Let's Check Out... Bloodrager! | Pathfinder 2e

NEW LEX CONTENT YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Barbarian blue mage yeah!

One of the coolest class-archetypes yet. Not exactly the flavour of the old bloodrager, but I ove it still!

The Live Wire cantrip they added in player core 2 has a failure effect with a spell attack, but that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head. I feel like it's also future proofing from Paizo, depending on what kind of spells they add in the future.

Love the overview! Class archetypes were what I was most looking forward to with this book

I see the "even on a fail" as being an added effect go the cail effect. Like, maybe the blood used to cast the spell manages to lash out and beat up the nearby foe

You can harvest blood from yourself or your allies, even outside of combat, so that's nice if you end up getting drained without any enemy to Strike.

I kind of assume the “even on a failure line” means your spell attacks will still do your extra rage damage on a regular (not critical) failure like with splash damage

I dont have anything to say, i just want your video to get more traction in the algorithm

Could you cover Seneschal next? Love the video!

These class archetypes are so underused in PF2e, for me they are the best ones, and remind me of PF1e. I hope they do more in the near future. Bloodrager looking awesome, thanks for the deep dive Lex

Love these videos, glad to have found your channel. The rainworld ost just makes it all the more better.

Dhampir Barbarian Bloodrager... Monk.... Fighter.... 😊. Though i feel compelled to try a sorcerer build, dont know if works.

I really love this class-archetype. I do have a few things I want to say:
1) In the dedication feat, it says: "Spells in your repertoire gain the rage trait..." Does that mean that if I get more spells in my repertoire (such as the Sorcerer archetype), do they gain the rage, and thus cast them while I'm raging?
2) I wish this archetype had "Breadth" and 3-action "Spellstrike" (like Eldritch Shot) feats. I know this would make the archetype more powerful, but it feels weird that these feats aren't the archetype, specifically since it is a class archetype. For the Breadth feat, it is weird that it doesn't have it like the Spellshot archetype from gunslinger (the only other caster-martial archetype) and it hurts characters who want to lean more into magic, plus it is balanced by the fact you need to invest more feats and skill ranks to get the benefit of the Breadth feat. (EDIT: I reread the thing, casting spells also Drains you, so you'll have to worry about that if you want to focus more on magic.)
As for the "Spellstrike" feat, it could be broken with the amount of extra damage you'll get from your rage, but one thing will limit it: position. The Spellshot can get a 3-action "Spellstrike" via the Beast Gunner archetype and they don't worry about their position because they use range weapons. The Bloodrager meanwhile, has to either start their turn in front of an enemy or be under an effect like Haste to get to an enemy.
3) I feel mixed with the flavor of "drinking blood." While it will fit a lot of cool character concepts, it doesn't fit for characters who just want to be a standern PF1e Bloodrager.
Overall, I love this archetype even with my gripes. I want the next character I play to be this archetype (If I can find a game).

The Bloodrager is reminding me of the Final Fantasy Blue Mage, with the Spelldrinker feat. I love this, so much! The next character I make for Pathfinder is going to be a Bloodrager, it's so good.

Gosh this is so fun. I played a Bloodrager in PF1 and I'm impressed with Paizo taking it a different direction that looks just as enjoyable.

Interesting and thanks for sharing. My thoughts:
- the Drained kinda reminds me of Cursebound from Oracle.
I also feel like it should have been a custom condition like that. Gaining and removing Drained still leaves you with HP loss each cycle. Plus it is unclear if it works interacts with other drained effects?
- Spell drinker should just have been a Signature spell. I don't want to be locked into a high rank.
- Haemocritical still runs into MAP from the Strike. But it is basically a passive buff.
- Overall it feels needlessly awkward to use. A custom condition with modified HP loss would work wonders.

I've been eagerly awaiting Bloodrager, I'm happy with what we got, I'm excited to play one. With all that said, I'm a bit worried that all the "Spell Attack gets Rage damage" stuff could be a trap?

