I'm approaching how I participate in this playtest a bit differently than I have in the past (after not really participating in the last one). I find the playtest forums a little stressful at times, so I'm going to try and just get all my thoughts in one place for the developers to see rather than try and sway people to my viewpoint. Obviously as this is being posted so soon, this is without playtesting, and I probably won't get to playtest it as I don't get to be a player often and none of the PCs in my campaigns would really switch over to this. Anyways, this is going to be pretty in-depth and long, so it will be sectioned off into spoiler tags.
Core class and general thoughts:
While it does present some mechanical issues I'll get into when talking about Elemental Blast, I think Constitution should be the Kineticist's core ability score. It seperates them from other magical characters, and shows that the source of their power is wholly different.
Having the initial proficiencies of a martial (minus martial weapons) feels perfect. Glad to see that they still get light armor, though the lack of medium or heavy armor could make going into melee harder for strength focused characters.
I enjoy the decision making of getting more elements for fewer starting feats. And Universal Gate getting to change their choice daily feels fitting and also somewhat worth the tradeoff of only getting one feat.
Gather Element feels like a sufficient cost to getting to use your abilities without being overbearing, similar to a stance, and interacts nicely with the Impulse and Overflow traits. However, it would be nice to be able to do other things while doing it, like Gunslinger reloads or Magus recharging.
One thing about the Impulse trait is that since it gives the manipulate trait, it makes using Elemental Blasts a lot more punishing for melee characters not using Elemental Weapon. Also, I don't think I like auras only being usable in encounter mode. It would break immersion for my players not being able to use all their tools unless they're in a fight.
In general, I like how Elemental Blast was designed. I like that it's clearly laid out how to use it melee or ranged, while not feeling like you're using two different things regardless of how you use it. Furthermore, I like how it scales with unarmed proficiency and how it scales using handwraps. There are some quibbles however. Firstly, the damage types. I know wood, metal, and hybrid blasts will be coming in the book, but there are some types, such as cold, that don't feel like they would fall under that. I'm hoping to see some feats in the final product that allow you to switch the damage type of your blast. Secondly, you don't use Constitution for anything here. Not using your key ability for your attacks has proven to be fine for the Inventor and Thaumaturge, however they both get very large boosts to their damage from their class features. The Kineticist doesn't appear to have anything like that, and could leave their Blasts falling by the wayside in favor of other at-will abilities that do use their Con. This issue is compounded by the fact that, at levels 5 and 6, their proficiency lags behind other martials for no clear reason, especially considering they get master at 13 just like everyone else. Final thought on the blasts, is that Air seems to be paying for reach when it really doesn't need it. I suppose it helps with flanking, but given that you can use ranged blasts at any time I feel like it would feel better if it was a d6 damage die and dropped reach like fire. (EDIT: On reread, the 120 foot range is also probably contributing to the lower damage, which makes sense. However, that doesn't change that melee air will feel pretty bad.)
The rules on how impulses interact with effects that deal with spells feels fair and clear.
Impulse feats scaling with level like spells do is great. In fact, I would love to see this in place for future feats for other magical martials like monks and thaumaturges.
Adapt Elements feels like it gives enough flavor options for your elements to be fun. I can already picture my players trying to see if they could bring a live shark into town using the Sustain option (though I might suggest renaming that, as at a glance I assumed it was to sustain the other effects).
Not having to spend a feat on getting resistance, and later immunity, is nice even if it is only with your element gathered.
Will require playtesting or math to figure out how actually effective it is (I'll leave that to other people) but the inclusion of Extract Element is great and will make single element kineticists a lot more playable.
The critical specializations are nice but feel a little imbalanced. Earth feels stronger than the rest and air feels weaker. The fact that it's impossible to ever get more than one critical specialization seems odd. Most players who pick multiple elements wouldn't want for one to be better than the rest.
The proliferate option for Adapt Element seems nice, but hazardous terrain isn't a term used often in player-facing material so it might be helpful to clarify exactly how it works.
Kineticists getting Fighter-like flexibility feels good. I wouldn't have thought of this but like it a lot. Might step on the toes of Universal Kineticists though, so I might suggest making them the best at this.
Pure Adaptation feels a little limited in scope for an 11th level ability. Plus, the requirements and effects seem a little unclear, particularly with air and fire. What does 1 bulk of air or fire look like? Why exactly would fire need to be purified? If you purify air, wouldn't nearby, non-purified air just fill in the space?
I love that the effect of Final Gate is on a class feature rather than a feat.
Finally, to talk about what isn't here. Burn. Personally, Burn is a super evocative part of the class for me, and a lot of the flavor presented here still seems to imply that you don't have full control over your element. I understand that a lot of people are opposed to Burn, and it might not be the narrative direction you want to go with the class anymore, but if it doesn't make it into the final product in some way I hope we can get a class archetype that adds it.
Kineticist Feats:
Elemental Familiar: Exactly what I would want from a feat that does this.
Elemental Weapon: I like this but have a small issue, that being the one handed restriction. I know you all want this to be a side-grade to Elemental Blast, but I just really want a big hammer made of stone. Maybe you could allow using two-handed weapons but you lose access to Elemental Blast while they're out? Dual wielding would also be nice.
Flexible Blasts: I really love that this is a thing, but it does feel required for earth and water kineticists who want to use both melee and ranged.
Kinetic Activation: Nice little feat, not every character will want it but I definitely know some scroll addicts who will want this.
Voice of Elements: Feels very campaign specific, as not every game will have elementals all about. Could we maybe get a speak with plants-type effect on this, but for your element?
Blast Barrage: Solid action economy saver.
Command Elemental: Again, campaign specific, but I see little way to make this less specific so it's probably fine as is.
Cycling Blasts: Playing with multiple elements and wanting to use all of them seemed clunky to me at first, so I'm glad this fixes that. I don't think the power justifies 6th level though, considering it's basically Quick Draw.
