It's been a while, and I never got a chance to properly review the Armory when it came out, so I'm wondering if there are any significant improvements to my character to be made.
Prydux
Male dragonkin gladiator soldier 5 Alien Archive 41
N Large dragon
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
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Defense SP 40 HP 41 RP 7
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EAC 22; KAC 24
Fort +5; Ref +4; Will +4; +2 vs. effects that cause paralysis
Immunities sleep
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Offense
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Speed 45 ft., fly 25 ft. (Ex, average)
Melee ember flame doshko +11 (1d8+12 F; critical wound [DC 16]; powered) or
. . returning tactical starknife +11 (1d4+12 P; analog, thrown [20 ft.])
Ranged smoke grenade +10 (explode [20 ft., smoke cloud 1 minute, DC 30]) or
. . smoke grenade +10 (explode [20 ft., smoke cloud 1 minute, DC 30])
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Offensive Abilities primary fighting style (blitz), breath weapon (30-ft. cone, 1d6+7 F, Reflex DC 13 half), charge attack, melee striker, rapid response
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Statistics
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Str 20 (+5); Dex 16 (+3); Con 13 (+1); Int 14 (+2); Wis 10 (+0); Cha 10 (+0)
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +11, Computers +10 (5 ranks), Culture +10, Engineering +13 (5 ranks), Intimidate +1, Medicine +10; (reduce the DC of Culture checks by 5 when recalling information about entertainment combat, fighting styles, and gladiatorial traditions)
Feats Close Combat, Skill Focus (engineering), Skill Synergy (computers, culture), Step Up, Weapon Focus (advanced melee weapons)
Languages Aklo, Castrovelian, Common, Draconic, Drow, Elven, Infernal, Starsong, Triaxian, Vesk
Other Abilities draconic immunities, partner bond
Combat Gear smoke grenade, smoke grenade; Other Gear vesk overplate I, ember flame doshko with 1 battery (20 charges), [i]returning tactical starknife[/i], smoke grenade, smoke grenade, batteriess (2), engineering tool kit, personal comm unit, credstick (663 credits); Augmentations minimal speed suspension, mk 1 synaptic accelerator (strength)
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Special Abilities
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Partner Bond (Ex) (Ex) A dragonkin can form a permanent bond with one willing non-dragonkin creature. Once this bond is made, a dragonkin cannot form another partner bond unless its current partner dies. A dragonkin and its partner can communicate with each other as if they both had telepathy with a range of 100 feet. In combat, when a dragonkin is within 30 feet of its partner, both creatures roll initiative checks separately and treat the higher result as the result for both of them.
This is what I've got right now.
I've considered selling both of the personal augmentations....but even if I do I can't afford a better weapon really.
Any advice you have for how I might improve my soldier is welcome.
Some of my choices might seem odd, so ask if that's the case, though I may have character driven reasons for having done so.
I've considered selling both of the personal augmentations....but even if I do I can't afford a better weapon really.
You can't, without a houserule.
Because
augmentations are coded to your body, it’s not possible to resell an old augmentation, nor can you reimplant one into a different person. The price of a new augmentation includes the price and time to remove the old augmentation.
I've considered selling both of the personal augmentations....but even if I do I can't afford a better weapon really.You can't, without a houserule.
Because
augmentations are coded to your body, it’s not possible to resell an old augmentation, nor can you reimplant one into a different person. The price of a new augmentation includes the price and time to remove the old augmentation.
Eh....you can in a game where you don't use XP or really acquire wealth and instead go by wealth by level at each level up. Essentially at every level up you can reallocate all your wealth however you see fit. However, keeping to WBL is usually less than what the APs hand out. We can benefit from picking up items in between levels and not having them count against our WBL, but if you want to keep it after level up it counts against your total wealth.
The reduction in tracking of wealth and splitting party loot is great. We only keep track of items if someone actually wants it, and then it's their responsibility.
