Akeaka's page

What level are you starting at?

Also, what race limitations/allowances?

Starting gold? Etc.?

As Ub3r N3rd suggests, an Inquisitor can easily be a front line tank, with MANY options.

Another class to look at is the Magus. Specifically the Kensai or Skirnir archetypes. They can both get some very nice AC, and have a bit of versatility.

Level 1, no limitations beyond non paizo stuff, about average starting gold. Set in the Pathfinder universe, but on it's own continent. Super low magic starting off, slowly building up.

Thanks for the advice all, I'll take a look.

I guess what I'm really lookin for is a tank build for non tank classes. Building a high ac or melee combat controlling wizard or bard could be loads of fun. Or something similar. I've played the melee alch before, and it was quite memorable.

I'll take a look at crusader, even the paladin might work without going sword and board, but it'd need a good set of fun feats to bore out the humdrum.

Thanks.

The only think I can think of is the Peasant Railgun.

-Line up a bunch of NPC's.
-Give the one on the end a +5 shortbow with all the enchants you can.
-Peasant 1 fires it, then drops it. Peasant 2 picks it up (move action), fires it (standard), then drops it (free action).
-Repeat all the way down the line, for however many peasants you have.

Result: More attacks with your enchanted bow per round than you've ever seen in your life.

The better version of this is to line up your peasants and hand the one at the end a 10ft pole. Have about 100 or so all ready actions to pass it to the next guy in line and suddenly you have a railgun proper.

I'm joining a low magic campaign, and have a slightly unorthodox group that appears to need a decent front line to stand in the way of the BBEGs.

We've got a:
Witch
Lore Cleric
Ninja
Monk with silly combat tricks.

I would like to build a front liner of some sort, but the idea of playing a sword and board/auto attacker doesn't appeal much to me right now.

Are there any builds that make for a decent tank and still have some interesting utility? Maybe some spells if possible, or at least some fun abilities.

Thanks.

A group of mine is heading down into a very extensive dungeon under a city, and got me to thinkin about what the best items, and the most useful items were to have in a dungeon. Especially stuff that you wouldn't think about bringing.

Here's some stuff a player posted:
marbles, chalk, grease or oil, mirrors, rubber balls, yarn, O ring pitons, meat (fresh), fishing twine, a box of rats/snakes if you're sadistic/practical, a way to make smoke, fire works, a long wire with a hook on the end, sand, chalk dust or flower, various healing herbs, a charcoal pencil, a sling shot (if rubber is available), a book on oozes and fungi, a book on critters that live in the dark, a whistle, a bag of spherical rocks weighing various amounts, towels, extra socks, a coal bundle, springs, a hallow tube, a stick to hold a mirror, Arrows with rings on the backs for ropes. For that matter, weapons of unusual sorts: forked arrows (for ropes), Collars with the spikes on the insides, manacles of the same, A rope with barbed hook at it's end, a hallow holy mace, chains, a folding ladder, etc!

What else can you think of besides the obvious "Rope, grappling hook, food, rogue, etc" stuff

Given that we have 3 int classes, I think we'll have the knowledges covered. With a highish charisma and domains that add to it, diplomacy and such shouldn't be that hard to get up there.

I know 2 skill points isn't much per level, but i'd have to invest 4 points just to get one more, and besides diplomacy and sense motive, all I really need are a few points here and there in stuff like heal and maybe survival and that's it. At least from my perspective, unless I'm missing something. I can also skip a few hp to get some skill points should I need it.

15 point buy is hard, especially for a MAD class like Cleric, I've gotta take hits where I can and make the rest of it work as best I am able. Sure, role playing a face with 7 cha is hard, but think of him as a loveable goof who you just can't say no too!

Also, for those that have played it, I know I said I like the Travel domain and the Glory domain, but out of the following what would be, in your opinion, the best combo for the setting?

Protection, Nobility(leadership), Good, Glory(Heroism), Sun, Travel(Trade), Repose, Liberation, Luck, or Law?

Are there any methods or Deities that carry both Glory and Travel (trade)? After reviewing the domains a bit, I find those two to be quite to my liking but haven't seen any Deities with both of those together.

I did mention that the alchemist is probably a vivisectionist, so I'm assuming he's melee, though I haven't seen the summoning route. What would it entail besides the standard action summon feat?

My group so far has a Wizard
A Witch
An Alchemist
A Fighter
and Me A Cleric

I'm expected to be a party face, as the casters went all out stone faces, and the fighter isn't too pretty either.

I think the Alchemist is melee, but I'm not for certain on that. He mentioned Rogue or Ranger later levels, so I'd assume so.

