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My AV group has been cancelled, reason given that our (first-timer) GM just could not handle the stress and anxiety of the weekly prep anymore. Pretty sad about that both because I was enjoying the AP and because I hate to think that this has apparently been such a strain on the poor guy's mental health.  On the other hand he vouched for me and got me an invite at his table which is currently running a Gatewalkers campaign, so I get to test out a Wizard build with Witch archetype starting at level 4, and I don't lose my weekly Pathfinder session.  Also question: do we do build critiques or discussions in this thread? Like linking a Pathbuilder build or a character sheet and giving some input? I've not done a full-on prepared caster before so I'm curious if there's any pitfalls I'm falling into.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:13
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Clerical Terrors posted:Also question: do we do build critiques or discussions in this thread? Like linking a Pathbuilder build or a character sheet and giving some input? I've not done a full-on prepared caster before so I'm curious if there's any pitfalls I'm falling into.  Whatever results cannot possibly be worse than our 10 page arguments about whether wizards are underpowered, secretly overpowered, or actually just right.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:21
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Clerical Terrors posted:My AV group has been cancelled, reason given that our (first-timer) GM just could not handle the stress and anxiety of the weekly prep anymore. Pretty sad about that both because I was enjoying the AP and because I hate to think that this has apparently been such a strain on the poor guy's mental health. yeah, people are happy to help out with build advice here. just post, like m. night skymall said!
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Aug 14, 2023 16:22
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Clerical Terrors posted:Also question: do we do build critiques or discussions in this thread? Like linking a Pathbuilder build or a character sheet and giving some input? I've not done a full-on prepared caster before so I'm curious if there's any pitfalls I'm falling into. The biggest pitfall for wizards is spell selection. Spells are the least balanced thing in 2e and if you pick good ones you'll have a great time and if you pick bad ones you'll complain on the internet about how wizards suck and Paizo are hacks. There is no middle ground.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:30
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Learning the giant spell lists of D&D-like games is the worst part of playing a caster in them. Also, I understand why PF2E doesn't (or maybe can't) do spell selection like D&D 5E does, but 5E's "you can cast any combination of these spells you memorized" is way less fiddly and annoying than the 3.x-style Vancian system that PF2E uses.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:41
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Have at it: https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=502652 Should mention that I'm playing this tonight, so unlikely to make major changes. You may take that as leave to critique it however you like, including suggesting I should've picked a Hobgoblin Duskwalker instead. KPC_Mammon posted:The biggest pitfall for wizards is spell selection. Spells are the least balanced thing in 2e and if you pick good ones you'll have a great time and if you pick bad ones you'll complain on the internet about how wizards suck and Paizo are hacks. There is no middle ground. This is definitely the thing I'm most worried about, but in no small part because I find it hard to really read into a spell's utility without first-hand experience. Something like Magic Weapon seems really good until you find out your martials already have +1 striking weapons. Really part of the reason I rolled Wizard in the first place is to try stuff out and see what sticks.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:52
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So I have now learned that witches can grow their hair out with a feat and use it as a weapon in the brawling group. Which makes me want to make a monk witch who fights with their hair.
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Aug 14, 2023 16:55
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Clerical Terrors posted:Have at it: https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=502652 not familiar with gatewalkers AP, is the rare background explicitly approved by the GM? I wouldn't just spring it on them without advance notice
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Aug 14, 2023 17:01
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marshmallow creep posted:So I have now learned that witches can grow their hair out with a feat and use it as a weapon in the brawling group. They can but it sucks. A lot. Like the witch hair feats are really really really bad. Some of the worst traps in the whole drat system. They have specifically said that’s a remaster fix that’s coming with all of them being consolidated down to one feat, and maybe some other changes? So, there’s hope.
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Aug 14, 2023 17:01
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Arivia posted:not familiar with gatewalkers AP, is the rare background explicitly approved by the GM? I wouldn't just spring it on them without advance notice The players guide backgrounds for Gatewalkers are all Rare tagged and you’d be an absolute idiot not to take them as they grant Deviant feats and are explicitly more powerful than normal backgrounds.
