|
| 10 people marked this as a favorite. |
I just keep going through AoN and finding these hidden gems that I missed while perusing my physical copy of the Grand Bazzar book. Sure, we all saw the return of Noqual and other skymetals, and the frog-hopping wheelchair, but here are some of the . . . not so flashy objects that showed up that are surprisingly uselful. In no particular order they are:
1)Elven Branched Spear. Making its return from PF1 (I actually had a character who used one), the EBS is reduced to a d6 base damage. Well what good is it you ask? It is still a reach weapon with finesse, as far as I know, the ONLY reach weapon with Finesse. This allows Elven rogues to sneak attack at reach, as well as Elven Investigators to studied strike at reach, not only reducing the amount they have to move around the battlefield, (saving those precious actions) but also giving them a slight buffer to defense and making it harder for the enemies to take them down. Heck a level 6 rogue could just sit BEHIND the fighter and, with Gang Up, Be sneak attacking from behind the fighter in a 5 foot wide corridor . . . And still be doing dex to damage with the thief racket!
2) Throwing Knife. At first glance, again, nothing to write home about, but it is no longer Uncommon and Not PFS legal (being limited to extinction curse.) For just slightly more than a normal dagger, it does most of what a normal dagger does (okay, not versitile s) but DOUBLES the range increment. Again, this is fantastic for both Rogues and Investigators who want a ranged option but don't want to have to bother with a bulky crossbow or an expensive shortbow.
3) Chakram: Wait, what? Nevermind the Throwing Knife, now we have a thrown weapon that does a d8? Okay, it has a slightly smaller range than a Javalin, but it can be used in melee and isn't even uncommon?! Okay, it doesn't have agile or finesse, so it isn't the best weapon in the game, but damn, if your fighter or barbarian needed a thrown weapon to use in case an enemy was out of reach, move over Javalin, there's a new weapon in town.
4) Wovenwood Shield: Okay, so let's face it, since the core rulebook, there's been a question on the back of every Druid's Mind. "Why the Eff do I get shield block?" Let's face it, a large wood shield has almost no hitpoints and can block a whopping 3 damage before it breaks. It is neigh unto uselsess to block with a wooden shield unless I guess that 3 HP is the difference between you going down or not. Enter the Wovenwood Shield. Now druids can have a shield Almost as good as a Sturdy Steel Shield. Shield block is back as an option again! With a few points, even PFS characters can pick it up with the Avid Collector (Grand Bazar) Boon.
5) Staunching Rune: Again, at the onset, this doesn't look like anything too major. Reduce the DC to get rid of bleeding from 15 to 12. Or 7! with the right assist. I dunno, maybe it's the games I've been playing but bleed seems to come into play more and more at high level play, and I'd love to get the DC to stop bleeding under 10! Not flashy, but potentially really effective. Also possibly life saving if you go down and are bleeding out. Higher level staunching runes are even better.
6) Deathless Rune: Oh my god! Reaction to reduce the doomed or wounded condition by 1?! That could be a huge bonus in some games. And bonus for PFS, it effectively looses the uncommon tag! Sadly it is only 1/day, but often, that's all you need to save your life.
7) Crushing Rune: Another one that seems not terribly exciting on first glance, but think about putting this on a fighter with a bludgeoning weapon. Every crit (and they crit often!) gives the enemy a -1 to hit with any physical attack, -1 to damage with almost any physical attack, and a-1 to AC. This stacks with intimidate, flat footed, a bunch of other stuff. Just . . . crit, suck for two rounds. And it only costs 50 GP. The level 9 version ups this to -2 to hit, -2 damage, and -2 to AC! Sadly I don't know of a way to get these in PFS.
8)The Legchair: Okay, so it's just plain funny to think of your character riding an animate chair into battle, but the legchair isn't a bad option! Its ability to step Twice THEN stride away is a great way to get out of Dodge even if the enemy has reach and attacks of opportunity. Plus it can just give you a +1 to AC via lesser cover by waving its legs in front of you. Plus it's a chair so . . . if it's well behaved you can probably ride it into that nobleman's estate instead of stabling it outside and being caught without your mount for an adventure. And it's not even uncommon!
