HE IS POWERFUL AT WHAT HE DOES.And this is bad because...?
When did I say it was bad? It's causing the other martial characters to feel overshadowed. So I want to design some encounters where he doesn't outshine everyone.
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Top of the initiative a lot of the time, or the rogue scouts ahead and thus they know which door they are going to knock down.
That's actually not a bad idea. It doesn't prevent pre-buffing, but it's an idea. The only thing is that he has improved initiative and is usually on the top of the round before the enemies can get into melee range.
This is my bad for misremembering. He did get a critical hit in that fight.
Free: Remove hand from weapon Move: Take potion outStandard: Drink potion Free: Drop bottle Free: Put hand back on weapon I have not ignored these rules. This is how it works. He does this usually on turn 1. He has enough HP and AC that taking an AOO isn't usually an issue. I also have only been letting him use it in a single combat, because a minute passes usually for healing.
This is what the topic is all about. I am trying to design some encounters that let him still play without just throwing a Hold Person on him or attacking him with swarms.
So I have been using mooks for the most part. In order to bust thier AC I have been using action economy in my favor. The problem with mooks is that they die so very quickly. So the entire party doesn't feel challenged. One time I threw a Dire Tiger (CR 10) at the party. Mr. Orc Titan Fighter almost killed it in a single hit using Vital Strike. He did about 88 damage to the thing. I am not entirely sure if that's considered 'normal' or not for level 7. I am going to put repeat in caps here for emphasis however. I AM USING MOOKS I AM AWARE OF WHAT HARD-COUNTERS FIGHTERS I WANT THE GAME TO BE FUN, NOT JUST MURDER OR DISABLE THE CHARACTER I KNOW HE IS NOT 'OVERPOWERED'. BUT HE IS POWERFUL AT WHAT HE DOES.
The party is level 7 right now. And I don't want to fully disable the character from the battle, because then it leaves the player twiddling his thumbs.
multi enemies. kill by little or a lot, dosnt matter cause dead is dead. is he using the right penalties to hit with? think it is minus six. He has cleave and cleaving finish. On top of the damage, enlarge person gives him the reach. He is using the correct penalties, but he has about a +12 to hit regardless.
Hello Folks, Note: Party is level 7 as of the time of this post. I am running a homebrew game and am having trouble getting the party to have fun while in fights because one of the players is playing an Orc Titan Fighter. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fig hter-archetypes/titan-fighter He has a large-sized greatsword and will usually drink a potion of Enlarge Person before he charges into the fight. This means he is doing around 4d6 damage, on top of the crazy strength he has, doing more than +20 damage on top of that. The other players are a Rage Prophet barbarian and an unchained Rogue. Both use slashing weapons, so throwing something that is immune to slashing would be death. Now, I have thrown challenging combats at them before. In one combat I pitted them against a CR 8 bard, and it caused a lot of pain for the party because he would use confusion and hold-persons. I am aware of what would challenge the party overall. Things like swarms, etherials, and wizards. However the only way I can think to combat this one player is by disabling him overall. Which is not-fun. I don't mind him doing crazy damage, but some fights I want the other players to shine. Is there a good way to do that without fully disabling or killing his character? Thank you!
Thanks for the help!
So, my group is playing through the Jade Regent adventure path right now, and we're not enjoying it at all. The DM is always complaining about the layout of the pdfs, and the dungeon portions are long and dull, making the players bored when waiting for the DM to navigate the adventure path. The players like their characters, but they're not liking the path itself. So we were thinking of porting the player's characters to another path. Any thoughts about this?
Half-Orc can just straight up take a +2 to strength as his racial and Orcs have a huge Strength bonus to begin with. It seems kind-of redundant to give a trait that gives them even more strength. Not only that but I can't think of any scenario with such a trait if I am making a fighter-esque character not to take the Adopted trait and give myself an extra +2 strength. If you wanted a trait that was more in-line with the other traits, I would make it more like "Choose a strength-based skill, add 1 and you are now proficient in that skill".
I actually am running a campaign right now where one of the players is exactly that. The only oddity is because we used a 20rp because he's supposed to be a divine avatar. He's a Paladin as well so he's pretty much a bright green elf with tiny tusks who's 16 charisma makes him 'pretty'. You can use the race builder and it works just fine. He's a little more powerful then a normal race is because of the 20RP, but you could do it with 10 or 15 just fine and pick and place what you like. Nawtyit's is pretty close to what he has. Life expectancy I would assume just the same as a Half-elf, if not a little shorter.
