I actually posted it in a different thread (Called it the guide "2.0") but that's apparently lost to the archive now.
Even with the updates though it's still been about 2 years hasn't it? As a matter of fact though I haven't really played Pathfinder for at least a year and a half, so I'm not sure what's new for the Wizard, if anything.
And actually the main reason I'm coming back here is that someone has been spamming my guide with comments to make edits - I was thinking if I had time in the next month, I'd actually try to make them.
For my free time, I've been pretty busy reviewing PC games for another site, but if I do get around to making updates, it'll probably be mostly grammatical errors and commenting on some of the discrepancies that people have kindly pointed out to me on an almost weekly basis through the comments.
If there is any new content you'd like me to look at though I'd be happy to give it a review as well.
What are your favorite rules misconceptions that you've encountered playing this game?
Here are a couple of mine:
I had a DM who was like, "Oh the Brace feature on a weapon means as a free action you can switch between a 5' reach and a 10' reach with a polearm."
And that same guy was a player in my campaign and was like "HEY! He can't do that! He's fatigued! That means that he can either move or attack, but not both!"
Here are a couple of parties I'd like to try out someday. Each one is based around 4 members with a supplementary 5th added :
1. The Mosh Pit
The concept here is to take advantage of Tactical Acumen and to-hit bonuses wherever you can get them. Everyone in the group needs the Outflank feat, and of course everyone will want power attack.
Fighter - Dual Wielding. I originally had the Barbarian here (You know, because this is a Mosh Pit), but with all the potential to-hit bonuses going on with this party, dual wielding is just too good. At higher levels you can also pick up crit feats to really mess things up.
Bard - Backbone of the party. Give him Arcane Duelist or Diva and put him on the front lines so he can give flanks to his other buddies. First three rounds: Haste, Good Hope, and Tactical Acumen. +8 to hit when you're flanking at level 8 (with Inspire Courage of course.) 13th level gets you Bard's Escape to get everyone into those flanking positions.
Cleric - Provides Divine to-hit bonuses to supplement the bard's buffs. Obligatory healing support too (Since you're all in Melee, you'll need it.) Besides that he's a heavily armored Melee support who will provide a flank to the second star of the team.
Rogue (Or Ninja) - The Fighter is the loudmouth, and the Rogue is the one elbowing you in the kidneys. When you're basing a party around Tactical Acumen and Flanking Bonuses, you NEED a rogue.
Obviously the Mosh Pit is missing some of the utility that a full Arcane Caster can provide (like Fly and stuff) but with the right domains the Cleric can kind of fill that role.
And for the 5th:
Alchemist - Vivisectionist obviously. The vivisectionist would be drooling to be part of this party and would provide a little more arcane caster support. You could also replace the Rogue with the Vivisectionist but the Rogue gets all the talents that improve sneak attacks.
2. Save or Die. Or just die.
Concept here is to lower the enemy's saving throws as much as possible to apply save-or-die tactics on the enemy. There are three casters in this group and all of them should be memorizing save or lose spells so all of them can take advantage of the lowered saves. The three casters should get the Allied Spellcaster feat at some point in addition to the Spell Penetration feats - both - because I can't think of a save-or-die spell that doesn't allow for spell resistance.
Barbarian - You really need a meat shield, and this particular meat shield should definitely be maxing Intimidate (Shaken condition gives -2 to saving throw rolls). Grab Intimidating Prowess for best results.
Wizard - For Void Specialist. Reveal weakness one of the best ways to lower an enemy's saving throws. You can't resist it and it has an extremely high number (-5 to saving throws at level 10. ) The standard action and 1 round duration makes it so the Wizard needs a rod or a feat to enjoy it himself, but this party is all about teamwork.
Cleric - The Curse Domain gives a penalty, but only the Cleric can enjoy it. It's not bad, but the real fun one is the Madness Domain's Vision of Madness. Give them a bonus to skill checks and a penalty to attack rolls and saving throws. The penalty is as good as the Reveal Weakness power the Void Specialist gets, but it has the restriction of being a Melee Touch Attack. Good thing the Cleric can wear plate armor. I'd take both Luck (Curse) and Madness.
