Search Posts
Searched the traits on Nethys for "compulsion." Strength of submission from Divine Anthology is what you are looking for. Thank you very much. I must have scanned through that list three times and missed it. Though I thought it was more under the Religion traits given the flavor text to Razmir rather than Faith. I think for Faith traits Fate's Favored edges it out for what I'm looking for.
I seem to remember a trait that provided a +1 bonus to attack but only when the character was under a compulsion or mind-effecting magic. Does anybody remember what the trait was called? Thanks
Heh.... considering the other things Paizo 'errata'd' (or rather revised...though I'm still a bit sore over the uselessness of my hard copy books because of Paizo's 'errata' certainly doesn't fit the definition of the term...i.e. to correct spelling mistakes, printing errors, clarify language) I'm very surprised Alter Summon Monster hasn't been fixed yet. <checks if it's banned in PFS>...Yup. So no problem I guess.
A Bag of Devouring (just make sure to throw a squirrel into it or something organic after acquiring it to ensure the 'initial intrusion' caveat has been met). Granted you lose any lewt your victim is wearing and I'd rule only medium sized or smaller critters could be thrown directly into the bag, but technically it could swallow any sized creature that you managed to get any appendage past the bag's mouth. Granted its CMB is only +8 so in those cases you'd likely need a strength debuff for it to be successful. Though that still might be a crowning moment of awesome if you manage to feed it something big. Portable Holes filled with lava, boiling oil, or acid I'd definitely rule would not work. Nothing in the description provides a time stasis effect (creatures still need to breathe if placed inside) or that the interior is immune to damage (description provides a consequence if the interior is punctured). So a hot meal placed inside the hole will cool and eventually rot or boiling oil will cool (as would magma if it didn't destroy the hole with 20d6 fire damage). The other big drawback is that in an AoE attack it would be an unattended magic item...which for a cursed bag is no big expense but a loss of 20k with a portable hole. A Sphere of Annihilation would be the nastiest thing you could throw anything into but they're generally too dangerous to move and any DM that provides a moveable Sphere (rather than fixed) is likely looking at the endpoint of their campaign. Your best choice however is probably talking to your primary casters/battlefield controllers and coming up with some synergies (summon swarm is a nice one at level 2 though a pit could take a target out of the fight for rounds at least).
His party doesn't have fighters or meat shields, it has 2 glass cannons and a healbot. You can build a oracle healer that does have an impressive healing output (which given the lack of damage output might be the only thing preventing a TPK given how slow they are to knock down a primary combatant). When the OP said that the slayer & ninja don't flank too often, that sort of raises red flags that the general issue is a lack of a modicum of system mastery. A sneak attack based glass cannon ain't doing crap if they aren't flanking. If they are not using acrobatics and mobility or any other trick to set up that flank they might as well be playing elite leveled commoners. While it's only an extra 2d6 for the slayer, considering they can't hit the extra flank bonus should help. As far as wizard choices in this situation, I would probably consider retraining out of blasting and going the summoning route. They can set up flanks and the summon creatures can function as a stop gap considering that the party has no meat shield. Not to mention, they can also function as a poor man's battlefield control by blocking off movement paths until they are slain. Against high AC monsters, there are a few summons that use touch attacks (like Lantern Archons) that will benefit from spells like Haste). A slayer or ninja PC not liking Haste is a bit of a head scratcher...I've only seen it with one fella who hated doing math or remembering status effects. Other long lasting support spells (at least 10 min\lvl) like Heroism may also help this group a little. If shoring up weaknesses doesn't work and there is no signs of improvement on the learning curve with the other PCs, I'd make certain my PC had a contingency plan (i.e. scrolls) available for when things start to look like a TPK. It used to be a 1st ed D&D staple that there were some encounters you should just run away from. You even saw encounters like that in early 3e adventures like the Roper encounter in the Sunless Citadel. Obscuring Mist is the early level standby but Dimension Door should be available as well. Purchasing a scroll of Overland Flight can really stop a pursuit cold if the PC has to flee from an adventure site not in a urban area. There are a lot of 'oh crap, runaway!' spells that can be used for a fair escape...for he who fights and runs away, lives to recruit the replacement party in ye olde tavern (and make goddamn certain there is a beatstick or virtual beatstick in the next batch).
I've heard time and again that aether primary just isn't as good at combat and downing enemies as the other elements, but I really just want to get my force user/sith lord on with telekinesis. How could I, with only first party (paizo-made) materials, make an aetherkineticist that can crush his foes? It's been a while since I put together an aether kineticist for a game (for a 11th level adventure), but I found they were more useful as a sort of battlefield control and utility (and replacing the rogue role...not forgetting UMD as well). If you just want to stand around and blast in combat you are probably missing quite a bit of aether's potential. With Telekinetic Haul you can move heavy bits of 'dungeon dressing' and other terrain to block off doorways or to funnel enemies. And while you don't do any more damage by throwing an object with TK Haul whether it is a copper piece or a 2 ton statue, nothing says you cant lift up a very large object (like a wagon or a house) and drop it from a height onto an enemy(ies). The Falling Object rules aren't quite as insane as they were in 3rd ed but still there are a few 'dirty aetherkineticist tricks' you could use to make it a viable and reliable tactic in a number of situations. Though the play style depends on a bit of table awareness and creativity. As another example of this, Telekinetic Finesse allows a aether kineticist to use slight of hand at range (not to mention disarm traps). If you have invisibility or Touchsight or a Goz Mask with some sort of smokescreen (from Darkness, Obscuring Mist to smoke stick to an Eversmoking bottle) you can pickpocket a foe in the middle of combat (stealing wands, potions, opening alchemical items on their person, etc). You can also try to pull the grenade in the pants thing ala Fallout with fused bombs (slipped into a spell component pouch or quiver). If you want to be a one trick pony who crushes foes (at range) play an archer (or a more blasty boring kineticist).
Atmosphere??? Seriously??? The entire place is painted in pastel colours. I suppose that is evil... That would be Erol Otus' influence and there is something about his artwork that requires a SAN check. The only colored bit was the outside covers, and I thought it was rather muted compared to his other work. And atmosphere, seriously. An adventure like the Tomb creates a bit of tension with the players, the handouts set the mood (and Acerak taunts them throughout), and when they 'win' it is a sense of accomplishment rather than just another 'ho-hum we touched base here, let's go onto the next encounter zone until we hit the major BBEG of the campaign'.
