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Looking for scenario suggestions

TLDR: Sacred artifact hammer got corrupted when it was used to kill a high priest and then used to do bad stuff. To fix it, PCs must venture into a dreamscape within the hammer populated with the souls of the hammer's victims along with the murderer who was killed while holding the hammer. Looking for 3-4 dreamscape scenes that the PCs must somehow resolve to put the souls at rest.

Background: Torag crafted an artifact hammer which was given to the dwarven people at the beginning of the Quest for Sky. It was used to guide the way to the surface, to remove obstacles in their path and to forge arms and armor to outfit the dwarves for use in the quest. The last obstacle before reaching the surface was a huge vein of mithral blocking the dwarves' advance. The hammer was used to crumble the surrounding stone to reveal the sky above. The massive mithral ingot left over became the sacred anvil at the center of a cathedral to Torag in which the hammer was enshrined. The hammer, anvil and a dragonfire-forge were used in tandem to forge epic arms and armor which were used to found the kingdom of Koldukar. About 1,000 years later, giants and orc hordes started to encroach threateningly on the borders. The dwarf king's princely brother tried to convince the king that the hammer should be used to subjugate the giants and orcs so that they could serve the dwarves and build an empire. The king disagreed so the prince took it upon himself to go to the cathedral and instead convince the hammer-bearer high-priest himself. The high-priest told the prince that the gods didn't want the chosen people to achieve greatness through slavery.

The dwarf prince grew angry, snatched the hammer and struck down the high-priest with it before fleeing with it. This blasphemous act made the dragonfire-forge grow cold, the anvil turn to black iron, the hammer to become cursed, and all the magical arms and armor it had crafted in the past 1,000 years to lose power. The murder, theft, and despoilment, along with the loss of magical arms and armor throughout the kingdom severely weakened Koldukar. Shunned by his people, the prince fled into the mountains where he was cursed by the gods to become a fire giant. Seeing this as a sign, the prince used his new form and the power of the hammer to begin subjugating the giants as he'd originally planned and use them to seize the throne from his foolish brother to (say it with me) Make Koldukar Great Again! A pseudo-civil-war broke out, but even demoralized and underpowered the dwarven legions managed to defeat the cursed prince's giant forces. The prince, in his fire-giant guise, slew and in turn was slain by dwarven legionnaires. Unfortunately, Koldukar was left weakened by these shenanigans and the orc general Belkzen took advantage of it to raze the Koldukar to the ground.

Now the PCs have the hammer and have seen evidence that the souls of the righteous dwarves slain with the hammer are somehow contained within it. On occasion, ghostly dwarf legionnaires have been called forth from it to bolster the party in times of need. Unbeknownst to them, the soul of the high-priest as well as that of the cursed prince is also contained inside; forever wrestling for control of the hammer. The PCs, who are all dwarves themselves, are about to set foot inside the long-abandoned cathedral where the iron anvil and cold forge are. I was thinking that this might serve as a catalyst to draw the PCs into a mindscape within the hammer in which the souls are trapped in a stalemate. I'd like to present the players with a few scenes which introduce these ancient souls as fully-fleshed characters and possibly showcase some of the key moments from the story above; all with the goal to have the PCs resolve the conflict, remove the curse from the hammer and restore it to a state of grace. I'm also considering the notion of having the soul of the high-priest grant the hammer sentience.

Any suggestions for scenes or events within this scenario which the PCs must favorably resolve and what powers the uncursed artifact hammer could possess afterward? C'mon guys! We're nearly 50 sessions into this scenario and I want to make it memorable.

One of my players has taken levels in the Arcane Savant prestige class following his start as a Wizard. At 2nd level he gains the Esoteric Magic ability:

He's proposed taking the Greater Angelic Aspect spell:

Since the spell is already on his Wizard spell list, he's able to add the Paladin version of the spell to his class' spell list as a 4th level rather than 8th level spell. From the reading of the rules, this seems a legit approach. Am I missing something? His main purpose is to use this as a party buff; granting everyone within 20-feet +4 deflection to AC, +4 resistance to all saves, protection from evil, and lesser globe of invulnerability. All that while enjoying a slew of bonuses himself, along with flight and truespeech to boot. Pretty darned awesome for a fourth level wizard spell; no?

I've been trying in vain to figure this out and would appreciate some insight. I have a character with a BAB of +7 and a natural Slam attack. The player is tired of making a single attack every round and is looking for options, so she's thinking to take a level of monk. I know that flurry of blows doesn't play well with natural attacks, so let's ignore the flurry ability for the moment.

Can the character take the Two-Weapon Fighting feat and simply make iterative unarmed strikes and then add the slam as a secondary attack to the routine? Since the monk's unarmed strikes are considered light and there's no off-hand penalty, they only suffer the flat two-weapon fighting penalty of -2 to hit. So the routine would look like:

Strike +5 / Strike +5 / Strike 0 / Slam +2

Strike damage would be the monk's regular unarmed 1d6, and the slam damage remains the same though with half Strength. Does this make sense, or am I way off base?

