Chaslin's page

I'd rule along the same lines as Blave.

In this game you have to get comfortable with making some of your own decisions sometimes instead of trying to find a direct rule quote for everything. The game relies on you applying your best judgement to deal with odd cases, and more openly so than PF1.

Yeah, agreed. If no one replied, I would've been fine. My issue is that this is a pretty basic oversight that's been repeated in a few places - I thought for sure there must be some errata or obvious definition I was missing. And failing all else, might prompt the devs to put in an errata update!

The ruling we're sticking is pretty in-line with what everyone else has been saying - a "hit" is a Strike, spell with attack roll, or spell that describes itself as "hitting" the enemy ie. magic missile

That's the table ruling we've made too for now, but can you cite or show me the rule for that? Is that just your table ruling too?

The wording I quoted from the CRB seems to imply "hitting" is an action made by the player, but is otherwise fairly ambiguous. I have just found in my sleuthing though some extra bits from the Encounter section of the CRB.

Each time you are hit by an attack or fail a save on a narrow surface, you must succeed at a Reflex save (with the same DC as the Acrobatics check to Balance) or fall

You are flat-footed on uneven ground. Each time you are hit by an attack or fail a save on uneven ground, you must succeed at a Reflex save (with the same DC as the Acrobatics check to Balance) or fall prone.

That seems to agree with you! They're specifying "failing saves" and getting "hit by an attack". I can't think of what else they would be saying by specifying "failing saves" except a spell that had a save.

Thanks for taking the time! I hope that gets errated at some point.

I've posted this here, but I was hoping to get someone's attention here too.

In some locations (Badger + Ape animal companion, Ranger precision strike) the ability specifies "hitting" rather than a "Successful Strike". I was wondering if there is a ruling or definition for what a "hit" entails - is it another way of saying Strike, any attack roll, or any damaging effect you initiated with an action that had a chance of success or failure (to include spells requiring saves). If there is half-damage on a successful save, is that still a hit?

Thanks in advance - been a long while since I had to post in here with a question.

Hi all,

I've been planning on making a caster druid with an animal companion for Strength of Thousands, but my GM and I are a bit confused over some of the wording for a few of the companions.

For most Companions, their Support benefit fires if you "successfully Strike" an enemy. Ok, easy, makes sense. For others, such as the ape and badger, their support benefit is conditional upon "if you hit and deal damage".

Ok, so what does a "hit" mean? Can I Chain Lightning around my own Large ape and debuff a whole collection of enemies? What if they save but I still deal damage - that's effectively a hit, right?

I couldn't find any definitions in the glossary for the CRB, or any answers online.

I noticed this is the wording as well on the ranger's precision strike ability, and this question has been raised before in regards to that, but I haven't seen any answers - just table rulings. This is important as a caster as I'd like to avoid Strikes as much as possible. There are a few options.

1. It's just another way of saying a successful Strike
2. It's just another way of saying a successful attack roll (and including spell attack rolls)
3. It's specifying being successful in any spell or Strike, including one that requires a save but the enemy must fail the save
4. It's specifying any spell or strike - including if the enemy would save but could not completely avoid the effect. It is written this way specifically to exclude snares and persistent damage.

I think that, as druids are so closely aligned with animal companions, it'd be strange not to have at least a few that synergised with a few caster builds - so I'm inclined to think any of these answers are possible.

Should add that I found this section in the CRB, which seems to imply 3 or 4 - but as it's being used for illustrative purposes I don't want to use it as definitive.

"In the midst of combat, you attempt checks to determine if you can damage your foe with weapons, spells, or alchemical concoctions. On a successful check, you hit and deal damage."

Thanks in advance - interested in both errata and if you've encountered this on your table as well.

Name of PC: Sheinn
Class/Level: Barbarian (Dragon-Instinct) 4
Adventure: Helllknight Hill
Catalyst: Ralldar, the Goblin-God
Story: After a full-rest in preparation for what they knew would be a tough fight, the party (alchemist/primal sorcerer/bard/barbarian) and Renali decided on a cunning ambush. The bard and the sorcerer would approach the Goblin-God from the south and appeal to his vanity while the barbarian and alchemist would approach from the western tunnel to flank Ralldar.

