Pathfinder Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Game of the Year Edition

[Desiderius]

(I dipped TSS on Pal for Seelah my last Unfair run)

 

[Desiderius]

It also doesn't really combine well with any Mythic IMO, maybe... demon?

You can't be serious.

Living Grimoire: Seems just bad. Absolute meme bonuses (wow free enchantment bonuses that you'd already have anyway! +1 DC if you cast after hitting something in melee!) for a meme weapon (lmao a book) that duplicates a meme ability from a meme class (warpriest weapon damage progression). A lot of people seem to have some kind of hardon for base weapon damage dice but they are mathematically a joke unless you're using them for vital strike (which is still bad).

Spare yourself the embarassment and at least do some testing first. +1 DC that scales to +3, Bane Weapon that turns on passively for class that's commonly Swift flooded, Book can go in offhand (treated as a light mace), ask Haplo about growing dice.

Speaking of Haplo class contains everything needed for Swift Dimensional Hop to set up Vulpine Pounces for Kitsune (which also has the INT bonus). The +1 to Enchantments is from Kitsune. *Stacks* with the on-hit bonus. Biggest challenge would be getting enough STR but growing dice + Size + crits to multiply could take care of that, and you've still got the self-buffs Divine Power, Eaglesoul etc to get AB up.

 

[Desiderius]

Living Grimoire: Seems just bad. Absolute meme bonuses (wow free enchantment bonuses that you'd already have anyway! +1 DC if you cast after hitting something in melee!) for a meme weapon (lmao a book) that duplicates a meme ability from a meme class (warpriest weapon damage progression). A lot of people seem to have some kind of hardon for base weapon damage dice but they are mathematically a joke unless you're using them for vital strike (which is still bad).

Spare yourself the embarassment and at least do some testing first. +1 DC that scales to +3, Bane Weapon that turns on passively for class that's commonly Swift flooded, Book can go in offhand (treated as a light mace), ask Haplo about growing dice.

 

[Mauman]

With the new Bane Caster Feat every time LG hits presto +3 (and scaling) DC. MC with Azata and you're Castigating/Commanding anything you want. Sorc Reflex/the Litanies and you can trigger both bonuses in one turn.

Yeah, Haplo broke SancSlayer. Haplo could break Chiurgeon.

I have done some testing, thank you. You can get that same scaling DC bonus with studied target. Hell you get the ability to apply it for free on attack one level earlier than the L.G. It even scales better.

 

[Desiderius]

Kinetic Sharpshooter: As far as I can tell it has no reason to exist. The level 1 Charged Ammo ability is basically cosmetic, it never lets you use your kinetic powers multiple times per round if you can shoot multiple times per round like a kinetic knight. And Kinetic quiver seems to basically just let you use normal abilities, but you're limited to not having all the good forms due to lack of extended range. I think the class must be bugged and is probably intended to sacrifice forms for shooting multiple times per round with kinetic-infused arrows.

And again with the negative theorycrafting. Weapon bonuses + attacking Touch* is a unique feature that combines the best of both worlds of Ray casters and Bow users, or in this case XBow.

Xbow crits from Keen XBow (or Improved Crit) doubles damage like Eldritch Archer.

You shoot multiple times with Quicken Meta that can be activated pretty frequently by midgame. Far as I can tell it only costs one Quiver charge to activate and those scale pretty fast with level, as does Infusion Specialization (level 5, 8, 11, etc).

* - leaves you needing Ember's Hex before Ascendant Element vs Fire Resistant foes, and requires getting Spell Pen up. Weapon/background/focus bonuses can alternatively help physical blasts land and can get Greater Bull Rush on Pushing Infusion by lvl 4 if you want.

Haven't tried it yet but thinking about picking up a Form Infusion and just not using Bow when that's advantageous. Bow *really* helps physical Blasts land which is usual problem for Kinnie, and damage bonusesprocs nice for Energy Blasts. Detainer + Burning Infusion is a nice one.

Unlike Gathering Kinnie typical turns allow you to Move and Shoot.

 

[Desiderius]

With the new Bane Caster Feat every time LG hits presto +3 (and scaling) DC. MC with Azata and you're Castigating/Commanding anything you want. Sorc Reflex/the Litanies and you can trigger both bonuses in one turn.

