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This playstyle is pretty much how a shifter druid plays up to the low teens. Although, of course, there is a LOT of baggage that goes along with playing a druid. But in a home game it might make a good chassis for such a mage.
Being primarily a shifter with some spell support works pretty well up to about the low teens. But you’re totally right that
Even a shifting focused Druid HAS to keep their wisdom at or very near maximum which means less con and makes you a bit fragile in the front lines
You said that you're fairly inexperienced with M&M so I thought that I'd mention that PL 8 is the usual recommended starting level for teen super heros (Gives them room to grow and keeps them less powerful than the adults). PL 10 gives us a LOT of points to play with :-). But PL 10 is fine :-). Sky High has made me think of Layla. Would - Plant Boy be a reasonably quirk? He'd be able to control existing plants, create things from wood (including armour around himself), that sort of thing?
Deliberately choosing different ones than Tridus (all of which except
Tailwind is so good that I've been in multiple PFS groups where EVERYONE has it. My personal favourite blasting spell gotten at levels where people actually play is Chain Lightning Untamed Form is great fun at appropriate levels. Not sure if a focus spell that takes lots of feats counts in this list but I love it so I'm including it :-). For sheer utter "Paizo just totally gave up on even pretending that out of combat healing is an issue" then I nominate Garden of Healing I've only starting using it, but Illusory Creature can be remarkably useful and versatile for a low level spell. Depends a bit too much on GM and Player to be a staple but in the right hands it rocks.
This is almost identical to the last one. Fixed one error (I had the Con and Int swapped), used some of the Affinity (stat boost) feats. Will worry more about equipment (and will create an alias) if selected Sahela Jamal is a L1 Noble/L2 Wilder/L4 Initiate/L3 Windfinder She has never managed to remove her Block. She must be happy in order to channel. Personality:
In general, Sahela is a friendly, happy person who loves her life. While she very definitely has a decadent streak a mile wide she can put it aside and rough it when the circumstances call for it. And she is compassionate and caring, never putting her pleasure above others rights. Pleasure should be mutual, not taken at the expense of others. She has a bubbly, nearly irrepresible personality. She always likes to look On The Bright Side of Life. Despite the above, she is a shrewd merchant and a credit to both her Clan and Family. She is fiercely loyal to both of these. She has a strong sense of responsibility to those under her command, those she considers her friends, etc.
History:
Sahela Jamal is the third born child of a noble merchant family from Arad Doman. She had a fairly typical childhood for a Domani noble woman, learning the arts of seduction and learning how to work within her families business empire. That all changed when she discovered that she had the ability to channel the One Power. Not particularly wanting to join the Aes Sedai she successfully hid this ability for awhile. But one day family business took her onto an Atha'An Miere ship where her ability was quickly discovered. Both because she seemed fairly strong in weather magic and because they could see the value in having a noble merchant significantly in their debt they swore Sahela to secrecy and agreed to train her in both The Power and in their culture. She spent several years mastering her power, although she was never able to overcome her block. Possibly because it so rarely actually affected her, she was always a good natured happy person and she quickly mastered the self control required to attain that emotion more or less at will. At this point in her life she was truly a daughter of two cultures. While she chafed at the discipline required on ship she loved the fun loving attitudes of the Atha'An Miere in general and soon mastered the skills required to function on shipboard (she already was quite adept at the merchant skills needed). Never being fully accepted by the Atha'an Miere they still greatly valued her, especially her contacts into the Jamal family business. And having somebody who was quite willing to travel on land as well as on ship was a great asset. From the point of view of her family, having access to the trade networks of her adopted clan was also of great benefit. Both her adopted clan and her family benefited from the relationship, both were quite happy with her progress in the Power, both were very eager to keep her abilities quiet. And then Tarmon Gai'don came and the need for secrecy vanished. Given that her Clan wasn't participated directly but her family was she joined a company of soldiers loyal to the Jamal family fighting on the side of the Dragon Reborn and led by her elder brother. The Jamal company was too small to have any huge impact on the fight but it gained a reputation of being a solid, well lead, well disciplined force capable of achieving the missions assigned to it. Sahela was a significant asset. While she wasn't capable of raining down fire from the skies on the enemies she WAS very good at getting weather to help conceal her troops, usethe magic to set up ambushes, etc. The Jamals and her Atha'An Miere clan could (and did) hold their heads high over their contribution to the great victory. Since the victory at Tarmon Gai'don she has spent much of her time with the Athan'An Miere and has finally been granted the rank and status of Windfinder which they had previously been unwilling to give to one not fully of their people. She has spent the last few years mastering her skills with the Power, working with her clan, and trying to find diplomatic solutions to the Seanchen occupation of her homeland. She is getting a bit bored of the quiet life and is seeking an opportunity for adventure.
