Bart Vervaet's page

Are you set on catfolk as a race?

If not, choose a race that gets her age over 100 years (dwarf, elf, gnome if middle-aged,...) and grab breadth of knowledge as a feat for extra bonus on all knowledge and profession skills

you can Always take the alternate racial "toothy" (replaces orc ferocity, see APG) to get a primary bite attack.

maybe just stating the Obvious, but play a halfling.

+1 size to attack, +2 dex for another +1 to ranged attacks, and the +1 size to AC is Always nice for a witch.

and since you best stay away from melee, the -2 to STR doesn't bother you one bit

hi there

question 1 is easy: every town has a base value listed. This means that basically everything costing less than that value should be available. no need to micromanage.

as for your party not wanting to fight full on, there are a number of things you can try:
* put them in a time constraint: the baddies are attacking an innocent and helpless bystander/captive/... and unless they intervene immediately, the captive dies
* use the same tactics on them: the vaddies are shooting at them from cover:high ground/...
* the baddues spring an ambush on the players

You shouldn't use these tactics all the time, but throw one of these in every once in a while.

hope this helps

If you're looking to be good at skills, Breadth of Experience" (advanced player's guide I think) could be a good option. With an INT of 16 it would help a lot with all knowledge checks you come across

The only restriction I always use is no third party stuff.

As far as I know there is no real power difference between the stuff on the PRD (basically the paizo hardcover books) and the smaller softcover books published by paizo.

More options naturally means more chances for good combo's and synergies, so a character build with all paizo material will probably be stronger than a core only character.

from the PRD:

Disarm

You can attempt to disarm your opponent in place of a melee attack. If you do not have the Improved Disarm feat, or a similar ability, attempting to disarm a foe provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver. Attempting to disarm a foe while unarmed imposes a –4 penalty on the attack.

If your attack is successful, your target drops one item it is carrying of your choice (even if the item is wielded with two hands). If your attack exceeds the CMD of the target by 10 or more, the target drops the items it is carrying in both hands (maximum two items if the target has more than two hands). If your attack fails by 10 or more, you drop the weapon that you were using to attempt the disarm. If you successfully disarm your opponent without using a weapon, you may automatically pick up the item dropped.

If your attack (disarm) hits, so if you beat his CMD, he drops one iten OF YOUR CHOICE, so bye-bye main weapon.
If you beat his CMD by 10 or more and he is holding 2 items, he drops both
If you fail by 10 or more, you drop your weapon.

In most cases, and certainly at the lower levels, doing a combat maneuver is about the same difficulty as trying to hit.

Combat Patrol sounds cool, but its a trap.

This depends on the rest of the party. If your party members are just going to charge past you to get to the baddies, then yes, CP is useless.

If your teammates are say an archer and a blaster caster, then CP becomes a lot more interesting. It basically gives the baddies the unpleasant choice between standing there eating arrows and fireballs, or try to come past you and eat a bunch of AOO's to try and reach the softer targets behind you.

As far as I can see, YES

all three replace different class abilities so you can combine all three

shameless bump

also, this is the racial trait in question:
Pyromaniac: Gnomes with this racial trait are treated as one level higher when casting spells with the fire descriptor, using granted powers of the Fire domain, using the bloodline powers of the fire elemental bloodline or the revelations of the oracle's flame mystery, and when determining the damage of alchemist bombs that deal fire damage (this ability does not give gnomes early access to level-based powers, only affecting the powers they could use without this ability). Gnomes with Charisma of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, flare, prestidigitation, produce flame. The caster level for these effects is equal to the gnome's level; the DCs are Charisma-based. This racial trait replaces the gnome magic and illusion resistance racial traits.

