Godferret's page

Godferret wrote:

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Or can you functionally only use these abilities with items whose activation will be complete before the potency expires?
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That is the way it works with those two abilities. Advanced Alchemy or Crafting are the ways to make the long-activation items.

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If you are exploring alchemical options, you might find my various alchemy tables useful.

• Alchemist Class

• Alchemist Multiclass Archetype

• Alchemical Sciences (Investigator Methodology)

• Herbalist Archetype

• Poisoner Archetype

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I've got other stuff useful for building an Investigator.

• Gisher's Guide to Proficiency Bonuses

• Devise a Stratagem Weapons

• Archetype Skill Feats

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Those and all of my other documents can be found here:

• Gisher's Goodies

Thank you, both for the answer and the links. I'm definitely going to be saving these for future reference.

Godferret wrote:

I don't know if there is a way to ping or message users on this forum, but I have previously seen the user Mikaze discuss the issue of racism in fantasy stories/gaming with a great deal of nuance. They might have something to offer on this if there's a way to contact them.

You can go to a person's individual pager in order to send them a private message ^w^

Unfortunately Mikaze (who is beyond AWESOME) has not been on the boards for some time :(

Thank you for that information, I will keep it in mind in the future. That's a shame about Mikaze, I definitely enjoyed their posts.

The Bodak sounds sort of like what you're talking about. It's an extraplanar undead that can be created by a humanoid witnessing a great supernatural evil.

Dip a single level in Mutagenic Mauler Brawler. Now you've got mutagens AND better weapons. Enjoy the endless tranq poison your Homunculus gets.

That is devious, I love it.

Exemplar appears to work. I wonder if there are other classes that offer Bardic Performance besides, well, the Bard. Some compare and contrast would be good to weigh options.

The Sensei Monk gains Bardic Performance off of wisdom, but it looses flurry and generally isn't that strong in the sort of direct combat that I feel like these characters are geared towards. The Evangelist has already been mentioned. I know that there is a Medium archetype that gets performance, Storyteller, but that is probably more mystical than you're really looking for. No other ones are springing to mind. I think Exemplar may be the way to go.

I have a small suggestion for an addition to your feat section. As an alternative to Combat Expertise, you may want to mention Dirty Fighting from the Dirty Tactics Toolbox:

Benefit(s): When you attempt a combat maneuver check against a foe you are flanking, you can forgo the +2 bonus on your attack roll for flanking to instead have the combat maneuver not provoke an attack of opportunity. If you have a feat or ability that allows you to attempt the combat maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity, you can instead increase the bonus on your attack roll for flanking to +4 for the combat maneuver check.

Special: This feat counts as having Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, and Improved Unarmed Strike for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites of the various improved combat maneuver feats, as well as feats that require those improved combat maneuver feats as prerequisites.

The primary benefit is that it does not have the Int 13 requirement that Combat Expertise does; many monks can't spare the points for that score. Plus it can be useful if you are going for maneuvers.

I'm far from an expert on theorycraft, I'm sure people will come along and explain this in more detail and with better ideas. Basically, the ability of a wizard to defeat a large opposing force (especially if they do not have similarly powerful casters at their disposal) is based around a few elements.

1. Wizards have many ways of defending themselves that cannot be defeated by mundane means. Wizards can fly, use greater invisibility, and employ all manner of abjurations to avoid enemies. They can shapeshift to get tougher or to hide. A wizard can base themselves on another plane, even their own demiplane, and attack via astral projection. All of this is to say that it is not so simple as surrounding them and drowning them in grunts' blood.

2. Wizards have many means of attacking without exposing themselves. On the simpler side of things, they could turn invisible/fly etc and begin to summon allies to help them. But they don't even have to be on the battlefield to command minions. They could dominate or otherwise control powerful creatures to go and attack their enemies. They could bind a powerful outsider. For example, a very high level wizard could, from the other side of the world, bind an Olethrodaemon and order it to greater teleport directly to the enemy's primary citadel and destroy it. Without some serious high level aid, a mundane army would have no hope of stopping it. Wizards can build simulacrums of powerful monsters, and can use astral projection do all of this from a safe, extra-planar location.

3. Even if you fight a wizard in person, they have many means of retreat and escape. Teleport, plane shift, contingencies, even time stop/wish, means that getting the drop on a wizard may not be enough, unless you can end the fight before they can act.

In practice, it's just too hard to pin down a well-prepared wizard and they can too easily fight from any number of defensive locations with little diminution of their offensive power.

The only way I can think of to use Weapon Finesse on a trident is to use a Fighter's Fork

Not very useful as a general solution, I just always thought it was a funny image for a magic item.

A potential race to mention is Hobgoblins. +2 Dex & Con, Darkvision 60ft, and a +4 bonus to stealth. Nothing too amazing on its own, but all in all a decent package, I think.