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We had this happen a few times throughout games. It all depends on what my character's current attitude is. The NE barbarian I played killed the party's Kender (3.5) in broad daylight. My CG Cleric returned the favor and made it a game of one-ups-man-ship.

I'm currently playing a paladin who's also effectively the constable / circuit judge for his small farming community. Regardless of personal attachment, if this were to happen and I noticed, you can guarantee the offending party would see time in lockup. Their party pay docked to reimburse any losses, and they would likely be sentenced to some form of community service like distributing alms. Their lawlessness besmirches my lawfulness and forces people to doubt my credibility and honor. I could not be lenient on the sentencing or it would let people know that there were no repercussions for their bad behavior. Personal hurt and betrayal would have no part of it.

Lawful Good Paladin would not act out of anger or personal interest. It is not that -they- were wronged, it's that a wrong was committed. Yes you would forgive, show mercy, however you should fulfill the legitimate laws of the land.

Grappling allows you to make an attack with a one handed weapon without anything extra. Cinematic aspects aside you would just need Improved Grapple so you don't provoke and maybe a couple other feats to get your CMB up. That or using the called shot rules which are equally difficult to implement effectively. There may be another way but it'll be messy as hell. The reason is in part because it shouldn't be able to happen to you either.

If I were running it I'd treat that as something similar to a sneak attack. If you stealth up on someone unawares I'd have you roll sneak attack if you hit you get into the 'will slit your throat' position but forego damage until you decide to take an immediate action to finalize the attack. I'd also give you a bonus to Intimidate and Diplomacy if you have a friendly discussion about things. Arguably that wouldn't work with everyone but mooks, sure.

What I want out of the martial class is the ability to be able to reliably enter a melee combat situation and not get smeared into paste. Doing damage is a plus but I hate the one trick pony.

What I want out of a caster class is the ability to be flexible to my situation. Therefore I'm primarily looking for a spontaneous caster since I'm going to be using Words of Power.

Magus (Eldritch Scion) might just work for this purpose. I can reskin it to suit it.

Quote:

Evocation and Conjuration as my opposed schools.

I'm not sure what you mean here, the Sorcerer doesn't have any opposed schools, the Wizard does.

Oh, yeah. You are exactly right, I was humoring a wizard aspect initially and I guess the notion of opposition schools sorta stuck with me. Regardless I will be going very light on learning effect words that duplicate effects from those two schools. 'Subtle magic' seems to be more the flavor for this idea.

I think you need to separate the flavor from the mechanics, first. You want a character that is thematically a barbarian. But does it need to be the barbarian class? Could it just be a nomadic barbarian sorcerer?

Is your concept more about casting spells, or hitting people with a weapon? Because you won't be able to do both with that combination of classes. If you want to hit people with a weapon, then maybe Sorcerer 1/Barbarian X can give you the flavor you want without sacrificing too much martial prowess. If you want to actually be casting spells effectively, however, I would say go single-class Sorcerer. If you want to carry around a weapon for the first few levels, you can still do that.

So, what is it you want out of the Barbarian levels? What is it you want out of the Sorcerer levels?

I see what you mean. I really would like to have my cake and eat it too with both classes but I'll end up with something supremely watered down as a result. I'm pretty smitten with that Urban Barbarian, it just works conceptually. I'm going to see if the GM will allow the archetype to be applied to the Bloodrager. That should solve this question of 'how much splash' to throw into it.

:EDIT:
I think I'm trying to get a martial sorcerer which is a bit tough to facilitate effectively. I'm stuck on the image of the barbarian / savage more than any of the mechanical aspects of it. You're right in that I could just as easily put up whatever window dressing flavor over it. I'm going to consider Magus.

The emphasis should probably be on melee combat, combat casting, using any magical abilities for self-buff and opponent-debuff (fear and cowing people?) but nothing really flashy like throwing fireballs or rays of ice.

Preamble: I have two main issues I would like reviewed: 1) is the concept itself, suggestions to make it more fleshed would be appreciated, 2) is actually streamlining the higher concept into something usable. I have bolded the few aspects of the character that I'm fairly set on but would appreciate additional views and opinions.

So we're starting up a new homebrew game which is inspired in part by the core themes of Game of Thrones: honor, ambition, loyalty and likely also betrayal. This is going to be a first for me as a player in a few ways; chiefly that I've never played in a low magic / low fantasy game before. There will still be the more urbane monsters, magics, and mysteries but to a much lesser degree. For example there might be a dozen proper wizards on the continent, the 'monstrous' races will be relegated to the far outskirts of human settled lands, there will not be much in the way of planar creep (demon incursions, Elder Things, etc.). This is also going to involve a great deal more politics, positioning and tact than my standard knife-psycho fighters. We'll be playing lorded nobles or adjacently positioned people who act as intermediaries for the king.