Stoke Element: Seems great as a third action if you're in a situation where you're basically just a turret. Little disappointed this is exclusive to Dedicated Kineticists, and after looking over the impulse feats, I think damage will be too low for characters that don't have this.
Aura Shaping: We don't have a lot of ways to exclude allies from AoE effects in PF2, so I'm happy to see this here. The extra area is also nice, but wouldn't be the main reason I take the feat I don't think. I won't really be able to say how good it is though without seeing how good the aura feats are.
Chain Blasts: I was low on this feat until I saw your MAP doesn't increase. I love this feat and will take it on every Kineticist I build. If electric blasts don't make it into the final product though this will make that all the more obvious.
Deconstruct Element: Seems good, but effectiveness will vary massively between elements. Even after Rage of Elements I think the amount of wood effects I throw at my players will be very rare, for instance.
Fusion Blast: My players will take this, feel bad about it missing, but feel amazing about it critting. I doubt your average forum-goer will like this but among more casual players I think this will be a popular feat.
Gather Amalgamation: This is super cool, but the two action cost feels kind of high. It seems it would be best to be using as many overflow impulses as possible on this, but unless you know at least three different overflows you aren't really saving any actions.
Rapid Reattunement: Pretty cool, and I didn't expect the Kineticist to actually be better than the Fighter on this front.
Flowing Kinetics: I've been wanting a feat like this for casters for ages, glad it's somewhere at least.
Steadfast Kinetics: Feels on par with the feat the other elements get.
Effortless Impulse: Nothing to say about this, we've seen this feat many times before.
Imperious Aura: Again, not sure how good auras in general are, but this is a great feat to support them.
Maelstrom Blast: Exactly what I want a high level kineticist to do. I do have one question though, if you have Gather Amalgamation active, are you able to make each blast a different element? Sounds cool but a bookkeeping nightmare, so I could see you guys going either way on this one.
Nourishing Gate: I like the mechanics of this one, but I'm unsure of the flavor of it. It feels like this was supposed to just make you an elemental at one point in development, and I might like that idea more.
Flawless Element: This is one of the best action economy savers in the game, but it still doesn't feel too powerful due to the one overflow rule. A capstone I would look forward to.
Omnikinesis I don't think this has as much raw power as Flawless Element, but this will absolutely make you feel like the master of your elements. Universal Kineticists will feel incredibly versatile once they get here.
Air Impulses:
Aerial Boomerang: Cool and decently powerful for a 1st level feat, and I love how this rewards creative positioning. A bit unclear on what happens if you use this in a room smaller than 60 feet though. Does the boomerang hover in the furthest possible spot, fail to return, or what?
Air Cushion: Having to already have your element gathered will make this awkward at times, but overall pretty good for an at-will feather fall.
Fair Winds: A very cool feat and one that will be powerful in a party full of melee characters. Not entirely sure why the bonus is higher for allies, but I think I would rather have that than the reverse.
Whisper on the Wind: Super cool, but niche enough that I can't see myself taking this unless I'm a dedicated gate or have Natural Ambition.
Flinging Updraft: Another nice support ability for your melee buddies, but I can't help but feel a little sad that they don't take falling damage.
Soothing Breeze: The healing starts out a little bit lower than 3-action heal, but pretty quickly gets outscaled. At level 4 this is healing 1.5 less on average, at 20 it's 17.5 less. I understand that this is resourcelss, but it's still not spammable so some higher scaling to make it useful at high levels would be lovely.
Clear as Air: Very solid, not much else to say.
Storm Spiral: The fact that the only damage is electricity makes the forced movement feel a little out of left field. I'd like a rider effect more akin to something that feels like it came from lightning.
Celestial Palisade: The only issue I have with this feat is the name. While technically accurate, celestial makes me think of outer space and the stars, not so much the wind.
Wings of Air: A nice feat, glad they get at-will flight earlier than usual.
Circulate Qi: An okay feat, but reducing conditions by 2 on a crit success would be welcome.
Wiles on the Wind: Feels weak for a 12th level feat. Fascinated isn't a very strong condition.
Body of Air: Great out of combat utility, okay combat utility. A fine ability to have at will.
Ferocious Cyclone: Just a solid damage ability.
Infinite Expanse of Bluest Heaven: First off, all these 18th level feats have great names. But I'm not sure about this effect. First, enemies having a 50% chance of the effect ending on their first action after failing their save doesn't feel very good. Secondly, even if they fail all their checks, the mental image of them just running around seems silly. If they feel like they're falling, why are they able to run?
Crowned in Tempest's Fury: Feels like an alright capstone on its own, but seems amazing when combined with Aura Shaping. Expanding this to a 30-foot aura that ignores allies makes this a very worthwhile feat.
Earth Impulses:
Geologic Attunement: Way more usable than I expected. The fact that moving doesn't permanently end it is very nice.
Stepping Stones: Ways around difficult terrain feels very earth kineticist, and this works decently.
Stone Shield: I notice that it doesn't have the 10 minute time limit after blocking like Shield does. I assume losing your gathered element was considered punishment enough, but thought I'd mention it anyways in case it's an oversight.
Tremor: Comparing this to Aerial Boomerang, the area is much smaller and the damage ceiling is lower, but you get difficult terrain and potential prone out of it. I don't think it's bad, but it certainly isn't something I'd want to use all the time.
Dust Storm: Seems good, but I need clarification on how this works with Aura Shaping. If I exclude four of my allies from the negative effects, are they still concealed themselves but able to clearly see everyone else in the area?
Restoring Mud: This is... not good. Including the temp HP, this provides 9 HP on average, while 2 action Heal and Soothe give 25 and 19 respectively. Soothing Breeze, for 1 more action, only heals 1.5 less but to everyone within 20 feet. And Restorative Mud will get even worse over time. It doesn't need to heal as much as Soothe, but it needs to heal a lot more than this.
Igneogenesis: A fun flavor feat, but the fact that it can never be permanent is disappointing. Maybe allow it to be permanent if you spend 10 minutes doing it or something? This feat just inspires sculptor characters.
