Syries's page

Hi- I was the gunslinger

From my perspective, I felt like a badass in round 1 with Ghost Shot+Vital Shot as an opener (only viable to do because of the 20th level feat Perfect Readiness, mind) and felt like a really bad fighter the rest of the time.
I will say, that 4th combat was a lot of fun for me. I've never gotten to use S2D that effectively before and it was very satisfying.

I tried sticking with just gunslinger feats to test out what they can do. Unfortunately I just felt that the trick shots were a neat, well, trick, but in terms of combat effectiveness they really were not great. Risky Reload is a must have because it saves well on action economy, but even then I only used it when it was my first attack of the round and when the enemy was flat-footed due to me being hidden or me benefiting from Dread Striker. Hell, I even ended up spending my 16th level feat on the rogue MC sneak attacker feat, because I could already tell my damage was going to be so low on a non-crit and I wanted something that could shore it up a bit. I mean, the Fatal Bullet 16th level feat would have been an extra d10 on a crit, or I could take a 4th level multiclass feat for an extra d6 on a much more consistent and frequent basis.

This session also has proven to me that Dread Striker is pretty much a must-have if you're playing a ranged character, just for the bonus chance to hit- especially if you have an ability (like sneak attack and vital shot) that relies on an enemy being flat-footed.

I used Shattering Shot once, in the combat with the Sards, and it was really sad damage for level 20. It's okay-ish for a non-MAP single action ability but at the end of the day I was probably better off just making another Strike.

I’m enjoying MNmaxed, that’s an actual play podcast and they’re currently running through Extinction Curse. They’re fun. Though they’re NSFW. But their characters are interesting and I enjoy the podcast a lot!

Various formatting because of what is likely due to two different writers does not change the core rules of the individual effect. Tempest surge states the target must make a basic reflex save. That means no damage on a crit success, 1/2 damage on a success, full damage on a failure, and double damage on a crit fail. There is absolutely no room for debate on that subject as it so clearly states that it is a basic save, and basic saves are clearly written as to how to handle them, even if there is additional text that describes what else happens, if anything, on a given degree of success.

I was discussing parrying and raising a shield with a buddy and he pointed out that parry provokes attacks of opportunity, and any other reaction that triggers due to a manipulate trait.

Compared to raising a shield, which does not have the interact trait, why would making the parry trait need include an interact action?

And, as part of a (possible) larger issue, what sort of nested interact actions (aka: actions that include interact actions nested inside) are out there that might actually cause problems because they have a hidden manipulate trait?

An Animal Companion is a minion. Minions have 2 actions, not 3, per round. When you Command an Animal, the only additional restriction in order to ride it is it needs to be 1+ size category bigger than you. In addition, it cannot Stride and Support and it can only use it's base land speed unless it also has the mount class feature (in which case it ignores both those restrictions.)

The companion still gets 2 actions. So you can Hunt Prey, Command an Animal [horse] (Support+Stride), and for the third action use Hunted Shot. It all tracks.

In regards to non-companion animals being used as mounts, those animals only use a number of actions equal to the number of actions used in Command an Animal. IE you have to use a 3 action Command an Animal in order to make your mount Stride 3 times. So the total effective actions you+ your mount has is 3 when said mount is NOT your animal companion, and 4 when the mount has the mount trait and is your animal companion.
And to clarify, I'm talking about the maximum number of action the PC+ the mount can make, minus the number of actions required to use Command an Animal.
And that's not accounting for Mature Animal Companion, but that doesn't allow the AC to Support, only Stride or Strike. No matter what, unless the Ranger specifically uses Companion's Cry, it's still a minion so can't take more than 2 actions a round, therefore if Commanded the minion cannot also independently take a 3rd action.

It's important to have a distinction of the base damage of bombs and the splash damage. They're two different types of damage with very different rules. You would get to deal poison damage (and sneak attack damage for that matter) against the primary target only, as an addition to the base damage. Splash is a special type of damage that is applied on top of base damage and to adjacent creatures. Poison and sneak attack damage does not apply with splash damage.

