Arcane Trickster - because Rogue is dead [*]


Advice

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Why use eldritch scoundrel base? You are literally throwing away the greatest asset of AT, access to higher level spells. Its equivalent of going magus->EK


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Dastis wrote:
Why use eldritch scoundrel base? You are literally throwing away the greatest asset of AT, access to higher level spells. Its equivalent of going magus->EK

It's even worse than Magus->Eldritch Knight, since that will actually function (it's just a bad deal). The Eldritch Scoundrel->Arcane Trickster, on the other hand, is crippled by Arcane Trickster's low BAB and cannot make use of the very class features that make the Eldritch Scoundrel an appealing option in the first place.

Eldritch Scoundrel and Arcane Trickster share common thematic ground, but mechanically they have completely different strengths and weaknesses and do not mix well. I feel they complement each other quite nicely in this sense.


Dastis wrote:
Why use eldritch scoundrel base? You are literally throwing away the greatest asset of AT, access to higher level spells. Its equivalent of going magus->EK

Did you even read the comment I was replying too?

Please read the entire post and revise your response.

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MeriDoc- wrote:

Magus 6, Rogue 1-3, Arcane trickster X

presient attack (lv 6 magus)- gets people denied dex to end of your nxt turn.

Arcane accuracy get your int bonus to hit

Magus, Kenai, bladebound, etc whatever you like. Magus gets you additional attacks.

Rogue, plain, unchained, knifemaster, etc. Whatever you like.

Limited spell options - if that matters to you is the negative.


Volkard Abendroth wrote:
Did you even read the comment I was replying too?

I don't see how that changes anything. I'm not a fan of that Magus build for much of the same reason (poor BAB and it guzzles through arcane pool to compensate) and you certainly won't see me defending it.

I'm very mindful of any build that sacrifices attack bonus on a class that's already got a 3/4 BAB chassis. It's an easy trap to fall into because poor BAB progression is easy to compensate for at low levels, but it gets harder and harder to keep up as you go higher.


Also, almost all prestige classes are bad choices for a 6/9 caster(*), because they progress your slower spellcasting progression at most as fast as it was progressing before (and often even slower), while not progressing your other class features (occasionally progressing one of them) that compensated for having 6/9 spellcasting instead of 9/9 spellcasting in the chassis of your original base class.

(*)Unless you are just dipping in them, but then most prestige class aren't that dip-friendly either.


Dasrak wrote:
Volkard Abendroth wrote:
Did you even read the comment I was replying too?
I don't see how that changes anything. I'm not a fan of that Magus build for much of the same reason (poor BAB and it guzzles through arcane pool to compensate) and you certainly won't see me defending it.

General build opinions are irrelevant when a specific build paths are being commented on.

It's like inserting the comment "I prefer orange juice" into a conversation about making lemonade.


I'm set on Arcane Trickster, sorry. Although your advice about other classes did help me discover things I previously missed.

With my current party shifting and changing, I can’t plan ahead to fit perfectly, so I will focus on making a character I want to play first.

I decided to go Rogue 2/Wizard 3/Arcane Trickster X. If I survive that long, I will finish with Wizard up to 20.

That will let me get free Weapon Finesse, Evasion and Surprise Attack from Rogue Talents. And with Magical Knack I will still be on CL equal to my HD.

From Wizard I will get Scribe Scroll and my Bonded Item will be a Ring. Admixture is the focus school with Necromancy and Enchantment as opposites. For a start I will pick Color Spray, Mage Armor, Magical Missile, Detect Secret Doors, Secluded Grimoire and Feather Fall. And all orisons of course. I will have a pure Wizard in the team from who I can steal spells that I don't know. I also intend to pick the racial bonus from my preferred class, which will let me swap elements more often.

I want to pick Toughness for lvl 1 feat and Aquired Sneak Attacker for lvl 3/5. And for the third feat before going into AT I have yet to make a decision. Maybe Quicken Spell or Silent Spell.

Due to my GM being a cool guy, I start with Reactionary, Magical Knack, Resilient Caster, Charming and Influence.

