a modification of a Glyph of Warding cast on a metal fixture what is then sold (in groups) thru your local "Magic Home Depot"...
"Fire Sprinkler" - When attached to a ceiling, and when a fire larger than a torch is in it's AOE, it triggers the Glyph which casts a Create Water at Caster Level 5 - delivering 10 gallons of water in "a downpour".
Or use a slightly higher level spell and have the Glyph trigger a Sleet Storm (40' radius, duration 1 rd/level) that extinguishes torches and small fires in the area.
Here is a story about a time I used a spell in an unexpected way... and a funny "you do what?" story at the same time...
Party is getting badly beat up in a deeper darkness and four of us are in a cluster. One PC down (neg HP) with a cleric over him, another PC in front and my Arcane Trickster beside... the 4th square of the box has a Bad Guy in it.
Me: "I yell 'Down Elevator!' and cast create pit under us"
Judge & Players: "You do... what?"
Me: "Cast create pit, centered here" pointing at the center of the group of figures. "40' deep".
My companions didn't even blink, trusting me. It's was great!
Me: "When we fall out of the darkness, I'll feather fall my friends and I, and watch the Bad Guy go on past." Roll dice. "He takes 17 HP from the fall".
thou it seems now that feather fall would require a Concentration check of 21 to work... something we missed at the time...
a modification of a Glyph of Warding cast on a metal fixture what is then sold (in groups) thru your local "Magic Home Depot"...
"Fire Sprinkler" - When attached to a ceiling, and when a fire larger than a torch is in it's AOE, it triggers the Glyph which casts a Create Water at Caster Level 5 - delivering 10 gallons of water in "a downpour".
Or use a slightly higher level spell and have the Glyph trigger a Sleet Storm (40' radius, duration 1 rd/level) that extinguishes torches and small fires in the area.
Mage Armor... early on, investing in a Pearl of Power "to double the duration"... Sometimes in a wand... I can remember spending several changes that time we encountered Shadows... it was nice to add 4 to the touch AC of the Full Plate Fighter
Note, the "free hand" requirement is not actually a requirement: "To cast a spell, you must be able to speak (if the spell has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any)." (emphasis mine) A cleric normally needs a "free hand" to hold/manipulate/gesture with a holy symbol/divine focus. A cleric wielding a sacred weapon can still cast while using a heavy shield, since the weapon counts as a holy symbol.
Somatic components require "measured and precise movement of the hand" (CRB Magic section). Do that while gripping a shield or a weapon.
The Somatic portion of a spell are described with the:
"Components: V, S, M/DF" (Bolding mine)
The "M/DF" defines the need for Material Components or a Divine Focus. When it appears, then the caster needs to manipulate either "Material Components" (and is an Arcane caster) or "Divine Focus" (Divine caster and it is normally a holy symbol). What Dragonchess was trying to say (I believe) is that a cleric wielding a sacred weapon has his Divine Focus in hand, and so doesn't need the "free hand" for the "M/DF" Component requirement.
Now, the "S" (bolded above) is another matter, the CRB does clearly state (pg. 213. paragraph 3, last line.) that "You must have at least one hand free to provide a Somatic Component."
I would normally assume that the SAME free hand can be used to do both the "S" component and the "M/DF" during the spell casting. Otherwise it would seem a caster would require TWO free hands when casting a spell with both "S" and "M/DF" components...
Your typical hamlet might have zero spell casters in it.
Even if there are no arcane casters I would guess the town church has at least one cleric in it
but... arcane casters can't use divine scrolls. And most divine casters actually don't get the feat Scribe Scroll, so ... I don't actually understand this comment.
I've now ran this three times (the Drow arc in high and low, and the evil seeks sacrifice in low tier). I have to say that I love the way this scenario gives the DM room to tailor it for the group - it gives so much flexibility and you can make it challenging for players who want a near-death experience, or funny&easy yet still exciting for newer/lower level players.
Some encounters, though, are clearly more dangerous than others. The dark stalker with it's deeper darkness at will can easily take on a whole team - it can dispel any daylights the party casts to keep the advantage of darkness. Nearly wiped out both of the low tier tables. I kinda want to see how 3 would fare against a high level party...
Dark Stalker question:
I don't have the scenario in front of me, but I have to ask - HOW is the Dark Stalker going to "dispel any daylights" the party casts? If it is using it's SLA, Deeper Darkness has a Range of Touch - so to use it to dispel a daylight a PC has on something, it would need to move next to the item with the daylight on it (which is likely carried by one of the PCs), cast deeper darkness (casting defensively? otherwise the PC gets an AOO) then touch the item with the spell on it (would that be a touch attack?).
In my area, many PCs have picked up a potion of unwelcome halo anyway - so casting deeper darkness will often only buy the Stalker a couple rounds of supernatural darkness before two or three of the neutral PCs spoil the fun.
