Imrijka is not a priest, so she's not bound to the uniform. It's more an informal dress code. :P
...
Imrijka's new design is really cool, by the way. The artist did a really good job preserving her old feel while innovating and giving the outfit a lot of personality. I think my favorite thing about Imrijka, design-wise, is that a handful of iconics have been a little de-fanserviced over time to reflect more in-character fashion choices, but not Imrijka. And that implies that canonically, the scary grim-faced Pharasman vindicator does just like dressing this way. Maybe she is an iconoclast.
Ssshhh, let me be a grumpy old coot ;)
All in good fun. It's good art, the colors aren't my thing unfortunately.
Edit: And of course yes. I'm all in for Imrijka being an Iconoclast.
Okay calling shenanigan's unless it's a misdirect. Because she's totally on Desna's team with those colors unless she's now an Iconoclastic Pharasmin.
I know fashion is subjective and red wasn't great either, but 3/10 Imrijika. Fire your tailor, LoL
Put me in the traditionalist Pharasmin camp tyvm!
Blog wrote:
Imrijka’s outfit is now done in Pharasma’s holy colors...
Inner Sea Gods wrote:
Clothing
Pharasmin clothing takes two different routes. For many traditionalist or more ascetic priests, the only acceptable color for formal garments is black, sometimes accented with silver (such as spiral brooches or amulets) and tiny vials of holy water. In recent generations, however, there has been a movement in many temples away from such dour fashions. Pointing out that the solemnity of death is only part of their concern, such iconoclasts celebrate the birth of new life by wearing more colorful and fancifully designed raiment. Instead of traditional black robes, they gravitate toward silver, gray, purple, and the iridescent blue of the goddess’s spiral. In addition to color, these iconoclast priests often add highly artistic elements to their clothing, designing their own unique outfits as a reflection of their unique threads in Pharasma’s great tapestry. While outright conflict is rare, the two camps of Pharasmins have strong opinions regarding each other’s clothing choices.
Oh, are they a combined entity and not just a combined church, boo. Probably has precedent in real world mythology but I find it 'meh'. Maybe the adventure will with the story be awesome though, gameplay can make up for a lot since I'm not super-duper invested.
Edit:
John Mangrum wrote:
Buckle up, starfarers, we're flying back into The Great Tuvix Debate sector.
Lol, nevermind. If they got Tuvixed that is straight hilarious. Love it.
The WW is missing the normal expert weapon proficiency increase for casters at 11th, although it does get weapon expertise (Mystic is missing the latter, a separate likely error).
Was trying to figure out if these were intentional seemed odd, glad it's not just me.
Would delete if I could as I got an answer from James on the subreddit.
Was casting a wide net by putting it both places.
Quote below for anyone who doesn't use Reddit.
James Jacobs wrote:
The drive is for sure still there. How Godsrain does will be a big factor of our fiction plans going forward. I'm in the category of hoping we can get back into fiction too though! FINGERS CROSSED!
I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see us get back into fiction, and I really really really want to find a way to release the half-dozen "orphaned" novels we've got from when the regular releases wound down a couple years ago.
Do the orphaned novels have a good chance of seeing the light of day if the Godsrain book does well?
If you extrapolate up and make a CR30 creature. You would need about a +10 (maybe +12) across the board, maybe way for spells to be considered higher ranks for incap on high level threats at very high levels, more hp, and few other smalls things to get it basically functional.
If it doesn't have one it's not the hardest to homebrew it but I'm no game designer. I don't near have enough free time to make and properly balance such a system for home games. My main desire is for something I can slot in at higher levels since they are not doing level above 20 as far as we know.
That being said I understand someone who doesn't care about the Level 20/10 MR playspace like I do and wants it to be good for Level 8/ MR 3 etc., which I don't care about at all myself.
I have said it before, but I still hope it has both in the end. One with and one without a power component stapled on so we can all be reasonably satisfied.
I do it every hour and the player's know this. They don't seem to drag to get more. Seems something to being up with the player(s) in question. I have never noticed them dragging around intentionally too much to game another HP, though they talked about it of course, but of course I could just deny it in that case. We're pretty open about "above board" meta stuff when chatting.
