Warclam's page

I love these, they're totally brilliant. A few notes about them:

The DBLRC seems under-weighted to me. A double crossbow weighs 18 lb. This beasty should weigh at least that much, probably more like 20. Price is fuzzy, but I'd probably call it 400 to match the heavy repeater.

I totally love the BFHRC. I'm going to ask my DM if I can use one. I'm going to be told no, but it's worth asking anyway.

The SMC seemed underpowered for how much hassle it is to use. I'd probably give it the stats of a 3.5 great crossbow from Races of Stone (2d6/2d8 damage, 18-20/x2 crit). That's a weapon worth strapping on if you want ludicrous amounts of crossbowitude. It's strange how light it is, but I'm guessing that's to reflect the effect of the harness?

Regarding the OP, OK I guess it's rather silly. Do you have a more sensible idea for a scatter-shot crossbow? Dragon magazine had a splintering bolt which you just crammed into the groove and which broke apart on its own when fired, but that seems a bit off.

I like the rules for firearms scatter weapons, and was considering a way to apply it crossbows. I'm not sure whether it would be for any crossbow or for repeating crossbows only (taking the place of a magazine), but here's what I came up with:

Splinter Box
A splinter box attaches to the top of a crossbow, and resembles a magazine for a repeating crossbow. However, it doesn't feed bolts into the crossbow's string. Instead, a plate is set up so the string pushes it, and the plate forces all the bolts inside the splinter box out the front of the box itself. This makes precise aim impossible, but allows multiple targets to be hit in one shot.
Treat an attack with a splinter box as a scatter shot, as per the firearm rules in Ultimate Combat (15' cone, attack roll for all targets at -2). A splinter box costs and weighs as much as a full case of crossbow bolts.

Thoughts?

It's always been a bit of a pet peeve of mine that potions are made as 'magic items', rather than alchemical formulae. It makes perfect sense for an alchemist to brew up a healing potion, with no magical powers needed. I hunted around the forums a little, but didn't find anything like that. Does anyone have any mechanics for 'mundane' potion-making?

My first instinct is a feat requiring 3 ranks in Craft (alchemy), which allows you to create potions with an alchemy check of 15 + caster level of the potion (15 = base 5 + 5 for not using the spell + 5 for not using Brew Potion). Does that seem too low, or about right?

Are there any rules for reducing a magic item's mental abilities below 10? I had an idea for an intelligent animated rope that's like a pet snake, except it can go up walls and grab on so you can climb it.

Artisan's Tools do not apply to all crafts. They apply to the particular craft they are made for.

Seriously, man, do you really expect the Artisan's Tools for a Master Carpenter (think of those shows on TV where you have a roomful of specific tools for each and every Carpentry task) to be the same as the Artisan's Tools (stone sculptor) or Artisan's Tools (limner/scribe) or Craft (Blacksmith) or Craft (Jeweller)?

Hmm. I agree completely that it doesn't make sense; I just always thought that it was a mechanical shortcut to simplify tool-keeping; and I'd always interpreted that sentence as meaning artisan's tools were cross-disciplinary.

But since everyone else seems to disagree, and now that I think about it that sentence can mean any one, rather than all… I think I was wrong there. Damn, that makes crafting a weighteous enterprise if you want to do multiple.

To fix the omni-tool, I guess just take off the masterwork tool part. Crafter's fortune does definitely work for any Craft skill, so the actual magical part still functions as intended.

can you provide us with examples of gizmos? Are they like tiny mechanical spiders that crawl and inject the spell? There has to be a limit to keep a player from stockpiling gizmos . Sure one per day but in a month that's a lot.

Yes, it's restricted to the wizard's spells per day. There's no actual mechanical change here, it's just saying that when, say, I cast colour spray, I'm not actually casting a spell; instead, I'm flipping a switch on a flashbulb clipped to my sleeve. When you reach for your material components, you're actually grabbing your "spell" that you built earlier. When you switch out an uncast "spell" for something else in the morning, you're dismantling a gadget and cannibalizing its power source for another. That kind of thing.

