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So if you're playing a Cleric and can get Planar Binding (such as through the Void Domain) what are the restrictions? Mostly are you prohibited from calling a creature opposed to your alignment on the Good<->Evil and Law<->Chaos scale? does that make things harder since you have to cast a Magic Circle spell which is, by nature, of the opposite alignment of the creature you're calling?

Like if you're not at least partially neutral would that make the spell not work for aligned outsiders? If you're Lawful Good you cast Magic Circles against Evil and Chaos but you can't bind a creature of Evil or Chaos and you can't use a magic circle against Good or Law

Come to think of it, how do you bind a neutral outsider since they have no alignment to exploit for a magic circle spell?

Edit: just re-checked the magic circle spells and they work on creature that are neutral on their axis so forget that last part

One of my players asked this, can they use the Blunderbuss' scatter attack (or any scatter weapon) to perform Ranged Trip or Ranged Disarm against any of their targets as long as they have the appropriate feats?

I know there's a magic item called the Shockwave Blunderbuss that automatically makes a trip attack against the enemies it hits but items have been able to break the rules before.

I was looking over grouped skills the other day and suggested it to my players at our last session. Most of them seemed willing to try it in our next campaign but one refused saying it would be too much work for him.

what I wanted to ask is: are the three skill systems (traditional, consolidated and grouped) balanced enough against each other that I could let my players decide which system they use on their characters individually or would that horribly unbalance the game?

I'm playing a character who uses a whip in a core only campaign, so no deadly enchantment or whip mastery feats. I want to know if I enchant a whip that deals elemental damage, flaming Frost shock etc, or aligned damage, holy unholy axiomatic anarchic, and I hit an enemy that can't be damaged by the whip's attack (immune non-lethal damage or having a too much Armour) will the whip still deal its elemental or aligned damage the target?

I'm starting to wonder... yeah if I'm holding my players' hands too much, mostly in that I, the GM, keep track of the treasure and then sell and hand out the gold after each dungeon instead of making them track and distribute their own treasure

I know this has been done literally half a dozen times but I wanted to weigh in with my own idea for how to make Guts from Berserk.

Note that I'm going for more statistical accuracy for combat strength than full accuracy.

Also level is not included because I don't have a complete build just an overall idea and some third party stuff is included

Mythic Champion

Race: Human

Class: Two-Handed fighter https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo-figh ter-archetypes/two-handed-fighter/ with Variant Multiclassing: Barbarian to get access to rage

Official Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Cleaving Finish, Improved Cleaving Finish, toughness, endurance, diehard, weapon focus/spec/gfocus/gspec/improved critical Greatsword, Raging Vitality, Furious Focus

Third Party Feats: Lighten Weapon (Greatsword) https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/3rd-party-feats/kobold-press/combat-feats-3r d-party-kobold-press/lighten-weapon-combat/

Drawbacks: One-Arm, One-Eye, Betrayed

Mythic Feats: Power Attack, Improved Critical (greatsword), weapon focus (greatsword), weapon specialization (greatsword) (one more I can't think of)

Equipment: Primitive Cybernetic arm w/ integrated weapons: Culverin and repeating Crossbow, can't be used on it's own (one-arm penalties apply) but built in "locked gauntlet" feature allows the use of two-handed weapons as though the user had two arms

Sticky bombs (120gp): These variant Cold Iron Pellet Grenades https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/weapons/alchemical-weapons/#TOC-Pellet-G renade are covered in spikes. These weapons can be thrown at a specific target instead of a square or intersection; if they hit a target's normal AC they deal 1d3 points of piercing damage but if they at least hit a tiny or larger target's touch AC then they stick to their target and explode at the start of the thrower's next turn. These weapons can be removed with a DC 15 Dexterity check by a medium or smaller target but a large or larger target is unable to remove them before they explode.

Dragonslayer: Large Adamantine Greatsword: enchantments: +5, impact, evil outsider bane, ghost touch, Furious

Greater Artifact, (Cursed) Berserker Armor: This +5 Admantine Full Plate Armor grants the wearer a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution and the Diehard Feat; if the wearer already possesses the Diehard Feat then they can stay alive and active until their negative HP is Equal to double their Con Score. If the wearer of this armor drops to negative hit points then they must attempt a DC 25 will save (too low?) or automatically enter a rage identical to the Barbarian's Rage; if they wearer already has the barbarian rage class feature then they get their Will Save bonus vs mind-affecting effects on this save (indomitable will also applies as this is an enchantment effect). When the wearer of this armor enters rage (whether voluntarily, as a result of this armor's effect or the "Rage" spell) they do not use up rage rounds if they are in negative hit points; if they are at negative hitpoints then they may act normally instead of disabled (taking a full round of actions) but take 1 point of damage per round regardless of the actions they take. The wearer must make a DC 30 Will Save to end the rage unless they are knocked unconscious or run out of rage rounds; they receive a +10 bonus to this save if they are out of combat. When raging, any limbs broken or otherwise disabled (but not amputated) are automatically re-set and ready to use on the following round, these effects return as soon as the rage ends. If the wearer already possesses the Rage class feature then their level of rage increases another "step": normal rage to greater rage, greater rage to mighty rage and if the wearer has the "mighty rage" class feature then their bonuses increase to +10 to strength and Con and +5 to will saves. Every time the wearer enters rage (whether voluntarily, as a result of this armor's effect or the "Rage" spell) they must make a DC 30 will save or shift one "step" towards the Chaotic Evil alignment, first to Chaos then to Evil; if the wearer possesses the "rage" class feature then they receive their Will Saving Throw bonus and "Indomitable Will" bonus on this save (only at the base, not the armor's "enhanced" version). This armor cannot be removed without Remove Curse or Break Enchantment (DC 30 to succeed). Unlike most greater artifacts the Berserker Armor can be damaged and sundered (even gaining the broken condition) but not destroyed through such attempts; if the armor is damaged in any way it automatically repairs itself at a rate of 5 hit points per round.

