Roper

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1,230 posts. Alias of Peter Heleva.



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I'm running a homebrew campaign (1st Edition) for my wife and some friends, mostly ladies. 3/4 of the group are playing Witches, the remaining player is playing an Occultist. Half of the group is very green when it comes to Pathfinder and gaming in general. One of the ladies has played PF once but is a regular gamer and seems to know her stuff, and the gentleman is a regular PF player.

Characters:

Green 1 is a half-elf, has a Bat familiar, took Disguise Hex and EH: Murksight (with the intention of leaning on Obscuring Mist). Initially wanted to be all about potions but couldn't be persuaded to play an alchemist once the Coven theme started catching steam. Picked Obscuring Mist and Ear Piercing Scream. Seems like the face.

Green 2 (totally new to any gaming) is a gnome, took a Fox familiar, Improved Initiative (option overload happened when picking a feat and I recommended it) and the Flight Hex. Picked Bungle and Hypnotism. Wants to be very nature-themed but couldn't be persuaded to play a Druid once the Coven theme started catching on. I talked her out of picking Nature's Path in favor of the Child of Nature trait. Seems like the heart of the group.

Experienced Gamer New to Pathfinder is a Half-Orc, has a Pig Familiar, picked Evil Eye and the Tusk Feat (for flavor). Relatively high Strength/Con for a Witch, picked CLW and Mage Armor. She def built her character like the witch version of a Tank, but Player 4 was still on the fence during final character creation sesh (which Player 4 did not attend).

Player 4 has indicated to me that he's playing an Occultist with a Tanky/Martial build, possibly a half-orc, flavoring the character as a the child of a witch who wants to distance herself from the magic world and develops magic powers despite herself. It's possible that before we begin EGN may relax some of the tankiness of her build as a result.

Training Wheels: The two greenest players have now had two character building sessions with me(and one is married to the DM). During session 2 my wife asked "how much stuff can I buy?" I shrugged, reminded her she had a hundred gold and pointed to Ultimate Equipment. When she said, "Oh, just as much as I can afford and carry?" I gave her a kiss because I felt she had leveled up in taking agency over her character. Some downtime at work this week, so I'm currently in the process of printing up descriptions for all their spells and stats for Familiars, as well as descriptions of stuff like Fascinated and the Scent ability. Also, since the group is going to be traveling and acting as an informal coven, I ruled that all the familiars will pretty much share all the spells of the group (Excluding Occultist, who P4 wants to start rping as if she's not aware she's doing magic). I may also rule that Coven members can swap Familiar bonuses to give the face the Diplo bonus and the Flyer the flying bonus.

Question 1

Has anybody ever ran or played a (mostly) all-witch campaign? Can you tell me about unanticipated problems that crop up with a caster-heavy groups?

Question 2

I require advice running a group with mixed experience levels. I easily foresee a situation where everybody is digging social encounters/roleplay, and then when an encounter starts my experience gamers take over, start making "suggestions", and my green players fall asleep. Alternatively I could scale back the amount of combat for the sake of the green players, at which point players 4 and maybe 3 potentially get frustrated. And at some point every campaign hits a session that slogs, like a boss battle that takes a few sessions to get through. If my green players are on the bench or being puppeteered for one or two sessions the group will almost certainly dissolve.

I should mention that this is total homebrew sandbox, so I therefore have a lot of flexibility to provide as enjoyable an experience as possible. This campaign got started when Green 2 casually mentioned that she had never participated in a TRPG and really wanted to. Certainly it helps that we're workshopping the party dynamic and shared backstory before play actually begins.

Thanks!

Joey


1) A large creature wielding a medium Greataxe takes no penalty to attack rolls, correct? He simply applies the medium weapon damage. And he can use the thing one handed.

2) A half orc Brute Vigilante, while Hulked up, and who possess the Sizing Equipment talent, swings his Medium sized +1 Greataxe. He takes a -1 to his attack roll, like it says in the talent, and the Greataxe hits like a Large Greataxe (3d6). Does he need both hands on the medium Greataxe to accomplish this?

Nothing in the talent says anything about actually wielding it like it were sized for the Brute in his large form. It says, "wielding a magic weapon properly sized for his social identity deals damage as if it were a magic weapon properly sized for his vigilante identity, but it imposes a –1 penalty on attack rolls." Now, at 6th level the "weapons and armor work in all ways (including damage dice) as if they were of the vigilante's new size", implying that the weapons have actually biggified, as per Enlarge Person, further implying that the Greataxe now requires two hands.

What about level 2-5? As I read it you have the potential for a Ranger/Brute swinging double Greataxes with TWF.

Picture a Ranger 2/Brute 2. This character can almost certainly well afford two +1 Greataxes. If he's swinging with both, and manages to hit with two attacks (not unreasonable considering his BAB is effectively 4), he's pumping out 6d6+2 plus 2xStrength in a round where he hasn't scored a crit, and without the benefit of Enlarge Person.

