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LightWarden posted:Post cool items when you find them. That's actually against the rules, and can get you DQ'd. Unless that's what you were going for, in which case good try!
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Dec 22, 2012 01:05
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 Just arrived! I'm excited about cardboard pawns!
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Dec 22, 2012 01:12
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Inverse Icarus posted:That's actually against the rules, and can get you DQ'd. I glanced briefly at the contest rules. Are you referring to RPG Superstar Rules posted:5. During public voting rounds, contestants are prohibited from any public discussion that could be considered as adding to, expanding upon, or clarifying the content of their current submissions. This applies to (but is not limited to) interviews, personal blogs, and messageboard posts on paizo.com or elsewhere, including the paizo.com discussion thread for the entry itself. Any such discussion may result in disqualification, in the sole discretion of the judges and/or Paizo Publishing. Because the plain language of this particular rule only bars you from discussing your item (and only in specific ways, although I would certainly play it safe there). LightWarden was asking about other folks' items, which would not violate this rule—but perhaps there is another one I missed?
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Dec 22, 2012 01:38
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Inverse Icarus posted:That's actually against the rules, and can get you DQ'd. I knew that indicating items that were yours can get you DQ'd, though I thought that simply pointing out interesting items as you saw them might not be illegal. They apparently don't want specific discussion during the voting, but I don't think they have jurisdiction out here. Oh well, comments reserved for after the voting. I wonder if they'll post a list of rankings or whatever- there's this one joke item that I've seen in the voting upwards of six or seven times.
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Dec 22, 2012 01:42
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OpenlyEvilJello posted:I glanced briefly at the contest rules. Are you referring to The people running the contest have explicitly told people not to talk about any items.
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Dec 22, 2012 02:21
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I've done a lot of voting, and I haven't seen my item. I know there are hundreds of entries, and I'm not to the point where I've seen every item, and I know that randomness being randomness it's entirely possible I never see my own entry, but it's really depressing. They said they didn't do anything to stop your own item from being shown to you, but maybe they did, I don't know. Not knowing if I was DQ'd or not is terrible.
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Dec 22, 2012 02:23
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Inverse Icarus posted:The people running the contest have explicitly told people not to talk about any items. Terrible. Well, good luck, I guess.
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Dec 22, 2012 04:13
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OpenlyEvilJello posted:Terrible. Well, good luck, I guess. I still haven't seen mine, but I've seen one that's hilariously similar, and had fewer words. Aaaag.
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Dec 22, 2012 06:26
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Late to the topic, but I'm writing a sci-fi fantasy setting where prosthetic limbs are relatively easy to obtain, so it would be entirely possible (And indeed somewhat common) for a Monk to voluntarily remove their WEAK FLESHY PARTS and replace them with enchanted bodyparts made out of special materials. CAPSLOCKGIRL fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Dec 22, 2012 |
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Dec 22, 2012 11:38
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Could a monk channel ki (it's supposed to be life force or whatever, right?) through a prosthetic limb? I'd probably say no unless it was some sort of magitech specifically equipped to do so... But that's between you and the other players.
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Dec 22, 2012 20:59
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Tactical Bonnet posted:Could a monk channel ki (it's supposed to be life force or whatever, right?) through a prosthetic limb? I'd probably say no unless it was some sort of magitech specifically equipped to do so... Could a monk do [cool thing]? I'd probably say no, unless [magic]. Kung-fu cyborgs are rad as gently caress. "Now with realistic karate chop action!" I think Star Wars SAGA had some rules for droid martial artists you could even pilfer.
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Dec 23, 2012 02:47
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Well, in setting, the monks aren't channeling life force, they're channeling Divine power, using their body as a conduit. And considering that there are artificially created souls inhabiting Golem bodies that can become Clerics and Druids and Monks, I'd say, yes, they can use Ki abilities through a prosthetic limb.
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Dec 23, 2012 04:39
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Does ki flow through the body, or through the soul? -Robomonk, before punching through a wall, and the guy in front of it, and the guy behind it.
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Dec 23, 2012 04:52
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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:Does ki flow through the body, or through the soul? "Ki" is Robomonk's nickname for hydraulic fluid.
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Dec 23, 2012 05:37
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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:Does ki flow through the body, or through the soul? Ultimately, it flows through your face.
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Dec 23, 2012 06:30
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Inverse Icarus posted:I still haven't seen mine, but I've seen one that's hilariously similar, and had fewer words. The forums have a thread with people who have seen their own items, so it might not be a technical thing, just a luck thing. If it makes you feel any better, I've seen a lot of items repeated, and judging by the quality, it might be that the things that are showing up most often are the mid-tier items- the ones that everyone likes are clearly voted to the top, while the ones that have a mixed reception get sent back into the pot to gather more data for the rankings.
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Dec 23, 2012 19:27
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Mythic Playtest updates. Owing to changes in the amount of mythic power, passive abilities are more important than ever. They dropped the pointless achievement grinding at least. 
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Dec 23, 2012 22:43
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Their new system for gaining tiers is actually a good idea, in that it's totally abstract and doesn't require any grinding or numbers to track by default. Giving tier advancements to players for being  is much better than achievements.
