u/Bill_Nihilist

Just got back from a few hours at the new Constitution Yards and it was heaps of family fun. The layout is great, and even on opening weekend it felt festive without being crowded. The food was good (a bit expensive but that's everywhere nowadays) and the staff very friendly. They had the world cup on a projection screen and a surprisingly good live music act (classic rock classics). My biggest complaint was the music selection that was piped over the speakers before the live group started; it sounded like they let a middle schooler pick the songs.

The Animist apparition Reveler in Lost Glee grants the one action focus spell Trickster's Mirrors which grants a 50 to 75% chance of an attack missing you.

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It seems like, math-wise, this is a far superior use of an action and focus point than raising a shield or even hiding. Hiding could also give a 50% miss chance but you don't know if you've been successful and you need to meet the prerequisites. Unless I'm mistaken, TM is equivalent, from a defensive perspective, to automatically blinding all your opponents for at least the next attack they make.

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Importantly, there's nothing in the spell description that says it ends if you run out of mirror images. So if you're down to only one and you lose it you are still able to get another one by sustaining the spell next turn.

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Is there anything comparable? Obviously the sustaining action tax is significant (equivalent to raising a shield), but I could see some really interesting builds centered on this.

My party just wrapped a campaign where our gunslinger earned a reputation for laying down obscene amounts of damage with his Fatal d12 jezail. As we gear up to start another campaign, I challenged myself to try and outdo the gunslinger for crit potential. This is the story of that attempt. I tried to put the Gunslinger to shame, but at the end of the day, I think the only one who should feel shame is the person playing this cheesy build. Still, it's fun and a crazy exploit, so I thought I'd share it here.

tldr: Battle Oracle archetype unlocks unlimited Sure Strike, which War Mage loves

Disclaimer: I tried to outdo Gunslinger, and while I have not crunched the numbers on this build, I think it's safe to say that there are long stretches where it does not match Gunslinger.

Core Concept: Battle Oracle archetype gives you the Curse of the Mortal Warrior

> Spells have an easier time wounding you. You gain weakness 2 to any damage dealt by a spell. Any immunity or resistance you have to spells is suppressed. (emphasis mine)

Sure Strike used to be every gish's favorite spell until the following was added, thereby nerfing it:

> The next time you make an attack roll before the end of your turn, roll it twice and use the better result. The attack ignores circumstance penalties to the attack roll and any flat check required due to the target being concealed or hidden. You are then temporarily immune to sure strike for 10 minutes. (emphasis mine)

War Mage gives training in martial weapons, plenty of spell slots, and War Magic

> War Magic: As a free action that can be taken once per round at the start of your turn, you can exchange any spell you currently have memorized for sure strike, heightened to the same level as the replaced spell.

That synergy gives you the core gameplay loop: you are a sure strike machine. The nice thing about War Magic is that you end up with the versality and slots of a prepared caster but you can spontaneously convert any of them into Sure Strike. You can end up converting most (if not all) of your lower rank spell slots to Sure Strike.

You don't need to use guns, but the fatal trait is the friend of crit fishers like you. If you do pursue firearms, try and find a way to squeeze in a reload action compression feat. I would not recommend melee fatal weapons as you are the glassiest of glass cannons.

On top of that foundation, here are my build suggestions:

• Use all Basic Oracle Spellcasting slots for Sure Strike
• Don't fear the AC targeting cantrips
• Don't bother advancing Charisma past +2
• Use your Oracle cantrips to get Guidance, which you can spam on yourself, since you are immune to immunity
• Consider a War Drum for more castings of Sure Strike (Slide Pistol for one-handed capacity + fatal)
• Either Whispers of Weakness for the +2 status bonus to attacks or Oracular Warning
• Domain Acumen (Zeal) to get Weapon Surge for +1 status bonus to attack
• Bespell Strikes feat chain: Bespell Strikes for +1d6 every time you Sure Strike ... Arcana of Iron to add advanced weaponry and up bespell strikes to +1d8 ... Secrets of Steel to unlock critical specialization if you haven't already and add another 1d8
• Bribe another player to be a Commander so you can use your reaction to reload

I was listening to a recent episode of Push the Roll, where after a series of exceptionally bad dice rolls, the plucky post-apocalyptic racoon junkyard society was faced with an outbreak of fire. One player asked if the raccoons had any sort of fire sprinkler system. The story had gone so far from expectations that even in this highly improvisational gameplay, the GM hesitated for just a moment and that's when I had an idea.

I think in moments of indecision, the setting or theme or tone of a story could be called on to suggest a way forward. To return to the example, we had a complex story underway with multiple themes present. There was the overarching dread of the Call of Cthulhu system they were playing, there was the whimsy of the raccoon story their were telling, and there was the gritty post-apocalyptic setting (to name just a few). Imagine a Tone Table that the players had filled out at the onset of play, 1-40 = Dread, 41-60 = Whimsy, 61-80 = Gritty, etc. In moments of uncertainty, a simple die roll can show the story which way to go. Rather than a positive/negative valence, these results would provide a qualitative flavor.

Like PtR, my game strives to be improvisational. I really try to emphasize Contribute But Not Control, meaning no one can expect to have control over where the story is going. Ideally, my game is played GMless, so that also contributes to the usefulness of these Tone Tables.

I assume something like this already exists in some system that I've either not played or forgotten about. Where can I find more like this?

I came across an interesting combination of class and ancestry features that I think would grant reliable 15' reach at level 1. The build relies on two things:

1. Tentacular Limbs from the Aberrant Sorcerer bloodline. This is a one action focus spell that says: > Your arms turn into long, pliable tentacles, increasing your reach when you're delivering touch range spells and making unarmed Strikes with your arms (such as fist and claw Strikes) to 10 feet

(emphasis mine)

2. Morphic Strike from the Yaoguai ancetsry / Born of Vegetation heritage, which gives an unarmed attack with the Reach property. The Reach property states:

>This weapon can be used to attack enemies up to 10 feet away instead of only adjacent enemies. For creatures with reach, the weapon increases their reach by 5 feet.

(emphasis mine)

The emphasized segments lead me to think that TL would achieve granting the creature reach, hence the Reach trait on MS would trigger the second sentence, increasing the reach by 5 feet. This is in contrast to feats like the Leshy's Grasping Reach which grant 10' reach to the weapon. I'm curious whether others would read things similarly.

I know there are other ways of getting here, like Well-Armed, or Enlarge, but this approach comes online as early as level 1 (for a sorcerer) or level 4 for anyone with +2 CHA willing to archetype into sorcerer.

I just have to figure out what it means to be an aberrant plant...