Amseriah's page

This is a question about the Monastic Mount ability that the Sohei gets.

Monastic Mount (Su)

At 4th level, a sohei may spend 1 point from his ki pool to grant his mount temporary hit points equal to twice his level for 1 hour per level. In addition, as long as the sohei and his mount are adjacent, including when mounted, the mount gains any of the following abilities the sohei possesses: AC bonus, diamond soul, evasion, high jump, improved evasion, ki strike (as long as the sohei has at least 1 point in his ki pool), perfect self, and still mind. When a sohei spends points from his ki pool, his mount gains the same benefits as the sohei.

This ability replaces fast movement and increased unarmed damage.

Is there anything preventing a sohei and a druid from teaming up as a rider and mount combo with the druid wild shaped?

So if a person were to cast Shades to simulate Iron Wall, which has a permanent duration, then broke it down and forged it into arms and armor would the resulting products have any special/interesting qualities?

Why use an instrument? Just use your pretty, pretty voice to buff up your allies. Another option, if they can see you it to dance for your bardic performance...you can dance and fight at the same time.

Ummmm....so I don't know about this. I don't see any reason to tweak this class at all. It is the most powerful Prc's in 3.5. 2 good saves, full caster on 2 sides, +1 BAB, 6+int skills, and to top it all off you get one of the biggest druidic restrictions eliminated. I mean I guess if you just want to add a couple of little piddly fluffy things you could, but it is unnecessary. I have seen players (and have contemplated doing it myself) not progress as a bard caster, but instead progressed as a wizard or sorcerer, giving you 2 GOOD caster lines, full BAB, and all the rest. Who needs mystic theurge???

Wow....thank you! We have started playing most of our games as gestalt and this thread just gave me inspiration....monk/warlock! That IS a bender.

Your idea makes it seem like level 20 is infinite, sure you get new class abilities but that's it, you don't really "level" at that point. I really feel as though growth needs to be made from one level to the next (even if it's miniscule like "my BAB just went up 1/3 of a point"), if growth doesn't occur things get boring and there is less of a reason to continue playing.

Thank you Razz I agree with you fully...

One of the players in my group has become less than entranced with the wildshaping of druids because there aren't any huge animals that have more than one attack, so he has began looking for other ways to get multiple attacks off. One of the things that he has come up with is that since elementals have hands they should be able to wield weapons allowing him to get off his iteratives. I'm not really sure about this since except for earth elementals, they seem less than solid and I would think that they wouldn't be able to maintain a grip on a weapon. Am I wrong? What is your take on this?

Yes there are....like Fanes (sp?)

Oh come on, a lot of those epic feats ROCKED! Especially the deflect arrow chain, deflect anything, reflect arrow, infinite deflection...now your monk is virtually invincible against ranged attacks (aoe's still have a CHANCE of not getting evaded). Those feats were what they said they were, epic! Epic characters don't run out of the Mines of Moria with their tails tucked between their legs, they look up at the Balrog, look at each other, shrug, and then proceed to hand it it's own head on a chilled platter.

I did have a question though, is the content that was presented in the "Epic Insights" articles open content? I have lustfully been wanting to play a Void Incarnate since it was first released so I would love to see it transitioned into a hypothetical Epic Handbook for Pathfinder.

There is another very simple and elegant solution if you don't want to employ such tactics on your players and don't want them to derail your plot by doing it to you. Simply enter into a Locke-ian social contract with your players telling them that if they don't do that then you won't either. My GM did that with us in 3.5 with Disjunction, and trust me it proved to be effective, I know that I didn't want all of my magical gear made inert!!!

Some less out of game and more in game solutions to this tactic as lightly touched upon earlier exist too, such as Nondetection, Mind Blank (I think that it protects you from scrying, but I could be wrong), and a favorite of ours in high level play Dimensional Lock or Dimensional Anchor.

