LyraDeringer's page

The idea of getting entangle to help enable your ranged party isn’t a bad idea

But I would say consider taking the swamp grasp hex instead, leaving your patron open.

Thereby allowing you to take the trickster patron, it has some very powerful spells including mirror image, which is good because Witches biggest weakness is defensive casting.

Also, trickster makes sense for an 11 year old.

My DM described the party as mostly "skirmishers". We are indeed a pretty strange bunch!

I think for hexes I'll go with Slumber, Misfortune, Cackle, Cauldron, and Flight. Healing will be handled with Cauldron, and I could use spells like Web in combination with Misfortune for battlefield control.
I think flight would be good for defense agaisnt quite a few creatures...and I might even take Gingerbread Witch since it boosts my familiar a little bit. How does that sound?

I realize I still haven't picked a Patron, but at this point I'm just totally rearranging my witch! Maybe I'll go with Mercy, I dunno. Mirror Image is useful, but I'm not sold on Rope Trick. It seems a lot of these patrons are balanced with one useful and one useless spell at the start.

You start with a limited list, then add to it very similar to a wizard and his spell book. It's simply telling you how many spells you start play with.

I think a big confusion comes from the non-standardized language. In reality, "spells known", "spells known by the familiar" and "spells stored in the familiar" are the same thing when it comes to the Witch.

Okay that's weird because on the Witch page under "Spells" it says "A witch may know any number of spells." I guess that's not true?

Witch familiars work exactly like wizard familiars except for the differences in the "Witch Familiar" section. Base familiars cannot cast their own spells, whether that's wizard or witch familiars... they can deliver touch spells for their master, but they do not cast the spell themselves. The action of casting the spell still uses the master's standard action (or whatever action to cast that particular spell is).

Certain familiars grant their master a bonus to a certain skill check or save or even initiative, so that might be where your bonus is coming from. As for your familiar skills, it uses whichever rank amount is higher, the master's or its own, then you always apply its ability score for the skill. If i were you I'd read through the link I provided in this comment to learn all you need to know about familiars

So I guess the +4 swim bonus that I found on my witch's sheet was a mistake on the Pathbuilder app's part--Ravens only give appraise bonuses.

Another bit that tripped me up was this:
"A new familiar begins knowing all of the 0-level spells plus two spells of every level the witch is able to cast. These are in addition to any bonus spells known by the familiar based on the witch’s level and her patron (see patron spells)."

If by "knowing" spells it means "storing", it still doesn't make much sense to me--because "starting at 1st level, a witch’s familiar stores ALL of the spells that the witch knows." and a Witch can know "any number of spells" on the Witch's spell list--so what's with the familiar only being able to "know" a limited number?

Hello!
I'm quite confused about how Witch familiars work.

Are they able to cast spells like a wizard's familiar? How do its skills work in conjunction with its master?

I used Pathbuilder to make my character and found she, the witch, had a couple of skill modifiers that shouldn't have been there--but now I'm wondering if I've misinterpreted some rules somewhere along the line when it comes to sharing skills with her raven familiar.

Most beguiling of all is how a Raven's beak attack can be (1d3-4)

It seems a few of these haven't been updated in years.
Does anyone know of a witch guide that goes into all the potential Patrons and Special Patrons?

My main concern is that I don't know how far this game will go. ^^ A lot of patrons seem more useful for high level play, but I doubt if we'll even get as far as 5th level, unless my DM really falls in love with the party. Unless Im reading it wrong, Healing seems like one of those patrons that doesn't get good until later on?
I'm wondering if someone with experience playing a witch can give me some advice for low or mid level builds--all the guides seem to expect you to go all the way to 20.

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've played a Pathfinder character, and even longer since I've made one. Coming back to it for a one-shot, I find myself overwhelmed with options and conflicting opinions.

The game will probably be about three sessions long starting at level 3, and I want to play a Witch. I already know what my familiar will be, (a raven) but I'm having a hard time choosing a patron. I've never played this class before.

Can anyone recommend patrons for witches? I'm not deadset on filling any particular role in the party, I just want to be useful and cast fun spells. Any recommended gear would be helfpul too, since we're starting with 3000gp worth of stuff.

The party so far consists of a Pyrokineticist, a Ranger, a Ninja, and an Alchemist.

Also she's 11 years old.

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've played a Pathfinder character, and even longer since I've made one. Coming back to it for a one-shot, I find myself overwhelmed with options and conflicting opinions.

