Fleshcrafted Drow

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663 posts. Alias of Paul Van Eyk.



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As far as I'm concerned the 2 best things Paizo has ever done for D&D is improve and simplify the rules from 3.5 and the creation of the Adventure Paths. The Adventure Paths have allowed me to dip my toes into GMing with great success. I love the idea of having a whole campaign all ready and laid out for you saving you countless hours of preparation. I am now on my 3rd campaign (CotCT) as a GM and we are on the last chapter.

One thing that irks me about APs is that the difficulty of the encounters you come across are nearly ALWAYS balanced to the level/power of the party. This makes sense from a balance point of view but is too artificial and on one level stopping you from completely immersing yourself in the story because it seems fake.

I wish to shake this up a bit when I start my next AP at the completion of CotCT. My idea is that most of the time you need to have that balance because if it is too easy then the players will get bored but if it is too hard you are likely to have a TPK on your hands. I want to throw in a very occasional curve ball. The ideas I have on how to do this are:
1. Warn the players before the start of the campaign. They need to understand that they will need to THINK and decide if discretion or running away is a worthwhile option. On the flipside, I will tell them that the reverse could also happen and they could completely walk all over their opposition as that is realistic as well.

2. It is not a common occurrence. It is a tool that is used only occasionally as balanced encounters make sense... most of the time.

3. These curve balls should only happen for random encounters or for side quests that aren't on the critical line of the story.

4. Give my players Hero Points to help improve character survival. These are handed out very sparingly and it is up to the players to make sure they are used wisely. They already know I let the dice fall where they may and that if they act stupidly or are incredibly unlucky then their characters can and have died.

Any other ideas are very welcome. I would also like to hear other people's ideas on the whole artificial balance issue as players level up.


I occasionally see comments on the forum about how the Inquisitor is such a strong class. I don't ever recall seeing anything really that great about it. What am I missing?

1/5

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I'm sick and tired of confusing myself when I am trying to work out whether I have played a scenario or not before I sign up in Warhorn for our fortnightly PFS game.

To get around this problem, I have created a spreadsheet that contains EVERY scenario from Season 0 to 6 including PFS Sanctioned Modules, discontinued scenarios and Specials in one easy to read spreadsheet. This tool allows me to see, at a glance, whether I've played or GMed a scenario and thus whether I should sign up for it.

I thought I would share my hard work and I'm hoping the PFS community can benefit from what I've developed. Keep in mind that it's meant to supplement only and not replace the official recording of your scenarios for each of your Pathfinder characters. Below is the link to the spreadsheet in Google Docs. Just download it and start filling in the available entries for having Played, GM Credit, or GM Star Replay:

PFS Scenarios


The Piranha Strike feat is similar to the Power Attack feat but is based off Dexterity and requires the use of a light weapon.

I have a character build based around using a scimitar. If I were to wield a small sized scimitar as a medium sized humanoid, would I effectively be getting around the light weapon requirement? Please see the cut and past on weapon size rules below and give me your opinion:

Weapon Size: Every weapon has a size category. This designation indicates the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. A weapon's size category isn't the same as its size as an object. In general, a light weapon is an object two size categories smaller than the wielder, a one-handed weapon is an object one size category smaller than the wielder, and a two-handed weapon is an object of the same size category as the wielder.

Inappropriately Sized Weapons: A creature can't make optimum use of a weapon that isn't properly sized for it. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between the size of its intended wielder and the size of its actual wielder. If the creature isn't proficient with the weapon, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies.

The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon (whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed, or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered by one step for each size category of difference between the wielder's size and the size of the creature for which the weapon was designed. For example, a Small creature wields a Medium one-handed weapon as a two-handed weapon (it still takes the –2 penalty for using an inappropriately sized weapon). If a weapon's designation would be changed to something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by this alteration, the creature can't wield the weapon at all.


I want to know whether a medium sized Ape animal companion with light armor proficiency wears armor or barding.

Barding in the rules is defined as follows:
Barding is a type of armor that covers the head, neck, chest, body, and possibly legs of a horse or other mount.

An Ape being a bipedal creatue, would seem to not qualify as a mount. This idea is strengthened by rules on the Summoner’s Eidolon and the 1-Point Evolution called Mount (Ex):
An eidolon is properly skilled and formed to serve as a combat-trained mount. The eidolon must be at least one size category larger than its rider. This evolution is only available to eidolons of the quadruped and serpentine base forms.

This would seem to suggest that the Ape would wear armor instead of barding. What are people’s thoughts on this?


By 4th level, my bard build looks like it could potentially dish out 6d8 plus 24 points of damage as a ranged touch attack using up just one round of bardic performance.

The bard build I had in mind was a Azata-Blooded Aasimar (Musetouched) Bard (Dawnflower Dervish, Sound Striker). The Sound Striker archetype grants the Weird Words special ability at 6th level. This gives you 1d8 plus the Bard's charisma modifier in damage as a ranged touch attack (fortitude for half damage) as a number of attacks per bard levels that can be targeted against a single or multiple enemies.

Apparently, I could gain this bardic ability by 4th level by selecting the +1/2 to Performance (specify Bardic Performance type) if I chose Weird Words as my Favored Bonus for being an Aasimar. That means one of 3 things:
a. I'm reading it wrong somehow and the Favored bonus won't let me get Weird Words early at all.
b. I get 4d8 plus 16 points assuming 18 charisma at 4th level as potential damage using Weird Words.
c. I get 6d8 plus 24 points assuming 18 charisma at 4th level as potential damage using Weird Words because my favored bonus treats me as being 6th level for this matter only.

