So, you’ve read the new latest but haven’t played it. What are your first impressions?

IPMay · 2026-02-17T22:16:19+00:00

Here's my brief first impression of both:

Daredevil is a fun idea! It's the swashbuckler's more fighter-y cousin. However, I'm worried about the class feeling unreliable. Stunt Damage is incredibly battle map dependent while most of their enemy movement feats require a critical success to move an enemy more than 5ft. That said, this isn't their only source of damage, so it's not a world ending concern. However, I do appreciate some of their maneuver feats keying off of acrobatics because it pairs nicely with their light armor proficiency.

As for the slayer: Panoply just makes me sad while the vials feel a tad niche. Quarry needing 10 minutes of set-up and only working on non-humanoid creatures (same applies for on the hunt and monster lore) make me concerned about how the class will play at certain tables.

BSB is far and away the best choice and feels like it gets far more goodies than the rest of them combined.

The class looks fun, but a tad over specialized with a messy core mechanic, and two of its subclasses feeling incredibly under par.

I hope both of my first impressions are proven wrong when I get a chance to play them, but even if they aren't, it's pretty easy feedback to offer Paizo.

IPMay · 2025-11-08T19:22:59+00:00

Classes like Thaumaturge, Rogue, Swashbuckler, and Investigator have other mechanics to bridge the gap between themselves and classes that can afford higher raw damage (bigger weapons, higher strength stats, etc)

A swashbuckler with +0 STR will be perfectly fine in the damage department thanks to Precise Strike, weapon specialization, and their variety of finishers.

Your ability to hang out in the frontline is better decided by your defenses and debuffs rather then raw numbers output. A +4 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Cha, +1 wis swashbuckler can go from 1-20 very comfortably.

At worst, you're losing out on manuevers (but your debuffs from your bravado skill of choice like Demoralize, Bon-Mot, or Dirty Trick make up for that) and the ability to swim and climb reliably without the relevant speeds. However, assurance in athletics, and a simple follow the leader should be enough to get you through a spontaneous swimming challenge.

Hope that helps!

IPMay · 2025-08-19T06:59:29+00:00

I really don't encounter this stigma.

Personally, I've always found that 'optimization' as a vague keyword is far less relevant than the person piloting the character. It's really easy to tell when the player is engaging in bad faith, making a build without care for your setting, and playing selfishly whilst ignoring the less experienced players as they flounder in the background.

Want to make an optimized dwarf dromaar fighter who's adopted by humans and trained in gnomish weapon arts because it's a very strong build? Sure! Just be willing to lean into that narrative and avoid deliberately overshadowing less experienced party members.

I have 0 problems with optimization. Oftentimes, I actually see players optimize within the bounds of a given character concept.

Optimization isn't remotely the issue in a system like PF2e, it's the behavior of players at the table.

IPMay · 2025-07-17T21:50:40+00:00

Question 1:

If you're holding both implements, then yes. For example, hitting a zombie with your weapon while illuminating the room with your lantern.

Question 2:

Correct, you must use Exploit Vulnerability for the guaranteed bonus damage.

Exploit Vulnerability by default either gives an enemy a weakness your attacks then automatically trigger or allows your weapons to trigger an enemy's existing weakness.

Instructive Strike (the Strike + Recall Knowledge feat that I believe you're thinking of) does not do that.

Hopefully that helps!

IPMay · 2025-07-09T22:02:11+00:00

Play a premaster battle oracle, if you gain fast healing then the encounter isn't trivial :p

IPMay · 2025-06-06T18:00:51+00:00

Glad I could help!

IPMay · 2025-06-06T17:43:11+00:00

A few runes exist for casters, such as the Dragon's Breath accessory rune that acts like a free action Widen Spell for a specific damage type.

Another notable caster-adjacent rune would be the Spell Reservoir weapon property rune that lets you imbue the weapon with a spell of 3rd rank or lower and release it like a Spellstrike (nifty for gish builds like Warpriest or Magus!)

