So in Path of the Hellknight, the Order of the Gate has a Signifier by the name of Ariotol the Listener.
He's a LN male psychic 10/ Hellknight signifier 4.
My Question is: How?
To qualify for Hellknight Signifier you need either Arcane Armor Training (which is useless for a psychic caster) or Warrior Priest (which you need to have either domains or mysteries to qualify for).
By current RAW a psychic could simply take Arcane Armor Training and sit on a wasted feat...and a wasted prestige class ability, but outside of multiclassing that seems to be the only way into it.
So, how do the psychic magic users of the Inner Sea become Signifiers?
So the group I'm playing with just broke into Book 3 of MM, and my character has broken a subsystem. Inadvertently, mind you.
Wanting to play a lore class and NOT be an archaeologist Bard, I rolled an Investigator.
Not feeling like alchemy was a good match for my vision of the character and liking the Occult Adventures book, I took the Psychic Detective archetype, granting me spells from the Psychic list at the progression (for both spells per day and known) of a Bard.
Wanting a historian, I took the Osirionologist feat out of People of the Sands (knowledge(History)) and the racial alternative out of Inner Sea Races for humans that allows for two languages per rank.
Skill ranks are divided amongst Knowledges, Linguistics, and Spellcraft, with key researcher skills maxed (such as History).
Spells known include a small handful of combat spells, Comprehend Languages, and this little gem of a spell called HYPERCOGNITION
This was all just to suit the concept of a historian and researcher.
I made the character with the intent on being a researcher, but I had no idea of the Research Subsystem or the mechanics it operates off of.
I had no idea I would be breaking the Research Subsystem...
Breaking the system:
So, start out with the Check:
Being an Int based class with all knowledges; I have a pretty decent score in any given knowledge; low ones (only a single skill rank)sit at +9, high ones crack +14 at level 6.
Next, all rolls dealing with Osirion or its people get +1 from Osirionologist.
HYPERCOGNITION gives me a +6, up to the results of a natural 20 on the d20 roll.
All knowledges get an additional +1d6 via Inspiration.
I'm breaking DC20 on low rolls, high rolls I'm mid 30s.
not too shabby for lvl6.
Then there's the damage:
As a class that can make all knowledge checks untrained (Keen Recollection), I deal a d12 of damage +Int to the library.
Good, but not overpowered, right?
But wait, there's more!
HYPERCOGNITION
HYPERCOGNITION also states that "Immediately after casting the spell, you can begin spending the necessary time to perform an Intelligence check, a Linguistics check to detect a forgery or decipher a hidden message, or a Knowledge check. If the check requires at least 3 rounds, you can perform it five times as quickly (minimum 1 round). "
Meaning that each of these checks, which are supposed to take a day of research, are done in a mere fifth of a day.
This single spell really makes the difference, as I can effectively attempt four checks per day (I only have four second level spells per day).
So yeah, Research Subsystem has been defeated, at least for the time being.
What was supposed to be days of perusing over musty tomes and obscure lore is now some light reading.
Is my character OP?
I don't think so, because my combat ability is fairly lackluster, being focused on research.
The things that have been keeping me in check?
Much like a real life researcher, paywalls are my undoing.
While it seems that most of Paizo's Adventure Paths run the nebulous "any alignment" and many run "any non-evil", I find myself particularly drawn to ones with stronger alignment themes.
So far, we've had some very good aligned adventures.
Skull and Shackles, the quintessential pirate AP, is the Chaotic adventure path; characters of any chaotic alignment feel right at home.
Wrath of the Righteous is the definitive Good adventure path.
Mummy's Mask plays heavily on the themes of Neutrality, both in the duplicity of good and evil and the absence of strong conviction.
Now with Hell's Vengeance we have a pan-Evil adventure, where any evil alignment is fair game.
What I can't seem to find is the Lawful AP.
Hell's Vengeance, while about putting down rebellion, is decidedly the Evil adventure path, and the players guide to Wrath of the Righteous explicitly states that the themes are good vs evil rather than law vs chaos.
Am I missing the adventure, or is there simply not one to date?
Were Paizo to publish a Lawful themed adventure path, what would you desire/expect from it?
So I was writing up a spreadsheet of the Godmind encounter (final act of Book 6, the Divinity Drive) and noticed that the experience total for an unweakened Godmind is short.
Adding up the CRs of the monsters, I came up with 1,843,200 points.
This is 614,400 points below the stated CR26 experience total, and would allow for an additional CR22 to be added.
Of course, there is the Souls of the Faithful effect in play when Unity is unweakened.
Does this effect account for the missing CR22?
