Diego Rossi's page

1) Boro beads should follow the same principle as the Pearls of power, the one explained in this FAQ.

Note the Boro bads requirements:
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be able to prepare extracts of the extract level to be recalled; Cost 500 gp (1st), 2,000 gp (2nd), 4,500 gp (3rd), 8,000 gp (4th), 12,500 gp (5th), 18,000 gp (6th)

That is what matters.

2) What area Minor, Medium, and Major magic items is determined by the Random Magic Item Generation tables, table 15.2 and following in the CRB.

To make an example, the table for Armor and Shields: Table 15-3: Armor and Shields.
+1 and +2 armor and shields are Minor items.
The tables for the other books aren't available on AoN.

Boro Beadsare in Ultimate Equipment, level 1 e 2 Boro Beads are minor items.

3) There is the "Base value" for the community too. Barring modifiers, a Large Town has a base value of 2,000 gp.

Each community has a base value associated with it (see Table 15–1). There is a 75% chance that any item of that value or lower can be found for sale with little effort in that community.

In theory, you have a 75% chance to be able to find a level 1 Boro Bead or Pearl of power.

Same with the Magic Item creation link, which I was told only pertains to custom-made magic items, not preexisting ones.

As soon as you change something, even the caster level, it is custom made.

From what I recall of posts by SKR and FAQs (currently I am too lazy to search the citations), an item's caster level (CL) matters if it changes the effect.

With the Profane Seal Signet, changing the CL makes a difference if you reach a new milestone. When you reach CL 6, the bonus becomes +2; when you reach CL 9, it becomes +3; and when you reach CL 12, you get Improved Critical. The protection part has a completely different pricing, as it is not CL dependent, but instead is based on the cost of a ring of protection.

The math would be fairly complicated depending on what combination of effects you want (+1 protection and CL Wrath is different from +3 protection and CL 6 Wrath) but, if the GM allows custom items, it can be done.

Generally, Evangelist is a bad choice because being behind 1 spell level half of the time is an enormous loss for full spellcasters.

Prestigious Spellcaster

It costs two feats but it resolves that issue.

Evangelist is another class that allows you to retain almost all of the original class abilities.
You lose a single level in your starting class, and you need to do your daily Obedience, but you get more skill points than most classes, faster and generally better Divine boons, add 2 skills of your choice to your class skills, and a few other things.
If your initial class had a 1/2 BAB progression it can even give a better BAB.

Not all Obediences are equal and they work better with some classes, but generally, it is a good choice.

Just a question, but arent smoked googles only work if you wear them the whole round?

I always thought that protection from over time DMG/attacks only work if you have the protection for the whole round, not just a part of it.

If you close your eyes the whole time and open it just for your one vital strike attack, you have to make the same save that you would have to make it you never closed your eyes at all.

As I see it, its the same with a ring of fire resistance 30.
If the whole party is in a burning house (4W6 fire DMG each round for this scenario). You are immung to the DMG (max 24 fire DMG) as long as you wear the ring.
If you take it of you take the DMG, even if you just take it off walk around and take it on again.

The moment you take the Smoked Googles off and you look at the enemy that has a gaze attack (means you arent closing your eyes or looking at his feet) you have to make the Save.

I just realized that if would be a problem if you already rolled with the +8 bonus, but I always tell my players that to be protected from such attacks they have to be protected for a whole round for it to work.
So that was never the case.

Am I wrong with telling them that they have to be protected for the whole round to earn the benefits of the protection from over-time effects?

As a general rule, you are correct.

Some (but few) monsters can only use their gaze actively, i.e. taking an action to aim it, but most gaze attacks have ave a passive state too that force people to take a save as soon as they see the monster eyes.

Gaze (Su)

Source Bestiary 6 pg. 293, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg. 300, Bestiary 2 pg. 297, Bestiary 3 pg. 295, Bestiary 4 pg. 294, Bestiary 5 pg. 293

This attack takes effect when foes look at the attacking creature’s eyes. The attack can have any sort of effect; charm, death, and petrification are common. The typical range is 30 feet, but check the creature’s entry for details. The type of saving throw for a gaze attack varies, but it is usually a Will or Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the gazing creature’s racial HD + that creature’s Charisma modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s text). A successful saving throw negates the effect. A monster’s gaze attack is described in abbreviated form in its description. Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of her turn in the initiative order. Only looking directly at a creature with a gaze attack leaves an opponent vulnerable. Opponents can avoid the need to attempt the save by not looking at the creature, in one of two ways.

Averting Eyes: The opponent avoids looking at the creature’s face, instead looking at its body, watching its shadow, tracking it in a reflective surface, etc. Each round, the opponent has a 50% chance to avoid having to attempt a saving throw against the gaze attack. The creature with the gaze attack, however, gains concealment against that opponent.