Witch - Because of Evil Eye. With Cackle this basically allows for no saving throw either. It's not as potent as Vision of Madness or Reveal Weakness past level 6, but it also has no major restrictions either. Besides Evil Eye, the Witch gets the Slumber Hex - a very usable save or lose spell with no limit on castings per day - and of course the Witch gets a good number of Save-or-Lose spells on her spell list as well.
And the 5th:
Sorcerer - I don't know all the bloodlines, but I do know the Arcane Bloodline gives you a +2 to your saving throw DCs and I know a lot of other bloodlines do similar things. I would build the Sorcerer to be the clean up after the Cleric, Witch, and Wizard all lower the saving throw DCs. His list would include numerous save or die options with all the appropriate spell specializations. Technically you could be replacing the Barbarian with this guy, and it might work out a little better especially if you're all winning initiative, but like I said - it's really good to have some kind of Meat Shield.
What are some other ideas for groups that synergize well with each other?
So I started table top role playing with 1st edition.
It's been a long time since I'd looked at the books. Recently I go a hold of them again and besides making me kind of want to play a 1st ed game, a lot of fun differences stick out to me.
Here are just a few:
1. Leadership wasn't a feat or an option, it's just how it was! (A level 14 druid apparently has nine 11th level druids following him around all the time.)
2. Paladins had MANY more restrictions, including things like "Can't keep loot." and "Pay 10% of your gold to your church."
3. A round was a minute long.
4. For many classes, the best part of leveling up was hitpoints in your cup.
5. Perhaps my favorite item of all: The original Unearthed Arcana includes a 7th stat: Comeliness.
I'm not asking for the top 10 optimized spells. I'm not asking for the top 10 BEST spells. I'm asking for your favorites. They could be total crap as far as the mechanics are concerned, but if you have a good memory of it, put it on there, I'm interested.
Just one rule: The spells have to come from official pathfinder sources. No 3rd party and no 3.5 edition stuff.
Here's mine:
10. Bard's Escape: I really think this spell is horribly named, because I use it to enter combat - or rather I use it to place my Paladin on the opposite side of the enemy from my Rogue. (And yes, the party members are mine.) This powerful option is my biggest temptation to play a Samsaran when I play a Wizard.
9. Force Punch: This spell is full of awesome. It just oozes wizardly flavor, and it's especially hilarious if you have your familiar deliver the touch attack
8. Gallant Inspiration: What a great way to use up your second level slots at higher levels. Got a buddy who just missed an attack? Nope! Try again! Depending on which buddy you give this you'll be hard pressed to find a better way to deal damage to a single target with a second level slot (Note that I didn't say second level spell, I said slot.) This is especially true if you're a Bard and not a Samsaran Wizard. (Best part is that you don't even need to waste your standard action doing it.)
7. Prediction of Failure: It's a pain to raise your saving throw DCs, so this spell is lovely against creatures that are susceptible to both Sickened and Shaken (And mind-affecting spells). A quick and dirty -4 to their saving throws will have you smiling. Best part is if it affects them, they can't even resist it.
6. Shrink Item: Because I like fitting things into my pockets that I otherwise would not be able to.
5. Fire Sneeze: Probably not as good as Burning Gaze, but a definitely an entertaining way to make your familiar a team player.
4. Aqueous Orb: I love spells that let me move enemies around, and this tremendously funny Katamari ball is probably one of the most entertaining ways of doing it.
3. Mad Monkeys: This is a pretty good all around spell, but the flavor is just plain hilarious. I once used it as a simple distraction and after I lamented that they didn't do much besides distracting the enemy my DM commented that they certainly had enough time to make a poopy mess of the place.
