Da G8keepah's page

You misunderstood Komoda's scenario.

Apologies. In this fairly unlikely scenario, I would say that yes, the extra AoOs are lost. You had to use one in order that the next one would be triggered.

Except both readied actions and AoO's clearly state they happen BEFORE the triggering action.

No, the rules clearly state that both of those actions resolve before the triggering action. If the triggering action doesn't happen then the AoO or Readied Action couldn't trigger. Imagine a fight where your opponent tries to disarm you. He strikes at your sword arm, attempting to knock your weapon from your hand but leaves himself vulnerable (no special training to disarm; i.e. no Imp Disarm feat). You quickly strike at him, attempting to kill him before he can knock your weapon away. Whether you succeed or not, he has still extended himself in that way to allow himself to become open to attack. The thought of disarming you is not what left him open, the attempt did.

In a AoO chain where each side gets 3 AoO attacks (6 total provocations) if the first hit kills, does the living person lose their other two AoOs for the round? Must they follow through with whatever they said they were going to do? What if it uses charges, are they lost?

In this case, the second and third AoOs would never be triggered in the first place. Say you have Combat Reflexes and your opponent has 3 attacks per round. Your opponent wants to attempt to sunder your shield, disarm your sword and then trip you (again, assuming none of the Improved feats for these maneuvers). He takes his first attack to sunder your shield, triggering an AoO. Your AoO hits and does enough damage to reduce him below 0hp. He immediately falls unconscious and gets no chance to perform his other attacks. If you don't take the opportunity to use your AoO before he attempts to disarm you, then you have lost your chance to use it in response to the sunder.

I'm going to have to argue on the side that says if you trigger an AoO or Readied Action, you are committed to that action.

An attack of opportunity "interrupts" the normal flow of actions in the round. If an attack of opportunity is provoked, immediately resolve the attack of opportunity, then continue with the next character's turn (or complete the current turn, if the attack of opportunity was provoked in the midst of a character's turn).

Note that the quoted rules text states that the AoO is "resolved" before the action that triggered them. Not that the AoO "happens" before the action that triggered them. The triggering action still occurs, but the AoO might prevent it from being completed.

Note that if your trigger is "if any enemy approaches to within melee range of me," and the enemy uses his full movement to get there, you could take the 5-foot step and prevent him from using his standard action to attack you at all. Or if he has not used all of his movement, you can 5-foot step back then cast Grease and hopefully make the enemy drop his weapon or slip and fall before he is able to finish closing with you.

The last thing I had them do straight out of the AP was talk to Shalelu, the elven ranger. The day before, we did the boar hunt and the encounter with Lonjiku in the Rusty Dragon so I only had the one encounter left and decided to do it in the morning. The plan was to introduce the halfling maid with the letter from Tsuto the next morning but the PCs figured that since they had a few hours (of in-game time) to kill, rather than "fade to black" and start the next day, they would spend some time roleplaying and exploring the town some more.
I really don't think it's an issue with boredom as the players made it clear they were enjoying themselves and Sandpoint up to this point. I've given them a few chances to hand-wave the passage of time but they all seem to prefer playing out every waking hour as much as possible. I don't want to force them to rush past this point as it is important to the story that they start to see Sandpoint as home and as a real living town.
I've been playing Ven as a real ass. Ven was immediately belligerent when the PCs arrived at his shop. He was the first to threaten violence but the PCs refused to back down and things escalated. The barbarian was attacked by Ven two or three times before he even drew his weapon. He swung once, connected, and then immediately left.
It would be fair to say that the guards are keeping an eye on this conflict but haven't found enough reason to arrest any PCs yet. I will probably say that the guard who spoke to them noticed they were headed in the direction of Ven's store and so gathers a few more guards in order to intercept them.
Also, yes, I have made it clear that they are suffering penalties to their rolls for being drunk. I came up with a system off the top of my head. Fort save for each drink, save DC is dependent on the drink, +1 for each drink they have already had. Each failed save equates to -2 to all rolls as well as AC and CMD. 5 failed saves gets them blackout drunk and they lose control of their character until they sober up.

Her most important stats are Cha, Dex and Con in that order. Everything else is mostly unimportant. Human, half-orc, half-elf, halfling or gnome are all good choices because you get the +2 to Cha.

