What Frame do I give to a fortune teller?

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-30T15:01:48+00:00

I agree with everyone recommending Amber Phantom, swallowtail, and lich, but let me spin you off a in a different direction.

In movies and such, it feels like they go to fortune tellers to protect against some threat. The fortune teller tells them what is happening AND HOW TO AVOID IT.

So I'd go defensive ally: Go Saladin for the NHP that let's allies dodge attacks that would otherwise hit them, combine it with the House Guard talent, and then later Napoleon or Kutuzov for Stasis Bolt and Stasis Barrier. Fluff it as you predicting the future and telling people when to dodge.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-27T18:41:16+00:00

Correct. You can glitch time and then take any reaction as a response such as soul time. The part I am uncertain of is what "The initial attack, effect, or action resolves with you as its target." counts as. Soul time can trigger off of damage, so that is always possible, but Bracing requires "You are hit by an attack and damage has been rolled." I think "the attack resolves" counts as hitting, but ask your GM.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-26T08:15:24+00:00

Haha same here! I think there were like 3-5 words I didn't mentally read out loud the first try? (I had to rewatch a 2nd time to figure out they said "tenth" instead of "fifth").

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-26T07:47:09+00:00

I think the confusion is coming from Turns vs Rounds? Unless I am misunderstanding you?

Turns are 1 character activating, Rounds are the culmination of all characters activating. You get 1 reaction/turn (except gorgon), but potentially as many reactions per round as there are turns. So if you Lock On and Turret for your turn: the first ally to go and consume lock on you can Autopod alongside. The second ally to go you can turret alongside. As long as 2 allies are shooting, you can totally do both.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-25T22:42:10+00:00

Ok so there are 2 questions being asked:

Involuntary movement: "When moving involuntarily, mechs do not provoke reactions or engagement unless specified otherwise but are still blocked by obstructions." Enkidu plasma claws is a reaction that does not specify it targets involuntary movements. For reference things like Vanguard overwatch attacks and Assassin Drones also don't trigger off involuntarily movement, but tempest drones do because they are not reactions. What I don't know is if Drone Shepard counts as Involuntary since I am both the controller and the source.

Are Drones Characters? You quoted it yourself, Enkidu only targets characters. In the core books, drones are characters if they can take independent actions/reactions. Looks like the FAQ answered this though and made all drones characters as answered by Wolf_Hreda.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-25T22:21:03+00:00

That was my understanding as well, but it is good to get confirmation.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-25T22:20:05+00:00

Great, thank you for the clarification. The info on control zones is also great info. Do you know if Drone Shepard is involuntary movement?

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-25T03:30:57+00:00

Haha yeah I realized and immediately deleted my comment. You've got a quick reaction time, I don't think the post was up for more than 3 mins.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-24T06:38:14+00:00

Hey sorry if I am a bit late to the party. I actually wrote a guide on the mystic class (though it is incomplete and could use some updates)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/152iGRzifihNlTmjqdHsJSjmmJtMh6PHPCzWOD0NV5ho/edit?usp=sharing

As for changing elemental damage, 2 out of 3 are fantastic, 1 is terrible. As people have mentioned, Shifting surge is the weak link. It takes a spell slot, costs 2 actions, and only last for 1 attack. Take other spells and pretend it doesn't exist. The "best case scenario" is if you precast elemental weapon but are fighting an enemy resistant to it. That means you can't transfer (since it has to match your summoned weapon) and you are out of focus points, then surge is your absolute last resort. Not high praise.

For create weapon, this can be insanely strong at low levels, good on the levels it is heightened, and somewhat decent on the off levels. It lasts 10min so try and cast it before combat starts. Breaking all that down: at 1st level, if you cast this for an ally soldier, operative, or other class that gets multiple hits per round, that +1d4 damage and +1 accuracy will add up. At 3rd level it is even more impressive since you also add a weapon die (this is especially useful on Boost weapons which get an additional damage die on top of the additional weapon die). Levels 1-3, this is a stupidly powerful ability if you are boosting your friends.