Wearing a Blindfold: The foe cannot see the creature at all (also possible to achieve by turning one’s back on the creature or shutting one’s eyes). The creature with the gaze attack gains total concealment against the opponent.

A creature with a gaze attack can actively gaze as an attack action by choosing a target within range. That opponent must attempt a saving throw but can try to avoid this as described above. Thus, it is possible for an opponent to save against a creature’s gaze twice during the same round, once before the opponent’s action and once during the creature’s turn.

Gaze attacks can affect ethereal opponents. A creature is immune to gaze attacks of others of its kind unless otherwise noted. Allies with a gaze attack might be affected. The creature’s allies are considered to be averting their eyes from the creature with the gaze attack, and have a 50% chance to not need to attempt a saving throw against the gaze attack each round. The creature can also veil its eyes, thus negating its gaze ability.

Format: gaze
Location: Special Attacks.

It says " Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of her turn in the initiative order.", so a player can attempt to argue that his character was protected at the start of the round, made his save with the +8, and so invulnerable for the whole turn even if he removes the goggles.

The "at the beginning of her turn" is a needed mechanic, as we play in rounds and turns, not in a real time seamless sequence of acts, but the player is trying to take advantage of it by claiming that his action to remove and place the googles should be a free action.

The description says they are spectacles. Mundane ones made of smoked glass.
Safely removing them while fighting or doing any strenuous activity would require more than a free action.
You could remove them with a free action, but then they would be in your hand (occupying it) or on the floor, not in a safe position on your forehead.

It is one of those things where a "hard" rule would require pointing at least a page for each separate layer of the plane.
With a 666-page book for the Abyss alone. ;-)

As the others have said, it is best to work with your GM.

A forest on Elysium will be like a forest on Golarion for most matters, with something requiring Favored terrain Elysium (from what I recall, a lot of animals will be Awakened, changing their type to magical beast (augmented animal)).
I would allow players to use Favored terrain Forest unless they are interacting with some specific feature of the plane.

When interacting with a forest of fire trees on the plane of fire, the favored terrain forest would not work, the environment is too different. Favored terrain Plane of FIre will work.

Depending on your campaign, favored terrain can be very useful or almost useless. Trying to make it a bit more useful if you travel a lot isn't a bad idea.

The text in the CRB is the most recent and was changed to correct the problem of the creature taking a full round action when it can't take actions (Hold Person still has that problem, the person is Paralyzed but attempting a save is a full round action).

Making the save at the end of the turn is different from making the save and, if successful, having it count as a full-round action. The first doesn't allow you to take free or immediate action, while the second allows you to do that.

No idea what is RAI, but I am in favor of allowing them.

AoN has the 4th edition text; it was changed with the 5th edition.
(Yes, I still have the downloads of the 4th and 5th editions; I am strange that way. laugh.)

When it was Tasha's Hideous Laughter (3.5) it hadn't a save to end the effect.

Like Hold person, it was changed in Pathfinder, but the text is very different:

Hideous Laughter: "On the creature’s next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect."
Hold Person: "Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving
throw to end the effect."

I think the target gets to try a save only during his first turn after the spell has been cast, not every turn. If the RAI was to have him save every turn the Hold Person text was way neater than the Hideous Laughter text.

Why can't a whip sunder? Is that just because it deals non-lethal damage or is there something more specific I'm missing?

Because it deals non-lethal damage, objects aren't affected by it.

Guided Hand

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 103
Your deity blesses any strike you make with that deity’s favored weapon.

Prerequisites: Channel energy class feature, Channel Smite, proficiency with your deity’s favored weapon.

Benefit: With your deity’s favored weapon, you can use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier on attack rolls.

Only if the weapon matters when making the attack.

Weapon Finesse: If I have this feat, can I apply my Dex bonus to my combat maneuver checks instead of my Strength bonus?

It depends on what combat maneuver you're attempting. Disarm, sunder, and trip are normally the only kinds of combat maneuvers in which you’re actually using a weapon to perform the maneuver, and therefore the weapon’s bonuses apply to the roll. Therefore, if you're attempting a disarm, sunder, or trip maneuver, you can apply your Dex bonus instead of your Str mod on the combat maneuver check (assuming you're using a finessable weapon, of course). For other combat maneuvers, you use the normal rule for determining CMB (Str instead of Dex).

The Agile Maneuvers feat applies to all combat maneuvers, not just disarm, sunder, and trip, so it is still a useful option for a Dex-based creature that uses combat maneuvers.
posted October 2011 | back to top

It should work the same way when you use your wisdom instead of your strength, with the added caveat that your deity weapon should be suitable to the attack you make (as an example, a whip can't be used to Sunder).

1) Not a Paizo product, go to Third-Party Products.

