Fatespinner's page

Minor, tiniest nitpick. If you TWF your weapon is treated as one-handed for your primary attacks (1xSTR) and light for your off-hand attacks (1/2xSTR)

Other than that (minor as it is) everything Fatespinner said is 100% correct.

Actually, ALL off-hand weapons deal 1/2xSTR modifier for damage, whether they are one-handed or light, unless you have the Double Slice feat.

But for the purposes of TWF penalties, the off-hand is considered light on a double weapon, yes. The attack bonuses I outlined in my example illustrate that fact (the TWF attacks are penalized -2/-2 instead of -4/-4).

If i power attack with a 2 handed weapon that is Double how does that work?

Do i get the bonus because its 2 handed or not?

I asked my group and they say no not if im attacking twice. Im asking for verification and to satisfy my curiosity. Though i do have faith in what my Group has said.

Im using a Double Orc Axe.

The awesome thing about double weapons is that, unless you're actually making multiple attacks via Two-Weapon Fighting with them, they're considered 2-handed weapons.

However, if you ARE making your multiple attacks, then the weapon is treated as two one-handed weapons just as if you were wielding separate weapons.

Now, you can CHOOSE to only fight with one end of the weapon and treat it as a two-handed weapon if you have iterative attacks. A character with a BAB of +6/+1 and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting can either make two attacks (+6/+1) and treat his weapon as a 2-hander, or he can make 4 attacks (+4/+4/-1/-1) and treat them as one-handed.

Can you use this spell or the Greater version to gain an evolution that is restricted based on Summoner level? I would rule no but wanted to check with the community.

No. The spell states that all the prerequisites must still be fulfilled before the evolution can be added via the spell. Since the spell does not in any way affect the summoner's level, then the answer is no.

Anyone know the final verdict on the Bashing enchantment? Does it not work on a Spiked Heavy Shield?

There's no reason it wouldn't work. 2d6 damage is hardly game-breaking.

W E Ray wrote:

Is it just me or have other people thought of Threads they wanted to start and then forgot what they were before getting a chance to play on the computer.

A couple months ago in one of our game sessions my buddy and I wrestled a discussion that was really dynamic and I mentioned it would be an awesome topic for the Lords of the Boards to deal with. Sure enough, the next day when I went to the Boards I had forgotten what we were talking about.

And last night as I was reading before bed I got a great idea for a Thread. Now here I am on the Boards and I can't for the life of me think of what it was.

SMURF IT ALL TO HELL

ayup

And this right here is a perfect example of why you should keep a netbook grafted to your arm at all times.

EDIT: F%!%ing sweet! I got Smurfette!

Does feint work against undead? He's got a good bluff and a long stick.

And the view is better for Belanos if Erfan is behind him, using that long spear. Heh, heh. Behind

Sure, but in the long run, a SORCERER relying on MELEE WEAPONS is not going to be a practical solution. :)

Fatespinner wrote:

Celestial Healer wrote:

Those ghouls were too easy. I'm still feeling out what this party can do. I think I did fail to take into account the fact that you levelled and you have an extra fighter.

Yes, but being undead, you gained a fighter and lost a sorcerer. Currently, there's nothing Erfan can do to undead aside from poking them with a stick and using his laughing touch ability... which would require getting into melee.

It might behoove Erfan to pick up a few tricks that work on undead. After all, this is Ravenloft :)

Oh I was planning on it. My options are just rather limited at this level.

Those ghouls were too easy. I'm still feeling out what this party can do. I think I did fail to take into account the fact that you levelled and you have an extra fighter.

Yes, but being undead, you gained a fighter and lost a sorcerer. Currently, there's nothing Erfan can do to undead aside from poking them with a stick and using his laughing touch ability... which would require getting into melee.

Talking about a crazy apocalyptic preacher who picked my wedding day for the rapture is one thing.

You should see if he'll be your officiant. I bet he'll do it for free since the money won't do him any good after 6pm anyway, right?

