All right, thanks everyone!
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I need a hand free to do the Crane Wing ability, where I deflect an attack. If I have a bastard sword, which can be 2h or 1h, could I always have a free hand and use the sword two-handed when I wanted? Do I even have to have a bastard to do this?
Well, I've only caught this one playing of it, then :o). Thank you. Personally I'm a fan of 1st-level Human Master of Many Styles into Crane Style at first level, second monk level into Crane Wing, and then Fighter levels or whatever else you want. You know, I didn't think to expand past monk. Panther Parry + Snake Fang seems like a good combination. That's 3 AOOs based on a person only attacking you once.
Anyone come up with cool combinations of monk styles for this variant? I'm pretty interested, but I'm kind of unsure about what to take. It seems like because you can't really take Elemental Fist in any efficient way (like through Monk of the Four Winds) with this variant that it kills some of the genie-based styles, but it seems like combinations of Panther and Snake, for instance, and obviously others (need 5 by higher levels) would make for some cool stuff.
Well, nonlethal damage is separate from lethal damage: "Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not 'real' damage" (191 Core). Ah, I see... should have just kept reading. Well, thanks for shooting that one down; would have been bad to have that happen at the table.
because -6 Hit Points is less than 5 non-lethal damage, so the guy's automatically KO'd. Well, nonlethal damage is separate from lethal damage: "Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not 'real' damage" (191 Core). So I'd hope I'd have a little while to absorb all that new, nonlethal damage before I'm unconscious from that. Do you know whether or not Guarded Life can be used multiple times in a round? Because I was hoping this is all a big survival tactic to keep hopping up above the 0-hp line.
How does Die Hard, the feat (122 Core), work with the barbarian rage power Guarded Life (76 APG)? I know the automatic-stabilization feature of both abilities overlap, but Guarded Life states, "if the barbarian is reduced below 0 hit points, 1 hit point of lethal damage per barbarian level is converted to nonlethal damage" (76). Usually a "once per rage" comment is tacked on, but here, it's not. So I'm curious how many times per rage lethal damage will be converted into nonlethal. I imagine it only happens once per round, but with Die Hard, I'm hoping a barbarian could just walk around staggered and disabled, still fighting (taking 1 point of damage per standard action), yet converting his damage into nonlethal. Or does Guarded Life only happen during the precise moment after you hit 0 or dip past and only that once? So, for instance, a lvl-5 barbarian with a 15 Con, Die Hard, and Guarded Life is down to 10 hp. He gets hit for 21 damage, dropping him to -11 hp. He auto-stabilizes, converts 5 lethal damage into nonlethal, bringing his current hp to -6. He chooses to act as disabled. On his turn he's still below 0, so does he receive Guarded Life's benefit again, converting another 5 lethal damage into 5 nonlethal? Also, let's say he takes a standard action to attack his foe. He takes 1 point of damage for the effort (as per Die Hard rules): does this trigger Guarded Life again, and can he use this twice in one round if he received Guarded Life's benefit at the beginning of the turn? Edit: I didn't mean to imply the barbarian could be healed even more after he rises above the 0-hp mark.
Rolling 15 with a falchion doesn't guarantee you a crit, you still have to confirm it, if the attack is your last attack (-5/-10/etc..) not you can fail to confirm the crit, rolling 15 won't be enough to hit many enemies with your last attack. Yeah, I didn't think about confirmation. I usually never plan a character past 10, just because those upper levels are so far away and usually never happen.
lol, I found a real nerd-raging one that you made an appearance in... Good stuff, but my God, the nerd-rage is so high. Thanks for the suggestion! Good stuff.
Does holding a falcata in two hands still require Exotic Weap. Prof.? ... I'm sure it does; not even sure why I'm asking. And do you think holding this weapon in two hands is better than a real two-hander, or should I just think about TWF at this point?
So what's the best two-hander out there for a barbarian, or a big-smash character? I'm thinking falchion... With Keen, it's hard to peruse any other weapon after seeing a 15-20/x2 crit range. Reach is cool, especially with some of the barbarian abilities that happen as AOOs, but 15-20... It's so ridiculous.
Sweet. Thanks for the fast reply!