Yeah, Haplo broke SancSlayer. Haplo could break Chiurgeon.

I have done some testing, thank you. You can get that same scaling DC bonus with studied target. Hell you get the ability to apply it for free on attack one level earlier than the L.G. It even scales better.

Studied Target boosts DCs? What effect is that?

It only applies for free on attack if you hit with a Sneak. Many cases you want ST to help you do that or you're not set up for the Sneak. That's why Spawn Slayer losing Swift Study is bigger than it looks.

EDIT: exposed again! You've joined the Daidre Hall of Fame. Had totally forgotten that was there. Nice. That is as good as the LG effect if not better.

Still like the wider spell selection of LG and the passive Bane activation.

Plus the LG DC bonus applies to AoE spells, which is a big difference, it may even stack with mutiple hits. The Crushing Despair ability as it reads is no save.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Bloodseeker doesn't seem amazing but it's not like Slayer has a standout archetype anyway ( I guess Deliverer if you want to play a good boi)

 

[Desiderius]

Now you're trolling. Vanguard is everything you want.

Bloodseeker Profane Bonuses (lvl 6) are nuts and it summons 1d4 Dire Wolves as soon as it turns on. Haste source also great.

Biggest challenge is figuring out how to get (Secondary) Bite attack to crit.

 

[Mauman]

With the new Bane Caster Feat every time LG hits presto +3 (and scaling) DC. MC with Azata and you're Castigating/Commanding anything you want. Sorc Reflex/the Litanies and you can trigger both bonuses in one turn.

Yeah, Haplo broke SancSlayer. Haplo could break Chiurgeon.

I have done some testing, thank you. You can get that same scaling DC bonus with studied target. Hell you get the ability to apply it for free on attack one level earlier than the L.G. It even scales better.

Studied Target boosts DCs? What effect is that?

It only applies for free on attack if you hit with a Sneak. Many cases you want ST to help you do that or you're not set up for the Sneak. That's why Spawn Slayer losing Swift Study is bigger than it looks.

EDIT: exposed again! You've joined the Daidre Hall of Fame. Had totally forgotten that was there. Nice. That is as good as the LG effect if not better.

Still like the wider spell selection of LG and the passive Bane activation.

Plus the LG DC bonus applies to AoE spells, which is a big difference, it may even stack with mutiple hits. The Crushing Despair ability as it reads is no save.

Meh....sneak attack is grossly easy to get in this game. If mounted you always get it.

edit - also, what wider spell selection are you talking about? I'm not seeing any new spells given to the LG vs any other inquisitor.

 

[Average Manatee]

Spare yourself the embarassment and at least do some testing first. +1 DC that scales to +3

Wow, on a class that shouldn't be casting spells with saves, has practically no good spells with saves, and which shouldn't be taking spell DC feats because melee feats are much more important. If you want to be a DC caster be a 10th level spells arcane caster (or magic deceiver). "I really want to cast Holy Word" said no one ever.

Bane Weapon that turns on passively for class that's commonly Swift flooded

Wow, it's fucking nothing because Crusader's Edge already exists and has been stapled immediately into Bubble Buffs by every competent player for years now.

growing dice.

Again its fucking nothing. The amount of static damage bonuses and multipliers you get makes it irrelevant. If you are going to charge then you shouldn't be picking a class that has a light mace since its not a charge multiplier weapon.

Weapon bonuses + attacking Touch* is a unique feature that combines the best of both worlds of Ray casters and Bow users, or in this case XBow.

Oh wow, I get +2 to hit with my attack that already had a 95% chance to hit because it targets touch AC anyway.

Xbow crits from Keen XBow (or Improved Crit) doubles damage like Eldritch Archer.

You can take improved crit for kinetic blast. If the whole point of an archetype is to get +1 crit range then that's a joke bonus for all you lose.

Though I will say I'm interested in seeing whether Hurricane Bow does anything. I'm guessing not though. Although Aspect of the Falcon could be a nice bonus.

You shoot multiple times with Quicken Meta that can be activated pretty frequently by midgame. Far as I can tell it only costs one Quiver charge to activate and those scale pretty fast with level, as does Infusion Specialization (level 5, 8, 11, etc).