Stats:
Str 11 Dex 13 Con 13 Int 16 Wis 18 Cha 16 BAB +4, Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +18. Def +7(+1 Dex), Rep 7
Feats:
Background : Domani, Seductive L1: L1 Noble (Noble Knowledge, Inspire Courage) L1 Feat : Inteligence Talent L2: L1 Wilder : Block, Cross-Talent, Overchanneling, Affnity Air, Talent Cloudwalking L3: L2 Wilder : Wilder Feat: Extra Affinity (Water) L3 Feat - Skill Focus (Composure) L4 L1 Initiate : Talent (Elementalism) Affinity (Spirit) L4 L1 Initiate Feat : Extra Affinity (Fire) L5 L2 Initiate : Tie Off Weave L5 Feat - Skill Focus Invert L6 L3 Initiate : Slow Aging L7 L4 Initiate : Multiweave L7 Feat - Charisma Talent L8 L1 Windfinder Iron Will, Windfinder Presence L9 L2 Windfinder : Multiweave L9 Feat - Wisdom Talent L10 L3 Windfinder - Windfinder Control Skills:
Total Skill ranks 1 (Background) + 10*9 (all classes are 4 + 3 Int +2 Background) +6 (Favored class Initiate) = 97 Bluff (10) : 16
Total 97
One Power:
4 L0, 7 L1, 6 L2, 6 L3 3 L4 1 L5 Talent - Cloud Dancing, Elementalism Affinities - Air, Water, Spirit, Fire Weaves known: 6 (Wilder Base) +8 (Extra levels) +3 (Wis) = 17 Cloud Dancing Focus
Elementalism Focus
Healing
Illusion
Class Powers: Noble - Noble Lore (+1 to all knowledge skills, all used untrained) - Inspire Courage (talk for entire round, +1 to hit, damage, morale) lasts while heard +4 rounds thereafter. Use once per combat
Here is my submission. I'll create an alias if I'm selected. Haven't selected equipment yet and I have a couple of unspent feats. Ideally, I'd like something to boost a stat or my overchanelling. Are the various "Get a +1 innate bonus to a stat" feats from Under The Dragon Banner legal? Sahela Jamal is a L1 Noble/L2 Wilder/L4 Initiate/L3 Windfinder She has never managed to remove her Block. She must be happy in order to channel. Personality:
In general, Sahela is a friendly, happy person who loves her life. While she very definitely has a decadent streak a mile wide she can put it aside and rough it when the circumstances call for it. And she is compassionate and caring, never putting her pleasure above others rights. Pleasure should be mutual, not taken at the expense of others. She has a bubbly, nearly irrepresible personality. She always likes to look On The Bright Side of Life. Despite the above, she is a shrewd merchant and a credit to both her Clan and Family. She is fiercely loyal to both of these. She has a strong sense of responsibility to those under her command, those she considers her friends, etc.
