KBrewer's page

Here's my compilation GM Guide (with a new, 3rd chapter added.) I've also tried some new formatting and design work.

Please let me know your thoughts and any possible additions or new subjects to cover.

I'm also hosting it in multiple sites because some people (especially those on mobile devices) are having problems with some drop sites.

Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oph4prrax7exj53/CompiledGM.pdf

Skydrive: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=652EA6399D011D3!107&authkey=!AK5G vgq8AwYimSM&ithint=file%2c.pdf

I've been working on a new guide for another Words of Power class - and is probably the most under-appreciated class in that system.

The Guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g196mx15afictws/Jargonaut.pdf

Thoughts, suggestions, and corrections would be most appreciated.

Hi Brewer,

thanks you for the guide! Great and fun read! I have thought about writing something similar but failed to dedicate the time to it ;)

Here some quick 'n dirty additions you might consider:

Spells (already mentioned):
Lvl 5 spells and higher are worth it! Their main disadvantage is the requirement for more expensive metamagic rods but they also offer higher DC and damage dice limits.

Three strong choices:
Fire Snake (lvl5)
Wonderful spell. Enhanced by "intense spell" very powerful. Also a prime candidate for spell perfection, as with SP allows for free quickening!

Cone of Cold (lvl 5)
Great spell, IMHO slighlty worse then Fire snake. Please note that you can use liquid ice (alchemical item) to enhance the damage. Together with a 1 lvl sorc dip (CB Orc/ Draconic Silver or White Tatooed) you get d6+3 each CL!

Chain lightning (lvl 6)
Also a great candidate for spell perfection, as you can still use regular metamagic rods. Together with ML you might use spell perfection to enhance chain lightning with quicken spell for free.

Items:
Goblins Fire Drum
Cheap and awesome: Additional 1 point of fire damage per die (up to 10). Get a few ranks in perform (percussion) and hand it to your familiar! Works particular well with a monkey familiar :P

Robe Blazing/ Shocking/ Voidfrost
Quite expensive at 10k but +1 Caster level to your element of choice!

Variants:

The burnificator cleric
"The night is dark and full of terrors" (Song of Ice and Fire)
A fun variant to the blaster wizard is a fire-themed cleric specializing in fireballs. You basically replace the evcocer with a theologican fire Cleric: Better saves, more ac, more hitdice and different spells (except your signature fireball spell).

1 lvl Sorc Dip (Cross-blooded Orc/ Draconic Red or Gold Tatooed) Please note that Mage's Tatoo does work for all evocation spells, not only for arcane spells! This helps to prevent CL loss for the fireball cleric. Also, you can get a fire drum monkey familiar ;)

X Level Theologian...

I'll take a look at the items (the drum in particular seems really cool) - but the advice about higher levels spells doesn't really have anything to do with metamagic rods - it's that you can't easily add metamagic to them at all.

Let me use Cone of Cold as an example, with Spell Specialization and Magical Lineage.

Your wizard just hit level 9 and just now got their 5th level spell slots.:

Cone of Cold: You're basically casting a vanilla spell - you can add one level of metamagic, but Intensify doesn't do anything yet. You're basically working with 12d6 damage out of a 5th level slot.

Fireball: Out of the 5th level slot, you're able to cast Intensified Empowered Fireballs for 18d6 damage. You can also cast Intensified ones for 12d6 out of the 3rd level slot, or Empowered ones for 15d6 out of the 4th level slots.

Your wizard just hit level 11 and just now got their 6th level spell slots.:

Cone of Cold: You can now add Empowered to your spell, greatly increasing the damage. You can do 21d6 out of your 6th level slots, or 14d6 out of your 5th level ones.

Fireball: Out of the 6th level slots, you can cast a Maximized Intensified Fireball for 15x6. Or you can match the 21d6 out of your 5th level slots. Your 4th level slots deal 15d6. You also have the option now of casting Quickened Fireballs.

Your wizard just hit level 13 and just now got their 7th level spell slots.:

Cone of Cold: You've exceeded the damage cap, but when it comes to damage, the best is simply a maximized spell (16x6) out of the 7th level slot. Your 6th level slot deals 22d6, and your 5th level slot deals 16d6.

