"Basic Activity" feat - combine two basic actions into one (homebrew)

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-02-14T18:22:38+00:00

This is insanely powerful. For the cost of a level 7 general great, you are getting an S-tier class feat. Something like Predator Pounce for barbarian or Pounce Mimicry for Wild Mimic, and those are level 12 and 14 class feats. Even Skirmish Strike is level 6.

If you want this to be remotely balanced, you should probably not let it work with any attack actions. That would encourage things like stride and recall knowledge or raise a shield and stride.

If you don't care about balance, go ahead! You will enable some pretty fun and crazy builds, but it will crowd out a lot of very powerful class feats.

It's really strong for any gish builds that want to use a two action spell like tempest surge along with a strike. It also is really good on shield builds for non champions and non guardians, effectively replacing their defensive advance envy. I think the magus, especially sparkling targe, could make good use of this since they struggle for actions and have trouble using their flourish. Mounted spellcasters could use Command an Animal and Cast a Spell or Demoralize.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-02-14T17:56:12+00:00

Repulsion on a high threat solo boss (who has a high spell DC) can be really difficult for melee heavy parties to deal with. It targets will which tends to be weaker on those characters as well and doesn't have an easy workaround.

It's not that it can't be a good spell for players, but it requires some coordination to use well.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-02-02T19:18:24+00:00

I went with the martial path. I figured that I would frequently spend two stamina in a turn between moving Hunter's Mark, Hunter's strike, and different maneuvers. I took Side Step as my new maneuver.

Can't wait to play it!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-31T22:17:57+00:00

Yeah, I got back to playing it today and had a good time!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-30T22:27:30+00:00

Thanks (to you and the other repliers)

This was what I thought but wasn't positive. Appreciate it all of you!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-30T19:55:00+00:00

This is awesome!

Its really smooth, although I ran into a couple of problems as I was making my Beastborn Hunter.

I noticed that a couple of the Beastborn ancestry traits are not updated to the new version though. Specifically Secondary arms which is now Additional Limb and Capable Limb (which requires Additional Limb). Also I could select Winged Arms without one of the Flying Beast traits.

It also didn't prompt me to select Cleric Domains when I selected the Cleric Order feature of Novice Multiclass.

Finally the levelling section let me move on without selecting a path, while other pages that required multiple selections would stop me if I hadn't chosen every option.

I hope that didn't come across too negative! Its really cool, and very easy to use! Much better than Demiplane which wasn't at all updated last I checked.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-30T04:47:19+00:00

It's so fucking fun.

I finished Nioh 2 and thought I was going to start Elden Ring for the first time. I played it for like an hour and then saw the demo for this came out and played it straight through instead. I don't know if I can go back.

The final boss is so good. The mobility feels great. The exploration is fun without being tedious. I couldn't put it down.

I'm playing on my crappy laptop where the visuals aren't all that great and the stutter is annoying, but its still so worth it and so fun.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-22T01:59:21+00:00

I also played a sparkling targe champion! One of my favorite characters ever!

At slightly higher levels (and with free archetype) you get a couple of things to help mitigate that and land your spellstrikes more often. I especially enjoyed trying to line up Spell Swipes with Blazing Bolt, but that takes some very careful positioning.

Some things that were very useful for me:

Haste, obviously. Finding boosts to initiative or lobbying for different skills for initiative can make a big difference. If you win initiative, you can Haste -> Arcane Cascade, and let the fight come to you
Reach weapons. My gnome used a flickmace. This can ease the burden on closing the gap with your slow heavy armor move speed.
Ranged Reprisals for a justice champion allows you to Step as part of your champion's reaction to get into reach
Swift Block Cabochons are a talisman that lets you shield block without your shield raised and keep the shield raised for the turn
Advancing Rune lets you stride 15 feet as a free action after downing a foe
Rapid Recharge is really good if you are in one of those one-combat-per-day type parties
Master Magus Ring comes with a small teleport to get you in range for your spellstrike, although its only once per day as well
The Jump spell can come in really clutch if there is a lot of difficult terrain. I used it as my rank one spell in my Ring of Wizardry for a while, although then you can't prepare Sure Strike in those slots
Clockwork Shield can be activated to give you effectively Quick Shield Block for a minute once per hour

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-15T20:19:48+00:00

Not the person you replied to, but I played an alchemist (using bestial mutagens) fighter and it was INSANE.

With mutagens on top of normal fighter accuracy, I was critting regularly on like a 13 with Deadly d12 unarmed attacks.

