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You're playing a Skald, so if mobility is not an issue with your character, investing in medium armor might be an option, especially if he is using a 2H weapon.
In addition, when you reach L2 you have the option to 'respec/rework' your character (before you apply the L2) if you've found the stats don't work 'quite' right, or there's something else you've discovered you want to do.
By that point, you'll have three chronicles worth of gold to work with (All gear can be sold back at full price if desired at that point).
If you have not looked it up already, there is a Guide to Organized play... You can find it here..
I strongly recommend reading through it before finalizing your L2 advancement, if not sooner.
Beyond that?
Welcome aboard, and may your hits be crits, and your tunes be METAL
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I cannot recommend the spell singer skald archtype enough.
~75% of the characters I have seen gain no benefit from raging, and many are actively crippled by it. (Bye-bye spell casting!) But almost no one turns down a +1 enhancement bonus, or later, +1d6 elemental damage targeted to bypass your enemies resistance. And while incorporeal foes are not omni-present, being able to drop ghost touch on everyone's weapons for a standard action is worth serious gold.
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Just to be clear here: We're talking about the hybrid-class skald, not the bard archetype savage skald, right?
Well then.
If you go for oratory you don't need an instrument.
Medium armor is a given.
Your axe already deals slashing damage, so you should consider the "usual" problems:
Bludgeoning, piercing, cold iron and silver.
While you theoretically could make your greataxe a cold iron or silver weapon, I would not suggest doing that. Cold iron makes it expensive to enchant and silver lessens the damage.
Give Painlord's What to Expect at a PFS table a quick read. You should not treat it as gospel obviously, but it give some good suggestions - a silver morning star is great because it's both bludgeoning and piercing, for example.
Torches or (in my opinion better) sunrods are always a good investment - last time my party went into a dungeon they were surprised how little a light spell really illuminates. Not to mention the headache it generates if only one person has it prepped.
Other than that - consider buying a few scrolls. For example, comprehend languages is something you rarely use, so you probably won't learn it. But if the need arises and you have a scroll handy you will be celebrated.
As for throwing weapons...I hate those things and always go for a bow, sling or crossbow. But in my experience as a melee character you rarely need to go ranged in low levels (I know, blasphemy!) and if you do the fight is often over after five to ten rounds.
20 foot move speed is the devil for melee. AVOID!
Save up for the mithral breastplate.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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The pricing of various items can be found in the appropriate section of the PRD here.
As was mentioned earlier, be sure to read the player sections of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide, especially the sections on fame, purchase limits, and always available items.
Just remember that in order to use additional resources like the skald class, you need to own and bring with you to the game a physical copy of the book, or the relevant printed pages from a .pdf watermarked with your name.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Just remember that in order to use additional resources like the skald class, you need to own and bring with you to the game a physical copy of the book, or the relevant printed pages from a .pdf watermarked with your name.You can also bring an electronic copy of the pdf.
Yes, thanks for pointing that out Andrew! I thought it went without saying, but it is important to be specific and complete.
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If I might recommend the feat "Skald's Vigor". Fast healing while raging will help your survival! There are some shenanigans to crank it up to 8/round by level 5, but that's pretty cheesy.
Other things that are crazy useful to have available (particularly in early levels:
-Scroll of Gust of Wind: blow away those fog clouds and swarms!
-Scroll of Comprehend Languages: They're cheap, and you'll probably use the spell once every 3-5 scenarios.
-Anti-toxin/Anti-plague: +5 vs. poison/disease for an hour, best after a few levels as 50gp a pop is nothing to sneeze at at your level.
-Rope + Grappling Hook: I don't use them every game, but I probably use them once every 2-4 scenarios in some manner.
...orrrrr
Save your gold! You also might hold off on making your weapon masterwork right now. An alternative option is to wait until level 3 or so and purchase an adamantine weapon for your primary, then enchant the heck out of that. I'd still suggest the two above scrolls though, those are just useful.
Either way, welcome to the fold! Now go forth... AND ROCK!
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20 foot move speed is the devil for melee. AVOID!
Save up for the mithral breastplate.
Never bothered me much. Let's agree to disagree!
(It really is a tradeoff between AC and mobility. There will be situations where you curse your slowness and situations where you curse your lower AC. Guess it depends what you feel fits your character better.)
