So I bought the humble bundle and had been struggling to decide on a class. I generally like summoning in games and started researching summoners to discover that I now have to buy another book to play the class.
While I understand this is money generation for the company and don't generally have an issue with it I now have to either find another character class or just say forget society play and be glad my money went to charity.
I'm open to suggestions other than "buy the book" as I can't afford it till next paycheck at the earliest.
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The major reason is that they fixed a lot of things with the Summoner class.
If that is the one that you really want to play the best advice is going to be buy the book; you can get the PDF for not a whole lot of cash.
Without knowing which books you got as there were different levels. The sorcerer is an awesome class and has summoning as well as the wizard.
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Unfortunately, you do have to make a decision. You can have a pet, or you can be good at summoning. I do not remember what was in the Humble Bundle, so people forgive me if I make a suggestion that requires a book you do not have. The Occultist archetype for the Arcanist allows you to cast Summon Monster quickly and with a long duration. You can also do so with the Occultist occult class. I am sure that there are other options, but I can not think of them right now.
Contributor—Canadian Maplecakes
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Hey Zorander6, welcome to the community.
One possible solution, is to check the Pathfinder Reference Document. This is a free information guide, that has many of Paizo's products listed online. It's a great resource for studying up on books you not have, or as a resource if you're needing info on the move.
The unchained summoner page is located here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/unchained/classes/summoner.html
I'd highly suggest you do pickup Pathfinder Unchained when finances allow. There's a lot of great material in that book, and I've found it well worth the price.
Again, welcome to the Pathfinder community! :)
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Wizards, Druids, and Clerics all can make good summoners. And the Druid gets a pet as well. There is also a feat that will allow you to summon as a standard rather than a 1 Round casting time, but you need to make a save or be fatigued I think. Not sure the name or specifics off the top of my head. Druids also can spontaneously cast one of thier memorized spells as Summon Nature's Ally instead.
Not exactly a summoner, but can get you close until you can afford the unchained book. Additionally, you can start your character out as a druid or cleric or wizard, and as long as you don't play him a 4th time, you can rebuild him to whatever you want without cost to the character. This should give you time to afford the unchained book.
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So I bought the humble bundle and had been struggling to decide on a class. I generally like summoning in games and started researching summoners to discover that I now have to buy another book to play the class.
While I understand this is money generation for the company and don't generally have an issue with it I now have to either find another character class or just say forget society play and be glad my money went to charity.
I'm open to suggestions other than "buy the book" as I can't afford it till next paycheck at the earliest.
Hi there Zorander! Welcome to Pathfinder!
I agree with the rest of the friendly posters here. If you like summoning and like to have a customizable pet as well, Druid is the choice for you.
In addition, if you make your character using only the Core Rulebook you can play at least your first few games as CORE games. CORE characters use only the Core Rulebook and the Guide to Organized Play. That means it's a lot simpler to understand your options and what the other characters are doing. You can always switch your character to a regular game (but not back) or create a new Unchained Summoner when your funds allow.
buy the pdf
I suppose I should have included that in the "don't suggest buying the book" comment but oh well.
I've played clerics and the group I was thinking about going to tonight already had one. While druids have some fun abilities at higher levels it doesn't generally fit the character I want to play. I had considered it though just for the pet.
I'll look at the occultist again and see what I can do with that.
I bought the second highest pack (didn't get the physical box) I have all of the PDF documents in the bundle. I've been reading them to try to decide and other than the summoner my next thought had been a half elven war-priest but there appear to be issues with that as well.
I may come up with something else instead or just relegate it to a donation to a good cause. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Check your downloads, Zorander.
Enjoy. ^_^
I appreciate it though you didn't have to. :) Thank you. I'll pass it along later.