Flavor: Forged by dwarves, the Berserker Armor is a legendary suit of armor that will let the wearer fight until all their bones are broken and their last drop of blood is spilled. However to forge such an armor imbued it with a sense of evil purpose: the armor loves to fight but without the ability to move of its own volition it instead drives its wearer on to fight longer and longer no matter what state they are in and will not allow itself to be removed, literally pinning itself to the wearer and driving them on to greater acts of slaughter the longer it is worn.

Destruction: if worn by a lawful good mortal that does not enter rage for 1 year and successfully resists 100 attempts the armor makes to force rage, then the armor dissolves into a rusted mess.

Any thoughts? I've just never seen this attempt made to describe his weapons and armor as well as a build.

Everywhere I find the Smart armor tech item the purchase price is listed at 18,500gp but the crafting cost is 14,00gp this is obviously a typo but it's never been errataed, do is it 14,000gp (excessive for its price) or 1,400gp (insanely cheap) or is it supposed to e 9,250gp (half price like most tech items) my players will probably get the 1,400gp price at this rate.

Simple question, if you're a mythic heirophant and are a cleric with the Animal Domain does the mythic ability affect your animal companion (+4 to companion's effective level) and does it increase your companion's effective druid level above your character level? (-3 +4 = net+1) and would this stack with boon companion for a +4 total effective druid level?

I made a post a long time ago about the Protoss as a pathfinder race, well I've revised them a fair bit including racial feats and an archetype. I have more planned but I wanted some opinions on this.

Protoss
The Protoss are a race of psionic creatures crafted by the “Xel-naga” a progenitor race that endowed them with so Called Purity of Form. Tall and imposing, all Protoss are psionically gifted and until recently they all explored such paths until the splitting of their race and contact with other races caused some of them to expand their views.
The Protoss today are split into two distinct racial divisions, the Khala and the Nerazhim. Those of either race who can master the other’s power in addition to their own are known as Ascended Templar but such individuals are exceedingly rare.
The Protoss often begin their lives as Soulknives, which they refer to as Zealots, while the most adept of them become either Psions or Psychic Warriors, Often referred to as High Templar, while Nerazhim adopt their unique rogue type referred to as Dark Templar. All Protoss see the surges of Wilders too risky to pursue.

Racial Traits

Size: Medium

Type: Protoss are Humanoids with the (Protoss) and (Psionic) subtypes

Base Land Speed: 30’

Naturally Psionic: All Protoss gain the Wild Talent Feat for free at first level, if the protoss is of a psionic class they instead gain Psionic Talent for free at 1st level.

Natural Weapons: All Protoss have two claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage.

Telepathy: Protoss may communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language within 100 feet. A Protoss may shield their mind as a free action to prevent any Protoss within range from detecting their presence or speaking to them but they regain contact once in visual range. When communicating with non-Protoss the communication is one-way. Protoss cannot read minds without additional psionic training. Protoss may use their psionic abilities to create vocalizations to speak to creatures that dislike telepathic communications or to create the verbal components of spells.

Path of Ascension: Protoss often begin their time as adventurers or soldiers as Soulknives, often referred to as Zealots, but many aspire to greater heights of psionic mastery. If a Protoss selects their favored class as any psionic class with a manifester level (or the Dark Templar Rogue Archetype) Then when they reach the fifth level of the Soulknife Class they may retrain all their soulknife levels into their favored class for free if they take their first level in their favored class at sixth level.

Three Hearts: All Protoss receive the Endurance feat for free at first level. Protoss have three hearts which allows them to survive in adverse conditions and fight and march much longer than most races.

Nourishment: Protoss are sustained by sunlight, moonlight and the moisture in the air. If denied one or the other a Protoss must consume one power point per day to avoid starvation. If cut off from both then a Protoss begins starving like any other creature (this is not immediate, they still can survive as long as any other creature can without food and water). Protoss may carry waterskins which they consume by dousing themselves and manually absorbing it through their skin. Because of this, in order to benefit from a potion or elixir a Protoss must spend a full round action to both douse themselves and then forcefully absorb it through their skin. Protoss breathe through their skin but may still hold their breath like any other creature.

Racial Dimorphism: Centuries ago the Protoss Race split in two and the two sub-species took differing paths. While they are fundamentally the same race the Khala and Nerazhim have taken divergent paths of training and development that cause them to function differently than each other.

Khala
Con +2, Int +2, Cha -2. The Khala Protoss’ ritual training and strict education is boon to their society but they are standoffish and distrustful of outsiders.
Rigid Discipline: All Khala Protoss have +2 to all Will Saves.
Link of the Khala: All Khala Protoss are trained to be linked together to be able to fight and coordinate with much greater efficiency. All Khala Protoss may use the Aid Another action as an immediate action if they are aiding another Khala Protoss, in addition all Khala Protoss within 60’ of each other cannot be flanked unless all of them are flanked.

