Premade Character: Rogue Medic

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Player Character: Rogue Medic

So, today's blog entry is a ready to use character for 2nd edition—a rogue who happens to be a medic. This build is capable of very efficient out-of-combat healing, thanks to very generous Medicine rules (healing 2d8 points of damage takes 10 minutes, and can be repeated every hour, in mean time you can take care of wounds of other part members easily, while the rest is taking their time to Refocus). It can also provide healing in combat with a single action, though it can be done only once per target every 24 hours.

Twilight heritage was picked to provide low-light vision. Thief racket to allow adding Dex bonus to damage and bypass poor damage potential of low Strength.

Rogue Medic
Ancestry Twilight Halfling
Class Rogue (Thief Racket)
Background Field Medic
Ability Scores Strength 8 (–1), Dexterity 18 (+4), Constitution 14 (+2), Intelligence 12 (+1), Wisdom 16 (+3), Charisma 10 (+0)

Armor Class 17 (+4 Dex, +3 trained)
Saving Throws Fortitude +5 (+2 Con, +3 trained), Reflex +9 (+4 Dex, +5 expert), Will +8 (+3 Wis, +5 expert)
Hit Points 16
Speed 25 feet

Perception +8 (+3 Wis, +5 expert); Senses low-light vision
Skills Acrobatics +7 (+4 Dex, +3 trained), Athletics +2 (–1 Str, +3 trained), Deception +3 (+3 trained), Diplomacy +3 (+3 trained), Lore (Warfare) +4 (+1 Int, +3 trained), Medicine +6 (+3 Wis, +3 trained), Nature +6 (+3 Wis, +3 trained), Religion +6 (+3 Wis, +3 trained), Society +4 (+1 Int, +3 trained), Stealth +7 (+4 Dex, +3 trained), Survival +6 (+3 Wis, +3 trained), Thievery +7 (+4 Dex, +3 trained)
Languages Common, Halfling, one additional language

Ancestry Feat Halfling Luck
Background Feat Battle Medicine
Class Feat Nimble Dodge
Skill Feat Assurance (Medicine)

Other Abilities Keen Eyes, Sneak Attack 1d6, Surprise Attack

Melee shortsword +7 (1d6+3); Traits agile, finesse, versatile S
Melee dagger +7 (1d4+3); Traits agile, finesse, thrown 10 ft., versatile S
Ranged dagger +7 (1d4+3); Traits agile, finesse, thrown 10 ft., versatile S

Gear shortsword, 5 daggers, explorer's clothing, adventurer's pack, healer's tools, thieves' tools

Advancement
2nd level—increase hit points by 10 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Medicine rank to expert (which increases its proficiency bonus by 2 more). Select Continual Recovery skill feat and Minor Magic class feat, with shield and stabilize gained as divine spells.

At this level, when you Treat Wounds or use Battle Medicine feat, you can automatically succeed the DC 15 Medicine check thanks to the Assurance feat, healing 2d8 hit points without risk, or you can roll the die, with results of 6 or more healing 2d8, and result of 16 or more healing 4d8 points of damage. Alternatively, you can decide to make a check against DC 20, hoping to get 11 or more on the dice, and heal 2d8+10 points of damage or 4d8+10 on natural 20. Either way, rolling natural 1 deals 1d8 point of damage to the patient.

3rd level—increase hit points by 10 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Thievery rank to expert (which increases its proficiency bonus by 2 more). Select Toughness general feat (increasing your hit points by 3 more) and Ward Medic skill feat. Gain Deny Advantage ability.

You can treat two patients with Treat Disease and Treat Wounds, allowing you to put the rest of the party on their feet faster.

4th level—increase hit points by 11 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Stealth rank to expert (which increases its proficiency bonus by 2 more). Select Hefty Hauler skill feat and Quick Draw class feat.

Now you can carry more without getting encumbered and you can draw weapon and strike in a single action, an important ability as using your Battle Medic requires two free hands to handle the healer's tools.

