xevious573's page

You can't teleport between starships or between planets. It's a bit of a stretch to say you can teleport to a specific point in the atmosphere since there isn't really good notable features to focus one's mind on.

Instead, I imagine she most likely decided to dimension door a distance away from the starship since you can just state direction and distance with dimension door. She also could of simply broke the transparent aluminum (Hardness 10, HP 15) window and survived the explosive decompression event. In terms of rules closeness, DD seems pretty likely. The only rules quibble I have about this story is the jetpack. It would take 10 minutes to install into armor. Explosive decompression would rip such an object out of her arms but I suppose dimension dooring into the void of space while in a life bubble could avoid that. Either way, the story kinda makes it seem like she doesn't have that type of time available.

EDIT: Should be noted that I do actually like the story, I just also enjoy seeing the rules play out in the fiction.

You could... cast the cantrip and also shoot the bow? Especially if the cantrip doesn't require an attack roll. This quite likely to be more effective then shooting the bow three times >.>

I don't mind the idea of SLIGHTLY buffed cantrips. Honestly I would prefer MORE spell slots to help prevent a caster from being forced to do cantrip spam when they have less then useful spells

This is somewhat tangential but I feel I must say it.

I'm not sure I actually care all that much for Cantrip reliance. It kinda reminds me of 4th Ed D&D At-Will powers. At-Will Powers WEREN'T exciting. You could only say "I cleave!" Or "I cast magic missile!" before it kinda means very little. At the same time, 4th Editions daily powers suffered from the usual problems Vancian casters suffer from (though perhaps more extreme). Players were hesitant to use them in all but the most dire situations which caused players to just overwhelm boss encounters by unleashing all their stored up Daily abilities at once.

No, I think the best aspect of the 4th Edition system of combat was in Encounter powers. Encounter powers gave renewable and exciting abilities that asked the players "When is the best time to use this power?" each fight rather then over the course of an uncertain day. For At-Will powers the answer to that question was "When I have nothing else I can do or my daily/encounter abilities can't be of maximal use" and for daily powers the answer was "Boss fights or when someone is gonna die".

I am not advocating for a complete switch to such a system. I could just play 4e if I wanted to. But I would like to make the suggestion that perhaps introducing "encounter powers" to spell casters might be a different solution to the request for cantrips to be buffed. Maybe the idea of domains or wizard specializations could move towards that direction or maybe there could be an "Encounter Slot" at certain spell levels. I'm kinda just spitballing here but it wasn't really all that exciting constantly saying "I cast telekinetic projectile" every round as my goblin bard I played (especially since these cantrips heavily limited the rest of your tactical options).

Just my ¢2.

There is a saying in my own personal groups and in my own play experience about how creatures are "Meat Cubes". In truth, the rules are on 3-dimensional combat have always been lacking. Creatures' size dimensions are only given for a 2D grid and yet flight and reverse gravity exist and often turn combat from a 2-dimensional affair into a 3-dimensional affair.

I believe most groups dealt with this by just assuming that creatures were "Meat Cubes" or "Meat Cubic Rectangles" as appropriate for the creature and just used the normal rules for determining reach and distances of effects by measuring from the corners and edges of the "meat cube". Perhaps using a separate sheet of 1" graph paper (8"x11" size sheet) that you can flip on to its edge to form a z-axis grid or through the use of plastic height platforms.

Obviously everything I just typed up makes 3D combat a weird and complicated mess to such a degree that it was largely left up to each GM and group to figure out how they were going to deal with 3D combat on their own.

But I don't think this is ideal and I would prefer if the combat chapter, spellcasting chapter, and monster statblocks gave the necessary information for 3D combat so as to not leave GMs without a framework to handle these situations.

For the character sheet could I make a recommendation. Change the Spell Roll and DCs box so it looks like this instead:

DC = 10 + Spell Roll = Ability + Prof + Item

One of my players complained that the current way is kinda counter-intuitive but putting the order like this could also help get across the idea of Perception DC, Fortitude DC, etc.

Just a thought.

PossibleCabbage wrote:

Isn't the blog clear that you can only take Heritage feats at level 1?

Yes it is. That is irrelevant to what I asked though, since I was saying I don't want to have to take non-heritage feats at all, hoping that you aren't forced to take them after first level.

Well you are allotted a certain number of Ancestry Feat slots as you gain levels. So in a way yes you are forced to take more Ancestry feats that won't be able to be Heritage feats.

I realize that the Core rules are going to be more "Golarion" infused but I personally think it's quite probable that many of the non-heritage options will be generic enough that they will be suitable for most fantasy campaigns.

Oh boy, yet another solution in search of a problem.

The more I see, the more I am not looking forward to PF2.

I had a problem with PF1E... Attacks being All or Nothing was on that list. And yes, "All" is the correct terms considering the majority of damage for most characters came from flat modifiers which could get really high and not from the dice roll.

Success/Failure gradation is a good thing. And I think this particular system has elegantly added a lot of potential to this game.

Ninja in the Rye wrote:

This is something that's been bugging me since the podcast. I hate, hate, hate abilities like Nimble Dodge.