History:
Sahela Jamal is the third born child of a noble merchant family from Arad Doman. She had a fairly typical childhood for a Domani noble woman, learning the arts of seduction and learning how to work within her families business empire. That all changed when she discovered that she had the ability to channel the One Power. Not particularly wanting to join the Aes Sedai she successfully hid this ability for awhile. But one day family business took her onto an Atha'An Miere ship where her ability was quickly discovered. Both because she seemed fairly strong in weather magic and because they could see the value in having a noble merchant significantly in their debt they swore Sahela to secrecy and agreed to train her in both The Power and in their culture. She spent several years mastering her power, although she was never able to overcome her block. Possibly because it so rarely actually affected her, she was always a good natured happy person and she quickly mastered the self control required to attain that emotion more or less at will. At this point in her life she was truly a daughter of two cultures. While she chafed at the discipline required on ship she loved the fun loving attitudes of the Atha'An Miere in general and soon mastered the skills required to function on shipboard (she already was quite adept at the merchant skills needed). Never being fully accepted by the Atha'an Miere they still greatly valued her, especially her contacts into the Jamal family business. And having somebody who was quite willing to travel on land as well as on ship was a great asset. From the point of view of her family, having access to the trade networks of her adopted clan was also of great benefit. Both her adopted clan and her family benefited from the relationship, both were quite happy with her progress in the Power, both were very eager to keep her abilities quiet. And then Tarmon Gai'don came and the need for secrecy vanished. Given that her Clan wasn't participated directly but her family was she joined a company of soldiers loyal to the Jamal family fighting on the side of the Dragon Reborn and led by her elder brother. The Jamal company was too small to have any huge impact on the fight but it gained a reputation of being a solid, well lead, well disciplined force capable of achieving the missions assigned to it. Sahela was a significant asset. While she wasn't capable of raining down fire from the skies on the enemies she WAS very good at getting weather to help conceal her troops, usethe magic to set up ambushes, etc. The Jamals and her Atha'An Miere clan could (and did) hold their heads high over their contribution to the great victory. Since the victory at Tarmon Gai'don she has spent much of her time with the Athan'An Miere and has finally been granted the rank and status of Windfinder which they had previously been unwilling to give to one not fully of their people. She has spent the last few years mastering her skills with the Power, working with her clan, and trying to find diplomatic solutions to the Seanchen occupation of her homeland. She is getting a bit bored of the quiet life and is seeking an opportunity for adventure.
Stats:
Str 11 Dex 13 Con 15 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 16 BAB +4, Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +17. Def +7(+1 Dex), Rep 7
Feats:
Background : Domani, Seductive L1: L1 Noble (Noble Knowledge, Inspire Courage) L1 Feat : Great Fortitude L2: L1 Wilder : Block, Cross-Talent, Overchanneling, Affnity Air, Talent Cloudwalking L3: L2 Wilder : Wilder Feat: Extra Affinity (Water) L3 Feat - Skill Focus (Composure) L4 L1 Initiate : Talent (Elementalism) Affinity (Spirit) L4 L1 Initiate Feat : Extra Affinity (Fire) L5 L2 Initiate : Tie Off Weave L5 Feat - Skill Focus Invert L6 L3 Initiate : Slow Aging L7 L4 Initiate : Multiweave L7 Feat - Untaken L8 L1 Windfinder Iron Will, Windfinder Presence L9 L2 Windfinder : Multiweave L9 Feat - Untaken L10 L3 Windfinder - Windfinder Control Skills:
Total Skill ranks 1 (Background) + 10*8 (all classes are 4 + 2 Int +2 Background) +6 (Favored class Initiate) = 87 Bluff (8) : 14
Total 87
One Power:
4 L0, 7 L1, 6 L2, 3 L5 2 L4 1 L5 Talent - Cloud Dancing, Elementalism Affinities - Air, Water, Spirit, Fire Weaves known: 6 (Wilder Base) +8 (Extra levels) +3 (Wis) = 17 Cloud Dancing Focus
Elementalism Focus
Healing
Illusion
Class Powers: Noble - Noble Lore (+1 to all knowledge skills, all used untrained) - Inspire Courage (talk for entire round, +1 to hit, damage, morale) lasts while heard +4 rounds thereafter. Use once per combat
More or less how I interpret it as well. I think it pretty much has to be this way or some of the later transformations just don't work. For example, in Landscape form you provides delicious food. That just about HAS to violate the normal transformation rules as otherwise people are eating PART of you. Objects taken out of you turn into leaves. Clearly significantly more than the normal transformation rules is going on.
