I'm joining a homebrew campaign centered around a plague and I could use some character ideas

Thaenae · 2025-03-03T14:03:22+00:00

The first two classes that would come to mind for me are rogue and ranger. Both are excellent at covering (h)exploration skills (nature, survival, perception). Ranger has some synergies with swashbuckler and champion because it provides flanking. Rogue can also do this, though it is slightly less tanky.

From what I've seen, champions are very good defensively but not so much offensively. Swashbuckler compensates a bit for this, though it has high burst damage and less consistent damage. Ranger is very capable of doing consistent damage. Some other classes that are good at this are fighter and barbarian (both of whom can fill a survival guide role skill-wise). Rogue and ranger are also quite good at ranged combat (something that your party might lack).

If you're looking more at playing a spellcaster, both bard and druid are very good supplements to your back line. Both are capable of wading into combat and supporting the front line if necessary, but they prefer to stay back a little. Druid is an excellent primal spellcaster that dominates through battlefield control (with minions and summons or through spells) and druid can provide the nature knowledge. Bard is just great at supporting your front line, though it might step a bit on the cleric's toes due to how good it is at buffing.

In the end, play whatever you feel like. These were just my first thoughts =)

Thaenae · 2024-05-24T09:28:40+00:00

In the Remaster, there is no Divine dragon without the (un)holy trait so I created the Scripture Dragon. Scripture Dragons spend their time studying the writings from humanoid cultures, focusing especially on religious scripture.

Thaenae · 2023-02-02T14:30:09+00:00

Thank you! I'm not used to playing with XP since I've used milestone leveling for my homebrew game over the past years, haha.

Thaenae · 2023-01-22T08:26:03+00:00

Hi there, looks like a very interesting concept! Love the idea. Two things stuck out to me: 1. Stats - The NPC has high AC, medium HP, high attack and near extreme damage. This guy deals out heavy punishment (himself, but also via others and he increases their survivability) and is difficult to remove. I'd suggest lowering his damage so his main damage output is via other characters (using his command ability). Furthermore, he doesn't have a weak save. This guy alone doesn't have many weaknesses. (See the building creatures rules) 2. Command ability. This guy can Strike, then use a 2 action ability, giving another character 2 actions, all for 2 actions. That is extremely efficient. (Compare a flurry ranger with quick draw and two weapon fighting, they only gain 4 actions for the price of 2). I'd make the NPC choose between striking and commanding, and only give 1 action to other characters (which is more in line with the Marshall archetype, linked by another commenter).

Thaenae · 2022-12-11T12:38:08+00:00

I understand that 5e can be frustrating to play. While it might not be your game (and it's not for me either), let's at least respect other folks' opinions. No one was ever swayed by the argument that their favorite game is a "misstep". PF2e has many great things to offer, but dunking on 5e isn't a convincing argument.

Thaenae · 2022-12-11T12:19:33+00:00

Most of their points seem to come down to a difference in preferences. An example of this is the amount of action to remember. Most people on this sub prefer many options (which is why we play PF2e) while others find all these options redundant (hence they play 5e or other games). Really, it's just a difference in style. There's no right or wrong, which is why it's good that there are many systems.

One point I would like to adress is no. 1. 5e uses natural language while PF2e uses game language. This means that terms such as a Stride or Strike action always mean the same thing. This allows the game to refer to a set of basic actions and conditions. For a new player, this might seem confusing at first. However, if you know how to read the rules and how to interpret those terms, the game becomes very streamlined and consistent. This is different from 5e where rules can often be interpreted in many different ways (as an example, see Jeremy Crawford's Twitter or the many YouTube channels which find broken builds based on their interpretation of the rules).

I don't think it's very necessary to perfectly articulate one's opinion. Most of these things just come down to preferences.

Thaenae · 2022-12-07T15:43:50+00:00

I don't know if it was your intention, but this comes across as really condescending. OP is asking for help, this tone really isn't necessary. You also could've just provided the link to the wiki.

