Monster weaknesses and resistances vs. cantrip selection


Advice


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If you haven't done a review of Bestiary energy weaknesses yet and planned to take that into account for cantrip selection, please note that there are A LOT of things that are weak to fire, a lot that are weak to cold, zero weak to electricity, zero weak to negative energy, zero weak to mental, zero weak to acid, but all swarms are weak to splash (yet not very, and they aren't generally resistant to your better cantrips, so whatever). (On the noncantrip side, there is one thing weak to sonic.) For Divine Lance fiends are pretty much all weak to good and extremely so at high levels, so it's pretty strong in certain campaigns. Similarly for Celestials, Proteans, and Aeons for their respective alignments.

On the resistance front fire is the most common, but mental and cold are around quite a bit, and plenty of things have electricity or acid resistance. Electricity is probably the rarest. Negative energy is only an issue for Psychopomps. The only things with multiple energy resistances that I noticed are Skeleton Guards and...Treerazor.

My overall conclusion is that Produce Flame and Ray of Frost will cover the vast majority of your cantrip needs if you're an arcane or primal caster. Electric Arc is a runner up for consistent double damage against the masses. For others looking to pickup an off list cantrip (preferably on your list via the human ancestry feat to advance proficiency), these are probably your best picks if your base list is occult or divine. Primal/arcane may want to pickup Divine Lance if they expect to blast a whole lot of fiends when spells lots run out.


Makes bottled lightning an even weirder choice currently


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Cantrip relevant immunities:

Acid

Dragons, Black
Dragons, Copper
Fleshwarp, Grothlut(3)
Genie, Djinni(5) (...why...)
Golem, Alchemical(9)
Golem, Clay(10)
Golem, Stone(11)
Graveknight(some)
Linnorm, Tarn(20)
Ooze, all

Cold

Devil, Gelugon(13)
Dragons, Silver
Dragons, White
Drake, Frost(7)
Giant, Frost(9)
Graveknight(some)
Linnorm, Ice(17)
Remorhaz(7)
Skulltaker(18)
Winter Wolf(5)
Wendigo(17)
Yeti(5)

Electricity

Algollthu, Veiled Master(14)
Dragons, Blue
Dragons, Bronze
Giant, Storm(13)
Golem, Flesh(8)
Graveknight(some)
Shambler(6)
Uthul(14)

Fire

Crimson Worm(18)
Demon, Balor(20)
Devils, all
Dragon Turtle(9)
Dragons, Brass
Dragons, Gold
Dragons, Red
Drake, Flame(5)
Elananx(6)
Elemental, Fire(all)
Mephit, Fire(1)
Genie, Efreeti(9)
Giant, Fire(10)
Giant, Rune(16)
Golem, Iron(13)
Golem, Adamantine(18)
Graveknight(some)
Hell Hound(3)
Nessian Warhound(9)
Linnorm, Crag(14)
Linnorm, Tor(21)
Phoenix(15)
Remorhaz(7)
Shining Child(12)
Simurgh(18)

Mental

Algollthu, Veiled Master(14)
Constructs, all
Devil, Lemure(0)
Fleshwarp, Grothlut(3)
Flytrap, Snapping(3)
Flytrap, Giant(10)
Graveknight(some)
Ooze, all
Skeleton, all (except Champion)
Treerazer(25)
Zombie, all

Negative

Aeon, Pleroma(20)
Daemon, Astradaemon(16)
Constructs, all
Simurgh(18)


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Occult casters have serious construct problems, and NEED Telekinetic Projectile. Hopefully it gets errata to be a spell roll.

Mental immunity overall, however, is pretty rare beyond mindless things like constructs, some undead, oozes, and some plants/fungi. The only exceptions are a variant graveknight, the aboleth's big brother, and a demigod. But note that many things have a separate "controlled" resistance.

Electric Arc is definitely the uber cantrip for those who can get it.

Only two things have both fire and cold immunity - the remorhaz and the ice devil.

For the most part the elemental immunities make sense, and it's nice to not see them randomly slapped on every form of fiend or other outsider.


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Am really happy 90% of enemies don't resist Fire anymore. Pyromancers are still the most resisted, but it's also a very rewarding energy to focus on.


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Thanks for all that research, Xenocrat!

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