I know there are rules for casting spells underwater. But are there rules regarding casting spells while swimming with your head above the surface of water?
Unlike enchantments like flaming or such, Kinetic Fist makes no mention of critical hits:
Kinetic Fist wrote:
Element(s) universal; Type form infusion; Level 1; Burn 1
Associated Blasts any
Saving Throw none
You surround your body with energy or elemental matter from your kinetic abilities. You can use this form infusion as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action to add damage to each of your natural attacks and unarmed strikes until the beginning of your next turn. Since kinetic fist is part of another action, using this wild talent doesn’t provoke any additional attack of opportunity. You deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per 3 dice of your kinetic blast’s damage (minimum 1d6), and this damage is of the same type as your kinetic blast’s damage. This extra damage ignores spell resistance and doesn’t apply any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage, such as your Constitution modifier.
So, let's say I punch a guy. I critically hit. Do I just get unarmed strike + STR again as my crit, or do I get unarmed strike + STR + kinetic fist damage?
As a swift action, spend 1 point from your ki pool and make a Bluff check by asking a creature one of the impossible questions you ponder when meditating. If the creature fails its check, you choose whether it loses its next action or you gain a +2 bonus on all damage rolls you make against that creature for 1 round.
Let's talk about that damage.
Let's say I am a gnome with a 1 level dip in Elemental Ascetic, so I add 1d6 damage from some sort of energy attack. I have a touch attack spell that deals damage held as a charge. I also have, say, a Flaming Amulet of Mighty Fists.
When I do an unarmed strike, there are now multiple separate damage rolls:
- Unarmed Strike Damage
- 1d6 from Elemental Ascetic
- touch attack damage (discharged as part of an unarmed strike)
- 1d6 fire damage from Flaming enchantment
How many +2 damage amounts do I add to this attack?
So, per this thread, I have settled on making a negative energy punch boy gnome. Have a token and everything. I'm not here to debate the rules on the negative energy stuff, but to go over everything else.
This isn't for PFS, but is at a home game that uses SLIGHTLY modified PFS rules. The main difference is I'm not allowed to dump stats below 8, or 7 if it's a racial penalty (like Strength for gnomes).
Here's what I'm considering for my character's stats:
Gnome Kineticist (Elemental Ascetic) 1 / Unchained Monk (Scaled Fist) X
20 Point Buy
STR - 8
DEX - 16
CON - 16
INT - 8
WIS - 12
CHA - 16
My character uses CHA for monk abilities instead of WIS. (Scaled Fist.)
For feats, my first feat is probably going to be Weapon Finesse. Level 2 (UC Monk 1) will be Dragon Style, and level 3 will be Extra Gnome Magic.
After that, I'm not entirely sure what all I need.
I'll obviously need an Agile item, either an Amulet of Mighty Fists or the Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes. (Handwraps disallowed in PFS.) I have another thread looking into what might be able to replace the amulet of natural armor that's lost, since having good AC is key with this sort of build.
I know I'm going to want a wand of Mage Armor and a wand of Recharge Innate Magic. I will therefore need to have good UMD, but because I have 16 CHA that shouldn't be hard. (Going to take the Dangerously Curious trait.)
I've never played a monk of any sort, not since the days of 3.5, so what all do I need? What should I be looking for item-wise and feat-wise?
Are there any good, simple replacements for an amulet of natural armor? I'm looking for an item that takes a different slot, as I may need an Amulet of Mighty Fists.
(Alternatively, I may use a Body Wrap of Mighty Strikes. Handwraps are unfortunately not PFS legal.)
So, first things first, let me state outright: The goal of this thread is to make a viable punching gnome using the Fell Magic racial trait's Chill Touch spell. I would like to keep everything PFS legal.
Fell Magic gives you 1/day Chill Touch that scales with your level, I.E. uses/day keep increasing. Extra Gnome Magic gives you 3 extra uses of that ability per day. Recharge Innate Magic lets you refresh all your racial spells with a single 1st level spell slot.
So, the plan is basically this:
Step 1. Take a single level in Kineticist (Elemental Ascetic archetype). Pick Void.
Step 2. Make sure this gnome has high UMD.
Step 3. Get a wand of Recharge Innate Magic.
Step 4. Put all remaining levels into punch classes that are NOT Elemental Ascetic.
All of this should work together because, as I recall, you can combine natural attacks and unarmed strikes with touch attacks. And Chill Touch gives you multiple uses of it per cast, meaning - if I'm right - you can make a full attack and apply Chill Touch to each attack. (If this is incorrect, please tell me as this build sort of hinges on it.)
Now you have a punch-gnome dealing 2d6 negative energy damage per attack, forcing Will Saves out of undead (if they fail, they run away), and otherwise being... Kind of viable?
The issue is I'm not sure what the rest of the classes I should take are. My gut says "Lean into your Charisma! Put Agile on your Amulet of Mighty Fists!" However, I'm not sure if this is the right course of action.
Iroran Paladin (AKA Enlightened Paladin) with a single level of Scaled Fist seemed like a good idea at first. However, losing Smite Evil makes me sad. Smite Evil is such a good ability, and the Enlightened Paladin doesn't provide the same offensive oomph. It DOES give amazing defensive capabilities (it + Scaled Fist = one of the few cases where you can legally get double CHA to AC, I believe), but I feel my damage will feel weak in comparison to a regular paladin.
Scaled Fist is definitely an option, and it's available for Unchained Monk. I'm seriously considering that. Unfortunately, 'Negatie Energy Damage' and 'Dragon' don't necessarily fit perfectly thematically, so I'd need to do some backstory gymnastics. It also has a Will gap for Scaled Fist.
Brawler is something I'm putting on the table as well, but I have very little experience with it.
I don't know what other classes or archetypes would be worth considering for the punchy portion of this build.
---
So, is this all kosher? Does it work as intended? What are the classes you would use for the punchy portion of this build?
