Talon Stormwarden's page

Thanks!

Some smart stuff

+1

However, keep in mind that you don't have to tell your player what AC you hit, just that you did hit. That way he has to make the decision to use Spell Shield without knowing if the +4 AC he's getting will make the attack miss.

Having read nothing of this thread but the title, my suggestion is Bloatmage. Kitsune bloatmage would be so awesome. ;)

Another thing is that the medusa's petrifying gaze happens each round unless the character closes his eyes, at which point it's a lot easier to kill him.

On the round that the medusa actively used her gaze against him he would have had to make 2 saves against the petrification, one for the active attack and one for just looking at her.

There are a lot more rules to know as a GM than as a player, it's easy to not play monsters to their fullest ability until you get some experience under your belt.

Protoman, Character Folio is pretty neat. I'm playing around with it.
The one complaint that I have so far is that you can't designate a subset of 'wizard spells' to be your spellbook. When you memorize you have to select from the complete list of wizard spells, which is daunting. It would be easier if you could designate a spellbook list of spells, then choose your memorized spells from that smaller, more manageable subset. But still I like it.

Azaelas, I'd be very interested in seeing that app if you can remember the name or anything else. I'm not seeing anything like it in the app store yet.

Thanks again guys.

Thanks for the suggestions folks, unfortunately nothing really fits. Also, not really looking for anything involving pen and paper, that's how I've done it for the last 25 years of my gaming career. This is about apps. :)

I'm primarily looking for a spellbook app rather than spell reference which is readily available, both on the web and in many many apps.

SRD Spellbook has promise in that you can create a list of spells (your spellbook) and a sub-list from that list (prepared spells), but the maintenance of the sublist is not easy nor is it very intuitively useable. For instance, a spell's level, even when sorted in level order, is not easily identifiable, nor can you set the number of each level able to be prepared. Also, the process for moving a spell from one list to another isn't very streamlined. When you're making and remaking a list of prepared spells multiple times in a game session you want efficiency in your app's workflow.

The 'Spells' app isn't a fit either. As you mention, Irontruth, you can't mark a spell more than once nor create sub-lists.

Anyway, I'll keep looking and hoping that someone creates a proper wizard spell tracking app.

I'm looking for an app that I can use both to record what spells are in a character's spellbook and also to track what spells are memorized.

An app designed specifically to the task would be great, but I haven't seen anything that does what I'm looking for.

I've found a 'to do list' type app that works ok, called Task Label. It allows me to make custom tasks (spells) and when I prepare a spell I assign it to a label.

Anyway, it works pretty well except there's no good way to indicate when I have a spell prepared more than once.

I'm hoping someone knows of something that works better.

Any takers?

Still looking for the spellbook function!!

Pretty please? My Carrion Crown wizard sorely needs it!

I'm in the middle of reading now, and generally agreeing and liking it, hoping to find some gems that I've missed for my wizard in Carrion Crown.

However, in response to your statement that you can't use Spellcraft for Inscribe Magical Tattoo, I wanted to point out that the ISM description says "Magical tattoos follow the rules for magic item creation as though they were wondrous items, except that they can use the Craft (calligraphy, paintings, tattoos) skill." Emphasis mine.

I'm curious exactly what spells you think the magus list is missing to satisfy you?

Yes, they get a much smaller list than a sor/wiz, but they have a nice selection of offensive, defensive and utility spells still.

I vaguely remember in 3x that critting became a complex thing, where basically you could multiply die roles, but exclude bonuses. I think paizo worked it down to a more common sense version, just double normal calculated damage.

I believe that a sneak attack cannot crit, being a specialized form of attack (intentionally critting) and getting that multiplied would make for insane first round damages.

Actually, I'm pretty sure nothing about crits has changed between 3.5 and PF, definitely not the basic crit rules anyway.

Sneak attacks can crit, but the extra sneak attack damage isn't multiplied. As Spes Magna Mark mentions, extra dice (no matter the source) are not multiplied. This applies to sneak attack dice, bane dice, flaming, shocking, anything that adds extra dice.

