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"Dizzying Defense (Ex): At 15th level, while wielding a light or one-handed piercing melee weapon in one hand, the swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point to take the fighting defensively action as a swift action instead of a standard action. When fighting defensively in this manner, the dodge bonus to AC gained from that action increases to +4, and the penalty to attack rolls is reduced to –2."
The fighting defensively action lets you make a melee attack at a -4 (or in this case, -2) bonus. Does that mean that the swashbuckler just gets a free stab as a swift action with this ability? And if so, what about her other actions? Could a swashbuckler make a full-attack action and then get her quick jab in, allowing her to add +4 to her AC and get a free attack without penalizing her full attack action?
Oi, I know this is way behind and I don't mean to revive a dead horse, I just don't feel like making a new thread.
I was thinking, however, what about a finesse rogue and building Vital strike and feint? Myrmidons were always one of the higher damage dealers. With Dex being your focus stat and the Str and Cha. You'd have a pretty good dodge with a high damage output.
Necromancy aside, that wouldn't work. Myrmidons were known for having extremely high Skill (which contributes to both accuracy and critical strike chance in Fire Emblem). Rogues are notorious for being one of the least accurate martial classes in the game. You'd miss way too often to be a real myrmidon, even if you succeed your feint there are plenty of creatures with absurd levels of natural armor and magical protections. Better to have full BAB and weapon training. I'd rather be lucky with my crits than lucky to hit at all.
8 Intelligence? That doesn't work with my idea of succubi at all. Succubi are supposed to be conniving, deliciously devious ladies who tempt and lead astray poor souls before devouring their energy.
Hard to think someone with sub-human intelligence could act with that level of finesse, high Charisma notwithstanding.
Give her some levels of sorceress (Abyssal Bloodline, obviously). Make her an enchantress with charm person, deep slumber and dominate person, depending on how high level she is and how strong your party is.
Andrea! One of my favorite roleplayers on the site! I didn't know you ventured into the Homebrew forum. Good to see you. :)
Anyway, thought a bit more on it. Here's some more class features:
The Power of God (Su):
At 1st level, a cleric chooses a path for her to walk. This path determines how her deity will empower her. Once chosen, this power cannot be changed unless the cleric somehow changes deities.
Sword - A cleric who walks the way of the sword gains a +1 sacred bonus on her attack and damage rolls if her deity is good or neutral, or a +1 profane bonus on her attack and damage rolls if her deity is evil. These bonuses increase by +1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +6 to attack and damage rolls at level 20.
Shield - A cleric who walks the way of the shield gains an additional hit point each time she takes a level of cleric (this bonus applies to first level as well). She also gains proficiency with heavy armor and gains a +1 bonus to her AC while she wields a shield. This bonus is sacred if her deity is good or neutral, or profane if her deity is evil. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +6 AC at level 20.
Healing - When a cleric who walks the path of healing casts a conjuration (healing) spell, she heals her target for an additional 3 hit points per level of the spell. This stacks with any hit point healing the spell may already grant. This ability uses positive energy but has no effect on undead. An evil cleric may not choose to walk the path of healing.
Destruction - When a cleric who walks the path of destruction casts a cleric spell that deals hit point damage, it deals an additional +1 damage per die. This damage is of the same type as the damage the spell deals. A good cleric may not choose to walk the path of destruction.
Gate - A cleric who walks the path of the gate receives a +1 bonus to her caster level when she casts a conjuration (summoning) spell. This bonus increases by +1 for each 5 levels of cleric she has, to a maximum of +6 CL at level 20. Additionally, whenever a cleric of the gate casts a summon monster spell to summon multiple monsters from a lower spell list, she summons one additional monster of that type.
Domination - A cleric of domination receives a +1 bonus to the DC of her enchantment spells. This bonus increases by +1 per 5 levels of cleric she has, to a maximum of +6 DC at 20th level. Additionally, once per day as a swift action, a cleric of domination can call upon the power of her deity to enact a small miracle. She can negate one creature within 30 feet's immunity to mind-affecting spells (or spells of the (charm) or (compulsion) subschool) for 1 round per cleric level. If she uses this ability and then successfully enchants the creature with immunity, the effect of the spell automatically ends after the miracle expires. This ability is a supernatural ability that can nullify both type-based immunities (such as undead), and magically granted immunities (such as mind blank) but does not allow the cleric to enchant a creature with no Intelligence score.
Undeath - A cleric who walks the path of undeath gains the Craft Wondrous Item feat as a bonus feat (ignoring the prerequisites) and can craft a phylactery without paying any gp cost (she still needs to be at least 11th level to become a lich). Additionally, when the cleric of undeath channels negative energy to heal undead, she heals them for 1 additional hit point per die of channeled energy.
A single oracle revelation can actually get channeling. Not a mystery, but just one revelation.
That single revelation only comes from one Mystery, and it gives 2 fewer base Channels per day than the cleric.
I am in agreement that the cleric class seems...boring. Especially in the early levels, where divine casters tend to lack the exciting and flavorful "oomph" that arcane casters have. A first level sorcerer can use magic missile or burning hands or sleep or silent image or enlarge person or summon monster I or...plenty of other effects.
Meanwhile, the cleric has cure light wounds, command, divine favor, bless, cause fear, and doom. I mean...buffing and healing is cool, but not really at the early levels where your teammates don't need a lot of help. At the early levels, damage and crowd control are much better than utility and extra numbers.
The problem with the cleric list (and the druid list) as full casters is simply that there are many many more sorcerer/wizard spells than there are cleric spells or druid spells. Sorcerers and wizards can do a lot more things at any given level than clerics or druids, and on top of that, they get awesome bloodline powers and arcane school powers that make them flavorful and fun to play.
Since this is a fix thread, I'll post some suggestions for class features for the cleric:
Scholar of the Faith (Ex): A cleric is a student of the church, and is privy to the secrets that church keeps guarded. A cleric adds half of her class level to her Knowledge (Religion) checks (minimum +1) and may make Knowledge (Religion) checks untrained.
Aura of Faith (Su): At 5th level, a cleric's aura becomes empowered to grant benefits to her and her allies. This benefit is based on the alignment of the aura the cleric emits. If the cleric emits an aura with multiple alignments, she only gets the benefit of one of those alignments from this class feature. A cleric with multiple alignment auras (such as Lawful Good) may choose a new alignment aura benefit available to her whenever she prepares her spells.
Evil - A cleric who projects an aura of evil grants allies within 30 feet of her a +1 bonus on Intimidate checks made against non-evil creatures. This bonus increases by +1 for each 3 class levels she has, to a maximum of +7 at 18th level. Additionally, the cleric receives a +1 bonus to the DC and caster level of her [fear] spells.
Good - A cleric who projects an aura of good grants allies within 30 feet of her a +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks made with non-evil creatures. This bonus increases by +1 for each 3 class levels she has, to a maximum of +7 at 18th level. Additionally, the cleric receives a +1 bonus to the DC and caster level of all her spells that use positive energy.
Law - A cleric who projects an aura of law grants allies within 30 feet of her a +1 bonus on Sense Motive checks made against non-lawful creatures. This bonus increases by +1 for each 3 class levels she has, to a maximum of +7 at 18th level. Additionally, the cleric receives a +1 bonus to the DC and caster level of all her spells with the (compulsion) subschool.
