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Wow, the glimpse weakness amp is just genuinely terrible. At level 17, the best it will ever get, you get a whooping 7.5 average damage over the unamped version. On one target, once. That is literally never a good investment. Even at level 1 and two you have guidance. Amped glimpse weakness is basically a delayed force bolt with potential to crit, which is not that bad. Not worth it over the unamped glimpse weakness though, I agree. Just highlights how good the base cantrip is.
Excellent! It's even better now. Now, the rest of the typos:
The feats and spells are very well done. I hope I'll be able to use this system in the future.
Page vi, Mythic Tier - Tier 4 to level 22? How are tiers calculated exactly, shouldn't it be Tier 1 to level 21 and Tier 2 to level 22, or Tier 3 to level 21 (because you gain 2 boosts and a feat) and Tier 4 to level 22? If you exchange an ancestry/class/general feat for a mythic feat, does that affect your tier?
Aeon, Alignment, and Demon lack spellcasting benefits, additional skill feat, or 4 Hit Points per feat clause. They probably should get 4 HP per feat. Heal N damage should be worded as heal N Hit Points. Savings throw should be saving throw. Mythic spellcasting archetypes shouldn't say "spell list in this book", it's not the Core Rulebook. Remove every instance of "in this book". I'll proofread the rest of the book, starting with Mythic Feats, later.
That's an utterly incredible job. I love the low level options here, and 21+ levels are done really well. There are a lot of typos, though. I can try to list them, if you'd like, here or in PMs.
I see. Well, seems good enough! What about spellcasting archetypes, how do they work exactly? Will there be an option to just flat-out add some spells to your repertoire/spellbook/familiar by taking the Mythic Path of the same tradition, like Wizard or Sorcerer theoretically taking Wizard or Sorcerer archetype respectively?
This sounds incredibly good. I already liked the previous iteration of your Mythic rules, as well as your Kineticist homebrew; this seems like an all-around improvement. I'm mostly interested in Elemental. Will it have options for both casters and martials, and will it have para-elemental options like lightning and ice?
I like this even more now! An excellent addition to the game.
That's a valid point, but I struggle to think of the solution. The raw value of Int, if we ignore Will saves, is much greater than that of Willpower - 8 skills, Lores, Perception, and skill trainings are vastly superior to 3 skills, even if they are applicable in combat (as Perception is applicable in every combat by virtue of being used for initiative, and skills like Crafting and Medicine are essential for every party). Willpower needs to have Will saves to remain competitve. The one solution I have is to copy WhiteShark's buff to Int - characters would also receive a number of skill increases equal to their Int mod, in addition to skill trainings and everything else. Would that make Int too powerful, when combined with the other changes I made? On an unrelated note, those are Sample Ability Scores through level 20 if we don't cut the ability boosts from backgrounds
Do you mean giving Int Will save on top of everything it already has? It would only work if you could apply the highest of Int and Wpw to Will saves. Otherwise, you'd be left with an ability score that determines Will saves, Perception (most importantly), Arcana, Crafting, Lore, Medicine, Nature, Occultism, Religion, Society, Survival, and the number of starting skill tranings, and an ability score that getermines Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation. It's pretty obvious which one is better. Even if you could choose a mental ability score to add to Will saves, Intelligence decides a lot more than Willpower. I think that you underestimate the power of Perception and 9 skills with additional skill trainings. Alternating increments can work well, yeah. 3 boosts at 1st, 5th, and 15th levels, and 2 boosts at 10th and 20th levels result in 13/20 boost distribution compared to the standard 20/30. 65% versus 66%. Pretty neat. If you do so, those are Sample Ability Scores through level 20 (SotDL-style Ability Scores)
Perhaps, backgrounds can still give 2 boosts with this variant of these rules. If you dump Intelligence in this set-up, you effectively dump both Intelligence and Wisdom (except for the Will saves). It's more punishing to leave ability scores low.
