Dimminsy's page

Hello fellow ROLL-players!

I have been thinking about the concept of "average" in DnD and Pathfinder. There is a wide margin around the average roll (for a d20) that could mean the difference between success and failure. I understand the want for randomness in a game to spice combat and saves up. I also understand that having a set value for whether you're able to hit an enemy or not is bogus.

The goal: Use a pool of dice that when rolled result in a combined average total of 10.5 (or something close to it such as 10-11) with a min of 1 and a max of 20.

Example of a dice average total: 4d6 = 4*((1+6)/2) = 4*3.5 = 14 average. 5d4 = 5*((1+4/2) = 5*2.5 = 12.5 average.

So my question is: How would you go about rolling a set of dice together to get an average die roll for a d20 while still allowing for variation within rolls? I theorycrafted a couple different things such as 3d6 and editing saves and AC down by 1 or 2. I tried 5d4 to get a max of 20 but that meant the lowest roll was a 5. I tried 6d4-4 to get a 20 max again but the lowest roll was a 2. 4d6-4 gave a max of 20 but a minimum of 0. 3d4+2d6-4 gives a min of 1, a max of 20, but an average of 14.5.

How would you solve this problem?

EDIT: Time spent rolling may or may not be an issue because my group will be playing online where the difference in time between a d20 roll and a pool of dice rolled is negligible.

EDIT2: I should probably say another goal is to make it where the "average" is more likely to be the result than the extreme ends of the roll. When you roll a d20 you have the exact same chance of rolling a 1 as rolling a 20. I would like the die results to be the most likely at 10 or 11 and then slowly drop off like a bell curve.

There are 6 threads mentioning this item on the forum and none of them that I saw cleared up the question.

Source Ultimate Equipment pg. 273

Aura moderate abjuration; CL 8th
Slot wrist; Price 8,000 gp; Weight 2 lbs.
Description
Made from a mix of sturdy steel and boiled leather, these vambraces grant a +1 deflection bonus to AC while the wearer is wielding a double weapon or two weapons (not including natural weapons or unarmed attacks). In addition, once per round, when attacking with an off-handed weapon, the wearer can reduce any penalties on attack rolls made with that weapon by 2.

If one had taken the full TWF feat tree, gaining 3 offhand attacks, would this item negate a -2 from all the offhand attacks or just one of them? "Once per round" and "reduce any penalties on attack rolls" is enough ambiguity to make me wonder. This item is PFS legal and I'm looking to ensure my attacks usually land.

Thanks in advance!

I apologize if this has already been discussed (my search-fu didn't find what I was looking for using "hand crossbow weapon cord"). This is mostly for PFS.

I'll start by quoting the relevant text.

Crossbow, Hand: You can draw a hand crossbow back by hand. Loading a hand crossbow is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons.

Weapon cords are 2-foot-long leather straps that attach your weapon to your wrist. If you drop your weapon or are disarmed, you can recover it as a swift action, and it never moves any farther away from you than an adjacent square. However, you cannot switch to a different weapon without first untying the cord (a full-round action) or cutting it (a move action or an attack, hardness 0, 0 hit points). Unlike with a locked gauntlet, you can still use a hand with a weapon cord, though a dangling weapon may interfere with finer actions.

Benefit: Your penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons are reduced. The penalty for your primary hand lessens by 2 and the one for your off hand lessens by 6. See Two-Weapon Fighting in Combat.

Normal: If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. When fighting in this way you suffer a –6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a –10 penalty to the attack with your off hand. If your off-hand weapon is light, the penalties are reduced by 2 each. An unarmed strike is always considered light.

Does this mean that I have to be holding both hand crossbows at the same time to benefit from the TWF feat tree or can I use the weapon cords to always have a hand free for reloading with free actions from Rapid Reload?

Benefit: The time required for you to reload your chosen type of weapon is reduced to a free action (for a hand or light crossbow), a move action (for heavy crossbow or one-handed firearm), or a standard action (two-handed firearm). Reloading a crossbow or firearm still provokes attacks of opportunity.

If you have selected this feat for a hand crossbow or light crossbow, you may fire that weapon as many times in a full-attack action as you could attack if you were using a bow.

Normal: A character without this feat needs a move action to reload a hand or light crossbow, a standard action to reload a one-handed firearm, or a full-round action to load a heavy crossbow or a two-handed firearm.

1) Would the TWF penalties stack with the hand crossbow clause "You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons." bringing the total to a -4/-4? Or is that just reiterating the TWF penalties?

2) Assume I start the round with at least one of my hand crossbows in a hand (hand 1). Would this attack sequence be legal?

