Maxximilius's page

My main issue with Paizo ever since after the APG is not so much the recurrent and unnecessary nerfs, but rather the glut of worthless options caused by a design policy that values trap, underwhelming and overly restrictive options as voluntary design, not to speak about broken rules that just don't work as written. It's a shame, considering there are always gems of cool content to go along them.

When you peruse supplements, there are way too much unusable rules that actively punish you for picking a specific theme that could have been handled in another fashion. And even then, the new rules that bring something useful get nerfed afterhand, while the crap that needs fixing is forgotten in fear of breaking it the other way in the process. This hurts even more the classes that depend utterly on their class options and talents. Meanwhile, casters keep getting new must-have spells and feats improving their spells, increasing the disparity.

(Just saying, anyone having issues with the martial/caster disparity may like to take a look at the Spheres of Power alternate magic system, only to never go back to vancian spellcasters ever again and cherish its best investment in material to play Pathfinder RPG since the Core Rulebook.)

Thanks for this awesome review Endzeitgeist, and thanks for the compliment Marc, I'm glad you loved this book. :)

Cheers !

Inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, more precisely Inferno's Circle of Gluttony, comes a mystery for NPCs and PCs indulging too much in the pleasures of food, drinks and drugs.

Indulging in the consumption of whatever is within reach rather than spiritual introspection, oracles of Gluttony live with a ceaseless thirst, a devouring hunger for the unknown and the delicious. This unhealthy lifestyle would lead most to think it leads to a short but intense life, but to those touched by the divine, indulging only seems to fill a bottomless pit whose well becomes stronger and bigger with each bite, and numerous primitive civilizations see those oracles as heralds of prosperity that must be kept fed day long, lest the people itself shall suffer famine.

>>> Gluttony, a new Pathfinder Oracle mystery ! <<<

I hope this option will bring something new and fun to your table, and am as always open to all your suggestions, critics and questions :)

- Brain-in-a-jar Maxximilius

I'll answer a longer message later this day for all your advices, but I'd like to say that my design philosophy has always been to bring cool, effective but balanced options allowing for a wide range of gameplay styles and options. Picking powers should be a "hard" but rewarding task based only on what nice ability you want your character to receive and how fun to use and roleplay those powers will be, rather than finding which are actually worth your time. Said revelation may seem on the weak side, but it will litterally save your butt more than you'd want to believe, especially in roleplay heavy campaigns.

I don't believe in trap options that are a loss of time for everyone, fun for everyone around the table and lots of roleplay opportunities is my way to go. :)

Hi everyone, it's been a long time I didn't write some homebrews... but here is something I hope you'll love ! :)
Inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, more precisely Inferno's Circle of Greed, comes the perfect mystery for slimy NPCs your players will love to hate, and greedy PCs your DM will love to submit to temptation.

Full of envy for the wealthy and curiosity towards the power that can drive the wisest men and women mad for riches, most oracles of Greed find solace in the shiny reflection of gold, cherishing the power they buy enough to inspire a kind of respect even among the foulest dragons. Those oracles often begin their life in extreme poverty or wealth, and are quick to money they revelations, visions and spells to the highest or most desperate bidder.

>>> Greed, a new Pathfinder Oracle mystery ! <<<

(Fellow roleplayers here who never saw my previous works, know that you can find much, much more options in my profile.)
I hope this one will bring something new and fun to your table... I know my DM will soon use this one for a big baddy that's sure to surprise and disgust my group !

- Brain-in-a-jar Maxximilius

Life as an evil mastermind ruling over the feeble minds of walking meatbags feels awfully good. Knowledge itself has a delicate taste that you could only begin to experiment the day your tongue is forcefully disconnected from your spine. The iodized electricity that runs around my jar is a permanent call to ecstasy, prompting synaptic fireworks that show me the deepest secrets and rules of the universe.

... god I miss my body.

Er... no. As a general rule of thumb when it comes to archetype design, you are supposed to swap like for like. That's what every designer has said when asked for advice on building archetypes. Sometimes it's Ok to swap it for something else, but you should try not to increase it's overall power.

When doing an archetype, you actually increase its overall power, at least when focused on a single gaming style or build... and few characters focus in several fighting or adventuring styles anyways, since doing a single thing really well means you are more useful 80% of the time and you will have a much harder challenge the remaining 20% compared to the vanilla class which always tends toward more versatility and balance than archetypes. The Cognatogen/bombing alchemist is clearly superior to the vanilla alchemist damage-wise, but he is also much more reliant on a damage source that can be easily negated or resisted against : bombs.

The Lore Warden can deal damage just as well as the basic fighter can, and it's also better than the Fightr at all combat maneuvers. If he does it right, he'll have nearly the same AC as the Fighter, more skill points, and more combat potential.

The fighter still rules AC and damage over the Lore Warden, especially if put against target resistant to his maneuvers. While strong and much more interesting to play, I find the Lore Warden strikes a nice balance between a lot of meh archetypes for a class that already needs all the help it can get at mid-to-high levels.

Some time ago, I wrote a full set of grit-like powers for fighters, granting cool abilities covering pretty much any type of weapons you could fight with as a fighter : general, circumstancial, and weapon-based abilities (mounted, ranged, shield, free hand, two-handed...).

We tested them in our group and it granted a much needed touch of heroism and tactical insight when playing a fighter ! I think the class would benefit from such a feature, much like gunslingers have grit and deeds.

Thanks for the honor of suggesting my name Endzeitgeist, especially by including me among so many talented big names of the industry !

I wonder what it would take to get Rich Burlew to put the Dashing Swordsman in this thing.

Incidentally, I may have some WIP for Dreadfox Games's great Swordmaster class in The Secrets of Renegade Archetypes II. Something based on Charisma and awesomeness...