One of my players may end up saddled with an artifact with a distinct drawback:

"whenever the wearer of the hand is within line of sight of a creature
with the giant subtype, he must succeed at DC 15 Will save or be compelled to attack the giant, as suggestion."

I have three questions about how this works:

First, since the effect is based on the suggestion spell, does the effect count as a spell-like ability for the purposes of saving throw bonuses?

Second, does line of sight mean that the PC must actually see the creature or merely be in a position to see it? That is, could the PC choose to avert its eyes or wear a blindfold to avoid seeing a giant and so trigger a save?

Third, does seeing multiple giants require multiple saving throws, or just one? Are saving throws required every round or merely upon first seeing a giant?

I'm preparing a scenario for an upcoming session. The PCs have been searching for the lost tomb of a legendary dwarf warrior and they are about to find it. First a bit of background, but if you don't want to read it all, just scroll down to the last paragraph.

Unbeknownst to the PCs, the warrior was betrayed and murdered by a dwarf wizard friend of his; the crafter of the wondrous weapons, armor and even a minor artifact used by the warrior. The wizard had grown resentful of the warrior using his items to gain fame and renown amongst their people while he himself was still looked down upon for practicing arcane magic. So, in search of respect and aggrandizement, the wizard began entertaining the overtures of some Whispering Way cultists, delved into necromancy and started preparations for becoming an all-powerful lich. If he couldn't make his people love him, then he'd make them fear him... Once well into it, he found that the final ingredient he needed for the vile transformational elixir was a hero's heart, and he figured he'd kill two birds with one stone; taking his revenge on the warrior by murdering him and using his heart in the elixir. Killing the warrior was easy; he didn't suspect the wizard and willingly accepted what he thought was a beneficial spell from his buddy, but which turned out to be a fatal curse instead.

Unfortunately for the wizard, some of the warrior's followers found him as he was brewing the elixir and, by that time, he'd already expended most of his daily spells in the lichdom ritual. So, the followers overpowered the wizard, stripped him of his gear, and shackled him. They didn't really know what he'd been doing, but in anger they force-fed him the vile concoction he'd been brewing (which they took to be poison). Then, as the wizard lay dying, the followers went about the process of converting an ancient subterranean shrine the hero had been using as a home-base into a tomb befitting the hero. After laying the hero to rest inside, they decided that trapping the still-dying wizard inside the tomb near his victim was poetic justice. They then reset a large stone plug into place to seal off the tomb forevermore.

Though the wizard's plans had been interrupted, they weren't necessarily ruined. He was suddenly under the gun however, needing to finish the ritual before his body died. He needed to prepare a phylactery immediately to protect his soul. Unfortunately, he was shackled, weak, low on spells and with few resources beyond the funerary goods inside the tomb. His only option was the minor artifact he'd made for the warrior long ago. He used his feats and what remaining spells he had to transfer his soul into it as his body died. And... it worked. He arose as a lich. It took some doing, specifically the breaking of his own limbs, but he eventually freed himself of the shackles. Unfortunately he had no way to regain his spells without his spellbook.

TLDR: Dwarf necromancer lich is trapped inside a tomb, sealed by a big rock he can't move, with no spells prepared and no gear but alongside a dead hero with magic armor, a magic weapon and the lich's own phylactery.

Now here's the point I need help with. I don't want the lich to have escaped; otherwise there's no encounter for the PCs inside the tomb. But I don't want to cheat the lich; he's an immortal genius with all the time in the world (specifically 700 years or so). What would he have done trapped for 700 years in a tomb with the body of his murdered victim? He was entirely new to undeath and lichdom when he was trapped inside, so just learning his own abilities and limits is step one. He might have tried killing himself, though I don't know if that's even possible since a lich can't overcome its own DR with its natural weapons. Even if he did, he'd simply reform inside the tomb since his phylactery is stuck inside with him. It would be sort of funny if he could succeed in killing himself however, cause he could end up with a potentially infinite number of bodies; forming a new one each time he arose... What else might he have tried to do to escape? Similarly, his natural attacks can't overcome the Hardness 8 of the stone plug since they only deal negative energy, right? The only metal tools he has for digging is the dead warrior's weapon; likely a greataxe or greatsword. But, even if magical, could he use it to deal sufficient damage to beat the rock's hardness 8 and deal the 200 hit points required to breach the stone plug? How much banging into solid stone can a magic axe take before being blunted itself? Would doing so utterly destroy the weapon, or would there be something left of it?

So that's my question; what will the PCs find inside when they open the tomb?

The all dwarf party in my Giantslayer campaign have gone somewhat off the rails; sidestepping a good chunk of the second module. This leaves them a bit underpowered before venturing into the deep end of the third module.

To that end, I'm looking at either shoehorning in a 6th level exploration side-quest or using a significantly more elaborate giantslayer's tomb than what is presented in the third module; seeing as how I find its arachnid-theme somewhat odd.

So can anyone suggest some cool 6th level dwarven tomb/ruin adventure; something substantial enough to take the PCs up to the edge of 8th level?

