I think the idea could be applied with some success to a traveling group that surrounds the party, so followers and what not. That way you still get the flavor of the followers and supporting cast, but without having to micromanage them all.
Could get very abstract and say that the shared resource is the party's destiny and reputation (or dare I say, mythic destiny?), with modifications to capabilities that way. Go do this quest to get Fame in a region, to which you can use to have people do odd favors for you around town, etc. Very fun to think about.
Inventor still has int as the KAS so it has a lower hit rate, you can crit fail your skill-based damage amp and damage yourself, you have 8hp and your mechanical companion is still worse than a dex animal companion.
Gunslinger is better off as a crossbow slinger. In fact, just never ever use guns. You've either got d4 damage dice or screwed with reload. Drifter gets to not provoke an AoO with a ranged attack but still provokes on reload so that's a joke. The "brace of pistols" item doesn't work with quick draw so it's just reload with extra steps. At least early theory says you can get a half-decent gunslinger going by level 6-7 with juggler dedication, focused juggler and paired shots with repeating hand crossbows. Even with reload 0 you still need a free hand to reload so it's a trap feat for anyone not juggling.
Even the subscribers probably haven't fully analysed the rules yet, so making absolute judgements like that based information that can barely be called fragmented isn't very useful.
I don't think the world has enough fingers to count how many times hasty non-playtested judgements have been made and found to be wrong after a year of playing data.
Was the starstone inspired at any level by the pulp classic "Quest for the Starstone" (Image in link NSFW) with Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith? Paizo did publish this a while ago.
I appreciate it when a group is told that there is definitely no trap on the door, even though they know the trapspotter rolled a 2, and the barbarian walks through the door first. I applaud the group where the wizard goes through the door first with the same situation.
I think that the secret rolls can really help with tension, when appropriate. When you are rolling, there are situations where it is Capital-I Important. You don't half-ass Capital-I Important things. And for Capital-I Important things, your character may not have the full picture. You don't know if they can see through your disguise. You don't know if you correctly translated this vital clue (GMs, make sure there are at least 3 ways to discover it!). You don't know what's behind that door. But you tried your best, using the tools at your disposal, and given the state you are in. That all adds to the tension. It gets people sitting on the edge of their seats to see what happens next.
Knowing exactly how you rolled allows inferred information that will damper the tension. I think it's very noble to say "Well, I would never act on that information!", but it's rarely always true. Rolling that 2 on the Disguise check means I am fairly certain we'll be caught with my pants down, but I'll try to act as if I don't know that results. Much of the tension is gone, and we're just biding time until the jig is up. Maybe we'll still act like we think our disguises are great, but also in a way that once the fecal matter hits the fan, we'll be in a less-disadvantageous position.
But then again, maybe that's a good thing, reminding us to act in a way that minimizes potential losses in case things go poorly while literally surrounded by the Duke's very muscular body guards.
Maybe that's something the group enjoys, the comedy of knowing that your character is an idiot for thinking the Osiron garb will let you fit in with nobles at Magnimar.
It's complicated. It's a lot of additional things for the GM to keep track of for a game that already has a lot of those things. I don't like rolling dice as the GM all that much, and I definitely slipped on this a bunch in my sessions. But it's also a valuable tool for maintaining tension. I think that in my games, I'll generally have the players roll, but remind them to act as if they didn't. For Capital-I Important rolls, I'll roll secretly. Sure, it gives some information. But I feel like in most of those situations, the players already know if it's Capital-I Important.
I just wish there was a better way to keep the tension and player/character divide, without loading the GM with more responsibility, so that for more seriously-toned games, the tools were there.
I suspect that they feel that the excitement it brings to the table outweighs any negatives the spikes create. They certainly create memorable moments that you'll share with friends.
The main thing I would add is that in PF1, across the number of groups I played in, the concerns about wands of healing and what not never really appeared. We understood that they existed. The concerns never really played out though. We never used a ton of low level items, except for the "Happy Stick".
