Question for the GM, what Campaign Traits do we have available to us? I'm not in possession of the Throne of Night modules myself.
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Gonna put a dot on this guy right here... Working on a concept, will post once I've got it finished.
Hey everyone, so I've been tinkering with ideas for a skirmisher style character, made to be able to get in and out of combat quickly, but still manage to do some frighteningly good damage. Obviously, this is a bit of a narrow concept, and about the only thing I found that was functional with it, was a cavalier, making use of the Wheeling Charge and Lunge feats. Give the mount some stacks of Fleet to boot, and you get a guy who can hit on a charge with a lance, from 15ft reach, then turn and bolt a different direction with speed. Obviously, a ranged weapon would keep me out of danger entirely a little bit better, but I wanted to tinker with going melee to see just how far I could push it. So, if anyone cares to join me in this little thought experiment, most of what I'd be interested in would be:
Thanks to anyone who cares to join me on this little experiment.
Lineera is mostly made to gun for High Priestess, but she could also fill the role of Grand Diplomat, Councilor, Magister, or Ruler if pressed, but it's not really her goal. The ones that whether or not stats agree, Lineera would be no way a good spymaster or treasurer.
@Zartana: I'm all for making background ties, we can certainly try to work something out. Will probably take some work for us to actually act like we're twin sisters, as your character apparently joined a noble house, mine fled into the wilderness for many years, yours is LE, mine is TN. Our characters obviously latched onto rather divergent paths in life for at least some time, to the point I'd wonder if they'd even realize the other is still alive. All that said, feel free to shoot me a message and we can start hammering out brass tacks. @Kingslayer: Groovy, I just figured it needed stating upfront since due to Golarion's setting, and our general lack of divine spellcasting types, the party runs a serious risk of Lineera becoming the High Priestess of the kingdom, meaning that the group would have to at least in some ways be willing to look at Lineera and say "So... you want to make the state religion in our burgeoning nation heretical apostasy to Pharasma, and you, a heretical apostate Drow is going to head this thing up? ...Yeah, I can't imagine any political ramifications to this, carry on!" So yeah, assuming you think Lineera can find herself a good home on the border of the River Kingdoms, and the party is willing to have a bit of a quirky necromancer in the party, I'll stick with this application and see where we go. :)
Well, took me a bit longer than planned, but I've actually gotten two characters together. The first is a character I never really got the chance to take the places I wanted to go due to real life springing up, the second is mostly a character concept I'm polishing up as the first can only function in a group that's... progressive? So, first off, introducing Lineera Vonnarc, Drow Oracle/Witch, who's heard the call of otherwordly beings teaching her of a new good, a new way to help people, by being a necromancer with a heart of gold... well, maybe not gold, but better than most necromancers. :P She was originally conceived as an answer to a question sarcastically asked as to who would actually worship a death god like those in DnD and the like in real life? My best answer was basically the type of person who would think that organ donors are a great idea, but lives in a society that doesn't have medical technology, and instead has necromancy. The Crunch:
Lineera Vonarc
Drow Oracle of Bones 1/Witch (Gravewalker) 1 TN Medium humanoid (elf) Init +2; Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +4 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex) hp 8 (1d8) Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +4; +2 vs. enchantments Immune sleep; SR 7 Weaknesses light blindness -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee short spear +0 (1d6/x2) or Ranged Sling +2 (1d4/×2) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +8) . . At will—detect magic . . 1/day—dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire, feather fall, levitate Oracle Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +8) . . 1st (5/day)—Tap Inner Beauty, Bless, Cure Light Wounds . . 0 (at will)— Create Water, Enhanced Diplomacy, Purify Food and Drink, Virtue . . Mystery: Bones Witch Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +8) . . 1st (2/day)—Blood Money, Burning Hands, Carrion Compass, Comprehend Languages, Enlarge Person, Mage Armor, Nature's Paths . . 0 (3/at will)— Arcane Mark, Bleed, Dancing Lights, Daze (DC 14), Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Message, Putrefy Food and Drink, Read Magic, Resistance, Spark, Stabilize, Touch of Fatigue Patron: Healing -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 20 Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 18 Feats Drow Nobility[ARG], Command Undead, Spell Focus (Necromancy) Traits Talented, Focused Mind, Birthmark, Pioneer (Ride) Drawbacks Hedonistic Skills Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, Intimidate +9, Knowledge Arcana +8, Knowledge History +8, Knowledge Religion +8, Perform Sing +10, Sense Motive +6; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception Languages Common, Elven, Undercommon, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarven, Infernal SQ imbued shot, poison use, silver tongue Combat Gear Large Wooden Shield, Cestus, Shortspear, Sling -------------------- Special Abilities -------------------- Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only). Drow Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects. Command Undead - As a standard action, you can use one of your uses of channel negative energy to enslave undead within 30 feet. Undead receive a Will save to negate the effect. The DC for this Will save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your Charisma modifier. Undead that fail their saves fall under your control, obeying your commands to the best of their ability, as if under the effects of control undead. Intelligent undead receive a new saving throw each day to resist your command. You can control any number of undead, so long as their total Hit Dice do not exceed your cleric level. If you use channel energy in this way, it has no other effect (it does not heal or harm nearby creatures). If an undead creature is under the control of another creature, you must make an opposed Charisma check whenever your orders conflict. Light Blindness (Ex) Bright light blinds for 1 rd, then dazzled as long as remain in it. Poison Use (Ex) You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon. Spell Resistance (7) You have Spell Resistance.
