Siren's Mask's page

doting

Can anyone explain the Blade Adept Arcanist archetype and the Rageshaper Bloodrager? what exactly do they get, and or lose? Does the rage shaper have some kind of wildshape or polymorph mechanic? Does the arcanist have a mechanic to be a viable martial with 1/2 BAB?

Thank you for you time

Can we hear about the feral hunter? What kinda of buff does it get to replace the animal companion?

My greatest concerns for this class(which I was active about in the playtest), is that they didn't fill the void the hunter had in class ablities from level 9 to 19 as well as the enhancement bonuses to animal focus. The class got a total of 4 teamwork feats and its normal spell progression only for 10 levels strait,that's it. This void made it feel bland.

The issue with animal focus, was its interaction with the animal companion, namely that as an enhancement bonus and thus it is able to be replicated by items.By having a key class feature that offers no real bonus at higher levels could never elevate the hunters companion above a rangers or druids. Not only that the bonus type didn't feel unique, the hunters parent class the ranger gets untyped bonuses to its key features, and the hunters counterpart the inquisitor gets sacred bonuses. The hunter was mainly being sold to us as "the animal companion" class. Yet its animal companion was pretty normal, and not nearly the strongest available (consider mad dog barb, pre-retconed black sable marine, a few cavilers, and the existence of the summoner). I have hope that the divine hunter archetypes' animal companion alleviates this, or we have more useful and less situational animal focus choice.

The feral hunter sounds amazing but two things jump out at me: one, I dread the possibility of the "solo" style animal focus bonuses being enhancement. Because yeah all of mine and my groups martials typical strive for a belt of physical perfection at higher levels, thus rendering a cool class ability less useful.

The second concern is its wildshape. Yes the hunter gets same progression as druid (yes!), but is restricted to animals (no biggie), but has 3/4 bab and no way to buff its hit ( especially if its animal focus bonus is enhancement bonus). So why not just play a druid with more options and better spell casting? I am not saying this snarky, I really love the idea for this archetype, I am just concerned. Team work feats have been listed as the way to get this buff to hit, but unless the feral hunter gets a replacement or inquisitors solo tactics I fear for this archtype.

Guess we will have to wait and see, but I am hopeful.

If you want to play that way, then FoM only works on what is listed and nothing else.

Or you can use logic, read the intentions of what is actually suggests, compare it against the freedom spell which is level 9 and supposed to be a lot more powerful and read the 3.5 FAQ which while it might not apply fully, still should everywhere that it wasn't contradicted.

Logic would dictate that the 3.5 FAQ is completely moot, as it specifically says that it only effects physical impairments, and the pathfinder version specifically adds a condition not covered in the 3.5 version of the spell, namely paralyzed. The addition of Paralyzed, a condition that has both mundane (poison), and magical sources, as well as the possibility of being either physical or mental, changes the written and intentional understanding of the 3.5 version.

Freedom as a 9th level spell includes all of the goodness of FoM, save it specifically counters Imprisonment, a spell that not even wish or miracle can save you from. It makes no mention of mental or physical impairment, and even uses the same language about movement as FoM. However it should be noted that Freedom does include stunning, it makes no mention of daze, or more specifically the topic of this thread. Is this an intentional oversight?

Paralyzed

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can't swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares to move through.

If you have still silent remove paralysis prepared or a paladin's lay on hands has the paralysis mercy selected, they can still take an action to remove paralysis. It's physical inhibition only, even if the source of the physical inhibition is a mind-affecting effect.

How ever you want to term it in your game is fine, but Hold person is a mind-affect. "physical inhibitor" is not a game term, neither is "mental inhibitor". Mind-affecting is though, and so is the condition of Paralyzed. FoM doesn't make a distinction to the cause, source or circumstance of the condition Paralyzed, just that you are not affected by it while you have FoM on. Meaning by RAW there is no distinction between the various forms of paralysis for the purpose of FoM, or their is no distinction between physical or mental movement restriction.

