Bernaditi

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Organized Play Member. 9,761 posts (9,763 including aliases). No reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist. 4 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.



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I'm planning a monk for an upcoming campaign, and I'm pretty undecided about what fighting style I will use. Ascetic, Boar and Jabbing all seem good to me for different reasons

These are my set choices for story or flavor reasons:
Race: Dhampir(Nosferatu)
Class: Unchained Monk(Perfect Scholar)
Trait: Intimidate as a class skill.

Everything else I'm fairly undecided on. It'd be nice if someone has some personal experience using this class and especially those fighting styles. I'm not really against the other fighting styles ,if you have a good idea for it.


Magical Tail wrote:

Prerequisites: Kitsune.

Benefit: You gain a new spell-like ability, each usable twice per day, from the following list, in order: disguise self, charm person, misdirection, invisibility, suggestion, displacement, confusion, dominate person. For example, the first time you select this feat, you gain disguise self 2/day; the second time you select this feat, you gain charm person 2/day. Your caster level for these spells is equal to your Hit Dice. The DCs for these abilities are Charisma-based.

Special: You may select this feat up to eight times. Each time you take it, you gain an additional ability as described above.

Does the text in bold mean that the DC is 10+1/2HD+charisma, instead of being based on the usual level of the spell like most SLAs based on spells do?


The main interest is,“Can you use flying kick with ascetic form and your weapon?” But this applies to other style strikes too that call for a specific attack

ascetic form wrote:
You can use the chosen melee weapon with any class ability that can be used with an unarmed strike, such as an unchained monk’s style strike ability.
flying kick wrote:
The attack made after the movement must be a kick.

So does ascetic form allow me to use my weapon there instead of a kick? Some style strikes allow any unarmed attack, but many limit you to specific unarmed attacks


Memory of function can restore destroyed constructs. Would this work on a dead inevitable who can count as a construct with its Constructed ability?


unchained monk ki power wrote:
Ki Visions (Su) (Pathfinder Unchained pg. 17): A monk with this ability often sees visions of spirits or hears the voice of his departed mentor in his dreams. On any given night during which the monk dreams, he can use this ability to gain the benefits of a divination. If he does, he spends 2 ki points from the next day’s total. A monk must be at least 10th level before selecting this ki power.

What is this ki power supposed to do, because it seems like it gives you the benefit of any divination spell once per night for 2 ki points?


I was wondering about the Human Form of the Cassisian and how it works.

Quote:
SQ change shape (2 of the following forms: Small human-like angel, dove, dog, or Tiny fish, polymorph)

Does the human form have any of the Cassisian's normal abilities? I want to assume it can fly, but does it gain a land speed? Can it use the breath attack?


Basic Paragon

I have been tinkering with this idea for a long time. It started from a desire to make a class that was as simple as possible, while not being too powerful or too weak. It also comes from a desire to emulate classical mythological heroes and pulp heroes.

Originally, the class was only made of ability score increases, with strength and dexterity being equal. But I felt this was maybe a little too simple, so I added the quirks, and switched the dexterity bonus to the lower track to balance. I'm still not sure how I feel about the quirks. I'm not sure if I should allow more of them at higher levels. And I don't care for how all work, especially the exotic and heavy weapons quirk, which don't scale as the others do.

I'd like feedback about the class in general. I'm concerned about the balance, but it feels like it checks out in my head. It's pretty comparable to moderately well built fighter.

Consider level 10. The paragon has BAB 7 with an effective +5 to attack from the +10 strength, so attack bonus of 12 before outside benefits. Meanwhile the fighter has BAB 10 with +2 from weapon training, and likely a +1 from greater weapon focus, so a total +13 before outside bonuses. The paragon has its bonuses outside of combat, but the fighter gets similar bonuses from its bonus feats and advanced weapon training. It's hard to one to one compare all of that, but it feels pretty close.

I've only gotten limited playtesting of the Basic Paragon, but it seems to perform about as well as you'd expect a fighter to perform.

Basic Paragon


The planar binding spells seem to be written with an adversarial interaction in mind. But what about using it to just call “friendly” creatures. Like, if every day I use planar binding to ask an angel or agathian if it’d like to help out some poor people. Or what if I call an inevitable to benefit a society? Then you could just give it the option to head back or do things it’d want to do anyway.

What are some reasons this is a bad idea and what could be done to get around those issues?


I was reading Two-Weapon Grace and couldn't help but notice that it works with the Magus' Spell Combat

Two-Weapon Grace wrote:

Prerequisites: Dex 15; Fencing GraceUI, Slashing GraceACG, or Starry GraceUI; Two-Weapon Fighting; Weapon Finesse.