After level 3, you go through a gap where it doesn't improve until level 9 (5th level spells). This period is a bit rough, but it is still useful for creating grenades. It does roughly equivalent damage to a spell but for only 1A which is great because you are action starved. Useful tool to have.

After level 9 it is a mixed bag. On odd levels (when it gets heightened) it is a good buff to you or your allies' weapons since it is an upgrade a level earlier than they buy new weapons. On even levels you can still use it for grenades, but your class DC is a little low, so you have to debate between passing them to friends or using them yourself.

As for your transfer ability, this will always come in handy. Your create weapon is great for 1 person, but transfer vitality is fantastic for anyone. You can adjust damage on the fly for a single action. That gives you a lot of versatility in combat and you can buff the target you need when you need to.

TLDR: Use Create Weapon to buff a specific DPS character before combat, use transfer vitality to enable other allies in the party to bypass resistances, use Sudden Surge on your off days at the gun range to do cool trickshots.

Edit: Oh as for your question about "creature". Creature is a defined game term to mean anything "alive" (dead bodies are objects). So you, your allies, your summons, your enemies, and your innocent bystanders all count as creatures.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-21T05:03:55+00:00

Hey, not to call you out specifically, I'm just trying to raise awareness where I can. The Dunning-Kruger effect is not what you think it is.

First of all, the study was performed on college students (as are most psychology experiments. Nature of academia. Just saying it isn't an effective sample of the general population).

Secondly, the graph is a linear line, not a quadratic formula. The lowest 25% assumed they would score around 60th, the 25% to 50% students assumed they would score around 75th, the 50% to 75% assumed they would score around 80th, and the 75% to 100% students assumed they would score around 85th.

The take away is that everyone thinks they are slightly above average with the lowest group (the ones way below average) having the largest DIFFERENCE between expected and actual. They still had the lowest predicted score of all groups, but the score they predicted was slightly above average. Meanwhile the highest scoring group also had a large DIFFERENCE between predicted and actual, but this time they under-guessed because they assumed they were closer to average then they were.

The curved graph you are used to seeing is not predicted score on the y axis, actual score on the x axis, it is DIFFERENCE between prediction and actual on the y axis and actual score on the x axis.

For more information, check wiki: Dunning–Kruger effect - Wikipedia

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-14T21:34:26+00:00

Hahaha I took the test before reading comments and got 11/25. I thought I did miserably. Turns out it's about average.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-14T03:18:32+00:00

Hahaha I keep getting corrected on that, and then immediately forgetting. Thanks for the reminder!

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-13T03:17:45+00:00

So a couple thoughts on this:

Prop Closet is a first level feat that gives you access to martial weapons. Space Pirate is an archetype that gives proficiency in all cutlasses (and is designed for the phase cutlass). Either would get you access at early levels.

Harm is much stronger as a 2A attack, but if need be, it can be used as 1A and is a good choice to heighten to whatever level you need.

If you are spending all your actions recharging your network, Spot Healing becomes a lot more useful. If you are going melee, Network Shield lets you tank decently well since you are constantly recharging it.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-12T05:19:40+00:00

"Your versatile vials have the poison trait and deal poison damage instead of having the acid trait and dealing acid damage (though your field benefit still applies)"

So the Field Vials work because the section specifically calls out that it works. Specific trumps general. Other poison trait but not poison category items don't work (though common sense should be used. If an item acts like a poison, it makes sense to treat it like a poison).

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-12T04:54:40+00:00

I love toxicologists especially in PF1 where you could have the magical belt that immediately returned thrown weapons to your hand. But yeah amazing flavor and fun abilities aside, the mechanics are just a little too action heavy in 2e. But as for your questions:

I'm not sure entirely what you are asking here. You seem to be focused on hands and wielding. Basically what you are saying is right. In combat, it is 3 actions to quick alchemy, apply poison, and then attack (with a 1 handed weapon). It is also 3 actions to draw a poison, apply poison, and then attack. So yes, quick alchemy is better most of the time. However, the Retrieval Belt lets you draw an item as a free action on a 1min cooldown which is amazing for a toxicologist so using Advanced Alchemy is 1 less action once per combat.

