Carla the Profane's page

Hi Paizo!

About 5 years ago I posted here requesting additional payments methods for us europeans: getting a creditcard is not possible for all of us since you need a certain credit score to get one, and prepaid creditcards are being slowly banned by the EU for money laundering prevention.

Is there any chance that we can give you our money using Paypal, debit cards (Ideal / Mollie) in the future?

I'd like to buy adventures now, but can't since no one in my direct network owns a credit card!

Seriously dude!?

None taken.

'Grumblings'... You taking it to the forums which implies you guys are not communicating well. Have a chat before or after a game and simply state you and the others feel a bit frustrated and go from there. Avoid pointing out any 'wrongbadfun'. Actually, I'm surprised that a veteran like you is having trouble with this (common) issue, but who am I. Good luck and happy gaming!

Rant

I don't see the problem. Are the others complaining about him hogging the spotlight?

Hey guys,

My highest level character is sitting at lvl 16.o atm after completing Tomb of the Iron Medusa and Unleashing the Untouchable. I was looking at the suggested level progression in the 2012 thread by Kyle Baird but I figured there must have been more sanctioned content for this level, since I don't expect to ever be able to play Race for the Runecarved Key anytime soon.

What to play / run to get to lvl 17, so I can try and get a group together for the upcoming season 10 retirement arc at tier 17-18?

Am willing to travel ;-)

I'm emulating FTL, one of my favorite games of all time, albeit a bit less deadly.

The party consists of:

Skittermander Solarian, captain "Tings"
Android Operative, science officer "Bree"
Kasatha Soldier, pilot "Jac"
Lashunta Envoy, gunner "Tosin"
Ysoki Exomechanic, engineer "Violet"

They started with 1000 credits each. The ship (tier 2 transport) currently has a M12 engine, red power core, mk 1 mononode AI, medbay, engineer workshop, two turrets and some other small thing I forgot.

They also found a HAC, a portable shield generator and they built themselves a vehicle buggy.

They are crafting their ass off, as there is 1d6 days time between each encounter. I randomly determine almost everything, from encounters to RP to loot, up to the very astrological objects they find. This also means that civilization, let alone stores, are rare to come by and I expect them to craft most of their stuff themselves.

So far we're three sessions in and having a lot of fun. But I'm starting to notice they are only crafting bare essentials like healing serums, and want to inspire the, to craft more situational gear. Of course they need to be higher level, but last sessions I allowed them to craft library chips on a mercantile planet they found and they pounced it like a kitten on catnip and spent almost 10k UPB on 20 library chips... And of course I'm always eager to hear your ideas on how to secretly screw the players over in fun ways.

Power armor isn't really significantly better than regular armor, unless you had low dex and didn't have heavy armor proficiency already. It helps with carrying capacity, but generally most characters don't care about the strength benefit. And generally speaking, the strength score will be less than what a dedicated melee combatant would otherwise have.

I think if you want to go with a weird gimmick for you campaign where everyone has biotech power armor that doesn't require them to meet the regular proficiency rules that also levels up with them it could be pretty cool. Just reduce their wealth gains or wealth at level up or whatever to compensate for the price of the free armor they've gotten. I would tell them that their bio armor can replicate any [s]power[s/] armor with an item level of their character level or lower and reduce their wealth by about 25%.

And to expand on my idea of replicating any armor, basically they could have it shift between light, heavy, and power armor as desired. Is a biological organism right, it should be able to do neat things like that. They can choose whichever version they like best, while keeping the theme. But I would say that the organism provides proficiency with itself.

Great ideas. Sticking to the lvl they are at for possible armor item level seems balanced, and giving everyone proficiency seems an easy way to deal with feat / stat difference between players. I was planning to keep strict tabs on WBL anyway, so I think I can manage that.

Switching between armor types seems cool, but I eventually (around level 10) want to allow the, to transform their armor into a vehicle mech, and ultimately into their own special starship mech for epic high level space battles.

Well, if you're going all in, you might as well figure out a way to make the PA's melee attack an operative weapon, at least for the operative, too.

I figured he could just use his own weapon in the armor's hands and instead give him some kind of armor upgrade that allows him to keep using his operative abilities in that specific powered armor.