So, I saw this ability and I'm pretty interested in it:
Quote:
Luck: Heal—Creatures gain a channel bonus or a luck bonus (creature’s choice) on one roll (attack roll, CMB check, saving throw, or skill check) made before the end of your next turn. Harm—Creatures take a channel penalty on all d20 rolls until the end of your next turn.
With Quick Channel you can channel as a move action. Meaning:
Move Action > Channel to harm, incurring penalties on all d20s for enemies.
Standard Action > Cast an offensive spell targeting the enemy's saves.
The question is: how can I best make this work? What classes or archetypes would work well here?
Firstly, I realize that Charisma is an important stat for this character if I go this route. I unfortunately don't know of any good options that let me Channel Negative Energy AND let me cast divine spells drawn from a deity's power with Charisma, so I think I'm going to be playing a cleric one way or the other. If playing a Cleric... What's the best way to keep my channel likely enough to actually work?
Also, what Spell Focus should I take on this Cleric? After all, this would be intended as an aggressive caster cleric, probably worshiping an evil deity. Is there a specific school of aggressive spells I should use?
I'm looking at this as a possible pick for my Fey Trickster Mesmerist (who has been a blast to play!) since she's working those Transmutation spells really well. I like that it's able to be used more frequently than the various Entangle spells...
...but I'm not clear on a few things. For instance, am I correct in interpreting this spell as NOT immediately demanding a Reflex saving throw from enemies when I move the sand into someone's square? And NOT demanding a saving throw when I initially cast it? It's specifically for enemies beginning their turn in it or entering it, right?
So, how useful is this spell exactly? I like that I can move it around. Would you use it?
Also, what is a 20 foot spread? Is that a 20 foot radius, or a 20 foot diameter, or...?
Instead of trying to pull off a perfect Ghostwise Halfling for this Forgotten Realms campaign, I've settled on using a Fey Trickster Mesmerist. I've also decided to take a certain feat - Fey Spell Versatility - to give myself some extra goodies (illusion, enchantment, or curse) from the Bard and Wizard spell lists. So far, so good. I love the lore for this class, and I can get some amazing fun with Bold Stare Lethality (druids get some good poison/disease spells) and Bold Stare Sluggishness (reduce Reflex for things like Entangle, Sickening Entanglement, Thorny Entanglement). So far, so fun!
What I'm not sure on is what all Druid spells and feats I should use. I have... very little experience with the Druid spell list. I have SOME experience with Ranger spells, and I have access to that list too. But what all do I want?
I can get scrolls for druidic removal spells (like Cure Disease), and my UMD should be high enough that I can use Cleric or Wizard spells for things I can't cast myself. Or perhaps having Neutralize Poison, Remove Disease, and similar spells as spells known would be handy? Should I try to know that stuff just in case at later levels?
The environment isn't PFS, but it's PFS-like. The list of books I can pick spells and feats from are:
Besides that, how exactly should I build this Occultist feat-wise? Obviously I want spell focus, perhaps in Transmutation because of the Entangle stuff. But do Druids get other solid, aggressive Transmutation spells? Obviously I want to bolster my spell save DCs as much as possible, but Druid has very little in the way of will-targeting stuff, so I think I need to focus on a school that uses Fortitude (poison or disease) or Reflex.
Necromancy is an interesting school choice. Druids have a few nasty ones in that category, it seems, though I don't know how many are [Disease] or [Poison]. Adding Bestow Curse to my list gives me some extra oomph, too.
I'd take Reincarnate as a spell, but Reincarnate is definitely banned in this environment. No rezzes for this wannabe druid!
What is the earliest possible form of Telepathy - or pseudo-telepathy - that you can think of?
The earliest trick I found was Bonded Mind + Solo Tactics, giving a character one-way telepathy by level 3 (assuming the GM rules similarly). I.E., you should be able to send messages to your allies as you're casting Message (sort of), but they shouldn't be able to send a telepathic message back.
Mesmerists get Telepathic Link as a trick at level 1, but it only activates during times of crisis (I.E. everyone's outnumbered in combat).
Do any other tricks stand out? I have an opportunity to play a Ghostwise Halfling in a Forgotten Realms game, but I need to make my own way of performing telepathy. Worst comes to worst I can always use Message and RP it as a telepathic message, but it can be overheard by enemies (which is weird).
The latest threads I see on this are back in 2013, so I wanted to know if there's been any updates:
If I cast a ranged touch attack at a willing target...
1. Do I still need an attack roll?
2. Can the willing target in any way remove DEX or Dodge bonuses to AC, or otherwise act as if flatfooted to my attack?
Not sure if this belongs under Advice or Product Discussion, but here goes.
Along with a character backlog, I'm preparing a couple of adventures to run for friends. Currently I'm running The One Ring RPG for them, but I'd like to have a Pathfinder adventure ready in case they decide to switch systems after the campaign is over. I've chosen Ire of the Storm as a starting point.
So, Ire of the Storm is a Paizo adventure from levels 1-6 dealing with a region south of Sargava. I'll put the actual plot in spoilers below:
Spoiler:
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The PCs end up having to stop a cult of lizardfolk trying to wipe out the colonists of the region with a massive storm using the elemental powers of the Eye of Abendego (if I remember correctly). This can be solved somewhat diplomatically, but ultimately there is a bad guy that has to be cut down, the storm is stopped and the region is saved.
In the aftermath, a lot depends on player actions. Whether or not Pridon's Hearth, the colonial settlement nearby, is actually operational or a ghost town depends on player actions. Whether or not a tribe of halflings has been pointlessly murdered is up to player actions. Players can potentially negotiate with some of the lizardfolk in the region instead of fighting them, meaning there's a very real chance there will be friendly lizardfolk natives after the storm that expect the PCs to help them get fair deals out of the townsfolk... Etc.
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In short, the storm leaves the region fairly devastated, and it's time to figure out how to continue the campaign.
