Abraham spalding's page

I finally graduated from basic so I should be available again soon.

So this is an alchemist racial archetype for the ifrit. It combines their love of fire with their skill with poisons along with some love for one of my favorite weapons the battle poi. I want to run this idea by everyone to see the gaps I have missed in it.

Dancer of flame -- Replaces throw anything. You gain Exotic weapon proficiency(Battle Poi). In addition when fighting with two battle poi you take attack penalties as if using a light weapon in your off hand instead of an one handed weapon. Perform(Dance) is a class skill for you.
Inhaled Poison Use -- Replaces poison use. You may put inhaled poisons on your battle poi so that they create a cloud while the battle poi is on fire, doing so is a full round action. Creatures struck by two or more of your battle poi attacks are exposed to the poison on the battle poi. Inhaled poisons applied to a battle poi with this ability last a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your class level.
Smoking Poi -- Replaces swift alchemy. On any round you make a full attack while using two battle poi your square and all adjacent squares are treated as if under the effects of a smoke stick.
Poisonous Cloud -- Replaces swift poison. Those in squares affected by your smoking poi ability are also affected by any poison that is on your battle poi.

I am considering granting the ifrit racial feat that allows you to ignore the concealment granted by smoke but I'm unsure if I should or not. I am aware that this archetype stacks with the vivisectionist and that is on purpose.

What happens to the familiar when the Eidolon is dismissed?

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Right so I haven't actually gotten to the holy vindicator part yet, however I've covered my opinions of your channeling options, traits, and feats as well as where I would put my stats for a channeling primary character:

Abraham Spalding's Guide to the (to be honest) channeling.

As always comments, concerns, criticisms, and the like are welcome and appreciated.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view) channeling is still one of the more straight forward aspects of the game.

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First off I want to thank A highly regarded expert for his guide and the inspiration to do my own. I do not agree with him on some points but lots of props to him for making one in the first place and for suggesting to me that I should do my own.

Secondly mine is still a work in progress. I intend to continue progressing on it of course but it is currently not complete. If you see something you think I missed, or that you disagree with by all means tell me. You can leave a comment on the document itself or here. If you leave it here I'll probably see it sooner however.

So without further ado, Abraham Spalding's Guide to the Arcane Trickster.

In advance thank you for your time, comments, concerns, and criticisms.

Well isn't that just intriguing?

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At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.

Usually a monk's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A monk also deals more damage with his unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown above on Table: monk. The unarmed damage values listed on Table: monk is for Medium monks. A Small monk deals less damage than the amount given there with his unarmed attacks, while a Large monk deals more damage; see Table: Small or Large monk Unarmed Damage.

That is the specific text from the monk unarmed strike ability.

So lets say I grab a monk archetype that takes away flurry of blows (master of many styles for sake of argument) and then take two weapon fighting.

Can I two weapon fight with unarmed strikes as my only attacks (take unarmed strikes as both my primary and off hand attacks) and what (if any) penalties do I take for doing so?

So what I'm looking at is a Catfolk that uses an Aldori dueling sword.

I would like to use the Sohei monk and possibly have flurry of blows with it. I have considered using the crusader flurry ability with paladin to get long sword flurry since the Aldori can be used as a long sword.

However I'm also looking to go duelist as soon as possible, and would like to completely avoid spell casting.

If the Sohei doesn't work then I would consider ninja next.

So any ideas on how to get this to work as quickly as possible?

2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

Right so get to level eight with say a psuedo-dragon familiar (or imp... or faerie dragon... or silvanshee -- whatever) and get the familiar form... what shapes can you change into?

This. Wouldn't this be price fixing, and all sorts of illegal?

I came across this today and it seemed to me that all political issues comes down to a variant on the very points she makes in the film.

Discuss?

22 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

Prerequisite: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (net), base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: You can treat a net as a one-handed melee reach weapon with a 10-foot reach. Further, you take no penalty on melee attack rolls for using an unfolded net, and you can use one full-round action or two move actions to fold a net.

Normal: A net is a ranged weapon that imposes a –4 penalty on ranged attack rolls if it is unfolded. Folding a net takes a proficient user 2 rounds.

So um... why would I take penalties on melee attack rolls anyways -- or rather why would I be using melee attack rolls with a net and just this feat?

Also:

What maneuvers can or can't I perform with a net entangling my opponent, and How is the Net Maneuvering feat supposed to work?

Prerequisite: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (net), Net Adept, base attack bonus +3.

Benefit: In melee, you can use a net to trip or disarm opponents instead of entangling them. You gain a +2 bonus on disarm checks made to use a net in this way. Further, if you have an opponent entangled in your net, you can attempt to drag or reposition that opponent as long as he is within your net’s reach or you control the trailing rope on your net.

Again it's a ranged weapon -- you can't entangle an enemy in melee with it.

I'm thinking all these feats need an errata at this point in time.

Building rules:

20 point buy
Core, UC, UM, APG
2 Traits

I'm wanting to do a bounty hunter type that has an animal companion (preferably a dog/wolf but I could survive with a horse if the rest of the build works) that uses a net and short sword. I might be able to be persuaded to go with a whip instead but I'm really feeling the net for this guy. I'm thinking he's a bit of 'jump in the way' for his allies too.