Rolling Boulder: Compared to Aerial Boomerang cast at the same level, this is lower damage, a smaller area, and a feat 5 levels higher. Is that worth forced movement and moving the distance of a Stride? I'm not sure it is.
Spike Skin: I've always liked "punish for damaging me" type effects, so I like this as well. The 1 hour immunity feels really long though, and annoying to keep track of.
Swim Through Earth: I've always wanted this kind of effect on a PC. The slowed condition doesn't have a value, though.
Hurtling Rockfall: Again, earth's damage options are not up to par. This does half the damage to one creature what fireball does to a 20-foot radius sphere. And there doesn't feel that much reason for the shrapnel to scale so much slower than the sphere. If one has to scale slower, I'd prefer the sphere.
Rock Rampart: Pretty solid, I like how long the wall is compared to similar options.
Assume Earth's Mantle: This is very cool. Might feel bad sometimes using an entire turn to set up, but the benefits are likely worth it.
Stone Guardian: A fun feat, though it doesn't specify what kind of cover this gives. I assume standard, but if the answer is lesser this becomes less good.
Rebirth in Living Stone: Very fun, but can this just last a minute? This is nearly the apex of your power, and the free action Gather seems nice until you realize you're spending that action to Sustain anyways.
The Shattered Mountain Weeps: Finally, earth gets decent AoE damage! One issue though. The flavor of this is rocks falling, but this being a burst rather than a cynlinder makes the space that deals damage very weird.
Fire Impulses:
Burning Jet: Situationally useful before the 60-foot version (where it's always better than Striding twice) but cool in any case. The big issue is that, while the movement doesn't trigger reactions, the Impulse trait on this does.
Eternal Torch: This feat is cool flavor-wise, and I love how it scales. Could light up your home with these eventually. What I'd expect from a 1st level feat.
Flame Eruption: You can put this in an intersection between squares, right? If not, this is awful, if so, this is alright. Scaling every three levels feels too low, though.
Warming Nimbus: A buff to you and your allies to the most common energy types is always welcome. Funny how this effects enemies, and you could use Extract Element to take away the resistance you gave them.
Blazing Wave: Pretty good, I think. Lower damage than Burning Hands but much better area.
Desert Shimmer: I like this, concealment is a pretty powerful condition. Similar question do Dust Storm regarding Aura Shaping though.
Crawling Fire: There's some issues with this. For one, the Crawling Fire can apparently be dealt damage (which gets transferred to you) but does not have an AC or saving throws. It allows you to use impulses from farther away, but those three actions could have just been used to move up and back. Not to mention fire blasts and most fire impulses have respectable range anyways. It's not like you're putting yourself in more danger, since it can take damage. If this was just a firey Spiritual Weapon that you could cast other impulses out of, it would probably feel better.
Wandering Smoke: I love that you can use this on allies, and on yourself it's a pretty solid evasive maneuver. You probably don't want this and Burning Jet though, and it also has the same reaction issue as Burning Jet.
Kindle Inner Flames: I'm unsure how I feel about this one. The buff is somewhat better and easier to apply than Fair Winds, but that's a 1st level feat. But at the same time, this doesn't feel super bad to me. I don't really know how to evaluate this.
Solar Detonation: The damage and scaling isn't great, but that would be made up for due to the conditions... If it wasn't incapacitation. I don't hate the trait as much as some do, but it feels bad on a mixed damage and debuff ability like this. Maybe swap the blinded for 1 minute with something like "blinded for 1 round and dazzled for 3" and remove incap?
Architect of Flame: The first wall impulse I haven't been a fan of. Compared to an equivalent level wall of fire, you're sitting at half the damage and a third the area (height doesn't usually matter). I know it has to be worse, but this feels like too much.
Furnace Form: A good self buff. I like that it's only two actions and not overflow, even if it is only until the end of your next turn.
Arrive in Conflagration: Fire loves it's GTFO spells, doesn't it? Ignoring the issue with impulse and reactions, it feels weird that Fire is slipperier than Air.
Horrid Ignition: Your blast is likely doing 3d6 damage as is at this level, so getting that in persistent damage is worth the extra action, particularly with the debuff.
All Shall End in Flames: My first instict was to say the damage is too low (I think I'm just used to saying it) but this actually seems to compare pretty favorably to a ranger using Impossible Volley.
Ignite the Sun: Damage-wise, this is, well... It deals the same damage as a 3rd level Flaming Sphere. Sure, you might be able to hit more things with this, but it only moves 30 feet on Sustain. It's 18th level, you're fighting creatures that can move all over the place. Not to mention the buff area is only a 20-foot emanation. Good luck hitting both your barbarian on the dragon's back and your archer fighter with this. I want to feel like I'm creating a grossly incandescent sun of my own, not a somewhat better Flaming Sphere.
Water Impulses:
Deflecting Wave: Resistance on a reaction is pretty unique, and it feels like this grants enough of it.
Tidal Hands: This is actually one of my favorite damage abilities here. The damage feels on par and I like the variable area.
Water Dance: Solid on an ally, but when using it on yourself it has the impulse/reaction issue.
Winter's Clutch: I overall like this, but choosing specific squares to make difficult terrain feels weird, especially since it never scales past three.
Return to Sea: Feels pretty good if niche, a good target in some campaigns or with elemental flexibility.
Veil of Mists: I like it, but would like it more if at some point in the scaling the immunity goes away.
Slippery Sleet: The damage isn't great on this, but the damage doesn't matter. What matters is that the Balance DC is 15 and doesn't scale! If that was your class DC I think you could take away the damage and I would still take this.
Standing Surf: It's a wall, and pretty average among them. Would probably be bad if it wasn't at 6th level.
Lowland Fog: Does this not work, or am I just not understanding it? So, it makes everyone in it hidden. But then as soon as someone attacks, now no one is hidden? It mentions guessing the location of the target, but that's not how the hidden condition works. At 14th level letting your entire team Stride for free is pretty nice, but I'm aside from that I don't think this works as intended.
