WhiteKnightRupert's page

The player used a high stat, perhaps his highest, and a feat in order to give him good odds of going first. He can still roll a "1" on the initiative check, and end up going last. I had a rogue with a 16 dex and improved initiative who routinely went last, making me feel as though I'd wasted the feat when I desperately needed to launch my first attack while the enemy was still flatfooted!

How big of a problem is it to let the player run his character as designed?

Is he facing a bunch of baddies with glass jaws who can't survive his first strike? If so, then perhaps beefing up the badguy's armor or hit points is the solution that lets his character do what he designed it to do while letting you hit back.

Or are the other players getting jealous of his ability to go first? If that's the case, they need to adjust their concept of teamwork and learn how to use his quick reactions to their advantage.

If the badguys catch him by surprise, they get the first shot. I've played many combats where a PC goes down for the count in round one. Frustrating for the player, but that's the downside to going second.

I've played many other battles where going first merely gave my character time to get into a good position (or face the choice of striking from a bad position or retreating before the badguys swamped me).

At least he isn't playing a Divination Specialist Wizard...who always acts during the surprise round! (That's my current character...)

This will be released in July? Or do pre-orders begin in July?

I'm looking at starting a campaign centered around Falcon's Hollow, but before I start fleshing out the rest of that settlement and outlining neighboring communities, it would be nice to see what Paizo has in store.

I would really like to see 4 skill points for Fighters, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Clerics.

By eliminating the X4 multiplier for first level skill selection, Wizards lost the ability to drop 1 pt in several knowledge skills so that they could at least get to roll a check.

Likewise, we lost the ability to put 2pts in two skills that are important to a class, but not necessarily going to be the character's primary focus at low level.

I also liked the "take any one skill as a class skill" that humans had as a racial bonus in the first version of Pathfinder that I downloaded.

Now to go download the current version...

I like the looks of the new skill system. I like that characters gain a new skill every other level, and that it is maxed out as either a class or cross class skill.

While I enjoyed using the skill points to purchase a rank or two in some areas, I hated the fact that Clerics and Fighters had no flexibility.

A Rogue could level up, and become an instant master of a completely new skill. A Fighter would need to level up three times in order to reach rank five in a new skill...barring some sort of intelligence or racial bonus. This guaranteed that fighters would never have a broad skill base.

While the low skill classes will never catch up with the high skill classes (nor should they), by adding a new skill every other level, the gap between the two narrows proportionately over time, and a Fighter who becomes a landholder could, for example, gain Diplomacy to help him lead without needing to spend three levels working on it.

Whether points or automaxing is used, I like the ability to gain skills more rapidly, and the automaxing system looks promising.

I also like the merging of many of the skills. There are fewer choices, to the small number of skill points most classes get effectively go farther.