Mechanically I'm currently thinking a mix of the following:

Trapper Guide Ranger (probably just 2 levels to get two weapon fighting)

Honor Guard Emissary Cavalier (I'm thinking between 6~8 levels to use the Horse Master feat and to get bodyguard for free with increased bonuses and free movement in medium armor)

Cad Fighter (I'm not sure how many levels total, however it's one of the feat that gives catch off guard which I intend to use to deal damage to my foes with the net if need be. I also like the bonus to dirty trick attempts)

Feats I'm considering:
Combat reflexes, Lunge,Combat Expertise, Improved/greater trip,Improved/greater Dirty trick, Net Adept, Net and Trident, Net Maneuvering, Net Trickery, Power Attack, Fury's Fall, Enforcer, Pin Down, Swift Aid, Felling Smash

I'm considering Half elf since I'm looking at multiple classes -- the fact that half elf could also take ancestral weapon to get proficiency with the net didn't escape me either. I'm not against going elf or human however (elf would help with bonuses to intelligence and dex for combat reflexes and combat expertise).

Any thoughts on how to go about this, what order to go in, and the like will of course be appreciated.

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So I used the game mastery guide's list of NPCs. On that list we find something a bit odd -- the common farmer is listed as level 2 with a profession(farming) skill that has a +9 bonus on it.

So I sat down and did some math -- first I assumed that he would only be farming 3 out of the 4 seasons, winter being a hard time to grow anything. This gave me 13 weeks of the year he wasn't able to work leaving 39 weeks he could work. Taking an average roll of 10 for his profession check and not assuming masterwork tools we find that on the weeks he can work the farmer will make 351gp. Now assuming he's not just being lazy on the other 13 weeks instead working as unskilled labor he'll make an additional 9.1gp from those weeks making him a total of 360.1gp. He needs 120 to live an average lifestyle for the year which would leave him 240.1gp.

But lets look just a bit farther than just the farmer -- after all he probably has a wife and kids. If the wife also lives an 'average' lifestyle she's going to cost an additional 120gp. The kids probably won't live that well -- after all they have to share rooms, don't have as much spending money and such -- I would put their lifestyle at a cost of 'poor' which is 3gp a month. Assuming there are 3 kids at that price they are going to run the farmer 9gp a month or 108gp a year. Combined with the price of the wife that's going to take 228gp out of his left over each year leaving 12.1gp for anything he needs.

However his wife probably does some work on the side outside of simply keeping house. Lets treat this as unskilled labor since it's probably going to be fairly hit or miss for the most part (even though it's likely skillful work) assuming she does some of this each day she'll bring in 36.5gp a year, putting the bottom line at 38.6gp a year for the farmer as extra spending cash. This will pay for expensive tools, animals, and the like that will be needed throughout the year plus any savings he hopes to put back for a dowry or whatever.

We can plainly see that while the farmer isn't bad off he isn't extremely comfortable either -- he's about one bad accident from having a ruinous year... which probably sits well with most people's idea of where he should be economically.

Now lets look at his village. The village holds about 200 people which means it should have 2 full time guards and 20 militia.

I figured that at the following (in parenthesis will what NPC I used from the GMG for the character):
Mayor (mayor reduced to Aristocrat 3/ Expert 4) -- No family
Sheriff (Guard Officer) -- Wife and Son
Deputy Sheriff (Guard) -- Young man, no family currently
Innkeeper (Barkeep) -- 3 daughters are barmaids, and work as archers, no wife
Barmaids
Priest (cultist) -- no family
Acolytes -- no family
Shopkeeps (3) -- family of 4 each
Village Drunk (Drunkard)
Veteran Farmers (commoner 2/ warrior 1) -- family of 4 each
Butler for Noble's summer home (Noble Scion)
Butler's wife (variant of hedge wizard, Aristocrat 2/Wizard 3)
Guards for Noble's summer home (warrior 1 each) -- family of 3 each

That gives us 39 more people accounted for out of the village, leaving us 128 people -- assuming the families are more or less an average of 5 people gives us 25 more families for a total of 37, and 3 beggars in town (or village idiots, however you like it).

The biggest difference between the experts in town as barkeeps and shopkeeps (the general store, a blacksmith and maybe a form of banker) and the farmers is the fact they can work their jobs all year, higher level and masterwork tools -- this puts them at making about 2gp more a week and with 13 more weeks to work meaning 572gp a year in income for them.

It also means our average level is pretty low -- right around 2~3 with an average CR of about 1/2 per person in the village, highest level caster is the priest at level 4, with the butler's wife being second at level 3... which also means we have 2% of the population as casters, with about 80% of the population being farmers.

Since this is a village it gets two traits, I would suggest racially intolerant for orcs and half orcs (too many raids against the town makes them more alert for spies) and Strategic location (a reason for a noble to have a summer home there even if it isn't the primary trade route to a major city), and of course it's a Autocracy.

Link

An 'interesting' development at least and it leaves me wondering what it will lead to.