2) With Paizo rules, if the immunity works against supernatural poisons, it works against Prana poison.
Poison is poison.

Experience Points: To gain a level beyond 20th, a character must double the experience points needed to achieve the previous level. Thus, assuming the medium XP progression, a 20th-level character needs 2,100,000 XP to become 21st level, since he needed 1,050,000 XP to reach 20th level from 19th. He’d then need 4,200,000 XP to reach 22nd level, 8,400,000 XP to reach 23rd, and so on.

4,200,00 xp.

The second option could be done with minimal risk if you can find the targets.
An LN creature can even have the motivation to do it without caring too much about the consequences, as long as they are for a "higher" goal.

I grok do u wrote:

Add it to the pile of alchemists not working quite right with all formulae and extracts in general...

However, there are a few more undead added to these spells, just a hunt to find them in other rule sources (bestiaries, mostly).

Examples:
Mummified creature template:

Oh really?? Your link there doesn't work, BUT this otherwise sounds encouraging (Bodaks, not so much :P)!

For me, it works.

If you use Skill unlocks and Occult Adventures it can be done once a day.

Prognostication

Totally useless in the OP scenario, but interesting when playing an intrigue campaign.
The requirement that the target creature must be present is a big limit, but it isn't "actively involved", so "playing with the tarot cards in the corner of the bar/club lunge/etc. while the target is there" could be done.
The main problem is that this style of gaming works better if you can do it in a one-on-one session with the GM, not during a regular gaming session with 3-4 people who will be twirling thumbs while you do your thing.

Both spells flung the item at the target as part of the casting. That isn't retained, as an Instantaneous Conjuration (Creation) spell doesn't maintain its momentum forever.

The spells fails in saying that explicitly, but we must suppose that most of the damage is from the speed at which the item travels, not an intrinsic quality of the item.

So, the only conclusion we can reasonably reach is that the Iron stake, after the casting, will do the normal damage of a stake, albeit one made of special materials.

It is the same thing with the Stone Discus, which should do damage as sling bullets made of special materials.

None of the spells say the item does that damage when used as a hand-held weapon.
Check the damage dealt by an arrow or by a stone when used as a hand-held weapon to see the difference between a flung/fired object and the same object when hand-held.

Alternatively, they are fired as projectiles so they are destroyed after hitting.

As for cold snap... From what I read Magus get 3 orisons at lv1. And from what I can surmise she didn't take it. In fact I'm not sure if she took any damaging orisons.

A magus begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level magus spells plus three 1st-level magus spells of his choice.

A magus can memorize 3 0 level spells, but she can change them every day (unless she is the Cha based archetype that casts spontaneous spells).

With only 3 slots at level 1 she probably memorized Arcane Mark (a must for a magus), Light or Dancing Lights, and Detect magic. She could have changed them the next day.
At first level, Disrupt undead is pretty good. There are a few low-level undead that can be a pain. I played a Magus in Carrion Crow, and at low level it saw a lot of use.

At level 5 she will be able to add shock and shocking burst to her weapon, which can be very useful against robots and machines.

Dexterity has several advantages if you have a character that prioritizes it. It has more benefits than strength, especially for characters that don't use bows, slings, or throw weapons and so don't get to add the strength bonus to damage.

Diego Rossi wrote:

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

The alchemy crafting kit (formerly named the alchemist kit) has everything the alchemist needs to create his extracts, mutaqgens and bombs. Since the alchemical ordnance replaces the bombs for this archetype it should also cover those.

If they leave the kit at home, they should count the extracts' weights. If they don't, the extracts' weights is part of the kit weight.

That I can agree on, but if they leave the kit at home, they would not be able to use alchemical ordnance (or bombs for a normal alchemist).

In order to create a bomb, the alchemist must use a small vial containing an ounce of liquid catalyst—the alchemist can create this liquid catalyst from small amounts of chemicals from an alchemy lab, and these supplies can be readily refilled in the same manner as a spellcaster’s component pouch. [b]Most alchemists create a number of catalyst vials at the start of the day equal to the total number of bombs they can create in that day/b—once created, a catalyst vial remains usable by the alchemist for years.

As I read it, the alchemist can prepare the bombs (and for a gun chemist, the bullets) he will use at home. When he wants to use them it infuses his magic in the catalyst making it active.

If he wants, an alchemist can coat plenty of bullets with the catalyst, well above his daily limits, but he can activate only a few*, as activating them depletes his magic reserves.