Torrent of the Blood: Solid if you're facing a lot of poison or disease, but mediocre otherwise. The healing is very low. Also, you can't be in the area of it.
Drowning Sphere: Aqueous Sphere is good, and while this is a lot higher level than that, the fact that this doesn't overflow feels nice, so you can actually cast this at will. You also feel more equipped to take advantage of the flat-footed than a caster. It might be a little high level for the effect, but I don't think it's bad.
Glacial Prison: This feels worthy of the incapacitation trait, though given that the main effect ends upon taking a hostile action, I think the crit fail effect could be nastier.
Barrier of Boreal Frost: This is interesting. This wall impulse scales exactly how the base spell does. This feels good, but is there any reason the others don't work the same way?
Sea Glass Guardian: Comparing to Stone Spikes, this trades the resistance for better duration and applying to everyone within your aura. I'd say that's pretty good!
Ride the Tsunami: I don't think this is bad, per se, but I don't think it has that "wow" factor many of the other capstone feats do. Like, compared to All Shall End in Flames, it's similar damage but is ultimately just a bigger Tidal Hands, while All Shall End in Flames incinerates everything it kills and can give you a phoenix-like effect.
Usurp the Lunar Reins: So... this 18th level feat uses 3 actions to create difficult terrain in a 20-foot burst of water. For such a fantastic feat name, this is a super underwhelming effect.
And that's all! Overall, I like the class, particularly in structure. I do think it needs fine tuning in a lot of places though, especially damage, and impulse triggering reactions thing really needs to be addressed considering how many abilities are about avoiding reactions. Apologies if I missed or misunderstood anything, this was a hefty document to take in all at once. Anyway, I wish I could write a more detailed closing thoughts, but I've spent 3 hours writing this and my hand is cramping. So long, and thank you devs for the class!
Asking for one of my players. He's playing a way of the vanguard gunslinger and while it's going pretty well (particularly with a houserule I'm testing) but an issue he's having is that unconscious allies tend to be pretty close to the enemy that downed them, making it risky to shoot without increasing the dying condition of said ally. Is there anything feat, item, etc. that can make the radius smaller, similar to bomber alchemists with splash?
I've been vocal on the forums before about how I'm less than satisfied with the Witch class. Because of that, I've had the need to rework the class rattling around in my head for a while (no promises it gets done if the workload exceeds what I'm capable of, but I wanted to try).
But I wanted to get people's opinions on what they see as the biggest weaknesses of the Witch so I know where to focus my efforts. The main goals I already have are rebalancing and improving hex cantrips, as well as adding more of them, along with finding a way to improve the familiar. A smaller thing I'm looking at is feat support for rituals. I'm looking to keep them a full spellcaster, but if necessary for the power budget I would consider making them a 2 slot per level caster like the upcoming psychic.
So, to reiterate the title, what would you want from a Witch rework?
I have a life oracle in Extinction Curse that's very prone to almost dying. So I figure I should have a backup in mind in case things go south. The party is currently level 7 with free archetype. The party is:
Myself, a human aasimar life oracle with medic archetype.
An azarketi shark barbarian with wrestler archetype. Currently our biggest damage dealer and can take it just as well. Has natural medicine to help with out of combat healing.
A human eldritch trickster, shadow sorcerer archetype. Primary face of the group, but struggles to set up sneak attack in combat.
A human aasimar angel summoner with acrobat archetype. A bit of a jack of all trades, with some damage, social skills, and healing.
A fleshwarp universalist wizard, alchemist archetype. Almost exclusively casts buff and debuff spells, uses alchemy for buffs and healing.
I'm down to play almost anything, but I think I'd like to avoid having healing as my main shtick again.
Hey all! A good while ago I posted my homebrew to here, but seeing as a lot of that is, in retrospect, unbalanced and outdated, I decided to post a new thread with my new compendium.
- My various house rules, largely based on experiences I've read on this forum as well as my own experiences. My goal with these is for them to be relatively low-impact while making certain playstyles run smoother.
- A handful of catfolk and tiefling heritages and feats. These are remnants of my full versions of these I made before the release of the APG.
- The Bauriar ancestry, fresh from the Planescape setting! Can be used in other settings, but a lot of its flavor is very Planescape-specific.
- The Doppelganger ancestry, essentially a conversion of the 5e Changeling but with lore and flavor more catered to Golarion.
- The Half-Ancestry versatile heritage. Want to mash together any two ancestries to see what happens? This is your ticket. Doesn't take into account weirder ones (like say, Dwarf/Lizardfolk) but most of the ancestries that could cause issues are Uncommon or Rare anyways.
- The Minotaur ancestry, for all y'all who want some Large pals in your lives.
- The Returned versatile heritage. People who have been brought back to life by a ritual gone wrong or more esoteric means can come back as the Returned. While it can be used as a chosen option, it is primarily intended to be used when a Resurrect ritual critically fails.
- The Blood Hunter archetype, a conversion of Matt Mercer's 5e homebrew. Focuses on converting base class features as well as features from the Ghostslayer subclass, along with a few of what I consider the most iconic Blood Maledicts.
- The Old Hunter archetype, for those who just want to play a Bloodborne character. Includes a link to my trick weapon homebrew, which can't be formatted correctly in Scribe.
- The Paragon archetype, a small class archetype for champions that are powered by their own will rather than power from a deity.
- The Warlock archetype, a class archetype for Witch to emulate the 5e Warlock. Trades traditional spellcasting and their hex cantrip for bounded spellcasting and eldritch blast, an at-will attack on par with a martial character using a longbow.
- New Eidolons, including Aberration and all four main types of elementals.
- The Dueling Dragons Hybrid Study for Magi, allowing your Magus to dual wield with elemnental fury. Currently missing a 10th level feat but otherwise complete.
Other than what's presented in Lost Omens World Guide. Considering running a homebrew campaign there, but the wiki isn't very helpful. Doesn't even have the current Hurricane King on it.