+2 to AC vs a single attack and it has to be declared before the attack is rolled just means that I'll use it, my enemy will either hit or miss me easily and then I'll feel like the ability is a complete waste over and over until I find a better use for my reaction and use that instead.

If it applied after the attack roll result is announced then I feel like I'm actually dodging something.

If it applies to every attack that enemy makes in the round then at least I feel like I'm getting some value out of my action as there's a decent chance that +2 will make a difference spread out over multiple attacks each turn.

I am curious where you might be getting the "it has to be declared before the attack" part? The preview only states: Nimble Dodge, a reaction that increases the rogue's Armor Class by 2 at a whim.

At a whim is pretty open and certainly would not, to me, imply I have to declare my reaction before the other party rolls their attack. My expectation is that reactions can come at anytime and can interrupt current actions. Like deciding to nimble dodge after seeing the attack roll, or even after seeing the damage roll. Using shield Block after seeing the damage roll potentially.

Now it's absolutely plausible I missed some other clarification that indicated more clearly the timing on this and/or reactions as a whole.. but without such a clarification I see no reason that one could not Nimble Dodge at any point before the action is fully resolved and thus decide either because it's a crit you don't want to take or they rolled max damage but the +2 AC would make it a miss that you would like to use your reaction at that point.

I don't mean to be a debbie downer... But Paizo has ALWAYS designed these types of actions to have to be declared before knowledge of the end result is known (exceptions to this philosophy have also always been considered exceptionally powerful by the design team as well). Starfinder actually has a paragraph in the combat chapter dedicated to saying you must use rerolls before the GM declares the result of the first die roll.

And like Ninja in the Rye, I've always hated this design philosophy. I want to minimize the times my ability is wasted. It's one thing for a reroll to be wasted because the second die roll is just as poor as the first. It's another thing for me to use the reroll, get a worse result and find out the first result would of been fine. I also think it is annoying to have to tell the GM "please don't declare my result right away so I can weight my reroll options".

As is, the Class Cannon Podcast showed the rogue having to declare the use of the nimble dodge before being attacked and being unable to go back and declare it. And I feel that it shares same sense of disappointment and frustration if I waste the ability on a Nat 1 roll only for the enemy to get a hit by an attack that only beat my ac by 1 on the second attack.

I'll be honest. My bigger issue with the current healing system is CLW can cure the most grievous of injuries for a low-level character and yet it increasingly loses potency as a character gains power. This isn't something I think happens a great deal in fantasy fiction that involves magical healing (unless it's purposely satirizing TTRPGs or MMORPGs or involves character's stuck in such games).

The healing surge system of 4e may not have been perfect but it did atleast get rid of the sensation above since most healing powers used a healing surge and gave the character's healing surge value (typically 1/4 total hp but that could be increased with options).

That being said, all the previews show that they aren't going to go in that direction.

So instead of worrying about that, let me just say that PF1E will punish characters who don't heal between fights. See symbol of death. So stick me in with the group that prefers to be capped off between fights. Because I've played a scenario in which my character's death at such a symbol would of ruined the narrative of the story since he was the central character in this particular part of the story and had the group spent a short bit to heal up between fights, my HP total would have been above the threshold of the spell.

So I'm Team "Wands of low-level healing magic suck because it doesn't make sense that curative magic loses potency as people gain levels and yet I prefer to be fully healed between fights".

Final note: I do still enjoy playing PF1e and SF despite both having ever weakening healing options. =)

I would just like to mention that I was planning on being involved with this with my paladin quasi-deity Xemna in WotR. So I have some mixed feelings on just pushing her ahead full steam towards redeemed without some guidance for how the players of WotR (or other APs I suppose) might accomplish this themselves. It's complicated?

xevious573 wrote:

vagabond_666 wrote:

xevious573 wrote:

I don't know guys.... I feel like... this shows that the numerical difference between two individuals of widely varying degrees of skill can be quite large.

Or, you know, if skill focus is no longer a thing, it's a system where someone with no training and decidedly average attributes, will be better at doing something that someone with godlike attributes and legendary skills 25% of the time...

Um wrong.... So. Very. Wrong.

Okay, more math.

If the fighter rolls a natural 20 (5%), our rogue needs to roll a 4 or lower (20%) to be lower then the fighter. ((.05*.2 = .01)). That means this scenario has a 1% chance of happening.

If the fighter rolls a natural 19 or higher (10%), our rogue needs to roll a 3 (15%) or lower to be lower then the fighter. ((.1*.15= .015)). 1.5% chance of happening.

If the fighter rolls a natural 18 or higher (15%), our rogue needs to roll a 2 (10%) or lower to be lower then the fighter. ((.1*.15= .015)). 1.5% chance of happening.

Finally if the fighter rolls a natural 17 or higher (20%), our rogue needs to roll a nat 1 (5%) to be lower then the fighter. ((.05*.2 = .01)). That means this scenario has a 1% chance of happening.

Add up all the values above (1%+1.5%+1.5%+1%) and you get a total of 5%. The fighter has a 5% chance of beating this rogue in a competition of stealth. If I'm remembering my math correctly. This is the total chance of any of these scenarios playing out because even if the rogue should roll terrible, the fighter would have to roll incredibly well to beat that rogue in a contest of stealth. And that's assuming there is no skill focus.

