RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
My 7 STR sorceress got hit with a ray of enfeeblement not too long ago for 4 points. That was a little scary.
I've also encountered several instances of poisons (giant spiders, wasp swarms, etc) that damage physical stats.
And where in the world are you encountering fireballs and getting attacked for 2d8+9 at 1st level?
|
I saw a low strength Wizard taken down by a Shadow not too long ago. Surprise round, then lost initiative. He was dead before he could even act. It happens. I generally try not to dump stats. I especially don't like to do it just to get a 20 in a stat. But some builds almost require it (Monk, for one) since they need decent bonuses in multiple abilities.
|
|
Considering that it seems the writers of scenarios only recently started making things based on what players were actually doing (Season 4ish on) it makes sense that dump stats weren't really taken into account. Besides if things that deal ability damage are in a scenario they're generally there because the story has a reason for them being there, not because they want to kill characters.
~NPEH
|
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
|
My cleric has a wand of lesser restore for just this problem :) My rule for dumping is never below 8, and that's only for CHA. I have never dumped any other stat in PFS. Even my dwarf fighter has 8 CHA.
I dumped STR to 7 on my sorceress specifically to avoid the temptation to turn her into yet another martial/caster hybrid. (Kept DEX down to 12 to avoid similar temptations involving Weapon Finesse.)
So my dump stat was decided before I even knew how high my casting stat would be. ;)
Venture-Lieutenant, Florida—Melbourne
|
My 5 Strength Gnome Alchemist has lived in mortal fear of running into a shadow but he made it to 12th without that misfortune. Almost got taken out by a Violet Fungi though.
My 10 Strength Ninja got taken down to a 0 Strength by a simple poison that did only 1-2 points of Strength damage each round. He just couldn't make the save (I think he needed to roll a 12 or higher on the die).
I forget, is it only STR damage that a Shadow deals? I have a 6 CHA Alchemist. Lowest stat I've ever had, hasn't been an issue yet.
|
My cleric has a wand of lesser restore for just this problem :) My rule for dumping is never below 8, and that's only for CHA. I have never dumped any other stat in PFS. Even my dwarf fighter has 8 CHA.
You mean the wand of a spell that takes 3 rounds to activate? You might be KO'ed/dead before the charge goes off. Better off with potions. ;)
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
|
My cleric has a wand of lesser restore for just this problem :) My rule for dumping is never below 8, and that's only for CHA. I have never dumped any other stat in PFS. Even my dwarf fighter has 8 CHA.
Pssh, I always try to dump my CHA to 7, sometimes even 5. That way I can live on the edge... of all social encounters :(
|
My cleric has a wand of lesser restore for just this problem :) My rule for dumping is never below 8, and that's only for CHA. I have never dumped any other stat in PFS. Even my dwarf fighter has 8 CHA.You mean the wand of a spell that takes 3 rounds to activate? You might be KO'ed/dead before the charge goes off. Better off with potions. ;)
It's for after the battle, not during.
|
|
After seeing many builds (including mine :) that utilizes dump stats, I was wondering why I didn't see that many ability damage or draining creatures in Society Play.
Granted ability damage is craptastic to counter at low level (you can't)
But even the Shadow (1d6 str damage) is only a CR3. Considering how many times I ran into hasted invisible flying poison imps at level 1...I'm surprised the shadows didn't put in an appearance.
I think Shadows are the only thing that kills with strength damage - usually you go to zero and are paralyzed or unconscious. My 7 strength Witch came face to face with a Greater Shadow and survived.
I also recall an area-effect empowered touch of idiocy for another character that was bad news for the party - of course that spell doesn't go lower than 1, but that aspect of the spell was forgotten in that game and we had a lot fewer people fighting than we should have.
|
|
In general, only Con damage kills.
Shadows and their ilk specifically have a clause in their write-up that says that their Strength damage kills.
I know there is an old AP that has a Charisma disease, slow-acting, that can kill.
For the most part, stat damage just disables the PC hen their effective stat reaches 0, only Dex leaves the target awake, IIRC.
On that wand of Lesser Restoration, also remember that PFS rules specifically make it a 2nd level wand, not a 1st level wand.
And, yes, I know of at least one first level module with a Shadow in it.
I know there is a Season 0 scenario where one of the enemies does either Wisdom drain or damage, depending on whether you use the 3.5 or PF version of the monster.
I also know of several poisons in low-level stuff that does Str, Dex and/or Con damage.
Then again, most of the creatures with ability attacks are also incorporeal, so the attack is a touch attack. Ugly.
|
|
Makes me wish the energy/ability drain rules could be rewritten. They are extremely out of balance. It's a form of damage that pretty much bypasses everything else, has no or few options for save,resist or recovery and are usually fatal. Kinda like the saving throw vs. death from the old days.
Reminds me of Channel Resistance. Let's give clerics a way to hurt undead then gimp the crap out of it so it's useless against any real threat.
In one of the PFS modules our merry band of third levels meet a shadow. We had no cleric, none of us had magic weapons, or holy water. We were lucky in that it didn't pursue us outside the tomb, and we were able to go back to town to spend all of our cash equipping ourselves with holy water and scrolls of magic weapon. If it had chased us, some of us probably would have died.
It isn't all the time, but there are a few modules at fairly low levels that are notorious for status effects and save or die effects. The lousy saves of my ninja are starting to take their toll.
