
Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider |

JoeJ wrote:You filthy power-gaming munchkin. Begone from this place before you besmirch it even more with your wicked ways! How dare you question the old ways?!So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.

chaoseffect |

chaoseffect wrote:so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.JoeJ wrote:You filthy power-gaming munchkin. Begone from this place before you besmirch it even more with your wicked ways! How dare you question the old ways?!So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Next thing you'll be wanting that "weaboo fighting magicz."

graystone |

graystone wrote:The dex to damage options are VERY craptacular. Your classic fencing weapons are out but bastard swords are in... Not exactly viable imo for a LOT of concepts.Have you read their Precise Strike ability? What other class gets their level to damage?
Ok, sorry for derailing, this isn't relevant to the thread. Carry on.
How THAT has anything to do with dex to damage being comparable to strength WITH actual fencing weapons, I don't know...

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider |

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider wrote:Next thing you'll be wanting that "weaboo fighting magicz."chaoseffect wrote:so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.JoeJ wrote:You filthy power-gaming munchkin. Begone from this place before you besmirch it even more with your wicked ways! How dare you question the old ways?!So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
a series of high cinematic martial arts techniques is not to be called "Weeaboo Fighting Magics". there is nothing magical about the book of 9 swords, it is merely a book of martial disciplines i think every martial class should get unlimited use unrestricted access to for free, and even then, couldn't keep up with spellcasters.

thegreenteagamer |

a series of high cinematic martial arts techniques is not to be called "Weeaboo Fighting Magics". there is nothing magical about the book of 9 swords, it is merely a book of martial disciplines i think every martial class should get unlimited use unrestricted access to for free, and even then, couldn't keep up with spellcasters.
You don't think a series of DBZ-esque actions is magical?

Rynjin |

chaoseffect wrote:so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.JoeJ wrote:You filthy power-gaming munchkin. Begone from this place before you besmirch it even more with your wicked ways! How dare you question the old ways?!So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Hmm, I dunno, I think I could wrangle up all of those concepts with a bit of work.
With the ACG in play, Altair and Sherlock are pretty easy (a Slayer and an Investigator with minimal Extract use respectively), Indiana Jones is well represented by an Archaeologist Bard, or something like a Slayer with some whip Feats and more focus on social skills, and Aladdin is a Commoner with lots of Acrobatics ranks.

graystone |

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider wrote:a series of high cinematic martial arts techniques is not to be called "Weeaboo Fighting Magics". there is nothing magical about the book of 9 swords, it is merely a book of martial disciplines i think every martial class should get unlimited use unrestricted access to for free, and even then, couldn't keep up with spellcasters.You don't think a series of DBZ-esque actions is magical?
You show the action that can blow a planet, and I'll agree that those are DBZ-esque...

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider |

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider wrote:a series of high cinematic martial arts techniques is not to be called "Weeaboo Fighting Magics". there is nothing magical about the book of 9 swords, it is merely a book of martial disciplines i think every martial class should get unlimited use unrestricted access to for free, and even then, couldn't keep up with spellcasters.You don't think a series of DBZ-esque actions is magical?
the book of 9 swords has nothing that truly resembles that or that can't be given a more martial flavoring if desired. the most magical discipline is probably shadow hand, which has very few overtly magical abilities. but most of it is more batman type stuff than anything Goku would use.
desert wind has a few controlled friction based manuevers, but most of the stuff you could find in a high cinematic action movie, superhero comic book, or ancient myth.
all it takes to sunder a mountain is enough strength to deal enough damage to break it, the use of the strength itself isn't magical, but the strength could either come from a magical source, or from from pure training.
there is nothing resembling a turtle destruction wave or spirit bomb in the entire book, the closest thing is shadow garrote, which is one of like 5 blatantly magical abilities in the shadow hand discipline and one of less than 20 blatantly magical abilities out of like 250 manuevers.

Chengar Qordath |

graystone wrote:The dex to damage options are VERY craptacular. Your classic fencing weapons are out but bastard swords are in... Not exactly viable imo for a LOT of concepts.Have you read their Precise Strike ability? What other class gets their level to damage?
Ok, sorry for derailing, this isn't relevant to the thread. Carry on.
Paladins and Cavaliers, for starters.

Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider |

shadow garrote, the most blatantly magical skill in the entire book of 9 swords, is exclusive to the swordsage, which is essentially a ninja monk hybrid
in fact, with the 3 disciplines that possess supernatural talents, 2 of them are exclusive to the swordsage and 1 of them is shared by the swordsage and the crusader, the crusader essentially being a paladin and the swordsage being the only base class with access to all 9 disciplines off the bat. the crusader gets like 4 disciplines and the warblade like 5. all 3 can use iron heart surge, which can cure any hindering conition, including a vampires chance of sunlight induced death.

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In BECMI I could play a fighter ace with a magic airplane. In 2e I could play a character who has his own spaceship. And in 5e I can play an agility-based fighter that's every bit a match for a strength-based fighter of the same level. How do I do any of these in PF?
Talk with your DM. Seriously. He'll probably give you an intelligent magical dagger slayer of demon doom.
This dex based discussion, is pretty funny on paper but we all know, in practice DM enjoys accommodating people even playing the weakest mechanical concepts because of the rule of "cool". I have seen it happen plenty of times.

Blindmage |

Blindmage wrote:Also, the classical "magic drains your life energy" style Mage. We've tried a house rule with non lethal damage with multipliers based on spell level, or some kinda point system...but nothing fits.Vampiric Touch?
No, I mean the act if casting is damaging for the caster, this more ow earful the effect the harder they are hit by it. Need to teleport the party out of here ASAP? Sure, but you'll take a bunch of non lethal and might pass out from the strain if you try doing any other powerful magic.

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thegreenteagamer wrote:No, I mean the act if casting is damaging for the caster, this more ow earful the effect the harder they are hit by it. Need to teleport the party out of here ASAP? Sure, but you'll take a bunch of non lethal and might pass out from the strain if you try doing any other powerful magic.Blindmage wrote:Also, the classical "magic drains your life energy" style Mage. We've tried a house rule with non lethal damage with multipliers based on spell level, or some kinda point system...but nothing fits.Vampiric Touch?
That's mostly a setting thing...you should check out dragonlance campaign setting, that's basically how magic works in that setting.

thegreenteagamer |

thegreenteagamer wrote:No, I mean the act if casting is damaging for the caster, this more ow earful the effect the harder they are hit by it. Need to teleport the party out of here ASAP? Sure, but you'll take a bunch of non lethal and might pass out from the strain if you try doing any other powerful magic.Blindmage wrote:Also, the classical "magic drains your life energy" style Mage. We've tried a house rule with non lethal damage with multipliers based on spell level, or some kinda point system...but nothing fits.Vampiric Touch?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/bloatmage
Bloodsurge, in particular, seems to cover that niche.

boring7 |
JoeJ wrote:In BECMI I could play a fighter ace with a magic airplane. In 2e I could play a character who has his own spaceship. And in 5e I can play an agility-based fighter that's every bit a match for a strength-based fighter of the same level. How do I do any of these in PF?
Talk with your DM. Seriously. He'll probably give you an intelligent magical dagger slayer of demon doom.
This dex based discussion, is pretty funny on paper but we all know, in practice DM enjoys accommodating people even playing the weakest mechanical concepts because of the rule of "cool". I have seen it happen plenty of times.
I skipped a few pages but the thread started with "can you do it" with an implied "and maybe not be optimal but be functional" and an explicit "no house rules."
Y'all are both outside that scope.
As for making an agility fighter who's just as good as Chunk the Masher within the rules? Go out of your way to face a lot of gunslingers; suddenly having that higher touch AC turns out to have been a good idea.
Note this same principle applies to monks, who "totally suck" compared to a regular martial class in order to pay for their totally sweet animu abilities.

BretI |

the magical assassin i mentioned, as well as the elemental leeching vampiric-lite martially inclined warrior, are both concepts that can be made, but are complete trash at the levels they can be made, because they are lesser than the few concepts the game does support at that level. specifically high level full progression spell casters.
telling me that you can build a decent spellcasting assassin at epic levels or telling me you can build a highly competent non-magical rogue, but it will suck after level 3, means you can't really build those concepts, because if you tried to at the levels you could build them at, they would still be outright useless.
i wanted to build a competent assassin who can fill the assassin niche competently while using spells to support that, not an incompetent 20th level character that is outright inferior to a 7th level wizard in everything except hit points, saving throws and bab.
There is a simple solution.
Play a different system.
It would be easy to create said character in Hero system. It would be a little more work to do it in GURPS and I don't recall if they define any elemental leeching ability like you describe.
Neither of those games have classes or levels. Makes it a lot easier to mix and match abilities. Group balance is then one of making sure you have the wanted abilities within the group. It is also much more typical for every character to have some mundane first-aid ability.
Pathfinder is a class and level based system. That carries with it the baggage of having certain stereotypes central to it. Fighting those stereotypes generally isn't going to work.

