DarthEnder's page

Hand of the Apprentice?

Neat! Unfortunately, the character in question is a Sorcerer, so he won't be able to do that. Thanks though!

Especially when you look at the beginning of the section which is titled "sustained force". This isn't about making sudden thrusts like you would with a weapon. There is a section named that and it details what a combat kind of action with Telekinesis is like.

Especially since 'violent thrust' does damage based on the weapon you are using, if you target weapons. And that entire section of the spell answers the rest of your questions.

I guess. Despite the name, that's not really a thrust. It's just using telekinesis to throw the thing.

I guess it's not really a viable form of combat then. As you'd get, like, one attack every 3 rounds.

Round 1: Cast Telekinesis
Round 2: Hurl Sword for one attack(which expends Telekinesis)
Round 3: Recast Telekinesis
Round 4: Use Sustained Force to retrieve sword
Round 5: Go to step 2

Oh well. I was hoping to be able to fight with a floating sword, but I guess not.

I guess I understood "An object can be telekinetically manipulated as if with one hand." to mean that I could, say, stab someone with a sword.

Quick question:

I know you can use the Telekinesis spell to wield a weapon remotely. Just want to know if this works the same as if you were wielding it in your hands(i.e. do you get all of your attacks, can you perform all your normal maneuvers(cleave, power attack), do you get the benefits of all your normal weapon feats(focus, finesse, specialization), etc.) or are there a bunch of limitations when you wield a weapon this way(like, are you limited to only one attack a round or something like that)?

Thanks in advance!

So how long until we get Awaken Undead? Something to turn our mindless servants into a decent conversationalist?

I went looking for that exact spell, having Awaken Animal in mind. Apparently, it's already in D&D, but not in Pathfinder currently.

It'd have to be a very special skeleton to be worth all that of course.

He's got sentimental value.

Quick question here. If a corpse created with Animate Dead is destroyed in battle it can't be animated again.

Is there any way to safely undo an Animate Dead that leaves the body so that it can be Animated again?

Like if I have a Skeleton that I want to change into a Bloody Skeleton, is there a way to undo the old spell so I can recast the spell on it?

Hey folks.

So here's the character concept I want to get some advice with.

I want to create a pirate necromancer that uses skeletons as his crew. But I don't want them to be boring and silent.

So I'm looking for two different possibilities.

1. Ways to inject my created undead with intelligence/personality of their own.
2. Ways to take direct control over my created undead. Ideally, abilities that will let me see/hear/speak through them, and control their actions directly, like and actual puppeteer, so I can fake them having a personality around others.

Any spells/feats/abilities that would let me do this, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks!

Thanks! I just realized there's an Advice forum, so I'm going to repost this there for more.

Hey folks, so, I'm kinda looking to making a Necromancer character that is able to actually act directly through the undead it creates.

Like, to be able to see and hear through it's undead minions, and to be able to control them directly from a distance, rather than just issuing commands.

Looking for advice on spells/abilities that would help me achieve this.

Thanks!

So, you just want someone who can cast spells without preparing ahead of time like the Sorcerer, and with the Cleric spell listing?

Sounds like an Oracle.

Indeed it does. I'd never really taken a close look at the class before. Thanks!

Hey, I'm just curious. D&D 3.5 had a class called Favored Soul which was essentially just a Sorcerer, but with Cleric spells instead of Mage spells.

Is there anything like that in Pathfinder?

Simple question.

Is there any reason that, during a Time Stop, I can't walk up to my target, and then ready an attack in response to Time Stop ending, so that my attack immediately goes off when Time Stop ends?

You don't exactly add them. You reduce each additional multiplier by one and then add.

Here it is in the PRD.

PRD wrote:

Multiplying: When you are asked to apply more than one multiplier to a roll, the multipliers are not multiplied by one another. Instead, you combine them into a single multiplier, with each extra multiple adding 1 less than its value to the first multiple. For example, if you are asked to apply a ×2 multiplier twice, the result would be ×3, not ×4.

Awesome. Thank you.

Hey folks. I always get told that when stacking multipliers, like, say, damage multiplication from a Vital Strike that also crits, you don't multiply the values twice, you add the multipliers together.

I haven't been able to locate where this rule is described in the books anywhere. Does anyone know where it can be found? I'd like to read the real wording.

So yeah, work out your normal damage including vital strike and sneak attack, THEN spend a mythic point and double everything for that attack.