So fingers crossed for my new attempt for a char ^.^


I would strongly recommend against the second level of Rogue. Slowing down your access to higher level spells is very painful, and not even close to worth evasion and a rogue talent. Basically for your entire career there will be powerful spells you could have had access to if not for this additional level, and believe me when I say that gets frustrating.

One thing you may want to ask your GM is if he'll allow you to take the Magical Lineage trait as a feat. It's a magic trait, so it's incompatible with Magical Knack, but it is by far the most powerful trait in the game for evocation-focused wizards, and well worth a full feat on its own. Combo this with Empower Spell and (at higher levels) Intensify Spell and Quicken Spell, and you can amplify a low-level spell into a ridiculous damage-dealing monster. Fireball is a popular choice due to having a convenient spell level and very lenient targeting parameters (excellent range and AoE).

Quicken spell can be delayed until higher levels. It's very good once you can use it, but at low levels you just can't make use of it.


Yeah you won't even be able to use quicken spell for a few levels, it's a great feat but later. Also arcane trickster gets a limited use of silent spell as a class feature, so I'd skip that too. If you're going admixture are you looking at a blaster build? I would read up on blaster builds and in particular the meta magic feat progression. A good level 5 feat would be spell focus evocation to start you on that path.

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I wouldn't worry too much about delaying access to higher level spells. You're not playing a pure wizard. You're playing an arcane trickster. Your friend is playing the pure wizard. Which is awesome, because you can borrow spells from his spellbook, since you don't add spells to your spellbook for your Arcane Trickster levels.

That 2nd level of rogue gives you a rogue talent, so in the future, you can spend feats to get Extra Rogue Talents if you want to. Evasion will help you since you will be targeted by Reflex effects, but you will have relatively low hit points.

Intensify Spell will help with shocking grasp and stuff like that. Extend Spell will help with mage armor and color spray (I think), but might be better with a rod.

Improved Initiative might be really helpful depending on your party make up. You might want to blast first before your melee types charge in or allied summoned creatures pop in. Also, it helps you get a sneak attack in while your opponent is flatfooted. Also, it will help you move away from melee threats or into cover during the first round of combat if you need to.

Great Fortitude is kind of boring, but will help shore up a weak save. You might not get a +1 to it until 5th level. Craft Wondrous Item might be a good option depending on how much downtime and raw cash you get in your campaign.


If your DM/world will allow it try the spellslinger gunmage archetype. All their class abilities come from spell/caster level, so arcane trickster levels are extra good. 4 opposition schools, but gun... you can make a fun hybrid character.


SmiloDan wrote:

I wouldn't worry too much about delaying access to higher level spells. You're not playing a pure wizard. You're playing an arcane trickster. Your friend is playing the pure wizard. Which is awesome, because you can borrow spells from his spellbook, since you don't add spells to your spellbook for your Arcane Trickster levels.

That 2nd level of rogue gives you a rogue talent, so in the future, you can spend feats to get Extra Rogue Talents if you want to. Evasion will help you since you will be targeted by Reflex effects, but you will have relatively low hit points.
{. . .}

Depends upon whether you want a Rogue Talent and expect to be able to get use of it long-term without progressing your Rogue level.

If you drop the 2nd level of Rogue, you could also drop Magical Knack (since you would only be getting half the benefit of it) in favor of another Magic trait like Magical Lineage.

Also, if you don't have to have a Rogue Talent, you could exchange the level of Unchained Rogue with 1 level of another Sneak Attack class(*) -- although if you want Finesse Training, you're sort of stuck with it unless you spend a feat on Weapon Finesse (to get more out of Finesse Training than Weapon Finesse, you need 3 levels of Unchained Rogue).

(*)Vivisectionist Alchemist is useful for patching yourself up if you get into a scrape, fits thematically with your quest for knowledge, and actually has good synergy with your Intelligence-based casting. If your GM will let you combine it with Grenadier (although this is less thematically fitting, it can be made to work), you get proficiency with a martial weapon, which you can use to access an Elven weapon (will require some adjustment of your choice of alternate racial traits).


