eirip's page

Well, the 'in addition to the options available to all grapplers' line suggests that it is it's own action, and takes the place of other options.

The mantis still looks like it only gets to use the mandibles on a round in which it grabs, though. Does that sound right?

That is sort of what I thought too, except that rakes have an attack bonus, so dealing damage in a grapple can't simply 'deal rake damage' in the same way. There's got to be an attack bonus involved somewhere, but there isn't an attack roll involved in the 'deal damage in a grapple' option.

Is there an 'ask paizo' or something? A way to get offical answers (or at least answers-from-the-editors) to stuff like this?

Usually the Paizo staff is very good at monitoring these forums and answering questions that you might have. Sometimes they won't answer, but that is usually because someone else has already answered the question for them in the threads.

In this case I think the above poster answered the question correctly and I believe, unless I am missing something, that I answered your question that you asked above. I did refer to the Bestiary for this just to assure you that I am not answering your question off the top of my head.

Any mention of release dates for the next PA terrain?

World works games

eirip wrote:

I certainly want to go with RAW, that is why I asked. Thank you much.

Even within RAW you are free to modify creatures to suit your campaign or a given encounter. You just have to keep CR in mind and make adjustments to CR and/or stats as necesary.

Now,just to verify this for future reference, what your saying is if he did have for example a tail attack and greater grapple he could use the move action for the grapple check and the standard to attack an adjacent foe?

Thanks for the assistance btw.

eirip wrote:

Also, you already get those effects in a normal grapple. You get to use a standard action to maintain the grapple and as part of that action you get to cause another effect. I cannot see Greater Grapple being that advantageous in this case, unless of course you fail the first grapple check.

In addition to maintaining the grapple (and the effect that entitles you to) you get to do one more grapple plus effect, whith Greater grapple.
That means that when you are already grappling a foe you can on the next round first pin and then tie the enemy up all in a single round, if you make both grapple checks. I think that makes the feat well worth it!

eirip wrote:

I was actually going to give this to the Barbed Devil. A move action to maintain the grapple and a standard action to attack another adjacent opponent, not grapple him.

The barbed devil cannot attack another opponent when grappling (that would require the Improved Grab ability or an attack mode other than claws (like a tail or bite!). The devil has to use both claws to maintain the grapple. However, the devil can make an extra grapple (3d8+9 impale damage twice in a single round!) or it can use a spell-like ability that does not require somatic components, like greater teleport - good for grapple and run attacks.

Since you are probably making an advanced hamatula, I would suggest you give it a tail slap attack or the grab ability, if you really want it to attack adjacent foes while it is grappling... you make the rules.

eirip wrote:

I assume that by taking this feat which allows you to maintain a grapple as a move action you could then take a standard action and attack another foe?

It seemed pretty straight forward at first but then I got to the part in the description that says this feat allows you to make two grapple checks if you so choose, which got me thinking that it only applies to multiple grapple checks.

Normal charactrs cannot grapple multiple opponents.
Greater grapple lets you make two grapple checks against a creature you are already grappling. One to maintain the grapple and another to cause another wanted grapple effect.

Also, you already get those effects in a normal grapple. You get to use a standard action to maintain the grapple and as part of that action you get to cause another effect. I cannot see Greater Grapple being that advantageous in this case, unless of course you fail the first grapple check.

I assume that by taking this feat which allows you to maintain a grapple as a move action you could then take a standard action and attack another foe?

It seemed pretty straight forward at first but then I got to the part in the description that says this feat allows you to make two grapple checks if you so choose, which got me thinking that it only applies to multiple grapple checks.

Ok so now I'm totally tortured!

from Bestiary...

Grab (Ex) If a creature with this special attack hits
with the indicated attack (usually a claw or bite attack), it
deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a
free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Unless otherwise noted, grab works only against
opponents at least one size category smaller than the
creature.

So if the target isn't smaller, this implies grappling does provoke.

From the Core Rulebook...

Grapple
As a standard action, you can attempt to grapple a foe, hindering his combat options. If you do not have Improved Grapple, grab, or a similar ability, attempting to grapple a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

This is saying that with the Grab ability you do not provoke an AoO for attempting to grapple.

So my questions are..

