I am a Sun Wukong hangover cleric. If this is not PFS then your approach makes perfect sense. While drunkenness obviously fits the intent of Variant Channeling (Ale/Wine), and is clearly RAI, it's not RAW. Drunkeness is not equal to Ale/Wine. So maybe don't try it in PFS.
FYI: there are VERY FEW pathfinder deities that allow the Hangover Cleric concept to work. The only one I know that is for-certain PFS legal is the Archdevil Dispater, whose area of concern is Rulership. This totally works in PFS, so long as your LN cleric is willing to worship a LE devil.
This doesn't help at all in your case. My companion-focused Sylvan Sorcerer found the most useful feat to be the teamwork feat Paired Opportunists. This was for PFS.
See, the animal companion was an Axe Beak, and my gnome sorcerer rode it. The sorcerer always carried a longspear, despite having low strength. Both had the Paired Opportunists feat. The Axe Beak has reach, so both threatened 10' away. The axe beak also took the Combat Reflexes feat, giving it four (4!) AoOs.
Whenever a foe attempted to come close the sorcerer would try to trip it. With an extra +4. If that didn't work then the axe beak would also try to trip it. At +4. When the foe tried to stand up then both PC and Companion would get more AoOs, this time at +8 (!!!).
The overall effect was that melee foes had a very difficult time getting close enough to attack. Most attackers fell down, took damage, and failed to attack. Smarter foes would sometimes just remain prone and 10' away, to avoid further punishment.
Correct, Ring of Spell Knowledge won't help. Dipping sorcerer, or vice versa, is one way for a Dual Cursed Oracle to get Color Spray. I'm personally allergic to the approach, but Samsaran Past Life will also do it.
If you only take one level of Oracle then you want to buy a Ring of Revelations asap. That way you can get both available really good Revelations: Misfortune and Awesome Display.
I second LeesusFreak's comment about DM hate for both Heaven's Oracles and Dual Cursed Oracles. Check in with your GM before you play such a powerful PC. XigXag is a boss-crushing machine, to the point where other PFS players complained that his presence made things too easy. After receiving several complaints XigXag toned down the boss-killing, such that he now lets other players battle for a few combat rounds before destroying the boss. Make sure your GM understands both those power-sets, and what they will do to the GM's encounters.
His favorite way to annihilate bosses is via the 1st level Command spell. He will position himself such that anyone approaching him must run a gauntlet of AoOs, then Command the boss (forcing multiple high-DC saves, which they nearly always fail) to Approach. Then he runs away and cackles with glee as the boss wastes its turn following him, takes multiple AoOs, and winds up in a hopeless tactical situation, usually flanked by several melee PCs.
XigXag is a dual-cursed Heaven's Oracle who became a sorcerer. Take one level of Dual Cursed Heaven's Oracle then take the rest of your levels in Sorcerer. Color Spray is a Sorcerer spell. So it works just as you want it to work. This does require multi-classing, though.
XigXag is a Nature Sorcerer, and has the feat Boon Companion. This gives him an at-level Animal Companion for his entire career.
This approach is really a full sorcerer who dipped one level as Dual Cursed Heaven's Oracle. This is an absurdly powerful and effective combination.
If we're talking PFS, didn't someone on the boards calculate that 80% of the end bosses of scenarios are vulnerable to summoning a swarm of bees, closing the door, and waiting for them to die? It's not a great measure for difficulty is what I'm saying.
While the Swarm thing is true, the difficulty level in PFS has gone way way way up. The same group that can easily ROFLStomp a Season 0 or 1 scenario might easily TPK in a Season 5 or 6 scenario.
