I've been reading up on the Elemental Shifter trying to figure out if I want to make a build out of it, but I can't figure out if you're able to wield a weapon while in your major form. For example, if I have a dex-built shifter who wields a scimitar, will I still be able to use the scimitar if shift into the major form of an air elemental?
Correct. But 'an' is singular, so if I only had 1 unwieldy weapon I couldn't make a full attack. The text does not say that you can't use unwieldy weapons as part of a full attack.
I have a lvl 2 Kasathas Soldier and am wondering since the Kasathas have 4 arms to carry items with, is it possible to carry 2 two-handed weapons with the unwieldy trait such as the tactical doshko and make a full attack with the -4 penalty on each attack?
The description for the unwieldy property states, 'You can’t use an unwieldy weapon as part of a full attack (or any other action in which you could make multiple attacks), you can’t attack with it more than once per round, and you can’t use it to make an attack of opportunity.'
So if I had just 1 doshko I would not be able to make a full attack,etc. But since the Kasathas can carry equipment with all 4 hands, I would think they could make a full attack if they were carrying 2 doshkos since each doshko would only be used once, but they would still be unable to attack with either weapon more than once per round or make an AoO with them.
if you want to use two... then yeah, you might want to go fighter.
Because you will have to ask yourself 'why bother having a second one?' if you go brawler. Brawlers can make all of the attacks of their flurry with a single weapon- it is a mechanical advantage which lets them get TWF damage while only paying for a single magic weapon (thus, they tend to have a bit more enhancement bonus than other TWF-ers).
So if you are going for style.... then yeah, you might want fighter.
Ah. I've only been playing PF for a few months, and haven't created or used a TWF character. So it sounds like I'd pretty much benefit from going WPR Brawler as it seems it would pretty much achieve what I'm going for.
I'm trying to build a character that uses dual waveblades and the outslug feat chain. I'm looking to be able to use full attacks against enemies w/in 15-20 ft of me. The only class I can't use for this build is a monk. It seems that either a Brawler (probably winding path renegade) or a Fighter would be my best option, I just can't quite figure out how to maximize either build. It would be a level 15 character with 240k gold starting out. I'm thinking human might be the best race just for the extra feat as this build seems like it becomes feat heavy especially if I try to use weapon focus/specialization chains, TWF chains, and outslug chains. The starting ability values I have to work with are 18,18,9,14,11,13. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated!
Here's an incredible guide for a T-Rex mounted Cavalier build that also clearly lists feats for the mount. It should provide you some real solid help with what you're trying to do.
Technically 5 feats because you need combat expertise. So with combat expertise + outslug you are looking at + 4 AC, +2-4 situational ac, plus extra 5ft step. For the same number of feats for pirhana strike + wf/gwf/ws/gws you would be at +2 attack +12 damage ( all of which is multiplie on a critical hit). You will see a huge leap in effectiveness.
Yeah, added all up like that it does make more sense to go that route
The main reason I took the outslug chain was for the extra 5 ft step. Being able to use a full attack action against any enemy within 20 ft seems like it could be real useful, especially as we’re nearing the end of the campaign. I’m not real worried about my attack rolls since I’m already +33 to hit at my max bonus. Even if I take Piranha Strike I’ll still be solid on attack rolls.
Also what are you applying outslug style too? It only works with weapons of the close weapon group?
Outslug Style- Choose one weapon from the close fighter weapon group. While using this style, when you take a 5-foot step, you gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC and a +1 bonus on weapon damage rolls with the chosen weapon until the beginning of your next turn.
Nowhere does it say that I have to use a close weapon to use this style. I just don’t gain the bonus to weapon damage rolls since I’m using a scimitar.
Swordmasters flair doesnt work with a scimitar unless your gm houseruled it. Pirhanna strike requires an effortless lace (2,500 gp) but is definitely worth it.