Fatespinner wrote:

I generally target the biggest, meatiest threat on the battlefield (the one most likely to have a lousy Reflex save too, incidentally) and take him out of the fight. Then we clean up everything else, surround the hampster ball, and ready attacks for when I dispel the sphere. :D

Interesting, as a DM I will occasionally use it trap PC's inside and do the same thing. :-)

Most PCs have ready access to dispel magic while such is not necessarily the case with monsters/NPCs. But it is a valid tactic, certainly! :D

Bump and dot because I can't take the suspense!

It's still good for building up inside the sphere though (which you can do).

Summon the archons, have them buff themselves as you summon more, have the old ones buff the new ones, cast haste the round after (perferably quickened) as you drop the bubble and let the archons tear things up.

Yes, so long as you have ample space inside the sphere, you can summon other creatures inside with you. The sphere is 1 foot in DIAMETER per caster level, though, so at caster level 10 there's only room enough for 3 other medium creatures inside with you. At caster level 15, you can get 8 (or 2 Large ones) and at caster level 20, you can get 15.

And when the water has been breathed up, do you think the bucket would be empty? Or would it just be full of unbreathable water?

When the water has been breathed up, the bucket will be full of the exhaled carbon dioxide, just as if the person were breathing air. This would also mean that, when they exhale through the reed, they'll be blowing bubbles in the bucket. Doesn't mean much mechanically, but might be an interesting thing to point out story-wise (and might also make stealth a little more difficult).

Continued amusement at the fact that his thread is still used for debugging purposes years after it was created.

Thanks for the backup. I was sure I read the RAW corectly(I am a rules lawyer afterall)

fatespinner, You can do alot of stuff from inside ORS, In case of undead a protected mage with a lantern that has the spell Celestial Brilliance(Book of Exhaulted Deeds) can be a very handy force. His lantern hurts them and he can't touched.

If your in eberron the crack nastyness gets much worse with the spell dimensional leap. You hop out, cast or retrieve fallen party member or use a charge from some healing item like a belt and then leap back in. This was a favorite tactic of mine when I played a member of house Orien.

With some imagination ORS is one of the most versitile spells around.

You're forgetting the crucial difference between line of sight and line of effect.

Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a spell can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It's like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it's not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.

You must have a clear line of effect to any target that you cast a spell on or to any space in which you wish to create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any spell you cast.

A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation spell affects only an area, creature, or object to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst's center point, a cone-shaped burst's starting point, a cylinder's circle, or an emanation's point of origin).

An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a spell's line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a spell's line of effect.

The resilient sphere does not block line of SIGHT but it does block line of EFFECT, which means a caster inside the sphere cannot target any space outside the sphere for the purposes of spell effects of any kind.

1) How much breathable oxygen does 1 gallon of water hold?

2) How does oxygen normally replenish into water?

Well, this is one of those scenarios in which it's probably best to not get overly nitpicky about the specifics in favor of allowing a player's ingenius plan to overcome an obstacle.

A gallon of water does not hold very much breathable oxygen. Plenty for a small fish, certainly, but not much for a human being. However, this is magic we're talking about here and the spell says it "allows creatures to breathe water freely." It doesn't say it allows them to treat water as though it were air. It says they can now BREATHE WATER. So the oxygen content shouldn't matter. The tidal volume of a human breath (that is, the median amount inhaled during one breath) is about 0.5 litres. There are roughly 4 litres to a gallon, so that's about 8 breaths, enough for roughly 30 seconds of non-strenuous activity (5 rounds).

As for how oxygen normally replenishes in water, that would be the result of aquatic plants converting CO2 to O2 much like their land-based cousins do.

My big thing with ORS is when my the party faced a whole bunch of advanced incorprale undead (dread wraiths or something) we had no party cleric so undead were tough for us.

I cast ORS on myself and began summoning. We beat the encounter very handily much to our DM's surprise. I was the onlyone that didn't have death ward as a defense so he was sure I was going to lose levels but one ORS and I was fine and still contributed to the battle.

