Llyr the Scoundrel's page

So, when it comes to looking at characters builds, I have a rule of thumb. If I can't apply a feature in the adventure, it's a waste. Like trying to run a character reliant on their precision damage in encounters where there is a magical darkness situation so the concealment chance nixes your class feature, it's not that the ability is a bad idea... it's just made in such a way that the mechanics are broken against you.

The reason I bring this up is because my group decided to take a small break from our current campaign to run a little one-shot adventure of 9th level characters. Some major hitters with a bit of swagger to them. I see this is a good chance to try out the Alchemist for the first time. I'm a sucker for the Victorian-esque steampunk influence, and I decide rather than clunk it up with an archetype to just run a straight Alchemist. Try to take the best advantages of the little tricks and abilities it has. However, after two encounters that were deliberately crafted by our game master to see how the group dynamic worked out by more or less throwing a variety of challenges at us, we quickly saw a problem in how the Alchemist functioned. So, we looked over the build together, tried to tweak it to run smoother. And, breaking it down, these were the problems we saw.

○ While a mutagen might give a little boost to a single ability score and add 2 points to their armor class, the fact that they're limited to light armor, simple weapons, have the middle attack value, and d8 hit points makes them unfit to do more than plug up a hole in a melee conflict.
○ While they have extracts that are prime to "buff" themselves for conflict on top of their mutagens, that's more or less saying they need to use two standard actions simply to engage an enemy. This is tantamount to having to bundle on your snowgear while a snowball fight is already going on... most often, by the time you're ready it's already dwindled down or it's finished.
○ Melee attacks of opportunity makes them vulnerable to more or less do what they're built to do... be it throw a bomb or use an extract.

We looked at the feats that were needed to smooth out some of these problems, and this is what we came up with. At 9th level, a character has five feats from raising levels. JUST to make their alchemical bombs work, well, they needed all five of those feats at 9th level.

○ Point Blank Shot so he could in turn get Precise Shot so that they could throw a bomb into melee without a penalty.
○ Dodge and Weapon Focus (bombs) so he could in turn get Close Quarters Thrower and be able to use his alchemical bombs while threatened by a melee fighter and not provoke an attack of opportunity.

This is a 9th level character, people! They haven't even gotten a spare feat to get Combat Casting to use their extracts, much less anything that permits them a feat to allow any flavor or originality. When you have this many complications SIMPLY to use the basic features of your class, there's not other way to label it as anything but a Feat Tax. No class should be built in such as way that it's only after 11th level you're going, "Whew! I've picked up everything I need to be involved in an adventure and not be hacked at every time I try to do something that is among my primary purposes... I mean, theoretically I might be able to pull off some of these tricks if I were behind the meat shields, but we all know game masters! By fourth level, half the encounters have invisible or flying (or invisible flying!) threats that are just going to pop up next to me and ruin my day. And that's if the situation isn't a straight up ambush that begins with me being sneak attacked out of the gate! Still, here I am... 11th level, and FINALLY able to look forwards to a feat next level that gives me any individual identity!" (Yes, this is hyperbole, but the point is valid.)

However, this is what my game master and myself have seen as an inherent problem in the Alchemist. And it's true, it's also my first time running the class. However, I was sorta hoping that by 9th level most of the class glitches would've smoothed themselves out to simply enjoy a character that had a different style from most. Are we that terribly wrong? Is there something we're missing about the mechanics that eliminates half the feats required so maybe I could take Extra Discovery or Arcane Strike or... well, anything? Or is the Alchemist truly that broken?

So, there's another houserule our gaming group has included specifically for me, involving the hero point reroll. You see I have horrid luck when rolling dice. Plus, frequently that misfortune will hit me for long spells when I can't roll anything above a 10 on a d20 for ages. I was finding myself in a few really frustrating situations where I'd fail a saving throw so obviously I don't even need to tell the game master my result, spend my hero point for a reroll, and then roll so poorly once more that I felt as though I wasted this precious asset. Especially because I would horde these hero points until it was a "make this saving throw or have some condition that removes you from the combat" situations. This happened to me perhaps five times straight when the game master came up with an idea.

We put in place a rule inspired by the Mutants & Masterminds game in which the reroll result was calculated so that any roll of 1 through 10 had 10 added to the result. This was the show the proper heroic effort put behind any reroll. Let's face it... if you were in a situation where you needed to roll a 17 or better on d20, you might not feel that's worth the chance. That's only 20%, not good odds. However, if instead you could roll a 7-10 or a 17-20 and succeed, you've doubled your chances to 40%. And really, no one likes to feel like their best effort has been wasted.