On NPC tactics: how would you propose adapting to the whole party being switch-hitters? I hadnt given encounter challenge proper thought yet besides my plan for next session, which will include but is not limited to: them plummeting into a planet's atmosphere while wearing nothing but their powered armor, surviving the friction and dodging debris, all while battling a weird lovecraftian horror in zero-G.

Also, yes, I'm definitely going to mess with the players, full-on Neon Genesis Evangelion style with a pinch of mass effect Reaper and a healthy dose of Neverwinter Trial.

I made it unselleable for RP reasons (Its basically a living, Venom-style symbiotic organism) and used the lvl 5 battle harness for stats.

I'm planning to give each player a reason to keep using it, like giving the operative an ability that allows him to be able to move at his increased speed in powered armor.

I'm just trying to not break the game, too soon.

They don't have proficiency, and weren't expecting it. Party consists of a Shirren mystic, skittermander Mechanic, Ysoki Operative and a Vesk Solarian. I allowed those with bad strength scores to get at least 11 strength, so they can take powered armor proficiency at 5.

My main concern right now is that I'm screwing with the WBL too much, what do you think? Any ideas to make clear to the players that right now, their armor could also be detrimental?

An android operative in my game called her character "The Swarm" -after her hacking tactics. But she didn't realize that it was already an actual threat in the galaxy so I made it into a McGuffin sidequest.

Now all the other players are scared of the swarm, and she isn't.

..And they're really happy now. What mess have I gotten myself in to? :(

So I'm running a homebrew SF game in which the players escape from the Azlant empire on the far side of the Vast. They hijacked a ship promptly re-dubbed "The Ambassador", and found a stash of 250.000 raw UPBs hidden on the ship.

They know they have to reach a certain drift beacon many jumps away in order to be able to use the Star Stone located in the distant Pact Worlds system. A system that, so they have been told, will grant amnesty for fugitives like them.

They're asking me for ideas on what to build / craft from the UPBs a lvl 1 PC or a MK 1 mononode ship computer could make use of. Should I just let them fool around with all the $$$ (without a place to spend it, since they're on the run), or should I steer them in a direction?

Xenocrat wrote:

A couple of ideas that occurred to me...

#1: Do you have any specific augmentation combo suggestions?

You can have x-ray eyes that shoot lasers, or legs with bionic knees and force soles, or a skin that protects agains both kinetic damage as well as energy damage (which you can then change on the fly using the geneturge / augmented combo)

124) Second Exodus: Idari Reimagined
125) Hull Breach: Competitive Emergency Simulation Games
126) Alone in the Drift: An android's vlog of his quest to beat the solo drift travel time record (37 years and counting)

...And all of the above in their Zero-G counterparts of course.

75. Keeping up with the Kasathans

62. Absalom Late Night
63. Uplifted Bear's Ultimate Survival
64. Slingshot Scoreboard LIVE
65. Date my Astrazoan
66. My Crusade: A travel vlog

So based on guessed population sizes and the willingness of engaging in spaceflight, how would a generic but representative space bar in the pact world system look like in your campaign?

This is a great question!

Carla the Profane wrote:

I find it reassuring that the first rules discussion in SF that rakes up this many posts is about something as trivial and as easily adjusted by the GM as this. It shows that a lot of changes to the rules from PF were implemented correctly.

The only time this should be relevant is in a life or death situation for a PC playing SFS, and even then it's a quick call by the GM. So let's just all press that FAQ button, leave the discussions up to the people you're paying to do so and keep the forums focused on what matters more: immersion and feedback.

I don't think it's trivial. Methods to reliably hit spellcasters are quite available (EAC weapons, especially in the hands of NPCs who all have high to-hit; magic missile; grenades).

Also, with no concentration checks, getting damaged is really the end of your spell.

Understanding exactly what you can and cannot do to interrupt a spellcaster is key to good tactics for players and GM.

My understanding is as follows:

* Readied actions to attack are not purely defensive actions, and thus resolve after the triggering event. (p. 249) So you can't interrupt most spells this way. That's intentional; there's a lot of accurate ways to hit a spellcaster, if ready actions to interrupt were easy spellcasting would become too fragile. This design though was something they were fiddling with right up until it was time for a final text to send to the printer and there's some inconsistencies and bad examples still in there. It's a first printing of a new game, that's to be expected. We need to do a bit more RAI-guessing than in more established games.