I have decided that the general feel of my character is going to be akin to that of the Dothraki, less horseman (mounted combat is a mess no one wants to deal with) more nomadic tribal leader with a flair towards the 'noble savage'. The hills and wastes are savage lands and I think that it'd work to run a half-orc, diluted through a few generations (pick up Skilled racial trait). So in keeping with the savage lands feel I've decided to go with a multi-class Barbarian / Sorcerer. The sorcerer would be the aspect that separates this character from the rest of his tribe and raises him to actual renown. I know there's the Bloodrager and it's a lovely hybrid but I think the Urban Barbarian fits the feel and direction of the character better especially since a lot is going to take place in city / court. The bloodline feels best kept to the Orc Bloodline, this means I get my Darkvision back but people will think he's stern or glowering from constantly suffering the dazzled condition but meh, builds flavor. This could also work itself into political leverage should someone find out his true linage.

I have not pinned down the weapon I intend on using and I think it speaks to the characters being. I'm trying to avoid the greataxe, greatsword, generic standbys. The thematic elements from GoT might lend itself more to something similar to a Kopesh or the War Scythe. I personally like the visual of the Gandasa (Bhuj) since it adds an exotic feel despite being a martial weapon. Ultimately I'm not worried too much about damage or any of the crunch, I want something that will speak to my character being an alien with regards to culture. I would prefer a one handed weapon since it lends itself more to the nomadic elements.

I've wanted to try out the Words of Power alt rules for a while instead of standard spells. The GM has approved and thinks the feel of 'word magic' is much more fitting of the setting. I know it's going to be a little nerfed in comparison and a bit more headache but cue cards should alleviate some of that and a non-tactics driven game should afford me some leeway. In keeping with the feel of low magic / low flash I'm probably going to be picking Evocation and Conjuration as my opposed schools. If anyone has experience with Words of Power I'd be grateful on ways to tackle it.

Honestly, I'd bust out the brass knuckles and 'dust him off' a few times. I had a player that did this, wanted concessions, and pouted when I didn't buckle to unreasonable requests. He didn't last all that long. Wanting to retire a character and try out something is fine. Character death happens and it's often a way to put on a new hat. Abusing the system for party wealth gain or being wholly indecisive is annoying. but all of this difficulty a social issue, maybe due to catering to him.

An ideal way to do this is let him know that he gets 1 more buy in for a character so he needs to stick with something. After that it's base gear, core classes, core races, 20pt buy (or 5pts less than whatever you are running). If it keeps up, half starting wealth.

Suggest that someone else hold the loot after X's next untimely demise. Party quartermaster is a trusted position after all and why the hell would you trust the 'new guy' with your hard earned adventuring swag. Hell, in my groups we don't usually give new characters names until their second week (in game) on the trail.

In all honesty I would never stat this up. I understand the want for the epic events held on in the background, especially when the PC's might actually make a small difference. However every time I've stumbled down this path it ends up just getting bogged down into needless statistics that are really only there for me as a DM. This easily gets cast aside as soon as I realize the only person interested in the clash of forces they'll never see is me because my viewpoint is global rather than local.

Focus on the events the PC's are likely to actually encounter. Say they go and decide to infiltrate enemy territory to disrupt some supply lines. All you need to do is prep that mission, that encounter. Overlarge the PC's aren't going to be everywhere at once, they won't make a huge difference to the war. However their experiences in it are important, if they prowl a particular section of territory maybe after a few raids they might overhear trumped rumors about themselves, or recover communiques that they're prime adversaries, etc. Focus small and only use the war itself as the setting piece. It will save you a lot of hair pulling and crunch.

You might run a mission timer. EX: The allied forces are pushing the offensive in 4 days, they need as much damage done to supplies, fortifications, etc. as possible before they launch the assault. If the PC's do their job then the allied army advances as planned. If they fail maybe it's a slog or the offensive gets stopped entirely. Know how it's going to progress if X or Y happens but that's all you need.

I've always run it that when the player's character casts the evil spell, they know they're doing something evil. They get some of the stain on their being. If they continue to use it I feel free to slide their character's alignment. This takes time and I prompt them every time they use evil descriptor spells. There's no set number of uses, their actions also factor into my decision. A person who makes use of evil magic but is otherwise a bastion of charity and general good is generally going to get more uses before they slide than the abusive, selfish, a@$&@!$.

Casting good aligned magic has the same effect but in reverse. An evil wizard might begin feeling empathy, might feel the urge to become more giving before they 'ascend' to neutral. It's me prompting them for alignment shift. If you act in a goodly manner, use spells that are by nature good, you'll slowly shift towards good alignment. Same goes for Law / Chaos.

It's gradual and should be RPed mostly. Its not something you're likely to stat up (I think it would be worse off if it did). A paladin using evil spells to fight evil is still an evil act and is going to fall.

When you use a summoning spell to summon a creature with an alignment or elemental subtype, it is a spell of that type. Creatures on Table: Summon Monster marked with an "*" are summoned with the celestial template, if you are good, and the fiendish template, if you are evil. If you are neutral, you may choose which template to apply to the creature. Creatures marked with an "*" always have an alignment that matches yours, regardless of their usual alignment. Summoning these creatures makes the summoning spell's type match your alignment.

As I've always run Summoned Monsters with intelligence as acting according to their own motivations. You can tell it what to do but it is in no way compelled to follow orders.

It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions.

Therefore in my games if you summoned a Hound Archon to go pillage the orphanage, at best it would stand there disobeying. Much more likely it would refuse and put a pin in it's agenda to come back later with it's buddies and stomp your ass.