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Wizards, Druids, and Clerics all can make good summoners. And the Druid gets a pet as well. There is also a feat that will allow you to summon as a standard rather than a 1 Round casting time, but you need to make a save or be fatigued I think. Not sure the name or specifics off the top of my head. Druids also can spontaneously cast one of thier memorized spells as Summon Nature's Ally instead.
Not exactly a summoner, but can get you close until you can afford the unchained book. Additionally, you can start your character out as a druid or cleric or wizard, and as long as you don't play him a 4th time, you can rebuild him to whatever you want without cost to the character. This should give you time to afford the unchained book.
Occultist archetype Arcanists arguably make the best summoning class, outside of the actual Summoner class. Wizards follow that up if you take the feat Andrew was talking about, Acadamae Graduate, from the Curse of the Crimson Throne player's guide. Which is a free PDF. That feat will leave you fatigued or exhausted often, so you will want to find a way to deal with it. There are many.
In one more level my Wizard will be able to summon a colossal celestial turtle.Druids and clerics fall in somewhere just after that. Though, I do not have a ranking for any of the occultist classes. So that is up for your research.
Occultist archetype Arcanists arguably make the best summoning class, outside of the actual Summoner class. Wizards follow that up if you take the feat Andrew was talking about, Acadamae Graduate, from the Curse of the Crimson Throne player's guide. Which is a free PDF. That feat will leave you fatigued or exhausted often, so you will want to find a way to deal with it. There are many.
In one more level my Wizard will be able to summon a colossal celestial turtle.Druids and clerics fall in somewhere just after that. Though, I do not have a ranking for any of the occultist classes. So that is up for your research.
My last cleric was up to summoning hippogrif's but real life interrupted and it's been several years. I wasn't too happy with the cleric at the time, idea was good, implementation not so much. At that point hadn't really delved much into the domains as the GM hadn't really considered it. :)
Anything specific that we can help with?My Warpriest (this profile) is about to hit level 14 and I've enjoyed him immensely, so I'm happy to offer advice ^_^
I think the main thing I remember reading was the prestige class as apparently those aren't used much any more. Nothing that can't be worked around. :) I've read so much trying to figure out where I wanted to start I may be confusing things.
Venture-Agent, Florida–Altamonte Springs
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Occultist archetype Arcanists arguably make the best summoning class, outside of the actual Summoner class. Wizards follow that up if you take the feat Andrew was talking about, Acadamae Graduate, from the Curse of the Crimson Throne player's guide. Which is a free PDF. That feat will leave you fatigued or exhausted often, so you will want to find a way to deal with it. There are many.
In one more level my Wizard will be able to summon a colossal celestial turtle.Druids and clerics fall in somewhere just after that. Though, I do not have a ranking for any of the occultist classes. So that is up for your research.
There's a reason my Conjurer had a 16 Con and a rat familiar at 1st level.
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I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
I may have missed it in the core book but do all races start at base 8 or are there modifiers? If there are I'll read again, no need to list them for me. I'm trying to read between other stuff so it's easy to miss things. Alternatively is there a good PFS character generator that supports the extended classes?
Thanks again for all the help. :)
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For PFS, all characters, regardless of race start with base 10 and have a 20 point buy for stats.
A decent calculator for point buy.
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
I may have missed it in the core book but do all races start at base 8 or are there modifiers? If there are I'll read again, no need to list them for me. I'm trying to read between other stuff so it's easy to miss things. Alternatively is there a good PFS character generator that supports the extended classes?
Thanks again for all the help. :)
PCGEN is really good for the core/advanced player guide classes. Sadly it doesnt have unchained/advanced class guide. But it has a ton of gear listed and lets you character level up all the way to 20 (you can in PFS, its just hard to do). Its also free.
The tabletopgiant website lets you build a lvl 1 character off all classes, but currently its just that: lvl 1 and not above. It can help you start on your way however. Its also free.
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Are you downloading the latest production build?
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Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Are you downloading the latest production build?
I had not noticed 6.06 was out yet. Its nice, but I wonder why I get 'lore' in my skills when I select Pathfinder...
