So, I play a level 4 Wizard in the game I am in and use grease pretty often which helps with boss fights greatly.
Recently the DM is now using Locked Gauntlet on every boss, is there a way to get around this?
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Don't use Grease so much and I bet he stops. :-)
Sometimes, when players use annoying tactics all the time to rob us of our dramatic finish we lose focus and go tit for tat.
Work on some other tactics or let the bad guy monologue a bit before greasing him and the locked gauntlets probably start disappearing.
Tell him to stop meta gaming and screwing with your tactic unless the bosses have ways to know that it is something you do often.
If they are using locked gauntlets with melee weapons just make everyone stay at range and shoot them from range as you laugh that they take ages to get their ranged weapons out.
Is there any reason why the "boss" would know to use a locked gauntlet against the party?
Admittedly, as a player I always have a weapon cord (sometimes multiple) attached to my weapons just to prevent being disarmed so it may not be metagaming in that aspect if he has most melee characters using locked gauntlets. It's a legitimate concern for melee types who don't want to loose their weapon.
However, you probably out to talk to your GM about it outside of game and try to come to some reasonable agreement.
No, the the bosses wouldn't know tactics of our party. And when we get the loot and he copy pastes it directly out of the PDF , suprisngly the locked gauntlet isn't there anymore. So I have a feeling he is doing it out of spite. We also use invisibility before going into rooms boss rooms, and this said boss had invisibility alarm being a cleric. Just fishy stuff.
Recently the DM is now using Locked Gauntlet on every boss, is there a way to get around this?
You're a wizard. Your toolbox is the largest in the game. You already have several 2nd level spell slots and can hit the enemy with something as devastating as Glitterdust. Do you need to rely on Grease?
It can be a sign of bad GMing to do what you're describing your GM does. Shutting down effective player tactics isn't very much fun. But it's not kosher as a player to find an effective tactic and then expect the GM not to do something about it, either. I hope your GM isn't spiteful, but rather trying to challange you to find new solutions. Locked gauntlets isn't the most pretty way to do that, but with a pre-written adventure his hands are a bit tied - it's harder to change the enemies to natural attack users, spellcasters or something else that grease doesn't work against.
Well glitterdust is a 2nd level compared to first level, I don't have many slots for 2nd is my reasons.
Well glitterdust is a 2nd level compared to first level, I don't have many slots for 2nd is my reasons.
Fair enough. But my point stands.
Grease sure is a nice spell. It has surprising longevity for a 1st level spell. The trick to disarm opponents doesn't work for very long, at higher levels they'll have too high Reflex saves. And many enemies don't wield weapons. But a patch of movement-impeding terrain can be useful even at fairly high levels.
But you have other tricks in your book, or really should have them by level 4. And you'll only get more as you gain levels. Even if Glitterdust isn't always available now, soon you'll have vastly more powerful spells anyway.
It is, as a said, a bit dickish to shut down a player by adapting every enemy against the players tactic. Tell that to your GM. But don't make a fuzz about it. It's not like your GM has shut down an effective trip fighter - a build that takes significant investment which can't be easily switched out - by making every enemy un-trip-able snake people. He has shut down a single spell for the class that has the most options for spells in the game. Or, that's not even true, since you can still use Grease to make enemies fall - which is a very similarly strong debuff compared to disarming them.
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It can be a sign of bad GMing to do what you're describing your GM does. Shutting down effective player tactics isn't very much fun. But it's not kosher as a player to find an effective tactic and then expect the GM not to do something about it, either. I hope your GM isn't spiteful, but rather trying to challange you to find new solutions. Locked gauntlets isn't the most pretty way to do that, but with a pre-written adventure his hands are a bit tied - it's harder to change the enemies to natural attack users, spellcasters or something else that grease doesn't work against.
It can also be a sign of very good DMing, especially if that player is consistently ruining the big finale for the rest of the party by making combats trivial.
Maybe it's just me, (and no I'm not the DM here), but most characters utilizing a Locked Gauntlet DOES NOT seem like a very poor tactic or metagaming at all. I would view this along the same lines as a belt pouch, rope, backpack, or even Spell Component Pouches. Extremely common and cheap gear that while it might not be specifically mentioned, is something I would assume that 75% or more of NPCs might have if it's appropriate, (so probably not Rogues and Arcane Casters).
One of the "Old School" solutions to things like this was that there was an (unofficial) downside to these sorts of spells that has kind of gone away with PF. In this case, the "grease" created by the spell, being grease, was incredibly flammable, and could be easily turned against the party if used too often and carelessly.
All in all, I do agree that most likely, based off of the little info we have, likely the DM is trying to challenge the group as a whole and make things more interesting than pick on the individual player, and probably the best solution would be to talk to both the group and the DM about it openly. It's possible that the Wizard Player, (and I don't mean this as pointing fingers) might be viewing the situation from the perspective of Player vs DM rather than everyone is a player trying to have fun.
Grease is an extremely powerful and extremely versatile spell, and it's level 1. It can be used as both a party buff and an enemy debuff, and a crowd control spell, too. It can almost completely shut down enemies (in any way it's used) in multiple (common) circumstances. It targets enemies in a way that even those with a really good Save to resist it are still potentially shut down a lot of the time.
Target grease on the floor and point out to your rogue that the opponents are flat footed while on grease so the rogue can get sneak attack.
Using other spells is a good idea. Rotate though some of your other spells, finding out which ones work for your group. Do not try to do everything and do not prevent other players from feeling like their contributions matter.
There are plenty of good spellls, use a variety so you know what the others do and how they can best be used.
For this specific example, burning disarm is a rather nice solution. Its not great damage, but there is no save with a locked gauntlet, and if word gets out that you are using it, you can switch back to grease. As well as using grease on smaller fights, since prone is pretty severe at low levels.
But I would (and do) keep preparing grease. Spell component pouches, holy symbols, bonded objects, and magic items can be greased even at mid levels (consider a lesser persistent rod to improve offensive longevity) to limit options. Few humanoids tend to have acrobatics so it can slow down enemies, and the bonus to escape a grapple can become invaluable at higher levels considering how many monsters have grab or grapple spells. I still prep 2 grease spells on my 10th level wizard, it stays relevant for quite a while.
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Target grease on the floor and point out to your rogue that the opponents are flat footed while on grease so the rogue can get sneak attack.
Using other spells is a good idea. Rotate though some of your other spells, finding out which ones work for your group. Do not try to do everything and do not prevent other players from feeling like their contributions matter.
There are plenty of good spellls, use a variety so you know what the others do and how they can best be used.
Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to make this check and are not considered flat-footed
They are on flatfooted when attempting the acrobatics check. You are flat footed whenevery you acrobatics to balance.