Do martial characters really need better things?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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Actually, now that I think about it wouldn't Samurai Jack be the poster boy for what we want out of a non-magical Martial?

-Only thing Magical about him is that he owns a +5 Aku Bane Adamantine Katana
-Can take a ridiculous amount of punishment
-Has powerful leadership, speaking, and intimidating skills
-Can leap several hundred feat
-Has a combat insight bordering on precognition
-Has combat skills adaptable to any combat situation
-Is so good at sneaking he may as well be invisible

Next thread: Can Martial Characters be more like Samurai Jack?


I've never considered high level characters to still be 'human.'

They left that behind by level 9 at the latest.

Now they're something stronger, something greater, something inhuman.

Ordinary people witnessing them function at 100% potential might call them monsters, and they wouldn't be wrong.


I am pretty sure characters stop being normal mortals around level 6. That's around where even skills let you surpass human limits to a large extent. That is when you can jump farther than any human can, regularly.


Woah man, no need to make this personal. If someone else's unimportant opinion offends you that much maybe you should step away from the thread.

Just remembered another good example was Guts from Berserk until he got some supernatural powers.


kyrt-ryder wrote:
I've never considered high level characters to still be 'human.'

Neither do I. The important question here is not the "if" of their (in)humanity, but the "why". If that "why" is defined as they-just-are-shut-up, then I would submit that superficial is about the nicest word one might use to describe it.

@Dragoon: I don't know where you get the idea that I am offended. My disdain for certain tropes is primarily an aesthetic objection, not a moral crusade.


Heh, yeah I'm not exactly down with 'they just are' either, but what I don't want to see is it described/identified as magic.

It's internal power [both in terms of the character's spirit, and the evolution of their body], it's a part of who and what they are. The power that allows Thor to swing his hammer and knock a full size castle flying off a cliff at level 17 or 18 isn't magic, it's the power he's cultivated within himself through the culmination of his experiences and self reflection.

100% EXE


Insain Dragoon wrote:

Woah man, no need to make this personal. If someone else's unimportant opinion offends you that much maybe you should step away from the thread.

Just remembered another good example was Guts from Berserk until he got some supernatural powers.

It's also when the series started to suck


The closest thing to supernatural powers Guts got was a Magic Sword and Magic Armor.

That's it.

Other than that Guts is nothing more than the culmination of his experiences. A pure badass lightning bruiser who makes every other giant sword wielder look like an amateur.


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(I see I got a massively ninja'ed on Beowulf. That's what I get for answering before reading the entire thread.)

The All Seeing Eye wrote:
I wonder if part of the problem is that because magic is so inherently detailed in what it can and cannot accomplishall the other sources of abilities seem less defined therefore less mechanically satisfying?

I'm confused. What _can't_ magic do in PF?

Part of the problem, IMO, is that fighters ALREADY have physics-breaking powers in PF - they're just the really boring ones of Hit Real Good and Survive Getting Hit.

Fighters need more 'natural', 'nonmagical' powers. Please remember that a troll's regeneration is nonmagical.


kyrt-ryder wrote:

The closest thing to supernatural powers Guts got was a Magic Sword and Magic Armor.

That's it.

Other than that Guts is nothing more than the culmination of his experiences. A pure badass lightning bruiser who makes every other giant sword wielder look like an amateur.

There is a theory which I subscribe to that after Guts recieved his mark, he stopped being fully human. Similar to how his sword became magically cursed, Guts himself accumulated a curse.


Insain Dragoon wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:

The closest thing to supernatural powers Guts got was a Magic Sword and Magic Armor.

That's it.

Other than that Guts is nothing more than the culmination of his experiences. A pure badass lightning bruiser who makes every other giant sword wielder look like an amateur.

There is a theory which I subscribe to that after Guts recieved his mark, he stopped being fully human. Similar to how his sword became magically cursed, Guts himself accumulated a curse.

The mark weakens him and attracts demons. His prosthesis are not as good as his limbs. Putting tech in the arm just compensates a little for the lack of a hand.

Guts survives regardless of handicapps and odds. The armor he eventually gets is a double edge sword and he only really used it because of the soul wound he got after slaying his first god severely weakened him


bookrat wrote:
Cheburn wrote:
bookrat wrote:
And what makes those distinguishable from running as fast as an arrow (which you can do in pathfinder with the right build).
What build gives you a move speed of 300'?

Well, you said 200 ft/sec. So that's 1200 feet per round.

The fastest I can get is 990 feet in one round - without magic.

So not quite up to speed as I originally thought. But pretty darn close! That guy is moving at 165 ft/sec. Or 112.5 mph. Usain Bolt hit around around 23-24 mph as the fastest human.

Someone could probably build a faster guy than me.

Elf. Martial Artist Monk 14. (w/ FCB). Cleric 1 (travel domain). Oracle 1 (Cinder Dance). Barbarian 4 (rage powers: swift foot, sprint). 10 fleet feats. Total movement = 165 with a x6 sprint = 990 ft in one round. And none of these speed bonuses are magical.

