Rudy2's page

One method I like is to give the name and type (animal, outsider, humanoid, etc.) with the baseline successful check, along with all useful information about that type. Granted, just knowing what the type is is not always helpful, but it can be useful in distinguishing between a native aberration, say, and an outsider that can be banished. I agree with DM_Blake that giving ALL subtypes and information about them on just the baseline roll is way too much. If the type and name tells them absolutely nothing useful at all, I might throw another tidbit in there.

For each additional 5 over the DC they can ask questions. Valid questions are pretty broad for me, though. Here are some examples:

* What are its subtypes, and the properties from subtypes? [If they ask this, I will give them ALL subtypes, and select ONE subtype that is most useful for them to know the details of, such as 'devil' for example, rather than 'evil'. For that subtype they will learn the properties shared by all devils. In almost all cases there is only one "useful" subtype.]

* What special attacks does it have? [If they select this, I will tell them all special attacks if it has only a few, or a selection of the most significant ones if it has a lot.]

* What spells or SLAs does it have? [As above]

* What are its defenses like against damage? [This will give them elemental resistances, as well a general sense of its armor class breakdown]

* What are its defenses like against magical effects? [This will give them a sense of its saves, and immunities to specific types of magic]

* What is its most dangerous quality? [Because this is such a targeted and useful piece of information, I only give them one thing, but I select it to be the one thing that is most threatening to them]

* How does it move? [This will get them all move speeds, as well as any teleportation or movement abilities]

Other questions are possible as well, and note that some of the above overlap in their information. For example, asking about the devil subtype and its defenses against damage will both give you some information about elemental resistances.

Further, and this is my favorite, if they beat the DC by a full 20, which is not easy, but I've seen it done, then they get to just flat-out read the monster's entry. They know everything about it. Players really like this, and I like it as a special reward for someone who really invests in knowledge (and you have to to ever beat the DC by 20).

Roleplaying wise, I like to ask my players how they know something after I give them the info. So, the Fighter [Lore Warden] might learn something about a troll, and I'll ask how he knows. A good roleplayer might say: "Oh, right; I remember hearing about that from one of my sergeants back at the academy. He lost half a hand to one.", for example.

I should also add that I assume players carry-over information shared between monsters. Like, once you show that you know the properties of devils, then you forever-after remember the properties of devils. So, if you encounter another devil, as long as you can determine it *is* a devil, then you automatically know devil properties for it.

Because once combat starts, Pathfinder is a tactical combat game, not a role-playing game. So the rules of combat are based on an attempt to achieve balance, not internal consistency or "realism".

Hey, so: I've got a 5th level character, Monk (Ki Mystic, Sensei, Qinggong) 4 / Investigator (Spiritualist) 1 NPC here. Long and short of it is that he's got +21+1d6 in 8 knowledges, and +19+1d6 in the other two, along with several other flavorful abilities.

He's pretty bad combat wise, only saved from being *completely* useless through Advice and Insightful Strike. But that's fine, because he's an NPC. I would love any general suggestions as to anything I can do to tweak him to either make him more flavorful, more interesting, or just better. Already using the Breadth of Experience, Dilettante and Deific Obedience (Irori) feats. Traits in particular; right now I have Wisdom in the Flesh and Grounded, but the latter can easily be replaced.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Yeah, I'm going to keep the archetype. I just wish the aasimar FCB worked on Archaeologist's Luck.

Who says it doesn't? Archaeologist's Luck says in its own text that it functions exactly like Bardic Performance for things that enhance bardic performances.

Or, rather than try to tailor encounters to fit the RAW, you can exercise your right as a GM to make the rules be reasonable. One of the reasons it's a good thing that GMs are humans, not computers, is that they can make rulings in areas where things are wonky, or in dealing with situations where the rules were obviously not written to apply to.

Do you really think it is preferable that a GM be forced to alter a campaign based on what abilities a player has, as opposed to just saying "sorry, guys, but the rules were obviously not intended to work this way, so I'm going to say X". Narrative is more important than numerics, for goodness sake.

RAW only takes the form of chains when playing PFS, which is a bad thing about PFS, not a good thing. In a home game, you are Rule 0, and there is a good reason for that: the rules cannot foresee every possibility.

