proficiency to the spell attack roll. In addition, you add the item bonus of the weapon’s potency runes to your spell attack roll.
The damage is still determined by nothing but the spell, so you don’t add striking or any property rune effects to telekinetic projectile. The type of damage is the same as the weapon's, and you can choose the alternative damage types if the weapon is Versatile. Don’t apply any other of the weapon’s traits to the spell.
When investing the weapon, choose one of the following abilities to add to your weapon. It only applies when you use the weapon as your telekinetic projectile. You can switch to another bonus during your daily preparations.
- Add the weapon’s thrown range to the range of telekinetic projectile.
- The item doesn’t need to be wielded. You can use it as your projectile as long as it is visibly worn on your body. It returns to being worn after the spell.
- If you have an ability that allows you to use the weapon’s critical specialization, apply its effect to telekinetic projectile.
- If you have the Raging Thrower barbarian feat, telekinetic projectile gains the Rage trait and can be used while raging. Add your rage damage bonus to telekinetic projectile as if it was a thrown weapon attack. This still counts as using a weapon for the purpose of the animal instinct’s anathema.
- If you have the Flying Blade swashbuckler feat and the weapon has the agile or finesse trait, you can add your precise strike damage to telekinetic projectile while you have panache.
- The spell attack roll of telekinetic projectile counts as a Strike for Device a Stratagem but you don’t apply your Strategic Strike damage to it.
- Add your weapon specialization damage to telekinetic projectile. You can use your spellcasting proficiency instead of your weapon proficiency to determine the damage.
Greater Telekinetic Resonance Item level 11
Price 1400 gp
You can now add two abilities from the list. Add the following abilities to the list:
- If you have the Magical Trickster feat, the spell attack roll of telekinetic projectile counts as a Strike for the purpose of your Debilitating Injury.
- Your telekinetic projectile is treated as cold iron and silver.
- Apply all of the weapon’s property runes to telekinetic projectile. Only runes that affect thrown weapons can be applied this way.
- Simply adding those effects to the spell would make it too powerful. So I went with a Property rune. To make any use of it, you need to pay for it and it takes up a Property rune slot on your weapon. You probably also want to get your weapon to +3 and add more property runes eventually. Quite a costly endeavor, especially for a caster who might other wise have no use for a weapon.
- Using it makes the spell gain the Flourish trait to avoid following it up with a Flurry of Blows or similar abilities.
- It makes the spell count as TWO attacks for your MAP. This is to further limit its usefulness in multiple attack routines.
- Since it's mostly a one-big-attack-per-round kind of thing, it's decent at punching through damage resistance (as the spell already was) but also doesn't benefit from weakness, sneak attack and rage multiple times per round.
The only thing that bothers me initially is that a level 19+ caster would have the attack bonus of a fighter (i.e. Legendary proficiency and a +3 item bonus). That might be a bit much. But then again, few casters bother to upgrade their weapon much and they usually don't come with Rage, Sneak attack or other big damage bonus. Also a buffed cantrip on a character with 10th level spells seems like a minor problem at best.
I'm currently playing a Dwarven Ranger (Ancient Blooded, Farmhand) in a Homebrew Campaign and we just hit level 5. I'm on the fence as to which Ancestry feat to choose.
Stats at level 5 are 19, 10, 18, 14, 16, 8. He's using a guisarme with Precision Edge and wearing full plate (Sentinel Dedication).
His current feats are
1- Gravity Weapon, Unburdened Iron, Assurance Athletics (backgrond)
2- Setinel Dedication, Quick Jump
3- Fleet
4- Disrupt Prey, Steel Skin
Feats I consider:
Dwarven Doughtiness - My decent wisdom will hopefull protect me from being Frightened 2 all that often. I also have Call on Ancient Blood form my heritage to help against magical fear effects.
Dwarven Lore - Trained in two more skills is always nice. The lore is probably useless, though.
Stonecunning - Good perception should allow me to spot stuff automatically even with the -2 penalty.
Surface Culture - GM would allow me to get Lore Andoran, where the Dwarf is from and where the campaign takes place (so far). Could be useful, also for earning income thanks to the auto scaling.
Sheltering Slab - Using a reach weapon probably means I can choose my position a bit more freely so being adjacent to a wall shouldn't be that hard to pull off in a lot of situations. We do have a fighter tank, thogh, so I'm not sure how often enemies will even try to flank me.