If this favored racial bonus doesn't work for Weird Words, it could still be very powerful for Inspire Courage as by 8th level it would grant my character +6 to hit/+6 damage when performing the Dawnflower Dervish style of Inspire Courage which is different from the standard bard.

I am interested in people's thoughts on this. Am I misinterpreting the rules?


I wish to challenge the Pathfinder forums community to come up with an algorithm/process/system for balancing the adventure paths so that they are the right difficulty for any party. Generally speaking, adventure paths are reasonably well balanced to begin with as according to my understanding, they are designed for play for 4 characters with a 15 point build.

The problem I have when I GM various adventure paths is that I cannot always guarantee how many players I will have at a session, let alone a full adventure path. The number of players I GM can vary from 3 to 6. There must be some way to quickly calibrate encounters to take into account the number of characters you have. I always GM online using D20Pro and Skype and I let my players use 20 point builds with 2 traits and standard wealth.

Please keep in mind that the equation is definitely not just slightly harder or slightly easier when you go down to 3 or up to 5 or 6 players from the standard 4. I think people underestimate the huge impact action economy has on an encounter when suddenly you have an extra player each round doing stuff to overcome any particular challenge.

So I put it out to the community to tell me what methods they use to adjust encounters according to the number of players they have to deal with.


I'm playing a 2nd level Tengu ninja with multiple natural attacks and I've found out the hard way that trying to get sneak attack opportunities is very difficult. Party members aren't always that helpful getting me flank opportunities and I have learnt now that I only get one of my attacks in a full round when I sneak up on someone to sneak attack them with my stealth and invisibilty trick.

What are some tricks people know to maximise your chances of sneak attacking when you are low to medium level and don't have access to improved invisibility?

Here are some I've come up with so far:

Buy a Guard Dog and have Handle Animal skill trained. Teach the dog to flank and delay your attack until your dog is in a flanking position. While this is not an actual trick listed, the Core Rule Book states: "Possible tricks include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following."

Throw a Starfountain Firework (Ultimate Equipment). This is an expensive one use option at 500gp, but it is an area weapon that has a 20-foot radius spread and everyone who fails their reflex DC 15 save are blinded for 1d4 rounds giving you opportunities in subsequent rounds to sneak attack.

Buy a Bag of Tricks (Gray 3400gp, Rust 8500gp). This allows you to throw an obedient combat animal up to 20 feet that will follow your commands. So you throw the animal beyond your opponent allowing you to set up a flank situation.

I am keen to hear other people's ideas.


What do I mean by the ultimate balanced build? Well, it's a character build that has strengths in nearly all departments so the character can shine in most scenarios. I want to see people's ideas around this concept.

Let's assume 20 point build, standard money for treasure, any PFS legal race, any Paizo published classes and 10th level. Multiclass as much as you want and 2 traits if you like.

Let's explore the concept of departments more closely. The character must be reasonably competent in each of the following:

Offense: The character will have a main form of offense such as tripping, shooting a bow or using colour spray and it performs this reasonably well. The offense could also be having really good battlefield control ability or debuffing. However, the character must have a secondary offensive capability when required. For instance tripping will be no good against flyers and colour spray and other such spells are useless against some mindless opponents.

Defence: The character is obviously able to defend itself. This does not have to come from a high armour class. Other defences that come to mind include Crane Style and Serpent Style or perhaps having the ability to cast Mirror Image, Gaseous Form or Stone Skin. You get the idea.

Skill Set: The build does not require you to have all skills but you would need to contribute outside of combat with some decent skill scores from one or more of these skill sets:
the scout/burgler skill set(perception, stealth, knowledge(local) and perhaps (non magical)disable traps)
the party face skill set with a high score in 1 or 2 of the following(bluff, diplomacy, sense motive, intimidate)
the know it all(several knowledge skills such as knowledge local to help in urban areas or knowledge skills to help to identify and overcome opponents, perhaps spellcraft as well)
the magic item specialist (you have a really high umd so that you can use a scroll, wand or wanderous item to cover most situations)

Healing ability: You don't need to have cure spells but you would need to have some way of healing yourself other than just spending a fortune on potions whether that's through a special healing ability or just relying on a reasonable UMD skill and a CLW wand.

A couple of builds that come to mind are the do-it-all Wizard, a Sound Striker Bard or a Tengu ninja with 3 natural attacks for high sneak attack damage with plenty of ki points and high UMD for healing. What are your ideas and why is it such a good balanced build?


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I don't know if this is possible but here's how it works:

1. Pick Tengu as your race and select Claw Attack as alternate racial trait. This gives you 2 claw attacks in addition to the bite attack you already have and you are treated as having Improved Unarmed Strike for qualifying for other feats. This gives you 3 natural attacks at 1st level.

2. Pick rogue or ninja for sneak attack.

3. Pick Multiattack as your 1st level feat. Your secondary natural attacks are only at -2 instead of -5.

4. Pick Two Weapon Fighting as level 3 feat and use 2 light weapons.

I'm now wondering if you have 5 attacks all with only a -2 modifier. Firstly, we have 3 natural attacks and the claw attacks can be with your clawed feet. We follow up with 2 more attacks with light weapons. Is this legal?

Imagine if you are flanking. You remove your -2 penalty and if you hit with all attacks then your sneak damage alone at 3rd level would be 10d6.