Yeah - the casters were getting within reach by themselves, and relying on a single bluff check and a good initiative roll to get out of dodge.

After a bit of too and fro, Ralldar sees the ruse and spots the flanking heroes. Roaring in rage, he assumes his true form and strikes at the sorcerer who had been leading the deception. Natural 20, strong start, and the sorcerer is immediately dying. Soon after the heroes become familiar with attacks of opportunity and reach.

The alchemist and the barbarian are rolling terribly and can't beat Ralldar's DC. Renali is invisible and casts illusory creature to flank Ralldar, and he becomes clumsy when he enlarges but. they. still. can't.beat it.

The alchemist purposefully prompts Ralldar's attack of opportunity, nearly dying, to allow the bard to pour a potion to save the sorcerer's life. The barbarian holds Ralldar by herself while the bard retreats - intending to come through the tunnels and join the alchemist and barbarian on their side of the cave. This takes a couple of rounds - all the while the barbarian is barely staying alive while it and Ralldar wail on each other. The sorcerer, much slower, retreats in a series of five foot steps to rush down the tunnel away from Ralldar.

Just as the bard reaches the mouth of the tunnel with the newly-retreated alchemist, the barbarian finally falls to Ralldar's strikes just as the alchemist strikes the barghest with persistent damage.

Renali, panicking, puts an illusory image of a wall in the mouth of the tunnel. Ralldar, denied the advantage of his reach and size to strike the heroes inside the tunnel roars, turns into a wolf, and leaps through the illusory wall. In a single bite, it finishes off the bard who begins to die in the tunnel. The alchemist tosses a frost bomb at Ralldar, slowing him down while the alchemist retreats.

Ralldar chases the alchemist down to the spider cavern, where the alchemist has met up with the sorcerer. The two of them plot Ralldar's moves and calculate the perfect place to wait - just five feet out of it's reach - impossible for it to strike without spending it's last action to move next to them. And if it decided to do that, an easy five foot step would get them out of reach. Foolproof!

Ralldar ends his second move action 10 feet out of reach, then transforms into his true form - throwing both the weakened heroes into his large reach. They sigh and calculate that if they step out of his reach, they won't have the actions to hurt him. One of them has to take the attack of opportunity and potentially die.

The alchemist takes the attack, yet again. Ralldar rolls a natural 1. Alchemist rolls his bomb - natural 20. Ralldar is still standing, and the sorcerer's spells fail to put him down, but the barghest body is basically falling apart at this point. It strikes at the heroes and rolls terribly - and as it reaches out over the weakened heroes, it collapses to the ground, dead from the alchemists persistent damage.

Meanwhile - our barbarian has been struggling with the dying condition, having thrown her hero point on trying to hit the barghest. Her persistent damage pushes her to dying 4, and she dies alone in the cavern.

Renali isn't fast enough to save Sheinn the barbarian but steals a potion from her and heads to the bard - who on dying 3 rolls a 14 and finally beats his own persistent damage. Renali heals the bard, just in time for the victorious sorcerer and bard to emerge from the tunnel. To mourn their friend and to prevent necromancy, they put her on Ralldar's throne and turn it into her pyre with the body of the enemy who flew her. In the shadows of the cavern, the heroes could swear they could see the shadow of a warrior moving, as if charging to face some unknown foe.

They would late rename Citadel Altarein Sheinn's Rest, in honour of their friend and only capable melee combatant.

Four years later, realised I never replied to this. Yep, that was exactly the issue, thanks for the help.

Michelena Aldori:

Quick question regarding a discrepancy between a pdf copy of the Advance Class Guide and d20pfrsd. The copy one of my players has of the Advanced Class Guide reads that the Spirit Talker feat lasts 24 hours, but the d20pfsrd says it lasts only one hour.

I can't seem to find a reason for the discrepancy. Can anyone illuminate which version I should go with?

