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ZZT the Fifth posted:Sorry to post in here begging for help again, but I could use some advice, because our party is having trouble with healing, especially after and between fights. This is mostly just Level 1 Problems. As soon as you can get expert proficiency and a couple of the key skill feats, it goes away.
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Sep 20, 2023 03:07
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Cyouni posted:Not including Rare items, the whole point of those is that those are literally not accessible. Out-of-game, sure, it depends on the GM allowing access, but in terms of the setting itself, there is literally nowhere in the world it's more likely to see [Rare] things in general than in Absalom.
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Sep 20, 2023 03:14
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So apparently owlcat gave permission to use their music in the official kingmaker foundry module! This thing is gonna be a beast. Kingmaker seems like the most complicated module to ever run, and I'm terrified of it Jarvisi fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Sep 20, 2023 |
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Sep 20, 2023 03:38
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Chevy Slyme posted:This is mostly just Level 1 Problems. Honestly the bigger problem is Medic plus sword and board; Medicine checks require a free hand and constantly stowing / dropping to get off a clutch heal mid-combat will start to eat into your action economy. Keeping that hand free and spamming Glass Shield via Bone Magic might be the way to go in the long run. Better yet, you could also switch to a versatile 1/2 hander like bastard sword, gada, or katana and only drop to 1 hand (which is a free action) when you need to. Froghammer fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Sep 20, 2023 |
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Sep 20, 2023 03:58
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sugar free jazz posted:On the other hand the guy in that quote thinks Arcanists weren’t completely busted so lol They weren't though. They were easily surpassed by a Wizard taking the Exploiter Wizard Archetype that gave them access to some of the tools Arcanists got that were supposed to help them catch up to Wizards. Which was partly his point.
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Sep 20, 2023 04:39
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To be fair it's really hard to judge relative powers when your spellcaster classes are rated on a continuum of "unbelievably broken and can trivialize any obstacle" to "fantastically cosmically broken, doesn't even know what an obstacle is"
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Sep 20, 2023 21:06
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Evilgm posted:They weren't though. They were easily surpassed by a Wizard taking the Exploiter Wizard Archetype that gave them access to some of the tools Arcanists got that were supposed to help them catch up to Wizards. Which was partly his point. two (or more!) things can be busted at the same time Exploiter wizards were also completely busted, because they had the busted Arcanist poo poo on a faster spell progression and more spells per day. I think there was also some either Oracle or Sorc thing that was about as bad too but I forget The dude is super wrong in his evaluation of Arcanists. Quick Study was ridiculously absurdly strong. Every problem that could be solved by a spell, which was most problems, a full round action away from a solution. Terrible design.
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Sep 21, 2023 01:58
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One thing that's surprised me a bit about 2e, coming almost directly from 4e, is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of 1hp mook or cannon-fodder type model for enemies. There's the weak template, but still it seems like the Pathfinder Society adventures I've been playing/running tend to have only 2-3 enemies (against a 4-5 person group) all the time because of it. Wondering if the devs ever talked about 1hp enemies and if they thought about including them as a way to make certain combats feel more busy or cinematic from time to time?
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Sep 21, 2023 04:32
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The encounter building rules support enemies all the way down to 4 levels below the party, where 8/12/16 of those should constitute a moderate/severe/extreme encounter respectively for a normal group of four PCs. Obviously there's a a bit of a blind spot there at early levels when the stuff in the bestiaries only goes down to level -1, so a party of newbies is never going to realistically face more than equal numbers.
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Sep 21, 2023 05:41
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Got a couple more weeks to figure out my Gatewalkers character and I'm largely moving to looking at martials with intelligence and/or skill monkey ability. Spent a lot of time reading up on Inventor guides, enough to think up a weapon inventor with the simple weapon boosting die and a gauntlet that will eventually with improvements and Offense Boost become a pile bunker, or just going full construct rider and living out my Cait Sith fantasies (and also probably taking gunslinger dedications so I have a reload for a gun because an inventor with a shortbow is thematically bleh to me) Next up is Investigator, then Magus and then probably Rogue which would be the most generic of the options but who doesn't like rogues
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Sep 21, 2023 05:51
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Vanguard Warden posted:The encounter building rules support enemies all the way down to 4 levels below the party, where 8/12/16 of those should constitute a moderate/severe/extreme encounter respectively for a normal group of four PCs. Obviously there's a a bit of a blind spot there at early levels when the stuff in the bestiaries only goes down to level -1, so a party of newbies is never going to realistically face more than equal numbers. The actual problem is at high levels where HP balloons faster than player damage in such a way that even the mookiest mooks take way too hits to take down compared to the lower levels. Game could really use a 'cannon fodder' template or something that reduced enemy HP.
