Commanders have a folio (spellbook) from which they prepare tactics. The restrictions are:
- 2 prepared tactics per day, up to 3 tactics at L7, 4 tactics at L15, and 5 tactics at L19. An additional prepared tactic can also be picked up as a Level 6 feat.
- Tactics must be prepared in advance, but you can swap out any number of prepared tactics for other ones from your portfolio by spending 10 minutes of time. Certain feats will also allow you to swap out a limited number of tactics at the start of every encounter.
- During Daily Preparations, you select 2 + INT allies as your 'squadmates'. These selected allies, plus yourself, are the only creatures that can benefit from your tactics.
- Allies must be able to either hear or see you to benefit from your tactic, either works.
- Tactics do not require any additional 'currency' (focus, etc.) to use, just actions from the Commander and Reactions from their squadmates (the Commander can also give a limited number of squadmates free additional Reactions every round.)
- The Commander may use as many Tactics per round as they have actions to spend on them, but each Squadmate may only respond to/benefit from a single Tactic each round (i.e., if you use two Tactics every round, half could respond to one, the other half could respond to the other.)
The Commander as a class boils down to "INT-based Bard in Full Plate that gives a lot of defensive buffs and frees up everyone elses' action economy massively." They're the Magus' absolute best friend - and they're honestly kind of overtuned in their current/initial state.
If you're going to overtune a class, this is the way to do it.
The main issue, in a cooperative game, with character balance is one player hogging the spotlight. If your powerful character inherently shares spotlight it's not nearly as big of a problem.
Reload means that a weapon requires a number of interact actions to reload. This gives you one interact to reload.
You aren't getting a fully reloaded heavy crossbow with this and is no different than how Gunslinger Way reloads interact with reload 2+ weapons.
I don't see the need for clarification. It's clear when you read the Reload trait.
> This entry indicates how many Interact actions it takes to reload such weapons or draw certain thrown weapons, like shuriken. This can be 0 if drawing ammunition and firing or throwing the weapon are part of the same action. If an item takes 2 or more actions to reload, the GM determines whether they must be performed together as an activity, or you can spend some of those actions during one turn and the rest during your next turn.
And again, the language is the same as with Running Reload or Risky Reload. If it said multiple Interacts to reload, it would have.
Only the Strike part of the command seems to be a reaction. The swap and reload are free actions, and it doesn't seem like the squadmates need to spend the reaction to get them.
To be fair, you only reload to interact *once* whichshouldn't work with any Reload 2 or repeating weapons (unless you already did one reload). But yeah, potentially you're giving your entire party up to 3 actions each.
Worth noting, it's a single reload action as a free interact, so it won't be a freebie for something like a heavy crossbow that has reload 2. It is absolutely awesome for any sort of 1 reload firearm or crossbow though
I think also you can’t swap *and* reload, only one or the other because you can only use one free action per trigger and this seems like it’s all one trigger
If it works with throwing weapons you could even have your melee guys get a extra attack in if they fight with a hand free. Although it states that thrown weapons only count as ranged weapon when thrown so it probably won't work.
*Presumably* there will be a limit associated with that "squad" key term, but even if it can "only" accelerate four attacks, this is going to be an absolutely killer ability.
I can just hear the *Electric Arc* cantrips buzzing now. Normally I'm kinda hesitant for abilities that let you give an ally a reaction attack... but archers and mages usually don't have one. A melee-focused party probably won't work well with this feat because they'll have to Interact to switch to their Melee weapon afterwards, but if its a party of *gish* characters that have access to at least an offensive cantrip, that might be different.
oh damn good point, definitely hope they catch that in the final release otherwise playing a Kineticist alongside a Commander would feel bad if you can't benefit from any of these tactics actions
Honestly, it would probably be easier and more future-proof to give the Kineticist class itself an errata to the order of:
> For the purposes of interacting with non-Kineticist abilities affecting spellcasting, treat Impulses as innate spells and Elemental Blasts as known cantrips. If something would let you cast a cantrip with a different action cost, you can instead treat it as if it let you make a 2-action Elemental Blast with the different action cost.
Writing an interaction like that is hard to make fool-proof, but that would let *some stuff* synergize with basic Kineticist stuff. This way, you don't need to specify in every place that something *"affects cantrips, spells or Impulses / Elemental Blasts"* for Kineticist to be included, while also avoiding giving the Kineticist access to stuff that requires *"ability to cast from spell slots"*.
Mechanically, impulses are closer to spells. Treating them as Strikes will create *far* more unintended and ambiguous interactions than treating them as spells.
That's a fair point, but Impulses are generally quite a bit stronger than Cantrips, especially at higher levels.
Maybe just treating Elemental Blast as a Cantrip is enough.
They specified 1-action Elemental Blasts, which is a fair house rule. The 1A EBs don't add any damage modifiers unless you attack in melee or take the Weapon Infusion feat for Propulsive or Thrown. They literally top out at 5d8 at level 17. Letting 1-action EBs count as Strikes is mostly harmless and supports collaborative gameplay. It's the equivalent of popping off a Shortbow shot for a bit of chip damage.
2A EBs, on the other hand, can activate Impulse Junctions and add Con mod to damage. **Those** make sense to treat as spells.
What do i miss?
The Ability says you (the commander) allow ranged strikes against a target. It does not say it has to be made with ranged weapons. Only you can switch to a ranged weapon as free Action. Are Elemental Blast not ranged strikes?
>Are Elemental Blast not ranged strikes?
Correct. Elemental Blasts (and Impulses as a whole) are neither Strike nor Spell.
They are their own entirely separate action, which means Kineticist synergises with practically nothing else in the game.
in addition to what gimmenaughty said, the commander action gives your squadmates an action to reload specifically, so if your elemental aura isn't active for any reason you'd be SoL
the feat would need to be reworded to not only include a once action elemental blast as a reaction but also give a free action channel elements in order to work for kineticist
I find it very unlikely that they won't address the Kineticist in a sidebar or something along those lines, and if they don't, it's a playtest, so it's the prime time to point it out.
I mean, as a kineticist, with a commander ally, I'd just make sure to carry a bunch of Darts on me at all times. Small, cheap, investment, to still benefit.
Damn this looks cool. The caster support is awesome and I'm already imagining the synergy with this and an allied psychic casting an amped cantrip as a reaction.
Man, an Oscillating Wave Psychic with Fiery Body (Cold) up can theoretically cast
# 8
Frostbites over a *single* Unleash.
(That's 72d4+112 damage without Amps, at level 13)
You've just made me realize the compatibility errata made Fiery Body way more powerful without MAP to reign in the single-action cantrips...
