Pathfinder Chronicler, the obvious, but unused, class in PFS

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

So, as I wage the internal war between myself, with the devils and angels on my shoulders telling me different things about different classes, and why I should, and should not, play them, I continue being drawn back to the paradox that is the Pathfinder Chronicler.

Now there are a multitude of ways to become one, and someone has a guide out there on the subject too, but I can't convince myself that it is a worthwile class to play in PFS. In a home game, sure, a fun PC to play, although not mechanically uber or anything, but the GM can always account for that.

However, in PFS, the scenario is the scenario, and I'm afraid that after level 5, my character would be understrength and not contributing my full 1/6 of effort, which I believe my fellow Pathfinders deserve.

Let's assume that the "best" wat to become a Chronicler, because of stacking of abilities, is to be a Bard. After 5th level, you are a gimp bard in my mind. Your spellcasting stopped, your bardic music is two levels below where it should be, and I don't care how many amazing scrolls you pull out of your pouch at just the right moment, it just seems like it is not enough.

Throw all of that on top of the fact that you will reach only level 7 in the PfC class, and you realize you won't even get the capstone or even the level 8+ abilities.

So am I missing something? How many 8th level parties would love to have a guy sit down and say "I'm a roleplayer, and I'm a Pathfinder Chronicler here to record your tales?" I'm betting the group groans worse than the guy complaining about the 7th level iconics that got his group killed at Bonekeep.

Tell me I'm wrong, because I have an awesome mini for this character, but I just don't see it being fair to the game, or my fellow gamers.

[WalterGM]

I wish I could post in character...

You see a clean-shaven dwarf, carrying a mountainous backpack overflowing with mundane tools and trinkets approach you. He raises a hand in friendly wave and shoulders the impressive crossbow as he speaks to you candidly.

"Greetings friend! The name's Tassel, Tassel Packbearer! And yes, before you ask, I am one of the renowned Packbearers -- heralds, squires, and servants to the heroes of Golarion in a tradition that stretches back centuries. Now then, friend: why am I here? Well, I heard you had some questions about what exactly I do during one of these Society missions, so I've come to clear that up.

As you can see," Tassel swings off his massive backpack and lets it crash to the ground at his side. Pots, pans, weapons, lanterns, and all manner of miscellaneous metal objects collide into one another in a cacophony of noise. "I'm always the most prepared of the group. I don't have the skill with a blade, spell, or beast that any of my allies might, but I always have the right tool for the job." As he speaks, the dwarf reaches into seemingly endless pockets, pulling out objects and tossing them onto the ground before him. Swords, books, forks, rope, live animal traps, fireworks, tents, gems, scrolls, a small cage with a bird, flasks, paper -- before long, he's produced enough objects that you're convinced the man could open up a travelling general store, were he so inclined.

"And that's part of it. Always having the right antivenom, potion, or poultice. Various weapons, pre-blanched of course, for all manner of nasties. But the rest of it is being support. You see, adventuring ain't easy. No matter what those more fanciful bards might try and sell you on. It's a lonely road out there. And I take pride in keeping all my travelling friends in the highest of spirits. Spells help, a'course, but a kind word after a hard fight works wonders too."

"You see," Tassel looks at his crossbow and sighs "Not all of us are cut out to be the heroes in these chronicles you read." He points at the weapon, "That there is Madeline. Used to belong to my father. It's sister is Matilda -- an earthbreaker. You see, my father was one of the finest paladins to ever take up arms in service to Torag. When he passed, my brother and me each got one of his weapons. My brother Thorfin took Matilda. Thorfin of the Silver Crusade. He swings that maul with such force you'd believe the Earthfather himself was guiding each blow! Heh. He's quite the champion. A real man." Tassel is quiet for a while before he speaks again. "I could have taken the hammer if I wanted. The choice was mine first. But I cannae do what he does. Every day, putting himself against forces that would tear a man apart to his very soul. So I took Madeline. She's reliable, she fires true, and she keeps her distance. She's not as brave as her sister."

"You see, some of us just play a different part. A silent part that exists between the pages, in the margins. And that's my real role." He picks up the items one at a time and puts them back into the various bags, and faster than you'd think, his pack is shouldered and his crossbow is back in hand.

"I'm a Pathinder Chronicler because someone needs to tell the stories. We have enough heroes -- like my father, or me brother. It's remembering them we could use more of."

[Eric Saxon]

You are correct. I'm sorry that it has to be said but an under optimized PC at lvl. 8-9 is not going to carry his weight.

If you go into a party of 6 other role-playing PCs, its a death sentence for all of you. One in six and everyone else can carry you but you probably don't want to be the guy that needs to be carried, since everyone else might be thinking some rather unkind things about you, even if they don't vocalize them, in front of you.