Can the Barbed Devil grapple a foe with out provoking an AoO if the target is not smaller than him?

Can a Choker grapple a Medium sized PC without provoking an AoO?

I'm thinking Yes.

So the Grab ability allows grapple attempts without provoking but only grants a free grapple attempt on top of damage from an attack against a smaller foe?

eirip wrote:

This is taken from the prd just to clarify that you do not provoke if you have the grab ability, although you do not get the free attack as the above poster mentioned.

Grapple

As a standard action, you can attempt to grapple a foe, hindering his combat options. If you do not have Improved Grapple, grab, or a similar ability, attempting to grapple a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

Nice Perception check there, much better'n mine! Thanks for pointing it out! ^-^

I will probably house rule it. I feel as if the monster's grab was lessened then something should have been given to compensate for it.

stuart haffenden wrote:

Basically if the monster isn't large [or bigger], it can't get free grapple attempts against medium sized PC's, period, even if it has the Grab ability.

I misread your quote I think, that is why I responded with the prd section. No, they would not get the FREE grapple check, they wouldn't provoke an aoo however FOR attempting to start a grapple. I do not think this is what you were referring to though so I apologize.

Velvetlinedbox wrote:

so barbed devil would have to to do a normal grapple check, and provokes an AoE. Why would you even want to us this ability?

As RAW, yes.

If you don't like it, houserule as others have suggested above.

I think the change from 3.5 "Improved grab" to PF "grab" has gone under the radar. It doesn't seem that too many people are talking about the change on these boards. Either because they're not bothered or because they haven't noticed. It affects many monsters.

Basically if the monster isn't large [or bigger], it can't get free grapple attempts against medium sized PC's, period, even if it has the Grab ability.

Grapple

As a standard action, you can attempt to grapple a foe, hindering his combat options. If you do not have Improved Grapple, grab, or a similar ability, attempting to grapple a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.

so barbed devil would have to to do a normal grapple check, and provokes an AoE. Why would you even want to us this ability?

Thanks for the info, James! And whew, that's a relief. I love me my chokers.

Personally, I think when I'm GM, it's going to be a house rule of mine that if a creature has the Grab ability, it counts as having Improved Grapple for purposes of not provoking AoO, even if it can't use Grab and has to go with a touch attack and grapple check. I mean, it already has the +4 to grapple.

So the Barbed Devils get that hookup, at least from me.

What I am going to do to work around the grab ability is this: give him the improved unarmed strike feat (a waste but a pre-req for the following), improved grapple, and then greater grapple. That way he can take his move action to continue to use his impale ability for 3D8+9 damage to the grappled foe, while taking his standard action to strike out at pc's who will most certainly be near by.

Of course to do this I would have to get rid of his alertness feat, which drops his perception to a +19, his improved critical claw, and his power attack. A fair trade off I think considering I have always liked the barbed devil as grappling creatures anyway.

I am assuming that greater grapple works the way I described it above. Although the description of greater grapple has me wondering if I am right.

Benefit: You receive a +2 bonus on checks made to grapple a foe. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by Improved Grapple. Once you have grappled a creature, maintaining the grapple is a move action. This feat allows you to make two grapple checks each round (to move, harm, or pin your opponent), but you are not required to make two checks. You only need to succeed at one of these checks to maintain the grapple.

cappadocius wrote:

There is Grab, the special attack, and grabbing, the condition from 3.5 when you'd hit with the melee touch attack but before you'd succeeded on the opposed grapple check.

I'm certain this grab refers to the latter.

This is correct. If a Medium barbed devil wants to grapple a human, he has to do so with the normal grapple attack.

Grab only gives him "free" grapple attacks against Small or smaller targets, but his impale ability still works on things he grapples normally.

This was indeed done on purpose. Partially because the barbed devil's already pretty tough... but partially because it's sometimes good to actually design monsters like this so that it's an advantage to be Medium (normally, it's more advantageous to be Small).

I would love to see a high-level AP that deals with gathering things and making preparations to rid the world of the Tarrasque. It would be a great chance to fully flesh out the legends, myths, and history surrounding it.