Edit: drop the cleric or oracle and add one monk level. That nets us an additional 5 feet of movement. So 170 x 6 = 1020 ft in one round. Without magic. Add in magic (a single first level spell: expeditious retreat) for a 30' bonus and we're now at the same speed as the arrow.

Edit 2: expiditious retreat and monk movement don't stack. :( Both are enhancement bonuses. Ah well.

First, congratulations on putting together a build with such high move speed. Sprint from Barbarian adds a lot (50%), but even without it, that's a ridiculously fast move speed. You can run a ~32 second mile, or a ~14 minute marathon (PF rules only say you can't run for "an extended period of time." I think we can make a case that 14 minutes is not "extended" so it's clearly RAW).

Second, it's a corner case where you've spent almost all of your resources (including all of your feats) to boost a single statistic (move speed while running). I don't believe this character would be viable at high level for much more than a super-messenger boy.

To me, though, this is (once again) a case where Paizo does not expect players to go and cherry pick through all of their published resources to build a character. It's a design failure on their part, and clever building on your part. I don't believe it at all indicates that the designers think characters should be able to move at this speed.

** Also, nit picking, but two of your resources (Cleric Domain and Oracle Revelation) come from divine sources. I know, I know, they're not tagged (Su) or (Sp), so they must be mundane, but ... seriously, they're from supernatural sources.


For what it's worth, his character wasted tons of resources on the absolute GARBAGE feat known as Fleet.

I don't know what the heck Paizo was thinking when they printed it, but they should have just saved the page space.

Even +10 feet would have been a bad feat, but at least it would have been a legitimate feat.

Increasing racial base movement speed by 100% every time the feat was taken, now that would be worthwhile for certain builds.

EDIT: and just because a Cleric or Oracle have had their body altered by supernatural entities doesn't mean those alterations are in and of themselves supernatural.


On the subject of speed demons, one of my favorite 3.5 characters was a Lolth-touched Mineral Warrior Dwarf Rokugan Ninja.

Well, the first 8 levels of Rokugan Ninja went into his build before he started multiclassing.

At level 8 they get a class feature that grants +5 movement speed per point of constitution bonus, with a 16 in Constitution to start and a +4 belt and +12 racial, that came out to +11 aka +55 speed at level 8. Tack on Boots of Striding and Springing and the Dwarf racial speed of 20 and his movement speed was 85 feet at level 8 ECL 10. A 1 level dip into Barbarian before diving into Fist of the Forest resulted in 95 feet at level 9 and 105 feet at level 10 Ecl 12.

I believe I was allowed to buy off one of the Level Adjustments, not 100% sure anymore.

His name was Nussak and the party occasionally joked around about "It's Nussak, the fastest dwarf aliiiive."

EDIT: and the jump check bonus was hilarious. A Dwarf with +60 to his jump checks before accounting for the Skill [which he maxed as a ninja] and Stat [Strength was his primary stat, Con and Strength both started at 16 but Strength got all the level boosts]

EDIT 2: it was also hilarious how much tankier he was than the d12 knight with his d6 hit die, though obviously this is diverging a bit from the speed subtopic.


kyrt-ryder wrote:
On the subject of speed demons, one of my favorite 3.5 characters was a Lolth-touched Mineral Warrior Dwarf Rokugan Ninja.

Heh...this almost sounds like a parody of TRICKED OUT 3.5 BUILD MAN!1!, with more titles than a member of the House of Lords. I like it.


the secret fire wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:
On the subject of speed demons, one of my favorite 3.5 characters was a Lolth-touched Mineral Warrior Dwarf Rokugan Ninja.
Heh...this almost sounds like a parody of TRICKED OUT 3.5 BUILD MAN!1!, with more titles than a member of the House of Lords. I like it.

The story of that character was actually way more awesome than the mechanical build itself.

Nussak's Story:
Born as a Mineral Warrior he was treated as sort of a chosen one blessed by the dwarf gods [but the birth of such a hero cost the life of his mother.] Without his mother's guidance, it was easy for one of the Priests- himself a leader in a secret dwarven cult of lolth masquerading as a traditional Dwarven Priest- to mold and shape the young Dwarven Man into becoming a powerful vassal for their Goddess.

With her blessings in addition to those gifted to him in his birth, Nussak went on to receive training in the combat arts with a focus on stealth and subterfuge [taking the Rokugan Ninja class.]

And who says lawful evil can't work well in a party? Sure they were expendable pawns he was manipulating towards his own ends, but they were useful pawns.


Cheburn wrote:
bookrat wrote:
Cheburn wrote:
bookrat wrote:
And what makes those distinguishable from running as fast as an arrow (which you can do in pathfinder with the right build).
What build gives you a move speed of 300'?

Well, you said 200 ft/sec. So that's 1200 feet per round.

The fastest I can get is 990 feet in one round - without magic.

So not quite up to speed as I originally thought. But pretty darn close! That guy is moving at 165 ft/sec. Or 112.5 mph. Usain Bolt hit around around 23-24 mph as the fastest human.

Someone could probably build a faster guy than me.