Actually, a bit more on that now that I’m thinking of it. Any character can be old. A cavern elf and a seer elf and a woodland elf can all also grow into being “ancient” so why wouldn’t they also gain the benefits of the ancient elf heritage? (other than mechanics- we’re talking thematics here)

So something about the ancient elf heritage should have some sort of physical property to set other elf heritages apart from itself, other than just physical age.

Maybe you have a draconic bloodline that has been traced for thousands of years and that “ancient” power awakens in you at your old age, granting you sorcerer dedication. Something along those lines that set the ancient heritage apart from others.

Eh to me the point of the Ancient heritage is not that you’ve just lived a long time, but that you’ve also been able to pick up some tricks from a class that is not your own without formal training or whatnot.

So if you’re a half elf that’s old and justifiably able to make sense of how you ended up training with every martial weapon (or at least every weapon group) to be able to start with Fighter dedication, even though you’re a wizard, yeah sure why not.

Pretty much just the title question. Catfolk, Tengu, kobold, and all the other confirmed playable ancestries are up for discussion.

For me I want to see Tengu have a feat that allows them to mimic the exact sound of a (humanoid, probably) creature they have heard, granting a bonus to deception rolls to disguise as that creature. Corvids are quite the linguists after all.

I love my wizard. Favorite character I've played so far. That being said I'm really looking forward to the fun things my Ranger and Barbarian will be able to do.

In fact I loved playing the Lv4 Life Oracle I playtested in a one-shot and really enjoyed GMing for a player who tested out a 4th level witch. Fun and unique mechanics for each spellcaster is incredibly important; and here's why-
A primal sorcerer and a druid cast from the exact same list. For the most part, there is no real variation in the spells they have access to (Apart from the differences in spontaneous/prepared casting). But they do have unique feats and features to help differentiate them. I love that.

It's relatively easy to give martial classes abilities that are different from one another because you aren't pulling from a list of tricks that other martial classes are pulling from- spellcasters' main class feature all pulls from the same four lists and that can cause serious issues down the line when they add even more spellcasters like inquisitors and psychics, assuming Paizo publishes more.

Anyway I got off track a little bit. My wizard has had quite a bit of play and at no point have I felt my character is useless. My electric arc spell is still doing at least half-damage most of the time while the fighter's unlucky streak of rolling below an 8 meant they whiffed their attacks for the last two rounds.

Not only that, because of (my particular wizard's) ability to recycle used spells I can pretty regularly switch between buffer, blaster, and debuffer. And I'm okay with not dealing as much damage as the fighter; I can still have plenty fun blasting away. Even so, True Strike+Disintegrate is nothing to laugh at. And I'll never NOT have fun throwing out fireballs at a big group of enemies.

Spellcasters have a good place in 2e, and while I do sometimes miss the shenanigans you can get into in 1e, I'm glad they're not available in this edition. If I wanted to get my itch for OP spellcasters I can just pull out my myriad of Oracles or my 'chronomancer' wizard from 1e :)

I found taking sorcerer dedication and basic bloodline spell for angelic halo to be pretty worthwhile for the Life Oracle I playtested. I realized when building her that I’d want to have a revelation spell I can cast each combat so that gave me a decent way to heal after combat when I only had to deal with my minor curse, but still have the moderate curse benefit in combat.

Though I shouldn’t have had to multiclass to do that in the first place in my opinion.

Really, Paizo, it’s okay to make the oracle revelation spells a teensy bit more powerful (and usable) than other class’ focus spells. They do have to contend with the curse drawbacks after all.

I personally like the witch for the most part. A few relatively minor tweaks here and there and it should be good to go.

But it lacks the ability to get Reach Spell, which is not only a pretty big disconnect from the other spellcasters- all of whom have that feat as an option- but also makes it difficult for Witches to use many of their offensive hexes without putting themselves in extreme danger.

I personally like MCing Ranger for a Horse/Pony animal companion for my skirmisher builds. Stride+Strike+Strike gets an improvement when you can Command an Animal (Stride+Support)+Strike+Strike. +2 circumstance bonus per weapon damage dice on your next attack and higher movement speed.

