So I am making a Dwarven Inquisitor. This is for PFS
Backstory is that he was held as a captive by a mage, escaped, swore revenge.... you have heard it before.
Anyway I am NOT doing the SR as a Dwarf for several reasons, the first is that it sucks.
Weapon will be an Earthbreaker (have a PFS boon to get prof)
Will tool around in heavy armor and hit things.
I am taking the trait "Glory of old" to bump my racial bonus to +3 vs spells, spell likes and Poison.
Questions....
1. I have a boon that gives +1 on saves Vs one school of magic and +2 on spellcraft checks to ID it. What school do you think?
2. Archetypes. (keep in mind PFS caps around 12)
I am either thinking Spellbreaker
OR
Both Witch Hunter and Preacher As you can see I am not that into the teamwork feats.
So as you can see by my lack of stars, I do not GM that much for PFS, I do play a lot tho.
Anyway recently I was thinking about something and wanted your opinions on it.
We play in a organised play campaign, that should mean that your experience playing under GM 1 is about the same as under GM 2. (not identical, but closeish)
But we all know that some GMs kill more characters then others, look to Kyle for a good example.
When I PC I Hate when I can tell the GM is pulling punches. With out the risk of PC death where is the fun?
As a result, when I GM I play the monsters by the tactics written, but they make good decisions, use good tactics and generally try to win (the NPCs not me). Mind you this is only intelligent creatures, Animals and such act as an animal would.
I roll the dice and let the results stand.
However this results is quite a few dead PCs.
More then I see most GMs cause.
So I am left with 2 possible reasons.
1. I am doing something wrong.
2. Other GMs fudge so the PCs always win.
So what is the answer?
Do you fudge to let the PCs live?
Do you avoid charging the squishey mage and instead charge the tin can Pali?
Am I just a dick?
So I have a rough idea and I have no idea if it would be underpowered, OP or just right. Both of these options DRASTICALLY change the alchemist class.
Option #1.
The alchemist loses The Extract class feature. and gains evolutions at the same rate as an edolon (use the edolon chart) once chosen these cant be changed, tho the alchemist can save points from previous levels to buy a larger evolution.
Option #2.
Same as option #1, but the evolutions only work in mutagen.
Option #3.
The alchemist loses Extracts AND mutagen. but gains the same as option #1.
Honestly I'm not sure of the power level.
Any feedback is helpful.
So currently we have a Neutral/Evil campaign going and the question of getting info out of prisoners has come up.
Now we all decided that we did not want to RP out a torture scene as well. just no.
So anyway we needed rules for it, and we have found that these work fairly well.
Anyway here is what we use.
Torture, or "Ve have vays of makink you talk"
The brutality of torture doesn't really have a place in your typical pathfinder game, if you and your players decide to use it it is best to simply let a few dice rolls decide success or failure, Torture is always an evil act. and the victim must be bound or helpless in some other way.
Each Torture check requires one hour of work and gains no bonus from the "Aid another" rule.
The Torturer makes a Heal, or Profession Torturer check, (May also use intimidate but with a -5 to the check). The victim then makes a will save V.S. the result of that check.
Failure of the Victim's will save indicates that some piece of information was revealed, Success indicates the victim held fast.
In either case the victim takes 1d3 constitution damage from the hour of torture.
If the torturer continues, each hour of torture beyond the first provides a cumulative +1 to their skill check, while still dealing 1d3 con per hour to the victim. Torture checks should be made each hour.
This Constitution damage does NOT heal normally from rest until the victim is out of the torture area.
If any of the constitution damage is healed, all of the bonus to torture checks is reset to zero.
This continues until the victim reveals all his information, the torturer stops, or the victim dies from loss of con.
As an example.
John is a 1st level expert with 1 rank in profession Torture, a +1 from Wis and +3 class skill bonus for a +5 total.
Mike is a enemy spy, with a +2 base will save, +1 from Wis and Iron will (+3) for a +6 total.
He also has an 11 con
Hour 1.
John Rolls a 10+5=14
Mike rolls a 12+6=16
John finds out nothing of value and Mike takes 1d3 (2) con and is at 9.
Hour 2.
John rolls a 14+5+1 (for the second hour)= 20
Mike rolls a 6+6=12
John gets one piece of info and Mike takes 1 more con for a total loss of 3 leaving 8.
This continues until john learns everything or mike dies. John could have mike healed up and do it again the next day... and the next, and the next..........
So currently I am playing in a mystery/steam campaign set in Ebberon in a steampunk/victorian time (yeah its complex), think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Anyway.
I am playing a Jekkel/Hyde style Doctor that is slowly turning himself into a dragon. Long backstory, feel free to ask.