Elf. Martial Artist Monk 14. (w/ FCB). Cleric 1 (travel domain). Oracle 1 (Cinder Dance). Barbarian 4 (rage powers: swift foot, sprint). 10 fleet feats. Total movement = 165 with a x6 sprint = 990 ft in one round. And none of these speed bonuses are magical.

Edit: drop the cleric or oracle and add one monk level. That nets us an additional 5 feet of movement. So 170 x 6 = 1020 ft in one round. Without magic. Add in magic (a single first level spell: expeditious retreat) for a 30' bonus and we're now at the same speed as the arrow.

Edit 2: expiditious retreat and monk movement don't stack. :( Both are enhancement bonuses. Ah well.

First, congratulations on putting together a build with such high move speed. Sprint from Barbarian adds a lot (50%), but even without it, that's a ridiculously fast move speed. You can run a ~32 second mile, or a ~14 minute marathon (PF rules only say you can't run for "an extended period of time." I think we can make a case that 14 minutes is not "extended" so it's clearly RAW).

Second, it's a corner case where you've spent almost all of your resources (including all of your feats) to boost a single statistic (move speed while running). I don't believe this character would be viable at high level for much more than a super-messenger boy.

To me, though, this is (once again) a case where Paizo does not expect players to go and cherry pick through all of their...

Thanks!

I agree with you; I just also think that high level martials should get extraordinary abilities (which could be construed as bordering on the magical). For example, Bladed Dash should be something a martial character could do; it should not be a spell. To me, that would be a great extraordinary ability!

And to your nit-pick; I thought the same thing. I was debating whether or not to include it, but Cinder Dance is explicitly an Ex ability. :)

And really, that was only three books: CRB, APG, and UC (for sprint rage power).


I'm actually ok with Bladed Dash being a spell, but it should be a spell that is enabling the Magus to emulate martial prowess, NOT a spell that lets a Magus exceed martial prowess.

A +3 or 4 BAB martial should easily be able to acquire Bladed Dash and use it all day long. A Level 4 Magus can use it a limited number of times per day.


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HWalsh wrote:
the secret fire wrote:
Rub-Eta wrote:
I'm sorry but, 4th ed is nothing like "MMO" games, there are fundamental design differences. It's not even similar to any "MMORPG" games that are out there. I'd say that any edition of D&D and most other pen&paper RPGs are more like 4th ed than any "MMO" game. I think you just need to get over your hate for young people and their "MMO" games and motorcycles and their punk-rock music and their "My Little Pony" and their what not. Even when I'm not a fan of MMORPGs, I can't really say "people didn't like it", so 4th ed would probably be better off if it was more "MMORPG"-esq.

I dunno...I also get a video-gamey feel from the daily/encounter/at-will breakdown of abilities in 4th ed. It feels like a very contrived and artificial way to achieve game balance which is ultimately quite similar in its execution to games like Diablo.

I think 4th ed. is a perfect example of designers taking the easy way out in terms of game balance. Balancing limited-use magic with at-will martial abilities is hard, but that doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be done.

There was even an article where the 4th Ed devs did admit that they did base elements of the character mechanics on MMORPG mechanics. Just google it, shouldn't be hard to find.

And the same MMOs based most of their mechanics on RPGs, so it's just going back through the filter of mass playtesting.

I myself have studied some of the mechanics of MMO gameplay where it was succeeding at things that tabletop RPGs were failing at and the information was quite valuable. There is a lot of things that tabletop RPGs can pull from games like World of Warcraft and be better for it.

The thing is, people get the wrong idea (out of sheer ignorance it seems as many of the people I've met who criticize RPGs based on WoW also don't know much about WoW or where WoW works) as to what elements are desirable. It's not about things like pickup groups, color-coded items (hmmm, there's an idea), or whatever. It's just about what works.

In WoW, warriors make a transition from the mundane to the majestic. At lower levels, warriors in wow can do things like...

1. Cause a wound with severe bleeding that deals damage over time.
2. Hit someone with their shield and daze them.
3. Wound their legs to cripple their movement.
4. Parry an attack and counter it.

At high levels, warriors in wow can do things like...

0. Everything the low levels did but better.
1. Hit the ground so hard that it produces a shockwave that hurts and stuns foes.
2. Wield two-handed weapons in a single hand.
3. Leap into a crowd of enemies and turn into a tornado of blades that is unstoppable by man or magic.
4. Spank incoming spells back at their caster with their shield.
5. Dispel magical auras on a creature by striking with their shield.
6. Throw their weapon at an enemy and shatter their protective spells.
7. Leap through the air and crash into enemies stunning them in an AoE.
8. Become the avatar of a god of war.
9. Shout a roar that causes enemies to wet themselves and run screaming.
10. Charge around the battlefield rapidly and over great distances, crashing into enemies, and even from in the air, allowing you to look like you're pseudo-flying.

All things that are appropriate for high level heroes, that is - so far beyond divorced from the mundane realities of warriors - should probably be able to do. Since they do so much more than just hit people for some damage they can be very strong in team play even against enemies who are saturated in magical abilities.


