Durinor's page

This whole issue is why I don't believe switch hitting works as well as people seem to think.

Drop an expensive magical weapon in the middle of a battle, with the idea of picking it up again later? Ridiculous and asking for said weapon to get lost, broken or stolen.

Without a way to sheathe weapons as a free action, switch hitting is ok but not great as a tactic.

My back of a napkin 10th level paladin, with modest magic items for level and moderate optimisation:

20 Strength
Power Attack
+2 Strength Belt
+2 Greataxe
Damage with Power Attack: 1d12+20 (26.5 average)
Damage with Power Attack and Smite: 1d12+30 (36.5 average)
Critical Damage with Power Attack and Smite: 3d12+90 (109.5 average)
First hit and Critical Damage with Power Attack and Smite, against undead: 3d12+120 (139.5 average)

As so many others have said, your PC is a bit underpowered.

Edit: Changed doubleaxe to greataxe

The RPG 'Nephilim' had the PCs take on the role of ancient spirits that incarnate periodically into the bodies of humans, taking on their skills and memories as they do. There were rules for many time periods such as Ancient Egypt through the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the World Wars, the Renaissance and the modern era.

The game had lots of secret societies (like the Knights Templar) and manipulation of society behind the scenes.

It may not be exactly what you are looking for but would certainly have some decent ideas that could help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim_(role-playing_game)

Is he 'mercifully' using non-lethal so he can use Ki Leech on enemies twice, once when they get knocked down and again when he finishes them off? Mercifully.
:)

When giving things to Fighters, I suggest asking yourself if it makes them more powerful than Wizards, Clerics or Druids.

I thought about this and I reckon you could give Fighters:

A bonus feat at every odd level and two bonus feats at every even level
4 skill points per level
d12 hit points
no stat prerequisites for combat feats
the choice of 10 class skills

and full casters would still be more powerful, though Fighters may start to hedge out Rangers and Barbarians.

So, am I right and thinking that a Fighter/Wizard/Eldritch Knight 1/5/1 with Magical Knack gets no benefit from Spell Specialisation or any other caster level boosting items or feats?

I must say I find this debate quite unusual.

Magical Knack is designed to help multiclass casters approach or equal the caster level of single class casters. It is specifically not meant to increase caster level above hit dice and so the limitation is there.

However things like Spell Specialization are quite different and are designed to increase the caster level above and beyond a character’s hit dice.

Surely the most obvious thing to do is to add the bonus from Magical Knack up to the character’s hit dice, and then to add the bonuses that can take it above?

This is certainly the way it’s played in our games and makes the most sense to me.

Legalistic reading of the rules aside, isn’t this how most people play it?

I originally posted this in the identical thread - but, like poor old Tom Riker it was deemed to be a duplicate so I'm reposting here.

Bard would be my choice, for the social ability and magic (including a cure).

The thread inspired me to create a level 1 character adapted for the 21st century - I think this smart, charismatic fellow would do well at life.

Level 1 Human Bard
Favoured class: Bard

STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 10
INT: 13
WIS: 10
CHA: 20

Profession (Musician): 1 (+4)
Perform (Act): 1 (+9)
Perform (Dance): 1 (+9)
Perform (Sing): 1 (+9)
Perform (String): 1 (+9)
Perform (Oratory): 1 (+10)
Perform (Comedy): 1 (+9)
Swim: 1 (+1)
Perception: 1 (+4)

Feats:
Extra Performance
Voice of the Sibyl

Spells:
Ghost Sound
Prestidigitation
Message
Dancing Lights
Cure Light Wounds
Silent Image

I think this smart, charismatic fellow would do well at life.

Level 1 Human Bard
Favoured class: Bard

STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 10
INT: 13
WIS: 10
CHA: 20

Profession (Musician): 1 (+4)
Perform (Act): 1 (+9)
Perform (Dance): 1 (+9)
Perform (Sing): 1 (+9)
Perform (String): 1 (+9)
Perform (Oratory): 1 (+10)
Perform (Comedy): 1 (+9)
Swim: 1 (+1)
Perception: 1 (+4)

Feats:
Extra Performance
Voice of the Sibyl

Spells:
Ghost Sound
Prestidigitation
Message
Dancing Lights
Cure Light Wounds
Silent Image

Bard! Money for nothing, and your chicks for free ... plus the cure light wounds spell for a bit of life-saving and faith healing on the side.

Actually I'm going to go make a level one bard tailored to excel in 21st century

I was playing around with the idea of a zen archer/life oracle as the lack of healing in my newly formed adventuring group is becoming an issue - we have a druid and a bard making a total of 4 cure light wounds/day for a party of five.

Seems a bit of a non-starter though.

Pretty is as pretty does!

Not so much impatient, more that this is a busy, active board and any rules question is normally answered within a few minutes.

In this case I had laready looked around and found nothing, but wanted to check if I'd missed anything. The lack of response confirmed for me that the answer was indeed 'no'.