* Attacks of Opportunity do interrupt spellcasting. It's one of the only three things in Starfinder that provoke for a reason. (p. 246)

* You can only break someone's concentration by making them fail a save or hitting them with a to-hit roll. (p. 331) Plain damage isn't enough. A grenade exploding nearby or a magic missile does not interrupt concentration. And both of...

The reason I say it's trivial is because I have fine GMs like yourself whom I trust to rule like you yourself did in your post in order to keep a balanced game. And this thread is not about finding a good GM.

That said, Nimor Starseeker has a point. I also learned a bit about the rules while reading this thread!

I find it reassuring that the first rules discussion in SF that rakes up this many posts is about something as trivial and as easily adjusted by the GM as this. It shows that a lot of changes to the rules from PF were implemented correctly.

The only time this should be relevant is in a life or death situation for a PC playing SFS, and even then it's a quick call by the GM. So let's just all press that FAQ button, leave the discussions up to the people you're paying to do so and keep the forums focused on what matters more: immersion and feedback.

Ravingdork wrote:

Ascalaphus wrote:

The ring of fangs is pretty obscene. Although it doesn't take away the Archaic property. But it seems that if a vesk wore it, that would be solved. Uglier, if a nuar wore it, probably also :(

It grants you a natural attack. Natural attacks don't have the archaic property.

When you wear this ring, your teeth become long and sharp, giving you a powerful bite attack. You can choose to have your unarmed attacks deal lethal piercing damage, and if you are 3rd level or higher, you automatically gain a special version of the Weapon Specialization feat that adds double your level to the damage of these unarmed attacks (rather than adding your level).

Doesn't say anything about a "natural attack" as in the race feature or the Natural Weapons universal monster rule.

Just says that your unarmed attacks with the bite do lethal piercing damage and you get a ridiculous weapon specialization bonus.

So, upon review, I'm pretty sure it's still archaic unless you have natural weapons naturally or have Improved Unarmed Strike. Maybe that's why the specialization bonus is so large... to get past the -5 penalty.

It seems to me that the ring is intended to only apply to said bite attack and not all unarmed strikes. FAQ'd

EDIT: Hey, where did the FAQ button go!?

Thanks guys, this thread has clarified a lot for me. I'll stick with the following:

-Pick one animal according to hunter focus (Tiger)
-Use small shape, +2 dex +1 natural armor, size modifiers as per small creature
-Gain abilities as per beast shape progression (scent at 5, grab&pounce at 7, rake at 9)

On second thought, I don't think barding is a good idea with my DEX bonus being so high.

Sorry for the bolding, it was ment to clarify. Would you at least agree that the text for the skald wild shape ability is strangely worded?

Breastplate (200) + Mithral (4000) x Small Nonhumanoid (x2) = 8400gp

You would need someone else to put it on you.

It is always available.

Don't have time to look up what the differences are right now; someone else should be by shortly.

Thanks Nefreet, 2.5/4! =P

I'm not sure if you're allowed to be a small tiger. A far as I know all wildshape forces you to pick an animal that is the correct size. So like like small or medium cat if you're a tiger focus. I'm not sure that that's the case here. Have you looked into that at all?

"A totemic skald gains the ability to wild shape into the form of a Small or Medium version of his totem animal"

EDIT: What I was referring to is this passage in the beast shape entry (emphasis mine):

This spell functions as beast shape I, except that it also allows you to assume the form of a Tiny or Large creature of the animal type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: climb 60 feet, fly 60 feet (good maneuverability), swim 60 feet, darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, scent, grab, pounce, and trip.

I play a skald with the Totem Skald archetype from the advanced class guide and am currently level 6. I use wild shape to change into a small tiger.

Totem (Su):

At 3rd level, the totemic skald chooses one animal from the hunter’s animal focus list (see page 27). Once selected, this choice cannot be changed. This animal becomes the skald’s personal totem animal and influences his later abilities. He gains the following rage power.

