zerion69's page

Hi folks ! Still playing PF1 as PF2 didn't convince me (for now ?) :-)

So I'm looking for a build for a warrior-like that would merge with his familiar or animal companion, to boost him.

Idea comes from SoulBeast in Guildwars 2 : for those who aren't familiar with this game, it's a ranger character archetype who merges with his animal companion to enhance his abilities (raising base attributes and gaining access to new powers).

I did my job with existing material in PF1 :

Nature-bonded magus is the closest one to the idea but is kinda of underpowered magus I think with loosing arcana plus plant familiar are not legions

Synthesist (summoner) covers quite correctly the technical search but less the RP idea, plus it's BAB is a 3/4. I'm aware it can be a strong melee fighter anyway

using Merge with Familiar spell is interesting as it can be access by different classes (including fighting) with core abilities or feat or race. Plus it can use Protector archetype on familiar. Not an animal companion but acceptable. Can be expensive (feat / race)

Tumor familiar is yeurk ... pass on for me :-)

Any bright idea I would have miss ?

I'm playing a level 16 cleric for a few years now (level up from 1) and I had exactly the same idea of focusing on spells and channel

Fail ...

Cleric is a "half warrior" and must keep abilities to fight in melee or, at least, defend himself efficiently.

I play in a group of 6 aventurers, "all roles are covered". And we got good fighters. Nevertheless, from time to time, I have to fight or defend.

Yes, spells can do great to protect or help fight without investing ... until you are dispelled and/or ambushed or not ready for a fight. You can spend one round to buff yourself but afterwards, you must buff, heal, etc. your party and/or dispel, counter, etc. enemies.

So I do recommand keeping fighting abilities. Not to be the best warrior but being able to defend at least.

I would go Elemental Spell : Cold or Acid maybe.

Why ? With levels, you'll encounter more and more monster that are immune or highly resistant to fire... and then you risk to end up useless in a fight.

Prefer to go deeper in fire ? Elemental Spell : Fire, and then you can fire-up a chain lightning :-)

I'm curious as to the whats and the whys of this story. What was the artifact and why did the wizard choose to destroy it? Couldn't he have tried some other method to destroy the artifact (most artifacts have 1)? Using mage disjunction on an artifact is risky.

As for character levels, a level 20 character would have more skill ranks and feats than a level 10 character. So be wary of that. Though, the wizard being a wizard, would have likely invested many feats into more spell casting stuff, so that could be rendered useless.

Good thing with vilain NPC is that they, sometimes, have agenda only they do understand. Plus this campaign is a post-magic-apocalypse when a few mortals defied gods (and partly succeeded). I wasn't DM at that time, I just get your realm back after ... kinda fantasy Mad Max :-)

True, skills being for a level 20, UMD checks for instance will mostly be auto-success and then he should be able to trick PC into still having his powers. That's part of the trick :-)

He won't have a level 20 equipment, my way to nerf him.

Thank you all for your feedback.

@Mark : True, equipment can be a real issue but I don't intend to give him stuff he should have at level 20.

He would have lost staff during the "incident" and had to craft (with no spellcasting, when possible) a few again and/or loot them elsewhere. He will have average to little above his CR equipment. Maybe using PC chart.

So no "nuke them all" spell.

He should be the "end boss" of a small abandonned dungeon.

CR 9 to 10 should be relevant

Hi community,

I'm to introduce an vilain NPC in my campaign as an arcane spellcaster who lost his ability to cast spell (consequence of a missed Will save while destroying an artifact with a Mage's Disjunction spell... but that's not the point :-))

It should be close to level 20, wizard or sorcerer, doesn't really matter.
He will fight PC with his staff probably and may use a few spells with UMD checks to get the impression he is still a capable caster.

Nevertheless, a level 20 arcane caster without any spellcasting ability is no more a CR 20 but not yet a CR 1.

He has a +10 BAB, level 20 saves, HP and some equipment... and skills, specially in UMD.

Which CR he could be ? CR 10 might be too much ?

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Much appreciated !

@IluzryMage : True. I'm still wondering between half-elf or half-drow. Both are good for different reasons (drow darkvision and/or spell like ; elf for dual minded)

Thanks for link also. I'm not used to cast divine spells and/or illusion/shadow. That will help a lot.

@Khan : Build is much appreciated. For RP reasons, I won't go Aasimar but it's a good race for Oracle.

I'm trying a build with dual cursed to get more revelations by level 5, plus adding a tongue curse with Infernal fits well too.

Still working on it, I'll try to post build in the evening

No feedback ? Question is so boring ? :-(

Hi Paizo community !

I'm currently building a 5th level oracle for homebrew campaign. Setting is kinda "Mad Max" theme with god losing power, high level magic users being very rare and whole world being under re-construction. Only one tradition prevails : Nature with druids.