Nope, paralysis is physically preventing you from moving, which also prevents you from taking most physical actions. You can still take mental actions freely. It's a movement inhibitor, not an action inhibitor. Daze and stun are action inhibitors, you were hit in some way or had a spell cast on you that prevents you from thinking straight or similar and are unable to act appropriately.

Daze and stun are closer to frightened to confused than paralysis. They prevent actions entirely or prevent you from doing the actions you want to do. You need to have the ability to tell your body to move before you can do so.

Paralyzed

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can't swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares to move through.

School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level antipaladin 2, bard 2, cleric/oracle 2, inquisitor 2, sorcerer/wizard 3, witch 2
CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F/DF (a small, straight piece of iron)
EFFECT

Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one humanoid creature
Duration 1 round/level (D); see text
Saving Throw Will negates; see text; Spell Resistance yes

DESCRIPTION

The subject becomes paralyzed and freezes in place. It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions, even speech. Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A winged creature who is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown.

Actually paralysis seems to be a condition that can be both a physical and mental inhibitor. As hold person is mind affecting and thus the imposed physical debilitation is via the targets mind. Or simply, hold person and like ablities and spells restrict the targets mind from telling it to move.

This clearly opens the door for FoM to nullify effects that restrict, decrease, or prevent movement; whether they are physical or mental impairments.

Your players are trying to play you instead of the game:) There are things that effect your mind, and things that effect your mobility directly. FoM works on the latter.

This spell enables you or a creature you touch to move and attack normally for the duration of the spell, even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement, such as paralysis, solid fog, slow, and web. All combat maneuver checks made to grapple the target automatically fail

The argument that gives freedom of movement any wiggle room against only being useful versus physical barriers is the immunity to paralysis. This means while under FoM, Hold person and other mental effects that paralyze do no work. Now I am not arguing for the absurdity of the immunity to gravity and such, but clearly magical effects that hold are rendered null.

I am a GM of 13 years, In our home games I've had many players take crane wing. I have seen how it can be abused. This is no different than many of the other options in the game(I personally found snake style at higher levels, combined with a +10 or 20 item to sense motive to be for more powerful). I always liked the dynamics and flavor of the style feats as it brought the ability to create martial characters able to do impossible stunts. In my, and my groups opinion, these sorts of stunts or feat investments represented a level of mastery attainable by martials, that was the equivalent of spell perfection, or as we play it archmage tier.

Nevertheless we tweaked crane style to allow for loop holes in martial fight against it. We made it so that a person had to threaten the target for it to be employed. This resulted in all sorts of weird feat combinations from lunge to combat patrol, that created an escalating arms race of martial mastery. This proved to be very fun for my players and made a title like Blade Master or Sword Lord mean a little more than "I hit with big weapon". I agree that the feat could be abused and could have used some tweaking, I think the change makes it highly undesirable for the investment, especially if you are not a monk. I would also not like to see this feat be condemned to only being used by unarmed combatants as it was on of the cool options weapon based fighters could take. Just my 2 coppers

Siren's Mask wrote:

level 15 - Player became frustrated at class, almost no change from level 10 besides a few number increases to old abilities, more teamwork feats and 2 levels of spells. Player complained that the class had no feel of its own. It constantly underperformed in damage and utility compared to the other classes, and the animal companion became a liability at this point seeing that it only had a 25% chance to hit un-buffed and failed almost all will saves thrown at it. This once again removed half of the hunters class focus, teamwork feats.

Hmm...

Is the wisdom/saving throw supposed to be countered with items by that level?
Not a criticism, just asking.

At level 15 the animal companions will save is a base of 4, he was playing a T-rex ( which has one of the highest starting wisdoms for animal companions) for a +2, and it had a cloak of resistance +3. That brings it's grand total to +9. Yes he could have invested in feats, or headbands of wisdom, but he didn't. Compared to the Average Dc of that level (22-24), the Companion has a 60-70% failure chance. If it is an enchantment effect it brings the save up to 50%. That is a 50/50 chance of loosing half of you class ablities (teamwork feats that depend on pet), and your animal companion on your best will save. The ranger or the druid does not have this liability if their animal companion goes down. Comparatively a nature based inquisitor or Beast Master cavalier, who are also focused on teamwork feats and animal companions, are not at risk of loosing their major class features or teamwork capabilities. For them their major feature isn't teamwork feats.

