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While the boosts to Alchemist that we did get are nice, I'd still greatly appreciate it if they actually got decent proficiencies with bombs... It's extremely aggravating that they're the class most heavily focused on them and yet they can't get above Expert... while Champions, Barbarians, Investigators, Swashbucklers, and especially Fighters not only get Expert proficiency with bombs earlier, but they get Master (or Legendary for Fighters) as well. As it stands, Alchemists are the only class that doesn't get any attack proficiencies above Expert; every other class gets at least Master with either spell attack rolls or with weapons. Even if Master+ proficiency with bombs was something specific to the Bomber research field, that would be fine (maybe do something similar with weapon/unarmed attacks for the Mutagenist as well?). ![]()
Apologies if this has already been answered somewhere, but I searched and couldn't find anything mentioning it. I'm looking into making an alchemist that focuses on using the touch injection spell with the Tainted Infusions of detonate in combat. However, there's something that isn't quite clear in the spell's wording... Touch Injection says wrote: "If you hit, the substance takes effect immediately, despite any onset period, and that opponent receives the normal saving throw (if any) against the substance." ...Which is seemingly contradicted by the very next sentence: Touch Injection also says wrote: "In the case of a personal infused extract, the opponent receives both a Fortitude save and spell resistance." I'm assuming that "personal" here means a range of "Personal". Does this mean that an infusion of detonate would allow the injected person a Fortitude save to negate it, even though the spell normally doesn't allow a save for the person who's exploding? Or does it mean that the target only gets a save and spell resistance if the extract being injected would normally allow for them? ![]()
Meirril wrote: Most people wouldn't even try to make a character with all of these abilities. One level of Magus to get Soul Forger, five levels of Wizard to get an arcane discovery, and five levels of cleric to get the bonus from Master Forger. You'd be an 11th level caster with the casting power of a 5th level character and a trash BAB. I was looking at using only one of Forgemaster or Soul Forger (Soul Forger requires level 7 to get the crafting speed bonus), and one level of Wizard for Arcane Builder. ![]()
Meirril wrote:
Jeez... and that's without even counting in the Valet familiar I was thinking of using @.@ ![]()
I'm curious as to how exactly the accelerated crafting would stack between the wizard's Arcane Builder discovery (25% less time) and the Master Smith ability of the Soul Forger/Forgemaster archetypes (Soul Forger says "requires only half the normal amount of time to enchant magical arms and armor" and Forgemaster says "can craft magical metal items in half the normal amount of time", so 50% less time). Would it be "reduce the base crafting time by 50%, then reduce that result by 25%"? ![]()
Scott Wilhelm wrote: Do you really need to be a single class Fighter, and if you can budge at all, what do you think is most important about being a Fighter? "Need to", no. But I have a long-standing bias against multiclassing due to how it was pretty much mandatory in 3.5 and how most builds seem to dip more than a tobacco-chewing redneck tied to a fishing line. Scott Wilhelm wrote:
I picked Longbow and Longsword specifically because they fit the thematic design of the bow and sword used in the Shadowshot and Daybreak skills. None of those other weapons fit the design very well (maybe greatsword). For clarification, I'm not looking to optimize to Powergamer/PFS levels. I just want to be able to invest in the standard power-boosting feats while still having plenty left over to invest in feats that are more interesting than powerful, like the Weapon Mastery feats. ![]()
I'm currently working on a Fighter who's going to be using a longbow and a longsword, focusing on both so that they can reliably perform with either of them at a moment's notice (the specific weapons function similarly to the Shadowshot and Daybreak Super abilities from Destiny 2). However, I'm running into an issue with managing the number of feats necessary to pull it off... At first I was looking at the Martial Mastery feat as a late-game solution, but I didn't notice until just now that it only applies to a specific weapon group. I can't use the Weapon Specialist advanced weapon training option for the same reason. Is there a way, through either a fighter archetype or a feat, that would allow someone to apply feats like Weapon Focus to both a longsword and a longbow? ![]()
For Book 2 (Trial of the Beast), I would recommend altering the Aberrant Promethean's role in the mansion. Instead of having it just be a surprise final encounter that jumps the PCs after they've already fought their way through everything else, have it chase the PCs through the place.
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Those are some devious ideas ._.
