Relic123's page

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that once it comes to mechanical benefits the player who actually is doing the talking should have the skill appropriate for the situation (as athletics for kicking in a door, which wizards seldom do), however I have seen too many "silent" players because of the reverse conclusion, aka "if the GM will have me roll a check at the end of this conversation I will most probably terribly fail, so I better stay silent all the time", which can leave many characters and gaming rounds very very bland.

I've seen quite a few situations where a player is just playing their character naturally, not thinking about mechanics or anything, and then their called upon for a die roll to figure out the results because they were doing something that might have an important outcome and they go "...can someone else roll, my character sucks at this?"

And no, someone else can't roll. You don't get to say "I kick the door open" and it's actually the player whose character has the best Athletics that makes that roll, so you don't get to say "I ask the NPC for a favor" or something like that and get the player whose character actually didn't dump charisma and skip all the social skills to roll.

Just chiming in that this has inevitably been my experience in all ttrpgs (5e, starfinder, and pathfinder). If I'm not the party face (Cha main stat and relevant max skill), I keep my damn mouth shut. Out of character I might have a good angle or negotiation approach, but without the numbers to back it up I'm more likely to do FAR more harm than good. There's zero incentive for my character to participate in the conversation. This is even more true with critical failures in PF2, one of those on Make an Impression will screw your entire party.

You can read it that way, or you can read it as Battle Assesment providing rogues an alternate and universal means of obtaining information about enemies other than Recall Knowledge.

Unifying all enemy assessment skills into one check is already good enough for a 4th level feat (good enough, or absurdly good even) - it doesn't need to be the sole way to get that information also.

But Recall Knowledge is GM determined, so your mileage may vary.

Just reading how it's written. If a wizard does recall knowledge on a creature, they learn the creature's best known attribute (Ex. Troll regeneration countered by acid or fire). Thats the RAW. The Trolls weak Will save is certainly not its best known attribute. I can't think of many creatures whose best known attribute is their weak save in comparison to their signature abilities. Would an Adult Black Dragon's best known attribute be their acid breath or their +18 Reflex save? Whereas Battle Assessment explicitly states it can give you weak saves.

If your GM let's you get weak saves off recall knowledge, that's great. But if the thread is caster tactics, we should be clear what's RAW and what's a house rule.

Why should the party set their strategy around the blaster if that does less damage or costs more resources than setting their strategy around the martial? That's the question that I haven't seen answered.

Edit: Obviously maximizing effectiveness isn't everyone's play style. Talking about those who do!

Relic123 wrote:

While I agree with you on the macro level, it's extremely disappointing when you're trying to build a blaster character and the best advice you get is to play support.

Unfortunately, the true blaster characters are sorcerers. Druids are very polyvalent, honorable blasters, but not incredible ones.

Also, to me, it really looks like a party composition issue. You are better off healing and buffing, but who else in the party does that? If you are the only buffer/healer, then this role befalls to you just because no one else took it. And if the Barbarian is a Giant one, so all on offense and nothing on defense, he is burying you in support even more. If I'm not mistaken, you need to speak with your fellow party members about your expectations. No one should be forced to play what he doesn't want to play.

And, as a side note, Electric Arc competes with Barbarian Rage at low level. I'm always surprised to see my Scoundrel Rogue being the main damage dealer of the party next to our Barbarian and Fighter just because I can mix Electric Arcs and Strikes.

We have a Bard who does almost entirely buffing and illusions (battlefield control). My point was that my spell slots are ALSO better spent on buffing since me spending resources on damage is never better than just giving the Barbarian more buffs. Electric Arc was a blast (hah) at level 1. I felt strong and useful, but its dropped off significantly. 2d4+4 feels pitiful!

For full disclosure our level 4 party comp is:
Spirit Instinct Barbarian
Monk
Polymath/Maestro Bard
Storm Druid (me)

There isn't much party discussion to be had at this point, everyone's roles are basically set. It doesn't make sense for the Barbarian to waste actions chugging a potion just so I can get a middling amount of damage in. It's almost always more efficient for him to just keep swinging and for me to heal and buff. Which again is the crux of my argument.

I'm also unclear about what makes Sorcerers that much better? They get +1-+10 damage to their spell damage which doesnt seem very good. If its just that then that hardly makes the damage feel any better. Especially since those bonuses force you in to the Divine or Primal lists anyways. Being a Sorcerer and having an extra +1 or +2 damage at my level doesn't feel like a solution.

Part of the issue is simply you being new to the system and having a thematic idea that didn't get supported mechanically. I agree with the other poster about a fighter dedication.

Maybe ask your GM to let you redesign your character to fit your thematic concept

I feel this in my soul. I never thought a blaster Storm Druid playstyle wouldn't be mechanically supported, but each combat is just half damage electric arcs/rays of frost and me deciding if its better to raise my shield or move 25 feet away from a monster and risk an AoO. It's incredibly dull. Sometimes I get to give my animal companion an extra action but most of the time he's just playing catch up anyways.