Finlanderboy's page

Wow. That is a HUGE difference in our local cultures.

I do not know if you ever saw this, but I have plenty of times. That blank look of people that know that someone will have to get sent home. They all want to play and are excited to, but they do not want to be the jerk to exclude someone else. So they sit silent and continue setting up the game as if they were playing so they do not get sent home. Now often this gets broken by someone offering to sit out, break up tables, but sometimes someones believes someone has to go and becomes exclusive so they can keep the game they wanted to play. Maybe you are the hero enough to prevent that(evil only exists where good people do nothing). I can be a touch too aggressive against the people that suggestion exclusion.

I am not saying my area is mean and exclusive, but something different. I want to say lazy, unsympathetic, or whatever I am not sure the exact word. Ignorant of others I guess.

When I read Bear gray post it screams that bear gray had a similar situation. That everyone was playing go ready play and started leaving Bear gray out.

Bear obviously did not understand why they did not get to play. That is definitely an issue. There is no speculating that. No one sent home should be left wondering why they did not get to play. I know a local VO will/has spoken with him. This is an opportunity to make up for a misunderstanding and build a great friendship.

I'm pretty sure that just about ALL organizers try REALLY REALLY hard not to send somebody home. I know that I do. And nearly always succeed.

I disagree. Some do not think about it and just send people home. I have seen one send 2 people home instead of splitting their 6 player table when I volunteered to be the second DM. I spoke with my local VL about it at the time and the organizer apologized. I have seen countless organizers first suggestion is to send people home, and if I am there I make a stink about that.

I feel it is in bad taste to ever send someone home. When I organize events I will never send someone home. I have bribed another DM to come with lunch, I convince a player to DM for the first time as I sat behind him and shadowed him the whole time, and many other things.

I honestly feel sending someone home is a cardinal sin. I do not know what your organizer did to try and make tables happen, but it is a shame you left feelign that way. I feel something was missed if you left feeling cheated.

I have a work friend from manilla looking to start playing. Where do game sget played at?

i have seen multiple times where someone with a character way below the power curve dragged a team up a tier.

I was DMing a traitors lodge where a level 7 brought the group up. I knew she built weak characters, but when her raging barbarian had a hard time break double digits for damage I knew the table was in trouble.

The perception of the verbal population seems to agree the feat is overpowered. Lune seems to have not convinced anyone otherwise. I do not see a anyone really asking for it other than Lune. Until these are remedied the status quo will remain.

I have a Monk/rogue/inquisitor

I use the Thug archetype for the intimidate fear effects, with the enforcer feat so nonlethal damage gives me a free intimidate, and then inquisitor conversion inquisition to use wisdom for intimidate.

Intimidating is very easy to break, the DC to intimidate is their hit dice + wis modifier. A 1 does not auto fail so it is easy to auto intimidate people if you want. Now thug can make them frightened, and that forces them to runaway.

Now every punch can cause the bad guys to run away.

I stacked it with boar style for the bonus to intimidate plus when they flee it often provokes getting an extra attack to rend and cause bleed. SO they run away bleeding.

I think the feat does too much for the requiring too little. Dex to damage is a huge advantage. That is one big feature. Now you have a one handed reach weapon. Yes there is the whip but it is exotic,has issues hurting people in armor and it provokes. You can adjust the reach which is a nice feature which I feel is a lone worth the feat. Lastly allows you to do piercing damage. Minor but an extra feature.

So now you have four benefits each one possibly worth 1 feat alone wrapped into the cost of one. I would be annoyed if this got allowed.

I would suggest a variant tiefling. The -2 cha hurts as that is their big stat. There are other types of teiflings that give a +2 cha instead. Depending on what type f half evil outsider she wants to be would vary greatly what to pick. As the stat bumps or drops, spell like abilities, skill bonuses change.

