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Reading over the descriptions, I find it very difficult to separate these thematically. Can anyone help clarify what the difference is flavor wise?
Having a little trouble finding an up to date guide to the fighter. Most of what I find is either a guide to a specific archetype or is very old. Marshmallow's guide has great reviews, but seems to no longer be shared publicly. Anyone have any good links?
So I was looking at making a new character for an upcoming campain, and decided to look at a straight fighter to challenge myself a bit. In my current campaign I'm playing a wizard at 13th level, and the power discrepancy between me and the rest of the group has gotten a little out of hand (I'm the only caster in the group as well, which only magnifies things). However, I was really surprised at how much better the fighter is since I last looked at it. Advanced weapon training seems to be the main culprit here, the options it gives you really shore up the fighters weaknesses. Poor saves? Not anymore. Horrible skills per level? No longer a concern. Heck, it even looks like they made throwing builds viable (never thought I'd see the day...). This, combined with some of the new weapon style feats and advanced armor training stuff, and even some nice archetypes (looking at you lore warden), seems to all come together and make the fighter a nice, well rounded martial character. A bit simple in actual combat, but with some more options and nice for those seeking a straightforward playstyle. It's still not on the level of full casters in actual power, but it no longer feels like hot garbage like the core fighter did. So what do you guys think? Is the fighter finally in a good place, or am I just excited it's no longer in as terrible of one?
So I was looking into vital strike feats recently, and I seem to remember I came across some feat (possibly a style feat?) to make an attack with your main and off-hand as a standard action, similar to the two weapon archetype of the fighter. Unfortunately I neglected to write it down and now I can't for the life of me find it. Did I just imagine it? Any help would be greatly appreciate.
(Just a quick warning to everyone, this is meant to be a joke. Do not take this seriously, and those with strong convictions or without senses of humor should probably steer clear.) Hello everyone! As we all know, Pathfinder is a pretty complex game with a lot of rules to learn. Luckily, we have the CRB to guide us through. Unfortunately, the Pathfinder boards are also pretty complex, and there's a lot to learn about them. Even more unfortunately, there's been no real guide to the boards to get newbies started... Until now! I present to you the first edition of The Pathfinder Boards: A Primer! Please direct all new posters to this thread for everything they'll need to know to get started. *Please note the contents of this guide are subject to errata, FAQs, endless megathreads worth of debates as to the contents and meaning, and outright rewriting at the discretion of the author or whoever else comes along* *** Lesson 1: The Developers Are Perfect The developers, or "devs" as they are more commonly known, have been sent by the heavens above to impart their perfect wisdom unto us. They have never, in the history of Pathfinder, made a mistake even once, and any decision they make is for the ultimate good of the game and thus, all of us. Therefore you are never to speak ill of the developers while on these boards. To do so would be to show that you are either jaded, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 2: The Developers Are Idiots The developers, or "devs" as they are more commonly known, have not he slightest idea what they are doing with Pathfinder. It is, to be quite frank, a miracle that they have managed to piece together a game that we all enjoy with their moronic minds. Every poster on these boards has both greater ability and experience with game design. As such, the devs frequently come to the boards to glean advice from our superior minds. Anyone who suggests the devs might know what they're doing is either a wide eyed blind optimist, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 3: The Game and Its Rules Are Perfect A corollary of lesson 1, since the devs are perfect, the game they have created must also be utterly flawless. The balance of the system, the layout of the books, and the content of the rules are all perfectly clear and without fault. Since the game is currently balanced to such a fine degree, all future supplements are needless and will only harm the game with their "bloat". This lesson applies universally, regardless of the time at which this guide is read. As such, you should never claim there is a flaw in any Paizo product. Anyone who does so is either a whiner, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 4: The Game and Its Rules Are Worthless Garbage A corollary to lesson 2. Since the game devs are so utterly inept, the game they have essentially stolen from Wizards of the Coast has been twisted and broken beyond recognition. The system is wildly unbalanced, the book layout is confusing, and the rules are an ambiguous contradictory mess. Because of the ineptitude of the game designers, all releases serve only to break the game further. However, this last book looks like they might just have started listening to the community and will fix the game at least somewhat. This lesson aplies universally, regardless