*nod* Alright, sounds good. If no one else disagrees, I'll assume this is right. Thanks.

Nothing eh?

Okay, so I know stacking multipliers is a complicated issue in Pathfinder.

For example, start with a Mythic Vital Strike, that's an attack that does x4 your normal damage including all the same modifiers of a critical hit.

It's my understanding that you're not supposed to just apply multipliers on top of other multipliers, you're supposed to figure out the difference in damage that the multiplier would add to your base damage, and add that damage to the total instead.

So if, in that above Mythic Greater Vital Strike, I also score a crit while using a x2 weapon, I end up dealing x5 damage(base+3 from vital strike+1 from crit), instead of x8 damage(x4x2).

So my question is, how does this apply to Foe-Biting?

Foe-biting is very specific about doubling the total amount of damage. Including modifiers and extra dice, etc. This is different from how other multipliers are written.

Does this mean that, if I use Foe-Biting during the above Mythic Vital Strike crit, that I take that x5 damage and then double it? Or do I treat it like other stacking multipliers and just increase it to x6 instead?

The fact that Foe-biting even costs more Legendary Power points to use it on a crit definitely seems to suggest it's the latter. But I want to be sure.

So, from the description, it seems like this is going to be Pathfinder's version of 3.5's Unearthed Arcana.

And that sounds just fine.

Alright, that makes sense.

Thanks for breaking it down for me!

Like the topic says, a character affected by Deathless doesn't die when reduced below 0 hit points.

Disintegrate turns anything that is at zero hit points or below to dust.

How do these spells interact? RAW would seem to state that the character would end up as a technically still-living pile of dust.

And if you were to add something like To the Death at the same time, the result would seem to be that you would end up as a pile of dust that was still perfectly capable of fighting and taking actions.

I mean, granted, it's a fantasy world, and sentient dust that can attack you is totally a thing that exists, I'm just curious if this is actually the result of these powers interacting with each other.

I think a BAB 7 or 8 prerequisite or so would help

Well, Vital Strike already requires a +6.

And I'd change the name to "twin vital strike" flows better in my opinion

I have no problem with that.

The original design intent behind vital strike was to provide an option to warriors who couldn't make a full attack, due to movement for example.

Do you have any evidence of that? Because that's not what I use it for.

I use it for situations where my subsequent attacks are unlikely to hit due to their negative modifiers, or against enemies with high DR.

Double Vital Strike (Combat)

You are able to make a Vital Strike with both hands simultaneously.

Prerequisites: Vital Strike, Two-Weapon Fighting

Benefit: Whenever you use Vital Strike with your primary hand, you may also make an attack with your off hand.

Special: If you also possess the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat, then the damage from this off hand attack is doubled as if you were using Vital Strike with it.

If you also possess the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Vital Strike feats, then the damage from this off hand attack is tripled as if you were using Improved Vital Strike with it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Just a little idea I had to make Vital Strike a little more useful. Since Vital Strikes normally let you sacrifice your extra attacks to do additional damage with one strike, this feat basically lets you do the same thing with your off hand.

And as your number of offhand attacks increases, the damage your off hand attack does increases as well.

The only monster besides a Terrasque that I remember having this ability is Nimblewrights from Monster Manual II.

Anyone remember any others?

It'd be icing if it was usable with other special attacks, but it's quite powerful already.

It'd be nice if there were other feats for combining Vital Strike with other special attacks.

Like Vital Charge or Vital Cleave, etc.

Not so. Perfect Strike bypasses all damage reduction and hardness and increases the critical hit multiplier by 1, and it can be combined with champion's strike. Mythic Vital Strike does none of those things (though it also doesn't cost any mythic power).

Ah, I see.

If you're wondering whether one should take Perfect Strike, I can only answer: it depends. If you're already burning feats on Vital Strike, it probably isn't for you, unless you need to do a ton of damage all at once to something with really high DR. Even then, if you go up to Greater Vital Strike w/ Mythic Vital Strike, that DR really isn't going to matter much. But then, that costs three feats and a mythic feat, while Perfect Strike costs a mythic power. If you're feat-starved, Perfect Strike starts looking better.

Cool, yeah, I already have Greater Vital Strike + Mythic Vital Strike, so I was wondering if there was any point in taking this. Thanks!

So what exactly is the point of Perfect Strike then? It's basically the same as Mythic Vital Strike. Is it just a different way to get the same effect?

