So after having a year or so of absence from Pathfinder, a new group is forming, and I am taking up the mantle of GM once more. No doubt I have missed a lot that has released. Last thing I recall reading up on before were hybrid classes. I feel that as a GM, I should know all the different tools and assets that might be presented in front of me, and want to know what new things I should read up on and be informed about.
I have noticed some "unchained" classes, are these replacements to the standard ones? Optional alternative for them? What are they exactly?
I'm also seeing a little bit about Occult classes. First thing I spotted was Kineticist, which brings back memories of imbalance from D&D 3.5... anything I should be worried about?
Overall, if anyone is kind enough to help me back into the groove of whats new, I would greatly appreciate it!
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Unchained are optional classes, but really, the Monk and Rogue are better in every way to the rather terrible Core versions. The summoner is better in that it is less broken than the core also, but I certainly still wouldn't allow one in game. The Barbarian, it has a bit more utility at the cost of a weaker, though easier to track and understand rage.
Kineticist is... not good. Some people are trying to make it decent, but it's like if you took a warlock except it had to punch itself in the face repeatedly to do anything. Also all those wounds from punching themselves in the face don't go away until they rest. The rest of Occult classes are solid, though Medium and Spiritualist are considered rather poor.
As for the hybrids, they are all quite good, beware the Arcanist though, it's arguably superior to even the Wizard in its Tier 1 status.
Unchained are optional classes, but really, the Monk and Rogue are better in every way to the rather terrible Core versions. The summoner is better in that it is less broken than the core also, but I certainly still wouldn't allow one in game. The Barbarian, it has a bit more utility at the cost of a weaker, though easier to track and understand rage.
Kineticist is... not good. Some people are trying to make it decent, but it's like if you took a warlock except it had to punch itself in the face repeatedly to do anything. Also all those wounds from punching themselves in the face don't go away until they rest. The rest of Occult classes are solid, though Medium and Spiritualist are considered rather poor.
As for the hybrids, they are all quite good, beware the Arcanist though, it's arguably superior to even the Wizard in its Tier 1 status.
It's like the hellfire warlock, except that one 1) Actually got some serious boom in return for its punching itself in the face
2) there was an easy-to-use way to get off the hook, dealing with the ability damage.
And stuff that did need it too. (Titan Mauler Barbarian can actually use large greatswords now. Master of Many Styles is not a dip-only archetype now etcetc)
But Scarred with doctor got nerfed into unplayability (well it is decent, but all the flavor is gone - no longer casting off Con)
Kineticist may be sub-par, but oozes flavor and fun. The other occult classes are also nice in that regard. Especialy the psychic magic is interesting - using emotion and thought instead of verbal and somatic components. There also nice archetypes for other classes to get a little occult-ish.
Some of the hybrids are pretty much Class A + Class B (slayer and bloodrager for example), while some do pretty unique things (shaman, investigator), or have a nice new take on old stuff (hunter, swashbuckler, warpriest)
Ok, so far from what I'm reading/hearing, Unchained characters are what should often be used now due to balance reasons, although I'll have to look up more details in regards to the rogues since they use another new feature (Skill Unlocks). Also Summoners got nerfed into the ground in comparison with the unchained variant. Would you allow a summoner in your party now with the unchained version, or would it still be a no-go?
Occult Classes I think I'm a tad skeptical on for the time being. Will probably say no to them until I THOROUGHLY read up on all the fine details.
I'll be trying to locate all the errata changes that have been made since last I updated myself on knowledge (begins rolling D20 for knowledge history check).
I don't think you have much to worry about with the Occult classes, especially Kineticist. I'm not super familiar with the others, but the only one I've seen any kind of power complaints about is the Psychic, which is a full caster anyway. Unchained rogue is widely regarded as much better than the crappy core rogue, but unchained monk, barbarian, and summoner are mainly by preference. Summoner was certainly toned down, but I definitely wouldn't call it "nerfed into the ground".
I found the methodology used in that solo run to be highly problematic.
Mostly, I've got a 75% chance to succeed on this so I'll assume I always make it.
I've got to do 12 75% tasks in a row, so I'll just continue to assume I succeed at them all.
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Ok, so far from what I'm reading/hearing, Unchained characters are what should often be used now due to balance reasons, although I'll have to look up more details in regards to the rogues since they use another new feature (Skill Unlocks).
Rogue - yes.
Monk - the Umonk is definitely better than the core monk, but you can do just as well with Core monk + archetypes as with the Umonk. Umonk works better for STR weapon builds, old monk + archetypes works better for Dex builds (my personal preference) or if you don't want to be a melee beatstick (Drunken Master/Sensei/Zen Archer/updated MoMS and a few others are all extremely viable).
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Why is Andrew's Sorcerer wearing four shades of rouge?
Because if it wore 50 shades of rogue, then someone would polymorph the rogues into Grays (Bestiary 5).
Courageous and Wild enchantments are nothing like they were.
Oh give it a rest. "Oh noes! My magical armor that works while I polymorph still counts as armor! What a crazy unpredictable completely-against-the-rules nerf!".
(Courageous was taken out behind the woodshed though).
Courageous and Wild enchantments are nothing like they were.
I know that wild armor now gives you the ACP penalties (for some reason) but what happened to the Courageous weapons?
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Oh give it a rest. "Oh noes! My magical armor that works while I polymorph still counts as armor! What a crazy unpredictable completely-against-the-rules nerf!".Courageous and Wild enchantments are nothing like they were.
In addition - some of us always ruled it the way the FAQ came out. (And +3 isn't that bad - especially if you're planning on mithril. Whether or not it's worth getting most of the time - it's undoubtedly better than most armor enchants.)
Courageous was a straight nerf rather than a real FAQ - though needed, it's probably too much.
I agree ChainsawSam- The balancing of the class was fine, even useful. Also they made a few things more clear/strait-forward, but why did they mess with the flavor of the class? putting restrictions on their flavor is terrible.
Ty- I wouldn't worry about the occult classes. They are full of flavor, but aren't more powerful than other classes. I think the most potentially problematic class in the game is the core wizard. If you can handle that then you can handle the new classes. They are on the other hand full of flavor and fun, so I would definitely allow them (assuming they fit the flavor of your game).
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So to get back on track... the main things I would suggest looking at are:
-Read of up on any newly released classes, including Unchained. Ban the ones that don't fit the game's setting, but all of them are balanced just fine with already existing classes.
-Read up on VMC (Variant Multi-Classing). It can provide a fun and interesting new way to make characters.
-If you feel like it, read through the wave of Errata that went through. It's a lot of reading, but it might prepare you to rule in one way or another if there is some confusion at the table.