Main Problem i see with the kineticist is that his abilities do fall into two vastly differing categories and one of them is contrary to kineticists usefullness and coolness factors:
-"at-will" powers
That are his standard blasts, blast mods costing 1 burn or blast mods costing 2 with potential reduction by 1 due to some ability (kine can use move action to reduce 1 burn, so its at will with move+standard) and all other wild talents costing 0
-equal or less than "1/day" powers
Thats nearly all his other stuff; if after any reductions 1 burn remains, the kineticist is immidieately limited to con mod+3 per day useage; since some cool stuff costs more than 1 burn and since all abilities causing burn use the same pool, a high end kineticists might end up with 1 explosive blast, 2 entangling blasts and 1 torrent for entire day, which might be equivalent to having all burn costing wild talents to be actually 1 or 2/day
Coolness about kineticists is "at-will" and anything he can do per day will run contrary to that coolness factor.
Compared to anything even semicasters can do, "per day" kineticist talents suck, simply because semicasters have greater selection and have it up to 5/day for every spell level.
Mechanically i see no good reasons, why part of the kineticist stuff needs to be in "per day" category. Other classes - e.g. witch - work fine with useful at-will powers.
And the kineticists still has some rather usefull at-will powers, namely spark of life for trap and encounter detection (spend every turn a move action to have your elemental walk 50-100 ft in front of party, opening anything; any encounter enemies will attack elemental for 1 or more rounds, while party considers preping, engaging or retreating) and move earth,siege of fortified structues gets lot of new options with "move earth" tunnels for colapsing walls and it screws any natural dungeon plan.
But some of the kineticists talents would be too strong as full "at-will".
Furthermore the burn mechnic of dealing uncurable non-lethal damage and accumulating burn points is added bookkeeping.
Hence, my suggestion for burn:
"Burn (Ex): At 1st level, a kineticist can overexert herself
to channel more power than normal, pushing past the
boundaries that are safe for her body. Some of her wild
talents offer her the option to accept burn in exchange for a
greater effect. A kineticist can accumulate a number of burn points up to her Constitution modifier + 3 safely. For each point of burn she accepts beyond that limit, a kineticist suffers one point of lethal damage per character level, which cannot be reduced, avoided or negated via immunities, resistances or other means in any way and causes any kineticist's regeneration to stop functioning on the round following.
One minute of taking the concentration action removes all burn, but not any damage caused by burn.
A kineticist can’t choose to accept more than 1 point of burn
in a single round. This limit rises to 2 points of burn at
6th level, and it rises by 1 point of burn for every 3 levels
thereafter.
If she has both hands free, as a move action, a kineticist
can visibly gather energy or elemental matter around her,
allowing her to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent
used in the same round by 1 point (to a minimum of 0
points). If she takes any damage while gathering power
and before the kinetic blast that releases it, she must make
a concentration check (DC = 10 + damage dealt + effective
spell level of her kinetic blast) or lose the energy in a wild
surge that deals her 1 point of burn."
That way the kineticists "per day" abilities turn into "per encounter" abilities. Their power can be adjusted sufficiently by adjusting the burn points the kineticist can suffer before taking damage. E.g. if only up to constitution modifier is safe, this change grants a high level kineticist just something like 2 explosive blasts per encounter, which is enough to keep him in check.
But both usefullness and coolness drastically increase, because now a lot of cool stuff can be used regularly instead of 1-2/day. Furthermore, the theme of kineticists burning his own essence or so is meintained, while at the same time bookkeping is simplified. (Yes, damage can be healed after combat, but accepting for example 4 burn for explosion is still accepting a lot of damage in the midth of combat and therefore probably not taken lightly).
And it doesnt require much other changes, e.g. all other talents are tied to "recover burn", so function accordingly without change of wording.
The only talent in need of adjustment (at least as far as i think):
"Kinetic Healer
Element aether or water; Type Sp; Level 1; Burn 1; see text
Prerequisites kineticist level 1st
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
With a touch, you can heal a willing living creature for an amount
equal to 1d6+1 + your Constitution modifier. This
increases by 1d6+1 for every 2 kineticist levels you
possess beyond 1st. You can use this ability up to consitution modifier + 3 times per day."
Without this adjustment, a lev 1 kineticist could otherwise fully heal entire armies with 1 hour time or so. I also made the healed amount explicit, because currently its unclear what happens when composite blasts are available.
Is this a good way to bring the kineticists ability more in sync with the general "at will" theme?
serve the purpose of Monk/Brawler Fist getting through DR better, getting trip maneuver as effectively free action and getting pounce against single target?
So this is again an attempt to improve the monk/brawler using unarmed strikes?
Does it suceed better than the other styles that attempted that so far?
This works with any "one-handed slashing weapon (such as the longsword)" or such as a dwarven waraxe if either dwarf or having exotic weapon proficiency.
Since my intution indicates that it should be less complicated to make use of DX with a rapier than with a dwarven waraxe, i suspect i might miss a feat or a rule. Is there any other way except agile to gain DX bonus on Rapier or any other one handed piercing or light weapon?
If not, was there any general "flavor" idea behind dexterous people preffering waraxes over rapiers?
Finally reading through wrath of the righteous 1 and 2 and reading some somewhat intense threads, it seems paizo decided to indirectly take a stance regarding some politics stuff via background stories.
Nope, its not about realism, no fantasy world is realistic, every author or author group decides which parts of real world are to be included and which aren't. By deciding what to include and what to exclude one sends a message. (For example in any fantasy world of mine, there would be some eco nuts, who through lies, deception, fact denial and crazy believes cause some thousands of people to die.)
So paizo took a stance regarding an political issue, about which in many countries large political parties have differing opinions.
What i would like to know, is first, can it be expected to continue (so paizo authors as hardcore gamers do at every NPC creation a d100 and check against the latest studies about LGBT prevalence or at least have those stats in mind while populating the campaigns)?
And if there is any intent or idea about taking a stance about other political issues or is this just one special issue, somehow an exception?
I have the feeling from this boards, that the kensai is liked more. And it seems to have more style. But i cannot see that it is even near myrmidarchs power.
Because myrmidarch gets weapon training, which is with gloves of dueling a +5 to hit and dam. That outshines all the stuff the kensai gets with his weapon in my eyes. And he gets full medium armor speed and heavy armor with increased dex maximum. And he can use some nice ranged weapon with spells, if he realy wants.
Kensai canny defense is good, but its only while wielding his weapon, which can under several curcumstances fail.
And they have the same disadvantage compared to ordinary magus. Do i miss something or is kensai objectively weaker?
(The other 2 archetypes losing spell casting are out of question in my eyes.)
At 4th level, a sohei may spend 1 point from his ki pool to grant his mount temporary hit points equal to twice his level for 1 hour per level. In addition, as long as the sohei and his mount are adjacent, including when mounted, the mount gains any of the following abilities the sohei possesses: AC bonus, diamond soul, evasion, high jump, improved evasion, ki strike (as long as the sohei has at least 1 point in his ki pool), perfect self, and still mind. When a sohei spends points from his ki pool, his mount gains the same benefits as the sohei.
This ability replaces fast movement and increased unarmed damage."
Its is not defined when and how a given creature becomes "his mount" (aka the soheis mount). What does a sohei or a given creature have to do, so that the creature can be treated as "his mount"? edit: And when and how does "his mount" stop being "his mount"?
It is not clear, whether for the effects following "In addition" the monk has to sepnd 1 ki pool point for temp hit points or whether "his mount" is also receiving benefits, while not temporary hit points effect. Does "his mount" always get the benefits while adjacent?
It is also not obvious that a sohei might not have several mounts at a agiven time, all benefitting from sohei, since he must not be mounted for the mount to gain benefits.
2 examples of resulting unclear scnearios:
Sohei stand nexts to the rangers large wolf companion. Says to GM "The rangers wolf companion is now my mount, i spend 1 point from my ki pool, so he gains temp hit points. Also wolf has now AC bonus, diamond soul, evasion, high jump, improved evasion, ki strike,perfect self, and still mind." GM answer?
Instead of just declaring, he also mounts the large wold companion (with the ranger making the wolf accepting that). GM answer?
Prior to entering the dungeon sohei realizes, that he has enough ki pool anyway, sorcerer throws a reduce person on him, he climbs on all 3 other PCs and spends a ki point each time, so they all receive temp HPs and receive benefits while adjacent to him. What is RAI about that scenario?
Please no comments "No GM would ever allow this.", "Ridiculous nonsense.", "That was never intended." and so on, because i look at the wording and it is not clear and i am not certain about RAI. It would make sense, if the sohei had some companion ability, but he hasnt, therefore "his mount" is not defined and can be anything mountable including other PCs if the monks size is not too large.
they have slightly higher HP, slightly lower AC, ok saves, good save DC for CR11.
But their damage is off the charts, they can create 4 6d10+6 lines a 12d6 blast per full-round action and +22 in meele. That is about 114 average dam or CR 19. Ok, evasion helps against 92 of that damage, but even with improved evasion its 68 dam per round or CR 15.
"The second type of bond allows a paladin to gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy horse (for a Medium paladin) or a pony (for a Small paladin), although more exotic mounts, such as a boar, camel, or dog are also suitable. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the paladin's level as her effective druid level. Bonded mounts have an Intelligence of at least 6.
Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may magically call her mount to her side. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladin's level. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the paladin. A paladin can use this ability once per day at 5th level, and one additional time per day for every 4 levels thereafter, for a total of four times per day at 17th level.
At 11th level, the mount gains the celestial creature advanced simple template and becomes a magical beast for the purposes of determining which spells affect it."
Lets take camel, probably better overall:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions#TOC-ca mel
"Str 18, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4"
"4th-Level Advancement
Ability Scores Str +2, Con +2."
So at lev 5 paladin's camel has:
Str 21, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 4
Int 6 from "Bonded mounts have an Intelligence of at least 6.", str and con already include the 4th level upgrade and +1 str/dex due to companion table and 1 point still to spent for ability increase due to hit dice. Correct?
at lev 11:
some DR 5/evil and other stuff from celestial and:
Str 27, dex 23, con 20, int 10, wis 15, cha 8
with +3 str/dex from table and +4 all from advanced creature simple template, with 2 ability score increases still to spent. Correct?
If yes, leads to the nice conclusion, that a min/maxed paladin should start at lev 11 to let his mount decide what to do next, because int 10 wis 15 indicates greater planning capability than int 7 wis 7.
Assume for a moment that after creating your level 1 char, your GM had a moment of confusion and offered the following deals:
permanent -1 BAB for permament DR 5/-
permanent -2 BAB for permament DR 8/- or
permanent -3 BAB for permament DR 10/-
As a melee, ranged, support, healer or sorcerer, which would you take?