* A few, i.e. " Each day, the gun chemist can infuse a number of pieces of alchemical ordnance equal to his class level + his Intelligence modifier,"

So I want to thank Name Violation for suggesting the Riding dog. Then Taja the barbarian for suggesting the riding rat. Both are the most viable solutions atm. Azothah I already had noted due to Belafon’s post that Ant Haul would be another potential solution. Other than that the best solution would be minor remapping of stats if still going off the point buy calcs dropping my Dex or Int by 1 point would raise my Str by 3 to an 8. Dropping Wis by 1 would raise Str by 2 to a 7. Would be same for Con but I don’t want to drop Con cause my prior character died due to a very unlucky shot against him after earlier that day he attempted to disarm an obviously trapped chest getting hit by a poisoned dart and rolling a max of 6 con damage, bringing his 10 down to 4, losing 9 max hp (we were lv 3). Then again that PC was a wreck since he was built as a support, which he was good at, but he legit could NOT deal damage.

The most important saves are Fortitude and Will. Dex saves generally mean a loss of hit points, it can kill but after a few levels you have some margin.

The alchemy crafting kit (formerly named the alchemist kit) has everything the alchemist needs to create his extracts, mutaqgens and bombs. Since the alchemical ordnance replaces the bombs for this archetype it should also cover those.

If they leave the kit at home, they should count the extracts' weights. If they don't, the extracts' weights is part of the kit weight.

Alchemy (Su): Alchemists are not only masters of creating mundane alchemical substances such as alchemist’s fire and smokesticks, but also of fashioning magical potion-like extracts in which they can store spell effects.

Extracts aren't a 0 weight item. They should have the same weight as a potion:

Physical Description: A typical potion or oil consists of 1 ounce of liquid held in a ceramic or glass vial fitted with a tight stopper. The stoppered container is usually no more than 1 inch wide and 2 inches high. The vial has AC 13, 1 hit point, hardness 1, and a break DC of 12.

So 1/16 of a lbs.

Then there are the compounds used to infuse his ammunition:

Alchemical Ordnance (Su): A gun chemist is adept at using his know-how to infuse his ammunition with volatile chemicals and his own magical reserves. When loading a firearm, he can infuse the ammunition as a free action. The compounds are unstable, and if not fired within a number of rounds equal to the gun chemist’s Intelligence modifier (though no sooner than the end of his next turn), the alchemical ordnance becomes inert and loses its additional effects; he can still fire the firearm as normal. Each day, the gun chemist can infuse a number of pieces of alchemical ordnance equal to his class level + his Intelligence modifier, and he can fire no more than one piece per round.

Apparently, it works like for the bombs it replaces. The alchemist has a vial with the basic compound, he infuses it with his magic and applies it to his ammunitions as a free action, and it stays stable for a few rounds.

The ammunition for the gun already have a noticeable impact on his carrying capacity:
- 30 firearms bullets weight 1/2 lb;
- the gunpowder for 100 shots (a keg) weighs 5 lbs, so 1.5 lbs for 30 shots.

Then there is the mutagen. A ready mutagen should weigh an ounce, but without the alchemical kit, the alchemist can't make another until he returns to his base.

So, to sum it up, at level 1 he needs to carry the following (assuming int 20):
2 extracts (2/16 of a lb.);
1 mutagen (1/16 of a lb);
6 prepared bullets and at last another 14 unprepareds (20 total), 1/3 of a lb;
20 shots of gunpowder (1 lb.);
the gun, probably a small coat pistol for 1/2 lb.

Total 2 lbs (fractions rounded down).

As soon as he increases his level the number of extracts and the quantity of ammunition he will be able to produce shoot up. The availability of solutions will increase, too, but his low carrying capacity will affect him and his finances for a long time.

Note that if the "readied action" is a separate turn as someone argues, there is no particular need to ready a swift action. You ready a standard or move action, then you use the "new" swift action you get at the start of your turn in conjunction with your standard or move action. "

You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take. You can take a swift action anytime you would normally be allowed to take a free action.

If it isn't a new turn, the limitation "You can, however, perform only one single swift action per turn," is fully in effect. The Redy action says that you get to Ready a swift action, not that you get to perform a second Swit action.

To me, the RAI seems clear. The Developers have limited character (barring mythic abilities) to a single swift or immediate action from the end of their turn to the end of their next turn. The Ready action doesn't break that rule.

If he pushes the issue, I would rule that someone breathed after the paladin readied the action but before his turn ended so he loses the readied action. Mind you this would be after the player had been told no.

Readied actions don't work that way.

"Then, anytime before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition." Not "the first time that condition is fulfilled".
You aren't forced to react the first time a readied action is triggered. "When anyone does anything." is extremely generic and questionable, but "When someone acts." is acceptable and avoids the "trap" of using the game term "action".

I It's more that it doesn't give you a big combat advantage over not using the archetype, and it is behind the curve if magic item crafting is available to you.

Not being able to add some ability to the weapon by crafting is a limit, but a magus has a large pool of variable abilities if he is willing to spend a few arcana. What he lacks most are the fixed price abilities (several of them are nice for the cost).