2. Euphoric Tranquility: This is an amazing spell because there's basically nothing you can do about it if you're not immune to mind-affecting spells. But what makes it awesome is that its effect makes the target into a lovable drunk for its duration. Step aside irresistible dance, I've got a new favorite way of degrading my enemy.
1. Speak with Dead: Probably one of my favorite things about the Oracle I played was being able to shoot first and ask questions later. Very useful especially if you have a loose cannon in your party who disagrees with your "Take hostages plan" (Oh wait, that's usually me.)
So I'm starting a new campaign, and I kind of want to do something a little different from what I've done in the past, so I'm looking for inspiration.
What's you favorite monster race to have as villains? (Aka Orcs, Undead, Lizardfolk, etc.)
If you're specifically trying to address the reason I'm making this thread, then the Spoiler below contains some info about two campaigns I've run fairly recently.
Previous Campaign Info:
I've done two campaigns where the players have generally expressed enjoyment of the game.
These two campaigns mainly used one type of monster as the "Main plot" villains, so the two I've used so far were:
1. Mind Flayers. In this campaign we were playing 3.5 and I pulled all the stops out for character creation. Many of the players were playing level adjusted monster class races. The basic story was that in that area of the world all the Dragons were sealed up by a group of druids into a forest, which if kept healthy imprisoned the Dragons in a Stone Form. The forest was being destroyed gradually by a blight however which was caused by series of artifacts that were used to seal a Mind Flayer God. The party gets a hold of one of these objects and thus caught the attention of a particular Mind Flayer Tribe interested in resurrecting their dark deity.
2. Incorporeal Beings, and eventually Giant Outsiders. In my most recent campaign using pathfinder the main villains were for most of the campaign incorporeal beings bent on corrupting and possessing humans. They animated objects and could only be killed by specific types of magical weapons, or by magic that was channeled through a special item bond. It turned out though that ultimate intention of these "phantoms" was to create a perfect society through this possession so that the world may remain in a state of peace hopefully preventing what the party was ultimately tricked into doing - and that was releasing the Great Old Ones from their tombs. At that point the campaign took a lovecraftian turn where the old ones were exerting their influence on the world from a limbo-like plane, only occasionally manifesting their physical form on the material plane. The party then had to work with the Phantom leader to learn how to make themselves immune to the mind melting influence of the old one and eventually become powerful enough to destroy them one by one.
I'm starting my players at level 10 in my current campaign. I'm leaning toward using more Abominations this time around, but I'm actually very heavily considering the idea of making one of the main villains they have to face be a coalition of evil Wizards adept at crafting constructs.
I'm not a big fan of undead scourges, since it's overused and in my opinion ruined by some poorly told stories. I'm okay with using them heavily in particular adventures though, for instance in the Mind Flayer campaign I had one or two scenarios where I used them pretty heavily.
I really like this alternate race feature, it has a lot of possibilities. If you max out your casting stat, you get 6 spells from other spell lists to choose from.
Specifically for the Wizard, what are some good spells to grab from other Arcane Caster's spell lists?
Here's what I have so far:
- Cure spells (Witch or Bard)
- Early Access to Euphoric Tranquility, Irresistible Dance, Dominate Person, Greater Dispel Magic, or Hold Person (Bard)
- Early Access to Haste and Maze (Summoner)
- Good Hope, Sound Burst, Arcane Concordance, and Freedom of Movement (Bard)
- Vomit Swarm, Speak with Dead, Heal, and Raise Dead (Witch)
Now the Cure Spells aren't exactly an optimal pick when you only get six spells, but I wanted to mention them anyway because I expect someone else to if I don't.
If you don't know what Alternate Race feature I'm talking about, here it is in this spoiler:
Samsaran Mystic Past Life:
Mystic Past Life (Su) You can add spells from another spellcasting class to the spell list of your current spellcasting class. You add a number of spells equal to 1 + your spellcasting class's key ability score bonus (Wisdom for clerics, and so on). The spells must be the same type (arcane or divine) as the spellcasting class you're adding them to. For example, you could add divine power to your druid class spell list, but not to your wizard class spell list because divine power is a divine spell. These spells do not have to be spells you can cast as a 1st-level character. The number of spells granted by this ability is set at 1st level. Changes to your ability score do not change the number of spells gained. This racial trait replaces shards of the past.
