PFS Stalker Playtest Report: The Wounded Wisp

[Wolfspirit]

The following contains heavy Wounded Wisp spoilers.

This weekend, I convinced one of the players in my local group to give the Stalker Vigilante a try; he made a Kitsune with a heavy focus on Stealth and Disguise.

The Vigilante began the adventure in his Social Identity for the “Mission Briefing” but changed out to the Vigilante Identity after arriving at the Bar. He would have missed the initial encounters of the scenario if not for GM fiat as he was planning to do his change while the rest of the party was going down into the store-room. I hand-waved that he had some time while the rest of the party was socializing at the bar just to keep the group together.

In the first combat encounter, the Vigilante performed as well as his build would allow (he was wielding a rapier without a high strength modifier) and was about on par with a rogue with d4 sneak attack. This did end up prolonging the combat a round and almost getting one of the party members killed when a 1 hp Giant Spider got a critical hit on the party Sorcerer! They finally managed to subdue the vermin, paid a visit to a Janira to patch up the Sorcerer, and continued on with the Scenario.

At the Mausoleum, the Vigilante stole the show, being able to successfully stealth past the attendant cleric, break into the crypt, and obtain the Coin with just a bit of a distraction from the rest of the (less stealthy) party. The Vigilante did use Disguise* in case they were caught, but rolled high enough Stealth to avoid detection.

*About here I realized the Vigilante’s player made a mistake when choosing his Social Talent; he took Everyman because he missed the level pre-requisite. It didn’t have an impact in the actual adventure (after the initial briefing the Vigilante never returned to their Social Identity) but the player was more interested in having a variety of disguises rather than a specific second identity. At the Mausoleum he’d planned on appearing as a common laborer in case they were caught, which he could have accomplished with a straight Stealth check.

At the Gnome’s house, the Vigilante unlocked the door and successfully disarmed the magical trap. Luckily, the Disable DC was under 20.

The Wall of Names the Vigilante didn’t have much of a contribution (no knowledge religion, etc.)

The final combat of the scenario the Vigilante rolled low on initiative (and wasn’t sneaking anyway, so the ambusher would have been Aware of him regardless) so again he was stuck with a d4 for his bonus damage. Beyond that he performed similar to the first combat.

Takeaways:
1. Generally, the level 1 Stalker performs like a slightly weaker Rogue. The difference was tolerable, but there really wasn’t anything that a Rogue with the same build couldn’t have done as well as or better.
2. One recurring theme I’ve noticed, especially in PFS playtests, is players attempting to hide one of their Identities from the rest of the party. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is somewhat disruptive to the scenario and strains the “cooperate” part of the PFS motto. In a regular group discovering the connection of the Identities organically shouldn’t be too problematic but with a revolving set of party members it could be a bit of a nuisance.
3. The structure of the Social Talent section needs some work. First off, a fairly studious player missed a pre-req, so it’s not immediately obvious. Second off, there needs to be more options at first level.
4. Dual Identity didn’t see any significant use in this scenario. A scaling bonus to disguise would have been more useful and is more in line with what the player wanted out of the character.

[Alric Rahl]

Ummm.... do vigilantes get trapfinding? its done now so it really doesnt mater but Im pretty sure only classes with Trapfinding ability can disarm magical traps... considering their trapfinding ability says specifically they can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.

Just for future reference that part of the adventure would have differently.

I know from my own experience that only Trapfinding classes can disarm magical traps as when playing RotR my ninja tried to disarm the Bladed Drop of Doom trap in the lower levels of the Goblin fort, I succeeded on the check but my rules lawyer went wait is it magical? because he cant disarm that then and thus the trap was triggered when the tank walked over it. successfully making his Reflex check but still.

[Belabras]

I was going to write up my Stalker run through Wounded Wisp, but you've pretty much covered the bases. At first level it's plays like a weak rogue.

[Wolfspirit]

Whoops, you're right. Oh, well, it just further highlights the gap between the level 1 Stalker and Rogue

[Thrawn007]

Avenger's and Stalker's don't really get interesting until level 2.

In PFS, level 1 is for using GM credit if you will be playing one of these, because you probably won't want to actually play at that level.

[Trekkie90909]

I disagree with the above; a level 1 martial character is all about its weapon and armor selection. Given access to martial weapons, medium armors, shields, and a wide array of skills the stalker and avenger are both fine at 1.

Besides a level 1 Stalker has 2 more class features than a level 1 rogue, good will saves, and a better hidden strike.

Arguably an unchained rogue is more powerful at level 1 than a stalker, and that argument has more merit. It will basically come down to how effective the social aspect is made in the final release. Right now the social aspect is not on par with a level one feat, and so the argument can go either way as to whether the free feat at level one is more useful than effectively taking Iron Will having better weapon access and slightly more ac.

[Thrawn007]

As I believe many others have said, if we are comparing with the chained rogue to see the health of the stalker, we are starting in a really bad place. I agree he's better than the chained rogue, but that's not a very high bar.

Here is the comparison I'm looking at for level 1:

Avenger - Good will/ref saves, (low hp)

Barbarian - Good fort saves, Rage, fast movement

Cavalier - Good Fort, Feat, Order, Mount, Challenge, Tactician

Fighter - Good fort saves, bonus feat

Paladin - Good Fort/Will saves, channel, aura, smite

Ranger - Good Ref/Will saves, favored enemy, empathy, track

Slayer - Good For/Ref saves, studied target, track

Swashbuckler - Good Ref saves, Panache/Deeds, Finesse

So looking at the alternatives for full BAB, every single one has some kind of offensive ability or feat at level 1 save for the Avenger. I'd say that makes him the least interesting in combat.