3 Bloodlines For Healing With Sorcerers (in Pathfinder)

One of the most common complaints I've heard from players who favor arcane magic is that they dislike that arcane magic can't heal. While there are entire screeds that have been written on the subject of game balance, and keeping certain powers exclusive to certain classes, archetypes, or builds, that frustration still lingers. After all, it's magic... why is there something it can't do?

Well, for those who like to twist and mold things into new and unexpected forms, I figured I'd present the results I've had on this topic. Some of them may be familiar to you, and others strange, but this is what I've come across so far. Hopefully it helps ease some of these frustrations.

Also, if you enjoy this week's advice, you might also get a kick out of 5 Tips For Playing Better Sorcerers!

#1: The Celestial Bloodline

Can you stand before my fire?

This is both the most familiar method of getting healing from a sorcerer, and honestly the least impressive. The Celestial bloodline, which debuted in the original Core Rulebook, grants you Heavenly Fire as your first-level sorcerer bloodline power. It's a ranged touch attack that deal 1d4+1 per 2 sorcerer levels of damage to evil targets, and it heals that much damage for good targets.

At low levels, that can be a seriously potent ability. It's life-saving, in a lot of cases, and it allows your sorcerer to stay out of harm's way as long as they have good-aligned allies on the field. As a spell-like ability, it also triggers feats like Fast Healer, which can give it a little extra oomph, but overall it's pretty weak on its own. There are ways to boost it, such as the monster feats that empower spell-like abilities, but for a lot of players the reward simply isn't worth the investment it takes to jack it up to meaningful potential.

#2: The Unicorn Bloodline

Because a healing arcane caster really is a unicorn.

This bloodline, which dropped in Heroes of Golarion not all that long ago, this is the easiest way to play a healing sorcerer. Unicorn sorcerers get cure spells as part of their bloodline, and as a bonus they can randomly restore bonus hit points to allies they can see whenever they cast a spell. If no one is willing to step up and play a divine caster, then a unicorn-blooded sorcerer is a great, out-of-the-gate replacement as long as someone is comfortable being a healer and party buff for everyone else.

And, of course, adding in metamagic rods and a couple of feats to really juice your healing (Healer's Touch out of the Legacy of Fire Player's Guide comes to mind) can turn you into an absolute support monster.

#3: The Phoenix Bloodline

Hold still... this might sting a bit.

If you've been listening to the gossip round the Internet, you've likely heard of the trick to turn this damage-dealing bloodline into a party heal. But in case you didn't, I'll lay out just what makes the Phoenix bloodline from Heroes of Golarion so much fun.

Your bloodline arcana states that whenever you cast a spell that deals fire damage, you can instead choose to heal targets for half damage. So you could, in theory, drop a fireball on the party and mass heal them. Which, if you maximize and empower it, is going to stack some pretty impressive numbers in a big hurry. Especially if you have the ability to exclude certain squares from your area of effect spells.

What can really unlock your potential, though, is taking a Cross-Blooded sorcerer. Found in Ultimate Magic, a Cross-Blooded sorcerer lets you mesh together two bloodlines, gaining both arcana. By combining the Phoenix bloodline with the Elemental (Fire) bloodline, now you suddenly have access to a wide variety of spells that could all be turned into fire spells... including cantrips! So if Ray of Frost Fire is a great way to avoid spamming wands of Cure Light Wounds to heal up after a tough fight, then this might be just what you've been looking for at your table.

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

What Organizations Does Your Character Belong To?

When most of us make characters, we focus on who they are as individuals. Krogar the Brute, with his thick mane of black hair and massive great ax, for example, is a feared mercenary and a native of the Western mountains to judge from his accent. Brisheen Fairhair, veiled in silks and able to twist the mind with no more than a glance and a whisper, has a past shrouded in mystery. Hadrick Coster, a light-fingered dwarf with a knowing smile, and a touch of mischief in his one, remaining eye.

No man is an island, though, or so the old saying goes. Every character has someone who raised them to adulthood (whether it was a parent or not), everyone has had friends (or at least casual acquaintances), and most folks had a mentor or teacher of some kind to help them master their particular skill sets. Whether your relationships with these other character are good, bad, or complicated is up to you, but those characters should exist in some capacity.