It seems like you're pretty set on what you want to do, but one note for consideration - if you're going to take two levels of non-caster, consider taking two levels of Monk of the Mantis instead, and taking Arcane Bond with an Agile waveblade (really groovy new Monk weapon from AA2). Besides better BAB and free Dodge, the Mantis Monk gets you a no-penalty two-strike flurry attack with a very nice sword, and you can use the Dazzling Blade tactic with it. If nothing else, this is a very nasty counterattack if something gets in your face. While your BAB may be low, the combination of Heroism (and maybe other buffs like Reduce Person?) and not taking any attack penalties means it's quite functional - especially if you're also getting a bonus from attacking something that happens to be blind or flanked.

Anyhow, some things in general - Frigid Touch Sneak Attack is pretty great when you want to cripple something dangerous (works with Dazzling Blade of course, really nasty shut-down combo). Same with Vampiric Touch Sneak Attack if you need a nice HP snack - call it 'comfort food'.


^Problem with Monk of the Mantis is that its Sneak Attack can only be used while using Flurry of Blows. Now you have to figure out how to do Flurry of Blows while spellcasting or else alternate rounds between these, if you want to get Sneak Attack on your spells (this property of your Sneak Attack will probably be inherited in the Arcane Trickster Sneak Attack), and unless you can figure out how to get some equivalent of Ranged Spellstrike, you won't be able to use your Sneak Attack with ranged spells like Acid Splash.

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Vivisectionist Alchemist 1/Wizard 3/Arcane Trickster 10 with Accomplished Sneak Attacker and VMC Rogue might be fun. 2 Int-based casting classes (one with cure light wounds!), mutagen for +4 Dex or Con in a pinch, and Brew Potion. Technically, you even keep Throw Anything, so you can add your Int bonus to alchemical splash weapons and the like. It also shores up your Fortitude and Reflex saving throws.


UnArcaneElection wrote:

^Problem with Monk of the Mantis is that its Sneak Attack can only be used while using Flurry of Blows. Now you have to figure out how to do Flurry of Blows while spellcasting, if you want to get Sneak Attack on your spells (this property of your Sneak Attack will probably be inherited in the Arcane Trickster Sneak Attack).

I would assume that all sneak attack was 'normal' other than the initial Mantis 1d6, but I can see how someone might disagree. Anyhow, it was a brainchild of a Dervish Dance assassin concept.


UnArcaneElection wrote:
^Problem with Monk of the Mantis is that its Sneak Attack can only be used while using Flurry of Blows. Now you have to figure out how to do Flurry of Blows while spellcasting, if you want to get Sneak Attack on your spells (this property of your Sneak Attack will probably be inherited in the Arcane Trickster Sneak Attack).

It occurs to me, far too late, that simply taking a level of Snakebite Striker Brawler and a level of Unchained Monk would have the same effect as two levels of Mantis Monk, but without any sneak attack restrictions. And with the option of going Scaled Fist/Sorcerer perhaps. Why does Paizo hate elegant solutions?


Quick question, NaeNae - from what you've seen of this group/GM, how heavily do you need to optimise this character?


Scaled Fist / Draconic Sorcerer


dysartes wrote:
Quick question, NaeNae - from what you've seen of this group/GM, how heavily do you need to optimise this character?

Hmm... How to answer this question...

We have an antipaladin 4, that has yet to do anything other than slap things with his sword.

We have a wizard 4, that has evocation as focus and a bird familiar of sorts. But is so unlucky with his rolls that so far he managed to hit with one spell across... Fifteen encounters... Or something.

We have a... Ranger 3, that uses a bow mostly. And has her favoured enemy set for fiendish outsiders. And we have yet to meet one.

Uhm... We don't really prebuff. Scout that much... Last time I tried to scout ahead, our antipaladin charged past me, in full plate and waving a lantern.

Optimisation is not the top priority, that is why I am not too bothered by the delay in higher level spells. Especially when I can make up for their lower damage dice with sneak dice. My top priority is for now the fact, that she will be able to disable all kinds of traps and thanks to her epic elvish fabulousness will see magic.

