Pathfinder read-through – Chapter 3: Classes (Paladin through Wizard)

4a. Skills (Appraise – Heal)

4b. Skills (Intimidate – Use Magic Device)

5.  Feats

6.  Equipment

7. Additional Rules

8. Combat (Part 1)

Please make any comments you have at the individual entries!

Ranger

Hit Die (HP at 10th): d10 (60 HP)
Skill Ranks (Number of Class Skills): 6 (15 skills)
Skill-Ability Breakdown: STR (2); DEX (2); CON(0); INT (5); WIS (4); CHA(2).
BAB Total (10/20): +10/+20 (extra attack every 5 levels past first)
Save Total: (+17/+30)

Along with the Barbarian, Fighter, and Paladin, Rangers are front-line types in essence, with BAB equal to their level. They use up to medium armor and shields (without tower shields) like the barbarian, and use simple and martial weapons. 

The Ranger’s first schtick is the ‘favored enemy.’ One or more types of critters that they get bonuses to identify, know stuff about, track, and (of course) kill.

They must also specialize in either archery, making them a stand-off expert, or two-weapon fighting, which can put them on the front line (but watch for that lower armor and no shield thing). This increments every four levels; you must choose your path on hitting 2nd level – that is, almost immediately.

Like their namesake Strider from The Lord of the Rings, Rangers are long-walkers and far-trekkers. Their bonus feats are mostly based on movement, and that includes endurance, moving quickly through obstructed terrain, evasion, and survival. They also pick up spells that feel pretty Druidic in nature, which is appropriate to the archetype.

I remember from my old AD&D days that rangers were one of my favorite classes. Good fighting, with a smattering of cool abilities that made you a bit of a fighter-cleric or (later) fighter-druid. This still seems true. They can fight, but will have lower AC than others (it’s still weird to say that, since I’m old enough to remember when low AC was a good thing; I dimly recall that plate mail and DEX 18 was an AC of -2, perhaps?). They will do well hunting and killing from a distance, and can cast spells and gain abilities to do this over long marches and with some degree of surprise. They seem to also, at higher levels, potentially make pretty good back-up healers.

Rogue

Hit Die (HP at 10th): d8 (49 HP)
Skill Ranks (Number of Class Skills): 8 (21 skills)
Skill-Ability Breakdown: STR (2); DEX (5); CON(0); INT (5); WIS (3); CHA(6).
BAB Total (10/20): +7/+15 (extra attack every 7-8 levels past first)
Save Total: (+17/+30)

Sneak Attack and mondo levels of skill. Oh, sure the Rogue Talents can be cool, but with a decent INT score you are going to be putting +1 in half your skill list every level – and depending on what kind of Rogue you want to be, that won’t bother you. If you’re a Traps and Stealth rogue, you can cover that and more. If you’re a Merchant rogue, no problem. You might not even have to choose. With the right racial and feat bonuses (+2 Per, +1-3 for ability scores, and Skill Focus) my 4th level piratey rogue has Stealth +12, Perception +11, and a bunch more in the +6 to +9 range. And that’s AFTER I fixed the problem I had giving more ranks than hit dice (oops).

The sneak attack thing is pretty nice too, since you basically get +1d6 every two levels to damage, an average of just under 2 points of damage per level . . . if you can flank your foe, which you should always try and do anyway.

You’re going to want to avoid direct combat, since you’re restricted to light armor, no shields. I have gotten far more mileage out of a composite shortbow than any amount of Dagger Fu. That being said, some of the other simple weapons, such as the heavy mace, do a bit more damage than my rapier, and the long spear is a reach weapon with 1d8 and a x3 critical. A heavy crossbow is pretty nasty too, but only every other round capable. 

I might really need to look into using a long spear. 

Sorcerer

Hit Die (HP at 10th): d6 (38 HP)
Skill Ranks (Number of Class Skills): 2 (9 skills)
Skill-Ability Breakdown: STR (0); DEX (1); CON(0); INT (4); WIS (1); CHA(3).
BAB Total (10/20): +5/+10 (extra attack at 12th level)
Save Total: (+13/+24)

These guys can’t take a hit, don’t have very good saving throws, and have very few skills. 

This bodes well for what they are good at, I presume. It better.

Sorcerers are new to me, since they’re not even close to anything from the D&D games I used to play. They can cast spells because they are inherently magical, rather than through study. You have to choose a background, called a bloodline, that defines from whence your magical gift flows.

Some of these are pretty horrid. At high level, an Aberrant gains misshapen and deformed physiology. Abyssal, Infernal, and Undead bloodlines do not end well. Well, unless you’re into that sort of thing. The book says any bloodline can be paired with any alignment, but that grates. “O Hai! I’m a Lawful Good sorcerer with an Abyssal bloodline! I have claws, can summon demons, and like long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days!” (Warning: that link is Not Safe For Work).