This thread is largely inspired by WhiteShark's
Alternative Ability Scores presented in GMG are a very interesting concept of rebalancing the classic 6 ability scores by fundamentally changing them. However, it does have some issues - mainly, Strength becomes the new God Stat, while Dexterity becomes functionally useless. Refusing to split Dex into Agi and Dex fixes some problems, but Intelligence still needs a significant buff, and Wisdom is left slightly underpowered. So let's go one step further, and merge the mental stats too. I propose reducing the number of attributes from 6 to 4, leaving ability scores very similar to those of Shadow of the Demon Lord - Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Willpower:
Constitution apex items become Strength apex items, Headband of Inspired Wisdom becomes Intelligence apex item, and Sage's Lash becomes Willpower apex item. Clerics, Druids, Monks, and Rangers can choose Intelligence or Willpower as their spellcasting attribute at the character creation. Thief racket can be reconceptualized as a skill-monkey racket, perhaps allowing you to reroll critically failed skill checks twice per day and giving trainings in Stealth and Thievery. Given that Strength-based characters now only need to concentrate on a single attribute, Bulwark trait can be removed from the game. Sample Ability Scores through level 20 (Default Ability Scores)
Sample Ability Scores through level 20 (SotDL-style Ability Scores)
All in all, these new ability scores look remarkably balanced. Strength is important for HP and Fortitude saves, Dexterity is important for Reflex saves and several practically useful skills, Intelligence is important for Perception and utility skills, and Willpower is important for Will saves and social situations. Thoughts?
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Can you use Aid action (aiding during the whole ritual) on Ritual checks? That's basically the question. I've recently noticed that casting rituals is actually ridiculously hard even for a character perfectly equipped to cast them. Very hard DC for a level that’s twice the ritual’s spell level usually means that a character with the highest available proficiency, a biggest available item bonus, and maxed out relevant stat is still more likely to fail on the primary check than to succeed on it, and secondary casters, even optimized ones, often make things worse. You can mitigate that, taking Ritualist archetype and gaining +2 circumstance bonus to primary checks, and also convincing an Alchemist to supply you with skill-boosting mutagens of 11+ level while you cast rituals in a hour thanks to Speedy Rituals (which means that even this strategy only becomes available at 14th level, and only for 1-day casting time rituals). Allowing Aid to work on Ritual checks would allow for another slight bonus; disallowing it would leave them brutally difficult. Also, are there any spells that give status bonus to skill checks and last for an hour or longer? I don't think there are any.
There's also a room for something like Analyze Weakness with the new Adapt. Fine-tune your Adapt against an opponent you successfully used Recall Knowledge against, increasing the precision damage.
You can still add reach to the attack, but only the first one you make in a turn. This would work a bit like Fighter's Lunge, and also make it a situational option you use when you really need it, instead of a round-long buff.
And the unarmed damage die increases of Lethal Form and Adapt not stacking is fully intentional, which is why I repeated that rule in Adapt. The part in Adapt is purely for the purpose of making the early game a little less sad. An earlier version had them stacking and d10 agile finesse weapons or thinking of giving something to already d12s was a bit silly… Can't say I'm a fan of that choice, then. Adapt looks like it's supposed to be Shifter's main combat feature, akin to Fighter's weapon proficiency or Rogue's Sneak Attack; having it suddenly drop in power after 7th level feels janky and unrewarding. +2 to one attack is usually slightly worse than just making two attacks, and after gaining Lethal Strikes, downgrading it to such a degree (+1 to your attacks for the rest of the turn as an action is barely worth it, or not worth it at all) makes the "+1 to hit" option startlingly bad. It still retains its more utility-based uses, but becomes nigh-unusable as a direct damage boost it was before, and, as I see it, Shifter needs some boost to attacks - Animal Barbarian is pretty similar, yet still gains +2/+5/+12 damage to all attacks as it levels, without the need to constantly spend an action to Rage. +1 to hit and +1-4 to damage felt like it was the right choice, considering Shifter's other benefits. These benefits are not enough on their own, though. Upgrading the d12s can be fixed by changing Adapt's damage die increase to the flat increase similar to the one of Barbarian's.