And since you're the focus on your mount, all your mount would typically have to deal with would be AoEs

Right. I forgot about Extreme Curse.

I'm fine with being unable to cast revelation spells if you cast one while at the height of your curse, and unconsciousness is indeed garbo. If you're locked at your highest level of curse it doesn't stop you from just being able to cast revelation spells over and over again and just deal with the major curse effects. Again, you're dealing with balancing the number of times an oracle can cast a focus spell vs any other spellcaster casting a focus spell.

Syries wrote:

Which is why I like the idea of a class feature (maybe just a line under Curse or Mystery) that states 'Once per day you may cast a revelation spell without advancing your curse.'

That sounds like an ability I wouldn't really make use of. Rather than force it on everyone as a class ability, I think it makes more sense to be available as a feat.

It might be fine as a feat, but I'm thinking in terms of any mysteries in the future that would be considered blaster caster mysteries (Flame mystery included)

Yeah I'm not sure why Oracle's don't get an extra spell per day since they're meant to be similar to sorcerers in that regard. Why does having special blood give you more spells but seeing the face of god doesn't.

I for one would love to see Life Oracles have a feat that grants them the same benefit as the Divine Evolution sorcerer feat for heal, at the very least.

Actually now that I think about it, that is a pretty major problem. When i playtested my 4th level Life Oracle I felt that I had to reserve my precious 3 second level spell slots for heal and utilize Adapted Cantrip human feat for my non-healing needs with electric arc. Having that bonus feat would have been really nice to have, and sorcerers already have it. I don't see Oracles outclassing divine sorcerers even if they had equal number of spell slots.

Well, I had fun playing a level 4 Life Oracle healing 2d12+20 HP to allies. Admittedly, I was utilizing Angelic Halo from MCing into Sorcerer and picking Basic Bloodline Spell at 4th level, but it worked out pretty well. I found the base revelation spells for Life Oracle fairly niche, so Angelic Halo was a good way to utilize revelation spells and the curse benefit.

So it's different. But not so different from other spellcasters that it upsets the balance of the game. I mean, 2e's whole design revolves around comparable classes being on relatively equal footing, so a cloistered cleric is roughly equal to a divine sorcerer is roughly equal to an oracle.

That'd be a lot.
Let's take a level 11 Flame Oracle, for example. After making preparations for the day, they go off adventuring and encounter a bunch of enemies they fight.

They are a gnome with a familiar and Energized Font, because at this point, why not (we're optimizing here) and have a pool of 3 focus points.

By using your suggested metamagic action, they could cast revelation spells up to 8 times in a single combat. When they refocus, they'd then get back essentially 3-5 uses (back to minor curse, so 2 by bumping their curse level from Major -> minor, then 1-3 depending on the refocusing feats they presumably take)

Any other spellcaster of equal level has essentially 2 fewer uses of revelation spells PER COMBAT, which really throws things out of proportion. Oracles might be Focus Spell-based, but they shouldn't outstrip other casters who can use focus spells by so much.

My issue is if they're continuously able to cast focus spells without having to refocus then that can make the balancing between the classes fall apart.

If you're unconscious you can't cast focus spells, so I don't see why being conscious and unable to cast focus spells would be anything but an upgrade in my opinion.

Which is why I like the idea of a class feature (maybe just a line under Curse or Mystery) that states 'Once per day you may cast a revelation spell without advancing your curse.' It grants Oracles a way to utilize their major class feature better without compromising the integrity of the 2e system as a whole. In addition, having that class feature makes Advanced Revelation and Greater Revelation not become mandatory feats, but nice bonuses so an oracle will have at least 1 use per day but as many as 3 uses of revelations per day that don't advance the curse.

A fairly major drawback should be put in place if you overclock yourself with revelation spells. But like I said before, unconsciousness is pretty bad, narratively, and can lead to a lot of in-fighting and drama at a table.

