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Joynt Jezebel's page
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My idea here starts with a guide that is to be found at Zenith Guides called "Summoning Information - a guide to an alternate Eidolon" which champions the idea of creating your Eidolon as a ersatz Rogue and using the Summon Monster SLA boosted by feats for combat. Interesting and innovative.
This guide dates to 2013 so is talking of the original "chained" Summoner, which I will be doing here. In 2015 the Morphic Savant archetype was published.
My idea is that this archetype allows you to create three Eidolons, one a Rogue and two others that can be employed for other purposes, most obviously combat, at need. Great for flexibility. Morphic Monsters makes your SLA's more powerful and flexible.
I will quote the 3 changes made to a Summoner by the archetype with some comments of mine in italics.
"Eidolon of Chaos
A morphic savant’s eidolon must be of a chaotic alignment (if using the Unchained Summoner, the eidolon must have the azata, demon, or protean subtype). The morphic savant’s eidolon has three base forms: biped, quadruped, and serpentine. Each form has the same feats and skills, but has its own set of evolutions.
When the summoner meditates and regains his spell slots for the day, he can select any of the three base forms of his eidolon. The eidolon has 1 fewer evolution point than normal for an eidolon of the morphic savant’s summoner level, and has 1 fewer skill point per Hit Die.
This ability alters eidolon."
So you get 3 eidolon forms to select from each day. You can use the serpentine Eidolon as a Rogue or scout, a second as a traditional combat wombat and the third... On this I am undecided.
"Morphic Monsters
Since a morphic savant’s power is drawn from planar energies aligned with chaos, all the creatures he summons must be of a chaotic alignment.
If a creature would normally be celestial or fiendish, it is instead an entropic creature.
This also causes the morphic savant’s summoning power to be less reliable than a standard summoner‘s.
Each time he uses his summon monster spell-like ability to summon multiple creatures, there is a 50% chance he summons one more monster than normal for the summon monster spell he uses, in which case the creatures remain for only 1 round per level (instead of 1 minute per level).
Also, starting at 2nd level, the morphic savant can grant one 1-point evolution to all the creatures he summons with his summon monster spell-like ability. He can’t grant an evolution that duplicates the function of, or has the same name as, any ability the summoned creatures already possess (for example, he can’t grant a creature with a bite attack another bite attack), nor can he add an evolution that causes the summoned monsters to have more attacks than his eidolon‘s maximum number of attacks. The creatures do not have to be of the correct subtype to gain an evolution, but do have to meet any other prerequisites.
This ability alters summon monster."
The news starts bad as you can not summon creatures which are not chaotic, so no devils or elementals. A significant negative. Any summoned creature with a template gets the entropic template instead.
The fourth paragraph changes how your summons work, in an appropriately chaotic fashion. I think this does not change the power of the SLA.
Finally, at level 2 all of your summoned creatures gain a one point evolution. That is Evolved Summon Monster on each creature and technically you can select the Reach or Pounce evolutions. This is absolutely brilliant.
"Chaos Magic
A morphic savant gains the following bonus spells known at the listed spell level: 1st—protection from law, 2nd—shard of chaos, 3rd—magic circle against law, 4th—chaos hammer, 5th—dispel law, 6th—word of chaos. The morphic savant gains one fewer spell known per spell level for spell levels 1–6.
This ability alters the summoner’s spells known."
This is horrible. Effectively your 1st spell choice for each spell level is made for you and all the choices are horrible.
I am going to see if I get any responses before writing any more.
I was reading Iluzry's guide to the Slayer where he suggests taking one level of Alchemist (Vivisectionist) to increase the Slayer's sneak attack damage to equal a Rogue's of the same character level.
The archetype's class feature in question is-
"Sneak Attack
At 1st level, a vivisectionist gains the sneak attack ability as a rogue of the same level. If a character already has sneak attack from another class, the levels from the classes that grant sneak attack stack to determine the effective rogue level for the sneak attack’s extra damage dice (so an alchemist 1/rogue 1 has a +1d6 sneak attack like a 2nd-level rogue, an alchemist 2/rogue 1 has a +2d6 sneak attack like a 3rd-level rogue, and so on)."
I bolded part of of the text as it is important. I agree with Iluzry that this is a good idea and also that this isn't the clearest worded rule Paizo ever produced.
What the RAW is, in my opinion, is that if you add a level of Vivisectionist to any class that gives you sneak attack equal to a Rogue of the same level. So a Slayer, which will normally top out at 6d6 at level 20 would be increased to 10d6 as a level 19 slayer/ Level 1 Alchemist. 4d6 more sneak attack damage for a one level dip? Sign me up.
Then my genius [I am joking] started working on Iluzry's idea and came up with a better one: adding a one level Vivisectionist dip to a Nature Fang Druid, which only ever gets 1d6 sneak attack. This nets you +9d6 by level 20 at the cost of a one level dip. This is precisely 225% as good as the dip for the Slayer.
My genius continued to work, suggesting combining the idea with the Ratfolk's swarming-
"Offense Racial Traits
Swarming: Ratfolk are used to living and fighting communally, and are adept at swarming foes for their own gain and their foes’ detriment. Up to two ratfolk can share the same square at the same time. If two ratfolk in the same square attack the same foe, they are considered to be flanking that foe as if they were in two opposite squares."
This is a very efficient way of two Ratfolk who both have sneak attack to be able to get the extra damage most of the time.
I am interested in others ideas on possible uses of a Vivisectionist dip. Particularly with Ratfolk.
I want to know what is the oldest relevant historical event that anyone has ever come
across in a Pathfinder 1st ed, campaign.