Finished DM-ing some encounters yesterday for my group.I ran two encounters with level 4 builds (cr4, and cr6), then two at level 10 (cr 10, cr 12), and finally level 15 builds (Cr15 and cr17). The group remade their current level 15 characters from my weekly game into advanced classes.

The hunter was a human, melee focused and his companion was a T-Rex (not everyone uses a big cat). Their thoughts and mine after play-testing and reading this forum.

players likes:

level 4 - Class is strong, just like any other class that gets an animal companion. Animal focus is okay, just feels like shaman druids totem transformation.

level 10-Class dropped to least effect out of the group. Spell utility + animal aspect is its saving grave at this point, but still looses to druid and oracle it terms of power and effectiveness.When buffed and proper teamwork feats are used, the class is okay.

level 15- none ( I believe this was due to comparing it with his old class)

dislikes:

level 4 - The class is almost indistinguishable from the druid at this level, save for loosing wild shape and the lack of armor restrictions.Besides track and reflex save their is almost no inclusion of the Ranger.

level 10 - Animal focus becomes much less useful at this level. As advertised it will save you an items slot and money. What we found is that the character will pick up the item anyway because having an effective magical stat item for 10 min a day is not that good, and prohibits you from swamping it to another item. The character was very disappointed that for the next ten levels all he was going to get in terms of class abilities was 3 team work feats. The companion starts to be less effective at this level as its chances to hit diminished and it was being affected by control effects. This is more harmful to the Hunter than other animal focused classes as half of its class features are build around teamwork feats that rely on the companion. It has no way like the inquisitor or cavalier to make use of literally half of its class abilities if its pet is CC'ed/ dead.

level 15 - Player became frustrated at class, almost no change from level 10 besides a few number increases to old abilities, more teamwork feats and 2 levels of spells. Player complained that the class had no feel of its own. It constantly underperformed in damage and utility compared to the other classes, and the animal companion became a liability at this point seeing that it only had a 25% chance to hit un-buffed and failed almost all will saves thrown at it. This once again removed half of the hunters class focus, teamwork feats.

What players seem to want:
There seems to be two camps on this, one who want WOW style archery, and the other who want the class to actually have the strongest animal companion in the game. In rearguards to the archery bit that's already covered by the ranger. For the animal companion group, I think this is the direction the class need to go in. The hunters companion is lacking in both power and class abilities that aid it. A good example of more flavorful, powerful and better linked class abilities between a class and animal companion are found in the Mad Dog Barbarian's Warbeast, Throat Cutter, and Ferocious Fetch, the Fell Riders Terror, Dread rider and Brute Stead, or the Huntmaster's Bestial Challenge, Take Down, and Pack Attack abilities.

What developers want from this class?
Could you give us a better idea on what niche or focus you want this class to have? As of now it seems like its built around team work feats. I hope this is not the case, because while many teamwork feats are nice, the prerequisites and lack of support from anyone besides your pet is hurting this class.

What I think might help this class:
I have 3 different suggestions that might move this class to a better position depending on the direction it goes.

If you keep animal focus, please change the bonus type, at higher levels it does not mean the character will not have to buy the magical item. It just means they won't use half of the animal focuses, which will further limit this class.

To Make a better animal companion, I don't think to much needs to be done.first give it access to the two animal focuses later on.Second, the Mammoth rider prestige class has a nice template (Gigantic Steed), for creating a bigger badder companion. Adding something akin to this as an animal focus only for the companion at higher levels, or as a class ability at level 10, would make it more viable and satisfy many of the people looking for the summoner equivalent. It would also fill in that horrible gap between level 8 -19 were the hunter only gets team work feats. Creating animal focuses that protect from debilitating effects would be useful, like the Mammoth Lord ability but only for the companion.

For the Wow fans the Hunter could include a little bit more from the Ranger class. The Ranger Trap ability, in combination with teamwork feats and the larger spell list could create an awesome ambush style class. gaining on at level one and ever four level
after would increase power and utility, but not to much, while giving it something from one of its parent classes.