of the time at which this guide is read. As such, you should never defend a product published by Paizo. Anyone who does so is either unfamiliar with better content, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 5: You're Having Fun the Wrong Way There is only one proper way to have fun in Pathfinder, and if you're doing it any other way your fun is wrong and you should feel bad. It may be because you're weird, simply don't actually know what fun is, or you're dumb. Trust me though, you do not actually follow the one fun path. Don't worry though! There are plenty of posters on here that will be more than happy to educate you on how to have fun. A useful start would be to post some of the house rules you use, so the other posters can explain how wrong they are to you. Some of the other lessons here will also explain the proper mindset for fun having, so please finish the guide before you post any questions! Lesson 6: Dirty Munchkins Are Ruining the Game Munchkins, sometimes called "minmaxers" or "optimizers", are a cancer that is spreading through and destroying Pathfinder. This is related to lesson 5, but even worse than simply not knowing how to have fun, they actively seek to destroy the fun of others. These players play at a power level that is outside the accepted fun range, and thus not only ruin their own games, but the games of every Pathfinder player worldwide. If you come to these boards with a powergame mindset, you are either a dirty MMOer, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 7: You Just Don't Understand What They're Saying From time to time on our little boards, you'll disagree with another poster about some rule or the correct way to have fun. The reason a disagreement occurs, however, is because you don't actually understand the argument of whoever disagrees with you. Please be assured the other person is not actually wrong, and the fault lies solely with you. If you persist in arguing your viewpoint is correct, it's because you're either being intentionally difficult, a troll, or are dumb. Lesson 8: The Stormwind "Fallacy" The Stormwind Fallacy is a statement along the lines of roleplaying and optimizing not being mutually exclusive. It is generally stated to be true on the boards, however, let me tell you right now that we all know the truth. Roleplaying and powerful characters are in fact mutually exclusive. Anyone who talks about "DPR" or "survivability" couldn't roleplay their way out of a wet paper bag. These people are tolerated on the boards but generally looked down upon, and it's best to avoid being associated with them. If you do you're either a wet blanket who drags down the roleplaying fun, a troll, or dumb. Lesson 9: People Who Can't Optimize Ruin Games The game consists of roleplaying and mechanical aspects, and some people just can't hack it with the mechanics. These bitter fools, unwilling to admit their own faults, build horrible characters that ruin games. These dead weight players make the game harder for the others in their group by playing elderly one legged commoners in groups full of highly skilled adventurers, forcing the others to pick up their slack. Though they often claim playing suboptimal characters is fun for them, we know the truth. These players are either spiteful, trolls, or dumb. Lesson 10: Caster Martial Disparity, the Ultimate Thread I won't get into the truth of caster martial disparity, as that was already covered in the previous lesson on game rules and balance. What you should know, however, is that the BEST thread you can make is on caster martial disparity. This thread serves several purposes. First, it lets everyone wbo knows the truth pat themselves on the back and congratulate each other on their knowledge and wisdom. It points out all the deviants and lets us all mock and ridicule them for our own amusement. Since we all already know the truth, no real discussion generally goes on in these threads, but they remain immensely popular. As such, I encourage you to make your first post on the boards one about caster martial disparity and the truth about it. If you don't, you're either a misanthrope, a troll, or dumb. *** That should do it for the Pathfinder boards primer! I encourage anyone with something to add for newer players to post it in the thread for all those new to the boards. Also, please be sure to check out my future guides: Sarcastic Replies: The Secret to Being Cool
Hey all, I'm doing the initial groundwork to write a guide for my favorite class, the hunter! I love this class, it looks so lackluster on the surface but has this awesome depth under the hood. Charging builds, AOO builds, archer builds, buff builds, even vital strike builds, this class has options for days, and is no slouch outside of combat either. However, because of this writing a guide for the class is gonna be a large undertaking, and that's why I need your help. So lay it on me! Best feats, best equipment, best enchantments, best skills, best traits, best dips, best spells, best builds, best companion options, surprising synergies, and best what have you. If you've got a good hunter idea I'd love to hear it. I'm especially interested in archer hunter stuff, as I have little experience with them. Don't let that dissuade you from posting your melee hunter tips though. Heck, if you've got a way a hunter can somehow be a primary caster, put it out there. Show off your cleverness! See your name mentioned in the credits! Help your fellow players build awesome hunters!