Summon Monster is a fairly useful battlefield control ability but it doesn't become especially useful until a few levels in when the monsters stay on the battlefield for a few rounds, and you can summon more powerful creatures. If she wants to focus on Summon Monster spells she should take Spell Focus (Conjuration) and Augment Summoning feats, but if that is going to be only a minor part of her battle plan then she might skip them for others. Preparing index cards with the monsters' stats are very useful for preventing the Summon Monster spells from slowing down the game.

Some good spells she might consider at level 1:
Protection from Evil. One of the best buff spells in the game at low level.

Grease. Very effective battlefield control for a level 1 spell. Also can be used to disarm a dangerous weapon-wielding opponent.

Mage Armor. An important defensive spell for the early levels.

Charm Person. A great spell if there is time for roleplay. If your entire focus is to kick in the door and kill the monsters she might skip this one.

Sleep. Probably the best battlefield control spell at level 1 or 2.

Magic Missile. Useful to know unless she takes a Bloodline that grants a ranged touch attack ability at level 1 like Elemental. Maybe useful later on, especially if you use incorporeal enemies. Pure blasting though. Doesn't sound like she would be interested in this.

Color Spray. Another excellent battlefield control spell for the early levels.

Silent Image. More powerful the more imaginative your wife is.

Enlarge Person. A great buff for any other member of the group.

There are other useful spells, but that should give you a good idea of what you have to work with. I also only looked at the Core Rulebook.

There isn't a lot to choose from when considering your buffing spells at level 1. Taking Protection from Evil and some debuff, probably Grease, Sleep or Color Spray is probably the most effective way to go.

The dexterity can come down a lot if she switches to a 2H build. If she insists on TWF, she should probably be willing to lower her Cha a bit for extra Str and/or Con.
With the way she is statted right now, the attribute increases at lvl 4 and 8 are poorly planned. It would take two increases to give a +1 modifier to any particular stat. She should stick with one ability (probably Str, even with TWF)

Mostly they are playing the heroes. They are getting along with most of the people in town and enjoy helping them out.
There is a homebrew alcoholic drink that is very potent that we like to incorporate into campaigns some times. One of the players asked about it a couple sessions ago and, before Ven was introduced, I decided that since the AP mentions him having a collection of rare alcohol that he would be the one to have it.
Now that the players are looking for it I decided to stick with my original decision. They are determined to get it and since things are so bad between them and Ven they assumed (rightly) that if he is unwilling to sell them basic supplies that he would be unwilling to share his private stock.

I already had a guard approach them on their way to the general store but gave only a small indication that he might know what they are up to. Hopefully they will remember this. Sheriff Hemlock is currently on his trip to Magnimar but I think having a few guards show up at Vinder's might be a good idea. I could maybe introduce a deputy or something similar.
Some of the players were a little drunk. They decided that since their characters were getting drunk that they should have a few drinks as well. Of course, the players will not still be drunk at the beginning of the next session so perhaps clearer heads will prevail.

My group is still fairly early in Burnt Offerings. They have not gone to the Glassworks yet and have not received the letter from Tsuto to Ameiko but all of the other parts of act 2 are complete (with a few other NPC interactions thrown in for good measure).
I had Shayliss approach the party ranger and he accompanied her back to the general store where they were found by Ven Vinder. Things didn't go so well for the ranger. His social skills are fairly lacking so I had Ven attack him. I rolled a natural 20 on Ven's first attack, confirmed the crit and did exactly enough damage to bring the ranger to 0 hit points.
A few days after this, the PCs were exploring Sandpoint and a few of them decided that they wanted to restore the ranger's honor (and they were upset about being barred from the general store for associating with him). Things went south pretty quickly there too. The barbarian and witch goaded Ven into another fight. The barb only hit Ven once, but he left a nasty wound before running out.
Later that night, the PCs decided to go bar hopping. They wanted to hit up each tavern/inn and now are fairly drunk. The session ended with them finding out that Ven has a stash of rare and exotic alcohol in his basement and now they are on their way to the general store, hoping to break in and steal some potent liquor.
What do you think would be a good way to handle this? I don't want to steer them around but I can think of several ways this could go poorly. First off, Ven is somewhat important to the beginning of chapter 2. They already have him pretty pissed off and if he catches them breaking into his store, he is even less likely to be helpful to them in the next chapter.
It seems very likely that they will be caught and probably arrested (at least if they don't kill the guards who try to). Overall, they have been doing a good job of ingratiating themselves with the townsfolk but breaking and entering could easily turn that around quickly.
Worst of all, they might kill Ven which could easily end with one or more PCs dead and the rest shipped off to Magnimar for trial.
How do you think I should play this? I don't want to just give them a free pass to break in and take whatever they want but I also don't want to see the campaign come to screeching halt.
TL;DR: Ven Vinder hates the party and they are about to make it worse by drunkenly breaking into his store. What should I do?