Love this class! But i think there may be a slight oversight with a bloodline.

Two of my players are building Bloodragers. I am having them build a 5th level, 10th, 16th, and 20th versions. One of them turns to me as tells me that the arcane bloodline is more dragon themed than the dragon bloodline. I didn't believe it so I took a look, by level 16 sure enough the arcane blood line can have better energy resistance, and actually turn into a dragon. Now this is awesome, but it kinda outshines the bloodline actually based upon dragons, considering that one spell gives the arcane blood line a breath weapon, 5 natural attacks,the same natural armor, flight, and in some cases a new movement speed.

my suggestion is to replace dragon form on the arcane list with Undead anatomy III, or giant form I. Then replace tail slap on the dragon bloodline with, the ability to turn into dragon ( though limited to what type you picked in beginning). The fact that the dragon bloodline can never actually turn into a dragon, via powers or his limited spell progression, and another bloodline can is kind of ironic.

One of the players in my Kingmaker campaign is a crusader

Thanks for that option, but at my level two feats at the cost of a spell per level and a domian does not seem worth it.

At EWHM, trickery is nice but I think that is for another character, our sorcerer will be handling the face part and monk will take stealth. Me and the heal-a-din will have to pretend we are quiet. As a side note about armor, is heavy armor prof worth the feat, or better to spend it on something else.

racial considerations: heart of the field, maybe adoptive parents to try and get weapon focus at level 1 ( is this worth the feat?)

feats:
1) heavy armor prof.
1(h) ?
3)power attack
5) ?

I see your points, very valid. I think great sword and travel is a must. I am just debating between ferocity, liberation and heroism. Liberation power is just amazing and worth a 40,000g item so I totally get it. Heroism gives access to one of the best buffs in the game at 5th and 11th level, and no one else in the party will have them, so its a contender. Ferocity is an okay buff, but the big draw for me is enlarge person (as a side note does that stack with righteous might, neither have polymorph effects) if i did go this route I think I might use a reach weapon, or is this good in though bad in practice?

Any thoughts on feats or human variants racials?

So for weapons is Falchion still king the general consensus?

I looked at the domains mentioned and I can see travel being very versatile, especially having access to fly. I have just been informed that leadership is not allowed so nobility seems like a bust. What type of action is the liberation ablity in the liberation domain? Can anyone verify if either the ferocity or demon subdomains are worth it?

Okay feat wise I have four to work with. Obviously power attack is a must, how about channel smite? Is it worth it if i go negative energy?
Any other thoughts or niche cleric feat or items of this level that are a must?

Hello, I DM frequently but play rarely. So I am finally getting a chance to play in a friends campaign coming up next week and I find my self at a loss for character builds. What I am asking is for help optimizing/ helping me build my character. Here is the rundown:

Starting at level 6, 25 point buy,no alignment restrictions, Human only, we could only use the core classes ,but all Paizo material is a go ( so archetypes,feats and such from any book are okay). I rolled a cleric for my class and decided I wanted to play a battle cleric, as I have no seen anyone at my table play one yet.

Other factors( DM restrictions)- I am basically starting as if just being born, so I don't have a concrete personality/ type yet. No animal companions.I can only have one level or multi class if i choose. And I cant worship a God, think more aspect/ animism. I do have my wealth for my level, but my weapon is only allowed to be a +1, but I am proficient in any one martial weapon. Party make up so far is a healing focused archer paladin, boreal seeker sorcerer, Barbarian/ martial artist monk.

Please help, and thank you.

Thank you everyone for your replies! Looks like I should avoid staying in such zones too long :)

This question applies to weapon, armor, and shield enhancement bonuses.

For example:
I have a +5 falcata and have the unfortunate problem of walking into an anti-magic zone.

Would my falcata still provide +5 to my attack and damage rolls?

or

Would it function simply as a masterwork weapon providing +1 to attack and damage rolls?

Here's your answer.