The PDF version is for general viewing. It has bookmarks for easy navigation and it will load faster than the Google Docs version. Please download the PDF and use Adobe PDF Reader or a similar program to enjoy all of the features of the guide.
Google Docs version will take a long time to load, so beware. Both versions will be open for comments but the Google Docs version might be the easiest to comment on since you can select the specific text.
Included in this version:
- Minor edits from the previous guide
- Completely rewritten race section for the new Advanced Race Guide
- Spell Evaluations for race specific spells (Use CTRL-F "ARG:" to find quickly)
- New Archetypes added
- 3 Build Examples included at end of guide
- PDF included in the original post of the discussion thread for easy location.
Personally my favorite thing about roleplaying is the social experience - getting together with your friends and imagining fun and interesting situations together.
That said, I could easily be playing something else. I play Pathfinder because it's familiar, and most people in my group know the rules because it's based on one of the oldest and most popular RPGs.
What keeps you coming back to Pathfinder instead of one of the MANY table top RPG experiences available?
Have fun with that. I'll be adding updates to this version from now on. I've linked the PDF version to the top of the Google Docs version since I can't edit the original post of this thread.
I went over the core aspects of the Wizard and compiled everything into the same guide here. I made it a point NOT to look at Treantmonk's Guide as I did this so that you could have my undefiled opinion to set against his.
Things I have not done but will do when I get around to it:
1. Edit the guide. I have read my guide a couple of times on mediums that would not let me edit it, and I am aware that there are some very bad grammatical errors existing throughout. Feel free to point them out to me, as it will make it easier for me to find them.
2. Builds. I know people like this, and I may a post a few later. For now there is an open document for people to post their own builds if they so desire. Please be respectful of other people's postings and edits. I will close the document to open editing if it is abused.
And of course, I will have missed things or misinterpreted things, and I always appreciate feedback that will help improve the guide for everyone.
Hey Kaptain, I'm liking your guide quite a bit. A couple of comments though:
-If you are going to list alternative summons, it be nice if you gave some more basic information on what they are. IE they are religion specific summons that only work for priests of the appropriate deity. Whether your GM rules that only divine casters can be "priests" or any follower can be considered one is something only he knows. Also, if you could list which deity is required with each alternate summon, this list would go from being something nice to something I would print out and bring with me.
-Lantern Archons are pretty awesome in the right situation, especially when you can multiple out at once. Stacking aura of menaces together and spamming attacks that ignore pretty much all defenses, while being able to fly and provide another mediocre buff at will is pretty damn nice. They are especially useful if you can summon before a fight starts.
-You should at least note the Lemures ability to see in supernatural darkness. That's a nice option to have at 3rd or 4th level- especially in PFS which seems to have a lo of deeper darkness effects going on.
More to come later probably.
Yeah, my lack of explanation of the alternate summons was something I was going to do before I posted, but for some reason forgot.
Gave lantern archon a half-green to make it stand out and mentioned the multiple summoning benefit. I think you've got a point there.
Rating the summon monster spells was a roller coaster ride. Through the mid-levels the new monsters were surprising and effective, peaking out at level 7 with the amazing Tyrannosaurus, and then nose-diving through SMVIII and SMIX.
While I still agree with Treantmonk on his points about why summoning works, SMVIII and SMIX seem to be best spent summoning multiple creatures from SMVII's list.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh to SMIX, but comparing it to the Bestiary Statistics provided by Shoelessinsight, the monsters just don't seem that great, especially when some SMVII options sport similar statistics with the ability to smite evil.
But that's just me venting. Here's an introduction!
My latest sleep depriver was a Summon Monster guide for my Complete Wizard guide. It was a good experience for me in putting things into perspective, but I present it to you early because it turns out :GASP: Wizards aren't the only class that can cast this spell. So presenting it as a separate guide could be useful to a lot of people.