Normally you’d be right, but the Dervish Dance ability lets me treat the scimitar as a one-handed piercing weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon, so I am able to use the scarf
I know there have been many discussions regarding this issue and I have read a number of them, so I'm not looking to create a new discussion regarding this topic. All I'm simply wondering is 1) if there is any official response or ruling on being able to use the Dervish Dance ability while a buckler is equipped, and 2) if it is allowed, do I still retain my AC bonus granted by the buckler?
I have a Lvl 15 Human Whirling Dervish Swashbuckler that I pretty much have built up to my liking, and now I'm not sure what I should take for my last few feats. I currently have 1 available feat, and then I'll get another one at 16 then again at 17. Ideally I'm looking for a chain of feats because the most of the feats I have available to me right now are a little underwhelming. Here's the build for a better idea of what I'm currently working with.
Magic Items
Amulet of natural armor +1, Belt of incredible dexterity +6, Cload of resistance +5, Headband of alluring charisma +6, Ring of Protection +2, Swordmaster/s flair (blue scarf), wand of cure moderate wounds, wand of haste (cl 7th)
So with this build I can in essence make a full attack action against any enemy within 20 feet of me via lunge, outslug sprint, and swordmaster's flair. Twist away takes care of my low fortitude save, and with 6 uses of charmed life a day at +7 to saves, that pretty much covers my will saves.
Also, I'm not sure if I even need the Unhindering Shield feat, but I'm unclear if having a buckler equipped interferes with the Dervish Finesse ability, so I may be able to drop that feat and could also potentially drop shield focus if it's for a feat that's worthwhile.
Haste gives an extra attack when using the full attack action. Which is a full round action but not all full round actions are full atta k acfions.
So no extra attack.
However you'd gain the bonus to hit to a.c. to reflex and boost to speed.
But the text states 'She can make attacks against creatures with her reach during this movement, up to the number of attacks she’s entitled to with a full attack.' So if I'm hasted my full attack action would be +1, so if I'm normally able to make 3 attacks, while using the Whirlwind Dance deed while hasted I would be able to attack up to 4 enemies, correct?
The Whirling Dervish Swashbuckler's Whirlwind Dance says At 7th level, a whirling dervish can sweep through her opponents’ lines like a cyclone. As a full-round action, she can spend 1 panache point to move up to her speed. She can make attacks against creatures with her reach during this movement, up to the number of attacks she’s entitled to with a full attack. So if I'm hasted while using this deed, I assume that 1)I can move up to twice my normal speed and 2)that I'm able to attack 1 additional enemy (if possible) as haste grants an extra attack. Are these assumptions correct? I would imagine that being hasted for this deed would not grant me 2 attacks on each enemy that I'm entitled to attack.
If we're in combat with an enemy, how do I go about identifying if it has any DR, energy resistance, or energy immunities, and if so, what material/element to bypass DR of the kind of energy it has resistance or immunity to? I have a Geopyrokineticist and I'll be needing to know if creatures are immune to fire, or if they have DR if it can be overcome. If a knowledge check is required to identify, would the same type of knowledge check apply to all enemies encountered or would there possibly be different knowledge types required depending on type of enemy?
You're right about the stat block not including elemental overflow. I currently have DR 7 sonitnwould only cost 3 burn to get to DR 10. Also, I thought about adding combat reflexes, but decided against it because I don't plan on being a primary melee attacker plus I think I'll get more utility out of the increased DC. I still have 25k gold to spend, I just wasn't sure what Inwas going to spend it on yet.
I agree with the consensus of toughness not being a good feat here. A Zen Archer build, if done right, should begin to start seeing pretty decent boosts to AC somewhere between levels 9-12, depending on the gold and items you're able to get during the campaign. Remember that the Zen Archer really only needs to focus on dexterity and wisdom, and that its wisdom bonus not only adds damage to attacks, but is directly added to AC when unarmored (which it always should be). The ZA build I last used had an AC of 37 at level 12. Saves were Fort +10, Dex +14, Wil +16, and initiative +12. As far as gear I would focus on getting a belt of incredible dexterity +4 and headband of inspired wisdom +4 as soon as you're able. Each cost 16k gold. If you're concerned about your saves then definitely get a cloak. DO NOT get a belt of physical might (dex, con), as it's poor use of gold. Especially because it already sounds like your con bonus is at a +2 or +3.
