"I can't hit anything!"


Advice


So I've been playing for awhile, and when I'm playing with my friends in a campaign, I've encountered two specific problems:
1) The dice do NOT like me when I'm attacking, and
2) my compadres tend to kill everything before I even have a chance to miss. I'm usually left about half-dead without even hitting the darn thing.

So I'd like some help. Can we build a very strong combat-oriented character?

Just two guidelines:

1) The character should be ready-to-play at lvl 7 or 8, your choice.
2) I'd prefer to stay away from spell casters/mages

So maybe a Drunken Monk or a very tanky Fighter- Even a Barbarian or a Bard. The character doesn't have to be a killing machine, just has to be able to either tank or dish out a good amount of damage

Any suggestions, ideas- basically anything is welcome! (^-^)

Liberty's Edge

Not a build, but a Phalanx Fighter/Stalwart Defender (or straight fightet) SHOULD do the trick.


Just a straight up two handing barbarian ought to do the trick really. No casting, plenty tanky and hits plenty hard.

BEyond that a boring old fhasioned two handing fighter will work as well especially with things like weapon focus to boost your attack even further.


@ Lucky 7: Thanks! I have been fond of fighters, but never thought to use those archetypes

@TarkXT: Thanks! The only reason I've been hesitant to use a barbarian is that I don't fully understand Rage... But thanks!

Liberty's Edge

Barbarian rage is this at the core: FOr a number of rounds equal to four and your CON modifier, you hit +2 harder, get two hit points a level while raging, and then other goodies like better will saves, BUT take a penalty to AC and are sickened for twice the rounds you spent in rage (Beaten at 17th level.

Standard WBL? Point Buy?


How about a plain ol' archery based Inquisitor?

You will have enough to-hit and damage to compete and you will have enough initiative bonuses to get off a few shots before your friends most of the time.


For extra bonuses to hit, Ranger is hard to beat. I multiclassed monk/ranger in RotRL with big game hunter and favored enemy giants. it made a big difference in my offense even though it was just +3 to hit over normal, because they were bonuses that stacked with the bard's inspire courage, and haste. There were still times I gawked at the fighter's to hits with his dual axe build, but I was also up in combat a round or three before him most times.


As far as the dice not liking you when you attack, which is a problem I can sympathize with, there's a 3rd party magic weapon ability you might be able to use. If the GM allows it of course. Probability Weapon, I believe is the name. It's in the d20psrd. The +1 version changes it so you roll 2d10 when attacking, instead of 1d20, and the +2 version rolls 5d4. This means your rolls will be, statistically, far more in the middle, as opposed to each number having an even chance like 1d20. Your 1's will be very rare, but so will your 20's.


Fighter- pick a weapon and follow the golden road to hitting stuff a lot and hard. Weapon Focus, Weapon Training, Critical feats... Fighters are the best at, uh, fighting. Go figure ;)

Don't forget to boost your Will save!


Assuming you largely fight evil creatures, I Think the Paladin is a pretty darn solid class that's pretty straightforward (and has no drawbacks to his abilities unlike a Barbarian).


Barbarian have the best to hit at low level because of rage. And second would be fighter. Fighter has the best to hit rate at late game, because you have 4 groups of weapons with weapon trainings, plus weapon focus is a must for a fighter.

If you want to go something strange, sorcerer or wizard for a one level dip just to get True Strike. But that means you will lose the best class feats you usually gets when you are in one class for 20 level when you get there. Or if you go far enough in arcane, Eldritch Knight would allow you to cast true strike for a swift action if you take the metamagic feat. You will need 6 level of sorcerer or 5 level of wizard, both means you will lose 3 BAB. Make you have less damage with power attack. But +20 to hit combine with some well thought called shot would make it worthwhile.


And just curious but what are you currently playing that can't seem to fight their way out of the proverbial wet paper bag?


ThatOneKid wrote:

So I've been playing for awhile, and when I'm playing with my friends in a campaign, I've encountered two specific problems:

1) The dice do NOT like me when I'm attacking, and
2) my compadres tend to kill everything before I even have a chance to miss. I'm usually left about half-dead without even hitting the darn thing.

