chrislafeken's page

Uhm...Does silent Table actually affect spellcasting? It doesn't mention spells and it only says sounds don't leave the area it affects from what I'm reading...I'd compare it to Quieting weapons, which does specifically point out it does not prevent casting since the spellcaster can still use verbal components even though they are now much quieter. So as long as the caster can make verbal noises, they can still cast, even if nobody else can hear them or exactly what they're saying is my impression.

The formula for how much mana a spell costs is 2x-1 where x is the spell level. Max mana is just taking the all the spell slots you’d get normally and converting them into mana. 0th lvl spells cost 1 mana (no infinite casting Cantrips). I.e a first level wizard gets 3 0th lvl spells, 2 1st lvl spells so he would have 5 mana.

Also, most of the enemies have been humans, elves, and orcs in urban environments.

That being said, getting full caster 10cleric/10 stargazer would = more spells, but lose 1 bab, a combat feat (from slayer), a bunch of reflex save bonus (5), and lose ~8 non-aoo get out of jail free DD (from horizon walker). That’s why the horizon walker is there. The slayer is there for 2 bab, great reflex to shore up that weaker save, a free combat feat, and some flavor being a Witch Killer.

Regularly casting DD means possible aoo’s for provoking especially if the enemy also has step up. The goal is to go into melee against casters, not fighters; we’ve got an optimized synthesist for the fighters. Throwing silence on myself and sticking to a caster takes them out of the fight essentially except Silent Spells. But then, they’ll still eat AoOs, and that’s also why the saves are high even before modifiers in case they do get a spell or two off. Eating a maximized fireball wouldn’t be fun.
A ring of evasion will be a key item later, which is the only reason why the 2 slayer lvls are there instead of rogue. And a Guided weapon will take care of not being a full bab class and allow dumping STR.

As to why the build is using a caster base, it’s mainly because of DD and silence. No save against being unable to cast? And even if they do have Silence metamagic..that’s now costing them more resources per spell and they still have chances to lose it with aoo’s forcing concentration checks.

I’m heading to bed for the night so I’ll respond more throughly tomorrow, but I did forget something crucial to the topic.

I guess I forgot to mention that part of the reason casters are a problem for us is that the Gm has opted to use a “mana system” for all casters. All casters are spontaneous, using a formula for Max mana based off their spell slots that they’d normally get. Clerics combine their mana for normal spells with domain spells...yea that was my bad for leaving that out.

Hey guys!
Currently in a campaign and having a blast. Our GM is throwing some REALLY tough fights at us (thanks to us being a party of 5 arcane casters...) and last session I somehow barely skirted death thrice in the same combat. I have a feeling there's definitely death in the imminent future so I've prepared a back up character just in case. Kind of hoping to get some feedback if this would help us out a bit? Our party hit level 7 and my allies are a Witch, Skald, Wizard/Rogue going into Arcane Trickster, and Synthesist summoner. For being a party of casters our biggest struggle...is casters. Hoping that my next character would work fairly well as an anti-caster.

Suggestions and feedback are welcome :)

My theorycraft has led me to start with:
CN Human
Separatist Cleric 5 / Stargazer 2 (PrC)
-Domains (have not chosen main Pulura domain yet / Separatist domain would be travel)
-feats: Eldritch Heritage: Arcane, Improved Familiar (Dweomercat cub), Step Up, endurance
-key spells:
1st Barbed Chains
2nd Silence, Shackle, Resist Energy
3rd Chain of Perdition, Protection from Energy, Invisibility Purge
4th Dimensional Anchor, Master's Escape, Freedom of Movement, Dimension Door (from travel domain)

Eventually I was wanting to take the Dimension Agility featline, and finish the Step up featline too. Splashing Horizon walker would help with that and the bab is nice.

Thinking of ending up with:
6 cleric / 9 stargazer / 3 horizon walker / 2 witch killer slayer
which totals +15 bab, 13 Fort, 11 reflex, 11 will
feats level 9-19 in order of preference: Dimensional Agility, Flickering Step, Following step, Step up and Strike, Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish, and eventually retrain eldritch heritage into Item Mastery (teleportation)

If you spot any inconsistencies please let me know. Again, looking to try to counter some casters to help out our party. Thanks for your help guys! :)

A Necromancer Siege Mage Wizard using a mass of undead working siege engines he designed.

