Derrick Harris's page

Derrick Harris wrote:

Alexander Augunas wrote:

Derrick Harris wrote:

Researching the Spirit is still at the rate of 1 week per spirit. Was that intentional?

Please cite the page number so I can fix the error.

My apologies. Page 82 under Researching the Spirit.

Ah, gotcha. Fixed.

Thank you much.

Derrick Harris wrote:

Researching the Spirit is still at the rate of 1 week per spirit. Was that intentional?

Please cite the page number so I can fix the error.

My apologies. Page 82 under Researching the Spirit.

Researching the Spirit is still at the rate of 1 week per spirit. Was that intentional?

Derrick Harris wrote:

Newb question here. I read the section about vestigial companions. What if I'm playing an occultist, and I don't want a vestigial companion for whatever reason? Are there any options to swap them or or not acquire them?

All Vestigial Companions are optional. In order to get one you actually have to switch it out with another ability (or other thing) it mentions near the end of the Vestigial Companion wording. So. You don't have to take it and it is completely optional.

For example, take the spirit Sevnoir, the Meandering Mastiff. In order to gain her Vestigial Companion, you have to replace the minor ability "feast of fear" to get it. You choose when you make the pact with the spirit.

Ohhhh I see. The information is under the individual spirit descriptions. Thank you very much.

Newb question here. I read the section about vestigial companions. What if I'm playing an occultist, and I don't want a vestigial companion for whatever reason? Are there any options to swap them or or not acquire them?

Quote:

Hello folks. I'm slowly making my way through the playtest document and I like what I see so far. However, I have one major concern. The current rules for "Researching the Spirit" are way too steep. DC 30 + the spirit's current level? Ouch. As it stands, a level 1 occultist would start play with one and would not likely be able to research another spirit successfully until he were level 4 or 5 (when he'd actually be able to make the check), especially if he were playing an AP. I don't believe that it is realistic to think that a character would have that much downtime (potentially 3-5 weeks per spirit) in order to expand his repetoire. Why not make them more like sorcerers or alchemists and allow them to learn 1-2 new spirits per level?

The Pactmaking rules assure that you'll eventually succeed; every time you fail a check, you get a stacking +5 bonus on your next check to succeed until you finally DO succeed.

That said, the DC was a touch on the high side, so in the next version the DC to complete a Knowledge Task will be 25 + spirit level instead of 30 + spirit level. However, it will take one 8-hour day per level of the spirit to conduct this research (to a maximum of nine 8-hour days for ninth-level spirits). In the next build, you will be able to increase the DC by 5 to accelerate the process to 4 hours of work per level of the spirit.

That way, you'll be able to speed up the process at higher levels when your Knowledge checks get higher. Also, the flavorful "you complete this task for story reasons" still exists, and you'll be able to buy/find gnostic tomes that will instantly teach you how to bind a spirit after just 24 hours of study, which CAN be done continuously.

Ok. That sounds a lot more reasonable. Thank you kindly.

Hello folks. I'm slowly making my way through the playtest document and I like what I see so far. However, I have one major concern. The current rules for "Researching the Spirit" are way too steep. DC 30 + the spirit's current level? Ouch. As it stands, a level 1 occultist would start play with one and would not likely be able to research another spirit successfully until he were level 4 or 5 (when he'd actually be able to make the check), especially if he were playing an AP. I don't believe that it is realistic to think that a character would have that much downtime (potentially 3-5 weeks per spirit) in order to expand his repetoire. Why not make them more like sorcerers or alchemists and allow them to learn 1-2 new spirits per level?

Good job Mark & co. The concept of the hunter has always been a fun one for me, but I was wary due to the playtest one needing a good bit of work to be competitive. All the changes sound amazing. Can you say...Divine Hunter for a celestial mammoth? I knew you could.

No big deal, Erik. I think that you guys made that best decision to not turn the ship around. I don't care about the logo mistake. I likely wouldn't have even noticed the error if you hadn't pointed it out. I wants my book. I wants it!

I've run in to situations like this before. I've had to explain to DMs that them not liking something does not make it wrong. What you're doing is a perfectly acceptable and legal option as part of a class feature.

I've also had to have the talk with DMs that they're not allowed to make surprise houserules in the middle of a campaign. If they're (the houserules) not made crystal clear at the onset of a game, then they don't happen.

If it were me, I would explain both of these to him and let him know that I found his stance unacceptable for these reasons. If he didn't budge, then I'd leave the group and find another one. Do not pass go. Don't collect $200. Good luck my friend.

Please forgive me if this question has already been asked and answered, but will this be a PFS sanctioned module as well?

Also guys, this looks amazing and my group and I are really stoked about getting our dungeon crawl on! So thank you kindly.

I see everyone here complaining that the investigator has sneak attack or that he/it has too many dice for it. At the same time, I hear people complaining that rogues suck and nobody wants to play them. In my opinion leave the sneak attack alone and this makes a viable substitute for the rogue. I have several reasons for saying this, but the big 3 that jump out at me are:

1: This is a rogue hybrid. It's supposed to have sneak attack.

2: If you take sneak attack away from this class, it's extremely weak in combat.

3: Vivisectionist was taken away from PFS players. In my opinion (and many others out there agree with me) the vivisectionist was only the way to fly for melee alchemists. If you leave sneak attack in for the investigator then that build becomes viable/playable again, particularly in the PFS arena.

I do agree that poison use is unnecessary and can/should be swapped out for another option.

Nothing personal against you Mr. Caldwell, but the venture captain for San Antonio should have been picked from amongst the gamers in San Antonio. I hope that you're up to the challenge of advocating for us and securing prize support for us from afar.

Hello folks. This is in regards to Pathfinder Society play in particular, as the rules generally go by the letter of the wording in the book in society play vs. home games. So. Here's the situation:

I'm playing a fighter with the Polearm Master archetype and I'm wanting to purchase the Gloves of Dueling. However, a buddy of mine is telling me that they will not work for me.

Wording:

Polearm Training (Ex)

At 5th level a polearm master gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with spears and polearms. The bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 5th.

This ability replaces Weapon Training 1.

Wording:

Gloves of Dueling
These supple gloves grant the wearer a +4 bonus to her CMD against disarm attacks, attempts to sunder her wielded weapons, and effects that cause her to lose her grip on her weapons (such as grease). The wearer doesn’t drop held weapons when panicked or stunned. If the wearer has the weapon training class feature and is using an appropriate weapon, her weapon training bonus increases by +2.

His arguement is that since I do not have Weapon Training that the Gloves of Dueling will not increase my Polearm Training as the wording of the gloves only covers the fighter's Weapon Training ability. I disagree with this, because my archetype ability does the same exact thing at the same exact level increments as weapon training but only allows a smaller weapon selection. In addition to this, out of 29 fighter archetypes, only 4 do not make some kind of change to weapon training. I can't believe that roughly 80% of fighters would be unable to utilize the Gloves of Dueling.

Please clarify. And yes, I would really appeciate a response from a Paizo staff member. :) Thank you all ahead of time. Please keep it friendly.