You technically can't do that, as resilient sphere specifies that spells can't pass through it... which means that a creature inside cannot summon creatures outside.

I generally target the biggest, meatiest threat on the battlefield (the one most likely to have a lousy Reflex save too, incidentally) and take him out of the fight. Then we clean up everything else, surround the hampster ball, and ready attacks for when I dispel the sphere. :D

Ringtail wrote:

From Complete Mage for 3.5 (same book which had a "rod of many wands" or some such) there is an item that allows you to apply metamagic feats to wands. I think it is called a Metamagic Wand Grip (or wandgrip, might have been one word). I don't recall whether or not you can use Quicken Spell with it, nor how much it costs, and I unfortunately don't have any books on me.

I checked out the wand grip ( same books as the rod ) unfortunatley it requires you to have the feat. This is a problem since I am playing a UMD Warlock.

Quicken Spell has no prerequisites, so your warlock could take and use it just fine. Hell, a fighter could take it. Wouldn't do him any good, but he could take it.

Kalyth wrote:

Good questions. FAQ?

I was hoping some of the bigger posters would have been able to clarify this easily, but to the FAQ it goes. Good idea.

If by "bigger posters" you mean game developers, sorry to disappoint, but if you want to consider my opinion, well...

Once per spell means once per spell. Magic missile applies the bonus damage to a single missile. Flaming sphere applies its bonus damage to the first target it damages. Fireball applies the bonus to everything struck in the area of effect. Chain lightning applies the bonus damage to the initial target, not the secondaries. Etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

It's a tad feat-heavy, but maybe with a 2-level dip into Fighter, she can leverage that higher Dexterity into a two-weapon fighter and explore the Shield Slam feat chain.

Improved Shield Bash
Two-Weapon Fighting
>Shield Slam
>>Shield Master
>>>Bashing Finish

Augment with Improved Bull Rush (for the +2 bonus) and the Strength Surge rage power for some truly horrific "shove-people-around" style. The Knockback rage power also counts as a bull rush and can be substituted for any normal melee attack (including an attack of opportunity). It doesn't require you to move as part of the bull rush, so it's great for blasting enemies off the side of a cliff or building!

If I had $1,000,000:

1.) Pay off ALL of my outstanding debt = ~$14,000
2.) Buy, in cash, a modest but spacious house in the local suburbs = ~$250,000
3.) Buy, in cash, my dream car (BMW 550i) = ~$65,000
4.) Invest the remainder @ 5% interest (or better if I can find it) = $671,000 = $33,500/yr. in interest
5.) Continue working my current job.
6.) Live the good life.

Fatespinner wrote:

Celestial Healer wrote:

Oh man, I can't wait for the first time Erfan has to go to a court ball or something.

He's not incapable of wearing clothing, especially if doing so will make his interactions with others easier and less hostile. As it stands, though, he currently sees no need.

In that case, it could be fun enough just to see how he "cleans up". I'd like to see the party's reaction the first time he puts on fine clothing...

I might just take disguise self and simply PRETEND to wear clothing. :P

Oh man, I can't wait for the first time Erfan has to go to a court ball or something.

He's not incapable of wearing clothing, especially if doing so will make his interactions with others easier and less hostile. As it stands, though, he currently sees no need.

So Shamash, Klik, and Ojal seem done. How are the others doing?

My 4E books are currently packed up and we're doing the last bit of moving this weekend. I'm hoping to unbox everything and be set up by the middle of next week. If you want to go ahead and start the game without me and just have my guy show up a little later, that's perfectly understandable.

I'm going to go with the Elemental Priest theme.

Could you use "Use magic device" to emulate the class feature of Arcane Apothesis, supply the spell slots you have as a bard and NOT burn the charge on the staff?

