Jess Door's page

I've drawn a sketchy version of Ziddiger's picnic. I have the words written down as well. Can I post this as a resource for other GMs? With the words? Shall I edit the words out of the pictures?

I don't want to cause problems, but I and my group found an actual book helped enormously. It's not fine art or anything, but it gets the main points across.

Thank you.

Article

Ah, sad to see. But I think Detroit's problem ever since I was a kid there was bad management. I hope they can turn the city around, either which way.

I'm sorry, maybe it's still coming, but my subscription order containing the beginner box shipped the 21st via USPS...and I have yet to see it. I am concerned it went astray. Is there any way to check with the progress of a USPS shipped order?

It's practically a crime there's not a single mite avatar! You have so much art that could go there!

Peter Falk, the actor that played the detective Columbo, died yesterday.

I loved his character, and am sad to see him go.

Dotting...and trying to see post.

Article on a real life vigilante crime fighter:

http://www.kirotv.com/news/26363364/detail.html

I grew up in Detroit. I know it had problems when I was a kid. I understand why Mom and Dad moved away while I was in junior high. But now...it's even worse.

It's sad to see an American city fallen so far.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detr oit#/?picture=370173060&index=15

Arr!

The perfect lead in to our D&D game!

This is something I meant to get up sooner. I've been working on it for a while. This would be my personal interpretation of the magus. What was important to me was combat ability, the ability to cast some spells from level 1, and using magic to fight, as opposed to being a spellcaster that can fight. The focus of this class is on combat, and replacing the utility the fighter makes of feats in combat with the utility of magic. To this end, the spellsword is different from the magus, which is a more even blending of spellcaster and martial character. I wanted a fighter that happens to use spells.

Rather than focusing spells to do damage or confuse or control enemies, the spellsword uses spells to protect themselves and improve their own fighting capability. Other class abilities allow them to fight and self buff at the same time, or to use arcane energies they've harnessed to improve their fighting ability for a certain period of time.

HD: d10
Skill Points: 2 + int mod
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str)
Proficiencies:Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Light Armor, Medium Armor. A spellsword can cast spellsword spells while wearing light armor and/or using a shield without incurringthe normal arcane spell failure chance.

........................................................................... ..................Spells
Lvl...BaB...F...R...W...Special............................................ ...0..1..2..3..4
.1.....1........2...0...2....Cantrips, Spellbook, Comabt Arcana....2..0
.2.....2........3...0...3....Martial Casting.....................................2..1
.3.....3........3...1...3....Combat Arcana.....................................3..1
.4.....4........4...1...4.................................................. ..............3..1..0
.5.....5........4...1...4....Comabt Arcana.....................................3..1..1
.6.....6........5...2...5....Abbreviated Casting.............................3..2..1
.7.....7........5...2...5.................................................. ..............4..2..1..0
.8.....8........6...2...6....Disruptive.................................... ........4..2..1..1
.9.....9........6...3...6....Improved Combat Arcana.....................4..2..2..1
10....10......7...3...7.................................................... ............4..3..2..1..0
11....11......7...3...7....Armored Casting Mastery.....................4..3..2..1..1
12....12......8...4...8....Improved Combat Arcana.....................4..3..2..2..1
13....13......8...4...8....Improved Abbreviated Casting.............4..3..3..2..1
14....14......9...4...9....Spellbreaker.................................... ....4..4..3..2..1
15....15......9...5...9.................................................... ............4..4..3..2..2
16....16.....10..5..10...Greater Combat Arcana........................4..4..3..2..2
17....17.....10..5..10...Greater Abbreviated Casting................4..4..4..3..2
18....18.....11..6..11...Greater Combat Arcana........................4..4..4..3..2
19....19.....11..6..11..................................................... ..........4..4..4..3..3
20....20.....12..6..12...Master of Combat Arcana.....................4..4..4..4..3

Combat Arcana

Arcane Maneuver: 3 + Int modifier times per day, the spellsword may use his arcane knowledge and keen intellect to help him take advantage of small openings his enemies leave for him. The spellsword may attempt any combat maneuver and does not provoke an attack of opportunity, even if the spellsword does not have the requisite improved combat maneuver feat. The spellsword adds his intelligence modifier in place of his strength modifier for these arcane maneuver checks.

