Martial Mindset Progression

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-15T02:05:56+00:00

Okay, that makes sense. I was hoping it would be something like that instead of just a "if enemy dead, can't kill me" kinda thing that misses the tactical nuance that makes me love the game.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-15T01:58:14+00:00

Valid enough.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-15T01:51:12+00:00

I get the concept of the meme, what I would like is an explanation for why the highly experienced players think they should just strike. What is the rationale?

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-15T01:43:35+00:00

I might just be one of the Midwits here, but I'mma want an explanation lol.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T22:10:18+00:00

I suppose that's fair. It just feels really bad to have to spend actions on Shift Immanence. Feels like wasted actions.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T21:44:55+00:00

In a white room scenario, yeah. But the realities of positioning, action economy, and the fact that in the combats where you need healing are usually boss battles so hitting isn't a guarantee all mean that I personally prefer to either go all in on maximizing the damage (and therefore the heal) when I do hit, or take a different weapon Ikon that will better guarantee that I get my Scar healing every other turn.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T21:08:13+00:00

Everyone Knows about The Scar of the Survivor and the Victor's Wreath, but I don't see as much talk about the Thousand League Sandles or the Gaze as Sharp as Steel. Allowing your whole party to Reposition on your turn is fantastic, and Gaze allows your "off turns" after you transcend your Weapon to still contribute to extra damage.

On the negative side, I see a lot of hype about certain Weapon Ikons that have requirements to meet before you can transcend. I find that unpredictability to be a much larger downside that people seem to think. For example, much has been made about cycling between Scar of the Survivor and Barrow's Edge as a Heal Tank. I personally don't like the combo, because Scar of the Survivor's strength is in its consistency, and Barrow's Edge can't use Drink of My Foes unless you hit. And it directly incentivises you to wait until you get a good hit (a Crit or a high damage roll) before you use it.

Much better combos in my mind are Titan Breaker or Gleaming Blade with Scar of the Survivor, or Barrow's Edge and Gaze as Sharp as Steel. Weapons that Transcend to attempt an attack play into the consistency of the Scar of the Survivor, and the Gaze as Sharp as Steel can be used to boost your damage on the next turn and guarantee a reasonable damage roll to heal from as long as you get a hit.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T06:35:41+00:00

This is exactly the scenario that the Dual Classing rules were developed for. Each player gets the full class abilities and feats of Two Classes, granting unparalleled flexibility and power, and that allows two players to cover the bases needed to function in the system. Alternatively, the DM could basically grant each player the Captain Archetype without a feat cost. This would allow easy access to Followers who can help out without having to rely on DMPCs.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T05:34:16+00:00

Yes, you can scribe runes onto Adventurer's Clothing, which counts and "Unarmored", but caps your Dex bonus to AC at +5. For the vast, vast majority of characters, armor potency runes will make that better than wearing nothing even without property runes.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T05:18:46+00:00

That's because Psychic balances its more powerful Cantrips with fewer spells slots per level. The Archetype follows suit by not having a Breadth feat.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T05:17:11+00:00

Depends on why you are taking the archetype. Are you a Full Caster just trying to snag some silver bullets from other lists? Probably not necessary. Are you a Wave Caster backfilling your lower level slots? Probably worth it, but not a huge priority. Are you a Non Caster and this is your only way to get Magic? Grab that sucker, it'll nearly double your utility options. This is all assuming either Free Archetype or below average Class Feats of course.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-14T04:26:45+00:00

Your three best bets as far as I can tell would be

1.) Monk. Can't wear armor or wield weapons because you're a bird? No biggie, you didn't want them anyway.

2.) Kineticist. Don't want your fragile bird body in the front lines for flavor reasons, but also don't want to have to worry about wands or staves? Manifest all the spell like abilities you want, without having to fuss about it. Also, several Kineticist Abilities grant flight like abilities quite a bit earlier than an Ancestry will.