I also generally only keep the "clock" going on hero point worthy time after they start adventuring. If they spend an hour of IRL time shopping and prepping etc it doesn't really count unless there is plenty of RP stuff that could potentially qualify.
As it stands yes. It gives you something to do other than use your fairly awful attack stat. Took a flail with my playtest Guardian for tripping.
I like the ideas you put forward.
What we have is okay but lackluster:
FLYING TACKLE [two-actions] is alright
RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT THEM and other Shove feats are OK, but compete for better stuff it feels like.
DISARMING INTERCEPT [free-action] I kinda skipped over due to disarm being bad unless you are fighting humanoids a lot etc. Also competes with a lot of level 6 feats.
We need a banner toss feat or tactic post-haste in the final version.
Flavorful and fun!
"...doing what the Paeligni do best, rallies his troops by seizing their cohort’s standard and flinging it into the mass of the Macedonians, so that his troops, to avoid the shame of losing their standard, would push forward (Livy 44.40.7-8)" also (Livy 25.14.4)
"Quake with fear, for a Paelignian officer has brought a flag!"
Hopefully as split between generic and specific. I really would rather have generic ones like 1e but they don't seem to be going that way.
As a long as they are not overly specific I could make my own paths with what is given. Mixing and matching without too much homebrew of feats or abilities myself.
None of them are "good" picks to me except Asmodeus.
As my favorite is not in the Core 20 (Besmara) she is "safe" but I probably would not care much as I could just keep her alive in my games.
Of the two I think are most likely my thoughts are along the lines of:
#1 Asmodeus: Thank god, his artwork across all D&D and pathfinder has always sucked lets bring Mephistopheles up to bat and call it a day. Plus, if Sarenrae does it we can have some art of her cutting him in half with the tagline "Ihys Avenged" or something.
#2 Sarenrae : Ah well don't really care much. So long Golarion Jesus you had some good artwork unlike Asmodeus at least.
My thoughts are as superficial as my interest. So I default to whose art I liked the least lol.
Edit: Also I know it doesn't exactly fit but if it is one of the female deities it gives me odd "woman in the fridge" vibes for some reason.
Can a familiar with the independent and skilled abilities be a secondary caster for a ritual?
Thinking up ideas for a funky solo ritualist build.
Wouldn't be the best as the skill bonus caps around +27 and the level I'm looking at it would be +19 for any secondary checks, but that is what assured ritualist is for I suppose. But it would be able to do a planar ally or resurrect solo in only one hour.
Say we took 10 sessions to complete Book 1 of Abomination Vaults. Do I report each session in the reporting section or do I just do one session? Then send any player that wants to apply it to a society character a chronicle sheet after they give me the PFS characters number for the one they would like to use it on.
...(Gorilla Slam limits you to only use Gorilla Slams, but not all stances do.)...
That part is limiting to your character as you would not be able to use you Nagaji tail attack when in Gorilla Stance, since it is one of the stances that locks you into only one type of attack. So might be a flavor fail.
Maybe you can still use the tail to attack and it has the stance traits and none of its own, I'm not clear on how it interacts with ancestry natural attacks honestly as I haven't used one on a character myself.
That would allow you to Grapple with your tail and that is probably the flavor you want. It would be a big point in Gorilla Stances favor and might worth the trade off for agile to have the cool flavor. Though that is likely a house ruling.
Southern Claw wrote:
...What does the grapple trait actually do for a power? Traits give some benefit to attacks. Like versatile or finesse. What benefit does an attack with grapple have that an attack without grapple does not?...
HammerJack wrote:
... 2. If you have an Item bonus to that unarmed attack, as from Handwraps of Mighty Blows, you can apply that bonus to your Grapple check.
3. If that unarmed attack is not one made with a hand, you can grapple with the anatomy used, instead of a free hand (this is why bite attacks with Grapple are so appealing)
For an unarmed grapple/maneuver build
#2 is about all the Grapple trait will do for your build, but only when you get +1 Handwraps at around level 2 and does pretty much nothing for you at level 1.