The game will probably be about three sessions long starting at level 3, and I want to play a Witch. I already know what my familiar will be, (a raven) but I'm having a hard time choosing a patron. I've never played this class before.

Can anyone recommend patrons for witches? I'm not deadset on filling any particular role in the party, I just want to be useful and cast fun spells.

The party so far consists of a Pyrokineticist, a Ranger, a Ninja, and an Alchemist.

Also she's 11 years old.

Here are some ideas for some feats!

These are some fascinating ideas...but t think needing all these feats might be more trouble than its worth.

I'm also not sure about the minimum requirement of CHA or INT. I just don't think it's necessary as a requirement, and it limits some classes...unless this requirement could be supplemented with items or something...
I'm glad this is generating so much interest!

A believe that you could have a "High-Fusion", "Medium Fusion", and "Low Fusion" World.

I could talk about this for a long time, but I'll keep it short.

High Fusion allows for all players to fuse, but makes them only be able to fuse once every 24 hours.

Medium Fusion allows for players with a feat to fuse, akin to a teamwork feat. And once again, they can only fuse once every 24 hours.

Low Fusion allows for players to fuse with an appropriate magic item, allowing them to fuse once per day whilst using the weapon.

Interesting...I think I like the kdea of Medium fusion, and perhaps granting extra fusions per day depending on alignments or some fusion point buy (like an arcane pool).

So! How does a player go about fusing? A magical item? A feat? At what level can a character fuse with another?

I think the personality of a fusion shouldn't be something represented on the statblock, aside from maybe their alignments. Sugilite was a giant angry monster, but that doesn't mean she would have low charisma, for example. It just manifests itself differently than what you would normally expect. Sugilite may have been reckless, but for things like a Will save, she wouldn't budge.

That's fair, but this is an RPG. :/ The numbers need to be there.

Maybe upon creation of a fused character, the players get a few skill ranks, or get to decide on a few saves to give bonuses to? Like a sort of co=operative point-buy?

For stats, I'd say take the best number for each stat between all the fused characters, and then add a bonus equal to the number of characters in the fusion. They should also retain all the class features for both.

Equal to the number of characters? Hmm...

Or maybe you could take their modifiers and add them? Or average them out, then add something? (Fusion level? a bonus for alignments?)

I feel like if a character has a negative modifier to some stat, that should be taken into account. I'm mainly thinking of Sugilite, who definitely represented the worst of two characters as well as the best of them.

Like, maybe...take two stats, add them, and subtract ten, so you're essentially just adding their modifiers? That could be the base of what you do, plus a bonus for characters who have similar or identical alignments. Although fusions need to be stronger than the sum of their parts, no matter what, so more bonuses would probably be needed...plus maybe adding a size category to whatever their average size category is. Maybe add limbs, too...idk. These character sheets would DEFINITELY need to be worked out ahead of time, but it would probably be more fun if the DM worked them out without showing the players.

Anyways, let's say a str 16 character and a str 18 character make a str 22 character, plus this:

Identical alignment= +2 bonus
Within one step of each other alignment= +1 bonus
Different alignments= + 0
Opposite alignments*= -1

*(only applies to lawful/chaotic and evil/good)

Does that sound ok? Should more bonuses be added? Or some sort of "fusion level"?

These are some pretty cool ideas. :D What do you guys think in terms of pre-requisites? Should it require a magical item? A feat? What? And when characters fuse, do they increase a size category, or gain limbs for extra attacks?

I imagine fusion characters would have to have a character sheet worked out ahead of time, since it could get complicated, but it would probably be more fun if the DM worked out those sheets without telling the players so that it could come as a surprise...All we really need is a general idea of how stats and skills would change, and how levels/spells would carry over.

It certainly is a lot to consider, but it could be so cool...

Oread Kineticists heavy with teamwork feats, especially interweave composite blast.

Oh, does the game already have something like fusion?

Repost from GitP, which isn't nearly as helpful.

Hey protagonsts!

I'm not a huge fan of Steven universe, but I'm really fascinated by the concept of character fusion. I was hoping we could develop a balanced way to convert it into a D20 system like Pathfinder.

I was thinking Gem Fusion could be either a feat or a prestige class feature. It would require a few ranks in Perform: Dance, perhaps a magical item or gem, and would be more successful if the two characters have similar/identical alignments. The fused character would be controlled by both players, and rolls would have to be made to stay fused or complete tasks that the fused members didn't agree on. (will save to take over, fortitude save to avoid breaking apart etc.)

