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Just wrapped up PFS session Tide of Morning. Four of the five of us were Vigilantes: lvl 3 Stalker (myself), lvl 3 Warlock, lvl 3 Zealot, lvl 1 Stalker. The other player was an Arcanist of the White Mage variety lvl 4
ME
Human Vigilante-Stalker 3
Social: Adakias CG
Vigilante: Malice N
1. Renown, Enforcer, Weapon Focus (acquired at level 3 through feat retraining)
2. Twisting Fear
3. Social Grace (intimidate), Dazzling Display
*spoilers*
THE BRIEFING
- arrive in social form
- it's obvious that renown will not come into play, so I decide to stay Social during the scenario for the +4 Intimidate with Social Grace
- objective is to retrieve a lorestone from a Druid in Verduran Forest
ON THE ROAD
- some role playing happens, Malice tells the party that he has an associate traveling near the area we will travel to (to cover in case Vigilante form comes up)
DRUID's COTTAGE
- encounter begins when we approach
- Warlock uses both Burning Hands against two swarms
- Zealot stays invisible most of the time and casts entangle to try to weed out an invisible fey, succeeds in entangling us
- I use Dazzling Display/Twisting Fear to knock out the invisible fey; for fun, I roll disguise for the Stalker and Zealot who witness it, they know something is off about me
-another encounter inside the cottage, fires, dead druid, and a monster
- Zealot uses create water to drench the fires
-Stalker gets KOd in one swipe by bad guy (he is the baby of our party)
-Arcanist does some party healing as we fight bad guy
- Zealot saves a book that mentions (after Zealot uses last spell to Comprehend Languages) the Druid was in bad with some quickling, tells us how to find such quickling
- to be sure, we tie up the fey and I intimidate her for information, I set her free after we learn she was coerced to attack the druid's cottage against her will
- we leave
THE GANG
- on our way out, some of the Druid's friends approach
- I assume role of party face (although almost every Vigilante had great social skills)
- I succeed with aid from others in using diplomacy to convince them we did not commit the murder of the druid
- they let us continue
THE FINALE
- we approach a Druid circle, the hideout of the quickling that stole the lorestone
- a snare trap catches Stalker, who decided to be first when crossing a log bridge because of his high acrobatics
- we cut him down, Warlock gets snared by another trap in the process
- Arcanist decides to use monkey fish to swim around the trapped log bridge
- Warlock is cut down, we are a nearly inside of the circle when a voice calls out that we will not succeed
- we venture further, I'm ambushed by quickling and almost succumb to poison on his dagger (low fort save was a close call!)
-I lay into him with for nonlethal damage, fail the intimidate check :(
- Warlock remembers she has tattoo chamber and a wand of magic missile, uses it in front of party while in social form, we all notice that "something is up" (again for fun because PFS doesn't really allow rolls against each other)
-magic missile takes out quickling, another fey appears from invisibility and drops an Entangle from her flying position, all of us make our saves
-Arcanist casts Glitterdust, fey saves but is outlined
-Fey goes for the lorestone, which she fetches out of the pockets of the quickling
-I lay into Fey for nonlethal, knocking her out
-we fetch the lorestone and return to Absalom without further trouble
THE GOOD
-all of the vigilantes in our party had great social skills
-the players of the vigilantes seemed to role play it up with social/vigilante identities, which spiced up the sometimes less RP-heavy PFS scenario
-Warlock and Zealot had orisons/cantrips that were unlimited in usage, like detect magic, light, and create water. These came in handy
THE BAD
-vigilante casters had very limited 1st level slots, especially compared to the Arcanist (it's a very big difference at level 3)
- low fort save came up a couple times for me and the other Stalker on the front line: rat swarm had disease, quickling used poison
- us Stalkers didn't land a single d8 Hidden Strike; I had one opportunity but missed the ranged attack roll; the other Stalker had no opportunities
OTHER THOUGHTS
- does anything happen if the Pathfinders find out about your identity? Probably not
- does anything happen if your party finds out about your identity? Probably not
- so why am I hiding my identity? Because it's FUN! Malice is forming interesting relationships with the other locals' characters at my local shop. It's adding some fun RP depth to our PFS games
More to come.
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I've landed it twice. Both were during a mod in which you need to clear out rooms in a dungeon for some clerics. Rolled stealth outside the door, let someone else open the door, and then crossed my fingers on the stealth check as I rush in taking -5 or -10 to try to reach whatever-monster in one movement. I probably repeated this process 10-15 times with dismal results.
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ShieldLawrence: I don't recall exactly how we were able to read the book, but it wasn't me (the Zealot) who translated it. I don't even have Comprehend Languages on my spell list (Druid/Ranger) My spells cast in the scenario were Entangle (Druid's Hut... sorry) and Feather Step (to ignore rough terrain, Druid Circle). I'll say it now, not having more than 1-2 spells per day sucks. And each level past level 1 just made the pinch more and more evident.
Playtest @ Level 3: While it was fun to sort of roleplay being someone else, we "sort" of already do that being part of the Society. I mean, not everyone, or thing, we meet likes the Society... and some are outright against us. As such, we often have decent social skills, or rely on another to do so, and this plays into a goodly amount of scenarios as is... no need for an additional mechanic to "force" us to roleplay, as RP is sort of a driving force regardless of mechanics or lack thereof.
I went with a Human Archer Zealot (Fey) of Erastil as my build. He is 1/4 Druid, 1/4 Fey, 1/4 Paladin, and 1/4 Human. :) This is the core of my concept (and many of his eventual guises)... and just plain fun. Outside of the limitations of spells between levels 1, 2, and 3... assuming I would take Divine Power II at level 4, (Which I did. More on that later.) I felt that Bartholomew would have been more effective had I spent more time learning (and utilizing) the social aspect side of my character rather than just focusing on combat potential.
