c873788's page

Just explain it to your players like you did for us. "Some of these encounters will be higher CR and you need to be smart about it."

I had a similar discussion with my table where I explained that if they meet a red dragon on the road and decide to rush it with swords, they will most likely wind up dying horribly. Play wisely.

Good advice.

Kingmaker is very popular and would be easy to adapt to such a plan. If you get unlucky it can happen. We were 9/10th level and our 1st random encounter in Kingmaker 4 (Blood for Blood) was 4 adult black dragons.

You are right. Kingmaker would be a very good candidate. Unfortunately, that is one of the APs we have already run.

As far as I'm concerned the 2 best things Paizo has ever done for D&D is improve and simplify the rules from 3.5 and the creation of the Adventure Paths. The Adventure Paths have allowed me to dip my toes into GMing with great success. I love the idea of having a whole campaign all ready and laid out for you saving you countless hours of preparation. I am now on my 3rd campaign (CotCT) as a GM and we are on the last chapter.

One thing that irks me about APs is that the difficulty of the encounters you come across are nearly ALWAYS balanced to the level/power of the party. This makes sense from a balance point of view but is too artificial and on one level stopping you from completely immersing yourself in the story because it seems fake.

I wish to shake this up a bit when I start my next AP at the completion of CotCT. My idea is that most of the time you need to have that balance because if it is too easy then the players will get bored but if it is too hard you are likely to have a TPK on your hands. I want to throw in a very occasional curve ball. The ideas I have on how to do this are:
1. Warn the players before the start of the campaign. They need to understand that they will need to THINK and decide if discretion or running away is a worthwhile option. On the flipside, I will tell them that the reverse could also happen and they could completely walk all over their opposition as that is realistic as well.

2. It is not a common occurrence. It is a tool that is used only occasionally as balanced encounters make sense... most of the time.

3. These curve balls should only happen for random encounters or for side quests that aren't on the critical line of the story.

4. Give my players Hero Points to help improve character survival. These are handed out very sparingly and it is up to the players to make sure they are used wisely. They already know I let the dice fall where they may and that if they act stupidly or are incredibly unlucky then their characters can and have died.

Any other ideas are very welcome. I would also like to hear other people's ideas on the whole artificial balance issue as players level up.

Her white lotus experience seems to be akin to the rising of the kundalini. The awakening of her serpent fire is not something I would expect to happen at first level.

I have GMed 5 of the 6 APs for my CotCT online campaign so far. Converting from 3.5 to Pathfinder is an afterthought as there's little that really needs adjusting. So I found it has not been an issue at all.

therealthom wrote:

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

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.*SNIP*

...This is terrific! How did you do it?

Google: "ascii it's a trap"

You won "the Internets" with that effort. I've only seen it won 2 or 3 other times on the Paizo messageboards. Well done sir.

c873788 wrote:

Ryzoken wrote:

Debuff rogue. Enforcer feat + Cruel enchant + Debilitating Injury for -4 to attack, saves, skills, ability checks, and -2 to weapon damage on top of the penalties from Debilitating. Don't feel like getting hit? How's a -10 total penalty to attacks against you sound? Want to stack it all in one round?

What is Cruel enchant?

Cruel, the Weapon Enhancement

Ah okay. Thanks for clarifying.

Debuff rogue. Enforcer feat + Cruel enchant + Debilitating Injury for -4 to attack, saves, skills, ability checks, and -2 to weapon damage on top of the penalties from Debilitating. Don't feel like getting hit? How's a -10 total penalty to attacks against you sound? Want to stack it all in one round?

What is Cruel enchant?

Read my post again, I edited in a 2nd and somewhat more relatable analogy.

Also, I am not talking about the errata, I am talking about the book itself and the idea that Paizo (including many other companies, sadly they are not alone) seems to have that it's better to release a subpar book than to miss GenCon. To further play on my new analogy, what we are getting now is free DLC to fix the game... but we shouldn't need DLC to fix the game that should have just been delayed until it was finished, awesome 3-3-13 alliteration be damned.

