Argent Snow's page

Argent Snow wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.

Would it help to sneak past this deadly razor thin "patience" (What is the CR of this?) as a lvl 14 Ninja? On my sheet are (of course) the Ninja Class Feature Light Step and to make sure I do my best, I will use the Ninja Tricks Fast Stealth, Vanishing Step + Invisible Blade and Unbound Steps with a total sneak bonus of 14(ranks)+3(class)+7(dex 24)+40(invisible) for a total of +64. I might toss in Ghost Steps if said being only can be fooled by 'phasing out' halfway.

A follow-up to this: Is the following a grapple attempt or does it succeed automatically? I plan an unarmed (maybe better armed with a pillow for 0d0 that disallows any precision damage?) sneak-attack on a Creative Director (What are the CR and ACs of one again?) to pounce and hug him to show him some love for putting up with us.

And, a follow-up upon to that: Would additional people joining to aid in such a 'grapple' have to grapple the CD too or do they succeed automatically?

No.

Dunno. I'm kinda not really interested in the rules of the game at this point. If this came up in a game I was running RIGHT NOW I'd decide in favor 100% and arbitrarily what makes for a more dramatic and interesting story.

Same as above.

Ahw... But... But... I believe this Creative Director needs some Love. I love your works (even if I get them only in translation and some long time later because of translation to German), especially your forword of Kingmaker. So... stay with us? Please? Pretty please?

And not a question to you but the other gamers like me: Would you show James some love for his hard work to keep this game best?

This thread needs Swordsages and Ninjas! Where are you when you want to prevent a corpse from falling over by repeated application of super stealthy Sneak Attacks?

My patience these days is razor thin when it comes to folks being disruptive and snarky on this thread.

Would it help to sneak past this deadly razor thin "patience" (What is the CR of this?) as a lvl 14 Ninja? On my sheet are (of course) the Ninja Class Feature Light Step and to make sure I do my best, I will use the Ninja Tricks Fast Stealth, Vanishing Step + Invisible Blade and Unbound Steps with a total sneak bonus of 14(ranks)+3(class)+7(dex 24)+40(invisible) for a total of +64. I might toss in Ghost Steps if said being only can be fooled by 'phasing out' halfway.

A follow-up to this: Is the following a grapple attempt or does it succeed automatically? I plan an unarmed (maybe better armed with a pillow for 0d0 that disallows any precision damage?) sneak-attack on a Creative Director (What are the CR and ACs of one again?) to pounce and hug him to show him some love for putting up with us.

And, a follow-up upon to that: Would additional people joining to aid in such a 'grapple' have to grapple the CD too or do they succeed automatically?

Mr Jacobs, I would like a clarification on something you said in 2012, especially December 16, about the spell Blood Money.

Back then the question was:

Nearyn wrote:

Hello Mr. Jacobs.

I’m trying to figure out the Blood Money spell and I would appreciate your help.

This is what I’ve found out so far:

-Blood Money let’s you create valuable material components for a spell at the cost of 1d6 damage and variable Str-damage.
-Provided you’ve taken enough Str-damage, you can transform your blood into a necessary valuable material component, for a spell cast in the same round as the Blood Money spell.
-If you cast a spell with a casting time of 1 minute or more, for the entirety of that casting time you are considered to be ‘casting a spell as a full round action’.
-The material component in question transforms back into blood, if it has not been used as a material component before the end of the round.
-Material components are destroyed in the casting process.
[...]
Question 1: When Blood Money says you can create components for a spell cast in the same round, does that mean the casting must be completed in that same round?
[...]

[...]

When you cast blood money, you do so with a swift action. You create the needed components, and must then IMMEDIATELY (in the same round) cast the spell you want to use those components with. You don't need to finish casting the spell in the same round, though; once you start casting the spell, the components (and the prepared spell itself) are committed and used.

Does that imply that it would be correct under the rules to do the following?

* Take 1 point of Strength damage with Blood Money and
* start Masterwork Transformation the same round.
* Target of said spell is a combat staff (cost: 0 GP + 300 GP material components)

This would be done with the expressed goal to gain an item worth 300 GP that sells for 150 GP with just the expense of one night of rest and a trip to collet a sturdy staff in the woods.

