Level 20 Monk feat.
It seems to be simple enough, but on further reflection it seems to get more confusing. Which stances can I fuse? And which can't I? (furthermore why can't Ironblood and Crane fuse? What does "using one type of strike." mean?
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My question originates from the word "Targeted" in the Trigger description. Must the spell have the word "Target" in its description in order to use Divine Grace? Is this intentional?
With the coming of Update 1.6, came many cool mechanical changes to the Paladin. But with changes comes balancing issues. Here are two imbalanced feats that need tweaking... 1. Channel Life: This is the new MUST have feat for the Paladin. With the change to hands and casting rules, came the dominance of this feat for Paladins. Heal completely overshadows Lay on Hands, and it feels like your healing with one hand tied behind your back if you use LoH rather than Heal. That hurts. So my recommendation is to have Heal cost 2 spell points (like Healing Font domain power) or keep it the same but change the d8s to d6s for the Paladin. (the Paladin shouldn't be as good as the Cleric at Heal) Please nerf this feat guys... 2. Blade of Justice: Whatever your opinion of this feat was guys, it wasn't over powered and it wasn't underpowered. That is until Smite Evil came onto the scene... With all its 2 extra dice/persistent Good damage/share with your friends awesomeness. The previously regarded Smite Evil of 2e has been left in the dust. (at least at level 12 and beyond) I mean why use an action to mark an enemy with BoJ (for 3-6 Good damage, yay!) and then Smite, when you can Smite once and then hit again? (or any number of other possible choices) I know I'm focusing on the Defender class specifically here, but a buff to the feat won't hurt the other two either. My recommendation here is to make the feat worthwhile at later levels. So maybe at level 12 it gains additional benefits. Like say, and enhancement that invokes an effect on an enemy. (such as enfeebled or something that the other reactions don't do) or (even better) once the Paladin marks an enemy, that enemy is marked until its dead or the Paladin marks someone else. That way, Blade of Justice can be used in conjunction with other feats. Rather than compete with them. Those are my suggestions to imbalanced feats that I see. I have to say that I love this game that you guys made, great job Paizo!
I had a brainwave yesterday concerning two small concerns I'm finding with the Paladin. Just want to throw it out there and see what you guys think... Concern #1: Warded Touch is really good, TOO good. I can't think of any Paladin build that doesn't NEED/REALLY WANT to get this feat in order to fully utilize the important ability, Lay on Hands. Who wants to provoke Attacks of Opportunities which could disrupt the much needed healing? I also know that Paizo wants to get away from those “I gotta take that feat in order to play this class properly” feats. Concern #2: As it stands, Paladins need a free hand to cast Heal and many of the other domain powers. (not including Weapon Surge, of course) That is a problem especially if one wants to play the iconic sword and board Paladin. (Or even a two hander to some extent) My solution is to first: bake Warded Touch, as it is now, into Lay on Hands. Keep the spell with the manipulate trait, but have the Paladins naturally able to cast it without the trait. (This way if other classes get the ability somehow, they'll need to spend a feat to be as good at it as the Paladin. Maybe even do this for those who multiclass into Paladin?...) Second, change Warded Touch feat by swapping out the words “Lay on Hands” for “Champion Powers”. Bingo! Paladins who choose to cast other Champion Powers, now have the option to do so with their hands full. I would also include giving the Paladin a way to cast the material component with their weapon or shield, but I don't know.
We know what Legendary skills can give you. (I also place Perception in here, though it is separate) We know what Legendary Saves give you. But what does Legendary Weapons and Armour give you? In the midst of the Resonance hullabaloo from the Potency and Potions blog, it occurred to me to ask "Do you need to have Legendary Proficiency to use a Legendary Weapon or Armour?". But I was thinking "Nah... that can't be right. Why gate the best Weapons and Armour to particular classes? (Though if this is the case, I wouldn't be surprised to find that all the martials get Master in Weapons and Armour by level 20)
As per the Monk Blog:
“Second, adding more than a single ability modifier to a check or DC now really distorts the game.” So from this statement we can infer that both Divine Grace and 2e Smite Evil (now named Blade of Justice) have been changed to balance the game. Let's look at them individually... Divine Grace:“And we can't forget potent additional reactions like Divine Grace, granting you a saving throw boost at 2nd level...” This one is the easiest to tackle because it is simple, and we know more about it than just this blog. Notice it doesn't say anything about CHA. Easy enough, this blog is just a preview not a detailed explanation. But we also have info from the GCP Crypt of the Everflame Podcast. When Jason was handing out the two Class feat choices to the Paladin he mentioned a +2 to saves, not CHA to saves. Which makes a lot of sense now that we have the quote from the Monk blog above. Personally I'm fine with this as it as long as it scales. Every 4 levels sounds good to me... Blade of Justice:“The first major blade righteous ally feat is Blade of Justice, which is parallel to the Pathfinder First Edition paladin's smite evil—you declare a target to face judgment and deal extra damage to evil foes. Although Blade of Justice deals less damage than smite evil, it can be used as many times as you like as long as you have the actions for it. And the real kicker is that this extra damage is good damage, which means that creatures like fiends that are weak against good abilities are going to take a lot more damage.” Here is where I have issues, and I'm hoping for more clarifications... Smite Evil in 1e did more than just declaring a target to face judgement and then doing righteous damage to an evil opponent. The Paladin's attacks and defences we're bolstered as well. And what was the mechanic that achieved that? CHA to Attack and AC. See the problem?... So the question is: does Blade of Justice get an attack and/or AC boost? I also found some interesting similarities between Blade to 2e Rage: The designers tossed the Rage/day cap for the "3/1 but can Rage all day mechanic". The other big difference is that Barbarians don't get an attack bonus while Raging. Which makes a lot of sense thematically. Similarly, the Blade of Justice loses Smite Evil's Smite/day cap for the "spend an action/round but can Smite all day mechanic". And as far as we know, the Paladin's damage is boosted but that's it. So is Blade of Justice just Rage rehashed? I hope not.To the Designers: I've heard it said that you designers are hesitant to SERIOUSLY nerf iconic class abilities, for which I'm glad. So how have you kept the core of the ability and/or expanded on it? You guys have been very generous on revealing the details of abilities you've previewed. Could you shed some light on Blade of Justice? Is there a boost to attack and/or AC against Bladed(?!) enemies? Or is it just damage? Side note: I'm also taking for granted that the Good damage is equal to the double damage on the big Evil 3. Furthermore I'm taking for granted that Blade of Justice bypasses Resistances... Am I wrong?
Hey Everybody!
https://glasscannonpodcast.com/the-pathfinder-playtest-part-6/ Enjoy! |