[Forrestfire Studios] Playtest: The Avowed, a 3pp warlock with a psychic bent

[Drifter S.]

Spoiler: Snip

Show

In order!
A1
1. Aether Command will be reworded so its swift action variant cannot be used in the same round that you've used another Pulse shape. This should also prevent doubling up on Aether Command.
2. We'll work to clarify that.
3. All insight bonuses to pact skills SHOULD either be a class skill the Avowed has normally, or a class skill granted by the pact itself. If we've missed anything there, let us know.
4. Silver Shoes was written before the Shapes were reworked to grant the Haste-like effect. That said, it's still an ideal item to implement, as it means that should you opt to not use the third rank of a shape, you still have relatively easy access to Haste - as with rank 4 and access to Pounce.
5. Sharding-alike is the intention, yeah. We're planning to clarify how that works.

A2
1. We'll clarify that Split Loyalties does indeed count as having that pact for the purpose of prerequisites. Guardian Spirit is likely to stay how it is unless there are significant balance concerns; as it is it's "Open Minded with additional fluff" for the most part - a feat intended to further the story. The skill point bonus is so that players don't feel punished for taking a feat their DM might not take advantage of.
2. Aetheric Strikes should stack with the enhancement bonus granted by most other shapes; if we've missed any, that's a mistake on our part. It's worth noting that a Betrothed's damage should be considered from the perspective of both the Betrothed and their Companion attacking together, resulting in very close damage to that of a normal Avowed, rather than viewing both creatures as independent entities which should do comparable DPR to any other party member. Our intention is to make the Betrothed EQUAL in power to a normal Avowed, not twice as strong.
3. We'll discuss this.
4. Mind Pact is something we're going to rework in the near future; your feedback has been taken on board.
5. We haven't yet seen any numbers on Aether Rampage with the Rampaging Frenzy feat, so we're holding back judgment on it being underpowered. We've got ideas for more feat support, but no, we do not intend to alter how Aether Rake functions in this context. We may write up a later feat to support this concept, however.

Thanks for the followup! Avowed is really enjoyable, even to just talk about, but darn if you don't have tons of fiddly bits to try to keep in order. Want to touch back on everything one last time, but I (hopefully) won't end up hogging attention from other questions:

A1
1-The wording looked clear on different pulse shapes, I just figured it would be good to bring up the swift action thing for clarification. Call it a hunch that SOMEONE will use “but you’re not using a different pulse shape” as an argument.
2, 4, & 5 - Good to know! I’m not against how the first two function as-is right now, mostly just idle curiosity.
3-This wasn’t so much about the Insight Bonus as the the Skillful Pact feat giving you the Skill Unlocks that often don’t coincide with what’s getting the insight bonus (like for Self Pact).

A2
1-I adore Guardian Spirit, I’m mostly just worried about all the things tacked on (bonus to Cha checks and saving throws vs spells) in addition to the cool fluff and skill point bonus might turn some people off.
2-I’ve started to wrap my head around Betrothed, especially the fun things you could pull off with it (double Aether Command battlefield tactician HO!), but I guess a lot of it just won’t “click” with me and will always look weird.
3 & 4-Look forward to seeing what comes about! I’ll note the Body Pact inquiry was initially because I was plugging the bonus into a mythweavers sheet and saw it blow up up my CMD, but it being untyped means it doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t?) stack with the normal bonus to CMD from Strength so it was sort of moot. Still felt that the last part of the question was relevant, though.
5-Taking a glance back, I don’t remember WHY I thought rampage was lagging, it looks pretty swell just looking at it, so I'll chalk that up to not paying attention to it for the last dozen or so updates. The bulk of my issue was more with Aether Grasp in general, but that stems more from the headache of grapple rules (still not quite sure if the CMD bonus is only intended to be against someone reversing the grapple or for all the time, or how all those penalties on the grappler themself makes any sense at all due to how Aether Grasp works) and grapple-related style feats (like Snapping Turtle Clutch or Grabbing Style).

[Kiton2]

Any chance of answers regarding my earlier Aether circus questions?

[Sethis]

Is it intended that magic missile be the ideal spell for a Tinker to use aether spark on?