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Lanitril wrote:No, I was specifically referring to dumping dexterity. With heavy armor you can leave it around average, but only an oracle with one of three certain mysteries can get away with a dexterity of 7.David knott 242 wrote:Clumsy genius wizards can be done but don't work well in Pathfinder.I'm not sure that that's accurate. Define Clumsy... Seems to me that it's basically a Wizard with maybe low Wisdom and Dexterity? You'll miss the Dex to AC, I guess, but really, you don't even need to dump Wis and Dex to be clumsy, you can just roleplay yourself as clumsy.
... I manage just fine, thank you very much.

Majuba |

Also, the classical "magic drains your life energy" style Mage. We've tried a house rule with non lethal damage with multipliers based on spell level, or some kinda point system...but nothing fits.
...
I mean the act if casting is damaging for the caster, this more powerful the effect the harder they are hit by it. Need to teleport the party out of here ASAP? Sure, but you'll take a bunch of non lethal and might pass out from the strain if you try doing any other powerful magic.
Runescarred Bloodline, from "Wages of Xin" in Wayfinder #5.

DrDeth |

Creating "trap" options, or options that are inferior for no other reason than that they are inferior, is the absolute PINNACLE of s$~*ty game design. Purposefully designing something...
Nope. See, first of all, whether or not various classes are "balanced" is 100% subjective opinion. In our games, our Fighter is far and away the most powerful PC. We get threads here all the time with GM's moaning about how OP their rogue is and what to do about him. I have seen Wizards who are more useless than a burnt-out match.
And then you see, some folks want to take a option that is less powerful. You call it a "trap" but since it's a CHOICE, why does everyone have to take only the MOST powerful options? Maybe MY idea for my PC includes taking the Sea Legs feat. To me, it's EXACTLY what I want, so for ME, for MY character it's not a 'trap' at all. But some might say it's a 'trap option" and thus want to take that option away...so I no longer have that option.
It's a ROLEPLAYING game, not a OPTIMIZING game.

DrDeth |

So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Not only can you play him, Fritz Leiber DID play him.
People have been playing great swashbuckler rogues for 40 years before they thought of Dex for damage. You dont need that to play a great fun swashbuckler.

Marcus Robert Hosler |

Mundane normal guy doesn't work in PF. Now a Cyber Soldier with double WBL because he is crafting all his tech-guide material himself can be very viable.
What is missing is an Extraordinary monster, that fills his magic item slots with extraordinary mutations.
A pure martial artist just will not keep up without Ki. I have seen no literature or media where they could.

Kobold Catgirl |

Rynjin wrote:I disqualified said solution because Monks do, in fact, have magic (namely, Ki Pool as a Su ability)Supernatural is not magic. It's...supernatural. <g> Spells and Spell-like is magic.
An invisible barrier surrounds you and moves with you. The space within this barrier is impervious to most magical effects, including spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. Likewise, it prevents the functioning of any magic items or spells within its confines.
It seems the game designers disagree. :P

JoeJ |
JoeJ wrote:So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Not only can you play him, Fritz Leiber DID play him.
People have been playing great swashbuckler rogues for 40 years before they thought of Dex for damage. You dont need that to play a great fun swashbuckler.
Did Fritz Leiber play him in Pathfinder? The disparity between an agile fighter and a strong fighter is much greater in PF than it was in 2e and earlier versions.