1) Attack with hand 1 with the TWF penalties applied to hit using hand 2 to reload.
2) Drop the hand 1 crossbow.
3) Use a swift action to recover the hand 2 crossbow.
4) Use all offhand attacks of hand 2 applying TWF penalties using hand 1 to reload.
5) Repeat except hand 1 becomes hand 2 and vice versa.

I know this isn't going to be the best build (you never have a swift action free, reduced damage vs normal bows, etc.), I was just seeing if it was possible to do. Kind of wondering if the build would work with light crossbows (though that would be harder to justify). Thanks in advance!

Example: Say I am playing a mounted druid and am using a Clear Spindle slotted into a Wayfinder for the protection from possession and mental control. If my Animal Companion gets dominated, what action would it be to give them the Wayfinder/Clear Spindle to protect them?

I've posted recently about a mounted Halfling TWF barbarian build before. Here's the game info and character build if you care.

I need your help building Tumbaa, his boar animal companion. I've never played a druid or anyone mounted but I've got most of the rules down. Right now I'm leaning toward a Charger archetype to keep him alive by wearing better armor (it would be awful if Pimon's Tumbaa died on him).

Here's the feats I'm looking at for him right now (first stat boost into Int for the Common language, second into Dex to qualify for Nimble Moves at 10 instead of 13):
1) Iron Will?
2) Power Attack
5) Great Fortitude?
8) Improved Iron Will?
10) Nimble Moves
13) Acrobatic Steps: ignoring 20ft of difficult terrain is quite wonderful for charging
16) ?

The 1/5/8 feats are to make sure I remain in control of him and to improve the level 15 Charger archetype ability. Is this useful/necessary?

Would it just be better to give Tumbaa two sets of Featherstep Slippers to free up the level 10 and 13 feats? That would require the magic item slot feat, or is that even legal?

I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money on Tumbaa since I'll already be TWFing, so I was thinking of using MW Kikko Armor (what my character will be wearing except Mithral) Barding and only have a -1 ACP to worry about until level 15 when it goes away.

However, I've never built one of these guys before so I don't really know what's best. Any suggestions would be helpful!

Taking a character to the furthest 20 point buy extremes, what character would you build with the thread title's stat array?

State race, class, the legality of the build (PFS, normal, or third party), and whether you're building more for power or theme.

Mechanically, I'd build something like a Halfling Swashbuckler and put the 18's into Dex and Cha.

Personally, I'd like to try an Elf with 5 Con and act like I was playing on hard mode, maybe an evasion tank type character for the dichotomy.

Traditional and ridiculous builds are welcome!

I am asking these questions for a PFS character.

I posted before in another thread about specifically my actual character and didn't really ask any questions about my Animal Companion. So here's the thread for that! I looked up about 12 other threads on the Beast Totem rage power and only two of them G. Furious Beast and didn't answer my question(s) clearly or at all.

My character is a Halfling Mounted Fury archetype barbarian. Let's assume he is level 8, has a medium size boar mount with 3 Int, has G. Ferocious Beast, and already has L. Beast Totem.

"While raging, the barbarian gains two claw attacks. These attacks are considered primary attacks and are made at the barbarian’s full base attack bonus. The claws deal 1d6 points of slashing damage (1d4 if Small) plus the barbarian’s Strength modifier."

"While the barbarian is raging, her animal companion shares the benefits of the barbarian’s rage powers that are constant in effect. It gains no benefit from rage powers that require actions to activate, even if they are free actions. A barbarian must have the ferocious beast rage power and be at least 8th level to select this rage power."

Looking through the natural attacks section doesn't mention an "appropriate limb" or anything like that.

Questions:
1) Is my boar animal companion able to use the claw attacks provided by the Lesser Beast Totem and Greater Ferocious Mount?

2a) If yes to #1, would he magically grow paws while raging or maybe just magically work?
2b) If no to #1, would he maybe instead get hoof attacks (same damage just different wording/type)?

3) At level 9 when the boar gets a second natural attack (foregoing Multiattack since he doesn't have 3 or more naturals) would the full attack routine be Gore BaB/Gore BaB-5 (and if the claws applied) another Claw-Hoof BaB-5/Claw-Hoof BaB-5? Or since Lesser Beast Totem states the claws are primary attacks it would be Gore Bab/Gore BaB-5/Claw-Hoof BaB/Claw-Hoof BaB?

4) Would the boar ever naturally qualify for Multiattack since he wouldn't permanently have 3 or more natural attacks?

5) I'm assuming he would qualify for Multiattack if I were to have him wear a magic item that gives, for example, a bite attack much like using stat boosting items qualify your character for feats?