That's nice. I'd hardly say that makes John Wick the smartest person to ever play in the Tomb. It just makes him a guy that broke the standard expectations when you sit down at a gaming table for a FRPG...you are there to have fun with your friends (GP economics for peasants notwithstanding). I'd think it would be smarter to sit down and have a few good laughs playing a game than pulling off a (Knights of the Dinner Table) Brian-esque scam;-). As far as smartest play I've ever heard regarding the Tomb, that would be a group that dropped a certain crown on the quiescent demi-lich skull and deliberately touched the wrong end of it's matching scepter to it (insta-kill). It has been a while since I looked at the adventure, but I'm reasonably certain a 1e 5th level Thief can complete it successfully if they follow the clues (defining success as reaching the vault and making off with the swag there). If you are a bash the door down, kick the monster in the junk, take it's wallet type of player, clearly adventures of this type are not for you. Anyway, the OP was looking for adventures like the Tomb of Horrors published for pathfinder. My interest is along that line but especially if there is a 3PP module out there with an illustration booklet or even a generous side of CoC style handouts (my players love handouts). I like to adapt these types of adventures to campaigns for use as side-treks\alternatives to 'Retrieve the McGuffin' quests. When similar things pop up in an AP for example, the McGuffin locale is usually pretty bland...maybe 3 set encounters (and no puzzle solving beyond combat tactics) and a linear almost flow-chart type map that is dull as dirt. So far the only suggestion that might meet the criteria (partially) is Bonekeep (though it's PFS, and I haven't been exactly impressed with their quality...notably compared to a similar page count old Dungeon adventure). Rappan Athuk is just too much an all-consuming slog to be of use. Anything else that hasn't been mentioned?
I'm not looking for a conversion of the original Tomb (already have those with my own tweaks)...I'm just interested if there is something like it that was written for Pathfinder (heck even something I can convert) that I don't know about. 2e's Labyrinth of Madness (Monte Cook iirc) is a definite homage (but parts of it are a hot mess). Eh...Dungeon magazine had The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb and one for Keraptis (of White Plume Mountain fame) from what I remember. I'm just wondering if there is a product out there (3PP or otherwise) that has an illustration book and a similar vibe that is not a 'S' series module or something I haven't mentioned.
Heh...it's déjà vu all over again (meaning the complaints not the OP). I guess I shouldn't be surprised how often the Tomb comes up (or the stock standard assertions that come up with it). I won't dive into a discussion on the merits other than to say that the Tomb of Horrors was originally written by Gygax for use with his original home group (Rob Kuntz with his PC Robilar and his son Ernie...playing Tenser iirc... in particular) and it was eventually adapted for the Convention players. The original in its Con format is used unbridled in Bruce Cordell's Return to the Tomb of Horrors as a side note (and more than a few threads out there detailing the fairness of the Tomb). I am a bit curious if there is something like the Tomb for Pathfinder (or even 3.x) as well. The mega-dungeons are far too long, the original Tomb of Horrors might seem short on page count but 1e modules have virtually nonexistent stat blocks and other governing text compared to a Pathfinder adventure. Written today, it would probably weigh in at the 28-32 page range. You could still probably finish it successfully in a single 4 to 6 hour session as well. The real gem imo in the original Tomb was atmosphere, and most of that I felt was really boosted by the illustration book. So in line with Prethen, is there anything with the Tomb's feel with a set of illustrations to use along with the encounters\puzzles?
Overall better? That's questionable. Even people that wanted those items looked at have expressed disappointment of how they where 'fixed'. Making underpriced options suck instead of pricing them correctly isn't really making anything better: I don't find options that are a waste of space/ink 'better' in any way. This I think is towards the root of why this sort of errata has been bugging me and why I dropped my subscriptions. I try to keep house rules to an absolute minimum (and the ones I do have are more geared toward table management than mechanics) so my players don't have to remember them and can just use online references to plan out their characters\do other research while at home. I like to have hard copy references at the table during a game session to keep the temptation of their phones rather than paying attention to the actions of their fellow players to a minimum. However, going through my first printing books to paste in errata notations is not a valuable use of my time, so going to the online reference during session due to these revisions makes more sense. The other fork of the decreasing utility of hard copy books was the simple fact that the 'crunch' (mechanics) provided in them was largely a waste of page count. I don't like purchasing books that after giving it a good read through, only see a handful of feats that might be an option for a few builds (considering how few feats most characters get...), maybe an archetype or two that is a equal trade off with the vanilla option (and oft times the dross would have been better as a PRC or can be simulated by other basic choices), and maybe a half dozen magic items total that both are priced correctly and useful and\or affordable for PCs in a typical WBL range during a campaign. I don't know if the problem is with paizo writers or the editors (or both) but options that are not somewhere in the range of being roughly equivalent of a core vanilla choice (whether it is a class ability, feat, or magic item) is not really an option (and making choices\tradeoffs is part of the fun of D&D). I think a lot of the perceived paizo overcompensation to err on the side of nerf that creates a lot of this page count dross comes from a lack of system mastery. They don't really display a feel for how the rules interact with an actual campaign. So way too many of these 'errata'... or rather revisions strike me as knee-jerk theory craft judgement calls rather than from actual experience. Add to the fact many of these crunch additions would be eliminated at a glance if they were entries to paizo's RPG superstar contests for a number of reasons makes it hard to purchase that sort of professional output. Eh... I wouldn't care if I didn't want to support (throw cash at) the company but this continuing issue hit my frustration limit. Sorry to vent.
<Sigh>There are times I wonder if the folks writing for paizo actually play the game regularly. They certainly make a lot of decisions that make way too many feats, archetypes, and magic items utter dross (to outright traps over simulating the same 'flavor' using vanilla options in the case of too many archetypes). Guess I'm just frustrated about the increasing uselessness of my printed books as a table reference (and one of the main reason I dropped my subscriptions), but...heh...is it too much to ask for the folks making these decisions to display a little system mastery? Bracers of Falcon's Aim for instance should have had its price dropped from 4k to in the range of 400gp (1st level spell * 2000/5 because of 1 charge a day). I'd probably go with 800 gp as a final tweak given it's primarily a ranger self-buff spell (but still on druid list), but at 4k, a UMD skill and a druidic wand of aspect of the falcon would probably be the better option for a PC that really wanted the spell (not to mention it chews up a wrist slot). The plethora of 'wearer must wear this item continuously for 24 hours before...' additions is just an eye-rolling insult to injury. Besides the lack of realism factor (who the heck goes days without taking off these sorts of accessories let alone stuff that would be uncomfortable to sleep with) but it makes me wonder what sort of campaigns (if any) the paizo folks play in given the interaction between earning experience and WBL. For instance a Mnemonic Vestment is a 5k item. Just how many of these things are spontaneous casters buying to gain access to unknown spells on their caster lists? At what point does it become viable for a PC to budget buying a wardrobe of Mnemonic Vestments considering they have some basic resistances & enhancements to buy as well? 12th or 13th? Most campaigns are in their endgames by that point (and it's far from an 'I win' button). If a lower level PC wanted to spend his resources this direction and sacrifice basic coverage in other areas (and still have to use a spell slot to tap into it)...more power to them. But with the change it makes me wonder if paizo folks grok how the system comes together within a campaign. Maybe if they stopped calling these updates 'errata' and use the word revision instead. Standard usage of errata is to correct an error...spelling mistakes, printing errors, clarify language. A number of these are mechanical revisions (and magic item pricing is still wildly inconsistent). Eh...I'd be less bothered if I didn't want to keep a common set of reference for my players.[/rant]
Intelligent magic items can activate their own powers on their owner's turn in the initiative.
