Ice Titan's page

ATTENTION!! I'm going to take this thread over and run an old AD&D campaign I have - modified for Pathfinder - for this group. Previous posters have first right of refusal... I plan on choosing the party and starting Sunday nite. Let me know if you are still interested in this =)

Should probably make a new post altogether; this thread is already linked to Ordinary GM's campaign, so you won't be able to link it to a discussion or gameplay or campaign info tab.

I'm literally just the worst PC ever. Years and years of running games has cemented in me a disability to play a character for the sake of playing a character. I can easily make jokes and conversation, but when it comes time to pushing my character's agenda, I just don't know how. If the answer isn't right in front of me I can't deduce it out or take it. I'm extremely, extremely reactionary.

I also can't make PCs who have character growth potential. I make fantastic characters for single-interaction potential who have a limited story, but I can never pursue it as a goal because I'm crippled by my indecision.

Trying to get over it by playing a lot of PBP games though.

To put it in perspective for how much I GM, I've run close to 800-850 hours of games in the last year and played for 40-50.

Does a Barbarians Fast Movement and a Metal Oracle's Dance of the Blades mystery stack? They both appear to be untyped.

Yep.

To be a little more helpful, all untyped bonuses stack.

Working up a barbarian for this game. Should be done shortly and I'll post up the alias...

A simpler suggestion than "go twice every turn" is to give them Hero Points from the APG-- or, give them to yourself so you can use them on whoever you want. Use them to interrupt the PC actions with a standard action, give yourself a spell back, take +8 to a roll, re-roll failed checks, all that kind of thing, and it will work better than taking two full turns every round.

Will also make summoning-focused BBEGs far less powerful!

Since Brother Silas went with making a rogue who's a priest, I'm considering making a priestess who's a rogue.

A tavern wench who worships the God of Luck. Considered to be a 'good luck charm' for the farmers and other types in the area, especially for their card games. They'd never know that she can skew the outcome of a game by praying for it. She's the oldest, wisest and close to the prettiest of the wenches at the tavern and they look up to her like a sister. Of course, she's not always been a tavern girl-- years ago, in a larger town, she was a thief. Moving here and changing her name to get the guards off of her tail did well-- so well, in fact, that she's just decided to live this life instead.

Profession (innkeeper) and +2 to Diplomacy and Bluff. Trait for disable device. Luck and Trickery domains.

Hopefully I start with a holy symbol of some kind. Don't really want to be stuck without one. Yeah, domains!

I'm looking like... Str 8 Dex 12 Con 10 Int 13 Wis 14 Cha 14.

I'll work out an alias for funzies.

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I'll quote a post I did on this topic in another thread:

That's what I was thinking too. The map of the world is based off of old European maps of America that are like "Yeah it's about ten miles wide :)" and it's actually a very large landmass. That's Arcadia.

The paragraph on Arcadia opens up with talk of "insidious whirlpools" and "ravenous sea monsters."

To get to Arcadia, they'd have to pass through Azlant, which is described has prominently featuring "moldering wreckage[s] of countless ships dashed upon sheer cliffs".

Then sailors would have to sail back after they dropped them off.

I do not think they will want to travel for something like 6 months to turn around and just go back.

The PCs would also want 3 boats in case one is damaged permanently. No one in their right mind would rent a boat to someone who is going to take it to somewhere extremely dangerous that people are famous for not coming back from. The PCs could steal one, I guess.

So, 3 longships is 30,000gp.

Right now, let's just assume the journey will take, at minimum, 8 months. There and back.

Next, they're traveling through some of the most dangerous territory on earth. They're going to want crewmen and guards, clerics, spellcasters. For the crew, that's easy. 450sp a day, or 45gp a day. 8 months of journey means it'll cost around 11,000gp to just hire these people. But each of them want it in advance because they might not make it home. They all also want insurance for their family, so they demand 100gp up front. That's another 15,000gp just to pay off the mundane crew.

For guards, you need people trained to fight horrible beasts. So some real guards. Going by caravan prices, it'd be around 100gp to hire a hireling trained to fight (guard). So, 100gp a month is only 800gp. Score. But you need around 40 of them. 32,000gp.

