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Message can be dangerous. It's essentially the same thing as your cell phone ringing while you are trying to hide. I will definitely add this to the guide, but with the following caveat: Message poses little risk if the sneak is the one using it, since they can start a conversation while away from enemies.
Lead just isn't mechanically strong enough to hold together if you want it flexible enough to be a cloak. The electroplating is a good idea, but the main idea behind this is sandwiching a layer of lead between layers of leather/cloth, not making the entire coat out of it. I do not have any engineering prowess, so something may not be feasible with this idea. Ultimately, this is meant to give you a fighting chance with some stealth checks that would normally be auto-fails, not as a hard counter. Even if full body coverage is not feasible, you at least want torso coverage where you keep magic items and whatnot. Of course, this is all entirely within the realm of DM discretion.
Anyway, some items I like for roguish characters Added these. For your list of Skills, I didn't see you mention Disguise. Being good at looking like you belong there can be perfect for infiltrating a position. You mention Disguise as a Technique, but not as a Relevant Skill. I believe it did mention it in the skill list, near the top.
I will be covering feats and class abilities soon, but Dampen Presence is probably the best of them all. A lot of high level monsters have blindsense/sight, so the feat basically lets you keep stealth relevant at high levels with certain creatures.
These have all been added.
For rogues I prefer alchemical items over scrolls and wands a lot of the time. They're naturally quieter/stealthier to use and don't require a skill check for a non-caster to use. Of course in many games it can be hard to get a dozen deodorizers, a tunnel creeper and a stagnant air sack - magicmart isn't in as many games as some optimisers like to think. These are excellent points. I largely forgot about alchemical items. Will add them in some time. Mind telling me some of your favorite/unorthodox ones? I also agree with the fact that players shouldn't come to expect magicmart. However, basic alchemical items do not suffer from this problem because they can be made by anyone who has skill ranks in alchemy. No magicmart required, except for the really extravagant stuff. Crafting obviously opens a whole new can of worms, but that is manageable. Sleight of hand is one of those skills where the cost of failure is often high enough that you max it or GTFO. Usually the latter. Agreed, I'll add the "all-or-nothing" factor in the description. Lead is heavy. Not heavy like stone, not even heavy like iron/steel, heavy like gold. Trying to wear head-to-toe lead plating would be worse than full plate armor. If you're trying to do something with lead dust, that's not solid lead and may not be enough to block scrying - also you'd be a walking toxic waste hazard. Lead plating is for dungeons not adventurers, mostly. Nondetection, misdirection and friends are better ways to deal with scrying. The amount of lead needed to block divination is only a thin sheet. You're not making clothing out of lead. You're putting lead foil in-between the fabrics of a coat or cloak. The increase in weight would be noticeable, but not crippling. The risks of lead poisoning is vaguely referenced in the guide. Of course, there are no rules pertaining to modifying equipment like this, so if your table/DM doesn't like it, so be it. But from a purely pragmatic viewpoint, making the fantasy version of a tin-foil hat isn't unreasonable. Lead weighs 65% percent more than tin. So imagine stuffing a layer of tinfoil between the layers of a jacket, and then putting another half layer in. Not saying that lead foil is easy to get in a high fantasy setting, but you have options, with "Fabricate" being the first one to come to mind.
Cut From The Air is always great.