This is a perfect resource! My campaign is 4 in game days in, but I managed to make a set that fits the no special weather for those days... so now I got weather for the rest of the year, and every after!

Chain actually is meant as "chain or boom" here. This is... well, read on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_(navigational_barrier)

To say it short: it is a number of floating items chained together or an actual chain set up in a way to block small to medium ships from passing. in a river that doesn't allow large and heavy ships to get past, this is pretty much a toll barrier.

*cracks fingers...* Necrromancy time.

So, Party enters a Hex. First? I check for Landmarks, rivers and forest edges (stuff that is rather obvious). Then I check time, as they are on horseback. Finally, they may decide to either explore, have a night's rest or try to get somewhere else.

This is when I do my random encounter checks. Last time I had the following encounters:

While resting in the same Hex as the Rickety Bridge (not exploring):

Next night, they found a really nice sleeping spot at thorn river.

Next morning, they decided to want to travel towards Olegs again, exploring the hex on the way. They arrived in it...

that are [http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/animatedObject.html#animated-object]animated object[/url] sounds good for most smaller items, assasin vine should work reskinned as the bedsheets.

The fire elemental in the stove is a neat idea, and might be even commbined with animating the stove...

The doll... you mean the Solbound Doll? Hm... Might be better used for a SAW-like plot htan the house of living things...

Attic Wisperer reskin sounds like a good idea too, even as it is described as a bunch of junk.

and then the g*$$~*ned Mimic... forgot about him. And close to him I found the Big brother of the sould doll, the Junk Golem.

And as I searched for a Stunjelly replacement I found living wall, which just screams 'reskin me'.

I want to run an adventure based drongly around the horror setting, some kind of 'cabin in the woods' mixed with 'monster house'.

For this I need monsters that mimic to be inanimate objects or such.

What I found so far:

Lurker Above and Trapper, a twin of all time classics, best mixed with Stunjelly (Which I can't seem to find on the PRD).

Then the Cloaker, whichg hides as curtains or bedsheets.

I kind of miss the Raggamoffyn and similar monsters, living bedsheets, maybe even the infamous 'Killer Pillow' and simmilar ones - generally the monsters I seek for and seem to miss must fit several criteria:

1. They have to look totally inconspicious when not attacking
2. They may have a CR of maximum 10.

Which monsters do I miss?

How awsome a death (or scene in general) is, depends mainly on the campaign and the GMs skill in describing:

The fight against a horde of 100000 Orcs storming through the narrow valley towards a 15 feet wide bridge which is to be held to allow the city to evacuate might qualify if described good, but it might also be just an orgy of dice rolling.

On the other hand the fight against an unarmed, single, old, smiling, bald man can be a boring encounter, for it is just one enemy and it is obvious his AC of 1000 with super-dodge and DR 90/- is cheated, but described well, getting your ass served on a silver tray by that immortal monk might be something the player will remember for ages.

First of all: Ninjas are an alternate class from UC - you can flat out ban the three alternate classes by word of GM (Samurai, Ninja, Antipaladin).

Second: Yes, Ninjas ARE powerful, but they are pretty much dependant on two principles: Stealth and Flanking. both are stuff a melee-rogue is good in too, and they go this way by neglecting the 'I disable traps' part of a rogue. They have ways to go around that (light step etc), but then they infiltrate alone. They are, in themselves, a Class devoted to getting a nice Coup de Grace/killing blow.

Three: Obvious disadvantages... Actually there are a few! check it - they don't get trap sense, so traps might not strike them, but also their allies (if they don't activate it themselves...), Then they are miserably at multiclassing unless you take monk levels.

Four: You are the GM. You may deny any character for any reason, and he even gives you one: No BG. Demand a good BG that explains why he is there.

Five: Lawful Good Ninja... Do you know Hattori Hanzo, the counter-spy of Tokugawa Ieyatsu? He is imho Lawful-Neutral; Eventhough his rival and killer is also a (imho) Lawful-Neutral Ninja, they did serve opposing Daimyos. Ishikawa Goemon, thief and peasent hero, is more Chaothic Good.