You probably want 4 things: a guide, a cleric, a navigator, an arcane spellcaster. A guide is impossible-- this journey has never been made before. A cleric? Impossible-- you'd have to hire your own, so I hope your group has 3 clerics that are at least 5th level for Remove Disease. Arcane spellcasters are the same. I assume something like 3,000gp per caster is enough, so you are paying 18,000gp there. (If your PCs object, ask them how much they would ask for if they were asked to go on an adventure by a wealthy person where they will spend over a year sailing and likely die. If it's above 3,000gp, say they're getting a deal!) A navigator likely has an even more specialized skill set than an arcanist, so we'll assume each one is 3333gp.

So, you are paying:
15,000gp for insurance to hirelings
11,000gp for hiring hirelings
30,000gp for the ships
32,000gp for armed and trained guards
18,000gp for arcane and divine casters
10,000gp for navigator
= 116,000gp

So, that's 150 hirelings, 40 guards, 9 specialists, and 4 PCS for 203 people.

1sp per day for poor food makes it 20.3gp a day. 8 months is 240 days. 4872gp to buy food for these people for the entire trip.

And after outlining all of this, turn to the PCs and ask if they have between them a single rank in swim.

I did this math before Skulls and Shackles came out and declared a minimum crew requirement, but it's still over 100,000gp if the PCs plan on making it there and back.

150 feet tall, and 100 around... I don't think that's a spire. That sounds a lot like a rectangle.

List of Thorn Traits.

If you need the link, Alaric.

Danke-- and thank you for letting me take the bonus options. I took Stealth Synergy and I'm on the fence between Quiet as Death and Deception is a Tool. I put Quiet as Death down for now, though.

Finally: HP Rolls: 18 + 3d5 + 15 ⇒ 18 + (5, 4, 5) + 15 = 47 is my hp total.

Any news on the last person?

That archetype is so beyond amazing. I'm extremely tempted to take that and go dazzling display just for the Zod factor.

So, cornugon smash at 7th level, seems like...

As far as shadow dancer, wow, that's tempting... I'm thinking of taking the fiendish boon for a non-combat character, though. I'm thinking an advanced succubus so that I can have a) a person who finally understands me and b) dominate person for everyone else.

Thanks for the suggestions. The archetype I think I'm taking-- everything else, I'm considering heavily. The shadow dancer might even play into my conceptual backstory I'm putting down.

I see some overlap but I'm not sure how to not do that with an arcanist, a divine caster, two divine/arcane melee hybrids and a melee/ranged switch hitter. If I'm a caster, you have two. If I'm a meleeist, you have two. If I'm ranged, well...

Archery is the least interesting form of combat in the game with the highest benefit, which is the exact opposite of what I'd like to spend time writing long posts about. "I shoot him. I walk forward and shoot him. I spend time gloating then shoot him. I shoot him twice." I don't know-- that doesn't exactly say "a character who I could only play in this campaign" and doubly so I'd just play a ranger instead of an antipaladin. I don't need the AC bonus or saves when no one can target me; I get a stealth bonus from favored terrain, I get half-perma smite with +4-6 to good outsiders and +4-+6 to humans.

I was suggested a bard-- but we have two charisma casters in the party. A cleric-- two divine casters. I don't really want to play a sorcerer-- two arcanists.

I considered a ninja but that's another front-line character. And a ranged ninja/rogue would be really... I can think of a concept for a ninja that isn't Tian Xia/Asian themed-- a patron of Norgorber who was blessed by the Blackfingers with the ability to turn his body to wind-- but if I went that route, I'd be hucking shuriken from ten feet away while invisible.

As is, I can't pick a class without access to stealth as a class ability because I've been told I have to and also it seems I don't get access to free Stealth Synergy or the extra traits.

If it comes down to that, what do you think I should play? I was looking forward to the antipaladin but if I can't play it I don't know what I could play that you don't already have two of.

Hey, Ice Titan, glad to hear you're interested in our little band of misfits.

Ice Titan wrote:

(We'd have to find out what constitutes a good action though, and whether or not I can even function in society without running around kicking people who say hello and unprovoked throwing cats out of windows.)

We still talking about the character? :P

I sometimes mix reality with fantasy. In this case, the fantasy that I could ever do something good is mixed with the reality that I can't stop assaulting friendly people on the street.

