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Hey guys,
I'm brand new to Pathfinder and to these forums. Yay! My first character is going to be a tiefling witch, and my GM said if I wanted to I could get one of the "variant tiefling abilities" listed on p. 16 of Blood of Fiends and here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-tiefling) instead of the darkness spell-like ability. "Within reason," he said, e.g. none of the straight +2 to an ability score "abilities."
So I'm wondering which of the 100 (!) variant abilities seem powerful to y'all, without crossing the admittedly fuzzy line into "unfair" territory.
I'm interested in all your opinions.
Best,
m
i like the dr 2 vs cold iron. my last tiefling had it and it was a life saver. it also depends on your build and the campaign, Are you running a pre-made Adventure or is it something your gm came up with?
Roll 3 times, and choose from those!
i like the dr 2 vs cold iron. my last tiefling had it and it was a life saver. it also depends on your build and the campaign, Are you running a pre-made Adventure or is it something your gm came up with?
My GM came up with his own story. Is DR 2 useful past the first few levels?
My build is a pretty standard debuffing one, though I will be healing a little bit as needed. My patron is Time.
the dr is super useful the first few levels but it does little at higher levels when youre getting hit for 30+ dmg. it saved my buddies PC in the first book of Skulls And Shackles, The bosun's whip rarely got through the DR. and he got whipped ALOT....
Hello, welcome to the madhouse!
And to answer your question with some subjective opinions:
#12: Immunity to sleep effects. You will still need to rest to be able to prepare spells but you won't be incapacitated in combat by enemy sleep spell.
#14: +5 feet to land speed. It's usefulness will change greatly, depending if your GM uses battle grid heavily in combat and expects lots of maneuvering and movement. I know I do.
#18, #33, #54, #68, #91: DR 2/bludgeoning, DR 2/silver, DR 2/piercing, DR 2/cold iron, DR 2/slashing. Everything that reduces damage is good. As a witch you will be trying to avoid entering melee combat but sometimes you won't have choice. Personally I'd go with the DR 2/silver or DR 2/cold iron as enemies inflicting bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage tend to be much more common than enemies using silver or cold iron weapons.
#98: +1 hit point per level. Having more hp is useful.
Anything that grants bonus to saving throws or AC is useful if the games will see at least moderate amount of combat.
This are the easiest options that are widely useful. Others are more specific and might be unsuitable for specific games.
My favorite is 66: Devil's Sight.
If your GM pays any attention at all to light levels (and holy crap, especially if you're playing Serpent's Skull or Carrion Crown), this is invaluable.
#44 - You are unusually short, granting you all the standard traits of a Small creature.
#53 - You possess the scent special ability.
A creature with the scent ability can detect opponents by sense of smell, generally within 30 feet. If the opponent is upwind, the range is 60 feet. If it is downwind, the range is 15 feet. Strong scents, such as smoke or rotting garbage, can be detected at twice the ranges noted above. Overpowering scents, such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench, can be detected at three times these ranges.
The creature detects another creature's presence but not its specific location. Noting the direction of the scent is a move action. If the creature moves within 5 feet (1 square) of the scent's source, the creature can pinpoint the area that the source occupies, even if it cannot be seen.
A creature with the Survival skill and the scent ability can follow tracks by smell, making a Survival check to find or follow a track. A creature with the scent ability can attempt to follow tracks using Survival untrained. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10. The DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry's odor is, the number of creatures, and the age of the trail. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Survival skill in regards to tracking. Creatures tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility.
Creatures with the scent ability can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights.
Water, particularly running water, ruins a trail for air-breathing creatures. Water-breathing creatures that have the scent ability, however, can use it in the water easily.
False, powerful odors can easily mask other scents. The presence of such an odor completely spoils the ability to properly detect or identify creatures, and the base Survival DC to track becomes 20 rather than 10.
#67 - Your eyes glow fiendishly and you possess the see in darkness ability as if you were a devil.
#85 - Supernatural awareness grants you a +2 racial bonus on all Perception checks.
How bout the one that let's you heal from pos and neg energy?
I like sleep Immunity (12), once per day reroll (21), small size (44), see in darkness (67), and Ventriloquism at will (96) for potential creative uses.
I'd probably take See in Darkness though as that's just cool.
If you take Scaled Skin, you lose 2 of the 3 resist 5/x for a +1 to AC. I think that is a bad trade personally. Prehensile tail rocks though.
A few more questions and comments:
#6 - Levitate. Would this be useful for a caster?
#12 in Blood of Fiends says "You are NOT immune to sleep effects," FYI. I think you're thinking of #84.
#41 - is Spell Resistance good?
#49 - How do you know what counts as "positive" or "negative" channeled energy?
#60 - +2 to initiative at night. What do you all think?