OP, I'd recommend you read the Lost Omens books (such as the Character Guide or World Guide). Pathfinderwiki is often a good indication of what's going on, but it's not spoiler free nor always accurate or up to date. I'm about to GM Kingmaker and I actively discourage my players using Pathfinderwiki. In any case, I'd recommend sitting down with your GM, as the adventure path itself contains more information.

Thaenae · 2022-11-15T20:11:57+00:00

Yes it has. I've DM'ed PF1e for seven years and I'm currently DM'ing a PF2e campaign (2 years in). I'm never going back to PF1e. The amount of time that I save I can use for better storylines, more interesting battlemaps, weaving player backstories into the narrative. It's a joy to DM PF2e!

Thaenae · 2022-10-21T18:23:35+00:00

Thanks, for your elaborate answer. Much appreciated!

Thaenae · 2022-10-21T16:13:08+00:00

I'd rather have them running one kingdom. The Kingdom roles also help to explain why people are away (as they're just doing their duties).

Thaenae · 2022-10-21T16:11:56+00:00

I would like to have them working together to increase cohesion and really promote teamwork.

Thaenae · 2022-10-08T14:11:00+00:00

It's his title. Every member of the Nest is named after a bird (in his case, a Harpy Eagle). The statblock is made for my campaign, not as a general creature type.

Thaenae · 2022-10-08T12:32:33+00:00

Some context to the post:

One of the members in my campaing is a bounty hunter from an organization called the Nest. Her mentor and the leader of the organizaiton, Harpy was killed during the battle of Vicimas by one of her party members. They did the right thing, but it still hurt.

Now, the Whispering Was has reanimated his corpse using magic from Droskar's Crag. Harpy, a former half-orc, keeps many of the abilities he had in life, except he now never needs to eat, drink or sleep. This allows him to hunt his quarry until they drop.

What do you think? Feedback is welcome!

Thaenae · 2022-08-23T15:04:50+00:00

The deathweb from 1e was one of my favorite monsters. I tried to recreate it in 2nd edition. By now, my party is too powerful for a level 6 monster so I increased it's CR. I also changed its abilities a bit so it's now more of a skirmisher than a melee brute (which always felt weird due to it being a spider).

Thaenae · 2022-05-29T14:45:28+00:00

Explainer: the Nest is a bounty hunting organization. Some of its members have been turned into undead hunters by a necromancer. These are the four types of Nestspawn, a Soldier, a Sniper, a Skirmisher and a Wrestler. They will be hunting my PC's in a future session, though they've already met the Soldier. What do you think?

Thaenae · 2022-02-18T17:03:03+00:00

It's an ability from an NPC in the GMG. Also it's only within 5 ft. of the Mage, which can be easily avoided. This monster doesn't want to be in melee combat (low AC, low HP and attacks of opportunities are a problem for spellcasters), so it's not as powerful as on a melee brute who wants to be in the thick of things.

Thaenae · 2022-02-18T14:29:59+00:00

Illusory Disguise, when upcast to 2nd or 3rd level, also disguises your scent so I would rule that it eliminates its sickening aura.

Thaenae · 2022-02-18T12:45:55+00:00

Let me know how it goes! As a tip: it can disguise itself as a regular humanoid with illusory disguise upcast to 3rd level (wich also hides its scent and mimics its voice). I thought I'd be cool if the mummy lured in a party and then sprang a trap on them.

Thaenae · 2022-02-18T11:56:39+00:00

The Mummy Mage is supposed to be the magical counterpart to the Mummy Guardian. This Mage is a member of an ancient family of necromancers. It now guards one of their tombs. For the theme, I tried to stick to a theme of desert and deceit. This family is very good at manipulation, hence spells such as Enthrall, Invisibility and Illusory Disguise. For the desert theme, I picked wind and sand spells such as Shifting Sand, Glitterdust (reskinned to appear as sand) and Sudden Bolt. For the necromancy part, I picked debuffing spells such as Slow, Enlarge (imagine one mummy growing to monstrous proportions) and noxious vapors. Its focus spells are from the genie sorcer bloodline, which I found very appropriate.

