Gorusk's page

I don't see such a glaring imbalance between Arcanists and other arcane casters. Even so, I think I'd like them based on the method of spell prep even if the exploits were nerfed substantially.

Even so, I still like Sorcerers as well.

But choices in my group aren't focused on power level so much as the 'feel' of the class. I.E. We have people playing fighters and rogues even with stronger choices because they like the flavor of fighters and rogues as compared to the other options.

I run most of our group's games, but when I get to play I certainly don't think: "I won't play this class or that class because its weak," but I suppose mileage does vary from group to group.

At any rate: I don't see our gaming group being that greatly impacted by ACG's release, save that there will be more options for our character concepts.

I completely disagree. Otherwise Prep spellcasters should have to prepare spells they intend to use the metamagic rod with that day.

Alright.

So, one last time.

* Metamagic feat rules are fine. Spontaneous casters take more time adding them to spells, feat wise. That makes sense. This balances out things so that prep spell casters aren't unduly penalized because they had to prep the feat with their spell ahead of time.

* Metamagic Rod rules are not fine. In rules as written, there is a penalty to the casting time applied only to Sorcerers. Even if it was intended to apply to all spontaneous casters, it makes no sense that this penalty to time should be included for the rod, as there's no balancing penalty for prep spellcasters. There certainly wasn't a need to use the rod to prep there spells. The Rod simply allows a caster to apply the benefits of the feat on the fly whether they be Sorcerer or Wizard or anything else. I.E. A wizard and a Sorcerer both have the same type of metamagic rods they just found and want to enhance the same type of spell with it. It shouldn't take less time for the wizard (who certainly didn't prep a spell to use a rod he just found) to cast the augmented spell than it would the sorcerer.

This discussion, and the one I had with my group keep getting bogged down in discussions of the feats. I don't know why, as the discussion of the application of the rod and the application of the feat are two different things.

Anyway, I've pretty much decided to allow the Spontaneous casters using a mm rod to use it without a penalty to casting time. As long as everyone gets the same result from the magical rod, it seems fair.

Wait, I want to be clear here.
I'm not asking why metamagic feats add time for sorcerers.
That I agree with.
There's a good reason for it.
What I'm asking, is why a metamagic ROD would add time ONLY to sorcerers in rules as written.
It doesn't even make sense in rules as intended.

Okay, good.

Anyone else house rule this?

I run a game for my group, and I'd seriously like to change this rule as there does not seem to be any real purpose for it. In fact, it seems to be at odds with the idea of the spirit of the magic item. I mean, the magic item effectively changes a spell so that it is as though the feat had been associated with that spell.

I've also considered applying the increased casting time to everyone. I mean, if the rod impacted all spellcasters, as effectively EVERYONE would be 'sponatneously' adding the feat to a spell that had not been prepped with the effect.

I just feel that it makes no sense that a Wizard and a Sorcerer casting the same spell, the same way, should have different casting times when applying the benefit of a lesser empowered metamagic rod.

I wanted to see if anyone had a justification for why the rule is the way it is.

If I can get a good reason, we'll keep the rule as written because I (and our group as a whole) like to keep the flavor of the game rules as is (as much as possible).

(Ninja'd)

I would really like to know why this time increase only applies to sorcerers?
It really makes no sense.
Would it then apply to Bards?
What about Oracles?
What about Clerics casting spontaneous cure/harm spells?
When the Arcanist class is actually released, will it apply to them as well?

I see no reason why it should happen at all.
Did someone feel that Wizards, Clerics, Druids, et al. needed some love, or that Sorcerers needed some hate?

Does anyone house-rule this?

Thanks,

Grapple is a bit absurd in its general complexity.
The way magic works in the system seems very odd, though I know that's by design.
Alignments. Few game mechanics have created more conversation than this topic alone.

Right. My thought was that the engineering of the lantern was the important part. Having seen many oil lanterns in real life, I can tell you that the actual light put out is not brighter than a torch until it is magnified or reflectively focused by a lantern.

While the spell itself puts out X amount of light, I felt that the light created, once created, follows the normal rules of ... um... physics.

Okay, I just brought real world physics into a fantasy game, so feel free to ignore me at this point.

But seriously, I think that THIS application is well on this side of the "Don't be a jerk" rule in overthinking game physics.

