Introduction
This page is disappointing. Almost all of the options are bad. You can only have one Trick in place at a time, which means that you go into each combat by guessing what you’ll need ahead of time and hoping that you somehow guessed what the DM was going to put in front of you. Activating a trick during combat is almost never worth the effort.
Disclaimer
We support a limited subset of Pathfinder’s rules content. If you would like help with Pathfinder options not covered here, please email me and I may be able to provide additional assistance.
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
Mesmerist Tricks
Tricks
: Essentially single-use Evasion, and it improves to Greater Evasion at 8th level. Nice if you anticipate an AOE, but unless you’re hunting a dragon that’s a hard prediction to make.
: Your allies really need to find their own way to get out of enemies’ reach. If you use this before going into combat you’re locking out your class’s signature ability. If you use this on your turn during combat, you’re wasting a turn just to possiblyprevent a single attack of opportunity.
: Occasionally nice with a rogue in the party.
: You can already Demoralize as a standard action, so the only benefits here are the ability to spend the standard action ahead of time, and to be affected by Disguise Self all day. If you really want to be disguised that much, buy a Hat of Disguise.
: Very useful, especially once you get Towering Ego at 2nd level. Put this on front-line characters, who typically have poor Will saves.
: If you want to reduce a foes CMD, consider entangling them with a net or a tanglefoot bag.
: Surprise rounds can define the course of an encounter.
: Too situational, too hard to predict, and not worth the action to activate this once the condition is in place. Use Touch Treatment if you absolutely need to suppress the condition, but even that is rarely worth the action.
: One of very few mechanics in Pathfinder which force an enemy to attack a specific enemy. Great if you have a nice durable tank to draw fire for you. Unfortunately it requires that an enemy is already attacking the target, in which case this is just an AC boost after the enemy has already missed at least once.
: A miss chance that you can trigger as a free action in response to an attack. Great, but you’ll lock down your trick usage to use it.
: A great way to compensate for your own poor skills modifiers with physical skills.
: Occasionally nice with a rogue in the party, but False Flanker will be more useful.
: Temporary hit points are great, but Mesmeric Mirror is a better response to an attack. Instead, use this before you go into a fight and slap your friend to trigger the temporary hit points.
: Very situational, and you need to know how your enemy is going to hurt you ahead of time. It’s helpful against enemies that have natural poison like snakes, or which deal ability damage/drain like shadows, but otherwise you’re going to hang onto this Trick for several levels until something suitable comes along to make this useful.
: Technically situational, but it’s a situation that comes up reasonably often, especially if your GM likes to use encounters with multiple foes. It combines defense and offense in a fun, useful way, but it also has a lot of potential failure points due to position, saving throws, etc.
: Blocking line of sight means that ranged attacks are made with a 50% miss chance, which is a good defensive option. However, Mesmeric Mirror will be more reliable and won’t leave a cloud behind to block your party’s line of sight.
: Any of the other options for responding to attacks will be more effective and more versatile, and won’t require wasting skill ranks on Sleight of Hand.
Masterful Tricks
A significant improvement in the quality of available tricks.
: This will probably make the target easier to kill because such a small creature can be so easily grappled, swallowed, etc.
: The penalties are massive. Follow up with a save or suck and the enemy will go down easily.
: A good option for you or allied spellcasters.
: Cast Dimension Door.
: Use Touch Treatment.
: Gift of Will should prevent you from needing this.
: A great way to sneak your noisy allies into place, or to escape an ambush.
: A great way to counter enemy spellcasters, especially if you can hit them with Hypnotic Stare first to reduce their Will save.
: Stunned is one of the best status conditions you can apply to a foe. Using this every round against a touch enemy is a totally justifiable use of your daily trick uses.