The concept for this build is to get a never ending supply of Ki that the Ninja can use for Forgotten Trick. This lets the character tap into all the Ninja Tricks whenever they are needed without running out.

The way for this to happen is to pick up 3 or 4 levels of the Drunken Master Monk archetype that lets you constantly create new ki by drinking alcohol. For this build to work, you would need to have a Handy Haversack crammed full of alcohol in casks, wine sacks etc. You can take a few drinks in between encounters to top up your ki.

For a start, I'm wondering what other Monk archetypes you would take with the Drunken Master to make the most of this build. For instance, Master of Many Styles would allow you to pick up both Crane Wing and Snake Style within 3 levels making you pretty much unhittable.

I am looking for a 20 point build that is workable from low levels up to around level 12 which could be for society play or a campagin. No 3rd party products but all Paizo material is acceptable.

Is this build concept even workable? How would you flesh it out? All ideas are very welcome.


As a GM, I am interested in exploring the option of playing background sounds/noises/music for my players when they enter a scenario to help set the mood.

For instance the sounds of dripping water or bats shrieking when they enter caverns or perhaps the sound of a storm when they are out in a blizzard or even the sounds of merriment and talk when they enter a tavern. You get the general idea.

So firstly, where would be the best place to acquire sound files?

Secondly, I would like to use the sound files for both the typical around the table game but also for online Virtual Table Top gaming. As far as VTT goes, I currently use skype with D20pro. Is there a way to allow sounds to be broadcast through skype or perhaps some other application such as the one in Google Plus?


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The Boar Style feat reads as follows:
You can deal bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with your unarmed strikes—changing damage type is a free action. While using this style, once per round when you hit a single foe with two or more unarmed strikes, you can tear flesh. When you do, you deal 2d6 bleed damage with the attack.

The pertinant part of the bleed rules read as follows:
A creature that is taking bleed damage takes the listed amount of damage at the beginning of its turn. Bleed effects do not stack with each other unless they deal different kinds of damage.

Given that you can change the damage type as a free action between bludgeoning damage or slashing damage with the Boar Style feat, does that mean you could stack bleed damage using this style by changing the type of attack from one type to another? This ofcourse assumes you successfully hit your opponent more than once?


As the subject title reads, I'm curious to find out what is the highest CMB possible by 12th level for any maneuver you are trained in. It could be Dirty Trick, Disarm, Trip or any of the others. I don't really care which one. What can it be maximized out to?

Assumptions:
1. Standard wealth for 12th level
2. No leadership feat and assume no outside help from allies
3. 20 point build

I'm keen to see what is possible as inspiration for the Adventure Path I'm in and for possible society play.


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The premise behind this build is a battlefield control melee character using a reach weapon. The Blinding Serpent could be used for Society Play and I have used a 20 point build. The build is based on 3 archetypes (Monk:Maneuver Master, Monk:Weapon Adept, Fighter: Lore Warden) to achieve its purpose to trip and blind with reasonable saving throws and AC by 3rd level. By blinding and tripping with reach and combat reflexes, the idea is to stop enemies from approaching and attacking yourself or your allies. The build is also designed to be effective to some degree from 1st level rather than waiting until higher levels for things to gel. The Blinding Serpent build derives its name from Snake Style and the Dirty Trick blind feats.

Race: Half Elf
Starting Stats: STR 14/16 (+2 race bonus)
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 16
CHR 7
ALIGNMENT: LN or LG
Alternate Racial Trait: Ancestral Arms (exotic reach, trip weapon Fauchard 18-20/x2 1d10)
Skills: Max out Sense Motive, Stealth, Perception, Acrobatics and spare point for whatever
Traits: Reactionary (+2 initiative), Cynic (+1 Sense Motive)
Hit Points at 12th level: 90 (Favored Bonus +1 hit point/level)
AC using Snake Style at 12th level: about 39
Saves at 12th level: Fort 13; Ref 13; Will 14
CMB trip check average by 12th level is about 43 (assuming +2 keen fauchard)
CMB dirty trick (blind) check average by 12th level is about 40 (assuming +2 keen fauchard)

I will give a level by level breakdown to show how this build progresses.

1st: Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept.
Feats: Combat Reflexes
Bonus Feats: Improved Trip, Perfect Strike
Flurry of Maneuvers replaces Flurry of Blows allowing bonus CMB attack after normal attacks and no restrictions to use only Monk weapons by RAW. The maneuver master also uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus to determine his CMB for the bonus maneuvers. From 1st level we can attempt to trip anyone who tries to get too close. Use perfect strike to hopefully guarantee trip when really needed.

2nd Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept.
Bonus Feats: Improved Dirty Trick, Weapon Focus: Fauchard
We can now trip and blind in the same turn.

3rd Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept.
Feat: Snake Style
Now we can tank better. We can spend an immediate action to make our AC based on our sense motive skill check which on average is around 22 at 3rd level against a ranged or melee attack.

4th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept.
Attribute Increase: Intelligence increase to 13. Required to pick up Greater Trip at later levels
We have a Ki Pool now and the Monk ability Reliable Maneuver which allows us to spend 1 Ki point to have 2 rolls for CMB attempts.

