Another useful build uses Frostbite to cause decent amounts of damage. It also could play into an LG characters motivation, as you'll be knocking a lot of guys out vs killing them. Granted, the build is fairly common.
The main issue with Force Punch vs Shocking Grasp is the whole Knockback dealy it has going on.
Really awesome spell but it sucks having to chase people down every time you hit 'em. =)
Well, it helps to break up a full-attack from an enemy if timed properly. You can also catch up and continue a full attack with a Force Hook Charge or Bladed Dash. It has an interesting flavor to it too (knocking around + outmaneuvering a bigger opponent with your spells.)
If you don't want to railroad them with the gladiatorial arena (In terms of allowable travel) would it be possible for them to simply be required to attend their scheduled battles without restrictions on travel? "Alright, Thok, if you want to go to the other continent for a week, fine, but you must be back by Tuesday to fight Grogg." Maybe have it keyed so that they can be resummoned back or something? It's easier to incentivize players to stay on course than to punish them for straying, right?
What kind of spell? Have you looked to other sources or refluffed current spells? Some thing like a bone wall, bone darts (or spear ala D2). Is he looking for buffs, debuffs, attack or defense? When I think Necromancy I think fear or undeath, how would you work those concepts into a first level spell that is balanced?
Pricipal . Caught sayof school that has stoped Handstandsing " See, told ya so" Is He dead or not. CNN Says yes. St. Pete Times Looking for chads -OR- "hello, I am write single to salute and wait for answer again
Is there a reason he has to participate in the game with you guys? As in, is it his house, or books or whathaveyou or is he the kid/friend of someone there who'd have their feelings hurt. He sounds like he doesn't want to play, OR be as disruptive as possible, OR is just playing because he has some spare time.
He's twentysomething, he's an adult. Acting out like a 9 year-old shouldn't be tolerated.
Also, Pathfinder Rules includes "The Most Important Rule," on CRB pg. 9.
This is another common response the forum has when present with strong builds or tactics "But the gm can just say no!". The gm can equally also say yes, making this idea moot
First, get a folder for your character sheet. Put your dice on top of that, and only open the folder when you absolutely need to find a crucial stat. This will help you "detach" from the rules and stats and pay more attention to the interplay at the table. Most common rolls outside combat are social, so know what your perception, diplomacy, and sense motive are without opening your folder. It is also a pain in the butt to move and replace your dice, so you will train yourself to do without the paper.
Second, use a miniature closely representing your character. This will give you a visual framework of, "Wow, I am a badass wizard/barbarian" or whatever.
Third, create a history for your character. Stay simple at first, maybe 4-5 relevant things. Think about how it would be to meet this character for the first time, and what people would pick up from his history.
He has 4 younger sisters and one older brother, he grew up on a farm and likes dogs, he hates hot weather and loves winter because he's a little chubby, his favorite food is mom's meat pie and ale, and his sword was his grandfathers from the war, and it has 3 notches from the orcs Grandpa killed. It took me 30 seconds to create that guy, but now you have a mental picture of "yourself". None of these details are gamebreaking.
Another trick is to describe yourself to yourself. If you were looking for you in a big city, what do you look like to the world?
"Hey, have you seen the completely average guy wearing travelers clothes?" Obviously a rogue.
"Hey have you seen the chubby warrior with the well used sword and the scruffy looking dog? He's wearing a sweaty kitten sweater that looks like it was made by a little girl and he is somewhere near food cooking?" That guy sticks out.
I like all of these! Especially the dice on folder idea. It's very easy to get wrapped up in running your character as a simple stat block and it does remove you from the RP nature of the game. I'm still in the camp that it's tough to roleplay out your history (It's great to have a history, but I imagine it can get tedious to narrate the thoughts behind every decision). I'm running a game with my older brother and friend, and am trying to 1) Improve how I roleplay my character and 2) Pull out character motivations at the table when I GM for them. I also thinks it's cool when players converse in character with each other, instead of me as the DM alternating one on one social encounters between their PC and my NPC. It sometimes feels interview format-y, and I sometimes feel like the interparty interactions boil down to "Alright, time for a pre-battle badass catchphrase" or "Brief snarky joke". I'm likely too gripey over all this, though.