Paizo has done such a wonderful job with the new system that I hate coming on here and pointing errors like this out. I know it has to be done, it just makes me feel spoiled and unappreciative. Now I feel like a kiss-ass but does everyone know what I mean?

There is Grab, the special attack, and grabbing, the condition from 3.5 when you'd hit with the melee touch attack but before you'd succeeded on the opposed grapple check.

I'm certain this grab refers to the latter.

Concerning the Barbed Devil and his impale ability: A barbed devil deals 3D8+9 points of damage on a successful Grabbed opponent with a successful grapple check. Simple enough right.

Now under grab in the universal monster rules section it states that unless otherwise noted this ability can only be used against a creature/pc who is one size category smaller than the monster.

Now here is my question. Considering the general Barbed devil is a medium sized creature this pretty much means he will not be allowed to use this ability most of the time considering the vast majority of pc's are medium sized. Was this done intentionally being the Barbed devil already has a pretty substantial amount of other special abilities or was this an oversight and hence should the Devil should be able to use this against medium sized creatures as well?

Velvetlinedbox wrote:

that is very weird.

I wonder if this is a misprint.

I had similar thoughts about other monsters that I posted in the erratta thread. For example, the choker, a creature whose whole gimmick is grabbing, is a small creature, so it can only grab tiny, fine, and diminute creatures, but this directly contradicts information presented in the fluff paragraphs.

In our campaign I first had my druid take a level of fighter for martial weapon lance and heavy armor proficiency, and then had him take all the mounted combat feats plus animal companion large lion. Try wildshaping into a medium plant (anything with opposable thumbs that can wield a lance, for +2 STR, CON and Nat Armor; my half-orc usually takes volodni form and looks as close as himself as possible - the dry, barky skin and fresh pine scent being the only give away! :P).

On a charge, not only do you have a 10 foot reach via lance and can do 3d8+24+2d6 (Rhino Hide), but when you crit (and it happens to me about once per game) the dmg goes up to 5d8+40+2d6.

I'm not saying I could fill the barbarian's role properly, but I can say that this guy was as good as the group's meleeists when he was able to do his thing and charge foes with his lance. Not a lot of people take the Mounted Combat route because it is too situational, but if you play a druid (i.e. support guy and other critical party roles have been filled), these Mounted feats combined with the Animal Companion features pack a heck of punch. Greater Magic Fang the Animal Companion and give it Improved and Greater Overrun, and coupled with your Spirited Charge/Trample/Ride-by feats, you have a situation when you first attack the enemy with your lance, continue to ride via Ride-by, then the Animal Companion gets to try to overrun and claw/hoof via your Trample feat, and via the Overrunning mechanics, continues to the end of its move (repeat everyround).

Mix the above move with Wall of Thorns, and wow! Druid can move through thorns, so if you can pass that skill down to your Animal Companion via spell or magic item or something, then you can surround your foes with a ring of thorns and charge them/run them over and dissapear at the end of the round through the thorns! (i.e. charging through one end of the circle and out the other, rinse, lather and repeat!)

I do no think this is a misprint or I would have put it into the Bestiary errata thread, but I noticed something the other day and wanted to run this by some of you folks.

Concerning the Barbed Devil and his impale ability: A barbed devil deals 3D8+9 points of damage on a successful Grabbed opponent with a successful grapple check. Simple enough right.

Now under grab in the universal monster rules section it states that unless otherwise noted this ability can only be used against a creature/pc who is one size category smaller than the monster.

Now here is my question. Considering the general Barbed devil is a medium sized creature this pretty much means he will not be allowed to use this most times considering the vast majority of pc's are medium sized. Was this done intentionally being the Barbed devil already has a pretty substantial amount of other special abilities or was this an oversight and hence should be able to use this against medium sized creatures as well?

Hello all,

I'm looking at the Fighter ability table (3-9) on page 56 of the core rulebook. What does it mean when there are separate bonuses? For example, a 20th level fighter gets a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5. I'm not sure what this means and I haven't been able to figure it out from the book yet.

Thanks for your help.

I recently just started playing the druid this year with the 3.5 rules and never got to use the 3.5 wild shape form. Well, now that we have converted to the pfrpg rules and I have the wild shape ability I was wondering: while in wild shape form do your ability stats revert to the animal you took the form of or do you just take on the special abilities of the beast you changed into and retain the normal stats for your pc?