Is this right? Has this been errata'd?


The Mesmerist is pushing pretty heavy to be interpreted as the go-to build for a turn-of-the-century stage magician/Harry Houdini/stage hypnotist type.

So, what's the status of Stage Magic in Golarion, given that actual magic is fairly common? First and second level wands, potions, oils, etc are available at Ye Olde Magick Shoppe at seemingly every major city, capable of performing wonders that would have absolutely floored audiences of 19th century Europe/America. Heck, a working wand of CLW (nearly every low-level group of Pathfinders has one) would probably net James Randi's One Million Dollar Paranormal challenge.

So, if I build an actual stage magician Mesmerist/Escapist, complete with top hat, tux, and pigeons... would anyone care? Would such a person get famous? Would it even be interesting for a guy to dangle in a public square and slip free of his straight jacket or chains, when sorcerers are walking around leveling villages with fireballs and straight-up teleporting?


Bluff Skill wrote:


You can also use Bluff to feint in combat, causing your opponent to be denied his Dexterity bonus to his AC against your next attack. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + your opponent’s base attack bonus + your opponent’s Wisdom modifier. If your opponent is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent’s Sense Motive bonus, if higher.

and

Feinting in Combat wrote:


Feinting is a standard action. To feint, make a Bluff skill check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + your opponent's base attack bonus + your opponent's Wisdom modifier. If your opponent is trained in Sense Motive, the DC is instead equal to 10 + your opponent's Sense Motive bonus, if higher. If successful, the next melee attack you make against the target does not allow him to use his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). This attack must be made on or before your next turn.

So, at what range can you do this? Currently I'm working on a build with a Mesmerist that feints with a whip, which would typically be at a range of about ten feet. But there's nothing in the rules that says that you can't feint with a ranged weapon; indeed, I haven't found anything that says that your opponent even has to see you (while common sense dictates that feinting wouldn't be required, advanced uses of feint lose the opponent's Dex bonus for a whole turn).

Is there any reason why the crack of a whip could't spook somebody at a pace of fifteen or thirty or even fifty feet? A gunslinger with a whip and improved feint could be a deadly combo.

Is there an FAQ on this?


Certain animals have "Special Qualities" and abilities that never get listed on the Beast Shape series. Some examples include Swallow Whole, an Ostrich's Crouch ability, and a Wolverine's rage.

Does the Druid never get access to these? Common sense goes both ways on this: a Wolverine's rage seems like a temperamental quality totally inherent to being a Wolverine, and it would be OP to give a druid access to Barbarian's Rage, even in a limited way.

On the other hand the Ostrich's ability to hide seems to rely more on what it looks like - why couldn't a druid do this in an Ostrich body? Likewise, a Tiger Fish's Interlocking Bite has to do with the shape of its mouth, which the druid has presumably inherited.

Is there an FAQ on this?


I'm about to write up wild shape statblocks for my Gnome Druid 4.

Obviously if I shift into Medium size I will no longer benefit from +1 size bonus on attacks and AC. Do I also need to recalculate Dex? Like, take a -2 dex bonus to size as if I used Enlarge Person?

Does a medium Druid get the bonus to AC and attacks when shaping into a small critter?


Duck and Cover wrote:


Benefit: Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, and both of you are required to make a reflex saving throw against a spell or effect, you may take the result of your die roll or that of your ally (your modifiers still apply to the roll, regardless of which result you take). If you take your ally’s result, you are knocked prone (or staggered on your next turn, if you are already prone or cannot be knocked prone). In addition, you receive a +2 cover bonus to your AC against ranged attacks as long as your ally is wielding a shield.

This feat might make sense for a PC that rides a mount, for example a Hunter.

Is a PC considered adjacent to a creature that he has mounted?

Can you be "knocked prone" from being mounted? How does this work? Does the rider choose between being knocked off the mount (and falling prone) or being staggered?

The last line mentions a cover bonus to AC against ranged attacks "as long as ally is wielding a shield". That "while wielding a shield" bit is the only condition given. Does this only take effect upon using the reflex save or while ally is adjacent? The latter does kind of make sense, but also seems like a separate feat.


If you and your mount have distracting charge as a feat, how does this play out?

Mounted Combat wrote:

Your mount acts on your initiative count as you direct it. You move at its speed, but the mount uses its action to move.

Distracting Charge wrote:


When your ally with this feat uses the charge action and hits, you gain a +2 bonus on your next attack roll against the target of that charge. This bonus must be used before your ally's next turn, or it is lost.

No prereqs, meaning a mounted Cavalier or Druid or Hunter can have his mount select this at level one, as well as himself. (or a Hunter selects it as his bonus teamwork feat, or the Cavalier magically grants it to the mount, etc)

So, let's say you charge a bad guy and your mount doesn't hit, but you do. But you missed by two. And you rolled both attacks simultaneously (as I believe is suggested by the CRB or GM guide, and as often happens at tables to save time). Does the mounts hit now resolve as a hit?