OPTION A) There is an option to homebrew run a campaign in the region. This is a tempting opportunity to use the Kingdom Building rules, but... frankly, my experience with the Kingdom Building rules is "they're a massive chore." Is there a simplified version of them somewhere I could use, perhaps? Or a way to use them without slowing down play significantly with kingdom building sessions?
(If I CAN get simplified kingdom building rules, this one makes a lot of sense to me: the colony can declare independence from Sargava, can make alliances with the native peoples, can get colonists of its own to expand... The narrative makes sense, and the rapid expansion displayed in kingdom building rules can actually make sense for once, too!)
OPTION B) I can continue the campaign with another short adventure. I know there's another storm-related adventure in the area of Garund for levels 6-8. That could get the players to level 8, at least. Are there any other good options, or perhaps Pathfinder Society modules, that I could run in the area of south-western Garund that neatly continue the PCs' adventures?
OPTION C) It's possible I could slide the PCs into an adventure path proper after this. The question is: which one? The only two campaigns I know that happen anywhere near southern Garund are Skulls and Shackles and Ruins of Azlant. I don't think Skulls and Shackles is a good follow-up for the probably heroic players I have. Would a level 6 (or maybe 8) party of adventurers be able to easily slide into one of the other APs? And do any of those APs take place near Sargava?
OPTION D) Run a homebrew campaign, but without any kingdom building stuff. I'm not sure if I like this angle, mostly because it's a lot of extra work for me without getting into a cool subsystem. There's some good campaign material to be had - terrors relating to cyclopean ruins, armies of monstrous bad guys out from the jungle, what have you - but I feel like I need something more.
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So, what suggestions do you guys have? What follow-up would make sense? What adventure paths would the players be able to slide into easily?
I love this adventure, but it ends just a bit too soon, and I feel like my players would want to get to level 12 or so before stopping.
Alternatively, I could have 8 INT and 10 WIS with 20 point buy, but that'd mostly be a roleplay decision.
TRAITS
One of them will be Inspiring Leader. You'll see why when the character hits level 9.
SACRED SERVANT DOMAIN
Travel. It gets me some amazing spells, including Longsitrde, Fly and Dimension Door, and lets me ignore difficulty terrain penalties at low levels.
FEATS
1. Power Attack
3. Multiattack
5. Dangerous Tail
7. Death Roll
9. Unsanctioned Knowledge - 1st: Dazzling Blade, 2nd: Heroism / Mirror Image, 3rd: Good Hope / Haste, 4th: Dance of a Hundred Cuts / Shadow Conjuration / Greater Invisibility
I may potentially dip Unchained Monk for 1 level to grab Improved Grapple and Hamatula Strike, but only if I don't have a way of getting Lockjaw on myself.
The plan for this character is straightforward:
Step 1. Find evil creature.
Step 2. Smite it.
Step 3. Power attack the ever-loving CRAP out of it.
Step 4. Grapple with bite, death roll it prone, and beat it up more.
What I lack is a way to pounce. I could adjust my build to get Dimensional Dervish since I would have Dimension Door via my domain... but I only get one Dimension Door per day. One domain slot. Not exactly a riveting prospect.
I also like that this character would get to full attack when grappled thanks to not using a 2H weapon or the like. Natural attacks, baby!
Any thoughts on how to improve this? The idea is to stay in the Paladin class as much as possible, only dipping as necessary. What I want is...
1. More attacks. I know a couple items exist (like the Helm of the Mammoth Lord), but more is always better.
2. A way to get lockjaw.
3. A way to move and full attack (if possible) without using a mount + Mounted Skirmisher. (Can my Celestial Ally pick me up and drop me in front of bad guys, perhaps?)
4. Anything obvious I might be missing.
This is for a Strange Aeons campaign. My stats are pretty much set after talking to the DM and CANNOT be changed. We rolled for them, we've placed them, and I've moved them around as much as he'll let me. (It would be awesome to swap the 6 in STR with the 9 in INT, but it was decided a 6 INT character would have to be pretty damned stupid, which doesn't quite match up with the idea of a master orator.)
Character cannot benefit from bonuses for being of an old age.
Character will worship Groetus and this will NOT change. Please do not try to convince me otherwise. The deity and the roleplay behind it tie in perfectly with this campaign, and I am giddy for this concept. Archetype is Evangelist. Chosen Domain is Madness.
After some consideration and debate in another thread about Bad Touch strategies, I have decided to go with a mixture of summoning, pure support spells, and just the barest dose of Bad Touch. This character's primary function is Arm/Anvil, buffing allies, debilitating enemies, and providing monsters to act as meatshields / damage-dealers.
The party consists of:
Me
Brawler (melee)
Slayer (melee)
Occultist (will also do melee)
Wizard (illusions, mostly)
Feats, Traits, and Alternate Racial Traits:
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FEAT PLAN
Level 1 - Lingering Performance. This is 100% necessary since I start with so few rounds of bardic performance.
Level 3 - Spell Focus (Conjuration). I will need this later.
Level 5 - Sacred Summons. Standard action summons are a gamechanger, and at level 5 I will be dropping Dretches onto the battlefield. Their DR and offensive capabilities are handy.
Level 7 - Augment Summoning. Now my pets are more powerful.
Level 9 - Lunge. This will let me safely bad touch things for the most part, especially if combined with bracers of longarm.
Level 11 - Discordant Voice. +1d6 sonic damage to all attacks? And it buffs my summons, too? Yes please!
Level 13 - Deific Obedience
Level 15 - ?? Improved Initiative ??
Level 17 - ?? ?? ??
I will also try to get a +1 Training Spiked Gauntlet as soon as possible to give myself the Weapon Finesse feat. I don't plan to make any damaging melee attacks, but Weapon Finesse will boost my Melee Touch Attacks, such as Vision of Madness and any bad touch spells I choose.