6) If he were to qualify because of #5, would he still be able to use the feat if I were to sell the item in favor of another use for the slot?

Hopefully I stated my questions clearly enough. Thanks in advance!

This is PFS specific. It will be for Rise of the Rune Lords (if that makes a difference) and will be going to level 17.

I'm toying around with an idea for a mounted TWF Halfling or Gnome barbarian. I want him to use a Two-Bladed Sword for added mental image hilarity. I would like him to get Weapon Focus with it from the Wayfinder resonant power of the Opalescent White Pyramid since it will eventually apply to 7 attacks. A boon to using a double weapon is the Cracked version of the ioun stone gives me the ability to use it. However, since my character will be gaining pounce from G. Beast Totem and sharing that with his mount with G. Ferocious Mount, I would also really like the resonant power of a Clear Spindle to not turn against my team. My question: Is paying for an Ebon Wayfinder worth getting both resonant powers? Or would it be better to use a normal Wayfinder for the Clear Spindle and use the cracked version of the White Pyramid?

Cost of the former: 18000 Ebon + 4000 Spindle + 10000 Pyramid = 32000
Cost of the latter: 250 Wayfinder + 4000 Spindle + 1500 Cracked Pyramid = 5750

By level 17 WBL will be 410k gold and an extra 26250 might possibly be worth not taking a feat and a +1 to hit that stacks with weapon enchantments (not to mention the option of removing the Pyramid momentarily if I ever needed dark vision). However, it would be very expensive early on.

Maybe pay the 1750 for the Cracked and normal Wayfinder then sell them later on for an upgrade? Wouldn't be so bad to "waste" 875 gold but I still wouldn't be getting the +1 to hit until kinda late in the game.

Sorry for the overly long title. Some professors at my college are hosting an unofficial PFS adventure path (I believe RotRL) that tries to stick as close to PFS as possible.

We will be going to level 17, and I'm going to assume there will be enough other "power gamers" where I can be somewhat weak the first few levels until I get the AC mount. I'd like to dual wield Falcatas to maximize the pounce ability (Opalescent White Pyramid + Wayfinder to add Weapon Focus would be worth the 10k imo) but dual wielding lances for the triple damage could be interesting. Assuming I have access to all these feats/abilities, would this character be PFS legal, and how would it work? Things such as to-hit while mounted, Spirited Charge + Falcata x3 crit = x4 or x5 crit total from adding multipliers, and how to go about utilizing the AC (especially on the pounce) are what I'm most hazy on. If it is legal, is there a way to improve it? I haven't made a druid or much of a barbarian before, so if anyone could help me figure out how the mount's damage plays into it I'd appreciate it. I might change to dual wielding Cutlass' and go for a pirate-y character theme with the Alluring trait if Falcatas are too expensive/not worth it. I want to be effective but don't need to be the absolute best.

Here's my character first:
Halfling Mounted Fury Barbarian, 20 Point Buy Starting Stats (Assume all levels put points into Str)
Str - 17-2 ___ Int - 7
Dex - 13+2 _ Wis - 13
Con - 15 ___ Cha - 8+2

Traits: Some scaling SLA trait, either Alluring or The Lantern Bearer to qualify for scaling Arcane Strike. Second trait undecided.

Feat/Rage Power Progression (1B = Barbarian 1, 1F = Fighter 1)
1B 1) EWP: Falcata
2B 2) RP: Raging Vitality
3B 3) Mounted Combat
4B 4) RP: Ferocious Mount
5B 5) Boon Companion (When Mounted Fury gets AC at Barb Level -4, so full AC immediately)
1F 6) Bonus: TWF
2F 7) Ride By Attack, Bonus: Spirited Charge
6B 8) RP: G. Ferocious Mount (7-9 retrain EWP -> TWF after getting ioun stone + Wayfinder)
7B 9) Risky Striker
8B 10) RP: Beast Totem
9B 11) Imp. Crit: Falcata
10B 12) RP: G. Beast Totem
11B 13) Arcane Strike
12B 14) RP: G. Ferocious Mount
13B 15) Double Slice or PA?
14B 16) ?
15B 17) Two Weapon Rend?

I'm shying away from Power Attack since I was already eating a -4/-4 from wanting to dual wield Falcatas (or Lances while mounted or Cutlass'). I was going to take Risky Striker no matter what so, between Arcane Strike and PA, Arcane strike wins because it gives half the bonus of PA to the main hand and the same bonus to the off hand without the negative to hit at the cost of a trait.

Here's how I'm viewing how everything works together:

At level 14 TWF with two +3 Impervious Furious Adamantine Falcatas (32k+3k+3k+18 * 2 = 76036 + 10500 = 86536 aka 46.78% of WBL so maybe +2, but for now let's roll with it to make the math simpler).