I would probably go -3, -1, -2, -3, -3. (sorcerers do not need BAB, healers should stay alive, melee loves DR, only archer has not that great need, but DR 5/- probably still a deal)
"Size Any creature of Tiny or smaller size should use its Dex modifier instead of its Str modifier for Climb and Swim checks."
So many creatures can have the climb skill, although many lack hands. Per RAW what are their climb checks?
Practical example, party with human cavalier and a gnome sorcerer want to enter a fort, have to scale wooden walls. Sorcerer dumbed str and has 1 rank in climb for -2 value, camel has 2 ranks, its class skill and it has str 20 (from human eye for talent) for +11.
Climb DC per table is 21. Per RAW, this looks at first glance as if the camel takes 10 and climbs up with easy, while the gnome has just a 1 in 10 chance to succeed and a 65% to take fall damage. So the camel is no problem for the party to get across the wall, but for the sorcerer they need rope or someother method.
From realism, that might cause some discussions at some tables, because usually camels are not known for climbing up trees (which the camel can do with even less problems). And the camel does not meet the criteria "both hands free" ever, so on the other hand can never climg per this RAW part. Yet it has climb as class skill.
Inspired by this discussion:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pk9q?The-Rogue-Fix-A-big-book-of-Rogue-Talents
"Point 2: Rogue talents, for the most part, suck. And they suck hard. Some are so bad, that I would literally rather take a +1 bonus to a skill than take them (like Esoteric Scholar)."
i wasted some time to go through all rogue talents. Comparing them to other class specific talents (discoveries, hexes, magus arcane ninja tricks) they suffer hard. Most of the 4 mentioned offer benefits worth a feat, e.g. ninja gets swift action castion invisibility wiht ki points, alchemist gets extra arms (i know, no extra attack, but with 2100 GP the extra arm carries a mithral +1 heavy shield, so discovery gives +3 shield bonus, feat normally give +1), even the weaker witch hexes are awesome compared to a feat (e.g. at will feather fall+1 levitate+1 fly per day for 1 feat?) and even magus gets good stuff. Only the rogue talents suck.
And when one gets to advanced, the others realy rock, ninja swift action greater invisibility (thats a level 8 spell normally), witch gets a save or paralyzed supernatural and magus gets some swift cast on crit and 1 once per day maximized. And there is alchemist with eternal potion getting acess to perma greater inv, haste or displacement. Some advanced rogue talents are ok, but often a feat is better.
And the devs know this, because only rogues can select a combat/general feat instead of talents. Which witch, ninja or alchemist would ever pick a feat instead of their advanced stuff?
So my idea was, that maybe what is bad about the rogue can mostly be fixed by making his talents cool, because then he has something nobody else has.
Therefore i wasted time to alter most rogue talents without changing their general idea, such that they are worth at least one feat for the normal talents and such that the advanced are closer to the envy one feels when considering eternal potion or swift greater inv.
general rules ragarding talents:
General rules:
Some rogue talents allow the rogue to roll an additional dice. Normally, the rogue then rolls two dice and takes the better result. If the rogue is under the effect of a spell or ability that forces her to roll two dice and take the worse result, she only needs to roll 1d20. If the rogue is under the effect of a spell or ability that forces her to roll three dice and take the worst result, she only need to roll two dice and take the worse. If the rogue is under the effect of a further spell or ability that allows her to roll two dice and take the better result, she can roll three dice. This is continued accordingly, if the rogue is effected by abilities that cause her to roll more dice and take the best/worst result.
If on a roll effected by such a talent, the rogue could roll more than one dice and take the best result, but can instead take 10 and does so, the result of taking 10 is treated as 15 (two dice), 17 (three dice), 18 (four dice) or 19 (five or more dice). Furthermore, the time required to take 20 is on such a check divided by the number of dice.
Some rogue talents are useable once per combat. "Combat" has here the same meaning as "combat" in the inquisitor judgement ability description and the same limitations apply. If such talent could also be used outside combat, the rogue can use it, if she hasnt used it in the last 10 minutes. Even if during the next 10 minutes a combat starts, she can use it as normal once in that combat.
Some talents list a 1st and 2nd benefit. These can be used independently by the rogue and their benefits always stack, if the rogue can use or profit from both at the same time.
Some talents require concentrating for some time to alter the benefits of the talent. Such concentration time has to be used separately for different talents unless noted otherwise.
Talents marked with an asterisk add effects to a rogue's sneak attack. Only one of these talents +1 per 4 levels of rogue (so 2 at lev 5, 3 at 9, 4 at 13 and 5 at 17 and only levels of rogue, not ninja) can be applied to an individual attack and the decision must be made before the attack roll is made.
Some talents take effect when specific conditions are met (e.g. rogue is reduced below 0 hit points). If a rogue has several talents which activate in a certain situation, she can use them as she sees fit, rolling and applying any effects in any way she chooses, she can even partly apply some effects and based on their result before deciding whether other talents are also applied or not to further alter the result. She can even continue to apply talents if a previous talent negated the specific conditions (e.g. rogue would be reduced below 0 hit points, first applied talent prevents reduction below 0, second talent can still be applied).
rogue talents:
Assault Leader (Ex)
Benefit: Once per combat, when the rogue misses with an attack on a flanked opponent, she can designate a single ally who is also flanking the target that her attack missed. That ally can make a single melee attack against the opponent as an immediate action.
Befuddling Strike (Ex) *
Benefit: When the rogue deals sneak attack damage against an opponent, that opponent takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls for 1d4 rounds.
Black Market Connections (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains better access to magic items from black market connections and better prices. She treats every settlement as one size greater (see Table: Settlement Statistics) for the purpose of determining the gp limit of the base value of items for sale, as well as the number of minor, medium, and major magic items for sale in the settlement. If the settlement is already a metropolis, all minor and medium magic items are for sale, as well as 3d8 major magic items. With a successful Diplomacy check, the rogue can treat the settlement as two sizes larger and has only to pay 75% of list price. If the settlement is already a metropolis and she succeeds at the check, all magic items are for sale. If the settlement is already a large city and she succeeds at the check, all minor and medium magic items are for sale, as well as 3d8 major magic items. With a successful check, the rogue can also sell items illegally on the black market. If the check fails by 5 or more, the rogue does something to spook the market, and treats the city as normal for 1 week. Furthermore, those in control of the black market may alert the authorities to the rogue’s presence in an act of reprisal for spooking the market or to divert attention away from their illicit activities. The DCs of the checks are by settlement size and are given in the table. The price reductions only apply to items, which normally are bought at 100% and sold at 50%, not to trade goods which can be used as money replacements.
Bleeding Attack (Ex) *
Benefit: A rogue with this ability can cause living opponents to bleed by hitting them with a sneak attack. This attack causes the target to take 1 additional point of damage each round for each die of the rogue's sneak attack (e.g., 4d6 equals 4 points of bleed). Bleeding creatures take that amount of damage every round at the start of each of their turns prior to fast healing or regeneration. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 + 2 for each die of the rogue's sneak attack Heal check or the application of any effect that heals hit point damage larger than three times the number of sneak attack die.
Special: Bleeding damage from this ability does not stack with itself. Bleeding damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.
Camouflage (Ex) and Terrain Mastery (Ex)
1st Benefit: Always, a rogue with this talent can craft simple but effective camouflage fitting to a terrain. The rogue needs 1 minute to prepare the camouflage, but once she does, it is good for the rest of the day or until the rogue fails a saving throw against an area effect spell that deals fire, cold, or acid damage or until she prepares camouflage for a different terrain, whichever comes first. The rogue gains a +4 bonus on Stealth checks while within a terrain that she selects from the ranger favored terrain list.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this talent spending one hour concentrating, treats one terrain selected by the rogue from the Table: Ranger Favored Terrains as if it were a favored terrain with the usual +2 bonuses as the ranger ability of the same name, though the ability does not increase with her level as the ranger’s ability does. This lasts until the rogue concentrates again for one hour to select another terrain.
Special: The two benefits can be directed at the same terrain and stack or they can be directed at different terrains. A rogue can take this ability one additional time at level 8 increasing the favored terrain bonus by +2 and increasing the stealth bonus from the rogue talent camouflage by +4. If a rogue acquires the favored terrain ability, the bonuses of this talent and the favored terrain ability stack.
Canny Observer (Ex) and Trap Spotter (Ex)
1st Benefit: When a rogue with this talent makes a Perception check to hear the details of a conversation or to find concealed or secret objects (including doors and traps), she gains a +4 bonus.
2nd Benefit: Whenever a rogue with this talent comes within 10 feet of a concealed or secret objects (e.g.trap, secret door, object hidden on person), she receives an immediate Perception skill check to notice the concealed or secret objects. This check should be made in secret by the GM. If a rogue receives from any other source the ability to make a perception check for an object without searching, she receives +5 on such perception checks (e.g. dwarven rogue noticing trap in stonework). If a rogue searches only for concealed or secret objects, searching a 15ft x 15ft area takes a full-round and taking 20 for such area takes 2 minutes instead of the usual search times. Objects that are not deliberately hidden or concealed are not concealed or secret objects in respect to this talent (e.g. specific items in a large store room are not concealed or hidden, yet might require checks to find).
Charmer (Ex)
Benefit: Always, the rogue can roll two dice while making a Diplomacy check, and take the better result.
Coax Information (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use Bluff or Diplomacy in place of Intimidate.
Combat Swipe
Benefit: A rogue who selects this talent gains Improved Steal as a bonus feat. She can select this talent multiple times, each time gaining a feat which has improved steal as prerequisite and for which she qualifies.
Combat Trick
Benefit: A rogue that selects this talent gains a bonus combat feat (see Feats).She can select this talent as often as she wants. When a swashbuckler rogue selects this talent for the second time, she receives two combat bonus feats instead of one.
Convincing Lie (Ex) and False Friend (Ex)
1st Benefit: When a rogue with this talent lies, she creates fabrications so convincing that others treat them as truth. When a rogue with this talent successfully uses the Bluff skill to convince someone that what she is saying is true, if that individual is questioned later about the statement or story, that person is not considered to be lying and needs not to make bluff checks when retelling the rogues lies and the questioner even in case of sucessful skill checks is convinced that the person believes to tell the truth, since the person is telling the truth from his point of view.
Any magical or supernatural attempt to analyze the memories of the person or scry how the person acquired the information must pass a check of 1d20+level of effect vs rogues bluff check result. (Bonuses to checks vs spell resistance apply.) If failed, the interogator acquires false but plausible information about how the person acquired the information without being alerted about the rogues involvement.
This talent does not effect any attempt, e.g. mundane, magic, supernatural, to gather informationen from other sources, which are not subject to the rogues bluff (e.g. rogue tells person an event has happened, interrogator uses scry to determine whether the event actually took place).