Wild Shape (Su):

At 5th level, a totemic skald gains the ability to wild shape into the form of a Small or Medium version of his totem animal, as the druid class feature. His effective druid level for this ability is equal to his skald level – 1. He can use this ability twice per day at 11th level, and three times per day at 17th level. This doesn’t allow the skald to assume other forms, such as elementals, plants, or other kinds of animals.

When in animal form, the skald is treated as able to speak normally for the purpose of using raging song, but not for using other abilities that require speech (such as spellcasting). The skald uses his class level as his druid level for the purpose of qualifying for feats that affect wild shape (such as Wild SpeechUM). This ability replaces spell kenning.

I have a couple of questions:

• 1. How much is mithral breastplate barding for a small tiger?
  
• 2. Do I need help in putting it on, and how long would it take?
  
• 3. Is it considered always available or do I need to take Fame into account?
  
• 4. Does the way the wild shape ability is worded mean I can use beast shape II at level 9 and gain pounce, while staying small?
  

Thanks a bunch, SlimGauge. All info helps here; anyone else wanna chime in to help me convince my GM?

Ever since Ranged Tactics Toolbox came out, I've wanted to make a character that made use of the Ricochet Toss feat and a Belt of Mighty Hurling. I also recently came into the possession of a Skinwalker boon for Pathfinder Society, so now I can't get the idea of a Crocodile-man slinging weapons at monsters out of my head. However, the throwing weapons rules are a mess...

First Question:

Can a Magus use thrown melee weapons as part of Spell Combat?

Spell Combat (Ex):

At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free (even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand. As a full-round action, he can make all of his attacks with his melee weapon at a –2 penalty and can also cast any spell from the magus spell list with a casting time of 1 standard action (any attack roll made as part of this spell also takes this penalty)....

(Emphasis mine)

Second Question:

Is a Throwing weapon eligible for the Spell Hurling enchantment?

The Throwing Magus magus arcana seems to support that it does. Furthermore, the only entry into the CRB on weapons "designed to be thrown" is the following:

Thrown Weapons:

Daggers, clubs, shortspears, spears, darts, javelins, throwing axes, light hammers, tridents, shuriken, and nets are thrown weapons. The wielder applies his Strength modifier to damage dealt by thrown weapons (except for splash weapons). It is possible to throw a weapon that isn't designed to be thrown (that is, a melee weapon that doesn't have a numeric entry in the Range column on Table: Weapons), and a character who does so takes a –4 penalty on the attack roll. Throwing a light or one-handed weapon is a standard action, while throwing a two-handed weapon is a full-round action. Regardless of the type of weapon, such an attack scores a threat only on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a critical hit. Such a weapon has a range increment of 10 feet.

Which implies that the only thing that defines a weapon as 'designed to be thrown' is that it has a range increment, which is exactly what the Throwing enchant does.

Third and final question:

Can I use Spell Combat to cast a spell, deliver it as a spellstrike with my Spell Hurling weapon, then use my second attack to throw said weapon again with one hand using Ricochet Toss?

Step 1: have 13 wisdom
Step 2: buy perfectionist shavtoosh
Step 3: take a versatile performance that gives you sense motive
Step 4: take the feat Weapon trick (Stylish riposte)
Step 5: Take snake style

...and voila, your perform skill to AC once per round. And if the opponent misses you by 5 or more you get an AoO!

Hey guys! I was wondering if anybody knew how to finish my long-due season 6 faction card... I've but one box to tick, which is:

Visit one of the following centers of trade during the course of an adventure: Goka, Katapesh, Katheer, or Kerse.

My shaman is currently level 4. First thing that came to my mind is #5-21: The Merchant's Wake, but I've already played that one. Any suggestions would be very welcome!

Sincerely,

Carla

Hmm, you might be right about the size increase not stacking. That's a shame.

Force punch however is four castings, 3xCL10 and 1xCL5, each discharging separately but simultaneously: An unarmed attack delivers the charge, the swift actions goes on top, then you activate the amulet, and finally poison him with a rather forceful concoction.

Yup! That's what precise bombs is for!

Unarmed strike base damage thanks to monk's robe: 1d8. Enlarge person and Animal Aspect increase this to 2d6 and 3d6 respectively. A potion of Strong Jaw increases this to 6d6. Shapechanger bloodline's 1st level power increases that to 8d6. Improved vital strike triples that to 24d6. Furious finish makes that 144. Hm.