5th level—increase Dexterity by 1, and Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom by 2. Increase hit points by 16 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Crafting rank and proficiency with simple weapons, rapier, sap, shortsword, and shortbow to expert (which increases their proficiency bonuses by 2 more). Select Distracting Shadows ancestry feat and Robust Recovery skill feat.

6th level—increase hit points by 12 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Acrobatics rank to expert (which increases its proficiency bonus by 2 more). Select Cat Fall skill feat and Light Step class feat.

At this level, your Assurance feat allows you to meet DC 20 with your Medicine checks without rolling. If you are desperate for a lot of healing (or have a lot of bonuses) you might try to roll anyway, hoping to get 16 or more and heal 4d8+10, with regular 2d8+10 healing provided on a roll of 6 or more.

7th level—increase hit points by 12 and all proficiency bonuses by 1. Increase Medicine rank to master (which increases its proficiency bonus by 2 more). Select Diehard general feat and Multilingual skill feat (or whatever). Gain evasion, vigilant senses, and weapon specialization abilities, improving your proficiency rank with Perception and Reflex saves to master.

With Medicine at master rank, you can try to beat DC of 30 to heal 2d8+30 hit points with single check. Your bonus with Medicine skill should be +17 +18 (you bought yourself better healer's tools, didn't you?) meaning that you can hit that DC with a roll of 12... And you can re-roll a failed skill check or a saving throw once per day if you have to.

Congratulations, by now you should have better practical knowledge of this build than me.

A few observations... General feats are crap. Selecting among them is a very meh process, as  they are very limited in number and rather underwhelming. Selecting skill feats is not that stellar either, though they are not as bad as general feats (even if only by virtue of their numbers)—some of them are interesting, some of them are fitting specific builds, other are useful in specific circumstances. Still, some of the choices felt forced as some levels had no really fitting choices.

Reduced number of skills feels underwhelming for rogues as well—they already start game being trained in more than half of the skills, and it is not hard to make a rogue character that is trained in almost all skills at 1st level. In fact, a human rogue with Intelligence 16, skilled heritage, natural skill ancestry feat, and scoundrel racket would run out of non-Lore skills to pick. On the other hand, that number of skills might work much better (or even feel to be too much) for other classes that don't get so many skill increases.

Class Options: Alchemical Research Fields

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Alchemical Research Fields

Another batch of 2nd edition options. This time for the alchemist class. Second edition alchemists cast no spells, instead interacting with expanded alchemical items and crafting rules, though they mainly skirt the regular crafting rules with an ability that allows them to create a certain number of alchemical items each day automatically without expending materials, though they last no more than 24 hours.

Each alchemist picks a specialty field that gives them advantages when procuring and using a specific subset of alchemical items: bombers can control their splash, prepare more bombs, and use low-level bombs without them counting against daily limits; chirurgeon who can use Crafting skill in place of Medicine, prepare extra healing elixirs, use certain low-level remedies without them counting against daily limits, and maximize effects of elixirs of life; and mutagenist who can use mutagens that weren't custom-made for them, fight better with unarmed attacks, and can prepare more or even free mutagens.

While the selection is interesting, I immediately thought of a few additional choices that focus less on specific alchemical items and more on other aspects of archetypal alchemy.

Homunculist
You focus on growing your own specialized alchemical familiar, more powerful and versatile than those kept by other alchemists.

You gain Alchemical Familiar as a bonus feat at 1st level and your familiar gains an extra ability.

Field Discovery
You can take 10 minutes to adjust your familiar's abilities. For each batch of infused reagents spent for that purpose, you can replace one of your familiar's abilities with another. Whenever you feed your familiar an elixir of life, it heals maximum amount of hit points without rolling.

Perpetual Infusions
Your familiar gains an extra ability.

Perpetual Potency
Your familiar gains an extra ability.

Greater Field Discovery
Growing a replacement for your familiar takes one day of downtime activity instead of a week. When you are unconscious, you can direct your familiar as if you took an action to command them each round.

Perpetual Perfection
Your familiar gains an extra ability.


Oozebreeder
You use complex alchemical processes to create life and grow it into obedient, if mostly mindless ooze.