I would recommend putting skill points into UMD so that you can use wands. A ZA pops off a ton of arrows, so you can get a wand of abundant ammunition (50 charges) for only 750 gold. If you have an efficient quiver (only 1800 gold), you can keep refilling the 100-arrow-capacity quiver when you're low or out of arrows. Furthermore, you can also get a wand of gravity bow (CL 1, 50 charges) for 750 gold, which would last for 1 minute per pop, or you could bump the CL to get a longer duration and reduce the number of initial charges. But I digress from my original point, which is that since you have concerns about your HP, with UMD you can get wands of cure light wounds or moderate wounds for 750 or 4500 gold each, respectively.
But again I emphasize the importance on AC over than HP. You can't lose health if you can't be hit. Plus, since a ZA's AC isn't coming from armor, unless you have something like Bracers of Armor or an Amulet of Natural Armor, your AC and Touch AC will be the same, so even incorporeal creatures will have a hard time doing damage to you. Use your feats to improve your zen archer.
Magic Items
Belt of physical might +6 (Dex, Con), Cloak of Resistance +3, Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2, Ring of Protection +2
I realize that some people will bring up the fact that I don't have PB shot and precise shot. But because I have kinetic blade, kinetic whip, and eruption infusions I have plenty of options to make attacks within 30 feet.
Your main problem with the sort of build your eyeing is that you're only going to be able to fire off 1 arrow at each enemy creature within 30 feet of the corpse, and that's assuming you have a high enough CL to target all of them. For a single arrow to be effective, you're going to need features like bane, or a ranger's preferred enemy and terrain bonuses, and then you'll need all those very specific conditions to all line up amongst a swarm or mob. I think you'd end up finding it to be spotty at best.
However, that being said, you can still utilize the wand in another build like a zen archer build, otherwise a that spell is on the ranger's spell list to be taken. If you wanted to go with something like the zen archer build, just make sure you keep UMD maxed out. The wand itself with say 15 charges on it (because no need for a full 50 as you'll never being in that many situations where you'll be able to fully utilize the spell) and say a CL of 5 would cost 2250 gold, or 4500 gold for a CL 10 with 15 charges. For 20 charges the wand with CL 5 and CL 10 would cost 3000 and 6000 gold each, respectively. But remember, with a zen archer you're already doing 2 attacks at lvl 1 with your flurry, and at lvl 6 you have 3 attacks, 4 at lvl 8, and 5 at lvl 11, and eventually maxing out at 7 attacks without using any ki.
Personally though, if it were my build, I'd just go with a human zen archer, and let the group spell caster throw haste on you for an extra attack with your flurry, and maybe carry around a wand of gravity bow for extra damage.
Swashbuckler Finesse doesn't work with the fire blast since it's not a piercing weapon.
However it does work with the telekinetic blast. Now if I open up the blue flame composite blast then I won't be able to utilize the Swashbuckler's Finesse.
And the Swashbuckler level gives me both Swashbuckler's Finesse and specifically buckler proficiency which I need to open up unhindering shield, which allows my shield hand to be considered free for the purposes of casting spells, wielding weapons, and using any other abilities that require you to have a free hand or interact with your shield. This is beneficial especially for the gather power ability.
Alright, so I've made some changes to my character largely based on the feedback I've received thus far (and thank you very much, by the way). I've gone ahead and set the starting level to 14 seeing as how I'm pretty sure I'll level up during our next session this Sunday. So here's the new (and hopefully improved) kineticist.
Saves- Fort +21, Ref +20, Will +11
Initiative- +16
Speed- 30
BAB- +10
CMB- +11
CMD- 29
Kineticist Skills, Abilities, Etc.
