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Sczarni

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Create Building
Sor/Wiz 7, Clr/Or 7, Bard 6
School: Conjuration [creation]
Casting Time: 1 minute per square foot (see text)
Target: Close (see text)

You magically conjure a building into existence, one brick, board, and nail at a time, by meditating and focusing on the intended structure. In order to cast this spell, you must be in a relatively flat, clear area-- the building radiates outaward from you during the casting of the spell and the finished building will stand in the spot you are in during the casting-- you are always in the center of the building upon completion of the spell. A stone foundation is summoned as a part of the spell. If you intend for the building to have a basement, the spell can create hewn stone walls for the basement but the are the basement is to occupy must be dug out first.

The building is constructed of nonmagical brick, wood, glass, and metal. Once the spell is complete, the building is completely mundane and cannot be dispelled. The caster may include details such as wall sconces, decorative crown molding, or other simple fixtures, but no moving parts more complex than a door hinge or simple window pane. Any doors created do not have locks, but may have latches or bars.

There is no limit to the size of the building this spell can create, except that the building must be created all in one casting. If the building is to have multiple floors, the total area of all floors determines the spell's total casting time. (For example a three-story building with a 60-sq ft foundation would require a casting time of 180 minutes.) If the casting time exceeds four hours, the caster must make a concentration check each hour after the fourth, with a cumulative -2 penalty on the check.

As part of the casting of this spell, the caster must also make a Knowledge (engineering) check. The DC is 15 for the first 50 square feet, and increases by 1 for each additional 20 square feet, plus an additional 1 for each extra detail the caster wishes to include beyond "door" or "window". The caster may gain a +4 bonus on this check if he spends 1d4 hours before the spell's casting sketching out the blueprint of the building; any number of people may aid him on his check during this time. If the caster fails his check by 10 or more, the building collapses 2d4 rounds after the spell is complete. Failure by less than 10 means the building is safe to occupy but is flawed in some other way-- perhaps the door frames are out of square and the doors don't close properly, or perhaps the windows are on the wrong walls (or missing entirely) or the walls may alternate between wood and stone in odd places. The details are determined by the GM. A skilled laborer may be able to repair the building with a Craft (carpentry) check.

Sczarni

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Sinister Strength
School: Necromancy
Duration: 1 minute per level
Clr/Or 3, Sor/Wiz 3, Antipal 1, Bldrg 2, Inq 3
Target: One creature touched.

This spell infuses a target with negative energy. The creature gains a +4 profane bonus to Strength, but takes 1d4 negative energy damage each turn for the duration of the spell. The caster may choose to end the effect at any time as a free action.

(A fairly risky Strength buff that stacks with Bull's Strength and Enlarge Person for when the Barbarian REALLY needs every bonus he can get... as well as a way for a necromancer to turn his undead minion into a miniboss.)

Firebrand Fists
School: Evocation [fire]
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Target: you
Clr/Or 1, Drd 1, Brd 1, Inq 1, Sor/Wiz 1

Glowing orange runes appear across your knuckles. For the duration of the spell, your fists are treated as if you were wielding +1 flaming burst brass knuckles and are proficient in their use. Additionally, you are treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for the duration of the spell. If you land a critical hit with one of these attacks, you may cast arcane mark on the target of the attack as a free action, even if you do not know the spell or have it prepared.

(The idea is that a low-level wizard can use this as a way of conserving his spell slots and still contribute in a fight beyond "acid splash for 1d3". The 3/4 BAB classes may keep this one handy even after they've moved beyond fighting goblins and rats, just in case.)

Sczarni

Has Paizo ever released an equivalent to the Favored Soul? I never actually got to see that one in use in 3.5, except when I briefly played D&D Online-- none of the groups I played with had whichever book it was printed in originally. I'm not even sure I'd recognize PF's interpretation.

Sczarni

I don't think there really is a good answer to this question. But that's okay, because IME the players don't typically ask this question unless they're deliberately being smartasses.

They know damn well that they're doing it because they're The Heroes, and that they Have To Do It because It only exists for them to Do. They may joke about why Father Cornelius isn't saving the town himself if he's high-enough level to cast Resurrection, but they don't actually WANT him to save the town himself. That's why they're the ones who do it: because they volunteer.