You gain ooze companion, which follows rules for animal companions, though it is ooze instead of animal and cannot be ridden, even if larger than would-be rider. They can be replaced by one week of downtime activity with access to suitable alchemical tools.

Ooze
Your companion is an alchemically grown ooze.
Size Small
Melee (Action) pseudopod (reach), Damage 1d4 bludgeoning
Str +2, Dex –2, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +0, Cha –4
Hit Points 4
Immunities critical hits, mental, precision, unconscious, visual
Skill None
Senses motion sense 30 ft., scent (imprecise, 30 ft), no vision
Speed 15 ft.
Support Benefit Your ooze companion splashes your foes with corrosive fluids that weaken their resistances. Until the start of your next turn, your Strikes against creatures within your ooze's reach ignore the first 5 points of one of the target's energy or physical resistances.
Advanced Maneuver Pseudopod Whip

Pseudopod Whip (Action)Your ooze companion makes a Strike with its pseudopod ignoring concealed conditon and AC bonuses from covers or raised shields.

Field Discovery
During your daily preparations select one of acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, electricity, piercing, or slashing damage. Your ooze companion gains resistance equal to your level to selected damage type until your next daily preparations. Whenever you feed your ooze companion an elixir of life, it heals the maximum amount of hit points possible, without rolling.

Perpetual Infusions
Your ooze companion grows into a mature form and gains the associated benefits.

Perpetual Potency
Your ooze companion develops even more and becomes your choice of either a nimble or a savage companion.

Greater Field Discovery
Growing a replacement for your ooze companion takes one day of downtime activity instead of a week. When you are unconscious, you can direct your ooze companion as if you took an action to command them each round.

Perpetual Perfection
Your ooze companion reaches peak of its abilities, gaining a specialization of your choice.

Class Options: Rogue Rackets

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Rogue Rackets

So... I might have something for 2nd edition earlier than I expected.

While creating rogues, one of the basic customization options for them is selection of a racket, which represents the style of activities the rogue takes. Ruffian is brutal and threatening, scoundrel is charming and deceptive, and thief is your traditional adventuring rascal, stealing, fighting, and dealing with traps. The first two offer an option to change key ability score from Dexterity to Strength and Charisma, respectively, which led me to think about possible rackets based on other ability scores: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Constitution.

Gambler
Playing with chances and fate is your daily fare, as long as you can rig the chances in your favor. You combine observation skills and long-honed intuition to notice others manipulating the odds, through cheating or supernatural means alike. You might be a card-shark, a petty diviner, a fortune-teller, or a daredevil addicted to risk-taking.

You can notice subtle hints when an action or activity taking place within your presence is affected by a fortune or misfortune effect, though you might not know the source of the effect. You must be able to perceive the action or activity being taken in the first place (e.g. saving throw against fireball is a appropriate situation, saving throw against poison no one knows about is not). You can sense when a fortune and misfortune effects are affecting your action before taking the action and might choose to abort it harmlessly before making the check if the circumstance permit it.

You are trained in your choice of Arcana, Occultism, or Religion, and your choice of Fortune-Telling Lore or Games Lore. You can choose Wisdom as your key ability score.

Mastermind
You are living by your cunning plans and careful preparations, using custom tools and applied sciences to deal with your problems. You might be an inventor, a gadgeeter,  or a sapper, or maybe a criminal that likes to rely on high quality tools and complex planning for your heists.

During your daily preparations, you can either attempt to craft a single item or a batch of items that you would normally be able to craft during your downtime, or try to reverse-engineer formula by disassembling an item. You need access to the appropriate tools and have to spend the full cost for the crafted item or reverse-engineered formula in required materials, you can't spend more time crafting to cut the costs.

You're trained in Crafting and alchemical bombs. You can choose Intelligence as your key ability score.

Poisoner
Rogues are all about underhanded tactics, but some methods are often viewed as more vile than others, such as use of various noxious toxins to help you eliminate your opponents. You are trained in dealing with poisons, either to harm, or to protect against them. You might be a professional assassin, an unscrupulous apothecary, an unsavory courtier, a dedicated poison tester, or even a vermin exterminator.

