Dag Swervewalker's page

Out of total curiosity - mainly because I work in finance and was daydreaming about Paizo's business model (yes - it's odd) - does anyone have any idea as to the number of Paizo subscribers of their various lines? (Especially APs/modules because I've heard tell that they do a lot to drive the sales of the rules books as well.)

I'm pretty sure I know how this works, but there has been some argument at our table about it, so I figured I'd ask for more opinions. (Of note: I'm neither the Mesmerist nor the GM.)

At 1st level, whenever the enigma uses hypnotic stare on a creature, instead of applying a penalty on the creature's saving throws, the enigma begins to fade from the creature's view. Until the enigma's next turn, the enigma gains the effects of concealment against that creature (unless it can see invisible creatures). Starting on the enigma's next turn, he gains the effect of invisibility against that creature. These effects last as long as the enigma continues to use his hypnotic stare, but if he takes an action that would end invisibility, it ends his hypnotic stare immediately. The enigma can reinstate this effect whenever he wishes, but each time it begins with 1 round of concealment. At 8th level, attacks that would end invisibility do not end the enigma's hypnotic stare, and after 1 round of concealment, he gains the benefits of greater invisibility against the target of his stare.

For the purpose of bold stare improvements, the enigma's hypnotic stare always has a penalty of –1.

This ability alters hypnotic stare.

The way I read it - anything that can see invisible creatures (blindsight/true sight etc.) only negates the concealment the 1st turn rather than Solipsism as a whole. This is because Solipsism doesn't make them invisible, they gain "the effect of invisibility against that creature".

See Invisibility & Invisibility Purge wouldn't do anything against it, though Glitterdust and mundane ways to beat invisibility (white powder & smog pellets) would work normally since they just give an outline of the creature in question.

What do you guys think?

Frankly, I don't see the archetype as being very good itself either way (the player in question is very NOT an optimizer), though it seems to be an interesting dip for a rogue.

As the title says - can a Havocker Witch take the Extra Hex feat?

Extra Hex has a prerequisite of "Hex class feature" while technically the Havocker archetype never removes the Hex class feature, it just removes each chance the Havocker has to select a Hex. I'm already leaning one way - but do you guys think that the Havocker meets the prerequisites?

I was just wondering, does Rapid-Shot require you to only use one weapon?

You can make an additional ranged attack.

Prerequisites: Dex 13, Point-Blank Shot.

Benefit: When making a full-attack action with a ranged weapon, you can fire one additional time this round at your highest bonus. All of your attack rolls take a –2 penalty when using Rapid Shot.

It seems like you should be able to mix weapons, as I know that you can use Rapid-Shot with thrown weapons. However, I was wondering if, when using a bow or thrown weapons, can you combine Rapid-Shot with a bow/knives with throwing something like a smog pellet?

I'm leaning yes, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time that I missed something.

I just had a brain cramp, and I can't for the life of me remember the ways for an archer to beat Wind Wall. I know that there is at least one, I just can't recall it.

Anybody want to help me out so that my brain cramp dissipates?

Is there any RAW way to set up your armor etc to do a point of damage to you should you fall asleep?

I'm just curious - does anyone else think that any significant changes to core rules in Starfinder might be a massive playtest for a potential Pathfinder 2.0?

I know that Wizards later admitted that they did so with Star Wars Saga Edition having many of its rules be prototypes for 4e. (Though I think that Saga Edition was a much better system than 4e myself.)

While I have no doubt that Paizo wants Starfinder to succeed in its own right, I also think that they may use the opportunity to test out new things which they could later use for their flagship (Pathfinder).

Besides the Amulet of Natural Armor, are there any other magic items which boost nat. armor even less efficiently? I'm considering a sorcerer based nat weapon build (for PFS) which would require an Amulet of Mighty Fists, and I don't want to tank his AC long-term.

Is there any way to increase damage for Qinggong powers like you can with spells and/or are there any ways to raise their DCs beyond increasing the character's Wisdom?

First of all - I like Pathfinder. It's a good system. But - like any other - there are things I would change.

