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I see no reason to disallow getting the "higher ground" bonus from jumping. For one thing, the DC of a standing high jump to get 5' off the ground is 40, which, while it is certainly possible is a lot of work to put into getting a +1 bonus to hit.

I also find the argument that the use of the phrase "on higher ground" in the rulebook implies the need for a character to be specifically ON something, possibly the ground, to be overly semantic. The game does not typically use it's own terminology quite that specifically, and attempts to interpret it without this understanding lead to Trouble.


Sounds like you need yourselves a magic item. A spell-in-a-can, or just a wand, of faerie fire or glitterdust would probably work wonders for you. Otherwise, you CAN make perception checks to determine to location of an invisible creature, they are just very hard. If your rogue has good enough perception, he or she might be able to pull it off, and then the rest of your group would at least know what square to attack, even if they would still suffer a miss chance.


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

As far as I can tell, the relevant rules:

1:

PRD wrote:
Ending Your Movement: You can't end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless.
2:
PRD wrote:
Very Small Creature: A Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creature can move into or through an occupied square. The creature provokes attacks of opportunity when doing so.
3:
PRD wrote:

Square Occupied by Creature Three Sizes Larger or Smaller: Any creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories larger than itself.

A big creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories smaller than it is. Creatures moving through squares occupied by other creatures provoke attacks of opportunity from those creatures.

We also know that a creature of Tiny size or smaller must move into the space of another creature in order to attack, as it has natural reach of 0ft.

While neither 2 or 3 specifically says it is an exception to 1, it is probably safe to say that at least 2 has to be, or else it would be impossible to be scratched by a cat. Can the same be said for 3? It lacks the word "into", which would imply that it only allows a halfling (small) to move through the cloud giant's (huge) space as long as he goes all the way through and doesn't end his move in the giant's space. However, this gets a bit weird if both halfling and giant are under the effect of reduce person. Now, even though their relative is unchanged, it would seem that the halfling (now tiny) CAN end his move in the space of the giant (now large). That doesn't make sense to me.

So, how exactly does this work?

Is there already an FAQ or errata about this? Have any of you encountered this in your games?


I'm a big fan of Iron Kingdoms (from Privateer Press) for d20 steampunk stuff. The setting is richly detailed, gritty, and has just enough horror thrown in. The setting has its own core books detailing replacement races and classes, magical-technology crafting rules, and a similar amount of geography/history/politics/culture information to the Inner Sea World Guide, as well as a monster book with many setting-perfect original (or from mythology) monsters and some nice touches like silhouette size-comparisons to a human for each monster. It also has the biggest, baddest dragons ever. None of this CR 8 dragon stuff in IK; the lowest CR dragon in there is CR 33.


In Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe (Book I of the Book of the New Sun), there is a scene in which people duel with stiff, spiky, and highly poisonous flowers. Just saying. Oh, and you should definitely read that series; it's fantastic.


It's not nice to pick on fighters.


Ashiel wrote:
I'm pretty much on board with everyone else who is with the belief thing. It creates a world with "if you believe then it is real". A stone mountain in your plane would only be 80% as hard if you disbelieved it, for example. Food might have 80% the strength of its flavor, nutrients, and so forth. When you disbelieve it you can visibly tell that things aren't entirely real. Yet the thing about it is, it doesn't much matter. 80% real should be more than enough to function.

And since this is basically the way that the Plane of Shadow is described (things are a pale imitation of the Material, and so on), that makes perfect sense.


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Lumiere Dawnbringer wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:
Lumiere Dawnbringer wrote:
beej67 wrote:

Fall on your sword.

It's the only way out.

Actually, the other way out is to make a deal with a Dark God and become an Antipaladin. They're cooler than Paladins anyway, and you wouldn't lose any class levels.

and don't forget the standard issue twin scimitars. a must have item for any drow.
That requires Ranger levels, and ranks in Angst.
Drizz't was originally a fighter, and back in the day, when he was created, paladin and ranger were subclasses of fighter. if we go by that, a twin scimitar paladin is just as valid as a twin scimitar ranger.

Even when he was stated up in 3.0 for Forgotten Realms he was Fighter 10/ Barbarian 1/Ranger 5. Why yes, I do remember bizarre things, thank you for asking.