I like the omni-tool but would not apply the "once per day" division by 5 for the price, as the fact that the item is only usable once per day does not impact its ability much (due to the 24h+ duration). 1,055 gp for any-task masterwork tools is a good deal. It might be worth shaving it down to, say 800 gp for the fact that only one person can use it at a time and it can't be reattuned until the next day.

However, before the "dick GM" accusations fly in, playing with the item at 255 gp won't have any measurable effect on PC mechanics, so there's not really any reason that allowing it would be problematic. Not many PCs use a lot of different craft skills anyway--pretty much just the occasional omnidisciplinarian Master Craftsman character who wants to be able to make anything rather than one kind of thing. So if you want to play this at 255 gp, go nuts. : D Compared to several items in this thread, it's a pillar of balance.

Glad you like it!

Just wanted to clear a few things up. Artisan's tools are, by default, used for any Craft skill. You don't need task-specific alchemist's tools, stonecarver's tools, basketweaver's tools, etc.:

Regarding duration, it is a bit of a confusing area. The trick is that it's not just days per level, it's days per level until discharged. It only works on a single Craft check per casting. Therefore, being able to use it once per day is, in fact, a restriction, and so is due the discount.

If I were to make it unlimited use per day, the until discharged part would make it sticky as a continuous item. I would probably stat it up as a command-word item instead, which would be 1855 gp. But as you point out, most PCs wouldn't be making more than one Craft check per day anyway, so the all-day version isn't worthwhile for the great majority of builds.

Warclam wrote:

I looked into the Alchemist, but it seems rather unsatisfactory how you need to jump through hoops to produce things that do stuff to things which are not you. It also breaks my suspension of disbelief a little to have a daily limit for that sort of thing, which Alchemists do with their extracts.

The tiny devices have delicate clockwork mechanisms that cannot (easily) be rewound in the field, or are powered by batteries/crystals that run out quickly and require a lengthy recharge time?

That makes perfect sense, but I'm afraid that's not what I was talking about. I meant A) that extracts only work on their creator, and the potion-like effects really don't resonate with a tech vibe; and B) being only able to build a certain number of machines a day feels distinctly off. I suppose maybe they're powered by your own mystical energy.

I feel like that kind of reskinning would suit a wizard better, actually. You can prepare some gizmos in the morning, and leave some 'gizmo slots' open that you can take 15 minutes later to 'build'. Still limited per day, but alchemists have to cope with that too.

The wizard spell list is also far better-suited to this. Personal buffing spells and the like are hard to explain as machines, but others are less tricky: rays are laser guns, figments are miniature hologram projectors, divinations send out tiny flying probes…

Hey, it's the thread where people look at the item creation formulas and assume they're always balanced. How you doin', thread? : D

Pretty good, I'm hoping. I'd love to see more of these. Hopefully, the requisite trolls will be more of the witty tongue-in-cheek folks like you rather than the derailers. : P

I'm looking into a similar sort of character, actually. I'm not looking into using guns, but the gizmomancer idea is something I'm trying to put together.

I looked into the Alchemist, but it seems rather unsatisfactory how you need to jump through hoops to produce things that do stuff to things which are not you. It also breaks my suspension of disbelief a little to have a daily limit for that sort of thing, which Alchemists do with their extracts.

Vuvu, you might take a glance at the Arcane Craft feat. It's third party, and intended to be for a specific race, but you can bend that a little for an NPC. He could make little cantrip-powered gizmos by faking Craft Wondrous Item, and could use "chemistry" to brew potions.

For a base class, I've been debating that myself. Spells can keep the craft check DCs lower, and wizards get crafty spells like crafter's fortune and continual flame. On the other hand, it seems unsatisfactory to use a wizard of all things for an engineer, and the skill points of a rogue or ninja are appealing. I don't have a solution yet that satisfies me.

Excellent stuff, here. I hope nobody minds if I give it a little bump with a new offering.

All-Maker's Omni-Tool
Slot held (see below); Price 255 gp; Weight 5 lb.