It was stated in the 2nd ed Elven handbook that the bladesong took many years to learn even the rudimentary forms (I believe that it actually states that it takes 50-75 years just to learn the basics), and that to truly become a master required centuries of intense study. That was one of thye reasons for the racial requirements. Definitely a human wouldn't devote his entire lifetime to become a novice at the style. Elves were also extremely protective of the style and never taught outsiders. Another thing to consider is that when Bladesingers were first thought up half-orcs didn't exist, dwarves couldn't cast arcane magic, and humans couldn't multi-class. The racial requirements are a carry over from older editions and I think that they make sense.

Well, Mystic Theurge is cool but there are two MAJOR problems with it.
One, you say no loss in caster level? True, BUT because of the requirements, you will ALWAYS be at least 1 spell level behind an equivalent arcane/divine caster. This HURTS. And so you know a lot of spells, ok, cool...but...you can still only cast 1 spell per round.
The level 10 ability is fun, but is it worth it? I dont think so.
That said, I think the flavor of the class is fun, and the versatility could be very useful in some campaigns. It is NOT, though, a Power PRC.

I fully agree with you...I didn't even go into the requirements to get into any of the classes. Mystic Theurge's are...steep.

Mystic Theurge: poor BAB, one good save, no loss in caster level

So why didn't you bring up this class....it gets 2 abilities one just escalates which I guess if you are just glancing at them makes it looks like it is more than it is.

Combined Spells...this can be nice, especially with the dreaded 4th lvl spell slots...just mem more of the good 3rd lvl spells with them, yay.

Spell synthesis is niiiiiiiice....only once/day, which kinda sucks but for one round a day you can cast 3 spells....(the combined casting and a quickened spell).....that will clear up a battle field.

Loremaster: Poor BAB, one good save

Secret, oh cool you get to choose 5 numerically negligible abilities through the course of a 10 lvl prc...yay. Seriously, you can only choose each secret once and aside from Instant mastery, Secret Health, and Applicable knowledge they aren't really that good imo....

Bonus Languages, soooooo.....2 bonus languages....neat I guess....language has never really been an issue with any of my games especially at this level because if there is an issue you just cast tongues....just my thoughts though.

Lore, now you can have Bardic knowledge too little wizard. I really like this ability though...wizards should know a little bit about everything but their poor skill points/lvl limit that.

Greater Lore, so permanent identify right??? Ok, that's what I thought....it's nice, but not what I would consider game breakingly powerful

True Lore, once per day you get to cast an additional 6th lvl spell....not bad, and very fitting for the class.

If you are a wizard this is a decent class with a lot of flavor

This is the trend...these classes have more abilities than the EK but they are flavorful things...they do neat things...they aren't super powerful by themselves, having a permanent identify isn't going to make taking out that Great Wyrm any easier, but it does give you some fun rp things that you can do.

Dragon Disciple: medium BAB, 2 good saves, loses 3 casting levels

Blood of the Dragons: Read, you should be a sorcerer with the dragon bloodline for this class...it's the best thing for your. It's good, it lets your prc levels stack with your sorcerer levels for your bloodline abilities....nice

Natural Armor Increase is good...+3 nat ac..can't complain there

Ability Boost ok, you get +4 Str...your a sorcerer who cares, +2 Con that's good more hp, +2 Int....good for skill points but not much else, remember to get the most out of this class you are a sorcerer so you need Cha not Int.

Bloodline Feat further ensures that the lvls from this class stack with sorcerer with the dragon bloodline, which is nice but not super great.

Breath Weapon, see above

Blindsense is nice, it is a great ability...the range of 30 ft kinda sucks because you will most likely be lobbing spells but oh well, it's a rare ability that is pretty good.

Dragon Form is great, although you are limited to Form of the Dragon II with this ability can only use it 2 times/day and gain the Form of the Dragon III as a bonus spell due to your bloodline, oh well it's 2 extra 7th lvl spells a day, so it's useful in that respect.

Wings....ummmmmm....ok.......so you can fly now....you could before too....if you took the bloodline you now have a movement of 90 ft which is pretty awesome, but that's about it.