I guess I'd be going support/control since I'm the party face as well. I figured a bunch of channel utility would go well, since it's heavy undead, and the fire domain would cover the non undead, but I hadn't considered the Pharasma or Desna paths at all.

The reason I dumped Int is because we have so many casters already. I'd have to pump at least 4 points into it to get more than 2 (1 from human, one from min) skill points and it just didn't seem likely that i'd ever be able to work it nicely with a 15 point buy.

Right now I'm a cleric of Sarenrae, but that can change. I should note that I do not wish to become a heal bot, and while we have damage pretty much covered with the rest of the group, I still want to be effective in combat more than "buff, heal, run around, heal, heal... etc".

I'm making a cleric for carrion crown and was looking for some advice on it.

Here's what I have so far
Human Cleric 1
Str:10
Dex:12
Con:12
Int:7
Wis:18
Cha:14

Domains: Sun and Fire

Feats: Turn Undead, Versatile Channeling

I'm planning on picking up Command Undead, Selective Channeling and Improved Channeling at later levels, allowing me to control a few meat shields and turn the others.

Human could become Changeling for better Cha, though i'm not sure yet. Same with the Domains, Fire could become Glory, or ditch both in favor of Darkness and Undeath, or something else. I took Fire so I'd have something to do other than channel and buff every round.

I have no idea what I'm really doing with this, it being my first time playing a cleric like this, especially in a campaign as undead focused as this one is.

Anyone who's played through it have advice on building a cleric for it?

I'm starting a level 1 rogue in an old school D&D campaign and want to try and get him pounce at some point. Coupled with the Scout build it seems to have a lot of potential, but can it be gotten without investing levels in Barbarian (10) or Druid (5+)?

I want to full attack after a charge if possible.

Kinda vague there on the request, especially since we have no idea what your experiences were, at all. If you want to give them a good time, and they know absolutely nothing about Role Playing, simply start with a correlation between Video Games, LotR, Stage Acting, an Epic Fantasy, and Medieval Europe. Give them the chance to realize what they want to play and start simple, use just the core rules, use all the tropes (start in a tavern, etc), so they become familiar with them (and they're tropes for a reason, they're good!) and maybe use a prebuilt world like Faerûn or Dragonlance, that they might be able to become more familiar with via literature and online sources.

Make sure they understand the way the game works, and that it's a lot different than MMOs and such that they've played in the past. Try and get them into the acting portion of their characters before they get into the mathematics of their characters, this will guarantee good role players and avoid roll players, And we all like that! =D

Get them fighting goblins and brigands, use pregenerated campaign modules if you want to make sure it's streamlined for your first time. Have them go dungeon delving, explore mountains and forests, jump them with cloakers and roapers so they know nothing is sacred and nothing should be just immediately trusted. A paranoid PC is a living PC!

Most of all, have fun. It's not gonna work without that!

Lets never forget Chain/Whip focused fighters/bards and Zen Archery monks, both have the power to decimate most fights in their own right!

Without using any new of modified spells or feats to do it, we could use Craft Construct, using the Animate Object section to create a Tiny Animated Object.

Animated Object

CL 1/2 (equal to the animated object’s HD); 2000 (cost of object + [(animated object’s HD + CP) × 1,000])
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Craft Construct, Animate objects, Permanency, Haste, Expeditious Retreat, Create Water, Burning Hands, Major Creation, Prestidigitation, Restoration; Tiny figurine made of Jade worth 500; Cost ~1000gp

A coffee golem, hmmm? well, the way to go about this is simple:

Purpose: a Coffee Golem (tiny) has three purposes, specifically to brew, maintain and deliver a cup of coffee.
1)creation:

A coffee golem can create boiling water as a standard action, creating enough water to fill a cup or mug designed for a medium creature. if used as an attack this is a melee touch attack that deals 1d4 fire damage. the golem must wait 1d4 rounds between uses of this ability, but there is no limit on times/day.

A coffee golem can detect the suger preferences of a humanoid within thirty feet three times per day as a move equivelent action. this ability can be negated if the target makes a DC 11 will save.

A coffee golem can create various varients of ground coffee as a standard action. this powder lasts for 24 hours or until consumed.

A Coffee golem can create up to a pound of suger per day, at a rate of one pound per ten minutes. this suger turns to ash if not consumed within twenty four hours.

A Coffee golem can create up to a gallon of milk per day, replicating the qualities of any domesticated animal's lactation. this milk lasts twenty four hours or until consumed.

2) maintnence:
Aura of heat (SU): All liquids within five feet of a Coffee golem cool at 1/10th of the normal rate, provided they were originally below the boiling point of water (100 degrees C). this ability has no effect on lava, molten metal, or any other super-hot liquids, and can be suppressed as a free action if ordered to by the golem's creator/owner.