Well, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards: Being a God gives a whole bunch of good reasons. The guide is somewhat outdated given all the new content for 1e, but is still great. There's a bunch of reasons why I personally love playing them, in particular prepared arcane casters. The most obvious reason is power. Even if you never get to the levels where things get completely bonkers, you still become extremely powerful in relatively short order. Especially if you plan things out. This takes me to my next reason, which is planning and scheming. You can do anything if you plan for it, and plan well. Arcane magic enables a more "mad scientist" kind of scheming than Divine does, which I enjoy. I'm a big fan of prepared casting despite its weaknesses, simply because the problem of potentially getting stuck with the wrong spells prepared is interesting to me. I'm mentioning this because Wizards generally have to deal with this problem more than Clerics due to the nature of their respective classes. As a Wizard, you end up playing out various scenarios in your head, planning options for your action economy down to the letter while preparing your spells. In addition, magic item creation is another good reason. This role isn't right for all tables, but it can be very enjoyable. Another major attraction is the character progression as their abilities grow. They start off as a weakling and slowly become exponentially more powerful, which is an interesting RP journey. But since you're a d6 hit-die, half BAB character, even though you will eventually be able to bend reality to your will, you'll still need your friends' help when moving heavy furniture. This is hilarious to RP.
Here is the first draft of my new guide, "A Guide To Stealth: Sneaky 101". I haven't posted it anywhere else yet. It's meant as a strategy guide for stealthy TTRPG characters, with an emphasis on 1e pathfinder unchained rogues. However, the guide can be used for much more than that, with lots of ideas and tips for playing at the table as a whole. Unlike a lot of other Treantmonk-style color-coded guides, I generally refrained from talking about specific options that require you to narrow down your build, such as feats, traits, class abilities, etc. Obviously there are several worthy exceptions to this. This is for a few reasons. The first is that there is a lot of material to cover there, so that will likely be added in a later draft. The second reason is that I don't want this guide to be a "you HAVE TO compromise your entire character's build to do X", although you certainly can. So I covered stuff that doesn't require drastic build changes first, then worked from there. Plus, a lot of people are already familiar with how various class features and feats work. TL;DR:
Contingent action has a 1 minute casting time so can't be quickened. Shadow evocation works I guess... Thanks, I hadn't noticed the one minute casting time on Contingent Action. However, Shadow Evocation manages to override it, which is completely hilarious to me: Abjuration gets so shafted that Illusion can beat it at its own game by pretend-casting an evocation spell. You make a good point about this being an end game trick, but there are ways around this. "Magical Lineage (Contingent Action)" and Extended Spell allow you to have ten minutes with a free counterspell in your back pocket at level 5, at the expense of a third level spell slot. As you level up, the cost of a third level slot diminishes significantly. I am interested in the %real question though.
So, the Spell "Contingent Action" allows you to cause someone to ready an action in response to specific trigger. So, could you set it up as "When you see someone start casting a spell, you spend a standard action to ready a counterspell against them." Of course, the spell says that you can't use the readied action to cast a spell or use a supernatural ability, but counterspelling technically does not fit into either category. If this works, does this mean a Wizard with "Spell Perfection (Contingent Action OR Shadow Evocation)" and quickened spell is now the best counterspell build in the game? Did I just discover something amazing, or am I missing something obvious here?
So basically, as I see it, there are three reasons why counterspelling is hard to balance in any d20 system: 1-It negates spellcasting, the most powerful thing in the game 2-It’s all or nothing: Either a counterspell completely negates the entire spell, or does nothing at all. This makes the mechanic too “swingy”. 3-It is intuitively predisposed to have great action economy, since it logically is “supposed to” take up the “reactive” part of your turn (5e’s reaction, PF’s immediate action, etc.) in exchange for negating a major part of another creature’s turn. This is obviously very powerful. Clearly, having all three aspects active is unsustainable for game balance. So, developers decide to tackle the problem in different ways: 1e Pathfinder decided to tackle this problem by addressing reason #3: It made counterspelling have a large toll on your action economy. However, this nerf was too much, and ended up making counterspelling useless. On the other end of the spectrum, we have 5e, which… didn’t really address any of the problems at all. As a result, 5e counterspell is somewhat OP. However! There is another option. I have an idea for a new version of counterspelling that is based on tackling the #2 problem: That counterspelling is too swingy a mechanic. We can solve this by using the mechanic of caster level: Instead of completely negating a spell, counterspelling can weaken a spell by reducing its caster level. A spell is only completely negated if the caster level of a spell is reduced to zero or less. However, I’m not sure how to exactly implement this, so I thought to ask these forums: Any ideas? TL;DR: Give counterspelling a buff by reducing the action economy needed, but also introduce caster level reduction instead of full spell negation as a new mechanic to nerf counterspelling, hopefully making it balanced.