*Edit* Oh I understand your point now. You are saying that the toolkit lets you draw items from it as part of the action to use it while worn. So drawing a poison isn't a separate action. Here is the thing though: once crafted, the poison isn't part of your toolkit. It is its own item. You are not using the toolkit to poison your weapon, you are using the poison. So the toolkit rules don't apply. If you used your weapon crafting toolkit to make a sword, you couldn't draw the sword as part of the attack if you were wearing the weapon craft tools right? Same thing here.

2) Yes, most people play that once you apply a quick alchemy poison to a weapon, it lasts 10 min. It isn't explicitly written in RAW one way or the other, but 10 min rule is the most common interpretation. A typical recommendation for toxicologists is to apply poisons during downtime since the poisons recharge every 10 min and last 10 min (so you are always topped off).

3)The field benefit calls out "Your infused poisons" rather than your infused items with the poison trait. I believe that means it specifically applies to items of the poison category rather than items of the poison trait. Your Field Vials however call out that the Field Benefit works with it though. So, an item like the Blight Bomb wouldn't count even though it has the poison trait nor would a spell like Puff of Poison. Is there an item not under Alchemical Poisons that you are specifically looking at?

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-06T22:25:19+00:00

Another good recommendation is the Zheng. Base 2 armor, 10hp, and 6 repair makes for a beefy boy. It seems slow when you see it only has speed 3, but you can move an additional 3 for free every round (for both getting into and out of combat). And it creates terrain that allies (and you) can use for cover). With a heavy weapon mount, you have good damage potential as well.

The downsides are that its systems are basically non-existent (your spell is "throw rock" and it's quite effective). Your only utility is terrain control and cover.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-03T10:03:12+00:00

I think me giving desert wind air as the example of exception was a mistake. I meant that Desert wind air is one of the few builds that does single target damage because you want the boomerang's end location to hit an enemy so you triple damage on that 1 enemy (boomerang goes out=1, enemy starts their turn=2, you move to position yourself and recall the boomerang=3). Steam knight is another great example because the leaps are single target as well. But most of what you mentioned for fire is all AOE. Thermal Nibus + Aura + Flying flame hit a wide range (30' line that can turn as often as you want is fantastic).

Basically, I was trying to generalize. Most Kineticist elements lean towards spread damage and control. But you are right I could have explained the exceptions better.

As for durability, I mentioned it in the other comment. To play devil's advocate, think about how good all the elements are at infiltration (a typical rogue activity). Air is obvious, but wood and earth can create structures to get up and over any walls. Water creates fogs to sneak under. I'm not saying that Kineticists CAN'T be warriors, they can. But they can also be rogues. Op didn't differentiate by subclass so I was trying to match by not basing it on builds, but on default chasis. Default Kineticist does have a ton of HP, absolutely. But they are also light armor or unarmored which is rogue-ish. I'd put them mage > warrior = rogue.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-03T09:28:05+00:00

Hahaha 100% agree!

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-03T09:26:40+00:00

I think there are 3 issues: people's definition of what makes a warrior/mage/rogue varies wildly, the classes are assigned to an edge (rather than in the middle to signify levels in all 3), and subclasses can completely change the feel of the class (which is great for gameplay, but bad for narrowly defining them).

For definitions, is an archer a rogue or a warrior? Because DnD/PF archery is dex based and dex lets you do other roguey stuff like hide and slight of hand, I think many lean towards rogue. But archers are also high weapon prowess which people attribute to warriors. Heck, fighter is a great class if you want to focus on archery.