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Sep 21, 2023 05:55
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Froghammer posted:Echoing this. Raw Medicine checks are rough at 1st level, but once Medic Dedication and subsequent feats come online (Doctor's Visitation is great) you'll start sailing past that DC 15. The Sorcerer can start throwing around Soothes to take the pressure off as well, once spell slots stop being so precious. There isn't another healer in the party (yet, we're at level 1), unfortunately, and I'm kinda pulling double duty as the tank and medic. 
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Sep 21, 2023 06:43
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ZZT the Fifth posted:There isn't another healer in the party (yet, we're at level 1), unfortunately, and I'm kinda pulling double duty as the tank and medic. Fighter isn't really a tank in the moba sense, unless you go hard into tripping/grabbing. There's nothing to stop enemies from just avoiding the heavily armored fighter and running straight for the most robe-wearing character. Fighter is just straight DPS. And in combat I haven't found Battle Medicine to be that great anyway, like you can only do it once per person *and* it eats your whole turn. Especially with a shield as you'll have to Drop Shield (free action), move (action), pull out healer's tools (action), battle med (action). As a Fighter best way to keep everyone alive is just kill enemies fast.
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Sep 21, 2023 07:57
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ZZT the Fifth posted:There isn't another healer in the party (yet, we're at level 1), unfortunately, and I'm kinda pulling double duty as the tank and medic. An alternate use of your Free Archetype is to go into Blessed One. Lay on Hands is a single action for guaranteed 6/level HP and +2 status bonus to AC for 1 round and you'll get that back for every fight unless you can't spend 10 minutes Refocusing.
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Sep 21, 2023 09:12
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SilverMike posted:An alternate use of your Free Archetype is to go into Blessed One. Lay on Hands is a single action for guaranteed 6/level HP and +2 status bonus to AC for 1 round and you'll get that back for every fight unless you can't spend 10 minutes Refocusing. Obviously this is only really relevant whenever the GM is keeping precise track of the time but treat wounds is a 10 minute activity which means if you're the designated medic you'll only refocus by taking an extra 10 minutes after you're finished treating people.
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Sep 21, 2023 09:19
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With the re-done Refocus rules that allow you to Refocus while doing a suitable activity (one example given was a cleric treating wounds), as long as the DM is onboard, he could combine both.
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Sep 21, 2023 10:27
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appropriatemetaphor posted:
You don't need to spend an action drawing healer tools. That said, the only shield user who'd not waste a ton of actions swapping their weapon or shield is either a Captain America build that grapples with their free hand or someone with a light weapon, quick draw, and a weapon harness. A retreaval prism could also help once the cost isn't prohibitive. Anyone else in the party would be better at in combat medicine. Edit: You can cover healing without magic or alchemy if every melee character takes Godless Healing and someone with a free hand takes Medic dedication and Doctors Visitation. My Outlaws of Alkenstar party stopped brewing healing potions after level one or two. I'd just take the GMPC and make a better balance party next time. KPC_Mammon fucked around with this message at 10:50 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 10:42
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Blockhouse posted:Got a couple more weeks to figure out my Gatewalkers character and I'm largely moving to looking at martials with intelligence and/or skill monkey ability. Spent a lot of time reading up on Inventor guides, enough to think up a weapon inventor with the simple weapon boosting die and a gauntlet that will eventually with improvements and Offense Boost become a pile bunker, or just going full construct rider and living out my Cait Sith fantasies (and also probably taking gunslinger dedications so I have a reload for a gun because an inventor with a shortbow is thematically bleh to me) I played a mastermind rogue for a couple one shots and it felt p cool. Doing RK on everything has good synergy with being trained in almost every skill. Didn't feel like the generic sneaky criminal at all. Sure she knew how to pick locks and disarm traps, but not for crime reasons, she's just a weird little guy who knows everything. Would probably work well with one of the long lived ancestries so you could add being centuries old as an excuse to be trained in all the skills.