The maximum damage of shocking grasp is always 5d6.

Prepare Shocking grasp with the metamagic feat intensify spell to raise the damage cap to 10d6

I anxiously await any updates coming our way. :)

Thanks again for all this work!

How does Goodreader compare to iBooks? What does it do that iBooks can't?

I just don't use them.

Crafting takes 1 day per 1000gp of the base price. You're increasing the base price of your sword from 8000 to 18000, so it would take 10 days to craft the upgrade normally, 5 days if you can make the +5 DC for rapid crafting. The cost for the upgrade is 5000 gp, as you said.

I don't know if you can get spell tattoos in PFS. They're basically a scroll in a tattoo.

The tattoo is a silent, spell completion item that only the bearer can activate. It vanishes when activated. A spell tattoo must be visible to the bearer and must be touched as part of its

activation.

A spell tattoo of grease could be a life saver.

Reiterating my desire for the spellbook feature. I'll love you long time! :)

I hadn't considered that Weables, I had thought that once activated, the wizard could keep the aura active, not that he had to keep expending a standard action each round. With that in mind, it seems a lot more balanced than I thought.

The wizard CAN keep the aura active once activated without further actions. Otherwise it would be a 1 round duration ability usable level times per day. It's still not overbalanced however, for the other reasons listed.

I think you may be thinking of the common undead immunity to cold. I don't think undead have any special immunity to electricity.

Quote:

Combat Casting

You are adept at spellcasting when threatened or distracted.

Benefit: You get a +4 bonus on concentration checks made to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability when casting on the defensive or while grappled.

I had missed this change to combat casting. It makes it a lot more attractive to casters now.

They do still require a free hand to make those gestures however. Not that anyone here has suggested that they don't, but I thought I'd point it out.

In my experience it's easy for players of clerics to forget this fact, since clerics are often prone to using a weapon and a shield. As a DM I usually hand wave the weapon/shield juggling act as long as the caster uses only a light shield or buckler. Using a heavy shield however means the PC has to worry about sheathing or dropping his weapon in order to cast.

I couldn't give a crap about trying to prepare spells more than once per day, you obviously can't. I also wouldn't mind if the eating and drinking boon was removed entirely from the ring.

The real advantage of the ring has its basis in the heavy sleep restrictions imposed on arcane casters.

Rest: To prepare his daily spells, a wizard must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but he must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If his rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time he has to rest in order to clear his mind, and he must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing his spells. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, he still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.

Best case, a wizard needs 8 hours of rest and an hour of spellbook study time, for a total of 9 hours. If you're interrupted in any way during your rest that 9 hours suddenly becomes 10. Interrupted twice? Welcome to 11 hours out of action. Conversation is called out as enough to interrupt rest.

I wouldn't even mind if the ring only reduced sleep needs to 4 or 6 hours. If other characters don't get enough sleep they might be fatigued (roughly -1 to hit/damage and -1 to AC, can't run or charge). That's a hindrance, but at least you're still functional. A wizard or sorcerer is much more heavily penalized.

Ring of sustenance is, imo, a necessity for arcane casters. The sleep requirements for them are very harsh and the ring removes the very real fear that any given night you might be screwed out of being able to prepare spells the next morning.

Spellcombat rules state, that it permits spellcasting with off-hand + weapon attacks as a full-round action.

But what constitutes spell castin for this purpose?

- Spell, obviously!

- Held charges from a previously cast spell (eg. chill touch)?
- Spell-like abilities?
- Spells from scrolls?

Are there other options I may have overlooked.

Everything Wraithstrike said is true, but to answer your question more specifically: casting a spell is your only base option, unless another ability explicitly gives you other options (such as the Wand Wielder arcana that Wraith mentions).