There is another aspect of who a character is that we often overlook, as well... what groups or organizations they belong to.

Knights of Columbus, perhaps?

While there is no rule in a game saying your character can't fly solo, you can get a lot of mileage out of asking what groups they owe their allegiance to... and if they've turned their backs on those groups, why they did so.

Born, Sworn, and Otherwise

One of the most basic ways that a character ends up becoming a member of a particular group is that they're born into it. If your parents are nobles, then you're a noble as well... whether you like it or not. If you're part of a hill clan of barbarians, or the child of an infamous bloodline, then you have a birthright that sticks with you. Maybe you embrace it, maybe you run from it, but it's there and should contribute to your character's history.

Valgard, what's this symbol on your ring mean?

There are also organizations you find yourself part of that you didn't choose to join, but which you weren't exactly born into. A good example is if your character was taken for mandatory training when they were young. Whether it was like the Spartan agoge, or simply a requirement that all children who show magical talent be trained in its proper use in your home nation, that organization was a huge part of their early life, and likely shaped them in important ways. Alternatively, if your character was taken in off the streets by a gang, or shanghaied onto a pirate ship that acted like a surrogate family, then that will also give you some experiences and allegiances you didn't exactly choose, but found yourself stuck with.

Sworn allegiances, on the other hand, are any groups that you voluntarily chose to join (though in some cases you may have been pressured due to circumstances). Whether you served with a particular military unit, fought beneath a mercenary company's banner, you were a graduate of an arcane college or tradition, or you were a member of a particular religious sect or esoteric order, all of these can play into who you are, how you act, what your goals are, and most importantly what your place in the world is.

If you're looking for inspiration for some groups you could work into your character's history, you might want to check out:

- A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families: From the swamp-dwelling clan fam of the Dredgers, to the deep pockets of High Hall, these 13 noble families are fleshed out enough that you can easily make your character a member.

- 100 Nobles to Encounter: For those looking for siblings, cousins, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and rivals, there are all kinds of nobles in this one. Some of them even go outside traditional aristocracy, such as elven High Boughs, or orcish war dukes.

- 100 Random Mercenary Companies: From the warrior wizards in the Acolytes of Arannis, to the black-clad battalions of the Harbingers of Sorrow, each of these companies offers unique ties for those who signed up for a tour of service.

- 100 Random Bandits to Meet: Filled with gangs, brigands, thugs, and blackguards, this collection is ideal for those who lived that bloody life. Maybe you're still in it, maybe you're trying to get out, but either way there's plenty to work with here.

- 100 Pirates to Encounter: The same as bandits, but on the high seas! With dozens of captains, ships, and odd crew members from the Skull Island Coven, to the galley known as the Floating Forest, this will certainly help spice up your back story.

The important thing to remember is you don't have to have just one of these allegiances throughout your character's history, either. You may have been born a noble, and trained as a knight, only to be on the losing side of a war. Stripped of lands and title, you joined a mercenary unit where you flew your old banner and family colors, defiantly refusing to admit that the past was truly dead. Perhaps you lost your parents early in life, and were adopted by a gang of street thieves. You picked up some skills here and there, but when your talents for magic manifested you used them as your ticket out of that life. While you might be a respected scholar of the arcane now, that tattoo on the inside of your wrist reminds you that once a Red Brand, always a Red Brand... and some of the cutthroats you once called friends haven't forgotten the promises you made to each other more than half a lifetime ago.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Organizations can say a lot about characters, and often enhance (or deplete) their social currency. If you wear the armor of a Genarian Templar, people may overlook your ill manners and poor hygiene. Even if you left the brig behind years ago, and you've totally reformed, those who see the brand of piracy on your arm beneath the blag flag tattoo of the Blood Tide may fight shy of you. Whether you're up-front about which organizations you belong to (or used to belong to, in case you're trying to keep it on the down low), think about why and how you made those allegiances in the first place.

The results might surprise you!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. If you've used this strategy in your games, leave a comment below and let us know how it went for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Think A Fighter's Bravery is Useless? Well, Think Again...