The Christmas tree effect didn't really affect us either. Items chosen using the Rule of Cool worked surprisingly well, despite all the moaning on the forums about needing the flat bonuses that drove the Christmas tree effect.
Based on what I saw on the forums back then, the groups were generally a low-to-average-power level. It certainly was not anywhere near the stereotypical PFS level of optimization, or even a tenth of that. It was mostly rogues and fighters. In some of my main games, it was rare to use anything but CRB classes. They were simpler, but still allowed players to have a lot of fun.
There is an interesting tidbit from Jeremy Crawford that blew the minds of the 5e community earlier this year: Despite how prevalent discussion of feats were in 5e communities online and in organized play, most characters don't use feats. They are still super popular, and players like them, but a majority of characters simply do not use them. This sort of reminds me of that, and maybe that's the cause of the friction. (Also, how amazing must it be to have that sort of data? Being able to see what people are actually doing, how things are actually being built up, etc. Incredible!)
I really like the idea of a unified system, rather than tracking all the different points for different classes. I really like the idea of making Charisma useful to all characters, even if they won't be talking. I'm not sure I like everyone having to track something now, when before there were many options to not have to track much. But I'm very excited to see what the design team is able to come up with, as they've shown many awesome solutions to problems in the past.
I think all of these sides have some interesting and good points, but I can't escape laughing at the fact that Fighters finally are the best at fighting with a wide range of weapons, something people were clamoring for in 1e, and people aren't liking it.
Unless you REALLY REALLY REALLY want the 3D gimmick, get the 2DS. It plays all the same games and is cheaper (and slightly more durable, since it doens't have the clamshell hinges to break).
NOTE: The...
Personally, I recommend the 3DS over the 2DS, just because the giant rectangle is a bit annoying to carry around in my opinion. The 3D definitely isn't the selling point it once was tho.
And looking it over, it seems that there's now the 2DS XL, which has the folding case. I'd recommend getting the XL, no matter which version you get. It'll perform better than the base 2DS, and can play the 3DS Exclusive games. Also, that little analog stick on the right hand side is great for many games.
Even some biological things can be learned and grown. The great Pearl Divers in the Pacific have some minor ability to hold their breaths longer than most humans, but a lot of it is practicing and pushing themselves.
Even things like Darkvision I can see as only coming on-line later on in your life. Baby's aren't born with object permanence, but it's a biological thing due to brain juju, and that's one of the traits that separates homo sapiens from many other animals (aka: a racial feature).
There are a number of people I'd like to play (or play more with). I played with Rogue Eidolon only once, but would be fun to play again with. Same with Ssalarn. A game with Endzeitgeist would be very interesting (and he uses so much 3pp that I wouldn't even be able to metagame capabilities!).
Wraithstrike would be good fun as well, I feel.
RavingDork would be amusing to watch play. Not sure if I could handle his type of games tho.
I'm also wondering once again where Mikaze went.
I'd enjoy a game with CalebTGordon, Abraham Spalding (Who is back from serving, apparently!), Umbral Reaver, Steel Draco (who I learned from another forum is doing Savage Fallout. I'll join that one, thanks.), Diego Rossi, TacticsLion, Robert Brookes, ....
Now that I think longer on it, as long as there's pre-gens and beer, I'd probably play with most people.
This forum is for character advice on 3rd party stuff, so it's probably a good place to ask such questions. But here works too!
Linda's and my goal for this was to allow for multiple types of builds with the class, so it really depends on what you're looking for. We wanted to support a few different types of commanders with this, the chief two being the the leader from the front that leads by example and would probably focus on more physical abilities, and the leader from the rear that could focus more on mental abilities (and some physical ones), and give her troop commands. Internally, I believe we referred to the former as the Badass, and the latter as the General. It's been a bit, but I believe there was also a split between Charisma and Intelligence for the General type, namely through the Tactician archetype to use Intelligence in place of Charisma. The Strategist archetype is compatible with the Tactician too, and it goes further in replacing abilities associated with the Badass, allowing for some hybridization if you wish.