Or are they two mutually exclusive types of attacks?

I think I can't say it often enough:

If they would REALLY mean weapon damage dice, the feat would just be plain out broken

Which is why they didn't mean weapon damage dice.

Lead Blades does not go away, but it is not affecting the weapon when the weapon is not on you.

Yes it is. It never says the effect stops when you let it go. It just says the effect doesn't work for anyone else. So the effect is still running, it just doesn't do anything when anyone else tries to swing it.

And since it doesn't drop when you drop it, it can't "come back" just cause you pick it back up.

Which is why you can put Lead Blades on, for example, a throwing axe and it still works when you throw it. Because the effect works for you whether the weapon remains in your hand or not. All that matters are which weapons you are carrying when you cast it.

FAQ: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gg#v5748eaic9qx4

Weapon Special Ability, Impact: Does this stack with the lead blades spell?

No. The weapon special ability and the spell are similar effects; note that impact lists lead blades as a construction requirement.

Yay!

I wish that ruling specified more than just those two effects though. Be nice if it mentioned things like Strong Jaw and Improved Natural Attack as well.

As to how to get them to stack, I forgot to add a vital part to what I was thinking earlier. This is the way I see that it could work.

Lead Blades is cast on Hero wielding impact weapon (weapon does not increase at the moment because impact is already in effect).

Hero drops impact weapon. Lead blades is still in effect. Hero picks up the Impact Weapon. Impact goes on top of Lead Blades. Weapon damage increases to base size +2.

That wouldn't work simply because neither Impact nor Lead Blades goes away just because you let go of the weapon.

Impact doesn't disappear and reappear when you drop and pick up the weapon, so it's not going to suddenly rebuff when you pick it up after already casting Lead Blades.

honestly I don't think the difference is significant.

Neither do I. I think they intended them to be the same, but made the mistake of wording it inconsistently.

It would certainly be nice if they actually gave these buffs a name like "Weight Bonus to Weapon Size Damage" so it would be obvious that they were all the same type of Bonus.

EDIT: Nevermind, you guys JUST said the same things I was going to say. Impact might stack if it came second, but can't since it's a weapon ability, yadayadayada.

No. Read the ability, ArmouredMonk13. They both use the wording "deal damage as if one size category larger than they actually are". The weapon does not increase in size.

The description for Impact DOESN'T contain the "than they actually are" terminology.

It is a distinction, though maybe not one that's relevant.

Even if 90% of the responses you get are reasonable and in agreement, to hell with them.

Except it's not even close to that.

This is the only other thread that came up when I searched for the exact question I wanted to know. Of which there were only 6 responses, 3 of which didn't even know what Impact was because it was right after Ultimate Equipment was released.

Or maybe some one is looking for an official ruling and not other people's interpretations of the ruling

That would be ideal, yes. But isn't necessarily a requirement.

1, 2, 3.

The first and third links are asking different questions, so they wouldn't necessarily show up in a search.

No

Yes. You said it's one of the most Frequently Asked Questions. That's LITERALLY what the F, A and Q in FAQ stands for. So why doesn't it belong there?

it means people need to search before they post.

Which does nothing, because I did.

You get a bunch of threads(of which only one was actually Lead Blades+Impact related) with users giving their interpretations which conflict with each other, with no one of any authority giving a definitive answer.

This is one of the most frequently asked questions in the rules forum

Then it should be in the FAQ shouldn't it.

EDIT: Double post

Do effects that increase the base damage of a weapon, such as the Impact Special Weapon Quality, stack with other effects that increase the base damage of a weapon, such as Lead Blades?

You could probably add things like the Improved Natural Attack feat and the Strong Jaw spell into that as well.

Both spells deal with the weapon. Lead Blades increases the damage of the weapon by one size category larger than they actually are, so a medium weapon does damage as if it was one step larger. It doesn't make the weapon a large weapon. Impact does the same thing. It increases the damage of the weapon as if it were one size larger, so the medium weapon does large damage. Both of them are affecting the base weapon, not what the weapon may be doing.

My only complaint about that interpretation would be that Lead Blades doesn't actually target the weapon. It's a buff cast on yourself that makes all your weapons swing harder.

Text from the Lead Blades spell:

Lead blades increases the momentum and density of your melee weapons just as they strike a foe. All melee weapons you are carrying when the spell is cast deal damage as if one size category larger than they actually are.