Arcane Mobility: Arcane Mobility: The spellsword knows that movement can command the battlefield, and he uses his arcane ability to give him the ability to move in to take advantage of opportunities in battle.

A spellsword who has studied arcane mobility may choose one of the following benefits for a round as a swift action: ignore difficult terrain movement penalties, gain a 30' enhancement bonus to movement speed, gain a climb speed of 1/2 his base speed, gain a swim speed of 1/2 his base speed. A spellsword may use this ability 3 + Int modifier times per day. A spellsword may choose to activate two of these arcane mobility abilities in the same round, but it requires two swift actions - one to activate each, and consumes two uses of this ability.

Spell Shield: The Spellsword may summon a shield of force to protect them in battle as a move action. This arcane shield provides a shield bonus to AC equal to 2 + Spellsword level / 4 (+3 at 4th level, +4 at 8th, etc.). This shield may be active for 3 + Int modifier minutes / day. This shield may be summoned and dismissed as needed, but each use of the shield uses a minute of the spell shield's daily duration. Dismissing the shield is a free action.

Weapon Bond: A spellsword may bond himself to a specific melee weapon to increase his abilities while wielding the weapon. This weapon need not be either masterwork or magical. Bonding himself to the weapon requires that the spellsword be proficient with the weapon. He must spend 24 hours alternately meditating and practicing with the weapon. A spellsword may only be bonded to a single weapon at any time. A spellsword that performs the bonding ceremony with a new weapon necessarily loses his bond to his old bonded weapon as he studies and learns the particulars of his new weapon.

For 3 + Int modifier minutes / day, the spellsword can imbue their bonded weapon by +1 per 4 spellsword levels as a move action (minimum 0 for levels 1-3). The bonded weapon may have enhancement bonuses conferred on the bonded weapon, or the following abilities: Brilliant Energy, Flaming, Flaming Burst, Frost, Icy Burst, Returning, Shock, Shocking Burst, Throwing and Thundering. The bonded weapon must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1 before any other property may be placed on the bonded weapon. Each use of this ability consumes at least 1 minute of the spellsword's daily duration. Changing the effect consumes another minute of the duration of the ability. Minute long uses of the ability need not be consecutive.

The spellsword may summon his bonded weapon into his hand as a move action if his bonded weapon leaves his hands while it is imbued. A spellsword of 1st through 3rd level can imbue his weapon, and while it confers no enhancement to the weapon, it does allow this ability to be used. As long as the spellsword has line of sight to the bonded weapon and the bonded weapon is within his level dependent range for this ability, he can spend a move action to summon the bonded weapon back to his hand. The range for this ability is 10 feet per spellsword level. The bonded weapon counts as cold iron and magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction while imbued, and counts as all the inexpensive material components necessary for casting a spell for the spellsword.

Improved Combat Arcana

Arcane Maneuver, Improved: The spellsword may expend one of his daily arcane maneuver uses to reach out with telekinetic energy and attempt a combat maneuver check against any one creature within 30' of the spellsword as a standard action. The spellsword must have line of sight to the target of the maneuver. This arcane maneuver is subject to spell resistance and must use the spellsword's Intelligence modfier instead of his Strength modifier. Prerequisite: Arcane Maneuver

Arcane Mobility, Improved: The spellsword's further studies into arcane magics allow the spellsword to move about even the strangest battlefields.

A spellsword with improved arcane mobility may expend one of his arcane mobility uses as a swift action to choose one of the following benefits for a minute: ignore difficult terrain movement penalties, gain 30' movement speed, gain a burrow speed, climb speed or swim speed of 1/2 his base speed or gain a fly speed of his base speed. A spellsword may choose to have multiple arcane mobility abilities active at the same time, but this will use multiple Arcane Mobility uses, and requires a swift action for each ability activiation.

