hogarth's page

Iced2k -- how did the arena fight go?

Rakshasa basically stole my list, although I probably would have replaced the will o' wisp with a swarm or another incorporeal undead of some kind (wraith, spectre, etc.) -- I haven't encountered any will o' wisps with my PCs.

I hate puzzle monsters; they're either boring or frustrating.

An honorable mention goes to any creature that can summon more copies of itself. I'm looking at you, Schir Demon!

If the intent was to give you a free immediate action that you might make the Escape Artist check, wouldn't it have been easier to make the check take no action at all?

Definitely. Personally, I think it shouldn't take any action at all, just instantly allow you a new check. But YMMV.

I've heard some bad things about a shadow demon in one of the adventure paths.

Is Kostchtchie one of the Monchichis?

I was going to make a Monchichi joke, but apparently I'm four years too late. At least I got to make a WKRP joke, though.

Page 87 - Kirin Path feat's table entry

The Benefit entry for Kirin Path in the table says "You may take 10 to identify a creature using Knowledge (local, nature, planes, or religion)"

It should also include dungeoneering.

And arcana, perhaps.

The intent, most likely, is that you cannot choose spells already on your class list... Though even that does not close all the issues.

Ah, I see; we just interpret that sentence differently. (I have no interest in discussing which interpretation is right or wrong.)

As for Medusa's Wrath, the save DC of my stunning fist would be 24 (10+ 6 from wis + 7 from level + 1 from Martial Artist) which is actually pretty decent considering I can try once per turn. If it sticks, Medusa's wrath give me two extra attacks, full BAB.

I'm probably just skeptical since I've almost never gotten Stunning Fist to work (either the attack misses or the target makes its save).

Plus, you know, nothing really great as far as monk feats go ^^

An excellent point!

No, I don't play with people like that.

Agreed. Generally I try to discuss expectations with the GM and the other players before starting.

Medusa's Wrath is difficult to set up, in my opinion. I wouldn't bother with it.

I'm not sure how much use you'll get out of Combat Reflexes, either. I'd swap it out for Improved Grapple or something like that.

Wait... So you can pick up summon monster VIII (summoner) or dominate monster (bard, or summoner) at level 12 as a wizard and that's not op?

No, he could pick up Dominate Monster (a 6th level summoner spell) at level 14 -- it becomes a level 7 spell for the Pathfinder Savant. It's still pretty sweet, but it's not quite as good as you're suggesting.

Hm. Interesting point. I think it's "obvious" that the speed should be 20 ft (since that's the ground speed and burrow speed of an earth elemental), but it doesn't actually say that you get a burrow speed, or that you can use your ground speed instead.

I signed up for a message board shortly after seeing an exhibition of prints by William Hogarth and I just stuck with it.

Yeah, grapplers can take a lot of casters out, something many do not prepare for!

I've ran games for grapplers before, they can be very strong.

For sure. A dedicated grappler can be pretty impressive against man-sized foes, Maneuver Master or not.

hogarth wrote:

I'd suggest dropping Dodge and taking Greater Trip and Improved Iron Will (<-- it only has to be useful once in a while to pay for itself, I think).

Not a combat feat, so no dice.

Good point. :-)

EDIT: Maybe Fortified Armor Training (Ultimate Combat)? How often do you get hit by critical hits?

A postscript to a thread that nobody cares about:

I finally (using the spell database at d20pfsrd.com) found a couple of buffing-style spells that affect an area and have a duration of instantaneous -- Reviving Finale (terminate bardic performance to heal 2d6 damage within a 20' burst) and Joyful Rapture (heal 1d4 Int, Wis or Cha damage + harmful emotion effects within a 60' burst). Not terribly exciting, I realise.

ok so you cant trade out combat expertise im not quite sure what you meant by your posting up there. you said "What I'm thinking for 8th level is to take Greater Trip and then swap out Dodge for either Greater Disarm or Combat Expertise."

Maybe a typo for Combat Reflexes?

I'd suggest dropping Dodge and taking Greater Trip and Improved Iron Will (<-- it only has to be useful once in a while to pay for itself, I think).

Personally, I'd bring Combat Reflexes/Vicious Stomp forward; I'd rather have extra attacks over extra defenses any day. But what you have is fine.

In the scenario Delirium's Tangle, my character's Perception was high enough

I thought that was very handy, but I felt a little bit guilty that the scenario ended so much ahead of schedule.