It's the same way in the real world. People step up and do heroic things in times of crisis, because they're the ones who chose to try and do it instead of hoping someone else would.

Sczarni

An archetype I'd kind of like to see is a sort of "Jekyll-and-Hyde" variant, where your character has their own skills and abilities but also a sort of "alter ego" that he can transform into. The Master Chymist was a fairly decent attempt, but it leans too hard on the alchemical flavor and puts more emphasis on the fact that Hyde is a separate personality who may or may not remember everything Jekyll does, and vice versa.

I'm thinking maybe more of a rogue/bard-like character, that gains powers from, say, a demonic creature in exchange for willingly letting the creature possess it from time to time. With some sort of mechanic to reflect the fact that Jekyll and Hyde are basically competing for screen time, to make sure that the player can't just go Hyde at "roll initiative" and re-Jekyll once the fight's over. Both forms should have their contributions both in and out of combat.

Sczarni

I did like the fact that the Zen Archery feat from 3.5 made it into PF, albeit as a monk archetype instead of a feat. One feat I kind of wished would make a comeback though?

Flying Kick
Prereq: Improved Unarmed Strike
Benefit: When you charge and end in a unarmed strike, you do an additional 1d12 damage.

It's such an elegant answer to the question of "what does a monk do when he's not close enough to flurry?" as well as a flavorful option.

Sczarni

Animals whose flesh you can eat in polite living society:

Chicken
Pig
Cow
Fish
Sheep
Deer

Most others are considered a faux pas, though this is not an exhaustive list. Special note: any individual animal that a small child has named is traditionally exempt from the menu (though others of its species may or may not still be fair game; see list above.)

Additionally, eggs are considered food, but only the interiors. The shells must be discarded. Have a bowl ready; the interior is a liquid at room temperature.

Typically, the flesh (and egg juice) must be heated before eaten. Invest in a device called a "frying pan" (they're very cheap nonmagical items) for this purpose-- the flesh to be consumed goes on top of the pan, and an open fire goes underneath. The process is complete after the gristle starts seeping out and boiling off, but before the flesh itself display visible char. Allow the result to sit and cool for a few minutes before eating.

Sczarni

Casters don't need feats like martials do, it's true, but they still get feat slots for leveling up. There needs to be SOMETHING they can take that actually matters.

Some "traditionally martial" feats are good for casters too. Quick Draw, since casters need a free hand but might suddenly need a weapon. Weapon Finesse, for touch attacks with spells. Combat Expertise, for the option to boost your AC for a round if you need it. I'd say it makes sense for about 10% of feats to be more for casters than martials (or at least general enough that anyone could get use out of them) and in this exercise, that means 10 feats-- the exact amount a non-human caster gets by Level 20.

Sczarni

Not a detailed build, just some general suggestions as to what might be a good fit lore-wise for a dwarf. Maybe some discovery suggestions.

Sczarni

My GM is working on an all-dwarf campaign, starting play in the Five Kings Mountains, and has asked us to start thinking about what kind of dwarf characters we'd like to play.

I was leaning either gunslinger or alchemist, to play on the image of dwarves as masters of the forgefire, in war as much as in craft. Bu tthe more I look at the gunslinger and firearm rules, the less I like. So now I'm leaning alchemist.

Is there a decent alchemist build that focuses on bombs? Most of the archetypes I've found are more focused on the mutagens or extracts, and some of them trade away or diminish the bombs. The sapper is the only one I've found that seems to lean towards bombs, and it doesn't even look that interesting. The crypt breaker could be interesting for a campaign focused on dwarven holds and tunnels, but it really asks you to be focusing a lot on fighting undead and constructs.

The tinkerer was another good one I was looking at, as it plays up the image of a dwarven craftsman, but is a clockwork spy familiar even that good? I really just don't know.

Thoughts?

Sczarni

I'm all for cutting item creation feats entirely, and just ruling that crafting items is just a thing you can do. After all, there's a "Craft:_______" entry on the skills section; what is that there for if you need a feat too?