The Fluff:
Alignment:
TN "(In character) I believe in protecting the welfare of all the peoples of the world. People tend to want to add terms like "good" or "evil" to people, but I personally think this just gets in the way. While many in the church do much great work, often times tenets or bureaucracy or restrictions can get in the way of this. Not to say that these don't serve their purpose, but people from all walks of life can do good deeds. If we hold that one way of doing things is inherently better than the other without exception, then we not only deny ourselves from seeking out the best path, but we dismiss the great acts done by others. But um, sorry, I'm getting off track. I seek to help all people, live fulfilled lives, and when the time comes as it does to all people, help them greet their deaths with peace instead of anxiety. Sometimes doing this requires doing things some find unsavory, but for the good of the people, it's a small price. Uh, does that explain it?" Appearance:
Her hair, which loose would fall to the small of her back, is generally tied up in elaborate, half up, braids. Every day, she baths thoroughly, applying perfumes and oils afterwards. In terms of clothing, she has alas taken to wearing clothing that leaves little to the imagination as one further step in her stubborn rebellion. Attempts to blend into society at large (which may well frown upon this) has led to her typically being covered head to ankle in a long, black, hooded cloak. But as not a full Robe, the loose fastenings tend to give the average viewer an understanding that not that much else lies beneath. On her right arm, she wears a wooden shield bound in leather and rimmed with steel with the markings of a skull, which she appears to have attempted to make smile. Most would view Lineera as a quite attractive women, but as always, matters of taste can change this opinion substantially. Personality:
Depending on who you ask, Lineera may be seen as either a pacifist or a constant aggressor. She is indeed equipped for and thoroughly prepared for a fight in most circumstances, but she typically chooses to try to avoid conflict verbally, and disarm her opponents should that fail. All that said, assuming she sees or hears of something she views as an afront to good folk, she'll go charging after whomever it is to attempt to give them a stern lecture (which then often leads to a fight). But even when delivering such a lecture, she typically comes off as friendly, and calming, as her demeanor seems to not let her do much besides. Her religious views bring her into conflict with many due to her views on undeath, which views them as a way to honor the dead, by allowing them to continue to serve their living family and the good of mankind, as their souls enjoy the afterlife. As such, Lineera still views sentient undeath as an abomination. Lineera typically has a hard time relating to people when it comes to her pechant for dressing and acting somewhat creepy. As a priestess shrouded in black robes, sometimes followed by a small throng of undead, and then acting like it's merely a nice day for a stroll, tends to unnerve people. Her attempts to not unnerve people have been an ongoing, but always failing. Ten Minute Background:
#1. Grew up underground in a large, primarily human city, far in the cold north of city. Populace was far more traditionally Chaotic Evil than Lineera. This society greatly disapproved of undeath despite this. This in large part led Lineera to her conclusion that undeath wasn't that bad by disassociation from where she grew up. #2. Was born into a noble family in the underground before fleeing to pursue more selfless goals than her family. Wishes to keep heritage a secret. #3. Used to belong to the church of Pharasma, but left on bad terms due to Lineera's lenient views on undeath. [Following depends on class taken, whether or not EoM is used, etc.] Currently, either follows Charon, or has gone rogue as a sorceror who practices necromancy/healing magicks, but still worships Pharasma personally. Has traveled the land, helping people whenever she can and attempts to spread her beliefs in this way. #4. Lineera seeks companionship, as her upbringing, religious views, and traveling lead her to being near constantly alone, and even with company rarely forming close friendships. #5. Lineera has a love of alchohol, though rarely does it delve into extreme excess, but she views it as another way to ease the suffering of people. Personally, she tends to prefer hard liquors, though will normally only drink one to two shots. Goals: #1. Lineera wishes to return home someday to convince people of the error of their ways. However, due to her disbelief that she could convince them of such, has distant dreams of one day returning as a conqueror... perhaps. #2. Lineera wishes to marry someday, though hasn't generally given it much thought and only expects to actively pursue such matters in the distant future. Player Goal:
Secrets: #1. Lineera's departure from the church of Pharasma was only in part due to her conflicting beliefs. In truth her primary motive was to evade her family, who she's learned is looking for her. #2. Despite actively pursuing and maintaining an altruistic lifestyle, Lineera always feels the pull of her ancestry to act in a purely selfish manner. #3. Lineera's father, who is actively hunting her right now, is actually doing so to ally himself with her. As opposed to drag her back in chains or worse as she fears. People: #1. Relonar Vonarc, Lineera's father. Constantly looking for her, Lineera avoids him with all her being for fear of punishment or being taken back to her home city. Unbeknownst to her, he actually shares much of her morality, and used searching for her as an excuse to escape the Drowish city himself (and his wife). #2. Legault Moore, Lineera's mentor in the church of Pharasma. Initially, Legault took this starry-eyed youth under his wing with her pleas to hide her from her family. But as the years came and went, this human priest eventually came to regret it, as Lineera's off-colored views of undeath came to reflect badly on him. While the church put up with her as a nuissance for some time, he was ultimately happy to see her go. #3. Robert "Ol' Thatcher": A rustic and aging man from a small fishing and farming community, Ol' Thatcher served as both a village elder and general repairman for the community. Robert stepped in for Lineera as during her travels, he found her on the verge of being ran out of town for her necromancy. Willing to hear her offer, he made the inroads for her to help the community attending to recently injured and ill farmers with her magic. In return, Robert provided her with food and board during her stay, and listened to her own philosophy on life and death. While he listened, and certainly appreciated what Lineera was attempting to do with necromancy, he still believed her to be naive and misguided about the practice, but the two parted on good terms. Quirks: #1. Lineera tends to bite her lip when she's nervous, but quickly stops if she notices someone looking at her. A result of her mother's stern discipline. #2. Lineera loves spicy food, and while she'll typically (and poorly) attempt to hide her enthusiasm, she's willing to pay far more than the food is worth to obtain it. #3. Lineera's afraid of thunder and lightning, due to never being exposed to it as a child, due to living underground. As such, she tends to shun mages who dabble or otherwise practice any form of lightning magic. #4. Her view of necromancy as a good thing, makes her comfortable around corpses, regardless of the state of decomposition. The smell can still get to her though. #5. Lineera remembers her departure from her home city. She'd left officially on a raid to capture slaves to help the city's (and more importantly, her family) economy. Once clear of the city, she rode with several others for days, until one night she stole one of their mounts and fled until it died from exhaustion. Then ran until she stumbled upon Legault, begging Sanctuary of him. #6. Sometimes Lineera wishes she could return to the Temple of Pharasma that she came from, but the barely hidden smile that was on Legault's face the day she left tells her to just stay away. Prose Background:
Life continued like this through Lineera's childhood and adolesence, until her constantly disappointed mother decided that she was to attend and assist a slaver raid to the surface world in hopes of toughening the girl up. Lineera quietly obeyed and followed the group to the surface until the group stopped to make camp after reaching the surface. Then, Lineera stole the nearest steed and ran. She ran, and ran, until the beast simply died out from under her, then she continued to flee on foot. This continued until she ran into Legault, a priest of Pharasma, whom she begged for help. Giving her sanctuary within the small, rural temple he lived and worked in, Lineera was reborn as a priestess of the goddess of life and death. Lineera took to the life of a priestess with zeal, enthralled and loving a world in which she was allowed to live a peaceful, charitable life. Yet quickly, there arose a problem. Lineera's upbringing had led to her view of the world to be a warped and confused thing. In the culture of her upbringing, Necromancy had still been considered a lowly, base form of magic to be distained. Why bother killing your enemies to just raise them from death? Yet her rebellion from this culture quickly warped into her rebelling from this as well. Pharasma teaches that undeath is an abomonation, that all things must come to their natural end. Lineera agrees, with sentient undeath. But the lower forms of undeath are another matter in her mind. Why can the dead not allow their bodies to continue to serve the land they came from, while their souls enjoy whatever afterlife they are in? This line of thinking lead to constant debate and discussion of the matter between Lineera and Legault, and any other priest or priestess who happened to hear her heretical philosophies. This continued for years until despite her pleasant demeanor and calming nature, she was despised by all her fellows in the temple life. Eventually, a Drowish man who came for information clearly looking for Lineera. Weary of her presence, but commited to the promise of protection he had offered her, he turned the man away, professing no knowledge of her. When she learned of this the next day, Lineera realized the description given was that of her father. Lineera once more turned to the road, apologizing for leaving, but leaving to the general sigh of relief of the temple. Once more on the road, Lineera fled north from Andoran, the location of the temple, through Druma, Kyonin, the River Kingdoms, the west into Ustalav. During this flight, Lineera still felt the calling. The temple was wrong, Pharasma did not despise all undeath, just the soulful kinds like liches. She could help the world with necromancy if the world would just listen. So a new goal besides flight took form during her journey: spread the teachings of Pharasma as they were meant to be taught. Lineera's travels spreading her heretical teachings usually led to her being driven out of town. Nowadays, Lineera takes all the comforts of home with her, living on the road, but as a traveling noble would like to do. Her necromancy is largely self taught, learned by the whispers of... something. Many would claim this was learned by the dark powers, Lineera claims Pharasma herself is teaching her these things. Nonetheless, her skills are currently fairly weak in Necromancy at the moment. Lineera's wandering travels have taken her to Brevoy, where she hopes in the charters offered of the Stolen Lands, that maybe she can find a home, ears to listen to her message, and the power to keep her safety, and maybe bring her enlightenment back home. But again, while I love the character concept to death, she's not exactly a good fit for any group, so if you decides that a more palatable character would be better, I do have a second idea I can get rolled out fairly quickly. It's a Cavalier (Standard Bearer)/Bard, who's main party role would be that of a support/buffs caster, but of the entirely non-magical, just a motivational speaker/tactical support kind of guy. Though, obviously from the Cavalier leg of things, a pretty solid ability to bludgeon peeps to death too. Assuming that you'd prefer everyone stick to one app Kingslayer, I'll wait on submitting until Lineera is a definitive no in terms of concept due to bad group dynamics or the like. But he should be ready to go in fairly short order.
Dotting for interest, I should have a character ready by the end of tonight.
Whoops, so I did. Thanks for catching that, want sure if I'd add the 4th level our not since it wasn't full build time yet, but here's the sheet with the fixed stats. Character Name: Ipreek "Clashing Boom-Boom"
Ok, got a concept, and everything written up. Here it is, let me know what you think. I'll probably drop into the discussion thread to get some RP with this done. Character Name: Ipreek "Clashing Boom-Boom"
Scurrying from house to house, Ipreek worked himself aboard an apparently empty ship, and tore into their rations. He was very hungry. Half way through his third hardtack, the heavy clomp, clomp, clomp of boots on the top deck resounded through the little hold. Ipreek tried to hide, he really did! But it didn't take long for the men aboard to follow the trail of crumbs into the back of the hold. "Well look what we have here!" "Looks like a young one!" "Li'l filcher's been eating has he?" Ipreek could do nothing as he was dragged out into what seemed to be some kind of common area, where the ship-men spun him, beat him, jeered and laughed. Eventually the only little one, a halfling tossed something at Ipreek. "You wanna fight back, here you go!" The kobold clumsily caught it, and shortly a loud BOOM! filled the room. The halfling dropped dead, blood pooled across the floor, their was a smokey haze in the air, and their was silence. "What was that damned fool thinking?" "It actually made that piece of crap go off?" Eventually the largest, meanest looking human stepped out of the ring. Ipreek quivered as the man stooped down and picked up the hat off the halfling and stared at it for what felt like ages. The man then spun on his heel and stormed towards Ipreek. Ipreek shrunk away from the massive hand coming towards him... and put the hat on his head. "WELL LADS! LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A NEW SWABBY!!!" The announcement was met with a roar of laughter and cheering. Things proceeded for several years like this. Swab, get kicked around, swab some more. But they always let him have the little boom-maker (their fingers were too big for the trigger). Yet Ipreek cherished the pistol, it made him feel like a red dragon, full of smoke and fire and killing. Under the tutelage of what he learned were "pirates" their common tongue, how to sail, climb rigging, swim, take abuse like a champ, sing on shanties and so on. Eventually, deciding that while a life of "YARS!" and "SHIVERING TIMBERS" and "FILTHY LAND-BLUBBERS!" had its charms, he had his boom-maker, and was happy. Leaving the drunken sailors, the kobold took his newfound power of language and turned them towards sneaking off the ship and notifying the local authorities that the men aboard the ship were responsible for many of the ships that had gone missing over the last few years. What? Vengeance is as vengeance does, Ipreek hated swabbing. Not staying to see the aftermath, Ipreek hit the road with all the "Booty!" he had managed to swipe just before leaving and traveled in search of real company, of kobolds. Wandering for a while and looting whatever lone travelers he could find with all the bluster and flare that he could manage, which happened to work surprisingly well and often. Eventually, Ipreek managed to begin to find the old forgotten signs, the old paths and tracks of a kobold warren. With giddy-glee, Ipreek walked into the warren with a well-practiced swagger and bluster declaring himself Clashing Boom-Boom, a green scaled kobold with the heart of a red dragon! They initially laughed at the young kobold, they stopped when he fired the pistol and smoke, fire, and sparks suddenly lit up the cave. Making a space for himself in the warren, and eventually learning of the presence of the glorious Luminous One, Clashing Boom-Boom has worked for the good of the warren ever since!
Fair enough, let's see what we get!
Well, considering I've spent the last few days going "Man, I want to play a kobold, I'm going to read every entry on kobolds... ever. It'd be nice to play one of these funny little guys." I think I'm in the right place! Out of curiosity, if I wanted to have taken the mixed scales feat, what would happen with the basic color roll? I'm guess that doesn't really translate into extra bonuses, or anything. But do I pick the second color, roll again to see what I get?
Hey guys, got a random question. Making an Inquisitor with a rather garish Charisma score right now. As such, I've decided that he's more or less come to terms with doing everything on his own, as Inquisitors aren't exactly everyone's favorite person anyway, and with him being surly to boot? Yeah, not many friends. So in choosing equipment, I came across Assisting Gloves and I thought it had the potential to be a really good opportunity for something that had good roleplay and mechanical purpose. But there of course is the problem that Assisting Gloves are one use items, and unless your pockets are filled with infinite money, 180 GP for a one use item isn't really a good long term strategy. So, I poked around a bit but to no avail to try and find something to give me a bonus similar to Assisting Gloves but more permanent, so that when he's doing various crafting checks and what not he can always have his own little magical apprentice on hand to help him out. So, does anyone know of a blatant way of doing this/a creative way of getting similar effects?
