Dungeons and Dragons Megathread

[Pathfinder]

Hey, @Serafina the working is kinda unclear, but can I slap the Privateer template on over the Vigilante archetype for Stalker? (or Vice Versa)

Be really nice to get gambits based on Int.

Also, is there a reverse equivalent of the Tea of Transference that lets me trade Grit for Ki?
 
The only issue is that Vigilante Stalker changes your full-round maneuver recovery, while Privateer makes you outright lose that ability (and then gives you a new one). That is technically "same class feature alterered", so not compatible - but since it's really just "this adds sneak attack instead of deadly strike damage", there's zero balance-problem with that trade. Unless you have a really really stingy GM, there should be absolutely no trouble at all.

Alas, there's no way to trade Grit for Ki that I'm aware of, and all the ways to repeteadly regain Ki require you to be a Monk.
 
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The only issue is that Vigilante Stalker changes your full-round maneuver recovery, while Privateer makes you outright lose that ability (and then gives you a new one). That is technically "same class feature alterered", so not compatible - but since it's really just "this adds sneak attack instead of deadly strike damage", there's zero balance-problem with that trade. Unless you have a really really stingy GM, there should be absolutely no trouble at all.

Alas, there's no way to trade Grit for Ki that I'm aware of, and all the ways to repeteadly regain Ki require you to be a Monk.
DSP went out of the way to change all "add Cha to this" and the like to "add key stat to this" so that stuff is still relevant if you do something to change your key stat - and then give you very little way to change your key stat.

It's honestly a little annoying.

I don't even want most of the vigilante features, I just want Int as my key stat on a privateer. If there was an INT archetype for Warlord I'd do that instead.
 
[5e]

Can't believe I forgot saving throws:
Hitpoints
HD: d8 per clown level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8+Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: d8(or 5)+your Constitution modifier per ranger level after 1st level.

Saving Throws
Proficient with Dexterity and Charisma saves

Skills
May select 3 of any

Proficiencies
Armor: Light
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords
Tools: Disguise Kit, two musical instruments

Equipment
  • (a) a rapier, (b) a shortsword, or (c) any simple weapon
  • An entertainer's pack
  • Any musical instrument
  • 2 daggers
  • A costume
Tumbling Roll
As a reaction, Clowns may use either their acrobatics or preformance check to attempt to evade getting hit, instead of using their armor class. This can only be done, however, when unarmored.

Tricks
Clowns all have a light element of magic to them. This is called "tricks". They tend to lack much of the power of regular magic but are very useful for diversions.

Similar to bardic casting, Clown Tricks use charisma as their modifier. (Attack: Proficieny+Charisma, DC: 8+Proficiency+Charisma)

A clown may use tricks either as an action or a reaction. At first level, a Clown may use only one trick per round. You also start out with two of the following tricks:

-Pie in the Face: You may hit someone in the face with a pie, either thrown or in close quarters, forcing the opponent to make a dexterity save. If they fail, they are blinded for a round.

-Living Balloon Animal: You may create a balloon animal and bring it to life. It will last until the next short rest. [Will create 'animated balloon animal sheet' later.]

-Squirting Flower: A fake flower that squirts out a stream of foul-smelling acid. It has a range of 10 feet and does d4 acid damage. The opponent must make a Constitution save to not be poisoned. This lasts for 10 rounds or until the opponent can make the save.
 
Complete newbie to Pathfinder here, so I have a some of questions and general stuff I could use help with.

So I'm gearing up to start my first Pathfinder/DnD style game and because my 40k games got canned I like the archetype, I decided to play a more zealous, purge the unclean type Paladin. Some digging through the Advanced Race Guide yielded the Aasimar, which I thought would be cool thematically, and some digging through reddit/paizo forums has shown that the Oath of Vengeance archetype is one of the best for Paladin and also puts more focus on combat than healing, which fits more with what I want to do. Which brings me to my first question. The Aasimar have several variant heritages in addition to the base template. I've identified two that would fit me the best, and I wanted some advice on which one would be better, as I'm not entirely sure which skills/traits are good or not, due to being unfamiliar with the system. Oh, and I will be a worshiper of Ragathiel.

