Ozzmodious's page

How are you finding the armor DR system working in practice? To me, I thought it was interesting but seemed to gimp low-damage multiattackers (certain ACs and ranged/TWFs) and overly reward THFs (now my Warpriest is even MORE likely to hit you with a Holy Ice Greatsword and still do 2d6+15 to you at level 4/5)

In practiced I and the players have liked it. The reasoning is that most mobs are low damage multi-attackers. Granted when they do faced armored mobs, usually humanoid, the archers do get hit the hardest but Pathfinder for the most part does favor archers to a degree. Though my group is small so they usually plan there characters together and are typically some magic class hybrid of sorts to take care of there short comings. Example the game I'm running right now 1 of the players is an Arcane Archer Magus and has been laying the beat down with spells against high armored opponents.

My regular gaming group for years has been two players with me DMing. I have handled the issue by allowing a 25 point buy starting with max wealth for there starting class. To make the fights "fair" I take the average of the parties to hit and ac and either alter or have them face creatures that face that average with either a + or - to those scores depending on how challenging I want the fight.

Another thing I do, which is a house rule, is use the armor DR system to make armor actually useful. In essence you take 1/2 the armor value, that is not magical, and convert it to DR/- round down. Example, a chain shirt's armor is 2 with a DR 2/- while Full Plate has an armor value of 5 with a DR of 4/-.

A Rogue with the Thug Archetype using the Shatter Defense feat chain is great for debuffing and applying consistent sneak attack damage against those that can be sneak attacked.

Extend Spell and Reach Spell metamagic feats are amazing for buffs. Some nice buff spells have a range of touch, even if it affects multiple targets, and up that range even to close with the Reach spell will give you a lot more presences while staying safe.

If you can craft your own wands that is a great option. You can, which not many that I've talked to know, create wands with metamagic feats which work great with +1 metamagic feats like Extend spell.

I personally think some of the best casters focus. In this case I'd chose a single spell for Spell Perfection from the necromancy school and work it. Have all of your feats still be viable for the other spells though as well.

Some spell ideas are Vampiric Touch, Suffocation, Banshee Blast, and Finger of Death.

Vampiric Touch is a great spell if your planning an Eldrich Knight. The reasoning for this is the fact that its a touch spell so having the high BaB from EK coupled with EK's cap stone is great to get the spell going. Having a high crit range weapon will almost guarantee getting the quicken off for some nice temp hp and damage. The Feats id suggest for making best use of this spell is Spell Perfection, Maximize spell, Empower spell, and Intensified spell.Using Spell perfection will make Maximize free and combining Empower and Intensified will raise it to a 6th level spell but the damage and temp hp will make you a great front liner.

Suffocation is a great spell to abuse if u want to guarantee death to a single target. Feats to use for this spell is Spell Perfection, Extend spell, Reach spell, Persistent spell, and (Greater)Spell Focus. The idea of this combo is to extend the rounds of potential success and make them have to make to saves per save to stack the odds in your favor. Spell perfection is mainly to double the bonuses gained from Spell Focus.

Banshee Blast I would abuse in the same way as Vampiric touch when it comes to feats at least. I would also add the Spell focus feats to that list since it does have a save though the spell focus feats are just good to have for most necro spells since there mainly save spells.

Finger of Death is a spell I'd highly focus upping my saves and caster level for. The main thing id do with the spell is use the Reach spell to snipe targets from a far.

To be honest your feats would depend entirely on the type of character you want to make. The examples of all the spells to abuse are mainly for your typical stay in the back caster, minus Vampiric Touch. In concerns to making a cleric necro your best bet is to focus on the Reach spell so you can make your Inflict spells useful for damage.

I'm with Dasrak in shared confusion on how he has 3 feats at level 4. I assume the high damage is coming from the SA from popping out of the ground.

In concerns to the Ratfolk you can stop the burrowing with solid stone and similiar barriers for walls and floors.

Clustered groups of enemies will give the alchemist some time to shine along with the druid if it is using aoe spells. This too impedes the usefulness of the Ratfolk since it will have to burrow behind enemy lines or up his chance to hit with flanking depending on the enemy positions.

I love throwing a lot of enemies at my party that die in 1-2 hits along with a few big baddies as their superiors that take any were from 4-10 hits depending on party size.

Puzzles are also good non combat encounters. If i have a physical prop on hand i give a real life timer for them to figure it out along with the skill check. if they make the skill check but they themselves cant figure the prop i say the solve it and give them there reward but if they solve it themselves i give a slight bonus reward to the 1 that solved it.

Can we get a bit more info on the party composition please and thank you

I personally suggest Human with 1 level of Sohei Monk and 6 level of Sorcerer with the Empyreal Wildblood archetype, make sorcerer your favored class and use the human bonus for those extra spells known, if you don't mind waiting until level 8 to pick up the 1st level of EK. The level of Sohie will grant the weapon proficiency needed to qualify for EK along with granting Improved Unarmed Strike and a monk bonus feat, i suggest Combat Reflexes, along with using wisdom and dexterity for armor class. Levels in Sorcerer would mean she wont need to worry about a spellbook or low cost spell components, thanks to Eschew Materials, and the archetype will make wisdom her main casting stat.

Suggested feats for the melee build would be: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Toughness, Extend Spell (out of combat buffs), False Focus (covers expensive spell components up to 100g)

Suggested traits would be Magical Knack (sorcerer), to take care of dead levels, and Reactionary for better initiative.

Suggested feats for the ranged/caster build would be: Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus, Extend Spell (out of combat buffs), False Focus (covers expensive spell components up to 100g)

Suggested spells would be various buff spells to up AC, Stats, and To Hit. Also with very few go to damage spells with rider effects like Stone Call and Frost Fall.

Well a simple way of being a heal / buffer is multi-class Sorcerer and Cleric with the Mystic Theurge and Candle Caster prestige classes. Doing this will allow one to cannibalize there sorcerer spell slots or spell points, depending if you are using the optional rules, for more heals and what not. Also on any down time in the game the character can spend her time making candles with healing spells or what ever (s)he wants, some of which can be used by other party members. Of course you will need a place to stash all the candles like a belt of many pockets and to further the character's spell casting potential (s)he can get a Efficient Quiver and fill it up with wands, staffs, and rods.