We’re about one month into our playtest, and could certainly use some more feedback from users. If you have the time, take a look and post in one of the feedback threads on Giant in the Playground or the Paizo forums, even if it’s just to say “I like it!”. It really helps to keep eyes on the test and get more players using it when there’s some discussion activity on the forums.
With that out of the way, I’m sure you’re all wondering what sorts of updates will be found in Paths of Magic. This post marks the first of several, where I’ll be detailing some new and re-worked material for the book.
As mentioned previously, just about everything from our previous three books is getting a look-over and update. While you already know that the nightblade from Path of Shadows is receiving major changes (hence it being included in its own playtest), we’re also updating all of the classes from Path of Iron, as well!
Today, let’s take a look at the saboteur.
The saboteur’s two most important mechanics are her Marked Target and traps. Both of these are seeing some big changes in Paths of Magic, both to solve a few edge cases and to better encourage build diversity.
The saboteur’s marked target has four variations: assassin, duelist, charlatan, and informant. In the original release of Path of Iron, only the assassin’s mark provided a bonus to attack and damage rolls, which made the use-rate of the other marks fall off big time (unsurprisingly, most people need the to-hit boost on a 3/4 BAB class more than anything else). In Paths of Magic, now ALL four mark types provide their bonus to attack rolls, starting at +1 and scaling to +5. All bonuses are also normalized to the same value, both to balance the additional power of the other marks as well as for bookkeeping (so now you aren’t tracking four separate scaling values for each mark). Assassin’s mark still is the only one to increase your damage, and still has its talents for adding even more power on top of it, so it still remains the go-to for maximum offense, but now saboteurs won’t be quite as gimped in combat if they aren’t always using assassin’s mark.
Upgrades to saboteur’s mark are also now earlier for the class. Instead of being at 9th level for Improved Mark and 17th for Greater Mark, they are now at 7th level and 15th level, respectively. To compensate, Combined Arms was moved from 7th to 9th. Lasting Traps has been turned into a saboteur trick (more on that later); instead the new “Expanded Arsenal” ability is granted as 17th level, which doubles the number of traps a saboteur can have placed at once.
Saboteur traps are getting a few changes, as well. First, traps that are stepped on can no longer be controlled by the saboteur; she can only manually “aim” the trap is she detonates it herself. Since traps could be setup ahead of time, the implementation in Path of Iron could let a saboteur line of a bunch of traps and simply run over them on her turn, manually aiming all of them to, in essence, cast several times in one turn. This was obviously not a good thing, so now she can only aim them if she spends the action to trigger them (starts as a move, upgrades to a swift action later on).
Traps also last longer than they did previously. Originally they lasted for 10 minutes per level, upgrading to 1 hour per level at 15th. Traps now last for 1 hour per level from the start, so you can actually use them outside of the immediate situation. The Lasting Traps class feature is now a saboteur trick, and lets you place traps that last for 1 WEEK, rather than 1 hour per level. As a downside, a lasting trap counts a three traps against your maximum, so you can’t go too crazy with it.
Of course, the saboteur update wouldn’t be complete without some new tricks, as well. Currently she’s slated to get ten additional tricks (including the aforementioned Lasting Traps), which should open up some new build possibilities for her. To wrap up this post, I’ll include some new poison-based tricks; a build that has consistently been difficult to pull off in the past. Look forward to more updates over the coming weeks!
Poison Brewer (Ex): The saboteur can create poisons cheaply. When she gains this trick, she chooses one ability score except for Constitution. Each day when she prepares her traps, she can use an alchemist’s lab to brew a number of poisons equal to her Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) at no cost. The poison’s effect is based on which ability score she chose (Poison—injury; save Fort DC equal to the saboteur’s trick DC; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 damage to the chosen ability score; cure 1 save). These poisons last for only 24 hours before becoming inert. At 12th and 18th levels, she can select another ability score to damage with her poisons, and the damage die increases by one step (to 1d4 at 12th level, and to 1d6 at 18th level). She chooses which ability score from those available to her that a given poison damages when she creates it. The saboteur must be at least 6th level before selecting this trick.
Potent Toxins (Ex): Poisons created by the saboteur are especially deadly against particular foes. When the saboteur takes this trick, she selects a single creature type (and subtype, if she chooses humanoid or outsider), similar to a ranger’s favored enemy. Poisons that the saboteur creates work against those creatures even if they would otherwise be immune to poison. The effects of the poison might still have no effect, depending on what she uses them for (such as trying to inflict Constitution damage to a construct). She selects another creature type (and subtype, where applicable) for every four levels gained past 8th. The saboteur must be at least 8th level before selecting this trick.