"Fey Foundling" is an awesome feat. That said, it's typically better for paladins who use Lay On Hands.
The Chaos Paladin is CG only. I'm not a big fan of the antipaladin as a CE class. I would have preferred that it was LE only, as it works better as a lawful class. Fallen paladins always being chaotic always seemed weird to me. I understand that they were going for the absolute opposite alignment, but it doesn't work that well in my opinion.
In my opinion, not letting wizards/sorcerers have Animate Objects is a major oversight. Especially considering that constructs typically have more arcane flavour than divine.
The "State Of Evolution" isn't based off anything else, I came up with it. The idea is that while lawful characters resist through sheer willpower, chaotic characters roll with the punches, letting the influence wash over them quickly. It is strictly weaker than the paladin ability, but the chaos paladin is stronger in other areas, so instead I tried to make it interesting.
The way I understand it, if you use a Scorpion Whip as a Whip (i.e. with the 15ft reach), it no longer counts as a light weapon. You'd also need EWP (Whip), so we're talking about two feats and an added -2 penalty on a class with no attack roll boost. Sure, but if you just use it as a scorpion whip, you're still talking about a light, one handed reach weapon.
Brawler getting free proficiency is mechanically irrelevant. They're already proficient with the best light weapon (necessary if they want to keep a -2 penalty), and exotic weapons actually do require a feat. So, the consensus seems to be that in following the "Specific beats General" rule, brawlers still need to get the feat for modified exotic weapons? Mechanically, I agree that two-weapon fighting imposes some restrictions on exploiting this, but keeping a modified scorpion whip in your off hand just in case could be useful. Even if they need a feat to make it work, that isn't really an issue for a brawler.
The whole "Versatile Design" thing opens up so many problems. Perhaps the biggest issue is with the Brawler: Brawlers are automatically proficient with all weapons from the Close Weapon Group. Without exception. This means that they don't need to spend any other resources: They can modify any eligible weapon to become a close weapon and then they are good to go. Now, what determines whether a weapon is eligible? Well, that's also unclear: By RAW, weapon groups aren't categorized by ranged or melee, and many weapon groups are mixed, containing ranged, melee and thrown weapons. Since the Close Weapon Group is mixed, this means that a brawler could technically be proficient in literally any weapon, for the low price of 500 gp. Is it ridiculous cheese? Obviously. Whoever came up with this mechanic really should have known they were playing with fire.
1-Animal Disguise
Because I want people to know exactly what this is going to be, this is going to be called "Chaos Paladin". Something else like "Maelstrom Agent" probably would have fit better. Basically, the main problem with a CG-only class is that it is somewhat contradictory to have a class based on a character swearing a rigid oath, AND requiring a chaotic alignment. To amend this, the class features I added are meant to convey someone who has achieved a true mastery over adaptability, instinct and integrity. Also, in the lore of this class, the memory of apprentice chaos paladins are routinely wiped during training: This is to ensure that they can learn to react effectively and justly in any context. BAB: Fast
Proficiency: Simple, Martial, all armor and shields except Tower. Bladed Scarves, Nunchaku, Flindbars, Sickle Swords, Battle Poi. Aura Of Good: Unchanged. Detect Evil: Replaced with skill buffs. (Half level, add to Disguise.) Smite Evil: Replaced with Martial Flexibility (as brawler). Divine Grace: Unchanged. Lay On Hands: Less uses per day, but same potency. Aura Of Courage: Replaced with “State Of Alteration”: Polymorph Immunity(if not consensual), +1 Transmutation saves bonus. Increases to +2 at 7th level, +3 at 13th level, +4 at 20th level. Divine Health: Unchanged. Mercy: Replaced with “Divine Clarity”, which prevents the alteration of memory without the consent of the character. The character is also always implicitly aware of any mind-affecting effects that are influencing him. This does not give