By the rules as written, you would provoke an attack of opportunity for using Rebuke Death. It's a spell like ability, not a spell. These are distinctly different things by the rules. Merciful Healer does not protect when using sla, only spells.

That said, a very reasonable house rule would be to allow Merciful Healer to function with Rebuke Death. But at a PFS event, for instance, it would indeed provoke.

However, since temporary hit points are lost first, you can get a situation where casty vampiric touches fighty, who then whacks her hard enough to eliminate ALL her temporary hit points plus a few NON-temporary ones. Casty does it again, gaining more temporary hit points. Repeat until casty or or fighty run out.

This happened to my group in an AP:

Durations, ranges, area of effect, damage...lots of stuff.

2 is correct, but I think you're misunderstanding the concept of cooperating with another caster.

If another caster provides the spell prerequisite, then the spell prerequisite is met. This allows spell completion/trigger items to be created in this way and eliminats the need for a +5 DC adjustment on other items.

If you have no source at all for a spell pre-requisite, either cast from a scroll or wand or another caster or cast by the creator or any other source, then you increase the crafting DC by 5 for non-spell completion/trigger items. For spell completion/trigger items you cannot make that item.

Edit: Ninja tiger!!

I don't even see Final Judgment in my APG (first printing).

It's mentioned in Ultimate Combat a few times as being replaced by archetype abilities. I'd guess that said archetypes were created before the final change from Final Judgment to True Judgment was made.

Found it, it's in the FAQ, but I didn't see it before. I was afraid it was removed once the errata was posted...but it's still there.

Cleric domains, sorcerer bloodlines, wizard schools, and certain other class features give spell-like abilities that aren't based on spells. What's the effective spell level for these abilities?

The effective spell level for these spell-like abilities is equal to the highest-level spell that a character of that class could normally cast at the level the ability is gained.

For example, a 1st-level elemental bloodline sorcerer has elemental ray as a spell-like ability. Because a sorcerer 1's highest-level spell available is 1st, that spell-like ability counts as a 1st-level spell. A 9th-level elemental bloodline sorcerer has elemental blast as a spell-like ability. Because a sorcerer 9's highest-level spell available is 4th, that spell-like ability counts as a 4th-level spell.

—Sean K Reynolds, 07/07/11

The most recent errata inserted the following near the bottom of the Magic chapter:

If a character class grants a spell-like ability that is not based on an actual spell, the ability's effective spell level is equal to the highest-level class spell the character can cast, and is cast at the class level the ability is granted.

This errata is WRONG. SKR posted a while back on the subject but when it was translated into errata it came out pretty much the opposite of what SKR posted.

It should be something like:

If a character class grants a spell-like ability that is not based on an actual spell, the ability's effective spell level is equal to the highest-level class spell the character can cast at the level it was granted, and is cast at the character's current class level.

Too bad this little mess up actually made it into print in the last printing.

It occurred to me that there were other ways to interpret these types of abilities, despite those other interpretations not seeming reasonable to me. I wanted to double check that my interpretation was indeed the one most (if not all) others here used.

Thanks for the responses.

I'm wondering what the consensus is for abilities with phrasing like the thread title.

What kind of action is it to discontinue use of such an ability?

I'm thinking specifically of the inquisitor's bane ability, but there are many others with similar wording.

In the case of Bane, it's a swift action to enact. At that point, do you decide how long it's going to last, or do you enact it and then each round decide whether to keep it going to let it drop? If you can make the choice to keep it up or to drop it each round, what action is it to drop the effect?

I've been playing it as the designated action to turn the ability on (swift in the case of Bane) and a free action to turn it off (decided at the beginning of a round).

How do others interpret it?

If you were really dealing with a caster who was dumb enough to try to stand up and then cast, you'd be better off taking your AoO to inflict damage. Any damage taken during a turn wherein you are attempting to cast a spell increases the DC for the concentration check to cast the spell.

Thus, inflicting damage on the caster is actually your better option.