I've been considering this build to add to my big book of builds.
Since armor max DEX only applies to DEX to AC, and otherwise DEX stays uninhibited for other statistics, like reflex save, initiative, ranged attack bonus, etc., I have been considering an Alchemist with a dip into Fighter for Heavy Armor and a feat.
between defensive extracts like Shield, Blur, Barkskin, Bear's Endurance, etc. and heavy armor and a buckler, I feel a bomber alchemist (grenadier) with a back up ranged weapon could be quite beefy.
Anyone played an Alchemist like this? Any thoughts? Suggestions?
Well, depending on how you feel about your bomb damage/extract progression (as well as alchemist levels for the sake of higher level discoveries), you may simply want to use a feat or 2 to increase your armor proficiency the old-fashioned way.
EDIT: Though you'd also get shield prof as a fighter too. I'd also be interested in seeing what armor-providing dips would be most useful for an alchy!
I've been poking around polymorph rules, and I think that the change made between 3.5 and PF kind of helps the alchemist here in a lot of cases. Since there is no change in type, and as per the text of most of the spells, you only GAIN bonuses from using the spells. This means that since you don't ACTUALLY become a bird or fish or zombie whathaveyou, the alchemist should, by RAW, keep his immunities granted by his discoveries. Granted, if you treat the polymorphing spells as true changes in form, the body that's been mummified is itself being altered and would no longer harbor those resistances.
Generally I design characters with a large enough backstory to motivate and guide them through their existences without resorting to murder-hoboism. I suppose my issue is how to RP in a group without long soliloquies or extensive exposition on my part. I imagine if someone is playing a stoic, it will be hard to explain WHY the character is stoic without resorting to outright saying what he's thinking.
*Thok the barbarian listens to the merchants dispute and grunts once*
"I'm doing this because my family never hugged me and a merchant conned me out of my pile of pelts and blahblahblah"
I guess my worry is if I play any character that is not excessively open about his thoughts, it will be tough to convey why they act a certain way, besides "Oh, well he doesn't roleplay much" or "he's just being a dick to my NPCs"
Also a level would be helpful on this, to know what we're dealing with so we don't offer level 20 advice for a level 10 character.
Thanks mate, the shapeshifting guide was most useful, and I've been following yours since you first posted it :) (Kudos!).
The Alchemist is level 14, currently statted out for DEX/INT, with enough ranged/bomb variability to make him threatening as well as the 2 healing and 2 mummification discoveries listed. The shapeshifting guide was handy with regards to options, though it didn't answer my initial question about retained immunities granted by mummification (or by preserved organs, for that matter).
Other than that, I was hoping to build on the character by soliciting opinions on his methods (and motivations) if anyone showed up in the thread :P. I'm trying to find a way to justify to myself why a level 14 alchemist would more or less stay in an set of fortress/bunkers in a huge metropolis slum, when there are only a small handful of people in town who can match him (raw power-wise) and most of the city leaders are levels 7-10/11.
I have an alchemist NPC set in a city, as a sort of urban legend who tends to travel around either healing the sick/preventing excess crime in the slum he's protecting (he'll have the spont healing/healing touch discoveries as well as the Healing warmth extract). He's thought to be a pure shapeshifter since townsfolk don't tend to get a long enough look at him to realize he's just an average elf. My plan is that he'll make great use of Beast Shape, Monstrous Physique, Undead Anatomy, Elemental/Fluid/Dust Form extracts. First question is, what are some suggestions as to some of the best forms for any of these extracts with regards to being either hard to see, hard to distinguish form OR hard to catch up to? I'm kind of hoping he'll have a bit of a "moving shadow" feel , as well as occasionally sprouting wings and flying away at high speeds, turning into mist and escaping through sewers and the like.
My second question has to do with the fact that he also has the mummification discovery (confers cold and non-lethal immunity, as well as a couple other perks). I know this doesn't change his type, but do any of these remain when he swaps forms using extracts? I'm also trying to design his own enclaves, which will likely be side vaults within a sewer system that lets him run heavily fortified alchemy labs. Suggestions? Cheers!
I had a long talk with the DM and used my words very carefully not to demotivate him from running the game. I didn't try to convince him that my idea is better than his, rather pointing out the flaws and consequences they could have outside of his predictions.
