Blindmage's page

CDG is a tool.

How you use the tool matters.

I generally run through a three tiered criteria before an NPC uses CDG.

1) Do they have at least a 5 Intelligence?
2) Do they have time to conduct the CDG?
3) Do they have a motive to CDG?

Now the third one is usually the foggiest one to puzzle out, because motivation could be anything.

Their opponent is a cutthroat, he's gonna do what he's gonna do. Maybe it's an arch-enemy of the party bent on their destruction. Maybe it's someone who they foiled them in the past. Maybe the individual is desperate for money and doesn't want to leave a witness?

I also an unofficial fourth criteria, which is usually that the NPC be non-good. I tend to rule that CDG is a decidedly evil act, and most good NPCs wouldn't do it even to a foe. If the foe dies from standard combat that's one thing, but slitting their throat while they're helpless seems like a bit much.

Why the int cap?

Blindmage wrote:

With all the talk of fighters and WBL, how do casters fair? With the costs of scribing all of their spells, having multiple spellbooks, back up copies and such, how much would they really be spending on that?

At high levels? 6,750g to make a Blessed Book with a Bookplate of Recall, plus spell access costs. A good breakdown of these expenses can be found here

Ok, so to have access to: at lvl 18

So what’s the downside of all of this? The one factor which is not reflected above is time. It takes one hour to attempt to learn a new spell and one hour per spell level to copy a new spell into a spell book. In this case, the number of pages required to record all spells is also the number of hours required to copy all spells. If all four hardcover volumes of Pathfinder RPG spells are in use at your table, it will take an Archmage about three months to learn every spell from all four books. It will then take a little more than a year (3,069 /8 =383 days, broken into 8 hour blocks of time), flat out, to record all of the spells in all four hardcover books, if he or she does nothing else for eight hours a day and is always successful in learning a spell on the first roll.

Assuming you'd want to back up your 4 books of spells, each set of copies would take that much time again.

With all the talk of fighters and WBL, how do casters fair? With the costs of scribing all of their spells, having multiple spellbooks, back up copies and such, how much would they really be spending on that?

Shaka, when the walls fell

Zinda, his face black, his eyes red

Plane Shift

If they know of the planes existence they can just shift there.

"Components V, S, F (a forked metal rod attuned to the plane of travel)"

The focus is rather specific. For a personal plane...assuming it's owner has the only one (would they have to make it?). Then it's questing time.

The rule seems pretty straight forward, they cast a spell, but didn't meet the proper targeting requirements, so the spell fizzles and they lose the slot.

I can totally see why folks are pushing for ain't as a deciding factor, but what about animals and other such beasts? CdG seems fitting for them...granted so does wrecking face, then dragging your prey to a safe place before CdG.

Run them on different xp schemes:

Non magical classes: fast xp
9th level casters: slow xp
Everyone else: medium xp

In the case of multi classing, use the class with most levels to determine scheme.

Oh, White Wolf. You incomprehensible barrage of stream-of-consciousness edgy purple prose, you.

It took me forever to find Page XX, but they printed it in the second edition Malkavian Clanbook..

If it all summoned creatures, how about something focused around Protection from X, creating safe spaces for people the summoned critters can't enter.

Troll Styptic

A witch’s brew of troll blood, powdered plant extracts, and alchemical binders, troll styptic is intended as a field treatment for wounds and bleeding, particularly where magical healing is not available. This powder is stored in small packets, and when applied directly to wounds grants a living creature fast healing 2 for 2d4 rounds, as well as closing any open wounds the subject has or receives while the styptic is active, preventing ongoing damage from bleeding. This is a painful cure and requires the target to make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being sickened for the duration of the fast healing.

Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 25

"Misc.: The alchemist discoveries, bardic masterpieces, focused blessings, hexes, mercies, mystery, spirit specialization, variant divine bonds, and wild talents in this book are legal for play except angelic bond, death interrupted, and symphony of Sylandurla's Ascent."

"variant divine bonds" should cover it.

? to the non lethal hit point damage dealt by the physical fist? To the spell damage? To both?

Read in contest with the other rules, it is applied to the physical damage of the fist,but that rule alone don't give enough information.