What really makes a difference is how easy it is to have the time to craft or how easily is to buy a weapon in the specific campaign.

A +3 weapon requires 9 or 18 days (depending on the crafter's Spellcraft skill), a +4 16 or 32, and so on. If the one crafting the weapon is a party there will be competition for that time (especially if he crafts other items too).

If the weapon is brought from a merchant there is no guarantee it will have exactly the abilities a player wants. RAW, in a metropolis, a buyer has a 75% chance of finding an item he wants if it is worth up to 16.000 gp or is a minor item (i.e. a +2 equivalent weapon). Beyond that, he would find 4d4 random medium items (at most +4 equivalent weapons) and 2d4 random major items (at most +5 equivalent weapons).

Considering that weapons are only 10% of the medium and major items and that there are several kinds of items, the chance of finding the +2 holy scimitar that the magus wants is pretty low.

Most GMs would allow PCs to order specific weapons, but those will require time to be crafted. Some will handwave it and allow the character to buy whatever they want as soon as they set foot in a major marketplace.
It is extremely campaign-dependent.

In the right campaign, the Blackblade can be a nice timesaver. In a different one, it can be a vanity item.

Personally I don't think that the cost of the archetype is negligible. Being unable to take an arcana before level 6 (as you trade away your level 3 arcana you lack the feature and can't take Extra Arcana) isn't that small a hindrance. On the other hand, you get all the other features of the class, and those are very nice.

To sum it up YMMV

John Mechalas wrote:

Readying a swift action means you use your standard action to set a trigger on when you use your swift action. The actions haven't changed.

While people fall on different sides of the question, "Is readying to get an extra swift allowed?". No one seems to agree with your interpretation of "why" that is. You have a fundamentally different interpretation of that text. I assume at this stage you won't be convinced that you are wrong, but you should also realize that you aren't convincing anyone to your view either.

That is because the rules are muddy. I am in the camp that "It is the continuation of your turn, so you can use only one swift action, either in the original turn or with the readied action." But no part of the rules says that.

There is, instead, a piece of the rules that shows what Paizo could have written if they wanted to clearly impose that limit:

You can take a 5-foot step as part of your readied action, but only if you don’t otherwise move any distance during the round.

Writing the same for a swift action wouldn't have been difficult. Maybe it was a never corrected oversight, but maybe trading a standard action for a swift action was an intended mechanic.

zza ni wrote:

- Proficient with all simple and martial weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.

It's and, though, not or; where is that trumped?

Oh; is it the lack of racial Hit Dice?

Oreads are defined by class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Oreads have the following racial traits.

Traits

An outsider possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

Oread Characters
Oreads are defined by class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. Oreads have the following racial traits.

+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma: Oreads are strong, solid, stable, and stoic.
Darkvision: Oreads can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Spell-Like Ability: Magic stone 1/day (caster level equals the oread’s total Hit Dice).
Energy Resistance: Oreads have acid resistance 5.
Earth Affinity: See above.
Languages: Oreads begin play speaking Common and Terran. Oreads with high Intelligence scores can choose any of the following bonus languages: Aquan, Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Ignan, and Undercommon.

The Ored (and other native outsiders) have racial traits, as defined by their entry.

Black Blade Strike (Sp): As a free action, the magus can spend a point from the black blade’s arcane pool to grant the black blade a +1 bonus on damage rolls for 1 minute. For every four levels beyond 1st, this ability gives the black blade another +1 on damage rolls.

For this specific ability, I think (Sp) is an error, it should be (Su).

As a general rule, I agree with the others, it should not provoke. Swift/Immediate spells don't provoke and a free spell requires even less time and effort.

Another example of a free action casting:

Anytime the weapon strikes a creature and the creature takes damage from it, the weapon can immediately cast the spell on that creature as a free action if the wielder desires. (This special ability is an exception to the general rule that casting a spell from an item takes at least as long as casting that spell normally.)

I have never heard of someone arguing that the weapon would provoke when casting the spell.

especially once a weapons magic bonus gets high enough to penetrate most DR's on it's own.

Regardless of the +X of the bow, the arrow counts only as magic for bypassing DR.

Magic Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: When a ranged weapon shares its enhancement bonus with its ammunition, does this count as “true” enhancement bonus or more like a temporary bonus like greater magic weapon? In other words, does the shared enhancement bonus allow the arrow to bypass damage reduction as if it was cold iron, silver, adamantine, and aligned?