As general (ha.) advice, I'd suggest at least 12 Charisma regardless of the type you want to be (unless you use Int instead), so you can use Motivational Speech an additional time, especially if you start at a low level. The troop is pretty easy to hit until you teach them some ways to avoid damage or be in a more advantageous position, so being able to heal them after combat will be key. Silly soldiers think it's fine to be next to 4 orcs at once!
For the character (Strategist archetype only) I played, I believe I focused on Strength, some Constitution, and then I think Charisma and Dex in equal amounts, as I wanted the option at least to switch between ranged and melee.
Rest in Peace Steve. I'll never forget you for your generosity and for helping me get started in the industry. I learned a lot from you, and wish your family the best in these dark times.
The PDT doesn't do FAQs on non core-line work. The closest they've done to that was some encouraging for the Golarion team to answer the Freebooter Ranger archetype question.
Your best bet is to ask the question in the product discussion page for the product it came from.
So, based on the way that James has been trying to manage expectations about this secret project, which of us will be the first back here to say, "Uh, that's it?"
;-)
I'm certainly preparing for everyone to say that. ;-)
Out of sheer contrariness, I will now be completely over-the-top in my enthusiasm for whatever the sekrit projects are, no matter how mundane.
Today, Paizo announces Pathfinder, The Toaster(tm), the newest way to bring the excitement of Pathfinder and the giddy flames of goblin kind to a breakfast near you. With exciting toast burn configurations such as "Ezren's Chin", "Griddle of Opposite Germination", and "Runetoast", breakfast will never be boring again!
You have to go through a lot of effort to actually create a character that "isn't viable". People routinely play at a power level above what the game was built for, and that provides a huge buffer space. You'll do fine, and magi that aren't the bog-standard-cookie-cutter dervish dancer with intensified shocking grasp do just fine in the game, especially with a competent GM.
In combat? No, not at all. They have many nice things and there's been a huge amount of power creep / lowering-of-level-where-rocket-tag-is-an-issue since the release at Pathfinder.
*blink* wow, alright thanks for the quick response everyone. Kinda bummed about not being able to do multiple attacks like I hoped, but I can see the point. Thanks again for the quick response to my question.
In the playtest game I ran, our kineticist actually did basically the thing you were trying to do, just across a number of rounds.
They are already useful and competent. Ample playtesting has shown this out repeatedly. In-combat things are not the area they need help in. Buffing them up, or replacing them with a set of classes that just further exacerbate rocket tag and bring the levels that it's active at much lower won't help as much as working in logical out-of-combat abilities, and that's where you should focus your attention if you want to be successful.
No no, this new thread someone will make will totally have a new perspective that hasn't been brought up in the past 15 years. It's definitely not rehashing the same thing over and over.
This is a messageboards problem and one seen predominantly in the games of people who are on the messageboards. Regardless of which messageboard it is. A tempest in a teacup.
There can be issues, but only when things are pushed to their limits, and in many many MANY games, martials are by far the most powerful characters.
This is especially true at the levels that most people play at (lower levels), and in the average game.
I get the feeling there's some context I'm missing, but I'm not so sure I'm actually missing much.
Reading the rules strictly and without trying to determine the intent isn't the best idea. In fact, I'm not even certain it's possible. It's easy to see why as well:
Written words have one purpose, and one purpose only: To convey the intent of the designer. The words and rules they encompass did not appear out of a void. The words first appeared when a human being typed them on a computer. And that wasn't the first time the rules came into being either. Previously, they were in the designer's head, jumbling about and sorting themselves out. They were bouncing off myriad other ways to implement the desired behavior. How can I best capture this feeling and action I'm trying to encapsulate? Should it be a bonus applied in a certain situation, or something that gives a new ability in that situation?
And, as surprising as it is, it turns out that the designer does not suddenly become a robot when they are designing new rules and transcribing their thoughts into words that convey their intent. Or if they do transmogrify, it sure as heck doesn't happen to me or any other of the many designers I know. This means that they are still just human. They can still make mistakes when conveying their intended rules.