So, I don't have my book yet as I'm not a subscriber, have to wait til the street date, but one thing I have heard about is an item called the Gunslinger's Saddle. From what I've heard, the Gunslinger's Saddle is an item that simply allows you to set up a tripod attached to the saddle while mounted on a creature.
The awkwardness of using a tripod while mounted was something I didn't see anyone else talking about on the forums or reddit (though of course I don't know what was submitted in surveys) but I brought up a couple times as my player had an issue with it. Setting up a tripod on your horse's head wasn't disallowed in the playtest rules, but was narratively awkward. This wasn't at all a dealbreaker for the class, but it's still nice to know that our problems are heard.
So I just wanted to say, thank you for giving a solution to my relatively minor complaint!
Working on a poison themed Beast summoner and am looking for advice on how to build her, primarily looking at feat and spell choices (ancestry and eidolon choices are pretty set in stone). I have her built to 4 with free archetype.
1st
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Skilled - Crafting (this build kind of wants a lot of skilled, and having Crafting at expert will be helpful for downtime)
Ancestry Feat: General Training - Additional Lore - Plant Lore (a flavor choice, she's a gardener of exotic plants)
Ability Scores: 10 14 12 14 10 18
Skills: Crafting (from Heritage), Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Heraldry Lore, Plant Lore, Medicine, Nature, Society, Survival
Eidolon: Beast (s n a k e)
Evolution Feat: Expanded Senses
3rd
Skill Increase: Nature
General Feat: Toughness
4th
Class Feat: Tandem Movement
Skill Feat: Read Lips
Free Archetype: Poisoned Resistance
Starting Spells:
Electric Arc, Prestidigitation, Protect Companion, Puff of Poison, Sigil
Fear, Pest Form
Fungal Infestation, Slough Skin
I don't have a ton of plans for the future, other than the fact that at 5th I'll probably swap out Pest Form and Slough Skin for Envenom Companion and Haste. The general playstyle is going to be Eidolon focused with my character mostly throwing out Boost Eidolons except when she needs to cast a spell (in which case she'll use Extend Boost). Daily poisons will be applied to my eidolon between combats. Any tips to improve this?
So I've started planning a campaign set in Ustalav, and all four of the character concepts brought to me by my players are martial. We have a swashbuckler (braggart), alchemist (bomber or chirurgeon, will switch to investigator if she ends up not liking the class), ranger (strength based precision), and a sprite rogue (ruffian). The rogue is taking a spellcasting archetype and the swashbuckler might, but starting at 5th level that only means the party has 1 or 2 1st level spell slots total.
Is there anything I should know running for this group? What sorts of things do you think will be more challenging for them? What sorts of things will be less challenging for them?
Inspired by some talks about how wizards are the only casters without simple weapon proficiencies among other discussions, I'm considering changing how weapon proficiencies are available to certain classes.
Wizards
Would now start trained in all simple weapons and become experts at 11.
This puts them in line with all other non-bard casters in terms of weapon proficiencies.
Rogues
Are now trained in all martial weapons, become expert at 5, and master at 13.
This doesn't change sneak attack requirements, it basically just allows rogues to use stuff like starknives and sword canes, while also opening up a few niche strength based options like hatchets and light hammers.
Monks
Monastic Weaponry not gives training in all simple and martial weapons with d10 damage die or lower.
This is the change I'm the least sure about. But, as far as I can tell stance attacks are balanced with weapons.
I remembered there was some discussion on here about a postal service campaign on here, and brought it up to my players and they liked the idea of it as a future campaign. I want to set it in Golarion to save time on worldbuilding. What nation would be best for this? Ideally one that's developed enough that a private mail delivery company could sprout up, but dangerous enough that mail carriers would have to be armed adventurers.
As it stands, none of the Gunslinger Ways really support riding a mount, which is a big part of some people's gunslinger fantasies (I know the gunslinger I'll be GMing for tonight will be using Cavalier archetype). Drifter and Pistolero both have movement as part of their first level feature, which can't be used on a mount. And snipers require stealth, which while technically possible on a mount doesn't fit the fantasy.
I don't expect gunslinger to have any way to innately give someone a mount, we have archetypes for that, but a Way that works with it would be appreciated.
For reference, this is what the CRB defines as a class archetype:
Quote:
Archetypes with the class trait represent a fundamental divergence from your class’s specialties, but one that exists within the context of your class. You can select a class archetype only if you are a member of the class of the same name. Class archetypes always alter or replace some of a class’s static class features, in addition to any new feats they offer. It may be possible to take a class archetype at 1st level if it alters or replaces some of the class’s initial class features. In that case, you must take that archetype’s dedication feat at 2nd level, and after that you proceed normally. You can never have more than one class archetype.
We don't have any examples yet, and it's unknown if we'll get any in Secrets of Magic. What sorts of things are you hoping for?
I had the idea for this feat as a way to improve specialist wizards, basing it off of the Divine Access Oracle feat.
Specialist Access -- FEAT 4 (Wizard) Prerequisites an arcane school
Your dedication to your specialty has given you access to magic that would otherwise be foreign to you. Pick three spells from any spell list that have a trait corresponding to your arcane school. Add these spells to your spellbook. If you choose a spell that is of a higher level than you can cast, instead add that spell to your spellbook when you can cast that level of spell. Regardless of what list they come from, you cast these spells as arcane spells.
Special you can select this feat multiple times, choosing different spells each time.
From either edition of Pathfinder, is there any sort of creature that has the power to teleport an entire village, buildings and all? And if not, what level would likely be appropriate for a creature that can?
My players are going to be on a cruise ship for a couple months of in-game time (needed to get to another continent and spared no expense) so I was trying to think of something to happen during that time. So I had an idea for there being a leukodaemon aboard the ship, infecting people with its disease and then telepathically coercing them into killing the other passengers, as well as spreading its disease as much as possible in the process. One important thing to note: In my setting, demons and daemons come from a gas giant planet, and as such are able to cast gaseous form at will.