Rifles are OP though, why fear death when you can ignore a tank's armor when you're within 30 feet of it ;P
Personally I would say no, as it gets rid of your Fiendish Boon, which in a neutral/good party, is pretty much your main source of damage.
Shadow Demons get Magic Jar, so you can flavor it as a Leadership companion ;P
Spell Focus Conjuration
In a neutral/good party this is probably the best way of helping out the group. Without knowing the rest of the party makeup I can't say really what you're going to best at doing in the group. I personally like pumping up my summoned monster and letting him do all the damage. However that said, Lance charging with a dire bat you get early on can work incredibly in your favor. In which case you would want mounted combat and eventually spirited charge instead. Oh, and I would get one of the traits to give you Use Magic Device as a class skill, with all the Charisma you're going to pump into an antipaladin, being able to use wands and scrolls that you can't usually use are awesome. When you finally get full plate, if your DM allows eastern armor, an O-yoroi is a much better fit for your stats then a standard full plate. Depending on your group you may want to invest some potions of glibness or a magic item to hide your alignment. Y'know, because you're evil in a good/neutral party. Also there's Necromatic Affinity, which will allow you to get the Negative Energy Affinity should you want it.
Command Undead is also a fine choice for a feat if your campaign is going to be undead heavy and you lack a good way to Smite. Get a small army of skeletons and wreck havoc. It's sad that CE is so hated (for good reason but still) I really like the Antipaladin class a whole lot.
Playing an Antipaladin in a group is actually easier then you expect, as their code says they can be in a good party as long it benefits them in some way. Loot is an easy way to have them in a group. I ignored Smite Good and just pumped up my summons instead. If you get him to level 11 or so with Augment Summoning, you get a Shadow Demon with +4 STR / +4 CON. And you can concentrate on being defensive. It depends on the campaign and the party though. As long as you're selfish it's easy to have them be in a group. Even if you do have to rescue kids from a burning orphanage, you're doing it to get in good graces with the townsfolk so you can get something out of them.
I just don't like the sheer amount of damage they do and the fact that they're ranged touch. I understand a gun can rip through most armor, but we're talking about magical dragons and devas and crap. In my games, either everyone is a gunslinger, or nobody is. Alchemist has a limited amount of bombs per day, a gunslinger can literally have an infinite amount of ammunition with a low-level spell.
Really, between combat maneuvers, feats, various kinds of weaponry and uses of intimidation, I feel like martials have plenty to do. I think it would be enough to make them stronger against a competent magic user, so that even the evil arch mage would need to keep some strong fighters around for protection. Make it easier for the martials to do what they're already good at, and there's no need for jumping seven miles and the destructo disk.Why have fighters when you have summon monster for a creature that is at least as good in a fight? Because most summoner monster spells aren't permanent and can't wield magical weapons.
Y'know, how many Martial vs Wizard topics are going to be posted per day? Disguised or not. A wizard has a limited amount of spells per day. Meaning the fighter or whatever shines when doing 5+ encounters, versus a wizard. That's the main draw in martial over magical. Sure, the wizard can call death from the sky a limited amount of times per day. A fighter can power-attack cleave all day every day. Wizard - Bottle Rocket
They do what they were designed to do. Other systems have things in place to make them more similar to each-other. Such-as 4e, which essentially makes wizards and fighter have powers that have similar effects. Also I should note that most campaigns don't go past level 11. Most also don't have PvP. So going toe to toe with an optimized player wizard solo is silly and usually just goes to whoever has the initiative.
Is there a reason all the traps are magical? You have have mechanical traps as well.
I wouldn't worry about that too much personally if playing a race with an extra feat, such as a human. Also most campaigns don't go past level 11, so having a huge bonus to stats for a summoned creature is just too good to pass up, that of course depends on how your party and campaign is. The need to get Spell Focus kind-of sucks, but then again, the Antipaladin gets a few conjuration spells anyhow, so it'll give your spellcasting some good bonuses. Getting a Shadow Demon or Succubus with a str/con boost is awsome. And if you're in a non-evil-exclusive campaign and you're playing an antipaladin, Smite Good and the like aren't too helpful, so having a summoned creature make up for your damage when fighting neutral/evil creatures. It's one of those must-have feats in those types of campaigns, as Smite Good isn't going to do anything most of the time. For me anyhow. I think it's at least worth a mention. I know my tripping Antipaladin with a sickle and shield, combat-experise and augment summoning, lets me "tank n' spank" as it were with my high saves, high AC and a summoned creature to make up for my lack of damage when fighting neutral/evil creatures.