Nerazhim
Dex +2, Wis +2, Cha -2. Dark Templar, having travelled far and wide have allowed themselves to absorb knowledge of the outside world while staying hidden, but they shy away from interaction with others.
Low-Light vision: Nerazhim can see twice as far as humans in dim light.
Voidborn: Nerazhim have cut themselves off from the Khala and embraced the shadows and void. Attacks against a Nerzhim in dim light have a 50% miss chance instead of the normal 20% miss chance. This ability does not grant total concealment; it just increases the miss chance.
Ascended Templar: Con +2, Dex +2, Int +2, Wis +2. Very few Protoss possess the ability to master both the Khala and void and even fewer manage to survive long enough to do so. But to those few who do can earn the respect and admiration of all their peers. They also possess the racial abilities of both Khala and Nerazhim. Their experience also teaches them the tolerance needed to interact with outsiders as such most are assigned as dignitaries and ambassadors to other races. (ascended Templar are not suited for PCs)

Racial Items
Kydarin amulet: Cost 50gp: Headband slot (this is meant to be an early game item): The sacred Kydarin crystals are a gift from the Xel-Naga and are held in high esteem by the protoss for their ability to enhance their psionic powers. When worn by a Protoss with levels in a psionic class gains 4 extra power points each day. Even when not worn a protoss may use this to communicate with other protoss with kydarin crystals on the same plane or on one connected plane (from material plane to astral plane, shadow plane or ethereal plane, astral plane to any plane except shadow or ethereal planes, outer planes to the astral plane or either coterminous plane).

Racial Feats
Psionic Shield (Psionic)
Prerequisite: Protoss race
The first time a Protoss gains their psionic focus each day they gain a number of temporary hit points equal to their hit dice. These temporary hit point renew at a rate of 1 per minute as long as a Protoss maintains their psionic focus but disappear at the start of their turn if they don’t have a psionic focus maintained. If an attack does not deal enough damage to damage the Protoss’ hit points then any effects that require contact (such as injury poison) do not apply. As an immediate action a Protoss may expend their psionic focus to instantly gain a number of temporary hit points equal to their hit dice (up to double their hit dice total), then at the start of their next turn they lose a number of temporary hit points equal to their hit dice, this does not damage their hit points.

Greater Psionic Shield (Psionic)
Prerequisite: Protoss Race, Psionic Shield
This feat functions like Psionic shield except the temporary hit points gained when a focus is gained or expended are equal to double the Protoss’ hit dice and the temporary hit points regain at a rate of 2 per minute.

Racial Archetype
Dark Templar (Unchained Rogue Archetype) (Nerazhim only)

Wild Talent: The Dark Templar gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat at 1st level. This is a reflection of the psionic training all Protoss go through. A Character who is already psionic instead gains the Psionic Talent feat.
This replaces Trapfinding.

Warp Blade (Su): As a move action, a Dark Templar can form a semi-solid weapon composed of distilled void energy projected from the Nerazhim’s mind.

The Dark Templar gains the Form Mind Blade and Shape Mind Blade abilities of the Soulknife except they can only form a one-handed mind blade. The Dark Templar also gain the Mind Blade Finesse blade skill of the Soulknife and can add their Dexterity modifier to their mind blade’s damage instead of their Strength modifier starting at level 3.
This replaced Finesse Training.

Enhanced Warp Blade: Starting at 3rd level, the Dark Templar gains the Enhance Mind Blade ability of a Soulknive, using their levels of Dark Templar to determine both the total mind blade enhancement level and the maximum enhancement bonus.
This replaces Danger Sense.

Blade Skill: A Dark Templar may select Soulknife Blade Skills in place of Rogue Talents, using their Dark Templar level in place of their Soulknife level to meet prerequisites. A Dark Templar must take at least one Blade Skill or Rogue Talent to qualify for the Extra Blade Skill and Extra Rogue Talents feats respectively.

Dark Templar Rogue Talents: A Dark Templar may select the following Rogue Talents

Shadowblend (Ps): A Dark Templar may partially merge with the shadows, acting under the effect of a Blur Spell (though it is treated as psionic for all intents and purposes) for a number of minutes per day equal to their character level. These minutes do not need to be used all at once but must be used in one minute increments.

Shadowmeld (Ps): A Dark Templar may merge with the shadows to greater effect, becoming invisible for a number of minutes per day equal to their character level. These minutes do not need to be used all at once but must be used in one minute increments. A Dark Templar must have the Shadowblend Rogue Talent to select this talent.

Shadowblink (Ps): A Dark Templar can jump back and forth between the Material Plane and the Plane of Shadows. This functions as the Blink spell (except treated as psionic) using the Dark Templar’s class level as the caster level, with the following changes: See Invisible, True Seeing and similar effects do not help attackers strike the Dark Templar as they aren’t going to the Ethereal Plane; area effects that extend into the ethereal plane only do half damage; the Dark Templar takes full damage from falling; attacks against any creatures are treated as though they are being flanked; Spells and Psionic Powers that draw on the plane of Shadow (like Shadow Evocation) are treated as 20% more real for the Dark Templar and they take a -2 to all saves to disbelieve them.
Advanced Rogue Talents: A Dark Templar may select the following Advanced Rogue Talents.

Greater Shadowmeld (Ps): A Dark Templar may perfectly merge with the shadows gaining the effect of Greater Invisibility for a number of rounds per day equal to their character level. These rounds do not need to be used all at once but must be used in one minute increments. A Dark Templar must have the Shadowmeld Rogue Talent to select this talent.
Shadowstep (Ps): A Dark Templar may use Dimension Door a number of times per day equal to 3+ their Wisdom Modifier (minimum 1), except it interacts with the Plane of Shadow instead of the Astral Plane and so does not work where the Plane of Shadows does not exist but can work inside the area effect of a Dimensional Lock and similar effects that cut off access to the Astral Plane.