5th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept.
Feat: Skill Focus-Sense Motive (our Snake Style AC is now around 27)
Monk Ability Meditative Maneuver allows us to add WIS bonus to CMB attempts

6th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept
Bonus Feats: Greater Dirty Trick (to removed blind condition now requires a standard action); Weapon Specialization-Fauchard

7th Fighter Lore Warden
Bonus Feats: Fury's Fall (add DEX bonus to trip attempts)
Feat: Power Attack

8th Fighter Lore Warden
Bonus Feats: Combat Expertise; Greater Trip
Attribute Point into STR

9th Fighter Lore Warden
Maneuver Mastery Lore Warden ability gives +2 CMB bonus
Feat: Lunge (now we have 15 feet reach for AoO)

10th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept

11th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept
Flurry of Maneuver grants extra free attack
Feat: Tripping Strike (have a keen weapon so you are critting on a 15-20)

12th Monk Maneuver Master and Weapon Adept
Attribute Point into STR
Bonus Feats: Evasion

Constructive criticism welcome and desired. Build also works well as a Human.


Is it possible to skip selecting a feat at 1st level and wait until 2nd level? The reason I'm asking is I'm looking at a 3/4 BAB build and at 1st level you have +0 BAB. The interesting feats I'm after have a requirement of +1 BAB.

I would not be surprised if this is not allowed but just wanted to make certain.


As we all know, Hero Lab is officially endorsed by Paizo in some capacity or other. I have used Hero Lab for a while now and find it very helpful.

Anyway, I was theorycrafting as we all do and was trying to come up with a Lion Shaman character concept for pathfinder society play using the Hero Lab software. As I entered in the data for each level, I noticed that at level 2 Hero Lab appeared to indicate that my Lion Shaman received the ability of Lion Wild Shape 1/day as a special ability. This is pretty awesome and I wonder if it is legitimate/legal.

The Shaman abilities written up in the APG come across as a little ambiguous and I suppose are open to interpretation. The interpretation Hero Lab (officially endorsed) seem to take is that for wildshaping into a lion shape, you get the wildshape 2 levels earlier than normal which is level 4 for standard druids. This sort of makes sense as Lion Shamans get a +2 level bonus for wildshaping into feline shapes and -2 penalty for non feline shapes. I guess that means you can't wildshape into a non feline animal as a Lion Shaman until level 6.

Is there official errata about this? If not, what are people's opinions about this? Apologies if what I am trying to clarify is a little incoherent as it is Friday night Down Under and I am well and truly inebriated after a few post work drinks. :)


I'm just curious as to what build does the most number of attacks in a single round regardless of whether it's ranged or melee. I'm interested in seeing this at 8th level and at 12th level assuming a 20 point build and standard amount of spending gold. Another assumption I'd like to make is that the number of attacks must be sustainable over 4 different encounters at different times of the day. Can anyone tell me the answer?


Panther Style: While using this style, when an opponent makes an attack of opportunity against you for moving through a threatened square, you can spend a swift action to make a retaliatory unarmed strike attack against that opponent. Your attack is resolved after the triggering attack of opportunity.

Panther Claw: You unleash a rapid series of blows on foes that attempt to attack you when you move.
Benefit: While using Panther Style, you can spend a free action, instead of spending a swift action, to make a retaliatory unarmed strike. You can make a number of retaliatory unarmed strikes on your turn equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Does this mean with this feat if I had an 18 Wisdom and an opponent makes an AoO against my character, that I could get 4 unarmed strikes against that enemy?


Crane Wing: Once per round while using Crane Style, when you have at least one hand free and are either fighting defensively or using the total defense action, you can deflect one melee weapon attack that would normally hit you. You expend no action to deflect the attack, but you must be aware of it and not flat-footed. An attack so deflected deals no damage to you.

Would a natural 20 to hit you still be deflected? I thought natural 20's always hit but the benefit in the feat would suggest otherwise.


Crane Riposte Benefit: Whenever you use Crane Wing to deflect an opponent's attack, you can make an attack of opportunity against that opponent after the attack is deflected.

My question is if you are attacked with reach and your monk does not have reach, does this mean you cannot gain an AoO afterall using your Crane Riposte style feat?


I've always wondered what archery build is the best in the game. So who can tell me?

Let us assume that damage output from a full round attack is the main focus but not to the exclusion of everything else so no glass cannons with nothing left for defence. As a guide, let's look at what you can get by 12th level, any combination of classes with a 20 point build and typical wealth for that level which is 108,000gp. Let's also assume no 3rd party products, just any Paizo source.

No doubt the ranger, fighter, arcane archer or zen archer will be up there but which is the best of the best?


When players have gained enough experience for a new level, some GMs just let the players gain the level immediately. For me that just seems too unrealistic and 'gamey'.

What I do is let the players know they have gained a level once they have rested for 8 hours. This seems more realistic to me for a few reasons.

Firstly, it ties in well with other game mechanics such as replenishing ki or spells.

Secondly, when you sleep (in REM or non-REM - I can't remember which) apparently your brain sorts through the jumble of activity for that day to help you resolve and sort through issues in your subconscious. That's why people say "I'll sleep on it" when they have a major decision to make. I feel the revelations that come from this tie in with gaining experience and a level.

Thirdly, it is well known that body builders will sleep around 10 hours a day as the extra sleep helps their muscles to grow. Body building tears the muscle fibres up and sleeping repairs them so that these muscle fibres become stronger and bigger. This sort of ties in with gaining an attribute point every 4th level.

For all these reasons, I make my players rest 8 hours before gaining a level.

In the old D&D days, I remember for some classes you had to find and pay a trainer once you had the experience before you could gain the new level. This was expensive and could take days or weeks and seems a little heavy handed and disruptive to me. I also remember that Druids had to have some sort of battle to the death over a higher level Druid in their coven to gain a level in some sort of natural selection process which seems very harsh to me.

