Kirill's page

I am not sure how to edit my post, but I think I got a 1 on my linguistics roll :p The sample "good" algorithm I gave is actually broken... When encrypting, the trios of letters you shift with the key need to overlap.

So my guess is the best PGP or NSA ciphers that aren't actually unbreakable are probably going to be around DC70, since they'll need to take 20 on them.

I don't think that inventing NSA necessarily requires a 70... There is just a whole bunch of intermediate steps before you realize something like that is even possible. Your wizard would need to know about primes and calculus and stuff like that. I would require at least a hard check in Knowledge(Mathematics) and Knowledge(Advanced Mathematics) and Knowledge(Really Advanced Mathematics) :p

Contact other plane or commune is what most sane wizards would likely do.

I can see it now:

Wizard: Is the first bit of the key 1?
Irori: YES!
Wizard: Is the second bit of the key 1?
Irori: NO!
.
.
.
Wizard: Is the seventh bit of the key 1?
Irori: UNCLEAR!
Wizard: ...
Wizard:Is the parity bit of the first byte 1?
.
.
.

And so on.

EWHM wrote:

Somebody with an INT of 18 and an add or two in linguistics could probably break a common polyalphabetic cipher in a language that was at least highly fluent to him with no computer assistance. Folks did, in fact back in the Civil War in the US.

In terms of who's the NSA equivalent in your game, well, that'd be the INT 30 Wizard with full adds, skill focus, and probably some sort of a prestige class bonus (I forget if loremaster adds on that). They're likely to have intricate ciphers in long dead languages available for their communications. You could...

Hmmm... yes, that makes sense. But how high would your Linguistics and INT have to be for you to be able to break PGP, or the NSA's ciphers, without modern-day compute resources?

That's a trick question, we can't break that stuff even now :)

Though I doubt that even a very smart wizard would be capable of coming up with public/private key cryptography from scratch. Heck, if he can do that, he should invent an atomic bomb next. :|

My linguistics is +25. My companions are skilled planar travelers, alchemists, authors of magical formulae, and world renowned siegecrafters, as befits our high level. I roll middlingly well, 12m but each of my 3 allies contributes +2 to the complexity of the encryption algorithm, for a DC of 43. The message reads "œkkuƒ, ÿ ó∑∑ß åzøµ" Most people won't even recognize half the symbols used, let alone stand a snowball's chance in Osirion of grasping it. Heck, at +25, without the core cypher and my companion's help, I myself only have a 15% chance to crack it, and I'm Intelligence 20 with 20 ranks!!

This does not really make sense. Once your cypher has moved from simple shifts into substitution, it makes no difference what the symbols are. It is just as hard to break "134" as "kuƒ" because you are just mapping this silly character to that real character. In real life, you would be looking at how often some symbol occurs and mapping that symbol to how often some letter occurs in English.

Bad cyphers (like substitution cyphers) use a secret algorithm. For example: Replace A with E, B with C, etc... This means that when your algorithm leaks, you need to make a brand new system.

Good cyphers use a known algorithm with a secret key. For example: Take each 3 consecutive letters and shift, by the key. Then take the result of that and use as the key to shift the next three letters. This allows you to use a single algorithm for your whole organization without worrying about leaks. And since the key is not dependent on your language, you can increase the size of the key to make the encryption arbitrarily strong :) The only caveat is that this only works as long as your key remains secret

In an actual game, I would rule that a moderately good cypher is unbreakable without magical help. Inventing a sufficiently good cypher would take a linguistics check though. In an espionage campaign, your quests would revolve around stealing the cypher keys and keeping yours hidden.

Now, depending on your DM, he might rule that your code is a "language" and then you are boned by a first level spell :p

It means they are attractive to the other tentacled horrors below the earth.

But then you have the problem of how one species of 18 CHA horrors sees a totally different species...

About the OP: Generally, the only reason I would want some attraction mechanic in the game is to have fun role-play. In that case It would be best to have some idea of what my character wants in a romantic partner and role-play it out.