Yeah that's what I figured, which is why I started asking before my brain (and Lanya) caught up with me on the whole actually explaining that thing. I'll hang tight and see if there's any other takers mdt, may not do to have both people built around pointing out other people's flaws be siblings to boot. Or maybe it'd fit super well. :p But figured it looks like there's a lot of potential ins in the party. Dante and Roan could know of one another either personally or by reputation from their military days. Sanita and Roan could be half-siblings of a Lord who gets around too much. Wilhelm and Roan could be half-siblings (thought there's actually fun potential here since with my half finished background I realized I had specified Roan was kicked out to make room for the legitimate third in line before I read all the backgrounds). Most anyone who has any nobility in their background can qualify for that really. Anyone with adventuring in their background can probably fit somewhere I'm his mercenary days. Figured since the potential was there, it'd be good to make an interest check and just see who all was interested.
Well, just finished writing up a rough version of the background, sans mention of most any important landmarks. Really the geographical location is fairly unimportant to me, though oddly enough, going to be a True Neutral, so perhaps there's a bit more potential than it may appear on the surface Lanya. Learning people's deepest, darkest desires and twisting them against people is sometimes not the most lawful thing. ;) Background:
In one of the minor houses of House _______, there was a similarly minor scandal when Roan was born between the lord and a scullery maid in his employ. The maid, refusing responsibility for the child, and hoping to see him have a better life than hers, persuaded the lord to take care of the child, much to the chagrin of his wife. Nevertheless, the boy Roan was taken into the House to be raised. Years past, and with exception to his noble status, he was a fairly normal, boring child. His status as third in line and bastard to boot meant that he had little asperations of taking the leadership of the house as anything more than a distant pipe-dream. This content if somewhat boring life was brought to a sudden and abrupt end with the news that the true wife of the lord of the house was pregnant herself. In a spat of spite mixed with wanting her new child to be more the merely the fourth child in line, put an ultimatum to her husband: The bastard leaves. You can take responsibility and decide how this happens, or I'll do it and you'll have no say. Having already tested his wife's patience enough times through the eight years he had raised Roan, the lord decided that this wasn't a fight he'd win any longer. For a fortnight, Roan's father disappeared on an unexplained trip. When he returned, Roan was ushered out into the night with narry a word and was led to a temple of Irori. His father had thought that perhaps the quiet life of contemplation and self-mastery would be good for a wayward child, and would have the added benefit of keeping the child firmly locked away. For the previous fortnight, the father had stood vigil outside the rural temple beseaching the monks inside to take his child under their wing. Eventually, deciding the man's persistence must've lent some level of gravity to the situation, they relented. Roan entered this new life with hardly any understanding of what had happened, all he was told by the back of his father was, "This is your home now." The boy quickly fell into a depressive sulk, that left most of the monks baffled as to how to respond, all but one. A monk named Renault decided to give the boy a task to take his mind off of his woes. The task was simple, everyone in the temple was seeking to improve themselves, so learn about them, and help them grow. The boy, reluctant at first, quickly found himself involving himself in the task as much as possible. Finding little details here, there, and with a little bit of skullduggery, the boy began bringing back little reports to Renault on the others in the temple, what their problems were. Most of the reports were honestly of no value, but Renault praised the child regardless, and soon Roan began to hone his skills in this task he had been given, and unknowingly lifted himself out of his dispair. Time went on, and as his talents for sussing out others weaknesses improved, Roan once again begain to drag himself back into depression. As a man who in growing up in the temple for ten years at this point, self-perfection was ever his goal, but how could he continue to believe in such an ideal when everywhere he looked, even great men who had dedicated their lives to the task were still so full of weaknesses? His dour mood returning, he began to think again on his long missing father, and anger bubbled inside him. How full of weaknesses was that man? How much had that blood tainted him? What if his parentage would deny him self-perfection, related to a fool like his father? Why did he have to be shuffled off to a corner of the world from the mere jealousy of the woman he called mother? Roan became increasingly more restless, frustrated, and outward thinking. Renault, who had over the last decade grown quite fond of the young man attempted to console and refocus Roan to no avail. After months of this and no sign of any improvement, Renault gambled and tried contacting Roan's father. Hoping that confronting his past would help Roan move forward, the monk traveled to the old family estate and beseeched the lord of the house to visit the temple, speak to his son, and hopefully help him find peace. Roan's father agreed after some consideration. A week later, Renault and Roan's father returned to the temple, much to the surprise of the young man. The boy and his father talked, they argued. Roan accused him of cowardice, of abandoning him out of fear. He accused him of betraying him, and taking from him the dream of a better life his real mother had hoped for him. Throughout this, Roan's father stayed silent, he later departed having not said a word to his son. A week later, he returned with a long package wrapped in a blanket, asking to see Roan one last time. When they met again, this time Roan stayed silent, as his father unwrapped the package, revealing a golden, gleaming guisarme. The shaft was made out of darkwood, the blade, gold plated mithral, and bearing the stamp of House ______. Roan's father told him that this was his now. Roan had remembered the blade from his childhood, his father had told him with pride how it had been his great-grandfather's once, used to fight in wars against invaders long ago. By the time it was gold-plated, its time in battle had been long over, but it was well maintained and still sharp to the touch. Roan's father told him that this would have to represent his birthright now. The rest, he would have to earn himself. His father apologized that he couldn't have been better to him, and wished him well in his life, before turning and leaving. The event, which Renault had hoped would calm Roan, and allow him to focus on his training more in the end, had the opposite effects when he recieved this final gift from his father. Though no longer tormented and haunted by his past, now his future plagued his every thought, and soon, Roan left the temple, to seek his fortune, his birthright, glory, honor, all these things, more than that, everything. His father's visit and gift had filled him with a motivation and a drive to do more than he had ever dreamed of doing. The temple could no longer help in his now deeply engrained pursuit of self-perfection, he had to go forward and sieze it by the throat himself! Shortly thereafter, Roan began hiring himself out as a mercenary, fighting in border skirmishes, raids against bandits, cults, it didn't matter. Without pause Roan sought unending glory on the field of battle, and soon had begun to amass some level of renown, at least amongst his colleagues. As his talents as a warrior grew in renown, so too did his position. More often he found himself hired on not as a foot soldier, but as an advisor, counciling the officers in charge of whichever conflict he had signed on to. His talents for finding the weaknesses in men, and deceit soon morphed into an unparralelled level of tactical acumen as he became all too aware of how to bait enemy commanders into attacks too full of impeditous or defenses too cowering. Yet for all the experience and battlefield victories, it still wasn't enough, not nearly enough. Fame amongst mercenaries and foot soldiers was a petty fame, his birthright was that of nobility, the golden blade of his family demanded that he strive for more, for better, higher and more glorious than anyone could possibly imagine. And so, when word came to him in the way of rumor and hearsay, that a new little kingdom in the Stolen Lands was being founded, and in need of good people, he set out without a second thought or doubt. This was the time and place, this would be the place where he would secure his place in the world. Edit: Realized there may be some confusion between the Sin-Eater archetype and the Sin Inquisition. For reference material: Sin Inquisition Edit Edit: Also, perhaps for some easy access bullets to bring important details to the front. *Life long Brevoy citizen, bastard child of a noble house, raised in house for some amount of time, but eventually ousted. *Spent adolescence sequestered away in Irori temple off in the wilderness. *Turned to mercenary work when he left the temple, probably traveled abroad some, but mostly would have stuck close to home, hoping to make a name for himself. *Going to the Stolen Lands in the continued pursuit of making a name for himself, word of the project reached him through some channel or another.
