Hopefully, there are some people out there who can give me some advice on this awesome new class, but since it is new I understand if there may not have been enough time to put it in a lab or anything.
My last character in our Carrion Crown game had a possessed hand (the feat) and was trying to find a way to free the spirit trapped in there, well I had the idea that since she died the last session when the party tries to bring her back they accidentally release the spirit in her hand instead, who would be a Wraith since it was a perfect flavor match. The only problem is that I have a crippling case of choice paralysis on the subject.
So far the character's base stats look like this before items, feats, or anything else:
Lvl 8 Human
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 14
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 16
Charisma 20
I'm unsure what focus would be good for the AP, like would going with Illusions and trickery work often against the types of enemies? Would it be a good idea to exchange feats for a Proficient Spheres of Might progression since the DM already will allow me to gain a Martial Tradition for proficiency exchange if I would like (Even though the class only really would trade proficiency with scythes, he doesn't mind which is pretty nice).
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Glad you like the class!
I haven't played past the first chapter of Carrion Crown, so can't speak in detail as to what is useful there. I expect at least some of them are undead heavy (the first is, I've heard they aren't all though), so mind might not be a good focus. If your party composition allows it, you could focus on undead, but the locals might not like that. Being able to possess mindless undead might be useful.
You have good stats, so combat talents could be useful (some could be regardless, depending on sphere). What does the rest of the party look like? Is there a particular sphere you would like to focus on or try out? You have a lot of options. I don't know that the sneaky infiltration stuff will be as useful in the AP, maybe others could say for certain, but that would cut some haunt options.
Glad you like the class!
I haven't played past the first chapter of Carrion Crown, so can't speak in detail as to what is useful there. I expect at least some of them are undead heavy (the first is, I've heard they aren't all though), so mind might not be a good focus. If your party composition allows it, you could focus on undead, but the locals might not like that. Being able to possess mindless undead might be useful.
You have good stats, so combat talents could be useful (some could be regardless, depending on sphere). What does the rest of the party look like? Is there a particular sphere you would like to focus on or try out? You have a lot of options. I don't know that the sneaky infiltration stuff will be as useful in the AP, maybe others could say for certain, but that would cut some haunt options.
I can't help liking something well made!
I actually don't know if we're in the first or second book, past that we're level 8. The DM doesn't tell us when we beat a book unless we ask usually. It seems to go pretty heavy on constructs and aberrations as well as undead though from my experience so far.As for party composition, we current have a 5-6 member team of a 'chained' Summoner (first time player mainly focusing on the Eidolon, he has less system mastery than the rest so we don't mind him using a strong class), a Battle Necromancer (debuffs and a two-handed weapon mostly, some raising), a Warpriest (focused on the god of metal so he's an item maker), a Blacksmith (SoM version, focused on sunder and shield defense), and the last player is an irregular attending Kitsune Sorcerer.
My previous character was a half-goblin Scholar (SoM) who was focused around knowledge, scouting, and healing the party using alchemy and class features, and the possessed hand feat chain to let her create alchemical things even while asleep.
There are several spheres I would love to try more than just a dip into (other than destruction, done that a lot lol). Perhaps Illusion? I'm a little confused by the vagueness of what the sphere allows you to do I'll admit.
Okay, so the first thing to do is probably figuring out what Haunt Path and/or Archetype you want to use. Path of the Corruptor could be interesting.
If you really want to keep the theme of an existing spirit going, the Unbodied Archetype could be interesting. Maybe use the hand you possessed before as a refuge object the party has to preserve, and while you normally use ghostly powers from inside your host to help them, you occasionally pop out to haunt other enemies or distract them.
But yeah - what do you most WANT to do? That's the best way to figure out a good build. XD
Yeah thats whats got me partly so stuck, they all look pretty awesome lol. I do like the unbodied a lot, but I really hesitate with the idea of taking damage every round I'm not solid, though I could see how that could be pretty interesting.
I suppose part of my hang up is that I have a lot of things I WANT to do and I'm not sure what would fit best in the game. My initial thought was using Combat Spheres to build a dagger user with it who would possess enemies and use wraith form/touch attacks. But having a much more control heavy possession or aiding helper would likely be more fitting on flavor. Downside is all three of our casters are primarily doing utility stuff and buffs already while our other two beat stuff to death (the necromancer is a caster, but it's all combat related and he's mainly another melee DPS).
I said the Illusion sphere might be interesting to try out to Stack, if you know about the AP would too many things just not be affected by them?
Yeah, it's not good to stack up on roles TOO much. If you've got three buffers, it's better to try and do something else. From what you've said, debuffing and Battlefield Control sound like a good way to go here. Whiiiich could include raising lots of dead to distract enemies and provide flanking. And Illusion would work well, too.
