RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Hey Mergy, why didn't you link your latest blog post?
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People are free to disagree with me, as long as they follow .Never get involved in a land war in Asia?
Never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line?
Nice post mergy. You just need the admiral akbar endorsement now.
For improved unarmed strike the reason to take it would be to threaten the area around you when you have a polearm because its not exactly clear how armored spikes do that. Some DM's allow it and some don't. Mark moreland and James Jacobs don't like that they threaten, and consider the spikes to be on your hand but not on your feet for some reason.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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People are free to disagree with me, as long as they follow .Never get involved in a land war in Asia?Never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line?
Nice post mergy. You just need the admiral akbar endorsement now.
For improved unarmed strike the reason to take it would be to threaten the area around you when you have a polearm because its not exactly clear how armored spikes do that. Some DM's allow it and some don't. Mark moreland and James Jacobs don't like that they threaten, and consider the spikes to be on your hand but not on your feet for some reason.
To achieve that, you could also spend a mere trait to gain a bite attack (I forget the name, but it's a Race Trait for half-orcs, also available via Adopted).
Might be off-limits for a lot of character concepts, though. ;)
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I like the blog, too, although this one I disagreed with more than most. I suppose the advice works as long as you're creating your character to fight and nothing else, and to maximum your damage output no matter the flavour or style you're going for. Weapon finesse, for example, is great for people who already want a high Dex but not strength - rogues, even archers who want to do OK in melee.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I think you'd have an easier time getting a kick with armored spikes past the dm than a halfling who was adopted by orcs and his parents got him caps :)
Hey, it doesn't have to be a halfling! (Though technically it would still be legal, regardless of how the GM feels about it. But I personally wouldn't do it without a pretty cool concept to back it up - like maybe a "feral" rogue who jumps out of the shadows and "eats" you with his sneak attack bites.)
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Revolutionary actually. Let's look at a bearded devil, which can easily be an opponent for a level 5 wizard.
To make things a little easier on him, let's say he's an elf wizard, so he's got a +7 on his CL check to get through spell resistance. To get through the bearded devil's SR, he needs to match a 16, which means he's only got a 60% of any of his spells going through. Dweomer essence, for the low price of 500 gp a spell, means he's now got an 85% chance of his spells going through.
Spell resistance tends to increase at the same rate as wizard levels, so stacking this on top of the Spell Penetration feat and being an elf means that spell resistance won't be a problem for those key spells.
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Not quite, but kind of. Mergy's opted to change his deadline to Saturdays. He's one of my key GMs at our FLGS, and we play on Thursday nights, so I think he's finding that prepping for play is eating up a lot of his writing time. A Saturday deadline gives him a little more flexibility in terms of timing.
(FWIW, he does a LOT of prep for scenarios that he GMs. You should see the map he drew out for Shadow's Last Stand. He is understandably and justifiably proud of it, and it must have taken him hours.)
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Great stuff, Mergy! I was very interested for the sake of my wife's Arcane Archer to be.
Currently Ranger1/Bard1. Has PBS and Arcane Strike (the latter for free via Arcane Duelist bard archetype). Planning to take Ranger2 at 3rd and pick up both Precise Shot and Rapid Shot.
The next 4 levels, I'm not sure. Going all fighter would grab 3 feats, and one of them could be Weapon Specialization (she has to pick up Weapon Focus anyway, as a prereq for Arcane Archer). A few more bard levels would get her more Inspire Courage, higher CL toward higher Arcane Strike damage, and some more spells. Ranger (if taken all the way to Ranger6) gets her Improved Precise Shot early.
She's got no interest in thinking ahead that far, but I can't stop. :P
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Great stuff, Mergy! I was very interested for the sake of my wife's Arcane Archer to be.
Currently Ranger1/Bard1. Has PBS and Arcane Strike (the latter for free via Arcane Duelist bard archetype). Planning to take Ranger2 at 3rd and pick up both Precise Shot and Rapid Shot.
The next 4 levels, I'm not sure. Going all fighter would grab 3 feats, and one of them could be Weapon Specialization (she has to pick up Weapon Focus anyway, as a prereq for Arcane Archer). A few more bard levels would get her more Inspire Courage, higher CL toward higher Arcane Strike damage, and some more spells. Ranger (if taken all the way to Ranger6) gets her Improved Precise Shot early.