You gain poison resistance equal to half your class level (minimum 1).

You're trained in Medicine. You can choose Constitution as your key ability score.


Rogue Feats
Following feats complement the new rackets.

Know Your Foe

Feat 2 (rogue)

Prerequisites mastermind racket

You amass various bits of discarded lore and random gossip all the time. Occasionally, they give you an insight into the identity of your foes as you face them. Whenever your Strike is a critical hit, you can make Recall Knowledge check to recognize your foe (either as an individual or to recall facts about the foe's species) as a free action and it loses its concentrate trait. If your damage was increased by racial weakness, decreased by racial resistance, or stopped by racial immunity, you get +2 circumstance bonus to the check regarding lore about the creature's species. If your damage was affected by weakness, resistance, or immunity granted by a spell, an item, or other external source, you suffer –2 circumstance penalty.

Lucky Hit
Feat 2 (rogue)
Prerequisites gambler racket
When the luck is on your side, it's on your side all the way through. If you deal damage with a Strike that was influenced by a fortune effect, you can roll the damage twice and select the result you like more. Alternatively, whenever you roll for damage, you can spend a Hero Point to re-roll the damage.

Nauseating Assault
Feat 2 (rogue)
Prerequisites poisoner racket
Your critical strikes hits vulnerable spots. Whenever your Strike is a critical hit and deals damage, the target gains sickened 1 condition.

Disruptive Debilitations
Feat 10 (rogue)
Prerequisites mastermind racket, Debilitating Strike
You know how to distract and confuse your foes. Add the following debilitations to the list you can choose from when you use Debilitating Strike.

• Debilitation The target becomes dazzled.
• Debilitation The target becomes stupefied 1.

Ruinous Debilitations
Feat 10 (rogue)
Prerequisites gambler racket, Debilitating Strike
When an enemy leaves an opening, you know how to help fate balance things a bit, one way or another. Add the following debilitations to the list you can choose from when you use Debilitating Strike.

• Debilitation The target cannot benefit from fortune effects.
• Debilitation The target cannot use actions with misfortune trait on others.

Weakening Debilitations
Feat 10 (rogue)
Prerequisites poisoner racket, Debilitating Strike
Your debilitations make your enemies particularly vulnerable to further toxic afflictions. Add the following debilitations to the list you can choose from when you use Debilitating Strike.

• Debilitation The target gains weakness 5 to poison.
• Debilitation The target becomes fatigued.

Monster: Scorched Hag (Template)

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Scorched Green Hag
A half-burned, twisted crone. Her long, messy hairs are miraculously untouched by the fire that consumed her body.

CR 7; XP 1,200
CE Medium Undead (augmented monstrous humanoid)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 90 ft.; Perception +16

Defense
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+3 Dex, +10 natural)
hp 85 (9d8+45); fast healing 5
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +8
Defensive Abilities ashes to ashes, channel resistance +4; DR 10/cold iron; Immune undead traits; Resist cold 20, fire 20

Offense
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +15 (1d6+6 plus 1d6 fire plus weakness)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th, concentration +13)
Constant—pass without trace, tongues
At will—alter self, dancing lights, gaseous form, ghost sound (DC 14), invisibility, pyrotechnics (DC 16), scorching ray (+12, 2 rays), whispering wind

Statistics
Str 23, Dex 16, Con —, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 18
Base Atk +9; CMB +15; CMD 28
Feats Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes^B, Deceitful, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative^B, Iron Will^B, Toughness^B
Skills Bluff +15, Disguise +18, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Knowledge (religion) +15, Perception +16, Sense Motive +13, Stealth +15, Swim +20
Languages Aklo, Common, Giant
SQ mimicry

Ecology
Environment temperate marshes, graveyards
Organization solitary or coven
Treasure standard

Mimicry (Su) As a regular green hag.

Weakness (Su) As a regular green hag.


Scorched hags are undead forms of hags and witches that died to flames but where not completely incinerated and returned to stalk the living. 


Creating a Scorched Hag
Scorched hag is an acquired template that can be applied to a hag or a witch (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A scorched hag uses the base creature's stats and abilities except as noted here.

Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2.

Alignment: Any evil. Death in fires burns vestiges of goodness from the victim.

Type: The creature's type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.

Senses: Scorched hag gains darkvision 60 feet.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by 2.

Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8. Class Hit Dice are unchanged. As undead, scorched hags use their Charisma to determine their hit point totals instead of Constitution.

Defensive Abilities: A scorched hag gains ashes to ashes, channel resistance +4, fast healing 5, resist cold and resist fire 20. A scorched hag also gains DR 5/cold iron or 10/cold iron if her HD is 5 or more.

Ashes To Ashes (Su) A scorched hag that is destroyed instantly incinerates into a pile of ashes, rolling her hit dice as a fire damage to anyone within 10 feet burst (a successful Reflex saving throw with DC of 10 + 1/2 Hit Dice + Charisma modifier halves the damage). Unless the ashes are mixed with holy water or scattered over a river or a sea, or the scorched hag was destroyed with an effect or weapon that destroys undead permanently, the scorched hag reforms after 2d6 days. Gathering the ashes and storing them in sealed urn in a consecrated or hallowed area, or burying them under the roots of a sapling prevents the hag from reforming as long as they are kept safe.

Melee: A scorched hag gains 2 claw attacks if the base creature didn't have them, or increase damage die of existing claw attacks by 1 step. Each natural attack inflict additional 1d6 points of fire damage.

Spells And Spell-Like Abilities: A scorched hag can replace some of her old spells and spell-like abilities with new ones selected from: burning hands (1st), delayed blast fireball (7th), fire seeds (6th), fire shield (4th), fire storm (8th), fire trap (4th), fireball (3rd), flame strike (5th), flaming sphere (2nd), gaseous form (3rd, self only, a cloud of ash), meteor storm (9th), pyrotechnics (2nd), scorching ray (2nd), summon monster II or higher (2nd, fire elementals only), wall of fire (4th). A replaced spell has to be of the same or higher level than the spell taken in its place, and if it is a spell-like ability, it gains the same number of uses per day as the ability replaced (though they may replace constant effects with at will ones). A coven that includes a scorched hag can use flame strike (DC 18 or more) as one of their combined spell-like abilities.

Ability Scores: Str +4, Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, scorched hag has no Constitution score.

Feats: Scorched hags gain Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, an Toughness as bonus feats.


New Occult Ritual: Unburned Witch

School necromancy [fire]; Level 4
Casting Time 4 hours
Components V, S, M (fragrant herbs and incenses worth 5000 gp), F (a bonfire), SC (up to two other coven members)
Skill Checks Knowledge (arcana) DC 24, 1 success; Knowledge (nature) or Knowledge (religion) DC 24, 1 success; Perform (dance) or Perform (sing) DC 24, 1 success; Spellcraft DC 24, 1 success
Range personal
Target hag or a witch casting the ritual
Duration until discharged, maximum 1 year
Saving Throw none; SR no
Backlash all casters are exhausted
Failure the casters believes the ritual succeeded, and the primary caster feels suicidal attraction to fire for the next year. This is an insanity enchantment effect that can be removed with break enchantment or heal, though the caster is unaware of being insane
EFFECT
A hag or a witch can perform this ritual by dancing and singing while making offering of fragrant herbs and incenses to the fires themselves. If the caster successfully performs the ritual, she has placated the flames to grant her a boon of undeath, turning her into a scorched hag if she dies in fire afterwards (including suffocation while being burned on stake, but not merely being burned after death) as per ashes to ashes conditions.

Pathfinder Second Edition

Second edition of Pathfinder finally arrived and can be purchased on Paizo and through other venues.

I have looked through the official system reference document (which is currently maintained on Archives Of Nethys). It will take some time before I write a blogpost that would contain 2nd edition materials, and probably even more before I write such thing for publication (though who knows), unless I get a clear message from my Patrons (current or new) that there is already strong demand for 2nd edition materials.

Certainly, I will write 2nd edition revisions of my races ancestries one day. For now, we are not venturing there. Yet.