For this thread - I'd like people to explain things that they would do differently from Pathfinder if they were designing a similar but new system from the ground up. Not balance - I don't want this to become yet another martial/caster disparity thread - but in the core mechanics. And for this - we can ignore unintended consequences (hence my mention of a new system from the ground up).

A few of mine -

One thing that I would do is have Armor = DR. I really like the vibe that it gives - but slapping it on top of the current system doesn't work as the whole system would need to re-balanced around it.

Make the counter-spelling viable. It's a subsystem which I really like the vibe of, but it's almost always a bad idea. Perhaps allow any spell from the same school/level to work, and if a caster is counter-spelled they can't cast for a # of rounds equal to the level of the spell countered. *shrug* Again - probably wouldn't work slapped on top of the current system.

Don't have every skill/check be off of a d20. For things like Knowledge checks the d20 works great - but for many things a 3d6 would be better. Ability checks for one. Should a character with a Str of 8 really be half as likely to break down a DC15 door as a 18 Str character? Jump checks for another. A few others.

Split the Dex score into Dexterity & Agility. Dexterity = hand-eye coordination/accuracy/etc while Agility=tumbling/dodging etc. A lot of the arguments about dex for more accuracy vs unblanaced stat could be solved by splitting the two - though again - wouldn't be viable at this stage of the game

*Shrug* - as I said - I like Pathfinder - I just thought it'd be interesting to see what other people's changes would be.

For the Smoke Pellet - it's a ranged touch attack to throw against a square. However, would it break if you were to drop it into the square that you're in? (Therefore not using an action or provoking an AOO.)

I was thinking that if it worked - a few Smoke Pellets would be just the thing on an Unchained Rogue who took Moonlight Stalker Feint.

Drop Smoke Pellet into your square (free action?)

Moonlight Stalker Feint (swift action)

Full attack

To make it work really well - you'd probably need to be a Tengu with nat attacks and Quickdraw. That way you'd have your hands free and be able to draw more pellets as a free action. The whole thing would be very effective - but not exactly cheap. It would take 5 (7 for Greater Feint) feats to work plus 25gp a round (which isn't huge but would add up).

Also - it's not totally clear - but I read Fog Cloud that the character in a 5ft cloud from the smoke pellet would have a 20% miss chance when attacking and when being attacked. (Though with Blind-fight it's effectively have a 4% miss chance for the rogue in question - well worth it - and unchanined rogue still gets SA.)

So - am I reading this right - or did I miss something? (Would not be the first time.)

I just played at a Con - my first time doing so past the first few levels (I don't do much PFS) - and it surprised me how much many players ignore defense entirely.

In my home group - currently at level 7 - the martial combatants have ACs pushing 30, my samurai has resolve points to help with saves, the wizard always has mirror image prepared for someone slips past us, and the Oracle has weird concealment stuff up all of the time. And frankly - as we're nearing the end of the AP, we're behind WBL.

However - at the Con I was nearly that level, and I ran into martials whose AC hadn't crested 20 despite being well built offensively, (so I can't wave it off as someone who doesn't know how to play well), animal companions without even leather barding (no proficiency needed - and only 20-40gp), wizards with no defensive spells, and clerics who dump dex. (I always keep it at 12+ to max AC with full plate.)

I'm curious - how common is this? I know many on these boards tend to focus offensively on the idea that the best defense is killing them before they get to swing (though I tend to disagree), but it seems kind of ridiculous to ignore it entirely.

I just played through Cairn of Shadows yesterday - and while we all survived - it was a near thing - especially for my bard. This was mainly because no one in the party at a method to fly since the group was 2 palis, 1 barbarian, 1 barb/ranger, and my bard.

Anyway - I'd rather not have to do that dance again - when if I'd had a way to fly, the whole think would have been rather easy.

I know that bards don't get the Fly or Levitate spells. Is there any way for me to be able to fly or something similar without selling the farm? (Potions cost a lot in the long term - and I have a +17 to Fly checks due to Versatile Performance - it feels like I should be doing it more often.)

As the title says - do they mesh? For example - if you had a shield enchanted with a +5 armor bonus AND as a +1 Allying weapon - could the Allying be used to give out the +5 bonus, or only the +1 bonus. The text is a bit iffy.

