Debnor's page

The flavor text in the first sentence for the Robust Recovery feat (Core p. 266) implies that only you can be the patient affected, and that's how my GM is ruling the feat works. But I think the intent is that anytime I Treat Disease or Poison on anyone, that patient gets the benefit. I believe that if they'd meant it only applied to me, they'd say "you," not "the patient." (In addition, of course, if someone else does so on me, I still get the benefit.)

Can anyone help? Here's the wording:

Robust Recovery -- Feat 2
You learned folk medicine to help recover from diseases and poison, and using it diligently has made you especially resilient. When you Treat a Disease or a Poison, or someone else uses one of these actions on you, increase the circumstance bonus granted on a success to +4, and if the result of the patient’s saving throw is a success, the patient gets a critical success.

It's clear that someone with a minion gets effectively 2 actions/turn, while the minion gets 2. If the familiar is independent, the "master" can get 3 actions/turn, while the familiar takes 1. Total in each case: 4. (I don't know about animal companions, but I believe it's the same.)

So what about Summoners & Eidolons? I think that you can do any of the following forms of action economy, but my players(!) think the pair can get only 2 or 3, potentially. (Act Together (AT), in short, is very poorly worded.) I'm sorry to write all this out, but it's gotten contentious.

Summoner: 1 (AT) + 1 + 1; Eidolon: 1 (AT)
Summoner: 1 (AT) + 2; Eidolon: 1 (AT)
Summoner: 2 (AT) + 1; Eidolon: 1 (AT)
Summoner: 3 (AT); Eidolon: 1 (AT)
Summoner: 1 (AT) + 1; Eidolon: 2 (AT)
Summoner: 1 (AT); Eidolon: 3 (AT)

I further believe that you cannot get something like this, since the action pool starts out with the summoner:
Summoner: 2 (AT); Eidolon: 1 (AT) + 1

You certainly cannot get this anyway possible:
Summoner: 2 (AT); Eidolon: 2 (????)

Is there something wrong or missing with my understanding?

The game I play in now is "taking a break" (yeah, right). The GM is starting up a new 1st-level campaign. And this is my first time actually building a character rather than just throwing something together for fun. So I’m nervous. And yeah, I asked about this when he first brought it up last March. I’ve reviewed what people recommended & the "Channeling the Cosmos" guide, and I'm building my PC for real now. Please review what I’ve got, and make cts.

NOTE: The GM severely restricts the material available to us. No material that’s in a splatbook or 3rd-party. Period. Material that’s actually on the PRD is a maybe. So if you make recs, please give me links to Paizo’s site, not the d20SRD. It will save us bandwidth on great ideas I can’t use.

Lore Oracle, Spirit Guide archetype, 1st Level
Ariel’s background is fairly solidified, and I want my build choices to make sense for RP as well as mechanics. I have a varied role in mind for her: tank, healer, and knowledge base.

Ability Scores
We roll stats, and I did incredibly well. I rolled a 16, 16, 15, 14, 14, 10 – equivalent to a 37-pt buy!!! (I admit, I think we use the same rules as Lady-J’s table does. This is still the best array I’ve rolled.) Aasimars get +2 Wis & Cha, and no penalties, so I distributed the results as follows…

Str 16, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 16 (14+2), Cha 18 (16+2). --Who needs Dex? Not a loracle! Her ability pt at 4th will go to Con, for a free Toughness.

Feat
Ariel gets only one at first. Given that I want her in melee and she only gets simple weapon proficiency, I’m going for…
Martial Weapon Proficiency (scimitar)
The 3rd level feat will be Extra Revelation, likely to get Lore Keeper, since Spirit Guides don’t get revelations for a long time after first level.

Traits

Drawback & Character Traits
Spirit-Sighted You often pay such attention to the spirits around you that you are surprised by the material world. You take a –2 penalty on Perception checks to avoid being surprised and on Reflex saving throws to avoid traps or hazards. [drawback, refluffed; the original is Sentimental] I’ve refluffed this, so it looks incredibly apt. Although it is at odds with some other features & trait options.

The alternative would be Meticulous (-2 to untrained skills).

Rich Parents You were born into the minor nobility, and even though you have been forced to turn to a life of adventure, you enjoy a one-time benefit to your initial finances—your starting wealth increases to 900 gp. [social] — At the start of the game, Ariel really needs to look like the pampered daughter of minor nobility. (I'm assuming the courtier’s outfit would cost her only 20 gp net.) My big question is: have I missed anything? I mean, something she’d have actually possessed before fleeing her burning home. OK, she bought a common backpack on the road to hold her clothes while she’s in armor, but that was a clear necessity. She won’t be used to traveling out of town, much less adventuring, when she arrives in the city where the game is beginning! Note: Yes, the obvious hole is a ranged weapon. I’m afraid of the Haunted penalty (from her curse), and given her lacrimose Dex, she’ll stick to her scimitar & her spells.

Now I have to choose one from each of the following pairs of traits. Again, she wants to tank, heal & know things...

Armor Expert You have worn armor as long as you can remember, simply as part of your upbringing as a noble. Your childhood armor encumbered you as much as real armor, and you've grown used to moving in such suits with relative grace. When you wear armor of any sort, reduce that suit's armor check penalty by 1, to a minimum check penalty of 0. [combat, slightly refluffed] —I’d say it was necessary given that tanks wear armor, and she can’t use Cha for Dex-based skills; this would indeed take the penalty to 0 for her masterwork chain shirt, giving her a whopping skill bonus of +0, untrained. This trait is also great for RP. The thing is, she’s not supposed to be the graceful acrobat & slippery sneak of the group. So I’m less excited about this one than the next.
OR
Reactionary You were bullied often as a child because of your odd, violet eyes, but never quite developed an offensive response. Instead, you have learned to let helpful spirits warn you of an impending attack. You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks. [combat, refluffed] —I’d say it was necessary given that she can’t use Cha for Init, but it flies in the face of the drawback I chose. Of course, I’ve fluffed it that some spirits are helpful and others not…

Focused Mind You read voraciously as a child, partly as a retreat from a home life that was subtly horrifying. You learned to block out distractions and focus on the immediate task at hand. You gain a +2 trait bonus on concentration checks. [magic, refluffed] —This fits the RP, and has been called a good buy.
OR
Magical Lineage Angelic blood runs in your veins, and yet you were committed at birth to an evil deity. Pick one spell when you choose this trait. When you apply metamagic feats to this spell that add at least 1 level to the spell, treat its actual level as 1 lower for determining the spell's final adjusted level. [magic, refluffed] —which spell? For a sorcerer/wizard, this trait has been called so essential I ban it from my game. But is it “essential” for a loracle bent on tanking, healing, and knowing things? [/spoiler]

Spells
SLA (CL 1st): 1/day – Daylight

Cantrips Known (4 + 2 from curse)
>> Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Guidance, Spark, Stabilize, & Mage Hand

1st-Level Spells Known (2 + 1 Cure)
>> Cure Light Wounds, Deathwatch, & Shield of Faith
I’m especially curious if you all have recs on spell choices.

Sooo, whew! How’d I do in general? Which of the traits should I pick? Are there better spells? How would you improve the build?

