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The Great Potato

Aug 12, 2018, 02:34 am

Sup guys!

I finally had the chance to play through 2e for the first time today - here are my first thoughts! I know "first impressions" is kind of a thread retread, but the other ones near the top seem to have turned immediately into edition competition threads :\

First off, I'm kind of surprised there's no general feedback forum. I played through two scenarios today and I want to provide more general feedback before I head to the scenario sections.

Actions and Combat:

Wow, the action economy is on the money! It feels right, doesn't overly extend turns, and allowed both my caster and my paladin to feel active. Many systems leave casters bored out of their minds for the first few levels.
Maybe it's just my groups' unfamiliarity with the new system, but tanking the multiattack penalty and just attacking a bunch often felt like the best option for fighters, even when the opportunity to assist or use a combat maneuver presented itself.
The encounters were often super weaksauce, more than usual for level 1 quest scenarios. I'll go into more detail in the appropriate scenario feedback sections.

Classes and Options:

So. Much. This. I like to build unconventional characters, and this one book enables that as much as 2-3 years worth of content in other systems.

Choice: 2e did a good job of incorporating a solid amount of choice in one book. Classes include all of their relevant feats, and often many of the less extensive archetypes from 1e.
Archetypes: I like this a lot - it's a fantastic way to reconcile prestige classes and archetypes! I've got more to say on this matter, but I'll do so in another thread.
I'm somewhat less excited about the general feats. They sometimes do cool stuff, but many just don't feel impactful. Maybe it's because I've spent so much time in the minmax territory of pfs.

Armor:

Shield Block: The Seelah I played with in doomesday dawn went through two shields and I don't think that was a scenario-specific occurrence. They break quick.

Weapons:

Reach weapons: the versatility of reach without any significant drawback kind of broke combat in one of my games. We had a lance fighter and a Valeros - they were both melee powerhouses, but the Valeros (and our poor enemies) were just hopelessly outclassed by the lance.
Bows: the reload value of zero puzzles me a little. I know bows tend to be machine guns in fantasy (eg Legolas), but the way they played out at my tables stretched my suspension of disbelief. Bumping up the damage and reload values of all bows and crossbows might be worth experimenting with.
"Deadly": the example for this keyword is pretty ambiguous, and that came up a lot. I think it would help if it showed the entire dice pool for a non-magical rapier crit, instead of just the deadly dice.

Magic Items:

Resonance. I have some concerns, but I like the reason it exists. I'll wait to pass along my feedback until I've experimented with it a bit more.
Staves: this is a cool direction to take them. Again, I'll have to wait until I can use one.

Organization:

Certain parts of the book were not intuitive for me to navigate. I had to look up a ton more keywords in the index than usual: Dents and Item Damage, Resonance, class powers, and a few others were hard to find.

The spells section could be broken into different buckets for cantrips, powers, and proper spells since those three operate vastly differently from each other.

Overall, I like the new mechanics! Even the concepts I'm not sure about have solid reasons for existence. This playtest has me optimistic about 2e.

Spiritualist archetype stacking: Scourge + Shadow Caller

The Great Potato

Mar 6, 2017, 01:05 am

So I've been thinking: do these archetypes stack?

Taken together, they turn the phantom into some ultra creepy shadow-kyton...thing. No interesting combos or OP strats here, just a critical mass of Kuthite thematicness primed and ready to creep out the rest of the party.

Or sing Linkin Park covers. Who knows?

Anyways, I'm uncertain because of the following two abilities:

Ultimate Intrigue wrote:

Shade - A shadow caller gains a special kind of phantom known as a shade. A shade functions as a phantom, except as noted below. A shade is from the Shadow Plane instead of the Ethereal Plane. A shade is not confined to the shadow caller’s consciousness, but instead inhabits her shadow.

This ability alters phantom.

Emotionless(Su) - A shadow caller’s shade lacks an emotional focus; it is cold and devoid of all emotions. The shade gains a number of ranks in Intimidate and Stealth equal to its Hit Dice. The shadow caller gains Skill Focus in each of these skills while the shade inhabits her shadow.

The shade has good Reflex and Will saves, gains Lightning Reflexes as a bonus feat, and gains the following abilities...

Haunted Heroes Handbook wrote:

Endure Torment(Ex) - At 6th level, a scourge’s phantom gains immunity to pain effects and gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against effects that could cause it to become staggered or stunned.

This ability replaces devotion.

Both archetypes kinda skirt the issue of replacing abilities that don't belong to the class itself. Emotionless doesn't even get a "X replaces Y" statement and the way Scourge mentions Devotion made me look it up to make sure it belonged to the Phantom in the first place.

I'm leaning towards "no", but the ambiguity and the sheer thematic compatibility make me wonder...

