Pathfinder General /pfg/

Hey guys newb question. When i wildshape as a druid do I use my stats plus the bonus or the aninals?

Nah, we could just be posting about pathfinder instead.

Reposting my medium rebuild because why not? I like the Medium's concept and at this point I would love more support for it. docs.google.com/document/d/1QwizRjfkg0inFpMqG22lHdIcIRt9glXY_SyAdFJv-wU/edit?usp=drive_web

What I'm thinking of doing

>increased caster level when channeling Hierophant/Archmage
>Get something like toughness when channeling the Champion (d10 HD I guess?) And the Guardian (enough to put you on the equivalent of a d12 HD.)
>Martial Flexibility, except you pick your feats when you channel a spirit, and youre limited to crafting/metamagic feats when using the Archmage/Hierophant, combat feats when changeling the Guardian/Champion, and some other category of feat when channeling the marshal/trickster.

Anybody else got ideas for it? Should I be a chucklefuck and give it an initiating archetype too?

For Pathfinder: Wildshape works like the spells Beast Shape. So if you turn into a Small animal you get a +2 Dexterity bonus and don't change any other stats (even if you're "shrinking" from Medium to Small), and if you turn into a Medium animal you get a +2 Strength bonus. This is a change from 3.5, where you simply used the animal's attributes (which was fucking busted and is one of the key reason why Druids outclassed Fighters in every possible way).

Is there any way to make a Sword and Board character not shit? I really like the idea of one, but it seems like it just barely manages to hit viability after several feats.

Quit comparing it's viability to wizard and then it won't be shit.

Vital Strike warpriest, or else skip the sword and go shield + shield TWFer

Try and dual wield tower shields. Then you can become the wall that Trump loves

I'm not comparing it to wizard. I'm comparing it to greatswords.

How does double shield work for this? What makes it better than sword+shield?

Well, if you have 3pp available, Warder is a solid class for it. The Stupendous Strength feat also helps a shitload.

1pp, the only way to do it right is the Mobile Bulwark Style feats, and they don't justify the loss of DPR

I'm not sure I'm really getting the point of the Pyschic, or really most aspects of occult classes in general (except occultist, which is actually pretty damn cool and flavorful while also not sucking horse cocks like the kineticist).

>Psychic is just a sorcerer with a bunch of x/day abilities that will mostly go unused, and whose sole usefulness (0-9) psychic spellcasting is usurped by a sorcerer bloodline that can also be usurped by the arcanist to become a 0-9 PREPARED psychic spellcaster
>mesmerist is a worse bard
>spiritualist is a shittier summoner
>medium is a cripple
>kineticist actively aspires to become a cripple

>What makes it better than sword+shield?

If for no other reason, taking weapon focus or specialization makes a lot more sense when using only one type of weapon

Jesus that's crazy.

There's a set of shield feats that allow you to treat your shield as a weapon INCLUDING any enhancement bonus, which reduces the cost of a second weapon bonus that always gimps TWF just as bad as things with DR.

Thanks, I'll look into it

I see. Maybe I'll combine the suggestions and try a Shield+Shield Warder.

What's the best class/race to play as a maid/butler/servant? One of the other player characters is the filthy rich son of some noble family who is off adventuring for shits and giggles, and I thought it might be fun for my character to be the loyal servant his family sent along to keep an eye on him and help keep him out of trouble.

Look up Gonzo 2.

It has the Battle Butler class.

I'm fairly sure it's in the Trove.

Mesmerist and Summoner actually have usefulness though. A Bard is more of a buffer, while a Mesmerist is solidly a debuffer; having both in the party is exponentially-better than one or the other. A Spiritualist is more balanced, flavorful, and thematic than a Summoner; yes it's weaker, but that's like saying an Inquisitor is weaker than a Cleric.

Skillmonkey rogue?

Halfling. They even have alternate racial traits for that sort of thing.

Warder, for the record, is base Path of War, and only of the only ways to play a heavily armored character effectively.

Stupendous Strength is from DSP as well, and is in their Savage Races monster class book. Or you could just use pic related, since it's a screencap from my copy of the pdf.

I don't like the Psychic, personally

However, the Mesmerist is like the Bard, but instead of buffing your allies, you pile on debuffs on a single target by staring at them so hard they can't attack, can't hit hard, are more susceptible to your spells, and take damage when you hit them.

The Spiritualist has a lot more flavor than the chained summoner, and compares to the unchained summoner in terms of flavor.

The Medium makes a great dip for Martial characters. All you lose is one point of BaB, but you get a +1 to-hit, +3 to damage, and a few other benefits, like exotic weapon proficiency that you can change out every day.

The Kineticist is the only one I agree with you on. It's shit.

The Occultist is the coolest, by far, too. Gestalt a battle host one with a Bladebound/kensai magus and get yourself a sword that wrecks face, a shitton of SLAs, and massive Int synergy

That really depends on how seriously you want to take the character.