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Aug 14, 2023 17:03
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Chevy Slyme posted:The players guide backgrounds for Gatewalkers are all Rare tagged and you’d be an absolute idiot not to take them as they grant Deviant feats and are explicitly more powerful than normal backgrounds. Gotcha, it's a campaign background.
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Aug 14, 2023 17:04
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For wizards be careful about taking spells that require a spell attack. Thats where you're going to get most of the problems from spellcasting because the spells usually don't have any effect on a failure and taking 2 actions and a spell slot sucks to do nothing. There also really frail so touch attacks are pretty risky. Don't try to blast, it won't work well. But you should buff your party and try to control the battlefield with effect spells on enemies. I like color spray because when it hits it can really change a combat with a bunch of enemies around. Synchronize steps is another good level 1 spell I like to help the melee in the party position. For level 2 spells there's always invisibility, hideous laughter is pretty good too. Try to keep different spells prepared that can target the 3 saves. You've got 3 cantrips that target AC so you could drop 2 of those to pick other ones that could help. I would drop acid splash because you're constantly going to be splashing your melee allies if you use it. Edit: Maybe try and see if you can get a wand of mage armor since your starting at level 4. It saves a level 1 spell slot and your going to cast it once everyday so its a perfect wand spell. Fear is another good level 1 choice, it makes the target frightened 1 even if they succeed the save. gurragadon fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Aug 14, 2023 |
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Aug 14, 2023 17:17
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Clerical Terrors posted:My AV group has been cancelled, reason given that our (first-timer) GM just could not handle the stress and anxiety of the weekly prep anymore. Pretty sad about that both because I was enjoying the AP and because I hate to think that this has apparently been such a strain on the poor guy's mental health. pick any non wizard caster and you'll have more fun.
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Aug 14, 2023 17:31
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Clerical Terrors posted:
I posted, nothing came of it. It wasn't 20 or anything, and decided to just DM. I'm lukewarm to the idea of DMing in more of the same, as far as PF2 is concerned, but I'll be overjoyed to be wrong if it turns out differently.
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Aug 14, 2023 18:17
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Been tweaking my kineticist, and was looking at the Versatile Blasts feat. My guy is going pure Earth, no other elements, so if I took that, I could add Poison type to his available elements when using the Elemental Blast. Question is, would that be worth it? Like, I'm not actually poisoning anything, the blast would just be considered Poison type instead of Earth type if I so chose, but my dumbass keeps thinking of Pokemon in terms of type effectiveness and I'm not sure how much overlap there is. Like, would the typical Creature with Earth Resistance also have Poison resistance as well, making the feat useless? I'm mainly just trying to decide what to use my level 4 feat on. I was originally going to go with Safe Elements, but, I realized that I'm not really looking at a lot of Impulses that would need it, especially if I'm staying with just the one element. Seems like, outside of using the feat that lets me take a composite impulse with just one element, the only earth ones that would benefit from Safe Element would be Tremor, Weight of Stone, Rattle the Earth, and The Shattered Mountain Weeps
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Aug 14, 2023 18:23
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Clerical Terrors posted:Have at it: https://pathbuilder2e.com/launch.html?build=502652 Your feat selection etc. looks fine. Gatewalkers is a 1-10 I think so skipping the Int boost at 5 seems like a fine plan, as does Canny Acumen fort (especially if you can retrain out of it at level 9, which shouldn't be a problem, etc.) The main things that stick out to me as being potential things you'd want to change or know about : Forbidding Ward (your witch cantrip), and Protective Ward (from your Abjuration school) don't stack. And since the latter is a focus spell, it's basically always the better choice, and you shouldn't really ever use the former. I'd reccomend Rousing Splash as a nice, complementary defensive cantrip option; you can use it to essentially throw up warding bubbles on allies. Wash your Luck might also be a thematically fun option that you don't have access to from your Arcane list. As for that Arcane spell list... I think you have too many attack cantrips tbh. Electric Arc, + one single target option that uses an attack roll is 'enough'. TK Projectile or Needle Darts are the two 'optimal' choices, but Ray of Frost is fine if it's on theme or you like sniping or you like kiting. Acid Splash is... I don't like it, but you can make it work. The issue isn't any one of them being bad it's that you have too many of them when they represent the thing you are worst at. Lean into what you'll be good at, which is targetting a variety of defenses (so an attack cantrip that targets Fort or Will), or providing more utility (Detect Magic, Read Aura, Message, etc.) will probably get a lot more mileage, while the various attack spells that aren't Electric Arc, and one other, will probably not get used much unless you're actively trying to just change things up for the sake of it.
