Praetorae's page

I have no idea whether this is an 'old wives tale' or a real job but I was once told a story of the 'Guinness inspectors' who roam Ireland in an unmarked white van.

It is one guys job to drive the van, the other four are there to run out of the van as it pulls up to a pub, order four pints of Guinness, drink them and determine whether the pub is up-keeping the stringent standards of serving an excellent pint of Guinness.

If the inspectors feel the pints are below standard, the Guinness brewery will stop sale of Guinness to that pub.

Anyway.....

I can totally see an inquisitor of Cayden Cailean travelling the land, doing good deeds and solving problems while popping into the local pubs and taking the landlords to task if they are watering the beer!

I definitely agree, if you're playing WotR and you have the option of being the paladin....Be The Paladin!

As for archtypes the vanilla Paladin is king. Also no need for Oath of Vengeance with all the mythic goodies. I'm also coming to the conclusion that Oath against Fiends is a trap.

As a complete curve-ball however, maybe consider an alchemist specializing in throwing bombs and aiming to get the 'Holy bombs' discovery asap. They can deal a staggering amount of damage to demons and completely bypasses their immunities/resistances. Sure your dealing with fire resistance up until around level 8, but then your laughing.

Hey there,

I'm currently playing in a WotR campaign and I just wanted to say, if your using the Mythic rules I would strongly suggest not going with a 25-point buy. Mythic rules are a ton of fun, but massively (I mean MASSIVELY) skew how the game plays - with some savvy picks you really do become a demi-god. Having a 25-point buy really isn't necessary, even if there are just 3 of you. This is of course just my opinion.

Looking at your party make-up, I'd be slightly worried about the lack of arcane spells and that makes me favour the shamam. Simply for the excellent Lore spirit allowing you to add Arcane spells to your list. Make this spirit your wandering spirit and your good to go!

Also, it might be worth having a word with your GM about the Shaman's life spirit life-link ability and how **** it is. This is a completely nerfed version of the Oracle ability with the same name. My top tip would be to see if he'll allow you to use the Oracle's version of this ability (which has saved my parties ass on many occasions).

I’d definitely consider a Shaman as one of the more powerful hybrid classes. They get a lot of cool abilities; have a decent spell list and access to some interesting hexes (often re-flavoured Oracle revelations). You can most certainly build a fun and effective healing character from the chassis.

Let me just interject here quickly though and say that building a character simply for healing is often considered ‘wrong bad fun’ in Pathfinder. Don’t let me stop you (my own Shaman character in RotRL is actually quite optimised for healing), but your often better to have a different goal for stuff to do in combat.

Buffs/debuffs/summoning/save or suck spells etc. are all good goals to optimise for, with the idea that you are able to be adaptable and pull off some healing in a clutch moment.

That said, the Life spirit has some lovely abilities for a healer, Life-link is glorious and enhanced cures is surprisingly useful (YMMV). Channel energy as a spirit ability can be good action economy when used well (and as long as you don’t dump Charisma). Let’s agree to ignore Healers Touch. The True spirit ability handily breaks the action economy for healing, if your campaign gets that far.

As for standard hexes, there is the healing hex, although I’ve never been convinced with this one, given that you can only use it once per day per creature makes it really limiting. I’d be more tempted to look at hexes such as Fortune (passing a save is always better than having to react to the consequences of failing) or Fury (melee characters love this). Evil Eye, Misfortune and Chant (eg Cackle) are other mainstays.

Technically, any lower level witch hex is also available to you, which opens up the possibility of taking slumber. Not a fan of this personally, but it is a powerful option.

For my own character I took the Life spirit for access to the wonderful life hexes, but actually specialise in summoning spells (I take the nature spirit as my wandering spirit every-day so I can cast Summon natures ally as a spontaneous spell with the ‘Friend to Animals’ hex). I’m also working towards being pretty good (read; Spell perfection) at casting Flesh to Stone.

So in combat I can be pretty versatile and choose to debuff an enemy via a hex or spell, buff an ally via hex or spell, summon a nature ally or try a ‘save or suck’ spell + other options. If I really must I can cast a decent cure spell or even a ‘breathe of life’ as a spontaneous cast ‘Spirit Magic spell’.

Anyway, hope that gives you some ideas. If you’re interested I can post the build for my Shaman when I’m next near to my character sheets. I’d better mention however that she’s not totally core (She’s an Oread for starters).

Praetorae

Hey all,

I was hoping to get some advice regarding the interaction between a couple of feats and Mythic path abilities I’m thinking of taking for my Aasimar Paladin character.

First, some background;

I’m currently playing in a Wrath of the Righteous Campaign and our characters have just reached level 11, tier 4. My paladin character is built as a heavy hitter, using a Longsword 2h (Paladin of Iomedae) and seeing as I’m an Aasimar and if ever it was fitting for a campaign this is the one, I decided to take the racial feats and get myself some wings, when possible I’ll be upgrading them to be natural attacks via the Metallic wings feat.