I'm honestly not sure how fusion could work statwise. I was hoping the experts here could help me, as I'm not a GM myself...yet. What do you think? Is it possible? Would it be fun? Can it be balanced?

An example

The god I'm using is homebrewed...but not terribly developed. Is there anything I should know? As you can see, I'm really lacking in cleric-related knowledge. ^^' I'm not certain how their relation to their god/domain works.

First thing I'd suggest is to max out Charisma instead of Wisdom. Not only does this represent leadership potential, it also makes her good at channeling energy (and therefore useful), despite spells being 'confusing' (which they are). Wisdom should start at (at least) 16, though.

After that, a high Dexterity would probably be good idea. It's a good all-around stat, especially if she uses ranged weapons.

As for spells, focus on what you'd prepare if you had your own skin to save. Things like shield of faith, or bull's endurance. Depending on her personality, spells like animate dead and animate objects are great (read as flavorful) support spells at later levels, and summon monster spells are good at any level.

For equipment, a ranged weapon could be nice (see above), or maybe a nice traditional cleric weapon, like a mace. For some reason I'm feeling like she should use light armor rather that medium, but that is up to you/her player/her.

Yeah, she'd probably fight with ranged weapons, like throwing knives or similar. :) Thanks for the advice!

I'm planning a story about a game of Pathfinder and its players. Most of their characters will be based directly off of the characters of my friends in real life, but I'd also like to add some original ones. These characters will not be used in an actual game, so I'm comfortable with house-ruling some things to make these characters fit better. Still, I'd like to make them as accurate as I can. :)

The character I'm thinking of is a female gnome cleric of the luck domain. I'd like her to not be just another healbot, but a good solid support character. Her player is the main character in my story. She'll be taking the place of the Bard who left the party. She's being built/played by an amateur player, with some help from another slightly more experienced player, so she can't be too optimized. ^^'

Would you be able to suggest any ability scores, spells, etc, for this character? She'll probably start around level 4-6.

Conflict drives stories, an all magic team with the annoying magicless ranger that the party has to takes turns supporting. The idea of savage vs civilized works as well, in the city a Druid sticks out, and his companion might be a healthy source of trouble (Hey! your lizard ate my chickens! pay me for them or I'm calling the guards!)

Meanwhile in the forest, the wizard and cleric might be lost as to what is edible, or not solid ground (mud and traps!).

Balanced is boring too, half the fun for a party is overcoming challenges the GM puts down, challenges usually chosen after the parties weaknesses. By having a sub optimal party, it will be easier (as a writer) to include challenges as there will be more (and varied) options to choose from for any particular scenario.

Sounds like a fun project.

Thanks. :) You're probably right!

I guess, now that i think about it, the most important part of the story is that the players suit their characters. :o I should probabaly keep them as perfectly imperfect. :)
Thanks again! :D

Sometimes we find things, sometimes we buy them if we come across the right shops, and sometimes our DM lets us macgyver our own magic-esque items. The party fought a hydra once, and our barbarian, Bob, harvested some ice sacks from it and made gauntlets out of the hydra's heads that do ice damage when you punch with them. Our Bard had a glider made out of manticore wings, too. I haven't made anything yet out of our scavenged materials, but it seems like our DM will allow a lot of stuff if we had to use our imaginations to conceive them. :)

I was hoping to include some classic classes (barbarian, claric) alongside some less-than-classic ones, (magus, maybe a swashbuckler later on,) and of course all of the classes would be (briefly) explained in the comic. I'm just a little worried that with a cleric, a magus, AND a Druid in the party, it might be too many magic-oriented characters. :/ Don't want our ranger falling into the background...although I could make him an arcane archer. :I

Anyways...Thanks for all of your input! There seem to be some conflicting opinions, though. ^^'

Well, hunters are sort of more balanced druids.

Yeah? :o

Pathfinder is the fantasy version of RIFTS. There's nothing that you can change that would make the game better or worse. It's based on a very old engine that most modern games no longer use. The only thing I would do is use another game's mechanics like 5e or the Cypher system; but then it wouldn't be Pathfinder, now would it?

I think we might have a misunderstanding, but I'm not certain... In my description, the player still has to choose a maximum of, say, 5 different level-one spells at the beginning of each in-game day (or whatever their spells-per-day limit is,) and they can only cast 5 level one spells that day, but they can choose whether they want to repeat a spell from the list of those they prepared.

Is that how spontaneous casters work? I thought they could choose from any spell on their list to cast?