This effect lasts until the person is convinced due to contrary information, that the rogue lied.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a +4 bonus when making Bluff checks to convince someone she has never met or who doesn't know her well that they are previously acquainted or know each other well. The rogue can make any number of these checks as free actions outside her turn. The person bluffed to know the rogue well is convinced as per 1st benefit.
Cunning Trigger (Ex) and Quick Trapsmith (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use a free or an immediate action to set off any trap within 30 feet that she constructed.
2nd Benefit: As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a rogue with this talent can set any trap described in the section "Traps" in the Game Mastery Guide and any other trap made after the rules of that section and any other trap known to trap experts in the campaing with a CR no greater than her rogue level in any way such that 1 square being a trigger square for the trap is adjacent to the rogue. The rogue can set traps in occupied squares with the occupiying objects or creatures effected normally when the traps takes effect. To do this, she must purchase the components and have its components at hand. For magic traps the rogue needs access to a willing spell caster knowing the necessary spells and can then by paying just the usual trap cost acquire all components necessary to set up the trap on her own. Any fee for the spell caster is due to this talent already included in the trap cost.
Special: The type of trap that can be constructed in this way is only limited in so far the trap description excludes the use of the trap under the given conditions without altering the layout or stability of the surrounding structures (e.g. wooden trap door in a lava lake, a 40 ft. pit trap on the first floor of a normal building). The rogue manages to perform any necessary activity with the full-round action (e.g. digging a 40 ft deep hole for a pit trap into solid rock) while standing on a square next to the trap. The rogue cannot with this talent set up traps that function in any other way as the usual harmful and automatic traps, e.g. no automatic reset "trap" of greater resurrection or an automatic reset "trap" of fire ball setup to hit the main gate of the besieged castle from a great distance. This aspect is subject to GM discretion.
Deft Palm (Ex) and Fast Getaway (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent can make a Sleight of Hand check to conceal a weapon while holding it in plain sight, even while she is being observed. Any observer not succeding with his perception check is convinced that it is true that the rogue does no longer carry the item on her person or knows about its whereabout as per rogue talent convincing lie. All observers believe the same story (e.g. the rogue threw the item away) as per rogues choice.
2nd Benefit: After successfully making a sneak attack or Sleight of Hand check, a rogue with this talent can spend a move action to take the withdraw action. She can move no more than her speed during this movement. Or she can spend a swift action to take the withdraw action, but can move no more than half her speed during this movement.
Distracting Attack (Ex) *
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can make sneak attacks with subtle flourishes that disorient and distract her enemy. When she hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, she can cause the creature to become flat-footed against one target of her choosing until the beginning of her next turn. The rogue cannot designate herself as the creature gaining the benefit of this talent. Creatures with uncanny dodge are immune to distracting attack.
Esoteric Scholar (Ex)
Benefit: Always, a rogue with this talent may attempt a Knowledge check, even when she is not trained in that Knowledge skill. By choosing the concentration maneuver for 1 minute, the rogue can select a knowledge skill for which she will receive a bonus of 1/2 her class levels. This bonus lasts until the rogue selects a new knowledge skill this way.
Expert Leaper (Ex) and Ledge Walker (Ex)
1st Benefit: When making jump checks, the rogue is always considered to have a running start. Also, when the rogue deliberately falls, a DC 15 Acrobatics check allows her to ignore the first 20 feet fallen, instead of the first 10 feet.
2nd Benefit: This ability allows a rogue to move along narrow surfaces at full speed using the Acrobatics skill without penalty. In addition, a rogue with this talent is not flat-footed when using Acrobatics to move along narrow surfaces.
Fast Fingers (Ex)
Benefit: Always, a rogue with this talent can roll two dice while making a Sleight of Hand check and take the better result.
Fast Picks (Ex) and Quick Disable (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use the Disable Device skill to attempt to open a lock as a swift action without provoking attacks of opportunity instead of a full-round action.
Normal: Picking a lock takes a full-round action.
2nd Benefit: It takes a rogue with this ability a quarter of the normal amount of time to disable a trap using the Disable Device skill (minimum 1 standard action with 1 standard action equaling half a round).
Fast Stealth (Ex)
Benefit: This ability allows a rogue to move at full speed using the Stealth skill without penalty. With a penalty of -5 the rogue can use stealth while attacking, running, or charging, except that an opponent attacked by the rogues treats the rogue for 1 round as if the rogue is not having this talent.
Finesse Rogue
Benefit: A rogue that selects this talent gains Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
Firearm Training (Ex) and Grit (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms).
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains the Amateur Gunslinger feat and one grit feat of her choice. She must fulfill the prerequisites of the grit feat in order to choose it. The rogue cannot select a grit deed via the amateur gunslinger feat but she can use grit deeds as if she was a gunslinger of 1/2 her rogue class levels. If the rogue has gunslinger class levels she instead adds 1/2 her rogue class levels to the gunslinger class levels to determine the available grit deeds.
Follow Clues (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use Perception to follow tracks as per the Survival skill and adds 1/2 her class levels as bonus to any check made to follow tracks.
Getaway Artist (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent adds Fly, Handle Animal, and Ride to her list of class skills, and gains a +2 bonus on these skills and a cumulative +2 bonus on all driving checks.
Guileful Polyglot (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent who has at least one rank in Linguistics gains four additional languages. A rogue with this talent who does not have any ranks in Linguistics gains two additional languages. If the rogue later gains ranks in Linguistics, she gains two additional languages, to a total of four additional languages above those granted by the Linguistics skill itself. Always, the rogue can roll two dice while making a Linguistic check, and take the better result.
If the rogue spends 8 hours near persons knowing a language she does not know and does or does try to communicate with or does listen to the persons the entire time, she is, if she wants to, treated for all purposes as if speaking that language for 1 week beginning the end of the 8 hour period. The rogue can pursue other activities during that time, that are compatible with talking and/or listening. The rogue may know one language this way and the effect can be prollonged whenever the rogues spends 8 hours with persons knowing the language as described above.
Hard to Fool (Ex)
Benefit: Always, a rogue with this talent can roll two dice while making a Sense Motive check, and take the better result.
Hold Breath (Ex) and Strong Stroke (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent multiplies the number of rounds she can hold her breath by 2. This multiplication is done after all other effects changing the duration are applied.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this talent rolls twice when making Swim checks and takes the better result.
Special: A rogue can take this talent multiple times. Each additional time does not alter her swim checks, but quadruples the duration of hold breath multiplicatively.
Honeyed Words (Ex)
Benefit:Always, the rogue can roll two dice while making a Bluff check, and take the better result.
Iron Guts (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent has a cast-iron stomach or has trained herself to withstand poisons, especially ingested ones. She gains a +1 bonus on all saves against poisons as well as a +4 bonus on saves against all ingested poisons and spells and effects that cause the rogue to be nauseated or sickened. The rogue acquires the poison use class feature as if having it from a class. If the rogue ever acquires poison use from any other source, the poisons applied by her receive a cumulative +2 bonus on DCs.
Ki Pool (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a small ki pool. This ki pool is similar to a ninja’s ki pool, but the rogue’s ki pool does not grant any extra attacks. The rogue gains a number of ki points equal to 1/2 her rogue level + her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). These ki points replenish at the start of each day. If she already has a ki pool, or gains a ki pool later, she gains her Wisdom bonus (minimum 1) as bonus ki points to her ki pool. She can spend a ki point to gain a +10-foot bonus to movement until the end of her turn. A ninja may not select this talent via rogue talent ninja trick.
Lasting Poison (Ex) and Swift Poison (Ex)
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent can apply poison to a weapon in such a way that it is effective for a number of successful attacks equal to her intelligence modifier (minimum 2) instead of one.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this talent can apply poison to a weapon as a move action, instead of a standard action. A rogue of level 10 or higher can instead apply poison to a weapon as a swift action.
Major Magic (Sp)
Prerequisite: Intelligence 11, minor magic rogue talent, rogue level 4
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains the ability to cast a 2ndlevel spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list three times a day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability is equal to the rogue's level. The save DC for the 2nd-level spell is 12 + the rogue's Intelligence or charisma modifier (whichever is better). The 2nd-level spell is changed with the same action, which changes the spells of Minor Magic talent.
The rogue is also considered to cast 2nd-level spells in the same way as described for 0-level and 1st-level spells with the rogue talent minor magic and this talent provides an additional "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class".
Example: A rogue with major and minor magic fulfills the spells requirements of arcane trickster. If she takes a single level in arcane trickster (for which she must also meet the other requirements), she can choose to cast spells as a level 3 wizard, sorcerer or witch. (This of course means that a level progression level 1 to 4 rogue, level 5 to 14 arcane trickster is possible).
Minor Magic (Sp)
Prerequisite: Intelligence 10
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains the ability to cast three 0-level spells and one 1st-level spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. The 0-level spells can be cast an unlimited number of times and the 1st-level spell can be cast three times a day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability is equal to the rogue's level. The save DC for the 0-level spells is 10 + the rogue's Intelligence or charisma modifier (whichever is better), for the 1st-level spell it is 11+ the rogue's Intelligence or charisma modifier (whichever is better). The rogue can by concentrating for 1 hour select any different sorcerer/wizards spells of equal level as replacement, which she is then able to cast as above.
The rogue is considered to be able to cast all sorcerer/wizard spells of 0-level and 1st-level both as a caster that prepares spells and as a spontaneous caster for all purposes, e.g. feats, item creation, prestige class, magic item use. His caster level is treated as equal to his rogue level.
If the rogue has or acquires later levels in at least one arcane caster class, he can choose one of those clases and this talent has the additional effect of "+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class". If the rogue has class abilities granting "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" without having a spellcasting class, she chooses 1 arcane spell casting class in which he then has caster level 0 and then applies the level benfits from this talent and other sources. The rogue can still cast 0-level and 1st-level spells as indicated by this talent in addition to these benefits.
Examples: A wizard level 10 multiclassing 2 levels of rogue and choosing this talent, has spells per day and casts spells like a level 11 wizard including the usual slot in 6th-level spells. A rogue level 2 with this talents fulfills the spells requirements of arcane archer. If he acquires level 2 in arcane archer without acquiring any arcane casting class, she can choose any arcane casting class like sorcerer, wizard, witch, bard or any other arcane class and then the effect of this talent and arcane archer level 2 allows her to cast spells as a level 2 caster of that class.