You're right! Math's never been my strong point.

Add +8 strength makes 152, plus (35d4 (35*2.5 = 87,5)) makes 239,5 damage. Still impressive to see what happens if you roll a crit and the dice are in your favor O_O

Precise Shot has Point-Blank Shot as a prerequisite, so you'll need to take it if you want to have it, unless your GM houserules it of course.

Now to your questions:

1. Correct.
2. Boro Beads, combined with this delightful little extract: Alchemical Allocation, a bunch of potions and the Infusion discovery will make your party really happy when you stuff them with Barkskin or Heroism for the cost of 1 potion for every spell that exists. Those things last almost an hour in-game time!
3. Yes.
4. Usually, yes. Read the item description.

So I've built this monstrosity that does (24d6 = 192 ) +8 (strength) +35d4 (quadriple Force Punch eject), which averages an impressive 282,5+ damage with an improved vital strike after casting Force Punch while raging and holding the charge. This is followed by a swift action Spell Conduit for a second casting of Force Punch, a free action release of a Force Punch stored inside an amulet of mighty fists and a fourth CL5 force punch potion delivered through poisoner's gloves.. Which gives the enemy the chance to theoretically choose its own direction of flight for another 10ft or so after being sent flying 50ft by me.

...With a 10hr Paragon Surge duration bu using the shapechanger sorcerer bloodline's 3rd lvl bloodline power for shenanigans. If you optimizers are interested, I'm willing to listen to advice on how to improve it.

• Name: Sencho Taka
  
• Quote: "Taka-TSUKI~"
  
• Half-elf Bloodrager (Blood conduit) lvl 11
  
• bloodline: Destined
  
• Faction: Grand Lodge
  
• Deity: Kurgess
  
• Alignment: True Neutral
  

Racial traits:
Adaptability
Mismatched
Elf-Scorned

Stats:
20 (26 in rage)
16
14
9
10
18

Feats:
[1] Skill focus: Disguise, Power attack > [retrain into Improved Eldritch Heritage: Shapechanger @ lvl 11], Improved unarmed strike
[2]
[3] Eldritch heritage: Shapechanger
[4]
[5] Shared Manipulation
[6]
[7] Vital Strike, Arcane strike, DR 1/-
[8]
[9] Furious finish
[10] DR 2/-
[11] Improved vital strike

• + (Elf favored class bonus): +1ft movement / lvl

Traits:
Child of Two Peoples
Hermean Paragon

Bloodline Powers:

• 1 Destined strike
  
• 4 Fated bloodrager
  
• 8 Blood intensity

Spells:

• 1 Shocking grasp, Enlarge person, Animal aspect (Gorilla), True strike +Shield
  
• 2 Bladed dash, Animal Aspect (Gorilla), Glitterdust, See invisibility +Blur
  
• 3 Force punch, Vampiric touch, Fly

Skill ranks:
Disguise
Intimidate

Items:
Spell Storing Amulet of Mighty fists (4000) [loaded with a CL10 force punch]
Poisoner's Gloves (5000) [loaded with a CL5 force punch potion]
Runestone of power I (2000) x5
Runestone of power III (18000)
boots of the swift fury(5500)
belt of giant's strength (4000)
Monk's robe (12000)
headband of charisma +2 (4000)
lesser metamagic rod of Extend Spell (3000)
Ring of Far Strike (6000)

Of course, by the time this guy makes it to retirement at lvl 12, he'll only be able to pull off this trick a couple of times (prefferedly combined with a free action cast of Bladed Dash on entering rage at lvl 11), but you can get by the first couple of levels using a weapon you like and then switching to unarmed as you get to level 5 and get the amulet. Until that time Shocking Grasp seems the bread & butter of this build. Any ideas to improve it? Thanks!

~Taka-TSUKI!!!

I second the SR thing, I played an aasimar oracle with a celestial dire tiger for a while, then it got confused (low will save) and ate half the party including myself. The reason?

I couldn't penetrate its SR with the status removal spells I had prepared for this occassion. My party members hated the tiger so much after that encounter that I switched to a celestial crocodile instead.