Whelp, given the needs of the party some thought, and matching them to my own desires, I think I've settled on a fairly good character design. Went with an Inquisitor with the Sin Inquisition. Looking at how the loss of Muramasa is part of the gap that needs filling, went with someone who could be a good Spymaster, though made sure that I could be able to wear other hats as needed if needed. Background is a work in progress, but here's most of the sheet if anyone is interested. Roan
Stats:
Strength 14 Dexterity 14 Constitution 13 Intelligence 13 Wisdom 16 (+2 Racial, 4th Level Bonus) Charisma 7 Skills:
Bluff: +10 (6 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Wisdom-2 Charisma) Climb: +6 (1 Ranks+3 Class Skill+2 Strength) Diplomacy: +7 (6 Ranks+3 Class Skill-2 Charisma) Intimidate: +8 (4 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Stern Gaze-2 Charisma) Knowledge (Nobility): +7 (6 Rank+1 Intelligence) Perception: +12 (6 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Wisdom) Profession (Soldier): +12 (6 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Wisdom) Ride: +6 (1 Rank+3 Class Skill+2 Dexterity) Sense Motive: +15 (6 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Stern Gaze+3 Wisdom) Stealth: +12 (4 Ranks+3 Class Skill+3 Wisdom+2 Dexterity) Survival: +7 (1 Rank+3 Class Skill+3 Wisdom) Swim: +6 (1 Rank+3 Class Skill+2 Strength) Spoiler:
Feats:
Improved Unarmed Strike (Irori Favored Weapon) Endurance (1st) Diehard (Human) Combat Expertise (3rd) Coordinated Manuevers (Inquisitor) Combat Reflexes (5th) Tandem Trip (Inquisitor) Traits:
Spells:
0-Level: Brand Create Water Detect Poison Detect Magic Light Read Magic Resistance Sift Stabilize 1-Level:
2-Level:
Special Abilities:
Inquisitor Proficiencies Guisarme Proficiency Sin Inquisition Judgement 2/day Lore of Escape Hide Tracks Orisons Stern Gaze Cunning Initiative Detect Alignment Track Solo Tactics Bane Discern Lies On the work in progress background note, thought it might be fun RP/create a better tie-in than random adventurer looking through the help wanted section if anyone wanted to perhaps tie backgrounds with me. May go independent regardless, but figured it may do me some good to put feelers out there and see if anyone is interested?
Well fortunately, I tend to build my characters skill heavy regardless of the class, so I'm going to aggregate everyone's skills together and see where there's weaknesses, and build my character to slot into that hole. Also, should I assume regular starting gold for 6th, or anything else?
Hey people, word on the MDT grapevine was that there was an opening for a replacement player, I'm in one of his games so he tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was interested. Answer is yes, and just looking to see what the players/GM would like to see out of a new character. Thinking about making an Armor Master Fighter Archetype to serve as a bodyguard to the king being made in this kingmaker, but wanted to see what was up before I began the stat grind. What level should I build for if I've heard everything correctly and am in the right place?
Thanks for the quick responses guys, alas my character is sitting, so standing and drawing will probably be my surprise round rather than making a charge. I am in a very "Han shot first" kind of situation.
Hey guys, just a quick question. In my game, it looks like combat's going to be winding up with a surprise round. My character has a readied action to draw his weapon, but is within line of sight of the attackers (surprising them via bluff), and therefore doesn't have his weapon drawn yet. My question is simple, is it possible to take the readied action, and combine it with the surprise round to get what is effectively a full-round surprise round? My GM's pretty firm on a no, and I'm not planning to argue it really, but I always thought this was a legit strategy. A regular surprise round being when your party just happens to be a bit more observant than the enemies they blunder into, while with a readied action it is more a concerted ambush.
Duderlybob, I think you're confused with the monk and how they write redundant rules. They're just saying since they threaten with unarmed attacks (have improved unarmed strike), that even with their hands full (holding objects) then can make unarmed attacks (threaten/deal lethal damage). You can always make unarmed attacks with hands full, but you'll provoke, not threaten, and do non-lethal unless you take the penalty to deal lethal. If you take Improved Unarmed Strike, then you can attack with unarmed attacks, even with your hands full. I know where you're coming from on this Rapanuii, but tell me where this is restated. I've checked the section on unarmed strikes in the combat rules, it's not there. I've checked the description of Improved Unarmed Strike, and it's not there either. Understand, that where I'm coming from, I agree with you 100% that this is the way it should be, history has shown through spiked basket hilts, metal pommels, trench knives, etc. that this is a valid fighting style. But I find no example in the rules that says that you make can unarmed strikes with your hands full outside of the Monk's description. I'm going to ask you to cite to me where it says this, because though what you say makes sense I find absolutely nothing in the rules that claims that you can do this normally, making the Monk's description an exception, not a restatement.
Good point Komoda, but I'd still stick to what I said. In your example, you explicitly say that you drop the long sword to use the dagger, in your example, you're still maintaining the precedent I suggested of one weapon per hand. Yes you can switch that weapon, but you're still not going to have two combat-ready weapons in that hand. But regardless, the main point I'll refer to is simply to the Monk's entry, a Monk is special in that it can make unarmed strikes while its hands are full. Attacks with Cestus are counted as unarmed strikes per their description, therefore unless you're a monk, no dice on holding a polearm and punching with the Cestus. EDIT: And no, I'm not saying that. There's still a free hand with which to perform the slam, ergo the weapon holding hand doesn't need to be participating in it. EDIT 2: Unless I'm mistaken and Slam attacks are in fact two-handers. In which case, I'd say yes. Unless whatever is holding the weapon drops it, it no longer has the necessary free hands to perform said slam attack.
