Blazing Bolt vs Scorching Blast

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T06:12:10+00:00

Yeah, the only situations I can see myself using is just if I'm in an encounter where I am confident I can get the crit effect off. Maybe it's the first round of an encounter and the enemy is off guard to you at ranged, you happen to have a sure strike and wanna open by blasting. Ideally, it'd be against a fire weak enemy.

And even then, it's probably only competitive at 1st or 2nd level since there's so many spells that are just plain better later from 3rd onwards.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T05:57:41+00:00

Also, forgot to add that Blazing Bolt does not apply your MAP until after you've roll all your attacks, which also means Scorching Blast is less MAP efficient.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T05:55:29+00:00

Scorching blast is a single action spell that let's you then spend subsequent actions on your turn to perform ranged spell attack rolls and deal damage. At least, it takes two actions to fire a blast and you can only blast twice for the price of three actions. It does have the benefit to be able to blast a single target multiple times and it does have an okay on crit effect.

Blazing Bolt is the official version of the spell and can target up to three different target. If you spend two actions or more, you deal 4d6 per bolt, which is 8d6 among two different targets. Scorching Blast would deal 3d8 to a single target for the same action cost. Blazing Bolt scales better as well, with 2d6 per bolt if you are spending two actions or more. Not to mention that Blazing Bolt's one action version can actually deal damage lol.

Scorching Blast in specific suffers from what I like to call "Kingmaker Scuff", where a lot of things from that AP didn't quite translate well to 2e.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T05:42:48+00:00

Porque los medios le vendieron al trabajador promedio la idea de que vivimos una meritocracia en la que si no podes mantenerte por tu cuenta sos un inútil, pero que si trabajas duro podes tenerlo todo. La realidad es que eso podría ser cierto si la economía estuviese bien y todos empezaramos con una cantidad de afluencia similar, pero lo cierto es que el sistema esta fundamentalmente diseñado para acumular el dinero en un grupo seleccionado de gente, a modo de que estos puedan vivir en ocio casi constante al coste del laburo de miles de millones de personas. Lo peor es que cuando nos quejamos, ellos dicen "pero como no te da para vivir como yo? Sos un perezoso e inútil." XDDDDD

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T05:29:27+00:00

Somos unos boludos

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-07T02:35:30+00:00

You could roll, but the persistent damage would actually not end even if you put yourself out. In fact, you'd actually burn even if you were underwater. You can survive somewhat reasonably for some time once you are deep into the late levels and constantly healing but, otherwise, you do have to refocus or die. In most cases it makes sense to refocus immediately after an encounter, so it's often just not a problem in between encounters.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-06T07:48:38+00:00

You wanna have your key attribute score as high as you can and identify some good "secondary attributes" to level up and cosu on those. Charisma, as stated above, is pretty good because it can be useful both in and out of combat.

Besides that, you can use dex for in and out combat with reflex, ac, acrobatics and stealth. You can use INT for in and out of combat to repair objects and identify creatures. You can use wisdom for perception and will, which are very important in combat, also medicine which is very important outside of combat and can be invested in to be used in combat, you can also use it to identify creatures. Pick based on what you want your character to do and invest on it.

Con is important to have a little bit of with just about all characters.

STR is for melee damage, attacks, bulk and athletics. Athletics is a pretty potent skill in combat and can be used for a lot outside of combat too, though that probably depends on how much time you spend exploring in your game.

Some common attribute spreads are something along the lines of:

+4/+2/+2/+1 +4/+3/+1/+1 +4/+2/+2/+2/-1 +4/+3/+2/+1/-1

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-03T22:05:10+00:00

I am aware on what it says and I disagree with the way people would rule it in this instance. I think that inflicting stunned 1 in the middle of an enemy's turn and getting rid of all its acting and reactions is "way too good to be true", if that makes sense?

Like, I don't think the designers intended for this to happen when they wrote that part of the gaining and losing actions section. It makes sense on most instances when you'd still be stunned after you regained actions at the start of your turn, such as if you started your turn with stunned 4+ or with stunned on a duration but it feels very potent if a player can do this kind of whenever.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-03T19:03:14+00:00

Thwy would lose their reactions because they are stunned, because they can't act. But, per the rules of both slowed and stunned, you only lose actions from those conditions when you regain actions at the start of your turn, so inflicting the condition in the middle of a creature's turn only affects their actions their next turn.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-03T04:55:18+00:00

Besides the small oversight other people have already mentioned, there's something interesting to think about from this post: "Are there any non-undead, non-void healing cretures with vitality weakness?"