Just out of curiosity, what are you playing now?


@ Lucky7: Thanks so much for simplifying the Rage! I think I might roll up a Barbarian now.

@ Jarl: Inquisitor sounds cool- but I must admit I'm fond of having my characters rush into the fray and- oh, that's why they don't survive (^_^)

@ Jaatu Bronzescale: I must admit I looked at the ranger class a few times, but i always found it problematic to pick just one type of enemy to be best against.

@ Rocky Williams 530: Probability Weapon sounds like it would really help- right now I have a superstition with Turkey Legs(Don't ask- One campaign I crit missed with a battle ax, and I had a turkey leg in the other hand; the turkey leg got a natural 20)

@ B.A. Ironskull: I do really like fighters, but I usu. skip the weapon focus feats. What exactly do they do? (I get distracted reading about other combat feats I never took the time to read them)

@ Drachasor: Okay, that would be helpful in a campaign I know we'll either resume or restart, but don't you have to always stay lawful to maintian all of the Paladin bonuses?

@ SiouL: So a multiclasses Fighter/Wizard with a long-term aim for an Eldritch Knight. That does sound slightly cool- however my party usually packs one or two spellcasters(I don't remember if they're wizards, socerers, or spell slinger archetypes). But for wizard lvl 1, don't you get magic missle? ;)

@ Kayerloth: Have you ever heard of the Slumbering Tsar Saga? It's this MONSTROUS campaign. And it has an 5 page obituary for your characters. It expects you not to survive day one.

Thanks to all of you guys for this help!! I really can't thank you enough.

Oh- I do roll up characters. Like literally the old-fashioned way with 4d6... so a priority list would be helpful with these classes :)


@ Dabbler: I do believe I will be continuing on in the Slumbering Tsar Saga. I really don't know if this is an Paizo or a 3rd party campaign.


Yeah, I just looked it up. Slumbering Tsar is by Frog God Games and is compatible with Pathfinder- Hence why I'm here :3

And How do you do that " (Insert Name) wrote" thing?


Dabbler wrote:
ThatOneKid wrote:

So I've been playing for awhile, and when I'm playing with my friends in a campaign, I've encountered two specific problems:

1) The dice do NOT like me when I'm attacking, and
2) my compadres tend to kill everything before I even have a chance to miss. I'm usually left about half-dead without even hitting the darn thing.
Just out of curiosity, what are you playing now?

I just figured out how to do this reply thing:3

We're playing Slumbering Tsar Saga. That huge campaign from Frog God Games.


ThatOneKid wrote:

Yeah, I just looked it up. Slumbering Tsar is by Frog God Games and is compatible with Pathfinder- Hence why I'm here :3

And How do you do that " (Insert Name) wrote" thing?

Oh, this thing? It's called quoting someone.

TheRaven wrote:
Nevermore

Why not build a fighter like suggested above? Take a greataxe or something, charge your enemies in battle, get cleave and power attack, INT 13 if you want combat expertise, STR your highest stat and you can either level out CON and DEX or make CON higher and put a little into wisdom. Since you have other melee players, drop your CHA and use the points from that and put them into STR to make your STR explode

Lantern Lodge

ThatOneKid wrote:
Dabbler wrote:
ThatOneKid wrote:

So I've been playing for awhile, and when I'm playing with my friends in a campaign, I've encountered two specific problems:

1) The dice do NOT like me when I'm attacking, and
2) my compadres tend to kill everything before I even have a chance to miss. I'm usually left about half-dead without even hitting the darn thing.
Just out of curiosity, what are you playing now?

I just figured out how to do this reply thing:3

We're playing Slumbering Tsar Saga. That huge campaign from Frog God Games.

I think he means what Character class are you playing fighter? monk? gunslinger?