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RDM42 wrote:
Um ... You can mix 3 and 3.5 elements without house rulings?

Perhaps house ruling is the wrong word, but 3e and 3.5 have different (albeit very similar) rules, and you have to decide which you are using (or pick & mix). There is no analogous decision with 4e and Essentials; you are just playing 4e.

But I'm probably wasting my virtual breath. Edition warriors will not be convinced, and anybody who actually knows anything about 4e doesn't need convincing.

_
glass.


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Rhedyn wrote:

One factor to all of this is that bigger numbers are pointless if the enimies numbers also get bigger.

This guts the point behind most martial class features.

Weapon training is garbage because you need it to hit things. Power attack is garbage because you have to use it. Once a Paladin can pass 95% of saves, further boost are pointless.

I just wanted to point out a few things.

1. Martials are usually sitting at between +5% to +25% accuracy by virtue of class when compared to their 3/4 competitors. This is prior to buffs or class features (with most martials having up to an additional +30% to even +70% hit chance abilities) which gives them an edge and makes them slightly better buff targets in many cases (Paladins w/ Divine Power are really awesome for example).

2. Power Attack is optional. IMHO, it's sweetest spot is actually 3rd-10th level. At 1st level, enemy HP is usually too low to matter and to-hit modifiers are in high demand. At 3rd level and fourth level the damage boost is significant for the types of foes you're facing and AC hasn't budged much from 1st level (most enemies in this theater have ACs around 16, and NPCs can't afford magic armor or even full-plate yet). However, as iterative attacks come online, the extra accuracy afforded by BAB, class features, and buffs, combined with damage bonuses from ability scores (which get up to around 30 easily enough at high levels), class features, and enhancement bonuses, makes many situations more attractive to the guy not using Power Attack (the penalty to hit keeps increasing) as it's very possible to hit with most if not all of your iterative attacks later on.

Let's take a well built Ranger for example. By around 16th level, our ranger has a +16/+11/+6/+1. He's probably sitting at around a 28-30 Strength score (+27/+18/+13/+8). He's sporting a +3 weapon (+30/+21/+16/+11). Boots of Speed and Heroism bring him to +33/+33/+24/+19/+14. He can drop instant enemy to bring him to +41/+41/+32/+27/+22 and if he really needs to, Quarry for +43/+43/+34/+29/+24 and auto-confirming critical threats.

Against a 34 AC foe (typical naked AC for CR 19 enemy), he has the following chances to hit: 95%(150%)/95%(150%)/95%(105%)/80%/60%. Power Attack gives him a -25% chance to hit for +15 damage, bringing his hit-% to 95%(125%)/95%(125%)/80%/55%/35%. Furious Focus doesn't help 'cause you're hit-% capped on the first attack either way. Now the +15 from PA might make up for the lost hits but probably not, because at this point we're looking at +24 static damage (Str + Enhancement + Favored Enemy) so hitting with your three iterative attacks is netting you another +75 damage (assuming you roll nothing but 1s on a d8).

The higher your enemy's AC scales the worse PA is for you (unless your to-hit % is so bad that you're hit capped at 5%, then PA all you can). This is against an unbuffed enemy. A pit fiend (who sports a naked AC of 42 before magic items) has little to fear from the power-attacking ranger by comparison to the non-PA ranger (as the PA ranger's DPR is going to suffer from it). The more damage per hit you can push the less PA's bonus damage helps (I'm being pretty generous in assuming only a +3 weapon as rangers can make their own magic weapons and having a golfbag of bane weapons and having your party's wizard cast greater magic weapon on them is not hard).

PA is good in certain situations. It is very far from required and is actually bad for most 3/4 classes who are relying on things like divine power to keep their hit/damage relevant.

3. Paladins reaching 95% saves and still getting more save potential is not wasted. In further insulates them from save-bombing. Having a 150% chance to save capped at 95% means you still get to laugh at the wizards using limited wish to give you a -45% chance to save. Similarly, when your enemies coordinate their debuffs, it means that you will still be sitting at 75% or better when everyone else would have gone from 95% to "roll a 20 or die".

Other than those little tidbits, carry on. :)


Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.


Rhedyn wrote:
Usane Bolt can run 200ft per round. Making his move action either 50ft or 40ft. Being 6 times faster than him is still well within the realm of possible.

Honestly, he'd probably have a 30 speed, as well with probably the run feat. If cats and leopards have a speed of 30, then I don't see a reason why he shouldn't, too.


Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Usane Bolt can run 200ft per round. Making his move action either 50ft or 40ft. Being 6 times faster than him is still well within the realm of possible.
Honestly, he'd probably have a 30 speed, as well with probably the run feat. If cats and leopards have a speed of 30, then I don't see a reason why he shouldn't, too.

His speed per move action is 40ft with the run feet.


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glass wrote:
RDM42 wrote:
Um ... You can mix 3 and 3.5 elements without house rulings?

Perhaps house ruling is the wrong word, but 3e and 3.5 have different (albeit very similar) rules, and you have to decide which you are using (or pick & mix). There is no analogous decision with 4e and Essentials; you are just playing 4e.

