Ability Path FAQ's

Question: How many extra attacks can Martial Artist grant with my chosen weapon?

"As many attacks as Fists of Fury would grant." This is a vague answer at best, leading to a lot of confusion, but as always, we're here to clear the smoke. Fists of Fury grants a number of additional attacks equal to 1/4 your Attack modifier, rounded down. Obviously, it wasn't created to multiply abilities such as Claw or Shuriken, which grant additional attacks on their own. Instead, you gain additional attacks with those weapons equal to 1/4 your Attack modifier, rounded down. The basic rule of thumb is that one attack means one attack, not one use of an ability that grants multiple attacks. As always, Contingency is the exception to this rule.

Question: Do you have to take the abilities in exact order, or is it good enough to just have them all?

As the name implies, it is an ability path, so you do have to take them in exact order. The idea is that by focusing your build a little, you gain rewards in the form of completion bonus. If you think about it, a fighter who focuses on his sword to the exclusion of other nifty bonuses for a time (a Fighter + Swordmaster) is going to be better with his sword than, say, a fighter who also dabbles in magic (a Fighter + Spell Sword), while the magic dabbler is going to be a little better at magic than the swordmaster, but not truly a master of either.

Question: How can I take two paths that don't match up in their path order?

I think the best example of this phenomena is Fighter and Martial Artist, which would normally be non-synergistic due to when you must take Strong Attack (before the weapon-based physical attack for Martial Artist and after for Fighter). This is possible to get around, though, if you take a second Attack slot for Strong Attack.

An important rule to remember when taking abilities is that they are balanced by their combinability, not their availability, unless specifically stated otherwise. In short, just because you can take two abilities doesn't guarantee you can use them both at the same time, and while most players will see the strategic element of taking only abilities that work well together as too important to ignore, there are rare occasions when doing so provides an advantage (in fact, the Twin Wand style requires you to take Wand twice!).

Question: Why aren't Katana, Rapier, or some other sword weapons applicable for the Swordmaster?

It doesn't make a lot of sense at first glance, right? A swordmaster that doesn't include all swords? What nonsense is this?

Thematically, this was a cultural choice. The Swordmaster could have also been called the "Outland Raider". The swords which apply to it have in common that they are period swords of western Europe and traditionally were wielded in a very different way than the gentry Rapier or the Japanese Katana. Therefore, I felt the difference in discipline justified the separation for dramatic purposes.

Mechanically, the entire reason the Swordmaster exists is to allow abilities such as the Greatsword, Longsword, Shortsword, and Zweihander to check the Rapier and Katana, which each have paths for them (even the Claw and Shuriken have Ninja!). Ultimately, it got down to making the "traditional" swordsman of medieval Europe a little bit more viable as a build choice.

Question: Can Adaptive abilities such as Adaptive Attack qualify me for one or more ability paths?

Yes, insomuch as the adapted ability qualifies simultaneously for all applicable paths. That is, you still have to have the abilities in order to use the path, so if you don't have an ability for a path adapted on a given round, you lose your completion bonus for the path in question on the given round.

A good trick to getting around this is to choose adapted abilities that apply to multiple paths, such as Strong Attack or Enhance Magic.

Question: How does the Shapeshifter completion bonus work? Can I be anyone 4 levels above me?

You can be any specific individual up to four levels above you. However, if your form is unspecific, it must be the same level as you as normally, though your abilities still may completely change to reflect this new form.

That said, here's the catch; you cannot use Shapeshift to alter your weaknesses, so any character weaknesses you currently possess still apply. As such, you cannot take an ability in your new form that would contradict such a weakness (such as taking Energy Immunity (Fire) when you have Fire Vulnerability as a weakness).

Question: You've said "1st level lets you take abilities simultaneously". What does that mean?

First level is a special level because you take all abilities simultaneously. This means
that, as long as your ability combo wouldn't require you to take abilities out of order,
it's quite possible to take multiple paths at this level.

You still have to put everything in order, deciding which path goes in what place, but you have a much larger ability point font to work with and, if you place things right, should have no trouble getting three or more paths early on.

Question: What's the best way to stack Fighter and Martial Artist?

There are two different ways you can stack these paths without outright taking all the abilities for both twice and both actually involve technically taking the paths at the same time.

The first option is to take the weapon-based physical attack required for both paths twice. This multipath breaks down as follows;

1. Any weapon-based physical attack
2. Any armor-related physical defense
3. Fists of Fury
4. Awareness
5. Strong Attack
6. Any fighting style (must be based on #1)
7. Enhance Weapons - The Fighter is completed here
8. Sixth Sense
9. Take #1 a second time - The Martial Artist is completed here

That first option is the most customizable because you can technically make your second pass at the weapon different than your first and works well if you plan to make your build specialize in two weapons at once.

The second option is to take Strong Attack twice and breaks down as follows;

1. Fists Of Fury
2. Awareness
3. Strong Attack
4. Sixth Sense
5. Any weapon-based physical attack - Martial Artist is completed here
6. Any armor-related physical defense
7. Take #3 a second time
8. Any fighting style (must be based on #5)
9. Enhance Weapons - Fighter is completed here

This option is perhaps the best if you intend to spread your progression out past 1st level because it rewards you with a path sooner. It is optimal for a single weapon build.