Benefit: You can gain the benefit of the Fencing GraceUI, Slashing GraceACG, or Starry GraceUI feats while fighting with two weapons. Your penalties from two-weapon fighting increase by 2 on all attack rolls you make when doing so, and you can’t decrease the penalties to less than –2 even if other abilities would reduce the penalties further. Add 1/2 your Dexterity bonus to damage with your off-hand weapon instead of 1/2 your Strength modifier. If you attack without using your off-hand weapon, you can use the aforementioned feats despite your other hand being occupied.

In addition, Two-Weapon Grace counts as Double Slice for the purposes of qualifying for the Two-Weapon Rend feat.

Normal: You gain no benefit from the listed feats if you don’t have a free hand.

Having a feat tax of two-weapon fighting is terrible for a magus, so I doubt anyone would ever actually do this in anything other than a meme build. But I thought it was funny.


There are monsters that can be summoned that have constant abilities. Are these abilities already on when summoned? Or do they have to activated

If they are "already on", does it work if the ability has a costly material component, like an Erinyes and its constant true seeing?

Does it make a difference that the True Seeing is listed in the Erinyes's "Senses" category?


Quote:
Spirit Totem, Lesser (Su) (Advanced Player's Guide pg. 77): While raging, the barbarian is surrounded by spirit wisps that harass her foes. These spirits make one slam attack each round against a living foe that is adjacent to the barbarian. This slam attack is made using the barbarian’s full base attack bonus, plus the barbarian’s Charisma modifier. The slam deals 1d4 points of negative energy damage, plus the barbarian’s Charisma modifier.

Does it matter when the foe was adjacent to the barbarian? Do they need to start or end next to each other? Could the barbarian move through an adjacent square and get that spirit slam on an enemy as he's passing by?


I'm making a druid that uses the Eagle Domain and I noticed something unexpected about the Hawkeye ability

Quote:
Hawkeye (Su): As a swift action, you may add a bonus equal to half your druid level (minimum +1) on one ranged attack or on one Perception check. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

At first, I thought this was the kind of ability that lasts for one round, but abilities like that always say so, as far as I know. So, can you pre-emptively use this ability before combat and then get the benefit on the next ranged attack you make?

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It also occurs to me that the text could be interpreted to mean that you can make a ranged attack or a perception check as a swift action, but that seems rather strong for a domain power, so I doubt that was the intention.


I know there are some 3PP Adventure Paths out there, but I have no idea which ones are good. Could some people speak from experience of playing in or running a 3PP Adventure Path. Which are best and why?


These were really nice for getting APs and for allowing new players to get caught up on books. But it feels like PF1 has been largely dropped so I wonder if we’ll ever see another one for PF1.


A lot of people complain about the synthesist summoner, but it is also a very interesting and versatile tool for building so many various characters. So, maybe we can come up with a community standard that fixes the common complaints while keeping the interesting stuff.

So, what are your main complaints about the synthesist?

I currently see two main problems. The first is that it gives a lot of temporary hit points for first level, making it way too tanky. My solution would be that you don’t get temp hp equal to the eidolon’s hp, but just 1 temp hp per synthesist level. To offset this loss, I think it would be fine to allow these temp hit points to regenerate at the rate of 1 per hour.

The second problem is how synthesist breaks point buy by replacing ability scores. I’m not sure how to fix this one though. Is there some good option to replace the current system of replacing ability scores? Is losing that aspect of the synthesist going too far and losing too much of what makes the archetype fun?”


What could go wrong if you just removed the nonlethal damage from Burn?

This is more of a theoretical discussion than an actual House Rule I was thinking of adding, but what are the merits of the nonlethal damage mechanic? It seems to give a lot of unnecessary and fiddly math. Burn is already capped by total and per round, so without the nonlethal damage, you still shouldn't be able to do any infinite exploits.

Should using kineticists without the nonlethal damage be a common house rule?


I have an idea for a base class that seems pretty simple, but I simultaneously wonder if it is too strong or too weak. And I can't think of a name for the thing, that I like.
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This was the basic idea, but seemed a little too dry. So, I also added the Stat Alternative system below.
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Hit Die: d8
Starting Wealth: 3d6 x 10 gp (average 105 gp).
Class Skills: (All skills that can normally be used completely untrained.)
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier
BAB: 3/4 progression
Saves: All slow progression
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The class is proficient with all simple weapons, plus one martial weapon chosen when taking the class. The class is also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Stat Progression: At first level, and every level thereafter, the class increases all of its ability scores by 1 point.