But I'm probably wasting my virtual breath. Edition warriors will not be convinced, and anybody who actually knows anything about 4e doesn't need convincing.

_
glass.

You aren't entirely wasting your breath. I probably count as someone who "knows [something] about 4e", since I played it for awhile before switching back to 3.5. However, I didn't know what you just said about Essentials, since I never got any of the essentials series (it came out after I stopped playing 4e). Seeing as you play 4e regularly and I don't, I can fairly readily take your word for it.


Rhedyn wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Usane Bolt can run 200ft per round. Making his move action either 50ft or 40ft. Being 6 times faster than him is still well within the realm of possible.
Honestly, he'd probably have a 30 speed, as well with probably the run feat. If cats and leopards have a speed of 30, then I don't see a reason why he shouldn't, too.
His speed per move action is 40ft with the run feet.

Speed is usually abstracted, hence my cat and leopard example. That being the case, I'd have his speed at 30 with the run feat.


Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Usane Bolt can run 200ft per round. Making his move action either 50ft or 40ft. Being 6 times faster than him is still well within the realm of possible.
Honestly, he'd probably have a 30 speed, as well with probably the run feat. If cats and leopards have a speed of 30, then I don't see a reason why he shouldn't, too.
His speed per move action is 40ft with the run feet.
Speed is usually abstracted, hence my cat and leopard example. That being the case, I'd have his speed at 30 with the run feat.

Not according to the math. Usane bolt would have to be a level 3 commoner in PF with fleet, fleet, and run.


Rhedyn wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Rhedyn wrote:
Usane Bolt can run 200ft per round. Making his move action either 50ft or 40ft. Being 6 times faster than him is still well within the realm of possible.
Honestly, he'd probably have a 30 speed, as well with probably the run feat. If cats and leopards have a speed of 30, then I don't see a reason why he shouldn't, too.
His speed per move action is 40ft with the run feet.
Speed is usually abstracted, hence my cat and leopard example. That being the case, I'd have his speed at 30 with the run feat.
Not according to the math. Usane bolt would have to be a level 3 commoner in PF with fleet, fleet, and run.

Yes, but in game where things are abstracted and not absolute that might not be the case. Leopards can run 35+ mph, but still have 30 speed and high dex. Another example is the lightning stance feat, where you run so fast that you have 50% concealment. Even with concealment from running, you still have 30 land speed, but you still have to meet a 17 dex requirement. So it would seem speed can be represented through dexterity, too, because speed is another abstraction.

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Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.

but we're not talking Mythic Rules, we're talking normal rules.

And we're talking those Strength scores, not just lift-and-carry. Throw a spell of Giant form on the first level guy and he can lift and carry tons, too. Not quite the point I'm trying to make, here.

Spiderman can jump a ten story building. he can effectively run 100 mph+. He can see bullets and dodge them. He essentially has perfect hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as exceptional recuperation abilities and stamina when fighting.

All of which are incredibly high priced in the game itself.

==Aelryinth


And Spiderman fits best around levels 9-12, he starts getting left behind as the levels continue to go up beyond that point.


Well the solution then is to make combat feats get unrealistic or give martials a little bit of magic. I'm trying out both over on the homebrew forums.


Aelryinth wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.

but we're not talking Mythic Rules, we're talking normal rules.

And we're talking those Strength scores, not just lift-and-carry. Throw a spell of Giant form on the first level guy and he can lift and carry tons, too. Not quite the point I'm trying to make, here.

Spiderman can jump a ten story building. he can effectively run 100 mph+. He can see bullets and dodge them. He essentially has perfect hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as exceptional recuperation abilities and stamina when fighting.

All of which are incredibly high priced in the game itself.

==Aelryinth

Yeah, but if your talking about people that can do that sort of thing those are the rules they would fall into. So Spider-Man would likely have 32 strength plus the mythic ability. They wouldn't just give him a whopping 52. Just like jumping very high, covered by a mythic ability, as they wouldn't give him +400 on acrobatics.

As for hand eye coordination and seeing bullets, monks can catch bullets at like level 2. As for running fast, there's a feat that allows you to have 50% concealment while running. IDK how fast that translates to, but being nearly invisible while running sounds pretty fast.


You're missing the point Sauce.

The Mythic rules were a mistake. They kind of sort of bring martials up to roughly where they should be in the normal rules [barring a few outlier abilities that don't belong, and a few generic 'mythic crushes nonmythic just because' rules] but then they take casters up to 11.


kyrt-ryder wrote:

You're missing the point Sauce.

The Mythic rules were a mistake. They kind of sort of bring martials up to roughly where they should be in the normal rules [barring a few outlier abilities that don't belong, and a few generic 'mythic crushes nonmythic just because' rules] but then they take casters up to 11.

I agree those rules should be normal for martial characters, but since it's not the case the mythic rules is where many of those Marvel characters would fall into. I was just bringing that up since that's how the game in its current state would handle it.


Sauce987654321 wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:

You're missing the point Sauce.