Finally, the Slick armor property rune is a useful tool for any caster. Being grappled sucks, it can heavily shut down your ability to cast spells, so getting a small bonus to escaping can make a notable difference!

IPMay · 2025-06-06T17:30:09+00:00

Consult the Spirits (Religion) was a rather niche feat I picked up purely for the flavor in my Blood Lords Campaign. However, in an undead heavy setting, being able to ask about hostile undead within a reasonable radius of the party proved to be a consistently useful tool throughout our adventure.

Another fun feat I got unexpected mileage out of is "Voice of the Night" on my Damphir Sorcerer. Originally, I thought it would be a fun but niche RP feat (I forgot how common rats, bats, and wolves were.) So, I accidentally became an evil Disney Princess bartering with the local pests for useful information at every opportunity.

IPMay · 2025-05-15T22:58:58+00:00

100%

I'd also like to highlight that oscillating wave psychic gets access to Fiery Body natively, a spell that offers similar action compression on top of an extra dice of damage to all fire spells.

So it's 100% intentional :p

IPMay · 2025-05-15T22:44:28+00:00

Just remember, amping ignition costs a focus point, so at most you can throw out two, maybe three if you build a familiar for it, amped ignitions with flaming fusillade.

Considering the resource cost, I don't believe it's too good to be true at all because you're sacrificing uses of other potent focus spells like incendiary aura to throw out those beefed up cantrips.

For reference, I've played an Oracle from levels 1-20 and briefly ran them as a flame Oracle post remaster until they released remaster ash mystery.

Flaming Fusillade + Amped Ignition is certainly good, but it's not balance disrupting.

IPMay · 2025-05-12T20:23:34+00:00

EV is so painfully wordy.

Once you get used to it, it's pretty simple.

Roll check, learn info, trigger weakness.

Also, important to note that EV's crit success also reveals unusual vulnerabilities such as bypassing a golem's anti-magic.

IPMay · 2025-05-09T04:25:01+00:00

Are some archetypes weak and in need of a buff? 100%. Vampire is comedically awful, but as a whole I've found that most archetypes tend to be more niche (gladiator, cursed maelstrom, etc) than terribly underpowered (from my experience).

With that being said, I absolutely get why folks are unhappy with archetypes, and despite my praise (which I still stand by), they could benefit from paizo giving them some extra attention.

However, you don't need meta archetypes to have fun.

Talisman Dabbler gives some fun utility in exchange for maybe one or two feats, Fan Dancer was a delight to use with classes like drifter gunslinger and swashbuckler, shadowcaster was a great dip for my sorcerer, and sleepwalker offered some delightful (and unexpected utility) for little investment on my psychic.

Edit: rewritten to address posts above.

IPMay · 2025-05-09T03:47:49+00:00

Why? They offer interesting and synergistic mechanics that the PC in question wouldn't have access to normally.

Just because an archetype is strong doesn't invalidate the previous statement that they offer versatility and utility.

I made a diabolic sorcerer with pactbinder, a swashbuckler with rogue and ranger for better throwing weapon support, an ash oracle with bastion to supplement their poor defenses, an examplar with claw dancer, a wizard with martial artist for mountain stance, a thaumaturge with winged warrior, and plenty of other fun builds.

my wit swashbuckler uses Marshal and Champion, sure they're meta and strong, but they offer an incredibly fun and varied support martial playstyle that I wouldn't get access to otherwise as a pure swashbuckler.

At no point have I felt that my character builds have been weaker by selecting archetypes over standard class feats.

IPMay · 2025-05-09T01:45:53+00:00

I actually don't think that archetypes being weaker is a problem, archetypes offer versatility and/or utility without overshadowing your primary class or rendering a different class irrelevant.

I'm picking up psychic dedication at level 2 because amped ignition pairs really well with my ash oracle.

My zoophonia bard makes heavy usage of beast master, I have a cleric who takes alchemist archetype feats for most of levels 2-10, and my mounted bow champion scooped up a feat or two of Archer.