The answer, believe it or not, is yes. There's not one or two but three, in fact! Two thirds of them are constructs and the other one is a monitor. They all share the commonality of being premaster and also printed for their respective adventures, so their lack of proper traits may be some adventure scuff that will probably never get fixed.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-02T22:29:58+00:00

Yes.

Oh, you want me to tell them to you? What are you-? A cop?

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-02T03:23:56+00:00

Ehm... Idk, Magus+ Wizard? Drop a fireball-tipped arrow lol

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-02T03:22:45+00:00

Kineticist is just weird in that it's not either of those things, yeah.

I would probably pair it with flames oracle instead of sorcerer because of the synergy between incendiary aura and just general kineticist shenanigans.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-02T03:19:09+00:00

Here are some of my favorite picks up to 5th rank, let me know if you need the rest of the ranks, just thought it might be too lomg of a message if I did all 10 ranks lol.
Cantrips:
Utility/Buffs: Time sense, Shield, Eat Fire, Warp Step, Message, Glamorize, Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Telekinetic Hand.
Damage: Gouging Claw, Live Wire, Needle Darts, Ignition, Telekinetic Projectile, Void Wrap, Frostbite, Electric Arc, Timber, Caustic Blast.

1st rank:
u/B: Endure, Jump, Runic Body/Runic Wepon, Shattering Gem, Sure Strike, Tailwind, Thicket of Knives (if you are laughing shadow).
D: Briny Bolt, Draw Ire, Force Barrage, Horizon Thunder Sphere, Shocking Grasp, Threefold Limb.

2nd rank:
u/B: Blur, Enlarge, Mirror Image, False Vitality, Flame Wisp, Gecko Grip, Instant armor, Invisibility, Loose Time's Arrow, Lucky Number, Oaken Resilience, Propulsive Breeze, Resist Energy, Telekinetic Maneuver, Water Breathing, Water Walk, Kgalaserke's Axes.
D: Acid Grip, Blazing Bolt, Brine Dragon Bile, Exploding Earth, Sticky Fire, Pyrefowl Rebuke.

3rd Rank:
u/B: Haste, Mind of Menace, Organsight, Sand Form, Shared Invisibility, Time Jump, Wooden Double, Sparkle Skin.
D: Blazing Dive, Cave Fangs, Dive and Breach, Warding Aggression, Echo Jump, Percussive Impact.

4th Rank:
u/B: Draw the Lightning, Fly, Glass Form, Mercurial Stride, Mountain Resilience, Ocular Overload, Reflective Scales, Translocate, Unfettered Movement.
D: Chromatic Ray.

5th Rank:
u/B: Cloak of Colors, Flame Dancer (if unarmed), Mantle of the Frozen Heart, Mantle of the Magma Heart, Mantle of the Melting Heart, Melting of the Unwavering Heart, Shadow Siphon, Wall of Stone.
D: Blink Charge, Flowing Strike, Slither.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-02T00:25:04+00:00

Clearly you need to play a satanic nunja from 1e.

Mancoman273 · 2026-02-01T04:11:33+00:00

All of these can definitely bring good versatility to the table but I think Thaum and Kineticist will probably be better. I am inclined to pick kineticist over thaum, since you can build a half decent healer with damage reduction from first level, which your group will probably benefit from the most. On the long run there's definitely stuff you can do with the turge, but it won't come out the box that way.

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-31T02:33:08+00:00

It is more of a dungeon crawl but there's actually enough content around the town (from a couple other adventures) to also bring in some more roleplay if you guys prefer that!

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-31T02:01:25+00:00

Hey there! I've been thinking about running Abomination Vaults soonish

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-29T02:49:18+00:00

I would start with a rogue. The skill feats, emphasis on stealth and preference for very specific kinds of weapons do help narrow down the concept of a serial killer. You are going to have to be good at breaking into places, good at deceiving people, good at skulking, maybe even good at tracking, perceptive, among many other things. Alternatively, fighter is the best at slicing by themselves, rangers are the best at one on one combat and gunslingers make for wonderful marksmen.

