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Quick notes on a playtest scenario. Party: 5 PCs, all lvl 4. Bloodrager, Skald, Swashbuckler, GI-Cleric, Valeros. 2 veteran players (Bloodrager and Cleric), 3 newbies.
Players enjoyed the playtest classes a lot. I enjoyed running for them. These three classes were a bunch of fun to play with and all have great flavor potential. Most of the points that came up as problems or potential problems have been flagged on these boards, but it's worth noticing that they *did* come up at a playtest table, and one mixed between veterans and newbies.
The biggest thing that stood out to me was the roughness with the Skald's ragesong. That might be because I've been worrying about that in the Skald's thread for the past few days, but my worries were definitely borne out at the table. It was just difficult enough to manage to be a pain, and didn't let my player really feel as useful as would have been good.
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Feedback/issues:
SWASHBUCKLER:
* Panache. Not an especially optimized Swashbuckler build (Dwarf wielding pick), but player felt pinched for panache. He didn't end up using any at all, not wanting to lose his constant boosts. At the end of the game, he was disappointed that Swashbuckler is so strongly geared toward a single sort of build. At the very least wished it would work a bit better with non-huge-threat-range weapons.
* Mobility. He enjoyed his high Acrobatics rolls, but was frustrated by standard new-player problems with action economy: moving, managing equipment, etc. (We try to give some help without running the new guys' characters for them.) When I mentioned that folks on the boards had been suggesting the class might need more mobility options he was surprised to learn that *any* such options existed in PF (I though combat just was this clunky!), and took it for granted that the SB should have them.
SKALD:
* How it plays with others. "I didn't feel especially useful," the new player said, looking at how the Cleric and the Bloodrager kept turning down her raging song. See Bloodrager for more.
* Range. Dealing with the 30-foot range was a tactical pain in the neck, as I'd feared. There were a couple times when combat got messily tangled that she found herself practically forced to move in such a way as to drop a fellow party member from the ragesong.
BLOODRAGER:
* How does it work with Skald? It was a disappointment at the table that the Skald and Bloodrager didn't really interact in any way. There was a desire for *something* so that the Bloodrager would want to take the Skald's ragesong.
* What's the Bloodrager's Caster Level? I ruled Lvl-3, but the question did come up.
* The player (a veteran) felt the Bloodrager was *super* powerful. He was running an Aberrant Bloodline, not especially optimized build, and goodness that extra reach killed (especially + enlarge person). Other bloodlines look quite powerful as well. He's worried about that.
* Player asked about how Bloodrager and the Skald would work with all the rage feats from Orcs of Golarion. He saw much potential for abuse.
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In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the problems with the Skald as-is make it so that if I wanted to play a Skald, I'd play a Bard instead and just flavor him a bit.
Ask yourself: What does the Skald class bring to the table that the Bard doesn't? A more difficult to manage and less generally useful (partial-)party buff. Rage powers, which are good fun but you can only pass out 1 per song and not everyone's going to be taking the song anyway. Spell Kenning, which is fun but not a huge loss. And you lose Versatile Performance for all that.
That's a shame! I like the Skald and want the class to work.
The fix here might be to move the Skald more in the direction of the Barbarian: boost the HD, give more barbarian-like weapon proficiencies, etc. And smooth out Raging Song.
Spell Kenning, which is fun but not a huge loss.
I think that Spell Kenning + Scribe Scroll is an enormously powerful ability, but it's one that can't be tested without allowing crafting feats. Being able to make scrolls of almost any spell in the game (up to 6th anyhow) seems very useful. Without Scribe Scroll, Spell Kenning is indeed fun but not a huge loss.
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Spell Kenning, which is fun but not a huge loss.I think that Spell Kenning + Scribe Scroll is an enormously powerful ability, but it's one that can't be tested without allowing crafting feats. Being able to make scrolls of almost any spell in the game (up to 6th anyhow) seems very useful. Without Scribe Scroll, Spell Kenning is indeed fun but not a huge loss.
Doesn't look like that would be possible anyway:
Can a skald write a scroll (or otherwise create items) of a spell gained via Spell Kenning?I'm inclined to say no, as spell kenning just allows the skald to cast the spell, it doesn't add it to his spells known. And you can't cast a spell unless it's a spell known. (Related question is "can a magus use knowledge pool to prepare a non-magus spell, then scribe it into his book?," and I think the answer to that is also "no.")
Spell Kenning, which is fun but not a huge loss.I think that Spell Kenning + Scribe Scroll is an enormously powerful ability, but it's one that can't be tested without allowing crafting feats. Being able to make scrolls of almost any spell in the game (up to 6th anyhow) seems very useful. Without Scribe Scroll, Spell Kenning is indeed fun but not a huge loss.Doesn't look like that would be possible anyway:
Can a skald write a scroll (or otherwise create items) of a spell gained via Spell Kenning?I'm inclined to say no, as spell kenning just allows the skald to cast the spell, it doesn't add it to his spells known. And you can't cast a spell unless it's a spell known. (Related question is "can a magus use knowledge pool to prepare a non-magus spell, then scribe it into his book?," and I think the answer to that is also "no.")
Oh darn. That would have been pretty cool. Then in that case, never mind that!
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Thanks for the playtest feedback! Specific comments about what you said:
• I've noted that we need to address how raging song affects other rage-based characters such as the barbarian and bloodrager, and rage-based feats like from Orcs of Golarion. Likewise with the range issue for this ability.
• We're going to address the weapon proficiencies.
• I'd like to make spell kenning easier and simpler to use.
Thanks again!