RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Alright, so I figured I'd start posting my feedback now even though the PbP games I'm running these characters in are really just getting started. I'm currently running 5 characters with the new classes in PbP Gameday games:
-A goblin Mesmerist 1 in We Be Goblins
-A half-orc Kineticist 1 in PFS: The Frostfur Captives
-A dwarf Spiritualist 1 in PFS: Voice in the Void
-A human Medium 1 in PFS: Hall of the Flesh Eaters
-A human Occultist 1 in PFS: The Confirmation
So far, the Mesmerist and the Kineticist haven't seen real combat yet, so I can only give feedback on my builds at the moment.
Kineticist: I'm going for the telekinesis ranged build, and focused mostly on Con (duh). I'll update you all on how she does in combat.
Mesmerist: Since this is a goblin, she starts with low Charisma, but I think she'll be incredibly fun to play!
Spiritualist: So far, we've seen one combat and his whole contribution was to cast an inflict light wounds and fail to hit with the touch attack. I feel like the moment I hit 2nd level with him, he'll become so much more interesting, because he'll be able to send the incorporeal Phantom to deliver touch spells. Right now, I don't feel like he has much to do.
Medium: Holy crap does she kick butt! I plan to have her permanently channel The Beating, and by combining that, a few traits, Power Attack and Two-Weapon Fighting, she's reliably hitting with unarmed strikes to deal 1d6+7 damage (pretty good for 1st level), and if she doesn't knock someone out from that first hit, she gets +1 attack and +2 damage on subsequent unarmed strikes against that enemy. The +1 attack and damage from her seance ability really makes a big difference despite not having a BAB yet.
Occultist: I have her using two Transmutation implements (only one of which is "active" for spellcasting), a belt and a rapier, and she has 3 points in each of those that she will not use for anything, because they give her +2 Dex and Agile at 1st level! Having the Agile weapon property at 1st level is really good... possibly too good, only time will tell. She's also got a bunch of skill points, which is great, because I'm hoping to play her sort of like a Rogue.
A couple things:
I don't think the Medium qualifies for Power Attack at level 1 as her BAB is still 0.
The Occultist's belt implement doesn't grant you bonuses until level 5 at the earliest: "(to a maximum of +2 for every 5 occultist levels you possess)" I believe this was confirmed by Jason in the Occultist discussion thread.
No problem. Very easy to critique from the sidelines, and these classes have a lot of fiddly elements so far.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I have some feedback on the Spiritualist!
-At first level, I'm finding he has very little to do in combat. He doesn't have good weapon proficiencies or attack bonuses, he has few spells, and his phantom can't deliver touch spells yet so that makes the phantom (as currently built) not very useful in combat, at least in my mind. I haven't actually made her corporeal and had her attack things yet.
-Having an incorporeal scout is really excellent, and almost makes up for the lack of combat ability at 1st level.
-I've been holding an inflict light wounds for three combats now... each time I've missed with my touch attack and the combat was over before my next round... my spiritualist is getting a serious case of "blue hand" with this spell.
-After this combat I'm going to make my phantom corporeal and see how she fares in direct combat.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Update on my Medium playtest!
-The additional attack and damage from The Beating is really making her a force to be reckoned with. I also enjoy RPing her lust for combat.
-I haven't yet used her Trance, but when I do it will be to add the Waxworks, as I feel that reducing enemies' movement speed will be a great addition to her already excellent melee capabilities. I'm going to flavor it that her fists actually begin dripping hot wax, which splashes onto the bodies of those she uses her unarmed strikes on each round, reducing their mobility.
-I actually am really enjoying the mechanic of spells being added to her spell list but not having any casts per day yet. I chose ray of enfeeblement as my spell known, and it essentially means I can cast scrolls of that spell without making any rolls, which is very handy. I can still see people investing skill points into UMD for a Medium, though, to get more choices on what to cast from scrolls and wands.
-Overall, I really love this class, though I'm leery of higher-level play when I'll be trying to determine at any given moment which of my spirits give me powers and which give me bonuses, and how many powers they give, etc. etc. That part seems overly complex, but then again I haven't playtested at a higher level.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Update on my Occultist playtest!
-We've concluded the combat portion of the Confirmation, and I really enjoyed using my occultist for this game. Thanks to being able to have an Agile blade at 1st level, she really did decent damage and I really enjoy the general "feel" of the class.
-Using different implements really makes for a dynamic character if you want it, but you can also stick with one implement and just be a very focused character, which is what I did for the playtest.
-I didn't spend mental focus points much, since I find the resonant abilities to be extremely useful. I did spend one point from my evocation implement to toss a ray of acid at a zombie, and rolled a crit on my ranged touch (though I didn't confirm :-S ). I think that the number of mental focus points available seems about right, and I'm sure I could have come up with more creative uses of them if I wasn't so invested in keeping Agile on my rapier.
-Overall, I'm a huge fan of the Occultist as written, and I'm sure I'll like it even more when the final version comes out.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Update on my Spiritualist playtest!
-Once I made the phantom go corporeal, she became a serious beast. The anger spirit abilities are very nice, having two slam attacks is really good, and the DR 5/slashing makes her pretty impenetrable against things that don't have claws. She one-round-killed a zombie, which made me happy.
-My actual spiritualist is finding that he doesn't have anything to do at all right now, because his known spells are mage armor which he already used on the phantom, and inflict light wounds which isn't useful against undead things. It happens, though, and I think as I play around with the class more, I'll find ways to be more useful in combat.
-The phantom's scouting ability is EXCELLENT and probably the best thing about the class at early levels. PLEASE DON'T CHANGE IT!! :)
-Overall, I am intrigued by the Spiritualist, but not as excited as I am about the Occultist and the Medium.
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Spiritualist: So far, we've seen one combat and his whole contribution was to cast an inflict light wounds and fail to hit with the touch attack. I feel like the moment I hit 2nd level with him, he'll become so much more interesting, because he'll be able to send the incorporeal Phantom to deliver touch spells. Right now, I don't feel like he has much to do.
Unfortunately, Spiritualist doesn't get Deliver Touch Spells until 3. D:
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Unfortunately, Spiritualist doesn't get Deliver Touch Spells until 3. D:
Spiritualist: So far, we've seen one combat and his whole contribution was to cast an inflict light wounds and fail to hit with the touch attack. I feel like the moment I hit 2nd level with him, he'll become so much more interesting, because he'll be able to send the incorporeal Phantom to deliver touch spells. Right now, I don't feel like he has much to do.
Ugh, you're right, even worse than I thought. Well, at least the phantom is dealing decent damage in corporeal form right now, so I'm not going to complain too much. I just need to buy more scrolls with the money I get at the end of this session for my Spiritualist so that he has more to do in combat other than cheer on his phantom. LOL