I may be one of the few people that unapologetically likes Drizzt (he's one of the characters that makes fighters really cool to me, yes I know he has ranger levels but that's not the point), but it's true that any attempt to emulate him with a PC is doomed to horrible, embarrassing failure. /tangent

In the interest of actually contributing to this thread, I'll echo those that say that most of your problem seems to be the other players at your table, who have singled you out for disrespectful treatment because of your gender. Unless you have some other attachment to these people, I recommend looking for a different group. Many gaming groups do not treat female gamers this way, and everyone deserves to game with a group that treats them with respect. I know looking for a group is kind of a pain in the rear, but you will be much happier in the long run with a group that is awesome instead of mean. Of course, if you change groups, you'll probably need a new character regardless. In the meantime, the suggestion of sitting down with the DM and working out what that paladin code exactly does and does not mean for your character is a good one. I also highly recommend getting a phylactary of faithfulness as soon as your resources allow if you are at all concerned about your paladin making a misstep with his/her code. The phylactary of faithfulness is a magic item that will give you warning when you are about to violate your code. That might at least mitigate the danger of "Surprise, you lost class abilities!", and give you license to ask your DM point-blank if an action you're considering would be a violation.


That much damage is also overkill most of the time. I recently realized that there is almost no need to do 2d6+9 damage at level 1. A goblin (for example) has only 4 hp, so even 1d4+3 damage will do the job.


JMD031 wrote:
I know Airships are rare in Golarion and I could potentially put one anywhere I choose, but I was wondering where a party of adventurers might "find one" if they were looking for one.

IANJJ, but two things come to mind:

- a quasi-functional piece of Shory technology, discovered in the ruins of one of their cities, could be (or be converted into) an airship of some kind.

- you could find one build by gnomes, anywhere there are large numbers of gnomes. Brastlewark in Cheliax or Whistledown in Varisia come to mind, but Gogpodda in the Steaming Sea seems like a particularly awesome/likely place to find such a thing.


As usual, Ashiel provides the most thought and articulate opinions on all things pathfinder.

This thread has definitely been food for thought. I don't think I agree with the argument that RD seems to be making, but it has forced me to think a bit about how my character perceives what happens in combat and how he makes decisions on what to do.


Are there profiles of the various iconic characters somewhere? The other day I was thinking it might be fun to play an AP in which each player played one of the iconics, so some official starting point for what they're each like would be useful. For this purpose, I'm much more interested in their personality and backstory than any info that might exist about their feat and spell selection, or whatever.


Vgr wrote:
dave.gillam wrote:
If you know this guy cheats, and has for 20 years, why are you trusting him?

I was trusting him until he started making blatant mistakes. So now I'm not trusting him again, but I want to trust everyone because it's a major headache when I can't.

Like I said, he's a great guy outside of the cheating thing and one of my best friends. Dam, now I feel like a wife trying to change her husband. lol.

I've considered kicking him and our friendship would still be fine, but spare time is hard to come by these days, any time I can spend with my friends is valued. Hopefully some of you can relate.

Talking to him is going to be awkward, but I guess it has to be done. He gets defensive about stuff like this.

I can definitely relate, but as someone very wise (and busy) once told me: it's not about *having* time, it's about *making* time. You'll probably have to give up time you usually spend on something else in order to have that time to spend with your friend. You might have to decide what it's worth to you to maintain that friendship. Personally, if you decide not to invite him to your game in the future, I suggest making plans for some other regular activity together, such as going out for a beer on the first Friday of every month, or something similar.

You can't change your friend, but you can choose which parts of your life to include him in.


I have some friends who I like and are normally fun to be around, but who I find insufferable at the gaming table. We don't play in the same RPG group anymore, and like each other much better. It sounds as though this may be the necessary solution in your situation. If he chooses not to stop cheating, let him know that you want to maintain your friendship, but that you feel that your gaming styles have become to different to remain fun. If he isn't willing to maintain the friendship unless you allow him to cheat at your gaming table, then he is a huge jerk who is really no friend of yours. That would suck, and I'm sorry if that happens, but hopefully your 20 years of friendship will mean more to him than that. Best of luck.


The new campaign will be an AP that I'm reluctant to name because I'm paranoid about accidental spoilers, but it is supposed to be very much "classic D&D".

