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I don't see anything stopping you from taking Assurance on Esoteric Lore right? If you want to dump Charisma, or just remove the chance of flat-footing yourself in an important boss fight against an already researched creature, this would basically make you guaranteed to fail the check against on level and higher enemies, but not crit fail it.
At level 7 and 8 you would actually succeed against on level foes, and you only ever crit fail versus creatures ~6+ levels above you.
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LOL I had to come in and check the thread because it had (0 new) posts. I was curious who the 0 post was from. The site has been a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff lately. ;)
Does anyone know if the weakness to your Strikes you can apply with Personal Antithesis applies to Persistent Damage from your Strikes?
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Does anyone know if the weakness to your Strikes you can apply with Personal Antithesis applies to Persistent Damage from your Strikes?
They would not from my reading. The weakness is to your weapon and unarmed attacks. It is tangential to the question on if bleed inflicted by a silver weapon would ignore physical resistance that is bypassed by silver, which does not have a clear answer.
Does anyone know if the weakness to your Strikes you can apply with Personal Antithesis applies to Persistent Damage from your Strikes?They would not from my reading. The weakness is to your weapon and unarmed attacks. It is tangential to the question on if bleed inflicted by a silver weapon would ignore physical resistance that is bypassed by silver, which does not have a clear answer.
I'd see this maybe from a rune, but on a bomb, the persistent damage is part of the strike, so I'm not really sure that its so clear cut to say initial damage is the only part of that consists of the weapon's damage
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I'd see this maybe from a rune, but on a bomb, the persistent damage is part of the strike, so I'm not really sure that its so clear cut to say initial damage is the only part of that consists of the weapon's damage
I'm confused with this point, aren't the damage from runes part of the Strike in the same way as a bomb's? Mechanically they should work the same as bombs, except maybe for effects that specifically ask you to count Weapon Damage Dice (as you only use the base dice and Striking runes for that). I don't see any rules support for giving them separate rulings, if non-bomb persistent damage doesn't trigger it then bomb persistent damage also should not trigger it.
Here is the wording on Personal Antithesis btw:
"You improvise a custom weakness on a creature by forcefully presenting and empowering a piece of esoterica that repels it on an individual level; for instance, against a tyrant, you might procure a broken chain that once held a captive. This causes the target creature, and only the target creature, to gain a weakness against your unarmed and weapon Strikes equal to 2 + half your level."
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The most recent errata specified that persistent damage is doubled on a crit, which I think puts a damper on the notion that persistent damage is meant to be entirely separate from the strike that applies it.
In that light, imo, it seems consistent to view it as part of your strike and therefore the persistent damage benefits from antithesis.
Persistent damage that does not originate from a strike, of course, would not benefit at all.
That's pretty much just a shot in the dark though I could see a developer affirming it or telling us that PA is not intended to be doubled-dipped like that and it doesn't work just as easily.
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I'd see this maybe from a rune, but on a bomb, the persistent damage is part of the strike, so I'm not really sure that its so clear cut to say initial damage is the only part of that consists of the weapon's damageI'm confused with this point, aren't the damage from runes part of the Strike in the same way as a bomb's? Mechanically they should work the same as bombs, except maybe for effects that specifically ask you to count Weapon Damage Dice (as you only use the base dice and Striking runes for that). I don't see any rules support for giving them separate rulings, if non-bomb persistent damage doesn't trigger it then bomb persistent damage also should not trigger it.
Here is the wording on Personal Antithesis btw:
"You improvise a custom weakness on a creature by forcefully presenting and empowering a piece of esoterica that repels it on an individual level; for instance, against a tyrant, you might procure a broken chain that once held a captive. This causes the target creature, and only the target creature, to gain a weakness against your unarmed and weapon Strikes equal to 2 + half your level."
Yeah, also, to be clear, it's the esoterica that's being applied to your Strikes that is triggering the weakness, be it the Mortal Weakness or the Personal Antithesis. I don't think the esoterica would stick around during the persistent damage applied afterwards. Even the number weakness feat is you imbuing the esoterica's power into your implement, and pressing the implement into the enemy alongside the Strike.