him immunity to the effects, but it means that he will never be an unwitting victim of them. (SPELLS): Replaced with Mesmerist Tricks (level - 3). Channel Positive Energy: Replaced with Uncanny Dodge or Evasion (Character’s Choice) Divine Bond: Replaced with “Alacratic Mind”: Gains the following at will spell-like abilities with some alterations: Share Thoughts, False Alibi, Modify Memory, Repress Memory, Break Enchantment. These abilities can normally only be used on yourself or other chaos paladins. Using them on others costs uses of mesmerist tricks. Modify memory costs three/four? uses. Share Thoughts costs one. Repress Memory costs two. False Alibi costs one. Break Enchantment costs three. The range of all these spells are reduced to touch. These abilities also cannot be used against unwilling creatures. At 13th level, you add Quickened Share Thoughts to the list. This costs two tricks. Aura Of Resolve: Replaced with “State Of Instinct”. Charm effects are reduced to caster level 1. It also allows the character to negate language dependent effects by temporarily disabling his own ability to understand language as a free action. This lasts for 1d3 hours or until dispelled and is a supernatural effect. Aura Of Justice: Replaced with “State Of Ascension”, which grants an effect identical to a permanent freedom of movement spell, but as an exceptional ability. Aura Of Faith: Replaced with “State Of Trickery”, which gives access to “masterful tricks”. Aura Of Righteousness: Replaced with "State Of Evolution", which causes hostile Charm/Compulsion effects to be reduced to caster level 1 if the paladin fails the save against them. Champion replaced with Ends Transcend Means:
We already have a Chaotic-only class. It's called the Rogue, and it's terrible. Lol. I'm going to assume that's a joke, but rogues don't have any alignment restrictions. And Unchained Rogue fixed quite a few of the problems associated with the class. Admittedly not all of them, but that's a different conversation. (Whistles in Path of War) Basically, being chaotic is seen as being easy and not worth rewarding. People can run their tables however they want, but I really don't think this is productive. Alignment mechanics are already controversial. Making Chaos inferior to Law will cause even more issues. But putting that aside, class alignment restrictions have next to nothing to do with game balance. If wizards/full-casters were forced to abide a strict code of behavior, we'd be having a different conversation, but that's not the case. It exists purely to encourage roleplay that is faithful to the flavour of the class.
A class that functions as a compelling "chaotic paladin". It's ironic that while most adventuring parties are Chaotic Good/Chaotic Neutral, most class alignment restrictions are oriented around law. Barbarians can't be lawful. Monks must be lawful. Paladins must be LG. Of course, this makes some sense: It is somewhat contradictory to have a class based on a character swearing a rigid oath, AND requiring a chaotic alignment. But I think if written right, a "CG-only" class could be interesting. Maybe a brawler-paladin mix? Damn, now I might have to actually make this...
So, there are some spells that are unique to different races. Seems easy enough, but I can't seem to find the rules that govern how this exclusivity works. This causes some problems. For example, look at the spell Blend. For the sake of argument let's say the "(elf)" at the end of the list of classes means that only elves can know/prepare the spell. Well, what happens if an elf alchemist makes a "Blend" extract with the "Infusion" discovery? Can his half-orc friend now enjoy the benefits of Blend? What about half-elves trying to use blend?
The feat Animal Disguise is ridiculous. This is something that the party rogue will do once over the course of a campaign, probably for comedic effect. It shouldn't take a feat. Also, this feat is particularly bad because it only limits the players: Without this feat, it was arguably RAW that players could disguise themselves as animals, because the Disguise rules had options for disguising yourself as different races. It shouldn't be easy by any means, but if someone actually goes to the trouble of investing like 15 ranks in Disguise, one of the least used skills, they should be allowed to try something impractical.