This isn't an advantage over regular kineticist since they can quicken too. And quicken is so expensive that you really can't afford to use it much.

 

[Mauman]

Wow, it's fucking nothing because Crusader's Edge already exists and has been stapled immediately into Bubble Buffs by every competent player for years now.

To be fair, greater bane is still superior to Crusader's Edge.

Smoking gun evidence of superiority? Meh. But it is something.

edit - at the end of the day, I think a lot of what's being discussed (including the talk about Skalds) comes down to what you want your hybrid to do. Melee with magic just being for buffs, more spellcasting inclined, or something in between (IMO the weakest option).

 

[Average Manatee]

To be fair, greater bane is still superior to Crusader's Edge.

Living Grimoire only gets regular bane unless I'm missing something, Greater bane is reserved for the inquisitor classes that are good (jk I like judge).

 

[Mauman]

To be fair, greater bane is still superior to Crusader's Edge.

Living Grimoire only gets regular bane unless I'm missing something, Greater bane is reserved for the inquisitor classes that are good (jk I like judge).

OOF.

I think you're right. I'll check it on a testing save.

 

[Average Manatee]

Incidentally what happens to your weapon dice if you take Warpriest 20 (with light mace obviously)/Living Grimoire 20?

 

[Mauman]

Yup...basic bane. That's....well....that's not good.

The saving grace is that the crushing despair effect does bypass saves and spell resistance. So if you do manage to get the effect going that's a -2 to hit/saves/damage. I have not checked if the effect bypasses immunities however. I would assume no, but I could be wrong.

My problem is the setup. You either have to spend a whole round (if you cast any non-swift spell) or burn your swift action with either a quickened spell or a litany. The litanies are pretty good spells I'll give it that. As for the swift-actions, you still want one for enchanting your book. Yeah, you can turn it on before a fight, but if you leave it on all the time you're going to run out sooner or later, and constant resting is an annoyance I try to avoid.

I do want to say I like the level 20 ability. It's a bit of a gimmick, but it looks like a good one.

I think this class really, REALLY benefits from the heightened magic feat, so you can just cast litanies all day long. (take abundant/improved casting for even more lols).

 

[Desiderius]

Wow, it's fucking nothing because Crusader's Edge already exists and has been stapled immediately into Bubble Buffs by every competent player for years now.

To be fair, greater bane is still superior to Crusader's Edge.

Smoking gun evidence of superiority? Meh. But it is something.

edit - at the end of the day, I think a lot of what's being discussed (including the talk about Skalds) comes down to what you want your hybrid to do. Melee with magic just being for buffs, more spellcasting inclined, or something in between (IMO the weakest option).

He has no idea what he’s talking about. Inquisitor has unique spells that are worth beating saves with but by the time the abilities of most of the archetypes start snowballing it’s usually more efficient to simply beat face.

Still nice to have a Castigate, Mass in one’s back pocket for ambushes. Came in very handy a couple times on Jae in KM.

I found in general in Wrath it’s an uphill battle (on Unfair) to *reliably* beat saves with non-Nenio companions until the late game items start showing up. But with AoE beating them half the time is fine and with the DC boosts of this DLC and the LG class that can go from under half to over*.

Add Favorable Magic/Ode on top as MC and you can really go off. That was something that could already be done on other classes but nice to have an Inquistor who can do it too while also getting the Inq skill
bonuses/Cunning Initiative/Solo Tactics/applying no save Crushing Despair and the like.

That’s the distinctive feature of LG: since melee feeds casting and vice versa what usually ends up stretching you too thin both ways instead allows you unique flexibility.

Swift Dimensional Hop can set up full attacks just as easily as Pounces if you don’t want to go Kitsune, or you can get Community/Nobility and focus more on casting.

* - varies on bosses depending how many save lowering effects you’re designing into your party

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I've been testing this, and I think the reason that it's not working is because it's not considered a charge for the rider. It's counted as a full-attack action. Pounce or no pounce your rider gets all of his attacks.

It might very well be working as intended and there's nothing we can do about it.