Thanks everyone for weighing in on this topic.
I think, however, that I did not get my issue across completely clearly. When I said that there will be some players who are sporadic, I meant that they will likely play at most 1 out of 3 sessions. The characters will be more guest stars than normal members of the group.
We will be playing Rise of the Runelords and it is entirely possible, for example, that one player will join us for the first half of Burnt Offerings and then not again until the latter half of the Hook Mount Massacre and then maybe somewhere in the middle of Sins of the Saviors and that's it.
They are players that I would like to include in the group (they are my friends, after all) but they just don't have the time to play all that often (graduate school, etc).
I don't want to penalize anyone for missing sessions. I just want to make sure that the core group doesn't suffer for the inclusion of the others.

I don't use XP. Everybody levels up at the same time.

I don't know your players, but treasure is never an issue 'cause everything goes to the person who can make the best use of it.

My biggest problem with leveling everyone up at the same time is it somewhat diminishes the reward from leveling that the regular players have earned, whether we're using xp or just leveling at appropriate times.

My group is about to start an AP (as soon as everyone is back from vacation). There are four people who will be a part of the core group showing up to all or most of the sessions. There are also a couple people who are either new to the game and aren't sure if they want to play all the time or who have a lot of experience with it and enjoy it a lot but don't have the time to commit every week due to life.
My question is, how should I handle experience and treasure for these players?
I don't really want to end up in the situation where the sporadic players are taking an equal share of treasure and then bailing on the next few sessions, especially if they take some valuable magical loot. I considered increasing the gold (and platinum etc) found during the adventure but that is really not a significant portion of the wealth. But I don't want to increase the actual loot found because I don't want the regular players to take it all and have such a significant advantage.
I also don't want them to drag down the group, a level 3 with a few level 4s isn't going to make a huge difference but if the group is level 12 and the random player is level 7, the level 7 will be nearly useless. I thought maybe I could treat those players somewhat like cohorts, just keep them two levels below the main PCs, but I'm not too keen on just handing out experience so they can keep up.
Fellow GMs, what have you done in these situations?

Can barbarians with the Disruptive and Spellbreaker rage powers gain the Teleport Tactician feat?

Thanks for the answers everyone.
I suppose it's worth waiting until the PCs reach those parts of the AP before deciding but I think I'll probably go with keeping the numbers the same but just reducing the offhand to one attack only in the case of a full attack and adding +2 when they only make one attack.
It seems like the proper pronunciation is Kar-zoog (like soup). That sounds silly but at least it's easier to pronounce than Kar-zowg.

What level are they?

Teraktinus is a stone giant ranger level 2 (14 total hit dice)

I asked this question over on the Rise of the Runelords Forum but I thought I might get a quicker response here.

I recently picked up the Anniversary Edition and I have noticed something about the two-weapon fighting npcs in the book. They seem to be listed with too many attacks.
Vale Temros' Melee line says "+1 battleaxe +10/+5 (1d8+7/x3), +1 handaxe +10/+5 (1d6+5/x3)."
Teraktinus' Melee line reads "+1 dwarf bane heavy pick +20/+15/+10 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +1 light pick +20/+15/+10 (1d6+6/x4)."
This seems to indicate that Vale gets 4 attacks with a full-attack action while Teraktinus gets 6. Both characters have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat but not the Improved or Greater versions.
So should their full attack look like (in Teraktinus' case) +18/+13/+8 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +18 (1d6+6/x4)?

This next part isn't a rules question but I may as well ask you folks what you think, how do you pronounce the "ou" in Karzoug? Is it like in "about" or "soup" or "Doug"?

I recently picked up the Anniversary Edition and I have noticed something about the two-weapon fighting npcs in the book. They seem to be listed with too many attacks.
Vale Temros' Melee line says "+1 battleaxe +10/+5 (1d8+7/x3), +1 handaxe +10/+5 (1d6+5/x3)."
Teraktinus' Melee line reads "+1 dwarf bane heavy pick +20/+15/+10 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +1 light pick +20/+15/+10 (1d6+6/x4)."
This seems to indicate that Vale gets 4 attacks with a full-attack action while Teraktinus gets 6. Both characters have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat but not the Improved or Greater versions.
So should their full attack look like (in Teraktinus' case) +18/+13/+8 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +18 (1d6+6/x4)?