It's a targetted first level spell without an attack roll. A 5th level tinker with a wand of magic missile (5th) does either 3d4+3d6+3 with no attack rolls or saves to a single target, or 1d4+3d6+1 to 3 targets.

It's not an amazing amount of damage, but it is quite consistent.

[Forrestfire]

Well it certainly has been a long time, and we apologize for that. There's been a combination of A Lot Of Stuff in this update, and life stuff in general getting in the way. However, after far too long, we have an Avowed 1 update for you all!

As always, it can be found here.

There are a couple major changes in this update, which I've gone through in some detail here, though you should check the full changelog to see what else it has.

Spoiler: Discussion of Major Changes

Show

Aether Beam
We've added a new shape to this update! Aether beam, a dedicated line-attack option, represents a "wide line"—that is, 10 feet wide, much like the lines in 3.5, and should help fulfill peoples' laser needs. Previously, the only lines were aether breath and aether lance, which didn't really support the concept of a massive laser blast, so now we have this for that.

Reactive Healing
The celestial pact's rune of penance has been buffed to help it stop being so meaningless by higher levels, and remove the weird break points around multiples of 10 damage. Now, instead of granting fast healing 5 per 10 damage taken, it will instead heal creatures for half the damage they take, over time.

This comes with a new mechanic, Reactive Healing, that exists to codify the avowed's brand of healing. The avowed is a very at-will class, and we wanted to write a mechanic that keeps that feel, without breaking the game for attrition-heavy GMs and groups. Thus, Reactive Healing, which only heals in response to damage actively being taken, and can't heal you for more than that damage, has been added to handle this.

The Old One pact attunement has also been adjusted to follow these rules (though nothing really changed there).

Another round of changes for Rounds and Channel
Last time, we updated the melee weapon shapes and provided a Pounce clause because we wanted people to feel less forced to go all-in on any given shape, vs taking 1-2 as they like to get a versatile character. Aether rounds and aether channel had the issue of really requiring the third selection to continue to be a damage option, unlike the other shapes, so we've changed it (much like the AoE shapes getting their own scaling). At CL 4th, these shapes will now add damage automatically.

In addition, we've cleaned up the wording and helped clear interactions to function as intended, particularly around things like single-weapon TWF. There is a slight nerf here, though: the shapes no longer add their bonus damage on some types of extra attacks. Feats and options that give attacks above and beyond what other fighting styles can manage are great, but we don't want the shapes to multiplicatively scale quite as hard in these cases.

Spoiler: A1 Changelog

Show

Pacts

• We’re introducing a new mechanic for handling avowed at-will healing such as the Celestial pact’s Rune of Penance, or the Old One pact’s attunement. It can be found at the start of the pacts section, and is called Reactive Healing.
• Celestial pact’s halo can now be dismissed without turning off your attunement,
• Court Fey pact’s bonus damage against flanked and flat-footed enemies has been moved to the 4th-level pact empowerment. Poaching it with Split Loyalties was a bit much.
• Court Fey pact’s capstone has had a note added about how it works with spells that require saves (unaware creatures fail automatically against teleportation effects, and are penalized otherwise).
• Elemental pact’s sense now specifies that creatures can be assumed to have an example of your element in their bodies.
• We’ve buffed Shadow pact’s sense so that it no longer overlaps with the Sightseer clause, and also added a small scaling benefit to it.

Clauses and Shapes

• Pulse Shapes now have a note that concentration on them does not turn off all your other SLAs. Whoops.
• A new shape, Aether Beam, has been added to Avowed 1.
• Aether Channel and Aether Rounds have been revised (again, haaaah…) to now get their “adds damage to the attack on top of weapon damage” at caster level 4th, instead of coming from a rank of the shape. However, we’ve also added some changes to a couple cases, namely, single-weapon TWF (like a brawler or monk’s unarmed strike) is now treated as multiple weapons for it, and the bonus damage is also added to only attacks gained from base attack bonus, haste and similar effects, off-hand weapons, natural weapons, and attacks of opportunity. Other extra attacks no longer benefit from the added damage.
• Aether Command’s swift action 2nd rank has had a note added that it can’t be used in the same turn as other shapes.
• Aether Rampage is now just a base of 1d6 per odd level + Str, instead of also adding unarmed damage.
• Aether Rampage’s 4th rank is now similar to that of other melee weapon shapes, granting pounce, and its 3rd rank (rend) has been nerfed in damage significantly. It now, however, grants an extra trigger of modulation effects.
• Aether Rounds’s 2nd rank now works to create phantom copies of thrown weapons as well.
• Hunter’s Instincts now lets you optionally not leave tracks.
• Relinquish can no longer be used to counterspell.