I'm introducing a new player race, dogfolk, to my campaign, and I'd like a good look-see. (PEACHing, maybe? I don't know what that means.) The party will be encountering members of this race very soon, so I will appreciate all the help I can get on making the race balanced, flavorful, and fun.

The idea is that there's a lot of variety in possible traits, to reflect how many different breeds of dogs there are. I'm hoping that the alternate racial traits see serious use, for instance.

I've got the write-up on DropBox, as the Dogfolk Word doc.

I have a player who is itching to play Albert from The Count of Monte Cristo. The son of a true villain, who believed in his father and challenged the man his father had wronged to a duel. After his father's dastardy was revealed, this character dragged himself off to a temple of Sarenrae and became Her paladin. Luckily, we're not far from Nybor, the location of what I said was the only temple to Sarenrae in Varisia. He'll be coming in at 4th level.

Unfortunately, that's my sense of this huge story he's dying to tell. Well, I can also tell you that it closely involves who deserves a noble title, and who is a traitor. There's slavery, too. I'm confident that it's not a Varisian story. So I've been perusing the Inner Sea World Guide, and it sure looks like Galt and one of the River Kingdoms are where the player would want to set his backstory. But that's many, many leagues from Varisia!

I had first thought of Cheliax. The civil war & takeover by the House of Thrune seem like it should lend itself to at least part of the story. And it definitely has nobles and slavery. Unfortunately, Thrune has been in charge for 70 years (it's 4710)! So any shenanigans that the PC's father had gotten up to would have been within a diabolical order, not in response to turmoil.

I admit, it's a home game, so I can make changes if I want. Maybe I'm best off altering Molthune to be run by outcast noble houses from Cheliax. (That's what I thought it was, before I read up.) Or maybe there's a better alternative yet.

I'm hoping that someone who knows the novel can help me come up with good locales near Varisia for its key events & characters.

I've got a player in my game who has been playing a fairly anemic gnome druid. (He has the weather domain, and a Str 10 & Cha 12, as examples of choices that have proven underwhelming in play.) Part of it is that he's had some rotten dice rolls, a problem for any character class. Part is that we've got a hunter in the party who's been treading on his toes a lot. He's been waiting for his spells to get more powerful at 5th level. (They've just hit 4th.) And maybe that's the answer.

I've told him I'd let him rearrange his stats, pick a different domain, whatever. We talked about it again tonight. He's now saying that he'd rather just retire the character and bring in a new one. Which also is fine. Except...

What he wants to do, strongly, is to play a paladin! A paladin of Sarenrae, if it matters.

When we started, I told the group I wasn't comfortable GMing a paladin PC. I DO NOT want to be posting the next "Should the Paladin Fall?" thread!

But now I'm considering it... This is a very good friend, and it's what he wants to play... And the party's fighters, a magus and a hunter/tiger combo, tend to be glass cannons...

I started a thread and got very little commentary, so I'm starting over. I did use the chance to think through what I wanted and what I thought it would cost, so at least I now have a concrete (err, gold) proposal to offer up. Does anyone please have suggestions as to the write-up? The party is getting the details on these tomorrow night!
...

Rings of Juxtaposition
Price 1,200; Aura moderate abjuration; CL 9th; Weight —

These gold rings are typically forged in sets of two to six rings, as indicated by engravings unique to each set. Spells of up to 4th level with a range of Touch may be cast upon a target at Close range, provided that the caster has line of effect to the target and both are wearing Rings of Juxtaposition from the same set. This does not affect the time that it takes to cast the spell or touch the target. Your Ring of Juxtaposition will not function until you have worn it for at least 24 hours, and will not affect spells cast from spell-trigger items.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Cost 600 gp
Forge Ring, Reach Spell

I just gifted my PCs in my Jade Regent game with a set of 6 Rings of Juxtaposition that would allow anyone wearing any ring in the set to cast a Touch spell on anyone else currently wearing another. My NPC gave them out at the end of the session. Now I get to think about the nitty-gritty. (Ouch! They finished up faster than I was ready for!)

I obviously am thinking of a different form of the

Reach Metamagic Rod Lesser reach metamagic rod 3,000 gp; Reach metamagic rod 11,000 gp; Greater reach metamagic rod 24,500 gp

The wielder can cast up to three spells per day with a one-step increase in their range category (such as from close to medium, or medium to long) as though using the Reach Spell feat.

Details I need to think about in setting limits on the gift & determining its value:

(A) The rod only applying to spells of a certain level vs. likely the same for the rings.
-- But what should the maximum spell level for the rings be?

(B) The rod granting 3 uses per day vs. most rings granting unlimited uses.
-- Do I need to impose a use limit on my Rings of Juxtaposition?
-- If so, is it for each caster, each target, or the set as a whole?

(C) The rod allowing any one-step increase vs. the rings granting step(s) up from Touch only.
-- Do the caster & target rings have to be in close range of each other (a one-step increase)?
-- How much more would it cost to permit medium range?
-- Is "close" or "medium" range defined for the caster or for the 7th-level ring-forger? (Is it set at 40 or 170 ft?)

(D) The rod affecting any type of spell vs. the rings affecting only (we hope) harmless spells. (See E.)
-- Do I need an attunement period to reduce shenanigans?
-- Would 1 hour do it?

(E) The rod affecting any target vs. the caster's ring affecting only up to 5 other ring-wearing targets.
-- Can a spell allowing multiple touches be delivered to one target via actual touch and another via ring?
-- Will delivering two charges of the spell to two different, ring-wearing targets take two actions?

(F) The rod occupying a hand vs. the rings occupying a ring slot.

(G) The rod not applying to spells cast from a wand or staff vs. I'd assume the same for the rings.
-- Or would the rings work differently?

(H) Whatever I'm overlooking.

I have a friend who talked about homebrewing a Pathfinderization of the Lankhmar setting from AD&D. I blanched, thinking of the work involved. And then it occurred to me that someone here might have done at least a basic job for her! Obviously, this would not be for publication in this or any lifetime.

Does anyone know of anything?

This is embarrassing, but I have a (still WIP) 5-page Word doc describing a new race. I want to post the doc and link it, rather than trying to post it internally on Homebrew.

OTOH, I'm suspicious of google security. (Facebook, too.) So I don't have an account. I can't spend a lot on this, either. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I'm doing a homebrew multiple-breed dogfolk race, and the question has come up of how essential Low-Light Vision would be for them. For current-day Golarion, I'm thinking "not" for most breeds. They live with and work with diurnal humans, so they need other canine strengths more.

Buuuut, I'm also thinking that the Azlanti would have created & enslaved the ur-breed, and Thassilonians would have brought them to Avistan. Unless someone has a more recent suggestion for their origin, they would have been freed by Earthfall, hard-scrabbling their way through the thousand-year Age of Darkness. That would have shaped a race this malleable. A lot.

So I started wondering just how dark the Age of Darkness actually was. I did find this:

And as for the "Thousand years of darkness" caused by Earthfall, there's a bit of metaphor going on there. The "darkness" itself lasted for a relatively short time; probably only a few years, in fact, but the ice age/mayhem caused by that certainly caused a darkness of civilization and hope. THAT'S the darkness part that lasted for 1000 years.

So what are we talking about? After the few years of darkness, I mean. Definitely ice-age climate & weather. But for light vs. darkness...