My other question is, how do you pronounce the "ou" in Karzoug? Is it like in "about" or "soup" or "Doug"?

Going to start DMing RotRL AE fairly soon, characters are already rolled. Not sure about names yet but we have:

Neutral Good Male Half-Elf Ranger (Skirmisher)
Chaotic Good Male Dwarf Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager)
Neutral Good Female Human Cavalier (Order of the Dragon)
True Neutral Undecided Gender Elf Witch

I'm hoping the relative lack of magic users doesn't hurt the party too much.

I am soon going to start DMing a new game and am wondering what the Paizo community feels is the best adventure path for our group. I've never run an AP. I prefer to homebrew my games but I no longer have to time to create them like I used to.
The group consists of a brand new player playing ranger, a semi-experienced player playing a druid and another very experienced player who is undecided but is leaning towards inquisitor. Possibly a fourth who is a new player but unconfirmed if he will join or not.
I'd like an AP that has a fair amount of RP based challenges to keep the experienced player interested. Also, seeing as there are two nature-themed characters in the group, I'd prefer an AP that allows them to play up that aspect of their characters, but this is not required.
What do you all think?

Since you said you are mobile with the "helicopter" apparatus, I would say you should have 1 point of Str and 1 point of Dex, which would be lost if the potato is ever separated from the helicopter.
Your Con would probably be a 10 at best. More realistically, it would be 1. A potato probably only has one hit point normally but considering that a dragon polymorphed into a squirrel keeps all of its HD an argument could be made that you would keep yours as well.
If you have the same mind I would think your Int would stay the same as your humanoid self.
I'm assuming that you can see and hear like a normal human (or whatever race your character was before potatoification) so your Wis would probably stay the same. It might be funny to say that you can't hear but you can see really well because of all of your "eyes." Maybe you are immune to being flanked.
Your Cha would also likely stay the same but unless this is a talking potato you wouldn't be able to make much use of charisma-based skills. Even if you can talk, I can't imagine a potato being very intimidating or persuasive.
A potato would have the plant subtype but perhaps your character should still be vulnerable to mind-affecting magic including those which specifically target humanoids (like Charm or Hold Person).

I am not sure if it is available in Pathfinder but there is an old-school spell called Zone of Sweet Air that clears out poison clouds etc (like Cloudkill spells). Make a homebrew version that also knocks the creature unconscious.

If a Bard is using an instrument, say a bagpipe with Perform(Wind) or a lute with Perform(Strings), are both of his hands occupied as long as he maintains the song?
Say the Bard is wielding a short sword and then decides to begin using Inspire Courage. Does he need to drop or sheathe his short sword, draw his bagpipe, and then keep both of his hands occupied with the instrument in order to maintain the song? Or can he use the Bardic Performance as long as he has the instrument on his person without needing to take actions to pull it out? Can he still cast spells with somatic components and wield the sword all while activating and maintaining the song?

These are all good ideas. Thanks a lot for your timely responses.

I am DMing a new game soon and am having some trouble figuring out the details of the first adventure. The overall story arc will involve an undead plague spreading and the PCs fighting off an undead army and eventually (around level 4 or 5) confronting and defeating the Cleric of Urgathoa who is responsible and curing the plague (or stopping it from spreading further at least).
My idea for the hook to the first adventure is that the PCs take a job from an eccentric alchemist NPC who wants them to track down the source of a strange blight that is afflicting the flora and fauna of the land in order to develop a cure. I don't want the players to know right away that this will necessarily lead to a longer story arc.
I had thought about sending them around the countryside to gather samples of blighted animals, plants, earth and water. However, that seems like an adventure that will be mainly comprised of random encounters out in the wilderness with no real "boss" encounter at the end. I would much rather send them into a dungeon with a somewhat linear focus, a clear goal at the end and a memorable encounter with some villain or monster.
I also don't want to use undead much at this stage of the game because that will be a large focus later on. I would like them to have some variety in creature types they face.
Do you have any tips on getting this story to work? Perhaps a way I can turn my "collecting samples" idea into a more cohesive adventure? Or perhaps a way to get them to a dungeon where they might find the source of the plague in the area without shutting it off completely. The ultimate source is the aforementioned cleric and I want the plague to spread and the situation to worsen as the story progresses.