I'm confused with this point, aren't the damage from runes part of the Strike in the same way as a bomb's? Mechanically they should work the same as bombs, except maybe for effects that specifically ask you to count Weapon Damage Dice (as you only use the base dice and Striking runes for that). I don't see any rules support for giving them separate rulings, if non-bomb persistent damage doesn't trigger it then bomb persistent damage also should not trigger it.
Oh, I'm not saying I personally think the runes shouldn't proc it, but I could see someone trying to apply some very tortured logic into claiming "it's not the strike causing the persistent bleed, it's the wounding rune!"
Imo, "weakness to strikes" includes all damage directly associated with the strike, which includes the persistent damage on a bomb or a rune, and we even have precedent that runes are part of the strike from the greater elemental runes negating weakness and resistance of all damage dealt bybthe strike of the associated element.
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Just from a balancing standpoint, I'm 95% sure that any persistent damage you deal is not supposed to benefit from the additional damage. Just imagine poking a few dudes with a weapon with the wounding rune - each of them would basically take the equivalent of another Strike per turn, realistically multiplying your damage output against anything that has a significant inherent weakness.
Not even the Tyrant's Iron Command with Iron Repercussions is that insane. And that combination is already extremely spicy.
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I just noticed that the thaumaturge can hit a swarm with a butter knife and still trigger its substantial weakness to aoe/splash damage. I don't know why, but the mental picture is hilarious XD
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I just noticed that the thaumaturge can hit a swarm with a butter knife and still trigger its substantial weakness to aoe/splash damage. I don't know why, but the mental picture is hilarious XD
I, for one, intend to have my thaumaturge stab them right in the "collective self identity that prevents them from eating one another". A class that's all about finding and creating connections should be really good at breaking them too.
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I just noticed that the thaumaturge can hit a swarm with a butter knife and still trigger its substantial weakness to aoe/splash damage. I don't know why, but the mental picture is hilarious XD
I would REALLY like an official ruling for this soon or one from someone highly confident with their understanding of the rules with a similar example for an answer. I am discussing with my GM about multiclassing into Alchemist and Exploit Vulnerability mentions nothing about specifically hitting with a Strike but neither does Implement's Empowerment and I'm almost positive that Implement's Empowerment would not trigger on splash damage.
Edit: Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.
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Does anyone know if the weakness to your Strikes you can apply with Personal Antithesis applies to Persistent Damage from your Strikes?
I don't think so. Persistent damage doesn't come from your strike, it is a condition on an enemy. So if an enemy has, say, weakness 10 fire and you give it bleed damage, the bleed damage is now doing the damage, not you. (For example, a champion can't champion block it because no creature is doing the damage, the condition is.)
That being said, if a creature has weakness-bleed 5, you could trigger that with mortal weakness even though the creature wasn't bleeding, so it works the other way around.
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Persistent damage doesn't come from your strike, it is a condition on an enemy.
Persistent damage is a source of damage, it's inflicted as part of the strike and even doubles if the strike crits.
I don't see how we can say it doesn't come from the strike.
Part of the weirdness is that it's kind of hard to fully articulate how weakness works when that weakness isn't associated with a damage type. It's basically the same problem people had with the bleeding werewolves thread not too long ago. It's vague and given that it's the thaumaturge's core mechanic, would be nice to have some insight one way or the other.
... Mortal Weakness and Personal Antithesis are worded differently, so the answer might not even be the same between them.
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Persistent damage doesn't come from your strike, it is a condition on an enemy.Persistent damage is a source of damage, it's inflicted as part of the strike and even doubles if the strike crits.
I don't see how we can say it doesn't come from the strike.
It's the same problem you run into with bleed inflicted by precious materials. Until we get some errata/dev commentary it'll vary by table.
Yeah exactly. Hopefully we get that answer soon since it's now a class' core mechanic and not just an edge case related to a couple of monsters.
It's the same problem you run into with bleed inflicted by precious materials. Until we get some errata/dev commentary it'll vary by table.Persistent damage doesn't come from your strike, it is a condition on an enemy.Persistent damage is a source of damage, it's inflicted as part of the strike and even doubles if the strike crits.
I don't see how we can say it doesn't come from the strike.
The main problem about persistent damage is because it's too simplistic (it's just an additional damage that repeats and always works in same way no matter how the persistent source of the damage works) and applied in a simplistic way (it's works like a condition but it's still an additional damage for almost all purposes).