Elemental Focus- Fire, Expanded Element- Aether
Fire and Telekinetic blasts, Aetheric boost
Infusions- Extended Range, Snake, Kinetic Blade, Burning Infusion, Foe throw, Eruption
Utility Wild talents- Ride the Blast, Smoke Storm, Firesight, Telekinetic Invisibility, Elemental Whispers, Elemental Whispers, Greater
Arctic Hare Familiar (+4 initiative when w/in 1 mile)
Swashbuckler Skills, Abilities, Etc.
Deeds- Derring-Do, Dodging Panache, Opportunity Parry and Riposte
Panache
Swashbuckler Finesse (pretty much same as weapon finesse)
Buckler Proficiency
I didn't realize the bracers of armor didn't stack with my armor. I was trying to keep my AC in the low to mid 30's so that I don't get slapped around all over the place. I guess I'd be ok if I could keep my AC no lower than like 28-29. I could drop the heavy and maybe even medium armor proficiencies for PB shot and and precise shot. I could even dip 1 level into swashbuckler and take the unhinderig shield feat and just use a buckler.
Honestly I went ahead and grabbed it without fully understanding it. But as I look back at the infusion my understanding is that each blast would in essence only deal 1d6 fire damage, but if I attack the same creature with multiple blasts from the flurry, that creature takes a penalty to their saving through if one is required. Right now I'm planning on taking the aether expanded element at 15 unless there's a better option
So I just finished building my first kineticst build and would like some feedback as far as any pros and cons of the current build, and any suggestions you might have. He's currently in my back pocket meaning he's not active yet, but if (when) my current character dies I plan on pulling out this guy.
Lvl 13 Half-Orc Pyrokineticist
Basic Stats
Ability Scores
Strength-12 (1)
Dexterity-17 (+3)
Constitution- 22/28 (+6/+9)
Intelligence- 12 (+1)
Wisdom- 15/17 (+2/+3)
Charisma- 9 (-1)
HP-184
AC- 34
Touch AC- 15
Saves- Fort +21, Ref +15, Will +11
Initiative- +9
Speed- 20
BAB- +9
Kineticist Skills, Abilities, Etc
Elemental Focus- Fire
Expanded Element- Fire (infusion)
Kinetic Blast- Fire Blast
Composite Blast- Blue Flame Blast
Infusions- Extended Range, Flurry of Blasts, Snake, Kinetic Blade (one-handed weapon), Burning Infusion (DC 25), Grappling +24, Wall (9 rounds)
Utility Wild Talents- Fire's Fury, Ride the Blast, Flame Jet, Flame Jet (Greater), Smoke Storm (6 rounds, DC 22), Firesight
Weapons
Blue Flame Blast- +13 Ranged Touch, 14d6+8 fire, 19-20/x2
Fire Blast0 +13 Ranged Touch, 7d6+8 fire, 19-20/x2
Armor
+3 mithral heavy steel shield, +5 mithral full plate
Magic Items
belt of might constitution +6, bracers of armor +3, cloak of resistance +3, headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +2
There's a good chance that I'll reach at least level 14 before I begin using this kineticist, which will give me an additional 45k gold to start out with. I currently 28.5k gold unspent on the character as is. What would be the best way to use that gold?
In the description for the Kineticist's burn feature it says, 'This damage can't be healed by any means other than getting a full night's rest.' However, the spell Regenerate, 'rids the subject of exhaustion and fatigue, and eliminates all nonlethal damage the subject has taken.' Since regenerate is not healing the nonlethal damage but instead just eliminates it, would the spell regenerate work on a Kineticist?
This may not be thematic enough for you, but when I ran my Undead Hunter Ranger, I used a +1 Undead-Bane Holy Longbow (after all, pretty much all undead are evil). Depending on your level it is a little pricey at 32k, but if you need a cheaper version drop the holy enchantment which is a +2 bonus, and the bow then only costs 8.3k gold. At level 11 my Ranger was doing 1d8+9 plus 2d6 vs undead and 2d6 vs evil per arrow, and with manyshot and rapid shot, it was firing 5 arrows at a time.