This is something I thought up today and typed out in a frenzy to see how it worked on paper. I was going for an approach that felt less gamey but let me know what you all think.

The campaign uses Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained and magic items are very rare.

With the exception of Potions, Scrolls, Wands and consumable wondrous items, magic items are and very difficult to craft without the right components. Magic items in treasure troves that only have incremental bonuses (+1-5 weapons and armor, rings of protection, cloaks of resistance, amulets of natural armor, bracers of armor, ability boosting belts and headbands) provide crafting components for their item type equal to their original sell value which can be stockpiled or sold for that value. Stockpiled components can only be used to craft items of that type; for wondrous items the components can be applied to any wondrous items as some item slots lack incremental bonus items. Exception: Some high level bonus items that have incremental bonuses to AC, such as the Robe of The Archmagi or Gunman’s Duster, still provide their AC bonus to armor and may be selected for Armor attunement in place of normal armor.

Magic items with non-incremental bonuses are still looted as normal but their values are doubled. Magic weapon and armor enchantments have their GP or bonus value doubled (example: flaming has a +2 value instead of +1) to determine their price and the maximum bonus a weapon can have. To craft an item without an incremental bonus the crafter needs both the total value in crafting components and a catalyst item that contains the specific enchantment; the item needed for each enchantment is usually a gem or part of a monster that makes logical sense. For example: dragon scales can be used as a catalyst to create armor or rings that resist the dragon’s element or the core of a greater or elder elemental can be used to create a weapon with an elemental attack or burst quality respectively that matches the elemental’s subtype or provides a similar bonus. In the case of dragons, the scales used as the catalyst do not take away from the ability to create a suit of armor from those and shield of the right size. Masterwork Weapons still provide a +1 to attack which stacks with automatic progression and Masterwork Armor still reduces armor check penalty by 1.

The player’s inherent bonuses to attack attunement do not allow the automatic bypass of DR types. Instead the players will need weapons of the right material or enchantment to bypass those types. Any magic enchantment on a weapon will bypass DR/magic, material types are needed to bypass DR/Cold Iron, Silver or Adamantine (or other exotic materials), and weapons or spells with the correct alignment enchantment are needed to bypass DR/Alignment; other types of DR such as DR/slashing, piercing or bludgeoning remain the same. DR/Epic can be bypassed only by specific weapon enchantments, spells, or special abilities usually granted to mythic characters. Monsters with DR retain their ability to bypass DR of that type and they retain weapons increment bonuses, which in this case as treated as a natural ability of the monster with the magic item components being part of their bodies; humanoids with incremental items will be treated as though they are part of their own inherent bonus progression and will carry crafting components equal to the value of their inherent equipment (assumed that they harvested from other monsters for selling or crafting).

Crafting time for non-consumable magic items is greatly reduced if the crafter has all the material components plus the necessary catalyst: 1 day per 100,000gp value with a maximum of one item per day. However, if the crafter does not have the required components at the time they wish to start crafting then the crafting time becomes 1 day per 1,000gp with the time spent searching for and buying the materials and catalyst for crafting. The Base Limit of the settlement is the maximum cost of a single catalyst that may be purchased in the particular settlement and the Purchase Limit is the maximum value of crafting materials that can be purchased for a single magic item. The available magic items in a settlement are instead a list of catalysts available for a specific magic item regardless of purchase limit and base value and are rolled as normal (rerolling any rolls that result in an incremental item, reducing the value class of the item if needed). The Rogue’s Black Market talent increases these values as normal but any items purchased above the settlement’s normal purchase limits and item availability cost 50% more (though this does not increase crafting time).

Non-consumable magic items price doubles (increment bonus is not subtracted from cost) and the price of catalysts are equal to half the normal base crafting cost of the magic item (1/4 of the item’s complete crafting cost). Magic armor, shield and weapon catalysts only account for the value of their original value (example: flaming in this system is a +2 value which is worth a 4000 crafting value but a +1 in normal pathfinder which is a 1000gp crafting value, so 1000gp is subtracted from the cost to craft to get the cost of the raw materials). Magic items are rarely sold as the prestige of owning or crafting a magic item is worth more to most people than the gold they would earn for selling them, however in the rare opportunity that magic items can be bought they will sell for their normal price from those who are desperate for money, or double price for those who can get away with it (people who crafted them or rich jerks and so on).

Spellcraft may not be used to craft non-consumable magic items, instead the appropriate craft or profession check must be used (as listed on the magic item creation guide). The feat “Master Craftsman” affects all craft and profession skills with at least 5 ranks and they may be used to craft the items they are related to. Due to the use of catalysts, spells are not needed to create these magic items but all craft DCs are increased by 5.

Extra note: increase craft DCs to increase the skill needed to create magic items and add to their appeal and rarity?

Mundane, Masterwork, Alchemy, potion, scroll, wand and consumable wondrous item crafting is the same as in normal pathfinder including the casting of spells into objects; spellcraft may be used to craft all consumable magical items. Spellbooks for casters that use them functions normally as their creation is part of the caster’s training.

Artifacts break two of these rules. First, artifacts that provide increment bonuses still do so and they stack with the increment bonuses from automatic bonus progression; these bonuses are treated as the same type as the bonus they stack with for the purposes of how they interact with conditional modifiers such as touch or flat-footed AC. Second, artifact weapons bypass DR with the increment bonuses just like in normal pathfinder and if their combined base plus special ability enchantment is +6 or more they will bypass DR/Epic.

The purpose of these rules is for the following five reasons:

1: To reduce the “magic item Christmas tree” effect for where every slot is filled with the best possible magic item at a given time.