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Sep 21, 2023 10:48
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Blockhouse posted:Got a couple more weeks to figure out my Gatewalkers character and I'm largely moving to looking at martials with intelligence and/or skill monkey ability. Spent a lot of time reading up on Inventor guides, enough to think up a weapon inventor with the simple weapon boosting die and a gauntlet that will eventually with improvements and Offense Boost become a pile bunker, or just going full construct rider and living out my Cait Sith fantasies (and also probably taking gunslinger dedications so I have a reload for a gun because an inventor with a shortbow is thematically bleh to me) Played a Mastermind rogue in AV for a bit and Pathfinder Rogues are pretty customizable through the various rackets. Definitely not hard to break away from the "sneaky thief" archetype, you will keep sneak attack as a mechanic but why would you say no to extra damage dice?
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Sep 21, 2023 11:05
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Had a session yesterday where I began by explicitly reminding my players that they've found a lot of consumables and that it might be a good idea to take stock and re-assess if there's anything that could be useful or if they might want to begin combat holding a scroll or something, or pre-buffing(they were about to "unleash" something half-way through a dungeon that was very obviously an encounter and had all the time in the world to prepare if they had any ideas) Nobody did anything! I've given out a number of potions and level 1 scrolls of various functions, including some stuff like a scroll of False Life that is just an unqualified safe-to-use way to gain temp HP before any fight, and even with heavy signposting they still didn't bother. I was already no longer tracking the value of looted consumables against the treasure-per-level budget, so it's literally free power, but at this point I'm convinced they all either have terminal megalixer-syndrome and it's some psychological reluctance to "spend" items, or not respecting that these items can be powerful, or some combination. Do I find some clever way to train them that extra spells per day at level 2 when they only have two or three slots to begin with might be very strong? Do I just not bother handing out consumables as rewards anymore because they don't seem to care?
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Sep 21, 2023 13:01
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I have trouble getting people to use consumables too. I just stopped giving out consumables for rewards for the most part and drop magic items that can be used more than once. I also give a ton more gold than is recommended for the players level in case someone wants to buy something, but they rarely do. Maybe give out hero points when people use consumables. The problem with this is hero points are just another consumable my party likes to save. Another idea might be to put a time limit on how long a consumable keeps its magical properties. When I was an alchemist the other players didn't have much problem gulping down my healing potions because I made it clear that they would only last one day. Edit: I even lowered the prices of basically every consumable and was giving bulk rates on magical ammunition. Like seriously 3 gp for one bullet that produces light? I gave the gunslinger 5 for that price and my gunslinger is more active at using consumables than anyone else. I think its a certain personality that wants to use consumables and if you don't think about it you just default to hoarding. gurragadon fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 13:40
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Our Gatewalkers group is about to hit book 3 and the GM's hinted that everyone's going to get a level 10 item soon and asked us to think of one we'd want specifically to avoid giving us useless random stuff. I'm thinking I'll probably just default to Shadow Signet but I was wondering if there are other level 10 items that are really good for a Wizard with Witch Free Archetype? I currently have a pretty reasonable spread of spells targeting different saves and don't do spell attack rolls much aside from the occasional Reach + Shocking Grasp, so I was thinking maybe a Type 2 Ring of Wizardry would be good: https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=462 Clerical Terrors fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 14:01
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Clerical Terrors posted:Our Gatewalkers group is about to hit book 3 and the GM's hinted that everyone's going to get a level 10 item soon and asked us to think of one we'd want specifically to avoid giving us useless random stuff. I'm thinking I'll probably just default to Shadow Signet but I was wondering if there are other level 10 items that are really good for a Wizard with Witch Free Archetype? Good opportunity to get the perfect staff with a spell list that you really like, if one exists (or if you want to do personal stave rules to make one or whatever)
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Sep 21, 2023 14:56
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Scoss posted:Had a session yesterday where I began by explicitly reminding my players that they've found a lot of consumables and that it might be a good idea to take stock and re-assess if there's anything that could be useful or if they might want to begin combat holding a scroll or something, or pre-buffing(they were about to "unleash" something half-way through a dungeon that was very obviously an encounter and had all the time in the world to prepare if they had any ideas) It’s a lesson that they gotta learn. Invisible enemies, flying enemies, clouds, big falls, darkness, poisons etc. my players struggled a few times with these kinds of things. then after that I walked them through some of the consumables that could solve their problems and they immediately went on a strategic purchasing spree and started using their cheap but effective tools. Knowing to use consumables is part of being good at the system at it takes time and experience to learn
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Sep 21, 2023 16:14
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Our level 3 Swashbuckler converted to level 3 fighter and he is so much happier.