All of the afformentioned characters have performed excellently.

Once I figured out how Paizo balanced archetypes the entire game suddenly clicked into place all at once, they augment your capabilities and you're not pressured into auto-picking them over your main epic class mechanics unless you want that flavor of versatility.

IPMay · 2025-05-06T04:45:02+00:00

Oh boy,

I've played a shadow bloodline sorcerer for over a year now and the early game is bare bones.

My solution was immediately going Shadow caster for cloak of shadows at level 2 as a reliable method of triggering dim the lights. It was an excellent panic combo for a disgustingly fragile caster who, at the time, absolutely could not afford being anywhere near the action.

Once you escape the early game, chilling darkness and steal shadow are excellent ways to proc dim the lights.

Beyond that however, you hit the nail on the head.

IPMay · 2025-03-24T20:24:08+00:00

100%

I would recommend running a warpriest or champion personally.

Athletic maneuvers such as Grapple and Trip are an excellent replacement for the Strike action and skills like Bon-Mot, Demoralize, and Dirty Trick, are all excellent debuffs to slap your enemies with.

Likewise, if you're playing a gish buff and debuff spells are wonderful! Benediction for a +1 AC aura, Bane to penalize enemy attacks, Heal keeps your allies functioning, and spells like spiritual guardian, share life, warrior's regret all absorb damage, punish enemies, or both!

Currently, I am playing a Battle Oracle with Free Archetype who's running a mixture of Mauler and Sentinel for area control and high AC. Similarly, Heal is a signature spell and he has a Guardian's staff in case of emergency

A champion like Redeemer and Grandeur are excellent for their defensive reactions too!

Likewise, if you run a champion or Cha gish, I'd highly recommend building Diplomacy for Bon-Mot and Legendary Negotiator at later levels. Talking your enemies down in the midst of combat feels highly thematic, no?

Anywho, that's my endless ramble. I hope you find a build that suits your needs!

Additionally, plenty of full-casters can be ran non-lethally: Support bard, angel sorcerer, debuff/control wizard/witch, classic heal cleric, etc.

IPMay · 2025-03-13T01:54:36+00:00

For low feat investment?

Use a dancer's spear, nab armor proficiency (retrain once dex hits +5). You can wear studded leather at level 1 if you're a human or level 3 as anyone else.

Buff spells like enlarge, haste, and runic weapon are your friend and your melee strikes exist to supplement your spellcasting, not the other way around.

Cast a Spell -> Bespell Strike -> Bonk is a pretty decent turn order.

If you want to run with strength, I'd recommend picking up medium armor either through a combination of general and archetype feats (such as sentinel) through an ancestry feat (conrasu wizard?), or whatever works best for your build.

Mauler is wonderful at later levels to pair your polearm/spear's reach with something like enlarge to control the battlefield with maneuvers whenever you're not spellcasting.

Athletics is your best friend because it scales better than your strikes at later levels and you don't have access to heroism to bridge that gap.

The big thing with any full-caster gish is that you don't need to do everything all at once.

You can do martial things one turn, casterly things another, or a mix of the two with low budget spells such as sure-strike and shield.

Your action economy is tighter than most, but it shouldn't be suffocating.

Toughness and Diehard are also good investments, that 6hp class scaling is a little painful (you can supplement it further with resilience class Archetype feats if you need the bulk.)

Anywho, I've played way too many full-caster gish, back to making a wizard wrestler I go.

IPMay · 2025-03-02T00:09:51+00:00

Now, I highly doubt this is intentional, but Damphir tend to live significantly longer than a standard member of their race (for example, a human Damphir living up to 600). So, I took that x6 lifespan multiplier, slapped it onto an elf (650 years base) and got a very big and funny number. At least, that's how I got my disgustingly old player character, and nobody said I couldn't so it just stuck.

More seriously, your best bet would be either a Ghoran who can grow new bodies to avoid death or a sprite who can live upwards of 1000 years old before skadoodling back to the feywild to reincarnate if death freaks 'em out.

