GM_Pwning's page

Why can't people just play the classes and prestige classes as written instead of trying to find loopholes and break the game? There are traits and feats that help with the levels of rogue you have to take, the fact that others cheated before the developers clarified the requirements of the arcane trickster is bad enough, but then to attempt a respec and qualify for a prestige class by getting rid of the classes needed to enter that prestige class is plain stupidity. Grow up and play the game by the rules and quit trying to create your own rules.

I've got 3 pathfinder society arcane tricksters all with 3 levels of wizard and 3 levels of rogue, all are plenty powerful, 2 are more spell caster than rogue and 1 is a ninja killer.

/end rant

When the gm controls the flow of character creation, experience, money, and magic items, the gm has the power to adjust the game as needed to keep up the challenges.

Don't hate the player, hate the game!

I get harassed when my characters are awesome beyond their means, and players complain when my mobs, as a GM, use tactics instead of brute force, unless of course the mob is too dumb. My character is the Oracle above. Legacy of Fire campaign. Maybe I've been playing d&d too long lol.

I wanted to know which character just off of stats, gear, and abilities is the most solid, effective, and powerful character. We all know which player is the chess master.

Human Oracle (Fire) 14
HP 132
AC 37/19T/33FF
STR 18/22
DEX 16
CON 14
WIS 14
CHA 18/22

FORT 11
REFLEX 12
WILL 16

INIT +9
SPEED 40

BAB +11/+6

MAIN ATTACK WITH SHIELD EQUIPPED
+18/13 1D10 +20 +4 HOLY KEEN BASTARD SWORD POWER ATTACK.

FEATS
ACROBATIC STEPS, ARMOR LIGHT, ARMOR MEDIUM, BLADE OF MERCY, DODGE, ELEMENTAL SPELL COLD, EXOTIC WEAPON PROFICIENCY BASTARD SWORD, GREATER EVOCATION FOCUS, IMPROVED INITIATIVE, INTENSIFIED SPELL, NIMBLE MOVES, POWER ATTACK -3+6, REACTIONARY, SHIELD PROFICIENCY, WEAPONS ALL SIMPLE, EVOCATION FOCUS.

SPECIALS, BLADE OF MERCY, BLINDSENSE 30, CLOUDED VISION, DR FIRE 20, DARKVISION 60, FIRE BREATH 15' CONE, WINGS OF FIRE, CINDER DANCE +10SPEED.

SPELLS
0 9/...
1 5/8
2 7/8
3 6/7
4 6/7
5 5/7
6 3/6
7 1/3

GEAR
+3 DARKWOOD HEAVY WOODEN SHIELD, +3 MITHRAL CHAINMAIL, +4 HOLY KEEN BASTARD SWORD, AMULET OF NATURAL ARMOR +4, BELT GIANT STR +4, CLOAK OF RESISTANCE +4, HEADBAND OF CHA +4, METAMAGIC ROD QUICKEN LESSER, RING OF PROTECTION +5, STONE OF GOOD LUCK.

MOST USED SKILLS WITH ACTUAL RANKS
ACRO +10
CLIMB +10
DIPLOMACY +20
FLY +10
HEAL +15
HISTORY +15
PLANES +18
RELIGION +15
PERCEPTION +17
SENSE MOTIVE +10
SPELLCRAFT +18

I wish my players were good enough to use 25 point buy, they all have this idea that they can't be heroic unless they have a ton of high stats. They all want to roll 4d6 re-roll 1's and pick the 3 highest dice and some of them end up with 18, 17, 16, 16, 15, 14 then cry about not being powerful. I am going to try to enforce a new idea of 25 point buy with caps of 18 and minimums of 8 after racial adjustments. I just wish the other GM's I know would do the same. High stats make things too easy, takes away from the challenge and fun in my opinion.

Well, with more of the stats listed and equipment I must say that oracle looks pretty BA. But the ranger and bard still tie for first with thier flyby attacks and what not. Oracle close second, then cleric. I am not sure what else you want to be said here. Maybe I miss-understand what you mean by powerful. In their respectable jobs they all seem capable. Not sure why the bard never buffs the group though, is he a dervish dancer or something?

Arcane duelist bard, its a she and she is CG, selfish, only took bard for the spells and proficiencies so she can heal self, cast a few buffs, not sure if she knows that at level 7 its a move action to give everyone +2hit/dam but either way she wont perform ever...

Looking for more input.

Playing with a character with the following stats at level 12 (including stat-booster items) : 20/15/13/14/8/12, I really don't know where to begin if I want to see in which way you are overpowered... in comparison to your group.

Weird templates, lolwut stats, wtf wealth (350k ? It's level 17-to-18 wealth there) ; well, the answer is that you probably don't want to play a character that so much overshadows your friend's characters that it isn't even fun for them to play the sidekicks. Talk to your DM to lower your character's stats so that everyone can have fun at the table, including the DM.

Or heck, try point-buy stat generation next time, and throw "half-" templates in the bin.

Yeah i will try to convince the GM to use point buy from now on, but as for templates he likes to see people play unique and different things. As for the wealth, most was accumulated through wishes granting bonuses to weapons or just selling stuff that the GM placed in as random treasure like rods of this and that all worth over 50k each.

Sounds like you're just playing with a group that doesn't optimize and is ok being subpar. And it seems like you play with some extremely high stats, and half-dragon and half-celestial templates? I'd congratulate you on being the most powerful character of that bunch.

The GM likes to let people play wacky stuff, i prefer to use general book rules. We rolled stats 4d6 re-roll 1's and pick the 3 highest. I prefer to play point buy as well so the difference in characters isn't so noticeable but the GM wanted powerful characters.