So this create some logical or verisimilitude strangeness but it's how PF2 works in many situations many times the designers sacrifice some level of it in order to do a easier and specially a more balanced gamistic rule.
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Lastly: This may open up the thaumaturge to a pseudo two-handed build. Depending on how you read the above paragraph, it may be acceptable to wield a one-handed weapon with the two-handed trait as a weapon implement. It may be possible to wield a weapon-implement as, say, a bastard sword for d12 damage. After all, a bastard sword is still classified as a ‘one handed weapon’ that just does extra damage when wielded two handed. Each of your hands is holding a ‘one handed weapon’ (technically) and an implement.Pretty sure that would count as a two handed weapon, not a one handed one, for that. Handedness in item blocks is for minimum, handedness for everything else is how many hands are you holding it with.
It's actually not. I'm not sure where I read it, so I can't find it for right now, but basically they said that all one-handed weapons are one-handed. This was because otherwise you could take any one handed weapon with the two-handed trait, slap on the transforming rune and use it to transform into any weapon, which they didn't want to do.
It also begs the question (which others have asked) if a bow is allowed as it is a '1+' hands weapon, so theoretically, by SOME readings of the rules, you could have a weapon implement-bow and get implement empowerment off of it.
I suspect that is not what they intended, but who knows. I'm actually compiling a list of eratta that the thaumaturge needs to address. There are a few implement issues that need to be worked out (mostly with the mirror.)
I think that both aren allowed if they are your only implement when used in this way.
The Implement's Empowerment say "You don't gain the benefit of implement's empowerment if your are holding anything in either hand other than a single one-handed weapon, other implements or esoterica, and you must be holding at last one implement to gain the benefit". This open the breach to use a one-handed weapon that can be used as 2 handed due it's trait (it's still considered a one-handed weapon for the game) or a bow that's also considered a one handed weapon. Yet you are restricted to use other implements at same time due the lack of free hands.
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Now my mind has wandered into what the heck a thaumaturge is going to do with a familiar. Mirror thaumaturge could have another copy of themselves running around with a master's form familiar. Other than that, maybe using valet to fetch a scroll, cast it and then add another to your hand. That could work.
I'm wondering this too. I'm picturing the thaum as a person who could easily have a talking animal accompanying then. Their chassis is strong enough to afford getting familiar feats but most familiar abilities revolve around caster augmenting. You could make yourself a cool buddy I guess. I'm assuming the familiar is just appropriate fluff more so than mechanical synergy. Again, the thaum is probably strong enough on its own to build towards fluffy stuff like that.
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I was listening to an Audiobook of Bram Stoker's Dracula today and I just realized that you could totally build Dr. Abraham Van Helsing as a Thaumaturge.
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Now my mind has wandered into what the heck a thaumaturge is going to do with a familiar. Mirror thaumaturge could have another copy of themselves running around with a master's form familiar. Other than that, maybe using valet to fetch a scroll, cast it and then add another to your hand. That could work.I'm wondering this too. I'm picturing the thaum as a person who could easily have a talking animal accompanying then. Their chassis is strong enough to afford getting familiar feats but most familiar abilities revolve around caster augmenting. You could make yourself a cool buddy I guess. I'm assuming the familiar is just appropriate fluff more so than mechanical synergy. Again, the thaum is probably strong enough on its own to build towards fluffy stuff like that.
Best familiar abilities for the Thaumaturge:
Second Opinion: Esoteric Lore. This does require the skilled ability for Esoteric Lore, and your GM may not al
- Share Senses: you can use this to Exploit Vulnerability before combat, and/or crit fish. (And then
- Whatever combination of abilities makes your familiar able to scout to leverage Share Senses. Possible contendents are Independent, Darkvision, flier or climber, and fast movement.
- If your GM lets it take Skilled: Esoteric Lore, then Second Opinion becomes really good. Won't help with Exploit Vulnerability but will help with regular Recall Knowledge checks.
And then there are abilities which bolster charisma usage.
- Threat display if you haven't found room for Intimidating Glare or Prowess yet.
- Ambassador
- Snoop
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I have to wonder… you might be able to make a very fun ninja out of the Thaumaturge.
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I have to wonder… you might be able to make a very fun ninja out of the Thaumaturge.