Chaos - A cleric who projects an aura of chaos grants allies within 30 feet of her a +1 bonus on Bluff checks made against non-chaotic creatures. This bonus increases by +1 for each 3 class levels she has, to a maximum of +7 at 18th level. Additionally, the cleric receives a +2 bonus to her saving throws made against spells with the (compulsion) subschool or the [law] type.
(Also, really? A certain class of characters is supposed to suck? I think you need to either reevaluate that premise or reevaluate the game you play. All characters should be viable and fun at all levels. And I don't think spellcasters suck early game in the current system—they're just less than godly.)
I pretty much have to say spellcasters suck in the early levels. At level 1, you have a few class features that you can use a couple of times per day, you have low armor class and low hit points and very little battle presence. You can cast a powerful spell like sleep or color spray, but if your opponent succeeds their saving throw, you wasted your action. And while you could argue that the same is true of a warrior, the difference is that the warrior has many more ways to make sure he hits, like attacking a target who's prone, flanking, using a masterwork weapon, taking the Weapon Focus feat, pumping Strength, attacking from high ground, charging, etc etc. Spellcasters have Spell Focus, and that only works for one school of spells they have.
Quote:
Neutral clerics can already do this, as can oracles. In any event, I'm not convinced that power balance according to a janky platonic alignment system is the way to go. (Arguably, the paladin needs the alignment system because its abilities are too good to apply all the time, but that doesn't make it good game design.) To each their own, of course!
Incorrect. Being neutral alignment does not give a cleric impunity to cast any spell he likes. A cleric cannot cast any spell whose alignment opposes his own or his deity's. It severely limits your deity selection if you want to be able to bring the hurt to every alignment at once as a cleric, and whether the resulting Domains you can get from that selection are worth the trade off is up to you. I just felt like pointing it out.
I think this is overpowered. Spellcasting is already pretty strong, but the ability to just have two separate spell progressions is ridiculous. Getting the full wizard spell list with all its offensive and personal buff capabilities, combined with the healing and support spells of a cleric, is just too much versatility. There is literally nothing you can't do. Divination, healing, transforming, blasting, raising the dead, all of it.
You also don't have any alignment restrictions, meaning the mystic theurge gains access to all alignment divine spells at once, making it far superior to a cleric in terms of raw damage and condition infliction.
Really, the main problem here is the sheer number of slots you get. At first level, an oracle/sorcerer mystic theurge will have around 8 1st level spell slots per day. 8. That's ridiculous. Yes, you don't have your weak 1st level sorcerer powers or your mysteries, but you have spells, and you have twice as many as any other caster of your level.
The mystic theurge has delayed entry because it's at that level when the number of spells you have stops mattering, since you can usually end an encounter with one or two well-chosen spells. At the early levels though, 8 spells per day is ridiculous and makes you much stronger than a barbarian or a fighter of that level, since even though the barbarian or fighter can fight longer, they really only need 2 or 3 rounds to bring down an enemy with their team.
Spellcasters are supposed to suck at early game. Take that away and you will wreck what little balance there is right now.
I'm also considering cutting perception entirely, in order to increase clever roleplaying.
If you cut Perception entirely, then what is the point of having the Stealth skill? Stealth doesn't have DCs, it is always opposed by a Perception check of the creature you're going to hide from.
Also, Perception has so many uses I really don't think you should cut it. Noticing secret doors, finding traps, hearing creatures who are lurking beyond the room, waking up from sleep if you're attacked, etc.
If you don't give the players this kind of information once they roll their Perception checks, and instead require them to ask you for information based on the room and their surroundings, you're going to end up wasting a lot of time while they do their clever roleplaying. Combat already takes up a lot of time in PF, if you don't streamline Perception it's going to be a nightmare for you.
Plus, how will you handle enemies sneaking up on the party? The party would have no reason to roleplaying attempting to hear enemies if they were unaware of them, and if the enemies just automatically make their Stealth checks because no one has Perception, then...there's no way for the party to avoid getting ambushed. Perception is an important part of a player's character, it helps define their passive alertness as well as their scrutinizing gaze.
I believe you can have more than one you just can use them at the same time. Meaning you can't claw and punch with the same hand, but nothing is stopping you from having claws and punching someone.
Eidolon is probably specific rather than the general rule. Also unarmed strikes aren't natural weapons in the same sense as claw/bite/slams etc...are. Because you can make iterative attacks with unarmed strikes which you can not do with natural weapons.
So a catfolk can't be a monk because it has claws? Of course I could always be wrong.
That's the thing though. The rules at the moment are unclear. But here are a few true facts:
1) Unarmed strikes are not natural weapons in terms of the iterative rules. But they are still a physical part of a creature's body, which makes them a natural weapon in every other sense. You can take Improved Natural Attack (Unarmed Strike)
2) There is no creature in the entire Bestiary that has multiple types of natural weapons with the same limb.
3) Eidolons have a very specific rule that prevent you from putting multiple natural weapons on the same limb, clearly demonstrating the designer's intentions on how natural weapons interact.
Anyway, part of the thread is system changes. So just consider the system change I implemented my personal clarification of how the rules work for the purposes of simplifying and streamlining the game further.
As to your specific question about catfolk monks, yes, they can be monks. The monk has a specific rule that allows it to make unarmed strikes with any part of its body. Since specific trumps general, the monk is able to ignore the rule about humanoids unable to make unarmed strikes when they have claws (the catfolk just can't make unarmed strikes with her fists. She can make them with her knees, feet, and head like any other monk).
Why would gaining sharp pointy teeth make you forget how to punch someone?
Also if I was a Tiefling with the maw/claw racial trait I also never learned how to throw a punch?
Part of the Pathfinder setting rules is that if you have a natural weapon with a certain limb or body part, you cannot have another natural weapon with that body part. See also: making an Eidolon.
So no, if you have claws, you should technically not be allowed to make an unarmed strike with that hand. And since only monks can make unarmed strikes with anything other than their fists, yeah. Okay, here's an update to those rules:
Improved Unarmed Strike System Changes: All humanoids who do not possess other hand/arm-based natural weapons (claws, pincers, slams) are automatically considered proficient with their unarmed strikes regardless of their character class. A humanoid may deal lethal or nonlethal damage with her unarmed strikes without penalty, and the humanoid's unarmed strike damage is 1d6 for a Medium humanoid and 1d4 for a Small humanoid. If a humanoid is subject to a polymorph effect to a form other than humanoid or an ability that grants her hand-based natural weapons without changing her form, she cannot make unarmed strikes for the duration of that effect.
New Feat: Unarmed Combat Training
Prerequisites: Humanoid, Must not possess any hand-based natural weapons other than unarmed strike
While using this feat, if you are ever granted the benefits of a spell, rage power, or other ability that gives you hand-based natural weapons, or if you are subject to a polymorph effect that changes your form into a type other than humanoid, you lose the benefits of this feat for the duration of that spell or ability. You are still treated as having the feat for the purposes of meeting other feat prerequisites and may use those feats as normal unless they specifically require the use of an unarmed strike.
As far as IUS goes I would remove references to BAB and monk level, and make it hit dice depenant. Enhancement bonuses are procured through acquiring treasure, do I see no reason to lower the bonus based to BAB.
Hmm...good point. Okay, here's the new relevant text of the feat:
New Feat: Unarmed Combat Training (Combat)
Prerequisites: Humanoid, Must not possess any natural weapons other than unarmed strike
Benefit: You gain a +1 enhancement bonus to your attack rolls with your unarmed strikes.
At 4 HD, you gain a +1 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 8 HD, you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes.