Snickersnack wrote:


Why not build a fighter like suggested above? Take a greataxe or something, charge your enemies in battle, get cleave and power attack, INT 13 if you want combat expertise, STR your highest stat and you can either level out CON and DEX or make CON higher and put a little into wisdom. Since you have other melee players, drop your CHA and use the points from that and put them into STR to make your STR explode

That's a great idea- although I really have problems with leaving some scores pretty low. What I ususally do for scores is sit in a corner and reroll until I get a decent set of scores. But the point buy does sound appealing now.

So priorites: SRT(!!)>CON>DEX/INT>CHA>WIS right?

Thanks for help with that quoting thing. i didn't get how to use it. :3

Liberty's Edge

ThatOneKid wrote:
So priorites: SRT(!!)>CON>DEX/INT>CHA>WIS right?

Mechanically? More like Str>Con>Dex>Int>Wis>Chr

With maybe Dex and Con switched, and Int 13 a necessary minimum.


Valmoon wrote:
I think he means what Character class are you playing fighter? monk? gunslinger?

Okay, right Sorry :3

our GM allowed us two, so here are both:

1) a lvl7 Viskanya(It's one of those oddball races with poisonous blood) Vivisectionist- I'd give you the full specs, but I gave our GM the Character sheets to put into Hero Lab

2) A Strix Airborne Ambusher (2)/ Gun Tank (5) (I threw on Gun Tank for survivability and damage. Plus, doesn't a flying bird-man with a shotgun and a long sword sound pretty scary? ^.^ )

I do have a penchant for those odd races. But now I'm looking at the core ones for the new character here.

(I'll cycle out the not-so-useful Vivisectionist with the new guy that I'm going to build from this thread. Simply because I really don't understand how to use the mutagens effectively enough.)


Get a Cleric buddy with Luck Domain. He can touch you each round and you get to roll your d20 twice and take the better result.

We had a devastating archer who was always shooting wild and hitting his own party. I had a new charcter with the Luck domain who spent all of her Touch of Lucks on said archer.

It was...pretty awesome. Our DM gave good, gruesome descriptions of the arrow strikes each time.


GoldEdition42 wrote:

Get a Cleric buddy with Luck Domain. He can touch you each round and you get to roll your d20 twice and take the better result.

We had a devastating archer who was always shooting wild and hitting his own party. I had a new charcter with the Luck domain who spent all of her Touch of Lucks on said archer.

It was...pretty awesome. Our DM gave good, gruesome descriptions of the arrow strikes each time.

I might just have to annoy my buddy into retooling his cleric for the Luck Domain now...

Sczarni

1 person marked this as a favorite.
ThatOneKid wrote:

So I've been playing for awhile, and when I'm playing with my friends in a campaign, I've encountered two specific problems:

1) The dice do NOT like me when I'm attacking, and
2) my compadres tend to kill everything before I even have a chance to miss. I'm usually left about half-dead without even hitting the darn thing.

So I'd like some help. Can we build a very strong combat-oriented character?

Just two guidelines:

1) The character should be ready-to-play at lvl 7 or 8, your choice.
2) I'd prefer to stay away from spell casters/mages

So maybe a Drunken Monk or a very tanky Fighter- Even a Barbarian or a Bard. The character doesn't have to be a killing machine, just has to be able to either tank or dish out a good amount of damage

Any suggestions, ideas- basically anything is welcome! (^-^)

Two suggestions for you:

1.) Qinggong Monk focused on Dex/Wis and dumping CHA. Weapon Finesse. Get Agile enchanted when you can. Power Attack at some point. It'll let you live longer with the higher AC, Qinggong gives much better choices in abilities. Fighter anything is always a good choice if you like hitting. Tripping is ALWAYS good, or just somehow knocking something Prone next to you. That's a +4 to hit it right there! +6 if you're flanking! Just as well, Stuns or Paralyzing is pretty win. They lose their Dex to AC and -2 AC. As a Monk I like to Trip/Stun - Their AC is nothing at that point. You get your "damage" back from subbing a trip in place of a regular attack as soon as they stand up - AoO. I'd invest into combat reflexes.