Or is my math simply off?
*Note* Math for a fully weakened Unity comes up to 313,600 points, more in line with the 301,200 allotted for the stated CR20.
I use the frumpy Tarrasque.
I like the idea of a derpy version of one of the biggest baddies in RPG history.
43 other users use this avatar.
While that's not too many, it's also more than just me. Inevitably I see someone else using it somewhere, somewhen.
And when I do, I just get sorta urked.
I know that there's no reason I should be.
I know that I know I share this avatar with 43 others.
But something deep inside just makes me go
"Hey! You're not me!"
So how badly does it bother you when you see someone else using the same avatar as you?
This here, this very thing is the reason that I am a Paizo fan.
Many other companies would simply write the material, playtest it themselves, then ship it.
But Paizo let's us, the consumers, playtest it. They let us provide feedback.
And what's more: They listen.
Even now, on day 2 of the playtest release, slight modifications to the classes are being made based on the voices of the customers (warpriests get proficiency wit their god's favored weapon.)
The developers listen to us, because they want to see as good of a final product as we do.
So to all of you developers out there, and to all of my fellow fans and playtesters.
So I was looking through the "Worst things your GM has done to you?" Thread, and realized that most of my most recent stories are not of my DM, but rather of my fellow players. So Here's a thread devoted to those other fellows sitting around the table, and the woe they bring us...
Both the Scroll Scholar and the Seeker archetypes presented in the Pathfinder Field guide are able to be taken as one of two different classes. So my question is: what about both?
Archetypes replace class features, and multiple archetypes can be taken if there is no overlap, but there is nothing substantial written on taking the same archetype with different classes. Can a multiclassed character be a Scroll Scholar(Cleric)/Scroll Scholar(Wizard)? Would the class level stack for purposes of the 1/2 lvl to a knowledge roll (via Diligent student)? What about the 5th lvl additional Knowledge skill of Diligent student? I assume that Secrets Revealed would still only kick at 5th lvl (cleric) or 5th lvl (Wizard), since it replaces features that a 5th character lvl (Such as a 3 cleric/2 wizard) would not have.
I'd like to dedicate a thread for GMs to share their original ideas for unique encounters to add to the Skulls and Shackles campaign. Feel free to add your own!
The Isle of One Eyed Sheep:
This adventure takes place some time after the PCs acquire their own boat, and can be scaled for higher levels.
Some time while the PCs are scouring the seas for plunder and disrepute, they stumble across a small, lush, unassuming island; a small, smoldering peak, dense jungles around its base, and large, open fields from jungle's edge to beachfront. Through the spyglass, the lookout can tell that this uncharted island is home to a great flock of sheep. Upon nearing the island, it becomes apparent that these are not normal sheep; they are nearly the size of a cow! Should the PCs land, they find that these sheep have another distinguishing feature; they have one single, massive eye in the center of their forehead. As they investigate the flock, the first encounter happens: the territorial alpha ram.
Use the stats for a bison for the ram, the sheep have stats for aurochs. The sheep flock together as the ram charges the trespassers, and do not fight unless attacked themselves. The ram fights until at 1/6th hp (7 for a standard bison), at which point it submits, or flees if still attacked.
When the PCs return to the flock, they will notice that some of the flock have been sheered. These are obviously attended to by someone, or something. Searching he island, they will come across a large, rudimentary hut, currently unoccupied. Inside the hut they find crude and simple items; a large size pile of wool bedding, a crudely spun blanket, jars of lamb organs, and the like. A perceptive PC will notice that there is no water being held here, though there is what appears to be a wash basin. The hut's resident is currently out gathering water from a spring in the forest, and he returns just as the PCs are about to leave.
The owner of the hut is a cyclopes, but PCs may only guess as to the singularity of his eyes due to the mask he wears. The giant eclipses the door, casting shadow over the room. He wears a mask of a hideous three-eyed hagfish. A DC 30 Knowledge(Religion) reveals this to be a very uncommon depiction of Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters. The cyclops is a hermit, and as such only knows Giant and Cyclops, not common, wields a greatclub as oppose to the standard greataxe, and has Profession(farmer) as oppose to Profession(seer). He starts by dropping the water jugs he was carrying and yelling at the PCs in Cyclops.
The cyclopes begins the encounter as unfriendly. If he is made indifferent, he tells the PCs that he wishes to be left alone and tells them to leave. Failure to do so makes him immediately hostile. If made friendly, the cyclopes allows the PCs to stay for a time, offering them food and water. If made helpful, he gives the PCs his mask as a token of friendship and agrees to allow the PCs to his herd's wool.
