Cilveran's page

How about this?

Wahey!

Hello good people :)

OK, so I was talking with my group the other day about character ideas and different stuff, and they started joking about if I made a halfling cavalier or a paladin, I should have him ride a giant Swan for a mount.

This got me thinking, hehe :D
I'm gonna start him off riding a boar (joining the party at level 4), but I was wondering about the feasibility of creating some kind of medium sized Dire Swan to get for a new mount at a level where flying isn't broken?
The only real problems with this plan are:

#1 There are no stats for swans or any really comparable bird in the monster's manual (The closest you get is an eagle).

#2 There are no "dire" templates. The closest you get is the simple template "Giant", which would be cool I guess, but dire is way more awesome! :P

So, uhm, what I was wondering was, anyone feel like suggesting how one would go about creating a dire Swan? :D
(Or if not dire, then at least some kind of medium sized swan)

Cheers!
Cilveran

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. You've given me quite a bit to think on! :)

For now I love the roleplaying bit of my womanizing bard, but seeing as how 2 party members have died so far in reaching level 3 alone, I intend to plan ahead a bit ;)

If this halfling campaign is fast-tracking, and not cash-starved, I'd take a look at using Agile weapons and completely ignoring strength. You'll eventually make the Dervish guys look suboptimal, especially if mixing in barbarian[urban]

(Mild annoyance: you didn't say what point-buy method was used, or what your current character is.)

STR-05 Halfling 20pt
DEX+19
CON:12
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA+14

Racial: Outrider
Traits: Dangerously Curious

01 barbar1 [Urban][Crowd Control], Weapon Finesse
02 samura1 [Order of the Warrior][Mount][Wakizashi]
03 fightr1 [Dragoon][Mounted Combat][Skill Focus:Ride], Two Weapon Fighting
04 barbar2 [Uncanny Dodge][Reckless Abandon], DEX>20
05 fightr2 Boon Companion, Indomitable Mount
06 samura2 (all samurai from here on)

Thanks for the input Schneider :)

20 point buy was correct by the way.
I seem to have missed something though. What is an "agile" weapon? As far as I can see from skimming through the build, won't the halfling have a -3 dmg to all his strikes?
Looked through d20pfsrd.com here at work, but can't find any meantion of agile weapons at first glance.

Hi there!
A little background: We're playing a fast progression halfling party, where basically one of the party members follows a kick-ass guide and outshines everyone else. Cool that we have someone who can take care of all the baddies solo, but this offers everyone else a lesser chance to shine.
Basically halfling bladebound magus with shocking grasp and scimitar (dervish dance) at level 3 dishes out a possible 1d4+7 dmg (scimitar) + 1d4+7 (scimitar) + 3d6 shocking grasp damage per round, where everything threatens crit on 18-20. Of course, this levels out just a bit as he can only do this for 3 rounds/day, but our style of play has us in only 1-2 combats per day at the moment anyway.
In comparison the halfling barbarian w/greatsword does 1d10+9 dmg when raging and power attacking. The halfling bard does 1d6+2 with halfling sling staff and arcane strike, and something similar for the halfling gunslinger and rogue.

What I'm after is having a possible alternate character more or less ready for if I should die at some point. The barbarian is already dead and is to be replaced with a druid.

So anyone got any bright ideas for a low level'ish (4-8) halfling martial character that can potentially compete with said magus? (Yes I know spellcasters in general kick ass with non-dmg dealing spells, but I'd like a martial character).

Much obliged
Cilveran

Haha, best thread ever :D

Since when do strong, powerful women obey the wishes of her husband?

Hey, she's basically a genie right? Just rub her the right way :P

Honestly though, who'd want wishes from an evil genie anyway, the outcome of wishes are already erratic enough...

divineshadow wrote:

I'm the dm and I tried to suggest it but she vaildly pointed out if she uses a ninja like weapon the monks unarmed att bonuses are useless and she wants the ninja ghost step stuff along with some of the other class abilties

There is no class like that.

divineshadow wrote:

also she bought the book right before we converted over and wants to use

So use it.

As I recall, the class was a little underpowered in 3.5. So maybe upgrade their HP to the next larger die, tweak the Class Skills (3.5 had Hide and Move Silently instead of Stealth, etc.) but let them keep the same skill points per level, and then maybe review the class abilities a bit to see if they might need an upgrade. Use the monk, rogue, and shadowdancer classes in Pathfinder as examples of how the same classes were upgraded, and apply similar reasoning to the ninja.

divineshadow wrote:

I feel bad about her investing money in something I told her if she got she could use and then telling her she can't its going back on my word so now I have to find something that I can do to make it fit

So, if you told her she could use it, and she invested her cash, why not just let her use it? Even if there were perfect ninja classes in some Pathfinder book, or 3rd party book, using those classes won't let her use the book she already owns, right?