Offhand, I'd use Diplomacy for those sorts of interactions. A few of other skills my adjust or help adjudicate a situation but essentially go with Diplomacy when trying to sway intelligent folk towards (or away from) one particular direction. As far as advice on how to handle this at a table, proselytizing and building a faith (established, heretical, or new cult) is essentially a downtime activity. If you are worried about the player's goals hijacking or crowding out the other players, a good GMing technique to limit the amount of table time it takes up is called Blue Booking. I'd recommend it in any case for the simple fact it will make bookkeeping a lot easier and to just set up a forum on a pbp site with a dice roller as an easy way to track everything. On the other stuff, if your players are mature enough to handle the rank and file vanilla clerics and their deities (since darn near any of them easily push 'hot-button' issues...Erastil for instance), they should be able to handle a cleric pushing a philosophy\cult. As a last note, not to hold your hand any further but the rules for downtime proselytism, as mentioned, are found in the Ultimate Campaign rules and in particular under the heading Recruitment for an Organization. As always, the rules are a guide-on, not an iron-clad contract. Don't hesitate to improvise or add a unforeseen hiccup to add to the challenge and to reward the invested player with more of a sense of accomplishment.
My preferences run towards adventures I can plop down into an ongoing sandbox campaign or adventures with a strong memorable theme (like a drow fortress built inside of a giant living tree in a dark forest). I do really miss the utility of Dungeon Magazine (and still dip into old published copies, the online 4th ed+ incarnation not so much). In pathfinder, there are not a lot of Darklands-type adventures. As far as paizo published, offhand only their Second Darkness AP touches elements that were a part of D&D since the old 1e adventure Descent into the Depths of the Earth. I'd love to see an AP that takes place entirely in the Darklands (though that would probably require starting off the PCs as escaped slaves to allow more 'surface' PC races), but a Darklands based adventure would be nice.
Well a dull gray ioun stone with continual flame cast on it (heightened to a 3rd level spell) would fit within budget at 225 gp. The benefit is that it would overcome lower level darkness descriptor spells. You could make it a bit harder to dispel if it was heightened by a 7th level caster (245gp). For 355 gp you could have a 4th level heightened continual flame spell. I'm not sure how common 'darkness' type effects are in PFS though. I'd probably avoid most of the potions unless you see something that would serve as a nice emergency synergy (since the gp limit limits you to 1st level spells with a CL max of 5th). A nice boring Potion of Mage Armor (CL 5) might be a nice boost for a monk for an adventuring day though. The wondrous item elixirs may also be worth a look due to the long duration as well. For a monk a few of the Feather Tokens might be a nice low cost fallback reserve item if used creatively. For instance a Fan Feather Token used to get rid of a obscuring mist, smoke or fog effect. A traveler's any tool at 250 gp can give you a shovel, pick, crowbar or any other common tool when you need it (for creative uses...the utility of a block and tackle is not to be underestimated;-). Alchemical weapons are not especially rare in encounter stat-blocks so a Hybridization Funnel at 200 gp may make a nice stop gap for a monk (especially for range work or against swarms). That is dependent on someone in the party having Craft (alchemy) able to make a DC 25 however. Even with the required pre-planning it does provide an option for a monk or the like that would otherwise be gimped in certain encounters.
Honestly, if this is a standard mode of play for your group and not a one off novelty campaign for them...I'd lean toward looking at an alternative low-magic game system to provide the toolset for the evening's fun. From your description it would be a lot simpler and more fun than the pain in the butt of figuring out what is allowed or realizing something that should be banned post fact. Offhand Hero System would give you the greatest amount of control, but something like Warhammer Fantasy (2nd ed is the last I played) might serve the setting and campaign just as well. Lots of low magic and low power systems out there that maintain a sense of 'threat' throughout an adventuring career. It doesn't take a lot of optimization at all for a mid-range mundane fighter type in PF\D&D to pump out a impressive round by round damage total for instance even without much magic. Because unless the party is a bunch of commoners, most combats are about resource management until you hit the BBEG (granted rat bastard DMing helps change that;-). And even facing a climatic set piece it can be a bit iffy if it actually turns out that way. PF/D&D doesn't do 'gritty' well when compared to other systems IME so to model what I can suss out from your description, I'd advise exploring some alternatives to get from point A to B. Plus it can be fun picking up\learning\exploring a new system rather than wrestling with a ruleset to milk out a lackluster end result.
I'm sure there is an abyssal themed 'damned' PRC... at least in 3.5...but I don't remember the name of it.
I assume you aren't looking for metaphysics on soul selling in Golarion. I don't think there is an Ultimate Faust guide anyway on this particular topic of soul ownership. By the rules, Damned is a Class Feature of both PRCs. You are not restricted from acquiring class features of the same type from two different sources (only vaguely on stacking the same benefit twice). So given the feature is not acquired by deliberate act (the character does not promise\sell their soul to a given party for set terms) and is instead damned by their activity (dealing with evil powers), the game mechanic effect remains the same and it is ultimately up to the GM to decide which evil power ultimately has the better claim on a soul. If you look at the fluff text for the diabolist in particular... "Though some tread the path of the diabolist to enslave the forces of Hell and turn them towards goals other than corruption, only the most stalwart of diabolists can resist the temptations of the Pit." Would indicate no tit for tat relationship with an infernal power. On the souleater side, the fluff indicates that their patron receives a tithe of souls from the Souleater in return for granting power but not that they've promised their soul to their patron as part of the contract as well (that enslavement seems to be a side benefit for the patron though). Considering Souleaters must be Neutral Evil, it is likely the Souleater's Four Horseman patron will win out on a postmortem claim in any case over any infernal lien.
Yeah, I agree. Its wording could definitely use a clarification. If the author meant non-magical instead of magic items, otherwise when the entry tells me to use 'all' of the magical creation rules and options it means all:-). If the author meant only non-magical creations, there's tons of ways that entry could have been written to make that intent perfectly clear. Barring the author posting a correction or errata changing the wording, I think it's pretty evident what the preparation ritual does. It changes a feat tax into a skill points tax. If it is your interpretation, it's a pretty useless preparation ritual considering the book is roughly in the WBL range of a caster that can have the [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fabricate]Fabricate[/link] spell. With the spell (a core book spell which should be in the list any devoted crafter, magic or mundane) a caster can use a craft skill to instantaneously make pretty much any mundane item using the usual 1/3rd cost in raw materials.