As for spells. Sorcerers are very skilled at stalling. Grease is I would argue is the best level 1 spell for that. As it is useful at any level. Create pit is a great level 2 spell for battle field shenanigans. The higher level versions tend to lose their usefulness compared to what else there is. Level 3 my favorite is Aqueous orb. Pick people up and move them. Possibly into the pit you just created. Beyond that it become preference.

I would suggest getting spells that target all the saves, those I suggested are reflex saves. Color spray, hypnotic pattern are good will saves. Fort does not have as many strong debuff. Blindness/deafness is decent.

I would suggest Kyton-Spawn
Ability Modifiers +2 Con, +2 Cha, –2 Wis
Alternate Spell-Like Ability Shackleborn gain web as a spell-like ability.

Stats
str 7
Dex 12
Con 16
Wis 8
int 10
CHa 20

For a debuffer you need your spells to work. If they save your character could be in serious trouble. Some would argue spendign so much on cha is a waste, but I disagree completely. Especially at higher levels. A strength score is only needed to keep a shadow from killing you.

For bloodline Infernal. You get +2 cha bonus further here(more spells, higher dcs yay!). Plus Charm school of spells get a +2 dc on top of that. So out of the gate charm person is DC 19. For level 1 stuff that is pretty rough. If she picked spell focus enchantment bump that to 20.

Then focus on raising her CHA. A metamagic rod of persistence is like a bazooka in your hands. For 3 spells a day all saves regarding that spell must be made 2 times.

After you have your stop bad guy spells you can pick things like vanish, invisibility, blur, fly, haste, and whatever utility spells that are missing from your group.

Another thing you could do, is take the feat improved fiendish sorcery. Then take cross blooded sorcerer with Rakshasa bloodline as well and get an additional +2 cha bonus on your spells. This would massively stunt your spell selection, but each spell would be more powerful. At low level this would hit you harder. I would not do this if the game does not plan to go into high level.

In a home game I had a player that his character actively provoked the other PCs on a constant basis. He also would get the party in trouble for no benefit wasting resources cleaning his messes he often fled so the party would fix.

One day his character gets removed play and one of the PCs has a wish they have been sitting on that can cure him. He tells the group his next character will be worse if they do not save his current character.

Now as the DM this is where I spoke with him about being needlessly being antagonistic. That he created these problems and showed him why.
Since then he has cleaned up a lot and realized he was a problem.

As a side note, I do not just say players have to accept a new PC into the group. I make the player think of a reason why they would join this group, why the group would use them, and then work them into the story.

I'm a mammoth rider with a huge tiger. He has grab on all three of his natural attacks. From experience I can tell you, he consistently takes out one enemy by either killing it in the process or at least holding it until we're finished with the rest.

Get that tiger some anaconda's coil to add constrict on all those grapples.

There are a couple of things I'm wondering about.

I'm thinking I'd rather have a bonded object than a familiar...any thoughts? I don't mind the additional abilities, but I just don't know if I want it. Too complicated. Also the bonded object could grow with me without having to take an Improved Familiar feat. I'm thinking I also don't need to invest in UMD either.

Thinking of taking a ring as my object and putting Feather Fall on it. I could add different spells to it as I level up, and maybe ultimately have something equivalent to a Ring of Splendid Security. Interested in thoughts on familiar vs object.

J

I would suggest bonded item. The recall ability allows you to cast almost any spell from your spell book once a day. Both of my PFS wizards have this and it has saved someones life at least half a dozen times. Now the companion is strong too. I just like the versatility you get. If you chose not to prepare that one spell and bad things happen you now have it

The ability to enchant it is just gravy. I would avoid father fall as your bonded item could cast it the times you need it, just have it in your spell book. Invisibility is huge especially if you spam summon monsters. There are just so many better options

As for your favored class bonus to teleport. I would go with the HP. Your int is super high and 8+ times a day(since you will increase your int every chance you get) is usually more than enough.

It's not damaging to the CR, imo, if there's a potential in-play issue (Say, STR drops to below able to carry all gear, for one). THAT is where the challenge is, not in recovering from the effect.

Str damage does not effect carrying capacity.

the Diviner wrote:

A few tips.