Hmmm, start off with a shortsword and the mirror (kage bunshin no jutsu), then maybe get the weapon implement as shuriken with the returning property. The problem is climbing requires both hands . . . but I think there is a kobold racial that negates the need for hands while climbing? I'll have to look into it a bit more, but you are right, there's something there.
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Best familiar abilities for the Thaumaturge:
Second Opinion: Esoteric Lore. This does require the skilled ability for Esoteric Lore, and your GM may not al
- If your GM lets it take Skilled: Esoteric Lore, then Second Opinion becomes really good. Won't help with Exploit Vulnerability but will help with regular Recall Knowledge checks.
I feel like asking for Skilled (Esoteric Lore) is pretty much the same as asking if a character can take Additional Lore (Bardic Lore).
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There's a Trained Athletics skill feat that frees up one hand for Climbing. Won't allow all the tricks, but does at least allow either combat or use of an Implement while climbing.
Instead of normal Shuriken, which honestly seem kinda weird to have just one rather than a pouchful given the Reload 0 and consumable pricing on them, I'd probably make an Implement out of a Fuma Shuriken Starknife for a Ninja build. Gets you the ability to use it in melee, Slashing versatility (yeah you can just target the Weakness anyways, but if you already have it you can stack their natural weakness with a Personal Antithesis), and the Deadly d6 to sometimes deal more damage. Still put Returning on it ASAP for throwing purposes, though until that becomes viable I think they can get an ability to Call their Implement for a temporary kinda Reload 1.
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Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.
Since it is a direct part of your Strike and is rolled into the same damage pool, I have a hard time seeing why it wouldn't. It obviously only really matters for Mortal Weakness, as you only get Personal Antithesis on one creature - though I vaguely remember that you could expand that to the same scope as Moral Weakness.
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The problem is climbing requires both hands . . . but I think there is a kobold racial that negates the need for hands while climbing? I'll have to look into it a bit more, but you are right, there's something there.
There are quite a few options:
- Cliffscale Lizardfolk heritage
- Dangle feat (9th level lizardfolk ancestry feat)
- Caveclimber Kobold heritage
- Vine Leshy heritage
- (Maybe?) Tailed Goblin heritage
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Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.Since it is a direct part of your Strike and is rolled into the same damage pool, I have a hard time seeing why it wouldn't. It obviously only really matters for Mortal Weakness, as you only get Personal Antithesis on one creature - though I vaguely remember that you could expand that to the same scope as Moral Weakness.
I was particularly interested in knowing if I could still trigger either Mortal Weakness or Personal Antithesis from the splash damage from a normally failed bomb strike.
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I was particularly interested in knowing if I could still trigger either Mortal Weakness or Personal Antithesis from the splash damage from a normally failed bomb strike.Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.Since it is a direct part of your Strike and is rolled into the same damage pool, I have a hard time seeing why it wouldn't. It obviously only really matters for Mortal Weakness, as you only get Personal Antithesis on one creature - though I vaguely remember that you could expand that to the same scope as Moral Weakness.
It is functionally a failure effect for your Strike (much like Certain Strike or the enemy saving against a cantrip) and still a direct result of it. Since that would trigger any normal weakness and Exploit Vulnerability has no language requiring a successful Strike, yes it would.
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I was particularly interested in knowing if I could still trigger either Mortal Weakness or Personal Antithesis from the splash damage from a normally failed bomb strike.Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.Since it is a direct part of your Strike and is rolled into the same damage pool, I have a hard time seeing why it wouldn't. It obviously only really matters for Mortal Weakness, as you only get Personal Antithesis on one creature - though I vaguely remember that you could expand that to the same scope as Moral Weakness.It is functionally a failure effect for your Strike (much like Certain Strike or the enemy saving against a cantrip) and still a direct result of it. Since that would trigger any normal weakness and Exploit Vulnerability has no language requiring a successful Strike, yes it would.
See, that's how I understand it too but that seems REALLY strong, like...possibly broken and unintended.