We tend to do Silent as the Grave because the nights get pretty loud with the towers falling and the lamentations of the still living as they see our handiwork.

No monologues though-- just cross your arms and face away from the explosion(s) quietly.

Greetings!

Posting to say hi and to answer some questions about stealth and concept.

I'm considering playing an anti-paladin of the Prince of Law Asmodeus; I know I want a character who is beautiful and intelligent but also brutish and terrifying-- A physical manifestation of the doctrine of control that Asmodeus personifies.

(We'd have to find out what constitutes a good action though, and whether or not I can even function in society without running around kicking people who say hello and unprovoked throwing cats out of windows.)

As far as Stealth, considering taking the human alternate for multiple skill focuses, for Stealth, Intimidate and Diplomacy. So that puts me at 4+3+~(0 to 2)+3-~(3 to 6) Stealth out the gate. So between 7 and 6. And considering armor expert to make that 8 to 7. And then considering not wearing a cloak of resistance if I can get away with it, using a cloak of the elvenkind instead to make that a 13 to 10. And then a noncombat feat for first level might just be stealthy to make that 15 to 12. So, yeah-- guy in full plate is silent as the night.

1d8 for monk punch at 5?

16 or so strength? maybe 18 for +4

6d6 sneak attack because he runs in invisible and they're always flat-footed for sap master

+6 from knockout artist

+12 from sap adept

so 1d8+22+6d6.

1d8 + 22 + 6d6 ⇒ (4) + 22 + (4, 5, 6, 5, 1, 1) = 48

Sounds about right to me...

How does it go on undead and constructs?

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They do. All the time. Constantly.

You just never notice.

God Entity: Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket.

Bender: Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money.

God Entity: Yes, if you make it look like an electrical thing. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

I'll write up a martial artist monk, since I've been thinking of playing one for a bit.

4d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 1, 6) = 12 = 11
4d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 5) = 16 = 15
4d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 6, 4) = 17 = 15
4d6 ⇒ (2, 1, 5, 3) = 11 = 10
4d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 1, 3) = 13 = 12
4d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 2, 2) = 6 = 5

This is what I'm sticking with.

-Background: Where is he/she/it from? How has that place influenced them?
-Personality: Don't be a zombie! From the lowly thief to zealous activist, I'm looking for what kind of person your character'll be in the party.
-Alignment: To better put it, ethics and morals. Again, anything but EVIL is accepted.

Nicola Vlasko Grey

Nicola is a young Varisian man who carries himself with dignity despite his heavy reliance on a thick darkwood crutch. Covered over with tattoos and markings, his body looks like an errant wall on a city street, overlapping words and images forming a patchwork strangeness across his body-- the only clear image is a tatoo of a seven-pointed star on the back of his neck. A white-and-black ferret lays across his shoulders, tangled in his scarf; It's almost mistakable for an accessory until it yawns, bearing long fangs.

Class: Witch, Patron: Stars.
Str 11
Dex 5
Con 15
Int 18
Wis 10
Cha 12
Background: Nicola is from the Immortal Principality of Ustalav, the home of Tar Baphon the Whispering Tyrant. He came south to Nidal in a caravan and stayed to help the Whispered Song, a group of Desna worshippers who sought an end to oppression in Nidal.
When on a raid to free slaves from a lumber colony, he and several freed slaves were separated from the main group and escaped into a forest. There, the stars became overcast and they found themselves lost. Just before the sun rose, turned and confused about, they came upon a crossroads. One way would lead back to the camp, and the other would lead away-- but with the stars hidden, they had no way to know which was which. Nicola prayed to Desna for guidance at the crossroads and was offered a choice: freedom for the slaves and eternal binding for himself, or freedom for himself and eternal slavery for the slaves. He chose the former, and was struck by inspiration-- the clouds parted, sundering the darkness, revealing a single guiding star.
Following it, he led the slaves to the Whispered Song's hidden bolthole and to safety, but when the sun rose, his left leg stiffened, heavy. Sometimes he can feel a heavy manacle resting upon it, and his wrists are burdened by the weight of chains. Disabled by strange illness, could no longer help the freedom network, and left to set out on his own.
Nicola knows that he has sold his spirit to something strange and otherworldly. A minor talent with arcane magic, he find that it flows liberally from him now, unburdened by his lack of formal training. When the passed the crossroads a second time, he met his companion: a ferret, who he named Austus. He knows that it speaks to him. When the stars are out, the noble creature stares into his eyes, and he cannot help to think that it has been sent to guide him.
Personality: Nicola is a person who does what he says, honors his word and hates dishonesty. Helping people is second nature to him, and leaving someone behind is impossible. He views himself as a very experienced person and tries to give advice whenever he feels it's needed, which is more often than not. Nicola would rather die than compromise his morals, and his ordeal at the hands of some greater power has not changed this, but only cemented his stubborn viewpoint. Nicola humors, but does not respect everyone: he saves his loyalty for those who prove it first. As a Varisian, he is a storyteller, and loves overexaggerating anything he can twist into a parable or anecdote.
Alignment: LG. Nicola is lawful because he always keeps his word, respects order and the law and keeps to his own moral code. Nicola is good because he refuses to abide by cruelty and puts others above himself.