I almost saw a Season 6 PFS TPK yesterday. The GM even admitted fearing a TPK was about to happen, after the fact. The players made no big mistakes, but average level was just barely high enough to force us to play up. By the time we reached the end scene the PCs were badly depleted, because each encounter had been so difficult and we had no time to rest. My PC nearly made a stink and nearly said, "No! We absolutely refuse to continue until we've had a nights rest! We've already had three tough fights today, we're exhausted and almost out of resources. No way will we continue without a rest!". For example, our awesome Cleric-4 had used up all his channels to personally save the mission from failure. But, y'know, reasons, so we didn't rest. A party of 5 worn-out PCs of level 4-6 faced two fresh 9th level foes. The party consisted of: Cleric-4, Sorcerer-4, Magus-5, Theurge-5, Gunslinger-6. The Theurge and Gunslinger both died quickly, while both 9th level foes were still near full strength. So a Cleric-4, a Sorcerer-4, and a Magus-5 managed to drop two 9th level foes. Just barely, and only due to excellent tactical play by the survivors. None of the survivors had double-digit HP remaining, nor any spells above 1st level, nor any reserve resources. My PC was one of the two who died. We definitely could have used "an extremely overpowered character". In retrospect, XigXag would have been perfect. I love hard mode!
We totally should have dropped a swarm and closed the door. That actually might have worked quite well! At the very least it would have sprung the ambush, which we suspected in advance but could do nothing to prevent or avoid. Except, possibly, summon a swarm and send it ahead, which is exactly what we should have done.
Sure, but not in PFS, where the GM has no discretion to change things around. Plus, with such high DCs combined with Misfortune, any Save or Die spell becomes over-powered. Grease and Web are XigXag's favorite fall-back spells. Literally every single BBEG XigXag has ever faced (10 or so) immediately fell to his assault. The only real threat to this build comes from Undead and Constructs, against which it is nearly helpless. Thus Grease and Web as fall-backs.
Just say no! XigXag hates to say it, but this combination should get the ban hammer.
XigXag resembles that remark! He resents being turned into numbers and statistics by Avoron! Grrr! It's all true, though. XigXag no longer gets much play time, because he can make GMs wish they were dead while also endlessly annoying his allies. Swarms Schmorns! This build is for dropping bosses not swarms of minions. Specifically, multiple PFS players complained, on multiple occasions, that XigXag was destroying Boss encounters too swiftly (usually on round one) & spoiling everyone's fun. A certain venture officer approached me about it, audited the character and determined the build was entirely legal, and told me about the many complaints. Nowadays XigXag shows much greater restraint, when he gets any play time.
To XigXag's amazement, complaints lessened when XigXag eschewed Awesome Display Color Spray to just tweak the BBEG with a simple Command spell, cast from a first level Oracle slot. Of course, the command was generally 'Approach', which caused the BBEG to waste its turn approaching the fleeing XigXag through a thicket of AoOs from martial allies. Not even one BBEG that XigXag faced, not one, was able to weather his one-round assault by making every required saving throw. Sometimes he would deliberately, out of the goodness of his heart, allow the BBEG to fight for a round or two, before ending it. XigXag once spent the first two rounds of combat knitting and commenting on his allies' style.
Note that, if the Sorcerer is of the Sylvan Wildblooded archetype and takes the Boon Companion feat, this awful gnome also has a Full Animal Companion. Good choices include a Flyer or a Ceiling Walker.
The result is that even foes who make all three high-DC Will saves must still deal with the animal companion, as it will insist.
XigXag votes this approach as the most hideously overpowered 3rd level character option, but competition is fierce.
P.s. Yes, there are optimizers on this forum. There are also roleplayers on this forum. Sometimes the two even combine into a single package.
The regular version of Share Spells allows you share True Strike. XigXag is a Sylvan Sorcerer who sometimes casts True Strike on his Animal Companion before it charges. This works just fine.
Improved Share Spells won't do you any good with Truestrike, though.
XigXag is a 6th level PFS Heaven's Oracle/Sorcerer who has never killed a sentient being. Thus, a technical pacifist. He zaps things with Color Spray and leaves the coup de gras to others ...
Some types of pacifism:
* Can not kill. You can fight. You can even start fights. You just won't kill. Batman is the perfect example.
* Self defense only. You can fight & kill, but will only do so in self defense.