[Playability Rating] 2 1/2 of 5 stars
Playtest @ Level 4: It felt like Divine Power II was a talent tax, and I hate the feeling that I WILL have to waste 1/2 my available talents just to have something that other 3/4 BAB divine casters have and sometimes take for granted. Obviously I think they will be better once archetypes come into play (perhaps giving up spellcasting entirely), allowing the Zealot to focus on various aspects of play, rather than burning 1/2 their class features to embody just one aspect, however powerful it may be.
On closer inspection, or perhaps it was due to better familiarity with my concept and chosen mechanics, and/or the improvement of spellcasting; +3 additional level 1 spells/day was HUGE... and made me realize just how painful 1/day can actually be at the early levels. I was back at "1" with 2nd level spells, but I did at least have those 1st level spells now. Including an additional one known, which allowed me to supplement my abilities as a healer. Took the stabilize orison, and Cure Light Wounds. Bought a PFS wand for 2 PP, and never looked back.
In addition, those new extra spells per day made it possible to make multiple combats possible where I could utilize my preferred plan of attack. And, I loved it. I'm sure I could do this with most any similar class, but it was nice to see that despite the talent tax, the class was completely possible to play in scenarios old and new and still remain competitive (ish) with other classes.
[Playability Rating] 3 of 5 stars
Final Thoughts: I like the idea (and theme) of stealthing and/or moving into position, vanishing as a swift, and casting gravity bow... and then attacking with a decent bonus, with efficient damage, and moving away after the attack, choosing to vanish or not as I like (or can, assuming I have the per days remaining). I'm not sure the Zealot is the best chassis for it, but the Fey Zealot is the best of the bunch in my opinion.
One thing I do wish for, would be a built in talent or mechanic that offers a Zealot Vigilante a static or scaling to-hit bonus to bridge the gap between the 3/4 BAB and full BAB combat capabilities. Neither the Inquisitor nor the Druid/Ranger spell lists offer too much offense, especially comparable to 3/4 BAB arcane casters such as Magus or Bards. In the end, however... there wasn't anything the Zealot offered me that the Inquisitor or Shaman couldn't do better. But, it was still a fun romp in Golarion.
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The easiest way to implement something like that AND keep the theme of the class (and specialization) in concert with the design concept, would be to add a talent to the talent pool which embodies the spirit of game mechanics (weapon training ala fighter), or something similar. As a 3/4 BAB class, I wouldn't mind seeing a talent added to each, or perhaps just restricted to the Warlock and Zealot, one that adds +1 to-hit every 5 BAB, but with a chosen weapon, or perhaps mystic bolts.
Avengers: With a full BAB and as a class that can gain bonus feats, as a whole I think they are just fine. At least in theory. No additional scaling to-hit model needs to be added. Unless I'm mistaken the Avengers sits nestled between the Fighter and the Brawler. To make the avenger in line with recent additions, such as the swashbuckler... there needs to be a talent that is in line with Swashbucklers Finesse.
Stalkers: It's not always perfect, but the Stalker is less about martial prowess and more about catching your for unawares (targeting flat-footed, or reducing AC due to fear conditions), so as a result I think the Stalker sits pretty handedly alongside the rogue. As with the above added talent, there needs to be something akin to the new Unchained Rogues dex-support ability.
Spell-casting Vigilante: Both of the remaining class pale in comparison to any existing spell-casting class 3/4 BAB or otherwise and it's sadly due to tying their casting to their talents. 1/2 of these being dedicated to simply being capable of casting, and then having half-assed tiering and spell level gain, keeps them limited, and often spell levels behind other casters.
As I said, spellcasting should just be a function of the class at level 1, as it is now, but continue the progression of the table without needing to take another talent. If this is deemed too "powerful", than both the Warlock and the Zealot should alter when they gain a Vigilante talents.(@ 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20) This gives them less than the Avenger and Stalker, while still having some options to diversify vs other Warlocks and Zealots.
Warlocks: (Issue stated above.) With the change above, this allows a player to decide on spellcasting and/or mystic bolt or physical weapon. Being capable of taking more than 1-2 additional bolt-based talents would allow the Warlock to actually deal some damage with them (unfortunately they still require a handful of feats taxes to be viable) but this still becomes an option.
Archers have to take 2-4 feats to be viable with bows... and players who choose to be Warlocks should accept they will do the same with Mystic Bolts. However having more talents to choose and not devoted to spellcasting would allow the Warlock to focus on other means, such as bombs, or perhaps simply casting blaster spells while in medium (or heavy? additional talent!?!) armor.
Zealots: (Issue stated above.) With the change above implements, the Zealot is now capable of deciding on further highlighted their casting abilities, or focusing more on their martial prowess (choosing to embody the Oracle, or the Warpriest, etc.) My assumption is there will be more divine power types in later publications than just the ones we currently have, and that's good.
Because the biggest issue is that Zealots have only two options, really. If they choose Abyssal or Infernal, they CANNOT smite effectively. I mean, just look at the Infernal Zealot's ability (Infernal Touch)... they can't use it at all... as they cannot smite Evil. This needs to be addressed and changed. It's a viable option that's being taken completely away from the player despite their alignment.
Ideally I believe that ALL Zealots must be Neutral mechanically and all functions of their class which require choosing good or evil should be made by the player ala neutral clerics at level 1 (or whenever the talent is chosen). AND, I believe that any such talent should be capable of being taken TWICE so that a Zealot can affect BOTH good and evil. (I.e. I would gladly take Zealot Smite twice to have a "smite" pool for both vs. good and evil).