One of my personal favourite channeling builds would be a Cleric 1 / Ravener Hunter Inquisitor X, which with the Channeling Scourge feat would give you full scaling negative energy channel for the purposes that matter. Ravener Hunter would let you pick up the Channel revelation, giving you almost full scaling progression for positive energy. (still capping at 10d6 if I remember the scaling right at level 20). Just make sure that your cleric domain powers are not reliant on level scaling.
Well, I'm aiming for a Mystic Theurge/"True Necromancer"; any advice for that?
Not 100% sure what you'd want by "True Necromancer", but if the idea is that you want to channel to command undead and to heal the living, you could potentially do some combination of a Spirit Guide Oracle that grabs the Life Spirit (for Channel positive at level 4, as Melkiador commented above), and with the Bones mystery you can pick up Command Undead with 3+CHA uses as a Revelation, together with getting Animate Dead as a bonus spell known at level 6. Just make sure to have a good flavor justification, as these might be seen as not being entirely compatible with one another. (A spirit guide cannot bond with a spirit that is incompatible with her alignment, ethos, or mystery (GM’s discretion).)
If limited Theurgy is your goal, and you don't want stuff like Equipment Trick: Sunrod for early access, I'd suggest picking up Planar Heritage (Shabti) and making your own mini-theurge list with spells known from the Psychic list. That way you get full Oracle casting progression, as well as essentially selective 8th level spell access from the Psychic list.
One of my personal favourite channeling builds would be a Cleric 1 / Ravener Hunter Inquisitor X, which with the Channeling Scourge feat would give you full scaling negative energy channel for the purposes that matter. Ravener Hunter would let you pick up the Channel revelation, giving you almost full scaling progression for positive energy. (still capping at 10d6 if I remember the scaling right at level 20). Just make sure that your cleric domain powers are not reliant on level scaling.
Is there a reason behind perform (oratory) over profession (herbalist)? You'll want some points in herbalism to meet those DCs to remove fatigue, etc. If you don't want to dip arcane, UMD is always good, too, especially if you are the only caster.
Make whole is good to have, but get that using scrolls or a page of knowledge.
For metamagic, aquatic, benthic, and steam are all useful. Aquatic is the general purpose, while steam is more specific to fire spells, but it doesn't cost an extra +1 spell slot level.
If you dip for arcane spell list access, sorcerer is more compatible as a CHA-based caster, but the wizard can continue to gain spells and scribe the scrolls. A third option is the arcanist. There are some good exploits. Metamixing is excellent for spontaneous casters.
It is my understanding that in order to garner Infamy (a sort of reputation currency in the campaign), we need to have someone with a strong Perform, Bluff, or Intimidate check that's quite tough. (DC = 15+(party levelx2)). As we're using the background skills subsystem, I figured I could put some of those points into perform for "free", whereas Bluff or Intimidate would cost me real skill points (and are also not class skills).
I've put one skill point into prof. Herbalist too, but as it only really starts getting important at level 7, I thought I'd prioritize our potential for garnering Infamy, before making sure that my herbalist modifier is up to par by the level it'll matter. :)
But okay, yeah, I'm seeing a near consensus on the importance of accessing the arcane full caster list. While I'm not sold on dipping for 1st level spells, I'll make sure to crank my UMD up too. I don't suppose there are any easy ways of getting it as a class skill, other than traits and such?
Duly noted. As the resident charismatic fellow (though, I dare say our entire three-man party is decently charismatic) I'll probably pick up Tap Inner Beauty as a spell known at level 5 to further enhance those charisma-based checks, because I just realized that Liberating Command could have saved our party vigilante's bacon much more easily on Bonewrack Isle - it felt like he got grappled every combat, and now I might be able to prevent that from happening again. Au revoir, Murderous Command. I'll miss you.
In any case, I'll make sure to grab either a MM rod of Aquatic Spell or the like, and it sure seems like Hydrophobia might be worth fitting into my spells known.
casting underwater - a potion in a potion sponge, air bubble:C1@1 will give you 10 rounds of breathing and verbal components for 52gp.