To hit bonuses when raging against a Large or larger creature = 14 BaB + 3 Enchantment + 2 Furious + 9 Str (15 + 3 level + 6 rage + 4 Phys. Perf. Belt) + 1 Weapon Focus - 4 TWF = 25. So 25/20/15 main hand 25/20 offhand. Damage bonus main hand = 9 Str + 3 enchantment + 2 Furious + 6 Risky Striker + 3 Arcane Strike = 23. Offhand is +18 since there would only be +4 Str bonus instead of +9.

Normal Full Attack: 25/20/15 1d6+23 25/20 1d6+18
Damage on a crit (x3): 3d6+69 / 3d6+54

When charging: 27/22/17 2d6+46 27/22 2d6+36
Damage on a crit (assuming x4?): 4d6+92 / 4d6+72
DPR vs. CR 14 (AC 29 avg.) Large+ Enemy: 218.7 With a +5 equivalent enchantment there's not much DR to worry about. But against DR5 DPR = 193.7, DR10 = 168.7, DR15 = 143.7. This is also before Haste or a Speed enchantment and before counting the dog or wolf animal companion that also has pounce through G. Ferocious Mount.

QUESTIONS
1) Is the above build legal for PFS (assuming I have access everything)?
2) Is the to-hit/damage/DPR calculated correctly?
3) Could I dual wield lances?
4) Any suggestions for improvements/last 3 levels to top off the build?
5a) If I were to convince a team member to use Reduce Person on me, could I still ride my mount? Or would the "appropriate mount" clause come into play?
5b) If I'm Tiny and using a reach weapon, I assume I have 5ft reach. Does that mean I could still charge/attack as normal with, say, a lance as a Tiny Halfling?
5c) If I'm Tiny from Reduce Person and I can ride my mount still, when facing a Medium creature would I get the +1 to hit from high ground?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Was wondering if there was a way to take racial feats from another race or also count as a another race for racial feats RAW. Aka, for my particular case, is there a way for a Gnome to take the Risky Striker Halfling feat? The Adopted trait (was already considering it for my backstory anyway) doesn't mention anything about counting as that race or similar wordage.

Thanks in advance!

I looked through a few other Shield Master threads but they had mostly devolved into fighting and bickering. Please don't argue over my assumptions until at least we come to a consensus on my question lol.

The assumptions for this thread are:

• A shield can have a +10 weapon enchantment mod and a +10 shield enchantment mod, paying the respective weapon/shield costs.
  
• If it comes up, Shield Mastery means you can dual wield shields at no TWF penalty.
  
• Spiked + Bashing Heavy Shield is 2d6 even though developers have said it wasn't their intention (my DM might change it to 1d10, but that's not the point of this thread).
  

Say you have a +1 Keen Defending/+5 Bashing Spiked Heavy Shield. Would the +5 from Shield Mastery that applies to the weapon mod overcome DR, or does it only affect attack and damage? I don't know if the "as if" clause means it only applies to attack and damage, or if it also applies to overcoming DR. Here's the quote with relevant portions bolded:

Benefit: You do not suffer any penalties on attack rolls made with a shield while you are wielding another weapon. Add your shield's enhancement bonus to attacks and damage rolls made with the shield as if it was a weapon enhancement bonus.

A friend of mine challenged me to make a dual wielding barb and I'm having trouble with it. He said "I'll give you a 27 point buy, any race, any tactic, and Power Attack/Combat Expertise/Weapon Finesse as freebie feats to start out with." So, any ideas?

I was thinking of Beast Totem for more full attacks with pounce and starting out with 13-14 Dex then relying on a belt for the rest of it. Dual shielding might be an option but I don't know if I have the feat space. To save a feat for a Falcata I could use an Ioun Stone for it (10k) and retrain the feat for it once I got the stone. I'd prefer to shy away from the Kukri's because that's not very Barbarian-y.

What do you think? Having out of combat uses would be nice, but being an effective dual wielder is required. Thanks in advance!

This thread got me thinking about quite a few things (please don't start that debate in here). A quote from that post is, "... spells don't have to have a direct influence in the abilities of the item."

My question is: Does an item's ability have to be linked to a spell that is required as part of the item's creation? Example: Could I use the spell Burning Hands to create an item that gives a +2 Luck bonus to AC?

It would seem logically that, yes, an effect the item produces would have to come from somewhere, but I'm not finding RAW for it. I know the highest level spell determines the item's aura (Link: "...detect magic identifies a magic item's school of magic, this information refers to the school of the spell placed within the potion, scroll, or wand, or the prerequisite given for the item." A bit later, "If more than one spell is given as a prerequisite, use the highest-level spell.") Some items don't follow this (Ioun Torch has an aura of Universal but Continual Flame is Evocation [Light]), so I don't know how iron clad that is.

