Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.
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Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
My hearing isn't great, but it's the tinnitus that really sucks. One of several things EOD left me to remember it by.
EDUT: I also raided Condoleezza Rice's mini bar once. But that's off topic...
Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
Nah, Improved Evasion lets you avoid that, too. He just didn't know he had the ability.
50 ft is actually pretty good stand off for small amounts of explosive. The blast drops off as a square power function, so the blast at 50' is 1/25 as strong as at 10'. And shrapnel, not blast, is what kills at extended range, and that's random in the dispersal pattern, if not realistically something you can dodge or evade.
From what I can remember of collateral damage estimate blast and shrapnel kill disstances for 2000 lb bombs (the large majority of which is steel), I expect 10 lbs not wrapped in anything is pretty survivable at 50', especially Ina bomb suit.
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50 ft is actually pretty good stand off for small amounts of explosive. The blast drops off as a square power function, so the blast at 50' is 1/25 as strong as at 10'. And shrapnel, not blast, is what kills at extended range, and that's random in the dispersal pattern, if not realistically something you can dodge or evade.
While true, you still definitely get hit decently. 10 lbs of C4 is pretty beefy for a close detonation, I don't recommend it. And you can totally dodge frag, you just have to have a really good stand off, like a mile or two or so...you can hear a bomb lug or backplate coming if it's headed toward you, and they can travel WAY farther than the standard fragmentation from the explosion.
Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.My hearing isn't great, but it's the tinnitus that really sucks. One of several things EOD left me to remember it by.
EDUT: I also raided Condoleezza Rice's mini bar once. But that's off topic...
Ripping this straight from a Reddit post about a month ago. Maybe it'll help you...
Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.
Nah, Improved Evasion lets you avoid that, too. He just didn't know he had the ability.Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
You keep saying IMPROVED Evasion. What am I missing? I thought that was just 1/2 damage on a failed save, no effect on other non-damage-related conditions.
Some people experience immediate relief with this method.
*attempts*
And apparently I'm not one of those people.....|
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Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.My hearing isn't great, but it's the tinnitus that really sucks. One of several things EOD left me to remember it by.
EDUT: I also raided Condoleezza Rice's mini bar once. But that's off topic...
Ripping this straight from a Reddit post about a month ago. Maybe it'll help you...
Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.
Thanks. Usually I can tune it out so long as there is a decent amount of white noise. When it's really quiet it becomes almost unbearable. I'll try it next time that happens.
You keep saying IMPROVED Evasion. What am I missing? I thought that was just 1/2 damage on a failed save, no effect on other non-damage-related conditions.Nah, Improved Evasion lets you avoid that, too. He just didn't know he had the ability.Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
Just trying to be as evasive as possible. Why settle for half-evasive and risk full-damage on a bad roll?
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Just trying to be as evasive as possible. Why settle for half-evasive and risk full-damage on a bad roll?You keep saying IMPROVED Evasion. What am I missing? I thought that was just 1/2 damage on a failed save, no effect on other non-damage-related conditions.Nah, Improved Evasion lets you avoid that, too. He just didn't know he had the ability.Ten whole POUNDS of it? I'm guessing you're missing some degree of hearing now, at the very least.Wow dude, way to strawman argument. Evasion = 100% non-magical. Evasion can let you dodge the entirety of a blast of 10 lbs of C4 going off fifty feet away from you.To be fair, I've actually done that without the benefit of evasion.
Can we have reverse evasion? Y'know, where you're fine if you fail your save but you dive straight into the damage if you make it?
What bugs me about Swarms is that the rules to me basically exist to make mundane vermin dangerous. So the rules work really well when you are dealign with swarms of bats, rats and bugs.
But it goes OFF THE RAILS when you throw in magical beasts into the mix. Many beasts are dangerous by themselves, especially with flavorful special abilities, no need to give them the super rule bonus that is swarm. Like the horde of flesheating scarabs from Mummy, you can easily turn the swarm into hazard that players might not instantly recognize that it works more like a wave of molten lava rather than an encounter, you can only run away from it.
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Like the horde of flesheating scarabs from Mummy, you can easily turn the swarm into hazard that players might not instantly recognize that it works more like a wave of molten lava rather than an encounter, you can only run away from it.
I thought that's what knowledge checks were for.
Besides - as I said above - swarms are easy to deal with if you use a good ole' butterfly net to catch them up and a tub of water to drown the buggers in.
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The d20. I feel like it adds too much randomness, a +2 bonus can feel insignificant and a large +4 bonus only tips the scale 1/5 times. I would like to playtest 2d10 and see what happens.