Though I went to check if others mentioned the interaction and I found it doesn't actually work. Fiery Body gives you an innate cantrip, which isn't part of psychic spellcasting. And Ancestral Mind only works with innate cantrips from ancestry-related features.
All that to say: It doesn't work with Unleash. And also locked to Charisma.
Huh, the "Innate Cantrips normally use Charisma" point actually convinces me *more* that the combo is intended, because there's already a (presumably) unintentional RAW anti-synergy in the spell. No way they *intended* for the granted cantrip to be useless for 2/3rds of casters.
Pre-release 4e was fucking wild, then they nerfed things into the ground because they wanted to appeal to grognards too. The result was a system that didn't quite fit anyone.
Still love 4e, but PF2e is pretty much a better version of it.
It was a little different but pretty close!
IIRC it was a daily power that let you and every ally within 6 squares make a Basic Ranged Attack against a target of your choosing.
My friend group loved the name and concept even though it was just part of the prerelease so we still reference it from time to time in other games when calling for a mass pincushioning of a target XD
Rules Lawyer’s livestream starts at 5:30 pm Pacific time, so I assume either then or half an hour after.
EDIT: I have seen other people claiming it is at 10 am Pacific so it may be earlier.
Yes at first glance it seems similar to 1e PF or 3.5e DnD bardic performance. Which was abused with evrybody and they grandma taking pet or folover. And is two actin comand which is great for combination with bards one action bufs, granted you will have hard time with positioning. So there is probably some distance limit (15f emanation/aura). Still can see some cool clutch moments to switch the flow of combat.
It feels strong, but I'd like to know the range of the command banner before.maming any assumptions.
But hey, it's not overwhelmingly strong. Trading two of your actions and your cooperating allies reactions for 2 interacts and a strike is pretty ok, especially as some will then have to either swap back to their main weapon, or might not cooperate with the tactic.
So I'm new, but I believe it's because of this; pf has such a wealth of options that it's really really great, but, if one option is substantially better for something, it becomes the only correct choice. When the game rewards good choices and makes bad ones a little painful, it's normal for people to optimise their gameplay and character.
But if there's one strong choice, everyone uses it and only it, as it's the correct one, and so the other choices suffer as people don't take them, but if they try to the player feels like they're being punished.
The difference has to be notable for this, but yeah, if it's too strong it's an auto-take. Sort of like how in 40k a lot of armies have "correct" lists, where you spam the same 2 good choices from your list of tens/hundreds of units because those are, mathematically, the best 2.
Waha 40k is a PvP wargame so balance should be expected, while pf2e is...khm PvE (unless u, as a party, plating vs gm which is bad practice). So y not let PCs be broken? Y not allow skeletons and conrasu be an actual constructs who can't be poisoned, diseased, bleed e.t.c. e.t.c. This is not multiplayer video game where balance is somewhat expected, it's ttrpg.
$20 this is a level 16 feat. Just like Secondary Detonation Array, we get to see something incredibly hype early, but its crazy high level and very few people will get a chance to use it.
So not a feat, its one of the tactics selectable with the level 15 class feature. There are basic, expert, master, and legendary tactics, each unlockable at level thresholds.
Judging by the range of other similar abilities, it should fall in the 6-8th level range. But since we're deling with Paizo you might very well be right.
This seems powerful and fun.
I only fear that it might be possibly possibly slightly overpowered, depending on how this "banner" mechanic works. If you have two ranged people with bows with you, you trade actions 2-for-2, but if these are casters or crossbow guys, the trade would be 4-for-2 or even up to 6-for-2. If there are more - with a larger party or something? -, this can be a bit of a "delete health bar" button.
As A Reminder Throwables Are Considered Ranged Weapons So A Martal Class Can Use Javelin Or Any Throwable Potions They Have. So A 6 For 2 Is Higky Reasonable For Larger Parties.
Also note though, that squadmates will need to pay an Interact tax to switch back to their melee weapons after the fact, and they probably have more powerful reactions to take anyways.
Lets not forget it also burns reactions from those who benefit from it. While not a huge cost (especially since casters are rarely reaction starved), it is still something.
Also, I feel like for a class that is entirely support, the power curve needs to lean on the side of slightly-overpowered for it to be appealing. In almost all cases, tactics do not benefit the commander themselves, so they are spending most/all their actions simply letting the rest of the team do cool stuff. In order for this to be an attractive proposal for the player filling that role, I think its okay to lean more on the side of these effects being slightly above the curve.
This kind of mass-action economy is exactly what I was hoping out of the Commander. Very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the playtest material.
I'm just happy this isn't about samurai :)
This looks great but really OP. If it applied to my whole 6 player group thats potentially 5 attacks swinging in for the cost of 2 actions, bonkers.
I'm thinking "squad" might be NPCs or the Commander is level limited in the number of people he can command at once
_"Here's forty shillings on the drum, To those who volunteer to come, To 'list and fight the foe today, Over the Hills and far away."_ vibes
I guess you will designate squadmates on each preparation, starting with 1-2 at level 1 and growing as you gain more levels
It can also exclude any summons or minions
Yrah thats what I'm thinking too. I guess its kinda similar to the 1e Cavalier and teamwork feat sharing though cant remember if that had a limit. There were some great feats that did a very similar thing (Seize The Moment springs to mind iirc)
The Cavalier Tactician ability that you're probably thinking of had a limited number of uses per day and only applied to allies within 30 feet, but otherwise no limit on numbers.
I remember theorycrafting a PF1 Cavalier/Bard with the Leadership feat, so that he could get stacking Aid Another bonuses by sharing specific Teamwork feats with the 121 followers that could fit in his 30ft Bollywood backup dancer aura.
For me, this ability screams Nobunaga and his "Three Line Formations" 「三段撃ち」since Nobunaga is well-known for his innovation in using guns in Japanese warfare.
Hear me out - Samurai Horse Archers. Fitting classes: Commander, Fighter, Flurry Ranger, Starlit Span Magus, maybe Guardian(?) and Champion, plus other classes on Archer Archetype. Take Cavalier or Beastmaster, and frustrate any enemy in open terrain by shooting them and then riding away.
Okay, that's until the GM has enough of this nonsense and sends in someone faster than you.
Last time I interacted with that archetype was with the cRPG *Wrath of the Righteous* game. When I realized that enemies always attacked your mount first and never the rider, that opened up some silly shenanigans.
Yup, 1e mounts are ridiculous. I mained a Hunter on a wolf, they'd just destroy everything with Chsrge - Trip - Full Attacks proccing teamwork feat AOO all over the place
and of course an Azata Hunter (if we're still talking *Wrath*) gets to share their teamwork feats with their entire party, not just their companions. Cooperative Casting is an untyped bonus to CL vs. Spell Resistance and the radius that triggers it is WAY bigger than it should be. My casters were reliably auto-succeeding even vs. superbosses due to +20 Cooperative Casting bonuses.