Nah, they said that's bug on reddit. They're working on it. Lol

 

[Mauman]

I've been testing this, and I think the reason that it's not working is because it's not considered a charge for the rider. It's counted as a full-attack action. Pounce or no pounce your rider gets all of his attacks.

It might very well be working as intended and there's nothing we can do about it.

Nah, they said that's bug on reddit. They're working on it. Lol

Interesting. Well, when they do fix it I'll respec my paladin back to the spear charger idea I had.

Of course, they have to fix the spear bonus while they're at it (seriously, how did that break that?)

I'm still finding the flying charge to be useful and very powerful if only for the flat-footed bonus.

 

[Average Manatee]

"While the Sable Company Marine is mounted, he also attacks the target of the hippogriff's flying attack, as a full-round action."

Technically that doesn't say anything about it counting as a charge attack. But if that changes it definitely makes it a lot better, as mentioned previously the Hippogriff doesn't get to trip if it isn't using fly attack.

btw, tested a bit and the distance you need to pull off a fly attack is way smaller than that for charge. It's like 10' (two 5' steps and I can charge).

Spoiler

also don't tell owlcat, but currently all of your attacks count as flatfooted when the description says that only the first pet attack should count as flatfooted

 

[Desiderius]

Inquisitor spells worth beating saves by School:

note: Living Grimoire doesn't have to worry about spell picks going obsolete because it gets all the spells via scrolls like a Wizard.

(1) Enchantment:

Command: sure, Hideous Laughter lasts longer but when stuff hits the deck it usually doesn't live very long anyway. Aprroach triggers AoOs and can bring things into better range for melee full attacks.
Castigate: Take out a single-target. Shorter range than Hold Person, but no Humanoid restriction. Shaken for a round (vulnerable to Shatter) even on made save.
Hold Person: Spell range *matters*. Hold Person is Medium not Close and those dangerous Cultists and Votaries et al like to keep their distance.
Litany of Eloquence: Swift action, no Save (can't remember if this is accurate), can't act until rest of my team gets to first. If you've got the slots this is hard to beat. In Wrath you've got a lot of slots. Turn on Bane Weapon with benefits on Living Grimoire
Forced Repentance: Humans, Elves and the like that have gone to the dark side are vulnerable to this. Doesn't get a save to break it each round so can dispatch when you want. Higher DC than Castigate/Hold but also a spell level with plenty of other things to cast.
Hold Monster: more targets, longer range than Repentance, but gets a save each round.
Castigate, Mass: Medium range, enemies only, 30 ft radius. Now we're talking. Very much worth casting even if only a 40% chance of beating saves. Cowering creatures can take no actions, get -2 to AC, and lose DEX bonus. Save every round so kick them while they're down.
Greater Command: More flexible than Castigate, Mass since can give different Commands but generally worse. Close Range, Prone gives a malus to ranged attacks. Castigate has Fear tag.
Litany of Madness: Swift Action Confusion no save. Target gets a save the round after it is applied and each round after.
Overwhelming Presence: Medium range 30 ft radius, Enemies only, applies one round Stagger no save, Helpless on save. If fails first save, then makes save in subsequent round still takes 1d6 WIS damage and Staggered 1d4. These rolls can be Maximized/Empowered. Usually a ninth level spell, so Inq/Bard get it a level early.

(2) Necromancy:

Inflict Spells: LG is not a spontaneous caster so can use meta without full round. Never been an Inflict enthusiast, but it does target touch AC and does at least some damage on made save. Scrolls can be effective on Cam vs Elemental in Maze for instance.
Boneshaker: Ray spell that doesn't require a touch attack. If you're playing RTwP use it with a meta rod to force a high concentration check on a caster, or just do guaranteed damage to a boss you otherwise can't touch. Again, meta can make the math worth it.
Fear: Cones can be clunky but applies Shaken even on made save if you don't have a Dazzler or access to Frightful Aspect (yet). Better with good ranged damage in party, but still triggers AoOs and keeps mobs from attacking
Circle of Death: 40 ft radius, Medium range, Fort Save, 1d4 HD of creatures per caster level die if under 10HD, take 100 damage if 10HD or over.