From the PRD:

Immediate Actions

Much like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time—even if it's not your turn. Casting feather fall is an immediate action, since the spell can be cast at any time.

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action and counts as your swift action for that turn. You cannot use another immediate action or a swift action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate action when it is not currently your turn (effectively, using an immediate action before your turn is equivalent to using your swift action for the coming turn). You also cannot use an immediate action if you are flat-footed.

(Emphasis mine.)

Actually you may use your round's swift action as an immediate, and then take another immediate action that borrows your next round's swift action ; so it is possible to take two immediate actions during your own round.

Unfortunately, you're explicitly limited to a single swift action per turn, and using an immediate action counts as your swift action for the turn.

My opinion would be that the immediate action to use escape artist is part of the casting.

Just like the touch part of the cast-a-spell-granting-a-touch-attack uses the same action as casting the spell.

I'd rule the same way.

I'm pretty sure that the spell Animate Dead does not allow you to add templates to zombies and skeletons.

It specifies in the individual template or variant whether Animate Dead works or not. For instance, from the Bestiary:

Variant Skeletons

Numerous variant skeletons exist, such as those whose bones burn with an unending fire and those who drip with gore and reassemble themselves over time. Both of these variant skeletons can be created using animate dead, but they count as twice their normal number of Hit Dice per casting. Once controlled, they count normally against the controller's limit.

hogarth wrote:

The irony is that, by restricting casters to 1 out of every 5 levels, it encourages every PC to have a little bit of casting/healing, which is rather un-Conan-y.

That depends. Some players will grab all the spellcasting they can, simply because it's restricted, but I've known plenty if players who would sigh in relief that they can finally play non-casters without being hopelessly outclassed in the teen levels.

To clarify, I'm talking about encouraging in the sense of creating the "best" character, which is what the original poster is asking. I agree that lots of people would love to play in a game with no spellcasting PCs at all (assuming that there was some sort of house rule in place to speed up healing, for instance).

Change shape doesn't adjust ability scores unless otherwise noted. See the description in the Bestiary (quoted below).

Change Shape (Su) A creature with this special quality has the ability to assume the appearance of a specific creature or type of creature (usually a humanoid), but retains most of its own physical qualities. A creature cannot change shape to a form more than one size category smaller or larger than its original form. This ability functions as a polymorph spell, the type of which is listed in the creature's description, but the creature does not adjust its ability scores (although it gains any other abilities of the creature it mimics). Unless otherwise stated, it can remain in an alternate form indefinitely. Some creatures, such as lycanthropes, can transform into unique forms with special modifiers and abilities. These creatures do adjust their ability scores, as noted in their description.

I realise that I'm in a tiny, tiny minority, but I'd rather get rid of the faction/prestige system altogether. (I understand that's not an option, though.)

What is the absolute best character I could make in this circumstance?

The best character you could make would probably be one with healing, either taking a level of cleric (channel energy) or witch (healing hex and cauldron hex), assuming you're not playing with some house rule that makes natural healing easier.

The irony is that, by restricting casters to 1 out of every 5 levels, it encourages every PC to have a little bit of casting/healing, which is rather un-Conan-y.

Rogue, with lots of use magic skill. He will be better in the long run than a wizard or other spell caster.

There's nothing about the rogue class that makes it particularly good at Use Magic Device. And there's no guarantee that there will be any magic devices in the campaign in the first place!

One tactic I've had success with: Invisibility + Hide from Animals + Summon Swarm (bat swarm).

The bat swarm can detect invisible enemies (except you, if you have Hide from Animals up), doesn't need to make attack rolls and is immune to weapon attacks.

wakedown wrote:

A wilder would be a psion archetype, while a soulknife would be a psychic warrior (or whatever they'd decide to rename the martial psion to) archetype.

Why? This is no different than trying to make the sorcerer a wizard archetype or the rogue a fighter archetype, sure you can, but why take away diversity?

Psions and wilders are both like sorcerers, really.

And I'd be delighted if the rogue class and the fighter class were combined into one. I can wait for 2E Pathfinder, though. :-)

Also, Summoners are not allowed. Forgot to mention.

The class is not allowed, or the spells Summon Monster/Summon Nature's Ally aren't allowed, or both?

Mounted combat is an ambiguity, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Pointing out weird inconsistencies with it is almost too easy.

