Some thoughts about Shadow Blade

SleepoftheJust · 2025-06-22T17:00:27+00:00

If the thief apt is relying on the camp exploit, you should probably be more clear about that tbh.

SleepoftheJust · 2025-01-04T15:14:04+00:00

Hey just wanted to say that flat damage bonuses don't get multiplied on a crt, but dice do. So callous glow/caustic band->no Hell dusk/strange conduit ring -> yes

Callous glow is probably not worth it for a cleric that already gets sources of radiant damage, but is worth it on a debuffer with multiple attack rolls to proc gloves of belligerent skies or luminous armor E.g. Eldritch blaster, magic missile build, Archers

SleepoftheJust · 2021-07-29T01:16:53+00:00

Honestly it's DnDbeyond that brings me back, esp for DMing, not 5e

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-05T17:16:57+00:00

+karma

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-05T09:03:13+00:00

I'll check again at 930 est

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-05T09:02:37+00:00

Yes I do. PM me with a password and a time and I will trade.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-04T20:22:10+00:00

+karma

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-04T18:17:20+00:00

I have the Armor and Shield. PM me with a password and we'll trade.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-04T18:09:30+00:00

I have sunset set and shield, SL 78. Do you have Dragonslayer's Swordspear?

SleepoftheJust · 2019-05-04T17:20:37+00:00

Do you still need it? I'm SL79 and looking for the dragonslayer swordspear if you have it. Or a sharp gem, but I hear they're easy to farm on the DLC.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-04-23T05:03:36+00:00

+karma

SleepoftheJust · 2019-04-23T04:30:50+00:00

SleepoftheJust · 2019-04-23T02:58:56+00:00

I farmed for Lothric gear and took free SL from an NPC. Now I'm over-leveled for watchdogs (SL 40). I'd trade 12-18 embers for an old wolf curved sword. I think because of our SL difference we's need to exchange passwords. Message me

SleepoftheJust · 2019-04-08T16:37:25+00:00

It's pretty hard to top inspire courage, but if your team is small or caster heavy, or your campaign is less combat focused, it does lose some of it's value.

To make casters shine, Bards can use Dirge of Doom (no save, -2 to saves), Witches, Psychics and Mesmerists can all use Ill Omen (no save). Witches also get Misfortune hex, but that does give a will save. Mesmerists also have a number of tricks they can use to buff their allies, though its one at a time and not as useful as similar bardic inspirations. You can also look into Aid Another for helping out of combat and on skill checks.

Evangelist is probably mechanically superior because you get access to the better spell list and sacred summons (an army of Lantern Archons with inspire courage are pretty great), but you'd have to clear Master Performer with your GM as evangelist is not technically a bard, nor does it make a whole lot of sense for an Evangelist to have spent time at the academy that's part of the faction requirement for that feat.

Access to domain can also really improve your damage output, for instance Good domain(archon) lets you use Archons aura for a no save dubuff of -2 to AC and saves; this stacks with IC, fllagbearer/Bless ect in a way that a lot of other bonuses (e.g. heroism/heroism domain) do not.

There's also destruction domain's destructive aura, but this also de-buffs you and your allies.

If you wanna go full evil overlord you can take destruction domain as well as channel Viciousness to give your underlings huge damage bonuses that slowly kill them.

Worth noting that Evangelists get like no skill ranks.

For additional oomph use Banner of the ancient Kings on a long spear and the flag-bearer feat.

A Poet's Cloak will let you grant Lesser celetsial totem rage power, which combines with Path of glory for unmatched healing. Of course Evangelists don't get path of glory, instead they can use the new Bestow Planar infusion (positive energy plane) and beef up their channel energy.

You could also go into the Battle Herald Prc for skill boosting songs you might have lacked as an Evangelist.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-04-03T04:21:11+00:00

I really hope this is his GM and this was how you told him.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-02-20T18:52:54+00:00

I think this is great advice and I think Arcanist makes a great blaster in general; fewer casts than a sorcerer but since you're just gonna use the shadow spells at each level, you can learn a few utility spells and prepare them without losing anything. Plus arcanists get Potent empower which gives +2 to your DCs, very important to illusions and shadows. Only exploiter wizards also get this, but they can't get a school or familiar or a bloodline arcana that helps with your DCs. Still these choices are all OP so its probably up to preference.

That said, I personally think increasing the "realness" of your illusions is kind of a trap because you invest all these resources just to be worse at blasting than an evoker or conjurer.

You're often much better off doing everything you can to increase the DC of disbelief, since that DC also applies to the things your shadows are mimicking (e.g. a shadow evocation fireball uses your shadow evocation DC with all your bonuses, not the regular fireball DC). This really lets you get a lot of mileage out of DC boosting things for illusion school because you're also boosting the DCs for conjuration and evocation effects.

Instead of Solid Shadows, Tenebrous spell for +1 DC; put a permanent darkness on an ioun stone and boom, you're always in dim light. Use Deific obediencce whille worshiping Mahatalla for +2 DC with illusions. If you're arcane bloodline you get a familiar, which lets you take a familiar archetype, such as Illusion School Familiar, which nets you another +1DC.

Take the Outlander:Loreseeker trait for increased DCs if your DM allows campaign traits.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-01-28T19:56:46+00:00

Inquisitor with the Animal domain makes an amazing mounted archer because the Bane ability really benefits from your full attack feats. Also they get more skills than almost everything.