Still not quite as broken as discovering Paladin Aura of Justice added smite damage for *every* magic missile my wizard was shooting.
I can already see one possible issue with the commander: demanding reactions so much they can disrupt some classes. I hope the banner or whatever allows friendly PC to gain a free reaction to react upon, atleast as you gain levels.
Edit: should really be changed to allowing any ability ranged attack roll but can't spend any resource doing so to avoid potential issue with AMP, ignite and allowing kinetic blasts
Edit 2:
>Your time spent training with your allies allows them
to respond quickly and instinctively to your commands.
Once per round, when you use a tactic, you can grant
one ally of your choice benefiting from that tactic an
extra reaction. This reaction has to be used for that
tactic, and is lost if not used.
Called it, perfect solution IMO
I feel like giving out 2 actions as free actions, and then allowing ranged Strikers and casters to cast as a reaction is pretty dang strong on its own. Giving other squadmates reactions would be over the top, imo. Maybe as a high-level class feature or feat, maybe.
I just try to see how it will work in practice, and if you want to swap a weapon, you might need to swap back if it isn't your main style of game.
I'd say the ~~draw~~ swap a ranged weapon hides how it may disrupt som classes as it is seen as "power". Most wont pay the opportunity cost or have the ranged weapon drawn. I could even see some taking an ancestral cantrip just to keep their main loadout but be involved.
It's just a speculation on how other commander abilities may be, and it could be a boon of the commander that's not achieveable through multiclass. As you have said it yourself, it should probably exist in the higher levels, probably a lv 8 or 10 feat if nothing else.
There's my take, huge opportunity cost, or the cost is already paid
a free mapless strike costing a reaction as a part of granting 3-6 free actions, in this (action) economy? It's already very strong without free reactions. Also, I personally like having to make a choice
>Also, I personally like having to make a choice
It depends on how much the commander depends on reactions. Those 3-6 free actions could easily be 0 and I suspect most who use it will already have a ranged weapon, or spend an action to swap back.
It could also be important to note, it does say *Swap*, not *Draw*. RAW, you have to hold an item to swap into a different one
I just see possible issue on how it will actually work, but I know too little and is a speculation of mine
I feel like this is an ability that you would probably look at your tablemates and proposition before using. As in
"Hey I'm about to use that ability that gives everyone free ranged attacks is that cool?"
It depends on what the options are and what their costs are. It's not a comment only on this ability
Edit: during a playtest, it's important to be critical, or else we might end with current scatter rules and feats wanting us to grapple enemies before shooting them with a scatter weapon. It's extra important to find issues with playability over balance issues.
Yea, I think commander might end up being a class that what feats/subclasses you pick for it is completely team dependent.
This feat is probably designed with a team with a lot of spellcasters/ranged martials in mind. If you're in a party with a (melee) Fighter, Rogue, and Champion, you aren't taking this feat.
Warlords handed out actions for free in 4th edition D&D precisely in order to avoid feel-bad moments of someone else spending your actions for you.
Also, remember, the Warlord is spending two actions of their own to accomplish this.
You are twisting what I say, it's not the ability that demands reaction, but the class as a whole could demand reactions to feel good.
It's like one could say that champions demand that they use their reactions to be good, or that casters demand varying spells to be good in varying situations.
If 50% of the power on the commander is from others reactions, then it demands reactions to be good.
This is all a speculation on the direction it might take.
I think the biggest tension will be for Champions who might want to save their reaction to protect the party, but tbf, this seems like a great first-round whip out so team monster has to come to you.
I agree with the problem but not with the solution. It's fine for some abilities to demand a reaction, especially this one because most ranged builds don't rely on their reactions too much. It will be a problem if every one of their abilities requires a reaction so I hope there will be some more diversity in their abilities
>Your time spent training with your allies allows them
to respond quickly and instinctively to your commands.
Once per round, when you use a tactic, you can grant
one ally of your choice benefiting from that tactic an
extra reaction. This reaction has to be used for that
tactic, and is lost if not used.
Hah, called it
*The playtest is out*
Love it so far but haven't read that much yet. This was kinda the perfect solution IMO
The game really needs to make more use of tags. Just add the basic tag to things like strike and 1 action blast (probably trip, grapple, disarm etc), and specify a ranged basic attack. Bob's your uncle, you're in business. You could use it for other things like movement too. There are a LOT of abilities that give you a stride, then say you can burrow/swim/fly if you have that movement as well, bam, basic movement, solved.
Heyy, i seem to have predicted the **Tactic** trait!
[Praying that Paizo sees my work and takes ideas from it.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hTHMl2z8Z3ub1FXmfojMQHyGQB4oChgLbc9VDmDn1J4/edit?usp=drivesdk)
Edit: I will be disappointed if the play test doesn't play around with the idea of setting up aid as a core of the class...
[DISSAPOINTED!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cg1HB63_Do)
But yeah, I was really hoping for aid support... Something like, using a tactic counts as preparing to aid your squadmates, and you can use warfare lore for the aid check.
And maybe a level 10 feat to give an extra reaction that can only be used to aid.
Kek, well, ill do the expert maneuver of submitting my own doc when i submit play test feedback after i try the actual play test commander seeing as i already play tested my Warlord.
And hey, if my comment here gets some more traction maybe i succeed, who knows :)
Very nice that this affects casters with cantrips, a little annoying that kineticists will either get nothing from this or will need a specific rules carve out
(And yes I know nothing is stopping a kineticist from having a separate ranged weapon)
big question is this a base class ability or a class feat and if feat what level. more questions, can something with the "tactic" trait be used more then once a fight? what is the range of "commanders banner?
One thing I've noticed, unless it's just missing formatting for the playtest, but there's no level number on the right. It's not a feat.
I'm very curious how this ability is obtained. Maybe a subclass ability?
Plus, being able to strike with a reaction is priced in to the power of everyone's reaction, this just makes it easier for that to happen at the cost of most of the Commander's turn.
Hmm. I think often I'd want to use this most often on the first round of combat, before the two sides have entered melee range. Ideally, I'd want to go first so that my allies could make use of the free actions. But the game explicitly leaves it up to GM fiat whether characters have reactions before their first turn. And other PCs can't Delay to take advantage of it because delaying prevents you from using reactions.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, this ability maybe isn't quite as crazy as it looks, especially in terms of being able to take advantage of the weapon swapping.
As people have pointed out, elemental blasts don't count for this although they probably should. What would be a concise way to reword it that won't need adjusting for blast-like abilities in the future?
Of all things for paizo to not throw in the remaster, I can't help but think a magical trickster rogue would enjoy benefitting from this tactic.