No, other than the ways indicated in the Core Rulebook (if the ranged weapon is at least +1, they count as magic, and if the ranged weapon is aligned they count as that alignment as well) the enhancement bonus granted to ammunition from the ranged weapon doesn’t help them overcome the other types of damage reduction. Archers and other such characters can buy various sorts of ammunition or ammunition with a high enhancement bonus to overcome the various types of damage reduction.
posted May 2017 | back to top

As I read it:

1) Each type of building gets 1 discount at a time, i.e. if you have two buildings that discount inns, you don't quarter the cost of the first inn, you halve the cost of two inns.

2) If a building discounts multiple types of buildings, you get the discount once for each type of building it discount.

I think your interoperation is incorrect. What that sentence is saying is that it is not considered an unattended item. The means that spells or effects that only work on unattended items do not work on it while it is dancing.

And where it matters? It is attended, but it isn't a creature, nor it count as wielded for things that don't target items.

No strength bonus, no Power attack, no bardic performance, etc., as all that stuff targets/affects a creature, not an item.

The weapon is also capable of doing a lot more than spiritual weapon. The weapon can be used to make combat maneuvers or over combat options.

Where does it say that it can use combat maneuvers?

It counts as wielded for maneuvers that target items. The combat maneuvers that it makes don't target items (with the exclusion of Sunder).

The ability can also be activated before combat.

True for Pathfinder.

I remember a character in an AD&D campaign I played in years ago managed to find two dancing weapons. He was often able to activate both before combat and wade in making a huge number of attacks per round in the first two rounds.

Incorrect for AD&D. With the AD&D rules you had to fight for 4 rounds before releasing the weapon, which then fought by itself for another 4 rounds.

It can attack in the round it is activated. So, the character gets his full number of attacks in the first round, and twice his number of attacks for 3 rounds. Since activating the ability is a standard action it also allows the character to move before activating it. So, you can get something similar to pounce in the first round. This is something that a full BAB class will get more benefit from. The benefits also increase with the level of the character.

The dancing weapon does its base damage plus enhancements.

Most melee combatants will do more damage with a single attack than the dancing weapon full attack.

[PFS Legal] Dancing

Source Ultimate Equipment pg. 138, PRPG Core Rulebook pg. 469
Aura strong transmutation CL 15th
Slot weapon quality; Price +4 bonus; Weight —
Description
As a standard action, a dancing weapon can be loosed to attack on its own. It fights for 4 rounds using the base attack bonus of the one who loosed it and then drops. While dancing, it cannot make attacks of opportunity, and the activating character it is not considered armed with the weapon. The weapon is considered wielded or attended by the activating character for all maneuvers and effects that target items. While dancing, the weapon shares the same space as the activating character and can attack adjacent foes (weapons with reach can attack opponents up to 10 feet away). The dancing weapon accompanies the activating character everywhere, whether she moves by physical or magical means. If the activating character has an unoccupied hand, she can grasp it while it is attacking on its own as a free action; when so retrieved, the weapon can’t dance (attack on its own) again for 4 rounds. This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons.

As written, the weapons don't share anything besides abilities that target items.

Barring shenanigans with colossal weapons, it seems extremely weak for the cost (standard action to activate and 4 points of enhancement).

Am I missing something?
Any thought?

comment: Readied actions are situational. If the foe knows you readied and changes tactics you likely wasted your action.

To notice that someone had readied an action, I would use Sense motive, modified by some of the Perception modifiers (distance and environmental factors) and most of the Sense motive modifiers (guessing what a creature with alien anatomy is preparing is harder than guessing what a human will do).

Noticing that someone is preparing something should be relatively easy, guessing exactly what he wants to do is way more difficult.

To make an example:
A fighter wants to counter-charge anyone moving within 15' of a mage.
- noticing that a Fighter is staying ready to act should be very easy, maybe a DC 5;
- deducing that is ready to move is not much more difficult, maybe a base DCX of 10;
- guessing if he wants to interpose himself between someone moving and the wizard or if he instead wants to use a standard action Charge (possible because a readied action limits you to a standard action) is way more difficult. Maybe a 20 DC.

So if we assume the fly version, she can, because her move action is not a 'flight movement action" but "cackle while trying not to crash" action, yes?

Exactly. But you need to check when she takes her first standard or move action, otherwise, the check is meaningless.

Flying movement would have benefitted from clearer rules.
Officially, we don't know what will happen if a Fly check fails unless the creature flies with wings.

Try Again: Varies. You can attempt a Fly check to perform the same maneuver on subsequent rounds. If you are using wings and you fail a Fly check by 5 or more, you plummet to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage (see Environment).

We can suppose we are forced to take a move action and move more than half movement, but it is a supposition, not something certain.

Do you mean while using the Flight Hex?

Flight (Su) (Advanced Player's Guide pg. 66): The witch grows lighter as she gains power, eventually gaining the ability to fly. At 1st level, the witch can use feather fall at will and gains a +4 racial bonus on Swim checks. At 3rd level, she can cast levitate once per day. At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be spent in 1-minute increments. This hex only affects the witch.