I think what is really interesting and has potential for more storytelling, is the intense drawback of overclocking while still allowing the Oracle to fight their way out of danger. Your table's flame oracle can shoot off one more fire ray as a last ditch effort to take down the BBEG that's killed three of your party members, but doing so fatigues the Oracle and gives them the doomed 1 condition as well as losing their revelation spells until they rest for 8 hours and make daily preparations again. Or something of the sorts. Having them just fall over unconscious just makes the whole thing either a pain the whole table has to deal with or a mechanic that will never, ever occur. Let it have meaning, so that when it occurs it helps create a good story for the table. Unconsciousness is just a cop out IMO.

I'm really, really hoping designers are at least considering these, because I love the oracle class and I don't want to see them turn into a Cha-based cleric

TL;DR Giving Oracles the ability to overclock their revelation spells without literally becoming a drag to party members is major as it can help lead to good storytelling and less IRL dissent among players.

I've been going back and forth with some people regarding the Oracle's curses and the interaction with revelation spells. What are your thoughts on the following changes to the Oracle's class features?

First, I think Oracles should be deemed the 'Focus Spell' spellcaster. What's in the playtest now seems to suggest that, at least. So either the Oracle should have the ability to do more interesting things with focus spells or they should be able to use them more often. My concern with the former is power creep, and my concern with the latter is spamming focus spells throughout the adventuring day.

My suggested solution is to grant at level 1 a 1/day use of a revelation spell that doesn't advance the Oracle's curse at level 1, just like their Advanced and Greater Revelation feats grant.

So at the start of the first combat they could potentially burst three focus spells in a combat, though then they'd be stuck with one focus spell per combat for the rest of the day. Then advanced and greater revelation feats, when they get it, grants them a total of 3/day no advancement of the curse.

That makes it so revelation spells don't have to get a buff and the oracle can't spam multiple of them every single combat, just one additional time per day. I think it's especially important to give oracles that option because there are currently two means of refreshing Focus Points (a gnome feat and a familiar) that oracle's cannot benefit from at all. And there will likely be more options to recover Focus Points in the future as well.

Second, What do you think about having some other minor benefit alongside the minor curse? Particularly for Life and Flames mysteries, the initial mystery benefit seems super lackluster; I mean, Life is a slightly better version of Toughness and Flame is a (very slightly) better version of Canny Acumen[Reflex]. Both are 1st level general feats. Whereas Battle Oracle gets exactly what I'd expect for the mystery benefit, and it's pretty good (heavy armor is great- better than what a Warpriest gets and I approve!). It wouldn't be anything game changing, but something that grants a reason to bump yourself to the minor curse effect in the first place is a good way to go. It could even be a benefit that ONLY applies when you are at your minor effect, and temporarily goes away if you go to Moderate or above on your curse level. Things like +1 bonus to your Mystery's associated skills or something like that would go a long way in my opinion.

Lastly what are your thoughts on having some harsh conditions placed on the oracle rather than unconsciousness if they advance their curse too far? I really like the thematic of "this person's curse is wracking their body so much they cannot function" but having them knocked out will likely only lead to a character's untimely and narratively-disappointing death. Something like Doomed 1+Flat Footed, and can no longer use Revelation Spells for the remainder of the day or something like that. Harsh penalties, but if a character is in a bad situation already, they still have a chance to get to safety.

I just ran through some encounters from a PFS scenario, and had four players play one playtest class each. The consensus is they all do fairly well compared to existing classes, and I tend to agree.

Things that stood out to me as a GM:
Investigator: Study can be pretty difficult since you’re using a Wis based spell (perception) as an Int-based class. Had Study just been a form of Recall Knowledge or making a Perception check using Int instead of Wis would be a smart way to go, in my opinion, as the investigator is just a bad fighter when unable to utilize his class abilities relatively consistently. This was particularly true when we fought a lv 6 creature with super high will saves, making the investigator completely give up trying to use their main combat ability on them because they needed to roll a 17 or better to succeed at the study alone. A few suggestions that could help fix that: 1) give investigators a feat that lets them auto study creatures they’ve already succeeded or crit succeeded on a study. So long as they spend the one action to study, they’d get the benefit of a success. 2) Allow Investigators to choose between Int or Wis as their class ability score. For that matter, add Cha there too, as that would really allow players to really customize how they want their investigator to act during their campaign. That way, Wis based Investigators will have a good chance to succeed at Study, 3) make Study key off of Int for the perception check rather than Wis. 4) just make it part of a Recall Knowledge check.