Perform (Happy Dance): 1d20 + 37 ⇒ (12) + 37 = 49

Were starting at level 1. And while my tactics might have been a little bad (I tried to 'tank' the zombies), the GM has also declared that the level off difficulty will stay high.. think 20 zombies and two oozes at level 1.

I think I'm going for a psychic, they seem like the go-to INT based spontaneous full caster.

I haven't been clear enough, soery about that. Switching stats around is not allowed.. im stuck with the 11 CON x)

Ive been contemplating a wayang shadow discipline psychic

So last night, first session of a new campaign, my character dies. I built an ectoplasmatist spiritualist and he got steamroll'd by a herd of zombies. It's clear, our GM pulls no punches (which I consider a compliment).

The setup is as follows: 5 players, each player runs 2 characters, of which only one at a time is adventuring. They gain xp equally but share wealth by level. We have a hardhitter monk, a cookie-cutter bard, a life oracle, a void kineticist, a bolt ace, a necro wizard, an arcanist, a little girl who's class we still have to guess, a samurai and a rogue.

My other character is an exemplar brawler built for switch-hitting, battlefield control and support.

I rolled stats for my new toon and it came out as follows:

13
13
11
19
13
13

And while this scream 'wizard!', I don't like prepared casting for the hassle and have a strong preference for 6-th level casters. I've thought about making an occultist, but is this viable?

What would you do with this stat array?

Heh. Now I'm thinking of a monk using Jabbing Style / Hammer the Gap / A Furyborn Amulet of Mighty Fists. Someone who gets angrier at every blow she deals:

"You are making me hit you which makes me so angry that it makes me want to hit you! Rawr!"

*Bangs head against wall*

This build could benefit from theButterfly's Sting feat, allowing you to pass on your crits to that greataxe wielding teammate for juicy multipliers.

If you are dipping at all, take a dip in swashbuckler for weapon finesse, parry & riposte and a panache pool.

The real power from the slayer comes from its power to ignore ability score prerequisites for feats like two-weapon fighting or power attack. Make sure you use that.

Other options include playing a halfling with the Helpful Halfling trait to give your ally of choice a +4 to a whole bunch of things.

Heck, you could do a ranged build in this party. I recommend investigator with a shortbow and the infusion investigator talent.

Tetori doesnt need to do damage. You put them in a chokehold and make sure they can't move at all. You will be overshadowed by the barb/fighter in terms of damage, but they will stand in the shadow of your awesomeness. Ask Bruno.

Paladins rock RA pretty hard. A prepared wizard or druid might get out alive. You probably won't.

I was looking at an Scaled fist unchained monk 3 / Whirling Dervish Swashbuckler 8 with weapon versatility and pummeling style. This to make unarmed strikes light piercing weapons and thus eligible for the precise strike deed which makes for insane damage when pummeling.

The best part is that Whirling dervish gives dexterity to damage to any type of weapon useable with swashbuckler's finesse, including your unarmed strikes, allowing to buy a different neck slot item than an agile amulet of mighty fists. (I'm looking at you, fortuitous)

can you pay a friend in the US with paypal and then have them buy you the gift certificate?

I could, but the point I'm trying to make is not about being able to order, but the hoops I have to go through to do so. It's stifling, really.

Thanks for the answers guys, I has provided some clarity.

A $30 gift certificate would not be ideal either, since the transaction cost would make a $30 gift something along the lines of $32...

I guess I'll wait for the new banking system! Untill then, the pfsrd20 website seems adequate.

Take the vestigial arm discovery so that you can toast with the whole party at once!

I've often bought products on paizo.com but I'm done. For me, living in the Netherlands, having a creditcard is not something everybody has.

Every time I want to buy a book, pfs scenario or anything else, really, I have to buy a temporary creditcard with an online retailer for a separate amount. This means I spend $30 on something that costs $27, leaving me with 3 floating bucks that I can hardly spend on anything due to the high transaction costs.

Is there any knowledge that I'm unaware of that makes you decide not to use banking systems like Ideal or Paypal to make purchasing items from your website? I'd love to buy more of your products online, but you're making it hard for me!

Love,

Carla

I'm sorry if this should be obvious from your character sheet, but what does you character actually do? I see a skill monkey, but how does you character work in combat?