Fighters are a simple class, relatively speaking. They're where we tend to suggest new players start, and we tend to think of them as pretty basic. They get good armor, good proficiencies, a butt-load of feats, and they can hit hard pretty much without fail.

Approacheth me, brother!

The class feature we all tend to ignore is Bravery, which gives a fighter a small bonus on saves against fear as they increase in level. Sure, Will saves are the bane of a fighter's existence, but most of the time we're all too happy to trade out Bravery for other features. However, Da_Penguins made quite an argument for just how you can make Bravery a valuable class feature for your fighter over on the Pathfinder subreddit.

While I highly recommend checking out the entire thing, some of my favorite suggestions were...

A Little Something For That Will Save

As I said just a bit ago, Will saves are the bane of a fighter's existence. Sure you can bump it up with feats, and with racial bonuses, but there's only so much you can do about your weakest save. One option that may have slipped past, though, is to take the advanced weapon training option Armed Bravery at 9th level. This allows you to take the bonus from your Bravery feature, and apply it to all Will saves. Given that 9th level is when you start facing more enemies with heavy-hitting magic, it's not a bad option to go with. It also makes you harder to Intimidate, adding a bonus to the DC equal to double your Bravery bonus.

The Cure For What Ails You

The major problem for relying on Bravery, even if you can make it an all-purpose Will save patch, is that it's a small bonus. But if you're a worshiper of Cayden Cailean, and you're willing to do a little day drinking, you can boost it up. The feat Courage in a Bottle from Inner Sea Gods increases your Bravery bonus by +2 while you're intoxicated. If this would give you more than a +6 bonus against fear, then you're considered immune to it. That bonus applies to everything, as well, if you have something like Armed Bravery on your sheet.

You can take this feat as soon as you have Bravery as a class feature, and it can give your wine-swilling swordsman, or drunken mauler, a bit of an advantage when they step on the field. And it's a handy boost if you're dual-classing with the Drunken Brute barbarian archetype, too.

When You're So Brave, You're Scary

Intimidation is one of those things fighters and barbarians tend to rely on when they need someone to comply with their wishes, but they aren't quite ready to beat them soundly about the head and shoulders just yet. Undaunted Bravery allows you to add your Bravery bonus both to the DC to Intimidate you, and as a bonus on any Intimidate checks you make. If, of course, you're a worshiper of Cayden Cailean. If you've got some brew in your system, and you couple that with Courage in a Bottle, you might be looking at a significant weapon on the field. Especially if you use feats like Dazzling Display, or if you've got Cornugon Smash on your sheet. If you combine it with Intimidating Prowess, then you've got a pretty nasty snowball on your hands.

Pumping Up Your Bravery

If you're going to use Bravery for more than just getting out of being spooked, then there are some items you should have to get the best bonuses you can. The Band of The Stalwart Warrior is pricey, at 14k gold, but it gives you some good protections, and increases your fighter level by 4 for the purposes of determining Bravery. The Amulet of Courage, cheaper at only 6k, will cast remove fear on you once per day, and increase your Bravery bonus by 1. That will add up, and these items can be combined for the best results.

These are all the thoughts I had for this week's Crunch installment. Hopefully it helped get your mind spinning on what you might do with Bravery the next time you put a fighter together. For more content by yours truly, check out my Gamers archive, or head over to Dungeon Keeper Radio to see what sorts of shenanigans we're working on now. If you want to keep up to date on all my latest releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, consider heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron. Because every little bit helps!

No, That Class Isn't "Broken" (You're Just Throwing The Wrong Challenge At Them)

If you scroll through any online RPG group, I guarantee you will come across a thread where someone is complaining about how a certain class, or feat, or ability is so broken. Whether it's the summoner, Vital Strike feats, or just the existence of firearms, there is always someone complaining about how this or that rule, class ability, or feature, breaks the game.

However, 9 times out of 10, this simply isn't true. It's just someone whinging about something they don't like, or which they don't understand.

Goddammit Jeff! I knew I shouldn't have let you bring a shotgun!