So yes, applying common sense is necessary. Sometimes it's needed to fill in the gaps when mistakes are made during when transcribing rules from the mind to the document.
Of course, coming at the rule without preconceived notions is also very helpful. Sometimes the designer wants to do something that doesn't actually fit what would be called "common sense". Usually this involves being very specific about something to show how it's different from the norm.
And this isn't even getting into the idea of design blind spots, where you are so deep into a system and you know it so well that you simply do not realize that one of the rules in your head is not actually written down, and your mind just fills-in-the-gaps when you are re-reading everything.
But it all comes down to the designers not being robots. Things will never be perfect, and you need to try to figure out what the intent was in a fair manner in the cases where things are odd. There are often times very strong hints that point one way or the other, with a few principles that can be applied to figure out the intent.
Well, unofficially, I think it'd be fine for that case, although if they took other damaging tactics, I'd keep them at d8. It's feat for an effective +1 damage increase. You can also just say they have bastard swords, but some also have daggers that they use now and then, and then between pommelsmacks and thrown elbows, that accounts for the B,P, and S damage type.
The other reason Linda and I went with this model was because it ensured we could have better handle on the balance. When we removed the possibility of outfitting your own troop, it meant that the class wouldn't get massively more powerful or weak based on the wealth that the party got, which is a factor we can't really control. We wanted to take a complex concept, someone in charge of a bunch of people, and take away as many of the the aspects that made the archetypical idea difficult to run without massive spreadsheets. And part of that included outfitting the troop personally. (And paying them, although we experimented with that a bit and Linda made a great system for how to handle it.)
One thing I'd recommend though is to sort of divorce yourself from the thinking that it's exactly like an NPC. It's fine to just say "Yes, they all have bastard swords", without giving them the feat. The squad weapon is never really specified, so it can be whatever you want. In the base adventure that introduced the troop subtype, the auto-damage represented rifle buts, elbows, knives, bayonets, and the occasional-probably-too-close-pistol fire. It was just whatever the troop had in hand.
Fluid Tactics would probably help though, letting them switch easier between two-handing the bastard swords, and using them one-handed with shields.
In the game I'm playing in, I have a General that leads a group of half-elfs that are outfitted with a mix of longswords, falcatas, shields, crossbows, and shovels. Their squad name is the Ditch Diggers, which is somehow a term of honor given our nascent kingdom.
Also remember that they changed how stealth works. If you start in cover or concealment, you can get to another place where you have that and make the stealth roll again, even if you're darting in open sight.
Stealth is unfortunately one of those skills where people don't really follow the rules.
I start punching trees until I get enough wood to make a crafting table, then I make some wooden tools. I then start to progress my way up the tech tree until I get killed by an exploding green thing.
I have this weird condition where if I see someone seriously complaining that "martials can never have nice things", I just forget everything in the post I read.
It's weird, but it actually makes the forums a lot more enjoyable to read than before I developed that.
Honestly, I think all of the metamagic rods are cheesy and should be removed from the game. The metamagic feats are already annoying and weak and there's no strong incentive to take them, and on top of that you can pick up the rod as a cheap feat-in-a-can and not have to prepare the spell ahead of time, and on top of that, they can bypass the 9th-level spell limit (normally you can't quicken anything 6th or higher with the feat because there are no 10th-level spell slots), so the rods are even better than the feat.
The parenthetical statement is clearly at odds with the idea that the rods allow you to prepare the spells ahead of time using the metamagic feat, as if that were the case, you couldn't use the rod of quicken, despite what the statement above states.
Caused too many questions to arise and unbalanced things that were made under the ruling they weren't spells.
When there are guides on which race to pick to get which spell of which casting tradition and which spell level, just so you can make a build using something that was never the original intention, things have gone way, way too far.
Seems like the immunities are doing their job fairly well :p
In our groups, we usually see minor forms of this, with wasted actions now and then. But we generally prefer more interesting combats than facerolls, which tend to happen when all those wasted actions happen.