2: To increase the value of magic items both in universe and to the players, so finding or crafting magic items is a big event and not just another signpost at the side of the road.

3: To encourage players to use more interesting magic items instead of the standard incremental bonus items, as those bonuses are gained from levelling up.

4: To increase the usefulness of specific magic weapons, armor and shields. Examples: Folding armor allows the wearer to pack up their armor Iron Man style but is only a +1 Full plate, flame tongue is a flaming burst weapon that can shoot a fiery ray once per day but is only +1, with this system the player’s attunement bonus will encourage them to use unique magic items they loot or craft themselves instead of just taking raw number enchantment value with no special powers.

5: to make Artifacts even more special since they can stack with other bonuses and will be seen as useful by PCs regardless of their power. For example: I wanted to give Vesper’s rapier to one of my players a while ago, but he dismissed it entirely because the base enchantment was only +3 compared to his +10 total kukri.

please give constructive criticism and suggestions.

Being an avid RPG player I run into the "Linear Warriors Quadratic Wizards" complaint a lot, that warrior classes are useless at higher levels. After reading Order of the Stick I started to wonder just how enraging it would be for people in a world where spellcasters acted the same way some players do and wondered what might result from that. Then I was playing Diablo 2 and ran across the "Blood Mana Curse" which makes players spend their HP instead of Mana for spells, and this idea came about.

The backstory of this world is that the warriors and their gods god tired of spellcasters and their gods always lording their superiority over them and used the power of prayer to add a fundamental new law to reality, a law that causes all spells and spell-like-abilities to extract a cost in blood from their casters.

In this world, every time a spell or SLA is used the user takes lethal HP damage equal to the cast spells level (metamagic feats increase this cost up to the adjusted spell level). This damage cannot be negated or reduced in any way though it can be healed after it has been taken and it can kill a caster who uses a spell though the spell will still trigger before the caster dies or falls unconscious.

The Damage cannot be reduced by DR or SR or any other damage reducing effects, the caster must pay the HP cost each time they cast a spell or use an SLA.

Cantrips, Orisons, Knacks and other level-0 spells inflict no damage but still cause pain to the caster.

The pain caused may force a concentration check on the caster every time they use a spell

Yes even Kineticist's wild talents will inflict lethal damage in addition to the burn cost and nonlethal damage.

Supernatural Abilities are not affected so Lay on Hands and Channel Energy can still be used.

What does everyone think of this idea? What kinds of new feats and classes might come from a world where this was a fundamental law of the universe?

Yes I know this is a straight up nerf to all spellcasters as a punishment for "hubris" as it were but I wanted to see what people thought of this.

I Was reading through Akashic Mysteries the other day when I was struck by this thought: is the Occultist, from Occult Adventures, supposed to be Pathfinder's version of the 3.5 Incarnum system, at least mechanics wise. People compare the Kineticist to Benders all the time even though it's more like the old 3.5 Warlock in terms of game mechanics.

The Occultist has a resource of magical energy that they infuse into various items that grant passive and active bonuses, this sound a lot like incarnum except for the items being physical objects instead of magical constructs. Am I talking out of my ass here or is there a connection to be made?

Here's a question that's going to come up soon in my campaign. We're playing reign of winter where about 90% of the enemies are vulnerable to fire and last session when we leveled our spellcaster picked up Empower Spell.

So my question is what happens when an empowered fire spell hits a target weak to fire how is the damage calculated, is it just doubled (adding the two 50% boosts together) or do you multiply the total damage after empower by 50%?

Hello

I'm a GM and I'm working on a level 20 magus boss for a campaign. I want to give her spell perfection but I Don't know which spell and metamagic feat I should choose.

I've been wracking my brain but I have other aspects to work on so I'm looking for advice on how to make this boss challenging.

I was browsing ultimate equipment looking for water-breathing magic items for our campaign and I stumbled across the Slippers of the Triton, and their insane price of 56,000gp

This has to be a mistake right? I'm asking because there are other magic items that provide faster swim speeds and/or have other benefits like not taking up an item slot (pearl of the sirines, twice the speed, no item slot, almost 1/4 the cost) or giving an extra means of attack (cloak of the manta ray, twice the speed, tail natural attack almost 1/8th the price)

Why are the slippers of the triton so overpriced for water-breathing and swim speed? Especially if they give less than other swim items, the only real unique thing they have is to give creatures with a swim speed +10 movement in water which isn't really anything to write home about, and the closest comparison the Boots of Striding and Springing only cost 5,500gp

This has got to be a misprint, like there was one too many zeros added and no one caught it. I think a price of 5,600gp is a more balanced price for the Slippers of the Triton considering, again, that there are other items that provide better swim speed, waterbreathing and often more benefits for a lower price.

I was going over my old Rifts books trying to figure out how to explain it to my group in a way that won't require a lot of notes to be taken. While this wasn't completel doable I started hammering out a system for miniature based combat in Rifts to smooth out some of the issues the combat system has and to allow the use of miniatures. It's still a rough draft and I don't expect anyone to like this but I thought I should post it to see what everyone's opinion was so I can refine it for when I finally do make a campaign for it.

Also there is no room for "Rift's sucks!" or other such comments, I don't care what you think of the Rifts RPG in general, I know it's a headache to get working has tons of power creep, really uneve classes, and has tons of issues from both the creator and the system itself, but I'm here looking for opinions on my system for tabletop miniature combat, not the RPG it's being made for.