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Aug 14, 2023 18:34
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the_steve posted:Been tweaking my kineticist, and was looking at the Versatile Blasts feat. So, as an Earth kineticist, your blasts do bludgeoning or piercing damage, not 'Earth' damage, which doesn't really exist. So Versatile Blasts is for when you're dealing with mobs with Bludgeon/Pierce resistance, which is pretty common. Unfortunately, poison damage isn't the greatest alternative, but it's still an elemental damage alternative to the pure physical damage you otherwise get with earth blasts, so it can be very helpful against enemies with thicker skin. It's a better feat, IMO, for Fire/Metal/Water, but it's still pretty good if you don't need something else. Also, remember that you can use your level 4 feat on an Impulse. So... just do that if you don't feel the need for poison damage or safe elements. More impulses more better. Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Aug 14, 2023 |
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Aug 14, 2023 18:36
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Chevy Slyme posted:Your feat selection etc. looks fine. Gatewalkers is a 1-10 I think so skipping the Int boost at 5 seems like a fine plan, as does Canny Acumen fort (especially if you can retrain out of it at level 9, which shouldn't be a problem, etc.) I'd prefer to not skip the Int boost, given I see literally nothing on the sheet that makes use of Cha. Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation all untrained, no feats that'd use it, etc.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:09
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the_steve posted:Been tweaking my kineticist, and was looking at the Versatile Blasts feat. As Earth, you already have bludgeoning and piercing damage. Piercing damage is meh but bludgeoning is the most reliable damage type (though not great for hitting weaknesses), and a lot of the things that are resistant to bludgeoning might still take damage from piercing. Conversely, poison is literally the worst damage type in the game, with a massive number of enemies immune to it and literally nothing weak to it. Versatile blasts is probably not worth it for the pure earth. (Note this chart is like a year old so not exact numbers but still close) 
Piell fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Aug 14, 2023 |
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Aug 14, 2023 20:29
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Cyouni posted:I'd prefer to not skip the Int boost, given I see literally nothing on the sheet that makes use of Cha. Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation all untrained, no feats that'd use it, etc. It's reasonable not to skip it for sure, but I think it's also reasonable to skip having a 19 Int for the back half of your campaign when you can be a little less bad at getting forced into a social role by a situation or whatever.
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Aug 14, 2023 20:57
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Piell posted:As Earth, you already have bludgeoning and piercing damage. Piercing damage is meh but bludgeoning is the most reliable damage type (though not great for hitting weaknesses), and a lot of the things that are resistant to bludgeoning might still take damage from piercing. Conversely, poison is literally the worst damage type in the game, with a massive number of enemies immune to it and literally nothing weak to it. Versatile blasts is probably not worth it for the pure earth. (Note this chart is like a year old so not exact numbers but still close) The real question to figure out Versatile Blasts value isn't how good is poison damage on it's own (it's very much not), it's how many creatures that resist both piercing and bludgeoning don't resist poison. Figuring out sizer of that non-overlap space, and how much of that zone you're likely to see in your campaign, is where the value comes from. That said, like I said... it's not very good for pure earth, and you're better off just taking another impulse probably if the core class feats don't interest you. Chevy Slyme fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Aug 15, 2023 |
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Aug 14, 2023 21:00
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Chevy Slyme posted:It's reasonable not to skip it for sure, but I think it's also reasonable to skip having a 19 Int for the back half of your campaign when you can be a little less bad at getting forced into a social role by a situation or whatever. The problem is that if they get forced into a social role, literally all their social skills are untrained. So it barely does anything anyways. (And this feels intentional, given that 4/7 of their untrained skills are the Cha ones.)