That's awesome! The closest thing my players have come to is printing a large map of the discovered territory and putting it on the living room wall. The person playing the High Magister has also made an insanely detailed excel spreadsheet, of course.

Could you put up a copy of the anthem? I'm so curious.

They would react how any decent Golorian government would: send a party of adventurers to investigate!

Not necessarily. It is not uncommon for the same family to hold multiple titles in the same kingdom, especially if they are the royal line. Another possibility is that the royal family used to be the lords of Odranto, then forsook those titles when they took the Crown and its associated lands.

Given the nature of Ustalav, I'd probably go for the latter. The royal family probably has ties to the land, and is likely in some way related to the Muralt family (the current rulers of Odranto). If you really want to Ustalav it up, make it a curse and not circumstance that drove House Odranto away from their ancestral lands. It seems like Count Conwrest Muralt might be mad- who's to say every holder of that title hasn't been mad for generations, and House Odranto just got out when they going was good?

Otherwise I'd figure the Muralts are a cadet-branch of House Odranto who have risen to prominence.

Good eyes, though! I completely missed this on my first read.

Name: Odo Cobswoggle
Race: Halfling
Classes/levels: Alchemist/5
Adventure: RRR
Catalyst: The Dancing Lady, of course
The Gory Details: The Dancing Lady had the rogue commanded to serve her, who was now attacking the bard, and the rest of the party was entranced. The witch was flying too high, the oracle and the barbarian were stuck in the back. She went for the alchemist and rolled a little bit too much attribute damage. The bard ended up saving the party by blinding everyone with glitterdust, which I supposed meant they could no longer be entranced with her dance. They staggered around until they eventually slew her, and then ended up resurrecting the Alchemist, despite him being somewhat unpopular. The High Magister claimed it was so she could "scorn the gods".

Name: Othman
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Barbarian/6
Adventure: Following RRR, but before VoV
Location: Northern Greenbelt
Catalyst: Dueled a samurai.
The Gory Details: Everything had been going fairly well for the party following the defeat of the trolls in the south of the Greenbelt. They were slowly expanding their territory, running some follow-up explorations of the area, and building their cities. This when they hear about a group of around 200 strangers moving south through Brevoy, asking about anyone who matches the party rogue's description, who is a kitsune. She reveals she was a thief in Minkai, and during a burglary in the greatest museum in the country, was discovered. During her hasty and messy escape, she threw a scroll which accidentally teleported her to Brevoy, where she has lived ever since. She supposes these strangers, led by the legendary samurai who she recognizes by description, are after her.

The Minkanians are halted at a river and told not to cross under any circumstances, meanwhile Othman (the general) is hastily gathering warriors. Given the time constraints, he can only grab 25 battle-ready soldiers. Marching quickly, he discovers the Minkanians defied the demands and crossed the river. This annoys Othman, who knows now they will be able to use their numbers advantage if there is an open battle.

There is a parley between the two armies, where Othman, the Count (a Oracle), the High Magister, and the rogue herself meet with the samurai and his retainer. There is some excellent back and forth that establishes the samurai as a badass, with excellent roleplaying by the rogue to really underline that point. Othman proceeds to insult the Samurai as dishonourable, for he disobeyed the commands to not cross the river. The samurai retorts they are only bandits, while he is a samurai, and should be under no need to follow their orders. Othman continues to call him a liar, at which point the samurai challenges him to a duel.

I put them at forty-feet from each other, each with their weapons drawn. The samurai has improved critical with his katana, which is also enchanted to do extra damage against chaotic alignment (The Dutiful Blade). He is a CR7 encounter, on his own- a challenge for a duel, but not insurmountable for a barbarian.

Othman makes the fatal error of simply charging the samurai so he can get the first hit. He doesn't consider that while he only gets the one strike in, the samurai can full-round attack. The battle goes for a few rounds, with the two characters wailing on each other, neither ever missing, the samurai making critical strikes a few times. With the Samurai only on 11hp, his last full-round attack criticals both times, slaying Othman.

His cohort, an orphan boy of 15, reacts with rage and implores the Chancellor, who is with the army, to order an attack. When he is denied, he rushes forward to do it himself. Only the swift intervention by the Count prevents more bloodshed. The Count acts, for the first time, with great poise, despite being hurt that his best friend has been killed.