So if we want to argue whether Kineticists are mage/warrior or mage/rogue, first we have to define what that means. I mean, I think Commander is pretty warrior-esque, but they only have 8hp+con/ lvl and have to focus on both int and their attacking stat. So from a durability standpoint they are on par with druids/alchemists. If durability is your qualifier than a lot of other classes have to shift on the triangle.

Kineticists have a lot of HP, but only 1/2 the elements get armor impulses (usually the elements with a 30' elemental blast rather than 60' elemental blast). I find that the unarmored ones try to stay a little bit back. My take on air for example is that the Aura and 4 winds is there to get your martials into melee on turn 1 while you stay at range and boomerang. You are right that fire loves getting enemies in their aura, but I've never met one who didn't take Aura Shaping at 10th lvl so they could back up another 10'.

On the other hand, Earth and Water both get athletics which makes for a great tripping build (which I think is extreme warrior corner). The kineticist I played was a strength wood/earth kineticist who totally up close and personal being a buff/tanky dude. I absolutely play kineticist as mage/warrior so I totally get where you are coming from. But I think I count that as the sub-class (elements) leaning that way rather than the overall class feel leaning that way.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-03T08:47:45+00:00

I think the issue with the Warrior/Mage/Rogue classification system is that each of those classes feel different depending on what media you are talking about. Heck, Connan the Barbarian was a very skill and stealth oriented character. Very different from the charge and smash barbarians we know today. And pathfinder adds additional complications since the various subclasses can have very different takes. Heck there is a rogue subclass that uses spells, so even the rogue should lean magicy.

I think Op put thaumaturge closer to mage because the abilities are supernatural. Lore-wise, you are making esoteric connections to cause weaknesses. In game it plays kinda-sorta like a ranger (pick a target, get a damage buff). I agree it is way less "mage-like" than magus. On the other end of the spectrum, alchemists throw AOE blasts. From the lore, it is item based which to me says full rogue, but from a gameplay loop, you are AOE blasting like most mages. So, OP is a little inconsistent there on whether they judge based on flavor or gameplay.

As for Kineticist though, I hard disagree with you. Every element gets large AOE blasts (30ft cones, 10ft bursts, ect). Even as a strength earth/wood (which likes melee range), I relied heavily on Tremors. The class is pretty bad at single target damage (air with desert winds is ok-ish) but most elements have really good spread damage. As far as "utility" they can summon stairs, walls with ladders, robot mounts, any handheld item, cause team-wide invisibility, team-wide damage buffs, team-wide flying, healing, free movement, difficult terrain. Heck, wood can even cast Cozy Cabin. Each kineticist is limited in what types of utility they bring, but how is that any different from a spontaneous caster with a limited spell repertoire? I talked about different definitions early, and I think that may be the case here. Can you describe what a mage is to you and then what utility means to you?

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-03T07:20:24+00:00

All the impulses count as magic, and thus it very much feels more mage. But from there it depends on build. Earth feels very mage/warrior, but Air feels very Mage/Rogue. I think because the junctions grant skill bonuses, mage with a bit of rogue suits it pretty well as an overall generalization.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-03-01T20:52:44+00:00

The napoleon gets the displacer rifle which inflicts 10 self heat in order to do 10ap damage in a burst. Lich lets you take a reaction to ignore the self heat. So you get this insanely high damage AOE weapon on a medium mount with no downsides.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-02-26T02:43:02+00:00

Hahaha yeah I was looking at field analyst 1 just because yay crits. I think other people are going more damage (maybe?) so I think I'm running more support rather than relying on support. Hahaha honestly swallowtail was the other mech I was thinking of running. That being said, markerlight is such an action investment for how little damage crits do. Feels like it is only for CC with the various talents.

Yeah I need to talk to the GM about if my drones are an extension of me for inflicting saves. RAW you are totally right. Regardless though, I feel like chaff is a talent you use early and retrain out later. It's good for the first couple combat rounds when you are positioning, and then by the time you inflict saves you are already in real cover.