Generally speaking I treat activation and deactivation as standards, there's no reason you shouldn't have to use the same process to turn something off as on. That said I usually wave the standard action deactivate when someone goes to sheathe. It's a move action to put it away already and that's good enough for me. It shouldn't take a full round to put a flaming sword back in your belt.

A few more about magic items:

Enhancement bonuses can defeat material- and alignment-based damage reduction. According to a table that's found only in the Glossary of the Core Rulebook (under the "Damage Reduction" entry, larger enhancement bonuses can overcome DR as per cold iron/silver (+3), adamantine (+4; but does not overcome hardness), and any alignment (+5).

This is precisely why the Furyborn weapon quality is under appreciated IMO. If you've got multiple attacks then in 2 rounds you've got about as much DR penetration as reasonably possible to expect.

As an ultimate endgame for a group we ran against Pathfinder's take on Cthulhu. I damn near soloed it what with a level 20 Android Arcane Gun. We had prior knowledge and prep time and he manifested 1000 feet away. Effectively, Timestop to polymorph into a 4 armed creature, set 2 of my pistols to dancing, get off as many buffs as possible. Then as he charged, Quickened Dimension Door and the first feat in the dimensional agility chain. Full attack with six guns against touch. Immune to the fear effect and passed the save. Having the party there was just icing.

Cthulhu wasn't a fun encounter because his high save/die is lame.
When everyone turned on each other afterwards, THAT was fun.

Bear in mind that Immortality doesn't equate to Invulnerabilty, death is still going to happen but at a slightly reduced rate, in fact very few people die of old age, it's usually just a contributing factor. It would certainly destabilize everything though if it got distributed everywhere.

Demiplanes are the way to do this, but after a lifetime you're then trapped in the demiplane. I like the thought of people going to 'upload' themselves into the Minimus. Or a villain forcibly 'saving' people from death.

I was just thinking that maybe going the Brew Potion route and pulling a swig or two from your 'wine' skin to ready up for combat is a much more covert way of doing things. This takes at least one spell off the prep list, is easily concealed unless someone's always got the Detect Magic running. Downside being it's one spell, it is detectable, your mileage is limited to 3rd level spells (some decent wiggle room though), and your going to have to take an extra feat and have the time to actually craft.

IDK what sort of campaign your playing but I think that with some care put towards Sleight of Hand and Bluff you can handle a lot of this deception and just play a bit more conservatively (defensive fighting, etc.). Also what weapon would your characters sister use? IF it's a mace you could always use the 'fancy family heirloom' excuse for laying the smackdown with a metamagic rod. Just throw some Misdirection on it and it's an ordinary bit of gilded masterwork weaponry.

I have all my players pick a Patron for their character at creation. Usually it's a deity that matches their alignment but ultimately it's not strict. This is the force they appeal to when they die or when they want to call on deific intervention. Upon reaching what would normally result in death I have them roll me d%. This is modified by their non magic enhanced base charisma modifier (adds +5%/+1 mod), their proximity to their deities alignment (+10% if matching, -5% off of that per step away), how devout they were (up to a +5% bonus) and their Great Deeds (+1% per significant act through the game) as viewed by their Patron. Finally they add their character level x2 to the % total and roll the dice.

If they roll under 5% (a crit) I usually come up with something special and revive them the following turn, sometimes in combat.

If they roll under their score I usually deduct some percentage (their success) from the cost to raise them or make it much easier to find someone to perform it. It makes it more feasible to actually bring back characters at lower levels rather than have a player abandon an idea that they like for fluke happenstance.

Failing the roll (over their %) isn't penalized, treat it as you would in a vanilla setup.

Crit failing (95% and up) allows me to get inventive as well. Something on the other side actively tries to keep them there. Costs go up or quests must be done. Sometimes they come back incomplete or wrong. Occasionally there are hitchhikers that try to free themselves from the afterlife. Depending on a lot of factors in the campaign I tailor it to the character and what would fit for the players.

I was thinking that the Ballista might entice the PCs and crew to take cover on deck or somesuch (I wouldn't be walking around with siege weapons whizzing by). The Springal is the same size and speed but gives you an indirect area effect. If you light those arrows it shoots on fire then you've got something that'll easily become the #1 concern as it could light the sails and rigging. That'll draw the PC's out or since it's indirect fire it'll actually negate the cover they're likely to take. It'll likely get less shots overall due to distance but will be far more effective when they do come into range.

Click this link

If it says anything other than "Saving throw - No" move on. You're looking for rays, stuff that requires a touch attack, stuff that is conjuration.

How do you take down a Paladin? Make sure he never gets to roll a d20.

While I don't normally use traits as an expression of things I do allow the players to exchange a feat for 2 traits if they want. I actually like that take on it though. It gives them a reason to pursue improving the profession if they want to get the most out of the linked skill. It also addresses one sorta meta feel I was having regarding mastery of a profession. For example 1-3 ranks would be something akin to an apprentice, 4-6 a journeyman, 7-9 an expert, 10 and up being a master of the trade.