I need advices regarding race, curse and spells (I played a lot of sorcerers but very few divine spellcasters)

A few comments :
1. I will go into combat only as a backup, RP reasons
2. Past own protection, I will focus on supporting team
3. For RP reasons, I want this char to have kinda "dark side" (not evil, "just" dark or strange behaviour)

What I built for now
Abilities : STR 12, CON 14, DEX 10, INT 13, WIS 12, CHA 17 (epic build used, +1 CHA @level 4)

Archetype : Ancient Lorekeeper (which should say elf like for race)

Mystery : Shadow
1) Army of Darkness, Pierce the Shadows (with Extra Revelation if not having racial darkvision)
3) Cloak of Darkness

Feats
1) Extra Revelation if needed (see above) or Augment Summonings
3) Heighten Spell (combo with Mount and Alter Summoning)
5) Not chosen, options are : Steadfast Personality, Scion of War, Divine Interference, Healer's Hands (to save spell slots) or a racial feat

What is not built for now
Race :
- with Ancient Lorekeeper, I will probably aim at half-drow (plus good for spells)
- Human is very attractive, as usual, but lack Ancient Lorekeeper for arcane spells
- Fetchling is thematically compliant, dunno if GM will allow

Curse : Lycanthropy, Hellbound ... or should I make no choices, Tongues

Spells : divine lists are wide as there's so much spells to heal teammates that are required (and so few spells...)

Items : will help with missing spells (to heal / remove liabilities)

All options are opened (except no 3rd party) :-)

As you said the dark secret revelation is going to add some illusion spells, but it is very limited in which spells you can add. This is going to be more useful at higher level when thing like shadow conjuration and shadow evocation come online. I think focusing solely on illusion is going to be a mistake especially at early levels.

What I would do at low levels is to focus on summoning spells. Take Army of darkness as your first revelation. This will allow you to take Augment Summoning without having to take spell focus conjuration. It also allows you to take other summoning focused feats Including superior summoning. It also allows you to add the shadow creature template in addition to the celestial and fiendish. Being able to summon up flying creatures that can drain STR is actually pretty good. The augmented summoning will also work to boost your shadow conjurations if you summon a creature.

Don't think so.

Army of Darkness enable switching celestial/fiendish template with shadow template. Not adding

And shadow template doesn't give STR dain attack.

... and on top of that : Spell Perfection (at higher levels)

UnArcaneElection wrote:

Interesting new style of guide. Right away, Rogue/Ninja and Swashbuckler spring to mind as additional Pathfinder 1st Edition classes that merit Not-Class guides like this.

Hunter: A Boy And His 9-Foot Tall Death Beast: "Fully leveled and without limitation, unlike the rangers, your animal companion can also take advantage of your animal focus...and in fact, can do so indefinitely, while even if it only lasts a few minutes for you." -- something seems messed up here.

Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor: Holy Hunter Batman: Actually, most Inquisitors don't get the spells of whatever Domain they choose, nor do they get Domain Slots. Some Inquisitor archetype that I can't remember off the top of my head actually does get Domain spells, but it isn't Sacred Huntmaster. So go ahead and choose an Inquisition if it suits you -- you won't be missing out on any spells (only question is whether that archetype can be combined with Sacred Huntmaster).

I Wanna Be a Ranger: Archetypes: Other notable archetypes

Beastmaster -- if you can cram in all the Boon Companion feats you're going to need, you can have multiple Animal Companions. Although Beastmaster Ranger isn't the only way to do this -- see this guide and its discussion thread.

Bow Nomad -- having a hard time choosing between Archery and Two-Weapon Fighting? Why not do Two-Weapon Archery? (Must be Kasatha or something else that has 4 arms.) For bonus points, it replaces some Ranger class features that aren't very good to start with.

Divine Tracker -- getting proficiency with your deity's

...

Good or less built, guides are always interesting as they give a reading of gameplay, rules and globaly a return on experience.

...

Divine Tracker -- getting proficiency with your deity's favored weapon is only useful in a few, but you also get Warpriest Blessings.

Yeah, that's the point ! Hello Liberation, Destruction and Strength blessing for instance :

Liberation : at level 1, you get freedom of movement which is SL 4 and get out of grapple (ok once at level 1)

Destruction : half your level as a morale bonus to atk for 1 min (10 rounds is usually two times the duration of low level fights no ?)

Strength : half your level as an enhancement bonus to dmg for 1 round but as a swift action (hurts action economy ok)

What's not top interesting ?

I see no guide about Divine Tracker archetype for Ranger. Did I miss something ?

Accessing Destruction and Strength, this archetype can really rocks and even makes certain builds such as 2WF possible and interesting (vs 2H).

Why so few feedback about it in all Ranger's guides (or wannabe rangers :-))

Warrior Spirit is huge. Would definitely take that over a lot of stuff. I'll parrot what a few others said. Get Blindfight and Iron Will for sure. Unhindering Shield is also a great feat.

Imo, Defiant Luck and Inexplicable Luck are kinda awful feats. Too little bang for buck. Would rather take Intimidating Prowess and maybe stuff like the Step Up chain. Consider instead stuff like Cut and Smash from the Air.