For metamagic feats, I'd say pick three or four. Maximize OR Intensify, Still OR Silent, Quicken, and one other one.

The biggest challenge here is long, multi-branched feat trees. The Combat Expertise tree, the Power Attack tree, the Point-Blank Shot tree, the Two-Weapon Fighting tree, the Critical Focus tree, the Improved Unarmed Strike tree, and the Weapon Focus tree are each taking a big chunk of our alloted space. For each one, we'd need to identify which feats we need and which ones are overly specialized. A few of them, especially Weapon Focus and Critical Focus, seem to exist only for the benefit of fighters having something to spend all their bonus feats on. But then fighters do need good combat feats, so we can't cut these trees TOO much.

Things like Fleet, Run, and the feats that grant +2 to two different skills are also prime to be cut. I've never wanted any of them, or seen any other build that did.

Sczarni

Gnome wizard has the support of lore, but the rues seem to say they'd make better sorcerors.

Elf gunslinger is the opposite-- mechanics-wise it works, but lore-wise it doesn't.

Dwarf bards are a pretty far stretch. My GM has told me that dwarven lands tend to use clerics as their lorekeepers instead. He also says that barbarians are similarly "against the grain" of what dwarves are all about.

Goblin wizard is an offbeat choice, since goblins are so against reading. They even made an archetype specifically for goblins so they can be wizards without learning to read.

Sczarni

Zen Archer monk and Scout rogue have a special place in my heart, not only because they're good, but because they call back to some of my favorite gems from old 3.5 splatbooks.

I also have a soft spot for Monk of the Sacred Mountain. No, it's not the best archetype, but it gives up so very little and I love the idea of using it with a ranged character. I believe it's compatible with Far Strike Monk anyway.

Arcane Duelist, as mentioned, is pretty awesome.

I've kinda been itching to try out the Arcane Gun wizard-- haven't seen it in action yet, but I always pick the bonded item for wizards anyway.

Separatist cleric basically gets any two domains he wants, which is pretty sweet.

Sczarni

Cheating successfully is the ultimate lawful act. Anyone can follow the rules, but being able to subvert the rules requires True Mastery of them. You aren't satisfied with merely winning the game, you seek to conquer it, to bend it to your will, to enforce yourself on the rules, rather than the other way around.

See if your GM goes with that. If not, well, looks like you're going to the Shadow Realm.

Sczarni

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The mental image of someone looking for the sun on a clear day and failing to find it is just too funny to pass up.

Sczarni

How about a martial class that revolves around "one big hit"? He doesn't get iterative attacks (or he does, but his class features dissuade him from taking them), but he wields a weapon as big as a tree, and when he swings it, enemies are reduced to pulp, the ground quakes, and nothing remains standing. I'm imagining a huge bonus to sunder checks, the Vital Strike line as free bonus feats, a class ability that lets you spend a full-round action to attack For Massive Damage (and that comboes with Vital strike), some sort of AoE nova ability that turns the ground this guy stands on into a crater, etc. By 20th level, he should be able to demolish castles and slay dragons with a single blow.

Sczarni

Torbyne wrote:


By Tactician i assume you mean the 3PP Psionic class? I know its controversial but i dont look at 3PP. I have yet to find a game where it is allowed so its not worth the investment to me.

Tactician is actually a Fighter archetype from Ultimate Combat. Basically, it trades tower shields and 3 out of 4 Armor Trainings for more skill points, the ability to take Skill Focus or teamwork feats as bonus feats, and the cavalier's tactician's ability, plus a few opportunities to actually benefit from an INT bonus on the battelfield. Seems alright to me.

Someone earlier mentioned they'd like a Mutagen'less alchemist, because maybe they don't want to play Dr. Jekyll this time around. I'd go the other way-- I want to see a class that's all about "hulking out" and assuming a fearsome battle form; something a bit more transformative than rage, and more unique to the individual.

I imagine it like a druid/fighter hybrid that eschews spellcasting entirely in favor of wildshaping into an animalistic alternate form. Perhaps the character has two separate lists of feats, and benefits from or the other in certain circumstances? Think the Berserker from Torchlight II, or the Abomination from Darkest Dungeon.