Levitate doesn't require an action to stay stationary in the air, so it doesn't consume an action.

Fly requires a DC 15 Flight check to hover. It is a check that is made as part of another action, so it is made with the first action you take after deciding to hover.

The same rules apply when you use the spells instead of the hex.

The owlbear skeleton seems to maintain its grab on claw attacks. The advanced megaraptor skeleton seems to keep pounce and the multiplying T-Rex skeleton appears to keep its powerful bite.

Special Attacks: A skeleton retains none of the base creature's special attacks.

The Owbeal grab ability isn't listed in the Special Attack row of the monster description.

The T-Rex Powerful Bite is an EX Special Quality that improves the melee attack, and those are retained.

Special Qualities: A skeleton loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks.

The megaraptor is a larger form of the Deinonychus, and those have Pounce as a SA.

Just to add confusion:

Grab (Ex)
Source Bestiary 6 pg. 294, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary pg. 301, Bestiary 2 pg. 297, Bestiary 3 pg. 295, Bestiary 4 pg. 295, Bestiary 5 pg. 294

If the creature hits with the indicated attack, it deals the normal amount of damage and tries to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity
...
Creatures with the grab special attack receive a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks to start and maintain a grapple.

The first part treats Grab as part of the attack, the latter as a SA.

Paizo authors haven't been constant in applying the template (what a surprise), and even the monster's descriptions don't treat Grab in a consistent way.

The best way to evaluate if a creature should keep an attack ability or not is to compare the creature supposed CR as a skeleton and the Monster Creation tables. Skeletons have fixed CR based on HDs. If the ability pushes them outside of the suggested damage for their CR they shouldn't retain the ability. Or the CR should be adjusted.

I think this will not be of great help for Braininthejar as it is more useful for GM when s/he makes an opponent, not for PCs animating a skeleton.

Ever had a swarm with levels in rouge or monk?

You know the one you can only DMG with AoE spells which are mostly Ref Saves? And giving them Evasion, so that they are nearly invulnerable.
Like a Bat swarm (CR 2) with 2 levels in rouge.
+3 to Ref from the class +2 from Dex (+4 Dex for class adjustment) and evasion.
Thats a "CR 3" creature with a +12 Ref, evasion and swarm abilites.
And I bet a lot, that most level 2/3 partys would die against this monster.

Thanks. I just envisioned what power a vampire with the ability to turn into a bat swarm and two levels as a rogue would have.

Balancing an encounter or a monster is always complicated. A power acceptable for an NPC monster becomes terrifying in the hands of a player who will use it not in a single encounter but in his whole career. Similarly, giving player-like powers to monsters can be extremely unbalancing.

This has come up now, in my PF1 campaign.

Without commenting on the very human limitations of the designers (which is what consumed most of this thread), I note that Ravingdork's spell list from 13 years ago reveals that Shades RAW (no limits) allows a huge number of spells, but Shades RAI (same limit as the lower level versions) allows far too few.

Incendiary cloud
Mage’s magnificent mansion
Phase door
Summon Monster VII - IX
Trap the Soul

and that's it. None of which are really worth it, even for a sorcerer using this spell to preserve known-spell slot access. No wizard would, I don't think, memorize or even bother to spellbook this spell if that's all it gave.

You are forgetting the not-small difference of a 33% increase in effect (from 60% to 80%) against people who saved.

Then there are all the spells added in later books:

Level 7
Caustic Eruption
Create Demiplane, Lesser *
Elemental Bombardment
Frost Mammoth
Rampart *

Level 8
Create Demiplane *
Gate (the first form type and subtype is Conjuration (Creation)) *
Fey Gate *
Rain of Arrows
Seamantle
Wall of Lava

* Spells with a problematic interpretation of how they will work when cast with Shades. My opinion is that they have an 80% chance of affecting reality, and if they work, they work for everyone.

Even without the spells with the *, there are 6 new spells in that list and not bad ones.

Benefit: While in a tavern or other drinking establishment,

It only works in taverns or drinking establishments.

Most hexes are still available. As you said they are SU abilities.
Only those requiring specific appendages or physical form will not work.

Cackle requires the witch to cackle audibly (there is an FAQ about that), but many birds can do that.

Wail of the Banshee in Pathfinder RPG.

Pathfinder Kingmaker computer game Wiki (your link).

If we are speaking of the RPG, the spell, at most, deals 200 hp of damage. A character killed by it can be brought back by Breath of Life and can be protected by Death Ward.

The computer game is a different matter and doesn't follow all the game rules. It is only a close approximation.

This is the rule forum for Pathfinder RPG, so you will receive replies related to it, not to the computer game. What interests you?