If you're using Use Magic Device to active a wand, and you're not a spellcaster by any means, do you have to roll UMD once (DC 20: wand activation) or twice (DC 20: class feature {to get the "spell list"}; DC 20: wand activation)? The one possible defense for a one-roll UMD is on page 109 in the Core: "[Using a wand, staff, or other spell-trigger item with Use Magic Device] allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list." Does this line mean you already have the spell list before you use UMD, or does it mean you're granted the spell list to avoid rolling twice for the class feature?
As the previous posters have said, Lay on Hands doesn't specify it is positive energy so should work on the dhampir pally. The more I think it over, the line "but react to positive and negative energy as if it were undead," despite saying "pos. and neg. energy," seems to overrule this. It's the spirit of the rule -- which I realize is a common argument no one wants to hear -- but if Dhampir are affected by energy types like undead, and Lay on Hands is an energy (whether it's pos or neg doesn't really matter here), and Lay on Hands also harms undead, it seems like Dhampir, as they act like undead, are inherently harmed by Lay on Hands as well. If the book doesn't say Lay on Hands is positive, and Lay on Hands still harms undead, then it's just gonna harm undead. And if Dhampir are harmed like undead, then... well, you get the point.
Pfft, Vamp. H. D has to be one of the coolest characters ever; of course, I'm biased -- I used to watch the Scifi channel over my unawares father's shoulder during Saturday mornings and saw the 80s D a few times before being allowed to buy it on VHS... and here I am now, years and years later, and I'm still finding myself making rip-off versions of him in DnD games >_< looking it up he actually went 5-0 vs his critics, go germans And obviously proving his movies were amazing. Uwe Boll's Logic has to be one of the most solid foundations of human thought since the creation of the wheel.
Careful, he may call you out into an amateur boxing match to prove to you his films actually are good. <insert link to news article where this happened...>
Ah, OK :o) Thank you!
Well, this has turned out to be an interesting thread. Thanks for the help everyone; looks like the problem was definitely there, but you guys turned it into a cool role-playing experience. Cheers!
[...] but not being able to use Lay on Hands as a quick action does make things harder for a dhampir. Could you clarify this, please? Do you mean he can't use Lay on Hands at all, or he can't use it as a "quick action"? Or do you mean he can only use the second option of Lay on Hands: harming undead?
[...] his one blackened hand that burns with pain as he heals others. Sounds awesome :o) Hmm... Handicaps can occasionally prove fun for role-playing. I may try it. Thanks for the idea.
I've been having trouble with 2d0pfsrd, can't view it. I would allow you to reverse the positive/negative energy effects of the class. You can't help most living allies, but oh well. I'll talk with my DM, then. I hate having to do that though: special permission gets tedious and makes me feel like a rule-bender.
You might be best served by looking at a more appropriate class for a Dhampir, possibly a Cavalier - there's really no way a Dhampir is going to become a Paladin, and I don't think they were designed with that class in mind :) It's a shame really; it's a cool combination: maybe because opposing factions combined -- bad guys who turn good, good guys who turn bad, or just plain good- or bad-born creatures who turn to the opposing side due to their own nature (Nightcrawler, for instance) -- make for interesting characters. I suppose I could just take two levels of Paladin and change, but sticking with one class is more appealing. Is it possible to use these abilities without actually hurting myself? Like, could I heal someone with my Lay on Hands without taking damage from it, as long as I don't intend on healing myself with it?
Hmm, crap. Anyways, here's the ability that really comes into play here: "Negative Energy Affinity: Dhampires are alive, but react to positive and negative energy as if it were undead -- positive energy harms it, negative energy heals it." And here's the link typed out: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/dhampir
Due to Negative Energy Affinity, how does a Dhampir with Paladin levels actually work? Lay on Hands and Channel Positive Energy seem troublesome at best.
So I hear you can use a temple sword in two hands and flurry of blows, then I hear you can't use the 1.5 Str modifier, then I hear you can two-weapon fight with a 2H weapon plus kick and get 1.5 Str mod. (no flurry of blows on this), but then I hear you have to do normal Str damage on the axe. What's going on, and who has the answers to these questions? Oh lawdy! One rule that seems to kill everything, but some people on the forums seem to ignore it: "A monk applies his full Strength bonus to his damage rolls for all successful attacks made with flurry of blows, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand or with a weapon wielded in both hands." Anyone have a link to a good thread or rule-call somewhere to clear things up? Because if I can get 1.5 Str on any sort of combination for two-weapon fighting, I'm gonna do it.
lol... That would be amazing.
