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Need some help with my Arcanist (Occultist). My current setup is:
STR 16, DEX 20, CON 16, INT 22 (Headband +1), WIS 12, CHA 18
(We rolled as a group picking best of 5 rolls for each stat, generous DM). Race is homebrewed, loosely based on Catfolk.
Feats: Spell Focus (Conj) as a racial trait, Augment and Superior Summoning, Extra Reservoir. Exploits: Conjurer's Focus, Dimension Slide, Quick Study.
Problem: I'm only succeeding at about 15% of my spells that allow a save. Succeeded at 1 / 7 Color Sprays, 0 / 4 Glitterdusts, and 1 / 3 Webs, with save DCs near 20 (10 + 6 Int + 1 Arcane Reservoir + 1 Spell Focus + Spell Level) . I do plan on taking Potent Magic as an Exploit, and keep my Headband upgraded as much as I can. Is there anything else I can do to boost my save DCs? I'm getting extremely frustrated, as I spend a turn casting a spell only to have it fail, wait until my next turn, rinse and repeat.
Blasters don't appeal much to me and I prefer to save the summoning unless really needed, since it slows down gameplay so much. It's getting bad enough that I'm considering dipping into Swashbuckler and going Eldritch Knight just so I can take offensive actions that actually make me feel that I'm contributing.
What are my options? Thank you in advance.
How are you failing so often. At level 5, the saves of most CR7 creatures should be about +10 if you target their good saves. You should be succeeding about 50% of the time against them. Against mooks targeting a weak save you should be near natural 20 territory.
Either you are getting really bad rolls, your GM is using homebrewed monsters or optimized NPCs with abnormally high saves, or your GM is fudging the dice hard.
FYI, monster number guidelines here.
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A tough call. By all accounts, depending on your level DCs near 20 should be fairly solid. That said, my personal advice would be to focus on spells that effect the battlefield regardless of the save being made or not.
Example. Grease. If you drop that on the ground, the minions are still slowed by it regardless of save, having to move at half movement going through it. The save is to see if they fall prone or not (which is of course the most hoped for).
Another might be create pit. If properly placed, it can ruin their day whether they save or no. Things like that can make a difference.
An additional thing you'll probably want to look into is upcoming feats. You have what you need for summoning, so I'd not focus on that anymore, especially if you're not wanting to actually use it as often. Some suggestions here would be persistent metamagic (makes them save twice), greater spell focus (+1 bump with potent adding another +1 can help a bit), bouncing metamagic (situational, but if there are a bunch of minions it can be nice), there's a feat that gives you a tattoo that in turn gives you +1 to DC and some spell like abilities. All of these could help here.
Next, I'd be aiming to knowledge the heck out of my enemy. Then, cherry pick their worst save and target that if possible. If you're not given that, ask the DM to describe how it moves, what it's doing and try to gleam some info off of that. "They move gracefully," means don't target their dex. "He was drinking all night" means maybe don't target fort, "He's casting spells," Means don't target will...usually. I will say that some things are just insane with their saves (and immunities) so that's another reason to try to get knowledge of them. If their saves are insane, do something else.
Lastly, maybe your DM just doesn't want it to be easy and has either used a template or manipulated the creatures to be harder to hit with such spells. Or, much more unlikely, but not unheard of, he could be fudging the rolls. Automatically discarded if he rolls in front of you and not meant to be a knock on him or your group. Just a thought.
Anyways, hope some of this helped.
Pehaps your GM have compensatet for very good stats and homebrew races with upping the difficulty.
The problem with a SAD class is that you are not getting that much more powerfull by going with somthing like a 60 point buy. But MAD classes get to have both offense and defence and staying power. Summond monsters also loose some of the shine if badguys are upped to match your super characters.
I suggest you talk it over with the GM. IMOP the super stats and homebrew race ( that i assume is a catfolk that get bonus to at least int and dex and either get a bonus feat or have spellfocus for free) sounds like rookie mistakes.
She's definitely not a rookie, she's been gaming for a couple of decades, usually DM'ing, and she's good at it. Very creative, comes up with her own quests pretty quickly and with a lot of detail. I think it's more bad luck on my part that anything else, as she has said a few times "18 on the die" or "their base save is +2". I trust her, so I'm pretty sure that she's not fudging the numbers, but don't know for absolute certain.
Persistent Spell was on my list for down the road, but maybe I'll bump it up to sooner rather than later. Do you know what the tattoo feat is? I saw Mage's Tattoo, but it only increases CL, not Save DCs. I believe I'm doing a pretty good job of picking the right saves, but maybe I'm not. I'll look into that more too. Thanks again.
Seems I misremembered the tattoo feat... my bad. Sorry. In any event, if you got unlucky, you got unlucky. I would definitely consider bumping persistent forward a bit though. Having to roll again to see if they failed is nothing to sneeze at, especially if your DM is in fact getting lucky. Otherwise it sounds like you're doing it about right. I'd still suggest trying spells that make life suck for the opponent either way. It may not feel like contributing by just slowing them down, but it can make the difference in battle.
I'd say give it a session or two, stick with the plan(s) and see how it goes. It may have just been an off night for you.
She's definitely not a rookie, she's been gaming for a couple of decades, usually DM'ing, and she's good at it. Very creative, comes up with her own quests pretty quickly and with a lot of detail. I think it's more bad luck on my part that anything else, as she has said a few times "18 on the die" or "their base save is +2". I trust her, so I'm pretty sure that she's not fudging the numbers, but don't know for absolute certain.
Persistent Spell was on my list for down the road, but maybe I'll bump it up to sooner rather than later. Do you know what the tattoo feat is? I saw Mage's Tattoo, but it only increases CL, not Save DCs. I believe I'm doing a pretty good job of picking the right saves, but maybe I'm not. I'll look into that more too. Thanks again.
Some systems can take a general power boost better than others. But it Sounds like it is just bad luck on your part. Dont be afraid to get a signature critter that you summon in round 1 cast haste in round 2 and you will never feel that bad luck again. Or keep casting some Day your luck will turn.
Any chance of getting a debuffing Witch in your party? Preferably a Jinxing Halfling debuffing Witch? Or alternatively a debuffing Shaman, or even Dual-Cursed Oracle?
Alternatively, getting a First Worlder Summoner in your party summoning Pugwampis could help.
(And more generally, how would the Misfortune Hex or Misfortune Dual-Cursed Oracle Revelation or Pugwampi's Unluck Aura interact with Persistent Spell -- would this get enemies to have to roll 4 times to save, or just 3?)
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Oddly enough, some of my failed castings were while the bad guy was under Misfortune. We do have a Witch as another PC, but Misfortune isn't one of their common tactics.
I was thinking of picking up more spells that still have partial success even on a save and/or some rays (Enfeeblement, specifically). Grease is already in the repertoire, but so far has been more to help escape grapples than anything else.
Sounds like consensus is to push through it and not to multiclass. I appreciate the input; Paizo has a pretty awesome community.
i noticed you got some nice feats for summening.
get a monster that can demorilize = shaken -2 to saves.
get one with stench or something to make sicken = -2 to saves.
there are other ways to give panilty. witch's evil eye hex and such.
now see how the dc 20 saves make them feel like.