I will be running a one shot, and hopefully later a campaign, that I expect will smash all records in this respect. I want to see if this is so.
On one side of this gestalt build is a witch with the Winter Witch and Ashtifah archetypes, later going into the Winter Witch prestige class.
Eventually, this will turn you into a full arcane caster specialised in cold spells with the ability to tear through cold resistance and immunity.
To pursue my idea you take this hex-
Frozen Caress (Su) Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell’s effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a successful save negates this additional cold damage.
You get this ability at level 2-
Ghostwalk (Su): Starting at 2nd level, as a move action after using a hex, an ashiftah can become invisible as per vanishAPG and can then take a 5-foot step. Using ghostwalk doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.
This ability replaces the hex gained at 2nd level.
And you take this feat, the hex being Slumber.
Hex Strike (Combat)
Chanting and cursing, you put a hex on your enemy as part of your unarmed strike.
Prerequisite: Hex class feature, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Benefit: When you gain this feat, choose one hex that you can use to affect no more than one opponent. If you make a successful unarmed strike against an opponent, in addition to dealing your unarmed strike damage, you can use a swift action to deliver the effects of the chosen hex to that opponent. Doing so does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, you apply it to a different qualifying hex.
On the other side, you take 4 levels of Slayer, Executioner Archetype. And one level of Magus, Esoteric Archetype. This gives you spell strike on unarmed strikes from one level of magus, which reads-
Spellstrike (Su)
[See FAQ]
At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell. If the magus makes this attack in concert with spell combat, this melee attack takes all the penalties accrued by spell combat melee attacks. This attack uses the weapon’s critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.
At level 4 Executioner gives you-
Painful Strike* (Ex): At 4th level, a Sczarni executioner automatically gains this talent. Sczarni executioners are trained to cause excruciating pain when striking targets, often leaving them reeling in agony or completely incapacitated as they slowly bleed out. A creature that takes sneak attack damage from a Sczarni executioner must make a successful a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the Sczarni executioner’s class level + his Intelligence modifier) or become sickened for 1d4 rounds. This ability alters the slayer talent received at 4th level and replaces swift tracker.
For race, you want one with a good int and natural attacks. Suitable is a Changeling with the Witchborn and Kitsune Parentage alternative racial Traits.
On a 25 point build that will give your character-
Str 14
Dex 14
Con 12
Wis 10
Int 18
Cha 12
With 2 claws and one bite all doing 1d4 + str mod.
Now how this is intended to work.
First sneak up on an enemy and study them for studied target using ghostwalk. Say you are level 5 and your target is a humanoid.
You then as a standard action cast a touch spell, say touch of blindness. You then add frozen caress as a swift action and hex strike as a move action. Then belt the target.
The effect will be-
1d4 bite damage
+2 from str
+3 from studied target
1d6 precision damage
And the target must save vs blindness for 1 round plus 1d4 cold damage, then make a second save against being put to sleep for 5 rounds and finally a third save vs painful strike or be sickened for 1d4 rounds.
You have 5 rounds of touch of blindness in total, 4 more. In these rounds you can make full attack actions which will be 3 attacks as above without the precision damage and slumber hex.
This should be enough to allow people to see what the character is intended to do.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
The 2018 Character Survey contains a lot that is of interest to people seriously interested in Pathfinder, Link here .
What I want to discuss here is the relative popularity of the full arcane casting classes. The number of characters of each class shown by the survey are-
Arcanist 147
Sorcerer 549
Witch- 249
Wizard- 563
Most class tiers rate wizard as tier 1, with sorcerers a bit below and witches weaker still. I would think arcanists are around on a par with wizards. This is something I don't dispute, but these tier systems refer to the power level of the classes at level 20 or just short.
The same survey finds that 50% of character reach a maximum level in one class of 6, 8 levels overall, 20% of character reach a maximum level in one class of 12, 14 levels overall and only 10% of character reach a maximum level in one class of 15, 17 levels overall.
This reflects my own experience, it is rare to get a character to level 14. And in the PFS as I understand it characters max out at level 11 nearly always.
I believe that at the levels most characters reach witches are the most powerful. They get spells at the same rate as a wizard and are prepared casters. And the class features, which is mostly hexes for the witch, just out classes [pun unintentional, honest!] those of the other arcane casters.
A witch starts with one hex and gains one at each even numbered level [with an additional major hex at lvl 10 and grand hex at lvl 18, but I am not talking so much about these higher levels]. This means you have 3 hexes by level 4, more if you take the extra hex feat. Ie you get a lot of them.
Hexes do a variety of things. They have some limitations, those that target an individual can only affect that individual once a day. You can improve this to 2/day with the accursed hex feat. Hexes have short ranges, typically 30', and few if any affect more than one creature.
The fact that spells can be cast once per day per slot, while hexes are once per day per opponent means that witches just last much longer.
What I do is select spells that do what my hexes can't. I have a level 4 witch in a PbP game her that has memorised-
2nd Glitterdust x2 Invisibility x1
1st—burning hands (3, DC 16) x2, mage armor x2
Hexes can't affect groups, glitterdust and burning hands can. The other spells also supplement my hexes, slumber, fortune, misfortune and cackle.
I am interested in what others have to say about this.
This adventure begins in the town of Sandpoint with
reports that the Licktoad goblins of Brinestump Marsh
have grown unusually aggressive. The reason for this
uncharacteristic bravery seems clear—the goblins have
somehow managed to arm themselves with what appears
to be a considerable supply of fireworks. The problem
stems not so much from the additional “firepower”
these fireworks provide as from the inflated sense of ego
and power that the devices have given the goblins—the
fireworks have made them dangerously brave.