He is currently a 5th level Dhampir, Beastmorph/Viv alchemist, will be going Master Chem at 8th.
Anyway, has anyone out there in homebrewland made any draconic themed discoveries?
So while I am sure this has been asked before I sure as hell could not find it in my searches.
My wife and I took our characters (druid and ranger) through a 3 part series durring a con this weekend.
At the end of said series you get the following boon
Spoiler:
Axe Beak Companion: As long as you have Chronicle sheets for all three parts of the Quest for Perfection campaign arc, you may take an axe beak as a loyal mount or companion; the Chronicle sheets need not be consecutive or in order, but all three must be present in the same character’s records. If you possess a class feature which permits you to take an animal companion or a mount that progresses as an animal companion, you may add the axe beak to your list of legal and available companions. You must present a copy of Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 in order to use an axe beak companion as if it were allowed as an additional resource. Other than provide access to this animal as a choice of mount or companion, this boon provides no mechanical benefit.
The issue comes in when I look in beastiary 3 and there are no stats for it as a companion.
Any help would be great, as my wife wants to use it for her ranger.
Anyway as you can see he is set up for summoning (SF Conj, AS) and Has Natural spell so I can cast in Plant form.
Here is my issue tho.
Going into Plantform (See the treesinger link) to say, take the form of a Violet Fungus tanks my AC, 4 attacks with 10' reach is nice I suppose but at only 1d4+3, is it worth it?
Then we get to the main question I have.
Why do the SNA III seem to be not much better (or in some cases worse then the SNA II choices?
The Small Earth elemental does a slam for +8 and 1d6+10 with earth mastery and PA.
The root of the wyrwood tree has a peculiar quality. When a weapon constructed of wyroot confirms a critical hit, it absorbs some of the life force of the creature hit. The creature hit is unharmed and the wyroot weapon gains 1 life point. As a swift action, a wielder with a ki pool or an arcane pool can absorb 1 life point from the wyrwood weapon and convert it into either 1 ki point or 1 arcane pool point. Most wyroot weapons can only hold 1 life point at a time, but higher-quality wyroot does exist. The most powerful wyroot weapons can hold up to 3 life points at a time. Any unspent life points dissipate at dusk.
Wyroot can be used to construct any melee weapon made entirely of wood or a melee weapon with a wooden haft. Constructing a wyroot weapon that can hold 1 life point increases the weapon's cost by 1,000 gp, constructing one that can hold up to 2 life points increases the weapon's cost by 2,000 gp, and constructing one that can hold up to 3 life points increases the weapon's cost by 4,000 gp.
Say just the base 1k type
After the battle a magus pulls out his wyroot club and Coup de Grace someone
Coup de grace
Spoiler:
Coup de Grace
As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace (pronounced "coo day grahs") to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.
You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace.
Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents.
You can't deliver a coup de grace against a creature that is immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you've determined what square it's in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).
Its an auto crit, so the target is unharmed and the weapon has one life point.
now he absorbs that life point and does it again, or to the next close to dead thing.
And was thinking of making a Melee cleric (+2 str and Wis point in that direction)
Anyway I wanted the "Feel" of the Living Monolith without having to wait like 8 levels to hit it.
As this is PFS we start from level 1.
Really what i want is a "strength of the mountians" feel.
He is more of less made of stone, and he uses that power in all things.
Also the defining thing LM can do is the swift enlarge a few times a day.
So I was thinking of going with an earth diety, and taking the Variant channeling Found here for earth, letting me give DR/Ada or create dificult terrain.
Also if I take Stony Steps I can ignore some of what I just created.
Sadly there are no dieties that are Erth based and give the Growth...
So I will have to go Sepratist to get the feel I want.
I will more then likley worship Torag.
He gives the earth channeling I want and has the following domains.
Artifice
Earth
Good
Law
Protection
Archon
Caves
Construct
Defence
Metal
Toil
I have to pick one of those to be my "Main" Domain (Growth will be the -2 from sepratist)
I plan to fight in Heavy armor and use a Earthbreaker (No I am not normally Proficient, however I have a boon that lets me use the earthbreaker)
As for the Heavy armor, is a dip worth it? maybe fighter 1 to grab the prof?
If I do heavy armor I could take Dwarf Blooded so I still move at full speed (20')
OR
Do I do all that for 1st level only, then go all fighter (what Archtype I dont know, maybe unbreakable?) then actually take Living Monolith? I wuld be a level late, but thats not a huge deal.
Sadly if I do go LM I lose a ton of spells, gain a ton of feats from fighter and my stats would be totally different.
