Chaslin's page

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.

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?

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)

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?

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?