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Sep 21, 2023 16:32
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Kineticist Dedication (Wood or Water) is also a good after combat party healer starting at level 4, 2d8 or 2d4+6 to every person every 10 minutes is a lot faster than Treat Wounds on one (or two people with Ward Medic) per 10 minutes, plus there are a ton of other good options available for later picks
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Sep 21, 2023 16:35
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ZZT the Fifth posted:There isn't another healer in the party (yet, we're at level 1), unfortunately, and I'm kinda pulling double duty as the tank and medic. Beyond that I actually think you and your group are going to be fine. The healing issues will clear up after level 1, which is always going to have a degree of being survival horror regardless of party makeup.
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Sep 21, 2023 16:39
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Our level 3 Swashbuckler converted to level 3 fighter and he is so much happier. Yeah Swash is more about synergy and distraction right? Doesn't seem amazing for damage output. Our 12 Monk took on a Swashbuckler dedication so I have my eye for what benefits will be there.
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Sep 21, 2023 16:48
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Fidel Cuckstro posted:One thing that's surprised me a bit about 2e, coming almost directly from 4e, is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of 1hp mook or cannon-fodder type model for enemies. There's the weak template, but still it seems like the Pathfinder Society adventures I've been playing/running tend to have only 2-3 enemies (against a 4-5 person group) all the time because of it. 1hp enemies seem kind of like needlessly preferencing AoE to me. Using an action to deal 1 damage compared to using two actions to kill like five people (who die even if they make the save for half damage, so it's guaranteed value) seems like some very skewed action economy. A lower HP version like Andrast's cannon fodder template doesn't sound too bad but dying to literally any hit just devalues damage. mind the walrus posted:Yeah Swash is more about synergy and distraction right? Doesn't seem amazing for damage output. Our 12 Monk took on a Swashbuckler dedication so I have my eye for what benefits will be there. You can get some pretty good damage out of Swash once you get finisher stuff online but it's a lot more finicky and situational than just being able to hit things hard.
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Sep 21, 2023 16:55
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Scoss posted:Do I find some clever way to train them that extra spells per day at level 2 when they only have two or three slots to begin with might be very strong? Do I just not bother handing out consumables as rewards anymore because they don't seem to care? Maybe a "learn by doing" approach is in order here. Give the enemies consumables and have them use them, and see what your party thinks.
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Sep 21, 2023 17:09
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mind the walrus posted:Yeah Swash is more about synergy and distraction right? Doesn't seem amazing for damage output. Our 12 Monk took on a Swashbuckler dedication so I have my eye for what benefits will be there. Swashbuckler damage is Garbo before level 8. After level 8, you get bleeding finisher and you basically have access to one of the biggest boss killer DoT effects in the game, and then later you replace/supplement it with Perfect Finisher to be even more of a critfisher than a fighter/gunslinger. But at low levels, yeah, the damage is anemic, and you’re mostly a debuff/melee support type who generally is at their best setting up allies and being a battlefield pest.