Sczarni

Iajutsu does require you to have a sheathed weapon, so that you can draw it and strike in one motion. Of course, what martial character worth his salt only has one weapon?

I can see having, say, one katana for your basic goblin-hacking and then when the BBEG shows up, you carve your way to him, then drop your first katana to Iajutsu him with Wind of Inexorable Dawn, your FAVORITE katana.

By this interpretation, Option One starts to look less like a loophole and more like a legitimate cinematic moment. It's not necessarily the first blow of a battle, but it's the moment at which you dramatically bring to bear your finest sharpened steel; when you lock eyes with your foe and make it known that NOW it's serious.

Sczarni

477. A husband and wife are having a very loud conversation-- her from a second-story balcony, and him from the street.

478. A group of homeless people are gathered on the steps of the courthouse, petitioning the magisters to be allowed to use the old abandoned church for shelter. The magisters are refusing, despite having no other use for the building.

479. One of the bridges that spans the river has been blocked off to wagon traffic with a pair of large gates. The bridge itself is now a public garden, with freshly-planted saplings, flowering bushes, and even a well in the center (actually just a hole in the bridge through which river water can be hoisted up). A flock of birds have settled in the trees.

Sczarni

296. The town, or rather the 50 acres of land the town will be built on, was just granted to you by the king, and you're determined to build a prosperous village on it.

297. In a few weeks, the turnips will be ready for harvesting, and there's nobody else around to harvest them!

298. You have a three-year-old daughter to raise and she's the most wonderful little girl in the world.

299. You can't leave town until they've finished construction on the new shipyard, and until you've saved up enough for your own ship.

Sczarni

I also tried a rope dart build. You don't need to threaten- unarmed strikes, remember?

Sacred Mountain archetype could work since you aren't moving to melee range.

Sczarni

Adventurers don't have a primary attribute. But do they have a caster level?

91. The Aptitude Between the curative and emboldening magics of their allies, the insidious curses and magical onslaughts of their enemies, the constant questing for magical items, and a diet that consists more of potions than of food, adventurers find themselves exposed to far more magic than anyone who isn't a wizard themselves, and this familiarity puts them at east around magic and aids them in the learning of it.

-At 1st level, adventurer levels stack with levels of any other spellcasting class to determine the adventurer's caster level.

-At 4th level, whenever the adventurer is under the effects of a [harmless] spell, she gains a +1 familiarity bonus to whichever save that spell would have allowed had the adventurer not been a willing target. This effect stacks with itself.

-At 8th level, whenever the adventurer gains a level in a spellcasting class, she chooses a number of spells equal to her bonus in that class's primary spellcasting attribute that are NOT on any of her classes' spell lists, and are of no higher spell level than the highest spell the adventurer IS able to cast. She treats those spells as though they were on her spell list for purposes of Use Magic Device checks, never needs to make Spellcraft checks to recognize those spells being cast.

-At 12th level, an adventurer's body has absorbed so much residual magical energy that she herself radiates an aura as though she were a magical item. The adventurer may attempt a Spellcraft check to change the school of magic she radiates as a standard action, but the strength of this aura is determined by her total Hit Dice as her "crafter's caster level". The adventurer may attempt to use this residual magic to modify any spell she casts from a wand, scroll, or by her own power. The adventurer rolls a d20 in additon to any rolls the spell itself demand. On a natural 20, treat this additional magic as a spell mishap from a failed UMD check to activate a wand, but such effects typically work in the caster's favor and are determined by the nature of the spell being cast. (Exact effects are up to the GM.)

-At 16th level, the adventurer gains her familairity bonus from EVERY spell cuurently affecting her, even from hostile sources. This bonus even applies to repeated saves allowed by the very spell granting the bonus in the first place.

Sczarni

Here's a thought: suppose an enchanted Dwarven Battlestein will always clean itself out between drinks, regardless of what the enchantment is? Maybe at +3 equivalent or higher, it can be commanded to fill with ale? Or even just make water taste like ale, a la prestidigitation?