That would be a +1 item bonus to Grapple Checks from levels 2-8 until you would likely want to get Armbands of Athleticism around level 9 to get +2 to ALL Athletics checks, including increasing your Escape DC. The only gap where you benefit from the grapple trait would be level 16 with +3 Handwraps for ONE level until at level 17 you would want to get the +3 Armbands of Athleticism. The loss of agile is not worth the +1 to only ONE type of Athletics check IMHO.
#3 Maybe this applies if the GM lets you use Gorilla Slams with your Nagaji's tail. Again, not sure how it interacts.
I would recommend just getting Ki Strike or a stance with an agile attack at level 1 instead, as I have learned the hard way of the Gorillas Stance/Grapple Trait trap. Unless you house rule the stance allows you to grapple with your tail otherwise not much going for it numbers wise.
You can 100% still play the Grapple build and all you are missing is a +1 item bonus to that one Maneuver for a few levels, and you will be much more accurate with any MAP attacks. It's how I play my human and it's loads of fun locking folks down, tossing them with whirling throw, smacking them with Stand Still when they Stand from a trip etc.
Action 1: Action to get in Stance.
Action 2: Stride to the Enemy.
Actions 3: You use the Grapple action and roll an Athletics Check against Fort DC with +1 item bonus from handwraps applying their item bonus to the check due to Gorilla Slam having the grapple trait. You now have MAP -5 since Grapple has the Attack trait, but that's end your turn no biggie. Success! The target is now grabbed until the end of your next turn and you can choose to deal bludgeoning damage equal to your Str Modifier from Crushing Grab after a successful Grapple.
Wait...
This makes grapple sound nearly useless. I make an attack to grapple and do a WHOPPING 4 points of damage from my strength mod?? Then if I want to make a REAL attack I have to try to hit at a -5 penalty???
It’s kinda what makes Gorilla Stance a bit of a trap for a Grapple/Maneuver build. Seems nice but the grapple trait doesn’t help much especially with the loss of agile.
Without it say you Grab and enemy with just your regular unarmed attack. You take a -4 on the follow up attack if it’s agile plus the -2 AC penalty for Off-Guard on the enemy making it an effective -2/-6 instead of -3/-8 as Cabbage said above.
If you really do want a stance for bigger damage die it’s better to get one that retains agile, tiger stance for example, for a Maneuver type build.
What makes it fun are the action compression feats like Flurry of Maneuvers & Ki Strike (which has even more mitigation of your penalties from MAP with its +1 status bonus to your Flurry Strikes plus a bit more damage). My personal favorite is when they Critically Succeed an Escape attempt and use the free Stride to trigger the Stand Still reaction for another no MAP strike, though we forgot about the crit. success clause on the Escape action a lot lol
Edit: As Cabbage says above it is very much not a damage build but it does alright. You eat actions of your enemies with them having to Escape or Stand etc. My monk is a great battlefield controller, it’s a great teamwork build.
Also, it's an Athletics check, not an attack roll, so normally the to-hit bonus from your handwraps of mighty blows don't apply to them. However, if the weapon or unarmed strike you're using has the right trait, then you do get to add that bonus.
OK, color me confused. HOW, exactly, do I grapple an opponent? Does it suffer from the multiple attack penalty?
Gorilla Slam has the grapple trait. So I *do* get to add my bonus for crushing grab??
Sorry, but this is all really new to me. I kinda need it spelled out.
Q1: You use the Grapple Action. Yes, it does like any action with the Attack trait. So you will want Grapple to be your first Attack action most of the time so the Athletics check does not have MAP.
Grapple Trait Text:
Grapple: You can use this weapon to Grapple with the Athletics skill even if you don’t have a free hand. This uses the weapon’s reach (if different from your own) and adds the weapon’s item bonus to attack rolls as an item bonus to the Athletics check. If you critically fail a check to Grapple using the weapon, you can drop the weapon to take the effects of a failure instead of a critical failure.
Q2: If you successfully Grapple you may deal bludgeoning damage equal to your Str Modifier to the enemy if you have Crushing Grab, but not when you hit with an attack with the grapple trait such as Gorilla Slam.