I'm trying to determine the cost of a Boots of Striding, which offers a +10 enhancement bonus to base speed, while discarding the Springing part, which grants a +5 competence bonus to Acrobatic (jump) checks. The listed cost of such boots are 5,500 gp.

Normally, when adding a second ability to a magic item, you multiply the lower item's cost by 1.5. A +5 competence bonus to a skill normally costs 2,500 gp, so it seems likely that it's the speed bonus that carries the lower cost. So, if the Striding ability cost 2,000 gp, multiplied by 1.5 equals 3,000; added to the Springing ability's 2,500 gp results in the full item's cost of 5,500 gp. Does 2,000 gp for a +10 base speed increase seem correct?

How much might the cost of additional speed increases for an item be calculated?

The Urban Skald's 'Controlled Inspired Rage' ability modifies the Skald's normal ability to offer different benefits. If a Skald starts her Controlled Inspire Rage Raging Song and the party includes a Barbarian or Bloodrager with their own Rage abilities, would the normal Inspired Rage's ability to allow someone with their own Rage ability to use their Rage benefits instead of the Urban Skald's still apply, or is that part of the "normal benefits" of Inspired Rage?

edit: How about the opposite? Say the Skald has regular Inspired Rage and an allied Barbarian has Controlled Rage. Could the barbarian use his own Rage's Dex bonus instead of the Str & Con bonus normally granted by the Inspire Rage?

I'm running an all-dwarf campaign in which I've featured the remnants of a prehistoric pre-diefic dwarven mystery cult which venerated the earth and celebrated their race's ties to that elemental plane. During their adventures, the group has found a giant geode-like series of caverns hidden beneath the First World in which dwarves, dwarf-oreads and earth elementals members used magic to record memories into the countless crystals lining the walls; a great archive of sorts.

The PCs are using these crystals to learn the cult's lost secrets. I'm wondering what sorts of things they might be able to glean from perusing the archive. Earth-based spells are a given, but I'm wondering if there are any feats, archetypes, prestige classes or other things that the players themselves may consider desirable. I'm open to 3rd party and even 3.X material if it's somehow earth-based and appropriate. The PCs are a Stonelord Paladin, a Warpriest, a Skald, an Invulnerable Rager Barbarian and a Conjuration Wizard.

As per the title; I'm wondering whether a hag druid would lose her substantial natural armor bonus when wildshaped into say an eagle. This situation arose in our Giantslayer campaign.

As the title, I'm wondering if Goblin Skull Bombs require a successful ranged attack or a touch attack. In the original RPG Superstar entry, it was clearly a ranged touch, but the SRD entry is a little vague:

A skull bomb can be used as a thrown weapon with a range increment of 10 feet. If the attacker hits, the skull shatters, immolating the target as described above.

Regular Thrown weapons require a normal ranged attack roll, while Thrown *splash* weapons only require a ranged touch attack. So which is the Goblin Skull Bomb?

I've always believed this was in the core rules; that in lieu of rolling one could accept the average of a die roll for a hit die, rounded down. So instead of rolling 1d10, a player could simply take 5 for example.

But, now that I'm looking for that option, I can't find any mention of it in the core rules. I even checked my old 3.X books to see if it was something we'd held over from previous editions, but I don't see it anywhere. Did my group simply imagine this? Was this ever a core rule?

As per the title, I'm just wondering whether this spell's effect might include big rocks thrown by giants or munitions fired from siege engines.

A magical field appears around you, glowing with a chaotic blast of multicolored hues. This field deflects incoming arrows, rays, and other ranged attacks. Each ranged attack directed at you for which the attacker must make an attack roll has a 20% miss chance (similar to the effects of concealment). Other attacks that simply work at a distance are not affected.

Is it possible to modify an existing suit of armor in this way by adding additional plates, padding & reinforcement through crafting or some other process?

A player of a wizard PC in a game I run has asked to take this 1st level spell. I'm trying to decide whether to allow it or not. It's clearly modeled after magic missile, with identical range and number of missiles, but requiring ranged touch attack rolls in exchange for more damage of a selected energy type.

A bolt of a chosen energy type (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) blasts from your fingertips and with a successful ranged touch attack deals 1d6+1 points of the chosen energy type of damage.

For every two caster levels beyond 1st, you gain an additional missile: two at 3rd level, three at 5th, four at 7th, and five bolts at 9th level or higher. If you shoot multiple missiles, you can have them strike a single creature with one attack roll or several creatures with multiple attack rolls. A single bolt can strike only one creature.

With up to five missiles, the choice of all five energy types and medium range, is it too good for a 1st level spell?

I'm running the Giantslayer AP in which all the PCs are dwarves. As such, I'm trying to tie as many elements of the campaign as I can into dwarven history and tradition of Golarion. One notion I had was to replace the swamp-dwelling Council of Thorns' druidic order with a stone & crystal mystery-cult centered around the dwarves' ancient subterranean origins and their mystical ties to the element of earth. Instead of having reincarnated as Will-o'-wisps, the dwarves of the mystery cult instead transformed themselves into earth elementals to safeguard their vualt. I'm going to change the interior of the Vault of Thorns in the second module from a lush woodland-themed pocket plane to a giant hollow crystal geode with with a giant fungi forest inside.