Dreadfox Games's Swordmaster has a pretty awesome mechanic similar to deeds : the Dex/Int class knows specific actions that it may perform in combat and gains more of them as it levels. Basically each round, he may spend his round's action to start a customized combo out of openers/chain/finishers melee moves activated with different conditions and actions.

That's pure love for skilled players and pretty much what everyone wants the swashbuckler to feel like. It's like having a class with only deeds that can be used together in differents fashions and actually synergize together, allowing for highly mobile fights.

So let me get this straight:
We have:
1 highly optimized and effective character.
3 poorly optimized and ineffective characters.

Are we supposed to be surprised that the optimized character is outshining them? Hell no, why would we be?

Here, try this, DOMINATION SPELLS.

If the OP feels that his current issue is a powerful character then he should act accordingly and find ways to remove the character with some form of crowd control or dominations. This, by virtue of him being unable to act, allows them all to shine.

So telling a player he should remove his crazy OP character for the sake of everyone's fun around the table is BADWRONG unimaginative noob GMing ; but screwing him in any possible fashion by using the cheapest tricks in the book to prove you can win (it's black friday, dominate, coups de grâce, banishment and negative levels for everyone !) anytime you want is proof of imagination and good DMing ?

Yeah. Sure. It's so balancing and fun to get from "crazy OP" to "dead or killing his party" in a single turn.

I'm going to come at this from a different angle:

You might try starting a new game, from first level, with only base character classes until your group gets a better handle on the rules. I'm saying this because at 10th level, no one in your group seems to know which magic items and spells can stack together, and that kind of mistake will completely break the game. It will be especially frustrating to you as the GM because the monsters and NPCs are designed assuming that the players are following those kinds of rules.

^ So much this. The system can get complicated enough not to begin with Advanced Classes.

- Don't allow the Summoner for newbies.
- Utterly ban the Synthesist, unless the one playing it is the rules lawyer who sincerely wants his playing mates to have fun with the game.
- Ban Metamagic Rods.

To Maxximilius:

If I have this correctly, you're arguing against Dex to damage because it narrows the range of competent Swashbuckler builds into just Dex fighters.

May I remind you that this class is billed as the Dex melee fighter, so if everyone is a Dex build they probably did it right. If you want versatility, the Fighter class already exists. This class is aiming for a particular niche, and it has to be able to do it better than a fighter or a rogue for the class to have any reason to exist.

If every Swashbuckler is pigeonholed into a Dex build the class is doing what it is supposed to. Right now my 5 CHA / 10 DEX dwarf swashbuckler (Grumpy MacGrumperson) is wrecking face with a heavy pick and full plate (the only class feature you lose for not wearing light armor is Nimble, and I suppose 2 bonus feats to get to heavy). So far, he's doing an immensely better job than my Dex/Cha builds if I only use the Core books (no Agile weapons or Dervish Dance). That gives you the "versatility" of builds I suppose, but it also goes against everything this class is supposed to be.

You indeed missed my point. I'll explain myself in clearer terms : I'm not against Dex-to-damage because I want to be able to do Str-based/Cha-dumped swashbucklers. At all.

Quite the total opposite : what I'd like to be able to do with a swashbuckler is to create agile and charismatic characters, whose fighting styles are different and each rewarding and gimping in their own way. Look at the fighter : if you build a TWFing fighter, it's likely you'll dump your feats into it, leaving not much for saving throws or mobility. Likewise, building a pure THF will leave much to be desired for your AC and versatility when grappled.
Note that each of these melee styles depends on high Strength and Constitution or Dexterity for efficiency - yet this system is ideal because it allows for a great variety of builds. You are limited in terms of stats but not choices.

Now let's take a look at the current swashbuckler's basics :

- you are expected to fight with high Dexterity because of the concept (fluff), Swash Finesse and AoO-based deeds (crunch)
- you are expected to have incredibly high Charisma for the concept (fluff) and just to both use your Deeds at least once per day -and- keep relevant damage (crunch)
- you cannot TWF without losing your major damage bonus
- you recover panache with critical hits and killing hits
- you improve the critical range of your weapons

With that in mind, let's take a look at the weapons which will be absolute no-brainers for any swashbuckler :

- Rapier : 1d6 18-20x2, finesseable, allows for shield in off hand. Highest damage dice and crit range.
- Scimitar : 1d6 18-20x2, becomes finesseable AND can be wielded TH AND grants Dex to damage with a single feat but no shield allowed. Highest total damage output and crit range for 1 feat tax.

Why are you shoe-horned into these choices ?

- Wielding any other lower crit-range weapon drastically reduces your income of Panache points, which you will need to perform your class features.
- Wielding a scimitar grants you Dex bonus to damage, stacking with Precise Strike. Or if you just decide to go two-handed for one round, Power Attack suddenly gives you a base +6 damage at 4th level instead, letting you dump Dexterity and Charisma too. Not even accounting for the fact a lot of people in this thread asked for a way to make precise strike work with slashing weapons so the feat tax is no more.

Now, granting Dex to damage for all weapons would mean this damage would be multiplied on a crit, so the rapier and scimitar become even more no-brainers, especially if the later can still be wielded one-handed.
While this would at least avoid the "everyone picks Dervish Dance" issue, it would also mean damage bonuses which multiply on a crit would become even better.
I'm all for a damage boost so the class stays relevant outside of Precise Strike, but I fear adding Dex-to-damage would both require to nerf this deed which adds tactical options especially with mobile builds, and yet again shoe-horn the builds into only wielding weapons with a high crit-range.