I'll give you an example in the hope that it helps.
Say you use Gorilla Stance, have Crushing Grab, and have +1 handwraps.
Round 1
Your Turn
Pick the enemy you want to lock down
Action 1: Action to get in Stance.
Action 2: Stride to the Enemy.
Actions 3: You use the Grapple action and roll an Athletics Check against Fort DC with +1 item bonus from handwraps applying their item bonus to the check due to Gorilla Slam having the grapple trait. You now have MAP -5 since Grapple has the Attack trait, but that's end your turn no biggie. Success! The target is now grabbed until the end of your next turn and you can choose to deal bludgeoning damage equal to your Str Modifier from Crushing Grab after a successful Grapple.
Enemy Turn
Say they take a few nasty hits from being Off-Guard due to your Grapple so they want out early.
Action 1: Attempt to Escape against your Athletics DC, this DC does not gain the +1 item bonus from the grapple trait, succeed and take MAP as Escape has the Attack trait.
Action 2: Attack with -5 MAP.
Action 3: Steps 5 feet away.
Round 2:
Your Turn
Action 1: Step to Enemy.
Action 2: Grapple, adding +1 to the check from grapple trait allowing the handwraps item bonus to the check again, you fail take -5 MAP .
Action 3: Hail Mary Grapple because you really want them Off-Guard for your allies. Grapple check with -5 MAP to your check, but still with the +1 item bonus. Success! The target is Grabbed until the end of you next turn and you may choose to deal bludgeoning damage equal to you Str Modifier with Crushing Grab again.
<snip>
... At mid levels, use Whirling Throw to throw your enemies into hazardous terrain or wall of fire type spells.
<snip>
...Prone + grabbed is a nice combo because they need to Escape before they can stand.
Can confirm. I have done both of these and it is quite fun in play.
I am currently playing a grapple monk with it and I would recommend against Gorilla Stance. I never use it even though it inspired my character to dress up in a (crappy) gorilla costume (this is if for Fist of the Ruby Phoenix). I'd go ahead and get ki strike to go ahead and get some focus points personally.
Not being agile along with the opportunity cost of getting into the stance is not worth the trade off for a bit of damage I have found. Also, the grapple trait does not increase Athletics for the purpose of escaping so you still need Armbands of Athleticism, except for a few gaps here and there it's not really helping you.
Now I did not go the intimidate route so it might be worth it for the Gorilla Pound later on in the feat chain but I have not used it in any way so I'm not sure how effective it is in an actual play scenario.
I had crushing grab but the 4-5 extra damage wasn't worth it to me and I retrained it, but for the theme you are going for seems quite good and thematic. Stunning Fist is my go to now, rarely goes off but great when it does. Doesn't work with Flurry of Maneuvers, at least we don't allow it to since it says two strikes in the Stunning Fist text, so there is that to keep in mind.
A bonus in a stances favor is Prevailing Position is quite a good reaction, though I retrained it to Wind Jump when I stopped using the stance. The fly speed you get is bonkers even with the caveat of having to land, but that goes away 1 level later with a skill check that is pretty easy.
The only time I am blanked with this build is when the enemy is too large to grapple, which has happened some with big monsters in FotRF.
In those cases I soak reactions and heal with Wholeness of Body, my guy is crazy tanky.
Edit: Level 14
My guy currently has(i think can't look at pathbuilder atm):
Gorilla Stance (unused mostly, retrain to ki strike soon)
Ki Strike(Natural Ambition, retrain to some other Ancestry Feat soon)
Stunning Fist
Flurry of Maneuvers
Wholeness of Body
Whirling Throw (Baller Third Action with No MAP)
Wind Jump (Retrain when I get the Super Saiyan Feat at 18th)
Diamond Soul
Edit: Stand Still
It doesn't seem too hard to house rule if you would like.
Theorycrafting to do so with a fire kineticist that I was interested in playing as a "hellfire" warlock type character, like the 3.5 prestige class.