So, I have two main questions;

I’m going to pick up the Mythic path ability Precision from the Champion Hero path. I fear that I already know the answer to this question, but just wanted to check – Does this feat alter the ‘to hit’ rolls for my metallic wings? I’m guessing no, since Precision specifically mentions it alters iterative attacks gaining from having a high BAB. Almost seems like an oversight for any character that is a dedicated natural attacker though.

In my normal feat line-up I also have the Death from Above feat. I’m wondering about the interaction between this feat and the other champion path ability I’m thinking of picking up Fleet Warrior. Fleet warrior allows me to move up to my speed before or after a full attack. Does this mean I can charge and then full attack? Can I charge while flying (since my Angel wings give me a base fly movement speed) to gain the bonus from Death from above before making a full attack? My guess would again be no (since charge is described as a special full-round-action rather than as a full-attack option).

I’m hoping really that someone can make a good case for allowing either of these interactions to work. I must not have read the abilities closely enough when I was building the character as initially I thought they would mesh together well. It’s only with further reading that I’ve realised I might not get to swoop down on my enemies in a single turn and launch my full series of attacks at a +5 to hit bonus!

Many thanks in advance,

Praetorae

I really like the Spellscar Mystery, if you mostly ignore the bits that rely on the Primal Magic events table.

I recently theory-crafted a pretty effective character focused on dispelling using the Spellscar mystery (search my posts for an example if you're interested).

Personally I'd see the bonus spell list as mostly green, some good options here.

The added class skills are blue (UMD!)

Animate Primal forces: Green/blue (standard action makes this ability worthwhile).
Eldritch Bolt: Orange/green (Force damage at least, but it's never going to do lots of damage. Good choice for low level though.)
Eldritch Resistance: Green (solid choice but nothing fantastic)
Eldritch Scar: Red (Too few uses, far too random in what can happen. Excellent for RP reasons or in certain campaigns I guess.)
Magic Penetration: Solid BLUE (A really good way of raising the effectiveness of dispel magic, combine with feats like Dispel Synergy or Destructive Dispel)
Mystic Null: Blue (no nonsense insight boost to saves, whats not to like!)
Primal Manipulation: Orange. (Its a very good ability, hampered by the spell list of an Oracle. If your entire build is focused around being a blaster this could maybe go to Blue)
Primal Mastery: Orange. (Re-rolls are good, unfortunately I just don't think the Primal Magic stuff provides enough benefit to base a build around.)
Trigger Primal Magic Event: Orange. (See above re. Primal magic events. If you are basing an entire build around this in a campaign heavy on Primal Magic this is obviously a BLUE choice).
Spell Resistance: Green. (Not the best SR, but its a solid choice).

Final Revelation: Orange. Again relies upon the Primal Magic event table which I just think is too random to rely on.

Spellscar mystery works well if you want to focus on dispelling followed by a SoS or SoD spell. A blaster type might also work (although will be hampered by the Oracle spell table).
I think it would be hilarious to play a character who uses the Primal Magic event table, but I'm not sure the rest of the adventuring party would find it quite so amusing when you summon a horde of multi-coloured centipedes that you can't control onto the battlefield!
Just my 2 cents....

Thanks for the advice,

Realised that I’d written Preferred spell as my 15th level feat when I meant to put Spell Perfection. Spell Perfection is a much better feat, and is the main reason I’ve got three metamagic feats in the build for the prerequisite.

I’d love to take Quicken spell later on in the build, but due to various prerequisites (10 ranks in spell-craft for Selective spell for example) that’s the only spot that it fits.

I thought about the Varisian tattoo feat, but I just couldn’t fit it into the build. I guess it’s a possibility for a level 17 feat. Although Divine Interference is a really good choice as well.

Prayer beads look nice – have to see if I can afford a Bead of Karma for the CL boost.

In a case of cosmic irony, after thinking about this character and writing this post, my adventuring group got wiped out........apart from my character who was off doing something else at the time!

I’ve come to the forum for some advice and critique; I believe I have a mechanically sound and reasonably strong build for an ‘anti-magic Spellscar Oracle’ with the basis of a decent role-playing idea behind it. I’m hoping the learned fellows on this forum might be able to point out any glaring problems with the build or offer some ideas for feats/abilities that would synergise well and that I’ve missed out. Any tips on the Role-play aspect would also be gratefully received.

I’m building the character as my back-up for a ROTRL campaign I’m currently playing in. At the moment I play a Dwarf Cleric, who is a great character and I’m not looking to replace him, but if he does die, horribly, another Divine Caster would make the most sense for me and the group as a whole.