Look death in the face and say, "Is that the best ya got?"
ASSUME your character is going to die again.... today. Play a Reincarnated Druid. And come back to life tomorrow.
Bonus: Name the druid Jack Burton and ride your boar animal companion named Porkchop Express.
It's not entirely that I mind dying, it's the frequency at which it's happening which is making me lose any xp I've gained for the level. Also, I'm getting annoyed having to build new characters each week just die to the amount of time it takes. This is my first time playing Pathfinder or even playing this kind of RPG, and its only been about 2 months or so. So it takes me a lot of time and research to try to build a character that might survive.
PS, our halfling barbarian is already riding around on a boar. She beat me to it.
It might help if we knew what classes you've previously played, their general build emphasis, and how they died.
~ ~ ~
If you're lower level than the rest of the party, a bowbarian does the trick nicely.
So my previously played classes are as followed:
Zen Archer Monk; died by being engulfed by a trench mist
Alchemist; died when are party stumbled into the boss room waaayyyyy too early and the entire party teleported out and literally left me and one other guy behind
Witch Hunter Undead Scourge Paladin; party got split and I ran into a umbral dragon
Corpse Hunter Ranger; our barbarian got controlled by a dominate person spell and was instructed to kill the rest of us. Barbarian was already raging and had just been hasted when I got his 3 times for base damage 225
So many builds and so little time! I'm going to try to build out all of these classes y'all have recommended and then decide what I think will work best. Thanks for all the input!
Diviner wizard with lots of Vanish spells prepped can almost always hide when combat starts and be pretty hard to find until they are ready to be found. Let the rest of your party die for a while.
YES!!! And maybe stack a couple summons spells so I can distract my enemies while I escape if need be.
I'm amazed no one has mentioned glory of old inquisitor dwarf with a ring of evasion. Ta Da, you have incredible saves, ignore any negative effects on a successful save for basically everything, grab heavy armor proficiency, mithril full plate, a shield, and your spells and you are ready to rumble! Take the Protection (defense) subdomain or the Liberation domain and you should be able to laugh at basically anything thrown at you. For added fun, you have 6 feats, so two are heavy armor proficiency and steel soul. Then take endurance, die hard, fast healer, and maybe one of lightning reflexes, ironhide, dodge, combat exepertise, and number of other defensive feats. If you use the healing judgment with fast healer, you should have like fast healing 7. Of course, can always go for that adamantine plate if you want dr 3 instead of 2 ac. For added fun, make it yourself (you're a dwarf after all) and save yourself 10,000 gp!
We're running Crimson Throne and are currently a little over halfway through Castle Scarwall. We were all under leveled when starting this chapter, but myself more so than my teammates at only level 11, and I'm pretty sure my GM doesn't like me as I've died (i.e. obliterated beyond the point of resurrection) 4 times while only one other person has died once, and the other 4 have not died. I'm tired of rerolling new characters almost every week, and want to just build a super tank. If the only attack I can do is an unarmed attack and I just stand there buffing and healing myself then that is fine by me. Only limitations are no 3rd party content, no gunslinger, ninja, samurai, or summoner, and due to table rules. I am unable to run monk, paladin, ranger, or alchemist. I'm still level 11 and have 83k starting gold.
If you're running the hardbound version, you are supposed to be 13th level at the beginning of this chapter and should be 14th sometime during your exploration of the castle. If you're only 11th level, and all of you are unprepared and inexperienced, then it's suicide - every battle will be at a minimum difficult, at most impossible. Furthermore, the book clearly states that there are only a limited number of random encounters, and there's nothing that I see about "respawning" encounters, either. Your GM is at best, unaware of what he/she is doing, at worst... nvm.
There's only 1 option.