There are simple solutions to this issue :
- Make Precise Strike's damage multiplying on a crit and add to it a way to perform critical hits easier (maybe the Precise Strike deed may allow you to spend 1/2/3 panache points to perform a critical hit on the next attack instead of doubling your level to damage on the next attack ? You would still have to confirm the crit on your next attack roll, but your choice to wield a 20x3/20x4 weapon would get rewarded by this damage spike and possibility to recover panache with both the crit and a possible killing blow.)
- Grant a higher critical range to x2 multiplier weapons you wield, up to a 18-20 base crit range

Ideally, I'd like to be able to play a swashbuckler who can wield a rapier and a buckler, a scimitar with a free hand, a finesseable longsword with Power Attack, two weapons, or a sword-and-cloak.
All these builds would be Dex- and Cha- based, but some would have more or less AC, more or less reflex, a higher or lower amount of panache being consumed at different speeds, better or lower saving throw or damage outputs. Basically, I'd like versatility in my choice of weapons.

And Dex to damage alone as a solution would only shoe-horn all swashbucklers into wielding rapiers and scimitars.

Blind Swordsman swashbuckler archetype :

- Based on Blind Fighting and "feeling" enemies with deeds
- Panache based off Wisdom
- Can play off Str for Power Attack/Adventuring or Dex for AC/Acrobatics
- Bonus damage equal to level

Oh the possibilities.

Updating the list of remarks :

Let's do a recap of all the Swashbuckler's strengths and weaknesses noticed by contributors to this thread, including the suggestions, propositions and ideas to fix them.

Please excuse me in advance if I don't gratify each suggestion with its original poster's nickname :

Negative : "The class is too Dex-based."
Counterargument : Being Dex-based is the class's whole concept, the same way a Wizard is too Intelligence-based or a Barbarian too focused on damage and awesomeness.
Origin : Swashbucklers typically dump Str for points in sheer awesomeness and agility, aka the Dex/Cha combo.

Negative : "The choice of weapons is too limited."
Origin : The weapon selection is currently odd and missing iconic choices.
Suggestions :
- Grant more weapon proficiencies (especially blade/sword-like weapons)
- Create a "Dueling Weapons" group.
- Grant to the Swash the ability to finesse more weapons than usual.

Negative : "The choice of weapons is effectively pigeonholed."
Origin : The weapon selection is effectively limited by Panache recovered by critical hits AND Dervish Dancing, making Rapier and Scimitar basically the only weapons you'll ever want.
Suggestions :
- Grant the ability to change the base crit-range of x2 weapons you wield to 18-20, stacking with Improved Critical, effectively making all 19-20/20x2 weapons viable choices (at the expense of having at least 1 panache or accuracy/damage or having a bonus for the rapier to counterbalance)
- Grant the ability to recover Panache with another method.

Negative : "The class is highly limited in builds" AKA "I can't survive 1st level" AKA "I can't pick thematic feats because of the prerequisites" AKA "I can't use my class features without feat taxes"
Origin : You NEED the Weapon Finesse and Combat Reflexes feats to use most of your base class abilities, or be efficient. This means even a human will suffer, even more other races. 2nd level is too late for finesse if you have to survive a sucky uslessness at 1st level...
Positive : Swashbuckler's finesse allows for cool, original weapons like tridents !
Suggestions :
- Grant the ability to change the base crit-range of x2 weapons you wield to 18-20, stacking with Improved Critical, effectively making all 19-20/20x2 weapons viable choices (at the expense of having at least 1 panache or accuracy/damage or having a bonus for the rapier to counterbalance)
- Grant the ability to recover Panache with another method for such weapons (explosive dice ?)
- Give Weapon Finesse at 1st level (eventually, lose this feat if you multiclass too early in order to avoid dipping)
- Grant to the Swash the ability to ignore the "13 Int" and "Combat Expertise" prerequisites for feats so it can take thematic abilities
- Grant a list of bonus feats like a monk in which they must pick without meeting the prerequisites

Negative : "Precise Strike does not work on too many creatures to be effective in the long run."
Origin : Outdated limitations to this kind of precision damage.
Suggestions :
- Adopt the rogue's 3.P precision damage
- Don't allow this damage and Str/Dex bonuses to damage to stack ; in which case the Swift Action double damage may have half this total damage multipliable on a crit

Negative : "Precise Strike does not work when wielding a buckler or another weapon."
Origin : Self-explained.
Suggestions :
- Make the bonus damage work only for the main weapon or reduce its effectiveness if wielding another item. You should be able to wield both a rapier and a main gauche without getting neutered especially considering the feat investment for such build. Come on dudes, it's the Swashbuckler, not the Swashhandfree.

Negative : "The class doesn't receive Dex/Cha-to-damage."
Counterargument : Precise Strike already grants a more fleshy, quite potent damage boost scaling with level. Also, subjective, but this may be felt as boring and unoriginal.
Origin : Self-explanatory.
Suggestions :
- Grant the class the equivalent of the Gunslinger's damage boost, if possible early, so it also denies the need for Dervish Dance

Negative : "The Swash only has one good saving throw, and not the best to survive melee and be just as awesome and daring as he should be."
Origin : Reflexes is much less deadly than other saving throws, and since you'll likely need to go melee AND dump other mental stats, you'll have abysmal survival chances against poison/domination/charm while Dexterity will already boost Ref to stratosphere.
Suggestions :
- Cha modifier to Will saves (substitution ; maybe this ability would not work against characters you may sexually get attracted to so this sexy sorceress can charm your sorry seducer ass easily ?)
- Two good saves (Fort/Ref or Will/Ref)
- Two or all "average saves", an unique, original middle ground between good and bad saves so you get a jack-of-all-trades all-daring character

Negative : "Bravery sucks."
Counterargument : It fits the class's fluff perfectly.
Origin : We all know Bravery's only purpose is to get replaced by archetypes. A +1 bonus every hundred levels against a highly-limited in actual gameplay effect ?
Suggestions :
- Changing it for another cool option instead. Bonus Panache ? Immunity to fear effects like a paladin ? Cha to Will saves like suggested in the previous point ?