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I don't ever play 20 point buy. 13 points is just fine. And two of the characters he is traveling with are fighters - the lowest of the low on class tiers, so I don't feel bad for the guy with the strongest class having lower stats. The fact that he crammed his stats into INT for no good reason is his fault.

facepalm

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I'll consider writing up an oracle of some kind, maybe a life oracle? I've always wanted to try something like that.

As far as curses go, how do you feel about the Mute curse (from Pathfinder Adventure Path #49, Brinewall Legacy) and houseruling its advancements? I'll repost it here:

Mute (Ex)

[The oracle's] curse renders her mute—she can’t
speak, use verbal spell components, or use her captivating
song as a result. This same curse, though, grants her the
ability to cast all spells as if using the Silent Spell metamagic
feat without modifying that spell’s actual level. In addition,
[The oracle] can communicate telepathically with any creature she
is in physical contact with. She can also maintain a telepathic
bond with one specific creature at a time by taking a full-round
action to link her mind to that creature during telepathic
communication. [The oracle] can change the target of her telepathic link once per day.

I'm certain that character could diplomacize people using the touch-telepathy; the question is, do you think that I could diplomacize them into letting me touch them without it?

I think I'd flavor it like gestures and sign language-- I make them and people don't really understand, except for one person I'd just choose at the outset. The 'telepathy' I give him would just be them perfectly understanding what I'm trying to say all the time. For touch-telepathy, I'd just write in people's hands and on their backs and they'd just 'get' me.

Anyways, that's what I jumped to first as far as character ideas. I'll dot this and come back to think more later!

In my current game the PCs are making their way to Blackraven Hall so that they can join them. The PCs have already successfully thwarted a witch and saved a Blackraven patrol. When they arrive I figure that they will be put through a series of trials and tests to determine if they are fit to defend their land. According to the sourcebook on the land of the linorm kings the Blackravens will accept nearly anyone but I am still attempting to create challenges for the PCs to partake in...

Combine them all. The blackraven initiates, including some NPCs, all go in on a "patrol" down the border of Irrisen as their test. To be a Blackraven, the PCs must survive and impress the Blackravens travelling with them. Now it's more of a real trial by fire test with tension.

On the first day, it's survival-- they need to, with a vague map, get the patrol from point A to point B to point C to point D in the allotted time, which requires survival checks and stuff, if they get lost, minus points, that kind of thing. When they reach like point B, then a test. Each PC must shoot an arrow at an illusory target that one of the Blackravens uses magic to move or something, and during this, they tick off one of the NPCs with them. After, the Blackraven superior matches them up with an NPC each and they spar one-on-one in like a tournament bout with nonlethal damage or something, iron man style, no healing inbetween, that kind of thing. The NPC violates something about the Blackravens by cheating or being a jerk and this lets you teach the PCs a little more about the organization as a whole and maybe characterize some npcs. After, they rest, and you can characterize them more or even have the PCs deal with some cool stuff like maybe some non-evil fey that the Blackravens deal with in an even-handed and fair manner, showing that they're good guys. Maybe a Blackraven you want to be a bad guy is there, and he doesn't like that, so that shows he might be a bad guy, that kind of thing.