Non lethal damage isn't hit point damage it's a separate track. Thus, power attack doesn't add to non lethal damage,

Torture is crass and, while it's an art form in and of itself, it's an interrogation tactic. Zon-Kushan and his worshippers see pain and suffering as a tool of enlightenment, in some cases, the practices are sacred holy rites, as opposed to simple masochictic daliances. Seeking truth and knowledge through exposing yourself, being vulnerable on a level most can't manage, from physical pain, to emotional pain, all forms bring insight into the truth of things.

How does Wild Rager compare to Brute?

Best multiclass ever?

Blindmage wrote:

For the longest time we thought it was max at lvl 1, then you roll 2dX at second, 3dX at 3rd, etc. It REALLY shows the difference in hit die size.

barbarians would be even more dope under those rules

It made for some amazing games. Multi classing was simple and easy.

Honestly, I loved running games that way.

For the longest time we thought it was max at lvl 1, then you roll 2dX at second, 3dX at 3rd, etc. It REALLY shows the difference in hit die size.

Dual Tower Shields to block a corner, if you don't need to redeploy it, round 1, block one edge, round 2 the other.

I think what Wraithstrike meant is that it's not Arcane Spell Failure, it applies to ALL spells with verbal components, regardless of type.

I'd go with separate rolls, as it builds tension and makes it feel more impactful.

wont be viable at low level but at mid-high level it would be a monster, a full party of mystic thurges

How, they don't fulfill this requirement:

Commoner: the Everyman campaign.
Adept: actually might work well, what with Familiar archetypes and such.
Witches: seems like it could make for an amazingly well themed game.

Is there a difference between your base form and your race? As it doesn't seem like your Type changes either.

Don't dismiss the Winding rules, they could really be important!

Winding: The construct must be wound with a special key in order to function. As a general rule, a fully wound clockwork can remain active for 1 day per HD, but shorter or longer durations are possible.

Having your key stolen would be a HUGE fear and an amazing "on the clock" style tension mechanism.

An Eclipsed Light spell should work, yes?

The discipline of pain is what makes them lawful.
The focus, the attention to every sensation, befor, during and after.
It's meditative in its own way, like monks of pain.
Scouring the senses, hoping that in the white hot flood, you might catch a glimpse of that higher self.

Be always preferred low levels, as they have a grittier feel.

Granted, back in the early 3.0 and 3.5 days, when I was playing a lot, my group had AL new characters start at lvl 1, didn't matter what level everyone else was. It was incredibly brutal...and honestly, I kinda licked it. If you're a chained slave being freed and joining the party of epic adventurers that saved you, you *should* be fragile by comparison.

NoTongue wrote:

Blindmage wrote:

Also, its balanced by the fact that the caster has no idea how long they have before time starts again.

Don't make things up, you will confuse people.

He has a bit of a point. It's 1d4+1 rounds of "apparent" time. So that's 2 to 5 rounds if I'm understanding it right. And the Wizard doesn't know what they will roll.

*she

It's in the PRD magic section.

Quote:

Timed Durations: Many durations are measured in rounds, minutes, hours, or other increments. When the time is up, the magic goes away and the spell ends. If a spell's duration is variable, the duration is rolled secretly so the caster doesn't know how long the spell will last.

The GM rolls, when it expires he proceeds with the next initiative order in the original round.

Thank you for finding that!

Also, its balanced by the fact that the caster has no idea how long they have before time starts again.

Mending can't be quickened.

No, it's always going to be big enough to contain the caster. FAQratta.

The FAQ doesn't apply as it's not a burst or emanation

I've heard interpretations that the lifespan for living creatures persists in the stone state, so you could die of old age while a stone statue. Otherwise, players can attempt to use flesh to stone as a "stasis" option to allow them to travel forward in time. So, up to the GM and it how they want to limit it.

*queue Iron Man by Black Sabbath*

protection and resist energy do nothing for cold weather. It's not cold damage but non-lethal damage.

Actually isn't it Cold Non-Lethal damage?

There's also nothing stopping a Xill from laying more that one coutch of eggs in a host. Since it's a standard action to lay 2d6 eggs, and the paralysis lasts a minimum of 1hr, that's 600 rounds, or 1200d6 eggs..right?