The next blow is the hardest. The samurai reveals they are only partly here for the thief, they need the treasure she stole. She doesn't recall taking any treasure, so she's a bit confused. Then they find out the entire Hall, the reliquary of the entire history and art of Minkai, disappeared with the rogue and they track it down to the Stolen Lands. If the party helps the Minkanians recover the Hall, they will forgive the crimes of the rogue. There are two catches: first, there are such horrors that were imprisoned in the hall they might now have escaped, so it will be incredibly dangerous. Second, the samurai, who just murdered their party member, will be accompanying them.

Close session.

The party has just finished Varnhold Vanishing and have had...surprisingly few deaths. Warning, spoilers and also I tend to throw in a lot of original stuff into my games, depending on character backgrounds.

Duke Isaac van Cleef, a dhamphir and Oracle of Bones. He led a gang of crooks in Issia, Northern Brevoy when his human mother died and he journeyed down South to take the charter. He was chosen as the leader as almost a compromise candidate of the party, and has since brought his old gang in to help run the joint and do the less than savory work. He's really just trying to do the best he can. While he has many old criminals following him, his most loyal is the wizard Lyric, who is the nation's Spymaster.

Treasurer Odo Cobswoggle, a dangerously unbalanced halfling alchemist who was good friends with the Duke during their criminal years. He makes everyone generally uneasy before having a crucial piece of insight into whatever they're deliberating. Was killed by the Dancing Lady, but resurrected by the Duke after phenomenal amount of work. Found a Deck of Many Things and, by dumb luck, was leveled up and got a loyal manservant, Deckland.

High Magister Suelaika, an elven witch with a focus on sleeping spells. Suelaika comes across as bitter, utilitarian, and ruthless, but she is on a secret path on redemption. She was once far more powerful and evil, casting an entire village into a never-ending slumber. Her encounter with a half-elf child reminded her of herself, when she was young, bullied, and alone, and she changed her witch patrons and her way-losing all her power in the process. The half-elf girl she helped raised, Ameya, is stil around, acting as Grand Diplomat, while Suelaika secretly works to undo all the terrible wrongs in her past, even while she is reviled and treated with mistrust.

Chancellor Gabriel Lapage, a scholarly samsaran bard who has gradually been working democratic processes into the kingdom. Academic, moral, and far-sighted, he generally tries to keep the party doing the right thing, which means a lot of stuff happens behind his back. He adopted the last living lizardfolk, Brazziers, after an encounter with a powerful will o' wisp and their former general eradicated the rest of the species in the area. He has since been told he named his lizardchild after a porn site.

Royal Enforcer Jaia 'Redeyes', a kitsune rogue from distant Minkai. Redeyes arrived in Brevoy after a burglary in a huge museum went terribly wrong, and she was pursued through the halls by a renowned and relentless samurai, Takeda. Throwing random artifacts at him, she accidentally teleported herself to Brevoy, where she threw herself into the first thing she could, the charter. Redeyes is renowned for near-death experiences and has accumulated nearly half a dozen scars from each close-call she has ever had. Shortly after settling into the kingdom, Jaia was confronted from her past when Takeda arrived in the kingdom, leading a small army. The group discovered when Jaia had teleported, she had taken the entire ancient museum with her too, making her the greatest thief in Minkai. The party helped the Minkainians find the hall and helped seal the unleashed evil within it, but during the process lost their general, Takeda, and the museum itself.

General Othman, a barbarian from the savage North. A fearsome and proud warrior, he was outraged when the samurai Takeda threw accusations at Redeyes and insulted the small kingdom. He challenged Takeda to a duel, which he lost. He was survived by wife, Longstrider, a werewolf barbarian, and his child, Othson, a natural lycanthrope. He had a squire at the time of his death, Chadwick, who had been the boy recruited to tend to their captured baby wargs and owlbear.