I didn't find any other threads that asked this, so I apologize if this has already been answered.

This is one of those vilified Dual Shielding build threads.

Assumptions made:

• You can dual wield shields
  
• You can upgrade a shield as a +10 spikey weapon and +10 shield
  
• With Shield Master you don’t suffer the TWF penalties for either shield since they’re also a weapon
  
• Shield enchantments and materials overcome DR
  
• Most feats/items are ok as long as they're linkable and pre-approved by DM
  

Anyway, onto the good stuff.

Basic character backstory is (he’s a/they are) craftsman from a clan of (custom race) people that are born two headed and their quest is to find some *REDACTED* material to create the most powerful suit of armor known to man and must adventure to find it. Kilt wearing, armored Acrofatic is the idea I’m going for.

I don’t really play martials all that much, so this build is really throwing me for a loop. Traits/feat order/advice/optimization would be appreciated. Combat Expertise, Power Attack, and Weapon Finesse (applies to all light weapons) were changed to “combat options” by our DM, so just assume we have those feats as freebies. Probably won’t be using power attack until I get Shield Mastery though. I’m open to changing race, archetype, class, etc. but the basic idea of a strong but agile armorsmith making enemies weep has to be covered. Planning on Fighter (Brawler) using two heavy shields, to save money instead of switching out, even before level 11 and going ahead slapping on a +1 weapon enchantment to each of them since I’ll need at least that for the extra to hit and damage until the shield enchant bonus due to Shield Mastery kicks in. I’d like to fit Spiked Destroyer into the build somewhere but I’m just kinda at a loss already where things should go, especially the later levels.

The other characters on team are a Swordlord, a monk/soul knife, Dragon Disciple, summoner, and “healer” witch.

I’ve gone through several threads talking about dual shielding and most focus on non-lethal/damage and DPR. I want to deal enough damage to not suffer from “Monk Syndrome” while also being able to mechanically role-play protecting allies. As such I want him to take the two crafting feats, the Bodyguard feat combined with Benevolent armor, have one of the shields be Runeforged with the Symbiotic attunement. Since Benevolent is only a 2k cost, if need be Bodyguard can be swapped out at late levels if the bonus 6-7 to AC wouldn’t really be affecting hitting difficulty of enemies ‘though the benefit would need to be worth it. I’m not really worried about GTWF even though I’ll qualify for it because adding Speed to a shield would be simple enough (or Boots of Speed) and I’m feat starved as is.

I think I’ll be starting at level 8 or 9, so let’s just assume 9. Custom Race +2 Str, +2 Int, -2 Cha. 27 point buy, 46k WBL + 25% from crafting feats = 59800 starting gold.

My working build and some items I’m thinking about

Str 24 (18+2 racial+2 level+2 Belt of Physical Might)
Dex 16 (14+2 Belt of Physical Might)
Con 12
Int 14 (12+2 racial)
Wis 16 (14+2 Headband of Wisdom)
Cha 5 (7-2 racial)

Celestial Armor or Celestial Plate Armor with the added properties of Benevolent and Longstrider (like the Boots of Striding and Springing to overcome the -10ms) for 5000gp.

Combine that with Celestial Shield so I can maneuver in an emergency.

+Str/Dex belt
If I go a Fighter archetype that does have Weapon Training I’d be more inclined to use Duelist Gloves.

Ioun stone + Wayfinder for +2 CMB? Or just not really worry about Bull Rush and just use the freebie control?

More?

Italics = Feats I’d really like to keep (movement around possible)
Bold = I think that’s the optimal place for those feats
Strikethrough = Are these feats worth it? Two Weapon Rend doesn’t get bonuses from Power Attack or any other bonus, so damage reduction hurts it a lot. Double Slice is +4 dmg on offhands when I have 26 Str. G. Bull Rush just seems like it wouldn’t be used nearly enough unless combined with overrun then bull rushing to your team on the next turn after Pin Down-ing them to their square.

1) (Combat Exp./P.Att.) (Race) TWF, (Lvl1) Imp. Bull Rush, (Com) Shield Focus
2) Weapon Focus (Shield)
3) Combat Reflexes
4) Bodyguard
5) Master Craftsman
6) Shield Slam
7) Craft Magical Arms and Armor
8) ITWF
9) Double Slice
10) G. Bull Rush
11) Shield Mastery
12) Pin Down
13) (Brawler) Stand Still, G. Weapon Focus (Shield)
14) Bashing Finish
15) Shield Specialization
16) G. Shield Specialization
17) Missile Shield
18) G. Shield Focus
19) Iron Will
20) Improved Initiative

I just fear I won't be enough of a threat to make armor matter.