An impact weapon delivers a potent kinetic jolt when it strikes, dealing damage as if the weapon were one size category larger.

There's no Named Bonus for this kind of buff, so do they stack, or not?

Demiplane is the method I myself use. One of my epic level characters background is that he's a chef, and in addition to having his mansion in a demiplane, he has a lot of farmland that he uses for the growing of rare spices and other ingredients.

So instead of having to travel to that one frozen mountaintop to get that rare mushroom that only grows in this one specific ice cave every time I want to use that mushroom for something, I just make that journey once, then recreate the location in my demiplane and plant the stupid thing there.

I don't really resell any of the stuff I grow, but I imagine that selling some kind of super rare truffles is more valuable than selling generic crops.

Create Demiplane really is the way to go. Rather than selling tools, which doesn't really work, you're leasing land. As long as the leases pay enough to keep expanding and permanency-ing you can keep expanding your farm indefinitely. Use (permanent) gate for access and any tenant can walk to or from the farm without your direct assistance.

Or, as someone else mentioned, there's always construct workers, which you can probably afford if you can afford to create a permanent demiplane.

I would imagine the most effective way to do this is with the Create Demiplane spell.

It deals with all your temperature/daylight/weather/vermin problems automatically.

I tell my players how are you going to ask that question? I tell them that your research indicates that if you're successful in fully closing the hole from the inside you may succeed in creating the perfect hiding place. Or that you may succeed in permanently disconnecting yourself from the entire planar structure creating a space that you can't plane shift, teleport, or gate out of.

Then I tell them that there's one way to find out......

And what if they do it anyway? You still have to make a decision.

I think the idea that you'd be trapped forever is ridiculous because they wouldn't bother telling you you can close it from the inside if it means the death of the character anyway.

The only thing I think is in question here is whether there is a black cloth left behind in the real world when you close the whole.

I don't think there is because if you close it from the inside, then you have the cloth in your hands.

Reading it the way it's written, it would seem to me that if you close it from the inside, you're left with a hankerchief sized cloth on the inside of the hole and nothing exists on the outside.

If you open the hole again while inside, the hole would open to the spot you closed it at because it technically hasn't moved.

Why would it want to?

To have a dialog with someone without wigging out everyone around it.

See: Thread Title

Also note that crafting days don't have to be consecutive. So you can go on an adventure, come home, put a couple months into the item, go on another adventure, come home, put in a couple more months, etc. and craft the item over the course of several adventures.

So by the time I'm a 30 year old human, and I want 7-8 pieces made, there goes 20 years of my life (assuming I'm not dead by then due to old age) just for pieces of gear that I probably could've obtained within 20 months time just going out slaying dragons or big bad guys.

That's assuming that, for some reason, your character has to hand-craft every piece of gear he wears.

For most characters, the equipment they use ends up being a mix of the crafted, the looted from the corpses of their enemies, and the just plain ol' store bought.

If you don't like it. Don't take the item creation feats. And take your gold to an NPC that did.

Crafting should be more of a profession and trade, and in regards to adventuring life, it should be something on the side, not something that would take your life's work to even complete a whole set of items meant for adventuring

That's kind of exactly the point though. The kind of equipment that a level 20 character wears is MEANT to be the kind of thing that some dwarf spend years of his life toiling at the forge to create. A +10 sword is SUPPOSED to take 6 months to craft.

The issue is that it takes Years. YEARS of time to craft, and there aren't any adventure(r)s and such (that I know of) that will (let you) have that kind of Downtime for adventuring.

Then the GMs you know are unusual in that regard.

There's a reason why there are rules in the books for how old characters live and what happens to them as they age. It's because many campaigns are played over the course of it's character's entire LIVES.

Unless GM is like "Hey guys, you did this module, town is safe from bad guys or whatever for an unusually long time, I'm giving you however long you need to perform upkeep on your gold and equipment and such,"

That's pretty much EXACTLY what most GMs do.

I'm not sure what's wrong with your campaign setting where the party will slay an ancient dragon, and 3 days later the countryside is ravaged by another ancient dragon.

Most RPG campaigns aren't like a TV show where something horrible happens every single week that demands the player's attention. And the higher level your party gets the greater the amount of time should be passing between crisis that are worth your party's time.

If your characters are in their mid to high teens and living in a kingdom where a new Pit Lord is bursting out of the earth every other day, then you've got serious problems.