As for 2 levels of Rogue... I want the Surprise Attack, because it lets me treat every enemy during surprise round as flat footed even if they already acted. I believe it would help me greatly with blasting stuff in the first round. And with Invisibility and later Greater Invisibility, I hope to be the one starting fights. The talent will be viable for the whole process of character advancement. And later will let me save on the Improptu Sneak Attack a little. Also Surprise Round will be the blasting time for me, as a Fireball will consider everyone Flat Footed and aim for Touch AC.

On the other hand... Rules question. From descriptions...
"Impromptu Sneak Attack (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, once per day an arcane trickster can declare one melee or ranged attack she makes to be a sneak attack (the target can be no more than 30 feet distant if the impromptu sneak attack is a ranged attack)."
Then most evocation spells are ranged touch attacks. Does it mean I can announce a fireball being a sneak attack and add Sneak Dice to it's damage?

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NaeNae wrote:
I want the Surprise Attack, because it lets me treat every enemy during surprise round as flat footed even if they already acted.

How often does your party get surprise rounds, then? In my experience this is fairly rare; and in a surprise round it doesn't matter that you go before all enemies as long as you go before at least one enemy (and with your dex, you probably will). So based on that I agree with Dasrak that your second rogue level isn't really worth it.

Quote:
a Fireball will consider everyone Flat Footed and aim for Touch AC.

Fireballs don't target any kind of AC; they have your victims make a reflex save (which is not penalized by being flatfooted). You normally cannot deal sneak attack damage with fireballs either; only the final level of Arcane Trickster can do that. So level 15, really.

So that suggests doing the build path Rogue 1 / Wizard 3 / Arcane Trickster 9 / Rogue +1 / AT 10th level.


NaeNae wrote:
dysartes wrote:
Quick question, NaeNae - from what you've seen of this group/GM, how heavily do you need to optimise this character?

Hmm... How to answer this question...

We have an antipaladin 4, that has yet to do anything other than slap things with his sword.

We have a wizard 4, that has evocation as focus and a bird familiar of sorts. But is so unlucky with his rolls that so far he managed to hit with one spell across... Fifteen encounters... Or something.

We have a... Ranger 3, that uses a bow mostly. And has her favoured enemy set for fiendish outsiders. And we have yet to meet one.

Uhm... We don't really prebuff. Scout that much... Last time I tried to scout ahead, our antipaladin charged past me, in full plate and waving a lantern.

Optimisation is not the top priority, that is why I am not too bothered by the delay in higher level spells. Especially when I can make up for their lower damage dice with sneak dice. My top priority is for now the fact, that she will be able to disable all kinds of traps and thanks to her epic elvish fabulousness will see magic.

I did wonder - no point in people trying to turn the concept up to 11, then, lest you end up multiple levels of optimisation above the rest of your group ;)


NaeNae wrote:
As for 2 levels of Rogue... I want the Surprise Attack, because it lets me treat every enemy during surprise round as flat footed even if they already acted. I believe it would help me greatly with blasting stuff in the first round. And with Invisibility and later Greater Invisibility, I hope to be the one starting fights. The talent will be viable for the whole process of character advancement. And later will let me save on the Improptu Sneak Attack a little. Also Surprise Round will be the blasting time for me, as a Fireball will consider everyone Flat Footed and aim for Touch AC.

Do note that if you're attacking from stealth or invisibility or whatever, then Surprise Attack is redundant - and it's also redundant if your high initiative works. How often are you going to be attacking in the surprise round but not already getting to sneak attack and not beating initiative on something?

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Society Subscriber

As a sidetone that wasn't mentioned about the eldritch scoundrel, they can get ninja tricks and use spell slots in place of ki points. Meaning you can swift action cast vanish to go invisible.


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The most fun I've ever had with an Arcane Trickster-style character is actually a Telekineticist.

Take Vagabond Child or Trap Finder as traits to get Disable Device.
Also take Craft Trap and Stealth.

At first level take the Extend Reach and Telekinetic Finesse infusions. That lets you use Disable Device from 120 feet away.

Here's the fun part- With Disable Device you can Disarm, Arm and Reset traps. Bear Traps cost 2gp and do 2d6+3 damage.

With TK Finesse you can toss your traps around precisely where you want them to go. Put them right in someone's square (that sets them off).