I was thinking that the lone surviver of the "Council of Thorns", now a venerable dwarf known only as Silverbeard, may try to initiate the PCs into his largely extinct order. To that end, I'd like to hear some suggestions for fleshing out the possible lore and doctrine of an elemental earth based cult as well as giving it an appropriate name which the party could adopt as their own if they're so inclined. Suggestions welcome.

As a GM I don't particularly care for the odd grab bag of spells wizards tend to have and so was thinking to change some of the fluff in spell descriptions so they adhere better to a theme. One of my players is playing a dwarven wizard and I thought it'd be more thematic to have his spells be earth based. To that end, I was thinking some of his damage dealing spells could have their energy component substituted with a spray of battering rocks or slashing obsidian shards; dealing blunt or slashing damage instead.

So my question is, if I take a cold-based ranged touch spell like Snowball and replace it with a ranged touch attack that deals blunt damage will game balance be preserved or is the notion too powerful?

Just that. Can an Unseen Servant be moved around if ordered into a pocket, backpack or bag of holding or if merely ordered to "hang on" to the caster?

Since dwarves are such a traditional people, I'd like include elements of dwarven ancestry to highlight the passage of time and to tie the dwarven PCs to their people's history. I figured a simple way to do that would be to refer to dwarven generations as a rough unit of time such "One hundred generations ago". I just need to figure out the overall average amount of time between a dwarf being born and the age at which he/she is most likely to produce offspring.

Naturally dwarves can marry and produce offspring and different times in their lives. But being a generally traditional people, I imagine there is a period of life in which it is considered most appropriate to marry. There are likely outliers who marry young or old but, given enough generations, such anomalies tend to iron themselves out over time.

According to the aging charts dwarves reach young adulthood at 40, proper adulthood somewhere between 50 and 64 (depending on vocation), reach midlife at 125 and the end of their reproductive years (if they're anything like humans) maybe somewhere around 150.

Thoughts?

As per the title, I'd like a brief, spoiler free description for each of the Adventure Paths that I can send to the players in my group so together we can discuss which APs to examine more closely for eventual play.

One or two sentences with the key themes, common environments and monsters types as well as any weak points would be greatly appreciated. Adding a 1-5 star rating for each would be frosting on the cake.

I myself don't familiarize myself overmuch with the various APs outside of those I've run or played in case I eventually get the opportunity to play through them myself. I know such description lists exist, but they usually lack the newest APs, so I thought a more current list would be generally helpful for those shopping around for their next AP.

This is sort of an odd request. I know there are countless threads covering this question and there's little to no disagreement since the rule in question is spelled out fairly clearly.

At 1st level, 2nd level, and every four levels thereafter, a master of many styles may select a bonus style feat or the Elemental Fist feat. He does not have to meet the prerequisites of that feat, except the Elemental Fist feat. Alternatively, a master of many styles may choose a feat in that style’s feat path (such as Earth Child Topple as one of these bonus feats if he already has the appropriate style feat (such as Earth Child Style). The master of many styles does not need to meet any other prerequisite of the feat in the style’s feat path." Please note that no prerequisites are required for the bonus feat beyond having its associated style feat*,* so all "Monkey feats" should be available.[

As written in the part I bolded, it seems that a Master of Many styles is free to choose any of the feats in a style's path while ignoring the prerequisites, except of course that he have the initial style feat itself. My question is, is there a citation somewhere from Paizo confirming this is the case? I'm trying to convince someone (no, not my GM) that this is how the class ability works but he contends that the path's feats must be selected in order and insists on seeing something official to that affect. Any help?

As per the title, I'm trying to flesh out my first barbarian character and I'm hunting around for a way to replenish rage rounds. Seeing as how most of a barbarians' abilities revolve largely around rage, running out of rage rounds during a long day of adventuring seems to be a significant issue. I know there's Barbarian chew, the Extra Rage feat and a few other ways to add rage rounds per day, but they aren't terribly effective or practical. There's also the Elemental Kin archetype, but setting yourself on fire before raging seems rather convoluted and odd. I'm surprised that I can't find a ready-made spell or magic item that replenishes rage; a slow burn spell, a bear-sark vest of mounting fury or an elixir of endless rage. Am I overlooking something?

I'm curious whether pairing these three elements is a viable combo.

While raging, as a free action the barbarian may leave herself open to attack while preparing devastating counterattacks. Enemies gain a +4 bonus on attack and damage rolls against the barbarian until the beginning of her next turn, but every attack against the barbarian provokes an attack of opportunity from her, which is resolved prior to resolving each enemy attack.

While using the Snake Style feat, when an opponent’s attack misses you, you can make an unarmed strike against that opponent as an attack of opportunity. If this attack of opportunity hits, you can spend an immediate action to make another unarmed strike against the same opponent.

Now assuming you're raging and have already spent a free action on your turn to activate the Come and Get Me rage power and an opponent indeed attempts an attack against you:

1. the attempt to strike you provokes an AoO from you.
2. you roll your AoO and either hit or miss.
3. the opponent then rolls his attack roll and misses you.
4. having missed his attack provokes another AoO.
5. you roll another AoO and hit with an unarmed strike.
6. you expend an immediate action to make another unarmed strike.