Six: If it doesn't fit the campaign, ban it.

THROWN
necklaces with <insert-any-species-here> ears
horseshoes
street-signs
direction signs
cats
hamsters
SQUIRRELS!
well buckets
playing cards
overly HUGE bombes - which are actually props from pappemache!
saddles
worn troll socks
roundshields (Cap America Style!)
toy soldiers
plushies
Sonkies(TM) (fill them with ketchup, syrup and milk for best effects!)

If someone has a huge strength...
Crates
Gates
Fisherboats
Horses
Carts

Actually...lying is simply listed as an example of dishonorable behavior, not a restriction in its own right. I'd argue (rather strongly) that a Paladin can thus lie if doing so is honorable. That's a rare situation, but one that could crop up.

Also, a Paladin might try to tell a borderline truth, when telling the full truth might be highly impolite - like instead of telling the ugly countess, that her new parfume smells like eau-de toilet he might say "Dear countess, I appreciate your try of the new Parfume, but the one of the day before acentuated your beauty better."

A quick suggestion: Get yourself Dwarf Fortress and play it for some week, then remap your castle to the grid - there you have your mountain caslte!

Ok, Ascalapus had pretty good points, some to add:

Gates: Dwarf Cities are easy to defend usually, so besides lockers all around the city, there might be massive doors to be shut and sealed, possibly even by dropping massive stone blocks down the path that are wider than the tunnel they are in - and have been fitted in by tricks long forgotten. Or are the main gates of the city in the size category as the black gate of Moria as seen in LotR?

Special Rooms: Do some halls have a special purpose? Like did the dwards built massive halls with a tiny door to the next room, but a giant entry to the outside, to lure dragons and trap them there for slaying (think about that tower of Dragonlance)? Or is there a huge spherical hall without any decoration but odd lines at the roof and a lamp in the center to cast a recreation of the stars to it (think the astrolabs in Skyrim&Oblivion)? Huge, empty theatres with perfect acoustics, which also serveed as a meeting place for the senat/gerousia or the ecclesia/apella (think those in Athens) or are they arenas where people fought for honor?

Art & Decoration: Dwarfs love it simple - while the walls and floor are decorated abundently, each plane showing the glorious history, there is little stuff without function. Statues to honor gods, ruler and anchestors are much likely the only sort of non-usable decoration besides the reliefs - and even then they solve the purpose of remembering.

Also dwarfs have a different mind on the value of items. In a mountain abundently rich of Mithral/Gold, they might have gotten a nickname like 'Moonsilver/Sunlight Caverns' for the city gates from the material or for they inlayed the streets with it. Actually Dwarven Cities should have at least a handful nicknames, possibly referencing to historic events - Fort Stormbreaker, Dragon's Demise, City of Obsidian and Morgeham might all be the same place! Possibly those decorations are ling gone by now, the decorations removed by wheeping dwarfs in their last stand to forge swords, the gates broken out by the orks after they moved in, but the story of such remains.

Lighting: What did they use to light the City? Torches in the mines, lamps in the urban areas? Or magic stones? A single, glowing orb over the city center/palace which creates light like the sun, which gets reflected by a complicated set of mirrors to illuminate the whole place (and can get turned 'off' for huge areas from a contol room)?

Symetry: Did the dwarfs build the city planned with symetry or did it just grow as it came? If there is symetry, is it just mirrored around one axis or several? Are structures to be found at returning points of the city, like a small market every quarter mile along the main roads? Maybe it is built like a clock?

LEt's look at a Church that has Clerics, Paladins and Inquisitors. Obviously, the Clerics are the heart, as they get the most powwer from the gods, and the Paladins are the sword and shield, protecting the church from the outside assaults on it. Where does the Inquisition come in? they protect it from the inside, uproot wrong believes and hidden assaults on it. While all of them are equally devoted to the good of the church and its believers, they are all showing different aspects - and thus have to work in different ways. Sometimes the differences blur, but the Heart/Shield/Immune System should be a good picture of the archetype.