So, I'm dealing with this ability and have some questions. Interested in popular opinion.

Quote:
Master’s Illusion (Sp): At 8th level, you can create an illusion that hides the appearance of yourself and any number of allies within 30 feet for 1 round per cleric level. This ability otherwise functions like the spell veil. The save DC to disbelieve this effect is equal to 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your Wisdom modifier. The rounds do not need to be consecutive.

So, "hides the appearance" made me think this was some form of invisibility, but it "otherwise" functions like the spell veil.

Quote:
You instantly change the appearance of the subjects and then maintain that appearance for the spell's duration. You can make the subjects appear to be anything you wish. The subjects look, feel, and smell just like the creatures the spell makes them resemble. Affected creatures resume their normal appearances if slain. You must succeed on a Disguise check to duplicate the appearance of a specific individual. This spell gives you a +10 bonus on the check.

So, I guess it's some form of disguise? Which is disappointing considering the duration, but it made me think. What if I took the appearance of something that's naturally invisible like an invisible stalker or an aether elemental? Or barring that, what if I took the appearance of something very small, like an ant?


Has anyone tried combining these before?

positive blast wrote:
You blast your foe with positive energy. The positive energy damage from positive blast and its composites harms only undead and other creatures harmed by positive energy. It never heals creatures, even if they would be healed by positive energy, but it damages haunts and deals full damage to incorporeal undead.
kinetic fist wrote:
You surround your body with energy or elemental matter from your kinetic abilities. You can use this form infusion as part of an attack action, a charge action, or a full-attack action to add damage to each of your natural attacks and unarmed strikes until the beginning of your next turn. Since kinetic fist is part of another action, using this wild talent doesn’t provoke any additional attack of opportunity. You deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per 3 dice of your kinetic blast’s damage (minimum 1d6), and this damage is of the same type as your kinetic blast’s damage. This extra damage ignores spell resistance and doesn’t apply any modifiers to your kinetic blast’s damage, such as your Constitution modifier.

So, you aren’t really doing the blast’s damage, just damage of the same type. So, does that additional positive energy damage from kinetic fist hurt living creatures or not?


I’m building a character who is also a trained butler and I was wondering what skills would be the most fitting.

Is profession(butler) a thing?


I am looking at building a healing shaman and I'm trying to decide if witch doctor is a good choice. The extra channel pool is 3 levels behind, leaving me wondering if it would ever be enough healing to bother using it in combat. Counter Curse and Counter Hex are decent hex-equivalent abilities, but they are very situational. But my real concern is that the witch doctor takes so very many of your hexes. I suppose this can be remedied with extra hex feats, but channeling builds are pretty feat heavy themselves, and I'm just not sure if the witch doctor is worth the investment.


I’d like some opinions on what a guardian spirit’s charisma should be.

Quote:
Ability Scores: The guardian spirit’s Charisma score becomes 18 unless the base creature’s Charisma score was higher. Each of the guardian spirit’s ability scores increases when it’s summoned by higher-level spells, as noted on the Conjured Guardian table above.

So, the charisma is at least 18, but then all ability scores increase by at least 2. So does the first guardian spirit have a charisma of 18 or 20. It feels weird to be set at 18 in the first sentence just to immediately be raised again in the next sentence.


Has anyone ever used their familiar to deliver a teleport spell? It seems like a pretty solid idea to send an ally or an object somewhere without having to follow along yourself.

Is there any reason that this doesn't or shouldn't work?


Are there any rules for masterwork vehicles? Do they count as tools? I was thinking of getting one of my characters a “sweet ride”.


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Are there any good mythic adventure paths or modules out there? If so, which are the best?


It feels like the rules for critical hits and misses require you to compare every strike against 3 different armor classes. You have the base armor class, and then the 2 critical armor classes.

Personally, this feels clunky to me and like a pretty big burden to the DM to need to run the AC numbers for every attack multiple times, to know if someone criticaled or not.


A number of rules refer to unattended objects, but the rules never seem to mention what qualifies as being attended.


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So far, I’m rather liking the 3 action system. It allows for a lot of variety in what you can do on your turn and doesn’t create the issues of having so many different action types, that sometimes convert to other action types in weird ways.


The current language for Step 4 of setting your ability score doesn't seem to specify that you can't use these four boosts on the same ability score. But the examples given imply you should use all four boosts on different ability scores.


