Class / Race Notes and Suggestions

[B.T.]

Allow me to begin by saying that Pathfinder is such a step in the right direction that I can't even begin to express how happy I am with it. While I'm mostly converted to True20, I love D&D and fully support a 3.75 instead of 4e. Here are the things that I noted when going through the PDF.

Before beginning, however, I'd like to take a moment to cover my ass. I realize that these forums aren't the friendliest place on the Internet, and I'm merely trying to help D&D as a hobby. If I say something stupid or incorrect, please don't scream at me; I assure you that such a thing was unintentional. I also would appreciate commentary on my ideas because maybe I'm just misunderstanding something that another poster could clarify. Furthermore, I apologize in advance if I'm covering ground that has been tread upon before.

With that being said...

1. Humans are weaker as a race.

Now that feats are more prevalent--thank God!--the humans' +1 feat just doesn't seem so hot. Furthermore, +1 skill isn't so great with the inclusion of more skills for all classes and the merging of some skills (again, these were all needed). On top of this, all the other races get a bunch of minor bonuses, like darkvision or stability. Overall, the human is slightly underwhelming.

My solution: Give humans +2 to any two stats of their choice.

2. Dwarves remain very strong as a race.

This is especially true with the inclusion of stability. Overall, dwarves are one of the best fighter races. While this makes sense to me, it makes them slightly overpowered, which is what Pathfinder is trying to remedy.

My solution: Drop the stability bonus or reduce it to +2.

3. Fighters are still fairly "meh" when it comes to abilities.

In addition, the "armor mastery" ability feels tacked on and "too little, too late" to me. Additionally, fighters have even more reason to choose light armor in favor of heavy armor--for instance, a chain shirt could have a total of +14 (4 AC + 5 armor training + 5 enhancement) AC and platemail could have a total of +18 (8 AC + 5 armor training + 5 enhancement)...and the chain armor wouldn't slow the wearer. The same goes for shields.

My solution: Change armor training to the following:

Light armor/shields: +1 AC
Medium armor/heavy shields: +1 AC, DR 1/--
Heavy armor/tower shields: +1 AC, DR 2/--

4. Minor nitpick: As written, I believe the rogue's bleeding attack is weakened by DR.

If that's the intent, great; if not, additional text is necessary. If I'm wrong, just ignore this point.

Minor nitpick: The rogue's master strike ability is useless come epic play.

Yes, yes, I realize that epic play isn't Core and that it is inherently broken. However, changing the DC to a scaling DC would solve this problem for players wishing to create epic Pathfinder characters.

My solution: Change the DC to equal 10 + 1/2 the rogue's class level.

5. Arcane bond is a cool and flavorful ability, but the "bonded object" seems pretty weak.

First of all, I don't understand why the wizard has to make a Spellcraft check to cast when his bonded object isn't at hand. Second of all, it doesn't make sense for the bonded object to become functionally useless if its charges are used up. Thirdly, the rules for the bonded object casting spells are unclear--what spells does a wizard "know" (usually that term is applied to spontaneous casters), does the wizard lose the spell from his daily spells, etc.

My solution: Remove the Spellcraft check. (At higher levels, there's no point to this, anyway.) Allow charged items either to recover charges per day or have a few charges per day that automatically refresh on a daily basis (or whenever the wizard rests). Clarify the rules regarding the bonded object.

Abjurers and transmuters get kind of screwed with their abilities.

Compared to the diviner's "act on the surprise round" ability, the abjurer's flat "resistance to X 10" at level 20 pales, and the transmuter's enhancement bonus to a stat seems kind of weak. With items, one can get a +6 bonus to a stat, and that's not going to cost one a school of magic.

My solution: Give abjurers "resistance to X" equal to 5 + their class level, and give transmuters a +2 bonus to one physical ability score that improves by +1 for every three class levels they have.

Minor nitpick: Is there any real reason to keep Arcane Spell Failure in the game?

(Just wondering.)

5. Minor nitpick: Cleric undead turning/rebuking has a wonky formula.

I realize that this is, in fact, an extremely miniscule aspect of the game, but the formula for damage/healing may be hard to remember for some players. (Aside from that, an excellent change.)

My solution: Change turn/rebuke undead damage/healing to one-half one's class level.

6. Dodge and Point Blank Shot are still really weak.

I understand that they are "entrance feats," but, since one has to choose between using them and another combat maneuver (or one has to use them to set up another combat maneuver), couldn't they be buffed a little bit?

My solution: Make dodge/PBS constant bonuses that are only prerequisites for taking certain combat maneuver feats. (Of course, this would require tweaks to feats like Wind Stance.)

[vagrant-poet]

I've been playtesting it, and I gotta say, armour training is fine as is, the same goes for the bonded item which I love, and turning is fantastic, you've to be a bit careful using near living creature enemies, but then at least now you can but those uses per day to actual work, and get to use your spells as they are prepared.

[B.T.]

The armor thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense, though. With a +14 in light armor vs. a +18 in heavy armor, light armor becomes even more preferable to heavy armor. Obviously, there is a reason why people would pick medium/heavy armor over light armor.

7. Minor nitpick: If gnomes are a "frail" race (as described in the racial HP variant), why do they get +2 CON?

8. How does the fighter's armor training interact with mithril armor (as it is considered one category lighter)?

[B.T.]

(Sorry for making so many posts, but I keep thinking of things after the edit timer has expired.)