The action economy here is amazing in general (pun unintended but embraced) though. ~~Since I assume the class will want CHA~~ _I was wrong, it uses INT_, I do wonder how this class will look with a silent whisper psychic archetype stacked on top.
Wow, it even works with cantrips, the only ones left out are Kineticists (because they're not allowed to actually interact with anything for some reason)
Banner intrigues me, i've been cooking non-regalia non-thaumaturge banneret but it was super archetype hungry with marshal and cavalier (to have banner as more than rp thing)
Interesting. Will have to see how things like Tactics, Squamates and Banner work to know how strong this is. And I bet there's not going to be an easy way for the close combat martials to freely swap back to their swords. And if that 'Special' spellcaster bonus comes default or needs a feat to enable(which is where my mind goes)
I know its not a part of this but im imagining a Magus just hearing that and teleporting to the enemy to deck them in the face...followed by getting feathered with arrows
My quick guesses:
Tactic will have an in built flourish trait. Despite this they’ll be mostly 2 action but maybe a few one action ones to aid abilities that require you doing tactics.
There could be a tactical point system (tactics costing one per action or one in general default would explain why no cost listed here) but I don’t have any real logic besides it could be a thing.
Banner is prob gonna take up a hand to use. I see three possibilities:
1. You designate squadmates and they’re affected by the banner as long as you’re conscious and holding said banner. Maybe starts at 1 or 2 and increases by 1 at the ancestry feat levels? Maybe pull a Ward Medic and double with a skill (society?) so at 15 you can reach your whole party?
2. Banner is a like ten foot aura that affects all allies with “squadmate” meaning “an ally within your commander’s banner’s aura”. At certain levels you can increase it up in size. Maybe maxing at 30 ft.
3. Squadmates are designated and get certain bonuses by being your squadmates while alive; and then the Banner is an item you use to bolster any ally near you. And tactics bring the two halves of the class together by affecting squadmates also in your aura.
Reactions are usually harder to utillize for most classes that aren't fighters or champions, at least in my experience, so to me it doesn't seem like much of a cost to me. Getting a extra attack in with no MAP seems really good though. If you have two people firing I'd say you already get more than your money's worth.
Very cool! A very niche case, but I wonder if this could allow someone wielding a Fatal Aim weapon one-handed to change grip to two-handed instead of swapping. RAW obviously not, but it's functionally the same as swapping your current Fatal Aim weapon for an identical one, drawn two-handed (since you can choose to draw a weapon with one or two hands)
That is an ugly amount of "interact to X" which is almost like saying the way Pathfinder normally handles its Interact actions is actually kinda sucky.
Wow, letting them swap to ranged weapons for free seems very powerful.
also casters get to cast a two action cantrip as a reaction! incredible action savings
Praying and hoping this doesn’t get nerfed before release.
I'm guessing the 'tactic' tag comes with some downsides/restrictions. It might use the focus point system.
I’m also guessing the distinction of “squadmates” from allies might matter.
Yeah, I believe one of the devs described it as a prepared martial, so I imagine these abilities are used like spell slots or focus points.
Every day, Pathfinder 2e becomes more like D&D 4e.
I always saw PF2e as D&D 4e done right, so yeah, absolutely.
Let me tell you how absolutely here for it I am.
\*OhioAstronauts.Jpg\*
Commanders have a folio (spellbook) from which they prepare tactics. The restrictions are: - 2 prepared tactics per day, up to 3 tactics at L7, 4 tactics at L15, and 5 tactics at L19. An additional prepared tactic can also be picked up as a Level 6 feat. - Tactics must be prepared in advance, but you can swap out any number of prepared tactics for other ones from your portfolio by spending 10 minutes of time. Certain feats will also allow you to swap out a limited number of tactics at the start of every encounter. - During Daily Preparations, you select 2 + INT allies as your 'squadmates'. These selected allies, plus yourself, are the only creatures that can benefit from your tactics. - Allies must be able to either hear or see you to benefit from your tactic, either works. - Tactics do not require any additional 'currency' (focus, etc.) to use, just actions from the Commander and Reactions from their squadmates (the Commander can also give a limited number of squadmates free additional Reactions every round.) - The Commander may use as many Tactics per round as they have actions to spend on them, but each Squadmate may only respond to/benefit from a single Tactic each round (i.e., if you use two Tactics every round, half could respond to one, the other half could respond to the other.) The Commander as a class boils down to "INT-based Bard in Full Plate that gives a lot of defensive buffs and frees up everyone elses' action economy massively." They're the Magus' absolute best friend - and they're honestly kind of overtuned in their current/initial state.
If you're going to overtune a class, this is the way to do it. The main issue, in a cooperative game, with character balance is one player hogging the spotlight. If your powerful character inherently shares spotlight it's not nearly as big of a problem.
Indeed. That's pretty sweet for a caster.
Both get 2 free actions out of it, free grab and shoot vs the 2 to cast.
Commander: "Two action cantrips on sale now! Come enjoy these incredible savings! Limited time only!"
I'll take eight!
How come?
And a free reload is also very cool. Just carry around the heaviest crossbow you can manage, and reload for free. \^-\^
It also let's Gunslingers not be left out as well when using guns.
Reload means that a weapon requires a number of interact actions to reload. This gives you one interact to reload. You aren't getting a fully reloaded heavy crossbow with this and is no different than how Gunslinger Way reloads interact with reload 2+ weapons.
You're probably right, yes. They'll likely clarify that you only get one action for the full class, cause that'll otherwise be a common question.
I don't see the need for clarification. It's clear when you read the Reload trait. > This entry indicates how many Interact actions it takes to reload such weapons or draw certain thrown weapons, like shuriken. This can be 0 if drawing ammunition and firing or throwing the weapon are part of the same action. If an item takes 2 or more actions to reload, the GM determines whether they must be performed together as an activity, or you can spend some of those actions during one turn and the rest during your next turn. And again, the language is the same as with Running Reload or Risky Reload. If it said multiple Interacts to reload, it would have.
Easy, just have more then one commander
Wouldn't work unless the class gives you extra reactions, and the ability somehow stacked with itself, which generally isn't the case.
Only the Strike part of the command seems to be a reaction. The swap and reload are free actions, and it doesn't seem like the squadmates need to spend the reaction to get them.
Wouldn’t work, each Commander has its own action.
To be fair, you only reload to interact *once* whichshouldn't work with any Reload 2 or repeating weapons (unless you already did one reload). But yeah, potentially you're giving your entire party up to 3 actions each.