Argent Snow wrote:

Depends on how militant they are: Considder the christian god to be LG - however one of his Inquisitors wrote the Mallus Maledictorum, which is prtty much LN and gives rules for how to properly torture people and burn witches. The whole Spanish Inquisition is LN or even LE (and if you assume they still follor the christian god, this makes God a LN one).

I'm talking about the class, not some of the real world people who used the term. My point is that Inquisitors don't get to go any further than Clerics do before they lose their powers and cease being a legitimate Inquisitor of their deity.

And any book advocating torture is pretty clearly evil, as are the people who follow it. On the other hand, in the real world, nobody takes a priest's powers away when they don't follow their religion's teachings, so the fact that bad people have followed a religion says nothing about its teachings validity.

They might not stray more than clerics, but they are more radical than priests as they are described - they hide and uproot enemies and unfaithful with what they are allowed to do. Sure, Clerics are not nessecary less violent or more benefactoral, but ...

Grim and determined, the inquisitor roots out enemies of the faith, using trickery and guile when righteousness and purity is not enough

I hink that is rarely possible to be a LG Inquisitor (LN or NG fit that much better if the God is LG), but they seem to be intended to be more radical than clerics.

Depends on how militant they are: Considder the christian god to be LG - however one of his Inquisitors wrote the Mallus Maledictorum, which is prtty much LN and gives rules for how to properly torture people and burn witches. The whole Spanish Inquisition is LN or even LE (and if you assume they still follor the christian god, this makes God a LN one).

Depends on the Outsiders... a Perform (oratory) might call the exactly wrong outsiders - like when the Inquisitor makes speeches to burn the LE city again and again and then that city's gods might send an herold to put a stop to that...

Ascalaphus wrote:

...Increasingly powerful and centralized secular states, and especially the Reformation, shattered that. It cost the Church it's monopoly on moral authority...

Personally, I think the Church sold its moral authority when it granted its priests the ability to sell indulgences ("Get Out Of Hell Free" cards) to the faithful and pocket a cut of the action. But that's probably a controversial opinion - and definitely not an idea I want players who run paladins trying to introduce to my world...

Ninja: You burnt down an orphanage?!
Paladin: Yep! And I still have enough coupons in my holy coupon book for a massacre and two fraternizations!

Sopunds like a demand for a charismatic Inquisitor at the side of the Paladin. They might actually pull that...

Inquisitor: "Sarenrae demanded me to burn undead on the stake and kill Rovagug cultists. That orphanage was the feeding ground for a Rovagug cultist Vampire, who tried to turn them into his fiendish spawn (and I can find[create] proof for that!)! I just showed them mercy and only dipped my soul to hell deep enough so it did cost me 100 gold to get out of it again (including my job-discount of 99%). Oh, you helped me... Paladin, that is 1000 Gold for you for a little refresh on your coupon book (with your 90% discount for being LG) and 10000 Gold for you, Ninja, for being a heathen. All for your soul."

FuelDrop: What Would Captain Britain Do sounds lmore like it... Inquisitors are between What Would Batman Do and What Would Punisher Do.

Claxon wrote:

Just to make a correction here for both of you, the wolf advances at 7th level...for a druid. But rangers function as a druid of their level -3. So, a ranger has to wait until level 10 for the wolf to become large and get a strength upgrade. For me, this is unacceptable. I'm going to go with the better animal companion and upgrade later, because remember, you can always get a new AC with a 24 hour "ceremony" as a druid/ranger.

Boon Companion is to Rangers what Natural Spell is to Druids. I'm sure there are some who don't take it, but I don't understand why. For one feat it's a big boost in effective arse-kicking level.

Boon Companion becomes even more insanely good if you choose the Archetypes that get more than 1 animal companion. With for example 5 druid level equivalents you can have a pair of lvl 5 and lvl 4 companions which is kind of nasty. It totally breaks the action economy. More wicked: 3 companions for druod lvl 5: lvl 5, lvl 5, lvl 3 for the cost of 2 feats.

sidenote: Performance combat has PErform to raise the crowds mood

Serpentstone Rocks & Obsidian Chunks for your sling?
Silkweave/Dragonhide slings!
But really, let's start with the good old quarterstaff - it is not forced to be from wood, so start with Lead-lined steel, umbrite or gold Quarterstaffs!

