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So I am going to be playing in this adventure soon, and I was looking at trying out the Siege Mage archtype, seeing as how this might be one adventure it can actually be useful So just a couple of questions for people who have played a bit already
Any general tips are appreciated as well, thanks in advance
Ok, I'm going to open the same can of explosive worms that has been opened many times, and I'm sure people are going to get heated, but I'm curious, so I want to ask... What abilities to wizards/clerics/spellcasters have that pure martial characters just can't compete with? What can they do that martial characters are left behind? What makes martial characters feel "impotent" around magic users? I'm not trying to troll, or start a flame war (though I'm sure that will happen anyway) but more to get a perspective. In any game I've played a spellcaster, I've never upstaged the rest of the party, or made the GM throw his hands up in frustration, and I've always felt the Martial characters have had something to contribute to pretty much every situation
Since there are now a literal poop-ton of feats out there, and since characters still only have the same finite number to choose, what would people think of feats being given out as part of a reward? Obviously not in a treasure hoard, but as special training, or something along those lines? And, how much would that be worth in terms of gold? I was thinking a base amount (say 1000) plus an amount for prerquisites
I am building a level 18 character for a game, and I have decided to try my hand at the Spellslinger archtype. Stats will be rolled, and I haven't rolled yet, so I don't know what I have yet, but obviously I will be putting my two highest stats into Intelligence and Dexterity I'm not sure if I should go straight Spellslinger, or if I should try and go for the Eldritch Knight PrC. I might be missing something, but it looks like none of the class abilities of the Spellslinger are level dependant, so that would help a lot. What feats should I be taking? I plan on taking the obvious ones like point blank, precise, arcane strike, deadly aim, and rapid reload. Any help would be helpful, so thanks for the help!
So in the Serpents Skull Game that I am currently in, we are facing a very real TPK. I don't want to give any spoilers, but we ended last session in the middle of a fight, and I don't think we have any way of hurting the monster we are fighting properly. Now, I am a firm believer that if you plan another character, you will probably survive the current TPK. Even better if you plan a character you really want to play. Currently, the rest of the group has planned what classes they want to play next, and they are an Alchemist
and then there is me. I can't decide what gap I should fill. If the last player plays a Hellknight, I know we'll need some kind of healing, but if he plays a Druid, where is our party most likely to be deficient?
I have decided to build a Mystic Theurge in a level 16 game my friend is running. Since I have 16 levels to play with, and as such I don't have to slog through all the annoying levels, I want to try and have some fun with this class. I know that Wizard/Cleric would be more efficient, but I am kind of interested in trying a Sorcerer/Oracle. So, as is often the case of posting on the forums, I have a few questions. 1: Would playing a Sorcerer/Oracle at this level really hurt? 2: What suggestions do people have about the build. I know that it would be a suboptimal build, but I would like to Optimize this as much as possible, as my GM runs a very optimized game. 3: Does this look infected, and should I go to a hospital to get it looked at?
I am reading over the Knowledge Pool Magus ability, and I was basically wondering if it let's you add spells to your spellbook. It basically let's you memorize a spell for the day as if you knew it. If I take the Scribe Scroll feat, would I then be able to scribe the spell onto a scroll, then scribe it into my spellbook?
So I just picked up my copy of Ultimate Magic, and so far am very happy with how everything is looking. I am going to be starting up a Campaign soon, and started looking over the Words of Power section. To me, it feels like it makes the most sense for spontaneous casters (Oracles, Bards, Sorcerers) to use words of power, while prepared casters (clerics, wizards, magi) to use regular spells. So, my question is, if I made it so all spontaneous casters were word casters, what kind of impact might it have? Would the spontaneous casters become too weak? too strong? would it all work out in the end? Any advice would be welcome
Hi all! I wasn't sure what thread to put this under, so I stuck it under the General Discussion one, hope it's ok. Anyway, I'm running a Kingmaker campaign, and have been looking at some of the adventure modules as a way to add a little more story to the game (not that it specifically needs it, I'm just looking to throw a little extra at my players) So I wanted to know if there were any adventure modules that might be a good fit into the Kingmaker Campaign?
