The Art of War, The Polish Vampires Guide to the Commander.


Advice


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Battlecry! came out in late July. It is October, and yet no one has made a commander guide yet. So, over the last month I decided to make it myself. This is my first ever guide, but I am proud of it, and I hope people will find it useful. Feedback is always appreciated, and thank you for your time.

The Guide


Cool guide! Just a couple of comments, but I think most of what you said is good:

Quote:
For some reason, while you can put this on a shield or worn on your back, you can only use brandish actions if your banner is held in your hand directly, or if it's on a weapon.

Since "Shield Bash" is a valid attack even without spikes/boss (and thus can function as a weapon), I feel like most GMs would probably allow it on a shield. But I suppose this is technically correct since strict RAW a shield is "not a weapon".

I might add a note saying "ask your GM" though since "you can attach a banner to a shield boss but not to a shield itself" is one of those "RAW but very silly" situations. Speaking as a GM I'd definitely allow it on a shield.

Quote:
Strike Hard! Two actions to give an ally a Map free attack. This is kinda just good in all scenarios, but never spectacular. Like, it gets better with something like a giant barb, but it is still two actions for 1. You will probably deal more damage attacking twice yourself and using a one action tactic to get the barb into position.

On a ranged build, Strike Hard is better than you gave it, I think. You may not even want to be in melee and letting the Fighter attack again is better (because their crit chance is a lot higher and base ranged damage isn't great). If you have Fortunate Blow it's even better because you can't benefit from that, but the ally you're giving attacks to can. I know in PFS recently this was my most commonly used tactic and it worked really well.

Probably makes less sense if you're in melee given the action cost. But I'm really surprised you rated it lower than Shields Up or Reload, which are incredibly specialized and in a "typical" party won't really do much of anything.

I felt that way about most of the Shove/Reposition tactics as well: they're good with the huge caveat that you need someone in the group setup to do that. But you can sit down at basically any PFS table and have people that can use Strike Hard.


Tridus wrote:
If you have Fortunate Blow it's even better because you can't benefit from that, but the ally you're giving attacks to can. I know in PFS recently this was my most commonly used tactic and it worked really well.

If you have Fortunate Blow, you should be using demoralizing charge, which is objectively better. That is another reason strike hard is just ok, it does not maintain any sort of niche once you get access to higher level tactics.

Quote:

But I'm really surprised you rated it lower than Shields Up or Reload, which are incredibly specialized and in a "typical" party won't really do much of anything.

I felt that way about most of the Shove/Reposition tactics as well: they're good with the huge caveat that you need someone in the group setup to do that. But you can sit down at basically any PFS table and have people that can use Strike Hard.

If you notice, all of those are ranked lower than strike hard in the first bracket, which is how good they are in a typical, random party like you would find in society play. However, in the right party/situation, they can have higher highs, although even then, only double team and reload rank better in ideal scenarios (you have a really good athletics person/ you have multiple characters with guns), with the rest being about equal.

Sovereign Court

I also think Strike Hard is really good. It has a couple of different ways that it can work out really well:

* Your ally is already next to the enemy you want to target, and you're not.
* You already have MAP from making one attack; your ally using Strike Hard strikes without MAP.
* Your ally's attacks are just more valuable than yours (giant barbarian, fighter, rogue already in flanking position, thaumaturge with all the bells and whistles, or maybe PFS where the other character is two levels higher than you).

As I'm just starting to read the guide, just a note on the text colors: your bright green and bright yellow are really hard to read against a white background. It would be easier to read if you used a darker, more contrasting version of those colors.

(And now I'm gonna read it, very curious!)


Overall it feels like most of these data are first impressions from a veteran player more than a guide. Thank you for adding quotes. :-)

Caveats should be the norm for most Tactics. This is the most party-dependent class there is (as you've noted). For Strike Hard, if you think it loses its oomph, then it could have different ratings by PC level because yeah, Demoralizing Charge dominates when it arrives. So I could see several ratings for each Tactic, one for PFS w/ zero party knowledge, one for when there's party synergy (both which you have, so yay!), and others if level/newly competing Tactics arise later. I'd likely add more, like noting which ones work well w/ Plant Banner's risks plus which have synergy with a melee vs. ranged vs. non-combatant Commander (which I prefer).

Also I'd reckon a Commander's Strikes about as valuable as the second/MAP attack of a dedicated martial given the class's opportunity costs (and the movement needed for melee is hardly worth the Tactics lost). If you agree, point that out to prospective players. A Commander focused on Strikes works better as an MCD Commander IMO.

The stats section feels shallow, maybe separate for different builds? Cover Int as primary vs. secondary cost/benefit. Weigh the stats vs. each other more, i.e. Wis has "definitely invest in this", but is ranked Green, decent. What's a reader to make of that, much less a new player?

Plant Banner is a game-changer, even if risky. I go into detail in a post many moons ago (and I seldom start a thread so it's easy to find if interested), but the primary tidbit is it's worth it even if you just Plant & pick up. The temp h.p. remain, even if they don't refresh.

I love the Commander's AC, but 5 stars? Must one really have a very good reason not to choose this? It's a major build commitment, takes a valuable action, and IMO requires some party support to cover a Commander's gaps, i.e. healing it.

With so many blues at 2nd level, there should be some guidance on how to pick from among them. You're just reiterating what they do & clapping.
Note that Tactical Expansion can be taken later to get extra high-level Tactics, like the few 1/day ones you can swap out.

Reactive Strike should only be blue for melee Commanders (which is obvious to us, but you're even saying Wizards should take it which is silly and might mislead a new player reading this).

Fortunate Blow IS game-changing, I agree, which should be mentioned in its prereqs (which alone are mediocre IMO) and in choosing one's overall build-type. I might put Confusing Commands in the same category, bad prereq, but game-changing feat; if playing into high levels it'd be a major reason I wouldn't ignore Int...if the prereq didn't interfere.

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Thanks for the effort, typing out so much is substantial labor.
I'd consider looking at how different Commander types change the rating of most Tactics & feats. The lack of guidance for players when they first approach this class surprises me; I think managing expectations matters a lot here as it's hard to balance all the things a Commander can do well w/ stats & action costs. Ex. if one carries a shield to become more durable in melee (yay) then they have less reason to be in melee (w/ no damage boosts they kinda need a bigger weapon).

I'd think a new player needs to review this with a purpose in mind. If they just went with the "best-rated" feats it'd be a mess. So an opening about the different builds would help.


Good to have some free Art of War, Polish Vampires Guide stuff to the Commander out there for PF2e+, Pronate11. ;)


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Please adjust the color contrast. The yellow and green on a white background are not only impossible to read, but strain the eyes in a real bad way.

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