The paladin is probably UMDing the wand on himself.

Exactly. With a charisma of something like 22 and UMD as a class skill thanks to a trait, he was using it reliably around level 9. With a duration of 3 minutes, he was almost always capable of using the wand before any major confrontation.

A wand with the Shield spell and CL 2 or 3 has worked very well for our paladin (he wields a two-handed sword).

A wand of Armor too, but often a memorized Armor and a pearl of power work better.

A wand of Acid arrow function is mostly to deal a bit of acid damage to stop regeneration at a good range.
Acid splash can do the same job but at a way shorter range.

YMMV depending on the campaign.

The needed spell is "Maximized Magic missile". Not Magic missile.
Maximized Magic missile is a 4th-level spell and has a minimum CL of 7.

Metamagic: At what spell level does the spell count for concentration DCs, magus spell recall, or a pearl of power?

The spell counts as the level of the spell slot necessary to cast it.

For example, an empowered burning hands uses a 3rd-level spell slot, counts as a 3rd-level spell for making concentration checks, counts as a 3rd-level spell for a magus's spell recall or a pearl of power.

In general, use the (normal, lower) spell level or the (higher) spell slot level, whichever is more of a disadvantage for the caster. The advantages of the metamagic feat are spelled out in the Benefits section of the feat, and the increased spell slot level is a disadvantage.

Heighten Spell is really the only metamagic feat that makes using a higher-level spell slot an advantage instead of a disadvantage.

In this instance, the increased spell level is a "disadvantage" (sort of) for the crafter.

Typically, an archer should have a supply of Cold Iron Arrows with Weapon Blanch (Silver) applied to them to cover the most common DRs: This brings the cost of 20 arrows up from 1g to 12g (1g for the base arrows, doubled to 2g for being made of Cold Iron, plus 10g for enough Blanch for all 20 arrows), but that is still an inconsequential amount after your first few levels...

I think that a special material weapon can benefit either from the Blanch or its original material, not both at the same time. The arrowhead is completely coated by the blanch, so the target isn't hit by the original special material.

The cost is low for the single arrow, but it piles up, seeing how many arrows are shot by a dedicated archer. Using the Blanch still wins handily on taking a feat to achieve a similar result.

Put another way, to avoid miscommunication, it is not a big problem, only something that needs to be considered.

where else would one get one's catgirl?

and no, catlfolk girl =\= catgirl.

Pathfinder has avoided the classical catgirl iconography, which I think was a deliberate choice. Curiously, when I quote your post, the term "catgirl" and the link to the image aren't in the citation. I had to add the term by hand.

Missile weapons have a higher cost when you need to bypass DR (something that I think most people overlook):

Magic Ranged Weapons and Ammunition: When a ranged weapon shares its enhancement bonus with its ammunition, does this count as “true” enhancement bonus or more like a temporary bonus like greater magic weapon? In other words, does the shared enhancement bonus allow the arrow to bypass damage reduction as if it was cold iron, silver, adamantine, and aligned?

No, other than the ways indicated in the Core Rulebook (if the ranged weapon is at least +1, they count as magic, and if the ranged weapon is aligned they count as that alignment as well) the enhancement bonus granted to ammunition from the ranged weapon doesn’t help them overcome the other types of damage reduction. Archers and other such characters can buy various sorts of ammunition or ammunition with a high enhancement bonus to overcome the various types of damage reduction.
posted May 2017 | back to top

Clustered shots alleviate that problem, but it becomes another feat you need.

One uses up a slot one level lower. And the other is treated as if it were a level lower. It’s just like the example I gave. The ends are the same but the mechanism is different.

But taken a completely different way. These are not bonuses. The stacking rules only apply to bonuses.

The words used are different but the effect is the same.

Paizo FAQs have shown regularly that stacking isn't limited only to bonuses.
As an example:

Channel Energy: If I have this ability from more than one class, do they stack?

No—unless an ability specifically says it stacks with similar abilities (such as an assassin's sneak attack), or adds in some way based on the character's total class levels (such as improved uncanny dodge), the abilities don't stack and you have to use them separately. Therefore, cleric channeling doesn't stack with paladin channeling, necromancer channeling, oracle of life channeling, and so on.
posted July 2011 | back to top

I don't disagree, which is why I mentioned play style. But, some people play specifically for mechanics, number crunching, or winning the DPS Olympics.

As an example, without a friend keeping them occupied, what stops an intelligent enemy melee combatant from moving up to you and Sunder your bowstring? Or the whole bow?

Unless they are heavily enchanted, bows have relatively low hardness and hp.

Every time you fire an arrow you provoke an AoO from nearby enemies, so, again, having someone that keeps them away is useful.
(With the right feats you can avoid that, but that requires more feats)