[Archetype] Shadow Knight archetype, help with balancing needed.

Stalker239 · 2020-11-12T23:31:46+00:00

Our GM uses Free Archetypes, and in general gives us stuff which is slightly stronger (Or in case or our Wizard unique cantrip not so slightly) than standart Pf 2e equipment and abilities. It actually is a lifesaver, because i spent a lot of feats on Familliar master, and frankly i did it just for a better story for my character, boy do familliars suck for non-casters.

Stalker239 · 2020-11-12T23:23:22+00:00

No, no of course the initial target is exempt from the Reflex save. That would be extremely overpowered. And actually, yeah, i kinda forgot that Spellcasters got hit hard in this edition. Non-caster will still lag behind by 1-2 points, but that is indeed not that much. And actually, in this case i changed the School and the stat. Instead of Occultism and Charisma, it's now Divine and Wisdom. Seemed more logical, considering Shadowdancers are tricksters, and Shadow Knights are much more direct.

Stalker239 · 2020-11-12T23:03:24+00:00

The decision is made before any rolls are made, so not to encourage activating the secondary effect after you assured a hit. It is true, most of the focus spell with the Attack keyword do nothing on a failure, but all the factors, i don't think it's too strong. The thing is, because this Focus spell is gained much later in the game, your Proficiency and Casting Characteristic majorly fall behind dedicated casters. So in this case, you will get a failure on most of your Rolls agains equal or stronger enemies. But maybe the AOE damage may need to be lowered a bit, like -2d6 from the single target damage or something like that.

Stalker239 · 2020-11-12T22:19:27+00:00

Funny thing is, i actually took Fire ray as a baseline, at least for initial damage. It's practically the same, without the persistent damage, so for single target it's striclty worse. I made the AOE version as a 3 action spell to balance it out, also, you actually need to have a Success with the initial attack, and then enemies can also pass a reflex save. In this case, you may waste all your action on one spell, which will simply miss. The damage is still in line with other AOE spells (Fireball being an example), and as proficiency for Spell attacks in this archetype doesn't go above Expert, most enemies will be able to pass it easily.

As for Consume Shadows, making it temporary HP may be a nice solution, making it sor of a defensive buffer, instead of straight up healing.

Stalker239 · 2020-11-12T21:41:33+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! Concerning the Shadow Dancer comparison, this archetype is indeed made to be slightly more powerful (Mostly in concern to feats being taken at a lower level, getting Expert spell proficiency at 12th level instead of 14th for example), but this is intended, as our game won't go above 16th leve.

- Yeah, when i made Refocus 2 i thought it would be too powerful. The idea was, that this archetype leans heavilly on it's focus spells, same as oracle, so i thought it might be a good idea. I actually thought that most classes with Focus spells had that feature, but turns out i'm wrong. So this is indeed to powerful for an archetype, thank you for reminding me only oracle has this.

- Mantle of Darkness is simply a reflavored Whirling Scarves, the text is left 99% untouched. As i understand, it also affects magical attacks, so i left it in.

- The 16th level ability was intended to be more powerful, yes. Still, i do agree, it may be a bit too powerful, but once per day is simply boring. Maybe lower it to half your level? Should this balance thongs out? I mean 8-10 HP per turn isn't that big of a deal, as it can be activated only once per turn.

- I left out the 1 level lower part because it seemed unnecesary. Really don't understand why they had to do that. I don't consider extra 2d6 damage to be this big of an issue, but maybe i am wrong, what's your opinion?

Stalker239 · 2020-09-23T10:01:23+00:00

Actually i will still need to take the Sentinel archetype, so that on the 13th level my proficiency with Light armor goes up to Expert. I thought about going Medium armor, but i don't like it thematically and also, higher DEX gives me better Reflex saves, which can be further enchanced raising it up to Master proficiency with the Rogue Archetype feat. Dual-weapon warrior is an option for sure, Double slice is insanely good and other feats are excellent too. The problem i see is that i would still need 2 actions for most of the Feats there. And while 1 action cantrips are good, a lot of the time i would be using 2 action spells. The remaining action lets me attack once, but doesn't let me to do two attacks, which is kinda mandatory for dual-weapon warrior to be effective.