The next day they go to fight trolls at point C. They know where a troll warren is, where some troll interlopers from Irrisen have taken a rocky ice cave for themselves, and require that the PCs and NPCs (or just the PCs) clear out the warren. Inside is something that makes the plot move forward. What is it? Why is it valuable to the PCs, but why is it also valuable to the Black Ravens? Were the trolls guarding it, or did they have it nearby without realizing its worth? They head back to Blackraven Hall at point D to be inducted or dismissed after.

And on top of that, you now have the Blackraven superiors as established higher-level mentor characters, perhaps a Blackraven bad-guy to add in later, and a handful of NPCs the PCs might take a liking to or a rivalry with. Now the Blackravens have a bit more depth, too.

In Pathfinder, where money is credit towards improving your character, where there is a chart telling you how much money you will get per battle and where you feel you must gain gold to hardline meet a standard that is given as a very loose example or fall behind, of course you're loathe to give anything away to anyone for any reason-- give away that 1 gp and you're behind 1 gp from wealth by level for the rest of your career. Make sure to loot everything that's got a gp value. Tear down the draperie; sell it, it's worth 15gp. Let's take the couches, too, they're worth 4. Gotta meet our quota.

In every game I've ever played in, the person who runs the cohort gives him cash from his own funds. I don't see how that works in real life, but remember that Pathfinder is real life as much as a carousel is a horse race.

You use your bonus to perform instead of the bonus to Acrobatics in all cases. You can choose to roll Acrobatics instead if you like.

Anything that gives you a bonus to perform adds to your versatile perform. Anything that gives you a bonus to acrobatics adds to your acrobatics. This means that you use perform to jump, tumble, balance, etc. and can get +5 from the bracers of the entertainer, can get +3 from a circlet of persuasion, can take skill focus (perform) or prodigy to up your checks.

This also means that if you gain bonuses to acrobatics they do not apply to your check if you use perform. Vice versa with perform and acrobatics. If you get +20 to Perform (dance) and roll acrobatics, you don't get the +20; same with acrobatics and perform. So, if your movement speed goes up 30ft by, say, haste, you don't get +12 to jump checks if you use perform instead. That's the only complicated bit about it.

Dividing 'skill check' and 'skill bonus' into two categories is silly enough that you might as well divide 'hp' and 'hit points' into two columns.

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Just arcane bond with your unarmed strike and be done with it.

That's a solid 3rd party feat right there. Sorc that casts off of wis or int without having to take those bloodlines? Sounds great.

kyrt-ryder wrote:

Can you elaborate on how a defected Serpentfolk Alchemist would be a thematic issue that could derail the AP Kevin? (In spoilers for those who haven't played that campaign and don't want to be spoiled of course.)

Certainly

** spoiler omitted **

Your point is pretty moot because...

Is there a feat like Weapon Finesse, but for thrown weapons, that lets a character use their dex instead?

For damage? No.

To hit? You already use Dex for thrown weapons to hit.

This is why I dislike Hero Lab. The sneakability and unreliability of it.

I had a player whose character was a wizard in my Jade Regent game. During one of the first encounters he cast Ill Omen-- and I immediately noticed and said, "Isn't that a witch spell?" and we looked it up, confirmed. He told us that he just took it because it looked cool, guess he didn't see it, etcetera, picked by accident in HeroLab, he'd choose something else.

After the game, the players told me I was kind of gullible. In HeroLab, he has sorc/wiz spells available to him only. To see ill omen, he has to actually go to the witch spell list, click on it, agree that he's not a witch, find ill omen, agree that it's not a sorc/wiz spell and that he's houseruling... and then it adds it to his sheet.

The worst part is you just can't prove it wasn't HeroLab because, who knows? It could have been. It's an excellent scapegoat for rules f~+~ery.

Yeah. Still ain't a Wizard.

1d4 DC 14 burning hands has threat potential beyond all means, beyond all thought, beyond even existence

Beware 1d4+1 magic missile; it is the great harbinger of the end times

Can you not hear the voice of DC 14 grease? It speaks that the universe and human subconscious are willing their own end

Level 1 wizard: threat level infinite

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Remember that Laughing Touch is a spell-like ability and provokes an attack of opportunity when used.