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Dec 23, 2012 23:37
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Alrighty, so this is gonna take a bit of explaining, but here goes (couple of spoilers for the Skull and Shackles campaign): I'm currently running the Skull and Shackles campaign path for my group. But, it didn't really start off that way. I'm in Gaist's Way of the Wicked campaign here on the forums, and one night when no one had anything to run I opened up the ol' iPad to the forum game and just sort of ran Way of the Wicked for everyone. Each of my players is some manner of tiefling. We have the following party: Elf/Tiefling wizard, Undine/Azura Tiefling gunslinger, Half-Orc/Kyton Tiefling corsair (class from Freeport Companion), Half-Orc/Qlippith Tiefling rogue, and a Grippli/Div Tiefling alchemist. They were all tieflings, you see, because Way of the Wicked is EVIL, and so they might as well be as EVIL as possible or some nonsense. Whatever, it worked, it was fun. But, I don't actually own the Way of the Wicked book, so the next week I grabbed Skull and Shackles and we started playing that instead, we just ported the characters over. The crew is now in the middle of the second book, and has a ship of their very own, charmingly called the Infernal Mistake. They're out trying to be pirates and do piracy on the high seas and earn enough of a name for themselves so that they can sail into Port Peril without being looked at as food for the masses. One of the little side objectives is to 'crack' Tidewater Rock, an island tower at the very southern tip of the Shackles. How do they crack it? Tidewater Rock is something of a legend because anyone that owns it can see all of the ships entering the Shackles to the south, which makes picking targets easy. So pirates that own the rock tend to do very, very well for themselves, and at least one has even become King of the Shackles. The last pirate owner, a man named Bertram "Iron Bert" Smythee used Tidewater Rock as the foothold to start sort of a 'network' of fortresses in the archipelago. He then died a few years later, and the Tidewater Rock has been guarded ever since by his wife and her retainers, though they are currently unable to leave the island due to the lack of a ship. So while the defenses of the rock are good (catapults, ballistas, able soldiers, etc), they're not doing too well morale-wise. So my players, seeing an opportunity, decide the PC captain, the scarred and pierced-all-to-hell Kytonspawn should marry her. RPing it very well, she agrees. He 'cracks' Tidewater Rock with an arranged marriage, and she gets a way to actually get some nice stuff coming to the island again. Everyone's happy. The PCs ask her a bit more about her ex-husband, Iron Bert, and she mentions the castle 'network' he had. Naturally, being PCs, they decide that they want it, too. Hell, they want it now. They've decided that they'll get more Infamy by reacquiring Iron Bert's network than by doing standard piracy. Now, they PCs want to do this, so I am all for it but this poo poo is not in the book at all, so I gotta sort of come up with it on the fly. As such, this is what I've come up with so far, note that all of these will likely be somewhat close to Tidewater Rock, likely no more than a half week's sail away: Iron Bert's Castle Network The Vein is a stronghold on the eastern tip of the archipelago. It is a cavernous dry dock that ol' Iron Bert was convinced to take by his ship's mage. The mage himself was working to further the corrupting goals of a dreaded qlippith known as the Mother of Nightmares. He used some of the sprawling cavern network below to summon and experiment on, and even dissect, many outsiders, including archons, qlippiths, garuda, and azata. After his last visit to the island, nearly fifteen years ago, many of his beasts broke free and began to war against each other, and to corrupt and taint the nearby tribes on the island. As such, azata-blooded gnolls, garuda-blooded nagaji, qlippoth-blooded tritons, and demodand-blooded anguillians are all presents on or near the island. Unfortuantely, while their outsider forebearers attempted to get the lot of them to war with each other, the tribes were generally uninterested, and instead used the abilities granted to them by their extra-planar benefactors to befriend one another and fight against the outsiders. Many of the outsiders summoned even more monstrous things and then fled the island when their own 'pets' got out of control. Now, Scyllan fiends and lurkers in the deep haunt the halls of the Vein, locked away by the natives, and the outpost the natives have set up is beginning to collapse as the fiends rage and attempt to break free of the halls. They natives need leadership and willing adventurers to save them from the deeps. Monsters: Lots of outsiders. loving -lots-. Reward: One magical cigar case filled with six magical cigars, a pair of bracers of armor +3, slippers of nightwalker (+5 stealth, +20' speed at night), and Moron's Wand of CLW (10 charges, will only work for non-casters, non-UMDers). Land: The Vein's natives truly want to live in peace and just engage in trade. The place could become a Mecca for merchants. Additionally, Conjuration spells that Call or Summon work on the island at +4 character levels. Enchantment spells simply fail on or near the island. The Lonely Island is called such because it rests in the center of a lake in the middle of another island. The island in the middle was once connected to the other island by way of a land bridge that has since crumbled. Atop the island is the Solacarium, a tower built thousands of years ago by peoples unknown. However, the tower does have a legend surrounding it that Aashaq the Annihilator (ancient red dragon cleric of Dahak 7) came here in her early years and used the tower as the home of a Katapeshi princess she kidnapped to ransom. The princess's holy father would have no part in making deals with a dragon and sent nearly his entire armada to rescue his daughter, driving Aashaq off to