I need to get some input on the mechanics to finalize my character. Is the following correct for a L6 Noble? It is taking from the Under The Dragons Banner with your class additions above. She would have Noble Knowledge +3 (+3 to all knowledge skills, all can be used untrained) She would have Inspire Courage +2 to will saves, hit and damage. She could use Inspire Courage once per battle, the effects last as long as she speaks and then 6 + charisma mod rounds thereafter She gets Favor +2, Resource Access, Coordinate +1 and a bonus feat
Putting it all together now. Question - I think that we do NOT get the normal Pathfinder +2 ability boost nor the +1 skill rank per level (I assume we still get the feat, class skill and 1 rank from our background). Is that right? She is a Domani noblewoman (second born and the family is only of middling rank). When her powers became manifest she was sent to the Aes Sedai but failed to complete the training (she was never able to remove her Block). She still has contacts within the tower (especially in the Grey Ajah) and she still considers herself an ally and almost member of the Tower (and the Tower often acts like it agrees but perhaps that is just because she is a useful tool). She lead a small company at Tarmon Gai'don, a company that firmly did its duty and gained a reputation as being reliable but far too small a company to have any significant role in the fight. She was gravely injured in that war and took a few years to fully recuperate from her injuries, both physical and mental. In the last few years she has been using her political skills to try and help the Domani against the invading interlopers, so far to little effect. Mechanically, she is a L3 Wilder, L6 Noble and L1 Commander.
Haven't figured it all out yet, but I'm going for a female noble who is also a wilder. The magic will very much be secondary. I don't quite understand how a noble works though. I get bardic knowledge. I get that. What I don't get is how often I can inspire confidence and instill fear. And I don't understand what instill fear actually does.
Stats
Not too shabby. Need to think about character a fair bit. Some questions
I shouldn't have been snarky like that. Sorry. I just disagree with you so much on your basic point. Kineticists are a fine class. In general they make for quite versatile characters. Oh, they're not as good at anything as the specialists, but they're better at everything else except the specialty. Like all generalists they are going to lose some of their value in really well constructed groups that cover all the bases. But even there they do fine. And they shine in settings like PFS or casual games where their ability to be decent at multiple things becomes very valuable. Last night I played in a game that illustrated the value of their versatility. At the very start of L3 we got into a incorporeal heavy dungeon. Being able to do spirit damage rocked, making it tied with the alchemist as the most valuable martial in the group. Or it was tied with the fighter and alchemist when dealing with the zombies as they had slashing damage. Versatility has huge value and it can often be overlooked. And most kineticists have a lot of it (not all, admittedly. But the fire kineticist is a pretty decent AoE sort)
And that is the key to a decent kineticist. You have several different tools in your bag, picking the one that meets the situation.I've seen a lvl 1-10 Metal Kineticist, a lvl 2-10 Earth Kineticist, a lvl 6 Earth/Fire Kineticist, a lvl 1-4 Air Kineticist and a lvl 1-4 Wood Kineticist. . So, you have NOT seen a kineticist using Jagged Berms then. But you still claim it is just plain bad. Interesting.
If you think Jagged Berms is bad then you haven’t seen it used by a competent player. It’s situational, sure. But when the situation comes up it is absolutely devastating. And that is the key to a decent kineticist. You have several different tools in your bag, picking the one that meets the situation. Which is a LONG way from it just being an AoE blaster
The kineticist is a jack of all trades, and a master of none.The Kineticist can hardly be called a jack of all trades. It's mostly an AoE damage dealer with martial level of tanking. The Kineticist in my group who loves to use Timber Sentinel and Jagged Berms would like to disagree with you. If you think that the Kineticist is mostly an AoE damage dealer then you've only been exploring a small subset of its options.
Sorry for the ultimatum but I really want this scene to move forward! It's fine to make an "outlandish" character but you do then need to make them a team player. I'm hoping Trail will see reason here :) Just so you know, giving ultimatums really isn't the best approach to dealing with me (or most people for that matter). Don't forget our characters barely know each other right now.
I'd definitely be interested. I read the first 3 or 4 books quite awhile back before I got bored. So, I remember the basics of the setting and history but not all that much beyond that. Even played a few sessions in a WoT campaign (before the RPG came out, homebrew using Fantasy Hero rules) :-). I presume that you'll have notes on what the fourth age looks like, what character options we have, etc.
I'm finishing up my character but need to roll a few more dice first
Character details (still very much a work in progress)
And now, a second character. Just to see what I roll.