* Technical pacifism. You're not really a pacifist, you just don't do the dirty work yourself.
To be fair, no one enjoys being nauseated, so someone that purposely causes it is probably evil...
This nausea-inducing chaotic neutral gnome prankster begs to disagree. A roomful of nauseated people, the more the better, can sometimes be absolutely hilarious!
[Hint: one would be wise not to argue with him, else his prankster eyes may look your way ... ]
A closely related approach is to cast 'Cure Serious Wounds' into Spell Storing Armor. That allows any ally to touch you (no to hit required if you are willing) and be healed. They use their action economy to draw your cure spell, not yours.
This is trickier with spell storing weapons, because it seems one must actually spend an action and do damage to trigger the spell and apply the heal. So less benefit.
Command and/or Murderous Command - Stupidly effective versus anything vulnerable. Lots of potential for humor.
Sanctuary - Great defense
Your known spells are a precious asset. Only know spells where DC matters. When DC does not matter (e.g. cure spells, summoning spells, buffs, lesser restoration, etc) buy a magic item.
Why do you need a feat for this? A typical sword cane is just a sword sheathed in a cane (club). Draw the sword and you are wielding a sword and a club. There's no easy way to get that club to give you a +1 shield bonus, but do you really care about +1 AC?
True Strike is +20 on the next single attack roll before the end of your next turn.
Sudden Charge gives you a free trip after hitting with a bite. The Bite is the first attack roll, the trip which is a separate attack roll (Maneuvers are attack rolls, and it lacks the caveat that Shield slam has to make it use the same bonuses as the original attack) would not get the +20.
This has been debated at some length in the rules forums. XigXag never expected that trick to work. His player was surprised to discover that the consensus seems to be that it does work that way. The RAW is pretty clear, the RAI less clearly so. Some links to old Rules Forum posts are clearly called for, should anyone wish to pursue the matter.
There's no way to do what you want without a pet or familiar.
XigXag frequently uses TrueStrike the same round he casts it. He's a Sylvan Sorcerer with an Axe Beak animal companion.
He waits until there's an open charge lane. He casts TrueStrike on the Animal Companion (using the Share Spells ability). The Axe Beak then charges at +20 to hit, hits, then gets an automatic trip attempt, also at +20. Works great.
'Fraid there's usually no way to pull this off except in a few weird cases, mostly involving a familiar or an Animal Companion.
If you take your first level in Oracle, not Witch, you get 2 extra HP ...
XigXag took a similar approach: one level of Dual Cursed Heaven's Oracle, and the rest Sorcerer. It works really well. The Misfortune revelation is constantly useful, and is totally worth losing a level from a full caster.
I think the Misfortune revelation should be raised to require Oracle level 3 or 5, to prevent this dip. It might even be worth a 3 level dip ...
XigXag is a a gnome Heaven's Oracle. You allies will be continually amazed by your Save-or-die power.
Definitely get Persistent Spell right after Eldritch Heritage (Arcane). Persistent Awesome Display Color Spray is very effective.
Your weak point will be undead & constructs: stuff without a will save. Also things so deadly you fear to get close enough to Color Spray them (e.g. Dragons). Have a plan for that stuff.
Make sure you give your allies a chance to shine. A Heaven's Oracle has so much firepower it's easy to leave your allies with nothing but cleanup work. That's no fun. Save your immense powers for when your allies need them and give them plenty of chance to shine.
XigXag is a PFS hybrid Oracle-Sorcerer gnome. He recently re-trained to power-down, as he was too capable. Salient points:
1. Build SAD. All Charisma, with enough CON to not die.
1. Start with one level of Oracle of Heavens (Dual-cursed archetype). His two Revelations (one via feat or magic item) are Misfortune and Awesome Display. the cream of the crop.
2. Take all other levels as a Sorcerer of the Sylvan archetype. Combine with Boon Companion for a full animal companion right from the start. Take Color Spray, as you already have Awesome Display goodness for it. You get Color Spray at 2nd level, same as if you remained an Oracle.
