What is wrong with the stealth rules?
Unanswered questions here.
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I'm a massive advocate of going Samsaran.... you pretty much fix the list in one swoop. Which spells do you usually acquire with Mystic Past Life?
I am putting Mordo back in his cage. More fun here.
Mordo has discovered the FAQ/Errata (link, link) stating crafters of many magic items can set the caster level to whatever they desire. "He can set the caster level to whatever he wants (assuming he can meet the crafting DC)..." So, theory-crafters, how can we abuse this? For what spells would a high caster level be worth the extra expense when making a potion, scroll, or wand?
Here is one suggestion to get us started... --- A wand of animate dead is expensive but could create a dumpload of minions. Note that the spell explicitly allows controlling any amount of minions created with one casting. The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled. You choose which creatures are released. Pricey, but most monarchs would want one when leading the army to war. --- A better version would be a wand of Undeath Wordspell. This spell is only second level and has no material component. But the wordspell has slightly different wording. A picky GM might decree that the bolded "additional" in the quotation below does include a large number of minions created with one casting, rather than only referring to subsequent castings. The caster can control no more than 4 HD per caster level of undead creatures. If additional undead are created, the caster chooses which undead to lose control of to get back under the limit.
Thanks.
You can end up with a ridiculous static to hit/damage that is worth far more than the piddly 4d6 sneak attack damage.
Two gestalt ideas. First here. Combine Seeker Heavens Oracle and Primalist Untouchable Bloodrager. Trapfinding, martial healing. At low levels be cheesy with Awesome Display and color spray. Rage cycle with the lame curse at fifth level, with the curse's movement penalty offset by the Fast Movement of the Bloodrager class. At mid levels be a super-rager who is pre-buffed with the Cleric spell list, immune to surprise and flanking, and very resistant to spells. Second, combine Undine Shaman (Flame spirit, wandering spirit Lore) with Menhir Savant Druid (Rivers subdomain). Lots of fire and water spells, and both knock foes prone. Wildshape for scouting and mobility.
I will often give the players an incomplete map. I am terrible at describing room dimensions without totally breaking the flow of an otherwise exciting story. My preference is for each player to have a miniature for his or her PC. These mark "this is the room I am in" without worrying about actual map squares. Every now and then I might ask, "Which doorway are you nearest?" or something else of tactical importance that a player could answer with his or her mini.
Updated with some changes. Are the ability score penalties start at the third Esoteric Echelon too harsh?
I will just say that reading Occult Adventures did not inspire me to create characters of any of those new classes... ...but I was inspired to compose house rules about how to create the mood of the literary genre about "occult detectives" who investigate and deal with creatures and cultists that have strange paranormal powers and dangerous esoteric knowledge. Enjoy! Happy Halloween! p.s. - please discuss these house rules here instead of in this playtest part of the forum.
Have you ever wanted a Pathfinder adventure to have the mood of "occult detectives" who investigate and fight creatures and cultists with paranormal powers and esoteric knowledge? They can be used with any type of Pathfinder play, from only Core Rulebook to overlapping the new Occult Adventures playtest book. Constructive feedback is welcome.
Have you conceived a mechanic, extrapolated or not, for extracting a venom from a poisonous predator using Craft (alchemy) to subsidize the cost of creating or refining and existing or new poison recipe? Not for Pathfinder. For Nine Powers, my own diceless, two-player RPG, I have designed an entire set of economy and magic rules. Perhaps you can find something to steal from there, to do the job in Pathfinder. Personally, if I were a Pathfinder GM and a Player wanted his or her PC to try that, I would make the challenge completely different. Putting the animal's venom glads or poisonous skin into boiling water and distilling the poison should be a trivial task--but also a dangerous one. How will the PC contain the steamy vapors? Adjust the final concentration? Clean up the equipment? To my mind the expense in gold would be very small, but a failed skill check could mean poisoning everyone in the room, a product with unknown potency, and/or equipment unsafe to touch that must be swept into a sack and probably buried.
@Ciaran Barnes Good points, but adopting them moves away from compatibility with the published poisons. I merely interpolated what the math was, not what it should be.
Oracles are spontaneous casters and do not prepare spells. Duh. My bad. You know what I meant, though.
