GeometricFuzz's page

Class: Exemplar
Rules: Barrow's Edge transcendence (Drink of My Foes), Scar of the Survivor transcendence (No Scar But This)
Issue: Do these abilities need to have the vitality trait? As is, this cuts off self-healing options in the class from those who have/use the void healing ability. Drink of My Foes especially seems like it was intended to be a health drain effect that could easily have the void trait.

Even if you can't cast it yourself, you can select a Scroll of Harm with Pathfinder Provisions and hand it to someone who can as an emergency.

Where is the Scroll of Harm an option? I'm sure I read in an official thread that said it was excluded. Oils of Unlife are listed as an option.

An option to make Exemplar work would be to take Oracle Dedication at 2 and then Nudge the Scales at 4. Your vitality healing options would now work. It would take until level 4 to work though.

This is part of my issue. Void Healing causes an issue where healing options are cut off from too many angles. Either the player has to select from specific classes and options (although, there are a decent amount of those overall) and give up on other classes and options, or spend extra feats and wait several levels. Even Stitch Flesh isn't an option until level 2. What really gets me are the cases where it's clear that the class is designed to have self-healing at the start (such as the exemplar), yet now it requires at least 2 class feats and waiting until level 4 to make use of them (such as gaining Nudge the Scales). On top of that, I would still have to take the ikon(s) at level 1 or wait until level 8 to pick it up. (I sincerely would be interested in the reasoning for giving Drink of My Foes the vitality tag, and what problem there would be in removing it or at least let it be either vitality or void as desired.)

Maybe some might argue that other classes don't get self-healing options, but at least they don't have to worry so much about other characters having the niche feats, spells, and skills to provide healing at level 1. As in the case of my skeleton character, I can't confidently bring him to a PFS table and play. I have to check what other players are bringing and if they are able and willing to deal with my Void Healing issues.

As a side comparison, I want to bring up the issue of the construct ancestries: Automatons and Poppets. Normally constructs would face some similar issues as those with void healing, in that they are unaffected by healing, vitality, and void effects. However, as ancestries these issues are waved away by saying they are living creatures, unlike other constructs. This makes them not have to worry about any of these issues at all. Heal spells, treat wounds, and even Elixirs of Life work with no special considerations or restrictions.

Now, maybe if we are looking for a more PFS specific issue, I have a question about the character build. What options are there in PFS for playing a skeleton (or damphir) and having healing options? What options I have been able to cobble together involve using up a good amount of feats and hoping to reach a high enough level for the build to kick in, and the intense consumption of consumables. The least feat and gold taxing option I can work out is to get Stitch Flesh to use treat wounds between fights, but then hope I don't get too beat up during fights.

I am slightly confused about this thread, though? There isn't really anything PFS specific about that, and I'm not sure of this was just a thread to vent or if there's also a question that someone (whether or not it's me) can help with? If it's the latter, I'd like to help, but I'm missing it.

Admittedly, this is a rant first. Maybe not about PFS per se, but an issue of rules as written. Is there a place to submit potential suggestions for rule changes, or something?

In the case of the character I mentioned I'm trying to create, I'm running into the issue that areas where there was an attempt as some point in developing the rules to give an option for characters with Void Healing has been forgotten or no longer considered. Oils of Unlife are basically replacements for Elixirs of Life, but being neither potion nor elixir they are incompatible with Horn of Plenty. Barrow's Edge: Drink My Foes screams a vampiric like transfer of health (and therefore maybe should not really have the Vitality tag), but the philosophy seems to be that any ability with healing now has the Vitality tag regardless (except Elixirs of Life). The exemplar class basically gives 3 ikon options for healing, and void healing effectively shuts all of them down.

I could go on with some other things, but I don't know if this is going to end up anywhere meaningful to game play. I know developers can't possibly consider every permutation of every option they create in the game. I am wondering how much consideration is being made about some of these issues, like characters with Void Healing, that lurk in the system.

I recently thought of playing a skeleton exemplar. Some great RP potential and a bit of a challenge due to the topsy-turvey rules of void healing. However, as I worked on the character I realized being undead in PFS isn't just a challenge. I feel like having void healing is excessively punished in RAW at every turn. Yes, PFS allows characters to have Oils of Unlife, but it feels that came as something of an afterthought. Any other option given almost feels like a bandaid applied as an afterthought as well. For example, to use Treat Wounds requires spending an extra feat, Stitch Flesh.

What's really got me pulling my hair is when we have cases like exemplar. The class has some great options for self-healing, except none of them work for an undead character. Scar of the Survivor: No Scar But This has the vitality tag. Barrow's Edge: Drink of My Foes has the vitality tag (even though the mechanics of the ability seem down right vampiric). Horn of Plenty cannot hold Oil of Undeath.

I understand not every class has self-healing options. Often times even classes that do have healing need to turn to feats and items to fill in gaps. I also get that playing undead (skeleton or damphir) is supposed to be a challenge. But when major sections of classes with healing options are cut off, when extra feat taxes are incurred, when a character has to progress (survive) through several levels to begin having access to basic survivability options others get from the start, it starts feeling more like punishment rather than a challenge.