No. The "emulate a class feature" aspect of UMD simply allows you to "trick" the item into believing you HAVE such a feature, it does not actually allow you to USE said feature. For example, say that an item says "characters with the smite evil ability treat this weapon's enhancement bonus as +2 higher than normal." You can use UMD to "pretend" you have smite evil and thus coax the extra +2 out, but you could not actually declare a smite target and get all the bonuses that go along with it.

Fatespinner once again first in for the level up!

Hit points: 1d10

What can I say? I like levels!

Elemental Priest, Primal Guardian, and Wasteland Nomad all sound viable to me. What're all the perks associated with those?

The hydra is one creature. Therefore it is one save, no matter which spell it is.

I've heard this before from several people, and I would like some insight- how was Vampire racist exactly? I could see a few insensitive(or perhaps trying-too-hard-overly-sensitive stuff) in terms of Werewolf the Apocalypse fare, but I wasn't into Vampire too much, so perhaps I missed it.

I can't recall any specifics, but several of the clans are very ethnically narrow. Specifically, the Assamites and Ravnos. These groups (associated with Arabs and Gypsies respectively) were openly stereotyped and didn't pull any punches about it. All Assamites were religiously fanatical murderers who hated Westerners and all Ravnos were lying, cheating, vagabond charlatans. While that stereotype continued to hold true into Revised, it was nowhere near as pronounced.

Hey guys, long time lurker first time poster here. In a campaign where our characters have been mutated. My character has four arms now. Just wondering how the BAB would work and what kind of penalties and just overall what I would be looking out.

not to sure if there's a legit rule to it. The character is a lvl 9 fighter elf.

Fighting with multiple arms is just like fighting with two weapons normally, except you use Multiweapon Fighting in place of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

Multiweapon Fighting (Combat)

This multi-armed creature is skilled at making attacks with multiple weapons.

Prerequisites: Dex 13, three or more hands.

Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by –2 with the primary hand and by –6 with off hands.

Normal: A creature without this feat takes a –6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a –10 penalty on attacks made with all of its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.) See Two-Weapon Fighting in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook.

Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms.

Note the bolded section for emphasis. Your BAB is not affected simply because you have more arms.

I am more concerned with what the fortitude save represents, what does clunky the fighter do when he makes his fortitude save, I sometimes have a really hard time imagening what a succesful fortitude save represents.

With implosion? Imagine it as an invisible hand trying to crush him. He flexes every muscle in his body, veins pop out in his forehead, and he holds out against the force long enough to survive.

With destruction I suspect it's more like a burning sensation coming from within that the character has to swallow hard and focus on in order to keep it from bursting forth, kinda like how you would resist the urge to vomit when ill. Except failure in this case means 'burst into white flames and die' instead of 'puke on the carpet.'

Perhaps thematically they should work, but you can always change the flavor and fluff of a spell to make it stay functionally the same though appear different. For example, though the remains are consumed in "holy fire" in Destruction, it has only the [Death], nothing about fire since it doesn't actually deal fire damage. A DM could just as easily say it causes the creature to dry up and become skeletal and turn to dust by magically aging them centuries.

Mechanically a lot of staple Fortitude save or die spells need to not affect Undead as they have a poor Fortitude saves and no Constitution score meaning that they would most assuredly fail. This means intelligent undead that are supposed to pose a credible threat such as vampires and liches suddenly are a lot easier to kill.

I can agree with you somewhat on the point regarding destruction as it is specifically a [Death] effect. Implosion, however, is not and it performs its function by crushing the target of the spell, something that should have no consideration for the living/unliving status of its victim nor the composition of its being. Particularly as a 9th-level spell, I think implosion should bypass this restriction.

Good point.

Is there some reason these spells shouldn't work on objects? changing that aspect seems like a more elegant solution than shoehorning in a line about specifically ignoring undead immunity. Unless there's some abusive loophole or other reason I'm missing.

Well, destruction specifically states that it leaves the possessions and equipment behind, so that would suggest that this "divine power" is specifically only functional against a creature.