Now, because different game masters play with different styles, their input into rewarding hero points plays a big role in this houserule. My game masters like to keep us on our heels all through the campaign, we're always just a couple of bad rolls from a TPK. In our case, these hero points are vital. We need them to continue playing. However, if you're in a game a bit more lax of threat and your players start using them on attack rolls against the big boss... I suggest one of two things.

Firstly, you should perhaps be a bit more moderate in your hero point rewarding. That way, it truly feels like a close call - skin of your teeth situation.

The other suggestion is to start making large booming sounds with your mouth before slamming down a Demogorgon figurine onto the board in the vein of 'Stranger Things'. Yeah, I know Pathfinder is a different game system, but it'll straighten out those cocky players faster than anything. :D

One thing we noticed in the gaming group was how only non-spellcasting classes were the ones that picked up a level here or there of another class except where it might be needed for a prestige class. And we were all of a consensus; it just hurt the class otherwise if you were reliant on your spellcasting. Not only did it stunt your spell casting progression, but also your effectiveness as it changed your caster level. So, I came up with a proposition that has given a little nudge of assistance.

Rather than having a spell rely on the character's effective caster level, we simply have it based off their level. The result? Nothing big, but it does help the classes with limited spellcasting a touch more and makes some multi-classing less reluctant. Let's say you have a 4th Bard who took a fondness of firearms later and switched to Gunslinger for another 6 levels. Even though he's casting as a 10th level character, he's still limited to the three 1st level spells and the lone 2nd level spell. So, it might buff up a Cure Light Wounds and make his Hold Person last a bit longer. But when you consider these are the lone differences in a group of 10th levelers, it's not really that much as the DC stays the same. If anything, it makes that spellcasting of the Bard a bit less wasted and relevant, because they might actually have a chance to use it once in a while instead of feeling like it was a wasted facet of the class.

My group has been playing with this minor change to the rules for almost two years, and it's not ruffled a single feather. Now, if I could only get them to even give a try to my alternate dice rolling system of rolling 2d12 and increasing the DC of everything by +2 instead of a singular d20...

So, I'm in a bit of a quandry, and I'm curious as to the feed back of fellow gamers here. For a little background, it should be known that I have HORRID luck. No, worse than that. No, worse than THAT. In one infamous game session, I started off by rolling four 1's and a 3 in my first five rolls. If there is ever a time that I absolutely need to roll well, I am guaranteed to flub it up. I am jinxed. I am hexed. I am cursed though I cannot in my life imagine what has brought me to this position in life.

The second piece of background information that I wish to offer is that one of my best friends and long time fellow gamer is an obsessive power gamer. If it isn't min/max'ed, he isn't happy. He exclusively plays warriors and mages, and he rolls quite well on an average basis. So, every campaign we play, he's always this shining star within our group and I'm the sidekick who humorously died a few times through the adventure in some really unexpected ways. As you can imagine, no one enters into a campaign with the goal of being the sidekick, and it's a role that's gotten quite old.

Unfortunately, I'm drawn to characters that have a bit of depth to their personality. My pal in the above paragraph is happy enough to have a character with a personality like wet cardboard and put straight 10's in all of his mental stats so that every one of his characters has the complexity of a high school jock that earns C's in his classes. Me, I'm drawn towards the more complex personalities. A character that has a few quirks, some strengths and flaws. Which sounds like the more interesting individual, but let's face it... the majority of Pathfinder is a combat game. You can throw in plenty of little side events as much as you want, but in the end it's about how well you can squash the creepy thing. If you fail in a social event, you always get a second chance down the line. If you fail to kill the creepy beastie, it's a TPK.

I'm curious as to what advice this community would offer an unlucky, rogue-inclined player who always seems to exclusively play second fiddle to his friend that always plays a character that is like Conan or Merlin in all but name.

And in preparation for certain suggestions... yes, I've tried my hand at playing the tank from time to time. Firstly, they feel far too "direct" to me. They're very "from point A to point B" sorts of characters, both in playing style and in nature as decided by their ability scores. I'm actually playing one now, and that friend who usually plays them is game mastering for a change. Except, by coincidence we're playing the Reign of Winter campaign, and for once ranged attackers are at a premium in this campaign. Two out of every three combats my Bloodrager is either out of range or he's had every effort concentrated on him and he's knocked unconscious before the combat finishes. That's not much fun, either.