Or, must a mounted PC's player make this decision beforehand, and declare it at the beginning of a session? Like, "As a rule, the (character with better to-hit numbers) will always attack first."

Furthermore, when does "your ally's next turn" happen in the case of mounted combat? Like, say you've made a declaration like the one above, and the mount has better numbers but missed, while the rider hit. Assuming no opportunities for free attacks present themselves, can the mount benefit from the bonus at the start of the next turn? Or does the PC always count as "going" first, since he's giving the mount orders, either through Handle Animal or Ride checks? What if the mount has already been ordered to "Attack that Bunyan" on a previous turn, and is simply continuing in the absence of a "Down" order? Can the rider take a soft delay (not really delaying, but waiting to see if mount hits) as his mount takes a full attack?


Do Earth Mastery bonuses and penalties apply to a PC in elemental form via Druid or Elemental Body?


This is for a homebrew campaign that I'm starting this weekend. Not confirmed yet, but I'm assuming 20 point buy, funky races allowed.

I'm going to play a Grippli Druid. Stats are probably going to be this:

Str 14
Dex 14
Con 13
Int 10
Wis 17
Cha 10

I'm considering dropping Charisma to boost something; maybe Dex.

The build is going to be mount-based. What I'd like, ideally, is for the character to be able to make charges from the back of the mount. With a lance, for double damage.

I see basically three options:

1) Straight Druid, big cat AC. Since a druid isn't normally proficient in any reach weapon, probably the first level feat would be Weapon Proficiency: Lance.

Pro: Won't nerf Druid class abilities like Wildshape, spells.
Con: Druid is feat starved. Gaining proficiency in a lance seems like a waste of a feat.

2) One level dip in Hunter, big cat AC.
Pro: Martial Weapon Proficiencies, a bunch of skill points, Animal Focus, which will effectively bump the AC's strength up to 15. Also, AC levels will stack. First feat might be WF: Lance. Also, boost to Reflex save.
Con: Bad BAB, and hurts Druid levels. Also, AF will be limited for Druid character throughout Druid's career.

On the plus side first wildshape level and level five feat (natural spell) will coincide, as well as Elemental Body and Cat's upgrade to Large size (does an Earth Elemental'd druid suffer from not touching the ground?)

3) One level dip in Cavalier, Wolf AC.
Pro: Good BAB, weapon proficiencies.
Con: Bad Reflex save, Wolf is subpar to Big Cat (I'm not taking two ACs and nerfing the Cat's advancement) and hurts Druid advancement. Probably not going to do this, despite BAB boost.

I guess three is off the table. I'm completely evenly split between options one and two.


I could use a little clarification on how Mental Focus points work.

If I understand it right, you put points in your implements during daily one hour spell time. Can you save some points and place them later, as the situation arises? Something like a non-spontaneous caster's ability to leave slots open and fill them in only fifteen minutes (depending on percentage left open).

So you can only use points that are in your implements to use focus powers, right? Or rather, if you leave mental focus in yourself you can spend them at, like, double cost. Okay, what if you have leftover points after preparing your equipment? Can you put extra points in your implements that wont' activate the resonant bonus but are only there for focus powers?

When you burn points from your implements, but some are left in the implement, does the resonant bonus disappear or does it just reduce based on how many points are in it now?

What if you sleep for eight hours without having spent any points the day before? Can you just leave them in your gear or do they poof while you're sleeping?

Will Extra Mental Focus be a feat?


Improved Feint + whip + ranged weapon (one handed)=

Assume you start out at ten foot reach of opponent. Snap the whip in opponent's face, roll bluff check, shoot opponent who is now denied dex bonus.

My thought was hand crossbow (Mesmerist), but it would work even better with a Gunslinger, to put Touch AC in toilet. Also, daggers. Quick Draw or rapid reload to keep it going every round.

Assuming Medium opponent with no reach weapon, you should be safe.

Does this work? Legal? Rules are a bit light when it comes to the logistics of a feint.


We were:

Occultist 1: Melee Build
Occultist 1: Archer Build
Spiritualist 1: Fear Phantom
Druid 1: Noob (1st PFS Session)

This went pretty swimmingly, all things considered. Noob Druid had done a lot of homework and indicated that he'd played a few home games, so he didn't slow us down.

Phantom never solidified into a corporeal form once. The Phantom was, however, incredibly useful as a rogue stand-in: scouting ahead. The Phantom doesn't technically have a fly speed, so PC had her "five-foot step" down into pits and such incorporeally - not sure of the legality of this. Certainly incorporeal and climb checks is an odd grey area that could use some clarification.