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So I started playing around with the optional piece meal armor rules and here is what I have so far:

Scout Armor:
Lamellar Cuirass, Studded leather leggings, leather arms
Light 22 gp +4(armor) +4(max Dex) -0 15%(ASF) 13 Lbs

Warcaster armor:
Ceremonial Silk Robes with wooden apron (legs), padded arms
Light 36gp +3(armor) +3(max Dex) -1 10%(ASF) 13 Lbs

Elite Shock Trooper Armor:
Agile Plate, with Kikko legs and Scale Arms
Heavy 420gp +9(armor) +3(max Dex) -7(-4) 30%(ASF) 35 Lbs

Nomad Cavalry Armor:
Lamellar Cuirass, Studded leather leggings, Horn Lamellar arms
Medium 45gp +5(armor) +4(max Dex) -2 30%(ASF) 16 Lbs

Shock Trooper Armor:
Plate with O-yoroi legs, Tatami-do arms
Heavy 600gp +10(armor) +2(max Dex) -12 40%(ASF) 40 Lbs

Heavy Infantry Armor:
4 mirror chest with scale leggings and arms
Medium 40gp +8(armor) +3(max Dex) -9 35%(ASF) 55 Lbs

Anyone have anything else?

Great idea until you really think about it.

. The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place.

"a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

So I can hire anyone I want from anywhere and bring them here to do whatever labor I can get them to do, and have no worries that someone is going to try and stop me.

Which means I'm free to -- as my exercise in entrepreneurial spirit -- take a group of low paid people from poor countries move to his island and start a 'pirating business' where I attack other people's ships take their goods and then sell them for whatever I care too.

While I'm at it I think I'll kidnap this guy and hold him for ransom since it can't be against the law since it's my business model.

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So someone once suggested I should make a thread about all the horrible things corporations do, have done, or are trying to get away with doing.

So here we go:

Starting with Nazi profiteers that are still with us.

Low hanging fruit provided by AIG
AIG
Murdoch's little fun in the spotlight recently
Tyco
LIC yet another company that never seems to realize wrongdoing even with its employee's being arrested
Walmart -- that's an easy one

Have fun adding your own -- and remember people -- corporations exist only for their own profit and gain, the more profit to be gained the more likely they are to forget the rules assuming you can't pick them out in a line up and even if you could "I was just following orders" or "I didn't know what my underlings were doing right under my own nose and supervision".

He's not broken -- he's advanced.

So the arm by itself isn't bad granting you the means to hold an extra item or a shield while two weapon fighting or fighting two handed.

However my question would be does it qualify you for multiweapon fighting -- and if it does do you now gain extra attacks from the third (or fourth) arm?

So I know I want the following:
Monk (drunken master, Sacred Mountain Qing Gong)
Alchemist (chirurgen, Internal Alchemist)

The abilities I'm interested in are:
Preserve organs (up to 3 times)
Spontaneous Healing
Healing Touch
Restoration (2 ki, self only)

I have a 20 point buy, and would prefer a human related race I think -- but I'm not sold on any one race at this point.

Beyond that I'm rather up in the air -- I want enough Wisdom to be able to reliably use stunning fist and Ki based options. Intelligence is something that I want for skill points and access to whatever level of extracts I get too, but isn't prime for anything else (I'm not really looking hard at bombs) -- I'm alright with the idea of the vivisectionist, but not committed to it either yet. Combat maneuvers are something I am rather interested in (grappling and dirty trick primarily).

If that isn't enough (because it never is) I wouldn't mind trying to fit in a level of inquisitor for the conversion inquisition.

What I need help in is figuring a way to make this combat effective (I believe I'll do fine out of combat), and get the abilities I really want early enough that it doesn't feel like I'm chasing them forever.

So this is a bit of my problem with UM:

Human Wizard(generalist)
Arcane Bond(amulet)
Feats:
B -- Spell Focus(Evocation) -- (PFS variant wizard)
1 -- Spell Focus(Transmutation)
H -- Spell Specialization
3 -- Spell Specialization
B -- Spell Focus(Abjuration)
5 -- Spell Specialization
7 -- Spell Specialization
9 -- Greater Spell Specialization
B -- Quicken Spell
11 -- Spell Specialization
13 -- Spell Specialization
15 -- Spell Specialization
B -- Persistent Spell
17 -- Spell Specialization
19 -- Spell Specialization
B -- (whatever)

Equipment: Amulet of Magecraft (set to conjuration)

*****************************************

The above wizard has 9 spells he can spontaneously cast and an entire school of magic he can do so from and he can change which school of magic every day. Every time he hits and even level he can change all of his spontaneous spells known out at the same time as opposed to the sorcerer's one spell every even level.

In addition he has 6 levels worth of free spontaneous metamagic use per day.

Feats: Spell Focus(necromancy), Varisian Tattoo(necromancy), Reach Spell, Undead Mastery, Thanatopic Spell, Spell Specialization(Create Undead), Intensify Spell, Greater spell focus(necromancy), Spell Perfection(create undead), Bloatmage Initiate(necromancy)

Basically put you'll have a caster level of 36 for create undead at level 20. At level 15 it will simply be 27.

