iosifs's page

I did want to comment on this, as it's a trap many people fall into on accident when starting new in the game.

Whatever alignment you play, that's fine, however, no matter what, don't have your character betray the rest of the team.

Seriously, I cannot stress this enough - you cannot have a character who will betray the rest of the players, unless it's a twist the rest of the players are actively "on board" with for the game that you play that with them.

(...)

That said, especially as this is your first foray, I strongly recommend against any betrayal, even in-character. Hurt feelings are an all-too-real possibility, even and especially on accident, even between friends.

All this I considered, but I had him planned to at least make some arc to a better, less-evil side. He has a backstory making him volatile but he wouldn't betray the group he is with. Even if my group is made up of my own friends, I wouldn't wanna be a dick.

... I recommend that you build a sorcerer for your first go at magic in Pathfinder.

The reason? There are a lot of moving parts in the Pathfinder game (as you're learning), and a sorcerer is (in my opinion) a bit easier to start with than a wizard (as you don't have to juggle your spell-selection each day - you can simply learn what you can do and keep that).

I'm definitely not going to ignore this, and I'm gonna switch him to a sorcerer because of that "spell per day" thing, yeah. I need an easy entry class to get used to the game so I totally get this.

Some new questions (after looking at more stuff, ugh)!

1. What is point buying (vs. rolling)?
2. Are there just standard/static ability scores I can set them to get started or is that out-right cheating (or does it matter??? literally our first campaign, we're all new, we just wanna jump in)?
3. As a sorcerer and only having one knowledge class skill, still a good idea to focus ranking on knowledge or any other place? That, with either class, I'm still trying to figure out.
4. TIPS, TIPS, TIPS. ARMOR, WEAPONS, TIPS.

Right: 'trained' indicates ranks (any number of ranks) in the skill.

Alright! So long story short, all skills (and class skills) are all untrained until at least one rank is put into it. The only thing with class skills is that it gives a +3 bonus once a rank is dropped into it (and therefore trained if *Trained Only).

BTW, you said your INT was 13... for an arcanist. Really? Did you use rolled stats? 15-point buy? That seems very low for a dedicated spellcaster.

Also, you may have just chosen one of the most complex spellcasting classes in the game. Welcome to Pathfinder!

It was just a first roll, but I am pretty much going to do that over. This was us just testing how things worked. He isn't cemented at 13 INT, and I may not even keep him as an arcanist (just move him to a wizard), because I know it's an advanced class.

Yes: the number of ranks you have is a bonus to your skill roll.

So - a class skill in which you have ranks has a bonus of [NUMBER OF RANKS] + [ATTRIBUTE MODIFIER] + 3.

A skill in which you have ranks (that is not on the class skill list) has a bonus of [NUMBER OF RANKS] + [ATTRIBUTE MODIFIER].

Some skills can't be used untrained at all. But if the skill doesn't say 'Trained only', you can attempt it by rolling a d20 plus the attribute modifier it uses (as if it were an attribute check).

Certain races get racial bonuses to certain skills - these bonuses apply to all three situations (class skill, non-class skill, and untrained.)

Yes, this clarified it for me! Thank you.

Correct on both questions.

Thank you so much then! I need all the information on the trivializing stuff I can get. One last thing! No matter how many ranks there are on a class skill, the +3 bonus doesn't stack (this much I know). But does the amount of ranks in that skill (class or not) as an additional bonus to the roll in a skill check?

Like, for a class roll... a roll of 6 +(number of ranks) +3(bonus)? Or just 6 +3(rank bonus)?

(Sorry for all the questions, I am always paranoid about stuff like this.)

Are class skills automatically trained or just, there needs to be a rank in that anyway for it to be used? I may be re-asking the same question, but this is just to clarify.

The only thing a class skill does is give you a +3 bonus on the skill check if you have at least 1 rank in the skill.

Any class can put a skill rank into any skill. Any class can use any skill - the only exception are Trained skills. For Trained skills, you must have at least 1 rank in that skill to use it.

Okay, so only check the box if it is a CLASS skill (I'm dumb, I wasn't looking at the character sheet right). Rank points can be added to ANY skill despite the class... but it HAS to be a class skill in order for the +3 bonus to be added when there is at least one rank on it?

For all classes, you use what is listed. So if it says you get 2 + Int modifier per level, you get2 + Int mod for that level. Add any other bonus ranks you might get to that, like the +1 for being a human.

Makes sense. I think it wasn't being read right in my head.

P.S. Thank you for replying so quickly.

I have a human arcanist I am currently working on more as a demo to try out things for our first campaign (our first meeting, we are actually all mostly new and my girlfriend is GM'ing, so we are going to go through putting our sheets together as best we can). Earlier today we purchased the hardcover Core Rulebook and I've been skimming through it for answers I had to things I just couldn't put together in my head (sometimes how these sentences are structured, I can't figure it out?) But I have a bunch of pages, chapters, sections bookmarked to go back to where I need to. I am aware the arcanist is an advanced class.

UH, NOW MY QUESTIONS:

➥ My first and biggest confusion is over class skills. And whatever the arcanist has in their class skills (a mix of wizard/sorcerer ones, got it) is automatically checked off in the skills list, yes? So does that mean it just automatically learned? (Not regarding the skill ranks earned per level. It doesn't need to be trained or anything? And if there is a rank put into it, that's mostly just adding the +3 bonus and giving it more of a chance to succeed when it comes to skill-based checks.

➥ I read somewhere that there is a formula for determining how many skills (rank?) points is determined for a first level and I think an arcanist was at 16. Is this true or what does it start at? ("Humans gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level" / arcanist: skill ranks per level: 2 + INT modifier. So at first level, would I be assigning 2 + INT modifier + racial (+1; or is that per level gained after?)IN SUMMATION: How many skill rank point things do I start out with on the first level, and how do I find this out? Is it the same ranks per level formula?

➥ I also just found out that ranks do not stack +3 bonuses, they are an additional bonus number toward skill-based rolls/checks. Whatever question I had for that seemed to be the only thing I found clarified (sorta) in the core rulebook. Huh-freakin'-zah.

➥ If someone can find me a completed character sheet on an arcanist or wizard (can't seem to find one) to send my way, I need a reference to something. (I have all information about him, he's a character I've had for a while and I wanted to incorporate him as a chaotic evil arcanist stuck with a rag-tag team of new kids on the block.)