Swashbucklers: a bit of the same as investigators honestly. Both classes are really good against equal or lower level creatures but vs big bads, consistently able to gain some sort of class benefit could go a long way. Maybe spend an action to gain panache until the end of the round but can’t use that panache for a finisher and gain less bonus damage, but it requires a significantly easier DC or maybe even no DC.

Oracle: flame and life curses need to be rebooted. Battle oracles could use a small damage boost as part of their curse benefit. Mystery initial benefits for flame and life a bad and should be replaced with something more unique. I mean, the flame oracles benefit is about as good as Canny Acumen so we should really go a step above that. Toughness for life oracle, too.

Witch is actually in a decent spot IMO. Reach spell is absolutely needed for them, however, as it can be used to encourage witches to use their offensive hexes on creatures without putting them in serious harms way. Also every other spellcaster class has it.

All in all I’m happy with the classes. Some need some major tweaking though

jdripley wrote:

And speaking of cover, there is the Take Cover action. This of course requires something on the map that provides cover, but if there is a half wall or a pile of debris or a column or whatever, a character can Take Cover and convert the normal +2 circumstance bonus from cover into Greater Cover which gives a +4 circumstance bonus.

So perhaps turn 1 is moving into cover and casting a spell, and turn 2 is casting a spell and Taking Cover. I really like the fantasy of that, you know? Your squishy wizard leaning past a column and zapping a ray spell at the enemy, then ducking back behind the column before the enemy has a chance to send a crossbow bolt back at their head...

Especially if you bring your own cover. Granted, it's four bulk and ten gold pieces but if you can afford its weight and cost, maybe have the wizard lug a tower shield. Even add a heraldric decoration on the front of the wizard making rude faces/gestures.

Unfortunately the tower shield only allows you to take cover after you have used the raise a shield action, it doesn’t passively provide you cover without you taking any actions.

So it’d be 2 actions per round to get that +4 ac.

... That's what I said. Your mount can't Fly, Burrow, Swim, or Climb while being ridden unless it also has the mount trait.

You can’t fly (or burrow, swim, or climb for that matter) on a mount unless it actually has the mount trait. Which currently is only the horse/pony.

If you want a companion but don’t want to invest more than one feat for it I’d suggest getting a horse because they’re really good for utility out of combat as a pack animal, more accepted within urban settings, and the support feature is really, really good.

I like the idea of MCing into cleric to help out with some basic spells. As others have said, you don’t need many feats to be useful. Taking MC spellcaster feats would be a good way to fill those gaps, and TBH divine spells are pretty good. You could even worship Gorum, Iomadae, or Erastil to get True Strike as a divine spell.

You don’t need strength tbh. Propulsive is a trap trait and you will barely notice the damage difference. It’s only 1 point of damage tops with 14-16 Str, 2 points of damage with 18 Str, and 3 points of damage per hit with 22 Str, which can only be obtained by level 20 if you start at 18 Str at 1st level. Nah, you have better abilities to invest in. Of course if you fine yourself in melee the few points of damage a decent Str score will give you is okay but not necessary when you factor in striking and property runes, and weapon specialization.

You really only need penetrating shot and running reload, so don’t worry too much about feats. Take what you want. I personally like wardens boon, because granting the fighter bonus precision damage is always appreciated.

The helicopter pumpkin:

Gourd leshy monk with cat fall skill feat, Seedpods and leshy glide ancestry feats, and Student of Perfection+ Perfect Ki Adept(Unfolding Wind Rush) archetype feats.

At the start of combat launch yourself in the air with Unfolding Wind Rush, then use Leshy Glide to slowly fall and move around the battlefield while using Flurry of Blows with your seedpods

My biggest confusion is why they mentioned sturdy shields are the only ones really meant to be used with shield block, then turn around and give druids the shield block feat but no way to wield sturdy shields without breaking anathema.