These Luck saved my a** a few times with other char. True they are 1/day only.

I was not aware of Unhindering Shield. Good pick, it opens opportunities.

I'm curious as to why you don't have intimidating prowess or why no one else suggested it. I wonder if its just bad but it would seem that it is better than skill focus at lower levels and you can just stack skill focus to make your intimidate even better.

As for the big sword, throwing in EWP Bastard Sword should allow you to put an Effortless Lace on it and allow you to wield it easier than a large Greatsword and do more damage. There is also the Iron Grip Gauntlets to help with oversized weapons.

'cause I just forget to include it in first posts :-)

I discovered Effort Lace yesterday for another build (2WF ranger, I'll post later about it). Good suggestion with Large BS ! Thx

Anybody else thinking that strayshift might have had a recent run of unfortunate events after failed will saves?

Count me in !

One PC in group had a mutation warrior with 4 arms evolution, 2 axes and one pick ... and a +2 Will save (no cloack, neg WIS, etc...)

DM did just what any DM would do with his nightmare : charms and controls about every time.

He killed 2 PC (with pick each time) and almost killed mine (going from full HP to -2 in one row)

When he died, all PC agreed raise dead was way too expensive...

+13 will save is an average save of 23/24 @ 13th level. I still would strongly advocate for Iron Will/Improved Iron Will and a wisdom improving item.

True... but not what I wrote : final Will save will be +16 (ie. +13 OVER base Will Save) :-)

Sure I can invest on Iron Will (and might do)

In the end, I'm to be a fighter. Let's say I get to +30 Will... great but expensive and I may not be doing my job due to low feat investment in fighting.

Makes sense ?

BOOST. YOUR. WILL. SAVE.

Then boost it again.

Advanced Weapon Training : Armed Bravery is about boosting Will save (+5 base)

... not counting Race and traits.
With half orc (Sacred Tattoo and Fate's Favored) I can get +2

TOTAL : up to +13 in Will save

I can say I'm ready... and if not I got a team and spellcasters that boost melee even to immunity to mind affecting effects if required

Thanks for warning :-)

Thanks all for your feedback

@avr : True. Not every fight but I can have a round to prepare. I delayed Warrior Spirit to have a better enhancement bonus. Bane is cheap though

@MrCharisma : we rarely trigger "when you drop a enemy to 0 hp" conditions. Usually we start dropping an enemy, others are to be dropped in one or two rounds. Maybe with a summoned monster (happens from time to time)

@rorek55 : True also. Took Wpn Spe as usual I'd say.

I was about to drop Furious Focus.

And was thinking about Divine Fighting Technique : Greatsword Battler but I will need the Vital Strike chain ?

Hi Community !

I need your wisdom and advices about a build I'm on : plain simple human fighter with an (probably) oversized ominous greatsword (for Intimidate build)

First thoughts about feats only. Abilities dont matter for now.
As a human, I went for Focused Study alternate racial ability.

1: Defiant Luck
Weapon Focus : Greatsword
Skill Focus : Intimidate

2: Power Atk

3: Furious Focus

4: Wpn Specialization : Greatsword

5: Hurtful

6: Cornugon Smash

7: Advanced Armor Training (feat) : Master Armorer
Advanced Armor Training : Armored Juggernaut

8: Impr Critical : Greatsword
Skill Focus : (to be chosen)

9: Advanced Weapon Training (feat) : Defensive Wpn Training
Advanced Weapon Training : Armed Bravery

10: Gr Wpn Focus : Greatsword

11: Inexplicable Luck
Advanced Armor Training : Armor Specialization

12: Gr Wpn Specialization : Greatsword

13: Advanced Weapon Training (feat) : Fighter's Reflexes
Advanced Weapon Training : Trained Initiative

13 first levels are good for now :-)

I read guide but few are about Armor and Weapon Training (too recent ?)

True. Thanks !

These are to be recurring threats that will follow them after first encounter to get revenge. They are not to be arch-enemies that are center of the campaign.

So, should they be killed at first encounter, that won't be a matter. Just too bad for me :-)

I'm thinking of a vampire for archer so I'd say he could get away if fight is not going well for him. Plus he will be using ranged attacks to start fight.

Ghoul goblin might die faster, especially because one PC invest a few on fighting undead. I'll see it using another ghoul may be as a meat shield.

For archer, I was looking as magus kinda "switch hitter". With a bow (or x-bow) he will be good thanks to DEX and maybe a feat but in fact he will be far better in melee (PC will discover it too late).

Some magus powers are not specific to melee wpn so can work for both (melee and ranged) and I won't be forced to go to magus archer archetype

For the ghoul goblin I'd suggest vexing dodger (rogue), probably multiclassed with feral gnasher(barbarian). Mouser(swashbuckler) is also a nice dip for flanking with any adjacent allies, and spending panache for not provoking entering enemy square.

Great recos ! Fits quite well with concept.

I liked monk option to take advantage of natural atk (with proper feat) and flurry and improving AC with WIS (he won't be wearing armor).