So I'm curious. What do all you GM's out there enforce as your means for allowing players to go up a level?


When I GM, I make all the rolls of the dice visible to my players. I don't hide any rolls behind the screen. If they get a critical against them that could kill their character, so be it. This gives the game an edge making it a real challenge and the players know I'm not being soft on them.

On the other hand, alot can be said for rolling behind the screen so that you can "fudge" the rolls if you don't want to kill off a character or you desire a specific outcome.

At some stage in the distant future I may decide to start GMing Pathfinder Society games. In this setting I think I would be more reluctant to roll out in front of the screen. As strange as it sounds, I'd feel more reluctant to kill off someone's character with some unlucky rolls when I don't know them. Also, a TPK in society games is probably not really desirable.

So as a GM, do you roll in front or behind the screen and why? Also, do you think it makes a difference if it's a pathfinder society game as opposed to your regular campaign?


If you took the Half-Orc Alternate Racial Trait Toothy as a rogue, would the bite attack be granted a sneak attack along with your normal sneak attack(s) you can make with a melee weapon?


I'm talking about ninja / shadowdancer. The ninja can pick up a ninja trick called Pressure Points which allows you to deal a point of strength or dexterity damage every time you successfully sneak attack. This synergises well with your flanking shadow companion who has a strength draining touch attack.

So what I would like to see are people's ideas on how best to optimise this build idea assuming a 20 point build up to 12th level that could potentially be used in society play. The money's in the detail so let's see it.


Most of my Pathfinder gaming occurs online using Hero Lab and D20Pro. I know there are alot of other good online VTT's out there as well such as Fantasy Grounds and Maptools.

I'm just wondering if anyone has heard whether Paizo in any capacity has given any official support to any of these VTT's such as offering perhaps non exclusive licenses etc. It would be good to see Paizo get behind these virtual tools that help promote their products online.


For those that wish to dump their strength and focus on dexterity, the dervish dance feat looks quite enticing for scimitar wielders (especially if it's a keen scimitar to give you a 15-20 crit range). The biggest drawback to this feat is the following caveat:

You cannot use this feat if you are carrying a weapon or shield in your off hand.

To get around this limitation, I wonder if it's possible to wear a weapon as opposed to carrying it? For instance, brass knuckles allow you to deal lethal damage with unarmed attacks. It also says about brass knuckles:

You may hold, but not wield, a weapon or other object in a hand wearing brass knuckles.

This would seem to suggest that you are wearing but not carrying the brass knuckles. This interpretation might also apply to the cestus and spiked gauntlets opening up interesting possibilities for 2 wpn fighting builds.

Am I bending the rules too much with this interpretation? Is it legal? Interested to hear both RAI and RAW interpretions on this.


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Below is my new guide on tripping builds.

Go to A Guide for Trip Builds in Pathfinder

Please feel free to comment and let me know if I've made any errors. Hope you enjoy.


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I have almost completed my pathfinder guide to witches in Google Docs. I just have 7th, 8th and 9th lvl spells to go to finish it which I hope to do shortly. Please feel free to offer comments / criticisms. I am open to editing it provided I agree with you. Here it is:

Guide to Witches


I attended my first Pathfinder Society gathering a few months back and had a fantastic time. One thing that caught my attention was that I think over half the players were playing human characters. Interestingly, 3 out 5 of my players have chosen human characters in the AP I am running at the moment. Now there are 7 races and it strikes me as both odd and a little dull that so many people choose to play humans.

I have some theories as to why this is the case. I believe the most compelling reason is the bonus feat humans get at 1st level. This is very handy but I don't think it's overpowering. However, the problem arises when a player gets a really cool character build concept in their head and then realizes that to get x ability or feat by x level to make their concept work, they have to get feat prerequisites along the way - what I like to call a feat tax. Now even with the extra feats we get compared to 3.x D&D, players will sometimes come up short if they don't select human. Don't get me wrong. I think feats are reasonably well balanced and I like the concept of feat prerequisites before getting more powerful feats but I think it definitely contributes to the human overpopulation problem in adventures.

The next contributing factor is the flexible ability score bonus of humans. Again this appears balanced compared to the other races but again to a lesser degree contributes to the dearth of human characters. You see when trying to get that cool concept build to work, there's often 2 ability scores you'd like to see not penalised. This means as a human your primary ability score can get boosted by +2 and your secondary score is safe from being penalized. This flexibility combined with the free feat will again steer players towards human. This probably doesn't impact quite as much given that half elves and half orcs have this option as well.

Finally, the extra skill point also contributes to this problem but I feel to a lesser degree yet again for 2 reasons. First, it means that for many (but not all) builds, less ability points need to be assigned to Int and secondly, some Prestige classes have skill rank requirements which makes it easier for humans to qualify.

I don't think humans need to be made weaker but do the other races need to be made stronger? I honestly don't know. When I look at a particular race's traits on its own, they all seem ok to me yet my experience tells me that a clear majority of players are picking human. So what do you all think? Are the races balanced properly and have you also seen a majority of players picking human in the games you play in?


A character can become a Shadowdancer from level 6 onwards if they pick the right prerequisites. At 8th level (3rd level shadowdancer), the character gains a Shadow companion. The Shadow companion has the potential to make the Shadowdancer a really interesting build as its main offensive weapon is dishing out d6 strength damage every time it succeeds on a touch attack.

