Braininthejar's page

There is a chance my party will antagonize a bunch of local city gnomes, and I'm preparing an encounter.

What classes would well showcase their style?

I was thinking an illusion wizard, a gunslinger and a bomb alchemist, but I need at least one more

hmm... why isn't the communal version on the cleric list?

A silly question: where can I find a generic level 1 dwarf fighter?

I was sure there would be one in bestiary 1, but I must have things confiused with 3.5.

There are a couple of Alchemist archetypes, Tinkerer and Construct Rider, a wizard archetype, Clocksmith, and one for Investigator that I can't recall the name of, but I don't think there's a full-on artifacer-type until 2e's Inventor.

Thank you kindly. :)

It seems Pathfinder doesn't have an artificer class (except for 3rd party additions)

Aside from re-flavouring an alchemist, is there any good way to play a gadgeteer/inventor character?

As a DM I wanted to experiment with characters that buff a large number of low level minions, such as a battle herald.

They look like they could have a lot of offence, but defence is a problem.

What can be done to prevent an entire formation of archers from folding at the first fireball (conveniently the same area as most buffing auras)?

Assume I don't have a priest of Apsu on hand.

Happykj: Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Azothath: If I finesse a two handed weapon, do I get dex to attack and 1.5 str to damage?

I wanted to make a spear-wielding dex built fighter, but it seems a spear is not a finesse weapon.

apart from that weird multi-pronged elf spear, what are my options?

So if we assume the fly version, she can, because her move action is not a 'flight movement action" but "cackle while trying not to crash" action, yes?

Can a witch cackle while hovering in the air, or does hovering consume her 'move action'?

So it looks like everyone agrees on the first answer

But I get contradictory answers on the second one.

If I cast animate dead on a killed animal companion, what stats should I use as the base stats for the skeleton?

1 The base stats for an animal of this species/size?
2 the stats the animal had before it died (since all its HD are 'animal' dice) ?

Also, a related question I hadn't considered. A skeleton loses most special qualities, except those that augment its meleee attacks.
Would a skeletal tiger retain its grab and pounce abilities?

A vivisectionist gets it as a class feature, but it doesn't seem to play into his typical build.

Besides being an Island of dr Moreau shoutout, what is the point of this?
It doesn't make the creature obedient, so it's not for minionmancy, and for a creature that already listens to the alchemist, it would probably be a downgrade.

Have any of you found a good use for it? Do you know what the authors' intention was?

If you're immune to mind affecting effects and get hit by shadow conjuration, you automatically get reduced daage as if you passed the save, yes?

I know the most basic rule - "a summoned creature goes back home when killed, a called creature dies when killed."

But are there any other rules for outsiders dying?

I remember in D&D some fiends would eventually come back, unless killed on their home plane. Is anything like this in effect in Pathfinder?

I know demon lords are on a 1 year respawn timer. Anyone else has special rules for dying permanently?

Thr description of Alchemist's brew potion class feature is overly specific, so I have to make sure:
Can he use it to make potions from other spell lists if he multiclasses (or has an ally that can provide other spells)?

Braininthejar wrote:

Normally moon dogs have greated shadow conjuration.

But the moon dog sisters have it upgraded to shades (which they don't even have sufficient caster level for) at no increase to CR.

Is there some logic behind it, or is it an error?

It's because the moon dogs you're thinking of came out in Bestiary 5, which came out well after Way of the Wicked released. The moon dogs in the adventure path are from the Tome of Horrors Pathfinder Compatible book from Necromancer Games. Way of the Wicked uses Paizo's Bestiary 1-3 and the 3PP Tome of Horrors.

So will they work with shades? or will the illusory creatures crush my party? These are a pair of CR9 creatures each with a semi-real CR 11 summon

Normally moon dogs have greated shadow conjuration.
But the moon dog sisters have it upgraded to shades (which they don't even have sufficient caster level for) at no increase to CR.

Is there some logic behind it, or is it an error?

If a wizard is killed while he has an ongoing summon monster spell, do the monsters disappear?

What about summon monster spells emulated through shadow illusions?

Another question that occured to me: Verduous ooze dissolves flesh and metal, but not stone.
Would an elemental be immune to its acid damage?