Nimble Climber (Ex) and Rope Master (Ex)
1st Benefit: When a rogue with this talent fails a Climb check by 5 or more, she can immediately make another Climb check at the surface’s base DC. If successful, she stops her fall by clinging onto the surface. The rogue does not take falling damage when she stops her fall in this manner.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this ability can move at her normal speed when using rope on a Climb check and retains her bonus to dexterity and is treated in all other ways as if having a climb speed equal to her base speed while using a rope, can take 10 when using Acrobatics to move over narrow surfaces even when in danger or distracted or receives +5 if allowed to take 10 while distracted or endangered from another source, and gains a +10 bonus when determining the DC to escape bonds when she ties up a creature.
Obfuscate Story (Ex) and Steal the Story (Ex)
1st Benefit: While another individual attempts to give an account of an event, the rogue makes an opposed Diplomacy check to deftly interject comments or statements over the course of the storytelling that cause the individual to muddle his ability to recall accurate or specific details. If the rogue succeeds, her target remains unaware that the rogue's interjections caused the confusion. However, if she fails, the target is allowed a Sense Motive check (DC equal to the rogue's failed Diplomacy check) to figure out that she made deliberate attempts to confuse the story.
2nd Benefit: After muddling another's account using obfuscate story, the rogue may make another opposed Diplomacy check to alter the details further in order to discredit, insult, or humiliate the target. If the check succeeds, the target takes a penalty on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks and all Cha-based skills against anyone who heard the altered story and the rogue may attempt a bluff check to have the listeners be effected as per rogue talent convincing lie to believe for true a story of the rogues choosing. The penalty is equal to the sum of the positive values of the rogue's Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus, and lasts until the target is able to repair his reputation or discredit the rogue.
Offensive Defense (Ex) *
Benefit: When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, the rogue gains against this creature a +1 dodge bonus to AC for each sneak attack die rolled for one round.
Peerless Maneuver (Ex)
Benefit:Always, a rogue with this talent can roll two dice while making an Acrobatics check, and take the better result.
Positioning Attack (Ex)
Benefit: Once per combat, when a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack, she can move up to her speed without provoking attacks of opportunity. The movement must end in a space adjacent to the creature hit with the melee attack.
Powerful Sneak (Ex) *
Benefit: Whenever a rogue with this talent takes any attack action, she can elect to take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls until the start of her next turn. If an attack during this time is a sneak attack, the sneak attack deals +1 damage per sneak damage dice.
Quick Disguise (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can use the items at hand and seemingly innocuous material hidden on her person to create startlingly effective disguises, reducing the amount of time it takes to create a disguise using the Disguise skill. The time needed for the rogue to alter her appearance in this manner is based on the complexity of the disguise, as noted on the following table. The times are cumulative, so if a female rogue wants to disguise herself as a male of a different race, that takes 2 minutes. Always, a rogue with this talent can roll two dice while making an Disguise check, and take the better result.
Resiliency (Ex)
Benefit: Once per combat, a rogue with this ability can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the rogue's level. Activating this ability is an free action that can be taken outside the rogues turn even while the rogue is helpless or unconscious or magically or supernaturally hindered or controlled, but only when she is brought to below 0 hit points. This ability can be used to prevent her from dying. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. If the rogue's hit points drop below 0 due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.
If the rogue additionally has the advanced rogue talents Another Day and Defensive Roll, she may use resiliency once per round with the temporary hit points stacking and with the duration reset to 1 minute.
Rogue Crawl (Ex) and Stand Up (Ex)
1st Benefit: While prone, a rogue with this ability can move at half speed. This movement does not provokes attacks of opportunity. A rogue with this talent can take a 5-foot step while crawling which does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A rogue with this talent does not suffer penalties from being prone.
2nd Benefit: A rogue with this ability can stand up from a prone position as a free action. This does not provoke attacks of opportunity for standing up while threatened by a foe.
Sacred Sneak Attack (Su)
Prerequisites: Good alignment
Benefits: When making a sneak attack against an undead creature or evil outsider, the rogue's sneak attack damage is considered good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Normal weapon damage is unaffected for this attack. Also, the sneak attack deals +1 damage per sneak damage dice to undead creatures or evil outsiders.
Sacrifice Self (Ex)
Prerequisites: Evasion, improved evasion
Benefits: A rogue who is subject to an area effect requiring a reflex save can select after all reflex saves are rolled an adjacent ally who is also effected by the area effect. This ally may instead of being effected by the area effect as indicated by his roll choose to be affected as the rogue is effected, essentially using the rogues reflex save result and profiting from the rogues evasion and/or improved evasion ability as if they were his.
Slow Reactions (Ex)*
Benefit: Opponents damaged by the rogue's sneak attack can't make attacks of opportunity for 1 round.
Snap Shot (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent may treat her intitiative roll as a 2000 for a surprise round, regardless of her initiative, but she may only take an attack action with a ranged weapon. Her normal initiative roll is used in subsequent rounds. If two or more rogues possess this talent, their initiative determines the order in which they act, but they all go before any other creature with a lesser initiative as usual. If a rogue is prevented from acting in the surprise round, this talent has no effect.
Sniper’s Eye (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can apply her sneak attack damage on ranged attacks targeting foes within 30 feet that benefit from concealment or total concealment.
Stem the Flow (Su)
Benefits: When making a successful sneak attack against a creature with the ability to channel energy, the rogue may forgo 3d6 points of sneak attack damage to instead prevent the target from channeling energy for a number of rounds equal to half her rogue level. If the target is also able to cast divine spells, it must suceed on a will save vs 10 + 1/2 rogues level + her intelligence modifier or lose the ability to cast spells until the beginning of the rogues next turn.
Surprise Attack (Ex)
Benefit: At start of combat, opponents are always considered flat-footed to a rogue with this ability, until they act a second time.
Survivalist
Benefit: A rogue with this talent adds Heal and Survival to her list of class skills. She receives a +3 bonus on both skills.
Underhanded (Ex) *
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all Sleight of Hand checks made to conceal a weapon. Furthermore, if she makes a sneak attack during the surprise round using a concealed weapon that her opponent didn’t know about, she does not have to roll sneak attack damage, and the sneak attack deals maximum damage. A rogue can only use the underhanded talent in every suprise round. If having readied weapons concealable by sleight of hand checks at start of suprise round, the rogue rolls as if for a normal sleight of hand check (he does not make a sleight of hand check) at start of each surprise round and the opponents have to make perception checks. The rogue's roll sets the DC (modified for appropiate weapon properties) for opponents perception checks to know about the weapons. The rogue is aware which enemies are unaware about which of her weapons.
Opponents which fail to notice a rogue using stealth or being otherwise hidden are never aware about her readied weapons.
Wall Scramble (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent rolls twice when making Climb checks and takes the better of the two rolls.
advanced rogue talents:
Another Day (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Once per combat, when the rogue would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a melee attack, she can take a 5-foot step as an immediate action. If the movement takes her out of the reach of the attack, she takes no damage from the attack. The rogue is staggered for 1 round on her next turn.
If the rogue additionally has the talents Resiliency and the advanced rogue talent Defensive Roll, she takes a free action outside her turn instead of immediate action and is not staggered on her next turn and can act and move normally.
Confounding Blades (Ex) *
Prerequisites: Advanced talents
Benefit: When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee weapon that deals sneak attack damage, her target cannot make attacks of opportunity until the end of her next turn.
Crippling Strike (Ex)*
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: A rogue with this ability can sneak attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. An opponent damaged by one of her sneak attacks also takes 2 points of Strength damage.
Deadly Cocktail (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, Iron Guts, Lasting Poison (Ex) and Swift Poison (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can apply two doses of poison to a weapon at once, which increases the save DC of both poisons by +2 and doubles the number of successful attacks the poisons last. These can be separate poisons, in which case they both affect the target individually, or two doses of the same toxin, in which case the poisons’ frequency is extended by 50% and the save DC increases addtionally by +2. This talent is an exception to the rule that injury poisons can only be delivered one dose at a time.
Benefit: Whenever a rogue with this talent uses the powerful sneak rogue talent, she no longer suffers a penalty to her attack rolls and the sneak attack deals +2 damage per sneak damage dice instead of +1.
Defensive Roll (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: With this advanced talent, the rogue can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than she otherwise would. Once per combat, when she would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the rogue can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the rogue must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can't use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue's evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.
If the rogue additionally has the talents Resiliency and the advanced rogue talent Another Day, she suffers no damage on a successful defensive roll, and only half damage if the Reflex saving throw fails. Furthermore, if she has one or both these talents, she may always first see the result of the reflex save of this talent, before she has to decide whether to use the other talents.
Dispelling Attack (Su)*
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, major magic rogue talent
Benefit: Opponents that are dealt sneak attack damage by a rogue with this ability are affected by a targeted greater dispel magic, starting with the lowest level spells and proceeding to higher level spells.
Entanglement of Blades (Ex)*
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, the target cannot take a 5-foot step until the end of the rogue’s next turn.
Familiar (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, major magic talent, minor magic talent
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a familiar as the familiar option of the wizard’s arcane bond class feature. This ability functions exactly like that part of the class feature. Furthermore, as long as the familiar is alive, a rogue with this talent gains the ability to cast a 3rd-level spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list three times a day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability is equal to the rogue's level. The save DC for the 3rd-level spell is 13 + the rogue's Intelligence or charisma modifier (whichever is better). The 3rd-level spell is changed with the same action, which changes the spells of Minor Magic talent. And as long as the rogue has the alertness feat due to her familiar being near, 1 minute of concentration is sufficient instead of 1 hour and this also replenishes the daily uses of the spell like abilities from minor magic, major magic and familiar. A rogue can replenish this way her spell-like abilities from minor magic, major magic and familiar as often as she wants.
This ability also provides an additional "+2 level of existing arcane spellcasting class" as described under rogue talent minor magic. If the rogue has familiar from another source, she gains improved familiar. If she already has improved familiar, she gets any feat for which she qualifies.
Fast Tumble (Ex) and Improved Evasion (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
1st Benefit: When a rogue with this talent uses Acrobatics to move at full speed through a threatened square without provoking an attack of opportunity, the DC of the Acrobatics check does not increase by 10.
2nd Benefit: This works like evasion, except that while the rogue still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Frugal Trapsmith (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, Cunning Trigger (Ex) and Quick Trapsmith (Ex)
Benefit: When a rogue with this talent constructs any trap or sets any with quick trapsmith, she only pays 20% of the normal cost. She does not need to prepare the components in advance for quick trapsmith but can just substract a sufficient amount of money when she sets a trap.
Feat
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: A rogue may gain any feat that she qualifies for in place of a rogue talent. She can select this talent any number of times.
Getaway Master (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, getaway artist talent
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a additional +10 bonus on all drive checks, makes all drive and ride checks as free actions with both her hands free, can take her action during any point of the horse/carriages movement, gains any benefit of the movement on all actions/attacks and gains a additional +6 bonus on Fly, Handle Animal, and Ride.
