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Sovereign Court

Does Improvisation allow a character to make knowledge checks above DC 10 for knowledge skills in which they have no ranks?

Improvisation:

Prerequisites: Int 13, Fast Learner, human.

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks for skills you have no ranks in. Furthermore, you can use all trained skills untrained.

Untrained Knowledge:

Untrained: You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.

My impression is that the wording of Improvisation does not overrule the clause about knowledge checks because you are still untrained. This would make Improvisation only really worthwhile on the other trained skills and for the bonus to skills you haven't invested a skill point in.

Please discuss.

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Allied Spellcaster (Teamwork):

Prerequisite: Caster level 1st.

Benefit: Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, you receive a +2 competence bonus on level checks made to overcome spell resistance. If your ally has the same spell prepared (or known with a slot available if they are spontaneous spellcasters), this bonus increases to +4 and you receive a +1 bonus to the caster level for all level-dependent variables, such as duration, range, and effect.

Fire Mephit:

Fire Mephit (Fire)
Fire mephits are commonly found on the Plane of Fire. Fire mephits are vengeful and quick to anger.

Fast Healing: Works only while in contact with fire.
Immune: Fire
Weaknesses: Vulnerability to cold
Breath Weapon: A cone of flames that deals 1d8 fire damage.
Spell-Like Abilities: scorching ray 1/hour, heat metal 1/day (DC 14)

Mephits have a CL of 6. The Valet Archetype for Familiars allow them to share your Teamwork Feats. Would this work to increase your Familiar's CL to 7, allowing a second Scorching Ray?

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Currently PFS only allows guns to characters with the Gunslinger class. Can a Slayer take the talents that allow gun proficiency and grit?

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Suppose a character was going for Arcane Archer and didn't want to take Weapon Focus until level 9, but they also wanted to start taking Arcane Archer levels at level 9. Could the character take any class level at 9, select Weapon Focus as their feat and then retrain the class to Arcane Archer?

*After writing this I realize that one could just retrain one of their earlier feats to WF and then select the retrained feat as their level 9 feat. I figure I will still ask the question though, in case for some reason they couldn't temporarily sacrifice a feat.

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Does this item have any affect on a Myrmidarch's Armor Training Class Feature?

A previous FAQ has clarified that Armor Training from Magus levels and from Fighter levels stacks. However, this item only raises your fighter level for the purposes of Armor Training. The level increase is equivalent to an extra +1 on Armor Training for a Fighter. Does the Magus have an implied Fighter level of 3? Would the item increase your Magus level by 4 such that you would get Armor Training 2 at 10 instead of 14 per a regular Myrmidarch Magus?

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We lost a player to a ruling on this spell and that drove me to look at it a bit more closely.

The player tried to use it against a Greater Shadow who stepped out of the floor and attacked. Now this debate is all academic since the player in question couldn't have used it anyways since he was flat-footed, but I am more interested in the Range and Radius of the spell.

The reason EFS didn't work for the player was the fact that it is a 5ft. radius centered on the player. This means it extends 2.5ft into adjacent squares. The GM ruled that the Shadow was already inside the sphere. This seemed reasonable to me. Thoughts? This makes the spell really ineffective against attacks from adjacent squares.

The other thing that puzzles me is that the spell says Range 5ft. Why? Since it's a radius centered on you, there shouldn't be a range. Normally a range would be how many square away a spell can affect, and I don't think they are trying to say this spell affects all squares 5ft. from you.

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The best mention of this I could find was here, but there wasn't a follow up response.

Since page 18 is legal for listed feats from the Animal Archive, can Familiars swap their starting feats for ones they qualify for as a starting Familiar, as mentioned in the text at the top of page 18?

I expect that this swapping of feats should be very restrictive, but there was a very good reason for this text. The best example I can think of is critters that get the Weapon Finesse feat when they can already use either STR or DEX with natural attacks. This makes this a wasted feat. It could be swapped for something like Toughness and not break the Familiar.

I propose that the swaps should be restricted to those feats listed on pages 18-19 (except Familiar Spell) in the Animal Archive and the Core Rulebook animal feats listed in the Druid section. This should prevent anything too crazy but still provide some valuable customization options.

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Posted here because of the PFS house rule that Aasimar and Tieflings are "half-human."

Cloak of Human Guise states:
This plain cloak only has any effect when worn by a member of a half-human race, such as a half-orc or half-elf...

Half-Orc and Half-Elf are given as examples, but the language does not seem to restrict it to just those two races. Since we have two other half-Human races due to the PFS house rules, could they hide their extraplanar origins with this item?

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1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

Depending on the creature type selected, there are many that give either natural armor +2 or natural armor (+2). What does that mean exactly?

1) You gain a natural armor bonus of +2.
2) You gain a +2 untyped bonus to natural armor.