The Mythic rules were a mistake. They kind of sort of bring martials up to roughly where they should be in the normal rules [barring a few outlier abilities that don't belong, and a few generic 'mythic crushes nonmythic just because' rules] but then they take casters up to 11.

I agree those rules should be normal for martial characters, but since it's not the case the mythic rules is where many of those Marvel characters would fall into. I was just bringing that up since that's how the game in its current state would handle it.

I'd have to agree considering how difficult it is to kill a marvel character. :)


Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.

but we're not talking Mythic Rules, we're talking normal rules.

And we're talking those Strength scores, not just lift-and-carry. Throw a spell of Giant form on the first level guy and he can lift and carry tons, too. Not quite the point I'm trying to make, here.

Spiderman can jump a ten story building. he can effectively run 100 mph+. He can see bullets and dodge them. He essentially has perfect hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as exceptional recuperation abilities and stamina when fighting.

Yeah, but if your talking about people that can do that sort of thing those are the rules they would fall into. So Spider-Man would likely have 32 strength plus the mythic ability. They wouldn't just give him a whopping 52. Just like jumping very high, covered by a mythic ability, as they wouldn't give him +400 on acrobatics.

As for hand eye coordination and seeing bullets, monks can catch bullets at like level 2. As for running fast, there's a feat that allows you to have 50% concealment while running. IDK how fast that translates to, but being nearly invisible while running sounds pretty fast.

Except there's no indication that Spider-man has special strength for lifting things. He punches things really hard too. Every game system that's implemented superheroes has had lifting strength pretty much equated straight to hitting things strength.

Of course, implementing actual superheroes in PF is pretty silly anyway, despite the "superheroic" power levels you can reach. The tropes are too different.

And just as a nitpick to earlier description - Spidey doesn't "see bullets and dodge them". His danger sense kicks in and he dodges. Seeing them isn't really involved.


thejeff wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.

but we're not talking Mythic Rules, we're talking normal rules.

And we're talking those Strength scores, not just lift-and-carry. Throw a spell of Giant form on the first level guy and he can lift and carry tons, too. Not quite the point I'm trying to make, here.

Spiderman can jump a ten story building. he can effectively run 100 mph+. He can see bullets and dodge them. He essentially has perfect hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as exceptional recuperation abilities and stamina when fighting.

Yeah, but if your talking about people that can do that sort of thing those are the rules they would fall into. So Spider-Man would likely have 32 strength plus the mythic ability. They wouldn't just give him a whopping 52. Just like jumping very high, covered by a mythic ability, as they wouldn't give him +400 on acrobatics.

As for hand eye coordination and seeing bullets, monks can catch bullets at like level 2. As for running fast, there's a feat that allows you to have 50% concealment while running. IDK how fast that translates to, but being nearly invisible while running sounds pretty fast.

Except there's no indication that Spider-man has special strength for lifting things. He punches things really hard too. Every game...

Just about any martial has the ability to hit way harder than their strength normally allows because of modifiers and feats.


thejeff wrote:
Of course, implementing actual superheroes in PF is pretty silly anyway, despite the "superheroic" power levels you can reach. The tropes are too different.

Can you elaborate?

I've had reinterpretations of numerous X-Men and a few avengers in my campaigns and didn't strike me as silly at all.


bookrat wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:

You're missing the point Sauce.

The Mythic rules were a mistake. They kind of sort of bring martials up to roughly where they should be in the normal rules [barring a few outlier abilities that don't belong, and a few generic 'mythic crushes nonmythic just because' rules] but then they take casters up to 11.

I agree those rules should be normal for martial characters, but since it's not the case the mythic rules is where many of those Marvel characters would fall into. I was just bringing that up since that's how the game in its current state would handle it.
I'd have to agree considering how difficult it is to kill a marvel character. :)

If we're sticking to that, concept-wise physical prowess doesn't fall into super-power mode unless mythic, then what ways would be acceptable for 'martials getting nice things'? Outlandish techniques? Creating abilities for strength levels of a person that can lift more than the world's record? I admit that Spider-man level prowess is kind of out there for a guy to just get but what about Captain America, who technically doesn't have super strength? What about minor magic or alchemical tools?


Captain America can basically be built in Pathfinder already.

The problem is he doesn't fully represent Cap's prowess 100% until the mid teens or above, when Capatain America isn't over level 8.

EDIT: that, and Cap has a will of freaking Iron when every martial in Pathfinder is an enchanter's wet dream.


kyrt-ryder wrote:

Captain America can basically be built in Pathfinder already.

The problem is he doesn't fully represent Cap's prowess 100% until the mid teens or above, when Capatain America isn't over level 8.

EDIT: that, and Cap has a will of freaking Iron when every martial in Pathfinder is an enchanter's wet dream.

actually, just as I was trying to bring up earlier with BW and Hawkeye, you just don't get your skills up to represent them at all, even level 20+, you can get some of their gimmicks, but either you build them to do everything sub-optimal or you specialize and can pull off a portion of their capabilities well, but you still can't replicate their out of combat capabilities at that point.


kyrt-ryder wrote:

Captain America can basically be built in Pathfinder already.