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A quick balanced spread that I always use is either four 14s or two 14s and a 16, with the rest begin 10. That is before racial modifiers.
I often like to build with one 8 - just so there's something the PC is "not so good at" - kind of adds to his personality. But then, I would normally have pushed up one of the other stats too (yeah, I often buy an 18). A lot of this is personal preference...
(a typical starting mix of stats for me might be...18,14,12,10,10,7 before racial mods. an elven wizard built on this might be...STR: 10 DEX: 16 CON: 10 INT: 20 WIS: 10 CHA: 7)
If PCGen doesn't have a specific PFS section (I don't know) then it looks like background skills are automatically turned on or something.It has a PFS option. It wasnt there in 6.04. But lets not derail it further.
Derail at will, my main questions had been answered. :)
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Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
I love my Monk who is now 10th level with a level dip in ranger. Just be careful how you plan out your magic items. I went with a Dex monk instead of Str monk so that complicated things some.
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I love my Monk who is now 10th level with a level dip in ranger. Just be careful how you plan out your magic items. I went with a Dex monk instead of Str monk so that complicated things some.I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
It's kind of a trade-off though it can be complicated you get more AC and Initiative (and so on), but you lose the guaranteed damage, and generally have to go after it a different way (like that Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, which is nice but takes away a bit of attack and damage versus a straight +1). I did the same thing and ended up going URogue for a few levels.
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It's kind of a trade-off though it can be complicated you get more AC and Initiative (and so on), but you lose the guaranteed damage, and generally have to go after it a different way (like that Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, which is nice but takes away a bit of attack and damage versus a straight +1). I did the same thing and ended up going URogue for a few levels.I love my Monk who is now 10th level with a level dip in ranger. Just be careful how you plan out your magic items. I went with a Dex monk instead of Str monk so that complicated things some.I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
With current option availability, Dex Monks are "stronger" than Str Monks. They are just a bit more feat starved than a Str Monk is. The benefits of going from a 4 stat class to a 3 stat class greatly outweigh the negatives. A +1 Allying Cestus is an alternative way to get that +1 enhancement your unarmed attacks.
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With current option availability, Dex Monks are "stronger" than Str Monks. They are just a bit more feat starved than a Str Monk is. The benefits of going from a 4 stat class to a 3 stat class greatly outweigh the negatives. A +1 Allying Cestus is an alternative way to get that +1 enhancement your unarmed attacks.It's kind of a trade-off though it can be complicated you get more AC and Initiative (and so on), but you lose the guaranteed damage, and generally have to go after it a different way (like that Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, which is nice but takes away a bit of attack and damage versus a straight +1). I did the same thing and ended up going URogue for a few levels.I love my Monk who is now 10th level with a level dip in ranger. Just be careful how you plan out your magic items. I went with a Dex monk instead of Str monk so that complicated things some.I like the monk improvements in unchained too (thanks again Kalindlara:) ) I might try a monk as well.
Sure at the cost of 12k (I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just the cost of doing it that way). Every choice you make in character creation is a trade-off everything is in limited supply(And I love Dex monks, what they lose in feats, they more than make up for in being far less MAD (and DEX is just a better stat utility wise than STR))
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Venture-Captain, Nebraska—Omaha
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Every choice you make in character creation is a trade-off everything is in limited supply(And I love Dex monks, what they lose in feats, they more than make up for in being far less MAD (and DEX is just a better stat utility wise than STR))
My monk was my first character returning to RPGs. I had played 2nd Ed. AD&D years ago. Ended up with Pathfinder because Wednesday nights are not good for me to play.
Not understanding how feats work and the impact of magic items I short of stumbled around a little. Have had good advise and was able to retrain my ill-advise Point Blank Shot feat into something much more useful like Improved Critical.
I plan to play this character in Eyes and, now with higher level content starting to come out, even longer!