Hot answers tagged optimization
37
Alright, as the only one to agree on banning books;
The core rules of most games are the ones that get playtested the most. No matter how well or badly the stuff that follows it is, the core rules have the most eyes on them. When you leave the core rules you head into material that hasn't been playtested nearly as extensively. Additionally with each book ...
26
The Monk class is one of the weakest in the game. It has extremely few powerful or useful features, and those that are useful tend to have extremely tight limits on how often they can be used. The only major exceptions, namely their Unarmed Strikes, AC Bonus, Flurry of Blows, Evasion, and their bonus feats, all happen in the first two levels. There is almost ...
25
Study, Study, Study
Information is really the only way to overcome this problem, and it comes in a few varieties:
Know Your Players - This one is the most important. You should familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the PCs and with the tactics they tend to favor. Do they search a room when they walk into it before they do anything else? Does the ...
23
Specialization and Related Options
The extra spell slots are the intrinsic benefit of specializing, but they are not the only benefits: a number of Wizard alternate class features only work for those specializing in a particular school.
Focused Specialization
Complete Mage gives an option to ban another spell school and give up a regular spell slot per ...
21
It depends on intention and synergy from feats. Looking at only the weapons themselves, the Execution Axe has a .075 DPR increase over the Mordenkrad. That's not much. Considering common magical items and feats, the Gouge is best from a whole-character point of view.
First, let's look at the superior weapons available to us that are two-handed and ...
20
In that case, there are a couple of things you can do.
The first, and best, IMO, is to look at the player and explain to them that while you appreciate their cleverness is doing so, that it is a really, really cheesy move and not one that you appreciate them doing, as it completely negates the point of taking the disadvantage.
The second is in-game. ...
20
Abbreviations
I’ll be referring to Arcane Spell Failure as ASF frequently. I’ll also use ACP for Armor Check Penalty when discussing armors.
Arcane Spell Failure rules
First, the official rules on Arcane Spell Failure, just so we’re all on the same page:
Arcane Spell Failure
Armor interferes with the gestures that a spellcaster ...
19
As of December 2010, here is a list of leaders.
Thinking about the Art of Leading, or the art of healing, there is a third category "damage directly prevented."
Therefore, the following list will assess how much damage has been ameliorated over the course of an encounter, looking at every leader class, but only the "best" damage ameliorator of the class.
...
19
A properly optimized character can break the speed of light.
The build "Chuck E. Cheese" asserts that it can break C:u
Round 1: Activate Belt of Battle to cast Footsteps of the
Divine(Fharlaghn) as a Swift Action, expending 7 Turn Undead attempts
to Persist the spell via Divine Metamagic and then Extending it via
Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend. ...
18
The rules that are available help convey the theme and tone of the game. If I'm using D&D to run a pirate game, I'm probably not going to allow Oriental Adventures. That's a pretty simple thematic decision and I would hope the players understand why I don't want a ninja on the pirate ship.
Theme aside, the rules can also inform the players about what ...
18
Constantly-disabled-or-dying Wizard
Elf Wizard 10 with 8 base Constitution: −2 brings you to 6 total, for a −2 modifier. Then take the Frail flaw:
Frail
You are thin and weak of frame.
Effect
Subtract 1 from the number of hit points you gain at each level. This flaw can reduce the number of hit points you gain to 0 (but not ...
17
Yes, it is absolutely fair. In the games I play in, GMs are always welcome to allow or disallow rules options in whole or in part, at their exclusive discretion. Naturally that's part of the general buy-in of campaign framing - "Do you want to play a pirate campaign? Using Pathfinder? Core/APG only with other stuff by explicit GM permission only?"
This ...
16
Sure you can! But it's not going to help your goal.
There are two epic destinies which let you turn a daily power into an encounter power. Both are level 30 features in explicitly arcane destinies.
The Archmage's
Archspell (30th level): Your comprehension of the ultimate arcane formula and of the spells that constitute it reaches a new threshold. ...
15
Artificer! It's a class based around making and using magic items. It's exactly what you're looking for and a powerful class to boot.
Instead of spells, you get a short list of "infusions" (spells) that boost your magic items.
But the best part is an allowance of free XP to be used on magic items at each level. It starts pretty thin (you can make a few ...
15
Generally speaking, a reason to multiclass arises when the low-level class features of one base class outshine the later class features of another.
For a small example, let's look at a 2nd level Fighter. Following a greedy strategy (link) comparing the virtues of taking a 3rd level of Fighter and taking the 1st level of Barbarian will certainly lead us to ...
14
No, you cannot use a Revenant Assassin as a high-damage striker.