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I would also mention that you have to OWN all the resources that you plan to use for your character(s). This includes the core rulebook and the Advanced Race Guide. Families are allowed to share the resources so each person would not need to buy the resources. Not sure if "fiancee" is considered family but I won't have a problem with it.
The requirement to own the resources sometimes catches new players off-guard.
Paizo does sell PDFs for almost all of their products and those are valid for ownership.
As suggested, download the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide and both of you read it carefully to make sure you understand everything.
And don't be afraid to ask questions like you already are. There are some great people in this game and on these boards who are extremely helpful to new players.
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Assuming you apply your pregen's chronicle to your character, you should have 500gp from the level 7 scenario you played. This would allow you to purchase a masterwork weapon, or you could spend the 2PP you earned for one item worth 750 GP. Most people use this for a wand of Cure Light Wounds, but it also is enough for a masterwork cold iron weapon.
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For fun and flavor later on, consider a Lute of the battle ready.
Not so much as your primary weapon, but
A. Because you are a skald with a Guitar that is actually a magical axe, and it doesn't get more metal than that!
B. Because it is nice for those "Come in, but leave your weapons at the door so we can ambush you later" scenarios.
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here you go, a couple links to older threads that might help you...
One of these days I need to read these. After roughly 200 sessions, I still have no idea what to expect at a PFS table. :p
One of these days I need to read these. After roughly 200 sessions, I still have no idea what to expect at a PFS table. :phere you go, a couple links to older threads that might help you...
One of the items on the list IS the unexpected
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One of these days I need to read these. After roughly 200 sessions, I still have no idea what to expect at a PFS table. :pOne of the items on the list IS the unexpected
Well, if you expect the unexpected, but nothing else, technically you're already expecting everything you're going to encounter. So you're set!
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That's not a bad idea either. Then I still have cash left over for other stuff. I can still enchant my Masterwork Cold Iron Greataxe later on in life, correct?
Yes, you can enchant the Greataxe later on in life, but keep in mind cold iron costs more to enchant, which means your fame (how expensive an item you can access in PFS) is even more relevant down the road. From the Core rulebook:
Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts. Also, adding any magical enhancements to a cold iron weapon increases its price by 2,000 gp. This increase is applied the first time the item is enhanced, not once per ability added.
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With that said, Cold Iron is still a fantastic material for weapons, and you will probably be happy on several occasions to have a weapon that cleaves through demons' Damage Reduction with ease.
It's handy - until you get the weapon up to +3 and it becomes redundant and a waste of 2k.
Usually I go mithril for lighter weapons (where it doesn't cost much more... heck - a halfling's mithril dagger is cheaper than a steel masterwork one :P) and adamantine for sunder builds - but otherwise I don't bother. (Adamantine would be worth more if you are going up against robots with hardness.) Especially in PFS where stuff rarely damages your weapons, so the extra toughness of mithril/adamantine rarely comes up.
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That's not a bad idea either. Then I still have cash left over for other stuff. I can still enchant my Masterwork Cold Iron Greataxe later on in life, correct?
You can, but remember if you ever need to sell it that the original cost is 0. You'll only get back the cost of the enchantments.
It might be better to grab the masterwork cold iron version with PP and then buy an adamantine version later to enchant. Instead of spending the extra 2k due to cold iron, you spend 3k to get adamantine and still have your cold iron for backup until your main weapon hits +3 and can overcome that DR too.
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(Adamantine would be worth more if you are going up against robots with hardness.) Especially in PFS where stuff rarely damages your weapons, so the extra toughness of mithril/adamantine rarely comes up.
Man, I've hit more than a few scenarios where your weapon gets damaged or you are fighting something with hardness and I have to say I always prefer to have the option as my primary. It also means that you only ever have to enchant a weapon to a +3 to bypass practically all DR, which is handy, and if you need to do some emergency sundering you're good to go.
It doesn't come up really often, but it's saved my butt enough times it's become my first big weapon purchase for all classes that use a weapon as their primary combat tool. I rarely get to the full +3, but I find that things with #/adamantine DR tend to be tougher than most other things, and I'd prefer the advantage in those fights over cold iron.
--To OP--
Go with what suits you! Near TPKs with killer robots has taught me that adamantine is my friend, so I can only recommend it. But as CLH said, it doesn't happen very often. I think I've seen it once every dozen scenarios or so.
-edit-
What TOZ said. Do that. I always forget about PP.