EDIT: I believe there's something wrong with my math. I think that something wrong pushes things even further in my favor but I think there is something still wrong with it. Get back to you.

Quick maths is bad maths. I concede that I am wrong and that it's 5%. This is still unacceptable.

That's... unacceptable to you?

Huh... Yet we're okay with the natural 1 (5% chance btw) auto fail on saving throws even if your saving throw bonus dwarfs the DC even without the roll?

Is it okay for a 1st level wizard or bard successfully casting charm person on a 20th level cleric even though that cleric would likely need to roll a negative number to actually get lower than the DC of the spell?

Alternative thought experiment... have you considered the mathematics of two characters arm wrestling? One of the characters has a STR of 20 (+5) (1st level max and likely contestant for world's strongest (wo)man) and the other has a STR of 10 (0)(1st level average). Most DMs would say that'd be an opposed STR check.

The point difference between these two characters only a 5pt difference. Compared to my 15pt difference, just think about how big the % chance of the 10 STR character has of beating the 20 STR man... It's a lot higher then the math I shown above for the stealth competition....

As I've said in another thread, not counting any sort of temporary buff effects or circumstance bonuses or penalties, it is possible to build two level 20 characters in PF2 with an all-day gap between their bonuses in the same skill of around 17-18. Proficiency is one piece of that split, with a potential gap up to 5 (and 5 is a really big advantage; all other modifiers being equal, which is almost certainly an overestimate of the untrained character, and rolling the same number on a d20, half of the untrained character's successes are critical successes for the legendary character, and half of the untrained character's failures are successes for the legendary character).

Some math. Let's assume a maximum attribute can reach is 30. This is a reasonable assumption because Starfinder has a max attribute of 28 and it's attribute increasing system is influencing PF2. This score gives us a modifier of +10.

Now, The difference between untrained and legendary is a total of 5 points (ranging from -2 to +3).

Now let's compare 2 level 20 characters (and thus we can ignore level in the equation).

Character 1(A boisterous Heavily Armored fighter) has a 10 dex (this is somewhat unlikely but bear with me) and is untrained in stealth for a -2 total modifer.

Character 2(Master Thief who views Norgorber as his only true rival) has a 30 dex (+10) and is legendary in stealth (+3). Total modifier is +13.

The total difference between the stealth capabilities of these 2 character is 15pts. If skill focus is still a thing, that's another 3pts if it's similar to its past iterations. Which btw brings us to the hypothetical difference Mark mentions in the quote above.

I don't know guys.... I feel like... this shows that the numerical difference between two individuals of widely varying degrees of skill can be quite large.

Arssanguinus wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Lady Firebird wrote:

Look at Conan. Or Aragorn. Two examples off the top of my head who have a lot of skills and competence in broad areas.

Yes, but they're either solo heroes or buffy and friends, not part of a team where everyone has their own specialty.

They also seem to have rolled straight 18s at character creation...

Um ... Gimli , Legolas, for example were hardly scrubs ....

Sure, Aragorn had a fairly wide range of skills, but he was also a Ranger. Note that when they needed to know about dwarven history, he'd defer to Gimli, and when they needed a lock picked or something stolen, he'd defer to Frodo. He didn't simply say "oh, I'm higher level than you, therefor better than you at this thing!"

Presumably he's untrained in Dwarven Lore and Lock Picking and thus his level bonus doesn't matter. He's untrained and thus can't do those things. He might have the higher number the proficiency (or lack thereof) says he can't and thus his number doesn't matter.

Gudrun the Reader wrote:

AHeroNamedHawke wrote:

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt on your +40 comment, because thats impossible without getting Path of War involved (which I highly recommend).

** spoiler omitted **

Lorewarden has no CMB bonus outside of its +2 insight from Know Thy Enemy, which doesnt stack with a Rose Prism, dueling weapons are for disarm and you have a nameless +4 luck bonus I assume came from your ass

So it looks to me like thats a grand total of 9+5+4+4+2+2+2+4=32, which is not even close

Also the numbers you listed add up to 42, maybe double check a few things in the future

Besides you being rude with that post overall, all of the math in their post checks out. The source of that +4 luck bonus is from Pathfinder Society Field Guide, which introduce the first version of the Dueling property... which gives twice the weapon's enhancement bonus as a bonus to any maneuver performed by the weapon specifically, such as disarm and trip among other things...

And also you apparently don't realize that old lorewarden had

Maneuver Mastery (Ex): At 3rd level, a lore warden gains a +2 bonus on all CMB checks and to his CMD. This bonus increases to +4 at 7th level, +6 at 11th level, and +8 at 15th level. This ability replaces armor training 1.

This was changed to the Brawler's Maneuver Training class feature while still retaining Know Thy Enemy (which their original math didn't even count, so your bit about the ioun stone and the lore warden not stacking is doubly not applicable) in Adventurer's Guide. This effectively halved the bonus but it's still pretty good and stacks with everything else in that list.

The last point seems painfully obvious but I'll try to sum it up for you: +32 trip cmb is way too high for a 9th level character... +38 (which takes into to account the changes to Maneuver Mastery [Side note: Their original math is correct (You added an additional +2 due to poor notation on their part (+2 Dueling weapon +2 enhancement and +4 luck is what they listed the +6 bonus to trip the weapon gives and you accidentally added the weapon enhancement again]) is also way too high! Why are we saying this was a good idea allowing to exist in the game?

