Heya all,
I just picked up Horror Adventures, and I've always wanted to play a melee Spiritualist, but the base class doesn't seem to fit a melee build very well. I was hoping the Exciter archetype would be the solution for me, but after reading it, I'm not so sure.
The +4 Str and Con is really nice, but -2 AC for a class that can only wear light armor with d8 HD seems really frail. Level with me guys, is the Exciter archetype just an elaborate way to suicide a character or is it actually viable as a melee combatant?
I typically hate multiclass builds, but that's a pretty interesting idea you have there. The problem is that pretty much tanks my BAB and attack bonus. Nah, not worth it.
Thanks for the help, but it's exactly as I suspected; the Exciter is completely unplayable. Ugh, Paizo has a twisted gift for knowing exactly what I really want to play, and then producing awful, extremely weak versions of those things that nobody would ever want to play: Exciter, Mooncursed Barbarian, Metamorph Alchemist, etc.
meh, light armor means you're using mithral kikko instead of mithral breastplate. That's 1 AC difference.
You still get Ectoplasmic Bonded Manifestation, which is a +4 shield bonus, so you can two hand and have a large shield bonus, making your ac 3 higher than the barb.
You do get the false life spell.
So it's like every other d8 class and it's AC will be normal to good. Nothing is making this less survivable than normal.
EDIT: the Unchained monk doesn't lose BAB. Not that I recommend it, but it's there. And there's even a charisma version if you'd prefer that stat.
Hmmm...Unchained Monk does make a viable 1 lvl dip to make the character more survivable. That's a good idea. If I decide not to dip U Monk, it'll be dicey to survive the first few levels until I can afford Mithral medium armor. You're right though, once I can afford decent armor, the character should be able to survive.
Thanks for the help!
It's viable in that you won't be useless but it's a weak archetype. Horror Adventures had a lot of badly designed archetypes.
Ectoplasmatist looks like the ok melee version of the spiritualist and trading out your phantom for long tentacles and the ability to channel spells through them is more mechanically interesting than getting rage.
I tried to build one recently and was fairly disappointed...not sure if Ectoplasmicist is much better though...
It's not the simple number of spells, it's that the non-V component spiritualist spells are a truly random bunch. Pilfering hand, psychic leech, gaseous form, spirit bound weapon, etheric shards (not a complete list but most of them you'd cast in combat up to spell level 4) - how do you make a battle plan out of these?
Longer term buffs would still work of course but they'd get no benefit from the rapture.
If you ask me you're better off running round with a Scythe and an Anger phantom pick up furious focus and power attack and outflank for you and your phantom
Cast shield on you self and just be a normal spiritualist. At level 7 they get an accuracy aura boost and at some point you can pick up medium armour prof and run around in Mithril full plate.
Anytime your phantom isn't out you can bonded manifestation for a armour boost so. No need for shield and eventually get some slam attacks to add to your full round action.