Brookamus's page

Playing a paladin for the first time, and am now 4th level, so have spells (yay). I have some confusion re spells, stats.
I have CHA 18, so am allowed 0 + 4 1st spells per day. (According to what I’ve seen). I’m used to playing a sorcerer, but the rules appear to be different.

The clarification I need between _preparation_ of spells and _casting_ of spells:
On a given day, how many different spells can I prepare v.s. how many times can I cast something in a day?
I.e., Do I get to prepare 4 spells, and cast up to 4 times in a day?
Or do I get to prepare 4 spells, but get fewer actual castings? Or the opposite, prepare only one or two, but can cast 4 times.

As a Sorcerer, I’m used to Cha affecting how many times I can cast, but not the number of spells in my arsenal (and I don’t have to prepare any). I get the sense that each morning a level 4 Paladin with Cha 18 chooses 4 spells from the paladin list, and then 4 times a day, they can cast one of those 4 spells.

Also, is this specifically laid out somewhere? The Paladin description says "spells per day" which could be read as options or castings. One of my part members reckons is one casting, 4 spell options, so it would be nice to point to something specific to resolve it.

Cheers,

This is awesome advice. Any thoughts on feats?

I'm interested in being full on into Melee, so thought Critical Focus, Power Attack, Vital Strike, and Reward of Life (we have no cleric, so the cures come from me, the Inquisitor and a wand of CL).

Also, can you have two ability mod items at once (i.e., str belt and cha headband).

Thanks again!

Thanks Guys,

This is useful,I think I'll go Wis as the dump -- any advice on what magic/special items to buy with $16K? I have no spending restrictions, but I'll obviously need some good armour and the regular kit, but am wondering what to look for in terms spending on a sword (falchion at present, no surprise there) or stat bumps (a plus 2 strength or Cha buff,or both) and etc. If I have even a +1 sword, I think I'll be able to make it Keen next level (5th as paladin), so that is very attractive -- or maybe I should go +1/keen and just make it +2 next level. (I think that is 8300 or so, so not a small cost, but would lead to more criticals, which is v. cool).

Also, any thoughts on feats?

edit: I replaced Bardiche with Falchion.

Hi there, I've been invited to join a mostly dungeon crawl campaign at 6th level, and I've never played a melee character before.

The character concept is half-orc who has always been trained as a fighter (and told that is all he could be because his lineage inherently tainted/evil. He is however, quite religious, and chafes under the cultural misapprehensions and prejudice he faces. Instead of being angry at everyone, however, he has thrown himself down the the other path -- trying almost to over assimilate and be "more English than the English." Being just a fighter "felt wrong" and when he encountered a half-orc inquisitor, he realised a paladin was his true calling. Thus, favored class is paladin, and he'll be a paladin from 3 onwards.
I've got 16,000gp to spend with no restrictions. My ability array is pretty good with one exception (or an "opportunity to role play"):
17,16,16,13,14,6

I'm torn on where to put the 6. If Int, I don't get any skills until 3rd level (and for role playing, I basically have to take knowlegde religion at least once). Dex could go as I imagine I'll be wrapped in full plate and likely will be more of a castigator paladin than a horse-riding one. Still, I worry about all those reflex saves and general clumsiness. Some of the paladin guides I've seen suggest Wis. Wis or Int seem to fit the character -- either dumb, or focussed and relatively bright, but no real clue about the world actually operates (or a flawed perception of it.)

I'm interested in being full on into Melee, so thought Critical Focus, Power Attack, Vital Strike, and Reward of Life (we have no cleric, so the cures come from me, the Inquisitor and a wand of CL).

Any adviceon what where to place my stats, what to buy (particularly for magic) and alternate feat choices would be welcome.

Thanks for the quick advice. I'm keen to work the concept, but realise there are some limitations, so what to maximise what I can do behind the idea. Because this is my first time in PF, I can likely convince my GM to let some retraining in -- but likely just skills or feats. Because we've been playing twice month for a year, and the story is a good one, I don't think we can smoothly retcon my race or the 4 levels I've allocated. (the character suffered in-game from prejudice and etc. and that altered the story arc in interesting ways). Also, a half-orc with high CHA is usually a bully or the like, so it has been fun trying to be compelling/commanding without being able to resort to the threat of brute force.

So and tips in that direction would be cool. I read "practised spellcaster" is a good feat, as it lets you cast at a level up to total hit dice -- which is an important way to mitigate the compounded loss I get by multi-classing in two spontaneous classes. Sadly, I may have to argue for it as it is 3.5, not PF. I think I can say think it fits the theme: because both classes are fire-based, increased knowledge/ability in one class might naturally bleed into increased ability in the other.

Any thoughts at all are totally welcome.

Yeah, sorry, I should have explained myself, but I wanted to confirm that Brookamus was interested in trying to qualify before overwhelming them with the specifics.

Switching spells known between classes doesn't work, because of this FAQ.

But spell-like abilities do.

You can get a second level arcane spell-like ability by taking Racial Heritage (drow) and Spider Step.

You have three options for getting a second level divine spell-like ability as well:
Be a Scion of Humanity Agathion-Blooded Aasimar instead of a Half-Orc. (summon nature's ally II, from your racial spell-like ability).
Be a wood oracle instead of a flame oracle (wood shape or warp wood, from the bend the grain revelation).
Just take four levels in oracle, letting you enter Mystic Theurge at level 6, but not level 4.

Hey, I'd love some advice on optimising a 2/2 Sorcerer/Oracle (both fire) now that I am reaching 5th level.

I'm playing a half-orc sorcerer who raised as an orphan in a monastery (had an accidental brush with a magic item that left me with sorcerous abilities, got kicked out of the Monastery). I was killed as I reached third level, and raised from the dead. Except my guy's body burst into flames during the raise, and none of the components were consumed during the spell. My body came out unharmed (i.e. alive) although there is suspicion that that I am not alone inside my skin - hence, I am haunted and seem to argue with the other resident in my body (to comic affect, though it pisses the party off that we are rarely ever able to be stealthy). My next two levels were oracle.

I've chosen the eclectic feat and tended to load on fire damage instead of extra HP or skill. I also have improved initiative, though I think I can retrain that.

For traits I have Focussed mind and indomitable faith.

Thematically, speaking, I have the character as somewhat crazy, worshipping the "one true fire at the beginning of all (also know as the first burning)."

Any advice on choices for level 5 would be great (right now I'm leaning on going back to Sorcerer to have both arcane and divine burning hands).