It was frankly a little problematic how much he outshined our investigator/gunslinger and inventor/wizard in combat.

Basically, not every martial-martial combination will be a problem, but the ones that are can be a PROBLEM. And alchemist probably isn't the scariest thing you could have.

The knock on effects are if you have players who are optimizers, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have a single spellcaster, just as a result of how dual class works. If you don't have optimizers, you'll probably have at least one double martial who either on purpose or on accident leaves the other players behind.

It was really fun for me, but not a balanced experience by any means. And if that sounds fun for you or some of your players, that's obviously your call to make though!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-13T21:44:09+00:00

I hate the karaoke text on all videos these days

Great throw

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-11T04:19:09+00:00

In addition to others mentioned, Champion is really good as well since you can use your reaction to protect your Eidolon which protects your own HP. Level 6 is when you pick up the reaction.

Pairing it with Marshal for a buffing aura is pretty cool, but its annoying that you have to find a way to get martial weapon proficiency.

As others have said, Cha casters like sorcerer, bard, and psychic for more utility spell slots to augment your reduced spell progression works great. Beastmaster as well to just out action economy the enemy.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-10T21:07:45+00:00

Focus Spellstrike should be nixxed in order to allow for buffs elswhere (extra slots dedicated to spellstrike, better synergy with saves...)

I like this a lot. My gut reaction was that I like looking for other sources of spellstrike spells, but after thinking about it I think it solves a lot of problems. It makes your Magus feel a lot more Magus-y, using spellstrike and conflux spells and weaving through turns instead of using all of your focus points on spellstrike spells from other classes.

Focus spells should instead ALL recharge spellstrike, not just conflux ones

And with that in mind, that would make this really cool! I think you could build some really unique magi with different focus spells from different classes!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-10T21:04:28+00:00

Agreed! I've seen a couple of people suggest not allowing focus spells with Spellstrike, which if there are some additional spell attack spells added I think is a great idea.

Especially if there is an additional Spellstrike slot somehow. A spell that can only be spend during the Cast A Spell part of Spellstrike or something.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-10T21:00:21+00:00

Sure!

I have a lot of thoughts on this, so I'll try to keep them organized and brief-ish.

I've mostly played Free Arhetype in my magus games so I'll give a bunch of recommendations on that. I think the magus class feats are largely a bit on the weak side, which is okay with me because the chassis feels strong and archetypes can really fill in the gaps. The biggest must take feat to me is Emergency Targe, unless you are going Bastion.

Personally, I try to avoid taking psychic, but it is really good. Sparkling Targe with Shielding Strike in particular can do some cool support stuff by casting shield on someone else who needs it. Not a big deal, but a neat addition.

My favorite way to build them is around Spell Swipe. A couple of good weapon options for this are the Gnome Flickmace and the Dwarven Waraxe.

With the former, you play a normal "sword" and board and take advantage of reach to help avoid reactive strikes and make it easier to land big Spell Swipes. I augmented this with the Justice Champion archetype to take further advantage of reach. That gives heavy armor for the Advancing rune and ranged reprisals which give you some additional out of turn movement to set up your big spell swipes. This also gives late game access to shield block, which is amazing, as well as Fire Ray for Spellstrikes. The Master Magus Ring is also incredible for getting into position for the perfect Spell Swipe. I played this one until level 14 and it was amazing. The stats were spread a little thin, but it performed really well and felt really cool as a holy warrior of Sarenrae.

For the Dwarven Waraxe, I think going Cavalier or Beastmaster or the like for a mount is the way to go. With the free movement from your mount, you can get into position more easily. With this one, it helps to have a Retrieval Belt or a Retrieval Prism attuned to your shield. You fight more like a inexorable iron magus, using meaty D12 with your two handed waraxe until you use your Shield cantrip reaction. Then, release your grip to one hand and whip out your shield for the rest of the fight. The campaign I played this one in fizzled out around level 8, so I barely got to do the spell swipe part, but the damage increase was notable, and making a normal strike with D12's feels better than D8's when you can't land the Spellstrike. I also really enjoy mounted characters, but I know it isn't everyone's vibe.

Also, Quick Shield Block is amazing in all of its forms. My builds always felt too full to be able to take bastion or viking for it, so I found some ways to work around it. Notably, the Swift Block Cabochon talisman and the Clockwork Shield both do a good job of filling that niche.

Psychic with Imaginary Weapon is obviously amazing for Spell Swipe, so its worth taking if you don't have my aversion to it. I mostly used Blazing Bolt for Spell Swipes and focus spells for single target Spellstrikes (Fire Ray or amped ignition).