Funny thing about disarming. I wouldn't mind a rule that if the GM gets a bare-bones statblock, he's allowed to give the NPC a backup dagger, holy symbol and spell component pouch. Because NPCs have a tendency to become really vulnerable to disarm/sunder, not because they're willfully stupid but because of overzealous word count.
Actually I am always amazed when someone says they are going to sunder my "spell component pouch"... I guess it is because I learned to run casters back before there were such things. I can remember playing games where us casters would gather our "material components" in the game and they actually mattered. (Yeah, back then for example Druids need Mistletoe, cut with a silver or golden sickle during the full moon - or could fall back to lesser things like Holly leaves, but their spells were less powerful then).
My casters make a point of pulling components for all the spells I prepared today OUT of the "pouch" and tucking them into folds/pockets/headbands/hat/etc. so that I would have them ready to cast with. Then I carry the Pouch out there on my belt hoping someone will waste a turn sundering it. "Oh deary me! You've sundered my POUCH?! Whatever will I DO?" 11 - 2 = 9 Bluff. What's their Sense Motive? 5 foot step back, pull the loadstone and a pick of dust from my watch pocket and shoot him with a disintigrate12 + 11 = 23 ranged touch to hit...
You just buy a second book for 15gp and scribe your new spells into it as normal.
Some Chronicles grant access to custom spellbooks, but in general they're not legal.
Well this was the spellbook of a NPC we managed to kill so I wanted to know if say I can buy the book and then use the spells or if that's not the case?
In PFS, you are (currently) only able to buy the Spellbook if it appears on the Chronicle - and as no Spellbooks actually (currently) appear on chronicles...
so you actually can't buy the captured Spellbook - it goes to the Lodge Archive to be filed I guess...
As long as you can succeed at the DC 15 + Spell level Spellcraft check, nothing prevents you from adding higher level spells than you can cast to your spellbook. It's all right there in the CRB.
well...the wizard would also need to pay the scribing cost. We missing anything else? Reading the Scroll maybe? OH! and it would need to be an Arcane spell (that was on the Wizard spell list), they wouldn't be able to scribe a 4th level Divine spell for example...
It certainly hits low level casters the hardest. DC21 is not a big deal at the higher levels, but it definitely makes tactical feather falling trickier. I'll be counting a readied feather fall as not requiring a concentration check when a party is attempting to make a controlled jump together.
but a "ready" action goes before the action that triggers it... so the "Ready" would trigger before the caster was falling - and thus would be wasted as the target is not actually falling (yet) - and wont be falling until AFTER the spell is cast (and thus after it has ended...).
Yeah, this entire problem is left over from transferring spells from one edition to the next with very little in the way of re-writing/editing.
Here is a story about a time I used a spell in an unexpected way... and a funny "you do what?" story at the same time...
Party is getting badly beat up in a deeper darkness and four of us are in a cluster. One PC down (neg HP) with a cleric over him, another PC in front and my Arcane Trickster beside... the 4th square of the box has a Bad Guy in it.
Me: "I yell 'Down Elevator!' and cast create pit under us"
Judge & Players: "You do... what?"
Me: "Cast create pit, centered here" pointing at the center of the group of figures. "40' deep".
My companions didn't even blink, trusting me. It's was great!
Me: "When we fall out of the darkness, I'll feather fall my friends and I, and watch the Bad Guy go on past." Roll dice. "He takes 17 HP from the fall".
thou it seems now that feather fall would require a Concentration check of 21 to work... something we missed at the time...
minor clarification to your last statement - "...you must be in the action of falling for the spell to work.". The target (or targets) actually has to be in the action of falling... the caster can be stationary (and not falling). In fact, it would then NOT require a Concentration check.
Create Water - useful for cleaning, and can expose some otherwise hard-to-find secrets entries/pits easily. Also useful for locating Invisible creatures (like packets of powder - YMMV), and putting fires out. Cast it a bunch and flood a room - but come back the next day and it's all gone!
Detect spells used thru doors and walls less than 1' thick stone. Does the room on the other side of the door contain undead/magic/evil/marmots (ok, maybe not marmots...)
Ray of Frost - Frosted mugs in the local tavern. Ice in your drink... Need to move something heavy? Splash water on the floor and zap! some into an Ice slide to make it easier to slide.
Disrupt Undead - Is that body across the way a undead creature? Pling it from here and see.
Prestidigitation - SO MANY USES! No one can ever call you, or your willing allies, dirty again. And, like many illusion spells, only limited by the user's imagination. Need to keep your friends from
spoilered:
reading EXPLOSIVE RUNES!!!
? Just soil them and relax. Unless your friends have a fetish about cleaning things....
A few more examples of spells used in non-standard ways:
spider climb... to ride on the bottom of a flying carpet, while someone else uses the top.
Vanish... to let your prone friend stand up and get away from the monster without suffering AOOs....
Light... used to signal timing on something. "Here's a light spell on a stone. Wait till it goes out, then..." and when you are ready for her to do "it", cast the light again, and the first one goes out.