I'm sure we will survive, just looking for a way of easing us past this rough point. If your GM is competent, the "rough point" has a purpose. For example... The Shining Child was a Big Boss who was supposed to whomp you now, so that once you were more experienced and prepared the victory would feel great. The archer has a prophetic dream the next night. When he wakes up in the morning, he discovers that some higher power has temporarily replaced his Zen Archer and Fighter levels with six levels of Oracle with the Blind curse. He knows from the dream that once the blindness is healed, his class levels will return to his original character plan. Of course, a sixth level Oracle can normally pray and prepare Remove Blindness/Deafness any morning. But there must be a reason for the situation, right? Better to stay an Oracle at least a day or two, right...? Would the mysterious higher power even grant use of that spell? It is nice to know someone high up is watching over you. It is less nice to realize you are their pawn. Hm. Maybe that hints at the larger campaign plot...
Just a note that Nine Powers, my two-player, kid-friendly, and diceless RPG, has been updated.
Enjoy! I apologize that most of the sample adventures are not yet typed up at this time. Life has been busy.
You're far better off playing two characters... You'll NEED the action economy. Could two normal (non-gestalt) PCs survive? Or are you recommending two gestalts?
Ah, the answer seems to be no. I confess that with such delayed casting, and spell DCs tied to the spell level instead of caster level, I am not sure what Metamagic Rager is supposed to excel at. Extending the duration of his buff spells? Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Updated to also include the feats Ferocious Loyalty and Swarm Strike.
Heh. The Metamagic Rager archetype also stacks and is a bit vague... At 5th level, a metamagic rager can sacrifice additional rounds of bloodrage to apply a metamagic feat he knows to a bloodrager spell... This could indeed be worth the loss of Uncanny Dodge if it refers to any spell on the Bloodrager spell list, instead of any spell cast from Bloodrager spell slots.
Paladin is nice since you can Lay on Hands as a swift and still have a standard action. So, Paladin / Investigator would cover Martial, Healing, Trapfinding, and some arcane support. Hm. Why not combine Seeker Heavens Oracle and Primalist Untouchable Bloodrager? No swift action healing, but Trapfinding, better Martial and Healing, and arguably better spellcasting. At low levels be cheesy with Awesome Display and color spray. Rage cycle with the lame curse at fifth level, with the curse's movement penalty offset by the Fast Movement of the Bloodrager class. At mid levels be a super-rager who is pre-buffed with the Cleric spell list, immune to surprise and flanking, and very resistant to spells.
Someone is thinking of being GM, for me being a solo player of a gestalt PC for Emerald Spire. Is his offer a fun challenge or a waste of time for both of us? Any advice on which gestalt combinations might work? No spoilers, please.
One example: Undines have Water Affinity. Water Affinity: Undine sorcerers with the elemental (water) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Undine clerics with the Water domain cast their Water domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. The Water domain has five subdomains. Would an Undine cleric with the Flotsam, Flowing, Ice, Oceans, or Rivers subdomain get the boost?
The spell obscuring mist makes a "misty vapor" that is also called "fog". Presumably this is "magic fog" as opposed to mundane fog, although I cannot find anything in the conjuration rules that specifically declares it. A fourth-level Tempest Druid can see partly through it. At 4th level, a tempest druid can see through 10 feet of magical fog, mist, gas, wind, rain, or similar inclement weather conditions, ignoring any concealment it might grant. This distance increases by 5 feet for every 4 levels beyond 4th. A Cloud Gazer Sylph has a carefully worded ability to see through magical fog. You can see through fog, mist, and clouds, without penalty, ignoring any cover or concealment bonuses from such effects. If the effect is created by magic, this feat instead triples the distance you can see without penalty. What about a Shaman using either of the relevant two spirits?
Can the Shaman see though the obscuring mist because it is a kind of fog? Or is the Shaman unable to see though the obscuring mist because the fog has a magical source? Lacking the specific wording of the fist two PC abilities, I could understand either interpretation. (The Burn Rider Barbarian and Flame Dancer Bard also want to know your answer.)
Agreed. That essay was written after the APG was published, and now only describes "traditional and obvious" choices. I am busy working on my two-player, diceless rpg and do not have time now to update it to incorporate the newer options for poison-using characters. Nor have I ever seen a poison-using Pathfinder PC at the table. Hopefully others will help, in its discussion thread.