Same Effect with Differing Results wrote:

The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

Thank you :)

Simple question, do multiple castings of resist energy stack. As in can i cast it multiple times to gain resistance to fire, cold, electricity and acid. I ask because my party is about to fight a buch of elementals and the druid wants to cast the communal version four times, giving everyone in the party ER 30 vs everything.

I ask because I dont know if you can only have this spell cast once on you, and each successive casting replaces the older version. Or that each casting counts as a separate buff, thus allowing all to be sustained at once.Currently in game so if anyone has a speedy answer to this, i would be very appreciative.

Thank you for your help.

It appears that David Bowie moonlights as Damiel, the Alchemist Iconic ;) (pg 24)

I just bought the pdf and I'm loving what I read so far but... why is the artwork of the cayhound not a mastiff? Mastiffs are one of my favorite dogs and I've always enjoyed the cayhound because it's described as one.

Was there a mix up with the artwork?

So, you are constantly impressed BUT you reach out for the keyboard and write your one and only 1-star review? Then you call people "fanboys" who write "drivel" because, I dunno, they dared to disagree with you on a *discussion* forum and in a true spirit of a *discussion* forum you exit stage left? Have you checked your blood pressure today? I'm seriously concerned for your health here.

Bit of a misunderstanding here, I said I will not engage in escalating arguments, I will have a discussion though. I did not call The Block Knight a "fan-boy" because he "dared to" disagree with me. I did it because he started a defensive argument by attacking my review without having looked at the product, there by having no basis for discussion except his "feelings". My review was "an absolute stunning failure", not because he disagreed with my points, or that he thought the book was amazing, but because he did not like that I gave it one star and needed to defend the product that he has not yet reviewed. The fact that this was my only review speaks for Paizo and their material, that all has been well and agreeable, because silence means consent. In regards to people disagreeing with me, I welcome that. If someone points out something that I missed that is noteworthy I will recant my statement and review.

Sigh. Glad to see the trend of people writing misinformed reviews based on mismanaged expectations hasn't stopped.

Granted, if I'm going to talk the talk then I should walk the walk. I don't have my copy yet, still waiting on my FLGS, but once I've read it I'll post a review.

Normally when person attacks someone about their

If you had read the book, and were refuting my claim, I would have excepted your condemnation toward my review with a little weight.

On the other hand I think some clarity is in order. I did not write that review in a bout of "nerd rage" as a personal attack on Paizo (now settle down zealous fan-boys). I love Paizo, I own a great deal of their products and all of the inner sea related material.I have been constantly impressed with 4 and 5 star books, however I understand they can't always turn out a winner. Does this mean I am going to stop supporting Paizo? No, it does not. Does this mean I thought the quality of this one product was severely lacking? Yes. I wrote that review based not only on "crunch" and "fluff" ratio. I found barely any "crunch", and the "fluff" as I said in my review was not all that new, 6 paragraphs on the Knights of OZEM, and most of it rehashed or basic information you would know about Lastwall if you had the inner sea guide. The product in and of itself is sub-par, if you compare it with other inner sea and Golarion guides it is dismally apparent. For me the most interesting thing in the book was the origin of the knights of OZEM's name.

Now if you dislike my review,write your own. But do not write three paragraphs of self-righteous fan-boy drivel when you don't even have a basis for your claims.

P.s I will not be engaging in escalating back and forth arguments, I have said my peace. Thank you and good day.

Boreal 1)cold steel=free frost for melee or ranged 2)Snow Shroud = awesome defense ability + ignore concealment 3)Blizzard= control winds + sleet storm ( 40ft radius/lev need i say more). Great crowd control and low level army destroyer, plus fun theme of being a storm caller, pirate or great warrior of the north.

Here’s a ponderous question, Nameless the Inquisitor confirms a critical hit using his +1 Flaming Composite Longbow: +3 STR bonus with a manyshot and has the following benefits ongoing, judgment destruction (+4 sacred bonus to damage), prayer (+1 luck bonus to damage), weapon of awe (+2 sacred bonus to damage), and finally has bane effect on (bane: +2d6 to damage). Using his normal base damage of (1d8+4+1d6 fire/x3), what is the correct damage calculation?