I don't need a whole sourcebook, but I hope you have a paragraph. Please.

What I'm considering is saying that...
Any creature with natural weapons counts as having Improved Unarmed Strike, strictly for purposes of meeting feat prerequisites.

This is intended to benefit monsters. But it would certainly also apply to the tiger my hunter has as an animal companion, and would apply to the druid when wild-shaped. (I doubt that he'd find it worth taking feats with IUS as a prereq, since they'd only work while wild-shaped, but I could be wrong.) Of course, I might end up with a PC who has natural weapons all of the time.

Still, it's just for prereqs.

It doesn't sound all that game-shattering to me, but... I could be deaf. Does anyone hear splintering noises?

I decided NOT to hijack another thread over on rules, so here I am. But I'm responding to a thread over on Rules.

Greater Grapple -- assuming that Grab = Improved Grapple.
I'm actually thinking that Grab = Improved & Greater Grapple, since Grab gives you the +4 bonus outright that the two feats provide, and what's actually a better ability to automatically damage the grapplee while also doing things like pinning them or moving with them. Or do I have something wrong here?

Rapid Grappler similarly confuses me. A swift action to make a grapple check on who? Is this how you'd grapple two foes? Obviously, a monster who grapples with its Bite isn't going to be able to take this feat! But one that grapples with two tentacles wants to be able to grapple with each one, each turn.

Grabbing Style sadly requires one of those class features from one or two levels in monk or brawler. Again, does the -4 penalty from using only one empty hand actually apply to a monster? Now, not losing your Dex bonus to AC while pinning a target could be important to some critters. What about monsters who do take the CMB penalty to not gain the grappled condition while grappling a foe? Do they also not lose their Dex bonus to AC while pinning a target?

The other feats in the Grabbing Style chain are so expensive that I think I'll bow out of seriously considering them. At least for the time being, until I get a much more advanced party to throw monsters at!

Maybe... Maybe you are just interpreting Grab more restrictively than I do. Maybe I'm naively interpreting it less restrictively than RAW. But when I look at a Giant Octopus, I see a critter that without any further feats should be able to make a full attack action of a bite at +13 (1d8+5 plus poison), and each of 8 tentacles at +11 (1d4+2 plus grab), meaning that each tentacle can slam into a separate target and grab them -- or maintain a grapple on them -- each turn. I guess the prob here is that maintaining a grapple is a standard action, not a full attack action. In which case, the giant octopus has to take a hefty -20 CMB on those grapples to get the full attack option, resulting in a -1 CMB applied to the dice. < Wince >

And if it needs two tentacles free to pull off each grab without a -4 penalty... But no, I just don't see that!

But it still looks like what I want is a simple monster feat to buy up the critter's CMB for grapples.

Help in sorting this out from the community would be appreciated -- along with further commentary from you, Stephen.

I'm trying to come up with a monster that doesn't exist in the Bestiary index. At lowish levels. I've got a draft, but something needs fixing...

I have questions on a spell I really, truly want to give a foe that my party will encounter:

(1a) Maybe the target gets a Fort save to not be paralyzed, besides getting their touch AC against the attack roll. Naturally, everyone in a 10-foot radius also gets their Fort save to not be sickened.

(1b) Or maybe the target is directly paralyzed upon the touch succeeding -- and the Fort save only negates everyone else's sickening. After all, normally targets of a successful melee touch attack don't also get the chance to save against the effect.

(Question 2) How long does the stench last?

(2a) According to the Core rules on Magic, a spread normally is a burst effect that goes around corners -- meaning, it is instantaneous. If they'd wanted to give the stench a duration, they properly should have called it an emanation. So technically, I should say that the stench floods the area and then clears, instantly.

(2b) However, in this case, the cause of the sickening stench has a duration: the target of the spell goes on being paralyzed for 1d6+2 rounds. And Entangle is an example of a spell that clearly has a lasting "spread." So I'm thinking that this spread actually has the same duration as the paralysis. Presumably, leaving the AoE effectively ends a character's sickened condition.

(Question 3) How do I adjudicate the stench?

(3a) I could say that you get one chance to save, and either you're sickened for the duration of the paralysis, or the sickening is negated. Obviously, that includes everyone but the caster who is in the spread on the round when the target is first paralyzed. It would presumably also include creatures who enter it on later rounds, if the stench lasts. So anyone who encounters the stench makes one Fort save, save-or-suck. But while this is normally how spell effects are adjudicated, the spell description doesn't actually specify that characters are immune if they save.

(Bonus question, given this adjudication) If the caster casts the spell again, on a different target nearby (as she is highly likely to do), does everyone have to make new Fort saves?

(3b) The stench is specifically called out as a poison effect. Admittedly, the rules on inhaled poisons in Ultimate Equipment only make sense if the spread lasts for the spell's duration. I just think it's reasonable to say that you make a Fort save at the beginning of every round that you're in the spread. And every time you fail a save, the DC for the next one goes up by +2. (Although the duration is still that of the paralysis.) OTOH, if you succeed in your save, the sickening is negated for that round and the DC resets for the next one. With this ruling, you go on with making saves every round for the entire duration of the poison.

{<groan!> (Added question 4) How do I define the "10-foot-radius spread?" (See the AoE diagrams here; I'm looking at a big difference -- and more if the target is enlarged!

(4a) I use the 10-foot radius diagram in gray (toward the top of the page); it spreads out from any one corner of the paralyzed target's square (my choice).

(4b) I use the diagram for a 10-foot effect "centered on you" -- except that in this case, it's centered on the target, not caster. (d20 gives it as the "Reach" diagram toward the bottom of the page, in this case for a 10-foot reach.) Honestly, this is what makes the most sense to me.}

Normally, when I look at a spell or item this problematic, I just skip right over it. But Ghoul Touch is soooo nasty, and so well suited not just to this foe but likely others in the future! So I'd really appreciate some help on handling the spell.

I've put together the concept of a unique item to be offered the PCs as loot, based largely on inspiration from folks in the Jade Regent thread. My version, however, calls for chapters of magnificently bombastic arcane or philosophical meanderings, each followed by utterly absurd metaphysical exercises. (Except that the final chapter consists only of blank pages.) The players will get the following explanation:

Despite the absurdity of the prose, you each do feel drawn to read a different, specific chapter -- other than the final one on Universal. Please choose a unique chapter now. Let me know if you do study your chapter; it will take 24 hours in increments of 4 to 8 hours a day to master the material. And if you ever choose to read a second chapter, by all means let me know!

I also would like some help on meeting the high (or low, depending on your point of view!) standard of "magnificently bombastic arcane or philosophical meanderings." Fortunately, I'm only writing two snippets from the Prologue, and the diverse chapter titles. I believe I could put these in the clear, but I'm spoilering them anyway, just to save on screen space. I'm really wordy, but this is bombastic, remember? :)

OK, maybe it's not an artifact. But the magic item I need is mucho powerful, and I'm not going to worry about its cost. These 6th-level PCs won't be stupid enough to contest with an admittedly minor goddess -- but still, a goddess -- over its possession. However, I do need to stat the thing out, because the PCs will undoubtedly find it -- and PCs do the darnedest things!