9. The enchanter 1st-level spell-like ability seems really weak in comparison to the rest of the abilities.

Why should the enchanter have to make a touch attack to daze a target? That's incredibly dangerous for the poor enchanter.

My solution: Make it an auto-hit power with a range of 30'.

The evoker's bonus to spell damage is a bit wonky.

First off, I believe that it ought to apply to the fire ray SLA because evokers are about doing damage--why shouldn't his SLA do more damage than any other specialist's? Second of all, how does the evoker specialist bonus work with magic missile if someone targets a number of creatures with magic missile rather than a single creature?

My solution: Let the evoker's specialist ability apply to fire ray. Add rules clarification.

10. Clerics are still one of the most powerful classes.

With a d8 HD, 3/4 BAB, two good saves, and their spell list, clerics are still too powerful, especially considering their new domain abilities. While I realize the changes I'm about to propose are drastic, please give them some consideration--and let the paladin do the fighting for his deity.

My solution: Change the d8 HD to a d6, give them half BAB, and give them good Will saves.

[Christina Stiles]

B.T. wrote:

1. Humans are weaker as a race.

Now that feats are more prevalent--thank God!--the humans' +1 feat just doesn't seem so hot. Furthermore, +1 skill isn't so great with the inclusion of more skills for all classes and the merging of some skills (again, these were all needed). On top of this, all the other races get a bunch of minor bonuses, like darkvision or stability. Overall, the human is slightly underwhelming.

My solution: Give humans +2 to any two stats of their choice.

I thought the same thing on humans. I liked the extra skill points, and I don't think adding +1 skill in its stead is much of an improvement. Humans are more versatile than that. Combine the old added skill points and a +1 skill, and I'm somewhat appeased. More added skills + the points, and I'm sold. To me, humans should be those who just pick up things quicker than others and tend to dabble.

I liked Paizo's extra +2 stat bonus, and I could possibly see an argument for two of those. However, I'm more intersted in the skills issue.

[B.T.]

11. Some feats are still woefully lacking.

Even though Toughness grants +23 HP at level 20, it still isn't just that strong. While Improved Toughness was a vast improvement over Toughness in 3.5, it still wasn't incredibly popular. (This is somewhat remedied by characters having many feats.) Also, +23 HP feels...awkward to me. Additionally, all the feats that add a +2 bonus to two skills, such as Deceitful and Acrobatic, are rather weak.

My solution: Change Toughness to give 5 HP + 1 HP/level, and give feats like Deceitful and Acrobatic a +5 bonus to using the skill.

12. There are too many Knowledge skills.

Why do we need all of them? There are just so many, and so few are useful. They ought to be combined, I think. So many of the knowledge skills would be intertwined with one another in real education, too--what kind of history class doesn't deal with cultures, customs, geography, rulers, etc.? What religious studies don't deal with "the Planes" or "magic" (be they heaven, hell, miracles, etc.)?

My solution: Combine Knowledge (nature) with Survival. Condense Knowledge (history, royalty and nobility, geography, local) into a single skill. Merge Knowledge (dungeoneering, architecture) into a single skill. Combine Knowledge (arcana, religion, the planes) into one skill.

13. Races are very complicated as-is because they have so many minor bonuses to keep track of.

Is there any way that these could be pared down? I honestly can't offer a sure suggestion for how to fix this, but let's look at the elf, for instance.

--Low-light vision.
--Automatic checks for secret doors.
--+2 on Perception checks.
--Elven magic: +2 on caster-level checks for overcoming resistance.
--+2 on Appraise checks for certain items.
--+2 on saves vs. enchantments.
--Improved attitude when dealing with other creatures.
--Proficiencies with a number of weapons.

That's just a lot to keep track of. Could anyone offer suggestions on how one might trim that list without compromising the elf flavor?

EDIT: Just read the notes, so I'll take a stab at them.

14. A few comments on the fighter:

--Would it be so terrible for the fighter's armor/weapons mastery not to have a listed limit? Unless there's some reason that you didn't want a +5 AC/-5 ACP in the ability, I just feel that a "round number" like five is better than four, and it would allow for the bonuses to accrue into epic levels.

--The DR 5/-- still feels like "too little, too late" for me. Would it be possible to incorporate a gradual increase in DR over the fighter's career?

--The fighter still doesn't have much of a reason to pick heavy armor like platemail over light armor.

[B.T.]

15. The evoker's energy ray is still weak.

As the spellcaster that is supposed to do damage, I think that the nerf was unnecessary. I like that he can choose multiple energy types, but I'm not sure that he needs a d4 damage die. Furthermore, using a d6 for damage goes with unifying the system (like with the HP: d6, d8, d10). Even if the evoker's bonus spell damage would stack with his energy ray (as I suggested earlier), that would only be a maximum of 21 damage at level 20 (assuming no energy resistance).

My solution: Give the evoker back his 1d6 damage.

(Again, sorry for posting so much...I just have a lot of ideas and I don't get them all down before the edit timer is up.)

[zoltar]

I don't understand why half orcs have +2 on their wisdom.

I imagine half orcs like an half Klingon like B'Elanna Torres in Star trek Voyager: always fighting with herself and her ferocious half/soul.

Infact this is reflected in Orc ferocity ability that is in contrast with wisdom.

My solution is to keep ferocity ability, but keep old +2 Strength, –2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma.

regards

zoltar