Hi all,

I'm building a gnome arcanist and have a question about the pyromaniac alternate racial trait. Does this also affect class abilities? more specific, if I take the exploit that gives me the ray of fire (don't have the book with me now, but it gives me a 30 ft line of fire, reflex for half), does the pyromaniac +1 to DC also increase the DC of this class ability?

looks OK

Just remember that in a few levels time your normal, not animal compnion, tiger will probably get killed pretty much every time you charge a CR appropriate opponent

The only real advantage of a (cross)bow is the vastly greater range. This comes into play when facing enemy archers or when fighting a flying opponent.
You can mostly get by just using throwing weapons, if you accept that there will be some encounters wher you spend the first couple of rounds either running into enemy fire or twiddling your thumbs waiting for the opponent to come in reach.
There is nothing stopping you from buying a bow or crossbow and some ammo just in case. Especially at 2nd or 3rd level a normal bow is relative cheap.

yes, it can.

Especially if both combatants have combat reflexes this could lead to a nice chain of events.

RAW I'm not sure if the +4 STR/CON from augment is a fixed numerical bonus to an aspect of the spell because it modifies the creature(s) summoned by the spell and not the spell itself, but at the cost of 5 feats and 1 skill point per level I would probably allow it

normally feinting is a standard action. With this ability you can move as part of the same standard action you use to feint, leaving your move action free to use for something else (extra movement or some other move equivalent action).

If you have improved feint, you can feint as part of a move action, leaving your standard action free. So you could basically walk up to an opponent and feint while moving, and than attack that opponent with him being denied his dex to AC.

part2 of Carrion Crown (trial of the Beast) has the PCs running around looking for clues and presenting them in court. there are some fights in this part of the adventure, but most of them are not important for the story.

Broken Moon (carrion Crown part 3) has something similar in a hunting lodge.

If you'r just looking for a cool city map, I suggest picking up Cities of Golarion, or start googling the larger cities of golarion to see some sample maps untill you find something that fits your idea

you could give him levels in summoner, so he can have his own eidolon

elemental(fire) sorceror. just cook everything

The Ninja can use the Rogue's archetype for uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge, because the Rogue is the parent class of the Ninja.

The rogue is not the "parent class" for the ninja, the ninja is an alternate class for the rogue. That is a big difference. And IIRC it was specifically stated that an alternate class can use the archetypes of the class (singular) it was based on, as long as it had the class abilities that are changed in the archetype.

The classes presented in the ACG are "new" classes. Granted, they are based on 2 previously existing classes, but they follow completely different rules than alternate classes. Therefore they can only use archetypes created for their specific class, not fhose created for their parent classes. In my opinion this doesn't even have to be specifically stated.

Asking to apply a barbarian archetype to a bloodrager in my eyes is the same as asking to apply a monk archetype to a fighter.

Dodge and mobility might be good, as they'll help keep your mount alive.
Toughness for the same reason.

RAW I'm not entirely sure, but my gut feeling says NO.

Vital strike calls out an attack action, and using acid jet is not an attack action, but using a Su ability that requires a ranged touch.

Furthermore, an arcanist can only qualify for Vital Strike at lvl 12, so at that point the additional 1d6 gained would be pretty much pointless.

Is it just me or is this a very strong combo?

OK, you'll be 2 levels behind a wizard for spell access, but I think full bloodline power progression plus all the arcanist powers more then make up for that

I'm just reading the ACG PDF, and I came across this ability for the arcanist.
Does this mean that if you take 1 level of sorcerer and then take this exploit and continue as arcanist, you effectively get full progression on the bloodline? Or does it only progress the first level bloodline power?

I'm thinking it's the second one, because full progression seems a bit too strong for the cost of 1 level

It's not impossible for 5 characters to deaet the promethean on their own, but chances are there will be one or more fatalities.

In my campaign, I'm making a few changes to this encounter. Instead of the apparatus calling the beast in, I'm going to have the beast lying dead in the room, killed by the promethean, and the apparatus has the power to revive the beast.