Alternatively the spellsword may expend a daily use of his arcane mobility to choose to teleport 10 feet as a move action. The spellsword may teleport farther than 10 feet by expending additional uses of improved arcane mobility in the same move action - expending more uses does not require an additional action, and each additional use adds 10' to the distance teleported. Any fraction of movement expends the entire improved arcane mobility use for the day. Thus a teleportation of 25 feet would expend 3 uses. You must have line of sight to the location you are teleporting to. When you teleport, you may only transfer yourself and your worn or held gear (gear inside a backpack is considered worn). You may not transfer additional creature or objects. Prerequisite: Arcane Mobility

Spell Shield, Improved: The Spellsword's spell shield may now be summoned as a swift action, and allows the spellsword to ignore damage from the spell Magic Missile. The shield provides a +2 luck bonus to saves and the spellsword has Evasion (as the rogue ability) while the shield is active. Prerequisite: Spell Shield

Weapon Bond, Improved: The spellsword's bonded weapon may be imbued as a swift action. The bonded weapon also now counts as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

The spellsword gains the ability to store spells in his bonded weapon in a manner similar to the spell storing special ability. The spellsword may store 1 level of spells per 3 spellsword levels. You may store multiple spells in the bonded weapon, but the sum of spell levels may not exceed this number. A 10th level spellsword may store one first and one second level spell in his bonded weapon, or he may store a single third level spell. The spellsword may choose, on a successful hit that deals damage, whether or not to also expend the spell on the creature that was damaged. Only one spell may be expended per hit with this ability. As with a spell storing weapon, spells with a casting time longer than a standard action may not be stored in the bonded weapon and spells stored in the weapon must be targeted spells. The spells cast into the bonded weapon must be cast by the spellsword himself, and only damage dealt by the spellsword himself with his bonded weapon may expend the spells stored within the weapon. Cantrips count as 1/2 level for the purpose of this ability.

The spellsword may summon his bonded weapon into his hand as long as the bonded weapon is within 10 miles/level of the spellsword and on the same plane. The bonded weapon no longer needs to be actively imbued for this ability to be used. This is a teleportation effect that requires a move action. Effects that affect teleportation will also affect this effect. Prerequisite: Weapon Bond

Greater Combat Arcana

Arcane Manuver, Greater: The spellsword may expend one of his daily arcane maneuver uses to reach out with telekinetic energy and attempt the same combat maneuver against any number of creatures within 30' of the spellsword as a full round action. The spellsword must have line of sight to each target of the maneuver. These arcane maneuvers are subject to spell resistance, and must use the spellsword's intelligence modifier instead of his strength modifier. Prerequisite: Improved Arcane Maneuver

Arcane Mobility, Greater: A spellsword may assist his allies in their mobility now as well. He may expend a use of his arcane mobility to grant an improved arcane mobility ability to a willing ally he touches.

The spellsword himself may instead expend two arcane mobility uses to teleport himself and a number of allies within touching distance as the spell Teleport using his Spellsword levels as his caster level, or he may expend four arcane mobility uses to plane shift himself and a number of allies no greater than eight as the spell Plane Shift. Prerequisite: Improved Arcane Mobility

Spell Shield, Greater: The Spellsword's spell shield may now be summoned as an immediate action. In addition to its other effects, the spell shield may now act as the spell Spell Turning, turning back 6+1d4 levels of spells cast at the spellsword back at the spell's caster. Once the spell shield's pool of spell levels has been turned, the spell shield disappears. The Spellsword may choose at the time of summoning the spell shield whether the shield will use the spell turning ability if he wishes to keep the other effects of the shield up for the full shield duration. The spellsword may only have one spell shield up at any one time. Prerequisite: Improved Spell Shield

Weapon Bond, Greater: The spellsword may now choose to expend one of his uses of weapon bond as a swift action to confer a greater dispel magic property on his bonded weapon. The next creature or object the spellsword hits and damages with his bonded weapon is the target of a greater dispel magic spell, using the spellsword's class level as the caster level of the effect.

The bonded weapon can also be inscribed with spell forms and used as a spellbook with a number of pages equal to the spellsword's class level. The bonded weapon is engraved in the same manner as the pages of a spell book, requiring the same time period for scribing the spell forms and the same costs. If a spellsword wishes, spell forms on the bonded weapon may be removed and the newly freed space on the bonded weapon may be used to scribe a new spell for future memorization. If the weapon is lost or destroyed, the spells are lost as well. If the spellsword transfers his bond to a new weapon, he may recopy the spells on his old bonded weapon at half cost to transfer them to his new bonded weapon.

The spellsword may summon his bonded weapon into his hand as a move action, even across planes. This is a teleportation effect and if the bonded weapon is on another plane it is as the spell Plane Shift. Anything that affects these effects will also affect the summoning of the bonded weapon. Prerequisite: Improved Weapon Bond

Martial Casting: The spellsword may use his currently wielded weapon to perform the somatic component of a spell he is casting. These gestures, while performed with a weapon instead of a free hand, do not avoid the normal attack of opportunity that casting in a threatened area provokes. For the purpose of this class ability, a shield is not counted as a weapon.

