RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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So last week we started a brand new campaign to use with Beta. (It had nothing to do with the TPK I unleased on the PCs the previous session, really.) We switched DMs (I swear, just a coincidence with the TPK!), and made characters ahead of time. The DM (Alan, who's not on the boards....yet), decided that he wanted to have the game take place on Earth, but with magic, and therefore limited us to playing humans - specifically Vikings (though one of us is playing a Pict).
The DM also instituted his own hp variant that he's used for several years instead of one of the PRGP variants. He calls it the kid gloves rule, and it's simply that you get max hp for your first 3 levels, instead of just level one. Based on this, our party consists of:
Fighter
Druid (me)
Cleric
Barbarian
Ranger
Sorcerer
I can't say what domains the cleric picked, since they haven't come up yet in play, and the sorcerer wasn't with us the first session, so I don't know what bloodline he is. As the druid, I picked a riding dog companion instead of one of the domain options. My initial impression is that a companion for the druid is a bit better than a single domain, but I mostly went with this choice because I want to play a druid that goes into battle in melee often, augmented by wild shape at later levels, and thought that having a flanker would be quite useful, since I'll need every advantage to stack up with the front line fighters.
The session started with a fair amount of backstory and role play, and ended with a decent sized melee aboard our ship after pirates attacked. Because of this, we didn't get a lot of opportunity to test the rules, but in the fight, two things stood out.
1) The channel energy ability of clerics is a huge lifesaver, even with just 1d6 at first level. In particular, the option that it gives for ranged healing is very handy in tight quarters.
2) Overhand chop is very powerful, especially at 1st level, in the hands of an 18 Str fighter (which isn't too hard to pull off with the +2 ability score for humans. Combined with power attack, our fighter was dealing 1d12+10 damage at first level. I'm guessing that it will remain strong until at least 5th level, at which point it will become a decision between getting a full attack using your iterative attack vs. getting the extra damage. Until 6th level though, as a standard action, it's basically always on, and is just as good as weapon specialization with an 18 Str (plus it works for all 2 handed weapons, not just one), and once you get your Str up to 20, it's better. I think I like the previous version better, where you had to trade your move action to use a full round action to use this feat - it still was pretty powerful I thought, but at least there was a trade off and you couldn't use it every round, since you eventually would need to move to engage another foe.
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The sorcerer was going to use the elemental bloodline, and claim to be a descendant of Thor (lightning, eh?). Should be interesting, to say the least...I still am, actually. :)
Although I should probably ask for clarification on this bit:
Elemental Ray (Su): Starting at 1st level, you can unleash an elemental ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d6 points of damage of your energy type +1 for every two caster levels you possess.
I read it over and over. This looks like an "at-will" power. Could I get some feedback to make sure that I don't need to be carrying around a crossbow anymore? :)
-George
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Elemental Ray (Su): Starting at 1st level, you can unleash an elemental ray as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d6 points of damage of your energy type +1 for every two caster levels you possess.I read it over and over. This looks like an "at-will" power. Could I get some feedback to make sure that I don't need to be carrying around a crossbow anymore? :)
-George
That's right - it's at will.
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So, after one session, I have to say that playing the Pathfinder sorcerer feels much more fluid than playing the 3.0/3.5 version. Even though I was rolling like crap, it was nice to have the option of the d6 lightning zap, rather than using my 4 1st level spells and switching to a crossbow or (*gulp) melee weapon. I may have to pick up the precise shot feat to avoid that -4 for shooting into melee.
It was also nice to be able to do a bit more resource management. For example, going up against a few thugs? Zap 'em for d6, save the magic missile for the boss.
Unlimited cantrip use isn't bad either.
That's all so far. :)
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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A question came up in last night's game based on the p.40 sidebar about sneak attacks. Do the new sneak attack rules for creatures that previously were immune now being vulnerable to sneak attacks also apply to critical hits, or only to sneak attacks? The sidebar only mentions sneak attacks, but the reasons behind it sound like they would apply to crits as well.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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We finally had another session (had to skip last week, and we have to skip next week also. Hopefully after that we can string a few weeks in a row.) Overall, everything went pretty smoothly. The channel energy of the cleric once again saved the day - and more than that, it allowed us to go through 5 encounters in a row, several of which were higher CR than the party level (2 steam mephits - EL 5 is the only one I know for sure, since the rest involved classed leveled humans that were at least level 2). For me, this was the single biggest change in the game so far. It really felt like we accomplished a lot without having to retreat and rest. We can probably go one more encounter before needing to rest...in part because we racked up enough XP to advance to level 2, which brings me to my other comment.
While I'm enjoying playing a druid so far, leveling from level 1 to level 2 as a druid was a bit underwhelming. Many of the other classes in pathfinder have had their dead levels filled with some sort of new ability. Going to level 2 as a druid, I got woodland stride. It's not a bad ability, but it's pretty limited if you're not somewhere with overgrowth. It's certainly not as sexy as getting the 2nd level domain power as a cleric (which I guess applies to a druid that takes a domain, but I have an animal companion.)
With this in mind, I do have a suggestion on how to make leveling up as a druid a bit more exciting. I'd suggest altering the animal companion table so that at each increased tier, you don't get an increase in every category, but instead split the tiers up into smaller ranges, and give some increases at some break points, and others at different ones.
There are 12 increases in HD, 12 in natural armor, 6 in Str/Dex, 7 in bonus tricks, and 6 in special abilities. You could re-design the advancement table to spread these out, so that at every level, there's at least an increase of +1 in one of these.
Just using levels 1-5 as an example, you could do something like:
Lvl HD Nat AC S/D Tricks Special
1 +0 +0 +0 1 Link
2 +0 +0 +0 2 share spells
3 +1 +1 +0 2
4 +1 +1 +1 2 Evasion
5 +2 +2 +1 2