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Hey all,
I've been invited to play in a pathfinder game, so I'm starting a separate thread to report my findings as a player, not a GM.
So, last night I looked over character options. Nobody has declared what they want to play, so I'm open minded to what class I'll take. I'm trying on different class ideas. To build my character, I'm using the 20 point buy method, and I'll roll my stats and adjust my character at our first session.
The first thing I looked at was Sorcerer. I ended up coming up with a potential Human (Ulfen) Sorcerer named Amrolf the Black
- Bloodline Abyssal
- Skills Intimidate, Spellcraft, Appraise, Knowledge Arcana, Use Magic Device
- Feats Toughness, Skill Focus (Use Magic Device)
- Spells - Burning Hands, Mage Armor
OBERSVATIONS: The bloodlines are great ideas, but a lot of them are very generic choices. I looked through them seeing "touch attack, touch attack, touch attack". Abyssal and draconic seem a lot more appealing than the other choices based on claw attacks (how often has someone run by a wizard or sorcerer, and they didn't get an AoO because they didn't have a weapon in hand?). I think the choices should be more varied at 1st level, not necessarily in power, but in style and flavor.
The skill rank system rocks! How often have I sat with a character pouring over 20 skill points to spend? It was a 5 minute series of choices. Great!
Skill consolidation still seems awkward to me, and my points seem to go a lot further than they used to, but I won't belabour it here.
Feats were the same as before, but Toughness is a clear winner, granting +4 hit points at 1st level. On top of that, taking Skill Focus (Use Magic Device) made sure I had a starting +10 in the skill, which means I can activate a wand 50% of the time.
My spells were chosen with the idea that my character will end up being a hand-to-hand guy (well, a skirmish, close-rang guy). With an AC of 15, 13 hit points, and an area attack, he should be okay in that regard to start.
Overall, building a sorcerer was easier than 3.5, but some of my choices seemed sub-optimal.
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I call half-orc monk! I really want to play the heck out of the CMB mechanic to see if it works or if I can break it.
I don't have stats rolled up yet (did Steve okay a remote rolling?), so I don't know what feats I'll take other than improved initiative. Maybe scorpion strike? I'll probably end up as the primary fighter, so I think I'll focus on damage dealing whenever I can (power attack at lvl 3).
I looked at the skill section and it looks fine...if you have a lot of skill ranks to start with. I'll have 4 if I'm lucky (Int is not a priority stat and the INT penalty makes it even lower), so putting a few ranks into a hobby or a smattering of skills just doesn't happen with this version of D&D. No craft(origami) for me. :(
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The skill points don't seem unreasonable. Sure, you can't put 1 rank into Craft (origami), but the speed of which you can build a character, or NPC, is HUGE in my book.
Although I want Jason to put about 5 skills back ...
I'm using the point buy to get a feel for a character, and then I'll roll and adjust. It won't be far off ...
I looked at the skill section and it looks fine...if you have a lot of skill ranks to start with. I'll have 4 if I'm lucky (Int is not a priority stat and the INT penalty makes it even lower), so putting a few ranks into a hobby or a smattering of skills just doesn't happen with this version of D&D. No craft(origami) for me. :(
I've seen people complain about not being able to put 1 rank into Craft or Profession, etc., but that seems a bit silly to me. In 3.5, the only difference between a character with 1 rank in Craft and one with 0 ranks in craft is a +1 bonus. That bonus is so small that it's basically insignificant. So why not just say your character knows how to do a little origami? Is that +1 bonus ever going to come into play?
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Yes, and untrained check is possible, but with an INT of 10 or possibly lower (half orc remember), it becomes an issue. I was just using the craft skill as an example though.
There are a ton of skills where having 1 rank (old system) could be important, but you need to take economy of effect into consideration. Are Perception and Stealth more important to a monk? I'd say so, but having a small investment in knowledge(local) is too. For classes with few skill ranks to go around (esp. fighter, paladin, cleric), this becomes a problem.
I feel that the trade off of taking a few minutes longer at character creation time to be worth the added flexibility. There is also fact that some skills (profession is one of them, IIRC) that can't be used untrained.
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So, next week we are kicking off our game, and I'm still waffling on what to play, and I'm afraid I can easily come up with a broken character.
I toyed with the idea of a Dwarven Cleric of Torag. However, with the Artifice domain, I can use Artificer's Touch to melt dungeon walls, treasure chests, gates, armor, enemy's weapons, magical items, and golems. Really, that's too much for a 1st level character to do at will...