Negative : "Opportune Parry and Counterattack cost too much."
Origin : 1 point of panache + 1 AoO + 1 point of panache + 1 AoO = mandatory "Combat Reflexes + minimum 16 Cha" build just to use your class abilities once a day without being left defenseless/offenseless until 6th level.
Suggestions :
- Making the two deeds a single one, costing 1 panache and 1 AoO

Negative : "Small swashbucklers are screwed."
Origin : The cumulative -4 penalty to Opportune Parry makes it hard to do what it says on the can about small swashbucklers punishing big brutes.
Suggestions :
- Reducing/removing/rebalancing the penalty/advantages for small-sized characters, and/or writing an archetype better fit for fighting against enemies one size category larger or more.

Please add anything I may have missed to this recap list (I know higher levels have their own things to reconsider like the Targetting deed), fellow future Swashbucklers !

I'd like to expand on my first post.

- I like Precise Strike. Avoiding the whole "dex-to-damage" was in my opinion a clever choice, and in return you get a nifty bonus to damage. The fact this is precision damage that will not work on a good half of the bestiary is a letdown though. If you don't want the class to become a dip paradise abused by feat combos, I would even go as far as to suggest this bonus does not stack with any ability that allows you to add your Str or Dex bonus to damage, but half of this bonus damage is normal damage which can be multiplied on a crit.

Yes, this means the swashbuckler wouldn't effectively need any Str... which isn't an issue when you consider the wizard doesn't need Charisma or Strength at all either. You would still use Dex to hit, skills and AC.

- As of now the swashbuckler is really feat starved. Let's be honest : you NEED Weapon Finesse at 1st level plus Combat Reflexes just to use your most iconic deed. In that case, we may as well receive them early on or reduce the cost of parrying/counterattacking (maybe in a single AoO ?). I was thinking about rolling a halfling swashbuckler using the ARG feats to focus on fighting defensively... but the build suffers way too much from this starvation to be effective in combat at lower levels, which is a shame for a class whose whole trope and description insists on swashbuckler fighting defensively against bigger brutes.

- Please, PLEASE find some way for swashbucklers in the final version to not get pigeonholed in Dervish Dancing. This feat already ruins all versatility in the magus, since it's not going to die, it may at well not contaminate all swashbucklers ever. See the "don't stack with precise strike" as said previously.

- (I'll have to verify this one when I have access to the pdf at home) The targeting deed is much less potent than a gunslinger's, whose deed already has limited utility. As a full-round action, you must hit normal AC in melee while the gunslinger does that at range against Touch AC.

In addition to these arguments which have already been covered by others, here is a quick recap of current potential issues noticed by other people on this thread :

- Only good save is Reflexes
- Weird weapon choice
- Doesn't really get Finesse and even then, too late
- Bravery : please, just no. Cha to Will maybe ?

Warning : This post doesn't include actual playtest feedback. While I'm conscious it will not be as useful as actual gameplay experience for the purposes of the playtest, I feel I have enough armchair experience tinkering with rules myself and following the multiple rules arguments which happened over the years to point some details hich I feel need to be reconsidered.

That said, the swashbuckler looks awesome. Easily the most exciting of the bunch for me ! Some points I noticed though :

- The cumulative -4 penalty to the Parry deed is pretty harsh on Small characters. I'd love to play a halfling swashbuckler who punishes naysayers with sheer acrobatic awesomeness to prove size doesn't matter, or even a kobold or goblin, but this is a hard blow when you get slammed in the face with this penalty right there. I'd love to see a David-vs-Goliath, small-sized-friendly archetype that's less about mobility and 5-foot steps as per the Recovery deed, and more about dodging/standing grounds/fighting defensively against bid baddies to parry/counterattack without sucking a humongous penalty (... unless it comes with other mechanical advantages against bigger monsters, of course, but in the same fashion, I would hope said archetype doesn't shoe-horn the swashbuckler into slaying giants while all you want as a player is to be able to contribute against the most common giants in everyone's campaigns, aka medium/sometimes large humanoids).

- The Swashbuckler should just have Weapon Finesse right at first level. The rogue previously had the same issue and Paizo rightly patched it. As of now, the swashbuckler receives the feat at 2nd level but will obviously need it at 1st level, meaning this 1st level will either go toward a feat tax which will be punished by becoming useless at 2nd level, or it will be a world of pain until you finally level up and contribute to the fight. Unless you build it on Strength, and get a useless feat at 2nd level. Why play an awesome class if it's to feel useless in the first level ? I get that you may now want to give it for free at 1st level to avoid dipping though, but it is easily resolved by granting characters with this feat the option to pick another one.

@Endzeitgeit : If Roger Ebert comes and calls you a promising Director who can keep crafting good movies, you could safely assume you are doing things right - so it's worth a lot to me. ;)
I've been quite busy but I currently have a bit more free time, enough to have issued recently a big errata/bonus content for Louis Porter Jr. Design's Fleshwraith base class... I've been expanding my field with Pathfinder houserules to fix what I feel could be better, and in 3pp freelancing I'm also still currently working on The Secrets of Renegade Archetypes II. I hope both the Fleshwraith revision and TSoRA II will deliver as much as could be expected.

If I may Lareg, enjoy Endzeitgeist's post - it's not everyday that you get suggestions and kudos from the most prolific reviewer of RPG supplements. ;)

Hi Lareg, I'm glad you loved our archetypes enough to search to reproduce their feeling through the Puppetmaster class. The magilith is indeed a perfect fit for such an archetype considering the image of creating strings/ropes of magic from your fingers directly onto someone's life essence :)

Sadly I cannot speak for the balance of your designs as I must admit I do not possess the class supplement (even though I do love the concept of puppetmaster characters !).

