Magpied's page

Thanks for all the advice! This is a great place to start.

Not all the party members have received their attribute allocation yet.

Point buy is 20.

Our group is combat oriented generally, but we have been trying to play much more in the social/skill areas.

Would a charismatic wizard be a good candidate for a necromancer?

Which kind of Oracles work well with higher int?

As an Archer Bard, would it be useful to adopt any archetypes or stay with the vanilla? Additionally, isn't it necessary to have some points in str as an archer?

DM is trying something new and wants the players to build a party with balanced attributes for some thematic purpose.

I don't have much experience with Int/Cha characters and am totally at a loss. I need this character to be functional/competent in fights.

Any suggestions on where to start?

What illusionist are you referring to?

Also, so far really good ideas. I'm pretty restrictive on prestige classes and multiclassing though as they tend to screw with my CR management.

What kind of Oracle mystery do you think would work well with the concept?

Setting up a game where the players make characters who resemble different mythological figures.

All the players have characters that were pretty easy to figure out, except the one who wants to play Loki. Not sure where to go. I want his character to be effective mechanically.

I give out random magic items, but I have adjusted the CR to reflect the lack of the standard magic items.

Besides the standard improved initiative etc.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe false focus?

Take the Experimental Spellcaster feat and use the, Undeath Word of Power
(Cleric - level 2, Wizard - level 3)

You can have a much more economical/expendable horde. This way you can have a much more reasonable group of undead following you, but if you don't need them anymore, you can just destroy them. You can raise aurochs as flaming aurochs, have them trample into a group of enemies only to explode like some sort of necromantic siege weapon.

I will be having a mount with pounce and am in talks with the GM over whether or not the mount get to use their attack when they charge.

Anyone have any insight or can point me towards the right rules?

I noticed infernal healing and rejuvenate eidolon on the summoner spell list. Infernal healing seems to provide utility in that you can also use it for yourself and other party members but is a bit weaker. Rejuvenate Eidolon seems to be significantly less versatile.

What are your thoughts?

I saw this build a while ago, and it seems to be exactly what you are looking for. A high defense, high offense fighter. Your non combat abilities will probably suffer, but chances are since you are playing a fighter that won't matter to you.

Well, they are a full spellcaster. They could use spells to buff, control, heal, or damage.

My casters all have good dex scores, so using things like alchemist fires/acids/tanglefoot bags are pretty viable too.

And of course, a trusty crossbow.

People are letting you know how wrong and dumb you are. Your thread is clearly derailed and of no use to anyone. Flagging the whole thing to be moved to rules forum.

Woops. Didn't see the 3 evo points at level one, deleting thread.

I saw this in the summoner guide and was unable to parse how this eidolon was put together. It looks like his eidolon has 3 evo points at level 1 to spend on claws, pounce, and improved damage. How does this person go about achieving this kind of level 1 eidolon?

Half-elf Quadruped

Level 1:
Evos:
Claws, pounce, Improved damage (claws)
Feats:
Power Attack

Level 5:
Evos:
Claws, pounce, Improved damage (claws), Energy attacks, 4 extras
Feats:
Power Attack, Improved Overrun

No sane DM would ever let someone bring this kind of munchkining to the table. You do realize that this kind of rulebending still doesn't make rogues as good as any other classes right? In fact, you've just opened the flood gates for other classes to take advantage of your creative interpretations of poorly written rules.

The rule for pathfinder is specific supercedes general. Rake is a general rule. Pounce has a specific rule that supercedes it.

I don't know why people are arguing this hard over this ruling. Do you have a dog in the fight? Are you upset one of your players is doing well? Do you just want someone to say, "no it doesn't work that way," so you can lord it over your friends?

I was where you are Morphling. I wanted to make an awesome rogue so bad. What you are seeing is a class that can be outdone in any area by another class who also brings significantly more to the table.

Sneak attack is not an advantage for the class. It is difficult to achieve, adds marginal damage, and even worse, acts as an obstacle from giving rogues serious design changes.

Players: "Rogues need to be able to hit more."

Devs: "Not really! Sneak attack means that when they do hit, they do incredible damage!"

Players: "Rogues need to do more damage."