Description
This roughly cylindrical device, about the size of a light mace, consists of a vast array of modular and adjustable tools, attached with hinges and sliding slots. The tools seem to shift their shapes and positions at random, and normally it is impossible to find a better match than that provided by masterwork artisan's tools (+2 circumstance to Craft). However, once per day, the omni-tool may be attuned to a specific craft project. While so attuned, the user will find that the first tool tried is always perfectly sculpted for any task, granting a +5 luck bonus on that Craft check in addition to the normal bonus.

Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Item, crafter's fortune; Cost 100 gp + 55 gp for masterwork artisan's tools

About the "held" slot I used. I noticed that the x2 for a slotless item does not apply to wands, scrolls, potions and so on. They use the normal price listed for spell trigger/spell completion/etc. without any modifier. I concluded that the need to take out and manually manipulate a magic item basically counts as a slot, in that you can't be manipulating something else at the same time. Please correct me if the rules normally handle this a different way.

This is fantastic, dotting. I don't want to come empty-handed though. Unfortunately all I have to offer is the contents for a masterwork survival tool that I came up with a while ago. The idea is that aside from their individual benefits, together they should function as a +2 to survival. I hope there's at least something new here.

Masterwork Survival Kit:
—field knife (acts as non-masterwork dagger in combat, 2gp, 1lb)
—compass (10gp, 0.5lb)
—fishing hooks x 6 (0.6gp)
—fishing line (unknown, just priced it like twine: 0.1gp, 0.5lb)
—roll of twine (0.1gp, 0.5lb)
—signal whistle (0.8gp)
—flint and steel (1gp)
—small steel mirror (10gp, 0.5lb)
—winter blanket (0.5gp, 3lb)

Total is 6 pounds, and assume it's brought up to 50gp by protective packing.

Fabricate is indeed the spell you're looking for. It can do anything you could do with ordinary craftsmanship, just in a fraction of the time. That includes your scheme to… make metal skeletons? I'm curious, why do you want to do that?

Shapers get the effect a level lower, even, with the power Modify Matter, in case that matters.

So I'm starting out in a new campaign soon, and it's gotten into my head that it would be fun to try roleplaying an ascetic. The real sense of the word, not the "synonym for monk" that's occurred in some feats. Look here for an idea of what I mean:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ascetic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism

This is of course rather tricky to do in Pathfinder. The closest I've come so far is a monk with the vow of poverty and maybe some others like truth. It seems like that would be difficult to make actually effective though. Does anyone have an idea of how I might pull off such a character?

Why sneak attack? Why not trade rogue talents for hexes?

That might make sense. Like I said, this just popped into my head based on my own preferences. I like rogue talents and don't really care about sneak attack. That does seem like a more natural substitution though.

It rubs me all the wrong ways.

Seems more of a bard thing anyways.

I could see that, actually. Every time a bard would normally gain a new performance effect, they get a hex instead, perhaps.

I second the suggestion for flails. Try searching "flail" in Google. For me, anyway, flail (weapon) on Wikipedia is the first hit, but has that qualifier tag. The article for just "flail" is for the agricultural implement, and is listed right afterward.

I agree about picks, they're more mining than farming. Scythes are good options too. Note that military scythes have the blade parallel to the haft, while agricultural scythes have them perpendicular. However, a lot of scythes have the blades held on by tying through a set of holes, and that makes it a fairly simple matter to swap between the two configurations.

My kneejerk response is "that's probably way overpowered".

However, I like having something for the Rogue that plays off of Intelligence. Would make them much more interesting to play, IMO.

Hexes may not be the way to go on this still (Rogues aren't casters at all, etc.), but now you've got me thinking....

You think? I thought it would probably be OK, since on a straight comparison with a witch a rogue gets a better chassis (HP, skills, and BAB), but the witch gets spells. At level 1, the witch is distinctly ahead of the hexweaver. At level 2, the witch gets a second hex, while the rogue gets a talent. The rogue gets a hex at 3-5-7-etc, while the witch gets a new level of spells.

Doesn't seem like a problem as far as I can tell. What am I not seeing that you are?