This was in a horribly weeb campaign, but as a wandering entitled prince of a tian house, I had a great campaign playing a 'humble servant' who was in fact, the most certifiably badass ninja the group had seen, and when I finally had to blow my cover and break the group out of prison, it was a glorious moment.

Does this feat let you dual wield a reach weapon and a non-reach weapon to threaten everything within 10 feet?

If so, that's incredible.

Well, if you play 5e it's a pretty damn easy decision.

Be a Summoner with a himanoid eidolon thAt you make to look like your twin so he gets two butlers and you can still be awesome

>Gonzo 2
Yeah, who put that in the Trove? Its just so bad. The classes are just so uninspired. And in some cases, just outright pointless.

As a matter of fact, it does. I don't really see the reason why you'd want to, though. If that's your aim, just dual wield a pair of spiked chains or whips

>I hate fun.

Uninspired is not the word I'd use for it.

Spiked chains don't threaten both in PF, just 3.X

I don't follow. Its just so fucking bland, most of the classes are just "choose a talent every other level", with no actually interesting mechanics.

wat

I bet you also think the Vigilante is bland and boring.

I'm looking for a campaign setting that doesn't follow the generic fantasy mold. Something with magic-based technology, steampunk aesthetics and space opera. Basically a cross between Eberron and Spelljammer and maybe Planescape.

You like it,I don't. I think my main issue with it is many of the classes (henshin hero, magical girl, sparkle princess, croupier spring to mind) only really seem to fit in VERY SPECIFIC campaigns, where the party would mostly be comprised of that class.

>doesn't follow the generic fantasy mold
>three of the most popular fantasy settings

Yeah, flavor concerns are definitely an issue with this. I think most of the classes people would actually want to play can get by with some refluffing, though.

D10 is just +1 he per medium level and +2 for a d12. (A summing medium is d8.)

Im on mobile at the moment. Thanks. Medium is d8, so when channeling the Champion, you get +1 HP per medium level. When channeling the Guardian, you get +2 HP per medium level. That should make you as tough as a Fighter/Barbarian respectively

Evening /pfg/

I would like to know if I need the feat Two-Weapon Fighting if I want to wear two weapons, but only attack with one each round.

I had an idea for a character that wields a shortspear on one hand and a sword on the other so I can threaten up to 10 ft around me, but I don't actually want two-weapon fighting because I wouldn't actually get much use from it.

The feat's description says it's for attacking with both weapons at the same time, but I am unsure if the normal penalties apply even if I don't actually attack with both weapons at once.

The book was designed at the outset to be wierd. It's for games that aren't necessarily in the standard 'ye olde fantasye' setting.

Well, I guess the wierdness is just too much for me.

You're not me

Shortspear doesn't have reach.

>henshin hero, magical girl, sparkle princess, croupier spring to mind)
>specific campaigns
Not really
>Henshin
>Dumbass peasant runs into ancient artifact.
>gets super power
>goes off to adventure

>magical girl
>wizards and shiet

>sparkle princess
>run away noble.

You ONLY take the TWF penalties if you're using them to get more attacks during a full attack.

That's the ONLY time.

Even if you use both at the same time in a full attack, if you don't take that extra attack, you don't take the penalties.

Dude, you might not have realized it yet, but... um, you may in fact actually hate fun. Like, it's no longer a mockery like the earlier user's comment but a legitimate worry.

You shouldn't be feeling anywhere this uninspired by like.... anything.

Which of the pacts plays into your particular fetish, /pfg/?

Would a trident have reach? srd said range 20ft but I guess they meant thrown range.
Another option would be plain old spears but those are 2 handed.

So theoretically I could attack with both weapons, one at a time, if I had the BAB to attack more than once?

as a non-3pp rogue, unchained or otherwise, how do i get sneak attacks on a bow and still have enough actions left to full attack? Moonlight Stalker feint + Feint from the Shadows seems to be the only real way.

Correct. If you had 4 attacks, you could sword/spear/sword/spear without taking the twf penalties.

/pfg/, what's the best way to build a magical gun user? Preferably compatible with muskets and an Empty Quiver Build.

Yes, I know it's not optimal, but our campaign doesn't really need optimal builds and I've always wanted to try this.

Just give it a niche that actually does something. It doesn't need to be the best niche, it just needs to avoid being strictly comparable to something else. No "take X investment to do the same job as something else" bullshit.

Eldritch Archer. Proficiency you'll have to either be human and swallow a feat on, or be half-elf and take Ancestral arms. But after that, it's the best spell-slinger archetype around. Also depending how you interpret the wording, Empty Quiver Flexibility may allow you to deliver spellstrikes through your melee rifle butt attacks

>Would a trident have reach? srd said range 20ft but I guess they meant thrown range.
The special field in the weapons table shows whether it has reach or not. To my knowledge, whip is the only reach weapon that can normally be wielded one-handed.

So my GM is letting me use the Necrologist and Fractured Mind spiritualist archetypes at the same time. What Emotional Power spells would work best for a Necrologist in this case?