Original Assassins have fantastic mobility, interesting secondary effects, and absolutely worthless damage (a thought explored in both practice and theory). Roughly speaking, you'll want your striker's DPR to fall within (8*Level+24)/4 and (8*Level+24)/2.
To calculate DPR, use the following ...
14
Not at all; Bards are a very flexible and potent class
At least not if you allow an admittedly-large number of supplements. Even in straight Core, Bards are fairly middle-of-the-road (decidedly better than Fighter, Monk, or Paladin, decidedly worse than Cleric, Druid, or Wizard), though they are quite limited. But if you have a lot of books available, then ...
14
Caveat the First: I Am Making Broad Generalizations
There are cases where you might want to break these.
Caveat the Second: I Am Not Overly Familiar With Pathfinder
I have read the Core rule book, but none of the supplemental material, including the archetypes (alternate class features in 3.5 lingo), and Paizo did make it a goal to counter, at the very ...
13
Essentially, sixth level is the end of Monk as an independent class.
Monk's biggest and most pervasive problem is that it can't play well with itself. More than any other class in the game, a Monk's features demand exclusivity of use, even to the point where you can't use other Monk features if you want to use certain ones. Looking at the SRD entry for Monk ...
13
Pure threatening reach does not exist as an always on thing.
However, there are a number of close approximations.
From earliest level we get:
Fire Hawk Druid 1 at-will (FAQ)
As strategies goes, if you hit with this, if the target takes an action that will provoke, you hit again. It is one of the best approximations of threatening reach out there, given ...
13
No, they do not stack.
The reason they don't is that both the racial trait and the feat reference your normal size category.
Powerful Build:
A Goliath can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty
Monkey Grip:
You can use melee weapons one size category larger than you are
In the case of a Goliath with Monkey Grip, ...
12
That is a very hard question to answer, because it depends on tier and what you mean by the numbers. However, here are my leading candidates.
Cleric. The cleric has more utility heals than any other class, and its heals are bigger. You can't overestimate the power of adding the Wisdom modifier to most of your heals, plus the cleric has an at-will that ...
12
In general, two-handing with Power Attack is the best start to DPS. Now with the APG there's the "Two-Handed Fighter" fighter variant that helps it even more.
At level 10, you should be able to easily have a 22 STR (start with 18 +2 racial +2 levels) plus magical strength enhancement of +4. Of course you have to dump a bunch of other stuff but you want ...
12
Do you simply ban the combo saying this is obviously not a flaw if you don't suffer any effects?
Yes. While others have offered some tactics to exploit the flaw after all, I think a ban is the best strategy. It makes it clear to the player up front that you don't like them being cute with the rules. Most point based systems I've read even explicitly ...
12
Straight bans will upset players that genuinely want to create a flawed character. Rather than banning such "easily circumventable" flaws, I'd recommend tacking on additional complications during the game that aren't obvious during character creation.
For example, albinism is a rare genetic mutation that brings along a host of other mild or not so mild ...
12
There is absolutely no reason to take exactly 3 levels of Fighter.
Strictly Superior Alternatives
Assuming you go by non-fractional saves/BAB – which I refuse to do personally, but it is the base rule – the level gives you ~5.5 HP, +1 BAB, +1 Ref, +1 Will, and 2+Int skill points.
Taking Barbarian 1 at that point instead would get you ~6.5 HP, ...
11
You don't.
Monks suffer from many things (things that are also present in other classes to a greater or lesser degree that also suck).
Multible Ability Dependancy (Str, Wis, Dex, Con).
Lack of a full attack bonus (like a fighter).
Inability to move and do your attack routine (this is a problem for more or less every melee class in 3.x ever).
There ...
11
There is no fundamental guide on "numbers of powers" as that doesn't exist on this level of abstraction. However, there are ways to quantify most of what a controller/leader does and apply it to the concept of party-as-character for purposes of optimization.
Let us start with the most difficult to classify, controllers. (And some theory)
While the other ...
11
Those are your stats when using the Power Attack feat.
You are correct: your normal to hit and damage would be +5/2d6+6; but if you use Power Attack with a two-handed weapon, you trade a -1 to hit for a +3 to damage. Try checking the Power Attack feat usage in Hero Lab to see a change into your attack stats.
Note: pathfinder's Power Attack is better than ...
11
You are probably forgetting the spell DC formula
Spell DC=10+Spell level+Casting ability modifier
Meaning that even though you will be able to cast your spells with low Charisma, they will be far more easily resisted (successfully saved) by your opponents. Of course there are spells which don't require a save (like all of those that are beneficial to ...
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