Abciximab's page

I ran the Warpriest and the Brawler.

I thought the Brawler was a decent class overall. I liked picking up a Combat Feat when needed. It came in handy.

The Warpriest... well, she was not very good at the war part and she was not very good at the priest part. She was a priestess of Gorum and her feat chain gave her the chance to deal some decent damage if she could hit. She couldn't. It would take far too long (in combat terms) to get to a place where she was a decent melee fighter. She was far more useful healing and buffing the party and would have been more useful with access to 3rd level spells. The 20 point buy made it difficult to make her good at any one thing. She should have at least a decent Str if she wants to deal damage, but needs Wis and Cha if she wants to cast spells and channel energy. I did like War Mind as an ability, though.

Overall, if I wanted a weak healer who could fight, I would have preferred playing a Paladin. With the role she wound up filling within the party (I can't hit, maybe I should help someone else) I would have been better off playing a Cleric. Being able to use Fighter feats like the Brawler might help this class. As is, there doesn't seem to be a niche for it.

I like the Warpriest concept, but it doesn't live up to its name.

At this point I believe it needs to be moved to the FAQ thread.

... Or if JB or SKR would be so kind as to step in (or any other developer whose name currently escapes me, sowwies :3).

I appreciate your input in any event.

Either your not getting what I'm asking or I'm not getting what your saying.

How is performing a swift action after rolling (and determining the result of) an attack on your turn more the realm of an immediate action?

Swift Actions

A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In that regard, a swift action is like a free action. You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action. Swift actions usually involve spellcasting, activating a feat, or the activation of magic items.

Edit: Actually, I think after reading it more closely you could decide to use a Sacred Weapon effect after the results are determined, since you can perform a swift action anytime you could normally take a free action.

When used on your turn they sound the same to me.

PRD Says:

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action and counts as your swift action for that turn.

The Sacred Weapon ability has made me overthink swift actions. Can you take a swift action in the middle of another action?

For example can you wait until after you determine the results of a "to hit" roll before applying an effect as a swift action? It would make the 1 rnd/lvl more useful at lower levels.

I see both examples as problematic: If it is a fear effect it should not affect objects because objects should not be able to feel fear. If it is a physical effect it should affect the fear immune paladin.

So an effect that affects objects but ignores a paladin because he is immune to fear sounds absurd to me.

Yep. If a room bursts into flame, I think of the fire from a haunt as more like the objects being thrown, especially if it's setting oil on fire.

I think I'll need to lay some ground rules ahead of time so that my rulings are consistent.

That was answered by Jim Groves somewhere... Haunts are a little wonky apparently.

That's a very tricky question. In fact its a great question.

I'm going to try to answer, but I might be a bit clumsy, but bear with me.

A primary effect for a haunt can be physical, but in this case its still fear based. So a paladin is not affected by it. However that physical (but fear based) effect can do something that indirectly affects the paladin.

For example: a haunt that triggers a telekinetic effect that throws around characters and objects will not grab or slam a paladin into a wall. It might however pick up an object and throw it at a paladin, injuring them. In this example, what is injuring the paladin is not telekinesis or 'force', but rather the anvil that sailing towards their head at high velocity.

Using that same example, the haunt cannot use the effect to bullrush the paladin. It can however bullrush his ally into the paladin.

Another example: A haunt makes an entire room burst into flame. It does not affect the paladin, because its fear based. It is however physical. So if the paladin were standing in a patch of 'real' oil that had been spilled on the floor, that oil can ignite- and that real oil can produce real flames that will injure the paladin.

The logic is a little tricky sometimes.

*Snip* So rule if whichever way makes sense to you.

Yeah, I was getting that impression. ;)

Interesting catch on Intimidate. My first thought was Krenshar, but when I looked it up it was both Supernatual and Extraordinary.

*Snip* could not be turned.

Not sure what to make of that... was this using 3.5 rules?

Thanks to everyone for the input. I suspected it would be one of those things with more than one perspective.