If I was to build a shadowdancer character, I would want to focus on this as the main theme of the build - a strength draining character. I see the pair flanking monsters and weakening it to the point that it can't move. So my question is how can the Shadowdancer back up the Shadow's attacks with strength draining attacks of its own? I've looked at a few options but haven't found anything that works in a reliable and regular fashion. Poisons aren't very potent, are expensive, and are difficult to use. So that leaves magic items, spells, abilities or feats. Anyone have some ideas on this?


This post regarding the Leadership feat is divided into 2 parts. Feel free to respond to either or both parts with your opinion.

Part1: I think the leadership feat is probably the most powerful feat in the game. If someone can think of a more powerful feat than leadership, I'd love to hear about it.

Part2: Any character with a modest or good charisma score will be able to pick up a follower only 2 levels lower than they are at level 7 with the leadership feat. This got me to thinking. Often when I'm theory crafting on how to build an optimised character (I tend to focus on levels 6 through to 12), I often come up short on feats and abilities to get just that perfect combination to make the character really potent. This often forces me to pick human just to get the extra feat and skills.

However, what if I didn't have to do this. Just pick the leadership feat and let your follower who's fully equipped and only 2 levels lower than you pick up the slack with a combination of feats, spells, abilities etc that synergizes perfectly with your own build.

What I want to know is, what character classes/builds can you think of that would benefit greatly from having the follower synergize with and augment your theme/role from an optimisation point of view? And ofcourse, what build would the follower have to be to achieve this?


Once upon a time, when D&D had a THAC0 table, there were the classic 4. The classic 4 were the staple classes of many early D&D campaigns and included a Thief (Rogue), Cleric, Magic User (Wizard), and a Fighter. They all had their roles to play and each class was made to feel useful.

Ofcourse, the classic 4 is now well and truly an anachronism and it is entirely possible to have a functional and capable party without any of these classes. What I want to know is what you would consider your must have classes if you wanted to be guaranteed of success in surviving a campaign from levels 1 through to 12. So basically, what 4 classes would you pick to guarantee the survival of your party for the full length of the campaign.

I know there are endless combinations you could pick that would work, but if your life depended on it, what 4 classes would you pick that you think would have the greatest chance to succeed and why? Let's assume you are adventuring in any typical Adventure Path campaign without any unusual anomalies to consider.


At 3rd level the Shadow Dancer can summon a shadow that can serve as his companion. The problem with this is below:

If a shadow companion is destroyed, or the shadowdancer chooses to dismiss it, the shadowdancer must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude save. If the saving throw fails, the shadowdancer gains one permanent negative level. A successful saving throw avoids this negative level. A destroyed or dismissed shadow companion cannot be replaced for 30 days.

So if your companion is destroyed, not only can you not summon a new one for 30 days, there's a reasonable chance you will lose a level. :( It's in your best interest to keep it healed.

As far as I know, the only way to heal a shadow would be an ability, spell, or item that channels negative energy. Apart from being forced to play a neutral cleric that channels negative energy before dipping into Shadow Dancer levels, what other ways can people think of to keep their shadow alive and healed?


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Assume you are playing either a Druid or Lion Shaman who has a big cat companion and is focused on being a shapeshifting combatant with your big cat. After reaching level 4 your big cat animal companion is entitled to an ability score increase.

Is it better to put 1 point in str to get the strength to an even number for the cat's nice pouncing attacks, or is it better to put the ability increase into intelligence so that you can dump Animal Handling as a skill? For those who aren't aware, increasing an animal companion's intelligence from 2 to 3 means you don't have to rely on tricks and animal handling checks as the animal can now understand normal conversation.


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There have been countless threads on character optimization from Treantmonk's wonderful guides through to the DPR Olympics. I've enjoyed reading many of these threads. However, I've never seen a discussion on killer character combinations due to synergies between builds.

I'd really like to see people's ideas for creating optimized builds that work well in tandem with another build or two. This information might also be useful to GM's looking to challenge parties with more difficult encounters.

To scope this out, let us assume 20 point builds with standard wealth for 2 or 3 characters at either level 6 or level 11. I consider levels 6 and 11 as good measuring sticks for builds as characters have come into their own by level 6 with many feat prerequisites needing BAB +6 and for spellcasters, level 3 spells are starting to become powerful. Level 11 is also useful as you can pretty much see the strength of the build by that level and +11 BAB seems to be another requirement for many of the cool combat feats.


In the coming weeks I may get the chance to play a 7th level character (epic point buy 25pts) with standard money for that level using the Core Book, APG and other official Golarion releases from Paizo.

I was thinking about playing an Oracle with the Heavens mystery to use its special trick of high powered illusion spells. That would mean playing either a Gnome for the higher DC or a human for the extra feat with a starting charisma of 18 or 20. I guess taking heighten spell feat for 'Color Spray' as well as possibly the spell focus (illusion) feats would be the way to go. And with the money, picking up a lesser metamagic rod of Widen would make sense.

My only concern is that this character would end up being too 1-dimensional in combat, essentially a 1 trick pony. Outside of combat the character could be interesting as the party spokesman with the high diplomacy checks but what else could the Oracle do in combat to make them a more rounded and enjoyable character to play?


I will have the opportunity in about a month to play a 7th level character from part 3 onwards in the Rise of the Runelords AP series. I might also have the opportunity to soon play a pathfinder society character starting from 1st level. In both instances I am interested in playing a 2-handed human trip monkey fighter with some versatility. I want to be able to do ranged damage as well so he is not a 1 trick pony. It is very important I get the feat selection right and in the right order as well as select some good options for traits. I will be able to pick 2 traits for both the 1st and 7th level builds. I am limited to using core rule book, APG and any extra official Pathfinder Golarion books for the 7th level build and normal pathfinder society rules apply for the 1st level build.