As far as work on the complete guide goes, all I have left is the spells and then it's just adjusting the guide according to comments I receive from you guys.
Also, feel free to make arguments for anything you disagree with in this guide, I need to hear them, because I would like to be wrong in some of my assessments.
So I am working on a more complete wizard guide right now, and I would like some recommendations on any and all gear that a wizard would want aside from the usual pearls of power, INT gear, and so forth.
I have my own ideas, but I want to hear from you guys because I am bound to miss something.
I will be including a section on pimping out your familiar, and best use for your item Bond.
I'm specifically looking for ways to add Charisma to your to-hit and even your damage besides using Smite Evil.
But I'm interested in other ways to make Charisma more than just a social stat that gives you little else.
What options are there and what classes are they available to?
What are some ways that you can get these items if you are not the classes listed (Besides multiclassing of course)?
Here's what I know about so far:
Noble Scion: (Any class) Adds your Charisma to your Initiative.
Smite Evil: (Paladin, Half-Celestial, Chevalier Prestige Class) Adds your Charisma to your To-Hit against targeted creature. Adds Charisma to AC as a deflection bonus against target.
Divine Grace: (Paladin) Adds Charisma to all of your saving throws.
Sidestep Secret: (Lore Revelation Oracle) Adds Charisma to your AC and Reflex.
Lorekeeper: (Lore Revelation Oracle) Add your Charisma to all Knowledge Checks.
Wizards have a few big advantages with blasting against Sorcerers. The most notable of which being that they apply metamagic without increasing casting time, and this includes preferred spells.
Anyway, admixture is way better than fire. Both replace a metamagic (elemental spell or selective spell) but admixture allows you to memorize a variety of blast spells with little worry of energy resistance while selective spell can be achieved by selective aiming in many cases.
However teleport school is good when you are dropping blast spells that can be repositioned with your move action - it basically let's you move on your turn if you want anyway.
I would also consider divination: foresight. The reroll power will help you with touch attacks (rays) and spell penetration. The initiative bonus is super awesome. You can also sacrifice your specialization slot for your preferred spell so it doesnt really matter that the divination school is slightly weaker on some levels.
I'd say if your only goal is to do damage though, admixture is probably the best pick. If you go Elf (you should for spell penetration anyway) you could increase your number of admixture uses for the day.
Summons a fluffy bunny from the shadow realm. On a successful attack the aether bunny can deposit an egg-like tumor in the target's body which functions as 2 negative levels.
The aether egg can be extracted with a knife, but it's difficult to find, requiring a DC 20 perception check to locate. If found, the aether egg is actually edible, and will restore 1d6 hp to the consumer.
The thing about Fast Study is that it frees you from ever having to prepare noncombat spells before you're sure you'll need them. (And forget about making scrolls of circumstantial spells. Use your time and money crafting wondrous items instead...everything in your spellbook is one minute away.)
I think pausing for 15 minutes in the middle of the day to prepare spells would start to bug people if it happened five or ten times a day, whereas 1 minute is no big deal. Since taking Fast Study I tend to leave around half my spell slots open in the morning. If you don't do much utility casting, or your days are pretty predictable, your mileage may vary.
(I could see people arguing that leaving a bunch of slots open is a good idea anyway, and it may be, but in practice I didn't use to do it before being disinhibited by Fast Study.)
^This! It might depend on your playgroup, but I know mine would get very tired of sitting around for 15 minutes while I prepare a utility spell. Taking the feat justifies what many might consider an abuse of the spell preparation system. Just shell out some gold to learn a ton of spells, and you become the most versatile character in the game.
IMO, the feat should be considered between orange and blue, depending on your playgroup.
I'm tired of waiting for Treantmonk to complete his guide, so I went ahead and took on the challenge.