At 12 HD, you gain a +3 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as cold iron and silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 16 HD, you gain a +4 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as adamantine for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 20 HD you gain a +5 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as lawful, good, evil, and chaotic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
While using this feat, if you are ever granted the benefits of a spell, rage power, or other ability that gives you natural weapons, or if you are subject to a polymorph effect that changes your form into a type other than humanoid, you lose the benefits of this feat for the duration of that spell or ability. You are still treated as having the feat for the purposes of meeting other feat prerequisites and may use those feats as normal unless they specifically require the use of an unarmed strike.
Special: The Unarmed Combat Training feat replaces the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for all prerequisites. A monk gains Unarmed Combat Training as a bonus feat at first level.
Okay, no one's commented so far. :( But that's not important. Let's get some more feat fixes going!
Improved Unarmed Strike Problem: It's really a combination of things. First of all, humanoids are the only creature type in the entire game that are not automatically proficient with their natural weapons. Argue that an unarmed strike isn't a "natural weapon" all you like, it's a fist and it can hurt just like a cat's claws or a scorpion's sting. Secondly, having to spend a feat to punch someone without provoking an attack of opportunity and deal 1d3 lethal damage while doing so...no. This feat is even worse than the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat. And if I'm a battle-hardened fighter or a rampaging barbarian and I want to randomly punch someone in the face in the name of Demacia, then I should be able to put down my giant sword and punch them in the face! Also, there are lots of shenanigans involving giving your animal companion Improved Unarmed Strike so that you can take Dragon Style and Feral Combat Style and...ugh. Those feats aren't meant for animal companions, so by removing the possibility of animals to take the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, we can sidestep that whole situation.
System Changes: All humanoids who do not possess other natural weapons (claws, bites, etc) are automatically considered proficient with their unarmed strikes regardless of their character class. A humanoid may deal lethal or nonlethal damage with her unarmed strikes without penalty, and the humanoid's unarmed strike damage is 1d6 for a Medium humanoid and 1d4 for a Small humanoid. If a humanoid is subject to a polymorph effect to a form other than humanoid or an ability that grants her natural weapons without changing her form, she cannot make unarmed strikes for the duration of that effect.
Feat Changes: Improved Unarmed Strike: This feat is removed from the game.
New Feat: Unarmed Combat Training (Combat)
Prerequisites: Humanoid, Must not possess any natural weapons other than unarmed strike
Benefit: You gain a +1 enhancement bonus to your attack rolls with your unarmed strikes.
At 4 BAB or 4th level of monk, you gain a +1 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 8 BAB or 8th level of monk, you gain a +2 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes.
At 12 BAB or 12th level of monk, you gain a +3 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as cold iron and silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 16 BAB or 16th level of monk, you gain a +4 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as adamantine for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 20 BAB or 20th level of monk you gain a +5 enhancement bonus to your attack and damage rolls with your unarmed strikes and your unarmed strikes are treated as lawful, good, evil, and chaotic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
While using this feat, if you are ever granted the benefits of a spell, rage power, or other ability that gives you natural weapons, or if you are subject to a polymorph effect that changes your form into a type other than humanoid, you lose the benefits of this feat for the duration of that spell or ability. You are still treated as having the feat for the purposes of meeting other feat prerequisites and may use those feats as normal unless they specifically require the use of an unarmed strike.
Special: The Unarmed Combat Training feat replaces the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for all prerequisites. A monk gains Unarmed Combat Training as a bonus feat at first level.
Justification: Huge increase in power, I'm aware, but the idea is that if you take a feat to improve your fighting power as a fighter, your damage won't be completely useless or broken by damage reduction later in the game. Amulet of Mighty Fists is expensive, but still well worth it because you can get abilities added to it and it scales with your gold instead of your level. However, if you're a warrior who uses a +5 vorpal weapon normally, you're not going to have the gold to waste on an Amulet of Mighty Fists, but that shouldn't invalidate the feat you took early on to give yourself a fighting chance with your fists.
I am aware that this change will seem like it's taking away something from the monk, but honestly monks still have Styles, Fury of Blows, Stunning Fist, and improved unarmed strike damage progression. Just because they're the masters of unarmed strikes doesn't mean the rest of the classes have to suck at them.
So, the Pathfinder system fixed a lot of issues with the 3.5 game, but one thing that got grandfathered in hard was Feat Taxes. Feat Taxes are feats that you are essentially required to take. They do not boost your character's growth in any way, they only remove or limit arbitrary penalties imposed on your character to make sure that anyone who tries to do what you do without the feat sucks at it. In actuality, what this accomplishes is it discourages feat-starved classes from trying alternate weapon styles, or if they decide to use those styles, it costs them precious feat slots that could be used to otherwise actually improve the character.
So, this fix is going to involve two things:
1) Removing or altering the arbitrary penalties
2) Changing or removing the feat taxes
3) Profit
Let's get started then!
Point Blank Shot/Precise Shot Problem: If you are an archer at 1st level, you are useless because you eat a giant -4 penalty for firing into melee (AKA, every shot in the fight beyond the first round), and you can't even take the feat tax to get around it at 1st level unless you are human or a fighter because it requires a feat to qualify for it! Not only that, but a warrior who has a bow as his backup weapon is pretty useless with it unless he only pulls it out for flying enemies. A penalty inflicted for using a weapon should not equal or exceed the non-proficiency penalty, period.
System Changes: The -4 penalty for firing into melee is removed. It is assumed that the character's Dexterity score and Base Attack Bonus reflect his ability to aim difficult shots well enough without requiring a feat for it. (The penalties for soft cover remain)
Feat Changes: Point Blank Shot: This feat is removed.
Precise Shot:
This feat's prerequisites are changed to: Dex 19, Basic Archery, Base Attack +11
This feat's benefits are changed to: Your ranged attacks ignore the AC bonus granted to targets by anything less than total cover, and the miss chance granted to targets by anything less than total concealment. Total cover and total concealment provide their normal benefits against your ranged attacks.
Improved Precise Shot: This feat is removed and is replaced by the new Precise Shot feat.
New Feat: Basic Archery (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 13
Benefit: When using a ranged weapon you are proficient with, you gain a +1 bonus on damage rolls while you are within 30 feet of your target. This bonus increases by +1 for each 4 BAB you have, to a maximum of +6 at +20 BAB. You also get a +1 bonus to your attack rolls if you are further than 30 feet away. This bonus increases by +1 for each 4 points of BAB you have, to a maximum of +6 at +20 BAB.
Special: The Basic Archery feat replaces the Point Blank Shot feat in all archer feat prerequisites.
Justification: In addition to the Precise Shot feat being a tax, the Point Blank Shot feat is...bland. It's weak, and it doesn't make sense that it's a gateway for all the other archery feats (including Far Shot), when it's designed to pigeon-hole you into a certain style of fighting. The new feat scales better and gives you leave to either play a high-risk, high-reward point blank archer, or an accurate and deadly sniper, at all levels of the game.
Two-Weapon Fighting Problem: Where do I even begin? The feat exists, to start. It does nothing except lower (not even remove) arbitrarily assigned penalties. It forces you to only use light weapons in your off-hand despite there being plenty of warriors in lore who dual-wielded longswords or battleaxes or whatever they wanted. You are forced to spend 5-7 points in your Dexterity score to qualify for it, which basically turns Weapon Finesse into an additional feat tax for you, and the Strength penalty to your off-hand means that even if you somehow manage to escape ALL the other pesky restrictions, you're forced to take ANOTHER feat tax (Double Slice) to use your ability scores as you're supposed to, all for a weapon style that is completely reliant on multiple dice rolls (more chances for natural 1s), penalties, and full attack actions. And DR destroys you.