Ok. What you're saying now makes more sense to me.

I just can't see how anyone in their right mind would rather have the unsafe car NOW instead of waiting six months, and it's the same with RPG books.

So what you're saying is that I am risking my life by wanting the errata released now?

c873788 wrote:

Secret Wizard wrote:

so any more news on this front.

Yes please. A gentle reminder Paizo, can you please keep us updated even if you just jump in to say "we are still working on it". That is always better than a wall of silence.

It's still as before; it's past the design team and is continuing onward. Since my team is through, any other update from me would be functionally identical, more or less.

Thanks for your comments Mark.

so any more news on this front.

Yes please. A gentle reminder Paizo, can you please keep us updated even if you just jump in to say "we are still working on it". That is always better than a wall of silence.

c873788 wrote:

If my 6th level ninja acts in the surprise round, he does 1d4 + 6d6 + 14 points of damage with his sling. It's not the tool... it's how you use it.

Usually in the surprise round your ninja would take a move action to load the sling and be done... unless he's a halfling.

My ninja carries around a loaded sling instead of a weapon so it's not a

My wife and I watch Doctor Who together (though she's bailed since we lost our Doctor), but we don't RPG together. She has no interest. And she parties with her friends (boozy girls' nights), which I have no interest in. So we have together activities and apart activities. Nothing wrong with that... it's worked for 14 years so far. She'd be welcome at my gaming table and I'd be welcome at her drunken outings, but it's safe to predict neither will ever happen.

I agree with these sentiments. My personal experience is that many women are just not interested in pen and paper RPGs and some even seem to think it a childish and nerdy pursuit. In other words, it is uncool and boring. Even my wife jokingly says to her girlfriends that I'm off playing "dollies" with my friends in reference to the miniatures we use when they ask about me.

I would love to see more females playing our hobby but I have no idea how the interest could be generated.

If my 6th level ninja acts in the surprise round, he does 1d4 + 6d6 + 14 points of damage with his sling. It's not the tool... it's how you use it.

The reason why it is a decent archetype or not is due to a single change to the summon list- pugwampis.

I'm sure most people are aware of the pugwampis and that it is the only reason to consider the archetype in the first place. However, the action economy and duration as written at the moment are so terrible that you wonder if it is even worth considering. Another very slight drawback is having to wait until 3rd level before the build concept can work.

Actually in conversation with james jacobs he stated that the duration is still 1min per level and a standard action to summon. I still have that message from him but..... i have been waiting a few weeks now for an offical faq to be posted.... its the holidays so not to worried it will happen eventually. If that is were not true.... I would agree the type is very not worth it.

Could you please post that message to this thread. That makes all the difference in the world as to whether that is a worthless or decent archetype to play.

The rule for Cackle says "Any creature that is within 30 feet that is under the effects of an agony hex, charm hex, evil eye hex, fortune hex, or misfortune hex caused by the witch has the duration of that hex extended by 1 round."

If a witch cackles every round after successfully applying a hex, does that add 1 additional round every time? Or can it only add 1 round ever?

It can keep going round after round. Just don't try to maintain it between encounters. If you tried that stunt, your GM would be well within his rights to have a Tarrasque stomp on you.

SF 1, SF 2, SF 2 + Ftr 1 then SF to cap.

I'd start with sacred fist 2 for fervor.

Ah ok. I understand now. Yes, fervor is awesome so Fighter at 3rd makes sense.

If you want to do that build Sacred fist 2 is best because it gets you fervor.

The whole idea is to go Fighter 1/Sacred Fist 11. I just wasn't sure whether there were advantages/disadvantages to starting with Fighter at first level or wait until 2nd level to do the dip.

c873788 wrote:

One thing I'm surprised by is why you didn't use a Crusader's Flurry based Two Handed build as your sample build. As far as I can tell, it is a better option and I think somewhere in this long thread you seemed to suggest so yourself.

