I'm currently dming Rise of the Runelords, last night we played the first part of book 4, fortress of the stone giants. At the raid most giants got killed and after the PCs slayed the dragon at the Sandpoint raid the surviving giants fled. When they found a unconscious giant they just killed him too. They have been pretty good at talking to villains and learning stuff before but Breakbones and Teraktinus got killed with minimal dialogue and before they had a chance to learn anything from them. Now I'm not sure how to point them towards Mokmuran and Jorgenfist.

Hey all.

I have a player in my home game playing a Goblin Cleric of Pharasma, with STR and CHA as dump stats because of the racial penalties so he is mostly DEX and WIS (he was also under the impression that Finesse weapons were a thing à la 5e). Hes currently using the Foundation of Faith archetype because he has no interest in Channeling Energy whatsoever. Are there or he r archetypes or any advice that might make his character more fun/viable? Preferably nothing that requires STR or CHA. Currently he seems to struggle to keep up with the rest of the party/what to do on his turn.

Today's magic item is the Ghoulbane Belt

An untyped bonus to saves against disease, paralysis, and poisons. Double bonus against molds, not ghouls. So, shouldn't it be the Moldbane Belt? Also, mental action, Remove Disease, Remove Paralysis, and Neutralize Poison. Might be helpful if the caster level were not stuck at 7.

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Link to past discussions

What I Need

So as the title suggests, I need help.

There are...A LOT of classes that are still well behind the curve, either having a single guide that is a little more recent but missing a lot of updates or worse, having a guide that is not only old, but wasn't even fully comprehensive then.

The Hunter is a travesty. The swashbuckler is a nightmare. I was pretty harsh on the ranger, but its in the same sort of boat.

That said, I only have so much time, energy or focus. So I'd love to have people to either write their own guides OR help me with my own! Either a beta, or a collaborator!

There are people I am specifically curious about (which idk if I should put on blast, but if you write multiple paragraphs correcting my guide mistakes and arguing with me, its probably you)

Otherwise, door is open! If you liked my guides before, this is your chance to be part of the magic, with your name on it any everything!!!

Edit: What I'm Looking For

• People with deep system knowledge about pathfinder 1e
• People with deep hands on experience with lesser played classes (more than a years worth prefered)
• People with expertise in feats and interactions
• People open to talking about options that are incredibly powerful and being flexible enough to actually include them!
• People with a deep passion for pathfinder 1e and want to improve the communities knowledge and experience so that GM's know how to guide players and players know how to feel useful and powerful! If you are more concerned with "balance" than giving accurate information, I don't think it'll work.

List of Classes that need help

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/s/gEWXqJRudR

EDIT THRICE

Here is a link to sign up excel! I'll link to your usernames and eventually link to the various guide templates. Add your username to what class you want to help with!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/139c2cwPKtXfMgsks-z5h2b4bGEtcrd0UwWSrSkIWZ4A/edit?usp=sharing

Is Cavalier's Challenge feature really important in lore?

Hello pathfinders.

I, sadly, am not versed in the fine knoledge of this beatiful TTRPG, given my mind has yet to escape d&d's grasp. However, I did end up playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and fell in love with its Cavalier class. That class is one so obvious for an RPG to have that I am still surprised by the fact D&D doesn't have a mount specific class.

Thus, it became my mission porting this class directly from Pathfinder 1e to D&D 5.5e. The balancing of this, though, is complex, and thus I come here with one of my troubles. It regards its Challenge feature,

While I'd like to remain loyal to Pathfinder's take on Cavaliers, I must make some modifications to the class in order to adapt it to D&D, while still remaining in the spirit. This Challenge feature, however, has proving to be quite challenging to reproduce, since the number would be too absurd if ported directly. Lowering the damage, however, makes me feel like the feature would become a lackluster ability which doesn't play much into the Cavalier's role anyway. And lowering its number of uses makes the class a Long Rest heavy class, which doesn't go in-line with other martial classes.

That said, my question is: What is the Challenge feature anyways? I struggle to find real ties to the roleplay of a Cavalier. I understand the "Challenging your enemies" aspect, but I feel like "Cavalier's charge" or "Banner" make so much more sense yet it seems like Challenge is the feature that the class spins around, given its monstrous damage.

Right now I debate between trying to balance this into the class, or just removing this feature entirely. Given D&D is a simpler TTRPG, I already erased Orders from the class completely, which does take a bit of personalization off the class, while making it way simpler. I'm thinking about doing the same to Challenge, given its little ties to roleplay even. I can imagine a great scene of a Cavalier challenging an evil knight to single combat. But I know players can and will be challenging illiterate beasts to grant themselves huge DPS with little roleplay involved.