That's a remarkably competent work. Some notes: there's a "feaunt" typo in Ancestry Feats 5th feature, "mathcing" and "resuslts" in Maneuver Adaptation feat, "Adabtability" in Unlimited Adaptability feat, Immediate Search's trigger is unfinished, and Supreme Flight's level is 18 instead of 16. Also, you would technically be unable to increase your unarmed attack's damage die with Adapt upon gaining Lethal Form, because you can't stack multiple damage die increases. Incredible Senses come too early, considering that you only get Vigilant Senses at 9th. It should be closer to Ranger's or Rogue's Perception progression. Shifter Venom seems remarkably useless, but I guess that's the usual trend with poison-style feats. Powerful Venom somewhat redeems it, but that's two feats spent on a subpar ability. Overall, this looks really solid. I'll probably use it with my group, once the immediate mistakes are fixed.
For those of you who didn't like Witch's design in PF2e I would recommend taking a look at the Legendary Cabalist. This class became the official Witch of my group. I'm not getting anything out of it, but all the problems I have with the current class are solved by Cabalist. For example: Thematic gain more focus being part of the core of the class instead of just a feat like the brewmasters’ society that allows your familiar learns alchemical formulas when it levels up. Speaking of feats this class is packed with awesome feats! for example: Hair Travel which allows the Cabalist with 1 action to move using her hair gaining a +10 status bonus to speed and the hair gains the spider climb effects. Plus, all the new feats paizo releases for Witch i just add to Cabalist list. I've personally found Cabalist, or at least some of its animas, problematic due to some really unbalanced circumstance bonuses to its spell DC. +1+1/4 of your level bonus to DC is a LOT - even +1 is very notable and, as far as I know, without precedent; +6 to DC just breaks the game's math, and it's generally rather easy to trigger it. I'd flat-out ban the animas with that effect, or nerf them to just grant the +1 bonus. Similarly, Bizarre Weaponry feat chain is problematic too, with an entry feat that gives you rather powerful natural weapons at expert proficiency at the 1st level, a 4th level feat that straight-up allows you to attack with Int instead of Str (and use it for damage too), an 8th level feat that grants a d20 fatal trait on Empowered Tongue, and a 12th level feat that increases your proficiency with your bizarre weapons to master at 12th level, to legendary at 18 level, and gives you Magus' Spellstrike. It makes you a better martial than most martials, breaking several conventions in the process. Maybe that's required to make unarmed Cabalist actually useful, but that's going really, really far. These two factors combined convinced me to just use Witch and buff it instead of trying to nerf Cabalist to make it balanced. Legendary Kineticist and Mesmerist were fine, but Cabalist is… iffy.
I've noticed the same thing. You can see it my first homebrew Witch buff proposal here. It quickly became apparent, however, that people didn't like the change to spellcasting (a safer and easier option with a past precedent) in favor of better hexes, so I tried to make a second version. I still think that even with my proposed, egregiously buffed hex cantrips, Witch needs another buff to really compete.
No. Demoralize and Scare to Death are two different and unrelated actions, and Versatile Performance and Frightening Appearance only affect Demoralize. Likewise, Flourishing Finish is distinct from Demoralize. So, feats that affect Demoralize do not affect these two actions.
Oh, I made a post full of buff proposals for hexes a while ago. Would've shared it earlier if that had come up initially — maybe the alternate takes will help with ideas. Yeah, I've seen them. Those proposals are interesting, but seemingly made with buffing it to the level of the strongest hex in mind, maybe slightly higher; my proposal tries to bring hexes to the level of Inspire Courage. Still, this Nidge Fate idea is very good, and I can add disabling light blindness on allies to Shroud of Night.
