Drakxldp's page

If you don't have the earlier ability, it probably behooves you to keep taking epiphanies so you're not getting useless stuff.

I was afraid that would be the most apt answer.

The only issue with that I have is "why play [Base] connection..." if you are going to be forced to 'hop' into a second one to make up for something you lost trying to not be 'like every other [same] connection'. I like the idea of the mystic but it feels like they spent all their efforts giving other classes multiple options to make the class PCs want to play and ran out of time to make the 'space cleric' dynamic.

I feel like I'm going to have to take a hippy approach and let my PC 'go with the flow' so they don't feel like a pre-made character with their face instead of the iconic hero pic.

Number 1 could be a reasonable Advice answer.

I believe 2/3 is the Rules answer. Of course they aren't so much "out of luck" as "taking another epiphany".

Im leaning towards number one since I am of the mind set 'variety is the spice of life' when it comes to character creation. It almost feels like they forgot that the Mystic is kind of 'cookie-cutter' when they made the Epiphanies and missed that line. Star Shaman and the Shadow connections are the only ones I know of that suffer from that, but I don't see a problem with letting a player lose a 'stronger' ability for a 'weaker' one they missed to avoid redundancy.

This may have been touched on somewhere but my google-fu is probably failing me. Looking into the Epiphanies I have found something confusing me. They 'replace' the features given at set levels for the Mystic but the Mystic lacks any kind of "may chose lower level abilities when learning new connection powers" tag line (as they were not originally designed with this feature in mind). This is not bad for most connections but there are a few that have compounding abilities like the Star Shaman's Starlight form.

So, in the event that someone takes the Epiphanies [Improved/Greater] Secondary Connection and you lose an ability that is required by later connection powers, what is the solution?

1)Allow the PC to take the lower level connection power 'late' because of the Epiphany 'delaying' their development?

2)Force the PC to take the Improved/Greater versions, and possibly gain a 15th and 18th level connection power that is useless?

3)Every power is gained at the level it should be gained and if you get one that requires something you don't have (due to the Epiphanies) then 'oh well, them's the breaks'?

An old thread, I know, but for any still looking at this idea, I have a few questions about the way this spell acts and how to get some more out of it.

Diego Rossi showed an FAQ that says "effects that affect weapons work on these spells" referring to weapon spells like Flame Blade. What about Warpriest and his Sacred Weapon?

Halfling Warpriest8/Green Scourge12:
Favored Class Warpriest 8lvls (+2 Warpriest lvl for Sacred Weapon Damage)
Lvl 6 Druid spells/Lvl 3 Warpriest spells

As "effects that affect weapons work on these spells" includes Weapon Focus (linchpin of Warpriest's Sacred Weapon) does that mean the Flame Blade becomes 1d10 damage with a +2 enhancement bonus that can be used for a few special qualities not on the Green Scourge's list? Could you even take the Fire Blessing and use the minor blessing to give the weapon an extra 1d4 Fire damage? Or the Strength Blessing to get 1/2 your lvl (+4) added to your attacks with it?

Sorry to bring this back up, but I have been looking at something similar and was curious just how far "effects that affect weapons work on these spells" actually goes.

I have been looking at the Mad Dog and find something odd that I wanted to have clarified. Its not the only class to reference "class level -x" for effective rage level and I saw one thread talking some but saw something that does not make sense. People were saying that it limited your rage powers, but rage powers do not require Rage X they need Barbarian X, so the limit would only be to your number of rage rounds.

The reason I'm lost on this is that the powers Ferocious Beast and Greater Ferocious Beast come from the same book as the Mad Dog, tailor made for the archetype. The first two levels that the Mad dog can even GET rage powers are at 4 and 8, right when he gets rage and can share it with his pet and the min. level for the Greater version in that order.

By what others have said. if the rage powers are limited by that -3 then you would only be able to take the base at 4 and not get the Greater untill level 12 (1 level past the 'effective' min requirement). It seems odd that powers that seem to be made FOR the archetype can not be take by the archetype at levels when the class would get their first 2 powers of only 5, outside of feats.

So,this at the main head of my confusion, does "A mad dog gains this ability at 4th level, except that her effective barbarian level for the ability is equal to her barbarian level –3." affect Rage Power levels? Because even the Rage Power class feature does not reference Rage level, only Barbarian Level.

I know this is a bit late but one argument you can make with more recent additions is the Mad Dog archetype. You get a "war beast" (animal companion) and with the ferocious beats rage powers it can rage then take advantage of your "constant" rage powers. If you trained and raised it you can guide its combat instinct and, with GM approval, have a reason to the the above rage power. YOU get not benifit from it but the boar would, then combine that with the Beast Totems and you have a a boar with 2 claw attacks (hooves, thematically), more natural armor and pounce with a guaranteed crit threat on the chargeing gore. Takes to lvl 12 to pull this off but would be a sound reasoning behind being able to take this rage power while not meeting the "special" tag line.

I came to this page trying to find how people were reading this myself and I think I understand the wording now that I have seen a few other people's ideas. I think its less of a command and more of an f(x) function.

They did not feel the need to make a whole chapter of items and feats JUST for the bloodrager and since he is a meeting of the Berserker and Sorcerer, they had to make them able to use the existing feats, items, and abilities. Think in terms of Min/Max (not saying I approve but it makes sense when you do). ANY combo of classes and abilities is possible, they want people to play their own creations, so you want things to balance and flow. Enter OTHER sources of DR.

Dont look at it as it was said earlier (Dr=0+1, DR=0+1, ect.) but as DR = (x)+(y)+(z), ect. The "Effective Damage Reduction" listed by this ablilty is talking about the DR granted by the Spelleater feature. In any other case, you LOSE Damage Reduction to gain Blood of Life, but it makes sure you know WHEN you gain it from any other source (like feats that tend to require you to HAVE DR to raise it; another example of why this line exists) you basically HAVE a DR 0. So the (x) is your DR gained from Blood of Life (effective DR from its point of view) and any other source is ADDED to the effective DR. So it goes to DR = (Spelleater or 0) + (other class feature) + (feats) ect. Each time you gain a new source of DR, you plug this new value into the ever growing equation.

The oddly worded line is a detailed way of saying "you lose the Damage Reduction ability from levels 7, 10, 13, 16, and 19 but for any future reference you have a base DR of 0." Because a DR/- is non-existant but a DR/0 means you HAVE DR and can therefor take steps to RAISE it, at the expense of a feat that would enhance something else or another class feature at the expense of going to level 20 as a pure bloodrager Spelleater.

This is, however, my understanding and can be as flawed as any other, but I do hope this makes as much sense to someone else as it does to me.