Having to prepare spells ahead of time, and when you use it, it's gone. I mean, I'm okay with preparing spells and having a specific amount of spells per day, but if you have 4 level-1 spells available in a day, you should be able to choose whether you want to to use each of your prepared spells once, or use one of your prepared spells multiple times.

My GM made a house rule where instead of having to expend each prepared spell only once, or having to prepare one spell in multiple slots, you have a "level x spell pool", and you can cast whichever of the x level spells you prepared for one point from the pool.

I like the idea that the GM allows you to roll a knowledge check for it, and he could give hints accordingly. That way high int characters would still be more likely to get it right.
In my party, our character with the lowest intelligence is played by our most clever player, so sometimes we just take his ideas and voice them through a character with higher int for the sake of realism. That's also an option when it comes to riddles.

I think riddles and puzzles add a nice bit of challenge to an otherwise hack-and-slash campaign.

I was thinking about the opposite:

How about classes with archetypes that are often the least popular game mechanic wise. A group of PCs put together who had no idea about balance and just chose flavor, not realizing that they were making the bad party composition. However, some how they still pull through the situations!
Underdogs!

Yeah, that does sound pretty cool, but the main conflicts in the story are going to be real-life ones that the players have to go through. It's not that the campaign isn't important to the story, it just isn't important enough to be the main supply of crises.

My idea was that a few of the players were veteran players, and a few were new.

In-game, my party rarely does anything that doesn't involve adventuring or stocking up for an adventure, but I like to consider things like hobbies and such. :)
My character, Lyra, is a weapons enthusiast, and basically picks up whatever weapons she finds/loots. She also plays the lyre and enjoys reading, and is carrying a puzzle box our party found, so that's another thing she likes to busy herself with.
Our barbarian, Bob, crafts things, our bard collects gems...hmmm...other than that, I haven't heard much about our indivulidual characters' hobbies. I do remember an NPC who sewed vests for his sheep though.

Hello!
I was thinking of writing a story based around a Pathfinder game (the characters AND the players), and I was wondering what your opinions would be on what would make a good, balanced cast of characters.

I was going to loosely base the characters off of my current party, which contains...
A dwarf barbarian, a human (str) magus, a human Druid, (with a dinonychus familiar) a half-elf ranger, and a gnome bard, but the bard would be replaced by a gnome (luck) cleric right at the beginning.

Do you think any of these classes should be switched to make the party more varied/balanced?
Any feedback is helpful. :)

Would the ability to add an addendum (with date added) to the first post be better than an edit?

That would work too, I think. I like the idea.

*words*

Alright, I got it. :) Thanks for all of your help--and sorry for totally derailing this thread. >_>

We've been tossing around the idea of having first/original posts editable (particularly in context of PbP). It's possible that feature might be advocated for, but we're still working out what ramifications it has and what context it should be implemented in.

Signatures however aren't something we're likely to do. We already have a lot that gets packed into each individual post (titles, icons, avatars, individual post links) and that's hairy enough to keep tidy.

What's the purpose of the "list" button?

My campaign is full of new players (myself included), so we get a lot of recurring questions that would make experienced players shake their heads.

I would really love to be able to edit old posts, or at least the main post of a thread, to include new information that might be helpful to readers. I think it would be really helpful, so that people contributing to the thread don't have to read every single post to see if there have been any new developments or to see if their suggestion had already been mentioned by someone else.

I'd also like to have a signature, but that's not really as important.

How many attacks of opportunity we get, and whether or not an action "should be possible". We have a physicist in our party, so things get...complicated. And hilarious.

i don't see your predicament... perhaps a lack of understanding?

As stated. for every 4 additional levels... 1 point from your arcane pool gives you +1 at level 1. +2 at level 5, +3 at level 9, +4 at level 13 and finally +5 at level 17.

you can divide up these bonuses as you see fit, as long as you use them to add abilities from the list. Again, spending 1 point from your arcane pool gives a number of + bonus based on your level as stated above.

you can spend these + points to add enchancement or abilities. at level 9 you have +3 points worth. Examples: can do flaming(1 point)/shocking(1 point)/icy(1 point), shocking burst(2 points)/keen(1 point), or spend all three points to add Speed(3 points). It is also possible to add straight + enchancement bonuses to your weapon, but can't go higher then +5.

Wow, I need to read that one more time...@_@ I'd love some further explanation, because I'm really not getting this impression when I read the official text.

