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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 5471894" data-attributes="member: 23094">Second Session!Last weekend, we played our second session of the campaign.  One character (a Dwarven Fighter, played by my wife) was missing, but two others (Elven Paladin, Human Rogue) joined us.This session, I rolled much less well than the previous game across two combats, but did well in out-of-combat knowledge checks (Dungeoneering and Arcana) to get some clues.As I mentioned in my last post, I switched around my 0-level spells, and subbed in Daze for Ray of Frost, and Flare for Detect Magic.  I also swapped out my Burning Hands for another Shield spell.  We then fought in two combats: the berzerker goblin in the boy's closet, and the larger-scale combat in the furnace room of the Glassworks.In the first combat, I'd volunteered to help pull the poor husband from the goblin's hidey-hole upon our arrival, and that put me right in range to get swiped as it came boiling out.  I then lost initiative to it as combat started, and it attacked me again, dropping me down to 3 HP before my first action.  On my turn, I utilized Spell Combat, attacking with my rapier (at a net attack bonus of +1), missing (predictably), backing up 5', and casting Daze (which succeeded).  I hung back and cast Daze for the remainder of the fight, and I was able to stop the goblin's next turn, as well, denying it two rounds of attacks.  Unfortunately, it made its next couple saving throws, so that was the effectual end of my participation in the combat.  Luckily, our Elven Barbarian, Elven Paladin, and Human Fighter (focusing on the armored scarf!) remembered how to fight, and quickly took the annoying gobbo apart.In the next combat - against a horde of weak-ish goblins and a half-elven archer - I proceeded to accomplish (largely) both jack and s#&%.  My first round's actions included casting Shield and empowering my rapier with my Arcane Pool ability, and advancing towards two goblins near the door, preventing them from moving around (without provoking AoOs).  The rest of the party filtered into the room, and my next maneuver was to move into flanking position, defensively casting Daze while attacking.This worked out not so well: I failed 4 defensive casting checks in a row (with a +6 bonus against DC 15) and did not manage to hit an enemy with my rapier (+3 bonus normal; +4 when magicked up; +2 when "dual-wielding") before they were defeated.  The more focused fighters mowed down the enemies (and took quite a bit of damage in the process), requiring several emergency healing potions to be consumed.Later, in the combat, I got close enough to the archer to hit him with a Daze (we wanted to capture him), and he easily saved (half-elf + high roll).  The next round, I failed a tumble check, but the provoked AoO missed thanks to the Shield spell, and I moved into flanking position on him.  Unfortunately, the archer decided to run towards the exit on his turn - and he easily tumbled away from me and the other two characters in melee with him (DM had some seriously good rolls that night), so no free attack for me.  Luckily for us, the archer nailed him to the floor with his next attack*, which also killed him instantly.  Ah, well - no interogation phase is certainly simpler!  K (Arcana) gave me some insights into the half-elf's journal, which underscored the true threat now facing Sandpoint.We investigated the remainder of the glassworks, and found the innkeeper (saved her) and the underground passageways, which we started to explore.  Here, my K (Dungeoneering) came in use, giving us some helpful clues as to the nature of the tunnels and their construction.The session ended when, after moving through the cramped tunnels, we came to a broader area, and we decided to call it a night before the next encounter.Thoughts:At low-levels, the -2 on attack rolls when "dual-wielding" is tough, especially when, in exchange, you don't even get to do anything else (because you also failed the Concentration check).  Against the low-level enemies, I should probably trust to my AC (21 most of the time) more and let them take a swing (DC 15 Con check vs. 10+Damage), but my then-5HP-total argued against that (6 damage the previous day, 2 points of healing overnight in the inn).  I thought about using the attack-penalty-to-concentration-bonus part of the Spell Combat rules, but my melee attack rolls were already pretty dismal, and I didn't want to hurt them further.  In retrospect, since I never hit anyway, the additional penalty wouldn't have cost me anything, and might have let me get a spell or two off.At this level, Defensively Casting a 1st-level spell is a bad idea.At the end of the session, we advanced to 2nd-level, and I picked up an additional 0th-level and 1st-level spell, more HP, +1 BAB, and, most importantly, Spellstrike.  I also lowered the required roll to cast a cantrip successfully from 9 to 8 thanks to the caster-level increase, and added Shocking Grasp and Chill Touch to my repertoire.  I'm looking forward to 3rd-level, and the Close Range Arcana, which will give me an additional 1d3 damage on most rounds where I single attack (via channeling a Ray of Cold or an Acid Splash).I continue to feel like the character plays as a somewhat sub-spec Fighter at these early levels (lacking attack bonus, HP, and interesting feats), and the "defining ability" - Spell Combat - carries a pretty hefty penalty that makes attacking pretty unlikely to succeed.  Investing in the Combat Casting feat should at least make the spell-side more likely to work, but that has the side effect of pushing back more interesting feats, instead selecting one that allows the character's main schtick (e.g., casting spells while in melee range while attacking) to actually work reliably; it feels less like a choice and more like a patch.  I've reviewed the Paizo boards' pretty extensively, and nearly every Magus build I've seen has taken the Focused Mind trait, the Combat Casting feat, or both; I think there's a really solid reason for this! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Part of the problems I've brough on myself, by electing to go with a Dex-heavy build - and PF has an even higher feat tax on those wanting to go with a Dex-based melee build than 3.5, since Weapon Finesse does not address your CMB (a hole I'm not particularly happy with), and the only way to get Dex to damage is a non-core feat specifically tied to the scimitar (which puts you yet another feat behind the straight Str guy - who could, if he wanted, spend those on a Skill Focus or two in the appropriate Dex-based skills and still be, largely, better off).  I could, instead, drop my Dex score and invest in Str, but given that I'll be limited in my armor selection for quite a long time (I'm already wearing the best I can!), that seems an easy way to end up more dead. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />I agree that, if you want to run something non-standard, you should pay for it; I just think that the cost here is set a bit too high.  That's all really sidebar, however, and has been one of my sore spots with 3.X for awhile. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Anyway, I'm still having fun with the class, and look forward to exploiting my most recent "key ability."  With Elven Magic, I'm an absolute rockstar at identifying magical items, auto-ID'ing anything with a CL of 5 or less (which will cover just about everything we come across for awhile; and if I can't ID it, then it's a useful red flag!).  The first game, I felt like a decent helper in combat; this time, not so much (my flanking bonus helped some other people out, though); hopefully, next time will be more like the first time!* I really like the critical hits deck.  I hope to, I dunno, actually draw a card from it, someday.  That 18-20 crit range on my rapier is there for a reason! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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