If 2), does this mean your existing natural armor bonus would increase?

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I want to go the MS 1/ Paladin of Vengeance 4 route, but after that I am torn on whether I should pick up 4 more levels of MS or just keep going with Paladin. Obviously, you can see that firearms and lots of smites are important to me. Another reason to get more levels of MS is that this character will be an Ifrit and I wouldn't mind getting some extra initiative bonus from the initiative deed you get at level 3. I can also make up most of the smite damage lost with Bracers of the Avenging Knight.

As for dealing with misfires, early on I will have to do it by carrying extra weapons. I should be able to get a Pepperbox pistol midway through 2nd level from a special PFS boon. That will cover early reloading issues while leaving me a back-up pistol for the inevitable misfires.

Advice from people who have leveled and played a gunslinger are appreciated.

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When I bought the supplement to get the alternate racial heritages, I skipped over the fact that base Aasimars are restated in the front cover of BoA. There isn't any info on alternate racial traits (like Deathless Spirit), but there is all the basic information one would need to play an Aasimar.

Could someone, who only wanted to play an Aasimar, buy the supplement and play an Aasimar without owning the ARG? Would this apply to Tieflings and Blood of Fiends?

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I would like the modify the DPR formula to take into account the cumulative misfire percentage on firearms. Usually you can just take each of your attacks one by one and modify your damage by your miss chance and crit chance + multiplier, but the assumption I would like to make it so that if your gun misfires, you stop firing (rather than risk explosion with the higher misfire chance of a broken gun).

Here is the formula:

* Damage/round formula: h(d+s)+ft(cd+cb+r)

h = Chance to hit, expressed as a percentage. This doesn't exceed .95 (unless you autohit for whatever reason) and never goes below .05.
d = Normal damage. This is any damage that happens any time you hit.
s = Damage which isn't multiplied on a crit. "s" stands for sneak attack, but this includes elemental/alignment properties on weapons, manyshot damage, and so on.
t = Chance to roll a threat. This is the threat range of your weapon or your chance to hit, whichever is lower.
f = This is your chance to confirm a threat. Most of the time, this is equal to h. If you have Critical Focus, it's (h+.2) or .95, whichever is higher. If you auto-confirm crits, as with a level 20 fighter or Bless Weapon, this is 1.
c = This is the number of bonus multiples you get from a crit. A 2x crit weapon is 1, a 3x crit weapon is 2, etc.

-- Remember to subtract one from your crit multiplier, or your damage will be over-done in the formula!

b = This is elemental burst damage, such as from fiery burst weapons and thundering. Such enhancements self-multiply based on your crit multiplier; if they don't, then they're added to r and not b.
r = This is fixed bonus damage dealt on a crit. No such abilities exist in PF core, to my knowledge.

The main question I am trying to answer involves quantifying the value of having the 5% reduced chance of misfiring a pistol vs the 1d12 damage die of the musket. A standard DPR calc will put the musket ahead, especially with the high crit multiplier for firearms, but misfiring more often will act to reduce the muskets DPR, relatively speaking.

Your help is appreciated.

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If you can succeed on your concentration check while grappled to cast this spell, would it just automatically end the grapple? I know that given it's an immediate action cast, more often than not, you will pop it before you even see an attack roll, but suppose you couldn't.

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Any way a monk can use armor spikes without wearing armor? I think this may be a quick no, but maybe you guys know of some trick.

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This line of rage powers can be very powerful, but they come with a huge drawback. When you enter your rage, can you choose to not take the save bonus to avail yourself of allied spells if you think it's better for that particular situation?

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In light of the Ranger archetype Huntmaster being ruled legal with the stipulation that his pack contain just one companion, I think it is reasonable to make the Pack Lord Druid archetype legal with the same restriction. That should eliminate any concern with bogging down combat since the character will only have access to the single companion.

The second part of the archetype trades Wild Shape for the ability to sense through your companion. This is primarily an ability to use when scouting and should take about as much table time as a rogue scouting ahead. It also gives up a very powerful Druid class feature, so is unlike to unbalance the class.

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1 person marked this as a favorite.

So I bought my Cheliax shirt way back when and the ol' beefy-T is not really holding up any more. One sleeve is threatening to secede from the rest of the shirt and any day now I will be handing out free tickets to the gun show. Can I trim the logo off of the front of the shirt and carry that around as my reroll item? I can't see the value in carrying the entire busted shirt around.

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This is a really complicated weapon in terms of PF. Mainly, the confusion comes from the fact that it can be used as a 1-handed, 2-handed and offhand weapon, and it has two seemingly non-complementary weapon qualities in defensive and distracting.

Let's focus on TWF with the offhand being a dagger for simplicity.