Player: "I use Mage Hand to pick up the items on the table..."
GM: "You can lift everything except the dagger..."
Player: "Got a magic dagger here people..."
I'm Da Wander...the names a three piece joke, sort of a pun.
I "wonder" what wand I am going to use as I "wander" this country side... and I use a lot of wands - so I'm "a wonder" of "a wand-er" as I "wonder" (for a long time I tried to get one wand per adventure)...
Attacked by fighters. 5 ft step.. drop a horse on him.
Charged by am barbarian? Ready & block the charging lane with a horse.
Giant rocs? Feed em a horse.
Out of food? Roasted horseflesh.
Need some money? Sell em.
Need cover against arrows?
Oh. And I suppose you can always ride them.
while I agree with your statement of Wand of Mount being a great choice... I fear several of your suggestions will not (normally) work...
"Attacked by fighters. 5 ft step.. drop a horse on him." will not work - can't summon it in the air above him, can't summon it in the square with him, and can't summon it in the square between you (it's large). You COULD summon a Pony between you and the fighter - it's Medium sized and only takes one square.
"Charged ...? Ready & block the charging lane with a horse." this is cute and would work great... as long as the attacker actually does charge. But then a wand of Vanish would also stop the charge (as well as a number of other wands).
"Giant rocs? Feed em a horse." - summoned creatures (such as the mount) disappear when killed... so that is going to be a real upset Roc. Food snatched from it's mouth before it get's to swallow...
"Out of food? Roasted horseflesh." - see the notes on the Roc idea above... unless maybe we leave the horse mostly alive...? Nah - Flutter is going to call the Druids Local down on us if we continue that thought.
"Sell em." - be sure to save at least one to get out of town fast. Or invest in a good Disguise skill before you sell them...
The player makes the choices for all spells as normal.
So Yes, yes, no most likely.
what if they are under a Confusion effect? Does a Player get to make the choice ... if his PC is Confused and/or unconscious.
anyway - this thread really wasn't supposed to be about my question, just about how to find stuff in the FAQs... so thanks!
The player makes the choices for all spells as normal.
This thread really wasn't supposed to be about my FAQ, just about how to find stuff IN the FAQs... so thanks, but I'm not asking for a response to the FAQ, just how to find a response IN FAQ.
The answer is yes, due to the FAQ that an unconscious person can make a reflex save vs a pit or fireball. Showing that unconscious people make saves still.
but what about Cure spells? do they save vs. them as well?
If I have a Dhampir PC that is unconscious (and bleeding out), do I get a Will save vs. Positive channeling? or how about a Will save vs. the CLW spell the helpful guy uses to Stabilize me? Do I have to take one vs. the Inflict spell the other guy uses to Stabilize me?
I want to check the FAQs to see if a rules question already has an answer... but I am totally lost as to how to look it up.
can someone give me a set of step-by-step instructions to find something in FAQ?
My question (FAQ) would be: Does an unconscious creature get a Will saving throw? Say if they are the target of a Confusion effect... could it effect them? Or if they are the target of a Bless? Or a Cure spell?
How do I find FAQs on this subject?
(sorry for being an "Old Dude" on this one - but my Tech-Fu is just not up to it on a Monday)
Now why bother just sell Skivnarg's armor (even better if its a special material) and make a better you sized armor.
Time.
It get's the armor into the field faster - all enchantments cost TIME as well as money, and sometimes you need the protection sooner than you need the cash.
We still have to stop and wait on that enchantment to be put on the armor, whereas a shop might stock medium sized armor.
ha! the medium sized stuff flies off the rack, can't hardly keep it in stock. It's the Plus sizes that we always have an overstock in - and the really Tiny sizes, thou now that we've started putting this enchantment on them the Tiny's are getting to really be in demand more too. Going to a wedding and want to have a set of armor available? drop a fist sized breast plate into your handbag and head on out! Just the thing for when the undead crash the party...
Now why bother just sell Skivnarg's armor (even better if its a special material) and make a better you sized armor.
Time.
It get's the armor into the field faster - all enchantments cost TIME as well as money, and sometimes you need the protection sooner than you need the cash.
Thread Necro - just a little, but hay, the PC is a Necromancer...
ok, my Paladin (1st level) took a level of Wizard (Necromancer) and wants to gain a bonded item. He wants the following:
Long Composite Bow (Strength 14), crafted from Darkwood, or Greenwood or Whipwood.
What would the cost be? Would there be any cost? Would the different materials have a different cost? (clearly it could not be made of more than one of the materieals, but... which is better?)
Thanks for your help!
Later, when I level up more, what level do I need to be to get it enchanted?
edit: not a clear answer... still have a question about the 200gp or 0 gp.
you get a bond item for free when you take the first level of wizard, regardless of how many levels the character may have.
So it is free. Only thing I am not sure about is if you are able to add the STR rating or not after the bow has been made.