So, since this isn't going to be a super combat heavy adventure, I was primarily looking for ways to give the quest more mechanical weight. Is the Victory Points subsystem appropriate for a murder mystery, and how would I be able to use it in a satisfying way? Or is there something else I should use?
This has been a hot topic on the forums lately, so I decided to take a crack at it. Most of these are small changes, with the exception of Force Bolt which was completely replaced. I also didn't come up with every fix myself, as some ideas were a sort of mishmash based on the discussions in other threads. I just put it all together.
I got to talking about the wizard I'll be playing soon in another thread, and decided it might be a good idea to get some advice on fine tuning it. The character is 4th level and uses free archetype. The general goal of the build is to be as effective in out of combat utility as possible, with the exception of charisma since I have two cha-based party members, without completely abandoning combat effectiveness. The build is as follows, willing to listen to advice on changing anything but the ancestry and background. I've already asked my GM about any uncommon or rare options that are listed.
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Skilled (Stealth, to aid with the Silent Spell feat)
Background: Cursed
Ability Scores: Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 8
Skills: Arcana (Expert), Crafting, Deception, Intimidation, Nature, Occultism (from Background), Religion, Society, Stealth (from Skilled), Curse Lore, Loremaster Lore
Arcane School: Universalist
Arcane Thesis: Spell Substitution
Ancestry Feat: General Training for Incredible Initiative
1st Level feat from Universalist: Reach Spell
2nd Level Class Feat: Conceal Spell
2nd Level Free Archetype: Loremaster Dedication
2nd Level Skill Feat: Quick Identification
3rd Level General Feat: Toughness
4th Level Class Feat: Silent Spell
4th Level Free Archetype: Quick Study
4th Level Skill Feat: Magical Shorthand
Spellbook:
Spells with an asterisk are ones that I spent starting gold on to buy scrolls and learn them.
I don't remember this coming up in the playtest at all, but I started thinking about this today and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me for witches to not get 8 HP. Let's compare them to the bard in terms of abilities and proficiencies, since they're the most similar in terms of general abilities.
Areas where they're the same at 1st level:
They both get 3 spell slots per level.
They both get 1 action focus cantrips (let's ignore the power of those cantrips for now)
They both get light armor training.
Their saving throws are the same.
Areas where they're different:
Spontaneous vs prepared (I see these as equal in power, I know not everyone will agree)
Witches get a cool familiar
Bards get expert perception, witches are only trained
Bards get an extra 2 hp per level
Bards get a few martial weapon proficiencies
The discrepancies definitely seem a bit odd, and it leads to me thinking that witches having only 6 HP feels wholly unnecessary. Not getting expert perception I can get, familiars help quite a bit with scouting and it feels like there's more reasons for bard to not get it than for witches to get it. And the weapon proficiencies seem like purely a legacy thing. But I don't see any reasons for witch to not be a bit sturdier.
Having only read book 1, how screwed would a character that wants to deal fire damage be? One of my players is going cosmos oracle (so she'll get spray of stars and moonbeam) but both of those deal fire damage. I don't want her to feel punished for making a flavorful choice, so how frequently would she be able to effectively use these?
So, the party I'll be GMing for has a lot of connections to Desna. One is a monk who worships her, one is a cosmos oracle, and one is a witch with the Night patron who really likes stars (so I figured I would make her patron Desna). So I was wondering, how involved is Desna and her followers in this AP? And if she's not particularly involved, is there any way I can incorporate her more?
I have the first two books but have only read the first.
My group enjoys combat a decent bit, but the sheer amount of dungeons has left us feeling burnt out. Having spent the last 7 sessions across two dungeons in book 1 (which is about 3 months since we play biweekly) we're considering dropping it. We like combat, but we also like the roleplay side of the game a lot, and it doesn't feel like there's a lot of room for that when the game is just fight some stuff, move like 30 feet, fight some more. Are there any tips for spicing things up in dungeons before we decide to drop it?
After reading some discussion about hero points in another thread, I started thinking about how frequently I forget to hand them out. So I had the idea of having defined triggers for gaining hero points, and would appreciate ideas for more.
- Upon dealing the killing blow to the highest level monster in an encounter, you gain a hero point. The monster must be your level or higher to gain this benefit, and if it's a tie, then this applies when the last creature of the highest level is killed.
- Upon killing two or more enemies with a single action or activity, you gain a hero point.
- The first time in an encounter you heal a creature that's at 0 hit points, you gain a hero point
- If a buff you placed on another creature changes the result of a check to a critical success, you gain a hero point.
Are these a good idea, and what other ideas do you have?
So, my Champion just bit the dust (succubus domination is rough, failed my saves for 7 rounds straight) so I'm bringing in my Battledancer Swashbuckler I had planned next session.
I've got a general idea of the build I want, but I'm unsure about the weapon. On one hand, the Starknife's damage is kind of low, but that matters less to a Swashbuckler since they mainly make one big attack per round. It also can be used from a bit of range, which compliments the fact that I can Perform at range. And not having to move could free up some actions for raising a shield or using Battle Medicine. However, it requires a bit more investment, taking up one of my feats with Flying Blade and I'd also need a Returning rune.
On the other hand, the rapier provides somewhat higher damage, allows me to disarm with dex and an item bonus (Extinction Curse has more humanoid enemies than I expected) and requires less investment to make it work.
The Reactions in Encounters rules state that "The GM determines whether you can use reactions before your first turn begins, depending on the situation in which the encounter happens." I would rule that, if you're asleep, you don't have your reaction before your first turn. Do you still get it on your first turn if you spent it asleep? Like, say your turn passes while you're asleep, and then you wake up due to taking damage. Would you have your reaction?
I'll probably be running a one shot relatively soon, and since it will probably be my only chance to see them in play, I wanna get the most I can out of it. What are some good scenarios to test the classes? The party will be on a passenger ship they were hired to defend, and the ship gets attacked by monsters, and the party will be either level 5 or 3.