An allying weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the weapon's enhancement bonus to one weapon being used by an ally of the wielder. The wielder must have line of sight to the intended ally. As a free action, at the start of her turn before using her weapon, the wielder chooses how to allocate her weapon's enhancement bonus. The bonus to the ally's weapon lasts until the allying weapon's wielder's next turn. The enhancement bonus from the allying weapon does not stack with the enhancement bonus on the ally's weapon (if any).

You do not suffer any penalties on attack rolls made with a shield while you are wielding another weapon. Add your shield’s enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls made with the shield as if it were a weapon enhancement bonus.

I would say definitely yes except for "made with the shield" which makes it a bit iffy.

If you have Soulless Gaze and crit with Enforcer against a target who is already shaken - is your intimidate check to make them panicked, or just to make them frightened?

So - the Allying weapon lets you shift the enchantment of the weapon to a weapon of an ally. Can that ally be you?

I was initially looking at it at least partially as fluff. I'm going to have a dwarf monk - he went monk due to him not being able to save his son (think the Slayers from Warhammer Fantasy) and carry around his son's axe in remembrence - not using it. I thought it'd be cool if the axe eventually helped him.

However - if allying can work on himself - he can easily get far cheaper upgrades on the axe than on an AoMF. In fact - the two would stack. So he could use the axe for pure enhancement - and then get Agile/Flaming etc on the amulet.

Is there a reason that this wouldn't work? Is there a FAQ I'm missing?

How the heck would this spell work? I know the rules - but the line "You and the ally each roll initiative in combat and use the higher die result before adding modifiers" seems screwy.

How would you prove that the character that goes first would get the benefit? What if they kill the target before the second one goes?

Frankly - it seems that the bolded section above should have been "after adding modifiers" and the whole thing would work rather nicely. That's the way I'd houserule it - but what if I want to try it in PFS?

In addition - what if one of the two allies has more attacks than the other? Does he only benefit from the extra d20 for as many attacks as their ally makes?

It seems really cool - just awkward and badly written.

As the title says.

Medusa's Wrath is used when you make a full-attack action, while Pummeling Style is a full-round action. Do they stack? (Not that Medusa's Wrath could stack with a Pummeling Charge - just perhaps a normal Pummeling Style attack.)

As the title says - I've been toying with different ways to make a Moonlight Stalker build work consistently. A cloak of minor displacement is an obvious choice - but it uses up the shoulders slot and doesn't work against True Seeting.

I was considering a Ring of Blinking combined with a Headband of Ninjutsu so that sneak attacks would still work despite the 20% miss chance. Does Blink count as concealment such that Moonlight Stalker would work? (It says just 50% miss chance - but the spell description actually mentions 20% concealment for those who can strike ethereal creatures - implying that some of the 50% is also concealment.)

Hey all - frankly I think that Pathfinder is generally pretty good about stat blocks considering all the issues I've seen in other game systems - but I was just curious what all stat block issues you've all noticed in the bestiaries.

To start off - the Will o' Wisp's CMD is 5 points too high. It's listed as 24, but it should be 19. Likely that was due to them not including the Wisp's negative strength score.

It's a pretty significant mistake, since with the lower CMD grappling becomes pretty easy, and probably the best tactic to immobilize them for the rest of the group. At the stat block's CMD, grappling them isn't easy at the levels they're hard to otherwise hit.

Does the rogue talent "Offensive Defense" stack with itself if you hit with multiple attacks in a single turn, each of which give sneak attack?

Normally I'd say no - but it is a dodge bonus - and dodge bonuses are specifically called out as stacking with themselves.

Just curious - past the first 2-4 levels where a caster has a decent AC just by casting mage armor - how many people worry much about AC with their wizards/sorcerors etc? Or do you just rely upon mirror image/displacement etc along with allies keeping them off you? Instead you might focus your wealth on more offensive/utility gear.

I know I could search out a couple of them - but I'd also probably miss some.

What are all of the different magic items which increase the number of natural attacks one has?

I just had a quick question about how much booze you need to drink for ki. It says "a drunken master can drink a tankard of ale or strong alcohol and gain one temporary ki point."