There is one option for cheap teleportation using 3rd level spell slots: The prestige class, Esoteric Knight. You can get access to an ability that allows you to sacrifice 3rd level spell slots to teleport. If you want to get into the class through magus, then you should take the "Mindblade" archetype. That said, there might be other options for getting into the archetype. Anyone have any ideas?
I'm honestly surprised that most people in this thread say that modified monsters and enemies are frowned upon at their tables. I mean, don't people want to have interesting fights? Even if your players want a pure power-gaming experience, then if anything that should mean they would appreciate it more? If you really enjoy the mechanics of the system and handcrafting your builds, then isn't it something that just adds to the fun? There's so many gimmick builds in this system that are fun in theory, but not exactly something you'd want to spend an entire campaign doing. Using weird gimmick builds for enemies is perfect for this sort of thing. It's one of my favourite parts of being a DM, although it can get labor intensive if it's really weird NPC that can't created from an existing bestiary entry.
The rules for acrobatics say that "No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round." Maybe I'm forgetting something obvious, but I don't know what it is talking about. Maybe it is paraphrasing how far your character can run with a full-round action, but I can't find the specific phrase "maximum movement for the round" referenced anywhere else.
Well, it depends on whether this is going to be an intentionally absurd campaign or just a case of the DM trusting you a whole bunch to not go off the rails. If it's the former, then you want all the stuff that's mechanically strong, or just stuff that allows you to do cheesy exploits. If it's the later, that's when things become a little more interesting. I'm going to pick stuff that, while powerful, mostly just makes things more interesting. 1-A scroll of Clone. You get one get-out-of-jail free card, as it pertains to death. This also has the amusing side effect of giving the DM license to be even more ruthless than normal. You would also be wise to keep all your non-essential gear off your person. AKA, if you have a +1 and +2 cloak of resistance, wear the +1 and keep the +2 in reserve. 2-A magic tattoo of "boots of teleportation". Keep a scroll or two of "transfer tattoo" next to your clone body once you can afford it. 3-Greater Quicken Metamagic Rod: If you're doing an AP alone, your action economy will seem insufficient at times, regardless of how smart you are about it. This serves as a panic button. 4-Instant Fortress. Or an Airship/Alchemical Dragon, depending on your taste. Apparatus of the Crab, if an Aquatic AP. 5-Something plot related. Maybe a Well of The Welcome Respite?
The item Poisoner's Gloves can deliver personal range spells.
I think I've found a way to swing through a city, forest or other similar areas with lots of vertical structures. And you only need some grappling hooks. You also need the Equipment Trick (Rope) feat, and 5 ranks in Climb. We start on top of a building, with a grappling hook in either hand. Keep in mind that all grappling hooks are also tied to a certain length of rope: They can be used as both a length of rope, and a grappling hook. We spend a move action to move and jump off the edge. Eventually we start falling, but because we have the Equipment Trick feat, we can now spend a immediate action to use the "Lifeline" ability, throwing and securing our grappling hook on another building. We then swing across. The rules are ambiguous regarding how movement works while swinging a rope, but it doesn't really matter for our purposes. Eventually, you will want to grapple onto another building, to do another swing. Maybe it's on the same turn, or your next one. If it's your next turn, you can spend a move action to unlash the rope from the first building, using the Equipment Trick feat. This will cause you to fall, allowing you to activate "Lifeline" again, since you got your immediate action back. If it is the same turn, you can still spend your standard action to throw the grappling hook in your other hand, at another building. You are now attached to two buildings by two different ropes. By letting go of the old rope, you can make yourself swing in the new grapple point's direction. Technically, if you spend a "regular" move action and have BAB +1, you can draw a weapon, which a grappling hook technically is. However, I am not sure of the wording of this. The Quick Draw feat is probably easier. Anyway, by simply strapping like eight grappling hooks to your belt, you can essentially give yourself a flying speed, continually throwing, swinging and then dropping, alternating with each hand. If you take the Prehensile Whip trait, this gets easier. I'm not sure how RAW this idea is. Thoughts?