Perform could (by logic) be good to impress in social situations.

Some on the hand examples are dance in the ballrom, painting a picture of his majesty/highness or holding a good spech in front of the Senat closing with the words 'Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam' and thus either gain access to places to perform or possibly add a situational bonus to diplomacy rolls. Possibly best combined with KN: local and nobility for this.

Why do I have to think about Il Duche from The Boondock Saints? oh, wait, I know:

They exited out the front door. They had no idea what they were in for. Now they're staring at six men with guns drawn. It was a f!%!ing ambush. This was a f&+~ing bomb dropping on Beaver Cleaverville. For a few seconds, this place was Armageddon! There was a firefight!

What if it was just one guy with six guns?

Why don't you let me do the thinking, huh, genius?

Yay, what I said in post 7, 9 and 26 - Lawful is what your church/god declares is law. If you should manage to have a LN/LG/NG God that declares all followers of [insert gods enemy here] to be heretics that need to be culled on sight... wait, that's what Sarenrae does with Rovagug, her mortal enemy! And Torag with the same Rovagug. Iomedae at least demands never to associate or parley with evil gods, even if the the militant-extremist wing of her might demand smiting any evil... Wait, wasn't being evil not illegal? Apparently not for Iomedae.

Carefully - the term cat (small) is actually referring to smaller big cats - leopard, cheetah, mountain lion - while the term Cat (big) refers to the other big cats (lion, tiger)!

Let's quote the PRD...

paladins seek not just to spread divine justice but to embody the teachings of the virtuous deities they serve. In pursuit of their lofty goals, they adhere to ironclad laws of morality and discipline

[...]
Paladins serve as beacons for their allies within the chaos of battle. While deadly opponents of evil, they can also empower goodly souls to aid in their crusades
[...]
Code of Conduct: A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class features except proficiencies if she ever willingly commits an evil act.
Additionally, a paladin's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents.
[...]
A paladin who ceases to be lawful good, who willfully commits an evil act, or who violates the code of conduct loses all paladin spells and class features (including the service of the paladin's mount, but not weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies).

( http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/paladin.html#_paladin )

Ok, That summs up the relevant Fluff and Crunch on that part. What is a binding, legitimate authority for a Paladin? First of all, the leader of the church of his/her god (if he chooses so) is for sure. A King or other ruler that is accepted by this leadership should be too.

IMHO a Paladin that follows Sarenrae (NG, so he might do that for only 1 step away), may opt not to accept the rulership of an LE Vampire King, as that one is, while trying to uphold an ordered society (Lawful), is still an abdomination of life and an enemy of his goddess atop of being Evil. He might still acknowledge that he is the better choice against the CE Cultist, and offer him redeeming (as it is demanded by the Sarenrae morals).

A paladin that choose Iomedae, the LG goddes of valor and paladins, might find his role picture in the holy text "Acts of Iomedae" - The second miracle was slaying a ruling coven of witches, so Rulership does not qualify as needing to be acknowledged for it is not always legitimate. Also the tenth act refers to a rightful lord, implying that there are rulers that are not legitimate.

I once again point out, that the rules a Paladin follows are most likely written down somewhere - sit down with your GM and work out some special limits or rules that fit his connection to his or her god. Work on how much the safty of society as a whole (Lawfullness) is worth in comparison to the rights of the individual (one part of Chaos) - Is it allowable for him (and his god) to break into a house for the better of society? If not per se, is it allowable with a special permit or under special circumstances? What are those circumstances? The later question is what brings us back to the question the opener asked:

To aid someone screaming for help? I bet that would be a yes for all paladins, as long as they know it is not the evil one crying for help (and even then they might need to intervene and demand a mercyful death for them).
To prevent a severe evil deed you know for sure is about to happen? The very text I quoted on the Paladin demands to act in that case IMHO.
To prevent a severe evil deed you know likely to be happening? That is a bit more problematic, but if it is still very likely, then it is like the for sure case.
To prevent a common evil deed that might or might not happen? If it is not severe and thus does not demand immediate action and is not very likely to happen, then you can't justify stepping on the rights of the individual.