Casting FIRE underwater is a special problem. You've traded some variability for power but just cast something else until you have better battlefield conditions.
Aquatic or Benthic Metamagic (+1) is helpful.
Put useful but infrequently cast spells on a scroll so you can focus your slots on daily/attack spells.
Herbalist is a pain to run and the GM has to manage it.
Ranks in Acrobatics(3-5 ranks, fighting defensively), Heal(1+), Knw(local 1+, for humanoids), Ride(3-5 ranks, for a horse), Sense Motive(1+), Stealth(1+, for invisibility) would be better than lots of ranks in Climb(to 0 ranks) or Swim(to 1-3 ranks). Maybe a potion of monkey-fish, touch of the sea, or spider climb if you're in trouble.
Thank you for your suggestions! I'll be sure to grab a potion of Touch of the Sea, preferably in a potion sponge and to be put into a Spring-Loaded Wrist sheath. Air Bubble, on the other hand, I've already got as a spell known, and with only somatic components, I think Ill be able to cast it underwater when necessary. Looking for a lesser metamagic rod of Aquatic Spell also sure seems handy, tossing a fireball into water will never get old, I suspect.
The campaign so far has had us make plenty of swim and climb checks, so the investment feels rather warranted from a survival perspective. Granted, I'm not planning on devoting an excessive amount of skill points - I have a philosophy of putting a skill point in most class skills for the free boost, then focusing on a select few core competencies. Right now, as I am the only caster as mentioned, I'm thinking:
- Diplomacy
- Perception
- Spellcraft (for magic item identification, and it's necessary down the line for Magic Trick (Fireball) anyway)
- then pretty much whichever is most necessary of Stealth, Bluff, or any sort of Knowledge skills. I guess UMD might also be relevant somewhere down the line.
You suggest a dip in Diviner Wizard, but wouldn't then a sorcerer dip be more synergistic anyway, if the main point would be to enable spell access without UMD? I'll also readily admit to being hesitant to delaying my spell progression even by one level, as I already have proficiency in medium armor and shields, so the mage armor + shield combo doesn't seem all that enticing.
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As a side note, I realize that my OP wasn't as clear on my goals as I thought (so again, thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it).
My main goals are pretty much the following:
- Have competitive damage output. I think I've got that somewhat covered with the current planned feat layout (as it sets me up for a 9d6+1 fireball at level 6, or 10d6+11 at level 7), but if there are any shortcuts here, by all means, please let me know!
- Always be able to contribute something, whether out of combat or in combat. This means having a back-up in combat for when fire is a bad idea, or being a competent face. Grease, Glitterdust, etc come into play here.
- Be survivable. I somewhat wanted to fit in Planar Infusion (Positive Energy Plane) to boost my 'Lay on Weeds'-ability, but can't really fit it in with my current feat plan. I'm also the first to admit that I've got pretty awful saves, though that's par for the course for an oracle.
I've incidentally considered straight up consuming the infamous Rum Rations from the AP on the regular, for a 1d4 alchemical boost to Charisma for up to 8 hours, in return for 1d3 Con damage and the fatigued condition - both of which could be mitigated with a cast of Lesser Restoration. With my odd Charisma score, it's a pretty much guaranteed DC boost to my spells - but are there any major disadvantages to doing so, other than dealing with the addiction rules?
I've got the privilege of playing in a Skull & Shackles game, where I'm playing a character I've wanted to play for a long, long time - a flame oracle. She's a ton of fun to play, and I'm a fan of how she packs some decent firepower even at low levels, but I thought I'd harness the collective hivemind of the forums for advice on things that are clearly too good not to miss. We're not too decked out in gear yet, as we've had very limited opportunities to buy equipment during the campaign so far, but I anticipate that once we hit a decently sized port, we might be able to shop some. We've just hit level 4, and I am the only spellcaster in the party.