I was to use goblin ghoul as a base. It's a ranger build but I can change it of course.

Thanks a lot.

What lb are this villains?a can't suggest if I don't know in what lb you wanted?

lb ? What you mean ? Level ?

These ennemies will probably be CR 5 for their first encounter and for next ones will advance by 2 to 4 levels max

Hmm... I like the idea of invisible arrows striking the players and remaining invisible the whole time. Would be quite expensive to permanency a lot of arrows (and good luck finding them without a see invisibility spell). That's 5,000gp an arrow, wow. I'd thing that maybe charging that for a quiver of arrows would be reasonable. The vanish option is a non-starter though, it can only effect creatures.

Maybe use the vanish spell to make it possible for the sniper to get away, or change location before unloading a round of arrows at the players.

Crap ! You're right, I completly missed the target spell being different from parent spell, invisibility !

Ok, so back to first idea : he's to cast invisibility on its arrows (ie target is an object).

And, again, you are right : crafting invisible arrows or permanency on it would be too pricy. Plus you also need a way to see your own invisible arrows :-)

Thanks a lot for feedback

Hi Community !

For new campaign, I'm building two recurring vilains. I'm not looking for OP builds but I need them to survive PC's wrath (5 PC) for a few scenarios and be a real danger. Both are undead.

PC should meet with them at level 3 to 5, and a combat to the death is no required.

First NPC is to be able to used ranged attacks casting invisibility or vanish on its projectiles (probably compo bow with arrows to benefit from STR ?). Invisibility on arrow is to be able to be a sniper and making pinpoint its position difficult plus the "surprise" effect when arrow hit target.
I was thinking of a vampire magus with archery archetype ?

Second NPC is a ghoul goblin. Point is to make it kinda fury that could jump on a PC and lash it. Could be "hit and run", not sure. Not a bright one, more a bestial one. No idea for class... Rogue, ranger or monk ?
Race choice is fixed. Ghoul could be changed for something "close to a ghoul" if interesting

Unchained classes is possible

Any suggestion ?

OK! I understand way better your recommandations. Actually, we have a different gameplay experience and that explains why I had trouble getting your recos.

Using Aid Another as I read the rules and except for some rare niche feats, is something you do frequently at close range or being adjacent to an ally. Within our group, we avoid like plague packing as it's a call for very frequent mass punishment (AoE mainly).

We use to play splitted on battlefield and with a shock and awe tactic. We try to hit fast and hard. Mainly because we often have to deal with ambushes and casters. And our GMs know quite well their job with spells... and about 80% of our adventures go up to level 16+, when spell effects count and hit hard, not always allowing a save or SR for resisting.

As we have to react quite fast, we try to prepare as much as we can before combat (or dangerous areas) and casters always keep spell slots for protecting fighters (I mean not just buff/protection, I mean immunity when we can as save DC can be crazy high sometimes).

Anyway, by reading "last/recent" books and forums, there's seems to have new usages of Aid Another actions I wasn't aware of so I spend a few time today searching and building around, using your recommandations. I got an idea of a new character highly focus on aid another. I will give it a try and may post it later to get feedback :-)

zerion69 wrote:

recently, we had a Mutation Warrior in another. He butchered 4 players by falling under enemies control. Last time he died during a fight, we were not "in a mood" to raise him. Since then, this archetype is not very popular in my group :-)

Let me get this straight: You recently had a Fighter kill multiple PC due to a failed will save, and your response to that is to play a Fighter with an even worse will save?

zerion69 wrote:

Anyway, I don't understand why Two Handed Fighter is so weak to you all ? I read several guides on the subject, all pointing damage output with this archetype (actually STR x2 instead of x1,5 and PA x4 instead of x3)

Like I said in my last post, it doesn't really help with any of the Fighter's weaknesses.

It doesn't help fighting non-adjacent enemies, or flying/unreachable enemies, or hidden/invisible enemies, or swarms. Against will-save enforcing enemies it not only doesn't help, it actually makes the Fighter worse by preventing Armored Bravery. It doesn't help the Fighter be useful outside of combat at all.

It's not that the archetype has any abilities that are a downgrades compared to what they replace, it's that the archetype prevents replacing them with something better. Yes, Fighter is weird that way.

Yes, his Will was even lower than Will of this PC, beginning with a 7 WIS.

Anyway, I got your point on fighter weaknesses and using more AWT/AAT instead of archetype.

But then, how do I catch up with damage ? I mean with feat and abilities. I got it with items :-)

I gotta strange feeling that if I wanna address all fighter weaknesses, I'm up to paladin or ranger.

Cornugon Smash/Hurtful is a pretty easy combo for a Fighter to build toward.

True. One interesting option with Intimidate.