I should also have probably mentioned that the character I've played from 1-15 in the Jade Regent game that my group is just finishing is an archer bard, and while I do love bards, I don't think I want to play another one just yet.


My group is nearing the end an AP, and looking forward to starting the next one. I've been kicking around roughly a thousand character ideas, but I'd love to hear what creative things you all might have to share.

For this campaign, only CRB races and classes are allowed, minus paladin and plus cavalier. Feats, archetypes, spells, prestige classes, and so on are allowed from the CRB, APG, UM, UC, ARG, Inner Sea World Guide, and possibly Paths of Prestige. The group so far looks like it will be:

- cleric of Gozreh going for Storm Kindler PrC
- conjurer wizard specializing in making magic items
- crossbow fighter
- cavalier
- whatever I end up playing

I'm hoping for a character that will have something to contribute both in and out of combat, and who will ideally have some options when it comes to fighting. Hit me with your best ideas!


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This thread is awesome, dotting. I am also curious about the rest of your party make up, Cheapy.


Magical buffs from other players or from items would be one way: heroism (the duration of this can make it last for quite a few encounters at your level, especially if cast with a metamagic rod, lesser extend), haste, prayer, an inspire courage bardic performance, greater invisibility, and blink (although some people hate this spell because it can cause you to miss, I personally am a fan of it; it does a lot) all come to mind off the top of my head.

Debuffing the AC of enemies is another option. There are really an uncountable number of ways to do this, depending on your group composition.


For starters, there's no reason that I know of that you can't jump as part of any charge -- just make an acrobatics check. Trip is a combat maneuver that can be attempted "in place of a melee attack", so any time you're making a melee attack (such as at the end of a charge) you can attempt to trip instead. The upshot is that you don't need any feats or other abilities at all to attempt this, although it's probably not advisable without at least ranks in acrobatics and the improved trip feat.


I could see it being fun with some kind of half-orc rogue or ninja with a greataxe and spring attack+vital strike. I agree that I can't think of anything super powerful you could do with the combo, but there would be some fun shticks for sure.


This will obviously vary from DM to DM, but remember that while dragons are generally smart and employ good tactics (although white dragons really aren't that smart) they are also as a rule INCREDIBLY arrogant. This means that they can often be goaded into tactically unsound situations because they are likely to assume that humanoids can't possibly pose a serious threat to their mighty selves. This obviously only matters if your DM is playing monsters true to their descriptions. If your group struggles with a "DM vs. players" mentality, it could be a different story. Also, make knowledge (arcana) checks to see what you know about white dragons. I can only assume that your bard has some ability in that skill, and learning about the dragon would be a perfect use of his loremaster ability.

All that being said, my strategy would be to figure out what ranged attacks, especially fire ones (produce flame is a good suggestion), you can scrounge up and then just focus on keeping your archer buffed and alive if the dragon decides to just strafe you with his breath weapon. Archery does a great deal of damage, and the dragon really won't last all that long trading attacks like that; you should be able keep up with a breath weapon every 1d4 rounds, especially if you don't clump up. IMO, the real danger from dragons is their full attack. They have a lot of attacks, high strength, and so on, and there is a very real danger of a character being dropped from full HP by an appropriate-CR dragon's full attack, so be prepared for the dragon to land and start attacking.


A tetori monk gains the grab special attack with his unarmed strikes at 8th level, which would allow him to charge, and if he hits, start a grapple right away. If this is a character you're already playing, then taking 8 levels in something else just for this probably isn't practical. But since you asked, I thought I'd point it out.


In my group, all treasure is recorded during the session, and if we get something that someone really wants, they take it on the spot. Afterwards, all magic items, art objects, and total value of coin goes into a spreadsheet, which calculates a total value of treasure bases on the "sell" prices of magic items, and assigns each character a GP budget for treasure from that session based on whether they claimed anything during the session, as well as their wealth relative to recommended WBL and WBL+1 (since all treasure is done through the spreadsheet, it can calculate based on exactly how much treasure each character has gotten throughout the campaign). Players can then claim any other items from the spreadsheet, which deducts the "sell" value of these from their treasure budget. This encourages using the magic items we actually find, as opposed to buying new ones, since one "buys" items from the loot pool at the price we could sell them for, which is half the price of buying them new. Once everyone is finished claiming items, any remaining ones are sold (once we return to a large enough city), and each character then gets any GP worth of treasure budget that they didn't "spend" on claiming items as their share of the cash. This system allows us to not only keep the treasure levels of each character very close, but to keep very close to WBL expectations as well. It is also handy (or maybe just interesting) to have an exact record of who got what treasure and coin when.