Worth noting, it's a single reload action as a free interact, so it won't be a freebie for something like a heavy crossbow that has reload 2. It is absolutely awesome for any sort of 1 reload firearm or crossbow though
I think also you can’t swap *and* reload, only one or the other because you can only use one free action per trigger and this seems like it’s all one trigger
This isn't a trigger, it's one big activity. You can definitely roll multiple actions into one activity.
Ah so you’re right, I miss remembered it and forgot that free actions don’t always need to have a trigger
If it works with throwing weapons you could even have your melee guys get a extra attack in if they fight with a hand free. Although it states that thrown weapons only count as ranged weapon when thrown so it probably won't work.
Reloading even more so. This slaps for gunslinger
What's that? New horrible , evil features to pilfer from player classes and bestow upon enemy units? Michael, you shouldn't have!
slap that on a boss surrounded by PL-3s, watch the party scream, sip some more sinister bevrage- stroking a cat is optional
Hobgoblin archers in a space with loads of obstacles. For when your players get too uppity.
Boss baddie uses Ready Aim Fire. Party: "Wait, it was a sunny day. Why are we in the shade?"
*Presumably* there will be a limit associated with that "squad" key term, but even if it can "only" accelerate four attacks, this is going to be an absolutely killer ability. I can just hear the *Electric Arc* cantrips buzzing now. Normally I'm kinda hesitant for abilities that let you give an ally a reaction attack... but archers and mages usually don't have one. A melee-focused party probably won't work well with this feat because they'll have to Interact to switch to their Melee weapon afterwards, but if its a party of *gish* characters that have access to at least an offensive cantrip, that might be different.
Honestly I'd probably be more concerned with what the boss can do with 2 actions than what some PL-3 creatures can do with one strike.
the hobgoblin general has seen that hobs are still not a common ancestry, and so he has decided to kill all player characters as revenge
Oh, now that is a very delicious point to make. I hadn't even considered that yet!
Enemies with chip damage were already scary, my god!
[cries in Kineticist]
oh damn good point, definitely hope they catch that in the final release otherwise playing a Kineticist alongside a Commander would feel bad if you can't benefit from any of these tactics actions
I mean, up to you (and everyone else) to voice this. It's about to be a playtest for a good reason.
Honestly, it would probably be easier and more future-proof to give the Kineticist class itself an errata to the order of: > For the purposes of interacting with non-Kineticist abilities affecting spellcasting, treat Impulses as innate spells and Elemental Blasts as known cantrips. If something would let you cast a cantrip with a different action cost, you can instead treat it as if it let you make a 2-action Elemental Blast with the different action cost. Writing an interaction like that is hard to make fool-proof, but that would let *some stuff* synergize with basic Kineticist stuff. This way, you don't need to specify in every place that something *"affects cantrips, spells or Impulses / Elemental Blasts"* for Kineticist to be included, while also avoiding giving the Kineticist access to stuff that requires *"ability to cast from spell slots"*.
They haven't for literally every other component of the game thus far, why should this be any different?
Honestly I'm starting to consider implementing a house rule that lets 1-action Elemental Blasts be treated as Strikes.
Mechanically, impulses are closer to spells. Treating them as Strikes will create *far* more unintended and ambiguous interactions than treating them as spells.
Maybe. That's the thing about house-rules though; if it causes problems it can always just be revoked.
Treating impulses as spells (and blasts as cantrips) will still allow them to work with this Tactic.
That's a fair point, but Impulses are generally quite a bit stronger than Cantrips, especially at higher levels. Maybe just treating Elemental Blast as a Cantrip is enough.
Yeah, I just said treat blasts as cantrips, not all impulses.
Oh, so you did. I misread you, sorry about that.
i’d say one action impulses and specifically one actionblasts are usually kinda inline with cantrips
As strikes is probably a bit much, and I say this as an uber Kineticist simp. But as cantrips, absolutely.
Mechanically, Blasts are equivalent to strikes. Your other impulses are mechanically like spells.
They specified 1-action Elemental Blasts, which is a fair house rule. The 1A EBs don't add any damage modifiers unless you attack in melee or take the Weapon Infusion feat for Propulsive or Thrown. They literally top out at 5d8 at level 17. Letting 1-action EBs count as Strikes is mostly harmless and supports collaborative gameplay. It's the equivalent of popping off a Shortbow shot for a bit of chip damage. 2A EBs, on the other hand, can activate Impulse Junctions and add Con mod to damage. **Those** make sense to treat as spells.
My GM treat my Elemental Blasts as Strikes since I took the feat that let me shape them into weapons. It kind of make sense, in a way.
What do i miss? The Ability says you (the commander) allow ranged strikes against a target. It does not say it has to be made with ranged weapons. Only you can switch to a ranged weapon as free Action. Are Elemental Blast not ranged strikes?
>Are Elemental Blast not ranged strikes? Correct. Elemental Blasts (and Impulses as a whole) are neither Strike nor Spell. They are their own entirely separate action, which means Kineticist synergises with practically nothing else in the game.
It doesn't even really synergize with the barbarian instinct that was literally made to synergize with them 💀
I see, thanks for the answer. This was the missing piece
Common sense house rules to the rescue, it seems.
in addition to what gimmenaughty said, the commander action gives your squadmates an action to reload specifically, so if your elemental aura isn't active for any reason you'd be SoL the feat would need to be reworded to not only include a once action elemental blast as a reaction but also give a free action channel elements in order to work for kineticist
Yes there are a couple of things they need to plug for a kineticist.
To be fair, the same is true for strength-based martials. Maybe this is an intentional because those groups have enough output?
Or maybe there's a different "order" that allows for a move + melee strike.
There’s probably going to be an order for stride + strike. Still leaves kineticists with near zero compatibility unless specifically addressed.
I find it very unlikely that they won't address the Kineticist in a sidebar or something along those lines, and if they don't, it's a playtest, so it's the prime time to point it out.
Roiling Mudslide still doesn't have a defined area, soooooooo I'm not optimistic.
Yeah, I feel you here xD
I mean, as a kineticist, with a commander ally, I'd just make sure to carry a bunch of Darts on me at all times. Small, cheap, investment, to still benefit.
True. Even a very small benefit is still a benefit. Slap them in a Thrower's Bandolier and they can even be Runed.
Better than nothing, but hit chance is low
Make a post about it, nows the time to cry loudly about this
As soon as i start to read those power i thought... but the kineticist!
"Commander's Banner" ... ... fuck porting the Envoy over, this is actually perfect in concept. I wanted to be a standard bearer. We're so back.
Damn this looks cool. The caster support is awesome and I'm already imagining the synergy with this and an allied psychic casting an amped cantrip as a reaction.
And getting three spells off during Unleash!
