Dedicated to discussing how PF2 will handle the disparity.
It's certainly difficult to say without the rule set in front us, but what I've gleamed of the rules so far appears to be a mixed bag.
Resonance
From the descriptions so far this seems clearly bad for martial characters. The fighter gets up and attunes himself to his armor, meanwhile the cleric chuckles and casts greater magical vestment while the wizard casts an extended mage armor, the rogue cries in the corner with is neigh useless bag of wands.
The fighter about to start a fight and clicks his heels of speed for haste, again the wizard and cleric both laugh as they cast fervor and haste without wasting resonance.
The rogue says he'll sneak in and survey the manor, but then he realized his trusty ring of invisibility may not be so trustworthy, does he have to waste resonance every 3 minutes to activate, who knows. The wizard continues to laugh as he casts invisibility and fly and says she'll go do it.
This list could go on, but again it clearly shows martials are second class citizens.
Skills
From the speculation and interviews I've read there will be a much tighter band between those who are good at a skill and those who are untrained or bad, and again I think this hurts martials. Will it be level based? Will a level 1 rogue be as good at stealth as a level 5 cleric?
Why specialize in skills when you're not even going to be much better then someone unspecialized? Will the bonus to invisibility be changed, I sure hope so otherwise the wizard will clearly be the better rogue, likely the better rogue without even trying very hard.
Spells don't scale by level
This does help the martials, or at least it hurts the casters. But again unless someone is going through all the spells in the core book and rewriting them, there are plenty of spells that don't really care what level they are cast at because they don't deal damage or they don't have a saving throw.
Also with the rewriting of actions and allowing summoning to no longer be one round it again makes martials feel rather useless. Why bother with a fighter when you can summon your brute the same round and put wherever you want and have them act?
~
Without the rules in front of us it's difficult to really know, but what's been leaked so far has not been encouraging.
For my home game I'm going to be generating a number of stat blocks that are going to be on the higher end, I'm hoping to get some feedback and if anyone adapts these for their own ends that's great, since these things can be time consuming.
Feedback I'm mostly looking for:
1. Is the targeted CR accurate? If not, what is the stat blocks CR, what can I add or remove to get it to the targeted CR.
2. Are there any obvious holes in the monster, ie it doesn't have an ability it needs. Is everything thematic, anything far off flavor?
3. Improving clarity for any of the rules / abilities as written.
And beyond that anything else is appreciated, I'll try to format the stat blocks correctly.
If somehow one of players wanders in here, please stay out --
Spoiler:
if the phrase 'high plateau' rings a bell you might be my player
Okay, up first is an improved version of one of my favorites.
Witchfire, Greater
Spoiler:
Witchfire, Greater CR 18
Bathed in dark flames, this insubstantial specter of a large awesome woman floats just off the ground.
XP 153,600
CE Large undead (incorporeal)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 120 ft., life sense 60 ft. ; Perception +32
Profane Pact (Su) Fueled by powers from the lower planes, a greater witchfire gains +4 profane bonus to AC and saving throws.
Contagious Darkflame (Su)
Any creature damaged by the incorporeal touch or ranged bolt attacks of a greater witchfire must succeed on a DC 31 Will save or become engulfed in contagious black flames. Every round a creature remains engulfed in flames takes additional 9d6 damage. Half of the fire damage is considered unholy and not subject to fire resistance. Creatures with the evil subtype are immune to contagious darkflame. This effect persists until extinguished, burning until the victims very soul is consumed by evil, and those killed are damned to a lower plane. The effect can only be extinguished by a break enchantment, miracle, remove curse, wish spell (CL 21, DC32), or by taking a full round action in prayer to a good deity to receive a new save. Any creature that ends a turn adjacent to someone on fire or attempts and fails by 5 or more a caster level check (27 or lower) to remove the condition must save or catch on fire. Any creature entering the same square as a greater witchfire or striking it with a melee attack must succeed on a DC 31 Will save or begin burning, even if the attack would not otherwise harm the greater witchfire because of its incorporeal nature. A bolt of contagious darkflame has a range of 120 feet with no range increment. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
ECOLOGY
Environment any swamps, woodlands, or ruins
Organization solitary or coven (3 greater witchfires and hags—see “Witchfire Covens”)
Treasure Double
Although exceedingly rare, when a witchfire survives for far too long or becomes contaminated by extended exposure to fiendish forces it can transform into a greater witchfire, bringing everlasting ruin to the surrounding souls, toppling cities and entire kingdoms. These ghostly creatures appear much as they did in life, although the grotesque undead energy that births them makes them appear mature and blasphemously attractive, and wreaths their insubstantial bodies in a powerful aura of black flames.
Strings of will-o’-wisps are often found in the immediate vicinity of witchfires and are typically led by the undead, leading scholars to speculate that the creatures feed off of a witchfire’s flames and fury.
Greater Witchfire Covens
Greater Witchfires sometimes join but usually subjugate existing hag covens (see page 167 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary). A hag coven that includes a greate witchfire gains the following additional coven spell-like abilities: 3/day—blight, create undead, create greater undead, fire storm (DC 21), nightmare (DC 18), waves of exhaustion (DC 20), planar binding. All abilities function at CL 21, and save DCs are based on a Charisma score of 31. The use of these abilities functions identically to other coven abilities. Such covens must have at least one living hag which can often be problematic.
examples assume the character is in wild shape form.
1. A wild shield that is held when a character transforms does not count against any of the funky handedness rules? IE a wildshaped druid could still wield a two handed weapon?
2. Can wild armor and shields be targeted? For example, could either be the target of a sunder attempt? What if the enemy possesses true seeing, does that matter?