DrDeth |

DrDeth wrote:JoeJ wrote:So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Not only can you play him, Fritz Leiber DID play him.
People have been playing great swashbuckler rogues for 40 years before they thought of Dex for damage. You dont need that to play a great fun swashbuckler.
Did Fritz Leiber play him in Pathfinder? The disparity between an agile fighter and a strong fighter is much greater in PF than it was in 2e and earlier versions.
No, he played him as a Thief in AD&D.

boring7 |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Mundane normal guy doesn't work in PF. Now a Cyber Soldier with double WBL because he is crafting all his tech-guide material himself can be very viable.
What is missing is an Extraordinary monster, that fills his magic item slots with extraordinary mutations.
A pure martial artist just will not keep up without Ki. I have seen no literature or media where they could.
I missed the entry to this subthread, but are we honestly trying to come up with a character who literally has no special abilities but is still "special"?
As for monks and Ki...Naruto's character Rock Lee basically had no "ninja magic" and was all about martial arts. The problem with martial arts fiction is that when an epic martial arts hero does epic martial arts things it's all attributed to chi because eastern martial arts tradition (real world) believed that *&%$ is real and just how the human body works. Reaching out and picking up the cup of water on my desk involves chi, because you are a living thing and life. That's just how the legend and story go, and the line between magic and mundane is blurry-to-nonexistent.
And a lot of a monk's abilities are (Ex) and not subject to antimagic, including (strangely) the ability to speak with all living things and the feat tree that lets them run up walls and in the air, so there's that.

Kobold Catgirl |

JoeJ wrote:No, he played him as a Thief in AD&D.DrDeth wrote:JoeJ wrote:So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Not only can you play him, Fritz Leiber DID play him.
People have been playing great swashbuckler rogues for 40 years before they thought of Dex for damage. You dont need that to play a great fun swashbuckler.
Did Fritz Leiber play him in Pathfinder? The disparity between an agile fighter and a strong fighter is much greater in PF than it was in 2e and earlier versions.
Thieves kicked ass back then. Backstabbing damage, the only class capable of meaningful stealth, the only class able to handle traps...that was before we started just handing out abilities willy-nilly. ;D

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so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who seek to emulate their favorite novel characters WHO NEVER HAD TO ROLL A DIE to acheive their success, get all butthurt when they find that their beginning level 1 characters, who don't have benefit of the Author's Fiat feat, fall far short of their expectations.

boring7 |
Auren "Rin" Cloudstrider wrote:It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who seek to emulate their favorite novel characters WHO NEVER HAD TO ROLL A DIE to acheive their success, get all butthurt when they find that their beginning level 1 characters, who don't have benefit of the Author's Fiat feat, fall far short of their expectations.
so, a human fighter with 3 feats can throw 3 daggers in 6 seconds at 1st level, but i can't play Altiar, Aladdin, Indianna Jones, or Sherlock Holmes and actually not suck past level 3. let alone level 10 or even epic levels.
Hush it up with that logic you!

Caedwyr |
I'd like to play a Aya Brea type character from Parasite Eve 1. The basis of her power is semi-aware mitochondria that allows her to manifest a number of abilities from a pool of energy that recharges over time. The character is generally martial in nature despite the supernatural/extraordinary abilities.
Abilities are the following:
Heal (self-heal, varying strengths depending on energy expenditure)
Scan (reveals target's health condition and any weaknesses)
Slow (slows targets' movement/actions)
Detox (cures poison)
Barrier (attacks against the character drain the energy pool before doing HP damage)
Energy Shot (dump all remaining energy into a large medium ranged blast that damages target)
Confuse (causes confusion effect in target)
Haste (self-only)
Gene Heal (activatable fast healing)
Medic (removes all negative status effects)
Preraise (contingent self-heal when HP reduced below zero)
Full Recover (self-only Heal effect)
Liberate (transform into powerful creature with wings capable of doing high melee damage for a period of time. Doing so drains all of the energy pool. When the transformation expires, the character is staggered for a time).
I'd appreciate any advice on how to build such a character using the Pathfinder rules (no 3pp).

DrDeth |

DrDeth wrote:Thieves kicked ass back then. Backstabbing damage, the only class capable of meaningful stealth, the only class able to handle traps...that was before we started just handing out abilities willy-nilly. ;DJoeJ wrote:No, he played him as a Thief in AD&D.DrDeth wrote:JoeJ wrote:So a 1st level gunslinger with 1 feat can load and fire a muzzle-loading matchlock pistol in 6 seconds, but I can't play the Grey Mouser because realism?
Not only can you play him, Fritz Leiber DID play him.
People have been playing great swashbuckler rogues for 40 years before they thought of Dex for damage. You dont need that to play a great fun swashbuckler.
Did Fritz Leiber play him in Pathfinder? The disparity between an agile fighter and a strong fighter is much greater in PF than it was in 2e and earlier versions.
Backstab was rather hard to get, and no-one added Dex to damage.
It was a cool class, tho.