Several merchant caravans and travelers have been
attacked so far, and according to the victims, the damage
caused by horses panicking at the sight and sound of
exploding pyrotechnics is almost as destructive as the
goblin attacks themselves. With the last few attacks
resulting in severe injuries to three unfortunate travelers,
the problem has escalated from an annoyance to a threat.
However, as none of the attacks have yet inconvenienced
Magnimar (only Sandpointers and other Lost Coasters
have been hit so far), the city has been slow to react.
Unwilling to idly sit by and wait for the goblin problem to
escalate to actual deaths on the Lost Coast Road in order to
attract Magnimar’s attention, Sandpoint’s leaders have put
out the call for goblin exterminators.
But after a time of upheaval a few years back involving
goblins, giants, and even a dragon, Sandpoint has since
returned to being a relatively sleepy town. It doesn’t take
long for life to settle down once things return to normal,
and with Varisia’s adventurers now more eager to try their
luck at finding their fortunes in legendary Xin-Shalast,
there simply aren’t a lot of volunteers to fight goblins
around. Always running at a lean enrollment, Sandpoint’s
city watch can’t afford to send patrols into the trackless
expanse of Brinestump, although they have stepped up
their presence along the Lost Coast Road itself. The task
of wading into the notorious local wetland falls instead to
adventurers—be they concerned locals honestly eager to aid
the town or greedy mercenaries looking to make relatively
easy coin. A few adventurers have already made the attempt,
but nothing has been heard of them in the 3 days since they
entered Brinestump Marsh, and just last night, another
round of colorful explosions burst over the wetlands south of
Sandpoint. The goblins are doubtless readying a new attack!
To deal with the goblin threat, Sheriff Belor Hemlock
has restored Sandpoint’s old “goblin bounty” after several
years of inactivity—it was suspended when a group of
eager but too-young adventurers were swept out to sea
while in pursuit of goblin ears. The town of Sandpoint will
pay 10 gp for every relatively fresh goblin ear delivered to
the town hall—with an additional reward of 300 gp for the
group who can bring in the head of the Licktoads’ leader,
Chief Gutwad.
If your players are using the Jade Regent Player’s Guide as
an aid to get started in this Adventure Path, they’ll start
play with established ties not only to Sandpoint, but to
each other as well. Since all the PCs should also have ties
to Ameiko Kaijitsu and the Rusty Dragon, the old cliché of
starting the adventure in a tavern seems strangely apt—
perhaps they’ve come to the Rusty Dragon to figure out
their plan of attack for dealing with the Licktoad goblins.
A complete gazetteer of the town of Sandpoint can be
found in Pathfinder Adventure Path #1, though that writeup
is not necessary to run this adventure. In addition, the
“Sandpoint Hinterlands” article that begins on page 62
of this book not only provides some basic information on
Sandpoint, but also numerous rumors that can help get
the PCs started.
While making early enquires, Varog was given
a warning and a bit of advice. Brinestump Marsh may
not be as large as the Mushfens farther to the south,
but the swamp is dense and tangled. It’s easy to get
lost in the place. No one’s made a really detailed map
of Brinestump—there’s been no need, since there’s not
much of value within. But if anyone knows his way around
in the marsh, it’d be that old eccentric half ling Walthus
Proudstump, the self-appointed “warden” of the swamp.
A fishing trail leads from the Lost Coast Road directly to
Walthus’s shack in the swamp. If the PCs wish to explore
the marsh, they could do a lot worse than following that
trail to seek out the half ling’s advice.
Three rumours have been heard by Vrog:-
"It’s been a long time since Old Megus came to town.
My neighbor says it’s because she used witch magic to
turn into some sort of swamp zombie and now she’s
stalking Brinestump looking for people to eat!"
"That weird halfling who lives at the end of the New Fish
Trail in Brinestump Marsh raises snakes as pets. I kid
you not! He coddles them like my niece coddles her
pet rabbit, Mr. Nibbles! Takes a special kind of weirdo
to keep snakes as pets!"
"A group of three girls, about fifteen years old, announced they were going to take care of the goblin problem and asked for details of the bounty. Officials thought this was a fine joke and the girls were firmly told to leave the goblins to adults."
I am playing a Tengu Ninja is the Skull and Shackles AP. We have just had a long and sucessful session where we went up two levels. I am having trouble making up my mind on where to take my character.
First here is the character so far:-
Name Fu Kyu Lot
Class Nina (Scout)
Race Tengu
Alternate Racial Traits
Claw Attack
Glide
Gender Female
Str 10
Dex 21
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 12
Traits
Reactionary
Irrepressible
Bussemi's Blessing
Feats
Weapon Finesse
Extra Ninja Trick
Combat Reflexes [level 5 feat, selected provisionally]
Special Abilities
Ninja Tricks
Fatal Finesse
Vanishing Trick
Offensive Defence
The first of these is 3rd party. My GM, Arcane Mark, allows 3rd party on a case by case basis, so suggest 3rd party stuff please.
Skills
Magic Items
Ring of Swimming
Wand of Mirror Image
Both of these are excellent in this setting.
Fu as a huge range of skills mostly with 1 rank in each I am not going to list. Acrobatics, Disable Device, Perception, Stealth and Use Magic Device are maxed out.
So far Fu has proved to be an excellent Ninja, great at sneaking and killing things. She has 3 natural attacks doing 1-3 damage, with +5 to hit and damage owing to fatal finesse and weapon finesse. Vanishing Trick and a high stealth allow a lot of sneak attacks doing an extra 3d6.