@Rapanuii Well, I'll admit I'm a bit confused as to what exactly your argument is myself, which is probably why my response has been less than clear at times. I'm going to try breaking what I believe to be your possible arguments, and my thoughts on each. The arguments that I've perceive are: A. That one can use Cestus to take advantage of Attacks of Opportunity against adjacent foes, even when wielding a two-handed reach weapon, by taking a free action to switch to holding the polearm in one hand, and strike with the Cestus, then taking another free action to grip the polearm in two hands again and return to a normal threat-range/weapon usage. B. That one can use Cestus to take advantage of an Attack of Opportunity without even releasing your grip on a two-handed reach weapon. Basically, punching with the haft of the polearm in hand. C. Something else entirely and I've just been really confused this whole time. So, for my opinions, split up into sections, let's try some spoiler text to break this up, shall we? Note that all italicized sections are direct copy-pastes from the PRD. Option A: Free Action Grip-Shifts:
This is the one I'm most inclined to be on board with. By the definition, Free Actions are actions that someone can do while taking another action, like speaking. For the full text:
Free Action: Free actions consume a very small amount of time and effort. You can perform one or more free actions while taking another action normally. However, there are reasonable limits on what you can really do for free, as decided by the GM. By this, we learn a lot when we look at the definition of an Attack of Opportunity: An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack. Now normally, this is an innocuous term, but in the world of Rules discussion, this is worth looking at with the question, "What is a single melee attack?" Attack Making an attack is a standard action. Melee Attacks: With a normal melee weapon, you can strike any opponent within 5 feet. By this, we can determine a very important fact: That an Attack of Opportunity is a "free" Standard Action. And now that an Attack of Opportunity has this vital distinction, we can come back to an important point in Free Actions, namely you can perform one or more free actions while taking another action. So now with this, we're able to freely release grip, hold the polearm in one hand, take the AoO with the Cestus in the other, and regrip the polearm at the end in a perfectly rule satisfactorily way. The only thing that's slightly hinky about this definition is that you may need to release your grip to start the AoO and get your hand free to punch with, but if you can draw an arrow to use Snap Shot (drawing ammunition being defined as a free action) then you can use this same rule to release the grip on your polearm. Option B: In Hand Cestus Punching:
So, this argument revolves around holding onto the polearm while still punching with the Cestus. Now whilst I can see this working logically in some cases, but I can't say I see any rule precedent for it. And yes, I can find rules that certainly infer that this cannot be done. There's two, one is a rule from the Monk Class, and one is from Multi-Weapon Fighting. Now, we'll start with the Monk rule:
Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. Now this makes the first important distinction. If this bared mentioning, it means that most people cannot make an unarmed strike with their hands full. Thus, you cannot attack with your Cestus when you've got a polearm in your hands. This is mentioned for the monk because it is an exception to the rule. The second rule is found in Multiweapon Fighting. Now, the main thing to note here is that nothing, and I repeat NOTHING I say has anything to do with the effect of Multiweapon Fighting. This feat is mentioned solely for its Prerequisites. Multiweapon Fighting (Combat) This multi-armed creature is skilled at making attacks with multiple weapons. Prerequisites: Dex 13, three or more hands. Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by –2 with the primary hand and by –6 with off hands. Now, note the three or more hands bit, and ask "why is that important?" Well, let's say that I've only got two arms, because I'm a human. This disqualifies me from the feat, even though with a polearm and a pair of Cestus, I do fulfill three striking implements. But why? After all, I've got multiweapons, so why not Multiweapon Fighting? This comes down to this concept that BBT has mostly been touting, and it's basically that you get one weapon, per hand to use. Yes, I can wear Cestus and wield a polearm, but I am not allowed to wield them both simultaneously in the RAW. This is why Multiweapon Fighting requires "three or more hands," these hands are necessary because you cannot use two weapons in one hand, be they Cestus or no. I'll admit that sometimes this really doesn't make sense in real life, as Serum pointed out, the combination of Cestus and Daggers makes perfect sense, it's basically the idea behind trench knives. So as a GM, I'd allow a lot of this stuff, but the RAW don't technically permit for it, as pointed out by the two rules I pointed out above. Again, my mentioning Multiweapon Fighting isn't for the off-hand attacks or anything that it actually DOES, but it makes the point that you get one attack, per hand, not per weapon, so even if you've got three weapons in the two Cestus and a Polearm, you're limited to picking which one you're using as each hand has to be dedicated to wielding the weapon in hand. But yes, in the end, though it fails to make perfect logical sense, holding a feather does prevent you from using that hand to punch with the Cestus, you'll need to drop that feather, if it's an important feather, get a weapon cord for it. If neither arguments above satisfy your argument, please break your argument down for me, as I'm totally lost! :P
If you're a monk, yes (though an armored monk is a sad monk). From the Monk's Unarmed Strike description: A monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. This designation is missing from even Improved Unarmed Strike, making this a uniquely monk thing per the RAW. Only monks are mentioned as being able to make attacks with non-hand appendages. Personally, as a GM, I'd allow it, not much point in armor spikes if I can't use them with my hands full if you ask me. But as far as I can tell, this would be a house-rule, not a rule rule.
Precisely, but that's my way of taking a rules example (as Rapanuii has been requesting) to prove that one cannot make an AoO with Cestus or some other gauntlet while both of your hands are busy using a two-handed weapon. Multi-weapon fighting, while unrelated to using a two-handed weapon, or Cestus, or AoOs says one thing right in its prerequisites that it takes a sufficient number of hands to wield your weapons. Wearing a pair of Cestus does not make you able to punch with them while carrying a Glaive, you must first release the Glaive, then when you have a free hand, you may use it to strike using the Cestus.
Yes, but the feat's requirement shows a precedent. A hand cannot wield two weapons at the same time. A hand can only wield one weapon at a time, that's all I'm using the feat for, it's an example of the RAI that you're arguing for BBT.
I'm still going to keep pointing out that this conversation about AoOs can be greatly reduced in complexity by looking at Multi-Weapon Fighting. Number of weapons you can use in that feat is determined by the number of weapon wielding limbs you have, not the number of weapons. Ergo, I cannot use Cestus/Gauntlets at the same time the hand is occupied using a two-handed weapon like a glaive or a longspear. I can wear cestus and carry a glaive at the same time, true, but I cannot effectively wield both at the same time, I have to choose to use one or the other.
In otherwords, yes they do become invisible, and therefore lose their effect, until you're visible again.
No, but it points out the flaw in your argument. The restriction on multiweapon fighting is enough limbs, not enough weapons. Limbs occupied with another weapon cannot be used to make an attack not holding that weapon.