Fireball: For raw damage, you're in an awkward spot - you can't quite fit Intensified + Empowered + Maximized yet, so the best is only a maximized intensified out of the 6th level slot (15x6) You do, however, have the option of casting Intensified Quickened Fireballs for 15d6.

Your wizard just hit level 15 and just now got their 8th level spell slots. They now also have Spell Perfection:

Cone of Cold: This is actually where Cone of Cold gets a little depressing. You can add Quicken to it... but that's about it. You only have one more level worth of metamagic before you'll exceed the 9th level. So for quickened spells, you're looking at Quickened Intensified for 18d6 (5th level slot). For non-quickened spells, your best bet is Empowered + Maximized, for 15x6 + 7d6 (6th level slot)

Fireball: If you're just out for damage, you can toss out Intensified + Empowered + Quickened Fireballs for 22d6 damage (5th level slot.) For regular ones, if you want raw damage, you can go Intensified + Empowered + Maximized out of your 5th level slot, for 15x6 + 7d6. You also have variants at the 3rd and 4th spell slots that do less damage.

... the short story is: before Spell Perfection, you can apply better metamagic to Fireball, because you have more levels to work with (it's a lot easier to apply Empower to a 3rd level spell than a 5th level one.) After Spell Perfection, you simply don't have many spell levels to work with - whatever metamagic you add, you can only put the spell level up to 9th. Adding Quicken to Cold of Cone doesn't really leave room for any other metamagic. Adding Quicken to Fireball still leaves room for Maximize, or Dazing, or Intensified + Empowered.

Also, you have a lot more slots to work with. If your specialty blast is Cone of Cold, you really can't prepare blast spells in your 4th level slots or lower (well, you can, they just won't do hardly any damage.) If your specialty blast is Fireball (or something else low-level) then you can use your lower-level slots for blasting.

Hope that helps out - there seems to be a lot of confusion on that point within the guide. Maybe I should add a step-by-step on the reasoning for not taking higher-level blasts.

Thanks for the feedback so far - I've been meaning to post a reply to the various points for a bit now. I'll try to keep it brief for each:

- Orc Bloodline. Yep, missed it. Then again, I don't feel *too* bad, considering it's not in any of the main books and can't even be looked up off the official PRD - you have to either have the splat book in front of you or look it up off a 3rd party site. I'll put a note in about it.

- Fire Snake. Bad spell, a really horrible option in my opinion. You can't hit anything 60+ feet out, you'll have difficulty hitting all your targets, you don't have nearly the flexibility with the Dazing Spell feat, and your damage is generally worse than an optimized fireball. I know Andreww's numbers didn't paint that picture - but that's because he misstated one of the Fireball spell levels, didn't optimize the non-quickened Fireball, and used the highest possible level he could without telling anyone. If anyone wants to run the numbers, here are the optimized spells from both camps:

Quickened Intensified Empowered Fireball + Maximized Intensified Empowered Fireball

Quickened Intensified Firesnake + Maximized Intensified Firesnake

Short story? Anything less than caster level 20, Fireball wins the damage race. And it wins the race while using a lower level spell slot. And at caster level 20? It uses up a higher level spell slot... to deal a total of 2.6% more damage in the round.

- Chain Lightning. I don't like this spell that much, but unlike Fire Snake, I think it's worth adding as a note for the very very high level campaigns. It only starts outpacing Fireball at caster level 20 (like Fire Snake.) The main reason is that the area effect is an improvement over Fireball.

- Lore Seeker. Excellent! I'll look at adding it to the guide (actually I'm using its cousin "missionary" for a guide I'm writing now.)

- Preferred Spell. I'll look at getting it added.

- Words of Power Sorc vs Blockbuster Wizard? Unless the GM rules very unfavorably on how the feats/traits interact ("No Spell Specialization with Words of Power!") the WoP Sorc would blow everything out of the water blast-wise. Nothing can come close to the versatility and sheer power they've got.

- Burning Arc. Hadn't heard of that spell. I'll look it up and give it a look.

