Organsight and Cognitive Crossover

[BloodandDust]

So, Organsight.

Pretty nifty spell - one casting enables spending an action on any or all of the next ten rounds to add precision damage to any strike. Trick is that it requires a special Recall Knowledge roll:

"attempt a special Recall Knowledge check using Medicine to spot and discern a vital organ. If you have a Lore skill appropriate to the creature, you can use that skill instead of Medicine. If you succeed, etc"

For Level + creatures, especially if they are uncommon or rare, this can be very difficult.

However Cognitive Crossover says: "Trigger: You gain no information from a Recall Knowledge check, etc. You immediately reattempt the triggering check using the other chosen skill."

So, assuming you picked the right skills for Cognitive Crossover (Medicine and Occultism for instance) - would that be usable for Organsight?

E.g.: Orban the Odd, and his Dissonant Druids Troupe, bumps into an angry Hill Giant. Orban casts Organsight and rolls Medicine RK. He fails the check, but, no worry, due to Cognitive Crossover he can try again with Society. Success! Now his telekinetic projectile will land with a thud in just the right spot to do additional precision damage.

Works?

[Gortle]

Yes

[BloodandDust]

Brilliant. Non-traditional "blaster" caster coming right up. Not sure how well it will work in play, but definitely giving it a shot.

1) Organsight > Hand of the Apprentice
2) Special Recall Knowledge > Telekinetic Projectile
3) profit?

The action economy is tough, unless the situation allows a caster-turret.

Sure wish Organsight allowed switching targets, maybe in a heightened version, so it could be used against mixed mobs (medical machine gun? surgical sniper?) instead of just bosses.

[SuperBidi]

If you go in that direction, I strongly encourage you to look at the Psychic Amp Telekinetic Projectile that does 2d6 damage per level. I'd actually go for a Psychic over a Wizard, if you want my opinion. If you combine Organsight + Amp Telekinetic Projectile + Unleash Psyche, you'd deal 3d6+2 points of damage per spell level + Int modifier, which is definitely something to consider (9d6+10 at level 5).

[BloodandDust]

Amped Telekinetic Projectile is definitely something to consider, thanks for the pointer...that is impressive damage. Bit of an off-brand Magus really, think I like it.

[Cordell Kintner]

Imaginary Weapon is the highest damage Amped Psychic Cantrip, doing 1d8+(2d8 per level)+Ability Mod, and can strike two targets at once. The downside is that you need to be adjacent to those targets. It would do 5d8+10 at level 5 while Unleashed. However, it might be best to be an Eldrich Trickster Rogue with Psychic Dedication, and at level 6 pick up Imaginary Weapon so that you can use the cantrip and get full Sneak Attack and Debilitations on it on two targets at once. You could still eventually get Organsight with the Psychic Spellcasting feats.

[BloodandDust]

Thanks Cordell!

That would probably be optimal, but goes a different direction than I was thinking...less minmax and more "what can I do with this oddball spell that would be entertaining but also mostly effective"

So, thinking about organsight led me to considering a sort of Maturin* character...a strong personality based around medical skill, but that does not follow the standard 'lots of heal spells' trope, or maybe combines that with other abilities in an interesting way.

*Stephen Maturin is an Irish-Catalan ship's surgeon in Patrick O'Brian's british naval series. He is a complex character: opium addicted, a kind academic and man of peace, but also a skilled duellist and spy for the crown, whose secret backstory slowly reveals throughout the books.