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Sep 21, 2023 18:13
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Blockhouse posted:Got a couple more weeks to figure out my Gatewalkers character and I'm largely moving to looking at martials with intelligence and/or skill monkey ability. This is good advice overall not just for Gatewalkers but make sure your party has a plan for high AC high reflex enemies on the whole, and that individual party members aren't all in on one damage type. Those are the two biggest problems we've run into. I'm going to ask our GM for automatic progression (or more loot) this Saturday as we resume the beginning of book 2 because we're hurting a bit in fights at level 4. I don't remember which CRPG had this as a key mechanic but are blunt and broadhead slashing arrows a thing in 2e to go alongside the piercing ones?
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Sep 21, 2023 18:39
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appropriatemetaphor posted:Fighter isn't really a tank in the moba sense, unless you go hard into tripping/grabbing This is a pretty big "unless" though because the fighter is far and away the best at this too. Fighter can choose any basic combat activity to be the best at. Champion is definitely the truest tank in that most of its unique gimmicks are direct mitigation, but it still won't be able to lock something down as consistently as a fighter.
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Sep 21, 2023 18:58
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Mister Olympus posted:This is a pretty big "unless" though because the fighter is far and away the best at this too. Fighter can choose any basic combat activity to be the best at. Are you really implying the fighter is better than the Gymnast Swashbuckler in lockdown? Because that's definitely not true.
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Sep 21, 2023 19:18
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Cyouni posted:Are you really implying the fighter is better than the Gymnast Swashbuckler in lockdown? Because that's definitely not true. Are there some special Gymnast feats that make them better than a Fighter? Seems like Gymnast just gets trained in athletics and a little damage boost to prone/restrained/grabbed targets?
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Sep 21, 2023 20:16
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appropriatemetaphor posted:Are there some special Gymnast feats that make them better than a Fighter? Seems like Gymnast just gets trained in athletics and a little damage boost to prone/restrained/grabbed targets? The main one is Derring Do; tl;dr, starting at level 10 a Gymnast can roll all of their trip/grapple/shoves with advantage.
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Sep 21, 2023 21:06
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Mister Olympus posted:This is a pretty big "unless" though because the fighter is far and away the best at this too. Fighter can choose any basic combat activity to be the best at. Champion is better at this than Fighter because they have higher AC and the Fighter's bonus to weapon accuracy isn't relevant for a grappler. Self healing is also really nice for a tank. Redeemer Champion can grab onto an enemy to make sure they are within range of their extremely powerful reaction, which lets other melee engage the grappled enemy with impunity. Without grappling it is pretty easy for enemies to just move out of range of the Champion's reaction.
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Sep 21, 2023 21:31
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https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6siek?Player-Core-Preview-Spells-and-Spellcasting More details on forthcoming changes to spellcasting Most of it is stuff we already knew, compiled and clarified - - no more “spell components” with inherited manipulate/concentrate tags, spells just… have manipulate or concentrate tags. - no more ability score damage to cantrips - the intended baseline for damage is about 6 per rank single target and adding ability scores to them blows them way off that mark. - unified proficiency across all spell DC’s and attack rolls. - focus spell cleanup - rewriting a lot of spells to be more user friendly. My main takeaway is it’s a lot of big QOL changes that will probably improve the play experience for most spellcasters, but the specific spell changes (I.e., yes, thunderstrike is a a straight replacement for shocking grasp) are going to be a huge nerf to the Magus, which… isn’t getting a remaster pass, so that feels a bit concerning overall. Hopefully they get some errata to help them keep up.
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Sep 21, 2023 21:46
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I’m baffled by the idea of cantrips actually being too strong by comparison, but I’m just gonna trust their math
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Sep 21, 2023 22:35
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Jen X posted:I’m baffled by the idea of cantrips actually being too strong by comparison, but I’m just gonna trust their math If the intended single target baseline is 6, then yeah, they are too strong. And, I get it if your metric for comparison is to leveled spells - cantrips do probably feel too strong relative to those right now. The problem is that leveled spells (and focus spells) feel too weak relative to what non-casters are doing, as well as relative to cantrips. If the plan is to fix that half of the imbalance as well, then I can get behind “cantrips are too strong - they are meant to be filler not the baseline, which should be based on your focus spells and some portion of your actual resources.” TBD whether they get there but some of the changes in this doc do point in the correct direction.
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Sep 21, 2023 22:39
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