You could instead update to create undead, or create greater undead at your discretion. The dominate person? Yeah Thanatopic spell will make it work.

So here is the basic idea -- I want a melee type that does great buffing his allies with using magic directly. Here is what I have so far in making that happen:

Fighter 3/Cavalier(order of the dragon) 2/Bard 1/Steel Falcon 3/Battle Herald 10

Feats I'm looking at:
Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Combat expertise, gang up, power attack, outflank, Iron Will(mandatory), Swift Aid, Lingering Performance

Those are 'fairly' set in stone.

The following are things I am looking at in the "I think I want" catagory:
Leadership(looking at a hospitalar paladin), extra bardic performance, practiced tactician, shield of swings, improved trip, greater trip, improved dirty trick, greater dirty trick, Boon Companion

I'm looking at two different ways to do combat (beyond my buffing abilities): Either a pole arm of some sort, or using a madu and a scorpion whip. If I use the Madu then up through level 12 I won't take a penalty from using combat expertise.

I'm also not set on a race yet. I kind of would like to go with halfling to get a wolf or riding dog for my 'mount' and then simply using it as another flanker. If I did then I might consider the lucky halfling feat too. Another choice would be to go human take the racial heritage feat and get the lucky halfling feat all the same (much more feat intensive... but possibly a lot of fun).

So Where I would like help:
Race
Order of feats
What other feats to grab/not grab
Weapon usage advice (between the pole arm and madu/scorpion whip)
General thoughts on improving effectiveness.

So lets say we want to run all the APs back to back with the same characters without deleveling, or "starting over"

How would you go about making this work?

So Ewan 325 and I were talking about the constitutionality of various practices and actions of both the congress and the president.

To be clear at this point I'm not looking for "Well democrats/liberals/whatever do this and republicans/conservatives/whatever do that!"

This is to be a discussion thread on actions or practices of the bodies of government and if said action is or should be legal according to:
1. The Constitution
2. Our "lesser" laws

and in line with our treaties with any other country involved with the action taken.

So if you want to post here this is my suggestion for how to go about it:

First state the action or practice you wish to discuss.

Second state why you think the action or practice violates our laws or the constitution.

Finally if you can point out any salient points that might be used to prove why it doesn't violate the law -- this isn't to disprove yourself but to help everyone have a place to start on both sides.

It occurred to me that one resource the gunslinger is going to have a lot of and little use for is his attacks of opportunity.

After all he's using ranged weapons, he has a lot of reasons to raise his Dex, but he doesn't gain any benefit from his attack of opportunity or the extra ones he could get with combat reflexes...

So why not change the cost of some (or all) of the deeds to attacks of opportunity?

This would be a refreshing resource, that can be used up to do all sorts of things and would give the gunslinger both something new, and use something everyone is already familiar with.

Examples could be:

Duck for Cover: As an immediate action give up an AoO to move 5 feet as someone is targeting you for a ranged attack. If you get behind cover you gain the benefits of cover for that attack (you do not gain the benefits of total cover though as you are moving as they shoot).

Surprise shot: If you are using a weapon with the scatter property loaded with pellets you may use it to make an AoO against anyone moving within the range of the cone.

Fast Reload: Give up an AoO as a swift action to reload one shot. You may give up extra AoO's to reload extra shots as part of the same swift action, but only to load a gun you already have in your hands.

Snap Shot: As an immediate action you may make one attack on a target within your first range increment at a -5 penalty -- using this ability uses up an AoO.

Pistol Whip: You may make AoOs with a firearm in your hand. Doing so is a melee attack that deals damage as a club for an one handed fire arm and as a heavy mace for a two handed fire arm. You may add any enhancement bonus on the gun to this attack.

*******

I'm sure people could think of more things to add to this list (or other abilities from the current deeds to put on it).

I just feel this would handle the 'refreshing' time of the Grit ability and use up a resource that people already know about and understand.

1. If I "double tap" both barrels at the same target is it two attacks?

2. If I take the penalty can I fire both barrels with Dead shot? If so does the Dead Shot affect both barrels or just one? Please provide and example of how the damage math would work.

3. If I have two double barreled pistols and two weapon fighting(improved and greater), plus a glove of storing, can I make (at level 20) 14 attacks (assuming rapid reload and paper cartridges)?

Bonus question: Can I make advanced versions of the basic firearms?

Okay so this idea will not work for every gunslinger, however I think it will work for the musket using gunslinger at least:

When I was thinking that there was a chance I would make it to round two of superstar I was working on a ranger archetype called the marksman. I think the primary ability I was going for on them could work for here.

Aim: As a full round action the gunslinger may make a single attack. If this attack hits it deals x2 damage. At level 7 the gunslinger the damage is instead increased to x3 damage, and at level 14 the damage increases again to x4.

Basically the gunslinger would get a ranged version of charging with a lance. he takes careful aim and shoots only once but gets an increasing amount of damage to make up for the lack of iterative attacks.

Right so this is just a list of some feats that I think would be useful in general:

Reload on the run
Prerequisites: Rapid reload, dodge, mobility
Benefit: When taking a move action to move you may also reload a weapon that you took rapid reload for.