We tend to roleplay claiming treasure when people take items we find on the spot for immediate use, or if we just find something interesting even if no one wants it right away, but for much of the misc treasure we end up selling, that gets glossed over a bit. For us, though, there is not much roleplaying value in discussing the fact that we got a 14th masterwork longsword to stash in the portable hole until we find ourselves back in a city.


I've been messing around with a build for a character where I was trying to come up with a workable way to both be a ranged rogue and use a heavy crossbow, both non-optimal choices. I decided to be a dwarf as well, just because. This is what I came up with:

Rogue (sniper, scout archetypes)

Ability Scores (20pts) -
Str:14
Dex:16
Con:14
Int:10
Wis:15
Cha:8

Feats and Rogue Talents -
F1: rapid reload (heavy crossbow)
Rt2: combat trick (point-blank shot)
F3: precise shot
Rt4: minor magic (acid splash)
F5: quick draw
Rt6: major magic (enlarge person)
F7: shadow strike
Rt8: surprise attack
F9: vital strike
ARt10: dispelling strike
F11: improved initiative
ARt12: sniper's eye
F13: steel soul
ARt14: hide in plain sight
F15: improved vital strike

So obviously, this build won't win any DPR competitions, and I'm sure it's not perfect even for what it is, but it should be fun to play and able to contribute to whatever the group is doing.

A brief overview on how I envision this being played: The idea is to get a vital strike ranged sneak attack as often as possible. The equipment you choose will be very important in trying to accomplish this. Use smokesticks to gain concealment when you otherwise wouldn't be able to. To the extent that you're able to choose tailored magic items (this varies from GM to GM), focus on boosting your to-hit, and your stealth check. I would also recommend investing in a handful of various +1 bane bolts; this build's much lower rate of fire compared to other ranged characters means that you really won't use these at a prohibitive rate, and they can boost your to-hit until your weapon is +3, as well as adding extra damage. At higher levels, different magic bolts can be used the same way. This build also has the ability to switch to melee when needed, via the scout's ability to get sneak attack on a charge (and later, after simply moving 10 ft). A dwarf can quick draw a battleaxe, and charge in for sneak attack. Vital strike also works just as well in melee as at ranged. I know a lot of people don't like the minor and major magic rogue talents, which is understandable. I do like them for this build, however. Acid splash provides a no save, no SR, no DR touch attack to be used with sneak attack, while enlarge person is useful with vital strike for those times when you just can't get a sneak attack (large heavy crossbow vital strike is 4d8+bonuses), or when you go into melee.


Lingering performance is also very useful in conjunction with the various "finale" bard spells from the APG.


I was starting to look at the crunch for a character concept I had, and ran across something that seemed unclear.

Specifically, how does the sensei's Mystic Wisdom ability work in conjuntion with the non-standard ki powers granted by the qinggong archetype?

PRD wrote:

Mystic Wisdom (Su): At 6th level, a sensei may use his advice ability when spending points from his ki pool to activate a class ability (using the normal actions required for each) in order to have that ability affect one ally within 30 feet rather than the sensei himself. At 12th level, a sensei may affect all allies within 30 feet rather than himself (spending points from his ki pool only once, not once for each target).

At 12th level, a sensei may instead spend 1 point from his ki pool (as a swift action) while using advice to provide a single ally within 30 feet with evasion, fast movement, high jump, purity of body, or slow fall. At 18th level, a sensei may spend 2 points to grant one of the abilities listed above to all allies within 30 feet, or diamond body, diamond soul, or improved evasion to a single ally within 30 feet. These abilities function at the sensei's level and last 1 round. This ability replaces the bonus feats at 6th, 12th, and 18th level.

