Sieg Alfbrecht's page

Basically what the title says. We're in book 4, the Island of Empty Eyes now. Just started, haven't even arrived on the island yet.

I'm thinking for simplicity, you would have joined the crew as some random schmoe in Pot Peril, and now's your time to shine as the Pallor has been attacked by a bigass squid who just dragged eight of your crewmates overboard.

Current party composition:

Captain Jrahk "Razortusk" Lacertus. Orc Bloodrager. Two-handed melee beast, Intimidate build. Standard fare.

First Mate/Navigator Ixrul Morcrom. Elf Wizard. Buffer/Conjurer.

Ace. Human Magus. Standard Dervish Shocking Grasp type with a few extra tricks.

CharOp Guidelines:

-Level 9
-25 Point Buy
-3 Traits (one can be a Skull and Shackles Campaign Trait, but it is not necessary)
-Average HP, round up (d6=4, d8=5, etc.)
-Full WBL

All Paizo books allowed sans the Technology Guide, though run everything from splatbooks (i.e. not the Ultimate X, Advanced Y line) by me first, as some select items will probably be too ridiculous to allow (No, Sacred Geometry is not allowed).

Dreamscarred Press' Ultimate Psionics and Path of War are allowed, though only the PoW stuff on the SRD, and the Mystic unless you can provide me with a copy of the Harbinger PDF or any of the other PoW Expanded material (the playtest stuff is available on a case-by-case basis).

Houserules and such:

-A "Handwrap(s) of Mighty Fists" exists. It costs as a weapon, and applies its enhancement to Unarmed Strikes only. It takes the "weapon slot".

-Alignment restrictions are flexible. Consider them completely removed for Monks, Druids, and Barbarians.

-You can sell BACK purchased items for full price (looted items are still sold for half). If you want a +1 Flaming sword after you've already spent 8k on a +1 Frost one, I see no reason to charge you an extra 4000 gp.

-Some spells will be vetted. Problem spells are not outright banned, but let's avoid Snowcone Wish Machines, yes?

-Work with me if you want normal Monk archetypes on an Unchained Monk. Most can be converted with some tweaking.

-Don't bother tracking Encumbrance if you have a positive Str modifier. You may be audited if it's below 10.

-I assume you can find normal ammunition in any quantity you need.

There's probably more minor ones I'm not thinking of, rulings and such that haven't come up much, but those should be the most relevant for character creation purposes.

Don't feel the need to pigeonhole yourself into filling a specific role or anything, just play what you'll find fun. However, I DO expect a certain level of optimization. Nobody in this group is a character building expert by any means, but I do soup up many encounters for increased challenge and fun. Repeated character death is no fun for you or me. Try to find a happy medium between "Min-max the unstoppable warrior" and "Master of underwater basket-weaving".

Speaking of...I tend not to pull punches. Several characters have died (though all but one have been brought back).

Anyone interested, speak up! I'm happy to help working on your character theme or mechanics. Newbies welcome as well as experienced players.

And by extension, other classes with Ki Pools. Unchained Monks, Rogues with the Ki Pool Talent, and future or 3rd Party options (Ex DSP's Stalker).

There are two pieces of somewhat contradictory evidence here.

For: "This section introduces monk vows, which any user of ki can take to increase his ki pool."

Against: However, Monks also must trade out Still Mind to gain access to the Vows. It seems somewhat odd that an ability that implies it is available to all Ki using classes also requires the trading of an ability only the Monk 9and Unchained Monk) have access to.

I think this is a good FAQ candidate, unless someone has something more definitive than those two things to add?

(No, the fact that its name is "Monk Vows" does not count as evidence.)

There has been a recent plague of flakes at best, and trolls at worst. New accounts (or fairly new accounts), or ones with a very low post count coming on and posting Recruitment threads, coaxing everyone to post and build characters for about a week, and then disappearing. A certain poster seems to be connected to a lot of these, claiming to be a "friend of the GM" a lot of the time before the GM mysteriously vanishes, but I'm hesitant to call him out directly in case it is a coincidence. Though it's a coincidence that's happened about three times now.

Either way, I think the forum would benefit from some kind of limiter. Maybe an account has to be at least a month old and have 150 posts to create a Recruitment thread. As-is quite a few people have wasted many applicants' time and energy with a good concept for a game they seem to have no intention of following through with. Requiring the accounts to have a not insignificant amount of investment in the forum before they troll or abandon it seems like it would curb this tendency.

A tale as old as time (or at least the PbP boards), a fairly new poster came in with a great idea for a campaign, drummed up a lot of interest, had a Recruitment, picked the players...then disappeared before more than the preliminaries could get done.

Nobody is quite sure what his vision was meant to be, but the basic concept follows:

This is the Way of the Wicked adventure path from Fire Mountain Games, but with a bit of a spin on the plot. Presumably, much of the plot would be the same, from escaping from Branderscar, to doing all that bad stuff at the Horn of Abaddon (likely renamed and refavored for this purpose, and maybe with different goals, but similar), and so on from there.

However, instead of being inmates of Branderscar Prison, all of the player characters are patients at the Branderscar Sanitarium, lovingly watched over by the Mitran priests who hope to heal their minds.

In other words, everyone is stark raving bonkers.

Al of the characters are Gestalt, and have a unique "Madness Trait" that gives them heightened powers and drawbacks. My character is better at dealing electricity damage, but also takes an equal amount extra when someone uses it against him, for example.

The characters:

-Odrick Payne (my character), an electromaniac obsessed with bringing the joy of electricity to all of his friends (meaning victims). Gestalt Kineticist (Electricity, Elemental Annihilator archetype)/Medium whose seances call upon the spirits of his victims.

-Sarhashil, a cannibalistic Nagaji Brawler/Barbarian.

-Itches, a Ratfolk Wiard/Alchemist with an obsession with knowledge. A true obsession, to the point that it drives him mad if something is kept secret from him, and he's driven to seek out any piece of knowledge he can, dropping everything to do so.

-Lily Vorkink, a sadist nymphomaniac Sorceress/Wizard (Necromancer).

-Praetorix the highly delusional Cleric/Oracle "prophet of Groetus", and bringer of madness to others.

-Carcosa, the Tattered Shepherd. The oldest remaining inmate of Branderscar, and the man who speaks as if he himself IS Carcosa, where the King in Yellow resides.

We're looking for a good GM who can post often, and doesn't mind a little depravity. Everyone has an interest in keeping the bulk of the "gory details" to a minimum, though lewdness and distasteful acts are to be expected from a party consisting of sadists, delusionals, serial killers, and cannibals.

Gameplay Thread. if you want to read how things started off, and maybe get a feel for it.

It's a 6 man Gestalt party, so high power is to be expected, though Way of the Wicked already needs a lot of re-writing to be challenging in the first place.

This thread.

It's kind of obnoxious. It spills over the box it's supposed to be in like this.

Or, TBLTATMDTBCTWW. It rolls off the tongue, really.

I'll get us started.

As Just a Guess pointed out to me:

And the stonelord paladin, too, doesn't work as written and would have needed an errata.