It Isn't Broken (You're Facing The Wrong Challenge)

I'd like to share a story with you. I once had a DM who felt he had to throw enemies at us which were at least 5-7 CR above what our party was supposed to face. This became a problem after a while, and I pulled him aside to ask him why he felt the need to jack up the CR so high. We weren't a terribly cracked-out group, with at least a few folks at the table playing straightforward, in-the-box PCs. The DM demanded what I thought he should do, because the paladin and the cleric kept shredding everything he threw at us with minimal effort and resource expenditure.

I asked him if he'd contemplated using enemies besides devils, demons, and undead. You know, things that smite and good-aligned spells wouldn't totally destroy in short order. Lawful neutral mercenaries, perhaps? Maybe a chaotic wizard? Maybe a ranger who fought with animals and traps instead of standing in the middle of an open field where we could take all the pot shots we wanted at him?

That... actually never occurred to me.

The point of this story is that every class, and every ability, is going to have a situation it's considered powerful in. It will also have a situation it isn't suited for. If you only ever see that class, or ability, in an environment where it's powerful, it may look too strong. However, the fault is not with the mechanic; it lies with the DM, who always creates situations which play right into the character's strengths.

As an example, let's take the gunslinger. The class has gotten a lot of heat for being "broken" because it gives a martial class a touch attack. However, it takes several feats, and a lot of class abilities, for guns to be really deadly past low levels. And if you want to get more than one shot per gun, you need to spend colossal amounts of resources on more advanced, or enchanted, firearms. This means those resources aren't going to armor, wondrous items, or other items that could effect the game.

However, gunslingers operate under the same restrictions any other ranged class does. If you had an archer who was turning every encounter into a pincushion, what would you do? Well, the obvious solution is that you give your bad guys cover. Fight in a forest full of trees, use ruins and boulders, or have them carry tower shields. If you really want to be a dick, give your enemies Deflect Arrows, which the book states also applies to bullets. You might also grant the enemies concealment using mist, darkness, or even magical effects like blur or displacement. Now what was a Gatling gun that destroyed encounters will have a tough time actually pinning down a target before pulling the trigger.

No matter what you're dealing with, there's a countermeasure for it. The rogue keeps ambushing targets, create some enemies who can't be caught flat-footed; or worse, can't be flanked for sneak attack purposes. Knockout poison keeps bringing down your bad guys? Give them an antivenom to increase their saves by +5. Your wizard keeps buffing the party? Bring out your spellcaster who specializes in debuffs, along with his bodyguard. Your party moves around the battlefield freely to strike wherever they want? Fight them in a location that has traps in it.

Everything has a countermeasure, and that countermeasure isn't necessarily to just declare "this power doesn't work anymore" with things like absurdly high DR, energy immunity, anti-magic fields, etc.

This Applies to More Than Just Combat

Most of the time when someone claims an ability is broken, they're referring to combat capabilities. Especially since, like it or not, there's always someone who wants to solve a problem with an elbow drop. But what about all those non-combat abilities people complain about? You know, like that one guy with a Perception score so high it's impossible for him to miss the DC, or that other player who has increased their Bluff and Diplomacy to insane levels?

So, let me learn you a thing about skills.

Funny thing, despite how often we make skill checks, most of us don't actually read the fine print. For example, did you know that if someone is falling past you that you can catch them with a successful touch attack, followed by a successful Climb check? Or that, if your Perception check is high enough, that you can identify a potion simply by tasting a drop of it? Well, those are both in the description of those skills.

Something else a lot of players and DMs both overlook is that there are explicit statements for what skills can and can't do. For example, Diplomacy can only move someone two steps along the track, meaning you could make a neutral person friendly, but a hostile person could only be brought to neutral. Not only that, but you can only make that check once every 24 hours. Lastly, "friendly" doesn't mean "will do whatever you say." Even if you're best buddies with the palace guard, he's not going to sneak you into the queen's bedchamber.

As another example, Bluff has modifiers for increasingly unlikely tales, and the skill expressly says you cannot use it to make someone believe something which is obviously false. Such as that their pants are on fire, their gold is actually copper, or the sky is bright green when it is, in fact, both blue and visible. And Perception, often lamented by DMs for how easy it is to increase to an obscene level, has a gigantic chart of negatives. Environmental penalties, light penalties, increases for distance, for distractions, and for a dozen other factors. So while it's possible to hear a sniper drawing a bowstring while standing in the middle of a crowded party, only someone who has focused on that particular skill to the exclusion of nearly anything else will be able to operate on that level.