I think that the sight of the beast dead in the room will be a very powerfull warning that the promethean is not something they can beat on their own, which will force them to look for other options.

you might want to look at the boreal sorcerer bloodline. It allows you to enchant your normal arrows on the spot. Might go well with a zen archer

How can you crit on a roll of 12??
Keen kukri gets a threat range of 15+, and doesn't stack with any other way to improve crit range.
Vorpal only triggers on a natural 20, but other crit dependent feats/abilities should trigger whenever you score a crit.

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I reread the lore warden (I had checked it when creating the character), and although the bonus to CMB and CMD is really nice, I don't really like having to give up medium and heavy armor. Also the pole-arm master archetype's bonus to AOO's seems more in line with what I envision.

@ Thalin: I have him on 15 DEX right now. Do you happen to know the name of that feat, or maybe the source to narrow down the search?

Hi everyone

I'm a long time player, but this weekend I'll be playing my first PFS game. I decided to go with a trip build fighter (pole-arm archetype).

I pretty much got my feats plannedout up to lvl6, but just wanted to check if I'm missing something obvious.

1) combat reflexes, combat expertise (human), improved trip (fighter)
2) dodge(fighter)
3) weapon focus (guisarme)
4) mobility (fighter)
5) combat patrol
6) greater trip

I'm trying to get combat patrol and greater trip as soon as possible. Just seems fun to go around tripping everything and getting AOO's as a result. Downside is I have only 1 free feat untill lvl 7 (I took weapon focus for that one), all the others are prerequisites.

Are there any other feats better than weapon focus, or woth it to delay combat patrol and/or greater trip for one or more levels?

A) I'd say -16. both abilities speak specifically about your CON score.

B) Seems like they are both untyped bonuses, so I think they stack. If you have both the discovery and the ioun stone and a CON of 10, you would die at -22.

I'd say go for the weapon and buy a normal non-magical shield if you feel you need one.
With the +2 from STR and not much else to boost your attack roll, I think you will start having problems to hit any decent opponent before long.

I don't think so. As far as I know you can't apply metamagic to a wand, or anything else except for spells you cast from your spell slots.

also, in the Curse of the crimson throne there is a very similar NPC

Cheliax springs to mind.

It's not exactly cetral america, but it would be an excellent place for a masked hero fighting an evil government

It all depends on your definition of safe.

I would rule that a pit or ravine or acid pool is an unsafe place, as it deals damage when you enter it.

A web otoh does not seem as an unsafe place in itself. OK you are stuck and hindered in your movement, but the web doesn't harm you.

Talking about safe places, is right next to the TWF ranger with keen kukris and a bunch of critical feats a safe place? Is right in the line of a dragon's breath attack a safe place? Right in line with a large boulder rolling down a hillside?

I think you catch my drift.

I would rule a "safe" place as any square that does not automatically cause you to take damage.

The Carrion Crown AP starts with the reading of the will of Professor Lorrimor (Haunting of Harrowstone).

Was this what you were looking for??

Yes, the first hit has to overcome the original DR, After that, for 1 round, ALL other hits against the target (not only your own) have to overcome 5 less DR on the alignment DR part.

As for your second question, the DR/ cold iron remains unaffected.

in the example above DR 10/good AND cold iron, the weapon has to be good-aligned AND cold iron, or you get the DR 10.

If you hit it with the negating lance, it becomes DR10/cold iron and DR5/good, so a cold iron weapon would only suffer DR5 for 1 round.

If it would say DR 10/cold iron OR good, then hitting it with a cold iron weapon would overcome DR, and hitting it with a steel good-aligned weapon would also overcome DR. That's the difference between AND and OR in the DR entry.

I hope this makes sense

4.
When reading the class abilities, always assume they are talking about a single class character. When they don't, it's usually mentioned very specifically, something in the line of "this stacks with levels in class X or Y"

Like LazarX said, there is no "one build to pass the starstone".
If we look at the golarion setting, I know of only one guy who made it, and that is Cayden Calian (apologies for any errors in the spelling). He looks like niether a wizard nor a monk, and at the time of the test he was drunk to boot.

seems like an OK ruling.