Why no charisma to Atk and Dmg for Fighting Fan(s) for Geishas or even Whips for Calistria worshippers??? ;_; *runs off crying*

...YAY! Now my telekineticist can actually do a telekinetic storm!!! Well mostly. Still no stunning option I am aware of but whatevs!

Also, using resolve to gain energy resistance is whack. Any type of resistance on demand on a purely martial class seems insane.

You could give yourself sonic or force resistance if you so needed

The energy resistance is equal to half Samurai level... That's kinda a paltry amount of energy resistance especially as late game begins to arrive. Not counting that there is often better uses for Resolve.

Hmm. How does the Scaled Fist look at 1st level? Do they switch out Stunning Fist for anything? Do they get different bonus feats?

They keep Stunning fist, which is good because they add the Dragon Style feats to their bonus feats. They also add Dazzling Display and some feats that follow DD. They also get a mediocre breath weapon eventually.

Hmm... My only particular want concerning this topic is something that allows a hybrid melee/thrown weapon (such as the starknife or javelin [especially the starknife]) to have a 10ft reach. I realize, of course, that I can do this with Snap Shot and Imp. Snap Shot but the Snap Shot feat isn't gonna do much for the average starknife wielder.

Oh and I'm otherwise fine with the nerf. Two Feats for the longbow to have a 10ft reach? Seems good.

Kineticists gain the elemental whispers wild talents, which allow them to make friends with a voice in their head and even manifest it.

Between this wild talent and the primal magic one in Occult Realms, my Telekineticist in Emerald Spire is losing opportunities to take wild talents from the Occult Adventures book! Stahp it! >.<

Evil is evil and that's going to make things take a weird turn I guess lol. Still, 17 posts into the thread and conversation immediately turns to what's important in life: Trying to get into the pants of the queen! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So uh, I'm not really a PFS player but all this really makes me think of Investigator's poison lore ability.

An investigator has a deep understanding of and appreciation for poisons. At 2nd level, he cannot accidentally poison himself when applying poison to a weapon. If the investigator spends 1 minute physically examining a poison, he can attempt a Knowledge (nature) check to identify any natural poison or a Knowledge (arcana) check to identify any magical poison (DC = the poison's saving throw DC). Lastly, once a poison is identified, he can spend 1 minute and attempt a Craft (alchemy) check (DC = the poison's saving throw DC) to neutralize 1 dose of the poison. Success renders the dose harmless. The investigator has no chance of accidentally poisoning himself when examining or attempting to neutralize a poison.

I love the investigator class. I LOATHE, HATE, DESPISE this ability. This ability indicates that poison's can only be identified if you HAVE this ability and make the appropriate skill check. Meaning anytime I would consider buying poison for a ninja, I have no ability to determine if what I bought really was Blue Whinnis or just some smelly and useless concoction. All those times, I've found various poisons on the bodies of my fallen foes? Apparently I am now supposed to write them down as "miscellaneous alchemical item". Nah, that's not true, the item is likely labelled by it's creator (I hope... how does he know he made Blue Whinnis?), I assume. Still - why couldn't of this aspect of poison lore be just an expansion of Craft(Alchemy) or, gods help us all, Appraise. No feat tax or Level tax, just "Hey, we should expand the usage of skills or something."

--------------------------------------

I can't help but wish that whenever a game designer came up with an idea for a feat that incrementally expands on a skill's usage, that they would be given a small bonk on the head and the idea is taken away from them to be catalogued with all the other feats of similar nature, in hopes for a future "Skills Expansion" chapter in a hardcover book that makes them not feats.

My 2 coppers.

EDIT: Apparently this is what I get for skipping a portion of the thread. As to Stephen's comment: There is only one location that talks about identifying poisons and that's in the detect poison spell. DC 20 Wis check to determine the exact type of poison. As far as I know, Craft(Alchemy) was never given this use - either through a feat or (as mentioned above) simple skill expansion. My GM's have generally been pretty liberal on skill usage such as allowing a character with the Heal skill to be able to identify the poison afflicting a character (Note, it doesn't do that in the current reading of the skill) and when acquiring poisons via treasure gain, we've always just been outright given the poison's name (presumably via labelling).

If you want to be meta, buy a component pouch. They have a virtually inexhaustible supply of "objects".

Bat Guano. Bat Guano everywhere.

Mind Sword is my dream come true! A telekinetic Paladin (it gives up Lay On Hands, Mercies and Channel Positive Energy) for some telekinetic, touch treatment and psychic spells added to their spells lists. That being said, I think their is an issue with Mind Arsenal.

At 2nd level, a mind sword can make a telekinetic attack with a melee weapon. This functions as the hand of the apprentice universalist wizard school ability, but any calculations of that ability based on Intelligence are instead based on Charisma.

I think this got it backwards but I could be wrong. (Note to other readers, they do get the ability to make full attacks with this power!)

EDIT: Also seriously guys... you didn't add side bars for Companion and Inner Sea Gods Spells for the 6 new classes. Mesmerists want them some Symbol of Debauchery!