Result, three attacks to your opponent's one. If your opponent is foolish enough to continue and attacks you a second time during his turn, you immediately repeat steps 1–5; skipping step 6 because you've already expended your next round's swift action; that is as long as you still have AoS left from your Combat Reflexes feat.

Is this correct?

Yeah, I know this has been addressed and debated countless times. That's part of my problem; I can't make heads or tails out of all the threads out there. I'm looking for help in connecting the dots and either confirming or refuting some confusing parts.

Let's say that the character is a medium dragon with monk levels. The idea is for him to fight with two monk unarmed strikes along with the two weapon fighting feat (not flurrying) along with his natural attacks (bite, claw, claw) as part of a full attack routine. The two monk unarmed strikes are, say, a horn butt and tail slap. Disregarding eventual iterative attacks from the unarmed strikes, this character would have five attacks: a bite, two claws, and the two unarmed strikes.

The questions are, what are the penalties to hit with each attack and which attacks receive the character's full Strength bonus to damage and which, if any, get only half the Strength bonus to damage? Does the following line from the monk's Unarmed Strike class feature affect this in any way:

"A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons."

If the character's unarmed attacks count as natural weapons, would that make all his attacks primary?

Just that. What are they?

I know this is probably clearly written someplace but I can't find it. What's the official stand on the Unchained classes and existing archetypes? Can they be taken as before or not? Are some allowed and others not? If so, which? Thanks.

As per the title, I'm looking to make a human character with the ability to change into a wolf; only those two shapes, no werewolf hybrid form. Does such a thing exist anywhere already?

Assuming it doesn't, I was looking at how I might do this using the Advanced Race Guide. I figured the easiest way to go about it would be to create a wolf and then simply add the lesser change shape ability to give it a human form. However, I find the point total rather high considering that all the canine bonuses aren't normally usable while in human form. Anyone have a better idea how that might affect the Race Point cost? Here's my preliminary writeup for the race. And suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Type
Humanoid (shapechanger) 0 RP
Size
Medium (0 RP)
Base Speed
Normal (0 RP)
Ability Score Modifiers
Human Heritage (0 RP)
Languages
Standard (0 RP)
Racial Traits
Defense Racial Traits
Improved Natural Armor +2 bonus (3 RP)
Magical Racial Traits
Change Shape, Lesser (3 RP)
Movement Racial Traits
Fast x2: Base speed 50-ft. (3 RP)
Offense Racial Traits
Bite x2: 1d4 (2 RP)
Senses Racial Traits
Low-light vision (1 RP)
Scent (4 RP)
Total 16 RP

Power Attack is one of those feats which I've read is a statistical must-have for melee builds but which I'm always hesitant to make use of since the penalty to hit makes me nervous. How do you properly gauge when to use it? People will say it depends largely on the AC of your target but, for a combat that lasts only 3-4 rounds, spending a round or two trying to determine the exact AC and then running some numbers to figure out whether you've reached a viable Power Attacking opportunity seems too time consuming to be worthwhile. Can someone to whom Power Attacking is second nature help me figure out how I should go about getting the most out of this feat?

For reference, I'm playing a 5th level Synthesist who is large, with 20 Str, and with four claw attacks; dealing approximately 1d8+5 per hit.

I'm looking to have created a crown which allows the wearer to grow in size as if under the effect of an enlarge person spell at will and to remain so as long as the crown is worn. I'd just like confirm the price for such an item. Since it's "Use-activated or continuous" item the cost would be Spell level x caster level x 2,000 gp x 2 since the duration of the spell is normally 1 minute/level. So a 1st level spell x 1st level caster x 2,000 x 2 = 4,000 gp. Is this correct?

Our group just picked up this trinket in the Reign of Winter AP. Just looking to clarify its function.

"Once per day, if used as the focus or divine focus for a summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell, the cauldron automatically conjures 1d3 additional creatures of the same kind from the next lower level list. For example, if a user casts summon monster III to summon 1d3 wolves, he could also summon 1d3 additional wolves (or other creatures from the 2nd-level list)."

Since it only grant "additional creatures of the same kind from the next lower level list" it seems that what's implied, but not outright stated, is that the cauldron has no effect when summoning creatures of the same-level list as that of the spell or when casting the 1st level version of either spell (since there's no lower level list to choose 1d3 creatures from).

I'm also wondering whether the cauldron would work in conjunction with a summoner's Summon Monster spell-like ability seeing as it doesn't require a focus though since, according to the general description of spell-like abilities, it "functions just like a spell. Further, would the Cauldron function in conjunction with appropriate spell-completion or spell-trigger items such as scrolls and wands?

I don't think there's any official ruling on this item, so conjecture is welcome.