Other enchanted weapons can be commanded to shed light as a torch regardless of the nature of the enchantment, so why not?

Sczarni

Lem and Meligaster could both be Richard Horvitz, since they are brothers. Less Billy or Invader Zim, though-- more like Daggett in a good mood (for Lem) and Orthopox (for 'Gaster).

Lynda Carter could do Imrijka spot-on. It wouldn't even be her first time voicing a female orc!

Sczarni

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

Great idea! This is the kind of thinking I want to see more of around here! I've had some similar, but have never shared them.

Somehow, it still doesn't quite seem powerful enough. Three suggestions for that (of which I'd say adding two is sufficient):

- make it a move action to drink the stein's contents (or a swift action if you have that feat that lets you drink things quickly)

- enable the wielder to drink the stein's contents without provoking an attack of opportunity

- permit the stein to hold offensive liquids (acid, holy water, contact poison, etc) as well, which can be sloshed onto foes as a move action

Honestly, I was worried that it was too powerful with all the extra abilities I'd added on. Not having to retrieve the potion from a pack is already a big help. As for filling it with liquids that you don't intend to drink yourself, well, that just sounds like blasphemy! ;)

A friend of mine (who usually GMs our games) also suggested that drinking a potion out of it would be a move action, but that's because he once read about a 3rd-party potion bottle with a soluble stopper, where you could drink faster because you could just "drink" the stopper instead of uncorking it. That sounds ridiculous to me, IIMO.

I was on the fence about whether to make it light or 1h. Light means you can dual-wield them, for two-fisted drinking and two-weapon fighting, or off-hand it for axe-and-ale combat. One-handed means you can Power Attack with it. But my freind/GM also said he couldn't picture it doing more than 1d6, and even that was pushing it, so I went with light.

My only regret is that Monk of the Empty Hand and Drunken Master aren't archetypes that stack.

Sczarni

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Why has nobody done this yet?

Dwarven Battlestein
Exotic Light Weapon
Cost: 35gp
Dmg(s): 1d3 (see text)
Dmg(m): 1d4 (see text)
Critical: x2
Range: -
Weight: 3lbs.
Type: B
Special: see text

Typically crafted from hewn stone or wrought iron and etched with traditional dwarven drinking songs, the handle of this ale stein is inlaid with leather and shaped to sit tightly against a drinker's fist, making it suitable as a close-combat weapon as well as a vessel for drinking out of.

You get a +2 bonus on Bluff checks to convince someone that the stein is not a weapon. The stein can hold up to one alcoholic drink or one potion without spilling, and the latched lid can be opened or closed with the thumb of the hand wielding it as a free action. (Drinking the contents takes the normal amount of time.) If the stein is full, it deals damage as though it were one size category larger. If you have the Catch Off-Guard feat, you may treat the battlestein as both an improvised and a manufactured weapon.

Dwarves treat the battlestein as a martial weapon, and get a +2 on Sense Motive checks to recognize the difference between it and a normal stein.

Feedback?

Sczarni

The biggest issue is that this means everybody will have a mount. Are you prepared to make horses a constant presence in your campaign? Do all the taverns have stables? Are the quests taking place in areas that horses can access?

Are your players familiar with the rules for A] animal companions, and B] mounted combat? If not, are they prepared to learn them? I'd ask your players how they feel about this before giving them a mandatory mount.

If everyone is okay with it, then yeah, go right ahead.

Sczarni

191. Small metal objects (keys, nails, gears, jewelry) practically leap into your hand when you reach for them, and you never have any trouble finding some (though finding the right key or whatnot is no easier for you than anyone else). If you tense the muscles in your hand, you can make a handful of them hover in your palm and dance around each other. Sometimes you reach into your pockets and find a handful of such metal bits that you don't remember picking up. Gold and silver objects are unaffected.

Sczarni

177. Interstellar scrying sensors, drifting aimlessly through the void, having collected and transmitted all the information about their intended subjects centuries ago, now hundreds of light-years away from their original long-dead casters.