Being a novice GM, I just threw at my APL-4 party what may be the nastiest critter they have faced yet: a CR 2 swarm of rats. Now, it's not as bad as a swarm of spiders, granted. But it's nowhere near a "just to soften them up" encounter, especially since they're making Fort saves to avoid being sickened. (They did a great job on that one; the precautions they took mean that they will succeed on anything but a nat-1. Unfortunately, there have been two nat-1's in just the first round of combat!) Well, we ended for the night after the first round of combat, leaving me with a swarm of questions. {And reviewing the Rules back-history didn't help all that much, sadly.}

Let's start with the link to the Bestiary notes on the Swarm subtype; "Swarm" is near the bottom of the page.

A swarm made up of Tiny creatures takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons. A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage. Reducing a swarm to 0 hit points or less causes it to break up ....

A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.

~~~~

1: Weapon Damage Is any damage inflicted by a Frost Longsword halved? (That is, both the slashing part and the 1d6 cold part?) I admit, my party doesn't have one of those yet, but the answer has implications. And I'm bound to throw more swarms their way... so I'd really like to know if a weapon enchanted to add energy damage does any damage at all to a spider swarm, for instance.

The world seems to be a simpler place if "weapon damage" explicitly refers to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (and not energy damage). Then a Frost Longsword would indeed do only half of its total slashing damage but all of the 1d6 cold vs. a rat swarm, and 1d6 cold (only) vs. a spider swarm.

~~~~

2: AC The Rat Swarm listed in the Bestiary has an AC of "AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)." I'm incredulous! Shouldn't that be
... AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 8 (+2 Dex, -2 size)?

~~~~

3: AoE I touched on splash weapon attacks in my examples re: AC above. Let me summarize my current understanding, to be sure I have it right. If someone targets a swarm as a creature with a splash attack, and hits, it takes 150% of (typically) 1d6 damage. The attacker gets to specify which square of the creature they're aiming for, and anyone other than the swarm who is adjacent to that square takes 1 pt of splash damage. Since the swarm was the primary target, it takes no secondary damage. Similarly, if the attacker targets a grid intersection, the swarm can take no more than 1 pt of splash damage.

In terms of an AoE spell like Burning Hands, I suspect that the swarm again counts as only one target, no matter how many of its squares are affected, albeit for 150% of the damage rolled. However, I'm not so sure of myself here. Is this right?