Earth Channel:

At 4th level, a stonelord gains Elemental Channel (earth) as a bonus feat, which she may activate by spending two uses of her lay on hands ability, using her paladin level as her effective cleric level.
This ability replaces channel positive energy.

Earth channel does nothing if you do not have channel energy, it only changes what happens when channel energy is used. So instead of removing channel energy they needed to clarify that it can only be used for earth channel.

And as is the stonelord can not take any channel related feats or use channel related equipment, because he can't channel energy.

The Stonelord doesn't even function. Wouldn't a clarification like that have been nice?

Undines:

Is it meant to affect only enemies, or all allies as well? Would have liked some confirmation on that, myself.

Why does Ancestral Regression give you a bonus to appear as an elf...when the spell explicitly transforms you into an Elf, racial traits and all?

I'm sure you guys can think of more (and proably better) examples for what stuff should have been changed or clarified in the ARG than what was. Have at it.

Make your dots here.

Discuss.

Going to post results for encounters as they are completed, and various musings from myself and my players. All characters were built on 20 Point Buy, with all Paizo material allowed and everything run as close to RAW + FAQs as possible.

We'll be running a few encounters for certain levels. This first batch is 5th level, then we'll be doing more batches at 10th, 15th, and 20th.

Dapper Slapper: Avenger
Psykoblade: Warlock
Blackjack: Stalker

I couldn't find anyone who wanted to play a Zealot.

Dapper Slapper is an Unarmed build using the Enforcer Feat.

Psykoblade is going for Two-Weapon Fighting with his Short Sword and a Double-Barreled Pistol.

Blackjack is a Fencing Grace wielder.

First encounter:

Two Flamebrother Salamanders (CR 3 apiece, CR 5 total) have attacked the town in the middle of the night!

The crew rolled out from their separate abodes in their Social guises.

Psykoblade fared well, casting Mage Armor in the first round, and on the second casting Vanish and dropping both Flamebrothers at once, one with a lucky Pistol critical, and the other with a poke from Friction, his sword, and a Parry/Riposte from his Amateur Swashbuckler Feat. The Startling Appearance ability was the real winner here, making the target Flatfooted and thus incredibly easy to hit.

The Dapper Slapper managed to get in one good hit, but only the incredibly low to-hit of the Flamebrothers saved him from taking quite a good bit of damage, as without being in his Vigilante persona, he lacked the Improved Unarmed Strike Feat granted from his Fist of the Avenger Talent, and thus provoked an Attack of Opportunity from every hit. As he noted, had he taken Heavy Training as well and been armored at the time, this could have been far, far worse.

Blackjack, due to rolling low on Initiative, never got to act beyond drawing his Rapier.

Trying to decide whether I want to run a few modules (I have a bunch of them I've never even opened) or make my own encounters.

If I do modules, Carrion Hill is probably gonna be the level 5 one.

Any preferences.

Now with infinitely more words!

I'm going to approach this as though the various specializations are different classes. First though, the abilities they all share.

Dual Identity: This seems...pointlessly restrictive and involved. Very wordy for what it essentially does. There seems to be no reason why it changes your alignment, for one thing. Master Chymist makes sense: You're Dr. Jekyll. But this? It's a costume.

And why can't you use any of your abilities out of costume? That makes zero sense whatsoever. I could understand something like forfeiting the "Can't be scryed" bonuses for anyone who sees you do stuff, but suddenly losing spellcasting ability and whatnot (or even better, losing EX abilities) is nonsensical.

At the same time, the social aspect gives very few advantages. You'd think something like extra skill ranks would be in order from 1st level, choosing a Profession or Craft and sticking with that, maybe with a few others to add to Knowledge (or Lore from Unchained?).

Social Grace: This is like what I suggested above, but not very good at all.

Vigilante Talent: I'll go into them in depth in the spoilers below, but I'm getting VERY tired of the use of "Talent". We have Rogue Talents, Slayer Talents, Investigator Talents, and now Vigilante Talents. I would like for this class to be Talent-less.

Renown: Seems like a matter of "too little, too late". Also, pointlessly repeats "The bonus while he is in his social identity remains unchanged" too many times. It provides a largely irrelevant Intimidate bonus and, let's be honest, an almost entirely irrelevant Diplomacy boost because you're not going to be using your social identity more than once in a blue moon because it does basically nothing for you.

Startling Appearance: I like it. Very Batman-y.

Loyal Aid: It's interesting. it's the kind of thing I've wanted for a class for a while, though the fact that it only works in one VERY small area makes it of dubious value until 15th level, since almost any campaign that stays in one place for longer than a week will likely take place in a large city. Would improve greatly if it allowed for carving out a "territory" inside a city equal to a community of 200/2000/5000/Etc. people. Kind of like Daredevil (in the Netfix series) is becoming very well known in Hell's Kitchen, but not New York as a whole.

Many Guises: Baaaad. This is the kind of thing any character should be able to do (much like, honestly, the majority of Dual Identity's function should just be a Disguise check).

Frightening Appearance: I don't like it. Generally speaking your enemies being Frightened is more annoying than helpful. Easily improved by making the ability to Frighten separate from the ability to cause the Shaken condition, with only the former requiring a Will save.

Quick Change: Why the "hastily donned" problem for such a late level ability? Gimme the Superman or Wonder Woman "spin in a circle and be in costume" ability as a Full-Round and have done. 1 minute and 5 minutes are functionally indistinguishable. Either you have time for the transformation or you don't.

Stunning Appearance: Too late game to really matter. Especially since it's largely ineffectual against anything not Humanoid (since monsters generally have a higher HD than your level). Would be cool if you pumped it down to 13th or so and removed the +4 to save clause. Batman class is so scary even monsters wet themselves when he leaps from the shadows.

Everyman: Yes I'm sure I'll use an ability at 19th level to finally be able to impersonate a SPECIFIC peasant. Yeah, no. This could just be a part of Many Guises back at 9th and STILL be a pretty bad ability.

Vengeance Strike: This has all the impracticality of use of Assassinate (which comes online at 10th or thereabouts I remind you) and none of the cool save or die effect. It's basically "Spend 5 rounds to make sure a single attack hits" (which you gave up, what, 15 chances to hit to do?) "Add 15d6 damage" (...why), or "Use awkwardly worded ability that should just say 'add +2 to-hit and increase threat range by 2'". Terrible, especially for a capstone.

For the base class abilities I'm less than impressed, to put it mildly. The concept is great, the execution is bad.

More forthcoming on the Specializations. Have some stuff to do.

I was browsing the Familiar rules for a Wizard/Psion character I made for a game and came across "Bloodline Familiars" from the Familiar Folio on the SRD page for them.

At first glance, it seemed straightforward, and kinda neat: Trade your 1st level Bloodline power (for a select number of Bloodlines) and get a Familiar.

Then on a second glance I noticed the second trade-off: "in addition, the character gains bonus spells from her bloodline one level later than she normally would."

The Sorcerer already gets Bloodline spells a level later than it should, who thought it was a good idea to take a neat option and make it terrible just so they can tack on amazing options like "The damage dice of each of the familiar's natural attacks increases by one die step." (because, you know, Sorcerers use their Familiars for combat!)?

