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So several people are currently playing with playtest rules in their custom setting or have converted existing APs into the playtest rules, so I thought it might be fun to try and implement more class feats to make more playstyles from the different classes viable. Maybe it could also inspire Paizo to include feats that are similar if they aren't already planned for the final version. Good ideas for adjusting the current class feats are also welcome in this thread (I know people like Edge93 has already merged several class feats in his current campaign).

Personally I really want most play styles to be viable for the different classes, but I do prefer that they have different methods of doing this (like Double Slice for fighter and Twin Takedown for ranger) so i'll attempt to support new play styles for the different classes primarily to begin with.
I haven't done a lot of math on the feats yet, so they might be a bit unbalanced or there could be some OP combos between several classes I haven't thought about, so any constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Barbarian:

Mighty Throw
Two Actions; Feat Level 1
Traits: Barbarian, Rage
Requirements: Your are wielding a weapon with the thrown trait
You throw your weapon with a mighty force at the enemy staggering or knocking it down.
Make a ranged attack with your weapon, if it's within it's first range increment add the following enchantment.

Enchantment: The target is sluggish 1 until the start of your next turn. If the attack was a critical hit the target is also knocked prone. This only affects creatures that are large or smaller; if you are using a large weapon this can affect creatures that are huge.

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Double Strike
Two Actions; Feat Level 1
Traits: Barbarian
Requirements: Your are wielding a weapon in each hand, neither is agile.
You make two strikes in rapid succession with such force the target is loosing it's footing
Make two Strikes against the target, once with each weapon (MAP is applicable as normal) they get the following enchantment.

Enchantment: The target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn. If both attacks hit, the target is flat-footed until the end of your next turn.

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Paldin:

Judgement of the Crossbow:
One action; Feat Level 2
Traits: Paladin, Open
Prerequisite: Ranged Reprisal
Requirements: Your are wielding a crossbow
Your crossbow strikes true against enemies hurting the innocent or your allies
You make a ranged attack against an enemy that has harmed the innocent or your allies. Add half your wisdom modifier to the damage roll. If you are level 10 add your full wisdom modifier instead.

[Special]: If you use retributive strike add the effect of Judgement of the Crossbow to the attack. If you weapon is currently unloaded you can instead reload in place of the Strike of your retributive strike; you will gain the effect of Judgement of the Crossbow on the next ranged attack against the enemy if you attack before the end of your next turn.

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Rogue:

Precise follow-up:
One action; Feat Level 1
Traits: Rogue
Frequency: Once per round
Requirements: Your last action was a Strike that dealt sneak attack damage to a flat-footed target. The target is flat-footed. You're wielding a light and agile weapon in the other hand than you used for the previous Strike.
You quickly attack your target while it's guard is down
Make a Strike against the target, you can the following failure effect:

Failure: You deal your sneak attack damage to the target.

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I plan on adding more later, but comments or suggestion to the first ones are quite welcome.

Hi everyone.

I like doing different theory builds in the playtest and running the numbers on some of the builds.
One of the feats I have done some math on is Dual-Handed Assault (level 4 fighter feat) for a single weapon wielding fighter, and I most say I have a hard time seeing how it would ever be worth it. I like the design of the feat, but the actual numbers don't seem to really back the use of it up.

I did the math assuming wielding a bastard sword (I have a hard time imagining any weapon benefitting more from it) and it still falls short of just attacking twice unless you need a 13 to hit (then it starts giving a very minor bonus).

If you spend all 3 actions attacking it does give you a small bonus (because the two-action attack is only 1 strike in terms of MAP), but unless you have the level 12 feat Dueling Dance you are then giving up extra AC or a third action for something else and the bonus of extra DPR still seems minor enough that it's not really worth the feat. (around 1,5 extra damage per round).
As you weapon becomes more magical the bonus starts growing with full-attacks (about +2,2 DPR with +1 potency and +3 DPR with +2 potency)

But overall it hardly seems worth it to pick a level 4 feat if you don't really benefit from it before level 12 or so. I know there is also a small benefit to more easily get through resistance or hardness or if you somehow have a bonus that only works for a single strike this turn (like true strike) but I don't think it's enough to actually get exited about picking this feat.

One change I would consider is changing the feat to a single action (still with the open trait) and simply letting you either increase the damage dice one step or letting you utilize your two-weapon trait if your weapon have one instead, then it would strictly give you a bonus for using the feat and 1-handed weapon with a free-hand combat style but having the limit of once per round and the opportunity cost of other open actions.

Do you think this would be a reasonable change to consider? Have I missed some clever use for this feat, making it better? Are there any feats you like, but that seems to fail to really "do enough" to be worth it?

This is not supposed to be a thread to criticize the state of any class, but rather to look at certain feats that might miss the mark a bit and maybe provide suggestions on how to make the feats more worthwhile or interesting. I know there a plenty more and I might do some math and suggested changes for some of the others later.