Also so far, my choices have been fairly obvious. The idea was to use natural strikes and the feats and tricks I have taken more or less pick themselves. The choice of level 5 feat is open, but combat relexes and improved initiative cannot be bad choices and will be needed in the long run.
But very soon I am going to have to choose a direction. One way is to continue concentrating on doing damage in melee. I will need 2 weapon fighting eventually, the natural attacks are much better for now but eventually you need iterative attacks. And natural weapons are not suitable for attacking everything. But I am not settled on the best way to do it.
Another option is pursuing ranged combat, evetually aiming for Improved Snapshot and trying to get hold of Sniper's Goggles. This means investing in a lot of feats, Improved Snapshot's prerequisites are Dex 15, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Snap Shot, Weapon Focus, base attack bonus +9. That is 4 feats and I don't get the BaB until level 12. It is great when you get there.
Another decision is do I use a ranged weapon with a good range, probably the short bow, or shiruken or both. Flurry of Stars and Shiruken Style are very good, but a 10' range sucks. With those two tricks Rapid Shot and 2 Weapon Fighting I can fire off 5 shiruken for 1 Ki point as a full round action, all with -4 to hit and +2d6 [eventually more] damage.
Another question is do I pursue poison use feats, Alchemy, Adder Strike et al.
So many options, so few feats and tricks, so few pre-requisites.
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Sorry to ask something that is probably rather elementary to those well versed in the Pathfinder rules, but I am not.
I have recently started playing a Ninja in tabletop. I practically always play spellcasters, so never knew this part of the rules.
My Ninja is level 3 with 3 natural attacks. The question is, if I get a sneak attack and use a full round action to attack with all 3 natural weapons, do all 3 get the 2d6 sneak attack extra damage or just the first?
And is the same true for other similar situations where a ninja or rogue gets surprise and has more than one attack.
I know if an opponent is flat footed all 3 of my natural attacks would do 1d3 + 2d6.
I read a feat that enhances natural weapons, giving all a characters natural weapons +1 to hit and damage and allowing them to be further enchanted. Sadly, I didn't take note of it and can't recall it's name.
Is there some Pathfinder sage out there who knows what it is?
I am in the process of creating an 8th level LE Master Summoner for a PbP game.
I am taking the feat versatile summons and have chosen the Dark and Aerial templates.
If I can find a way to get a Wysp on the battlefield I can give many of my summoner monsters the aerial template and therefore +2 to hit and damage if within 30 ft of a wysp.
The only way I know how to do this is taking the familiar feat, with it's pre-req iron will and then improved familiar. But I can't afford to feats.
Is there another way to get one of useful little things where i need them?
I have not seen any real discussion of this archetype. It strikes me as having a lot of potential, largely due to the eidolon.
"Eidolon of Chaos
A morphic savant's eidolon must be of a chaotic alignment (if using the Unchained Summoner, the eidolon must have the azata, demon, or protean subtype). The morphic savant's eidolon has three base forms: biped, quadruped, and serpentine. Each form has the same feats and skills, but has its own set of evolutions.
When the summoner meditates and regains his spell slots for the day, he can select any of the three base forms of his eidolon. The eidolon has 1 fewer evolution point than normal for an eidolon of the morphic savant's summoner level, and has 1 fewer skill point per Hit Die.
This ability alters eidolon."
It seems to me you can build the 3 eidolons very differently, dedicating one as a mount, one for stealth, one for combat, one for skills, and there must be other possibilities. True, each eidolon is slightly inferior to a normal summoner and you can only change between them when you meditate to recover spells, which takes time.
However, this does give you a lot of flexibility in what your eidolon can do.
Likewise, from level 2 you can give monsters summoned with your SLA ability a 1 point evolution. Again, this is very flexible. One obvious use is giving the summoned critters skilled.
I don't like the changes to your spells. But its a downside that may be worth it.
Is this archetype as promising as it appears to me?
I have an idea for an archetype and race I have rarely if ever seen used or discussed on these forums I would like some input on.
The archetype is a Bouda Witch, which has particularly nasty hexes and the race is Skinwalker, Bloddmarked (Werebat-kin).
The race has a +2 Int and an excellent racial feat, being:_
"Bat Shape
Your powers of transformation have been honed to the point where you can wholly become a bat.
Prerequisite: Cha 13, werebat-kin.
Benefit: You can take the form of a bat whose appearance is static and cannot be changed each time you assume this form. You gain a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks to appear as a bat. Changing from werebat-kin to bat shape is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as beast shape II, and your ability scores change accordingly.
If you wear a bat pelt, you may choose to adopt a form resembling the bat whose skin you wear instead of your normal bat form."
This would be my first level feat. The idea is to sneak around as a bat and use hexes on opponents while they are unaware of me.
Look at this from the Bouda archetype:-
"Bouda's Eye (Su)
A bouda's gaze can bestow ill fortune on her enemies. This hex can affect a creature within 30 feet that the bouda can see. The target takes a –2 penalty on one of the following (bouda's choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. The hex lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the bouda's Intelligence modifier. A successful Will saving throw reduces the duration of the hex to 1 round. Once per day when the bouda uses this hex, she can impose two different penalties on the target instead of just one. If the bouda takes the evil eye hex, it increases the number of different penalties she can impose on the hex's target by 1. At 8th level, the penalties imposed by this hex increase to –4. This is a mind-affecting effect.
This hex must be taken as a bouda's 1st-level hex, and only a bouda can take this hex."
As per the previous sentence, my level one Hex is spoken for, and at levels 2 and 4 I would take Evil Eye and Cackle.