I'm the only one in the group at 11, the others are 12 or 13. The only reason I'm at 11 is due to joining the game late and dying twice and my XP resetting to the lvl min (105k)
Spells
Feather Step, Gravity Bow, Aspect of the Bear, Barkskin, Halt Undead, Cure Moderate Wounds, Ward of the Season
*I still need 2 lvl 1 spells and 1 lvl 3 spell
What is the biggest problem you are hoping to fix? Are you running out of spells, hops, or use per Day abilities?
So for me personally my biggest problem is that I keep dying. Now a big part of that is the fact that our whole team is ill-equipped for the type of enemies we're facing and our damage has been terrible, making the fights last way too long. Now running out of spells (or anything with limited use per day) is a problem.
My second problem is that I've never used a spell caster so I really have no idea how to build or use one, much less optimize one.
So only 3 die are used per ability, so the highest score to start is 18. Generally there'll be 1 or 2 stays with 18, and then your dump stat generally has between 8 and 10. I can roll the stats in a while, but it would help to know how many abilities I really need to focus on and how many I can dump on.
Edit 2: we still need to know how races, ability scores, traits and background skills and if there are any restrictions on purchasing magic items are handled for character creation to provide a build. 'cause oh yeah, I've got something in mind, but I need this information for it to be worth any effort.
Edit 3: who are the other characters in the party, class(es)-wise?
Races are restricted to core races, and gunslinger, ninja, and samurai I know are restricted classes. I can't use zen archer or alchemist as they're the classes I was running when I died. Ability scores are rolled. 24d6 and drop the lowest 6, so I'll have to do that for each character. Im not aware of any restrictions on traits and background skills. There are no restrictions on buying magic items, just as long as it's all under 82k (starting gold for lvl 11).
As far as other classes in the group, we have a rogue, paladin, barbarian, and I think a sorcerer but he's worthless in Scarwell as he was more of a pyro necromancer magic user. We have one other person but I'm not sure what class he chose. He died same time as me last week and has to creste a new character
Do you have a name for this adventure, or is it a homebrew? This reeks of Tegal Manor...
Wait ... the group is expected to clear an entire castle of 150+ rooms in a single day? That's absurd.
Do the undead come looking for you from other rooms, or are they reactive? Very few undead except vampires and liches are proactive enough to roam about a massive castle at all hours.
Edit: is there a day-night cycle, or is it conveniently, perpetually a dark and stormy night outside? This matters, 'cause I have a cheese build in mind to deal with such a bizarre set-up.
Edit 2: we still need to know how races, ability scores, traits and background skills and if there are any restrictions on purchasing magic items are handled for character creation to provide a build. 'cause oh yeah, I've got something in mind, but I need this information for it to be worth any effort.
I'm pretty sure we're running Curse of the Crimson Throne and we're currently in Castle Scarwall.
I'll try to reply to the other questions here in an hour when I have a break
yeah, they'll need an ability to basically tell the monsters to jam it in their ear so that they can rest easily.
Fortunately, the group potentially already has this option to do so via teleport and shadow walk unless there's some hijinks going on I'm not aware of.
Well, there's dimensional lock on the castle, so we can only get out by physically walking out. Problem is some of the rooms reset and we'd be having to fight a trench mist and juju zombies every time.
How many encounters do you need to go through ... what is the pacing for resting?
Do you have a spellcaster able to cast "Rope Trick" or other way to safely rest until "morning"
Not sure on how many encounters, but rests are virtually non-existent, so I need something sustainable without the need for rests.
To clarify, we have downtime between encounters as we're clearing rooms, but generally only a few minutes or so. We won't really have any short or long rests as we progress through this castle.
I've never used a spell caster yet, so I always feel a little lost when trying to make one of those builds. I've built a Corpse Hunter Ranger that I was planning on playing next session. I don't have the specifics of the build with me right now, but he has the Archery combat style with a +1 holy bane impervious longbow, with undead as the favored enemy and underground as favored terrain. His attack's pretty solid, but his AC is only like 24 or so, and I only get between +10 and +14 on saving throws, so if I get hit I'm almost always going to be taking dmg