If combat begins (either through failed diplomacy, the PCs wearing out their welcome, or the PCs attacking), the cyclops attacks the nearest PC first. If hard pressed, he uses his Flash of Insight to threaten a critical on a PC, hoping to thin their ranks.
Treasure:
The cyclops has his standard equipment: Large hide armor, Large greatclub, and Large heavy crossbow. His mask magically sizes when removed to the size of the one removing it, and appears to be a Goz Mask (Inner Sea World Guide). In actuality, it is a cursed Demon Mother's Mask (Gods and Magic).
The one eyed sheep are a variable source of plunder; they are worth one point of plunder if slaughtered, two points if taken alive and sold, or one point per four months if allowed to live on the island. Note that the sheep's wool is unusable if they are not properly tended to, so the PCs must revisit every month or leave a dedicated farmhand (a person with at least one rank in Profession(farmer) or be denied the plunder point until four months after the conditions are met.
Cursed Mask:
CL8
The mask does not interfere with spell casting or daily activities, and occupies the Head slot.
This mask appears to be a Goz Mask, a mask useful to sailors. Goz Masks allow you to see through rain, fog, and silt, give you a bonus on resisting wind effects, and allows the wearer to breath water for one hour a day.
Instead, this mask grants a +2 on Handle Animal and Heal, and allows the wearer to smell when an animal is in heat. The mask treats the wearer as if his patron was Lamashtu, allowing him to cast Summon Monster II to summon a fiendish squid once per day. It also allows the wearing to interbreed with any animal within one size category of themselves, often resulting in monstrous offspring, such as gnolls, lizardfolk, and natural lycanthopes in hybrid form.
The mask targets the wearer with suggestion whenever he detects an animal in heat, causing them to desire to breed with the target (DC 15 negates). The mask cannot be removed without a remove curse being cast.
Alright, as I mentioned in another thread, I have a player in my local PFS who has taken Racial Heritage (Kitsune).
I understand that by Mike Brock's ruling on this thread, the player is unable to make use of options available to that race from ARG.
The questions come down to this:
1: Can he still have Racial Heritage (Non-core race)? By raw, at this moment, he can, although I understand that PFS uses a different set of regulations at times.
2: How does Racial Heritage manifest? The player took it only because he wanted his character to have fox ears and a tail. Some say this is fine, others say that racial heritage only manifests in the blood. For PFS, which is it?
Again, in this other thread I have seen arguments for both sides. Neither the FAQ nor additional rules page address this topic, and I would like to have my questions answered officially by top brass if possible.
Not to reopen an old would, but has there been an official ruling on reskin rules in PFS?
Primarily, I want to know if the following are ok, provided the DM is informed ahead of time:
Cleaver (as a handaxe)
Two handed miner's pick (as a scythe)
Oversized khopesh (as a katana and readily identified as such)
I also have had a player who wanted to have animal parts for asthetic purposes( fox ears, tail) but did not have acess to the boon for kitsune. I allowed for them to take Racial Heritage (Kitsune) to achieve this effect, as by raw the feat is available to humans.
I have a barbarian (Ben Dan) who has ogre-oni blood in his heritage that I used Racial heritage (Half-Orc) to simulate.
Are these reskins premissable, or are they a no-go?
Dragon*Con is little over a month out and I'm still on the fence about attending it or not. I made the pilgramage down from Pittsburgh last year and had a blast. I was thinking about repeating the process, but to my woe there is no PFS on the schedual!
The Dragon*Con newsletter that went out said that PFS would be making a showing again, but I haven't seen it on the Dragon*Con registry, or found anything about it at these foruems since last year.
Before I dedicate myself to spending eight hours crammed in a car with my friends, I need to know for sure if PFS is going on. Additionally, if it is going on, is there a call for DMs? I'd happily help out, but I'd need to know in advance.
I understand that in PFS Monster Feats are not typically legal unless explicitly granted by another source (ie Animal Companions and Imp. Nat. Armor). The eidolon feat description says that they have access to all feats they qualify for. Does this mean that they qualify for monster feats. Can a flying eidolon gain Wingover, Hover, or Flyby Attack?
I'm specifically interested in if an eidolon with the Constrict ability can gain Ability Focus (constrict) and thus go higher in the Final Embrace feat tree than the first feat in society.
I posed this question in the Ultimate Magic PFS thread, but got no official answer to it.
The Vivisectionist alchemist archtype from UM replaces bombs with sneak attack, counting alchemist levels as rouge levels for purposes of sneak die. In PFS, the Alchemist gets Extra Bomb instead of Brew Potion as a first level feat. In PFS, does the Vivisectionist get a different feat, or is he stuck with one that modifies a class ability he no longer has?