The Game Has Been Rigorously Tested

If you've bought a copy of Dungeons and Dragons, or Pathfinder, or Vampire, or even Spycraft, a lot of testing went into those games to make sure they functioned. Their engines were tweaked, and then tweaked again every time a beta tester found a way to exploit bad word choice, or to stack abilities that shouldn't function together. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but chances are good that if there was a way to actually break the game, someone found it, and fixed it, long before your table got their hands on it.

So, before you decry that X, Y, or Z aspect of your game is broken, follow these simple guidelines. First, actually read the book to be sure the abilities function the way a player says they do. Second, ask what the situational requirements are for an ability to actually go off (melee specialists are no good at ranged, favored enemy restricts when the bonuses work, certain fighting styles require multiple enemies in order to go off, etc.), and how commonly those things happen. Third, ask what the weakness is. Because everything, without fail, has a weakness.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday post. Hopefully it's helped some people see the bigger picture the next time they ask whether or not a given ability is, in fact, broken. If you'd like to support Improved Initiative, then why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page? For as little as $1 a month you get some sweet swag, as well as my everlasting gratitude. Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter yet, then why not start today?

Make People Interact With Your Character (Not Your Class)

Karroun Valesh is not the sort of man one forgets easily. Broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, he bore the dark mane of a lion, and the winking smile of a rogue that wasn't helped by his single, gold tooth. He always bought the first round, and he never let a companion (nor even an enemy) go hungry. His hammer-headed horse was an ugly, cantankerous thing, but she was fierce in battle, and he always brushed and cleaned her with his own hands. He fought ferociously, his scimitar flashing in the desert sun, but he rarely fought with hatred in his heart. He stood by his allies, and made sure everyone was accorded a fair share of the loot they had earned.

The fact that Valesh was a paladin never once comes up in this description, because that shouldn't be the first thing the rest of the table sees when they interact with him.

Sick to death of catching shit for my samurai levels, too.

I've harped on this before in posts like What's In A Name? How Character Class is Limiting Your Creativity, but most of the time I talk from the perspective of the player. About how class name, and traditional character archetypes, can make it hard for us to step outside our usual preconceptions when we're trying to make fresh, new characters.

Today I'd like to talk about something different. About how you can bypass your table's preconceptions, and get them to see your character, instead of the stats on that character's sheet.

It All Starts At Conception

I don't claim to know how other players get prepped for a game, but when I join a table the only person I give the nitty gritty on my background and mechanics to is the DM. During Session 0 (more on this at The Importance of Session 0 in Your Tabletop Games if you're not familiar with the concept), I will refer to the role I picture my character filling instead of who they are, or what building blocks make them up. For example, I might tell the rest of the group, "I'll bring a beat stick," "I'll play the blaster," or, "I'll bring the healer," but I won't get more specific than that. That way my group knows what skill sets are covered, but they don't get to peek behind the curtain to see the details of what I'm putting on the table.

Whatever form it may take.

The next step is to pull my DM aside, and to confab with them. I lay out the character's history, the build I'm planning on using, and I make sure everything I want to do is kosher. If the DM has questions, or wants me to explain part of my plan, this is the time where I do it. Once I have the seal of approval, and the game actually starts, is when the magic trick begins.

Show Your Character (But Don't Tell The Table Who They Are)

So, the game is beginning. Assuming that you don't have pre-existing connections with other characters (you can, but that isn't a universal strategy), you need to decide what kind of impression you want to give when you introduce your PC. So you need to ask what they look like, but also if there are any details that might intrigue passersby. Does the character have a unique or exotic weapon, particular items of interest, unusual tattoos, prominent scars, or something else remarkable about them? Rope scar around the throat? Missing hand? A living, prosthetic arm? Freckles?

He has a rather... memorable face.

The most important thing you need to do, though, is create the impression of who your character is. For example, if the party sees a heavy-handed bruiser in a black, armored coat with messy hair and the sunken knuckles of a brawler, they'll remember that. If they note that he has a thick accent, city-dwelling habits, and that he can put a man down with a single punch, those are also things his companions will take note of. But it may take a session or two before the character casts a spell, revealing to the players that he's a warpriest, instead of a common brawler.