Hard to Fool (Ex) and Slippery Mind (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
1st Benefit: A rogue with this talent is hard to fool with mind-affecting effects. At the start of her turn, if she is still subject to any mind-affecting spells or effects, she can make a Will saving throw with a standard DC for the effect’s level, and if she succeeds at the check, she is no longer subject to the mind-affecting effect. She can make this saving throw even against mind-affecting effects that normally don’t allow a saving throw. In those cases, generate the saving throw as if the spell or effect did allow a saving throw.
2nd Benefit: This ability represents the rogue's ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel her. If a rogue with slippery mind is affected by an enchantment spell or effect and fails her saving throw, she can attempt it again 1 round later at the same DC. She gets only this one extra chance to succeed on her saving throw.
Hide in Plain Sight (Ex), rogue level 14
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, Camouflage (Ex) and Terrain Mastery (Ex)
Benefit: While a rogue is within the terrain selected by terrain mastery, she can use the Stealth skill to hide, even while being observed. The bonuses from Camouflage and Terrain Mastery increase once more to +12 and +6.
Hunter’s Surprise (Ex), rogue level 14
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Once per combat, a rogue with this talent can designate a single enemy she is adjacent to as her prey. Until the end of her next turn, she can add her sneak attack damage to all attacks made against her prey, even if she is not flanking it or it is not flat-footed.
Knock-Out Blow (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Once per combat, the rogue can forgo her sneak attack damage to attempt to knock out an opponent. She must declare the use of knock-out blow before she makes the attack. If the attack hits, it does normal damage, but instead of dealing sneak attack damage (and instead of any effect that triggers when the rogue deals sneak attack damage), the target falls unconscious for 1d4 rounds. A successful Fortitude save reduces this effect to staggered for 1 round. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the rogue’s level + the rogue’s Intelligence modifier.
Benefit: A rogue with this talent gains a +10 bonus on all Disguise checks and can disguise herself or adjacent willing creatures as swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If a disguised creature is in melee combat with the creature it is disguised as, any enemies of the rogue failing their respective perception checks opposed can no longer tell whom is whom and any of their attacks has a equal chance to hit one of them even if one is outside their range. Furthermore, the disguised creature can use this uncertainty in any way, e.g. trying to convince the enemies that the target creature is the fake. If the rogue is disguised herself she can make any appropiate bluff or diplomacy checks as free actions. If the two creatures disengage from melee, the enemies are still without clue who is who. Allies in combat are usually at least Friends or associates, so normally receive at least a +6 bonus on their perception.
Opportunist (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Once per round, the rogue can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as an attack of opportunity for that round. Even a rogue with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.
Redirect Attack (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Once per combat, when a rogue with this talent is hit with a melee attack, she can redirect the attack to strike at an adjacent creature with a free action. The creature targeted must be within melee reach of the attack that hit the rogue, and the creature that made the attack against the rogue must make a new attack roll against the new target.
Rumormonger (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, Convincing Lie (Ex) and False Friend (Ex), Obfuscate Story (Ex) and Steal the Story (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can attempt to spread a rumor through a small town or larger settlement by making a Bluff check. She can do so once per day. The DC is based on the size of the settlement, and it takes a week for the rumor to propagate through the settlement. If the check succeeds, the rumor is practically accepted as fact within the community; succeeding by 5 or more over the DC decreases the time it takes the rumor to propagate by 1d4 days. 2d6 days after the rumor has propagated, the local authorities will at latest react in a way appropiate to the fact (certain rumors, e.g. enemy army advancing towards community could cause earlier reactions). If the rogue succeded by 5 or more, the reaction takes only 1d6 days and the authorities take one appropiate action according to the rogue's choosing. This reaction must be a reasonable reaction of authorities in respect to the rumor. The rogues choice does not keep the authorities from also acting in plausible ways not selected by the rogue and alter any policies later. The rogue can benefit from this with advantages worth the settlements base limits, though only once per month. A failed check means the rumor failed to gain traction, while failing by 5 or more causes the opposite of the rumor or some other competing theory involving the rumor’s subject to take hold. Authorities will only get suspicious about someone manipulating them if the rogue fails the check by 10 or more. Otherwise it appears as if authorities are just driven by plausible rumors and facts to act as they act. If the rogue spreads contradicting rumors and suceeds with the normal above described checks, the contradicting rumors are both accepted as fact within the community and by the authorities (which might then act in contradicting ways) until public undeniable evidence arises which shows they are not true or at least not true at the same time.
Any rogue staying 20 days in a month in a settlement may through these talent and with an DC increased by 5 act as a hidden quasi ruler of the settlement, though only in control of major decisions and not day to day decisions. The above limit for benefit is doubled and just by succeding with the checks she can claim it as monthly income. Even a lawful and/or good rogue may profit this way without contradicting his philosophical stance or losing any benefits tied to alignment.
Skill Mastery
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: The rogue becomes so confident in the use of skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions. When making a skill check with any skill, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions or any other condition would normally prevent her from doing so.
Stealthy Sniper (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, fast stealth (Ex)
Benefit: When a rogue with this talent uses the Stealth skill to snipe, she only suffers a –10 penalty on the Stealth check, instead of –20. If she additionally has the improved sniping feat, she takes no penalty on the Stealth check and can make stealth checks vs creatures she attacks with melee attacks with -20.
Thoughtful Reexamining (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents
Benefit: Always, the rogue can roll two dice while making a Perception or a Knowledge check.
Unwitting Ally (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, rogue level 14
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can spend a swift action to attempt to make an opponent act like an ally for purposes of providing a flank until the beginning of the rogue’s next turn. The opponent must be able to hear and see the rogue, and the rogue must succeed at a Bluff check opposed by the opponent’s Sense Motive. If the check succeeds, the opponent acts as an ally for the purpose of providing a flank.
Weapon Snatcher (Ex)
Prerequisite: Advanced talents, Deft Palm (Ex) and Fast Getaway (Ex)
Benefit: A rogue with this talent can make a Sleight of Hand check in place of a combat maneuver check when attempting to disarm an opponent or to steal from an opponent. She can use the same check result for hiding the weapon or object as a free action. She receives any benefit and bonus from feats effecting disarm or steal combat maneuvers and the benefits from deft palm and fast getaway also apply. Furthermore, she may make one disarm or steal maneuever this way any time during her turn as a free action though without benefiting from fast getaway for this free maneuver.
Anyone else thinking that the rogue disadvantage can be made up by simply making rogue talents good?
And are these good enough or too good?
(Im a bit worried about getaaway master)
Before critizing them being too good, remember that rolling twice is about as good as +5, so its about as good as skill focus. Many original rogue talents are circumstantial +2-4 bonuses, while skill focus is permanent +3 or +6.
There are items which give bonuses on ability scores, which improves everything tied to the ability, e.g. saves, skills and stat checks with the ability (e.g. strength check to break door)
There are items giving bonuses to any desired skill check or save, but i did not find an item that gives a bonus an all stat checks of a specific ability score (e.g. item giving bonus to all strength checks, not just breaking doors).
There are some that give bonus for specific stat checks (e.g. break in door gets probably bonus from some items), but if rules/GM calls just for an unnamed stat check, it seems only stat boosting items help. Are there any bonus to stat check items?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/punishing-kick-combat
"On a successful hit, the attack deals damage normally and you can choose to push your target 5 feet or attempt to knock them prone. If you decide to push the target, it is moved 5 feet directly away from you. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and the target must end this move in a safe space it can stand in. If you decide to attempt to knock the target prone, the target receives a Fortitude saving throw with a DC of 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Wisdom modifier to avoid the effect. "
This attack doesnt use trip, instead its save or direct prone.
I read scanned over some older 100-150 post threads about prone snakes and oozes and there was no consensus. Is there consensus so far?
What happens if a snake or ooze is attacked with punishing kick?
Per magic item rules any slot item can have the properties of another slot item added for 50% cost increase. Whats RAW and RAI is someone with a +2 AOMF wants to enchanct it with a agile flaming AOMF?
Cost would be 16 GP + 24 GP and the effects stack nicely. Of course it would be cheating an effective + 4 AOMF for just 40 K instead of 64 K. But rules seem to allow this.
Is one always considered to have a free hand outside attacks when wielding a twohanded weapon, because its free action to grip with one or two hands?
e.g. full attack action, make 1 attack with 2 hands at weapon, then for AOO triggered for whatever reason one uses free action to have one hand free for example for crane style, then free action to grip with two hands again to make additional attacks.
Rule would be, that any template, that a humanoid creature can acquire, can be gotten, by simply using a number of levels equal to the X in CR+X with the addition that 3 CR+0 are x=1.
E.g. you are human fighter level 3 and gain level up and instead of picking 4th fighter level you pick advanced creature simple template, to become an advanced human fighter level 3 with effective level 4.
Then, when hitting char level 5, instead of picking fighter lev 4, you are patient and when you get char level 6, you turn into an advanced half-gold dragon human fighter level 3 with char level 6.
Has anyone compiled a dps table for various levels and builds, so one can with a quick glance realize how horrible the own creation sucks?
And is fighter and/or barb the best dps class, when it comes to unbuffed DPS, so enganging in a combat without any forewarning?
(fighter is naturally good, because his stuff always works and barb can activate with a swift action, many builds i see seem to assume 1-4 rounds preparation prior battle)
And is fighter the best dps class for long adventuring, so 10 combats or so?
(barb for example would run out of rage, figher only needs to be healed, restored or resurected in between and repair his weapon)
Scorpion whip:
"Benefit: It deals lethal damage, even to creatures with armor bonuses. If you are proficient with whips, you can use a scorpion whip as a whip.
Weapon Feature(s): performance (plus disarm, reach, and trip if you are proficient with whip.)"
So lets assume one has weapon focus whip, weapon spec whip and all whip mastery feats, proficiency in whip and in scorpion whip.
When whielding a whip char does BAB+str+1 to hit, 1d3+2+str to dam, has reach 15ft and threatens 10ft and has a weapon with the disarm and trip qualities.
When he picks up the scorpion whip he can "use" the "scorpion whip as a whip", which would mean identical stats. Or does it mean he can use all the goodies he has with whips, but gets 1d4 dam instead of 1d3 and performance weapon quality.
And what is the situation if he is proficient with whip but not with scorpion whip?
(i confirmed that my prf version of advanced player guide has same wording)
"Grand Mutagen (Ex): This mutagen is identical to the alchemist discovery of the same name and counts as that discovery for the purpose of qualifying for other discoveries or advanced mutagens. The character must have an effective alchemist level (alchemist level plus master chymist levels) of at least 16 and must have the feral mutagen discovery or advanced mutagen to select this ability.