Phantom kept my tank from getting gobbled by an ooze. BTW, here's my build:

Oswald:

Str 18
Dex 12
Con 13
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 10

Resistance, Purify Food and Drink
Hold Portal, Enlarge Person

Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm

Ranseur 10
Heavy Flail 15
Greatsword 50
Scale Mail 50
Flail 8
Heavy Wooden Shield 7

Apparently everybody at the table was familiar with Harry Dresden but me. I latched onto the martial weapon proficiency of the class and built my character around expertly disarming people at reach.

This guy hits at a +4 melee without bonuses and disarms at a +8. His spells are Hold Portal and Enlarge Person. There was some discussion about whether or not the +2 Strength belt would work at first level. We ultimately decided it couldn't, so I put the points into getting Keen on my Greatsword instead. I have to say that if it's not available at low levels, the Belt feature loses a lot of its luster.

Character-wise, Oswald is a pretty vanilla Lawful Good fighter type who has a keen interest in history and spooky Occult stuff, as well as machines (knowledge ranks in Engineering, History, Religion). Kind of a noble Ghostbuster. Next time I plan on giving one of my weapons the Ghost Touch quality. Real shocked at the way Spiritualist PC RP'd his character.

Phantom was skinned as Spiritualist's dead wife and had no face, held up a drama symbol happy/sad mask for mood. Very fun roleplay, especially for the Occult playtest. In combat, Spiritualist only used Summon Monster, always Bloody Skeletons. Thematically appropriate.

Spoilers for Boss Battle:

Spoiler:

We took down the Minotaur without too much trouble. My first round was spent Enlarging. Round two I traded Keen Bonus on my greatsword for Quicksteps as a swift action (extra 30' of movement) and then charged the Minotaur and deaxed him immediately thanks to a fairly high roll, Ranseur disarm bonus, feat bonus, bard bonus, charge bonus (ended up being a 30). Bloody skeleton and archer softened him up, large Ranseur finished him off. Done in three rounds!

Occultist is a fun class to play; martial weapon proficiency goes a long way to making this a fun alternative to magus, and pretty customizable. Spiritualist has some great roleplay potential; can't really say that I've seen a Phantom in combat yet because he kept it incorporeal the entire time. Playing another session with my Psychic Lobster seems like a chore, but I can happily envision playing Oswald up to tenth level.

Note: an incorporeal sneak companion is the death knell for rogues. Most of what the Phantom did in our session was traditional rogue stuff, but fearlessly and with darkvision.


Does a Phantom qualify for Monster feats like Ability Focus and Sow Terror? (This is assuming an incorporeal creature can make sounds despite the lack of a physical throat.)

What kind of action is it to switch your Phantom from Ectoplasmic to Incorporeal or vice versa? A one minute manifestation ritual?

What happens to your Phantom if you happen to be adventuring on the Ethereal plane? Do Dismissal and Banish not work?

It's listed as a standard action for the Spiritualist to put a Phantom back inside her mind. If the Spiritualist simply orders or wills the Phantom to go beyond the 50' range, doesn't this happen as a free action?

What's to stop a Spiritualist from having her Phantom move outside range before taking any action? Say, a five foot step (at the edge of the Phantom's range) after taking a full attack action?

"Back in the consciousness" effectively became a free-round action. Does the Spiritualist immediately benefit from the Skill bonuses at that point?


What if you've got a crazy good disarm modifier, say through feats, a disarm weapon, enhancement, size bonus, true strike, etc, but you roll a nat 1?

Do you drop your weapon due to the auto-failure, or add one to your CMB and see if you failed by ten (or, indeed, failed at all)?


If your shield has a +1 enhancement bonus, do you get that bonus to attacks and damage rolls made with a shield bash?


Without Verbal and Somatic components, what does it take for a non-psychic to notice that a Psychic spellcaster is casting a spell?

It's understood that a psychic spell provokes an attack of opportunity, but in the magic thread one gamer's interpretation was that this was due to concentration/ letting a person's guard down.

This came up tonight as a real in-game decision that the GM had to make when it came to which target the goblin was going to smack. For flair's sake I had my Psychic grab his temples and grit his teeth as he dropped the gob's buddy with a Mind Thrust, which made GM's call easier.

But if a Psychic caster doesn't give the game away, how does an NPC - or even another PC - know that the Psychic spell went off? Is it just the recipient of the spell, who now has a psychic connection to the caster whether a save was made or no? What about non-psychic (mentally affecting) spells like magic missile?


Did the first level of Emerald Spire today with a first level Psychic. This was his first session.

Mister Think:

Elf Psychic 1

Str 07
Dex 12
Con 08
Int 20
Wis 15
Cha 10

Desperate Focus, Convincing Liar

Feat: Spell Focus Divination

Spells:

Flare
Daze
Light
Open/Close

Detect Thoughts
Mind Thrust

Gear: Chainmail (yup, that's it)

Languages: all but Celestial

Skill Ranks: Bluff, Knowledge Arcana, Knowledge Local, Perception, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Survival

Discipline of Tranquility

Character was a bit of a lobster - 6 hit points of squishy meat wrapped in an armored shell. For sure that armor saved his life, though, on more than one occasion. I was going to ditch it before long, but now I think I might keep it, maybe throw on an enhancement bonus or upgrade to plate.

