CrypticSplicer's page

Without any sort of damage bonus built in for Kineticists with their Elemental Blast I could easily see them becoming more popular for other classes to pick up via archetype than Kineticists themselves. I do think it would be cool for other classes to pick Elemental Blasts up! I think their are in a good place right now and an interesting alternative to other ranged weapons. I'd just like to see the Kineticist get a little extra oomph built in to the class that won't be given away in the archetype.

My friend and I are arguing about this, so we're looking for some outside help. The minor curse causes you to take a status penalty to healing equal to half your level. The moderate curse says you are subject to the effects of the minor curse in addition to the effects from the moderate curse. The moderate curse then goes on to say that you can't be healed by magical effects originating from other creatures, except when you are unconscious (when you are instead healed to 1). Then, after all that, it says you are "affected normally by healing elixirs, potions, and other items". My friend says this means that healing elixirs, potions, and other items are not subject to the status penalty to healing, but I think this is just a clarification that those don't count as magical effects originating from another creature. Is there a general consensus here?

Implements Empowerment needs a free hand. Bows are 1+ hands, which means you have a free hand while holding a bow but not while striking. So the strict reading is that you can't empower your implement while using a bow. It seems a shame to lock the Thaumaturge out of ranged combat though, because I think the game could use a few more viable ranged martial builds anyway. It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to make an exception for 1+ handed weapons, given that it shouldn't be too hard to wiggle your fingers in the same action immediately before making the shot with your bow. Do people think using a bow would break fantasy somehow? Has anyone played a bow using Thaumaturge? Did you have to talk your DM into? How does it feel?

I finally put my finger on something about the inventor that feels really weird. The weapon innovations let you put all these traits on your weapon, but then you don't see them interact with any other class options. The class begs to be multiclassed with the fighter to pick up feats like brutish shove and knockdown. Much better though would be if the class actually had a few feats to facilitate using maneuvers. Maybe something like 'when performing a maneuver that matches a trait gained from an innovation you can add your overdrive damage on a success' or 'on a critical hit with a weapon that has a maneuver trait added by a weapon innovation, you may attempt the maneuver as a reaction'.

I think all the innovations feel really underwhelming considering their something that's supposed to define that class that you only get to make three choices for, but that's a whole other beast.

While I've been thinking about how to make reloading more fun for the gunslinger I hit on an idea for an archetype that would merge spellcasting and gun/crossbow use. I call it the Spellslinger, and it revolves around the ability to allow you to interact to reload a weapon as a free action whenever you cast a spell. Some potential further feats in the archetype are a variant of Bespell Weapon, a variant of the Eldritch Archer's Magic Arrow, and the spellcasting archetype feats.

I think it's ultimately a weaker version of the Eldritch Archer, but the action economy and flexibility would feel really good.

I love the idea of a scrawny dude in a suit of mech suit, but just adding resistances isn't very fun. What's the point in having high defenses if you can't keep enemies focused on you? I'd like to see innovations that give you features like the fighter or champion have to keep enemies engaged. Some examples:

• * Defensive Subroutines (Opportunity Attack / Shield Block / Shield Warden)
  
• - There are a lot of feats an effective defender needs, so it would be nice if a couple were bundled together (since we only get three innovations).
  
• * Integrated Tower Shield
  
• - More than just integrating it, it would be nice to get some bonus like getting a free hand or no penalty to speed. I kinda like the free hand- yes it's strong, but who else could do it besides someone who built the shield directly into their armor?
  
• * Antagonist Suppression System (Retributive Strike)
  
• - Strike an enemy that attacks an ally as a reaction.
  
• * Subharmonic Distortion Field
  
• - The area within five feat of you is difficulty terrain.
  
• - Something, something, using sound to mess with everyone's inner ear.
  

Like everyone else, the first thing I noticed when I was playtesting the gunslinger is that reloading isn't much fun. I love all the suggestions for feats to make reloading more interesting, and I definitely think that's a viable path to improving the way the class feels. I think the easiest fix though would be to just add martial revolvers. They don't even have to be six shot, just two shots per gun would already be a huge improvement. You can then balance this by requiring players to spend one interact action to reload per bullet, but give gunslingers a level one class feature to reload all bullets with a single interact action (speedloader!). Even just giving each gun two shots would make a dual-wielding pistolero much more viable, letting them fall into a pattern of firing twice and then reloading one of the two guns each round.

My friends and I are planning to test the Magus out by building a full party of gishes. What are your favorite builds that we should use for comparison?

My personal favorite is the Human Monk Zen Archer / Cleric. By level 2 you can make two bow attacks using Flurry of Blows and then cast Divine Lance. At level 3 you can take Ancestral Paragon (Adapted Cantrip) to pick up Electric Arc. Flurry of Blows + Electric Arc is a very effective combo that outperforms a Flurry Ranger making 4 attacks with a bow, to which you can later add in Ki Blast and additional spell slots. The Monks spellcasting proficiency scales only a little behind full casters as well, and is even slightly ahead of the Magus.

Monks and Champions have spellcasting tradition proficiency for the focus spells. Both become experts in their tradition at level 9. Magus gains expert arcane spellcasting proficiency at level 11. What gives?

The odd way that proficiency scaling for some classes can just lag a few levels behind the pack is my least favorite thing about this edition already, this just feels super frustrating.