Which of those would you recommend? Any outstanding ancestry feats I didn't list and might be oblivious of?
I could swear I read somewhere that you can't apply rerolls like Halfling Luck to Downtime Checks like Earn an Income or Crafting. But I can't find any rule saying so. Am I imagining things? Or was it just for a specific activity or something?
I'm once again looking for interesting character concepts and stumbled upon a problem. I can't imagine playing a martial character for a long time. I've played them in one shots and short modules in the past but how do you keep them interesting over a whole campaign spanning all 20 levels?
Casters get new spells/slots every level, switching up their main tricks somewhat regularly. By comparison, martial characters feel like they're doing mostly the same for all their career. Monks will Flurry from level 1 to level 20. Rogues will move into flank and attack as often as possible. Rangers Hunt their Prey and kill it before moving on to the next. And so on.
It feels like martials get very few tricks during their career and mostly stick with them. Dedications add a thing or two but usually end up either very sub-par or outright replacing your original shtick, leaving you with only a few tricks yet again.
Note that this is NOT a "Martials are bad" post. I know they are powerful and I've seen them being very effective on multiple levels of play. But they still end up doing the same 3-4 things every round in every combat.
Spend 1 hour per level of the spell, during which you must remain in conversation with a person who knows the spell or have the magical writing in your possession.
Can I talk to myself to do that? Say I'm a Wizard with Druid dedication and its spellcaster feats. Since a Druid basically knows all common Primal spells, can I "teach" myself their arcane version? Assuming the spell is on both spell lists, I succeed at the check and pay the gold, of course.
Also, what exactly does it mean to "know a spell"? It's easy for Wizards and witches (spell has to be in your book/familiar) and spontaneous casters (spell has to be in your repoertoire). But what about clerics and druids? Does a 1st level druid "know" fireball? Does a character who has druid dedication but none of the druid archetpye spellcaster feats "know" all common Primal spells?
Being able to actually cast the spell (i.e. have an appropriate level spell slot) doesn't seem to be necessary to learn or teach it. Nothing in the rules keeps a 1st level wizard from knowing higher level spells if he succeeds at the check to learn them.
It allows a Monk to gain AC matching that of a Champion in heavy armor. And he can do this with little investment in Dexterity.
However, he's limited to using only the stance's Falling Stone Strikes. Those are decent but lack any kind of range. Switching to a ranged weapon or Wild Wind Stance ends Mountain Stance, lowering the monk's AC significantly. The same is true for any form of flying or the use of Flying Kick. Assuming the Monk doesn't boost his Dex over the Stance's cap, of course.
So how does this monk deal with Flying enemies in actual play?
Bonus question: How well does the stance work on another class? Like a Cloistered Cleric who picks up Mountain Stance via Martial Artist or something like that. The AC bonus is still good but is it enough when you're limited to trained/expert unarmed defense? It it worth the investment (feats and action to enter the stance) when you could just go Sentinel and have similar (and at some levels better) AC?
So, I recently started playing an Orc Witch. GM said we'll get some downtime at semi-regular intervals and I'd like to make frequent use of Earn an Income.
His background is Root Worker so I got Herbalism Lore. I do not, however, have any plans or desire to to increase it past trained or learn Craft or Performance.
So I thought about picking up the Additional Lore skill feat at level 2, to get an additional Lore skill with automatic scaling to improve my income. But I'm having some trouble to come up with a fitting Lore.
My Witch is basically something of a magical researcher, taking an interest in all things magical, especialy the more obscure/occult stuff. And I'd like the Lore to represent that while also being a reasonable choice for making money.
If I use Evil Eye and the target fails his save, he's frightened 1. When his turn ends, he can't reduce this condition since Evil Eye still lasts.
On my next turn, I don't sustain the spell, causing it to end at the end of my turn. Evil Eye doesn't say the frightened condition ends when the spell ends. So the target remains frightened until he reduces the condition automatically at the end of his turn, basically making him frightened for two of his turns.
Among all the discussions about action economy, focus spells and spell slots one thing seems to be missing. A discussion about Attack of Opportunity.
It's WAY less of an issue than in PF1, but there's still a good number of creatures who get it (or very similar abilities). As far as I can tell, nothing in Striking Spell prevents the Magus from triggering Reactions. His AC is decent but not outstanding and he probablay can't spare an action to cast Shield on a turn he want to use Striking Spell.