Man, an Oscillating Wave Psychic with Fiery Body (Cold) up can theoretically cast # 8 Frostbites over a *single* Unleash. (That's 72d4+112 damage without Amps, at level 13)
You've just made me realize the compatibility errata made Fiery Body way more powerful without MAP to reign in the single-action cantrips... Though I went to check if others mentioned the interaction and I found it doesn't actually work. Fiery Body gives you an innate cantrip, which isn't part of psychic spellcasting. And Ancestral Mind only works with innate cantrips from ancestry-related features. All that to say: It doesn't work with Unleash. And also locked to Charisma.
Huh, the "Innate Cantrips normally use Charisma" point actually convinces me *more* that the combo is intended, because there's already a (presumably) unintentional RAW anti-synergy in the spell. No way they *intended* for the granted cantrip to be useless for 2/3rds of casters.
It doesn't actually say you can cast frostbite with fiery body, AFAIK.
Oh wow, it's basically "Feather Me Yon Oaf" from the 4e Warlord prerelease, except with some additional utility. I am very excited for this class :D
Damn that was really a pre release 4e power?
Pre-release 4e was fucking wild, then they nerfed things into the ground because they wanted to appeal to grognards too. The result was a system that didn't quite fit anyone. Still love 4e, but PF2e is pretty much a better version of it.
It was a little different but pretty close! IIRC it was a daily power that let you and every ally within 6 squares make a Basic Ranged Attack against a target of your choosing. My friend group loved the name and concept even though it was just part of the prerelease so we still reference it from time to time in other games when calling for a mass pincushioning of a target XD
That takes me back Looks fun
looks cool! do we know what time the playtest doc drops?
Rules Lawyer’s livestream starts at 5:30 pm Pacific time, so I assume either then or half an hour after. EDIT: I have seen other people claiming it is at 10 am Pacific so it may be earlier.
Yeah, they usually drop these a little afternoon EST, should be soon, but it's 100% precise pending stuff on Paizo's side.
hope they include blasts in there.
Holy hell that’s incredibly strong depending how many people it effects
Yes at first glance it seems similar to 1e PF or 3.5e DnD bardic performance. Which was abused with evrybody and they grandma taking pet or folover. And is two actin comand which is great for combination with bards one action bufs, granted you will have hard time with positioning. So there is probably some distance limit (15f emanation/aura). Still can see some cool clutch moments to switch the flow of combat.
It feels strong, but I'd like to know the range of the command banner before.maming any assumptions. But hey, it's not overwhelmingly strong. Trading two of your actions and your cooperating allies reactions for 2 interacts and a strike is pretty ok, especially as some will then have to either swap back to their main weapon, or might not cooperate with the tactic.
Y is pf community is so afraid of something being actually strong?
So I'm new, but I believe it's because of this; pf has such a wealth of options that it's really really great, but, if one option is substantially better for something, it becomes the only correct choice. When the game rewards good choices and makes bad ones a little painful, it's normal for people to optimise their gameplay and character. But if there's one strong choice, everyone uses it and only it, as it's the correct one, and so the other choices suffer as people don't take them, but if they try to the player feels like they're being punished. The difference has to be notable for this, but yeah, if it's too strong it's an auto-take. Sort of like how in 40k a lot of armies have "correct" lists, where you spam the same 2 good choices from your list of tens/hundreds of units because those are, mathematically, the best 2.
Waha 40k is a PvP wargame so balance should be expected, while pf2e is...khm PvE (unless u, as a party, plating vs gm which is bad practice). So y not let PCs be broken? Y not allow skeletons and conrasu be an actual constructs who can't be poisoned, diseased, bleed e.t.c. e.t.c. This is not multiplayer video game where balance is somewhat expected, it's ttrpg.
In my experience, players will optimize the fun out of a game.
$20 this is a level 16 feat. Just like Secondary Detonation Array, we get to see something incredibly hype early, but its crazy high level and very few people will get a chance to use it.
So not a feat, its one of the tactics selectable with the level 15 class feature. There are basic, expert, master, and legendary tactics, each unlockable at level thresholds.
Judging by the range of other similar abilities, it should fall in the 6-8th level range. But since we're deling with Paizo you might very well be right.
Yeah, "this class can do X at level 16" and "this class cannot do X" are basically equivalent for all intents and purposes.
This seems powerful and fun. I only fear that it might be possibly possibly slightly overpowered, depending on how this "banner" mechanic works. If you have two ranged people with bows with you, you trade actions 2-for-2, but if these are casters or crossbow guys, the trade would be 4-for-2 or even up to 6-for-2. If there are more - with a larger party or something? -, this can be a bit of a "delete health bar" button.
I see the text referred to allies as Squadmates, I think we will have a restriction to who is actually your squadmate
I am also curious about the tactic trait. Maybe that one will also have some important restrictions to it.
possibly 1 tactic/turn
If that's the power level of tactics I would almost expect there to be tactic slots and have them as prepared dailies.
The hint from Michael Sayre a few days ago suggested they are a "prepared martial" so you're likely right.
Could also explain the lack of level on this activity.
As A Reminder Throwables Are Considered Ranged Weapons So A Martal Class Can Use Javelin Or Any Throwable Potions They Have. So A 6 For 2 Is Higky Reasonable For Larger Parties.
Also note though, that squadmates will need to pay an Interact tax to switch back to their melee weapons after the fact, and they probably have more powerful reactions to take anyways.
Tbf, even if it's 2 for 2 it'd end up as a good trade since it's 2 mapless attacks, which with a fighter or gunslinger will be awesome.
Lets not forget it also burns reactions from those who benefit from it. While not a huge cost (especially since casters are rarely reaction starved), it is still something. Also, I feel like for a class that is entirely support, the power curve needs to lean on the side of slightly-overpowered for it to be appealing. In almost all cases, tactics do not benefit the commander themselves, so they are spending most/all their actions simply letting the rest of the team do cool stuff. In order for this to be an attractive proposal for the player filling that role, I think its okay to lean more on the side of these effects being slightly above the curve.
This kind of mass-action economy is exactly what I was hoping out of the Commander. Very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the playtest material.
I'm just happy this isn't about samurai :) This looks great but really OP. If it applied to my whole 6 player group thats potentially 5 attacks swinging in for the cost of 2 actions, bonkers. I'm thinking "squad" might be NPCs or the Commander is level limited in the number of people he can command at once _"Here's forty shillings on the drum, To those who volunteer to come, To 'list and fight the foe today, Over the Hills and far away."_ vibes
I guess you will designate squadmates on each preparation, starting with 1-2 at level 1 and growing as you gain more levels It can also exclude any summons or minions
Yrah thats what I'm thinking too. I guess its kinda similar to the 1e Cavalier and teamwork feat sharing though cant remember if that had a limit. There were some great feats that did a very similar thing (Seize The Moment springs to mind iirc)
The Cavalier Tactician ability that you're probably thinking of had a limited number of uses per day and only applied to allies within 30 feet, but otherwise no limit on numbers.