I don't have a campaign for the character at present, so haven't done the build further. Obviously characteristics would include an Int of at least 16, a Cha of 13 at least, maybe 14 and decent Dex and Con.
It seems like an effective idea to me. Thoughts?
I am playing a Master Summoner and plan to take the Eldrich Heritage Feats eventually, aiming for the 15th level Abyssal bloodline power.
17th level is a long way away and I want to know if I can speed the process up if I obtain a Robe of Arcane Heritage? It is anything from clear from what is written under the descriptions.
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This subject came up on another thread, and i thought it should be posted here as it should make its way into future versions of the rules. What alignment is porn?
Good aligned porn shows consenting adults enjoying sex.
Evil aligned porn is exploitative, cruel or involves children.
Lawful porn conforms to one sexual taste.
Chaotic porn is more eclectic.
Which means good and neutral porn would be PFS legal!
This showed up in BOOK OF HEROIC RACES: ADVANCED FAVORED CLASS OPTIONS (PFRPG) by Jon Brazer Enterprises-
"Summoner: Add +1/2 additional creatures summoned when summoning multiple creatures via a summon monster spell or spell-like ability. "
If you can find a GM who will allow it, perhaps a challenge, its enough to change the race for playing Summoners from Half Elves to Samsarans.
At say level 6 you could previously, assuming you have the Superior Summoning feat, summon 1, 3 or 4 monsters from the level 2 list. That averages 2 and 2/3. A Samsaran can now summon 1, 6 or 7 Monsters, which averages 4 and 2/3.
Obviously this is great for the already excellent Master Summoner.
For the vanilla Summoner, it makes the strategy of not using the Eidelon for combat but as a scout, a sort of rogue or what is called a skilldelon much better, perhaps going from a viable strategy to the best way to play the class. Just take lots of feats that make your summons better and hang around with people like Bards who buff their whole team.
I don't know what the person at Jon Brazer Enterprises who came up with this was high on, but I definitely want some.
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A chance encounter with the Half Elf section of Tyler's Race Guide, where Tyler opines that a First Worlder Summoner is good.
I believe that this archetype hasn't recieved a lot of attention, so I thought I would work with the idea.
First, let us have a look at a build. Race is half-elf of course.
20 point build
STR - 8
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 12
WIS - 10
CHA - 16
Traits:
Diabolic Dabbler
Reactionary
A First Worlder will get excellent value from the Diabolic Dabbler trait, as it will enhance most of the summons cast.
Take the Arcane Training alternative racial feat offered by half-elves for Multi-Talented. Summoners should never multi-class, so an additional favored class is a waste.
Feats:
1st - Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
1st - Spell Focus (Conjuration)
3rd - Augmented Summoning
5th - Superior Summoning
7th - Summon Evil [Good or Neutral] Monster.
This character is most powerful when of an evil alignment. You get to apply your Diabolic dabbler bonus to near every summoning.
Another thing to note. Summon Nature's Ally spells are added to the First Worlder's spell list, not that anyone would take them, but nothing is removed. So you can still use Summon Monster and other good summons the Summoner gets, you just have to cast them as spells.
Why do I think First Worlders are good? I ask the reader to look at the archetype and compare it to a basic Summoner.
The Summon Monster SLA is replaced with Summon Nature's Ally, and the First Worlder gets some useful additional options to summmon at level 3.
This sounds like a drawback as Summon Monster is normally more powerful. But there is no restriction on the First Worlder using the summon SLA while the Eidelon is present.
And there are a number of changes to the Eidelon, notably changing the BaB to half the Eidelon's HD and it HP die type to d6. Sounds bad. But if you plan to use the Eidelon for something other than combat, this matters little. Most obviously, you can dedicate your Eidelon to skills and take the Skilled Evolution over and over, what is sometimes called a skilldelon. The Eidelon can be given a wand and use magic device and can contribute to combat that way.
Now compare the First Worlder to the Master Summoner. The Master Summoner has 2 extra summons/day and gets the augmented summons feat for free at level 2. And the Master Summoner gets to summon monsters, which is more powerful.
In the First Worlder's favour is the Master Summoner loses a whole lot of powerful or utile class features that the First Worlder does not, and gets an Eidelon as if they were half there level.
In sum, the Master Summoner is better at calling things to the battlefield, though perhaps not by that much, while the First Worlder is better at most other things. This likely puts them on a par, or close. And the Master Summoner is banned in PFS and will be by many GMs, which makes the First Worlder much better as you are more likely to be able to play it.
This is a character concept that I am looking at.
Gathlain stats look like-
Str 8
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 18
A Broodmaster starts with 2 small eidelons. Mine will be one that is combat capable, the 2nd mostly with skills.
Feats go like this
Level 1 Spell Focus Conjuration- pre-req for the next 2, does little by itself.
Level 3 Augmented Summong- Summoned creatures get +4 Con & Str
Level 5 Superior Summons- If more than 1 creature is summoned, incr the no by 1
At level 4 you get the 2nd level spell Summon Eidelon.
At this point, you have a combo for an unusual combat strategy. Most Summoners prefer to have their eidelons there at the start of a combat, except sometimes master summoners. My Gathlain does not for tough fights.
The strategy is- Round 1 cast Summon Monster 3 as a SLA [ I can do it 7 times/ day] calling 1-3 monsters from the Summon Monster 3 list. You get an extra 1 unless you roll a 1, and the buff to str and con.
Round 2 cast Summon Eidelon calling 2 Eidelons. You get an extra Eidelon as you have summoned more than 1 creature , and the buff to str and con on all 3.
Round 4 Buff Eidelons and self.
Round 5 As most of your 1st summoned monsters are now dead, cast summon monster 3 again.