~~~~

4: Dispersal What the bleep happens after they finally disperse these horrors? Apparently, hundreds of rats go streaming into the wall & floor cracks out from which they came. Can the swarm re-form later? Should it, given some time? Or is "break up" a different way of saying that the party has put an end to the threat for good?

~~~~

This is it for tonight, at least! Goodnight, and thank you for your help.

My husband Debnor & I are starting in a brand-new campaign, 1st-level, limited to basic PRD books only. To give you an idea of the restrictions, when I asked about race, the GM said, "Nothing funny." "So only Core races?" I asked. "Well, I wouldn't mind aasimars or tieflings," he answered. So I promptly began thinking about aasimars, and Debnor (I could tell by the look on his face, too!) promptly began considering tieflings. As you can see, however, 3rd-party races are beyond the pale. I don't know about catfolk & other featured ARG races...

We have a wizard & a dwarf ranger (weapon-style TBA), our two characters, and up to two more TBA.

I'm thinking of a lore oracle with the spirit guide archetype. I do very poorly at last-minute spell selection, but adore spontaneous casters, so spirit guide oracle might be the best mix of prepared vs. spontaneous for me at this point. (Someday I'll be ready for arcanist...) And I love the potential of a lore oracle for a mix of utility.

Of course, the archetype means that I only get one (!) revelation before 11th level, most likely Lore Keeper.

If Melee Touch attacks for spells count as light weapons (do they?), I'll go for Weapon Finesse at 1st level. Then I can keep Str near 10, focus on Dex, and get decent spell attacks in whether melee or ranged. Of course, I'll want an even higher focus on Cha. (I expect we'll roll for stats.) What would be good stat priorities if melee touches don't count?

If we need a roguish sort, Debnor is looking at an empiricist investigator. If he can get the GM's permission, he's looking at sylph or ratfolk; otherwise elf. He says he's never been a fan of poison use, anyway, so giving that up isn't a big loss. And empiricist lets him focus mostly on building up Int, and secondarily Dex. He'll also want good Dex-to-damage somehow. (Dervish dancing will not be an option with this GM!)

If we don't, he would want to play a whip-wielding, no-archetype magus as controller. Or he may take a look at hexcrafter. For race, he likes a tiefling with a prehensile tail. (Metamagic rods!)

We'd both like suggestions and comments!

I have a gnome PC in a game I'm running. He wanted a hat made with "eyeballs" on it. The shop owner agreed to "embroider" eyes, and he left saying he didn't really want that, he wanted something odd. I mean, he's a gnome, with a really off sense of humor.

Out of game, I wanted to make the player happy, so the shop owner ran over to the local wizard and got Silent Image cast on the hat, continuous use. Never mind that I now know she makes Masterwork stuff, which she hadn't charged for. I suppose she was simply a bit naive about that; I'd stressed how well-made her goods were in narrative description. The image in question is a pair of animated eyes on the hat ribbon. The eyes can close; wink; look far left or right; look straight ahead; look cross-eyed -- all at random. (The wearer has no control, and gets no benefit in terms of his vision -- although I'd be willing to let something like Dark Vision be added later, for normal cost.) The hat does take up the Head slot.

Now: how much does this cost? By the formula in the book, I think it's 4,000 gp plus the cost of the item (already paid for). It's a 1st-level spell, but continuous use. (I'm assuming that a spell with a duration of "Concentration" makes it cost double rather than quadruple.)

For a pure joke item, that's absurd! So how low should I cut it? 1,000 gp? 400? Say she did the spell for free?

I know, there are no stupid questions except for those you don't ask. Well, the party has almost gotten to 4th level, and I haven't asked these until now, so I think they qualify. The thing is, I recently realized that we were doing something wrong w/ a different feature for a player's hunter class. And then someone else created a thread about Magic Items for animal companions. So I thought, gee, maybe I should verify a few things about the tiger in my game. And then explore further.

So first, would someone please check my math, assuming no feats, items, or other ways of adding to the base stats? The hunter has spells and a special feature for augmenting her companion, but again, we'll ignore that.

Now for the more substantive questions.

Rake: If the tiger starts the round in a grapple, she can use her rake -- but is that in addition to the full suite of natural weapons? What if she decides to go for a pin instead of those ordinary attacks?

Skills: We almost had the poor beastie drown at 1st level, swimming a torpid swamp river, because she hadn't had enough skill ranks to put one into Swim. (I decided that instead she made it to the wrong bank.) Should she indeed have only 3 skill ranks? Or 3 plus 1 per level, for a total of 6 skill ranks now? Even the latter seems abnormally low for a lithe, perceptive, stealthy tiger. I'm scrambling with a homebrew solution, but I'd love to hear we understood it wrong.

Tricks: We started out with the player having essentially telepathic control of her companion; the tiger was doing some very complex actions to help her friend. Essentially, she was acting as a fully-intelligent cohort. (Novice GM, what can I say?) I've figured out finally that no, that doesn't work. I'm playing the tiger now, to facilitate a simple level of communication.

But the player is going to kick and scream if I tell her she has to limit herself to 8 specific commands. That if "Flank" isn't on the list, but she wants Bright Eyes to flank a known party member, it's a DC 25 Handle Animal check (27 if wounded). The hunter isn't a Cha-based character; I'm pretty sure her skill bonus is +10 right now, counting the Druid's +4 bonus. And this isn't just a trained circus tiger; it's a character who is devoted to her elven companion, who is following commands not out of a desire for treats, but out of love. RAW, is there really no mitigation for the Handle Animal rules for animal companions, other than the bonus tricks?

Does it make a difference if the hunter or another PC uses Speak with Animals? For that matter, will this get better at 11th level, when the elf & tiger can speak to each other at will?

Bonus question: Looking ahead, at 7th level the kitten will finally grow into a cougar (err, tiger). We have:

7th-Level Advancement: Size Large; AC +2 natural armor; Attack bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Attacks grab, pounce, rake (1d6).

Now I believe that some of these are additions and some replacements, confusingly. If I have it correctly, the tiger's size CHANGES to Large; her AC ADDS +2 NA; her attack dice CHANGE; her Ability Scores ADD pluses or minuses; and she ADDS two new Special Attacks and CHANGES the damage die on the third. I'd love confirmation of this!

Changelings get a trait based on what type of hag their mother is. Has anyone written one for winter hags?

Ice Climber (Winter Hag): The changeling gains a +5 racial bonus on Climb checks on icy or slippery surfaces.

isn't compelling for me.

I'm thinking of the following:
(2 RP) Cold-Affinity A changeling possesses a trait based on what type of hag her mother is; for winter hags, it’s
Cold Affinity —she gains +1 to the caster level of any spells with the cold descriptor that she casts, and +1 to the DC of any saving throws against such spells.

What do you think?

This is my first Pathfinder dungeon. :) The party is set to walk into a kobold lair tomorrow night, and I want to ask about some stuff.

Please spoiler your answers; my favorite player :) is prone to reading my threads.

I need help building my sorceress’s Spells Known – please, pretty please. I put her together on the “What looks like fun?” model of character building, and in that respect, the build has been successful. But she’s gotten to the exalted heights of 10th level (we’re leveling up to 11th right now, before the next game), and for the past few encounters, I’ve found that the world is windier up here. In short, SR has become a problem. Plus, I’ve been reading these boards now, and have figured out that actually planning a build can be helpful.

So here I am, trying to fix ten levels (eek!) of haphazard spell-picks, or at least plan the next two to four to balance them out. (Forgive my cynicism, but I’m well aware that campaigns often fall apart at windy heights, and we level slowly. Planning all the way to 20th level when reaching it is years away at best still seems unnecessary to me.)

Luckily, 11th is a great level to be reaching after coming to this realization – I get a spell of every level, 2nd through 5th. Only 1st is completely filled up, although I am getting my last 2nd and 3rd spell this level, not counting retraining. On retraining: my GM has no formal rules for it, but the sorcerer class description says I can swap out one spell every even level, so that’s what I can count on for 12th & 14th.

I’m not looking for help right now on feats, equipment & so forth, just spells. I’m also not looking for advice on dips or other extreme power builds, just spells. But I sure can use your help on spells!

Varitsa’s current spells known:
Arcana Change descriptor & damage of any energy spell to fire.
Bloodline Powers Fire Ray (1d6 + 10 currently, incl. FCB, ranged touch, max 10x/day, SR: I believe “yes”); Fire Resistance 20; Efreeti Form (su, 11 rds (D), 1x/day, no flight).
Cantrips Acid Splash; Detect Magic; Light; Open/Close; Prestidigitation; Ray of Frost; Read Magic; Resistance; Spark (9)
1st Level Break; Burning Hands; Color Spray; Enlarge Person*; Grease; Magic Missile (6).
2nd Level Acid Arrow; Fiery Shuriken; Invisibility; Scorching Ray*; Rope Trick (5).
3rd Level Fireball*; Invisibility Sphere; Lightning Bolt; Slow (4).
4th Level Greater Invisibility; Stoneskin; Wall of Fire* (3).
5th Level Feeblemind (1); Persistent Image* @ 11th (2)
*Bloodline spells

Can you help me sort through this mess?

This subject came up in another thread, but didn't fit the topic. As Xuldarinar points out, the Core description of the Sorcerer class states the following:

Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list presented in Spell Lists. [...] These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of through study.

This language certainly makes it look like sorcerers are indeed limited to arcane spells, but not necessarily to spells on the sorcerer/wizard list, given "study."