I like the use of siege wizards (I think they're underused TBH) but I think you might be better served by throwing on a Springal instead of one of the Ballistas. It gives you more of a variety and functions as a deck-clearing weapon since a cargo ship is going to be more worried about being boarded than anything else. If it's ship to ship (seems like) how fast are the PC's likely to close?

Flaming weapons vs boats can be pretty vicious but adds urgency to get the combat over with, especially if the PC's have to put out fires AND worry about arrow volleys.

Gentle breeze works wonders for extending / slowing the combat pursuit if the attacker is using sails.

One the particularly hated NPC villains I put my weekly players up against was a an assassin named "The Hound". He was a sadistic LE Cleric bent on toying with his quarry over a long, exhaustive pursuit. His use of divination spells and minor wonderous items meant that the party never knew what to expect even though he kept a standard stock of utility spells. In between their skirmishes he'd have couriers send the party messages mid day as they moved through the city. He let them know often, that he could take them out whenever he liked, he spread rumors about the party and soured business deals. Everything escalated as they kept trying to track him down from minor griefing to muggings and explosive rune traps on their inn doors.

For a while they put up with the harassment, always vowing that next time they'd get him. There wasn't really a drive though, he was an annoyance and he gave them XP with their encounters. That ended after their Atomie companion Merisadd who'd been developed with them for roughly 7 months OoG time was abducted. When I say they turned the town upside down in their search there's no exaggeration. She'd been pinned to a board and left for the alley cats, then raised as undead so they couldn't bring her back. Righteous fury from a fairly CN party is unique in that they don't play by anybody's rules. They spent 3 sessions and a considerable portion of their funds rooting him out. The fourth session was a tooth-and-nail fight, followed 'enhanced interrogation' that revealed he was doing it for money but mostly the lulz. They melted 400gp and poured it down his throat.

So you can have puppy-kicking evil and play it straight. Just give it nuance so that this particular bad guy is going to stand out in his actions.

My suggestion as far as combat buffs go is: Play a cleric and Communal spells are your friend. If not and you expect liberal use of elemental breath weapons (as a GM I'd light you all up) then cast both Protection from Energy AND Resist Energy. Yes the PfF goes down first without a reduction but it's a free 120 buffer, then after that's gone you've got RE to come in and soak another 30 points. 150 elemental damage buffered against which is nothing to sneer at.

Don't waste time on too many statistic buffs especially since you're heavily outclassed stat wise. Things like displacement (though it probably has True Sight) that give a % chance to miss which is mostly going to be found through the Illusion school. Conjuration spells frequently bypass SR. There are a number of spells that don't offer saves either.

Prep 3 Dimension doors and a Teleport.

Step 1: Dimension door to the Dragon's treasure hoard.
Step 2: Acquire as much loot as your grubby little self can manage.
Step 3: Dimension door and move action x2 to get as far as possible towards the exit.
Step 4: Teleport back to town.
Step 5: Collect the bounty on the dragon (you have evidence of his hoard) and only a dead dragon parts with his wealth.
Step 6: Get the hell outta dodge, leave the continent to it's fate. You're an adventurer not a martyr.

:EDIT:
I should mention that the Dragon probably has Locate Object. Liquidate all the dragon hoard ASAP. Your life depends on this.

In a previous game I had a player take ranks in Profession (Sailor) to help work out his own back story as a member of the merchant marine. That said when skill checks came up for a variety of things he was otherwise untrained in (survival to find direction, some knowledges, climbing) I let him default to his profession. That might be very generous GMing to many but my reasoning and his being that yes; a trained sailor is likely to know which stars in the night sky can be used to find North, or that the moon is going to be New/Waxing/Full/Waning, or have some clue of how to move up rope. It got me thinking, rather than have Profession be the slot you throw a few dumped ranks into if they perform in the occupation they should probably be able to use their life experience in some advantageous way. If I were to develop this as something to incorporate into my own game I feel that I should know exactly how it works mechanically and what limitations it has so that a Profession doesn't end up eclipsing a preexisting skill.

Mechanically I see it working as either:
A) - A circumstantial bonus to the skill rolled (DC 10 Profession skill check grants a +1 bonus, bonus +1 per 5 over the DC).

B) - Treat it similarly to the Bard's Versatile Performance class feature where you can use the Profession skill in place of very specific aspects of skills. (i.e: Using Profession (Sailor) to interpret direction, as opposed to all Survival checks)

Does this resonate with anyone else? Does it seem to work mechanically? Should there be additional limitations (if so what)? Do you see any glaring downsides / flaws overall and if so how would you go about addressing them?

Chances are fair that their rogue/wizard will find out that the area is trapped. The problem is they've been neglecting their Disable Device scores. Magic traps have a HIGH DC to spot and disable. They'll likely be able to see abjuration auras but the back glow of other things is going to make it difficult to detect specifics.

They are free to prepare whatever they want or have access to in order to try and get around it, however the 5 minute adventure and 8hr rest is usually rewarded with negative consequences in my campaigns.

Thank you both for your input. Figured I'd wait to come back to this. I think I'll be going with The black raven's approach, it'll give him a reason to trust in his actions. If he refuses then no harm, no foul. I'll deal with it at the table since it'll likely be a bit of a discussion.