The first is the base template:
  • Ability Score Racial Traits: Aasimars are insightful, confident, and personable. They gain +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma.
  • Type: Aasimars are outsiders with the native subtype.
  • Size: Aasimars are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Base Speed: Aasimars have a base speed of 30 feet.
  • Languages: Aasimars begin play speaking Common and Celestial. Aasimars with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Defense Racial Traits
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
Magical Racial Traits
Senses Racial Traits
  • Darkvision: Aasimar have darkvision 60 ft. (they can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.)

And the second is the Angel-kin Template:
Angelkin are mortal paragons of exceptional beauty, and they serve as exemplars of good and light regardless of the myriad forms they may take.
Ancestry Angel
Angel-blooded aasimars—called angelkin by many—follow the righteous paths their celestial ancestors walked, and are as varied as angels in how they go about their virtuous duties, split evenly among those who embrace law, neutrality, or chaos.
Of all the aasimars, angelkin are the type who perhaps most often clash with tieflings. Angelkin have difficulty embracing the idea of harmony when it comes to their corrupt cousins, and most see tieflings as embodiments of evil that can never be trusted. It takes extraordinary circumstances for most angelkin to cooperate with tieflings, and even then, alliances are rarely more than fleeting.

As an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, my primary stats will be STR and CHA, so the WIS from the base template kind of goes to waste, as I've read that WIS is something of a dumpstat for Paladins. However, the Base Templates Skill Modifiers and Traits seem (to me) to be better in comparison to the Angel-kin. Resistances are always good, Diplomacy and Perception are the two most common skill checks (I've heard), creating light can be useful for the rest of the party and if something is weak to light, and Darkvision is always useful.

The Angel-kin on the other hand gets +2 STR instead of WIS, which is great, and the Alter Self spell can give me a further +2 STR once a day for a few minutes. However the Skill Modifiers and Race Traits seem to be less useful to me, as they are either less common checks or pretty situation, if powerful.

My next question is about weapons. I'd like to use a two handed sword to complete that Crusader type image, but after some digging I found some confusing info. What's the deal with Greatsword vs Bastard Sword? Is one better than the other? I've read that the Bastard Sword has something like +1 damage over the Greatsword but needs a feat to be used, or something along those lines. Some clarification would be appreciated.

And lastly, some help with a general build outline would be greatly appreciated, as I have no idea what anything does, though I'm slowly going through the Core book.
 
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Hi, and welcome to Pathfinder, the game I know way better than I really should!
First, let's have a guide to the Paladin. Also, lets' have a guide to all the guides! Those are really good resources for seeing all the things you can do with your class.

Second, you called the Aasimar a "template" which was a bit confusing - because template is an actual rules term, and refers to things such as having the Half-Dragon template. Templates aren't usually allowed for player characters, in case you were wondering. Likewise, Angelkin Aasimar etc. aren't "templates" but in common parlance just called "variants".
No worries though.

Third, do note that all the Aasimar variants only replace the ability score modifier, skill modifier and the spell-like abilitiy - you keep everything else from Aasimar, so you very much keep resistances and darkvision. You can even take alternate racial traits that don't swap out skilled or the SLA, so you could be a Scion of Humanity Angelkin Aasimar.
You're right that Daylight can be a good spell - but not because it produces light, that can be done by the 0th-level "light" spell which your party can have if they have any spellcasters whatsoever. It's not even that good against undead, since it doesn't count as daylight for the purpose of, say, destroying a vampire. And Alter Self is a really good spell, it can be good in combat but also help you with disguises and such.

As for weapons - the Greatsword does 2D6 damage, which averages out to 7. The Bastard Sword does 1D10 damage - which averages out to 5.5 damage, and is actually as much as a small greatsword (for a halfling or such) does.
Nobody really compares the bastard sword to the greatsword - if you want to wield it in two hands, the greatsword is clearly the superior option. Some people do occasionally want to take the bastard sword instead of a longsword to wield in one hand - and then people point out that 1D10 is only 1 more average damage as 1D8 (which a longsword does), and that +1 damage is really not worth spending a feat on (heck, weapon specialization gives +2 and is still considered a pretty bad feat).
The Bastard Sword may be Ragathiels favored weapon, but that does not by default have any gameplay effects - it does for Clerics (who get to be proficient with it, and free proficiency actually makes the bastard sword okay) and in some other rare cases, but none should apply to you and a greatsword is basically the same thing flavor-wise.
So bottom line, you're fine with a greatsword. It's a good weapon, doing the highest average damage of all non-exotic two-handed weapons while having a decent chance to land a critical hit.