2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12 50rolls was about 12.02. :3


Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:


Two suggestions for you:

1.) Qinggong Monk focused on Dex/Wis and dumping CHA. Weapon Finesse. Get Agile enchanted when you can. Power Attack at some point. It'll let you live longer with the higher AC, Qinggong gives much better choices in abilities. Fighter anything is always a good choice if you like hitting. Tripping is ALWAYS good, or just somehow knocking something Prone next to you. That's a +4 to hit it right there! +6 if you're flanking! Just as well, Stuns or Paralyzing is pretty win. They lose their Dex to AC and -2 AC. As a Monk I like to Trip/Stun - Their AC is nothing at that point. You get your "damage" back from subbing a trip in place of a regular attack as soon as they stand up - AoO. I'd invest into combat reflexes.

2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

1) That Monk sounds pretty darn awesome! A Monk can trip with a quarterstaff right?

2) That.... ^(^.^)^ Gotta do that.

I have about 5-6 dice on me when we start, and during "down time"(ie somebody wanted to grab food) I roll all of them, and designate the one w/the best roll for combat. Ironically that's when I roll all of my 20's :3

Scarab Sages

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:
2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

My friend has a set of chessex dice that he calls his Paladin Dice, because when he brings them out, the enemy are completely smited. I love it when he uses it to take down ememies with his usually 16+ rolls, but tend to fear them when I am on the GM'ing role.

He also does what you are saying, Raijin. At conventions, he attemtps to roll about 100 d20s, eliminating the low rollers, repeating the process until he has a pair of high rollers. The vendor has a blast laughing at his superstitious act. =)


Cao Phen wrote:
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:
2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

My friend has a set of chessex dice that he calls his Paladin Dice, because when he brings them out, the enemy are completely smited. I love it when he uses it to take down ememies with his usually 16+ rolls, but tend to fear them when I am on the GM'ing role.

He also does what you are saying, Raijin. At conventions, he attemtps to roll about 100 d20s, eliminating the low rollers, repeating the process until he has a pair of high rollers. The vendor has a blast laughing at his superstitious act. =)

Note to self.... Buy Chessex dice.....

Sczarni

ThatOneKid wrote:
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:


Two suggestions for you:

1.) Qinggong Monk focused on Dex/Wis and dumping CHA. Weapon Finesse. Get Agile enchanted when you can. Power Attack at some point. It'll let you live longer with the higher AC, Qinggong gives much better choices in abilities. Fighter anything is always a good choice if you like hitting. Tripping is ALWAYS good, or just somehow knocking something Prone next to you. That's a +4 to hit it right there! +6 if you're flanking! Just as well, Stuns or Paralyzing is pretty win. They lose their Dex to AC and -2 AC. As a Monk I like to Trip/Stun - Their AC is nothing at that point. You get your "damage" back from subbing a trip in place of a regular attack as soon as they stand up - AoO. I'd invest into combat reflexes.

2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

1) That Monk sounds pretty darn awesome! A Monk can trip with a quarterstaff right?

2) That.... ^(^.^)^ Gotta do that.

I have about 5-6 dice on me when we start, and during "down time"(ie somebody wanted to grab food) I roll all of them, and designate the one w/the best roll for combat. Ironically that's when I roll all of my 20's :3

It sounds like we've got this figured out broturkey! /brofist

If you want any samples builds I've made of the Monk, just PM me on here. I'll shoot all 3 to you.


I put up the arcane path earlier without mentioning Magic Missle because firstly, you have problem hitting with you melee attack. Secondly, say a fighter with 1 level in fighter and one level in wizard, you do more damage with true strike if you have power attack then a 1d4+1 from magic missle. The spell shield can block magic missle but can't block true strike, if you have say, +5 str and use two handed weapon. You will have your weapon's damage + 7 + 3 from power attack, a minimum of 11 damage in two rounds, when magic missle has at max 10 damage in two round. Of course, later on when get to higher level, you won't deal much damage with melee attacks, but it will help when you need to called shot something, which magic missle can't.