I'm a bit late to this party but I want to point out that battle form spells and Mountain Stance are incompatible.

You cannot attack while in Mountain Stance and in a battle form because both make it so you can only make certain types of strikes. For Mountain Stance it's ONLY the falling stone unarmed attacks and for the battle forms it's ONLY the various bites/claws/etc you gain from that form.

I feel it’s clearly meant to only provide that bonus while mounted but it is what I noticed as well when I was looking at my Ranger.

Something else to note is that the bonus damage applies to bows and crossbows too, or any other type of ranged attack.

You can /kind of/ do it as a ranger.

Precision Edge ranger specifically. With Crossbow Ace and Running Reload.

Running Reload gives you one of the two interact actions you need to reload, and there's nothing stopping you from using Running Reload multiple times in a round.

So you can Hunt Prey, draw weapon, Strike in round 1. If you already have the xbow out, you can then Hunt Prey, Hunter's Aim. 1d12+1d8+2 is pretty awesome at level 1.

Next round you can be a bit more strategic, which is cool. You can use Running Reload twice to basically double move, then Strike. But that's all you can do. You're stuck with JUST that as your ability to effectively use a heavy crossbow.

Just use a regular crossbow and call it a day.

(Basing these a bit after what others have already said)
Int-
Mastermind: Your brilliant planning pushes you to make the smart decision. You can be a lieutenant in an underground gang planning heists, or be the guard captain in charge of maintaining a city's defense.

You quickly study your opposition, planning on how to best take them down. When you roll Initiative, select one target you are aware of. You may make a Recall Knowledge check against that target as a free action. If you succeed or critically succeed, that target is flat-footed to you during your first round of combat. You may continue making Recall Knowledge checks as normal against an individual target; each time you succeed, they are flat-footed to your next attack in that same round. If you critically succeed, they are flat-footed to you until the end of your turn.

You are trained in Society and one other skill of your choice- choose from Arcana, Nature, Religion, or Occultism. You may choose Int as your key ability score.

Wis-
Opportunist: You're diligent and don't mind waiting for the perfect opening to exploit your opponents. You might be a patient martial artist who has been trained to spot weaknesses in others, or a stealthy ambusher waiting for the right moment.

When a creature is flat-footed due to Surprise Attack, that creature also takes a -1 penalty to their Reflex saves and DC, as well as their Fortitude save DC against Grapple and Shove maneuvers. In addition, whenever a creature critically misses you in combat and that creature is within your weapon's reach, you may take a reaction to Strike that opponent.

You are trained in Survival and Acrobatics. You may choose Wis as your key ability score.

Con-
Bulwark: You're a sturdy force to be reckoned with. You might be a bouncer, or a front line soldier on the battlefield.

Your bulk has the ability to make others feel the pain you absorb and unbalance them. When you are critically hit with a melee attack, as a reaction you may make a fortitude save vs a Hard DC based on the creature's level (See table 10-5) or their class DC, whichever is higher. On a success, the creature takes damage equal to twice the number of weapon dice that was dealt to you, or three times on a critical success. Regardless if you succeed at the fortitude save or not, the creature is then flat-footed to you until the end of your next turn.

You are trained in Athletics, and can choose Con as your key ability score.

Ascalaphus wrote:

The advantage is that you don't have to multiclass for it.

Fair, but it's still just a worse AoO at that point for no real reason.

The only different between AoO and Disrupt Prey is that you must have already used Hunt Prey and ranged attacks don’t trigger it. Reach based rangers still get plenty of use out of Disrupt Prey, even if it is slightly weaker

Funnily enough I had been toying with a similar build of Ranger, though I do have a hard time justifying Companion's Cry with a horse since you can't have it Support and Strike in the same turn. But you can move pretty far that way at least.

For Produce Flame, Burning Hands, and Fireball granted by the elemental sorcerer's bloodline, the fire traits are not removed due to choosing the Air, Earth, or Water traits. Which means a water elemental sorc can't cast their 'water'ball underwater.

After going back and forth a bit with some folks elsewhere, I think the simplest explanation is probably the right one: the bloodline ability affects spells with an * at all spell levels, regardless of how you acquired the spell at that level. So a water elemental could never learn fireball to deal fire damage.