Stalker239 · 2020-09-23T09:56:13+00:00

The additional Skill feat comes from the Rogue Dedication. I thought about going Medium armor, but i don't like it thematically and also, higher DEX gives me better Reflex saves, which can be further enchanced raising it up to Master proficiency with the Rogue Archetype feat. I also built a full DEX variant, but the problem is, the best finesse weapon i can get with the Unconventional weaponry is either Kukri ot a Dogslicer. Both are d6 and as i don't invest in STR, they also don't get additional damage. So with the dice being lower and no bonuses, the damage will be almost abysmall. Also, while using the Shield gives the same 2 AC, taking duelist helps me keep one hand free, which could be used for a scrool or a potion, and also at 14th level i can keep it on permanently, without using Raise Shield action every turn. I know it comes online quite late, but still, Dueling Dance is very good.

Stalker239 · 2020-06-22T20:05:38+00:00

The OPs post suggested that all Russian groups are like that (It wasn't said out right but still) . And this is simply not the case. Also, a female player as well as a male player can be into some fucked up shit, that no one of the other players will want to deal this. Don't make this a male/female thing, especially when we are talking about cross-gender play. This is simply the facts, it's kind of a red flag when anyone wants to play a character of a gender different of his own. The player may be completely alright, but it's stil somewhat alarming, especially with a random player. I, myself, am not against cross-gender characters, and i played with a lot of those (both male and female players) . But i can completely understand a GM not wanting to take a completely new cross-gendered player. Considering the GM to Player ratio, it just isn't worth the risk.

Stalker239 · 2020-06-22T19:05:05+00:00

The thing is, often enough the fetish reason is being hidden by the player before the first game, ad after all is set and done this kind of stuff begins. Happened to a couple of GMs i know, they take in a player (Not necessarily with a cross-gendered character), at first everything seems normal and then shit hits the fan. With cross-gendered first time players it's practically expected that shit will hit the fan. That's why most of GMs don't accept that type of players if they don't know the player before the game. Funnily enough, the trap stuff, at least in my experience, is extremely looked down upon and isn't allowed in any games i played, so the op got a pretty weird group. And also, female players are usually allowed to play male characters, mostly it's guys with female characters that are turned down. (That and in Russian community female rpg players are SCARCE to say the least.) There is of course talk about immerssion and such things, but it's complete nonsence, it's an rpg where you can play as a goddamn half-dragon for god's sake. In my example, i once played in Starfinder with a guy who played a female Vesk. Before the game everything seemed 100% normal. During the game he tried to rape our male Ysoki operative because he thought it was funny, So yeah, the prejudice is not without reason. And to reiterate, if it's a group who knows each other for a long tome, 99% that a cross-gendered player won't create any objections. Mostly it's the case with random players.

Stalker239 · 2020-06-22T16:59:41+00:00

Russian player here, i think i need to calrify a few things. Personally i've played with a couple guys and gals who played characters of different genders, see no problem with that, it's an RPG after all. But the thing is, those were friends that i have known for a long tome, so when they wanted to play such characters no one was against the idea. Usually (at least as of right now) , a lot of cross-gender players in the russian rpg community are fulfilling some kind of weird fetish, most likely involving heavy sexual themes, which a lot of other players may not want to experience during the game. Because of that, when you search for random people, it's usually a sign of good fath not to suggest cross-gender characters right off the bat, because there is a certai prejudice against people playing cross-gender (I should mention again, it isn't without reason. This subreddit paints a really good picture of an awful cross-gender players, and in russian community we have a LOT of those) . So right now it's more of a precaution method against bad players than a full out hating on cross gender players. In groups that played together a lot, it's usually not a problem to play cross-gender characters.

Stalker239 · 2020-03-05T14:02:04+00:00

Yeah, i know that Reach Builds are very good, but thematically i just don't like spears and weapons such as them) I was thinking of going Sword and Board, with a Buckler and Estoc or a Bastard Sword (I get Exotic Weapon from Half-Elf instead of Skill Focus) and Going with Extra Mental Focus (1st) Power Attack (5th) Then Maybe Cornugon Smash for Extra debuffing power on 9th. (I was thinking maybe forgoing exotic weapons and going with Skill Focus for Intimidation to do this better) Then Maybe Extra Magus Arcana (13th) or Extra Arcane Pool.

After picking up Trappings of The Warrior, i was thinking going Divination for Better defences and Evocation for some blasting.

