Great guide, and congratulations on the personal achievements!
A couple suggested additions:
You mention that half-elfs and half-orcs can now meet any requirements specifying either of their component races, and that this means half-orcs can now take the absurd Scarred Witch Doctor archetype. The full implications are even sillier than that. What's the one thing Scarred Witch Doctors are missing? Paragon Surge.
Half-elves can pick up Racial Heritage for Orc or Half-Orc, and then hop into the SWD themselves. You'd normally have to wait until 2nd level to take advantage, but with access to the UC retraining rules, 10 days of study is all it takes. Barring that, the also-mentioned Barbarian and Alchemist are both solid 1st level lead-ins, along with Magical Knack to keep up in caster level. As supernatural abilities, hexes can be cast during rage, and the enhancement from Scarshield stacks with the mutagen's natural armor.
On top of Paragon Surge, this ridiculous munchkin would also have access to five races' worth of specialized spells, feats, and equipment from the ARG. This includes alternate racial traits, allowing them to trade out the half-elf's Elven Immunities for the elf's Dreamspeaker, for +1 to the DC of the Slumber hex.
For races with a FCB to the Oracle's revelation (Aasimar, Ifrit, Slyph), the Nature mystery's Bonded Mount is worth a mention. With a 12th level oracle, you can get an 18th level animal companion
Why not just be a half orc SWD and take racial heritage half elf?
Hmmm... good question. Only if you really want half-elf racial traits, I suppose. The same basic trick works for Scion of Humanity aasimar, if you'd rather trade Paragon Surge for even more theme-clashing.
Are you ever going to incorporate Mythic Adventures, or would that be too much work?
I suppose you have nothing to say on this matter?
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Are you ever going to incorporate Mythic Adventures, or would that be too much work?I suppose you have nothing to say on this matter?
Whoops! Sorry, missed that question.
Honestly, I don't think incorporating Mythic stuff would be very useful. I think a separate guide to (possibly each of) the Mythic paths would make more sense, and I'm not interested enough in Mythic to write it/them myself. I'm much more interested in the guide as I've been working on it so far. Sorry! :)
In other news, Oreads are finished! Here's the link to the guide again:
Guide to Pathfinder Races
So what's next? Undines or sylphs?
Really big Glue traps?
Really big Glue traps?
bait with peanut butter.
Very awesome guide, some quick notes for your kitsune entry.
-- Under Change Shape, you note that kitsune have to be wary of rangers with lycanthropes as their Favored Enemy. Under the rules, you actually can't select lycanthrope as a Favored Enemy because lycanthrope is not a humanoid subtype. All lycanthropes do have the shapechanger subtype, however, which the kitsune also get. That said, shapechanger is not on the list of acceptable selections for the Ranger's Favored Enemy because its not unique to the humanoid subtype. There may be an archetype that allows you to select shapechangers as a favored enemy, however.
-- You've neglected to mention that the kitsune possess the shapechanger subtype. This is huge, because it means that kitsune can basically shape change themselves out of any non-mythic polymorph effect as a standard action.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Very awesome guide, some quick notes for your kitsune entry.
-- Under Change Shape, you note that kitsune have to be wary of rangers with lycanthropes as their Favored Enemy. Under the rules, you actually can't select lycanthrope as a Favored Enemy because lycanthrope is not a humanoid subtype. All lycanthropes do have the shapechanger subtype, however, which the kitsune also get. That said, shapechanger is not on the list of acceptable selections for the Ranger's Favored Enemy because its not unique to the humanoid subtype. There may be an archetype that allows you to select shapechangers as a favored enemy, however.
-- You've neglected to mention that the kitsune possess the shapechanger subtype. This is huge, because it means that kitsune can basically shape change themselves out of any non-mythic polymorph effect as a standard action.
Nice catches, I'll update with those two things tonight.
Next up is Sylphs!
Really big Glue traps?bait with peanut butter.
Nah, oil reduces the effectiveness of the glue. Most of the time you don't even need to bait them, just put them in their path.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Very awesome guide, some quick notes for your kitsune entry.
