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From the PRD- Polymorph: "...all of your gear melds into your body. Items that provide constant bonuses and do not need to be activated continue to function while melded in this way (with the exception of armor and shield bonuses, which cease to function)." Armor ceases to function, so it's like it's not there. So, yes, you can sleep in your Wild Shape form (while your medium armor is melded) and not worry about negative effects from your medium armor.
Depending on my mood, if a GM is actively trying to avoid using certain words, I will either A) find ways to insert said words into a conversation, or B) Find ways to make new 'safe' words 'unsafe'. Naturally this requires a group used to mocking and joking with each other. Otherwise, much social awkwardness ensues.
Wow, that's a brutal game you play, Lopke. Your PCs certainly don't seem to help! :) I prefer to think of it as 'honest'. All my dice are rolled in the open (okay, mostly all, Fort saves vs disease and some others are secret) and the players know that. We also use the crit hit/miss decks for PCs and creatures, which adds much flavour and fun...and blood. I tend to be generous when it comes to little presents and prizes for my PCs, especially when they engage in side-quests/personal stories. But I also follow through with consequences of their actions. If they're being silly, bad things can happen. All of which my players know and accept, of course :) Honesty hurts ;)
Bring plenty of disposables. Holy waters, alchemist's fire, acid flasks, tanglefoot bags, silver blanch...actually, at least 1 weapon blanch of everything. As early as possible get some sort of "ESCAPE" back-up. A potion of Gaseous Form, a Teleport scroll (hey, you can cast that even at 1st level, with enough time and no mishaps), a wand of Dimension Door with 1 or 2 charges left (420-840gp to buy), etc. Something that can get you OUT of a bad situation/location.
Name: Rhialla the Pristine
Name: Cordaldrum
Name: Shelara (but she got “better”)
As an aside, the group decided to use their newly acquired Salve of the Second Chance on Shelara, a ‘present’ from Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch because of their recent losses in the Crow. Shelara was willing to come back, and her body reformed as....an orc. Much laughter and role-playing ensued. A further aside, this was doubly hilarious considering the elf had been disguising herself as a human male using a Hat of Disguise because she was running away from elven Trackers who wanted to find and execute her for aiding the Drow [albeit unknowingly, as she was seduced by a drow in disguise, but ignorance is no excuse ;)]. A great backstory for the character and it got such a fun twist from that Reincarnation. Name: Veld the Shield
Name: Ruis Henderthane
Yes, I have spent an entire day of gaming with no combat. Yes, I enjoyed it. I like my combat, but some campaigns I know are narrative and plot heavy. The plot is resolved through investigation, negotiations, conspiracy planning, running away, and role-playing. One of my regular night DMs likes a plot+narrative style more than combat. As an aside, she decided to take a break and we are going through the World's Largest Dungeon. Combat is not her thing, and we're very likely going to stop the dungeon crawl soon. It's been 5 weeks ;)
If it is slow, use that to your advantage. Get horses, fire arrows. If you suck at firing from a horse, ride on ahead a few hundred feet, dismount, fire a few volleys, re-mount and ride away to do it again before it gets into melee range. Do it in a light forest area so the creature can't charge you. Hire some local hunters to join your posse. A few silver, and the fame that comes with slaying such a beast is their reward, for little risk. If the creature has damage reduction, learn (by experimenting) what it is weak to (i.e. buy a few arrows of each kind of material/alignment and fire away until one of the arrows sinks in like a hot knife in butter. If you are defeated (either because the creature is too powerful, or your DM refuses to let it die), take that in stride. Learn from your mistakes, and recruit more allies to take it down. Cheers
Interesting, when looking at the requirements for the Belt of Mighty Hurling I noticed that the spells required (Bulls Strength and Longshot) cover the Str enhancement and the increased range, but there is nothing distinct for the mechanic of switching in Strength for Dexterity to thrown weapons. That can imply a good fit for a feat. Also, in 3.5 Complete Adventurer they had 2 feats for Str-based throwers. Brutal Throw had no pre-reqs and let you switch Str for Dex for thrown weapons. Power Throw let you use Power Attack with thrown weapons. Talk with your GM and see if you can get on of these feats. Seems an easy switch. Cheers
I have an Oracle with the Wrecker curse in the wings for a future campaign. Demon-spawn Tiefling Oracle of Battle Str: 16
Prehensile Tail (more for flavour)
Feats
Revelations:
Looks to be very, very fun.