the north. The Katapeshi men truly enjoyed the splendor of the isle, however, and began to use it at a safe haven for Katapeshi ships traversing the Shackles. Things native to Katapesh were imported to the isle over the years, by ship or by magic, and it was one of the few places to find such exotic beasts or plants in the Shackles. Many, many years later, when Aashaq had attained massive size, the vile queen flew back to the island and annihilated the city that had grown there, burning everything save the tower to the ground (apparently, she had some plans for the tower in the future that never quite came to pass). The Lonely Island is now overrun by creatures far out of their element, including saquero warriors, jackals, giant scorpions, cammelbels (humanoid, cannibal camels), braxats (2nd edition monster), and sand skimmer lizards. Another dragon, this one a rattlyr, attempting to mimic Aashaq's rise to fame, has taken over the center of the island itself, including the tower. It is holding another princess captive, though this time, the princess is a lamia. Monsters: Listed above. Reward: Katapeshi type stuff. Scimitars, headwraps, lammellar armor, etc. Likely all with a desert-y type theme. Land: The tower itself is nigh-impregnable, and if the PCs are smart enough to figure it out they'll realize it's a double-sized Daern's Instant Fortress. If not, no biggie, it'll just stay there. The island is a nice hiding place, but only from everything that's not Aashaq. Wodenpit is the third stronghold Iron Bert knew. Wodenpit is built upon the ruins of an ancient Gol-Kaa city, and has been rebuilt many, many times over the years, with each new influx of occupants just seeming to build onto the old occupant's ruins. There seems to be a bit of a 'bad luck' radiating about the place, and the ruins of at least a dozen separate sets of inhabitants are present. Currently, the island is inhabited by a small collection of simian humanoids. Tasloi, Vanara, Murians, and Hadozee, about fifty of each, are the currently settlers of the ruins, and have built areas on the ground as well as small tree-top walkways and homes. The lot of them worship Besmara in the form of a gigantic crocodile they refer to as Brackjaw, from the stream of swamp water constantly dripping from the croc's mouth. Also on the island and in the ruins are cyclopean abominations, cyclopean undead, and the psychopomps the cyclopes summoned to try to save their civilization. The outsiders are still attempting to serve the Cyclopes, but the cyclopes are all dead, so they are taking the deranged orders of the abominations instead while the undead attack everyone they can. The key to ending the conflict is likely in convincing the psychopomp 'general' to allow the spirits of the dead cyclopes to leave the island, or to convince the undead to attack the abominations. Or, by telling all 'cyclops spirits' to leave he'll realize the aberrations aren't truly cyclopes at all and will maybe murder them for this betrayal. Otherwise, the Besmaran simians are going to be wiped out in just a few weeks. Monsters: Cyclopes-themed undead and aberrations, along with a bunch of psychopomps. Rewards: Monkey and cyclopes items. Lots of large-sized weapons/armors, scrolls the size of a poster, etc. Land: While the simians will thank their saviors, they're not just going to bend over and allow the PCs to rule the island. They'll settle for giving them a portion of it unless one of the PCs really plays it up. Besides, there's more monkeys than pirates, so the PCs are really outnumbered. They will find a nice uncovered portion of an ancient Gol-Kaa vault, however, and they'll discover that Necromantic magic cast on the island works wonderfully, likely around +4 caster level. 'Mental Spire is a mistake twenty years in the making. Iron Bert's devious mage discovered a Well of Many Worlds in their plunder of a Cheliaxian ship and convinced his captain, successfully, not to use it until he had more time to study it. Unfortunately, not all on the crew were as willing to let a fine piece of plunder sit isle and unsold, so it was stolen. As the thief fled, he tripped, and the Well opened upside down to the Elemental plane of Earth, letting through a massive, jutting spire of rock the size of a small mountain. As the mountain grew, the location of the Well changed and changed, which means that the plane from which it was drawing power also changed. Creatures and objects from the planes of Air, Fire, Water, Shadow, Negative, and Positive energy are now also on the island. The Well was somehow destroyed in the ruckus, but the destroyed artifact infused the island with the power of the planes, allowing for such things at floating rock islands, upside down streams, plants than drain or give life, etc. Atop the spire at a steep climb is a small collection of bungalows once used by Iron Bert to allow his men to rest up and heal after particularly daring raids, as the lands are infused with the power of positive energy. Recently, a group of Hellknights have taken over the spire, and a few Cheliaxian captains have taken over the bay below, in order to rid this world of the vile interplanar invasion, as well as to use the 'Mental Spire as yet another foothold on the Shackles. Monsters: Things that come from one plane, but are influenced by another. Like ice-infused earth elementals, etc. Also, Hellknights and Cheliaxians. Reward: Aside from lots of Hellknight plate, there'll be a couple of banishing scrolls, items that endure hostile conditions, weapons that hurt elementals, etc. Land: The Chels have already set up the beginning for what could be a nice town. Also, the bungalows on top have now been fortified. Those resting in them find themselves healing Con Mod (min, 2)/hr hit points, and possibly using the other rifts to get fantastical reagents or items is possible. So, those are the four strongholds I have planned out. I've still gotta put together some maps and poo poo for the ones that are actually inside, but hey, should be easy enough. What do you guys think?