If that's the question, then I think it's fairly clearly a no, I think BigNorseWolf had the right idea. Taking it a bit further, let's look at Multiweapon Fighting:
If you could punch with cestus while holding a greatsword, then I should be able to multiweapon fight with two swords and a pair of cestus, because I do have four weapons ready to fight. But that's not the case, you need a limb for each weapon. So since the hand is already busy holding the two-handed weapon, it cannot be used to punch. Same reason I can't two weapon fight with cestus and a greatsword.
The real issue at hand is if you can take free actions when it's not your turn. If you can, you can shift holding your glaive to one hand while you punch out AoOs, no problem. If you cannot take a free action at any time in combat, then you cannot use AoOs in the way Rapanuii is suggesting. The only rules of note that I can find to weigh in on the matter is that of immediate actions, which state they can be used even if it's not your turn. This makes it sound like an exception. With that said, here's a rule from the performance combat section in ultimate combat: ...The following triggers allow a combatant to make a performance combat check as a free action or an immediate action... Now this is by no means a definitive answer, but this suggests that free actions can be immediate actions and vise versa, which would be in favor of the idea that one could release their two-handed weapon, punch, and grab the weapon again in an attack of opportunity.
Ditto what Claxon said, that seems to be how it's written, but unless there's a very specific usage that you see that I don't, it shouldn't be anything game breaking.
That's where I think that RAW, and RAI diverge. It does specify frightened or shaken at the front, but when it's explicitly saying what the effect of the failed will save is, it's shaken, our panicked, no mention of frightened at all. Seems to me we've got a matter of editing problems, where the rules changed and a quick slap-dash edit was made to the wording that left the job half done. RAI, I'd probably guess it was more meant to be Shaken on success, Frightened on fail, Panicked on fail if your HD is more than four less than the source of Frightful Presence. But when it comes down to the pure RAW, shaken or panicked on a failed save with no mention of frightened in that section. Is it what the writers were going for? I doubt it, but that's what it says when it's in the consequence section of the crunch.
I agree it seems like an odd section, and I'd guess something's a little lost in the RAI, but as written is fairly clear, within the radius enemies need to save against a mind based fear attack. On a success, they're safe from it for 24 hours, on a fail, they're shaken. If the enemy's hit dice is less than the frightful presence user by 4 or more, they become panicked instead of shaken on a failed save. Now it seems odd to me that we go from shaken, to panicked, with no stop at frightened, but RAW there you are, no more, no less.
Looks up to snuff RAW, though typically, I add a few levels of perception to make things a little easier/harder as needed. For example, the +20 for invisibility you're using until it's actually in a lit area, once it's closer, that drops, then, when it's really beginning to close the distance, making it take additional penalties to stealth due to the sound being distinct enough to be able to notice it from random woodland noises, the wind, imagination, etc. Then I have a precise figure for how close Mr. Wolf gets before being noticed. And this is more of a house rule than law, but something I've found helpful for stealth related rolls is to also give levels of success and failure. For example, they detect the wolf before visually being able to see the wolf. All I say is "You hear some rustling in the underbrush." Now the party, being good little paranoid people will almost assuredly prepare weapons, spells etc. But this does throw a bone to the rogue who botches their sneak roll. I generally give them a couple of rounds to hide, or have the guard shrug because the floors have always been creaky and he's aware of coworkers in here so whatever. Really, unless they botch a roll while tip toeing behind a guard with sap in hand, I try to stay away from the black and white of complete ninja or bungling oaf. Generally give the npcs the same treatment, but players are usually far more reactionary and twitchy by nature.
As far as I can tell, RAW says you can do it sitting or kneeling by the fact that it doesn't say you can't. That said, it does stand to some level of GM fiat to have it really make any sense like people have ruled above. I'd argue you could shoot a bow sitting if what you're sitting on doesn't have arms or a back, so the chair (or at this point, stool, or horseback) doesn't fetter your motion at all, but even then, probably only short or compound bows would be viable. A traditional English Longbow would be difficult if not impossible to shoot while riding a horse or sitting in a chair, so I'd probably outlaw it, even if it's technically allowed.
In the RAW there's nothing that specifies that this work to counter act it that I see, neither in the Blindsight rules or in the Mirror Image rules. That said, it can definitely be inferred easily. Mirror Image say that you must be able to see the images for them to effect you. Closing your eyes or similar tactics can negate it, thus, using Blindsight with your eyes closed will render you unable to see the mirror images, and immune to its effects, but able to attack normally. Note that this is specific to Blindsight, not Blindsense. Blindsense could still tell you which square is attacking you, but specifies that its not specific enough to fight by accurately, so closing your eyes when you have Blindsense will still incur the normal penalties for fighting blind. So basically, nothing specifically says it works, but you'd be hard pressed to find a GM who doesn't buy the argument that it does.
Ah, well good info either way, I think once my own Oracle of Bones hits level 5 she's going to need to pick up Experimental Spellcaster, because as noted, these can make for some pretty dang cheap, yet effective zombies. Being able to mix it with traditional spells like Desecrate makes it just grand. Awesome to see this works, first person I ever spoke too about Words of Power bad mouthed them pretty severely, glad I decided to read up on them anyway.
Good find on those zombie rules, or lack thereof. Saw the rules for skeletons and assumed they were the same across the board. This seems like a fun low level villain, level 3 Undead Lord Cleric who's using ancient dark word magic, I can dig it. Would be capable of quite the horde if built right too, if it was a human, you could rush Undead Mastery at this level, maybe get a magic tattoo or spell specialization. All in all, could be rocking 24+ variant zombies and skeletons. I'm eager to potentially throw a low level team against this, could give them an entire small dungeon's worth of encounters off of one 3rd level baddie.
Hey guys, just started looking at the Words of Power and wanted a second opinion on a rules phrasing:
Does this wording make room for special variant raises, like bloody or burning skeletons, fast zombies, etc., or is this plain ol' nothing special zombies they this raises? The 2 HD limit keeps the very best that you could do with this a 1 HD variant, given the rules on raising the dead, but just curious if there's any wiggle room in there since the wording seems somewhat ambiguous.
That's actually an excellent point. If the Cavalier's mountedness doesn't really meet your approval Petty Alchemy, Inquisitor is a good choice. It's got pretty much all your main class skills, Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Stealth, and a bucket of Knowledge skills, it's good in a fight, and generally on foot since that seems to tickle your fancy. And, if all that's not enough, you get a battery of divine magic and a lot of it investigative stuff, plus your good saves, Will and Fortitude are the ones likely to come up, either in the way of Fortitude against poisons or the near endless number of ways that magic can be used to trick, persuade, or otherwise foil you covertly. Top all this off with proficiency/weapons for performance or duel combat, and you've got the Cavalier idea, but without the mount and with a lot more other things. I'd probably use your traits to fill in the skill gaps, mainly Disable Device and Knowledge Nobility, and with that, you're one scary build for intrigue my friend.
