Are they overpowered? What are the easiest/best ways to get multiple arms in published materials?
Four arms on a synthesist summoner isn't terribly optimal. Too few for multiweapon fighting to make up the difference, and thus the arms aren't worth the expense.
You can also take Vestigial Arm twice on an alchemist, which can be useful for natural attack builds.
I think the synthesist is the best way and yes they are overpowered.
The Vestigal arms have a problem because it says in the discription that they dont give extra attacks so your gm may read that in a different way than you.
@Cap. Darling- you can plonk the Claws you get from Feral Mutagen onto the vestigial arms, I believe.
STR-Magus using Monsrous Physique to become a Four Armed Sahuagin and later a Four Armed Gargoyle is quite awesome.
Or use the rules for Monsters as characters to make some Multiweapon Fighting character.
If there were a four-armed race in a campaign, do you think it overwhelms all other choices for certain character types? Would a four-armed ninja be the obvious choice for a damage-dealing ninja?
If there were a four-armed race in a campaign, do you think it overwhelms all other choices for certain character types? Would a four-armed ninja be the obvious choice for a damage-dealing ninja?
Unless he gets some really crappy stats to compensate two extra off-hands, he can easily get out of hand(pun intended). 3.5 had the Thri-Keen and they could deal tons of damage even with minor optimisation.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Thri-Kreen_Sneak_Attacker_(3.5e_Optimized_Char acter_Build)
http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3148311
Now shure he will only do lots of damage on a full attack and otherwise still suffer from the same problems all melee characters do(Reliant on full attacks, lack of utility etc.). Therefore he would be the No1 choice for all melees and be able to down bosses fast,but still be no caster.
Four arms on a synthesist summoner isn't terribly optimal. Too few for multiweapon fighting to make up the difference, and thus the arms aren't worth the expense.
You can also take Vestigial Arm twice on an alchemist, which can be useful for natural attack builds.
Why wouldn't a four armed synthesist take Multiweapon Fighting? The pre-reqs are 3 or more hands, and you have four.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, three or more hands.
Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by –2 with the primary hand and by –6 with off hands.
Normal: A creature without this feat takes a –6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a –10 penalty on attacks made with all of its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.) See Two-Weapon Fighting.
Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms.
The Kasatha race in the ARG is four armed. It is a 20 pt race, making it better than standard but not much more than several other featured races.
|
If there were a four-armed race in a campaign, do you think it overwhelms all other choices for certain character types? Would a four-armed ninja be the obvious choice for a damage-dealing ninja?
Honestly it depends entirely on how their four-armedness is represented mechanically. Been messing around with that for a homebrew race for a long time, trying to find something that supports the flavor of multiple sets of arms without being overpowered. It's why I wish the ARG had more options for that flavor than just adding the extra set of arms.
Dark Roads and Golden Hells does this with one of its races's variant abilities, IIRC. It comes as a bonus of some sort rather than piling on extra attacks.
I have a four-armed Tengu alchemist ninja that dual wields Nodachi in my campaign. Our interpretation, which I doubt many would share, is that she gets 1.5 STR and .75 STR on off-hand attacks, (1.5 with double slice). I believe in actuality she'd probably get full STR and half STR regardless of how many arms the weapons are actually wielded with, although she'd probably avoid improper weapon size penalties and get some superior base weapon damage for the trouble.
Rather poor attack bonus when dual wielding, low hp and poor unbuffed AC, but hits like a truck, especially with sneak attacks. So far she hasn't been particularly overpowered. Most of the party members have been quite competitive so far at level 4.
Having free hands for reloading crossbows or firearms is something else you could do with extra arms.
I believe regardless of how many arms you have you cannot actually get more weapon attacks than a normal dual wielder, as you only have a single main-hand and single off-hand attack slot, regardless of arms. Natural attacks don't care about that, though.
Therefore he would be the No1 choice for all melees and be able to down bosses fast,but still be no caster.
Ranged attacks would also be fairly awesome. A pair of bows, crossbows, rifles (or four pistols) make it easy to get their full attacks.
Strictly speaking, 4 arms are better than two. At first level, you will be getting 4 attacks with multi-weapon fighting. There is not, as far as I can find, Improved and Greater versions to the feat, so you won't get a second and third set of offhand attacks. You can also pick up Improved Two-weapon fighting and Greater Two-weapon fighting, but these feats, but they, as written, only grant a single extra attack each. Meaning, you will only get two more attacks than a two-weapon user.
With all multiple attack strategies, adding extra damage dice per strike, such as flaming and sneak attack, drastically increases the damage potential.
But is it over powered? If you are sticking to four-armed races, then its not real bad. Generally, you give up something for the extra set of arms. And elf and a human are pretty much on the same level. Provided you four-arm race is built with the same number of points, it should be fairly close to the same power level.
Four arms from classes and archetypes? I don't know enough to comment.
Ok, so I'm looking at creating a proud warrior race, because who doesn't love this? I'm considering three options:
a) They have four arms and qualify for Multidexterity
b) They have a feature that allows them to hold amore items, but can still only wield with two hands for each action
c) Like b), except with a feat that allows you to a)
I kind of like c) from a balance standpoint, but it feels clunky to me, and I'm not sure it's strictly necessary. Wouldn't most min-maxed builds just benefit from the extra racial features, then spend the feat for true four-armed combat, and be right back where we started?
Does it make a difference if the race has +2 Dex and is in a campaign with advanced firearms?
It seems like deadly aim is somewhat self-limiting; the penalty to-hit probably is not that significant, but beyond 30 ft. I think accuracy would play a part in limiting that tactic. I'm wondering more about things like sneak attack damage, Weapon Specialization, melee monsters etc.
I'm leaning that way. Honestly, the ability to use four arms simultaneously, all with full effectiveness, is a rather remarkable ability. On the other hand, I have some apprehension about Pathfinder players going, "Hey, four arms don't work that way!" if I create a lesser four-arms mechanic. I know I personally get kind of offended when I see a player race published with what is obviously an attempt to nerf a feature usually associated with a monster. However in this case I think it makes sense. Having four arms doesn't necessarily the imply to make four simultaneous attacks.
... On the other hand, I'm a Talislanta player from a while back, and I really dig the Ahazu. It's tempting to just say, "Ah, heck. You have four arms. Go to town."
So, now that we have an official 4 armed PC races (Kasatha) in Bestiary 4, anyone have new opinions to share?
I have a player who wants four arms because his character saw some Shobad on Akiton who are green like him.
I'm thinking I'll had them out as a feat but they won't give extra attacks.
As for bonuses:
Likely a bonus to grapple or acting in one.
Climbing will be easier now.
Looks like a freak.
Can hold more things.
I'm not sure what else it'd do which makes me worry.
If you want a brute, Alchemist4, with a barbarian titan mauler get ugly quick once you start adding up bonuses. you can dual wheeled oversize great swords + rage, enlarge,and mutagen make them a force.