1 Is Verduous Ooze's sleep aura a "magical sleep effect" for the purpose of elven sleep immunity?

2 If a Verduous Ooze is split by a melee attack, does it force a new sleep aura save, or are both oozes considered to still be the one the party has already saved against?

A fighter charges at a monster with reach.
He provokes an AOO for "leaving a threatened square"
The monster decides to trip him, but doesn't have improved trip.
Does he provoke an AOO for that?

(basically, is the fighter still considered to be in the square he is attacked for leaving, when the monster's trip is resolved. If so, the monster's trip would not provoke an AOO because the fighter can't threaten him yet)

Yes, there should be something. No one has been in the Horn since. I would have them have some masterwork weapons and armor, a few potions, maybe a couple of alchemical items. Some money and normal adventuring gear. Aidan Kaels corpse should have some minor magical items, +1 weapon and armor and such. For some reason it is not said where the 4th knot or Kael was killed. I would place them somewhere on the first or second floor. The adventure claims that Kael "fled to upper reaches" but there is no direct route between the floors.

You can trip with any weapon, the trip weapon quality just means you can let go of the weapon to avoid being tripped yourself if you fail the attempt badly enough. It also lets you add the weapons bonuses to drag and reposition maneuvers.

"fleeing up" doesn't really make sense, so I decided to put the remains of a camp in the harem room, and Keal's chewed bones in the secret library - that seems like a logical direction for him to run if he didn't have the time to climb down the cliff.

Ok, clarified rules on trip weapons. But that brings another question.
If a creature with reach trips you with opportunity attack as you approach it, will it provoke an opportunity attack, or will you still be
"out of reach" of a smaller opponent?

Outside of a performance combat you won't be making prrformance combat checks, so the feat won't activate.

So, I need... performing combatant feat, yes?

Can you use hero's display feat if the fight has no audience other then the participants?

That's pretty good. In Book 7, you're tasked with getting a hydra for the cave. That could also be a show of strength instead of using minions.

It was also a lesson in reading stat blocks. A marsh giant doesn't look like much on stats alone, until you realize he has +9 damage on power attacks, 4 opportunity attacks per round with reach, and a weapon that "counts as flail" which means he can trip with it. :)

Came up with a side-quest idea - the boggard tribe had fallen on hard times under Kumanda's leadership, and is seen as weak by other boggards.
In order to allow Zikomo to start recruiting new tribe members, they need a show of strength - killing a marsh giant that the other local tribe worships would be great, but that requires a day-long expedition into the swamp.

They are supposed to be timeless alien horrors, and it makes sense they aren't humanoid, being older than humans - but the pictures in the bestiary look more goofy than lovecraftian

hmm... a related question then.

Some of the monsters in the bestiaries have rather bare bones descriptions. Are there any sources where one can learn more about their ecology and culture? (for example planar dragons. I met one in the computer version of Wrath of the Righteous and would like to know more)

Should there be some gear to be found from the remains of the 4th knot?

The first bestiary has a set of random encounter tables, but obviously they only include things from the first bestiary.

Is there any place I could find a table with monsters from all four books?

I've been looking, but so far I've only found a digital encounter generator - I'm looking for something printable instead.

And the second part of my question?

How long is a 'huge' dragon actually?

Ah, also a question about the golem.

1 How does one get "blood" from an elemental that is living lightning? Does it leave behind lightning balls that you need to immediately catch into a glass jar or something?

2 If the players kill the elemental before finding the golem repair notes (it must be some dark miracle they survived in the first place - you'd think of all the rooms, a plague lab would be something the paladins would make sure to burn properly) is there any other way to procure lightning essence?

My first thought was pulling a lightning rod on top of the Horn and waiting for a storm, but I have a feeling, a spool of copper wire might be hard to get in Talingarde...

I'm making creature tokens for my campaign and have some questions here.

What happens when a creature is "long"?

1 I used to think a horse would have a 1 per 2 squares rectangular base like they get in war games, but I checked now and it has a 'facing' of two. So is it on a 2x2 square?

And how does that work for dragons?