Yeah, I agree. Its wording could definitely use a clarification. If the author meant non-magical instead of magic items, otherwise when the entry tells me to use 'all' of the magical creation rules and options it means all:-). If the author meant only non-magical creations, there's tons of ways that entry could have been written to make that intent perfectly clear. Barring the author posting a correction or errata changing the wording, I think it's pretty evident what the preparation ritual does. It changes a feat tax into a skill points tax. If it is your interpretation, it's a pretty useless preparation ritual considering the book is roughly in the WBL range of a caster that can have the [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fabricate]Fabricate[/link] spell. With the spell (a core book spell which should be in the list any devoted crafter, magic or mundane) a caster can use a craft skill to instantaneously make an item using the usual 1/3rd cost in raw materials.
I think you have something backwards here. That ability allows you to use the magic item creation rules to craft MUNDANE things. Specifically you use the half-cost clause of magic item creation and you can make up to 1,000gp worth of an item a day, unless you choose to take a +5 to the DC to fast craft it as that is another clause of magic item creation. Considering it says, "You otherwise follow all of the rules and options of magical crafting" and that you're spending a magical boon to create mundane items, I'd say you could use Spellcraft as the final crafting check, or you could use the relevant Craft skill. While it was past my bedtime when I read this entry and my reading comprehension may have been off, after re-reading it again, barring the author popping up and clarifying, I think my first interpretation still stands. Reading the first line... You can spend this boon to use the magic item creation rules to create items with the Craft skill for one day." Is very wonky using your interpretation considering these are the magic item creation rules. While the author doesn't use the word MUNDANE, next line he separates out that while you are now using a Craft skill you don't pay the normal 1/3rd as you would when using that skill and now pay 1/2 market. "When doing this, your material costs are equal to half the final value of the item crafted (rather than the normal 1/3 of the cost for using the Craft skill. You can craft items with a cost greater than 1,000 gp by expending this boon over successive days, in the same way magic items with a cost over 1,000 gp can be crafted over multiple days." Which brings us to the last line and the word 'all'.... You otherwise follow all the rules and options for magic item creation. While it is possible this could have been written a bit better if the intent was for example...
Spoiler:
"You may spend this boon to accelerate the daily progress to make a mundane item of an appropriate type to 1,000 gp a day while using a Craft skill. When doing this, your material costs are equal to half the final value of the item crafted (rather than the normal 1/3 of the cost for using the Craft skill. You can craft items with a cost greater than 1,000 gp by expending this boon over successive days, in the same way magic items with a cost over 1,000 gp can be crafted over multiple days. The creator may adjust this progress (and Craft DC) as found under the magic item creation rules." Granted, I may be mistaken on intent with the definition of 'all' when it comes to 'otherwise follow all the rules and options for magic item creation when looking at it (and the the paragraph's first line as well), but that's an error on the editing and writing side rather than on the reader end, if the author's meaning was otherwise.
Lots of interesting stuff in this book, especially pleasing considering the signal to noise ratio in other recent paizo offerings. Thank you authors. Anyway, I didn't see if this has been brought up yet but one of the Preparation rituals for The Last Azlanti's Analects (Level 15 Universalist) on page 6-7 that I thought solved a big tax problem (especially for certain feat starved builds). Efficient Creator Spoiler:
Efficient Creator (Su): You can spend this boon to use the magic item creation rules to create items with the Craft skill for one day. When doing this, your material costs are equal to half the final value of the item crafted (rather than the normal 1/3 of the cost for using the Craft skill. You can craft items with a cost greater than 1,000 gp by expending this boon over successive days, in the same way magic items with a cost over 1,000 gp can be crafted over multiple days. You otherwise follow all the rules and options for magic item creation. I'm assuming you roll a relevant Craft skill instead of Spellcraft (armorsmithing for magic armor, leatherworking for bags, alchemy for potions, etc), but I was wondering if anyone had some thoughts on the matter?
Psychic scrolls of spells learned through the rebirth discipline have to be UMD if that spell isn't on your list (anymore) when you actually use it. That would be more a GM's call given wording and no errata (that I could find) on the subject. Each level you may keep or swap out a extra spell list from which to draw an extra known spell daily. At my table if a player wanted to invest their gold so they could have a psychic version of fireball (Crafting a scroll for 187 gp and 5 sp plus another 2,500 gp for a mnemonic vestment or 8,000 gp for a page of spell knowledge) I'd let them. Especially with the consideration of the Psychic Bloodline for Sorcerer. Or the Psychic could just do Spell Research and add a psychic version of Fireball to their class list for 300 gp. Unless, gold is especially plentiful in the game, I see no game balance issues considering the other things it could be spent on (and the fact there is a existing arcane class that is snagging psychic signature spells not to mention the other crossovers like with the Medium via Archmage or Hierophant).
As mentioned the Rebirth discipline. Combine that with scribe scroll to make psychic scroll versions of sorcerer\wizards spells and then use mnemonic vestment as well as similar items (pages of spell knowledge)) and I think it's probably a viable workaround. The relevant bit from the Rebirth discipline...
Spoiler: Mnemonic Esoterica (Ex)
By reaching into the recesses of your past lives, you gain knowledge beyond that of most psychics. Select a single additional spellcasting class. Once per day when you prepare your spells, you can add one spell from this class's spell list to your spells known and class spell list for 24 hours. This spell must be 1 level lower than the highest-level spell you can cast, and you cast it as if it were psychic magic. You can decide to change the spellcasting class from which you draw this spell each time you gain a new level.
The DC for masterwork is 20 and any other Craft check will be at most 18 or 19. With one point, Int of +4, and masterwork tools, you can take ten. Edit: So you need one point if your DM makes you roll the check at all. With the Cyclops helm, you can spend your Auto-20 on that skill check if you really need to.You must make an appropriate Craft check to fabricate articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.So if I'm making something that takes months, if not years to craft, such as Full Plate or a high Strength Bow, I'm sure a Craft check will be required. I probably wouldn't get so tied up in skill points to craft skills given for the low cost of 2,000 gp you can get your maximum ranks in any skill you need by just keeping multiple Headbands of Vast Intelligence. You may want to have one or two key craft skills maxed out naturally like alchemy or something like poisonmaking so you can immediately process a monster carcass during an adventure. It just takes 24 hours to let your weaponsmithing or tanning or sculpting Headband to attune before your PC can craft (or Fabricate craft at 9th level) like a professional. Those 11 skillpoints per level at the higher levels are better spent on skills you'll get more utility out of during an adventure....and they'll disappear quick if you max out Perception, UMD, Linguistics, Sense Motive, and the knowledge skills with a smattering leftover for a few others. Granted, if retraining is allowed in your campaign you can reassign skill points after you obtain enough money to have more than one +2 Intelligence Headband. However, after you gain access to Fabricate and also have access to Teleport I'd recommend that you self-edit to keep the game balance from getting skewed. It is very easy to make some very expensive items via fabricate crafting (for one-third the material cost) and then turn around and sell the master crafted items for 50% (using teleport to tap into multiple metro's gp limits). Or if you fail to that temptation, use the extra money to pay for things that are 'off board' from the game itself (beyond supplying your pc with a few additional Headbands and skill enhancement items or maybe research) like castle building, charity, anything in the downtime activities section from the ultimate campaign.