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Aug 14, 2023 22:05
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I had an idea that I'm really liking, about making a gnoll fighter who addresses combat by just fuckin' biting everything, leaving both hands available for a shield or another item, because the idea of just biting an earth elemental or something to death is hilarious to me. I'd be building with Crunch and Snagging Strike, and aimlng to get Handwraps of Mighty Blows to keep the build viable; what other fighter feats would be good to support this? Shield feats are fine, but I'd also be looking for more feats that support open-handed combat.
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Aug 14, 2023 23:43
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ZZT the Fifth posted:I had an idea that I'm really liking, about making a gnoll fighter who addresses combat by just fuckin' biting everything, leaving both hands available for a shield or another item, because the idea of just biting an earth elemental or something to death is hilarious to me. When you get the handwraps you have to put the Extending Rune on them as soon as possible. Warp your head to chomp fools 60 feet away.
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Aug 14, 2023 23:53
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ZZT the Fifth posted:I had an idea that I'm really liking, about making a gnoll fighter who addresses combat by just fuckin' biting everything, leaving both hands available for a shield or another item, because the idea of just biting an earth elemental or something to death is hilarious to me. Look at the Wrestler archetype and go all in on the grabs.
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Aug 15, 2023 00:08
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Cyouni posted:The problem is that if they get forced into a social role, literally all their social skills are untrained. So it barely does anything anyways. (And this feels intentional, given that 4/7 of their untrained skills are the Cha ones.) I mean, I don't really disagree, but also, I've played at enough tables where "You had the nerve to pipe in during this social encounter, now give me a low DC diplomacy check!" is a thing that I understand doing it.
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Aug 15, 2023 00:09
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Chevy Slyme posted:I mean, I don't really disagree, but also, I've played at enough tables where "You had the nerve to pipe in during this social encounter, now give me a low DC diplomacy check!" is a thing that I understand doing it. You'd have a much, much higher modifier by increasing intelligence instead and picking up a social skill as trained at level 10. I guess Charisma could be alright if you use follow the leader when piping in? Edit: I think a wizard is going to cast more spells that require a save or attack roll at levels 10 and 11 than they'd roll Charisma checks all of levels 5-11 combined. It is going to feel extra terrible if the group decides to play an 11-20 adventure immediately after Gatewalkers. KPC_Mammon fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Aug 15, 2023 |
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Aug 15, 2023 00:55
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Chevy Slyme posted:Look at the Wrestler archetype and go all in on the grabs. Wrestler archetype is also hella fun. I had a monk with Wrestler dedication in Extinction Curse and nothing feels better than suplexing a dinosaur to death.
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Aug 15, 2023 02:02
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I'm rolling full wrastlemonk right now in my Blood Lords game too, I love it. I also grabbed mauler dedication so I swap back and forth between swinging a two handed hammer around and then putting it away to go in for the takedown Mixed maneuver, piledriver, and aerial piledriver are so fun in combination.
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Aug 15, 2023 03:03
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Gwaihir posted:I also grabbed mauler dedication so I swap back and forth between swinging a two handed hammer around and then putting it away to go in for the takedown Have any of your party members popped off with "by gawd he's got a steel maul!" because if not they're slacking
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Aug 15, 2023 03:12
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First session ended pretty well, had some talk with the GM and he agreed to let me turn down the number of pure attack cantrips for more utility. Since we have a Pscyhic blaster caster on the team already having more than a few really wasn't necessary and having brought Detect Magic instead would've been useful.Chevy Slyme posted:Forbidding Ward (your witch cantrip), and Protective Ward (from your Abjuration school) don't stack. And since the latter is a focus spell, it's basically always the better choice, and you shouldn't really ever use the former. I'd recommend Rousing Splash as a nice, complementary defensive cantrip option; you can use it to essentially throw up warding bubbles on allies. Wash your Luck might also be a thematically fun option that you don't have access to from your Arcane list. So my thinking is that, because Protective Ward is an aura that starts at 5 feet, it's going to require me to stand next to whoever I'm trying to buff. And if that's one or both of our martials I might end up in a spot I really would rather not be in. This way I have more options available to me. Cyouni posted:The problem is that if they get forced into a social role, literally all their social skills are untrained. So it barely does anything anyways. (And this feels intentional, given that 4/7 of their untrained skills are the Cha ones.) Good point actually, we already have 2 people with Cha skills trained up so putting a point there is just a waste. sugar free jazz posted:pick any non wizard caster and you'll have more fun. I might've been better off picking an Investigator (party already has a Cha Psychic blaster caster and was lacking in Int characters), but goddammit I wanted to at least try Wizard before I knock it.