A level one Psychic is pretty much like playing a Sorcerer with armor, but with less useful bloodline powers. One of the other players lent me a longspear for the adventure, but of course I was rubbish hitting anything at a -7. It did help to fill a role as flanking buddy.

Cast two Detect Thoughts and three Mind Thrusts. For one of those thrusts the goblins saved; on the other two I rolled really low on damage. I managed to use the Mental Placidity power once against an enemy cleric's negative energy channel, and the bonus to allies kept two of them from taking full damage. It also helped that there's no range given for the power; I was at one edge of the cleric's range and half of my party was on the other end.

I had no first level spells left for the big Bugbear boss at the end, so I spammed Daze and Flare in his face until the rest of the party finished him off.

Suggestions:

Why not a Phrenic Pool at level one? It would really help this class to feel useful. It's especially frustrating to make your will save with Mental Placidity and read that you should be regaining Phrenic Points, except you don't have that feature and won't for two levels.

They're so much like Sorcerers that I feel they should have something equivalent to Bloodline Arcana. For Tranquility a bonus to concentration checks (call "Stillness of Mind" or some such) seems about right. Actually, the Tranquil Discipline seems pretty short-changed compared the other disciplines.


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

The last line of this spell says

Animate Rope wrote:


The spell cannot affect objects carried or worn by a creature.

Affect is a strong word. The most obvious reading is that you can't cast the spell on a rope tied to an enemy's belt.

Can an animated rope that you hold "enwrap" an object held by an opponent?


Animate Rope lets you throw a rope-like object - I assume this would include a whip - as a ranged touch attack roll with an increment range of ten feet. This enwraps either a creature or an object.

Can one use this to perform a disarm maneuver? The two main advantages I can see to doing this is that the target loses strength and BAB bonus to CMD (since it's a touch attack) and it kind of gets the caster Weapon Finesse for free, but only for this spell. Also, a bonus from Improved Disarm.

This would allow a Dex-based human caster to take Improved Disarm at first level and have it be useful without Weapon Finesse.


First off, I love it more than most stuff in this book. Seems like this class and Discipline is as close as PF comes to a Scanner.

Survival: I love it. Even fits with how the guy in the above clip starts as a hobo.

Mental Placidity: I'm a big fan of immediate actions. One that buffs your will against an incoming mental attack and can provide a buff to fellow party members affected is gravy.

Sleep bonus spell: Sure, sounds good.

Detect Thoughts bonus spell: Errrrn. This is where I'm raising an eyebrow. Every other Discipline gets a second level spell at four, but not Tranquility.

Detect Thoughts is a natch first level spell for a Scanner. Add to this the fact that the only Psychic Spell offered at first is a mind thrust, which is a divination that offers HP damage and a Will save, and is also extremely Scannerific . Spell Focus: Divination seem like a good first level feat, maybe? Considering that Detect Thoughts looks like the only other divination with a Will save at first level, and the two work extremely well together, flavor-wise.

Sure, you can use your fourth level free swap to change it, but that means that your so-called second level bonus spell just became Your Choice of first level spell. You get two of those when you build your character and one at level three.

In another thread I suggested Calm Emotions, but I see that the Discipline gets that as a free SLA at 5th anyway, so may I suggest Silence? What's more tranquil?

Hypnotic Pattern would also fit the theme.


Quickened Trance - move trance down one step, time wise.

So, standard at one, move at sixth, swift at tenth, free (but limit one free one per round?) at 14th.

Increased Phrenic Pool - natch.

Extra Phrenic Power - natch.

Extra Spirit bonus - at least +1.


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

Just hit level 4 on my first druid. I'm new to melee-focused characters and to polymorphing/shifting size without Enlarge/Reduce extracts.

Polymorph school says that you get the base speed of your new form, but Beast Shape lists specific base speeds for different movement types, and they're all 30. So, a dolphin swims at 30 but a Cheetah can move at 50?

Does being Beast Shaped render you immune to Baleful Polymorph?


I'm starting up a homebrew campaign soon. Rather than the typical "meet in an inn" scenario or "you answer a want ad for adventurers", I'd like the PC's to have some pre-existing connection with each other, and maybe a humble home village as well.

What are some ways to encourage a closer knit PC party and discourage murder-hoboism? This is with the intention of cutting down on PVP disputes and increasing emotional investment. On the other hand, I'd like to give the players free reign to express themselves; if one player comes to the table with a noble-born Paladin and another with a gutter-rat cutpurse I don't want to shut anyone down. Although I will shut down gunslingers because it's a medieval-tech campaign.