Or, if you're feeling particularly mean, use TK Blast on the trap. Just hit them in the face with it. (That puts it in their square too...)

For the first few levels you can basically play the game like you are carrying around Chomp Chains from Mario Bros.

For added cool points, attach Pitons to the other ends of the chain, and use TK blast to drive them into walls and ceilings. Or, put a bear trap on both ends of the chain. Round one, chomp one target with the first trap. Round two, chomp a different target with the second trap. Now they're chained together until they can figure out how to get free.

This is the first level build. As you level up, just make better traps. Imagine telekinetically placing and setting off a Hail of Bolts trap. Or a Wall Scythe

Put ranks in Craft Alchemy to make poisons and alchemical trap components. Telekinetically add poison to traps to avoid the risks of accidentally poisoning yourself during application.

You won't get spells or sneak attack, but you also won't be multiclassing and stunting your progression of spells or sneak attack. Instead, you'll be a fully functional Kineticist/ Your damage scales decently, you have lots of fun options, and your primary attribute is Con, so you're tough as nails. There are zero feat requirements to this build. You aren't locked into anything but your early infusion choices, one trait, and some skill points.

Honestly, this build is the most fun I've had with a low level character, ever.


Sanctified Slayer Inquisitors mix sneaky with spellcasting rather well, and with a ton of useful skills and abilities to boot.


Do note that unlike the Trap Finder Campaign Trait (Mummy's Mask), Vagabond Child doesn't confer the ability to disable magical traps.


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It's a bit outside the original concept, but a similar option that streamlines abilities and really fits the theme of arcane-power-obsessed-mage/rogue could be something like:

Kindred-Raised Half-Elf: 8STR, 16/18DEX, 14CON, 12INT, 8WIS, 15/17CHA
Scaled Fist Unchained Monk 1/ Snakebite Striker Brawler 1/ Arcane Seeker Sorcerer 4/ Arcane Trickster 4

1SM. *CHA AC* / *Flurry of Blows* / +Stunning Fist (CHA-based) / +Dodge / Weapon Finesse
2SB.
3SS. *Tinkering (Disable Device, Disarm Magical Traps)* / *Arcane Bond: Waveblade* / Accomplished Sneak Attacker
4SS.
5SS. Cornugon Stun?
6SS.
7AT. Mantis Style?
8AT.
9AT. Persistent Spell
10AT.

Combining DEX AC, CHA AC, Dodge and Mage Armor is a really great defense, making it much safer to get into trouble. With decent melee ability and a strong defense, you can actually use your Agile sword more often and more comfortably; you can save your highest spell slots for big targets, while typically using your 2's for Sense Vitals and Invisibility and your 3's for Heroism and +1DC Persistent Dazzling Blade. Seeker grants Rogue-like trap disarming.

And for fun, you could use Cornugon Stun (and maybe also Mantis Style) to use your CHA-based Stunning Fist with a waveblade Sneak Attack - with Monk/Brawler/Mantis you can get 4 huge-DC Stunning Sneak Attacks per day by level 7, which is a really thematic ability for an 'arcane rogue'. It doesn't hurt either that being stunned opens a target to more Sneak Attack - either on a full attack, or on a truly wicked Stunning Sneak Attack AoO. Safety-wise, when taking the risk of jumping a nasty target you can throw a Stunning attack to make sure you're safe, and if it fails you can throw a Dazzling Blade, and if that also fails you're still high-AC.


^I just might have to steal this . . . .


Is there any full list of spells? Paizo has the spells thrown around numerous links, based on which book they appear in. D20pfsrd has a massive list with filters, but I don't know how rules friendly it is, someone also mentioned the site is not up to date.

So... Where can I look for a comprehensive list? Because if the D20pfsrd is valid, I question the size of wizard spellbook. There are 122 spells of 0 level there. Assuming that each school has similar ammount of spells, with two opposite schools, you are keft with some 80-90 spells that you know right away, which leaves some 10-20 pqges for other spells. Which is just a silly small number. A vanilla spellbook has 100 pages. Compact one has 70. And there was one that had 50. So a wizard needs like 4 of them by the end of the game?


