Pathfinder Is Still Bad

[RelentlessImp]

I'm willing to accept anything that suggests Paizo's writers' heads are peeking out of their assholes, really. I expect the best of people. It's a failing of mine.

[sarcasmoverdose]

I'm willing to accept anything that suggests Paizo's writers' heads are peeking out of their assholes, really. I expect the best of people. It's a failing of mine.

Hey, your initial statement was at least partially right.

This is the ability of a God. I mean, a really SHITTY divine ability, but it's the purview of Divine Rank 1 or higher beings. So... maybe they're slowly getting it into their fucking heads that after a certain level D&D characters deserve to be demigods, if not gods outright.

Wizards can take a swift action to cast any wizard spell they are high enough level to cast without taking a slot or requiring any preparation (and do it again if they have borrowed time http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-m ... rowed-time), use amazing initiative to activate a cleric's spell trigger item at higher caster level than the cleric who made it (cause wizards can get a good UMD check much more easily now), set off a chain of contingencies (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-m ... ontingency), and still have a standard and a move action left. Plus, one of their T6 abilities means they will never run out of mythic points, and thus max-level spells and uses of staves and wands, again.

Eldritch Reciprocation (Su)

You can choose to take extra damage from an arcane spell to replenish mythic power. When you are hit by or fail a saving throw against an arcane spell that deals hit point damage, as an immediate action you can choose to take damage as if that spell were affected by the Maximize Spell feat. If the spell's damage can't be increased by the Maximize Spell feat or is already under the effect of the Maximize Spell feat, you instead take double damage from it. The spell's damage ignores your spell resistance, energy resistance, energy immunities, and other protections against damage.

If you take at least 25 points of damage from the spell, you regain one use of mythic power.

[RelentlessImp]

Annnnnnnnnnnnd back to hating Paizo. Thanks. I feel more like myself again.

[rasmuswagner]

Interesting thing I learned from the FAQ: Fighter doesn't actually have Armor Proficiency feats. He has class abilities that emulate those feats. Which means that fighter can't learn feats that require those feats as prerequisites (like Mythic Armor Proficiency).

....Except if you read the actual fucking feats in the actual fucking core rulebook. Sweet Cthulhu those asshats are terrible at answering rules questions.

[Jeff W]

[quote="Antariuk"]either Paizo still is super-worried about people getting spells from somewhere else (gasp) or they got lost in their own FAQ labyrinth or (and this makes a lot of sense to me) they are preparing for when the arcanist hits the shelves and shoots the remaining notions of "game balance" in the face.[/quote]

Is the Arcanist really better than the Wizard?

They still left some rather serious(and pfs legal even) cross class shenagigans:

Razmiran Priest Sorcerer
SLA Entry Mystic Theurge

[Longes]

Speaking of PFS legal. A dev in the Eldritch Heritage FAQ thread noted, that some of the feats affected aren't PFS legal, so they don't care.

[sake]

Eldritch Reciprocation (Su)

You can choose to take extra damage from an arcane spell to replenish mythic power. When you are hit by or fail a saving throw against an arcane spell that deals hit point damage, as an immediate action you can choose to take damage as if that spell were affected by the Maximize Spell feat. If the spell's damage can't be increased by the Maximize Spell feat or is already under the effect of the Maximize Spell feat, you instead take double damage from it. The spell's damage ignores your spell resistance, energy resistance, energy immunities, and other protections against damage.

If you take at least 25 points of damage from the spell, you regain one use of mythic power.

I can't believe that even Paizo didn't think to put in something to stop wizards from just casting low level spells on themselves all damn day long to keep triggering this.

Is the Arcanist really better than the Wizard?

Unless it got seriously nerfed since the play test. Yes, oh my fucking god yes. It's a god damn baby beholder mage and makes the wizard feel as small in the pants as the wizard makes the sorcerer feel.

[TiaC]

Is the Arcanist really better than the Wizard?