I did a quick skim, so I apologize ahead of time if I may have missed it but I don't see any advice in the guide for an Antipaladin to get Augment Summoning. Not only does an Antipaladin get summon monster as a spell, but his bonded creature is a summoned monster so the creature he/she summons would get the extra 4/4 in stats. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/augment-summoning---final
It's hard to get some GMs to allow evil characters, however if they allow it, it's a good choice.
Or play a Paladin and get a celestial mount.
I just wanted to make sure that we were playing it correctly. I think we'll keep it as-is. Thanks people.
I am not asking it to be changed, his proposal would be a house-rule of course. It would be all 8 squares, plus whatever the size of the creature, so 9 for anything under large, 12 for large, etc. It seemed weird to me that the bombs can splash so much when normally they're only 5 feet.
Wizard = Flexibility
A sorcerer needs to carry a LOT more scrolls then a wizard if he wants to be prepared for any situation.
A player of mine and I are having a discussion on the splash radius of the alchemist's bombs. This is how I was currently running the rules for the bombs, using the alchemist fire as a template: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/equipment.html Alchemist's Fire:Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. With the 1 point of fire damage replaced with the regular minimal damage from fire. However my player made a point that his bombs when throwing at a square is 5 ft radius. Yet with a direct hit, instead of 4 squares, it's hitting 9 squares, as it hits everything within 5 feet as well. He was feeling it was a little too powerful, and I can't disagree with him that indeed, it is powerful. It's important to me that I get the rules right, so I was wondering if I am just plain doing it wrong. His proposal was to have his bombs only do the 4 squares on a direct hit. That way when he takes the explosive bombs discovery it would seem that he is doing more. Although he's using Strafe Bomb a lot anyhow, so I can't really say either way how much of this is effective.
Clothing is a separate slot. So you could wear a kimono with a chain shirt underneath just fine.
The CMD is 15+the caster level. So you can't "drop your guard" against it. But you can still sunder an effect on an ally. The CMD would be the same, even if the companion (or barbarian himself) dropped their guard. At least that's how I read it.
Fire elementals are supposed to spread around the burning. That they are doing damage against multiple opponents at a time. Spring attack from baddie to baddie, making things burn. If I want a Tank-and-spank elemental, then I would go Earth.
I think you still have the condition, you are just not effected.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/headb and-of-mental-superiority or http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/headb and-of-alluring-charisma Plus Tomes obviously. I'll be expensive, but that's your best bet. But remember you need a Smite ability as well. So either a level in Paladin, 3 levels in Chevalier, Hellknight, etc. You can't substitute Wis for Cha as far as I know. But because you would only use Cha pretty much for saves( if you go paladin) and smiting, items will do just fine.
Inquisitor's Judgments are a little different. They last until the end of combat. Meaning if he could do it outside of combat, that's pretty much permanent Fast-Healing 1.
Druids have access to animal companions. Have him pick a bear or something if you're that concerned and just watch as it trivializes most combat.
The easiest way to fix the rogue is to tell the player to roll a ninja instead.
Not at all.
Bloodline just means you have some of that in your bloodline. So, Half-Orc+Human with Angelic blood = Human Aasimar with Orc blood
If a goblin or Ogre can be an aasimar, no reason an orc couldn't have had been in the bloodline at some point. Also, I really like Orcs, so a bloodline for them is great for me. :)
You may as well have a full party of Master Summoners if you just want a small army to storm the landscape and everyone's turns to take forever. I never liked having more then 2 players at a table having cohorts. As it means more paperwork and more time involved. The GM has to increase his own numbers of enemies to make it worthwhile, and the players have to track not only their own stats/loot/powers/etc. But their cohorts as well. If you can make it, go ahead and do it. But for a GM I don't think it's that fun, and the players, unless all they want to do is battle, it will take forever to get back to their turn.
Pretty much this. Wizard level 5 can annihilate this guy, or at least cause him to run in circles. He has no alchemist fires, any AOE, or non-physical damage. Invisiblity+Rain of Frogs, concentration takes a standard. Fly if you feel the need to.
Unfortunately they ruled that way to avoid a corner case of pounce and ended up giving every mounted lance build a reason to grab vital strike and it's betters. If anyone needed a better reason for vital strike....here it is. Except you can't Vital Strike on a charge...