NaeNae wrote:

So... Where can I look for a comprehensive list?

I find this page to be the most usable. It's not complete (I don't believe there's any truly complete source) but it's fairly close and it makes browsing by school easy while also alerting you to the sourcebook the material comes from. Speaking of which, you can probably ignore the blog cantrips; they were cut from the game and never officially released, but were provided in a blog post at one point.

NaeNae wrote:

So a wizard needs like 4 of them by the end of the game?

Most wizards eventually move on to the blessed book. Presuming you can craft it yourself, the amount it saves you on scribing costs usually pays for itself and it solves the problem of juggling large numbers of spellbooks.


Dasrak wrote:
NaeNae wrote:

So... Where can I look for a comprehensive list?

I find this page to be the most usable. It's not complete (I don't believe there's any truly complete source) but it's fairly close and it makes browsing by school easy while also alerting you to the sourcebook the material comes from. Speaking of which, you can probably ignore the blog cantrips; they were cut from the game and never officially released, but were provided in a blog post at one point.

NaeNae wrote:

So a wizard needs like 4 of them by the end of the game?

Most wizards eventually move on to the blessed book. Presuming you can craft it yourself, the amount it saves you on scribing costs usually pays for itself and it solves the problem of juggling large numbers of spellbooks.

This has a much larger list, but I will stick to the one you posted. Much more menage able. Thanks for the tip ^.^


Volkard Abendroth wrote:

Play a Magus (kensai) and take the Trapfinder and Seeker traits.

Dervish Dance. Invest in stealth.

Now you have a magic rogue.

Do you mean Unchained Eldritch Scoundrel VMC magus so you can two hand an elven curved Blade?

Now you have a sneaky magus.

NOTE: look at the 2nd level spell sense vitals to gain more sneak attack. Also pearls of power are useful.


So I noticed the order of the blossom cavalier last week which allows a 2 level entry as well (with accomplished sneak attack).

Just for another alternative means


NaeNae wrote:


This has a much larger list, but I will stick to the one you posted. Much more menage able. Thanks for the tip ^.^

That resource includes third party products, whereas the page I linked contains only Paizo-published products.


I did not know it includes third party stuff. Thanks for the info.

On the other hand, it's the first character that has all Knowledge skills as class and I intend to use that. But other than checking if I know something or not, I don't see much use for it outside of combat. Nobility helps to behave yourself. But say... What's the point of engineering? I would understand if you could say... Check a complex trap mechanism and get a competence bonus on Disable Device check for that trap. But I can't find anything like that in rules anywhere.

Does that mean Knowledge is mostly for fluff and knowing enemy resistances?


Abraham spalding wrote:

So I noticed the order of the blossom cavalier last week which allows a 2 level entry as well (with accomplished sneak attack).

Just for another alternative means

Ooh, order of the blossom Daring Champion? I think I might try that sometime.


NaeNae wrote:
On the other hand, it's the first character that has all Knowledge skills as class and I intend to use that. But other than checking if I know something or not, I don't see much use for it outside of combat. Nobility helps to behave yourself. But say... What's the point of engineering? I would understand if you could say... Check a complex trap mechanism and get a competence bonus on Disable Device check for that trap. But I can't find anything like that in rules anywhere.

Knowledge skills can give your character free information. Sometimes they'll be applicable, sometimes they'll be useless, it depends on your situation. A knowledge (nobility) check can give you a lot of information about the people you're dealing with and how they relate to each other. This can be extremely useful just to find out who you're dealing with. Knowledge (engineering) is useful for gaining some insight into mechanisms or structures. Want to collapse a mine shaft in on itself? Knowledge (engineering) tells you how.

If you can get your intelligence to 22, having one rank in every knowledge skill is very useful. This gives you a +10 modifier, meaning you can take 10 to succeed on a DC 20 check. This is very useful for being able to know at least a little about pretty much everything. You generally won't max out more than a handful of knowledge skills, and will leave most at 1 rank.

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2nd level spell - sense vitals, increases your sneak attack dice pool.