I thought of making gilgamesh once...It's very hard without 3rd party content. Even then, some of the flavor might have to be tweaked. The clsoest I came was focusing around a Magic Missile build and the RGG Magic Missile feat "Halo of stars" Allowing magic missiles to follow you after casting until fired with a standard action. I figured reflavoring the missiles to "Weapon shaped" would be what would have to happen. Halo of Stars. really is an awesome flavor feat though, and a good way to manage resources. Take it a step further and use illusion magic to actually make them appear as weapons maybe?

Plenty of metamagic that you can stack on to magic missiles...

Split the burden of heal-bot between 2 people. 1 person takes a 1-level dip in the Psionic Vitalist class. The other person takes a 2 level dip into Alchemist for Tumor Familiar. Someone in the party now has fast healing 5 as needed.

As the title suggests, this is a fun exercise in exploiting the rules of the game with the material given. So here goes, the following 3rd party metamagic feat is Inherent Spell. Basically, +8 to the spell slot cost to make that spell a SLA with unlimited uses for 24hrs. Here's the link to read the full description:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/3rd-party-feats/rogue-genius-games/metamagic- feats/inherent-spell-metamagic

Big deal, right? Oh no, CLW unlimited times a day that cost us a 9th lvl spell slot. Only negates down time between battles, as the combat healing would be useless if you can afford a 9th lvl slot. Until...
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/staves/staff-of-the-master-necromancy

Most decreases to metamagic costs explicitly state they can't be used above your highest spell slot you can cast, but not Staff of the Masters...Sure, you can only use this 1 use/8 days, but at the extreme burst that staves were meant for, the trade-off is worth. And there are ways to diminish the downtime like Fat goblin Games' Arcane Battery feat series, allowing multiple charges when recharging a staff, up to 10/day after 3 feats!

So with the given above, what spells would you take and run full speed ahead with? Personally, while still broken, I'd find unlimited uses of Wall of Force to be hilarious.
"Like I said guys, we're going THIS way! (Walls of Force close off the other direction)"

Games don't usually last past lvl20, either because the campaign ended, the insane xp to reach the next lvl, drama splits up the players, yada yada. Lvl20 is a soft cap, meaning you can get there, and there are rules to go beyond it, but it isn't likely to happen without the GM pre-planning it.

For a feat with functionality, its got good RP value. A sniper lays low, begins to take aim, picking off important targets and turning the tide of battle.

If you're going crossbowman, could try an alternative and go Prone Shooter.

And this...

Boneshard Bomb+Implant Bomb.

...I'll...just leave this here
*sets down*
Machinesmith.

Enjoy your crossbow turrets, animated weapons and such.

Are there any other archetypes that make for good harassers?

Just an idea, but at one point I thought of taking Cavalier for the full BAB and tactician, or inquisitor for the solo tactics and then using the Weapon Champion and

The RP would work well too; blacksnake gets all the ladies/guys when he/she can take their pants off 15ft away and play keep away holding said pants.

The will saves definitely hurt, but by max lvl the combined saves of both are still on par for either class. I think you're right on taking a boring but useful feat like iron will. I don't think I put down any traits yet either, so I can probably get a bonus to saves from those too.

I did miss it, sorry. I'll take a look at that Stalker too

That's.....a good question. I pretty much burned talents that way because I had no idea what else to take. There's only so much you can enhance on sneak attack before they dont stack.

EDITED the progression, stuck with 3 blank slots for talents that I don't know what to take

So after working a bit on putting it all together, it seems the best way to build this is to multiclass, with about 14 lvls of Stalker/Hitman/Unchained/Rogue, and 6 Sniper/Slayer as a Half-Elf. Definitely picking up Sniper goggles ASAP, and I think I'll use a Heavy Crossbow for the extra range increment and better damage die. Crossbow Mastery at lv6, just in time to get a second attack if I start out Slayer.

Talents:
-Slayer: Blood Reader, Ranger feat(precise shot),ranger feat(crossbow mastery), bleeding attack (extra talent from Human FCB)
-rogue: weapon training (crossbow), combat trick (rapid shot), 3 random talents (extra talent from Human FCB)
Advanced Talent: assassinate, double debilitation, master sniper (different than feat of same name), trap master (extra talent from Human FCB)

Feats:
-skill focus (Stealth)(half elf bonus)
-improved sniping (-10 to stealth instead of -20 for sniping)
-point blank shot (pre-req to imp. precise shot)
-expansive trap (to compliment the Stalker archetype's traps)
-master sniper (-5 to stealth instead of -10 or -20 for sniping)
-hellcat stealth (-10 to hide in plain sight with no dim light)
-presence of mind (INT+DEX to initiative)
-Improved Precise Shot
-reckless aim
-prone shooter
-(lv19 feat)

What else should I add to the list for the last feat and 3 talents? I've looked at the standard range stuff, but does any of it really work well for the build?