This was so close to being something cool and worth taking, with a very straightforward trade. Why did it have to go so wrong? =(

So, I think we can all agree that the Unchained Monk was, to an extent, a step in the right direction.

But it has rightfully been called more of a "sidegrade" to the original Monk rather than a true buff to the class. Especially given the place a heavily archetyped Old!Monk was sitting (which is roughly equal in power to the New!Monk, or better).

So now that the book is out, I want to spitball some ideas for fully improving it. We'll start with the easy stuff. Once I/We have everything spruced up, I can conglomerate it into a full write-up.

1.) Make the Will save follow the Good progression again. The logic behind nerfing it was to discourage dipping, but I personally don't care whether the Monk is a good dip class or not. The good Will save is on theme, and gives the Monk an important mechanical niche as "All good Saves Man" just like Barbarian is "Big Honkin' Hit Dice Man".

2.) Make the Ki Pool full Character level + Wis. Because for better or worse, New!Monk relies on Ki a LOT. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as he has the Ki to fuel it.

3.) Moves Flawless Mind up to 11th level. Still kind of late game, but it's at a playable level now, and less necessary anyway with the restoration of the good Will save.

4.) Move Empty Body up to 12th level. The original justification for it being 18th/19th level was that it acts as "Etherealness", so a Sorcerer gets it then. But it's not Etherealness, it's Ethereal Jaunt with a fixed Caster Level of 10 since it's still personal only. That makes it come online at 13th or 14th for a Wizard or Sorcerer or what have you, but we'll give it to the Monk at 12 because Ki Powers are far more limited than Spells Known, and it's CL 10 max.

5.) Un-break Quivering Palm, and make it an automatic gain again instead of a Ki power. The new Quivering Palm is a travesty. Make it work exactly like the Core version.

6.) Fix the Bonus Feats list. Simple fix? Make it simply a Combat Feat or Style Feat like every other class with Bonus Feats in the frickin' game. None of this "You have a specific number of Feats that will only grow in the footnotes of scattered Feats from various sourcebooks, and even then only rarely" nonsense. Just...you can pick from this category of Feats. Shazam.

7.) Remove the Ki cost from the Ki Powers that were formerly, or should be "always on". Quick list:

-Diamond Body (Cobra Breath simply changes to something along the lines of "Spend the Ki whenever you are subject to a poison attack to redirect it).

-Diamond Resilience (Because DR 2/- for a single minute at 12th level is sad. DR 2/-, 4/- at 16th always on is still meh, but much better.

-Ki Range (just straight up increases the range of Thrown weapons by 20 feet.)

-Any of the "Grant a Feat" Qinggong Powers should, at the least, be "You have this Feat as long as you have 1 point in your Ki Pool".

8.) Restore Furious Defense and Sudden Speed as baked in Ki Pool functions.

9.) Make Formless Mastery not be basically the worst ability ever printed. I'm thinking something like:

-Formless Mastery (Ex): As long as he does not have any Style Feats and has 1 point left in his Ki Pool, the Monk can spend a Swift action to gain the following benefits against a single opponent: A +4 Dodge bonus to AC, a Circumstance bonus equal to half his Monk level on attacks rolls, and a bonus equal to half his Monk level on damage rolls. The Monk can activate this ability and the "Furious Defense" Ki application with the same action. The Monk must be at least 7th level to select this Ki Power.

10.) Slightly improve some of the Style Strikes:

-Fix Head-Butt so it no longer takes the -8 penalty on things larger than the Monk.

-Let Elbow Smash deal Lethal damage.

-Make Flying Kick work at a distance of 10 feet plus the Monk's Fast Movement bonus.

Thoughts? Improvements? Suggestions for more tweaks?

Feat in question.

So, it says "while you are grappled".

Does that mean "any time you are in a Grapple and have the Grappled condition" or "Any time another creature is grappling you and has control of the grapple?"

Basically I wanna know if I can initiate the grapple and have my Natural Attack wallop harder. The Feat prerequisite (Improved Grapple) suggests yes, but the language suggests maybe no.

Everyone's been going CRAZY over this archetype, especially with a Mauler Familiar so I was considering making a """""Fighter""""" (Martial Master/Mutation Warrior/Eldritch Guardian. I have NONE of the class features!) for a Mummy's Mask game.

Then I looked at it. Granted, it doesn't trade much. And the Bravery replacement is great.

But the Familiar itself? How is this supposed to be useful as a combatant?

Please tell me I'm missing something here. Sure, they get your Combat Feats, but what are they gong to use them for?

I was all excited to snag a Monkey and have him swing a Greatsword in his widdle paws or something, when I looked at his stats.

3 Str.

At 3rd level, that increases to 4. A whopping 10 (I think. +4 from the size change, +2 from the ability itself, no?) with his Battle Form active. Yay?

And almost all the other choices have roughly the same stats or worse. Except the Dwarf Caiman. Don't get me wrong, I like crocs, but I already HAVE a croc companion. I wanted a Greatsword Monkey, dammit.

Is it only meant for Dex based Fighters? Fencing Grace monkeys are probably not bad. Or am I missing something stellar here that makes it useful as more than a Rogue squishy flank partner?

And more importantly: Why would I ever trade 2 Feats for this Familiar, when I can trade 2 feats for Animal Ally instead?

1.) How long is Focused Solar Lance intended to last? Until the target makes a CMB/Escape Artist to break free, or just one round?

2.) When Poisoner's Stance says "and gains a +1 DC per two initiator levels ...to the saving throw DC's of any poison ...he applies through the use of this stance." does it mean when the poison is applied to the WEAPON or the TARGET?

Basically, when yu switch away from Poisoner's Stance after applying poison to your weapon, does the increased DC persist or no?

Or a draft of one, anyway.

I'm making homebrewed replacements/upgrades for some of the more problematic classes. Since I've already posted some decently detailed Monk replacements, and I don't feel like doing the Fighter right now, we'll start with Mr. Rogue.

Mr. Rogue, what are your problems?

1.) Unreliable damage.

2.) A "skill class" whose only real claim to fame skill-wise is getting 2 more per level than other, better skill classes. To be honest, I'd rather just drop the idea of him being a "skill class" altogether, and make peace with the fact that he simply has a large volume of skills, and grant some ways to substitute more focused stats for his skills.

3.) Crappy Rogue Talents.

4.) The worst saves in the game.

5.) And perhaps one of the biggest, a terminal case of "Archetypal Unfulfillment Syndrome". When people hear the word "Rogue" they think "Dexterous, crafty son of a gun who-oh god my kidneys he stabbed me in them ow and my wallet's gone why". The Rogue does zero of those things very well.

So, what to do about these?

1.) Make Sneak Attack more reliable. Both in getting it, and the damage it deals. I'm thinking of reducing the progression, but adding some static damage, a to-hit modifier, and making Feinting a usable proposition.

2.) Both improvements to existing Talents (ONCE PER DAY? WHY!?!?!) and some new and useful ones.

3.) Add Fort as a Good save. Provide Rogue Talent options for shoring up Will.