OK, thanks for the help.
With the regard of the Magus, or holding two separate weapons, I agree. As a cool fact though, you actually can do it with a 2h weapon and unarmed strikes -- if you have a level of Monk to determine that you can strike with any limb at no penalty and never as an offhand. You 2h-chop and kick, pretty much. I suppose I was trying to apply that theory to the casting.
Can the playtested Magus use a one-handed weapon in two hands when he attacks with his two-weapon-fighting ability with spells and thus get two-handed damage? Or does he literally have to have a free hand at all times, even when he's not casting?
Bah, stupid inter-butt. I couldn't respond for like an hour. Anyways, thanks for all the help everyone!
When an 8th-level monk / 10th-level fighter uses Flurry of Blows, is his BAB still just 8? His normal attack of course would be a +16, I understand, but for Flurry of Blows only, is his BAB just his monk level and nothing added? Reason for inquiry: "For the purpose of [Flurry of Blows], the monk's base attack bonus is equal to his monk level" (Core 57).
:o)
In the Core, the feat Shatter Defenses mentions that any shaken, etc., foe is flat-footed to your attacks "this round [...] until the end of your next turn. This includes any additional attacks you make this round [emphasis added]" (133). 1. Does "this round" mean any round the foe is shaken, frightened, or panicked -- or just for one round? Which round would this be? When can I shatter the foe's defenses again, or is it only once per combat? 2. If I use Dazzling Display, another feat from the Core, and every foe that sees me fails against my Intimidate, are they all susceptible to my Shatter Defenses until their shaken wears off, or do I just have one round? Thanks for the help.
I am very much pro-player, and a more gamist then MDT, a lot more IMHO, but I have to agree with him. Cohorts are not PC's with -2 levels. They are NPC's with PC classes, no better than the captain of the guard who have happens to have fighter levels. That fighter has NPC wealth, just like any cohort would. If you want him to be better equipped it comes out of your pocket. I wish I could dig up some of the old cohorts we had. I guess it makes sense why so many of those campaigns crashed and burned at a certain point. Oh well... I sent our gaming group an email about the issue; I may send an "I'm sowwy" e-card if it's necessary, especially since four or five of us have cohorts in the current campaign with PC starting wealth, two of them already with magic-item crafting feats (see this thread about the abuse of intelligent-items and magic-item crafting feats). PS: In light of what I said in an earlier post I would not mind a DM running my cohort, but it would depend on the DM. Our DM really hates roleplaying our cohorts and character-accessories, and I don't blame him. And to be honest, I guess we never really took our cohorts seriously because we always hated players who roleplayed multiple people; it seemed like they were hogging the show, and nothing's boring like that. That's why our cohorts have just been mules, crafters, and waiting-in-line players. Guess that was all wrong >_< Thanks for the insight, everyone.
A) Nothing in the feat says he has to be replaced immediately. Next level, the GM makes a different cohort (probably introduces them in game first), and then you can refuse again. Thinking on this further, it seems like the area, the advertising, and the reputation (represented by the Leadership score) of the player would matter more for the recurrence of a potential cohort than the next time the player levels. Otherwise, it seems like the DM is just upset the player didn't like the original NPC.