We were under the impression that since I could only spend 3 points per swift action, I wouldn't be able to use vorpal or any of the others that have a price above 3.

So how does the price system work then? I expend 1 point which is worth a +3 enhancement, which I can divide as I see fit...
Which brings me back to this: Vorpal costs +5. I only have access to +3 Can I still use Vorpal? And if so, how?
I'm just confused as to why they included it on the list if you can;t use it until level 17.

What Arcana are you using?

I dont see why you cant have keen on your weapon. Are you a bladebound Kensai?

I am not. And this isn't from an arcana, it's part of the arcane pool:

"At 5th level, these bonuses can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: dancing, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, keen, shock, shocking burst, speed, or vorpal.

Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. These properties are added to any the weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added. These bonuses and properties are decided when the arcane pool point is spent and cannot be changed until the next time the magus uses this ability. These bonuses do not function if the weapon is wielded by anyone other than the magus."

See my predicament?

Oi, I wish I could edit my old posts instead of just adding new ones.

Aanyways, me and my DM are new to this, and because of that I've NEVER had to make a concentration check. I guess we're just unsure of when they're needed. I'd like to have more of a challenge, so could someone please tell me when I need to make these checks?

My co-players also think I have it too easy when it comes to dealing damage. ^^'

Hey, you know how you can enchant your weapon with elements at level 5? GM says I can't use keen (and a few others) because They require more points than I can expend in one round. Is this true?
We're both a little confused about it.

For level 2 spells Pilfering Hand can be fun. Levitate, Invisibility and Gust of Wind are frequently useful.

At level 3 your party will likely appreciate Haste if there isn't someone else casting it already. Fly is also very useful.

Spell Blending is a great arcana for picking up interesting or useful spells from the wizard list.

Wand Wielder is also good and you can have a nice big collection of wands to play with.

Do you think pilfering hand would work well with animate weapon? :D That's the first thing I thought of.

I remember my party had a tough battle against a manticore...

Hmm. Try putting them up agaisnts monsters with spell resistance and other tricky stuff like that. Make them use their imaginations! Or at least their brains.

Okay, this might be helpful:

http://charactersheet.co.uk/pathfinder/#/statblock/54ee06a37bb39c03003909aa

Here's everything...everything except her items.

The other members of my party (all lv. 6) include a druid, a ranger, a barbarian, a bard, and a dinosaur....I don't think he has an official class.

It dépends on the other members of your party.

Aside from the good suggestions above, other interesting spells for you might be:

level 1
Blade lash: if you want to trip. +10 is always useful
Enlarge person or long arm: to increase your reach (also easier to avoid casting defensively)
obscuring mist: can give you concealement. usefull to avoid sneak attack
Ray of enfeeblement to reduce strength
Shield: if you don't already have a wand of that. +4 ac always good for melee...
snowball: good ranged attack. no save for the damge, no SR. can stagger (save)
true strike: better in a wand if you have wand wielder
vanish (short term invisibility can be useful
Weaponwand. if you have wand wielder, that is really cool. (like true strike a trip attack)

level 2
ablative barrier: may be good if you have healers in your group. usually not super effective to heal in combat, but this makes each cure twice effective practically...
blur
bull'S strength: nice buff
web: good battelfield control

For level 3, there is a bunch of good spells, but displacement, haste, vampiric touch are all good spells.

Again depends if you have other buffing casters in your party....

I do have shocking grasp. I just didn't list my lv. 1 spells. :p

I'm relatively new to Pathfinder and RPGs in general, so I was pretty clueless when I made my first character. After getting really harsh feedback on her, I started religiously following the advice from Walter's Guide to the Magus. That was a year or so ago...

By now I realize that it's a tad outdated, and honestly I don't really need it for the campaign I'm in.
I was wondering if I could get some help in continuing to develop my Magus now and in the future in a more laid-back way.

She's a level six now, Str based, and I was wondering if you have any lv. 2 (or 1) spells to recommend, and maybe level 3s for later on? I realize new ones have been released since Walter's guide was made, and there's a lot I may have missed out on.

She already knows Frigid touch, Acid Arrow, Pyrotechnics, Scorching Ray, Bear's Endurance, Mirror image, Web, and Glitterdust.

str 18
dex 14
con 15
int 15
wis 10
cha 10

She has the "close range" feat that turns rays into touch attacks. :)
I'm not as insistent on optimization as I once was, so I welcome any spells that are useful or fun, as well as feats and arcana if you have nay you really like. :D