4.) A Dex based Rogue should be viable, but not forced, and Two-Weapon Fighting should likewise be powerful, but not overwhelming. I'm considering making Sneak Attack the only "given", making the other Rogue features more modular, chosen at 1st level. Do you want to be the back-alley thug? The gentleman thief? The assassin? All should be possible.

So, the new product would look something like this:

Not sure how different or similar it is to other Rogue re-writes, but it felt right to me.

It is the year 2034. Two hundred years ago people with unusual abilities began to emerge. First as a rarity, then in ever increasing numbers.

Metahumans, as they came to be called, come from all walks of life. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for when powers may generate, and supernatural and super-science experiments gone wrong (or right, depending on your perspective) muddying the waters over the last century haven't helped matters.

They're people like any other. Some use their talents to do grreat good, and some to do great evil. But most simply go about their lives, or use their powers to complete highly specialized jobs, or simply make existing ones easier. It' not uncommon to see metahumans with ice based powers working in refrigeration technologies, or ones with super-intelligence creating the latest and greatest smartphone apps.

But, we're not here to talk about them.

Our story begins, naturally, in a secret base underneath a Denny's, with Doctor Cogito, Amoeba, Razputin, and SATURDAY MORNING!, the protectors of this corner of Clearwater Bay discussing what they'd like for breakfast before they head out on patrol.

Feel free to mingle and chat a bit, but tell me when you're ready to move along.

Try our new breakfast special: Cold, hard, JUSTICE.

We are currently in the middle of book 2 (Trial of the Beast). As the Cleric just died to a ravenous ghoul, and a layer had to drop out to to real life intruding on our fun times it's a good time to be bringing in a new character.

One important, VERY important criteria must be met. You must have initiative, be willing to investigate or post furthering the story at least once per day. More if you're conversing with an NPC.

The Cleric's death has made me painfully aware of the lack of initiative on the parts of two of the players, causing things to move at a snail's pace when the Cleric's player isn't able to post for whatever reason.

If you're interested, I'm posting charop rules below.

Current party composition:

-Tiefling Barbarian (wields an oversized Earthbreaker)
-Duergar Aegis
-Half-Elf Investigator

I'm considering making a Metaforge for an upcoming game, but I'm unsure if it's as good as I think it is at first blush. I've been burned before by those pesky Prestige classes (Psionics-wise, the Metamorph made me a sad panda), so I wanted to get a second opinion.

My at a glance assessment:

1.) You lose out on a big part of what makes the Soulknife good (Blade Skills).

2.) On the other hand, you get (with the Student of the Astral Suit Feat) 100% of the worthwhile abilities from Aegis (I don't place a ton of value on Reconfigure and whatnot, nor the bonus Craft Feats).

3.) Therefore, if you look at it as "Full progression Aegis with a free scaling weapon attached", it's fairly solid.

Any dissenting thoughts?

Assuming the consensus is "Yeah it's decent", what would you make your one (maybe two) Blade Skills?

Emulate Melee Weapon, perhaps, for a free Falcata?

Assuming the consensus is "not worth it", anything you might suggest for a similar flavor (a character who creates his own or eschews the need for weapons and armor...that's not a Monk. I play a lot of Monks.)

Tangent question: At all worthwhile to, for shiggles, do this with the Aberrant Aegis and Armored Blade Soulknife to make the ultimate armored warrior?

The game will be set on Athas if that changes anyone's assessment.

Or classES. Making a character for a crazy game (Gestalt 20th level Mythic 10). Every character has a theme (for a portfolio for when/if they become Gods, fittingly) Theme in my case is Transmutation/Shapeshifting, Mutation, and all that jazz.

What's the best class or combination of classes for it? All 3rd party is open. Tried a Metamorph/Aegis build but it wasn't as good as it looked at first glance.

Remember this is level 20, so any classes that have an OMGWTFBBQ good Capstone for a shapeshifter are worthwhile as well.

I would assume that no matter what I choose it would involve use of Shapechange with Enduring blessing and Shapeshifting Mastery from Mythic. Considering keeping Aegis (Aberrant) for neat stuff like DR 10/- and Blindsight, but open to suggestions on that front as well.

Essentially I want a character that can seamlessly meld from form to form, while still retaining casting. I heard there was an Arcanist archetype in Advanced Class Guide Origins that was good for this, but I don' have the book and it's not on the SRD yet, so I'm unsure what it is or how good it is. Brown Fur Transmuter looks pretty good so far, both for having more powerful shifts and for mutating other people against their will.

Morality isn't an issue, so if it's an evil option only sling it at me, brother.

And if there's any good Feats or magic items I've overlooked, they'd be awesome as well.

I like the idea of this archetype, though its implementation seems a bit lacking. Was tossing around some ideas to give it a bit more oomph.

Quick change: Move Wand Adept up to 2nd level. X stat to Y skill abilities that don't come in before 3rd are kind of dumb. You're not going to go 6 levels sucking at your main schtick just so you can be better at it later.

More complicated fix:

I'd give the Rogue 1 or 2 more abilities, either as archetype abilities (trading out Uncanny Dodge/Improved, probably) or as Rogue Talents. Or as an archetype ability that eats Rogue Talents. Something like that.

Let the Rogue use his level as his "caster level" (note, this lets him take Item Creation Feats). Let him use said caster level in place of a wand or scroll's caster level. Likewise, ability 2 would allow him to use his Cha or Int mod (his choice) to determine spell DCs.

Not sure what a proper exchange would be. Fairly strong ability, balanced by the monetary cost.

Maybe trade out 2d6 worth of Sneak Attack and a Rogue Talent for it. I dunno.

Eh. Details. The ability itself just seems to fit, to me. Plus, it makes him one of the only viable offensive consumable users in the game. That trashy Wand of Lightning Bolt in the party loot that does 5d6 damage with a DC 13 save is something that usually goes right in the sell pile. This guy? He makes it a ray gun.

Thoughts?

Anybody else having this issue? Whenever I click on one of the drop down boxes (EX the "Post as" at the bottom) it just highlights it, but won't drop down.

Windows 8.1, using Chrome if that helps narrow it down for any of the website peoples.

So, why is this weapon never brought up? It seems like it'd be a pretty cool weapon for a Rogue or Ninja to use in combat, if a bit Feat intensive.

With Exotic Weapon Proficiency (or something similar, like Heirloom Weapon) and Improved Trip you can make an opponent Flatfooted for a round.

Seems overall better than Feint, which I've seen people build around, since it makes them Flatfooted for your buddies to take advantage of too.

Thoughts?

As a swift action, you can expend one use of mythic power to make a melee attack at your highest attack bonus. This is in addition to any other attacks you make this round. When making a sudden attack, you roll twice and take the better result, adding your tier to the attack roll. Damage from this attack bypasses all damage reduction.

I suppose more to the point, does it count as an ATTACK ACTION?

It seems to be fairly unique in the game, an ability that grants an extra attack, separate of qualifiers that it must be made as part of a full attack (Haste, Ki with Flurry/Ninjas, and so on) or from a broader granting of whole Standard Actions (Amazing Initiative, Slow Time, and so on).