- Pyromaniac Gnome. Same as above. I'll give it a review, though I'm skeptical. They don't get an INT bonus, do they?

- Magic Missile. You know, I've never really been a huge fan of that spell, especially with dedicated blasters. I'll give it another look-over, but I'm inclined to go with my gut of: "it doesn't work well with the feats/traits the blaster would be taking, so it probably doesn't compare very well to the actual blasts." Plus, we're after henchmen, not single targets...

- Sirocco. I keep forgetting about this spell - this is the third freaking guide I've written where the spell was brought to my attention. I'll give it a look-over.

- The whole "Not Treating Sorcerers Right".

Was I tongue-in-cheek? Yes.
Was I out to simply say that Wizard Blasters aren't suboptimal? Yes.
Was I doing a Straw-Man? Heck no.

Actually, I think a lot of people missed something mentally with the picture.

Okay, let's start with one Sorcerer type: someone that's focused their bloodlines on Fire damage (Orc/Draconic, Orc/Primal, whatever.) Someone that's chosen a race (Half-Orc) to eke just a bit more out of those spells as well (1/2 pt per level.)

They do more damage than the wizard. They also suck when it comes to fire-immune foes - all their traits/feats that apply to a single spell don't work, and the only bloodline they've got working for them is the Orc bloodline. Basically, they're going to have to use a bad blast with suboptimal damage when that happens.

Now, you can say, "You're not being fair! A sorcerer could take the Elemental bloodline and be able to swap that damage out for a different element!"

You're absolutely right. They covered that hole... at the cost of opening up another one: They lost damage by doing that. Before this swap-out, both of their bloodlines was devoted to increasing their damage dice.

Same thing with all the rest of the fixes - using Arcane for higher saves (you lost damage by losing one of those damaging bloodlines), using Human to counteract losing spells to crossblooded (you lost damage from the Half-Orc's favored class bonus, etc.) All of them have a different weakness they're swapping for.

That was the point of that comparison. I started out with a double-bloodline build. It beat the Admixture Wizard's damage... but had a huge weakness when dealing with Fire-Immune creatures. So one of those bloodlines shifted over to Elemental, plugging that hole... only to watch the Admixture Wizard beat it when it came to damage!

That's the crux of it. The only way the Sorcerer outclasses the Wizard at blasting damage is if they select two bloodlines that increase damage... but if they do that, they set themselves up for a hosing when they run into enemies with resistances/immunities to that element. One way or another, the Admixture is doing *something* better than the sorcerer. In short, Admixture Wizards aren't just suboptimal sorcerers.

All right! I've finished up the revision of the document. Among the changes:

- Lock Ward was reevaluated and expanded upon.
- Wizard-like references were purged
- 7th-9th level wordspells were added
- Additional lower level combinations were added (especially the 6th level section, which had multiple potent control spells I missed)
- Fixed Unfetter's falling damage
- Added Terror (I had a combo or two with it, but was missing the lone word)
- Reevaluated Corrosive Bolt for blasters
- Fixed Frost Fingers + Ice Blast references (invalid: both are cold words)

Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone that commented. I'm now working on the third chapter of Brewer's GM Guide.

Time for a new guide, this one for the Blockbuster Wizard: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5t2af1cwekhnrkj/BlockWiz.pdf

Oh, I'm trying out Dropbox.com instead of Google Docs - I'm running into issues with them destroying the quality of images embedded in PDFs. Please let me know how good/bad the document quality is for you. If it's suitable, I may start storing my guides in Dropbox instead of Google.

Am now working on a revision to the document, incorporating things people have suggested.

I needed to reply to Serisan, though, about the Corrosive Bolt. I firmly believe the PRD is typoed. Look at these two Words:

CORROSIVE BOLT (ACID)
School conjuration (creation) [acid]; Level magus 2, sorcerer/wizard 2
Duration 1 round/level (see text)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Target Restrictions selected
A wordspell with this effect word deals 1d4 points of acid damage per level of the wordcaster (maximum 5d4). On the following round, the target takes this damage again. Hitting a target with a wordspell with this effect word requires a ranged touch attack.