Yes. Each guide has a link to its own discussion page, at the conclusion of the introductory blockquote box.
Added a small section about the Spirit's Gift feat.
I have written guides about Teamwork Feats and Pets as well as Lighting, Stealth, and the Hide in Plain Sight ability. Also, my essay about Poisons is both a guide and an interpolation for house rules.
While creating my new Guide to Teamwork Feats and Animal Companions, I realized I never made a forum thread to discuss my now-classic house rules for Finishing the Poison Rules. Please share your constructive criticism! There must be some, because so many more classes and archetypes are designed to use poisons than when I first wrote that essay. Thanks!
No advice at all?
Yes. But I did not want to include sample animal companions with more than one example character, to avoid giving the impression that there was a "best choice" for each sample build. Besides, any mount-based class requires a somewhat flexible GM who does not intend to campaign through My Favorite Mazes of Five Foot Corridors. I would hope that someone who chose the weaknesses inherent in being a Casting Hunter would have a GM that gives the animal companion class feature room to shine.
Thanks, but no thanks. I am not trying to write a general "how to build a Hunter" guide, nor a "how to build an animal companion" guide. But I did add three sample animal companions for Cassandra, to mention what a Hunter can do beyond what a Druid can do, and demonstrate more uses for Evolved Companion. Plus I love the image of an Ankylosaurus with improved damage and lead blades doing 4d6+12 damage to knock down a door to use Stunning Irruption. (A two-inch door has 5 hardness and 20 hit points, which is less than one average hit.)
The only thing I would mention more directly, is that you can use improved spell sharing and then exchange it for another teamwork feat once you and your animal companion are buffed. Done, in the text for Cassandra the Caster.
Inquisitor build cannot get Outflank at lvl 1 with bonus feat it has +4 BAB as a prereq. Good catch. Corrected in the first paragraph.
Also, if you're dipping into Sohei, consider taking a Bodyguard archetype companion, and the Lookout feat. A paragraph about that line of thought has been added.
My old guides about Poisons and Hide in Plain Sight remain classics at the top of Google searches.
Now I introduce another guide: Teamwork Feats and Animal Companions. Learn how a large but somewhat hidden combat sub-system involving animal companions, teamwork feats, and attacks of opportunity works by meeting Fred the Foundation, Nigel the Net-User, Shreve the Strong, Horace the Horseman, Cassandra the Caster, Alice the Archer, and Wallace the Whirlwind. Constructive criticism is appreciated, as always.
...if the class’s abilities are tied to serving a deity. Agreed. The witch's backstory would require the rules-vague Patron to be a deity or perhaps one of the deity's key servants.
I'd suggest heavily about picking up spirit talker at 6th level it's a very potent feat for witches. Ooo! With Spirit Talker and the Arcane Enlightenment hex from the lore spirit the Witch can learn Wizard spells for the day. A shame the saving throw is based on Wisdom, but still very nice.
I think the next character I play will be a neutrally aligned Hex Channeler Gravewalker Witch. This seems like a super-Cleric. Heal your friends! Take control of undead! Cast both arcane and divine spells! And now Witches, at tenth level, can start using a flavorful version of the Druid's wildshape ability. With variant channeling there is the option to heal one point of ability score damage with channeled positive energy, to alleviate needing the Healing Patron to add the restoration spells to the character's spell list. That all sounds great! How would you finish the character? What race? Traits? Feats? Patron? Familiar? Etc.
The Hangover Cleric is a build that uses variant channeling to debuff. Channel energy is used by a neutral or evil PC with the "harm" variant to daze (Rulership) or nauseate (Ale/Wine) for one round, or even better make all the foes in the area provoke an AoO (Envy) for their turn's action. The feat Selective Channeling is needed, and Improved Channel is nearly as important. The feat Channeling Scourge allows a Cleric 1/Inquisitor X to do the same thing. The obvious problem is that a high-Charisma Inquisitor is not focusing as much on combat. I am wondering if a Varisian Pilgrim Cleric 1 / Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor X could fix this weakness, at least for the first ten or twelve levels, perhaps in combination with the feat Evolved Companion. (I recognize that animal companions lag behind in high-level play.) Can an animal companion, variant channeling, domain abilities (perhaps from three domains?) and Inquisitor spells contribute respectably enough to the party?