My idea is for an Ifrit Oracle of Nethys with the Blackened curse. Playing up the dual nature of Nethys the character would see magic very much as a double edged sword. Dabbling in it caused his curse (possibly immolating a best friend/mentor/family at the same time depending on how tortured I want his back-story to be) and so he has a deep distrust and hatred of magic. On the other side he also has well above average ability with magic and it is part of his very blood.

So, he see’s magic as inherently dangerous, hence the emphasis in his build on dispelling magic and protection from magic. Toying with the idea of making him Neutral Evil (the rest of the party is pure Neutral or Chaotic Good), not to cause tension and problems within the group, but so I can play up his fascination with/hatred of other spell-casters to a much greater extent than being Good aligned would allow me to. I also see him as quite happy to consider underhanded tactics if it advances his cause.

Anyway, without further a-due, here is the current build I’m thinking of:

Hi all,

As a very new player to Pathfinder (and tabletop RPG's in general) I was hoping to put a build idea I've been thinking about forward for some of the more experienced players to comment and improve/pick apart and trash as appropriate!

I really fancy playing a Cleric. Having read through the various guides that I could find and the Rulebooks I have access to, I quite like the sound of a support build, the 'Reach Cleric' seems well optimised, but I really fancy playing a 'Bad Touch' or Debuff Cleric with a LN alignment.

Searching through the details Paoizo have released for the various deities I came across Tsukiyo (from the Dragon Empires Gazetteer). His Domains look excellent for a debuff Cleric; Darkness, Good, Law, Madness, Repose (sub-domains; Ancestors, Archon, Insanity, Moon, Night, Souls), emphasis mine. He is a LG God which allows me to be LN and which I feel fits with the idea of using 'evil' spells from his Domains in the cause of the greater good.

I though about using one of the races introduced in the Dragon Empires Gazetteer. Samsaran's obviously fit well with the deity (and their alternate Racial trait, Mystic Past Life, looks really good). Tengu have good +stats for the Cleric (Wiz & Dex), but the -2 Con both races have I feel would really hurt for a Cleric that needs to get into Touch range a lot. For flavour, especially with the darkness Domain, using a Tengu provides plenty of RP though. However, in the end you just can't really go wrong with Human.

Stats would Prioritise WIS>DEX>CON>STR>CHA>INT

Skills would prioritise Acrobatics / Perception / Stealth / Sense Motive / Heal

Favoured Class would be Cleric with points going to hit points.

To Start the build I was thinking a 2 level dip into Monk (Sensei Arch type) provides a lot of benefits. This gets me Unarmed Strike & Stunning Fist. My high Wis would work well with the AC Bonus for these 2 levels (until I start wearing armour) and the bonus feat is always useful (Dodge or maybe Combat Reflexes seem good choices).
Sensei Arch type then provides the Bardic Performance: Inspire Courage to replace Flurry of Blows, a good trade for this build I think.

(Other options for a single level dip would be Monk of the Lotus for the Touch of Serenity or the Flowing Monk for Agile Manoeuvres bonus feat and the Redirection ability.)

With my 2 feats from Human I would take Mobility (having picked up Dodge earlier) and Improved Initiative.

Level 2 in Monk using the Sensei Arch type gets me Insightful Strike. Using Wis for various combat rolls seems like a really good option for this build.

Level 3 I cross over to Cleric, choosing Darkness (moon sub-Domain possibly for RP flavour given my deity) and Madness as my Domains. With my new feat I take Domain Strike (Vision of Madness). I also gain blind fighting as a bonus feat.

From here I only take levels in Cleric, picking up feats such as Scribe Scroll, Reach Spell, Spring Attack, Bouncing Spell, Domain Strike (Touch of Darkness) and some of the other good metamagic feats for my favourite spells. Depending how the campaign is going and as long as I survive that long.

Points I'm wondering about;

It annoys me that I haven't found a way to really make use of Tsukiyo's preferred weapon, the Longspear (Reach). I feel that there should be a way of making use of this and getting the benefits of a reach weapon - perhaps later when It can become conductive. But then a lot of the extras I get from the Monk dip aren't worthwhile.

Does delaying becoming a Cleric for 2 levels set me back too far in terms of Caster level?

Is the Sensei Arch type (specifically the Insightful strike ability) worth it? I notice quite a few builds picking up Touch of Serenity when they can, which a Monk of the Lotus could get with only a single level dip.

Can I take Mobility as my human feat at level 1 given that I took Dodge (the prerequisite) for my Monk bonus feat seconds earlier?

I've noticed that I could potentially combine the Sensei Arch type with either Flowing Monk, or Monk of the Lotus (but not with both). I suspect combining them this way would make the build more powerful but this tactic does seem a bit 'cheesy'.

And finally, do you think my build will work? Obviously it is not an amazingly optimised build and I don't really want to be over-powered, but I'd also quite like to feel that I am pulling my weight in a party. Any suggestions, criticisms or points for improvement would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers all,

Praetorae