SiuoL wrote:
I put up the arcane path earlier without mentioning Magic Missle because firstly, you have problem hitting with you melee attack. Secondly, say a fighter with 1 level in fighter and one level in wizard, you do more damage with true strike if you have power attack then a 1d4+1 from magic missle. The spell shield can block magic missle but can't block true strike, if you have say, +5 str and use two handed weapon. You will have your weapon's damage + 7 + 3 from power attack, a minimum of 11 damage in two rounds, when magic missle has at max 10 damage in two round. Of course, later on when get to higher level, you won't deal much damage with melee attacks, but it will help when you need to called shot something, which magic missle can't.

Makes sense... I was just thinking of the fact that Magic Missle doesn't need a roll to hit, and thought to myself, "that's a good idea" :3


Take a look at the guide to the guides stickied to the top of this forum, you'll find advice on all the classes covering what feats to take and which powers are good/bad.


High use magic device and a wand of true strike ! Its awsome lolz!


If the dice don't like you, I suggest blessing them in the name of Gygax before your next game.


Cao Phen wrote:
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:
2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

My friend has a set of chessex dice that he calls his Paladin Dice, because when he brings them out, the enemy are completely smited. I love it when he uses it to take down ememies with his usually 16+ rolls, but tend to fear them when I am on the GM'ing role.

He also does what you are saying, Raijin. At conventions, he attemtps to roll about 100 d20s, eliminating the low rollers, repeating the process until he has a pair of high rollers. The vendor has a blast laughing at his superstitious act. =)

Not superstitious; just utilizing the fact that most dice are s!~@ quality. Not saying they need to be anything special, but due to the way dice are made (from a casting, then thrown into a rock tumbler to soften the edges) they tend to get weighted towards certain numbers. So in essence, he's looking for loaded dice, specifically ones that are loaded towards high numbers.

The vendors probably know this, but it's likely they don't care, since he's probably going to buy something, once he's done weeding out the ones that aren't weighted right, rather than most people who will keep their bag-o-dice and just use them without caring about whether they're badly weighted or not because it doesn't matter to them much.

Game Science makes dice that approximate true randomness very well, since they're made like casino dice, with sharp edges and very controlled weight factors, but they're rather expensive, so most of the time, they're not worth the expense unless you're really paranoid, since you're using them in a friend's living room, not in a high stakes vegas table.

Scarab Sages

Tholomyes wrote:
Cao Phen wrote:
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:
2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...
Game Science makes dice that approximate true randomness very well, since they're made like casino dice, with sharp edges and very controlled weight factors, but they're rather expensive, so most of the time, they're not worth the expense unless you're really paranoid, since you're using them in a friend's living room, not in a high stakes vegas table.

I have three sets of Game Science. When I GM a game and one of the players says I'm rolling 'hot', I swap out the set. If one of the players is rolling poor, I offer to swap out their set with Game Science (just for the session). This usually calms feelings down at the table.

If I were just GM'ing a home game it probably wouldn't matter as much. However, I organize a Game Day and I run/play games with different players all the time.

...And it's just coincidence that I live in Vegas.

-Perry


You said no mages, but one of the best parts of magic is not having to roll your own dice a lot of the time. Instead, the DM rolls, or there are none (buffs and certain battle field control spells). You may want to expand your horizons.

If you do want a noncaster but can't hit to save your life, you ABSOLUTELY do not want to be a monk.

Consider a bombing Alchemist, who only needs to hit touch AC. Or along the same lines, much as I despise the PF gun rules, a Gunslinger.

Beyond that, the best noncaster at hitting stuff is the fighter. Load up on Weapon Focus, the weapon training, gloves of dueling, and get a high strength and you'll hopefully be able to hit sometimes.


Here, I will build for you: A level 8 Aasimar (Muse-touched) Dervish of Dawn bard.