178. A derelict graveyard, consisting of several fleets worth of wrecked spaceships and other debris, held together by crude chains and tethers as well as gravity and "piloted" by the undead crewmembers who arose out of the trauma of being Lost At Sky (or were raised as skeleton crew when spacefaring necromancers discovered their vacuum-preserved corpses). Semi-scrambled distress beacons still lure in new additions to the fleet...

Sczarni

It's an exception for wizards, but not sorcerers. They might still learn it, if they want to read scrolls (or already learned all the cantrips they care about).

If you're asking why it's an exception, it's because if it weren't, wizards would need to prepare and cast Read Magic to read their spellbooks... to prepare and cast Read Magic. The exception is to make clear that wizards can always read spellbooks.

Sczarni

The best way I can see this being worthwhile is if a monk were to UMD a wand of Chill Touch (since that spell grants multiple charges per cast) and then hold the charge until next round, when he flurries and delivers an extra 1d6 negative energy damage onto all his attacks.

Trouble is, monks rarely have the Charisma or skill points to make UMD worth it, and Chill Touch grants one charge per CL, so you'd need to spend major gold on a high-level wand of it.

A gnome with the fell magic alternate racial trait and 11 or more Wisdom gets a free Chill Touch per day, and counts all his monk levels towards his CL, but... then you're a gnome monk. Hey, at least you can make Bewildering Koan work, right?

Sczarni

83. People you know sometimes fail to recognize you immediately, no matter how well they know you. They always remember you after a few minutes, or after you remind them of your name, and then can not explain why they didn't recognize you earlier.

84. In your presence, people occasionally use the wrong word by mistake. Sometimes they use another language's word for the same idea, whether they know that word in the other language or not.

Sczarni

33. When in the moonlight, your skin reflects the light like polished silver and your hair shines like spun gold.

34. Your breath smells like honey and cinnamon, no matter what you've been eating.

35. Your eyes are mismatched, of colors that are not natural for your race, and are a new color every morning.

36. You have never grown a single hair anywhere on your body.

37. Your voice reverberates with an inexplicable bassy note, as though your voice box were far deeper in your throat and your whole chest was producing the sound.

Sczarni

DM_Blake wrote:
Melkiador wrote:
I'd say a weapon wielded in the mouth would be an improvised weapon.

No, not improvised. An improvised weapon is when you have something that is NOT a weapon and yet you try to use it like you would use a weapon. Or you have an actual weapon but you do something with it that is not intended, like clubbing someone with the flat side of a sword, thumping someone with the haft of a polearm.

In the case of holding a sword with your, you really are still slashing with the sharp edge of the blade, therefore, you're using a real weapon to do what it's supposed to do - you're just holding it wrong.

Holding weapons badly is already covered by a different rule: Non-Proficiency.

I feel obliged to point out that nonproficiency and improvised weapons both have the same penalty (-4), so it doesn't really matter a whole lot which one applies.

I would also suggest that perhaps, if a character has a bite attack (alternate Half-Orc, Tiefling, or Tengu racial trait) then they could take a feat to wield a weapon in their jaws.

Sczarni

The fluff for tieflings and aasimars both say that the outsider's influence can come from several generations down the line, so both celestial and fiendish heritage can "lie dormant" for several generations. Thus, there's a good likelihood that the child will be a regular human/elf/whatever... but his or her descendants could produce both tieflings and aasimars.

Thus, eighty or ninety years later, a humble farmer's wife has twins-- one angelic and one demonic, and nobody knows why because Great-Grandpa just passed away last year and can't tell them that the children got it from his parents.

Sczarni

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30. Mercantile Savvy: For all the disparaging talk about their people skills, adventurers are experts at dealing with merchants, caravaneers, couriers, and the independently wealthy. An adventurer treats every settlement as though it were one size category larger for the purposes of whether magic items are available for sale in that settlement. In addition, she adds her adventurer level to Survival checks made to navigate to a settlement for the purpose of buying or selling merchandise, to Appraise and Sense Motive checks made during bargaining, and to any Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive, and Knowledge checks made to convince someone to employ her or offer her work.

