DangerMaus's page

I have a Druid and I took the Caves subdomain because I really like the Pit spells you get. You also get the Acid Dart ability which is basically the same as the fire bolt. I like to summon so that helps give me something to do during combat.
Not sure if I am more uber than having the animal companion but I felt with summoning and wildshape and casting I already had a lot to track and the animal companion was just another thing on my plate.

-dm

Are there any feats or alternate class abilities (or anything else) that would allow a Cleric or Wizard to cast Summon Monster as a standard action?

-dm

Might be creating a new Wizard at level 9 and I wanted to try out an enchanter. My idea was that I would use a ring as my bonded arcane focus and wanted that ring to have the Sustenance and Invisibility abilities. Since I am created this character at level 9 there is not set order of which ability was put on the ring first. If I understand the rules for creating items with multiple abilities it sounds like you create the item with the initial ability and then pay 1.5 for each other ability added to the item after that.
So if I started out with a Ring of Sustenance and added Invisibility it would cost 1250 for Sustenance and then 15000 for Invisibility. For a total of 16250.
If I did it in the reverse order it would be 10000 for Invisibility and then 1875 for Sustenance. For a total of 11875.

Is this correct or did I misunderstand something?

-dm

Does anyone know of a spell list that has spells for new books (APG, UM, and UC) listed out by class and school? I have a druid with Spell Focus Conjuration and a Wizard who is a Transmutation school specialist. It's annoying to have to look through all new spells to see which ones are in the school of question for each PC.
I like how the main Pathfinder book breaks them down by each class and inside of that but each school.

-dm

Awesome, thanks.

-dm

Question on how the Spell Resistance from the Celestial template works with this feat.
The Celestial template says:
"A celestial creature's CR increases by +1 only if the base creature has 5 or more HD."

and

"gains SR equal to new CR +5"

Do I use my druid's HD to calculate the CR or the CR of the create I am wildshaping into as it appears in the bestiary?
Or just how do you calculate the SR when applying the celestial template when wildshaping? :)

-dm

DangerMaus wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

Yes. Originally they were cleric only, but it was later clarified that anyone could take them.

Caves subdomain is amazing.

Create Pit spells are awesome.

Is there a link to this clarification? I have searched message boards but can't find it.

-dm

Yep, here it is.

Thanks.

-dm

Yes. Originally they were cleric only, but it was later clarified that anyone could take them.

Caves subdomain is amazing.

Create Pit spells are awesome.

Is there a link to this clarification? I have searched message boards but can't find it.

-dm

Weather Domain: You should STRONGLY consider the Storm Druid Archetype.

It´s Eyes of the Storm ability seeing thru fog effects makes Obsc. Mist and Fog Cloud VERY useful.
(though your allies might hate you :-) )
You also eventually get TWO domains (and Spontaneously Convert to either Domain Spell instead of SNA),
so if you don´t like one domain spell at a certain spell level, you will have another option.

Earth Domain: You should look at the Caves/Metal Sub-Domains, as well as the Cave and Mountain Domains. There are also Cave and Mountain Druid Archetypes - Mountain Druid Archetype doesn´t affect Domain choice, while Cave Druid Archetype bars Air and Weather (and Sub-Domains of those).

Note: Giving a Sub-Domain of Earth (Caves) nearly the same name as a different Terrain Domain (Cave) was NOT my idea :-)

Can a regular Druid select subdomains?

-dm

Going with a domain for my druid and I am having a hard time deciding between the Earth and Weather domains. Earth has some good utility and battlefield control spells but the first 4 levels of spells require stone to affect. I assume that at least half of the time this will not be an issue but there could be periods where those spells are totally useless.
Weather has battlefield control and some damage but the upper level spells (control weather) seem weak. I'm also not 100% sold on Obscuring Mist and Fog Cloud. How often and how useful do people really find these 2 spells?

Any thoughts?

-dm

When you perform the 24 hour ceremony to get a new (or first in case of Ranger) animal companion, can you control which animal you get? I know you need to be in the appropriate area\environment for the animal but can you be in a forest and say "I want a bear" and get it? Or would you have a random chance of getting whatever animals that would like in that forrest? The rules don't really say other than you need to be in the correct environment.

-dm

Let's say my druid is wildshaped as some animal in order to spy or just observe some area where people are about. Is it assumed that the druid knows how to behave like the animal so that they don't arouse suspicion, Or would they use a bluff or knowledge nature in order to act like the animal they have wildshaped into so that people don't wonder why that dog or whatever is acting so strange?