So far, using the new dirty trick feats and other feats, I've been able to make a Kitsune Swashbuckler(Mysterious Avenger)12/Fighter(Lore Warden) 4 who will be able to inflict Blind, Shaken, Sickened, Pinned, and Prone over the course of a single full-attack which also happened to have been a pounce attack thanks to Vulpine Pounce.

Very, very feat intensive but looks like it could be fun.

Fox Shape (Mysterious Avenger, might as well come out of hiding as a fox)
Swift Kitsune Shapechanger
Vulpine Pounce
Combat Expertise (Lore Warden Bonus)
Improved and Greater Dirty Trick
Quick Dirty Trick (See Vulpine Pounce)
Dirty Trick Master
Dastardly Trick
Improved and Greater Trip (The AoO from Greater Trip is important later)
Kitsune Style (There is some overlap between this and Quick Dirty Trick =/)
Kitsune Tricks (2 Status conditions for 1 action? Seems good.)
Kitsune Vengeance (Remember that Greater Trip AoO? Using Dirty Trick Master, we should be able to upgrade Grappled to Pinned and Kitsune Tricks should let me apply another condition)

Finally Swashbucklers with Dastardly Trick can make it so a saving throw (DC = 10+ 1/2 character level + Charisma Modifier [note the penalties from Shaken and Sickened]) must be made in order to be able to spend the Std Action to remove the conditions. Oh and they can make a swift action intimidate check with a point of panache.

Nohwear wrote:

To address the second part, no part of my petition has anything to due with something that I wish was allowed. I "merely" wish them produce official support, such as feats, for archetypes that take their class in an unusual direction. A lot of the support I wish that would exist is easy, at least in my mind, to house rule in. I just feel that there should exist official support for PFS, and those who would avoid creating such house rules.

Again, you're not defining the problem. There is no such thing as an archetype that won't find a feat that will help it. On the other hand designing feats that are ONLY usable by a class/archetype combination would add a factor of complication that doesn't yield a return that justifies making the feat table even more painful to navigate.

Rebounding Leap

Painful Anchor

The first feat supports the Dragoon archetype.

The second feat supports the Oath Against Fiends paladin.

I think their might be a couple more feats that DIRECTLY support an archetype. Not very many at all!

The problem the OP has is that there are lot of archetypes available. Some of them change the classes very dramatically and in some cases "lose" feat support. Take the Cult Leader (Mesmerist Archetype). It replaces the Painful Stare ability. This means all of the [Stare] feats no longer are available. In addition, the replacement of that ability, Fanatical Stare, has another issue. Fanatical Stare doesn't interact with the Bold Stare class feature. The archetype didn't give any additional Bold Stare options that would buff the ally.

Anyway, the OP would like feats and spells that support the unique features of the various archetypes that have been published.

Kuru are cannibalistic people in the Shackles. Their stat is line is +2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int.

All I'm saying is sometimes you are a cannibalistic Hemokineticist! The most METAL of Blood Kineticists! \m/>_<\m/

It's not non-functional, it requires a change in strategy. That's not the same thing as non-functioning.

Magus also has the Longarm Spell at 1st level. A minute/level increase to your reach should get you by in most situations until you encounter enemies with +15ft reach and by then you can either grab other ways to increase reach or you have the gold to boost your concentration checks.

It's honestly far from crippling the archetype, it just takes some minor investment.

The archetype honestly gives you enough goodies that it is more than a fair trade to have to work around those DCs.

Nice catch.

Another thing to note for the Mindblade, specifically, is that the weapon you manifest is a melee weapon of your choice. There doesn't appear to be any restrictions or modifications to the qualities of the weapon of your choice other then enhancement bonus as you level up. This means you can choose to manifest melee weapons with reach. Spears, various Polearms, and the whip are all available options as you see fit (and that's just in the core rulebook).

Disappointed in the mindblade. the -10 to cast verbal spells defensively pretty much means spell combat is going to be really hard to pull off.

Some suggestions for the the Mindblade archetype:

Concentration, Concentration, Concentration!:
Consider taking the Combat Casting feat and the Uncanny Concentration feat (from Ultimate Magic). In addition there are several traits that can boost concentration checks. Arcane Temper grants a +1 on concentration and initiative and can be found in Ultimate Campaign; Focused Mind can be found in the Advanced Player's Guide and grants a +2 on concentration checks. You can also get some help from magic items. Spellguard Bracers [wrist][5000][Ultimate Equipment] grant a +2 bonus on concentration checks and can be activated to make two rolls on a single conc check. Gloves of Elvenkind [gloves][7500][Advanced Race Guide] grant a flat +5, and Shadow Chest Piercings (Major) [body][3750][Champions of Corruption] grant a flat +5. All of these are competence bonuses and I don't think those stack.

Other options include using Magus Arcana to boost your attack rolls in ways that aren't solely focused on a higher number. Ghost Blade and Accurate Strike give ways to ignore armor and go after Touch AC. Prescient Attack can give you denying your target's Dex to AC. These can be used with Spell Combat's ability to penalizing your Attack rolls to boost concentration since you are targeting a lower number. Finally, there is the Concentration Magus Arcana. It is there, consider it an option.