I would suggest reducing your Int to 19. 20 is rarely worth it at level 1 in my opinion. And then use the points on increasing either Dex/Con or Wis.

As it appears that crafting is something you use in your games I suggest getting Craft Wondrous item at some point.

And if you like the various cloud spells then consider either the Goz mask or the Fog cutting lenses (I personally prefer the mask).

Also depending on your group such a tactic could allow any ranged character to shoot at enemies in such a cloud while they are flat-footed.

(Another creative uses of this would be to go Arcane trickster using the Accomplished sneak attacker feat and a single rogue or another sneak attacking class level.)

I am planning on taking CWI very early. I'm not sure why you'd say take my Int from 20 to 19? Sure I could use the points, but why 19 and not 18?

J

I disagree with having a 19 in a one stat class like wizard. But the idea is that the cost between the two is rather large. You could drop your wisdom to 10 and bump con to 14 with the difference.

But as I stated earlier you have one stat your class needs to do what they needs to do. The rest is gravy so I say blast INT as high as possible and let your spells protect you.

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

andreww wrote:

Disk Elemental wrote:

andreww wrote:

In what world does a heavens oracle count as a healer?

Golarion?

Considering they can spontaneously cast Cure Spells, as well as casting off the Cleric list?

Well obviously, but the post suggested that the characters primary role at the table was as a healer in a 10-11, which partly accounted for hour long encounters. If you are a level 10/11 heavens oracle and you are spending your time casting cure spells you are quite probably doing it wrong.

You're outta your element, Andy. Don't talk about tables you weren't at.

Healer is not the preferred nomenclature.

Given that pickiness for role of healer I never player a game with that definition of healer

You know these stories are why some people hate Pathfinder, right? Especially in organized play when one bad roll literally means your character just died.

Unless a poorly written scenario, poor Dm, or both dictate things should never come down to a single die roll. You should never be scripted into something before you have a chance to do something.

That being said. It should be poor choices or a series of dice rolls leads to that one bad one finishing you off.

Maintaining a grapple gives you a +5. So it is often easier to maintain grappling once you got it.

Plus if you find the target has an AC that is higher than their CMD it can be easier to grapple.

You can not do crit damage maintaining a grapple although, but that is a small price to pay.

Finlanderboy wrote:

I enforce it even on myself. It is pretty easy to move to avoid it.

My guy often enlarges to reach over soft cover.

How do you 'reach over' soft cover?

Being large gives you 8 squares you can attack from. Plus large with a reach weapon usually allows you to attack 20 feet away. so if you have a buddy right in front of you and a bad guy 20 feet away you reach right over your friend attacking from your top square.

I enforce it even on myself. It is pretty easy to move to avoid it.

My guy often enlarges to reach over soft cover.

I will make suggestions to characters all the time, but I do not care if they listen or not. It is usually a one line quip like, you thought of buying your character a X. Then if they ask me questions about it I will then carry the conversation on. This is me fishing for people to talk about their characters and a game we both enjoy. If they answered no, my cleric believes X are bad. I get excited and discus that with them as well.

I will also happily play with someone that wants to play a weaker character. I played with a scenario where a level 11 grapple white haired witch got killed by 2 cr 2 crocodiles int he first round of the first combat(she even pulled us up to the next tier).

If they are enjoying being their character(no matter how strong/weak they are), then they are winning at Pathfinder.

I do not get why people are knowingly being jerks to other players and the GMs do not put a kabash to it.

Personally if i had a undead hating character and played with an undead loving character. That would be awesome. This is a perfect opposite to yoru character to exemplify what your character is(in literature they call this a foil) to expand the roleplay of your character. You can show how your character stands on the subject by being next to this other guy. But it does not mean you make that players game worse off.

It is inevitable a that two pathfinder agents would be put together that disagree. So this WILL happen to your character as well. The idea is to roleplay this out in an entertaining way for both of you.