1st point of order - what traits should I pick for each build?

Next, I have decided that I will focus on using a Guisarme as this is a 2-handed weapon that gives me both reach and trip. I plan to get some enlarge potions and a wand of enlarge person to pass to the arcane in the party once I have a few levels under my belt so that I will have a 15-20 foot reach when enlarged giving me ample opportunity to trip anything that comes near me. I also intend to tote around a backup weapon (a heavy flail) as this is also 2-handed, gives me trip and has awesome damage and 19-20 crit range if someone gets inside my 15 foot reach with my Guisarme. It works out well as you can drop a weapon as a free action and draw the flail as part of a move action and still attack and trip anyone that gets too close when enlarged without provoking an AoO (Attack of Opportunity). I will have a strength composite bow for long ranged stuff. So that is why I'm calling it a double switch hit trip build. Composite strength bow for long range, Guisarme for medium range when enlarged, and heavy flail if anything gets too close inside my reach. It also gives me puncture, bash, and slash options with all 3 weapons. Is this good weapon selection or are there better choices for what I'm trying to achieve?

Now lets talk about ability selection. The AP campaign allows my 7th level build to go 25 points for an epic build. As I'm going human, my strength will be boosted in both builds. I'm thinking for the 7th level going: Str 17(19) add 1 for 4th lvl for 20; Dex 16; Con 14; Int 13 (for combat expertise); Wis 8; Chr 7. I have to dump Wis and Chr to get Int 13 for the feat.

For the 1st level, I'm thinking of 2 options:
a. Str 16 (18); Dex 16; Con 14; Int 13; Wis 7; Chr 7 OR
b. Str 17 (19); Dex 16; Con 12; Int 13; Wis 7; Chr 7

If I go option b, I can hit 20 Strength at level 4 for society play. I'm not too keen on dumping Wis as that is clearly the achilles heel of this build but I want both high Str and Dex for melee, shooting and the synergy high Dex delivers for tripping and the feat combat reflexes with AoO's. Opinions?

Now the complicated part - feat selection. There's alot of nice feats worth considering and it seems ironic that a human fighter build could be feat starved but I can't seem to fit everything I like in. Feats that are must have are Combat Expertise, Improved Trip and Greater Trip at 6th level. Other feats that I like the look of for range include PBS, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot and Manyshot. Precise Shot is not a consideration as I will be either shooting things not in combat or tripping and hitting things that get closer. On the melee side, I like the look of Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Polearms), Weapon Specialization (Polearms), Combat Reflexes and Vital Strike.

Vital Strike has in particular got me in two minds. On the one hand, it gives me extra damage dice for ALL my weapons and is particularly nasty when I'm enlarged (extra 2D6 for Guisarme or extra 2d8 for Heavy Flail). However, it only works as a standard action and cannot be used when I charge, when I full attack or for an AoO which will certainly limit the times I get to use it.

So I'm thinking perhaps:

1st: Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Point Blank Shot
2nd: Power Attack
3rd: Combat Reflexes
4th: Rapid Shot
5th: Weapon Focus (Polearms)
6th: Greater Trip
7th: Weapon Specialization (Polearms)
8th: ?
9th: ?
10th: ?

I am really unsure about my feat selection and the order I should take things in so feedback is appreciated.

I think tripping will be powerful as by 7th level assuming +1 weapons I will have a CMB for tripping of 7 BAB + (at least)5 Str + 1 Fighter Weapon Training + 1 Weapon Focus + 1 Weapon + 4 trip feats = 19 CMB. Rolling D20 plus 19 will even trip giant spiders most of the time. :)

Finally, what skills should I pick?


Is it possible to multiclass between archetypes? For instance, could you have a 12th level character that was Fighter level 2 / Fighter (Mobile Fighter) level 3 / Fighter (Two Handed Weapon) level 7?

1/5

I've started reading the downloadable PDF about Society gaming as well as looking on the messageboards. I'm really impressed with the game concept of a cold war among 5 factions battling for control of the city. Where can I find out more information about this ongoing conflict and see which faction is currently 'winning'? Is there some sort of scoreboard and how are scores kept? I haven't been able to find this sort of information to date and I'm intrigued.

Also, when you play, how cooperative are you with opposed factions? For instance, would you deny healing or fail to save someone at a crucial moment or do you treat it more like a traditional party and look out for everyone's back? If you have some interesting anecdotes, I'd love to hear them.

1/5

I'm a bit confused about creating a new character. I saw a heap of pregenerated 1st level characters for pathfinder society play in a link from another thread in these forums. All the characters seem to have 1 feat too many (in other words 2 for non-humans and 3 for humans) while not having been given any traits.

I read in the downloadable 'Guide to Pathfinder Society Organised Play' that a trait effectively counts as half a feat. Does this mean that you can forego selecting 2 traits and instead select an extra feat?

Clarification on this topic would be appreciated.


As we all know, the APG has been available for download for a few days now. I've certainly enjoyed reading my copy. Now that you've had time to digest all the new character combinations using archetypes, alternative features, prestige classes, new base classes etc... it's time for the theory crafters and powergamers to swing into action.

I'm laying down the gauntlet to all who would dare rate your top 3 new character combos based solely on the Core Rulebook and the APG in terms of what is now most powerful. What do I mean by powerful? I mean your character creation is in a typical party of 4 and would outshine and possibly dominate typical adventures of appropriate level to such a degree that your GM might even decide to make the encounters more difficult.