This might be an allowed feat by my DM, pending approval. It would be much better than G. Shield Focus, but there’s just not enough feats as is anyway lol.

You make a good offense out of a great defense.
Prerequisite: Shield proficiency, Improved Shield Bash, Two-Weapon Fighting.
Benefit: When wielding two shields, apply the shield bonus of both shields to your AC. If both shields provide an enhancement bonus to AC, apply the higher enhancement bonuses in full as the primary shield and +1 enhancement bonus for the off-hand shield.

Link

The way I’m reading this feat, if I have two +4 Heavy Steel Shields, I would add +2 from each shield, +4 from one shield’s enchantment bonus, and +1 enchantment bonus from the second shield, all of this stacking to a +9 instead of the normal +6 from just being able to have one in slot. This would stack with Shield Focus and what not. Is this how you would interpret this feat?

Thanks in advance for ideas! Hopefully I provided some as well.

My character is a fighter with 14 Int that will be taking Master Craftsman at 5th, Craft Magical Arms and Armor at 7th, and Craft Wondrous Item at 9th to play into his backstory. This is not to cheese to get above the WBL 'though it would be nice for the feats to pay off a bit since it's 3 feats I'm not getting back. I looked around the forums for similar questions and found some answers, but I wasn't quite sure about these.

Magic Item Creation rules say

Multiple Similar Abilities: For items with multiple similar abilities that don't take up space on a character's body, use the following formula: Calculate the price of the single most costly ability, then add 75% of the value of the next most costly ability, plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities.

Multiple Different Abilities: Abilities such as an attack roll bonus or saving throw bonus and a spell-like function are not similar, and their values are simply added together to determine the cost. For items that take up a space on a character's body, each additional power not only has no discount but instead has a 50% increase in price.

The Skill bonus (competence) formula is Bonus squared × 100 gp.

Question 1) Would an item that increases item creation skills (Craft (Weapon), Craft (Armor), Spellcraft) use the "similar abilities" equation or the "different abilities" equation? Would all these even be necessary if Master Craftsman is used?

Difference for slotless item that gave +10 to each of those 3 skills:
+10 bonus = (10)^2 * 100 = 10,000.
Similar: 10000 + 10000*0.75 + 10000*0.5 = 10000 + 7500 + 5000 = 22500
Different: 10000*3 = 30000

Travelers Any-Tool is a slotless item.

Question 2) What would it cost to add the +10 skill bonuses to the Travelers Any-Tool? Or is it even allowed?

Question 3) With Master Craftsman, would I use, say, Craft (Armor) to enchant weapons and craft magic items?

This thread didn't really come to a consensus on RAW but thought RAI was only the items you had ranks for. Though it seems weird to use Craft (Armor) to make a Belt of Dexterity, Boots of Speed, or an Ioun Stone (obviously increasing the DCs for not having the spells), the wording of the Master Craftsman feat makes it seem like you use whatever skill you took Master Craftsman for for the roll. This stackexchange doesn't mention the actual skill being used, and I don't want to make a character based on one rules explanation I found that may or may not be official.

Any help on this would be nice. Never tried out item creation before.

For this thread, assume you are a custom race with two heads (reason for these feats/perks) that:

• gains TWF as a bonus feat
  
• can ignore the Dex requirements for ITWF and GTWF (Remember, Double Slice and other TWF feats are not exempt from their Dex requirements)
  
• at the cost of 2 feats (they must be taken together, one racial, one combat feat) you can fight at no TWF penalty (-0/-0)
  
• instead, at the cost of 1 feat (combat feat), you can fight at no TWF penalty (-0/-0) but only when fighting with two light weapons
  

With this race, racial +2Str +2Int -2Cha, 25 point buy, and roughly 50% standard WBL, what stats/class(es)/feat progression would you use? For build purposes you must pay listed price for items unless you have the appropriate crafting feats. Also, since this is a custom race there aren't any favored class bonuses for them other than the +1HP or +1Skill rank per level. Looking for an at least semi-optimized/decent build but major bonus points for originality/thematic content (such as using a double weapon). Try and stick close to the rules without house rules. Paizo content and most things on d20pfsrd are allowed including third party as long as you link.

Personally, to overcome the gold limitations and the cost of upgrading two weapons I was thinking of using Craft (Weapons) and/or (Armor), Master Craftsman, and Craft Magic Arms and Armor to supplement the higher levels.

