Devils Advocate's page

Benefit: Pick a class when you gain this trait—your caster level in that class gains a +2 trait bonus as long as this bonus doesn’t raise your caster level above your current Hit Dice.

So I am confused as to how exactly this works. Because to me it seems to say that even if you aren't a spell caster....you are now (but only up to level 2). Does this give a non-caster the ability to cast spells?

For instance if you take. Stonelord Paladin who normally wouldn't be able to cast spells, does he now get to cast 1st level spells if he takes this trait?

Void Bite (Ex)

Akatas hold hundreds of invisibly small larval young within their mouths, spreading these parasitic creatures to hosts through their bite. Only humanoids make suitable hosts for akata young—all other creature types are immune to this parasitic infection. The disease itself is known as void death.

Disease (Ex)

Void Death: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 12; onset 1 hour; frequency 1/day; effect 1d2 Dex and 1d2 Con damage.

An infected creature who dies rises as a void zombie 2d4 hours later; cure 2 consecutive saves.

So a question about this creature. It is available to be summoned using Monster Summoning II, and only stays for 1 min per level. What about its bite? Could summoning this and it biting someone cause an outbreak where you summoned it? The parasites that are left behind are technically a disease so I can't think that would go away because the spell ends, just like poison doesn't cure itself if the monster you summoned goes away (does it?).

I was thinking this could be used as an interesting adventure hook for PCs where they inadvertently cause a swarm of these to spread around them.

So I am a new player to PF and am having to fight my natural inclination, when starting onto something new, to buy everything all at once. I will likely be both a PC and from time to time a DM.

So my question is: What books should I be buying? What are the Must haves, the very helpful, useful but not necessary, and the can be skipped? Are the handbooks (like the Weaponmasters Handbook) worth picking up?

So far I have Core Rules, Advanced Player Guide, Advanced Races Guide, Inner Sea World Guide.

So I got into Pathfinder from reading the books, and there is a weapon mentioned in one of them that I haven't seen stats for but would love to build and add into games. I think it was in The Worldwound Gambit.

It's called a Devilshead Spear. It doesn't have a fixed spear point, instead it is designed so that points can be attached to the end but will break off if plunged into flesh - allowing a new point to then be attached. The points resemble drill bits with two razored edges spiraling the length. Every inch or so the inside of the spiral is notched and bent inward functioning like fishhook barbs, making them lethal to just yank out. When lodged in muscles the notches will drive the point further in with each time the muscle contracts. It is particularly useful against large or huge creatures like Ogers and Daemons.

My thought on stats:
2d4 19-20/x2 Reach (receives a -2 penalty on CMD checks to sunder)
If lodged in a large or huge creature causes 1d6-1 damage per action taken until removed (requires surgery). If lodged in the flesh of a small or medium sized creature may be removed as a swift action but will cause 1d4-1 damage as the point is too large to properly be embedded in the muscles.

And either:
Exotic Weapon: attaching a new spear point can be accomplished as a swift action
OR
Martial Weapon: attaching a new spear point can be accomplished as a move action

I'd love thoughts,advice, ideas, criticisms, whatever.

So I'm new to Pathfinder but my group is planning on starting into it soon. My wife has asked me to help her build a character. So far out of all of the ideas I've mentioned to her the only one that's really caught her interest has been a Stonelord Paladin (her eyes lit up when I told her she could become a dwarf made out of living rock, she loves dwarves).

I've been looking at giving her a Dorn Durgar and taking Darting Viper so she can have an extended range of battlefield control even if she's using Defensive Stance. She likes the idea of using this in conjunction with Trip or Sunder, but I'm a little bit unsure of exactly how those mechanics work or if they can be used with this weapon so any advice there would be great. Also if there is a way to make/trigger AoO using the reach of the weapon that would be great to know also.

I've come across two skills that appear to be taunts and wondered if they were worth taking or not: Antagonize and Call Out. Of the two Call Out seems more useful (since it locks them into attacking you for multiple rounds instead of just one attack like Antagonize) unless I'm missing something?

Some of the feats I'm looking at are: darting viper, lunge, shield of swings, combat patrol, felling smash (though the 13int requirement might be steep), combat reflexes, call out or antagonize, power attack, and steel soul.

I am new to Pathfinder but a group of my friends is wanting to start playing in it and Im excited about it. I love the book line and the lore of the world. I have a lot of experience with other systems (Longshot, but if anyone remembers Parthos from AOL hit me up I'd love to chat about the old days).

I had just written this thread out and it got lost when I tried to post it, so forgive me if I jump over something when trying to re-create it.

Let me start off by saying that I (and my normal DM) take a slightly nuanced and non-canonical view of alignment than is found in most RPG rulebooks. To me alignment is a persons innate nature and is not something that is easily changeable (if it is even possible to be changed at all). A Good person doesnt become Evil just because they make some bad choices, and conversely an Evil or selfish person doesnt become Good even if they have a lifetime of good deeds.

That being said here is the concept of the character I have been thinking about. It is an evil person who wishes to "buy" their way into a better afterlife.

He is Neutral Evil, selfish and only out for his own gain. He doesnt care who gets hurt in the process, but doesnt take any particulate joy in destruction or causing harm for its own sake. However he has a sense of enlightened self interest and takes a long view of what personal gain means. Additionally he has extensive knowledge of the Gods and knows that souls are sent to the Boneyard and sorted according to their nature and whatever Gods may have a claim to their soul before being sent to the plane of their afterlife.

Because he knows his own nature he knows where he is likely to end up after his eventual demise. He has no desire to end up in Abaddon where, at best, his soul will be hunted down and used as the foodstuff of Daemons only to lead to the eventual destruction of the soul and possibly far worse - all without any hope of redemption, liberation, or reward for worship or service.

In an effort to avoid this he will actively seek out a Good aligned God to worship and become a divine conduit for, in the hopes that this will earn him a better ultimate end. Obviously not all Gods would accept such an acolyte, but I have to think that there are at least some who are flexible enough to see the potential good this person could do by acting against their own nature and accept him.

So my questions are:
1) Which Good aligned Gods would be most likely to accept this type of Cleric? For purpose of this question lets ignore the RAW that a character must be within 1 step of his Gods alignment.

2) How would this effect spells and spell like abilities that deal with alignment?
For instance the Cleric Aura ability, would this reflect the characters alignment or his Gods?
Which spells would he have access to - those that match his alignment or his Gods?
Which version of Channel Energy would he use?

3) What Archtype would best suit this character? I am leaning toward Evangelist as I feel it fits the feel I am going for thematically. I had considered Seperationist, but I kind of think this person wouldn't gamble on anything less than apparent full devotion, he wouldnt want even the hint of heresy to ruin his chances of a better afterlife.

4) Is there anything else I am missing or that I havent considered?

5) What do you think the eventual outcome of this would be? This wouldn't have an effect on that character himself, because he cant know the answer until he dies - but I still find it an interesting question.
Perhaps the God would accept him as a follower but would not intervene on his behalf at death, allowing him to go to Abaddon anyways. Or perhaps the God does intervene but Pharasma decides that his sould belongs in Abaddon anyways. Or perhaps the characters gamble does pay off and he goes to a Good aligned afterlife but how does this "tainted" soul interact there?