[Snorter]

Walter Sheppard wrote:

You see a clean-shaven dwarf, carrying a mountainous backpack overflowing with mundane tools and trinkets approach you. He raises a hand in friendly wave and shoulders the impressive crossbow as he speaks to you candidly.

"Nodwick? Is that you?"

"Where's the duct tape? Yeagar just 'disarmed' a trap."

[Chris Mortika]

Eric is, I presume, kidding.

Come, play a Pathfinder Chronicler. It'll be fun, and you'll add a lot of flavor to the adventure. You'll get a number of awesome abilities that set you apart from others. ("Whispering Campaign" is incredible. A handful of Pathfinder Chroniclers could have accomplished their faction's Season 4 missions by themselves!)

If you're looking to play a skill-monkey, and contribute to the party's success in supporting roles (A Helpful halfling with 3 levels of Pathfinder Chronicler and bardic inspiration going is the go-to person for Aid Another.)

[Yiroep]

Eric Saxon wrote:

You are correct. I'm sorry that it has to be said but an under optimized PC at lvl. 8-9 is not going to carry his weight.

If you go into a party of 6 other role-playing PCs, its a death sentence for all of you. One in six and everyone else can carry you but you probably don't want to be the guy that needs to be carried, since everyone else might be thinking some rather unkind things about you, even if they don't vocalize them, in front of you.

The level 6 Pathfinder Chronicler ability is pretty good (earliest level 11) of granting a move action as a standard action, and then inspire courage as a move action in the same round! "Hey, fighter, move over there. Oh perfect! You can full attack now!"

Add that with bard 5, especially an aasimar who take the alternate racial favored class bonus for inspire courage for 4 levels to count as two levels higher for it, and you have a pretty solid support character at level 11. Able to cast a few heroisms, a +3 inspire courage, and quite the amount of skill points I must say. You can pull out random useful scrolls and potions at the most opportune times, you can aid another well, and you can create epic tales that increase the amount of performances you can have on someone (use them right before the BBEG! :) ). And again, let's not forget giving some lucky fighter in your party their long-awaited move + full attack.

Before level 11, it leaves some to be desired, but I don't find it so weak that it would not be useful. You can still throw the heroisms around and pull some useful items out of your hat, as well as inspire courage.

Plus, Whispering Campaign is just awesome.

With other base classes, YMMV.

If you play the special high levels of PFS and get to level 14 (level 9 Chronicler), you can give your standard action to someone else. "Hey, wizard, cast another spell!" Oh yes, then inspire courage as a move action (@ 15 it's a swift)!

Chris Mortika wrote:

If you're looking to play a skill-monkey, and contribute to the party's success in supporting roles (A Helpful halfling with 3 levels of Pathfinder Chronicler and bardic inspiration going is the go-to person for Aid Another.)

Not sure it works that way. They both replace your +2 with +4, so it's redundant.

[Eric Saxon]

Finding a group to play with to lvl. 12, is going to be tough even if you play a strong PC with good power (be it AC, hp, heals, or Dmg). And if you tell the group that you won't be able to do anything awesome until lvl. 11, this will get you an invitation to play with Role-Players but probably, not Gamers. Which might be the best option for you.

Gamers generally will role-play but they know when the role-playing is all said and done and push comes to shove, you shove back.

The real question is, whether in your opinion, the Chronicler can 'shove back'? Can he bring it, even as support are his benefits worth it that much to the party? I'm assuming from what you wrote, that you do not believe this to be the case.

I love a well Role-Played PC same as everyone else but sugar coating isn't going to get a group of Role-Players through 'Sniper In the Deep' when you get ganked by some heavy hitters. And you will come up against some seriously heavy scenarios at the 8+ levels that even a highly optimized group might take losses against.

I don't know the class and haven't looked at it but from what you describe, I'd say it wouldn't be my first choice.

[Hayato Ken]

Support characters are fairly underestimated in PFS and especially here on the board.
I know a support summoner with a support Eidolon, both with adopted helpfull and reach weapon. +8 on a lot of stuff and controll....

Those additional actions, +x on whatever and the right spell at the right time, that really adds up.
Just glad the kithadorian academy feats master performer & grand master performer are not allowed....or am i?

[Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan]

Eric's concerns are the same as mine. I enjoy both the fluff and the crunch of playing the game, and can do each at the appropriate time. I played some pretty rough Living Greyhawk and Living Arcanis modules, both in built and pickup groups, so I understand the dynamics of this. I've stood around at Gencon for LG with a "Bard LFG" sign, recognizing it was an uphill battle.