@gamer-printer

Are there other mind affecting fear affects that are not classified as supernatural, spells, spell like or extraordinary? (Serious question, not being snarky)

While many Haunts are Will saves, some are not. In this AP some are ranged touch (w/ reflex save) and at least one Fort save.

So, You would not give the dwarf his +2 vs spell/spell like?

Quite a few, as I'm running the Skinsaw Murders. Some are spell effects, some are sort of like spell effects, though there is no actual spell that creates that effect.

From the way the description of Haunts reads, I'm just going to run them as spell/spell like and leave it at that.

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious in the description, because from a flavor perspective, Haunts would seem to have supernatural abilities (More like a Witches Hex).

Thanks for the input.

I'm talking about Haunt effects that mimic spell effects.

The saves you make on traps that use spell effects are treated as spells (so a Dwarf would get his Hardy bonus).

So you're saying the saves you make vs a Haunt's effects are also treated as spells?

The description makes them sound like Spell Like abilities, but Haunts seem to me to be the very essence of the Supernatural. I didn't catch an obvious label.

Inquiring minds (especially Hardy Dwarves) want to know.

We have played through 3 Adventure Paths (1 Levels 1-20 (3.5) and 2 Levels 1-17 (Pathfinder)) without ever experiencing any of the balance issues often discussed on the boards.

Lord Snow wrote:

Hey JJ,

about the bard: with all honesty, can you (or anyone you know) take the theme of this class seriously? That is, a bard performing mid-combat. That just sounds so absurd to me (never matter how cool the performance could be on it's own) that as a GM I disallowed the class in my games.

But many people seem to really like the bard, so maybe I'm missing something.

Would anyone enjoy seeing a movie where, during combat, while people and monsters are killing each other, someone starts to sing a dramatic representaion of the event? and that's supposed to make his companions more confidant or something? that will ruin the entire scene.

So how exactly does the bard's ability make sense to you in your games? don't you feel like you not only have to suspense your disbelief, but that the entire battle is less cool because someone is busy being a performer instead of fighting?

Not to mention, combat bards exist(ed) in the real world. What do you think a drumline would be?

...And music is Still used to demoralize the enemy. I suspect the Heavy Metal, Rock, Rap, Etc, used to Demoralize our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan may have also boosted the moral of our soldiers (assuming the individual soldiers liked that type of music).

Supernova

None of the above. AIT is in Texas. Can't really say more about it than that.

Gotta be ADA or Medical... or Firefighter

Hope you enjoy your career, whatever it may be and however long it lasts. Some of my best (and worst) times were during my stint in the army.

Fort Sill? Gotta love Lawton.

Must be Artillery... Bravo, Echo or Foxtrot?

I enjoy AP’s of all types, as do the folks in my gaming groups. I think Shattered Star will be well received when we get around to it (almost 5/6ths of the way through Serpent Skull at the moment and Runelords is next in line). I like the wide variety in APs and the variety within each AP and wouldn’t change a thing.

Oddly enough, Kingmaker was the one I enjoyed the least (the exploration aspect got a little monotonous), but it was still enjoyable. With all APs, anything we don’t like, we change and there has been very little that we have had to change.

So far, I think Shackled City has been the best, though I suspect RotRL will surpass that one.

1 Case, full set, none broken. Fairly decent distribution, though I need more Ghouls, Redcaps and Yeti.

I picked mine up at my FLGS and I agree with the comments on the art. That particular style was definitely not for me.

The artist, though obviously talented, seems to have no concept of human anatomy. It seemed to me that, in certain panels, some of the characters teeth took on a life of their own. I can only assume it was meant to purposefully illicit a laugh as they appear so comically abnormal. Attempts to display different emotions changed not only facial features, but the entire shape of the head. Very strange, I hope they change the art style somewhere down the road.

On the plus side, I liked the cover art and the mini map/poster that came with it.

Mine are also due friday according to UPS, but they were ordered through a third party that offered a significant discount and free shipping.

There is a difference between just losing your Dex bonus and being Flatfooted. You cannot make attacks of opportunity when Flatfooted.