Thrown range, yes. Melee is either "adjacent" or "reach" with an additional 5 ft but you can't hit things next to you. The only weapon with reach and not 2-handed is the whip, which sucks for a variety of reasons, like needing a pile of feats to even damage enemies or do tricks that will be quickly outclassed by enemy defenses that scale all out of whack to your skill.

Spear to threaten, and quick draw to put it back and attack with greatsword.
This is the only way what you are proposing would make any sense.

The greatsword isn't the only sword in the game.

Well there's also the Nodcahi and Falchion.

Not that user, but it is the only decent sword in the game. Sword and shield or open hand both end up sucking unless you go Magus and can spellstrike stuff.

>mfw one of our players made a self-described "tsundere noblewoman"
>mfw she's a Stygian Slayer

I know I shouldn't, but I need to bully.

You can wield falcata two-handed.

>Greatsword is better than longsword!
>Because you're doing 1.5 points more damage!

Wew lad, if you're that much of a stickler for points than you've got problemos.

Remember not to bully too hard user, because then they'll whine on the Paizo forums and then we get a Feminist shitstorm.

Makes sense. How do you speed up reloading, though?

>Aid another focused Halfling battle maid

This is absolutely, 100% what I was looking for. Thank you for the suggestions.

2.5

Longsword is 1d8, average 4.5
Greatsword is 2d6, average 7

>>spiritualist is a shittier summoner
Arguably, summoner was a bit overdone. If everything, you could regard Summoner as the 'overpowered, non-playable version', and Spiritualist as the more 'balance-friendly' one.
>>medium is a cripple
Spiritualist is, baseline, a better fighter than fighter. Also, Spirit dancer is the best generalist/factotum EVER.

You're also getting an extra point of damage for every two points of strength, multiple abilities and feats increase to more damage when you're using a two-hander, and a such and such.

Not to mention 50% more strength bonus because of two-handing. And feats like Furious Focus which require you to two-hand.

Bully hard user.

Well, sure, he can also use a over-sized bastard sword

You can twohand onehanded weapons you know.

>most popular
You are completely out of touch with reality.

Eberron, Spelljammer and Planescape are not popular and are not supported by WotC. They're extremely niche and have a cult following for not being generic tolkien clones. Yet most players seem to prefer generic drek like forgotten realms and golarion.

Your point? If you're doing that you may as well fork over the extra 35 gold for a greatsword. That's not a lot, even at level 1.

True, falcata and even falchions can do pretty well.

Damage dice are meaningless once you start getting some modifiers, and 2handers get bonuses to those modifiers that one handed weapons don't. Supposedly carrying a shield would make up for it by buffing defense... but it doesn't for a variety of reasons.

For the sake of argument, let's run a couple of numbers. Assuming 18 Str:

The Longsword's average damage (Non-two handed) is 8.5. (4.5 from dice + 4 from Str)

The greatsword's average damage on the same character is 13 (7 from dice + 6 from Str)

You could use a Longsword two handed, but then you're just purposefully using a weapon functionally identical to the Greatsword, but with a worse damage die.

And purposefully nerfing yourself is a bad idea.

I originally wanted a spear user that could actually attack stuff in front of him without having to 5ft step.

I really liked the concept of having this brute capable of dual wielding big weapons, but I guess monkey grip isn't a thing outside videogames.

>And purposefully nerfing yourself is a bad idea.

What if I want to play a character that uses a shield? Let's argue it's for fluff reasons, like the character is a viking-type or the shield's been passed down for generations or even you want the thematic "protector" look going on for them.

What's wrong with stygian slayers?

>mfw I can never seem to make Eberron stick with my group
>mfw they'd rather play Forgotten Realms

But why, Eberron is objectively better.

Then wear it on your back or play a Warder/Iniator with Iron fucking tortoise.

>USING the ancestral shield
Nigga you just went full retard.

If the shield has been passed down for generations, that means people have been actively NOT using it, seeing as it's not busted all to fuck. And if you're a giant faggot and INSIST on carrying it around, just strap it to your back and walk around wielding your greatsword like any respectable adventurer.

dreck*
Of course Planescape isn't supported by WotC. It's a 22 year old setting, and it's not as popular as FR. That doesn't mean it's some 'cult' setting. It's been very popular and long lasting.

As for Eberron, now you're the one out of touch with reality. WotC released an Eberron supplement for 5E. They have their latest product supporting the setting.

>my taste is objective

>B-b-but what if I change the subject?

Moving goalposts makes it a very different conversation.

Considering the discussion until this point was solely about damage, talking about shields doesn't really matter.

Either way, sword and board is the second worst fighting style in the game, just beating out empty hand + one handed weapon.

I'm going to bully her butt off!

Stygian Slayers are sneaky-stabby Slayers that know magic which lets them turn into gas or become invisible. They're the edgelords of an already edgy class.

Her character is a noblewoman described as a haughty tsundere. A noblewoman that can stabby-stabby and turn into gas.

>Eberron, Spelljammer and Planescape

Toss Darksun in there as well.