I gave a try to AWT/AAT :

1: Natural Soul, Weapon Focus, Defiant Luck
2: Power Atk
3: feat/AAT : Master Armorer
4: Coordinated Charge
5: Animal Ally
6: Outflank
7: Boon Companion, AAT : Armored Juggernaut
8: feat/AWT : Fighter Tactics
9: feat/AAT : Armored Sacrifice, AWT : Armed Bravery
10: Improved Trip
11: Inexplicable Luck, AAT : Armor Specialization,
12: feat/AWT : Warrior Spirit
13: feat/AWT : Fighter's Reflexes, AWT : Trained Initiative
14: Furious Focus
15: (to be chosen), (to be chosen)
16: feat/AWT : Defensive Wpn Training
17: (to be chosen), AWT : Weapon Specialist
18: Greater Trip
19: (to be chosen)
20: (to be chosen)

- No Wpn Spe / Gr Wpn Focus / Gr Wpn Spe as it was small bonuses for what I was looking for ... but I will need to optimize damage still :-(

- "feat/A_T" = feat to get extra training

Armored Sacrifice will be used with spare wooden bucklers.
Weapon Specialist is in order to be able to switch to other weapon at higher levels if necessary

Imma be real with you. I loathe the Two-Handed Fighter archetype..

Coordinated Charge/Fighter's Tactics

** spoiler omitted **...

True ! I was thinking about taking Fighter Tactics + Coordinated Charge, with Wolf companion

I know there can be better animal companion/familiar (especially with Mauler) than Wolf but, from a RP point of view I prefer to stick with Wolf. Familiar, even if going medium with Mauler, are fluffy pokemons more or less. Yes, they can be dangerous technically.

Options I consider for companion are
- Monstrous Companion : if going Winter Wolf (RP mainly) or Worg (3 nat atks)
- Evolved Companion : to add claws or other cool options

My strategy, by default is
- Base feats + Human feat = racial feats, companion and other shinny options
- Fighter feats = combat feats (base + extra adv armor / wpn training)

Some exotic feats are not available and I'm looking for build that makes sense from a RP point of view. And I'm forced to have a 100% autonomous character, we are used to play as a group for years now and we are quite efficient at that :-)

At level 19 even 220+ damage probably isn't a move and kill, judging by the CR 17+ monsters (mean CR 17 HP is 276). Vital strike adds little to this - it really isn't a great solution to fighter mobility, especially on a fighter without armor training. 20' move and then one-and-a-bit attacks isn't that effective.

Advanced armor training and advanced weapon training are good enough that many fighter archetypes that lose armor or weapon training are unimpressive. Maybe your guides were written before AWT/AAT came out? The other problem is that fighters at mid to high levels have to work hard to make their full melee attacks actually happen. Many mid-high level enemies will have mobility, lots of reach, ranged attacks, spells etc.

220+ (not counting dices) is from time to time a one shot kill as we play we massive damage optional rule. That means a critter with less then 440 (not counting dices) will have to pass a save. Once every three hits like that, enemy dies.

For mobility, we use a lot mithral armors and/or haste. And I frequently choose to use breastplate to avoid reducing too much my movement.

Again, I agree with AWT/AAT. I will try give it a try with a later post. I promise :-)

I was looking for pounce, as I was used to pounce with my barbarian, but it seems to be difficult to get it for a fighter.

I was going to say, Vanilla Fighter...

Wow, that's recommandation so I'll try to get a point by point answer :

- I get the point with AAT/AWT and will see what comes out

- Combat Reflexes has always been a bad choice in my practice, with the exception of CAGM barbarian of course. How often are you in position to land more than 1 AoO in a round ? And have invested enough to get these 2 AoO

- Bodyguard and then I see the synergy with previous feat. Interesting but as we play we rarely fight side by side. We prefer flanking position or we are splitted due to spread fight

- Human luck chain feats, of course ! Great chain

- Disruptive/Spellbreaker/Teleport Tactician is a too feat intensive chain for our practice : melee in our group are usually efficient in close combat and DMs know how to use summoned critters, henchmen and environnement... or flying to avoid like plague melee for their casters. When we get in range for melee, usually, it's the end of the fight for the caster in one or two rounds

- Worship Gorum is not available, we got our own pantheon for about 30 years now but I get the idea :-)

- Vital Strike chain is a feat chain I learned to hate by the past as not being efficient at first reading. I'm changing my mind but I still have to get good working (ie weapon with several dices + changing size effects)

- Furious Focus, of course ! Especially for mobility.

- Rhino Charge will be quite a niche in our gameplay.

- Aid Another is, as I feel it, a bit intensive to be efficient and costly (vs action economy) I may not see your point...

- Dazzling Display will rarely (not to say never) efficient : 1) our main DM is just lucky to a point it's just unaffair. He missed about one save every 20 rolls (good days for us) and he's not cheating.. 2) besides malus, I've never seen a real efficiency, within our group, of Intimidate builds. Usually these builds are feat intensive and when you get the whole chain you're close to mid-high levels when mind affecting effects are loosing efficiency due to protection / immunities

- Focused Study from Human is cool, I took it once or twice with previous characters.

i would switch the flachion for a nodachi.

both are Martial weapons but it's superior in every way and cost less.
and as a pole-arm you can use it with a heavy shield if you grab shield brace feat (which need shield focus first) getting you at least 3 more ac (and more if you get a magical shield). if you do, make sure to get darkwood or mithril shield to avoid penalties to attack.

ever since ultimate equipment got out the only ones who should use a falchion are non-martial half orcs or some1 who found a named unique magical falchion.

