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Dear developers, I'm a bit late to the party, but would you be interested in commissioning custom writing systems for the cultures of the elemental planes? I happen to be a type designer and conlanger (language developer) and would be all too happy to contribute to Golarion in some way. :) I figure making language sketches for the cultures might be a bit overkill (it's too much effort for most players and GMs to learn, and it would impose constraints on naming characters and places that writers might not appreciate), but writing systems are easy to use and add great visual identity and flavor to illustrations. For example, here is the alphasyllabary I created for Netflix’ Shadow & Bone. You can see it in use in season 2... Cheers!
Related question: If you have Improved Unarmed Strike, can you TWF with a sword and an unarmed strike while carrying a shield in your offhand? Given that you can do unarmed strikes with any part of your body. Basically, you'd be using kicks, headbutts, pommel strikes, body slams etc. as part of your swordfighting. That would open up Enforcer and Sap Master for a character who isn't built around nonlethal damage. (Actually, that would also work without a shield — for instance, a Thug Rogue who generally two-hands an estoc or dueling sword but would like to switch to TWF at a moment's notice...)
Thought so! Thanks! Armor's less of a problem, then? 'Cause that's probably the bigger deal. A heavy fighter can still be effective with a rapier, but will feel naked in light armor... Might an ordained character try to pass their deity's favored weapon as a symbol of office, and thus an essential part of their ballroom costume...? I'm thinking of a longbow in particular... In any case, the unarmed Brawler/Rogue and Brawler/Slayer builds I've been pondering certainly sound even more enticing now. A Knifemaster Rogue (possibly mixed with Magus) is also high up on the list.
Hey, so even though we're only halfway through our current campaign, I've already started brainstorming for my next character. We don't know yet what we'll play next, but WftC is probably the top contender. Now, a lot of the concepts I'm toying with include heavy armor and/or heavy weapons. I've been wondering whether that's a problem in this campaign — after all, a lot of it is supposed to take place at court, in ballrooms and in undercover missions, where a full plate and an earthbreaker might at best draw undue attention and at worst get oneself barred from entry in the first place. As a player of a «heavy» class, I wouldn't mind having to «travel light» on rare occasions, but I wouldn't want to be stripped of my essential equipment for large parts of the campaign. The PG doesn't explicitly dissuade players from playing heavies, but it certainly encourages characters with «courtly flavor». Then again, for all I know, Taldan veterans might like to strut around court in their decorated armor... Tl;dr: Is reliance on heavy armor and/or heavy weapons a problem in WftC? No campaign spoilers, please!
It's a bit late, but I should point out that my build above doesn't work as written. For some unfathomable reason, daggers are not part of the «Close» Fighter weapon group, despite being the most iconic close-quarters weapon, and therefore don't work with Brawler's Flurry. I suppose one could either drop Fate's Favored and Deific Obedience (ouch) or the entire Brawler dip. The latter at least removes the loss of spell progression.
If I played a Swashbuckler, I'd probably combine it with a few levels of something else (Paladin?) to bolster those saves.At that point you might as well play a Virtuous Bravo, or as I like to call it, Unchained Swashbuckler. I‘d love to, but it‘s from a Player Companion, so off the table...
Elemental grip doesn‘t help against, say, devils, which are immune to fire but don‘t have the fire subtype. Yeah, depending on the campaign I‘d consider something like Fire/Earth. Fire should also work well as a second element, since you can pick up Fan of Flames at 7th with Extra Wild Talent and bridge the AoE gap until 9th. I‘m tempted to go Tele/Pyro in War for the Crown, even if it loses out on a good composite. Tele is just too fitting, flavor-wise, and if most enemies are humanoids, Bowling Infusion and Foe Throw might get more mileage than usual.
This is the result of PFS to be honest. Never knowing what classes you're going to be in a group with creates a need for a character that can cover everything. That explains a lot! I only play in AP campaigns, so I‘m used to allies helping each other out. In fact, I see that as one of the most rewarding aspects of cooperative RPGs.