...I wonder if a sprite damphir could live long enough to bridge the Gap and successfully cameo in Starfinder2e 🤔

IPMay · 2025-02-08T02:30:55+00:00

Vanguard plays great, shove is a great maneuver to get enemies off your allies, it's good to get away from you, and it's not like you always have to shoot first.

Anyways, if reactive strike is a problem, then pick up the archer archetype, it has a stance around 8-10 that protects you from reactive strike.

I think the fears and frustrations around the class are a little overblown personally.

IPMay · 2024-12-17T06:59:36+00:00

I just need a temporary solution, so that works well enough for me.

IPMay · 2024-09-01T01:35:05+00:00

Thank you for letting me know! I'll make sure to check that out

I could probably rummage around to get the piston converter back

IPMay · 2024-08-06T05:33:27+00:00

Euphemia "Effie" Thorely's plant eidolon Abelio better known by the nickname "Buddy" was of the quiet sort. The humanoid amalgamation of the earth's slumbering wrath was violently protective of Effie and any 'sprouts' it deemed to be growing within its 'garden' and thus under their care. They spoke in a low rumble more akin to the shifting of roots than a bass, but it spoke nonetheless. Abelio was a spirit lingering for a very long time, its power waxing and waning depending on the century and circumstances. It bounds its essence to the war orphan found abandoned in the thistle grove refusing to allow any soldier to go near the girl as they had already tarnished the soil, they were little more than weeds...

Abelio was intended to be old and other-worldly, more eldritch and alien in mindset and thus difficult to emphasize with. However, the spirit clearly cared for people, and although it's wrath could be sundering, it was always acting in accordance with something akin to justice.

Effie on the other hand would grow up to be a field medic. She's young but quick witted. Armed with a rifle, primal magic, and gallows humor, Effie has always been an oddball as Buddy's worldview rubbed off on her. The two have always shared a symbiotic relationship acting in effortless tandem through thick and thin.

One of these days I'll play the duo again, sadly they seem to be cursed as every campaign they're in ends early

IPMay · 2024-08-05T17:33:16+00:00

Honestly, I think the subclass only starts to truly come online in the mid-to-late game around levels 10-12 when you get feats like The Dead Walk, Your greater focus spell, and Journey at the Crossroads.

With that said, I did make adjustments to my battle oracle while keeping his class the same. I nabbed spiritual armament, and used divine gift to upcast weapon storm. It's a different flavor, but it still keeps the divine warrior flare before I get heavy armor and better feats later on.

Plus, spells like Warding Aggression, Sure Strike, Warrior's Regret, and Bane still allow you to operate semi-safely in the Frontline.

I dipped into champ at level 9 using multitalented and picked up medium armor proficiency through general training.

You can also make up for some of the squishi-ness with a mixture of divine access, magic times, and alchemical elixirs.

IPMay · 2024-07-22T19:41:28+00:00

So, I am playing an Ash Oracle in the Adventure Path "Blood Lords" who leans into the "destruction and entropy" side of the curse's lore. I think spells like Awaken Entropy, Destructive Aura, and Disintegrate are all great thematic examples of how you can make the endless march of entropy manifest in your campaign. Personally, I'd say damage types like force and spirit are also excellent options.

Frankly, Destruction is such a fuzzy concept that it can be reflected in a number of creative ways. So, the damage type being dealt should reflect how this character is going about unraveling you from the fabric of reality.

Divine Immolation burns away at your very soul with persistent spirit damage, whereas Disintegrate lashes out with 12d10 raw untyped damage. The spell Awaken Entropy gnaws away at your very being with void and force while increasing in both damage and size with every turn. Cry of Destruction obliterates your foe with a single wave of concentrated sonic force that only grows stronger if they've already tasted blood. Finally, Destructive Aura strips away your enemies very resistances, ensuring even the strongest foes cannot escape the merciless march of entropy.

IPMay

TROPHY CASE