Heh...I'm wondering when they errata'd that. This sort of stuff seems to be cropping up all too frequently lately in my games and I like to keep a house rules minimum table to make keeping track of changes to a minimum (and some of my players just use the PRD at home). Now I'm wondering if I should just make sure I have wifi access and not even bother with buying hard copies and providing them for table reference. I wouldn't as be bothered if the it wasn't such an eye-roller in the first place because obviously it's more powerful than Magic Weapon which saves 2,000 gp or its latter level version. Then again my players love it when they fight a ranged combatant that is using poison (which I had to eek out a DC barely high enough that the wizard will fail maybe about half the time if hit more than once with a delay onset 1 rd injury poison) and I tell them with a smile that besides the few remaining pieces of poisoned ammunition said npc has on their body, they also have a bit of string. Anyway, on item creation (or any other inventive stuff the players want to do) these types of rules are guidelines. Comparisons should still be made with existing items before setting a final price. Look at the more standard core stuff to set your benchmark precedents and tailor to a price you think fits your campaign. For instance one of the more common (mainly) player item creation proposals I've seen is an Amulet of Protection from Evil. Given the protections it grants it clearly should not be priced as the formula suggests. But I wouldn't disallow it entirely (nor outright ban anything inventive the players want to do...you are not playing RPGA\PFS). There are a few magic item precedents in the 'endless' ammunition department for Pathfinder but I think Wonderstell pretty much has the right of it as far as pricing.
Well you have five players and the AP assumption is a party of 4 for challenges. I would probably add another npc to the Hand.... a master summoner or some other Nethys themed build. I think I did remake Azaz as a magus but I also had a fairly strong party as well (I think I bumped up the leader's level and made their range from level 3 to 5). It is the kind of challenge where you do not want the npcs to go down like punks and you are more aware of your PCs damage output and capabilities than I am to tailor up what you think your players can handle.
Just stress Rednal's point here. Your DM controls everything else about the game...setting, npcs, what options are available, treasure, and even what adventures you are doing (barring a true sandbox campaign). If taking 3 levels of class [x] is something you really don't want to do, please tell him so (and have that player to DM talk;-). The game is for your enjoyment as well and the DM's role ends at your sheet and what your PC does because they control everything else. If it is a challenge that you've accepted and think you will enjoy carry on. Otherwise see above.
Another oddity I'm not entirely sure of because of how similar things are handled (notably Bloodline powers interacting with spells from other caster levels), a one level dip into the Psychic and taking the Rebirth psychic discipline for Mnemonic Esoterica may permit a character to grab 1 spell from any class list up to the highest-level spell (-1 spell level) you can cast (not restricted to just using your Psychic caster level). Spoiler: Mnemonic Esoterica (Ex)
By reaching into the recesses of your past lives, you gain knowledge beyond that of most psychics. Select a single additional spellcasting class. Once per day when you prepare your spells, you can add one spell from this class's spell list to your spells known and class spell list for 24 hours. This spell must be 1 level lower than the highest-level spell you can cast, and you cast it as if it were psychic magic. You can decide to change the spellcasting class from which you draw this spell each time you gain a new level.
Yeah it still requires 4 levels of Druid to snag the (Medium-3) Spirit binding by the RAW interpretation. However, level 3 still gives you access to 1 psychic spell (that can be retrained as you gain levels) and there are a few nice ones on that list to cherry pick. I'm not sure on the Evangelist PRC when interacting with another PRC like the mystic theurge with the aligned class feature so YMMV with your DM. It would cost you another caster level but a Wizard-1\Supernatural Druid-4\Mystic Theurge-1\Evangelist-10 would be at character level 16 make a 14th level wizard, 15th level caster for druid with the option of downgrading to the Mesmerists spells per day on the Druid side (6 spell level caster) by RAW and picking up 1 spell per spell level from either the cleric or wizard (if you wanted to double up) depending on which spirit you channeled for the day. Granted I think Paizo's over focus on archetypes and the overall fact that most of the concepts presented with far too many of the archetypes can be done just as well with their respective vanilla base classes. Others are of course infamous trap options and many of the concepts would have been better served as PRCs in the first place...but heh...there is always room for more base classes;-)
Hrm... looking at the Occult books, 4 levels of Supernaturalist. Druid grants a druid access to all Spirits by RAW and not just elusively an animal spirit ... The supernaturalist gains spirit, spirit bonus, spirit surge, and taboo abilities as a medium 3 levels lower than her druid level. There are some other useful doodads that might make loosing a level of wizard worthwhile with a Druid\Wizard Mystic theurge (like occult skill unlocks) but still trying to parse Paizo's overall writing and editing process given the quality of their work leaves me scratching my head at times.
Offhand, on accumulating fame and hitting the 35 points for the +3\+1 effective caster levels quickly and probably a little ahead of schedule I have a few suggestions. The first is that you'll likely have to do the write-up for the guild yourself...there are a small handful of examples in Golarion lore so unless your GM's campaign matches up to one of the established examples either you or your GM will likely have to tailor something to fit. You might be able to finagle it that an existing organization like the Pathfinder Society or one of the secret organizations (like Palatine Eye) would also count as a Guild but you can’t depend on it. If you are the one doing the work, tailor the guild to fit whatever the campaign is going to be about and that you have some means of staying in touch throughout the game (this is where having a society that covers a large geographic area makes things easier). If based out of Osirion for example, make the Guild about collecting antiquities and lore. That way when you collect the occasional bit of fluff or piece of mundane artwork (or even junk dungeon dressing), you can turn it over to the guild for a periodic bump to fame. Not to mention if you keep at least an aspect of the Guild’s fluff related to something that you’ll be doing in the campaign it will be much easier to collect a point of fame just for completing an adventure (even if your Guild didn’t send you on that particular mission). With the above in mind, keep an IC journal and turn it over to the Guild periodically. Keep it related to the focus of the Guild, but it should earn you a periodic point of Fame if you keep up on the homework (a few paragraphs should be enough). You can also do ‘blue booking’… referring to the blue composition books… if you are a reasonably entertaining writer to do ‘off board’ interactions (or stories) between your character and various guild members or related items. It doesn’t all have to be about killing monsters and taking their stuff (and your DM might appreciate that you are not a murder hobo). If you have access to the old Dragon Magazine monster ecology articles, those might be a useful template to squeeze a few more Fame points out of your DM. If you have access to the Leadership feat in the campaign, use it to set up a chapterhouse or lodge for the Guild. It may be a little bit more expensive but Ultimate Campaign (iirc) has all the rules you need to handle that sort of downtime activity. Various pbp sites can help you keep track of everything (like rpol) and keep a common spot for you, your DM, and other interested parties to share as well. As a side note, as a rough rule of thumb, 1 Fame point seems to be worth about 4,000 gp. Last suggestion I have for accumulating that 35 Fame is to do spell research and invent unique magic item formula. As what is most likely going to be an arcane focused guild, each unique discovery\formula should at least net you 1 point of Fame. Just a few suggestions on how climb the Fame ladder a bit faster. Mystic theurge is the obvious choice so I won’t cover that ground. There is a definite dearth of dual caster progression PRCs (and not a lot of PRC or multiclassing love to start with) from Paizo. As far as what 3 levels to mix and match with a wizard… as a quick suggestion you could go exploiter wizard and grab Bloodline Development and then dip a level of Sorcerer. On top of that grab 2 levels of Alchemist for the Tumor Familiar Discovery (and most likely the Infusion Discovery via Extra Discovery feat) with Poisoners Gloves to improve your action economy. N. Jolly’s alchemists guide is a great resource.