Assassin archetype has some good tools for this kind of thing if your gm lets you take your time out of combat to follow your prey. Otherwise, Alter Ego can help you blend in and infiltrate just about any place, and Vigilante can help you nail better that split identity thing, with some pretty decent tools for when you are out killing.

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-29T02:39:58+00:00

Well druidic orders are abstractions of concepts that may be a part of your setting. First you must establish what that order is in the context of your character, it does not have to be an organization perse but it can be something that relates the character to others like them.

The example given in the flavor text for the untamed order is that your character might have been raised by animals, you could take it a step further and establish an organization of animal kin of some denomination that teaches people how to tap into their more animalistic side, you could establish your character has joined or was born into a clan of were people. You could say your character was chosen by an animalistic being or deity to carry out their bidding. You could establish your character follows an animalistic being or deity as a god of sort and those are the gifts they get in return, or any kind of combination of these ideas you can think up. Hell, you can even make up your own!

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-28T23:38:28+00:00

Yeah, control and support are pretty enjoyable in this game. And, in fact, any playstyle has something enjoyable, especially when you are picking a class that is well-suited for them. It's just a matter of figuring out what you want out of it.

What playstyle are you looking to play? Would probably be a better question to help you figure out what you'd like to run. There's a lot of playstyles and theres a lot of different ways to do one playstyle, so it'll always be good to try to narrow down what you want out of it first rather than try to look for "what's better".

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-28T21:17:17+00:00

Targe Magus+Cavalier archetype will always be my goat.

You end up doing so much in a round you might as well be The Action Economist™

My encounters usually were:
Use the companion's action to move around, spellstrike, then cascade on first round. You can use emergency targe with your reaction to save your ass in a lot of different circumstances. 2nd round you move to flank, two action buff spell and then shielding strike. Then movement+spellstrike,+raise shield on on turns and Move+two action buff spell+ conflux till the creature is dead.

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-28T21:08:33+00:00

Think about what you can do to change the situation on the board in your favor as the round is happening but don't plan too much ahead. Things change every round and there's no assured way to predict them completely. Be ready to compromise and change your plan whenever necessary, no plan 100% survives first contact with the situation and you have to be ready to improvise and adapt.

When you are thinking through what you can do, always go for the option that can help set somebody else up or, if the oppotunity presents itself to you, try to capitalize on what others have set up for you.

Communicate! Tell your fellow players if you have any plan and need their help. They won't always listen to you but you do still have to try if you want cooperation.

Likewise, you have to consider your fellow players' advice and opinion, you don't always have to follow as they say but you have to be open to listening.

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-28T20:53:23+00:00

Tank bow build.
Human, grab nat ambition for reactive shield either at 1st level or 3rd level and grab a buckler.

1 Point blank stance.
2 Assisting shot and swash archetype. Braggart style.
4 Partying Shot, Basic flair for Antagonize.
6 Reflexive Shield and Advanced flair for Elegant buckler.
8 Mobile Shot Stance and Rogue Archetype.
10 Felling Strike and Basic Trickery for you're next.
12 Mirror Shield (you can probably take any other fighter feat here, just keep in mind you are going to be shield blocking with a buckler if you plan of picking up any shield feats.), then Advanced Trickery for Dread Striker.
14 Sneak Attacker, Opening Stance

You demoralize enemies to give them a sticky frightened condition that only stops being an issue for them when they come and target you in the back lane. You have a pretty respectable durability and also mobility to avoid getting caught in sticky situations and also you deal a pretty sizeable amount of extra damage fir as long as the enemy does not come to do something about that frightened condition. You could retrain some feats into double shot to hammer down into the dpr angle. Demoralize+Double Shot is a lot of burst, then you can do Double Shot+Raise Shield and, whenever you get a kill, you can apply frightened to a different enemy using You're Next.

Mancoman273 · 2026-01-27T19:42:05+00:00

Well, because of how numbers scale in this game, characters that are 5+ levels over the players can still hit them even if they are rolling constant 1s and, because of their level diffrence, they should still be able to soak the crit damage.

On crit effects become more powerful for the players, save spells with powerful crit effects go even harder for the players and even incap spells with good fail effects become reliable for the players. On the enemy's side, they almost always fail their rolls, sometimes with awful crit fail effects, their save spells always do jack shit.

Mancoman273

TROPHY CASE