So let her use her book. Tweak the class to be "Pathfinderized", and everyone wins.

+1

There have been very very few historical examples of spikes at shields, as these usually make no sense at all - they only trap the full force of a strike and cause a great strain on your shield arm or even rip your shield off your arm...

Besides, it seems ridiculous to say that only because a "Scabbard of Sharpening" increases the threat range of a blade, sharpening a shield should have the same effect.

+1!

Shields are supposed to be used to deflect the incoming blow at an angle and down to the ground where possible. Spikes would only trap the force of the blow.
So it follows when I designed my "spiked" shield graphically I added a punching dagger'ish blade at the fist and elbow end of the light shield ;)
Still not very realistic perhaps, but I like the idea and can live with it =)

I admit I just skimmed over this, so I might have missed something, but am I right in surmising there's nothing stopping a Battle Dancer from taking 1 level fighter and dance away in full plate?
Is there a "can only dance while unarmored/wearing light/medium armor" etc, or is she supposed to be able to dance in full plate? 'Cause a magical full plate+2 usually trumps ie "+2AC +Cha"

yeti1069 wrote:

Is there any way around the -4 penalty on to-hit for the main hand when also shield bashing? That seems like an overly steep penalty for something that is both costly and somewhat underwhelming offensively, particularly given the cost (2-4 feats).

It´s easy. Go with a light shield instead of heavy and you´ll only get -2 on your main hand :P

Really, I do see where you´re coming from (as it is ridiculous that it´s supposedly easier hitting with the off hand shield than your main hand sword/axe), but negating all twf penalties for both hands would simply be incredibly overpowered seeing as how you´re already wielding a 2d6 dmg weapon (heavy spiked shield w/bashing) in your off-hand and probably a d8/d10 dmg weapon in your main hand, while getting free bull rushes with every shield hit and full AC from the shield...

Alternately, you could ask your DM to houserule that it is your main hand weapon that gets the "negate twf penalties" instead of your shield. It would be more logical, and would actually possibly nerf the feat chain somewhat...

Is there any way around the -4 penalty on to-hit for the main hand when also shield bashing? That seems like an overly steep penalty for something that is both costly and somewhat underwhelming offensively, particularly given the cost (2-4 feats).

It´s easy. Go with a light shield instead of heavy and you´ll only get -2 on your main hand :P

Really, I do see where you´re coming from (as it is ridiculous that it´s supposedly easier hitting with the off hand shield than your main hand sword/axe), but negating all twf penalties for both hands would simply be incredibly overpowered seeing as how you´re already wielding a 2d6 dmg weapon (heavy spiked shield w/bashing) in your off-hand and probably a d8/d10 dmg weapon in your main hand, while getting free bull rushes with every shield hit and full AC from the shield...

Hehe, I realize it's a little messy, but I'll try clear up what I just tried to say:

Three statements:

1: In its current form the meteor hammer is overpowered no matter how you look at it, allowing you to use a 1d10 (19-20/x2) as an off-hand doubleweapon, plus giving you the option of going reach, trip, +1AC.
Almost no other weapon is worth using in comparison atm.

2: In their current form, most exotic weapons are underpowered, and so not worth the feat, but for the flavor I often use one no matter what.

3: What they should do is nerf the meteor hammer down to 1d8 (19-20/x2) dmg, and increase the stats of some of the other exotic weapons as well (such as give the double flail 19-20/x2 crit).

4: If they want to be consistent and don't want to better the other Exotic weapons, they should also remove the crit range of meteor hammer to try balance it out even more.

Cilveran wrote:

Tecton wrote:

That is an awesome weapon.

Correction: "That is an overpowered weapon"

Compare it to two-bladed sword which has d8/d8 (19-20/x2)
So purely dmg wise it already outclasses the two-bladed sword, and then add to it the ability to have reach, trip, and +1AC as a free action...

So it's an exotic weapon that's actually worthwhile :p

Remember, they pay a feat to use this.

Yeah, you pay a feat for this, but you also pay a feat for all other exotic weapons, like for example the Bastard Sword.

Tbh though, most exotic weapons aren't really worth the feat, like ie the double flail. Give the poor weapon a 19-20/x2 crit and I'd take it...

That is an awesome weapon.

Correction: "That is an overpowered weapon"

Compare it to two-bladed sword which has d8/d8 (19-20/x2)
So purely dmg wise it already outclasses the two-bladed sword, and then add to it the ability to have reach, trip, and +1AC as a free action...

What are the stats for the Combat-Trained dog of the Adventurer's Armory?

The AA states it is a medium combat trined dog. That I translate to riding dog, except you cannot ride it.

I would guess you maybe treat it just like you do a combat-trained horse (warhorse), which adds the "improved" template (I think that was its name) and adds +4 to the physical stats I believe...