Lovely work with the leather outfit on Valeria, Ruloc. I can almost feel that leather as I look at it. ...stops writing before things get weird... But, seriously, nice texture.
My party, a.k.a. "The Fecal Four" after a hilarious romp through the "lair" of Natalya. Shelara - Female elven Evoker (on the run from Kyonin elves for unknowingly aiding drow) Corduldrum - Old male dwarven Cleric of Torag (199 year old know-it-all paper-pusher who has finally been assigned field work) Sir Ruis Henderthane - Male human Fighter [2nd cousin to the central Henderthane family, most of whom are now dead. Semi-exiled to Pathfinders as a 'mutually beneficial partner exchange'. Coup de graced an entangled/immobile worshiper of Calistria who was at 0 hp anyway and had sustained a critical hit to the jaw. Can't think of a better scenario for vengeance ;) ] Alakaide - Female Paladin of Shelyn (looking for ancient pieces of art to protect and serve) Fun bunch!
Name of PC: Indrana a.k.a. The Golden Sun
Story: Curiosity and stubbornness paved the way for this death. The party unlocked the ancient room and confronted Malfeshkenor. Or rather, Malfeshkenor chuckled with pleasure and hunger and appeared amidst the group, cutting half off the members from the doorway and potential escape.
Though the party slowly did damage to the barghest, Malfeshkenor ripped the sorcerer apart in seconds when she didn't back away. Although she was still raggedly breathing, no one could approach to aid her and an eye blink later she was wholly devoured by the evil outsider (causing two massive AoOs from the fighter and bard/barbarian, who still required a few more chops to drop the creature). Kudos to the player, though, as she usually plays Chaotic Neutral Human Rangers.
Name of PC: Alahandra a.k.a. 'Pious'
Story: Entering the thorn maze to Thistletop, Alahandra is the first to encounter a dozen or so displaced goblins from other tribes. Believing this to be an opportunity to give the little blighters a second chance, he asks them to lead the way to the Thistletop chief. His death will free them from their awful conditions. The paladin also asks what is roaring down below a hole to the ocean. The goblins happily take the opportunity to prove their worth to their new tribe by suckering the paladin into going next to the hole and collectively pushing him in.
Paladin fights a bunyip while trying not to drown in his armor. The rest of the party rescue the paladin after killing off the goblins and druid. Paladin refuses healing from a cleric of unknown origin (the player of cleric refused to divulge his deity, although signs pointed to Desna). Wipe out most goblins in the Thistletop barracks, and then the party encounters the Chief riding his giant gecko. A critical bite from the gecko tears out a chunk of the paladin's ribs, dropping the already heavily injured Aasimar. Kudos to the player, though, as he usually plays Lawful Evil Half-Orc Fighters.
Paladin and bard have synergy through Charisma. I would recommend taking at least 4 levels of Paladin, to get Smite Evil 2/day (Channeling Positive Energy is a useful addition to your list of options as well). 5 levels of Paladin is even better, to get Divine Weapon Bond. If you're going Divine Hunter, I would finally recommend taking 6 levels of Paladin, to get Distant Mercy, where you could use your lay on hands within 15 feet of any ally. All great options for adaptability to many combat situations.
Yes, it can be a fun combo. Shelyn, goddess of the arts, music, love and beauty would make an excellent deity for a paladin/bard. Become a ranged support. Smite Evil works with ranged weapons. Focus on Dex and Charisma. Consider Divine Hunter, which is a paladin archetype focused on ranged combat. You lose Heavy Armor Proficiency, which is fine since you want to remain in light armor because of Bard spells. So, once you can afford it, a mithral breastplate is great (since you still have Medium armour proficiency, but the armor is considered Light for bard spells). Open combat with a song, then fire away from the rear while singing. Smite Evil with your bow when necessary. Enjoy!
