Summary
This is a followup to the previous post I made about a character build. I wanted to look at the stats on actions I would commonly take with the character in combat, how likely they would be to succeed, and what I could do to improve the odds of success. Thankfully Pathfinder 2e’s standardized values for Armor Class (AC) and Difficult Class (DC) made this easy to work with. From there, a few different options for class customization are explored in how they can impact likelihood of success for relevant checks.
Background
If you haven’t read the previous post, I’m working with the following character build.
- Thaumaturge
- Free archetype optional rule (eg. extra feat selection at even levels).
- Melee based (not ranged)
AC and DC probabilities in Pathfinder 2e
This topic has likely been covered more extensively by someone else, so I’ll be brief here. A convenient part of Pathfinder 2e is that there are suggested values of Armor Class (AC) and Difficulty Class (DC). To visualize, here is the DC by monster level.
And here is the AC by monster level and tier.
This is new to me as I don’t think Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition has a similar guide for monster armor class or difficulty class. Having these rules is convenient for calculating the probability of success for a character build, as the rest of this post will aim to do.
Bread and Butter
What are the standard actions for our Thaumaturge? If I had to guess, our Thaumaturge is doing the following on their first turn.
- Exploit Vulnerability
- Move
- Strike
Exploit Vulnerability
The first thing at the start of the encounter will likely be to exploit vulnerability. Activating weaknesses is where most of the Thaumaturge’s damage comes from. The figure below shows the minimum roll required to pass the exploit vulnerability given a player level and how much higher / lower the monster level is.
An important finding here is how for most levels the Exploit Vulnerability requirement is 10 or less. This makes the Assurance feat incredibly valuable to make these checks as consistent as possible against most monsters.
Strike
After exploiting vulnerability on a monster, the Thaumaturge’s next goal is to Strike said monster. We can calculate the attack bonus via the formula below.
\[ Attack Bonus = Player Level + Strength Modifier + Weapon Proficiency + Weapon Tracking \]
One assumption the formula above makes is that your character is upgrading their weapon as soon as possible. If merchants are less available in your game, you can assume the attack bonus will be less.
My takeaway from looking at the stats here is that the Thaumaturge isn’t really designed for crit fishing. For a moderately armored monster of the same level of the player, the Thaumaturge will only critical on a 19 or 20 still.
Damage
Damage is a fairly simple calculation since it’s not tied to monster level or player/monster level difference. One assumption made below is that we use Personal Antithesis. I assume monsters with a weakness will be higher than the personal antithesis. For the sake of ease, I did not calculate what percent of monsters have a weakness and the average weakenss value for those monsters, so personal antithesis will have to do.
\[ Damage = Weapon Dice + Strength Modifier + Implements Empowerment + Weapon Specialization + Personal Antithesis. \]
I’m new to the Pathfinder 2e system, so the learning here for me was the impact the weapon damage die has as level increases. At early levels, a d4 weapon does 9.5 damage on average, while a d10 does 12.5. A ~30% increase in damage is something, but not an insane amount. By level 19 the d10 die does 44 compared to the d4’s 32 damage, a 38% difference. Choosing a weapon type should therefore aim for a higher dice roll against whatever benefits a weapon with a lower die roll provides.
Add a little spice
At a glance I see two easy ways for the Thaumaturge to improve their odds of success. The Demoralize skill action and the Inspiring Marshal Stance from the Marshal archetype both fit well for a Charism-based class. Both actions benefit the whole party as an added bonus. I imagine these actions would come up on later turns or maybe not at all due to the tight action economy the Thaumaturge already has. I would lean towards using Inspiring stance once it’s available since it lasts the entire encounter.
Conclusion
I’m even more excited to play a Thaumaturge within the 2e system. The idea of hitting hard with one strike while having flexibility with other actions to buff the party feels flexible and fun. Already I can see this character being tight on actions, so other choices I make will likely be to get more from one action like Instructive Strike or Diverse Lore.