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Messages - MindFlayerBard

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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Promethean Alchemist Pathfinder
« on: August 31, 2015, 09:40:34 AM »
Ah, oh well. That's fine, thanks for your time anyways. Unfortunately, the homonculus only has 10 Intelligence, and doesn't even get it's first stat upgrade for 5 levels, so Combat Reflexes is out.

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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Promethean Alchemist Pathfinder
« on: August 30, 2015, 11:35:19 AM »
Just get one with ACF of 0.  Like leather, or a (Masterwork) Mithral Breast Plate.  Or add an armored kilt.  Masterwork Studded Leather plus Armored kilt is AC +4, Max Dex 4, ACF 0, medium armor.  The only reason to spend the feat is if you wind up with extra magic armor to let it use.
Armoured kilt is a good idea, but they're unfortunately not legal for PFS play. What feat do you think would be most useful for the homonculus? I was initially thinking about Hover, as even if the homonculus puts 1 of it's skill ranks into Fly, it still only gets +4 to Fly rolls, but in the long run it seems better to get something that will always benefit it, like maybe Toughness.

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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Promethean Alchemist Pathfinder
« on: August 29, 2015, 04:04:22 PM »
After some reading, wow is that Homonculous fragile as heck.  It only gets trifling natural AC!  My first guess would have been to use it like an animal companion, but it makes Wizards look robust!  But it flies, gets simple weapon proficiency, and becomes Medium at 4th, and can use your extracts.
I'd play a Halfling and use it as a flying artillery platform.  Have it use a sling or longspear and sling things myself.  But even that is lackluster thanks to losing Throw Anything to no real gain, and Bombs.   :-\  The real benefit of the Archetype would have been Craft Constructs, but that's gone. 
Or I guess a mounted charger build and just avoid anything with greater reach.  :???
Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction as well. The homunculus initially starts off okay, but as you level up, well....

If I compare it with a bipedal eidolon, and a horse animal companion (ignoring armour, evolutions, and magic items) then:
At level 1: a homunculus gets 15 Hit Points (5.5 per Hit Dice, and 10 for being a Small sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 15 (+1 from size, +2 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 6 Hit Points (5.5 per it Dice, and 1 from Constitution) and has an Armour Class of 13 (+0 from Medium size, +2 from Natural Armour, and +1 from Dexterity), and a horse has 13 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 2, and [2 from Constitution] times 2) with an Armour Class of 14 (-1 from Large size, +4 from Natural Armour, and +1 from Dexterity).

At level 5: a homunculus gets 47 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 5, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 14 (+2 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 32 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 5, and [1 from Constitution] times 5) and has an Armour Class of 18 (+0 from Medium size, +6 from Natural Armour, and +2 from Dexterity), and a horse has 37 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 5, and [3 from Constitution] times 5) with an Armour Class of 17 (-1 from Large size, +6 from Natural Armour, and +2 from Dexterity).

At level 10: a homunculus gets 64 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 15 (+3 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 52 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 8, and [1 from Constitution] times 8) and has an Armour Class of 23 (+0 from Medium size, +10 from Natural Armour, and +3 from Dexterity), and a horse has 60 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and [3 from Constitution] times 8) with an Armour Class of 20 (-1 from Large size, +8 from Natural Armour, and +3 from Dexterity).

At level 15: a homunculus gets 86 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 15, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 16 (+4 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 78 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 12, and [1 from Constitution] times 12) and has an Armour Class of 28 (+0 from Medium size, +14 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity), and a horse has 90 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 8, and [3 from Constitution] times 12) with an Armour Class of 23 (-1 from Large size, +10 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity).

At level 20: a homunculus gets 102 Hit Points ([5.5 per Hit Dice] times 12, and 20 for being a Medium sized Construct) and has an Armour Class of 17 (+5 from dexterity, and +2 from Natural Armour), a bipedal eidolon has 97 Hit Points ([5.5 per it Dice] times 15, and [1 from Constitution] times 15) and has an Armour Class of 33 (+0 from Medium size, +18 from Natural Armour, and +5 from Dexterity), and a horse has 120 ([4.5 per Hit Dice] times 16, and [3 from Constitution] times 16) with an Armour Class of 25 (-1 from Large size, +12 from Natural Armour, and +4 from Dexterity).

