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Hello All
I've been making the round seeing how I can get this moving. I've contacted both @PaizoOrgPlay and @PFSOPC on Twitter, along with making a Reddit thread to discuss the benefits and flaws of allowing the Monster Tactician in PFS.
I was told to post something to the "Pathfinder Society general discussion" board to help move this along. Not sure how this works so I'll just state my case.
I love the idea of the Monster Tactician because of it being a Divine-based summoner essentially. While I like the Summoner well enough, I wanted something that's more focused on Buffing/Supporting with some skill versatility, which frankly is often lacking at any PFS table you sit at. The more we can encourage classes/archetypes with skill versatility, the less likely tables are to get "stuck" in certain skill based challenges.
I also understand the flaws of allowing this class. The Inquisitor is already a complex class with a lot of moving parts. Adding to that the inclusion of a SLA Summon will further exacerbate that issue. Often the worry is about a single player burdening the game with taking too long on their turns. There's also the concern about the class being too "powerful" with the addition of the SLA ability summons in addition to the summons getting the Teamwork feats. To that end I'd like to address each of these points as part of my respectful petition.
Flaws
1: Burden of Complexity
While I certainly understand and share these concerns, I also find it a little odd that this particular archetype gets shunned for that aspect when there are plenty of other classes that share the same level of complexity, if not more so. Take for instance any of the Animal Shaman archetypes for the Druid.
The Druid is already a complex class, but on top of that you're introducing 3 additional templates players have to manage for their summons (Which also turn into Standard Actions at level 5 with Spontaneous Summons) and making Wild Shape (Already a very complex class feature) even more complex by working at different effective levels. I don't know how anyone could play this build without the assistance of Hero Lab. Now I'm not saying all complex classes and archetypes should be banned, I just don't see it as being a good reason to ban this archetype. Honestly, if the player doesn't take a Domain that grants an Animal Companion, then it will operate a lot easier and this isn't really a concern.
Perhaps there could be a minor restriction with allowing the Archetype, that the player just can't take the Animal/Fur/Feather domains (Just spit balling here).
2: Too Powerful
To begin with, I completely agree that SLA Summons are a very powerful class feature. Summoners can’t even use it without dumping their Eidolon. People then argue that combine that with the Inquisitor’s Bane feature, and the class will be a power house. I argue that the Archetype forces a very difficult decision on the player.
Basically the Summoner can either go Eidolon focused, dumping all their feats to buff the Eidolon, or SLA focused by investing their feats into their Summon feature. Much like Ranged combat, Summoning comes with a feat requirement. To be effective, you HAVE to take Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning just to begin with. Later, so your summons are still effective despite DR, you’ll need to gain access to Moonlight/Sunlight/Starlight Summons to help stay relevant in Combat, else any kind of DR will drastically reduce the effectiveness of your summons.
This same “Sophie’s Choice” (I’m dating myself) would also apply to the Monster Tactician. If they want to keep being effective as either a Martial combatant or their SLA Summons, they’ll need to make some tough choices. Ranged Combat is right out the window. Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot in Combination with Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning means that you won’t be fully up and running in either category till level 7, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg with both those categories. Sure, the Bane feature will “help” but as a class that’s already at a Medium BAB, the Bane feature won’t help as much to bypass potential -8 attack rolls if you’re missing those key feats. Yet if you invest in those key feats, your summons will drastically suffer, and even worse at later levels they won’t really be able to do much if they can’t bypass DR. They just become another Warm body on the battlefield.
Melee is a bit better, but now we expose ourselves to Concentration checks since the Summon feature is a Spell Like Ability. Also remember though, Melee has its own level of feat requirements to stay effective, like Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Vital Strike, etc... All this continues to detract from your SLA Summon feature and makes you tepid in either category.
Benefits
1: Skills skills skills
I don’t know about you guys, but all too often I’ve been sitting at a table and there’s been a significant lack of relevant skills amongst the player base. I totally get this is more of a regional problem, but it’s still a problem. As the Seasons march onwards the skills challenges are becoming more varied and even more important. I know the Archetype doesn’t add anything specific to the skills of the Inquisitor, but getting players to run more skill versatile classes only helps the tables.
2: Increasing quasi-healers at the table.
As with skills, there tends to be a lack of people who can cast cure spells on a reliable basis. This is actually one the primary draws for me of this class because I love the idea of a support build (If approved I plan on going with the Defense domain) that can buff, cure, and support while also dropping beefy summons on the table to help allies. That, to me, fits the name of “Tactician”. It’s actually one of the reasons why I’m not attracted to the Summoner, because I’m not a fan of their spell list. While they do have Haste, and some other okay spells, they’re an arcane caster so their spells are going to be more offensive just by their very nature.
Of course Summoners don’t get access to Fireballs or many of the powerful Evocation spells, but we all know that being a powerful Arcane caster isn’t always about the Evocation spell school. Summoners get access to the Pit spells, and many other of the very powerful Conjuration spells that can really turn the tide of battle, like Grease or Cloudkill! So while the Inquisitor may have more powerful class features (Like Summon Tactics) I argue that the Summoner has much more powerful offensive capabilities just from their Spell List alone in comparison to the Monster Tacticians class features.
If you stuck with me this long, thank you. I’m very sorry I ranted this long because honestly I have no idea what this post was supposed to look like to get the Archetype approved. I just think it’d be a fun Archetype to play. I know many people argue that I should just play it in a home campaign but due to real life issues PFS is my only outlet for RPing right now, so I’m just doing what I would in a home campaign. I’m appealing to the person(s) who run the show to see if they’ll let me play what I’d like to play.
Thank you,
Ben