Or can I have it made with the Strength Rating? As a 2nd level PC I can afford the cost - but I just need to know what it is - the amount. And I hadn't even considered Special Materials...
Later he would need to add in Adaptable for when his Strength increases (or decreases - hit by shadows etc.)
That would be free, for the first arcane bond, and 600 GP for any replacements.
I don't think that is correct.
Yeah, I'm confusing things.
Cost to replace an existing arcane bond of a Composite Longbow (+2 str) should be 200gp per level, plus 300gp (masterworking cost for longbows). And level is determined by Wizard level, not overall character level, so a first level wizard, with levels also in paladin, is getting a 500gp replacement cost for what should be a 600gp item.
??? sorry, I do not understand what/how you are calculating this...
I'm looking for the cost (in PFS) of the starting Bonded Item for a PC that is taking his first level of wizard. (it is his 2nd level as a PC, the first being a level of Paladin).
He would like to "Bond" with a (small) Long Comp. Bow (Strength 14). What/How much would he need to pay?
I actually have a PC that is taking his first level of wizard... so will be getting his "first" bonded item. But he is doing this as a 2nd level PC (his first level being Paladin).
SO... What cost (in PFS) would a Wizard have to get a Long Composite Bow (Strength 14) as his (given at 1st level Wizard) Bonded Item?
my guesses... it might even be something else
a) 0 GP
b) 200 GP
c) 300 GP
D) 600 GP
I'm figuring it is going to be b), but (for obvious reasons) I'm hoping it will be a).
That might be when they ruled that all spell casting has visible effects (manifestations?), so we actually CAN'T conceal spell casting... everyone in the bar knows you thru a spell when you message the bartender your order. They don't know WHAT you cast - they don't have any Spellcraft and so (for some judges) are likely to assume you are casting some very dangerous magic (i.e. all magic is dangerous) and so need to be attacked...
Except....
How many tables have actually *done* this since it went into effect?
I think I've seen *one* where it has come up?
More than I have seen Lore Wardens at.
But then, I normally run casters. And I often try to use spells outside of combat. (My example of with the bartender was from a recent game. The judge was kind enough to let me "do over" my stated action, before the other patrons in the bar attacked me "for casting in public".)
Edit: and again, this "nerf" effected ALL casters, not just one Archetype...
I've had friends quit because of the power creep. So catch 22. Friends will always quit regardless what the campaign does. So I want to see the campaign work in a way in which I'll choose to stick around so I don't lose all the friends I've made by leaving.
And some of the nerfs to things that really didn't need it have been making me reconsider where I want to spend my money and time.
I have friends I have found from Organized Play that I never would have met without, but at the same time I've spent money out of my pocket on various source material that are now invalidated or modified to the point where they are effectively useless.
When was the last time a caster was nerfed *hard*, not counting Summoner?
Sound Striker Bard?
I'm sure there are others... that's just one that hit me recently.
Or are you asking about when the TOOLS used by casters were nerfed?
Things like increasing the casting time of spells from Standard to Full Round (looking at you sleep, silence etc. are old news... but maybe...
That might be when they ruled that all spell casting has visible effects (manifestations?), so we actually CAN'T conceal spell casting... everyone in the bar knows you thru a spell when you message the bartender your order. They don't know WHAT you cast - they don't have any Spellcraft and so (for some judges) are likely to assume you are casting some very dangerous magic (i.e. all magic is dangerous) and so need to be attacked...
But that "nerf" actually effected ALL spell casters, not just one class.
The Lore Master "nerf" effects only one ARCHETYPE of one martial class...
In the interest of "Fairness" perhaps we should have a "nerf" that effects ALL non-spell casters? Perhaps something like "always have to SAVE verse spells that you can't recognize..."
One thing to be conscious of if taking a weapon as a bonded object. If you lose it for any reason (disarmed, stunned, telekinesis) etc then that can make it difficult to cast spells. You also wont be able to use metamagic rods in combat for various spells unless you can find a way to hold two items and have a hand free for somatic components.
Thanks... but yeah, knew that part.
This is going to be on my Paladin/Wizard, (Divine Hunter/Hallowed Necromancer) - and at first I had considered using a Ring... but decided to go with the Bow (considering Deities right now... Maybe Erastil?... Maybe Apsu?) anyway, it looks like a Locking Gauntlet and a Bow would be best for the theme I'm going with.
Can a PC with the arcane bond class feature create a bond with an item they gained access to thru a Chronicle if they don't have enough levels to craft it?
For example, a PC gains access to a +1 Ring on a Chronicle that she levels to 3rd level on. She decides to add a level of Wizard, and buys the Ring of Protection at full price. Can she then use that Ring as her Bonded item?