Greater Mutagen (Ex): This mutagen is identical to the alchemist discovery of the same name and counts as that discovery for the purpose of qualifying for other discoveries or advanced mutagens. The character must have an effective alchemist level (alchemist level plus chymist level) of at least 12 and must have the feral mutagen discovery or advanced mutagen to select this ability."
Per wording Grand Mutagen can be taken without having greater mutagen. I guess typo?
"The master chymist selects an advanced mutagen, a power that changes how her mutagen form works or can only be accessed in her mutagenic form. "
"Nimble (Ex): The master chymist’s lithe physical frame gives her an alchemical bonus on all Dexterity checks, Dexterity skill checks, and CMD, and a natural armor bonus to her Armor Class. The bonus is equal to half the master chymist’s class level."
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/alchemist#TOC-Mutagen-Su-
"Upon being imbibed, the mutagen causes the alchemist to grow bulkier and more bestial, granting him a +2 natural armor bonus and a +4 alchemical bonus to the selected ability score for 10 minutes per alchemist level."
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/glossary#TOC-Natural-Armor-Bo nus
"A natural armor bonus improves Armor Class resulting from a creature's naturally tough hide. Natural armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to Armor Class (even with armor bonuses) except other natural armor bonuses. Some magical effects (such as the barkskin spell) grant an enhancement bonus to the creature's existing natural armor bonus, which has the effect of increasing the natural armor's overall bonus to Armor Class. A natural armor bonus doesn't apply against touch attacks."
=> nimbles natural armor bonus might be totally wasted, as it does not stack with natural armor bonus from mutagen (max nimble bonus +5, mutagen bonus +2, +4 or +6 depending on mutagen). Intended?
Checking out the race build rules for the first time, i realized that crap like +4 stealth cost the same as +2 to any ability score, which is at least as good as +1 stealth, + 1 dodge ac and lots of other stuff.
It seems, if i ever went to build an optimized race with 10 RP, i would never get anything near the standard races.
While checking out various best animal companion threads, i noticed some threads with people suggesting that T-rex, Roc and big cat are good for ranger.
So far i thought ranger is limited to what is marked with 1 on that list:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions#TOC-An imal-Choices
except for the beastmaster archetype.
But rereading the ranger description:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger#TOC-Hunter-s-Bond-Ex-
"This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability (which is part of the Nature Bond class feature), except that the ranger's effective druid level is equal to his ranger level –3."
it does not seem to be restricted.
Beastmaster archetype on the other hand says:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger/archetypes/paizo---rang er-archetypes/beastmaster
"Unlike a normal Ranger, a beast master’s choice of animal companion is not limited to a subset of all possibile animal companion choices—he may choose freely among all animal companion choices, just as a druid can."
So is standard ranger choice limited or not?
(And does anyone disagree that of limited list wolf is the best, unless one needs a mount?)
An example, rogue talent, offensive defense
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/rogue-talents/paizo---ro gue-talents/offensive-defense-ex
gives +1 AC dogde bonus (dodge bonuses in principle stack) per sneak attack die for 1 round. So a lev 20 rogue with 6 attacks from two weapons, hitting all and sneaking all, has +10 AC for 1 round or + 60 AC?
Since rogue is rather weak and the rogue player isnt optimizer anyway, i was thinking about boosting rogue, also because in part his scout role will be in competetion from the ranger.
Just have no good idea what is enough and what is too much.
So question, how much has the rogue class to be boosted to make it on par with other?
I had 4 options in mind, all rather simple, which is preferable:
1.rogue gets full bab and d10
2.rogue gets every 4th level a bonus rogue talent (for total of 5 till lev 20), can select all talents with x uses/time twice for double uses, can select all talents "selectable only once" twice (e.g. combat trick), can apply two rogue talents with * to each sneak attack
3. same as 2, except every 3rd level bonus talent, can select limited use or only once selectable talents 3 times and apply 3 talents with * to sneak
4. same as 2 except every 2nd level bonus talent, can select limited use or only once selectable talents 4 times and apply 4 talents with * to sneak
I so far thought that lay on hands and weapon + large shield does not work due to no hand being free.
But looking at the iconic palading:
http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/iconic-characters/seelah---iconic-paladi n/seelah-iconic-paladin-7
it seems paizo does not mind, she uses a sword and a large shield, which normally would be a bad idea for paladin (and its not in-game out-game knowledge, golarion paladins must since long have realized, that with small shield they can use lay on hands with large they cant). So has there been some clarification, amendment or anything official?
I cannot make much of the prestige class. As a dip or so, it could benice - lev 2 skill, darkvision, hide in plain sight near shadows, uncanny dodge, lev 3 shadow companion whose stats improve with any class.
But going the full 10 levels, it never realy adds up.
-Theme wise
Shadowdancer is the stealthy guy hanging around in shadows. He is no one to stand comfortable in full spot light. Yet to make use of his spell like abilities (which he gest 6 castings per day at lev 10), he needs cha to be of any use. With high skills then party face. Doesnt add up with avoiding spot light.
-Mechanics
3 out of 4 lighting conditions bad for shadowdancer, removing 3 good class abilities. Furthermore the ideal lighting condition is one, for which party fondness might be limited. Capsone ability light dependent
-Classing
Its meant for rogue. But what does a rogue need? Neither the class skills, nor the skill points (has more himself). And certainly doesnt need to lose 1 BAB and 5 dice of sneak. As shadow jump is standard action the use to improve positioning is limited. One can also walk 60 ft in one round without losing sneak damage. Furthermore advanced talents would be difficult to get.
Other classes do not realy add up? Which cha liking class could go shadowdancer?
The best idea in my mind is a paladin/shadowdancer but somehow thats theme wise a bit straining.
Suggestions what to make of the shadowdancer, when not only dipping?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/intimidate
"Try Again
You can attempt to intimidate an opponent again, but each additional check increases the DC by +5. This increase resets after one hour has passed."
Does this refer only to the influence attitude use or also to demoralize?
I understood the later to be something repeatable without penalty due to "Using demoralize on the same creature only extends the duration; it does not create a stronger fear condition." and "Demoralizing an opponent is a standard action.", which fit to a repeated use of the ability, which would be pointless if each time DC increased by 5.
Master combat performance seems to allow several performance combat checks per round or even in one action.
E.g. charge, critical hit with flaming burst weapon, downing foe would with performance combat checks look like:
Charge, if hit -> performance combat check with effects, then critical hit check if it was a threat-> performance combat check if crit confirmed, then performance combat check due to flaming burst (flashy effect), then Hp deducted, if enemy below 0-> performance combat check.
At least this eems to be RAW. Did i miss something?
Party with a gunslinger and a wizard dive to some undergroung location, protect themselves and equipment with some spells. (There are some, do not care too look them up).
Enemy casts dispel magic, protection spells get dispelled. Gunslinger and wizard start to drown, but can hold breath for some rounds, so defeat enemy lets say 3 rounds later and recast whatever keeps them alive. What damage is in the 3 rounds of full immersion in water without protection done to their equipment?
"Realistically" powder and spell book need to dried before they can be used and7or to avoid furhter damage. (especially wet book is in danger of being damaged accidentally).
But i cannot find any RAW mechanism.
Item damage normally seems only to happen after sunder attack or natural 1 saves due to energy attack, which neither happened.
Furthermore some time later they battle near a laval lake. Evil guys dispel fire protection and bull rush wizard and gunslinger into lava.
They climb out 1 round later.
They receive 20d6 dam in that round. As they do not make asave throw with natural 1 and as the lava lake does not sunder, they afterwards look per RAW (assuming level 10 or so) mostly like Anakin/Darth at the end of Star Wars 3, but their clothing, their backpack and most importantly their spell book and powder are completely undamaged.
Summoned creatures simply pop away to from where they were called. What happens to their lost equipment, lost body parts or other things that get separated from their body?
It should not vanish, otherwise poison from summoned creatures would stop dealing damage at moment of the summoned creature vanishing. But that would mean that for example weapons of summoned demons should remain also if for example dropped. Same for spilled blood.
If i read the rules correctly the longbow of a reduced grig (making it a diminuitive creature) and the longbow enlarged titan (making it colossal) is exactly the same 100' or 110'?(ignoring for the moment whether enlarge reduce spells are avaible for them)
And their daggers have also both range 10'? (meaning the colossal titan has little reason to throw a dagger if target is in first three range increments)
I just realized the penalty for using a too large weapon is just -2 and not -4 as i thought.
That means that a colossal greatsword can be wielded with just -8.
On the other hand a colossal greatsword does
2d6->3d6->3d8->6d6->6d8 dam.
Or in other words for -8 to hit a +20 dam. Thats not bad, considering it doesnt cost feats. For a d8 and a d10 weapon its also ok, its +16.5 or +21.5 dam And for titan mauler its must have, as he has at high level just -2 with a colossal greatsword.
A slight disadvantage is carrying capacity, such a great sowrd weighs
8->16->32->64->128 lbs. But thats acceptable with str 16 and heavy armor (230 lbs limit) or str 18 and medium armor (200 lbs limit), which is normal str for meele chars early.
Price is of course also not optimal, its
50gp->100gp->200gp->400gp->800gp, but fortunately masterwork and magic do not get multiplied.
Furthermore the nice thing is, you can be satisfied with less. E.g. a gargantuan greatsword is 6d6 dam, so +14 for -6, if the colossal does look like you have size problems.
Of course a must have is this stuff for the class that doesnt mind to-hit.
A gargantuan musket would weigh 72 lbs, so fine with a 1500 gold slot free mules cord (gunslinger must have light encumberance, so colossal a bit problematic) and deal 1d12->3d6->3d8->6d6 dam, so +14.5 dam for just -6, which is wonderful for gunslinger. Even more important, a cololssal dragon pistol (weighing just 44) would deal 1d6->1d8->2d6->3d6->3d8 dam, so +10 dam for a weapon for which precision damage and deadly aim do not work.
So why i saw so seldom in any guide or char description "Oh and i of course use a collosal/gargantuan/huge/large weapon"?
Let me guess, its those GMs who cannot stomach that there is no rule regarding what weapon weight one can handle with a given strength?
Or did they notice the slightly hidden rule that a two handed weapon has a size category equal to the intended wielder? (spoiling the fun of dungeon crawl with a colossal greatsword)
According to firearm table a musket has 40 ft range increment, a pistol 20 ft and a double pistol has as well 20 ft. The later is insofar logical as a double pistol is nothing but two pistol barrels next to one another and the reduced accuuracy from double firing is taken care of with -4.
According to firearm table, the double musket, which is nothing but two musket barrels and suffers -4 double firing like the double pistol has just 10 ft range.
Is there any reason behind this or might it be just a typo?