ACID WAVE (ACID)
School conjuration (creation) [acid]; Level magus 4, sorcerer/wizard 4
Duration 2 rounds
Saving Throw Reflex half and partial (see below); Spell Resistance no
A wordspell with this effect word deals 1d6 points of acid damage per caster level (maximum 10d6). Targets damaged by this effect word are sickened for 1 round per caster level, or 1 round if the saving throw against the wordspell with this effect word was successful.

Corrosive Bolt says it has a Duration of round/level, but look at the text: "On the following round, the target takes this damage again." Not "The target takes this damage each subsequent round".

Now look at Acid Wave. It has a Duration of 2 Rounds... but the text describes immediate damage... followed by an effect that lasts round/level.

They mixed up the durations of the two spells. Trust me, I wrote the first draft of the guide with Corrosive Bolt coded as neon blue - not merely for damage, but because it's a low level conjuration blast that has a duration (which means you could cast Wrack + Corrosive Bolt!)... only to run into the realization that they mixed up the durations.

Yes, a Fire Blast + Lightning Blastspell is Evocation [Fire, Electricty]. But take a look at immunity's definition:

Energy Immunity and Vulnerability
A creature with energy immunity never takes damage from that energy type. Vulnerability means the creature takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from that energy type, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure.

The relevant bit is "damage from that energy type", not "damage from spells of that energy type. So even though the Spell is technically an Electricity spell, it can still deal fire damage to an Electric-Immune foe.

As for the dice?

Fire Blast and Lightning Blast both have caps at 10d6. The big thing is that you can't deal more than your level in terms of dice.

So if you're an 8th level caster, you'd get 8d6 fire dice and 8d6 electric dice... but you can only use 8 max. So you can do all fire, all electric, or any mix between the two.

If you're a 14th level caster, you get 10d6 fire dice and 10d6 electric dice, but you can only use 14 total. You can split it however you want - 10d6+4d6, 7d6+7d6, 4d6+10d6 - between fire and electric.

And if you're a 23rd level caster, you just get 10d6 fire + 10d6 electric.

Also, you might have been thinking of damage reduction:

If a creature has damage reduction from more than one source, the two forms of damage reduction do not stack. Instead, the creature gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation.

... aka, if you have DR 5/Magic, Cold Iron, the creature gets DR 5 against everything besides Cold Iron Magical weapons (cold iron alone won't bypass the DR.)

KBrewer wrote:

thegreenteagamer wrote:

I disagree with the Undead Lord hate. If playing from level 1, its the only way to be a true necromancer with a minion and all. Plus it may only be one, but he does level with you and can be resummoned infinitely, which makes for no need to have a trapspringer.

"Is the hall safe?"

"Let's find out. Timmy, go check"

Skeleton walks down hall, blows up.

"Looks like we're gonna need another Timmy! But at least the hall's probably safe."

"Unless it's a resetting trap."

"Timmy, go check."

Really? That's your example? You're missing something, then:

"Unless it's a resetting trap."

"Okay. Let's wait around 8 hours while I do a ritual to make a new companion to check it out."

... 8 hours later ...

"Timmy, go check."

And, no, your minion really doesn't level with you. Your Hit Die cap does go up each level, but that definitely doesn't mean the minion is scaling along with you. A level 2 character can get a CR=1 skeleton - a one level difference. A level 9 character? Only a CR=4 skeleton (5 levels difference). A 20th level character? Only a CR=8 skeleton (12 levels difference.)

To drive it home further, let's take that 9th level character, who with the Undead Lord feat, can animate a 9 HD skeleton as a CR=4 minion. Or, they could cast Animate Dead on a Bloody Tyranosaurus Skeleton - which would be a CR=9 minion.

So... on one hand we've got a CR=4 creature that takes 8 freaking hours to animate... or we've got a CR=9 creature that *won't die*. To be honest, even if you found a candidate creature you'd make an Undead Lord minion out of, it'd probably be better to just Animate it, then use the Control Undead spell on it.

And to get this bad ability, you're choosing a substandard domain and outright losing the second.

I definitely stand by the Undead Lord hate.

Touché. Still only way to raise undead from level 1 though...