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Noteworthy stuff in Armory for melee builds:
Gear Boosts
1. Deflecting Smash - EAC boost when you attack with a powered weapon
2. Massive Momentum - wield an unwieldy melee weapon while performing an bull rush or reposition to add 5' to the target's movement
3. Twinned Threat - Hit with one melee weapon, gain bonus damage on any other one handed melee weapon you also hit with that round
Armor Upgrades
1. Attractor Field (level 11) - Grants a +4 bonus to disarm melee weapons that hit you
2. Explosive Defense Unit (level 8) - Grants a bonus to explode weapon saves, but also lets you detonate a grenade on your square without suffering any of its effects. Get surrounded, blow yourself up.
3. Juggernaut Boosters (level 3) - Bonus on bull rush (can combine with Massive Momentum and some racial bonuses) if you move 20'
4. Mobility Enhancer (level 3/8) - Reduce armor speed penalty by 5/10
5. Slickskin (level 1) - Bonus to AC against grapples and to escaping grapples
6. Stabilizer Springs (level 1) - Bonus to AC against trips and to saves against being knocked prone
7. Thrower Arms (level 2) - Add 10' to thrown weapon range increment
Augmentations
1. Restraining Spinneret (level 1) - biotech, hand slot, allows a melee touch to entangle an enemy
2. Weaponized Prosthesis (level 4/8) - cyber, arm/hand slot, provides 1/2 slots for an integrated weapon, allows you to use the integrated weapon while you hands are full. Give yourself a (weak) ranged option you can use while holding a 2 handed melee weapon
3. X-legs, basic (level 6) - cyber, all legs/feet slots, provides +4 AC to trip, reposition, bullrush attempts, save bonus against things that would knock you prone
4. Force Soles (level 4/8) - magitech, all feet, let you walk on air, everyone needs the level 8 version of these.
5. Shadow Nerves (level 1-20) - necrograft, spinal column slot, lets you take a 10' guarded step a limited number of times per day when you aren't in bright light
Weapon Fusions
1. Advancing (level 6) - Drop a foe, take a guarded step as a reaction
2. Cruel (level 6) - As Pathfinder, make a target under a fear effect sickened, gain temp HP on a kill
3. Defending (level 3) - Less attack penalty, more defense bonus when fighting defensively
4. Menacing (level 6) - Melee hits make the target count as flanked by everyone but you, regardless of their actual position
5. Opportunistic (level 2) - +2 to hit on attacks of opportunity! Also a damage bonus that scales with item level.
6. Throwing (level 2) - Adds throwing property with 10' range increment to any melee weapon
Thanks for the highlights there.
Any specific suggestion for my character? There are definitely some attractive options there, though they're too high level/expensive for me to afford right now.
The singing disks are great. They have very low base damage , but sonic weapons work on almost everything, target eac , and if you have a pair of them you can throw them to full attack things that move away from you.
Well, my current plan for ranged attacks is to have a starknife with returning fusion. I will upgrade it when I can afford better versions, but I haven't looked at the singing disk to see how it scales.
The drawback of the level 1 starknife is a range of only 20'.
I looked at the singing disk, it's basically a starknife but sonic, so it targets EAC. I don't actually see any drawbacks except slightly higher prices for equivalent level items. I think the damage dice even scale at the same rate (though I didn't look closely).
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I ended up getting a Throwing fusion on my Yellow Star Plasma Lance, the Thrower Arms installed on my armor, and transferred the Called fusion from my starknife to my plasma lance. Obviously not a 1st level option, but for a melee soldier, it's a ranged option that doesn't require drawing a new weapon. While the range isn't great, the Thrower Arms help, and if I'm further than 20'-30' range of the enemies, I've made a grave mistake as an Armor Storm vesk.
Come to think of it, one could apply this combo to any weapon of level 3 or higher. Maybe a Disintigrator Lash?
I was looking at the yellow star plasma lance before, but it's still too expensive to afford even if I don't count the value of the augmentations against my current and ditch my other weapons.