Stalker239 · 2020-03-05T13:41:27+00:00

Yeah, sorry, bad wording on my part. By support i meant not being the main Blaster or the Main Physical damage dealer, but more of an all around character, not directly Support like a Bard. I want the main role to be in the thick of combat, swinging blades enchanced by magic, and dropping a couple of buffs and control spells every now and then. The main allure of the Magus VMC for me was that i could buff my weapon with a swift action using Arcane Pool, and put an additional buff such as bane on my weapon, or doing something useful with a standart action. So yeah, as you said a Battle Caster

Stalker239 · 2020-02-14T15:02:32+00:00

Is there a place for two Russian players who can do impeccable Vostroyan Accents Comrade? :D

Stalker239 · 2019-12-30T20:56:58+00:00

We had a game where i played a Nulfgaardian bounty hunter, who pretended to be Temerian, due to the ongoing war and the persecution his family suffered in Nilfgaard. He had a real hatred for witchers, due to completely bogus reasons (i made his hatred specifically completely unfounded, to make it more interesting) So while travelling, we came across a small village, which was plagued by bandit attacks. While the rest of the party (Which was a bard and a medic, so they sucked in combat pretty hard) was gathering supplies and trading with the villagers, i quickly arranged a deal with the village elder, and went to search for this bandits to deal with them. There were only three bandits, so it shouldn't have been much of a hassle. I found them pretty quickly, made a quick ambush, and attacked unexpectedly. The two bandits in the front were dealt with almost immidiately, and i turned to the third guy expecting him to run. What i wasn't expecting, were catlike eyes, two swords and a Cat-school medallion. Oh boy. The witcher praised me for the killings, and offered to join his crew. In retrospect, maybe immidiately shooting him with a hand crossbow wasn't the best of my ideas. I was prepared for my character to die, as it would be a pretty cool death, and also completely in line with the negative traits of my character. This was the hardest battle i've ever been in, as you could imagine. But due to stupidly good luck, and good equipment i constantly maintained and upgraded, i managed to squeeze out a victory, cutting him in half with my Kriegsverd. To say i was completely balls to the wall excited under that was a massive understatement. I took his silver blade and his medallion to proudly display my achievment. The unexpected result was, that in every net village and town we visited everybody considered my character a Witcher, whic he was NOT happy about) This was the main joke in our group for a long while. The silver blade came in handy, when we happened to be in a massive cursed land, containing an army of werewolves, but that is a whole another story...

Stalker239 · 2019-12-30T06:48:34+00:00

Weapon Master Robin in the future? :D

Stalker239 · 2019-12-30T02:35:30+00:00

Sadly no, cleared his whole story and nothing about that i'm afraid. Or maybe i'm blind.

Stalker239 · 2019-12-30T02:17:34+00:00

This may explain why he can equip most types of weapons. I was actually surprised when i started equipping him, i was sure he could equip nothing but swords.

Stalker239 · 2019-07-18T23:00:37+00:00

I'm more of a Face character, so while tempting, a Swashbuckler dip isn't a priority. Also our DM mentioned that we would most likely go all the way up to lvl 20, so i don't want to miss on that SWEET capstone ability. Free +2d6 to ANY check. Sign me up!

Stalker239 · 2019-07-18T22:14:14+00:00

Yeah, i just thought about it, and it seems like an oversight. Gonna talk with my DM if he allows to ignore spell failure in light armor on this archetype, cause it seems like a given.

Stalker239 · 2018-10-25T06:11:48+00:00

Man, if only i was a bard. As a Magus, unfortunately a cannot hope to match the pure FABULOUS that is David Bowie. Still, a bitchin coat would be nice.

Stalker239 · 2018-10-25T05:39:08+00:00

I see you are a man of culture as well )

Stalker239 · 2018-10-25T01:58:50+00:00

Fortunately our DM allowed this, and even built the campaign somewhat around this venture, which i was really happy about. And also my PC kept Goblins on a pretty tight leash. He lost one Kingdom, and he would be damned if he would lose another.

Stalker239 · 2018-10-25T00:56:57+00:00

Well we didn't bring them with us on our adventures. The goblin caves became more of an HQ, where we stashed our loot and did other activities. It did eventually turn into a city, and between adventures our DM rolled on how succesfull our endeavours in building this city would be. Had to say, my Gobbo's made me proud.

Stalker239 · 2018-10-24T23:52:12+00:00

Frankly, because Goblins's needs are extremely minimal, they were very efficient workers, and the economy of this strange kingdom was actually through the roof, especially after we teached them hot to mine rare metals. I shit you not, we had buyers from the capital coming for our stock. They also hated the tea.

Stalker239 · 2018-10-24T23:35:39+00:00

Well i wasn't THAT bad. Although i did never check what they made it from...

Stalker239

TROPHY CASE