+1 Flaming Composite Longbow: +3 STR bonus (1d8+4+1d6 fire/x3)

1d8+11+3d6 /x3

= 1d8+11{ 3(str)+ 1(wpn enchant)+ 4 (judgment*sacred)+1(prayer*luck) + 2 (enhancement from bane)} +1d6 fire +2d6 bane

* sacred damage bonus does not stack

The Freebooter seems like an easy fix, as RAW the Freebooter's bane replaces favored enemy, so it's not the same, but most DM's I know would rule this to work the dame as favored enemy.

It is the Wild Stalker and Warden who don't even have the Favored enemy ability or anything comparable. Do they get other ability like a Tetori monk? was it an over sight? Is there something I am missing?

Alienfreak wrote:

Hm? A Pit is difficult terrain or would require you to jump to get over it. So you can't get over it. Thus your movement stops...

So you're not allowed to turn and move around it to the limit of your move action?

Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to
move up to twice your speed and attack during the action.
Charging, however, carries tight restrictions on how you
can move.
Movement During a Charge: You must move before your
attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet (2 squares)
and may move up to double your speed directly toward the
designated opponent. If you move a distance equal to your
speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge
attack if your base attack bonus is at least +1.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and
nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult
terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space
from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is
occupied or otherwise blocked, you can’t charge. If any
line from your starting space to the ending space passes
through a square that blocks movement, slows movement,
or contains a creature (even an ally), you can’t charge.

If you don’t have line of sight to the opponent at the start
of your turn, you can’t charge that opponent.

...so no, as well as stated before you must declare your attacks and use of special actions in Pathfinder(power attack, combat expertise, casting a spell).

A full-round action requires an entire round to complete.

Nowhere in the statement does it say you can abandon your current action in effort to perform a lesser or separate action such as a move or attack.In this the move and the attack are one. I understand that charge can be viewed as a move and standard action, however the attack attributed to charge is considered a normal melee attack(the same kind that causes all the fuss on spring attack + vital strike). Imagine if a caster got part way through a summoning spell and decided to change his action after declaring it, just because battlefield conditions changed.

How would you quantify such a thing, in terms of how much of an action was spent.

Readying an Action: You can ready a standard action,

a move action, a swift action, or a free action. To do so,
specify the action you will take and the conditions under
which you will take it. Then, anytime before your next
action, you may take the readied action in response to
that condition. The action occurs just before the action
that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another
character’s activities, you interrupt the other character.
Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues
his actions once you complete your readied action. Your
initiative result changes. For the rest of the encounter, your
initiative result is the count on which you took the readied
action, and you act immediately ahead of the character
whose action triggered your readied action.

Thus, interrupting an action and creating an environment / obstacle that no longer allows for their original intended, and declared action, negates the ability of the person to perform their original full-round action.

Typically isn't mine either, but no one in my group has ever played one. I kinda feel as the normal Dm i have to pull of the big arch villain thing, and since he isn't restricting it, I feel having a potential 40 Hd worth of undead at my command at level 5 is pretty evil.

Pale Reaver Lord?

THANK YOU. -can go to sleep now-

I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong section, but this monster has eluded me for the last hour of poring over books. For all I know, it may not be Pathfinder but 3.5 or 4th. Regardless, I can't remember its name for the life of me and would greatly appreciate help.

I remember a humanoid monster, possibly undead, that had long white hair which was prehensile. The monster fed on blood, and after feeding its hair would become red for a period of time. It can look entirely human, though its feet do not touch the ground (floating). If I remember correctly, the monster was of someone that betrayed another then died due to it.

Does anyone remember this monster? It's driving me crazy.

Thank you for feed back.

My concern with the Synthesist summoner was how it would incorporate iterate attacks with a weapon and natural attacks. I understand that all the natural attacks would be treated as secondary, however I was just unsure if he would be able to use the great sword while fused, seeing as a normal eidolon has to take an evolution in order to use martial weapons.