Implosion, on the other hand, I think would work on objects in principle, but assigning rules to govern it would be a little clunky. If you implode a section of rock wall, what happens? Do you get a diamond? How many cubic feet can you implode per round? Remember that implosion's duration is more than "instantaneous," and thus you could implode a great many things outside of combat with it.

Bump just in case someone is interested. These are still available.

The second part of that sentence is important,

and receive a +20 competence bonus on
Perception checks to locate the target.

This is seperate from them being invisible and counts towards the target at all times, no matter what.

Yes. That's what I said.

Scrogz wrote:

Haste does the most damage of any spell in the book.

Save or die > any amount of damage

There are precious few "save or die" spells left, however. Most of them are now "save or take enormous truckloads of damage," usually to the tune of 10 x caster level.

Haste does the most damage of any spell in the book.

Depends on your party composition. If your party consists of 3 wizards and a bard... probably not. :)

So, once you cast it on someone you gain a +20 on perception checks against them, period. Is this right?

Yes, that is correct. This spell grants a +20 bonus on Perception checks against the target. Whether the target is invisible, stealthed, or standing in the middle of an open field in broad daylight, you get +20 on Perception checks to spot him.

It does state, however, that hunter's eye does not provide the ability to ignore the concealment from darkness. So, unless your character has darkvision, a creature in darkness still benefits from the miss chance awarded to him by the lighting conditions.

Haste is one of those spells that, like heroes' feast, is more-or-less assumed to be constantly active when determining the CR of various monsters and encounters once the levels reach the point at which these spells are readily accessible.

Yes, you'll see haste getting cast pretty much every fight. When your players get to level 13+, you'll see heroes' feast come out every morning too. Without these powerful buffs, the challenge level of many monsters will be much, MUCH higher than their CR would otherwise indicate. The designers ASSUME that you are going to have access to these kinds of spells and will use them often, if not always.

Another thread in this forum prompted a bit of thinking on my part about the specifics of the undead type and it's relationship with a couple of well-known "killer" spells, both of which happen to be cleric spells to boot.

Undead Traits (Ex) Undead are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, phantasms, and patterns), paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). Undead are not subject to ability drain, energy drain, or nonlethal damage. Undead are immune to damage or penalties to their physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects. Undead are not at risk of death from massive damage.

Note the section of the above that I have highlighted in italics. This fact is common knowledge. Undead are immune to spells like finger of death, cloudkill, and the like because, well, they aren't alive. Disintegrate, on the other hand, can vaporize creature and brick wall alike, so it gets a pass on account of the fact that undead are still things and things can be disintegrated.

However, there are a couple of spells that require Fortitude saves that are not useable on objects but, by all logical reasoning, SHOULD very well be useable against undead. Namely, destruction and implosion.

Destruction

School necromancy [death]; Level cleric 7
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (holy or unholy symbol costing 500 gp)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature
Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Fortitude partial; Spell Resistance yes

This spell instantly delivers 10 points of damage per caster level. If the spell slays the target, it consumes the remains utterly in holy (or unholy) fire (but not its equipment or possessions). If the target's Fortitude saving throw succeeds, it instead takes 10d6 points of damage. The only way to restore life to a character who has failed to save against this spell (and was slain) is to use true resurrection, a carefully worded wish spell followed by resurrection, or miracle.

This spell openly claims that it obliterates the target with holy (or unholy) fire! If given a list of things that I want to use to battle undead, I'm pretty sure that "holy fire" would be #1 on that list! This spell, however, is both a "death" effect AND a spell that requires a Fortitude save and isn't useable on objects... thus undead are immune.

Implosion

School evocation; Level cleric 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one corporeal creature/round
Duration concentration (up to 1 round per 2 levels)
Saving Throw Fortitude negates; Spell Resistance yes

This spell causes a destructive resonance in a corporeal creature's body. Each round you concentrate (including the first), you can cause one creature to collapse in on itself, inflicting 10 points of damage per caster level. If you break concentration, the spell immediately ends, though any implosions that have already happened remain in effect. You can target a particular creature only once with each casting of the spell. Implosion has no effect on creatures in gaseous form or on incorporeal creatures.