** The number of hit dice affected CAN BE EMPOWERED/MAXIMIZED **

Affects creature in center first, so can be more or less targeted.
Undeath to Death: same vs Undead. Use a Rod. Go off.
Harm: Touch Spell, *bypasses Spell Resistance*, 10 pts per CL, Will save for half. Caps at CL 15.
Umbral Strike: ranged touch, 1d6 per level half cold/half negative, Blind on failed Fort save, half damage on made.

(3) Evocation (can use Favorite Meta on Empower in combination with Maximize Rods if you want to nuke):

Ear-Piercing Scream: doesn't require ranged attack, in RTwP forces Concentration check even on made save, stops spell with failed one. Easy to up damage with meta.
Searing Light: Ranged Touch, NO SAVE, 1d6 per CL vs Undead max 10d6. Use with meta vs Undead is good.
Holy Smite: Medium Range, 20 ft radius, 1d6 per CL (max 10d6) to Evil Outsiders + Blind for one round. Can be Extended for two, Empowered/Maximized for more damage. Damage + control AoE is good.
Will save to negate Blind and take half damage. Also does 1d8 per 2 CL max 5d8 + Blind to Evil non-Outsiders, and half damage no Blind to Neutral. Can be used to turn on Instill Vigor Mythic.
Order's Wrath: Lawful version with Daze instead of Smite, Blind creatures can still do things if badly, but are easier to hit than Dazed ones.
Unholy Blight: Evil version, applies 1d4 rounds of Sicken
Chaos Hammer: applies 1d6 rnds of Slow
Flame Strike: Medium range, 10 ft radius, 15d6 max, half fire, half divine

ARBITRAMENT: 40 ft radius centered on caster, CG/CE (demons)/LG/LE are Sickened if HD = CL or lower, Staggered if HD = CL - 1 or lower, Nauseated if HD = CL - 5 or lower, Killed if CL - 10, all cumulative.

There are a *lot* of ways to raise CL now. Haven't tested it with new DLCs yet. Lann, Wolj, Nenio, Daeran, Ulbrig, Sosiel, and Greybor are all immune to this spell. Not sure about Cam.

It says Will partial. Not sure how the saves work but Blasphemy can be a pain even on made save. AoE Sicken + Stagger is a big deal if you can pull it off. FoM doesn't prevent Stagger now, few things immune to either one.

Holy Word, etc: the Aligned versions do not have the HD = CL effect that makes Arbitrament good if you design around it.
Blade Barrier: Never cast it. You guys seem to think it's good.

(4) Abjuration (Abj focus is prereq for Spell Specialization Dispel/Dispel, Greater if you want to use with Dispel Synergy/Destructive Dispel):

Stunning Barrier: This stays on until it triggers. The Stun duration goes to two rounds if cast with Extend Rod. Worth it vs vulnerable foes even at low chance of save fail.

"A stunned creature drops everything held, can’t take actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses its DEX bonus to AC (if any).

Attackers receive a +4 bonus on attack rolls to perform Combat Maneuvers against a stunned opponent."

Dismissal: kill an Outsider that fails a Will save. Haven't tried this on the Sonic Crystal (says "extraplanar") thingies yet, may work on them. Doesn't work in the Abyss itself natch.
Banishment: AoE dismissal, 2HD per CL limit

Inq gets these early, but not early enough to make up for slow spell progression.

Dispel Magic (Greater): Dispel Focus feats now in-game make these more practical to use, as does more CL boosts.

Other schools not worth mentioning.

To sum up: a lot of value in Enchantment, but narrow focus on attacking Will Saves (Azata has your back there), build arounds plus nukes in Necro and Evo, Abj has some utility if you want to make the Inq your Dispeller.

 

[Average Manatee]

Bro those spells are shit lol.

General problems basically all of them have: needs a spell resistance check, so won't work half the time against anything decent. Don't pretend you're simultaneously stacking DC and spell penetration and melee feats somehow because you aren't.

Command: sure, Hideous Laughter lasts longer

Glad you agree.

Castigate: Take out a single-target. Shorter range than Hold Person, but no Humanoid restriction. Shaken for a round (vulnerable to Shatter) even on made save.

Spell Descriptors: Mind-Affecting, Fear, Compulsion, Emotion, Negative Emotion.