So what can you do with it? Is it, as it says, simply an extra melee attack? Can you Vital Strike with it (an attack action)?

The general rule for Vital Strike not working with something is "Vital Strike is an attack action, and therefore incompatible with other Standard actions and Full Round actions" (hence why no Spring Attack or Full Attacking with Vital Strike) but this just grants an extra attack.

This ties back into the old issue of "what is an attack action?" (a term which is often used, but never actually defined). The issue has been sidestepped a number of times now, generally coming to the consensus that the attack action is a Standard action, because the rules say "making an attack is a standard action", which has worked thus far, but I think doesn't really work for this particular case as an answer.

Thoughts?

So I was presented with this statement earlier, in reference to reasons to choose the Fighter.

Cumulative combat bonuses that eventually surpass even the barbarian.

At first blush, this seems flatly untrue. After all, +8 Str = +4 hit/damage, and Weapon Training at 17th level = +4 hit/damage (we'll be assuming 20th level here, because the statement is that the Fighter eventually surpasses the Barbarian).

Then you look at it a bit deeper.

Technically speaking, isn't +8 Str actually BETTER? Because it's really +4 hit, +6 damage. But, we're being fair, we'll assume the Fighter has Weapon Specialization, which puts it back on even ground.

So, I think, at best the Fighter surpasses him at some levels (9 and 10 before Greater Rage kicks in, and 17-19th before Mighty Rage kicks in) but I'd call that less "eventually surpass" and more "occasionally overtakes before becoming equal (but not really) again". But, we'll look a bit deeper.

That's before getting into the Con bonus, DR, and Rage Power goodness that comes with Rage as well. Which is what you compare to the original subject (Feats) and Armor Training. Oh and Bravery. Though I think everyone can flat out agree +2/+4 to Will saves in general is better than +6 vs Fear. I consider all of these "combat bonuses" too myself.

But, let's break it down a bit, what are we assuming?

General: 20th level, same exact stats, no archetypes.

Gear: Each character has +5 armor, a +10 weapon, and a bit extra spent on class specific items (Gloves of Dueling for Fighter). Let's be nice and say the Barbarian's Mithral Breastplate counts as that, for 9000 gold. Actually, let's toss in a Headband of Havoc too, adding +1 to any of the Rage Powers we have here. So, 15k vs 13k spent. At 20th level 2000 gold is less than pocket change, so we won't fault that difference. Other than that, everything else gear-wise is assumed identical (Maxed out Big Six, Inherent Bonuses, the whole shebang). Damage numbers will be calculated above and beyond the +5 Enhancement bonus each weapon will have, base stats, BaB, and so forth (since these factors are identical).

Class Abilities: The Fighter will spend 4 Feats (Weapon Focus/Greater and Weapon Specialization/Greater). So it's only fair that the Barbarian gets 4 as well: Superstition, Witch Hunter, Lesser Beast Totem, and Beast Totem. Other than that, we're assuming both have Power Attack, the Barbarian has NOT taken Weapon Focus as a Feat, and otherwise all Feats are the same (where chosen) so as not to skew the numbers.

I don't see anything wrong with applying Witch Hunter as a flat bonus to damage, because I don't think anyone will disagree that the vast majority of the Bestiary at this point is comprised of creature with AT LEAST 1 SLA.

So, let's see what we end up with, in pure numbers.

So, the final results:

Offense:

Fighter: +1 to-hit over Barbarian.

Barbarian: +9 damage over Fighter.

Note: The general rule the game is balanced by is that each -1 to-hit is balanced by +2 to damage.

Armor Class:

Fighter: No advantages.

Barbarian: +1 AC, faster movement speed, 1 lower ACP.

Saves:

Fighter: +4 to +6 saves vs Fear.

Barbarian: +9 bonus to Fort/Ref/Will vs Spells, Spell-Likes, and Supernatural abilities (Superstition with Courageous). +7 to Will vs non Spell/SLA/Su (Raging Will bonus with Courageous).+7 to Fort vs non Spell/SLA/Su.

Miscellaneous:

Fighter: Crits hit harder, and more confirm often.

Barbarian: +1 to a variable statistic. DR 5/-, +1 HP per hit die, +5 HP per hit die while raging.

It seems to me that the Barbarian edges ahead by the end, even in the pure damage department, from a numbers perspective, contrary to the initial statement.

When factoring in other things, the comparison becomes more unfavorable.

Please, tell me if I did something wrong, or you believe I've skewed the results in some manner. I tried to make this as fair as possible, but I admit to not being perfect, nor perfectly unbiased, I could have made a mistake.

It's become increasingly clear to me that I personally often don't like tactical combats, where the enemy uses all of the resources in ways that logically make sense.

Eg: Ghosts popping in and out of stuff, enemies with swift action teleporting powers moving around everywhere, enemies with at-will AoEs never closing for melee and just retreating + spamming said AoE.

I like challenging combats, and I like tactical ELEMENTS, but often I find myself thinking "Can they PLEASE just come here so we can get this OVER WITH?".

It seems like there's a fine line between combat that is challenging due to tactics and combat that is tedious due to tactics, and that line is in a bit of a different place for everyone, some people enjoying the realism of the enemies acting so intelligently, some disliking that they make supposedly easy combats much more difficult (or long), and people in between, who like it up to a point but wish at some point the enemy would make a mistake or swap up their tactics (if only for variety).

So where does everyone fall on this spectrum? Are you a fan of enemies always using their abilities in the most intelligent way the GM can think of? Do you prefer more straightforward (though not necessarily EASY) combats? A mix of the two, challenging fights where the enemy's opening volley utilizes these tactics but it "devolves" into a simpler combat? Somewhere else?

Fun story from tonight's Rise of the Runelords session I just had to share. Minor spoilers follow.

Many laughs were had.

Never built a Paladin before, but a game I'm joining needs a primary healer, and I didn't want to play a Cleric or Oracle, so I got to thinking a Paladin might be a good idea.

The group currently consists of a Bard, a Summoner, an Unbreakable Fighter (who will likely be my shoulder to shoulder buddy, he's taking Fey Foundling if I recall for double the fun), and an undecided.

I picked a Paladin because I wanted a character that could dish it out about as well as he could heal it up, and I'm already playing two Oracles so didn't feel like rolling up another like a Battle Oracle. I'm having a bit of trouble getting things to fall into place though.

I know an Archer is probably the most optimal, but I really don't want to play one. My preferred would be a sword and board, but a 2H fighter works fine for me too if that turns out to be too Feat intensive with the "primary healer" idea as the main focus.

So, basically, the part I need help with is enhancing the healing aspect by a lot without sacrificing the ability to wallop evil in the face.

Currently all I've got is "Probably want to be a Hospitaler", "Maybe mix Warrior of the Holy Light with it for all the LoH", and "Charisma is a good stat". It's 20 PB, all Paizo sources open (as well as some 3rd party stuff on a case by case basis so if anyone knows of a balanced 3rd party heal-em-up-knock-em-down type class or balanced Feats I'd love to hear them).