  • If you dual-wield and fight defensively, you get an additional +1 shield bonus to AC.
  • If you feint, you get +2 to the bluff check.
  • What if you dual wield with the NsW in your main hand, dagger in your offhand, while using Two-weapon Feint to forgo the main hand attack to feint, and while also fighting defensively?

Would you gain both the feint bonus and the shield bonus while taking your offhand attack at a -6?

*If you are curious, for my purposes, the offhand attack will be a touch spell against flat-footed(hopefully) touch AC. That's why I would consider taking a -6 to hit.

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Here is my character at level 3:

Male Elf (Gray) Magus 1(Spire Defender, Spell Dancer)/Ninja 2
N medium humanoid
Init +4 Senses Low‐Light Vision Listen +8 Spot +8
DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 16, flat‐footed 16
hp 23
Fort 4 ,Ref 8 ,Will 3
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft
Melee Masterwork Scimitar +6 (1d6+4/18‐20/x2) or Touch +5 (Varies/x2)
Space 5 Reach 5
STATISTICS
STR 8 DEX 18 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 10 CHA 14
Base Atk 1 Grp00
Feats Weapon Finesse, Dervish Dance, Dodge, Combat Expertise
Traits Magical Knack, Threatening Defender
Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +6, Climb +3, Disable Device +10, Escape Artist +10, Knowledge (arcana) +8,
Knowledge (local) +6, Linguistics +6, Perception +8, Stealth +10
Languages Common, Elven, Draconic, Celestial, Azlanti
Gear Masterwork Scimitar, Mithral Kikko Armor

At 4th level I will be picking up a point in CHA to make 15 so that I can cast Dream from the Dreamspeaker alternate racial ability, and the remaining skill points necessary for early entry into Arcane Trickster at 5.

I am looking at ways to get sneak attack consistently as I level. I already have one way with the Vanish trick, but my uses will be limited. I expect to be at 16 Cha eventually but I may not have room for the extra ki feat, so that leaves me at somewhere between 3 and 6 uses of that ability a day. I need other options.

I have been considering three paths:


  • Improved Feint: I have the Cha and skill points to get pretty good at bluff checks to feint. I won't have the BAB for Greater Feint until 12th level so I am not even considering it. This seems a safe choice, though.
  • TW Fighting, TW Feint: I have the Dex and Int for this, but it's going to take two feats before I can do it. It also takes the same amount of actions as Improved Feint, as I will basically have a 5 ft step and a single attack, however at a -2 to attack. On the other hand, when you offhand attack is against flat-footed touch, you don't need much of an attack bonus.
  • Blind-Fight, Moonlight Stalker, Moonlight Stalker Feint, Shadow Strike - Holy feats! Shadow Strike is one I may want to take anyways, but definitely if I start throwing smoke sticks around for the easy concealment. Moonlight Stalker is also good for the attacks from invisibility with Vanishing Trick.

I am leaning towards the second path since I will be low on spells for awhile. Given that, I will probably prep more Chill Touch than Shocking Grasp. Since Chill Touch gives numerous touches, and touch attacks count as "armed" unarmed attacks, I could basically get the equivalent of Spell Combat every round, without the need to cast every round, and with a sneak attack on each when in a flank.

This would also leave me two feats left over for Extra Ki and something else.

Any suggestions?

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52 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ. 3 people marked this as a favorite.

The previous thread was lost to the answered in FAQ, but not "bug". Here is a repost clearly stating the question:

Does the AoO granted by Bodyguard follow the normal rules for for AoOs (including being in melee threat range of the enemy), or is the only requirement that you be adjacent to your ally?

Additional Info:
For more background on the different positions people have taken on this issue, and a non-binding rules clarification from the original author of the feat, see the original thread: www.paizo.com/threads/rzs2phpj?Bodyguard-Forum-Compilation-and-Clarificatio n

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Caveat:
I am going on the record as not being in favor of the blanket ruling that the spell-like abilities should satisfy pre-reqs. I know why it was done, and I know that giving a general ruling can seem like the better option than going into every specific case; but, I don't agree.

With that off my chest, I'm going to have some fun being devious.

To take arcane trickster you need to satisfy 4 pre-reqs (plus alignment):

1) 4 ranks in a few skills - This can be satisfied by 4 class levels in one or multiple classes.
2) Ability to cast Mage Hand - This can be satisfied by a level of most arcane spell-casting classes, or by either the rogue talent Minor Magic or the trait Magical Talent.
3) Ability to cast a 2nd level or higher Arcane spell - As you all know at this point, this is easily satisfied by the racial spell-like abilities of Aasimar and Tieflings.
4) 2d6 sneak attack - 3 levels of Rogue or Ninja.