Agreed. Reread what I wrote not longer after I posted it and winced a bit. Didn't mean to be prickly - sorry if I came across the wrong way.

I disagree with the Undead Lord hate. If playing from level 1, its the only way to be a true necromancer with a minion and all. Plus it may only be one, but he does level with you and can be resummoned infinitely, which makes for no need to have a trapspringer.

"Is the hall safe?"

"Let's find out. Timmy, go check"

Skeleton walks down hall, blows up.

"Looks like we're gonna need another Timmy! But at least the hall's probably safe."

"Unless it's a resetting trap."

"Timmy, go check."

Really? That's your example? You're missing something, then:

"Unless it's a resetting trap."

"Timmy, go check."

And, no, your minion really doesn't level with you. Your Hit Die cap does go up each level, but that definitely doesn't mean the minion is scaling along with you. A level 2 character can get a CR=1 skeleton - a one level difference. A level 9 character? Only a CR=4 skeleton (5 levels difference). A 20th level character? Only a CR=8 skeleton (12 levels difference.)

To drive it home further, let's take that 9th level character, who with the Undead Lord feat, can animate a 9 HD skeleton as a CR=4 minion. Or, they could cast Animate Dead on a Bloody Tyranosaurus Skeleton - which would be a CR=9 minion.

So... on one hand we've got a CR=4 creature that takes 8 freaking hours to animate... or we've got a CR=9 creature that *won't die*. To be honest, even if you found a candidate creature you'd make an Undead Lord minion out of, it'd probably be better to just Animate it, then use the Control Undead spell on it.

And to get this bad ability, you're choosing a substandard domain and outright losing the second.

I definitely stand by the Undead Lord hate.

I've got a new mini-guide for those casters that are wanting to have some undead minions.

The Guide: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjRWFhSWc1ZzAzaDg/edit

I started a new guide: a GM Guide to Campaign Design.

Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjLUs1bHB2UERIcnc/edit

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions or improvements.

I've finished a new guide to an under-used segment of the Pathfinder System: Words of Power. Suggestions and improvements are welcome; am considering writing a second Words of Power guide for the Oracle.

The Guide: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5kvBvq2DEHjY2pwRUNXcG5Ybjg/edit

... and another one. Shadow Evocation: More Than Just Blasts (A guide)

The Guide

The Discussion Thread

I've typed up another guide, this time for Shadow Evocation.

I'd appreciate comments and suggestions; I don't have the most experience with higher-level evocation spells, so some additional PoV on some of the spells would be nice.

The Guide: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5kvBvq2DEHjTVF4NEY4SXpSTUU

I love it! I started a discussion on this just last night. Was that the inspiration?

Heh, no. Actually, the sad thing is, I've had this typed up in a less pretty format for about 5 months for my own personal use. Realized that, hey, maybe I should make it available for other people to get use out of as well.

Edit: Whoa, checked out the thread you're talking about, and I can definitely see why you asked. It even includes the same sort of discussion on "Can you purposely fail the will save."

Got another one for the compilations, though I'm not sure how you'll want to fit it in. It's not a guide for a class, but for Shadow Conjuration. It's also intended as a reference material for casters that have the spell.

Discussion Thread

The Guide

I've just finished a guide for one of the most underused and powerful spells in a Sorcerer/Wizard arsenal: Shadow Conjuration.

It's also a reference manual for the spell, giving a quick one-stop place to see what spells you can translate Shadow Conjuration into.

The Guide: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5kvBvq2DEHjR1dOeEVkRUU4WlU

I've written a new guide to that I'd like to submit for inclusion. It's for a Reach Cleric - a kind of cross between a two-handed melee and caster cleric, with a different take on action economy.

Guide

Discussion Thread

I've written a guide to a different style of Cleric that I haven't seen covered before: A Reach Cleric.

Suggestions and Improvements are welcome; I'm hoping it can get added to the "Guide to the Guides".

The Guide: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5kvBvq2DEHjRWctNG05X0JINm8

So I've got 30,000 GP (and maybe up to 12,000 additional if I'm lucky) and want to spend it on a custom magical item. I'm a level 8 wizard and am looking to make some sort of gauntlet that will be used exclusively for combat or something that will have some useful applications all the time anyway.