As much as I hate Pageant of the Peacock, I have to admit that a Gnomish Archaeologist 4 / Iroran Paladin 4 with a maxed Bluff, Bewildering Koan, and Pageant of the Peacock would be pretty amazing. (using Gnomish favored class bonus to get more bardic music uses per day)

I'd never build such a combination myself, but have to admit that it's good.

The difference is that armor limits it.

Yeah; this actually ends up making it quite a big difference.

I see what you are trying to say but at the same time I would say that your interpretation of what benefit it grants is highly situational with a huge cost that I think almost nobody would take.

Here's an awesome example.

A flat +4 circumstance bonus to bluff AND a +4 bonus to certain types of disguise AND the ability to use bluff for int checks in limited situations is not super powerful, no. It's not a piece of junk either, though. It works for certain character builds.

You say "almost nobody would take". Most feats and abilities are taken by very few people. Just because a feat is no longer "You have to take this, it's awesome" does not mean it's horrible, it means it works for a subset of builds, instead of all of them. That's a good thing; it means more variety among builds.

It's certainly possible; I haven't read all of your posts. That doesn't change the larger point that further argument in this thread is clearly a waste of time.

First off, dudes and dudettes, Anzyr will not change his mind, or accept that he may not be 100% clearly and obviously correct, or that people that disagree with him may not be fools. There is no evidence of this ever happening on the boards, in the discussions that I've seen anyway. This is a factual statement; Anzyr is welcome to his opinion of course, I'm just saying your energies may be better spent elsewhere.

Second, I sadly agree along with Nefreet that the intent seems almost certainly illusion. However, I'll continue to run it allowing players to transform into things off the actual clothing list for realz, because that's nothing overpowered, until we get a ruling that says otherwise.

I also would like an answer about Pageant of the Peacock. Substitute one skill for 15 or so? Is that really what it lets you do? It potentially invalidates huge amount of character investment on the part of other players.

If so, you really need to ask yourself if you should continue to GM. I don't mean that negatively - but if you would place your interest above the 4-6 players who would be turned away if you were the only GM, and you aren't going to run because of this one thing, you have really ask yourself if you should be GMing. I'm not in a position to make that evaluation, only you are.

Also, please don't be insinuating that I'm kind of selfish jerk. I would, in 100% of cases, rather be playing than GMing. Sometimes, on occasions when I go to play, there are not enough GMs, so I step up to GM when one is needed, exactly so that other people can have a chance to play. I don't particularly want to be doing it, I don't like GMing in situations where free-form adjudication, and going completely off script, is not possible, but my desire to let the game go on overrides that.

There is no default position where I'm required to do this. I haven't committed to doing it in advance, I'm doing it so the game can be played. If there is a situation that would make the game distinctly unenjoyable for me, then I have every right to say "no, thanks".

My ceasing to GM entirely would only increase the number of times when no GM is available for a game.

I understand I won't make friends, but I'm set on this. This is an ability that should not exist. I am willing to risk my ability to GM on that proposition, though I'll try to avoid conflict where possible.

My problem with it is not directly its power, but rather that it completely invalidates huge amounts of character investment on the part of others of those 4-6.

Another player at my table had invested the lion's share of his skill points, and a couple Mossy Ioun Stones, into knowledge skills. He needn't have bothered, since Mr. Bard gave up one 2nd level spell known. That's infuriating.

I won't run a player who can do that; that's set. I'm more concerned now with determining which of the two options is the least objectionable. So far, one vote for number one.

I have a 5 Int paladin that I roleplay as having 5 Int. I am constantly asking my party members to tell me things I've been told numerous times before, I frequently misunderstand seemingly simple concepts and instructions, and I have been known to charge head first at a CR 15 demon as a level 7 paladin. She's my most fun character.

I want you at my table. You mind switching out with the int-dumped bard who somehow knows more than anyone because he took Pageant of the Peacock? :/

Used to be that your INT score x10 was your IQ. So INT 5, 50 IQ. Forrest Gump was 70, just for comparison.

That was always a very rough, very poor guide. Was it even ever an official thing?

If you use a 3d6 distribution, and base your analysis on standard deviations from the average, than an intelligence of 5 actually comes out to about 70 IQ. So, people with intelligence 5 are the Forrest Gumps.

A puzzle you solve with a skill check isn't a puzzle, its a skill challenge.