Some additional questions on crafting bonded items:
If I create a Wand of Shocking Grasp as a Bonded Item, can I create it at higher CL than 1st? (I am assuming the answer here is no.)
here are the CL to use the craft feats:
3rd level - Craft Wondrous Item
5th level - Craft Magic Arms and Armor
5th level - Craft Wand
7th level - Forge Ring
11th level - Craft Staff
I am assuming I need to be these CL to create a Bonded Item of the save type... 3rd to make a Broach of Shielding for example, 5th to enchant a Long Comp. Bow.
a little, but still not sure HOW to do it to start with.
So, say I want to create a Ring of Force Shield....
Ring of Force Shield:
Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th
Slot ring; Price 8,500 gp; Weight —
Description
An iron band, this simple ring generates a shield-sized (and shield-shaped) wall of force that stays with the ring and can be wielded by the wearer as if it were a heavy shield (+2 AC). This special creation has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance since it is weightless and encumbrance-free. It can be activated and deactivated at will as a free action.
Construction
Requirements Forge Ring, wall of force; Cost 4,250 gp
Can I do this at 7th level (The level to get Craft Ring) or do I need to be 9th level (the CL for the Ring).
I would rather spend skill points on a character that doesn't have that many great skill choices than spend gold or prestige on the same character who will be strapped HARD for money. Spellcraft is free.
And a wand is only good for 50 magic items... it only gives you one check per charge (CL 1 from a wand). 50 sounds like a lot, until you start actually using it. Running thru 10 charges in a single scenario isn't that unusual.
I think this is a good idea. I played a lot of Living Greyhawk and a lot of times there were spell books on the ARs.
Why do you think this will put spell books on the Chronicles? I do not see this change effecting that at all... (if anything, I think it will reduce the chance of spellbooks appearing on chronicles).
OK, so we know pf2 plans to cut down on spells by merging many into one heightenable spell (e.g. Heal (1), Heal (2) etc. instead of clw, cmw, etc.) but just how far does this go?
I noticed someone complaining on the sorcerer thread that if they didn't get an arcane spell list they wouldn't have Mage armour and Shield, and someone else pointing out that divine lists have Barkskin and Shield of Faith which are essentially the same thing, and I thought, "aren't paizo committed to reducing spells by merging ones that are essentially the same?"
So it got me wondering, if this is so what else might be merged?
Then there is the question of heightened spells. We know that many spells of similar theme but different level have been merged into 1 heightenable spell, so e.g. pf2 Fly(1)= pf1 feather fall, fly (2)=levitate, fly (3)=fly, fly (4)=Overland flight, etc.
The question is, what else is there?
I know Invisibilty(2) and invisibility (4) replace invisibility and greater invisibility (there is no invisibility (3)), but is there invisibility (1), formerly vanish?
What about teleport spells; Dimension Door and Teleport obviously go together but is there a low level version (like Dimensional slide from the arcanist)?
And are there any others that obviously go together?
What I'd like: first I'd like to be able to multi-classing casters without falling behind too much against a full caster. This could be accomplished by allowing spell slots to scale with character level, while new spells are the premise of the full caster. It would mean that the spells you do know could be heightened to usefulness while still calling behind a full caster who gets more powerful spells. My fear is it would be too powerful.
What can we expect: multi-classing out of a caster class will mean your spells and spell slots slowly fall into uselessness. Since they start with a higher utility than in pf1 it will take longer, but anything more than a few levels of another class will likely make spells other than utility spells sub optimal. I could live with this.
What do we know: at this point, nothing. Others may know more.
What I do find intriguing is the possibility that a caster class multi-classing into another caster class could have spell slots scaling as the combined class (so like a full caster) while only getting new spells from the new class. This would mean that there is no need for the mystic theurge as a cleric/wizard multi-class would do the job.
So, the new ranger preview has revealed that there is a general feat for snares, and rangers get some cool class feats that enhance it.
But it got me wondering, who else may have class feats that enhance snares? The alchemist (since many of them seem based off alchemical weapons)? the Rogue (thematically closely tied to traps and trapmaking)? Would it be possible to make a viable non-casting battlefield controller by multi-classing to pick up those class feats? What level would they be viable at and what do they do until then?
I realise we probably don't have enough info to answer all these questions, but there are people out there who know more than I do and may be able to (partially) answer how this might work.
It's certainly got me salivating at the prospect, I can't wait to see how the multiclassing system works.
I have an opportunity to make a gestalt character, and always wanted to make good use of the Arcanists Dimensional Slide ability to maneuver in combat, but I am struggling to work out what I should take as the second part of the gestalt.
Essentially I am looking for some means of boosting my survivability. I could grab Arcane Armour Training and gestalt with a more martial class, ending up with Mithral Chain Shirt, or I could go unarmoured and concentrate on spells (Mage Armor, Shield, Mirror Image, etc.) to keep me alive.
I also need to decide what attack modes I will be using. If I pick up Eldritch Archer, I can use Dimensional Slide to get out of Dodge or move to a better position. Or I could go with Kensai, Dimensinal Slide into position and go to town. Or I could go with something else (Slayer? Brawler? Fighter? Ranger? Swashbuckler?)