System Changes: Using a weapon in each hand inflicts a -2 penalty on all your attack rolls for the round. As a standard action or at the end of a charge, you may make a single attack with each weapon at your highest attack bonus. As part of a full attack, you get an attack with each weapon for each attack that your base attack bonus allows, at the attack bonus allowed (So a level 20 fighter with 2 weapons gets 8 attacks at +18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+8/+3/+3, after the penalties for fighting with two weapons are assigned). There is no additional penalty for wielding a one-handed weapon in your off-hand, but you cannot wield a two-handed weapon in one hand. You apply your full Strength bonus/penalty to damage rolls with both weapons.
Feat Changes: Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting: This feat is removed.
Double Slice: This feat is removed.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Style (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +1
Benefit: When fighting with a weapon in each hand, each successful attack against a creature gives you a +1 competence bonus to your attack rolls against that creature for the rest of the round. This bonus stacks with itself and does not apply to any attacks of opportunity you make before your next turn.
Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat in all prerequisites.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Savagery (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +1, Two-Weapon Style, Str 15
Benefit: When you damage a creature with two different slashing and/or piercing melee weapons in the same round, that creature takes additional bleed damage equal to your Base Attack Bonus. This damage does not stack with itself.
New Feat: Two-Weapon Pounce (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +6, Two-Weapon Style
Benefit: At the end of a charge, if you are wielding a weapon in each hand, you may make a full round attack.
New Feat: Twin Weapon Focus (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Base Attack +1, Two-Weapon Style
Benefit: If you are wielding a weapon in each hand and they are the same type of weapon (two handaxes, two daggers, two longswords, etc), you gain a +1 bonus to your attack and damage rolls with each of them. This bonus increases by +1 per 6 BAB you have, to a maximum of +4 at +18 BAB.
Special: If you are a fighter who wields the same type of weapon in each hand, and that weapon is one of your Weapon Training groups, this feat instead doubles your Weapon Training bonus for that weapon (but doesn't give any additional benefits).
Justification: Some of these changes might seem a bit overpowered, but non-Sneak Attack two-weapon users need the buff to compete with two-handed users. Besides, you have to remember that these guys have TWICE the expenses monetarily, they have to spend twice as much gold to keep both their weapons relevant and special. No reason to tax them any further than that in my opinion.
Combat Maneuver Feats: Problem: I actually like the combat maneuver feats. Yes, you can't make a combat maneuver check without one without provoking an attack of opportunity, AND if you get damaged during the AoO you automatically fail, but I still feel like the combat maneuver system works well. The only issue I have with them is the feat tax before you get to the Improved X line.
System Changes: Just a small one here: You still provoke an attack of opportunity for attempting a combat maneuver check without the associated feat, but you don't automatically fail the check if you take damage from the attack of opportunity. (You still fail if your roll is too low though).
Feat Changes: This is a global one so I'm going to just type it out instead of naming every Improved X feat. All Improved X feats have the Power Attack or Combat Expertise feat removed from their prerequisites. The Strength and Intelligence prerequisites remain.
Justification: This is something I've run into quite often with my players, how they want to just shove a guy one time or steal a guy's weapon. It makes sense thematically, nothing wrong with trying it out, but they argue there's no need for their characters to have dedicated training and specialize their build around it if they're only going to try it every so often. So let's keep the AoO there as encouragement to take the feats, but let the AoO be punishment enough and not have it also waste their turn if they take damage. As for the feat tax removal, I don't think I should have to spend two feats to do what I want without taking attacks of opportunity. Also, it greatly lessens the feat tax on a maneuver master monk/fighter who want to do EVERYTHING.
Rapid Reload/Crossbow Mastery Problem: As I'm sure you all are aware, crossbow users are completely overshadowed by bow wielders. For no reason. Really, there is no reason for this. The only "justification" here (besides the mechanics of a real crossbow and not all weapons are created equal, plus crossbows are simple weapons) is that crossbows deal slightly more damage. But the ones that deal more damage take even longer to reload, so you're not getting any real benefit out of it. Now, I understand wanting to weaken crossbows so that wizards and sorcerers don't use them like everyone else, but if you can spend a feat to ignore the mechanical part and load it as fast as a bow, then...shouldn't you just be able to do that anyway? Plus, even if crossbow's deal slightly more damage, composite bows get to add Strength to theirs, and that's not fair.
System Changes: If a character is proficient with all martial weapons or has at least +3 Base Attack Bonus, he can reload a crossbow as a free action. All crossbows (regardless of their type) can be reloaded by any character as a move action. Reloading a crossbow does not provoke an attack of opportunity (though firing one still does).
Feat Changes: Rapid Reload: This feat is removed.
Crossbow Mastery: This feat is removed.
New Feat: Crossbow Expert (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 13
Benefit: When wielding a crossbow, you can ignore up to 5 points of your target's Damage Reduction.
New Feat: Aim for the Heart (Combat, Ranger)
Prerequisites: Dex 17, Deadly Aim, Crossbow Expert, Base Attack Bonus +11
Benefit: As a standard action, you can line up the perfect shot and attempt to run your target through with one bolt. You fire one shot at your highest attack bonus, and if you hit, you deal additional damage equal to triple your Dexterity modifier and ignore all of your target's Damage Reduction.
Justification: It's a common difference between crossbows and bows: crossbows hurt more and bows shoot farther and can use more arrows. Since you can't use the Manyshot feat with a crossbow or make a crossbow composite, I think it's totally fair to have the crossbow wielder be able to fire a single deadly bolt that deals more guaranteed damage than all of his attacks of the round would do if he rolled a bunch of dice.
Shadow Strike Problem: When I say the word "rogue" or "ninja", a lot of things probably pop into your mind. Each class is open to its own flavor of course, there can be honorable rogues and urban rangers and ronin samurai, but still...one trope that deserves recognition is the deadly thief who sneaks up on you in a dark alley, stabs you from behind and leaves you for dead while he walks away whistling and carrying your coin purse. The assassin prestige class requires levels of rogue or ninja to get in, so you can see that rogue is, at some basic level, about stealth and Sneak Attack. Right? I hope no one yells at me and tells me rogues are secretly all about finding traps and having high Skill Points and trolling enemy sorcerers with Evasion. o.O
This one is actually not as well known, but rogues as they are now can't Sneak Attack a creature with concealment unless they have the Shadow Strike feat. This means that a rogue without darkvision who attacks another creature without darkvision in a dark alley (effectively making the rogue invisible, a perfect time to strike) does not get Sneak Attack dice, and only results in one pissed off commoner after you stab him with your dagger for 1d4. The Shadow Strike feat itself doesn't actually do anything, it only nullifies the arbitrary restriction, thus making it a perfect candidate for my feat tax purge.
System Changes: Rogues can Sneak Attack creatures with partial concealment (but not total concealment). They still need to roll for miss chance.
Feat Changes: Shadow Strike: This feat's benefit is changed to "When you successfully Sneak Attack a creature with concealment while it is denied its Dexterity bonus to its AC, you deal 1 additional Sneak Attack damage per die. (This feat's benefit does not apply if you merely flank a creature with concealment while it retains its Dexterity modifier to its AC).