Eventually I will boost my AC with a mithral heavy shield. Since it will have no ACP, I won't need to worry about needing proficiency. I can also get shield spikes and put another Training enchantment on the shield spikes if necessary. (The shield would act as a weapon drawn and in hand.)
TRAITS
The book expressly suggested that we have someone good at Diplomacy, so I decided to take up the role. Who doesn't want the mad cleric preaching about the end times leading negotiations?
Empathic Diplomat (Region) - Use WIS for Diplomacy instead of CHA.
Indomitable Faith - +1 to Will Saves. Yeah, they're already strong, but the roleplay fits and in this campaign I bet they're going to be REALLY important.
True Devotion, Madness Domain (Campaign) - Once per day when casting a divine spell, you can attempt to cast the spell without losing the spell from its spell slot or using one of your allotted spells per day. There is a 20% chance that this attempt is successful.
In addition, select one domain or inquisition you have. You can use the first granted power of that domain or inquisition one additional time per day. You must have a good alignment and be class capable of casting divine spells in order to select this trait.
Misbegotten (Drawback) - -2 on all dexterity-based skill checks. Painful, but I get to play a dwarf with physical deformities (hence his name Thelgi the Accursed).
(ALTERNATE) RACIAL TRAITS
Deep Warrior - +2 Dodge vs. aberrations, +2 CMB to grapple aberrations
Fey Thoughts - Perception as a class skill. Need I say more?
Iron Citizen - +2 Diplomacy and Sense Motive.
Stonecunning - Y'all know what this does.
Weapon Familiarity - Not very useful with 6 STR, but it might somehow, some way come up.
Hardy - +2 to saves vs. spells, SLAs, and poison? Yes please!
Darkvision (60ft) - Always handy.
Greedy - Nothing that good to replace it with.
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Level 1 Statistics:
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THELGI THE ACCURSED
Male Dwarf Cleric (Evangelist) 1
CG Medium Humanoid (Dwarf)
Init +X; Senses special senses; Listen +X, Spot +X
Aura Chaos (Faint)
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 10
(armor +4, Dex +0)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +7; +2 saves vs. spells, spell-like abilities, and poison
Defensive Abilities +2 Dodge AC vs Aberrations
OFFENSE
Spd 20 ft., ignores encumbrance / armor penalties to speed
Melee Quarterstaff -2 (1d6-2 / x2)
Ranged Light Crossbow +0 (1d8 / 19-20 x2)
Special Attacks Sermonic Performance 4 rounds/day (Countersong; Fascinate [DC 10]; Inspire Courage +1)
Domain Spell-like Abilities:
8/day - Vision of Madness Spells Prepared (CL 1st):
1st (3/day)—Bless, spell name (DC XX)
0 (at will)—spell name (DC XX), spell name (DC XX)
D Domain spell; Domains Madness
STATISTICS
Str 6, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 9, Wis 19, Cha 11
Base Atk +0; Grp -2, CMD 8
Feats Lingering Performance
Skills Diplomacy +10, Knowledge (History) +3, Perception +8, Perform (Oratory) +8 (+XX conditional); Sense Motive +6; +2 bonus on Perception checks to notice unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors located in stone walls or floors, and receive a free check when passing within 10 feet of such features.
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ aura
Combat Gear quarterstaff; light crossbow and 20 bolts; iron holy symbol of Groetus (compartment; empty); lamellar (leather); Other Gear N/A
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Vision of Madness (Sp) You can give a creature a vision of madness as a melee touch attack. Choose one of the following: attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. The target receives a bonus to the chosen rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum +1) and a penalty to the other two types of rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum –1). This effect fades after 3 rounds. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
NOTES
As an Evangelist, Thelgi does not spontaneously cast his spells into Cure spells, but instead from a special Evangelist list. This means he can Spontaneously convert his 1st level spells into the Command spell.
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Hopefully this gives you an idea of what I'm going for. My goal at the start is to use my bard song, spells, and domain power to assist my allies, only using my crossbow or quarterstaff when desperate.
At later levels I intend to provide my bard song as a move action (and later a swift action) while also standard action summoning things like Dretches, Bralani Azatas, Babau Demons, Chaos Beasts, Shadow Demons, Lillend Azatas,
and eventually Hezrous and then Ghaele Azatas. I intend to memorize a Burst of Radiance or two early on to smite evil things like undead and aberrations. My general modus operandi will be "Buff allies, summon monsters, and debuff things as necessary."
I specifically intend to use Vision of Madness to make it easy for my Wizard buddy to get off critical spells - such as Save-or-Die spells - on the enemy. At level 10, for instance, I will be reducing the enemy's saves and attacks by 5 each. By then I should have a mithral shield and mithral breastplate, too, and I should have ways to deal with encumbrance, so the melee will be somewhat safe for me.
Out of combat, my character will act as the diplomacy expert. He'll have Sense Motive and Perception at respectable levels, too, and with Stonecunning I might be able to spot traps and help whoever will be disabling them.
I thought about taking the Evangelist PRC, but the max level of the AP is 17, and at that level Clerics get 9th level spell slots. I am NOT sacrificing those!
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So, given all of the above... I'd like some opinions on this setup. Does it makes sense? Is it spreading itself too thin, being a master of none? Should I be focusing on something more?
I've decided I wanted to add a character that two-hands a shield to my backlog of characters I would like to play one day, and this archetype stood out to me even though it can't get Advanced Weapon Training.
The concept I have is simple:
Human Fighter, racial feat is Racial Heritage (Halfling). Take the Helpful (Halfling) trait. Also take the Aldori Caution trait (Cautious Warrior on the SRD).
At third level dip into Unchained Monk (full BAB, gets Dodge and Imp. Unarmed Strike). Take the 'Crane Style' feat. Make sure to have 3 ranks in Acrobatics by this point for the extra AC when fighting defensively.
Go two more levels into Fighter, taking Improved Shield Bash and Combat Reflexes. By level 7 this character will have Bodyguard.