The homunculus, in comparison to the other two, is definitely weaker. It starts off with an initial Hit Point total above the other two, but it loses that advantage due to the bonus not scaling, and it's armour class is pathetic compared to the other two. The eidolon gets a whole bunch of evolution points in addition to it's respectable health and excellent armour, and all the classes with access to an animal companion also have access to ways to buff up their animal companion (meaning animal companion specific gear and spells, not general buffs).

Spell resistance at 11+ master's alchemist level is pretty good, as it adds up to almost 50% spell failure chance, and evasion/improved evasion help make up for the homunculi's shitty Reflex saving throw, but neither of those help stave off normal everyday damage, which is the biggest threat to the homunculus with it's shitty armour class and lack of access to healing.

It really seems to me like the homonculus is missing a few features.

Anyways, so far, the best options I can see for the homonculus (at least at level 1) are, as Keldar said, the longspear and sling, with bog standard leather armour, although I'm wondering whether it would be worth using up the precious feat slot for Light Armour Proficiency. Any ideas?

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Min/Max 3.x / Promethean Alchemist Pathfinder
« on: August 28, 2015, 10:07:38 PM »
I recently got the Occult Adventures sourcebook for Pathfinder, and it has a bunch of cool stuff.

In particular, I find myself attracted to the Promethean Alchemist Archetype

Whilst I really like the idea of this class, it seems to be rather mechanically weak to me, particularly since most of my Pathfinder play is with PFS, meaning that instead of Craft Construct, I would get Skill Focus (Craft [Alchemy]), which removes a good portion of the archetypes potential versatility. The homunculus you gain is cool, but stat wise it seems rather average to me, being basically an animal companion with some tweaks, when I would expect something like some evolution points al the eidolon if you're giving up two of the alchemist classes three primary abilities.

This is particularly worrying to me, because I'm not particular an intelligent player, and have somehow managed to kill off all four of my prior PFS characters, without managing to get one above lvl 2.

Does anybody here have some ideas on how to make this class more useful, or more survivable? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if they shared them.

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And apparently it's stated in many places that you need at least two posts to be trusted in civilized society.Le doh.

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Hello all. I'm the MindFlayerBard/Craig
My favourite games on the table are Pathfinder, Shadowrun, and Exalted. My favourite games off the table are the Elder Scrolls games, the Fallout games, Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall, Mount and Blade, Dark Souls, and Magic the Gathering.
I'm an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy, a (bad) artist, a fan of enthusiastic walks, and
I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
I'm on SbaceBattles and SufficientVelocity as TonalArchitect, and on the GITP forums as MindFlayerBard
I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts, although the the Google+ one is the only one that really sees much use, due to it's connection to YouTube and Gmail.

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Introduce Yourself / Salutations Fleshlings
« on: July 21, 2013, 10:51:05 AM »
I'm [Name-Withheld], and I'm a horrible person/human being.

My favorite tabletop games are D&D 3.5, Exalted, Star Wars Saga Edition, and maybe the D&D 5th Playtest.

My favorite video games are The Elder Scrolls series, the Fallout series, Planescape: Torment, KotoR I and II, Portal I and II, Half Life II, and Team Fortress 2.

My favorite non gaming activities are , walks, throwing things, reading sci-fi/fantasy, reading anime, watching manga, tasting explosions, and watching videos of people injuring themselves in funny ways. I want to try a LARP sometime, but I hasn't yet been to one.

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and our national animal is quite definitely a polar bear. Why else would it be on our quarters? Beavers are still an urban legend.

I flit from forum to forum, but I can be found frequently in the GITP forums.

I don't use Twitter or Facebook, because I have a/no life, and enjoy actual verbal communication, which forums are much closer to than the aforementioned sites.

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