Feats

• The Aether Torrent feat can now be taken if you have Aether Beam (it still works for Aether Wrath).
• Skillful Pact now functions properly with the new pact skills.

Other

• Bonuses that were previously doubled on non-attack-roll shapes have been changed to scale at the same speed as the AoE damage scaling, increasing for those shapes but not others.
• When a shape's damage dice would round down to 0, it now rounds down to 1 point of damage.

Anyway, thanks for reading, all, and I hope you enjoy the update

Is it intended that magic missile be the ideal spell for a Tinker to use aether spark on?

It's a targetted first level spell without an attack roll. A 5th level tinker with a wand of magic missile (5th) does either 3d4+3d6+3 with no attack rolls or saves to a single target, or 1d4+3d6+1 to 3 targets.

It's not an amazing amount of damage, but it is quite consistent.

It's intended, yeah. It's a definitely consistent amount of damage, but it won't be winning any DPR challenges, and you could probably have similar odds of hitting that many guy with just aether cascade or similar, potentially.

[Mezzaluna]

It's good to see updates again!
...But I'm worried the Aether Rounds balancing ride might not be over yet.

I'd looked at some rough numbers before this update and was already worried that invested Aether Rounds might not give enough extra bang for its buck compared to minimal investment Aether Barrage. Now that Aether Rounds doesn't boost Rapid Shot anymore, I think the problem might have gotten even worse.

I did some more thorough number crunching (which might have mistakes! Hopefully not) and I think that when compared against average AC and touch AC of enemies of equal CR, Aether Rounds only pulls ahead a very small amount.

[Full working here]

Both investing at least 3 ranks in their shape and taking Precise/Point Blank shot, an Aether Rounds user also has to:
-Take Rapid Shot and Manyshot (Deadly Aim doesn't seem to make much difference across the levels. In fact, Rapid Shot barely makes a difference to total damage any more either.)
-Spend the gold for the enhancement bonus on their weapon
-Have a passable Strength score (14 and later 16)

And for that much extra investment, the edge it gets is hardly ever more than 10 damage higher across an entire full attack.

Aether Barrage's damage will stay consistent against low AC enemies, or if they get extra bonuses from Weapon Focus or being small sized, while Aether Rounds benefits much more from even a +1 higher chance to hit. The reverse also applies, with Aether Rounds suffering much more from higher AC or accuracy penalties.

But on the whole, not that much of an improvement on the high end when you have to spend much more.

(And on a small sidenote, it's kind of weird that from how I think I read it, your Rapid Shot attack gets to have a full 2d6 damage at level 3, but then gets demoted back down to normal weapon damage at level 4)

[Kiton2]

Ather Beam needs some more identity before rank 4: While it's wider, Breath gives you the choice of equally long lines or cones (and can switch at will with third purchase). They're both reflex-half as well.e Additionally the second purchase may be nice at level 3, when you're doubling your length... But at level 11 where you're increasing 90 to 120, at the cost of other effects such as Aether Focus? Plus, you can reduce the width to double the length with the third purchase, so two of the ranks are basically range extensions but with a price.

The wind tunnel is nice, though. That gives it some personality, but it needs a real raison d'etre in the middle ranks; even for Breath the second purchase on either feels like a base functionality and not something you purchased an upgrade to obtain.


Any chance at all of ever getting clarifications or modifications (to the bonus types) on Aether Circus? It's been up in the air for a good while now.

[MilleniaAntares]

I like the changes so far!

The Aether Rounds bookmark sends me to Aether Retaliation.

[Taco064]

I made a profile just for this lol. This is an amazing class, I love it! Much better than the powered down warlock., which i was using but then we decided to upgrade to this. Just wondering if anyone here has an good magical items that would go well with this class :)

I'm lvl 7 avowed, catfolk. Aether cascade and barrage. Infernal pact. craft wonderous and magic armor feats. Cloak of arachnia for one magic item (love being able to climb the roof and blast away). I have about 10k more to spend, and can also craft where money is not really an option.
Thank you!