Ignore Thought Components:
There are a few spells that do not include Thought components and several are the new Undercasting spells. Consider Mind Thrust, Ego Whip (which can be used to hurt enemy casters or stagger a single foe), and Psychic Crush.

I was originally going to recommend Spontaneous Metafocus (From Ultimate Magic) and Intuitive Spell but I misremembered Spontaneous Metafocus and thought it applied to a single Metamagic feat (honestly... kinda disappointed it doesn't) instead of a single spell. That being said, if you have a single spell you wish to remove the T component from, that is an option if you have a Charisma of 13.

Battle-Field Movement:
Remember the Following:

1)Touch ranged spells grant an extra attack as a free action that can be used after movement.

2)When spell combating, you can choose to cast the spell either before or after your attacks.

3)You can take a 5-foot step between spell and attacks while spell combat, before or after. This allows you to cast the spell, 5-foot step, and do the rest of your spell combat.

These factors combined can allow you to use Spell Combat if the battle field layout is to your advantage.

Finally, consider spells that move you as part of the spell. Bladed Dash (Inner Sea Magic) is the classical option as is Force Hook Charge (Ultimate Magic) and both are cool thematically. As is using the Dimension Door feat line from Advanced Player's Guide.

Cthulhu himself is not likely the final foe for this one. I'd give it... another 5 years? Yeah, considering it's 1920 in Pathfinder timeline, that's the right amount of time for that particular AP or Module.

Jamie Charlan wrote:

Shadow_Charlatan wrote:

Jamie Charlan wrote:

A feat that only does something when you croak is NOT a good feat unless you've more bonus feats than a fighter and don't *need* as many as they do.

Might be a good feat if you have this.. Mythic ability-Immortal..

That's a tier 9 mythic ability though. If you're dying to things that won't outright negate the ability (coup de grace or critical from any mythic or anyone with a weapon that can bypass epic) there's something seriously wrong with your character build.

Maybe it's intended for players who have games where character death is pretty common. Not everyone plays the game the same way, I for one think that the feat sounds like a lot of fun. My enemies are going to think twice if I tell them I'll explode when I die, and now I don't have to lie about it!

Or maybe it's not even meant for player characters.

I love this book. <3

P.S. Intuitive Spell Metamagic feat doesn't do anything save for make you spend a higher level spell slot. This is due to the rules concerning Spontaneous Spell Casting and Metamagic Feats. There is only really technical differences between spending a full round action to cast a metamagicked spell and spending a move action to center one self (and thus negating the -10 penalty) and then a standard action to cast a spell. In other words, it is only good if you are already casting a metamagicked spell (likely Logical) since you won't have the move action to center yourself. Is this intent? Thanks =)

Honestly... why does Dex to Damage have to be so difficult. Why does being able to expand the list of finesseable weapons have to be so difficult.

Why does Daring Champion lose Opportune Parry and Riposte? Shouldn't it have lost Precise Strike?

I remember there is ability for fire to "burn away" fire resistance and there is an ability that acts as target dispel magic in the case of spell effects. I do not recall seeing anything that helps against energy immunity.

Did the Kineticist gain any abilities to penetrate energy resistance/immunity? If so, are those abilities available to all elements?

Draining Infusion. You can target any creature who has the subtype as the element of your kinetic blast element (fire subtype for fire blast) and you can try to drain away elemental energy from them. Against such creatures, your blast targets touch AC (if it requires an attack roll) and always allows spell resistance. It allows a fort save, which heavily reduces the damage on success. This blast ignores immunities and resistances. It's available at level 1 as a Substance infusion and for a cost of 1 burn. It has bit more info that you can see when you get the book.

What are the Sensate's and False Medium's abilities? I'm always interested in fighter and rogue support.

The Sensate are the Perceptive fighter. They gain resistance to attacks that are dependent on senses (replacing bravery). They eventually gain the ability to enter into a Centered state and grants them insight bonus on small collection of rolls such as attack and damage. Very eventually their senses become utterly perfect and it becomes incredibly difficult hide from them. I like this archetype though I disagree on the necessity of their abilities being SU. OH and they do get Perception and Sense Motive as class skills. This class is not actually Psychic in nature but does make a great class to take the Psychic Sensitivity feat with.

The False Medium can fake the Occult Skill Unlocks and gain the ability to perform very minor illusions. It's... less useful for typical PCs and I think is much more a DM archetype. In my opinion anyway.

Is the Mesmerist is still a 6th level caster?

Edit: Has the weapon proficiencies changed at all? I remember from the playtest the weapon options were a bit lacking.

The mesmerist was the class least changed. I think they separated a couple of the bold stares (the Allure one I think got separated into 2 bold stares) and added a few tricks and bold stares (including one that lowers the DCs of spells and spell-like abilities of the target of your Hypnotic stare). They can take Improved Feint and Greater Feint and any feats that require either one of those feats without meeting the Combat Expertise or Int 13 requirements (there are 2 new such feats in this book).

It otherwise stayed the same.

