Search Posts
On top of the "claim trophy" feature, which I hope is a major part of the class, I'm already expecting slayer to possibly be my favorite martial (next to thaumaturge), as I'm expecting it to be the ranger I wanted and not the ranger we got, more of a proper hunter-killer and less of a survivalist. I'll find out in a couple hours. XD
There's a video on Paizo's YouTube channel that shows a brief play test and explanation of the classes and the play test is planned for release this Tuesday at approx. 9 a.m PSTHere the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5__dXiYIBo Thank you! I kept trying to post it but it just kept leading to the Paizo forums here for some reason.
Really hoping the trophy collecting thing on slayer is a major part of the class. I wasn't expecting to need to create a fourth iteration of my psychodermist character but sounds like it's gonna be necessary so I'm hoping to be buried in useful monster body parts... Otherwise, yeah, I agree, these classes better be significantly different enough from ranger and swashbuckler to justify their existence. (I really want shifter still)
I know this is years after you first made the guide, but I noticed something huge you missed and cast resurrection on my account just to comment: Not a problem. I fairly regularly touch up my guides, usually minor changes to improve clarity or I might just not like the words I used before. Liturgist Sustains each time it Steps. Their unique feat, Cycle Of Souls at Level 18, is a free action Step at the start of their turn, thus a free action Sustain better than Effortless Concentration. Gift of the Anemos also lets them Step when they Sustain it too, creating a small chain. This is a pretty good point I didn't think of. It's very strong but does lock in a couple of your feats as I think it's going to require at least two stances. Despite its very high level, considering the already strong action economy of the liturgist, this is just another example of how the practice is broken. This is certainly kicking the Medium while it is down, but I'll also point out that Medium is perfect for Striker Animists, by combining Embodiment of Battle and River Carving Mountains, moving and striking in one turn, even while Relinquishing Control. There are other pairs with Gift of the Anemos or River Carving Mountains too, such as Devouring Dark Form, Earth's Bile, Garden Of Healing, and Trickster's Mirrors. Medium is for the Animist who wants to Sustain as many vessel spells as possible and wants to avoid losing the action economy to do so (Relinquish Control). This I don't agree with. I think you may have misread Relinquish Control. It gives nothing but a bonus against some very niche effects while locking in 1 apparition and also significantly narrowing down your entire turn's actions. Also, liturgist can start sustaining multiple vessel spells starting at first level. It may take an extra action or 2 but they are more than capable. Additionally, sustaining multiple vessel spells is not something you want to do a ton of. It's handy and a good option to have but not something you want to focus on. Plus, sustaining more than 2 is just unwieldy and likely not worth the trouble when you have full spellcasting.
Animist -> Overrated. You can't even get one of the class focus spells. At best I could see someone wanting their L4 divine version of bespell weapon (L8 in the archetype) and L6 grudge strike (L12 in the archetype). Otherwise they are just another 'divine basic/expert/master spellcasting archetype. Wizard is better here. You can't even get wandering feats (Grudge Strike) with the animist archetype. If you could though, animist might have ended up as one of the strongest multiclass archetypes. Grudge Strike on a fighter or Medium's Awareness on a rogue would be nutty.
Ooh, thanks! I don't know if this matters much, but it also looks like Lantern is no longer a once-per-round light-or-extinguish. It does allow for lighting up at the start of your turn and vanishing into the darkness at the end... but darkvision is already better for that, so it's not unreasonable. Oh, good catch! No, I like that a lot actually. Lantern is one of my favorite implements and this could give some more interesting combat utility.
I like that the intensify vulnerability on the wand now exceeds personal antithesis damage and is on par with most weaknesses at its level. Sure, you gotta spend an extra action but this is pretty much an at-will spellcasting-like effect coming from a primarily martial class. Wand is legit good now.
Thank you. And Maya should probably get a raise. I feel like she's working overtime dealing with us lately.I appreciate your kindness here, but I use they/them pronouns! Honestly, I'm just glad you all see the effort I put in! That's very nice! ^_^ Shoot. My bad. I saw that earlier too somewhere and didn't catch my mistake.
Maya should probably clean all this AI discussion out of the thread. As we always seem to do, we all took this on a side tangent. This thread is about guides and it should stay about guides. Thank you. And Maya should probably get a raise. I feel like she's working overtime dealing with us lately.
Again, I think the issue with AI is it produces a sub-par product and can easily be outsourced for less cost. In union terms, it's essentially anti-union work and Paizo, as a union, should be against it and hold firm against it creeping its way through until it can be properly regulated and negotiated around.Properly regulated by whom? Hey now, I think that question is pushing this conversation to get too political. Lol. But short answer: the government.
Again, I think the issue with AI is it produces a sub-par product and can easily be outsourced for less cost. In union terms, it's essentially anti-union work and Paizo, as a union, should be against it and hold firm against it creeping its way through until it can be properly regulated and negotiated around.