Now my mind has wandered into what the heck a thaumaturge is going to do with a familiar. Mirror thaumaturge could have another copy of themselves running around with a master's form familiar. Other than that, maybe using valet to fetch a scroll, cast it and then add another to your hand. That could work.I'm wondering this too. I'm picturing the thaum as a person who could easily have a talking animal accompanying then. Their chassis is strong enough to afford getting familiar feats but most familiar abilities revolve around caster augmenting. You could make yourself a cool buddy I guess. I'm assuming the familiar is just appropriate fluff more so than mechanical synergy. Again, the thaum is probably strong enough on its own to build towards fluffy stuff like that.Best familiar abilities for the Thaumaturge:
Second Opinion: Esoteric Lore. This does require the skilled ability for Esoteric Lore, and your GM may not al
- Share Senses: you can use this to Exploit Vulnerability before combat, and/or crit fish. (And then
- Whatever combination of abilities makes your familiar able to scout to leverage Share Senses. Possible contendents are Independent, Darkvision, flier or climber, and fast movement.
- If your GM lets it take Skilled: Esoteric Lore, then Second Opinion becomes really good. Won't help with Exploit Vulnerability but will help with regular Recall Knowledge checks.
And then there are abilities which bolster charisma usage.
- Threat display if you haven't found room for Intimidating Glare or Prowess yet.
- Ambassador
- Snoop
Woof, late night phone typing is bad for finishing thoughts. I meant to say:
Your GM may not allow Esoteric Lore as a skill selection for your familiar, given it is a special class feature.
Share Senses can allow your entire party to exhaust their attempts to Recall Knowledge and learn about a creature, which is pretty great for the best monster identifier in the game. Not only does that save you actions in combat, it can help you shape your strategy going into combat.
This is with the usual disclaimer that the rules for familiers out of combat are vague and prone to variance, so if your GM doesn't allow them to scout you should take a different feat path.
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See, that's how I understand it too but that seems REALLY strong, like...possibly broken and unintended.I was particularly interested in knowing if I could still trigger either Mortal Weakness or Personal Antithesis from the splash damage from a normally failed bomb strike.Just reread the comment and realized it wasn't assuming or questioning if splash damage would trigger a created weakness from Exploit Vulnerability. Still would like to know if a bomb's splash damage would trigger the weakness.Since it is a direct part of your Strike and is rolled into the same damage pool, I have a hard time seeing why it wouldn't. It obviously only really matters for Mortal Weakness, as you only get Personal Antithesis on one creature - though I vaguely remember that you could expand that to the same scope as Moral Weakness.It is functionally a failure effect for your Strike (much like Certain Strike or the enemy saving against a cantrip) and still a direct result of it. Since that would trigger any normal weakness and Exploit Vulnerability has no language requiring a successful Strike, yes it would.
It is quite strong, but not that strong. For one, they have very limited range, even with feats, and the splash radius is only adjacent creatures as well, meaning in most situations you are unlikely to hit more than two enemies.
Then the archetype's bombs are behind one grade (except from levels 6 to 11 for some reason), meaning they are already weaker, require constant feat investments and you don't have a lot of them (or maybe you do after a bit, I never noticed that the dedication is not phrased very well).
Finally, a lot of creatures do not have a substantial inherent weakness, so at most you'll get extra damage in the single digits or barely in the double digits. Which isn't bad, but roughly within what the alchemist can get natively.
I wouldn't rule out that the damage on failure isn't intended, because if really it works it is quite brutal, but I find it unlikely.
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It is quite strong, but not that strong. For one, they have very limited range, even with feats, and the splash radius is only adjacent creatures as well, meaning in most situations you are unlikely to hit more than two enemies.
Then the archetype's bombs are behind one grade (except from levels 6 to 11 for some reason), meaning they are already weaker, require constant feat investments and you don't have a lot of them (or maybe you do after a bit, I never noticed that the dedication is not phrased very well).
Finally, a lot of creatures do not have a substantial inherent weakness, so at most you'll get extra damage in the single digits or barely in the double digits. Which isn't bad, but roughly within what the alchemist can get natively.
I wouldn't rule out that the damage on failure isn't intended, because if really it works it is quite brutal, but I find it unlikely.
After doing some math comparing on-level damage of splash + Esoteric Vulnerabilities vs. the HP of a 1st, 10th and 20th level enemy (Quasit, Kalavakus and Balor) the percentage of the maxed HP the damage deals is highest at 1st level at 12% and then definitely drops off later on (4.5% for the Kalavakus and 3.3% for the Balor). Considering this is at the cost of a limited consumable item, I actually feel this is not nearly as strong as I originally thought.