Starting: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 18 (20 point buy)
Level 8: Str 10, Dex 20 (22), Con 12, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 18 (20)
HP: 8d8+8
BAB +6
Favored class: +4 effective level for inspire courage (+6 bonus)

Attack (w/ inspire & A.Strike): Scimitar +21/+16 (1d6 +16, 15-20/x2, S)
Attack (w/ Haste & inspire & A.Strike): Scimitar +22/+22/+17 (1d6 +16, 15-20/x2, S)

Notes: When doing nonlethal, add +1 damage and free demoralize attempt

Feats:
1 Dervish Dance [Bard 1]
1 Flagbearer (allies w/in 30 ft: +1 attack/damage)
3 Enforcer (free Intimidate on each nonlethal attack)
5 Weapon Focus
7 Arcane Strike (+2 damage any round you have a swift action)
9 ??
11 Discordant Voice (just noting this should be your 11th level feat)

Traits: Blade of Mercy, Savant (on one of your versatile performance choices)

Equipment (not a complete listing):
+1 Keen Scimitar
+2 Dex Belt
+2 Cha Headband
Flag/standard of the party

How is that? Pretty good to hit and damage, and can demoralize as s/he attacks for free. Flagbearer and later on Discordant Voice give nice buffs to the bard as well as nearby allies.
Definitely learn Haste and cast it often.


StreamOfTheSky wrote:

Here, I will build for you: A level 8 Aasimar (Muse-touched) Dervish of Dawn bard.

Starting: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 18 (20 point buy)
Level 8: Str 10, Dex 20 (22), Con 12, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 18 (20)
HP: 8d8+8
BAB +6
Favored class: +4 effective level for inspire courage (+6 bonus)

Attack (w/ inspire & A.Strike): Scimitar +21/+16 (1d6 +16, 15-20/x2, S)
Attack (w/ Haste & inspire & A.Strike): Scimitar +22/+22/+17 (1d6 +16, 15-20/x2, S)

Notes: When doing nonlethal, add +1 damage and free demoralize attempt

Feats:
1 Dervish Dance [Bard 1]
1 Flagbearer (allies w/in 30 ft: +1 attack/damage)
3 Enforcer (free Intimidate on each nonlethal attack)
5 Weapon Focus
7 Arcane Strike (+2 damage any round you have a swift action)
9 ??
11 Discordant Voice (just noting this should be your 11th level feat)

Traits: Blade of Mercy, Savant (on one of your versatile performance choices)

Equipment (not a complete listing):
+1 Keen Scimitar
+2 Dex Belt
+2 Cha Headband
Flag/standard of the party

How is that? Pretty good to hit and damage, and can demoralize as s/he attacks for free. Flagbearer and later on Discordant Voice give nice buffs to the bard as well as nearby allies.
Definitely learn Haste and cast it often.

Wow. Thank you for the build!! (^.^) That bard looks pretty intimidating!

My only aversion to spellcasters is that our party already has 2 wizards, and a spellslinger... so we kinda needed another way for damage and something to add more chaos...like this bard....


Cao Phen wrote:
Kazumetsa Raijin wrote:
2.) GO buy about 30 D20s at a local gaming store if you got one, or on ebay or something. Make an Excel spreadsheet and roll them 50 times each on paper. Try to use the same hand rolling method each time. Keep combat in your mind. Now hold on to the two with the highest average. Sounds crazy, but it's legit dude. I've got a yellow one with green speckles that really loves 20s, 18s, 15s, 11s, and 10s. The average for it on 12...

My friend has a set of chessex dice that he calls his Paladin Dice, because when he brings them out, the enemy are completely smited. I love it when he uses it to take down ememies with his usually 16+ rolls, but tend to fear them when I am on the GM'ing role.

He also does what you are saying, Raijin. At conventions, he attemtps to roll about 100 d20s, eliminating the low rollers, repeating the process until he has a pair of high rollers. The vendor has a blast laughing at his superstitious act. =)

This IS cheating you know. Using a die you know to be biased and not random is no different than weighting the dice yourself.

Scarab Sages

It does not really roll that high, but he gave the impression that when he brings the set out, everyone is like "oh crap, here are the big guns", which usually works since he rolls high on his intimidate checks. He has 3 sets of them, Dark blue, Light blue, and Red, which he call all of them "Palading Dice" I have seen him roll all of them, and seen the red set done terribly a few PFS scenarios, as well as his other set. It is just that with the impressions that he set in stone about how his dice are like, many of us are like "crap....".