In terms of combat, I was thinking one moderate encounter with lower level enemies, one moderate encounter with APL+0 enemies, and one severe encounter with either a single APL+3 enemy or an APL+2 with mooks.
I also want to include some noncombat challenges, one of which should involve rescuing passengers and getting them to life boats, using whatever skills, abilities, or spells they have.
I thought I'd make this thread for both classes, as while there's a lot of threads about what change we want to see, I think it's a good idea to give the devs an idea of what people want to stay the same.
I like that ghosts and dragons can be eidolons. There was some discussion prior to the playtest about whether these creatures should be eidolons, and I'm personally very happy to see them here.
I like how the Summoner's action economy works. I really like sharing a pool of actions with your eidolon, and how it works differently from minions. Act Together is a brilliant way of doing things, though I wouldn't mind if it could be used as a part of a multi-action activity (like, you use Act Together, your eidolon strides, you use one of the actions towards casting a cantrip).
I like that you can effectively have you eidolon present constantly. I wasn't sure which way this would go, and I'm happy it's here.
I like that Synthesist is an option right away, as opposed to a future book. While it's not perfect mechanically, the Synthesist is a huge fantasy for a lot of people, particularly ones who just want to play a monster. One of my players is excited to finally get to play Venom.
I like that the Summoner is another multi-tradition caster. It feels super fitting to have a type of casting that is associated with your eidolon, like being a divine caster alongside an angel. However, I do hope that the Summoner is the last multi-tradition caster we get for a while, since we've gotten one in ever book with classes so far.
I thought I'd make this thread for both classes, as while there's a lot of threads about what change we want to see, I think it's a good idea to give the devs an idea of what people want to stay the same.
For the Magus:
I like that the subclasses support a variety of weapon types. One of my biggest hopes for the Magus was that it would have support for two-handed weapons, and while I'm disappointed that the big weapons subclass is on paper the weakest one, I'm happy it's there.
The Magus has some very cool and thematic feats. Feats like Capture Spell, Arcane Fists, Raise a Tome, and Spell Swipe are all super cool and just scream Magus. Raise a Tome could use a bit of work to make it actually work with any of the subclasses (it feels like a Witch's cauldron situation where it was put into the playtest without the tools to use it) but it's probably my favorite feat out of the bunch.
I like how you imbue the spell into your weapon and don't lose it if you miss. Action economy issues aside, this is a very good solution to helping Magus lose their spells less frequently in a game where missing is common.
I'm planning a character with the Loremaster archetype, meaning I can pick a Lore to temporarily become trained in if I experienced something related to it the previous day or have selected it in this way before. My question is, how specific does a lore have to be for it to be better than just using Loremaster Lore? Like, as an example, would Absalom Lore be useful, or would I be better off taking lore about a specific part of Absalom like Ivy District Lore and just using Loremaster Lore for general info about the city?
Side note, lore no longer looks like a word to me.
EDIT: I should clarify, this is under the assumption that Bardic and Loremaster Lore reduce DCs by 2. I know this isn't 100% agreed upon, but it's how myself and the other GMs in my group run it.
How broken would it be to allow players to ready two actions by spending 3 actions? Should it allow for two separate one action abilities (such as Stride+Strike) or be limited to things that cost two actions (such as spells or Sudden Charge)? Are there any unintended consequences of allowing this either way?
I actually like the incapacitation rules quite a bit, since I like that it leaves room for powerful spells without completely wrecking important encounters. However, there is one problem I have: Incapacitation spells are better at odd levels than even levels. For example, casting a 4th level incap spell at 7th level allows you to affect creatures one level higher than you normally. However, at 8th level, you can no longer affect creatures one level higher than you normally with the same 4th level spell. It feels weird from a narrative sense and feels bad from a mechanical one, where incap spells are more effective at some levels than others. I've been trying to think of a solution without completely changing the incapacitation system, but I'm stumped. Any ideas?
I've ended up picking arcane witch for my free archetype for an upcoming wizard character. Seeing as they're both spellbook classes, however, I have to decide how I'm going to be learning new spells.
Wizards have to spend money when adding spells to their book, but get to keep the scroll after. Witches don't have to spend anything but lose the scroll, so theoretically I could learn every spell I get from scrolls twice, but I'm not sure if it's actually worth losing the scroll.
So my current plan is to rarely add new spells to my witch "spellbook", and only take evergreen spells that will basically always be useful in those slots. Ones that don't need to be heightened, like Pet Cache, Fear, or Slow. Is this a good plan of action, or should I invest more into my witch spellcasting?
Figured everyone could use a place to talk about what excites them in the book now that most people have it (and if you don't for whatever reason, everything is already up on Archives of Nethys!)
For me, the Marshal archetype is everything I ever could've hoped for. Auras, bonuses to attack or damage rolls, manipulating ally actions, giving temp HP, and more all on a purely martial character? I love it.
Also, I really love some of the new wizard feats and will probably be picking up a couple when I play my wizard. Spellbook Prodigy, Nonlethal Spell, Call Bonded Item, and Split Slot all look up my alley.
Planning out a character for a campaign we're going to be in in a couple months, and I know I want to play a wizard. We're using the free archetype variant and was thinking about picking the archer archetype from the APG. I've heard good things about cloistered clerics with bows, what about wizards?
Building a dungeon for my level 6 party to go through, and I have a pretty good idea of what the dungeon is, but am at a bit of a loss as to what should go in there.
The dungeon is the former lair of an ancient red dragon that was petrified by an event that happened in my setting a couple thousand years prior. Its mind is still intact (well, in the sense that it can still think, it has gone insane over that long time). Relatively recently, a Osyluth moved into the lair and has made a hobby out of probing the dragon's mind, searching for whatever info it can get out of it.
The devil's connection with its kind has been severed, so it wouldn't have any lesser devils working under it. The lair is a cave system just above the Underdark/Darklands, and the area above the lair is a tundra (wasn't when the dragon moved in, but a lot has happened in the area). Any ideas of what might be working for a bone devil under these circumstances?