For more general build advice, take a look at the guide I linked, or some of the other Paladin-guides.
Oh, and a last piece of advice: Make sure the other players have fun with your playing a hard-ass Vengeance-style Paladin - don't always give them a hard time for what their character does, or take over every scene with your own characters morals. Focus your vengeance more on cases where it's really deserved, and don't forget that Ragathiel also stands for chivalry which does include letting others have a first go at things. Mostly, just remember to let other players have fun too - and I' mostly saying this because there's some negative stigma on that kind of paladin, not because they're inherently unfun to play with.
 
Hi, and welcome to Pathfinder, the game I know way better than I really should!
First, let's have a guide to the Paladin. Also, lets' have a guide to all the guides! Those are really good resources for seeing all the things you can do with your class.
Aw yiss, guides.

Second, you called the Aasimar a "template" which was a bit confusing - because template is an actual rules term, and refers to things such as having the Half-Dragon template. Templates aren't usually allowed for player characters, in case you were wondering. Likewise, Angelkin Aasimar etc. aren't "templates" but in common parlance just called "variants".
No worries though.
I'll remember, thanks.

Third, do note that all the Aasimar variants only replace the ability score modifier, skill modifier and the spell-like abilitiy - you keep everything else from Aasimar, so you very much keep resistances and darkvision. You can even take alternate racial traits that don't swap out skilled or the SLA, so you could be a Scion of Humanity Angelkin Aasimar.
You're right that Daylight can be a good spell - but not because it produces light, that can be done by the 0th-level "light" spell which your party can have if they have any spellcasters whatsoever. It's not even that good against undead, since it doesn't count as daylight for the purpose of, say, destroying a vampire. And Alter Self is a really good spell, it can be good in combat but also help you with disguises and such.
Under Angelkin it lists Celestial Tracker and Planetar's Visions as Angelkin traits. So these do not replace Celestial Resistance and Darkvision? Are they available as additional trait options during Chargen then?

As for weapons - the Greatsword does 2D6 damage, which averages out to 7. The Bastard Sword does 1D10 damage - which averages out to 5.5 damage, and is actually as much as a small greatsword (for a halfling or such) does.
Nobody really compares the bastard sword to the greatsword - if you want to wield it in two hands, the greatsword is clearly the superior option. Some people do occasionally want to take the bastard sword instead of a longsword to wield in one hand - and then people point out that 1D10 is only 1 more average damage as 1D8 (which a longsword does), and that +1 damage is really not worth spending a feat on (heck, weapon specialization gives +2 and is still considered a pretty bad feat).
The Bastard Sword may be Ragathiels favored weapon, but that does not by default have any gameplay effects - it does for Clerics (who get to be proficient with it, and free proficiency actually makes the bastard sword okay) and in some other rare cases, but none should apply to you and a greatsword is basically the same thing flavor-wise.
So bottom line, you're fine with a greatsword. It's a good weapon, doing the highest average damage of all non-exotic two-handed weapons while having a decent chance to land a critical hit.
Thanks for clearing this up, the stuff I was reading on reddit/other places was a mess.

For more general build advice, take a look at the guide I linked, or some of the other Paladin-guides.
Oh, and a last piece of advice: Make sure the other players have fun with your playing a hard-ass Vengeance-style Paladin - don't always give them a hard time for what their character does, or take over every scene with your own characters morals. Focus your vengeance more on cases where it's really deserved, and don't forget that Ragathiel also stands for chivalry which does include letting others have a first go at things. Mostly, just remember to let other players have fun too - and I' mostly saying this because there's some negative stigma on that kind of paladin, not because they're inherently unfun to play with.
I'm speaking with the other plays on how exactly my character is going to act and what exactly Lawful Good means. The good news is that one of the other players is a Cleric of Abadar. The bad news is that another player is a Tiefling, which I think will be fun for the IC tension. Angelkin, after all, dislike Tieflings the most out of all the Aasimar variants.
I don't think he'll be a hardass, but he will be focused and driven. WIS 7 is also probably going to do some funky things to his attitude, despite 16 INT. I am, somewhat ironically, swimming in Skill Points.