Based on recent discussions on these forums, I looked into Path Of War for the first time. Needless to say, I like it a lot, but there is one significant flaw in it. The whole point of PoW, IMO, is basically "hey, look at all these nice things we made! Let's go give them to the martials." However, the problem with that is that there is only a few ways to get access: -new classes can get full access to the new stuff
None of these give anything for free. The archetypes come close, but aren't nearly universal enough. To rectify that, I have thought of two options: -Give the martial training feat lines for free once characters meet certain requirements in their progression. Of course, you have to be careful how this is managed. Basing it on BAB gained from non-full-casting classes wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. -come up with a basic archetype or template for full BAB classes, as well as one for 3/4 BAB classes that don't have full casting. These archetypes can combine with all other archetypes, so characters can get maneuvers for free. These basic archetypes would probably look very similar to the Myrmidon archetype for fighters. Obviously, this would alter balance considerably, but if everyone except the full casters get empowered, I figure it should be fine. Any suggestions? EDIT: This chart is probably useful. Another method to fix things would be to have characters advance on this table based on their BAB, rather than their level. BAB gained from classes that are full casters wouldn't count.
The Magic Trick (Floating Disk) feat might be useful.
Would that artificer class be full BAB, out of curiosity?
I'm all for giving martials nice things, but touch AC is totally a major exception. Touch AC exists so that wizards can hit the broadside of a barn. Sometimes. Hence, guns need to be fixed. The way I see it, there are three options. -guns target normal AC, but no misfire nonsense. A SAD ranged weapon is already extremely powerful. -buff touch AC options. IMO, shield bonuses should already be added to Touch. Enchantment options to armor to get touch bonuses, OR all armors work like fortress plate. -Lastly, is an idea given by Meiril in a previous thread.. The basic idea is that guns target normal AC, but users can sacrifice iterative attacks in a full attack action to target touch AC, if no cover or concealment. Unlike the previous suggestion, I would not require you to take a feat to do this: Maybe attach it to Precise Shot? EDIT: Another good alternative to a less harsh misfire chance mechanic is that when a gun misfires, the action needed to load it increases by one step until it is loaded. This kind of misfire also translates easier into more modern weaponry, since flavor-wise it is more of a loss of rhythm while firing.
That is not at all too much to ask from a single character. Also, if you're new to Pathfinder and trying to navigate all the options, this chart is very useful. So, let's look at this chart together. Usually, buffing/debuffing/control characters are full casters, because everything they do needs spells to work. In addition, you want the character to have skills. Full casters generally don't have tons of skills, but we can help with this by having your casting stat be Intelligence. We probably also want to be prepared casters, rather than spontaneous. This allows us to have a large bag of tricks that we can draw from, rather than being limited by only having a couple of spells known. This leaves us with Wizard, Witch or Arcanist. Witch has the benefit of being capable of healing. Arcanist has the benefit of being most like 5e DnD in terms of how it's spellcasting works. Wizard has the benefit of being a Wizard. I would suggest the Enhancement subschool of Transmutation magic. Seriously. They are good at this. Also, you can take a feat that allows you to use healing magic items, even if Wizards typically can't use them. Magic items are much more important in Pathfinder than in 5e DnD. EDIT: The fest is called Alchemical Affinity.
So, there's a wondrous item called Poisoner's Gloves. It got me thinking about a possible way for an alchemist to replicate an extremely limited version of spell combat. Namely, use two-weapon fighting to inject yourself with an extract and then attack with the other hand. Probably the most effective use of this would be a "True Strike" ----> Combat Maneuver. However, this kinda depends on the wording of the spell. It says you can deliver the contents of the glove via a touch attack. It also says you can use two weapon fighting. But can you do both? This is important because if we assume that the alchemist doing this has bad touch AC, then he won't have trouble hitting himself. Personally, I've always house-ruled that hitting yourself or a willing target is nearly automatic. Depending on how good your teamwork is, I've even ruled that you can avoid doing full damage against friends. This has come up when PCs have tried to use Spell Storing Weapons for buffing purposes, which has awesome flavor. But I wanted to ask for the RAW.