Semantics, but fine. Let players choose between solving a puzzle themselves, and doing a skill challenge. Don't force people who came to play a roleplaying game play a puzzle game, because a lot of us hate it.

I've GMed a few games now in PFS (only 7 atm), and there is an aspect that is greatly reducing my enjoyment of the process. I'm wondering if there is any recourse for this.

As is news to absolutely no one, dumping at least one mental stat, sometimes several, is the national past-time of Absalom. Frustratingly, I haven't once seen any reflection of this in the behavior of the characters themselves, with the exception of one charisma dumper who was 'grumpy'.

The first question is, am I allowed to, as a GM, ask the following at the beginning of a session:

"Besides boring numerical penalties, tell me what limitations your low intelligence/wisdom/charisma places on your character's behavior?"

Is that okay?

I'm fairly certain, unfortunately, that I'm not allowed to say "No, your intelligence is 5, placing you one above the Village Idiot, which means you can't solve the complex puzzle", correct?

Huh, funny; I see high wisdom as the opposite of impulsive. Shows how subjective these things are.

Wolves, and I'm fairly sure the majority of vertebrae animals, are 2. I only know that because I have a rule that creatures with intelligence 1 can't use tactics of any kind. :)

I would look a bit askance at the player too.

However, I think the proper approach is to ask him "What limitations, outside of skill points and other dull numerics, does your low intelligence place on your behavior?"

I would think it unreasonable, and against the spirit of roleplaying in general, that there should be no limitations of such an unbelievably low intelligence, but it's better for the player themselves to come up with some actual limitations themselves.

"All clothing is clothing, but some clothing is more clothing than other clothing. Especially if that clothing is made from pig."

--what George Orwell would say if he saw this thread.

"Why are you arguing about the rules in an obscure fantasy game instead of putting forth your efforts against the totalitarian regimes of the world, and the euphemistic confusion employed by power?"

--what George Orwell would actually say if he saw this thread.

Luckily, we don't need to convince you, as that would make debate on any rules issue pointless. I'm also not impressed by your swaggering certainty in winning the argument when you flatly ignored the question I addressed to you three separate times.

Healing ceases to be "suboptimal" as soon as healing items are no longer available.

I'm not saying I'd use this in every game, but it is a way to reduce endurance of parties, as the OP wants to do.

Depending on the campaign, it may be desirable to not making healing so hum-drum as well. "Ah, I lost half my hit points during this battle; get the wand!" It removes all of the actual drama of wounds; they become a minor and very, very temporary inconvenience. Having to depend on direct divine intervention, in the form of earthly agents, creates compelling themes in certain settings.

Wolf-Shaman druid, who can take the Travel Domain, and thus get dimensional door at 7th level. Follow that up with Horizon Walker 3, to get the astral plane dominance ability, letting you do dimension door 3+WIS/day, then go back to druid. Take Shaping Focus so your wild shape stays at full level.

Basic build:

Human Druid
1: Druid 1. Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning
2: Druid 2.
3: Druid 3. Endurance
4: Druid 4
5: Druid 5. Shaping Focus
6: Druid 6
7: Druid 7. Dimensional Agility
8: Druid 8. 8th level Travel Domain ability.
9: Horizon Walker 1. Dimensional Assault
10: Horizon Walker 2
11: Horizon Walker 3. Dimensional Dervish, horizon walker ability
12: Druid 9
13: Druid 10 Dimensional Savant

EDIT: You can trade out SF/Augment Summoning for Natural Spell, if you like, though your dimension door thing from horizon walker is a SLA and thus doesn't have any components (meaning you can do it in animal form without feats)

BONUS: You're a wolf shaman, for that further Perrin connection.

Simple as possible, eh?

Rogue: Full BAB progression.

Fighter: Good will save progression, remove Bravery.

Monk: At 6th level, can do first two attacks from a flurry as a standard action.

Given it doesn't change what you actually look like I am not seeing that it has any real disguise potential. If you want to disguise yourself buy a Hat of Disguise, that's what it is designed for.

Turning it into a city guard uniform, for example, or a servant's outfit, on the fly has enormous disguise potential.

My questioning actually has nothing to do with the description, and everything to do with the fact that the Swarm Suit isn't under the Clothing section, which is what I believe the Sleeves are meant to refer to.

