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604. Three supposed "friends" accused you of cowardice, so now you got to go out and prove your valour.

Except they can : when their INT goes up, they gain skill points to spend (10 INT => HD skill points, 12 => HD skill points, 14 => HD skill points, ...). Nothing prevent them from investing in Linguistics.

Interesting... I can't think of any reason this wouldn't apply. There is after all no need to actually level up.

I hope no dreams were dashed?

I'm very new to this, this is my first proper character really.I want a Plaguebringer Vivisectionist.

Might I suggest curbing your enthusiasm, and playing something more, shall we say: "normal"? It's quite a task to control a character with a complex set of skills and tactics, without ever having played something a bit more straightforward.

So the idea is, I want a character with high stealth, very dodgy, who scampers around to the back of the enemies for flanking and sneak attacks etc.

A Rogue could do this too. A Ranger would probably be even better at it (minus the Sneak Attack, obviously).

Also it would lead me to think that "Handle Animal" would be on a wizard's skill list if they didn't have the ability to communicate with them.

Familiars aren't Animals any more, but rather they're Magical Beasts. So the skill wouldn't apply.

If a familiar can share you skills as per ranks why would linguistics be different? Pretty much all other magical beasts can speak, or at least understand a language or two.

Linguistics aren't any different when it comes to skill checks. But knowing a language isn't a skill check. It's a by-product of putting a rank into this skill, which Familiars don't do.

Reincarnate.

If you want to focus on the food itself, you'd need a Craft skill. If you want to focus on being a successful food artist, you'd need a Profession.

How many levels should that be equivalent to?

None. Giving a powerful race an "adjusted character level" doesn't work as a balancing tool. If this race is an enemy, just try to figure out it's Challenge Rating. If it's meant as a PC, then give the other PCs boons of a similar value - special feats, or expensive items.

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...did you just make a whole race of rugby players?

Dunno 'bout Kingmaker, but I see no reason why sitting on a mount and holding a lance would make a Cleric any less of a healer.

Pinky's Brain wrote:

thought it said the samsaran sometimes reincarnated into their own human children, but instead those children might reincarnate as samsaran.

I actually might reflavor them in my campaign as a race of parasitic beings that do indeed steal a new body upon death.

That sounds more like an Intellect Devourer or some sort of a "super"-Vetala.

Dr. Calvin Murgunstrumm wrote:

I think rogue-mage may be reading this as wizards get both druid and wizard spells.

I think you may be correct. That's the only way this would be impressive at all.

In which case it would indeed be awesome. Too awesome, I dare say.

"A summoned monster cannot summon or otherwise conjure another creature".

I think they can't use shadow conjuration either, but if you take the words "summon" and "conjure" in their strictest definition it wouldn't be against the rules; shadow conjuration "creates" creatures, it doesn't summon or conjure them.

But... but... but I wanted to win!

You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack.

They're untyped bonuses though, so Spell Focus and Elemental Focus should stack with each other.

If you set off a trap do you get an automatic reflex save

If the trap allows for a Reflex save then yes: you get one the moment you trigger the trap.

how do you work out what you need to roll

You just roll, and then your GM compares your result with the (fixed) DC of that trap.

• A flying carpet.
• The lair of whatever foe they're about to defeat.

Can't this NPC have a single-use DD-item?

I'm not seeing the awesomeness either.

1. Yes.
2. Possibly, if said Cleric has a means to hover in the first place.

1. 2
2. 7
3. 4

Yes you can cast Cure X Wounds spells. You just can't cast them spontaneously, so you'll want to prepare a few of them. Or, you know: get a wand.

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When the players of both PCs are okay with it.

You have two options, the way I see it.

1. Half everything. Fast Healing 10 becomes Fast Healing 5. DR/epic becomes DR/3 (or DR/4), and so on.
2. Half its hit dice, and check what would make sense as powers for a Golem of that calibre.

Anyone with a Succubus' Profane Gift is dumb, damned and doomed. If he thinks he can simply decide he gets that +2 bonus, a GM can decide the Succubus withdraws her "favour", which causes 2d6 Charisma drain...

It appears he is indeed a munchkin, in the classic D&D meaning of the word. Not much of a powergamer though, to be using volatile and potentially backfiring bonuses such as Demonic favours and Intelligent items with a will of their own.

I'd almost suggest letting him keep these "boons" and face the consequences thereof.
Almost.

You'll need to focus on offensive spells, which the Cleric list is a bit light on. But it should be quite doable, and work pretty similar to a Wizard.

Did I win yet?

560. There's no-one left with a big yellow exclamation mark above their head.

The 5' grid the rules use is going to be a permanent source of annoyance for races smaller than Small. Have you considered "testing the waters" by playing a Wizard with a tiny flying Familiar, such as a Raven?