So nothing crazy yet, right? Well the write up for this class assumes so heavily that you can only satisfy the pre-reqs with an arcane spell-casting class that it doesn't bother to specify that it only advances Arcane spell-casting. I would say then that after your 3 levels of Rogue, there is no reason why you couldn't take a level of Cleric or Oracle and start advancing that spell-casting progression at 5th level when you take your first level of Arcane Trickster.

This probably won't satisfy the Devs requirement of a "game-breaking" situation arising from their SLA ruling, but it sure is strange and unintended.

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This Paladin Archetype features the following text: "A sword of valor must follow a good god or goddess who stresses valor, loyalty or bravery."

Besides Iomedae, who would qualify? Loyalty is a subdomain, but I don't know of any deities who offer it. Valor is in the portfolio of Iomedae, but I couldn't find any other deity. Bravery is in the portfolio of Cayden Cailean, but he's not a legal option for a Paladin to worship. I spent about an hour on the Pathfinderwiki and this is all I learned. Anyone else with a greater familiarity with deities know of one I missed?

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Thread

I started this thread a while back and saw recently that it had been updated to say that the FAQ now answered the questions therein. The FAQ does not. Is there a delay between the marking of threads as answered and the actual updating of the FAQ?

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In the Alchemical Cartridges thread there was the beginnings of fairly good debate on the philosophy of the campaign and the restrictions on GM decision making. I think it should be continued.

The crux of the debate is how empowered GMs are to use their common sense at a table when rules are unclear. Furthermore, should GMs have a "say no first" attitude, or should they find a way to make things work for a character? It may be a mistaken impression, but I get the impression from GMs both on these boards and locally that they default answer is going to be no unless there is bullet proof evidence to the contrary. I have been disappointed a few times to hear GMs say, "I have to run the RAW" when both sides would agree that a rules issue should work differently.

I believe that the campaign is probably trying to be exclusive to eliminate table variation, but table variation is rampant and you are told to expect it. My opinion is that the game is more fun if you're trying to say yes, not trying to say no.

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14 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ. 3 people marked this as a favorite.

As I am linking a number of threads, I know that this had been discussed a lot on the boards. However, because the requirements for rules clarifications are to post here and look for a Dev response, I am posting it again.

Summary:

There are two schools of thought -

1) Bodyguard allows the use of the Aid Another action as an attack of opportunity, but it must still follow the rules for the Aid Another action. Specifically, this feat can only be used when you are adjacent to your ally and threatening your enemy in melee.

2) The text of the Bodyguard feat is specific vs. the general text of Aid Another. Normally, you must be within melee threatening range of your enemy to aid an ally's AC. This feat changes it so you must be adjacent your ally to perform this action. If it were intended for you refer back to the general rules for Aid Another, the feat would have said as much.

The first view greatly narrows the usefulness of this feat as it would almost never be useful against ranged and ranged touch attacks, and would also have a narrow window of usefulness in melee as you must meet two conditions related to your position and melee reach.

Would a member of the Rules Team please clarify which view is the intent? Thank you.

Links to previous discussions:

Bodyguard Range
Bodyguard Feat Question
Questions on bodyguard feat
In Harm's Way

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Is there any way for a Cleric to alter their aura to match a different combination of alignments than their deity? Seems a long shot, but someone may know of something.

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I know he wouldn't get the level based benefits from the Hellknight PrC, but the ACP is one lower and it would be flavorful for a Signifer.

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Caveat: I am using d20PFSRD site for info, so I may be missing some key verbiage.

I was coding the Hellknight Signifer class into a spreadsheet and something devious came to mind. Is it spelled out anywhere explicitly that when a PrC has a table that says "+1 level of spellcasting class" that it only applies to one of your spellcasting classes?

The though sprung from the fact that the PrC is open to both Divine and Arcane casters and gives options for both Arcane and Divine characters. So what if someone was both, rather than either? It seems clear to me that their domains would advance through Catechesis (if you have Warrior Priest) and you'd receive Arcane Armor Mastery (if you had Arcane Armor Training), but what of your spells? Furthermore, what if you had 5 levels of Wizard and 1 of Cleric? You meet the prereq of being able to cast 3rd level spells. What if you were a second level Divine and Arcane caster who took two levels of Mystic Theurge? You'd be a 3rd level caster in both Divine and Arcane spells.

Don't misunderstand me, I doubt this is intended, I just lack the rules quote to prove it is illegal. The only thing that in any way backs this up for RAI is that it is nearly impossible to build a good Arcane caster with this class. Getting Medium Armor Prof is probably enough to scare any Arcane caster away...unless you dipped a level of Cleric.

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My impression is that this isn't legal. Separatist changes what domains you can choose and Scroll Scholar takes away a domain power (which I assume is another change to domains). Do you guys agree?

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Got a claw/claw/bite/gore HOrc Barbarian build and I am torn on how to deal with the inevitability of reaching negative HP. Here are the options:

1) Get bite attack from Toothy giving up Orc Ferocity. Get Endurance for free from Shaman's Apprentice. Spend feats on Diehard and Deathless Initiate.

