seiken's page

Yeah, we are playing Pathfinder. Currently 5 PCs, but the rogue will be leaving in a couple months. The bard ended up taking a trait that gives her Disable Device as a class skill, so she'll pick up the slack after the rogue leaves. Thanks for all the help and advice on alternative trap solutions!

Hah, okay... so it's probably a bad idea then :)

What sort of effect would it have in this AP if none of the PCs had Disable Device? Would they be screwed? Are there other ways to get through traps?

Thanks, gents! Very helpful.

One of my players asked me the following:

"When you increase ability scores, is everything retroactive? I know CON increases become retroactive in terms of hit point gain for all levels.
Does that apply to INT for skill points?
If I increase INT to 16 at lvl 4, do I get 4 extra skill points immediately?"

The rules for constitution say:
"If a character's Constitution score changes enough to alter his or her Constitution modifier, the character's hit points also increase or decrease accordingly."

I never considered this affecting previous levels before, but now he's got me confused. I figured if your CON mod increased by +1 at lvl 4, then that would only affect lvl 4 and up. Does it actually give you 3 extra hp for lvls 1-3 as well?

Thanks.

Okay, great. Thanks a lot.

Hi,

Sorry if this information is really obviously shown somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.

Is there a release date for the RotR Pawn Collection? I see the PDF version is set for Sep 26, but what about the print edition? I am always bugging the guys at my local store asking my order came in yet. All they can tell me is it's supposed to come in this month.

Thanks.

Well don't I feel dumb now :) Yes, they are humans. That answers it.

Everyone leveled up in my group, and I seem to have missed something on all of their skill ranks.

For example, let's take the Wizard. CRB says they get 2 + Int mod ranks at level up. Her mod is +4 so she gets 6 ranks. I leveled her up in Hero Lab to see if I had it right, and it said she gets 7 ranks. This would make sense if I chose the extra skill rank from her favoured class, but we went with the extra hit point instead. If I select the extra skill rank instead, then the Skills tab says I have 8 ranks to allot.

So where is that extra skill rank coming from? What does Hero Lab see that I don't?

It was the same with the Cleric. 2 + int mod, and the Cleric has int mod of 0, yet Hero Lab says he gets 3 skill ranks.

For the fighter, again they should get 2 + int mod. His int mod is +1 so he should get 3 per level, yet at 2nd level he now has 8 skill ranks (4 per level) in Hero Lab.

The rogue is the only one that makes sense to me. CRB says 8 + int mod. His int mod is 0, so he gets 8 per level. At level 2, he now has 16 skill ranks in Hero Lab.

Thanks.

Thanks, everyone!

When you have the Two Weapon Fighting feat, and you want to attack with both weapons (main hand & off hand), do you get to do both as a standard action (because of the feat), or does that still require a full round action (like without the feat)? Is the feat just to reduce the penalties on your attack rolls?

Ah, I see them now. Thanks.

Hi,

I hope this is the right forum to ask this. I am using Hero Lab to create some PCs for a new campaign. One of my players wants to choose a subdomain (from the APG) for his cleric, but I can't figure out where to pick it in Hero Lab. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Seiken

Thanks, everyone. Makes sense now :)

I am learning to GM, and am running some friends through Crypt of the Everflame so we can all get the hang of things before jumping into an Adventure Path.

The below contains spoilers, so don't read if you don't want to know what happens.

I just don't get this at all, and would really appreciate if someone could help me understand how this is supposed to work.

Thanks!

Thanks very much, everyone! I looked in the rules, but couldn't find this stuff for some reason.

If a spell has a casting time of 1 round, does it get cast the next time the caster comes up in the initiative order? How many actions does it take?

For example: Wizard uses a move action, then starts casting a spell with 1 round casting time. On his next turn, when the spell hits its target, does that count as his/her standard action for that turn, or is it free since he/she used a standard on it the last turn?

Thanks.

Thanks again for all the help, everyone.

Sorcerers didn't actually get archetypes until UM. They got new bloodlines in APG, but no real archetypes.

He is able to select both wildblooded bloodlines, as they won't replace the same feature.

In essence, this guy will have 3 archetypes: crossblooded, wildbloodline #1, and wildbloodline #2.

Hope that helps!

Thank you. That does help somewhat. Where can I find more info on archetypes? For example, how did you know about the whole "won't replace the same feature" thing?

Hello,

Someone in my group is creating a new Sorcerer, and was mentioning the archetypes he was going to choose. Most of our group is new, and I didn't even know archetypes existed for Sorcerers until he mentioned this.

He wants to be crossblooded, and he wants one of his 2 bloodlines to be Wildblooded.