Background skills are in play, and we've got a 25 point buy to accomodate for a smaller party size. Our GM is also fairly permissive, allowing minor retraining on level ups (such as swapping out a feat or class feature).
Initiative: +5
Saves: Fortitude: +5 / Reflex: +2 / Will: +5
AC: 16 (18 in water terrain) / FF: 14 / Touch: 12 (14 in water terrain)
Racial Traits:
Bond to the Land (Water)
Darkvision (60 ft)
Fey Thoughts (Climb, Perception)
Obsessive (Prof. Sailor)
Pyromaniac
Slow Speed
FCB: +1 HP (x2), +1/2 effective level of Oracle curse (x2)
Traits:
Entomophobe (Drawback)
Rivethun Adherent
Touched by the Sea (Campaign)
Vile Domain (Ash) (gives a +1 CL to most fire spells that we get from our mystery)
Class Abilities:
Healer's Way: "Lay on Hands" 6/day, 2d6 healing on self (swift) or others (standard).
Master Herbalist: Use CHA > WIS and add 1/2 level to Profession (Herbalist) checks.
Revelation: Cinder Dance (+10 ft to movement speed).
Equipment:
Studded Leather, Obsession Log, MW Buckler, Underwater Crossbow, Iron Vial filled with X doses of Saltpeter (for Burning Hands/Fireball), Climber's Kit, consumed potion of Sow Thought (Sowed thought: Don't set fire to your own ship!).
Things I am pleased with:
- I really enjoy having a +2 CL to certain spells I feel are core to the blaster fantasy (Burning Hands, to be Fireball) with what feels like a relatively small investment (Pyromaniac + Vile Domain). It has felt deeply satisfying to feel like an effective blaster at low levels. On a similar note, adding saltpeter for +1 damage on the 'cheap' has also been a helpful boon.
- Rivethun Adherent essentially gives me a +2 to fortitude saves for 50 gp. Even better if you get to trigger the will save part of the trait.
- I like the variety of spells offered by the Flame mystery and Elemental Imbalance curse.
-Flumefire Rage's drawback (make a fortitude save or become fatigued, and you can't use the feat when fatigued) is mitigated by getting the ability to cure conditions at the level I'd get the feat.
Things I am questioning/would like advice on:
- I would love to pick up a Circlet of Persuasion, both for the social boost and also for the boost to initiative. Similarly, a Tome of Epics would also help with boosting my perform checks, so I can help the party gather infamy. What other items should I keep an eye out for?
- I've found Murderous Command to be a good back-up underwater, but with my limited spell selection, should I perhaps swap it out at level 4 due to getting Glitterdust for free that level? If so, for what?
- Compared to the trait/racial trait combination above, spending three feats on +1 DC, +1 CL, and +1 damage/dice on my fire spells seems like a relatively hefty price to pay. Is there an easier way to achieve something similar - mind, without dipping into Sorcerer? (I'd really like to avoid doing so, to avoid the loss in CL and spell progression)
- I'm debating whether to pick up Hydrophobia/Control Water as spells known later, as a way to shore up my innate challenge with casting fire spells underwater (a lesser MM Rod of Steam Spell is on my shortlist for that reason), but worry that it might just make the game boring at that point. Any play experience with those spells and this campaign?
- How necessary is Make Whole when you're onboard a ship?
- My curse makes it impossible for me to cast spells with the [air] and [electricity] descriptors, making me think that Shield of Wings is my only likely innate flight option (Wings of Fire would also work, but would be harder to fit into the build). However, Ragathiel isn't necessarily a deity or demigod that probably would embrace piracy... thoughts on how to reconcile this thematic mishmash?
If you make the NPC middle-aged, a stat spread of
STR 8 / DEX 14 / CON 12 / INT 18 / WIS 14 / CHA 10 would clock in at 18 points, and seems perfectly servicable for a Theurge.
I'd probably mention Cayden's Divine Fighting Technique - Blade and Tankard style. It lets you treat mugs/tankards as a light mace, and do Two-Weapon Fighting with a light weapon / rapier where you can replace attacks with a mug with drinking a potion contained in said mug. Wield two mugs, take two chugs.