I'd still like to discuss this ambiguity more, so I'd still love to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.

Of the spells an elemental sorcerer leaves that takes spell slots, burning hands and fireball are the only two with the * indicating the elemental trait changes.

So a 5th level water elemental sorcerer learns fireball at 5th level, gaining the water trait in place of fire and dealing bludgeoning dmg.

But let’s say I don’t pick fireball as my 3rd level signature spell. I’ve learned the spell and that’s that.

At 7th level when I gain 4th level spells, I could learn fireball again since it’s not a signature spell and it would normally deal fire damage.

And if I pick fireball as my 4th level signature spell, as far as I can tell I can now cast fireball at any 3rd or higher spell slot and I can make it deal either bludgeoning or fire damage as I choose.

Is that intended? Am I correct in my interpretation? What are any potential unintended consequences of doing this?

*Edit: interestingly, the bloodline does not state the new elemental trait replaces the old one, you just add it. So a water elemental sorc who casts fireballs casts it with both the water and fire trait.

Yeah without Quicken Spell/effortless concentration the action economy doesn't really work out.
Cast Flaming Sphere 1
Sustain 1, cast FS 2
Sustain 1, Sustain 2, out of actions to cast another 2 action FS.

And Haste doesn't work to solve the issue either since you can only Stride or Strike with the spare action.

True Strike is a 1-action level 1 spell. If you could spend all your spell slots on True Strike, what's the most OP build you could make?

(Okay, you could just make it a signature spell, but at least that costs you something.)

Nothing is stopping a wizard from preparing all their spell slots with True Strike. So not a totally valid point.

And fwiw, wizards with divination staves can get more castings of true strike per day than sorcerers can.

Syries wrote:

I'm a bit surprised it took so long for someone to bring up Kineticist :)

Because a con-based caster is pretty much describing the kineticist exactly.

Off-topic, but I am actually working on a full homebrew kineticist as a focus-based caster. When I'm done I'll have the multiclass archetype for it and everything! Got the chassis done (and gave them a d6 HD because their casting stat IS con) and just need to work on the feats.

yeah i was more thinking of a scarred witch doctor or whatever...

*looks it up*

oh wow they changed it... weird. scarred witch doctor used to use con to cast spells.

can't escape the past

Yeah that was something they changed pretty quickly, if I recall. I vaguely remember it had already been errata'd by the time I got around to playing 1e regularly, so it got changed 4+ years ago

I'm a bit surprised it took so long for someone to bring up Kineticist :)

Because a con-based caster is pretty much describing the kineticist exactly.

Off-topic, but I am actually working on a full homebrew kineticist as a focus-based caster. When I'm done I'll have the multiclass archetype for it and everything! Got the chassis done (and gave them a d6 HD because their casting stat IS con) and just need to work on the feats.

Oof.
An 18th level barbarian will have 23 Str. So 10+18 for level +6 for Str with Expert proficiency for class for a +4 puts them at DC 38.

An 18th lvl barbarian with 10 str has higher DC than 30. Maybe it was meant to be changed to DC 40? But that still is too low at 19th level when they get Master proficiency in class DC.

That needs to be fixed. Class DCs are fine just the way they are, the feat would be fixed just by removing that part about the DC.

Something I got a lot of use out of from my spontaneous caster oracle in 1e was my ability to just cast a lower-level spell in a higher level spell slot, even if it didn't have any heightened effect.

And sure 2e isn't the same game, but I think it's a core aspect of spontaneous casters to be able to cast the same spells over and over and over again. As such, I think it's really important that a spontaneous caster is able to cast a lower-leveled spell using a higher level spell slot without the heightened effect (assuming it's not a signature spell)

I think that's fair. Ruling that a creature (familiar or not) would have to first grab the actual weapon with an interact action before reloading it makes sense to me and I think that's how I'll rule it if it ever comes up.

Sorry to rez this question after a week, but I'm still on the fence about where I would stand if this ever comes up in a game I GM. I would like to be consistent.