A lot of people on the boards have been talking about how Spell Save DC's don't scale well enough, and I know I've experienced that a lot myself. Looking through the bestiary, if you're facing something straight out of the book, and you target their bad save, you should have something like a 63% chance of success. The main problem comes from NPC and that darned cloak of resistance, which ups all their saves. This is the equivalent of a magic armor bonus to AC. The problem? There is no equivalent magic bonus to the spell "attack". So, why not make a magic item that allows spellcasters to increase their Spell DC the same way Fighters increase their to-hit? Obviously this would take a lot of balancing. Cost. Item slot. Would affect all DCs or just one school. But for now, all I'm looking for is a yes or no from people to see how viable it is.
Ok, maybe my understanding of the spell is flawed, but it seems to me that if you want to use Planar Binding (any of the three will do) you first have to cast a Magic Circle Against __________, which works for anything with the correct alignment (Law, Chaos, Good, Evil) My question is, what do you do if you want to summon something that is True Neutral?
Ok, I'm looking for peoples opinions on what the best, non-standard classes from 3.5 are to bring into Pathfinder. I know that any classes CAN be converted, but I just wanna see what people think are most worth it. I'm looking for classes
My personal first two choices are
My friend is starting a campaign where all the characters are essentially pirates, having left military life to strike out on our own. Obviously, a good portion of the adventure is going to take place on the open ocean. However, another good portion is going to take place in the jungle and on land. I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas for a good Druid animal companion (Half-Orc if it matters) to take that would be useful in both places
So I'm looking over the Celestial Chainmail, and am trying to figure out the cost. The +3 is 9000gp, the flight once per day would be 5400gp, the armor itself is 300 gp, which totals 14,700gp, which leaves 7700 gp. My first question is, is the overall price lowered because the creator "must be good" My second question is, can the enhancements listed under Celestial Armor's base statistics (+6 to max dex, -15 spell failure, -3 armor check penalty) be applied to other Armor's (like platemail)
Hi all. I'm trying to design an army of "clockwork soldiers" and want to include clockwork spellcasters. I realize that constructs are mindless, and don't want to take away from that, but I also wanted to have them be actual spellcasters, not just a few spell-like abilities. So I was wondering if anyone else has tried to make mindless spellcasters, if anyone had any suggestions, or if anyone wanted to scream blasphemy at me?
Hey, don't know if this has been asked before, but I'm just wondering if using an immediate action uses up your swift action for the round, or if they are two separate actions. The core book states that an immediate action is 'similar to a swift action' and my GM thinks that is enough to say they are similar enough that using one negates use of the other. What are your thoughts?
Hi all I just picked up the factions book, and so far I'm loving it. I'm looking at starting a Kingmaker chronicle right now, and was thinking about adding factions into it, but I'm not sure how well it would work. Does anyone have any opinions? Do you think factions would disrupt the flow? Or add another level of intrigue? What factions would you think are appropriate?
Hi all My friends and I have just started a PF game, and it's going good so far. However, one of my friends is a little annoyed with the "Spells Per Day" system, and wants to move over to a "Spell Point" system. Now, I have the Unearthed Arcana, so I have the basic system, but I know a few of the classes have changed a little with their spells per day (I'm looking at the Bard mainly) so I have tried doing a straight conversion of spells per day to spell points. The first question I have to ask is has anyone else done this for PF? And if so, how did it work? The Second question is how have people found the spell points in the past, before pathfinder, and do you have any advice? Thanks in advance, and good gaming all!
Hi all! I'm starting up an Eberron Campaign, and am trying to come up with some homebrew traits. I'll put a few up here as I come up with them, but I was wondering if anyone else has come up with their own traits? If you have any (especially ones specific to Eberron) please feel free to post 'em here a couple of basic ones I've thought of are;
Beast Spirit: you are in tune with your bestial side, and can interact with animals more easily. You gain +1 trait bonus on Handle Animal checks, and Handle Animal is a class skill (proposed for shifters)
I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet, but I was just wondering if an Eidolon can go into an Anti-magic zone. In their description, it says they are treated like summoned creatures, except for the few exceptions they list, so my guess is no, but I just wanted to get your guys opinion on it Thanks in advanced!