Hi everyone.

Recently I have made quite a few level 1-4 characters to get an idea of different sample parties and to better my understanding of various characters. One thing that took me a bit by surprise was how much of a limiting factor bulk turned out to be for a lot of different characters (str often being a low-stat for any non-melee martial class). That got me thinking about bulk as a resource more than just as a semi-optional set of rules (which is how encumbrance have often be used in various games I took part in).

Overall I actually really like the amount it can limit certain low-strength characters of wearing heavy armor (I do however feel that heavy armor might be a bit too weak compared to medium armor atm) or make a character use a backup weapon that is light instead of 1 bulk, even though it's "worse" because it helps with the bulk. Alchemist did seem a bit too limited, but changing the numbers is a thing that can always be done.
Some of the realism in which items is L, 1 or 2 bulk is a bit out the window (and don't even mention snare kits 8), and some improvements could be used.

My overall question though is: "Do you like that Bulk is a big limiting factor for what amount of gear and which armor your character can carry or would you rather have it be more loose (All characters being able to wear armor, carry 2-3 weapons + traveling gear without getting encumbered)?"

Personally I think it's good that a sorcerer/paladin will actually have a hard time walking around in a big heavy armor unless they invest in strength. Bags of holding do seem to be a bit of an issue though, because from level 5 or so onwards bulk seems to be pretty much a non-issue for all but the str 10 character with heavy armor and shield.

EDIT: I like that a feat like hefty hauler exist, but I'm not sure I like that it requires 12 strength. Thoughts?

Hi everybody.

I have decide to try and convert rise of the runelords (burnt offering to begin with, maybe more) for some players, to get some playtesting experience in a different setting that Doomsday Dawn, to see if the game is fun to run in a more natural RPG environment. (I have seen another person have done some of this already, but decide I wanted to try the experience myself to get a better feel for the work; but I might look to him for inspiration Go to Click Here if Interested in his work..).

But I am actually concerned that some of the fights with higher level foes are too extreme for a low level party and I wanted you guys thoughts on that. I have made Tsutso as a level 4 character (just like a standard pc would do), because the few NPCs in the bestiary seems to follow the players attribute distribution etc. In pathfinder 1 he is worth 800 XP, so he is a CR 3 challenge, this should equal a severe encounter in pathfinder 2, so xp-wise a level 4 monk shouldn't be impossible for the players to take down. He is not especially optimized in terms of stats and his AC is low for his level, but still quite high vs a level 1 party. I'm also thinking he will critical hit against most classes if there AC isn't as high as can be for level 1.

Is this likely to end in a TPK? Should I run him like the adventure or make sure that he fights the party alone? Any thoughts on the build, things you would change or I missed?

Hey all.

I have seen different topics discussing the lack of diversity in several classes and one thing that has been mentioned is ranged paladin, so I started thinking about how to make the coolest crossbow wielding paladin as possible. It's without a doubt not the best use of the paladins abilities and in several ways the class and it's features kinda oppose the build.

The primary concerns about the class: Retributive Strike doesn't work with ranged weapons, it gets several boosts to heavy armor and the class key ability is strength which the build doesn't need (except for bulk issues).

My main idea is to build a paladin with ranger dedication to make the crossbow bolts really hurt as much as possible, so getting the damage increase from deific weapon and crossbow ace. Other than that high stats in dex, cha and wisdom will make him quite good at a number of skills.

Regarding ancestry my first choice is halfling because they can get +dex, wis and cha from ancestry and the str flaw isn't that bad because I have to take str as a key ability later. (However due to bulk issues 12 str might be good so you could take hefty hauler)

The statline would end up being
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 16
at first level. (I could increase con instead but getting hefty hauler might be too important)
Boosting stat as follows
5th:
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 18
10th:
Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 19
15th:
Str 12, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 20
20th:
Str 14, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 20

To begin with the paladin doesn't excel in combat, but does okay for a ranged class (even though crossbow is kinda iffy with reload, but a d10 vs the d6 of a shortbow is still +2 dmg on average) and unfortunately he doesn't really get much better in combat until level 6 or 8.

The build comes together around level 8 with the following class feats: Hospice Knight (mostly because the other choices kinda suck, and skill monkey), Ranger Dedication (hunt 1/day sucks but decent vs BBEG), Basic Hunters Trick (Crossbow ace, which is still bad because of hunt 1/day), Blade of Justice, Targeted Hunter.

So the rotation is: Hunt Target (getting that free recall knowledge should give you some idea if it's evil, if you were in doubt, unless human), Blade of Justice, Fire your loaded crossbow for 2d12+1+2+potency rune etc.