The 1 hp to -1 hp transition from full effectiveness to unconscious. It pushes the suspension of disbelief, but changing it would mean everyone would need to max out initiative instead of just control builds.
Trying to heal a wound soak tank after a fight... My melee druid and his melee animal companion go through a cure light wand every few PFS scenarios (I recently picked up an infernal wand after a long deliberation between character ethics and player pragmatism.) I have yet to try a wound soak barbarian.
The armor illustrations in the Core Rulebook.
Why show just the torso? That may have been the root cause to every 'why does a breastplate give 6 AC' conversation. Why not take the extra page and show the armor in its fullness, boots to gauntlets?
An aside, the armor representations on all the NPCs is awesome. The breastplate that Valeros wears gives a balanced feel of weight and mobility.
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Mental effects and how they are totally ignored by so many creatures. Immunity to mind effects is to Pathfinder as sneak attack/precision damage was to 3.5. Remember the days when Rogues were never played, because they could not contribute and were totally, arbitrarily shut down in so many confrontations?
Now that is the fate of the Mesmerist, Enchanter, and some others. Undead, Vermin, Plants, Constructs, Swarms, Oozes, Partridges in Pear Trees... you name it, they ignore it. Even creatures with obvious self awareness, thoughts, and minds such as vampires and intelligent plants just outright ignore things that should clearly affect them.
I recently ran "Crypt of the Everflame" for some new players. One was a Thassilonian Enchanter and another a Mesmerist. They were utterly useless and the table of six was really effectively a table of four. I had to take them aside and apologize to them afterwards.
Another related issue is the inability to feint many of these creatures. Which of course makes no sense.
A feint is a physical attack meant to make the target react as it would to a real attack, when in fact you mean to attack elsewhere. There is really nothing mental about it. However, due to the mechanic involving Bluff, mindless creatures are immune.
This is ridiculous, of course. These creatures DO react to physical threats, as they still get their dexterity bonus to AC and still have penalties when they cannot react to threats (i.e.: are flatfooted).
Yet, they instantly know when an attack is not an attack. They are not mindless; they are infallibly hyperaware! Mindless should mean "easy to trick" not "impossible to trick".
Mindlessness and mental immunities seriously need to be looked at again for rebalancing.
Another related issue is the inability to feint many of these creatures. Which of course makes no sense.
A feint is a physical attack meant to make the target react as it would to a real attack, when in fact you mean to attack elsewhere. There is really nothing mental about it. However, due to the mechanic involving Bluff, mindless creatures are immune.
This is ridiculous, of course. These creatures DO react to physical threats, as they still get their dexterity bonus to AC and still have penalties when they cannot react to threats (i.e.: are flatfooted).
Yet, they instantly know when an attack is not an attack. They are not mindless; they are infallibly hyperaware! Mindless should mean "easy to trick" not "impossible to trick".
Mindlessness and mental immunities seriously need to be looked at again for rebalancing.
That's not even the most hilarious part about feint: it doesn't work anyways! It's a standard action to do it, so what do you have after that? Oh right, nothing that lets you attack normally. You absolutely NEED the Improved Feint feat in order to pull this off, since it lowers the action to just a move action.
Revised Action Economy at least dealt with this by making feinting an attack action that costs just one act. It still means a rogue is going to be taking a -5 penalty, at best, on their attack roll against the feinted target, but I supposed beggars can't be choosers.
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Mental effects and how they are totally ignored by so many creatures. Immunity to mind effects is to Pathfinder as sneak attack/precision damage was to 3.5. Remember the days when Rogues were never played, because they could not contribute and were totally, arbitrarily shut down in so many confrontations?
Now that is the fate of the Mesmerist, Enchanter, and some others. Undead, Vermin, Plants, Constructs, Swarms, Oozes, Partridges in Pear Trees... you name it, they ignore it. Even creatures with obvious self awareness, thoughts, and minds such as vampires and intelligent plants just outright ignore things that should clearly affect them.
I recently ran "Crypt of the Everflame" for some new players. One was a Thassilonian Enchanter and another a Mesmerist. They were utterly useless and the table of six was really effectively a table of four. I had to take them aside and apologize to them afterwards.
Another related issue is the inability to feint many of these creatures. Which of course makes no sense.
A feint is a physical attack meant to make the target react as it would to a real attack, when in fact you mean to attack elsewhere. There is really nothing mental about it. However, due to the mechanic involving Bluff, mindless creatures are immune.
This is ridiculous, of course. These creatures DO react to physical threats, as they still get their dexterity bonus to AC and still have penalties when they cannot react to threats (i.e.: are flatfooted).