2) Get bite attack from Animal Fury (rage power) or Razortusk (feat). Get Ferocious Resolve for a feat.

Either way you slice it, I am going to spend two feats especially since I will need to spend a feat on Extra Rage Power to get Animal Fury. The bite attack from Toothy is better than the other two options since it's a primary attack. However, I feel that Ferocious Resolve is better than Deathless Initiate since you can prevent death by spending rage, rather than just being able to act while in the negatives.

So how would you guys choose?

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Since Flagbearer has been reskinned and is now a legal feat (unlike the original in Orcs of Golarion), can we make the Shield the Banner spell legal as well? I don't know how many PFS DMs will be taking swipes at my banner, but it would be nice to have a way to protect it.

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So I have a fear that eventually a smart DM is going to try to take out my Flagbearer banner in order to give the party minuses. I can think of two ways: Disarm and Sunder.

Disarm isn't too hard to get around as you can wear a locked gauntlet for the +10 modifier. Plus, even if you drop it, you just pick it up again and it surely won't trigger the Stolen or Destroyed clauses in the feat. You just wouldn't give the bonuses until you picked it up again.

Sunder is the one that scares me. First off, what would they sunder: the banner itself, or the pole? I ask because you can get better poles, but the banner is just cloth. What would give the best bang for the buck on poles and would it be better to have a longspear instead? What if the banner were actually the Banner of the Ancient Kings? What would the Hardness and Hitpoints be of a magic banner?

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I ask for the purposes of mixing archetypes. Bladebound specifically says it changes the arcana pool, but Fiend Flayer only provides a way of having extra points added to your pool. It also doesn't say it changes the Arcana Pool.

Would one be able to be both a Fiend Flayer and Bladebound?

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...when they can't bond a tower shield?

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I have been toying with a summoner wizard build and this feat is awesome if you can manage the Fort saves. The way I see it, the most important levels are early on before you can provide yourself a steady stream of lesser restorations to relieve fatigue.

So here is my question: In a situation where you had no way to mitigate fatigue, it would be obvious that you should just go for the highest Fort Save possible. But since I can get 5x Lesser Restoration scroll after my first PFS mod (need someone else to cast), and I will probably pop for a wand when I can afford it, what is a good save percentage?

I can get a +8 Fort Save at first level for a 65% save chance. With gear, I can get a +18 Fort Save at level 12 for a 90% save rate on level 6 spells. Given that I can almost get a save on all but a 1 eventually, do I go all the way, or does the opportunity cost get too high eventually?

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I think this is a very neat archetype, but for the level range of PFS (1-12) the earth elemental is extremely weak. I haven't been able to find anything, but do any of you know of a way of improving the Stone Servant? Ideally a way to get the larger sizes earlier would be best, but maybe there are other ways that you Encyclopedias might know of that I haven't found.

Thanks in advance.

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I have a fun concept (at least for me) but I am having some trouble inserting him into PFS.

I really enjoyed the Before the Dawn scenarios and I started envisioning this character shortly after playing them; but, then I gave up tabletop gaming for a couple years. I would like to play an Angazhan-worshipping half-Mwangi/half-orc from the Expanse. He'd be a Beast/Fiend Totem Barbarian with probably a level of Cleric for that sexy Enlarge Person ability from the Growth Subdomain.

He'd be an outcast from his tribe of course. I figured his mother might have been ordered to abandon him due to his bestial appearance. Maybe she was accused of lying with something particularly unsavory like a Nalfeshnee. That could be used to explain his general appearance: hairy, claws, demonic horns. I also might describe his Rage as more of a possession by his fiendish progenitor. He could have been raised by hermit or a wandering shaman who believes him to be an earthly incarnation of Angazhan.

I also thought it might be fun to play him like the Goliaths from Borderlands 2. He'd be generally dumb and lumbering most of the time, but when he raged he'd become more well-spoken. Obviously I wouldn't have him attack his allies like they do in the game, but dropping your weapons and hulking out on the nearest thing would be enjoyable.

So you can see that I have a pretty good handle on what and why he is, but how the heck do I get him out of the jungle? Any suggestions on an intro mod? What faction would work?

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Not much has been said about this item, and why it is legal, so I think we should discuss. I will be for the item and I am sure plenty of people will be willing to offer up their opinions about why it should be out.

First off, the item in question.

What it does:

1) Allows you to reload a single round as a swift action
2) Allows you to reload without provoking
3) Acts as a bag of holding for ammunition, powder and gunsmith tools

When can you get it:

Since it costs 1k gold, the earliest a Pathfinder could get this item is one mod from 3rd level due to needing 9PP (barring AR related access).