So since the other thread has pretty much devolved into namecalling and suppositions, I decided to start a thread to get the armor spikes FAQ changed. There are several problems with it. 1. It seems to reference a rule that doesn't exist.
2. It leads to weird, silly situations.
3. It leads to weird vagueness about wielding versus holding.
The FAQ is just way, way too poorly written. It leads to mega arguments like the shield/armor spikes thread where people are basing their arguments on guessed interpretations. Get rid of it, replace it with something that makes sense and is consistent, and be done with it.
So while I was trying to create a maneuver focused fighter and going over the various rules and rulings that pertain to them, I kept having one thought over and over. Wow this system is stacked against the PCs. I'm sure you've all had similar experiences. A PC goes to tumble past an enemy and is shocked by the CMD, your fighter specialized in tripping and sundering goes up against the approximately one billion flying natural attacking monsters in the bestiary, etc. The problems with the system seem to lie in a couple of areas, which I'll lay out. The Problems 1. CMD scales way too fast and high (for monsters). The gap between average AC and CMD starts out 2 at CR 1, increases to 4 at CR 5, to 8 at CR 10, and to a whopping 14 at CR 15. CMD scales way, way faster than AC, and this wouldn't be a problem, except... 2. There are very few ways to increase CMB. Most combat maneuvers can't be used with a weapon, and this severely limits them in terms of bonus. CMB for those maneuvers will in most cases just be your BAB, your main stat, and four for the improved and greater maneuver feats. While this is fine for early levels, as you level up monster CMD scales dramatically while your CMB advances at a snail's pace. By the time you hit about level 10, you'll really start to feel the pain, any higher than that and it's a pipe dream. 3. The only maneuvers that can be used with weapons suck at mid-high levels. By default the only maneuvers that can be used with weapons are disarm, sunder, and trip. Wanna take a guess as to how many higher CR monsters don't fly and carry vital equipment? It's not many. Thus the only maneuvers you can get real, meaningful bonuses to are crap by mid level. 4. Maneuver based characters face heavy feat taxes. Wanna use a maneuver at all competently? Get ready to spend those feats. Improved and greater versions are essential if only for the numerical bonuses. Most of those require combat expertise, so that's another feat. Oh, you say you're a dex fighter? Weapon finesse wasn't enough, get agile maneuvers as well please. All this investment for a style of combat that you're at best playing catchup with, is situational in many cases, and will eventually be completely useless. Why in the heck would any sane player do this again? 5. Monster CMB scales faster than your CMD. Monster CMB scales faster than their attack bonus in much the same way that CMD scales faster than AC, albeit at a little bit slower of a pace. By contrast, player CMD usually scales slower than their AC, as there are fewer way to increase it. This means that more and more as you advance in level if a monster wants to hit you with a maneuver, he will. Enjoy being grappled by that beast with all the natural attacks. That demon with no weapons to disarm? He'll gladly send your shiny adamantine weapon flying. All this combines to make combat maneuvers something the monsters do, not the players, especially at high levels. So what can be done to fix this problem? Unfortunately, some of the issues are with the basic math of the system, and are intrinsic to the way CMB and CMD are calculated. However, a couple of things can be done to help. Potential Solutions 1. Remove combat expertise as a prerequisite to any maneuver feats. These things cost enough feats already, do we really need to exacerbate that? 2. Make all maneuvers useable with weapons. This one's big. Yeah, in some cases this doesn't make much sense, but given the scaling we're dealing with I don't see much alternative. Besides, is it really much of a stretch incorporating a weapon into a dirty trick or a bull rush? 3. Allow some sort of extra bonus to apply to CMD. Armor enhancement bonus, resistance cloak bonus, whatever. The number is just too low as you level up, and monster conditions become less a matter of "my defenses will save me" and more a matter of "ok, how do I deal with what just happened". Thoughts, opinions? Do you think the system isn't broken? Do you disagree on the solutions? I'd love to hear more opinions on the matter.