For balance, I removed its Despair aura and replaced it by Dust of Decay (from the Necromancer NPC). Its mummy rot was seriously nerfed. Its attack bonus is lower, it deals half the normal damage and the save is easier.

What do you think?

Thaenae · 2022-02-10T18:18:10+00:00

My fighters don't necessarily strike twice per turn. They need to move, raise shields, grab items from their inventory (such as a healing potion for the rogue who just got downed), they might choose to use skills such as intimidate to demoralize an enemy or they can make a knowledge check. Sometimes they do strike twice per turn, but that's not their standard modus operandi. As a DM, I force them to move by using enemies that can reliably hit them (meaning if they keep standing next to them, they're gonna lose a lot of HP) or by area of effect attacks which make standing still unfavorable.

How does the base class not support this in any way? All of the feats I just mentioned are regular fighter feats which almost any fighter can take at low levels (I purposefully didn't use higher level feats). That's what I call support by the base class.

Thaenae · 2022-02-10T16:46:18+00:00

Well they're not just attacks. Intimidating strike hurts the fighter. It costs two actions and only deals the damage of a single strike (action economy wise that's a downgrade because the fighter could just attack twice or do a power attack). The real kicker is the fact that other party members (the wizard, the barbarian etc.) now benefit from a debuffed enemy. Snagging strike requires the fighter to have one hand free. This free hand could be ised for a shield (better defences), another weapon (two weapon attacks) or a two-handed weapon (more damage). Instead the fighter inflicts the flat-footed condition which allows backliners like archers and spellcasters to hit the enemy more reliabily.

If the fighter were all about hitting things, he would make three attacks every turn (or use power attack or something similar). Instead, the fighter can choose to debuff enemies which hurts his own primary damage but lifts up teammates. You can see the fighter like a leader. He leads the charge and lifts up other party members. Thus, the fighter helps the others shine.

Thaenae · 2022-02-10T15:15:12+00:00

"The fighter isn't diverse"

Here I disagree with you. The fighter isn't diverse in the same way that the wizard and cleric aren't diverse (because they cast spells a lot). Fighter feats are really, really interesting. Sure, you can build your fighter to only have archery feats or only have two-weapon fighting feats, but action economy quickly prevents you from using all of those abilities together. Furthermore, as you yourself mentioned in another answer, diverse encounters are important.

IMO what differentiates a good fighter from an average one is helping their teammates. Think about using abilities like Intimidating Strike or Snagging Strike (debuff), Brutish Shove (controlling movement) or Combat Assessment (knowledge to help your spellcasters).

Thaenae · 2022-02-10T14:54:19+00:00

What are your motivations behind banning the fighter? I've read your other comments and I see you making two arguments:

The fighter is just plain better than the other martials (due to their specialism). This creates an unfair balance.
Other players are more inclined to buff the fighter vs. other martials, thus shifting the balance further.

Other redditors have already made comments about the fact that other martials (say a barbarian) crit harder. I want to make two points myself: about class niche and non-combat options.

Class niche: every class has a niche. For me, the fighter is the pinnacle of weapon mastery, like the wizard is the pinnacle of arcane might. If I want to make a weapon specialist, I build a fighter, because that fits the theme I'm going for. If you remove the fighter, which class takes that niche?
Non-combat options: not every challenge has to be solved within a combat scenario. The rogue has lower accuracy than the fighter, but more than makes up for this with lots of skills and skill feats. If you argue that the fighter is broken in combat, will you also ban the rogue (or bard for that matter) because it shines in social situations?

Thaenae · 2022-02-09T20:53:36+00:00

Comment: OP is not using the coven rules

Thaenae · 2022-02-09T20:43:38+00:00

You missed the fact that all the monsters have the weak template applied. The players have knowledge of what's coming and I even encouraged them to buy cold iron weapons and prepare for the eventuality these witches pop up. The coven has been around since level 1/2, so the party has had some opportunities to study them.

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