Analysis:

1) Reloading is an issue for early Gunslingers, but one that can be mitigated by feats and class features. One-handed guns take a Standard action to reload, but with Rapid Reload and Alchemical Paper Cartridges, a pistol can be reloaded as a free action at level 1. Two-handed guns are even harder to load, but can be reloaded as a move at level one and as a free at level 3.

As far as action economy goes, this item provides no real mechanical benefit to a Pistolero, and only helps a Musket Master reload faster for one mod, before they too can reload faster than a swift.

2) This is a pretty nice ability, but is tempered by the fact that a 5ft step is usually all that is needed to get out of provoking.

3) A powder horn weighs a pound. A gunsmiths kit weights 2 pounds. Barring a ridiculous amount of ammo and powder, this is essentially a 3 pound bag of holding.

In addition, this item takes up the belt slot, barring the use of stat boosting belts.

Given the level at which one can acquire it, and the fact that it does very little for the action economy, I can't see why this item should be illegal. Since it takes a swift action, you will not be able to:

1) Reload a double barreled weapon
2) Reload in between Rapid Shots or iterative shots

Its only real use is for loading special ammunition if you don't want to pay to make it an alchemical cartridge (more expensive) and you are fine with taking just one shot. Or if you let yourself get backed into a corner and are willing to take single shots to avoid provoking while reloading (though you'd provoke from shooting unless you bought a lot of feats).

Let me know what you guys think, but I really don't see why this should be a banned item.

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So here are listed a number of conditions, and while they all seem to have the ability to persist, I don't think they all count as ongoing conditions. Specifically, Shake It Off from the Battle Herald and Live To Tell the Tale from Pathfinder Chronicler give the ability to attempt a new save on an "ongoing condition."

Parsing the list, here are what I think would be ongoing conditions, if you garnered the effect through failing a saving throw:

Bleed
Blinded
Confused
Cowering
Dazed
Dazzled
Deafened
Energy Drained
Entangled
Exhausted
Fascinated
Fatigued
Frightened
Helpless
Nauseated
Panicked
Paralyzed
Petrified
Shaken
Sickened
Staggered
Stunned
Unconscious(?)

Are there any on this list that don't belong? Did I remove one that should have stayed? What about cursed, as per Bestow Curse. Could you give someone a new saving throw to no longer be cursed?

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I got nostalgic recently for my Cappy in LotRO (I played Cariance on Riddermark, if you're familiar). But, I don't want to get back into that life-suck. Instead, it would be nice to revive him as a PFS character.

I figure I will do a Cappy class feature list and give my best selection of a Pathfinder class that can do something similar. Then maybe we can figure some way to fit most of it together. Here goes:

  • Heavy Armor and Shields: Fighter, Paladin, Cavalier, Cleric with a feat or archetype.

  • Weapon proficiency (most melee weapons): Pretty much the list above, or any class that gives martial weapon proficiency.

  • Armament Use: This is basically a banner that either you use or a minion wields. Since there is no leadership in PFS, this basically screams Cavalier, especially the Standardbearer archetype.

  • Words of Courage: This is a spammable, weak heal. While this could be satisfied with a healing class, I think it's more on par with a wand of CLW.

  • Muster Courage: Removes fear and boosts fear resistance. The best one here is probably the Rallying Cry bardic performance that Arcane Duelists get. Banner and Inspire courage help fear saves. The Shake It Off Battle Herald command also gives a new save for ongoing fear with a bonus. I think there are also cleric domains that may help with this. Of course there is always remove fear.

  • Escape from Darkness, Inspiriting Call, Cry of Vengeance [rezzes]: I can do without being able to rez unless we decide to take a lot of cleric levels.

  • Inspire, Valiant Strike: Attacks that heal allies. Open to suggestions.

  • In Harms Way: Take damage for the entire party. Probably the closest is the feat of the same name in Pathfinder, though it's one target. I think Paladins can take allies damage too?

  • Rallying Cry: A strong, whole party heal. This one screams Channel Positive Energy. Could also be satisfied by Mass Cure spells.

  • Threatening Shout: Make an enemy more likely to attack you. Antagonize would do this well.

  • War Cry, Make Haste: Attack faster and move faster. Basically Haste.

  • Telling, Revealing and Noble Mark: Mark enemies to take more damage, provide heals on a hit, or direct threat to you. I don't know how to do any of these, let alone all three.

  • Last Stand: Don't die when reduced to zero. Diehard would be pretty close.

  • Tactic: On Guard, Relentless Attack and Focus: These help you to avoid blows, crit or regen mana. Any long-lasting AC buff does the first. Keen Edge satisfies the second. The last doesn't apply.

  • Motivating Speech: Long-lasting morale buff. Mass Bear's Endurance is all I can think of.

  • X-brother: Designate one ally and help them heal, deal damage or take damage better. To hit or resist damage buffs would work for the last two, but I don't know about the first.