You get a few powers along the way. These seem to be a limited set of immunities, one or two ways to do damage (not trivial: Gold Draconic bloodline at 18th level can breathe fire in a 30′ cone twice per day for 18d6 damage), and often some sort of movement power.

The sorcerer can know a limited number of spells, but can cast up to 6 spells per day, plus your CHA bonus (interesting choice of Ability base, there). You may, however, only learn a certain number, and this is independent of ability scores. That being said, if you like Fireball and have CHA 18 for a +4 bonus, you can cast it ten times a day at 9th level. That will thus be the only 3rd level spell you cast that day, but you can sling a lot of fireballs.

Sorcerers and Wizards use the same spell list. Way back when, if you managed to live through the lower levels, you became a walking artillery piece, capable of rearranging whole battlefields; +Wil Wheaton makes exactly this point here. I have since lost my old AD&D books (maybe my mom tossed ’em; she never liked me roleplaying anyway – now that I occasionally get paid for it, she merely vacillates between neutral and unknowing. Improvement? Perhaps.) but let’s check out some 9th level Wizard/Sorcerer battle magic that you pick up at 18th level. I’ll presume level 18 and key stats, where they matter, of 20. Yes, that’s high, but since your max spell level is often 10+the spell level, you need ability scores of 19 or 20 to lay down proper fire and brimstone. So, 20 it is.

Crushing Hand and Meteor Swarm. Hey, Meteor Swarm . . . I like the sound of that. Range is over 1,000 feet, four impact zones of 80′ in diameter. 6d6 of pain fills the area, and you can hit a creature more than once. So up to 24d6 (24-144 per strike). The entity known as Treantmonk posted a guide to making Monks, and notes that with the right build, you can get up close and personal doing seven to nine hits per turn, each at maybe 2d10+20. Call that 16d10+160, and you’re looking at 176-320 damage per turn until you run out of ki. I suspect a dedicated Fighter build can do as well. Of course, you have to overcome your foe’s AC, where spells, I believe, are a save vs. the DC of about 24. 

Of course, the Sorcerer hits you at 1000′ away if he can. The Monk has to get a wee bit closer.

I’m out of my league comparing builds, but it would appear that the up-close-and-personal types can lay down some serious hurt.

In GURPS, the trick to running a spellcaster is often not to try to deal direct damage. You buff your friends – Great Haste is a perennial favorite – and do tricky stuff. The Tickle spell, for example, incapacitates your foe for a full minute – that’s 60 combat rounds – of hysterical laughter. Whereupon your fighter or some random barmaid can slit his throat.

Perhaps the Sorcerer/Wizard follows the same path; I will find out when I get to Chapter 10!

Wizard

Hit Die (HP at 10th): d6 (38 HP)
Skill Ranks (Number of Class Skills): 2 (7 skills – but one is “any” Knowledge skill)
Skill-Ability Breakdown: STR (0); DEX (1); CON(0); INT (5); WIS (1); CHA(0).
BAB Total (10/20): +5/+10 (extra attack at 12th level)
Save Total: (+13/+24)

The wizard is the book-larnin’ relative of the Sorcerer. Familiars, the power item, and the spellbook are all present, which satisfies my sense of nostalgia. The key stat, as you might imagine, is INT. As high as possible. CON probably couldn’t hurt; you’ll need the HP.

No armor, no shieids. You can probably, and should probably, look for magic robes to give some sort of armor bonus, but really, just stand back and fling arcane energy from a distance.

No doubt someone can come up with an up-close-and-personal Wizard build. To that I say: Cool! Bring it on, post comments. Lemmee see it.

One thing that’s interesting about Wizards is they do get an unlimited number of castings of 0-level spells called cantrips. Up to four can be prepared per day, but cast unlimited times. Some of these are fairly cool: mending looks useful, as does a spell that can create torchlight.

Note that it says prepare, since unlike sorcerers, wizards can know as many spells as you like, but you can only prepare a certain number per day, and once your slot is expended, it’s gone for that day. That being said, if you want to fling three fireballs in one day, booyah – but it’s going to cost you three slots.

The wizard’s familiar seems a bit of a big deal. It grants abilities, and can be used to extend the wizard’s power and reach. It can also attack and fight – but really, if you want that, look at Druids, I think.

Each wizard gets to choose whether to be a Universalist (no specialties) or a focused mage, in which you pick a particular school and get goodies pertaining to it: an extra spell slot per level you can cast, and a short list of bonuses or pseudo-spells. But (there’s always a but) you also have to pick two opposed schools at which you suck, and casting spells from those schools is done at 2 slots per 1 spell. Yowch.

***

And that’s it! I’m not sure if the classes are balanced or not as they go up in levels. I’ll rely on others to tell me (though looking at vitriolic threads on RPG.net about such things, perhaps ignorance is bliss). 

Next up for Pathfinder: Skills and Feats (Chapters 4-5), which I will probably tackle separately.