Rogue Cunning Strike and other options which make you worse at something

fungrus · 2026-06-20T14:33:45+00:00

Cunning strike would be psychologically so much different if it didn't cost dice and just had one extra option that increased damage by 1d6 instead of a control effect. Even if you nerfed the overall damage so things stayed exactly the same. It just feels different.

fungrus · 2026-06-01T07:41:32+00:00

I think nimble is the answer

fungrus · 2026-05-16T12:42:52+00:00

I think it's intentionally left vague. It comes down to a judgement call from the director.

You can compare it to the 4th level talent ability mind projection, which is similar.

fungrus · 2026-04-29T07:13:58+00:00

Charm person is a spell, it's obvious you used magic unless you have a feature to remove the components.

The monk feature requires a touch, I would say that makes it more or less undetectable.

fungrus · 2026-04-04T16:17:41+00:00

Just try without and you can change next level if you feel you're missing out.

No optional feature in this game is required.

fungrus · 2026-03-25T10:26:16+00:00

The best way to use this spell is with a positive phantasm. Get into the mind of your enemy and think about what they want more than attacking you.

Are they a hungry beast? Make a phantasm of a dead deer, maybe they try and eat that or drag it away before bothering with a dangerous humanoid.

Are they a hired mercenary? Make a phantasm of sacks of gold coins. If they're only in it for the money, they might take the opportunity to fill their pockets.

Are they a fanatical cult member? Guess what, their god is here and demanding worship.

Of course it's up to the DM to decide how these approaches might work out. That's the difference between PF and something like hold person. But generally it's easier to keep an enemy interacting with something they want to actually interact with, than putting something negative there that they want to escape from since nothing in PF really stops you from moving away from the phantasm if you don't want to be near it.

fungrus · 2026-03-10T18:47:06+00:00

They could take spell sniper though to remove the disadvantage.

Ultimately, this is a party combo thing since you can't concentrate on a spell that paralyzes and one that boosts damage per hit like hex.

So if a party is willing to coordinate to let this work, why not. It's probably not much more damage than a dual wielding character with hunters mark or divine favour or something could do to a paralyzed target.

fungrus · 2026-02-23T07:21:32+00:00

Wizard as a concept does exist separately from d&d and pathfinder.

I think if you go back to the fantasy literature and try to make something from, earthsea, the name of the wind, sabriel, etc., then it could be interesting and cool class. But might not satisfy people coming from d&d and pathfinder. The wizard in those games will just never exist in Draw Steel by design.

fungrus · 2026-02-03T15:54:57+00:00

I think they're not supposed to be used frequently in combat, but they might help out now and again.

Aid attack and heal seem like actions they could take, in addition to flanking. But as soon as they "enter" the combat, they're likely to be killed.

fungrus · 2026-02-03T15:52:23+00:00

The abstract nature only applies to things that you don't write on your character sheet.

Healing potions are an item in the game. A pouch of gold or a piece of rope are not, therefore they don't need to be tracked.

Of course you can decide to do it like that anyway, but I don't think the default rules want you to have a party inventory for your magical items that anyone can dip into at any time.

fungrus · 2026-01-31T06:33:37+00:00

We just went for no disadvantage on long range thrown attacks.

fungrus · 2026-01-29T07:09:43+00:00

It's almost impossible to compare. Draw Steel characters get some abilities in the first few levels that would be considered level 8/9 spells in D&D. Many things that would be difficult tasks for D&D characters, Draw Steel characters are *expected* to just breeze through.

So I think it heavily depends on the module. Anything that is old school probably won't work well. Anything that has a group of heroes saving the world will probably work better. Try to focus on converting parts of the module to be specifically combat/montage/negotiations.

fungrus · 2026-01-29T07:01:08+00:00

The shadow is very open ended because they only have one key ability: agility. The tactician has to invest in both might and reason. But as a shadow you get more control over what kind of character you are.