Collect treasure and bask in the grateful awe of your fellow PCs.
I am near certain it's 100% legit.
It is not w/o downsides, you don't always know when the fights are coming, you have nothing there at 1st and the Broodmaster's swarm of smaller weaker eidelons is not normally as good as 1 monster. And it chews up every feat.
The Shaitan Binder is an interesting Archetype that seems to be almost totally neglected. I am pretty sure I have never even heard anyone mention it. The link is- http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-oread/shaitan- binder-summoner-oread.
The archetype alters a bunch of the class features, notably giving the Eidelon all 4 Magic Using evolutions for free. You also get to earthglide and trap enemies in stone and finally the Eidelon can cast Limited Wish at level 20. On the face of it you seem to get far more than you give up.
There are downsides, you have to be an Oread, which is hardly the best race for a summoner with a -2 to Charisma. And using evolutions to gain SLAs does not strike me as the most effective use, but you get them for free.
What do others think?
I have 2 character concepts I would like some input on.
The first is a Bloodmarked [Were-bat kin] Skinchanger Witch. There is a racial feat available that allows you to turn into a bat and anther that allows you to become a dire bat. It is the first that is important, as being flying, small and in many environments something that is expected to be there allows you to sneak around and cast hexes undetected.
The best archetype for this seems to be the Bouda. Bouda's are all evil and have a more powerful version of the Evil Eye Hex only a Bouda can take. As the Evil Eye Hex is extremely good anyway, and one of the points of playing the skinchanger is being able to cast hexes stealthily, this seems indicated.
It is perfectly possible to use the character concept as another kind of witch if evil characters are not allowed or the party make-up makes it impractical, but a Bouda seems best.
The second character idea absolutely has to be evil. It is a Duergar that starts with 3 levels of Cultist of Charon. This archetype gives you a sneak attack, though you only get one domain.
Then you take one level of Empyreal sorcerer [obviously so your spells run off wisdom, very efficient] in a campaign where the GM is using the old FAQ allowing you to qualify for PrCs with a SLA. Next you take 10 levels of Mystic Theurge and finally 6 levels of Arcane Trickster.
Surprisingly Arcane Trickster allows you to gain the spells of a divine casting class, check the wording if you don't believe me.
At level 20 you are a Cultist of Charon 3/ E Sorcerer 1/ Mystic Theurge 10/ Arcane Trickster 6. Because you never had to take any levels in Rogue or other non-casting classes to qualify as an Arcane Trickster, at level 20 you can have the spells of a level 19 cleric and level 11 sorcerer or, what I would do, the spells of a level 18 cleric [with a CL of 20 cos you wisely took magical knack] and a level 12 sorcerer to get access to 6th level arcane spells.
The end result a flexible character that can do many things, one that is not that far short of a full divine caster, a support arcane caster, a poor rogue and has a bunch of useful tricks gained from the the 2 PrCs.
I had a brilliant idea for a friends Pathfinder campaign.
It starts with this-
Sword of Inner Fire
Price 151,315 gp; Slot none; CL 16th; Weight 4 lbs.; Aura strong transmutation [fire]
DESCRIPTION
This +1 flaming burst brilliant energy longsword has a burnished copper hilt and burns with blue and white flame.
In the hands of a mythic wielder, the sword's fire damage bypasses fire resistance and fire immunity. As a swift action, the wielder can expend one use of mythic power to enable the sword of inner fire to damage nonliving creatures (such as constructs and undead) for 1 round, though the sword still can't damage inanimate objects.
A wielder of at least 3rd tier can absorb the sword of inner fire into her body as a swift action, and call it back to hand with another swift action. While the sword is stored in this way, her eyes burn with orange flame and she gains a +5 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 luck bonus on all saving throws.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Cost 75,815 gp; Feats Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Mythic Crafter; Spells flame strike, gaseous form, instant summons, shield of faith
So you can follow how this idea came about. I was writing an email to my GM about items I wanted to make, so he could think about them in a leisurely fashion. And I wrote-
"Likewise Spellbreaker MA 146 CL 12 and ]Sword of Inner Fire MA 146 CL 16. I particularly like the second, which isn't surprising. Could I make a Sword of Inner Fire not as a sword, which I am not proficient with, but a Dagger, Staff or Shorspear of Inner Fire? I can't see any balance reason to say no, but ur the GM. I think you said at one stage that it should not be a dagger, as that is easily concealable and a sword isn't is, I think, the reason. This isn't past reconsideration, read the description. ]A Trebuchet of Inner Fire is more concealable than a normal dagger."
Then I realise a []A Trebuchet of Inner Fire was an inspired idea.
I looked up trebuchets, specifically a counterweight trebuchet, on wikipedia. If you assume it can shoot a 100kg missile, fairly modest considering the size of shot trebuchets actually fired, then the correct weight for the counterweight is 133x that, or 13.3 tonnes. All up the thing would weigh around 30 tonnes.
According to Wikipedia, a longsword has an average weight of 1.1 to 1.8 kg, say 1.5 kg for a midpoint.
Now, refer back to the magic item description, 1.5 kg of magic item gives a person +5 AC and +2 saves. Now a masterwork counterweight trebuchet will cost more and take longer to make than a longsword. But it weighs 20,000 times as much, so when absorbed into bodies should suffice to give +5 AC and +2 saves to 20,000 people. A substantial army.
Alternatively, it should suffice to give each member of our party + the summoner's eidelon a bonus of-
1/5 x 20,000 x +5= +20,000 to AC
And-
1/5 x 20,000 x +2= +4,000 to saves.