So the "Sin Eater" Archtype of inquisitor looed cool, however I have a question.
Its replacement for domain is the following
Eat Sin(Sp)
Spoiler:
Eat Sin (Sp)
At 1st level, as a free action, when the sin eater inquisitor kills an enemy, she may eat the sins of that enemy by spending 1 minute adjacent to its corpse. This provokes attacks of opportunity. The inquisitor can rush this ritual, performing it as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, but she only gains half the normal benefit (see below).
Eating the enemy’s sins heals the inquisitor of a number of hit points of damage equal to 1d8 + her inquisitor level (maximum +5). The enemy must have been killed by the sin eater within the last hour, and it must have had at least as many Hit Dice as half the inquisitor’s level. The inquisitor can use this ability once for each enemy she kills. This ability has no effect on mindless creatures or those with Intelligence 2 or less.
At 5th level, the healing increases to 2d8 plus her inquisitor level (maximum +10); it increases to 3d8 + her inquisitor level (maximum +15) at 9th level and to 4d8 + her inquisitor level (maximum +20) at 13th level.
In some faiths, this “eating” is a purely symbolic act, while in others, the inquisitor must eat a small amount of food and water as part of the ritual. A few extreme faiths actually require the inquisitor to eat some of the body of the slain enemy.
At 8th level, when a sin eater eats the sins of a creature that would rise as an undead (such as someone slain by a shadow, spectre, or vampire), the sin eater may choose to accept 1 temporary negative level to absorb the taint in the corpse, preventing it from rising as an undead. This negative level can be removed with the appropriate magic, though it automatically expires after 24 hours, and never becomes a permanent negative level. At the GM’s discretion, this ability may prevent a ghost from using its rejuvenation ability.
This ability replaces an inquisitor’s domain.
I bolded the relevent parts.
So you can only use it on a creature YOU kill. fair enough.
But if thats the case how the hell does the 8th level power even work?
My wife and I decided to drive to Western MI to play a game this last Sat (we live on the east side, about a 2 1/2 hour drive)
Anyway, the point being we did not really know anyone at our table.
Going in we really wanted to make a good impression on everyone, you know, make sure to RP well, not overshadow the rest of the group, fight as a team, the norm.
So we start in a level 5-9 game (playing 5-6 as we were all level 6)
I will not go into what adventure as to not ruin it for people.
Anyway the first combat is Vs 2 Annis Hags. seems like a tough combat for our group, they do a lot of damage, decent AC, loads of attacks, CR 6 each.
So this is where it went downhill......
You remember the "Not overshadow the group" part from above?
Yeah.....
First round of combat the Pali provokes one of them and does some damage (not a lot).
My magus steps in and casts shocking grasp (intense, 6d6)...
Hit.
Crit.
Roll... (dear lord, nearly max)
Me: "I do 80 damage to it.... do you care how much is what type?"
Dm :"Wait..... You do how much?!?!?!"
For what its worth on her Init, my wife dropped the other one in a Create pit.
So thats how it went all night, all i rolled was crits, I could not lose. but really thats not the point.
So anyway, what are some of your "Wait...... What?!?!?" moments from GM's?
I know others have made the whole table go O_o..... in the past.
So it was pointed out to me in another thread that the Faerie Dragon is now legal for play.
As they are 3rd level Sorcerers and can speak it seems that they can use wands and scrolls without bothering with UMD.
this does not seem to jive with PFS rulings as they are not listed in the FAQ.
FAQ wrote:
Can my animal companion or familiar wear or use magic items?
The intent is that animal companions or familiars can not activate magic items that require activation. Something like an amulet of natural armor does not require activation; it's always on (unless it's in an antimagic field or someone dispels it or whatever).
That said, a creature is limited by its anatomy. Something without shoulders can't wear a cloak, and something without fingers can't wear a ring. For the sake of PFS, animal companions can wear barding and neck-slot items. All other slots aren't really appropriate for animals (or even magical beasts). The only exception to this would be an brownie, imp, lyrakien azata, or quasit familiar gained with the Improved Familiar feat. One could reasonably face either of these wielding a wand or wearing a circlet of persuasion in combat, and after investing a feat to gain their service, they are not limited by the same restrictions as normal bonded creatures like animals (whether treated like animals or magical beasts and regardless of Int scores)
However it seems a bit off that they can UMD a wand, and this creature is an actual sorcerer and can not use one from it's spell list.
Do you ever get the movement modes when useing plant shape?
It does not look like it, but I cant beleive thats right.
Plant Shape wrote:
When you cast this spell you can assume the form of any Small or Medium creature of the plant type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, constrict, grab, and poison. If the form you assume does not possess the ability to move, your speed is reduced to 5 feet and you lose all other forms of movement. If the creature has vulnerability to an element, you gain that vulnerability.