I searched but couldn't find an answer. The claws evolution states: "An eidolon has a pair of vicious claws at the end of its limbs, giving it two claw attacks." No problem there; spend a point and you get two claws. But what if you've reached a level where your eidolon is allowed an odd number of attacks and you'd rather add an extra claw rather than say a bite, slam, tentacle or what-have-you? You're free to buy as many pairs of limbs as you can afford, but can you spend 1 evolution point to add claws to one of those limbs or, alternatively, add claws to both limbs but only use one of them in battle to make your odd number of attacks?

Our group is about to start a new Pathfinder Adventure Path at 1st level with four 15-pt buy PCs. The GM encouraged one of the players to try out a gunslinger and, due to an elaborate background, is considering giving him starting access to a modern 5-round capacity rifle rather than a gunslinger's typical firearm options.

I'm not terribly familiar with Pathfinder firearms or the gunslinger class. For those who are; what effect would this modern technology have on the the gunslinger's overall class balance at low and higher levels?

I've searched the rules forum and got bogged down in inconclusive similar-though-not-quite-the-same questions. Hopefully someone can clarify the issue for me.

Say I have a character with the fey bloodline's laughing touch power...

Laughing Touch (Sp): At 1st level, you can cause a creature to burst out laughing for 1 round as a melee touch attack. A laughing creature can only take a move action but can defend itself normally. Once a creature has been affected by laughing touch, it is immune to its effects for 24 hours. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This is a mind-affecting effect.

…and multiple natural attacks per round (bite/claw/claw for instance), since touch attack effects can be delivered with successful natural attacks, can I full attack and successfully inflict a laughing touch effect on multiple opponents as a full attack?

As a secondary question, does a failed attack roll on a laughing touch use up one of the daily uses of that power or does the 3 + Cha limit only apply to successful attacks?

Thanks for the help.

A player in our group is looking to play a humanoid woman who can naturally change shape into a wolf as a part of her character concept; though she isn't infected with lycanthropy. Since she's supposedly been doing this since birth, is there any way for a character to effect that transformation at 1st level?

I'm working on a PC fey race called the Meliae; a type of dryad bonded to an ash tree in Greek myth. I started with a half-elf, kept some of its base traits, adopted some of the half-elf's alternate racial traits and swapped out others traits for those from the Race Builder chapter of the Advanced Race Guide to maintain balance.

It ends up being a low-calory PC-friendly version of the dryad which, by my count, maintains the ARG's 10 r.p. guideline for a standard PC race. I'm just looking to get some feedback on it.

• Type: Fey (2 RP)
• Low-light vision (– RP)
• Ability modifiers: +2 to any single ability score (0 RP)
• Size: Medium (0 RP)
• Base speed: Normal (30-ft.) (0 RP)
• Language: Standard (Comon & Sylvan + INT) (0 RP)
• Treespeech: Speak with plants (constant) (2 RP)
• Spell-like Ability, Lesser: charm person 1/ day (1 RP)
• Spell-like Ability, Lesser: entangle 1/ day (1 RP)
• Bonus feat (Skill Focus) (2 RP)
• Perennial (2 RP)

Perennial: Meliae are creatures of all seasons, and so are as accustomed to harsh winters as they are to easy summers. A melia can move through natural snow and ice at her normal speed and gains a +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves to avoid nonlethal damage from cold environments.

I'm trying to rough out my Synthesist's feat progression from level one. Although I want to be combat-effective, the GM prefers to focus more on role-playing so there's some room for some non-combat diversity.

Thing is, the more I look at it, the Extra Evolution feat seems to be a better option than most feats. Compare the +3 bonus of Skill Focus vs the +8 racial bonus from the Skilled Evolution. Evolutions are strong, versatile, can be repurposed every level and generally superior to individual feats.

My question is, if available at the current level, isn't the Extra Evolution feat a solid and generally better choice for a synthesist to take?

If my character has natural reach, say of 10-ft, and uses a special ranged ability like the Tanglevine power from the Verdant Sorcerer bloodline; "you can create a 15-foot-long, animated vine that springs from your hand". Does the vine's range remain fixed at 15-ft or, since I can reach my hand out 10-ft from my body and the vine is described as starting from my hand, does that mean the vine actually has a 25-ft range?

I read something about a Mandragora familiar, but are there any other (non evil) plant familiars out there; either official or 3rd party? I have a nature themed character and I think base-creature plant would be a fun familiar.

It seems that most new playable races introduced by Paizo also have alternate Favoured Class bonuses which are, in some cases, a big draw for prospective players; something that isn't reflected in the Example Races' Race Point Totals of the Advanced Races Guide. It seems something of an oversight to prospective race builders.

I'm wondering whether there's a (semi-) official system for buying/assigning alternate Favoured Class bonuses to new races or if it's simply something that can be added for 0 RP by the race(s) creator.

I'm putting together a synthesist summoner with a treant-themed eidolon. The Half-Elf Wild Shaper archetype seems to complement the nature based theme of the character very well and I don't see any class abilities that conflict. Is taking both together allowed?