He explained to me that this system is to make players plan how to survive downtime between adventures, produce situations and roleplaying elements, in otherwords grit.
The players have two options. Think how to reduce the costs of living or give a big chunk of their adventure rewards. My character and probably a big chunk of the party has a personal stake in here because its like saying: "you can disregard this mechanic and abandon you motivation for adventuring, you still get experiance and some treasure right?".
Equipment maintance is imperfect for mundane items making purchases of expensive (50gp + ) without any in-game effect its like renting them paying 50% of their market price each month. Of course players can deposit their gear in their household (if they buy one of course) but they won't be using it.
Living and Food expenses are high because the DM raised some professions. A commoner growing vegetables earns 100gp/month. This was done due to the fact that he wouldn't be able to buy any tools earning only 5sp/day or something while an accountant earned 3gp/day (pfsrd).
Taxes is something he put only because it was there. This was to, maybe, take the players gold or so I think because he handwaved that issue by saying: "Ask paizo why did they put it there".
The DM accused me of prefering casual gaming (hack & slash) instead of realism. I proposed that he could divide the rewards by 10 and we could roleplay all that surviving if it wouldn't get in the way of high fantasy feel of the game. His anwser was that roleplay is an equal part of the game as the mechanics and I am a fool thinking otherwise.
I will see what he has to offer but the future looks dim
"Why do you keep trying to play an adventure game, when I've given you this great accounting sim to play? Aren't you having fun?"
You could always account for stuff on a day-by-day basis. Nothing can happen offscreen if you do everything onscreen.
"Alright, I'm going to the inn for breakfast, I pay 1s for cheese, 3 cp for bread and 1 cp for a cup of coffee. I then wait 3 hours and eat a lunch of haggis, paying 1 sp. I then travel to the blacksmith to make sure my gear is sharpened and maintained, using my 5 gp Gear maintenance kit. I go to the inn and eat a common meal, valued at 3 silver. Then I drink 1 gallon of ale, valued at 2 sp. I then spend a night at the inn in a common room, valued at 5 sp."
Total cost: 12 s 4 cp.
Make sure you tell the DM when you're going potty too!
Honestly, as is pretty obvious from posts here, the DM is being unreasonable and its not ACTUALLY something you'll be able to deal with using the in-game systems unless you really want to drag the pace to a crawl. It's an out-of-character conversation to have with him as a group. If he wants to play accounting 101 he can, but tell him you could go take a math class if you wanted to do accounting in your free time (or hell, deal with your personal finances during offnights).
Sentient Dark mages:
Size: Small (0rp)
Stats: +2 int(focused minds), -2 wis (poor sense of reality), +2 Con (surprisingly hearty) (Standard= 0RP)
Half construct (7RP)
Darkvision (60 feet) (2 rp)
Iron will (Static Bonus Feat 2rp)
Great fortitude (Static Bonus Feat 2rp)
Elemental Affinity (1rp)
Total: 14 rp build
I would then simply build them all as cross-blooded sorcerers with Sage and Elemental bloodlines. They really only seemed to have elemental attack spells so they wont notice the loss of spell diversity
Shiny, I like it! I'm still looking into true constructs as a race to use, but I agree totally on the sorc levels. My issue with keeping them as constructs and topping them with sorcerer levels was really the d6 with no chance of boosting HP through other means. I noticed for the Venedaemon that they had equivalent spellcasting to an equal level sorcerer (by HD) which is a trait I liked and that I applied to the Black Waltz below.
I was thinking for the mass produced black mages, giving them a simple DR 5/magic, then for the 3 Unique Variants, DR 5/magic and silver, DR/10 magic and silver and finally DR 10/magic and adamantine to reflect their much tougher construction. I'd make the mass produced mages level 4,5 and 6 casters respectively, scaling their HD and saves accordingly. To keep them useful once they're out of blasts for the day (in the context of using them in a war, they need more than 10 rounds usefulness), modding the lantern archon rays as suggested above seemed decent.