362) Large standing stones (Menhir) with vague arcane symbols form a rough circular shelter in the middle of a grove. A Kn(Arcana) DC18 reveals this to be a likely Planar layline. In addition to providing more than adequate cover against the elements during the middle of the night the character with the highest Charisma (or party elected representative / GMs choice) rolls 1d10.

On a 1 or 2: The party experiences disturbing dreams, DC15 Will save or fatigued the following day.
On a 3 through 6: The party suffers no effects, rest as normal.
On a 7 or 8: Party gains the benefit of 8hrs of successful Long-term care.
On a 9: As previous plus 'pleasant dreams' (+1 morale bonus to skill checks) the following day.
On a 10: A small elemental (GMs choice) appears at dawn and will tag along as a diplomatic envoy to the Material Plane. It has INT 10 and may teach any planar languages it knows. It returns home via Plane Shift (self only) 1d4+3 days later.

Ultimately damage is metaknowledge, attack bonuses are metaknowledge. The trick to being a 'fighter' as a wizard isn't the mechanics, it's the bluffing. Be a wizard but don't be seen as a caster. Eschew Materials is a MUST. If you can take Still Spell, or Silent Spell, one of your feats should be Spell Bluff. If people don't know you're casting magic to befuddle them (I personally suggest focusing on illusion or enchantment magic), then you've got a huge advantage.

You can handle the weapon competence with Bestow Weapon Proficiency. So you won't take the -4 non-proficiency using a fighter's weapons.

Use Peacebond to get advantage, Adjuring Step to keep casting in combat, and Hold Person to finish off an opponent. None are terribly overt and if you hold your action and go just before an opponent you can chalk it up to 'good luck'. Also the Coup de Grace to a held person will make up for the damage offset (paralyzed = helpless).

Wizards -can- be stellar, you just have to go about it with smarts instead.

I've always had a boatload of fun with Vanish and mirror image. I remember falling for an NPC. Turned out she was married and I was cuckolding the poor Baker. There was much debate in the party over which would be funnier, casting vanish and slipping outside or just casting mirror image for the sheer 'WTF'.

Also I always liked to weaponize the cantrip Drench. We played in an arctic campaign and lets just say that soaking someone and all their changes of clothes is effectively a death sentence.

I've always preferred the Hero's Sacrifice trope played straight. The only 'good ending' in my eyes are the ones in which the Hero in question goes out on their own terms. You made it into the underground temple but stumbled onto something well beyond the scope of what you or the cavalry can handle, the only hope is to bring down the roof and all hands are needed. They get their say (still set a 'doom clock').

Notecards are by and large the one thing I always bring (either in sticky or flat card form), a close third to pencils and dice. Keep quick reference notes on DCs, NPC names and attitudes, and basic traps/hazard info it'll save you from having to search a tome for info. You should also check and see if your locale permits food and drink, most of the shops I know of do, but it's always best to clear it first.

Is there anything you feel unsure of?

I'm currently running some homebrew and the path presented for my characters is going to take them through (or next to) a sealed shrine to a daemonic demigod. Inquisitive minds will likely want to investigate and see if the alcove of evil is responsible for some if not all the nasties they've encountered. As such I've prepared some particularly malicious items in store for them in accordance with the tenents of his worship: wither, blister, burn and peel.

Now the party tends to be pretty pantheistic in nature with two of four members primerily worshiping Calistria, one fairly uncommited, and one a paladin of Iomedae. The problem arises when they try to break in. None of them are slouches in the knowledge religion department and the wards won't trigger if they perform the proper rituals. Chances are good they might know the secret handshakes. The rituals themselves are fairly debilitating (willingly accepting a Bestow curse as an example) but act as a trial of the faithful. If they make it through the four trials they'll recieve a profane blessing and have their debuffs removed.

However the Paladin isn't going to pay even lip services to a daemon. I doubt he's going to just wait outside either. He most certainly isn't going to accept a 'blessing'. I wouldn't use this as an excuse to make him fall but it strikes me as very much a line in the sand for a paladin. If he's going to force himself through it may come across as targeting him explicitly, which is generally something I try to avoid.

Suggestions?

I am pretty sure the devs knew a mounted character would already be taking Spirited Charge so I think the intent is for them to stack meaning you would x5 normally and x7 on a crit with Spirited Charge at level 20.

I'm curious, what is the maximum Critical Multiplier? I'm not seeing it listed anywhere overtly thought there is Mythic Improved Critical which seems to cap it. We aren't playing Mythic but it appears that the x6 is the limit to a multiplier.

Your critical strikes with your chosen weapon are deadlier than most.

Prerequisite(s): Improved Critical, base attack bonus +8.

Benefit: Your critical multiplier with your chosen weapon is increased by 1 (to a maximum of ×6).

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. The effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat, it applies to a different non-mythic Improved Critical feat.

I'll dig more into that in 3 levels. Gotta make it to 20th before I worry about it.