I do seem to remember that the first 10' is free when calculating falling damage (or was this only in 3.5?) so in this case I wouldn't have him take any falling damage.

I don't mean to be a party p**per here, but getting spells that are already on your list earlier than normal cannot be RAI, even if it is allowed by RAW.
If one of my players would come to my table with this, I would immediately houserule it as "spells that are not on your list"

If the rest of the party is willing to work with you, try a paladin and dump wisdom.
Play him as Lawful Gullible. he just completely believed anything he was told, except for when he had obvious evidence to the contrary. I really had a blast with him in our kingmaker campaign untill he got snuck up on by a shambling mound. (low wis does make for a pretty poor perception check).

I would rule that you could add smite damage to any spell that specifically targets and deals hp damage. This would include magic missile (but only one missile would get the extra damage) but not aoe spells like fireball, as you are targetting an area and not an opponent.

The fact that magic missile does not require an attack roll (in my opinion) is just the same as coup de grace not requiring an attack roll. You make the attack, but it automatically hits.

looks awesome. I might well steal this one from you to use on my party.

10th level Sorcerer with Boon Companion - his AC is 10th level now. Flat out. It is - nothing can stop this from happening (short of level drain). This is the normal and rightful power of this majestic class.

Now he finds this Robe of Arcane Heritage - which boots his sorcererness by 4 levels for all effects. Suddenly his companion is less powerful than it otherwise would be? His feat is invalidated? Seems a lot less likely than it just boosting the companion.

now let these events come in a different order.

A sorceror with an AC find a robe of arcane heritage: "Cool, my AC just became 4 lvls stronger, yeah".

now as he gains a new level and has a feat to spend, and he decides he wants his AC to become even stronger, so he looks at boon companion.
BUT because he has the robe his AC is already effectively 1 lvl higher than his character level, so boon companion would do nothing at all.

This can't be right. just because he found the robe before he took the feat he can no longer take the feat??

This is why a number of people on this thread, including me, are saying that this does not (or at least should not) work.

And don't come with some cheesy story about taking the robe off for a day, taking the feat and then putting the robe back on, because everybody knows that is just b******t

question 1 is a clear NO. You are already using your INT instead of your STR, so even if you replaced STR with DEX, you'd still be using your INT for calculating the CMB

I seem to remember a similar thread about stacking CL increases, and the general consensus seemed to be that you cannot choose the order in which you apply the different bonuses, so in this case boon companion would only kick in if your effective druid level would still be lower than your character level AFTER the effects of the robe of arcane heritage has been added.
So in my humble opinion this would not work.

I used both whispering fountain and fiddlers lament for my CC campaign.

I started with murmuring fountain right at the start of the campaign, introducing the madman at the funeral, and using the ghost appearance at the fountain before the blood on the monument situation started.

Fiddlers lament I ran while the pc's were still doing research. I had kendra ask them to pay a bill for her at the local shop, and told them about the far-off fiddle playing as part of the description of the day's weather and activities going on. I did scrap the very similar event described in the AP though

I used these plug ins as a way to give my party of 5 (with 4 newbs) enough XP to be comfy at lvl2 before they went to the prison.

I agree with CWheezy.
once you go thassilonian specialist, you permanently lose access to the 2 opposition schools

As far as I read it, that's correct.

you can make multiple swings with the 2handed monk weapon using flurry.
you do NOT get the x1.5 STR, but also you do NOT get the x0.5 for off-hand, all attacks get normal STR to damage
PA isn't changed, so you get the -1 att/+3 dam for using a 2hander.

in your case it would even be +5/+5 with PA, since your BAB would be +4 when flurrying.

you know, I never even thought of this. This makes a monk with a reach weapon seem kinda cool