Devs: "Not really! Sneak attack gives them the means to do INCREDIBLE DAMAGE!"

This is really just something you need to accept. Pathfinder, while being really fun, does have some really glaring flaws. The biggest of which is the total imbalance between casters and martial. And within that discrepency, rogues can hardly compete against other martials.

YOU WILL NEVER BUILD A ROGUE WHO CAN SURPASS ALMOST ANY OTHER EQUALLY OPTIMIZED CHARACTER.

That being said, if your group is particularly roleplay focused and your DM likes to throw you a bone, you may have fun.

Stealth is poorly supported in pathfinder. Pathfinder conflict operates in 2 primary forms. Magic and Physical fighting. You'll notice that both of these concepts have ENDLESS support in the rules books and updated content.

Look at the support for stealth characters. Nothing in comparison, unless of course you start using magic.

Stealth is slow, and chances are you will be the only one in the party who will, "sneak ahead."

I truly empathize though. I love stealth characters, but Pathfinder punishes you quite handily for going that route.

Sorry.

In the advanced character playtest, the class "Slayer" seems perfect for you.

1 part Rogue, 1 part Ranger, will full BAB and 1d10 HD.

All really good advice so far! I appreciate everyone's input.

The player in question asked if using a bow was a viable option? She wants to play human so her feat progression looks like

Human: Longbow Proficiency
1: Pointblank
3: Precise Shot
5(eventually): Rapid shot.

Thoughts?

I'm pretty stingy with magic items, but the players usually have full options for mundane and masterwork equipment.

Pathfinder takes place in a fantasy world where good and evil are not just concepts. They are an aspect of reality that you can magically seal in a jar. Sometimes reality and the game don't mesh very well. If you don't like it, don't include it in your game.

As she was going over material to make her character, she seemed unsure of how to make good use of her time as a PC. She won't have that many spells to cast, and she wants to be useful.

any combat styles I can direct her to?

Human 20 point buy.

That looks like a good choice. I'm trying to find it in the prd but can't locate it. My dm won't allow traits/options that aren't in the d20pfsrd or the paizo prd. Have another link?

Lol. In fact I did. I typed that up a bit hastily.

Heirloom is not an option at this time.

Any advice?

Just so you know, rogues kind of suck. Bleeding attack is one of those nice things about the class. Don't punish your player for choosing a good option out of a sea of piss.

If I don't have weapon focus, I can't use dazzling display/shatter defenses.

Brilliant! I forgot about that feat!

Maybe as a pathfinder equivalent feat, as a standard action you can perform a single ranged attack with a crossbow and add Dex to damage? You could flavor it as steadily aiming to strike at a vulnerable location.

Would make crossbow rogues super awesome.

Then I'd remove the crossbow mastery feat. If I'm using a crossbow. It's because I want to. Don't give me a crappy feat that turns it mechanically into a bow.

If the game was going for realism, all crossbows and normal bows would have a Str score like a composite bow and allow that str bonus to damage with penalties if you don't have the needed strength. Crossbows in the real world have varying draw weights just like regular bows,and the heavier the draw weight the greater penetration of the arrow or bolt. The difference is if you are't strong enough to fully draw a longbow, you can't are inaccurate and won't do much damage if you do hit. If you aren't strong to cock a crossbow, you just get a tool to help you, it take a bit longer to reload and can shoot without penalty.

Historically, the reasons that crossbows were so deadly was that they had a FAR greater draw weight than an equivalent bow. They were impossible to cock by hand and had levers or winches to pull back the string. They were far easier to shoot too. The longbows advantage was in rate of fire, shot for shot, the crossbow was much deadlier.

Pathfinder isn't a simulationist game though. If you want simulation, GURPs is more than capable of giving realistic combat and bow/crossbow variances.

You are right that it isn't a simulationist game. Unfortunately, someone should have told SKR.

http://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1388/52/1388529289975.jpg

So this got a bit derailed, and that is fine.

So I'm gonna drop my 2 cents here.

Pretty much after 1st level, "specially made" and "cost" typically fly out of the window.

Str to damage will always put the bow miles ahead of the xbow. Which is weird, considering SKR loves to tote simulationism with PF, but he totally forgets the part where crossbows were used to kill heavily armored dudes.