The numbers I used might not give the most accurate information but I don't think it's too far off from what should be expected. Plus, I believe a big appeal of bombs is persistent damage and debuffs that require successful hits and not strike damage.
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With how much specific investment you would need for bombs, including the 14 intelligence, you might be better off using a dragon mouth pistol for splash damage purposes.
Yeah, I was mainly considering MCing into Alchemist for the support and utility from elixirs and alchemical tools but having to sacrifice physical stats, I was hoping the bombs' splash damage would trigger EV to make up for the lack of accuracy and damage. I was worried it'd be too cheesy and strong but yeah...after doing the math, you are right, it is definitely not worth the investment if one was to focus on bombs.
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Ah, seems like intensify vulnerability only works on one implement at a time. A shame since weapon has the best intensity effect by a mile. Thought to combine it with tomes effect. That might have been too good.The Tome does give you a +1/+2 CIRCUMSTANCE bonus to an attack on a successful Recall Knowledge which is also given for free at the beginning of your turn and the Weapon's Intensify effect gives a +2 STATUS bonus to attack rolls. That's pretty good.
I just rewatched the Tome section of NoNat's video to see the exact wording, as something felt off to me here, NoNat himself just reads it wrong. An effective +4 to attack rolls seemed too good for Paizo to just hand out like that.
And I was partially right, its actually +3 overall. +2 Status, +1 Circumstance.
The bonus from Tome to attack rolls never actually increases.
It breaks down like this:
- The Initial benefit gives you a +1c bonus to Recall Knowledge checks
- The Adept benefit gives you a +1c bonus to Attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
- The Paragon increases the c bonus of the initial benefit to Recall Knowledge to +2, and, seperately, extends the Adept benefit until the end of your next turn.
So its not quite as amazing as first blush.
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If you are using it two hands, you are using it in two hands. If you are using it in one hand, you are using it in one hand. That is the thing we will check.If you have something in two hands, it counts as two handed. If you have something in one hand, it counts as one...
Um, that's not what that says. That says 'If you are using it in two hands-both hands are used up. If you are using it in one hand, one hand is used up.
One-handed weapon is a CATEGORY of weapons, just like weapons with one bulk.
Listen, I'm not trying to be a bad guy here or stupid. I agree that the intent was probably not to let thaumaturge's implement empower with a one handed weapon held in two hands. But for a system that seems to pride itself on being extremely clear on the rules, there are several issues with the thaumaturge that aren't clear. For example, implement empowerment says that each hand should can only hold 'a single one handed weapon.' Does that mean your hand crossbow can't have a reinforced stock? Because a hand crossbow and a reinforced stock are two different weapons held by the same hand, then I guess it technicaly doesn't work, but I doubt that was the intent.
I think the intent would be:
"For implement empowerment to work, the thaumaturge must be holding at least one of their implements, and cannot be holding anything more than one-handed weapons, esoterica, and/or implements. Implement empowerment does not work if the thaumaturge is wielding a one-handed weapon in two hands, including weapons with the 1+ hands property."
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Ah, seems like intensify vulnerability only works on one implement at a time. A shame since weapon has the best intensity effect by a mile. Thought to combine it with tomes effect. That might have been too good.The Tome does give you a +1/+2 CIRCUMSTANCE bonus to an attack on a successful Recall Knowledge which is also given for free at the beginning of your turn and the Weapon's Intensify effect gives a +2 STATUS bonus to attack rolls. That's pretty good.I just rewatched the Tome section of NoNat's video to see the exact wording, as something felt off to me here, NoNat himself just reads it wrong. An effective +4 to attack rolls seemed too good for Paizo to just hand out like that.
And I was partially right, its actually +3 overall. +2 Status, +1 Circumstance.
The bonus from Tome to attack rolls never actually increases.
It breaks down like this:
- The Initial benefit gives you a +1c bonus to Recall Knowledge checks
- The Adept benefit gives you a +1c bonus to Attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
- The Paragon increases the c bonus of the initial benefit to Recall Knowledge to +2, and, seperately, extends the Adept benefit until the end of your next turn.So its not quite as amazing as first blush.
Getting from time to time a +1 circumstance bonus to 1 attack/for a turn for no action nor resource cost is still really good. Tome + Weapon is really strong regardless.
I'm convinced that Tome to at least stage 2 and leaving the weapon at stage 1 will be one of the most popular combinations for the class.