Assumptions are that your character is level 11 with a 20 point build. I like 11th level. By this time your character idea has come into its own as opposed to 1st level which tells you nothing or 20th level which is rarely played. You can multiclass, use prestige classes, and use any new rules in any combo as long as it follows the rules laid out in the core book and the APG.

So give me your top 3 (1 most powerful) and reasons why if you wish but please don't debate what is meant by "most powerful" as I don't want the thread sidetracked. So over to you. Let me see your great character ideas.


First off, I think that Augment Summoning feat does work on the summon swarm spell but was just hoping someone could confirm this for sure.

Assuming that it does work, does that mean that say a swarm of bats now do 1D6 + 2 str dmg from its automatic attacks each round as opposed to just 1d6? Also, are the total hit points of the swarm boosted by +2 hit points per hit die for the augmented constitution?

Lastly, I think a bat swarm occupies a 10 foot square. Does that mean it does its automatic d6 damage to all creatures within the 10 foot square or can it only target one creature?


I know that unlike scrolls, potions don't require special skills/feats/classes to use for others in your party. For the character I'm thinking of creating, I don't think that is relevant. Apart from this, why would you ever pick brew potion over scribe scrolls as a feat selection?

Points to consider:
1. Scrolls are cheaper to make. They have a cheaper base cost. This is really important as it means a spell caster can create up to a 2nd level scroll in just 2 hours. A 2nd level potion takes a day to create. The implications are that a character with brew potion feat will only be able to create 1st level potions while adventuring when a party rests.

2. For scrolls, you only need your writing implements, parchment and material components to create. Potions, on the other hand, need "a level working surface and at least a few containers in which to mix liquids, as well as a source of heat to boil the brew" and material components to create. Naturally, this would be more difficult to set up when adventuring.

3. You can create scrolls of any level. Potions can only be created from 1st to 3rd level.

4. You only need to be 1st level to scribe a scroll. Unless you are a witch, you must be minimum of 3rd level to be able to brew a potion.

5. Scrolls can have multiple spells inscribed on a single parchment. A vial can contain only one potion.

It seems to me that the scribe scrolls feat is simply far, far better than brew potion from an optimisation point of view. Have I overlooked anything?


Are goblin babies and goblin children evil? If they aren't evil when they're born, when do they become evil?

Spoiler:
I am running the Burnt Offerings Adventure Path at the moment and the party will soon encounter the nursery room with all the little cages that hang down from the ceiling from chains. Apparently, the goblins keep their children in these cages to 'toughen' them up with a survival of the fittest approach. Unlike humanoid races, goblins don't believe in pampering their children as their outlook is only the tough and the mean will survive. I can't remember if there are any goblin children in the cages in the adventure path but I will be putting a 1 year old (equivalent of human years), a 3 year old and a 6 year old goblin child in separate cages.

This should make for an interesting encounter as the caged goblin children are going to be on maximum 'annoyance' mode to the party when they are encountered. The oldest will probably throw something disgusting from its cage at one of the party members while the youngest wails. This should be challenging for the party because there is a paladin as well as a chaotic neutral cleric of war and destruction who puts up with no nonsense. Now if the children are evil, the paladin might not intercede if the cleric decides to 'eradicate' them. Maybe the oldest is evil as he has had the most opportunity to absorb goblin culture and all its meanness.

Anyway, to further complicate things, there is a chance that the party could wipe out the last remaining goblins in this dungeon in which case there would be nobody to look after the caged children. So if they are abandoned in their cages, the party are dooming them to a cruel death. If the party release them, I intend to make the goblin children as annoying as possible and a hindrance to their explorations to promote the roleplay opportunities.

So, should I make all/some/or none of the goblin children evil? And how would you GM this encounter?


I really like what Pathfinder have done with the Witch class in the upcoming APG. It has tonnes of flavour. I am hoping I get a chance to play this class when the new book is officially released. I envisage playing an ugly middle aged crone stooped over her cauldron brewing up mischief (potions) and cackling alot.

This naturally means that I would select the sub optimal Cauldron hex at 1st level which gives the witch the Brew Potion feat as well as a bonus to craft alchemy skill. While there are much more potent Hexes to get at early levels, this one just has so much flavour. However, the problem with the brew potion feat is the rules description.

It reads:
"Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. When you create a potion, you set the caster level, which must be sufficient to cast the spell in question and no higher than your own level. To brew a potion, you must use up raw materials costing one half this base price."

Now the potential problem lies with the words "you must use up raw materials costing one half this base price". My question is what are these raw materials? Your DM could really screw you over by making the raw materials really hard to come by even if you had the gold and the cauldron ready to go.

I was thinking of an alternative approach to this. What if the gold itself was the raw material? History is littered with fables of trying to use alchemy to turn straw or something else into gold. What if we reversed this? You use gold with your alchemy to turn it into a potion! I was also thinking that my witch could be even more sinister and require the organs of her fallen enemies as a key ingredient - you know Eye of Newt etc. You could just picture the party paladin being nauseated as the witch knelt down with her athame to remove the dead kobold's kidneys to brew up a cure light wounds potion for the party. Such a sinister picture that has so much role-play potential. I also like the idea of introducing the concept that the witch's potions are so foul that the party have to pass a fortitude test when imbibing or be sickened for a round while still gaining the benefit of the potion.

So what are people's thoughts on brewing potions and how does your GM handle the raw materials component of the feat?

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