To be honest, I think the archetype/class that best suits Darth Maul is the Mindblade Magus. It allows him to perform spell combat with a double weapon. Besides, the closest things to Jedi/Sith in pathfinder are probably psychic spontaneous half casters, with some martial capability. Plus, the Mindblade creates his weapons from nothing, so you could have some good quality lightsaber activation cinematics happening there.
Pretty simple question. Like anyone else who knows the system decently well, I have an understanding of the kinds of Gestalt character builds that would be possible. However, I know next to nothing about the mythic rules. Which is more unbalancing in terms of power? Just curious. I'd assume Gestalt, but entirely unsure.
This is the Brawler Archetype in Question. The ability in question, Improvised Maneuver (Ex), says that when the brawler "hits an opponent with an improvised weapon", the brawler can perform the combat maneuver as a free action. Presumably, this would include ranged improvised thrown attacks, but I am not sure. Thoughts?
I think the conversation about converting the existing types of ranged weapons into firearms is interesting. However, I'd like to keep current weaponry still an option, so someone can decide to use a bow for some crazy build. Even if we removed the touch AC part of guns, they would still be by far the best option because they are SAD for attack and damage. We could make them MAD by having STR necessary to deal with recoil, but I think that's not helpful. Maybe some really powerful weapons could be made that rely on STR in order to fire properly. Another way to give guns a touch of MAD would be for "misfire chance" to be determined by strength bonus, or your ability to counteract recoil and keep the massive energies of the weapon under control. I was looking at some of the weapons from Starfinder. I think it might be possible to port some of them over, or at least take inspiration. However, I'm not familiar with that system: I'm guessing that generally Starfinder does not have lots of modifiers on damage rolls? The damage dice of these weapons seem excessive... That said, I like the idea of different elemental firearms being strategically unique. The rules contained here for laser weapons are a good example for clever mechanics. I didn't find other elemental firearm ideas that I found to be as compelling, but I'm still looking.
What these weapons were missing from their description is something like "...the melee and ranged weapons from which the two aspects of this weapon are derived are considered to be those weapons for all effects and purposes. The only unique benefit this weapon confers is in allowing a character to hold both a melee and ranged weapon simultaneously at no penalty." Personally, I believe that was the RAI. However, they didn't add that in, so now we have this mess.
I don't mean to say that the players are being totally unreasonable here, but this is why I favor a more role-play focus for wealth, power, influence and crafting. Put things in qualitative, not quantitative terms. Not everything is just gold pieces. Once PCs are at a certain level of power, they become strategically and societally important figures in the world. For example, at this point in ROTR, Sandpoint is their town. When the PCs enter a city, the rumors talk about "the ones from Sandpoint". If the party has any worshipers of the divine, young clerics of the PCs god/gods travel to Sandpoint for spiritual advice. Evil deities caution their clerics and servants against messing with Sandpoint. Multiple babies in Sandpoint have been named after the PCs. Asking Sandpoint for its resources in helping deal with the threats facing Varisia is implicit at this point, but the Protection Racket issue is still real if the PCs are just extorting the town to fill their pockets. Ameiko, Shalelu and Hemlock will all be pissed off. Especially Shalelu, who likely fought alongside the PCs earlier in the adventure.