Unless it got seriously nerfed since the play test. Yes, oh my fucking god yes. It's a god damn baby beholder mage and makes the wizard feel as small in the pants as the wizard makes the sorcerer feel.

A recent preview gave them this ability:

Quick Study (Ex):

The arcanist can prepare a spell in place of an existing spell by expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir. Using this ability is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The arcanist must be able to reference her spellbook when using this ability. The spell prepared must be of the same level as the spell being replaced.

This can be combined with:

Consume Spells (Su): The arcanist can spend a standard action to expend an available arcanist spell slot, making it unavailable for the rest of the day just as if she had used it to cast a spell. In doing so, she adds a number of points to her arcane reservoir equal to the level of the slot consumed. She cannot consume cantrips (0 level spells) in this way. Points added to the arcane reservoir in excess of the limit (see arcane reservoir) are lost.

[Antariuk]

Plus the ACG will have archetypes and feats for all the new classes, so you just know that there will be some ungodly combinations. And by that I don't mean some exotic combinations from 3 different books and a Player's Companion from 2008, just look at the arcanist's announcement on the Paizo blog:

Energy Shield (Su): The arcanist can protect herself from energy damage as a standard action by expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir. She must pick one energy type and gains resistance 10 against that energy type for 1 minute per arcanist level. This protection increases by 5 for every 5 levels the arcanist possesses (up to a maximum of 30 at 20th level).

Quick Study (Ex): The arcanist can prepare a spell in place of an existing spell by expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir. Using this ability is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The arcanist must be able to reference her spellbook when using this ability. The spell prepared must be of the same level as the spell being replaced.

In addition, we added a number of greater exploits to the class as well, adding powerful tool to the high level arcanist.

Suffering Knowledge (Su): The arcanist can learn to cast a spell by suffering from its effects. When the arcanist fails a saving throw against a spell cast by an enemy, as an immediate action she can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to temporarily acquire the spell. She can cast the spell using her spell slots as if it was a spell she had prepared that day. The spell must be on the sorcerer/wizard spell list and must be of a level that she can cast. The ability to cast this spell remains for a number of rounds equal to the arcanist’s Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

Of course, the Advanced Class Guide also features a number of fun new archetypes to use with the arcanist. There is the blade adept, who gains a sentient sword and select a limited number of magus arcana instead of arcane exploits. You can also play a brown-fur transmuter, whose reservoir can be used to bolster the power of her transmutation spells. The eldritch font gains more spell slots, but can prepare fewer spells per day. An elemental master focuses her power on just one element, but to much greater effect. While there are a number of other archetypes for the arcanist, there is one more that needs to be called out. The white mage can expend points from her arcane reservoir to allow her to cast cure spells with her spell slots, but at higher levels she can even cast breath of life.

So, one class fits all. Seems legit.

[ishy]

In the thread about you not being able to cast spells you know if they are not on your spell list:

Also on topic, since it has not been asked yet. How does this interact with a person who takes an Arcane Bonded item via Eldritch Heritage?
In the Arcane bloodline it says that the bonded item, once per day lets you cast one of your spells known.

Then with way the FAQ is written it says you can not use a spell slot to power a spell not on your spell list. However it also does not explicitly disallow you from adding the spell known, after all you could get bestow curse or daylight and use either as an Oracle since it is on your list. It is just that you can not actually power the spell with one of your spell slots.

So hypothetically speaking is the Arcane Bonded item considered to be using a spell slot, or is there an admittedly circuitous method to get a spell once per day from a different list?

I realize this might be a slight stretch of a reading, or splitting hairs, but was curious.

If we went by the reading of the arcane bonded item and spells known that they key off your otherwise-null sorcerer spells known (which is as valid as any, since otherwise it isn't clear which spells known list to use for a multiclassed character), then it may be the case that the bonded item does nothing for a non-sorcerer until gaining those extra spells, in which case they may actually be the only ones the bonded item can cast at all, though probably not due to the whole difference between 0 and null (aka --). Of course, there's a lot of 'may's in there. This whole combination was always deep in the land of GM discretion to begin with, and it seems the FAQ has at least ruled definitively on most of it.