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Dec 26, 2012 23:34
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What level are they? And while there seems to be plenty of things for them to see and do, I'm not exactly feeling anything resembling excitement regarding the treasure selection, though I'm not sure if it's just because it's for low-level characters. Are you still technically playing WotW? Or is this a different game with the same characters.
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Dec 27, 2012 01:11
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They've just hit level 5. They don't hit level 6 until a predefined point in the adventure path now, so they can just tromp around and I don't have to really worry about them leveling. They started out on the Way of the Wicked game, but I could only run it as far as it was in the thread (like page 10 at the time), so they are now doing the Skull and Shackles adventure path, book 2.
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Dec 27, 2012 02:42
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I just hit level 3 with my pathfinder society abjurber wizard and was thinking of branhing out in the rogue class and trying for the arcane trickster. He's got the dex for it but strength is his dump stat. The reason I want to do this is I am often roleplaying the character using nonviolent means to get out of trouble and bluff and stealth would be really useful if they were class skills for him. I'll have to delay getting his 2nd level spells. But seeing how this level I get a new feat, I can make up for his crap strength score by buying weapon finesse. Is this a good idea?
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Dec 28, 2012 07:12
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If the only thing you want out of the class is bluff/stealth, you can always just grab Extra Traits at third? I mean rogue is cool but there's no sense going into a new class (and losing caster levels) just for two skills.
EscortMission fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 08:03
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Plus if you're an Abjurer wizard, there's the Counterspell subschool option. It isn't the best, but a number of shots of immediate action counterspells without delaying your actions can't be all that bad, right?
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Dec 28, 2012 10:28
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Fire posted:Is this a good idea? No, not in the slightest. Even setting aside the fact that spells can do any and everything a Rogue can do better than a Rogue can do it, you already get plenty of skill points as an Int-based character and in Pathfinder the only thing having a skill as a class skill does is give you a piddly +3 bonus that could easily be made up with a feat even if Extra Traits didn't exist. On the other hand, you're playing a Wizard, so you're already mechanically stronger than most everyone else. It's not like you can't afford to waste a level, just that it won't really help you much.
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Dec 28, 2012 11:50
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EscortMission posted:If the only thing you want out of the class is bluff/stealth, you can always just grab Extra Traits at third? I mean rogue is cool but there's no sense going into a new class (and losing caster levels) just for two skills. Actually there is more than that, I just cited those two specifically. FIRE CURES BIGOTS fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 13:16
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If you want to do Arcane Trickster, you should do it, it's a fun combo class that kicks in around level 7-8 and does some wacky things. If you just want to be stealthy and solve every problem all day? Take Invisibility at level 3, activate cloaking mode, be better at rogue than rogue will ever be. You have to be a ninja to be this good at being a rogue. Speaking of ninja, if you're totally convinced rogue is your thing? Check out ninja.
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Dec 28, 2012 13:43
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Generally speaking, it's better to be a ninja than a rogue. Both classes have the same BAB/Saves/Skills, though different weapon proficiencies, with the ninja having the arguably better end of the deal- the rogue has the hand crossbow, rapier, and sap, but the handcrossbow isn't that great, and the rapier is inferior to the wakizashi for most rogues. The only thing you'd probably miss is the sap for nonlethal purposes, but you can always punch someone in the back of the head if you're desperate. Once you get down to class features, the rogue has trapfinding which is probably the second-most-easily-forsaken class feature if not for the "rogue can disarm magical traps" line which kind of implies that other people without it can't. That said, magical traps are fairly uncommon and can still be detected by anyone, and your casters can disable them with dispel magic. Trap sense is the worst class feature, because if you're using trap sense it means that you've already failed your job earlier. The Master Strike capstone is weak because it's Int-based and rogues don't have a huge need for an intelligence high enough to compete with CR 20 Fort saves, so you're probably not going to use it except on weak enemies, and those ones you can usually kill with a regular sneak attack. Evasion is actually pretty useful though not rogue-exclusive. On the ninja class feature side, poison use is fine if you plan to flush money down the drain via poisons. Ki pool is very useful, and while a charisma focus isn't as nice as the monk's wisdom focus, it does boost useful skills and abilities suited for being an infiltrator. No Trace is an "eh" ability, while Light Steps is actually a pretty neat exploration ability, especially if your DM clarifies if you can jump while using it. The capstone ability is pretty sweet, since throwing down a -10 to an