I was actually trying to make a point that semantic games are silly, but I guess I failed in that; apologies.

Just wanted to verify my math on this, and my understanding that I could get this with 2 PP.

Composite Longbow = 100gp
MW = +300 gp
+2 strength rating = +200gp
Greenwood = 50gp x 3 lbs. = +150gp

Total = 750gp.

Seems legit?

I realize that using greenwood is not that big a deal, as I can't recall playing in a scenario where your weapons were ever damaged, but my character's strength is 14, so might as well use the 150gp gap for something.

I'm not sure about how the rules will fall with Magic Missile and Smite Evil. However, for those who think it wouldn't be a big deal if it applied to each missile, since it's hard to make a Paladin who is good at both... please remember that it's not at all hard to make a Paladin who is good at UMD.

9th level magic missile wand would be, what, 6750gp? For 50 charges, each of which does 5d4+5+5xPaladin level in damage?

I've got a 5 intelligence Demon-Spawn Tiefling I'm going to be using in PFS. Now, since it's PFS, I could in most cases simply ignore my intelligence, as it has no effect in PFS outside of skill points and other direct numerical things.

However, I don't want to do this, and would actually like to make something fun out of the fact that my character is mentally challenged.

Now, if we assume that the majority of the common folk are generated via 3d6 methods, that means that he's dumber than 96.7% of the populace. This puts him, roughly speaking, in the same relative position as Forrest Gump.

So, I'm basically looking for ideas about how I can roleplay this character in an interesting manner, without irritating the hell out of my fellow players.

So far, I have that he was raised by an Iroran Monk (who considered raising my character to be on his own path to perfection) who very, very painstakingly taught him how to survive in the world. My character has lists that he checks over, written by his adoptive father, along with easy to remember catch phrases. "Father says that .. preparation is the key to perfection." (spoken slowly)

Hm, that seems kinda against the idea of self-sacrifice for a Paladin to me. Are you saying you'd have a Lawful Good Paladin refuse to heal/bring back someone, even though it would cost him/her nothing?

Hence why I use the words "Out of character". He'd do it even if they said no, but they don't need to know that :/

If not, is there a good reason to give a player besides "it's too cheap of an item to do that"?

This guy, that is.

I became fascinated with this archetype recently and saw that, while fragile, it has amazing potential if handled properly. It breaks down into three builds: The Sohei/Paladin blend, the Flurry Paladin, and a Variant Reach Paladin.

I'm still working on supplemental equipment/spells sections, but the central material is finished. Please let me know what you think.

The Guide

I think you can get by alright for a while. I would recommend picking up one or two bits of Dweomer's Essence for when you really, really, really need to spell penetrate. Craft it yourself if you aren't playing in PFS.

You can pick up the feat as your bonus 10th wizard, or your 11th level feat. I wouldn't personally wait longer than that, unless you get a Otherwordly Kimono, or you focus on spells where SR is not relevant.

Silence, peon! Cease attempting to rise above your proper place as a meat shield at once. Backtalk again, and it's 40 limp lashes for you!

What's the name of the bow type that lets you adjust the strength rating of a composite bow?

Adaptive

Gnomes have a race trait that allows them to be proficient in any weapon they create.

:O That's awesome; I never knew that.

Let's see... with their Obsessive trait, for +2 to craft, and a rank in craft, and a +2 int modifier or better, they should be able to start the game with a +8 to Craft (Weapons), which allows them to craft an exotic weapon by taking 10. A reasonable GM would probably let them start with one they crafted if you do that. Bump the check by 2 more points, and you can craft a MW one.

Okay, so I was inspired to this by a thread involving building a party without any 6/9 level casters at all. However, coming across this possibility seems interesting even outside of that context.

THINGS I'D LIKE HELP ON:

1) For stats, I'm thinking Str 14 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 17 Cha 5 (20 pt., after racial adjustments. For 25pt, boost Int to 14 and Cha to 6). All stat points into wisdom. Comments? Remember that due to Sensei he uses Wisdom for CMB/attack rolls, but not damage (he'll later get the Guided property, though)

2) He's almost certainly going to take the Wisdom in the Flesh trait, letting him use Wisdom for any dex/str skill, and making it a class skill. What's the best skill to use this for? I'm thinking disable device if the party doesn't otherwise have that covered. But, if they do, then what?