Anyone have a link to that particular FAQ? This is what I dug up in the Core FAQ section on Two-handed weapons wielded in one hand:

Weapons, Two-Handed in One Hand: When a feat or other special ability says to treat a weapon that is normally wielded in two hands as a one handed weapon, does it get treated as one or two handed weapon for the purposes of how to apply the Strength modifier or the Power Attack feat?

If you're wielding it in one hand (even if it is normally a two-handed weapon), treat it as a one-handed weapon for the purpose of how much Strength to apply, the Power Attack damage bonus, and so on.

posted Jul 19, 2013 | back to top

:EDIT:

It also says:

Power Attack: If I am using a two-handed weapon with one hand (such as a lance while mounted), do still I get the +50% damage for using a two-handed weapon?

Yes.

posted May 24, 2013 | back to top

Oh, right PA is -5 / +10 at 16. Thank you.

Spirited Charge with a Lance =x3

If you charge and crit this increases to x5
---------------------------------------
Here is why

Quote:

Spirited Charge (Combat)

Your mounted charge attacks deal a tremendous amount of damage.
Prerequisites: Ride 1 rank, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack.
Benefit: When mounted and using the charge action, you deal double damage with a melee weapon (or triple damage with a lance).

That is your x3

The lance has a crit multipier of 3, but when combined with another multiplier it is counted as one less so you would do x5, not x6

Ah, peachy! Thanks for the catch! Then Supreme Charge at 20th level is moot on the damage front since Spirited Charge already does that modification.

So a little less damage at lance point but then there's still a charging warhorse and the inevitable overrun/trampling that follows.

Currently playing a level 17 Vanaran Cavlier and we're winding down but we've done some cinematic leveling lately and I want to make sure that my math still comes out right on normal attack, normal critical, charge attack, charge critical. A total multiplier is also needed since I'll need to tab up the additional bonus from a challenge. All of this is considered mounted.

STR 28 gives me a +9 on damage. DM ruled that using a 2H weapon 1H doesn't give the 1.5 STR bonus.
Impact magical weapon makes the 1d8 lance a 2d6.
+1 Enhancement is +1 damage.
Power Attack gives me +8 on damage.
I have Spirited Charge which deals 3x on a charge (SC).
Lances deal x2 damage on a charge (LC).

Normal: 2d6 + 18 (+17 Challenge)

Normal Critical: Treated as a x3. 6d6 + 54 (+51 Challenge)

Now where everything gets confusing for me. This is where I really need peer review.

Charge: 8d6 + 72 (+68 Challenge)
(2d6 base, multiples add together 3x SC + 2x LC (1 increase) = 4x net multipler so we end up with 8d6)

Charge Critical: Treated as a [b]x6[b]. 12d6 + 108 (+102 Challenge)

(2d6 base, multiples add together 3x Crit, 3x SC (2 increases), 2x LC (1 increase) = x6)

First off what spell levels can you cast?

I'd start with every spell that has a "Communal" variant, these are great if you're party is 4-6 members. Spells like Bless, Prayer, etc. are very good too. I like Wrathful Mantle especially if they don't have any resistance bonuses to saves since it gives them the option to discharge it for a different effect.

If you're building a party buffer you need to know your bonus types: Enhancement, Insight, Competence, Armor, Shield, Deflection, Size, Luck, Sacred, Profane, ETC, ETC, ETC... Your goal is going to be to stack the highest numerical effect possible on as many -DIFFERENT- types of bonuses as you can so that they all stack together. You'll want to cover energy damages, you'll want to provide concealment (% miss chance), you'll want to tweak everything you can in favor of your party while conserving spell slots.

It's nice, but a Monk typically has the best Touch AC in the game. Paladin can be even higher if they have an Oracale Dip and are either an Enlightened Paladin or a worshiper of Arshea.

I tend to build Dex heavy casters especially if they're going to ever see someone within 10ft of them so Ranged Touch isn't too bad usually. However when something absolutely must hit a True strike is the spell to go with, even against a high Touch AC it's probably getting through.

I'm sure it's used often but Touch of Idiocy taken with the Reach Metamagic. Since it's a touch attack (or ranged touch attack) it can Crit and do 2d6 damage to Int/Wis/Cha. This does on average 3.5/7 stat damage each on a cast. If you Empower your average damage is going to be right around 5.25/10.5. If you Maximize it then you're looking at 6/12 respectively. Not quite Feeblemind but there is NO save allowed.

Against any casting class it effectively negates high level casting abilities for duration of 10min/level. Perfect way to wreck that Paladin or Monk with bad ass saves when they're dependent on Wis or Cha for a bonus to other stats.

I'm never sure how anyone else goes about applying names to their magical items. My general practice tends to be either longevity of use or practical application. I'm not huge on the flat +x enhancement bonus so I tend to add attributes to things, special materials, etc. This can make a description a mouthful for weapons with even a +2/+3 overall enhancement bonus. My DM tends towards the 'Rule of +4'. What naming practices do you have? What are the qualifications to give something a name?

As it stands I'm pretty garbage when it comes to names, be it PC, NPC, setting elements, and the like. I'll admit I'm a bit of a lazy hunter but how would you name the following?:

+1 Cold Iron, Impervious, Evil Outsider Bane, Greatsword.

+3 Living Steel, Evil Outsider Defiant, Buckler.