31. Adventurer's Rule:Rule #14: I can have that special ordered. Starting at 7th level, an adventurer who knows Rule #14 can name any item of value not more than 50% of her recommended WBL and announce her intention to purchase it. That item becomes available for purchase in the settlement she is currently in after 2d10 days. She must still pay the full value of the item, and must remain in the settlement until the item arrives or is custom-made. Alternatively, the adventurer can spend 2d4 days traveling in order to meet a courier on the road. Any Survival checks made while traveling in this way benefit from her Mercantile Savvy bonus. Either way, if she does not purchase the item upon arrival, it is immediately lost and the adventurer may not use this ability again for 30 days or until she has gained a level in adventurer.

Sczarni

18. Fuzzy Math: Once per day, whenever an adventurer rolls a natural 1 on a d20 or fails a d20 roll by 10 or more, she may reroll it. She gains a bonus on this roll equal to the number of modifiers added to or subtracted from the original roll. (Those modifers apply to the reroll as normal.) She must take the new result, even if it worse, and can not combine this ability with any other ability that grants rerolls.

Sczarni

475. A tall elf girl in a porcelain mask is juggling flaming batons, while a halfling in a matching mask talks up her performance and holds a jar out for donations. A DC30 Perception, DC25 Sleight of Hand, or DC15 Profession (juggler) check will reveal that the girl is actually making several mistakes and the flames are coming dangerously close to her body. A Detect Magic spell, followed by the appropriate checks, will reveal that she is protecting herself with a Draconic Reservoir spell. A DC25 Sense Motive check will reveal that several members of the audience are in fact accomplices of these performers, and seem to be subtly "corralling" the passersby towards the crowd.

If the PCs stay to watch the performance, then after 2d6 minutes a signal is given and the two performers start attacking the party, along with the accomplices in the audience.

Sczarni

Okay, Ive reviewed it on the Paizo shop page. I'll head to DriveThruRPG and review it there later.

I also just got the email notifying me of the next installment of the Tangible Taverns series. Since my biggest initial complaint was that I thought The Bull & The Bear was a full-length book all about different taverns and only got one tavern, I'm glad I waited to write the review!

Sczarni

For tarot cards, you don't actually need an archetype or a class, you just need to take the Harrowed feat and you can then do Harrow readings.

If you've got room in the build for a feat, you can then switch Cartomancer to vanilla witch and get your familiar back for the cryptozoology and animism without losing any of the other fields Witch gives you.

Sczarni

CBDunkerson wrote:
Occult Mysteries: Astrology, Numerology, Conference Z, et cetera

What's "Conference Z"? The Internet failed me and I don't have the Occult Mysteries book. Is it a real-world psuedoscience branch, or something Paizo made up?

Sczarni

I'd like to see a necromancer based off of Victor Frankenstein or Herbert West. Probably wizard or alchemist. Possibly summoner with the eidolon refluffed as a flesh golem.

I don't know how "psuedoscientific" that counts as, since I don't think reanimation was ever really a "scientific field" but both of those stories presented their protagonists as scientists.

Sczarni

This is probably nothing you all haven't seen before, but I thought of them on my own so I'm kind of proud of them.

1) Improved Bull Rush on any high-STR build. Unlike Improved Trip, which requires COmbat Expertise (don't get me started), Imp. Bull Rush only requires Power Attack-- a feat you already wanted to take anyway. Bull rushing itself may not seem like the most powerful option, but most people never even attempt it because of the AoO. Once you have the Improved feat, you start seeing all sorts of applications for it.

2) Lookout granted to a mount or AC. Cavaliers can benefit especially from this; normally Lookout is a useless choice because Tactician can't grant it to allies soon enough for it to be of any use. But once you get your mount's Int up to 3, the mount can take the feat, and as long as you're in the saddle, you effectively get to roll twice on Perception checks and take the better result. Any other class with an AC can do this trick as well, but they tend to be WIS-based casters who don't really need it.

Sczarni

Do I write the review on the shop page, or here? I can do both if you'd like.

Sczarni

If he has a babau under his thumb, there's a good chance he also has a quasit. You know, the tiny demons that can fly and turn invisible at will?

Why cast scrying when you can just have a tiny minion follow the party around and report back?

