PhoenixSlayer's page

Hi there!

I'm PhoenixSlayer, and I've been lurking the forums and playing 1e for about 3 years now. Before that was 3.5, so Pathfinder was a natural move. In all that time though I never had a chance to GM. Well that's now changing!

Last night my group made characters for Doomsday Dawn! No full gameplay yet since we were missing a person, but the heroes so far are as follows:

Gregory Smith: Human, Pathfinder Hopeful, Fighter. Picked up a falchion and Furious Focus to turn misses into successes. Liked the first-level options available for Fighter, was weighing between Furious Focus, Power Attack, and Sudden Charge.

(Mr.) Bruce Bradley: Halfling, Esoteric Scion, Storm Druid. Used to sail the high seas, very superstitious. Hasn't chosen spells or equipment yet but liked the Druid Orders. Also the first time I've seen someone play a Halfling in our group. Was a bit confused by Spell Points at first, but caught on quickly.

Deglin Blus: Dwarf (Dorf), Budding Osirionologist, Ranger. Wields an axe and a hatchet. If he can't get frost and returning on his hatchet to channel Kratos from the new God of War, he'll consider this a failure (sarcastic, very likely). Took Double Slice because it's damn good. Gonna hunt them targets. We joked that he's basically Dwarf Indiana Jones.

General Feedback: We joked that this edition is Featfinder, but they really like how everything is a feat now; allows for more flexibility. Three action system makes perfect sense. Bruce loved how the Heal spell is set up now. Only major negative so far is how spontaneous spellcasters need to learn a spell at higher levels for heightening unless they use their limited spontaneous heightening.

Will update with our 4th member and actual gameplay in the near future!

So I'm a bit confused as to how shields actually function. Based on my reading it looks a little like this:

Using Wooden Shield (3 Hardness) ->
Attack incoming for 7 damage! ->
Shield Block Reaction! ->
Hardness acts as damage reduction to player ->
Player takes 4 damage ->
Total damage to shield (7) is twice hardness, so shield gets 2 dents?

Or is it total damage to shield after hardness reduction is 7-3 = 4, which results in 1 dent?

The last bit is where I'm most confused. Not sure if this is fully correct.

So, Warded Touch is as follows:

You cast lay on hands in a simple motion without any complicated gestures. The Somatic Spellcasting action for lay on hands loses the manipulate trait.

Just so I'm sure on this, the Somatic action losing manipulate means that Lay on Hands with Warded Touch can be done with your hands full? Like say if your wielding a sword and shield or a two-handed weapon?

Hi there!

Our GM has set up an arena in our campaign, and one of my fellow players had the idea that we should have our own battle themes during one-on-battles. Been trying to find a good theme for my paly Rodric, but no standouts yet. Could use suggestions!

Some background on Rodric: he's one of the few survivors of his village after a rival nation invaded and took over his own. He had joined the militia and rose through the ranks quickly to Captain, but he disobeyed direct orders to stand down after a decisive battle. He got knocked out by one of the commanding officers of the invading army, and when he came to his whole village was burning to cinders.

He roamed for a number of years alone, but eventually learned of a mysterious continent that some fellow survivors may have fled to. He joined the current party there (as a tanky reach defensive Fighter). The change to Paladin was relatively recent: a party friend and cleric of Iomedea was killed, and Rodric offered himself to stabilize her soul and continue her mission.

Recently the man who destroyed his village was revealed to be one of the main big bads, and Rodric's been having to deal with a lot of pent up anger. He always tries to do the right thing, but when he's put into situations where split second decisions are required he usually doesn't think things through. He's been increasingly plagued by nightmares of his burning village, but instead of seeing the man responsible, he's begun to see a dark reflection of himself.

So think of a musical theme for a righteous man with an inner darkness that threatens to take control if he's pushed too far. Or something like that. Thanks in advance!

See here.

Assume a 12th level unchained summoner.

And yes, it would likely be easier with the original summoner, but it's not available to me.

Hello all,

My group is currently at level 12, and we're getting towards the end of the current arc. My paladin Rodric (Holy Tactician / Warrior of the Holy Light) will likely a) summon up a final holy beat down against the villain who destroyed everything he knew or b) fall to darker temptations and become an antipaladin to destroy said villain. Either way I'm looking at a new character.

Rest of the party is as follows:
Swashbuckler (tends to jump headlong into danger)
Kineticist (Cold/Earth combo)
Cleric (Fire Theologian, blasty type)
And the final member is usually a Rogue, but the character has a large extended family that guest star (currently another paladin with a raging Pegasus follower, though we've also had a bow ranger with a pet dire bat.)

Could use advice as to a good class and archetypes for a new pc that fits party needs. I've been leaning towards either a witch or a magus, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

Could use some pointers for my last few. Currently level 9, already grabbed Distracting Charge and Outflank, definitely grabbing Coordinated Charge for next one. Any suggestions for the last two bonus ones I get?

I've had a character concept bouncing around in my head for a while since I first saw the stygian slayer archetype, and I was curious if anyone had any advice on fully realizing it. I have a majority of the framework in place, but there are still some pieces that need to be glued together.