In a way my 'impatience' was a compliment to the efficiency of the posters here! :)

I certainly like the idea of orcs being a threat to higher level characters.

In one of the adventure paths the PCs face groups of much lower level soldiers, but each group is statted as if a huge creature with multiple attacks and high damage/hit points. They are very vulnerable to area effects (like swarms).

Something like that could work, as could making the squad leader slightly higher level - maybe 4th level?

Well with no replies in over an hour, I'm going to assume the answer is, as I suspected, 'no'.

:)

Very quick question, is there currently a way for Oracles to use Wisdom as their primary stat, in the way Empyreal Sorcerers use wisdom instead of charisma?

I think if I were running an all-dwarf campaign I would change the dwarf racial bonuses to +2 Con, -2 Cha and +2 to one other stat - so as to make (almost) all the classes equally appealling.

Wisdom in the flesh makes Disable Device a class skill as well as swapping Dex for Wisdom

History is full of decent, patriotic people serving less than perfect regimes.

I agree - I'm (slightly) sad that my half-orc won't get an extra skill point but very happy the question has been answered, thank you!

It might be useful to take a look at the dozens of luxury items that make modern life easier, and create magical versions.

Thinking about the average home or office, I can imagine magical versions of:

baby monitor
desk fan
stapler
photocopier
Kindle (I think this one was in the Wheel of Time)
desktop vacuum cleaner

The RAW allows it, but it's also clear developer clarification on RAI is required.

Paranoia (though I never lost a clone)

Not losing a clone is clear evidence of being a mutant traitor - please report to your nearest termination station.

Characters who desire so may begin with a single item - magical, rare, anything - of their choice (subject to GM approval) for free, under the stipulation that the item carries some kind of curse. The character is unaware of this curse, and the nature of the curse is at the GM's discretion, though it will always be considered proportional to the item’s power. Will need at least a short explanation of how the item was acquired as part of the character's backstory.

It's a bit of a tangent, but this rule reminded me of the West End Games Star Wars character template 'smuggler', which had on his equipment list a Millennium Falcon style starship (yay!), then right below it a 25,000 credit debt to a crime lord (boo!).

Anyway the only house rules in my current campaign so far are no Summoners and no hero point feats or spells - we do use hero points.

So is there a regular schedule for FAQs from the designers or is it more ad hoc?

It's not unreasonable for a GM to require some kind of roleplaying reason for certain multi-class options - If a character wants to take a level of wizard or cleric my own GM requires players either have some sort of appropriate backstory or make an attempt at seeking training.

This doesn't have to be a horrible thing - it can add to your character. You could have your dwarf announce that he has reached a landmark age and his culture demands that he must go on a pilgrimage to a sacred dwarven site. When he comes back he has begun a journey of enlightenment and has a level of cleric.

Of course a GM can go too far in this - I once had a GM that required 5 years training to take the first level of wizard.

Ciretose: Yes, those are all other examples of when you would use Charisma, not Diplomacy - though I wonder if it is intentional that a straight Charisma check can permanently change a creatures attitude, even if it is written that way.

Some really interesting issues about how NPCs view the world have come up in this thread.

Here's my thoughts on the starting attitude of NPCs. Let’s assume that the average NPC (10 Charisma)would be indifferent to the average stranger (10 Charisma). This means that if the stranger asked for directions (DC 10) they would be successful, but if they asked for 'simple aid' (DC 15) they would be refused. That seems fair enough.
Using this system a slightly shy, homely person (Charisma 9) would have no luck getting directions out of the average person, which is harsh but I can certainly picture the scene - the hapless mumbler trying in vain to get the attention of strangers as they hurry about on their business. Almost any 'country boy in New York' movie has this trope.

But if you adjust that indifferent starting attitude with a charisma check, the average stranger (Charisma 10) will fail that DC 15 check, and they will fail it by 5 – adjusting the other's attitude down by one step.

So now we have the situation where if one completely average NPC approaches another in the street, the approachee immediately adopts an unfriendly attitude and will refuse to even give directions (DC 15).

I don’t think that sounds very realistic (except maybe in New York!) but unless I’m missing something this seems to be the unintended consequence of adjusting starting attitude with a Charisma check.

Charisma applies to checks that represent attempts to influence others.

Just for the exercise, can we think of what checks to influence others are explicitly in the rules but not covered by Diplomacy or Intimidate?

• You cannot use Diplomacy on a creature that doesn’t understand you (such as when there is no common language) or an intelligence of 3 or less (commonly but not exclusively animals. There will be some 3 Intelligence humanoids you cannot use Diplomacy on).

• Diplomacy is ineffective in combat and against creatures that intend you harm in the immediate future.

You could try to influence creatures in the above categories with Intimidate, but using this skill has its own problems.

So, when trying to influence creatures (without threatening them) that intend you harm, that don’t understand your language or have an Intelligence of 3 or less you use Charisma.

I think this covers the RAW “checks that represent attempts to influence others” that are separate from skills, so there is no need to create a “starting attitude check” to satisfy this piece of text.