Have versatile blast do spirit(unholy), instead of cold, that did d4's for damage. And/or make a feat to add the sanctified(unholy) trait to the fire damage.
Since there is an example of a vitaliy blast with the wood element it would probably be even easier to reverse engineer for yourself.
Might just take some current impulses and overflows that have also have the vitality tag and convert them to use void and reflavor them to get started on a bespoke list of feats as well. Unless you're wanting it for society play then you might be in for a long wait as everyone has said.
I enjoy making these a lot, but too busted to be used in any longform campaign unless the table wants things to be crazy.
Reaching out for suggestions and inspiration to build onto my ever-growing list for things that aren't just ports of old feats.
What ideas have you folks come up with or thought about?
Class specific & regular is fine. Doesn't need to be the wacky skill feat thing I've done for mine.
Runelord Krune is not an avatar image on the site. Yet, all the other Runelords are represented! Is there no respect for one of the most deadly, if not THE most deadly, foes of the vaunted Pathfinder Society (see PFS #4-26: The Waking Rune)
This great injustice needs to be rectified and, since Krune is of course too lazy to care per his right, I am going to bat for him.
This is not just because the avatar image of this most magnificent scion of sloth is the one I most desperately want of course. It's the principle!
Though, without the silliness, if one exists and I just can't find in a nudge to the right location would be appreciated after an hour or more of looking through pictures.
I know no new images have been added after book 1 of War for the Crown, so just asking if one does exist, not for you guys to actually upload one for my sake.
Two-tiered defense was removed from Ray of Enfeeblement => Enfeeble. I don't think the devs are interested in adding new spells with that.
Quite likely, yeah. Just a thought if they add more spell attacks and give us an item bonus at some point.
Squiggit wrote:
I don't think two-tiered defenses end up feeling very good in practice. The most memorable part about Disintegrate for my players is how often they lose the spell.
I've got lucky with it myself, but yes they are awful. That's why if you did go this route (item bonus to spell attacks etc) you would likely not want it have a basic save on them as well like Disintegrate.
Just be easier to make all spell attacks like enfeeble and change it to a save. Just make Disintegrate a Fort save and the Crit Success is a "miss" with the beam. Heck until 3e the only "spell attack" I can think of is Acid Arrow. Stuff like Disintegrate and Polar Ray where still saves.
... It is starting to look like item bonuses to spell attack roll spells might be possible in the future of the game as single target high-damage spell slot spells that target AC don’t exist in the arcane or primal traditions anymore.
I think a good way to do it going forward for spell attacks is a two tiered Defense like Disintegrate, if they add item bonus to Spell Attacks.
Most non-cantrip spell attacks changed to a two tiered Defense, e.g. AC and [save], with the caveat of "if you critically hit, the target gets a result one degree of success worse than the outcome of its [relevant] Save."
Another change would to remove the basic save from any new spell attacks that go this route to avoid critical successes on a any spell attack that actually hits AC being no damage at all. This way at least some small damage is dealt on a successful hit so it is not so punishing.
A few more thoughts on some the spells I like persoanally:
Disjunction -> Detonate Magic : Upgrade. Can target effects again. Great, plus some damage on top. Sucks still no return to its AoE dispel effect but probably a balance consideration.
Execute -> Finger of Death & Implosion: for legacy reasons to stop my brain twitching going to swap Implosion to Divine/Occult and Execute to Arcane/Primal. Why they flip flopped these two between arcane and divine when they made 2e idk maybe the fact it's void/vitality, but I'm personally switching it.
Execute is more versatile though with the positive(vitality) damage choice I like that.
Flaming Sphere -> Floating Flame: Upgrade, none of that "Creatures that succeed at their save take no damage (instead of half)" and can hit multiple creature a turn now making up for a shorter move distance. May have done this RAI but the text of the original didn't seem to hint at that. Awesome!
Sure Footing: Bad name for this consolidated condition removal spell thought it was Freedom of Movement. Took me a bit to realize what it really was due to that. But hey 3/4 traditions get it so that's nice.