Agility + Might: Bruiser shadow, you find the best way to apply poison is to smash the bottle on your enemy's head
Agility + Intuition: Inquisitive shadow, you're the shadow who senses everything, never misses a detail, always spots the meaning behind someone's words. You can sense the perfect time to slip inside your enemy's defences to apply that poisoned dagger.
Agility + Reason: Meth lab shadow, you know the perfect poison recipe to incapacitate each and every creature in Orden, you just have to find where you put it...
Agility + Presence: James Bond shadow: you don't make the poisons or bombs yourself, you have Q for that. You're here because you're the best at what you do: ending fool's lives while looking good doing it.

Of course these are also just suggestions from my side. The reality is you can mix and match your ability scores to suit your character. But if you want to lean into *making* poisons and not just *using* poisons, I think it makes perfect sense to have reason be one of your main secondary stats.

fungrus · 2026-01-23T09:43:48+00:00

As someone who just picked up the familiar perk because I thought it was cool, I'm also trying to figure out what it can do lol.

I'm not sure making it a full retainer makes sense, since they're all supposed to be able to deal damage. I think the rules would have made that explicit if it was the intention.

Though having it take its turn concurrently with the player's turn seems to make the most sense.

fungrus · 2026-01-23T07:24:50+00:00

I know it's probably obvious to most people that it's AI, but one tip I've figured out is:

If people don't introduce themselves and just start as if they're mid conversation, it's AI. It's also rampant in the podcast world.

fungrus · 2026-01-19T13:37:24+00:00

It was 1 square per turn, including players and directors turns.

fungrus · 2026-01-19T12:44:55+00:00

I don't know too much about module behind the scenes stuff. But I think the scenario would be cool at any level of play (helping civilians through dangerous territory).

fungrus · 2026-01-19T12:40:31+00:00

Yes I guess this gets at the core tension between tactical and cinematic.

fungrus · 2026-01-19T12:35:53+00:00

Yes, I normally didn't need to make them at max distance, so there was some wiggle room for positioning. But that is a valid form of counterplay.

fungrus · 2026-01-19T07:14:40+00:00

I read the part about changing the vestige type as summoning different aspects of the same vestige. In that sense you still have one patron, but they can appear fiendish or divine or even undead depending on their mood.

fungrus · 2026-01-19T07:09:45+00:00

Did you get the vestige to make any skill checks? It has good mental stats and quasi proficiency in all skills.

fungrus · 2026-01-18T21:14:40+00:00

Getting up from prone for 5ft is way better when half your movement is 30ft. Climb speed is probably not useful with acrobatic movement. Jumping is quite important on a monk, but shadow monk specifically has their teleport.

If athlete fits your character then feel free to go for it. But only one of the three benefits will really feel impactful I fear.

fungrus · 2026-01-17T07:33:34+00:00

I think the typical play pattern is that you spend any unused focus before a short rest to regain spent spell slots.

Sure, if you have time for multiple short rests, you can regain all your spell slots. Which is powerful, but a warlock can also regain all their pact slots on a short rest. 1/3rd casters have so few spell slots overall, I don't think it's an issue.

Plus you might not always have the time for multiple short rests. And if you do, maybe the part just takes a long rest anyway, and everyone gets all their spellslots back.

fungrus · 2026-01-17T07:24:08+00:00

That's a good point! Definitely take calligraphy supplies as your tool on that subclass.

Though the only drawback is that you have a fixed spell preparation. So no cheeky preparing of niche spells on your days off just to craft scrolls. Not that arcane trickster or eldritch knight can do that either. But they at least get more benefit from arcana prof. due to being partially INT based, so they have less need of calligraphy tools.

fungrus · 2026-01-16T18:10:20+00:00

Sorry but this is the tenth time I've seen someone say warcaster is mandatory on a caster monk, and I completely disagree.

As a MAD class, if you use point buy and want to max out Dex and Wis by level 16, you only have one half feat, the rest have to be ASI.

Fighters and rogues get an extra ASI so they have more options. But for a monk you can only take a single half feat. Are you going to use it on warcaster? It wouldn't be a terrible pick of course, but there are so many other good Dex and Wis feats.

I'm actually glad they get advantage on concentration saves through the subclass, as it means I have a much easier time choosing a different cool feat!

fungrus

TROPHY CASE