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Something that bugged me in Pathfinder is that there didn't ever seem to be an actual meaningful difference between Law and Chaos other than types and descriptors for creatures and spells. Someone could do almost anything and give a reasonable argument for it to be either a lawful or a chaotic act. So, what is the value in even having that alignment axis? Does it ever inform what your character would do in a situation?

At least with good vs evil, you can make some baselines. Doing something that lessens you to benefit others is good. Doing something that lessens others to benefit yourself is evil. And then there are lots of shades of grey based around those two baselines, so while it can still be confusing, at least there is some firm ground to stand on.


I just got around to reading the paladin preview, and I saw the prohibition against murder. But is murder ever defined in game? Because it seems that's an incredibly grey area, especially in a game like this.

The first problem scenario that comes to mind is neutral creatures doing shenanigans. Like, if the paladin sees a bunch of neutral guys robbing a temple, would he be forced to use non-lethal damage to capture them, lest he be murdering them?


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For Summon Monster 2-9 and Summan Nature's Ally 2-9, remove the ability to summon multiple monsters from lower level spell lists. Instead, you may summon a creature from a lower level list and apply the advanced simple template or the giant simple template to it.
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I have long had this idea for a rule to cut down on the clutter of summoning spells. I feel the basic idea is ok, but there are a few related issues that don't work with this. Most obviously the Superior Summoning feat's effect is based on summoning multiple creatures, but that feat is a prerequisite of other summoning options, and given for free by others. So, I feel I just need something good to replace that feat's benefit.

So, does anyone have any good options for what superior summoning could do? Superior summoning basically increases the power of summoning from a lower level list by 33% to 100%, depending on how well you roll. But I'm not sure how to represent that with bonuses, or even if I want to heap yet more bonuses on what's already a lot of possible bonuses getting added to these creatures.


I am making a character for a new campaign and would like to heal while being intelligence based, and not being a witch. Is there anything like that?


I was looking at making a winter witch and came upon the Cold Flesh ability

Quote:
At 1st level, a winter witch gains endure elements as a constant spell-like ability, but only against cold temperatures.

It's a constant spell-like ability, but doesn't specify that it can only target the witch. Is this intended to only effect the witch, or can she use it to protect others from the cold as well? If it weren't a constant ability, I'd not even question it, but giving everyone you come across permanent endure elements seems a little too strong.


Has anyone used or considered using any of the Starfinder rules for their Pathfinder game? Personally, I was thinking of using the stat system in Starfinder, but I'm not sure if that would cause any unforeseen issues in a Pathfinder game. To be clear, I'm talking about using the Starfinder style point buy and the Starfinder style stat adjustments for leveling up.

But I'm just interested in general about anyone trying to use Starfinder rules in a Pathfinder game.


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Has anyone addressed what it's like to live in a culture where having your idea of a perfect body is only 75 credits away?

What would life be like for the very poor? Would there be charities to offer the serum for free? Would a person's looks become less important when they are so easily obtained? Would cosmetics only be useful for obtaining unnatural effects like blue hair or golden skin? Would people be judged on having non-standard bodies, because they could easily choose to look like what the rest of society finds attractive? Would people in relationships feel constantly pressured to change their bodies for their significant other? Would sexual dimorphism become more or less pronounced?


The star shaman mystic has an ability called walk the void and I'm not sure what all it can do.

Quote:

Walk the Void (Su) 1st Level

You are immune to the harmful environmental effects of outer space and vacuum. You also gain a fly speed of 20 feet while in space. In addition, whenever you can see the stars, you can determine your precise location. Finally, add Piloting to your list of class skills.

So the first sentence says you are "immune to the harmful environmental effects of outer space and vacuum". But what all does that include? Is not being able to breath a harmful environmental effect? What about cosmic radiation?


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

I'm asking this to know when the "Walk the Void" is active, but there may be other abilities that work in "Space".

"You also gain a fly speed of 20 feet while in space." -Walk the Void

So, if I'm on a Space Station, am I "in space"? What if the Space Station is deactivated or without atmosphere?


Does anyone know why the leveling seems slow in this AP? It only expects you to be level 7 at the beginning of book 4. At that rate, it sounds like the AP ends around level 13.

It's extra odd, because the default xp track in Starfinder is the same as the fast xp track.


So, say your investigator is on watch and a goblin sneaks towards your camp. Does the investigator get to add inspiration to his perception roll? Or can he not because perception takes a free action and it is not his turn?

Quote:
As a free action, he can expend one use of inspiration from his pool to add 1d6 to the result of that check, including any on which he takes 10 or 20. This choice is made after the check is rolled and before the results are revealed.


I'm not sure how this ability works and I've found different interpretations regarding it. So first, let's look at the ability.