Mixed deadliness
Prerequisites: Power attack(or piranha strike), deadly aim, two weapon fighting
Benefit: When two weapon fighting with a ranged weapon and melee weapon the penalty you take with power attack and deadly aim works for both types of weapons (i.e. you take the penalty once but get the bonus damage with the ranged weapon and with the melee weapon).

20 point buy 1 trait
Str 10 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 8
Trait: Heirloom Weapon

Feats:
level 1 -- rapid reload(pistol)
level 3 -- quick draw
level 4 -- deadly aim
level 5 -- point blank shot
level 7 -- precise shot
level 8 -- weapon focus
level 9 -- lightning reload deed
level 11 -- signature deed(lightning reload deed)
level 12 -- weapon specialization

Rules Ignored: Touch attack in first range increment. Costs.
Rules Added: Multi-barreled pistols.

Level 1 was a mess. I really wished I had power attack at several points simply to have something to fall back on (at all levels) and my damage never really get to par with what other fighters could do. I did find that I was better off at lower levels buying magical ammunition instead of worrying about getting enough magical guns or reloading regularly. After level 11 I found I could reload a few choice magical multi-barreled guns fast enough to be worth buying such. I ended up with 3 four barreled pistols at this point that were +1 distance weapons and a lot of expensive magical ammunition.

Damage was alright since I could deadly aim but hitting wasn't as easy as it could have been.

I missed those fighter feats -- I missed them a lot. The deeds... just were not worth it. I didn't really have enough grit to use them often and generally only got grit back at the beginning of the day and the first time I killed something (which a few times others deliberately backed off from a killing blow to help with -- which feels dirty).

Going with multiple guns at lower levels and multiple barrels at higher did make a huge difference though -- if costs were stuck to though this wouldn't have happened. I never managed a critical hit which problem sucked some of the wind from my sails.

Next I'm going to do a straight fighter with some deed feats instead.

Why?

I mean I'm a million times better off taking point blank mastery than deft shootist deed since it doesn't eat up my grit and I'm going to have the prerequisites more than likely anyways. Granted it is available earlier but not so much that I could see wanting this feat.

Leaping Shot Deed -- so it's shoot on the run, only better for freaks with more than two arms and knocks me prone after I use it. This might be a fair trade if I didn't have to spend grit on it. I don't get much grit and I am going to want it for other things than knocking myself prone after taking two shots on the move.

Richot Shot Deed -- So I can hit people around corners that is cool, but they still have concealment which isn't. Even with blind fighting I'm not sure I'm going to risk this since reloading is such a pain already. It also seems really likely to start issues at the table about what you can and can't bounce off of, and it only affects a single shot -- so I can't do it with a full attack. As such I would rather move and shoot straight on that stay where I am and spend grit to likely miss.

Alright people post some up and see what we can come up with:

Currently I'm looking at three different ways to go about using the gunslinger.

1. Switch hitter. Use the fire arm as I'm closing to set a status effect in place (at level 7ish) then use melee attacks when they close. Firearm hand gets a buckler so it's not useless when they do so.

2. Extra grit, lightning reload, and stacking on as much damage as possible. This one is giving me trouble -- I can't seem to get enough feats to get the ranged feats I need and to add the damage I need. Without being able to really get a full attack consistently it is really hard to keep the DPR up.

3. Lots of guns. If it wasn't for the cost this one would work -- I'm really seeing an unseen servant/butler coming along so. Leadership might be a must just to keep guns reloaded.

Ok so I like where they went with this class. A quick note -- the mount ability on page 14 refers to "sharp spell" instead of "share spell".

Also does weapon expertise allow a samurai to take fighter only feats without fighter levels? I read it as such and I'm not so sure I like that -- too many people can do that already (with the magus and eldritch knight). Fighter only feats should be fighter only feats or something needs to be done for the fighter.

So when/how likely is it that the summon monster spells will be updated to include monsters from the bestiary 2?

5 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the errata.

So several of the new familiars have abilities based on hit dice. The familiar abilities include the following:

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master's character level or the familiar's normal HD total, whichever is higher.

The question is what all does this affect?

For example the new Agathion that can be taken as a familiar (silvanshee) has the ability to:

"Lay on hands as a paladin whose level equals the agathion’s Hit Dice."[/URL]

Does this mean that a wizard with a Silvanshee familiar can have his familiar that has lay on hands 10/day that heals 10d6 each time?

So here's the basic thought:

invulnerable rager barbarian with the following:

Feats:
Combat Reflexes
Body Guard
In Harm's Way

Rage Power:
Come and Get me

Basically you take the hit for the ally and instead hit the opponent first.

So that's the core of the idea -- what can we add to make it better?

Bumped for the hope of comments.

A couple of thoughts on the new feats from the APG:

Combat Patrol Mount/ Bodyguard Rider:
Two Parts:

1. Character has the bodyguard feat, the mount has combat patrol (and a huge amount of movement). The mount moves as part of an AoO -- to beside an ally. The mount takes his AoO and the rider now uses Bodyguard to increase his ally's AC for the incoming attack.

Legal or No?