I brought this very character to a Pathfinder Society game. Despite looking over his sheet, the DM continually forgot he was a warpriest just because he didn't prosthelytize, never invoked the name of his goddess, and sounded more like a back alley thug than he did the sort of man the divine would choose to put their faith in. For more about him, check out Gaspar Dell'Amore, the Black Rose of Edme.

First Impressions Make All The Difference

First impressions matter, and they are really difficult to change. If the first thing someone learns about your character is their class, then that is going to be nearly impossible for them to shake. You may find that you're referred to as the barbarian, or the paladin, or the wizard, despite having a name, a background, and a history with people.

The longer you avoid tipping your hand regarding your class, the less of an impact the revelation will have. For example, if you go most of the first session as Hark, a former Nirmathan Irregular, woodsman, and expert archer, that's what the table will remember. Not that he has three levels of the Archer fighter archetype. If the party meets the handsome, broad-shouldered Prince Caldrain, the fact that he's a bloodrager isn't going to phase them. He has a name, and even a title, which are what will take precedence. No one is going to care that Dozer is a bard, because by the time they see his magic in action, they're already well aware of the motivational power a bellowing half-orc with a great ax in one hand can have.

Who gave you permission to bleed?!

Now, that might seem like a lot of work to some players. Like you're planning some kind of secret party, or something. If it's too much for you to do, that's your call. However, if you want to introduce deeper roleplaying into your game, and avoid using so much meta terminology for what's going on, the first step is to make sure people see your character, and not the class or classes you've put together behind the scenes to let them do what they do.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday update. Hopefully you all enjoyed my thoughts on the subject, and I promise I'll give this particular dead horse a rest for a few weeks before coming back from a different angle. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then drop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to leave some change in my jar. All it takes is $1 a month to make a difference, and to earn yourself some sweet swag while you're at it. Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter yet, well, why not start today?

"Muticlassing" is Not a Dirty Word

As I've said several times, I spend a lot of time online talking about RPGs. I discuss rules, bounce around character concepts, and every now and again I even have people reach out to me to ask about how to make certain ideas viable in their games. However, there's been a pattern I've noticed of late. A pattern where DMs will post in one forum or another, and lament that the player characters, "have too many classes."

I'd like to take today's Monday post to explain why this is a silly statement, and to suggest where some of this angst is coming from.

You're Building A Concept, Not A Class

Now, before we get started, I feel I should tell you something. I've been a gamer for a little over a decade now, and in any class-based system I have played, I have never played a single-class character. Part of that is because I love prestige classes, but another part of it is that I never allowed my concepts to be constrained by class mechanics.

Put another way, I never said, "I'm playing a fighter, so what kind of fighter am I?" Instead I would say, "Arnault Hamden is a master swordsman. A back-alley enforcer, his combat style is one part down-and-dirty backstabbing, and one part graceful blade work. So how do I represent that mechanically?"

There are a lot of options, but they'll all do the job.

I could, for example, play this concept as a straight fighter. His increased weapon training, combined with feats like Improved Initiative and Piranha Strike would bring across that speed and viciousness are why he tends to walk off the field when all is said and done. On the other hand, I might want to take levels of fighter and duelist, granting him increased damage, dodge bonuses, and parrying. I might choose to dip into rogue instead, giving him sneak attack, evasion, and uncanny dodge to show he can never be caught off guard.

There are dozens of other ways, but you get the idea.

As I said when I wrote What's In A Name? How Character Class is Limiting Your Creativity, your class is a meta concept. It's something you, the player, know. In the world of the game, though, no one goes around calling themselves a rogue. No one puts out a job posting specifically looking for a barbarian. Too often, though, we think of our characters purely in terms of their classes. This character is a wizard, that character is a paladin, the one across the table is a sorcerer.

But this guy? Well, that's Styx. Styx is a half-mad ruin delver who seeks knowledge of the ancients. Learned in a dozen different languages, and twice as many magical traditions, he always seems to have another trick up his sleeve, and another secret waiting to be learned. Because when you try to remember the character is a diviner who chose to focus on necromancy and enchantment magic, who also has levels of rogue, and then took levels in arcane trickster, it becomes easier to see the person than it is to see the mechanics.