If, its a relevant typo as it drastically reduces the effectiveness of the musket master archetype compared to the pistolero archetype.
Edit:
furthermore the range of blunderbuss is special, while dragon pistol, which seems just the pistol version of a blunderbuss from weapon description has 20 ft. What range does blunderbuss has, when firing normal bullets instead of scatter?
"Of course, a character may carry or possess as many items of the same type as he wishes. However, additional items beyond those in the slots listed above have no effect."
The rules seem to imply that a PCcan wear more than two rings on his hands (not unrealistic), but magical rings beyond 2 have no effect.
So a PC dons a ring of protection, a minor ring of spell storing and then attempts to slip a ring of invisibility over one of the free fingers. What happens? Game effects?
Assuming the result is something like "2 rings active, 3rd and last doned ring non active" could the wearer spend a move action to dislodge 2nd ring, make use of 3rd ring, then spend a move action to don 2nd ring again (meaning no 1st and 3rd occupying slots, with 2nd dormant) and at later time swap rings again with 2 move actions?
Or would it be another kind of action?
What happens if one ring has spell effect with a defined duration (as i assume invis ring has)? Is the spell ended by putting another ring in the slot?
In some thread someone mentioned ahorizon walker build that is supposed to be good.
Looking at the horizon walker i cannot see it:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/horizon-wa lker
He is cool vs natives, but slaughtering the inhabitants of some place is quite limited adventuring approach as many encounters are with non-natives.
THe native slaughter approach would be 6 level rangers with some archtype losing favored enemy but not losing favored terrain. Then all added terrain bonuses in the same terrain. Then getting hands on either constant terrain bond spell item or a level 20 staff of the same preferably with extended duration and some low level recharge spell and whenever the horizon walker enters a new territory, he can massaker its natives with permanent +20 dam, to hit and stealth and +40 perception.
Should be pretty cool when clearing some demon plane (all natives there).
But i guess this thing is a bit too much cheese to be intended. So what does the good build look like?
Just having realized that the ring of invis is not the cool thing (slip it over finger, hooray invisible till attack) but some lousy copy (standard action with a word spoken to activate and then it last 3 mins), i am curious why its magic item prize is nearly double from what is expected from normal guidelines (guidelines suggest for such item 10800, book price 20 K).
Anyone knowing a reason?
It realy hurts many observation activities to speak a word every 3 mins and for a combat buff (one action to get bonus on one attack) its bad. Only when prepairing ambush and fleeing its useful, but i cannot see the justification for double prize.
Is it because accidentally many groups use it as the cool thing (because cool rings of invis are prominent in fantasy literature while speak every few minutes a word are absent) and therefore its safer to prize it close to the cool thing?(which would have a price of 24 K GP)
Assuming a PC wants to custom make some item, he has the feats, he has the level, he has the prerequisites or has enough skill to replace those, that can be taken care of with increased DC.
Further assuming the custom made item is so close to what is named in the formulas for item creation, that those formulas obviously and undoubtedly suggest a certain price.
Further assuming the GM is not that happy about the item idea, because he has some worries about game balance or story problems, is/are there and what is the foundation in/conditions according to RAW that allows him to modify item costs/requirements or plainly forbid the item?
Or is his only choice then GM fiat, if the item threatens game balance/story?
To give examples for items, that might cause problems:
Ring of constant greater invisibility 4*9*2000 GP= 72000 GP. A lot of encounters with opponents lacking true sight could be disrupted seriously.
Use activated whetstone with greater magic weapon level 20 3*20*2000 = 120000 GP. (Provides several hundred people with +5 weapons practically all day by walking past in the morning for 1 hour).
Staff CL 20 of detect magic with 10 charges cost per use 20*400*0.5/10=400 GP (acts as +5 staff for staff magus)
Costly cleric scrolls, e.g. resurection raise dead restoratzion, created or simply bought with razmiran priest archetype sorceror lev9+ in party (can activate scrolls without material expenses).
Constant giant form I ring troll made for the level 18+ summoner of the group, costs 13*7*2000 = 188000, summoner can get immunity to acid and fire from greater aspect, potentially difficult to kill then
Now obviously a clever GM can accustom for any real or preceived exploitor advantage, but if a GM wants to keep the player from creating/buying/having such items, what options give the rules him besides GM fiat?
Whenever i stumble across the seugathi in bestiary 2, i ask myself how it can be a CR6 monster:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/seugathi
Its stats lie well within CR6, except for one thing:
"Any sane being within 30 feet of a conscious seugathi must make a DC 20 Will save each round or become confused for 1 round. A creature that fails 5 saves in a row becomes permanently insane, as per the insanity spell. A seugathi can suppress or activate this aura as a free action. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC is Charisma-based."
Thats not a "just close your eyes" gaze or a "once affected cannot be affected again for 24 hours", it rolling every round and DC 20 will is pretty serious for level 6.
Furthermore:
"As an immediate action, a seugathi can issue a telepathic command to a confused creature within 30 feet. This allows the seugathi to pick a result from the confusion behavior table, rather than the confused creature rolling randomly for its actions that round."
So the party, at least if its within 30 ft, at least two people constantly somewhat "disabled", as 1 or 2 are confused and 1 confused will attack another.
And then the seugathi can cast mind fog, with combined with madness aura is a save or suck spell at will 19. Or it can just throw confusion at will 18.
The greatest danger arises, if a confusion last several rounds, as then the confused char will attack the one who attacked him last round. That could cause the party killing themselve with the seugathi watching and enjoying.
Whenever i try to think up a scenario where any lev 6 kicks in a door and finds a seugathi, it seems they are in deep trouble with a realistic chance of TPK, although for a lev 6 party a CR 6 monster should not be that dangerous. As a challenging encounter for example for a lev 4 party, its TPK.
"At 10th level, a staff magus treats any magical staff he is wielding as a magical quarterstaff with an enhancement bonus to attack and damage equal to the staff’s caster level divided by 4 (minimum +1). The staff must have at least 1 charge for the magus to use this ability."
"The materials cost is subsumed in the cost of creation: 400 gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (300 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster), plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities (200 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster). Staves are always fully charged (10 charges) when created.
If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at less than the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell drains additional charges from the staff. Divide the cost of the spell by the number of charges it consumes to determine its final price. Note that this does not change the order in which the spells are priced (the highest level spell is still priced first, even if it requires more than one charge to activate). The caster level of all spells in a staff must be the same, and no staff can have a caster level of less than 8th, even if all the spells in the staff are low-level spells."
"Base Value and Purchase Limit: This section lists the community's base value for available magic items in gp (see Table: Available Magic Items). There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort."
"Small city 4,000 gp"
So a lev 10 staff magus has a 75% chance to without effort buy in a small city the following staff:
Shield (3 charges) Caster Level 20
for 2667 GP and that staff would serve him as a +5 staff (also giving him +5 shield AC due to other staff magus ability)?
(I know, the idea about staff magus is having access to some cool spells via staff, but if one is small on cash and needs just something to hit hard a +5 weapon for 2667 GP sounds like a deal.)
I mussed about using poison and there are 2 probs i always saw:
-buying too expensive
-creating taking too long and still expensive at least for useful poisons
but with that feat:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/master-alchemist
and with that line of craft rules:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/craft
"3.Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost."
, which i somehow missed (i thought its half raw material costs) all problems vanish:
a lev 6 alchimist has alchemy 6 ranks + 6 compentence bonus from class ability + 3 class skill + 3 int for +18.
He crafts giant wasp poison, spending 70 gp per dose, dc 18.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/poison
He takes 10 (no risk process, as no accidental posioning possible), so creates 28*28 (he increases DC by 10 for more creation speed) = 784 GP of wasp poison per skill check (master alchimist allows GP to count as SP for poison creation). So he takes just third of a week of work for 1 dose, halfed again for lev 3 class ability, so 1/6 of a week and he creates 3 poisons per check, so 18 doses per week of work.
That costs him 1260 GP, but the 18 doses sell as loot for 1890 GP. To keep the GM from grumbling about abusing rules to unbalance wealth to level relation, he sells 12 doses and keeps 6 for using.
Due to sticky poison discovery and swift poisoning he now has 6 times 3 attacks with DC 18 poison for free use, for no cost, just a week of work. He has to spend 2 feats/discoveries for achieving this.
At lev 10 he might to be able to convince the GM, that he can do this during normal adventuring, as mummification (2 feats) makes him immune to sleep, so he should be awake all night. He then should have an ample supply of wasp poison (or less from worse stuff if he wants) for free.
(And GM grumbling will increase seriously at lev 18, when the alchi takes a full round action to create 6to8 doses of poison, supplying him with hundreds of doses per day of work, assuming he can sell 2/3 as loot, which might be difficult with thousands of doses of dragon bile).
According to some, power gamers tend to have an too easy walk through an AP, as an AP assumes less than optimized chars.
If that is true, would a simple solution for such a GM be to apply advanced creature template to all creatures without awarding more XP or gold?
It would require at least practically no work and might up things just nicely for a powergaming party of 4. Though what worries me, if there are some encounters, which that way simply turn into TPK. Specifically the final showdowns e.g. end of AP 4 of carrion crown could be too much that way even for overpowered partys.
He gets due to extra class levels (CR4 monsters allow 2 extra levels, costing effictively 2 levels) 18 levels of summoner and hits greater aspect. Uses 2 points for fire and 2 points for acid immunity.
Rest pretty irrelevant, as undispellable regeneration and decent str scores will lead to quite useful char.
I checked it several times and did not find any rule forbidding immunity for a vulnerability. At level 12 he can already get fire immunity and will use spells to get acid resistance. Then already useful against non acid monsters.
Edit:
With monster PCs one is allowed normal point buy, so with 25 pt buy, ice troll starting stats are, assuming str+8, dex +8, con +6, int-2 and cha-4:
Str 22, Dex 20, Con 19, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12
1 increase in con, all others in cha + cha boost item -> access to all summoner spell levels, but sucking spell dc, but he is about boosting and summoning anyway.
I am interested to see powergaming chars, that break the game. 15 pt build, only races officially named as PC-races. Anyone having links to some?
Preferably around lev 5-15.
Its just that all PG-Chars i can think of have some serious weakness. In situations where the weakness does not matter, they are great, in situations where it matters, the rest of the party must save the day.
16 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ.
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I noticed that some abilities that are linked to critical hits have the wording "scoring a critical hit", while others have "confirming a critical hit".
Examples for the first:
all critical feats, magus arcana critical strike, shadow dancer lev 10 ability
Examples for the later:
Lev 10 abilities duelist, eldritch knight, lev 20 ability cavalier
The difference is of course about creatures with some or total resistance/immunity against crits.