Yet, they instantly know when an attack is not an attack. They are not mindless; they are infallibly hyperaware! Mindless should mean "easy to trick" not "impossible to trick".
Mindlessness and mental immunities seriously need to be looked at again for rebalancing.
One of my first house rules was that intelligent undead were not immune to mind affecting.... er, effects. That always rubbed me the wrong way.
Back to the swarm thing, my group always ruled bludgeoning weapons overcame the damage immunity by covering enough surface area to make a dent.
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I am sure it has been said (a lot) but full attack.
There is a lot I love about Pathfinder - but I can pretty much guarantee my group has permanently moved to 5E, and a huge part of that is how much smoother combat is with the Move-Action-Bonus Action setup. Instead of standing still and doing nine attacks or move and do one, you have 2-4 attacks period. Way more meaningful and fun than I stand still for the whole combat and hope I do enough damage before an SoS spell takes me out.
As mentioned above full attacks and movement.
Vancian Spellcasting. If they ever make a pathfinder 2.0 and this doesn't make in I'll be very, very happy. Unless of course they add in something even more unbalanced.
The feat system as a whole. Feats are supposed to add new elements to your character, not make it competent at what it was supposed to be good at without feats.
CMD. Seriously this little stat rises to such ridiculous degrees with high CR monsters that your only hope of actually landing a combat maneuver on one of them is to debuff the bloody thing to the ground prior to attempting anything.
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that would be a hell of a way to gimp their build though, they would need to decide if they want to be able to free 5 foot step, or do just about any DPS or spell modification, it's not like casters are swimming in extra feats... while this would then be kind of a powerful option, it would still be something they would need to pick over something almost essential at low levels, and at high levels you aren't going to find a "one nerf fixes all" kind of solution.
Very True, I am not hoping that this will bring the casters down, just make them feel a bit more tactical when casting a spell.
Making them feel like they have to chose one or the other instead of both.
Edit and by one or the other, I mean move and cast a spell while taking a AoO or just casting a spell and casting defensively.
Magic Item purchasing. Buying powerful items with almost certainty in large cities and metropolises destroys all balance in the game. Soemthings just can't be left in players hands - and I speak as a DM and player.
Buying powerful items with almost certainty in large cities and metropolises destroys all balance in the game.
You actually can't do that based on the settlement rules. 75% chance of finding the item you want stops at "16,000 gp" in the Biggest of cities.
Yes. 16,000 gp value allows for the purchase of powerful magic item. +4 to stats or +3 to saving throws; 9th level spell scrolls; 3rd level wands etc are powerful. That is enough to have an almighty impact on game balance.
Yes. 16,000 gp value allows for the purchase of powerful magic item. +4 to stats or +3 to saving throws; 9th level spell scrolls; 3rd level wands etc are powerful. That is enough to have an almighty impact on game balance.
That's only lesser medium magic items, not that powerful to be honest.
It's all about context. In a 1st to 9th level campaign it is very powerful. particularly when playing with people who seem to think if it's been published by Paizo it should be fair game.
It's all about context. In a 1st to 9th level campaign it is very powerful. particularly when playing with people who seem to think if it's been published by Paizo it should be fair game.
Fair enough, I guess I just play at a wider range of levels.
If the GM doesn't want their players buying 16k magic items in a low-level game, the GM shouldn't give them 16k in gold to spend. Plenty of other ways to keep them at WBL, especially if you add in something like Unchained's automatic bonus progression.
Most players assume to get some items. For certain classes it's necessary to compete. They don't put themselves in danger simply free of charge. I'm not saying make it free for all for players. We also don't want to endlessly carry gp around without being able to spend it.
Exactly this. Having money you aren't allowed to spend isn't any better than not having money at all.
They are allowed to spend it. I just don't think they should be able to select from a list of 500+ items freely. Personally I use a random generator to chose items appropriate to the city size (rerolling pointless ones) with story elements to rationalise their availability in the campaign. I then allow common items like potions of healing to purchased as normal. I don't think there should be an unlimited number of 4+ stat boost items available with a 75% chance of success or the commodification of magic items. If to kill the dragon threatening their village character can travel for two days and buy a keen +1 dragon bane longsword with a 75% chance then that strips some of the mystery from the game. I game to adventure not to go shopping. I still enable the party to get items they want in game.
If the characters have 16,000 gp to throw around, WBL would suggest that they're already 8th or 9th-level. A specific sword like the one you mention could very easily be hard to pick up on the fly, but if you're restricting +4 stat items at 9th-level, I think you may still be in "low-level mentality".
They are given out as party loot. Not bought along with the iron rations like pic n mix. It depends how you want to play the game.