I don't see any info on Sorcerer archetypes in the Core Rules Book or Advanced Player's Guide. In the Ultimate Magic book, however, it lists both of the above mentioned archetypes (but no others), on page 66, and says the following:

"The following section introduces new sorcerer bloodlines, as well as two new sorcerer archetypes..."

The way it flows, I get the feeling that other archetypes have been mentioned somewhere before the Ultimate Magic book was released. Starting on page 69, the book then goes over the 2 archetypes, but doesn't give any general rules for selecting them. With bloodlines, it gives a short summary of what a bloodline is before going into a detailed description of each one.

The problem with this is I am trying to figure out if the guy in my group can actually select both archetypes, and if there would be any penalties for that. He has more knowledge about this stuff from when he used to play D&D 2.0 a long time ago (says he was bad for minmaxing), and I just want to make sure his character is balanced with the rest of the party so they don't feel secondary. I want it to be about fun and roleplay, not about taking advantage of the mechanics to be overpowered in a numbers game.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

This is actually about something that came up in one of the Beginner Box Bash demos ("Relics"), but I see myself needing to know how to handle this once my groups gets beyond the Beginner Box, so I thought I should ask here.

One of the players rolled Chaotic Neutral Sorcerer named Jack. In the demo adventure, they had to go into a trapped crypt to retrieve a shepherd's crosier from a hidden cache. Once the crosier is retrieved, they are jumped by the Bloody Knuckles gang who will spare their lives if they hand over the crosier.

In this room, there is a large 40 foot pit with columns reaching up to the normal floor level. They can walk across these columns, but if they step on them too many times, the columns will fall.

So one of the gang members tries to get across to the players, but he steps on a column that has already taken a couple steps, and it falls down 20 feet. He fails the reflex save to keep his balance, so he falls off and lands another 20 feet below. He's not doing so well.

At this point, the thug is done. If he tries to climb up 40 feet, he's either going to fall and die or get shot and die. Once his next turn comes around, he surrenders, and asks if they can just put him in jail instead of killing him. The players all laugh at him (fair enough, he was just trying to kill them). Jack asks if he can throw his flask of alchemists fire on top of him. I say he's welcome to try, but the thug might catch it before it smashes.

So on Jack's turn, rather than go for one of the guys up top who are more threatening, he decides to fire his light crossbow at the thug from atop one of the columns. He misses. On the thug's next turn, he again begs for his life. He says the only reason he was doing this was because of the power his boss has over him. He kneels and begins praying to his god. Jack again shoots and misses.

On the thug's next turn, he is still praying, and says nothing further to the players. The party's oracle appreciates this, and starts to question Jack. Jack, after missing twice already and now getting disapproval from the oracle, is agitated. He fires a third time and puts the thug below 0 hp. You would think that would be the end of it, but no...

Once the other gang members are dealt with, Jack says he could definitely hit with that flask of alchemists fire now. The oracle really doesn't think that is necessary. Jack says, "Oh, now I'm gonna do it just because you said not to!" And he throws the flask down at the unconscious thug, setting him ablaze and completely killing him.

So I guess my question is: Does that fall into Chaotic Neutral, or is Jack evil? If he is actually evil, what happens? Does it actually affect anything? Does anyone care?

Jiggy's right about Shot on the run, (wand on the run)

In core mechanics, I believe it would be.

Round 1: Step into the gap (move action) fire wand (standard action).
Round 2: Fire wand (standard action), step out of gap (move action).

So he'd have cover from right before his action in round 1, and be exposed until the end of his action in round 2.

Net result is he's under full cover every other round. He still gets the advantage of acting every round, and gets cover half the time.

To put it in 'simulationist' terms. The sorcerer is stepping out hoping no one is on the other side of the wall with an axe, taking the time to select a target, focusing, saying the command word. Not bad for 6 sections of action.

I like this.

Thank you very much to both of you as well. This should hopefully be enough to get me through this type of fight in the future.

Hm... Depends a bit on the actual positioning. If memory serves, you only need line of sight from one corner of your own square (but don't quote me on that), which would mean one of the following:

1. He doesn't need to "lean" because that's already abstracted into the ability to aim from one corner of his own square, or

2. The target is so far out of line of sight that he needs to actually leave his square anyway, making the whole "leaning" thing moot.

Okay, I get this, but let's say the sorcerer, the pillar, and the bad guy are all lined up so none of the sorcerer's corners can reach his enemy's corners. It doesn't have to be a pillar. Maybe he is trying to fire through a door from behind the adjacent wall, like so...

....S
XXX[]XXX

....B

S is the sorcerer, B is the bad guy, and [] is the open door space. X is a solid wall.

Tell the sorcerer that after all is said and done, he gets the cover bonus for the pillar and that's that.

I don't fully understand this. Are you saying just tell him he can't do it (the leaning move), but he's getting cover so that's the trade off for hiding behind the pillar?