2. If the mount moves to take an AoO, and now his rider is in position to threaten for the action being taken (that the mount is taking an AoO on) does the rider now get an AoO too (since AoO's happen before the action the provokes)?

Bodyguard/In Harm's Way Mount/ Mounted Combat:

So the mount has Bodyguard and In Harm's Way as feats. The rider gets attacked. The mount uses Bodyguard and when the attack connects anyways uses In Harm's Way. The rider now uses Mounted Combat to negate the attack that would have hit his mount. An attack which would have hit the rider instead gets deflected to the mount which has the hit negated by the rider using mounted combat.

Legal or No?

So I'm playing a "lycanthrope" -- at least as fluff goes. Mechanically I have the following for the build:

Human (heart of the wild) Barbarian (invulnerable rager)
H -- Racial heritage(lycanthrope)
1 -- power attack
2 -- lesser beast totem
3 -- extra rage power (animal fury)
4 -- Scent
5 -- Aspect of the beast (low light)
6 -- beast totem
7 -- Eldritch claws
8 -- Intimidating glare
9 -- Lunge
10 -- Beast totem
11 -- Intimidating prowess
12 -- Terrifying Howl
13 -- Iron Will

The one thing that is missing of course is the animal form. I talked to my GM and we are thinking to trade out greater rage for beast shape II limited specifically to my werecreatures shape (in this case a tiger), working basically the same as wild shape for the druid. The major catch that we added on is I can't rage while in animal form (since rage represents my hybrid form and I can't be in two forms at once).

I would like other people's opinions on this trade. Is it fair/balanced/etc?

If you were playing at the table would you be upset if this was available for another player?

I would love to see a power for the magus that allows him to use power attack, deadly aim, or piranha strike with his touch attack spells.

I think that if any class would figure out how to do this it would be the magus.

I'm of the opinion it should work similiarly to the monk's flurry of blows. The magus should get full BAB while full attacking, -2 and allowed to cast a standard action (or less) spell with a concentration check.

It holds up from what I've played with it in combat mock ups.

Instead of the Skill points + int mod that we currently get you would recieve at first level you would get:

1/2 your normal skill points as per your class (not including Int mod) which could be spent in any skill, and one skill point per ability mod bonus that can only be spent in a skill tied to that ability.

So if you had a fighter with the following stats:
Str 16
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 7

He would get the following skill points at level 1.
3 for strength based skills
2 for dexterity based skills
1 for intelligence based skills
2 for wisdom based skills
0 for charisma based skills
1 for any skill of his choosing.

After first level you would gain your normal allotment of skill points modified by your Int as normal.

In addition instead of the standard skills as class skills you would get 10 skills that you choose as class skills to tie into your background.

So if a wizard put himself through wizard school by using his magic to steal stuff he might choose the following 10 skills:

Stealth, Disable Device, Perception, Knowledge(arcane), Spellcraft, Appraise, Knowledge(local), Sleight of Hand, Diplomacy, Sense Motive

Thoughts? Suggestions? Complaints?

SO when do you take this feat? Do you have to wait until level 7 to take it if you want say a psuedo dragon? Or can you take it at level 3 and wait until level 7 to reap the benefit of the psuedo dragon?

By that logic could you take it at level 1, wait until level three and get the lesser improved familiars? What if you have something that increases your caster level for a specific school of magic (or just increases your caster level in general)?

So this one is a fun one to bake your noodle. It does have one odd point to it -- the mount is a lion instead of a horse, so not PFS play available -- but you could sub out the lion for a horse with little/ no problem. Just looking for some basic thoughts on the build and ideas.

Human (Qadira) Cavalier 8 (Order of the Sword)/ Duelist 4
HP: 12d10 + 20
BAB: +12 (+22/+17/+12 Scimitar (1d6+14/ 15-20) -- Charging Scimitar +26 (2d6+46/ 15-20 -- Challenge Charging Scimitar +29 (2d6+72/ 15-20))
Fort: + 7 (+11)
Ref: + 5 (+18)
Will: + 3 (+8)
AC: 26 (Touch 23, Flat 13) (generally aided by lion for 27)

Str 7 Dex 22(26) Con 12 Int 16(18) Wis 10 Cha 8

Trait: Charming

Racial Traits:
Eye for Talent
Heart of the Wilderness

Feats:
1 -- Weapon Finesse
2(b) -- Coordinated Manuevers
3 -- Dervish Dance
5 -- Dodge
6(b) -- Mobility
7 -- Mounted Combat
8(b) -- Ride by Attack
9 -- Boon Companion
11 -- Spirited Charge
12(b) -- Combat Reflexes

Skills
Perform (+14)
Acrobatics (+23)
Perception (+15)
Sense Motive (+17)
Knowledge(nobility) (+19)
Diplomacy (+14)
Ride (+23)

Equipment: +2 Keen Scimitar, +3 Bracers of Armor, +3 Cloak of Resistance, +4 Belt of Dex, +2 Headband of Int(Knowledge(local)), 2,650 gp