I see. Thanks for your feedback. Well then, I'm thinking about making an alternative to the buff I proposed, focusing now on the hexes to make them as powerful as Bard's compositions. While that's a more cumbersome solution, it's also more customizable, as Witch is a multi-tradition caster, and some lists should have more powerful hex cantrips. I'm talking about compositions because of this post:
in this thread. It was talking about making Witch better through new sourcebooks, hence more options; but this is a House Rules subforum, so we can do better and fix the starting hex cantrips themselves. Let's look at Inspire Courage. This cantrip is ridiculously strong compared to what Witch gets, giving +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls, and also saving throws against fear - all this in a positively colossal 60-foot radius, applying exclusively to allies. There is no limit to its uses (aside from 1 composition/turn limitation, which hexes share too for some reason), it doesn't provoke Attack of Opportunity, it can be lengthened with a very efficient focus spell, and there are numerous alternatives that are as powerful as this cantrip and can be picked up with feats. What's worse, Bard is better at everything else in its chassis too. The class has light armor, more HP, more skills, better weapons, better Perception, better Will saves (why??), and comparable Fortitide and Reflex. All Witch gets in return is prepared spellcasting with the need to learn spells (and enigma bard with Esoteric Polymath is better even here), a really good familiar, some focus spells she needs to buy with feats, and a possibility of getting another tradition. Honestly, hexes should be better than compositions. Way better, I'd say. But I'll be considerate and make them comparable. The hexes are all single target buffs or debuffs. The sustained duration is… interesting, but to match AoE compositions, I'd say we need to make hexes last longer on their target without the action tax. I'd like to make the duration an Int-mod of rounds, but nothing in 2e uses that format, so we'll use 3 rounds - the basic duration of Lingering Composition - and try to adjust their power to be roughly equal to Inspire Courage on a single target. I'll also follow the example of Dirge of Doom, so hexes will affect their targets without saving throw. Let's start with Fervor. Divine is the weakest list of the four by general consensus, balanced only by Divine Font on the Clerics, so Stoke the Heart should be the most powerful hex as well. Stoke the Heart: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
With +1 to attack rolls amounting to around 10% damage increase (or 15 to 20% comparative damage increase), I'd say that 2 to 11 scaling damage bonus seems about right. The only concern is the area damage of spells that this hex empowers too, but for a class-defining ability of a Divine spellcaster that you can't improve with feats (and divine blasting is piss-poor too, so this would work best on a second spellcaster), it should be this powerful. The other themes are next. Primal is a good list, rougly equal to Occult and slightly worse than Arcane, so the following cantrips will be rougly equal too, with Discern Secrets being the weakest. Spirit Object: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 unattended object up to 1 Bulk.
Evil Eye: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
Nudge Fate: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
Shroud of Night: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
Discern Secrets: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
Wilding Word: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
Clinging Ice: 1 action verbal, 30 feet range, targets 1 creature, duration 3 rounds.
We can also make a 1st or 4th level feat that gives Witch another hex. Something like Versatile Patron from Deadmanswalking's house rules.
Between polearms, cleric domains and embedded ioun stones, I'm starting to worry that this archetype isn't going to do much for Wizard spellcasting. Paizo are evidently extremely careful about power creep (which is rather justified, given how the 1st edition fared in that respect). APG classes are generally weaker than their CRB counterparts, new feats are generally on the same power level or weaker (with some very rare accidental outliers), and Flexible Preparation taking away the third of your slots shows that the new archetypes are not going to be power upgrades either. I very much doubt that Runelord's going to empower Wizard - more likely, it'll be a pure flavor choice.