I should mention that I haven't even posted an ad for the group yet.


Melee Bones Oracle stats:

Nikolai Vladimir Ivanov
CN Human Oracle

Str 15
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 07
Cha 18


Feats/Revelations:

Bones Mystery
Haunted Curse

Revelations/Feats

1 Near Death/Improved Unarmed Strike, ER: Resist Life
3 Power Attack
4 +1 Strength. Retrain Magic Weapon for Compel Hostility?
5 Spell Focus: Necromancy
7 Undead Servitude, Improved Channel.
8 +1 Wisdom
9 Vital Strike?

Traits: +1 Reflex
Dangerously Curious

Level 1 Spells: Inflict Light Wounds, Magic Weapon

background:

RPwise, this is a guy who starts out wanting nothing whatsoever to do with divine magic. One day, while trying to get with a girl in a graveyard, he's bitten by a Dhampir Scarab beetle, which gives him the gift of the second sight. He can now talk to dead people, but only his ancestors, who are in turn descended from the Kings of Sloktrovia, a forgotten kingdom between Irrisen and Varisia. Ghosts of dead Ivanovs constantly express their disappointment by knocking dropped objects away from him.

Before getting his Oracle powers, he was a more melee-focused guy. He got in a lot of barfights before getting the Oracle powers, which makes him good at punching and kicking, but he knows the value of keeping trouble at a distance (and is kind of a coward), hence the spear.

I'm looking for suggestions for a first level feat that boosts to-hit and/or damage for melee.

Mechanically, the Resist Life/Inflict spells are there because I have trouble resisting double duty features; the spell that harms most bad guys will heal our hero. However, in looking over this I also notice that I didn't pick a third level revelation, so either I can put Undead Servitude there or Voice of the Grave or simply push Resist Life to third and take a melee feat for 1st level.

But which one? The problem isn't so much the damage, it's hitting. If I cast Magic Weapon on a longspear I'm looking at +3 to hit with it at first level, which strikes me as suboptimal. If I take Bless instead I still get +3 but trade the damage bonus to share with friends.

On the other hand, there are probably better spells I could take at level one. Protection from Evil, for instance, can get a lot of use because you can cast it on others.

Weapon Focus? I think I can do better.

I should add that I'm not used to playing melee characters, and the ones I play are nearly always high Dex builds.

I'd also like to get some use out of the longspear's brace ability. Is there something that helps taunt bad guys into charging me?


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

Can a character make an unarmed strike while also holding a two-handed weapon?

I'm thinking of Attacks of Opportunity while holding a reach weapon (like a longspear) into adjacent zones not threatened by the weapon.

I'm also thinking of times when you'd rather deliver a touch spell (with an Improved Unarmed Strike) than hit with your two-handed weapon. I assume this is possible, but can we also assume that you get to grab your weapon (with both hands) after making such an attack? This would be handy for opportunity attacks, especially if you just dropped the mook with a touch spell.


Speak with Dead takes ten minutes to cast, but this ability lets you use it for rounds per day equal to Oracle level.

Since it is unlikely that the Oracle PC will reach level 100, we can assume that the casting time is not included. But that brings up further questions:

Is it simply a standard action to use the ability?

Is it a free action, but only lasts for nonconsecutive rounds equal to level, starting with the round you activate it? If so, what if the spook makes its will save? Does the round you first attempted to use it count?

Do you have to take the ten minutes to cast (use?) this ability "as the spell", but the duration is simply swaps rounds/level for minutes/level?

If the spook is evasive, does this count towards your rounds/day? Seems like a rough GM could really nerf this ability.


Does Shared Suffering heal creatures that are undead (and cast the spell), or react to negative energy like one?

Is the damage dealt to the target negative energy damage or just regular damage? I know that it only targets living creatures, but there are some effects that make living creatures react to channeling like undead, IIRC.

Edited for clarity.


39 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 3 people marked this as a favorite.
Effortless Trickery wrote:


Your natural knack for illusion allows you to maintain at least one illusion spell with little effort.

Prerequisite: Gnome.

Benefit: You can maintain concentration on one spell of the illusion school as a swift action. This has no effect on spells of other schools or on illusion spells with durations that don’t depend on your active concentration. While you may only maintain one spell as a swift action, you may take your move and standard actions to maintain other spells normally, if you wish.

Normal: Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Emphasis mine.

What I take from this is that you may cast an illusion spell and maintain it while you're doing standard actions such as casting spells. However,

Spell Duration wrote:

The spell lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can also break your concentration while you're maintaining one, causing the spell to end. See concentration.

You can't cast a spell while concentrating on another one. Some spells last for a short time after you cease concentrating.

Emphasis mine.

So how does one maintain other spells normally while using the feat to maintain as a swift if you can't maintain two at once? Does Effortless Trickery count as an exception to the boldfaced duration rule above? If so, why isn't that part of the "normal" section of the feat?