Blindmage wrote:

What about the Sanguine Sorcerer?

Are they committing canibalism?
Are they evil?

If I'm not mistaken, that would be the one (original) wildblooded mutated bloodline not legal for Pathfinder Society play. So it's probably not a major issue.

Really!?? Aw maaan!

What about the Sanguine Sorcerer?
Are they committing canibalism?
Are they evil?

Also,,aren't the CR 7, base Aobleths the equivalent of their commoners?
In that perspective, they're terrifying.

Still and Silent Spell would help, obviously.

What about assigning different xp speeds based on casting ability:
Full casters: slow speed
6 and 4th lvl casters: medium
Everyone else: fast

If I remember right, a Critical confirmation roll is technically an attack rol, with all the bonuses and penalties of the original roll. Giving you the option to have them retool the first hit, or the crit confirm, which needs to hit.

I've played a 21st lvl commoner, it was amazing, since I was still just a common man walking around with archmages, high priests, and kings, it was so much fun, because atvthe level, I was generally just a servant, as far as NPCs saw me, and the common folk weren't awed or scared by me, like they were the rest. Champion of the common people, type thing.

But the recent casting rules is pretty important to the dynamic, it keeps the spellcasters immersed, and thoughtful about what they're doing.

I'd say that the weapon gain a range increment of 10', assuming it had 0 before, but if it had greater, you can now choose between the two ranges. Nit sure when you'd ever pick the shorter one, but that's how I'd see it.

These really feel like nice staves.
I wish by the main rules we could have them.
I find it really weird that the minimum CL for staves is 8, but the minimum CL to even make one is 11, always seemed very weird to me.
I've always thought that wands and staves should have the same requirements, CL wise, with their rules being what makes them different.

master_marshmallow wrote:

Lady-J wrote:

master_marshmallow wrote:

Milo v3 wrote:

master_marshmallow wrote:

That's not a problem exclusive to fighters though, that's more or less a problem with full casters. Problems that go that deep are system based, not class based.

'Balance at all costs' should not be the goal. Comparable power for similar role holding classes is fair, but trying to say that a fighter needs to be able to do all the things a wizard can do is going to be fruitless.

Not saying they need to do all the things a wizard can do. I'm saying they should be able to do things of the same scale or at least impressiveness as what a fullcaster can do. And yes, it's not exclusive to fighter, though I think the problem is worst with Fighter (and fighter hybrids).

Hate to say it, but you might want to look at other systems that make martials better and casters worse like 5e.

Fighters are the only full noncasting class (save for archetypes that give up partial spellcasting) that can make their own magic armor and weapons (via Master Armorer and Warrior Spirit, respectively) so I'm not sure why fighters are the worst at it.

any martial can craft magic gear with master craftman and craft arms and armor and craft wonderous items which are 3 feats significantly better than the two you listed

This is actually not true, in "Why don't all fighters take Master Crafstman?" we learned that Master Crafstman itself can only be taken once and it is tied exclusively to the skill chosen with the feat. Even if you take Craft Wondrous item you can only make magic items that can be physically crafted with your chosen skill. Profession (tailor) was singled out as the best choice for the most breadth of options.

yes but even if you had some silly crafting skill like craft boat you can still use said craft boat check to craft your magic items.

Only if all of your magic items were boats of varying sizes.

Arcane Anthology has a wizard archetype for using a sword.

I've been following this thread because I love the idea of a sword bonded wizard, and this archetype, Swordbinder, is awesome!

The sword can be used at range, and develops personality and some pretty cool thematic powers.

Living metal sounds super appropriate to use en mass here!

Just because there is something between attacker and target does not mean that thing automatically grants cover. Otherwise, air or water would provide cover.

But water explicitly provides cover when attacking thngsbthatbare submerged.

It does make for some amazing plot hooks around alchemists that are enslaved and forced to burn out all their slots proving Infusions for evil folks.

Sure, they'd have bombs, if they are given the components. Seems like a sweet geas, or similar thing.

Seems like it could be a deal you'd make with another PC, depending on relationships.