Yup, I got my start with 1e casters where resource management and book keeping of just your wizard's individual spell components took up a sheet or two. I'm used to having a virtual bag of tricks available both in mundane equipment and single-use\charge stuff accessible as a move action or faster. I'm half-tempted to suss out how to get a more Alchemist focused build for that sort of fiddly book-keeping if I could work out something that worked out like a full-caster like the old 1e Bard game's Compleat Alchemist ( http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=5027&editionid=5634 ) than Paizo's take on it. As far as my item-hoarder tendencies go, I'm more looking for things that will add to the build's spell selection or other boosts that help versatility.
MADness isn't too much of a problem as I generally dislike save or sucks and most of the other PCs usually tend towards Beatsticks, glass cannons, or one-trick-pony casters (with the only exception in this group is the guy taking over for me in the GM-ing chair). It shouldn't be too hard keeping enough meat between my caster and the enemy so a hit to Con shouldn't be too much of a sacrifice in any case. 20 point buy as a side note and obtaining a +4 ability enhancement by the mid-level range is generally pro forma. I'm leaning towards playing human, more for RP reasons in that the rest of the party tends towards the more exotic races than core (or rather rarely play a core race if ever;-) but I'm not married to the idea (and I have a few weeks before I wrap up the current campaign after about a three year run).
In a game with guild fame and traits in play (allowing Esoteric Training & Eclectic Training) what build do you think would grant access to the widest range of spell lists for a primary caster? Any paizo published material is allowed. Dreamscarred Press (psionics) and Radiance House (pact magic) may be possibilities but using other 3PP may be more of an outlier (not banned outright but …). No WotC 3.5 sources however. Other than that, I’m thinking the Sorcerer\Wizard list must be fully accessible (though I could be swayed on that point). Snagging access to other class lists is preferable over just sniping a handful of spells unless they can be swapped out on a day to day basis. I’m also planning on using the retraining rules to stay on the progression curve in the early levels and then remodel when there is more leeway (it is a lot less painful to be a level or two behind on spell access at the mid-range levels than at mid-range+). Offhand, I’m thinking of a mystic theurge build but I’m not sure what options should be pulled into that or if I’m missing a hidden gem. I’m leaning against using a cerebremancer from Dreamscarred with a psychic mage archetype wizard base since I used it with one of the main bbeg’s in the last campaign. Item crafting is usually my job as well when I play so with that in mind, thoughts, suggestions (items in particular), or builds?
Why do I feel like the Blessing of the Faithful ability is an AC increasing ability... like adding Wis to AC or 1/2 level or something like that... It just... FEELS like that kind of ability... Given the fluff text it probably was ("Eschewing physical armor for protection via the strength of his faith,..."). It probably snagged something from Warpriest ('Blessing'...). My players will probably love this book (new toys) and I'll have to see how it plays but I can't say I'm especially thrilled with the hybrid class concept and the end results of most archetypes (far too many are either traps, would be better served as a new PRC, or would work better as a feat modification). To be honest I'm a bit annoyed when I do see something like the Ecclesitheurge that does have a new focused role in concept but is knee-capped in execution. If it was just a few cases it wouldn't bother me, but it's systemic with quality in design decisions\editing varying significantly and too often inelegantly. I ran across a piece written by Alex Augunas recently who writes for Radiance House and other 3PPs at Everyman Gaming that I think addresses the multiclass\hybrid class issue fairly well.
An armored bad touch cleric is still going to outpace the AC of a monk\cleric counterpart without taking a hit to his spellcasting and class features. Breastplate with shield with magic vestment on both.
The ability Blessing of the Faithful was in fact removed in Development, I believe to make space for all the rules necessary for the Divine Bonded Object and the example necessary for Domain Mastery. I know this because I wrote the archetype. Thanks for posting. What was Blessing of the Faithful?
Which you can only put into your domain slot (so 1 spell per spell level). And while I allow pantheistic or philosophy clerics in my default setting Golarion game, many do not (including PFS if memory serves and JJ unless he's changed his mind...you must pick a deity). So that's a selection of 3 other domains to hunt through for non-cleric list spells and whatever replacements are in their subdomains. It's an middling tangible benefit but most parties have access to some sort of arcane spellcaster or a stock of scrolls\other magic items (and UMD if needed). In return the cleric is giving up around 5 AC at lower levels (1-3), and probably double+ that at the mids and while AC is less important at higher levels it's still useful to block iterative attacks. This archetype isn't a battle cleric but even a wizard is generally walking around with +4 force armor at level 1 (vs +1 for a cleric with a defense spell) because there's usually more than enough kobolds to go around (or other mooks at higher levels).
Reduced cost that's the same as picking Craft Wondrous Item...which is generally a decent feat pick for most campaigns anyway. The benefit of Craft Wondrous Item is the item isn't essentially destroyed when the PC dies. I like to run the APs for the timesavings (maps and mooks) even if I have to profoundly alter the plots, bbegs, and add critters to span out the encounters for my table of 6, but I have never run an AP where no one has died... save or die are not rare events in the baseline APs (and 1s happen). The cleric is feat starved (certainly moreso than wizard) but if a cleric wants to magic up his holy symbol it's much better insurance to do it through Craft Wondrous Item. The spell on the fly is a benefit but cleric's spells tend to be more of the buffing variety rather than the 'flashier-encounter-ender' species found on arcane lists. They can already cast their healing (or injury) spells spontaneously. There are a few condition modifiers that are rarely used but absolutely vital when needed, but again Scribe Scroll fills the same role. Add to the fact clerics can leave open slots as well to assign later in the day.... To pay for this one it's a d6 off of channel at 3rd level when 2d6 vs 1d6 makes a difference. By itself the tradeoff is probably around equivalent (around 8d6 of healing\day vs 4d6 and 1 extra spell), but all things considered I'd suggest to my players other means if they were intent on sniping spells from other spell lists rather than just leave it to the arcane caster. In any event, this archetype was one of the first ones that RavingDork created a character after getting the ACG, so it must be at least decent. I'm sure RavingDork will hunt through the deity list and find one of the handful that grant domains that give him the additional spell selection he wants for his build. He probably has enough system mastery that the party he adventures with won't miss the secondary fighter role he traded out (and touch ranged spells as well probably became a bad option). It doesn't function as a role replacement for an arcane caster (fewer feats for one), alot of his domain granted powers are touch range, and in a classic party the cleric has gone to becoming another liability for the fighters to protect (in return for a limited list of spells to snipe from that the arcane caster already has access to).