I never said Shadow Strike countered Displacement. I said if you were relying on Blur, you were going to get a nasty surprise if the rogue had Shadow Strike.
Shadow Strike counters, among other things, dim light, Obscuring Mist (and other fog based spells), a number SU abilities, such as Shadow Blend, etc.
Fog effects and dim light are both fairly common occurrences. Common enough for a rogue to take Shadow Strike even if he never encounters an opponent with Blur.
Fair enough. Still, pretty sad that the rogue's major source of damage is completely obsolete by a 1st/2nd level spell unless he spends a feat on it.
If your relying on the general rule that a rogue cannot attack a creature with concealment, you'll get a nasty surprise before you realize you used the wrong spell.
Displacement gives you total concealment, but it lets be struck as if the creature still had line of sight/line of effect to you. Shadow Strike does not allow you to Sneak Attack a creature with total concealment.
Unless the rogue has Shadow Strike. Then he won't care about Blur.
Oh no. If the rogue has wasted a feat to counter blur, that forces you to cast displacement instead. A higher level spell that gives you a much greater defense, and Shadow Strike doesn't get around displacement.
So, be on the safe side OP and just cast displacement instead.
Just cast blur. It's a 2nd level magus spell and it gives you 20% concealment.
From the Rogue page:
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The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.
There you go. Not only do you get 20% miss chance, you are also completely and easily immune to Sneak Attack.
I have a good sense of humor and as long as the curse can be removed within a certain time frame that is not unreasonable or the curse is bearable, it should be fine. But it really depends on the player.
I have only ever given a player a cursed magic item once. My barbarian discovered a cursed bastard sword whose hilt transformed into a snake that coiled around her arm and bit her and injected a curse into her bloodstream, turning her into an afflicted weresnake.
The curse took 7 days to activate fully, however, every time she raged the curse advanced by 1 day and she got more and more of the benefits/penalties associated as time went on.
I gave her a sidequest that allowed her to find a cult of mad druids who wanted to use a miracle to infect the entire world with lycanthropy. She stopped them and then I gave her the option of either accepting her curse and gaining full control over it as a natural lycanthrope ( a large boost to a melee character), or going to her natural form (better for her in a roleplaying state).
She chose to go back to her normal self and I gave her a nice pair of magic boots to compensate. But she had the option of keeping the cursed item or throwing it away, as long as she roleplayed and earned it.
You're right, though, the Mammoth Rider prestige class is not very PFS friendly. However, for those of us who have our own private groups and don't need or use PFS, it's an awesome way to play the savage tribal hunter/warrior effectively and without the need for spellcasting or inappropriately high mental ability scores.
The biggest issue with mammoth rider is what to do with a Huge companion. This doesn't come up in every case but will be fairly common in PFS. My current idea is to just skip the mammoth rider and go straight nature oracle with my Grippli/Giant frog combo. The nature oracle has so many great spells to drop on an animal companion through share spell. Nothing quite says OMG like dropping a quickened divine favor and animal growth (pfs gets this instead of awaken) in rnd 1.
Nothing quite says "OMG" like dropping a quickened divine favor and animal growth in round 1...except charging straight at the enemy on the back of your already and permanently giant Mammoth who slams, claws, claws, and gores the enemy while you stab it four times with your lance (the first time dealing triple damage and adding half of your mount's Strength modifier to your damage before tripling that as well), then forcing the enemy to make a Fortitude save or be staggered for 1d4 rounds.
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Question: Do you have to choose one of the animal companions listed in mammoth rider or can your mount/animal companion from before just get huge.
It's right there in the Steed class feature: "This steed functions as a druid's animal companion, replacing any animal companion or mount gained by another class".
If you don't ride one of the listed steeds, it doesn't become huge, because it's not your Steed. The Gigantic Steed class feature only applies to your Steed, not your animal companion, and you can only choose your Steed from the list in the class.
I don't have Faiths & Philosophies, so I don't know if there's some kind of special text that overrides this on that particular feat, but as you've described it just now, it wouldn't let you qualify for the Mammoth Rider prestige class.
The Mammoth Rider prestige class requires "Animal companion class feature or mount class feature that progresses an animal companion with at least a druid level of 6".
A feat that grants you an animal companion (even one that progresses as a druid of at least 6th level) is not a class feature and therefore is not sufficient to qualify for the class, similarly to how using wands even with a 1 on your UMD check does not count as spellcasting.
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Been thinking of making a Mounted Fury Nagaji, going into Mammoth Rider to gain a triceratops mount. The thing is, the character has to also be at least halfway competent without his mount in case there is a dungeon or something. Seem viable?
To answer the original question, I have never played a barbarian that was less than "halfway competent" on his own. It's pretty hard to be bad at fighting when you have full martial weapon proficiency and the ability to arbitrarily increase your Strength and Constitution by +4 each as a swift action. Even if all of your feats and rage powers are irrelevant, you still have a weapon and your stats.
Have a succubus cross their paths and enchant every one of them, then they have to spend the rest of the session competing for her affections and wooing her, and the one who impresses her most gets a kiss (and a negative level, lol). Lots of fun roleplaying there.
Neither of those spell components have a listed cost, but both sound rare and expensive. What are your thoughts on this?
The lack of cost is intentional. Putting a price tag on something means you can buy it. Part of the reason these spells are so special is they require experience. Parleying or interaction with or slaying a phoenix, and killing a fire elemental. In order to obtain the power to cast these spells, your character must actively participate in lots of research and roleplaying that ties him to fire specifically, and thus obtain the ashes of a phoenix and the ashes of a fire elemental.
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Interesting spells. I hate to almost hijack here, but what does (PEACH please) mean? I've seen it several times on the boards but do not know its meaning.
You just gave me an idea for my own homebrew; a metamagic that turns Fireball into flaming wings. And then you can cast the fireball at any time, but it consumes the wings. Probably have you float down as Fly after you turn the wings into a fireball.
Anyway, I think the spells look reasonable. I'm not quite sure what the secondary wing attacks will do, presuming you're a wizard or similarly "bad at attacking" class. And since it has a range of personal, rather than fly, you wouldn't be able to give it to a friend. Then again, this is homebrew, so I'm guessing it could serve a purpose in your game. Overall, has some perks over Fly, but doesn't replace it. (Does this spell have you float down like fly when it ends? Or do you just start falling? If it doesn't, be sure to have feather fall!)
This spell does not have any additional functions other than those listed. It is not the fly spell. It does not grant a bonus to Fly checks, nor does it protect you from falling damage if the spell ends or is dispelled.
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The fireball is strong; but about as strong as I would expect from a 5th level spell? I always found Cone of Cold disappointing for the level, so this seems good. Comparing it to evocations like Icy Prison that's also at 5th level and Cold Ice Strike at 6th level, it seems reasonable. Although I'm curious how that fireball would function under an admixture evoker; would the immunity piercing also change elements? Or does that only function in it's original form?
The spell clearly states it ignores fire resistance. If you change the type or element of the spell, you are still going to ignore fire resistance only.
Admixture or the Elemental Spell feat does not change the components of the spell. The ashes of a fire elemental, a piece of the Plane of Fire, cannot help you pierce acid or electricity resistance.
Frostfell's Wings of the Phoenix School Transmutation (Polymorph) [Fire]
Level Wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (A pouch of ashes collected from the corpse of a phoenix before it resurrects)
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 1 min/level
By calling upon the fires of the fallen phoenix, you partially transform your body into a beast of fire. You grow a pair of burning wings that support your weight, giving you a fly speed equal to twice your base land speed. You can ascend at half speed and descend at double speed. Your maneuverability is based on your Size.