Polar ray -> Arctic Rift: Line: Meh; Fort: Ugh; Slowed and no drained: makes since for an AoE. Better only for the fact that it is an AoE and spell attacks are quite sub-par. Though I'll always have soft spot for Polar Ray as one of the derivatives of Otiluke's Freezing Sphere one of my all time favorites spells across editions.
Since you can still use the old spell I like the idea of, probably a non-bo honestly, using Polar Ray to apply the drained penalty on one target then AoE them and some mooks with the new spell right after with a cold focused caster. Fun idea at least.
For acid grip I am curious if the "full" wording means that the persistent damage is always maximum on a crit. fail. It's not clear why the word is there otherwise.
Quote:
Critical Failure The creature takes double damage and full persistent damage, and the claw moves it up to 20 feet in a direction of your choice.
I like the new spell and as a user of the old acid arrow at times glad I have more options for acid fun now.
Was she at all inspired by Planescape’s Lady of Pain or am I “seeing” a connection that is just not there that out brains like to do sometimes. It’s been in my head for a while. I was looking through some old 2e stuff (Dead Gods, Modron March, Die Vecna Die) recently for inspiration along with the 5e release got me thinking about it again.
I'm kinda boring myself and go very science driven. tldr: Magic at the most basic is all the same the distinctions are arbitrary for me.
Magic is like any other force like gravity or EM. Like real world forces there are carrier particles e.g. Gluons, Photons, W bosons, Z bosons, Higgs bosons, Gravitons?(tbd) that real world forces have. These "other" magic carrier particles allow for individuals to exploit this field.
The magic field itself is an interaction with the other dimensions of the Outer and Inner planes with the Universe. Places in the Universe proper that don't have or lack much "overlap" have little to no magic, and this shifts on timescales in the 100's of millions of years.
To go with what someone else said Arcane, Occult, Divine, and Primal are just classifications made on ignorance of the more fundamental nature of this magic field. It's just different ways to interact and how you interact matters hence the perceived difference.
The odd and exciting part of this magic field is it is easily manipulatable in many and myriad ways by beings within it without advanced technology, all you need is thought and emotion (and sometimes not even that it's very reactive). Some real animals exploit the EM field in different ways like using it as an internal compass or use chemical battery organs to create an electric shock. But with this crazy magic "field" with the right proding you cant shoot bolts of lighting!
I find the Universe we live in a fascinating place as is and I like adding some more fun "on top" of that and it makes me happy. So matter of tastes in the end and completely subjective.
The PF2 Hexploration rules list a hex size as 12 miles from corner to corner.
But that is also only the recommended or default size. A map could certainly be made with a different hex size.
Another reason to call the "Stolen Lands" such! PF2e stole nearly 10,000 Sq Miles from them! lol.
Edit: but seriously changed my response above. Didn’t even think about it being made to the size as needed or changes to default hex size and just defaulted to the old Kingmaker value in my brain. Oof.
I measured the hexes to be 12 miles across, from one side to another. NOT from corner to corner. There's also a bit of rounding-off of numbers going on as well. Caineach is correct, in any event; a single side of a hex is just under 7 miles long.
The math above is correct but slight correction of side length per James from around 2010 or so, unless hex size has changed.
Edit: oops sorry brain went to Kingmaker by default the above is correct mine is only right for the Stolen Lands specifically and you were asking 12 miles corner to corner per the hex rules. Apologies for any confusion caused.
I presume no spell like Echolocation exists in 2E? Because that dealt with the old Mind Blank/Invisibility combo very well.
I have been looking but no dice so far for a good spell that gives a alternate precise sense.
Hyperfocus a focus spell in the Delerium Domain works but only to 20 feet to up imprecise you already have to precise.
Maybe giving something the Barbarian ability Greater Animal Senses but that would be home brewing of course.
Still would not help on the big fights where you bust out your Scroll of Disappearance, but that is a boss monster Hail Mary type consumable so all's fair in those kind of fights.
I did not know tremorsense or scent would work since you can take the skill feat Foil Senses to always take precautions, you would just have to possibly use a lower ability modifier. That on top of Sneak Savant would make alternate senses very hard to work against character.