Black Waltz III:
Black Waltz III
NE Medium construct
Init +7; Senses arcane sight, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 25, touch 17, flat-footed 22 (+3 Dex, +4 natural,+4 mage armor, +4 shield)
hp 81 (11d10+20)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +6
DR 10/magic and adamantine; Immune construct traits
Resist cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10, acid 10; SR 16
5th (5/day)—Blasty things
4th (7/day)— Blasty things
3rd (7/day)— Blasty things
2nd (2/day)— Blasty things
1st (8/day)— Blasty things mage armor, shield
0th (at will)—arcane mark, detect magic, light, mage hand, message,prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resistance
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 16, Con -, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 22
Base Atk +11; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Combat Casting, Eschew MaterialsB, Improved Initiative, Not sure what else
Elemental Versatility (Su): When Black Waltz III casts an evocation spell that does cold, electricity, or fire damage, it may change the damage dealt to one of the other two energy types. This changes the descriptor of the spell to match the new energy type. Any non-damaging effects remain unchanged unless the new energy type invalidates them (an ice storm that deals fire damage might still provide a penalty on Perception checks due to smoke, but it would not create difficult terrain).
Elemental Pride: When the The Black Waltz III is targeted with an evocation spell that does cold, electricity, or fire damage, it will attempt to retaliate using a spell of the same energy type. If possible, the Black Waltz III will attempt to cast either its highest level spell of that damage type or an empowered spell of the same damage type as that which struck it.
Elemental Fury (Su): Upon being reduced to 20 hp or less, Black Waltz III will summon its remaining arcane energies to itself, activating an effect similar to the detonate spell as an immediate action, before attempting to enter melee with his nearest opponent.
Some elements I took from the in-game Black Waltzes was their hubris (THIS is how you cast a Thunder spell!) and their singlemindedness. Since, as you posted before, they don't really need a huge spell list, I wanted to give them some flexibility with the different spells. Though I think in my head they just end up with every conceivable shape of blast in all 3 elements. I like the unnatural aura suggested before, and I'd love to have scaling auras of menace/fear/something for the unique variants, but I'm not quite sure how to organize it all.
A worry of mine is, unless I give them some kind of unique or different flavor, they're really just reskinned dragons that are squishier and dumber.
I also looked into the Lifespark construct , which seemed like it opened up mind-affecting things for the sentient, as well as gave it some flavor.
This is really rough, so please critique till it falls to pieces!
Wow, quick replies! Thanks so much williamoak, you've given me a TON to go on, I really like the Venedaemon as a baseline to establish how to build these guys up. I'll likely lower the stats for the mass-produced ones and use more blasty spells (but changing element type), but it's a great place to start :)
For the sentient ones, I'll likely keep them highly-resistant or immune to most mind-affecting spells, but I like the race you've proposed (most of the attributes fit!). I'm debating whether or not to keep them as constructs, however, since they are built completely from scratch. Since I'm running a 2-player game, I feel a little less worried about having these guys scrap with the PCs by itself (or with only one minion) since it won't get crushed in action economy compared to a party of 6.
I'll post what I end up coming up with as soon as it's done, I'm sure I'll have lots of room for improvement (I like preparing stuff like this, just skittish on hopping on the forums).
I'm running a game and I was looking to design some baddies designed as magical construct shock troops for an opposing kingdom, and my mind hopped into my wayback machine to FFIX with its black mages. I liked the idea of empty dolls being used as offensive support for a warring kingdom, capable of taking down a decent amount of normal soliders before going down, specialized in elemental blasts. I'm not quite sure if I should build them simply as Constructs + Sorc or Magus levels with tons of blasts known, or as a construct with many SLAs that equate to the blasts.
For reference: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Mage_(Final_Fantasy_IX)
Specifically I'm looking to make 7 different types:
Shock Troops:
Type A Mass Produced, no free will/mindless:
Type B Mass produced, no free will/mindless:
Type C Mass produced, no free will/mindless:
Unique Variants (Black Waltzes from the game)
Combat Prototype A, has free will, much stronger variant than the above 3,
Combat Prototype B, has free will, stronger variant than the above 4, Flight
Combat Prototype C, has free will, strongest variant, flight slightly unstable.
First prototype, NPC, has free-will, will gain levels (Vivi-type).