The only thing that makes the character possibly viable, and something I would consider bringing to a table, is that by starting with Bard 5, and then into PfC, I'll at least have the decent Inspire Courage Bonus, and I intend to specialize in a couple crowd control spells (Grease, and Glitterdust, which both being Conjuration, are affected by the same Spell Focus, to keep them relevant at higher levels). With a good UMD, and some items, we'll see.

I'd certainly never try and hoodwink a party into thinking he is something he's not. I might try that with another character who still fulfills the role he bills himself for, but with this character, it wouldn't be humane to do so.

I will also be bringing up a healy cleric, because I perceive a slight lack of that, and an abundance of tanks, in the community, so if they are of similar levels, a group could always opt for the Cleric instead, or I could hop on an iconic, and being experienced dth the classes I'm familiar with (I wouldn't grab the Monk or the Gunslinger, for example).

[Victor Zajic]

You would be surprised at how often being able to pull a scroll of gust of wind or daylight out of your magic pockets completely changes a tough battle in PFS.

The high level group I play in would welcome a bard with +2 inspire and the ability to pull second level cleric scrolls out of thin air when needed. Ability Damage, Poison, Paralysis, Charm, Compulsion, and Fear will no longer be much of a threat to the party. Levitate and Spiderclimb whenever the low skill heavy armor tanks need to get up a wall or cliff.

Blow some cash on scrolls of Heal or Breath of Life for emergencies and no one will fault you for being at the table. And those group of optimized combat monsters will love having you around when they have to deal with social encounters to get to the big fights.

You might want to hold off on the prestige class until you get 3rd level bard spells. Good Hope + Inspire courage for +4 to hit and +4 damage for the entire party will make you a lot of friends.

[Jelloarm]

My Pathfinder Chronicler is currently my favorite character to play. His current knowledge bonus is +18 to every knowledge at 7th level. He carries around a bear trap, for tactical purposes. I've begun to develop a toolkit of magic that is designed to destroy all of the common problems. My list of languages is approaching 20 different tongues. If I ever get in hand-to-hand combat, I'm doing it wrong, because my role is to keep the party up and functioning at higher-than-capacity.

It's not just about the scrolls. Harpies? Yeah, I have earplugs for the whole party. Basilisks? Hey, smoked goggles all around! Weapon blanches on every stinking weapon!

I don't think my sassy little gnome has ever 'killed' an enemy. What my character has done is given my party the tools and forewarning to approach any situation with some sort of a plan, something that a min-maxed barbarian is never going to do without some serious meta-gaming. If you don't want to play the knowledgeable MacGuyver of your party, then by all means do not play as a Chronicler. But under no circumstances should you malign them.

[David Haller]

I've gotten to the point where I'm always disappointed if I don't have a good bard in the party - a really good group basically acts as a force multiplier for the bard's buffs. That could be said about support classes in general.

From a practical perspective, PFS tends not to reward support classes well (you really need a consistent group who all learn to work together). If you have a certain pool of people you tend to play with, it works much better.

As for the Chronicler, I do feel that in general it's better for a "home game", but IF you tend to play with the same group in PFS (a group which can learn to appreciate the PrC), it can work just as well.

In the more common pick-up style play of PFS, though, a lot of his/her abilities will be left on the table, I think.

[Lormyr]

Zahir, two things I would like to raise your attention too.

First, not every single character you have needs to be a death machine. Understand this comment comes from an individual who is a titanic min-maxer. I have my badasses and badasses waiting to get played. I also have a musket master gunslinger, Montgomery Prescott Wellington III, the big game hunter in the Mwangi Expanse (click my aliases to see his pick, cracks me up every time) for funsies with role-playing. He's effective, but not optimized.

Second, what you do with those 5 or more class levels leading up to Pathfinder Chronicler is every bit as important or more important towards usefulness as the class itself. Let me throw out for you a 12th level seeker arc ready chronicler who is a primary melee sort with support. Level 12, average gold of 110k, no traits, and off the top of my head in 10 mins:

Aasimar (angelkin) Fighter [Weapon Master] 3/Bard 2/Pathfinder Chronicler 7

Base attributes: Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 16
With level ups: Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 16
Final with items: Str 22, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 16

Skills: 86 skill points with damn near everything in class and a +4 to all knowledge skills

Feats: Arcane Strike, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Discordant Voice, Flagbearer, Lingering Song, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (longspear)

Features: Bardic knowledge +4, bardic performance 19 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire competence +3, inspire courage +3, suggestion), cantrips, celestial resistance, darkvision, spell-like ability (1/day - alter self. CL 12th.), versatile performance, weapon guard, weapon training +1 (spears), well-versed, plus everything from chronicler

Possessions: +3 breastplate, +1 longspear, amulet of natural armor +2, banner of the ancient kings, belt of giant strength +4, cloak of resistance +3, gloves of dueling, cracked vibrant purple prism ioun stone, deep red sphere ioun stone, dusty rose prism ioun stone, jingasa of the fortunate soldier, ring of protection +2, wand of shield, about 3,000 gp left