Hi, first post ever on these forums, so please be gentle So I got it in my head last night that it might be cool to try and convert the old Genasi races over to PF, and to me they would make great natural elemental sorcerers. Reading them over in the old Faerun setting, they all have a clerical focus in their descriptor does this mean they should be more divine, or would it be acceptable to give them an arcane focus?
I would like some definitions to be clearly laid out please, as some of this is still unclear to me. Which would be nice if the editing team stayed with the same layout across all the books and entries. So in some cases it looks like I can gain access via the access entry in the uncommon item: IE Lastwall Sentry Access you must be from the Eye of Dread region. Easy enough take the 0 Fame Home Region boon, I meet the access requirements and all feats under it are not listed as uncommon so I am good. So lets move on to the Knights of Lastwall where the problem starts creeping in: Knights of Lastwall entry sidebar P88 Lost Omens Character Guide:
Ok so if I am reading the secondary initiation correct buying that boon for 2 fame takes care of the above. IE I am now a member of the Knights of Lastwall. So here is where it becomes unclear, mainly because there is not an access entry for the individual items. The books says:
So does this paragraph and the above boon mean I have access now? Unlike the Lastwall Sentry where it spells out what I need to do with an access entry, these feats do not other than the above paragraph. Lets take this problem a step further.
Ok first there is a paragraph similar to the Feat one above so assuming the answer is yes I have access because of my Secondary Initiation Boon we run into another problem, what is my rank? Do I need to buy another Secondary Initiation boon to get the Rank of Knight? Is my first one good enough? In conclusion it would be nice if the OPF staff took a couple of these situations and put out concrete examples with the references to the text of the rules so we can model off those. --Chris
Bob Jonquet wrote:
I am going to have to disagree with you here Bob, PF1 was never balanced, as its source 3.5 and 3.0 before that was never balanced. Look at the martial vs caster power curve, you pick it Basic D&D all the way up and through PF1. D&D 4e actually did one thing well was balance out all the classes against each other, there were only 4 but they were balanced against each other. I would go on to say later PF1 was actually more balanced than early PF1 as there were more options which were "effective" for more playstyles, but it did boil down to the flavor of the month category kind of like Warhammer 40K. 5e and PF2 use different approaches to fix the issues that D&D 3e had and subsequently PF1. All characters ACs, DCs, skills are going to stay in the general ballpark with the automated level bump. Everyone is getting approximately the same number of feats across the characters lifetime. As long as they don't deviate from that limited resource you should be able to maintain some sort of balance. Unfortunately that lack of deviation may have the problem that 4e had, was there really a difference between the leaders/strikers/defenders/controllers? If the system stays strict you may see the same problem in PF2. But that is a stray off topic, on topic, looking at the core design of PF2 balance should be less of an issue as long as they stick with the current setup of the design structure they put in place and do not introduce new ways to add bonuses, unless there is a fundamental flaw that needs fixing. --Chris
If I had to hazard a guess is that the point system and cert buying system is still not working on the site and that is why you do not see any sanctioning information on the Lost Omens World guide. If I remember correctly the goal with PFS2 campaign was to make almost everything common available in campaign, and then most uncommon and few rare options available through the points store. Since most (if not all) archetypes are uncommon, until the site is fixed you'll probably not see sanctioning. The problem is that this system still requires the code monkeys (or at least the content monkeys) to import the information into the system, which is also supposed to generate adventure records for said options. This is the same fundamental design flaw that caused problems with the Wizards Eberron campaign during the LG years, since everything was tracked online, adventures were being delayed because of web issues. They have taken something that is relatively easy, doing an up/down check on a book and made it relatively hard. Granted the Lost Omens World Guide only needs 10 items created, what happens when the Lost Omens Character Guide comes out? So what is the solution? Move it to the OPF community page where it can be managed by volunteers. Some of it can be simple, like everything that is open access, even now that could be done. A simple background and common items are allowed, Uncommon and Rare: TBD. Moving the points system, certificate generation, and other uncommon/rare content in will require quite a bit of more work, and would require back end features on the Paizo website I do not know if they are there. --Chris
I personally think they should count for 1 Glyph per run. While yes I agree my time in front of the players is less than a full scenario, which is the only reason why it shouldn't be. In terms of prep time, the time difference between a Quest, Scenario, AP is not that large. I do organize my games at a store so some of these may not apply to everyone. 1. Arrange for Space - Same for all three.