3) What's the best weapon to select proficiency for from the Contemplative's Spurn Tradition ability? It has to be a martial weapon with the monk property. I'm currently thinking Sansetsukon {2 handed, 1d10, 19-20/x2, B. Blocking, Disarm, Monk}

4) Per the rules, can his monk SLAs qualify him for Crafting feats? If so, what's the best trait to get Spellcraft as a class skill? I'm aware of classically schooled, but are there other options? (This would be especially relevant in the no-6/9-casters challenge)

5) I was contemplating at character level 13 dipping into Pathfinder Field Agent to get a Rogue Talent: Ki Pool, which would add half my wisdom modifier as extra ki (at that point, it would be 4 more ki). Are there any other ways to get a Rogue Talent with a 1 level dip? Is this worth considering? Does this guy already have enough ki?

6) Any general ways to make this guy have something to do in combat, after he's buffed everyone? I'm thinking of letting him specialize in a combat maneuver, but not sure if it's worth it. With the dwarf alternate monk favored class bonus, he could be VERY good at sundering, though.

7) Besides a badly desired Ring of Ki Mastery and a WIS booster, is there anything this character really needs, item wise?

This second guy I'm pretty proud of.

Angel-Blooded Aasimar, Paladin of Shelyn

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance, Sacred Servant) 4 > Sentinel 1 > Evangelist 10 > Paladin 9

I won't completely spell out this build, but a few highlights:

* Evangelist uses Sentinel as its aligned class, so we'll get both Sentinel and Evangelist boons.
* The 2nd Evangelist boon gives us a Versatile Performance choice, for while we will select Dance (Acrobatics, Fly); this makes up for the poor dex this character will have, and be especially useful for when we get the Aasimar wings later.
* Sentinel gives bonuses with the Glaive, so this guy will be a good battlefield controller.
* Oath of Vengeance will give us plenty of smiting uses, and Sacred Servant lets us pick a domain from Shelyn, though we will only get the 1st level power.
* 2nd Sentinel boon makes the Paladin smite add TWICE charisma on attack rolls, and add charisma in addition to paladin levels on damage rolls. So, this guys' smite remains powerful, even though its not advancing from paladin levels.
* High skill points from Evangelist means that we can keep intelligence at 10 or 12 and easily be able to master all the face skills. We can grab UMD as an additional class skill from Evangelist, and this guy will be the one to use the wands for the party. By level 6, he'll have something like a +13 on UMD; +15 for wands he's used before. By level 9 at the latest he'll be able to use wands without fail.

Really, these two guys would make a fine duo; they've got most stuff covered between them. There are some knowledge skills left out, though, and DPS isn't fantastic against non-evil things. I'll have to consider for the other two; one will probably just end up being a rage-pouncer...

I would seriously consider working in Toughness as your level 1 feat, and put off Harrowed or Varisian Tattoo until level 3. The +3 hp Toughness grants you right from the start will help your survivability a lot, and it will scale up later.

why does he have to succeed all the time because he hyper specialized to be a pain in your ass?

That's a poor attitude for a GM to take. When a player builds his character to be good at a particular task, you think it's to be a pain in your ass?

Let's check out our mutual friend, Asmodeus himself!

Lets. :)

Captain K says:

Obedience: you have to torture someone and drain blood then play around with it. 'Preferably someone unwilling' but there appears to be no mechanical disadvantage. if I was your GM and just did it to another party member for 1HP damage I wouldn't be impressed. You need a ruby-handled knife, which might be expensive.

In return you get +4 Profane bonus to Fire effects.

It's not great. The ritual is a hassle and the power is situational. It works in RP, as evil temples and the Cheliax royal court can do it every morning as part of their ablutions, but I'd be unlikely to other as a PC.

Evangelist: "1: Pitiless Judgment (Sp) wrathAPG 3/day, flames of the faithfulAPG 2/day, or bestow curse 1/day"

Okay stuff. Already this is looking suited to the Inquisitor. Curiously, Inquisitor isn't one of the classes deemed likely for Asmodeus in the Evangelist class description.

"2: Tireless Judgment (Ex) You gain Favored JudgmentUM as a bonus feat, choosing chaotic outsider, good outsider, or a subtype of humanoid. If you don’t have the judgment class feature, you instead gain a +4 profane bonus on Survival checks made to track a creature or individual. This boon doesn’t grant you any ranks in the Survival skill; therefore, if you have no ranks, you still can follow tracks only if the DC of the task is 10 or lower."