His end goal would be establishing himself as some kind of supreme overlord, likely out of spite that "a mere mortal" would dare use his kind as menial servants. ![]()
Grailknight wrote: I thought the created mimic was loyal to the key's possessor? They're supposed to be, yes, and the mage had tested the key several times before (on empty containers) with no apparent drawbacks. The thing is, a typical mimic only has 10 Intelligence, whereas the mage's killer ended up with a significantly higher Intelligence because of the items that were inside the container used to make it. Basically, its enhanced mind allowed it to think through the compulsion it was under and break free of the control. ![]()
A while back while playing Hearthstone, I was messing around with the Kobolds & Catacombs board and, out of habit, I activated the board's secret feature of revealing a key in the board's bottom-left corner that, when clicked, will turn the treasure chest in the top-right corner into a Mimic. It gave me an idea. A paranoid mage wants to protect all of his secrets, so he creates a magical key that will turn anything you use it on into a mimic that is loyal to the key's bearer, and the mimic absorbs the properties of the container it was made from (i.e., an adamantine lockbox would make a mimic that's hard to injure with physical damage). Unbeknownst to the mage, the absorption also applies to whatever is inside the container. So when he uses the key on the lockbox he keeps one of his spellbooks and various Intelligence-boosting items in, he inadvertently creates a highly intelligent mimic with knowledge of many of his spells. The mimic kills him in his sleep, takes the key for itself, and starts creating an army of mimics under its service. I'm looking for suggestions on what could feasibly be turned into mimics using this key. Chests and doorways are obvious candidates, but that doesn't leave much variety. Or should I simply have the mimic king alter the key so that it can be used on any object? ![]()
Pretty well, honestly. Not accounting for the fact that half the time I can't roll above a 5, at least; if it weren't for that I'd be pulling it off regularly. I'd recommend a belt of tumbling, and seeing if the DM will let you use a different item slot for your Belt of Dex. Like Boots/Gloves of Dex, maybe. ![]()
The new Totem Channeler Skald from Disciple's Doctrine gave me a gestalt idea I'm eager to try out: Primalist Spell Eater Bloodrager/Totem Channeler Skald. I'm fully aware that bloodrage and raging song don't stack, which is why I'm digging around to find out if there are any items, feats, or additional class features that would allow the character to spend rounds of bloodrage on other abilities, since they're probably only going to use their inspired rage in combat. ![]()
If you want raw power, I'd recommend Kineticist/Barbarian or Kineticist/Bloodrager. Extra use out of your Con, you can take Raging Vitality to get even more Con, perfect BAB, lots of HP... If your DM allows Mad Magic to work on SLAs, you're golden. Add in a conductive weapon for extra fun if you choose an energy blast. In Strange Aeons I was using a Bloodrager (Sovereign Draconic bloodline)/Elemental Annihilator and she was the hardest-hitting member of the party by far. ![]()
Tough call... you can make some damn scary things happen with Dirty Trick if you build it right, but you're right about Feint being much easier to pull off consistently. If you have room to spare in your build, I'd actually suggest getting both and using whichever one's more advantageous for the situation. Of course, I'm also the kind of guy who jumps at the chance to use Up Close and Personal... ![]()
Your interpretation of Dead Shot is correct, you only get the damage dice you'd normally have from making an extra attack. I agree that Clustered Shots is almost a straight upgrade over Dead Shot. The only downsides are that Dead Shot will do more damage if you successfully crit the target, and that you need Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot to take Clustered Shots (although considering those are considered mandatory feats for a ranged character, that's not really a drawback). ![]()
I'm considering building a Dex-based Fighter who takes advantage of Bladed Brush Combat, Slashing Grace, and Spear Dancing Style all at once, but I'm not entirely sure how they'd interact together. On one hand, Spear Dancing Style says that you treat the polearm/spear weapon in question as a double weapon, meaning that it would involve two-weapon fighting and thus negate the "can't have anything in your off-hand" clause of Slashing Grace. On the other hand:
Bladed Brush Combat wrote: When wielding a glaive, you can treat it as a one-handed piercing or slashing melee weapon and as if you were not making attacks with your off-hand for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon Does Bladed Brush Combat overcome the fact that using a double weapon wouldn't allow you to use abilities that require a free off-hand? Or would Spear Dancing Style negate the benefits of using Slashing Grace? In either case, I'm assuming that the "light mace" part of the glaive wouldn't benefit from Slashing Grace despite technically being part of a weapon being modified by the feat. Apologies if this has already been answered; I searched but didn't spot any threads that looked like they answered this particular question. ![]()
My issue with the "This is weak because wizards exist" argument is that the people who use that argument will use it to invalidate anything that isn't a Wizard. The biggest thing I see from them is "Damage is useless because a Wizard can just cast X and remove the problem immediately."