In short: play as a fairly standard but defensive fighter at 1st level and 2nd level, then start providing AC to adjacent allies at 3rd when fighting defensively. -2 attack for fighting defensively grants you 6 AC (2+1{trait}+2{feat}+1{acrobatics}) and grants your adjacent allies +3 AC, which frankly isn't bad for keeping the melee line strong. At that level you're still using a two-hander, probably. Then at 5th level you start two-handing your shield, and thus have AC from your shield with two-handed strength power attack bonuses. Finally, at 7th level you add at least +4 to AC to your allies with Bodyguard, and you can use your Swift Action to grant allies an AC bonus.
If you stick with Shielded Fighter for 7 levels, this means gaining +2 extra AC from fighting defensively on top of what's already written, granting half of that (+1) with Blundering Defense on top of what you already grant, and granting your adjacent allies yet another +1 AC as a swift action, and using Bodyguard to protect them further. So, by character level 8, we're looking at:
Fight Defensively > get +8 AC for -2 attack. Grant adjacent allies +4 AC. Swift action > grant adjacent allies another +1 AC. If ally is attacked, use Bodyguard to say "screw that!" and provide at least an extra +4 AC vs. that attack.
This is all well and good, but the problem I see so far is a low attack bonus. On the bright side, the character's attack penalty won't drop any faster from Fighting Defensively unlike Combat Expertise, but they're still contending with Power Attack. They have full BAB but don't get any Advanced Weapon Training tricks because of how Fighter archetypes work.
Depending on how Solo Tactics and Harrying Partners interact, this COULD be a build that wants to dip 3 levels into Inquisitor for that purpose. Spend an AoO to grant an ally +AC for the whole turn? Yes, please!
Any thoughts on this? Obviously this is a build that wants to stand next to anyone else in the melee line and stick to them like glue. You're bolstering your melee partners in AC rather than flanking with them to provide attack. Will this work out? Would the damage sacrificed to make your allies have high AC be worth it? You're still two-handing a shield for 2H damage and bashing nerds in the face. Is that enough?
How would you improve on this build if you wanted to roll with something like this?
I get the feeling this build would be a "fifth man" character for an already melee oriented party.
My cleric is in a bind. My group decided to roll for stats, and after racial adjustments my dwarf cleric's stats were as follows:
STR: 6
DEX: 9
CON: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 19
CHA: 11
This is, of course, far from a perfect array of stats. In fact, I'd reckon the point buy value is something like 12 or 13.
We have two melee characters - a slayer and a brawler. We have an occultist who said she'll be entering melee. We have a wizard. We're starting at level 1 in Strange Aeons with little to no recollection of our past.
My dwarf worships Groetus, and I explicitly want to use the Madness domain's touch power at 1st level. However, with my stats I don't think I can safely do that from melee range.
Present plan is to find a way to do this from afar and to use the Evangelist archetype. Inspire Courage, Flagbearer, and bad touch cleric goodness with some AoE buffs / debuffs.
So, how can I do ranged touch with my bad touch? Spectral Hand is an option, but requires UMD that I don't have the skill points for. Anything else? Note that I need this for domain powers as well as spells.
See title. I'm looking at some Frog God Games titles because I want something with an old school feel, something that can scratch that classic dungeon crawling itch and the free world roaming bit. I've narrowed my options to two choices:
A) Rappan Athuk. It's a legend. It's a terrifying, deadly legend and it's a massive and pricey book, but DANG is it tempting. I've never played it, and my chief regret is that by running this game I'll never get a chance to experience it the way it should be.
But is it as good as it's supposed to be? It's advertised as a Hell dungeon, the megadungeon to rule all megadungeons. Is that the case? Does it work well in Pathfinder? Does it fall flat anywhere?
B) Stoneheart Valley. Shorter, sweeter, and considerably cheaper; still hard from what I'm reading, but not Rappan Athuk hard. Probably better for more intermediate players, I assume? Is this a good buy?
See, here's why I want them: the guys I play with have touched most of the Paizo APs already, and I was playing D&D when I was six years old. I remember having THAC0 on my sheet and I remember hex crawling and deadly traps. I want to bring a little bit of that back with me to the present day. Most importantly, I need to bring something to the table that's new to them.
...and maybe I want to see my friends at work in some tough dungeons.
But ultimately, I can only pick one of these books right now. What are their strong points? What are their weak points? And if you had to choose, which would you pick?
I'd love to play a lycanthrope-style character at some point and I want something I can pitch to my GM. Shifter fits best, but the class looks borked and my GM agrees (he's played it before). So... Is there a good replacement?
I'm looking for whatever homebrew he may be willing to accept that changes the Shifter and would be mostly compatible with the Weretouched archetype.
I love bards, and I love archivists. I finally have a chance to play one again, this time in a group I know will see the campaign through. Great fun!
Unfortunately, I'm in a funny little pickle on a few fronts.
The campaign is Mummy's Mask. Our first session starts in... probably around a month, as soon as we finish Wrath of the Righteous. The party is as follows:
Halfling Bard (Archivist) - Me
Magus (Jistkan Artificer)
Unchained Monk / Living Monolith
Cleric of Nethys
The magus will not be using shocking grasp or rime spell, and says he'll have solid AC eventually but will need some help at the start. I got first pick on character class (due to volunteering for last pick in the current campaign), so the others chose after me, approximately in the order on the list.
With that setup in mind, let's talk about my character and my problems.
MY CHARACTER: Professor Gaddurn Idgit
Professor Gaddurn is a Halfling Archivist (Bard), the stereotypical bumbling scholar type. His stats are as follows:
9/16/12/14/10/17 - 20 pt. buy
Traits are going to include Helpful (Halfling), boosting my Aid Another to a +4. I will probably try and grab something with an Initiative boost as well.
The above stats can be modified if they're suboptimal, but I MUST have good Intelligence and Charisma. I don't intend to do much walloping in melee, but I have ways to help that aren't whackity-whack.