If so, each GM apparently has to decide what study means. Some possibilities:
>> Obtaining & consuming a scroll or page from a magus's spellbook, although that would make learning witch or alchemist spells difficult.
>> Having a witch/magus/whatever tutor the sorcerer for the costs of casting the spell.
>> Making notes instead of or in addition to these other means -- not to keep as a spellbook, but just jottings for learning the spell -- with a cost the same as what wizards incur in writing new spells into their spellbooks.
{> Researching the spell as a wizard would do, with the same costs (at least 1,000 gp per level of the spell).}

[EtA: Another quote from Core...

Adding Spells to a Sorcerer's or Bard's Repertoire: A sorcerer or bard gains spells each time she attains a new level in her class and never gains spells any other way. [...] With permission from the GM, sorcerers and bards can also select the spells they gain from new and unusual spells that they come across while adventuring.

Here, it's not "study," it's "coming across" them. Still, I can see a GM wanting some sort of doodles about such a spell -- the "making notes" option I gave above or the research.}

I was dumbfounded when Xuldinar pointed out what should have been plain for me to see as someone who plays a sorcerer by preference. Despite the inherent table variation over what constitutes "study" or "come across," I don't see a reason RAW to bar a sorcerer from learning arcane spells that are not on the S/W list.

Anyone else?

Seriously, I'm whipping together a dungeon on the fly -- me & my big mouth, due to... reasons... my GMPC got captured by kobolds when I hadn't planned it. (The group knows they're getting an ad hoc adventure.)

So now I'm whipping together a small kobold lair; I have a basic layout done. But I want the chief to be able to see what's happening elsewhere in the lair. He's got sorcerers on tap and all, but presumably he's a martial.

There's got to be a magic spell that can be made permanent, or a magic item, that would create the functionality of a camera for a non-caster. Doesn't there?

(1) Have people used the Alternate Crafting rules from Unchained? What do you think?

(2) If you use those, what do you do with the Master Alchemist feat? I'm considering giving the same benefit to alchemical items as poisons -- you can make as many items at one time as your Int bonus for the proper gp cost but no extra time -- and say both use the Unchained rules w/out modification. What do you think?

(3) For potions & scrolls, does anybody cut creation time? What rules do you use? I'm thinking of simply saying "up to 1,000 gp per day" -- which amounts to 125 gp per hour of undistracted work. (Work in the field could be done here & there, for up to 4 hours/day, per Core -- but still only nets you 2 hours of progress, per Core.)

Example: I have 2 hours to kill (or maybe instead 4 hours in a distracted environment). By Core, I can brew one 1st-level potion, or scribe one 1st- or 2nd-level scroll. By this proposed rule, I could:
>> brew five 1st-level potions (5*50=250), or
>> scribe an amazing ten 1st-level scrolls (10*25=250), or
>> scribe one 2nd-level scroll & four 1sts (1*150 + 4*25 = 250), or
>> an appropriate mixture of brewing & scribing.

Does anyone have comments? Cautions?

(4) What about creation time for other magic items? Is there a positive benefit to saying, "Sure, you can get this made (or make it), and it will be ready by the time the adventure is over"?

I'm putting together a homebrew fairy-tale kind of world (this week!) for a game with my sister, who's coming in from out of town for the holiday. I want a world with "furry" PC races. Races like catfolk. (Except I'm calling them animal-kin races to distinguish my variants from Paizo's and others'.) This will be for a single adventure for 5th-level characters, although if it takes off, it could grow in scope. The PCs live in a land called Winter, with subarctic temperatures. And my adventure takes place near... the winter solstice, oddly enough. :)

To start with, all of my races have some SQ, and I'm not sure how to price these in RP. I also have some specific questions about them...

>> Change Shape (su; <source animal>, Beast Shape I or II). As per the Universal Monster Rules, except that changing to a shape two sizes smaller is permitted.

>> Beastspeech (su). Prerequisite: Animal-kin subtype; Benefit: Members of this race have the ability to converse with animals as if subject to a continual Speak with Animals spell. This ability includes conversing with other animal-kin in beast shape.

>> Winter-Bred (ex). Members of this race never make Constitution checks when dealing with cold ambient temperatures, but suffer -4 on such a check when dealing with hot ones. (In other words, I don't want my PCs to freeze to death. Those Con rolls in Core are nasty! I'm thinking this might even come in at 0 RP, since there's a stiff penalty should someone take this race out of their homeland.)

My final question on this topic concerns my last PC race, the Changeling. They're the offspring of a hag and an animal-kin (and now deceased) male. They'll get Winter-Bred, but not Beastspeech. And they don't actually have a "source" animal for Change Shape, for all that they look almost like their father's race. (Mismatched eyes & some sort of coloring give their parentage away.) I'm thinking of giving them:
>> Change Shape (su; <hag type>, Alter Self). (Lesser, 3 RP)

But then what do they get in exchange for Beastspeech?

My sister is visiting for almost two weeks... starting in 10 days. It just occurred to me that since she's finally expressing some interest in RPGs, I could run a mini-adventure for my husband Debnor & her.

The obvious thing to do would be to pick up a module, but no: I'm determined to do this one homebrew. I'll have questions as a result for that board, but I think you all here are the right ones to ask this basic question: What level would be best for a starting PC?

I don't think it's 1st, and in any case, the monsters I want this party to tackle are too high of a CR. I've established, with massive amounts of help from the GM’s Guide to Creating Challenging Encounters, that I need either three 5th-level PCs or two 6th-level ones.

Luckily, Debnor is a very experienced player, and would have no trouble running two PCs. I want "fun" furry races (including some homebrew), but otherwise everything will be out of the Core Rulebook. Not the Beginner's Box.

I'll be knocking Monks & Paladins clear out of the gameworld, and Clerics would be serving principles of nature rather than gods as such (it's got distant deities). Plus, I will strongly encourage {my sister} away from prepared casters like said Clerics, along with Druids & Wizards -- and I think even Bards or Fighters are too tough to play well if you don't know the book. If she follows my advice, she'd be looking at Barbarian, Ranger, or Rogue. Is Sorcerer so bad to add to this short list???

I want a nature-based tribal society, so classes like Shaman & Warpriest would normally be gimmees, and I'd love to throw Hunters in, too. {EtA: In fact, when I look at it, almost all the classes of the ACG would fit well -- Skald, Bloodrager... Just not Investigator or Swashbuckler. <sigh>} But I'm afraid to hand a complete newbie too many mechanics, too many sources. Even letting Debnor play something tribal but non-Core... I'm dubious.

Certainly, Core mechanics all the way, so there's no archetypes or FCB. Only Core feats & spells. Oh, one non-Core mechanic: I'll be using the Automatic Bonus Progression from Unchained; I think it will simplify picking starting equipment. Is this doable at 5th or 6th level, for a complete novice?

My 10th-level sorceress has a fair amount of money after our last haul or two, and she's in the biggest city around (a "metropolis"), which hosts a wizard's academy to boot. In short, I want her to do some shopping, but I need someone to come with and help in sorting out what metamagic rods to buy. Fun, right? :)

My question to you in part is what feats to plan for 11th & 13th levels, so I can coordinate rod purchases around them.

Non-metamagic feats
The following possible feats have occurred to me and not gotten whittled off the list:

• Arcane Blast (inefficient as all get-out, but no resistances apply)
  
• Quick Draw (to draw rods from the Scabbard as a free action)
  
• Again, I'm planning on Spell Penetration at 17th level, but am prepared to entertain vociferous arguments for not waiting.
  -- I'm also more than happy to hear suggestions for what ought to be on this list.

Whew! I hope you all can help. I'm awash in possibilities here.

Another thread has focused my attention on the extraordinarily high cost of staves. I really want to understand the math here. It's incomprehensible to me, and now I'm responsible for a game world. I hope that someone can describe any kind of cost-effectiveness for staves.

That example was theoretical, asked because I'm starting to GM Pathfinder. The next one is rather dearer to my heart...

To put it another way, if a class/archetype can (a) call itself a "scout" and (b) can steal things, what is it? I don't mean a thieving, no-good Sczarni turned scout (multi-class), I mean a solid choice who could get themselves hired for the job of "scout" but who can handle traps & locks.

I have to develop a 2nd-level NPC for my game TOMORROW, and it just occurred to me that I might not want to create a "scout" as a bow-using ranger. Especially since there's traps up ahead, and no one among the PCs who can deal with them!

Much thanks for any help you can give!

Is there a generator or at least listing of cool names for businesses in a Varisian town?

I don't know if this is the right board...

I've been unable to print directly from the PRD. Maybe Paizo wants me to have to buy a pdf to print! But maybe there's a step I'm missing. If so, can you fill me in?

Yes, I know I can copy text paragraphs directly from the PRD and paste them into Word, but this doesn't help with the big tables in the class descriptions. I'm recommending precisely one base class to a newb GM/set of players from each of two books besides Core, no other material from those books at all, and I just realized that they might not be able to get printed copies of a handful of pages for personal use. Of material under the OGL.

On a related note: When I go to print from my pdf copies, I've been printing whole pages, including perhaps the tail end of the previous section. Is there a way to select material and print just that from pdf?

~~