Nope not as written as they both alter the domain feature. You'd have to talk to your DM to permit your one domain to count as your 'secondary' domain (and still allow the secondary domain spells to be cast from non-domain slots). Preferred spell might work but only for 1 domain spell per feat, and DM permission might not be forthcoming.
It's alright. Make a great npc archetype tho, if you want to have that classic priest look. ? Just take a normal cleric and put him in robes instead of armor. NPC clerics in general don't do much spellcasting for a party (without a donation) and the enemy NPC clerics don't generally live past one encounter (making picking a flexible secondary domain a moot point). I guess you could have a 'screw you' factor to a hostile NPC cleric by putting his encounter wealth into making his holy symbol magical (and thus worthless after his death). Not so sure players would love that;-).
Ecclesitheurge’s Vow: At 1st level, an ecclesitheurge makes a vow to his deity to be protected solely by his faith, not by armor or shields. An ecclesitheurge who wears prohibited armor or uses a prohibited shield is unable to use his blessing of the faithful ability, use cleric domain powers, or cast cleric spells. I'm going to guess that 'blessing of the faithful' was edited out without removing the reference under the ability (akin to the initial Prone Shooter editing) but I sortof hope it's just missing rather than removed. As is the archetype isn't close to an even trade off (3 feats and a downgrade to weapons), plus a hit to channel energy (at a level when it's actually useful) in exchange for 1 spontaneous spell\day and the ability to swap out a domain spell list. Considering most deities offer 5 domains (plus related subdomains) I'm highly doubtful there is anything on the domain spell lists to remotely fill in the hole left by loss of armor\weapons. I do not think it'd be a close to even trade off even if the archetype was applied to a philosophy\pantheistic cleric considering the ability to prepare domain spells in non-domain slots only pertains to his primary domain. So the cleric is only getting 1 spell per spell level from his secondary domain spell list anyway. Walking my players through\around 'trap-options' (that seem especially plentiful in paizo archetypes) isn't one of my favorite things to do. I can generally help them get to the concepts they want (usually with vanilla options) at the start of the campaign so I don't have to waste time down the road when the player realizes they aren't terribly happy with how their PC is developing... but the ecclesitheurge could have filled a role that at present doesn't exist in PF.
Hrm...or like the old FR Volo's guides? Maybe done by some errant Pathfinder\Desna travelogue writer? I enjoyed that sort of format from Dragon with its Pages from the Mages, Monster Ecologies, and other articles in a similar vein. I would find even a fantasy version of the Michelin Guide quite a bit more useful than a dose of tenuously related filler fiction. Considering Golarion has printing presses, there should be plenty of pamphleteers to supply a bit of local knowledge.
If not going the efficient quiver route... A PC can wield a 2-h weapon that is two sizes smaller with 1 hand. Tiny staves for a medium creature or diminutive for small (-4 to hit penalty as weapons). Weapon Size Every weapon has a size category. This designation indicates the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. A weapon's size category isn't the same as its size as an object. Instead, a weapon's size category is keyed to the size of the intended wielder. In general, a light weapon is an object two size categories smaller than the wielder, a one-handed weapon is an object one size category smaller than the wielder, and a two-handed weapon is an object of the same size category as the wielder. Inappropriately Sized Weapons: A creature can't make optimum use of a weapon that isn't properly sized for it. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between the size of its intended wielder and the size of its actual wielder. If the creature isn't proficient with the weapon, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies. The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon (whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered by one step for each size category of difference between the wielder's size and the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. For example, a Small creature would wield a Medium one-handed weapon as a two-handed weapon. If a weapon's designation would be changed to something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by this alteration, the creature can't wield the weapon at all.
Like anything else, you get better with experience. I wouldn't worry about forgetting something or overlooking something else. Or really overthinking the whole 'sitting down with a bunch of friends and playing a game' type aspect. On that note, while your players may be strangers when you first sit down, get to know them. It isn't just your game, it's their game as well. Find out what they like and what isn't their cup of tea and tailor your game towards that. On that note I have a little issue with William's rule #3- the GM controls everything up to the narrative but not the story (and the PCs of course). This is a mutual\shared activity. If you want to tell a story, write a book. While #3 has a bit more nuance than that, his example of what is out of combat is a bit flawed... a rogue is unlikely going to be able to sneak up on a BBEG with a sneak attack and take him out (first no attack action can take place out of combat...initiative even in a surprise round is always rolled first), but if your players find a supposed 'easy mode' button because you didn't either consider it beforehand or figure out how to roll with it, that's on you, not the players. Honestly, a BBEG who gets taken out by chump tactics isn't much of a BBEG anyway (he probably wasn't the BBEG after all... his boss might be unhappy with what the PCs did to his underling....), in other words you can shape the plot and narrative on the fly, but let the players have their wins. The other thing to remember is the DM has total control of the environment\world. If players fall into certain habits and common 'unstoppable' tactics... what they can do, you can do in spades. This doesn't mean you're in competition with your players, but if the PCs have a certain amount of fame and\or the bad guys know they're coming it is not unreasonable for them to do a little prep work to tailor a countermeasure or two for the PCs. For instance they know one of the PCs is a heavily specialized cold spell slinging caster... it would not be unreasonable for the bad guys to put up protection from energy (cold) defenses or stay spread out in case of AoEs or whatnot. Have your setting\bad guys react to the PCs, not wait for the adventurers to show up in their particular spot to slaughter them when their room number comes up. Past that, be familiar with the rules but know your game. What I mean by that is you should have enough to get by on rules calls without constantly referencing the book but whatever adventure you are planning for that session you should have prepped before you sit down for the session. If you know the plots and bad guys running around in your game, their rough capabilities, motivations, etc... even if your players go off the rails you can reasonably steer an entertaining session out of it (and even get them back between the lines) going ad lib. When players feel they can go in whatever direction they want with the plot (and the narrative shifts with them), or even make their own plots) they are more likely to take ownership of the game and get invested. On the rules side of things, rule #2 is both bad and good advice. Running a game entails managing people to an extent and I've seen variations of rule #2 cause as many problems as it solves. As a rule of thumb, if I don't know a particular rule, I will look it up if I can do so under 1-2 minutes. If it is something that can wait that won't affect other player actions I'll delegate another player to look up the rule while I move the game along. If there are no particular rules (or they are obscure) I'll make a call (assign a dc, roll some dice, or otherwise establish a benchmark) and it's done. If a player has an issue with it I have them write it down during the session and I'll look at it post game. The key thing is to keep the game flowing as quickly as possible with a minimum of fuss. That being said, you should have a reasonably solid grasp on the primary governing rules your PCs will be utilizing. If you have a trip built fighter in the party, you should know the trip mechanics beforehand. You should know how concentration rules (and spell pen) work