PRD:

Flat-Footed: A character who has not yet acted during a combat is flat-footed, unable to react normally to the situation. A flat-footed character loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.

I like the new style as well. I don't think the "how to build a useful character" part needs to be broken down for every class. This way is more to the point.

I'm not sure if this has been updated, but looking at the last compilation of rules in the thread I found this...

5. If failing on Use Magic Device with a natural 1, you cannot retry for 24 hours.

Which isn't entirely accurate.

The full rule is...

Try Again: Yes, but if you ever roll a natural 1 while attempting to activate an item and you fail, then you can't try to activate that item again for 24 hours.

If your UMD is high enough for you to succeed on a 1, the "24 Hour" rule will not apply.

Yeti Rare? Can I get one Well Done? Oh, I see, we're missing a Carriage Return. ;)

Water Breathing

School transmutation; Level cleric 3, druid 3, sorcerer/wizard 3

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M/DF (short reed or piece of straw)

Range touch

Target living creatures touched

Duration 2 hours/level; see text

Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

The transmuted creatures can breathe water freely. Divide the duration evenly among all the creatures you touch. The spell does not make creatures unable to breathe air.

We have always made it rhyme with A**Kiss.

We hate those guys.

A huge case is 1 Lamia Harridan, 1 Karzoug Statue, 2 Treachery Demons, and 2 Storm Giants.

That is flippin' awesome. I was hoping (assuming random distribution) for those exact numbers.

It's tricky because of how they word it. Don't know if it helps but here are the entries from the PFSRD... An enhancement bonus or abilities that cleary state the bonus stacks are what you want to increase your Natural Armor Bonus.

Bonus (Natural Armor)
A natural armor bonus improves Armor Class resulting from a creature's naturally tough hide. Natural armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to Armor Class (even with armor bonuses) except other natural armor bonuses. Some magical effects (such as the barkskin spell) grant an enhancement bonus to the creature's existing natural armor bonus, which has the effect of increasing the natural armor's overall bonus to Armor Class. A natural armor bonus doesn't apply against touch attacks.

Bonus (Enhancement)
An enhancement bonus represents an increase in the sturdiness and/or effectiveness of armor or natural armor, or the effectiveness of a weapon, or a general bonus to an ability score. Multiple enhancement bonuses on the same object (in the case of armor and weapons), creature (in the case of natural armor), or ability score do not stack. Only the highest enhancement bonus applies. Since enhancement bonuses to armor or natural armor effectively increase the armor or natural armor's bonus to AC, they don't apply against touch attacks.

I ran this on Free RPG Day at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH and luckily I had my own Kickstarter copy because I had a full table of 6 (there were 3 copies per kit ordered and Jetpack had ordered 2 kits so we had just enough to give out to the players afterwards). I had mostly inexperienced players and even a person who had never played before but everyone had a good time and the last encounter was pleasantly challenging.

My Rogue was doing great against the BBEG until I was hit with...

Definitely a great day with two great adventures back to back (Scarlet Sun and this one).

BurntCornMuffin wrote:

My party of iconics was TPK'd, If you must run this with the pregens, do not use the rogue, ranger or fighter. Between them they did a total of 10 hp damage on the Scarlet Son, the Succubus and her demon, as they just could not overcome the DR.

Fun story, but this thing is a meat grinder.

The rogue has a cold iron dagger. The paladin has 10 cold iron arrows she can give to the ranger. The cleric can cast align weapon on the fighter's sword and can herself use spiritual weapon.

DR should not be a problem.

I agree. The Paladin also has Bless Weapon he can cast on someone's weapon (since his smite is already overcoming the DR).

The end boss for us was a long drawn out fight that they survived only because they had 2 healers keeping the heavy hitters on their feet and used good combat (flanking & Buffing) tactics. I think the level of experience at the table helped a lot.

I will say the wizard was kind of nerfed with his spell selection (and it turned out to be the same for our next game (Temple of Orcus)). In both games te wizard was reduced to Magic Missile & Caster Level Checks. Every Round. Over and over again.