Not really seeing them wanting to provoke attacks on the 2d6 x3 crit ogre hooks later in the adventure.

If he readied an action to take a five foot step and attack when you made your trip attempt, he'd five foot, the trip would fail and then he'd bop you, but he wouldn't get an AoO because the trip fails without a check.

Umm... Where does it say they have to be summonable with a Spell?

Celestial creatures dwell in the higher planes, but can

be summoned using spells such as summon monster and planar ally. A celestial creature’s CR increases by +1
only if the base creature has 5 or more HD. A celestial
creature’s quick and rebuild rules are the same.

In the Bestiary, under templates.

even if the dragon was the mother and the human was the father, how would you explan away the human side.

You can't be half-dragon and half-celestial with also being something else. You either end up a half-dragon celestial or a half-celestial dragon. This is like if an orc and an elf had children and had a half-orc elf child-- no, it's more like the half-orc elf had a child with a human and it was a half-elf half-orc human.

My mother is a mule and my dad is a tiger, so I'm a half-horse half-donkey tiger.

but there are dragons from the celestial planes, there are extraplanar dragons from the draconomicon, look at the radiant dragon.

Then they're dragons. The dragon you pointed to is a dragon. It's not an outsider. Being from the good-aligned planes doesn't make you celestial-- it makes you extraplanar. You have to be a good-aligned outsider to give the half-celestial template. The fringe case for the "celestial" bestiary quick template is being either summonable by summon monster or planar ally. Dragons can be summoned by neither.

What about a god dragon, they have dragon HD and outside HD. What if my characters mother was the God Aasterinian.

Then you would probably be a mythic half-celestial brass dragon, not a double-half celestial gold dragon human.

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Second, I should point out that as DM, you need to have the Imp ACTING like an imp, that is, according to its alignment and motivations. It probably wants to corrupt the Oracle. If so, it should have taken steps toward doing so. This would tip off the Oracle as to what the Imp is really about.

Piccolo brings up a good point-- A major, major part of DMing in a constructive way is to always be transparent about your world. I've had PCs react REALLY poorly to their own metagame constructs before, despite all evidence, and at one point you legitimately need to sit down and tell the PC what's going on.

If you want the imp to be good, it can be good and you just have to hint at that. If it's going to be neutral, it can be neutral, hint at it. If it's going to be evil, it can pretend to be good, just hint at it. Make it obvious. That kind of thing, so that the PCs know that the imp is evil or good or neutral and can go from there, or that they understand that their actions may be making it head towards another alignment. Be frank and open if you need to be.

Transparency helps a lot. It makes the game less hidden and helps the PCs understand the true nature of their actions.

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Helping nazis even though they're nazis would probably be a good-aligned action.

Extending the hand of redemption and all that.

even if it was a dragon wit the celestial templete from the celestial planes.

To get the celestial template, you need to be summonable with summon monster or planar ally.

If you're summonable with planar ally, you're an outsider.

After the reveal of where most, if not the entirety, of the sixth volume is going to take place, I can't help but imagine the maps being very headache inducing.

Like Inception. Except replace "dream" with "hut".

Hutception.

Human Half-Dragon Half-Celestial
Str: 12 + 8 + 2
Dex: 18 + 0 + 4
Con: 16 + 6 + 4
Int: 14 + 2 + 2
Wis: 18 + 0 + 4
Cha: 10 + 2 + 2

So

STR 22
DEX 22
CON 26
INT 18
WIS 22
CHA 14

BAB +3, natural attack routine for +9/+9/+9. 1d6/1d4+6.

AC 27 just standin' around, 29 with protection up. Avg hp of 4d8+28 is 49 or so.

But then you've got the accoutrements:

+5 Natural Armor, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision; and immunity to sleep, paralysis, immunity to disease; acid, cold, and electricity resist 10; DR 5/magic and SR 17 and and immunity to fire.

The truth is that a dragon can't be a dragon and an outsider at the same time, so it can't give you half-dragon and half-celestial.

If your father was a celestial, it would give you half-dragon and half-celestial, but then you'd just be a half-celestial gold dragon whelp or a good outsider with the gold half-dragon template.

It's really up to your GM.