Edit: I think what I'll do is there is a level 3 chain weapon that I can apply throwing and returning to.
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I was looking at the yellow star plasma lance before, but it's still too expensive to afford even if I don't count the value of the augmentations against my current and ditch my other weapons.
Edit: I think what I'll do is there is a level 3 chain weapon that I can apply throwing and returning to.
The Shadow Chains? Analog, cold damage (so attacks EAC), reach, trip... those are some great weapons, with the caveat that they're dang creepy. There's also the Disintigrator Lash, which I think has the Corrode critical... you can get a Gear Boost from Armory that improves Corrode crits, which I have been meaning to try out sometime.
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I'm kinda skeptical about all the effort being put into critical effects, given that crits aren't really common enough to build a strategy on.
Shadow chains are pretty good, at least until you can get Step Up And Strike working. By then you might actually consider not using a reach weapon to trick enemies into taking a guarded step away from you so you get an AoO. With a reach weapon, even one as awesome as L1 shadow chains, enemies can see the risk.
The Shadow Chains? Analog, cold damage (so attacks EAC), reach, trip... those are some great weapons, with the caveat that they're dang creepy. There's also the Disintigrator Lash, which I think has the Corrode critical... you can get a Gear Boost from Armory that improves Corrode crits, which I have been meaning to try out sometime.I was looking at the yellow star plasma lance before, but it's still too expensive to afford even if I don't count the value of the augmentations against my current and ditch my other weapons.
Edit: I think what I'll do is there is a level 3 chain weapon that I can apply throwing and returning to.
Nah, I was going to go with the fire version but yeah it's basically the same weapon. This combines my ranged and melee needs into one weapon while only being mildly more expensive than what I was wielding, but also means I only have to worry about 1 weapon.
I'm kinda skeptical about all the effort being put into critical effects, given that crits aren't really common enough to build a strategy on.
Shadow chains are pretty good, at least until you can get Step Up And Strike working. By then you might actually consider not using a reach weapon to trick enemies into taking a guarded step away from you so you get an AoO. With a reach weapon, even one as awesome as L1 shadow chains, enemies can see the risk.
Eh? I'm not putting any particular effort into critical effects. The weapon I chose has a critical effect, but not on purpose. I was looking for a 3rd level reach weapon so I could put returning and throwing on.
As far as the reach issue...my character is a dragonkin, reach is innate. The enemy is always aware. But with 15ft reach and Step Up I can move next to an enemy and really lock them down. When I can get Step Up and Strike I can really get them.
(Actually is everyone assuming that reach weapons add 5ft to large creatures reach? Because the current rule wording says something along the lines of reach weapons make your reach 10ft, but was written assuming medium creature)
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I meant taking a whole (somewhat rare and precious) gear boost to enhance a corrosive crit effect. That doesn't really seem worth it.
The disintegration lash itself is a really fine weapon.
As for reach and large creatures:
Creatures that take up more than 1 square of space typically have a natural reach of 10 feet or more. Such a creature usually can make an attack of opportunity against you if you approach it, because you must enter and move within the range of its reach before you can attack it. You do not provoke this attack of opportunity if you take a guarded step to approach it. When wielding a weapon with the reach special property, such creatures extend their reach by 5 feet.
So yeah, a creature with a natural reach of 10ft using a reach weapon threatens 15ft.
The problem with reach and Step Up (and Strike) is that those feats require the enemy to be adjacent. But when you're adjacent and wielding a reach weapon, they already know a guarded step won't get them far enough to safely do something provocative.
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Yeah I'm not slapping the Caustic Burns on my current soldiers, but it is an interesting idea... which is, put everything into, say, boosting your Disintigration Lash. If you already have Melee Striker, boosting your crits is about the same utility as anything else if you're a one-trick melee pony. Acid is a good and rarely resisted damage type.
Step Up & Strike is just fantastic in general, though. The morale hit of a caster knowing that they're going to get bonked regardless of what they do is priceless. I'm okay if they just decide to stand there and do nothing, or use weak melee.