Just ran this at Jetpack Comics in Rochester NH. Went great with 5 players and a tag along NPC Cleric.

We were able to finish it in about 3.5 hours and no one died. Had a good group of experienced players though. I was worried the end could lead to a TPK.

Well after reading Vestigial Arm it sounds like its possible. The rules on two weapon fighting are clear that strength bonus is halved for the offhand weapon unless you have the feat Double Slice. Power attack is not a strength bonus and thus would not be halved.

While it's true it's not a strength bonus, Power attack is halved for the off hand as per the feat.

PRD Power Attack

This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon.

I vote for the Wormy Compilation!

Yeah, I know there are complications that will probably keep that from coming to fruition. The storyline ends rather abruptly.

I do love my Snarfquest book. My children have read it ragged though.

This adventure utilizes Map Pack: City Streets and two new maps designed specifically for this adventure.

Will these "two new maps" be something revealed and made available before Free RPG Day?

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Actually, the adopted trait only gives you one racial trait, and does nothing else. Though a human can count as whatever they want with the Racial Heritage feat.

Read the PRD:

"Adopted: You were adopted and raised by someone not of your actual race, and raised in a society not your own. As a result, you picked up a race trait from your adoptive parents and family, and may immediately select a race trait from your adoptive parents' race."

A Race Trait is a category of traits, Faith, Magic, Social, Race, etc. That's what you get with the adopted trait, not racial abilities and feats.

Traits

Heck, I would just use a riding dog with saddlebags. Easier to get up and down stairs at least.

Let's see if we can get some of the staff in here to comment. ;)

I would say GM's Call. It's weapons and Natural Weapons are considered Both Lawful and Good.

PRD

Some monsters are vulnerable to good-, evil-, chaotically, or lawfully aligned weapons. When a cleric casts align weapon, affected weapons might gain one or more of these properties, and certain magic weapons have these properties as well. A creature with an alignment subtype (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) can overcome this type of damage reduction with its natural weapons and weapons it wields as if the weapons or natural weapons had an alignment (or alignments) that matched the subtype(s) of the creature.

Though Paizo has worked to tighten the polymorph rules, I still find them rather confusing, but here goes…

What immunities are gained depends on how you are changing form (is it the Energy Body Revelation of a Life Oracle? Not sure what Energy Form is.). If it is a spell (like elemental body), you may not gain immunities until the higher level spells are available to you (elemental body III or IV).

As to how it would work were you subject to an effect, not sure of RAW…

Here’s how I would do it. (I lean toward the “turns in which I have the subtype count against the duration” camp) Let’s say you gain the Bleed condition for 10 rnds. You would be subject to bleed damage until you change to elemental form, then if you leave the form before the condition ends you would start taking bleed damage again (minus the # of rounds you were in elemental form). If you were in elemental form when the duration ended, you would not take bleed damage when you changed back.

As a GM I would probably rule that conditions you are subjected to while in another form (to which that form would be immune) would not affect you when you change back (Since you never “acquired” that condition).

As for RAW, hopefully someone can quote a relevant passage for us.

Some walls are shapeable some are not, a Wall of Fire is not shapeable:

(S) Shapeable: If an area or effect entry ends with “(S),” you can shape the spell. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas.

So it has to be one of the 2 forms allowed, straight line or ring.

opaque sheet of flame up to 20 ft. long/level or a ring of fire with a radius of up to 5 ft./two levels; either form 20 ft. High

Common
1 Goblin Warrior (Red) 2
2 Goblin Hero (Red) 2
3 Goblin Warrior (Blue) 1
4 Goblin Hero (Blue) 1
5 Orc Brute 2
6 Orc Warrior 2
7 Skeleton 2
8 Watch Guard 1
9 Watch Officer 1
10 Lizardfolk Champion 1
11 Zombie 2
12 Giant Spider
13 Wolf