Would it need to always be a full tankard, or only when it's ale? What if it were moonshine, whiskey etc? Would it still need to be a full tankard, or would he be able to drink 20-30 times from a single bottle?

If not - could you carry something bigger than a tankard to get 2-3 drinks? Could you get a staw hooked up to a backpack of beer? Or is it a subtle way to make Quickdraw a feat tax for Swift Drinker?

As a secondary question - does a drunken master need to worry about alchohal poisoning etc? I remember the 3.5 version mentioned that using alchohal actually burned it up, but the Pathfinder version is kinda vauge on that front.

(I'm thinking of a dwarven drunk monk as my next PFS character, so getting the RAW rules down pat is required.)

If a slayer were to wear heavy armor - would he still be able to use a ranger combat style feat? The wording is - "...gains a combat feat from the first feat list of that style." since it says that he gains the feat, and not the whole style - would the requirement of wearing medium/light armor apply?

I realize that the slayer doesn't come with heavy armor proficiency, but it seems like the feat would be a good investment - or a 1 level dip wouldn't be all bad either for that matter.

(I think this might be a case where RAW & RAI aren't the same.)

How would this work? I think that a halfling focused on mounted combat could be EXTREMELY effective when mounted on a medium sized barbarian etc. (and hilarious) Though he would take a -4 on ride checks due to it not being a normally easy to ride mount. (and take an exotic saddle) However, there are some rules issues.

1. Normally a mount goes during the rider's turn. Would that still be the case? If not - what of the issues involved.

2. What if the two players disagreed about where to move? (probably a non-issue if the players agreed to this combat style in the first place - but it could come up)

3. Could the halfling actually spur the barbarian to greater speeds by doing a point of damage? (ha)

4. Does anyone see any other potential rules issues?

Overall - with mounted combat it could be extremely effective. The barbarian wouldn't have to worry too much about AC since the halfling could eventually deflect two blows a turn with ride checks & give their shield bonus to the barbarian. And the normal issues with getting a mount into certain areas would be a non-issue. (Make the barbarian a dwarf if the GM wants to make ceiling height an issue.)

And frankly - you can't get a more powerful mount than another character, while the barbarian would get benefits from mounted combat etc. It'd be the only way to make mounted combat viable at higher levels without either an AC of some sort or the GM giving you a freakishly awesome mount (unlikely).

As the title says - I'm curious.

In a lot of the threads here - whenever someone brings up class balance or builds, many posters immediately start talking about level 15+. Frankly - I've only been in one campaign even in the teens (way back in 3.5), and it was a climax thing. The players worked their way to level 11-12ish, and then I had a storyline stasis for a few years (think ocarana of time - they come back to find the world changed) and had them level several times in prep for the climactic battle of the campaign.

The vast majority of my gaming has been in the single digits.

Frankly - I think a lot of the disagreements on balance stems from this issue. I tend to think that the system tends to break down starting around level 11-12ish, but up until then it's pretty solid.

It's hard to discuss if wizards are OP in general if one player plays levels 1-8, and the other plays mostly 13+.

So anyway - as the title says - at what levels do you guys usually play? And why?

I was just considering the option of, in combat, having a tanky character ready an action to move in the way of an opponent. It wouldn't be a very useful action most of the time, but it could be handy in situations where the whole group is fighting a single beefy monster. However, I'm not quite sure how it'd work - so I had a couple of questions I thought I'd throw out there.

1. If you interposed yourself with a readied action in front of a foe's charge on someone else, would you be able to stop your foe's movement? If so - would they lose their attack, or would they be able to use it on you. What about trying to bull-rush/overrun?

2. Could you interpose yourself in front of a foe using a normal move to block their movement? I suppose it depends if moving in general is his action, or if moving in his initially chosen path is his action.

And if you see any other issues with this tactic - feel free to bring it up.

I just started a campaign as a samurai. I went samurai instead of cavalier as they don't suffer nearly as much when not mounted. (1st session nearly all the enemies were on balconies etc - and my horse spent his time demoralizing them. :P)

Anyway - as I'm statting out my mount, I'm thinking that eventually I'd like to give him Improved Overrun. I figured it'd be like having trample, except I wouldn't need to burn the feats on my character.