Small plant: If the form you take is that of a Small plant, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Constitution and a +2 natural armor bonus.
Medium plant: If the form you take is that of a Medium plant, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Strength, a +2 enhancement bonus to your Constitution, and a +2 natural armor bonus.
So I will be playing through first steps at gencon.
Anyway to be blunt I am a tad overwhelmed with choices and a bit confused as to what you do at low levels.
I have read the guides and the issue is that they all seem to talk about things like "And once you get beast shape 2 you will be pouncing, so here is what to do with that"
THIS IS ABOUT PFS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND
Or "Totem summons are great as past 5th level it is a standard action to cast"
So I have a host of questions.
1. I am looking at 3 options for class.
1a. Standard Druid (Human)
1b. Treesinger Druid (Elf)
1c. Saurian Shaman.
THIS IS ABOUT PFS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND
2. I am wanting an animal companion here are the onse I am looking at.
2a. Gian scorpion (I was thinking of givign up my free feat to give it +2 Int so it can have skills and feats)
2b. Sapling Treant (Its cool, but I am not sure how good)
2c. Ankylosaurus (Great Tank pet, with light armor it has a HUGE AC)
Most guides say that you should have 3 action on any given turn.
1. Your AC goes in and hits stuff
2. Your Summon goes in and hits stuff
3. You either go in and hit stuff or cast a spell.
THIS IS ABOUT PFS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND
Now that sounds great, however it seems like that takes a lot of feats, spell focus/augment summoning are kinda needed, so is natural spell. so are a lot of others.
So how do most low level druids do it all?
Or do we say "screw it" and just let the AC handle stuff for a few levels?
THIS IS ABOUT PFS, PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND
Is treesinger worth it?
you lose a feat, you lose WS into animals, yeah plans are cool and all but thats a fairly big loss.
How bout Saurian shaman?
level 6+ it seems awesome, but sub 6 you seem to suck.
any advice?
Benefit: Choose another humanoid race. You count as both human and that race for any effects related to race. For example, if you choose dwarf, you are considered both a human and a dwarf for the purpose of taking traits, feats, how spells and magic items affect you, and so on.
To take treesinger you have to be an elf and...
Additional resources wrote:
Note: Alternate racial traits, racial archetypes, racial feats, and racial spells are only available for characters of the associated race. Racial equipment and magic items can be purchased and used by any race as long as the specific item permits it (for example, only halflings can purchase and use solidsmoke pipeweed).
The new alchemist discovery on page 44 is legal for play for characters of all races.
So the question is, can I play a human treesinger if i take the racial heritage feat?
I put this in the PFS area as we have different rules for crafting then standard PFRPG
Ok the Tattooed Sorcerer Archtype gets this at 7th level
Inscribe Spell Tattoo
Spoiler:
Create Spell Tattoo (Su)
At 7th level, a tattooed sorcerer can create a spell tattoo once per day with a single touch as a standard action. The recipient of the spell tattoo must be willing to receive the spell tattoo. If she gives the spell tattoo to herself, it does not count against the regular limit of magic tattoos she can have. The spell tattoo must be of a spell that she knows that has no material or focus component. She can maintain one spell tattoo created by this ability at a time—if she uses this ability again, the previous spell tattoo she created fades away. Spell tattoos she creates with Inscribe Magic Tattoo do not count against this limit. She can use this ability twice per day at 11th level, and three times per day at 15th level.
This ability replaces the bloodline feat gained at 7th level.
Spell Tattoo says....
Spoiler:
Tattoo, Spell
Aura varies; CL varies
Slot none; Price varies
DESCRIPTIONA spell tattoo is essentially a wearable scroll inscribed on flesh instead of on parchment or vellum. These tattoos appear as colorful and intricate patterns rather than magical writing. 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. These magical tattoos are not normally placed on the head, neck, or back as a result, since most creatures would require mirrors to activate them. A spell tattoo’s aura and caster level varies as per the scroll it emulates. A spell tattoo has a market price four times as much as an equivalent scroll.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Inscribe Magical Tattoo, the spell to be inscribed;
Cost varies
Now the Additional Resources says....
Spoiler:
A Tattooed Sorcerer may only use her create spell tattoo power durring days spent in play
Ok.
A few questions.
1. Spell tattoos have a cost, nothing in the archtype says that it is free, tho I would think it is. is it?
2. I assume that they fade after each session?
2a. What if she gives it to herself?
2b. Her familiar? (assuming it could use it)
Really thats it, the cost thing is the most pressing.