Keep in mind a non-sorcerer can't cast those spells with their own spell slots (since they only add them to known spells and not to your spell list)

[Longes]

what the actual shitfuck?

Fighter: Can I learn a new fighter bonus feat in place of one of my armor proficiency feats?

No. Despite wording in the Armor Proficiency feats, fighters (and other classes) have a class ability that grants proficiency in those armors--it doesn't actually grant those specific feats. Therefore, the fighter's ability to learn a new feat in place of another feat does not apply to these proficiencies.

This is great. By the wording of this FAQ you can't even buy Medium Armor proficiency for anyone, without buying Light Armor Proficiency feat.

[sarcasmoverdose]

A recent preview gave them this ability:

Quick Study (Ex):

The arcanist can prepare a spell in place of an existing spell by expending 1 point from her arcane reservoir. Using this ability is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The arcanist must be able to reference her spellbook when using this ability. The spell prepared must be of the same level as the spell being replaced.

This can be combined with:

Consume Spells (Su): The arcanist can spend a standard action to expend an available arcanist spell slot, making it unavailable for the rest of the day just as if she had used it to cast a spell. In doing so, she adds a number of points to her arcane reservoir equal to the level of the slot consumed. She cannot consume cantrips (0 level spells) in this way. Points added to the arcane reservoir in excess of the limit (see arcane reservoir) are lost.

They haven't been beholder mages since 2013:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qel1?Offic ... n-Arcanist
They're now weird wizardish casters who are slightly better than an unoptomized wizard and weaker than than a munchkinned wizard. They get to be king of the frank cheat, though.

Spell Tinkerer (Su): The arcanist can alter an existing spell effect by expending one point from her arcane reservoir. She must be adjacent to the spell effect (or the effect’s target) and be aware of the effect to use this ability. She can choose to increase or decrease the remaining duration of the spell by 50% (adding or subtracting 50% from the remaining duration). Alternatively, she can suppress a spell effect for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If the spell affects multiple creatures, this ability only suppresses the spell for one creature. At the end of this duration, the spell resumes and the suppressed rounds do not count against its total duration. This ability can be used on unwilling targets, but the arcanist must succeed at a melee touch attack, and the target may attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. This ability has no effect on spells that are instantaneous or have a duration of permanent.

[virgil]

what the actual shitfuck?

Fighter: Can I learn a new fighter bonus feat in place of one of my armor proficiency feats?

No. Despite wording in the Armor Proficiency feats, fighters (and other classes) have a class ability that grants proficiency in those armors--it doesn't actually grant those specific feats. Therefore, the fighter's ability to learn a new feat in place of another feat does not apply to these proficiencies.

This is great. By the wording of this FAQ you can't even buy Medium Armor proficiency for anyone, without buying Light Armor Proficiency feat.

That same wording applies to weapon proficiency, although IIRC, feats have their prereq be "proficiency in X" rather than "Martial Weapon Proficiency" or whatever. This likely what the FAQ people were trying to prevent, Fighters losing proficiency with kukris for a bonus feat.

[momothefiddler]

They haven't been beholder mages since 2013:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qel1?Offic ... n-Arcanist
They're now weird wizardish casters who are slightly better than an unoptomized wizard and weaker than than a munchkinned wizard. They get to be king of the frank cheat, though.