Caedwyr |
Also, regarding my request for some suggestions on how to build a Mistborn, I'm fine with the character build starting off weak, but I'd like to be able to ramp up to the total badass level eventually. I'm fine with not going quite as far as Vin does towards the very end of the series, but Kelsier's level would be an appropriate level of badassness.

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Artanthos wrote:I'm not aware of a way to sort a list of fighter-only feats; might be easier if you name one of those many examples.Jiggy wrote:A completely nonmagical warrior who has trained to the point of being able to do things that absolutely cannot be duplicated by a freaking commoner no matter what level, stats, or gear the commoner has.Take a look at the list of fighter only feats. Commoners cannot duplicate many of those, regardless of gear.
We'll start with Critical Mastery, unless there is a magic item that allows you to inflict multiple conditions on a successful critical hit.
As for the list, I suggest using this one. I'm sure you will find scads of feats no commoner will ever qualify for.

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Jedi shadow from swtor.
Two bladed sword, sneak attack, melee focused, and has psionic and necromantic attack spells as well as some shields.
Closest I can think of is bard sandman with the witches spell list up to 6th level. But that probably isn't balanced
Kensai
If you go bladebound, you can even turn your sword into a force weapon.

boring7 |
I'd like to play a Aya Brea type character from Parasite Eve 1. The basis of her power is semi-aware mitochondria that allows her to manifest a number of abilities from a pool of energy that recharges over time. The character is generally martial in nature despite the supernatural/extraordinary abilities.
Abilities are the following:
Heal (self-heal, varying strengths depending on energy expenditure)
Scan (reveals target's health condition and any weaknesses)
Slow (slows targets' movement/actions)
Detox (cures poison)
Barrier (attacks against the character drain the energy pool before doing HP damage)
Energy Shot (dump all remaining energy into a large medium ranged blast that damages target)
Confuse (causes confusion effect in target)
Haste (self-only)
Gene Heal (activatable fast healing)
Medic (removes all negative status effects)
Preraise (contingent self-heal when HP reduced below zero)
Full Recover (self-only Heal effect)
Liberate (transform into powerful creature with wings capable of doing high melee damage for a period of time. Doing so drains all of the energy pool. When the transformation expires, the character is staggered for a time).I'd appreciate any advice on how to build such a character using the Pathfinder rules (no 3pp).
Most of the spell effects can be done with magic items, without the negative side-effects. But that's the base-line worst solution.
Some brand of nanite-based android prestige class may be in the works with the Numerian shizzle-wizzle currently being made.

Caedwyr |
Caedwyr wrote:I'd like to play a Aya Brea type character from Parasite Eve 1. The basis of her power is semi-aware mitochondria that allows her to manifest a number of abilities from a pool of energy that recharges over time. The character is generally martial in nature despite the supernatural/extraordinary abilities.
Abilities are the following:
Heal (self-heal, varying strengths depending on energy expenditure)
Scan (reveals target's health condition and any weaknesses)
Slow (slows targets' movement/actions)
Detox (cures poison)
Barrier (attacks against the character drain the energy pool before doing HP damage)
Energy Shot (dump all remaining energy into a large medium ranged blast that damages target)
Confuse (causes confusion effect in target)
Haste (self-only)
Gene Heal (activatable fast healing)
Medic (removes all negative status effects)
Preraise (contingent self-heal when HP reduced below zero)
Full Recover (self-only Heal effect)
Liberate (transform into powerful creature with wings capable of doing high melee damage for a period of time. Doing so drains all of the energy pool. When the transformation expires, the character is staggered for a time).I'd appreciate any advice on how to build such a character using the Pathfinder rules (no 3pp).
Most of the spell effects can be done with magic items, without the negative side-effects. But that's the base-line worst solution.
Some brand of nanite-based android prestige class may be in the works with the Numerian shizzle-wizzle currently being made.
One of the big things I'd love to be able to do is the regenerating common energy pool that powers the various abilities. It really helps with the themeing and the "internal power" characterization of the abilities. Using magic items would make the character more of a gadgeteer/cyborg type character which is very different in theme.