Homebrew race that gets free power attack and bastard sword proficiency.

I don't have the stats on me right now, but from what I remember, I have a 18 str, 14 dex, and 15 cha.

My feat plan was

Race: Power Attack
1: Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword)
3: Intimidating Prowess
5: Furious Focus
7: Cornugon Smash
9: Dazzling Display
11: Shatter Defenses.

However, since I got to Mythic Tier, I saw the path ability, "Retributive Reach," which increases your reach by 5' feet for the purpose of opportunity attacks. Factor in that in my party we have a wizard and a cleric (both who buff) and the option of wielding a bardiche could be totally freaking awesome.

Now, my issues comes from, how should I fit COMBAT REFLEXES into my feats?

Feat retraining takes 5 days of focus I believe.

I REALLY like this! Very cool. Only downside is the orc racial requirement, which my DM can occasionally pretty reluctant to allow. I'll definitely pitch this idea to him!

So far, Lore Warden looks to be the best.

The character is essentially a sub-par soldier whose survival has been due to his luck, cowardice, and occasionally a great idea.

How does minor/magic magic give the rogue caster levels? Can you show me where that ruling would be?

Gravity bow kinda sucks. Especially for a short bow. Is there any other spell?

25 point buy

STR: 12
DEX: 18
CON: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 14
CHA: 10

I think dump stats are hokey and lame.

Feats/Talents

Human: Point Blank Shot
1: Precise Shot
2: Combat Trick: Combat Expertise
3: Gang Up
4: Weapon Training: Short Bow (composite)
5: Rapid Shot
6: Bleeding Sneak Attack
7: ??
8: ??

This is what I have so far. Any ideas?

But the frost cantrip should work?

Which FAQ?

Rays are considered weapons, right?

I appreciate the sentiment, Takhisis.

The Nature/Divine theme is not really what I'm looking for. Since Arcane Duelist can still buff, I'll most likely be going in that direction.

Although, quick question. Could you do an archery oracle with the Battle Mystery?

I'm choosing a bard because I want to play something that uses archery, charisma, and spells.

I have a paladin in my game who uses a heavy shield and a battle axe.

He wanted to unequip his shield, use lay on hands on himself and then power attack a goblin.

What action is it to drop an equipped heavy shield?

I'm looking for pure combat optimization here, including potential group buffs.

An arcane duelist who goes into the snap shot tree of feats can end up being an archer who can stand in the thick of things while dealing damage and causing havoc for casters.

Looking for your input.

Makes sense. My point buy is 25.

Would it make sense to learn the step up tree? Or is that too feat intensive?
I like the idea of power attack, cleave, greater cleave, furious focus, but it feels a tad bland.

It is looking like the dm is gonna be VERY stingey with magic items. Almost to the point of not relying on any of them.

Pointbuy will be 25. Is it better off to go 2h? I am sort of in a rough place considering the party needs a good tank, and I'm finding that I don't want to waste the falcata proficiency.

I'm playing a custom race that has +2 str, +2 con, and -2 int, free falcataproficiency, free power attack.

I was thinking of taking these feats

Level 1: TWF
Level 3: Imp Shield Bash
Level 5: Double slice

Thoughts?

I was looking at the TWFshield and sword fighter with improved shield bash

Or

A reach paladin.

This is my first time playing a fighter or a paladin. I will have to be very durable and do quite a bit of damage to make up for our smaller then average team.

I can't go archery since I need to be in the thick of things.

The variance in playstyles, feat choices, and items is makin my head spin, so is appreciate a good starting place for a level 1 fighter or paladin.

I don't see what the problem is here myself. Could you not apply both in the same full round attack by doing two different sneaks?

I think the question he intended to ask was, "Which one should I prioritize?"

He might want to use OD for his first attack, but if he misses his first attack, he won't want to switch to bleeding attack until he has secured his defensive bonus.

Well, one of the most common points I've seen is that rogues, as a 3/4 BAB class, should get some method of increasing their attack rolls.

Another one is to stop making valuable archetypes that drop trapfinding.

You could provide them with better saves.

Provide automatic feats that eliminate the feat tax and free up some more customization options.

Allow sneak attack talents to stack.

Make more talents that provide unique effects for the rogue.