4th edition had one such table, and it was one of the most hated things about the edition, as the characters never actually got better.
If you really want to go ahead with that, just make an excel chart that sets chance to succeed at 50%, and make an average build against that, putting every rank of a skill into that, etc.
You'll have to do that for ability checks too, because ability checks are already screwed up and scale much slower.
"Doesn't need to be playtested," is the common refrain from those who armchair analyze, "it's obvious how this will work, given X, Y, and Z."
But the thing is that if you want your opinions to be considered more, you should still playtest. And playtest fairly! Because armchair analysis is prone to missing details and people on the forums almost invariably want things stronger during the playtests, so it's hard to separate actual good ideas from the usual "buff buff buff buff buff", and playtesting reports helps with that greatly.
I'm quite glad to see that others are planning on more playtests. Since high level playtests are rare, I will probably aim my own tests there.
Full Name
Janus Sevenstar
Race
Half-Elf
Classes/Levels
Haunted Oracle of Life (Ancient Lorekeeper) 8/Hierophant 1
Gender
Male
Size
Medium
Age
42
Alignment
Neutral Good
Deity
Erastil
Occupation
Healer
Strength
13
Dexterity
12
Constitution
14
Intelligence
12
Wisdom
12
Charisma
20
About Janus Sevenstar
Stats:
Starting Str 12 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 15
After Racial Adjustments Str 12 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 17
After Level Adjustments Every Four Levels Str 13 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 18
After Magic Items Str 13 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 20
Favored Class Points:
Favored Class: HP or Half-Elf Oracle Racial
Favored Class Points: 8
Favored Class Designation: 3 to HP; 5 to Half-Elf Oracle Racial
Level 1 - Channel: You can channel positive energy like a cleric, using your oracle level as your effective cleric level when determining the amount of damage healed (or caused to undead) and the DC. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier.
Level 3 - Energy Body: As a standard action, you can transform your body into pure life energy, resembling a golden-white fire elemental. In this form, you gain the elemental subtype and give off a warm, welcoming light that increases the light level within 10 feet by one step, up to normal light. Any undead creature striking you with its body or a handheld weapon deals normal damage, but at the same time the attacker takes 1d6 points of positive energy damage + 1 point per oracle level. Creatures wielding melee weapons with reach are not subject to this damage if they attack you. If you grapple or attack an undead creature using unarmed strikes or natural weapons, you may deal this damage in place of the normal damage for the attack. Once per round, if you pass through a living allied creature’s square or the ally passes through your square, it heals 1d6 hit points + 1 per oracle level. You may use this ability to heal yourself as a move action. You choose whether or not to heal a creature when it passes through your space. You may return to your normal form as a free action. You may remain in energy body form for a number of rounds per day equal to your oracle level.
Level 7 - Life Bond: As a standard action, you may create a bond between yourself and another creature. Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage. You may have one bond active per oracle level. This bond continues until the bonded creature dies, you die, the distance between you and the other creature exceeds medium range, or you end it as an immediate action (if you have multiple bonds active, you may end as many as you want as part of the same immediate action).
Half-Elf Racial Traits:
+2 to One Ability Score: Half-elf characters gain a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Half-elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Half-elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Half-elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Adaptability: Half-elves receive Skill Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Elf Blood: Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities: Half-elves are immune to magic sleep effects and gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
Keen Senses: Half-elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Multitalented: Half-elves choose two favored classes at first level and gain +1 hit point or +1 skill point whenever they take a level in either one of those classes.
Languages: Half-elves begin play speaking Common and Elven. Half-elves with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
Oracle (Ancient Lore Keeper) Class Abilities:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Oracles are proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields). Some oracle revelations grant additional proficiencies.
Spells: An oracle casts divine spells drawn from the cleric spell lists. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, an oracle must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an oracle’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the oracle’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, an oracle can cast only a certain number of spells per day of each spell level. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Oracle. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).