Bolded significant portion. Obviously, there are some ki powers that a common sense test shows don't work with this ability. You can't affect each ally within 30ft with scorching ray. But, can you affect all allies within 30ft with remove disease at 12th level? What about using Mystic Wisdom to affect an ally with barkskin at 6th level? The "self only" on the barkskin ki power obviously prevents it from being used normally on an ally, but Mystic Wisdom is specifically designed to let you affect allies with monk abilities that typically only work for the monk. My reading of the rules is that you can do both of these things. It seems powerful because some of these things are unusual things to be able to do, so I've been looking for something that contradicts me, but so far I haven't found anything. Does anyone have any insight they can share on this?


James Jacobs wrote:
Ingenwulf wrote:

Hello James, long time listener, first time caller:

Could a Magi use a shield as his weapon to deliver spells? (Given shield proficiency and no weapon in his other hand). Also would it havd to count as an off-hand weapon?

Will there be an AP based on the "Mountains of Maddness", or will I have to write it myself?

Finally...a red one or a blue one? Which will go fastest?

First off... Magi is the plural; magus is singular. Sorry... couldn't hold back the editor genes there! :P

I suppose that since you can use shields as weapons, a magus could do the same... but it's kind of weird and "off-model." It's like a sniper attacking with brass knuckles, or a samurai attacking with a warhammer, or Thor wielding a tommygun instead of his hammer. It's weird looking to me.

The closest we've come yet to a Mountains of Madness element in an adventure path is part three of Jade Regent in Pathfinder AP #51. We have no plans yet to do an entire AP based on Mountains of Madness, but if you're interested in that plot, I STRONGLY reccomend you pick up (if you don't have it already) Chaosium's epic adventure "Beyond the Mountains of Madness." It's one of the best adventures written ever for ANY RPG system.

Usually red.

There is an archetype for shield-magi in Ultimate Combat, called Skirnir.


James Jacobs wrote:
Danny Kessler wrote:
What are the names and locations of the 10 dwarven Sky Citadels, and which ones are still in dwarven hands?
We haven't revealed all of that information yet.

Fair enough. Are there names, locations, or other info about any of the Sky Citadels besides Janderhoff, Highhelm, and Urgir (pardon my spelling) that have been revealed?


What are the names and locations of the 10 dwarven Sky Citadels, and which ones are still in dwarven hands?


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I played in a game recently where another PC, a multiclass paladin, befriended an aurochs using speak with animals after we found it wounded in the snow. After he healed it, it became is faithful friend. Later, he had awaken cast on it when he took leadership and it became his cohort and mount, taking levels in ranger and paladin, and eventually became instrumental in our eventual victory over the BBEG. The point? None, really, except that having someone say, "The aurochs activates Smite Evil.", at your game table is pretty awesome.


Gauss wrote:

Fulmir: Blink is not supposed to be Incorporeal. It is supposed to be insubstantial. Of course, Im still waiting on the errata for that. Until then the effects of the incorporeal rules (unfortunately) apply and make Blink a very confusing spell.

- Gauss

IANJJ, but since I love blink, I can't help responding to this.

Actually, blink makes you ETHEREAL, which means among other things that you are incorporeal. The confusing part is that you're not just incorporeal, you're also on another plane. This is why ghost touch weapons, for example, don't interact with the spell at all, why a blinking character doesn't take half damage from magic weapons even when the spell causes an attack to miss, and so on.


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stringburka wrote:
Yes, there is a noise.

For teleport, my thoughts exactly :)

Nightcrawler's "BAMF" is much more appropriate for dimension door, in my opinion.


You cannot get precision damage, such as sneak attack, on a bomb attack normally. A critical hit with a bomb multiplies the first d6 of damage, as well as the bonus damage from INT, point-blank shot, and so on. For example, if a 10th level alchemist with 20 INT and point-blank shot gets a critical hit with a bomb, it deals 6d6+12 damage. That being said, you can use a conductive ranged weapon (APG 286) to use sneak attack or similar abilities in conjunction with a bomb attack.


Where does a creature summoned with summon nature's ally come from? Elsewhere in the world? The First World? Obviously an elemental creature comes from the appropriate elemental plane, but what about a summoned giant, rhino, or fey creature?


James Jacobs wrote:

Seeing an illusion isn't interacting unless it's something like an illusion of a creature with a gaze attack.

For the most part, interaction means contact or something of the like. For a low level spell like ghost sound, which is only about sound and nothing else, hearing is interaction, but otherwise you have to physically interact with the illusion to get the chance to disbelieve it.