How about with other animals? If my druid wildshapes into a wolf or a rat, do the other animals treat him like another one of their kind or do I need to make some sort of roll to fit it?

-dm

If you have any (or all) of the feats can you decide if your summoned nature ally creatures have the effects applied or not? For example, with Moon or Sunlight summons the creatures shed light as a Light spell. Perhaps I don't want them lit up, can I choose to not apply the feat?

-dm

Bump. Any thought on this?

-dm

If you have any (or all) of the feats can you decide if your summoned nature ally creatures have the effects applied or not? For example, with Moon or Sunlight summons the creatures shed light as a Light spell. Perhaps I don't want them lit up, can I choose to not apply the feat?

-dm

So I've done some searches on this and I am still not positive about the answer yet.

What armor bonuses (if any) are in effect when a driud is wildshaped?

Regular Armor bonus (plus any enhancement bonus) doesn't apply.
Natural armor bonus (from amulet or barkskin)... does it stack with bonus from wildshape?
Deflection armor bonus... I assume this applies.
Shield bonus (from a shield)... does it apply?
Any others I missed...?

-dm

We try to indicate these numbers in a monster's flavor text, but this isn't always something we remember or even CAN fit into the text.

3.5 had a handy chart in the back of the Monster Manual that listed standard length/heigh and weight values by size. I still use this today. It's a shame we didn't carry that chart over into Pathfinder, alas.

Thanks Guys.

-dm

I can't seem to find any guidelines on this. Based on the size of creature or PC, how do you know about high tall they are and how much they weigh?
For example, my druid has a small bear animal companion. About how big is it? How big will it be when it's medium size?
Just looking for general guidelines to get an idea.

-dm

Is there any official material\ruling to support a Druid taking animal feats from the Bestiary? Something along the lines of Improved Natural Attack or Flyby Attack?

-dm

I see. Thanks for the responses guys.

-dm

Are you sure about not applying the changes for the size of the creature? Under Polymorph in the core rule book it says that
"if a polymorph spell causes you to change size, apply the size modifiers appropriately, changing your AC, attack bonus, CMB, and stealth skill mods. Your ability scores are not modified by this change unless noted by the spell."

Does this not apply to wildshape?

-dm

I'm sure this has been explained before but I was unable to find a post that spelled it out. What stats change when you wildshape?
According to the beast shape spell it lists the abilities you can gain (movement and senses) plus the attribiute and natural armor adjustments.
Is that it?

What about saving throws, hit points, etc.?

Do the attribute and natural armor changes also reflect the possible size change or do you need to apply changes based on your new size as well?

Also, when changing into a large sized animal, can it be any animal (only large) or only animals that are listed as large? For example, can I wildshape into a small, medium, large, or huge wolf if I wanted to?

-dm

A Wolf Shaman is what I am thinking that is why I am looking for more wolves to add. Even with the Giant and Advanced templates it would be helpful to have more wolves (especially higher level ones) to choose from.

-dm

Can a druid summon a Worg or a Worg Winter Wolf with summon Nature's ally? Both creatures are neutral evil and I wasn't sure if that mattered or not.

I am looking for more wolf animals for the different summon nature's ally spells and was hoping to add a wolf for level 3 spell and one or more for level 5+ since those are lacking in canines.

-dm

Thanks for the info. That was very helpful. When creating a cr1 bird should I use the basic stats for a cr1 creature or is there easy way to modify it for a bird?

So is there an official ruling about applyig the giant template to a giant creature? I understand your logic that it would just become one size category larger still but just wanted to confirm that it is done like that.

Also, you can summon an eagle with a level 1 spell and with level 2 you can apply the giant template to it. How is level 2 eagle with giant template different from the Giant eagle you can summon with level 4 spell?

-dm

Was looking at the Eagle Shaman alternate for the Druid class and I had a question about the animals available for summon natures ally for use with the Totemic Summons ability. From looking at the description of that ability and the summon natures ally create list there are only 3 animals from levels 1-9 that they could use this ability with.
Level 1 - Eagle
Level 4 - Giant Eagle
Level 8 - Roc

Are there some that I missed?