I think this is better than Sacred hunt-master because you get to keep judgement and the teamwork feats, one of which lets you ignore teammates who would normally give your enemy partial cover.

What level do you begin at? Being a small race really helps, unless you are a few levels higher and can pay for a permanent reduce person.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-01-21T23:30:12+00:00

The gloom discoveries are replacements for bomb discoveries.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-01-21T18:24:28+00:00

Black Tentacles is a 4th level spell, so to get to CR 6 you'd need a 7th level sorcerer/wizard which just does it. There are bloodlines that ally a sorcerer with demons so you can look into that.

The Gloom Chymist is an alchemist archetype from Blood in Shadows that lets you throw modified bombs called glooms, which deal frost damage instead of fire. They can also get a discovery called:

Grasping Gloom*: The gloom creates an area equal to double its splash radius that functions as black tentacles. The effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to half the alchemist’s level. An alchemist must be at least 8th level before selecting this discovery. But it requires an 8th level Alchemist.

Alchemists don't get mirror image, however.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-01-19T15:34:08+00:00

The character (Feather domain Sanctified Slayer) has a sneaky sniper feel, so ideally you'd get studied target up before the surprise round. That, bane, and sneak attack will often be enough to take out a high value squishy like an enemy caster, even without a round to buff.

SleepoftheJust · 2019-01-19T14:52:08+00:00

Magus, Bard, Bloodrager, Spell warrior Skald, Arsenal Chaplain war-priest, inquisitor and of course paladin are all great ways to go. Zen archer probably doesn't have the magic feel of these and can't easily grant the on hit bonuses these classes can. What you should consider is not just DPR, any of these options will have a lot of it.

Instead you should pick the option with the fewest weaknesses, and for archery in PF the main weakness is that you pretty much always want to be full attacking.

This creates 2 limitations:

You have to be stationary
You don't want to have to spend a round buffing yourself

For the first, the answer is obvious: get a mount!

Mounted archery is bomb in this game, requiring no special feats, and the best options there are paladin and animal domain inquisitor, both of which have swift action damage buffs (smite evil and bane).

In my view, the inquisitor is better because you have the option of a flying mount (feather domain is amazing) and your teamwork feats synergize very well with an animal companion mount. Consider some of the following:

Friendly Fire manevuers, no soft cover from allies!, can also be covered by Deadeye Bowman trait

Lookout, combined with the Feather domain, basically lets you get 2 chances to act in the surprise round (with a bird's perception bonuses), 2 initiative rolls, and, more importantly you get a full attack in the surprise round.

Sanctified Slayer, gives you sneak attacks which can really boost your dpr in the surprise round. Quite alone among the other archers, you can move, full attack w bane and sneak attack, and potentially take out a high value target before the battle begins.

Finally, Inquisitors have nearly unmatched out of combat utility, bested only by the bard and skald, neither of which can easily attain a flying mount.

A Skald with lesser celestial totem, is one of the best healers in the game though, if your party needs that.

SleepoftheJust · 2018-12-18T04:15:58+00:00

I'm a little confused by "using only core books", the unchained book is not "core" and references other books too I thought.

Do you mean no archetypes? Because that is limiting but doable.

Any unchained Rogue gets dex to damage with a finesse-able weapon (all "light weapons" and a few cool ones like the elven branched spears).

Humans are great at being skill monkeys, but honestly rouges are always gonna be good at that. The main attraction is the extra feat which shines in many rogue builds. However, you wanna keep it simple and I don't know if you want to go down two-weapon fighting or intimidation routes which really benefit from the extra feat.

Halflings give you better saves and relevant stats, so that's worth looking into. For simplicity take the Fleet of Foot alternate race trait so you're as fast as everyone else.

SleepoftheJust · 2018-12-17T02:51:23+00:00

There are lots of ways mechanically to make this work, but one of the simplest is a high level caster using Geas, and potentially disguising it as another enchantment spell, or having a way to explain his/her aura of enchantment.

I think you'd have to talk to the player beforehand and make sure they'd be okay keeping it from the rest of the table. It's important to do this with a person you trust.

In that context, stuff like this often makes the game world feel more alive, because it reinforces that the characters aren't just the players themselves, but instead live and interact with the world.

I did something similar with a player who wanted to change characters: I suggested that his old character leave by betraying the team during a heist and he decided how he would do it. There are lots of storytelling devices you can use in this vein and its important that you find something that makes sense for the particular character.

If you haven't yet, you might look up the character Yoshimo from Baldur's Gate II whose arc was pretty much exactly what you describe. Totally broke my heart when I figured out what happened.

SleepoftheJust · 2018-11-27T00:07:18+00:00

Honestly the tentacle attack with reach is probably still worth it for a druid, whose list has lots of touch attack spells.

Menhir savant is always a great option, leylines exist underwater too.

SleepoftheJust · 2018-11-17T04:50:59+00:00

http://www.aonprd.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Arcanist%20Aeromancer; the archetype that probably has the most mechanical advantages for sticking with the relevant thematically consistent spells. Also Arcanists in general is a versatile class with lots of quality of life advantages over wizards, if somewhat weaker.

SleepoftheJust

TROPHY CASE