ability score pays dividends if you know where to aim it- tag someone's Constitution and you can do more "damage" than if you'd successfully landed the sneak attack, to the tune of 5*HD loss of HP, which can be absolutely brutal when followed by the rest of your attack sequence. Also, tagging a caster for -10 to the casting stat can be helpful since it cuts DCs and maybe even casting ability or bonus spells, though it will probably make your DM sad. That stuff aside, ninjas and rogues can take each other's tricks and talents without too much trouble, though the rogue requires a ki pool to make the most of a ninja's abilities while there aren't many abilities that require you to have rogue features other than evasion. And because I wanted to do so, here's a breakdown of the Rogue Talents and Ninja Tricks Rogue Talents Good -Combat Trick: Bonus feat for getting your murder on -Fast Stealth: Walk like the wind -Finesse Rogue: Weapon Finesse is useful, but if you're taking this feat as a 2nd level rogue, how'd you survive as a 1st level rogue? -Ninja Trick: Even without a ki pool, there are still interesting tricks. -Weapon Focus: Hit better, prerequisite for other feats. Gimmick -Coax Information: Frees up a skill use, but if you have Diplomacy, why do you need Intimidate to make someone like you? Can't be used for demoralization, which is probably the best use for Intimidate -Combat Swipe: Free feat if you want it, though your CMB is going to be second rate at best before running into the brick wall of higher levels, and Steal is kind of a situational maneuver -Convincing Lie: Normally this is a pretty terrible trick because it functions as a stealth nerf to the bluff skill- if you lie to a guard and then the guard goes and talks to the boss, the boss should not have a chance to see through it based on the guard's poor lying ability. That said, if you have a Bluff-stacking Glibness build strong enough to pull off an "I am the moon" level of deception and access to some form of mass communication you can probably destabilize a country. -Cunning Trigger: Interesting if you like traps and can get into fights around your traps, but I struggle to see how that would show up. -Deft Palm: Lets you sneak a weapon into places you shouldn't. Fair enough for some games. -Expert Leaper: Running start on jumps isn't that bad for avoiding terrain, and I suppose 20 foot falls could be useful in an urban game. -Fast Getaway: This seems more like something an NPC would use... and don't you have Acrobatics for this stuff? -Firearm Training: Firearms aren't particularly good, but here it is if you want it. --Grit: Suck less with firearms -Follow Clues: Tracking is kind of a niche ability, but here's a thing if you want it. -Getaway Artist: It'd take a particular gimmick build to use these skills. -Ki Pool: A ki pool is a ki pool, no matter how paltry. Personally I'd take levels in ninja instead. -Lasting Poison: Throw your money away at half the rate. -Quick Trapsmith: Well, if you're using traps, here's a faster way to get them -Rogue Crawl: Well, if you're a PRONE SHOOTER build, I suppose this will help. -Snap Shot: Han shoots first. Han ALWAYS shoots first. Gets even funnier if you have the Lookout teamwork feat and sniper goggles, which lets you start the party from across the field with a full attack. -Sniper's Eye: Concealment sucks, here's a way to avoid some of it. Might want to ask your DM how this works with Sniper Goggles. -Strong Impression: Useful for some builds with the strength for it, I suppose. -Surprise Attack: If you're doing an ambush right this shouldn't need to come up, but at least it guarantees a sneak attack if you're ambushed or if your opponents are sharp-eyed. -Survivalist: At this point, you could probably grab both of these with a trait -Swift Poison: Poison better, I suppose Situational -Black Market Connections: If you need this, your DM is kind of a hard case -Canny Observer: Do you really, really, really want to make sure you find traps? Take Alertness or something first, then take this. -False Friend: A +4 bonus to a useful skill in some extremely limiting circumstances. Could probably fit into the "Awful" category easily enough. -Fast Picks: Most of the time, you have all the time you need to pick a lock after you've murdered everyone in the area. -Guileful Polyglot: Get more languages out of your ranks in Linguistics. Alternately, if you want to get more languages out of ranks in Linguistics, spend more ranks on Linguistics. -Iron Guts: A +4 bonus to your weak save isn't bad, but it depends on if this ever comes up. -Ledge Walker: How often do you encounter a need for ledges in a game? Could be interesting with some sort of rope gimmick or climbing Colossi. -Obfuscate Story: How often does this come up, and why does it require a talent? Could be useful in a courtier game, I suppose or when you're arrested, but still... --Steal the Story: Pretty much requires a political game and access to a form of mass communication for the best effects. -Quick Disable: Like picking locks, you're usually not pressed for time. -Quick Disguise: If you're really pressed for time in your disguises, shouldn't you buy a hat of disguise? -Resiliency: Once per day gain enough THP to shamble away when knocked below 0. -Rope Master: Are you on a ship or something where this would come up often? -Stand Up: While being able to stand up freely is fun, AoOs aren't. At least you can do the worm as a free action. -Terrain Mastery: It would be more interesting if you could improve it without dumping a ton of talents into it, but it's not really worth it unless it's an urban game or something. -Trap Spotter: Great if you're running through the Tomb of Horrors, worthless if it's a game of swashbuckling intrigue. Meh -Assault Leader: A useful property, but the once-per-day thing kills its value -Minor Magic: A cantrip three times per day. You could probably just buy a magic item that does it unlimited times per day. --Major Magic: A 1st level spell twice per day. Could be useful, but the prereq cost really