A Paladin is needed to be Good and for the better of society (Lawful), he may not lie (but opt not to tell the truth or all he knows).

Concerning the Devil with the ownership deed, some Paladins might come up with a simple solution, if they have Knowledge: Religion or Planes high enough - If the true and given name of the Devil on the deed is their name, then the Devil also is obligated to follow the rules of anyone knowing the name. if it is not the true and given name, then the deed is void as you can't own objects under an alias ;)

Uhm,... ok? Solved with 3 examples randomly picked...

If you think your druid at lvl 6 caused problems... you never saw an elven Ninja at lvl 6 kill someone with a Wakizashi (light weapon, so Finesse triggered!) from invisibility and force the bad guy to roll fortitude vs. ca 50 to either instantly die or suffer the massive ammount of 30 damage, for it was a dammed lucky Coup De Grace... Not sure if the blade was poisonoed atop of that. The GM screamed mordio... and later made sure that the enemies were never caught in sleep again.

General... Ok, a general is pretty much what the Strategist achetype of the Cavalier hands you - someone armed with the skill to lead an army.

The different types of general are as broad as the world:
* There is the Sun-Tsu Type - Do anything needed for victory in as little time as possible.
* There is the Gentleman Officer, like Erwin Johannes Eugen "Wüstenfuch(Dessert Fox)" Rommel in north Africa or KaLeu Hellmuth von Mücke who uphold the rules of warfare and good victory to a point that they are respected by the enemy as well as feared for their tactical skill
* Then there is the Berserker Frontline General, that leads from the front row - they are more likely Fighter or Barbarian types. Think of a viking leader like Eric Bloodaxe.

And pretty much thousands more....

If they believe there are cultists in there, proof or not, they are OBLIGATED by the code to investigate without harming anyone.

Because DnD takes place in ~15th century times where you didn't really have a legal right to unlawful searching the GM needs to remember that there wouldn't be laws against breaking and entering if you think something might be up and are authorities.

Additionally "Respect LEGITIMATE authority." if they make the sense motive when they ask the guards if they are in the pocket of the cult killing them, storming the place, and wiping the cult out with extreme prejudice would be a completely reasonable response.

Also: Paladins are often part of a church, and churches tend to have their own law (please take a look at the Roman Catholics here...). This makes them an authority themselves - which allowes (and demands!) them to investigate crimes of their area - which includes heresy, breaking of taboos, harming of innocents and spreading of heterodoxies.

Paladins may not lie - but they are not forced to answer a question. They may opt to say "I do not wish to answer this" or "I can not answer this to you" (for I can't compromise my plan)

Also, while they may not feint or do dishonor in combat, they may still apply tactics - flanking an Army is not dishonorable at all (as it is expected by military commanders that they try to attack the weaker sides) and neither is an Obligue Order (even if the later might be at the edge of being called a deception) for such speaks only for the wits of the general. They might employ very much more group tactics - but then again they would become Knights doing that...

Your point about entering a location. First of all, a paladin is much likely to be part of the armed wing/order of a church, more specifically he is very likely to be a designated protector of the followers of his god. This is quite similar to a guardsman, who is the designated protector of the inhabitants of his city, so he might have (in church law!) similar priviliges. One of these priviliges has not changed too much from the early medival time: Knights/Guards/Policemen may arrest people if they have enough evidence or the order to do so, and they may enter a location in several cases. The most relevant to this is, if there is strong suspection that they will by this lead to arresting people in ipsa rapina et adhuc flagrante crimine comprehensi (during a crime).

If however Church Law and Royal/City Law match in what the guard allows the paladin is an other item. I suggest asking your GM about writing down the priviliges/rules the church of your paladin grants/demands to be uphold in regards to religious crimes and what sentences the church demands (like burning at the stake for repeated Necromantism - which is pretty much what NG Sarenrae Inquisitors do - or possibly decapitation for being a Rovagug Cultist as sentence by the LG Torag cult)
Also, ask how far the City Laws give someone acting for (one of the many) the Church Law(s) has special rights - like the right for the in flagranti arrest I mentioned above.