With all that I anticipate it takes me about 10 hours of my time to run a scenario I have not run. With a quest I would only save about 3 of those hours, so only 7 hours. So in the long run I do not see the quests being that much shorter of a time commitment to run.
What concerns me about this is the Common/Uncommon/Rare setup. While I have no problem with the method for items...if I get access to a cool item that I want I just ditch the current one and add the new one. What worries me is the powers/feats/spells, there is no mention of retraining, which means kind of like Starfinder your first and even possibly second character are going to be generic, with only common abilities, until you can earn points to get an uncommon one. It seems like that could be fixed by a retraining system that allowed you to switch out powers/feats/spells, even if it is just one a level or something. PF2 may have that in it, but I do not remember it from the playtest. It could also be handled by speed of point earning vs. cost of uncommon powers. It also may only be a short term problem, as more source material comes out and more options become generally available, but it will be one at the beginning of the campaign, unless they pretty much made everything there common.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
I think the biggest gap is prepared casters. Starfinder has all these cool spells that get very little use because basically everyone is a Sorcerer, so you have a small subsection of commonly used spells. I can understand the design decision to do those first since prepared casters are harder to learn and use, but now is the time. Since final release will probably be Summer so approximately 2 years in is a good number for more advanced class options.
I would like to petition the powers that be to add the repeatable tag to Skitter Shot. I could point out that it is the only 1-2 that is not repeatable, promotes additional play, good for new players...bla bla bla. No I want it repeatable because it is a blast to run and play. I have played and run it multiple times and had a blast each time. So if there any helpful Skittermanders at the Paizo office. The rules PDF is missing the repeatable tag and says something about it only being allowed to be played once. I believe this is a mistake and I need help fixing it. --Chris
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
The issue is not that it can be worked around. In an home game I 100% agree that anathemas as written can work fine. As the players and GM should be able to work out weather or not the character will one fit into the campaign and two offer interesting role playing opportunities. We are not discussing a home game we are discussing organized play. The players and GM do not have the luxury of making that decision. So it is left to scenario authors to write the adventure in such a way that ALL legal character types can play the adventure. Your suggestion above for Pharasma is great if the scenario author wrote it in. It is terrible for OP if it is left up to the GM to adjudicate. In that case you will get a wildly subjective answer which could be ruled very differently at every table. The Pharasma example is the one that is relatively clear. What about ones that aren't? With no guidance from the powers that be, it will be even worse as the swing from one table to the next can be even greater. So in my opinion Paizo needs to do one of the following for OP: 1. Eliminate anathema for OP. I am not necessarily advocating this action, but it has to be presented as an option. 2. Provide clear rules when anathema each applies in an OP setting in a setting like a players guide. In addition, rules stating that when a PC is about to perform an action that will trigger it the GM should give a warning. 3. Perform some sort of watering down of anathema where it works like the other conditions and does not come into full effect until you get to anathema 3 or 4 or something. 4. Have the scenario authors point out when anathema applies. 5. Some hybrid of 2 and 4. I do not think that doing nothing is an option as it will cause disagreements and wildly different table experiences as GM adjudicate it differently, which will cause complaints coming up stream through the venture officer core. --Chris
BigNorseWolf wrote:
This is exactly my point about the problem with anathema in an OP setting. The above ruling requires a subjective ruling by the GM that does not trigger the anathema of one or the other cleric. So if you leave it in as is one of two things happen:
In case 1 you are putting a lot of work on the authors and editors to come up with every situation and continued support of scenarios after they are published.
