Israfeli's page

Greetings!

I've got a druid and I want to avoid wildshape and animal companion, and focus mostly on blasting. I've been a ttrpg player for a looooong time and remember the days before either of those were a thing. (Dark Sun Online anyone?) In 2nd edition DnD and before, we didn't need no stinking forms or pets and we did fine.

Anywho, I have a halfling with a sylph versatile heritage in PFS that is about to level to 2nd. I'm trying to make sure I don't make any big mistakes before I'm mostly "locked in" for PFS. He's currently Storm Order and I'm thinking seriously about taking an archer dedication at level 2 for something fun to do with his last action. As a sylph and storm order, not to mention the fly spell, he'll get to fly fine without resorting to forms. I don't really dislike forms, but I would like to use those as more utility/last resort than go-to damage.

I really like the flavor of a druid and I'm not really that interested in being a primal sorcerer. Is that a big mistake? Anyone have any good ideas for a build for a blaster/archer druid? I think that would be super fun.

Also, I don't expect his archery to be incredible, just a little extra damage here or there for the third action. But I also don't want this idea to be horrible.

Thanks all for your help!

Izzy

Standard only means that PFS is not changing the requirements from the published version. It does not mean there is a way to get it.

Refer to the character options page for a more in-depth review of how to interpret Availability labels.

In this particular case, as its a rare option, the "You need a boon to gain access to this option." disclaimer applies. And there is not a boon at present. Nor does standard imply there will be a boon.

Thank you very much for this complete answer. I'll be more wary when encountering the "Standard" icon on future options.

Greetings all,

Is the Ghost Dedication legal in PFS 2e? It has the PFS Standard icon on AoN:

https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3496

I didn't see it under the purchasable boons. Is it a session reward?

Thanks,

Izzy

This is something of a tangent, but I wonder how useful it might be in general for a PF2e player to have "MAP dice." As in, an icosahedron numbered -4 to 15 for MAP-5 (with appropriate markings on the -4 and 15 to let you know they're the equivalent of natural 1s and 20s respectively), and something similar for MAP-10. Different colors so you know which one is which more easily.

Might be a little too much if you need additional dice for agile weapons or flurry ranger MAP, though.

Someone, maybe me, should do this with 3d printed dice. You could have MAP normal, flurry, agile, and agile with flurry sets.

The only thing to watch out for is making sure you don’t confuse these with each other, or you might be giving yourself some unintended minuses!

As a small note I don't like sorting dice as rolled from left to right, it feels like there's too much objectivity when dice aren't clearly to the left/right of each other. Even if there's no malfeasance or you always do it perfectly even the appearance of impropriety is potentially a problem.

If you are rolling say more than 2 at once (gold always first), having an easy to remember color coding system is super helpful.

I'm fond of alphabetical Blue, Orange, Red, Green
or Rainbow, Red, Orange, Green, Blue

Most important is to be consistent.

After rolling a set of three dice a bunch of times to practice, it was pretty easy to make sure they landed distinctly left to right most of the time. But I did have one toss that lined up in an ambiguous way. If you toss them one at a time in succession it is easier to control, but it's fun to toss a handful.

It’s probably just me, but I like having the dice read left to right. I can always use colored dice and just move them into left/right order position if they don’t fall where they are supposed to. I’m thinking going with Gold, Silver, and Copper d20s as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd attack.

I just practiced a bit with the two things I mocked up, and the dice tray with the cards is perfect. You can roll one, two, or three dice in the tray and just sort them left to right and assign appropriate modifiers, and then roll one or two for the animal companion and sort them left to right for his modifiers.

Here's an example for my ranger if he makes three attacks in one turn (this happens when he's already hunted prey the last round and is shooting his bow this round):

Three dice in tray (sort left to right)

Three dice were thrown because the hunter with hunted prey and hunted shot used all the attacks on the target. The dice are sorted left to right. The first attack is 10+9, the second is 8+4, and the third is 9-1.

For the pet I will just throw two dice and sort left to right.

Overall, this will make things more fun and efficient for me. YMMV. It combines Doug Hahn's notes in dice tray idea with DMAkaDudemeister's sorting idea. I really appreciate all the help!