A Huge variant flesh golem that snatches other zombies (or anything at hand, really), swallows them whole and has an internal 'assembly line' that repairs/modifies the swallowed creature to fit the situation at hand. Ex: PCs using fire spells = golem swallowing regular zombies and they come out with fire resistance (by applying moist/jelly strips of flesh) and fire retardants (foam spray from new nozzles in mouth). PCs using Channel Energy = golem re-configuring zombies with 'Dark Matter' reflective armor and new data input of holy symbol recognition. New long tongues or extra tentacle arm solely to whip out and disarm holy symbols. PCs doing heavy weapon damage = golem re-configuring zombies with phasic shields, granting Displacement 20%. Or the ability to decompose into an ooze as an immediate action. PCs running away too fast = new zombies with centipede legs to match/overrun targets.
Nice scenario!
All hair isn't dead, only the follicles after a certain point. Even if all hair was dead, you probably can't animate individual aspects of a creature. It's a very creative idea, though. Also open to abuse, so if I were your GM I would allow it for very special occasions. For example, expensive/rare components to make it work; a new spell to be researched; at least 1 feat to use Animate Dead on your own hair, and model it after the Witch's hex. Rare components could include: "hair" from a medusa, hair from a special ghost/undead like Sadako from Ringu, the bit of hair that kept growing after a wizard achieved lichdom, etc.
^Exactly. It is an 'escape or I will die' ring. It is not a 'Multi-use greater invisibility and then some cause my allies can still see me and I have decoys prancing around' ring. A Ring of Invisibility is 20,000 gp. This ring, if it works like Oladon suggests, would blow a RoI out of the water. 12,000 gp for unlimited Greater Invisibility and my allies can still see me? yes, please. It's far too good for that price.
Go with Invisibility as in the 2nd level spell. That fits in with the price range. Otherwise the ring-user would get the effect of Greater Invisibility, so you can spend 1 round of combat "preparing" by withdrawing, then get 3 rounds of attacking while invisible and have decoys distracting the enemy. Because it appears the intent of the ring is to *avoid* combat because you are in danger and/or dying, and the price tag fits, I would go with the lesser form of Invisibility. Cheers
Great concept! I know you said no multi-class, but hear me out for a silly, but fun combo. My suggestion is to start with 2 levels of Barbarian (Urban Barbarian). Your controlled anger (making your whole body shake, and not just from the palsy) at all those young whipper-snappers, makes you wanna...shake your cane at them. Crowds part for you like the Red Sea. Your 2nd level Rage Power is: Intimidating Glare. After a few levels the gods notice your antics and a caring deity embraces you, wanting you to live a bit longer so your anger can be channeled to usefulness. Combine that with the cross-bow/shotgun granny. Use the rage to bump your Dex +4 to help fire your shotgun and you can still use your healing/Charisma abilities. You also have a higher starting HP, although you should take Extra Rage to get some more rounds of use. You would also need your DM to hand-wave the ex-barbarian rule and allow your granny to use her Rage because it's the controlled version. Fun RPing :D
Ah, context, you set everything right. @karkon: The OP was explaining an encounter from the Skulls and Shackles AP. It was not a BS situation. The moray eel was there for any old character to find, it was not a specific 'trap' for the Undine. Also, the OP said the character blew his Perception check. That was the 'warning', and it was missed. Blown checks which equal death happens. A lot. If you want further clues, consider this: a shipwreck is a perfect spot for fish to hide/congregate/breed/etc. Where there are fish/prey, there are predators. Anyway, I agree 100% with your last sentence. "Set expectations for your group and see what their expectations are."