Uncommon
14 Venomous Snake
15 Mummy 2
16 Human Rogue 1
17 Human Ranger
18 Elf Wizard 1
19 Half-Elf Cleric 1
20 Dwarf Fighter 1
21 Human Druid 2
22 Gnome Fighter 2
23 Dire Rat 2

Rare
24 Gargoyle 1
25 Half-Orc Barbarian 1
26 Spectre 2
27 Seelah, Human Paladin 2
28 Werewolf
29 Medusa
30 Minotaur
31 Ogre 1
32 Troll 1
33 Ettin 2
34 Chimera
35 Manticore 1
36 Giant Caveweaver Spider 1
37 Frost Giant
38 Succubus
39 Lich 1
40 Vampire 1

2 bricks (separate sources, FLGS & Miniature Market, both a lot cheaper than everywhere else I’ve seen) No duplicates in each brick. Sorry, can't break it down by brick.

One Seelah was off its base and its shield arm was detached. Easily fixed with glue since the little pegs had not snapped on either the arm or the base.

Very disappointed in the Druid (I could see offering this to a player and having them ask, “Do you have an actual druid mini?”) a little disappointed in the Mummy (but really, it’s a Mummy, what are you gonna do?) and the scale issues (Troll seems very small for a large creature, Ettin seems a little big for large). The Goblins are awesome and I’m thrilled to have 6 of them. Generally pleased with everything else. Overall it was worth the money to buy 2 bricks and get 3/4ths of the set.

(EDIT: These are what Abciximab is talking about, and whether they apply is a little ambiguous. Personally I'd say no under RAW but house rule it as yes.)

I agree with this statement. Had to look back at how the ability was actually worded and it looks like you wouldn't get the +1.

let me rephrase it this way What benefits do i get for being treated one size larger during a grapple by RAW

how does that line help me or hurt me? at all.

CMB = Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + special size modifier

CMD = 10 + Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + special size modifier

The size modifier goes from 0 (Assuming Medium) to +1 (Large) so you get +1 to both.

The same rules don’t apply to all Wall spells, some Wall spells are Shapeable others are not. You have to look in the Effect descriptor. For example:

Wall of stone is shapeable

Effect: stone wall whose area is up to one 5-ft. square/level (S)

Wall of Fire is not

Effect: opaque sheet of flame up to 20 ft. long/level or a ring of fire with a radius of up to 5 ft./two levels; either form 20 ft. high

From PRD: Magic: Area:

S) Shapeable: If an area or effect entry ends with “(S),” you can shape the spell. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas

If you are a medium creature with that ability, you would be treated as Large. A creature with grab can only use Grab on creatures of the same size or smaller, so a Medium creature couldn't use Grab to get a free grapple attempt against you. Other than that, I think all you would get are the bonuses to grapple for being large.

Edit: + the "the brutal pugilist takes no penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when she has the grappled condition." part of course.

I don’t think there’s a limit on size. I think the “also is treated as one size larger than her actual size when determining whether she can grapple or be grappled by another creature” is used for things like the Grab special ability.

PRD: Grab

Unless otherwise noted, grab can only be used against targets of a size equal to or smaller than the creature with this ability. If the creature can use grab on creatures of other sizes, it is noted in the creature's Special Attacks line.

Edit:Ninja'd

The package has not been returned to us, either. While it is not unheard-of for a package this delayed to still show up, I will go ahead and put a replacement copy in with your next subscription shipment. If it should show up in the meantime (admittedly, this is highly unlikely at this point), let me know and I will cancel the replacement.

Thanks,
cos

Awesome. I'll keep an eye out and let you know if the original shows up.

Since you can attack it regardless, I don't know why you'd particularly want to :)

I assume he's thinking of how nice it would be to move through the creatures space without using Acrobatics or Overrun. Both should be easy enough with the creatures CMD, but may not be an option (those heavily armored types) or be a waste of an action.

IA creature with a reach of "0" does not threaten any squares and thereby can't make attacks of opportunity. So you can legally enter its square without provoking.

Actually, they don't threaten squares around them, so you wouldn't provoke for going around them, but it would still provoke if you entered its square (See "B&L Creatures" above).