Edit: Oh, and I'm thinking of taking Noble Scion as my starting feat so I can use my CHA bonus for initiative instead of DEX. If I do that, will I ever use DEX for anything? It's currently at 10, but if it ends up being useless I can swap with with my WIS, which is at 7, so I won't take negatives to WIS stuff that way.
 
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Side question related to what Serafina just posted: You said the great sword was the highest damage band non-exotic weapon--what weapons are higher? I didn't think any of the 3e 3d6 full-bladed stuff or the like made it into pathfinder, so I'm guessing the stuff that's higher involves getting into the weeds with crit multipliers and chances? (That or I just missed something, which'd also be cool to know, even if both my D&D groups have moved to 5e)
 
The Minotaur greathammer is generally given as the number one weapon for pure 2H smashfucker builds, what with it being 2d8 with 19-20 x4, but it's 3.5 not PF, but you could probably port it over.
 
Pathfinder question:
If I play a catfolk unchained monk taking the alternate racial bonus
Monk Add 1/2 to the monk's damage rolls with claw attacks and claw bladesARG​. A monk who selects this bonus at 1st level also treats claw bladesARG​ as a monk weapon. If he is an unchained monk, he can use his style strikes with unarmed strike or claw blade attacks.
(claw blade make my claws count as weapons, thus monk weapons) what would happen with Feral Combat Training (Combat) – d20PFSRD ?
I know that I can't combine flurry of blow and natural attacks for the unchained monk but what about damage dice progression etc? Because so far it looks like 1d4+7 has the better progression then 2d6 considering how most adventurepaths end at level 15ish. And I am unsure if I even need feral combat.
I have a feeling that I am making a mistake with the build here
And yes I know -2 wisdom, I am used the scaled fist archetype to use charisma instead of wisdom.
 
@Thanatos757 yes, the "traits" listed there aren't "your race has this property" but rather "you can take these as part of your background, like magic or social or combat traits" - confusingly enough, they're both things called "traits", even though it should really be "racial properties" and "racial traits" or something for clarity.

As for Dexterity, it'll be relevant if you ever engage in ranged combat, as well as for skills and to AC - but only a little bit for the latter (you can just wear heavy armor), but a penalty is still applied to your AC so Dex 7 will be -2 AC.

And yes, for pure reliable damage the Greatsword is actually better than any exotic weapon too. It's generally fair to say that Exotic Weapon Proficiency is only worth taking for builds who do more than damage with it:
- the Elven Curve Blade does good damage (D10), is great for crits (18-20 crit range), is two handed and can be used with weapon finesse.
- the Faurchard also has the best crit range, but instead of being useable with finesse it has reach - making it the best way to crit-fish with a reach weapon.
- the Falcata is a one-handed weapon with 19-20/x3 crit and 1D8 damage, which in some cases results in the highest average damage for one-handed weapons
- stuff like the Whip/Scorpion whip just does unique things


@Scia An Unchained Monk with Feral Combat Training can use their natural weapons in their flurry of blows just like they could a monk weapon.
Style Strikes are different from that - they normally only work with unarmed attack, regardless of Feral Combat training, but that FCB explicitly changes that.
With that FCB, you can make a flurry and a style strike all with your unarmed attack or with claw blades, but weirdly enough not with your claws? With FCT, you could make a flurry with your unarmed strike or claws, but not with claw blades - and you could only make a style strike with your unarmed strike. With both, you still can't style-strike with your claws, but you could flurry with them.
Unless you do something else with it, the feat isn't worth it. Also, your claw blades will sooner or later be outdamaged by your unarmed strike, unless you invest some feats to transfer the damage-increase to them.
 