Fighter 1: Weapon Focus, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot Fighter 2: Rapid Shot Fighter 3: Deadly Aim Fighter 4: Weapon Specialization fighter 5: dodge

Shoot, retreat, and repeat. Kite them to their death, and if anyone else decides to pick up fly thinking they would face nothing but melee you can just as easily shoot up

How does this character spot an invisible enemy?

EDIT: Ninja'ed. Back in the day, I used to participate in the Core Coliseum on the Wizards of the Coast boards. From experience, spellcasting is a huge advantage in terms of offense (save-or-dies), defense (invisibility, mirror image, etc.) and mobility (flight, earth glide, etc.). Having a pet is another big advantage.

Detect Magic.

Ah, yes. Because in the middle of a 5-man battle royale, the first thing you want to do is concentrate for three rounds. :-)

Tanglefoot bags aren't reusable.

That's correct. They're merely as cheap as dirt (after level 1, anyways).

Invisibility is defeated by a cantrip.

Don't leave me hanging...which cantrip?

BYC wrote:

It's very similar to Dirty Trick, where they must spend actions to remove the condition or keep suffering from it.

This is exactly my point: if Dirty Trick needs a feat to be effective and net does this nearly for free, how come EVERYONE isn't dropping Improved anything to just chuck nets around? I think that if a cheap non-magical item can be likened to a feat, then the feat isn't really good enough or the item is too good.

In brief:

In my experience, the difference between a 20 point buy and a 25 point buy is that one stat goes from a 14 to a 16 (or something like that). An extra +1 modifier on one stat (or even an extra +1 modifier to two stats) is practically unnoticeable.

I agree with Kolokotroni -- if it tells you what happens when you have two copies of the evolution, that means you can have two copies of the evolution.

You can have fly as a spell so footprints don't give you away.

A level 5 summoner wouldn't have Fly as a known spell. Are you referring to a scroll or potion of Fly?

Chris Mortika wrote:

... pondering ... a Chaotic Good cleric of Groetus ...

I have pondered this very same character concept soo many times now, but I just can't figure out a way to make it work ;)

I thought about it, too. My take was a cheerful, make-the-best-of-it attitude. "Hey, it's only the end of the world. At least it's not Monday, right? I hate Mondays!"

Compared to the clerics wearing heavy armor without Heavy Armor Proficiency, that's a pretty small glitch. :-)

Whenever I've seen a net used, the target either (a) just ignored the net and sucked up the -2 entangle penalty or (b) destroyed the net with one attack.

I'll stick with tanglefoot bags, thanks.

An important thing to remember about arena fights: Don't misunderestimate the advantage of having a pet! It basically doubles your actions every round.

I'd go with a wizard or witch: Invisiblity + Fly should allow you to sit out some of the initial carnage (maybe throw in a summoned monster or two), then you can finish the rest off with the rest of your spells (and/or hexes).

Here's my suggestion:

Human, Flowing monk archetype
Str 18
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 14
Cha 7

Weapon: 9-section whip
Feats: Combat Reflexes, IUS (bonus), Improved Trip (bonus), Vicious Stomp

Tactics: Drink potion of Mage Armor. Trip people (unarmed or with your 9-section whip) and stomp on them. If you can't trip them, just use a regular flurry of blows.

Your strongest bet overall is to go the Finesse route and buy an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists ASAP.

If it's a one-shot, I doubt he'll get that far.

It's PFS level 1, so 20 point buy and 150 gold only. The DM is well-known for his battlelust, so I can expect quite a few battles.

[..]

(15-16 AC won't cut it in such a fighting environment) or I go the finesse route and his damage go down the drain (while is AC ends up okay, but nothing a scalemale-wearing character can't emulate).

I'm not sure if you're familiar with PFS or not, but:

(a) You can expect 3 or 4 battles (99% of PFS scenarios work on that formula).

(b) A 15 AC should be just fine, assuming your party has a good offense. If you want more AC, buy a few potions of Mage Armor.

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding you -- is your GM going to make alterations to the scenario, or will is he going to run it "officially"?

Thanks Jiggy - this is good stuff. Means I can make Oil of Shrink Item and Oil of Invisibility in a home game. For when you need to get that large item past the guards....

My favourite (not for PFS!) is Oil of Animate Dead. Necromancy in a can!

Thus, the swift action cost really is essentially free. I'll never be using my swifts for anything else except casting, which as you noted won't happen in the same turn.

Now watch as the Advanced Equipment Guide comes out with a dozen awesome magic items, all of which require a swift action to activate. ;-)