I have been playing it using the ability stats of the new creature you took the form of with the subsequent bonuses listed under the beast shape spell.

Sorry for the thread jack but I believe this is close enough to the topic :)

Anything anywhere to convert PF Beta to Core? I'm running Beta and I don't want to yank stuff out from under my players by switching to Core. BTW, I did purchase the Core Rules.

For example, if you have skill points in both, can you combine spellcraft and craft (weapon) to make a magic sword, and apply the combined scores against the DC of the item to be created?

Thx!

So very helpful aren't I? : )

I like this. Very nice work!!!!

So I am running The Armageddon Echo and the pc's have just entered The Academy of Arts. I am curious as to hear how other players have fared.

Especially regarding:

Galnörag wrote:

I actually went out of my way to skip the araska one, even though the name appealed to me so much (Araska is originally was in the Elves of Evermeet, it is a small island in the harbour of the main city, but I digress.) What I couldn't get about the set piece is how to make it work, the concept, you sneaky/fight a pirate ship. How the hell do to ships come together in which one of them is clearly a sinister pirate ship, and not have everyone on high alert fighting on the decks? like WTF?

1) The PC ship could be disguised as an allied pirate ship or a merchant vessel, and while the enemy pirates are trying to board and/or investigate the PCs' ship, the PCs sneak onto the pirate ship and do some counter investigating.

or

2) The pirate ship is moored or anchored just off shore, and the PCs sneak out to attack it or infiltrate it.

or

3) The PCs, stranded on Devil's Elbow, note that a pirate ship has arrived, and they disguise themselves as pirate types in order to "get hired" by the crew and, as undercover pirates, do their thing on board (whatever that might be).

or

4) The PCs are captured by the pirate ship and have to break out of their cell or brig, recover their gear, and take over the ship.

or

5) The pirate ship is allied to one of the factions already on the island, and the pirates on board the ship come on shore to augment a group or to investigate on their own, in which case you the GM get to use the pirates against the PCs on land, and perhaps leave enough back on the ship to defend it if the PCs try to seize it.

Etc. The goal of the set-pieces wasn't as much to do the work for WHY the party goes to the place presented, but to give the GM a pre-made modular encounter area that he/she can then use when the need arises. Be that need one that arises during play of "Children of the Void," or one that arises during any other adventure you might be running before or after.

Eyebite wrote:

Would anybody else be interested in seeing a feature like this on a regular basis?

No thanks. That's what the Companions are for.

Why do people insist on diluting the APs? It's already saddled with fiction and pre-gens, and we've seen significant problems in the recent past with continuity issues due to lack of space (and editors' time, unfortunately) - which is a cardinal sin when it comes to any adventure, and especially a long-running AP. And make no mistake: these problems show.

The AP needs to remain an AP. Increasing the adventure word count (when needed), or the AP-specific support articles are superior uses of limited space within an AP. A bunch of magic items is not, AFAIC.

Let's put more of these things in the Companion and Chronicles line - where they belong.

Well I must admit that I like the decision. Even though I started to like the set pieces I would rather see more pages of Pathfinder devoted to the main story line.

I didn't realize that Paizo was cutting out the set pieces. I have been busy as hell the last couple months and I haven't visited the site for awhile until recently. I didn't like the set pieces at first but than I grew to like them. I am just curious as to why they are going to quit doing them?

The sea cave battle was one of the best I have ever been in. I was the GM and without going into details the encounter lasted between 3-4 hours. Awesome!!

hedgeknight wrote:

I don't mind all of the pages, I just wish when I scroll all the way to the freakin' bottom of the threads, choose one, and then go back, that the page would automatically flip back where I left off. Instead, it starts at the TOP of the thread list again and I have to scroll all the way back to the bottom to where I started.
Does that make sense?

I'll verify that I'm getting the same problem with Firefox.

Does anyone know the recommended character levels for this adventure? Additionally, does anyone know how the Wicked Fantasy Factory line of modules differs from Dungeon Crawl Classics? Thanks, y'all!