So frightful presence is a free action that can be activated on an attack. If one were to cast form of the dragon III, then full attack, can you activate the aura multiple times in order to stack up to panicked? Or is there some restriction I'm not seeing?
So after reading a thread in which monkey grip was called cheese, it occurred to me that people seem to have lost the idea of what that word means. For those unfamiliar, monkey grip is a 3.x feat that allows you to use two handed weapons one handed, at a -2 penalty to accuracy. This reults in almost all cases in a dps loss, even before figuring in the feat opportunity cost, and is pretty much solely for flavor. Even in the face of that, it was called cheese. It seems like any time there is an option that lets you do something you couldn't before, it's called cheesy. Guns, for example, hit touch ac, but a well built gunslinger is no match for a well built archer in terms of dpr, yet they're constantly banned and called cheese. Why is a new ability always cheese? Doesn't cheese mean game breaking, not game expanding?
Sorry if this has been asked before, but a forum search didn't yield any answers. Under monk, the rules state: "There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed." Normally this is of no concern as monks have flurry of blows. However, for archetypes that lose flurry, like MoMS, they would need to pick up twf. But can they? If you have no off hand attacks, can you make the extra attacks from twf, or are they SOL?
So I've been toying with a flying knife build, whose class features only work with daggers and starknives. Rapid shot would seem to be a clear fit for the build, but upon further inspection, I'm unsure if the feat will work with thrown daggers. Looking at rapid shot: "When making a full-attack action with a ranged weapon..." So it only works with weapons in the ranged category, excluding daggers, correct? However, then there's this bit: "Weapons are grouped into several interlocking sets of categories. These categories pertain to what training is needed to become proficient in a weapon's use (simple, martial, or exotic), the weapon's usefulness either in close combat (melee) or at a distance (ranged, which includes both thrown and projectile weapons)..." Ah, so ranged includes thrown as the categories interlock, yes? However, then there's the next bit: "Ranged weapons are thrown weapons or projectile weapons that are not effective in melee..." So this would seem to indicate that no, it doesn't work, depending on how you parse it (I hate when that happens). But then, as per the 3.5 FAQ: "Can I throw weapons with both hands? What happens if I also use Rapid Shot? ... For example, if a 4th-level fighter has Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, and Two-Weapon Fighting, he can throw two daggers with his primary hand and a third with his off hand. His adjusted base attack bonus is +0 with each dagger (+4 base attack bonus, –2 for using a light weapon in his off hand, –2 for using Rapid Shot)." As far as I can tell, the rules have not changed regarding quick draw or rapid shot since Pathfinder, so the original intent was obviously that it be allowed. So... how does it actually work? Is rapid shot with daggers possible? Does a ranged weapon in this case mean a weapon in the ranged category, or one used beyond melee range? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
So I'm introducing a friend of mine to the hobby, and lent him my core book to peruse. He's interested in the wizard, and was a little confused over how the spell prep mechanics worked. Apparently, he thought you prepped a certain number of spells per day, then used your spell slots to cast any of those spells (pretty much like the arcanist works). I opened up the book and was surprised to find that at no point in the book, as far as I can tell, did it say that a wizard can only cast a spell once for each time he has prepared it. It's implied, but never outright stated. I honestly had trouble pointing to a place in the rules that refuted his interpretation. Maybe this could use a revision in future printings?
So my wizard just hit 9th level and I'm considering picking up this spell. Unfortunately, the targeting for the spell seems to be written in the most confusing way possible. I'd greatly appreciate some clarification on how it works, as after browsing the web for an answer everyone seems to have a different idea. The spell states you can sense and attack anyone within a certain radius. Ok, I'm good so far. It then basically says you can only differentiate creatures if they're 4 or more hit dice apart or if one is undead and the other isn't. Which could make targeting very difficult. However, there's then a new paragraph that states you could (not can, implying this is an alternate and not the only method) choose either a stronger or weaker creature to take over, and this is done randomly. Stronger or weaker than you I'm assuming? And judged by hit dice, I'm also assuming? What if everything has the same hit dice as you, can you not target anything? Or is the stronger and weaker paragraph just a poorly worded way of saying that if two or more life forces are indistinguishable, determine which you possess randomly? Thanks in advance for any clarification you can provide. |