I am allowed any paizo class except Gunslinger (but Bolt Ace is allowed). I am also allowed Dreamscarred Press' psionic classes, but for background purposes I would find them difficult to rationalise.
The question is, how should I go about developing this character without becoming too MAD?
So, I recently came across a GM saying that in his (admittedly limited) experience it is virtually impossible to disengage in combat once engaged and as there are already rules for casting in melee, he sees no need for the 5' step rule.
Now I have played for some time with the 5'step rule in place and was a bit flabbergasted when I saw this proposal. I'm really not sure what to make of it, so I thought I'd throw it open to the wider community. Is this ruling true to life? is it a good idea? what difference would it make if implemented?
The main reason I ask is that I was considering asking to join his group (he's local, and theres not a lot else going on around here) and I'm wondering if I should try to change his mind, avoid him or live with it?
So, I am creating a Double-chain Kama trip build, and I am looking at going with Monk (it's a gestalt character so it will be Monk//Empyreal Sorceror).
The question is, which Monk should I use? As I understand it, Double-chain Kama is a reach weapon and a Monk weapon, so I can use it at reach with FoB. I plan to get Enlarge person as one of my spells, so it will give me up to 20' reach at first level.
But Maneuver Master doesn't get FoB, and Flurry of Maneuvers seems sub-par for a trip build. I considered Master of Many styles, but he doesn't even get FoB. I even considered Warpriest (Sacred Fist), but they don't get full BAB.
So is there an archetype that would be perfect for a trip build? Or should I just go with vanilla Monk or even Monk (unchained))? or something else?
So, I was talking with a friend online about introducing our kids to RPGs, and he mentioned how difficult it is to get them to role-play, and I mentioned an idea I had to make characters based on their favourite from film/tv so that they know their character and can play accordingly.
For example:
Biff Lightspear Paladin.
Biff is a graduate of the Astral academy and is committed to defending the galaxy the world from the evil emporer Zurg. His favourite phrase when going on a quest is, "To eternity and beyond!" and he often says "Not today!"
AnnaSorceror (Elemental - Water) Bloodline.
Anna is a princess from the country of Arendelle. Since birth she has had power over Ice and is able to cast lots of ice themed spells (all summons spells are reskinned as living ice constructs)
Paddington Barbarian (Totem warrior - Bear Totem)
Paddington is from a lost tribe in deepest, darkest Garund. His actual name is unpronouncable in Common, so he picked the name of the town where he arrived. His tribe were contacted a generation ago by an explorer who left behind an invitation and a book on manners. As a result, Paddington is always unfailingly polite and prone to giving those who are rude a hard stare If only stern gaze was a barbarian ability. Unfortunately his primer on manners is a generation out of date, so he often misunderstands the situation.
So, what I was wondering, does anyone have any ideas for characters that could be used, or any other ideas to get kids into role-playing?
Why am I writing this? because I am fed up of seeing encounters reduced to a set of die rolls. Heres the typical scenario:
Perception DC16:
You see a pair of Lizardlike creatures stalking you through the trees
Knowledge (Nature) DC17:
They are Tatzlwyrms
Now, I'm not having a go at all you GM's who do this - we all do it (I know I have), but there is no "atmosphere" involved. Thed Fighters ready weapons, archers get out bows, spellcasters prepare spells, all roll initiative, a few hits later encounter over.
The reason I have been thinking about it is because I have recently been watching Mountain Monsters{/i] on Discovery channel. Now I don't care if you think it's all hogwash or not, I'm not here to start an argument about all that, but it does show how an encounter should be run.
Here are a bunch of seasoned hunters, chasing after whatever cryptid it happens to be that week. Unlike our heroes, they actually [i]know it's out there, does their encounter go like the Tatzlwyrm encounter?
No, it does not. First they hear it. Twigs snapping, or maybe some kind of noise alerts them to it's presence, but they only know roughly where it is. Edging forward into the darkness (they always hunt at night), one of them might catch a glimpse of it behind some brush.
Now heres where it gets interesting, instead of attacking, it disappears. Why? Well most large creatures are ambush predators. getting spotted is not comfortable for them, they want to get close unseen, so they vanish. The hunters edge their way over to where they saw it, only to find it's moved. Pausing to listen, they hear it again and the whole process goes around again.
exceptions are made for the pack animals; whether it's the Yahoos or the Grass man, they both attack from a distance (one by knocking trees down on the hunters, one by throwing logs at them). In all cases, the quarry is using it's natural advantages to try and outwit the hunters; running rings around them, attacking from the darkness, etc.