It is a great build but has issues. It's

1: Feat intensive
2: Inability to access pummeling charge is really huge
3: also requires a dip more likely than not.
4: Doesn't come online until 5th level

Upsides are being more SAD and using armor for defensive stats.

I'm not saying it's a bad build, far from it but having to wait 4 levels to actually function isn't something I'd write home about.

You make some valid points but I still think it's better if you can be patient about waiting until 5th level. I am thinking of making one for PFS play. I am definitely taking a level dip and at this stage Fighter looks like the best option for the heavy armor, bonus feat and +1 BAB. Should the build start out fighter or sacred fist at first level?

One thing I'm surprised by is why you didn't use a Crusader's Flurry based Two Handed build as your sample build. As far as I can tell, it is a better option and I think somewhere in this long thread you seemed to suggest so yourself.

4: You multiply the entire darn attack. Very scary with those times 4 weapons.

No, you can't do x4 criticals. It will be x2. It's been FAQed:

Does Pummeling Style work with all weapons?
No, Pummeling Style is intended to work with only unarmed strikes. Add the line. “You can only use Pummeling Style with unarmed strikes”. This will be reflected in future errata.

So far with 9 days to close the poll the Hunter is ahead. IF this trend keeps for a bit I'll probably decide before the deadline.

Excellent, Hunter is a good choice.

Totally voted Brawler on this one. After every class in the ACG, this one's the most important. It works as a successor to the Monk and it's strange (sometimes contradictory) set of abilities, without the alignment restrictions or the need for archetypes to really get the best out of it.

Actually, Warpriest is the successor to the Monk (believe it or not).

Hunter

Dotting for later.

It's not the cha bonus to hit on smite you care about (though it helps) it's adding YOUR LEVEL to damage and bypassing DR.

Actually, for some crazy reason I had it in my head that it was the Charisma bonus that added to damage, not YOUR LEVEL. That is indeed doable. As you say, the Cha bonus to hit is not so important. I would start with just a 12 Cha and put the extra points anywhere else except Int. Your idea is getting me excited again.

I am really interested to see what could be done with a Half Orc and the sacred tattoo racial bonus along with a high crit range weapon and a tower shield. The idea of a high dps/tank that can also Smite is very appealing. It also means you could skip Good as your blessing as part of the reason for going with Good is to bypass DR.

Champion of the faith adds Smite. Smite is awesome.

I got really excited by this when I saw you could add Smite onto your Warpriest because Smite is awesome. But that was quickly followed by disapointment because Smite is awesome for Charisma builds and for many people, Charisma will be the dump stat for their Warpriest. Trying to have a high Charisma on a Warpriest is very MAD. So not so awesome afterall.

Thanks for expanding your ratings to include more races.

I see that there are still no colour ratings for the elemantal humanoids in the guide. I am thinking of playing an Oread Sacred Fist X/MoMS 1 in PFS play and was wondering what rating people think the Oread is compared to the other races for this build.

I actually have a Tengu inquisitor of Norgorber, so he's a crow of murder. You should totally all worship Norgorber.

Unless he's hanging out with 2 Tengu friends, then he's just attempted murder.

It would be useful if you also rated against each build the other races that are sometimes played which include the 4 elemental humanoid races (Sylph, Oread etc) as well as the other races available for PFS play such as Tengu and Kitsune. These races are played more commonly than some might think.

Front loading is only important for PFS if you don't intend to cap your character. I intend to cap my characters.

Fair enough. It raises an interesting point where you might be looking for completely different build concepts depending on whether you go PFS or capping. Do you think your other build ideas change much if you are just interested in PFS play to level 11?

c873788 wrote:

Undone wrote:

If anyone has suggestions besides the TWF + Natural attack build I'd be interested in it so I could add it to the guide.