Even Clerics and Druids aren't entirely safe. The only thing they can do that Wizards can't is heal, and that can easily be solved with Use Magic Device and wands/scrolls. ![]()
Chess Pwn wrote: Why do direct damage when I can throw them to another plane, or in a pit, or mind control them, or insta kill them, or have a horde of summons/necromancy/gated creatures to kill for you? Because some people aren't stupid enough to think that save-or-die/save-or-suck spells are foolproof. Those spells can fail, and when they eventually do fail you just blew a spell to have exactly 0 effect on the encounter. "Hordes of minions" isn't any better than doing direct damage, either. You're still killing them with damage; literally the only difference is that the wizard isn't the one dealing damage in that situation. ![]()
Kineticist would be my recommendation. Even without an archetype they can easily be built for melee combat.
Another good option would be Warpriest. They can self-buff quickly and have strong melee attacks, as well as access to a lot of the same magic that clerics would use in combat at lower levels. ![]()
The standard rule is maximum HP at level 1, then rolled or average each level after. Average would be your Con modifier plus the average of your die roll (3.5 for d6, 4.5 for d8, 5.5 for d10, and 6.5 for d12). While you're rounding the number down when averaging, you do keep the extra 0.5 HP each level, effectively giving you an extra HP at each odd level.
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Ikiry0 wrote: I really, REALLY don't want to see 'Well, I could play a non-combat class...but spell are better than skills'. I think that's the main issue that people begging for 7th-9th level spells are failing to see, or outright refusing to acknowledge. 6th-level spells are balanced around the fact that they make Technomancers and Mystics able to keep up with the other four classes, not surpass them. These spells either let them do things that the other classes can't, or briefly let them fulfill the role of another class. Yes, their highest-level nuke and skill-themed utility spells are sometimes better than what somebody can do with a gun or a skill check, but they're also draining a very limited resource that the other classes don't have to worry about when performing the same task. Anything above 6th level is going to have to be either improved versions of what Technomancers and Mystics get (in which case, why bother playing the classes with inferior spells?), utility things that are going to push the abilities of non-casters aside, or completely new things that the other spell lists haven't touched and might go outside what Paizo wants players to be able to do in Starfinder. Adding 9th level casters is the gateway to this quote transferring from DnD to Starfinder:
Quote:
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In my opinion, adding 7th-9th level spells and the classes that use them would just ruin Starfinder. Each class has a list of roles that they excel at, and aside from a few select things (Computers skill for Technomancer and Mechanic, damage output for most of the classes, etc.) they don't really step on each others' toes. While I've got my share of issues with the system, one of the things I love is that they avoided the Linear Warrior, Quadratic Wizard trope to the best of their ability. The stealthy character isn't being pushed aside by the Wizard just because the Wizard can turn invisible, the heavy-hitting guy isn't being overshadowed by the Cleric gating in something that could challenge the whole party by itself, the berserker with multiple attacks isn't being outclassed by the self-buffing wild-shaping Druid... Even if they were to add full casters to Starfinder, there would be a ton of issues with it.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see additional classes added to Starfinder. But full casters are not the type of additions that a sci-fi fantasy setting needs. ![]()
Undines (trade out their SLA for the aquatic subtype and amphibious ability)
Some races get the ability to hold their breath for longer periods of time, but they'd still need to come up for air eventually. EDIT: Forgot about tritons and locathahs. Cecaelias, sahuagins, grindylows, and adaros are also good races for underwater campaigns, but they're all extremely powerful races (20+ RP) and might not be good for PCs to choose. ![]()
Mysterious Stranger wrote:
Alternatively, try introducing more encounters that can't be beaten through brute strength. Being able to demolish an enemy in 1-2 turns won't do you any good when the party needs to make skill checks to get things done. Another thing to keep in mind about the paladin: He might have a lot of uses of Smite Evil with the Oath of Vengeance, but each use of Smite only applies to one enemy. If he's killing an enemy in only 1 turn with his damage output, he's spending one use of Smite Evil every turn just to keep that buff while switching targets. Plus, Divine Bond/Divine Favor aren't as powerful as Smite Evil, so once he runs out of Smites his damage output is going to go down. It'll still be good, but nowhere near Smite levels. ![]()
I'm not sure why he felt the need, honestly. Comparing the two options, BR20 has:
BR10/DD10 has:
Bloodragers don't usually care about high AC anyway since they lose AC during bloodrage, and the +2 Int from DD doesn't give them much benefit. The bite attack is good, but a Primalist bloodrager can easily swap out a power they don't care about to get a bite attack (albeit a slightly weaker one). Getting form of the dragon doesn't seem to help much when they can get it automatically by bloodraging, and they probably only need it while raging to begin with. Regarding the character's number of rounds of rage, they might have feats or traits that increase how much they get. Some races get additional rounds of bloodrage as a favored class bonus too; if he's one of those races, double check to make sure he didn't take the FCB for his DD levels as well. ![]()
As far as I know, only Pack Lord Druids, Packmaster Hunters, and Beast Master Rangers are the only classes that can have multiple animal companions. The vast majority of methods to get animal companions outside of those three archetypes only cause your levels to stack for determining how strong your animal companion is rather than giving you additional companions. That said, I'm not sure how that works with feats like Exotic Heritage if you're already a member of a class that gets an animal companion. ![]()
As someone who is adamantly against dipping, I'd take a look at the Blade Adept archetype for Arcanists. It gives you a Bladebound Magus' black blade, and a number of exploits that grant or mimic certain Magus abilities. ![]()
You might want to phrase it as "It's common knowledge that magic can't be bound to objects in this world." That way you're establishing that this is what the people of this setting believe to be true, while giving yourself the safety net of "common knowledge" not always being right. Heck, it used to be "common knowledge" that you could treat illnesses by sticking leeches on somebody to suck out the "bad blood" causing the sickness. ![]()
Retraining: Feat wrote: You may change one feat to another through retraining. Retraining a feat takes 5 days with a character who has the feat you want. The old feat can’t be one you used as a prerequisite for a feat, class feature, archetype, prestige class, or other ability. If the old feat is a bonus feat granted by a class feature, you must replace it with a feat that you could choose using that class feature. Scribe Scroll is given to Wizards automatically, and they don't have a choice in taking it or something else, so they can't retrain Scribe Scroll. Now if, say, your Wizard had taken Brew Potion as their 5th level bonus feat, they could retrain Brew Potion and replace it with a metamagic feat. ![]()
From what I've seen, a lot of PFS bans focus on things that really aren't threatening enough to be worth banning, like the martial performance option and the Hamatulatsu feat. ![]()
Anybody who tells you that a vanilla bard isn't useful doesn't know what they're talking about. Inspire Courage alone is a huge benefit because of how rare competence bonuses to attack and damage rolls are, and their other performances are very effective in the situations that require them. Arcane duelists can be effective combat/support characters, but you're trading away most of your ability to be a skill-using support character. Archaeologist gives up all of their party-supporting abilities in order to essentially become an alternative to a rogue. Still useful, but it can't do the main thing that bards are typically praised for. Tacticslion wrote: Also, bards are some of the best skill monkeys in the game, over time. My friend and I did the math; even if a bard only picks 2 of the base versatile performances and uses their others for Masterpieces or Martial Performance, they have an effective 8+Int skill points per level. Taking Act, Dance, Oratory, and Percussion lets you effectively turn 6+Int skill points into 10+Int skill points, with one versatile performance left to use on the Advanced options.Even if you only pick one versatile performance, you can pump up its effectiveness with the Expanded Versatility option. By level 18 you could potentially turning a single skill point in that Perform check into ranks in six other skills. On top of that, Bards are the best Knowledge skill monkeys in the game, except for maybe the Mindchemist and the Investigator at early levels. ![]()
WhiteMagus2000 wrote:
My group does away with weight altogether except for exceptionally heavy items, like chests made of adamantine. Instead we go for how much you'd realistically be able to carry. RAW, you might be able to carry 20 barrels, but there's no realistic way to carry that many of something so bulky. ![]()
Remind them that buildings and dungeons are often rooted into the ground in some way (a building's foundation, the fact that dungeons are usually built underground, etc.). Just because they could theoretically fling buildings around doesn't mean they can just automatically rip the thing out of its extremely sturdy base in the ground. The building might be within their weight limit, but the building plus the ground is definitely not. Even caving in the ceiling would likely require the ceiling to be damaged in some way first so they can pull pieces out of it. ![]()
I've got a rough idea hashed out for two of the minions. They're sort of "manifestations" of four minions that the BBEG was using as prison wardens for the beings that the party has sought out to aid them against the main villain.
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