This uses third party resources found on d20fpsrd, all of which are usable in the campaign I'm in "as long as the rules are followed". Also, house rule Combat Expertise and Power Attack are treated as a combat option rather than as feats since basically every martial character was going to get it anyway (aka everyone has them). My question is, with the rules stated, is this a legal/possible build?

Race: Taddol (+2 Str, +2 Int, -2 Cha)
Gains TWF as a bonus feat based on having two heads/independent control of opposite body sides.
Taddols are exempt from the Dex requirement for ITWF/GTW.
Using Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid (1500gp) for Exotic Weapon Prof. (Bsword).

Base Attack Bonus: +7. Feats: Cleave, Combat Expertise, Reflex of Two, Will of Two, Weapon Focus (any two-handed melee weapon). Races: Taddol

Prerequisite: Taddol, Big Hands, Two-Weapon Fighting

Benefit: You do not take a penalty on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons.

Reflex/Will of Two are Taddol only feats but are shown in feat progression for Battletwin prereqs.

Class/Relevant Feat progression

• 1) Titan Mauler 1 - Big Hands
  
• 2) TM2 -
  
• 3) TM3 - Superior TWF, Massive Weapons (class feature)
  
• 4) Alchemist 1 -
  
• 5) Alchemist 2 - Discovery: Vestigial Arm, Will of Two
  
• 6) Alchemist 3 -
  
• 7) Alchemist 4 - Discovery: Vestigial Arm, Multiweapon Fighting
  
• 8) Fighter 1 - Bonus Combat Feat: Weapon Focus (Bsword)
  
• 9) Fighter 2 - Reflex of Two, Bonus Combat Feat: Cleave
  
• 10) Battletwin 1 -
  
• 11) Battletwin 2 -
  
• 12) Battletwin 3 -
  
• 13) Battletwin 4 - Strength of Two (class feature)

At 4th level, a battletwin may wield any two-handed weapon in which she has Weapon Focus as if she was one size category larger. The weapon must still be held in two hands (the battletwin may not use this ability to wield a two-handed weapon of her size in one hand).

The logic is as follows:

• A bsword is a two handed sword that can be wielded one handed with proficiency. A large Bsword would become two handed at a -2 penalty.
  
• Massive Weapons would reduce the -2 large penalty to a -1.
  
• Superior TWF removes the normal penalties for TWF, aka the -4/-4 from wielding two weapons with at least one of them not light.
  
• Four arms allows for dual wielding the large bswords two handed with Multiweapon Fighting (and MWF allows for the use of the TWF tree feats).
  
• Strength of Two allows me to "count" as a large creature when wielding my two handed weapon of choice. With four arms, "The weapon must still be held in two hands" requirement is met.
  
• Since I would "count" as a large creature, the weapons could be huge instead at the same -2 penalty instead of a -4.

Thanks in advance for your help!

27 (yes) point buy, gold a little bit behind the curve (about 2/3 of wealth by level), and I want to just use Pathfinder material, but anything that can be found on Paizo/pfsrd20 is fair game. Team is level 7, nearing level 8, but if I were to introduce my character he would be level 6/7, a level behind everyone else.

I think roleplaying a "two souls in one body" kinda deal would be fun (already sort of am with the Bladebound intelligent item), and the team is already arcane heavy with a witch, sorc, and summoner, I was thinking of swapping my character out for a Taddol. EDIT: I also enjoy the idea of roleplaying an "explorer" that finds the world's inhabitants only have 1 head, and the banter between the two while on the road.

There were a couple of options that came to mind, but I'd love more input!

• The Battletwin class (specific to Taddol) allows for more normal two handed weapon fighting with extra range so a maneuver build would be great (especially since my DM is planning to implement the suggestions by Radiostorm that combines/streamlines martial feats, shown in the relevant links),
  
• A straight two-weapon-fighter archetype 'though I've never built a TWF and some of the archetype bonuses are already covered by the race,
  
• A mobile fighter, but that could be covered in 1, or
  
• Ranger to dump Dex even further by two weapon style to get Dual Slice and Two Weapon Rend without the Dex requirement since there's not a Dex requirement for TWF. Another benefit would be semi-filling in divine casting for the Cleric5/Barb2 character that died to body controlling clown puppets (long story) which was replaced by the Swordlord/Monk.

Dumping Dex (12-14) would allow for other stats to be higher, namely Wis/Int, and thus would still allow for skill-monkeying and damage. Battlefield control and buffing would be released to the Witch that would be joining the party.

Thanks in advance everyone! Any suggestions are welcome since I usually play spell casters or some type of ranged class.