So overall it has a ton of flavor but a gish prc it is not...

Arcane Trickster: Poor BAB, 2 good saves, does not lose any casting levels

Ranged Legerdemain: this is pretty cool...as long as you keep your ranks in Disable device and Sleight of hand high it means that a prison cell probably won't be able to keep you for long, and you can now disarm those nasty traps at range so if you mess up you are less likely to get it in the face.

the bonus to sneak attack is good, but remember you are losing BAB with this class so the likelihood that you will hit all the time is going down....although I am pretty sure that you could deal sneak attack damage with a ray, so that is fun, ranged touch attack-y sneak attacks are nice.

Impromptu Sneak attack is good but only usable 2 times/day, so not a good ability to get the class for. (I want my abilities to be usable as often as I need them)

Tricky Spells is a good ability, again if you are captured. You are in a prison or in custody and you are bound and gagged but can still cast some spells...it's a decent ability.

Invisible Thief is ok...you have a spell that does the same thing...the good thing is that it is a supernatural ability so it can't be dispelled, but can still be supressed in an antimagic field. Again there's the limit of only 10 rounds/day at 10th level that I just don't care for...

Surprise Spells....this is good but you are doing it already doing that with ray spells. This ability is unlimited in use however....so it's pretty freaking nice.

You are still sacrificing BAB for all of this...it is more of a mage with rogue abilities than a rogue with magic imo although you have to be a 3rd lvl rogue to get into it, so you are really losing 3 spell levels for it.

Ok..

Arcane Archer: good BAB, 2 good saves, -3 spell lvls

Enhance arrows and the Imbue arrow abilities are solid...especially if you get a magical bow so you are stacking the bonuses from the arrows and the bow.

Seeker arrow is at best usable 4 times/day and really just eliminates cover...which is good...but there are better things out there

Phase arrow is usable 3 times/day at 10th level and essentially does the same thing as the Seeker arrow except now it also ignores shields, and armor...but it does state that any magical barrier stops the arrow...so how does that work with mage armor, shield, or magical armor or shields? Would that completely stop said arrow? Seems like it would.

Hail of arrows is usable 1 time/day....I don't really have anything bad to say about this ability...it's solid. It's ranged great cleave, yay.

Arrow of death is....well you can only have one at a time, and it takes 1 full day to make one. So that ability is usable at best once every other day...and the save dc is 20+ cha mod....so it's ok, but so limited in how often it can be used.

Also the Seeker and Phase arrow abilities are full round actions so for the ability to ignore cover you lose all of your other attacks that round and the chance to cast any spell that is not quickened...

Overall the class is good for what it is...but it doesn't get super cool things every level.

I don't have my book handy with me right now, but I will get it in a little bit and look at things. I will tell you right now though that you might be getting suckered in by the laundry list of "stuff" that the other prc's give you. One thing that I discovered playing in multiple 3.5 games and taking them into epic is that a lot of the times the little things that a prc gives you doesn't really matter or doesn't come up that often. They look pretty, they seem neat, but they really aren't as good as they seem on first glance. Whereas something like the EK that just seems to get a couple of things and full BAB and almost full casting, seems....well neglected. I will post more later after I can look at things.

My group has been doing this, I think, for a while now. Pick 2 classes, average their BAB, Saves, and Skill points, keep all of the class abilities of both. It works out really well and there are numerous class combos, so characters are pretty interesting.

This is an interesting take on epic levels, but I don't like it. I don't particularly like how 3.5 epic nourished the goal to get a +16 BAB and as many caster levels as you can then switching out. I think that the class that you started off as before epic should still be valid after you hit lvl 20. Also if saves and BAB stop accruing you can't use any of the monsters in the epic handbook because they would be impossible to hit and the players would not be able to save against them. So unless you have the players continue to face CR 20 encounters you have to homebrew some monsters, and even the continues CR 20s face diminishing returns as you gain in level and need more and more xp but your income of xp remains fixed.