On the topic of the guide section...Yeah I could probably do that. Can you give me some more suggestions? So far I have
Razmiran Sorc
Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle
Spell Sage Wizard
Halycon/Feyspeaker Druid
What else has that theurgy feel?
Shabti Oracles with their FCB (or any Oracle with Planar Heritage: (Shabti)) would arguably make for a pretty decent theurge impersonator, since they get to poach spells from the Psychic list. An Ancient Lorekeeper w/ Planar Heritage would thus have access to the arcane, psychic, and cleric spell list.
Similarly, a Human/Half-Orc/Half-Elf Shaman with Planar Heritage (Shabti) would have access to the shaman, cleric, and psychic spell list through FCB usage. Moreso if you add in Wandering Spirit for Arcane Enlightenment, as mentioned above.
Four-Mirror Armour. Pretty much the only Medium Armour giving +6 to AC that you can afford with starting cash, even with post-errata making it 125 gp rather than 45 gp.
I suppose you could potentially look into Demonic Implants, if you want to make literal use of body parts.
The blood can be used as a component for Infernal Healing by RAW - potentially you could argue that consuming some of it would give fast healing X for X rounds, as some sort of a makeshift potion.
There is also Angelskin (CTRL + F: Angelskin for the entry), which I guess you could use as a base for if they want to craft armour out of it - or perhaps more fun, given the resistances of a pit fiend, you might want to use Dragonhide in place.
For me any chasis must be able to "perform" on its own. Full stop.
Dangerous Sorcery increases your damage by 14% on 2d6 damage per level spells. If there was a first level feat in any class giving a +1 to attack (12% damage increase) do you think anyone would think twice before taking it?
Dangerous Sorcery is plain overpowered. The only reason people don't scream about it is because they have a very strange image of the wizard doing wizardly stuff with no damage associated.
Wow. This is surprising. You're the guy claiming 20 to 25% damage increase for a swashbuckler isn't worth an action or that big a deal, but are now arguing 14% on a 2d6 spell is a big deal?
I'd imagine it is a bigger deal because Dangerous Sorcery does not have an action cost.
As of the APG, I'm pretty sure an Unseen Servant is an excellent candidate for receiving a Final Sacrifice spell. It is a low level spell slot that can be cast before encounters, mindless, summoned (so it has the minion trait), flies, and it's naturally invisible, making it harder for enemies to smack.
I am a fan of Animal Feature off the Ranger focus spell selection, simply because it is a single action focus spell that gives flight available to pretty much any character come level 8. To the skies, gentlemen!
Rogue Dedication seems most useful to me, given that Heavy Armour only really improves AC by 1 at the cost of your movement speed, and it'd cost you a class feat to make it relevant later down the line.
By comparison, a Maestro Bard can potentially extend their Dirge of Doom through Lingering Performance, thus avoiding paying the action economy cost. You can also get some action enhancers through Rogue, such as (the somewhat unreliable) Nimble Dodge (you'd need Basic Trickery to qualify for Dread Striker anyway), Skirmish Strike at level 12, as well as the potential for Master Reflex saves at level 12 too, thus helping with your squishiness.
Adding to all this, you have access to Heroism, which can provide a long lasting boost in important battles, meaning that you would comparatively end up hitting someone at -3 AC (-1 Status, -2 Flat-footed) with anywhere from a +1 to +3 Status bonus to attack and damage.
Given that critical hits are more likely, it is a pity that most Bard weapons offer a redundant critical specialization. I'd probably use a Rapier most of the time due to Deadly, but using a Light Mace might also be fun for the forced movement.
So, is there something that backs up Diego's claim?
CRB wrote:
An animal companion’s abilities are determined by
the druid’s level and its animal racial traits.
What are the animal racial traits of a magical beast?
So you magical beast AC (barring class and archetypes specific exceptions) has no AC, size, attacks, speed ..... useful.