I am new, and am GMing for some new players. A situation came up last night that I wasn't sure how to handle since I can't find any rules for it.

Our sorcerer was behind a pillar that took up a full square. He wanted to lean out from behind it and fire his wand of magic missile, then stop leaning so that he was behind the pillar again.

The way I looked at it is he is using a move action to lean, then a standard to fire, then would need another move to stop leaning (making this impossible with the actions available to him), but this was just a guess. If he was still technically standing behind the pillar, and occupying that square, how could he attack from the square adjacent? I told the player he couldn't do it, and it felt bad. I want them to be able to try anything.

How would you have handled it? No extra move action, but some sort of DEX check to pull off the tricky leaning move? No DEX check at all, but a penalty on the attack roll? Both? If a penalty on the attack roll, I wasn't sure how this would work with magic missile since it hits automatically (there is no roll).

How would you handle it with a bow or crossbow instead of magic missile?

Also about wands, do they need a free/empty hand to use (like when casting a spell), or can you use a wand while you have a staff or crossbow in your other hand?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Mauril & Thorkull: Thank you very much! Both of your posts were extremely helpful, and I understand now.

seiken wrote:

He can also choose to attack with both claws (maybe he dropped his sword), and get +2 on the attack roll instead, dealing a bit more damage if he hits. The d20+2 is just rolled once. If it hits the player, the skeleton has successfully hit with "2 claws".

I didn't see this specifically corrected by anyone already in this thread, but it should be noted that this portion is not correct.

If something lists as "2 claws", it's still two attack rolls. The skeleton gets two separate claw attacks each rolled at +2. You roll damage for each successful hit. Effectively, "2 claws +2 (1d4+2)" is the same as listing "claw +2 (1d4+2) and claw +2 (1d4+2)", but is shorter, saving space in stat blocks, especially for things like octopuses with 8 tentacles.

Hi, and thank you for this correction. Without your explanation, it is very confusing. How is a GM supposed to know this?

"Melee broken scimitar +0 (1d6), claw –3 (1d4+1) or 2 claws +2 (1d4+2)"

So in one scenario, we have the skeleton attacking with a scimitar in one hand, and his claw in the other hand. On the claw in this case, he takes a -3 penalty because the chances of hitting are much less than his hand with the scimitar in it.

In another scenario, we have him simply attacking with 2 claws instead of using the scimitar. Logically, I have to wonder why the claws now each get +2 (and each deal more damage) when one of them before didn't receive this +2. It makes me wonder why the skeleton would ever use his scimitar; The scimitar+claw attack will do between 3-11 damage while the 2 claws attack will do 6-12. It seems like attacking with a scimitar & claw should do more damage than 2 claws. This is why I find it confusing, and wonder how a GM is supposed to just know this. Is it explained somewhere?

Thanks again for all your help. I really appreciate it! I and my players are all very new and still running through the Bash demos, so it's great to clear this all up before getting into the Core rules.

Thank you, Thorkull. I wasn't aware of the multiple attacks. I could use some clarification on the part about "full attack action" though.

Does that mean if the skeleton moves first, then he can't hit with the scimitar and 1 claw as his attack? But if he's already adjacent and doesn't have to move, then he can hit with both?

I don't get it for the Aboleth either. Are there any situations where he would hit with 1, 2, or 3 tentacles, or is it always 4? Thanks!

Ah, okay. I see now :) Yeah, that is just a little intro simulation to show you how rolling and adding modifiers work. Don't read too much into it. It's +4 just because they wanted it to have a chance at actually hitting you in the simulation so you could see what it's like to deduct hp from yourself. It's just for fun, and doesn't mean he's a boss or anything.

I thought the Beginner Box adventure was called Black Fang's Dungeon (I have the BB, btw). Where are you seeing this Skeleton King's Crypt adventure with the skeleton with +4?

I looked up this in the SRD:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/skeleton.html#skeleton

Is that what you mean?

It says:
Melee broken scimitar +0 (1d6), claw –3 (1d4+1) or 2 claws +2 (1d4+2)

So if he uses his scimitar, he gets +0 on the d20 attack roll and does 1d6 damage.

If he attacks with a claw, he takes a -3 penalty on the attack roll, and deals 1d4+1 if he hits.

He can also choose to attack with both claws (maybe he dropped his sword), and get +2 on the attack roll instead, dealing a bit more damage if he hits. The d20+2 is just rolled once. If it hits the player, the skeleton has successfully hit with "2 claws".

Can you type it out exactly as it's shown in the stat block? I don't have that adventure, so I can't look it up.

It's in the Offense section of the monster's stat block.

For example: Aboleth on page 8.