2 Are they depicted on squares too?

3 If they are, how should a token picture be made to reflect the dragon's actual size while fitting in the square?
- a) horizontally? (that would make a 'huge' dragon only 4,5 meters long)
- b) diagonally (6 meters?)
- c) upright on two legs or coiled?

Maybe something like a 3.5 ring of armament would work.

Other musings on book 2

- the biggest threat from the wraiths would be them trying to kill the party in their sleep. I might make it so that Ezra only attacks once the party gets the final sacrifice to the top floor, whenever it is.

- The party arrives in Farholde on New Year, but no description mentions snow, and the picture of the Horn is green. Is it an oversight, or is the Western side of the island so much warmer? (the Boggard caves get a pass for having geothermal activity)

I'm curious what my players will do about defences. If it was me, I think I'd take a "tower defense" approach, building some extra walls, and damaging the stairs, so that ascending the spiral actually involves walking through most of the floors

Braininthejar wrote:

Argossarian is a CR 13 young adult silver dragon who has no wealth on him whatsoever because his horde is somewhere else entirely. As such, my suggestion would be to have "some" of that 11,600 gold the PCs normally wouldn't be able to access,

Problem is, that would also buff his dragon form, and the party, while experienced in rpg, is new to Pathfinder. I don't know how good they will be at fighting by the end of the module.

It just occured to me.
The party is very unlikely to figure it out or want to use it, but Grumblejack's backstory technically qualifies him for the first sacrifice.

A question about the dragon.
Normally when you transform with polymorph, your equipment melds into your new shape. But for Argossian, the dragon form is his base one.

Does it mean that while he's running through the narrower parts of the horn, he's butt naked and reduced to punching things? That's a way less challenging battle.

(also likely to get the spiral clogged with a solid block of meat, if the party kills him there and he reverts to his base shape)

1 My group had not much trouble with the escape.

My party escaped throught the most direct path - killed the couple guards inside the main building, sent the cleric with alter self posing as a guard to walk towards the inner gate, then unbarred the gate and made a run for it, using the portable window on the guard booth to bypass the portcullis on the bridge.

Other cool scenes from book one:

- the rogue learning that the summoner had been captured by the archmage of Deveryn, learning how he looks using the summoners cirlet, then using the archmage's face to trick the coast guard.

- the summoner using a lantern archon to give captain Mott a "divine omen" that his wife is cheating on him.

- The rogue using the circlet along with the portrait from the bedroom, to turn into lord Thomas' dead wife while backstabbing him in the final fight.

The oozes were a nice shock to my party.

My party consists of a black knight with a sword, a summoner with a spear +monsters, a rogue with a rapier and a fire cleric. Even if half of them make both saves, their attacks might accomplish nothing beyond wrecking the new magic weapons they've just blown all their budget on.

Does Gary visit these threads anymore or is it old news for him?

Also, has anyone had any problems with the verduous oozes? My party might find them next session, and the twinned DC20 sleep effects seem like an anticlimactic TPK waiting to happen.

Leadership only cares about character level, which is just total HD number (4 in this ogre's case) and not much else. CR calculation can be complicated but is ultimately irrelevant to the feat, and similarly if you were to want to eventually advance this ogre to keep up with the leadership level caps, there are rules for turning Monster entries into custom "monsters" with class levels up to that cap you would also need to follow; but this does not change the fact that your "level cap" is going to be those initial 4 HD plus the level of whatever class(es) you give the ogre as they raise the character level 1:1 with the HD gained per class level.

So the simplest solution. Thank you.

I was directed to this thread when I asked about the campaign, so I hope this isn't thread necromancy. I'm currently DMing Way of the Wicked, and I have some questions/nitpicks. (I'm currently at book II)

1 The jailbreak seems super dangerous, with the party starting under-equipped against guards that outlevel them and can do a lot of consistent damage - I did some playtesting and ended up starting my players at level 2.

2 I have some problems with experience - with the values given for events and enemies, at medium advancement speed, many parts of the two first books seem to require 100% completion to get to the levels the characters are suppossed to get. Am I counting something wrong, or is it assumed that I will put in some extra encounters?