With regards to the alchemist cheapo-bomb this was based off of two different ideas the player presented to achieve the bomb. The first uses the combination of delayed bomb and Concussive bomb. Seeing as concussive bomb does sonic damage it should not destroy the poison in the vial attached, only the vial containing the poison, thus allowing the inhaled poison to act as normal and the delayed aspect gives them time to attach the poison vial. The second way was concerning the actual vial of catalyst used to make the bomb. This method revolved around the idea that you could attach the vial of poison( via duck tape or something)to the vial of catalyst, and when the alchemist used his ability to turn the catalyst vial into a bomb the poison would already be attached and thus throw-able. I understand that in this manor he would incur both a range penalty( 10ft Vs. normal) and an attack penalty for it being an improvised weapon. Is their something else i am missing? I am not really a fan of ether concept but he is very enthusiastic, so I am trying to find something I can use to disarm his argument without just saying I am the DM.

I am starting a kingmaker campaign this weekend, and as usual some of my players have asked a few questions that I'd like to receive more input before i make a ruling.

1) One of my players is thinking about running an alchemist, he came up with the idea of attaching a vial of inhaled poison(this is done outside of combat) to a concussion bomb. The intent is that when the bomb explodes it will also break the additional vial full of poison, filling a 10x10ft area with the toxic gas. I have already ruled that should I allow this it should not work with any fire/ lightning based bombs.My question : is this even allowable by RaW? is it over powered, and if so should i attach a negative to the attack because its not a normal bomb?

2)Another player wants to run a Synthesist summoner. The fluff is he is a tiefling who has a stronger tie to his infernal lineage and "summons" the power of hell into him. My question is regarding the summoner retaining his old proficiencies while he is fused, more specifically his ability to use weapons. The character wants to use the heirloom trait to be able to use a great sword. does this work? can they have a level one character wielding a two-handed weapon over their natural attacks?

Thank you

Any chance at finding out about the dirge singer bard, or the dragon shaman. What do they get, what do they loose?

My biggest concern is making sure its legit. A ECL of +1 for a +4 to strength and stam, +3 NA, then a size category increase, and only a -2 dex for a penalty. That the equivalent of a built in Belt of physical might(40,000g), necklace of +3 NA(18,000g) and a permanency enlarge spell. For one level, I don't know when that lost level would hurt him really?

The game is a 20 point buy, to give you some idea.

yeah the thing that really got me was the +3 NA on top of the ability bonuses. That aside, are you saying that it is legal though? That the +1 CR does mean ECL of +1?

So I am starting a kingmaker campaign and one of my PC asks me if he can play a half-orc with the Giant creature template from the Bestiary 2. My question is twofold one should I allow this? and if I do, does the +1 CR adjustment convert directly to the old 3.5 one level adjustment, meaning he will have to level to 3rd, to get his actual 2nd character level? or is it more?

Oh the fluff behind it is he is a "Half-ogre" and be is going to play a ranger.

A friend of mine in PFS is a Half-Orc paladin with a mammoth for a mount.

While i think this is a cool concept, as per the RAW, he could not have that mount as his divine bond, he could have tamed and taught it.

Divine Bond:The second type of bond allows a paladin to gain the
service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal
steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount
is usually a heavy horse (for a Medium paladin) or a pony
(for a Small paladin), although more exotic mounts,
such as a boar, camel, or dog are also suitable. This
mount functions as a druid’s animal companion, using
the paladin’s level as her effective druid level. Bonded
mounts have an Intelligence of at least 6.

If it was a cavalier he could bond the mammoth at lv 7, when it grows to large.
However that aside my initial issue was concerning lower level medium PC/
NPC's being incredibly restricted in their choices of mounts vs. the almost unlimited selection for a small character.

Concerning the cavalier's mount ability and its wording of "...other animals as suitable mounts", a major issue with this is that unless your small, you are almost forced to take a horse or camel until your lv 4 or 7, or unless you have a very nice GM. Why are their no other large un-progressed animal companions? In a world of magic and diversity every medium cavalier of low level rides ether a horse or camel by RAW. I understand the restriction is to prevent munchkining, but where is the love for boar riding orc's, elves on axebeaks or drow astride riding lizards?