Flying is why any frontliner carries a potion of Fly. Invisible enemies are why at least someone in the party has Glitterdust. Crowds of enemies are why he cultivates a high AC. Lots and lots of saves are dangerous for anyone. The Swashbuckler doesn‘t need to solve all the party‘s problems at once, that‘s what teammates are for. Quite frankly, if you feel useless as a Wizard, that means you're not playing the class right. Yes, and I seem to be playing martials right, so as I said, the tier system is comically at odds with my personal playing experience. I don‘t care how good Wizards are in theory when they suck in practice. APs (and also PFS modules etc.) are designed to be very easy. Just because your party succeeded doesn't mean the party was good. No, they are designed to be appropriate for a typical party. If they‘re easy, it means your PCs are more powerful than the devs expected, and your GM has to adjust things to keep the game interesting. «I use a tank instead of a rifle to hunt bears because a bullet will often fail to drop a bear. Also, bear hunting is really easy.» How many enemies of CR above his level did that Swashbuckler kill in the first round of a combat? That‘s a silly metric, since CR+ enemies are supposed to be challenging. If the party were to wipe all of them out in one round, the game would be broken and in need of fixing by the GM. Anyway, the Swashbuckler in question killed the campaign‘s final boss solo in one round, so I think he did alright.
That's not surprising, since in actual play individual optimization level, campaign style and current level can totally change balance. I assume the swashbuckler profited from an optimizing player and humanoid enemies. And maybe you ended the campaign before level 17? «Yes», no, and yes. From our GM's point of view, we are all filthy optimizers, whereas from the point of view of actual optimizers here on the boards, we are bloody amateurs. ;o) And the enemies we quite a mixed bag, with particularly devils taking the lead toward the end. The Swashbuckler has high defenses, high damage output, can boost their saves a bunch of times per day to make up for the weak progressions, and can absolutely cheat the action economy with Parry & Riposte. Lots of skills and flavor too. Really neat package overall. In theory, the other players have more options, but they forget to use them or fail to pick the strongest in a given situation. I'm sure that's also the reason why my own casters were far from godlike. I certainly prefer Sorcerer- or even Kineticist-style casters with few and reliable options that I'll actually remember to use and that I don't have to plan out like a tax declaration.
I like Air for its flight, good AoE capability (Torrent + Air's Reach, Chain), and combination of energy + physical in the same element (allowing you to pick Torrent at 7th rather than waiting for 9th). On the other hand, Earth's DR and the universal applicability of a good physical attack make it a very strong contender. Earth/Metal is notable for the hardest-hitting AoE in the class (Impale). I love the fact that Fire offers an AoE right from the start with Fan of Flames, but so far I've been too afraid of fire-immune and high-SR enemies to try it out. It also pales in comparison to a fire-focused Sorcerer. The physical Kineticist elements don't have that problem because they disregard SR and elemental immunity, which makes them very dependable.
By the way, another rules question on Mesmerists: Am I right in assuming that Psychic Inception does not remove any immunities other than that to mind-affecting effects? So an undead target could be affected by, say, Hold Person or Cacophanous Call, but since undead are immune to paralysis, the former would do nothing? (Actually, would the latter work, or does nausea go under immunity to disease...? In any case, it seems to be a mental effect for the purpose of this spell, so it shouldn't...)
So I did read up on those Sneak Attack threads and FAQs, and they are all very much Sneak Attack–specific. I also looked up the rules for Sneak Attack in the Rogue class on PFSRD: Hilariously, it doesn't use the word «hit» except for a mention of critical hits. Instead, it repeatedly insists on aiming at a «vital spot» to do damage, which is presumably why an attack roll is necessary to trigger it (since you can't aim a Fireball or a Magic Missile). The Painful Stare write-up, on the other hand, doesn't state how the damage is done, but since it rides on the mind-affecting Hypnotic Stare, one has to assume it's psychosomatic damage that the target's mind deals to its body by overestimating the actual damage it suffered. A priori, that should work with any kind of damage, not just that of localized «hits». Then again, the extra damage is classified as precision damage for some reason, which certainly recalls the Sneak Attack rules (although as far as I can tell the classification's only effect is to make some creatures immune to it). A FAQ or dev commentary would certainly help here!
So, I know what you're probably saying- The two least powerful classes in the game combined? Well, I have one word for you- Flavor. Huh? The Swashbuckler we had in our Hell's Rebels campaign was an untouchable, unstoppable killing machine. And while I haven't seen an Unchained Rogue in play yet, I really like what they did there. It's high up on my to-play list. Then again, the whole «tier» view on class power is comically at odds with my personal play experience. I've never felt useless with a frontliner character — there's always something in need of bashing —, whereas it did happen every so often with my casters (including the Conjurer Wizard).
Argh! That would foil several of my ideas at once. Is there a rule or a FAQ defining «hit» as «succeed on an attack roll»? I was wondering whether I could use a Staff of the Entwined Serpents as a sidearm to cast Magic Missiles with Painful Stare, but that wouldn't work, then. (I checked: It consistently says «strike» rather than «hit» in the description of Magic Missile...) Not even the sonic spells of the Vox archetype would do the trick, since they're save-based rather than attack roll–based. I guess that's one more point in favor of taking a Fey Sorcerer level, even if it hurts to delay the slow spell progression further. At least I can use Acid Splash or a wand of Snowball to deal damage, then.