So what are you going to do? Just eating damage turn after turn?
How about adding something like "Your Striking Spell does not trigger reactions from the target if you hit the target in the previous round."?
The Magus' spellcasting proficiency is lacking to say the least. So how about using the Weapon Proficiency for any spell delivered with a Striking Spell?
You'd get Expert and Master two level earlier than a pure caster, but you still have to actually hit with the weapon first and your spellcasting ability isn't maxed so it might balance out?
Being limited to 4 non-cantrip spells makes me think this wouldn't be overpowered. It changes if you get more spell slots via multiclassing. So maybe limiting this proficiency advantage to Magus spells can work?
Does anyone know how the Spellcasting Feats from Eldritch Archer interact if you already have spellcasting from our base class (or another archetype)?
The Dedication specifically says you get a Cha-Based cantrip if you don't cast spells, OR an additional cantrip added to your existing ones if you already cast spells. The Basic/Expert/Master Spellcasting feats make no such distinction, however.
So let's say I'm a Ranger with Wizard Dedication and later go Eldritch Archer and take Basic Elritch Archer Spellcasting. Do I get additional Int-Based prepared spell slots or do I get separate Cha-based spontaneous spell slots?
This combination also causes some RAW weirdness as the EA Dedication wouldn't give me a repertoire, but the EA-Spellcasting feat would then add spells to that non-existing repertoire.
I'm still desperately trying to figure out what to play in an upcoming campaign. Currently, it looks like we'll have a Sword and Shield Fighter, a Rogue of some kind, a Leaf Druid and an Elemental Bloodline Sorcerer.
I figured 2 melee-capable characters might be a bit too few for a 5-man-party and built a Warpriest instead - which ultimately turned out pretty well, I think, but was of course using Divine spells, not Occult ones. So not quite what I was looking for.
TL;DR: Here's the challenge:
Combat-Style: This is primarily a caster! I won't try to tank or hit bosses. Melee capabilities are for lesser enemies and to wrap up fights that are basically won already.
Sources: CRB and APG ONLY! I'd also prefer to include APG-stuff as much as possible, but it's not mandatory.
Ancestry: Anything from Core goes, including Versatile Heritages. From the APG I would only consider a Kobold, so bonus points if you can make it with a Spellscale Kobold who takes both Breath and both Dracomancer Feats at their minimum level.
Class: Main class MUST be an Occult caster. Either of the three options is fine with me as long as the build works. I still think Hexes and Composition draw too many actions from a hybrid character but I'm willing to be proven otherwise.
Feats: Assume I'm willing to spend most or even all of my class feats on Multiclassing.
Ability Scores: Casting Attribute MUST be maxed. This is supposed to be a caster, after all.
I'm considering a Warpriest for an upcoming campaign and looked through the APG for things to help him do his thing, i.e. kill stuff. Party composition also seems to lack a dedicated "tank", so that's also something I'd try to cover. Mostly in the "can take a beating" sense. Not as in "stops enemies in their tracks".
Here's what I got so far:
Warpriest of Ragathiel
Human, Aasimar, Background undecided
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 12
Yes, even as Warpriest I value Wisdom much higher than Charisma. Increases go to Str, Con, Wis and Cha.
Class feats:
2- Emblazon Symbol
4- Sentinel Dedication. Also Steel Skin as skill feat.
6- Bastion Dedication. Also Armor Specialist as skill feat to fulfill the 3-feat requirement for the second Dedication.
8- Emblazon Energy
10- Mighty Bulwark
12- Align Armament
14- Extend Align Armament
16- Quick Shield Block
18- Replenishment of War
20- Maker of Miracles
The idea is to mix up Spells and Strikes liberally. Reactive Shield from the Bastion Dedication allows me to Raise my shield when it really counts. And makes my shield work even when I can't spare an action to Raise it during my turn. Quick Shield Block comes late, but I'm more concerned about having a decent AC than absorbing some damage.
Attack Bonus will be low as usual for Clerics but I hope to cover that with Buffs and Flanking. AC will be 1 behind a Martial in Medium Armor, but I do have the shield to make up for it. Getting +4 to all Reflex saves from Mighty Bulwark also seems VERY good. Might also get Reflex to master at the highest levels via Canny Acumen.