I'm reposting this to the correct forum. I'm working on a new Summoner build and would like some help developing an Evolution before I pitch it to my GM for consideration. I'd like to know if it makes sense, what works and doesn't work with it and how many points it might be worth. Here it is:

Effigy (Ex)
In lieu of disappearing when dismissed, an eidolon with this evolution instead leaves behind a solid though immobile effigy of itself. The effigy is akin to a lifelike statue of the same size, weight and appearance as the eidolon. It retains the same hit points, saving throws and armor class as the eidolon at the moment of its dismissal though, due to its immobility, it's Dexterity is effectively 0. In addition, the effigy gains a Hardness of 5 as long as it remains. Although incapable of movement itself, the effigy can be moved by other conventional means. Once summoned again, the eidolon appears in place of the effigy.

A summoner with the Merge Form power or the Synthesist archetype may remain comfortably encased inside the effigy after dismissing her eidolon for as long as desired, and is free to exit or enter the effigy as a standard action. While inside the effigy, the Synthesist cannot move and is effectively Paralyzed. Although she cannot see outside of the effigy, the Synthesist can make perception checks at a -5 penalty to distinguish sounds.

The notion behind the evolution is to grant an eidolon a permanent presence in the material world instead of disappearing and reappearing at the summoner's whim. An eidolon with an angel or gargoyle theme might appear to transform into a stone statue while the summoner sleeps, a treant eidolon could appear to take root and remain a normal tree while inactive or a beast eidolon might simply curl up and appear to slumber.

As I see it, having an eidolon effigy is as much a liability as it is a benefit. I actually had trouble thinking of any benefit to having it around which would justify spending evolution points on it, which is why I had it reduce the time needed to summon the eidolon. As is the effigy's only use might be as a decent decoy. Summoners able to merge with their eidolons have the added benefit of being able to take shelter inside the effigy; which is about as effective as sealing yourself inside a wooden barrel. It's still a risky proposition though since damage inflicted upon the defenseless effigy is transferred to the absent eidolon and the summoner is limited to purely mental actions.

I'm working on a new Summoner build and would like some help developing an Evolution before I pitch it to my GM for consideration. I'd like to know if it makes sense, what works and doesn't work with it and how many points it might be worth. Here it is:

Husk (Ex)
In lieu of disappearing when dismissed, an eidolon with this evolution instead leaves behind a solid though immobile representation of itself akin to a lifelike statue. The husk retains the same hit points, saving throws and armor class as the eidolon at the moment of its dismissal though, due to its immobility, it's Dexteirty is effectively 0. In addition, the husk gains a Hardness of 5 as long as it remains. Any damage inflicted on the husk will remain with the eidolon once it is re-summoned, though the husk can similarly be healed of damage, up to the eidolon's full hit point total, through application of the rejuvenate eidolon spell or its equivalents. If the husk suffers sufficient damage to kill the eidolon, it crumbles apart and the eidolon cannot be summoned again for 24 hours as normal. Due to the presence of the husk, the eidolon can be summoned more easily than normal; cutting the required time of summoning in half, to a minimum of 1 round. A summoner of the Synthesist archetype with this evolution may remain safely inside the husk after dismissing her eidolon for as long as desired, and is free to exit or enter the husk as a standard action.

I'm trying to develop a PC for a friend's tabletop game; a dryad PC who's bonded tree is a treant. This is a bit weird but, if you'll humor me, I'll try to make this make sense.

The notion I have is to use a female half-elf summoner synthesist in the role of the dryad and have her eidolon counterpart be the treant. That is to say that the dryad would appear, act and be a veritable dryad, but she would be using a RAW half-elf's racial makeup to keep the character viable as a PC. In the same vein, her treant counterpart would appear, act and in all ways that matter be a treant, but would be stated from a synthesist's eidolon.

I'd be playing the un-melded dryad and her synthesist-melded treant form as two distinct entities; only one of which could be active at a time. So as not to have the treant simply disappear into the either when un-melded, I'm hoping to have my GM allow the eidolon to remain corporeal even when he's dismissed or "killed"; albeit as an otherwise normal rooted tree stuck in the spot he was where he should have disappeared.

So the dryad would remain a dryad until the moment when she steps into her tree and she herself goes dormant, at which point the treant (i.e. melded-synthesist) awakens and is free to move and act. So when one of the pair is active, the other is automatically asleep. If the melded eidolon were to be killed, the treant would go dormant and immediately root to the spot and the dryad would be forcefully ejected. The dryad is the soft social of the duo, while the treant is the muscle. Make sense?

I'm going to be playing this from level 1 onwards. What I'd like would be some feedback on this concept, as well as roleplaying ideas, suggestions for which base form and evolutions would help make the eidolon as much like a treant as possible. Likewise anything that'd make the half-elf as much like a dryad as possible would be helpful. Thanks!