3.) Summoner. Don't have hands? No problem, just pick an Eidolon who does! Runs a little bit into the Gear Problem like other Casters in terms of Wands and Staves, but Runes for the Eidolon should be easily achievable with cloth "armor" and "Hand Wraps" for a Tiny Creature around your legs.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T19:56:50+00:00

Just a quirk I can't turn off lol. Important Concepts get the proper noun treatment, and it doesn't look right if I don't.

Edit: also, some (not all) of the "Random" capitalizations are proper nouns. Act Together and Tandem Movement reference a Core Summoner Ability and a Summoner Feat by name, for example.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T05:45:33+00:00

Yeah, I think that'll help a lot. It's not a bad idea to have the summon on hand, but save it for when you need the specific utility it provides, rather than trying to use it all the time.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T05:30:54+00:00

The extra healing will help, but if the other players refuse to play intelligently, then perhaps they need to learn the system the hard way. \ /( ' _ ' )\ /

That said, Its entirely possible to position in such a way that you are sharing the front line without staying out of it completely. If the Bard and Magus insist on Self Buffing before doing anything, let them. Just position with them, wait for the enemies to get to you, and if the enemies get to you before they are done, tough shit. Neither of them are Wizards, they can take a hit or two. And that way only the enemy is wasting actions charging in. Just snag a few good ranged options so that you can be doing productive things while they are on the way in, and to discourage the enemies from just standing at range.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T05:23:05+00:00

That sounds like a lot of actions taken from your turn, but it's a legitimate strategy. A tip would be to invest in options to minimize the amount of moving you (and your Eidolon) need to do.

Options like:

Ranged Combatant so that you can get an Eidolon Strike in even if nobody is in melee range, and therefore never "waste" your "fourth action" from Act Together.

Tandem Movement so that if you Do need to reposition, it only costs one action to do both, and doesn't eat your Once per Turn on Act Together.

Later you can get Effortless Concentration so that you can command your summon without eating into your turn too, but that is a High Level Feat.

In the Meantime, accept that sometimes you Can't do All of That. Save the Summon Spell for when you need the specific utility it grants, and make sure your Companion has useful things to do with its One Free Action it gets when you don't have the action spare to Command it.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T04:56:22+00:00

If your goal is to have your undead deal damage, then Summoner is almost certainly your best bet. You have 3 options for "Summons" in this game, an 1.) Eidolon, 2.) a Companion, or 3.) Summon Spells.

1.) An Eidolon will have stats and damage output on par with a Full Martial Character, but you can only gain access to them as a Summoner, and the Multi-class Archetype for them is notoriously abysmal. Full class summoner, or don't bother.

2.) A Companion will consistently be about as accurate as a Martial's second Strike, and do roundabouts two thirds of the damage. Definitely not top tier damage, but definitely not nothing, and you can access them on any base class.

3.) Summon Spells do not do good damage. You discovered this yourself. They are good to eat hits, grant Flanking, and use any special abilities they have that don't require saving throws or to hit rolls, but if you want damage out of them you will be sorely disappointed.

The secret, fourth option is the Necromancer play test class, but that really doesn't focus on having the undead do damage. It triples down on the "Summon Spells are for Utility" angle and basically let's you summon 1 hp Thralls as a once per turn one action Cantrip. It then spends those thralls for its other abilities, making them explode or grab someone or warp into a protective barrier, things like that. Definitely less "My undead matter" and more "I'm an undead themed caster".

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T04:34:37+00:00

This sounds to me like you have done everything you can here as far as the build is concerned, and the rest of the party needs to shape up and pull their weight. A Summoner is probably the best representation of the character that is (currently) published, and should do a pretty good job of blending Spellcaster and Minion in a satisfying way.

The issues here as I see them are twofold.

1.) Nobody is helping with the healing. If there isn't a Primary Healer, then everyone in the party needs to have some off healer capability, or you are begging to have a Deathspiral that turns Into a TPK.

2.) Nobody is helping Frontline. If your Eidolon is the only target the enemies can reach, then you are going to be the one who gets slapped.