Edit: Oh, and I'm thinking of taking Noble Scion as my starting feat so I can use my CHA bonus for initiative instead of DEX. If I do that, will I ever use DEX for anything?
Yes, quite a few things:

Armor Class.
Reflex Saves.
Ranged attack rolls.
Lots of skills.
Any random Dex checks that your GM might improvise to see if you fumble something delicate.

Also, while Wisdom is not needed for Paladins to cast spells in PF, keep in mind that it's still going to apply to some other things that are quite useful:

Will Saves.
Perception and Sense Motive skill checks.

If you dump WIS then you're basically deciding that your paladin will be gullible, oblivious and lacking in common sense. If you think that'll be fun to play, then go for it. (You would pretty much be playing Amelia from Slayers. :D) Not sure if your stats were rolled or point-buy, but if the latter, if it were me I would bring that INT 16 down a notch or two to bring the WIS up to at least average.
 
Two random questions about 5e: What happens to an oath of vengeance paladin after the kill the thing they swore to kill? And can Paladins take domain spells? the book says they "cast as a cleric does," implying that they can, but doesn't explicitly say something either way.
 
The reason I have a hard time getting interested in a 3.5/Pathfinder is the skill system, which feels like a lot of busy work. Is there something to help with that?
 
The reason I have a hard time getting interested in a 3.5/Pathfinder is the skill system, which feels like a lot of busy work. Is there something to help with that?
What kind of skill system do you like?

(my own preferences): I prefer skill systems where you can add points to some, and not others, and not always the same one. Skill based, not level based, are my favorite RPGs as a result.
 
The reason I have a hard time getting interested in a 3.5/Pathfinder is the skill system, which feels like a lot of busy work. Is there something to help with that?
One way is to just pick a number of skills equal to the amount of points that you get per level to be "trained" in and just add your level to those skills. It's essentially the same result that you'd get if you decided to only ever max out skills and never dabble in anything outside your core competencies. Saga Edition and 4E made something similar the actual skill mechanic: pick X number of trained skills, rather than assigning skill points.
 
One way is to just pick a number of skills equal to the amount of points that you get per level to be "trained" in and just add your level to those skills. It's essentially the same result that you'd get if you decided to only ever max out skills and never dabble in anything outside your core competencies. Saga Edition and 4E made something similar the actual skill mechanic: pick X number of trained skills, rather than assigning skill points.
I suppose that could work.
 
One way is to just pick a number of skills equal to the amount of points that you get per level to be "trained" in and just add your level to those skills. It's essentially the same result that you'd get if you decided to only ever max out skills and never dabble in anything outside your core competencies. Saga Edition and 4E made something similar the actual skill mechanic: pick X number of trained skills, rather than assigning skill points.
I hated that, no option for customization, beyond what skills you had.
 
I hated that, no option for customization, beyond what skills you had.
Yeah, the new way of handling skills was one of the few aspects of Saga Edition that I didn't really take to. Made character creation faster, but the way it scaled meant that it was way too easy to frontload a skill and get +13 at 1st level. And not letting people take any cross-class skills was too limiting; my group always house-ruled that any class could take any skill.

That was pretty much the only aspect of Saga Edition in which roles were so rigidly defined: all the classes were otherwise infinitely customizable by choosing talents and bonus feats, but heaven help you if you want to be an acrobat without being a Jedi or Scoundrel or think a Scout should be able to perform first aid.
 
Yeah, the new way of handling skills was one of the few aspects of Saga Edition that I didn't really take to. Made character creation faster, but the way it scaled meant that it was way too easy to frontload a skill and get +13 at 1st level. And not letting people take any cross-class skills was too limiting; my group always house-ruled that any class could take any skill.

That was pretty much the only aspect of Saga Edition in which roles were so rigidly defined: all the classes were otherwise infinitely customizable by choosing talents and bonus feats, but heaven help you if you want to be an acrobat without being a Jedi or Scoundrel or think a Scout should be able to perform first aid.
Pretty much. If I ever get a group to play Saga again (need to get a hold of the books again, which is a chore) I'd add in skill points for classes, to allow customization. Run it like the PF thing with bonus to class skills if trained.
 
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