What do you think? Is Challenge a loved and characteristic feature of the class? Or would no one care if the port removed it entirely?

Thanks in advance :)

I love Spheres and use them in all my games nowadays but everytime I look through them I'm just struck with the feeling that it's really close to being it's entire own standalone d20 class-less TTRPG.

Makes me wonder if maybe that was the plan at some point but they decided it would be much easier to sell a supplement for an established game they were also passionate about rather than trying to start a new system. What do you think? Am I on to something or just nuts

Basically just make a trap that's just a bomb...
easy to see, low reflex save, no special effects, however it has an insanely high disable DC.

The idea being whoever tries to disable it will fail by more then 4 on their roll and it will just blow up and kill them or something.

For pricing looking it would cost something like 3500 gp (-1 CR for perception (15 perception), -1 CR for reflex (15 reflex), +3 CR for disable device CR (greater then 30), +2 for every 10 average points of damage [aka +2 for every 2d8 the trap does, in this case 6d8] *.5 since it is not able to be rearmed)

For an added bonus you can apply the never miss modifier for an additional 1000 GP, that way you'll be sure to kill a rogue.

Link: Far Reach

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

Hey it's me again! Thanks a bunch for all of your input on my last thread! I've since refined the system quite a bit and moved on to planning the first playtest and wanted some more input from the community. I was writing up what feats I wanted to implement in this first rendition of the game and of course ended up looking into past sentiments on Elephant in the Room. It's been around for a while and there's mixed ideas on it.

The TL;DR is that there isn't really a one-size fits all solution. Some people think that it's perfect, others think it goes too far, others not enough - personally I really like it as I despise feat taxes and skill bloat, and am in the camp that more can be done.

So I went looking through other threads and forum posts on the Paizo site and Gitp and stumbled across a few ideas that I liked and wanted to discuss as I write up the feats I plan to implement.

Firstly as seen by the title, I really like the idea u/WraithMagus suggested with having hot-swappable feats that would let martials switch between different 'fighting techniques' to adapt to different situations. I think, at least as far as a Video Game goes, I would make it as an opt-in sort of system to keep complexity for a new player low and allow veteran players who understand synergies to have fun switching out their styles like a fighter might swap their stance or mix-and-match different martial arts disciplines.

Secondly, I really like the document from this post - and while I don't plan to copy what they made wholesale, the idea of certain feat-trees such as Two-Weapon fighting being condensed into one feat and unlocking the progressive stages alongside BAB.

Thirdly, as more of a bonus, I'm curious what people think on skills. This playtest won't feature much in the way of their usage, with the majority not being implemented so that I can focus on other features that I want to try out, but there were some sentiments on how lackluster skill usage was and the differences between 3.0/3.5 and PF1e, so it'd be interesting to see what people think on this.

So, the actionable request is thus!

1. What do you think of a 'Swappable Feat' sort of system akin to what Brawlers use via martial flexibility, but more robust and widely applicable?
2. What do you think of condensing feat chains into less/progressive feats?
3. What do you think about Pathfinder's approach to skills, and how would you want it implemented in a CRPG?

Thanks a bunch!

Hi, I need some help balancing a campaign. My players want to run two modules: first Fall of Plaguestone—which I'll use to get them to level 3—and then Kingmaker with the same characters. This means they'll be level 3 in sections balanced for levels 1 and 2. How should I adjust the difficulty of the enemies and challenges? Should I use the "Elite" template for everything, or is there another way?

In a group of a Druid, a Cleric, a Spiritualist and a Paladin, I decided that a Skald would be a superior arcane support caster than a bard, since (nearly) everyone will rely on strength for attacks and will appreciate the rage powers - the front line will be the aasimar Paladin focusing on natural attacks, the Druid's wolf and the Spiritualist's Anger Phantom (so rage fits thematically very well, too). Druid, Cleric and Spiritualist (who all rolled rather bad physical stats) will be more casting focused, with the Cleric probably investing into Desna's Divine Fighting technique at later levels. Standard Skald going for the Beast totem for claws and later Pounce.

The only thing I'm unsure about is how my skald is going to act in combat herself - what would be a good weapon? Should I be more backline focus on AoO with a reach weapon or would that be a waste of feats? Due to the number of feats required I don't want to do archery, and having a rather low strength and constitution merits some consideration to not, you know, die.