Start by assuming a 15-point-buy. I'd be sticking with the base tiefling for the +2 Dex, +2 Int, and -2 Cha, and I'd love to grab Moonlight Stalker fairly early and Silent Kill later on to really deliver on the "killer in the night" vibe. With the focus on using wands for spells, I'd being using the Prehensile Tail trait to make grabbing them more efficient. However, that does leave the question of how to best utilize my hands during combat. I'm leaning towards either Two-Weapon Fighting or Natural Attacks (utilizing the Ranger Combat Style talents appropriately). I'm just having a lot of trouble choosing between the two.

TWF: Pros include lots of attacks later on and the chance to go into feats like two-weapon feint for sneak attack goodness. Cons are mainly related to action economy: if I need to use a wand in battle, I'd need to drop my weapon and pick it up later on, and while a weapon cord would help with that, it's not the most efficient thing. Magic items (like say, a glove of storing) could certainly help, but it might take a bit to build up the necessary funds.

Natural Attack: Pros include lots of attacks by 2nd level (grabbing the Maw or Claw racial trait for bite and the Natural style feat that gives claws by 2nd). Can also boost damage dice through feats in the style. Not as much of an issue if I need to use a wand, since I'll still have two attacks (bite and one claw). Cons would be less chance for feinting due to not being able to use two-weapon feint, but then again sneak attacks are more gravy for a slayer than necessary (like for a rogue). Also, I honestly have no idea what feats to focus on if I go this route.

This isn't a character I'll be building right away, more of a thought experiment.

I really like the idea of a light-based mage, and when I saw the Lightbringer trait for elves, I started trying to think up the best way to make such a character in Pathfinder. For those who don't know, Lightbringer in full:

Many elves revere the sun, moon, and stars, but some are literally infused with the radiant power of the heavens. Elves with this racial trait are immune to light-based blindness and dazzle effects, and are treated as one level higher when determining the effects of any light-based spell or effect they cast (including spell-like and supernatural abilities). Elves with Intelligence scores of 10 or higher may use light at will as a spell-like ability. This racial trait replaces the elven immunities and elven magic racial traits.

The immunity to blindness and dazzling really helps negate the "bright light!" effect of some of the light spells blinding you when you cast them, and the level boost could be useful for, say, light-based damage spells. The free light-at-will could easily replace a level 0 slot.

What I'm left wondering is what class to use for this type of character. Sun domain cleric seems like an obvious choice, but there are certainly other choices that I haven't fully explored. Anyone have suggestions on classes, archetypes, and spells?

Hello!

So, long story short, my GM has let me rebuild my 5th-level Polearm Master Fighter into a Paladin. I decided to go for the Holy Tactician and Warrior of the Holy Light because I still wanted to be a tanky front-liner who didn't use spells, but with a new twist. Stats are as follows, 15-point-buy, human. Still want to stick with polearms and spears.

STR: 15+2 = 17
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 8
CHA: 13+1 = 14

So far I've gone for Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Extra Lay on Hands, and Improved Initiative. For the bonus Teamwork Feat I went for Distracting Charge.

Was curious if anyone had suggestions for other feats to take. Some of the feats related to Lay on Hands look really good (like Ultimate Mercy), and I was thinking of taking the Cleave tree to make as much use of Weal's Champion (the Smite Evil replacement from Holy Tactician) as possible.

So, here's my set-up. Currently level 2.

Rodric Halfenen, Human Fighter (Polearm Master)

15 point buy
STR: 16 (14+2)
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 11
CHA: 7

Current Feats: Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip (Fighter Bonus), Power Attack (Fighter Bonus). Focused on a reach trip build.

Currently have a masterwork breastplate, masterwork guisarme, masterwork bec de corbin, some javelins, a spiked gauntlet, and a sickle, along with a fighter's kit.

Material limited to official Paizo SRD, no traits.

So, minimum level of Stalwart Defender entry would be 7th due to BAB requirement, though I'm inclined to wait until 9th so I can get better polearm/spear training and flexible flanking. Obviously more fighter levels will give more feats, including fighter-only feats such as Penetrating Strike, as well as more weapon training. However, Stalwart Defender would give me some feat replacements in Defensive Powers, a good Will save, and more hit points, as well as other things, con being can't move in defensive stance and loss of bonus feats.

Current party consists of myself, a support cleric of Iomedae with Law and Glory domains, a cleric (theologian) with the Fire domain, a swashbuckler (Slashing Grace Longsword), a rogue (probably unchained, not 100% sure), and a mongrel mage fetchling sorcerer using Words of Power.

So, suggestions? Anyone have personal experience with this idea?

This question came up in a fairly recent session I was having with some friends. Our Mongrel Sorcerer had chosen the Kobold Bloodline for the day, which gives him Trap Rune. In combat, he decided to enter the space adjacent to a bugbear and lay down a trap rune in the bugbear's space, which we figured would simply trigger and blow up in the bugbear's face. However, the issue came about when we were trying to figure out the DC to cast the spell-like ability defensively to avoid a smack to the head. Since the DC is 15 + 2x spell level, we naturally reached the question "What the heck is the spell level of a spell-like ability?" We eventually ruled it as a level 1 spell, which made the DC 17, but one could easily say it was equivalent to a level 0. I couldn't find anything looking through the rules or from a quick look in the forums. Anyone have the same issue in the past?