True, but that was true even without a reach weapon (for a large creature).
The reason I want (Step Up) and (Step Up and Strike) is in case anyone thinks they might attempt multiround attempts at getting out of my range. Say if I'm next to multiple enemies, one might think they can take a couple turns getting out of range. It's unlikely, but possible.
Also, there aren't that many great feat options to enhance melee combat that I've found so there just isn't that much for me to do with all these feats I get.
Considering all this, I wish there was a follow up feat to Step Up and Strike that would extend it to be anywhere within your reach not just adjacent. And then another that would allow it to trigger on any movement allowing you to follow the enemy using up your movement speed for the next round.
That would be a great feat line for melee.
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Close Combat is an easy feat choice for a melee combatant. Coordinated Shot, too. Buff while doing your normal combat routine.
Yeah, I eventually plan on taking Spellbane, Enhanced Resistance, and Iron Will.
For now I've substituted Coordinated Shot, as it's generally going to be better than Step Up, since as you note most enemies are going to be aware that the large dragon with a reach weapon will still threaten them despite their guarded step.
This is what my character looks like for now:
Prydux
Male dragonkin gladiator soldier 5 Alien Archive 41
N Large dragon
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0
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Defense SP 40 HP 41 RP 7
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EAC 22; KAC 24
Fort +5; Ref +4; Will +4; +2 vs. effects that cause paralysis
Immunities sleep
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Offense
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Speed 35 ft., fly 25 ft. (Ex, average)
Melee returning throwing fiend-class burning chains +11 (1d8+12 F; critical fatigue [3 rounds, DC 16]; analog, disarm, fueled, reach, thrown [20 ft.], trip)
Ranged smoke grenade +10 (explode [20 ft., smoke cloud 1 minute, DC 30]) or
. . smoke grenade +10 (explode [20 ft., smoke cloud 1 minute, DC 30])
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with fiend-class burning chains)
Offensive Abilities primary fighting style (blitz), breath weapon (30-ft. cone, 1d6+7 F, Reflex DC 13 half), charge attack, melee striker, rapid response
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Statistics
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Str 20 (+5); Dex 16 (+3); Con 13 (+1); Int 14 (+2); Wis 10 (+0); Cha 10 (+0)
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +11, Computers +10 (5 ranks), Culture +10, Engineering +13 (5 ranks), Intimidate +1, Medicine +10; (reduce the DC of Culture checks by 5 when recalling information about entertainment combat, fighting styles, and gladiatorial traditions)
Feats Close Combat, Coordinated Shot, Skill Focus (engineering), Skill Synergy (computers, culture), Weapon Focus (advanced melee weapons)
Languages Aklo, Castrovelian, Common, Draconic, Drow, Elven, Infernal, Starsong, Triaxian, Vesk
Other Abilities draconic immunities, partner bond
Combat Gear smoke grenade, smoke grenade; Other Gear vesk overplate I (upgrade: thrower arms), returning throwing fiend-class burning chains with 1 standard petrol tank (20 charges)[/i], smoke grenade, smoke grenade, engineering tool kit, personal comm unit, standard petrol tanks (3), credstick (105 credits); Augmentations mk 1 synaptic accelerator (strength)
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Special Abilities
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Partner Bond (Ex) (Ex) A dragonkin can form a permanent bond with one willing non-dragonkin creature. Once this bond is made, a dragonkin cannot form another partner bond unless its current partner dies. A dragonkin and its partner can communicate with each other as if they both had telepathy with a range of 100 feet. In combat, when a dragonkin is within 30 feet of its partner, both creatures roll initiative checks separately and treat the higher result as the result for both of them.
Why is your Reach with the chains 20'? Shouldn't it be 15' (10' natural + 5' Reach weapon)?
Because Herolab doesn't have their programming right and doubles your reach with a reach weapon instead of increasing it by 5.
Any other comments about my current character build?
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Any other comments about my current character build?