Has PFS ever taken a stand on how illusion spells work?

I'm talking in particular about what constitutes "interacting" for the purposes of the "Image" series of spells.


So, this might be an odd question.

Ventriloquism has a verbal component.

Huh?

I mean, I get that the end result is a magically "thrown" voice. But the whole point of actual ventriloquism is that the ventriloquist's lips don't appear to move. So, if you're seen using a verbal component, then the jig is kind of up, right? Unless it's meant that the verbal component refers to the sound produced, which also wouldn't make sense.

How is this supposed to work? Can the caster fold her arms and/or drink a glass of water while the voices are coming from somewhere else?


This is for PFS.

Gnome Stats:

Str 5
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 20

Trait: Born Rider (+1 Ride and Handle Animal)

The concept is that this is a particularly lazy individual who abandoned the toil and drudgery of his parents' gem mine for a life of adventure. He rides on a llama, usually as far from the battle as possible.

First level spells will be Silent Image and Ventriloquism. First level feat will be Effortless trickery. His specialty will be illusory walls or creating the illusion of a giant evil looking wizard or monster (depending on the enemy) and using Ventriloquism to give him a voice to intimidate enemies.

As a Sorcerer, this guy gets a familiar (Arcane Bloodline), which would be either a rabbit (Improved Init) or a Skunk (+2 Fort, Spray attack).

As a Bard, he gets better armor, better skills, knowledge, performance, blah, blah, blah.

Sorcerer has a better spell selection/list (eventually). I'm not interested in Color Spray (as a known spell; I'd use a scroll or wand), but a wand of Mage Armor would be handy. Course, a chain shirt +1 is even better...

As a Sorcerer, I'd be tempted to make Spell Focus: Illusion his first level feat so as to get Threatening Spell as a third level spell and get some use out of the 3rd level bloodline power. On the other hand, taking effortless trickery at first level means getting a lot more out of a silent image, since I can use not only Ventriloquism but also Ghost Sounds to supplement the illusion. And a Still Spell'd Silent Image is even more convincing and gets a bump in DC.

...'course, I also could use the truckload of skill points the bard gets me for staying on the llama with Ride and Handle Animal...

Argh! This is a really tough call. I should also mention that I've never played a pure Sorcerer before. The one time I dipped was with a drow rogue going for Arcane Trickster in a home brew who got creamed immediately after taking a level in Sorcerer.


I can't seem to find a price for a Llama on the srd. Is it not possible to purchase a Llama or obtain one without being a druid or ranger or hunter or wild child (etc)?


Gnome Sorcerer 1

Str 5
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 20

Arcane Bloodline

Spell Focus: Illusion

1st level Spells: Silent Image, Color Spray or Ventriloquism?

Favored class: Skill Point

Skills:

Bluff
Handle Animal
Knowledge: Arcana
Ride (or Spellcraft)

I was thinking for a magic trait I might try Magical Flair. Other trait will be Born Rider. ASAP I'm going to purchase a Llama and he'll ride on it most of the time.

Going to go with a familiar. I'm trying to decide between a skunk and a rabbit. If I go Rabbit, then I'll invest in touch spells as soon as deliver touch spells is available. I'm attracted to the spray attack and Fort bonus of the Skunk, though.

Could use a better trait than magical flair. I seem to recall one that you picked a magic school and increased DC's by one, but maybe I'm crossing my wires.

Suggestions?


SRD wrote:

Foolhardy Rush

At 2nd level, the cavalier can charge across the battlefield at a moment's notice. Whenever the cavalier attempts an initiative check, as long as he rolls an 11 or higher on the die, he can move up to his base speed as an immediate action and he is not considered flat-footed.

If the cavalier takes an action to move during his next turn, he subtracts the number of feet moved during the initiative check from his total movement.

So... the Cavalier can move at his base speed? Does this apply to a mount that the cavalier is on? At the mount's base speed, which will invariably be greater than the Cavalier's?

If the Cavalier does this and moves the mount's full speed, does he get to dismount and move his full speed?

Also, how do you attempt an initiative check? Shouldn't it read "rolls his initiative"?

Same question (mount or Cavalier?) on Blaze of Glory.


SRD wrote:

Foolhardy Rush

At 2nd level, the cavalier can charge across the battlefield at a moment's notice. Whenever the cavalier attempts an initiative check, as long as he rolls an 11 or higher on the die, he can move up to his base speed as an immediate action and he is not considered flat-footed.

If the cavalier takes an action to move during his next turn, he subtracts the number of feet moved during the initiative check from his total movement.

So... the Cavalier can move at his base speed? Does this apply to a mount that the cavalier is on? At the mount's base speed, which will invariably be greater than the Cavalier's?

If the Cavalier does this and moves the mount's full speed, does he get to dismount and move his full speed?

Also, how do you attempt an initiative check? Shouldn't it read "rolls his initiative"?