That being said, I'd be fine with the witch getting more spells known for free than a Wizard. Maybe like 3 or 4 per level up instead of 2? No, that wouldn't be nearly enough. Even if Witch got access to the entire spell list automatically, I'd still rate Bard, Cleric, and Druid significantly higher. Maybe look for a fitting school or trait and limit the slot to spells with that school/trait? My only gripe with that is that non-school traits are often not broad enough to give a good slection and limiting by school traits is probably too close to specialist wizards. That is a solution, but I dislike it due to its inelegance. Choosing by school traits clashes with the theme and flavor of Witch class, and is too close to specialist Wizards too. I can whip up a custom restriction for each Patron Theme pretty easily (only spells with Will saving throws for Curse, only heals and summons for Wild, etc.), but it'll be hard to balance and very heavy-handed. House rules are at their best when they are concise and easy to understand and remember. I personally think you overvalue how much of a restriction specialization (or universalism) is. I played as a Wizard a few times (that's my favorite class, even in 2e), and I didn't have much trouble filling the specialist slots with school spells. Sure, sometimes you'd want to prepare something else in that slot, but the situations where there are no spells of a particular school that fit into a slot of a particular level were fairly rare - almost nonexistent, if you were willing to be creative. A spare True Strike, Feather Fall, False Life, or Magic Missile never hurts, and Drain Bonded Item is so powerful a feature that I'd choose a specialist Wizard spellcasting with DBI instead of a buffed Witch's one any day of the week. Universalism is likewise fine - the fact that you're unable to prepare a fourth spell per level is offset by effectively having a versatile selection of the three spells you did prepare, and in my opinion, being able to sometimes flexibly choose to cast a second True Strike or Haste instead of Fireball is well worth the hassle. There's no need to divide prepared and spontaneous casters like that - Universalist simply has a combination of both worlds, which is not an objective drawback. Not to mention the ability to cascade your spells with Bond Conservation. We can agree to disagree on the matter of Wizard's spellcasting restrictions. However, I must say that even if Witch's spellcasting, in vacuum, becomes superior to any other class, is that a problem when other classes' features may serve as a counterweight? The classes are balanced as the whole, and besides, Paizo didn't see a problem with sharing a playtest class with the spellcasting I propose - there's nothing wrong with it from the design perspective. They only ended up changing it as a response to the need to shift the focus to Hexes (to the detriment of the class, in my opinion). I won't comment much on Sorcerer, given that I don't have much experience with the class, but Sorcerer still has 4 slots that they can use to cast any of the three remaining spells. This restriction is less of a big deal to them than to the prepared spellcasters, who must cast the fourth spell they have; the bloodline spells can be treated as a bonus you can sometimes cast, not as an obligation to fulfill.
Witch is a class that's considered underwhelming by many. It can be built well in a right campaign, but can also be disastrously weak in different circumstances due to its focus on hexes (which can be too situational) and familiar (which is not something an entire class should depend on). Compared to the likes of Bard, Cleric, or Druid, Witch sacrifices its durability (with 6 HP per level and no armor proficiency); compared to Sorcerer and Wizard, Witch sacrifices its spellcasting (getting 3 spells per level like non-specialized spellcasters instead of their 4). All these classes have their own additional tools, often as powerful as what Witch gets to compensate for its weaknesses. Most homebrewers try to buff Witch's strong side, the Hexes and ability to Sustain Spells with Cackle. That's a valid path, but I prefer another one. The Playtest Witch was a specialized spellcaster, getting 4 spells slots per level, and wasn't very different from its finalized form. The most meaningful change, besides losing one fourth of its spells, was that Basic Lesson got separated into a feat and Patron Themes, with focus spells converted into very powered-down one-action cantrips. It was a positive change, but I don't consider it to be that overwhelming. Hexes are no Compositions, being much more situational, and, in current form, are not something that a class should be built on. Thus, I propose a buff in two steps: 1) Make Witch a specialized 4-slots-per-level spellcaster like in Playtest. 