I have played in plenty of games where there was no perceived caster/martial disparity. Most caster/martial disparity that I've seen has been largely the construction of theorycrafters --- who have a bad habit of describing a caster being in an ideal situation and then a martial in a non-ideal situation.

My GM is more than capable to handle spellcasters. That didn't stop Cyralus le Grand, my optimized lv. 14 wizard, to single-handedly destroy 1/4 of an army with a prismatic spray while the barbarian was killing 2 mooks per round. Then I just put a pit and a sirocco on top of it, laughing my butt seeing the poor dudes trying to survive the ordeal (spoiler : they didn't).

When someone finally shot me down from my 12-hour flight with a critical hit in the face, too bad, Mirror Image.
The second critical hit didn't make it to the Blur.
The third one hit, setting off the Contingency Dimension Door to safety.
The fourth one set off the Emergency Force Sphere, lasting enough to hold the Huge BBEG with huge SR and magic-disrupting powers.

Can you believe it ? My friends playing heroic fighters, rangers, and barbarians were just not having any fun seeing how lame they now were in comparison to my frail, snob nerd. Seriously, worst game ever.
I scraped the character in the exact same game, and now Cyralus le Grand is a lame joke cameo nicknamed Cire-anus le Gland (litterally : Anus-waxer the Dull) wanabee dorkly magic user we meet sweeping the floor or getting beat up in every campaign since then.

People in this thread keep saying (sometimes in a condescending and passive agressive way I'd enjoy not having to deal with) things like "spellcasters suck 1-4 and own 11-20", "balancing things will lead to D&D4-level epic failure" or "if it changes even a bit I'll quit".
To these people, I answer the obvious solution is then to make 1-4 and 11-20 levels as balanced as 5-10. I shouldn't have to suffer through months of suck to start doing things with my character, nor should I have to play through months of being cool and balanced just to start being the group's mule and running joke when the other is killing more enemies by round just by speaking.

Also, I heard a little known game system called "D&D 3.5" didn't do so bad over his 3.0 predecessor/prototype. One of the most known changes was the Haste spell nerf. Ah, but if you put it this way, things are suddenly not as scary as casting the "Summon D&D4's ghost" spell.

In my own group, we play Pathfinder (although heavily patched there and there on a case by case basis and using a lot of houserules and archetypes supplements) because we find it to be the best game system currently available to sit there together for hours and have great laughs in a way that lets us use our brains in sooo many ways.

This doesn't mean the game couldn't be much better.
The worst game we ever had was the one where I finally played a wizard just for fun. When the rules lawyer plays an optimized wizard, even within the social contract of "don't be a jerk", it's not pretty.

D&D4 didn't fail "because it was all balanced DUH" ; it failed because :

- it sent to scrap the whole D&D feeling everyone loved to attract MMORPG players through WoW rip-off and exotism bloat
- it wasn't OGL, nor retrocompatible with any previous content, forcing you to cash again just to play in a way that was so obvious it was insulting
- it's designed almost as a flashy videogame, not a roleplaying game

I remain convinced that a 3.P.5 fixing the balance issues through light but efficient changes would keep the right flavor and be welcomed by consumers, the same way 3.5 was acclaimed over 3.0.

You could perform 3 attacks from your high BAB, +1 with Rapid Shot + another 1 for Haste ; plus one or more off-hand attacks with TWFing feats.

You still need to reload or switch your gun between each double-tap, unless you shoot only one barrel at a time so you can fire your gun twice before needing to reload.

To do a full-round attack with DB pistols you first need to be able to reload them after each shot... and recovering a weapon from a weapon cord is now a move action, which means you'd need to invest in additional guns if you wish to really bring it out.

A typical round would go like this :

- double-tap main gun (1st primary attack)
- reload main gun (free actions with the feat and alchemical cartridge)
- draw off-hand gun (free action with quick draw)
- double tap off-hand gun (1st off-hand attack)
- double tap main gun (2nd primary attack)
- drop main gun
- reload off-hand gun with your main hand now free
- double tap off-hand gun (2nd off-hand attack)
- reload off-hand gun with your main hand now free
- now use your off-hand weapon as your main weapon : keep the double-tap/reload until you have no primary attacks left
- pick up a new gun for your off-hand attacks next round

I know you aren't supposed to legally use an off-hand weapon as a main hand weapon in the middle of a full-round attack, but the sheer idea that I have a loaded weapon in my hand but cannot keep attacking despite having a loaded weapon in my hand (unless of course I drop this loaded weapon to draw another loaded weapon) is just too stupid to contemplate.

Considering you still need to drop one gun per round, I'd say it's even.

BTW, gloves of storing allow you to hide or recover a single gun inside them as a free action. Switching weapons in your hands is a free action... so you can basically just shoot, reload, get your gun back from the glove, switch weapons, store the loaded gun, shoot the new gun as off-hand, reload, recover your main, switch, etc etc etc.

Actually no, the fighter 3/sohei 1 has flurry exactly like a monk and Weapon Training exactly like a fighter.

Only when he gets to 6th level does he receive WT as a fighter for specific categories of weapons PLUS the ability to use weapons he has WT in a flurry.

With the same kind of logic, multiclassing ranger 1/hateful rager barbarian 1 does not mean you need to perform a DC 20 Will save to attack another creature than your favored enemy while raging, because you don't have the hateful rager's "favored enemy" class feature which includes this specificity yet (despite it acting in any other way as the ranger's class feature).