Nodachi is an eastern weapon and still read like that in our group. And it's a very rare weapon in non custom made and/or non eastern campaigns. That means, should I want to buy or upgrade that weapon, I'd better get proper feats to do so.

I agree, technically it's a better weapon than falchion.
On a RP point of view, we found falchions (including magical and named/unique) far more frequently :-)

I never used polearm so I barely noticed Shield Brace. Good recommandation :-) Thank you

Okay, was not aware rule about Arcane Strike was re-re-done.

Anyway, I don't understand why Two Handed Fighter is so weak to you all ? I read several guides on the subject, all pointing damage output with this archetype (actually STR x2 instead of x1,5 and PA x4 instead of x3)

I understand lack of mobility in my building that I should "correct" with Vital Strike chain for instance and an oversized falchion for instance.

I also understand my Will save will be low and I must "correct" it too.

Level 19 ability, as I planned to switch to a scythe, is more or less a "move and kill" every round (I estimated I would be +40 to hit and 220+ dmg). Not on very big mobs sure like giants and dragons. Mass damage might not suffice.

Should I go with a "basic" fighter to get a more balanced fighter then ?

By default spell like are arcane unless they do not exist on arcane spell lists. Or by RAI and not RAW, should be divine.

True, it's a point I'll have to check with DM.

I haven't published magic item intent as I'll to handle with what I will loot. One or two items will be precious for a fighter build, including this one, others can be more common. For now, I'm just designing the character's "skeleton".

@Dekarlord : recently, we had a Mutation Warrior in another. He butchered 4 players by falling under enemies control. Last time he died during a fight, we were not "in a mood" to raise him. Since then, this archetype is not very popular in my group :-)

True, I totally forget Advanced Weapon Training. I will correct and yes Warrior Spirit is in mind. Armed Bravery is impossible with this archetype.

I was about to take Iron Will too.

@Lelomenia : I'll check Eldritch Guardian. I was more on a "natural/wild" concept than a magical one.

Thanks all for your feedbacks ! Much appreciated.

Hi Community. It's been a while since I last posted but I've extensively read what was posted on several topics. Happy to see it's still so active :-)

Ok, so this time I'm on a (quite) simple concept and not looking after a perfectly optimized build.

Lothar is a not very talkative, taciturn and to the extreme kinda sociopath human fighter raised by a pack of wolves.

Alignement : Lawful Neutral
Race : Human
Class : Fighter (all along, not willing to multi)
Archetype : 2H fighter

Traits : Beastkin, +1 still to be chosen
Drawbacks : Scarred (RP interest, while he was young, another wolf pack attacked his own pack and he was badly injured by enemy pack alpha)

Feat progression
1: Natural Soul, Wpn Focus : Falchion (fighter feat), +1 still to be chosen
2: Power Atk (fighter feat)
3: Defiant Luck
4: Wpn Specialization (fighter feat)
5: Animal Ally (wolf)
6: Arcane Strike (fighter feat, thanks to Beastkin)
7: Boon Companion
8: Improved Critical : Falchion (fighter feat)
9: Inexplicable Luck
10: Gr Wpn Focus (fighter feat)
11: Monstrous Companion (maybe to switch to winter wolf, not sure)
12: Gr Wpn Specialization (fighter feat)
13: Bestow Luck
14: Martial versatility (fighter feat)
15: Surge of Success
16: Martial mastery (fighter feat)
17: +1 still to be chosen
18: +1 still to be chosen
19: +1 still to be chosen
20: +1 still to be chosen

I plan on using Falchion (and crits) till very late levels (19+) and then switch to scythe, getting back all bonuses thanks to human feats.

I plan to fight as a pair with wolf (feat selection note done yet but maybe aim for one or two teamwork feat such as outflank or paired opportunists)

I think I may invest in Vital Strike chain as we often get rounds where mobility interferes with full attacks.

Going critical feats, I may select Bleeding Criticals.

All feedback on these small notes will be welcome :-)

Hi Community. It's been a while since I last posted but I've extensively read what was posted on several topics. Happy to see it's still so active :-)

Ok, so this time I'm on a (quite) simple concept and not looking after a perfectly optimized build.

Lothar is a not very talkative, taciturn and to the extreme kinda sociopath human fighter raised by a pack of wolves.