Thanks for the correction of the action usage, the result of the gained height is the same thoug (80 feet fly*2/2=80).
The CMB is +29 for grapple, resulting in a minimum 11 on the option to grapple with the -20 (excluding the botch with 1) and a 45% chance to beat a CMD of 20. That should be more than enough to beat quite some Hero groups, even if it is only CR9.
It is it's 15 feet reach (preventing AoO for almost all weapons, unless someone has a reach weapon and uses enlarge person) which makes close combat almost worthless, and if the Roc targets the frail mage(s) first, and then the archers, it's 120 Hitpoits should be far more than enough to result in a TPK.

Releasing a grapple is a free action without getting contested. So if the Roc is able to grab the target, he can release it at any time without contest. Should the target whish to /break free/ from the grapple for trying to get placed in a hazardous condition (aka: released in the air) it would have just the same, quite deadly outcome once the roc managed to get off ground: Falling.

So the only logic point to contest would be immediately after getting grabbed, to 'just' take 4d6 damage at the end of the roc's movement. Later it goes deadly quite fast:

Let's assume the roc used the hold option, and uses one movement action to raise, and another to mentain the grapple at the end of the turn. This will result in a fall from 120 feet which inflicts 12d6 damage on failiure (or intended release), the next round the height is 200 feet and it inflicts 20d6 damage, which is the maximum falling damage. 70 damage average. (propability of damage curvve for 20d6: http://anydice.com/program/b66 )

However, you might want to apply the rules for falling objects on larger animals here. Small objects inflict double, medium triple, large 4-times, Huge 6-times damage and a gargantum object does 8 times damage. Since it seems that objects inflict 3 times the damage a falling medium being suffers, the scale up from medium to huge can get calculated to be a times 2 one for huge and a +33% one for large.

This scale up might fit quite well for animals such as Elephants (Huge animal, 93 HP as per bestiary), making it suffer from 'just' 40d6 damage from 200 feet (and thus dealing 140 damage average), which would make elephant hunting for rocs quite successful - the drop is enough to kill them in almost all cases - any roll of 101 or less has a chance of less than 0.03%. (as before, for 40d6 http://anydice.com/program/2a6c )

Not scaled up to huge, the drop of the elephant would inflict enough damage in ~0.09% of all cases from the first drop, but dropping it several times would also fit the hunting procedure described - the instant kill potential from the first drop is neglectable, but the second drop is an almost secure kill.

Curtesy to http://AnyDice.com for calculating the propabilities.

Gauss is totally correct there: some Beasts (griffons and dragons for example) are in the table at the end of the Bestiary telling what 'charachter level' some of the Monsters have when you want them for cohort/companion replacement.

It can awaken, but once it is you need Leadership to take it as your cohort.

Just a sidenote: Some races have not a single (racial) trait for choice (not those Alternate racial traits that modify the race you picked but those you may choose from to add like rich parents) - Catfolk, Lizardfolk, Tengu, Dhampir etc, pretty much any race that came with or after APG.

And you can use it to remove the broken condition from some types of weapons(broken can be anything like notches, rust, splintered wood...)

Cause you can't fire it there AD - trebuchets are indirect and needs a height. Take a fiends mouth cannon - same size or smaller and it's direct.

hmmm, it is 2d12. Let's see...

Why not just bring a field cannon, Large, for 6d6? or a huge Fiends mouth for 8d6) Wait, they are a tad too big...

Take a Culverin if you want to skip the cart.

Uhm, you can use a bullet from Adamantine/Cold Iron/Silver - becaus eit is a ranged weapon the porjectile counts also for bypassing DR.

I see the wording trying to aim at Gunslinger and Amateur Gunslinger however.

"you gain both +1 hit point and +1 skill rank instead of choosing either one or the other benefit or you can choose an alternate class reward"

remove the filling:

"you gain both +1 hit point and +1 skill rank or you can choose an alternate class reward"

My reading:
either "choose 2 of 3" or "+1hp and +1SR/ACR"

Any other feat that affects companions/familiars DOES mention it. Also any magic that affects retroactive stats (Int, Con) it is stated that it can grant aditional skills (or like in case of the headband it is mentioned that the increase is done on a specific skill) or HP. That leads to a conclusion: if it is not mentioned it implies it does not carry over to a new familiar/companion.