It's not as if you put out a sign and say 'Cohort wanted, must be 18, blonde, blue-eyed, top heavy, and either human or elf or half-elf, no orcs or half-orcs need apply, oh and it'd be nice if they had a useful skill', and then go to the colluseum and walk through the thousands and thousands of breathless fans that feint as you walk past and pick out the perfect cohort. That sounds pretty awesome actually :o) Maybe a high-enough Charisma! Too bad Pathfinder doesn't have GURPS advantages where you can buy Status, Reputation, and Rank. <rubs hands> Fan Club... B) I don't need to respond to the second half, you've actually given one of the best arguments in the thread for the GM never allowing the player to make his own cohort. Just doin' my job, sir. One thing though, the cohort is equipped as an NPC, not a PC, so his wealth is MUCH lower than you might think. ... I actually laughed at this. And now I'm debating on doing the right thing and telling my DM we've been abusing cohorts for a little over 12 years now. It probably won't be as funny to him. Thanks regardless though :o)
Being a player, I visibly shuddered at a lot of these posts... especially ones with "I design the cohort, and I'm the DM." My argument to this is: why can't I just refuse the cohort to join up with me? If I'm a master of my art, and I attracted them to me, then I can deem who's worthy of following me. Of course, master/student relationships aren't always the case, but being a mechanical-whore myself, master/students seem the only justification for taking the feat. But, here are some things to watch out for, as I'm a player who has abused cohorts time and time again: 1. The cohort could have an abundance of magic-item crafting feats and makes me items. To ensure he or she stays at home, making me magic items, I make sure he or she is generally some form of lover and has no combat capabilities so that he or she doesn't want to follow me. It pretty much means half-off anything in the book. This breaks the master/student thingy I was just talking about, but oh well. 2. The cohort gets starting wealth... I mean, need I say more? There are tons of ways of wiggling that starting wealth away from him or her, or having the cohort suddenly buying items that the DM has yet to allow his magic-item vendors possess. Watch out for this. 3. I prefer to make him or her into "what amounts to another PC sans 2 levels," as Ravingdork put it above. I mean, if the cohort is attracted to the player, and if the player is ridiculous, why wouldn't the cohort try to make himself or herself ridiculous in order to attract the player? Of course, this is where DMs step in and design it themselves, but I say, Fie! Fie upon you! Bad DM! You're making your players turn against you! And to be honest... Our players are usually really, really broken (as players should be! Screw all you players who don't spend hours and hours trying to make yourself useful to the adventuring party on some mechanical level; you're just taking up space at the table), and the DM makes sure to confront us with monsters that are pretty tough. I don't want some scrub cohort, designed by the DM, running along side with me into combat and dying so that I take minuses to further Leadership. If a character has no back-story, no interesting development that pushed him or her into traveling, then he or she is just an "adventurer." My definition of an adventurer is pretty much Finn and Jake from Adventure Time: guys being silly, enjoying each others' friendship, and trying to make themselves as ridiculously powerful as they can be so that no confrontation can overpower them. They're guys trying to work toward a natural retirement, if you will. Ulysses was an adventurer, in a mythological example, and he talked smack to anything he wiggled away from or defeated. They're high on life. And cohorts should follow suit! <Takes full-defense against the DMs about to rant.>
Intelligent items don't like sharing their owners, and will rebel if you have more than one. However, the argument still stands that everyone should want one. True, I suppose if you were good-aligned, though, the "alignment might change this sort of behavior [of rivalship]" (536). So LG seems the way to go; just have a metric ton of these intelligent items of your alignment, and if they were to oppose each other, despite LG, their Egos would be too low to conflict with the wielder's Will save. The wielder would be Master-Dominate-Chief SilverBack of the USS I-Beat-Your-Campaign.
Furthermore getting quickened true strike 3 times a day for a mere 1400 gp seems rather exploitatious to me. I agree. In fact, any spell it casts is a quickened spell, so Quickened Haste, for instance, a 3rd-level spell three times a day for this intelligent item, is only 9,000 gp (if it's crafted by the player). A Quicken Rod for 3rd-level spells is 17,500 gp for crafting cost, and the player has to be 9th level. True, the rod works for any spell of 3rd level known, but, with the intelligent item, the player doesn't need to have a free hand to activate it. I don't see why crafters don't make every single magic item they own -- that's possible to make intelligent -- intelligent. For a mere 500 gp extra for each item, the Egos wouldn't get out of hand, so he could control them all, and he would have tons of abilities per day that were all Quickened... and not at a bad price. And if they're all of the same alignment and low Egos, they won't quarrel with themselves much. And think of the possibilities of buffs in one round: four quickened spells simultaneously going off if the player has four intelligent items, for example.