[Sethis]

Aether Beam
We've added a new shape to this update! Aether beam, a dedicated line-attack option, represents a "wide line"—that is, 10 feet wide, much like the lines in 3.5, and should help fulfill peoples' laser needs. Previously, the only lines were aether breath and aether lance, which didn't really support the concept of a massive laser blast, so now we have this for that.

The text of this new spell is a bit confusing. In the book it says:

When you use this shape, you create a line-shaped spread of energy 30 feet long that deals the shape's damage to all creatures within its area (Reflex half). Unlike normal line attacks, this shape affects all squares that the line touches,
rather than just the lines it passes through. At caster level 6th and every five levels thereafter, the line’s length increases by 30 feet. If you wish, you may choose to create a shorter line (reducing its length in 5-foot increments)

What exactly do you mean by this? The definition of line in the core is:

A line-shaped spell shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped spell affects all creatures in squares through which the line passes.

I'm not sure how one is different from the other here. Your intent is clearly to make this a 10 ft wide line, but that's not really indicated by the text.

[MilleniaAntares]

Tar Trap seems a bit weak in the damage department, according to some people I showed it to.

[Forrestfire]

The text of this new spell is a bit confusing. In the book it says:

What exactly do you mean by this? The definition of line in the core is:

I'm not sure how one is different from the other here. Your intent is clearly to make this a 10 ft wide line, but that's not really indicated by the text.

In the third paragraph of the spell Area section (CRB p. 214), it states this: "If the far edge of a square is within the spell’s area, anything within that square is within the spell’s area. If the spell’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the spell."

Normally, line effects have to fully pass through a square to affect them. Unlike these, aether beam applies to any square the line touches. Here's some diagrams I threw together to help illustrate this; something similar (though ideally both prettier and simpler) will likely end up in the final book:

Spoiler

Show

Here's how a normal Pathfinder line works, for both straight lines and diagonals:





More of this type of line can be found on page 215 of the CRB. Sometimes, a normal line can be made to have points that are 10 feet wide, but they're... edge cases. I'm sorry.

Meanwhile, the aether beam line affects everything the line touches, regardless of where in the square it crossed it, like so:

Or, at least, this is my understanding of the rules, based on diagrams from 3.5 and PF. We might need to adjust the wording in general, overall.

Tar Trap seems a bit weak in the damage department, according to some people I showed it too.

We'll look into it. Thanks for the feedback.

[MilleniaAntares]

One thing that came into my head recently is the forcing your target to make multiple saves (at a penalty) for multiple hits thing with modulations.

I don't have the math on hand, but wouldn't that overcompensate for a lower DC stat?

Perhaps a slightly better alternative would be to have the non-energy type effect of a modulation apply at the end of the avowed's turn, with a penalty equal to to the number of successful hits made. This prevents having to roll multiple times (which can get silly with TWFing, haste-alike, rapid & split shot, etc), while still compensating for the lower charisma (or constitution) that a physical attacker would have compared to a blasted.

[Tuvarkz]

Aether Grasp and Bucklers: Question, Aether Grasp mentions needing a free hand but it doesn't really specify whether that hand is actually used. So, if you use Aether Grasp while your only free hand has a buckler on it, do you lose the buckler's shield bonus to AC while doing so?

[Bhoddhisatva]

What kind of damage does the base Aether Pulse actually do? Some type of physical damage? Energy? Force?

By the way the pdf is great! i'm enjoying the heck out of it.

[Vhaidara]

Base Aether pulse is untyped damage, like Warlock's Eldritch Blast was back in 3.5.

[Bhoddhisatva]

Base Aether pulse is untyped damage, like Warlock's Eldritch Blast was back in 3.5.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[Forrestfire]

Hello all. It’s been quite a while, and I’m sorry about that. If you’re interested in the reasons behind this delay and the plans around material in the future, you can find a post about that here.