Tiny or Smaller: Perfect
Small or Medium: Good
Large: Average
Huge or Larger: Poor
You can make attacks with your wings, treating them as secondary natural weapons that deal damage based on your Size (1d4 for a Medium creature) plus half your Strength modifier. You take a -5 penalty on your attack rolls with your wings, which can be modified by the Multiattack feat if you have it. Your wings deal an additional 1d6 fire damage to any creature you strike with them.
Frostfell's Improved Fireball School Evocation [Fire]
Level Wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (The ashes of a slain fire elemental)
Range Long
Area 20 ft radius spread
Duration Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex Half SR Yes
This spell is cast in the same way as fireball, and still detonates prematurely if the bead touches anything before it reaches its target.
When cast, the target is seared in an explosion of blue flames, burning hotter than any dragon's fire. This power comes from the Plane of Fire itself.
This spell deals 1d6 points of fire damage to all creatures in the area of effect with a Reflex save for half (maximum of 15d6 fire damage). Additionally, this spell ignores up to half your caster level in fire resistance of the target (max 10 resistance ignored). If the target is immune to fire, it instead takes half the damage this spell deals (which can be reduced to a quarter of the damage with a successful Reflex save).
I guess I could grant him the at-will and constant spell-like abilities and wall of fire 3 times as a spell-like ability and just leave mass critical cure and fire storm out of it.
I would get rid of the material component and give the spellcaster full access to all of the spell-like abilities and supernatural abilities of a true phoenix, including resurrection. However, if the resurrection ability is used, the focus (the phoenix tail feather) is destroyed. Depending on the GM, a character could easily abuse this by gathering a bunch of tail feathers from a phoenix. On the other hand, if the tail feather can only be used for the spell if it is both freely given and from a phoenix that hasn't used its resurrection ability in the last year, it might cut down on potential abuse.
Remember, by casting the spell, your character isn't just transforming into any old creature, he is representing the noble and pure phoenix.
Unfortunately, for balance purposes I cannot give the caster the spell-like abilities of a pure phoenix. That would allow the caster access to the spell mass cure critical wounds 3 times as a spell-like ability, which is an 8th level cleric spell. Not even the mighty wish spell allows a wizard to duplicate an 8th level cleric spell, much less 3 times with one casting and no expensive component. Same thing with fire storm (another 8th level cleric spell). So, in addition to all the goodies of being a true phoenix, I would essentially be giving the caster 6 Stilled Silent 8th level cleric spells for one 9th level spell slot...with no expensive component.
I initially had the same thought process as you, but from a balance perspective it just isn't possible to allow that kind of power in a wizard's hands from just one spell slot.
I hate the shapechange spell. Sure, it gives you the "versatility" and "option" to change forms mid duration, and sure, it has a 10 min/level duration instead of a 1 min/level duration, but that's all you get. If you're changing forms just for a single combat, against a final boss or a powerful creature that you need 9th level power to defeat...there's no option. Longer duration and formshifting or not, the shapechange spell offers you up to 8th level spell power. So, without further ado, I present my 9th level transmutation spell.
The spell is Wizard 9 because it was created by my character, Stark Frostfell, who is a wizard. As a spell that was researched and specially created by a wizard, it can only be cast by copying it out of his spellbook. (Even a sorcerer with a scroll of it can't use it)
Frostfell's Flight of the Phoenix School Transmutation (Polymorph) [Good]
Level Wizard 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (A phoenix's tail feather), M (See Special)
Range Personal
Target You
Duration 1 minute/level (D)
Description
This spell allows you to assume the form of a true phoenix. Your size becomes Gargantuan and you gain darkvision 60', low-light vision, a +8 racial bonus to your Perception checks, and detect magic, detect poison and see invisibility as constant spell effects (caster level equal to your caster level).
You gain 2 talon attacks and 1 bite attack as primary natural weapons. Each talon deals 2d6 damage plus your Strength modifier. The bite deals 2d8 damage plus your Strength modifier, and an additional 1d6 fire damage.
You gain a land speed of 30' and a fly speed of 90' (good). You also act as though you have the Hover feat.
Your reach with your weapons becomes 20'.
You gain a +12 Size bonus to your Strength score, a +10 Size bonus to your Constitution score, and a +14 natural armor bonus. You gain the [fire] subtype, becoming immune to fire damage, but gaining vulnerability to cold damage. You gain DR 15/Evil, and Regeneration 10. Cold or evil weapons or spells do lethal damage to you. You gain spell resistance equal to 6 + your caster level.
You lose the ability to cast spells while in phoenix form, but any 6th level or lower spells with the [fire] subtype that were prepared by you when you cast this spell become available to you as spell-like abilities that you can cast at will with a caster level equal to your caster level. The DC to resist these spell-like abilities is equal to this spell's DC.
You gain the Shroud of Flame supernatural ability (as the standard phoenix). The DC for the Reflex save is equal to this spell's DC.
Additionally, once per year, if you would be killed while you are in phoenix form, you rise from the ashes in 1d4 rounds (unless your body is completely destroyed by an effect such as disintegrate). You come back with 1 permanent negative level and full hit points, as if you were revived by the spell resurrection. You cannot be resurrected if your body is slain while on desecrated ground. After this effect is used, all further castings you have of this spell (including spells you cast from a magic item) will not allow you to resurrect yourself until one full year has passed.
Special:
You have the option of not including the resurrection in the effect as you cast this spell (and you don't have to include it if you already have been resurrected within the last year). If you wish to include the resurrection effect in a casting of the spell, that spell has an additional material component of a diamond worth at least 10,000 gp (The diamond is consumed and you are not refunded even if you do not die and resurrect during the casting).
My favorite 4th level spells? Detonate, fire shield, fire trap, firefall and wall of fire. 4th level is when damage starts getting really good, though fireball is of course no slouch either.
Detonate is an amazing spell to ready an action to use. It's not uncommon for a powerful creature to try and rush the weakest creature with its final moments after it's been dueling with the warrior all game. You can bait it in by letting it think you're just a scrawny human with no armor, and then BOOM! Essentially, detonate turns you into your own explosive runes.
Firefall is a nice tool to prepare in case your DM tries to be cute and throw a creature with the [fire] subtype at you to try and challenge you. It's also a nice combination with wall of fire, you form a barrier and then turn it into a mortar.
Fire shield is, sadly, personal only, though it can be cast on your eidolon if you're a summoner which is pretty great. You can always craft a wand of it and give it to the tank, he'll be glad you did.
Fire trap is like fire shield for your backpacks. It's great. Now you can trap the box you keep your spellbook in, and inscribe explosive runes on the cover! Unfortunately, fire trap is Reflex Half so evasion does get around it, but most damage spells are Save Half anyway so you'll want Elemental Focus and Greater Elemental Focus.
I know how my DM used to guard magic shops, because I actually robbed one once. (True neutral beguiler).
I went up to the counter and asked to see the shopkeeper's Ioun stones that he had in stock. The shopkeeper picked up a large crate of them from behind the register and was going to hand me the one I wanted, but I cast entice gift on him and he handed the entire thing to me, then I quickly invisibilitied myself and left.
Later, I was investigating my stock (Detect magic doesn't let you identify magic items in 3.5 like it does in Pathfinder, so I had to try each one out to figure out what they did). My DM got me good for this. She had some of the magic items end up being cursed. So when I put them over my head, I was subjected to their curses. I discovered that of the 10 different colors I tried on, 3 of them were cursed (but I successfully identified all of them).