Any suggestions about what I should do?

Combat gauntlet but I wouldn't mind utility if it warrants it.

A really boring, but incredibly useful, option would be to give them the Dueling enhancement (+4 to initiative, and other misc bonuses) for 14k, and then a +10 skill boost to Perception.

That brings you up to 30k almost exactly:

Dueling Enhancement: 14k
Perception Boost: 15k (100 gp x BonusSquared x 1.5 for multiple attribute)

= 29k, plus the cost of a masterwork version of what you're operating on.

... the idea being that wizards win battles if they go first and aren't surprised; they lose battles if they're surprised and have an init roll after the enemies. It's even got a good flavor to it - call them "Mage's Gloves of Preparedness" or such.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't, so I'm at least going to do what I want to do is a bad thing???

Give me a break. You're not "damned if you don't".

Play a battle cleric that wades into battle and can heal the party afterwards.

Play a support cleric that lays down buffs and debuffs, with some healing left over after battles.

Play a support bard that sings inspiring motets of courage while in battle and epic tales of your partymates' valor when reaching the next town. "... you should have seen the blow Thel delivered to the king of the goblins. Gorum himself would have smiled on its ferocity."

Play a Necromancy wizard that focuses on debuffing opponents so the fighter can hit them easier or harder - and even throw in some RP'ing where you purposely try to coordinate with the fighter to make sure he takes as little damage as possible.

Play a blaster that relishes throwing fireballs at foes, with a friendly competition with the fighter to see who can have the most exorbitant kill ("Ha! Not only did I kill that goblin, but his left arm hasn't even landed yet! Your move.")

Play any melee class whatsoever, acting as a protective bodyguard for the squishiest member of the group. ("Stay close, m'lord. If they charge, I will protect you or die trying.")

Play a wildshaping druid that mauls people as a bear or throws lightning at them as a hawk.

Play a bomb-throwing alchemist that can brew up healing potions for when people need them.

Heck, that's just after a few minutes of thinking of ideas that your party would enjoy playing with. None of them work? Honestly? You wouldn't enjoy RP'ing any of those? There's not a single concept that both your players would enjoy and that you would enjoy playing?

Part of this whole thing strikes home with me. We had a player in our group with the same mindset - he played whatever character he wanted without ever worrying about how anyone else felt, and didn't have any concerns with whether or not anyone else had fun (both during character creation and during the actual sessions.) We booted him about a month ago - and we haven't missed him since.

I get the impression you're in the same boat. Your group has told you that they don't enjoy playing with a certain type of character that you often RP. Your response was to bring the most amplified version of that character you could.

You went online to ask opinions about it, and got an overwhelming "Don't play it! Play something your group will enjoy" and promptly ignored that as well.

In the final act, you're asking for a pity play about the whole thing. You're not a martyr. You're being selfish.

I personally find this whole thread funny. It's basically a long drawn-out argument where both sides accuse the other of being greedy for playing the game differently.

Personally?

I play each character differently, but right now, my sorcerer charges 70% of market, and the rest of the players are perfectly fine with it.

If anyone brought up an in-game complaint:

"Wait... that item would ordinarily cost you 10k. I'm saving you three thousand gold. I'm the one spending all the time and effort to make this for you, and I'm only getting two thousand out of it. I'm doing the effort, you're getting more gold than me... how is that unfair exactly?"

If anyone brought up an out-of-game complaint:

"You know, I wanted to take Greater Spell Focus (Illusion). I weakened my character a bit so that the party would have a cheaper way of getting items than full market price. If you think that what I'm doing is wrong, I'm fine with switching to GSF instead... but I don't why you'd be happier paying 100% than paying 70%. That 20% 'profit' is generally going towards making up for losing a feat - hopefully it'll let me upgrade my CHA headband to make up for the loss."

... but it's group dependent. If the group's general thought process was "Regardless of character motivation, there's a social contract to play for absolute optimal group strength" then I wouldn't charge at all. Our group's thought process is more on role-playing individual characters that happen to be in the business of adventuring together, so for my character to spend all that time and effort for zero personal gain makes no sense in our group.