Starting gear will include Leather Lamellar and a Heavy Wooden Shield. With size included, that's 18 AC. If I spend my FCB on HP, I will have 10 HP at level 1. 10 HP and 18 AC at least means I can facetank problems a little with the Total Defense and Fighting Defensively actions if necessary.
I'm stuck at starting feat, and I'll get to why later. Essentially, though, this is his intended combat strategy:
Step 1: Identify monsters. Free action. Now I can use my song!
Step 2: Start playing a song. AC of group bumps up by 1, putting me at 19. Move into melee and facetank.
Step 3: Five foot free step; hopefully allies are in place to protect him now. Cast magic. Otherwise, standard action Aid Another while fighting defensively, using the Helpful trait to give an ally a +4 attack bonus or AC bonus if I roll high while also boosting my own AC to 21.
Step 3.5: Alternatively, I could just Total Defense and scream for help. 23 AC isn't terrible for that!
And that's pretty much it for now. However, later on I will have the Blundering Defense feat as well as the Combat Reflexes + Bodyguard feats. It'll take a while.
Essentially, my late game tactics are use my song and spells to buff, then buff people *even more* by standing next to them and swinging vainly at the enemy. The bumbling professor makes a fool of himself, causing the enemies to gape in confusion as the REAL adventurers do the work. And any time they attack his friends he sort of just... stumbles in the way. Classy, right?
However, now we get to the actual problems I shall encounter...
DIFFICULTIES
Problem 1. Feats. I can only take 1 at level 1, and boy do I wish I could have more.
I want Lingering Performance because what bard DOESN'T want lingering performance? However, I also REALLY want Deific Obedience. I could get +4 to all my knowledges by worshiping Nethys, and who doesn't want a training montage from the silly old professor every morning? And I do need to succeed on those knowledge rolls because...
Problem 2. My Naturalist song as an Archivist doesn't work unless I succeed on knowledge checks. This won't be as big a problem later on, but boy do I need that stuff now. My party needs AC bonuses! And that's also a problem, funnily enough, because...
Problem 3. The DM has ruled (and fairly) that I can only identify one monster at a time in a given round of combat. He has agreed to let me spend a standard action to identify monsters in combat, but then I can't use that round buffing with my song.
So, these aren't insurmountable problems. Being able to only identify one type of monster per round of combat will be a real pain, of course, as it puts a serious cramp on the power of Naturalist. I like the bonuses, of course. Attack/AC/Saves is good!
Thankfully, once I'm past the initial few levels I should be solid on all knowledges with the right items on my character. I'll also be boosting my party's abilities further with the Shared Training spell, teamwork feats, and a Helm of Command for an extra feat, not to mention the plethora of other buffs available to my character. And so many things can boost knowledge checks once you get to spells, like good ol' Heroism...
So, how can I minimize my problems? What are my best solutions? I'm happy to make adjustments here.
EDIT: I should add that I intend to invest in helping the group perform stealth operations. The best way to get more knowledge checks is with more information, so maybe by swinging ahead by like 30 feet I can detect bad guys and identify them before the fight starts. I have decent DEX and am Small, so Stealth is gonna be easier for me than most.
I want a character that uses the wrong stat for everything. He uses DEX for melee attacks (Weapon Finesse), INT in place of DEX for AC (Student of War 2), Strength for ranged (Belt of Mighty Hurling)... he just uses the wrong stat for everything, INT for DEX for feats (artful dodge), CON for INT for feats (Kinetic Knight 1)...
This isn't a build for making a character do anything *well,* necessarily. I just want a character that does everything the 'wrong' way. Can we build a character that does virtually nothing with the stat he's supposed to use?
Experiment. Discuss. I want to see what sort of ugly monsters we can create.
The houserules I'm about to link have been made for use in an online (Roll20) campaign that I hope to start in the next month or two. The premise: the PCs are non-spellcasting characters (not even 4th level spellcasters) in a world where humanity is threatened by powers that DO have magic. Lycanthropes, demonic cults, undead armies, orcish incursions, dragons, the works - they're all here, along with evil spellcasters, and the players have to contend with these threats without spellcasters of their own, nor with scrolls or potions from the local Magic Mart.
Now, I know some people are going to immediately be annoyed by this. Let me clarify: the players in this campaign are ALL going to be people that were specifically interested in this style of campaign. It's meant to be hard, and it's meant to have permanent death, among other things. So, the people participating in this game are interested in its concept. I'm not thrusting this on unaware players.
With all that said: I want someone to double check my stuff. I'm bad a analyzing my own material fairly, and I want someone to tell me if any houserules or races I've created seem like bad decisions given the context.
Specifically, level 2 characters with 500 gp worth of items each. Automatic Bonus Progression is in, but they won't enjoy it until level 3. Their stats are 20 point buy or higher (I let them roll with 20 PB as a minimum). Notably, they lack spellcasters, and this is something everyone is cool with.
Anyway, in the given fight they'll have already fought a battle or two in the same day. The previous fights will be CR 2 or lower. This fight will include the following:
1. A permanently Staggered Ogre with Inspire Courage.
2. 2-3 orcs
3. 2 wolves
4. However, they'll have NPC allies to help them with this fight - probably two Footsoldiers with longspears and javelins.
As I see it, the Staggered condition would reduce the ogre's CR by 1, and the Inspire Courage brings it back up by 1, so he remains CR 3, worth 800 XP. The wolves are 400 XP each, and the orcs are 135 XP each. Subtract the NPC allies from the orcs (each NPC ally is worth 135 XP) and we're getting 1600 XP or 1735 XP, roughly a CR 5 encounter - 3 levels above the party. Considering the Ogre is permanently staggered, I might just say there's three orcs and the fight is worth 1600 XP.
The tactics for the enemies are as planned:
Round 1 - Ogre plays Inspire Courage, and will maintain it on subsequent rounds. Orcs throw javelins. Wolves engage.