3) delivery:
Stable surface (EX): A Coffee golum is never considered to be moving if movement would result in loss of liquid from a container carried by the golem. This includes movement caused by earthquakes and similar effects. in addition, while carrying a container of liquid a Coffee golem is immune to trip effects, the grease spell, and any effect that would cause the golem to become prone.

Has a speed of 30' and can conjure a coffee cup as a standard action that lasts until coffee has been fully consumed.

Bracelets / Bracers of Metamagic Rods of Silence and Still, Should cover your quota. Or take Arcane Sorcerer bloodline and a few mastery feats for your favorite enchantment.

Not really your character choice but maybe consider playing a barbershop quartet of dervishes or something, could even go one of each (ranged, melee, controller (whips) and rogue.

The quartet swirled around the ogre, their feet maneuvering dexterously around the monstrosity keeping just fast enough to avoid it's swings. They stepped in rhythm, as if counting to a beat..1...2...1...2...3..4!
With a whirl and a flourish, they all lashed out in sequence with their rapiers, "hello" "Hello" "HELLO". Their stabs added to the sound of the growing song, each singer's voice blending with the other, creating a unique effect that lifted their spirits and confused the enemies around them!

Also, half elves, or orcs would be awesome for it. Especially if you went Whip build with Intimidate!

Soberdwarf wrote:

Great cleave is definitely a must for crowd control,

great cleave looks great on paper, we have a fighter with it, i've seen him use it once (surrounded by 8 mooks, it was glorious). Generally you don't have 3+ mooks standing next to each other to take advantage of it

That really depends on the GM, as I used to have a GM that would only attack us with swarms of dudes upwards of 20 or 30 strong. Sure web and the like can take them out for a while, but being able to knock out large swathes of them is always fun!

Greetings, I'm going to play with some of my friends and for now, the DM either said 20pt or 5d6 for stats ...

I wanted to go with luck and it ended out nicely but I'm unsure which class I can actually benefit from those stats, I'm leaning druid for now since the party of three we already have a ranger but I'm uncertan of the other one.

17
16
16
17
13
12

those are the stat I have (not in that order though)

I'm fairly sure we need the divine caster so I can heal off battles and handle the control if things get messy, but I'm open for Ideas.

Check out Treantmonk's Druid guide before you do. If you're starting low level and will stay there for a while, go with a melee druid, otherwise focus on casting. Tho with those stats you can likely do the better parts of both sections.

You could also go a nature cleric if you want that kind of feel. Different spell list, domains, metal armor, etc.

Any character with UMD or CLW on their spell list can use a want of CLW, so don't worry about healing too much except for early on.

Play something you want too the most. Like Cheepy said, you can play pretty much anything with those stats. Pick a class and we'll look at it!

Offer the druid as a possible class for the guy who swaps around a lot. It'll give you the spells you need and he'll have fun bashing face as a bear or something later on.

There are many ways to play a "rogue", in many cases a Sandman, Archaeologist, or other build for a bard are better rogues than Rogues are.

The guy who plays barbarians should look at these boards and read about some of the damage dealing tactics on here.

The game can depend a lot on the GM. If there's no Rogue, then traps shouldn't likely be a prevalent thing in game. If there is a NEED for spell casters, or nature type, etc, push for that in game. Make situations where a Knock spell is needed to get the door open, or track is needed for pursuit of an enemy! If everyone plays a melee character, have them get ambushed by ranged types or fliers, etc.

KrispyXIV wrote:

As far as early warning goes, perhaps innocuous sentries in every room could help? Animate Objects can effect a bunch of small innocuous furniture per casting, all of which SHOULD be competant to sound an alarm under certain conditions (people arriving via teleportation for example). AS WELL, you could have this furniture rearrange itself every so often, to assist in making sure no mental image of his fortress remains valid.

I like this.

I do not think that rearranged furniture is sufficient to alter an area beyond recognition though.

Get a halfling rogue or something similar with as many points into UMD as possible and get either dimensional anchor or Guards and Wards cast from a scroll, and then permanency-d from another!

Lesser rod of Extend makes your summons last longer.
Make sure that you pick up the Teleportation subschool for conjuration, since it lets you poof to a safe spot before your summoning, and it means you wont get beat on a lot

Suppose I should also mention:

I'm basically settled on Human. TWF seems like a no-brainer, but I could be wrong. Feint is cool, but all related feat chains seem like a steep investment, plus the fact that it's application can be narrow dependent on the enemies one facing. How does trip stack up? I'm definitely interested in ways to flat-foot potential targets, negate AoOs and/or safely remove myself from combat (Spring Attack and Fast Getaway, etc).