Offense:
Speed 10 ft, swim 60 ft
Melee 4 tentacles +10 (1d6+5 plus slime)

So it gets +10 on the attack roll, and hits for 1d6+5 damage, and slimes the player (described below the block in Special Abilities). The melee attack is called "4 tentacles".

Sunrod: This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped, iron rod glows brightly when struck as a standard action. It sheds normal light in a 30-foot radius and increases the light level by one step for an additional 30 feet beyond that area (darkness becomes dim light and dim light becomes normal light). A sunrod does not increase the light level in normal light or bright light. It glows for 6 hours, after which the gold tip is burned out and worthless.

From the PRD, equipment section:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/equipment.html

:)

-S

Thank you! I guess since we are in the BB forum, I thought this would be in the Hero's Handbook or Game Master's Guide somewhere. Also, searching for "sunrod" on the SRD doesn't return the best results. You really have to already know which section of the Core book it is in.

I see people mention sun rods all over the place, but I can't find them in my books or in the SRD. Where do you get them, and where can I find more info?

Light source of some type. I'm a fan of a clutch of sun rods but lanterns or torches will do in a pinch.

Or go the route of my Paladin and get Continual flame cast on your weapon.

Here's how my players' encounter with the goblins went:

The rogue stealthed around the entrance to see them (after hearing the voices). She then wanted to throw one of her daggers at one, hoping to have them funnel through the doorway to the fountain room and be picked off by the party one-by-one.

She missed. Rather than alarming the goblins, I said the dagger landed in a pile of soft dirt making almost no sound. Since the goblins were distracted (arguing over the lost toy, digging through their treasure chest), they didn't notice. Rather than throw another dagger, the party decided to all enter the room.

As they noticed the goblins fumbling around in the treasure chest, Fatmouth sees them and shouts, "Who you?!"

The players were pretty confused that the goblins were staying put and talking to them instead of rushing for battle upon sight. The conversation went well, so the players went to find the toy.

When they brought the toy back, Fatmouth was pleased, but still acted like an arrogant dick towards them. I mentioned that Fatmouth looked back at the treasure chest, then back at the players with a suspicious look. He tells them he won't kill them since it will benefit him if they kill the dragon. He commands them to be on their way.

While attempting to climb the cliff, a couple players fell and took a bit of damage. I made sure to let the players know how much the goblins were laughing at their misfortune. I was trying hard to get the players to start a fight since I wanted them to have the treasure for the fight with Black Fang.

The party was in rough shape for hit points, and the cleric could only do so much to heal them. They had already used the potion of cure light wounds earlier in the dungeon. I wondered out loud if there might be anything in the goblin's chest to help them with that (but didn't specifically mention the wand of cure light wounds).

The rogue decided to drink the potion of invisibilty. She went back down the rope, snuck over to the chest, and while the goblins were fighting over the toy, she lifted the items from the chest and used the rope to easily climb back up the cliff to rejoin the party.

After the encounter with Black Fang, they had to make their way back through the goblin room to leave the dungeon. Upon reaching the bottom of the cliff, Fatmouth immediately accused them of somehow stealing his treasure. They tried to deny it, but the angry irrational king was in the mood for battle now even if they were telling the truth. The players killed the lot of them and got extra XP.

Maybe beef up the Captain's Bluff skill, and make the DC high on the Sense Motive / Detect Evil roll so the PCs have a very slim chance of succeeding.

Thank you, everyone, for all your answers.

Range Increments:

On the Rogue pre-gen sheet, it shows the range on the dagger as only 10 feet, yet the Cleric's sling has a range of 50 feet. On page 56 of the Hero's Handbook, under "Ranged Attack", it says the following: "The maximum range for a thrown weapon is 5 times the range increment listed in the weapon description. For example, a dagger has a range increment of 10 feet, so you can throw it a maximum of 50 feet." Okay, fair enough, that makes sense so far. However, it then says: "The max range for bows, crossbows, and slings is 10 times the range increment listed in the weapon description." Well, the sling on the cleric's sheet says range increment of 50 feet, so does that mean she can actually throw it 500 feet? If it's actually just 50 feet, why doesn't it say "5 feet" for the range increment? How are you supposed to know when to multiply and when to leave it?

Reloading Crossbows:

On page 56 of the Hero's Handbook, it says "drawing arrows, crossbow bolts, or sling bullets isn't an action at all--you can do it as part of using your standard action to attack with a bow, crossbow or sling." Then below, it says "Moving or manipulating an item is usually a move action. This includes opening or closing a door, getting something out of your backpack, reloading a light crossbow, knocking over a table or chair, and so on." So first it says drawing crossbow bolts doesn't count as an action, then it says reloading a crossbow is a move action. What is the difference between these 2 things?

Thanks!