Alignement : Lawful Neutral
Race : Human
Class : Fighter (all along, not willing to multi)
Archetype : 2H fighter

Traits : Beastkin, +1
Drawbacks : Scarred (RP interest, while he was young, another wolf pack attacked his own pack and he was badly injured by enemy pack alpha)

Feat progression
1: Natural Soul, Wpn Focus : Falchion (fighter feat), +1 still to be chosen
2: Power Atk (fighter feat)
3: Defiant Luck
4: Wpn Specialization (fighter feat)
5: Animal Ally (wolf)
6: Arcane Strike (fighter feat, thanks to Beastkin)
7: Boon Companion
8: Improved Critical : Falchion (fighter feat)
9: Inexplicable Luck
10: Gr Wpn Focus (fighter feat)
11: Monstrous Companion (maybe to switch to winter wolf, not sure)
12: Gr Wpn Specialization (fighter feat)
13: Bestow Luck
14: Martial versatility (fighter feat)
15: Surge of Success
16: Martial mastery (fighter feat)
17: +1 still to be chosen
18: +1 still to be chosen
19: +1 still to be chosen
20: +1 still to be chosen

I plan on using Falchion (and crits) till very late levels (19+) and then switch to scythe, getting back all bonuses thanks to human feats.

I plan to fight as a pair with wolf (feat selection note done yet but maybe aim for one or two teamwork feat such as outflank or paired opportunists)

I think I may invest in Vital Strike chain as we often get rounds where mobility interferes with full attacks.

Going critical feats, I may select Bleeding Criticals.

All feedback on these small notes will be welcome :-)

Hi. Kinda "Raise thread" but ...

Faith Magic: 5/5 highly dependent on the deity you worship, but amazing if that lines up.
>> True, for ONE divine spell. I looked at druid and cleric spells ; there are cool options but for what I've seen nothing broken ?

Idealize: 2/5 Depends on your style, but if you're the kind of Wizard who loves blowing a whole bunch of low level buff spells prior to a dungeon delve it could work for you.
>> True, could be greater if DM allows Permanency on it or working with Enhancement subschool 1st level power (still a spell like, not a transmutation spell but close to, no ?)

Staff-like Wand: 5/5 this discovery is positively amazing. Take the best part of staffs, and apply it to the affordable and practical wand. It does have an annoyingly useless feat tax in craft staff (the entire reason to take this discovery is because you don't want to use staves...), and as a practical matter you will probably need craft wand to use this affordably. If you've got the feats and gold to support it, however, staff-like wand is absolutely amazing.
>> Depends on your group behaving, wands availability and wands you choose but I would give it only a 4/5 at most. It's feat expensive, available and effective at high levels and only on a few spells that really evolve with levels. A few abjuration and low level evocation spells could benefit from it but why don't you use your own spells (all with metamagic) ?

Steward of the Great Beyond: 2/5 kinda killed by the 1/day limitation and its tight range. It's pretty niche to begin with, and when it does come up you can only benefit from it once. Still, it's an immediate action counter-spell so it's at least good when it works.
>> You can use it up to 3/day @ level 20 (1 + 1/5 levels past 10). Range is bad : as a wizard you should be farther than 30 ft. from these kinda effects. Range only makes it a 2/5 or 1/5. Way too close for me when I play a wizard... but life saving (maybe) if danger come closer. A shapechanging wizard could use it well if he's able to cast, when in melee.

Time Stutter: 5/5 once per day you gain the ability to use a slight weaker version of a 9th level spell... as a free action. Gain additional uses every 5 levels. Yup, pretty broken.
>> I won't rate it 5/5... or explain me where have you seen it's a free action ?
In fact it's a free "swift + move" actions. Not bad, but not broken imho. Using Time Stutter is a standard action so :
1. Use Time Stutter as a standard action to get a full round
2. Use this new full round (standard, swift, move) with respect to Time Stop limitations
3. Back to your "normal" round with a swift and move actions left
So,
a) you must be truly experienced and ready for action economy using spells,
b) you could, indeed, cast 3 spells / round (2 quicken + 1 normal) that being quite expensive (need preparation and bunch of gp in quicken rod maybe)

True Name: 4/5 only thing keeping this from being 5/5 is that you can approximate it with Planar Binding, but the greatly reduced risk and increased compliance makes this a very easy pick.
>> All true. And maybe a feat that could start a whole campaign. Indeed, a very cool RP feat !

Wooh thanks for all your answers

1. I played several wizards, got fun with them but as I finally tested a sorcerer, I realized spontaneous casting was more was I was looking for

2. I choosed human for several reasons :
- alt racial favored class bonus
- imperious bloodline : true, you can get it via racial heritage or being half human but I thought human was thematically more appropriate

3. I choosed Imperious for RP and capstone. Rest of bloodline is kinda crappy vs Arcane bloodline (or even Sage alternate). My 1st sorcerer is a sage bloodline one

4. Yes, I plan to use bloodline mutations. They are great and will be greater to replace crappy bloodline powers

5. Over capstone, Arcane bloodline is more powerful than Imperious. No doubt... except the fact our DM is frequently using death effect and drain abilities/level. That makes capstone way more powerful :-)

6. I'll make sure to get as much metamagic (feats and rods) as I can. I plan to take Spell Perfection so I need them. Plus metamagic feats are meant for sorcerer :-). Going to level 21, Intensify will be very welcome as bloodline mutation.