The kink in the plan is it will work for an army, but they all need to be mythic tier 3.
An entirely logical, balanced and reasonable plan imho.
People on other threads have included Arcane Trickster in the PCs that have been made unplayable by the new FAQ. I don't see this as so.
If I wanted to play, say, a Tiefling Arcane Trickster, I would go about it by taking my first level in Rogue and then 4 levels of Wizard. And I would skimp and save for a Ring of Swarming Stabs. I would do this because you only lose 1 casting lvl and some goodies from being a wizard, in return for being a very limited Rogue who will eventually have a good sneak attack and some neat abilities from the PC.
Alternatively, taking a level in a 2nd class that gives you 1d6 sneak attack and 3 levels of Wizard will still do it. OK, if your arcane casting class is sorcerer, this will put off getting into the PC by a level.
The one option that has disappeared is taking 3 or 4 levels of rogue and 1 or 2 levels of wizard and qualifying via the SLA.
So my view is that the new FAQ has cut down on the ways to build an arcane trickster, but their are still good options. The mystic theurge by contrast has joined the dodo.
am looking at a character for a Way of the Wicked campaign that has just started.
The other players are a School Specialist Arcanist, A Stalker and another Witch.
My character idea is to play a White Haired Witch/ Arcane Trickster. One is an Imp, named Cousin It. The other is a Taddol, which is a 2 headed Elf with 2 distinct personalities one called Cousin It and the other Miss Stabby.
As I am inclined towards the Imp at present I will present that first. The progression is-
Lvl 1 - 3 Racial Levels of Imp
Lvl 4-11 1st 8 levels of Witch
Lvl 12 Lvl 1 of Rogue Ring of Swarming Stabs
Lvl 13 -20 9 lvls of Arcane Trickster
Looking at it now, it may be best to switch the arcane trickster lvls and those in witch. Early on the character will be a much better rogue than caster.
The Stats will look like this at lvl 4. I do that cost you get stats from the 2 racial lvls.
Its a 25 point buy
Str 12 14 -2 Race= 12 points 10
Dex 23 16 +6 race = 22 points 10
Con 14 points 4
Int 20 17 +1 lvl 4 +2 race = 19 points 13
Wis 7 +2 Racial= 9 points -4
Cha 7 +4 Racial =11 points -4
Points 25
Plus-
Good caster- lvl 16 at lvl 20.
Gets most of white haired witch abilities that are best
Practically undetectable, will often get surprise attacks
Superb stats
excellent flight
Wide range of abilities.
Good in melee.
Minus-
Those 3 Racial levles really slow things down
spells top out at l 8
apart from sneaking and back stabbing, rogue abilities are v limitted.
Cousin It /Miss Stabby.
The Stats will look like this at lvl 4
Str 14 points 5 perhaps this in't needed.
Dex 18 16 +2 race = 18 points 10
Con 14 points 5
Int 20 17 +1 lvl 4 +2 race = 19 points 13
Wis 7 points -4
Cha 7 points -4
25
Favoured Classes Witch + rogue
Lvl 1 - 8 1st 8 levels of Witch
Lvl 9- 10 Rogue lvls 1-2 Ring of Swarming Stabs
Lvl 11-20 10 lvls of Arcane Trickster
Plus-
Nearly full caster- lvl 18 at lvl 20.
Gets most of white haired witch abilities that are best by lvl 10
Good surprise attacks.
Gets all 10 lvls of Arcane Triackster
Racial Bonus feat starts you towards getting 2 attacks/ melee.
Other racial feats are v good for this too.
Minus-
Apart from sneaking and back stabbing, rogue abilities are v limited.
HPs, AC and BaB are poor for a character designed to melee.
I am open to suggested improvements and arguments for one over the other.
The campign is due to start again in about 15 hours from this post, so some speed would be good.
Thanks.
I am looking at starting a new character in a Mummy's Mask campaign where we are level 8 and mythic tier 3.
The other players are a monk archer, a summoner and some kind of dex based melee combatant, so a manifester/ arcane caster should fit well.
The idea is a female tiefling who's stats look like this, its a 20 pt build-
Str 10
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 18 [20 after adding 2 lvl based stat increases, I think I get to add something from being mythic too, but it goes here]
Wis 8
Cha 10
I doubt this is far from optimal. The character needs int, int, dex for AC and initiative, Con for HPs and more int.
The character is to be a Wizard- Transmutation school with arcane bond rather than familiar and Psion Shaper.
There is some thought behind this. Both classes work off int, so its efficient thus, and as Wizard is the secondary class I plan to use spells mostly to buff. Spells of somewhat lower level stay useful, and psionic buff is mostly self only. The Shaper allows for a good spread of what you can do with psionics.
As far as I can tell, what a wizard gets is mostly spells and a Psion psionics, so what they lose from being in the cerebremancer PC rather than progressing in the original class is kept pretty much to a minimum.
With the mythic advantages, I am planning to take the ones that allow me to craft any magic item and craft mythic versions. Beyond that its an open book.
Progression looks like this-
Lvl 1-4 Psion
Lvl5 Wizard
Lvl 6-8 Cerebremancer
Lvl 9-15 Cerebremancer [expected].
MY GM has a house rule you can't go into classes like cerebremancer or mystic theurge before lvl 6, so please don't tell me I am taking one level too many of psion, which is quite true under the RAW.
Input from those experienced with Psions or better Cerebremancers is welcome. Feats and skills, equipment, improvements or refinements please. I have little doubt my idea can be improved upon a lot by others, I am new to the psionic aspect of the game.
I am looking at starting a new character in a Mummy's Mask campaign where we are level 8 and mythic tier 3.