Play a Tengu with the right racial selections and get 3 primary natural attacks from level 1. It's even PFS legal. Furthermore, there's no -2 modifier to hit unlike with TWF.

can't buy extra hits with improved and greater two weapon fighting.

Admittedly, my suggestion is very front loaded. With the occasional use of Ki points, that would be 4 attacks per round without negative modifiers. How many hits were you looking to achieve anyway and by what level? I tend to play mostly PFS where front loading is important.

If anyone has suggestions besides the TWF + Natural attack build I'd be interested in it so I could add it to the guide.

Play a Tengu with the right racial selections and get 3 primary natural attacks from level 1. It's even PFS legal. Furthermore, there's no -2 modifier to hit unlike with TWF.

Pummeling style is absolutely the most powerful

Actually, the most powerful style is this.

As a player, what are your thoughts on female GMs? Have you had one? Ho was it? Why do you think there are so few?

I wish there were more female players let alone female GMs. Unfortunately, they are very rare where I play. It's pretty much like this.

Humbling, actually. It just felt like removing the "fighter-ness" of the warpriest and replacing it with "monk-ness" felt like a good idea and seemed almost natural. How much people love it just blows me away.

It's the most interesting archetype or class to come out of the whole book.

Nice guide, but just a couple of comments.

Is there any particular reason you haven't considered Horn of the Criosphinx feat for the Sacred Fist build?

Secondly, what do you think of the artifice blessing? I was thinking of making a sacred fist build that could destroy dungeons, houses and constructs alike with his bare hands. I would also give him Knowledge Engineering to supplement the blessing.

My unarmoured Inquisitor stood proud at an AC of 34, at level 5.

Can you please provide a breakdown of this.

For the most part the build I posted earlier would work well as a sacred slayer. Who was the deity you chose? Also what did you want the focus of the character to be?

I have no answers to those questions as I'm starting from a blank canvass. All ideas welcome.

I checked out Ferocious Resolve and it looks ok without being amazing since you are still staggered and bleeding 1 hp per round.

I'll say, I won't touch Marmite normally, or even Vegemite. I'll stick with Marmalade, thank you very much.

You know how hard it is to find that stuff sometimes...and occasionally I think I'm the only one who actually really likes it!

Marmite, Vegemite AND Marmalade? Don't you think you're spreading yourself a little thin?

4th level build idea

Thanks to you and the others who took the time to put up a 4th level build for me. I am now convinced that there is more to the class than I first thought. I will be keen to try out a build.

I think the Sanctified Slayer in particular interests me. I would appreciate any advice for a build that includes this archetype. It will be for PFS play and I have access to Oread and Tiefling in addition to the standard available races.

Zavas wrote:

*Starts writing up cleric portfolios for the Paizo staff*

For the record, mine have been previously defined.

Well, I'm curious. Tell us more.

Looking back over the class, Bane looks really powerful but you don't get it until 5th level. The class still looks pretty meh until 5th level. Can someone throw together a 4th level Inquisitor build and show me why it's strong?

Additionally, of the best things about the inquisitor is that they ahve a VERY HIGH build optimization floor, even if their cieling isn't the highest.

In other words, they are REALLY FREAKING HARD to screw up build wise. They pretty are always at least decent, if not very strong.

So what you are saying is that it's a well designed class and a balanced class but not a strong class? That's what I'm trying to determine. Is it what some people would classify as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 class? Also, my interest is more around low to middle levels as I never play high levels (beyond about level 12 or 13).

People have given so many good reasons here. Paizo are pretty much the perfect company except... they are slow to answering some (not all) FAQs. If they do better in this one area, then they will have achieved GODHOOD and all Paizo staff will be divine members of an angelic heirarchy.

On top of everything else (including good action economy with the swift actions) don't underestimate the Teamwork Feats.

I thought teamwork feats were terrible in general as you have to rely on someone else having the same feat.

I occasionally see comments on the forum about how the Inquisitor is such a strong class. I don't ever recall seeing anything really that great about it. What am I missing?