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meh, it's a second-rate caster in fancy armour. full wizard kicks their ass at spellcasting, fighter can out-DPR them while at least matching their AC, and druid is kind of like both of the above combined. it's good, but it's not THAT good.
Just like Fueldrop said, it's a caster in power-armor, versatile and hardy. You can cast or bash things. OR! Not really more effective than casting from the back and let your true eidolon bash things but a funny option.
Personally, I hate the 'you appear in your translucent eidolon' thing. It looks pathetic if you have a quadruped eidolon, worse for a serpentine one.
And I like the idea of a 'superhero' synthesist who uses his eidolon-suit as a disguise with superhuman powers and stuff.
Just like Fueldrop said, it's a caster in power-armor, versatile and hardy. You can cast or bash things. OR! Not really more effective than casting from the back and let your true eidolon bash things but a funny option.
Personally, I hate the 'you appear in your translucent eidolon' thing. It looks pathetic if you have a quadruped eidolon, worse for a serpentine one.
And I like the idea of a 'superhero' synthesist who uses his eidolon-suit as a disguise with superhuman powers and stuff.
I always view the description as fluff. I have no problem with the eidolon being an actual living suit.
Fluff should never balance mechanics or vice versa. The whole point of fluff is that it is disconnected from the mechanics. If it is balancing anything, it it no longer fluff.
Hi Captain
unless you want to say something about the tons of other optimized classes out there i would say no. Synthesist is just another powerful class, like the barbarian, alchemist, zen archer, and all the others of optimized builds that can kick butt. Personally, don't beat down one without at least taking into consideration the others.
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Serpentine Synthesist Summoner
Yeah, that "translucent" bit looks really silly, doesn't it?[/sarcasm]
Is the synthesist awesome? Heck yes.
It is crazily powerful? Sort of... it really depends a LOT on the build.
Should it be banned? No way. There are lots of other things that can also be crazy powerful if built in certain ways...
I don't think they are out of line with the power level of the rest of the game.
i think blackbloodtroll has finally cracked.
i think blackbloodtroll has finally cracked.
Agreed
He mixed up a line too. "Just take a look" goes before "it's in a book."
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Serpentine Synthesist Summoner
Yeah, that "translucent" bit looks really silly, doesn't it?[/sarcasm]
BEEP BEEP INVISIBLE HYENA-CAR!
If it's invisible, how do you know it's shaped like a hyena?
If it's invisible, how do you know it's shaped like a hyena?
Because of the glitter. Duh.
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Officially? No. In the PF games I run? Absolutely! Honestly, I never liked the Summoner base class, and it's variants like the Synthesist do nothing for me other than make me cringe. (Having said that, I can see it has potential for a weird NPC villain! But for players? Not in the games I GM please!)
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Eventually, someone will create a very powerful build for any class. Banning a class every time that happens is a bad idea. You could always go for a commoner campaign though.
You're nuts, commoners are completely OP, what with their... uhm... stuff. Yeah.
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Eventually, someone will create a very powerful build for any class. Banning a class every time that happens is a bad idea. You could always go for a commoner campaign though.You're nuts, commoners are completely OP, what with their... uhm... stuff. Yeah.
It is a common problem.
Eventually, someone will create a very powerful build for any class. Banning a class every time that happens is a bad idea. You could always go for a commoner campaign though.You're nuts, commoners are completely OP, what with their... uhm... stuff. Yeah.
Yup! My 20th level Sheep Herder (Commoner archetype) rulez!
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if you are so worried about the synthesist. there are some glaring weaknesses. the suits HP pool can't be used once depleted, they gave up an action economy advantage to become Sailor Moon. and they have an extremely time consuming transformation sequence once every 24 hours that leaves them a sitting duck for it's duration. in other words, during thier 10 minute transformation, enemies have 100 rounds of actions to kill them with during that time. you can also penalize them for wearing thier "Suit" in civilization. it could be as simple as "Hey, that person is dressed awfully funny. i think he/she may be a little nuts."
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Should the Synthesist be banned?
No.
In other news, for anyone who'd like to see something heavily resembling a synthesist in something besides the PFRPG, you should check out Armor from X-Men. Her mutant power allows her to create a psionic exoskeleton that she shapes with her will; turning her into an ubertank and powerhouse.
It is a common problem.Eventually, someone will create a very powerful build for any class. Banning a class every time that happens is a bad idea. You could always go for a commoner campaign though.You're nuts, commoners are completely OP, what with their... uhm... stuff. Yeah.
It's a "C'mon! I'm a pro!" ...blem.
Ashiel, I was thinking more like Spawn. In fact, I've been thinking of making a Spawn based Synthasist. I could have the eidolon look like a cloaker that he constantly wears. Even give it the disguise ability. Maybe take the eldrich heritage feats for the shadow bloodline. Hm.
It should be banned as it is simply so badly written that it's unplayable and broken.