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Aug 15, 2023 10:34
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Clerical Terrors posted:So my thinking is that, because Protective Ward is an aura that starts at 5 feet, it's going to require me to stand next to whoever I'm trying to buff. And if that's one or both of our martials I might end up in a spot I really would rather not be in. This way I have more options available to me. The main thing is that they both do the same rough thing and, well, is Forbidding Ward going to be better often enough to justify spending two actions on it plus one action each round to sustain it when Protective Ward's one action to cast/one action each round to sustain and make the aura bigger is a lot easier to weave into turns? They technically serve different purposes (Forbidding goes on the person at the front, Protective makes it hard to shoot the squishy people in the back like yourself and the psychic until you've kept it up for a few rounds), but I still feel like there's a more broadly useful divine cantrip to take.
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Aug 15, 2023 17:13
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Kyrosiris posted:Have any of your party members popped off with "by gawd he's got a steel maul!" because if not they're slacking The key thing is to try and take some feats that help you bury other characters with long blonde hair and try and marry the GMs daughter.
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Aug 15, 2023 17:58
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There's a Humble Bundle going on with a bunch of Pathfinder novels, any of them worth a read? I'm not expecting incredible works of fiction, but I wouldn't mind any that has some cool setting info and is fun to read.
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Aug 15, 2023 19:19
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Hugoon Chavez posted:There's a Humble Bundle going on with a bunch of Pathfinder novels, any of them worth a read? I'm not expecting incredible works of fiction, but I wouldn't mind any that has some cool setting info and is fun to read. I picked it up because it has stuff from Eric Mona and Ed Greenwood. People seemed to like them, there has been a low key effort to get more novels made since they were discontinued (which I think recently was announced to have worked) edit: I haven't read any of them yet though so no idea how good they are Syrinxx fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Aug 16, 2023 |
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Aug 16, 2023 04:19
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For Aerial Boomerang, what happens if you throw it at an enemy that's less than 60ft away but like against a wall or something? Does the boomerang stop and spin in place just before the wall?
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Aug 16, 2023 06:56
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appropriatemetaphor posted:For Aerial Boomerang, what happens if you throw it at an enemy that's less than 60ft away but like against a wall or something? That's an interesting one. The rules as written say that it travels in a 60 foot line, not up to 60 feet. Which I guess would mean it thuds into the wall. But that would feel very limiting for a magical blade of air. On the other hand, if it's "up to 60 feet" that would leave open edge cases like whether it can travel 40 feet and stop before it hits an ally.
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Aug 16, 2023 09:56
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I would say the intent is clearly "you can't voluntarily shorten the line, but if the line stops because you have no line of effect beyond that range, that square is still the last square of the line," but admittedly there isn't a concrete rule in the current PF2e rulebook that I can find that explicitly deals with this--the only other place this "last square in a line" rule is mentioned (at least in the core) appears to be Penetrating Ammunition, but it doesn't provide any more clarification.
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Aug 16, 2023 10:58
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Is the 3 action HEAL only 1d8 total per creature? 2 action 30ft, 1d8+8, 3 action is 30ft burst, 1d8 only?
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Aug 16, 2023 11:55
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Is the 3 action HEAL only 1d8 total per creature? 2 action 30ft, 1d8+8, 3 action is 30ft burst, 1d8 only? Yes. The 3 action heal is less powerful but aoe. The 2 action heal is more powerful and single target.
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