Size
Most humans, D-Bees and RCCs are medium size. Due to lack of size bonuses/penalties the small size does not exist.
Power Armor is Large
Giant Robots are at least Huge
Dragon Hatchlings are Large by default but may adjust their size up to Huge or down to medium for half their total melee actions rounded up (if you have three you use one). After 2d4 in game weeks default size goes up to huge and maximum goes up to gargantuan.

Movement
Speed x 5 = yards per round
Speed x 15 = feet per round
Speed x 3 = squares per round
Speed = squares of movement per action
Maximum of three moves per melee
Diagonal movement 1.5 squares per move (1 then 2, 1 then 2 and so on)

Combat
Initiative: Rolled once (not per melee), creatures using sneak attacks or long range weapons get a +10 on Initiative rolls
Melee Attack Rolls 1-4 miss, 5-20 hit (apply modifiers)
1 on a d20 is an automatic miss
20 is an automatic hit and allows for a critical threat (reroll attack to determine critical damage)
All critical threats require confirmation roll with the same rules for hitting and dodging
Defender may dodge (using an action) or parry automatically in melee if their weapon is appropriate; if their defense roll is higher than the attack roll it misses.
20 on a defense automatically avoids
If both the attack and dodge are natural 20s then neither is a critical and the dodge is calculated normally (add modifiers and compare) but the critical threat is neutralized
Failed dodges or parries may attempt to roll with a punch from blunt or unarmed attacks to reduce damage by half (same rules as dodging or parrying but bonuses are different)
Characters are able to avoid all attacks, no line of vision is checked
If flanked, a PC must choose one of the flankers for parries and dodges each round and the other cannot be avoided unless the OCC or RCC allows it (such as the Juicer)
Appropriate Parries: unarmed combat where the defender is equal or greater than the defender (SDC defends against SDC, MDC defends against SDC and MDC, SDC cannot defend against MDC), SDC melee weapons and shields against SDC melee weapons, MDC melee weapons and shields against MDC melee weapons, SDC melee weapons and shields cannot defend against MDC melee weapons (Psi-swords and Psi-shields count as MDC melee weapons for the purposes of parrying), and MDC materiel shields can parry ranged attacks but the shield takes damage when doing so.

Ranged attack rolls 1-7 miss, 8-20 hit. Rules for critical hits and dodges apply as normal
Dodging ranged attacks is at -5 if attacker is 15-50 feet away (3-10 squares), -10 if less than 10 feet away (0-2 squares between attacker and defender)
Normal attacks take 1 attack action
Burst attacks take 1 attack action W.P. bonuses reduced by half (round down ie +3 becomes +1); if not proficient at -3 to hit
Aimed attacks take 2 attack actions and have +2 to hit
Called attacks may target specific body parts and takes 2 attack actions; a target’s head, giant robot’s eye or any other small and hard to hit target is made at a -4 to hit
A called attack may be made as an aimed attack for three attack actions with a+@ to hit (stacks with called shot penalties against small targets)
Rapid-Fire pulses take one attack action but aimed and called shots reduce all bonuses (from WP or aimed) by half rounded down
Shooting a moving target is -1 plus an extra -1 for each 50 mph (80 kph) of the target’s speed
Shooting Blind (without looking) -10 to hit
Shooting wild is -6 to hit. Shooting wild occurs in the following scenarios: character is emotionally distressed (scared, enraged, distressed, Crazy Frenzy), drunk, shooting from a moving vehicle, shooting during movement, or while hanging upside down
Shooting up to 30% beyond normal range is -5 to hit

Attacking with two one-handed weapons (melee or ranged) and WP Paired Weapons counts as one attack but cannot used the aimed attack action with ranged weapons. Characters without WP paired weapons can only make one attack at a time even if dual wielding.

Cover, Concealment and spotting
Medium and smaller characters out of power armor are assumed to be crouching behind chest high or higher cover when not attacking, provides improved cover (-8 to enemy attacks) at the start of combat; if a character attacks or spots during a round they only have normal cover (-4 to attacks) for the rest of the round. If a character does not attack or fires blindly (-10 to hit) they have total cover (cannot be directly targeted) except for their weapons (called shots at -4).

Spotting ally reduces blind firing penalty by half (-5)

SDC cover provides total concealment from MDC ranged attacks if aimed at the right square instead of trying to overcome cover (50% miss chance). MDC cover cannot be shot through and must be destroyed. SDC cover takes 1/10th the damage from non-plasma, non-explosive weapons (10 per point of MDC, SDC damage below 10 does nothing).

Typical cover has 100 SDC per square or 100 MDC per square, half a square has half the SDC or MDC

I'd like to hear your opinions on this system I've hashed out over the course of a couple days

I'm looking for advice to create an level 30 lich necromancer for an epic campaign I plan on running to act as one of the high end bosses for the end of a storyline in the campaign. For anyone who knows what I'm talking about this character is supposed to be Mol-Tet from the Tome of Artifacts from 3.5 DnD who was human but was killed when one of his undead army creating artifacts turned on him with the idea that he found a way to become a lich after death.

After looking around at "best class for necromancer" I'm still unsure how to go about this, so far my outline for the character is a Wizard (Necromancer)10/Cleric 10/Mystic Thuerge 10 with the Mythic Lich template but I'm looking for more suggestions, both in terms of base and prestige class choices, as well as feats that might be useful.

One thing of note here is that this character, Mol-Tet, does possess a minor artifact that allows them to control any number of undead, essentially removing the need for feats and class features that increase the number of HD of undead that can be controlled at any given time.

I've been debating with one of my players, who's playing a gunslinger, for some time now about how double barreled pistols, and double barreled muskets by assocation, work since the wordings are confusing on both and consulting the "Surpassing even the boss" guide to gunslingers has only confused me more.