With the Armor Expert basic (combat) trait [-1 ACP], a mithral breastplate(*) and a mithral quickdraw shield you will get: +7 AC, +5 max Dex, 0 ACP, and 10% ASF. You also have two protective items to enchant.
Switch the armor to Nimble [-1 ACP] mithral field plate, and it becomes: +8 AC, +3 max Dex, 0 ACP, and 25% ASF.
Switch the armor to Nimble mithral hellknight plate, and it becomes: +10 AC, +3 max Dex, 0 ACP, and 25% ASF.

You can switch to a large mithral shield for an additional +1 AC and +5% ASF.

If you want 0% ASF, then the best bet is Arcane Armor Training that eats your swift for -10%, or the 5th level Arcane Trixter's Tricky Spells which effectively gets you the spell w/o ASF three times a day (and increases to max of 5/day).

Also, there are a lot of spells that do not have somatic [S] components that are still good to use.

/cevah

(*) When using armor you are not proficient in, take penalties to BAB and some skills equal to the armor check penalty. With ACP = 0, there is no penalty.


I have a question regarding Color Spray, and since it's part of this character, I figured might as well...

For a HD3-4 creature it stuns and blinds for 1d4 rounds and then stuns for 1 round.

Both blinded and stunned lower the AC by 2. Does it mean that for the 1d4 rounds the target takes a cumulative -4 or just -2?


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NaeNae wrote:

I have a question regarding Color Spray, and since it's part of this character, I figured might as well...

For a HD3-4 creature it stuns and blinds for 1d4 rounds and then stuns for 1 round.

Both blinded and stunned lower the AC by 2. Does it mean that for the 1d4 rounds the target takes a cumulative -4 or just -2?

-4. Penalties always stack unless there is a specific rule that says they do not.


That's great to hear, Color Spray is even more powerful than I thought. But soon our enemies will outlevel it, so here is a second question. What can be a higher level alternative? I found Prismatic Spray, but that's far away. The closest for now seems Glitterdust. Anything else that I missed?


NaeNae wrote:
That's great to hear, Color Spray is even more powerful than I thought. But soon our enemies will outlevel it, so here is a second question. What can be a higher level alternative? I found Prismatic Spray, but that's far away. The closest for now seems Glitterdust. Anything else that I missed?

Color Spray is never less than a one round stun, which is still pretty nasty stuff. If specializing in Color Spray, you can throw it with Persistent Spell easily, and eventually even with Quicken Spell. Taking a 15ft cone of enemies out for a round with their stuff on the ground is still pretty nice.


NaeNae wrote:
What can be a higher level alternative?

Glitterdust is a popular choice for 2nd level spell, blinding creatures in an area of effect while also having the neat side-effect of shutting down invisibility.

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Is heightened color spray worth it? What about extended color spray?


SmiloDan wrote:
Is heightened color spray worth it? What about extended color spray?

I could see a Heavens Oracle making use of heightened color spray. For anyone else, though, the spell is past its prime by the time you can apply metamagic to it. So I wouldn't see the point for a non-Oracle.

Extended doesn't seem a great choice; probably better to apply it via a rod if you're going to use it on color spray. Average duration on color spray is already pretty decent so I don't think it's worth a spell level increase.


Color Spray is duration: instantaneous, so extend doesn't apply.

Quickened Color Spray is a level 4 spell with a metamagic trait, so that might well have some value; stunning foes with a swift action is pretty awesome even if it's only for a round. DC is potentially an issue of course, and it's consuming high-level slots, so it's probably more a support thing for a melee-capable character.

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Or maybe with a witch ally dumping an opponent's (or many opponents')saves with Evil Eye, Misfortune, and Cackle...

TEAMWORK!


Well we don't have an oracle or witch. We have an antipaladin, ranger and a cleric of Torag. And a pure wizard and mine rogue/wizard mixture. As I am behind in dmg spells, I am focusing for now on supporting peel spells. Glitterdust sure sounds like something I will use a lot.

At least till I can get the Prysmatic Spray. For now the character is lvl 4 and I did take 2 lvls of Rogue just for the sake of story, because IC she was still kind of during her rogue training period, sort of thing... I am not to bothered by the loss of the spells. And I sure am happy for having Evasion and that bit more hp, as I rolled 7.

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