Armored Casting Mastery: The spellsword has become so practiced with casting spellsword arcane spells in combat that his training now allows him to cast his spellsword spells without any arcane spell failure chance while wearing medium armor.

Abbreviated Casting: In order to use their arcane spells to the greatest effect in combat, spellswords train to cast especially familiar spells while in the thick of battle. As a full round action the spellsword may choose to cast any spellsword spell that is at least two levels lower than the highest level spell he can cast immediately before or after making a single melee attack against an enemy with a weapon or unarmed attack. The spellsword must cast the spell as part of the same action as their attack on an enemy - they may not take a 5 foot step between the attack and the spellcasting, though they may take a 5 foot step either before or after the attack and spellcasting.

Improved Abbreviated Casting: The spellsword's practice at mixing arcane magic with mundane battle pays off, as the spellsword may now cast spellsword spells one level lower than his most powerful magics as part of a full round action that includes an attack on an enemy.

Greater Abbreviated Casting: The spellsword's practice at mixing arcane magic with mundane battle pays off, as the spellsword may now cast any spellsword spell he has memorized as part of a full round action that includes an attack on an enemy.

Master of Combat Arcana: The spellsword has mastered efficient spellcasting of the spells he knows so well. He can cast any prepared spellsword spell he has memorized as a swift action once per round.

Spell List

Level 0: Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Disrupt Undead, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Resistance, Touch of Fatigue

Level 1: Chill Touch, Detect Undead, Endure Elements, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Hold Portal, Mage Armor, Magic Aura, Magic Weapon, Protection from X, Ray of Enfeeblement, Reduce Person, Shield, True Strike

Level 2: Bear's Endurance, Blur, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Darkvision, Eagle's Splendor, False Life, Fox's Cunning, Ghoul Touch, Gust of Wind, Invisibility, Levitate, Make Whole, Mirror Image, Obscure object, Owl's Wisdom, Protection from Arrows, Resist Energy, See Invisibility, Shatter, Spider Climb, Touch of Idiocy, Whispering Wind

Level 3: Arcane Sight, Blink, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Gentle Repose, Greater Magic Weapon, Haste, Heroism, Invisibility Sphere, Keen Edge, Magic Circle, Nondetection, Protection from Energy, Ray of Exhuastion, Shrink Item, Tongues, Vampiric Touch, Water Breathing, Wind Wall

Level 4: Arcane Eye, Detect Scrying, Dimension Door, Dimensional Anchor, Enervation, Fire Shield, Globe of Invulnerability Lesser, Interposing Hand*, Invisibility Greater, Locate Creature, Remove Curse, Scrying, Stoneskin, Telekinesis

(* denotes early entry spells)

Spell Notes: Spells chosen are: self and group buffs, ranged or melee touch attacks, and utilities that directly help battle situations. Polymorph spells and spells that mostly involve a save are generally not included. Utility spells that don't directly have battle implications are also generally excluded. Some judgement is required to decide if a new spell should go on the Spellsword's spell list. It is better to err on the side of caution with assigning new spells, as the spellsword should have a somewhat limited spell list. This list was drawn up before the APG came out. Some of those spells may be appropriate in this list as well.

Can you use Improve Natural Attack twice on the same natural weapon?

I'm trying to create a jaguar from the leopard chassis, and I've read they have the strongest bite of any cat. If I went ahead and invested two feats, could I make their bite really nasty by improving the size twice?

So, if you have a player that wants to play a cleric of Pharasma, and she's really attached to the idea of not allowing the looting of tombs...and the adventure path you're running contains a not insignificant number of tombs where the wealth found inside is assumed to be part of party treasure...can anyone think of some good justifications that are party friendly for such a cleric to allow the taking of valuable items?

I could see her allowing the party to take items from a tomb they cleared of undead abominations, for example. Or if they take a really cool magical sword, replace it with a more mundane one...? Any other ideas?

This will be a large group, I want to minimize the chances for conflict...

So, we ran into Dominate Person in our Pathfinder Society scenario this weekend. And....surprisingly, have some questions!

Our fighter was dominated in the first round of combat. He was ordered to "Fight your[his] friends".