I have an Oracle of Fire, should it be considered overpowered?

Human Oracle 14 22str, 16dex, 14con, 12int, 12wis, 22cha (E)Bastard sword and medium shield, 37AC, meta-magic feats for Cold/Intensify, evocation focusx2, power attack, imp initiative, dodge. favorite class bonus is bonus spells known from level 6-14. saves are 12/13/16 everyone in the group has over $350k worth of items, everyone claims my oracle is overpowered compared to the rest of the group. I have a higher AC because i use a shield, I do more damage with my sword because i am the only party member with power attack. Although I only have 2 attacks, i still manage to do more damage each round I'm in melee compared to everyone else when i hit, problem is I don't have a high attack bonus compared to others.

btw the other players in that game are:
elf ranger 14, bow and curve blade with a flying carpet. 20dex
half elf/half-celestial bard 7 fighter 6 26str 22dex 20con
elf/half-dragon cleric 13 26str 24wis

Am i playing with normal players, does this happen to everyone else? It seems that because my character doesn't suck i keep getting flak, should i instead make characters who aren't hero worthy or take feats that have nothing to do with the class, or stop using the rules to do creative things like swinging on ropes or using cover etc? I enjoy playing games with my friends but I get in so much crap just by playing, my Oracle makes the game boring for everyone else including the GM as he tries to figure out ways to kill me without divine intervention.

You'd kind of have to give us a little more, maybe magical weapon levels and play style.

added some more info

Campaign is Legacy of Fire: Current level is 14ish. All characters have around 350k in items some from wishes most tailor made or bought or traded for in Katapesh.

Human Oracle of Fire level 14, sword and shield with plenty of buff/remove spells, offensive and healing spells, and favored class bonus is for bonus spells. Highest stats 22str, 22cha
Oracle has +9init 37ac and 132hp +18/13 d10+20+2d6 holy w/power attack saves 12/13/16
Oracle plays as tank/mage shield other on ranger, buffs, cleanses debuffs on party, does most damage from range via spells unless its mooks then sword/shield. +4 holy keen bastard sword.

Elven Urban Ranger level 14 with favored enemies all evil outside, fire outsider, bow style and curve blade style. highest stats 22dex, 18int
Ranger has +6init 33ac and 150hp +29/24/19 2d6+9+d6 acid+d6 cold and ranger +4dam saves 16/19/12
Ranger plays full offense either melee or ranged, flys on a carpet +3 outsider bane curve blade, +3 longbow acid/cold

Half-elf /half-celestial Bard 7, Fighter 6, with double-weapon Tempest. highest stats 25str, 24dex, 20cha
Half-celestial has +7init 26ac 180hp +21/16/11 d10+10 icy burst "Tempest" saves 16/18/16
Celestial usually buffs themselves with mirror image or shield never buffs party, uses meteor hammer as "Tempest" flyby attacks. mostly melee.

Elf /Half-dragon (copper) Cleric 13. Highest stats 26str 24wis.
Half-dragon has +2init 31ac 170hp +19/19/19 clawx2 bite d8+9 saves 14/12/18
Cleric usually buffs/heals the party, goes into melee, has been wished large size for better damage has eldritch claws.

Hypothetical thinking here.

The 4 person party has 100,000 gp limit each for a total of 400k.
2 foolish players get killed because the party didn't do something as a team to prevent their deaths.
2 players stand alive, their wealth is now 400k, 2 new players join the party with 100k each and the new party's wealth is now 600k.
The party sells off the 200k of old party members gear and has 100k to create magic items that they would normally not have access to due to cost or level.
Rinse, Repeat, Rinse, Repeat.

Unbalance the party vs the challenges and ruin game.

Moral is player death should never turn into a reward for anyone, nor should it become a huge penalty to the player,

I recommend party members combine some funds and buy a scroll of raise dead and some restoration and allow the raised player to be penalized for the week until another restoration will fix them.

Now if a player wanted to swap out their character without killing it or completely just bring in a new character I would have them take all their similar gear and those costs and use them in their new character in order for them to not have better gear then the other party members.

Obviously I would allow a fight who swapped to a mage to change all their gear around but not upgrade similar items like Cloaks of Resistance or Rings of Protection just because they had the money.

When players start at level 1 and work all the way up to level 10 they acquire a ton of gear and a lot of smaller similar items like rings and cloaks and are forced to sell them/trade them. Some players might even have more gear value then a new character of their level should have, though i doubt they have the found items of significant power compared to a few items that can just be bought with mass starting gold.

Hope I made my argument clear.

I recommend the following for a 2 player group:

Give them exceptional stats: 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13.
Start them at one level over the minimum starting level.
The group needs to be able to cover the skills and knowledge's and one person needs to have a high use magic device.
They each should try to have a high damage output and since there is only 2 players they should be swimming in wands and expendables due to all the loot they wont be able to use from whatever game they are playing.

The best duo's I've seen:
Cleric/Oracle and Bard, both characters with 2-handed weapons and high strength and a shield for backup.

Substitute the Bard with a Rogue only if they are a better player since no shield use.

Substitute the Cleric/Oracle with a Bard or Inquisitor is also a balanced swap but only if both characters can heal and do good damage in a timely fashion.

The hardest part of playing in such a small group is if one person fails a bad save vs paralyze or stun or gets KTFO then you have a serious problem for the last person standing. Tactics and decisions made by each player have to be precise, cunning, and as exact as possible in order to handle encounters that are equal to your ECL or higher.

Pro-tips, always flank and use cover rules when available, crowd control via hold person, ghoul touch, confusion, etc all wand available spells can change the outcome of many battles.