Another option on the table given BlackBloodTroll's suggestion, and inspired by Ruggs comment is to actually make a Cavalier who's a duelist as well as a intrigue specialist, Cavaliers are good in that they can do both fairly well. The party may need someone to be challenged to a duel and disgraced at some point, brutish, but effective, and non-lethal in the right circumstances. You could go with the performance combat, or duel combat. Sometimes a game of intrigue needs a guy to bludgeon it in the face, despite not being subtle, it does have the effect of being the thing no one saw coming, which may make it the sneakiest thing available.
Oracles, Bards, and Sorcerers are all great choices as they're all CHA casters. Since Bluff/Diplomacy are probably going to be important skills, having a nice battery of spells to go off the same stat is a good choice. Also, Detect Poison, Detect Magic, and Arcane Mark will be your friends. Detect Poison is obvious, Detect Magic is obvious, Arcane Mark is less obvious. Use Arcane Mark on all your stuff. And I mean ALL your stuff. This way if you ever suspect someone's been tampering with your things, either stealing them, replacing them with fakes, etc. You've got a fool-proof method of knowing if that took place.
Alright, well thanks for the ideas guys! I'm thinking I'm liking the Trench Fighter concept the best, most reliable of all of them, and gives the needed room for switch-hitting since the guns, whilst powerful, aren't going to be reliable enough to assume that's all I'll need. But all in all, a fun little exercise if I do say so myself.
No worries, take a crack at it when you've got the time. This is part of why I'm also build a bit of a switch hitter, want to be viable without any pistols whatsoever. But beyond that, part of it is just going to be not flooring the accelerator 100% of the time all the time. Fire one barrel at a time, use the melee weapons and hold the guns in reserve as backup. The whole fire the guns 18 times in a round is mostly just if there's an absolute need for as much damage on the ground as quickly as possible. In the same way that your high level casters aren't going to open the first fight of the day with their 5th level Quickened Spell and another 9th. Really impressive when you do it, but not going to be done every combat.
Mostly, just not going to care that much about it. Ideally if enough cash/item crafters is on hand, planning to build it with +1 Reliable pistols to deal with that. If that's not enough, we can throw in Amateur Gunslinger for some help. And well I'm only planning on each pistol getting used once in a combat, and saving reloading and clearing misfires for after combat. Doesn't matter too much if a gun misfires if I'm only going to fire it once. Gunslingers who are more attached to a single gun need to clear misfires regularly, fighters who are using them once and then tossing them into a bag shouldn't need to care nearly as much. And if using Leadership/having a Witch party member on hand to get a Fortune Cackle going as mentioned, it should be a relatively rare circumstance that the guns misfiring thing to become bad enough to really become a problem.
Cool stuff, at the least that keeps me from having to spend precious time picking up all my valuable guns if the party needs to run. And it's cool to boot! Mainly staying on Trench Fighter to keep the high BAB, need to shoot as often as possible and attack as accurately as possible to pull off the 18 attacks and not just be wasting bullets. If I was building for Gestalt? Oh dear, Trench Fighter/Pirate would be the perfect combo. And I hear you on the whole never getting a game past level 8 thing, this is pure speculation on my part, hence why I decided to ask if this worked or not because I've really only made characters this high level as pure speculation. Seemed like getting 16 attacks out without any help from other party members was some kind of black magic that couldn't possibly be right. But anyway, since this conversation is moving away from a Rules Question, went ahead and made a thread in advice to more discuss builds and such if anyone wants to keep up the discussion.
So recently I got thinking about how to use firearms effectively, but as close to real world as possible. Personally the ability to free action reload what are supposed to be muskets always bothered me. So I got to thinking about it, and settled on a piratey design, going for multiple pistols in braces rather than pistols I reloaded really, really fast, making my pistols a brutal opening volley to a follow up attack in melee. Long story short, went on some theory-crafting, and came up with a general design. At end game, 20th level, would be carrying five brace of double-barreled pistols that I could effectively discharge all in one round, firing 9 pistols for 18 attacks. Using the Trench Fighter Archetype, and the absurd amount of feats/weapon training, managed to get an end game round's worth of damage to be 18d8+675 damage. Can only maintain it for one round, but am throwing enough fire to take down Metterak, the Dragon Prince in one round's full-attack. But level 20 is a bit of a mythical beast and most of my games don't really tend to breach level 10 before petering out. So, I turn to you all for advice on how to make this work at earlier levels. The main idea is stacking Quick Draw, with Two-Weapon Fighting, and Double-Barreled Pistols to begin throwing a massive number of attacks, being a little devil-may-care about accuracy given the whole targeting Touch AC bit. I was curious to see what anyone interested would/could build along this line. Any takers?
Well, this is probably the one exception to that rule, from the PRD's section on Firearms in Ultimate Equipment: Early Firearms: When firing an early firearm, the attack resolves against the target's touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats and abilities such as Deadly Aim. At higher range increments, the attack resolves normally, including taking the normal cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment. Unlike other projectile weapons, early firearms have a maximum range of five range increments.
Both are indeed 10 pounds.
Didn't know about those Infinite Sky pistols, very cool, a double barreled version is basically exactly what I was trying to accomplish, though for flavor, if I made this I'd probably stick with the absurd amount of pistols. Crazy thing is, the above damage calculations is using only the Trench Fighter's Dex bonus, no dips into Gunslinger whatsoever. For a little bit of the breakdown if you're interested, I was operating with a level 20 Trench Fighter in mind with 24 Dex (17+2 Racial+5 for level adjustments) and the following smattering of feats: Weapon Finesse
Ends up being a bit of a one trick pony, and a pony who's trick last for one round, but I'm guessing everyone can get the idea, those feats + Weapon Training + Trench Warfare can get the damage output above if my math's right (Double checking myself, I actually just got 701, know I forgot Hammer the Gap initially, but I think it's too late to math right). And with 18 attacks with a 19-20 crit range from Improved Critical with an auto-confirming x5 critical that a level 20 fighter can get with a pistol? That just seems to enter into the world of freaky to me. But regardless, much thanks to everyone for replying, especially Cnetarian, you really helped clarify that first question quite well. Any further discussion is beginning to delve more into the Advice section and character building discussions than Rules Questions, so I think I'll leave this here for now, maybe kick this off again in Advice tomorrow. Thanks again for the clarification everyone!
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