I think I would argue that enhanced resistance is more important than the other feats. Preventing damage is very, very useful. Both of my full BAB players picked that up at level 5. They also have a lot lower AC because they haven't had a chance to shop or craft since level 3.
I will definitely pick it up at some point, but since enhanced resistance can only be chosen once, and since I can pick up armor upgrades that the provide energy resistance, I will be using it for DR/-. But, at only 5 reduction against physical damage (not energy damage)....it's just not worth it yet in my opinion.
As you mention, I also have good AC and I have a lot of HP and stamina, and don't take much HP damage in combat. So I just haven't been too worried about it. Coordinated Shot and Close Combat are good for buffing my allies, and further AC boost for myself. And the skill feats were so I didn't suck at spaceship combat.
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I will definitely pick it up at some point, but since enhanced resistance can only be chosen once, and since I can pick up armor upgrades that the provide energy resistance, I will be using it for DR/-. But, at only 5 reduction against physical damage (not energy damage)....it's just not worth it yet in my opinion.
As you mention, I also have good AC and I have a lot of HP and stamina, and don't take much HP damage in combat. So I just haven't been too worried about it. Coordinated Shot and Close Combat are good for buffing my allies, and further AC boost for myself. And the skill feats were so I didn't suck at spaceship combat.
DR 5 is downright amazing at 5th level. Five damage off of every physical hit basically gives me 15+ extra hit points per adventure, though it's even better in conjunction with, say, a thermal capacitor so attacks that deal physical + cold or fire do minus TEN damage instead.
If anything, Enhanced Resistance is MORE useful at lower levels than higher levels, because damage starts scaling upwards so drastically around level 11 or so that the extra resistance will be a drop in the bucket.
5 damage in only mediocre in my eyes, as a majority of enemies tend to do some type of energy damage, but it's not consistently just one type of energy.
I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't think it's enough to justify it at this level yet.
Remember DR 5/- only reduces physical attacks, not energy attacks. And energy attacks require a resistance for each type.
So basically you have 5 types of damage that you can be hit with*:
Physical - DR/- prevents all types of physical damage though it can be B/P/S
Fire - Require Energy Resist Fire
Cold - Req ER Cold
Electricity - Req ER Elec
Acid - Req ER Acid
Sonic - Req ER So
*Generally speaking, might be some I've forgotten
Because there are so many types, I just don't see it being that useful.
If it only prevents 15 damage per adventure day that's certainly not worth it to me. Not when I have 40 stamina, and can replenish it up to 7 times per day (don't have much else use for resolve).
And it's not that I think it's bad, but I think being able to add to my AC vs ranged attack or buff my ally's attack rolls against my target will do much more for my survivability by helping to kill enemies before they can cause more damage.
How about Force Fields?
When I can afford one I'll add it in. Right now I don't even have the cash to spare for the lowest level one.
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5 damage in only mediocre in my eyes, as a majority of enemies tend to do some type of energy damage, but it's not consistently just one type of energy.
I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't think it's enough to justify it at this level yet.
Remember DR 5/- only reduces physical attacks, not energy attacks. And energy attacks require a resistance for each type.
So basically you have 5 types of damage that you can be hit with*:
Physical - DR/- prevents all types of physical damage though it can be B/P/S
Fire - Require Energy Resist Fire
Cold - Req ER Cold
Electricity - Req ER Elec
Acid - Req ER Acid
Sonic - Req ER So*Generally speaking, might be some I've forgotten
Because there are so many types, I just don't see it being that useful.
If it only prevents 15 damage per adventure day that's certainly not worth it to me. Not when I have 40 stamina, and can replenish it up to 7 times per day (don't have much else use for resolve).
And it's not that I think it's bad, but I think being able to add to my AC vs ranged attack or buff my ally's attack rolls against my target will do much more for my survivability by helping to kill enemies before they can cause more damage.
Nearly every enemy has a physical damage type; typically their melee attack (which I am likely to receive, being a front-liner).