Ummmm...there is a HUGE problem that I see with that idea. Coming from years of powergaming my first thought as a player is:

"Dude, I am so going to do that with a monk...Dex to AC, Wis to AC, monk AC bonus, and now subbing out my BAB for AC??? Just going to flurry of blows anyway since that doesn't run off of my BAB but my monk level...this is going to ROCK!!!!!"

No I don't think that completely unhittable monks wielding two weapons (their unarmed strikes) with a fighter's BAB should be allowed...just to mention the oversight.

I just read the beta for the soulknife, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! You finally took the class and made it a viable option to playing a fighter.

Is there a tentative release date yet? I am really excited about this book and was curious as to when we might be able to see it on shelves.

What about something as simple as trading out the bravery bonus for a bonus to one's leadership score...then the level that you get bravery you can get the Leadership feat (your score will be so low at that point to make it not a very overpowering trade I think).

Hi, I am trying to make a character for a game that my friend is running, and I am wanting to make a rogue base that prestiges out into something that plays around with shadow powers, stealth, and sneak attack increases. I immediately went for Telflammar Shadowlord out of Forgotten Realms (Unapproachable East), unfortunately there is a huge list of restrictions that the gm has implemented: No 3pp, no setting specific books, no Bo9S, and no psionics. We are allowed to take a low level non-standard race, but no templates.

So are there any classes or races other than Shadowdancer (which is a neat class but doesn't increase your sneak attack dice) that are shadow themed and gain shadow powers along with sneak attack, and match the aforementioned criteria???

Thanks in advance!

Yeah....about that...I'm looking for a way to prestige out to improve the Druid's wildshape ability. While I like sorcerors that's not what I'm playing. The class is powerful, but you trade all of your spell casting, maintain a 3/4 BAB, and don't get anything else but the wildshape abilities. I don't see that as being unbalancing....it actually kinda sucks for the druid to lose that many caster levels.

Like the subject says, can anyone offer me any suggestions for this? I was thinking about taking the Form of Dragon I, II, and III in the wild shape path, increase use of wild shape +1/lvl as per the original class, the giant shape spell, the thousand faces ability as per druid instead of wild shape (humanoid), and then the capstone would be the wild shape at will as per the druid lvl 20. Any suggestions? Sorry it's not a good write up now, just thinking up things off the top of my head.

I would love to see the Hellbred out of the Fiendish Codex II, but I would love to see them turned into a template....probably a 0 LA template. They are people who were terrible people and probably made deals with devils, but right before they died they repented for all of their actions and tried to get forgiveness. They were too late to get into "Heaven" so they are sent back to the Prime Material plane in order to prove their resolve to be good. They are crusaders for the cause of good so that they can get out of Hell when they die again, they have had their bodies warped so that they look devilish and have devil-touched feats. Their favored class is paladin and they have the ability to use evil items (things that would normally result in level-loss for non-evil characters) with no negative side-effects even if a paladin, however they must still follow the strictures of their class/faith.

I think that I like these....I'm just not sure yet. I like the feel of all of them however they seem pretty powerful even for epic, but that may be the result of Pathfinder upping the power level of everything pre-epic (which I actually enjoy a lot). I do have one question though: No Fighter love???? I personally think that they could use something other than just a bonus feat every other level, but they are going to be epic combat feats so I don't know...

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Would it imbalance things too much to make a 4th feat in the 2 weapon fighting chain allowing you to make 4 off-hand attacks with a full attack action?

OK, here's the scenario: Jerkface the reformed pit fighter doesn't like a fair fight and also has improved sunder...so he likes to even the odds in his favor by sundering his opponent's shields, armor, and weapons. Well one fateful quest he runs across someone who has a magical weapon that he wants. So he decides that he should liberate blade from the current owner but this guy is beating the snot out of him with it. Could he sunder it and then later use his Create Magic Arms and Armor along with his craft (weapons) skill to repair said magic sword after the fact or does he have to either: not sunder the weapon, or have someone use a spell to fix it?