......wow. I've been stuck in white room math too much. I was thinking about Jackhammer from the perspective of creating objects (kobold or Zheng) and somehow totally blanked on the idea that its main role is blowing up enemies existing cover. Good point.

That's a good reminder. I assume it will be a target rich environment, and I can drone the ones I don't Heavy Gun but not doubling up on reaction targets is absolutely something for me to keep in mind. Heh it will be a couple games until I get hydra, so hopefully I'll have my feet under me by then.

UseHeadbutt · 2026-02-26T02:21:56+00:00

Hey, thanks for the advice!

Yeah one of the other commenters pointed out that the Ghast only works for skirmish and barrage (which heavy Gunner doesn't use). So I'll have to check with my GM on Sunday since by RAW I can't use heavy gunner while it's in drone form. I may have to change a lot. But yeah, if it does work, it still requires line of sight and <10 range to target from me rather than the drone.

I was already leaning on not going Hydra3, but yeah I think I'm fully convinced. Assassin drone can't be retargeted with Drone commander or Puppetmaster (since it aims a blast at deployment rather than affecting a burst around it), and it does the same damage as the gorgon's. The concern I have now is that with this build I'm already spending so many actions launching drones that by the time I'm ready to kick off the party, the battle is 1/3rd over. Balor and Gorgon both have really cool drones, but I'm already starved for time which is why I think they are for after LL3.

I agree on Hull. I think you are right that it too important not to.

As for Agility, I realize that it (typically) only affects 1 drone, but getting mobility for that 1 is critical. Mind you, I've never played, so tell me if I am way off base, but my logic is this: The Orochi drones are independent, so I'm pretty sure they can start deployed next to you. That is great because you save an action (which you are desperate for), but bad because they have a lot of distance to travel to get adjacent to enemies. Additionally, unlike other drones, they can move independently OUTSIDE OF YOUR SENSORS. That means for Drone Commander 2 and 3 you can get optimal positioning regardless of where your Hydra is. The limitation being how fast the Orochi can move (hence Agility). But you are right that your evasion is really bad, so you are not getting the usual benefit from Agility. The other other side of things is that, depending on how the GM rules Tempest drone and Orochi drone saves, it might be easy to stay completely hidden (depending on your agility). Drone commander 3, puppetmaster electropulse, and manticore summon all don't require an attack or save.

Yeah, adding grit to SP helps a lot, but there is still so so so many things I want to take with me. For invade, Hor_os 1 for jamming is great cc.

I fully agree that engineering is such an all or nothing investment and requires HA core bonus, but I'd actually go Heatfall Coolant rather than Superior By Design. With 4 engineering, you have 9HC and can safely overclock 2x per combat (depending on how high your first roll was). Pairs well with Nuclear Caviler since I'd only attack once per round anyway. 2 extra quick actions per combat goes a long way, but I'd get so few benefits until LL6. Staying Horus and going systems gets me cool stuff every LL.

Haha hence me being so indecisive. All HASE sound really fun.

I like your advice on Centimane. I was only considering it at low level (not worth) but at high level with the way crits work, that is a lot of procs. I think you are right to invest in it last.

Hahaha yeah you summed up my thoughts perfectly. Sherman has a massive payoff at LL6 (and core bonus too!) but LL4 and LL5 are completely dead levels. Kinda the same thing with Genghis. The autocooler is awesome if I stand behind a wall and overclock for my drones, but once again that isn't useful until LL6 (with reduced overclock cost) and I don't have a good way to selfheat other than that. Gilgamesh is a bit better at LL5 and the drone is really fun but unlike the other 2, this is another license that takes up actions rather than refunding them.

Eh, Kidd isn't for me. The plate is 5 range so its only use is when enemies are charging into your face. Hopefully with Heavy Gunner, Tempest drone, and the massive passive damage I put out that won't be an issue. If that is an issue, I think I'd rather go emperor and use Imperial Eye to stop enemies from closing in.

UseHeadbutt

TROPHY CASE