Obvious exceptions would be an illusory harpy song, or an illusory ghast stench. That's interaction as well.

Basically... as soon as you have to roll a d20 roll, be it an attack roll to hit, or a save to resist, or once the illusion "hits" you... you're interacting.

It's something that, to a certain extent, the GM needs to adjudicate each and every time as it comes up.

To piggyback on this: how do figments and interaction, uh... interact with spellcraft checks to identify a spell as it is being cast? Suppose I'm fighting an evil wizard and his gnoll minions. I cast major image to create a figment of a big ogre riding a giant boar and wielding a morningstar made of thunderbolts. The wizard easily makes a spellcraft check to determine that I just cast an illusion. Does this count as interaction? Does he even have to save at all? What if he shouts, "It's just an illusion!", do the gnolls count as having interacted with it? Can they likewise bypass a save?


In the AP my group is playing now (level 13), our GM routinely just outright triples or quadruples the HP of any monster or NPC that's supposed to be a challenge because if she doesn't, the battle is over in less than 3 rounds. I haven't played at this high a level since early days of 3.0 D&D, so I have no idea if this is a common problem, this thread makes it sound like it is.


How similar is the alchemist's extract-brewing to normal spellcasting? Specifically:

1) Does he have a caster level?

2) Can he benefit from a feat like Arcane Strike?

3) Can he activate spell-trigger or spell-completion magic items?

4) Can he select and benefit from metamagic feats? What about metamagic rods?

I was the first person in my group to play an alchemist, and at the time my interpretation was "no" to all of these; extract brewing was not similar to spellcasting. Since then, however, I've read some things that have made me question that interpretation. What is your take?


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Characters don't think of alignment the way players do ("I'm Lawful Neutral."). At the same time, good, evil, and so on are not relative concepts or dependent on perspective the way they are in the real world. In the game world these concepts are empirical and can be measured via magic such as detect chaos/evil/good/law. Note, however, that creatures with 4 or fewer HD (almost everybody) won't register to these spells unless they're a cleric or paladin. It is possible that a hero (or villain) of sufficient level could have their alignment "tested" with magic so they would know, but it still wouldn't be the same thought process about it that players use. A character might determine that they're inclined towards virtue and the greater good, or that they have no evil in their heart and are a free spirit, but they wouldn't use the technical terminology that we do as players. Also, learning stuff like this would really be stuff you already knew about yourself usually. It'd be like going to a fortune teller and having then tell you things like, "you're a free spirit", only it would actually be true as opposed to being just what they think you want to hear.


Since dispel magic has a target of "one spellcaster, creature, or object", if the wizard targeted the altar he would affect only the altar, regardless of the presence of a vampire. If the vampire were totally within the altar, he wouldn't have line of sight to target the vampire. However, greater dispel magic, used in the "area dispel" mode, would affect the vampire.


No, you cannot make any attack roll while affected by gaseous form.

PFSRD wrote:

The subject and all its gear become insubstantial, misty, and translucent. Its material armor (including natural armor) becomes worthless, though its size, Dexterity, deflection bonuses, and armor bonuses from force effects still apply. The subject gains DR 10/magic and becomes immune to poison, sneak attacks, and critical hits. It can't attack or cast spells with verbal, somatic, material, or focus components while in gaseous form. This does not rule out the use of certain spells that the subject may have prepared using the feats Silent Spell, Still Spell, and Eschew Materials. The subject also loses supernatural abilities while in gaseous form. If it has a touch spell ready to use, that spell is discharged harmlessly when the gaseous form spell takes effect.

A gaseous creature can't run, but it can fly at a speed of 10 feet and automatically succeeds on all Fly skill checks. It can pass through small holes or narrow openings, even mere cracks, with all it was wearing or holding in its hands, as long as the spell persists. The creature is subject to the effects of wind, and it can't enter water or other liquid. It also can't manipulate objects or activate items, even those carried along with its gaseous form. Continuously active items remain active, though in some cases their effects may be moot.

Relevant portion bolded. Unfortunately, the things you can do when you're a fine mist are quite limited.


Do you play The Game?