Damage goes up to 4d8+7 +1d6+1 good +1d6 sonic. That's about as much as a fighter on an average roll (speaking purely damage, without taking his much higher hit and crit chance into account).
So ignoring the lower attack bonus, I feel like this could work out quite well. Espcially since he also got 10th level spells.
Any glaring weakness or room for improvement I've missed?
Am I missing someghing about this Focus spell? It's a reaction with the trigger "You cast a darkness or shadow spell."
It seems basically unusable at levels 1 and 2 since there are no occult level 1 spells with those traits.
Well, at least not in CRB+APG. Admittedly, there's Penumbral Shroud in Gods and Magic, but that spell isn't exactly high on the usefulness list and I don't really consider the Lost Omens line "Core".
So even ignoring the fact that I think it's a badly designed 1st level Focus power, being outright unable to use it AT ALL seems like it might need some fixing.
I got an idea for a stupid build, which still seems like it would be fun. I thought I'd share it to show some shenanigans you can pull off with the APG and to see if someone has ideas for improvements without changing the core of the build. Here goes:
Toxicoligist
Ancestry, Heritage and Background don't matter as long as you can start with 18 Int and 16 Dex. I'll just assume Human as baseline
1 - Far Lobber, Quick Bomber (via Natural Ambition). The latter isn't REALLY required so if you prefer a familar or something, you can get one. Or even pick another Ancestry altogether.
2- Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication. Won't be of much help - yet
4- Dual Thrower. No here the fun begins. You can use Double Slice with any one handed ranged attack/weapon. Like Bombs. Or hand crossbows/blowguns filled with poisonous amunition. Or both. Bottled lightning + poisoned crossbow bolt? Yes please!
6- Nothing here that's actually really required. I'd probably get Debilitating Bomb.
8- Pinpoint Poisoner. Start combat with a loaded ranged weapon in one hand and a vial of bottled lightning in the other. First round will be move closer (if necessary), use Double Slice to throw the Bomb, making the enemy flat-footed, then shoot with the crossbow at full attack bonus vs a flat-footed opponent. Who will also suffer a -2 penalty against the save of the poison.
10- Perpetual Breadth. Starting round 2, you can now brew debilitating Bottled Lightning instead of using one you've prepared earlier. Frees up more of your daily reagents for your most powerful poisons.
12- Flensing Slice. Everyone can add Insult to Injury. But we add Injury to Poison. No idea how this even works at range, but by RAW it does.
14- Dual Onslaught. Just in case we ever miss with both attacks, we can still get a hit - with poison attached, of course.
Anything beyond level 14 is just a bonus. Probably more Debilitating Bomb effects or something. Or get Rogue Dedication for some Sneak Attack.
Basically, turn 1 is running in range, Double Slice with Lightning + Poison Bolt. If you already start in range, it's hopefully Double Slice - Flensing Slice.
Turn 2 is something like Reload - Shoot - Reload. Or Reload - Quick Alchemy - Bomb.
Turn 3 is Quick Alchemy - Double Slice.
Could use a returning thrown weapon instead of a crossbow to improve action economy, but that would mean less poison used - unless you get exceedingly lucky with Sticky Poison.
Archer Dedication with Shot on the Run would be a better way to make use of Pinpoint Poisoner, but it's also boring and doesn't leave the target flat-footed for your companions to exploit.
I get that it's a balancing factor for the area version at Legendary Occultism. But why the single target version as well?
It's basically a weaker demoralize. At least I personally prefer my target to be Frightened 2 on a crit instead frightened 1 and confused for one round.
Demoralize also doesn't cost any skill increases (not even training!) and no 7th level skill feat. You could argue that one needs Intimidating Glare to make good use of it, but its not striclty required. And even so, that's a first level feat, not 7th.
And on top of all that disturbing Knowledge costs two actions...?
So, is there anything I'm missing here? The single target action seems terrible for 2 actions.
I want to build an occult Sorcerer. With Witch dedication (also occult) for more spells. But I can't decide which bloodline would be best. Neither of the three currently available seem outstanding. And since I'll spend like 6 feats on my archtype, I probably won't have feats to spare for advancd and greater bloodline focus spells.