It is in conjunction with my Static Field Emitter and my Thermal Capacitor, which covers 3 of those 5 energy types (Electricity, Fire, and Cold).
Enhanced Resistance is by far the best way to get DR in the game, because it scales with level (though, as mentioned, after a certain point it trails off in usefulness somewhat, but never becomes useless), and you can get gear that protects you from almost everything else.
And it's not 15 damage per adventure; it's 15 damage PER FIGHT. At least. That adds up, let me tell you.
Being a Soldier, you can get Close Combat, Coordinated Shot, AND Enhanced Resistance by 5th level, and still have feats left over for Skill Focus/Synergy.
5 damage in only mediocre in my eyes, as a majority of enemies tend to do some type of energy damage, but it's not consistently just one type of energy.
I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't think it's enough to justify it at this level yet.
Remember DR 5/- only reduces physical attacks, not energy attacks. And energy attacks require a resistance for each type.
You're a melee specialist and not getting hit by physical attacks?
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Yeah, I support what others are saying. I think you are vastly undervaluing Enhanced Resistance. Plus, with a little extra cost you can get subdermal armor and be at level +1 DR/-. Also, Enhanced Resistance is not a combat feat, so you can't get it at even levels. All-in-all Enhanced Resistance is almost always worth it (unless you are in a home game where your GM has decided to never use physical attacks).
A mantra I go by with all of my tank characters, "If enemies can't hit me, then they are likely going to aim for my allies."
You're a melee specialist and not getting hit by physical attacks?5 damage in only mediocre in my eyes, as a majority of enemies tend to do some type of energy damage, but it's not consistently just one type of energy.
I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't think it's enough to justify it at this level yet.
Remember DR 5/- only reduces physical attacks, not energy attacks. And energy attacks require a resistance for each type.
I get hit with a wide mixture of physical and energy attacks. Not just one type. It's not even prominently one type.
Nearly every enemy has a physical damage type; typically their melee attack (which I am likely to receive, being a front-liner).
It is in conjunction with my Static Field Emitter and my Thermal Capacitor, which covers 3 of those 5 energy types (Electricity, Fire, and Cold).
Enhanced Resistance is by far the best way to get DR in the game, because it scales with level (though, as mentioned, after a certain point it trails off in usefulness somewhat, but never becomes useless), and you can get gear that protects you from almost everything else.
And it's not 15 damage per adventure; it's 15 damage PER FIGHT. At least. That adds up, let me tell you.
Being a Soldier, you can get Close Combat, Coordinated Shot, AND Enhanced Resistance by 5th level, and still have feats left over for Skill Focus/Synergy.
I'm playing Deadsuns right now. It seems like a lot of enemies are focused on ranged attacks. It's pretty humanoid heavy, not to say there aren't some monster. As I said before, there are a range of attacks that come at me, but I feel like no one damage type stands out as most common (though if I was pressed I would actually probably say fire from laser weapons not physical).
Also, you said 15 damage per adventure in your previous post which is what I was replying to. If it is 15 damage per fight, then yes it would be moderately useful. But your original statement was 15 per adventure. Which would be abysmal.
As for the feats you're describing, I have everything you're talking about I just have Weapon Focus instead of Enhanced Resistance.
Really guys, I just don't feel like I need damage mitigation as hard as you all are pushing. Most combats end with me at 0 stamina and having taken maybe 5 points of actual hp damage. Usually at least one other member of the party has also taken significant (50%) stamina damage so we're going to rest anyways. Yes removing 15 damage would be nice, but wouldn't really change what needs to happen that much. I'm probably still going to need to spend resolve and get back stamina. It would reduce the need for sprayflesh or a medicine check to treat wounds.
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Put simply, I think you are incorrect in your assessment of Enhanced Resistance. This is based on my full run through of Dead Suns.
That said, it is possible you are having/ will have a different experience than me. Odd, but possible. It is clear that you disagree and this conversation is clearly going nowhere. You asked for 'advice', we gave you our thoughts. Ultimately it is your character.