Also, you can wield two-handed firearms in one hand with a -2 penalty, so technically you could TWF with a glove of storing :

Pick both guns, TWF
Store off-hand weapon (free action)
Reload main (free action)
Get back off-hand weapon (free action)
Switch weapons (free action)
Store main weapon (free action)
Reload off-hand (free action)
Get back main (free action)

Done ! Just use your main first each round so it remains main weapon.

It’s time to flesh things out !

I originally designed the Fleshwraith class variant for Louis Porter Jr. Design’s Machinesmith base class. As written, the Fleshwraith required a revision… and after much tweaking, there it is. Feel free to give me your feedback !

Here is the list of revisions :

- Progression tables for each class variant
- Hit dice precised for each class (both are based on the machinesmith but the Host received a little boost)
- Fluff and crunch rewritten to remove any confusion
- Little balance tweaks there and there
- New fluff to introduce the Host
- Balance revisited for the Host’s powers (including no more “dead” level in terms of abilities)
- 17 Aberrant Traits for the Host archetype, improving customization through cool, icky abilities

In addition to the revisions themselves, you will find quite a sum of goodies as bonus content (written in green in the document) to thank people who supported, support or will support the class :

- ... did I mention the 17 aberrant traits ?
- ... the Phyto Lab : a complete, brand new greatwork to warp the vegetal kingdom to your liking
- ... which comes complete with 5 greatwork augmentations
- ... and to make all greatworks even, 2 new augmentations for the Genetic Lab and the Hivemind !

The revised version's playtest is available HERE.
I hope you’ll enjoy it !

- Benjamin “Maxximilius the Brain-in-a-Jar” Rombeaut

The GM should be a step ahead on this kind of thing. When you get a Barbarian in your group, ask them if they are Pouncing, if they are Rage Cycling, etc. See if your Maguses are Dervish Dancers. If a player has 4 classes at 5th level, swing by the Paizo forums and make sure they aren't making Pun-Pun.

To be fair, I believe it is also and first hand the player's job to inform his DM about whatever he's able to do, what he will be able to do, and what kinds of builds or situation will challenge or counter his character.

The DM will never have a better ally than the player himself to build challenging but rewarding encounters ; and this helps the player avoiding frustration of tricks built to brutally counter him every time.

There should also always be some kind of self-control when building a character so you don't trivialize any encounter you meet (see my wizard in the previous thread). Just because you could build an archer who deals 50% more damage than the 2-handed fighter doesn't mean you *should*, as this is frustrating to the other players, to the DM, and to yourself when you are countered by cheap tactics just so others can shine a bit.

I am accurate. You are quoting a passage which clearly says that if an archetype alters a class feature, then this archetype cannot stack with another doing the same. FYI, all archetype class features have a mention saying "This ability replaces X" or "This ability modifies X". If they don't, then this ability does not alter any of the base class's abilities.

Now please quote me the part where it says the qinggong powers replaces or modifies the appropriate class feature. Because the only relevant part in this argument saying something about this is the following quote:

A qinggong monk can select a ki power (see below) for which she qualifies in place of the following monk class abilities: slow fall (4th), high jump (5th), wholeness of body (7th), diamond body (11th), abundant step (12th), diamond soul (13th), quivering palm (15th), timeless body (17th), tongue of the sun and moon (17th), empty body (19th), and perfect self (20th). This replaces the monk class ability the qinggong monk gives up for this ki power.

The only thing being altered is "the monk class ability the qinggong monk gives up for this ki power".

No, qingong alters only the class features you wish to replace, IF you wish to replace them. If you change only the class feature that no other archetype replaces, then it is legal.
We've been there a thousand times before, and it's the universal interpretation, including among rules lawyers. Paizo has never made a move to counter it, pretty much making the qinggong a patch for the monk intended to grant it more flexibility in sucky class features even with another archetype.

We actually don't have any background by the OP on the rest of the group and how awesome they are. You are making assumptions and not helping at all with the lack of advice other than to "run the other direction and leave this group." That's not helpful to someone who wants to play in this group with the vast majority being close friends. So your argument is supposition and conjecture at this point when talking about the group as a whole.

Sure, I'm suggesting to leave the group as a whole, group described by the OP as fun and nice to be with. Which is probably why I wrote the following sentence just some posts ago.

=> Explain your reasons, which should be pretty obvious to anyone you play with, and get the f!~& out of this game. Invite the other players who appreciate your presence and take upon the GM role; even play a GMPC if you still want a character.

Also, I still like to believe my advice is as valuable as any other on this thread, especially considering I'm already on the majority of people suggesting the OP her problem lies not in her character. If you don't like it, you are free to ignore, flag, hide and/or move on.

The thread has been derailed numerous times with people's personal opinions on the douchey way that the DM has treated the OP with whom he had a relationship with in the past. This has been covered and now we need to move past it as posters and try to answer the question on how build a viable character with a 2 in one of its stats.

The OP has also said that they WANT to play in this game that they really like the way the DM runs games and loves playing with the others in the group. The OP has stated that if their PC dies they do not get to roll up a new character and they cannot re-roll any of the stats. This is not OUR group and no matter our feelings on it, let the OP play in the game that they want to play in. Period.

So my whole point is even though I don't care for the OP's DM, please read the thread and keep to the topic at hand. Leave your personal feelings for the jerk of a DM out of it and try to actually offer constructive advice on this particular PC.

So if someone comes and explains he likes stabbing himself in the leg or in the forearm, but asks us what kind of tool he should use, answering "keen fork" or "rusty screwdriver" is more reasonable than saying "dude, wtf, just stop stabbing yourself" ?

As the OP has the "right" to make her own choices, I have the "right" (and as a fellow roleplayer in a community whose image suffers from this kind of dumb behavior - "duty") to point her to the most reasonable outcome for her problem.