When I have strongly opinionated I never enforce my will on others but I always voice their opinions. Then I say out of character, this is what my character believes and tell the other players go ahead and ignore him if you want. You can agree to disagree in a make belief game.

If you know you are building a character that you are unable to roleplay in a cooperative manor then as Mr. Jonquet stated please do not bring it to a PFS table. If you really wanna play it in PFS learn how to make your character cooperative to the polar opposites.

I have a character that steals everything he can. I would tell the law officer PC that I use bluff to try to trick him into allowing me to steal.

I have a PC that refuses to kill living things. Over half a dozen times other PCs coupe de graz. The bad guys i tie up and heal before i can even question them. Yes it is a jerk move on their part, but I just cry in character and then complain about them being murders.

well you slowly level your characters, and a pet is received until level 4.

Keep in mind how advanced your kid is and that he will be slowly learning these new things as levels.

The biggest factor I find is how into the game they get. If you child really gets into the game he may surprise you a great deal.

I would suggest admixture wizard with magic knack. This gives you two levels that do no lower your level in casting.

With a dip in dual blooded sorcerer. Then you trade your first level blood line power of claws for blood line mutation from magic tactic toolbox. This gives + damage per die you of damage.

So this dip gives +3 to damage per die rolled. This is a little short of doubling the damage your dice do.

Now up above they have lotsa ways to further raise that. The dip in sorc will also make it easier for your forbidden schools. So you can lose necromancy and divination. Then get detect magic as a sorc spell.

But by 13 you should be tossing out evocation spells like that do average of around 200 damage

So what you're saying is that "Your princess is in another castle" and you wish she'd stay there so you can kick some Koopa butt on your own terms?

You sir provided a better response than I ever could and I am jealous

I think raw would allow either to have the expanded crit range. As in keen it only says the weapon must been keen to have this benefit. But you are splitting hairs at that point.

In my home game I would say only when piercing.

Every save they have to make for that spell must be made twice.

Keyword below , Whenever.

Benefit: Whenever a creature targeted by a persistent spell or within its area succeeds on its saving throw against the spell, it must make another saving throw against the effect. If a creature fails this second saving throw, it suffers the full effects of the spell, as if it had failed its first saving throw. A persistent spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level. Spells that do not require a saving throw to resist or lessen the spell’s effect do not benefit from this feat.

This is a DM issue, and nto player one.

The DM let the player take the game in a different direction and seems to just be going with it. This is great a DM can do this, but they must be able to continue the game if they are not there

When I Dm I let players make up the world that involves their characters's backgrounds, but any holes I get to make up. So if the player is missing going on their quest. I will get to fill int he holes when they are gone and that becomes canon.

Finlanderboy wrote:

Backpack wrote:

This topic is a hard one for me because i personally think the being middle of the road with much of your stats is the more optimal choice. Ie. not having 7's in the stats. However, my opinion is that if one player is causing the rest of the table to not have fun, then you need to talk to him. If he still refuses to change then let him walk.

There is a huge difference between having 7s in one or more slots and putting 13 in everything.

No i think that thirteens in all stats is ridiculous,also it would assuming a 20pt stat buy be one 16 and the rest 13, but like 16, 14, 14, 12, 12, 11 seems, while not optimal, decent.

Personally the "best" stats in a 20 pt buy would be 18,14,13,12,10,10

The OP is stating the guy has all 13s, hence the +1 to all modifiers. Using power attack with his twohandeder he is no modifier to hit and +4 to damage.

If i played in this game I would never rely on his character so succeed. Either of your stat arrays I would not worry until I saw tactics that proved otherwise.

Klorox wrote:

Why do you think a typo is my best guess? for a monster in that spell's array, the gorilla as is is actually underpowered... plus that strength is ridiculously low to portray the monster apes of fiction and RPG.

It should be exceedingly obvious that the aggressive gorillas portrayed in movies are at the extreme edge of what movie/TV directors feel they can get away with. In no way does TV or film attempt to accurately depict gorilla strength. The Bestiary gorilla is the Commoner version of the gorilla, not the made-for-entertainment fiction you see on screen.