Cool homebrew, Cheapy, but my GM has made it clear that strict adherence to the Guide to Organized Play is mandatory.

Consider taking a two level dip into Ninja and picking up the vanish trick (or the Forgotten trick if you have high cha or feats to spend). It'll let you escape from tricky situations easier, pop into invis for an opportune sneak attack and stack with your overall sneak attack damage in the long run. It will also give you poison use, which can be useful.

sgtrocknroll wrote:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19N7y6cKFLAr2KMMiKc8A1XG6R4iOmwaNFS7iAs1 7zyU/edit?hl=en_US

Jadeite's guide: Says more than we could ever say.

The link does not work.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19N7y6cKFLAr2KMMiKc8A1XG6R4iOmwaNFS7iAs1 7zyU/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

Consider also the Oracle class, which is a sorcerer version of the cleric, gets very interesting bloodline/domain like abilities, has an automatic character fluff addition in having their curse, can be VERY potent in melee, and can cast the same spells clerics can, albeit from a more limited resource pool. They're also CHA based instead of wis .

The GM is putting a new chapter in a game previously done and we bring back our allready created characters and make them lvl 20. The one I'm bringing back is my sorcerer/wizard but i wanted to take the wizard off of her and make her sorcerer something else but i still wanted her to be casty. So i went with oracle as it meshes well with sorcerer being CHA based. We can use all paizo, 3.5, and 3rd party. Money isnt much of an issue I think the GM will give us some leway being as how we r lvl 20 :) Her stats will be all high I allready know this with the way we do our stats its different then point buy and really anything else.

Oh jeeze. If you can use 3.5 then leave these forums and head over to the CO boards on the wizards site. They've built 10 years worth of broken s$*+ to slog through, and then do a google search for x stat to y bonus and find things that make cha useful to everything.

A level of paladin will go a long way. Prepare to do a lot of number crunching.

A guestault lvl 20 sorcerer/oracle stay out of melee basically everything is open to use

Gestalt at level 20? ewwwww.

"Everything" meaning all core Paizo, or "everything" meaning Paizo, 3rd party, 3.5e and 3e?

Stats/point buy?

Money?

Party contingent?

Why Oracle/Sorc?

Why do this at all!? x.x

So.

The battle took about five hours. We played on a 22x31 battlemap, forest with various trees, rocks, stumps scattered about more or less randomly. A large body of water ran through the middle, which was thankfully only 4 feet (d10) at it's deepest. Some friends helped keep track by keeping track of initiative and rolling to place all of Mister E's simulacra and Monolo (sp?) the Transmuter wizard and his 3 succubi and onyx elephant. 3 rounds to buff, so Mister E gets to take cognatogen, command his ring of spell turning, and take nondetection. 3 rounds mean all are immune to poison and have resistance against all four basic forms of energy.

Wizard player laughs real hard when he sees the sheer number of Simulacra playing against him. Gone is his trash talk along the lines of "I give you three rounds, then you're dead. Then I rape your corpse." OOC, he admits that he failed to memorize any area spells, which he now sees was a terrible miscalculation.

Round 1 - Mister E is high in the initiative order (behind some of the sims). By some miracle the wizard is dead last in initiative order. He pokes at the wizard with 1 dispelling bomb (though he could throw three as a full round). Dispel check is high and gets rid of his highest buff - cat's grace. Which surprised me. Sims poke at the succubi with concussive bombs and at Wizard with concussive until one decides to toss fire his way. No fire resistance from wizard. One of the snipers critically fumbles and the judges decide that his crossbow is broken; the other misses. Sim who tried to cast antimagic field fizzled, mishaph, spell did 2d6 damage. The two suicide bombers (who are buffed with amplify elixir) move toward the wizard (who is not invisible) and take detonate. Elephant, late in initiative order, tramples many sims down. Village idiot sim (buffed by true strike) successfully hits Wiz for 5 Intel damage. Wizard casts fickle winds on himself and two succubi. (30% miss chance for bombs).

Round 2 - Mister E stealths behind a bush and drinks magic...

Congrats! Well played. =D

When can you justify purposeful hunting someone down and killing them?

Say my character is N. And she learns that the bad guy who killed her parents are both alive and around. She then hunts them down and kills them. Does that make her evil? Or do circumstances mitigate it?

What if the char is NG or LG?

