It's been a long while since i played a game of pathfinder, and I recently joined a group in serious need of additional players. The pathfinder group was initially very undermanned, causing the only two players to multiclass in some very bizarre ways to cover other niches. Both PCs are level 7, one being a rogue/fighter and the other being a cleric/wizard/sorcerer who for some reason likes to stand in melee range. They also have an NPC companion who is some kind of arcane caster lacking serious firepower.
From my first session, they seem to be lacking several things:
1. Pure casters: They lack access to higher level spells. Especially damaging ones.
2. They are fighting undead in very large packs (sometimes 50+ undead), some being incorporeal (shadows), with little way to hit the ghosty goos. Also need fireballs.
3. We've fought ghouls several times, but the party has little preparation against their stench.
They weren't always fighting undead, so I should assume that once this section of the adventure is concluded, our enemies will be more varied. I've begun creation of a level 6 arcanist to help alleviate some of the party's issues, while my brother is making a level 6 shaman.
Some of the questions I'm pondering at the moment are:
1. Would I be better serving the group's needs by playing a wizard as opposed to an arcanist? How important is scribe scroll if I have to cover for most of the group's arcane caster needs?
2. Since they need damaging area of effect spells, if I play a wizard, would focusing on evocation (admixture) as my arcane school be an optimal choice or are there better choices?
3. Of my starting 16,000 GP, how much of it should I dedicate to items for fighting the undead? Should I invest in a lesser metamagic rod of ectoplasmic spell to handle the ghosts or should I leave the undead fighting to the divine casters?
4. On the shaman's side of things, how much of his 16,000 GP should he invest in recovery items for poison, disease, and ability damage? If we're fighting shadows, is investing in a wand of lesser restoration worth it over other options? (Edit: The multiclass cleric shows little sign of having said recovery items).
I'd be grateful for any assistance or additional advice.
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Gluttony Wizard
Turn as many of the Undead you're Facing with Command Undead (Spell and Feat)...Fireball/Wall of fire the rest of them.
Zombie fights are always a source of good Bemusement. Earn a little extra gold Betting on your zombie fights.
No need to spend money fighting undead when the dumb things will fight each other at your command =)
Let the shaman Handle fixing problems since their list is catered to it.
Buying a wand of Lesser restoration will fix your blood money costs....so yes invest.
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I think your brother should roll a cleric with sun domain(sarenrae, Iomedae) if there are many incorpreals involved. Or a life oracle. You might want a blaster evoker wizard dip 1 lv cross blooded sorc instead of arcanist.
I can list stuff that divine casters should carry:
Remove fear (5 scrolls)
Lesser restoration (2 scrolls)
Remove paralysis (2 scrolls)
Remove blindness/deafness (1 scroll)
Remove blindness (1 scroll)
Reach rod
Remove sickness (3 scrolls)
Magic circle against evil (1 scroll)
1 wand of protection against evil
1 scroll breath of life in spring loaded wrist sheathe.
2 scrolls delay poison
For arcane casters list:
1 wand of grease
2 scrolls gust of wind
2 scrolls see invisibility
1 scroll fly
2 scrolls gust of wind
1 rod of selective spell (yes Mr blaster, yes you).
I'm assuming you always prepare glitterdust.
Sorry Fruian, I can't stand necromancy school. Undead have high will saves, so commanding them may not be that easy. Also, in the name of god, don't command anything that can create spawn.
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It's ok Mort...My school is not for everyone this I know.
Its funny you mention the Will saves...I had a motto with my last gluttony wizard...They can always roll a 1 or poorly. I would say it before I Declared my action.
First time fighting 4 Ghouls...I Commanded Undead (the Feat) and got 2 of them...Killed the other 2 and came up on more...got 2 more...it became a steam roller effect...I Maxed out on HD and laughed as I walked behind my Army of Fodder with a full spell list to boot.
The DM tended to roll poorly against that character. Hell he rolled a 1 against my magic Jar verses Long tooth in the Battle of Sandpoint and Had his Giant army wrecked by their own dragon. He made sure during the retreat a Giant found my hidden body and Coup de graced me, then ripped him in half and stole the body on escape leaving me 0 chance of a resurrection..Kind of a big screw you for taking all my good creatures.
But I digress...what Mort is saying is very good advice if you want a blaster...Don't mind me Necromancy is my favorite school of magic followed closely by Conjuration.
and you are 100% correct on not making/controlling Spawn creating Minions. When I play the majority of the time I only take control of what is thrown at me or Animate what we already killed (like giants) and use them. I like to keep it simple anyways as not to confuse DMs or tempt them into turning my pets on me.
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I studied necromancy. It's part of the wizards need to study every school clause, whether you like it or not. But necromancy, I find, attacks the undead's best saves, and also you get weird looks from the party when you even hint that you want to go around with a *insert skeleton* here. Tends to get you kicked out of towns mighty quick :(
I agree that Magic Jar is a very good spell, I've been trying to find a way to keep my body hidden(the last thought experiment involved shrink object, a bag of holding and an imp familiar), but it gave me too much of a headache, so I skipped the school altogether.
Thanks for the help! It looks like my brother actually wanted to play the blaster, so we're switching places. That was a good catch with selective spell metamagic rod. I completely missed that when looking through the mountain of magic items.
Necromancy is perhaps my favorite school. Everything undead aside, it has a ton of fun spells.
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Look into double metamagic traits, wayang spell hunter and magical lineage, on fireball, so dazing fireball is a level 4 spell.
For evokers if you want sheer damage, get this feat chain:
Spell focus evocation
Varisian tattoo
Spell specialization
Intensify Spell
Spell Penetration, and Greater
Empower Spell
Burning arc is very nice blasty lv 2 spell.
Forgot to mention, I usually dislike evocation, but when it comes to undead, there aren't many choices good to go with them, and if it's incorporeal, even worse, as most summons don't have magic weapons.
In fact, I would actually have a talk with your GM if incorporeals show up too often, its very hard for most of the party to contribute to an incorporeal fight.