Completely free, no ad, 100% Turing complete AI only. If an AI system can believably play through an entire campaign over multiple platforms with ever changing schedules, maybe even missing a game themselves from time to time while not trying to convince me of buying anything, yeah, sure, AI can get involved. Currently, AI is mostly lazy and far too derivative and inauthentic and will likely be primarily used as a tool for monetization and advertising. It's just not a good fit for the hobby at the moment. WotC will likely always be the leader in the hobby and already has a bad reputation in business practices so of course they'll use AI. Paizo is likely 2nd in the industry and it's on them to set an example for the rest on whats acceptable for the hobby because WotC has been dropping the ball and only gets by as well as it does due to capital and branding.
I didn't participate in the playtest but this is probably the baseline information to go off of here. https://paizo.com/blog/impossible-playtest-debrief (the link doesn't work for some reason, so maybe copy/paste)
I forgot you already mentioned stances which is a great example of why, yes, RAW, if it can only apply to a single "weapon", sure, fist strikes while in such a stance wouldn't work but it's SO dumb for it to work that way. Like...the divine power within you just gets shut off from a part of you that it could normally access if you change the position of your feet and hands in a perfectly healthy manner.
Ok, sounds like my last 2 questions are pretty clearly answered and explained by Hammerjack. The 1st still seems iffy. Now, I'm wondering, if I choose my fist, is it one fist or both? What happens if that same appendage shapeshifts? And how is that different from physically modifying my natural hand from anything ranging from losing a finger to grafts? I definitely agree there's a lot of GM fiat involved with this one. Ultimately, yes, The Raven Black, we need shifter badly. This system's limitations, while required for balance, just makes trying to build one with what we currently have too much of a square-peg-in-round-hole issue.
I'm trying to throw together an exemplar with druid archetype that utilizes untamed form and I'm not sure how it interacts with some other abilities so I have a few questions: - If I take Hands of the Wildling, does that apply to ALL my unarmed attacks or just my default (fists) or can I at least choose an unarmed attack I'd gain from untamed form? - If I take Energized Spark (earth [bludgeoning]) can that allow any of my unarmed attacks qualify for Titan's Breaker? - Last, I'm a bit confused on this rule: Your ikons can be etched with runes, upgraded, or otherwise modified as normal for items of their type. A body or worn ikon can have runes etched on it to apply to your unarmed attacks as though it were handwraps of mighty blows, though only one of your ikons can have these runes and no ikon can have both these and armor or weapon runes. Does this mean I can only ever have weapon runes on a single ikon, even if I have multiple weapon ikons?
I don't think the animist's reactions are all that great. Most are weak and very limited. I think most Champion' Reactions beat out what animist has to offer. The reactive strike from embodiment of battle is nice but it still costs you an action. I think the status bonus to attacks is the only reliable appeal of the spell as you can grab weapon proficiency with a general feat or maybe make due with whatever proficiencies your ancestry can grant. I think going that direction and taking champion (justice) dedication might be better than relying on embodiment of battle. Then lay on hands is a good, reliable single target heal that compliments garden of healing's AoE. But yeah, this still doesn't feel like it's going for as much of a pure striking/tanking martial role but more of a support/off-tank, like a warpriest. I could see the animist out-striking the champion occasionally but that's not really the champion's strength. Tanking on the other hand seems like the animist's biggest weakness after legitimate skills (ignoring using spells as stand-ins). I don't think you'll ever outshine a champion there unless you REALLY lean into it to the point that you may as well just play an actual heavy armor martial.
I like the current animist overall. I wanted a 2nd edition shaman and medium and I got both in a single package. I wanted my medium to be a bit more martial leaning like in 1e, but I can't complain too much. I'm still not sure if it's too powerful. The liturgist needs knocked down a peg or the other practices need a buff to catch up. Some late level feats are definitely pushing some boundaries. I'm coming to the conclusion that if you put the animist in the hands of a power gamer with a group of non-power gamers, there's gonna be a lot of feel bad moments....but the same might be said of some other classes as well so..... It'll probably never be something I can 100% confidently decide on. I think if a player that already has a hard time with complexity isn't ready to buy into the class from the start, yes, it's going to be way too complicated. Like, if a GM says, "the animist is the perfect class for your concept" but that player is leaning more toward druid or witch or something else that's simpler than the animist, they're going to have a bad time and might even be turned off from the system entirely if they're new.
Yeah, the thread more or less started off as "how does the animist hold up as a jack-of-all-trades and compare to something like thaumaturge?" and almost immediately turned into "but sorcerer!". I'd like to retract this previous statement and correct it with: "...and [the thread was] necro-ed into "but sorcerer!" Upon reviewing, there was actually a lot of good varied material throughout before it died off.
it's never about assessing the complete picture, or seeing how the Animist performs overall, it's always about claiming that the Animist can't possibly be overtuned, because they don't beat the literal best at X at the thing they're best at. This is where I'm at with the discussion. I don't really care whether or not the animist is outshined in any role like damage where we have to find such specific white room examples to prove one side or the other. I mean, it SHOULD probably be outshined in every role but that's not the point.... It's like, every class is getting As in 1 or 2 subjects but failing everything else (which is a good thing in this system). The animist on the other hand is getting all Bs and Cs and maybe a couple Ds. That's the issue at hand - whether that's a good thing or not and if that aspect needs to be balanced. Does the animist have a significantly higher role GPA than the rest of the classes (a class of classes :P )?