Just wanted to pop in to point out that this isn't actually the case. Only damage received while casting prompts the need for a concentration check (such as when taking an AoO triggered by casting or an attack readied against casting). Also, continuous damage (such as bleeding or being on fire) prompts a concentration check, but only half the damage is used in calculating the DC, since the damage is spread out over the round.

See the Table on concentration check DCs and the paragraph on Injury under that chart in the Magic chapter in the PRD.

I wouldn't call it unreliable exactly, but it's kind of like Wikipedia. It's usually right, but it could be wrong at any given point.

What it is is unofficial. Like Wikipedia it's fine to refer to as an easy to use and very extensive resource, but then it's best to confirm with official sources.

If one is looking for an official answer to begin with, I can see dismissing a reference to d20pfsrd and insisting on an official source (i.e. a rulebook page or link to the PRD).

It's Bladed Dash (and Greater Bladed Dash) from Inner Sea Magic. And yes, it's a very very nice spell for a magus!

If I understand your question correstly, there's nothing to prohibit you from doing what you're suggesting.

You could even use the parry during your turn (on an attack of opportunity for instance). There's nothing to prohibit you from taking a swift action and an immediate action during your turn. You simply give up your swift action for the subsequent turn, as with any immediate action.

I would avoid rods with a magus because of the whole needing-a-hand-free thing; do you know of a way to circumvent that?

I'll point you at a couple threads recently that I started about the subject:

Effectively diversifying damage type for a Magus

and

Nonrod metamagic item creation

I'd like to see more discussion on the topics.

It is wrong, actually. That should read Melvin, not Sparky. I put it there because if I said "Everything Sparky can do, Melvin can also do" it would include the claws, which I only used to avoid TWF confusion and still get more than one attack. The intent was Sparky can full attack with his claws, not provoke, and discharge the spell on a hit, and Melvin can full attack with his fists, not provoke, and discharge a spell on a hit.

It does seem kind of unneeded. I'll either strike that part, or change Sparky to use fists instead of claws.

Thanks!

Haha, actually, when I first read it that was my first thought. Still, great work. I really wouldn't have the patience to write something like this out.

Nice write up. Everything looks correct to me so far.

Instead of using his Claws, Sparky can use his Unarmed Strike, because he took the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for some reason.

That line, however, seems out of place and potentially confusing just because it doesn't get used in any subsequent examples. Not wrong, just maybe unneeded detail, unless you go on to use it in an example.

Talon Stormwarden wrote:

Also, I could have sworn there was a thread about the interaction of Spellstrike and multiple touch spells like Chill Touch and Frostbite (i.e. can you discharge one 'charge' per hit or only one per round?).

That's not a Spellstrike question, it's a Chill Touch (and/or Frostbite) question. However it works with touches/unarmed/natural is how it works with Spellstrike.

IE:
1 zap per round will be the same with a weapon.
1 zap per hit will be the same with a weapon.
(CL) free attacks as part of casting will be the same broken cheese with a weapon.

True, true, I get focused on my current characters I guess, the one to whom this question applies currently is a magus.

The question still stands though, as to exactly how multi-touch spells interact with iterative attacks. The only answer I recall seeing is an unofficial one from James that, iirc, came down on the 1 per round side.

That discussion doesn't belong in this thread however.

Thanks Sean!

Also, I could have sworn there was a thread about the interaction of Spellstrike and multiple touch spells like Chill Touch and Frostbite (i.e. can you discharge one 'charge' per hit or only one per round?). I can't find it however.

And of course there's the hot topic of arcane mark with spellstrike that would be really nice to have FAQed just to quell the arguments!

If you have a smartphone there are spell tracking apps that allow you to make spell lists for your character.

I'd be interested in specifics on this topic. I use a PDF generated by Herolab on my iPad for a "spellbook", but identifying which spells are actually prepared each day will get more and more cumbersome as my wizard gets higher level.

In fact, if you DIDN'T get retroactive skill points for increased Int, then you'd have to keep track of when you put points into which skills.