I'm a little sad nothing was given to the Mesmerist to make it better with the Hypnotism Occult skill unlock. Most other of the new classes got class features that really helped sell the idea. Occultists are good at Psychometry. Mediums get anti-haunt techniques. Psychics get mind reading and telepathy class features. And Spiritualists get stuff like constant detect undead and see invisibility, things that help sell the master of the Ethereal bit that Spiritualist are supposed to be. It seems like the Mesmerist could atleast get to hypnotize people with the Skill unlock faster or more often atleast. Or maybe some psychic dueling ablities. MMM... psychic duels (see below for a question)

Anyway, the Mesmerist is still pretty awesome despite my grumblings. I'm actually a bit more disappointed in the Cult Leader archetype which is oh so perfect for my character and yet I don't want to take it because of mechanical deficiencies.

Seifter, got a couple of questions. Could you explain why the Feint line played an important part in a play test or point me towards the specific playtest.

Second. The maximum spell-level a character can cast determines how much a MP a character can use in a psychic duel manifestation. Alternatively, if you can't spell cast or don't get beyond 5th level spells, 1/4 you HD determines your maximum MP spent. My question is for characters with Spell-Like abilities. Can a Balor with it's Implosion SLA, a 9th Tier Mythic Character with the Divine Source ability (which grants up to 9th level SLAs for the domains a character chooses to grant), or a Kineticist, whose blasts eventually count as 9th level SLAs, spend up to 9 MP in a single manifestation?

Alric Rahl wrote:

Joe Hex wrote:

Alric Rahl wrote:

Can we please have the Mesmerist Class Preview now. Im dying over here waiting for it.

I hear ya. The wait, combined with no Mesmerist questions being answered here (besides the archetypes,) is frustrating for us Mesmer fans.

Yes it is, Ive asked a couple times already for the tricks names and how they work now compared to the playtest. But so far no info.

I'm 0 out of 3, as far as any questions answered. I understand no one is obligated to answer, but I was starting to wonder if some glitch was making my posts not show up to other posters. :)

If you liked the Mesmerist in the playtest, especially after the updates given to it in the playtest thread for the class (I certainly did), then you'll find the class more or less how you remembered it. While there might be a few new Tricks (I haven't compared the old mesmerist versus the new mesmerist), the main gifts to the Mesmerist comes in the form of feats and spells.

Feats. The Mesmerist has necessitated a whole NEW category of feats. The Stare feats. These feats augment the painful stare ability, allowing you to trigger additional status effects or more damage when you trigger Painful Stare. Normally you can only use one Stare feat at a time but there is a feat that will allow you to use two Stare feats when triggering Painful Stare. (Sadly that means the Cult Leader archetype can't use these feats as it trades out Painful Stare).

In addition there are a couple of feats that augments people who have tricks waiting on them. One of these gives a boost to initiative while they have a trick waiting on them. So your tricks can give an additional boost while waiting to be triggered.

Spells. The Mesmerist has a very potent spell list. They get a lot of the mind based spells you know and love. They are the second best Possessors next to the Psychic class and they are Second best to the Psychic class in Dream magics. Don't let second best trick you though, they are very, very good in those particular branches of magic. They share alot of the same spells that make a Psychic feel truly psychic, like Psychic surgery (which can undo almost all mental effects such as ability damage and EVEN memory lost from instantaneous effects), mind reading/altering spells, Mindscape spells which make them fairly potent psychic duelists, and other awesome goodies.

Lanitril wrote:

Readies action to ask the first people getting the book questions.

Won't actually probably be online when that happens so I'm just going to ask.

Soooo. How about those kineticist archetypes? What are they like? Specifically one that has something to do with blood? I think something like that was mentioned. If not, tell me about your favorite kineticist archetype.

Occultist? Medium?

Maybe an archetype or option for non-occult classes that you really like?

I'm excited about any Occultist archetypes. Sadly none got mentioned in the blog preview. I hadn't considered that there might by occult archetypes for older classes. Those could be interesting.

The Cavalier is known to be one such class, the idea being about having a Ghost horse. A sorta spiritualist/cavalier.

Logan Bonner wrote:

At the low end, the book introduces a telekinetic 0-level spell that hurls an object at an opponent.

See I was Worried at first when I read the Rivani's Background. The Playtest had nothing in it to suggest that These so called "Psychic's" where indeed Psychic's starting at first level. (Aside from Mage hand). I was also hoping they would have something for the mind reading thing, and that seems to have been Addressed too in this Preview.

Good work guys. Now lets see what you guys have done to Improve the Mesmerist and Kineticist(a defined limit on the number of Kinetic Cover's would be nice)

Perhaps you didn't look at their spell list thoroughly but in my Playtest document, I see that Psychic has detect thoughts available as a 1st level spell, meaning a 1st level Psychic could start off with mind reading capability. It's the only class that has access to it at that level.

Only class with Undercast spells? So no Ego Whip for Mesmerist. ~sigh~

RumpinRufus is correct. Your horse is safe while the antipaladin is "healing".

That being said there is still answers to your question if you care.

Options that affects Inflict and Cure Spells (But not Channeled Positive/Negative Energy)
Necromantic Affinity
Pallid Crystal (Associated deity is commonly an undeath deity and in Golarion is specifically associated with Urgathoa.)

Option that affects Channelled Negative Energy
Death Domain 8th level ability

Of these options, the most likely only option available to your horse is the Necromantic Affinity feat and only with GM permission.