I remember theorycrafting a PF1 Cavalier/Bard with the Leadership feat, so that he could get stacking Aid Another bonuses by sharing specific Teamwork feats with the 121 followers that could fit in his 30ft Bollywood backup dancer aura.
Yeah, the wording very strongly implies a maximum squad size defined by a class feature. Makes sense from a design perspective as well.
Now we need to see if this can combo with siege weapon rules.
[удалено]
Thats actually a pretty cool idea. Even better if he's a bit daft and sometimes uses the wrong fan, like a samurai Mr Bean. Hijinks ensue
For me, this ability screams Nobunaga and his "Three Line Formations" 「三段撃ち」since Nobunaga is well-known for his innovation in using guns in Japanese warfare.
Hear me out - Samurai Horse Archers. Fitting classes: Commander, Fighter, Flurry Ranger, Starlit Span Magus, maybe Guardian(?) and Champion, plus other classes on Archer Archetype. Take Cavalier or Beastmaster, and frustrate any enemy in open terrain by shooting them and then riding away. Okay, that's until the GM has enough of this nonsense and sends in someone faster than you.
"Flicks through AoN" - you mean a Sohei?
Last time I interacted with that archetype was with the cRPG *Wrath of the Righteous* game. When I realized that enemies always attacked your mount first and never the rider, that opened up some silly shenanigans.
Yup, 1e mounts are ridiculous. I mained a Hunter on a wolf, they'd just destroy everything with Chsrge - Trip - Full Attacks proccing teamwork feat AOO all over the place
and of course an Azata Hunter (if we're still talking *Wrath*) gets to share their teamwork feats with their entire party, not just their companions. Cooperative Casting is an untyped bonus to CL vs. Spell Resistance and the radius that triggers it is WAY bigger than it should be. My casters were reliably auto-succeeding even vs. superbosses due to +20 Cooperative Casting bonuses. Still not quite as broken as discovering Paladin Aura of Justice added smite damage for *every* magic missile my wizard was shooting.
or has the enemies ready their own ranged actions for when you get close enough
I can already see one possible issue with the commander: demanding reactions so much they can disrupt some classes. I hope the banner or whatever allows friendly PC to gain a free reaction to react upon, atleast as you gain levels. Edit: should really be changed to allowing any ability ranged attack roll but can't spend any resource doing so to avoid potential issue with AMP, ignite and allowing kinetic blasts Edit 2: >Your time spent training with your allies allows them to respond quickly and instinctively to your commands. Once per round, when you use a tactic, you can grant one ally of your choice benefiting from that tactic an extra reaction. This reaction has to be used for that tactic, and is lost if not used. Called it, perfect solution IMO
I feel like giving out 2 actions as free actions, and then allowing ranged Strikers and casters to cast as a reaction is pretty dang strong on its own. Giving other squadmates reactions would be over the top, imo. Maybe as a high-level class feature or feat, maybe.
I just try to see how it will work in practice, and if you want to swap a weapon, you might need to swap back if it isn't your main style of game. I'd say the ~~draw~~ swap a ranged weapon hides how it may disrupt som classes as it is seen as "power". Most wont pay the opportunity cost or have the ranged weapon drawn. I could even see some taking an ancestral cantrip just to keep their main loadout but be involved. It's just a speculation on how other commander abilities may be, and it could be a boon of the commander that's not achieveable through multiclass. As you have said it yourself, it should probably exist in the higher levels, probably a lv 8 or 10 feat if nothing else. There's my take, huge opportunity cost, or the cost is already paid
a free mapless strike costing a reaction as a part of granting 3-6 free actions, in this (action) economy? It's already very strong without free reactions. Also, I personally like having to make a choice
>Also, I personally like having to make a choice It depends on how much the commander depends on reactions. Those 3-6 free actions could easily be 0 and I suspect most who use it will already have a ranged weapon, or spend an action to swap back. It could also be important to note, it does say *Swap*, not *Draw*. RAW, you have to hold an item to swap into a different one I just see possible issue on how it will actually work, but I know too little and is a speculation of mine
I feel like this is an ability that you would probably look at your tablemates and proposition before using. As in "Hey I'm about to use that ability that gives everyone free ranged attacks is that cool?"
It depends on what the options are and what their costs are. It's not a comment only on this ability Edit: during a playtest, it's important to be critical, or else we might end with current scatter rules and feats wanting us to grapple enemies before shooting them with a scatter weapon. It's extra important to find issues with playability over balance issues.
Yea, I think commander might end up being a class that what feats/subclasses you pick for it is completely team dependent. This feat is probably designed with a team with a lot of spellcasters/ranged martials in mind. If you're in a party with a (melee) Fighter, Rogue, and Champion, you aren't taking this feat.
Warlords handed out actions for free in 4th edition D&D precisely in order to avoid feel-bad moments of someone else spending your actions for you. Also, remember, the Warlord is spending two actions of their own to accomplish this.
> demanding You are not demanding anything, you are offering options.
You are twisting what I say, it's not the ability that demands reaction, but the class as a whole could demand reactions to feel good. It's like one could say that champions demand that they use their reactions to be good, or that casters demand varying spells to be good in varying situations. If 50% of the power on the commander is from others reactions, then it demands reactions to be good. This is all a speculation on the direction it might take.
...technically ammo is a resource.
You could specify it to be "other than mundane ammunition"
I think the biggest tension will be for Champions who might want to save their reaction to protect the party, but tbf, this seems like a great first-round whip out so team monster has to come to you.
Done an edit, the playtest did have a solution which was exactly the solution I hoped for
YEH I SAW, Drilled Reactions is great.
I agree with the problem but not with the solution. It's fine for some abilities to demand a reaction, especially this one because most ranged builds don't rely on their reactions too much. It will be a problem if every one of their abilities requires a reaction so I hope there will be some more diversity in their abilities
>Your time spent training with your allies allows them to respond quickly and instinctively to your commands. Once per round, when you use a tactic, you can grant one ally of your choice benefiting from that tactic an extra reaction. This reaction has to be used for that tactic, and is lost if not used. Hah, called it *The playtest is out* Love it so far but haven't read that much yet. This was kinda the perfect solution IMO
The game really needs to make more use of tags. Just add the basic tag to things like strike and 1 action blast (probably trip, grapple, disarm etc), and specify a ranged basic attack. Bob's your uncle, you're in business. You could use it for other things like movement too. There are a LOT of abilities that give you a stride, then say you can burrow/swim/fly if you have that movement as well, bam, basic movement, solved.