9) Staff of Final Rest: At first I didn't think much of this staff. Okay, +1 damage (later staves have+2, +3) against undead when you hit with it. A normal staff with like a holy rune would do better right? But then I thought a bit about it. A twisting tree magus with the Student of the Staff Feat could actually PUT runes on their Staff of Final rest suddenly becomes an undead-killing machine. Holy, disrupting staff, +1/2/3 from the staff, +1/2/3 from arcade cascade, weapon specialization. Okay so +1/2/3 doesn't seem super exciting to damage, but do you realize how rare static bonuses to damage are in PF2? You could build an undead-destroying machine with this staff. Sadly I don't know how to get one in PFS.
10) Wardrobe Stone: WHAT?! For 50GP I can have a level 1 spell that is essentially at will? Okay so it takes a minute to cast instead of two actions, but WHO CARES? Who is casting illusionary disguise in combat anyway? Want to infiltrate that hellknight citidel? Wardrobe Stone. Want to get into that fancy party without spending 1000 GP on a tux? Wardrobe Stone. Need to look like a member of the city guard? Wardrobe Stone! For 50 bucks it is phenomenal!
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
1)Elven Branched Spear. [...] It is still a reach weapon with finesse, as far as I know, the ONLY reach weapon with Finesse.
Except for the Whip, Scorpion Whip, Bladed Scarf and Whip Claws. :)
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don’t really see a reason to call an accessibility/movement aid funny.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
...
3) Chakram: Wait, what? Nevermind the Throwing Knife, now we have a thrown weapon that does a d8? Okay, it has a slightly smaller range than a Javalin, but it can be used in melee and isn't even uncommon?! ...
The Chakram is a ranged weapon, not a melee weapon.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
As Gisher noted, Chakram is ranged so you can't use it in melee. However, you can use it with Investigator because it is ranged - and thus doesn't need Agile or Finesse. :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A Crushing rune shouldn't stack with Demoralize. Clumsy/Enfeebled and Frightened are all status penalties. That said, it's still a good rune on a fighter; flails/hammers mostly do bludgeoning and already had a really nice critical specialization.
I would go as far as deifning it sidegrade of the fearsome rune that is better in martial oriented parties and worse in caster heavy ones (since the effect lasts untill the end of YOUR next turn instead of the enemy's one). It is also considerably cheaper adn avaiable earlier wich is definetly a plus.
Although I feel like the greater version is worse than the fearsome equivalent if they are both avaiable but since the greater crushing is avaiable 3 levels earlier i would say that it could still be a good investment.And of course there are also enemies that are immune to fear so there is that
| 17 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don’t really see a reason to call an accessibility/movement aid funny.
It's funny in that it's a semi-sentient chair that can flail it's legs about to give cover and can mule kick as an attack in it's owner's stead. I'd call that a comedy routine in most media, namely Loony Toons or Sorcerer's Apprentice.
| 21 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don’t really see a reason to call an accessibility/movement aid funny.It's funny in that it's a semi-sentient chair that can flail it's legs about to give cover and can mule kick as an attack in it's owner's stead. I'd call that a comedy routine in most media, namely Loony Toons or Sorcerer's Apprentice.
You might have had a point if you were referring to a real mundane device in real life but, as a member of the disabled community, I 100% approve of laughing about magical wooden hearing aids, mule kicking chairs, and other such fun fantasy shenanigans.
I think it pretty obvious that these items--and this thread--were meant to be fun, so please don't diminish that for everyone.
|
|
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
First of all, thanks to all that responded. I'd like to remind people that I am one human and am prone to mistakes, especially at 11:00 at night when I didn't get a huge amount of sleep the night before. A few things:
1) Dunno how whips slipped my mind but yes, they are also finesse weapons. In my defense two of the whips are d4 damage with no deadly quality, so the EBS is still useful, and the whip claw is a catfolk weapon which is much more uncommon than an elf weapon. (Also it doesn't cost points to buy access to an elf) Plus, for the whips, a rogue could still make use of one because Elven weapon familiarity lets them treat EBS as simple weapons, which rogues are proficient with.