Are there other two-legged mounts?

[...]

But you are correct to say that Mounts are restricted to certain types of allowable critters. A plain old riding critter is only restricted by your GM's mood and your character's pocketbook.

I'm not sure if those are all correct, but I guess the following list compiles most bipedals that could serve as a mount:

Axe Beak, Roc, Pteranodon, Giant Vulture, Quetzalcoatlus (avian, 2 legs)
Iguanodon, T-Rex*, Allosaurus*, Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus (bipedal dinosaurs) and Deinonychus* or Velociraptor* (if you are small)
Kangaroo (if you are small)

Odd note: The Beastrider Archetype has a sentence that conflicts prior written items, namely half of the Dinos that are named in the archetype (and have a *):

A beast rider cannot choose a mount that is not capable of bearing his weight, that has fewer than four legs, or that has a fly speed (although the GM may allow mounts with a swim speed in certain environments).

other example: Iguanodon.

Once it is large and adult (at lvl 7) it has a statline of
Str 27, Dex 15, Con 19 ; lvl 7, 1 ability gain unallocated
Str 27, Dex 14, Con 19 ; Bestiary Entry of the animal

ok, so the /adult/ Iguanodon companion is a tad better.

Pony:
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14 ; lvl 4 Companion, 1 Stat gain unallocated
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14 ; Animal

Again, taking the lvl X fain (pony at 4) as their point of Adulthood, they are better, in case of a pony even significantly.

Roc:
Str 22, Dex 19, Con 14 ; lvl 7 companion - LARGE
Str 28, Dex 15, Con 17 ; Animal - GARGANTUM

The difference is partly size: large to gargantum is +16/–2/+8, changing the companion to
Str 38, Dex 17, Con 22
if he would stop to lvl at 7 and just increase its size to gargantum. So even for a young Roc this should be considdered above average, as a roc at merely large size should have stats such as
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 9

=> an Animal Companion starts possibly a bit lesser as it is young, but once the lvl x gain is through, it is much better than the base animal!

A mount is either an Animal or Magical Beast capable of carrying a rider as well as being trained ot do so. See also the PRD on all mentions of mount - always in conjunction with animal or magical beast or a single type of creature.

A wildshaped Druid or other caster using beast shape/elemenal body/plant shape/form of the dragon does not get the appropriate creature type - he stays whatever creature type he had before.

As it is not a mount technically I would not allow that.

Not at all:

Prerequisite for the one: [Aasimir] AND [ Animal companion OR familiar OR mount] class feature
Prerequisite for the other: [Vampire OR Dhampir] AND [Nongood] AND [lvl 10 in a class that grants (familiar OR animal companion)]

As you can't be both [Aasimir] AND [Vampire OR Dhampir] you can't have both feats. You can't be Humanoid/Undead and Outsider/Native at the same time.

Singing is DC0 to pinpoint, as said above, modified by distance: +1 per 10 feet.

Similary Boon Companion sais you may just have companion(s) of up to your character level, but if you have more than one companion you can bring them all up to that point (as it grants 4 EDLs for one companion)

In my humble opinion the Eldritch Heritage on Arcane Bloodline would not add to the familiar you have. At best you just gain another one, because the one is your EWL 20 and the other an ESL 18 and both do not work exactly the same (a spell you know vs a spell in your spellbook). But then again....

PRD

You gain the first-level bloodline power for the selected bloodline. For purposes of using that power, treat your sorcerer level as equal to your character level – 2, even if you have levels in sorcerer. You do not gain any of the other bloodline abilities.

and PRD

Arcane Bond (Su): At 1st level, you gain an arcane bond, as a wizard equal to your sorcerer level. Your sorcerer levels stack with any wizard levels you possess when determining the powers of your familiar or bonded object. This ability does not allow you to have both a familiar and a bonded item. Once per day, your bond item allows you to cast any one of our spells known (unlike a wizard's bonded item, which allows him to cast any one spell in his spellbook).