General Ange, the replacement general from the Iron Wraiths mercenary company. A refined human cavalier from Taldor, he has replaced ferocity with exacting strategy and firm discipline. He has formed up the Legion Vigilant, a group of elite officers to enforce discipline. He has taken Chadwick under his wing, who has now become a very effective archer as he approaches manhood.

Ah, fantastic ideas using the Chase sequence rules! Giving options of skill checks is inspired as well, I'll def be doing that.

This is all excellent, thank you all so much. I'll let you know how it plays out!

Sylvestria. The only thing the players could agree on was that the area was pretty forestry and they liked that. One of the players is a history guru and thought of 'sylvestris', which is latin for 'of the forest'. They spiced it up a bit and Sylvestria was born.

I'm planning a homebrewed campaign which will be centered largely on a single city, that they PCs are quite attached to. A few sessions, I want to have a devestating earthquake hit the city, destroying landmarks, killing thousands (including city leaders), and generally just wiping out the status quo. The campaign, ideally, will center around dealing with the unleashed monsters and chaos and delving into the depths of the mega-dungeon beneath the city to find out what caused the quake.

Now I've already figured that I shouldn't kill any of the PCs family members during the quake (though I might let their houses collapse and only allow them a brief time to gather their belongings). I've also prepared for the possibility that they will just up and run from the city, or go join the looting. My difficulty is coming up with the actual mechanics of an earthquake in an urban sprawl.

I want the players to survive those devastating minutes by the skin of their teeth, but I don't really know what's appropriate to do for a big earthquake. What sort of reflex saves do you make to dodge a collapsing building, or avoid a sinkhole? What's the Fortitude save on noxious fumes being released by the earth? And should I do a a Will save to avoid being shaken (forgive the pun) at seeing their homes destroyed?

Basically, I have two questions. What are the right saves for these Lvl 4-5 characters to still be challenging? And are there any other aspects of an earthquake I'm forgetting about that I should include in the disaster itself?

(I've also done my background on the players and as far as I know they've never have a bad experience with a natural disaster, so I'm not terribly afraid of triggering some horrible memories)

Thank you!

The Rogue advanced talent "Hunter's Surprise" allows a rogue to apply sneak attack damage 1/day to an adjacent enemy on attacks, even if the enemy is not flanked or does not have it's DEX modifier denied. My question is whether this would still apply if the enemy had Improved Uncanny Dodge, or regular Uncanny Dodge?

Ahh, I totally was. Thanks dude.

I'm not sure if I've imagined this, but I have frenzied recollection of searching through my pathinder pdfs late one night and finding a note on a new spell that players could use to teleport empty buildings to empty lots. I don't remember the source book, however, and I can't seem to find it anywhere. I mentioned it to one of my players, in the midst of one of my Kingmaker games, who is now on a holy crusade to find it.

I don't suppose anyone knows this spell or where to find it? I can't seem to find any mention of it.

Or have I just descended into madness where I now dream of new spells in pathfinder language, where they are appropriately balanced and formatted correctly?

In the game I'm running for my players, the Iron Wraiths are a significant army of mercenaries led by a inner circle of 12th lvl characters that mirror the PCs. They're being paid by the Aldori to fight the Tiger Lords and provide enough of a deterrent to Mivon and Pitax that they let the Restov colonies flourish in peace.

Of course the Iron Wraiths are eventually going to get bored just running guard duty and during VoV will see the temptation of the PCs kingdom to good to refuse. When the PCs wander off to deal with Vordakai, the Iron Wraiths will use their alliance with the kingdom to let themselves into the capital, then take over in a coup. The PCs coming back from Varnhold will either have to raise an army to take their capital back or, more likely, sneak into the castle and defeat the Iron Wraiths leadership. If they're particularly cunning, they'll take advantage of some of their fractious relationships to help even the odds.

This will help drive a wedge between the PCs and Restov, whom the PCs realise they can't trust to protect them, while Restov gets nervous at their increasing power. It'll help foreshadow Restov effectively abandoning them following BfB. It also allows for the events of BfB to take place, as Pitax will now find it much easier to take Fort Drelev.

Plus I think every campaign needs a mirror party for the PCs to fight.