I may soon be getting back into a Pathfinder campaign and had a notion for finally realizing a character concept I've had in the back of my head for a few decades, but which I never had the game mechanics to pull off: a tinker gnome piloting a clockwork armoured-knight mech which he builds and upgrades as the campaign progresses. The Synthesist, with an appropriate amount of backstory and aesthetic changes seems a good way to pull it off without needing to reinvent the wheel. Summoned creatures could similarly be adapted by describing them as various clockwork creatures the gnome deploys when needed

The only issue I have with the concept is the notion that the eidolon/mech and clockwork creatures appear and disappear regularly. Though it's a super convenient way of acquiring and discarding of the character's mechanical creations as needed, it's rather at odds with the idea that these are big clunky mechanisms that the character builds and maintains in his off hours. In battle, I'd imagine that the slaying of the eidolon would result in the gnome being knocked out of or being forcefully ejected from the non-functional knight-mech. Unfortunately the broken down mech-eidolon wouldn't stick around for the gnome to go about fixing it; it would immediately disappear. In fact, there seems to be no way for the gnome to step out of his eidolon-mech-suit without it immediately disappearing in a puff of smoke.

One notion I had was to imagine the eidolon as an animating spirit that, once it departs, leaves behind a big pile of broken and largely useless machinery; the actual knight-mech body. That seems easy enough, except that I wouldn't want the responsibility of carting around a big mound of scrap metal to become a burden for the party.

I'd like to hear possible solutions to this conundrum. Any ideas?

Following a few years of game-play over fifty-four sessions, our intrepid band of adventurers (the Sihedron) went up against the Runelord of Greed and defeated him after surprising him in the "Eye of Avarice". We began Spires of Xin-Shalast last session, though we only went so far as to perform a successful Harrow reading and discretely reconnoitered the Pinnacle of Avarice.

We started off this session by buffing ourselves to the nines and then circumventing a quintet of lamia harridans to trigger the opening of a portal by touching a Runeforged weapon to a crystal mirror held by a statue of Karzoug. We next appeared inside the Eye of Avarice; surprising Karzoug, a huge blue dragon and another human wizard who I believe was an apprentice named Khalib. During the surprise round, my character cast antimagic field on himself and had his familiar carry him over to the Runelord's side. With all his magical defenses down, our rogue succeeded in hitting Karzoug with a devastating ranged sneak attack, followed by another arrow from our ranger. I was looking forward to the prospect of assaulting Karzoug with a tanglefoot bag (hey, not much else I could do right?) but our monk charged forward and hit the Runelord with a vital strike; ending Varisa's would-be conqueror's life. The Dragon proved a little more time-consuming to defeat while Khalib fell to the same antimagic/monk-attack combo as Karzoug.

And then five lamia harridans and six rune giants crashed our little party in the Eye of Avarice. The Battle of the Pinnacle will continue next session...

I'm reading up on using dispel magic (or greater dispel magic) to counterspell and am having trouble figuring out what the dispel check DC is supposed to be. The spell description says that dispel magic "targets a spellcaster and is cast as a counterspell".

Backtracking to the targeted dispel option of the spell it initially says: "One object, creature, or spell is the target of the dispel magic spell. You make one dispel check (1d20 + your caster level) and compare that to the spell with highest caster level (DC = 11 + the spell's caster level). If successful, that spell ends."

But then, reading ahead a bit, it says: "You can also use a targeted dispel to specifically end one spell affecting the target or one spell affecting an area. You must name the specific spell effect to be targeted in this way. If your caster level check is equal to or higher than the DC of that spell, it ends."

So which of the two applies to counterspelling? Is the check DC (11 + the spell's caster level) or the targeted spell's save DC? It seems to me that the second one makes more sense since it means that it's easier to counterspell lower level than higher level spells.

For that matter, why are two different systems used for setting dispel DCs? Isn't that needlessly confusing?

Thoughts?

I was wondering whether using arcane eye to explore outer space was fair game. The spell description says: "You can create the arcane eye at any point you can see, but it can then travel outside your line of sight without hindrance." So, look up during a clear night, pick out a visible celestial body you'd like to explore, cast your spell and "create an invisible magical sensor that sends you visual information" at that location. Granted, you wouldn't be able to explore very far on the planet or moon of your choice since "An arcane eye travels at 30 feet per round" but it's certainly much better than using a telescope and easier than casting interplanatary teleport. Traveling Dream further increases the window of exploration by an order of magnitude (to hours rather than minutes) and even opens up the door to communicating with native extraterrestrials.

Thoughts?

Looking at the Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values table, I see that an item which enhances an ability score costs "Bonus squared x 1,000 gp" with no mention of any limits. I seem to remember that in 3.X there was a maximum of +6 for any such (non epic) magic items, but I see nothing to that effect in Pathfinder. Is there any RAW reason one couldn't create +8 or +10 items?

My mystic theurge character is currently possessing a Shemhazian demon via a lucky casting of magic jar and I'm trying to figure out what his new attack routine is. On the one hand, Magic Jar's description states "A body with extra limbs does not allow you to make more attacks" yet also says "The body retains its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, hit points, natural abilities, and automatic abilities." So do I get its full natural attack routine, my own +6/+1 two attacks or some other combination?

Also, in regards to the Shemazian body, what exactly are its "natural and automatic abilities"? Thanks!

I tried searching for an answer and couldn't find a consensus. So, is it feasible to improve similarly themed buildings; for example building a shrine and later improving it into a temple and eventually a cathedral? Would it save on BPs? Or must a building be demolished and a new building be erected for full BP cost?