Quote:
Weapon Training (Ex): At 5th level, a Molthuni arsenal chaplain gains weapon training as per the fighter class feature, but the benefits of this weapon training apply only to the his sacred weapons (weapons with which the warpriest has taken Weapon Focus). This ability replaces channel energy.

I can see two main interpretations of this:

Interpretation 1: "It's just like fighter weapon training", meaning you still pick weapon groups at the same levels as the fighter. But you only gain the benefits of weapons in those groups that are also your sacred weapon. This interpretation is possibly weaker to start, but gives you extra groups of weapon training to spend on advanced weapon training.
Focused Quote: gains weapon training as per the fighter class feature

Interpretation 2: "Your sacred weapons are their own weapon group", meaning that all of your sacred weapons benefit from this ability, regardless of what fighter weapon group they are in. This interpretation is more frontloaded, giving you a potentially wider list of useful weapons in your artifical group, but would mean that you don't get further weapon groups that could be used for advanced weapon training.
Focused Quote: the benefits of this weapon training apply only to the his sacred weapons


How does everyone think the vigilante with avenger stacks with the evangelist prestige class?

Quote:
An avenger gains a base attack bonus equal to his vigilante level instead of using those listed on Table: The Vigilante. He adds this value to any other base attack bonus gained from other classes or racial Hit Dice as normal.
Quote:
Aligned Class (Ex): Evangelists come from many different backgrounds, and they show an unusual range of diversity. At 2nd level, the evangelist must choose a class she belonged to before adding the prestige class to be her aligned class. She gains all the class features for this class, essentially adding every evangelist level beyond 1st to her aligned class to determine what class features she gains. She still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of her aligned class as well as those of the evangelist prestige class.


I'm feeling a little directionless on this character and was hoping some of you may have some fun ideas.

The restraints:
*Brown-fur transmuter arcanist for the class
*Stats were rolled as str15,dex14,con14,int15,wis13,cha13
*Paizo material only.
*Starting at level 3.
*May not have access to really rare races.

My main expectation is to hand out strong buffs to my party, but that seems to be covered by default. And I'm not sure what I want to do for characterization. This guy just doesn't feel like the usual smarty-pants wizard. And I tend to like a dash of whimsy in my characters.


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

The kineticist's telekinetic finesse is worded pretty simply, "You can perform any sort of fine manipulation you choose within close range, including attempting Sleight of Hand and Disable Device checks."

But there exists a similar ability in the arcane trickster's ranged ledgermain, "An arcane trickster can use Disable Device and Sleight of Hand at a range of 30 feet. Working at a distance increases the normal skill check DC by 5, and an arcane trickster cannot take 10 on this check. Any object to be manipulated must weigh 5 pounds or less. She can only use this ability if she has at least 1 rank in the skill being used."

So is the arcane trickster referencing a rule that's not listed elsewhere, or is its limitation specific to its ability and not applicable to other uses of ranged disable device and slight of hand?


The shaman can grab some spells from the cleric list with the human FCB, but I'm not seeing a lot of good spells they don't already have. Does anyone have some good cleric spells they like to pickup on their human shaman?


I was looking at the Decoy familiar, and it has this ability:
"At 11th level, a decoy can transform into a perfect likeness of its master, as the alter self spell. It can hold this form for up to 1 minute per caster level; upon changing back, the decoy must remain in its natural form for an equal amount of time before transforming again."

So, assuming my hedgehog transforms into a copy of me, would it be wearing a copy of my equipment? Would it be naked?


2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

How explicit does a supernatural ability need to be to change its activation time?

From the combat chapter:
"Supernatural Abilities (Su): Using a supernatural ability is usually a standard action (unless defined otherwise by the ability's description). Its use cannot be disrupted, does not require concentration, and does not provoke attacks of opportunity."

But some supernatural abilities, such as the witch's slumber hex and the warpriest's battle companion blessing, work "as" spells that have a full round cast time. Does being based on these spells increase the activation time of supernatural abilities to that of full round spells?


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It occurs to me that the shield line of feats needs an alternative prerequisite to two weapon fighting. Not every shield user that wants feats such as shield slam and shield mastery should have to have two weapon fighting and the 15 dex that comes with it.

I assume that this would work like dirty fighting, where the feat lets you count as having TWF and a dexterity of 15 for the purposes of feats that specify shields.

But, like dirty fighting, what other minor thing could this feat do? Maybe +1 to AC when threatened by 2 or more opponents? Maybe a +1 to attacks with a shield against opponents threatening your allies?