Unlike other divine spellcasters, an oracle’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An oracle begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of her choice. At each new oracle level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Oracle Spells Known. Unlike spells per day, the number of spells an oracle knows is not affected by her Charisma score.
In addition to the spells gained by oracles as they gain levels, each oracle also adds all of either the cure spells or the inflict spells to her list of spells known (cure spells include all spells with “cure” in the name, inflict spells include all spells with “inflict” in the name). These spells are added as soon as the oracle is capable of casting them. This choice is made when the oracle gains her first level and cannot be changed.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered oracle level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), an oracle can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the oracle loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. An oracle may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level. She cannot swap any cure or inflict spells, nor can she swap any spells gained from her mystery. Unlike a cleric, an oracle need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells per day for that spell level. Oracles do not need to provide a divine focus to cast spells that list divine focus (DF) as part of the components.
Mystery: Each oracle draws upon a divine mystery to grant her spells and powers. This mystery also grants additional class skills and other special abilities. This mystery can represent a devotion to one ideal, prayers to deities that support the concept, or a natural calling to champion a cause. For example, an oracle with the waves mystery might have been born at sea and found a natural calling to worship the gods of the oceans, rivers, and lakes, be they benign or malevolent. Regardless of its source, the mystery manifests in a number of ways as the oracle gains levels. An oracle must pick one mystery upon taking her first level of oracle. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.
At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, an oracle learns an additional spell derived from her mystery. These spells are in addition to the number of spells given on Table: Oracle Spells Known. They cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels.
Oracle’s Curse (Ex): Each oracle is cursed, but this curse comes with a benefit as well as a hindrance. This choice is made at 1st level, and once made, it cannot be changed. The oracle’s curse cannot be removed or dispelled without the aid of a deity. An oracle’s curse is based on her oracle level plus one for every two levels or Hit Dice other than oracle. Each oracle must choose one of the following curses.
Orisons: Oracles learn a number of orisons, or 0-level spells, as noted on Table: Oracle Spells Known under “Spells Known.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.
Revelation: At 1st level, 3rd level, and every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and so on), an oracle uncovers a new secret about her mystery that grants her powers and abilities. The oracle must select a revelation from the list of revelations available to her mystery. If a revelation is chosen at a later level, the oracle gains all of the abilities and bonuses granted by that revelation based on her current level. Unless otherwise noted, activating the power of a revelation is a standard action.
Unless otherwise noted, the DC to save against these revelations is equal to 10 + 1/2 the oracle’s level + the oracle’s Charisma modifier.
Channel (Su): You can channel positive energy like a cleric, using your oracle level as your effective cleric level when determining the amount of damage healed (or caused to undead) and the DC. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier.
Energy Body (Su): As a standard action, you can transform your body into pure life energy, resembling a golden-white fire elemental. In this form, you gain the elemental subtype and give off a warm, welcoming light that increases the light level within 10 feet by one step, up to normal light. Any undead creature striking you with its body or a handheld weapon deals normal damage, but at the same time the attacker takes 1d6 points of positive energy damage + 1 point per oracle level. Creatures wielding melee weapons with reach are not subject to this damage if they attack you. If you grapple or attack an undead creature using unarmed strikes or natural weapons, you may deal this damage in place of the normal damage for the attack. Once per round, if you pass through a living allied creature’s square or the ally passes through your square, it heals 1d6 hit points + 1 per oracle level. You may use this ability to heal yourself as a move action. You choose whether or not to heal a creature when it passes through your space. You may return to your normal form as a free action. You may remain in energy body form for a number of rounds per day equal to your oracle level.
Life Link (Su): As a standard action, you may create a bond between yourself and another creature. Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage. You may have one bond active per oracle level. This bond continues until the bonded creature dies, you die, the distance between you and the other creature exceeds medium range, or you end it as an immediate action (if you have multiple bonds active, you may end as many as you want as part of the same immediate action).