I also require my players who are using Foil Senses to define which sense thay are foiling and describe their actions. That is that have to know what they are trying to do and how they are foiling it. I don't let them just foil every sense automatically. There are just so many senses and what a Rogue would be doing in each case would be different. See Special Senses
Note that there are more specials senses than they list. Such as Heatvision, Life Sense, Motion Sense, Eclolocation.
I'd disagree hear since I think the feat puts the impetus on the GM and even in the games I GM would consider it working at all times due to the wording of the feat but I understand others running it differently. I might just use a different ability mod for the secret check to one appropriate as it suggests in the Other Senses sidebar.
Foil Senses wrote:
You are adept at foiling creatures' special senses and cautious enough to safeguard against them at all times. Whenever you use the Avoid Notice, Hide, or Sneak actions, you are always considered to be taking precautions against special senses (see the Detecting with Other Senses sidebar).
shroudb wrote:
Sneak savant, as well as outright sneaking away, after attacking, will NOT make you undetected vs precise senses, even WITH foil senses.
Ah that is correct. Discounting AP bosses and named NPC's that puts the count of challenges at level 16+ with precise senses at about 20-30 should be enough to challenge this build. Nice!
well, usually at those levels big bads do have options of big aoes they can carpet an area with.
they could simply wander to a chokehold position, focing you to be somewhere specific to hit them to begin with. <snip>
Note:Sorry for two reply’s only have my phone and it keeps messing up.
Yeah that is one of the few we have found just is aoe with none-reflex spells like Tempest of Shades etc. and small combat area.
The delay tactic isn’t bad but with gr. Invisibility scrolls at 70g a pop it might not work since it would be the first action of or right before combat since they are dirt cheap at level 16 characters.
<snip>
lastly, mind blank is Uncommon for a reason. You just found the reason. If a gm thinks he can't make an encounter work with that, he can simply say "nope, you dont have access to it".
True you could always get the GM ban hammer. I guess that is why you can get the same with a common class feat with Blank Slate stalling the tactic for at least 1 level.
I did not know tremorsense or scent would work since you can take the skill feat Foil Senses to always take precautions, you would just have to possibly use a lower ability modifier. That on top of Sneak Savant would make alternate senses very hard to work against character.
I was (pleasantly) surprised to see this old combo still works in 2E with BLANK SLATE. Now me and a friend are looking how a boss monster might get around it if I were to try this at level 17+ so it's not too boring and has some counter play. What might there be?
Even if just using the spell Mind Blank and not this class feat no monster that has true seeing has it above 8th as far as I can tell. That means only a crit. fail against the True Seeing causes you to be seen with Mind Blank considered 9th for counteract purposes. Depending on the monster and counteract modifier this mean only a 15%-35% for most PL+2 threats at level 18. It's even better if you use the +36 of the Potion of Undetectability, but it is costly and likely saved for PL+3 or 4 bosses.
What works to offset this:
Faerie Fire is the best I can come up with as it has no save. If the Rogue fails to stealth away as their third action after attacking and the enemy knows what square/area they are in that is. Impossible to seek if you are at a decent range with a ranged weapon. Though Sneak Savant exists so good luck with the Rogue failing.
Glitterdust as above but worse due to being against the Rogue PC's best save.
Dispel Magic and Disjunction no longer have an AoE component and need to target, unsure if one still exists that can counteract an effect in an area. So no go there.
Spell Immunity is an interesting one though if you are not using Blank Slate. Does the Mind Black count as targeting the creature with the Spell Immunity since it counteracts an Innate True Seeing spell effect of the target? Even if this worked it would take up a 9th level spell, to be able to counteract the 8th level Mind Blank counteract that is considered 9th against he True Seeing , and they would need to know of this was a common PC tactic ahead of time. Probably not to all since even writing it down it is too convoluted to possibly be RAW, but a fun thought experiment on how something in the same vein might end up working.
Biggest Possible Counters: Fight the Invisibility not the Mind Blank effect it's not worth it to try. Small Rooms + Faerie Fire. AoE Dispels if they exist somewhere and I can't find them. AoE's that just blast everyone that are not Reflex and maybe ignore allies.