Is shooting both barrels of the double barreled pistol or the double barreled musket a standard action or is it an "attack" and therefore allowed to be used mutiple times in a full round attack if the gunslinger can reload as a free action (with rapid reload and alchemical cartridges), letting you shoot a total of eight bullets, four pairs of two, once you have four attacks per round?

Please I don't want a debate started or an argument, I'm hoping a Paizo admin will answer me and provide the solid rule on this before my player reaches level 6 and this becomes a serious debate at the table. I've looked everywhere and people argue and disagree about this so much that I can't figure out the answer.

I recently watched the movie "equilibrium" and looked at the gunslinger class, both official material and guides or suggestions for builds. One thing I noted was that many people consider "Deft Shootist" to be a useless feat since it requires the Dodge and Mobility feats which are considered worthless feats sinks. I'm not sure if I agree with that but it got me thinking if there was a way to make a a Deft Shootist feat that worked without needing a "Feat chain" as it were instead needing higher base stat requirements, so I decided to see how this feat worked out.

Gun Kata (combat)
You have mastered the use of firearms in close quarters combat and know how to avoid attacks of oppotunity.
Prerequisites: Dex 19, Wis 15 (or 17?), Acrobatics 10 ranks, Grit Class Feature or Amatuer Gunslinger feat
Benefit: When wearing light or no armor and using a firearm that you are proficient with you may make an acrobatics check to avoid attacks of opportunity from foes that theaten you (your square? Still not sure how to word this) when attacking with firearms. The DC of this check is your opponents CMD (or opposed by their attack roll to avoid attack of opportunity, which is a better option?) . This check must be made individually for each foe that threatens you if they have the ability to make an attack of opportunity.
Normal: Making any ranged attacks in a threatened square provokes attacks of opportunity.

Any thoughts on this. I decided on the Acrobatics requirement so this feat is a high level thing and can even be a captone ability if they can somehow get a feat at 10th level. The stat requirement mostly so it's not too easy to attain for every player and may require either a very specific race choice, wish spells, stats tomes, and/or very specific allocation of 4th level stat increases.

I'm still not sure if the attacks should be prevented like acrobatics to leave threatened squares or be used in place of AC to avoid actual attacks of opportunity.

Also an idea for Improved Gun Kata

Improved Gun Kata (combat)
Prerequisites: Gun Kata, Dex 21, Wis 17, Acrobatics 15 ranks, Grit Class Feature or Amatuer Gunslinger feat
Benefit: You no longer provoke attacks of oppotunity for reloading weapons that you qualify for the use of Gun Kata with.
Normal: Reloading a firearm provokes an attack of opportinuty

Another option is to make this a grit feat with the added line of "as long as you have at least one grit point" but not to make it a spend grit spend feat

Before anyone asks, I searched for other attempts at homebrewing this race but didn't find any that I thought worked, so for better or for worse here are my concepts for the Protoss from Starcraft as a race in Pathfinder

Protoss
The Protoss are a race of psionic creatures crafted by the “Xel-naga” a progenitor race that endowed them with so Called Purity of Form. Tall and imposing, all Protoss are psionically gifted and until recently they all explored such paths until the splitting of their race and contact with other races caused some of them to expand their views.
The Protoss today are split into two distinct racial divisions, the Light Templar and the Dark Templar. Those of either race who can master the other’s power in addition to their own are known as Ascended Templar but such individuals are exceedingly rare.
The Protoss often begin their lives as Soulknives, which they refer to as Zealots, while the most adept of them become either Psions or Psychic Warriors, Often referred to as High Templar and Dark Templar respectively. All Protoss see the surges of Wilders too risky to pursue.

Racial Traits
Size: Medium
Base Land Speed: 30’
Mind Resistance: All protoss have +2 to all saves vs mind affecting abilities
Naturally Psionic: All Protoss gain the Wild Talent Feat for free at first level, if the protoss is of a psionic class they instead gain Psionic Talent for free at 1st level.
Ability modifiers:
Light Templar: Str +2, Con +2, Dex -2, Int +2, Cha -2. Light Templar are strong, resilient and fast learners but their bulky size and armor typically slows them down. Additionally, Protoss are both unappealing to outsiders and standoffish when dealing with non-Protoss.
Dark Templar: Str +2, Con -2, Dex +2, Wis +2, Cha -2. Dark Templar are strong and more agile but being disconnected from the psychic link they originally had and living in the shadows has made them more frail. They are wiser than light Templar but slower to approach things. Their aloofness makes it hard for them to relate to other races.
Ascended Templar: Str +2, Con +2, Dex +2, Int +2, Wis +2. Ascended Templar take the benefits of both races and at the same time learn to relate to others at a much better pace. One cannot simply start their adventuring career as an Ascended, they must journey and learn to wield the powers of both the Khala (light) and Void (dark) before they can become ascended. (a DM defined quest is needed but typically the quest involves spending time with high ranking members of both castes and learning their ways, usually one born to one caste spending an extended time with another.)
Meditation: Protoss do not sleep but instead enter a meditative trance for 4 hours per day where they focus and perfect their psychic abilities. (same as elf)
Telepathy: Protoss may communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language within 100 feet and any Protoss within 1 mile. A Protoss may shield their mind as a free action to prevent any Protoss within range from detecting their presence or speaking to them but they regain contact once in visual range. When communicating with non-Protoss the communication is one-way; Protoss cannot read minds without additional psionic training.
Nourishment and spellcasting: Having developed as a race of psionics the Protoss have no mouths and as a result they cannot communicate vocally nor do they consume food the way other races do. A Protoss subsists off of sunlight and moisture in the air; if they are trapped in an area that lacks one or the other they must consume 1 of their power points per day to stay nourished. Though doing so makes them uncomfortable they suffer no penalty unless cut off from both sunlight and water for more than a day at which point they begin starving as normal (their inborn psionic abilities can only help them so far). Dark Templar do not need sunlight but still must absorb moisture for nourishment and suffer starvation if deprived of water (Protoss carry waterskins to keep themselves hydrated which they do by pouring the liquid over their heads to absorb). Protoss may consume potions and elixirs but doing so requires a full round action to forcefully absorb the effect through their skin. Protoss are still susceptible to inhaled poisons but may hold their “breath” the same way a normal humanoid race does. Because they cannot speak Protoss have difficulty with non-psionic spellcasting, however they may take the “Psivocal speech” feat in order to project their words from their mind if they take a spellcasting class.
Powerful build: The physical stature of protoss lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever a protoss is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the protoss is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A protoss is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A protoss can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
Psionic Shield: All protoss are trained from childhood to protect themselves by using their innate psionic energy to create a shield surrounding them that protects them from harm. By spending a minute in meditation, a protoss may spend 1 or more power points top surround themselves with a transparent field of protective energy that grants them 3 temperary hit points per psionic power point spent. A protoss may only spend as many power points on this ability as they have hit dice (alternate: A protoss may never have more temporary hit points than they have natural hit points).
Psionically Gifted: When a Protoss gains a level in a psionic favored class they may instead gain 1 power point instead of any other bonus for gaining a level in a favored class.
Starting Langauges: Common and Protoss (any suggestions for bonus langauges?). The Protoss language is a language created purely in thought and text; the actual sounds are nearly impossible for a non-psionic race to pronounce. Any attempt to speak the protoss language aloud only has a 25% chance of success and even then the vocalization sounds primitive and clunky.