Some of the class substitution options, such as the Natural Weapon fighting style for Rangers and the Eagle Shaman have the ability to gain Beastiary feats (such as Improved Natural Weapon and Flyby attack) as bonus feats. According to the printing of the Society rules I have, Beastiary feats are prohibited. Is there an exception for these classes that gain axcess to them, or a substitution for the lack of these feats?
I appologize if this is better suited for a "rules" forum, but I figured I'd post it here as it specifically deals with Society.
For a gamestyle based heavily in balence, witches get the short end of the stick when it comes to replacing dead familiars in Society. Druids wait one session, wizards pay 100 gold per level. Witches pay 500 gold per level AND need to reteach (buy) any and all spells they gained with the old familiar.
I want to know about intentional replacement.
Improved Familiar can add a particularly interesting bit a flavor to a witch.
It can represent the growth of her familiar as she improves as a caster.
Her housecat can be more than a mere animal. At level 3 it turns out her familiar is celestial, at 7 it reveals itself to be a Silvanshee. Her snake turns entropic, then forms into a Voidworm. In a truely vile act, she sacrifices her loyal fox, appeasing the devils, who grant her an Imp as a companion.
It can represent the bond between the witch and her mysterious patron.
A witch of Elements could be gifted the service of a small elemental or a mephit. A Lyrakien compliments a witch of Deception quite nicely. Plague and Cacodaemons go hand in hand. (Yes, I know this is a ton of Beastiary 2. That's what's sitting in front of me at the moment.)
The Improved Familiar feat is OOZING with possibilities for flavor for a witch.
The question then is how badly is the witch being punished for doing something cool? Does the witch need to pay full out to replace a non-dead familiar, or can it be assumed that the new familiar learns from the last or even still is the last, abiet in a different body? It's really just not fair to make a third level witch pay 1500g (+ spells) just to make use of a feat, and while I'd waive it as a DM, I'd like to know how exactlly it would function in Society.
As of now, the biggest weakness of guns seems to be their prohibitively high costs to own and opperate. To see how the Gunslinger and guns fit into the economy of the game, I figured we could look at Pathfinder Society.
Keep in mind that Society attempts to keep things balenced. There's no rolling for starting gold, no Rich Parents trait, no sharing wealth, and no crafting. Everyone starts with 150gp and everyone gets a set amount of swag at the end of session.
Currently, no class begins with free items. The Witch comes in with the most free "gear" in the form of a 500gp familiar. Arcane Sorcerer comes in with 105gp(Wizard familiar, and Echrew Components feat, effectivly 5gp for a spellpouch), Wizard at 100gp for a familiar, and Sorcerers at 5gp. Cavaliers and Druids come in with an animal companion of no monitary value. Other classes recieve only the starting gold given, 150gp.
Now compare that to the gunslinger. He starts play with at least 1500 gold invested in weaponry for free, not to mention bullets and powder.
Yet, from what I can see from playtests, the level 1 gunslinger with 2k in free gear, is no more powerful than the level 1 fighter with only 150gp.
DM: "Ok, your musket has misfired and gained the broken condition"
Gunslinger: "I draw my greatsword and charge into battle."
The first thing that jumps out at me with the Gunslinger is that it has complete proficiency with Martial Weapons. It may just be me, but this seems more than a little off. Yes, it is supposed to be a fighter alt. However, there doesn't seem to be any support for the proficiencies beyond this.
Suggestion: Make it a base class, give it an alternative proficiencies list. Simple weapons, firearms, light martial weapons, and rapiers, or some other variant list focusing on more swashbuckler-esque weaponry.
Gunslinger: "Ok, I apply poison to my bullet. Now I need a ranged touch attack to apply this poison to my foe, right?"
DM: "But....that bullet would rub in the chamber..and wouldn't the shot get rid of the poison coating?"
Gunslinger: "There's nothing against it in the rules!"
Not only is poison an overly potent pair with guns since it's delivered via ranged touch attack, but it makes little sense when thinking about how to actually apply poison to musket balls.
Suggestion: Clause that says that poisons cannot be applied to firearms ammo through nonmagical means.
While I like the concept of Words of Power, there is one issue that I feel needs clarified; the use of Metamagic Feats.
I take it that a metamagic word spell uses a spell slot of x-levels higher and otherwise has the same word limit? How do words and metamagic that effect casting time interract? Do words have verbal and/or somatic components? Can they be affected by still/silent spell? The sheer concept of a "word" spell that can be cast silently is somewhat novel.