Added: I'm truly grateful for Paizo's generosity in putting all of its OGL content onto the website. To any Paizo staff seeing this: Thank you! The good news is, I've bought lots of books (paper & pdf), and these new players are likely going to be paying customers for years to come. I think that is the point of seeding material on the website. I'm just wondering where the generosity ends.

Let's say that a kobold named... Jack... has been stuffed into the King's dungeon by the Royal Captain of the Guard. If it's an oubliette with a very solid trapdoor on the overhead opening, he doesn't have LoE to any squares outside of his cell, plain and simple.

But no, this dungeon features brick walls 4 inches thick (drawn by the GM on the grid lines), and a barred, iron door 30 inches wide and 5 feet high. The cells are 15 feet wide & 15 feet deep, and the door is smack in the middle of the middle square of the wall facing the corridor. Said corridor is ten feet wide. Jack regains consciousness to find that he has been stripped down to his undies, gagged, and has his hands tied behind his back. But he grins, because he is a kobold, and has an inherent 15-foot fire cone breath weapon. OK, so much for set-up...

First scenario: The bars in the door are strictly vertical and 8 inches apart. Jack is standing in the exact center of his cell, and breathes fire as the guard approaches the door, but is still in the corridor. If Jack had been hoping to cover 6 squares of corridor, he'll be disappointed; the cell's brick walls protect most of those squares. However, seeing as the vertical bars leave holes in the door measuring 2/3 x 5 feet, or over 3 square feet apiece, his breath shoots out the door and fully envelops the two corridor squares beyond it, crisping the guard at the door (assuming 2d6 can crisp him).

Second scenario: The door has the same vertical bars, but in addition, horizontal strips of iron have been forged onto them 9 inches apart. (Note that now the openings are 8" x 9" = half a square foot.) Again, Jack breathes fire from the center square as the guard approaches the door, and again, fails to penetrate the brick walls on each side of the central square. What about the center one now? Which of the following should a GM say?
(A) "The door isn't a solid barrier, your fire breath shoots into the two corridor squares beyond it."
(B) "The door doesn't have any openings at least a square foot in size, so your breath doesn't have line of effect past the wall of your cell."

I'll admit, I know what I think the answer ought to be, but I'd genuinely like to know if I'm picking (A) as a house rule or as RAW. Put it another way, I'm trying to understand Line of Effect better. Please help!

BIIG EDIT: I want to pick A -- changed now in the text -- not B! OOOPS

Deuce started a thread in Rules, and we uncovered an interesting factoid: You can use Raise Dead on someone with missing body parts just present or loosely attached. He turned that into an odd twist for a PC who'd died due to losing his... brain... and in the end, the party had to install a random brain(!) in the PC's corpse, raised dead, and the halfling rogue ended up with a half-elf Luckbringer's brain. Player's happy, GM's happy, good story.

Now I don't want to get into a rules rehash over whether Raise Dead really could raise someone with a brain other than their own tucked inside their skull. Or, the way I'm spinning it, whether it could raise someone (the brain) tucked into a body other than their own. I'm simply thinking that it's a cool backstory!

Let's say that the daughter of a noble (or king?) got caught up in politics over her level & was betrayed by someone she trusted. One de-braining later, and she's accepting a Raise Dead, not knowing that her brain has been put into the body of a monster of some kind. (I assume that the noble/royal body is being sequestered now that it has the brain of a monster... But that's not my story, or rather, dealing with that is my quest.)

So I'm trying to work out a new character idea, and I'd love suggestions.

At the moment the whole concept is not only nebulous, I have no idea if my GM, or any GM, will approve it. But it's teasing at me... So thanks for your help! (Oh, at this point, I don't need full builds, just guidelines.)

A group I'm playing in just added the GM's 12-year-old daughter. She's doing okay, except that somehow she ended up with a fighter/wizard. (Her dad's old-school advice, I think, given some sort of preference on her part.) As I feared, it's beyond her capability! She's talking about switching to just fighter.

However, I've noticed Bloodrager in the ACG. It seems like it might be a magic-light option for a fighter/caster: something that would let her learn a few magic abilities at a time and play her character with greater confidence, yet still have a "magical" flavor to a front-line fighter.

What do you all think of Bloodrager for a beginner?

If it matters, she's currently playing an elf, and probably would keep that race. I have to admit, it doesn't seem the most elvish of classes...

I've been working to actually understand the rules for drawing AoE's, since I can't just "ask the GM" if I'm running LOL! And it sure looks to me like they did one of the templates wrong here, if you scroll down to find the dirty pictures. So I went to read old threads on this topic, but they're not helping. I hope someone can explain the template given for a 15-foot cone shooting straight "up" (ahead) -- without resorting to geometry! Or I'll be happy, actually, if someone can confirm my sense that they goofed.

With a slash representing the caster, pointing to the point of origination (pov), numbers showing where the effect falls, and blue "o"s to represent nearby uninvolved squares, this is the cone I understand:

o 3 o o o
o 2 4 o o
o 1 2 3 o
/ o o o o

Basically, the cone starts with 5-ft from the pov as 1, which can actually be drawn in any of three directions. Both 2s are straight line, and therefore another 5-ft, each leading to a 3 beyond it, also 5-ft. Or the cone could take a diagonal path through 1 & a second diagonal to the far side of "4," which therefore counts as 10-ft. In all three cases, it has reached its range of 15 feet and stops.

That was assuming the caster angled the spell to fire in the direction of 4. Now let's assume that the caster wants to fire straight ahead (up, on this grid). I'd draw the following. (Important: the slash shows the corner of origination, not the angle of the cone.)

o 3 3 o o
4 2 2 4 o
o 1 1 o o
o / o o o

It is still the case that the effect travels from a corner of the caster's square to a 1 -- but now there are two of them, both actually reflecting diagonal movement -- at 5-ft, as the first diagonal. If one continues straight up, it leads to the two 2's and 3's, all 5-ft. If instead one continues diagonally, one reaches the two 4's at 10-ft for a second diagonal. Again, end of range in all cases. This shape is, in fact, the one given for the 30-foot cone and precisely 15 feet shorter! (Forgive me if I don't type that one out! LOL)

Instead, Core gives the following cone for "straight up:"

o 3 3 3 o
o 2 2 2 o
o o 1 o o
o o ? o o

(Minus the benefit of numbers, of course!) The thing is, I cannot figure out what the pt. of origin is nor what paths they took from 1 to the various 2s to the various 3s that would be (a) legal and (b) eliminate any other possibilities. (For instance, if 1 isn't a diagonal, there should be a 3 on each end of the row of 2s, shouldn't there? "3" means a square orthogonally adjacent to a 2.)

Help, please please please!

A question came up in Saturday's game. Three goblins were in a row on the far edge of the AoE of a PC's Entangle spell, and failed their saves. In descriptive terms, their hobgoblin sergeant spent three turns behind them, cursing them out -- while he pulled one goblin at a time free of the ensnaring grass. What mechanics should I have used for this?

Giving the goblins a simple +2 for Aid Another on their own checks seemed way too little -- the creature aiding them was a size category larger, far stronger, and willing to be unkind in his methods!

I ended up giving the sergeant first a CMB check to safely grab hold of a minion as a standard action. This wasn't strictly speaking a grapple check -- it went up against the spell's DC, rather than the rescuee's (lower) CMD, and he was able to do it from an adjacent square outside the AoE. The question was simply whether he could grab hold of a non-resisting target in such a fashion that the grass that was entangling said target didn't ensnare his hands. Then, as a move action, he had to beat the spell's DC a second time, now with a Strength check. I called it a move action because that's what the spell asks for if you're trying to free yourself.

I could have perhaps also given him a free action to then drop his rescuee -- I did say he was willing to be unkind. Instead, each goblin scrambled out of the hobgoblin's hold on his own turn -- but with no check to end a grapple, as the sergeant wasn't resisting.

Well, in the end, the pitifully puny goblins failed miserably to win free on their own, round after round, so it was good for them that the burly hobgoblin succeeded in all 6 checks. Still, the sergeant's rescue efforts ate up three whole turns of his time. On the whole, I'm happy with how it came out, but I'm wondering if there's a better procedure. Since two PCs have the spell, I'm betting the question of rescue will come up again...

Furthermore, I may have blipped on something significant. Was I supposed to keep on giving my hapless goblins the "entangled" penalties even after they got free of the grass? Really?

I'm in the process of creating new dragons for Minkai, based of course on Japanese legends about dragons. For instance, minkaian dragons are three times as old at any given age category as a typical Inner Sea dragon. I've come up with the following SLAs. I'd love comments!

Special Abilities All minkaian dragons develop the following spell-like abilities as they age.

I'm new to GMing Pathfinder, although not to playing it, and I'm being challenged by encounter design. Especially, given my party...

So now they've got five PCs -- I believe an APL-3 party on the face of it ((3+3+3+2+2)/5), but I'm thinking it's more like APL-5 because of the extra pcs, player abilities, the animal companion, and now, a significant healing presence. No more NPCs helping out, I assure you! :)

So my first question is: Am I right in planning for them as if they're APL-5? (As corroborating evidence, the three 3rd-level PCs just faced a max-HP cyclops (CR-5). They won--the bladebound critted and did 75 pts of damage in one round! But they got scared, first. The tiger got taken down to 1 HP, still in the black.)

