D4's Guides

 D4's Hot Takes: Why Vital Strike is the Best Feat For Your Cleric      Alright, I should probably clear the title up a bit. You might be asking a lot of questions, such as "What is Vital Strike?" and "Why take that feat on Clerics?" Well, let me explain.       Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, and Greater Vital Strike is a line of feats that let you trade your extra attacks for extra damage on your singular swing. Each feat in the line adds to the multiplier of dice you get for your single attack. Vital Strike doubles the dice, Improved Vital Strike triples the dice, and Greater Vital Strike quadruples the dice. Now, unfortunately, Cleric (and any class with a 3/4 Base Attack Bonus Progression) will never be able to access that last feat, but that's okay. The main draw of taking Vital Strike is allowing us freedom of our move action while also allowing us to deal damage. When you play a typical Cleric, you'll be on the front lines soaking up damage...

 Useful Knick-Knacks: The Mini-Guide to Adventuring Gear      Good morning internet, and welcome back to another episode of Mini-Guides! Today I'm going to point out some very interesting basic gear that you might not be buying as an adventurer and might want to! Soap: While soap normally only has its generic cleaning purposes, using soap shavings as a temporary trail marker might work just fine. Hammock: Sleeping in a tent is perfectly fine. However, on days where there are no weather conditions to worry about, sleeping in a hammock that is camouflaged might allow you to ignore a night encounter. Nets: I can't recall the last time I saw someone buy a net in D&D unless it was part of their class features. Nets come in plenty of different varieties, so make sure you buy the one that will impact your party the most! Map: Another one of those items that people think about but don't purchase. While maps are expensive, having gear that just gives you bonuses to skills...

 D4's Mini-Guide to Feats: Shikigami Style     Welcome back to another mini-guide! This guide will be about improvised weapons and the Shikigami Style line of feats. Shikigami Style is... weird. Essentially, it allows you to deal increased damage with anything you find on the ground, from broken bottles to frying pans, to anything in-between. In any case, let's get started. Shikigami Style      Prerequisite(s) : Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything.      Benefit(s) : While in this style, you deal damage with improvised weapons as if they were one size category larger. For every style feat you have that lists Shikigami Style as a prerequisite, treat the improvised weapon as an additional size category larger, to a maximum of three sizes larger than its actual size.      First thing to note is very easy to meet prerequisites: all you need is either Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything, which are both mandatory ...

 D4's Mini-Guide to Feats: Cut from the Air      Cut from the Air and its line of feats are interesting in the sense of allowing you to stop ranged attacks by using your attacks of opportunity. The further feats in the line allow you to negate large projectiles, and even spells by using your skills with the blade. Today I'm going to review all three feats and how they might pan out in a game. Cut from the Air       Prerequisite(s) :   Str   13,   Power Attack ,   base attack bonus   +5, weapon training class feature with a melee weapon.            Benefit(s) : When a ranged attack is made against you or a target adjacent to you, you can cut the weapon (or ammunition) out of the air, deflecting the attack so the target takes no damage. As an attack of opportunity, make a melee attack roll at your highest bonus. If the result is greater than the attack roll total of the range...

D4's Character Creating Guide                Pathfinder has a lot of options. I mean... a LOT. Without even delving into 3pp material, there are about 40 classes, with 30 or so races to choose from. It can get daunting to create a character when there are so many moving parts, especially at higher levels. However, I decided to make this guide (and in doing so pushing Alchemist off... again) to help new players figure out how to create a character. While other character creation guides do exist, I'll be using our house rules and walking through multiple character setups, as well as higher-level character creation.               I'll be referring to character archetypes in three major categories: Striker, Controller, and Supporter. Strikers are damage dealers who excel at removing targets from play through high damaging attacks or spells. Just about any class can be a Striker, but some classes do a much b...

 D4's Guide Key - Guide Reading and House Rules                This week, I delve into how to read the guides I release, as well as our personal homebrew character creation rules that you can use for your campaigns. This'll be a shorter post as I prepare to write the Alchemist Guide out (which may be out when you're reading this). In any case, let's get started!               I'm going to be rating things on a scale of power from one to five. Keep in mind, everything here is my opinion, and while someone else might find Synthesis Summoner broken and Fighters weak, I might rate them the same. Everything will be getting a color grade as well as a star rating as follows: Pink(*****): The option is best in class in terms of strength, borderline broken. Blue(****): The option is strong, lying somewhere between Viable and Optimal. Green(***): The option is Viable for most characters. Yellow(**): The ...