I think I can answer the Kitsune question myself. The Disguise skill says: If you don’t draw any attention to yourself, others do not get to make Perception checks. If you come to the attention of people who are suspicious (such as a guard who is watching commoners walking through a city gate), it can be assumed that such observers are taking 10 on their Perception checks. I guess I can work with that.
I've been looking around for cool character concepts to play in War for the Crown, which has a high probability of being our next campaign (even if it's still at least half a year away). The Mesmerist is looking particularly promising, since it fits the social and humanoid-centric focus of WftC. The Kitsune race would match the class nicely with its perfect ability boosts and the boost to enchantment magic. I do have a question about either of them, though: Mesmerist: The Painful Stare triggers when someone «hits» the target with a damaging attack. I'm pretty sure that doesn't necessarily have include an attack roll, so damaging someone with the fire component of Blistering Invective would presumably count. However, the case is less clear-cut for ongoing damage. If the targets catches on fire from Blistering Invective and continues to take damage in subsequent rounds, does that still trigger Painful Stare, even though the spell has «hit» the target in a previous round? (If so, DoT spells would provide good action economy in delivering the Painful Stare damage to an enemy without having to commit actions to damage-dealing round after round.) Kitsune: According to the Player's Guide, the Taldan high court is racist and doesn't look kindly on «mongrel» species. Luckily, a Kitsune can spend an indefinite amount of time in their «human» form. They get a +10 bonus to Disguise checks to appear human. My question here: The bonus implies that a Disguise check is needed for a Kitsune to pass as human, even though they literally have a «human form». Does that mean I would get made out as a Kitsune on a daily basis when someone inevitably rolls lucky on a Perception check? Or would I only need to roll when someone has a reason to suspect me to be non-human? If so, under what circumstances would that happen? There's supposed to be a lot of undercover intrigue in WftC, so I wouldn't want everybody to be like, hey, there's that fox lady again!
A ringmaster should be charismatic, so I'd recommend an Overwhelming Soul (yes, yes, everybody hates the archetype; I don't). Definitely give her flight, either through Greater Flame Jet or by taking Air as a secondary, and Eruption for AoE damage. Otherwise, just have fun, it's the whole point of the class. :)
I'm also rather fond of the idea of a character who uses Flame Blade as a mainstay weapon. I'd start with a Warpriest, though, since you can get tons of self-buffs like the +4/+4 (with Fate's Favored) of Divine Favor, +2 from Weapon Specialization, and Holy from Sacred Weapon (though you'd presumably also need a +1 from Magic Weapon first). Along with a Haste effect (from Divine Power, Blessing of Fervor, or a friendly arcane caster), we're starting to look at some serious damage. The downside is that you need to pre-buff for several rounds to set this up, and you'll have to use a wand of Flame Blade until you get the spell via Sarenrae at 7th. Once you do, though, you can Empower it for something like 1.5 * (1d8+5) + 4 + 2 + 1 + 2d6 = 28 damage per hit at 10th level, or 85 damage per hasted full round with pretty much 100% hit chance. Not too shabby. (Realistically, though, that's also the kind of damage a Warpriest can get with a mundane weapon under those buffs, with the advantage of bypassing SR and fire resistance and not needing to pre-buff. But I guess we're doing this for the coolness factor, and maybe for that one enemy with a ridiculous AC.) Does anyone know whether the critical range of Flame Blade is that of a scimitar, or of a typical touch spell? Makes a rather big difference. EDIT: Oh, found the thread, never mind.
So from what I'm reading, TWF is difficult to pull off for a Warpriest due to accuracy concerns... wouldn't Pharasma's Obedience offset that, though? To avoid MADness, I'm thinking of going Str-based and taking two levels of Brawler (Snakebite Striker) for its Flurry (and the welcome addition of a die of sneak attack and a combat feat). It hurts to delay the spell progression, but an extra attack per round is certainly significant, I get to carry a shield, and the caster levels are salvageable with the Magical Knack trait. I'll never get off-hand iteratives, but that's less of an issue for a 3/4 BAB class anyway. Whaddya think? Half-Orc (sacred tattoo) Str 17 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 07 Class Levels: Warpriest 2/Brawler (Snakebite Striker) 2/Warpriest Feats:
I figure I'd load up that one dagger with all I have (blessing, sacred weapon > Holy, possibly a bane once I can afford it) and use Flurry and Cleave to use it as much as I can. When DR becomes an issue and switching daggers is not an option, I'll stow my dagger and quickdraw shield and draw an earthbreaker instead. The empty feat slots might get something like Toughness or Outflank. Think it might be preferable to start with the Brawler and add Warpriest later? We should have another character in the party who can use a healing wand, so it's not urgent to get in that caster level.