I already read all the posts and I don't need someone to remind each again that we are "derailing" the thread.
The only damn reasonable answer here is to get the hell out of this mess.

... like, seriously ?

The GM:
- imposes broken ability stats on you (still don't undertand how you got a 2, by the way...);
- tells you to suck it up and refuses a reroll if you die;
- excuse me: he refuses to let you KEEP PLAYING if you die;
- cannot speak about it like a mature being and seems to hold something against you in a more-than-passive-agressive way.

It's obvious he'll use the first opportunity in game to kill you just so you finally are out of the game. I guess he invited you only out of obligation in the eyes of the other players you're talking about ?

You are greatly delusioned if you even dare to believe you'll have the opportunity to have fun or game the system - HE is rolling the dice and creating the encounters behind the screen, not you. You may have a 20 or a 5 in each ability score, that will only decide how much the world hates your guts and how you will bleed hit points.
You don't "win" against a GM; he either makes a mistake, oversees something, or in the best of cases, lets you win after interesting stories and much suffering. Your sorry excuse of a GM doesn't seem like he has any interest in granting interesting stories nor letting you win.

=> Explain your reasons, which should be pretty obvious to anyone you play with, and get the f@&* out of this game. Invite the other players who appreciate your presence and take upon the GM role; even play a GMPC if you still want a character.
You have NO chances to shine in the current game. I hope you like spending afternoons in a confrontational environment where anything you may attempt will fail miserably as if you are some sort or cursed black sheep, because that's what you will get.

Life is too short to deal with petty a~+#!+~s.

Oh hai again everyone !

Big, big update !

The time has finally come: thanks to Jreyst and the whole d20pfsrd.com community, all rules from The Secrets of Tactical Archetypes II are now available on d20pfsrd.com ! This supplement was the fruit of a collaboration between the awesome Will 'Cheapy' McCardell and myself, and was reviewed no less than "5 stars and the Endzeitgeist Seal of Approval" by the infamous Endzeitgeist !
You can find each archetype and its options in the list at the bottom of d20pfsrd.com's pages, under the class of your choice and in the Rite Publishing category (and under the tables detalling what archetype replaces which class feature).

As a reminder, here are the archetypes and their associated class you can find in TSoTA II:

Alchemist: Spellchymist a gifted resercher whose extracts take effect at range, emulating the spells of others.

Barbarian: Savage Tactician, pedagogue barbarians versed in the art of guerrilla warfare.

Bard: Umbral Weaver, a master at manipulating and listening to the forgotten secrets of shadows.

Cleric: Pious Sentinel, able to change the tide of battle by praying for their allies, and inspiring them with bursts of divine strategical insight.

Druid: Elementalurgist, focuses on the very building blocks that allow for nature's grandeur to aid his allies

Fighter: Peltast, specialized skirmishers and masters in the art of hurling weapons swiftly and quickly.

Inquisitor: Grand Inquisitor who focuses on his spellcasting and overwhelming presence to impart judgment and strike divine fear upon the unworthy.

Monk: War Scholar, Born-strategist, a war scholar's wisdom allows him to manage his troops with an efficiency that can reverse the most uneven odds.

Oracle: Aetherurgist, renowned for her ability to bind spirits to do her bidding.

Paladin: Purifier, militant healers who providing warmth, comfort, and health to the innocent.

Rogue: Vicious Opportunist who always seems to strike at his enemies at the best moment for maximum effect.

Sorcerer: Magilith, whose bloodline power is altered due to being born at a convergent point, or node of eldritch might.

Witch: Circle Warden, unities fellow creatures inside a ring of abjuration.

Wizard: Force Commander, who ees, and shapes, the world as a giant battlemap or chess board whose sole limits are the range onto which they can control a foe.

These are free and really cool. Be a cool guy too, read them today !

Oh hai everyone !

I just finished and posted on the boards The Brainy Guide to Tweaks: Heroic Fighters and Archery Redux !
Exactly as it says on the can, you'll find in this document:

- the Heroic Fighter, a variant of the fighter class compatible with all existing class options. It is intended to provide a more heroic feel to the fighter by cutting his dependency to spellcasters and granting him "exploits", a feature similar to talents and deeds.
It comes complete with a list of 34 possible exploits to choose from depending on your style, weapon and character !
- the rules for Archery revisited, reducing the sheer potency of archery while making it fit better in the whole "agile, mobile and precise damage dealer" theme, including an analysis of the reasoning behind the changes. It comes complete with 2 simple conversion rules to introduce these new rules in your game, and 3 famous feats for ranged combat rewritten to reflect this change of orientation !

Both rules are intended to rebalance martial characters by giving to underpowered fighters abilities reducing their reliability to other characters (and especially to spellcasters), and to make archers just really good at their job instead of the powerhouse they currently are.

(Document's discussion thread)

Ho hai everyone !
Please find here some tweaks around fighters and archery rules we've been toying with in our group:

- the Heroic Fighter, a variant of the fighter class compatible with all existing class options. It is intended to provide a more heroic feel to the fighter by cutting his dependency to spellcasters and granting him "exploits", a feature similar to talents and deeds.
It comes complete with a list of 34 possible exploits to choose from depending on your style, weapon and character !
- the rules for Archery revisited, reducing the sheer potency of archery while making it fit better in the whole "agile, mobile and precise damage dealer" theme, including an analysis of the reasoning behind the changes. It comes complete with 2 simple conversion rules to introduce these new rules in your game, and 3 famous feats for ranged combat rewritten to reflect this change of orientation !

You’ll note these options are intended to interact with each other (notably the heroic fighter, the archery mechanics nerf and the upcoming revision for magic items crafting rules), so please consider possible interactions.