Here's another possibility, using the index card idea combined with the dice sorting concept (thanks DM_aka_Dudemeister!):

Sorted dice with collapsible tower and bonus cards

So with this, you can roll one, two, or three dice, depending on whether you want to fully attack, and whether or not your pet is attacking. It's very adaptable to how many attacks you want to make. In practice the dice generally roll to the end of the tray but if not you just slide them down. The bonus cards can be switched out depending on what weapon you or your pet is using. They are a little messy at the moment but they are made from old business cards so easy to make a lot.

I like this one because it lets me keep using my favorite collapsible dice tower. We'll see which is easier in practice.

You can also experiment with the order in which you do calculations. For example, the following are all mathematically equivalent:

* Roll die, add bonus to die, then subtract MAP
* Calculate bonus - MAP, then roll die, then add die result to net bonus
* Roll die, calculate bonus - MAP, add net bonus to die

But in practice I find the first one somehow harder to do than the other two.

I was doing the first but now I will try to have the bonuses precalculated on cards. I put this together last night with different cards for my /my pet's different attacks:

Dice tray with combat cards

I often have to switch between three weapons (all with different modifiers) based on the resistances/vulnerabilities of the critters we are fighting and this will make it simple. I know my character sheet with similar numbers is right next door, but I like it big and bold in the tray. Maybe I'm just easily distracted. Squirrel!

Many thanks to Doug Hahn for showing what he does with his tray, this is stolen directly from that suggestion!

Rather than colour coding make a print out that goes

[ ] + 9

[ ] + 4

[ ] - 1

[ ] + 7

[ ] + 2

Put that in your dice tray or as a table mat in front of you.

Then when you roll, you assign the dice closest to the modifier to that.
No memorization required and you can do the simple math by putting the dice next to the modifier. Finally a use for dice physics at the table!

Woah that is an interesting idea! How about a dice tower/tray that sorts the dice into slots that does the same thing? This could be 3d printed. I might try to model something like that.

I've also made index cards with my common attack sequences or placed trimmed index cards into a sheet protector designed for baseball cards or similar, then used a wet erase marker to add modifiers.

This is perfect. I just made a set of index cards and will put them in my dice tray as I select a weapon for myself and for my animal companion. I have five index cards right now at second level: 1 bow, 1 greatsword, 1 maul, 1 for my dog's jaw attack, and one for his claw attack (which is different than the jaw because it's agile). I will get some of those sheet protectors and I'll be good to go.

Thanks!

I've an idea for someone who makes dice:

Second attack for with the numbers negative 4 through 15 and third attack die with negative nine through 10. Agile second attack would be -3 through 16 and agile third would be -7 through 12. I don't know if flurry ranger deserves its own dice, too.

Yes I had that thought too! Also what Doug Hahn does seems like it should already be a thing: put a player aid at the bottom of a dice tray, with the essential combat information, to streamline attack rolls. I really love that idea and will try to format and share a blank square MDG tray version that others can use.

Maybe this issue did exist in other games I’ve played but I didn’t play a lot of martials so I didn’t encounter it. I’m not saying it’s better or worse in 2e just wondering how others get around it, and getting some great ideas in this thread. Thanks everyone.

It takes time. practice and be kind to yourself.

Color-coded is the way to go (e.g. "gold dice are always first attack, blue dice is always second, green third…).

I write down my modifiers on a sheet of paper, in big numbers, and place it my dice tray. I roll everything at once.

I like that in-tray reminder! I am going to work out something similar. It might help to have it right in from of me at all times. As for other games with BAB, etc, I never encountered a game where it was a complicated as PF 2e for ranger and companion, but maybe I was just lucky.

Greetings all!

I've been playing Pathfinder 2e for almost 2 months now, and have managed to play a bunch at our local PFS events. I started with a caster but I'm now focusing on a ranger.

I've gone precision ranger, and I started with an animal companion. I've found that I roll a lot of dice in a given round, and every die has a different modifier depending on the attack number and whether it is me or the pet attacking. I have the modifiers written for each attack on my record sheet but it's basically 5 different modifiers: +9/+4/-1 for the ranger and +7/+2 for his furry friend.

This means on many turns I roll 5 dice* all with different modifiers (assuming Fido is not dirt-napping) . I've tried using color-coded dice and alternatively rolling one at a time. No matter how I approach my turn it is almost completely immersion-breaking. If I make a math error it's even worse. The whole process bogs down the table. I have contemplated using an iPad and Pathbuilder to do the rolling, but dice are fun and I would rather not use the tablet.