We do have an update today, though! It’s primarily changes to Avowed 1, with some adjustments made to Avowed 2 to make it line up with the altered rules. Here’re our changelogs for today:

Spoiler: A1 Changelog

Show

The Avowed

• Aether pulse’s base form no longer exists; it has been adjusted to be Aether Blow and Aether Ray. Each avowed gets the first selection of one of these for free at 1st level.
• Patronage is no longer a class feature; we’ll be doing a larger section on how avowed can be created by a PC in collaboration with the GM when we go to the final release, but it’s not written right now.
• The class skills gained from Pact Skills are now listed as Ex; the skill boost is still Su.
• Clause save DC is now properly based on caster level, like pact and aether pulse DCs. It was previously class level by mistake. This is particularly relevant to betrothed, whose clauses are used at half CL unless they and the companion both take the action (this was intended to cut the DC, but didn’t by RAW until now).

Pacts

• Court Fey pact's 4th-level ability has had its bonus damage reduced. This turned out to just add way too much potential damage to weapon shape users.
• Elemental pact’s attunement now deals a consistent amount of damage (1 per level) instead of dice with powerspikes every 4-5 levels.
• Elemental pact’s 4th level ability has been replaced with Elemental Eruption. Now, the attunement includes the ability to ignore immunity to your element, and a new 4th-level empowerment has been added to help elemental choice feel more meaningful.
• Elemental pact's 4th level ability got renamed to "Overwhelm" now that the name's open.
• Self pact’s bonus attack has been moved to the 4th-level empowerment, and the Cha to saves has been moved to the attunement, but made to scale (capped at +1 per level).

Shapes

• Aether Command previously implied that weapons that don’t normally add an ability modifier would get Strength to damage. This wasn’t intended, and we’ve fixed the wording.
• Aether Lance does not exist anymore as a standalone shape. It’s now a Beam+weapon shape combination feat. The big reason for this is that as a whole, Aether Lance was overtuned at lower levels as a “weapon” shape, more accurate than other AoEs at higher levels, all while bringing mobility as part of its package. We’ve made sure that each of its aspects (line attacks, line AoEs, higher mobility and charging lines) can still be gotten, but they now come at a cost commensurate to their effect.

Clauses

• As part of the Aether Lance rework, we’ve added a new least clause focused on mobility, called Surge.
• Lock and Key now applies an Alarm to the object you locked (and can be used without trapping it, solely for the alarm effect).
• Inferno Pulse, like the elemental pact’s attunement, now deals 1 point of damage per level on its burn instead of the jagged-scaling dice.
• Scream’s shaken effect can no longer escalate other fear effects, or be escalated. As an actionless aura, it’s way too good for it to quickly create Frightened or Panicked conditions on most targets.

Feats

• Aether Lance does not exist anymore as a standalone shape. It’s now a Beam+weapon shape combination feat.
• Like inferno pulse and the elemental attunement, Lingering Pulse’s damage is now 1 per level.

Other

• Aether Blow has been removed; it’s now just a basic shape.
• Baleful Infusion has been adjusted. It was generally overly centralizing; it’s been changed to, instead of being a free feat and extra benefits, instead just be a burn-based damage booster.
• Alicorn and Decataur FCBs, which previously boosted Aether Lance, have been changed to now boost charge damage (which works with the new Aether Lance).

Spoiler: A2 Changelog

Show

• Matching the Fey pact’s reduction in bonus damage, the Undead pact’s level 4 ability has had its damage reduced.
• Abilities that used to deal damage as fractions of a base Aether Pulse have been adjusted similarly to Inferno Pulse. Likewise, references to Aether Pulse damage have been fixed. If you previously had an ability that dealt damage as if by an unshaped Aether Pulse, it likely deals a flat amount of dice (for capstones) or uses Aether Ray/Aether Blow (for most other abilities).
• With the changes to the base Aether Pulses, the Aether Skirmisher feat is no longer a thing. It’s been rolled into the basic shapes, Aether Ray and Aether Blow.
• With the changes to Aether Lance, the Aether Drive feat is gone as well. It’s just default behavior now.
• On the aspirant, we’ve removed the Aether-Venom Stinger and Brutal Gore form modifications. These will be returning once we get a good way to adjust them, potentially alongside a new shape, but right now our focus is on Aether Lance.
• On the betrothed companion abilities, the Horns and Stinger no longer have their minor ribbon for Aether Lance.

The bulk of today’s changes are centered around the following three things.