Hp 91; AC 32 (with shield spell), touch 17; Init +7; SV Fort +10, Ref +14, Will +10

Melee +1 longspear +22/+17 (1d8+18/20 x3) with Arcane Strike, or
Melee +1 longspear +25/+20 (1d8+21 plus 1d6 sonic/20 x3) with Arcane Strike and inspire courage, or
Melee +1 longspear +22/+17 (1d8+30/20 x3) with Arcane Strike, inspire courage, and Power Attack

You can also use CE for another 3 AC when needed. So while his defense is not super great, he can put a hurting on something, gives all his buddies a +5 to hit and damage +1d6 sonic damage while performing, and has a ton of versatility. Remember this guy doesn't even have traits or boons yet, and I did zero research to improve past the very top of my head. You can pack a ton of scrolls with 2 PP a scenario. . .

[Eric Saxon]

I guess the better question is, since this is a prestige class. Is it better than a straight out bard at the same level. Is a Bard 5/Chronicler 7 better than a Bard 12.

I'm going through the same consideration. Do I go Cleric of Pharasma 8/Divine Scion 1 or just a Cleric of Pharasma 9. I only have to give up Channel increases for a whole bag of goodies. Seems like an easy choice right?

My problem is that at high levels of channeling, AKA lvl. 11, I can Breath of Life anyone with my Channel ability. Oh, 4 people went down, this round, what a shame, burn 8 channels and give everyone a Breath of Life.

So, what does the Chronicler give you and what are you giving up as a Bard for those levels.

[Yiroep]

I think if you go for a hybrid archer/support/knowledge spec using bard as a base class and aasimar to boost your inspire courage, I think you could be an absolute terror *in battle* with this class. You can multiply all the damage of everyone, as well as arcane strike (Use your SLA for this so your caster level is higher ;p ) and heroism and inspiring yourself so that you can hit things and do great damage. In fact, the only thing you're significantly missing from a pure bard is the spellcasting, and as an archer the only thing you're truly missing out on is haste. At high levels, you can easily just use a wand instead if you're missing it that much, and just not get those casters (since you can only get 5 targets) that don't really gain a ton of benefit from it.

Not to mention you would be one of the most amazing characters out of battle as well, and you could also nail those knowledge checks.

I have a level 11 archer bard (almost 100% core-only!) who has been wholly successful through his career, and this character would not be much different than that. He buffs the party with inspire courage and haste, then goes to town with his archery. It has been incredibly effective, and I don't think he would have lost much, if any, effectiveness (apart from the loss of 1 BAB at certain levels) if he had gone with this prestige class with the aasimar favored bonus for bard (He's human, so he couldn't have done that).

I honestly think people take this prestige class for granted. It definitely can be made to make it work for you, and opens tons of options for your character both in and out of combat. You just have to work with it to see what works. Don't just make a "talker," make a well-balanced character!

[Fromper]

Eric Saxon wrote:

I guess the better question is, since this is a prestige class. Is it better than a straight out bard at the same level. Is a Bard 5/Chronicler 7 better than a Bard 12.

I'm going through the same consideration. Do I go Cleric of Pharasma 8/Divine Scion 1 or just a Cleric of Pharasma 9. I only have to give up Channel increases for a whole bag of goodies. Seems like an easy choice right?

My problem is that at high levels of channeling, AKA lvl. 11, I can Breath of Life anyone with my Channel ability. Oh, 4 people went down, this round, what a shame, burn 8 channels and give everyone a Breath of Life.

So, what does the Chronicler give you and what are you giving up as a Bard for those levels.

How are you getting Breath of Life as a channel?

[Eric Saxon]

Fromper wrote:

How are you getting Breath of Life as a channel?

Ultimate Magic. A real sweet Channel Ability for people who can channel 6d6. Unfortunately, it requires a lvl. 11 Cleric or a Phylactery of Channels and then you can use a Headband of CHA/WIS.

[BigNorseWolf]

Flavor is something YOU add to the character.

If you want to be a pathfinder chronicler, be a pathfinder chronicler... but make your class a bard, wizard, sorcerer, or even a chronicle fanboy druid.

[Eric Saxon]

Eric Saxon wrote:

Fromper wrote:

How are you getting Breath of Life as a channel?

Ultimate Magic. A real sweet Channel Ability for people who can channel 6d6. Unfortunately, it requires a lvl. 11 Cleric or a Phylactery of Channels and then you can use a Headband of CHA/WIS.

I apologize for steering you wrong.

Its Ultimate Combat, Channel Revival, p. 92 and it uses 3 channels to do a Breath of Life.