Feedback?

See if you can take this campaign trait:
Fools for Friends.

and definitely make sure to pick up this and some benevoloent gear:
Ring of tactical precision.

and here's a good AC boost for Aid Another:
Virtue Creed.

I kinda skimmed the titles of each, found interesting classes, some decent with range, but ultimately none that combine both range proficiency and Sneak Attack levels or another form of ranged damage.

I really really want to try out a Shadowdancer sometime, but this is not the time to do so, not with this character : /

So I might end up going with the Unchained Rogue then, with the Hitman Archetype. It gives that nice Assassinate from Slayer at lv10, basically giving you your Rogue's Save or Die right then. It also gives the better Hide in Plain Sight, rather than having to choose a ranger terrain. Studied Target for increased attack rolls, and a bonus to stealth against your studied targets are great perks from the archetype too. Do any of the Prestige classes work well off this kind of start?

Also, apparently Slayer's Sniper Archetype (not to be confused with the Rogue's Sniper Archetype) just got a buff in the ACG errata update. Instead of +10ft to SA at lv2, and then no benefit it's:
"At 2nd level, when the sniper makes an attack against a target who is within his weapon's first range increment and completely unaware of his presence, that attack ignores the 30 foot range limit on ranged sneak attacks, and if it is a sneak attack, he adds his sniper level as a bonus on his sneak attack damage roll. After this first attack, the target is aware of the sniper's presence."

The problem becomes that it is only ONE attack, AND that last sentence means you are detected too. Meaning a separate action to stealthing next turn, or this one if you haven't moved yet.

That's very true Faelyn; I remember reading a thread/argument about the very case on whether or not "recognizing the slayer as an enemy" meant someone was screwed after they had hit them even once during combat even if the slayer was still stealthed or invisible. But the talent is absolutely worth the question to the gm for a full sneak attack.

Also, I was not aware that unchained classes are still compatible with Archetypes from the regular version of classes. I'm not exactly experienced in Pathfinder too much, but what about talents not listed for the Unchained Rogue?

EDIT*** Nevermind about the talents part. Easily circumvented by a ridiculous method of taking the unchained Rogue talent Ninja Trick into a regular Rogue Talent into whatever needed...silly but it seems doable.

I like all the suggestions, thanks guys! I also found a talent that would unlock full attack sneak attacks while stealthed:

Master Sniper.
"As a full-round action, a rogue with this talent may double the sniping penalty to her Stealth check to make a full attack and hide afterward, instead of only making a single attack. All her attacks gain the benefits of being hidden, not just the first."

That all sounds great, the one thing though is are you quite sure you want to go with whip? I love whips, favorite weapon in everything ever made, but you might want to consider taking Baleful Aura to increase your Aura range then, or spend a feat in Racial Heritage whether you're Half-Elf or Human and say you were raised by Wayangs so you can take their FCB. This way you can use the full max range of your whip while keeping enemies in your aura.

So I'm trying to come up with a character idea based around Sniping and utilizing stealth with a sneak attack from a high range. I'd like to prioritize damage AND range, balancing the two. 3rd Party stuff is allowed. I found that both Rogue and Slayer have Archetypes that increase range.

Can people help weigh in on ways to optimize this kind of build? I'm looking for any other classes that would work, feats, traits, equipment etc.

Thanks :)

I misread the main feature of Maledictions as thinking they had a strife cost. Only the Dread does. I take back my entire post.

Knowing the resource management is much better than I originally thought, the class seems just right now. Half of the Maledictions without a Dread upgrade are already Save or Suck.

They can be very effective as a frontline support for a caster. Pump high WIS, then DEX/AC, and then CON. Debuff enemy saves on the primary target, throw an Apt. Curse on each enemy for keeping an enemy locked in place, and then proceed to use Oafstep to trip people.
Taboo if someone tried to run away by throwing some mundane item and calling taboo on it, or shooting an arrow with taboo. Grab Unwilling Bodyguard if you have a person using a bow.

honestly, the class seems strong as a debuffing class.

I'd go for Maledictions pretty much in the order I listed.
As for class, there are quite a few with great FCB, I'd pick up Halfling because they get to pick ANY FCB they want, get bonuses to DEX and therefore AC, they also flavor being about luck as well as get Luck traits. You could pick up Halfling Jinx to further this role.