-- Under Change Shape, you note that kitsune have to be wary of rangers with lycanthropes as their Favored Enemy. Under the rules, you actually can't select lycanthrope as a Favored Enemy because lycanthrope is not a humanoid subtype. All lycanthropes do have the shapechanger subtype, however, which the kitsune also get. That said, shapechanger is not on the list of acceptable selections for the Ranger's Favored Enemy because its not unique to the humanoid subtype. There may be an archetype that allows you to select shapechangers as a favored enemy, however.
-- You've neglected to mention that the kitsune possess the shapechanger subtype. This is huge, because it means that kitsune can basically shape change themselves out of any non-mythic polymorph effect as a standard action.
Nice catches, I'll update with those two things tonight.
Next up is Sylphs!
Updates on Kitsune shape change are done. I also made a quick blurb about how you can't have other polymorph effects while you're in human or fox form.
I do hope you get around to the monkey goblins, like the wayangs they are a small race with no strength penalty.
I am REALLY looking forward to the lizardfolk and hobgoblin updates (and Suli as well). I've always considered Hobgoblins a very 'sturdy' race, in that they can basically perform well in almost any of them (I mean, a +2 in two physical stats, with no drawbacks, plus darkvision, stealth as a class skill, and a big bonus to stealth with a lot of solid alternate racial options).
Lizardfolk...well, honestly I just need to see what the PC version of this race looks like (I'm assuming it has a swim speed, 2 claw attacks, 1 bite attack...all at 1d4 damage...speaks draconic...and has a + 2 to strength and Con with no drawbacks, but again, not sure).
And finally Suli (ah, good ol' genie-folk). I realize that a Suli is kinda inferior to certain Aasimar racial types (specially angel-kin), but having 4 resistences, a nice boost to diplomacy and sense motive, and a relevant 'swift action 1d6 elemental damage' ability is still pretty sweet).
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Just re-read. Excellent work, well done.
Just a couple of things on Grippli:
1. You mention in other races (Android for example) about Sorcerers with alternative casting stat and technically a Grippli could use their Wisdom bonus to become an Emyreal Bloodline Sorcerer, just for the sake of internal consistency, and
2. The tongue giving reach to spells is potentially quite powerful both offensively (shocking grasp) or defensively (healing) so is worth highlighting.Minor things though, excellent.
I made those two additions, thanks very much!
Here's my current list:
-Sylphs
-Undines
-Sulis (because they'll be relatively easy, and I may as well finish off all the elemental races)
-Ratfolk
-Changelings
-Hobgoblins
-Monkey Goblins
-Skinwalkers
-Orcs
-Duergar
-Lizardfolk
You rate Tengu as orange for barbarian and supertition favoured class bonus???
With lesser fiend totem at level 2 you have 4 attacks at full bab and strength... awesome damage output.
Superstition is amazing for all your saves - having a bonus to it is awesome.
With toughness, raging vitality, courageous weapons all adding to your hit point total losing 1 hp/level is a tiny price to pay.
Both should be at least green.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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You rate Tengu as orange for barbarian and supertition favoured class bonus???
With lesser fiend totem at level 2 you have 4 attacks at full bab and strength... awesome damage output.
Superstition is amazing for all your saves - having a bonus to it is awesome.
With toughness, raging vitality, courageous weapons all adding to your hit point total losing 1 hp/level is a tiny price to pay.
Both should be at least green.
I know a lot of people like Superstitious, but in games I've seen where Barbarians have it, it hasn't made much difference, and I feel like forcing yourself to make saves against beneficial spells cast by allies is NOT a good thing. I think any race that has a Con penalty just can't make for a good Barbarian.
That being said, a bonus to all saves is nice, I agree. I'll make the favored class option Orange, but I just can't in good conscience go green with either.
In other news, Sylph is finished!
Next up is the Undine, the elemental race of poor man's merfolk! I kid, I kid.
What the? Why is this post's avi Papa Smurf?
Its a good thing that Guides are subjective! :D
You rate Tengu as orange for barbarian and supertition favoured class bonus???
With lesser fiend totem at level 2 you have 4 attacks at full bab and strength... awesome damage output.
Superstition is amazing for all your saves - having a bonus to it is awesome.
With toughness, raging vitality, courageous weapons all adding to your hit point total losing 1 hp/level is a tiny price to pay.
Both should be at least green.