Basic Aether Pulses: After looking at feedback and the results of testing, we’ve made the choice to remove the delineation between the “basic” aether pulse and shapes. Unshaped aether pulses are no longer a thing. To help cut down on some of the weirdness inherent in the shapeless pulses, as well as make the avowed’s rules more consistent and clean, we’ve introduced two “basic” shapes, called aether ray and aether blow. Every avowed gets one of these for free at 1st level on top of their normal shape, and they can now be invested in similarly to other shapes. These ones have a niche of being about mobility with single hits, much like the Aether Skirmisher feat previously allowed, and scaling damage instead of remaining at 1d6/odd level all the way through.

Aether Lance: Aether lance had problems. One of our earlier-designed options, it was initially made as a way to support the fantasy of a single charging line attack… but also added to support line attacks in general, which stretched it in two opposed directions. Its damage was built like an AoE shape, but at the time, we didn’t think about just how much more accurate it’d be than Reflex-targeting AoEs. In addition, from the start, it was much better at low-levels (before full attacks) than melee weapon shapes, to an extreme degree. And that’s before we even touch its free mobility aspects.

When we added aether beam, we took more looks at aether lance as the other primary-line shape, and in the end, decided to redesign it. With that in mind, we’ve split off its concepts; if someone is going to be a line-attack-focused avowed, aether beam (and potentially aether breath for a more varied and less specialized line-blaster) is there. For those who want to make AoE weapon attacks with a mobility perk, we’ve consolidated that effect into the other weapon shapes. Aether Lance is now a combination feat for aether beam and any weapon shape, allowing you to make line attacks with scaling distances, as well as the old “charge followed by line blast,” in a way that will hopefully be more balanced alongside the lower-level weapon shapes, without becoming useless as a tactical tool at later levels.

Elemental Pact: A very common criticism of Elemental-pact avowed is that they’re boring. One of our earliest-made pacts, we revisited it and revised it. It should, hopefully, now support more builds and combat styles, as well as having more thematic effects early on for different elements. Whether you’re an AoE specialist, a weapon-user, or something in-between, Elemental pact should be giving you something interesting to do as you scatter energy around the battlefield and reliably assault foes with your element, instead of just giving you an underwhelming “pierce” effect for energy damage.

With that all said, the changes can be found in the playtests’ respective docs. Here are the links, for convenience’s sake: Avowed 1 and Avowed 2

One thing that came into my head recently is the forcing your target to make multiple saves (at a penalty) for multiple hits thing with modulations.

I don't have the math on hand, but wouldn't that overcompensate for a lower DC stat?

Perhaps a slightly better alternative would be to have the non-energy type effect of a modulation apply at the end of the avowed's turn, with a penalty equal to to the number of successful hits made. This prevents having to roll multiple times (which can get silly with TWFing, haste-alike, rapid & split shot, etc), while still compensating for the lower charisma (or constitution) that a physical attacker would have compared to a blasted.

The penalty on the saves isn't just to compensate for the lower casting stat—it's also to account for the fact that if you're hitting one enemy multiple times with your pulse, you've given up the option of hitting the entire fight (or even just everyone in melee with you) with a potentially-debilitating effect. If an avowed is trying hard to burst one enemy down, this is meant to support that.

Regarding rolls, that is certainly a potential slowdown issue that we'll take a look at.

Aether Grasp and Bucklers: Question, Aether Grasp mentions needing a free hand but it doesn't really specify whether that hand is actually used. So, if you use Aether Grasp while your only free hand has a buckler on it, do you lose the buckler's shield bonus to AC while doing so?

It's intended to function the same way as grappling without aether grasp. I've done some digging and can't find anything that says you'd lose the AC bonus (grappling isn't a weapon attack), so I would say that you don't lose the shield bonus.

[EarthSeraphEdna]

Is there any rationale behind leaving aether barrage untouched?

I cannot help but think that 14th level looks more boring than most other levels due to being relatively "deader" than the others.

[Forrestfire]

Is there any rationale behind leaving aether barrage untouched?

Could you elaborate on what you mean by that? What sort of changes are you looking for regarding aether barrage?

I cannot help but think that 14th level looks more boring than most other levels due to being relatively "deader" than the others.

Yeah. We'll likely be coming up with a ribbon of some sort to put there, similar to the old patronage, but not as headache-inducing for the GM.

[Drifter S.]