This is my first post on this site, so I hope I found the right board for my question. I am playing a Tiefling Magus using the Bladebound and Kensai archtypes. We just reached level 7 and the promise is to reach level 8 before long. Since these levels are where you make or break future decisions for your character, I would like some advice on how to advance, feat and arcana wise, with my character. My goal is to do what I do best as a dex Magus, helping the group not die by being mechanically robust, but also have a lot of fun with the build. None of us have books, so we're using anything found on the Pathfinder sections of paizo.com and d20pfsrd.com.

FLUFF if it helps with the advice giving.

I joined a group of friends who had never played DnD/Pathfinder before. They had already been playing for about 3-4 months before I joined, meeting once a week during college and the party was level 3, nearing level 4 when I joined. I have played 3.5 for several years with my brother but Pathfinder is just different to me. From the way my friends were talking, it was a low gold (the group has found about 3-4k gold each), low magic access world (as in we only have 3 magic items in the group, an Amulet of Nat Armor +1 for the monk and 2 level 1 Pearls of Power for me) which is why I went with the naturally scaling/non armor using Blackblade/Kensai. The rest of the group is not minmaxed at all, with two of the other 4 players making many character design decisions for roleplaying purposes (which isn't inherently bad).

The rest of the party is as follows (27 point buy lol):
Taran: Male Catfolk Sorc5/Dragon Disciple2, 49 HP, 15/13T/12F ACs, but uses Mage Armor/Shield. Likes doing melee stuff then using spells once low on hp. Stats 18-16-12-12-8-18. Face of the party most of the time since the Summoner is very sassy.
Vasundhara: Female Oread Cleric4/Barb3, 58 HP, 15/10T/15F ACs. Has no healing spells which poses a problem when we don't have any wands. Battle cleric with stats 20-10-12-12-17-8. Likes more roleplaying.
Virgil: Male Half-Elf Summoner7, 34 HP, 13/11T/12F ACs. Stats 9-12-12-17-10-18. Eidelon's name is Binky, so he likes roleplaying. Quadruped, 42 HP, 23/13T/20F AC's. Stats 17-17-13-7-10-12. Binky's a decent tank with decent damage.
Zach: Male Human Monk (Qinggong)4/SoulKnife(Deadly Fist)3, 72 HP, 22/20T/18F ACs. Deals good damage, good ac, and highest hp of the party. Stats 18-14-12-10-18-6.

My character came in to be the damage dealer, a comic relief, and overall round out the group after the wizard and ninja both had to leave the group. The group are all good aligned characters and is called Team Artichoke 'caused by the first mission they went on. Team description reads "In the strange world of Incaro, a group of unlikely heroes comes together to fight a corrupt government, a malevolent organization, and the nation's rampant attitude of racism, while also dealing with magical appliances, rabid cabbits, snooty receptionists, fishy laws, and the greatest threat of all: artichokes." It's a very wonky, funny, homebrewed world that we play on the app.roll20dev.net server.

/END FLUFF

Now that that's out of the way, here's the Magus.
Count Aurek Von Dragula
CG Tiefling, highly promiscuous and general trouble maker.
Magus (Kensai/BladeBound) 7
54 HP, 20/20T/10F ACs without Shield, Stats 7-18-14-22-12-5 (had extra +2 to Int and -2 to Wis allowed from backstory and character personality), 23 CMD, 3 CMB. Initiative +10.
+12 to hit (including +3 from Weapon Focus and +2 weapon), so 10 with SpellStrike.
11 Acrob./Dis. Device/Escape Art., 14 Fly, 13 Know. Arcana/Dungeon/Planes/Remnants (A campaign specific skill), 2 ranks in Perform (Dance).
He uses a +2 Blackblade Katana (homebrewed Dervish Dance to work with it, again to fit backstory and it only increases average damage by 1ish anyway).
Traits:
Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), Anatomist, Extremely Fashionable (freebie to poke fun at character’s personality, isn’t actually used), Prehensile Tail alternate racial trait (intended to be used with Rods/Wands when we get them).
Feats:
1) Weapon Finesse | 1bonus) Weapon Focus (Katana) | 3) Dervish Dance (Katana) | 5) Intensified Spell | 5bonus) Elemental Spell (Can be moved to later if it fits build)
I have not chosen my level 6 Magus Arcana yet, nor my level 7 feat. As of level 7, Kensai lvl - 3 = fighter level for feat qualification.
I have looked at Walter's Guide to the Magus and taken him into account, but Bladebound/Kensai seems to be a little different to plan for when you're not going to have access to as much gold/magic items.

TL;DR: Having trouble planning out a Kensai/Bladebound Magus after early levels. Thinking about focusing on crits/using plenty of spells/whatever. Help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!