~~~

My second question is how to design an encounter that will stress them without breaking them.

Example encounter --

Of course, while I'm definitely hoping for help before I run this encounter on Friday, what I'm really hoping for are some guidelines and suggestions for giving my group a challenging, fun time in general.

In Golarion, I mean. RL, of course, it was, well, not exactly philosophers...

Constraining characters to one of nine alignments is a philosphical system worthy of the Greeks, isn't it? Seeing complex, multi-faceted personalities in terms of a 3x3 grid...

"But it's reality!" you protest. "Reflected in the Outer Planes!" Sure, it helps a lot if you can travel extra-planar. But I doubt that Asmodeus has mounted a massive "Lawful Evils welcome" sign at the gates of Hell. Someone had to get to know these various outer planes and then try to find a systemic way to describe them: philosophers -- or maybe theologians.

So whose? Does the grid go all the way back to the aboleths? Azlant? Thassilon? Or were they all groping with a complex reality that only a civilization post-Earthfall codified?

I'm running Jade Regent, and looking at changing the alignment system for a different, Japanese-feeling Minkai. The effort has made me curious what name to use for the Inner Sea understanding, which seems reflective of western & specifically Christian notions of "good" and "evil." (Funny, that! ;) )

PS: If anyone can point me to discussions of others who have looked at Japanese alignments, I would be very grateful!

I've got a bladebound magus in a game I'm running, and I love the class & archetype, except for how long energy attunement lasts. Well, plus there's three odd-numbered levels where the blade doesn't get anything. In short, I'm thinking of modifying the archetype description under Black Blade Ability Descriptions by adding the bolded text:

Energy Attunement (Su): Starting at 5th level, as a free action, a magus can spend a point of his black blade's arcane pool to have it deal one of the following types of damage instead of weapon damage: cold, electricity, or fire. He can spend 2 points from the black blade's arcane pool to deal sonic or force damage instead of weapon damage. At 5th level, this effect lasts until the start of the magus's next turn. At 7th, 11th, and 15th levels it lasts one additional round (to a maximum of 4 rounds at 15th level).

Edited to add: What do you all think? Is there something I'm overlooking?

I was dissatisfied with how eclectic Suishen's abilities are, and started considering having an Imperial Dragon either be the foe that inspired its creation or actively assist in its creation. Uqbarian has separately pointed out, rightly, that I need an Imperial Dragon, and the ones from Bestiary 3 just don't fit the bill.

Fortunately, the well-known source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, assures me that there are a lot more than five chinese dragons. In fact, there's apparently some reason to want nine of them -- which would amount to one for each alignment.

So now we have a Sun Dragon who could have crafted a weapon for Ameiko's family that grants its wielder Energy Resistance (Cold), Flight, and See Invisible. Flaming isn't exactly right, but it would certainly be a compatible weapon property. Said weapon would of course cast Light as soon as it was drawn. I'd actually love to give the weapon the ability to cast Daylight and Searing Light -- and I'm probably running with this further, since I want to do something like a legendary item or a weapon of legacy from 3rd ed.

But first, I'd like to know if my wiki-fu is at all credible. For those of you who actually know Chinese (and Japanese) mythology, would you add a Cloud Dragon and Sun Dragon to Pathfinder's list? Is my take on them close enough to the mythology? What other dragons would you add? Do you know of actual write-ups of additional Imperial Dragons?

I can't find a better messageboard for this. (And it's annoying, btw, that the "Need help posting?" link doesn't go to anything that actually helps with posting!)

Ummm, this was going to be a longer post, but in writing it and testing some of the options under "How to format your text" I figured a couple of things out. (Like the blue text here.) So writing this post has been effective, faster than I had hoped! 8-O

One more: I see people put in links to other threads. There's a hint at how to do it under "How to format your text," but sadly, I can't figure it out. I'd love it if someone walked me through it, please.

What do you all think if the GM handed out--in different loot hoards--separate but linked magic gloves? (A right-hand glove with one benefit and a left-hand glove with a different one.) The idea would be that a character could wear just one glove for its benefit, or both gloves and gain both benefits while using only the glove slot, but not one of them and an unassociated one-hand-only glove.

I'm running a campaign with a magus PC, and I'm talking to another such GM about tailored loot, and it's occurred to me that a pair of completely different benefits specifically in the glove slot seems ideal for the class. (Obviously, one would benefit melee combat in some way, and the other spell-casting.)

Is it too over-powered? Going to lead to trouble?

Newb here; I've searched & searched, but couldn't find the needle I need.

I'm playing a 10th-level half-orc sorceress w/ the Efreeti bloodline. (I've already figured out from reading the boards that this isn't the most efficient Blaster build possible, but ah well, I'm enjoying RPing her.)

The alternate preferred class bonus for half-orc sorcerers is to add +1/2 to fire spell damage. (By now she is up to +5.) And the Efreeti bloodline's arcana is "Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to fire. This also changes the spell's descriptors to match this energy type."

The basic interaction of these two abilities is clear. She can turn a wimpy 2d4 Acid Arrow into a much better 2d4+5 Burning Acid Arrow; both spells do that damage for (at this point) another 3 rounds. However, the GM thinks that because she's changed the descriptor to fire, that would change SR as well, making the spell nigh unto useless. (He's picturing an evoked fiery arrow, even though it's still a conjuration spell.)

Is there a ruling anywhere on changing SR when the descriptor changes?

And, while I'm here, I've assumed until now that the Efreeti arcana would not let my character change Magic Missile; that the "missile strikes unerringly" property was (a) not energy damage or (b) would be eliminated if turned to fire. As I've been searching for the answer to my question above, I've become curious about the debate over Magic Missile--I've seen opinions going both ways. Is there now a ruling? I'd love five unerring 1d4+6 missiles, but would take one of them on top of four others at 1d4+1.