Well, I can understand that, I love the point system, IMO it is what made 3rd ed psionics great, but it's easy to convert things to a point system using Unearthed Arcana.

What, what, what??? I missed something...last I read the only psionics was going to be 3rd party, is Paizo actually going to be putting out a book/rules for psionics?????

So does anyone know if the powers that be have discussed reworking this book or clumping in the rules for Legacy items in with one of the other future releases???

The reason that psionics and psionic critters aren't in the core rules for any of the editions of dnd or Pathfinder is simply good business. Look at all the people just in this thread that have said that they truly hate and don't allow psionics, these are all potential customers of your product. We have also seen quite a few people who love psionics and will defend it as a viable character option to the end, they are also potential customers. So what is a publishing company to do??? Make no mistake about it people, they are a company, they may also be players and have a passion for the game, which is wonderful, but they also have a responsibility to sell their product. So, let's just not talk about psionics at all in the core books and that way appease the customers opposed to them, and then release a alternate core book devoted to psionics and psionic critters to appease the customers who love them. Makes sense doesn't it???? So you really can't claim that because a company is following a good marketing and business strategy means that the very system opposes the spirit of the game.

OK, now on to WHY I like psionics: I love the power point system, I love the fact that my 1st level powers will scale with me as I level even without the need for me to purchase metamagic feats then bumping their spell level slot up to insane levels just to make them viable. All you have to do is just pump more power points into the power, simple, effective, beautiful. To paraphrase something that has been said before, a sorceror's 1st and 2nd level spells are useless at level 15-20, they just take up room on his character sheet because they don't do enough damage and they have easy saves that any monster worth it's weight in salt can pass. The book Unearthed Arcana for 3.5 broke down the PP system for use with spontaneous casters, they called it a Spell Point system and it was glorious.

I also like not having to deal with spell failure due to armor, clerics don't have it and they arguably have better spells, better BAB, better hit points...wizards/sorcerors get the short end of the casting stick. Psionics have no chance of spell failure either, which is nice.

There are many ways to play a monk that are truly monstrous (they are a baby of mine), especially if you multiclass out a little bit to pick up a couple of fun abilities. First to all the people saying that Str doesn't matter and just pick up weapon finesse, while I see what you are trying to get at with cutting down the number of key abilities that you need, you are wrong. One of the wonderful things about the monk is the FOB which as has been stated multiple times is equivalent to a fighter with the 2-weap fighting chain, so you are getting quite a few attacks off at the end. Weapon finesse will allow you to sub your str for dex to hit but does nothing for you as far as bonus dmg goes. If I am going to be getting off 7 attacks a round I would like to make sure that all of those attacks count by adding something to each one such as my str mod. Also weapon finesse takes up a feat which could be better used on something else.

Now some fun things you can do with a monk, (of note don't take more than 4 levels in a class other than monk, so you can get the full number of attacks with your FOB) take a level or two of rogue to get a little sneak attack, you can sneak attack with your fists or you can also use shuriken to get it off (shuriken are monk weapons and therefore usable with FOB). If you have a kind and understanding gm, take your first level or 2 as a barbarian (I know alignment hopping, blah, blah, blah) and use the substitution level from the 3.5 book, complete champion that lets your sack your fast movement for pounce (it's lion totem I believe). This is a VERY fun and effective combo, because you get a better fast movement from the monk anyway. Basically you control the battlefield, by pouncing all over the place and getting in your flurry of blows in every round, great for getting at those bosses that like to hide behind a horde of critters (make sure your acrobatics is at level, and maybe even take skill focus so that you can tumble past enemies that are in your line of charge).