When auditing a character, you'd have to know if and when Int was increased in order to know if the number of skillpoints was correct or not.

With retroactive skill points, you just multiply Int bonus by level, add in points by class at each level and you're done. Of course I'm ignoring favored class skill point/hit point choices, but those are tricky no matter whether Int gives retroactive points or not.

I'm looking for some feedback on the pricing of items that allow use of metamagic feats like rods do, but without the requirement of wielding the item.

For instance, how would you modify the price of a ring that did the same thing as an equivalent rod? How would you price an ioun stone (or other slotless item) with the same function?

I was thinking the standard double price for slotless items and +50% for a slotted but always available item like the ring mentioned above.

I'm fairly confident in the slotless modifier, since it seems to roughly match the pricing of the Caster's Tatoo from Inner Sea Magic, which is a 1/day still/silent/almost eschew materials effect for 6,000gp. Magical Tattoos are treated as slotless (double cost), and 3,000 gp seems about right for what a Caster's Tatoo would do if placed in a rod.

Thoughts?

Actually it's not an arcane bonded item at all.

Familiar Tattoo (Su): A tattooed sorcerer gains a

familiar as an arcane bond, as a wizard equal to her
sorcerer level. Her sorcerer levels stack with any wizard
or witch levels she possesses when determining the
powers of her familiar—this ability does not allow her to
have both a familiar and a bonded item.

Note the section that I've bolded.

So if we go look at the wizard arcane bond class feature:

Arcane Bond (Ex or Sp): At 1st level, wizards form a powerful bond with an object or a creature. This bond can take one of two forms: a familiar or a bonded object.

The tattooed sorcerer the choice or item or familiar made for him, he gets the familiar.

None of the rules for arcane bonded items apply to a tattooed sorcerer, only the rules for a familiar.

Are you sure?

Because under those abilities stands:
-"Fascinate is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability."
-"Suggestion is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting, language-dependent ability and relies on audible components."

Dirge of Doom and Frightening Tune don´t exactly state the same, but both get a save too.

Then: "At 2nd level, a lotus geisha
gains the ability to execute an enrapturing performance in
addition to her bardic performance ability."

The question somehow seems to be whats all enchantment, compulsion, mind-affecting.

Doesn't matter how SIMILAR they are to spells, however, they're not spells. As such spell focus and greater spell focus would not apply.

Similarly, Spell Perfection only applies to actual spells, not spell like abilities or supernatural abilities or anything that's not a spell.

Then there's the numerical bonus doubling.

In addition, if you have other feats which allow you to apply a set numerical bonus to any aspect of this spell (such as Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Weapon Focus [ray], and so on), double the bonus granted by that feat when applied to this spell.

The text inside the parentheses merely provides examples of feats that Spell Perfection boosts. But there's no doubt that only feats qualify.

Because its a bard with the lotus geisha archetype.

A lotus geisha adds a +2 bonus to the DC of Will saves
made to resist the effects of her fascinate, frightening tune,
and suggestion enrapturing performances.

Ok, fair enough, I wasn't familiar with lotus geisha, that brings us to +7. I'll reiterate however that Varisian Tattoo does not give a bonus to Save DC, only to caster level.

Yes, this could become a new bard type, the enchanter bard.

It fits the Kitsune theme very well, a fox spirit charming and enchanting all foes and others^^

There are only two major flaws so far:
-can´t use a whip for controlling build
-too many things are immune to enchantments and mind affecting effects

On the other side:
Get a varisian enchantment tattoo, the near useless daze, but also another +1 on enchantment DC´s.
Going all the way with metamagic feats, one could use spell perfection to double all that boni, making it +9 on the DC.

But how to overcome immunities to mind affecting abilities?

How are you getting +9? Varisian tattoo only gives a +1 to the caster level, not the DC. Spell focus/greater focus would be +2, doubled to +4, then +1 for Kitsune Magic racial trait for a total of +5, or have I missed something?