Class Skills: An ancient lorekeeper adds Knowledge (arcane) and Knowledge (local) to her list of class skills. Whenever she makes a Knowledge check of any kind about a question regarding elves (creatures of the elf subtype), the ancient lorekeeper adds half her class level on her check. This replaces the bonus skills the ancient lorekeeper gains from her mystery.
Elven Arcana (Ex): At 2nd level, an ancient lorekeeper's mastery of elven legends and philosophy has allowed her to master one spell used by elven wizards. She selects one spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list that is at least one level lower than the highest-level oracle spell she can cast. The ancient lorekeeper gains this as a bonus spell known. The spell is treated as one level higher than its true level for all purposes. The ancient lorekeeper may choose an additional spell at 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, and 18th levels.
This ability replaces the bonus spells she would normally gain at these levels from her chosen mystery.
Hierophant Mythic Abilities:
Hard to Kill (Ex): Whenever you're below 0 hit points, you automatically stabilize without needing to attempt a Constitution check. If you have an ability that allows you to act while below 0 hit points, you still lose hit points for taking actions, as specified by that ability. Bleed damage still causes you to lose hit points when below 0 hit points. In addition, you don't die until your total number of negative hit points is equal to or greater than double your Constitution score.
Mythic Power (Su): Mythic characters can draw upon a wellspring of power to accomplish amazing deeds and cheat fate. This power is used by a number of different abilities. Each day, you can expend an amount of mythic power equal to 3 plus double your mythic tier (5/day at 1st tier, 7/day at 2nd, etc.). This amount is your maximum amount of mythic power. If an ability allows you to regain uses of your mythic power, you can never have more than this amount.
Surge (Su): You can call upon your mythic power to overcome difficult challenges. You can expend one use of mythic power to increase any d20 roll you just made by rolling 1d6 and adding it to the result. Using this ability is an immediate action taken after the result of the original roll is revealed. This can change the outcome of the roll. The bonus die gained by using this ability increases to 1d8 at 4th tier, 1d10 at 7th tier, and 1d12 at 10th tier.
Inspired Spell (Su): As a standard action, you can expend one use of mythic power to cast any one divine spell without expending a prepared spell or spell slot. The spell must be on one of your divine class spell lists (or your domain or mystery spell list), must be of a level that you can cast with that divine spellcasting class, and must have a casting time of "1 standard action" (or less). You don’t need to have the spell prepared, nor does it need to be on your list of spells known. When casting a spell in this way, you treat your caster level as 2 levels higher for the purpose of any effect dependent on level. You can apply any metamagic feats you know to this spell, but its total adjusted level can’t be greater than that of the highest-level divine spell you can cast from that spellcasting class.
Faith's Reach (Su): Whenever you cast a divine spell with a range of touch, you can instead cast the spell with a range of 30 feet. If the spell normally requires a melee touch attack, it instead requires a ranged touch attack.
Breath Weapon (Su): 5-foot cone, euphoria for 1d6 rounds, DC 12 Fort negates. Creatures affected by euphoria are staggered, sickened, and immune to fear effects for the duration. A faerie dragon can use this breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spells: A faerie dragon casts spells as a 3rd-level sorcerer.
Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm's reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.
Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).
Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar to a 1 mile distance. The master can communicate empathically with the familiar, but cannot see through its eyes. Because of the link's limited nature, only general emotions can be shared. The master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master would. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.
Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.
Appearance:
Janus is a fairly tall, handsome man, standing at a comfortable five feet ten inches. Despite his more backline role, he sports a very strong, muscular body build, spends at least an hour a day working out to keep in top physical condition, and moves with a grace not unlike that of many elves. The healer keeps his spiky auburn hair a bit longer than he should, and overall, Janus ages remarkable well. Despite being in his forties and his chocolate brown eyes sporting a weary sense of wisdom of somebody even older, he looks and moves as if he was fifteen years younger.