Do yourself a favor and pick up Medusa's Wrath, ESPECIALLY if you took at least 1 lvl of rogue, stunned opponents lose their dex to AC making them a viable to target of a sneak attack, and you get 2 extra attacks against them at your highest BAB, at 20th Lvl assuming you didn't take more than 4 lvls in a class other than monk that means you are getting off, 9 attacks a round, at at least 2d8+1d6 (or 2d6 if you took 3 lvls of rogue) and adding in your str mod to each of those attacks, a fighter simply cannot compete with that kind of dmg output. Oh as a side note, you can also take power attack to help out in the dmg department. Taking the critical focus feat chain doesn't hurt you at all either if you can spare the feats, at least to bleeding critical, and improved crit (unnarmed attacks) that gives you 9 chances to roll a 19-20 on a d20 in order to get 2d6 additional dmg/round in the form of bleed.

These are just some of the fun things that can be done with the monk, they are definitely a viable fighter alternative.

That's true. That's a good idea.

The subject line says it all. The Diamond Mind discipline relies very heavily on concentration for many of it's game effects. So what is the fix? Add Concentration as a skill to the game anyways, use a mechanic like concentration checks for casters (d20 + initiator level + key ability mod), Fort save, something else???

OK, this thread is a little bit old, but I didn't see this anywhere. What would you do for manuever users (Bo9S), particularly when using the Diamond Mind discipline. You kind of need concentration or something comparable.

I think that is the best solution to the problem. They essentially are the same class anyway, like you said, so unless you take the Divine Mind and make it more like a paladin, with a fighter BAB progression and other goodies, and take the Ardent and just give it a complete overhaul the best solution is to combine to two to make one decent class. It would have good Fort and Will saves, poor Ref, 2+Int mod Skill points, combine the number of mantles that they both get, give it the PP progression of the Ardent, and the ability to use the Auras as per the Divine mind and call it a day.

*shameless bump*

So I was thinking about how you would convert the Hellbred, out of "Fiendish Codex II", to Pathfinder-y goodness. The thought that I had was to combine the bonuses where they don't contradict one another, i.e. +2 Con, +2 Cha, -2 Int. I wish that there were another way but that seems the best to me (I like my int, dangit). Thoughts, help?

For the SwordSage: Flurry of Blows: When using one of the favored weapons of whatever stance a SwordSage is in, he can take a full round action to release a torrent of blows upon his opponents. (This may require a manuever to be expended in order to utilize this ability) The SwordSage uses his level as his BAB for the purposes of this manuever and is treated as though wielding 2 light weapons with all of the appropriate 2 weapon fighting feats even if he doesn't meet the prerequisites

Psionics are a pet of mine, especially 3rd ed. So while it seems like people have already stated most of my thoughts I want to state (or restate as the case may be), I LOVE the power point system!!! Psionics AREN'T just spells that you can fling out, they are powers that you learn to use just by harnessing the power of your mind or soul. It should be a more fluid system than "x level 1 spells/day, x level2 spells/day, ect" the power point system conveyed that beautifully.

Ok, first I think that the different BAB and save progression that epic laid out was dumb, it made twinking very easy if you knew you were going into epic: if you wanted the abilities that a prestige class gave you but it had a crappy BAB, well then just wait until level 21 to take it and it doesn't matter. Spell seeds sucked, really everything that they did with casters in epic was bad, EXCEPT for the permanent metamagic feats where a caster could cast every spell of a certain level range with a metamagic feat applied to them without increasing the level of the spell. That was nice. Actually quite a few of the feats were really nice, very epic (pun not intended), I was especially fond of the arrow deflection tree (you mean I can reflect a dragon's breath weapon back on him now??? Where do I sign up???). That's all I can think of right now...

I want to see tome of battles again, so the Crusader, Swordsage, and Warblade. IMO that book "fixed" the fighter, for example the Warblade got the ability to take any of it's weapon specific feats and after just an hr of practice, convert that feat to another weapon. They also added some utility and better functionality at higher levels. I am tired of playing a fighter that has to rely on his magical equipment in order to do anything at higher levels, while the casters level entire maps in a couple of rounds. The Tome of Battles did that.

Also I know that it was mentioned once, but I would like to bring it up again, Psionics.....pleaaaaaaaase.....