isn't. There's a whole subset of "once per day, roll twice and take the better skill check, increase uses as you level" talents. They're all pretty underwhelming in my opinion. They're not terrible, but they're limited in use and can't be used retroactively to reroll things, so it's just about putting your best foot forward when you need it. I wouldn't really bother. -Charmer: Diplomacy -Fast Fingers: Sleight of Hand -Hard to Fool: Sense Motive -Honeyed Words: Bluff -Peerless Maneuver: Acrobatics -Strong Stroke: Swim -Wall Scramble: Climb Awful -Camouflage: Once per day, build yourself a shed for a +4 bonus to stealth checks in terrain with foliage. A once-per day use of marginal bonus in limited conditions. -Esoteric Scholar: This would be a mediocre ability if it was at-will, but giving you the ability to fail a knowledge check once per day is just not worth anything. -Hold Breath: A gimmick ability to begin with, and horribly outclassed by the Slow Metabolism ninja trick that any rogue can take -Nimble Climber: If you failed the check by 5 or more, how are you supposed to beat it by 10 or more? Even if you screwed up by rolling a natural 1, it's still a 15 point swing in effectiveness. -Positioning Attack: Not a terrible ability, but not worth it at once per day and limited only to an adjacent space. If it was once per round at-will, it'd be something worth looking at. Sneak Attack Focus are a special subtype of rogue abilities that only work when you're using Sneak Attack, and you can only use one per attack (though if you have more than one and make multiple attacks you can fire them off one by one). Good -Bleeding Attack: Well, extra damage is extra damage -Offensive Defense: If you hit a dude with a melee sneak attack, you get a +1 dodge bonus per sneak attack die for a round. Note that this is a generic bonus and not one specifically linked to opponent you shanked, and as a dodge bonus it also improves your CMD and touch AC, so you can sneak attack a zombie and then gain a defense boost against the necromancer's Enervation ray. Higher levels still run into the problem of AC boosts not scaling well enough, but a +10 to AC is +10 to AC, and this thing remains strong well through the mid-levels. It shouldn't be your first talent, but as a second or third it will serve you well. -Slow Reactions: Block AoOs, which means you can bug out safely or tag an opponent who's menacing your caster buddy, or tumble in and disable a monster's threatening reach. Can also be used at ranged for extra safety. Lots of interesting options. Meh -Befuddling Strike: Assuming you can land sneak attacks with regularity, Offensive Defense is a better bet for this sort of thing -Distracting Attack: Instead of making a sneak attack, make it easier for someone else to land one. This would require a pretty strong party gimmick to make it worth it. -Underhanded: Extra damage is good, but how often does this come up, and how do you have a concealed weapon you can attack with in a surprise round if it takes a standard action to draw? Awful -Powerful Sneak: This would be a marginal talent at best considering that at higher levels the results of a 1 matter less and less, but the -2 attack penalty just kills it. Advanced Talents Good -Feat: It's a feat. -Hard to Fool: In many ways better than Slippery Mind, because as long as it's mind-affecting you can make saves against it forever and roll a natural 20 in a few minutes if nothing else. -Opportunist: If you're flanking a dude and your buddy hits him, you hit him. Good times. Combos well with Paired Opportunists to spread the joy around. -Skill Mastery: There are some things in life you don't want to risk, especially ones where the DM normally makes the roll in secret. -Slippery Mind: I'd probably stick with Hard to Fool, personally, since that one covers more things and better, though I suppose this can save you from a non-mind-affecting enchantment spell or effect? Gimmick -Deadly Cocktail: More poison options, combines well with earlier talents. -Familiar: Prereqs are kind of eh, but familiars can be interesting, especially since they use your ridiculous skill ranks as a rogue, so they can basically aid every skill check you make. -Fast Tumble: Eh, it's a thing. -Frugal Trapsmith: If traps are your thing, this is for you. -Getaway Master: If you make Drive checks, this will let you ace them. -Hide in Plain Sight: It's Hide in Plain Sight... except it's terrain based. Good for urban games. -Stealthy Sniper: Combines with some racial traits to let you rehide at no penalty. -Unwitting Ally: It'd probably be easier and more reliable to get a real flanking buddy, but here you go, I suppose. Not a ton of monsters with Sense motive at least. -Weapon Snatcher: It's easier to boost your Sleight of Hand bonus than your Combat Maneuver Bonus. Situational -Improved Evasion: While the effect is nice, you probably shouldn't be failing Reflex saves to begin with. -Rumormonger: Why does this require a talent? Why does this require an advanced talent? Kind of a stealth nerf if you ask me. I wonder how this works with Convincing Lie? Meh -Another Day: Once per day avoid a terrible blow, but it does leave staggered. At least it can stop a blistering X4 critical hit or something. -Defensive Roll: Once per day, you might possibly not die. -Hunter's Surprise: Just going aggro on someone can be fun, but you don't get any accuracy boosters and it's only once per day. -Redirect Attack: Probably one of the better once-per-day-you-live ones, since it doesn't have to be a death blow and doesn't come with a penalty. You could conceivably use it to make a creature hit itself instead, which could be funny if you're hit with Harm. Awful -Knock-Out Blow: Once per day, give up your sneak attack damage to force the target to save against a poor DC or fall unconscious for a few rounds. Anything you could KO is something you could probably just punch out. -Master of Disguise: In contrast to what it says on the description, it's a once per day +10 bonus to one disguise check. I'd be hard-pressed to find this