Spell Tinkerer (Su): The arcanist can alter an existing spell effect by expending one point from her arcane reservoir. She must be adjacent to the spell effect (or the effect’s target) and be aware of the effect to use this ability. She can choose to increase or decrease the remaining duration of the spell by 50% (adding or subtracting 50% from the remaining duration). Alternatively, she can suppress a spell effect for a number of rounds equal to her Charisma modifier (minimum 1). If the spell affects multiple creatures, this ability only suppresses the spell for one creature. At the end of this duration, the spell resumes and the suppressed rounds do not count against its total duration. This ability can be used on unwilling targets, but the arcanist must succeed at a melee touch attack, and the target may attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. This ability has no effect on spells that are instantaneous or have a duration of permanent.

Oh, that's a bunch of fun! Also known as "Never give your Arcanist downtime. Ever. Also dispel their shit constantly just in case."

Let's see... Mage Armor is still plenty useful at level 4, right? I'll start there. Take a day off just to cast Mage Armor. Do nothing most of the day, of course, and then right before bed use one slot to cast it and then eat the rest of your slots. This leaves you with 3(starting)+3(l1)+4(l2)=10 points, letting you adjust your 4hr Mage Armor duration to 230 hours. Now you can keep it up indefinitely by spending a point every six days... OR you can spend a point each day for a week and bring that equilibrium time up to 57 days... OR you can take the second day off and extend it as much as you can in the morning and then only spend a point on it every year and a half or so.

Or... Shapechange. Acquired at level 18, so 10(base)+4*9*4(l1-8)+9(l9)=163 points to spend on the base 180 minutes - 3 hours - of duration. This means that spending a day of downtime on Shapechange lets you have a duration on the same order of magnitude as the time between the big bang and the last star dying. So... really no maintenance there. Basically permanent.

I think this is cool. Granted, that's because I wasn't expecting things like "balance" or "having what's written be anything like what was intended" but it's an amusing little thing.

[Axebird]

That version of Spell Tinkerer is from the first pass of the playtest. They already fixed it so you can only affect a given spell effect once.

[momothefiddler]

How boring.

[icyshadowlord]

Seems not much has changed since that new dude took the helm in Reynolds' stead.

[Shiritai]

So... you should get a Headband of Intellect +6 early as possible and wear it while you level up, is what I'm taking away from this.

To be fair, a Pathfinder-style Headband of Intellect +6 has three predetermined associated skills that you get max ranks in when you wear it for 24 hours, and specifically doesn't change your skill points on level-up. So they did dodge that particular bullet.

[Slade]

Seems not much has changed since that new dude took the helm in Reynolds' stead.

If you notice he seemed to be trying to understand the new FAQ as he wrote. So it doesn't make sense to him either.

[Covent]

Sean K. Reynolds...

Keeping it classy.

[rasmuswagner]

Sean K. Reynolds...

Keeping it classy.

Other than being a known shitty writer, and looking like he's going to skin and wear the camera guy after the video, I don't see it.

[Covent]

Mostly the Video, and the shitty looking page on display. Also Wart Hex = Scar Hex pretty much exactly.

I also do not personally like the idea of the product, however that is a personal taste issue.

In short I expect that the displayed sample page will be about the balance level of everything in the book and we will see more "Fun" options in which "balance does not matter", and "Poverty should suck" are used as excuses.

This Kickstarter will succeed in spite of this and in at least a small way hurt all pathfinder based kickstarters afterward by creating another link between bad design and Kickstarter projects.

No sky is falling just a pet peeve.

[ishy]

Seems not much has changed since that new dude took the helm in Reynolds' stead.

If you notice he seemed to be trying to understand the new FAQ as he wrote. So it doesn't make sense to him either.

Except he is the guy who wrote it.

[deaddmwalking]

The sample page tries very hard to evoke the AD&D 1st edition spell descriptions in terms of formatting.

[Slade]

Seems not much has changed since that new dude took the helm in Reynolds' stead.

If you notice he seemed to be trying to understand the new FAQ as he wrote. So it doesn't make sense to him either.

Except he is the guy who wrote it.

This bolds well
I didn't realize this. He fits in well with the other Paizofails I guess. Maybe they infected him with their fail?

The only way to cure this is to nuke it from orbit?