Same question (mount or Cavalier?) on Blaze of Glory.


Am I allowed to have a Sprite Familiar at level 5? The d20pfsrd has it on the list, but I don't see it on the Paizo PRD.


2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

Most Elementals seem to be more or less humanoid, at least according to the artwork.


So when you take this feat, what's involved with picking a new, different familiar as you level, if your old familiar(s) don't die?


Greater Invisibility is a third level Summoner spell. Is a potion legal in PFS?


There are a bunch of situations where I think an Alchemist hiding his vestigial arm could come in handy, such as:

1) Placing both hands on a table to illustrate that you're no threat to the person across the table, then stabbing them with a poisoned dagger.

2) Getting captured and shackled with the assumption that you only have two hands.

3) Cheating at cards.

4) Stealing/palming an item small enough to be held in one hand, and then showing your two innocent palms.

5) Picking a pocket.

6) Passing an item to a comrade surreptitiously.

Most of these are going to be sleight of hand checks, some of which might arguably be aided by a bluff.

But what of the basic hiding of the arm itself? Sleight of hand (An Alchemist skill)? Disguise? Bluff? Craft Clothing/costume?


Are Darkwood items allowed in PFS?


This would be for a range-focused bomb-chucking Alchemist.

I'm thinking:

1)Always be holding a poisoned dagger in case of melee attacks.
2)Extra heal potion or wand for downed comrades? But administering it isn't a free action.
3)Be holding the magic MacGuffin item.
4)Extra potion.
5)Set of thieves' tools?


Human Alchemist 4

Walter:

Str 10
Dex 14
Con 13
Int 20
Wis 13
Cha 07

Traits:

Indomitable Faith
Reactionary

1 Point Blank Shot, Improved Initiative
2 Tumor Familiar (Rhamporhyncus)
3 ED: Precise Bomb

Gear:

Ring+1
Cloak +1
Chain Shirt +1
Haversack
various goodies like Periscope, rope, brooch of shielding with forty points left

I'm thinking either Strafe Bomb or Ectoplasmic. I'm leaning Strafe because his next two mods are Shadow's Last Stand, which I have no reason to suspect include undead (no spoilers).

EDIT: Wrong mod.


Is there a way to increase your effective Fighter level for feats without actually taking all of the levels? Like, if you have a 6HD character with one or two levels dipping in Slayer, and you want to qualify for feats with a 6th level Fighter prereq?


Archer:

Str 14
Dex 18
Con 12
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 8

Fighter 1 (Weapon Master)/Slayer 2/Fighter X

Traits
Armor Expert/ Carefully Hidden

Feats:
1 Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Focused Shot
2 No feat/ Slayer level. Studied Target.
3 Weapon Focus: Longbow. Slayer Talent: Deadly Aim.
4 Improved Initiative
5 Rapid Shot
6 Weapon Specialization. Retrain Focused Shot into Manyshot.
7 Clustered Shots (or Iron Will, if I'm flunking too many Will saves)
8 Disrupting Shot
9 Improved Iron Will or Hammer the Gap

The first four levels of this build are about taking one monster shot. I keep trying to work in Improved Init before level 4, but I really like having a Focused Shot at first level and I really like taking WF and Deadly Aim together, to offset Deadly Aim's penalty to hit.

At fourth level with a +1 Composite Longbow I'm seeing +12/d8+6 or +10/d8+10, with a move action to position or tumble. Or I could five foot and study for +11/d8+11.

The Slayer levels are mostly there to give me Stealth, Acrobatics, and Bluff (every character should be good at least one face skill, right?). The studied strike is icing on the cake; I plan on keeping fairly mobile once I pick up Stealth and all those skill points at level two.

Since she won't be an optimized sneak or acrobat at level one, I'll probably pick up some Medium Armor right away to offset squishiness - Hide for session one and Scale Mail after. After that it's a Chain Shirt plus Ring.

The terrible Will save is bugging me; I'll probably invest in a Cloak of Resistance before getting a Ring.


So let's say it's been about two years (almost three) since I played PFS. I had a 4th level character before I moved but I've moved twice since then. Can't find any of the characters paperwork.

Let's say the stats for the character (at level one) are at Paizo. Let's further say that the feat chain was posted on a messageboard, so that's recovered.

Let's further further say that I can remember the basics of the character's equipment but not the specifics, and not how much gold the character earned on his last mission.

Am I still allowed to play this character? Is there a guide for minimum amount of gp based on number of scenarios played?


19 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ. 2 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm confused.

If the Scorpion Whip is pretty much the same as a regular whip except that it has extra blades in it (and is fancier?), and is heavier, why is it a light weapon when the whip is one-handed melee?

Why not classify it as a kind of whip instead of the bizarre "you can treat it as a whip if you're proficient with whips"?

If you're proficient with a whip, is the Scorpion Whip a finesse weapon?

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