Jeraa wrote:

If it was Str 20, it would match the 1600 pound bench press given earlier (you aren't moving around during a bench press). (Str 20 is 400 pounds, x2 for being Large, stagger around with double that = 1600)

There's about zero credible or valid scientific evidence that gorillas can "bench press" anything close to 1600 pounds. Your average wild ape may be lucky to bench press 800 pounds...if that.

It's fascinating to see how once sensationalized information gets implanted in a community, people cling to it, despite any and all evidence to the contrary.

There was a Tv show were the top athlete across the world competed with animals. They had a top sumo wrestler tug of war against an orangutan. Once th orangutan understood what it was doing it pulled it out his hands like i would a small child.

Now this is not perfect science but strongly represents the strength of a large primate compare to a high strength human.

*edit the show was man vs beast. I bet a Youtube search may find you what i was referring to.

This topic is a hard one for me because i personally think the being middle of the road with much of your stats is the more optimal choice. Ie. not having 7's in the stats. However, my opinion is that if one player is causing the rest of the table to not have fun, then you need to talk to him. If he still refuses to change then let him walk.

There is a huge difference between having 7s in one or more slots and putting 13 in everything.

I have an aasimar paladin whose own familiar (from the Chosen One archetype) describes her as "Nice girl, but not the sharpest katana in the sheathe, if you know what I mean".

She's actually not that dumb. I kept intelligence at 10 for the skill ranks, but went for the typical dumped wisdom paladin thing, since her Will saves get her charisma bonus. I play her as naive, not really stupid. On the other hand, the familiar (thrush, so it speaks common) has 15 wisdom, so his combined int + wis has been higher than hers from day one. It'll take a few more levels for the bird's int to catch up to 10, though.

Speaking of funny characters, that one's fun to play, but sometimes I think other people think it's a funnier concept than I do. She's Japanese Tien-Min, with a talking songbird familiar, so she can best be described as a cross between an anime girl and a Disney princess. My biggest complaint is that song thrush familiars have no skill at perform (sing).

I have a Nagaji Bloorager int of 5 with a Sage figment tumor familiar. His imaginary cancer pet is much smarter than him.

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Lady-J wrote:

depending on your race and how lucky you are will rolls you can get up to 3 20s at level 1

There are no races that give three +2s (that Aasimar chart in Blood of Angels requires DM approval, and should be disregarded as out of date) and your chance of rolling an 18 on a single 4d6 drop low is 1.620%, so it's not the sort of thing you should expect happening multiple times per character.

Well, there's Merfolk, which have bonuses to Dex, Con, and Cha. Still unlikely.

EDIT: What? I didn't say the S-word!

you said "s Merf" in "Well, there's Merfolk"

If he wants to play a worthless character take that in account on your strategy and just play the game you want to play.

As long as he is not makign demands you have to play a different style there should be no problem.

Finlanderboy wrote:

The exploitable part of a reach weapon is that they DOUBLE your reach. So you can double the bonuses you get from reach. Enlarged people smacking people 20+ feet away is pretty crazy.

I'd avoid enlarge person though, since it has problems with the doughnut that a 5' step can't solve. Armor spikes are a thing, but they are a light secondary weapon- never quite good.

I tend to just be happy with a long arm and lunge.

But I won't get any further into distance v. area.

My barb alchemist, mutagens, longs arms, and then enlarges. He hits people across the room. With his reach weapon. Since i can reach over my buddies since i am larger than them. To get up to me they have to go through my buddies and my AOs. The distance also allows him to safely buff and still take AOs while my allies withdraw forcing the bad guys to provoke to engage them.

The armor spikes are rarely used.

The exploitable part of a reach weapon is that they DOUBLE your reach. So you can double the bonuses you get from reach. Enlarged people smacking people 20+ feet away is pretty crazy.

OMG. You actually track how many PC's you've killed?