By that same logic, an animal companion ceases to be an animal companion once you give it +1 INT at level 4, since no creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher can be an animal according to the Bestiary.
Yet, somehow the CRB also contains provisions that an animal companion with an Intelligence of 3 or higher can select any feat they are physically capable of using, or put skill points in any skill they want, without language claiming that it ceases to be an animal companion. The fact that there is a feat that also transforms your animal companion into a magical beast makes it seem pretty clear to me that there is plenty of leeway in the rules for this exact scenario.
Warpriests are the only full casters that do not get legendary proficiency in their spellcasting tradition.
Summoning does not rely on spell DCs in order to work.
Thus, Warpriests shouldn't be any worse than any other full casters at summoning. Normally, Clerics would not have access to low-level summoning spells outside of some very specific circumstances (Tupaliq Carver for Summon Construct), but with the release of Gods and Magic, there are quite a few options that provide access to different summoning spells.
Gendowyn (N, CG, CN, CE) - Summon Fey
Any of the Evil Elemental Lords (N, LE, NE, CE) - Summon Elemental (Air / Earth / Fire / Water only)
Chamidu (NG, N, NE) / Baphomet (CE, NE) - Summon Animal
Halcamora (LG, NG, N) / Xamen-Dor (NE, CE) - Summon Plant or Fungus
Shizuru (LG, NG, LN) - Summon Dragon
Nyarthotep (CE, NE) - Summon Entity
Any thoughts on specific synergistic combos that could work well?
I'd argue that Bards make the best gishes in PF2 when multiclassed with Rogue. Rogue nets you some important things, namely access to Dread Striker (which is great combined with Dirge of Doom) as well as action-economy enhancing feats like Skirmish Strike, allowing you to get more out of your actions. Combine this with buffs like Heroism from the Bard chassis, as well as using Lingering Performance to ensure that you won't have to use too many actions to sustain your performances, and you're good to go.
Champion 1 / Cleric 1
Your faith in your deity is represented in an extremely unusual way that some might call heretical. When you select this feat, you should detail the fundamental tenets of your splinter faith, though it shouldn’t affect the deity’s edicts or anathema. Choose four domains. These domains must be chosen from among your deity’s domains, your deity’s alternate domains, and up to one domain that isn’t on either list and isn’t anathematic to your deity. Any domain spell you cast from a domain that isn’t on either of your deity’s lists is always heightened to 1 level lower than usual for a focus spell. For the purpose of abilities that depend on your deity’s domains, the four domains you chose are your deity’s domains, and any of your deity’s domains you didn’t choose are now among your deity’s alternate domains.
Special Unless you take this feat at 1st level, changing the way you relate to your deity requires retraining, as described in the Changing Faith section below. If you take this feat and previously benefited from any effect that requires a domain your splinter faith doesn’t include, such as a domain spell from Domain Initiate, you lose that effect.
So, am I right in understanding that only humans can be part of a Splinter Faith from first level, due to Natural Ambition?
You can Cast a Spell from a staff only if you have that spell on your spell list, are able to cast spells of the appropriate level, and expend a number of charges from the staff equal to the spell’s level.
How does this work with innate spells, or specifically say, a Runescarred character with a staff of Divination, and having True Strike as one of their Spell Runes. Would they be able to use a staff?
My thought is to combine it with either Champion or Monk, but probably Champion due to the charisma synergies.
Why? The proficiency of innate spells is equal to the highest spellcasting proficiency your character has. Champions are trained with divine spells, which progresses to expert at 9th level, and master at 17th. Compare that to an MC caster that gets expert at 12th, and master at 18th. Then add in that you get 4th, 5th, and 6th level spells 2 levels earlier - in other words, it seems like the quickest way of making a martial gish, of sorts. (Sure, you miss out on 7th and 8th level spells, but those only show up from level 18 onwards...)