I know a lot of people like Superstitious, but in games I've seen where Barbarians have it, it hasn't made much difference, and I feel like forcing yourself to make saves against beneficial spells cast by allies is NOT a good thing. I think any race that has a Con penalty just can't make for a good Barbarian.
That being said, a bonus to all saves is nice, I agree. I'll make the favored class option Orange, but I just can't in good conscience go green with either.
In other news, Sylph is finished!
You gave goblin a green for barbarian based partly on it having one bite attack and it has a -2 to str.
Tengu's are misunderstood and make fantastic barbarians.
One point regarding supertition - channel still works for you and most people buff pre-combat and most importantly role-play wise a supertitious character wouldn't want to be cast upon... they don't like magic spells and such. Green all day long!
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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You rate Tengu as orange for barbarian and supertition favoured class bonus???
With lesser fiend totem at level 2 you have 4 attacks at full bab and strength... awesome damage output.
Superstition is amazing for all your saves - having a bonus to it is awesome.
With toughness, raging vitality, courageous weapons all adding to your hit point total losing 1 hp/level is a tiny price to pay.
Both should be at least green.
I know a lot of people like Superstitious, but in games I've seen where Barbarians have it, it hasn't made much difference, and I feel like forcing yourself to make saves against beneficial spells cast by allies is NOT a good thing. I think any race that has a Con penalty just can't make for a good Barbarian.
That being said, a bonus to all saves is nice, I agree. I'll make the favored class option Orange, but I just can't in good conscience go green with either.
In other news, Sylph is finished!
You gave goblin a green for barbarian based partly on it having one bite attack and it has a -2 to str.
Tengu's are misunderstood and make fantastic barbarians.
One point regarding supertition - channel still works for you and most people buff pre-combat and most importantly role-play wise a supertitious character wouldn't want to be cast upon... they don't like magic spells and such. Green all day long!
Goblins are green because of the Feral Gnasher archetype. If they didn't have that, they'd be orange too. Plus a Strength penalty doesn't hurt your rage rounds, whereas a Constitution penalty does. :-P
I disagree about "most people buff pre-combat". I find that there are often situations in which you are surprised by combat and don't have time to pre-buff. Then when your Tengu Barbarian rages and gets a +12 bonus to saves against all spells, he can't even have haste cast on him by the party Wizard!
Well he can have it cast on him, he'll just have to save. Also haste shmaste - barbarians don't need extra attacks, they smash faces anyway!
Green
Green
Green!
Ok, I give in (but you're sooo wrong! ).
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Would anyone who has gotten their Blood of the Moon download be willing to PM me with the racial abilities and options available to skinwalkers? I won't get my copy for a week (cuz i'm not a subscriber) but i'd like to start coming up with ideas for adding skinwalkers to my guide.
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Hi everyone!
I wanted to let you all know that I'm going to start migrating my guides to my website, www.pathfindercommunity.net, because the file sizes are getting too big to reasonably continue editing within Google Docs (every few seconds it saves, and because the file is so large it really slows down my typing, leading to many errors.) I'll be doing so as soon as I finish the Undine section, hopefully later today. I'll post again with a new link when it's done, and I'll have the link updated on the Guide to Guides also. Hopefully this won't cause too much confusion.
Cheers!
Tyler
Sweet! Also, is it possible to write a guide from the statistics and without having played them?
I am very much considering trying to write a kobold guide. I want to play kobolds so much! I just love the little dragon-hobbits!
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Sweet! Also, is it possible to write a guide from the statistics and without having played them?
I am very much considering trying to write a kobold guide. I want to play kobolds so much! I just love the little dragon-hobbits!
Oh it's definitely possible to write a guide without having played a game using the race or class, you just need to really understand how the game elements work. I've never played characters of many of the races in my guide. It definitely helps that people here on the forums will point out if you're being an idiot. LOL
BTW, Undines are all finished! Next up, Sulis!
Can you put lashunta at the end of your current list?
sulis, aw yeah!
You forgot to mention the Mysterious Stranger for sulis. Remember, all of their formerly Wis-based class features are now based on Charisma.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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You forgot to mention the Mysterious Stranger for sulis. Remember, all of their formerly Wis-based class features are now based on Charisma.