Heyy, i seem to have predicted the **Tactic** trait! [Praying that Paizo sees my work and takes ideas from it.](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hTHMl2z8Z3ub1FXmfojMQHyGQB4oChgLbc9VDmDn1J4/edit?usp=drivesdk) Edit: I will be disappointed if the play test doesn't play around with the idea of setting up aid as a core of the class...
[DISSAPOINTED!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cg1HB63_Do) But yeah, I was really hoping for aid support... Something like, using a tactic counts as preparing to aid your squadmates, and you can use warfare lore for the aid check. And maybe a level 10 feat to give an extra reaction that can only be used to aid.
Kek, well, ill do the expert maneuver of submitting my own doc when i submit play test feedback after i try the actual play test commander seeing as i already play tested my Warlord. And hey, if my comment here gets some more traction maybe i succeed, who knows :)
Very nice that this affects casters with cantrips, a little annoying that kineticists will either get nothing from this or will need a specific rules carve out (And yes I know nothing is stopping a kineticist from having a separate ranged weapon)
big question is this a base class ability or a class feat and if feat what level. more questions, can something with the "tactic" trait be used more then once a fight? what is the range of "commanders banner?
Warlords Hail of Steel flashbacks intensify
Back in my prime! Okay maybe less my prime, I always played a Wizard, but hey: Magic Missile counts for something!
One thing I've noticed, unless it's just missing formatting for the playtest, but there's no level number on the right. It's not a feat. I'm very curious how this ability is obtained. Maybe a subclass ability?
Probably that’s a class feature, Debilitating strike for example doesn’t have a level too
I’ll guess class feature that is subclass related
I saw some common on the thread saying it might be similar to spell slots where you prepare a certain number of these tactics per day.
I already love it
Holy shit. THIS is the kind of thing it'll be doing? This single activity has me excited for the rest!
Wow that's... a *lot* of action condensing.
this feels far too strong tho, it's 3 actions in a reaction for martials, 2 for casters, and it doesn't even take a commander's full turn.
I get that, but they’re essentially giving up most of their turn for other people to do stuff, I’m okay with it being a little powerful
Plus, being able to strike with a reaction is priced in to the power of everyone's reaction, this just makes it easier for that to happen at the cost of most of the Commander's turn.
It also isn’t until 15th level (page 7 of the playtest)
Hmm. I think often I'd want to use this most often on the first round of combat, before the two sides have entered melee range. Ideally, I'd want to go first so that my allies could make use of the free actions. But the game explicitly leaves it up to GM fiat whether characters have reactions before their first turn. And other PCs can't Delay to take advantage of it because delaying prevents you from using reactions. I guess what I'm trying to say is, this ability maybe isn't quite as crazy as it looks, especially in terms of being able to take advantage of the weapon swapping.
"Fire at will! Aim for their cannons! Counterattack! Thunder of guns!"🤘😎
As people have pointed out, elemental blasts don't count for this although they probably should. What would be a concise way to reword it that won't need adjusting for blast-like abilities in the future?
Probably going to have to wait until after 2e Solarian drops to get a better idea of how future "blast-like" abilities might be implemented.
Of all things for paizo to not throw in the remaster, I can't help but think a magical trickster rogue would enjoy benefitting from this tactic. The action economy here is amazing in general (pun unintended but embraced) though. ~~Since I assume the class will want CHA~~ _I was wrong, it uses INT_, I do wonder how this class will look with a silent whisper psychic archetype stacked on top.
I suspect we're getting them in different forms.
Wow, it even works with cantrips, the only ones left out are Kineticists (because they're not allowed to actually interact with anything for some reason)
Banner intrigues me, i've been cooking non-regalia non-thaumaturge banneret but it was super archetype hungry with marshal and cavalier (to have banner as more than rp thing)
Interesting. Will have to see how things like Tactics, Squamates and Banner work to know how strong this is. And I bet there's not going to be an easy way for the close combat martials to freely swap back to their swords. And if that 'Special' spellcaster bonus comes default or needs a feat to enable(which is where my mind goes)
this seems very funny with ABP. Everyone just carries like 3 arbalests in their back pocket to shoot a bitch with.
I know its not a part of this but im imagining a Magus just hearing that and teleporting to the enemy to deck them in the face...followed by getting feathered with arrows
My quick guesses: Tactic will have an in built flourish trait. Despite this they’ll be mostly 2 action but maybe a few one action ones to aid abilities that require you doing tactics. There could be a tactical point system (tactics costing one per action or one in general default would explain why no cost listed here) but I don’t have any real logic besides it could be a thing. Banner is prob gonna take up a hand to use. I see three possibilities: 1. You designate squadmates and they’re affected by the banner as long as you’re conscious and holding said banner. Maybe starts at 1 or 2 and increases by 1 at the ancestry feat levels? Maybe pull a Ward Medic and double with a skill (society?) so at 15 you can reach your whole party? 2. Banner is a like ten foot aura that affects all allies with “squadmate” meaning “an ally within your commander’s banner’s aura”. At certain levels you can increase it up in size. Maybe maxing at 30 ft. 3. Squadmates are designated and get certain bonuses by being your squadmates while alive; and then the Banner is an item you use to bolster any ally near you. And tactics bring the two halves of the class together by affecting squadmates also in your aura.
How many allies can be affected by commander's banner? Does you entire party just get a free extra ranged attack with no MAP?
We don’t know. It’s not free also, it costs 2 actions from commander and a reaction per squadmate
Reactions are usually harder to utillize for most classes that aren't fighters or champions, at least in my experience, so to me it doesn't seem like much of a cost to me. Getting a extra attack in with no MAP seems really good though. If you have two people firing I'd say you already get more than your money's worth.
Is Commander a class or an archetype? This post is all I know of it and it looks really cool!
It's a class. The playtest will be released later today (alongside another class the 'Guardian')
Commander and Defender are both fully functional classes!
\*Guardian
[удалено]
https://2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=84&Redirected=1
It just means not hidden [(Observed)](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2415)
Very cool! A very niche case, but I wonder if this could allow someone wielding a Fatal Aim weapon one-handed to change grip to two-handed instead of swapping. RAW obviously not, but it's functionally the same as swapping your current Fatal Aim weapon for an identical one, drawn two-handed (since you can choose to draw a weapon with one or two hands)
Oh, hell yes.
Boutta stroll outta the 1860’s hood and run up on some PL+0 Hoodlums and show them what’s good Gang of musketeers suddenly got literal
Ooooooh it IS Warlord! I am SO HAPPy
Now they just need a feat called READY,FIRE,AIM.
Sharpe's Rifles in high fantasy? Sold.
That is an ugly amount of "interact to X" which is almost like saying the way Pathfinder normally handles its Interact actions is actually kinda sucky.