valuable barring a ridiculously focused deep cover scenario. -Thoughtful Re-examining: Once per day really limits this. I'm not entirely sure what happens if you use it to reroll a perception check an hour after an ambush. Sneak Attack Focus Good -Crippling Strike: Strength damage is nice, though if you land enough of these to drop your foe, why isn't your foe dead from damage? Still useful, and stacks with itself. -Dispelling Attack: Well, this can be useful and spammed as you please, though the fact that it targets the lowest level spells and has a few prerequisites is annoying. At higher levels an opponent will probably be dead from damage before you strip off all the buffs, but it's still an option to consider. -Entanglement of Blades: Can be useful for pinning down certain enemies, but not all enemies are all that concerned about moving. Awful -Confounding Blades: Worse than Slow Reactions in every way, yet requires a higher level. -Deadly Sneak: Might almost get a point of damage out of this one, but it still requires a terrible attack penalty for middling gain. And then we've got the... Ninja Tricks Good -Combat Trick: It's a feat -Fast Stealth: Zoom around at full speed. Even more fun when you add in your ninja jumping abilities -Rogue Talents: Most rogue talents are terrible, but there are a few that are worth it. -Vanishing Trick: Free invisibility as a swift action! Get it, love it. -Weapon Focus: Bonus to hit. Gimmick -Acrobatic Master: Requires a ki point, but that's a huge bonus for jumping or tumbling. --High Jumper: Between this and level 10, you get a 1:1 rate of bonus to vertical jump. Combine with its prerequisite and you can leap castle walls in a single bound. Fun. -Deadly Range: Sniper Goggles are probably better, but this is an option. -Flurry of Shuriken: An expensive way to get more out of your sneak attack opportunities, but effective when you can do so. Shuriken have pretty short range and require some finesse to build around, but it's certainly an option if you're willing to work for it. -Forgotten Trick: Costs two points to get another option. Becomes more interesting with a ki ring and maybe later supplements. -Hidden Weapons: It's an option, though probably pretty campaign dependent. -Shadow Clone: Sadly, they're just mirror images, and not quite as good at the spell. But it's still a chance to not die. -Smoke Bomb: There are things you can do with this, especially with other tricks. It's kind of an all-or-nothing chain though. --Choking Bomb: Now you can spend an action to stagger people for a round. -Style Master: If there's a style you want, this will help. -Sudden Disguise: Action advantage compared to disguise self, but hats of disguise are cheap. --Posion Bomb: Combines with choking bomb to create an ok option? -Unarmed Combat Training: It's an option --Deflect Arrows: While fun, it's campaign dependent ---Snatch Arrows: Even more gimmicky than its prerequisites -Wall Climber: Fun, though limited in function and may be surpassed by jump power. Situational -Darkvision: Darkvision is useful, but you can also acquire it through race or items. -Feather Fall: Rings of Feather Fall are pretty cheap though, but you can jump out of windows and survive. -Slow Metabolism: If you're really worried about breathing and poison, there are probably items you can buy. -Undetected Sabotage: In standard games you probably don't care who finds out, but it can be used to cut break lines and the like. Meh -Ventriloquism: This is a level 0 spell, why couldn't they give it as an at-will? Awful -Ki Charge: That is some terrible damage. Double it and you'd still have an average ability. Sneak Attack Focus Good -Bleeding Attack: Same thing as the rogue ability, and extra damage is still extra damage. -Slow Reactions: Still useful. Meh -Pressure Points: The damage is kind of low, but it's still ability damage. If you have allies who reduce an opponent to 1 in an ability score, you might be able to cherry-tap them into unconsciousness. Awful -Ki Block: Do you remember how you have to fight off hundreds of ninjas, monks, and tengu oracles? No? Then why would you need this ability? Now if this thing also forced concentration checks to cast spells, then you'd have something interesting. Master Tricks Good -Advanced Talents: There's a few advanced rogue talents worth looking at. -Assassinate: In many ways, better than the entire assassin class. Requires only one round of set-up and can be used at any range. There are some interesting gimmick builds with this one, though you can only make one attempt per person. -Evasion: Ten levels later, but you're finally able to dodge fireballs. -Feat: It's a feat. -Invisible Blade: Greater Invisibility! This is a fantastic way to spend all of your points, since you can gain several minutes of invisibility each day. Gimmick -Blinding Bomb: If you've been big on the previous ones, here's an option. Sadly does not combine with its prerequisite of choking bomb. -Ghost Step: Walking through walls is interesting, but expensive. -Unarmed Combat Mastery: Monk lite, with most of the problems for equipment. But at least you can punch people when unarmed. Situational -Master Disguise: Again, you might be better off with a hat of disguise, but this is an interesting enough option. -See the Unseen: Invisibility is unfun to face, but at this level I wish it was True Seeing instead. -Shadow Split: While it does provide a decoy, the big question is if enemies will go for it. If they won't, Invisibility is probably a safer bet. -Unbound Steps: If this didn't cost a ki point it'd be better, but as it is Air Walk is largely a more effective option, save for the fact that this lets you climb faster. Meh -Deadly Shuriken: Extra damage with a shuriken. Given that most of your damage comes from a full attack to maximize precision damage, I'm not really a fan. Ninjas have an easier time borrowing rogue abilities than rogues have borrowing ninja abilities, so in most cases you might want to go for the ninja unless you really like Trapfinding/Trap Sense or a Rogue archetype.