Now in a fantasy environment things are little different. Darkvision exists but whenever there is a light source about it is limited to 30' (so the same distance as normal vision by lamplight). This gives ample opportunity for the party to be outmaneouvred. Even Goblins have 60' darkvision. How would it be if they started shooting out of the darkness? The pc's wouldn't necessarily know what was out there, and running out into the darkness could be suicidal. How do they react? Do the fighters run out into uncertain territory, risking a fall ore being mobbed by goblins? if they don't have darkvision, how will they cope being blind? Will they think to wait until someone casts a light spell on an arrow? Will the goblins stick around when the light spell lands, or will they just move position? This simple scenario can really keep tensions high.
So that's my thoughts on running a better encounter.
Here's the thing: a CR7 Elephant, fully trained, costs 1,000gp. A CR9 Mastodon costs 2,000gp.
If you go with Wealth by level, and the restriction that GM's put on it that there is no more than (say) 25% in one item, these are affordable at 4th and 5th level respectively.
Now, at at 4th level a CR7 creature would be considered powerful enough that it would take everything a party of 4 has got to defeat it (possibly including the lives of some of them), so adding one to the party effectively doubles the "Firepower" of the party. Similarly, the Mastodon would seriously overpower the 5th level party.
Yet I can see no restriction to access them other than GM Fiat; Should their costs be changed to reflect their power (after all a CR4 Griffon is 8,000gp - way beyond WBL restrictions until 8th level, a much more reasonable costing IMHO) or is this loophole one that is not too Overpowered?
My apologies if this has been discussed and I've missed it.
Given the way that trip and other combat maneuvers have been nerfed in pathfinder, and the general lack of enthusiasm for these builds, I have to ask: can I make a viable lockdown build as a Magus? The idea is to use spells such as frostbite, combining them with Rime spell and Enforcer to stack multiple conditions on an opponent (fatigued leading to exhaustion; shaken and entangled). Attacking through a reach trip weapon via spellstrike stacks up the conditions before applying a trip attack. Feats such as lunge expand the area under lockdown, while Arcane accuracy (and/or True strike) increase probability of success.
The question is, would it work, and would it still be viable at higher levels? When would it not work and what can be done about that?
Inspired by 1001 campaign seeds, this thread is for those who just want an idea for a one-off adventure (or a few adventures) to fill in time between campaign adventures, or just for a casual game.
1. The Beacon
Yesterday, a powerful light began pulsing from a previously uninhabited region near the city. At the same time several small earthquakes have been felt in the ground. Finally, a ghostly figure has appeared to several leaders, pleading with them to..."Help me. help me or everyone will die."
The City hires the PC's to locate the source of the beacon and discover what is going on. Upon arriving at the location of the beacon, they discover it is emanating from a cave, inside which is a fantastic magical contraption the size of a city. It is guarded by constructs and traps, and the PCs are not the only ones attempting to penetrate the mystery as several local monsters and tribes of goblinoids have seen the beacon and have responded. Working their way to the centre of the the contraption, they discover the ghostly figure is a real person strapped into the machine, but it is obvious he is dying. The pc's must get him back to the city and find out what the connection is, then return with a replacement to regain control of the machine, which is causing the earth tremors and if left unchecked will cause a massive earthquake that will bury the city and the surrounding region.
I want to establish this thread to try and figure out how warfare would evolve in a fantasy world and how that differs from the real world.
For example, a knight from the real world would typically have a Light warhorse, chainmail and a Lance for 270gp worth of equipment (excluding cheaper stuff like saddle, bridle, etc.), making him 1st level. A troop of say 20 would have 5,400gp worth of gear between them. Would a nation invest in equipping such a troop when a single figure with a scroll worth 375gp (less than a tenth) can wipe out the entire troop with one fireball? What would a nation state invest in and why?
If we take this analogy a step further, a nation would then seek to counter lone individuals with scrolls of fireball. How do you do it? Invest in troops with evasion or missile troops who spread out or use stealth. What about a lone individual with a scroll of invisibility which he casts on a lone knight, who can then run down the enemy caster before he gets off his fireball? Or who has been the recipient of a protection from energy spell?
How then would a nation state counter these counters? As you can see it can get horribly complex very quickly. I Imagine different states would seek to solve these problems on the battlefield in different ways, leading to a variety of different types of armies, each buffed differently.
I would like to see what thoughts people have as to what kind of troops would evolve to deal with a magical world.
I'm looking to make a TWF character, and was wondering which class(es) would make the best choice. It is a feat intensive build, so pretty much all thr Feats of a normal class would be dedicated to it. My thoughts so far are:
Barbarian gets some nice boosts/attack through rage and rage powers (powerful blow and elemental rage) and has a pounce ability (Greater Beast Totem), but is probably better suited to natural attacks.
Fighter. Initially dismissed in my mind, I have now looked again and noted that weapons mastery provides some nice bonuses/attack as well as weapon specialization and various archetypes provide pounce-lite abilities (Maneouvre master or dawnflower dervish) or Lock-down capabilities (Two weapon warrior or brawler) whch improve the possibility of getting full attacks. Still suffers from MAD though.