--Chris
The problem with organized play has always been when creating adventures you must assume all legal characters are at the table at the same time. A well written adventure will take into account this fact, and handle abnormalities. As an author of Living Greyhawk adventures in the past, I can tell you from experience this is not an easy feat. I can also definitively say that all my adventures do not qualify as well written by my statement above. Right now the anathema system for the Paladin, Barbarian, Cleric, & Druid is most likely the cause of an adventure abnormality. At least those that the writer can account for. While I do not think the system necessarily needs to be gotten rid of for PFS a definitive set of rules need to be established to handle such, and I believe it has to be less severe than the rules established in the core rule book. Which in general is an anathema for the PFS folks. :) Here is what I would suggest:
You could also introduce an anathema penalty like any other condition make it a -1 to all d20 roles or something for each level and level X anathema 3 or 4 would be my suggestion would put on the full anathema penalty. With the requirements of the Atone ritual to get this cleared, 10 x level gold and 1 day cast time. This way you don't need to have writers writing themselves around in circles to try to account for all the possible anathemas out there, much less future ones that could appear later. --Chris
The problem with Anathema in PFS is weather or not it is triggered is a subjective call and not an objective one. There is nothing wrong with subjective calls in role playing games, as it usually spawns roleplaying opportunities. The problem is in an organized play environment, where you are going to see a huge mix of characters whom may or may not have played together. In addition GM license is minimal in an OP environment, again making Anathemas particularly punishing. Could having a Pharasman along cause a failure of an adventure? How would the Pharasman player know to play another character, or not play the adventure? Do we want to design adventures where certain anathemas are not a good fit for. In addition there could be situations where anathemas could be mutually exclusive: Enemy of the people surrenders:
Cleric of Gorum - Must accept surrender. In all likelihood one of these clerics are losing their power, or a fight breaks out that cannot happen in organized play. Don't get me wrong, I like a disadvantage system (which anathemas are) as it allows for role playing opportunities. The problem is when it comes down to subjective calls on a GMs part it will always be a problem in an organized play setting. --Chris
Sebastian Hirsch wrote:
I agree with the make level 1 more fun option, but I disagree with the make level 1 more complex option. Level 1 is the gateway for new players and as such characters must be simple enough that you aren't going to overwhelm the new player in the process. I think as long as you can make level 1 feel heroic it will be more fun. I do not know what the answer here is but in general the system has to be fast, simple, and the PCs have to be able to do cool things. It needs to be able to hook new players and make them excited for more. Level 1 will eventually become a slog for veteran players, because in a world where almost all PCs start at level 1 you will spend most of your time there. No matter how exciting you make it, it will get to the been there done that point. --Chris
First off, I do not think the problem is as bad in PF2 as it is in PF1. Level 1 characters are decently hardy and level 2 characters do not have that much more HP (50% - 75% more) a +1 addition to basically everything. In addition all casters can get a useful cantrip usable an unlimited number of times. What changes is if an average would hit on an 11 at first level it would be a 10 at second or 50% chance to a 55%. You have another 1st level spell slot if you are a caster and another 1st level cast per day. Also you have a class feat allowing you to do a trick of your class. So I think it has gone from level 2 being completely blowing away a level 1 to being simply more powerful. I would need to playtest some games with a mixed party of level 1 and level 2s to be sure, but on the surface it does not look that bad. If turns out to be worse than I think then there is a relatively simple solution to the issue, stealing an idea from Living Greyhawk, make intro scenarios. Level 1 only scenarios. In addition I would either make them short 1-2 hour play time or 3 xp if a full slot. Either allow the scenarios to fill the roll that quests play now, or get a 1 and done setup to level 2. --Chris
I am for expanded or full replay and here is why: I play OP to socialize with my friends for a few hours (I count like minded individuals as friends in this context). It is an easy method to find those individuals like a dating service for other gamers. For the most part I do not care what we play and if someone or everyone has already played it Ok that just changes the interaction a bit. So anything that makes it easier to make that happen is good in my book. I am fully aware, that what I get out of OP is not what others get out of OP and so what works for me does not work for others. Now on to what I think Paizo should do.
I think Wizards made a mistake making a hard cut for Living Greyhawk especially, but Living Forgotten Realms too. I think a slow transition versus an all or nothing move will work out better for Paizo.
So what I do is when I schedule a 3-6 I also schedule a 1-4 along side of it as a rerun. When I moved to 2 game days in a month in January I reran the quest and The Commencement. This weekend I am actually rerunning a 3-6 scenario because of demand. So people are slowly starting to get to the level they want to see them. With the repeatable scenarios 1-12 and 1-16 coming soon you should be able to get more variety in scenarios. I think A Night in Nightarch was too soon for a 3-6. If that one was a 1-4 I think we would be just right. Since you needed to play every scenario up to that point to qualify it was a bit of a scramble to get players when it first came out. |