Proposals: Bolt Ace, Student of War

Student of War is a Paizo creation and even cleared for Pathfinder Society play. If I remember correctly it was actually written by Paizo for Pathfinder Society (maybe to mitigate the number of meathead fighters).

My bad, grumbly! I'll take a look at it then. Was thinking it was from a third party, but I see it's from Seekers of Secrets.

That keeps the discussion open on SoW then. (I actually have a copy of that book, so was able to double check and it's in the very back.)

I'm OK with SoW overall, having just finished reading it through. I don't think the level 10 ability (Deadly Blow) is very well thought out, because it pretty much ignores WHY certain creatures are immune to critical hits/sneak attack. (Really, try to find the 'chink' in the slime puddle's armor. Really. Try.) But, it's not unplayable by any stretch, so I'll give it a pass.

Now that I've had the chance to familiarize myself with SoW, I'm pretty comfortable with it. Still letting others chime in in case I have missed something pertinent.

The way I read it, by 10th level, the Student of War is so adept at applying her knowledge of physiology, mechanics, planar physics, or (in the case of a slime or ooze) macro-cellular biology to her technique that she can strike in such a way as to disrupt and damage even the strangest foes.

A skeleton's DR/bashing means little if the SoW knows how to strike in such a way that it disrupts the very necromantic energies holding it together.

Sure that demon might be resistant to mundane blades, but a knowledgeable man knows how to strike where the skin is thinnest.

That ooze may have just consumed the party's rogue but it won't have time to digest if bookish elf keeps splitting the exterior membrane like that and breaking up the nearly imperceptible clusters of organelles suspended within.

It isn't that some sort of quasi-plausible explanation could not be offered, but that the ability is sufficiently questionable that it would be the sort of thing that pulls me enough out of the moment enough to wonder how the heck the guy is doing it in the first place.

Certain abilities just mesh better with the artificial reality of the game than others... this one is just a little less meshy than most. However, it's clearly defined and arbitrate, so I am not against it. I was just noting it carried that feel for me.

Or, another way of looking at it: there is probably a level of silly implausibility that I would hold against a proposal, but this isn't that bad.

Does that make sense?