| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Alright, so a couple of things.
He has: 10 (base) +49! (sense motive) + 27 (BAB) +4 (non-humanoid bonus) + 19 (worst case dice-roll that isn't auto success) = 109.
He can also add 1d12 to any roll he makes, 10 times per day. I am not considering this because it's only 10 times and I'm happy to just wait for him burn through it.
I'd really recommend you to read through the feinting rules again. You have severely overestimated the Great Old One's defense against feinting.
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.
When feinting against a non-humanoid you take a –4 penalty. Against a creature of animal Intelligence (1 or 2), you take a –8 penalty. Against a creature lacking an Intelligence score, it’s impossible. Feinting in combat does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
First of all, it's either 10 + BAB + Wis Mod, or Sense Motive +10. Whichever is higher.
For the Great Old One, that would be it's Sense Motive +10, namely 59. And then add 4 because it's nonhumanoid, for a total of 63.
Also, the target of a Feint does not roll anything. Every creature has a static Feint DC. This means that the Surge ability is not relevant when you feint it. That is why you add 10 to their Sense Motive modifier, since they are considered as 'Taking 10' on their check.
Also also, a natural 20 on a skill check is not an automatic success. A natural 1 isn't an automatic failure, either.
items:
Mask stony demeanor, +5, competence to bluff
Deceptive weapon enhancement, +5, enhancement to bluff
Circlet of persuasion, +3, competence to cha checks
Stone of good luck, +1, luck (all skill checks)
Cracked pink and green ioun, +1, untyped
Circlet of Persuasion and the Mask of Stony Demeanor does both take up the 'Head' magic item slot, so without GM approval you would not be able to use both items. And they're both providing competence bonuses, which won't stack.
The 'Cracked Pink and Green Ioun Stone' provides a competence bonus, so it would not stack with the Mask.
traits and racial bonuses:
Nonchalant thuggery trait, +4, trait bonus to bluff checks
Fate’s favored, +1, improves other luck bonuses
Duplicitous Kitsune racial trait, +2, racial bonus
I'm not sure Nonchalant Thuggery would provide its bonus to Feint checks. Luckily, you won't need it since you only need a Feint bonus of 53 if you can take 10.
If you're messing around with feints you might look at the devoted muse prestige class. Though it wouldn't advance sneak attack, a couple of levels in it give you some useful options.
Luckily, you won't need it since you only need a Feint bonus of 53 if you can take 10.
I always take 10 when I psyche out eldritch abominations that can shatter your mind just by existing.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Luckily, you won't need it since you only need a Feint bonus of 53 if you can take 10.I always take 10 when I psyche out eldritch abominations that can shatter your mind just by existing.
It's kinda like riding a bike. Once you've feinted one or two it just isn't that stressful anymore.
*******
@William H
You could buy a Tactically Adapted cestus/gauntlet for 2000 gp, and add the 'Distracting' property to them. This would give you +2 to Feint.
As for nonchalant thuggery, it's a bonus to bluff 'to stop other from noticing your aggressive actions'. Wouldn't that include feinting?
I like the way you think.
As for nonchalant thuggery, it's a bonus to bluff 'to stop other from noticing your aggressive actions'. Wouldn't that include feinting?
Up to your GM I guess. You feint by doing a 'fake attack', leaving your opponent's guard open as they prepare for the hit that never connects. Some people may treat feinting as 'hiding your next attack', which would technically allow you to add the Nonchalant Thuggery bonus.
But I'm fairly certain the bonus is only supposed to apply to some specific cases of lying, like convincing the guards that you're not mugging the shopkeeper in broad daylight.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, in a non-cannon story developed by a guy who had no understanding of Lovecraftian lore. Irrelevant due to the fact that the author was a gibbering idiot.Cthulhu is an elder god against which there is no defense. You go insane simply looking upon his visage. The ENTIRE point of the ENTIRE Lovecraft pantheon is that there IS no hope, no salvation, no victory. You're insane and, if you're lucky, dead shortly after. Live with it.He lost a fight to a bunch of low-level shmucks with a boat.
I feel the exact same way about Moby Dick. In no feasible way could a couple of low-lv NPCs ever defeat a Great White Whale (CR 14) without GM intervention.
Ugh, it's like Herman Melville has no understanding at all of how to properly set up an encounter.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Whale hunting is a thing. A bunch of low level NPC whalers stick harpoons into a fat whale and kill it by dragging it a long until it drowns, bleeds out, or takes critical damage from harpoons being shot into it and ripped back out. That's a piss poor comparison to a freaking elder god. A thing beyond space, time, and mortality which were inherently written to give a truly horrifying view of the gods. You CAN'T kill Cthulhu. You CAN'T feint against Cthulhu. You can just make it look at you, at which point you go bonkers. Even if you're talking about the fake Cthulhu-themed creature Pathfinder has a stat sheet for, it can't actually BE killed. It just "returns to it's tomb".
Ah, yes. But you happen to forget that pathfinder has some excellent 'Aquatic Terrain' rules that makes whale hunting practically impossible.
Characters swimming, floating, or treading water on the surface, or wading in water at least chest deep, have improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves) from opponents on land. Land-bound opponents who have freedom of movement effects ignore this cover when making melee attacks against targets in the water. A completely submerged creature has total cover against opponents on land unless those opponents have freedom of movement effects. Magical effects are unaffected except for those that require attack rolls (which are treated like any other effects) and fire effects.
Unless those NPCs jump into the water, a whale should have Total Cover when submerged, and +8 to AC otherwise. We're talking Nat 20's to actually hit it, if the whale allows them a chance. And against the Great White Whale, those NPCs also need to make a DC 27 reflex save each round or take 4d8+30 dmg.
I guess I just don't feel there's any important distinction between having a 0.0000000001% chance of succeeding and having literally zero chance of succeeding.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You probably know more about the Lovecraftian mythos than I do; I made it most of the way through Call of Cthulhu and gave it up as a bad job.
But I really don't see anything sacred about Cthulhu, any reason why someone can't have fun killing the squid-dragon-caricature of a man in a Pathfinder game, or feinting against him, or whatever. I mean, high level adventurers have more and stronger powers listed on their character sheet than God does in the Old Testament. They, with their swords and bows and spells, annihilate angels and demons and daemons like the outsiders are cannon fodder; these are creatures that the base literature says are beyond mortal abilities to combat or even influence.
Perhaps it's just that, as a transhumanist and non-racist, I have a hard time enjoying Lovecraft's works, but why can't a wizard strong enough to make and end worlds lock eyes with Cthulhu, resist it's insanity effect like they've resisted all manner of other effects out there that break minds, and then fake left, and then right, and then stab him in the face? What makes Cthulhu special, that doesn't apply to Mephistopheles or Aizen Myo-o?