The other players are a monk archer, a summoner and some kind of dex based melee combatant, so a manifester/ arcane caster should fit well.
The idea is a female tiefling who's stats look like this, its a 20 pt build-
Str 10
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 18 [20 after adding 2 lvl based stat increases, I think I get to add something from being mythic too, but it goes here]
Wis 8
Cha 10
I doubt this is far from optimal. The character needs int, int, dex for AC and initiative, Con for HPs and more int.
The character is to be a Wizard- Transmutation school with arcane bond rather than familiar and Psion Shaper.
There is some thought behind this. Both classes work off int, so its efficient thus, and as Wizard is the secondary class I plan to use spells mostly to buff. Spells of somewhat lower level stay useful, and psionic buff is mostly self only. The Shaper allows for a good spread of what you can do with psionics.
As far as I can tell, what a wizard gets is mostly spells and a Psion psionics, so what they lose from being in the cerebremancer PC rather than progressing in the original class is kept pretty much to a minimum.
With the mythic advantages, I am planning to take the ones that allow me to craft any magic item and craft mythic versions. Beyond that its an open book.
Progression looks like this-
Lvl 1-4 Psion
Lvl5 Wizard
Lvl 6-8 Cerebremancer
Lvl 9-15 Cerebremancer [expected].
MY GM has a house rule you can't go into classes like cerebremancer or mystic theurge before lvl 6, so please don't tell me I am taking one level too many of psion, which is quite true under the RAW.
Input from those experienced with Psions or better Cerebremancers is welcome. Feats and skills, equipment, improvements or refinements please. I have little doubt my idea can be improved upon a lot by others, I am new to the psionic aspect of the game.
I am looking at a new character and considering a Cerebremancer, not a class I have seen anything about on these forums, maybe cos its Dreamscarred not Paizo.
Anyway, I m looking for feedback and don't know of any rule about asking here. Sorry if I am being bad. :(
I am thinking of taking a Peri-blooded Aasimar, which gives me +2 int and Cha and pyrotechnics once/ day and hence the pre-requisites for entry as a Wizard.
My GM gives us a 20 point build and won't allow you into Cerebremancer of Mystic Theurge before level 7, considering it unbalanced. So don't tell me I can go into the PC at level 5, thats the RAW but my GM says no.
My stats look like this-
Str 8 Cost-2
Dex 10 Cost-0
Con 12 Cost 2
Int 20 Cost-17, +2 racial
Wis 10 Cost-0
Cha 15 Cost-3 +2 racial
And the plan is-
Level 1 Synthesist Summoner-
Only one level to allow me to use my physical stats as dump stats and give me some AC.
Level 2 Wizard 1
Levels 3-6 Psion levels 1-4
Levels 7-16 Cerebremancer
Level 17-20 [likely] Psion Levels 5-8
At level 20 the character has 18th level manifesting and 11th level casting.
Thoughts? Its not hard to find people who know more about psionics than me. And suggestions of the type of Psion is also welcome.
The threads on LGBT roleplayers and women in RPGs put me in mind of other minorities we could try to cater to better. So here are some ideas.
S and M community, Crossdressers- Add whips and restraints to RPG venues. Go back to the old name Dungeons and Drag Ons.
Necrophiles- set up RPGs in graveyards and morgues.
Bestiality- set up RPGs in paddocks of love.
Socially inept nerds who never get laid- no action needed.
Adult Babies- no action needed.
Transgender- Have the Pathfinder society provide gender re-assignment to the player whenever its available to the character. Perhaps too expensive to be practical.
Golden showers- close the toilets at RP venues.
Amputee fetihists/ cannibals- I know some really irritating roleplayers at the local roleplaying club. I propose mutilating them and then cooking the removed limbs, catering to both groups. There is even a kitchen right there.
Dogging- set up RPGs at dogging venues.
Can my cleric heal the Worldwound by casting mending on Golarion?
I would like to see what others more experienced with Pathfinder think of this scheme for a character development.
The idea goes like this.
Step one- Start the character as a level 1 cleric of Neutral alignment. Take Magical Knack as one of your traits.
Step 2- Take levels 2, 3 and 4 as 3 levels of wizard [or sorcerer].
Step 3- Somehow convince a cleric of appropriate level to cast Imbue with spell ability on you and leave it in place for some time. This should be possible, it would just cost you a lot of gold. You want the ability to cast 1 3rd level spell to meet the pre-requisite for Envoy of Balance.
Step 4 At level 5 take the first level of Mystic Theurge, with step 3 and taking the right skills you can meet the pre-requisistes.
Step 5 At level 6 take the first level of Envoy of Balance. You have to spend all 3 of your level based feats to meet the pre-requisites, but it can be done. Importantly, note the wording of the spellcasting for this class "+1 level of existing class", which in contrast to many prestige classes does not have the word "divine" or "arcane" in there, meaning if you take Mystic Theurge as that existing class you get both the arcane and divine spells.
Step 6 Take the next 8 levels of Envoy of Balance with Mystic Theurge as the class you get the spells from, and the 10th level with wizard.
The result, at level 15 you have a character who can-
1 Cast spells as a level 14 wizard. This is the real point of the build, you are only one level behind in your spells and caster level in meeting the pre-requisites of Mystic Theurge, where you normally lose 3.
2 Cast as many spells as a level 11 cleric with an effective caster level of level 13 due to magical knack. This does not match the power of your wizard spells, but it adds great depth and variety to your spellcasting.
3 Can channel energy as a level 11 cleric.
4 Has all the other powers of a level 10 Envoy of Balance, which is quite a lot as this is one of the best prestige classes.
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