2) Remove some unnecessary restrictions from the weaker Hexes, with Shroud of Night affecting all creatures without Greater Darkvision, and Wilding Word affecting every creature type. While that's a powerful buff, I don't think it to be overwhelming. There are five points of comparison: 1) Fervor Witch and Cloistered Cleric are both prepared Divine casters. Witch gains more slots, Stoke the Heart, a familiar, and a bigger selection of focus spells. Cleric gains Divine Font (which I consider to be comparable to the expanded spellcasting, maybe even better with investment in Charisma), more HP, a domain, better Will saving throws, possibility of specializing in Heal/Harm, and, most importantly, access to the entire divine list without needing to Learn any Spells. Overall, I think they are equal, with each having their own niche, instead of Cleric being overwhelmingly superior. 2) Primal Witches and Druid are both prepared Primal spellcasters, but Druid gains much better defense, having access to Hide armor and more HP, better Will saving throws, much better focus spells (or comparable ones, if Witch has access to Glacial Heart), order benefits like an animal companion, and, again, access to their entire spell list instead of a small slice of learned spells. Again, in my opinion, the buffed spellcasting evens those odds. 3) Occult Witches were clearly inferior to Bards in almost every respect. Inspire Courage and Dirge of Doom are much more powerful than Hexes, and Bards also have 8 HP per level and access to light armor. This way, at least, Witch is better at actual spellcasting. 4) Wizard is a harder sell. They now have similar spellcasting (with specialist wizards trading the restrictions on prepared spells for one more versatile spell of the highest level, and universalists being straight up more versatile with their slots), Patron Familiar is slightly inferior to Arcane Thesis, because Wizard can actually choose theirs, and Spell Substitution/Blending is no joke, and, finally, the school spell is put against Discern Secrets. The Hex wins, because Witch can get actually good focus spells, but Wizard has access to Clever Counterspell and Spell Penetration too. Overall, I'd say that Buffed Witch may be slightly more powerful, but Wizard still has a niche in other Arcane Theses. 5) Sorcerer puts spontaneous spellcasting, blood spells, and Blood Magic against prepared spellcasting, Hexes, and Patron Familiar. Blood Magic is unique, while a familiar is not, but the same can be said about Hexes. Still, spontaneous spellcasting will always have its niche, and Charisma is a stronger key stat due to Demoralize and Bon Mot existing. By and large, the buff seems to make Witch more or less as powerful as other spellcasters without the need to comprehensively alter every Hex or class feature, which is a win in my book. I'm open to your opinions on the matter.
I agree with the most part of your answer, particularly about Red Mantis Assassin - yes, AWT is good for avoiding roleplay obligations - but...
Knockdown at best situational against low-AC Knockdown is still very good for two-handed weapon users whose weapons dont have Trip trait. There are no d12 weapons with this trait, Guisarme is often thought of as overpowered due to the combination of Reach and Trip, and Scythe is still inferior on damage for most of the game. If you're using Maul or Greatsword, Knockdown becomes your only tool to Trip your enemies while retaining action economy. In my opinion, by building for Dexterity, you will take a damage decrease on what you are good at (melee combat) in exchange for better performance with something that is only useful situationally (Archery). Finesse weapons have an added benefit of skyrocketing your Reflex saves late in the game and making you way less vulnerable in case of an ambush. That's a trade of offense for defense - not a very fair one, but a trade nonetheless. Besides, one-handed Fighter can do rather well with a Shortsword. Agile weapons don't go beyond d6 anyway - at this point, can as well do Dex. On a side note, Archer Fighter with Ranger multiclass deals more damage than Flurry Archer Ranger in majority of situations. With Fighter you get +2/-3/-8 to-hit, with Ranger - +0/-3/-6, thus trading a much better first attack for better third one and occasional fourth or fifth one. And Ranger doesn't get Certain Strike, and has to spend a minimum of two action a turn to attack effectively (Hunt Prey + Hunted Shot), while Fighter can get by with only one. Fighter is generally superior at everything with bows. Savage Critical is not a 5% damage boost. However, Samage Critical is worse if you're using Certain Strike. I agree with the fact that it's still slightly more than 5% damage increase, but, if Certain Strike dealt rougly half the damage of the Strike, then, in your example, you also have 45% chance of doing half the damage, adding 5% to 77.5% of the damage and increasing it to 82.5% - around 6.4% increase. In situation where you only hit on 20, this shifts to 27.5% expected damage increasing to 32.5% - 18% increase (and I was making my point assuming that Certain Strike applied even on critical failure, which worsened the increase considerably). Which isn't nothing, but still only applies in the very worst-case scenario where you decide to make an attack that can whiff half the time even with Certain Strike, and when you roll exactly 19 on the die, which happens 5% of the time. Bit too unreliable a feat to depend on it strongly enough to spend an 18th level feat slot for it.