This is an expansion of Treantmonk's Guide including the new material from the APG, UM, and UC. I am not doing any adventure path or blog stuff at this time. If I ever do that, it'll be in a separate additional guide.
As I mention in the guide, I am NOT a replacement for Treantmonk, nor do I claim to be an expert on all things Pathfinder. I respect and appreciate any comments and suggestions you have on how to improve this guide.
At the time of this posting, this is a work in progress. If I haven't evaluated the last level 9 spell, then be patient and wait to let me know if I've missed something. I've got like 200 more spells to go.
Also, I'm not at the point of adding pictures to the guide yet, though there are some leftovers from Treantmonk's Guide. That'll come eventually.
I'm bored and I didn't find anyone who's done this already, so I'm going to do it and then you guys get to tell me how I'm wrong. It'll be a learning experience for us all.
A lot of people call the Skirmisher the "Warrior of the Holy Light" of the Ranger class. I'm not sure where that comes from other than they're both alternatives to casting. I'm sure a lot of people are attracted to this Archetype because none of its abilities rely on your Wisdom Modifier for saving throws, not to mention you don't suffer a -3 caster level penalty for any of these. They're all straight up bonuses and some of them pretty good. It sort of takes a little of the edge off of the Ranger's stat allotment. You could easily take a lower than normal Wisdom by going with this Archetype. This also means that you'll have fewer daily tricks, however. With that in mind I'm going to be rating some of these based on whether they're even worth using the likely 3-4 Hunter's Tricks the Ranger has in a day.
I don't think you can do colors on this forum so I'm just going to rate these out of 4 stars.
Aiding Attack : (**) This is a solid bonus that can give the same attack bonus flank gives to an ally without having to flank the target. I'm not sure if this is worth a use of your precious daily allotment though. If you have a rogue buddy you like to flank with, or a TWF friend of another class, make this 4 stars and take it. You could exponentially increase your party damage in that circumstance.
Bolster Companion : (**)This would be fantastic if it weren't just your Animal companion. That said, it's still super solid. Your Animal Companion isn't likely to have a ton of HP at any given time, and any hit to your companion is an action that could have been spent hitting someone more important. This gives you the opportunity to use your flanking buddy as a tank, if your GM ever attacks the animal that is.
Catfall : (*) This is okay. It's only because it's so circumstantial that I give it such a low rating. If you see yourself jumping off a lot of 20' cliffs, then by all means pick this up.
Chameleon Step : (***) I like this one a lot. Moving twice your speed as a move action is something that when you need it, you NEED it. This will help you get into position a lot better, and it makes a great companion to Spring Attack or Shot on the Run.
Cunning Pantomime : (*) Eh... this really depends on your GM. Most of my GMs don't make language a big deal, but mechanically I could see some GMs totally being a stickler for it. There are times when it's important to be able to communicate with another party. That said you're probably not the party face, and this doesn't help you in that role at all. Leave this to another party member.
Defensive Bow Stance : (*) For a round, don't provoke attacks of opportunity while shooting. I can't think of too many situations where this going to make a huge difference. Most times you can just 5-foot step. For situations like when the enemy has Step-up, you should probably take one of the many feats that aids in this situation. There's another trick below called Surprising Shift that completely outclasses this trick too. In many cases just taking the attack of opportunity is still not going to kill you either.
Deft Stand : (*) Ranger's Ki Stand. My GM doesn't usually bother knocking people prone (Or at least, it's very rare when he does), so I'd never take this, but it's not completely useless.
Distracting Attack : (**) This is kind of like Aiding Attack, but doesn't have a controllable circumstance that could make it better. Against enemies that have a lot of attacks though it'd be worth using.
Hateful Attack : (**) Lunge without the penalties. The only reason this isn't 3 stars is because the target has to be a Favored enemy to trigger it.
Heel : (*) Get your animal companion out of a bad situation. I'd almost rather take Bolster Companion and leave him in the bad situation and walk in for a flank.