I have a strong enough memory looking over the games I DMed I can tell you what happened and what was played at the table. The deaths are even more memorable.

I can be a fierce Dm, besides we be goblins. I have TPKed 2(king of storval stairs, and the traitors lodge). I have defeated the party more times than that. As I am prone to let the PCs escape or have the bad guys spare the PCs.

Although shadows are very dangerous, and their dumb CR rating I have turned a few PCs into shadows. Wraiths can be equally dangerous. I Dmed a scenario with them and one of the player was upset that they put them in encounter until I showed their tactics were to equally hit all the players and I was running them stupid per script.

I have never been part of a TPK as a player.

Well detect magic takes 3 rounds for them to pinpoint and know you are bad.

The first round they detect the presence of magic. Next round the number of auras and the power of the most pwoerful. Third round round they got you.

If you are sneaking up on someone and they are casting magic, do not stay in their field of vision for more than 1 round.

If you can stealth out of their cone before the second round and there are other magical auras there, they will never know you were there.

As a Player I use detect magic to shoot through any door I encounter before I enter as you can shoot through that as well. I have found bad guys hiding places because they carry magical gear.

Blindness/deafness cast to make the target deaf

I did this in the second rats of round mountain. Had the same effect though.

I never seen an unchained summoner, grippli, vigilante, or physic yet.

Wizards were rare until I made a blaster wizard and several people copied it.

Gnomes and wayangs are pretty rare in my experience.

Prestige classes are also very rare.

Finlanderboy wrote:

As a sorcerer you can get a long spear to threaten from a distance. so you can stand behind your pet and threaten. The sad part of this combo is that you will not get to take advantage of improved trip.

I am a bigger fan of spiritual weapon and toppling. As a cleric you do not get this spell until 3rd, but improved trip you can get at 9th. So if your weapon knocks a guy down it threatens. You can still get the pet through the animal domain. Plus you have better armor if you wanna get closer and threaten as well.

I think you're thinking of Greater Trip - but feat-starved as Clerics (and Sorcerers) are, that's a lot to invest for what is, at best a secondary tactic. The wolf can't take Combat Expertise (Intelligence 13 pre-req) and even a Cleric doesn't get it until 9th level, by which time more than 2/3 of your PFS career has passed...

Well the cleric does not live off of the greater trip, just a nice addition you get at level 9. Just like your sorcerer would not just trip.

Either way a spiritual weapon is very viable for toppling as well.

Monk of the four winds gets elemental fist at first level. You can also take a master of many style with it. This way you could pick madrid style at level one and do a bonus to cold damage with increases reach.

As a sorcerer you can get a long spear to threaten from a distance. so you can stand behind your pet and threaten. The sad part of this combo is that you will not get to take advantage of improved trip.

I am a bigger fan of spiritual weapon and toppling. As a cleric you do not get this spell until 3rd, but improved trip you can get at 9th. So if your weapon knocks a guy down it threatens. You can still get the pet through the animal domain. Plus you have better armor if you wanna get closer and threaten as well.

My second pfs game I was playing withe current VL that had a DHampir. He made abig deal to let everyone know he had a high disguise and appeared human. I did not realize what this meant, and had a character that would take him for his word he is a human. So I did not worry about it.

He jumps a pit and gets ganked by a demon hiding and starts bleeding out. I bravely jump across and make a valiant effort to drop a CLW potion down his throat to try and save him. Oops. Although he made his save and did not die outright.

Even the player sullenly agreed this should have happened. it was pretty interesting when everyone started reacting when I attempted to save him.

I feel that if a GM is going to be luring PCs into false adventure hooks and misleading them into traps, I wouldn't be playing at their table.

An adventure takes cooperation on both GM and Player part. I will promise not to be a cynical b@stard if the GM promises not to screw me over at every occasion.

I do NOT read people well. I do not pick up subtle undertones of what people might be saying. It is something that bites me in the @rse in RL. I am unsuited for any kind of politicking. I don't want to come to a world where I have to be reminded of my failures in RL.