Thanks for the input guys!
So I see there is no consensus here at the moment at least. Personally I´d say it´s a charge stoppage, and maybe let the charger get his standard action depending on how far he´s already moved in his charge action.
However it´ll be up to my DM to give the final verdict on that one when we get there in a couple of levels, unless someone has a darn good argument for whatever viewpoint, or I get the official word on this...
Also, the AoO happens as he is leaving the square, but before he arrives in the next one, so he gets pushed from 10ft to 15 ft before the attack happens. I´m pretty certain that is the RAW.

Hi!
A fighter with sword and shield and shield slam gets affected by the enlarge person spell. He now has 10 ft reach and is able to do an AoO against a charging enemy.
Say I hit him with a shield slam and successfully bullrushes him with my shield slam, making him back up from 10ft to 15ft in his charge action, would this break the charge? Would it simply add +5ft to the charge range?
What´s happened is his entire momentum is gone, he´s gone from running full speed ahead to being knocked back on his heels and actually going backwards.
I don´t think the rules state anything specific in this scenario, but what is your opinion and is this covered somewhere in the rule book?

Hey!
That armor is awesome! =)
It specifically reads "This bright silver or gold"... Nowhere does it say mithral in the text, and even if it did I would then rule it be treated as the mithral elven chainmail.
It also said "It is considered light armor" which is strait forward enough in my mind :)

Wear it with good conscience!
(I do see how the rules are disambiguous here, but seeing how it's called "celestial", and is of way better basic quality than the elven chain, not to mention magic...)

A point on the charge/-2AC thingie.
If I were the DM myself I think I would rule that the brace attack would get the benefit of the -2AC attack because of the reckless charge, then he gets his charge attack bonus round.
The next round when it becomes the bracer's turn again I would rule against getting the bonus seeing as how the charge started kind of "before" his turn, and they've both spent 1 round fighting each other with the bonuses/penalties that were meant to be applied for that round only.
The RAW might support the strictest interpretation, but sometimes you have to know when to give your DM a "win" and not argue rules trying to knock him over the head with the rulebook in hand ;)

Thanks for the input everyone! =)

Tactics-wise I have made the character a bit more versatile than the impression I gave in the first post. For exactly the situations mentioned above(ranged weapon fighting, defensive actions, not charging etc), I also have a tower shield and an heirloom bastard sword strapped to my back (From the heirloom weapon trait http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/equipment-traits/heirloom-weapon ). Apart from that I carry 2x shortspears (melee/throw 20ft) tucked inside the bedroll across my lower back =)
(And my mule carries the shortbow for adventures where I feel I might need it, as well as a handaxe for camping trips ;P )
I've never tried the neither tower shield, brace action, endurance/die hard before, so I thought to try some new stuff this time around =)

On the psych101 (Yeah I read it, I'm a fan of long posts as long as the author is a sensible enough fellow ;) )
You are 100% correct. We've been playing as a group for 11 years now ourselves actually, and meta'ing and trust is a dangerous trap to fall into. Not to mention that this is the first time this buddy of mine is doing the DM'ing.
The thought that he'll try different stuff to counter my tactic has of course struck me. I'm actually pretty sure it will happen (which not exactly helps the trust issue =P ), but I'm gonna try it out anyway. Besides, using this same tactic over and over will get frightfully boring after a while.
The plan is to go tripper after the 4th lvl ability increase anyway ;)

Hi!
We're a group new to the pathfinder rules, though we've played a lot of 3.5 a while back, and some of us tried 4e recently.
Anyway, we're starting our first session of Pathfinder tomorrow, and I've prepared a fighter for the occasion.
What I'm wondering is if my intended tactic is a viable one?

To cut it a bit short, I've created a fighter with a longspear and combat reflexes (+endurance & die hard).

We are 3 characters, and I intend to stay up front with one of my party on either side.
I then do a ready action with brace against a character charging any of us 3. Let's say orcs come from the front. The first one charges the cleric to my left.
I then take my ready action, I'm allowed a 5ft step according to the rules, so I step in front of the cleric and ready the brace action.
I attack the charging orc with double dmg at 10ft reach. After that, he no longer has clear line of sight/movement to the cleric, so he'd have to either cut the charge short, og charge me instead, right? The next 5ft of movement would also provoke an AoO from me, which I've understood to be at normal damage.

Have I got this right? I just want to validate this tactic before we start our session ;)

Also, when using a "ready" attack against a charging character, he gets the -2AC against the attack(s) right (for charging)?
Thereafter, I act again before his next round, so he is strictly still in "charge mode" and still has -2AC?
If I was DM I don't know if I'd allow that last attack bonus tbh, but according to the rule set?

Appreciate it if I get some response to this question :) Can't wait to play again, it's been a while! :D

-Cilveran-