Truth to the SM in Kingmaker, although our DM was flexible. He rolled the SM as our random encounter when we were camping. Most of us heard the crashing towards our campsite, and we were in shock when the thing lumbered into view. Doing a quick knowledge check, my cleric of Erastil yelled for the fire to be put out. We won initiative and the first thing we did was "Create Water"/stomp on the fire. With the 'threat' gone, the SM lumbered off into the woods again as we collectively held our breath and then let it out with a whoosh once it was gone. Carrion Crown: spoiler: As DM for this one, the air elemental and eryines summon traps in Book 2 were absolutely deadly. Combined for 3 PC deaths, 1 fall and 2 arrow pincushions. The final abomination was also quite deadly, killing 2 PCs.
Curse of the Crimson Throne: As mentioned it could be done, just take out all references to the dragon possessing the Queen. Instead the Queen is just as ruthless, etc, but on her own agenda. So, there can be a conclusion where the heroes clean up the city, only to discover the Queen has solidified her rule through the chaos. Whether they accept the new Queen's rule (which they helped establish) is up to them.
Council of Thieves: Could end in the third book, in a climatic battle in Delvehaven where the two end villains are somehow down in the Pathfinder Lodge themselves. Taken them out then and the rest of the AP doesn't have to unfold. Of course, that leaves the Council of Thieves still operational, but perhaps a final, final battle with the Council in the open would break their hold on Westcrown (with damning evidence gained from defeating the two evil siblings/villains).
Kingmaker: This can pretty much be ended at any time. "And they lived happily ever after..." can drop at a moment's notice.
Jade Regent: This can be changed to a caravan delivery and hand-off. Basically the heroes will escort Ameiko to the border between Tian Xia and Avistan, either to the Crown of the World or to Goka on the other side. Once there Ameiko will meet with loyalist forces and go off to fulfill her destiny. The heroes have fulfilled the epic escort journey and can return home satisfied their task was done well.
Carrion Crown: Yup, good ending. Get the villain before he can gather all the ingredients for the ritual. Job done.
Rise of the Runelords: Could be ended at any time, although tweaking would be needed for some things (like how come Karzoug doesn't appear if nobody stops the soul harvesting, so maybe tone down the soul harvesting aspect). Cheers!
The +3 to hit from Shocking Grasp applies to the spell. Close, it applies to an attack roll made to deliver the spell. An attack (against an enemy wearing metal armor) that misses by 1-3 still hits, but only partially. The weapon damage is not rolled because the weapon didn't connect. But, the Shocking Grasp can still arc and hit the target, thanks to the +3 to hit bonus for the spell. The weapon has still still 'delivered' the spell. If a wizard uses his Bite attack to deliver a held touch spell (lets say Ghoul touch to make it easy) and his attack roll is less than the AC value of his target, but it would have been enough to hit his target's touch AC, he still missed the attack, he still didn't deliver the spell, and he's still holding the charge. Having weird multi-AC-value partial misses is clunky, confusing, and not part of the rules. Your example with Ghoul Touch is not quite similar enough to make a comparison. That aside, yes the partial is clunky and after double checking the "firing into combat" rules, PF has removed that partial miss scenario (i.e. miss an enemy, hit a friend), so this decision now lies with Rule O and DM fiat. Cheers
James Jacobs commented before, though I do not recall where unfortunately, about the technology in Numeria and beyond and how to stat it up. His suggestion was that the easiest method is just to change the flavor/fluff text. Some examples of mine, partially inspired from what I recall JJ saying: Augmented muscle tissue? = Belt of Giant's Strength (maybe taking the bracers/arms slot instead of belt) Augmented Reflexes? = Belt of Dexterity Internal laser gun? = Spring-loaded wrist-sheath with a wand of scorching ray. Clip of 50 shots/charges. The wrist sheath maintains grip on the wand, allowing it to retract. Usually that's a full-round action, but you can bump the cost to make it a swift action to retract as well. Bio-filter for lungs? = Necklace of Adaptation. Etc. Cheers
My take, although I don't think it would classify as a house rule. The +3 to hit from Shocking Grasp applies to the spell. A Magus can deliver the spell via their weapon using Spell Strike. So, the Magus attacks an enemy wearing metal armor. A hit *without using the +3 bonus* is a hit, as regular (i.e. weapon damage and spell damage). An attack (against an enemy wearing metal armor) that misses by 1-3 still hits, but only partially. The weapon damage is not rolled because the weapon didn't connect. But, the Shocking Grasp can still arc and hit the target, thanks to the +3 to hit bonus for the spell. The weapon has still still 'delivered' the spell. Cheers
I took extra rage power as most of my feats. does that work? Ah, I gotcha. Barb 8 Rage Power = IDR, Barb 9 feat = Extra Rage Power (IDR), Barb 10 Rage Power = IDR. Yup, that works.