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I like see in darkness (67), immunity to sleep and paralysis (84), once per day reroll (so you don't botch that critical roll) (21) and scent (53).
#6 - Levitate. Would this be useful for a caster?
It'll be useful at low levels but at mid-high levels there are plenty of other ways to levitate or fly if you need it, especially as a caster.
#41 - is Spell Resistance good?
Not if you play by RAW and it blocks allied spells as well as hostile ones. If you group house-rules that you can drop SR as a free action to accept a friendly spell, then it's handy.
#49 - How do you know what counts as "positive" or "negative" channeled energy?
Ask your GM if the blast of damage coming from enemy cleric is channeled energy. If he says yes, then you heal from it instead of being hurt.
#60 - +2 to initiative at night. What do you all think?
Meh. Useful if your group does a lot of fighting at night, but many groups will only have the occasional encounter under those conditions so you might not get much benefit.
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Trust me, the See in Darkness ability, especially permanent, is otherwise hard to do.
Being a full caster, falling back into the Darkness, torturing your foes with spells and Hexes, is not only a strong option, but quite flavorful.
Think about it. The whole "I am the darkness" feel is just cool.
Nab Tenebrous Spell for added darkness boons and go at it.
Well, tieflings can get See in Darkness with only two feats anyway (taking fiend sight twice), but still, that also would make that particular variant ability worth two feat. That would be the feats for 4 levels that you could get at level 1.
While SLA's are nice (since they have neither somatic or verbal components, acting like a silent still spell), you might be better off with see in darkness. The shadow patron would go nicely with this pick, since you get the darkness spells as patron spells, as well as shadow conjuration and evocation (which can replace and even improve many different spells while giving you a bit of spontaneous choice on a prepared spell; check the guide section for more on the matter)
Would Levitate (6) + vestigial wings = fly ability or at least gliding?
what would be the calculations for that?
Is see in Darkness that much of an improvement on Darkvision that tieflings already have?
Hey guys,
I'm brand new to Pathfinder and to these forums. Yay! My first character is going to be a tiefling witch, and my GM said if I wanted to I could get one of the "variant tiefling abilities" listed on p. 16 of Blood of Fiends and here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-tiefling) instead of the darkness spell-like ability. "Within reason," he said, e.g. none of the straight +2 to an ability score "abilities."
So I'm wondering which of the 100 (!) variant abilities seem powerful to y'all, without crossing the admittedly fuzzy line into "unfair" territory.
I'm interested in all your opinions.
Best,
m
Many of the abilities have hidden uses that most people don't think about. Depending on your class being able to levitate at will for as long as you want is an EXTREMELY powerful boon. Note Levitate just means you can float up or down 20-ft a round as a move action (I think).
Basically if you are playing a squishy and monsters show up that are all melee, NO PROBLEM you float up 20-ft, and now they literally cannot hit you. Nuke or arrow away. This literally makes all climb checks null and void for you, but it does limit your carrying weight to 10-lbs OR you and all your gear + 10-lbs depending on the interpretation.
Is see in Darkness that much of an improvement on Darkvision that tieflings already have?
With regular darkvision a tiefling has monochromatic vision out to 60 feet of darkness. Then along comes a lv 5 cleric and casts deeper darkness... no vision at all.
A tiefling with See in Darkness has perfectly normal vision with no range limits. Then along comes a lv 5 cleric and casts deeper darkness, and the tiefling couldn't care less.
Perhaps more likely than the lv 5 cleric with deeper darkness is a lv 5 wizard with blacklight since it creates instant darkness no matter what the light level was before, and the casting wizard can actually see through his own blacklight. See in Darkness still sees through it, because it doesn't matter if it's dark because of magic or a complete, total lack of any light particles.
#44 - You are unusually short, granting you all the standard traits of a Small creature.
Small creatures gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Although not listed under Small, under Fly you will find the small creature also gain +2 on their Fly skill. #53 - You possess the scent special ability.
The Scent ability is kind of long, so I spoilered it** spoiler omitted **...
Would the Small Size alternate ability cause a Tiefling's speed to be reduced to 20 feet? It is the default speed of small creatures.
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Would the Small Size alternate ability cause a Tiefling's speed to be reduced to 20 feet? It is the default speed of small creatures.#44 - You are unusually short, granting you all the standard traits of a Small creature.
Small creatures gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Although not listed under Small, under Fly you will find the small creature also gain +2 on their Fly skill. #53 - You possess the scent special ability.
The Scent ability is kind of long, so I spoilered it** spoiler omitted **...
No, there are plenty of small races with 30 feet (goblins and grippili). The slow speed of the core small races was merely a design choice, as much as the speed for dwarves was.
For the typical traits of a small creature, you can look here.
Ah, thank you. A small character with 30 speed sounds like something I'd be interested in experimenting with.