I'd like to add that Cardinal Guardians is basically ancestral memories that you can just freely add onto an apparition spell. Also, on the topic of the spell slots, ignoring all other things, it seems to come down to a "would you prefer to be a psychic with additional spells from the witch dedication (non-occult) or a sorcerer?" sort of situation.
I just started a similar build (fighter with druid) using unlimited free archetype. I'm only level 6 and I've only played 2 or 3 sessions so a lot of this is still theory but.... My main takeaway is that you're suffering lowered AC for increased reach and improved movement and senses. I doubt the temp hp is going to make up for loss in AC. Later you can get Rip and Tear or heightened untamed shift can help add some persistent damage, 2 types if you take Insect Shape while keeping a good AC. Spell slots will probably be able to add more utility when needed, maybe ranged cantrips if you can't manage to fly. If you have adequate time before a fight, there's plenty of options to buff yourself beforehand. Enlarge lasts 5 minutes so that's fairly easy for a pre-buff. Resist energy and mountain resilience also have long enough durations so you can save them for a big fight for the day while ensuring they last throughout the fight but also not spend much if any actions during the fight on casting them. Fighter is nice because you get to use most of your feats in untamed form still. I looked at monk as well and was really heavily considering it. If monk is quickened while not polymorphed, they can do something like Flurry of Blows, stride a long distance or just strike again or use a maneuever and then cast something like electric arc. It really came down to action economy and higher defenses (mountain stance) versus accuracy, MAP reduction and what I find to be more interesting feats, most of which only mattered while NOT polymorphed.
I believe The Raven Black is referring to how the Martial Artist archetype no longer contains the following: "Whenever you gain a class feature that grants you expert or greater proficiency in certain weapons, you also gain that proficiency rank in all unarmed attacks." Therefore, you can no longer have a constantly crazy high attack bonus while polymorphed with untamed form, such as if you were a fighter multiclassed into druid followed by Martial Artist.
This could be part of the problem. As the only tanky character, the repetition of '(1) EV, stride, raise shield, (2) step, strike, raise shield' is not really being caused by your class, it's being caused by your role in the party. This is a great point. Thaumaturge is generally not a tank. It's another rogue-type of class. If you do want it to act as a tank, you don't even have the right implement, being the amulet or shield. You probably need to either re-build your character or just not tank anymore. You're likely no more suited to tank than the party rogue....or even the gunslinger. In fact, the rogue can actually wield a shield without it being a detriment to their class's functionality.
We might still get this book next gencon... Hopefully. I really don't expect it to take that long. The playtest was released Dec. 2024. I expect the book to release Q1 or early Q2. A whole year and a half sounds WAY to long. So far I think books have usually released 13-14 months after playtest, not 18.
From my end, it looks like you need to adjust some spacing or something on pages 6 and 10. A whole half or full page starts on the far right edge but is severely cut off.That's a running issue with the Homebrewery; depending on your browser size and resolution it can cause text to go over the readable columns. I've asked the developers about this, and the workaround is so clunky and manual as to not really be feasible unfortunately. Yup, just switched from phone to PC and it reads fine now. Will look it over.
Kinda glad this topic came up because it addresses a concern I had. I have a character that I want to give heavy wooden armor purely to keep up with a druidic ascetic but it seems like the downside should be its lack of durability. If it's common practice to just ignore equipment durability, is taking the lighter bulk and benefits of the wood armor group just cheesing the system at that point? Is this something I should be concerned about? I'd rather not influence the use of exploits.
Ugh. I'm not very familiar with unarmed attacks granted from ancestries since I usually play humans but those are some pretty damning examples. Thank you. Not happy with the answer but it's pretty convincing.
I was building a fighter with the druid dedication. I was pretty confident it would work, then the automation on Foundry wasn't upgrading my proficiency for my battle form unarmed attacks. I looked into it and I guess since these unarmed attacks aren't explicitly in the brawling group, they don't qualify for the upgrade. It looks like this is an issue others have ran into but I can't find any official clarification. Has this been errata'd or clarified yet or do we have to assume fighters can't advance all unarmed attacks early based on wording?
If I ran with a player using Annoint Ally as an exploration activity, I'd probably give them drained 1. Otherwise, I don't see any issue with spending an action to slap it on an ally before they open every door with a potential threat on the other side. XD
Keeping a continually open wound such that you lose even as little as a drop of blood per second will have you lose over 2 liters in half a day, which is usually the amount considered to be fatal. It’s the same principle as when you’re told to fix leaks in your pipes and faucets even if it seems like a slow drip: it adds up, and quicker than you think. So I think your point here is that, unless the sorcerer has some means of magically extracting a drop of blood without breaking skin, the sorcerer is going to either need to create an open wound significant enough that it won't heal without intervention to regularly supply blood OR they will end up riddled with hundreds of pin pricks over the course of a day which in themselves will likely lead to infection or maybe exhaust the body through forcing it to actively heal multiple small injuries (not sure if that's really a thing). Yeah, I can see that.
|