Champion can also get a free weapon rune, so combine that with the living rune feat for all the free stuff :)
My personal thought is to make a Runescarred Champion that emphasises charisma, and takes most of the innate spell-granting tattoo feats from the recently released Inner Sea Character Guide, and maybe even the Irriseni Ice-Witch feat at level 13 for that extra 1/day Wall of Ice. Since you'll still be quite behind on what you can do with your spells, I figure that the best usage is to focus on flexible spells - in other words, illusions like Illusory Object and Illusory Creature. Shrink Item is also noteworthy, seeing as it lasts for 24 hours, but indefinitely if it is kept somewhere it can't expand. In other words, shrink everything, pack it tightly, bring it with you - and hide it behind your illusions.
Champion is also neat because it gives you access to some rather amazing focus spells, depending on what deity you worship. Sarenrae is pretty amazing for Dazzling Flash, but Shelyn is also pretty baller with Splash of Art. Regardless, there is plenty of customisation available - but I personally suspect that this is likely to be one of the quickest "gishes" to get online.
Channel is a monster amount of healing. 1+CHA is a good spot for that power. It was 3+ in the playtest and it was so much as to dwarf the amount of healing you could get from any two other sources combined.
The "infinite healing" you are claiming isn't actually infinite. Focus comes back at the max rate of 1 point per 10 minutes, and 6 hp isn't that much. Yes, that's 864 over the course of one day, but you need to sleep too. That drops it down to 576. But you're probably not able to actually use the power every 10 minutes. Lets cut that down to once every 30 on average because you're doing other things too. 192 hp.
192 is probably enough to fully heal a 10th level fighter one and a half times.
Lets look at Channel. Er, Divine Font.
For 2 actions at 10th level you can heal one person for 5d8+40 or about 62hp. That's almost eleven uses of Lay on Hands (110 minutes!)
How many does the cleric get every day? Well, if they're not completely antisocial, 3-4 (a 14 or 16 CHA). 186 or 248 healing every day.
What if they go 3-action? 5d8 * targets. We'll assume a party of 4 and that we only get 3 people's worth of full healing each time (someone wasn't hurt, they were out of range, otherwise didn't get full benefit), average 67hp. Gosh, that's actually better than the 2 action version!
Um, Lay on Hands scales too (6 HP for every level it is heightened). At 9th level, it'll restore 30 HP per use.
I'll vote for a Stonesinger bard. You buff and debuff amazingly - and it stacks with Dirge Bard, if you want to do some fear stacking. No sudden death syndrome either!
It only has one free trick, but if you check the Handle Animal rules, an animal can learn 3 tricks per point in intelligence. So, a typical animal with 2 INT would be able to learn 6 tricks, in addition to the free one it gets from being an animal companion. It's not unreasonable to assume that your starting animal companion has already been trained.
It might be worth checking out this guide, incidentally - it talks a lot about how to deal with Animal Companions.
Yep, you've got it. You get it at level 4, however, and without retraining Boon Companion comes online at level 5, so we're talking three-four levels with no companion, where it is likely to make the most impact.
The only thing that I am aware of is the Pact Servant trait. It allows you to treat Asmodeus as if his alignment is Lawful Neutral for the purposes of your own alignment, and as such, you can be a Lawful Good cleric of Asmodeus.
The trait does nothing to change the rules about spells with alignment descriptors, so you are still unable to cast spells with the [Chaos] and [Good] descriptors, and since you have a good alignment, you can't cast spells with the [Evil] descriptor. Normally not a big deal, but it locks you out of a lot of niches when it comes to summoning.
In regards of improving the kinetic blast, one thing you could potentially do is to get a Chuspiki improved familiar, and pick up Interweave Composite Blast. PFS has a ruling that the familiar doesn't progress the kinetic blast, but according to RAW I'm pretty sure it would increase by 1d6 every other level, so when you can pick it up, you're looking at double the damage output if you choose a blast that has a composite with air (so, pretty much any energy blast).
...of course, you could always just get a Chuspiki as an improved familiar and not be a Havocker, and have it use the super-cantrip without taking up any of your actions.