7. With imperious crappy feats, I think I'll get very high UMD so I'll try to make the most of it.

8. I never used mounts : we frequently get in dungeons and TP/planeshift all the time. Mount is unwelcome with this configuration

9. I also never used "permanent" familiar : I tend to think it's a weakness for your caster if it gets killed. My DM won't target it if I don't use it for action economy (ie more spells) but, then, it will be much less useful

10. I intend to use Guardian Spirit (Summoner Handbook) for familiar purpose ; that way if it is killed, it will be less painful for me

11. I used Leadership several times. Just, no this time :-)

Anyone ?

@williamoak : would you kindly re-post the build ?

Link is down and I'm looking for advices on imperious bloodline.

I'm currently building a sorcerer for a high level campaign (replacing an existing character) at level 21 (yes, 21st. Guidelines exist in PHB and we played epic level several years with DnD 3.5 ed).

I'm familiar with Pathfinder rules but it's my second sorcerer and I'm not yet familiar with all sorcerer mechanisms.

1/ Clearly, I'll go Human (for racial alt trait)

2/ I do hesistate for bloodlines (main + using Eldritch). Usually, I'd go with Arcane but I'm looking for a valuable alternate

option 1 : Sage (alt Arcane bloodline) + Pit Fiend (alt Infernal via Exotic Heritage and Eldritch Heritage)
- lot of HP and skill points eventhough demanding on abilities
- sponteanous metamagic hindrance fixed at level 20

option 2 : Imperious + Arcane (via Eldritch Heritage)
- good HP but low skill points (I hate lacking skill points)
- Imperious capstone is very cool RP and technically powerful when in high levels (immune + stop aging) ; age is significant in our settings as we play characters for years
- spontaneous metamagic hindrance fixed for few spells per day (5 in fact)

I do like Imperious bloodline for flavor and powers and I think I can find way to overcome action economy problems for 5 to 6/7 spells per day.

Advices ?

I take the ring over quiverS of wands.

Before I do have to handle rivers of hateful comments : yes, from an economical point of view, wands are much cheaper and will provide more flexible healing. But from a RP point of view (remember the other "part" of RPG ;-)), I wouldn't travel with two or three bags full of wands. Ridiculous, period.

Plus, ring of regeneration has other benefits :
1. regrow limbs : by 2nd edition with sharpness weapons, it was helpful. Now, technically I don't think
2. you are immune to bleed damage and there are new methods of making your character bleed in every new handbook or so
3. you are protected vs nasty effects that are countered or healed by Regenerate (might need GM approval)
4. you automatically stabilize when you fall below 0 HP
5. ... way cooler than an army of wands (my point of view :-))

But, yes again, it's way more expensive than a forest of wands :-)

BTW,
1. are you ALL able to use wands in your group ?
2. remember wands can't be repaired if targeted by nasty spells at higher level (such as Disjunction) ... depends on how high you play
3. GET A HEALER !! That might not be the most funny role in a party but going out without a healer (even a NPC through Leadership feat for example) is kinda suicide IMHO
4. [EDIT] ... or get a ioun stone (regular or cheaper version) as suggested

Anyway, have fun and have a nice day :-)

Oh, great, can you pinpoint it ? 'Cause actually, it's all it's about : several entries in forum and no FAQ, no rule and lot of interpretations... :-)

Hi. Old post but I had exactly the same question just today

@Eridan : by RAW, scarlet & blue ioun stone works as a headband of vast intelligence, see ref on PRD.

@David : IMHO, INT wont stack (as you wrote) but I see no reason why you wouldn't get multiple skills. And for 8k / skill I see no real munchkinery.

Anyone else got another reading ?

Thanks for reference, never heard about the Ioun Spite Bracers.

Cool item.

Hi. Not being a fan of orbiting priceless ioun stones (meanwhile they are very useful), I was looking for a cool and RP way to wear them (and change them if necessary).

I came to the idea of wearing a normal metal gauntlet (that I will enhance with magic, becoming, at least, a +1 weapon) and then add power of a wayfinder.

That way I would be able to "clip" my ioun stones into the gauntlet and still benefit from their power without the (not so RP) orbiting thing.

Question: a wayfinder is a slotless item, making its price, by RAW, a bit higher than a "slotted" item. If I add its power to the gauntlet should I pay 150% of its price to add to the gauntlet (not clear by RAW) or paying for a slotless item is already "enough" ?

Elemental resistances ("resistance" type in fact) don't stack unless explicitly specified (very rare).

But for 12k, you also get a cool short distance teleport effect 1/day, one you can use with a lightning bolt at level 5 or 6 (depending on your class).

"Blast and move" effect. Technically it might not be OP but that's still very cool RP effect :-)

... this combo should then, also, work with these

- Conduit Rod
- Rod of Escape
- Rod of Alertness

Thought, not all powers will be available... but guess what ? I got two hands so one for Absorption and one for ... Conduit may be ?

Conduit can be quite a surprise and is some kind of free teleport (and at lower levels).