Situation depends on a myriad of factors, such as: Does the murderer now have a functioning role in society, are they repentant, do they still kill innocents, are there motivations involved other than revenge, was the murder accidental or in part of some plan? etc. IMO, your character would be justified as long as the guy who killed them wasn't repentant, and a good person could justify it by saying they want to prevent any further atrocities from occurring.

As a result, you hear a lot of people say "Go Fey/Serpentine for one level, then progress as a Wizard."

Really, I think it's generally better to just tighten your character concept. If you want extra powers, go with Eldritch Heritage.

I've seen this before and really hope Paizo addresses it at some point, since it seems a bit silly that wizards gain more from going a one level dip in a multi class than the class itself does.

All in all, I wonder why they added cross blooded when you can (almost) just as easily take the eldritch heritage feats and get the same abilities without the loss of spell levels over all.

Am I right in seeing that a crossblooded sorcerer wouldn't end up getting 2nd level spells until level 5; ending up a full two levels in casting progression behind a standard caster?

I don't see any other way besides going Human with the Sorcerer racial trait to get additional spells known, so you would end up with 0 2nd level spells at level 4, 0 3rd level spells at 6 and so on! Seems a poor tradeoff for a few cheesy abilities.

Zahgurim wrote:

Thanks! I'll check it out now, I'll go the sorc path then, I was thinking a half-elf or human.

At low leves the sorcerer is more of a control type or dealing damage?

It depends on the spell list, it can easily be one or the other. Or both.

Really, sorcerer are amazing, they are made for giving you fun, and they do it ewll. You can choose what you like and never fear to be useless: of course you can be weaker or stronger, but it's really hard to not be able to contribute to the party (unless you dump your charisma, of course).
For me they are the best choice for a beginner, especially if you start at low level.

For the first couple of level you will have very few spells, so you can't spam damage everywhere. As such I'd focus more on control, so make sure to at least have color spray or sleep and rely on magic missile for damage.

As for races, since you are already considering it, human makes the best sorcerer, since there is a variant that let you learn an additional spell every level: at high levels this will be significant. But as I said: sorcerers (unless playing with experienced powergamers) are powerful enough to let you fare well at the table no matter what you focus on, so as someone said before, if you like half-elf just do that and have fun!

Halflings make amazing sorcerers too! They get +2 dex in addition to the +2 cha, +1 AC (ontop of the dex bump), +1 to all saves, +1 to hit (ontop of the dex for rays), +2 perception/acrobatics/climb and fear. Overall a very solid choice.

Gnomes get similar bonuses, and their illusion spells are even stronger.

EvilMinion wrote:

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Jaryn Wildmane wrote:

Instead of summoning Vrocks, summon Hezrous.

Lower summon chance, though.

Only a 10% difference... do it... A Hezrou will give the party fits!

I don't know. Vrocks using telekinesis to throw people into a bottomless pit would probably give the party fits as well.

Or somehow delaying the party a few rounds while the 1d4 vrocks do their dance of ruin and kill the party in one foul swoop.

Also, a druid might be something to consider. Go for a melee druid built (check out treantmonk's feral strategy) and prep some healing spells when need be. You can dish out some decent damage early on and can rely on spells to keep you going throughout your character's career.

Take a look at Inquisitor. It takes a bit of skill to do it right, but when built correctly they can dish out some serious damage around mid/high level and are fairly gish over all. They can act as a bard in identifying monsters, get really good bonuses to damage (take Destruction domain for example), can get healing spells and use wands, have lots of skills to help them outside of combat and can take a hit. Yes they don't get heavy armor proficiency, but you can pick that up with a feat.

Whats his class?

Barbarian of course, what else would he be?

Friend considering playing if he can adjust his work schedule.

After discussion, he is looking for a melee grappler. Not too bright, but pretends to be even dumber than he is (so probably a few ranks in bluff). I don't think he could play LG so not paladin. Sounds like mostly a fighter or barbarian to me.

Since I haven't done this in PF (though I made a very effective one for 3.x), I am looking for some help on a build and path for him.
Please remember: this is a beginner. So no 14 class, esoteric, bizzaro interpretation, fine print, rules lawyer builds please.

We will be in a new campaign. I think we are getting:
PF only. No 3P sources. We can use the APG and might get to use UC.
Not evil.
20 point buy.
1 feat.
Only core rules races.
Starting a level 1 (though that might be increased to 3).
Max starting wealth.

And no, I got no idea what anyone else in the group would play (not even myself). From the talk we could be fairly magic heavy for once, but that could easily change.

Monk, fighter and barb are all perfectly reasonable answers to your grappling dilema, with Monk being the best and Barb being second.