Think of Homer Simpson with his baseball bat. Does it hit better than normal? Not really, but the storyline to how he got the bat was impressive. Or how you have a +1 Keen scimitar, waiting for that 15+ roll. For my friend's pair of dice from the convention, he rolls once then scraps, so even when he buys them, he could have been lucky on the dicerolls. Superstition at its best.

Moreover, if a person has a d20 that feels like it is rolling low all the time, and got a new set of dice and if that set rolls better, would they not superstitously switch to it?


During one stretch of bad luck that ran a few months, I asked if I could use a "reverse d20." Where 1 = 20, 2 = 19; etc... down/up to 19 = 2, 20 = 1. (It was online, so there was no actual physical d20) DM said no. :(

Another idea I had was to use a set of 20 cards labeled 1-20. They could only be used for combat rolls and rolls the DM asked for / did in secret (like spot checks to see the hidden monster) but not for non-combat rolls the player initiated / asked for (to prevent abuse / attempts to get rid of low cards on unimportant stuff). Basic concept was, cards are shuffled, face down. Each "roll" of d20, you draw one of the cards, take that #, and discard it. Once you've used up all 20 cards, they're reshuffled and placed back face down.
Basically the idea was to ENFORCE statistical expectations.

Have not tried the latter yet, either, though I really like the idea.

Scarab Sages

The problem with part 2 is that, even though you think you can get statistical expectations with card drawing, it is not really true. Example: flip a coin. You have a 50-50 chance to get heads. Flip it again. Does that mean you now have a 100% chance to get tails? Does a d6 do not have a 6 after it rolled a 6?

With the card situation, you are playing it like kids playing softball and choosing a team. You are eliminating until you have noone left, then resetting it. If you are aiming to do the card situation, you have to shuffle EVERY time you draw a card, and when you draw a card you have to place it back prior to shuffling.

If you really want to make it "fair and impartial", use a computer with a commmand line to roll a d20. But then again, you will now not have the feeling of actually rolling your dice to save your keister.


pennywit wrote:
If the dice don't like you, I suggest blessing them in the name of Gygax before your next game.

DUDE, THAT WORKED!!!

We're in a pause in our campaign right now, and during combat, I asked Gary Gygax to help me out, and next attack roll was a Natural 20!


ThatOneKid wrote:
pennywit wrote:
If the dice don't like you, I suggest blessing them in the name of Gygax before your next game.

DUDE, THAT WORKED!!!

We're in a pause in our campaign right now, and during combat, I asked Gary Gygax to help me out, and next attack roll was a Natural 20!

our father

who art in the dice
gygax by thy name


+5 Toaster wrote:
ThatOneKid wrote:
pennywit wrote:
If the dice don't like you, I suggest blessing them in the name of Gygax before your next game.

DUDE, THAT WORKED!!!

We're in a pause in our campaign right now, and during combat, I asked Gary Gygax to help me out, and next attack roll was a Natural 20!

our father

who art in the dice
gygax by thy name

Beware the Sacrilege!

(Sorry, I had to... I'll go sit in the corner now)


Tholomyes wrote:
+5 Toaster wrote:
ThatOneKid wrote:
pennywit wrote:
If the dice don't like you, I suggest blessing them in the name of Gygax before your next game.

DUDE, THAT WORKED!!!

We're in a pause in our campaign right now, and during combat, I asked Gary Gygax to help me out, and next attack roll was a Natural 20!

our father

who art in the dice
gygax by thy name

Beware the Sacrilege!

(Sorry, I had to... I'll go sit in the corner now)

you do that and think of what you did >:(


ThatOneKid wrote:

@ Dabbler: I do believe I will be continuing on in the Slumbering Tsar Saga. I really don't know if this is an Paizo or a 3rd party campaign.

#

Er, I meant what character are you playing!

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