Special nasty tricks XigXag can do:
- Anything without great will saves is pretty much &^(*^&^. Command, Murderous Command, and your super-awesome color spray all have high DCs. Misfortune lets you force a re-roll as an Immediate Action. Use Persistent Spell if possible. Foes will need to make multiple consecutive high-DC will saves or die ...
- Ride your Animal Companion for mobility and protection, especially if you took the Lame curse.
- Choose a pet that trips on a charge (e.g. wolf, axe-beak, etc.) and cast Truestrike on your Animal Companion, using the Share Spells ability. Your pet now gets +20 on its charge/trip combo. That foe will be prone.
Extra Cheese that XigXag trained out of, because it was too powerful:
- Take one level as a Cleric of Horus for a Hangover Cleric build. Choose the Rulership Variant Channel and channel negative, for the Daze effect. Take the Selective Channel feat. You now have a very effective AoE save-or-suck ability with a high DC and many uses. With the Quick Channel feat you can do it as a Move action. You can potentially force a BBEG to make four consecutive high-DC will saves in one round, else lose the fight. The big problem with this power is that it's easy to annoy other players with your outrageous Save-or-die might. XigXag wound up holding back so much with this ability that he decided to train out of the cleric level.
I played in a PFS game where another PC used Ooze Whisperer to excellent effect. It shifted the attitude of a dangerous, powerful ooze to neutral, allowing us a to bypass a dangerous situation.
Renageshepher speaks truth. XigXag, a SAD Heaven's Oracle, initially dipped one level of negative channeling Cleric with a powerful variant channel. Itz called Hangover Cleric build.
Some adventures it was perfect, and just as powerful as it needed to be. When overused, though, it has serious potential to spoil other peoples' fun. The other players will get tired of the over-the-top AoE battlefield control you can exert.
XigXag chose to Relinquish negative energy variant channeling. Stock Pathfinder adventures can often be ROFLStomped with such power. He spent gold to retrain away the cleric levels and all the channeling feats, because it was too effective.
Because the cone is now pointed towards one of your other vertices.
Why is this a problem?
This is a feature, not a problem. Rotate the cone 90 degrees, while keeping it's origin the same corner, allows a Sorcerer to blast one's self. Perfectly legal. XigXag actually did this with an Awesome Display Colorspray on his last adventure, for sound tactical reasons.
Any class with a pet works: Druid, Summoner, Inquisitor, Ranger, Cleric, Oracle, Sorcerer, Cavalier, Paladin, etc. You want the pet to fill in gaps in a three player party. Concentrate personally on strong defense and survival. Do offense mostly with your pet. 25 point build or 5 point build, your pet is the same.
You should talk this over with your GM and the other players. Your buffed-up pet might fight better than the fighter, and that's no fun. Perhaps explicitly discuss character tier. Mixing low tier (rogue, fighter, monk, etc) with high tier (wizard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, summoner, oracle) can work great, but your group might have more fun if you discuss it in advance.
A Sylvan Sorcerer would be a great option. You are a full arcane caster, played in the style of God's Hot Sister, and have a full animal companion. Get Boon Companion at 3rd level. Put arcane self-buffs on your pet. Get especially good use from Mirror Image, Enlarge Person, and Truestrike. XigXag, a PFS sylvan sorcerer, dipped a level of Dual Cursed Heavens Oracle, but that's a bit on the cheesy side ;-)
A summoner seems another obvious option, even though I personally think that class is too powerful. Attribute hardly matter to a summoner. Your eidolon can do everything a fighter does and more.
Regarding healing, both Sorcerer and Summoner can cast Infernal Healing, for effectively infinite out of combat healing.
Gnome sorcerer or Oracle is the way to roll with those stats. The low CON means you must avoid taking damage. I've had a lot of fun playing physically feeble spell casters. There is an art to being cowardly: choosing where to stand is the most important factor, by a large margin.
Gnome raises your CON to 10. Small size makes you harder to hit. Always go for extra HP. Perhaps get toughness, later on, although you may find you do not need it.