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Really guys, I just don't feel like I need damage mitigation as hard as you all are pushing. Most combats end with me at 0 stamina and having taken maybe 5 points of actual hp damage. Usually at least one other member of the party has also taken significant (50%) stamina damage so we're going to rest anyways. Yes removing 15 damage would be nice, but wouldn't really change what needs to happen that much. I'm probably still going to need to spend resolve and get back stamina. It would reduce the need for sprayflesh or a medicine check to treat wounds.
So what you're saying is that, if you'd have taken Enhanced Resistance, you probably wouldn't have ANY hit point damage, and would expend no resources other than a single resolve point?
That seems like a pretty solid value, long-term.
Again, it's not like I'm saying I'm not going to take it.
It's a solid feat.
I just don't think it's better than the other feats I've already selected.
Being able to add 2 to my AC against non-adjacent attackers, being able to increase my allies AC by 1 against anyone I threaten (which is a big area as a large creature with a reach weapon), letting myself hit harder with Weapon Focus, and paying feat taxes to contribute to Space Combat.
Personally I see things that buff offense as way more valuable than defensive things. And things that reduce damage rather than prevent it even more so.
Enemies that hit me will do more than 5 points of damage, so Enhanced Resistance isn't going to outright stop damage (like a higher AC might). And killing an enemy before they can attack me again stops them from dealing damage altogether.
Which isn't to say that damage mitigation isn't useful. It's just on the lower end of the spectrum of those useful things, when you're talking about only preventing 1 of 6 types of possible damage.
You all think I'm undervaluing. I think you're over valuing.
I'm not saying never, I'm saying not yet.
It's also worth noting. My character is not trying to tank damage for other characters. I often draw attention by virtue of being the scary thing in their face, but my character isn't trying to stop my allies from being injured specifically. My character is trying to kill the enemy.
And as for Enhanced Resistance causing me to not take any HP damage. Maybe in some combats, but again, most combat have involved a lot of humanoids with energy weapons. Maybe I just haven't hit the stretch of the AP where you encounter a lot of physical damage yet. But it just isn't a priority over the other options I've taken this far*.
With the exception of the skill feats. But I took those for the first and only space combat, and kind of feel like I can't get rid of those just because I don't need them now.
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I just came back to say, after level up again and picking up Enhanced Resistance that it is pretty awesome.
Perhaps my memory of the kinds of attacks I received was off, or perhaps more recently we've started getting a lot of attacks that deal physical rather than energy damage. Regardless since I picked up Enhanced Resistance I've been getting a ton of mileage out of it. So I just wanted to give everyone their due on it.
I'm still not sure that if it would have been a better choice to pick it up earlier or not, because I've also gotten a lot of mileage out of my other feats. But I absolutely don't regret picking it up now.
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IMO, Enhanced Resistance is way too strong. For the cost of 1 feat you get 35-40% reduced physical damage vs. enemies of the same level as you (based on the NPC creation rules, which are surprisingly in-line with bestiary monsters). This stays true from level 4 through level 12, after which the higher damage scaling slowly eats away at the % reduction.
For something that has such a low cost to buy in, its ridiculously effective. I remember when the CRB came out, the devs were talking about how they had meant to adjust it in some way (maybe you had to pick two physical damage types that bypass your DR, so you'd be resistant to one of the three). But they never ended up making any changes or errata.
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IMO, Enhanced Resistance is way too strong. For the cost of 1 feat you get 35-40% reduced physical damage vs. enemies of the same level as you (based on the NPC creation rules, which are surprisingly in-line with bestiary monsters). This stays true from level 4 through level 12, after which the higher damage scaling slowly eats away at the % reduction.
For something that has such a low cost to buy in, its ridiculously effective. I remember when the CRB came out, the devs were talking about how they had meant to adjust it in some way (maybe you had to pick two physical damage types that bypass your DR, so you'd be resistant to one of the three). But they never ended up making any changes or errata.