If a player said "I flash my best smile and say 'hi, do you have a second?'" then it's probably what I'd use in that instance.

I think if the NPC was indifferent or better the could use the 'make a request' function of diplomacy for this

It's interesting thinking about examples of low charisma/high diplomact skilled people in real life or fiction:

Grima Wormtongue

I always liked the West End Games Star Wars rules on ammo - you always have enough, until a dramatically and situationally appropriate time, when you don't.

Since composite bows retain their shape when unstrung and are more C shaped than l shaped, can they be stored?

that's a very interesting perspective Uriel, and also ties with the kitchen-sink style setting of Golarion where you can play almost any type of fantasy from Arabian Nights to Viking to Wild West.

In the Pathfinder setting, I believe it is the case that there is a single Prime Material Plane, containing many different life-bearing worlds, seperated by space - the great beyond.

Does this mean that 'alternative' worlds are not possible in this setting, i.e other dimensions with slight (or major) differences?

Also, as far as I know published pathfinder material places humans on two separate worlds - Golarion and Earth. Are humans everywhere throughput the universe, and if so, how did they get there?

Finally, since early 20th century Earth exists in the setting, does this mean that there is no world where Earth is in its 16th century? Or 21st?

Well there is a certain amount of individual judgement involved, but I would respectfully suggest that a sword and a spear are the same general size and shape - long, thin and pointy.

Edit: This is a response to Lazar.

Sorry but that is simply not true. It qualifies what can be carried with 'the same general size and shape' and in one case adds 'or the like' at the end.

The quiver is clearly not limited to arrows, bows, staves and spears.

The text of an efficient quiver reads:

This appears to be a typical arrow container capable of holding about 20 arrows. It has three distinct portions, each with a nondimensional space allowing it to store far more than would normally be possible.

The first and smallest one can contain up to 60 objects of the same general size and shape as an arrow. The second slightly longer compartment holds up to 18 objects of the same general size and shape As a javelin. The third and longest portion of the case contains as many as 6 objects of the same general size and shape as a bow (spears, staffs, or the like). Once the owner has filled it, the quiver can quickly produce any item she wishes that is within the quiver, as if from a regular quiver or scabbard. The efficient quiver weighs the same no matter what's placed inside it.

So my question is, what weapons would you consider to be the same general size and shape as arrows, javelins, spears, staves and bows?

Is a dagger the same general size and shape as an arrow? Is a rapier the same general size and shape as a javelin? A longsword a spear?

Would axes be ruled out because of the broad head?

Might it be easier to establish what weapons can't be stored in this very efficient quiver?

Again, I'd be grateful if people could click the faq BUTTON.

A qinggong/inquisitor does sound good, and very synergistic.

In the Star Wars universe the earliest Jedi (possibly before they were even called Jedi)used swords rather than lightsabers, which they would imbue with the power of the Force.

a qinggong monk with a Ki Focus weapon would fit this bill I think.

Appropriate Powers might be:

Augury
High Jump
Feather Step
Message
Share Memory
Sonic Thrust

You could also add the Trifler trait (3/day Prestidigitation) for lots of weird jedi powers likes minor telekinesis.

Bit more info about proto-jedi:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_Wars

I played in a long running campaign set in Hollowfaust, the city of bureaucratic and(mostly)Lawful Neutral necromancers - the setting is great.

The scary Carnival of Shadows and ancient Slarecians are just a few highlights we encountered.

Weekly request for more FAQ clicks!

You know, thinking about this either flurry or armor choice, it doesn't seem like much of a choice. In armor, a monk is a 3/4 BaB class with only a minor bonus to attack and damage rolls, while also rolling with a d8 HD, only 4+Int skills a level, and not much else going for you other than a really cool mount (if you buy one), and a high init.

I really don't understand the point in giving the sohei an armour proficiency if they can't use their monk abilities while wearing it.

Not a lot more to add to this topic, but I would appreciate it if people could click the FAQ button.

Thanks everyone, I'm pretty sure myself that it can't be cast on someone else or made into a potion but the lack of 'Range: Personal' makes this up for debate.

It matters for a character with Spellcraft (to use Crafting feats, taken through a SLA) but lacks the spell and who wants to identify magic items.

Simple enough question, is Detect Magic a personal spell or can it be cast on someone else or made into a potion?

Trifler - cast Prestidigitation 3/day as a spell-like ability. Turns any character into a minor spellcaster.

AD&D taught me all the arithmetic I'll ever need - don't rob this child of the learning opportunity!

"I'm fascinated by orcs, they are interesting creatures, regrettably they are less than reasonable subjects of study and frequently attack me, so I've had to learn how to kill them before they kill me."

This is the sort of ranger you can see in any number of westerns - the hardened scout and Indian fighter who nonetheless has a great respect for his enemy, often more than he does for his own, more 'civilised' side.

I think means the EKs ability to cast a swift action spell when he crits.