3. Conversely could wild armor and shields benefit from a buff spell such as magic vestments, or a class ability, for example sacred armor?
4. How do feats interact, such as shield focus?
I have some opinions but I'm curious if there are some obvious answers to these questions somewhere that I haven't found.
Here is the prd link:http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/blackTentacles.html#black-te ntacles
This spell is overpowered, and either needs to be changed, or moved up in spell level.
Why is this spell overpowered? Let's look at its basic characteristics and compare it to similar level 4 spells:
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (octopus or squid tentacle)
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: none; Spell Resistance: no
~~
already this should give experienced players pause, a level 4 spell with no immediate draw backs? yes, it requires V, s, M, but that is minor, the M doesn't even cost anything. Compare it to the other classic conjuration spell, summon monster (IV) in this case:
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, F/DF (a tiny bag and a small candle)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one summoned creature
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Notice the range is close, this is a significant difference. But perhaps the actual spell black tentacles isn't as good as summon monster iv?
black tentacles description:
This spell causes a field of rubbery black tentacles to appear, burrowing up from the floor and reaching for any creature in the area.
Every creature within the area of the spell is the target of a combat maneuver check made to grapple each round at the beginning of your turn, including the round that black tentacles is cast. Creatures that enter the area of effect are also automatically attacked. The tentacles do not provoke attacks of opportunity. When determining the tentacles' CMB, the tentacles use your caster level as their base attack bonus and receive a +4 bonus due to their Strength and a +1 size bonus.Roll only once for the entire spell effect each round and apply the result to all creatures in the area of effect.
If the tentacles succeed in grappling a foe, that foe takes 1d6+4 points of damage and gains the grappled condition. Grappled opponents cannot move without first breaking the grapple. All other movement is prohibited unless the creature breaks the grapple first. The black tentacles spell receives a +5 bonus on grapple checks made against opponents it is already grappling, but cannot move foes or pin foes. Each round that black tentacles succeeds on a grapple check, it deals an additional 1d6+4 points of damage. The CMD of black tentacles, for the purposes of escaping the grapple, is equal to 10 + its CMB.
The tentacles created by this spell cannot be damaged, but they can be dispelled as normal. The entire area of effect is considered difficult terrain while the tentacles last.
~
Ok, I bolded and or italized the important aspects of this spell.
It attacks on casters turn and also attacks once cast (remember, med. range), As a spell to begin combat or a surprise round, it is difficult to think of anything better. It's CMB tracks with caster level, effectively turning the caster into a fighter in turns of BAB plus 5. For many characters this is crushing, and especially dangerous for spell casters. Quoting grappling rules: Grappling or Pinned: The only spells you can cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, you must make a concentration check (DC 10 + the grappler's CMB + the level of the spell you're casting) or lose the spell. At spell level 4, a caster has recourse to Dimension Door (yes it is V only), what check must the caster make? 10+CMB+spell level -- now remember CMB of Black Tentacles is caster lvl +5, so when confronted with eq. casters they must roll effectively a 15+spell level-abil mod (concentration checks are d20+level+stat bonus) This assumes a caster has DD available and makes an extremely difficult check(will be in the 1/4 or %25 range), if the caster fails the spell is lost. A caster will have virtually no chance of overcoming the grapple otherwise and will be taking 1d6+4 dmg a turn(at 7 turns it is 7d6+28) (compare it to level 4 ice storm 5d6 with spell resist, or level 4 fireball (7d6, reflex save for half and spell resist)
Alright, what can other characters do to help out our beleaguered caster? Since it is a conjuration spell you assume you can attack it? No, remember The tentacles created by this spell cannot be damaged, but they can be dispelled as normal.
Also, as a play note having only one roll for everyone is "unfun", although it decreases the amount of rolls needed (too many rolls can be a headache i know) it tends towards a all or nothing effect, if the dm or caster rolls high everyone is affected, takes damage, gets an additional +5 to future grapple checks, and must spend an action attempting to free themselves. This can quickly lead to a TPK. On the other hand if the one roll is low, the spell has 0 effect, and everyone moves out of range on their turn. Both results are very "unfun" and typically, part of the job of a game designer and DM is to create fewer situations where statistics and dice lead to such extreme results.
What spell do you know of provides mid range, no save, no spell resist, and immune to damage? It tracks with caster lvl for damage of 1d6+4(no cap mind you) and tracks caster level for CMB? for a level 4 spell it is actually very similar to hold person, mass (a level 7 spell) except hold person mass only works on humanoids, provides a will save, spell resist yes, and area of effect ism(effectively) 15ft radius, oh, it also does no damage. & it is a level 7 spell!
This spell is in obvious need of errata.
Some suggestions,
raise the spell level -- level 6 seems correct to me, it would joins spells like repulsion (save yes, spell resis yes), Forceful Hand (spell resis yes) Circle of Death (save yes, spell resis yes, HD cap yes)
Want to keep spell level? Then the spell needs to either be short range, provide spell resis, or be more in line with the fact that it is a CONJURATION spell -- allow players to do damage to it. For flavor, I would recommend giving it DR of 10/magic, hp of 2 per caster level, an AC of 15 plus caster level, and Perhaps give the tentacles a similar defense profile as Devils (Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 10+caster level) And regeneration "special", on casters turn new tentacles regenerate and allow for attacks vs. anyone in the area of effect who isn't already grappled. This would give fighters something to do if their caster gets stuck in this spell. Allows a heroic "rescue" and still slows down the combat (which really should be the primary focus of this spell, not a TPK possibility).
I hope I provided a compelling case of how this spell at level 4 is extremely over powered and some decent solutions to fixing the problem.