Inquisitor I like the thought of this character, with his judgements boosting his to-hit and damage while bane gives a solid 2d6/attack boosting to 4d6 with Greater bane. Teamwork feats can give a charge as an immediate action, allowing a full attack afterwardand you get spells too.
On the other hand, How sustainable are all these boosts? Will they be available in most combats or will this character have to fall back on spells/unboosted combat on several occasions. Also the character would be super-MAD, needing some WIS to power spells and abilities as well as high DEX, STR and CON.
Monk. technically not TWF since they will use FoB, but flavour wise it would feel the same if they were using Monk weapons. No real damage options unless using Fists, which moves away from TWF.
Paladin. Smite gives a nice boost to attack and damage, lasts all combat (until target is dead) and is plentiful at higher levels. Also ignores DR. Only useful against Evil, so against non-Evil would be severely gimped. Also less useful against multiple targets since it can only target one at a time. Super-MAD due to dependency on CHA.
Ranger. Can access feat chain without super-high DEX (though some DEX important to mitigate lower ac). Can use Animal Companion to help Trip/Pin opponents, gains bonus feats inthe chain. FE provides nice boosts, but is highly situational until you get instant enemy.
Rogue. Sneak attack provides a nice damage boost, but is highly situational. Rogues suffer from lower BAB, lower ac and lower hp. Not a frontline character.
All told, I prefer Fighter or Ranger, but i am not sure which would be better.
There have been numerous threads about these three classes, usually attempting some kind of fix, and they usually devolve into a debate about whether or not we really need a fix. Anecdotally, since there are way more threads about these three classes than any others, it suggests a problem. I don't want this thread to be another one about fixing it, rather I want to seek a consensus on what exactly the problem is. To this end, it would be helpful to give examples (e.g. from books, stories, films or TV) of what the class should be like, and show where it fails this stereotype.
My view is as follows:
Rogue.: With the improvement in access to cross class skills and the bundling of many skills together, Rogue has lost his monopoly on skills. Other classes can approach or exceed his skill levels, so while he can still achieve some pretty impressive skill levels he no longer feels like the go-to man for a skill solution.
More generally, Rogues cover a wide variety of archetypal heroes: swashbucklers (from Errol Flynn to Captain Jack Sparrow), Anarchists (Zorro-though he is also a swahbuckler- or V), artificers (Da Vinci from Da Vincis demons), Cat burglars (too many examples to count). All should be represented as achievable with the class, but they are not. There is no option to exchange sneak attack for a swashbuckling style, for example. (I include swashbucklers here because they rely on Dexterity, maneouvre and, crucially, light armour). There is no real option to play an artificier type Rogue (some of this could be roleplayed), there is no option for anarchists.
Fighter.: Similarly to Rogues, fighters have suffered from the general increase in feats. Most Combat styles rely on 3-4 feats, which means that in the olden days (Pre-PF) a non-Fighter had to reach level 6-9 to complete their combat style mastery, while Fighters had comleted and polished it. By this time Critical feats were becoming available that were competing with the last feat in the combat style, after that advanced Feats started coming on line, so Non-Fighters were continually playing catch-up with Fighters to be at the same basic combat level.
Now most Fighters have got their basic combat style feats by levels 3-4. Advanced Feats haven't kicked in, so the next few feats are of increasingly sub-optimal value until critical feats/Advanced Feats kick in.
Meanwhile other Martial classes have completed their required Feats levels 5-7 and are ready for critical Feats coming online at level 9. In fact from this stage on, they are pretty much able to keep up with the Fighter as most of the Feats they need for their build don't come online much faster than the speed with which they get Feats. They don't have to take in sub-optimal feats to fill in gaps while they are waiting for the next batch of decent fetas to become available. They also get several nice abilities that help them shine both in and out of combat.
Fighters are kind of the everyman hero. Most stories (whether they are from books, films, tv, traditional, or whatever) have typical examples of the fighter, battling the odds and getting lucky. Fighters often attempt heroic stunts that save the day and are most likely to "get the girl" (apologies to female players; I am generalising). They don't tend to use clever stratagems but rather bravely charge in and somehow muddle through. There is a nod to this in that Fighters favour a charge in and fight style (though other builds are possible), but there is no ability for the Fighter to pull off incredible stunts, etc. unless you use the hero point system.
Monks.: Monks suffer from a great many problems. Comparing them to a TWF Fighter (which is considered a sub-optimal build), we see that (a) They have less AC, (b) they have less hit points, (c) they have a lower to hit chance. They still do more damage when they hit, and they have some nice maneuvre options and abilities as well as good saves. However the maneuvre mechanics of pathfinder are generally weak and do not make up for their weaknesse. They should be a frontline alternative, but they are not.
Examples include any Martial arts film (from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan), The water Margin (think Salmon leaps and days spent staring one another with combat over after one pass), Monkey (to be fair, Monkey was also an accomplished sorceror, but when he fought it was as a staff-wielding Monk. Pigsy also fought with a rake, while sandy fought with some exotic weapon).