Depending on your need for ACP and bulk or not you can walk around in a half-plate armor (since it isn't clumsy) if you want the paladins bonus to AC and the nice critical success on succesful fortitude saves or else some kinda medium armor instead.

TL;DR:
A paladin with high bonus to skills (and trained in 8 different skills +increase from levels) and a decently strong ranged weapon, but limited to one shot a turn, most of the time. Packed with flavor in terms of hunting down strong forces of evil with Blade of Justice and Hunt Target.
Far from the most optimized but might actually fill an okay niche as a ranged support character in a player group.

What are you thoughts on the build? What would you change? Or do you have any other wacky ideas you want to present regarding building "trap" options.

Finally for Paizo, I know their might be more included in the final product and I (and I think several others) would like to see some support for the more weird builds like this, so hopefully make paladin fit better with ranged weapons either through feats or class features.

Lately I have been thinking a bit about the use of a free hand for various spellcasting needs and overall came to the conclusion that two-handed weapons is a bit of an issue because you need to lose grip (free action), cast spell (two-actions most of the time) and regrib (one action) if you want the weapon to be used as a two-hand weapon. However when using a bow you can easily cast a spell with your free hand and then use the bow to fire an arrow.

I'm not sure whether it would affect balance much if two-handed weapons was changed to 1+ hands like a bow. But realistically I don't understand why gripping my weapon in two hands and swinging is twice the process that fetching an arrow, drawing the bow using two hands and firing it, is.

Do you think it should be changed so two-handed weapons were 1+ hands instead and do you think this would destroy balance? (It would let a character fighting with a two-handed weapon, drop grib, fetch a potion, drink it, grib weapon and swing, all in one turn; however I don't think two-handed weapons are that powerful so to me it would make sense)

Hey everyone. First a disclaimer, I have yet to play the barbarian in the playtest, but I'm currently building a Barbarian/Paladin for Heroes of Undarin (or just a general concept really) and while some of the features might be a little lackluster, overall it seems like a fun enough guy to play.

My issue is on the fatigued condition following raging.
Since every fourth round is you fatigued, chances are it will happen quite a lot in most fights, since at that level it's hard to finish fights that quickly. I could choose not to rage until the fight is close to over, but that doesn't really seem fun.

Looking at fatigued it seems to almost cost you your entire round, because taking any actions might be more punishing than it is rewarding. So a proposed change could be to only let certain actions like Striding and Striking (or attacking with spells, etc) increase the fatigued modifier. Because overall I wouldn't mind the barbarian needing a breather and perhaps using this time for some self-heal with Lay on Hands or drinking a potion, or even raising a shield if he was carrying one. It does seem off that something "easy" as stepping or enjoying some magical juice should be as taxing as swinging your axe, and it feels bad that defensive actions might be more costly than just standing still.

How do you guys feel about the situation? And do some of you have playtest experience with how punishing fatigued actually is?

There has been a lot of discussion about healing and resonance and I just wanted to look what is theoretical healing capabilities of the classes. However I needed to limit the parameters a bit, so no skills or ancestral feat is needed and all the classes get to use wands (at their level) when/if they can until they spend all resonance.

Here is the results of the healing capabilities:
Alchemist (18 int spending all resonance on pots)
First 10-60 (10 resonance worth for others)
Second 12-72 (12 resonance worth for others)
Third 14-84 (14 resonance worth for others)
Fourth 48-288 (16 resonance worth for others)

Bard (18 cha using wand of soothe)
First 10-20
Second 15-30 (45-90 with wand)
Third 29-74 (64-144 with wand)
Fourth 36-96 (92-272 with wand lvl 4)

Cleric (18 wis 16 cha using wand of heal, need 1st level and 4th class feat and healing domain)
First 56-168
Second 62-188 (92-288 with wand)
Third 90-350 (126 - 458 with wand)
Fourth 106-450 (162 - 702 with wand lvl 4 )

Druid (18 wis 16 cha using wand of heal, need 2nd and 4th class feat and leaf order)
First 30-46
Second 45-74 (70 - 134 with wand)
Third 89-178 (119 - 250 with wand)
Fourth 106-222 (155 - 418 with wand lvl 4)

Paladin (16 cha using wand of heal, need 1st, 2nd and 4th class feat)
First 12-27
Second 16-36
Third 24-84
Fourth 30-135 (72-324 with wand lvl 4)

There will be some of the classes that works quite well in other areas while focusing entirely on healing, and most of them also got to a point where the healing seem redundant. But it does seem to me that cleric is just too powerful a healer compared to the others when build for it and actually quite equal when not build for it.

Here is cleric with just channel heal and high wis and cha:
Cleric (18 wis 16 cha using nothing but positive channel)
First 30-72
Second 30-72
Third 42-168
Fourth 42-168

I'm not sure what the best strategy to fix this is, but maybe either limit the power of positive channel or give other classes a more "free" resource that scales better.