If this has already been explained in detail please point me to the right thread as I could not find it searching the forums.
Random thought that struck me and now it won't leave my head. I am honestly quite curious as to the reasons why we used to get SO many soft cover books in the 1e compared to none except AP's and a few one off Adventures in 2e.
Looking at hardcovers the rate is about the same with some variation across editions, a bit more during 3.5 and less for AD&D 1e.
PF1e had about 200/250 official softcover "splat" books not counting the 100+ AP's and one off adventures. Even AD&D 2e with all its Complete & Compendium softcovers can't compete with that. Was it just too much and it had to be reined in maybe?
Rules as written maybe not. Though rules as intended for such an edge case the answer is likely yes if you don't want undue headache. Since the creatures are sharing the space in that instance you are likely intended to be able to.
It might be up for your GM's ruling but I'd likely just have them roll against the Reflex DC of the the most applicable creature if they share a space in that manner and call it a day, Wizard in the first instance and the Horse in the second.
Name: Fairbrym, Dwarven Fighter
Level: 4
Location: D14. Pavilion
Cause: Some very hateful Dice
Combat started out pretty rough with Jaul winning initiative and hitting all but one PC with a lighting bolt. All of the PC's hit failed the reflex save and Fairbrym critically failed (Nat 1) his save and used a hero point to bring that up to regular failure on the re-roll. Jaul and his wolf then proceeded to crit him at least 2 more times bringing him to dying 2 from a wolf bite. When his turn came around he unfortunately rolled and Nat 1 on the recovery check with no hero points to save him putting the poor Dwarf to dead. The fight was won with more crits on both sides and every PC except one being downed at some point. It was one of those very swingy fights. Good news though, with Jaul's bounty plus a bunch of sold gear that wasn't being used they scrounged up enough for a resurrection ritual in Absalom so Fairbrym can fight another day. All in all an inauspicious start to the fourth level of AV.
Honorable mention for the how HATEFUL the dice were being in this fight: Double Nat 20 Reflex Saves from Jaul and the Wolf against a Fireball from the Necklace of Fireballs found a few levels up. Who doesn't love getting 1/400 chance against your favor.
Maybe the spells lack that WOW factor. I have found that a personal issue of mine on the player side.
BUT, I have had wizards though that could wreck encounters with control. Wall of Stone w/ Cloud Kill for grim effect in a few games, Fly to keep out of range and tag things with Ray of Frost in every Wizard game I have played, Obscuring Mist with Blind Fight on the Martials in one campaign, Reverse Gravity in open terrain to take away A LOT of actions in two different games, True Target across several games doing WORK, Grease is still pretty great I love it at low levels and it stays good, Gust of Wind for hilarious effect if any fall hazards are nearby on flying creatures that crit fail on a regular fail and tripping causes them to fall and you make sure they have no Reactions to arrest the fall beforehand with Hideous Laughter (that works even on success), and Slow (no explanation needed).
I have had to have a more analytical eye to what my casters HAVE done in retrospect and it was more of a personal problem of feeling ineffectual or underpowered in the moment when that was not the case. Mainly due to another thread here making me think on it in depth and at the time I could not think of anything that FELT cool at the time and have since come up with things that were in fact awesome.
Maybe cast a more critical eye on how your spells help the party as a whole. You may be surprised like myself.
The spell schools are less of a concern for me as I don't play society and homebrewing around any reduced versatility would be easy. I understand that is not the case for everyone and it hopefully has some mechanical way to keep it versatile for those who can't what we do at my tables.
I DO like the Wizard despite it's pain points. We need to get a look at focus spells, but the revealed feat(s) they are at least FUN to me which is a very much what I am looking for in the Remaster.
Early levels are the biggest concern I think for good FUN stuff. Though I might poll the one Wizard player I currently have at one of my tables to see what they think since we are level 4 nearly 5 to see how they have felt since it has been a while since I have not been GM.
The 4 Wizards I have played have all went with an archetype to keep things interesting so several fun paths that are pure wizard would be what I would be the most excited to see.