Most APs are railroads. Some more, some less. The Railroadish nature makes the AP easier to run for the GM. If the players want to do as they like, then that's more in Homebrew territory.

I set traps for my players with adventure hooks frequently. I have people lie and cheat the PCs, but I also reward them for making checks. Sense motive, perception and an assortment of skills or abilities can see these coming. A DM should set ambushes for the players, but also give the players a fair chance to notice them. Now if the player can not notice undertones, that should not matter. You are not your character. Your character may be able to notice them well. That is why I reward the checks your character makes not the skills you have in real life.

If I had a player not want to go I would try to convince them to go, but not participate. They do not have to carry the coffin. Just be in the area.

Definitely. Channel smite just says melee attack roll, and that would be a cure light wounds.

Finlanderboy wrote:
It takes practice to balance things with a party. I usually start the PCs off against light hitting high HP monsters to test them. Then From there you can use their AC, Hp, to hit, damage, and special abilites to calculate fights. For example if the the pcs get a +10 to hit and average 15 dmg, they will 21 ac 50%, so if i want the fight to last 10 rnds the monster gets 75 HP. Then you can adjust from there. Once you are practiced in this you no longer need to do the math you just will know what the stats need to be based on the challenge of the fight.
That's definitely good advice. Part of the problem was also the wide variety in character abilities (last time I struggled with challenging some players and not one-shotting other characters). That's what the "no ability score higher then 16 and no buy downs" is responsible for. Minimising the variety between characters.

Rebalancing the party is easy. When you see players start to grow well beyond their allies you can give the weaker players things that make them more equal.

Dming is the illusion of choice. I know what my player will usually do before they do it. But if I have a player getting outdone by all the other player I offer them a choice i know they will accept that boons them with something that bumps them up. I advice against dragging other down as they will hate their character, but benefiting one player will often appreciate there more.

Finlanderboy wrote:

Just adjust the opponents if your players stomp them.

Yup. Tried that. Campaign didn't run that well as a result (with me relieved when it finally ended. I haven't run a Pathfinder game in the 3.5 years since).

It takes practice to balance things with a party. I usually start the PCs off against light hitting high HP monsters to test them. Then From there you can use their AC, Hp, to hit, damage, and special abilites to calculate fights. For example if the the pcs get a +10 to hit and average 15 dmg, they will 21 ac 50%, so if i want the fight to last 10 rnds the monster gets 75 HP. Then you can adjust from there. Once you are practiced in this you no longer need to do the math you just will know what the stats need to be based on the challenge of the fight.

But first I need a baseline. So with these restrictions what is the optimal fighter combat machine that can be made?

This is not a fair question to ask. If you find a person that is very tactical with strong team support and synergy you will blast the power curve.

With those factors it is hard to determine baseline strength since the game rarely has the PCs fight in a vacuum.

Just adjust the opponents if your players stomp them.

Finlanderboy wrote:

I think the largest problem with the shadow is the inability of many creatures that can harm it. Since you need a magical weapon to hurt it. Many encounters do not have one so just send the shadow ina nd everyone else sit back.

At the levels you gain it the scenarios would be awfully weird for the monster not to have any counter.

You need creatures with gear. So lots of natural weapon monsters can not do a thing.

They've had a lot of success with Superstar and found a lot of good freelancers (Neil Spicer, Mikko, and TONS of others). However, it's very time consuming for them.

I think it's more than reasonable to believe their work on Starfinder is eating up that extra time that they typically devoted to the contest.

I'm hopeful Superstar will return next year (and I hope it'll return at the end of the year again, as I liked it better then), though I have no way of knowing for sure it will.

And for what it's worth, since there were two "seasons" of Superstar last year, it's not like we've really missed out on one. 2016's just came six months early.

That is a very fair statement.

I think the largest problem with the shadow is the inability of many creatures that can harm it. Since you need a magical weapon to hurt it. Many encounters do not have one so just send the shadow ina nd everyone else sit back.