It says in the text of the spell:
"...Subjects resist this control, and any subject forced to take
actions against its nature receives a new saving throw with a
+2 bonus..."

We decided that ordering the fighter to attack his friends was against his nature (as he's not normally a backstabber), and gave him another save with a +2 bonus. He succeeded on the save...and we weren't sure what that meant. It didn't seem fair for a 4th level spell to just disappear. What we decided was he successfully resisted that particular command, and the controller would have to spend a move action to give the dominated person a new command - or in this case, the same command again as he resisted it the first time.

This ruling did lead to another question - what does the dominated person without a command do for his turn of combat? We had him stand there, essentially dazed.

Thoughts?

I am playing a caster that can cast 6th level spells for the first time, and we knew we would face some powerful undead. I saw the 6th level spell "Undeath to Death" and thought "Yes! This will be cool!"

Then I read the spell description.

You can't cast this spell until you're at least 11th level, and it has no effect whatsoever on anything with 9 or more HD? And it costs 500 gp per casting? And they get a fortitude save?

Really?

I...can't think of any reason I would memorize this. I can almost see the worth of having one scroll in that rare case where you'll happen to be facing a lot of low level undead. But I've never seen such a fight at levels where one would have access to the scroll.

Ugh.

There are lots of times where someone wants to post formatted text - especially tables of information of some sort - and are unable to format it well.

Creating a [ code ][ /code ] block, much like the [ ooc ][ /ooc ] blocks, that simply makes everything inside appear in the default fixed width font for a user's chosen internet browser would be very helpful in allowing post formatting for a minimum of new code added on your end, hopefully.

Aaaaargh! You've done it again! Separated me from cash in my wallet, using the same old trick of producing an excellent product I simply must have! You'd think I'd see through it, but I'm left with no choice but to not only purchase goods from you, but be happy about it as you separate me from my money.

:)

Merry Christmas to me. Now I get to wait by the door for the delivery man.

In beta there was an increase in the difficulty in casting defensivly if there were more opponents around while you were attemtping to cast. I no longer see mention of that rule.

As a player I ran my character up next to a caster to try to impede their casting, but once I got there I couldn't find any mention that my presence in addition to the fighter's presence in any way made casting defensively more difficult.

Did I just not look hard enough? Or is it no harder to cast defensively when being attacked by 8 goblins than when being attacked by 1?

Sorry, I hope this is the place to put this, haven't posted in here before. A link to this paper was posted and I found it absolutely engrossing.

I don't know if others will find it as interesting, but I thought I"d post it here anyway, as I thought it interesting. Besides...if you're going to go to the trouble of doing a dissertation rather than more gaming....might as well do the dissertation on gaming!

:D

Link

So, in case the title doesn't explain clearly enough

Let's say you have cleric that channels. Does he pick an intersection he touches as the center of his channeling burst? Or does the burst extend in 30' on all sides from the edge of the space the channeler occupies?

Hello, my order confirmation says I can expect it to ship

"Should ship from our warehouse within 33 to 51 business days"

I got 2 day shipping because I wanted the dice asap (my dice got lost, and I need new ones for gaming!), but if it's not going to ship out for a month to two months anyway, could I switch it to regular shipping? Or could I get it split up into smaller orders that ship a little sooner?

Some skills are more useful than others. Some are nearly exactly the same as other skills. Some skills overlap in their relevence.

The new skill system is much more simplified. Cross class skills and multiclass characters are so much simpler to deal with, Obviously related skills have been consolidated to allow skilled characters to truly have a varied skill suite, rather than being forced to the same large number of related skills to carry out their usual functions. In my opinion, the system is much improved. There are a few glaring problems with the changes, however, and nearly all of them are at their heart an imbalance in the usefulness of one skill vs. another.

Some of these intra-skill balance issues are not going to be perfectly solvable - the usefulness of particular skills varies sharply by campaign, by DM, and by group playstyle. In my groups, Knowledge skills have proven to be useful and are often taken if they can be afforded. I have heard this is not the case with other groups. Some groups consist of a party with uneasy alliances throughout - in such a group, sense motive and perception to keep an eye on allied rivals grow in importance. Sometimes a DM perfers city adventures, and the survival skill is nigh worthless, while in others the conversational arts are neglected in favor of more succinct and physical types of discussion, usually involving the heavy use of blunt and sharp edged objects.