Races you would want either Human, Half elf, Half orc, or Dwarf, depending on your build. Small races take a -4 to grapple checks, so that kind of tosses them out the window. Half orcs can take the Toothy Trait from the APG that will give them a 1d4 bite attack they can use while grappling. Humans get extra skills and a feat. Half elves get Skill focus (bluff?), and perception bonuses.

Stat wise you would (if going for a min max build) want something like:
S 16(10) D 14(5) C 14(5) I 10(0) W 12(2) C 8(-2), or something similar. Use http://tools.digitalightbulb.com/pbcalc.html to help you figure it out. You'll want a high STR for grappling, a good Dex and Con in a melee position and the other stats are kind of a wash. Though if you're going Monk you'll want a lot more into Wis as well.

EDIT: Also keep in mind that you won't be doing very good grappling stuff until level 3 or later.

Big 6?

Tanglefoot bags/Soverign Glue/Thunderstone/Alchemist Flask/Web/Net tipped bolts to fire at people.

Grapplinghook bolts, and regular bolts with barbs and ropes attached that you can fire at people and proceed to drag back to you, sometimes with the people in tow!

Any amount of special magic arrows turned into ballista bolts!

Contingency cannot sense AM Barbarian. Divination is not part of the spell. Nor can it sense 'an attack.' It is NOT a readied action. It can sense when YOU GET HIT or MISSED.

2) Max range on teleport at L20 is what, 2000 miles? And can you even teleport to an open area of space you cannot see? Teleport is all ground to ground if beyond line of sight. You might mean Dimension Door, but that ends your actions for the round.

3) You cast the Maze spell, it gets spell turned, and you are now Mazed. Congrats. He knows just where to find you when you pop back out.

4) You always get the save to avoid the Sphere, which, being a magic item, he'll basically auto-save.

5) He's 1/day immune to exhaustion. You need at least 2, hence why people are talking about QUickened to get them on him before he reaches them. By round 2, it's too late.

In short, Fail all the way around. DO try again.

==Aelryinth

"The conditions needed to bring the spell into effect must be clear, although they can be general. In all cases, the contingency immediately brings into effect the companion spell, the latter being "cast" instantaneously when the prescribed circumstances occur. If complicated or convoluted conditions are prescribed, the whole spell combination (contingency and the companion magic) may fail when triggered. The companion spell occurs based solely on the stated conditions, regardless of whether you want it to."

As a default, a symbol of death is triggered whenever a creature does one or more of the following, as you select: looks at the rune; reads the rune; touches the rune; passes over the rune; or passes through a portal bearing the rune. Regardless of the trigger method or methods chosen, a creature more than 60 feet from a symbol of death can't trigger it (even if it meets one or more of the triggering conditions, such as reading the rune). Once the spell is cast, a symbol of death's triggering conditions cannot be changed.

but that still has the option of 'looking' which makes it even weirder.

Second, you missread his post. He said teleport (though you're right he did mean Dim Door, though that's still covered by his Contingency) to the max range of his long range spells. Re: 400+40/lvl or 1200 ft above his original position.

Third, any mage worth his salt can get out of a Maze spell, or simply wait 1 or more rounds before leaving and AM BARB can't affect you with RAGELANCEPOUNCE for one round, because readied actions can't be charges.
If you're arguing that AM BARB has a Ring of Spell Turning the ring has a COMMAND activation

Up to three times per day on command, this simple platinum band automatically reflects the next nine levels of spells cast at the wearer, exactly as if spell turning had been cast upon him.

and thus can't be activated in response. If AM BARB activated it before he charged, you could argue that CASTY simply uses an area Greater Dispel, and suddenly no more ring of spell turning. Or teleports away and activates his own ring, etc etc.

Forth, no where in the RAW for Sphere of Annihilation does it say that you get a save. Logic dictates that you should, but the RAW does not.

Fifth, poor horse is just a pile of mush at this point.

Sixth, stop being so rude. Every post I've seen from you has been laden with ego and asinine remarks. You're not doing the community any favors by belittling people.

Magic is one area I've found GMs LOVE to mess with people. Would anyone care to offer some advice on how to approach an item where a successful use of detect magic was made? My GM is the type to only give out the least amount of information he can get away with and often my attempts to interact with magic come back to bite me in the ass. I know there's nothing wrong with my GMs stance or that magic is tricky business. That said, how do I use the built in game mechanics to get more information other than "you detect a strong necromatic aura" so I can have some actually useful information with which I can proceed to intelligently interact with an item or situation? The types of information I am looking for is things like "if I touch this will it hurt me?" and "what kind of affects are in effect in x situation and how do they function?" Am I looking for something that isn't possible per the Pathfinder RAW? If not, besides using spellcraft and detect magic how can my character ascertain the more fine grained details of the magic he encounters?