I do understand why Rage isn't added to saving throw spells. Bonus Rage damage on multitarget spells like Fireball or even Electric Arc would be absolutely nutty. And players would likely complain if the Rage Spellcaster can't add Rage damage to any of their spells. So we get Rage damage added only to spell attack rolls, that's a fair compromise. Additionally, Rage damage added to something like Needle Darts or Ignition pushes it closer to Electric Arc damage (based on some rushed napkin math)

But based on that rushed napkin math, Electric Arc appears to still be stronger with two targets, and since it's MAPless, you could follow it up with a Strike with full accuracy and Rage damage. Even if you picked a single-target cantrip like Void Warp, being MAPless could encourage you to use it more frequently in melee, whereas with Needle Darts you're probably either casting the cantrip or Striking, but usually not both in the same round.

That's even before you get into all the math of spell attacks vs saving throws, targeting lower saves, the tiny number of spell attack spells remaining in the game (Divine has 2 cantrips and 3 common ranked spells that use spell attack). Part of me wonders if I should ignore the Rage damage on spell attacks, and just stick to the typical saving throws, buffs, debuffs, etc.

My main concern is in terms of Arcana vs Divine, Divine doesn’t have the most spell attack rolls or AoEs as the lower levels. They really pick up at around 5th level, but they’re very lacking.

Bless will probably be the go-to.

Holy shit, this is cool.

Being able to double up on Rage damage reliably.

Strike (causes Rage damage) -> Spell Attack at 1st MAP (still deal Rage damage). I know it’s persistent bleed, but still.

This class is a "duck" It can fly, walk and swim but it's not good at any of them. Pass.

While spell attack rolls don't have failure effects written, the failure effect for all attack rolls is that the attack deals no damage. This just means that if you cast a spell that requires an attack roll, even when rolling below AC you still deal Rage damage.

That's weird, my copy says they get the equivalent of breadth instead of master spellcasting benefits. My copy also says they need occultism for the 12th and 18th level features so I think mine is out of date

Doesn't "even on a failure" just mean do the rage damage if you miss? Similar to swashbuckler getting a little bit of a "fail forward "

Any reason this guy can't slash himself with a dagger, gain the extra spell slot, say heal, then cast 3 action heal next round. Rinse and repeat for infinite super fast party healing.
Or, maybe, wall of stone, to cast one every other round.
Is there wording I'm missing?

Shoreline threat my beloved.
Well, until the aquapede shows up

All I'm saying is, if you got some really really nice party members, out of combat you can borrow of their blood to regain a lot of spells and reduce drained. Not sure it it'll add much. But very few pcs are immune to bleed. And with out of combat healing, it is continually recharge of level 3/4/5 slots. Ofc fixed by making harvest blood a "during rage only" ability

the rainworld music in the background gives me flashbacks

I feel like this would be great flavor wise with a dhampir or vampire character😊

"Physical attacks" does mean any activity with the attack trait that does bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, or bleed damage, so this would include spells like needle darts or live wire

What are physical attacks? Are skill checks with the attack trait physical attacks? Trip does physical damage on a crit and so does Powerful Shove. Would those count?

Svetocher Dhampir go hard with this class archetype all but ignoring the downsides of Drained 1 and making further Drains less taxing so a very strong consideration imo.

Really no spell breath feat, thats rather annoying

Love these videos for the attention to detail and comprehending the wording of these books. Also whenever you pull something from the side it looks like you’re nonchalantly pulling something from a pocket dimension for a quick example.

This sounds really cool, but does is spread attributes a bit too thin? Barbarians will typically need Con, Str, and Dex, right? This adds Cha to that. Plus Int if you want more skills.

Since it was mentioned early in the video there are things like fighters exacting strike and the swashbuckler default finisher which indicate that missing is the failure condition of strikes and spell it’s just normally not written out. So I guess it’s unclear then if it’s also on a critical failure as normally things with only a failure effect listed it’s also the critical failure effect but free damage on a absolute miss feels wonky

1. Reflavor this a tad, and this is just XX ABA.
2. Shoreline Threat, my beloved.