The problem is he doesn't fully represent Cap's prowess 100% until the mid teens or above, when Capatain America isn't over level 8.

EDIT: that, and Cap has a will of freaking Iron when every martial in Pathfinder is an enchanter's wet dream.

Superficially he can be made but he is much more capable than a Cap-build Brawler, particularly in the mobility department. Although it is a poor example because Marvel will cut a lot of heroes out of the equation that can handle a situation more readily. For example during Civil War, Hulk and Thor were out because they are incredibly powerful and would unbalance the situation.


thejeff wrote:

Of course, implementing actual superheroes in PF is pretty silly anyway, despite the "superheroic" power levels you can reach. The tropes are too different.

And just as a nitpick to earlier description - Spidey doesn't "see bullets and dodge them". His danger sense kicks in and he dodges. Seeing them isn't really involved.

This is pretty much textbook Uncanny Dodge. Spiderman has an insane agility + Uncanny Dodge which allows him to retain his AC against attacks despite being unaware of them.

A secondary feature of Spiderman's spider-sense is pretty much textbook diviner's initiative. If combat starts, he's on the initiative track. Venom has an ability that explicitly allows him to get a surprise round against Spiderman despite his awesome modifiers.

Honestly, building super hero-esque characters in Pathfinder isn't that hard. I've wanted to do a super-hero-adventurer game for a while but the concept of it confuses people who can't make genre-salad.

Vigilante Pathfinder Game Pitch:
Pathfinder characters are minor superheroes out of the gate, since most of them have minor but noteworthy abilities compared to commoners. By mid levels they're pretty much the X-Men, and by high levels they could actually curbstomp most of the cast of Marvel comics (because there's not much that even characters like the Hulk could do against the terrible things that D&D PCs go up against).

Similarly, Urban adventures place PCs in a position where their murderhobo-ing isn't very appreciated. Law and order doesn't lend itself to adventuring like wilderness and dungeons do, and heroes taking the law into their own hands probably aren't going to make many friends among those in power (especially if those in power may be at least a little corrupt).

Enter the vigilante (not that horrible class) campaign where the PCs live their lives as mostly normal people but don disguises and aliases to adventure in the urban environment and deal with threats against the citizens and city from within.


Malwing wrote:
bookrat wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
kyrt-ryder wrote:

You're missing the point Sauce.

The Mythic rules were a mistake. They kind of sort of bring martials up to roughly where they should be in the normal rules [barring a few outlier abilities that don't belong, and a few generic 'mythic crushes nonmythic just because' rules] but then they take casters up to 11.

I agree those rules should be normal for martial characters, but since it's not the case the mythic rules is where many of those Marvel characters would fall into. I was just bringing that up since that's how the game in its current state would handle it.
I'd have to agree considering how difficult it is to kill a marvel character. :)
If we're sticking to that, concept-wise physical prowess doesn't fall into super-power mode unless mythic, then what ways would be acceptable for 'martials getting nice things'? Outlandish techniques? Creating abilities for strength levels of a person that can lift more than the world's record? I admit that Spider-man level prowess is kind of out there for a guy to just get but what about Captain America, who technically doesn't have super strength? What about minor magic or alchemical tools?

I was more trying to make a play on words abilities. Mythic characters have the Hard to Kill ability, while Marvel characters have the Power of Plot.


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One thing that could help is to get rid of some of the artificial limiters that should work if you have the right stats.

For example, naturally eliminate the movement limit for jumping. Eliminate the size category limit for combat maneuvers.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

thejeff wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:
Sauce987654321 wrote:
Aelryinth wrote:

PHysical abilities are overpriced in PF and mental abilities are underpriced.

If you use Marvel Thor, whose base Str lifting is about 100 Tons, that's Str 65 or so.

Since the PF scale is x4 per ten points, someone like Spiderman, who can lift and throw a car a short distance with a 15 ton rating, is about Str 52 or so.

Reasonably, the max most melees can hope for at the end of a career is the 32-33 range, which is about a ton.

Strength on that level can just be covered by mythic rules. A barbarian with 20 STR + 4 rage bonus with Mule Back Cords and Display of Strength can reach 52 as well. That's just being first level, too. It's really no big deal.

but we're not talking Mythic Rules, we're talking normal rules.

And we're talking those Strength scores, not just lift-and-carry. Throw a spell of Giant form on the first level guy and he can lift and carry tons, too. Not quite the point I'm trying to make, here.

Spiderman can jump a ten story building. he can effectively run 100 mph+. He can see bullets and dodge them. He essentially has perfect hand-eye coordination and balance, as well as exceptional recuperation abilities and stamina when fighting.

Yeah, but if your talking about people that can do that sort of thing those are the rules they would fall into. So Spider-Man would likely have 32 strength plus the mythic ability. They wouldn't just give him a whopping 52. Just like jumping very high, covered by a mythic ability, as they wouldn't give him +400 on acrobatics.

As for hand eye coordination and seeing bullets, monks can catch bullets at like level 2. As for running fast, there's a feat that allows you to have 50% concealment while running. IDK how fast that translates to, but being nearly invisible while running sounds pretty fast.