I just re-read the section about extracts in the alchemist's class abilities, and it's not at all clear to me that drinking an extract provokes AoOs in the first place. In fact, my group and I had always assumed that it did not provoke. Was this clarified at some point, or am I missing something obvious from the rules?


What sunbeam said. He'll get a boost to combat power from this, but he won't be welcome in any towns or settlements, and he won't be welcome in big cities either unless they are so cosmopolitan that they're accustomed to monstrous visitors. These places probably won't ask too many questions before they start to ply him with pointy objects. Sure, he can take these guards blindfolded, but then what? If he kills a bunch of guards he's "the monster that attacked Riverton" and the local authorities are likely to seek more powerful help in dispatching him, perhaps hiring a group of deadly adventurers...

In short, this may be rules-legal, but it has way too many downsides for all but the most single-minded munchkins, once they've thought it through. I mean, where will he be able to spend his GOLD?


I can't believe no one has mentioned anything with constrict. In my group it seems like we've had more PC deaths and near PC deaths due to that ability than every other cause combined.


LazarX wrote:
You add your con bonus for every level, but subtract one hit point every Tuesday.

Only because Tuesdays are the days a cat bites you.


I've had an idea floating around for something I may play in my next game for a gnome fighter/shadowdancer. Using a reach weapon like a glaive makes sense with this build since you need combat reflexes anyway to qualify for shadowdancer. I'd only take 4 levels of the PrC -- enough to get the shadow companion, which scales with you BAB and HP but NOT your PrC level, as well as the shadow conjuration SLA. Being a gnome obviously makes you take a hit in the strength department, but it comes with a few advantages for this build. The boost to charisma and the illusion DC boost both help the save DCs of the shadowdancer SLAs. The stealth bonus for being small will help get that stealth bonus over 20 in full plate by level 11 (when you get to move your full speed in heavy armor) which combined with hide in plain sight, well... I'm sure you can think of some uses. Taking 4 levels of shadowdancer loses you 1 BAB and 2 feats, but gains you some things useful for fighters, including evasion, darkvision, uncanny dodge, a rogue talent, flank buddy, and a short-range teleport, not to mention 2 useful SLAs and a handful of nice things as class skills. As a fighter you can qualify for the PrC while also getting basic damage-dealing feats: power attack, weapon focus, and weapon specialization. After that you're pretty well set-up to go for spring attack, lunge, or any number of other things.

Mechanics of the build aside, what isn't fey-scary and cool about an uncomfortably stealthy armored gnome popping out of the shadows with a huge glaive?


Lochmonster wrote:

Sorry, I know I'm coming in late to this discussion but what is "backwards" as it relates to Pathfinder?

I thought there was no "facing" on the battle mats. Has this changed? If no, please define "backward" as it relates to the Jet ability.

Does backward really mean "away from foes"?

I'd guess that "backwards" is really just fluff in this case, meant to help players and DMs who aren't familiar with the real-life ability of a squid to visualize what is happening. You're right that PFRPG doesn't really have facing rules, except in some specific cases such as flying creatures with low maneuverability.


proftobe wrote:
technically cap is using a template that gave him scads of attribute buffs or that just capped him at "human max" for all physical attributes around 20-26 depending on that attribute. If you were using 3.5 I'd place it at about half dragon level. I dont own the ARG so I dont know if that would help.

This is getting a bit off topic, so I'll let it be after this post, but to really make Capt. America using 3.X/PFRPG rules, I would give him a high level in fighter (brawler) to account for his skills and the paragon template from the 3.0 Epic Level Handbook to represent the effect of the serum/superpowers, which gives him a huge bump in base stats as well as a variety of other stuff, including -- IIRC -- social bonuses with his base race (human, obviously). The paragon template also adds a bunch of racial HD and adds +10 CR, putting him solidly in the high echelons of superhero power.


The brawler fighter archetype is perfect for Capt. America IMO, since it gives substantial bonuses on attacks an maneuvers with "close" weapons -- such as shield bashes and unarmed strikes, and generally covers his fighting style pretty well. His character style? Well, that's all in the roleplaying. This is what I would use if I were trying to make a similar character.


Jiggy wrote:
It almost happened, and developer Sean K Reynolds is in favor of it, but it got shot down.

Sad. Not official, then, but solidly in: "ask GM for reasonable houserule" territory. Good to have the facts; thanks!

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