  • Withdraw: Doesn't translate well as there is no aggro mechanic.

  • Time of Need: Deal damage to yourself to allow you to heal others or use a powerful strike. Dunno.

    I left out the direct damage skills as they aren't that important. Suffice it to say that even in PFS, this character shouldn't do a lot of damage.

    So my first crack would be something like this:
    Aasimar (14,10,13,10,14+2,15+2+3)
    Cavalier1(Standardbearer),Bard2(Arcane Duelist),Cleric2(Evangelist),Battle Herald7

    Biggest problem is a total lack of healing. You can't channel and you only have 1st level bard and cleric spells, though you can use a wand. The two level Cleric dip lets me take a domain power (like Honor Bound from the Honor Subdomain), which can give a nice boost useable 3+Wis times a day, and doesn't slow Inspire Courage progression.

    Well tear it up and offer suggestions. That's why I posted.

  • Sovereign Court

    PFS Build

    Human (13,16+2,12,12,14,8)

    Level 1: Gunslinger(Musket Master)1 - Feats: PBS, WF(Musket)

    Weapon Focus could be taken later. But the way I see it, you probably have the most trouble hitting at 1st level, and it will be auto-hits or misfires later. You need it for Snap Shot eventually.

    Level 2: Gunslinger2

    Level 3: Gunslinger3 - Feats: Rapid Shot

    Need the Free action reload so this is why RS isn't a first level feat.

    Level 4: Fighter(Weaponmaster)1 - +1 Dex, Feats: Deadly Aim

    I figure a lot of people will scream about delaying my Dex bonus damage for two levels, but it takes so many feats to get Deft Shootist, Snap Shot and Clustered Shots that this seemed to be the best place to start my fighter levels. Plus, Weaponmaster will pay off in damage and to hit later.

    Level 5: Fighter2 - Feats: Dodge, Precise Shot

    Level 6: Gunslinger4 - Feats: Mobility

    Level 7: Gunslinger5 - Feats: Deft Shootist Deed

    Finally, lots of shots and damage

    Level 8: Fighter3 - +1 Dex

    Level 9: Fighter4 - Feats: Snap Shot, Clustered Shots

    Level 10: Fighter5

    Level 11: Fighter6 - Feats: Improved Critical(Musket), Improved Snap Shot

    Level 12: Fighter7

    So with 24 Dex and a +3 weapon this gives attacks of +20/20/15/10 with 1d12+18 damage with RS and DA.

    The only thing that nags me is if this feat investment is necessary. In an ideal world, I would always get to shoot from 30ft away and have a cleric to bless my weapon, but I know that's not going to happen. I just wonder if anyone has experience with playing a gunslinger to help me justify the feat expenditure to not provoke AoOs. I hate taking Dodge and Mobility...

    Sovereign Court 1/5

    Where it lists the maximum item price, that's cost of the total item, not an upgrade right? In other words, since magic armor requires you to buy a masterwork version and then upgrade it to magical, you couldn't use the 2PP=1k option since the total item price would be something north of 1k? Same thing applies to a weapon. It would seem you couldn't get a magic weapon with the 4PP=2k option. In both cases you'd need to use the next option up.

    I am not complaining at all as this is an awesome boon that will save most people over 10k gold with proper planning. I just want to make sure I am spending the proper number of PP and not overspending.

    Sovereign Court

    1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

    For a bard to give an ally a new save via Countersong and Distract, will he have needed to have identified the spell while it was being cast? Some spells are pretty clearly sparkly lights or "Do This!" in a booming voice, but I can see room for a DM to say that you need to know what is afflicting your ally to help him out of it.

    Another example is the Honor Bound ability for a Honor subdomain cleric. Does he have to know that an enchantment spell was cast to snap his buddy out of it?

    Sovereign Court 1/5

    I assume that it's not since it's not listed as legal under the Knights of the Inner Sea section of additional resources, but I figured it was worth asking since Cavalier Orders were declared legal. This doesn't seem to be a game-breaking archetype.

    Sovereign Court

    6 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Staff response: no reply required. 1 person marked this as a favorite.

    James suggested I post this as a FAQ candidate in his "Ask James" thread:

    The Battle Herald PrC doesn't seem to play well with itself.

    *Inspiring Command is basically Inspire Courage with additional benefits.
    *Inspire Courage gives a Morale bonus to fear saves and a Competence bonus to attack and damage rolls.
    *Banner also gives a Morale bonus to fear saves.
    *The following Inspiring Command options also give Competence bonuses to attack and/or damage: Inspired Tactics (for crit confirms), Pincer Maneuver (when flanking), Sound the Charge (when charging), and Teamwork (when aiding another's attack).
    *Under most cases, you will have your banner out when you would use Inspire Courage.
    *Any time you give an Inspiring Command, you are automatically also giving Inspire Courage.