Shadow Caller Spiritualist in PFS - help me make this work

The Great Potato

Jun 19, 2016, 10:14 pm

So, the Shadow Caller in UI was is one of those archetypes where I just had to put the book down and build one out. The flavor (at least, to me) is sooo cool! BUT! It's saddled with some almost-crippling drawbacks. Now that I've played it through level 1, I need to decide whether to stick with it and how to address some of the archetype's shortcomings.

The character I've been playing so far goes something like this:

Marian: Hellspawn Tiefling - female (Almost Human, Soul Seer)
STR: 8 DEX: 16 CON: 12 INT: 12 WIS: 18 CHA: 8
Traits: Two-world Magic (Touch of Fatigue), Trustworthy (Diplomacy)
Feats: Weapon Finesse, (Spell Focus: Necromancy, Piranha Strike, Spell Pen)

Hubert: Shadow Phantom - ????
STR: 12 DEX: 14 CON: 13 INT: 7 WIS: 10 CHA: 13
Feats: Weapon Finesse, (Power Attack, Cornugon Smash, Toughness)

The goal is to make something of a frontline damage/intimidator with a support/debuffer/face close behind.

Here's some things I'm not sure about:

Two-world magic - yes or no? I could drop 1000g to pick up Touch of Fatigue with an ioun stone, freeing up the trait for other things (armor expert or perception-in-class both come to mind). Alternatively, I could forget Touch of Fatigue altogether. I kinda want it as an at-will thing to do, but I'm not sold on it.
Defenses. My Phantom is a Dex-based Eidolon, so I'm not worried about...him?...it?...Instead, I'm a little worried about my PC. She only has light armor and moderate dex, so her AC stalls out around 24 or 25 with Shield and some cheap magic items. Playing through level 1 showed me just how often baddies take that 5ft step over to me. If I drop Two-world magic or Spell Focus, I could go for a mithral breastplate. Worth it?
Movement. The Shadow Caller rules were written with the common 'me and my pet move at the same time' initiative shortcut in mind. They don't really work otherwise. Short of 10ft shimmies, how do I deal with movement at tables that prefer to handle pet turns by the book?
Magic items on incorporeal Phantoms. Quick rules question: do phantoms keep their equipment on while incorporeal? A Dex build is pretty gear-dependent and it would suck to have my Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists drop to the ground every time I have Hubert peek through a door.
Intimidating Phantom? Is there something better I could do with my Phantom? Cornugon Smash is fun, but it comes online late-ish and his Intimidate, while good, never quite reaches auto-success territory. What other fun things have you seen a Phantom/Eidolon build towards?

PFS Vigilante: "I'm a Monk, I swear!"

The Great Potato

Jun 14, 2016, 12:51 am

This character concept has been rattling around in my head for a while. I'm unsure about how viable it will be in the long run, however.

The goal is to make a medium-armor pseudo monk that deals in social skills, emotional debuffs, and d3 damage dice.

Human Avenger Vigilante
STR: 14 DEX: 18(+2) CON: 12 INT: 10 WIS: 8 CHA: 14
Traits: Quain Martial Artist, ???
1: Avenger Specialization, Social Grace(Intimidate), Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting
2: Fists of the Avenger
3: Gossip Collector, Enforcer
4: Lethal Grace, Weapon Finesse -> Power Attack
5: Many Guises, Social Grace(Bluff), Weapon Focus(gauntlets)
6: Shield of Blades, Power Attack -> Double Slice
7: Quick Change, Cornugon Smash, Enforcer -> ???
8: Cunning Feint
9: Mockingbird, Improved Two-weapon Fighting
10: Signature Weapon, Weapon Focus -> ???

Unless I'm reading this wrong, there's no penalty for fighting in my social identity, which will allow me to keep Social Grace's +4 to Bluff and Intimidate. Stacked with a Cruel Amulet of Mighty Fists, my "flurry" is capable of inflicting Greater Feint, Shaken, Sickened, and anything in between depending on what misses.

At level 8 (when I have all the main parts of the build) my damage is around +11/+11/+6 1d3+18, Bluff/Intimidate +20 including a Circlet of Persuasion.

I've got 3 concerns with my build that I'd like to address with my remaining feats, trait, and gear:
1) My to-hit is alarmingly low for a full-bab at level 8. Well not low, but not amazing either. What should I invest in so I'm not useless against high-level mindless baddies?
2) Maneuverability and range are issues. I need to full-attack to get my combo off, and my 'tricks' are limited to 30 ft. What should I get (other than a bow) to help this spell-less martial not feel useless in ranged fights?
3) My fort save really sucks.

I'd appreciate any advice to help round this sucker out. Thanks!

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