Round 2 - Orcs and ogre engage.
Does this sound fair? Note, this is meant to be a sort of 'boss' fight. I don't want this fight to be unwinnable. I DO want it to be a good end-of-session sort of challenge.
So, I'm gonna be setting up a low magic (sort of) campaign based in a pre-gunpowder medieval fantasy continent, max level of 8 for PCs, somewhat higher for very powerful NPCs. I want to make siege weaponry sometimes appear in the story, such as during sieges and the like, and I'd love to be ready to unleash some kickassery when my players inevitably ask "Hey, can I use the ballista?" Or, y'know, when I want to fire a trebuchet at the wall the PCs are standing beside.
What are some ways you'd suggest to make them more useful and interesting? I know the Pathfinder siege engines are generally considered to be boring/lackluster. Any ideas?
Assume VMC is out of the question. Assume dipping is out of the question. What items, spells, feats, or other things may I take to be healed by Negative Energy?
The background: I'm gonna be playing a Void Kineticist in a campaign soon. Pure kineticist is best because this campaign DOES go to 20, and the kineticist kind of needs to remain single classed. I wanted to use the Void Healer talent but I'm a normal living person so it doesn't work on me.
How can I make myself count as undead? Sadly, I don't think I'll have access to Undead Anatomy.
And I don't mean half-orc or half-elf. I mean, is there a way to game the system and get the Imperious bloodline on, say, a halfling?
I had an idea for a Halfling Arrowsong Minstrel abusing Startoss Style, Good Hope with an Encouraging Metamagic Rod, and Inspire Courage, along with Adaptable Luck and Fate's Favored. This would make an *incredibly* accurate ranged combatant with some hefty damage. At level 11: +3 song, +3 Good Hope, +4 from Startoss feats, +3 Arcane Strike for a total of +13 damage a shot before items or strength or anything. By level 13 with a two level fighter dip we're adding Rapid Shot, Clustered Shot and another +2 from Startoss feats. However, its wallop would be even meaner if I could somehow get the Imperious Bloodline on this little jerk.
So, how would you go about that? We're feat-starved, but could definitely afford the feats at later levels. The trouble is that we're a halfling, and the Imperious Bloodline is human only. Is there a fix?
Halfling is absolutely necessary because of the Warslinger racial trait, note.
EDIT: I could do human instead, but... +6 damage from feats! It's hard to beat!
This is the Brown Fur Transmuter. It has some abilities that are very interesting for buff-focused mages, but they bring up some questions.
1. If I use Alter Self on a party member to make them a Half-Elf, may I immediately follow up with Paragon Surge to give them a bonus feat?
2. Let's assume I had the Shapechanger Bloodline somehow. Mutable Flesh reads as follows:
Quote:
Mutable Flesh (Su): At 3rd level, once per day when you cast a transmutation spell with a duration of 1 minute per level that affects only you, you can increase its duration to 10 minutes per level. At 9th level, you can increase the duration to 1 hour per level.
'Affects only you' is not the same as 'range of personal.' However, could I cast a spell, swift action Mutable Flesh it to increase its duration, and then spend my reserve point to make it have a range of touch?
I've got an idea together for a brown-fur transmuter arcanist I want to shelve for use in a future game. I'm assuming 15 point buy, as that's what my group typically uses, and I want to be able to turn other people into behemoths of war.
My instinct is to make this character a half-elf for Eldritch Heritage purposes. Namely, I want to eventually get Improved Eldritch Heritage for the Mutable Flesh power from the Shapechanger bloodline:
Mutable Flesh (Su) wrote:
At 3rd level, once per day when you cast a transmutation spell with a duration of 1 minute per level that affects only you, you can increase its duration to 10 minutes per level. At 9th level, you can increase the duration to 1 hour per level.
Alternatively, I could take a single level of sorcerer, then take Bloodline Development, but this slows down my spell level increases to -2 compared to a Wizard. Ouch.
Let's assume that I'm an 11th level Arcanist with Improved Eldritch Heritage (Mutable Flesh). I cast Beast Shape III on an ally, which I can do because I can cast Personal transmutation spells on allies. I turn him into a Warcat, giving him +8 Strength (it's normally +6, but I can make it +8 because Brown Fur Transmuter is great), -4 DEX, +6 Natural Armor, Pounce, some powerful claw attacks, low-light vision, scent, a climb speed... Not a bad setup. Moreover, it would last 9 hours.
Of course, I could also cast spells like Undead Anatomy on the party's fighter and make him immune to most things, and have the buff last 9 hours.
The main issue I see is that up until level 11, my spells are short-term buffs. They'll last a minute per caster level. This means they're good for casting before you kick a door in, but after they're unlikely to last more than one or two combat encounters.
I feel like the hour/level buff is absolutely necessary so that I can also turn my allies into forms that are useful in a given zone (undead immunities in an undead dungeon? Yes please!), or I can choose forms based on utility.
But here's the next issue: the mutable flesh ability only applies once/day. That's... not very good. Is there any way of increasing the number of uses I can get with that ability?
Next: what are some good feats I absolutely should take? What about Exploits? (I know I need Dimensional Slide and Quick Study at the very least.)
What are some interesting personal-only transmutation spells my martial buddies may love? Mirror Strike looks like an odd duck that could be fun for certain builds. Long Arm is personal only, and is very nice. Alter Self looks like a fun spell to be able to apply to my companions as I please (turn everyone into bugbears for Scent+Darkvision and +2 STR for 90 minutes at level 9). Bull's Strength would provide a +6 bonus instead of a +4. Blink on allies with an Extend Metamagic Rod could be cool, but at level 9 we're only looking at 18 rounds, so it's a pre-fight buff at best... The list goes on, I'm sure.