In terms of game balance, Touch AC is kind of a joke. Sometimes you’ll encounter a creature who has decent touch AC, but it is somewhat rare. Now, this is understandable: Touch AC is a great mechanic for casters when they use touch spells, since their BAB is typically sub-par. However, the introduction of guns makes this a bit of a problem. Especially if you want to run a campaign with advanced, modern and/or futuristic weapons and technology. Builds that have high touch AC and high DEX have a huge advantage in such a setting. Not to mention that if you want guns to actually be widely usable in the setting, (which only makes sense), you also have to give DEX-to-damage with guns to the ¾ and full BAB classes. This only makes heavy armor and STR more and more useless, even for melee builds, which would still be quite viable. The Technological Armor stuff we got from the Technology Guide tries to fix this, but ultimately fails. The mechanics of Fortress Plate armor is slightly helpful, but still doesn’t quite cut it. However, I believe I have a solution. Namely, a specific rule for armor: Power Armor Settings:
Creatures with natural armor bonuses must make the same choice with regard to their own bodies, but whether a given creature is capable of forcing its body to react unconsciously in this way is left to the discretion of the GM. For the purposes of changing the activation setting of a natural armor bonus, a creature can spend a move action to change the setting. Manufactured armors are considered deactivated if their wearer is surprised or flat-footed. I would like some opinions/criticism, particularly as it relates to preserving game balance.
This is a good question. It is also relevant for fighters, since certain prerequisites for feats list "weapon training class feature with a melee/ranged weapon".
For the sake of clarity, the reason why I'm asking is that I'm making a trench fighter who uses two-handed guns. I'm making him take IUS so he can use "Cut from the air", even while holding his gun. I'm envisioning him using his legs, shoulders and forearms to deflect bullets wonder-woman style. I assume this can work?
Like the title said. If a fighter with IUS (not a monk/brawler) is holding something (not a melee weapon) with both hands and then an opponent provokes an AoO, can the fighter perform an attack of opportunity using something other than his hands? The basic combat rules mention using unarmed strikes attacking with kicks and such, but I want to make sure. It might be exclusive to the monk. I thought I should ask, especially because this question risks being drawn into the endless abyss known as the "how many hands/armor-spikes/beards/body-parts" do I have?", which makes me want to slam my head into a wall. Repeatedly.
Simple:
Martial:
Exotic:
In my opinion, the Oracle is the best spontaneous caster and the best divine caster. Druids are just really unique. I love the Halcyon Druid archetype, because it prioritizes being a caster. Warpriests are also good. Paladins are better at being divine casters than Rangers.
I'm actually interested to know how many ways there are to perform ranged combat maneuvers. I know there are bolas, (which are slightly underrated, IMO), some feats and barbed arrows/bolts. Is there a way to do a ranged dirty trick?
Some people play Magus for damage, but that's a difficult needle to thread. The Magus allows you to combine martial combat and arcane tricks with the same action economy. In other words, don't be Superman. Be Batman. The number of possible antics are too many to list, but here are a few: -True Strike applies to combat maneuvers. True Strike is my favorite first level spell. Read up on how combat maneuvers work: Even without "Agile Maneuvers", some maneuvers will still allow you to use DEX. A lot of maneuvers have scaling effects based on how much you beat the other person's CMD, which makes this even more valuable. -The Blade Lash spell. See above. -Shield is good at all levels. The "Magic Trick (Shield)" feat is amazing. -Vanish can be amazing, just make sure to attack before you cast. -Call Weapon is a swift action to cast. -Glue Seal can be useful. -Long Arm is useful, especially for combat maneuvers. -Mudball is great. Blinded on a hit. No save until the foe starts his turn. Even if he makes the save, he's going to have a bad time until his turn starts. No spell resistance either. But above all, get the Wand Wielder Arcana as soon as you can. Wands are incredibly valuable to you, more than any other class. It effectively eliminates resource depletion for your main attack routine.
Since I haven't seen anyone bring this up yet, Paragon Surge is also amazing. It is one of those mechanics for which the amount of potential shenanigans are just huge. If you have an Alchemist and a Half Elf in your party, it is an excellent strategy. |