Aberrant: Spell list seems fine and is obviously meant to be used with Tentacular Limbs. The problem with the latter is just that it's much less useful than getting Reach Spell. Reach Spell won't be out-ranged by Limbs until level 9 and Reach can be used for all spells, not just touch. It also doesn't cost a focus point (which I'll probably use for a Hex or two) or "pre-buff" action. Blood Magic of Aberrant seems good enough.
Hag: Spell list is ... weird, for a lack of better words. Not really impressed by any of the available spells. Jealous Hex is a pretty good focus spell, though. The Blood Magic is better than nothing, I guess?
Shadow: Spell list is fine. A few I personally don't care about (darkness, chilling darkness) but the rest certainly has its uses. The Focus spell is bad. Like really bad. Doesn't work with Shadow's Blood Magic and there's so very few darkness and shadow spells. The only one I really like is a reaction and can't be used with dim the light.
So, assuming it doesn't matter RP-wise, which Occult Bloodline do you recommend?
In your opinion, is it intentional that Life Boost is the only non-instant Hex that comes without the need to sustain it?
I don't think it's overpowered or anything but I wanted to know what the general consensus is before I learn it only to be hit hard by some errata later.
Not to kick the Mutagenist while he's already down and bleeding, but I just noticed that the Unarmed Strikes you get from Bestial Mutagen lack the Unarmed trait. That's the trait that makes an Unarmed Strike not take up a hand. The general rules on Unarmed Strikes do not say that they don't need to be wielded, only the trait does that.
So Bestial Mutagen means no shield, no Quick Alchemy, no Quick Bomb Bottled Lightning to the face, no grappling.
The only small saving grace I could find was the fact that the mutagen gives you "a claw", so it might just turn one of your hands into a claw. That would make the situation slightly better as long as you don't plan on using a shield. But personally, I would totally want to use a shield as a mutagenist.
The Unarmed trait is also the only thing (by RAW) that makes those Strikes immune to Disarm. So you could totally Dis-Arm the claw from a Mutagenist.
In comparison all the Monk's Style Strikes and all Barbarian Animal Instict attacks have the unarmed trait. The special Unarmed Strikes of druid (Wild Morph) and sorcerer (Gluttun's Jaw, Dragon Claws) also lack it.
I assume it's an oversight - especially since wielding a Jaw attack doesn't make any sense.
How exactly does the Spellbook granted by Arcane Evolution interact with the sorcerer's spell repertoire?
1. If I learn a spell heightened, does the book contain the base version or the heightened version?
2. Do I need a heightened version of a spell in the spellbook if I want to add that level version to my repertoire?
3. What happens when I retrain a spell during level up or downtime? I assume the old spell stays in the book and the new spell is added on top. That could be exploited to get access to more spells.
Same questions also apply to bards with the Esoteric Polymath feat, of course.
I refer to the fact that you can only regenerate a single Focus Point at a time (before being forced to spend another one). So even if you get multipe Focus Spells and up to 3 max Focus Points, you can never regain more than one during the day. Only a full rest will get you back up to maximum.
The only way to circumvent this is spending two pretty high level class feats (level 10 or 12 for 2 Focus Regain, level 18 for 3).
Bards and Champions don't even get the 3 focus feat, for whatever reason. I feel both could be built to be pretty reliant on their Focus spells which makes the whole thing feel odd. Wizards don't get a 3 focus feat either, but they can't even have 3 focus points without multiclassing. Would still be nice to have the option to regain 3. Clerics would need to spend 4 feats to get to 3 focus (and then another 2 to actually being able to regain them). Those seem like a pretty heavy investment.
I personally think it's quite a bit too limiting. It somewhat invalidates the extra focus a leaf/storm druid gets and limits monks to a single supernatural deed per combat. I also fear that the upcoming Witch (and possibly the Oracle) will rely heavily on Focus Powers (i.e. Hexes) but might run out sooner rather than later each day.
I think when you can have 2 Focus, you should be able to regain 2 focus. At the very least I'd like to make those focus regain feats available quite a bit earlier. Maybe like level 6 for the 2 focus and level 10 or 12 for the 3 focus version. Focus spells always cost you class feats, which are arguably yor most important "resource" when it comes to character building, so I'd like to actually use them with some frequency if I want to build a character around them.
Any possible change to these feat/mechanics would of course need to be balanced. Maybe giving the spammable focus spells (like the Sorcerer's Drain Life) the Flourish trait or something like that.