So if Person A and Person B are standing adjacent to each other, and B is wielding a heavy crossbow, can A spend 2 actions (and only two actions) to reload B's crossbow? If yes, then for my own sake, I would likely rule that familiars with manual dexterity could also reload a crossbow. If no, than familiars cannot.

Knowing nothing about the real-life interactions of crossbows, I have no actual clue if it's feasible for a non-wielder to reload a crossbow wielded by someone else.

I'm looking into the crossbow ace ranger with Precision hunter's edge, and I was informed of an oddity in how the Penetrating Shot and Double Prey feats interact with the precision hunter's edge.

So if I Hunt Prey on both creatures A and B, A is providing lesser cover to B, and I use Penetrating Shot targeting both of them, do I get the bonus precision damage on both targets?

Precision Edge states:

You have trained to aim for your prey’s weak points. The first time you hit your hunted prey in a round, you also deal 1d8 additional precision damage. (Precision damage increases the damage you already deal, using the same type, but is ineffective against creatures that lack vital organs or weak points.) At 11th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8 precision damage, and at 19th level, the extra damage increases to 3d8 precision damage.

This can be taken two ways: either the "prey" in the bolded part is singular, in which case the bonus damage absolutely applies to both targets- much in the same way a character with double prey could Strike target A and get bonus damage, Stride, then Strike target B for bonus damage. OR "prey" is plural and the bonus damage only applies to one target.

Any ideas as to which it is?

I think currently the best crit fisher is a fighter MC wizard with a staff of divination.

Make the target shaken, flank, and buff attacks on top of that and you’re probably looking at close to a 40% chance to crit, when factoring in the true strike boost.

You can always Learn a Spell, and if you pick up the Magical Shorthand skill feat you can use downtown using the same rules as earn income to discount or even eliminate the cost of learning new spells.

I don’t see it as much of a problem since heightening lower level spells seems like such a good option anyway.

As the title; specific interaction would be to spend one action to command a familiar with manual dexterity to reload a heavy crossbow that you are wielding, effectively getting the same reload speed as a light crossbow.

Not actually considering utilizing this, but I imagine there are (or will be, if guns are reintroduced to the game) other scenarios in which utilizing a familiar kind of breaks the balance of certain weapons or other items.

So if you're coming from 1e and you are starting in 2e, throw pretty much every mechanic from 1e out the window. 2e overhauled pretty much every mechanical aspect of the game.

Probably at the moment the highest damage output possible is through a greatpick-wielding fighter, a d12 weapon wielding titan barbarian, or a TWF+flurry edge ranger with agile weapons. all with 18 str at level 1.

Sorcerers and druids can output a fair bit of damage through their spells as well, but are limited (as all spellcasters are) by their spells/day.

Clerics are... well you're not playing a cleric if you're minmaxing for damage output.

Bards and rogues have a lot of utility and buffs/debuffs and can deal good damage. Rogues are really strong classes overall but the above mentioned martials will outpace their damage output.

Wizards are probably the best spellcasters as usual. They have incredible feats that allow them to potentially cast more spells/day than even a (19th level or lower) sorcerer. But damage output isn't your game if you're comparing most spellcasting with the above mentioned martial classes.

Champions and Monks have their strengths- You'll get a lot of utility from champs if your party works as a solid unit, and monks are unique and fun.

You want the most powerful build? That's a really loaded question, it even was one in PF1e too. Play what you want, each class has their strengths and weaknesses, and all can be powerful.

Magic Missile can target multiple enemies.

Merp. That's what I get for only looking at the Target part of the spell. I was wondering why it was different from 1e.

My post got eaten by the forum gods (fickle creatures, they are), let's try again.

In a vacuum, warpriests seem like they are able to keep up with a fighter in terms of martial capability, but the reality is, a Fighter will (or should) have access to status and circumstance buffs just like a warpriest, because mechanically speaking a heroism being placed on a fighter gets more bang for its buck than on a warpriest.

That being said, warpriests are still full casters and a warpriest has every right to reserve their spells for self-buffs. And while the divine spell list is small (only for now, hopefully), there are a good few gems on there.