You could always say it is the result of a Wish or Miracle spell as well. The possible effects of either of those spells are fairly open-ended and up for interpretation. Good thing you are the interpreter.
If you want to be able to open the rule book and point to a spell you could say that one or more Wish spells were cast with the effect that it would cast the Hedged Prison version of Binding upon any creature that enters the town. Although a town probably doesn't technically qualify as a "confined area."
Really, if you're worried about rules-lawyers, a GM created spell is probably the safest way to go. That way, the spell works exactly as you say it does. You could even write out a stat-block for the spell using the same format as the spells in the CRB with all of the effects written down ahead of time in case you want to show the players exactly what is preventing them from leaving town (although this is information that is unlikely to be discovered by the characters and is not terribly useful to the players).

As the GM, you don't need to pick a particular spell to affect the PCs. There are infinite numbers of potential spells that could have been researched by powerful wizards or whatever other reason you prefer. You can simply create some new epic level spell and define it as specifically or vaguely as the story requires. If you want the PCs to be trapped in a town you just have to tell them "a magical effect prevents you from leaving town and it can only be removed by doing X."

Thanks, that looks about right. I hadn't thought about spells like Grease as mentioned in the description for the Gloves of Dueling.

I want to give a high level Orc Barbarian npc a magic item I am calling "Gauntlets of Titan's Grip." Anyone who wears them will gain +4 to climb checks, +4 to CMB to start or maintain a grapple and +4 to CMD to resist being disarmed. In addition, if the wearer has 18 strength or better he can use weapons as if he were 1 size category larger. So he can use a Great Axe intended for an Ogre or can dual-wield normal Great Axes. How much should this item cost?

I have the Advanced Player's Guide but not the Advanced Race Guide.
I've never played a Cleric and I have never played with a point-buy system. All of my previous experiences have been homebrew, easy-going reasons to drink with friends while playing a game. We have always used a very generous rolling method that basically guarantees an 18 and no score lower than 10. So all of this is new to me.
I am not looking to be a melee juggernaut by any means. I mainly want to be there to hinder my foes and aid my allies with spells, but I have no desire to stand in the back with a sling or crossbow. I will likely go with a warhammer and buckler combo (assuming I can't cast while wielding a light or heavy shield and hammer because my hands are full). I figured I could go up to 14 strength at level 4 in order to boost my melee potential and then at level 8 and 12 increase my wisdom.
The Forgemaster archetype sounds interesting. I probably won't use Channel all that much during combat. As such, the stat array that Rory suggested sounds solid.
Improved Initiative is very tempting. The main reason I was considering Combat Casting was because I assumed I would usually be in melee when I needed to cast a spell. Is that not really viable? Should I focus on standing in the back, debuffing and buffing as necessary and mainly forget about being a secondary melee fighter?

I am creating a Cleric for PFS play and am trying to optimize the build. I have decided on Dwarf and will probably go with the Good and Travel domains. My goal is to create a primary buffer/debuffer with the ability to participate in melee.
PFS uses a 20 point buy and so my stats will be 16, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 10. The final stats after racial modifiers will probably be Str 13, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14. Or I will possibly switch the Wis and Cha so it will be Wis 18 and Cha 12.
I don't want to have lower than average Int because I don't want to roleplay a dumb character. And I don't want less than 10 in Dex because I don't want a penalty to my AC.
I will probably pick Combat Casting as my first level feat.
How does this all sound? Viable? Strong or weak? Is it worth giving up the one point of AC in order to have a higher stat elsewhere? Is it acceptable to have a 7 Int and still roleplay as a reasonably intelligent character (and give up the 1 skill point per level)?
Any advice on better feats, better stat distribution, better domains or any other kind of general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys, that gives me a lot of things to think about.

All of the class guides that I have read seem to agree that Obscuring Mist is a great spell. It is recommended very highly over most other spells.
I don't get it. It creates a cloud around you that is impossible to see through for everyone, including you. I can see it being situationally useful as a means to cover your escape or to prevent archers from turning you into a pin-cushion. However, you can't cast spells targeted at allies or enemies that you can't see and you can't direct your summoned creatures to attack specific targets.
So what gives? Am I missing something? Is there some amazing use for this spell to which I am blind?