Being able to "shop" for items you want or need (ie prepare for an encounter your spent time researching) is not a bad thing.
As a player, if I had to hope and pray you were going to give me the items I wanted or needed... I'd cut out the middle man and play a video game honestly.
It just promotes frustration when half the party wants the same item and there is only one to be had. It isn't any fun and does nothing for the game besides promote crafting feats on the casters, which then removes choices for doing "other things" which is bad as well.
dudes I wasn't looking for an argument I was just explaining that I didn't like free item shopping and why. Chill - I'm not your DM! Lol
I agree InVino - plus they don't provoke and arguable can be used when grappling without penalty. Grrr.
I dislike classes.
A lot of the "balance" issues would be solved if you were just given a number of points with which to make a character using abilities from any class.
You wouldn't even have to dump most of the CR system or revamp the game. Just put maximum amounts of points that can be spent on any single ability per level. Mutants and Masterminds is a great example of how to have a classless system while holding on to the D20 system at its core. You can follow an archetypal path as part of a given potential EXAMPLE, or you can spend some points and make something different.
Character generation takes longer, but you can always leave class packages (again as examples only) to speed things up, or as a starting point to modify.
Isn't that what Mutants and Masterminds is?
Personally I like the class system.
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Being able to "shop" for items you want or need (ie prepare for an encounter your spent time researching) is not a bad thing.
As a player, if I had to hope and pray you were going to give me the items I wanted or needed... I'd cut out the middle man and play a video game honestly.
It just promotes frustration when half the party wants the same item and there is only one to be had. It isn't any fun and does nothing for the game besides promote crafting feats on the casters, which then removes choices for doing "other things" which is bad as well.
See, that's only true if a very specific subset of items must be generally available in order to meet the challenges the party will face.
A good GM makes sure that doesn't happen. Admittedly, the game for itself would recommend challenges assuming the party owns specific gear. But this isn't a video game. It's managed by someone who has to see and know and understand the party's capabilities at all times. The GM can adjust the challenges to fit the party.
I dislike classes.
A lot of the "balance" issues would be solved if you were just given a number of points with which to make a character using abilities from any class.
You wouldn't even have to dump most of the CR system or revamp the game. Just put maximum amounts of points that can be spent on any single ability per level. Mutants and Masterminds is a great example of how to have a classless system while holding on to the D20 system at its core. You can follow an archetypal path as part of a given potential EXAMPLE, or you can spend some points and make something different.
Character generation takes longer, but you can always leave class packages (again as examples only) to speed things up, or as a starting point to modify.
What would be the point of calling that game pathfinder?
I have another rule that I kinda hate:
The fact that 1st-level abilities for domains, bloodlines, magic schools and whatnot are limited per day... when their respective abilities aren't game-breaking to warrant not having unlimited uses.
For instance:
From the Sage bloodline:
Arcane Bolt (Sp): Starting at 1st level, you can unleash a ray of magic force as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This ray deals 1d4 points of damage + 1 for every two sorcerer levels you possess. This damage is treated as a spell of a level equal to half your sorcerer level, and is a force effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This bloodline power replaces arcane bond.
You mean to tell me that getting a ray that deals 1d4+10 points of damage at 20th level has to be restricted to minimum 3 times per day... when your Kineticist at the same level to shoot a Kinetic Blast that deals 10d6 points of damage at will?
Yeah, for those abilities, the damage, the effect and/or the duration don't really weigh in to justify a limited use. Just have them being unlimited at 10th level and you wouldn't see much of a difference, since your actual spells have more potential than these abilities.
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I dislike classes.
A lot of the "balance" issues would be solved if you were just given a number of points with which to make a character using abilities from any class.
You wouldn't even have to dump most of the CR system or revamp the game. Just put maximum amounts of points that can be spent on any single ability per level. Mutants and Masterminds is a great example of how to have a classless system while holding on to the D20 system at its core. You can follow an archetypal path as part of a given potential EXAMPLE, or you can spend some points and make something different.
Character generation takes longer, but you can always leave class packages (again as examples only) to speed things up, or as a starting point to modify.
Yeah... no.
I've yet to see a point-buy system with any amount of crunch without crappy balance.
I like the point-buy feel because you feel like you get much more customization.
In practice there are way fewer effective combinations.
In class-based systems you can force people to take weaknesses for the really cool abilities. In point-buy, everyone will just take the 3-4 best ability combos.
With class/levels you have a baseline to balance the different characters. (not saying Pathfinder is perfect there - it isn't - but at least they have said baseline) In point-buy you don't.