Alternatively, you can see about making your mount an undead creature by taking the Vampiric Companion feat.

Uh, think you made a mistake there Kinevon.

Charging Lance is x2
Spirited Charge is x2
Critical Hit with Lance is x3

Final Multiplier is x5.

Bringing the total to 5d8 + (Flat numbers[non-Precision Damage] x 5)

Page 12 of the Core Rulebook:

Multiplying: When you are asked to apply more than one multiplier to a roll, the multipliers are not multiplied by one another. Instead, you combine them into a single multiplier, with each extra multiple adding 1 less than its value to the first multiple. For example, if you are asked to apply a ×2 multiplier twice, the result would be ×3, not ×4.

...and nobody has posted the old saw:

A katana can cut through a TANK! It's true! I saw it on the internet!

Time to play a Samurai in Reign of Winter and test that theory.

It turns out most other weapons don't need to go through hoops as it were. Swashbuckler is freely available. If you want dex to hit and damage on any piercing or slashing one-handed weapon, swashbuckler or cavalier with an archetype is there. Many of those weapons don't have a cultural footprint that makes people think Dex to hit and damage so it really isn't a huge issue in most other weapons case as people are fine being strength based on those things.

The only other weapons I can think of having a real issue with this (personally) are the Sawtooth sabre (Red Mantis Assassins are the saddest) and Whips.

I'm fine with putting effort into making Whips a strong weapon but it feels like I can't use the weapon for the early levels due to just how feat intensive it really is to EITHER be good at maneuvers or be able to do damage to creatures with armor or +3 or more natural armor - ie. You put all your feats for the first 3 levels into just being able to use the whip (and be dex based) against humanoid enemies in which case you have a fairly subpar weapon which only has the benefit of a good reach but the damage is 1d3+4? Yeah you probably won't power attack as that won't be available due to all your feats going elsewhere. Or you can be good at maneuvers but not even really get to be able to damage against almost every single humanoid enemy you might face.

Anyway, my solution to your "problem" as it were is just get rid of Piranha strike and force anyone who wants Power Attack to have the STR requirement. So even my finesse based characters tend to have a 13 strength since I do not like Piranha Strike. For the record I do ALSO believe in fairness and despise the level to damage (and its doubling) and the Auto-Disarm and Auto-Trip and Combat Maneuver Immunity the Swashbuckler has.

A Katana is no more intrinsically finessable then a bastard sword. It's heavy, and the balance of the blade is farther up the cutting edge. Finessable weapons have balances at the beginning of the hilt or further back, so you have precise point control (like the rapier) or are very light so it doesn't matter (light weapons).

The fact they are portrayed so dexterously in fiction and movies is because that's showy swordsmanship. A naginata looks like a finessable weapon if you are performing weapon drills with it...so does a rifle. They aren't. Try picking one up. The reason they move so fast and sure is because there are two hands being used, not because they are finessable. People really underestimate how crucial being really strong is for moving a weapon well.

For the record, I care far more about the Rule of Cool then historical accuracy.

So earlier today, I was playing WoTR with my Oath against Fiends Paladin and managed to dimensional anchor a Succubus Priestess of Nurgul (or something along those lines) before she could ethereal jaunt. Later I decided to read D. Anchor and E. Jaunt to learn a little bit more about the interaction there. That's when I came upon an interesting solution to an ENTIRELY different problem I was facing in a Carrion Crown campaign and quite likely in the future of WoTR.

An enemy I had faced before but continued existing (a powerful lich) had mazed me the first time I fought him. At the moment I have a find the path prepared, but today's WoTR session taught me that self-targeting yourself or allies with a D. Anchor (not a huge issue if you or they aren't prone to teleporting) proves to be an effective defensive technique if you know your are facing a foe that is quite likely to maze or plane shift you and cheaper spell slot wise.

Thought I'd pass on this tiny bit of wisdom.

VMC Void School wizard is excellent option for any character that requires enemies to fail their saving throws. Excellent catch there Matrix Dragon. I want to VMC enchanter with Mesmerist. School familiar (familiar folio) for enchantment produces a very similar effect (for enchantments anyway) as void school.

Summoner/VMC Bard. Inspire courage for your Eidolons and Summon Monsters. I'm testing it out with an unchained summoner with an Azata eidolon (a Lillend wielding a glaive [both of us worship Shelyn]). It has been very effective even though I think I chose some what poorly on my spells.

Without a doubt I agree some of the VMCs could use work (though the current Monk can work for a Kensai Magus extremely well in emulating a Spellfist [even if just that]), there is some decent possibilities still.

Are there new ways to summon monsters as a standard action in the book aside from the Inquisitor ability?

Are there enough monsters added to the spell list so that Sacred Summons works better for clerics? Lawful Good clerics only getting three monsters to work with that spell and Neutral Good clerics only getting one did make the feat rather underwhelming.

I would recommend Champions of Purity to expand the list dramatically for Good characters. Champions of Balance and Champions of Corruption also further expand the summoned monster list with a Summon Good Monster/ Summon Neutral Monster/Summon Evil Monster feat. If you want to make good use of Sacred Summons, taking the appropriate alignment feat will go a long way in expanding your options. Of course... it is just one more feat to use up the limited slots.