So many ways for enemies to be immune to this.

Litany of Eloquence

Actually good, as long as you have a swift action and a slot you might as well use it. As you point out, it doesn't have a save. So Living Grimoire's DC boost is worthless.

Forced Repentance:

"You force an evil creature that does not have the evil subtype..."

Great so it works against fucking nothing relevant again.

Hold Monster

If it was a swift action it'd be good. How often do you want to spend your entire 2nd turn casting a spell with a chance to beat their save, a chance to beat their spell resistance, when you could just hit them and kill them?

Castigate, Mass
Greater Command

Decent again considering its at least likely to hit something. Again though, you're using it turn 2. How often do you spend time casting general crowd control spells on turn 2? The chaff dies off on turn 1.

Umbral Strike: ranged touch, 1d6 per level half cold/half negative, Blind on failed Fort save, half damage on made.

Split cold/negative energy damage, so its actually 2x 10d6. At least half the cold will be eaten up by everything, so its a 15d6 = 45 damage spell you wasted a full standard action on at level 20. wat.

I could keep going, but I won't. I will skip to the end to make fun of you for this though:

Dispel Magic (Greater): Dispel Focus feats now in-game make these more practical to use, as does more CL boosts.

Bruh Dispel isn't a DC check it gets nothing from grimoire.


TL;DR enemy saves and SR are too high to make anything here consistently useful unless its literally costless to use (swift action) or hits whole groups (which is then nerfed by the fact that you're casting your CC spells on turn 2, which is a turn after almost all of it is dead). If you try to build an inquisitor as a caster you're gonna end up with a still shitty caster who is also an even worse fighter.

 

[Yosharian]

> Seems like all the new archetypes are intentionally busted so people get tempted to start a new run and potentially get the DLC.

Are they though?

Sable Marine really good as 1 or 3 dip to get a flying attack (especialy good once the hot fix let you use Mythic charge and other charge feats/abilities)

Bloodseeker okay as full class. Good as a 2 level dip for a extra bite attack.

Drunken Master. Good level 20 class.

Magic deceiver idk.. seems good with Azata Zip magic.

Fighter. Good class , good dip.

Mantis Zealot, Good class. The best for War Cleric.

Inciter. Broken. Better Skald.

The rest is subpar or okay.

Inciter is nowhere near broken

 

[Desiderius]

I'm sorry you've confused sucking at the game with the game itself.

Spell Pen? Are you familiar with how Allied Spellcaster works with Solo Tactics? LG gets *six* free Teamwork Feats. All of them trigger on any other friendly close by. Pet, summon, whatever.

Even if they fixed it the Concentration bonus is nice and that's two, Wolj robe is two, Galfrey Relic is two, any random CL boosts is two, etc... There are so many sources* now I'm temped to just not take the Feat(s) and the Mythic. Focus, Greater Focus, and Mythic is a total of +4 DC. Can get that now from Abuscading Spell and the Bane DC Feat. Or if you're playing Unfair and don't want to go with Favorable Magic you can do both. Two Feats for Pen, two for Focus, and two more for additional DCs. Six Feats by lvl 11. M2 and M4 for Mythic Spell Pen and Focus.

If I'm doing that I'll just fight with the Book in main-hand and Shield in the other, since I'm mainly concerned with the DC boost over damage.

* - new TW Feat gives advantage on Spell Pen checks to Inq w/ Solo Tactics if adjacent character makes one, and Inq has TW Feats coming out it's ears.

If I want to lean on melee and put the Book in off-hand that's one Feat for Two-weapon fighting and another eventually for Vulpine Pounce. What else do I need? Improved Two-weapon? Outflank is a TW Feat. Can always Demoralize if fighting something superhard early on with scaling Intimidate bonus and WIS-to-Persuasion background.

 

[Average Manatee]

Spell Pen? Are you familiar with how Allied Spellcaster works with Solo Tactics? LG gets *six* free Teamwork Feats. All of them trigger on any other friendly close by. Pet, summon, whatever.

Sorry I don't have every stupid exploit memorized.