Janus’ typical attire is subtly colored for practicality reasons. He usually wears a fitting silver long-sleeved shirt, a pair of thick leather gloves, and a pair of long obsidian black trousers, which are tucked neatly into heavy boots of the same color. Over this ensemble, he wears a well-sculptured silver breastplate. Additionally, he uses various other pieces of armor to protect his head, limbs, and joints. His faerie familiar Noelle is usually perched on one of his shoulders.
Personality:
Janus is a disciplined, noble individual who goes out of his way to assist others in need. He is a very outgoing and chatty person too who sports a strong air of charisma anywhere he goes. Unless somebody really goes out of their way to antagonize him or has been firmly established as an enemy beforehand, Janus is kind and formal with just about everyone he deals with. While Janus does much prefer the order of law, he is by no means foolish and zealous. If necessary, he will adjust his actions on the grounds that no set of rules is perfect and use other pieces of the code to justify his actions. Janus also never forgets any kindness another person gives him and is sure to repay the favor whenever he can.
Janus is a slightly weary, tired man, but he hides this fact well. While he has doubtlessly saved many people with his magic, the few that he has lost seem to literally haunt him at times. He often regrets not having the spell versatility of a true cleric. On occasion, strange things seem to happen when he is present, and despite his graceful movements, the man has the worst case of butterfingers in all of Golarion. As such, he rather heavily relies on Noelle to assist him with his job at times.
History:
Unlike many other people of his caliber, Janus comes from relatively unremarkable origins.
Janus was born in Restov, Rostland, Brevoy, and like many half-elves, he was the result of a single night of passion between an elf and a human. In a bit a of twist, his father (name unknown) was a human adventurer just passing through town, while his mother - a respected painter named Skyla - was the elf, who remarkably loved her son unconditionally and did everything in her power to raise him well. Even for an "older" woman like herself, Brevoy's nature of acceptance had long since work its way into her principles. She was an ideal role model for her son, whose own kind nature was learned largely from Skyla.
All that being said, Janus' certainly had a few... quirks growing up. Skyla first noticed it when her son was six. The family dog Lulu had just passed, and while he had been sad about it for a week, Janus began talking to empty air as if Lulu was still alive, well, and often present. It got to the point where Skyla had the house checked for ghosts by the local priests of Erastil. However, Janus thankfully stopped at some point; he seemed to notice that his actions were stressing out his mother.
Considering that his mother was making a limited wage on her commissions, Janus eventually sought to bring some extra income for their small family. At the age of seventeen, he got his first job as a wooden cutter, and quite frankly, he stunk at it. His butterfingers could barely hold the ax!
His real calling came just a month into the job when Janus dropped a massive log on his foot. After much cursing and jumping around Restov, he managed to summon some strange... power that healed his foot in seconds. At that point, Janus turned in his letter of resignation and took work as a magical healer at the local temple of Erastil. While he hide his gift from his mother for a bit, Janus eventually told Skyla about it and was very pleased to learn that she saw it as a blessing.
Janus' tale could have ended right then and there. True, there was occasionally somebody that he could not save, and strange little hauntings ensued. However, that was about the extent of it. He would have gone on to become a priest of Erastil and lived peacefully in Restov until the day he died. Sadly, it was not to be.
One day, just as Janus was thinking about moving out and striking it on his own, Skyla vanished. By all accounts, it seemed as if she had been kidnapped by some means of magic as she painted. There was no real sign of struggle, and nothing from the house was missing. Just his mother.
Naturally, he went all out in his efforts to locate Skyla. After finding a trail of paint stains that went directly into the local fey-infested woods, Janus spent quite awhile fruitlessly searching the area. Just when he thought he had a lead, it turned out to either be a trick of his mind or a trick of the fey. He eventually stumbled upon the trickster who had been leading him in circles - a tiny faerie dragon by the name of Noelle. It had never been her intention for her pranks to be so coincidentally similar to things Janus would mistake as a trail, but needless to say, Janus got rather angry about it. Feeling guilty about her actions, thinking it would only take a few days at most, and not realizing that she might be going far away from her home in the Greenbelt, the little faerie dragon agreed to help Janus with his mission.