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Don't spend prestige on a cold iron weapon. The cost of cold iron is only twice the base cost of the weapon, then you add the 300 gold for the masterwork cost. You don't double the masterwork cost as well. So a masterwork cold iron greataxe only costs 340gp, not 640. The prestige is better spent on something that costs closer to 750 gold.
Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts (not counting masterwork costs).
Emphasis mine. The PRD does not contain that line in parenthesis, but the latest PDF of the Core Rulebook does.
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Don't forget ways to deal with swarms. A few alchemist fires or flasks of acid are probably all you need. Swarms can be pretty deadly and show up fairly often in low tier adventures. Holy water for incorporeal undead is also good to have, although you can use your wand of cure light wounds against them in a pinch.
Personally, I never get the masterwork melee weapon at first. Rarely are the opponents in a low tier scenario so difficult to hit for a competent melee build that a +1 makes any significant difference. Especially when you consider all the other goodies that you can buy with that 300 gold.
Vials of alchemical weapons, backup wand of cure light wounds (for someone to pour down your throat if you go unconscious), periscope so snoop around corners, skeleton key in case no disable device characters, a crowbar or battering ram, clear ear, some pesh for extra temp hp, cold weather outfit, swarmsuit, holy water, look through you whole spell list of 1st level spells for a scroll at only 25 gp each, look through all the other spells for 1st level potion for only 50 gp each, etc...
For what it is worth, I always recommend the wand of cure light wounds or wand of infernal healing for every single characters first 2 prestige points.
For the second 2 prestige points I usually suggest a darkwood composite bow of your strength rating if you have the proficiency. Even for a melee build! You are built for it, so I expect you will do fine in melee. However, there are quite a few scenarios where it is difficult to close to melee combat. With just a sling or thrown daggers you may find it difficult to finish off many opponents.
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Sounds like I have some reading to do. Also Lute of the Battle Ready. That is a thing that MUST happen. Everything was going so well... Until the Skald attacked.
Mwk Cold Iron Greataxe seems like the way to go then. I'll weigh my options on the armor since I know what I am replacing it with later, and Skald's Vigor should help mitigate some of the damage I'm going to take.
Here's a feat question, some of the Finale abilities sound pretty awesome, especially the one later on that heals the party for 2d6. Right now I have one that's pretty metal... Immediate action to end my performance with a flourish and a PC gets to reroll a failed save. The way I read it, I could take Lingering Performance as my L1 feat instead so that the buff resonates after the Finale, thus making them FAR more viable. If that's true, I will get a lot more milage out of it than Skald's Vigor (14hp regain for a full day of performing at L1). Thoughts?
Both sound like good options. However, remember that in PFS, a Skald's first level feat of Scribe Scroll is replaced with Extra Performance, so you should have ~10 rounds of rage song at first level, if not more. I think mine has 11 rounds with a 14 Charisma.
Personally, I never get the masterwork melee weapon at first. Rarely are the opponents in a low tier scenario so difficult to hit for a competent melee build that a +1 makes any significant difference. Especially when you consider all the other goodies that you can buy with that 300 gold.[/spoiler]
+1 always adds a 5% chance to hit and crit, unless you can hit them on a 2.
The problem with a grab bag full of goodies is the action economy. Yes its cool but if it takes 3 rounds to actually use the fights probably over by then.
For what it is worth, I always recommend the wand of cure light wounds or wand of infernal healing for every single characters first 2 prestige points.Very much this. A person with UMD may very well be your party healer.
Everyone's who's wands have pulled a ron weasley on them and are no longer working today, pass them one person left.
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+1 always adds a 5% chance to hit and crit, unless you can hit them on a 2. ...
I agree. Not saying it is bad, just that for the really early purchases I think there is a bit more gain with some of the other cheap things for that 300 gp.
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The problem with a grab bag full of goodies is the action economy. Yes its cool but if it takes 3 rounds to actually use the fights probably over by then. ...
Several of the items I suggested are not ones that are used in a fight, yet sometimes are much more useful than anything else that can be afforded for the first few levels. Some of the others are for those situations when the fight won't be over because you can't hurt the opposition. Sometimes you have to run away, get the specials ready, then return. I also tend to get potion/scroll bandoleers very early. Forgot to put that on the list actually.
{shrug} Personal preference kinda thing. But I have rarely seen a masterwork weapon make a significant difference at level 1-2. But many times the multitude of cheap just-in-case items have made a huge difference. Especially for PFS where you might not have some roles covered.