As for what is the difference between these and the classics. The classics had more of a 1E feel to me. Simply break down the dungeon door and wander from room to room fighting monsters and getting treasure. The wicked line is kind of like that, at least the ones I ran, but with a modern feel to it. The Iron giant for example was a big robot/construct fortress with laser beams for traps, not at all what one would expect to find in a dungeon crawl classic, which I love by the way.

Hope this helps, I don't think I described it as well as I could have but I just woke up!

There is still the stigma that goes along with dnd. I am a 38 year old gamer who doesn't hide his love of the hobby. I get razed at work with the usual comments like: " Do you guys dress up like wizards" or " are you guys gay?", as if that has anything to do with playing dnd. Hell, even my children, mainly my 17 year old boy, considers dnd as for nerds. I have gotten a couple of people I work with to actually create pc's but when one of the guys heard the phrase role-play he freaked out.

As for the answer to the question of how do we reach new gamers, heck, I don't know, I was able to successfully recruit my 17 year old nephew into playing, so it is possible. And lately when I go to gaming stores I do see a lot of younger people, playing 3.5 or 4.0, so I know that is encouraging.

I am sure the MMO's have stolen some of our membership if you will, but we have always been a niche hobby, and to expect anything else I think is unrealistic.

I may be a little late on this topic but I would like the map folios more if I could hand them out to my players WITHOUT the numbers and secret doors. That being said I love the Zirnakaynin fold up map in the "Second Darkness" folio.

I am still n00bish to the default campaign world of Pathfinder. However, isn't it true that the campaign world contains many really cool and unique areas such as a Ravenloft-like area, an Al-Qadim-like area, an Egyptian area, etc? If so, this will definitely be the setting and game for me.

I am wondering though if there currently is or are plans for an asian area, perhaps with Samurai, Ninja, etc?

Thanks in advance!

I've got a minor issue in my Second Darkness group that I'm not entirely sure how to smooth over. We've just finished Children of the Void, and one of the players has become way too in love with running the Gold Goblin and is intent on becoming the newest crimelord in Riddleport, now that Zincher is deceased.
He is really not going to take well to the entire rest of the adventure path having absolutely nothing to do with Riddleport. Anyone else faced this problem? What did you do about it?

eirip wrote:

Sorry for the thread jack but this topic is close enough. I know there was a post on this before but I am unable to find it. How do I extract a map from adobe WITHOUT the numbers showing, or how do I edit said numbers out of the map?

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

Using the Selection tool (NOT the Marquee tool) in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader 8 or earlier, click the map, and copy/paste or drag-and-drop. (If it's a full-page map, you may have to Option-Click [Mac] or Ctrl-Click [Windows] to select it.)

Sorry for the thread jack but this topic is close enough. I know there was a post on this before but I am unable to find it. How do I extract a map from adobe WITHOUT the numbers showing, or how do I edit said numbers out of the map?

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

Generic Villain wrote:

I just got through reading The Great Beyond, A Guide to the Multiverse, and let me just say that it exceeded my expectations. Absolutely inspired, and an equal of even the finest Planescape products.

*glee* I truly don't deserve to be compared to the back-in-the-day Planescape material. But I'm seriously -seriously- flattered and giddy that I've made at least one person happy with what I wrote. I put a lot of work into TGB, even took it with me to the beach over Thanksgiving to finish up some of it (laptop, black russian to sip, Marco Island Florida = awesome).

I must say that is a mighty fine cover. The chick is sweet!!!!!

I have the basic extension and it works pretty good. I am wondering how this extender would work? Any comments?

OK, I have 6 items in my shopping cart, I want to check out items 1-3, but still have items 4-6 in my cart for a later date. I have not yet figured out how to do this, can someone help me please?

Holy moley! This is the longest thread I have ever seen I believe. I haven't checked in a few days because after reading 14 pages I was kind of burned out on the subject.............Now I click on it to find we are on page count 23 or something of that nature, it will take me forever to catch up, Maybe I wont even try.

Hi Customer Service,

I recieved my Legacy of Fire Part 1 of 6 last week and it did not include the printed version of the Player's Guide like you usually send out with the first issue of a new adventure path. WHY???? These are great reading before starting a new adventure. I hope we can straighten this little problem out.

Bruce Merz
bmerz19064@comcast.net