Thanks!

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/spellcraft

Identify the properties of a magic item using detect magic 15 + item's caster level.

Determine Properties of Magic Item: Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object.

Cast Detect Magic, roll Spellcraft!, show him the rules, ???, WIN

Also, a UMD check can activate the item to find out what it does.
or a Knowledge Arcana can identify the item straight out!

This is my first time playing a wizard, and I'm having a problem:

What is a good strategy for a first level wizard to act as the "face" of the party? Our current group just started the Carrion Crown AP (we're one session in), and we don't have anyone with good social skills. I'm playing a wizard, and I was hoping to make up the deficiency with magic, but I'm not sure how...

Difficulty: Charisma 10, Enchantment and Illusion opposition schools.

Any ideas?

Thanks

10 cha = 0 bonus soooo

Half elf or Human, Feat goes to Skill Focus (Diplomacy/Bluff) +3
Trait bonus for Diplomacy/Bluff +1, +3 for skill bonus
Thrush Familiar/Viper Familiar +3
Level 1 Rank +1
Persuasive/Deceitful +2
Cologne +1
Some DMs say that a Noble's outfit will provide a bonus (as per 3.5)
[Transmutation School (1), If you swapped out your Enchantment opposition you could get another +2]
[Thrush can "assist" if they roll well enough for another +2].
Total = +14 Diplomacy/Bluff or more!

She isn't targeted more than the other party members and if she is I guess the argument would be that a large sized tiger walking on air is much more threatening than an unarmored guy in a tunic with nothing but his fists. I do not have the figures in front of me, but her AC while wildshaped is probably around 17-19. I have read the guide on druid's but its long so a second look through is probably a good idea.

I did not know that part about the spells, thank you for bringing that to my attention name violation.

The guy above linked to the wrong part of the druid guide. Check out THIS one for the beast mode druid.

If she's having trouble staying in combat, consider taking some time to cast spells like Barkskin and such before hand to up her AC and HPs, then go into the fray. Or if you have a character who can cast cure spells, have them just follow her around the whole time healing.

A simple survivable build for a wizard should look something like this:

Human/Half Orc/Half Elf (depending on preference), or Elf if you can manage it, since it nets you +2 dex (you can swap dex and con for the same results below) +2 spell pen +2 perception and bow proficiency.
[Pre racial adjustments)
Str:7 (-4)
Dex:16(10)
Con:14( 5)
Int:18(17)
Wis:12( 2)
Cha:7 (-4)

Alternatively you can drop the Int down to a 16 and bump Cha and Str to an 8 and 10.

Take Conjuration Focus [Teleport], or Divination Focus [Foresight] as both of these will increase your survival by a large factor. Teleporting as a swiftaction out of melee, or acting first in the surprise round will go a long way to keeping yourself from getting swarmed and killed.

Feats should look like: Improved Initiative, Toughness, Great Fortitude and Will, Augmented Summonings, Acadamae Graduate (lets you summon as a standard action during the first round of combat/surprise round, from Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide), Combat Casting, and anything else you can find that will boost your survival.

Take spells like Grease, Vanish, Web, Glitterdust, Colorspray, Pyrotechnics (use the explosive part, have a phrase you shout to keep your allies from getting blinded), Obscuring Mist, and most of all, summon monster.
As a wizard you shouldn't be blasting all the time and running out of spells. It's your job to control the battlefield and prevent others from getting close to you to knock you out in the first place.
Others like Protection from Alignment help saves and prevent Mind affecting spells. Speaking of, if you get a high dex and imp init/Divination focus, you should be going first every time, which will allow you to possibly charm one of the enemy combatants right off the bat. That being said, try and avoid spells that are save or die. At early levels they're fine, but later on they basically become a wasted turn. Check out Treemonk's guide to Wizards for more pointers.

If you're having trouble surviving against melee and such, try always casting Mage armor right off the bat and keeping a staff in hand to go full defensive should you need it. Remember, positioning is key. If you see a melee guy heading toward you, position yourself with an ally between you two. It gives them an AoO and prevents charges. If you see an enemy spell caster, instead of casting right off the bat, ready an action and pelt them with magic missle/scorching ray when they cast at you. Concentration checks are a lot harder in Pathfinder and at low level they have a pretty good chance of wiffing their spells if hit during the cast.

If you're insistent on playing something other than a wizard, go with the above mentioned Dwarf Sorcerer, though a Halfling Sorc can net a total of +2 AC and +1 to all saves which is nice. Don't worry about the dip into monk/oracle/paladin. Yes having massive saves is awesome, but good planning and positioning can easily make up for those. Sorcerers are especially needing in the full caster level department, as they get their spells a level later and thus can't really afford to much deviation unless you're going a gish type.

