Bradykin
2015-03-18, 04:50 AM
Hey everyone! First post on this forum, very excited, love the threads I see.
So I am fairly new to pathfinder (DMing my first campaign now, never played in one which I actually understood what was going on) but at this point I have a fairly good handle on the rules. I sometimes ask things like "how exactly does flatfooted AC get calculated" and such, but I have enough understanding to find the answers myself at this point, which is good.
So i'm working on a character (Druid) for when I next play in a campaign, and because i'm instinctively a power-gamer, will be aiming to be pretty powerful (not cheese to cast Gate -> Solar chain at early levels and such powerful, but you know, strong). The rest of the people I will be playing with for the most part are NOT power-gamers, so chances are I can (if I want to) be far more powerful the group combined based on the research i've done thus far. To remedy this, I'm aiming more for the "Ultimate utility" kind of power, and will be greatly restricting my combat damage. I was even considering taking the Plains domain over animal companion so I can haste the party, but you know, animal companion is the best :). I still am considering that option, but I probably won't do it.
So my druid will be mostly focused on casting, with a bit of summoning, but not much care about melee combat. I was wondering if anyone can suggest good feats/obscure content spells and such that fit this playstyle (our group uses 3.5 and third party content as long as it's not outrageously broken). Thus far, I know my favourite spells I have seen are Call Animal, Animate Tools, and Control Winds, as these all seem like hilarious and very useful utility spells. The animal companion that I probably am taking will be a Roc. My race will be human, and I am planning on using the Menhir Savant archetype, because Place Magic is amazing. I also have a few specific questions that I hope people can assist me with. regarding Wild Shape and certain spells.
Wild Shape: I understand how it works in Pathfinder, but i'm having trouble finding a good use for it, beyond "I turn into a bird and fly across the river". I am going to be avoiding wild shaping into bears and tigers and dinosaurs for super high damage because I don't want to outshine the party in damage, and will also not be statted particularly well for that kind of combat (focusing wisdom for spellcasting, obviously). Can I get some examples of how Wild Shape ends up being, well, useful? I'm just having trouble finding scenarios where it helps much.
Wild Empathy: I'm looking for another ability that can be used to influence animal attitudes to the point of making them helpful, as the archetype I want to use replaces Wild Empathy. If I can't find anything else, I may just single dip into a prestige class that preserves all progression and gives you wild empathy again (I found one earlier but can't recall the name), but I'd rather obtain the ability to influence the attitudes to helpful without sacrificing a Menhir Savant class level, if at all possible. On the note of prestige classes, can anyone think of any good ones that work well with druid casting (ideally without sacrificing companion or wild shape progression, but i'm open to looking at ones that do).
Call Animal: Now, this is currently my favourite spell i've seen in Pathfinder, because the way it applies its effects are hilarious. The range being determined by the creatures movespeed lets you call animals from hilariously far away, especially when you have a few caster levels or burn a couple uses of Place Magic to increase the duration. My question for call animal is regarding combat casting of it, because it was clearly not designed for this purpose, and RAW of it (to my eye) is absolutely ridiculous. Let's say the group is attacked by a large tiger. If I use my action to cast "Call Animal: Tiger", to my read this should cause the closest tiger (which should be the tiger engaged in combat unless my DM is really mean and has one waiting in the bushes) be compelled to come sit 5ft away from me and toggle it's attitude towards ME to indifferent. Would this mean that the tiger would no longer attack me, and if so, would it still claw my party members if they are within range? That's how i'm reading this, which is just funny, and also really useful. Though the DM would probably spring more animals attacking from the rear if I did this too often, since this is the kind of thing he can definitely screw with without even using Rule 0.
Control Winds: This spell just looks amazing, because it gives you so much control. My reading of this spell is that you have limitations on changing the wind SPEED, which are pretty clearly outlined, but you have absolute control on the wind DIRECTION. Therefore, if there is a strong gust blowing east, you can Control Winds to speed it up and spin it into a Tornado going west towards your enemies, or spin it around yourself to deflect projectiles and such. I just want to confirm that the directional control is completely up to the caster, and has no bearings on the original wind direction.
Animate Tools: My question on this one is fairly simple, can it be cast on improvised tools? As in, can you hobble together an ax with a tree branch and a carving knife, then Animate Tool on it to get your crappy ax to do your bidding?