Even if they fixed it the Concentration bonus is nice and that's two, Wolj robe is two, Galfrey Relic is two, any random CL boosts is two, etc... There are so many sources* now I'm temped to just not take the Feat(s) and the Mythic. Focus, Greater Focus, and Mythic is a total of +4 DC. Can get that now from Abuscading Spell and the Bane DC Feat. Or if you're playing Unfair and don't want to go with Favorable Magic you can do both. Two Feats for Pen, two for Focus, and two more for additional DCs. Six Feats by lvl 11. M2 and M4 for Mythic Spell Pen and Focus.

Ahh yes just stack every spell pen item and a bunch of feats on one of your weakest casters. That makes sense. Not. You stack these things on characters that are already good to great casters with 10 levels of awesome shit to spam all day.

This goes double for a class that you're using for the inherent "bonus" of only being able to cast every other round if you want that DC bonus from hitting something with the grimoire.

If I want to lean on melee and put the Book in off-hand that's one Feat for Two-weapon fighting and another eventually for Vulpine Pounce. What else do I need?

Go back a few pages where I detail the feats you want to be competent in melee.

 

[Desiderius]

Spell Descriptors: Mind-Affecting, Fear, Compulsion, Emotion, Negative Emotion.

So many ways for enemies to be immune to this.

No shit. That's where the Divine self-buffs, growing dice, weapon-enchanting, and passive Bane activation come into play. Prayer will be the main thing that turns that on.

If that scares you too much then choose another school.

So Living Grimoire's DC boost is worthless.

It does also kick up the crit multiplier to x3 at lvl 12, and apply no save Crushing Despair at lvl 16.

"You force an evil creature that does not have the evil subtype..."

Great so it works against fucking nothing relevant again.

There are quite a few relevant creatures that this applies to in this setting. The advantage is that it's save or die because there is no save each round.

If it was a swift action it'd be good. How often do you want to spend your entire 2nd turn casting a spell with a chance to beat their save, a chance to beat their spell resistance, when you could just hit them and kill them?

Spell is Medium Range and casting it a Standard Action. Are you just randomly offing shit with your Standard Action from 30 ft away on Sanctified Slayer? Can combine with Reach Rod to get to stuff way over there in the back. I'm not doing that particular thing probably without access to Favorable Magic getting success rate up in the high 80s, but If I'm choosing Enchantment School that is probably exactly what I'm doing.

Decent again considering its at least likely to hit something. Again though, you're using it turn 2. How often do you spend time casting general crowd control spells on turn 2? The chaff dies off on turn 1.

Turn 2? Depends on the situation. Can open combat with it to turn on Ambuscading Spell. Alternatively open with Prayer instead to Turn on Bane Weapon, Swift Dimensional Hop for full attack if all I'm fighting is chaff. With caster set-up can open with Charge to turn on DC boost and cast before enemy can act (also triggering Ambuscading) with help from Cunning Initiative.

Fighting non-chaff may need to cast it turn 4 or 5 to pull my shit out of the fire. Likewise if ambushed.

Split cold/negative energy damage, so its actually 2x 10d6. At least half the cold will be eaten up by everything, so its a 15d6 = 45 damage spell you wasted a full standard action on at level 20. wat.

I could keep going, but I won't

As with Blade Barrier I've never cast an Umbral Strike in my life. You may not have noticed but I listed each spell for completeness outside a couple low-level clunkers.

There *are* a couple relevant creatures vulnerable to Cold (Devarra) and items that apply Cold Vulnerability so it could be of interest there if you're already set up to apply the Blind. Damage + Control spells are nice in that they always at least do something even if the target lucks out on the effect save. It is very helpful of you to share that you haven't figured out how to use Metamagic yet while you're desperately scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something to dunk on.

Many such cases!

Also, the Expected Value of 15d6 is 15 x 3.5 = 52.5, since expected value of a d6 roll is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21 then divide by 6 to get 3.5

Bruh Dispel isn't a DC check it gets nothing from grimoire.

Yes, that was the point. The practicality of simply using an Abjurer as your party Dispeller is more viable now with the Dispel Focus Feats in-game (and additional means of boosting CL) where before it took Mythic abilities to reliably get there. That being the case there are some Abjuration spells worth looking at if you already have the Focus as a pre-req.