My GM hasn't ruled, but I wanted to see if there was anything semi-official out there.

Sounds like this, as with most things, could vary quite a lot.

Thanks, though.

Can you power a bullseye lantern with a light spell instead of burning oil?

I really like the class, but mostly because its the TYPE of spell caster I've always wanted: One that uses a number of prepared spells that can be freely interchanged for a number of uses.

Because I've wanted this mechanic for so long, I'd love this class even if it had no Arcane reservoir at all. But, giving up familiars, specialty schools, and bloodlines does require some sort of balance, and Arcane Reservoir and Exploits does that pretty well.

Some of the exploits are obviously better than others, but nothing stands out currently as absolutely broken.

I agree with everyone's opinion that regarding the damaging exploits, Flame Arc's reflex save seems to not be worth the net 1 point of damage (on average) per die rolled.

I like the idea that the actual Arcane reservoir equals 1 + 1/2 Arcanist level, as that isn't a lot, and how there are no "roll-over" reservoir points. It COULD be tweaked, I suppose, to make it more charisma related, like the reservoir refilling equal to the Arcanist Level + Charisma Bonus + 1. or it could just be tweaked down a bit to 1/2 level + Charisma Bonus (minimum 1). If relative power level seems to be the biggest overall concern by players, this alone should greatly resolve the issue.

I like the flavor the reservoir and exploits provide. I think there is a place in my game for such a class.

I've played Wizards, and I've Played Sorcerers. I still see reasons to play both of those classes even in a world where Arcanists exist.

I get that some people will feel like it gives too much of what people like about the Sorcerer and Wizard classes with not enough of the downsides. I don't really have an argument for that as so much of what people want is subjective. Some players see familiars as a liability while other see them as a huge advantage. Some people see spell books as all advantage and no downside, while others see them as a liability as they can be stolen, set on fire, lost, damaged by fungi, mold, vermin, liquids, stains etc. It depends on your play group, your GM, and your collaborative play style.

Final Opinion:

I can't speak for everyone's game, but for ours the Arcanist as written is a reasonably balanced addition to the available spell casters (though it might be tweaked a bit with a slightly smaller number of refilling reservoir points) and will appeal to many players, myself included, because of the overall flavor and the mechanic for a mix of spontaneous and prepared spells.

Sometimes popularity can be a warning bell for OP. Sometimes, its just a sign of "something that's been missing that players want". I see this as more of the latter than the former.

Thinking about it, I might just give it to the kid who's dog and dad died when the lone goblin got stuck in his closet.

That seems the best thing to do.

Good info all. Thank you very much for this. Looking at all of the options I have to admit that 'Awaken' is the best. The familiar thing is very very cool, but I'd have to jump through hoops that would use at least two feats (Skill Focus Knowledge (any one), and Eldritch Heritage (Bloodline Arcana - Eldrich Heritage requires you have skill focus in teh skill provided by the bloodline you're adding), and I think I've already got plans for all my feats.

I'm 'giving roleplay a shot' here, but its hard for me to spend 2 of my 10 lifetime feats (assuming we played to Lvl 20)(20%) on a cute little puppy.

I think that level of investment in roleplay might break something in me.

Okay,

So, I'm not new to gaming, but I'm relatively new to Pathfinder.
My group is playing through Rise of the Runelords and I'm playing a Half-Orc Sorcerer. I'm really digging the character, and the team seems to really like him too.

Point is, early in the game when the goblins attack Sandpoint, while putting out fires the GM added an 'orphaned puppy' to the game. My character adopted the puppy and has been raising him since.

My concern is that eventually we're going to get to a point where the puppy is just going to die. I mean, really. People throw fireballs at player characters all the time (only a slight exaggeration), and I realized that unless I take levels as something pet-class-like, the dog is going to stay very very squishy.

My question is this: is there some rules related way to have the dog level up? Is that even done? Or failing that, is there someway to actually 'acquire' a familiar bond through a feat or something? I know there isn't a familiar bond feat in the rules as written. And even if there were, right now there's no game example of a 'dog' familiar at all, but is there any other thing I can do to help the dog be less squishy?

Note: I'm actually more of a combat gamer, but our group is more roleplay centered so I'm actually (for the first time in a long while) trying to enjoy the roleplay of this whole thing.