Mostly what I need is Feat suggestions to maximize the healing output, both for myself and others. If it comes out that I need a whole ton of Feats to do it, I always have a big Hammer/Greatsword/Whatever and Power Attack to fall back on while I pile on the other stuff.

Potential stats: 16 12 14 12 7 14?

Help?

Me and my GM got into a bit of an argument over the usage of this spell. Whatever consensus may be reached won't be affecting that (we came to a sort of compromise on how it will work), but I would like to know how it works exactly for future reference.

The wording of the spell is somewhat ambiguous, but I initially thought it was very clear. So did he.

My reading: The target makes a Fortitude save. On success, he is Staggered for one round. On failure, he immediately falls unconscious and to 0 HP on his next turn. In round 2 of the spell, he must make another Fort save or proceed to -1 HP. In round 3, he must make another Fort save or die. If he makes the second save, he is still unconscious, and the third save will at most put him to -1. If he makes both subsequent saves, he is merely unconscious at 0 HP. The spell lasts no longer than 3 rounds.

His reading (or how I understood it after the fact, he may correct me if I'm wrong): The target makes the initial Fort save. If he succeeds he is Staggered. If he fails, he is Suffocating. On his next turn he makes a SECOND Fort save to avoid going unconscious and to 0 HP. If he fails, he is unconscious. If not, he remains standing until he fails a save. The duration of the spell is reset every time he succeeds. Essentially the duration is "permanent" (he keeps Suffocating until the spell is Dispelled or he begins failing saves), with the 3 round duration noting the minimum time it takes to kill if he fails all 4 saves (drawn from the line "Each round, the target can delay that round's effects from occurring by making a successful Fortitude save, but the spell continues for 3 rounds".)

I'll spoiler the compromise since people might be curious, but it's fairly irrelevant to the discussion.

So, how does it really work?

So I've been playing Dragon Age 2. Doesn't suck as bad as my initial impression of it led me to believe.

The Rogue in that game is pretty awesome. Best single target death dealer in the game, plus it can unlock chests and disable traps.

So, here's a Rogue rework loosely based on it.

New Rogue Talent:

Swift Feint: (Prerequisites: Rogue 8, Improved Feint, Greater Feint) A Rogue with this talent may perform a Feint as a Swift action.

New Advanced talent:

Devastating Backstab: A Rogue who chooses this talent increases her critical multiplier by 1 for the purposes of Backstab and Twin Fangs. This talent may be chosen a second time, increasing the critical multiplier by a further +1 (to a max of x4).

So, basically, the Rogue can shred anything he can get his hands on, provided he comes from Stealth or his Bluff is good.

May be a mite unbalanced, but that's the general gist of it. Could maybe stand to be toned down a bit (perhaps nix Swift Feint and replace it with a Talent that makes Feinting with Greater Feint deny Dex for a number of rounds equal to your Int mod or some such), open to suggestions.

One thing to note, the target MUST be denied Dex to AC. No Backstab/Twin Fangs on a flank.

So I was browsing the SRD and what do I find but 4 new archetypes in a recently released book I didn't even know was coming out.

Anybody run these yet or had time to formulate opinions?

They're quite odd, in some cases.

The Contemplative (Dwarf Racial Archetype) seems pretty cool. Unique in that it actually replaces racial traits as part of its class abilities...which is very weird and a bit of a headache when you factor in Racial Heritage. Nevertheless, it seems like a pretty good archetype for those who don't like Stunning Fist (like myself) and finally allows for a Monk who can use one of the gajillion Monk weapons they're not proficient with (like my personal favorite, the Nine Ring Broadsword...I'm a sucker for x3 crit weapons).

Hamatulatsu Master is likewise pretty cool. The additional Stunning Fist and Ki Pool effects (especially the retaliatory strike and "extra Stunning Fist for Ki" powers). My one major gripe at a glance...they can't get Hamatula Strike/Grasp as Bonus Feats. What gives?

Spirit Master I REALLY like for an undead killing Monk. Or, I would, if the majorly useful anti-Necromancer/Undead ability wasn't put up at 19th level for some odd reason. Namely Spirit Flow. But Spirit Combat And Diamond Spirit are quite useful, and Spirit Burst just sounds awesome.

Monk of the Seven Forms is also kind of neat, though there's not much to it. It gets Lightning Finish, which IMO is a far superior ability to Stunning Fist in many cases (especially starting around 8th) and can lead to a Flurrying Monk getting up to even more ATATATATATATA in a round, but other than that it gets a crappy Bonus Feat and a neat Inspire Courage-esque ability starting at 11th. Bonus, I think it stacks with the majority of other archetypes (since not many replace Abundant Step and Quivering Palm IIRC, and none replace Maneuver Training), so there.s that.

So, anyone have anything more in-depth beyond first impressions yet?

As-is there are quite a large number of abilities that require the user to be wielding the item (usually a weapon) in question.

Problem: Wielding is not defined in the rules.

Therefore, there are several interpretations, and they're all technically correct.

One group of people says "a weapon must be currently in use (have attacked recently, for example)" to be wielded.

A different group says "a weapon must simply be held in a position that it CAN be used" to be wielded.

A third acknowledges that the definition is nebulous, but has a general definition of "held with INTENT to use".

The dictionary definition of wield (which I will spoiler below) supports all 3 of these definitions.

As this has a not insignificant impact on the rules, and there have been various queries on a few different matters that converge on this one issue, I'd say it counts as a "Frequently Asked Question", even though technically they were all tangential to the main question asked.

So, to put it clearly and succinctly for the PDT: What constitutes "wielding" in the Pathfinder ruleset?

So I'm making a backup character for a game I'm playing (currently a Dark Tapestry Oracle).

Fiddling around with the idea for a big buff wrestle-man who breaks people like twigs.

So far, I've got this.

Basically has a progression of Fighter (Brawler) 1/Monk (Tetori) 8/Fighter (Brawler) 3, Mythic Tier 4 (Dual Path Champion/Guardian) and these Feats:

The main issue I'm having is A.) I've never built a Grappler. Is this a solid build? and B.) There are a number of Mythic abilities (which I have) that make Tetori all but worthless except for the level 9 ability (spend Ki to negate Freedom of Movement and the like).

Dimensional Grappler gives me the 13th level ability, Improved Grapple (Mythic) gives me Counter-Grapple, Hamatula Strike gives me Graceful Grappler's Grab without the Ki cost, etc.

So, is Tetori even worth it? Should I just go straight Brawler (or Brawler/Brutal Pugilist I was possibly thinking, well, I need one level of Monk for Stunning Fist but beyond that...)? Some other combination of classes I haven't thought of?

You are hereby sentenced to live the remainder of your short life in
Harrowstone, which, I hasten to add, is a blessing compared to the extent of your crimes and the suffering of your victims. There you will reside in the misery of your thoughts until such time as you are drawn, hanged, and quartered. May the gods have no mercy on your blighted soul.

-—The final sentencing of Vance Saetressle ("The Lopper") in 4661 AR by Jurisdeclaris Axenris the Third.

Welcome to Ravengro. A small town in Ustalav, with a very unique claim to fame.