When using Imporved Overrun - would my horse get the hoof attacks that he'd get were I using Trample while mounted on him?

So - I've been playing around with a TWF ninja build based around Shatter Defenses. (and please - no complaints about the weakness of the class or TWF with it)

The problem is - I'm having trouble coming up with a good way to keep my opponents shaken consistently without spending too many actions. The only way I've come up with thus far is to combo Taunt with Cornugon Smash. But that'll cost another 3 feats, and Shatter Defenses is already costing several feats, not to mention finesse & TWF. Plus I wasn't planning to put my strength high enough for power attack.

Of course - I could always just try to convince someone else to take Cornugon Smash, but I may try to make this a PFS character, so I can't consistently rely upon anyone else

Anyone else have any good ideas to be able to demorilize consistently without burning actions? Even a level or two dip might be viable.

So - how does using pummeling style instead of flurry interact with body wrap of mighty strikes? Technically you're only making a single strike when you use pummeling style. Would you then get as much benefit out of a BWoMS as you would an AoMF when using pummeling style? Or did I miss something?

I've searched the forums - and it's been asked several times - how the heck does this thing work?

Kyoketsu shoge 6 gp 1d3 1d4 ×2 20 ft. 1 lb. S or P disarm, grapple, monk, reach UC

Benefit: The blade can be used as an off-hand melee weapon or thrown like a dagger, while the rope and circlet can be whipped around and swung at opponents as a bludgeoning reach weapon.

My theory - It's both a monk dagger (with crappy crit) which can be thrown like a rope dart and can be finessed (mention of off-handing) and can used as a two-handed reach weapon with bludgening damage (not finessed).

I'd like to know officially. I've been considering a throwing weapon build (possibly PFS) with a dip into monk for flurry instead of using TWF, and this thing seems like a good canidate if my theory is right. He wouldn't get much out of the reach since that part can't be finessed, but otherwise it looks like just the thing if my theory is correct.

Can I get someone to weigh in?

Random question - what's the best monk throwing weapon? (Besides the shruriken or rope dart - they ruin the main advantage of using a throwing weapon vs a bow - being able to use it in melee without penalty.)

And I'm not worried about losing the unarmed damage bonus - I'm considering a throwing weapon build which dips into monk and uses flurry instead of TWF, because that way I only need to enchant one weapon rather than two.

Edit: And I never thought about it before - but why did Pathfinder remove the range from sais? I remember they could be thrown in 3.5. It's not like they were OP.

The way I read it - Slashing Grace should work with thrown weapons as long as they're slashing, one-handed, and has a range increment.

Admittedly - I could only find one case of such a weapon - the rather medicore sibat.

Nonetheless - am I reading it right? With slashing grace could you get dex to damage with a thrown sibat?

I know that when a creature only has 1 natural attack they get 1.5x strength damage with it. This would apply to a tiefling who'd traded their spell-like ability for a bite attack.

However - what about a tiefling sorceror with the draconic bloodline? They have claws some of the time. Would their bite suddenly do less damage when they manifest the claws for a full attack then when they move & bite? Or do they count differently than if said character had the claws all the time?

What about for attacks of opportunity? Could the character say that their claws were only manifested when swinging with them so that they only have 1 natural attack for their attacks of opportunity?

I finally got a chnace to look at Swashbuckler. Frankly - the class itself looks fine to me. Reasonably balanced and all that.

However - it seems stupidly broken as a single level dip when combined with Slashing Grace.

This will let ninjas use a pair of katanas and use their dex instead of strength for damage! All for 1 level & a feat. (plus weapon focus - darn!)

Not to mention they'll also gain panache (ninjas already need good Cha) and several handy deeds to use it with. Plus martial weapon proficiency is nothing to sniff at. (already proficient with katanas - the only thing they'd use is probably a longbow - but still handy)

Rogues don't gain quite as much as ninjas (don't generally have as high a Cha - and aren't auto-proficient with katanas) but they still gain a lot, and more benefit from martial weapon proficiency.