I hope you'll like them ! :)

Titan Mauler + Gunslinger? Hm...maybe not.

NEVER SAY NEVER.

This is my sneak attack replacement that tries to address a couple of the problems I've seen. The first post in the thread explains it a bit more, I think.

Our group's rogue uses it, along the Vicious Opportunist archetype from The Secrets of Tactical Archetypes II. That's currently his favorite character ever, from his own words (the guy previously had a hard time learning to roleplay or imaginatively deal with situations, and he greatly enjoys the versatility and brainpower he shows in each game).

Even for Amiri, the iconic barbarian, they've got this line of text:

...She has come to value her oversized sword, and even though she can only truly wield it properly when her blood rage takes her...
and while that can be interpreted as the massive weapons ability at work, I gotta say, that line was the one that made me re-address this archetype the way I did.

Amiri got this line of text because she actually can always wield her weapon at a -2 penalty; and this penalty is offset when she receives the +4 Str from raging.

From both a customer and designer point of view, your reviews are always welcomed, complete, informative and helpful in understanding the qualities and weaknesses of a product. I think you definitely deserved a level up and the Awesome Custom Title (Ex) class feature ! :)

Good news, everyone !

During the last months, I wrote a new supplement for Rite Publishing that just got published : The Secrets of Renegade Archetypes !
Incidentally, this is also my first published solo supplement !

You'll find within a dozen and a half new archetypes for third-party published classes like SGG's Dragon Rider and Time Thief, Rite Publishing's Luckbringer and Taskshaper, or Louis Porter Jr. Design's Machinesmith. The full list of 3PP base classes (and their archetypes) supported by this product are as follows:

The Secrets of Renegade Archetypes is my first published solo supplement, I hope you will love it !

I would avoid the issue by only applying one discount at a time. You can have an item that requires that the user be a dwarf or be a fighter but not an item that requires the user be a dwarf fighter - such an item would just be too restrictive to see general use, especially since you'd then be selling it at under crafting costs.

Lots of good avice there, except about this part: the discount for specific class/race is not meant to reduce the cost of crafting items. This discount is meant and intended to reduce the average value of items an adventurer may try to sell. This "drawback" is not a drawback at all and should provide you no benefit if you are an elven wizard and the item supposedly only works for elven wizards.

I updated the Handcannoneer's document with two new types of ammunition.
The battered culverin also receives the hardness and hit points of a two-handed blade, more representative of a cannon's sturdiness than the 5/5 of a puny pistol or refined musket.

I'll let you know how it turns out when the player gets to playtest it. Since he's also the DM and already playing a drow bone-conjurer he loves, we'll see how and when he will operate the characters switch.

A bit like what the Titan Mauler is to melee characters, the handcannoneer wields heavy firearms more akin to siege weapons than pistols to break castles and puny enemies alike. Written for a fellow player who got in love at first sight when I explained the concept to him (and who will probably play it as soon as possible, incidentally). This archetype may particularly fit a dwarf both conceptually and mechanically, but all races may become awesome handcannoneers !

Here is a link to the Handcannoneer's google doc presentation.

It's still a work in progress, and some abilities may change when I get to reread it with a clear mind. I hope you will like it !

There you go !

... I don't even understand why the advanced races guide is allowed if you can take no racial-based mechanics, or even any archetype at all for the matter. What's left to use in it ?

7) The class of Summoner was never disallowed. It clearly did not fit what was promised by the player. When someone says they do not want to play a caster and do not want to play ranged then build a ranged caster with a pet, something is clearly wrong. Someone had either gotten their lines mixed up when they chose their role, or decided to play whatever they wanted instead of what they chose, regardless of what everyone else is expecting.

Yet it's been proven that this character is -exactly- what you expected from your party's tank. It's one of the few classes able to "aggro" in a game that does not feature this kind of gameplay (except for some bad feats and some spells), since the only way to "attract attention and attacks" in this game is to be perceived as a threat. To do this, you must either be a caster (and suck the inability to survive in melee), or deal enough damage, something usually not compatible with having the means to reach high AC since you will wield no shield.

I honestly think you should just stick to core-only rules until you have a good enough grasp of the system and you better understand the differences between a MMO and a paper RPG - notably, that there is no need to stick with party roles. I played a 1-20th level campaign lasting two years with no real spellcaster, we just had an alchemist NPC hanging around to provide some emergency healing and still had an awesome time.

For the first part:

Sorry, for my part in that. But, the basis of my standpoint was the given concept, that what he said was right.

My take on the spell, was this:
The ONLY way to send an eidolon back to its home plane (with the restriction being limited to "damage") was death. So, the spel Summon Eidolon, WILL bring it back (albeit, for a limited duration).

I was being passive-aggressive again. Sorry.

---

For the second part:

I will not say anything, I would just be passive-aggressive again...

The passive-agressive tone is not needed, we are trying to make the rules clearer and more enjoyable for both of you. You both seem to have issues with the rules, and different expectations out of the system (the idea that a Sword and Board fighter better being better at being a tank protecting allies than an eidolon, for example, as it is totally wrong) and we can help with that.

I would like to see

3. The elimination of Grit, Ki, and other daily refresh pools. Replace with level-based mechanics that can work all day every day without being OP. (The last thing the game needs is MORE things to encourage a 15 minute adventuring day!)

The only thing encouraging a 15 minute adventuring day can be your DM, not a pool of points that may (and will) empty.

You know there is something wrong when people start talking about "cheese" over an option that allows a crossbowman to actually start enjoying his carreer choices.

That's just damn common sense ; the same way Qinggong didn't receive an answer about it being able to stack with other archetypes.
It it unbalanced in any way ? Objectively, are the rules cristal clear and not conflicting with another reasonable interpretation ?

Then just let it be.