3 Why are the cultists Sons of the Pale Horseman and not White? They clearly worship Apollyon.

4 I know drilling in the mountain is troublesome, but I've noticed that the whole dungeon has no bathrooms (and a harem on the only floor with no running water ) Did the cultists throw buckets of crap out of their front porch, or was there some more clever solution? ) (My current headcanon is that the destroyed murals in the harem used to contain runes that turned the whole room into a giant ring of sustenance, which solves the problem while being super dehumanizing for the slaves)

5 What is Ezra's deal? With the practical limitations that come with his condition, it only makes sense for him to make his move at the last possible moment, but that would make him the final boss instead of Richard's party. And the book gives contradictory information on when he would act.

6 Is Grumblejack supposed to have wings? the statblock gives him "magical flight". The artwork in later books depicts him with wings, but a lot of the book art is inconsistent with the characters' actual gear (such as showing the king as a full plate brick, when he's actually an agile shield basher)

A quick question: what effective "level" would a 4HD ogre be for the purpose of Leadership feat cohort rules?

I see it among the products on this page, but it doesn't seem to have its subsection in adventure paths forum.

Book 2 might be a bit harder to justify, but maybe you could have the orphanage become a full church affair that would mean the newest invaders to their dungeon would have blessed gear if it wasn't swiftly dealt with (letting the party also burn down said orphanage like the puppy-kickers they are!); later parts where you are traveling more, you can just add in forts or other outlying and juicy targets to evil-bait your players.

The orphanage is where local gangs recruit new minions :P

Ah well Way of the Wicked is a 3pp AP, not official Paizo content so their design philosophy isn't guaranteed to be followed. I have the book but I don't see where it even mentions which track they use, though I might assume fast track.

And the way you explained how you count XP for multiple enemies in an encounter was weird so I'm not sure what you mean. You should be giving them the XP for each enemy defeated/avoided/etc.; e.g. if there is 1 CR 1 guard worth 400xp, you give the party 400xp which divides to 100xp each. If there is 4 of the same guards, you give them 4 times 400xp equals 1,600xp, then divide for the party for 400xp each.

I remember D&D having a more complicated system for those (because, say, a 6 goblin encounter is more dangerous than 6 encounters of 1 goblin each)

WotW uses medium advancement track. It is mentioned somewhere at the beginning of 1st and second book.

Not official Paizo content? That might explain it... although I remember having similar problems with Council of Thieves

So, with players who chose EXP over Milestone, what should I do?

Without more detail, such as which AP you're running, and what your party has exhaustively done so far, I can't really give more specific of an answer.

DMing Way of the Wicked, second book. It is supposed to take the characters from level 6 to 10, which at medium advancement path is 82000 XP (so 328000 divided between a party of 4)

I've added everything listed in the book, and if the party does everything, including killing all enemies and completing obscure optional objectives, (except for a super hard optional boss) the XP values given in the book add up to around 330000

I was thinking maybe there should be more XP for multiple enemies in the same encounter - but whenever there are 6 or 7 identical guys, the book just sums up their XP reward)

So, where am I making a mistake?

I've tried to DM some official Pathfinder campaigns, but can't seem to get the party's rate of advancement right, always coming short of what level the game expects the players to be at a given point.

What could be the reason?

1 Does the scenario assume the players accomplish everything there is to accomplish and get 100% of the XP available?

2 Does the scenario expect the DM to throw in some of their own stuff inbetween to give the players more XP opportunities?

3 Am I perhaps calculating the XP wrong (for example, perhaps the XP for accomplishing important scenario goals is not supposed to be divided by the number of players?) (my party is the standard 4 players)

A wizard gets a bonded object as a class feature. He enchants it as a wand.

The wizard then dies. The object loses its bonded object abilities.

But is it still a wand?

By RAW, I'm 99% sure it shouldn't be.

But the Way of the Wicked official module lists such a wand as loot on a wizard's entry, even going as far as to list its remaining monetary value.

So, which is it?

I don't believe pathfinder allows you to do that. But supposing that is allowed yes UMD would allow you to bypass that restriction.

"A wizard can add additional magic abilities to his bonded

In 1st edition, a wizard can enchant his arcane focus to turn it into a wand that only works for him.

Can another character use UMD to "emulat class feature" in order to use it too?