This spell is an evocation, thus it manipulates or creates energy which, in this case, is used to crush a target in on itself. It requires a Fortitude save and is not useable on objects, thus undead are immune. Why? Why are undead immune to being crushed? If you drop rocks on them, they take damage. If you hit them with a greatclub they take damage. Why is this any different?

Yes, I know that "game rules are not necessarily logical" and that "this is a fantasy game, it's magic, that's just how it is." But in this case... seriously? Undead can't be crushed? I think an extra line needs to be added to state that these spells can specifically ignore the usual undead immunity or, at the very least, implosion should get that treatment since it's an evocation and not a death effect. It's also a 9th-level spell, though destruction is 7th-level and no slouch either.

Am I correct that undead are immune to the destruction spell?

Yes, undead are immune to destruction because it does not also work on objects.

It's a cool idea. Personally, I think you should add magic aura to the construction requirements and have the dice register as nonmagical to casual inspection (such as detect magic). Obviously, magic capable of seeing through magic aura will also beat this ruse, but it prevents the dice from being exposed by a simple at-will cantrip.

I use them for BattleTech and Dark Heresy, but stick to squares with D&D/Pathfinder. They're especially useful for more modern/sci-fi games like Dark Heresy where grenades are being tossed about and "angle of fire" matters.

I'm going to need to borrow someone's access to the character generator for this. I don't know what any of this stuff is:

Rules in Use

Alternative Rewards
Backgrounds
Inherent Bonuses
Themes
Wild Talents (random rolled by player)

I'll roll 1d10(?) for my Wild Talent, though, and you can tell me what it is: 1d10 ⇒ 1

In a Forgotten Realms campaign I ran many years ago, one of the major antagonists (a priestess of Auril, the goddess of winter) possessed a minor artifact that was being used to seal a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire located in the volcano near the city of Neverwinter, effectively removing Neverwinter's heat source and causing it to finally experience the cold climate that the outlying areas were subjected to. The PCs had to enter the volcanic caverns, battle their way to the portal chamber, and defeat the priestess/destroy the artifact before it was too late.

Heart of Winter

Aura strong evocation; CL 20th
Slot none; Weight 1 lb.

Description

The heart of winter is an incredibly clear crystal approximately 6 inches in length that is devastatingly cold to the touch. Creatures who touch the heart suffer 6d6 points of cold damage and 1d6 points of Dexterity drain per round so long as they remain in contact with it. Additionally, creatures who suffer 6 or more points of Dexterity drain from this effect lose the use of the limb in contact with the heart as the extremity is utterly frozen, becoming brittle and glass-like. Creatures who fully resist or are immune to the cold damage do not suffer the Dexterity drain. The heart radiates such intense cold that outsiders of the fire subtype are subject to a dismissal effect each round they remain within 20 feet of the artifact. Even if they successfully save against this effect, they suffer 2d6 cold damage. The heart of winter can also be used to close planar portals to the Elemental Plane of Fire within 20 feet simply by being in proximity. For every ten minutes the heart remains within 20 feet of such a portal, the artifact makes a dispel check against the portal as though it were a targeted mage's disjunction. The heart gains a cumulative +2 bonus on this check for every ten minutes after the first, meaning that, inevitably, the heart will succeed so long as it remains undisturbed.

Destruction

The heart of winter can be destroyed by hurling it into the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Yeah, it's been great so far. I can't wait to get a couple levels under our belts so that we can mix up our routines a bit. Erfan seems to be doing quite well with that spear, though!

So, as I'm poking around online I see that there's apparently an "Elemental" Shaman archetype in the Dark Sun book that may be useful to me? Also, where can I find a list of the wild talents and what they do? I can already tell that not having the Dark Sun books is going to be a serious complication...

If they are running between Monday and Thursday that'd be great.

Oooh. I missed that part. Yeah, they play on Friday nights. Sorry bud.