Yes and no. It does much more than a single feat ought to do. But staying on-level with armor and avoiding hits also seems harder than I think the devs expected; a risk that you get when you play whole campaigns instead of playtest scenarios where you start each time with the correct WBL.
In practice enhanced resistance gives you the survivability that you need. On paper it looks over the top, in practice I find it simply necessary.
It's a nobrainer for melee characters. But for other kind of characters, it gets far less usefull, especially if you have a Mystic in the party. You're not supposed to take too much heat when you play a range damage dealer, and most of this damage is supposed to be ranged one which it's more often elemental than melee attacks.
So, I agree it's a very strong feat. Still, I'm not sure you'll see it that often, besides melee characters.
I also think it's important to put resistances on your frontliner, as there are great chances you'll get only one. Maybe is it a way to encourage dealing damage to backliners.
IMO, Enhanced Resistance is way too strong. For the cost of 1 feat you get 35-40% reduced physical damage vs. enemies of the same level as you (based on the NPC creation rules, which are surprisingly in-line with bestiary monsters).
...why would that be surprising?
I only think it's a no-brainer for full BAB characters.
Other characters aren't rocking nearly as much resistance with it since the amount is based on BAB.
Also, non-melee characters don't tend take as many directed attacks are ranged characters. So I would place it pretty high up for the survivability of melee characters.
For soldiers I think it's always a pretty good choice since they have a plethora of feats anyways.
And, as opposed to finding that the feat is too strong my argument would be that most other feats are simply too weak.
Few are so engaging as to say "I really must have this".
Aside from Close Combat and Covering fire Coordinated Shot I haven't gotten much mileage out of feats besides Enhanced Resistance. I have Weapon Focus, which isn't bad but it also isn't exciting either.
IMO, Enhanced Resistance is way too strong. For the cost of 1 feat you get 35-40% reduced physical damage vs. enemies of the same level as you (based on the NPC creation rules, which are surprisingly in-line with bestiary monsters)....why would that be surprising?
Until Starfinder, Paizo followed their own Monster creation rules very very loosely when they were making monsters for the Bestiaries. Usually the damage was way way higher than their creation rules would suggest.
With the Starfinder Alien Archive(s), the creatures are almost always spot on with the NPC creation rules. Their consistency is very neat for people like me who like to crunch numbers.
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I think adventures so far have been easy enough that ranged characters and 3/4 BAB folks haven't needed it. The melee guys are the ones taking the brunt of the physical damage. If adventures had more sneaky or flying melee critters, there'd be more back line physical damage to go around, and the ranged guys would be picking it too.
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I took it at 5, and I would have taken it earlier had I not been going for Shot on the Run. Which is also worth its weight in gold, for a ranged PC.
...well, that and the fact that 5th level is the absolute minimum that you can pick up Enhanced Resistance (BAB +5 minimum).
I chalk it up to a fortunate mistake on the part of the developers. Yeah, they probably wanted to nerf it, but the people insane enough to be melee fighters in a game about plasma rifles needed SOMETHING that gives them a fighting chance to stay on their feet and do their difficult job.
It's kinda like how Clerics started getting ridiculously overpowered in 3E D&D because nobody wanted to play them (healing is thankless work). You need to tilt the scales a bit so someone is just crazy enough to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done.
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Enhanced Resistance
Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 157
You have trained your body to resist a particular type of damage.Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: Choose either kinetic damage or one of acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. If you choose kinetic damage, you gain damage reduction equal to your base attack bonus. If you choose acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic, you gain energy resistance against that type of energy equal to your base attack bonus.
Oh yes, you are correct that the BAB minimum is +4. That is to be generous with non-full BAB classes.
You still can't get Enhanced Resistance at level 4, because it is not a Combat Feat, and therefore cannot be selected with a soldier's level 4 class feature. You have to wait until level 5 when you get access to a general feat.
I tend to forget the prerequisite because Soldier's can't take advantage of it early.