JiCi wrote:

I see this: "The [ghost touch] weapon can be picked up and moved by an incorporeal creature at any time. A manifesting ghost can wield the weapon against corporeal foes." then I see this: "It [the incorporeal creature] has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to its melee attacks, ranged attacks, and CMB.". If a ghost picks up a ghost touch weapon, what score does it use in place of its non-existant Strength? Its Dexterity? Its Charisma?

Your answer is in your question. Dexterity is used in place of strength for its attacks and CMB. Dex does not apply to damage, and neither does anything else. I'm still digging for the rule that stipulates that having no ability score does not impose a penalty equivalent to having a 0 in an ability score, but I know it's there.

If you're looking to figure out how much it can carry in terms of weight, the answer is "undefined". But, since they're incorporeal and can only interact with the incorporeal and ghost touch weapons, it really doesn't come up much. The rule that says "they can use ghost touch weapons" tells you not to worry about their weight limits by virtue of telling you they can use them.

I know that any creature that has a - in an ability score is treated as if it has a 10 if it comes up in a fringe case-- like a vermin taking int damage or some such.

I don't like that they have so much AC that they're difficult to damage at all on top of having more HP than every other class.

I can't remember if they also have evasion, but it's hard to threaten one, so it makes him the super hero of the group.

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Been playing Chrono Cross, ice Titan?

How'd you guess? :(

Been playin' KOTOR over there, Revan?

Slow Reactions is great because it's an ability that you can't really find anywhere else at level 2. Since you're combat maneuver focused, it looks like, you can hit for sneak attack and then use disarm or other attack replacement maneuvers you don't qualify for and they can't AoO you for it.

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Reign of Winter spoilers for my PCs! Seriously avoid guys. (They like to read my posts-- who could blame 'em?)

I'm going to play up the alternate reality angle instead of the Taldor/Irrisen swap so that I can use a homebrew world I'm working on right now. The PCs will be important because they are alive in the "Taldor" world but dead in the "Irrisen" world-- I plan to take the Taldan noblewoman and just make her a villager, turn her into a kind of childhood friend/love interest for a PC, and then when they go to Irrisen, Nadya is that girl in an alternate universe and the PC's alternate self is her dead husband. I think that should sow some serious drama.

Ice Titan, you take a very harsh interpretation of the spell. I can see where you're coming from, but it's what I'm afraid my DM is going to see as well.

I think I'm going to charm my dominated person so at the very least it'll be helpful as it obeys my every command, and maybe won't slit the throats of the NPCs with us if I forget to tell him not to slit people's throats on this particular night.

You don't order him not to slit your throat. Then he just stands there, not slitting your throat. You can order him to rest, and he rests to the exclusion of anything but eating, sleeping etc. He can't attack you because you didn't tell him he wasn't told he couldn't not not attack you. You'd have to order him to "slit my throat in the night" for him to slit your throat in the night.

Would the creature willingly give up it's magical items to us? I've already identified that the creature in question is using a +2 composite [+3 Str] shock longbow. Would he trade this possession to the fighter for a more generic longbow? What if it was a heirloom item?

It would be another saving throw, unless this creature's nature entails giving its things away against its will. For example, if you dominated a hyper-submissive character or creature, they'd probably be pretty messed up by dominate... but they also might enjoy it.

Can you use Bluff checks to convince a creature to do something against it's nature so that it wouldn't be allowed additional saving throws? Like, could you bluff your dominated creature into thinking his brother is scheming against him, or that his wife has been killed and replaced by a doppelganger? Would you get a bonus to your bluff checks?

I'd give the bluff -20, since you're mind controlling them already. Nothing says "I'm trustworthy" like mind control, right?

#1, probably not.

#2, he maintains his personality and can choose to interpret his orders if you allow loopholes. This doesn't allow him freedom of decision, but does allow him a bit of agency-- "Guard this door until someone comes, and then alert me", for example, he will guard the door until someone else arrives and then come to alert you. It can choose to guard however it likes, it can choose to stealth or not, it can choose to greet others at the door. Then it takes off to alert you immediately.

#3, yes. He performs his actions to the exclusion of all other activities. Without an action to perform, you must order him to stand still, remain here, do not leave this room until morning, sleep in this bed, that kind of thing.

#4, any distance.