Thanks guys, I will be eagerly awaiting your responses :)
So I am fairly new to pathfinder (DMing my first campaign now, never played in one which I actually understood what was going on) but at this point I have a fairly good handle on the rules. I sometimes ask things like "how exactly does flatfooted AC get calculated" and such, but I have enough understanding to find the answers myself at this point, which is good.
So i'm working on a character (Druid) for when I next play in a campaign, and because i'm instinctively a power-gamer, will be aiming to be pretty powerful (not cheese to cast Gate -> Solar chain at early levels and such powerful, but you know, strong). The rest of the people I will be playing with for the most part are NOT power-gamers, so chances are I can (if I want to) be far more powerful the group combined based on the research i've done thus far. To remedy this, I'm aiming more for the "Ultimate utility" kind of power, and will be greatly restricting my combat damage. I was even considering taking the Plains domain over animal companion so I can haste the party, but you know, animal companion is the best :). I still am considering that option, but I probably won't do it.
So my druid will be mostly focused on casting, with a bit of summoning, but not much care about melee combat. I was wondering if anyone can suggest good feats/obscure content spells and such that fit this playstyle (our group uses 3.5 and third party content as long as it's not outrageously broken). Thus far, I know my favourite spells I have seen are Call Animal, Animate Tools, and Control Winds, as these all seem like hilarious and very useful utility spells. The animal companion that I probably am taking will be a Roc. My race will be human, and I am planning on using the Menhir Savant archetype, because Place Magic is amazing. I also have a few specific questions that I hope people can assist me with. regarding Wild Shape and certain spells.
Wild Shape: I understand how it works in Pathfinder, but i'm having trouble finding a good use for it, beyond "I turn into a bird and fly across the river". I am going to be avoiding wild shaping into bears and tigers and dinosaurs for super high damage because I don't want to outshine the party in damage, and will also not be statted particularly well for that kind of combat (focusing wisdom for spellcasting, obviously). Can I get some examples of how Wild Shape ends up being, well, useful? I'm just having trouble finding scenarios where it helps much.
Wild Empathy: I'm looking for another ability that can be used to influence animal attitudes to the point of making them helpful, as the archetype I want to use replaces Wild Empathy. If I can't find anything else, I may just single dip into a prestige class that preserves all progression and gives you wild empathy again (I found one earlier but can't recall the name), but I'd rather obtain the ability to influence the attitudes to helpful without sacrificing a Menhir Savant class level, if at all possible. On the note of prestige classes, can anyone think of any good ones that work well with druid casting (ideally without sacrificing companion or wild shape progression, but i'm open to looking at ones that do).
Call Animal: Now, this is currently my favourite spell i've seen in Pathfinder, because the way it applies its effects are hilarious. The range being determined by the creatures movespeed lets you call animals from hilariously far away, especially when you have a few caster levels or burn a couple uses of Place Magic to increase the duration. My question for call animal is regarding combat casting of it, because it was clearly not designed for this purpose, and RAW of it (to my eye) is absolutely ridiculous. Let's say the group is attacked by a large tiger. If I use my action to cast "Call Animal: Tiger", to my read this should cause the closest tiger (which should be the tiger engaged in combat unless my DM is really mean and has one waiting in the bushes) be compelled to come sit 5ft away from me and toggle it's attitude towards ME to indifferent. Would this mean that the tiger would no longer attack me, and if so, would it still claw my party members if they are within range? That's how i'm reading this, which is just funny, and also really useful. Though the DM would probably spring more animals attacking from the rear if I did this too often, since this is the kind of thing he can definitely screw with without even using Rule 0.
Control Winds: This spell just looks amazing, because it gives you so much control. My reading of this spell is that you have limitations on changing the wind SPEED, which are pretty clearly outlined, but you have absolute control on the wind DIRECTION. Therefore, if there is a strong gust blowing east, you can Control Winds to speed it up and spin it into a Tornado going west towards your enemies, or spin it around yourself to deflect projectiles and such. I just want to confirm that the directional control is completely up to the caster, and has no bearings on the original wind direction.
Animate Tools: My question on this one is fairly simple, can it be cast on improvised tools? As in, can you hobble together an ax with a tree branch and a carving knife, then Animate Tool on it to get your crappy ax to do your bidding?
Thanks guys, I will be eagerly awaiting your responses :)