for spellcasters. Threatened squares and the whole provoke an attack of opportunity ruleset (and acrobatics) for maneuver fighters. How a sneak attack is set up. Anything that will come up fairly often in the game. Also you should be able to quickly figure out what your monsters can do and be able to suss out any special attacks, defenses or other qualities with glance at their stat block. That comes more with experience but if you are running a prepped adventure it just means to look over the critters and bad guys before the session. Look at any spells for the enemy casters, have a rough idea of what they will be doing or casting for the first 3 rounds of combat. As a side note, if a stat block has a charged healing item under it's combat equipment, I almost invariably swap it out for another charged item of roughly equal value that they could use before or during combat unless they have a good reason to have a CLW potion (like no other healing available in their cabal). An enemy using anything short of a Heal spell in combat is wasting an action. On William's Rule 10 I generally leave to the players to sort out. I tell my players to know what sort of action they are going to take before I call them in the initiative order, have their spell effects referenced on hand, and any other details such as magic item powers readily available. If they are waffling on a decision (and at a point they are wasting everyone's time) I'll give them 10 seconds or I have them automatically reserve to initiative 1. You only have to do that once or twice to speed up gameplay on the player's side of the screen and it indirectly develops players with poor system mastery to become a bit more familiar with the capabilities of their PCs. A further note on player game mastery, is that I make them submit a sheet of their memorized spells of the day and ongoing spell effects as they change (if they have a duration of longer than 1 min\level). It keeps them honest as they use spells throughout the adventuring day (and a drawback isn't a drawback unless it is applied) and gives me a general idea of where certain bonuses are coming from. On the other side of that coin, while I do tailor most encounters to the power level and capabilities of the PCs, players with poor game mastery tend to punish themselves. Their PCs do tend to die more often, sometimes resulting in the deaths of decent PCs with their failure to fill their role in the team. While I try to leave it to the players to sort out, I will offer advice or talk about what they could have done differently pre\post game. If they are building a really subpar PC I will interject to find out what sort of concept they are shooting for and try to guide them in the right direction. Rule 7 on alignment, I've tried doing things that way over the years but now approach this the reverse direction... they are the alignment written on their sheet unless proven otherwise. It's for the simple reason the game possesses so many effects that depend on alignment of the target to determine status. And the fact that even LG adventurers are still fairly mercenary in deed even if they aren't in outlook. And some players just aren't that good or comfortable rping in character or taking the lead\initiative. I'm fine with that (some people are leaders and some aren't...some players like puzzles, others like rolling dice), there is no wrong way to play this game as long as it's fun for everyone but you might not have much to go on for the innate character of some PCs on whether or not they can use that holy sword or are affected by an Word of Chaos. Finally on William's Rule 8- Goons... I have to disagree with in entirety if I'm understanding his point correctly. Not using goons is a bad idea. Pathfinder is still a bit of a game of resource management and quite a bit more lawless than the Wild West. If players aren't fighting goons they can blow their limited resources with a lot less hesitation since they know their encounters are both roughly equal to their power level and appropriately necessary for them to overcome to accomplish their goal. If players know on a metagame level they can blow their wad because every single encounter is important they generally will do so (as an aside, shoot for a 7 to 8 encounter 'adventuring day' or longer.... mooks don't have to be challenging fights but should chew up a resource or two). On the author's belief that indiscriminate killing of goons will lead towards evil... it would if it was indiscriminate. However in most games I've ever run or played you don't earn that 'goon' label unless somehow they initiate hostility with the players. This isn't the modern world where you can call the police or expect that goblin who assaulted you to make its way through the justice system after you capture the little bugger via a sleep spell. The usual law of the land (nobles) would usually summarily execute anything that is a threat to the good common folk (i.e. those that pay them dues) and they certainly aren't objective in their application of the Law. Players have even less of a moral duty to provide more than that than even a posse did for horse thieves and murderers in the old west (were the nearest lawman could be hundreds of miles away).
Weapon Finesse so there's a feat tax in that direction since you can't use Studied Strike ranged.
That's uhm.....hrm.As of right now, this is correct. Don't dump Int, and try not to take Int damage. :) Agreed. A bit nonplussed by some design decisions but ... I'm a bit lost for words. Maybe taking this off a sneak attack damage scale?
I'm still thinking the hang-up on Holmes, or any fictional stereotype for that matter, is the wrong touchstone to evaluate the class. Most players I think could build a Holmes out of a Ranger, Alchemist, Bard, Wizard or Rogue fairly easily, or a Batman out of a Ninja...it's just a rp template. The Investigator doesn't have to be a 'How to make Sherlock Holmes for Dummies' base class. The question that should be focused on for evaluating this class is 'what role is it supposed to play?' He's a skill monkey. With a grab bag of abilities, especially if you are drawing from the Thief tricks. A few of those are situational, some very much so. I'd agree, low levels (1st to 3rd), the Investigator is a bit behind the contribution curve when it comes to combat (y'know that thing that composes about 80 to 90% of the playtime for a lot of groups, and the number #1 solution to most problems in D&D;-). Clever players will have some ideas of how to contribute, but in large part it's going to be a light armored guy with probably about 3 first level short term self-buffs and not enough attribute points and cash\time to go around to focus on his skill monkey role and the combat stats. Fortunately, those first 3 levels go by pretty quickly...5 to 8 sessions maybe), but until then it'll take a focused player to find the In Character time to mix up alchemical equipment\poisons and come up with strategies that make him a bit more effective in combat consistently than a commoner for more than a few rounds a day. I don't think it'll be an issue for mid-range levels. Most PCs should get some downtime at that point so they can do the crafting and other essential equipment picks beyond the incidental treasure pick-ups to have a role other than the 'trap-finder' duty and 'knowledge check guy' that has probably been their main function up to that point. I dabbled with a level 7 for a session and managed to contribute in combat using poisons, alchemical items, and other miscellaneous tricks. The sneak attack was a bit hard to deploy...putting points into acrobatics would have meant sacrificing skill points from knowledges and perception\disable device, Granted on the other hand, a class that has too many features that really only come into play in out of combat situations risks falling into that 3.0 Bard pitfall (the 5th character). If the class is only good at finding clues and moving the plot forward... something that most DMs will force along anyway... is it a class that is really bringing something to the table and is it actually getting a feature?
Given the dex (and lack of strength) I'd say it might be tough to go into a close in fighter unless you have a bit of gold. It will run you 20k in gold to pick up a Amulet of Mighty Fists +2 (+1 enhancement, +1 Agile weapon quality). With Weapon Finesse and Piranha Strike (and mutagen into dex) you'll have +10 to hit and +10 damage assuming you pick up Improved Unarmed Strike (I don't believe the mandibles from beastmorph grant a natural attack). You probably lack the cash to go that route right now. If your party has two (or more) line fighters already I'd probably go the ranged route with Grenadier. Dunno....what sort of equipment do you have and how accessible is selling\buying new magic items in your campaign? |