Consider playing a Sylvan Sorcerer or Lunar Oracle. The Boon Companion feat, taken at level 1 or 3, gets you a full Animal Companion (AC) for your entire career. It helps in all sorts of ways. One option is to choose a Bodyguard companion with the In Harms Way feat, so it can take hits for you. A Badger might be a good choice: you can ride it; decent offense and defense; it can dig an underground den for both of you; climb speed, even when you ride it. If you have Spell Sharing with your AC you have all sorts of unusual spell options not normally available: Enlarge Person, Truestrike, and Shield will all work on your AC.
XigXag is a Heaven's Oracle with Color Spray. It's a very effective way to set up for coup de grace. Honestly, he usually holds off using it in order to let his allies play with the foe. He'll only use Color Spray to end encounters when things seem truly dangerous. He never personally bothers with the Coup De Grace, and at 6th level has not yet (personally!) slain a sentient being. He lets others do his dirty work.
You can pump your Strength pretty high. You will be an effective martial combatant, despite the low BaB.
Consider staying a single-classed Sorcerer. Because high level spells.
Your biggest asset is your spell casting ability, followed by your huge Strength. Ideally, you would like to use both at once, in ways that combine effectively.
If you apply your Strength to a two handed weapon you get a 50% damage multiplier on Strength. The best way to increase it again is by getting more attacks. Consider a fighting style that uses a two handed weapon and sometimes gets you multiple attacks.
Sorcerer is already proficient with longspear. Proper use of a longspear sometimes gets you extra attacks from AoOs. The reach cleric approach works quite well for a strength-based sorcerer.
Incorrect! The nature of the Animal Companion bond explicitly allows a lot of spells to work on the animal companion that are otherwise impossible. Reduce Person is one of them.
Share Spells (Ex) wrote:
The druid [sic] may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion's type (animal). Spells cast in this way must come from a class that grants an animal companion. This ability does not allow the animal to share abilities that are not spells, even if they function like spells.
A lot of great spells that don't normally work on Animals do work in this case. Enlarge Person is an obvious one.
For Original Poster:
You want to take the feat Boon Companion at 1st level. That's how a Sylvan Wildblooded Sorcerer gets a good Animal Companion. XigXag is a Sylvan Wildblooded Sorcerer with an Animal Companion. He is a small creature riding a medium badger (for a defensive posture) or sometimes a Large Axebeak (for offensive posture).
Sometimes you will have to enter a confined space where your animal can't go. At the very least you'll have to dismount. Narrow Frame will help. About 25% of published Paizo adventures have narrow confined spaces. Just a heads up.
You might consider carrying a longspear as your primary weapon, always in hand when adventuring. You'll rarely attack with it on your turn, but it will sometimes give you free AoOs & may keep some foes at bay. It does not hinder you in any way, and it is a Simple weapon. You don't need any feats to fight from atop your mount, but you'll want to beat a DC 10 riding check.
If it's relevant: I think SoD would be fun for a short while but then get really boring, if you're basically deciding the combat on the roll of one die.
A specialized Save or Die type, say a gnome dual cursed heavens oracle using supercharged color spray, requires the BBEG to save three times in short order. Never just one die.
In additional to the other excellent suggestions above, give some of the goblins a reach weapon. Suddenly the second rank gets to attack. Suddenly the goblins are getting AoOs versus the PCs. Suddenly the goblins are flanking, where they were not before. There's a reason pike formations were so common before the age of gunpowder.
This is a great question. In the case you provided, I'd say the PC with negative energy affinity, who was attacked by a negative energy channel, should be healed. After the first time, the attacking cleric will probably use Selective Channel to not heal that PC, but first time it's a funny backfire effect.
On a related note, another channel question:
Does Negative Channel kill all life in 30 feet with fewer than 1 HP? I'm thinking squirrels, insects, et cetera. Does negative channeling also kill vegetation? How does this apply to microbes, esp. in a world that does not know the germ theory of disease?