Also, I didn't mean to imply that mobility aids in and of themselves were funny. Notice how I didn't laugh the leaping frog wheelchair or any of the wheelchair weapons listed in the book. I honestly didn't even think of the legchair as a mobility aid as is is just a straight upgrade for everyone. Extra move speed, flailing arms giving you lesser cover, the ability to step, step, stride. I just thought it was funny to think of a mighty paladin in gleaming platemail and shield, with his polished lance, going up against the DARK KNIGHT in . . . . a chinsy armchair!
|
|
I don’t really see a reason to call an accessibility/movement aid funny.It's funny in that it's a semi-sentient chair that can flail it's legs about to give cover and can mule kick as an attack in it's owner's stead. I'd call that a comedy routine in most media, namely Loony Toons or Sorcerer's Apprentice.You might have had a point if you were referring to a real mundane device in real life but, as a member of the disabled community, I 100% approve of laughing about magical wooden hearing aids, mule kicking chairs, and other such fun fantasy shenanigans.
I think it pretty obvious that these items--and this thread--were meant to be fun, so please don't diminish that for everyone.
I still chuckle at the fact that it takes a greater degree of martial training to use my cane in a combat situation than it does to throw knives at people.
Also that Reading Rings mean I could theoretically make an adventurer who can encounter exploding Braille.
To be fair, the griffin cane looks pretty unwieldy. Also, the greater Reading Rings just allow you to have continuous comprehend languages for the written word, and don’t even have an investment slot!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
1)Elven Branched Spear. [...] It is still a reach weapon with finesse, as far as I know, the ONLY reach weapon with Finesse.Except for the Whip, Scorpion Whip, Bladed Scarf and Whip Claws. :)
However, with a feat tax (monastic weaponry, ancestral weaponry, and elf weapon familiarity) you can finally have a monk who finesses with reach. It's thematic with tangled branch stance, at least.
It's sort of weird to me how the branch spear is a finesse weapon despite having a bunch of extra bits sticking out towards the side, whereas the same "sharp thing at the end of a pole" without the extra branches would not be.
| 10 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's sort of weird to me how the branch spear is a finesse weapon despite having a bunch of extra bits sticking out towards the side, whereas the same "sharp thing at the end of a pole" without the extra branches would not be.
It's because its elven, everything is finesser when its elven.
It's sort of weird to me how the branch spear is a finesse weapon despite having a bunch of extra bits sticking out towards the side, whereas the same "sharp thing at the end of a pole" without the extra branches would not be.It's because its elven, everything is finesser when its elven.
I'm imagining a spindly rake, which suits Elf nature as custodians of nature. So don't go harassing any garden patrol; they're armed.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I liked the branch spear before I got my hands on the book and learned what it looks like. I thought it would be something like an exaggerated trident or something, but you really be swinging around Charlie Brown's Christmas tree at people.
It was inspired by the Langxian.
However, with a feat tax (monastic weaponry, ancestral weaponry, and elf weapon familiarity) you can finally have a monk who finesses with reach. It's thematic with tangled branch stance, at least.1)Elven Branched Spear. [...] It is still a reach weapon with finesse, as far as I know, the ONLY reach weapon with Finesse.Except for the Whip, Scorpion Whip, Bladed Scarf and Whip Claws. :)
For an Investigator using an Elven Branched Spear I've been leaning toward Magus MC. Spellstrike, Thunderous Strike, and Attack of Opportunity are really appealing options.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have never had any interest in Living Hair, but the Wig of Holding is somewhat interesting.
Also, I consider Sickened to be better than Frightened since Sickened has the same penalties, an additional effect of not being able to ingest potions or elixirs, and doesn't decrease on its own. So being able to afflict several enemies with Sickened in a cone area by using the Queasy Lantern looks quite useful to me.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
For other characters I am seeing the Swarmform Collar, the Duelist's Beacon buckler, and the Quick Runner's Shirt.
I'm also looking at the Pocket Gala and planning an eccentric socialite NPC who has a mansion with several completely empty rooms of various sizes that are designed to be filled with variations of that item. So it becomes an ever-changing mansion for entertaining guests of all types and events.
|
|
I want to thank you for making this thread. I have been looking for things that I could purchase access to with ACP in PFS to get an oddball character idea. I will have to see which of these things might be available!
Glad you liked it! I have to admit I'm trying to find a way to work an EBS into a build. So far it's looking like rogue is the best way to do it.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
11) The Table of Contents. I don't think I've seen anyone mention it (it's the type of thing that's easy to overlook), but I think it's great fun.