Yeah but I think that is where he is going with Certain Strike. Which is a feat you only get access to at the 10th level, which is half the game away - and groups generally play on lower levels more than on higher ones. I concede that once you get Certain Strike, striking thrice is acceptable, but not before.
Very interesting! I disagree on some points, however. Firstly, the DPR table, while still useful, is built on a flawed assumption that Fighter should spend all three actions in combat attacking. This does happen, but it's generally a recipe for failure - PF2 is a deeply tactical game, and making a Strike at -10 is, generally, way worse than repositioning, Demoralizing, or Aiding an ally (you also Aid without any MAP, as the roll occurs on another turn, making it very easy to crit against DC 20). Even with Exacting Strike (which is a mediocre feat due to the fact that it requires three consecutive Strikes to be useful and even then only allows you to make one Strike out of three at -5 instead of -10 around two thirds of the time - and Strike at -5 is worse than it sounds, because with their inherent attack bonus Fighter often crits on 16-18+, an advantage that is wasted on iterative attacks), situations where you are better off mindlessly attacking instead of doing literally anything else are rather rare. And, as I already mentioned, Fighters usually have attack bonus high enough to crit on 18-19+ even against boss monsters. Average attack bonus of a 10th level Fighter is 23; average AC of a 10th level creature is 29. Fighter crits on a 16. Having a Bard in your party only serves to widen the gap. That's also the reason why Fatal is generally good on Fighters. Against most opponents, Pick + Light Pick Double Slice Fighter is the most damaging build in the game by virtue of making two extremely accurate Strikes that deal obscene damage on crits. And you crit a lot with this build. Sudden Charge is good just because it often saves an action. It's really powerful even if done only once per combat, mostly because most combats are very short, and the first round is the one that matters most. Tools to cheat action economy are few and far between, and Sudden Charge is both extremely cheap as a 1st level feat and extremely consistent. The difference between opening a combat with two Strides and a Strike, and Sudden Charge with another action, be it Demoralize, Aid, or another Strike, is staggering. Knockdown is better than Trip + Exacting Strike against opponents with low AC. Not getting to Trip on a miss is less of a concern when you hit on 6+, and making a second "attack" without MAP is very good. Besides, it's absolutely invaluable if you use a two-handed weapon without Trip trait, because you literally can't Trip an enemy otherwise without needing to spend an Interact action to re-grip your weapon afterwards. Advanced Weapon Training is a waste of a feat. Just take a Red Mantis Assassin dedication. Savage Critical is not that good too, because it very often does nothing on your first (and sometimes second) attack, and because Doubling Rings exist. Thus, you spend an 18th level feat for a 5% damage increase on your follow-up attacks, and you generally want to avoid the third one anyway. A damage increase is a damage increase, but that's rather pathetic - just take a lower level feat instead. Archer archetype has a secondary bebefit of making you as accurate with bows as with finesse weapons, so Archer Fighter becomes a competent switch-hitter. Rather good with occasional Felling Strike taken with Combat Flexibility when flying enemies inevitably show up. Blessed One is an incredible option for out-of-combat healing, giving Lay on Hands at the cost of a 2nd level feat - a focus spell that blows Treat Wounds out of the water. Marshal is immensely good with other martials in the party, especially if you don't have a Bard.
It seems like you missed that Animal Skin feat gives a Dexterity modifier cap of +3. That makes it equal to medium armor and inferior to full plate armor, until you get Greater Juggernaut at 13th level, making it equal to full plate. You still need high Dexterity for that, unlike with medium and heavy armor, and you're seriously weaker outside your rage.
Disturbing Knowledge is rated as blue and 2 stars simutaneously. Which one is it exactly? |