Hobbling Attack : (****) While it only lasts a fraction of the time, this is like Crippling Critical without a saving throw and without the need to crit. The best part? You use it AFTER you hit - no wasting daily uses for it. Halving an enemy's speed isn't the BEST form of control, but it could save your Wizard's bacon if he did something to tick off your target.
Quick Climb : (*) This ability's usefulness is more circumstantial than the climb skill itself.
Quick Healing : (*) I've read some guides that give abilities like this 4 stars all over the place, as if they're always finding themselves in near-death situations. I don't think the need to heal super fast comes up (and it SHOULDN'T come up) so often to make this a primary pick. However, I'm willing to bet you'll be glad you have this ability if the circumstance ever does come up.
Quick Swim : (*) Um... maybe if you're playing in an aquatic campaign, then I'm sure this is worth 3 stars. As it stands this is worse than quick climb for being circumstantial.
Ranger’s Counsel : (*) This is Aid Another at a range. Do you ever need to use Aid Another at a range? I don't really see when this would be helpful. I suppose this would stack with Aid Another, and it affects all nearby allies. Besides Perception though I'm not sure how the AOE effect would really help, and I can't think of too many situations where an extra +2 for a single round would make a huge difference.
Rattling Strike : (***) Not as good as Hobbling Strike since it must be declared before the attack, but it still doesn't allow a saving throw, and I happen to like Shaken as a condition. (I also normally play casters who LOVE the penalty to saving throws.) Since you probably dumped Charisma you can pretend you're intimidating people with this ability.
Second Chance Strike : (*) Eh... So if you miss an attack you can try again with a -5 penalty? I'm not even sure if this is worth the immediate action much less the daily use of trick. If you're playing a Ranger who attacks with standard actions I could see this not totally sucking, especially if you're using Vital Strike. In a lot of cases though you're probably not going to get much success from this.
Sic 'Em : (*) Trade a swift action (and a daily trick) for an extra attack from your Animal Companion. This would be awesome if the Ranger's Animal Companion actually did any substantial damage. But you might get super lucky and pull off a trip attack with your wolf, so not a total waste. Give this a star or two if you're really into optimizing your animal companion, and if you're in the habit of getting buffs and enhancements for him. Since you gave up casting for this archetype though, someone else needs to cast Magic Fang for you. You COULD give your Animal Companion the Teamwork Feat Precise Strike and take it yourself. You COULD also optimize for Critical Strike and take Outflank with your Flanking Buddy and not spend Hunter's Tricks for the same effect too.
Skill Sage : (**) The only reason I'm not rating this a little higher is because you have to decide before you use the skill. I think someone said that a "take the higher roll" reroll is like a +3.5 to your skill. Unless you're doing something that HAS to succeed, like diffusing a bomb, I doubt you'll even remember to use this very often.
Stag’s Leap : (*) Make a running jump without the run. I can't see myself using this ever.
Surprise Shift : (****) A 5-foot step as a swift action, which you can combine with a 5-foot step. Make that step up guy eat it. Or get a full round of attacks against that guy who was just out of reach. Combine with the Lunge feat for even more awesome results.
Tangling Attack : (***) The wording suggests that you have to declare this before the attack, so it's still not as versatile as Hobbling Attack, but the effect is certainly more potent. I don't like how it only lasts a round though.
Trick Shot : (*) As a standard action, and a use of a daily trick, you can do what the Improved Precise Strike feat gives you. If you took Archery as your combat style, you can get Improved Precise Strike a level after you have access to this. Not a good trick.
Uncanny Senses : (**) Gain a +10 to perception as an immediate action for only 1 round. This is one of those odd abilities that begs the question, "if you know it's there, then why do you need to use this to help you know it's there?". However the GM always asks the players to roll their perception, and there's nothing stopping the Ranger from using this trick in that circumstance - hence the 2 stars. If your GM is a jerk and makes you roll your perception for nothing all the time, then give this 1 star. This would be 3 or 4 stars except even if the GM isn't a jerk, not every perception roll is for an ambush.
