First, a disclaimer. I searched to see if this had come up before so don't flame me if it has. (I prefer necro over retread.)
As the subject title says, what's your favorite weapon to use with a Magus? Yes, I seen the scimitar brought up many a time for the obvious reason of the crit range. But in my experience, you still run up against the little problem of being an arcane caster in melee. Okay, you probably have a better AC and can take a penalty to your attack rolls to boost the check for casting defensively, but your gaining a chance for the spell to be successfully cast for a chance for the spell to fail to connect.
For me, things get fun with whips and the scorpion tail. I've never been one to chase the die-type (my halfling fighters often just roll over DR) and here we have a one-handed reach weapon. Spell combat at range? Yes, please and thank you, kindly. Yes, this is either a 3rd level or higher option or you are grabbing something like ancestral weapon with a half-elf, but (again, in my experience) I have found it to be well worth it. Particularly if you progress down the whip mastery feat line.
But does anyone else have a favored weapon for the magus that isn't a scimitar? (or staff for the Staff Magi, natch.)
I must be missing something in our Skulls and Shackles game, because with the pilot's sailing skill modifier being added to AC, how is a siege engine ever expected to hit on anything other than a nat 20?
Example: The base AC of a sailing ship is 2, but you add the pilot's Profession (Sailor) skill modifier to that. At 5th level, this has our ship at an AC of 20 already, and that's only going to increase every level. The siege weapons, being reliant on hirelings to aim and fire them, aren't going to improve at all and if you're not taking range penalties, you're about to be grappled/boarded.
*Looks up at directory line* Well, boop. I have posted in the wrong section.
And base AC is 2, but you add the pilot's Profession (Sailor) skill modifier to that. At 5th level, this has our ship at an AC of 20 already, and that's only going to increase every level. The siege weapons, being reliant on hirelings to aim and fire them, aren't going to improve at all and if you're not taking range penalties, you're about to be grappled/boarded.
I must be missing something in our Skulls and Shackles game, because with the pilot's sailing skill modifier being added to AC, how is a siege engine ever expected to hit on anything other than a nat 20?
I'll keep this simple. I have a party who include a kobold in their number. Their idea is to buy him Fake Footprint Shoes (Ultimate Equipment pg. 56) that are designed to lay down kobold tracks. As said kobold has no ranks in survival (and a wisdom pentalty), the resultant DC to identify the tracks as fake is going to be easy for even a novice tracker.
The exact wording of that mechanic is thus.
"When walking with these shoes, you may make a Survival check; the check result is the Survival DC for anyone trying to determine whether the tracks are what they appear to be."
Now I'm personally leaning towards letting it work, because I like it when my players use a little ingenuity, but is that all that that specific check will do? Because it also seems that 5gp is a small price to pay in order to ensure that no tracker can ever be sure what you are when they are tracking you.
Only tangentially on topic, but there are reasons why my militarily minded characters should never be given a decanter of endless water. The ability to produce a little over 1.6 megalitres a day in valley? Give me this and a halfway competent team of engineers and I'll go Force 10 from Navarone on almost any strategic target.
Actually, that reference only states that they retain their spell knowledge for only 24 hours after the death of their master.
I came across this thread searching for the answer to this question, but with the assumption that the master DOESN'T get raised. There is nothing in the rules that I could find (and I spent several hours searching) that details what happens to a familiar after the master's death.
My read of the situation is that the former familiar obviously loses access to any abilities related to actually having a master, but otherwise remains a magical beast. Which creates all sorts of problems with communication as they now cannot be affected by speak with animal. Tongues doesn't works because "Tongues does not enable the subject to speak with creatures who don’t speak." You can't use Awaken because they're not an animal any more. Familiars kind of get the short end of the stick if their master dies on them.
But has anyone found anything more on this subject?
It's worth noting that it's significantly less good with a smaller party, and gets exponentially better with a larger party ("Party" here meaning "all the people who took this feat" or equivalent).
I'm running a campaign where all five of my players decided to start off with Stealth Synergy. As a result, they have been making a mockery of any stealth-based challenge, even when only half of them are able take advantage of it.
The key with GMing the feat is to,
1) Not just increase the difficult of stealth-based challenges. The PCs have invested a feat and skill points into being good at being stealthy instead of other capabilities.
2) As mentioned many times regarding stealth, you can only even attempt the skill check when you have concealment or are otherwise currently unobserved.
3) A first level spell (Alarm) negates it almost entirely.
Apologies for the thread necromancy, but as a Maori I feel that I should weigh in here.
1. The Ultimate Combat Description: Except for the final sentence, I have no problems with it whatsoever. No, it does not go into extensive detail because there are space limits with creating a product like this. Additionally, the description includes a metal spearhead because while this is the weapon of such importance to my people and our identity, it's not the weapon of this world. We need to always be mindful that Pathfinder is a game of FANTASY first.
2. One-handed: Mau Taiaha and Mau Rakau teaches a warrior to use this weapon both with two hands and one handed. And I'm not simply referring to the occasional flourish, but many strikes are made with a single-handed grip. That having been said, the majority are made with both hands which would imply that the weapon should, in fact, be similar to a bastard sword or dwarven waraxe. In this, I feel that the final sentence should read "A taiaha can be wielded as a two-handed martial weapon that deals 1d10 points of bludgeoning damage (1d8 if Small) and has a ×2 critical."
3. The tongue: Here I have to disagree rather strenuously with Canerat. While it is true that the tongue often had a facial carving upon it and to thrust the point into the ground was a sign of great disrespect to the weapon, the family of it's ancestor spirit and to Tumatauenga. (One of our war gods and literal father of humanity.) While this is true, the Taiaha is intended to be thrust at and into the body of your opponent. The tongue is used to strike at the soft parts, the eyes, throat stomach and groin. Many times these are feinting stabs but with a willingness to follow through if the opponent is foolish enough to leave the feint unmet. But the main striking section IS the blade, which strikes at the skull, shoulders and arms, ribs, hip and legs.
While it is true that the tongue is typically carved and shaped from the same length of wood, some were in fact sharpened Paunamu/Greenstone (native jade) or of whalebone and such details could be used thematically to indicate a masterwork weapon as these tongues were typically a part of the most carefully carved Taiaha and were, admittedly, rare. If you are attempting to represent a Taiaha from a culture similar (or identical) to the Maori, then a Paunamu tongue would be almost essential for magical weapon and are thematically appropriate for black blades.
Hmmm, A Bladebound Eldritch Scion Kensai... too cheesy? (I know you can't actually do this, which is a pity.)
I may sound boring with this, but a little more information on the ecology. I mean, I enter the kingmaker game only to find that the thylacine can be found in the region. I'd just like an idea of just what creatures are where, more than "this type of environment."