Lion
Str 27(29) Dex 19(21) Con 18(20) Int 3 Wis 15 Cha 10
HP: 10d10+50 (110 hp)
BAB: +7 (+14 Bite (1d8+14)/Claw (1d6+14)/Claw (1d6+14)-- +16 charge Bite/Claw/Claw/Rake (1d6+14)/Rake (1d6+14))
Fort: +7 (+15)
Ref: +7 (+15)
Will: +3 (+8)
AC: 31 (Touch 15 Flat Footed 26)

Feats:
Combat Reflexes
Power Attack
Body Guard
In Harm's Way
Enforcer

Skills:
Perception 1 (+6/+10)
Acrobatics 1 (+9)
Intimidate 8 (+11)

Equipment: +1 Merciful Amulet of the Mighty Fist, +2 Large Studded Leather barding, +2 Belt of perfection, + 3 Cloak of Resistance (saddle blanket), Legbands of the Zephyr

You would have to be Bard(sandman) 10 before you could take your first level of arcane trickster. Would you consider playing such a combination?

So ride by attack:

When you are mounted and use the charge action, you may move and attack as if with a standard charge and then move again (continuing the straight line of the charge). Your total movement for the round can't exceed double your mounted speed. You and your mount do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that you attack.

Pounce:

When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, it can make a full attack (including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability).

Format: pounce; Location: Special Attacks.

So a lion that is mounted could charge with ride by attack get a full attack with pounce while the rider makes a spirited charge and still move pass the target (without provoking AoOs) to do it again next round?

Like the title says, this has spoiler information in it:

[SPOILER]
So I saw the Orge Mage Bard 10 in the book using a mithral breastplate -- I'm all good with this, makes sense I like... my question is WHY in the world he has arcane armor training and arcane armor mastery? He doesn't need these feats at all!
[SPOILER]

Alright so here's our party (we call it the "pretty rich party"):

male Half Orc Paladin (mounted combat build)
Female Halfling Bard (whip user, generally uses maneuvers)
Female Human Fighter (collegiate fighter alt rules, Falcata user, average stats (4 x 14's and a 16 to start) lots of skills)
Female Human Druid/Sorcerer/Arcane Hirophant (adjusted prestige class -- Poor BAB/HD, 2+ Int skills, not plant/animal channeling -- everything else is there)

Our Fighter took the charming and Looking for adventure traits, while everyone else took Rich Parents (in the case of the Hirophant it is actually Haleen that left her well off before she disappeared).

The paladin has been spreading the faith along with his seed as much as possible (the party for the most part ignores his antics) who's horse is named miracle -- he's a bit slow in the common sense department, but a strong hitter.

The bard is the primary target of the paladin's antics and ignores/derides him constantly. She is quick with both the buffing and the trips/tangle foot bags (which she has amazing luck with) and such. If it does a status effect she'll generally use it. She also got mold speaker.

The fighter tends to be simple in her pleasures and sticks near the druid mostly. She hits as hard if not harder than the paladin usually and has surprised many with her constant use of abilities that are typically "not fighter" she has excellent skill use and a good will save as well.

The Druid/sorcerer was built before the APG stuff came out as a "witch" of sorts. This is my character actually, and she would rather be a homebody running a fortune telling/ curio shop if it wasn't for Haleen running off all the time and her home being threatened. She's mouthy to everyone and doesn't have much tuck with authority, while trafficking in poisons, spirits, alchemy, and fortune telling regularly. She is originally from the area the Witch Queen has conquered -- supposedly a distant relative too -- her family left after she told her parents about meeting a dark man on a horse once. She met Haleen later and is confused by her more than anything. She sticks near the fighter because she reminds her of Haleen and they have taken a house together in the new town.

**********

Now on to the story:

Book 1:

Okay I hate pagawmis. No not because they are a "nuisance" but because they are horrible monster design. A CR 1/2 should never have DR, SR, shatter and an unluck aura all at once -- it's just stupid.

Beyond that:
Book 1.
We cleared out the monastery easily enough: The earlier pagwami's in the room with the sharp stuff were a bit of a problem (BTW, the poisonous snake as an AC is a bad choice) but a quick bluff by the bard got them to come out where they were easily killed -- at the same time the fighter walked past the baboons and drew them out. Two of them were convinced to back down by the druid one wailed on the fighter while the other was dropped quickly. The fact that there were several strength 20+ creatures in the first area of the dungeon surprised me since they were quite capable of delivering a TPK by themselves with little warning. We missed the bird the first time through and after leveling ended up going against the king. Quite frankly I was both disappointed and dismayed by the... lack of forethought in this encounter (indeed in the first part of this book). Even without the unluck Aura the king had quite the AC which was all the more frustrating due to the aura. he ended up surrounded while we spent round after round simply trying to hit him -- he couldn't really hit us either but that was little conciliation. After he finally died and we got the whip everyone moved in and we continued on. Quick note between wild empathy and a well timed cause fear spell we chased the bird off with no problems too, but left that area and the nest allow after that.