I see a lot on this thread about tripping and good damage. That's fine and all if your opponent isn't a huge monster with high strength and DR, which many from mid to end game are. I would like to see even something minor to amend this, such as a feat or KI ability that negates x amount of DR equal to your wisdom mod, or some type of ability/Combat maneuver that works on larger(not the size category) foe's.

...on a side note, I Have a player in my game who keeps trying to do a MMA style monk who breaks/dislocates bones or a Karate style that focuses on less but stronger hits like the old 3.5 PHB II replacement decisive strike. I've tryed to get him to play a brutal pugilist, but he says it doesn't fit any ideas?

I don't know Hell boy always seems to end up throwing large crap at baddies and punching them in the face. plus he is incredibly tough. I would go pit fighter barbarian with hurling rage powers and maybe a few levels of rangers to pick up skills and favored enemy.

Looking through this thread, found exactly what my group and I were looking for, thought id share some ideas.
start with 1d10 Hd, full BaB, 2+int skill, 4th level maximum arcane spells.Martial weapon prof,light armor prof, and shield prof Ignore 15% arcane spell failure
Based on the pathfinder paladin model and 3.5 hex blade we came up with the idea of bonded weapons that act almost like the wizards bonded item, but have the extra effect of a cleric domain or witch's patron. That is; each weapon type heavy blade, axe, pole arm, flail...ext, give you access to a selective group of spells in addition to your normal ones. Fluff wise this is a living magical weapon who a character finds and bonds with, thus granting them some semi spontaneous casting power, and letting them keep their martial prowess. For ability's we had the hex blades arcane resistance, and Martialurge( could call it Arcknight techs). Martialurge is exactly like a rogue talents and barbarians rage powers except you only get to pick one every 4 levels. some of these included increased ignore arcane spell failure along with medium or later heavy armor prof. Arcane armor; acts like spell storing in armor, that has a contingency in place. well just some thoughts, i like were this thread is going.

Ok, i was able to test this last night with my group and we ran a few combat scenarios of diffrent level, here are some of my concerns;

Spellstrike (Su): I ran into an issue here because players wondered how long the spell is "stored" in the melee weapon? If until the next attack This makes a great pre-battle buff so to speak. If only until the next round this ability is moot, seeing as you are using two rounds to deliver one attack. This has two fundamental draw backs; 1)you have a higher risk of wasting two rounds. 2) As i found out with my NPC's, at low levels by the time you get this attack off, your more than likely going to be dead.

Spell Combat(Ex):Similar issue here with low levels. great conceptually, and at higher levels useful to a point. The real concern is at 2nd level using 15 point buy, your probably only going to have a +4/5 to hit, which when using spell combat is a +0/1, meaning i need a 15/16 roll on the d20 to hit a goblin.

we came up with two solution to this:
1)To remove Spell Combat and change the way spellstrike works, such as: A number a times per day equal to your int mod+3, as a free action you channel any spell you know with a range of touch though your melee weapon when you hit.

2) If you plan on keeping the spellstrike mechanics the same, change it to be able to channel spells that are not just touch, to make it worth delivering it through a weapon.

A few of the other problems we ran into were with the higher level Magus Arcana such as:

Dispelling Strike: an ability to target dispel at 9th level through a melee attack is a great idea (especially one that holds for a min). The problem with this one is that if you drop your highest level spell(3rd at 9th level) you can only dispel up to a 3rd level spell, at higher levels like 15, this ability becomes obsolete seeing at you only have 4th level spells and any true caster has 7/8th and far surpassed you. Or concerning magical supernatural ability's how can one equate their level vs spell level.

our ideas, make it as the third level dispel(caster lv +d20)and if dropping a higher level spell give the dispel a bonus; +2 4th, +4 5th, +6 6th.

Reflection: this Magus Arcana like the previous comes to late to be useful, lv 15 and by then anything your fighting will be hitting you with its highest level spells. so unless you whittle down the true casters, or anything that has spell like ability this will most likely not be useful unless dealing with something much lower level than you.