+1 Impact, Vicious, Valiant, Lance

+1 Called, Furyborn, Flail

+3 Living Steel, Rallying, Arrow Deflection, Spined Shield, w/ +1 Spikes

It strikes me that things are more to do with being justified in response than anything else. While I'm not playing a Paladin I am playing a fairly strict LG character. If she's tasked with rooting out crime and she has reasonable suspicion she will try to investigate. If she sees something shady it's her job to intervene especially when it looks like a crime is being committed. This means alerting the town guard but if no one is around and the situation is dire then it's up to her. If this zealousness runs afoul of the law then she has to face the consequences of her actions. However intent, investigation and evidence of wrongdoing are required before she goes and kicks down the door or busts through a skylight. Due diligence to uphold the law and operate within it's confines should be the measure of Lawful and anyone who does so isn't really at risk of falling in my eyes (or at my table) anyway.

The game shouldn't be a test of 'oh how can I make the Paladin fall', it also shouldn't be 'how close to CN/CE can I push it before the DM b&~$~slaps me'.

So our group is more or less coming to the close of our current homebrew, my character Fenvara is a Lawful Good 13th level Vanaran Cavalier with a literal take on Order of the Seal (prevent Planar incursion at all costs). She took Leadership waaaay back at 7th level as a means of setting up a base of operations and giving myself a roleplay excuse for an 'organization' and farm plot hooks through my DM. This amounts to her using her secretive Order having eyes and ears out there gathering whispers of Chaos cults and rifts between the planes that my character and our party then put the boots to.

I have yet to take a cohort, that however is changing. Fenvara's goal is to close the 'Nightmare Gate' an Abyssal rift formed by some serious evil s!%$ my CE Hobgoblin did at the close of our last campaign. A serious cigarette burn on the homebrew campaign setting's history. If the gate can't be closed her goal is to rally her Order and establish a foothold on the Abyss so that the nasty things can't come through. We found what my DM revealed to me to be 'my characters ending' and gave me the option of getting that characters 'Good End' now or try to survive through the coming darkness. A Hound Archon with 4 levels of Paladin (ECL 11) would be PERFECT thematically to show up and rally with Fenvara to go, pardon the pun, "Give the Abyssals some hell".

So the reason I formed this thread, is it too on the nose to name said Archon "Jacques". My DM is a bit of an Adventure Time fan and is it too eye-roll-inducing to have adventures with Fen and Jacques?

The Spherewalker Prestige class (5 levels) has a capstone that lets you turn into a swarm of butterflies and still cast spells. It's very much Desna based but has no limitations as to who can take it.

Spherewalker

Swarm Form (Su)

At 5th level, a spherewalker gains the ability to transform into a swarm of Diminutive butterflies. In swarm form, she has a space of 10 feet (roughly filling the entire area) but can shape this space to fill four contiguous squares (such as a 5-foot-by-20-foot line, an L-shaped cloud, and so on) and can squeeze through any space large enough to contain one of her component forms. The swarm can fly at a speed of 40 feet (good). Like any swarm, it can occupy the same space as another creature regardless of its size.

Any creature that begins its turn sharing a space with a swarm must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + spherewalker level + Constitution bonus) or be nauseated for 1 round. Unlike most swarms, a spherewalker in swarm form does not do swarm damage to creatures she’s swarming over. The swarm form is immune to weapon damage but is vulnerable to mundane fire attacks (torches, alchemical fire, burning oil, and so on), and energy attacks from weapon (such as flaming and frost) deal full damage even though the basic weapon damage has no effect. Although a swarm cannot make attacks, the spherewalker can cast spells as normal while in swarm form (although spells with material components could prove difficult).

A spherewalker can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her class level and remain in this form for up to one minute. While in swarm form, she may expend one use of this ability as a free action in order to remain in swarm form for an additional minute (rather than changing back to her normal form and activating it again). Changing back to her natural form before the effect ends is a standard action.

I'm okay with pushback, I want it picked apart so that I have a solid argument for/against to hash out with my DM so he can make the informed decision to allow my use of it or veto.

My interpretation for it's use specifies what sort of offensive action it entailed as being prohibited. I've seen (and played through) dungeons where it's used as more than just the visual/touch/proximity landmine.

I need a rules lawyer to help me out on this one before I present in to my DM. I've pitched him the idea and I've done my research on Symbol spells. For the ease of everything I'll use Symbol of Death as the example spell even though it's not my intended use since most of the other Symbol series spells refer to it mechanically.

Symbol of Death

It makes a note:

"You can't use a symbol of death offensively; for instance, a touch-triggered symbol of death remains untriggered if an item bearing the symbol of death is used to touch a creature. Likewise, a symbol of death cannot be placed on a weapon and set to activate when the weapon strikes a foe."

"You also can attune any number of creatures to the symbol of death, but doing this can extend the casting time. Attuning one or two creatures takes negligible time, and attuning a small group (as many as 10 creatures) extends the casting time to 1 hour. Attuning a large group (as many as 25 creatures) takes 24 hours. Attuning larger groups takes an additional 24 hours per 25 creatures. Any creature attuned to a symbol of death cannot trigger it and is immune to its effects, even if within its radius when it is triggered. You are automatically considered attuned to your own symbols of death, and thus always ignore the effects and cannot inadvertently trigger them."