We ended up doing the old Temple of Nethys next (yeah after we were done the DM told us that he was afraid we were going to die doing it). It went very well for us honestly -- we found the secret back door underground first and fought the weretiger before anything else. He went down to a tangle foot back and actually managed to get stuck (natural 1 on the dice) and failed to get out -- the fighter and paladin both had pole arms with them and used those to kill the thing quickly. In the end we took no damage from that encounter though this was due completely to luck and good tactics. The rest of the area was fairly easy and we went on to the city. After making friends with the harpy and killing the Hecuva (the druid stopped the paladin for falling for the trap with a "Hey stupid -- do you really think the gnolls are just going to leave a priest of serenrae alone around here?"). The goblin that came out got his pants set on fire and we chased him back in -- we weren't attacked immediately because the creature inside thought the goblin with his pants on fire was absolutely the funniest thing they had seen (the druid did this) -- we ended up clearing out the dome easily enough (Haleen helped) and against the advice of the druid went to take on the demon.

The temple went quickly enough and we opened the door to the demon. First off I found the idea of simply straight up confusing the whole party before they even have a chance to engage as potentially TPK material -- bad idea for a first book even if it is the last boss fight in the book. We however made our saves and ignored the illusion (it didn't help that the druid who was taking care of the prisoner had a medically necessary surgery in the middle of the night -- seems the prisoner needed his heart opened up completely to relieve the pressure there and he didn't survive -- yes success was made on that bluff check!). The bug took damage quickly and almost escaped out the door -- but the druid/sorcerer hit the door with the open/close cantrip and the door closed buying the party the time it needed to finish the monster off.

Thus ends the first book.

Second Book:
So we travel up the lava tubes into the bottom of the House of the Beast. The fighter's player was absent and my son rolled for the fighter that night -- out of 12 attacks he confirmed 11 critical hits with the GM's dice -- this made for a great night for us. We ended up retreating out part of the way through out of paranoia and did a head on assault two days later -- but before that the druid charmed the giant spider and had it attack the gnolls (the druid has taken the vermin heart feat).

Quick note here: After going through 3 snakes as animal companions I decided to go with a boar next. This has been a wildly successful move for me. The boar has been our tank since then using light armor proficiency and its gore (with improved natural weapon later) with power attack to great success. In some ways he easily made up for the druid/sorcerer's lack of over all spell power very well.

The rest of the temple was honestly a cake walk. We crawled that dungeon with a fine toothed comb and even had a fairly easy time in the crypt beneath it. I believe a lot of this was great tactics by us, and the fact that we set our own pace too. We didn't rush ourselves and didn't bite off more than we could take at any point.

So ends the second book.

Third book:
Right so we go back to Katapesh, spend some time shopping, free some slaves, and get attacked in the middle of the night. After the druid got done harassing the pactmaster's lackeys and scoffing at their inability to keep the law in their town the party threw a box into the water then went and found a mage that teleported us straight to our kidnapped friend. Good for us bad for everyone else -- we made a deal with a captain and had the thing kill the jackel lord for us. Clearing out the warehouse proved easy after that and we continued back to the house to open the scroll for ourselves (we didn't want to sell it anyways). In the prison we had met a girl that the wizard seemed to like -- turns out it was the genie from the second book and he followed us into the scroll, at which point he promptly got a pineapple inserted in him by the paladin (at the end of a lance).

So ends book three.

Book Four:
Right so the hydra didn't do much and the druid used wild shape to find the goat we were after. It did manage to stone the druid but dropped soon after. Collecting the plates and horns we travelled to the snake things and had a talk with them. They turned the paladin into a turtle for being obnoxious and we left to find the few people still around to offer them the chance to escape. The town at the base of the spire was empty but we found the ore, and the smithy gave everything to us for free, after the druid said, "well if you are going to stay and be dissolved anyways why charge for it?" The cat joined up with the fighter and the dragon stayed behind as well. The jinn at the pleasure palace were happy to have a chance to leave.

Then we got to the earth guy. We got him to come out to talk with us by telling his servant, "Look we are going to dissolve this world anyways, we just want to give him a chance to leave". When the earth person came out the bard made a 40 on her diplomacy check to get him to hear us out. This was followed by a 38 diplo check and a 40 diplo check (her dice were hot that night 20, 18, 20 were her rolls) and he sent us to talk with the snake people again. When we got to them they wanted to know why they could trust the would be king to which the druid replied, "Well just hear him out -- if you don't like what he says just turn him into a turtle and we'll have some soup before we leave." Got a 38 on my diplo check and after a few more we went back to tell the earth guy that the deal was on. He took us down to the crystal and BOOM we were out of the scroll... in a very hot place (to be continued this friday).

********************************************

My thoughts over all:

Book 1 started poorly, and had an odd point for an end boss -- but worked over all. I did not like the set piece dagger but it was well handled over all IMO. Pagwamiis are bad design though.

Book 2: Standard dungeon crawl and well done. It could have been a bit more over all but I liked it. The rewards were good.

Book 3: We kind of glossed over much of this book -- it was a bad time of the year overall for the game (around the holidays) but it was very enjoyable. Several unique points and plenty of room for the players to handle things how they want too -- I liked a lot.

Book 4: Buddy this was great. Plenty to see and do with lots of ways to go about things. Normally I would be miffed with pocket dimension followed by planar travel, with a distant dungeon before all this but it's worked out pretty well so far.