Author Topic: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder  (Read 371533 times)

Offline Halinn

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #20 on: June 13, 2012, 04:54:35 PM »
Emergency Force Sphere
A 5-foot radius half-sphere of force as an immediate action. That seems quite handy for avoiding any attacks.

Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #21 on: June 13, 2012, 05:05:26 PM »
And here I was thinking, "Well, as broken as PF is, at least they don't have shit like Wings of Cover yet."

Color me mistaken!

Offline veekie

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2012, 12:25:09 AM »
Well it does have hit points, and is therefore breakable...though Hardness 20 puts paid to conventional means of breaking it.
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Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2012, 01:31:47 AM »
Well, it's more useful as an immediate action to throw up something that blocks line of effect for spells.  The most devastating of which don't do hp damage anywway and thus have no chance of breaking it.

Even for physical attacks, the hardness and hp basically ensure it will hold up as an ablative defense long enough.  If the enemy manages to destroy it before your turn comes up...awesome.  Now it's no longer blocking your line of effect!

Offline Halinn

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #24 on: June 14, 2012, 05:27:53 PM »
Well, it's more useful as an immediate action to throw up something that blocks line of effect for spells.  The most devastating of which don't do hp damage anywway and thus have no chance of breaking it.

Even for physical attacks, the hardness and hp basically ensure it will hold up as an ablative defense long enough.  If the enemy manages to destroy it before your turn comes up...awesome.  Now it's no longer blocking your line of effect!
You can always place the hemisphere so that it leaves you with a way to leave it, such as placing it vertically rather than horizontally. Then you can simply take your move action to establish line of effect when you want to cast.

Offline Eviltedzies

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #25 on: June 17, 2012, 06:14:54 AM »
Call of the Void seems rather useful.
Even if they make the save they still cannot breathe and cannot speak.

I don't know about you but being able to make an adjacent creature suffocate AND be unable to make noise even if they make their saves seems a little powerful.

Shut down casters by making them mute.
Anything that breathes better no stand next to you long or it's lights out.

Offline Agita

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #26 on: June 17, 2012, 07:10:18 AM »
Call of the Void seems rather useful.
Even if they make the save they still cannot breathe and cannot speak.

I don't know about you but being able to make an adjacent creature suffocate AND be unable to make noise even if they make their saves seems a little powerful.

Shut down casters by making them mute.
Anything that breathes better no stand next to you long or it's lights out.
You can hold your breath fro a fairly long while, so that spell won't be killing anyone by suffocation, possibly unless you catch them by surprise (unlikely with a spell with a range of five feet). The inability to make noises is useful for shutting down casters, yeah, but they can just five-foot step out of it.
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Offline Eviltedzies

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #27 on: June 17, 2012, 08:43:06 PM »
Quote from: Agita
You can hold your breath fro a fairly long while, so that spell won't be killing anyone by suffocation, possibly unless you catch them by surprise (unlikely with a spell with a range of five feet). The inability to make noises is useful for shutting down casters, yeah, but they can just five-foot step out of it.

Quote from: Pathfinder SRD
You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Constitution score, but only if you do nothing other than take move actions or free actions. If you take a standard action or a full-round action (such as making an attack), the remainder of the duration for which you can hold your breath is reduced by 1 round.

Call of the Void may be somewhat limited in power, but I could see this working well if you partnered with someone to keep the foe close to you.
It also makes for a very handy assasination tool. Get in close to your target and no matter what they cannot cry out. Perhaps I'm not really looking for an OP thing from pathfinder, but a spell that gives an effect even on a successful save is nothing to sneeze at.

Offline Agita

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #28 on: June 18, 2012, 03:29:14 AM »
Call of the Void may be somewhat limited in power, but I could see this working well if you partnered with someone to keep the foe close to you.
If you're partnered up with someone and can keep the target immobile for 20+ rounds, it would likely be more expedient to just kill them outright. And, more importantly, you're talking about a matter of minutes. The spell has a duration measured in rounds.
It also makes for a very handy assasination tool. Get in close to your target and no matter what they cannot cry out.
This, on the other hand, is correct, if fairly niche.

What you want to do is combine this spell with Dazing Spell. Then it will still have the issue of taking rather long to kill anyone, But at least you won't have to worry about keeping them still.

Overall, it's a neat trick, but I'm not impressed.
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Offline Empirate

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #29 on: June 18, 2012, 07:24:08 AM »
Moreover, there's very few things a spellcaster wants to stand next to. Another caster being one of them, but also among the least likely in an actual combat situation.

The hemisphere of "I won't die this turn" has more serious potential, although I'd still consider it far from broken. Unlike Wings of Cover, it will block your line of effect AND your movement for rounds. A hemisphere 'centered on you' will of necessity enclose you on all sides except down, as long as you're standing on the ground. Good spell when you're already airborne, but then it only protects you from one direction. I can see a lot of situations where this spell would be handy to have - but I also have a hard time figuring out anything non-defensive about this spell.
In the best situation, the enemy will waste a powerful attack of some sort on you, then turn to your allies, while you are (due to being airborne) not constrained by the hemisphere staying in place. You just traded a 4th level spell slot for whatever the enemy was throwing at you, which might be worth it at higher levels. In the worst situation, you'll be caught off guard by something and have no other resort but cast this spell, standing around in a jar for all to see many rounds thereafter while the opposition kills your teammates.

Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #30 on: June 19, 2012, 04:29:26 AM »
Well, yes.  Just like WoC, that spell gets stronger and stronger with levels.  Since the effects it blocks becomes more powerful.  It'll stop a Split Ray Empowered Enervation just as surely as it will a regular Enervation.  Could it be a waste to use some times?  Of course.  But hey...you have spellcraft, so...figure out cost/benefit analysis and enjoy.

The other aspect is action economy.  You lost your swift action next round to rob your foe of his standard or full round action right now.  That is absolutely a bargain!

Offline Empirate

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #31 on: June 19, 2012, 08:43:33 AM »
Just noticed something about the Generation focused Evoker (found here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/wizard.html). Lingering Evocations keeps your evocation spells in place for 1/2 CL rounds, IF they already have a duration greater than instantaneous. How about combining this with the Lingering Spell metamagic?

All of a sudden, Evocation is all about battlefield control! A Lingering Lingering ( :eh) Fireball is 40' of burning death for the whole combat, as a 4th level spell - much, much better than Wall of Fire. Lingering Lingering Pyrotechnics is half a football field of blinding. Lingering Lingering Prismatic Spray is pure, unadulterated fun for the chaos-loving mage. Lingering Lingering Stormbolts fills the battlefield with an allied-friendly zone of lightning damage plus stunlock possibility. Lingering Lingering Caustic Eruption is sure death for anything not immune to acid. And so on.

Offline Ed-Zero

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #32 on: June 23, 2012, 12:03:05 AM »
Just noticed something about the Generation focused Evoker (found here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/wizard.html). Lingering Evocations keeps your evocation spells in place for 1/2 CL rounds, IF they already have a duration greater than instantaneous. How about combining this with the Lingering Spell metamagic?

All of a sudden, Evocation is all about battlefield control! A Lingering Lingering ( :eh) Fireball is 40' of burning death for the whole combat, as a 4th level spell - much, much better than Wall of Fire. Lingering Lingering Pyrotechnics is half a football field of blinding. Lingering Lingering Prismatic Spray is pure, unadulterated fun for the chaos-loving mage. Lingering Lingering Stormbolts fills the battlefield with an allied-friendly zone of lightning damage plus stunlock possibility. Lingering Lingering Caustic Eruption is sure death for anything not immune to acid. And so on.
That's brilliant :)

Offline Halinn

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #33 on: June 23, 2012, 11:41:09 AM »
From the Lingering Spell metamagic: "Those already in the area suffer no additional harm, but other creatures or objects entering the area are subject to its effects."

Offline Empirate

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #34 on: June 23, 2012, 04:50:56 PM »
Dammit. That's the one sentence to ruin my idea.

Offline Halinn

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #35 on: June 23, 2012, 05:35:28 PM »
Doesn't completely ruin it, but it does make it much worse. And since you'd have to be an evoker, you lose out on some of the better schools (teleportation subschool conjuration, foresight subschool divination). I still like the idea of a truly lingering fireball, though.

Offline Eviltedzies

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #36 on: June 25, 2012, 04:18:52 AM »
I don't think it is anything to brag about, but I thought this little spell combo was quite lovely.

Frigid Touch + Rime Spell Metamagic + Spectral Hand (Optional) = Staggered for 1 round and Entangled for 3 rounds. All with no save. Since staggered and entangle are both difficult to be immune to it makes this still very useful at higher levels of play. Only downside is hitting the higher touch AC's later down the road and Freedom of Movement.

Also becomes much deadlier when used in combination with a Magus wielding a high crit range weapon. Staggered for 1 minute is likely death in any fight.

Offline Halinn

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #37 on: June 25, 2012, 05:51:58 AM »
Here's something that isn't for a full caster: Litany of Righteousness. Makes a paladin able to really lay the smack down on an evil target, when combined with the PF-improved Smite Evil.

Continuing for the paladin, here's Fire of Entanglement, which entangles the target of a smite evil for at least 1 round.

Rounding out the paladin options is Grace, which provides an excellent way of moving about in combat.

And they're all swift actions :)

Offline StreamOfTheSky

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #38 on: June 26, 2012, 05:44:22 PM »
Grace is also a cleric/oracle spell.  And there's bladed dash for magus and arcanists.  And a bunch of other no AoO movement spells.  And teleport wizard has the Su teleport thingy.

Basically, rogue and monk are about the only classes in PF w/o the ability to move without provoking AoOs reliably.  Cause...fuck those guys.

Offline Agita

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Re: Interesting stuff in Pathfinder
« Reply #39 on: June 26, 2012, 05:57:40 PM »
Grace is also a cleric/oracle spell.  And there's bladed dash for magus and arcanists.  And a bunch of other no AoO movement spells.  And teleport wizard has the Su teleport thingy.

Basically, rogue and monk are about the only classes in PF w/o the ability to move without provoking AoOs reliably.  Cause...fuck those guys.
but Stream but Stream

What about Fighters and Barbarians? :3
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