The place I would really want rules is if a PC is being seduced unwillingly. For example, a courtesan is trying to lead a bodyguard away from the king he is guarding. In this case, the appropriate mechanic would be will saves. I'd set the DC at around 5 or 8 plus 1/2 the seducers HD plus CHA. I see it as the PC's sense of duty fighting the libido. I use 5 or 8 as the base because the effect is not magical and the seducer will get many attempts.

The reason diplomacy is bad for this is because it is very easy to get a diplomacy score high enough to instantly make a target "friendly." This takes choice away from the PCs in an unfair way and is not fun because it acts like dominate person and has no save...

Do you have any RAW reasons for this? I am going to need to argue this with PFS DMs and I'd like some ammo :)

Anyone?

The Lucky firearm ability from ultimate combat says that it has a grit pool and I can use it to re-roll misfires from that gun. How does this grit pool interact with a gunslinger's grit pool?

Specifically, can I:

1. Use my own grit to power the lucky ability?
2. Use the lucky pool to power my own deeds?
3. Recharge the firearm's grit pool by getting criticals / kills?

I looks like the answer to all of these may be 'no' but then why did they say that the firearm has a grit pool at all? It would have been cleaner to say "Once per day, you may re-roll a single misfire with this firearm"

I am playing a gunslinger in PFS. I am about to buy a double barrelled pistol. Now, double barrelled pistols are risky because they can misfire twice in one shot and destroy my 2k investment. The misfire rules say that a magical firearm is not destroyed by a misfire but is rendered inoperable.

If I cast magic weapon on my gun, does that protect it from being destroyed?

One more thing. Does the gun-tank's armour ability apply to encumbrance penalties? If they don't, that seems kind of useless since you can't wear pretty much any heavy armour and be lightly encumbered unless you have an a whole lot of strength.

I am making a Dwarven Gun-tank / pistolero for PFS play and I want to make sure all my plans are kosher.

Some questions:
1. Can I be both a gun-tank and a pistolero? (This is the most important one :p)

2. Do pistols count as light weapons when using TWF? So can I wield a dwarven war axe and shoot my pistol at only a -2 penalty.

3. If I wield a buckler, pistol and a one-handed weapon, can I attack with both weapons and still gain the buckler's bonus to AC? I think I can because the firearms sections says that I can wield a firearm with a buckler at no penalty.

4. Does the gun-tank's armour training apply to shields?

5. Can you load a one-handed firearm while wielding a shield?

6. Can I rotate a pepperbox when I am wielding a heavy shield

7. When using TWF, if you have more than 2 weapons equiped, like from a Barbazu beard or Blade boot. And if yes, can I wield 2 blade boots to do some butt-kicking for justice!

And related to the dwarven SR alternate ability:

1. Does SR affect your use of wands / potions?

The description of the buckler gun says it is "always an off-hand weapon" Does that mean you take -10 to hit with it if you don't have two weapon fighting?

The description of this deed is very vague. It says that I use the wall square as the "origin" of the attack. How does this interact with range increments and the armour-piercing ability of guns? Also, at what range can you choose the wall square?

Does this mean that I can fire my gun at any range, and ignore penalties for distance, and always ignore armour?

Quick load is not allowed in Pathfinder Society play. Also, it and rapid reload require choosing a firearm to focus on, so it is not very useful if I am using several different types.

Thanks. The flat-footed sounded too good to be true :)

Does it list anywhere how heavy the cart is? Though I guess that the double-hackbut does not count against encumbrance when carted?

So I guess this mostly solves my problem.

Another possible answer: If I am on a horse, can I fire the double-hackbut by bracing it against the horse? It is a very stable large creature :)

I was planning on about 2 pepper-boxes and a double-hackbut. It would depend on if I keep running out of ammo or not in regular adventures.

I only have 14 strength and I also need to lug around a chain shirt and other miscellaneous equipment.

The gunslinger pistol-whip deed says that you make a "surprise melee attack." Does this mean the target is flat-footed against it?

Edit: Also, do guns do the damage listed in pistol whip when used as an improvised weapon without this deed?

I made a gunslinger character for Pathfinder Society play. I want to be able to carry multiple weapons to cut down on reload time. Can I store two and one handed firearms in an efficient quiver since they are "bow-sized" and at a stretch pistols can be "javelin sized."

If I cant, is there some other option for reducing weapon weight that would also allow me to quick-draw?