Finally: "A symbol of death can be removed by a successful dispel magic targeted solely on the rune. An erase spell has no effect on a symbol of death. Destruction of the surface where a symbol of death is inscribed destroys the symbol but also triggers it."

All of that said it appears legal to apply the spell to movable object since the trigger area is all that's important. I should also be able to attune the party (except Gary, f~#% Gary) to the Symbols during rest time.

Does this mean I could throw it on a covered shield and just take off it's cover in combat? As it's caster I'm immune to it's effects.

Would this work on something like a brittle clay plate? Could I use said plate like a discus on a square to 'break' the symbol and trigger it? If that converts it into a 'ranged attack' would dropping it at my feet/smashing it work?

Enchanter Controller and now Fey in RotRL? As someone who went down the Fey bloodline road to start in this AP I'm guessing you heard the words "No effect" a lot in the first two books.

Not as much as you'd think seeing as this is my second character of the campaign.

I'm not suffering any cohort level issues related to Leadership since the character is fairly Charismatic. The Monster Cohort is approved and rules legit. I'm not sure if having fey followers would give me any particular advantage over equivalent human followers. We aren't doing downtime and they're not likely to really follow me into town since it might alarm the populace. Giant raids followed by a Fey invasion isn't going to sit will.

One of the fun things is that since Rise of the Runelords handles the concepts of the Seven Deadly Sins we were asked to pick one sin and one virtue to sort of define us. He's got a few points in both Charity and Pride since he wants to be 'the Big Damn Hero' and having an Entourage isn't helping his Ego any.

:EDIT:

Maybe an advantage if there were a circumstance bonus to Survival checks, Knowledge (Nature) if I were to ask for info from my 'team'. My DM likes to promote synergism of skills and inventive use of character history.

Our DM is currently running us through the Rise of the Runelords campaign and I'm playing a male Elf Wizard Enchanter (Controller subschool). I spent one of my feats on Improved Familiar to get a Sprite who refers to my character as his "Queen", which is a jab at Elves and a thematic homage to "Inferno" from Beast Wars. The Sprite acts as defacto honor guard for the unappreciative wizard.

However I'm also planning on taking Leadership with a Monster Cohort (Pixie). To reinforce this Fey retinue I'm going to splash a level in Sorcerer (Fey bloodline) seeing as that gives the character a more realized RP aspect as unwittingly being (very) minor Fey royalty. I'll be honest that the Eschew Materials as a bonus feat and the +2DC to Compulsion spells is a very good reason to pick it up too.

All of that said is there any reason the followers gained from Leadership couldn't be minor Fey (Gricks, Sprites, Mites, etc.) seeing as they won't be used in combat? I'm not seeing any specifics as to them being 'human commoner NPC' and it seems like a flavor aspect more than a Rules aspect. I'm trying to sell the idea to the DM so I'll be linking him to this thread.

Probably +1. In combat, that'll give it and all allies a +2 to attacks, damage, and certain saves (actually, unless intelligent, it won't get that last one), and it gets some out-of-combat utility, too, I suppose. Anyway, that sounds like +1 CR to me.

It'd obviously vary for other class abilities.

Great, thank you I was wondering where the stats would stack up. It should work well as a centerpiece of a Wizards refuge the party plans on B&Eing. It'll boost the Mephits that will round out the encounter.

So I'm running some homebrew and building up an animate object that will function as a form of magical jukebox. I've followed the construct creation rules and need to add the last bit of flavor to flesh it out. To do so I want to give it class abilities without modifying it drastically all across the board.

If I only give the object the Bardic Performance class ability at 8th level (not BAB, or actual levels) what would be a fair adjustment to it's CR?

Apologies if the formatting is wonky, I don't post often and this is a three-parter.

I'm running a (Martial Artist) Monk 2 / (Dancing Dervish) Bard 3 with Mythic Tier 2. Sometime in this 'Season' of adventures we'll be hitting Tier 3 and I'm looking at having my character take Mythic Snatch Arrows as his 3rd tier feat. I already have Combat Reflexes and I'm aware that this sets up a few possible chains of needed feats which is why I want to check feasibility before I invest a lot of time planning this build out.

Snatch Arrows (Mythic) states:
Prerequisite(s): Snatch Arrows.
Benefit: When you use Snatch Arrows to catch a thrown weapon that can also be used as a melee weapon, you can make a melee attack with it as an immediate action against a foe within the weapon's melee reach. You can expend one use of mythic power to make this attack without spending an immediate action.

Question A:
If a party member has thrown weapons and a low Iterative Attack (less than my Attack of Opportunity) can they target me, trigger my SA(M) and then allow me to take the AoO on an enemy? To my knowledge AoO's are at full BAB and there isn't an Iterative penalty for additional attacks. Does this work?

Question B:
Can I apply this feat to improvised weapons provided they're hucked in my general direction? Ex: Party member throws a sword my way.

Question C:
If it applies to improvised thrown weapons could they shoot an arrow my way and would I be able to use it as an improvised dagger?