Craig Mercer's page

Goblin Squad Member. Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber. Organized Play Member. 140 posts (2,133 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 3 Organized Play characters. 5 aliases.


Grand Lodge

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Male Urban Ranger 4 (AC 21 w/extract 17 {t12,f15}; HP 35/36; Fort: 6, Ref: 7, Will: 3 ; Init: +2; Percep: +8 {+9 vs traps})

"Ja, Johann, I have your extract," Gunther answers. "But it looked like such a little fight, you know..."


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Understood, James and Mike.
But since it was done once before, I felt like asking if it could be done again. I understand that it takes time and lots of effort to do such, and the effort is no different between print or web-based.
It's just that sometimes print page numbers can cut out worthy material (as in the Lady's Light) that can see the light of day as a Web Enhancement.
I understand that that is not always the case, and not everything cut is worthy of the additional effort to bring it to light.
But I hope there is no harm in asking, even if the answer is no.

And Mike's short description of the encounters should be enough that I could insert them if I wanted to. Thank for the bits of ideas, Mike.


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If it could be arranged (as has been done before in the past), can we get these cut encounters of Mike Shel's in an on-line document?


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Reecy wrote:


It does not affect Flanking Feinting or any other Effect that would create the Flat Footed effect. You can be sneak attacked and forced Flat Footed...

Flanking does NOT cause flat-footedness! It gives a bonus to hit and allows for Sneak Attack damage.

Feint does NOT cause flat-footedness! It removes a target's Dex bonus (if any), which is one of the conditions needed to use Sneak Attack.
Neither of these conditions forces flat-footedness.

Going through all the rules for Invisibility, you find that it does the same thing as Stealth, with a bonus to Stealth.
And since Uncanny Dodge means that the character does not lose their Dex bonus to Invisibility, then the character does not lose their Dex bonus to the lesser effect of plain Stealth.


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kyrt-ryder wrote:

*Chokes* you think the Fighter is supreme in combat compared to Barbarians?

You and I must be playing entirely different games Craig. In the Pathfinder I'm familiar with, Paladins vs Evil > Barbarians > Paladins vs Nonevil = Rangers > Fighters

And in the Pathfinder that I'm familiar with, those extra bonus Feats keep the fighter just ahead of the barbarian. And rangers only get in the door when they get their Favored Enemy.

And let's not forget all those feats that are marked Fighter Only.


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kyrt-ryder wrote:


Fights on ships in the sea where you have to go into the water to prevent the ship from being sunk.

Fights on the side of a cliff, while being assailed by Giant Eagles and the archers on their backs?

So on the basis of two encounters that are not the most common (unless your campaign is in one of those enviroments), you claim the Fighter needs these skills maximized.

Unfortunately for your logic, that means EVERY class needs those skills optimised!

Climbing: You can hold on to what you are climbing at the basic climb DC you were climbing at. Which means climging on that rope is only a DC 5, and clinging on a climbable cliff face is only a DC 10 (any more than that, and people will wonder why you are there in the first place, aren't your skill people supposed to set ropes for you? Isn't this a group adventure and not a solo adventure?).

Swiming: DC 10 in calm water, DC 15 in rough water, any more and you aren't fighting either.

And, by the way, on a cliff face you really can't perform decent combat. Your arcanist should be putting fly or the like on you so you can fight without restrictions. If he isn't, he's the one wasting party resources!
And the same goes for that water fight; if your party isn't doing something to help you in the water, (water breathing, freedom of action), they are wasting your potential to fight.

You know, that is why you have a party, and not a solo adventurer.


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Darkon wrote:
I feel that EVERYONE should be getting one or two more skill points per level if they are playing a PC class, Fighters with their meager 2 skill points per level, or even 4 if you are human and spending your favored class bonus on skills still need 2 more to cover the skills that the fighter should have (Climb, Intimidate, Perception, Ride, Swim, Survival) without touching the background and craft skills, which a character should have regardless of class.

Even though both climb and swim only need a certain level to do basic climbing and not drown, you claim you need enough to be better than the Rogue (because you should have a better Str). Really? Once a Fighter can climb a knotted rope, (DC 5), what more climbing does he need? Isn't it one of the Rogue's (or Ranger's) job to scale the cliff and set a rope for you?

Oh, and lets' horn in on the Ranger, who should be the survival guy, and make the vanilla Fighter just as good.

And speaking of Rangers:

Darkon wrote:


Ranger: Fighters but with one or two more knowledge skills, and 4 more skill points per level, it seems about right to me.

So you think that Rangers have enough skill points, but totally ignore the fact that you claim fighters need as many as Rangers normally get? I call BS!

Looking at this, I find that people are complaining because they can't make a Fighter who has the optimized stats to fight and still have a bunch of skills. It's called making a choice, best at fighting, or good at skills (and still better at fighting than most of the other classes).
Your 6 skills that you list I find that two only need a few levels in, one you are just picking up for no good reason to make it a Fighter skill (want a high survival, play a Ranger), and 3 that you could almost make a case for (except my Dwarven Fighter refuses to take ride, he says he'd rather eat the animal).


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Atarlost wrote:

A "breakout rookie" should be as good as any level 1 character at all the noncombat skills he's used in his youth. Climb unless you live on monotonous plains with no large vegetation able to support your weight and no buildings. Swim if you're near a river, lake, or ocean. Acrobatics and escape artist almost certainly because that's how kids without computers play. Perception pretty much always. Bluff for almost everyone not raised by wolves who didn't put in their backstory that they're a horrible liar. For some backgrounds appraise and/or stealth. For most backgrounds some profession. If you're literate you should usually have some knowledges depending on the nature of your education and what books were available (raised in a church run orphanage probably means knowledge: religion while being educated as a wizard's apprentice means knowledge: arcana)

It makes absolutely no sense to get these background skills at level 2.

Wow! If only there was some way to get these skills at level 1 just to reflect that you have some exposure to them before 1st level. What would we call this? I know, background traits! You could get background traits to reflect some of the things you did as a child! What a brilliant idea! We should ask Pathfinder to put this in the game!

What's that? They already have? Well then what the heck is Alarlost complaing about then? There already is a way to get some skills before 1st level to reflect your childhood.


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@Lumiere Dawnbringer: Heh. If you want a rogue that does respectable damage, be a ranger instead. Still enough skill points to cover the stealth, disable device and perception skills, and you get the full BAB.

Which is the problem with the strength rogue. The full BAB guy doing power attack now has a BAB like the rogue without power attack. The rogue power attacking will miss more often.


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This reminds me of another game where we had a similar discussion about "Honor", and it gets answered the same way.
Alignment is an external system that defines what is good, evil, lawful, and chaotic, but is internally imposed by the character itself, comparing its actions and thoughts to this external system.

The concept of what is good and what is evil is universally imposed. You might be able to convince yourself that the sacrifice of children is good, but according to the overall alignment system, it is evil, and so are you despite any protests about you believing it to be good.

There is no overarching intellegence watching you to trick. There is only your characters thoughts and actions to compare to the alignment chart. And you can even move your alignment around by your own actions (or your GM can because you are obviously acting as a different alignment that you first said). There is no penalty for doing so (except in the case of classes that have alignment restrictions, but usually those are monitered by something or someone outside of you, comparing your actions to the alignment system, not the alignment system itself).

Which means, yes, you can erase all your memories and go from chaotic evil to lawfull good.
However, the gods (and items) do pay attention to alignment shifts, and your puny spells and the like to get you to forget your actions don't affect them. Commit evil as a paladin, and then erase your act from your mind? Your god still knows, and he's not going to forget just because you did. Do it with your holy sword in hand? It will remember it too.