Frankly - like the ranger way back in 3.0 - can you really see any well built ninja or rogue NOT dipping a level into Swashbuckler? When something's too good NOT to use - that generally means that it's too good to exist.

Again - I don't think the Swasbuckler in general is OP. If Slashing Grace required 4 levels in Swashbucker similar to Weapon Specialization requires 4 levels in Fighter then it would be fine. As it stands though...

Edit: I used katanas as an example of how big the weapons could get. Obviously my sarcasm fell flat. Wakizashis would obviously be better to avoid the extra -2 to hit. Or sawtoothe sabres if you want to spent an extra feat.

Hey - someone on a different thread mentioned that there is a session which lets you purchase a bracelet of natural armor or some such. Does anyone know what session that is? (assuming it exists)

I have a buddy who plays a nat attack rogue - and the amulet of mighty fists (required for his build) will in the long term nerf his AC since it will prevent him from getting an amulet of natural armor. It'd be cool if he could get an alternate version. (it's not like his rogue is gonna be OP with it :P)

Curious - the odd phrasing of the Brutal Bloodline's Arcana - "Whenever you cast a spell that deals hit point damage, one target of your choice affected by the spell takes 2 additional hit points of damage." has me a bit flummoxed when it comes to spells that go across multiple rounds.

I know that for AOEs it only affects a single target, but what about a spell like Chill Touch? Would it only add 2 damage on the first attack which hits your designated target, or would it deal 2 extra damage for each attack that hits said target?

Curious - what would be the stats for special material chains? Mithril / Adamantium.

I'm considering making a monk who does a decent bit of grappling and ties up his foes. Even a basic chain is harder to break than any rope. But if I want to have any chance for it to hold higher level foes with strength 26+ - a normal chain won't cut it. Too easy to burst with a strength check.

I know that a mithril chain would cost 500 gp - but not the strength DC to burst it - and I know neither about adamantium? Are there any official rulings?

Curious - with silent image (or any of the other image spells for that matter) could you make an illusion of one-way glass or something similar? Nothing in the spell description seems to disallow it - but it seems like it would be overpowered in combination with a rogue's sneak attack.

Is there an official ruling on it?

Curious - how would a PFS session handle one character riding another?

One character could possibly ride another with an exotic saddle (with a -5 to ride checks unless I'm mistaken) - and if the rider were at least one size smaller. And frankly - as silly as it seems it would be quite potent. (especially since the character being ridden could have their AC boosted by their rider once per round)

The one big question I have is how initiative would work. Normally a mount goes on the rider's initiative - but that's when they're not an adventurer in their own right. Plus it would complicate things terribly if they were on different initiatives. When does the rider count as charging? Can the mount use the rider's ride-by-attack in his own turn? etc. Tons of issues crop up.

In a home game I'd probably just houserule that you use the rider's initiative - arguing that he can pull on reins to get his 'mount' to move. But how would this be done in PFS? My friend and I are semi-seriously considering him being a halfling riding a half-orc barbarion named Thog (played by me). The idea amuses me.

Curious - I remember that in 3.5 there were rules for magic items in alternate slots on your body - are there any official rules for that in Pathfinder? In a home game I'd probably just use the 3.5 rules - but is there an official version?

I was thinking about rolling up a monk - but I won't bother if I can't eventually get both an amulet of mighty fists and one of natural armor.

Curious - how does a flurrying grapple work?

In the grapple rules it talks about how grappling is a standard action. You can only do one grapple check a turn. Fair enough.

The problem is that the monk's flurry rules state, "A monk may substitute disarm, sunder, and trip combat maneuvers for unarmed attacks as part of a flurry of blows." Thus is the confusion.

As near as I can figure - the first turn the monk grapples someone they can make as many grapple checks as they have flurry attacks. If they're still grappling the next turn they can only make one check as a standard action. After all - they can't flurry after their standard action.

That seems off somehow.

I really like the idea of the spells Timely/Gallant Inspiration - but is it just me or do they not stack with Inspire Courage as they are both competance bonuses? That seems to make them rather poor spells since they are bard only.

Curious - in PFS is there any limit on what a masterwork tool can be used for? Really - the description in the rule book is pretty vague. Is it just for any skill not mentioned on other descriptions?