Energy Attack
Energy Attack Ok, we're obviously a decent blaster. I think I want my background now to help my concept gell
Rich Industrialist. I can definitely live with that. Heightened Senses
Sidekick Lets at least see what stats he would have
No, this character is definitely NOT talking to me. Dropping this one from consideration
Ok, lets roll me some dice
I think I'm going to have at least 1 advantageous background
Definitely getting a bit of a thought here. Going with
Power 3 - raise insubstantial to 2, Movement is base 6. Speed brings it up to 12. Ok, lets see what my background is We start with one to get the character concept started
Brilliant mechanical scientist. Right, so we have a power suit or the like Cybernetics
Ok, that sort of works. We have a research scientist who lost his arm in an accident while working on a suit that would let him control his atomic vibrations. Build himself a bionic arm. While not particularly fast he is good enough that he can get in and out of places. Sometimes he'll just fight with his phasing power, sometimes he'll hit things. Playable. Definitely a candidate. But I like rolling characters so I'm going to at least see what a second one brings me
I'd kinda maybe be interested depending on what the rolls came up with. If memory serves, one can come up with some truly absurdly unplayable characters and some others that I would personally find not at all amusing (I may be conflating with some other random generation of super hero system). So, if this was a recruitment thread I'd be rolling dice and then deciding at the end if I wanted to continue to apply. Note, I'm NOT saying that I'd only play if I got some Uber powerful character. But I would need to come up with a character that felt fun AND that I thought could at least contribute to the group. I don't need to play Superboy but I wouldn't enjoy playing Bouncing Boy or Color Kid in a group that had superboy. Edit: If I find time I'll probably actually create a character because that is probably fun :-)
The other thing to consider is skills and Archetypes. Dex has quite a few useful skills. If nobody else in the party is handling disabling traps then going dex over con and maxing out thievery is an attractive option. And EVERYBODY wants kip up if they can manage to fit it into their build. Probably not an issue since Oracles tend to go all in on social skills but worth at least giving a bit of thought to. As to archetypes, there are lots of interesting archetypes that need dex to get into. Again, likely not an issue for a bones oracle but I ALWAYS give at least some thought to the rogue dedication (I love skills :-))
Gonna take a bit to put it all together but I'm definitely going with a youngish Jewish veterinarian who is absolutely superb with animals. His family were doctors in Africa. There was a monsoon hitting the land at the point just before he was born, destroying the hut his family lived in and forcing them to take shelter in an ancient ruin to some long forgotten monkey God. It was in the inner sanctum that he was born which is (he guesses) the reason for his strange supernatural powers. Although too young to fully participate in The Great War his memories of it have had a great influence on him and inspired his hatred of almost all things Germanic (but NOT all Germans, just most of them). Mechanically, a courtly hunter with an ape companion.
I was wondering about how firm you are with the characters having to be human rule. I was thinking of playing either an actual kitsune (always appears as human, of course) or seeing how much of a kitsune I can take as a human (with, likely, kitsune some where many generations ago in his ancestry). I am particularly interested in some combination of the change shape racial ability with the realistic likeness feat and/or the magical tail feat. Is it even possible to take feats for non human races?
Definitely interested and I'd put in a very strong vote for pf2. Its just a MUCH better system overall. Also has far, far more non magical options if you're hoping to keep this a low fantasy campaign On another note - have you considered using Mutants and Masterminds? Its d20 based so there isn't THAT large a learning curve coming from Pathfinder and its just about perfect for this kind of compaign. I was thinking of running a similar campaign and even have house rules for it if you're interested
Do you want us to start thinking about how we might know each other? Or are you going to handle that in-game?I'm going to let you guys decide if you've met before. The campaign doesn't need it. I was thinking of sort of building the Fellowship theme in the first scene, so... Have I made things too difficult here with my character? I was sort of thinking the sheer fact that he is a Tabaxi might be enough to draw attention. But I can have him do something noticeable like save a child from a runaway horse kind of thing.
Is Avenger Rogue good with this change? Is it worth the "action tax"? Haven't seen this in play yet but my answer would be that it depends massively on what the diety's weapon is. So, Pharasma (dagger) - definitely not.
Being a cynic, I expect we'll see a LOT more Avengers of Ragathiel than Pharasma.
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Pathfinder Society GM. Starfinder Society GM. 5,715 posts (10,023 including aliases). 63 reviews. 1 list. No wishlists. 87 Organized Play characters. 37 aliases. 