Nitpick: You cannot take the Rage Power Increased Damage Reduction 3 times at your level. Only twice. Barb 8 is the pre-req, and it's a level 10 character. Besides that, pretty cool. As to your actual post, why don't you have a discussion with your DM about the balance behind the Gunslinger (i.e. the cost of bullets, the reload time [and increased cost of bullets if you're using paper catridges], the relative short range of the touch AC benefit, and how sunder can really mess you up, especially if your gunslinging kit is stolen/lost/broken). Cheers
Heh - no one will ever explain to my satisfaction why a Bard can't cast a Silence spell.In our campaign, Mokmurian's spell-casting was quickly neutered with a silence spell (a mere 2nd level clerical spell) cast on a token which was moved into his vicinity. His fallback melee abilities were no match for our two ranged archers fronted by two melee warriors. Just saying, one doesn't always need arcana to counter a wizard. Silence = Bard Level 2 spell. You can be satisfied!
Yes, your Burning Hands damage would be 5D4+5, IF you cast it as a Sorcerer spell (Sorcerer 1+1(gnome pyromania)+1(Varisian Tattoo)+2(Magical Knack: Sorcerer). If you cast it as an Oracle spell (Flame mystery), it would be 4D4+4 (Oracle 2+1(gnome pyrimania)+1(Varisian Tattoo). ...unless you are truly a Nature Oracle, in which case, yes you have your damage for a Sorcerer spell correct. Cheers
Awesome! Thanks for posting, Jess. I see the requests are already coming in ;)
SHOUT-OUT to other artists. Don't be intimidated by our love of Ruloc :) If you want to try your hand and share your work, please do. Heck, we had no idea about Ruloc and his talent until he posted here. Let us know about your talent!! Start with a sample pic, choose an existing request, or offer to draw a new request. We love artists, old and new. Showcase yourself!
Take a trait that brings back Survival as a class skill (Darklands Delver, Child of Nature, Jungle Guide etc) Movement is not required as much if you won't be charging. With your low(er) Con, you don't want to be charging anyway. You want to stick with your group, likely flanking with your buddies for a little extra boost to hit. Cool idea :)
I know it's far too late for this advice, but something to try next time a companion falls: Jump after them. Dive down like an arrow, trying to gain more speed than the falling character. Grab them, then activate your Ring of Feather Fall. You will still have to contend with the rapids, but at least your companion has a fighting chance. Cheers!
"Good" and "Evil" is relative to a particular game system. "white" and "black" may exist in some systems, and be extremely grey in others. On Golarion, it is usually white and black (creating undead = evil act, etc) according to the developers. The Pathfinder RPG is not so black and white. "Defacing" and "destroying" an "evil" god's altar or church is usually considered "good", I agree. But if a GM wants to dig deeper, they can consider the *how* the "good" characters did the deed. Or, in other words, does the end justify the means, or vice-versa? By this I mean, consider if a "good" character destroys an altar by smashing it to pieces, splashes some holy water, etc. Then consider the same "good" character destroying the altar by smashing it to pieces, then doing other "stuff" (like peeing, etc). What will their deity/church/team/society think? What will the consequences be (if any)?
I have many "" in use because words have multiple meanings to any particular individual. Solid, agreed upon definitions are key to any debate ;)
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