I hope to see what you're working on for Int-based rogue options. I agree that they need a boost, especially since the ninja came out and proved to be a lot flashier for most of the benefits.

I worry about the GW's interaction in a party setting. If working with others, the auras are tough to use effectively because gravity affects allies and antigravity affects enemies. Could be an interesting balancing act, but your party might start to resent your manipulation.

On the other hand, that splash effect seems to be essential to keeping the strong effects under control. A lone GW can crank up the gravity and go to town.

It also seems a little like they may be getting too much all at once at 4th level. It's probably fine though, since gravity cancellation doesn't become very strong until 8th.

Otherwise, it looks good. The bonus feats seem flavourful and appropriate, and I love repulsion/attraction. That mechanic alone would make this class so much fun to play. Fling! Wheee!

Sorry about the lack of responses. I've been having some trouble with that too.

Something that popped into my head just now, when I was lamenting that hexes are the purview solely of witches (and some maguses, but not until level 4). I love the hexes, but don't like playing prepared casters.

Suppose a rogue archetype (call it a Hexweaver, or something) received a hex every odd level instead of sneak attack. Basically a controller rogue instead of a striker, to slip into D&D4E terminology. Any obvious problems with that? It definitely sounds like something that would be fun to play.

I like this. I don't have the book with the Kitsune shapeshifting feats, but when I read about the race on d20pfsrd I found needing feats to become, say, a full fox, to be somewhat disappointing. Making it a skill check brings some resource consumption back into it, but without sucking up anything as precious as feats.

There are a few things that need to be cleared up, though. How long does this shapeshifting take? A minute? 1d3 × 10 minutes, like the disguise skill? If you fail, can you just try again? If so, that makes failing kinda pointless, unless it takes a while. Also, is it considered a class skill for kitsune? If so, it might result in these skill checks being too easy. What ability is affiliated? Wisdom, like the old were-creature control form skill?

It looks good to me, though, just needs some mechanical loose ends tidied up before it can be properly evaluated.

Here's an archetype I put together for the ninja, which gives it some monk abilities at the cost of sneak attack, plus a few other changes.

Shadow Fist Ninja
A shadow fist ninja does not wait, idle, for the right moment to strike; she brings the fight to her targets, assailing them with a hail of deadly blows.

Monastic Training
A shadow fist ninja gains the AC bonus, flurry of blows, and unarmed strike class features of a monk of the same level.

This ability replaces sneak attack.

Battle Sage
A shadow fist ninja can spend a ki point from her ki pool for an extra attack only while executing a flurry of blows. She gains the option to spend a ki point as a swift action to gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round. At level 4, a shadow fist ninja with at least 1 point in her ki pool can treat her unarmed attacks as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. She does not gain any further ki strike abilities.

A shadow fist ninja uses Wisdom, rather than Charisma, to determine the size of her ki pool and the effects of or saves against ninja tricks.

This alters, but does not replace, the ki pool and ninja trick abilities.

Fast Movement
At level 3, a shadow fist ninja gains the fast movement class feature of a monk of the same level.

This ability replaces no trace.

Ki Power
Beginning at 4th level, a shadow fist ninja may select a qinggong monk ki power in place of a ninja trick.

Does this look good? Anything I'm missing? Have I screwed up somewhere? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I like them. Artiari and Gahri look fine to me, power-wise. They're good, but not overpowering.

I do have some concerns about the Natlari. Their special ability isn't overpowered in any way, but I feel like they might be similar-but-superior-to halflings. Darkvision makes up for the less useful skill bonus, and the Beast Shape (not Beast Form, btw) is then left to stack up against… bonus to saves against fear? Even there, though, I feel like it's almost more halflings being weak than Natlari being too strong.

This is brilliant. This is actually how I wish ki powers worked, instead of the daily limit. There could a whole suite, in fact. Fighters with Con, Barbarians with "rage" instead of stamina, which is barbarian level + Str mod. Ninja and monk are Cha and Wis respectively. Rogue is… Int ("guile"), I guess? Or maybe Dex, and make a Pathfinder update to the factotum for Int.