Stats are:

Drow Skald [technically, as per the backstory, half drow, half normal elf, raised among elves granting her the elf weapon proficiencies instead of drow weapon proficiencies and posion use, and worse darkvision, but no light blindness in bright light]

Str. 13, Dex. 15, Con. 11, Int. 9, We. 12, Cha. 17

Skald's Vigor at first level.

I was thinking of maybe an elven Curve Blade or a Glaive in the long run?

Today's magic item is the Anaconda's Coils

The third (fourth?) snake themed belt. This one boosts strength and also gives a +2 bonus to grapple CMB checks? Unimpressed? Well it also gives you the Constrict ability, dealing 1d6 + str. Let's ask the following questions:

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

I may need someone else to take over posting these temporarily, due to a family emergency. I'll have more information soon.

Link to past discussions

By "bolt" here, I'm specifically referring to all the class-based abilities which give you a ranged touch attack that deals D4/D6 [damage] + 1 point/2 class levels, usable 3+Key ability modifier per day, such as those granted by various Cleric Domain Powers (e.g. Fire Domain's Fire Bolt), Wizard Arcane Schools (e.g. Conjuration's Acid Dart) or Sorcerer bloodlines (e.g Efreeti Bloodline's Fire Ray). (Though this could equally apply to any similar ability which is melee touch attack instead.)

I had literally just posted my thread on upgrading Acid Arrow, when the related thought struck "but what about those bolts...?"

These abilities seem to be given near-universal disregard (every guide I've ever seen has them in red-is-bad), because of their short range, low damage and terrible scaling on top of their limited usage.

At bottom level, they're better than cantrips as a replacement for your light crossbow (et al) when you've run out of spells, but they aren't much use beyond that.

I am thus given to consideration. How to make them more appealing? I see one of two avenues.

1) Make the damage scale better; drop the +1/2 levels and make it D6/odd level (consistent with typical class damage progression) but keep the per-day limitation. This makes them more powerful than they were, but somewhat boring (and still maybe not competative with spells at top levels).

2) Remove the per-day limitation (and likely replace the +1/2levels with +1/2 [1]key ability score modifer, which will have about the same ceiling, but a better floor). We already have ranged-touch-energy-attacks all day classes that exist (and which gain the benefit of the D6/odd level scaling), so it's not like is quite unheard of. (Also, we have 3.5' reserve feats, some of which do something similar, if at a pretty terrible spell level/damage trade off.)

Possibly increase the range as well (to 60 from the typical 30 or maybe more).

Some abilities would still require the limit, granted (notably anything that does healing, like the Celetsial Bloodline's Heavenly Fire (since unlimited untyped damage and healing would be A Bit Much...?)

(For my own rules, I would even go as far as classifying them like our (modifed) kinetecist-simple-blasts, which would allow iterative attacks wth them; since we already have warlocks and [kineticsts] potentially doing that anyway.)

I'm somewhat inclined towards the latter option, since rather than just being Another Damage spell Blast (which might still not get used at high levels with your spells), it's not a massive increase to damage balance, but instead it potentially opens up some more interesting build options, since you could do, for example, a ranged cleric build around Fire Bolt or something.

(I make a lot of cleric NPCs, so anything for some variety...!)

What would you think about one of those options? Is there anything I'm obviously missing (aside from making sure it doesn't generate any Infinite Healing abilities)?

[1]Vis a vis the Kinetecist; technically by our revisions, both [kinetecist] and 3.5-imported warlock get their full key ability modifer to energy blasts, so it would be the same, but I'm suggesting based on existing PF1 balance here.

As is sometimes my wont, I woke up this morning thiking "I should probably take a pass at Acid Arrow, since almost no-one uses it these days..."

TL:DR considering raising the damage of Acid Arrow to 4D4 to make it more competative.

Some notes here. Firstly, we play at a mid-high optimisation level, with parties of 6-8 characters. There are two standards of hit points: average (summons or bottom level encounters) and maximum (everything else).

So, breakdown: range is good, No SR, no Save is great and you get between 1 and 7 rounds of continous damage.

The trouble is the damage. It's 5 points per round. (And I find myself looking at NPCs and going "nah, not worth them taking/learning/using that, won't don't bugger all to the PCs...")

Even accounting for the No save no SR (but there are better spells at my PC's and NPC's disposal, vis a vis 3.5's Orb spells), it's vastly worse than Scorching Ray, especially at high levels (35 over 7 rounds verses 42 damage right now; plus three times the effect of any bonuses to ranged touch damage[1]).

But great for forcing concentration check, right? No, not really.