Your character reminds me of Shadowbane (Kalen) from the Forgotten Realms book Downshadow. You might want to check it out. He's a very rogue-ish paladin and might be a nice architype to base yours off of.

Try out feats like Antagonize, Spell Song and Dazzling Display. Get Improved trip (and greater) and weapon finesse Whip and go to town tripping everyone and making them useless in combat.

Check out Treantmonk's guide to bards, it's really useful.

ninja. look it up on the SRD.

That is hardly an old school thief. Even old school thieves could check for traps and the like. While I do admit that the Ninja can sometimes be referred to as Rogue 2.0, it's a far different class, and should be played as such. Also, many campaigns don't allow it because of it's oriental motif.

If you wanted an 'old fashion thief', it really depends a lot on the setting, play style and availability of your campaign, but a halfling rogue would do you well.

At the bottom of this site http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue you'll find a list of alternatives for the rogue to take, which allow him to more uniquely create or focus in his character.

Stat wise, rogues are very MAD (multi ability dependent), needing Dex first and foremost, str next, with con and int following close behind, charisma somewhere in the mix, depending on the play style (some love the silver tongue trickster), and wis being your dump stat. Your dex should be between 16 and 20, especially as a human/halfling, though half elf and half orc work just as well if you're going social rogue.

Feat wise you should consider stuff like Dodge, Power Attack, anything that allows for you to use your small size as a halfling (Taunt comes to mind), anything that adds to your ability to stealth, and or anything that allows use of bluff/intimidate/diplomacy.

Weapons can be anything from a crossbow and long sword, to a Weapon Finesse (feat) fighting rapier wielder.

Put as many points as you can into Steath, Acrobatics, Slight of Hand, Use Magic Device, Bluff, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Dungeoneering/Engineering/Arcana/Local, if you think you'll use them), Climb, Disguise and Disable Device. You shouldn't have a problem covering those as a rogue, especially one with a high int or human/favored class bonus skills.

Yep.

1000 POSTS!!!

You could also try Open RPG, I used to play a lot on there and had a lot of fun with it. Had integrated chat, dice roller and drawable map. Uses Python, so it's playable on any system.

Any metal blocking the magical aura is effectively blocking the magic. Ergo, doesn't work.

On Contingency: If you could inform me of the source of the Detect Charge effect, and further explain how it would be able to differentiate between hostile intent and your kids aiming for a hug and two mosquitoes zeroing in for a bit of blood?

Right then, so that does not work. Contingency does not sense and does not anticipate. It responds AFTER something happens to YOU. Not AS something is happening to you, and not BEFORE something happens to you.

Charging is doing nothing to you...its doing something to the charger. When the charger arrives, hacks into you for tons of damage, yes, Contingency can go off. You might be dead, but you can teleport back home.

It might work from the standpoint of being disguised as loot, except Trap the Soul has to be a gem, and the trigger object must be close to the gem. I believe that spell effects are different then enchanted objects, and so he'd sunder the active spell as a matter of course.

==Aelryinth

You keep speaking in definites. No where in contingency does it state that you need a sort of detection spell to activate it's trigger. "The conditions needed to bring the spell into effect must be clear, although they can be general. In all cases, the contingency immediately brings into effect the companion spell, the latter being "cast" instantaneously when the prescribed circumstances occur." It happens IMMEDIATELY, so regardless of the trigger, it happens before the rest of the effects.

Akeaka wrote:

Squawk Featherbeak wrote:

But Barbs are stuck to being nonlawful, while Monks, unless Martial Artists (an archetype that can't be mixed with Many Styles), are stuck to being lawful.

Starts Barb for HP reasons, finds ascetic order that takes him in and quells his anger for a while, learns to be a monk, gets out remembers rage, finds better path in life non lawful again (monks don't lose their powers being non lawful!) happy hfun times.

Right, it just means once she leaves the class she can't go back.

So get all the barbarian levels or monk levels you intend to have before switching to the other.

The intention of the build is to gain the maximum possible benefits with the least amount of level dump into other classes. Past level 3 you won't be taking anything other than Alchemist or Master Cymist anyhow!

...that's pretty much what I said. Either (no Leadership) a crummy bat, or (Leadership) a Summoner cohort who's a passable bat.

Given that this is a hypothetical argument, lets just say that the BARB and the BAT have been traveling together for a long while and are randomly assassinating CASTYs whenever they see them. Some wizards might have a Cleric Cohort, but not all will, and the BARB will still have his. We're trying to cover all the bases here.