Racial Feat
Psivocal Speech
Prerequisite: Protoss Race (or psionic race without a mouth)
Effect: This feat allows a protoss to use their inborn psionic powers to project their thoughts into sounds allowing them to speak common (or any non-protoss language) aloud via psychic projection, though the sound of their “speech” is still full of echoes. Protoss take this feat is they become arcane or divine spellcasters in order to cast spell with verbal components or if they spend their time around races that find any form of telepathy invasive.

I also have plans for a racial archetype of the Soulknive called the Zealot the main feature of which is the ability to trade levels in for levels of Psion or Psychic warrior starting at a certain level, among other abilities.

Also note that I chose not to divide up the race into the other castes from the games (Templar, Khalai, Judicator) or even by tribe (Ara, Shelak, Auriga, Furinax and so on) because I'm trying to represent the Protoss not as a sci-fi starfaring race but as a fantasy race in a psionic campaign setting.

I don't have a question about the rules surrounding it's usage as pertains to how each class can use it, I have house rules for that. What I want to ask is, similar to fighter weapon groups, what each craft or profession sub-skill allows you to create using Craft Wondrous item.

Obviously (Weapon) (Armor) and (Bows) let you make weapons/bolts, armor/shields, and bows/arrows but the other ones are a bit less clear, unless they open up all the possible crafting skills, which I assume they don't.

I'm sorry if this has come up before but a quick search yielded no results so here are my tentative ideas for which craft skill allows which item. I've chosen to leave out Profession because the way I see it a master craftsman works (in lore) by weaving the natural magic that suffuses the air in a fantasy setting into the items the create as they make them, something a Craft skill would be needed for to make the fine adjustments but not a Profession skill, just my personal opinion.

Master Craftman Wondrous Item sub-skill groups

Alchemy: Any non potion liquid, such as elixirs

Armor: All armor and shields but also Helmets, Bracers, gauntlets and greaves (armored boots)

Baskets: nothing I can think of

Books: Blessed book, Attribute boosting books, other books and tome related items, no Golem Manuals as they require spell trigger and completion to use

Bows: All bows and arrows

Calligraphy: nothing, as scrolls can't be created and books are more about the binding than the writing

Carpentry: Druid wooden armor with the ironwood spell, maybe? can't think of many wood based wondrous items off the top of my head

Cloth: cloaks, bags of holding, veils (if that's an item), portable hole, carpet of flying

Clothing: Shirts, vests, gloves, hats, belts, bracers (or would those be armor?), headbands, cloaks (I'm pretty sure a skilled tailor could make cloaks), robes

Glass: Goggles, lenses, glasses, bottles of air, endless water, smoking and so on

Jewelry: Amulets, necklaces, chokers, crowns (headgear that is mroe jewelry than clothing), bracelets, earrings (if those are an item)

Leather: belts, handy haversack, bags of holding (IMO this is for simple leather items that don't need to conform to a specific body's shape, so no gloves or boots or other clothing)

locks: Magical locks and keys (since keys are created with locks)

paintings: magical paintings such as Animated Portrait

Pottery: Magical bowls such as "Bowl of Conjuring Water Elementals" or other such things

Sculptures: Figurines of wondrous power and similar small or large statuettes

Ships: Folding boats, Apparatus of the crab (maybe?), other seafaring style items

Shoes: Boots and shoes

Stonemasonry: Not sure here, can't do Golems cause that's a bit much, maybe magically enhanced walls?

Traps: can't do magical traps because they require spell trigger or completion

Weapons: All weapons except bows and arrows

That's my tentative list of craft Sub-skills and what magic items that Master Craftsman lets you make. Any comments or suggestions on these, just taking the list from the Core Rulebook and the different sub-skills suggested under Craft.