I've made a spreadsheet that generated all the attacks for my ranger and his pet all at once, but again its not exactly fun to use. Spreadsheet = work, right? Dice are fun. Also I would have to negotiate with the PFS GM every time I wanted to use it and I'm not sure it would be considered legal at every table.

I know that in Pathfinder 2e there are other things to do other than straight attack, but most also require dice rolls with either MAP or yet another modifier. I guess I could always just step back on my last strike; that would save me one roll but deny a team mate flanking potentially.

I can't be the only person with this issue, can I? Anyone have any great ideas for keeping track of the rolls and modifiers using real dice?

Thank you!

Izzy

*5 dice ranger turn: ranger command pet, ranger hunted shot(2 bow strikes +9/+4), ranger bow strike (-1), pet strike(+7), pet strike(+2), all with different modifiers

The horse's support is only applicable on Strike actions, not activities like Twin Takedown. The ability says "...on the action before a melee Strike...". This means it only applies to the Strike action, and only melee versions of them. If you use any other action that's not a Strike, it doesn't apply, even if the first thing you do in that activity is a Strike.

But the definition of Twin Takedown says "make two Strikes." So wouldn't it apply to those Strikes?

Thanks everyone!

I didn't notice my animal companion mount support benefit could be interpreted as +2 for each attack or reaction in the round, and +3 if it's a jousting weapon, so that makes my pony considerably more useful.

Izzy

Greetings all,

I'm having trouble interpreting this rule for the horse animal companion support benefit:

"Support Benefit: Until the start of your next turn, if you're mounted on your horse and moved 10 feet or more on the action before a melee Strike, add a circumstance bonus to damage for that Strike equal to twice the number of weapon damage dice. If your weapon already has the jousting weapon trait, increase the trait’s damage bonus by 2 per die instead."

I have a level 2 halfling ranger with flurry and twin takedown. The weapon has one dice usually. After ordering the companion to charge when mounted I have 2 actions left, both of which I'll use for strikes, so four strikes total. I assume that only the first of these four strikes gets the damage bonus, right?

I'm confused about the wording of "increase the trait's damage bonus by 2 per die" when using a jousting weapon. How is that different from "circumstance bonus to damage for that Strike equal to twice the number of damage dice"? With a 1 dice weapon, aren't both of these numbers 2? Or is it 4 if the weapon is a jousting weapon?

Thank you!

Izzy

I first met Rick in 1980 at PrinceCon in Princeton, NJ. They used to pit the good players vs the evil ones in a sort of grand melee for awards in that less-enlightened time of sometimes-competitive rpg gaming. I will forever remember his merciful treatment of my evil priest, when he used a gentle hold person spell on me and spared my life. From that moment forward we were good friends.

He always had a kind word for everyone, and was never flustered no matter what life threw his way. He was a rock in the storm always, and we are all diminished by his passing.

Rest in peace dear friend. You will be forever missed.

Sorry it's not in the PFS forum ... I didn't see it. :(

Wow thanks for that quote. I had read that several times but missed the most important part for druids!

"The first time a character with levels in druid, ranger, or any other class that grants an animal companion gains an animal companion, the animal enters play knowing its maximum number of tricks as dictated by the animal companion's Intelligence and the character's effective druid level."

In my case that will be 7 tricks I think (which is what Hero Lab told me too).

Thanks again!

Israfeli

Greetings,

Longtime RP'er, but I am very new to PFS. So far I love it!

I am a level 1 halfling druid with a Roc for an animal companion in PFS. Naturally I would like to ride her, and since I'm guessing we will be flying in scary situations, combat riding seems a must. I was wondering how this is properly done in PFS, since "Combat Riding" includes six tricks (attack, come, defend, down, guard, heel). My assumption is I need to train all 6 tricks first, and then train the "Combat Riding" trick. This would require successful handle animal rolls after 7 PFS scenarios to be fully trained. Or can I just do one roll after one PFS scenario for "Combat Riding" and be done with it? I'm guessing the former, but the latter sure would make life easier.

I don't mind doing whatever is right by the rules, so whatever you experienced GMs come up with is fine with me. If this were a home campaign I would just spend 6 weeks in-game between adventures fully training her up.

Cheers,
Israfeli