I have been thinking over some of the changes made in the Pathfinder Alpha and the spirit in which they were meant. I am starting to form some opinions and was looking to see what others might think.
1) Bard Song - I think that it is not cool that all Bardic Music abilities take a Standard action to initiate and upkeep. I am leaning toward making certian ones take a Move action to maintain rather than a Standard action. You could still use a standard action if you wanted to move. Many class abilities that affect others are always on things like the Paladin's Aura of Courage.
Maybe the 5 rounds after stopping balances out the Standard action. I am not sure.
2) Channel Positive Energy- Again I think that it is not cool that the Cleric needs to spend Standard actions to heal everyone. Do you think it would be too unbalanced to make channeling cost a Move action instead of a Standard?
Do you have any other things that have jumped out? How about the hit point situation? Does the CON boost seem balanced? Is the Channel Positive Energy healing factor too much?
Bard Song: compare it to say, Prayer or Bless. Bless takes a standard action to cast and lasts 1min/lvl. Prayer takes a standard action to cast and lasts 1round/lvl. This seems pretty balanced to me. Bless=minimal buff for the longest duration. Prayer=better buff across the board. Bard song=concentrated buff (to hit and damage, the sexiest buff).
ReplyDeleteReally, it's just a variant duration Bull's Strength. I think it's fine the way it is.
Channeling -
Yep, it sucks that I can pencil in my next 5 actions and have plenty of time to play Daren's character. You know what? Channeling is a bit OVERpowered right now. We fought a dangerous monster with 450 HP and nobody got nervous at all. If you do the math you can see that I was healing more damage than the dragon was dishing out: averaging 80 points a round --EIGHTY POINTS A ROUND.
Imagine if channeling was a move action. BLATT for 40-80 points (depending on who's in range) and cook off a Hold Person or Dispel Magic or Flame Strike? I dont think this ability needs any boost. If anything, it may need to be restricted to every other round.
The bard song stuff make sense. It is not really broken. I was just thinking that it was strange that you cannot attack while singing but most of the abilities have an immediate effect rather than an long lasting effect. I am just trying to see if some of the weaker classes can get a boost without tipping the balance the other way.
ReplyDeleteI was curious as to what you were thinking. The Channel ability seems good for the game but it might need some tweaks. I know it sucks as the cleric having to heal in combat all the time. Maybe it should be restricted to the number of times per combat that it can be used? Like once per every 3 or 4 levels. i.e. once per combat if you are 1st - 4th level, twice per combat if you are 5th - 8th, etc. Out of combat or when you are fighting undead you can use as many as you want.
I did notice that the HP recovered vs. the HP lost was going the wrong way. Part of that was a result of being rested before the encounter. Had you went into the fight with only 2 channels left vs. 6 it might have been a different story. The single monter vs. 8 characters does not generally go well for the monster. I had considered allowing the dragon to enter the phase of the fight with the Kobolds and Giant Lizardman but it would have been almost too nasty.
I general, I do not think that the Tuesday group really fears any monster much. (Randy did pipe up when he was reduced to 3 HP.) The consequence of death in my games are not usually that bad. You get raised or make a new character. Plus, I am not certain that most folks are very attached to their character. Without the investment a change is not that bad.
It may be my imagination but the minimization of power attack made the battle last longer also, with the old power attack and great cleave (and some lucky dice) it might have been possible to take out almost all the regular kobolds in one round. One thing I don't like is having to make a second roll on a crit. if a 1 is an automatic failure shouldn't a 20 be an automatic hit?
ReplyDeleteA 20 is an automatic hit but not an automatic crit. This rule has not changed.
ReplyDeleteThe Kobolds in the last fight were 5th level fighters and had the requisite hit points and CON score bonus. The Sorcerer had levels, CON and a False Life spell going.
I think that Power Attack has been balanced. At the level you are, I do not see that it has changed all that much. Higher levels might be a little more telling. You can still hit the payday. Bob did over 30 points of damage with a single hit.
and thats what I get for trying to post right after work, no problems here just show me which dice to roll, lol
ReplyDeletemaybe we should play more before making any desisions, like he said we went into that fight rested. besides the rules update will be out in a few weeks, and other players might have squalked up about these concerns.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I was just curious as to what you all were thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe Beta is due out in three weeks. It is going from 162 pages to 409. I do not know if that includes all spells and such.
It should be available at Gen Con for $25. It will also be available for download from Piazo.