Some small towns grow up around a university, their shops and other offerings catering to a scholastic clientele. Others boast famous festivals or specialized industries that draw skilled artisans and craftsmen.

But not Ravengro. No, Ravengro's claim to fame was the infamous Harrowstone prison, the sort of dumping ground for Ustalav's worst criminals. The worst of the worst were gathered from all over Ustalav's prisons, every 6 months, and transported to Harrowstone, to await their execution or, rarely, serve the remainder of a life sentence. Their crimes were many and varied, but they all had one thing in common, they would live the rest of their lives in Harrowstone. No hope of escape, no hope of a pardon, prisoners who stepped foot beyond Harrowstone's doors never left with a still beating heart.

But, of course, they could always try.

In the year 4661 AR, the usual mid-year influx of prisoners arrived at Harrowstone. Five of them were considered horrendous even by Harrowstone's standards. The worst of the worst even among the criminal community, not even Harrowstone was equipped to handle all of them at once.

Two of them, one known as the Lopper, and the other, the mastermind, as the Splatter Man picked their moment and staged a desperate attempt to take control of the prison.

Which succeeded, to an extent. For a few minutes' time, they took control from Harrowstone's guards and attempted to escape.

None of them, however, foresaw the dedication of the prison's warden, Lyvar Hawkran. As they came up the stairs he triggered an emergency deadfall, crushing some of the prisoners underneath the rocks, and leaving himself trapped on the lower levels with the remaining prisoners.

The only way out was an emergency lift, which was impossible to trigger from the dungeon level.

It was at this point the prisoners grew desperate. They called up the shaft, having taken Hawkran and other guards hostage, that they would kill them if the lift was not lowered. But Harrowstone's guards were well trained and dedicated, and they did not budge, even going so far as to post guards on the shaft, shooting down the few who tried to climb up.

The guards managed to keep the truth of the riot a secret from the general public at the time, not wanting to start a panic, and believing the situation was somewhat under control.

And so, Hawkran's wife was oblivious to the danger when she walked within the gates of Harrowstone that day, come to retrieve her husband for their customary dinner.

In their panic, the guards had forgotten to lock and bar the outer door, and so Vesorianna was able to walk inside with ease, confused by the seeming emptiness of the prison. Following the sounds of shouting she made her way to the training room, where they were guarding the lift shaft.

And, of course, when she learned from the guards that her husband was trapped in the lower prison with Ustalav's worst and most brutal torturers, psychopaths, and serial killers, she was frantic.

She begged with them to remove the deadfall and save her husband, but they refused. It was simply too much of a risk to allow the kind of prisoners they had there to roam free.

Mad with hysteria, she broke free of their grasp and dodged around them the few short feet she needed, grabbing hold of the emergency release lever for the lift and sending it crashing down into the shaft, crushing a number of prisoners and guards standing beneath it.

Thinking she may have just killed her husband, Vesorianna collapsed into tears, and the guards were finally able to subdue her, taking her to a workshop at the other end of the prison, and locking her in there for her own safety.

The guards worked frantically to keep the prisoners from escaping, but with so many eagerly waiting below they couldn't simply pull the lift back up. And with the chains being unblocked and easy to climb, they soon found themselves with a horde of prisoners climbing the chains to freedom.

So, desperate, they made their fateful decision. They gathered up a number of barrels of lamp oil, tossing them down at the prisoners, knocking them free and slicking the chains in the process.

But when the Splatter Man stepped into view, and began using his magic on the guards, they flew into a blind panic, and decided that if the lift were burned, order could be restored.

One guard tossed a torch down onto the oil.

The resulting conflagration was orders of magnitude beyond what anyone could have foreseen, the pool of oil carrying the flames at lightning speed through the lower levels of the prison, incinerating guards and prisoners alike as they were trapped on the dungeon floor.

The remaining guards fled, almost suffocated by the smoke and anticipating that the entire prison would burn down. It was only later, to their horror, that they realized they had never released Vesorianna from where she had been locked in the workshop.

The town of Ravengro mobilized a fire fighting force, but it was too little, too late. The fire had spread, the damage been done. Ustalav's most infamous prison was no more.

In the 50 years that followed the Harrowstone Fire, the town of Ravengro moved on to become a pleasant (and perhaps even boring) farming community.

Yet the town’s old-timers remember well the eerie prison caravans that carried monsters through the town. And none in Ravengro can ignore the brooding, dark ruin of the old prison that looms on the hill overlooking the town.

Tales of the prison being haunted are traded by Ravengro’s youths, and on certain dark nights they taunt each other to touch the rusting bars on the prison windows. Dares to spend the night in the edifice are routinely posed and never accepted. For no one knows what horrors may yet haunt the ruins of Harrowstone.

But you are here for another reason. The Professor, Petros Lorrimor, and a friend or acquaintance of each of you, has died. The funeral is today, and you are gathered near Ravengro's Restlands for the service.

The Professor's daughter, Kendra Lorrimor, is in attendance as well, and struggles to hold back tears.

Another man, whom none of you recognize, and claims to be one of Lorrimor's old friends, stands a distance away.

Other than they, only Lorrimor's closest friends are in attendance. Councilman Vashian Hearthmount, Councilman Gharen Muricar, tavernkeeper Zokar Elkarid and his 13-year- old son Pevrin, and Jominda Fallenbridge (Ravengro’s apothecary and one of the professor’s good friends) are standing back as well.

Feel free to converse amongst yourselves. You have all of your gear and such, as you've just arrived from a long trip. We'll wait for Comeau and you to be done talking for the game to actually start in full.

Post here when your characters are ready, with your chosen alias.

Copy-paste the link into the profile for me (actually make it a clickable url, please) and put your HP/AC/Saves/Initiative in the Classes and Levels bar.

We'll get started as soon as everyone is present and accounted for.

So, I have just hit level 11 and thus AotG 5 on my JuJu Oracle. This means I've got some choices to make, and I'd like other people's advice on this. I'm not a super good caster player (my current spell list is sucking kinda hard ATM in some places), and want to make sure I don't screw up with an ability I can't fix later.

So, a few questions.

1.) If you could pick any 3 Necromancy spells NOT on the Cleric/Oracle list, what would they be? Any 5-6 (depending on Int boosts at a later date)?

Current candidates: Enervate, Suffocation, Greater False Life. Enervate is a definite (needed for a great many undead with Create Undead), Suffocation I'm pretty fond of, but not sure of Greater False life.

Current future candidates: Wail of the Banshee (to make Banshees, and also because it's awesome), Finger of Death, and Clone.

Though now I think of it, Clone may not be a great option since we'll probably be undead (vampire in my case) by 12th level.

I've only really looked at the Wizard list because that's the only one that's conveniently labeled by School.

Any suggestions?

2.) I want to go for Spell Perfection at 15th. What are the three best Metamagic Feats for a Necromancy focused character?

Current candidates: Quicken, Persistent, and Piercing.

3.) Also about Spell Perfection, what's the best spell to use for it? Enervate (free Quickened Enervates sound delish)? Suffocation? Some later level spell?