So you would suggest the Corrupter Haunt Path then for the Undead? What about Ghost Strike only affecting living creatures? (I could be wrong but I thought that was true). If so that might put some limitation on what I could possibly Debuff if undead feature heavily
One of the nice things about Corruptor/Death Sphere is raising your own bodies to inhabit. XD Anyway, it's true that Ghost Strikes are normally a Negative Energy Death effect - the basic version does not work on undead, constructs, elementals, and creatures similarly immune. I wouldn't say Carrion Crown is wholly undead, but I suspect there'll be a fair few later on... *Rubs chin* What I might do is take a drawback to lose access to Ghost Strikes (letting you reanimate bodies better with a bonus talent and gain more battlefield control), then dip into another sphere for debuffs.
The Destruction sphere has a lot of options for that (damage and debuffs at the same time are great!), but you could also play up the debuffs of the Enhancement sphere to go with a ghostly curse theme. Mass Enhancement, Cripple, and maybe Lingering Enhancement can be a pretty brutal opener in a fight. Definitely get a staff for whatever sphere(s) you end up using.
Maybe pick up at least the basic Destruction sphere, because a scaling all-day touch attack literally never goes out of style. You could grab the Energy Focus (Radiant Blast) drawback for a nice anti-undead damage boost + debuff.
Fair enough, losing Ghost Strike is a bit sad but with there being as many constructs we've fought as undead it's a good call. I'm pretty aquainted with the destruction sphere so I'll definetly be picking up at least the basic access to it if I'm skipping out on SoM access to retain feats. I actually forgot about the Enhancement sphere having debuffs though, so thanks for reminding me! Hmm...What about the Fate Sphere or Life Spheres? I'm unfamiliar with the former but if the spell point costs aren't terrible allowing allies to reroll or forcing enemies to do the same could be pretty thematic of a 'curse' as well. The latter might endear the character to the party more (since the former one was a healer) and the Vitality Talents can be pretty potent boosts, but I'm not sure if it would sacrifice too much to invest in
Life Sphere + Revitalize + Mass Healing (for a bigger group) will make your party love you. XD Wraiths normally get 17 talents, plus one for your haunt path, so I wouldn't invest more than 4-5 talents in any given Sphere if you want diverse talents.
You CAN use Life offensively, but it tends to be SP-intensive versus just using the Destruction Sphere, so I don't recommend it for anyone who's not a High Caster specializing in that.
Fate is a pretty good choice overall for debuff/control, so it's worth looking at.
Alright, how about this then. At 8th level without any extras from feats/drawbacks I'd have 8 magic talents to choose from.
I get Death automatically, Pick up either the Expanded Necromancy or Empowered Reanimate Talent (1), Then the other by axing Ghost Strike
Grab Life Sphere (2), Greater Healing (3), and Sustaining Vitality (4)
Next get Fate Sphere (5) with the Tongue of Ages Drawback, snagging the Curse (word) talent with it.
Now the question is whether to go for Destruction Sphere or to go into Telekinesis. The former being more reliable damage (With good debuffs in Radiant Blast like suggested or Nether Blast which Frightens Undead), while the latter opens up some creative options and is much more 'ghost' like.
Edit- Getting Illusion Sphere with the Disappearance Drawback might be pretty goofy, Go incorporeal AND invisible lol.
Actually on further reflection it may benefit me to still grab the Proficient access with Might talents. I could grab the Alchemy Sphere and the Salve talent (at 8th level it would heal 4d8+ practitioner modifier assuming max alchemy ranks). This would easily shore up the use of the Life sphere talents since I can make several ahead of time. The fact that the one this character was previously possessing used this as well would be a good tie in.
Revitalize is the most amazing Life talent ever. o wo~ I'd take that over Sustaining Vitality. You can get any blast type you want with Energy Focus (highly recommended if you don't plan to pick up more than one blast type group - it's basically a free talent), while Telekinesis... -Rubs chin- It's interesting, but you definitely need a solid plan (and some Caster Level buffs) to really do well with it. I think that could be saved for later, though you can probably afford a one-talent dip into the base Sphere for thematic reasons.
I plan on grabbing a staff to help out with caster level (probably a +2 staff to two different spheres, likely Life and then Destruction/telekinesis.) Though looking at Revitalize again I can see it's potential, but I'm not sure if it would benefit our party as much. Without picking up Ranged Healing and Mass Healing I'm only applying it to one person at a time, and Fasting Healing 1 is great for out of combat but certainly won't save someone being mauled. I can skip out on Sustaining Vitality though it was mostly one I just thought looked cool, so I may as well take your word on it and grab Revitalize to see how it turns out :P.
I thought of Telekinesis partly because it may be interesting to use while possessing an ally or a dead body, moving things around while hidden, or stopping ranged attacks aimed at the one the character is inside. As far as destruction blasts go each Negative Energy blast type talent actually does something against Undead so that's a possibility! As would be Cold to go with the ghost theme.
But alright, I think this mostly covers the talent portion of things. On to what Wraith Haunts would work...at least there's only 3 of those to choose lol.