I'm gonna be a little knee-jerk about my pet favorite pact and ask: what prompted the change to Self Pact, and was it intended to also nerf the Sub-pacts? Because honestly the change is out of nowhere to me, and makes both Subpacts much less attractive as options, especially since neither one would particularly want it (Body encourages a defensive, reach style. Mind wants to be the 'caster'). The first bonus attack was never very exciting (a penalty on all attacks just for pulse die damage? It's nice, but ehhhh), but was easy to swallow because it was bundled together with other goodies, and I got to look forward to hitting 4th level for that save bonus while Who Help Themselves tided me over.

[Roadie]

On page 29 of A1, "(see the sidebar to the right)" should presumably be "(see the sidebar to the left)" instead.

[Andras Zodon]

Surge should probably specify whether or not it provokes AoOs as normal. Based on the Aether Lance origin I get the idea that it doesn't, but movement abilities specify this all the time so it's probably worth adding.

[Domar]

The damage of Aether Circus is kind of crazy. 600+ against a single target.

32d6+26 (138) per missile with a Orange Prism (Ioun Stone) and max CHA.

138 + 69 * 7 = 621

I like the idea but it needs a redesign.

My biggest problem right now is the full round action for a small area boost. It feels like a shape tax to get to useful and interesting abilities.

[EarthSeraphEdna]

"At 1st level, an avowed gains the 1st selection of aether blow or aether ray, and two other shapes of his choice. At every even - numbered class level, the avowed gains one additional shape selection. Shapes can be selected multiple times, increasing their power each time the avowed does so. Each time the avowed learns a new shape, he can also replace a shape selection he has made with another (in addition to learning the new shape). However, he may not exchange any of the shapes gained at 1st level for a choice of another shape he gained at 1st level."

I am confused by this wording. "[The 1st selection of aether blow or aether ray] ... [and two other shapes of his choice]" is a valid reading, and "shapes can be selected multiple times." Can a 1st-level avowed have aether ray, and then two purchases of aether barrage?

Also, is there any wording stipulating the default range of an aether barrage?

[Forrestfire]

The other posted questions will take a bit longer to reply to, but regarding pure wording stuff:

"At 1st level, an avowed gains the 1st selection of aether blow or aether ray, and two other shapes of his choice. At every even - numbered class level, the avowed gains one additional shape selection. Shapes can be selected multiple times, increasing their power each time the avowed does so. Each time the avowed learns a new shape, he can also replace a shape selection he has made with another (in addition to learning the new shape). However, he may not exchange any of the shapes gained at 1st level for a choice of another shape he gained at 1st level."

I am confused by this wording. "[The 1st selection of aether blow or aether ray] ... [and two other shapes of his choice]" is a valid reading, and "shapes can be selected multiple times." Can a 1st-level avowed have aether ray, and then two purchases of aether barrage?

Also, is there any wording stipulating the default range of an aether barrage?

• You get three 1st-selection shapes at 1st level. "The 1st selection [of aether blow or aether ray, and two other shapes of his choice.]" The wording will be amended to be clearer.
• Aether barrage's base range is meant to be 60 feet. It originally used the base aether pulse, and we seem to have never added wording to the first selection to handle that. Thanks for the catch!

Surge should probably specify whether or not it provokes AoOs as normal. Based on the Aether Lance origin I get the idea that it doesn't, but movement abilities specify this all the time so it's probably worth adding.

It provokes AoOs, since it's movement without a statement that it doesn't. The wording will be amended to be state it explicitly.

On page 29 of A1, "(see the sidebar to the right)" should presumably be "(see the sidebar to the left)" instead.

That it should! Thanks for the catch

[MilleniaAntares]

Welcome back Forrest! Hopefully your new life will go well!

Elemental clause's improved attunement and Elemental Eruption are both great improvements! Are there plans on improving the ascendant's Deluge ability? It seems redundant given the attunement's buff, and is just plain lame in comparison to how good Elemental Eruption is.

For Aether-Venom Stinger and Brutal Gore, perhaps you can use Aether Blow in place of Lance?

The Surge clause: "If this movement it ends somewhere that can't support you"

The bolded "it" should be gone.

Is Surge's movement hindered by difficult terrain as normal?