I know you can apply the Young, Giant, and Advanced templates to summon those same animals at different levels.
Level 1 - eagle
Level 2 - Giant or Advanced Eagle
Level 3 - Giant and Advanced Eagle or Young Giant Eagle?
Level 4 - Giant Eagle
Level 5 - Advanced or Giant(can this be done I assume not) Giant Eagle
Level 6 - Advanced and Giant (can the giant template be applied to a giant creature?) Giant Eagle
Level 7 - Youg Roc
Level 8 - Roc
Level 9 - Giant or Advanced Roc

How does making the level 1 eagle giant at level 2 compare to the Giant eagle you can summon at level 4? Can you apply the Giant template to an already Giant Eagle?

-dm

From the description of the Conjuration school:

"The creature or object must appear within the spell's range, but it does not have to remain within the range."

Man, It helps if I pay closer attention when I read things. :)

-dm

Is the swarm summoned by the summon swarm spell required to stay within the range of the spell? If I am level 4, the range would be 35 feet. Can the swarm only move 35 feet away from me or can it chase creatures where ever it wants until I stop concentrating?
If it has to remain within the range, does this mean it will stop when it reaches that range or could it end my spell prematurely by chasing a living creature outside of the range?
-dm

Does Augment Summoning work with Summon Swarm? Augment Summoning says

"Each creature you conjure with any summon spell
gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution
for the duration of the spell that summoned
it."

The swarm would be unaffected by the Str boost but they would get more HP from the Con boost. True?

-dm

From reading the Augment Summoning feat description, it sounds like it would also work with Summon Swarm.

"Each creature you conjure with any summon spell
gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Constitution
for the duration of the spell that summoned
it."

The damage dealt is fixed so I assume it would only add HP to the swarm. Does anyone agree?

If so, should it be added to your Summon Monster Augmented PDF?

-dm

DangerMaus wrote:

I searched for this but didn't find a message that answered my specific question.

The celestial and fiendish templates no longer give the summon creatures an Int boost. Does this mean there is no way to communicate to with the summoned creature other than speak with animals?
That was always the nice thing about summoning them that you could tell them what to do (at least basic commands anyway).

-dm

By the time you can SM III you can get Lantern Archons and Dretches who have Int 6 and 5 respectively.

That's fine but I am thinking of playing a Malconvoker and will be summoning a lot of fiendish monsters for a while and I am just curious if my PC will have any control over them, other than attack nearest opponent.

-dm

I searched for this but didn't find a message that answered my specific question.
The celestial and fiendish templates no longer give the summon creatures an Int boost. Does this mean there is no way to communicate to with the summoned creature other than speak with animals?
That was always the nice thing about summoning them that you could tell them what to do (at least basic commands anyway).

-dm

Perhaps you could increment the domain powers by a step.
Add +1 or extra use per day (depending on the ability) to the 1st and 8th level abilities.
Extra use of each Sp ability (2nd, 4th, 12th, 16th, 20th level abilities) per day or something like that.

-dm

1. When it says you can substitute an attack to intimidate, does that include your total attack bonus with that weapon (including attribute bonus) or just your base attack plus the weapon focus bonus?

2. I assume this feat was created with the Demoralize function of the intimidate skill, but can you also use it to force opponents to act friendly towards you like with the intimidate feat? If it does, does it only apply to you or would they act friendly to your entire party, assuming your party stoped\weren't attacking them?

-dm

Anyone know the answers?

-dm

1. When it says you can substitute an attack to intimidate, does that include your total attack bonus with that weapon (including attribute bonus) or just your base attack plus the weapon focus bonus?

2. I assume this feat was created with the Demoralize function of the intimidate skill, but can you also use it to force opponents to act friendly towards you like with the intimidate feat? If it does, does it only apply to you or would they act friendly to your entire party, assuming your party stoped\weren't attacking them?

-dm

It probably doesn't work in a D20 system but I used to play Role Master and they had scaling benefits from the skills you bought. In Role Master you bought everything with your development points (skills, attack bonus, hit points, spells, etc.). I remember that for skills and attack bonus (not sure about the others) you would get a +5% bonus for each rank (it is a D100 system so that works out to +1 for each rank in a d20 system) and once you reach a set amount of ranks (I think it was 10 but can't remember) the benefit was havled to +2.5%. At another later point it goes down to 1.25% per rank bought.
Not sure how this would work in a D20 system but I think some sort of dimishing returns would help.
-dm

With the Pathfinder RPG (ignoring the Pathfinder campaign setting for the moment), is it the intent to only use the core Pathfinder book or is it assumed that the official WotC source books would work with it as well?
I realize I can run my game with whatever books I choose but I am curious if the base and\or prestige classes from the 'Complete' books are considered to be a good fit with the updated Pathfinder classes.
-dm