And then there's Paragon Surge, which I could cast as a half-elf but put on an ally I turned into a half-elf via Alter Self, yes? With an Extend Metamagic Rod I could give the party fighter a feat of his choice for 18 minutes at level 10, which is... actually not a bad benefit. Dedicated Adversary when you know you're about to fight trolls? Yes, please!
For combat, utility, and disguise, I see a lot of potential here. Help me figure out how to make this build shine!
I just found this trait, which is really, really good. I can already see using Heroism to add +3 to everyone's saves/attacks, or using Good Hope for the same but also to add +3 to damage, or Greater Heroism for +5 attack/saves. It's not bad, and would serve as a solid power boost in the early game for anyone that's willing to worship a dragon god.
What are some other spells that could be really useful with this? I'd especially like to know if there's a higher level version of Good Hope that grants bigger bonuses.
I'd be interested in hearing anything that is usable by clerics, bards, or wizards.
Is there any reasonable way to do it without resorting to a Drake Companion? After reading another thread discussing eidolons, I REALLY want a giant frog with Noxious Bite somehow. It sounds awesome, to say the least, especially on a Hunter or Mad Dog Barbarian chassis.
Step 1: Gnome or Half-elf.
Step 2: Bard.
Step 3: Pageant of the Peacock.
Step 4: Favored class bonus for bonus bardic performance rounds.
Step 5: Glibness.
Now, help me weaponize this.
I realize this could be used to pretty much auto-identify every monster, item (with Spellcraft + Detect Magic), and the value of anything we find (yay, Appraise!). I could use it for finishing Craft checks in downtime. Heck, with Precise Treatment I could use it for Treat Deadly Wounds / poisons / diseases while camping, right? (Because I make Heal usable with INT, and I make INT usable with Bluff.) And if I'm playing an Archivist bard, I can use it to disable traps as if I were the party rogue (and auto-pass all the knowledge checks for that).
What else is viable with this sort of silliness? 1 round for 10 minutes of "I know everything" would be great for APs with big dungeons, I reckon, or for Emerald Spire.
EDIT: An alternative build idea? Paladin, Oath of the People's Council. Witty Repartee trait. Unsanctioned Knowledge (grab Glibness). The trpuble here is paladins develop spells less quickly, and people would look funny at a paladin with maximized bluff.
Okay, I want to know what all you can do with this crazy thing. Please tell me I'm reading this right and am not just going crazy, because if it does what I think it does I'm SOLD.
Versatile Weapon wrote:
Price +500 gp; Weight —
A weapon with the versatile design modification is easier to wield for those skilled with other weapon groups. When versatile design is added to a weapon, choose a fighter weapon group. The modified weapon is considered to be a weapon of that weapon group (such as for the fighter’s weapon training class feature). A melee weapon cannot be considered part of a weapon group for ranged weapons, and vice versa.
Immediately, I started considering its use in letting you use weapons for feats that require other weapon groups. Ascetic Style suddenly applies to whatever weapon you want it to if you can pay the money and have the appropriate feats. A Fighter with Weapon Specialist can just add weapons he finds to the weapon group he favors most! A brawler could add weapons to the 'close' weapon group to flurry with them. This opens up tons of doors, and though it may require a feat or two depending on the weapons you find, this seems like an absolute goldmine.
What are some crazy things that can be done with this? How can this 500 gold upgrade be broken?
So, I've talked it over with my GM. We're using 20 point buy, he's allowing Tieflings (because Hell's Rebels), and at my request he's letting me play a small-sized Tiefling (halfling instead of human). I'm using Devilspawn for +2 CON and WIS. I'm taking Negative Energy Blast at level 1, and I think my DM is going to let me use Draining Infusion to affect Undead with it.
Given all this, I'd like some advice, and I'll start by saying what my general plan right now is. I'll happily take any feat or trait suggestions you have. I'd rather stay Void for this character, at least at level 1, and I want to expand Void eventually.
My current plan is to take Void again at 7 (the Void/Void blast looks really fun) and Aether at 15 (so I can finally get a decent elemental defense). I plan to use things like Enervating Blast, Darkness Infusion, Weighing Infusion... I reckon that entangle is great defensively, as is darkness (concealment for me, but I have Darkvision so I get no penalties), and neither eats up a standard as it's part of my melee attacks. Enervation is just rude.
If I take Aether at 7, that gives me early access to its awesome defensive ability, but also to Kinetic Healer. Whatever order I take Aether/Void in, I'll have access to rudimentary flight via Gravity Control / Greater Gravity Control.
For stats, I was considering a straightforward but balanced build: 14/12/17/12/14/10. I considered 14/12/18/12/14/7 with Clever Wordplay for diplomacy, but this seems a lot to pay for 1 extra CON which will only help me in the early game (at 20 I'll have even stats all around with the first set). I think having 10 CHA is better for this campaign, as Hell's Rebels should involve a lot of city play, right? It'll make it viable to have a decent Bluff and Diplomacy.
My DM will let me use Artful Dodge to use INT for DEX and CON for INT, so I can qualify for combat feats that require DEX with CON. Not sure if that helps me.
This is a good aligned character, so as much as I like the idea of Corpse Puppet, I don't think I can reasonably take it without breaking alignment. I'm considering taking the ability that lets me summon elementals, however, so I can conjure Aether Elementals at higher levels.
I was considering Nature Soul / Animal Ally for a time, but I don't think that benefits me terribly much.
Any advice, comments, or concerns to offer?
Oh, and given the nature of this campaign, how useful would permanent non-detection be?
Absentia wrote:
Element(s) void; Type utility (Sp); Level 1; Burn 0
Prerequisites emptiness
You are always under the effect of nondetection as if you had cast it on yourself. If the effect is dispelled, you can call if forth again as a standard action. You can accept 1 point of burn to grant a creature touched the effects of nondetection.
EDIT: Final aside - this character will have the Pass For Human (well, Halfling) racial trait, as well as either Light From Darkness or Soul Seer. Any suggestions as to whether I should take Light From Darkness or Soul Seer?