A Magnum Revolver isn't any more deadly then a regular handgun (in terms of able-to-kill someone, not the size of the hole), but that doesn't stop Dirty Harry from using one.Factually incorrect. Magnums generally have 80-100% more kinetic energy than non-magnum, non +P rounds of the same caliber, and consistently higher one shot stop percentage. You don't use one because it's scary looking, you use it because it is more effective. A magnum is harder to aim, harder to carry (because of the size) harder to compensate for recoil, and overall harder to fire as a result. A regular handgun does the job just fine, but there is a reason why no real military force or even police force uses a Magnum over a more simple handgun. If you're facing someone with kevlar or the like, you still wouldn't use a Magnum, you would use a rifle. A giant greatsword has way more stopping power then a shortsword, but there are the same reasons why lighter, more stabby weapons were used in combat over a horsecleaver. But thankfully this is a fantasy game and the rules don't cover swing speed, exhaution, or any other stuff. And most media glosses over that as well.
Another topic about fantasy characters wielding big oversized greatswords? How about the fact that guts has a cannon in his arm, or Siegfried being possessed by a sword that has a rotating eyeball in it that causes him to turn into a giant killing suit of armor, or what about the overly complex Bowguns of Monster hunter, because you have access to gunpowder, but you launch --arrows-- with it. Fantasy is just that. Fantasy. If your character is super-human, there's no reason why they couldn't use a larger weapon. If you're fighting demons, warlocks, and Cthulhu-spawn. A guy that has a 28 to strength and wielding a sword twice his size isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility. If you think it looks stupid, that's fine, but there's a reason for this in literature and other works. Simply because the bigger the object, the more intimidating it is. A Magnum Revolver isn't any more deadly then a regular handgun (in terms of able-to-kill someone, not the size of the hole), but that doesn't stop Dirty Harry from using one.
Because it's a difficult thing to do for Warrior McBigHuge to do. Unlike Wizard McSmallTiny with his wizard levels flying around as a dragon and or bending space-time itself. Or turning himself into a giant able able to use your "really big" greatsword as a toothpick.
Doesn't the immunity to energy drain also constitute a immunity to ability drain? I don't see how the allip strategy would work.
You're right, they do conditions, not weapon damage, which is key. Which is why I said Jinxed spell or Threatening Illusion. Sadly, base Pathfinder weapons don't do conditions on-hit. So replicating that is a whole other ballgame. And at higher levels in pathfinder you have things like Shocking Image, if you actually do want a Mirror Image-type duplicates with damage. Then you can replicate Phantasms with Phantasmal Killer. EDIT: I am wrong, I checked the Guild Wars 2 wiki, they changed it since I played Mesmer back in the beta, they actually do very low damage. I still say for the sake of balance, I wouldn't allow anything similar to Simulacrums at level 1 into my game. But that's just a personal thing. I still say that Silent/Minor image does the job just fine, but I see the need for a 3rd party/user conversion now.
You wouldn't be making a mesmer at that point, you'd be making a summoner with humanoid summons. Like I said before, Silent Image does exactly what you want. Then there is Minor image as you level up. You can move the image as well. It creates a perfect duplicate of 1 creature (could be yourself). The only point of the illusions in Guild Wars 2 is to distract enemies, then to shatter them. They don't give any stat bonuses or give any sort of help. They don't do damage in the game. Only Phantasms do, and that's what later levels would help you with spells. If you really want it to give flanking, you use Threatening Illusion, as that will not only threaten an area, but flanking as well, without doing damage. What you're suggesting is giving a magus a 3 times a day Simulacrum spell. A 7th level spell.
I'm a huge GW1/GW2 fan, but this seems easier to make then anything else. However mesmers between the games are really different, as you know. Base class for GW1 Mesmer would be Witch or Wizard/Sorcerer if you don't like Pathfinder Hexes. GW1 mesmer interrupts would be taking a spell like Daze or Ear Piercing Scream, and ready an action to cast it before an enemy attacks/casts a spell (which you can do as RAW at least). Witches get many de-buffing spells and skills, which replicates the hexes and energy denial that mesmers have. To the point where you could use Fumbletongue to completely shut down a caster. GW2 mesmer is a little more straightforward. Clones are very similar to how Mirror Image works, or Silent Image if you want to go that direction:
GW2 mesmer, I would go either full illusionist wizard, or Magus if you like having a sword like you can in GW2. There are a few metamagic feats that you can use to make it more mesmer-like. Such as Threatening Illusion if you're a gnome (don't quote me, but adopted might be enough). To replicate the shatter mechanic with illusions, Jinxed Spell works okay with this if you don't mind being a halfling. Pathfinder is more then capable of making a character like the Guild Wars classes without going into 3rd party stuff or user-created content.
For the non-tactical groups, implement Hero Points. With this, you can grant them points for deeds or other types of actions, and if a player needs to Deus Ex Machina his character, you can charge for it. It works extremely well for my group, who thinks the best character to lead is the full-plate fighter, instead of the high-reflex Ninja who can disable traps.
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