So, I've inherited a Reign of Winter game, and another player has dropped. He was the party healer.

So we need another healer.

Wait! Wait! Come back!

I'm not asking you to be a healbot, but somebody who can dish out some Cures or Channels when the party needs it is a necessity. Feel free to build something that can mix it up in melee, or do some battlefield control, buffing (another party need since the Bard ate it, but less pressing) or whatever you like, but something like a Cleric or Paladin with combat ability and some healing would be great.

For anyone who's interested, some character creation guidelines. Party's still at level 1.

And some other stuff.

That's about it, really, that I can remember right now.

A few more things before I wrap up.

-I don't claim to be the best GM ever. I'll be running this AP pretty much by the book with some tweaks here and there, and try to make it fun, but I am by no means perfect. I'll make rules mistakes and questionable calls. Call me on them as you see them, please.

-I currently have a GMPC in the campaign, mostly because, well, it was a regular PC before I took over. He's the party beatstick, a LE Monk (well...Fighter that'll have some Monk levels eventually). If that's a deal breaker for you, we can work something out. I can recruit another beatstick and retire him if I really like your character, but the rest of the party's all right with him currently. He doesn't talk all that much, but I'll have him chime in occasionally in conversations you have amongst yourselves or if you're feeling indecisive. I try to keep metagaming out of it, but he will roll Knowledges he has an share with people.

-I think PbP is a good medium to promote a certain amount of RP. Please, feel free to get descriptive with your actions. Talk in combat and out. I may push the game a bit (RoW book 1 is pretty darn linear, sadly), but I'll always try to leave room to retcon in some conversations and stuff even if we're moving at a brisk pace. Rule of Cool may be rewarding on some occasions. If you make it up, I ca try to assign a DC to it. Stuff like that.

I've seen requests before, but with the Bloodrager and the Abberant Bloodline, I think it's finally come close to having a shot.

Not quite sure how to go about it though, so here goes some spitballing.

Monk (Master of Many Styles)2/Fighter (Brawler) 4/Bloodrager 4

Feats:

Monk 1.) Power Attack, Lunge, Dragon Style
Monk 2.) Dragon Ferocity
Bloodrager 3.) Elemental Fist
Bloodrager 5.) Marid Style
Brawler 7.)Dragon Roar, Two-Weapon Fighting
Brawler 8.) Vital Strike
Brawler 9.) Improved Vital Strike
Brawler 10.) Devastating Strike
Brawler 11: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

Magic Items required: Longarm Bracers

Not perfect, but kinda gets the point across sorta. I wanted to use Brawler (ACG class) as the other levels, but it wouldn't let me get Dragon Ferocity or Elemental Fist before 9th so I had to drop it.

Assume stat bonuses are a non-issue because that breaks it a bit.

So, Pros:

Reach. He's got a Natural 10 ft. Reach, and can go all the way to 15 ft. with Lunge. 20 ft. with Marid Style used to deal Cold damage (pretend it's Gear First or something) or with the Longarm Bracers, and a whopping 25 ft. reach with everything going at once. Good times.

Got a few of his techniques in there, most notably Bazooka/Axe (Vital Strike), Gatling (TWFing), and his Haki (Dragon Roar). Actually, I added the Haki as an afterthought but since that's post-timeskip maybe he could do with being higher level?

Cons:

He needs armor to survive, really, unless we're assuming he has natural 18's in Str/Dex/Wis and increase them with magic items. Which ties back into the main Con, like any PF character he needs gear to survive in an actual campaign.

Suggestions for improvement?

Summon Good Monster

Feat Text:

Prerequisite: Good alignment.

Benefit: When casting summon monster, you also gain access to the list of good monsters below. Your righteous determination grants these summoned creatures the Diehard feat. You may still summon creatures from the standard list, but without the Diehard feat.

Rules from the Magic section making the bolded bit useless:

A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower, but it is not really dead.

As written, this Feat doesn't technically make an exception to the usual rules, meaning that the summoned creatures can't actually take advantage of the Feat.

Question for Design Team: "Is Summon Good Monster intended to give summons the ability to stick around as Disabled below 0 hit points with Die Hard instead of disappearing immediately at 0?"

I would assume the answer is yes, but it's an odd bit that might be worth a quick FAQ before it causes issues with people down the line.

I know I can't be the only one with a Necromancer (mine is a JuJu Oracle 6/Agent of the Grave 4 in Way of the Wicked right now) in play currently, and who was very excited by the addition of these bad boys to my arsenal.

I have a few samples from some early tinkering with the things, and you can come up with some pretty neat stuff if you put your mind to it.

Sorry if the character sheets area bit messy.

Purpose: Literal one creature armies/siege weapons. We needed some big guns for a war, and we managed to scrounge up the 200 corpses necessary for two of these babies. Each one is worth about 300 soldiers (three ACR 1 armies unless my math is off).

These things actually have a higher CR (11) than any one of our party members right now. Should be interesting to see in action.

Purpose: One of my two "bodyguard" undead I'll be taking into combat with me. Will probably die in the first significant engagement, but will make a good meatshield and can mow through fodder alright, I think. At the very least, won't have any trouble getting up to enemies trying to attack from ledges and such.

Purpose: Second "bodyguard" undead, can remain underground until needed, serving as probably a pretty surprising little slice of death if used right. Again, won't be much good against CR appropriate foes, but good resource saver against fodder, and I've always wanted a burrowing minion.

In the works: a Spy/Scout one (Medium sized at first, I only have 5 corpses left in reserve) with all CP put into movement types (Fly and Burrow, most likely) and moving faster. Feasibility of this one depends on the addition of two Isitoq mashed into its empty eye sockets, camouflaged as part of the creature but actually separate, and recording everything they see (or I tell them to). Relies on Isitoq actually being able to give orders to the thing, or the whole plan is a wash.

So, what have people been coming up with on these things? How creative can you get with the unholy amalgam of body parts that is the Necrocraft?

Exactly what it says on the tin, really. Is it better for a TWFer to use Power Attack, or no?

For a more specific example, will a Str based (sorta, Dex 15, Str 16, will be focusing on Str as I level) Ranger benefit from the extra damage more than the extra to-hit penalty hurts him?

For even more specificity, this Ranger will be TWFing with a Falcata and a shield. I will not be taking Improved or Greater TWFing almost certainly.

Or is it on a bit of a range? Are there certain levels it's better than others? Is it better earlier on, or later in the game, or about the same throughout?

So I've said on a few occasions that if I were to implement a Monk "fix" it would be to split it into multiple classes. One a pure martial character, one a 6 level caster, and possibly one a 4th level "middle ground class". Got bored recently so I went to work on that.

I posted the Ascetic first because it was the easiest. It is, mostly, the Core Monk with 6 level casting in place of Flurry (and a few other abilities cut out, and some changed).

The Inquisitor list is just the placeholder until I have the time to make up a unique spell list. You bet your ass I'm gonna figure out a way to work Blood Crow Strike in there. =)

The other two I'm still working on, but here's the gist of them.

Thoughts? Suggestions for change? Something interesting to give the Enlightened Warrior so he's not so bare as he is currently?