    So the Banner and Inspire Courage compete for Morale bonus to fear saves and some Inspiring Command options compete with Inspire Courage for attack and damage bonuses. Is this poorly worded? Are these an exception to the rule where Morale and Competence bonuses would stack? If not, this PrC might need some errata'ing.

    Sovereign Court

    2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

    In Andoran - Spirit of Liberty, there is a PrC called Steel Falcon that has a 2nd level class feature that reads:

    Heroic Speech (Su): At 2nd level, a Steel Falcon can inspire his allies with tales of greatness, heroism, and the ideals of Andoran. This functions like the inspire courage aspect of bardic performance, treating the Steel Falcon’s class level as his bard level for determining the effect; if the Steel Falcon is a bard, his class levels stack with his bard levels to determine the effect of this ability and the effect of his inspire courage bard ability. The Steel Falcon can use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to his class level plus his Charisma modifier.

    Does this meet the Battle Herald entry requirement of the Inspire Courage class feature? Can the Battle Herald then use Inspiring Command to invoke Heroic Speech like he can use it to invoke Inspire Courage? Basically, can Heroic Speech be considered the Inspire Courage Bardic Performance for all intents and purposes?

    Sovereign Court 1/5

    I ask because part of the requirement text allows characters afflicted with lycanthropy to take the feat. This is usually adjudicated by the judge, but we have only the guide. It shouldn't be outright banned as it is a key part of one of the new ranger builds. Given this, it might require some extra restriction text.

    Otherwise, people who want to pick up claw attacks easily might be drawn to the feat. In that case, there may be a few pathfinders who don't take missions that carry over nights of the full moon and howl randomly during sessions. Interesting roleplay, but a little hard on the verisimilitude.

    Sovereign Court

    I'm trying to figure out how many levels of BaH to take for a PFS build and I think it's going to be determined by how many different Inspiring Commands are worth taking. Here's my take:

    Battle Magic*: Only useful if you find yourself facing a battle that may be decided by proper use of a debilitating spell against resistant creatures. Only affects one ally so you will need to be paired up with a caster whose powers you understand.

    Inspire Hardiness: This is a big part of the survivability of a barbarian and the BaH can match their DR up until later levels. A good choice.

    Inspired Tactics: Very situational and not terribly useful. Better with someone who uses many combat maneuvers to great effect, or has a large crit range.

    Keep Your Heads: Concentration check bonuses for everyone, but more importantly a bonus to Will saves. A useful later choice for when you're fighting baddies who can mess up the whole party with Will save spells.

    None Shall Fall*: Very slow healing, but it could make the difference in a long battle. The bit about poison saves seems mostly useless.

    Pincer Maneuver: A bonus to attack and damage can be had with Inspire Courage. Depending on how many levels of bard you took before BaH, you may find that this provides a better bonus than Inspire Courage, but it will catch up again. Probably not worth it.

    Rally: This is another useful one for getting around fear. However, I imagine most BaH's will be Arcane Duelists and Rallying Cry will work better if you optimize your intimidate. On the other hand, your bardic performance will probably take a standard action, while Inspiring Command moves quickly from a move action to a swift and later immediate action.

    Reveille: Too situational. If it was any fatigue, it might work if you party up with a barbarian, but since it says saves, it won't work.

    Scatter*: You're planning on running away? Maybe in the right build, or in a fight against lots of archers.

    Shake It Off*: Can pull your BDF out of a confusion. Good to have.

    Sound the Charge: Strictly better than Pincer Maneuver, but still probably not worth taking.

    Sound the Retreat: DM likes archers and spell hurlers? Maybe...no, not worth it.

    Stand Firm: Only good if you know you're going to face save or die.

    Teamwork: If your DM throws really hard to hit monsters at you, it may help, but you should be better off without having to attack to aid. Tough skill challenges may make it worth it in the right campaign.

    Tuck and Roll: Just take the fireball and respond in kind.

    So in summation:

    Good - Inspire Hardiness, Rally, Shake it Off

    Ok - Stand Firm, None Shall Fall, Keep Your Heads, Battle Magic

    Not worth it - The rest...

    Please disagree; this is a discussion.

    Sovereign Court 1/5

    3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Staff response: no reply required.

    Leadership is not legal in PFS. We have also seen class features that are incompatible with PFS swapped out for something else (Alchemist's Craft Alchemy, Cavalier's Expert Trainer, etc). Given that this class feature is unusable in PFS due to Leadership being illegal, should this not get a swap out option as well? Perhaps Skill Focus (Diplomacy)?

    Sovereign Court

    Doesn't seem like it does from a strict reading, but the sling staff takes a move to reload normally like a regular sling, and it is a halfling weapon.

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