Except there's no indication that Spider-man has special strength for lifting things. He punches things really hard too. Every game...

COunter nitpick: Spiderman has reflexes at least 15x faster then human. He can see bullets. His spider-sense allows him to dodge things before they actually happen, and in terms of metapower, is closer to the 9th level ability 'foresight'. He can, after all, sense when to stop a spinning roulette wheel bomb on the one number where it won't go off, and stuff like that. Even in circumstances where his spider-sense gets shut down, it's VERY hard to lay a hand on him. He can sense when Thanos is about to snap his fingers and kill half of all life in the universe.

Or to put it another way, there's an old comic where he's going up against speed demon, who can move way faster then Spidey...Spidey can see him move, he just can't lay a glove on him. Even without his spider-sense, his reflexes are fast enough that he can just barely dodge a gun fired at point-blank range.

Oh, and monks can dodge 1 bullet (missile)/rd, and takes another feat to catch it. Dodge missile has a real limitation on it. Note spidey can't catch a bullet, but certain martial artists in Marvel-dom can.

==Aelryinth


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Malwing wrote:

One thing that could help is to get rid of some of the artificial limiters that should work if you have the right stats.

For example, naturally eliminate the movement limit for jumping. Eliminate the size category limit for combat maneuvers.

Honestly I think that the size category limits for maneuvers are pointless and have always been. Characters of smaller sizes should be much weaker in terms of maneuver potential than larger characters in the system (in 3.x, you had at least a 4 point difference to size-related checks when mis-sized and it got much higher, before accounting for ability scores). Even comparing a human to an ogre, the ogre's got a +10 racial bonus to Strength (+5 CMB/CMD), -2 Dex (-1 CMD), and a +1 due to size. Ignoring BAB, the ogre should already have a pretty huge advantage over a man-sized character and a massive advantage over a halfling-sized character.

If El Flyrkee the Kobold Luchador can manage to grapple, trip, disarm, or bull rush the ogre's CMD, let him!


Ashiel wrote:
Malwing wrote:

One thing that could help is to get rid of some of the artificial limiters that should work if you have the right stats.

For example, naturally eliminate the movement limit for jumping. Eliminate the size category limit for combat maneuvers.

Honestly I think that the size category limits for maneuvers are pointless and have always been. Characters of smaller sizes should be much weaker in terms of maneuver potential than larger characters in the system (in 3.x, you had at least a 4 point difference to size-related checks when mis-sized and it got much higher, before accounting for ability scores). Even comparing a human to an ogre, the ogre's got a +10 racial bonus to Strength (+5 CMB/CMD), -2 Dex (-1 CMD), and a +1 due to size. Ignoring BAB, the ogre should already have a pretty huge advantage over a man-sized character and a massive advantage over a halfling-sized character.

If El Flyrkee the Kobold Luchador can manage to grapple, trip, disarm, or bull rush the ogre's CMD, let him!

Quite frankly there are a lot of limiters that don't really need to be there. I'm reminded of my constant house rules that weapon size difference goes by 'handedness' so a Halfling can wield a medium longsword as a two handed weapon and any handedness past that gets a cumulative pentalty. That way when you get to abilities like Titan Mauler instead of some garble that doesn't even work right at first you can just be able to count as a size category bigger for the purpose of wielding weapons and the game doesn't break down.


3 people marked this as a favorite.
Malwing wrote:
Quite frankly there are a lot of limiters that don't really need to be there. I'm reminded of my constant house rules that weapon size difference goes by 'handedness' so a Halfling can wield a medium longsword as a two handed weapon and any handedness past that gets a cumulative pentalty. That way when you get to abilities like Titan Mauler instead of some garble that doesn't even work right at first you can just be able to count as a size category bigger for the purpose of wielding weapons and the game doesn't break down.

Sounds very similar to the house rule I use which is based on 3.0 which was, also, very similar. In 3.0, weapons had size categories right along with creatures.

A short sword = small longsword
A longsword = medium longsword
A greatsword = large longsword

And so forth.

Creatures could wield a weapon their size in 1-hand, a smaller weapon as a light weapon, and up to +1 size category as a 2-hander. It was IMHO very simple and worked well. It also made random treasure suck significantly less for small or large sized races since finding a medium longsword wasn't a huge loss for a halfling, nor finding a halfling-sized longsword a huge bummer for a human. In 3.5 and PF, suddenly they magically take a -2 penalty for it being mis-sized (poor Bilbo and Frodo, Sting was giving them a -2 since that elven blade sure as hell wasn't made for no halflings :P).

It also opened up things that you just can't do in Pathfinder anymore. Like wielding a small-sized longspear 1-handed with a shield (sorry, no phalanx reach + shields, that'd be silly, like fighters having nice things).

EDIT: Because of course it was so very too much OP to let Fighter-types take Exotic Weapon Proficiency [Bastard Sword] and be able to wield bastard swords ranging from small to large size to deal 1d8, 1d10, and 2d8 damage. Oh no, the horror.

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