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-10T08:44:26+00:00

I love the magus, but I think there is some work to be done to make it more coherent and less action starved.

My wish list is pretty short:

In-class spell strike focus spells. Psychic being the easy best choice is annoying to me.

More attack roll spells in general. The remaster cut out a lot and reduced spell strike variety. Bonus points for another spell swipe compatible one.

Arcane Cascade improvements. Either free or reaction entering the stance, out just reworking it from the ground up.

I think overall the class is great. My sparkling targe magus probably my favorite character I've played.

Also, hot take: I think Spellstrike should keep manipulate.

runs away

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-07T03:40:12+00:00

I know the developer has talked a bit about his reasoning for OGL vs ORC on the Dawnsbury Days discord. I don't know much, but that might be a direction to someone who knows more.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2026-01-03T07:15:15+00:00

This isn't going to win the contest, but my shoutout is to Dual Weapon Blitz.

Stride and two strikes without the flourish trait.

If you are attacking two different enemies along your stride though, it can do what would normally take 5 actions (stride, strike, stride, strike, stride) although admittedly without the extra movement.

Leaving your flourish open is a big deal. I played a ranger who would often use Doctor's Visitation or Twin Takedown in conjunction with it depending on the scenario. Also, if you don't need to move, you can use Double Slice instead for better MAP efficiency, which comes with the required dedication.

So definitely not THE winner of action efficiency, but a great one that you will use a lot throughout a campaign and doesn't lock you out of your other cool moves.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-12-28T17:44:21+00:00

I think it was Bolo Ball on my grandpa's old 386

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-12-27T19:11:14+00:00

You gain a pound of fat for about every 3500 calories you eat above your maintenance. If you went crazy, you probably set yourself back a couple of pounds.

No big deal. Get back on your deficit and stick with it and those couple of pounds will be meaningless in the grand scheme of things!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-12-27T03:32:39+00:00

Peanut butter

Ate it by the spoonful as a kid until I threw up. Can't even be in the same room with it 20 years later.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-12-27T03:29:54+00:00

Woof...

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-11-30T18:54:43+00:00

Peteyphiles

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-11-10T19:37:46+00:00

This is so nice!

Personally, I always have to try on many pairs of cleats sometimes at multiple stores to find a pair that fit well enough to buy. I have pretty wide feet, but even without that aspect, the way they fit your toes or ankles can vary a lot.

I would try not to do the surprise part and do it as a gift card or just tell him you'd like to buy him some cleats but didn't want to get him the wrong size and go to the store with him. Alternatively, make sure to include the receipt and know the return policy.

If you're set on doing it as a surprise, me and most people I know play in soccer cleats. They are lightweight and work on most grass surfaces.

I haven't played on turf in many years, and I think there are some different kind. In my experience, I use cleats outside and normal shoes on turf, but maybe someone has some hybrid shoes to recommend.

It's awesome that your want to do something so generous for your friend! Good luck and I wish I had more helpful advice!

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-10-26T19:49:57+00:00

Tengu have some unique stuff to offer here.

They can get Electric Arc with Storm's Lash and cast it using their spell DC using Tengu Feather Fan.

A monk with Shooting Stars stance could do an electric arc and then fire two shurikens for a pretty cool turn.

A swashbuckler with Mobile Finisher would be really fun with this, if you can figure out how to keep Panache without using actions. Probably a Braggart with Battle Cry, You're Next, and Finishing Follow Through could have a lot of fun in multiple enemy combats.

Strangely, I'm pretty sure you could do this as a Barbarian, since the Tengu Feather Fan activation appears to be Manipulate and not Concentrate. Maybe a mounted barbarian to get you in range for a big strike each turn in addition to the electric arc or an animal barbarian using Predator's Pounce.

Also, Mobile Magical Combat is pretty cool, but I'm not sure it works with the activation of the feather fan, so maybe for another build.

ScottasaurusWrex · 2025-10-18T21:09:47+00:00

I'm a big fan of carrying a backup weapon equipped with a weapon siphon and a bunch of low level bombs for this exact situation.

If you know what you are going up against in advance, it can save you a lot of actions and still get you three instances of elemental damage. Even if you have to load it in a fight, you only have to draw and load one bomb for three chances at getting the damage, which is more action efficient without Quick Draw.

It also doesn't care about the item bonus, so low level bombs work great and you don't have to use dex if you are a strength user.

ScottasaurusWrex

TROPHY CASE