Appalling if you are not an Inquisitor, pretty sweet if you are. Maybe, just maybe you can do Evangelist with an Ranger or bounty hunter type, but Inquisitors are good bounty hunters anyway.

"3: Resounding Judgment (Sp) Once per day, you can channel the effects of resounding blowAPG through your weapon, though you don’t need to cast (or even know) the spell. You must declare your use of this ability before you make the attack roll. On a hit, the target is affected as if you had cast resounding blow before your attack, and the surrounding area rings with the sound of vicious, booming laughter. You don’t gain the stunning effect of the spell unless you have access to the judgment or smite ability. If your attack misses, the resounding blow effect is wasted."

It's a 4th level spell once a day. And not a great spell. As GM, I would let the 'vicious booming laughter' have a mechanical effect, especially if you set it off in the town market.

In conclusion, be an Inquisitor. Inquisitor 5/Evangelist 10, simple as that. Better than straight Inquisitor. Having said that, an Inquisitor/Evangelist of Asmodeus might not be the most pleasant PC in the party.

I full agree regarding the difficult nature of the obedience. That's an obedience really made for NPCs. Your familiar as a target? Hm..

Yes, I agree that Inquisitor is the way to go for Evangelist. I would consider going Inquisitor 6 / Evangelist 10, though; I'm fond of the 6th level boost to saves, and the powers aren't great. Overall, I'm unconvinced it would be better than a straight Inquisitor, due to the poorer saves, and the loss of level, without that much benefit.

Captain K says:

Exalted:

"1: Darkfire (Sp) burning hands 3/day, darkness 2/day, or deeper darkness 1/day"

Deeper Darkness is the peach here because...

"2: Embersight (Su) Your eyes take on the appearance of red-hot, glowing embers, granting you the ability to see in darkness much like devils. You gain darkvision to a range of 60 feet. If you chose either darkness or deeper darkness as the spell-like ability granted by your first boon, you can also see perfectly through both darkness and deeper darkness. If you already have darkvision to a range of 60 feet or more, instead increase the range of your darkvision by 10 feet. Your eyes make you extremely distinctive, causing you to take a –4 penalty on Disguise checks."

... it makes you be able to see in magical darkness. There are 101 reasons why this is a good thing. Clerics may not be the sneakiness of classes, but they enjoy having a few undisturbed rounds of buffing before it all kicks off. And it's great for escaping.

"3: Hellfire Blast (Sp) You can use delayed blast fireball once per day as a spell-like ability to throw a sphere of soulscouring hellfire. The hellfire is a distinctive mixture of black and crimson flames in which screaming devilish faces can be seen twisting and writhing. Half the damage from this spell is fire, while the other half is unholy. This damage modification applies only to the delayed blast fireball you create through this boon, not to any other spells, effects, or attacks."

Yeah yeah, blasts are underwhelming. However, it's a very cool party piece and you really ought to be able to find good use of a Delayed Unholy ranged explosion.

The seeing in magical darkness is indeed really good, and the blast is a good one.

None of the domains, at a glance, have anything that would make a particularly great SLA. The trickery and magic domains both have decent potential for it, though. As the domains largely aren't matured until 8th level, you may be looking at Cleric 8 / Exalted 10, though delaying that seeing in magical darkness is painful.

Captain K says:

Sentinel:

Bit odd as Asmodeus's weapon is the not great Mace. However, it's a simple weapon and Rogues can use simple weapons...

"2: Deceitful Duelist (Ex) Your devotion to the Prince of Darkness has imbued you with some of his trickery. Three times per day, you can attempt a feint as a swift action. You gain a +4 profane bonus on your Bluff check when attempting to feint using this ability. If you successfully attack a creature that has lost its Dexterity bonus to AC as a result of your feint, you deal an additional 1d6 points of damage. This is in addition to any other precision-based damage you deal—such as from a sneak attack—and isn’t multiplied on a critical hit."

Be a rogue then. It improves your feint and adds to your Sneak Attack. You don't have to use a mace for it either, though there is the bonus.