The rules don't make a distinction between the item casting a spell and the wielder casting a spell, so True Strike should work. Seems a little crazy then, as the weapon can cast this on my round. It's like free Quickened True Strikes. Guess I can't complain too much though. >.> What about touch spells that give temporary hit points, like Vampiric Touch? A) Can the weapon cast this as I hit my foe (thus doing damage to them as I strike them; the sword is "touching" the foe when the sword connects), and B) who gets the temporary hit points? If the weapon does, how does it affect it: just adds on to the hit points of the material of the sword? Thanks for all the help.
Thanks, this helps a ton. As per this:
I should have been more specific: I was applying it to if a Wizard has an intelligent item as an arcane-bound companion (the alternate familiar rule), and the Wizard dies; does this mean the item dies with him, as per the normal rules for arcane-bound items, or does it being intelligent make it special? Thanks again, though; I suppose I was just like, "No way!" the whole time I was making the item, lol.
All right... My DM allows intelligent items; I'm gonna lay it out, and hopefully you guys can see anything wrong. I'm unsure about the entire scenario because, well... because the rules are lightly touched in the book. I'll post ranting paragraphs, but for the "tl;dr" guys (which, I don't blame you), I'll have the solid questions numbered. For starters, the book doesn't directly say what the prerequisites are to make an intelligent item, just that "less than 1% of magic items have intelligence" (Core 532). So, the vagueness here makes me assume any person able to craft magical items can thus craft intelligent items if they so choose to. 1. Can anyone make a magical item intelligent during creation? Each intelligent item "possesses all three mental ability scores: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma" (533), but the Core doesn't state whether these items need the ability scores to follow the prerequisites of normal casters: "To prepare or cast a spell, a [caster] must have [the choice stat] score equal to at least 10 + the spell level" (39). 2. If an intelligent item has a power from the Table 15-24: Intelligent Item Powers table (534), does it need its base stat to be high enough to match the level of the spell it can cast. For instance, can an intelligent sword with a 3rd-level spell power actually use this power without buying a 13 mental ability? Because spells are versatile, issues about the item casting are left vague. Just for a light-delving of questions, spells like Beast Shape and True Strike come to mind, where the spell is personal and/or gives a buff to itself: would this affect the user as well? Would the +20 to hit go to the sword or the person, and if it went to the sword, could this still affect the user? For touch spells, like Vampiric Touch, can the spell use this while the user is swinging? In the instance of my own intelligent item -- because it was cheap -- I gave it the power to cast Guidance at will, so every round, if it's not doing something more important, or if it's stripped of spells, it just casts Guidance on me for a free +1 to hit every round. It's also funny when our players obnoxiously call out, "Guidance!" (I love infinite cantrips; thanks Paizo!) 3. How do the mechanics of spells affect the intelligent item, especially "personal" and "touch" properties, and how do these mechanics affect the user? Are any spells off-limits for the item? The spell Animate Dead is also confusing here, too. There's no rule that says an intelligent item can't cast this, so does it need the "onyx gem worth at least 25 gp per Hit Die of the undead" (241) to cast it? 4. Do material costs apply to items using spells? If they do, how do you apply them? On a personal note, my character is a wizard who has chosen her Arcane Bond to be an item, which means I pretty much get the Craft Magical Arms and Armor item-creation feat for this one particular sword. The Core says, "The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the wizard who owns it. If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type" (78). 5. If an intelligent magic item is arcane-bound, as per Wizard rules, do its spells only affect the user, even if the spell happens to be an area-effect buff? Also, does the intelligent item's intelligence fade away if the owner dies (I imagine this one is true, but it's worth asking)? I'm sure I'll think of something else later, but these are the main issues I'm dealing with now. When the book is this vague, I wonder if these rules were open-ended because they're for DMs only... But the Core is kind of the equivalent of a player's handbook, so it makes me wonder. You'd think these rules would be in the GameMastery Guide if such is the case.