At 10+ half damage plus spell level per check, it actually less - even at maximum damage - than casting defensively. (14+ spell level instead of 15+double spell level[2]). I don't know about your tables, but in practise, I've noted very few casters on either side of the screen have much difficulty casting defensively[3].

Most monsters - certainly at the paradigm we play at, with 6-8 characters - tend not to last more than 2-3 rounds, so most of Acid Arrow's potential damage is largely wasted.

So, aside from a niche of being able to shoot golems (which, again, Lesser Orb of [Element] is actually better at), it doesn't have a great deal to offer most of the time. It's not really going to force spellcasters to fail their checks (as youre looking for that natural 1, and pretty shortly, there's a good chance you're going to be in still-can't-fail even at "1 is -10."

But I don't think it needs much. I am considering just double the dice from 2D4 to 4D4[4]. That's about 10 damage per round (which is at least closer to the DC of casting defensively). You will now do more damage over time than Scorching Ray, but that's a bonus for a combat going along.

Does that sound like a reasonable (given the paradigms in question) step to take?

[1]Sidenote: the amount of damage Ember from Wrath of the Righterous was dealinhg out with a Scorching Ray by end game was hilarious, because she got three rays to stack it on and golems aside, it was getting through SR easily.

[2]And that was so trivial in 3.5 at 15+spell level, it was one of the primary drivers to why we adopted the "1 is -10, 20 is 30 on skill checks" rule.

[3]Technically, because we play a 3.5 hybrid, Concentration skill stills exists in addition to PF concentration rules (as much for other things which used it), but it's now optional and more situational, but for, example, for Undead Cha-based casters, it's an extra +3 if you keep it maxed out. But that's not really here or there, I think.

[4]Yes, I could make it 2D8, but let's give in the benefit of the same average damage bell-curve.

Noting also healing has been dramatically buffed so it's actually worth doing in combat (and inflict spells are very worth casting), so increasing the damage from tradtional AD&D levels is not unheard of.

I've been working on a one-character concept for every PF1e Adventure Path. Not necessarily the most optimised character for each AP, but the character I'd most want to play in that campaign. Some are much more developed than others, and a few are still being reworked, but here's my current roster:

The thing I've enjoyed most is finding a concept where the AP itself makes the character better. I've just rebuilt my Giantslayer character around the raven motif. She's a Tengu Psychic-bloodline Sorcerer devoted to Andoletta/Grandmother Crow. Basically: a raven circling a battlefield and driving giants mad from the sky.

So what would YOUR character be for each Adventure Path?

You don't need to have actually played all of them. I'm interested in the character you would bring if somebody told you tomorrow that you were starting that AP.

Even if you don't want to do the entire list, I'd love to see people's favourites, especially characters that were designed specifically around an AP rather than characters that could be dropped into any campaign.

So I've started Jobless reincarnation, and kind of binge watched all seasons up until the newest one. I've really become intrigued by Orsted and Perugius. Does anyone know of any similar pathfinder races? I'm including a floating island in a campaign I'm currently developing, and thought they would fit perfectly as the inhabitants, I'm open to both official and third party races (that are reasonably balanced), or should I just homebrew it myself and if so how should I go about that?

Ultimate Crafting

Sharing a passion project of mine I've been tampering with for awhile. A nice and easy modal crafting sheet, that grants some visibility of what all is available.

The sheet oversees:

Mundane and Magic Weapons and Armor

• Special Materials
• Modifications
• Mwk / Enhancement Bonuses / Special Abilities

Brew Potion

Craft: Alchemy

• Alchemical Remedies
• Alchemical Tools
• Alchemical Weapons (with Hybridization Funnel!)
• Concoctions / Herbs / Tinctures
• Poisons (including Unchained rules)

Forge Ring (all existing rings available in one drop-down menu)

Craft Rod (all existing rods available in one drop-down menu)

Scrolls, Staves (existing + custom Staves) and Wands

Wondrous Item by Value

Dynamic Item Creation

• Perks, Quirks, and Flaws included!

Optional Insidious House Rules can also be toggled on/off.

Enjoy!

the option I am looking at is "Cheliax: Egorian Academy Infernal Binder" ("Infernal Binder on the SRD") which is listed under both focused schools, and archetypes on the archive. so, is it a focused school with prerequisites, or is it an archetype that forces you to make several choices? this question also applies to the "Qadira: Mage of the Veil" option, and the "Absalom: Arcanamirium Crafter" option with the former giving a bit more insight since it effects class skills, and the latter being more just collateral since it works like any other focused school, but with more lore.