The 3 that were cursed I didn't know were cursed until they were floating over my head, so my character was afflicted by all three curses. The first darkened my heart, pushing me towards evil over the course of 24 hours. The second corrupted my body, altering my gender over the course of 24 hours. The third was a horrible curse that left my character nauseated as long as he was affected by it. Thankfully, the cleric in the party managed to break the nausea curse immediately, but he had only prepared one remove curse for the day, so I had to put up with the rest of the curses for the rest of the day.
I went back to the shop in disguise and as it turns out, the shopkeeper had a special pair of lenses infused with arcane sight that was tuned to the curses he used, so that he could tell with a glance which items were cursed and which weren't, and he had a wand of remove curse behind the desk to cast on items before he sold them.
And that is how magic item shops are protected in my DM's world. We never tried to rob one again.
If you want, you could try asking your DM if you could homebrew a new poison that casts baleful polymorph on its ingester Emperor's New Groove style. Then turn all your enemies into monkeys, rabbits and llamas and laugh and laugh and laugh.
Hey guys! What's your favorite class feature in PF? Paizo content only please. By class feature, I mean a specific ability that is listed in a class or archetype's section (stuff like Smite Evil or Rage, not spells or rage powers or rogue talents).
Your decision could be based on the power of the ability, the utility of the ability, or just how plain cool it is thematically. But let us know the reason as well!
I'll start. My favorite class feature in Pathfinder is the Dancing Flame supernatural ability from the Fire wizard (Arcane Elemental Schools, APG). This ability just epitomizes everything I think a fire mage should be able to do, and I'm depressed that sorcerers don't get it because I feel like it displays an innate control over fire rather than something you studied to get.
Picture this, the ability to raise your hand and instantly move any nonmagical fire 30 feet. If the fire has a new fuel source, that fuel source catches fire and the fire continues to burn. If it doesn't, the fire is extinguished. So awesome! In a game without electricity, this gives you unchecked power at night. Sure, we can all assume the torches are lit, but unless those flames are completely covered in glass, I can move the flames and extinguish them and instantly disappear from sight along with the rest of my party. Or I can move fire from a guard's torch to his leather boots and laugh as I run away while he tries to put himself out. (Again, all of this seems like a sorcerer's innate ability rather than a studious wizard).
So, that's my favorite class feature. What's yours?
First of all, slaying outsiders is a cleric's job (especially a human cleric). Paladins are especially good at slaying demons as well.
That said, I'm not going to just throw your whole op away on "this class could do it better". You want to play a wizard, so I'll help you play a wizard.
Demons are immune to electricity, and they have resistance to acid, cold, and fire. Unlike clerics, wizards cannot deal untyped damage based on a creature's alignment, so you're going to have to do something else.
Since you can't slay these demons yourself, you're probably going to be in the support/utility role. (Blasting is incredibly ineffective against outsiders, as you stated, so killing these things is not your strong suit, pure and simple).
It would help immensely if you could tell us what the rest of your party looks like.
Spells like haste, greater invisibility, magic circle against evil/chaos and fly are your bread and butter. Spells that try to harm the demons won't work, because of spell resistance. Even if you try to use conjuration spells like stinking cloud and ice spears, you're still going to have to beat their saving throws and if you don't, you've wasted your actions.
Arcane magic is generally pretty awful at dealing with demons, so support is how you can move forward. Be a transmuter or a diviner (or a universalist) and keep your party safe with buff spells and premonitions. You can't be the attacker, but you can be the defender.
Aaaaaanyways, so, as a general consensus, mounted fury 10 is the best entry into MR?
The general consensus is based on what your goal is.
If your goal is to deal maximum melee damage with an enormous ragebeast, then yes. Mounted Fury 10 is the best way to do that.
If your goal is to be a powerful melee fighter with a powerful mount, but also have some other relevance besides outside of combat, then a nature oracle or a druid is probably better for you.
A wild caller has the ability to gain quite a few extra evolution points. You see, in addition to the bonus evolution points the wild caller gets from his archetype, he can also take the Favored Class bonus available to half-elf summoners (+1/4 evolution points). At 20th level, that's a total of 10 extra evolution points over a normal summoner (14 if you take the Extra Evolution feat 4 times, for a total of 40 evolution points).
As for what you would lose, well, the SLA evolutions aren't that great (mostly because the eidolon's Charisma score is so awful).
If you want some kind of magical beast eidolon like a chimera or a dragon, don't be a wild-caller. Just be a normal half-elf summoner (you still get +1/4 evolution points with the favored class bonus).
If you don't mind giving up all the evolutions (it sounds like you do), build a primal eidolon and have fun with it. Here, I'll give you an example build of what I would do with my half-elf wild caller:
Ability Scores:
It honestly doesn't matter, so here's my 20 point buy:
Str 7 (14 after feats and level ups)
Dex 8 (10 after level ups)
Con 18 (20 after level ups)
Int 7
Wis 7
Cha 20
Str 47 (14 +16 Huge + 8 Eidolon + 3 Level up +6 Belt of Physical Perfection)
Dex 24 (14 - 4 Huge + 8 Eidolon +6 Belt of Physical Perfection)
Con 27 (13 +8 Huge + 6 Belt of Physical Perfection)
Int 7
Wis 10
Cha 11
Attacks:
Full Attack Bite +38 (3d6 + 32 plus poison and grab), 2 claws +38 (2d6 +23), 2 Rakes +38 (1d8+ 23), Rend (2d6+32), Sting +38 (2d6+23)
Special attacks: Poison (DC 27), Web (DC 27)
Senses: Darkvision 60', Tremorsense
Gear:
Amulet of Natural Attacks +5
Belt of Physical Perfection +6
I'm confused here. Paladins are immune to supernatural diseases. You can't be a lycanthrope paladin. Well, I guess you can, but your god would instantly cure you of it when you hit level 3.
Well, I guess if you're a natural lycanthrope it'd be fine, but natural lycanthropes have like 5 extra DR and complete control over their transformations so your DM would have to be insane to let you do that...(quite possible)
okay the point of this character is to mimick a character from the game league of legends aka draven so it has to be axes. thank you everyone for your advice!
Really? When you said a dwarf wielding throwing axes, I immediately thought League of Legends, but I was guessing Olaf, not Draven.
If you want to mimic Draven, you should definitely take the Dazzling Display feat to help mimic Draven's upcoming new passive, League of Draven.
Draven's axes aren't the typical throwing axes either, not like Olaf's. They're more like a pair of blades with a grip that allow you to spin them without hurting yourself. You might want to get some kind of unique weapon made for this game that has the same statistics as throwing axes so that they look right. Or just reflavor them, say they're an exotic type, idk. Depends how on board your DM is.
Because Draven doesn't actually throw both of his axes at the same time (except for his ultimate), you probably don't even need the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Just take the Quick Draw feat so that you can draw a new throwing axe as a free action and keep tossing them at your opponents. If you make your axe a returning axe (+1 enhancement), then you can simulate the Spinning Axe part where you toss an axe and it flies through the air back to you.
The hurler barbarian is indeed a great way to accomplish this. As an aside, the Hurling Charge rage power is probably the best way to emulate Olaf that I've ever seen. (Throw one axe at your opponent while running, then slam into them with your other axe, picking the first one up on the way).