Let's do our best anyways, shall we?

SKILL LIST

Acrobatics -

• Move over difficult to traverse terrain (flat)
• Move through threatened areas without attracting attacks of opportunity (scaling)
• Jumping (flat)
• Bonuses to AC for defensive actions (flat)

Appraise -

• Appraise value of mundane items (scaling)
• Determine properties of magical items in conjunction with Detect Magic (scaling)

Bluff -

• Deceive an NPC (opposed)
• Feint in combat to remove a enemy's dex bonus to AC (scaling)
• Pass a secret message in "normal" conversation. (flat (opposed for unintended audience to understand))
• Create a diversion to allow a bluff check (opposed)

Climb -

• Advance up an incline (flat)
• Climb a vertical or horizontal surface (flat)

Craft(split into groups) -

• Create a physical object (flat)

Diplomacy -

• Change the attitude of an intelligent nonplayer character (flat)
• Gather information around town(flat)

Disable Device -

• Disable a mechanical device (flat)
• Open a lock(flat)

Disguise -

• Disguise yourself to hide your identity or impersonate someone (opposed)

Escape Artist -

• Escape ties/manacles/physical spaces (flat)
• Escape grapple (opposed)

Fly -

• Control flight and maneuver in the air (flat)

Handle Animal -

• Get an animal to perform a trick it knows or push it to do something it normally doesn't want to do (flat)
• Teach an animal a trick(flat).
• Rear a wild animal (flat)

Heal -

• Treat injuries, first aid, long term care(flat)
• Treat Deadly wounds to return hit points to injured characters(flat).
• Treat Poison or disease (scaling)

Intimidate -

• Force an opponent to act friendly for a short period of time (scaling)
• Demoralize opponents to impose combat penalties (scaling).

Knowledge (Arcana) -

• Answer questions on arcane matters, constructs, dragons and magical beasts (scaling)
• Identify spell effects, magically created materials (scaling).

Knowledge (dungeoneering) -

• Answer questions on aberrations, oozes, caves, underground environments (scaling).

Knowledge (engineering) -

• Answer questions on buildings, man-made structures (scaling)

Knowledge (geography) -

• Answer questions on lands, climate, people (scaling)

Knowledge (history) -

• Answer questions on wars, colonies, foundations of cultures and cities

Knowledge (local) -

• Answer questions on legends, personalities, laws, customes, traditions, humanoid information (scaling)

Knowledge (nature) -

• Answer questions on animals, fey, giants, monstrous humanoids, plants, vermin seasonand cycles, weather (scaling)

Knowledge (nobility) -

• Answer questions on lineages, heraldry, personalities, royalty (scaling).

Knowledge (planes) -

• Answer questions on outsiders, elementals, the different planes (scaling)

Knowledge (religion) -

• Answer questions on undead, gods and goddesses, myths, ecclesiastic tradition (scaling)

Linguistics -

• Speak multiple language and decipher unknown tongues given the time.(scaling)
• Create or detect forgeries (opposed)
• Learn a language (flat)

Perception -

• Perceive anything from the 5 senses (scaling)

Perform -

• Earn up to 3d6 gold for a DC 30 performance. (scaling)

Profession -

• Earn 1/2 your skill check in gold pieces for a week of work in your profession. (scaling)

Ride -

• Ride an animal, perform actions while riding animal. (scaling)

Sense Motive -

• Avoid being bluffed, intercept secret message (opposed)
• Sense enchantment, assess social situation (scaling)

Sleight of Hand -

• Entertain with magic tricks, palm an item(scaling)
• Pickpocket non-weilded items, hide items on oneself (opposed)

Spellcraft -

• Identify spells as they are cast, concentrate to cast a spell defensively, or not lose a spell you're casting(scaling)

Stealth -

• Avoid detection(scaling)

Survival -

• Keep yourself and allies safe and fed in wilderness(scaling)
• Follow Tracks (scaling)

Swim -

• Stay afloat, maneuver in water(scaling)
• Create or detect forgeries (opposed)
• Learn a language (flat)

Use Magic Device -

• Decipher a written spell.(scaling)
• Activate a magic device (flat or scaling)
• Emulate attributes to use specific magical items. (flat)

I'm going to apologize up front, this became a monster post idea.

Feat Concepts

What are the design goals of Feats?