Thanks for the ideas! I’m trying to keep the flavor Roguey, so I’d rather not use super-weird weapons or natural attacks (did that with a Vivisectionist a few years ago; great fun). Syries: Yes, that’s what I was thinking. I’m just finishing a campaign with a Monk/Occultist right now, who is a total powerhouse, and I’m up for a vacation from frontline duty. A secondary combatant like a 2H Rogue sound just about right. Party’s going to be a conjurer Wizard, blasty Sorcerer, and presumably a frontliner of some sort (I’m hoping for a Warpriest), so damage shouldn’t be an issue, but being tanky will come in handy. @Scott: SA = Sneak Attack; SAD = single attribute dependent.
Yes, but any feats that have TWF or improved TWF as a prerequisite can only be used when you are performing a brawler's flurry. Do you have a source on that? It sounds sensible, but I might go for a build of that sort soon, and might need to argue for it. Flurry allows you to make all your attacks with a single weapon, and you can 2 hand the weapon for x1.5 power attack bonuses. That doesn't work: A brawler applies her full Strength modifier to her damage rolls for all attacks made with brawler’s flurry, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand weapon or a weapon wielded in both hands.
It's that time of the year again! We're about to start a new campaign in 2–3 months, and the Unchained Rogue is again high up on my list. (I'm playing an Unchained Monk with a level of Occultist in our current Return of the Runelords game, and it's a blast.) Campaign is either going to be Curse of the Crimson Throne or Strange Aeons. For the latter, a Knife Master with two levels of Occultist would work really well, flavor-wise, both because of the Occultist and because of the Pharasma theme (my main character idea there is a pyro Sorcerer who's terrified of his own strange powers). I think we've discussed that build sufficiently in the posts above. For CotCT, I'm currently leaning toward a two-handable finesse weapon (Aldori sword probably, since estoc is from a Player Companion and thus most likely not allowed). It would also go well with a level or two of Occultist, but since I just did that for my last character, I'm interested in alternate options. How about three levels of Magus? My sneak attack will take a hit, but I'll be able to pseudo-flurry with a single pimped-up weapon and buff myself with Shield and the like. The 3rd level gives me the Wand Wielder arcana, which removes the need for those pesky concentration checks, and a higher-level wand of Shocking Grasp should make up for the lost sneak attack dice. Note: The DM allows material from all hardcover books, whereas Player Companions are typically out. I'm afraid that not only nixes the estoc, but also Piranha Strike. It's going to be difficult for the Knife Master to do damage against SA-immune creatures.
Has there ever been an official ruling on this? I see different opinions in different threads. My take on this is that, by the description, it is enough to hold the flag in your hand to use it — you need not perform any particular movements or poses. Thus, if you have a buckler on the same arm, you are free to move to defend yourself as needed, and should get the buckler's bonus to AC.
Thanks! :) As for touch attacks: Sure, but laser guns get to use Deadly Aim even though they make touch attacks, presumably because they’re weapon-like rather than spell-like. I was wondering whether a similar logic might apply to Flame Blade. I guess not, though; it sounds like the blade doesn’t have enough inertia to profit from force application.
It’s a spell, obviously, but the spell’s effect is not damage, it’s to manifest a lightsaber that you then «wield like a scimitar». Does is profit from bonuses to «weapon damage», as from Bardic Performance? Does it crit like a scimitar? Does it profit from Weapon Focus and Specialisation? I’m assuming Power Attack is out of the question, since there’s no Str bonus either. But Deadly Aim works with the touch attacks from firearms and energy weapons, so it’s not entirely obvious. Sorry if this has been asked before; Google didn’t find anything useful.
Spoiler: Thanks for the reply!
Vital Strike only multiplies weapon dice, not the whole damage, though. Corrupting touch does not have weapon dice (e.g., its damage would not change if Xanesha changed size), so there should be no effect. Also, using a (Su) ability is a special standard action, not the Attack action, which Vital Strike uses. The same argument has been used to prohibit Kineticists from using Vital Strike on their Kinetic Blasts, as far as I know.
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