I'm curious how the elemental bloodline for sorcerers interacts with other ways of casting their granted spells. Assume we're talking about a non-fire elemental sorcerer for this.
If an elemental sorcerer casts fireball from a scroll or wand, does it match their element or is it always fire?
Similarly, is the persistent damage from the Wand of Smoldering Fireballs changed to the sorcerer's type?
Does it matter for the above questions if the sorcerer crafted the items themselves?
My party has been suffering from a very low damage output, and I was thinking about changing up my build to facilitate that. I'm currently playing a level 4 liberator and I have sorcerer dedication and the glutton's jaw focus spell, neither of which are really doing much for me, so I definitely want to change them (if not barbarian, then something from the APG). I figure if I do this, then I go Fury instinct, since not having an instinct ability doesn't matter as much for a multiclass and none of the others really match the character's flavor. I guess my question is, is it worth it?
I'm playing a half-orc liberator and I go down quite a bit. My party consists of myself, a human monk, a homebrew pixie druid, and an elven witch. The druid and witch are very squishy, so I try to keep enemies from getting to them as much as possible, which leaves me in the line of fire (which is my job as a champion). However, this leads to me going down almost every fight.
My general playstyle is to use my meteor hammer to stay at reach, but oftentimes there's not enough room to step back from an enemy to use my reach without leaving the druid and witch exposed. I try to trip enemies to waste their actions, but while this prevents them from doing a lot of things they're still often able to get one or two good hits in. My AC is as high as it can be without a shield (chainmail with armored skirt, shield cantrip from sorcerer dedication). Any tips for what I can do?
How viable is a dexterity-focused barbarian in PF2? There's a 5e build I've had in mind for a while of a noble barbarian that uses a rapier, and was wondering how viable it is here. In 5e, Dex Barbarian builds are mostly about maximizing defenses at the cost of offense, but it seems like you still get your full rage damage with a finesse weapon in PF2. So the only damage you're giving up is with die size. Are there any benefits to doing this versus a strength barbarian?
So we have Champions of Good, we're getting Champions of Evil next month, and there's already been a lot of discussion about Champions of Neutrality/Law/Chaos. But at the moment, Champions are the only class with a quota to fill in terms of subclasses, and what if we ignored that quota?
What I mean is, what champions would we get that aren't related to alignment? For example, tenets related to the elements, and then causes connected to each of the four main elements. Rather than having alignment requirements, they might require you to follow a deity that has a domain matching your element.
I have a few questions about how Magical Shorthand interacts with these things.
1. Is the Earn Income check different than the check made to learn the spell, or are they the same roll?
2. What task level for Earn Income would you use? The highest one available to you?
3. It says "you choose a spell available to you to learn", what does available to you mean? Does it have the same limitations as Learn a Spell (you have to have a person who knows the spell or have it in writing) or can you pick any common spell on your list?
4. This is less of a magical shorthand question and more of a learn a spell question, but when copying a spell from a scroll, is the scroll used up? I know witches make their familiar eat the scroll, but what about wizards?
For a bit of change in pace from my homebrew campaign, I told my players I'd be running a one shot, and they loved the idea of all of them playing the same class. When given the choice, they decided to all play half-human bards (out of the players who have decided, they're playing a half-orc, half-goblin, and a threequartersling), with their shared father being a human bard who left each of them when they were young. They've all gone on a quest to find their father, who they've learned has been kidnapped by a music-loving Eldest, who they're going to try and rescue him from.
So I already know that the final challenge will be a performance for the Eldest (most likely using the Victory Points system), but what would be some good things for them to face in the travel through the First World while trying to get to the Eldest?
EDIT: Forgot to mention, there's four players total, and they're all level 3.
Thinking about making a melee bard, as out of all the casters they get the best weapon proficiencies out of the gate and get light armor. Assuming Dex based, which of these three would work best?
Sorcerer offers additional spells (and additional slots for True Strike) as well as the option of Bespell Weapon, which again synergizes well with True Strike.
Rogue offers sneak attack and the ability to really lean into being a skill monkey. Dread Striker also synergizes great with Dirge of Doom.
Champion offers more defensive capabilities with additional hit points, shield feats, and their reaction (which could also mean more damage if I'm LG).
Currently there's no way to have an 18 Con at level 1 without rolling, because you can't get a boost to it at the class step. What class could use Con primarily? Should a class be able to do that?
I've been following the Treasure by Level table pretty closely for my game. However, I wasn't super familiar with what items were required until the Automatic Bonus Progression rules came out. So now I know that at just about every level, the system assumes they get some numerical bonus, from attack potency, armor potency, striking, resilience, skill bonuses, and perception bonuses. And every player is expected to get these, with some exceptions (spellcasters don't typically need attack potency or striking). It feels like there's no room in the magic item budget to throw in things like bags of holding or bracers of missile deflection.
Is there anything I can do without switching to ABP? I don't want my players to feel like they've wasted gold on the runes they have.
This'll be my first time actually using a homebrew monster against my party, so I want opinions on it. It's meant to be minions for a level 6 underwater boss against a level 5 party (moderate encounter, but since it's underwater I'm treating it as severe).
Spoiler:
Sea Spark Creature 3 N, small, elemental, aquatic, electricity
Perception +9
Skills Acrobatics +10, Stealth +9, Survival +9
Str +1, Dex +4, Con +3, Int -4, Wis +3, Cha +4
Electrical Movement (primal, electricity) The sea spark can move normally through an unwilling creature's space, but still can't end its turn there. When it does this, any creatures it moves through take 2d4 electricity damage (DC 19 basic Reflex save).
AC 19; Fort +6, Ref +12, Will +9
HP 36; Immunities bleed, electricity, paralyzed, poison, sleep; Resistances physical 5
Disperse (reaction) (electricity, evocation, primal); Trigger The sea spark takes damage. Effect After taking the damage, the sea spark Strides or Swims without triggering reactions. If the triggering damage was electricity or from a metal weapon, the damage dealt by Electrical Movement becomes 3d4 for this Stride or Swim.
