I agree, that -4 for firing into melee and the +4 to a.c. for soft cover makes firing into melee a nightmare.  With that said, this is a gun slinger,  so he can spend a grit point to shoot touch AC.

True but grit is a very valuable resource that can be sticky to recover. Given how many abilities rely on grit, having to rely on it to hit is troubling.

I have never played a gunslinger at any length but the gunslinger in my Skulls & Shackles game is terrified of using too much grit. He also has had terrible luck where he spends it and misses or he hits but doesn't kill and he is often left with only a single grit point that he has to hold on to for other abilities.


Also look at what you're getting in exchange in this build: Rapid Shot. Rapid shot at low levels just means you can miss twice as much. I mean seriously you're looking at a total of -6 to hit for 2 shots. Given an average level 1 ac of 14 and a reasonable to hit of +4 that means that what should be a 50% hit chance now becomes a 25% hit chance. Doing the maths means you have a 56% chance of missing on both so the bottom line is that you are now either making a single ranged attack at half the "to hit" as normal for a standard action or taking two ranged attacks at a net of -5%.

It's small, equivalent to a single +1 but over three levels I'm worried you'll end up being frustrated with how you're not really hitting anything. Characters that miss all the time aren't fun to play, imo.

In my experience as a GM and player, most of the time missile users will be supporting melee types. One must get Precise Shot ASAP.

In reply to Coridan (msg # 116):

You can fire into melee without taking the -4 penalty.   But I doubt the fighter will appreciate the arrow in the back.

So I'm looking at making a witch, because it's one of the few classes I haven't made a character for yet, and I noticed this little archetype - Ashiftah, from the Qadira, Jewel of the East supplement. This in particular caught my eye-

Ghostwalk (Su): Starting at 2nd level, as a move action after using a hex, an ashiftah can become invisible as per vanish and can then take a 5-foot step. Using ghostwalk doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

This ability replaces the hex gained at 2nd level.

How insane is this? I feel like it's insane, given that hexes are at-will, right? Most have a 24-hour clause on people who save, but otherwise it's just unlimited invisibility, no resource cost, level 2, if you get a utility hex. You're just going to be walking slow until you bump your CL.

Vanish lasts a maximum of 5 rounds, so it's not quite as broken as you think.

That's still infinite invis if you spend every 5th round casting some utility hex for a standard action.

There is no small number of hexes that are not subject to this rule; Ward. Swamp's Grasp, Swamp Lung to name a few.  In general, things like invisibility on a whim at level 2 are pretty broken, such as the Ninja's Vanishing Trick (Quickened Invisibility for 1 round/level for 1 Ki point).

Why do I keep having ideas about playing a Gathlain Sorcerer.  Draconic, with the Linnorm wild blood archetype...

In reply to dybbuk67 (msg # 122):

Because the crazier the idea the more we like it?

Why. just to stack NA? there are better ways to do that, my friend.

In reply to ColinBeck (msg # 124):

Actually, it was more thematically than build.  I like the idea of a twisted little flying fire or acid spitter... And with the linnorms being closer to the First World, it is actually one of the bloodlines that makes sense for a Gathlain.

Not everything is about most efficient build.

Lies and slander!

And here I sit wanting to play a goblin bloodrager with the fire elemental bloodline.  LOL, the one chance I have had so far has been in a game that I didn't know would allow Goblins....:(

In reply to PCO.Spvnky (msg # 127):

Catfolk female bard using a brillant energy shortsword.  *whistles innocently*

*giggles maniacally*

Tabletop crew is currently prepping to run a weird game...

GM was going to allow using  a certain selection of monsters as bases, recieving CR boosting templates to get it up to CR 3 as a base, then do class levels from there...

I asked to go with a Drow Noble - he let me treat it as a CR1 monster... While I don't get monster HD like the other players... well...

This is what I have before I even put my CLASSES together:

Drow Noble + Smoke Creature + Fortune-Favored

Fortune Favored is boosted with the Fate's Favored Trait (increasing all luck bonuses I have by 1 each) Classwise, we're doing 2nd level Gestalt...

I'm a Polymath Investigator (Swapping Solar Wind for Cursed Razor with Unorthodox Method trait) / Sylvan Trickster Unchained Rogue.

With Evil Eye.


Also worth noting: Our GM has a house-rule that allows purchase of feats for  1/7th the price of your next level...

:3 this is going to be fun...

Oh dear god... the horrors!!! :P

edit: Don't get me wrong, evil eye is incredibly versatile but after GMing a hex-focused witch I cannot TELL you how powerful Misfortune is. I know it's a Save or Suck and that's the point but damn when it lands...


I guess you don't get cackle (depending on level) so that's not really effective

edit: I would make a half-umbral dragon necromancer. Not only do you get all the perks of being part dragon but 1/day you can heal your minions 6d8 negative energy!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Thu 18 Jan 2018.