At least with fortification the procedure is following:
Attack role-> if threat range make confirmation role-> fortification role
That effectively means that fortification does not prevent the critical from being confirmed. This is also visible from the lev 9 samurai ability:
" After a critical hit is confirmed against him, the samurai can spend one use of his resolve as an immediate action to treat that critical hit as a normal hit."
So with such critical damage avoidance abilities, the critical hit nonetheless is first confirmed, which should trigger abilities that trigger upon confirmation of a critical.
The effects of the confirmation due to duelist, eldritch knight and cavalier abilites also seem to be in addition to the effect of the critical. e.g. eldritch knight:
"he can cast a spell as a swift action. The spell must include the target of the attack as one of its targets or in its area of effect."
Its obviously not part of the critical strike damage, if one cast a spell with its effect being applied independently to the attack.
Question now of course is what about critical immunity. Are threats vs critical immune creatures confirmed or not confirmed?
Rules seem to indicate (from fragile armor description):
"Armor with the fragile quality falls apart when hit with heavy blows. If an attacker hits a creature wearing fragile armor with an attack roll of a natural 20 and confirms the critical hit (even if the creature is immune to critical hits), the armor gains the broken condition."
So critical hits can be confirmed even against critical immune creatures. Those critical immune creatures then of course ignore the crit dam and the effects from scoring a critical hit. But i cannot see a rule why they should be able to ignore the effects from confirming a critical hit.
So a lev 10 duelist wielding a scimitar (what else? feat dervish dance) with double threat range has a decent chance to reduce an adamant golems or a banshees speed by 10 feet, give him -4 to AC and/or -4 to all saves. (Bleed and ability dam do not work vs golem as far as i know.)
Correct?
Or is there any reason to ignore the difference between scoring and confirming a critical with abilites?
Its just interesting, because this would turn a high level duelist in my eyes into the most nasty close combat char, as he provides nasty debuffs to anything, as nothing is immune vs -4 to AC or saves and using a 15-20 threat range he is rather likely to succeed.
What i dislike about the ranger is that he is so much in need of real life augury. He selects favored enemies and favored terrain, but if he makes the wrong choices its mostly wasted abilities.
Even more difficult its for GM, when designing NPCs. E.g. my player party is made of 3 humans and 1 halfling and be ambushed in a forest by my pack of level 5 rangers. Lets design them. Well, favored enemy +4 human, + 2 halfling, favored terrain +2 forst sounds good. But from their storyline they should have +4 vs abberations, +2 vs elfs and +2 in grassland, though then they are far too easy.
At higher level it gets worse, if you level 20 ranger anticipated at level 5 what the big boss will be, he coulld have +10 to hit and dam vs him or +0 if he made the wrong choices. Same vs party.
Some archetypes do away with favored enemies or favored terrain, but first there are only 3 and some might not fit to what the player wants.
Any solutions?
The one i brewed up today is the following:
Adaptive Range archetype
An adaptive ranger is not set towards certain foes and terrains like normal rangers. Instead his great experience of travelling and fighting many different creatures and terrains allows him to focus on the imminent challenges by quietly concentrating and recalling the important knowledge from his varied experience.
(The adaptive ranger archetype is meant to be combinable with any other archetpye.)
Adaptive favored enemy:
Beginning at level 1 a ranger can spend 1 hour per day in quiet meditation to change his selection of favored enemies.
All his bonuses regarding favored enemies are halfed, rounded up.
This also includes bonuses other ranger abilities can bestow on the ranger or others, if the use of these abilities is tied to favored enemies.(e.g. hunter bond bonuses for companions) But this effects only bonuses. (e.g. master hunter ability is unaffected)
If the ranger can also prepare spells or has any other ability that requires a daily preparation similar to spells, this daily preparation counts as the 1 hour of meditation to change the selection of favored enemies.
The selection remains set until the ranger spends again 1 hour in quiet meditation.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy, when changing his selection of favored enemies. In addition, at each such interval, the ranger can allocate every time he chooses a new selection up to +1 / 5 levels of additional bonus (e.g. at 5th level the ranger can increase the bonus against one enemy to +2, having after selection one favored enemy with +2 and one with +1. Ee.g. at 10th level he can choose +3/+1/+1 or +2/+2/+1 as bonuses vs his selected favored enemies).
This choice also remains set until the rangers spends again 1 our in quiet meditation.
The ranger can change his choice of favored enemies at most once per day. The new selection may also be in parts or completely identical to the previous one. (Clarification rules, this already in principle follows from the previous.)
(For an archetpye that replaces favored enemies, this ability also allows changing any permanent choices of the replacement ability and the bonuses dependent on the choice are halfed, rounded up. If no bonuses, number of uses, duration or exactly one other relevant characteristic by GMs choice is halfed, rounded up.
Any effects of the replacement ability that force no permanent choice on the ranger are unaffected.
If the replacement ability does not force any permenent choice, the replacement ability the replacement ability replaces adaptive favored enemy.
If an archetpye replaces some favored enemy choices, adaptive favored enemy has also as normal favored enemy these improvements of the ability - namely more favored enemies and additional allocatable bonuses - replaced.)
Adaptivce favored terrain
Beginning at level 3 the ranger can can spend 1 hour per day in quiet meditation to change his selection of favored terrains.
All his bonuses regarding favored terrain are halfed, rounded up. This also includes bonuses other ranger abilities can bestow on the ranger or others, if the use of these abilities is tied to favored terrain (e.g. terrain bond bonuses are halfed). But this effects only bonuses.
If the ranger can also prepare spells or has any other ability that requires a daily preparation similar to spells, this daily preparation counts as the hour of quiet meditation to change the selection of favored terrains.
If the ranger also has adaptive favored enemy, he has to make any new selection simultaneously.
The choice remains set until the ranger again changes his selection of favored terrains and/or enemies.
At 8th level and every five levels thereafter (13th, 18th), the ranger may select an additional favored terrain, when changing his selection of favored terrains and/or enemies. In addition, at each such interval, the ranger can allocate every time he chooses a new selection up to +1 / 5 levels after 3rd of additional bonus (e.g. at 8th level the ranger can increase the bonus in one terrain to +2, having after selection one favored terrain with +2 and one with +1. Ee.g. at 13th level he can choose +3/+1/+1 or +2/+2/+1 as bonuses in his selected favored terrains).
This choice also remains set until the rangers spends again changes his selection of favored terrains and/or enemies.
(For an archetpye that replaces favored terrains, this ability also allows changing any permanent choices of the replacement ability and the bonuses dependent on the choice are halfed, rounded up. If no bonuses, number of uses, duration - e.g. infiltrators replacement ability - or exactly one other relevant characteristic by GMs choice is halfed, rounded up.
Any effects of the replacement ability that force no permanent choice on the ranger are unaffected.
If the replacement ability does not force any permenent choice, the replacement ability replaces adaptive favored terrain.
If an archetpye replaces some favored terrain choices, adaptive favored enemy has also as normal favored terrain these improvements of the ability - namely more favored terrains and additional allocatable bonuses - replaced.)
{
Or in dumb short words:
adaptive ranger can reallocate his favored enemy and/or terrain bonuses whenever he prepares spell or spends 1 hour of meditation, at most once per day, and his bonuses are halfed, rounded up }
That removes all those hassle i have with these abilites, is combinable with most archetypes and its now realistic that ambushing rangers will have their highest bonus vs the important members of the ambushed parties.
A standard druid taking animal domain, gets animal companion at level 4 with level-3 and can spend next feat upon boon companion to get animal companion to full level.
So at level 5 he spent 1 feat compared to the standard druid with companion and had to survive level 1 to 3 without companion.
In return he gets (most likely i think feather animal is best domain choice) + 3 on fly, +1 maneuverability when casting a fly spell, + 1/2 level on perception, +2 ini when peception roll at start of combat is sucessful and useful bonus spells for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th spell level at least - sounds like a good deal for only 1 feat in the long run.
Or is this somehow outside the rules or their intention?
Party enters area of a haunt. Suprise round starts, haunt acts on 10, PCs must make perception check according to haunt discreption, otherwise cannot act in suprise round.
PCs acting can damage the haunt with positie energy or with attacks that match weaknesses or can exploit weaknesses otherwise (e.g. cast a hide from undead in case the haunt has that weakness). No other ways to effect the haunt exists (e.g. greater globe of invulnerability is useless)
If haunt is not reduced to 0 HP before ini 10 haunt effects PCs in radius and not protected.
Further PCs acting after ini 10 can damage or effect haunt as above.
How can the PCs know about the weaknesses of the specific haunt?
If the haunt is just 1 round haunt, its after surpise round in resetting mode, cannot be damaged by the PCs and can be communicated with, e.g. spirit planchet, knocking or something else.
The PCs do not receive XP as haunt was not defeated.
After reset time repeat from start, HP of haunt are still the reduced value from prior combat.
If the haunt is persistant or repeating, he effects again targets on ini 10 next round. Rules state:
"On the surprise round in which a haunt manifests, positive energy applied to the haunt (via channeled energy, cure spells, and the like) can damage the haunt’s hit points (a haunt never gains a Will save to lessen the damage done by such effects, and attacks that require a successful attack roll to work must strike AC 10 in order to affect the haunt and not merely the physical structure it inhabits). Unless the haunt has an unusual weakness, no other form of attack can reduce its hit points."
That implies that after the surprise round positive energy damage cannot damage the haunt. It seems to imply that his weaknesses can still damage it. Furthermore specific other acts could damage it, if description allows (im thinking about some haunts in carrion crown).
About persistant haunts:
"Some haunts are persistent, and their immediate effects continue beyond the surprise round into actual full rounds. Persistent haunts continue to trigger their haunt effects once per round on their initiative rank until destroyed or they no longer have a target. All primary effects created by a haunt are mind-affecting fear effects, even those that actually produce physical effects. Immunity to fear grants immunity to a haunt’s direct effects, but not to secondary effects that arise as a result of the haunt’s attack."
So the effect continues until the haunt is reduced to 0 HP, but after the surprise round only attacks vs weaknesses can damage it.
Therefore a persistant haunt without weaknesses, like headless horsemanhttp://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/haunts/cr-10-12/headless-hors eman-cr-10
can only be damaged in the surprise round with positive energy. If he has HP afterwards, he continues with his effect each round forever, as no targets in area does not cause a haunt to become dormant (at least rules do not state this) and he can not be damaged in any way.
The only way to stop it, would be to fulfill its destruction condition, which could be a bit difficult with the permanently active and undamagable haunt.(You have to bury a holy sword in his area of effect.)
That somehow does not add up.
How does damaging haunts work?
Can they be damaged by positive energy in each roun, in which they act to effect something?
Do they become dormant, when no target is in the area?
Can 1 round effect haunts be damaged in their reset time?