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Dec 29, 2012 02:46
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LightWarden posted:Rogue/Ninja stuff Good writeup and I agree on pretty much everything. One question I've been wondering about lately, what are peoples' takes on Ninjas being able to take Rogue archetypes? My first instinct would be no, but upon reading the Alternate Classes rules that Ninjas fall under, I'm actually leaning more towards yes (assuming the Ninja has all of the abilities that have to be given up to use the archetype). Here's the Alternate Class text for reference with my bolding: Alternate classes are standalone classes whose basic ideas are very close to established base classes, yet whose required alterations would be too expansive for an archetype. An alternate class operates exactly as a base class, save that a character who takes a level in an alternate class can never take a level in its associated class—a samurai cannot also be a cavalier, and vice versa. If Alternate Classes are treated exactly like their base classes, it stands to reason that an Alternate Class should be able to take archetypes just like the associate base class would.
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Dec 29, 2012 03:11
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I'd say yes, since the only class features they share are Sneak Attack and Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny Dodge, so it's not as though there's a huge amount of options available. Most archetypes just give up trapfinding and trap sense, so the ninja can't get them (receiving Poison Use and No Trace instead).
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Dec 29, 2012 03:36
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smashthedean posted:Good writeup and I agree on pretty much everything. One question I've been wondering about lately, what are peoples' takes on Ninjas being able to take Rogue archetypes? My first instinct would be no, but upon reading the Alternate Classes rules that Ninjas fall under, I'm actually leaning more towards yes (assuming the Ninja has all of the abilities that have to be given up to use the archetype). The Word From On High has been that alternate classes are just archetypes with a more detailed writeup and can be combined with other archetypes as long as they don't conflict.
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Dec 29, 2012 03:43
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Got bored and decided to do some RPG Superstar voting, and I finally saw my item. It has a gramatical error that I and my wife missed, even after multiple readings. God dammit.
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Dec 29, 2012 04:32
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Benly posted:The Word From On High has been that alternate classes are just archetypes with a more detailed writeup and can be combined with other archetypes as long as they don't conflict. Sweet. Pouncing Catfolk Ninja Scout here I come.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:08
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Technically, you could also pull a similiar trick off with a kitsune for a similar feat cost. I'm kind of sad that kitsune with Realistic Likeness are the closet thing I can get to Eberron Changelings. Trickster Archetype = Best Archetype.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:43
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Thanks I'll put this to good use. Wasn't sure if ninja were allowed in PFS organized play but from the pdf I think they are. Is it ok to have the class even if my character isn't from asia, or whatever its called in golarion?
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Dec 29, 2012 09:50
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Fire posted:Thanks I'll put this to good use. I suppose that is up to your GM, but my take is that ninja arts could be practiced anywhere on Golarian without any problems. I don't think ninja techniques are particularly a new thing in the world so there's no reason that different regions couldn't have different flavors of ninjas. I mean, all a ninja really is is a stealthy assassin with mystical powers and that archetype fits into pretty much any setting if you ask me. Worst case you could always just work having a Tianese ex-pat as a master that taught you the sweet ninja arts wherever your character happens to be from if you want to keep the Asian flavor.
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Dec 29, 2012 11:28
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smashthedean posted:Worst case you could always just work having a Tianese ex-pat as a master that taught you the sweet ninja arts wherever your character happens to be from if you want to keep the Asian flavor. And then his Visa doesn't clear. That could be a great character-specific development in-game.
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Dec 29, 2012 19:50
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Anyone got advice for my second Teamwork feat as an Inquisitor? Took Target of Opportunity for the first since we have a warlock and a archery ranger on the team and my character's primary fighting style revolves around using Quick Draw and Throw Anything to pelt enemies with longswords. Darkness Domain, level 8, 22 Stealth. A lot of the teamwork feats seemed a bit OOC since my character's more of the solo type. I was looking at Precision Strike since I planned to use Invisibility and Deeper Darkness/Eyes of Darkness a lot for sneaking around, but I don't think it triggers unless an ally is in position for it.
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Dec 29, 2012 23:46
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There's this write up a few pages back. It might help you get a idea.
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Dec 30, 2012 00:19
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 10:02 |
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On the Superstar front, they culled the bottom 25%, so you should see more interesting things now. Try to find your item if you can!
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Dec 30, 2012 18:02
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