So I am building an 11th level Human Necromancer.  I'm going to bar myself from Illusion and Enchantment.  My Ability Scores are 14, 16, 14, 20, 16, & 16.  I'm using Spectral Hand + Touch spells and Ranged Touch spells.  My Feats so far are Point Blank Shot, Empower Spell, and Weapon Focus (Touch) + Scribe Scroll for free.  I'm leaning on Undead Creation as well.  I've got about 175k worth of gold to spend.

Suggestions on Feats and Spells?

So far my Spell list is; Spectral Hand, Vampiric Touch, Shocking Grasp, Ghoul Touch, Animate Dead, Create Undead, & Bestow Curse.

In reply to praguepride (msg # 130):

Nice!

Yeah, GM's basically officially running with the ' witch hexes are curses for the purpose of cursed razor' interpretation, and I do plan to nab misfortune and cackle...

Having played a Cartomancer Witch to 7, I concur that Evil Eye and Cackle will be your bread and butter but Misfortune rocks too.

Precise shot is effectively a +4 to hit for a feat.

Touch spells tend to be a lot of "save or suck" so anything to boost your DC (spell focus and some situational racial abilities) or pull down your opponents (as mentioned Evil Eye is a great way for a save or suck caster to butter up an opponent by giving them -2 to saving throws).

Don't forget that your familiar, you grab one, can also deliver touch spells after level 3. Some people get very conservative about using them but most familiars have insane stealth checks due to racial abilities and small size. Given that they operate on a different turn structure it isn't too hard to get them to deliver a touch spell or two on your behalf and their tiny size gives them pretty decent to-hits.

Also for spells don't focus too much on just touch spells. There are some great debuffing spells like Ray of Enfeeblement (cast that on the big beefy armored tank and see him get crippled by his own encumbrance :P)  Ray of Exhaustion likewise shuts down physical attackers. Smack that on a barbarian and laugh as he tries to lift is own sword.

Finally Animate Undead is the biggest reason to go Necromancer. Try and get a way to cast Desecrate if you can. If you can UMD it on a scroll or wand otherwise bribe a cleric?



So you can do 44 HD of undead. Even more if you take feat Undead Master. Threnodic Spell allows you to cast mind-affecting spells on undead but that is better for clerics who can then "bless" their undead hordes :P

Some of that seems like pretty good ideas. This is what I ended up with.

https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1463453

Thoughts? Besides I had too much gold, etc.

In a tabletop campaign I created a halfling drug dealer.

Alchemist with infusions charging the rest of his party for uppers (enlarge person), downers (reduce person), jumpers (monkey fish), roids (bull's strength) etc.

Joined the party with a "first taste is free..." push :D

That is beautiful.

Need some advice for (two versions of) a build. Last session I was playing an arcanist, he turned cowardly evil and left the group after a climactic battle against a bbeg, so now I need a new character, at level 7. The group consists of:
a) bow ranger
b) large-size companion wolf
c) human barbarian
d) large-size companion cat
e) paladin using really big weapons

With two large and two medium creatures battling for close combat space, and three characters dealing big damage with physical attacks, I've tried to steer away from those paths and at least make something with quite different function and feel. I didn't want another crowd controlling, party buffing arcanist though. I really like the idea of mysterious, mischievous forest-living fey, which is what these ideas build on:

Gnome Sorcerer (Fey bloodline)
Her main spell will be suggestion, which will be boosted with at least +4 to DC after ability and spell level, possibly with double spell penetration feats too to really get through the enemies defenses. That's going to help give her a really fey feel: with a mysterious voice, when she wants to, tell others right what they are to do - and see them do it. Then I'll add some illusion spells for more common situations, and then some general backup spells. Fun spells and then compulsion spells as the top weapon for the worst situations, that's the build...
Q: What do I do during the slow rounds fighting small mobs and pretty much noone?
Stock up on wands (any suggestions on cheap spells?) etc? Have the character flat-out refuse to do anything in those combats, claiming it's no fun or it's not in her interest - then cast a couple of tricky illusion spells in the fights that turn out to be of medium difficulty? (Does in character refusing to fight get old?)

---

Gnome Sorcerer (Sylvan/fey bloodline)
Companion and share spells is the key of this build. You might've seen me done it in the pathfinder arena, transforming my salamander companion into a behemoth hippopotamus - great fun! I love this bloodline for the sorcerer/wizard self-buffs that can be applied to a creature. But we already have a lot of creatures/players wanting to stand up in front. So I've been thinking, if I make a companion who can easily get into a really good position, before I (using a rod of reach) transform it into a Shoggoth and keep buffing it.
Q: What are good companions of Medium size with somewhat high strength, and good movement options?
It's extra cool if I can ride it. But with permanent reduce person on me, maybe even a small companion would work? Polymorphing something larger than medium (if you want strength) isn't worth much. Not falling for the medium birds, I've started considering taking a giant frog and cast jump on it in the beginning of combat :P :P Setting is around Magnimar/Sandpoint (RotRL), so a bonus if it fits that somewhat.