Please allow a quick recap. (a) People want to use Pathfinder to create several flavors of adventure story. (b) The Pathfinder rules provide many options for how to create characters. (c) The Pathfinder rules provide almost no guidance for how to subdivide or restrict those options to support a desired flavor of adventure. In other words, Pathfinder tries to allow creating everything. But it does not guide you towards composing anything. And that lack of guidance is not "freedom", it is "confusion" and "lack of balance". We are trying to ask for books such as Pathfinder: Hardboiled Noir Flavor or Pathfinder: Wuxia Flavor or Pathfinder: Destined to Save the Kingdom Flavor that have no new options but simply collect all the relevant archetypes, traits, feats, spells, items, etc. for that particular flavor in one place concluded by a few chapters about how a Player and GM can contribute at the table to creating that type of flavor. Accurate recap?
I mean, I understand the part of the spontaneous vs memorized spells, but what other things are the main difference that make the cleric shine with this AP in a 3 man party My favorite cleric -- note the buffing, crafting for the party, and variant channel to restore ability score damage without spell use. And it's a giant rat riding a dinosaur!
Good points. Not sure how I misread Precise Strike this whole time.
Here is another idea to focus more on spell casting, adapting the suggestion to use Magus. Focus on Charisma and Strength. For his traits, use Armor Master and Magical Knack. His first level feat is Noble Scion of War to use his Charisma modifier for initiative. Start with four levels of Eldrich Scion Magus. This provides Charisma-based spontaneous casting off the Magus spell list, a sufficient Eldrich Pool that doubles as an Arcane Pool, and the ability to start every combat benefiting from a thematic effect (blur, protection from arrows, resist energy, or spider climb). It retains Spellstrike and most of Spell Combat. His third level Magus Arcana should be Flamboyant Arcana, and his level three feat is Extra Arcana to get Arcane Deed for the Swashbuckler deed "Precise Strike". Now he adds his Charisma bonus to damage! At fifth level, enjoy the Divine Protection feat and take a single level dip of Divine Strategist Cleric with the Trickery domain. He can always act in a surprise round, gets disguise self daily, and Mirror Image as a spell-like ability. The new first-level Cleric spell weapon wand can fuse a wand of true strike or shocking grasp with his weapon, to reduce spell casting without investing in more Magus Arcana options. At sixth level switch to Mystic Theurge using the early entry divine option through the Trickery Domain. Now his Charisma modifier is helping his damage, initiative, all saving throws, Magus spell casting, and his Eldrich Pool. He needs Strength to hit and do yet more damage. (Dexterity and Constitution help his defenses, but he is soon wearing a Mithril Breastplate and following the Barbarian's philosophy of "do so much damage they die first". Wisdom is not very important if he only uses his Cleric spells to buff and heal. Intelligence is not his strong point.)
Thanks again. Since we don't know precisely what seems "ninja-ish" to him, nor how high level the campaign will reach, we're probably done. Feel free to keep brainstorming. Also consider this a congratulatory fist bump and we can be done. I have sent him and e-mail with a link to this forum thread. If anyone has time to write up what their favored concept looks like at seventh level, that might be persuasive to him. He has done enough D&D and early (fewer books) Pathfinder to know how to read a character sheet well.
If wall climbing is important to him (I do not know), the Vanara race has a climb speed. But that would not work well with my original idea, because of the Vanaran penalty to Charisma. (For a plain Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor without the Swashbuckler dip it could be groovy.) --- I noticed that the Inquisitor spell list lacks some of what are probably considered the most "ninja-like" spells such as Vanish, Blur, and Mirror Image. But it does have quite enough. First Level - Disguise Self, Divine Favor, Expeditious Retreat, Magic Weapon, Returning Weapon, Shield of Faith, True Strike, Vocal Alteration Second Level - Acute Senses, Bloodhound, Darkness, Death Candle, Death Knell, Detect Thoughts, Enshroud Thoughts, Escaping Ward, Find Traps, Follow Aura, Ghostly Disguise, Hold Person, Invisibility, Knock, Perceive Cues, See Invisibility, Silence, Undetectable Alignment, Whispering Wind |