For #5, it's every time. If he knows you're ordering him to kill good people and he's a paladin, he gets a save each time you order him, and on top of that you can be exceptionally specific and so can he. If you order him to "Attack them until they're dead or defeated" he can just use disarm, position himself unfavorably, not protect you, etcetera.

#6, as a move action, and it's his orders for the round. If he understands your motives for casting mind fog, he's probably going to get another save versus dominate immediately.

#7, kind of. Teleport relies on visual studying, which you do not get from dominate. "I want to teleport to the cold place" is a bad idea, but it relies on your mental image, so you can try to build one from the input you have. How clear is your mental image of a place you can only view through senses other than sight?-- how's your Perception? How much do you trust the dominated creature's mental filter? They might be standing where you're going-- a massive cesspool fill of curdled water and oil, garbage and filth-- and their perceptions might interpret it as smelling good and the corpses make them hungry. You can't hear their thoughts. "The place smells amazing; It's open to the air, filled with the scent of food. The thrall's stomach rumbles. It's very warm here, uncomfortably, due to a crackling fire." What's your mental image? Because if it's not where the thrall is standing, you are going to the place most similar to that mental image.

#8, as many as you want.

#9, no.

#10, you can't dominate a good person. Dominate can be used for the greater good-- an exceptionally wise use of dominate is to cast it on your party members, giving no orders, when you go up against a dominate creature such as a vampire. When the vampire dominates one, you use a move action to charisma check force them to attack the vampire instead. You save per order, so the vampire's order to attack you instead gives them a +2 bonus to save and a new save if he passes his check. You can dispel them afterwards, a show of good faith. But in reality, no, mind control is not a good thing to do.

#11, remembers everything.

#12, it's in the description of the spell, but the creature can't be affected by the same non-instantaneous spell from the same creature twice-- the higher spell would just override, imo.

#13, sure. It depends on the GM. You can order him to accompany you, or to not flee and things like that, giving him orders to help you out, healing him etcetera. It's the same thing as locking him in irons and giving him a sword and forcing him to help-- it's slavery. How gracious a slave is depends on how fast his irons get unlocked, in my opinion. Bargaining will probably ensue. He can speak normally if you give him the order to speak openly.

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Dual-wielding cleric with air and fire domain.

At level 3, can dual-wield a battleaxe and a cestus, can shoot lightning, can shoot fire. Can use burning hands or produce flame for flame shock, can channel to heal for healing rain, can spontaneous heals for other heals. Shield of faith is earth shield. At 7th level, can cast blessing of fervor for heroism/bloodlust.

If you want, you can create an archetype and take his domain's 8th level abilities to give him something reminiscent of totems-- this totem grants +1 per 5 to attacks and damage, this totem grants +1 per 5 to the DCs of spells, this totem grants 3 resist per 4 etc, usable as a standard action 3/day, no more than one totem active at a time. Base them off of judgments, but give them to the entire party for only his Wis in rounds.

Arizhel's entire post!

... The behemoth hippopotamus's damage dice is already adjusted for it's size. It doesn't get adjusted again. It definitely doesn't get adjusted by that metric, especially because I have no idea where you pulled that from or got the idea to make that up.

Detect magic is a fairly important spell to be able to use repeatedly, especially if you're the only arcane spellcaster. You need it to notice weird things, like lingering auras or magical effects, or identify magical items-- and you'll be wanting to identify them each time you find them so that your party can equip them right away. I might suggest swapping daze or mage hand with it.

One thing I'll suggest is that having 3 more rounds of performance plus 6 more rounds of performance plus 4 plus charisma mod (3) is way too many rounds of performance. 16 rounds a day is a lot. Most fights will last 2, 3 rounds at level 1, and you'll be doing maybe four. If you want the longevity for other reasons, one thing I want to make sure is that you note that you cannot use inspire competence on yourself. You'd be using it to basically follow other PCs around chanting like Sir Robin's minstrels, aiding their skill checks. Oh, and that fascinate is not that great because you can only get one person. I'd drop Extra Performance or Noble Scion depending... and then, what exactly do you want to do with this character? Do they fight with a bow or a sword, or do they just prance around? What's your perform? Are you going to be the social face or the scout character or... ? Take a feat to enhance that. Toughness is never a bad choice.