She's got no interest in thinking ahead that far, but I can't stop. :P
That's a pretty neat build. I would go for all six levels of ranger; not only will you get Improved Precise Shot early, you'll have the prerequisite for Manyshot and have the +6 BAB to fulfil it. I don't think any more levels of bard would be particularly beneficial. Grab Deadly Aim to stack on alongside Arcane Strike and you'll have no problems with damage.
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Mergy's Methods: Versatile Performers.
I want more bards at my table.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Here's an idea for the next blog, Mergy:
Yesterday I was "shopping" for my 9th level fighter. Flipping through the Wondrous Items section of the CRB, I kept seeing things that I thought looked cool (like Feather Token: Tree) when he was at about 2nd-3rd level and I told myself I'd buy when I started getting a bit more cash. I completely forgot about all of them until now.
So many consumable Wondrous Items. They look like they could be so handy, yet I didn't "miss" any of them.
So, what non-potion/scroll/wand consumables are worth getting? When? Why? A guide to off-the-beaten-path consumables would be fantastic.
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I am disappointed in a lack of Mergy's Methods this weekend. :(
It's tough to blog every week. I give Mergy all the time he needs, but share in your disappointment.
This thread is intended for all other cool PFS 'blogs' from other sites...so if you see them in your pining search for Mergy-like content, please share them here.
-Pain
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We've had a fair few TPK events at our tables in recent weeks.
I'm not saying it's because Mergy's Methods has fallen silent.
I'd rather let the evidence speak for itself.
Anyway, on the theme of keeping your character alive, I've put together a bundle I like to call:
Pocket 1 contains a light blue potion of Water Breathing (750gp) (10 hours of breathing allotted) (0lb.)
Pocket 2 contains a black potion of Remove Blindness/Deafness (750gp) (one use only) (0lb.)
Pocket 3 contains a wrinkled cleric's scroll of Restoration (700GP) (can remove temporary negative levels, all ability damage, cannot remove permanent negative levels) (0.5lb)
Pocket 4 contains an emergency wrapped cleric's scroll of Breath of Life (1125GP) It also has a pamphlet to be handed to a Pathfinder Society Cleric to be read before any dangerous operations are undertaken explaining use of the scroll should the owner meet a horrid end. (0.5lb.)
A fully equipped Zey's Protective Bundle costs 3326gp and weighs 1.5lb. An owner of a Protective Bundle may still be killed by dragons, their own idiocy or playing up.
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I feel that I have finally come full circle with Role playing and PFS.
When I made my first character for society I had a lot of ideas of how it would be and expectations, yet I had never played a game within an organized setting. I developed a background, a story, motivation, and calculated everything down to the last stone of weight. Then I played my first game and was rather disappointed to find out that a lot of the role playing I was expecting simply wasn't there. I'm not the type that can RP at a table with other that don't RP, though I'm working on it.
When it came time to develop my second character I went to straight min-max soulless character. Though he was strong, he was also completely dry and boring on the occasions that RP was a possibility.
The next couple characters I made were based around a theme. They were easy to RP and usually got some laughs and were a good addition to any party. A lot of the most memorable characters in PFS I know are kind of like this and it is always a pleasure to play with any of them.
At the last convention in LA I went to someone said, not directed at me, "why does your character do what he does?" I got to thinking about this question and it is so much more in depth when though of from the character's perspective. The actual why do you get out of bed and join with a group of fellow pathfinders and risk your life. Why see terrible things from monsters, ruthless killing on both sides, to tragedies when our fellow pathfinders die. Why do you do it?
I felt a little embarrassed, even though the question was not directed at me. With the exception of my first character I had no answer to that question or indeed any of the other questions that were raised.
I've finally come back to understand and see how important that information is. Not only for self satisfaction, but for me to properly RP a character I need to be able to think like that character and for that I will need to know why he does what he does. How he came to be, thoughts on other factions, religion, the society as a whole, and goals for himself.
I'm really trying to go over on board on this new character, that way I can answer any question from his view point. Hopefully to add some more fun into society as well. I think Gygax's book would give me some valuable insight, thanks for pointing it out, perhaps I can pull it up on my old dusty kindle.