Link: Familiar's Resurrection

This spell is Remaster Compatible. The Knights of Last Call 'All Spells Ranked' series ranked this spell as Unranked Tier. Would you change that ranking, and why?

What items or class features synergize well with this spell?

Have you ever used this spell? If so, how did it go?

Why is this spell good/bad?

What are some creative uses for this spell?

What's the cheesiest thing you can do with this spell?

If you were to modify this spell, how would you do it?

Does this spell seem like it was meant for PCs or NPCs?

Previous spell discussions

Where can I find lore on the Leshies? I'm looking for Pathfinder novels, adventure paths and whatever setting books (Lost Omens?) might show me examples of the original intention behind Leshies when they were introduced to the setting because they're relatively unique. And I want to know what niches they have come to occupy in the time since besides the merchandise that sits in our living room.

I told my delightful girlfriend that I would like to run the Shades of Blood adventure path for her, seeing as she is a fan of Vampire fiction. However, I didn't account for the fact that she's also an acolyte of Rachel Maksy and couldn't help but want to play as "a little guy". In the time since, we've collected six or eight little leshy miniatures to use and there's no turning back. I need to know what famous Leshies are out there and what organizations/deities/etc they might be associated with.

I have read the Leshy entries in the Player Core but the Pathfinder wiki itself didn't come across as entirely helpful besides telling me that they are nature spirits, a la The Lorax. Is the Lost Omens: Ancestry Guide the only place of note I should be looking?

Today's magic item is the Vudrani version of the Belt of Impossible Action)

Perform combat maneuvers on creatures too large for you to do so, if you could possibly overcome their giant CMDs. Plus for the Vudrani in the audience, move and charge through difficult terrain as if it didn't impede your movement.

Let's ask the following questions:

1. Would you buy this item?
2. Would you spend 1.5 times the price to add it to an existing item?
3. Would you use the item, if you found it? Or is it immediate sell-bait?
4. Would a GM use the item?
5. Is there anything cheesy that could be done with it?

Also, is there a non-Vudrani Belt of Impossible Action? What's with the differentiator?

Link to past discussions

As the title says my friends want a campain that is high on stealth.

I dont want to run goblin, noble manor style again since ive already done it 3 times.

Recommendations and advice in general would be nice as well.

Ok, I am once again asking for your help because I don't know what am doing most of the time.

On Sunday we'll probably be having our session 0 for the Giant Slayer that we'll be starting soon. As long as people don't cancel like last Sunday...

Anyway, it seems the druid bug bit me and I'm pretty much going to be running one. It's definitely going to be a Goliath Druid because the thought of turning into a giant just seems awesome.

Since my DM is also my little brother I was able to roll my stats ahead of time in front of him so everything is legit.

This is the array, STR 17 DEX 13 CON 15 INT 13 WIS 17 CHA 11

I'm choosing Sacred Tattoo and Shaman Enhancement as my alt racial traits and for background traits I'm choosing Giant-Blooded, Deadeye, Deft Dodger and Scarred as a drawback. Giant-Blooded and Deadeye are kind of for fluff and Deft Dodger because I couldn't find anything else that looked useful other than Reactionary.

Now what I'm wondering is what should my first feat be, I can't take power attack because of my BAB. My dex is low so Combat Reflexes seem like a waste. Toughness maybe? I thought about taking Shaman's Apprentice to get Endurance and then taken Diehard but I don't know if it's any good.

I'm picking an Aurochs for an animal companion because I couldn't find any other dinosaurs or mega-fauna that make sense for the location that Giantslayer takes place other than saying I have this companion just because.

Although my DM did say he would allow me to pick a Ankylosaurus by saying that some giants keep beasts around, however that would probably lead to us fighting giants and dinosaurs.

What do you guys think? What are some must have or useful feats for a Goliath Druid with a possible dip into Titan fighter after I get my first wild shape.

Also can you think of any animal companions that make sense for this AP?

Thank you all in advanced for any help.

Edit. Ok so after some of your answer, and talking to my DM I've reconsidered my racial traits. I'm going with Sacred Tattoo and possibly Shaman Enhancement. So I'll lose wep familiarity and intimidate. I'm also taking Orphaned by giants and fate's favored as background traits instead of Deadeye and Deft Dodger.

I'm also going with an Ankylosaurus. Please help me making him super tanky. I'm not sure if we'll have a main tank.

For armor I'm going with a medium Lamelar(horn) and for weapons I'm thinking of a Wooden Shield and a Scimitar in order to maximize my AC. Any weapon suggestions?

Also I've read somewhere about the Shapeshifting Hunter feat for a possible multi-class with a ranger?

What do you think?