If you want to simulate the additional damage from Spinning Axes, I suggest the Two-Handed Thrower feat. This feat will not actually allow you to hold both axes at the same time like Draven does, but it gives you extra damage on each attack and allows you to continuously catch and throw your returning axe with style.
Fighters are probably the best for shadow dancers, since you don't get a whole lot of combat usefulness out of the class itself. Take a class that can fight any enemy with ease all day, and then become a stealthy master ninja who kills people in the dark.
Also, make it much better by specializing in a scythe. Then you can be the master assassin grim reaper.
If you want to be slightly more effective in combat while pretending to be a barbarian, you can use arcane strike to add a little damage to your hits. You also may want to use a club instead of hammer. It isn't outside possibility that a savage barbarian would use a simple weapon, and you wouldn't have the non-proficient penalty.
Hmmm...thinking about it, it's not the best idea. I'd have to use a Medium sized weapon to make it believable, which puts another penalty on my attack rolls.
But...how else to make this work? I can't just walk into the party as a wizard, no way my character would do that. He'd disguise himself as one of his thugs and pretend to be ignorant and Marty Stu like so no one pays attention to him.
I guess I could just claim to be an ineffective combatant? But if I don't participate in combat at all the party will be even angrier at me...hmmmm...
This would be a lot easier if I were level 7-9 already, then I could pretend to be a blaster sorcerer with shadow evocation/conjuration.
Suggestions, guys? What would be the best way to handle playing a paranoid character who hides his magic from everyone else while still contributing to the party?
Edit: I think I should post some details since I'm asking for advice. Here you guys go:
Party composition:
Samurai (Order of the Seal)
Rogue with an epic backstory
Alchemist
Bard
Undecided
Me (Mage of the Veil/Veiled Illusionist)
Do you plan on letting the thread know how it all plays out? I'd like to know if your group found it an inspired idea, or got angry and leapt into sudden, over-reactive PvP.
Or just had one of the others take Skill Focus (Sense Motive) out of suspicion.
I wasn't, no, because the game doesn't start until mid August and there's the whole thread necro thing.
I kinda like the idea. Communicating via sending your GM messages on his cell phone or just passing small paper below the table, should work unnoticed.
I once played a witch in a different RPG system, where witches are in constant danger of being burned at the stake. She specialized in social skills, and pretend to be more of a roguelike character, instead of a caster. I also had the front page of a fake character sheet on top of a normal one.
When they found out they didn't mind at all.
The problem with your scenario though is, it going to take a lot of time to introduce you.
Yeah, that's true.
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And scaring away an entire town with just disguises? Why make it abandoned in the first place?
Why not just have some merchants and tavernowners be afraid of some faceless kingpin?
I thought the idea of the PCs coming to a ghost town would set a real cool mood for the introduction.
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Why did your character stay there alone? What did he do there until the heroes arrived?
Ah, that's all explained in my character's backstory. My character was a child when his father was tricked into investing a large amount of money in a black market operation by his uncle. When the operation was found out, his uncle produced papers that showed his father's investments, making his father seem like the head honcho. So the king had his father, mother and him all sent to a prison work camp, where he slaved away day after day while the warden harassed his mother. Then...some inappropriate stuff happened that ended with his father being executed and his mother sentenced to solitary confinement for her lifetime. He is fed and tries to escape, managing to sneak into the palace and flat out running through the halls making a break for it in a panic. He knocks over the king, which makes the king drop the ring he was examining and it lands in my character's pocket LOTR style, then he keeps running none the wiser.
So my character is an escaped convict who has physically assaulted and stolen from the king. That's why he's hiding out in a ghost town alone with a million different disguises. He's worried that he's going to be captured and killed for his crimes.
These crimes happened 36 years ago, and they were the cause of him studying magic in the first place. When he escaped to this town he hid himself in a condemned library that hadn't been scheduled for demolition. He taught himself magic with the books there and spent his life hiding in fear. His paranoia has only built up over years and years of solitude.
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And last but not least aren't there any neighbouring cities, who could send adventurers? A high level Paladin, totally ignorant of fear, and with insane Willsaves to resist your illusions. A wizard specializing in Divination out to find you. There still are many unanswered questions.
Dunno about you, but "other adventurers" rarely comes up in my games. It makes the PCs feel more special if they really are just the cream of the crop when it comes to good guys. I have yet to meet a DM who had a powerful NPC that wasn't either a part of the party or just a quest giver.
It also becomes less funny if you're relying on PC glow and GM fiat to pull it off. I'm not sure what level you're starting at, but it's not low if you've pulled off the scam in the backstory.
Don't forget how Disguise works either:
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Usually, an individual makes a Perception check to see through your disguise immediately upon meeting you and every hour thereafter.
You [b]need to always beat everyone's 20 on perception. That's a lot of rolls. They don't have to ask to make them. Eventually the guy who's maxed Perception will roll a 20.
Unless that's all getting handwaved away.
Sure, it'll be difficult, though I doubt my DM will want to bog down gameplay by making five Perception rolls every hour.
Anyway, even if they realize it's a disguise, that doesn't mean they see my true form, right? It just means they know that I'm not actually that particular dwarf wearing that particular armor with that hair color and that beard. Sure they might think something's up, but they can't force me to tell them anything and if they confront me about it then the jig is up sooner than I expected.
I have to at least try. There's really no other way to play a character who is so obsessed with deceit that he chooses Illusion over every other school of magic and goes into a prestige class whose only class features give him more real and more long-lasting disguises.
Um, will saves all the time? How will you keep that secret ooc?
The Will save is only if they interact with the disguise. Since disguise self doesn't mimic auditory, they don't get to save against my voice, only if they touch me, and they won't.
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No, it won’t be funny. It won’t be funny at all. Correction, it might be funny to you, the way it’s funny to a bully when he teases another kid on the playground, but it won’t be funny to them.
Well, I'm a sadist, so that makes sense. I love enjoying a nice prank at other people's expense. But like I said before, I'm going to make sure the group is okay with it first and if they aren't, I'll just tell them the truth out of character and only deceive them in character.
With my maximum ranks in Disguise, my Charisma and the +10, I have a +19 to my Disguise checks, making my lowest rolls in the mid 20s at level 5. However, remember that I only make one Disguise check at the very beginning of the Disguise and it only comes up if the enemy tries to see through it. So...I guess they can call Perception checks on me when they like, but I won't be subject to the RNG more than once.
Without giving away to much, you could ask the other players: "hey guys, my next character will be holding back some info, and will keep secrets from the rest of you. Do you want to know these secrets out of character, and share a laugh, or do you want to have them revealed to youa s players at the same time they are revealed to your characters."
Okay, yeah, that's brilliant. I'm going to do this. At least that way, they'll see it coming and it will most likely keep them from being agitated if they say keep your secrets. And if they don't, well, then I'll know they would have been upset later on and I will have avoided it altogether.
You should be upfront and honest with the other players out of character and hope they have the role-playing cajones to separate in and out of character knowledge. I've had players attempt similar things and it usually ends in bad blood between the players. There is a certain amount of implicit trust expected in this game for it to work without it devolving into PvP in the first 5 minutes. If you later reveal that you had been conning them all along...well don't expect them to want to play with you anymore.
That's the issue though, I really don't think they will be able to separate IC and OOC. As I stated earlier, this is still new for three of the five of them.
You all think it's going to go wrong, and that's the reason I posted this thread. I was unsure. Are you all absolutely sure there are no steps I can take to make this work out nice in the end?