The party I'm GMing the homebrew for is level 3 right now, so I'm looking to build foes in the CR2-CR4 range for the Mass produced, and maybe 5-9 for the Combat Prototypes. The Mass-produced will be more blast-focused whereas the Uniques will hopefully also be capable of melee combat. I'm going to try and have the Uniques harry the party now and then.
I really liked the Black Mages in FF9, and I'm also debating having a community of free-willed Mass-Produced variants, since i like how that story developped as well.
I'm playing in a homebrew game as an alchemist, and I really like the extract mechanic, magic-induced chemical self-improvement if you will. So I was trying to think up some flavorful (as well as balanced, naturally) extracts for alchemists. They don't necessarily need to have extensive combat utility, but if it so happens to, great!
As an example:
Surgeon's Boon extract.
Grants the user improved vision when observing (un)living creatures. To the imbiber, the flesh of surrounding creatures appears translucent, rendering the circulatory system and organs (or generic inner-workings) visible. When performing a Heal check to remove a piercing object/organ/parasite/whathaveyou, grants a significant bonus. Additionally, fortification granted by unusual anatomy is negated (or a large bonus to confirming criticals) due to literally being able to see weak points.
Flavored for Chirurgeon or Vivisectionist fluff, it seems like a medic/torturer would want to fashion extracts to directly benefit his day-to-day work, be it from a surgeon wanting to remove a blade without nicking an artery or a torturer wanting to insert a blade without doing the same.
I'm playing in a homebrew game as an alchemist, and I really like the extract mechanic, magic-induced chemical self-improvement if you will. So I was trying to think up some flavorful (as well as balanced, naturally) extracts for alchemists. They don't necessarily need to have extensive combat utility, but if it so happens to, great!
As an example:
Surgeon's Boon extract.
Grants the user improved vision when observing (un)living creatures. To the imbiber, the flesh of surrounding creatures appears translucent, rendering the circulatory system and organs (or generic inner-workings) visible. When performing a Heal check to remove a piercing object/organ/parasite/whathaveyou, grants a significant bonus. Additionally, fortification granted by unusual anatomy is negated (or a large bonus to confirming criticals) due to literally being able to see weak points.
Flavored for Chirurgeon or Vivisectionist fluff, it seems like a medic/torturer would want to fashion extracts to directly benefit his day-to-day work, be it from a surgeon wanting to remove a blade without nicking an artery or a torturer wanting to insert a blade without doing the same.
I have a 5th level ranger who has put off getting an animal companion until he finds an allosaurus. We are currently playing RORL in varasia and I can find no plausible way there are dinosaurs roaming in the wild. After much complaining, I told him he could go to Magnimar and look for exotic pets in the trade markets/ black markets. After spending a solid week gametime, while all the other pcs where sleeping at the table, he found a T-rex and a stegasarus. (30% chance to find after rolling over 10 dinosaurs and t-rex and allosaurus twice) He is still not happy and doesn't want to use his Boon companion feat on anything but an allosaurus. Now he is going to leave the party to find he one true love while the other pcs start skinsaw!! How do other GMs run animal companions and the ritual of getting one? He says i'm being unreasonable by not just giving him what he wants. I just don't see how he can walk out into the woods for an hour and come back with a dinosaur. If he went into a desert, he wouldn't find a polar bear. Any advice on how to get past this without setting a tone with the rest of the group that whining and eye-rolling leads the gm to give you anything you want. he's our former gm, that's what makes this crazy....
This is the same guy that went off on a boat to Dinoland, yes? You mentioned he's the former GM and it really sounds like he doesn't like not having the power. He's not interested in being a team player, he's throwing tantrums and breaking immersion. I suggest not giving into what amounts to him holding his breath to get what he wants. Unless there's an out-of-game reason to keep him (his house, his booze, what-have-you), I'd suggest getting rid of him. You have several other players who want you to continue doing some killer GMing, don't let a single player bully people around.
Also plan to take the short trip to Cangames in Ottawa for the May long weekend. 21 tables of PFS goodness!
Aye, I'm likely going back home to Ottawa for it, a family member of mine has been involved in Cangames for as long as I can remember, I'll be glad to finally go!
Long-time lurker, first time poster. I recently moved to Montreal to start up grad school and was looking for a gaming group, PFS or otherwise. Anything going on out here? Please feel free to PM me, Thanks!