I mean, they can arguably get one hex, since the archetype itself doesn't explicitly alter / change out your patron (it alters your familiar and takes all your hexes), that should mean that you can take a unique patron. Whether you can then take Extra Hex afterwards to make up for it is... gray.
Might be worth a shot, though.
Quote:
A havocker’s patron grants her the ability to devastate her foes with a specific element. At 1st level, rather than selecting a standard patron and gaining patron spells, the witch selects a specific kineticist element, which represents the shadowy forces from which she gains her familiar and class powers. The havocker gains the elemental focus and kinetic blast class features with the associated element, using her witch level as her effective kineticist level. If the havocker takes levels in another class that grants an elemental focus, the elemental focuses must be the same type, even if that means that the elemental focus of one of the classes must change. Subject to GM discretion, the havocker can change her former elemental focus to make them conform.
You still have the patron class feature, but you can't select a unique patron that way, thus no hexes.
I know that's what it says, but the text underneath it doesn't impose any restrictions, rather it says
Quote:
This ability alters the witch’s familiar and replaces the witch’s 1st-level hex.
Where do you then draw the line? The text doesn't really seem to match the crunch.
I mean, they can arguably get one hex, since the archetype itself doesn't explicitly alter / change out your patron (it alters your familiar and takes all your hexes), that should mean that you can take a unique patron. Whether you can then take Extra Hex afterwards to make up for it is... gray.
Maybe this would be worth looking into? It has a specific effect on bonded animals, but you could maybe modify it further for a temporary effect, if nothing else.
After re-reading the Kinetic Invocation feat, and realising that Expeditious Excavation is one of the no-burn options on the list, it has kind of stuck in my head that it would be pretty cool to make a Kineticist that could essentially build a town by himself if he wanted to, at as low of a level as possible.
I'm mostly wondering what can be done without magic items, so I'm ignoring things like a Lyre of Building - got any suggestions?
Random questions about wild talents:
> Kinetic Cover - is there any way to make it more, well... more? It seems incredibly fragile, and not like it would be of any use when constructing a building.
> Shift Earth or Stone Sculptor? Shift Earth seems like it covers a lot more ground per casting, but Stone Sculptor allows for more fine control, it seems, plus it doesn't have a really annoying prerequisite.
> Water secondary or Aether secondary? Water seems like it could be fun with Kinetic Invocation, using Silent Image to juxtapose images of building plans on top of the construction site, not too unlike what it would look like when you're trying to place a building in a video game. Aether, on the other hand, would give access to Telekinetic Haul, which would be extremely useful for moving construction materials. (I know Aether Architect is really neat, but it's not exactly low level)
Also, you probably don't have the Aether subtype, so you're getting the +1 competence bonus from the Wysp (which won't stack with things like a bard's inspire courage), and the bonus to aid another won't apply to you.
Smokesight (Su): You can see normally through natural fog and smoke, as well as any fog and smoke that you (but not others) magically create. A number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence bonus, you can touch another creature as a standard action to grant it this vision for 1 hour.
Plus Pyrotechnics. Then,
Xaimum Mafire wrote:
you can smoke/fog up the battlefield, give your Rogue Smokesight, and give him free Sneak Attacks for an hour.
Song of the Fiery Gaze (Su): At 3rd level, a fire dancer can allow allies to see through... fire, fog, and smoke without penalty as long as the light is sufficient to allow him to see normally
The amount of smoke is great if the stopper is pulled out, pouring from the bottle and totally obscuring vision across a 50-foot spread in 1 round.
The Bardic Performance doesn't last as long, but you hit all your allies with a single action. Also, I'm not suggesting a Mystic Theurge Bard, so your suggestion is more on-topic, but I thought it would be interesting to compare ideas.
Ashen Path is also a thing, and is widely accessible from level 3 onwards. Otherwise twenty thumbs up.
Pyrotechnics turns a fire into a burst of blinding fireworks or a thick cloud of choking smoke, depending on your choice. The spell uses one fire source, which is immediately extinguished. A fire so large that it exceeds a 20-foot cube is only partly extinguished. Magical fires are not extinguished, although a fire-based creature used as a source takes 1 point of damage per caster level.