Not I - I usually just make a full character sheet for every creature of significance.

I doubt there's a specific rule for it, but usually backpacks are worn in such a way that they don't slide off easily. So my "vote" (for whatever that is worth) would be for a Standard Action.

The problem isn't so much the Concentration, it's the fact that you cannot do anything that requires a Standard Action.

It does look that way - is there any Evocation spell that's going to cause trouble with this combo?

Ninth looks about right, yes. But aren't you worried the party will be perpetually split, when one PC has a flying mount?

1. An escort walking alongside. Some on foot, and some mounted. A few flyers if you really want to be fancy.
2. Make this wagon nothing but a flat surface, with a portal to a Magnificent Mansion or something like that - it's hard to attack something that just isn't there...

Ravingdork wrote:

It's also crazy broken as it nets you a permanent +2 Str or Dex that stacks with all other stat enhancing items on the cheap.

Not to mention darkvision, lowlight vision, scent or swim speed as the situation demands.

Or a Familiar with hands.

Plus you can then use other bodies instead of the original, giving you potentially a Dragon PC with a Neothelid Familiar...

ask for a way to 'buy' your way out of it. Can you, for example, buy a Feat that cancels out the risk of fumbling?

Offering to give up critical hits in return for not getting critical failures might do the trick.

You left out a cost - those seven caged hamsters are expensive!!

They don't have to be Miniature Giant Space Hamsters.

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Depending on the content of this "critical failure"-chart, it could be a viable tactic to force as many rerolls on your enemies as possible, and then just stand there. Don't fight, let the enemy fail themselves to death instead.

If that tactic could conceivably work, it's a clear indication the system is flawed.

Basically it means there's no corpse, and no guilt about causing the death of a "servant". It's a force that simply ceases to be.

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Illusory script. It's semi-useful for relaying secret messages, but its real "kick" is in the suggestion it can impose on anyone "attempting to read the script". The spell description really doesn't do justice to this part of the spell, with suggestions such as "go away" or "forget this note".

Write an Illusory Script on a wall: "dance naked in the streets". Now that's a party! Write it on a big banner: "stop hiding!", and never be ambushed again (by people who can read, anyway).

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• Permanently have a dog walk in front of the party. Emphasise how much the PCs love those dogs, and how heartbroken they are all when "Sweeper #18" bites the dust.
• Refuse to go anywhere there might be traps. "This one isn't worth the bother, fellows."
• Rerolls. Get as many options to reroll failures as you possibly can.
• Harvest traps. Forget about treasures, just gather al the components that made up those devious devices. There is apparently a big market for them.
• Just say you don't like his house rule, and put it to a vote.

Be a Human with the Defiant Luck feat. Or a Halfling with Adaptable Luck.

The real problem - and one I have no solution for - is confronting the party with a "do not kill"-enemy.

The construct traits grant a number of immunities but the low hit points and electrical weakness should keep that in check.

I doubt that. How often do PCs get hit by electricity? And how often by:

• charms
• compulsions
• morale effects
• patterns
• phantasms
• bleeding
• disease
• death effects
• necromancy effects
• paralysis
• poison
• sleep effects
• stunning
• ability damage
• ability drain
• fatigue
• exhaustion
• energy drain
• nonlethal damage
• anything requiring a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects)
• Any mind-affecting effect
• lack of air
• lack of food
• lack of sleep

It was also suggested that the bonus granted be altered to match the later Improved familiar for flavor purposes. That would change it from a +3 to Appraise to a +2 on Sense Motive (matching the improved version).

Do clockwork Familiars grant a bonus to their master? If so, they're the only ones who do that I know of.

Overall, I think it's a bad idea; mostly because Clockwork creatures cannot be healed (and are destroyed when they hit the zero hitpoints mark). You could always reflavour the Raven as being mechanical - or partly mechanical. But an actual construct at low levels would probably be more bother than it's worth. Too many invulnerabilities, and a few very nasty weaknesses.

Attacks that cause Fear are Mind-Affecting.
Fear itself isn't, Fear is the state of a mind after it has been affected.

So no, Fear itself is not Mind Affecting. Fear is having one of the conditions: Shaken, Frightened, Panicked or Cowering

Why would you get "walloped" when casting Color Spray? It's a standard action to cast, so just move out of the way after spraying your foes.

Would it be a metamagic feat and if so: one with a fixed "bump" or more like Heighten Spell?

The Bard "ceased performing", didn't he? Why would it matter if that is due to stopping voluntarily, becoming paralysed or even dropping dead for that matter?

The Bard stopped, but the show must go on... for two rounds.