If you're still worried about it being up there with the rest of the party you could talk to your GM about one of these 3 options for house-Ruling.

Home-rule options:
1) A Malefactor Recovers 1 Strife point whenever an enemy dies in her aura due to their unfortunate ending.
2) A Malefactor regains a number of Strife before each combat = to (1/4th? not sure about this number) their Maximum daily Strife points turning the Malefactor's misfortune of an encounter, into the enemies' misfortune for encountering her.
3) A Malefactor can regain Strife Points in the same manner a Gunslinger can regain Grit, by utilizing daring and risky tasks. These are feats that proc when the class runs out of points. You can perform the trigger event the feat states in order to regain a single point.

All of these are just options and probably shouldn't be combined. Personally I like the idea of #3, because Strife feels on par with Grit in mechanics, and the theme seems to mesh a bit on the daring tasks.

Are you still adding to the list of guides? If so heres 2 I've used before and liked.

This is an extremely detailed alchemist build guide:

Alchemist Guide.

and this one for Psionics Vitalist class:

Vitalist Guide.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

I would agree but only if Precise bombs didn't effect the cloud.

Precise Bomb- "Whenever the alchemist throws a bomb, he can select a number of squares equal to his Intelligence modifier that are not affected by the splash damage from his bombs. If the bomb misses, this discovery has no effect."

Precise bomb specifically calls out "splash damage". If Precise affects the cloud, then I definitely agree it shouldn't also be a moving cloud. Too much of a hassle. But it seems like the wording means the other discoveries modifying the bomb and are unrelated to damage are unaffected by the precise discovery. Effects like Smoke/Plague/Poison Bombs.

That all sounds for the most part favorable to what I'd like to be the case.

I also have another question to add to the list. Strafe Bomb's wording make me a little uneasy because it feel a little unclear.

strafe bomb- "The alchemist can throw bombs that splash in a 40-foot line rather than affecting a radius. The line starts at the alchemist and extends away from him in the direction he chooses. The alchemist designates one creature in the squares affected by the line to be the target of the bomb and makes his attack roll against that creature; all other squares in the line take splash damage."

Then as per the wording you can designate any of the 8 spaces adjacent to the alchemist...And from there determine its direction as well. As long as it does not have the Alchemist in the splash radius (throw it in a square then draw the line through his square), then it should work right?

XXXX/
XXX/X
XC/XX
XXXXX

or

XXXXX
XXC|X
XXX|X
XXX|X

Because of the wording though, I'm not sure you can do this however because it doesn't appear to "extend away from him."

XXXXX
XXX|X
XXC|X
XXX|X
XXX|X

Does anyone at least have an opinion on any of the questions? I'd at least like to hear people's sides one way or another

I think I know the answer, but I wanted to double check about this discovery that modifies bombs.

Poison Bomb- "The effects of the smoke created by an alchemist’s bomb duplicates the effects of cloudkill instead of fog cloud, filling an area equal to twice the bomb’s splash radius for 1 round per level."

Cloudkill- "Unlike a fog cloud, the cloudkill moves away from you at 10 feet per round, rolling along the surface of the ground.
Figure out the cloud's new spread each round based on its new point of origin, which is 10 feet farther away from the point of origin where you cast the spell. Because the vapors are heavier than air, they sink to the lowest level of the land, even pouring down den or sinkhole openings. It cannot penetrate liquids, nor can it be cast underwater."

Does the Area Spread work as Cloudkill and continue moving away from the point of origin? Or rather does it stay in place? I would guess RAI it stays in place because of the last sentence of Poison Bomb, but could the case be made for RAW it continues moving?

And then the second question I have is: Does the Complex Bomb Discovery of the Saboteur allow the status ailment bombs? RAI feels like yes, but RAW doesn't seem to show support as much. I found a couple threads related but they all end in RAI yes, no resolved RAW answer.

Furthermore, if one were to take Grenadier and use directed blast with poison bomb, would the cloud also be in the shape of a cone as the bombs splash was?

-"At 6th level, a grenadier can detonate a bomb so that it splashes in a 20-foot cone rather than affecting a radius. The cone starts at the alchemist and extends away from her in the direction she chooses. The alchemist designates one creature in the squares affected by the cone to be the target of the bomb and makes her attack roll against that creature; all other squares in the cone take splash damage. If the alchemist has the explosive bomb discovery and throws an explosive directed blast, the cone of splash damage is 30 feet long instead of 20 feet."

Does this answer extend to/from what would happen if Strafe Bomb would be combined with the Poison Bomb's cloud?