• Provide special abilities for unique character creation, even when the character has the same stats and class as another.
  
• Provide the fighter with class abilities

Of these two goals for each feat, I believe the second goal (provide the fighter with class abilities) imposes the most on the design of feats. Full spellcasters get at least one new spell slot each level. All but spontaneous casters can change their spell suite each day. For clerics and druids, each spell slot is really one of two spells, and they can choose on the fly to use the one they memorized or their free conversion option for the spell. Sorcerors and bards cannot change their spell selection every level, but they can still change some spell selections every few levels. Also, spells scale in power by caster level. Not infinitely, but definitely.

For feats to keep fighters (and other martial characters that get combat feats) relevent, they either need to be at least as changable as the sorceror's spells, or they need to scale in power as the character grows in power, similar to caster level increasing the power of lower level spells.

I have a few personal opinions about the nature of feats:

• I prefer feats that grant new abilities or options (Power Attack, Cleave, Rapid Shot) over feats that just grant a number bonus (Weapon Focus, Point Blank Shot). I think encouraging active player participation enhances gameplay.
  
• Because of the above, I think feat chains should not exist for granting increasing bonuses (Weapon Focus,Weapon Specialization, et. al.). That is an area where the player should absolutely see their feats' efficacy rise with character level, BaB, or some other levelling marker - not require them to expend limited feat resources to get the full benefit of the feat chain. It adds nothing to gameplay. Rather, feat chains should build on each other to provide further gameplay actions to the player's character (I have issues with the chain, but an existing example is Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack).
• I also would like feats that are part of feat chains to be valuable at the appropriate level in and of their own right. Combat Expertise is currently not worth taking as a feat. It doesn't mesh well with the classes that want to use it, it's so limited that even those few that might get some benefit from the feat generally find it not equal to any of their other feat options out there. It was a weak feat in 3.5, and it's much worse now. The only reason anyone would ever take it now is to get to feats it is a prerequisite for. This is unacceptable. The opportunity cost of spending a feat slot on a useless feat simply to gain access to another feat is bad design because it reduces fun for experienced players and can be a trap for inexperienced players.

So what, in tangible terms, am I looking for? Below is a sample remix of the Pathfinder feat list. I'm sure some feats are too strong. Or there are corner cases I'm not thinking of. I"m sure there are many problems with this thrown together list. But please, if you have the interest, time and patience, take a look. Do these look more interesting? Would they make game play more fun (especially for martial characters, so limited in what they can do)?

I placed this order on October 2, 2008. I need RotRL #2 very soon for my ongoing game, and I ordered it with plenty of time to spare.

From the tracking information, I know the packaged was damaged by UPS during shipment and returned to Paizo. I was informed it would be a while before it was again shipped out to me because of subscription mailings.

I'm going to need that part of the module very soon, and would like it asap so I can be familiar with it. Has my order shipped out? Could I have a copy of the pdf to tide me over until it arrives? I have already received the volumes 4-6 which I ordered weeks later.

I know this wasn't paizo's fault, you guys were awesome helping out with the order that go lost during Ike and everything. Anything you could do or any information on the shipment of this order would be welcome.

Thank you,

- Jess

Sorry if others can see other copies of this, the post monster got to my thread, I believe.

so my question is, what exactly does taking cover behind your mount using the ride skill do?

Does it grant +4 to AC, sort of like Total defense only you must make a successful skill check?

Does it grant total cover?

My understanding is once you take cover, you are denied attack or spellcasting action on the next round...is this correct?

Thanks!

It does not use an action - but the next round you are unable to attack or cast spells. What is the benefit of this action?

Are you taking total cover, negating all targetting attacks against you in compensation for losing all attack bonus?

Are you getting simply a cover bonus to your AC? Is this the mounted version of total defense...with a skill check required because you're riding?

Does anybody know? Both the exact nature of the penalty and the exact nature of the advantage?

That's pretty much my question. Does Weapon Finesse allow you to add your Dex modifier rather than your Strength modifier to combat maneuver checks?

I tried to find a thread for this. If this is in the wrong place, I apologize - please let me know where I should post this and I'll go there.

I thought it'd be good to start a thread for those seeking Pathfinder playtest games.

I'm in a great one, but the vagaries of employment are forcing me to move over 1000 miles away, to Houston. I was wondering if there're any Houston area Pathfinder playtests with room for another player!