Ashiel, I was thinking more like Spawn. In fact, I've been thinking of making a Spawn based Synthasist. I could have the eidolon look like a cloaker that he constantly wears. Even give it the disguise ability. Maybe take the eldrich heritage feats for the shadow bloodline. Hm.
That'd be really cool. ^-^
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As far as summoner archetypes go the synthesist pales in comparison to the master summoner.
I find that the action economy is a much bigger factor in how combat plays out rather than how uber one particular character or monster is.
It should be banned as it is simply so badly written that it's unplayable and broken.
I thought that at first, but now the FAQ entries have cleared it up enough that I don't have any problems with it. Until those came around I did not even consider playing them. :P
As far as summoner archetypes go the synthesist pales in comparison to the master summoner.
I find that the action economy is a much bigger factor in how combat plays out rather than how uber one particular character or monster is.
Yes Master Summoner is more powerful in that respect, but the time-consumingness and sillyness of it mean i woudl actually consider banning them... I wouldn't ban Synths though they are pretty reasonable.
Synth's can be pretty damn crazy. And pretty damn lame. It really depends on the skill of the player and the quality of the build. It's very hard to find a tougher character that can eat a lot of hate and still be able to heal itself.
Officially? No. In the PF games I run? Absolutely! Honestly, I never liked the Summoner base class, and it's variants like the Synthesist do nothing for me other than make me cringe. (Having said that, I can see it has potential for a weird NPC villain! But for players? Not in the games I GM please!)
This is the way I handle the summoner and a few other classes, and I've received no complaints about it yet.
As far as summoner archetypes go the synthesist pales in comparison to the master summoner.
I find that the action economy is a much bigger factor in how combat plays out rather than how uber one particular character or monster is.
I agree, and this is one reason that Paladins are way more nuts than Summoners in the right hands.
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I agree, and this is one reason that Paladins are way more nuts than Summoners in the right hands.
You should see a Synthesist / Paladin build. It can get really nasty. In my home games we stop using the summoner class, worst piece of bad design ever made by paizo. And I usually love their products.
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Meh, it's a second-rate caster in fancy armour. full wizard kicks their ass at spellcasting, fighter can out-DPR them while at least matching their AC, and druid is kind of like both of the above combined. it's good, but it's not THAT good.
I don't think this is true. In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing the synthesist will crush the fighter in the AC and DPR departments (because to get synthesist-like AC you'd need a shield, and then your DPR would drop), and he will have a lot more HP. They can out fighter the fighter sure, but they essentially have to heal themselves and spell casting wise there are much better options. Plus all the weaknesses listed in above posts.
Can they be the most versatile and "powerful" melee characters in the game? Yeah if built to be so, definitely. Should they be banned? Nah, they're not THAT much more powerful than other things, and they have several weaknesses to make up for it. The only time it might cause problems is an optimized synthesist in a party of noobs.
As far as summoner archetypes go the synthesist pales in comparison to the master summoner.
I find that the action economy is a much bigger factor in how combat plays out rather than how uber one particular character or monster is.
I agree, and this is one reason that Paladins are way more nuts than Summoners in the right hands.
See it? I wrote it!
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@Jelani: isn't anything that's been optimized then dropped into a party of noobs going to be game breaking?
Just seems to me that the class obsoletes the druid and mage and fighter.
In my opinion it should be until the rules governing it are all very clear-cut and universally understood, apart from that, no.
My GM probably wouldn't allow a lot of the cheese that goes into making a really effective Synthesist (you're an 'old gnome'? Really?) and I've got a fun recurring villian for the party that's a gnome Anti-Paladin/Synthesist who works as an assassin and enforcer for a major power that they've PO'd.
To be honest, the standard Summoner seems the most overpowered with the Master Summoner just a touch behind - remember, the key to this game is more often than not economy of action, and those two have far and away the most actions in a round to play with.
Yes Master Summoner is more powerful in that respect, but the time-consumingness and sillyness of it mean i woudl actually consider banning them... I wouldn't ban Synths though they are pretty reasonable.As far as summoner archetypes go the synthesist pales in comparison to the master summoner.
I find that the action economy is a much bigger factor in how combat plays out rather than how uber one particular character or monster is.
What exactly is 'silly' about a Master Summoner?
For some reason, those pictures made me think of the Reading Rainbow song.
They made me think of Wonder Woman and her invisible jet. Whatever happened to that thing anyway? I never really got it, either - I mean, I get an amazon from a mystical island having a magical lasso and bullet-defeclting bracelets, but where does the bit of stealth technology come in? I mean shouldn't it at least be an invisible pegasus or something?
But I digress...
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Should the Synthesist be banned?No.
In other news, for anyone who'd like to see something heavily resembling a synthesist in something besides the PFRPG, you should check out Armor from X-Men. Her mutant power allows her to create a psionic exoskeleton that she shapes with her will; turning her into an ubertank and powerhouse.
Wouldn't she be more of an Aegis from DSP's Psionics Expanded?
It should be banned as it is simply so badly written that it's unplayable and broken.
Actually the class isn't broken nor is it unplayable. It's just good and can become overpowered.