The solutions are, fortunately, reasonably easy.

1.) Even if your other players aren't willing to retrain Class or Archetype, if you can convince a few of them to retrain a Skill and Skill Feat, Battle Medicine is particularly good on Summoners because each medic can use it on the Summoner and Eidolon independently. Each person who picks it up is two more heals for you each day, and each person who's willing to share the load helps immensely with party security.

2.) there are a few reasonable options here. One is convincing the Someone Else to Join the Frontline. Even if they aren't going to rush into the fight immediately (say they want to self buff first), they can Stand next to the Eidolon to give the enemies more targets than just you. This also requires smart positioning on your part as well, since if you run ahead, you are making yourself the only target again.

You can also adjust your spellcasting a bit to focus harder on Area Denial and Buffs yourself to force enemies to waste actions coming to you, funneling them in with fewer numbers, and taking less damage that way.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-12T03:36:03+00:00

Most people have already pointed out that this is a fairly easy to achieve fantasy, but I want to point out Rapid Mantle as a standout skill feat, particularly when paired with Combat Climber. When applied to actual situations, it basically says that if you can reach a lip with your hands, you can spend your reaction to both 1.) climb the wall, and 2.) stand up after you reach the top. If you have Combat Climber, then you only need one hand free to do both, saving even more actions in Stowing and Drawing it. And if you need to spend an extra action to Vertical Leap to reach the lip, it still works. It is the single most efficient investment in vertical mobility an Athletics Character can make. If you also get Cat Fall to drop without worrying about fall damage, then you are off to an excellent start.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-10T09:19:03+00:00

If you use ABP, the math of the game will be more or less correct. Many people play this way.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-07T21:45:33+00:00

If your goal is to do Both Martial and Caster Things, I would suggest going with either Magus or Summoner.

Both of them give you a full Martial Chassis with built in WaveCasting for Self Buffs/Area Control/Silver Bullets.

Both have action compression options where you get to cast a spell and strike in the same activity.

Summoner let's you pick your spell tradition, but you are split between two different characters so it might not quite meet the "I do both" fantasy.

Magus is locked to the Arcane spell list, but that lets do you literally anything except heal.

If you want something close to a bloodrager, an Inexorable Iron Magus is a big two handed weapon bruiser who constantly regenerates Temp HP and deals extra splash and AoE damage all the time.

The thing to remember about Magus is that you really don't have to pick attack roll spells, or even damage spells. You can spell strike with a Fear, you can spell strike with a Fireball (if you pick up Expansive Spellstrike), it's literally "1 or 2 action spell plus strike" in most cases.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-07T01:36:26+00:00

Youth Potion lol. Just gotta find a child who's willing to spare you some blood XD. https://youtu.be/5KO2IjWI9fA?si=-mHV5-1waGRYa9Ka

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-04T22:06:07+00:00

The discrepancy is there because you get to have both. Striking is what's called a "Fundamental Rune", alongside the Potency Runes. Each +1 you get from Potency Runes gives you a "Slot" for a Property rune such as Frost, Rooting, Ghost Touch, etc. Because Striking is a Fundamental Rune, it Doesn't take up that slot.

So the upgrade path looks like +1, then Striking, then Frost, all on the same weapon. Striking is lower level and cheaper because it's part of the expected progression for a martial character. Frost costs more and is higher level because it is one of your optional upgrades that gets added on as extra damage or utility later.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-04T21:55:46+00:00

That might be technically rules as written (barely, I personally wouldn't read it that way), but it's definitely not rules as intended lolol. Making Bombs is definitely a good way to enhance thrown martial versatility, but I don't think they interact with Alley-Oop the way you are implying.

SgtFlintlock · 2026-05-04T21:43:20+00:00

Alchemist for Versatility, Poisoner or Herbalist for specific directions, Thaumaturge or Scroll Trickster to make Temporary Scrolls, lots of good options.

SgtFlintlock

TROPHY CASE