And that's how it should be.

Multiclassing Has Weaknesses, as Well as Strengths

Too often when people decry multiclass characters (especially those who just dabble in another class for 1 or 2 levels) it's because they feel those characters are somehow exploiting the rules to gain more power. A fighter only has to give up 1 point of BAB to take a 2-level rogue dip, and that gains him trapfinding, evasion, and sneak attack. Combine that with a greatsword wielder specialized in Power Attack, and you've got someone who at level 3 can lay down some serious hurt.

Everything has a weakness, though.

The important thing to remember, though, is that multiclassing has weaknesses. For example, take the fighter/rogue combination. Sure you gain sneak attack, evasion, trapfinding, and a little boost to your Reflex save. Know what you lose out on, other than a point of BAB, some hit points, and your favored class bonus? Your Will save. Because neither class has a good Will save, taking the two of them together tanks it. While that might not be a huge deal at lower levels, when you eventually find yourself going up against the villainous enchanter or illusionist, all they'll have to do is wave a hand, and the powerhouse melee combatant is going to be swinging at shadows (or worse, attacking the party) for the rest of the fight.

That's just one example, though. For instance, spellcasting classes derive a lot of their power from their caster level. If you multiclass as a spellcaster, that takes a serious hit. That will affect not only how much damage certain spells do, and how long many spells last, but it will also make it harder for you to penetrate an enemy's spell resistance. A similar case can be made for classes like the monk, and even the barbarian, where many powers are directly tied to how many levels of that class the character has.

That's how the game balances itself out. Because if you're going to multiclass your character, you gain some things, and you lose some things. That doesn't make your character inherently more or less powerful. It simply means the array of abilities and tools you have is unique to you. And, as long as your character build can get the job done, and doesn't violate any of the rules (both the standard rules of the game, and any additional rules that were laid down during Session 0), there's no reason to throw shade.

But They're Using Too Many Options!

This is the part where I play armchair psychologist. Because I feel that many times when someone running a game complains that players are multiclassing, or using too many game books to build their concepts, or bringing in obscure rules, the frustration isn't about the PCs. It's the idea that the players know more than the DM, and they're adept at using all the options they have to hand in order to build effective avatars to interact with the world.

The solution? Git gud.

Or get wrecked.

This isn't to say that you should get into a dick-measuring competition with your players to make them fall in line. However, as the DM, it's your job to understand the rules of the game, and to know the rules that govern the PCs and their abilities. Maybe you've never played a barbarian before, but you realize that Uncanny Dodge means the ambush by assassins isn't going to go so well since it means they can't catch the big bruiser flat-footed (and thus can't sneak attack him that way). Perhaps you've never read the parry ability of the duelist or swashbuckler, so you find yourself feeling a little lost when one of the PCs can roll an attack to stop your attack. If you played prepared spellcasters, then you may not realize that spell-like abilities work differently, and thus can't be foiled in many of the same ways.

It's fine not knowing things. No DM is going to be perfect. However, the proper response to not knowing something, or not being comfortable with something, is to sit down and have a discussion with the player, or the table, about it. Not to lament that players are, "too overpowered," for your game.

You have access to every rule, creature, and spell in the game. There's no such thing as overpowered. You simply need to find the challenge that best suits the group, and the party, you actually have in front of you.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully some folks found it enlightening, as well as entertaining. If you'd like to support Improved Initiative so I can get you more content just like this, then stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. All new patrons who pledge at least $1 a month will have some sweet swag coming their way! Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter yet, why not start now?

Want to Play a Samurai, But Your DM Said No? Try Calling it a Knight Instead!

When the samurai was released in Ultimate Combat along with the ninja and the gunslinger there was an understandable amount of buzz. Not only are we bringing in firearms (albeit primitive ones), but we're also bringing in two favorite archetypes that gamers have had a love affair with for decades! The book was barely into players hands before DMs started bringing down the hammer though.