It depends on how much I care about the campaign, I suppose: half an hour for quickies or new-DM campaigns. During the main game, though... I'm with this guy: Weeks. Sometimes months... The birthing process is long and painful for me, usually involving several debates, second-guesses and restarts before I get it 'right'. Making a character is such an immense balance of mechanics and flavor in order to keep interest going as the campaign unfolds. Not to ramble, but as an example, my last character was an alcoholic ex-mother (yeah, a chick! what of it?), who failed as a scientist and took to being a traveling blade-for-hire. That's the first chunk that set off the mechanics, which went like this: Alchemist / Barbarian, and a custom race our DM made that was on par with elves. Eventually, I found the Master Chymist prestige class, and the appeal of multiple personalities lassoed me back into flavor: the mutagen is what she would use when the alcohol couldn't get her drunk enough, and then her alter-ego would take over and make things right (in the alter-ego's eyes, anyway), which would cause a downward spiral of self-esteem, reliability, and emotions. Role-playing was a blast (alcoholics have so much flavor, hardy har har), and she hit like a truck (30+ Str and a bunch of other gadgets), so both sides of my player palate were satisfied :o) But yeah... It took me about a month to get it all balanced.
Whoops... I meant "(Str / Cha)" here, not "(Str / Wis)." Sorry about that.
Kind of a weird one: * 1 Fighter + 5 Witch + Assassin and Eldritch Knight (alternating). (Str / Int) Strong melee with sneak attacks, hexes based on Int, death attack based on Int, spells based off Int, a good BAB (could be 16 by level 20 if you avoid even alternation)... and a pimpin' familiar. If you want a 16 BAB, go 4 Assassin / 10 Eldritch Knight; you'll have more spell levels (7th-level), the spell-crit ability from E.K., and the bonus feats. If you're alright with a 14 BAB, go 9 Assassin / 5 Eldritch Knight; you'd have +5d6 sneak attack, +9 to your death attack, +9 to Sleight of Hand, Hide in Plain Sight, Quiet Death, and Swift Death -- but 5th-level spells. As for the armor for this caster-fighter-stealther -- I don't understand why people are against it, but -- mithral fullplate with the feat Arcane Armor Mastery drops the arcane spell failure to 5% (which is manageable), and if you have the Armor Training trait, it only has a -2 armor check penalty. Your spells and Stealth skill are pretty solid, and the armor bonus, if capped on enchantments, is +14 with a +3 maximum Dex bonus (much better than any buff or light armor). Adding the Shadow enchantments would be a wise decision.
...and wings and a breath weapon and a dragon form. mmmm Delicious :o)
I'm gonna have to look up some of those 3.5 references. I haven't thumbed through those books in a good while; sounds potentially awesome. I don't know much about the APG classes, but if Inquisitor really is Wis-oriented, it should mesh well with any Wis-based combination, especially when using things like the Guided enchantment and/or the Shiba Protector PrC (OA). How about going crazy and taking Druid + Inquisitor + Cleric, focusing on either Druid or Cleric afterward (not both, as that would be counter-productive); this way, a player could have four domains and interlocking Wisdom abilities. With the new domains and the alternate domains in the APG, I'm sure deadly combinations exist, especially with four. Or you know... this idea could just look good on paper, lol. Here's another: Paladin + Summoner. (Str / Cha) Standard 2 pally for Cha to saves, then go wild with the Summon Monsters from the Summoner, which are based off Cha. If you had a mount, you could do mounted combat and have an eidolon, and cast Summon Monster off the back of your horse, keeping a wall of minions between mounted-you and foe, and charging in for the killing blow. And with Trample, you could knock 'em down and let your monsters beat them to death while prone. Or do (Dex / Cha) and pick the foe off with a bow instead of charging in.
Forgot to mention to pick the Dex mutagen with this.
I like it, especially since I'm not a fan of Inquisitors, and this dipping is used efficiently. Here's another: * Rogue + Paladin + Shadowdancer. (Dex / Cha) Cha to saves, smite, Cha to shadow abilities later, and Dex for ranged or Weapon Finesse (take with Rogue Talent). Also, Use Magic Device, Stealth, and social skills are doin' pretty good. I'd probably take Skill Focus (Use Magic Device) for early abuse of magical items and definitely a Trait too. The new Half-Vampire race would work great.
<3 Thanks, mang.
Where are the rules for the definitions of prestige-class levels, character levels, "level," and so on and so forth? I see these interchange on prestige-class abilities a lot and would just like to find some rules on when to add my prestige-class levels in, or when it's my entire character's level, etcetera. Thanks for the help. |