Upending Strike : (***) What I like about this is that it's a Trip Attack that deals damage. I'm also pretty sure that this wouldn't provoke attacks of opportunity since it's trying to be like your animal companion's trip, so you don't need to get improved trip. What I don't like about this is that without improved trip and any associated feats you can get a hold of, your odds of tripping the opponent are pretty slim in most cases and this will end up being a wasted trick a lot of the time.
Vengeance Strike : (**) I read this as "Enemy provokes attacks of opportunity if they hit one of your allies, except it doesn't use up your attack of opportunity." It instead uses up a trick. This is probably a circumstantial thing, but you can control the circumstance pretty easily, so I really think it's a great pick. I'd give it more stars if they didn't actually have to brain your friend for it to be usable.
A while back there was a Sorcerer vs. Wizard thread that invited some interesting discussion.
I think it's time we talk about the Oracle vs. Cleric.
In my personal opinion, optimization-wise anyway, the Cleric is more like a Hybrid caster Melee character, while the Oracle has more tools to be a straight up caster.
While the Cleric does get his spells one level earlier, the Oracle's mystery more than makes up for that.
Currently I'm playing a Dark Tapestry Oracle who doesn't wear armor, and doesn't carry a weapon. He gets 8 gifts of madness a day, and has 14 spells a day total to cast with a decent variety of options. It's kind of nice to not have to depend on items practically at all.
Bard > Sorcerer, because they can turn Charisma into something useful with Versatile Performance (Sense motive with CHA baby!) AND they can tote around the 100 scrolls that Treantmonk was talking about.
Bards can't do binding. Bards are a good class, but not > Sorcerer.
With scrolls you can do ANYTHING!
No you can't, and buying scrolls does not make you equal. You will never have enough scrolls to be a good pseudo-sorcerer. On top of that pulling them out eats into your action economy. The bard is not a sorcerer nor can he scroll himself into being one anymore than he can scroll himself into being a wizard.
*takes off top-hat and bows*
I apologize if my contextual sarcasm was bleeding through my text onto your keyboard.
I could have one of my cohorts clean that up for you, but I just found out that when they do things that cost money, it turns out it costs money. That and I hear that my good Game Master might be banning them soon...
Here is my list of spells that I am considering taking as I level up with my Human Oracle.
I've removed all the spells that I gain automatically (Cure spells) and the ones I gain from Haunted and my Dark Tapestry Mystery. I did this to remove the clutter from the list so that hopefully this thread might be useful for anyone who is looking for suggestions for what spells they should pick with their Oracle, regardless of what mystery they pick.
Each spell level contains extra spells gained through the Human's favored class bonus. Each spell level below 9 would have two fewer spells for any other race.
Level 1
Bless
Obscuring Mists
Burning Disarm
Cause Fear
Remove Sickness
Sun Metal
Level 2
Bull's Strength
Hold Person
Silence
Sound Burst
Remove Paralyses
Staggering Fall
Darkness
Level 3
Summon Monster III
Chain of Perdition
Remove Curse
Prayer
Dispel Magic
Remove Disease
Level 4
Freedom of Movement
Blessing of Fervor Dismissal
Dimensional Anchor
Restoration
Neutralize Poison
Level 5
Summon Monster V
Wall of Stone
Spell Resistance
Break Enchantment
Raise Dead
Fickle Winds
Please post what class or classes that are required for the spell combo.
I'm looking for some more ideas.
Here's an example of what I'm thinking of when I say "Combo"
Wizard/Sorcerer Create Pit + Web/Stone Wall + Cloudkill - We all know about the Web + Cloudkill combo, but I was thinking about how much fun it would be to cap a pit off with a Web spell so that even if they can make the 25 DC climb check to get out, they'll have to get past the web to actually escape.
As far as I can tell there isn't anything that says you can't put a web over the top of the pit, but just in case, I threw Stone Wall in there as another option - you can pop a dome over the pit.
Drop a cloudkill inside the pit and then walk away.