Added. I've stopped hyping the Mysterious Stranger quite as much as I used to, because a lot of people think that losing Quick Clear isn't worth the trade-off.
There's a interesting roleplay possibility that I spy with neutral/evil dhampirs.
See this ranger class feature? The Natural Weapons style? They can get a true bite.
That almost seems fitting for a more savage, feral dhampir.
Hi. I'm loving your guide so far, and I just have one little thing to point out for Kobolds.
The Scaled Disciple feat works for Clerics and Druids too, because the spontaneously cast cure/inflict and Summon Nature's Ally. Too bad Paladins can't use it. :(
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Hi. I'm loving your guide so far, and I just have one little thing to point out for Kobolds.
The Scaled Disciple feat works for Clerics and Druids too, because the spontaneously cast cure/inflict and Summon Nature's Ally. Too bad Paladins can't use it. :(
I actually disagree with you here. While you can QUALIFY for the feat as a Cleric or Druid because of the poorly-worded prerequisite: "Ability to spontaneously cast divine spells", you still can't use the Dragon Disciple class to increase your spellcasting, because it says "you may increase spellcasting in your spontaneous divine class as you progress in dragon disciple levels" and neither Clerics nor Druids are spontaneous divine classes. I think it's pretty obvious that this was meant to work for Oracles, and not for Clerics or Druids.
I actually disagree with you here. While you can QUALIFY for the feat as a Cleric or Druid because of the poorly-worded prerequisite: "Ability to spontaneously cast divine spells", you still can't use the Dragon Disciple class to increase your spellcasting, because it says "you may increase spellcasting in your spontaneous divine class as you progress in dragon disciple levels" and neither Clerics nor Druids are spontaneous divine classes. I think it's pretty obvious that this was meant to work for Oracles, and not for Clerics or Druids.Hi. I'm loving your guide so far, and I just have one little thing to point out for Kobolds.
The Scaled Disciple feat works for Clerics and Druids too, because the spontaneously cast cure/inflict and Summon Nature's Ally. Too bad Paladins can't use it. :(
quick question on scaled disciple, does it explicitly call out replacing the arcane progression with divine? Also, onething popped in my head, does the feat racial heritage cover favored class bonus' as well?
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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quick question on scaled disciple, does it explicitly call out replacing the arcane progression with divine? Also, onething popped in my head, does the feat racial heritage cover favored class bonus' as well?I actually disagree with you here. While you can QUALIFY for the feat as a Cleric or Druid because of the poorly-worded prerequisite: "Ability to spontaneously cast divine spells", you still can't use the Dragon Disciple class to increase your spellcasting, because it says "you may increase spellcasting in your spontaneous divine class as you progress in dragon disciple levels" and neither Clerics nor Druids are spontaneous divine classes. I think it's pretty obvious that this was meant to work for Oracles, and not for Clerics or Druids.Hi. I'm loving your guide so far, and I just have one little thing to point out for Kobolds.
The Scaled Disciple feat works for Clerics and Druids too, because the spontaneously cast cure/inflict and Summon Nature's Ally. Too bad Paladins can't use it. :(
Here's the full text of the feat:
Prerequisite(s): Ability to spontaneously cast divine spells, kobold.
Benefit(s): You gain a +1 bonus to your caster level when casting spells included in the dragon domain* or subdomains. Your spontaneous divine spellcasting qualifies in place of arcane casting for the dragon disciple prestige class, and you may increase spellcasting in your spontaneous divine class as you progress in dragon disciple levels. Add the bonus spells gained from the blood of dragons ability to those you can cast as divine spells.
So yes, it specifically calls out that you can use spontaneous divine casting in place of spontaneous arcane casting for Dragon Disciple.
What's the progress on ratfolk?
You forgot to mention the Mysterious Stranger for sulis. Remember, all of their formerly Wis-based class features are now based on Charisma.Added. I've stopped hyping the Mysterious Stranger quite as much as I used to, because a lot of people think that losing Quick Clear isn't worth the trade-off.
Mysterious Stranger got a LOT better with Rasputin Must Die and Ultimate Equipment. There's a magical gun enhancement that prevents firearms from misfiring ever (nullifying the use for Quick Clear) and three levels in Fighter (Trench Fighter) gives you Gun Training.