"Not in my game."- Mark, Experienced DM

As I've said before, all you have to do to start a fight among Pathfinder players is to shout, "I think the gunslinger is really great!" People either love it or hate it, and more often than not it gets the brunt of the ban-hammer. And while the ninja typically manages to sneak into the party with a little persuading, the samurai is the next-biggest recipient of the big, fat NO stamp.

Denied.

On the surface it seems obvious. After all, just as there are only guns in a select few places in Golarion, so too there are only a select few areas where one might find a samurai. While ninja might be sent far and wide on missions of intrigue, and recruited from a wide populace so they can blend in, samurai are hand-picked, personally-trained warriors sworn to a noble lord. Why would the shogun ever send his men so far away that they can't protect him, his people, and his lands?

Actually, You Know What That Sounds Like...

If you're one of those DMs who keeps the samurai class out of a game because there just isn't the proper flavor in your part of the game world press pause for a moment, because we're going to do an experiment. Take the word "shogun" and replace it with "baron" or "count". Now take the word "samurai" and replace it with the word "knight". Now ask yourself if by changing these terms you find the class more palatable to your game.

"Yes, I do." -Mark, Slightly Confused DM

The problem DMs have with the samurai is never that it's not a mechanically-balanced class. The problems arise because of the name, and all of the cultural associations that come with it. The idea is that if your game isn't set across the sea in a place like Tian-Xia then there's no reason for a samurai to show up barring some extreme straw-grasping. Even a wandering ronin would have to come halfway around the world to take part in a game set in the Inner Sea.

Unless, that is, the noble warrior is a home-grown knight.

You Can't Just Re-Skin A Class Like That!

Why can't you? Like I mentioned in my post A Gunslinger By Any Other Name... the words we use to refer to our classes and abilities can have a lot of impact in our perception of what these characters can do and how they should act. If you examine the samurai though it's a class that represents a warrior dedicated to a lord who tends to be most effective when standing alone against her liege's enemies. While the class maintains the mount, banner, and challenge abilities of the cavalier, it strips out the teamwork feats and gives you resolve so that you can overcome challenges and finish any fight to the end. Not only that but it gives you more skill points than the cavalier, and if you join the Order of the Warrior you gain knowledge (history) and knowledge (nobility), both of which are things knights would be trained in.

Know who that sounds like?

Don't pretend you don't watch the show.

For those who missed my latest Game of Thrones character conversion for Brienne of Tarth I used samurai as the base for her build. Brienne is loyal, steadfast, a deadly mounted warrior, but she's still quite formidable even when she's not on her horse. Proficient and even comfortable in all kinds of armor, she holds her honor above all other things (often to a fault). You replace bushido with chivalry, and you have a class that will fit in any traditional fantasy kingdom where the nobility has a warrior class. The only ability of the samurai that should be changed (and you don't even need to, it would just be fair) is to take the weapon expertise and apply it to more western-style weapons like bastard sword, lance, etc. instead of the katana, naginata, and the other listed weapons.

Just Play A Cavalier If That's What You Want!

While you can play a character in the spirit of a knight by building a cavalier who is a member of the Order of the Lion, just saying they're the same thing is missing the point. While the cavalier is the father of the samurai, they are most definitely two different beasts when it comes to mechanics and play. For players who love the abilities a samurai has (and which standard cavaliers simply don't) this one terminology tweak is a great way to work the class into your game and to open up other character options.

"Sounds Legit."- Sir Troll Knight, 9th Level Samurai

If you're still not convinced though, there are lots of different ways you could play a samurai simply by examining the races and locations available in Golarion. For instance, would elven warriors with their honor and grace be considered samurai? What about aasimar who were raised in the celestial realm instead of the material plane; would the culture and norms of their home make sense for the samurai? Would tieflings raised by infernal forces bear the oni masks and curved blades of their forebears?

I could keep going with this list, but my point is that just because there is a certain association in your mind with what a particular class should or shouldn't be that doesn't mean it has to be that. Step outside the box, and you'll see a lot of innovation come to your campaign quite quickly.

Also, if you're looking for some unique knightly orders to be a part of, from the grim-faced Guardians of The Obsidian Gate to the scholarly Attendants of The Page, you should check out 100 Knightly Orders from Azukail Games!

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That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used this tactic successfully in your games why not leave a comment below?

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