I think Pest Control's fatigue effect should last for a round. Otherwise, you have to ensure your enemy stays within in, or otherwise it only serves to interrupt a charge or run.

[EarthSeraphEdna]

Aether channel and aether rounds are ambiguous as to how they work with Vital Strike at caster level 4th and above. How do they work with Vital Strike, then?

Can an avowed use Vital Strike through, say, an aether barrage, even if that may be suboptimal for damage at times?

[Mezzaluna]

Welcome back! It's very helpful to hear how it's nearing proper release, so there's time for a last call to bring attention to things.

First category, some small oddities that popped up with the new changes:

1) Aether Blow looks like using it provokes attacks of opportunity. That feels unintended.

2) Aether Lance, by current wording, might let you teleport past completely solid walls.
"After making this attack, you can move to any unnocupied space within or adjacent to the line, even if there are interposing creatures or obstacles"
If there's a thin adamantine wall, or wall of force, between one of the affected squares and an empty space on the other side, this will let you teleport past it because it's a valid adjacent space with an 'interposing obstacle' that gets bypassed.
(Secondary note: 'unnocupied' is a typo in the original text)

Second category, small issues with existing things:

3) Gravity Pulse inflicting Slow for one whole minute on a single failed save feels way too strong, and can quickly shut down entire martial encounters. I think the flightbreaker effect should last one minute and Slow should only last one round.

4) Exit Stage Right also implies it doesn't need line of effect to teleport somewhere, which feels fairly narrative-warping for an at-will ability that can be used from level 6, and I just want to check if that's intended.

And third category, larger existing issues which I still think are a problem:

5) Area Shapes second selections are all very uninviting across the board: the 'full round action to raise level by 5' ability should really be a feat and not a 'tax' that many characters will never get use out of that they have to take on the way to choosing the more build-enabling third or fourth selection. I've seen a few people, myself included, get dissuaded from investing more into an area shape because the second selection often feels 'wasted' compared to a new selection into something else.

6) Aether Rounds is still too weak compared to Aether Barrage considering the extra investment it needs to work at its full potential. I don't think much between them has changed since my earlier post and it makes Aether Rounds a deceptively awkward option.

Bonus category: a maybe-problem that I think is probably too late to do anything about, but still something I've noticed:

7) I'll second the feeling of slowdown issues caused by stacking area shapes and modulation clauses that offer saves: GMs I've played for have sometimes gotten a bit tired of rolling two saves each for four different enemies every time I take a turn. I wonder if there's a possibility it could be streamlined, like merging the saving throws when both the shape and the modulation call for one, or for the case of melee shapes, only prompting a single save at the end of the turn with a penalty based on how many times they were hit.

Best wishes going forward, though! I'm still excited for the eventual final release and very curious to see what else FFS has in store.

[calyst]

Pact sense is on the table at 2nd but its description says 1st. Also the Elemental Aspirant 4th ability with the changes to the base Atunement the 4th level ability does almost nothing.

[AOKost]

I know this might seem sub-par to everyone because it wouldn't allow a particular 'element' to advance particularly far, but I would love to be able to learn to control each element up to the equivalent of Avowed level 5 in each element... give the opportunity to advance a level in each element the character wanted instead of forcing a progression in one element.

I understand that even if a character were to choose only 2 elements that they couldn't even make it to the Elemental Ally ability at level 12 for both elements until level 24, but it should still be an available choice...

Quick question... The Self Pacts Strength of Body ability... Does that grant an additional attack to the Aether Flurry? So you would have a Base Attack Progression (not including any modifiers) of +6 / +4 (Unarmed/Aether Blade) / +4 (Unarmed/Aether Blade) / + 1? If so, the the wording of Strength of Body is a little ambiguous and confusing, at least to me since it sounds like it's a repeat ability of Aether Flurry, and the only reason it sounds like it should be in addition to the attack from Aether Flurry is because I know about Monks (and similar classes) Flurry of Blows ability that this seems to try and copy...

I know this might seem like heresy, but you might think about letting Clauses be traded out on a daily basis... It's a mechanic that I've DM'ed before with no regrets. It's still far less versatile than virtually any caster and still a relative glass canon. You should also think about increasing the number of bonus shapes gained by 1 every 4 levels, that way the character gains all of 1 'bonus patron shape'... just a thought to consider.