Alternatively, he may have instructed the babau itself to shadow you and wait for an opportunity. The Bestiary does list them as being good at stealth and assassination. A single babau is a CR appropriate fight, and it's possible the thing was only stealing your stuff so that you would be easier to fight.

Sczarni

Lemmy wrote:

Assuming you're following the rules insteqd of GM-fiat'ing whatever you think fits the fluff text of the Rogue class... There is basically nothing a Rogue BBEG couldn't do as well or much better as a member of a different class.

Most (probably all) of the mentioned tactics that would make him an actual threat (picking the time and location of the encounter, setting ambushes and traps, fighting dirty, hiring goons, etc) are not limited to any class and Rogues aren't particularly good at any of that)

There is one thing that rogues and only rogues get, and it was the basis of my suggestion: the Thug archetype. Rogues can use Intimidate to inflict the Frightened condition nonmagically, which means no limit on times-per-day, no saving throw, no SR, no Protection from Evil*, no nothing. Your only defense is having max ranks in Sense Motive, and even then a rogue built to Intimidate will hit the DC more often than not. Add in the greater invisibility effect of Invisible Blade (not exclusive to rogues, but put to good use by them) and you don't even get to see what you're fighting to know how to counter it, while you take full (nonlethal) sneak attack damage every round from the thing that's inflicting the Frightened condition.

Sure, a Slayer with a potion of Greater Invisibility could probably TPK your group more efficiently. A bard or cleric could probably deny more player agency by keeping the characters fleeing in fear for longer. But remember-- a BBEG should be a hard fight, but ultimately a winnable one, and a memorable one. I guarantee you they'll be talking about The Invisible Thug for years.

*Okay, Prot: Evil will still apply to their AC against him hitting them, but he gets a +2 for being invisible on top of only having to hit flat-footed AC. And if he misses, he's still invisible, so he can just swing again.

Sczarni

For Conjuration, I would definitely go with a tiefling. Probably female and around Seoni's age if we want "cute devil girl", or perhaps an older man if we want a more Faustian image.

Abjuration just screams Dwarf to me.

For Necromancy, I'd either play to the audience's expectations with a gaunt, pale, older Elf, or go unexpected with a Gnome girl with a mad gleam in her eye.

The Evocation iconic would be a half-orc, male but leaner and less muscular than most iconic half-orcs, with a raven familiar on his shoulder and a fistful o'loitnin'.

Sczarni

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Give him the Thug archetype, and have him max out Intimidate. Bludgeoner feat, high STR, and a greatclub or dire flail.

Then give him the ki pool and invisible blade ninja tricks. Max ranks in Stealth helps, as does a Cape of the Mountebank.

The PCs are infiltrating his lair, finding the various traps, henchmen, and what-have-you, when suddenly one of them takes 1d10+10d6+whatever damage... and is frightened for X rounds. Nobody sees what caused this.

The party wizard attempts a Spellcraft or Know(arcana) check? Fail. The cleric channels positive energy to defeat the "haunt"? Fail. Trap sense? Nope. Will saves through the roof? Nope. Next thing you know, the party is either retreated back to the tavern (giving the BBEG time to reset the traps) or is scattered to the four winds throughout the hideout and doesn't know what they're fighting (giving the BBEG's henchmen the opportunity to gang up on each PC separately).

I'd probably set up the BBEG himself like he's half crime-boss, half Scooby Doo villain, having convinced half the city that he's actually some kind of undead creature or that his hideout is haunted. Bonus points if the party comes in assuming he's a vampire or lich and try to channel positive energy at him.

Sczarni

I think he meant a "Bull Fighter" as in a minotaur with levels in Fighter.

I'm personally hoping for a spellcaster archetype that embraces the "labyrinth" aspect of the mythology somehow. Not sure what it'd look like though.

Sczarni

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Personally, I also like the idea of an oracle lich. Oracles get their power straight from the gods without necessarily understanding their plan, so an oracle might not choose to pursue lichdom, but have it thrusted upon him for reasons he doesn't understand. Such a lich might not even know what his phylactery is! Perhaps he sees it in his visions, and has been questing for it without precisely knowing why or how to find it.

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