What constitutes a fire-based creature for this purpose? I figure a fire elemental would be okay, but.. does this extend to anyone with the [fire] subtype?
That said, you could always take the Mantle of Moonlight revelation and be immune to your own curse, RAW.
It's not really relevant to the question at hand (to which the answer by the rules, yeah, you still need some other way of doing that), but it is kind of funny.
Really thinking my next character is going to be a sorcerer with the unicorn bloodline. Bonus spells are healing spells (including heal at level 6). Your bloodline arcana gives light healing every time you cast a spell.
There are some bloodlines I'm not comfortable with because of the parental implications. Unicorn is one of them.
Justify it by saying that "It was at truly great cost that I got that first level of sorcerer, but that is a sacrifice I was willing to make. So sure, my blood does carry power, but it's not exactly all my blood..."
A Shabti Nature / Lunar Oracle (or Human/Half-Elf/Half-Orc) with Planar Heritage (Shabti) can grab psychic spells off-list, and so can cast Enlarge Person come level 4.
Shared Training could then do some work come level 6, for TW feat sharing.
Lets see a 18 Con (15 point buy, no severe dumping, & con belt) lv6 Kineticist has a max (after calculating empowered) of: 4d6 + 4 + 9 (3 Con + 1 Con belt + 1 Size bonus to Con) + 6 (overflow + Fire's Fury) + 6 (Deadly Aim). Or, 4d6+25 with +7 to hit (given Dex 14).
An archer fighter using 18 Dex and 14 Str has a max of: 1d8 + 2 (composite) + 1 (enchantment) + 1 (Weapon Training) + 4 (Deadly Aim) + 2 (W. Specialization). Or, 1d8+10 with +11/+6 to hit; +8/+8/+4 with rapid shot.
So its 4d6+25 spending 3 feats and 1 standard action vs 1d8+10*2 spending 4 feats and 1 full action vs 1d8+10*4 spending 6 feats and 1 full action.
Right. So what you're showing here is that the kinny's nova damage, which he can keep up a total of four rounds per day only, is about half of what the fighter deals at will. And common party buffs (such as bard song, haste, or prayer) benefit the fighter more. That doesn't look so good for the kinny...
Doesn't gather power allow you to reduce the burn cost of metakinesis? If so, the aforementioned empowered fire blast should be 0 burn at level 6 + gather power. Not exactly a nova situation - but not particularily impressive damage either.
(Also, pardon me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the fire kineticist be dealing (3d6 (Base) + 2 (1/2 Con) + 4 (Elemental Overflow) +2 (Fire's Fury))x1.5 = (3d6+8)x1.5 ≈ 29-ish fire damage on average?
After all, Deadly Aim doesn't apply to touch attacks, and energy blasts target touch.)
Apocalyptic Spell is a quite neat metamagic feat for combining battlefield control and blasting - let alone the fact that Apocalyptic Metamagic Rods is a thing as well. I'm a fan!
The recommendation mainly comes from the playerbase, as rise of the runelords leaves you going up against a LOT of wizards, which also means wizard-friendly spellbooks for loot.
If you don't want to overwhelm them, and want some consistency, you could probably use the statistics of a level 7 Gorthek bonded mount, since it will be large by then, and would likely be something like this (trying to be as faithful to the original Gorthek as possible):
Gorthek AnC:
N Large animal
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +9
Defense
AC 20, touch 9, flat-footed 20 (+0 Dex, +11 natural, –1 size)
hp 60 (6d8+30)
Fort +11, Ref +5, Will +2 (+6 vs. enchantment spells / effects)
Special Defenses: Evasion
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee gore +11 (2d6+16)
Space 10 ft., Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks: Powerful charge (gore, 4d6+16)
Statistics
Ability Scores: Str 26, Dex 11, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 5;
Base Atk +4; CMB +13; CMD 23 (27 vs. trip)
Feats: Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Toughness
Skills: Perception +9
