Critfish of the Grave - trying to get the best out of Call of The Grave Focus Power

[WHW]

Hello.
After being able to see how the game is actually played out, I realized that Call of the Grave is actually a pretty cool and fun Focus Power, and while it has no "scaling" elements unlike other Wizard School Powers, Sickened is good enough to be worth a reusable spell slot anyway.

And the Crit Hit of it looks like a really powerful effect worth *at least* a medium level spell slot on its own.

So my question is...what are possible means and tactics to increase your chance of landing that sweet sweet Crit of the Grave? Is it even a viable exercise in the current state of the math, due to lack of item bonuses to hit?
So far, I'm aware of:

- Flanking and Flat-Footed in genera. -2 AC is a big swing.
- Frightened. Frightened is good for everyone, so it's not like the other person is wasting their actions setting you up with this. Even Frightened 1 is one step closer to a decent crit chance.
- Sickened applies too, but is obviously redundant.
- Clumsy would work wonders, but I didn't found any reliable way to apply it within Arcane spell list, at least not at low-medium levels. I would kill for a Touch of Clumsiness spell. Having a Synesthesia or Tempest buddy is probably the best way to cover this.
- Aid. Aid looks like a potentially really good way to make the laser stick. Too bad I don't have a human Rogue with cooperative soul in the party to use high-proficiency skills and get big bonuses. (In fact, I kinda want to play one now too, Human Rogue Aid-Machine sounds very happy to play)
- True Strike. This is very interesting. I will happily burn a level 1 spell to ensure that the Call of the Grave hits and does at least Sickened 1 (as that usually is at least 1 action burned by opponents and a sticky debuff if they don't bother), and doubling my chance to Crit is very very tempting. Obviously, to make the doubling count, the starting crit chance has to be decent in the first place. I'm not sure what CritChance should I aim for before the True Strike becomes a worthwile investment.

Currently, I'm looking at adventuring with a Halfing Redeemer and Elf Alchemist. We are about to play the Plaguestone intro 1-4 thing. Are there any ways for me to put dread of the Critgrave into my foes, or will I have to just acknowledge that getting reliable crits with it is basically how it scales into mid-late game?

[Castilliano]

It sounds like you know exactly what you need to do.

I'd add that you should focus on low AC targets or wait until the more dependable debuffs start accumulating. Despite it being a focus spell I wouldn't make it the focus of your tactics. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

While casters don't yet have a way to get bonuses w/ spell attacks, later they do get higher proficiencies than warriors (other than the Fighter with their main weapon group). So a relative +2 to their +1 to +3 weapon. That's gives a pretty good chance of a crit, but crits by nature will be special rather than normal. The math's tuned that way, for your PC's safety as much as anyone's.

And given that it doesn't injure, it could be used for shenanigans. :)
Like say...if the Redeemer starts getting too preachy.
Then again, his AC's likely tremendous and he has great abilities to protect allies...so, um, don't. :)

[WHW]

Seems like the sweet spot to aim for is critting at 15 before True Strike. It gives a really really sweet chance to nail it with TS. Should be absolutely doable once the proficiency starts to catch up and people start critting on Aid. Heroism makes a tremendous difference, too.
Aid is really neat setup for hitting the Spell Attacks in general. I wish it could raise the DC of your spells! Team Tactics ahoy.