Rogue 7/Sentinel 10, or Rogue ?/Fighter ?/Sentinel 10. I'd consider Swashbuckler, but I fear too many Swashbuckler abilities scale to level which the Sentinel doesn't really get. Sentinel is straight up better than a Rogue (not difficult) and allows one to make an effective fighter/assassin of the Dark Lord.

Hmm... I'm not sure a full Sentinel dip would be worth it, here. I might go just to Sentinel 6, and then look for a prestige class to boost the sneak attack further? Not sure.

Note: Because the sex explicitly needs to be consensual, a sexually picky, monogamous or even celibate character can still do this Obedience since the nature of their sexual preferences/decisions makes such things unavailable, leaving the vengeance-meditation fall back. So...definitely works with any concept that works with Calistria worship, IMO.

I'd be wary of pushing this too far with a DM :). If you wanted to say "I'm homosexual", I'd be fine with that as a DM, but I'd expect you to at least spend time trying to find a suitable partner. Or if you were a higher level caster use an extended 'alter self', you should be changing your sex as necessary. If you tried to say "I'm asexual", or "celibate" I'd tell you that that was a cop-out, and you shouldn't be worshiping Calistria anyway.

It will vary from DM to DM, of course. Celibacy would be fine in PFS, I'm sure. This obedience represents the fullest extent to which they've pushed adult boundaries with their official material, I believe, and no one running a PFS game is going to tell you your character has to have sex.

Yeah, the last thing I want to hear is that someone will always remember that trait I had... If that's the most memorable thing about my character, I failed. Also Rudy2, you suggested Elemental Affinity and Defensive Strategist. How are they more flavorful and memorable than reactionary? +1 to DC's doesn't really stand out...

Sorry to ruffle feathers so much; it was not my intent to offend. It's not that the trait is or is not inherently memorable, it's that it gives you an opportunity to distinguish your character from others. I can work an Elemental Affinity into the character... "channeling my connection with the Elemental Lord of Earth...", etc. I suppose there are ways you could do so with Reactionary: "Reacting really quickly, I...", but you're not really setting your character apart, I suppose is my view. Perhaps it's purely a personal thing. As I said in my post, I'm aware that not all agree.

My characters are made memorable by the way they are played, not by text on a sheet.

*shrug* A valid point, and it's certainly the case that a good roleplayer can make any build memorable. That being said, it's been my experience as a DM and player that the less standard a build is, the more I tend to remember the character. This could simply be a confounding variable, though (that is, more creative players both tend to roleplay better and make more creative builds). Historically, when I play with, say, a rage-pounce barbarian with all the standard stuff, I forget everything about that character soon after, if there was anything besides a stat-block to begin with.

Again, this has been my experience. YMMV.

True that on the longsword; it will probably be worth keeping a Quickdraw shield or a buckler around at the least, though, since you can use it 1-handed. Sadly, you'll never have the reach of the Glaive, but the larger crit range does make up for a lot of that.

Calistria, hm....

CALLISTRIA

Calistria's obedience involves exchanging sex for money, information, or other advantage. Lacking a partner, you can just fantasize about revenge for a bit. Not terribly difficult, as long as your character concept doesn't revolt at the idea.

The bonus is situational but powerful: +4 bonus on charisma checks and charisma-based skill checks when dealing with a creature that could be sexually attracted to you. You'll definitely want access to disguise/alter self type stuff in order to make the fullest use of this, and make sure you're not squeamish about cross-dressing. Overall, this is potentially very, very useful even without any of the PrCs.

Rudy2 wrote:

The problem with 'Reactionary' isn't the fluff, it's that you're just another guy taking 'Reactionary'.

And that's a problem ... why?

Because it's one less opportunity to make your character memorable which, in my mind, is the real goal. Not all will agree, I know.

The problem with 'Reactionary' isn't the fluff, it's that you're just another guy taking 'Reactionary'.

To fix the scaling problem, I have the armor "attune" itself to the power of the one wearing it.

Make the +2 armor property SR = 4 + character level

Make the +3 armor property SR = 6 + character level

Make the +4 armor property SR = 8 + character level

Make the +5 armor property SR = 10 + character level

That's my change, along with the fact that I have SR only block hostile spells (unless you have a quality that forces you to make a save against friendly spells, such as the Superstitious Barbarian).

I've found it's just enough to make players sometimes consider buying the items/armor.