Emmit Svenson's page

Cole, there's no Romani in Golarion any more than there are Belgians or Etruscans, and the word you used is a real-world racial slur. I'm not angry or anything, just letting you know--lots of folks don't realize that.

Similar idea but went the path of makeshift scrapper.

If you haven't played Darkest Dungeons, you might not know your character apparently has a sister.

I am sticking to my guns and only having classes from the Core Rulebook and the Advanced Player's Guide. This was an oversight by me, but thankfully we are all in this together and you brought this to my attention.

Mr. Clint, if you like Mythicman19's concept, could you offer him a short extension to rework the character's mechanics into, say, a vivisectionist alchemist or makeshift scrapper rogue? I don't want your job to be any tougher, but I don't mind the extra competition, and it seems generous to give folks a chance to fix honest mistakes.

Here's Vano Martoff, my proposed addition to your campaign, a human druid who couldn't possibly be insane...right? His crunch is in his profile, as well as the RP info below.

Emmit Svenson wrote:

...a party that's half made of three very different halflings could be delightful!

All we'd need is a Trenchcoat of Disguise Self.

Oooh, I call arms! No, wait, head! No, arms!

Samwise: I'll be the legs again then, Mr. Frodo?

Submitted for your consideration: Sour Heck, Ustalav’s answer to the question, “Why can’t we have nice things?”

Like Eloise Tow, above, Sour Heck is a refugee from a Carrion Crown game that ended maybe halfway through Trial of the Beast. It was great while it lasted. You could check it out if you want to see our characters in action.

I’m looking for a game with a strong RP focus, from the players and GM alike. Combat and tactics are great--I wouldn’t be playing Pathfinder if I didn’t like them--but I’d be disappointed if anyone was trying to rush past inter-party conversations.

Your character could be Numarian. Either playing in that setting, or an expat from the Technic League or whatever. Other backgrounds make sense. A Warpriest of Brigh. A Lashunta ranger. Anyone with the Technologist feat.

Arcane Duelist bard would appeal too. Whip proficiency, enchant your own weapon without spending a feat, spell support, lots of melee-friendly bonus feats.

I can understand people wanting to throw up roadblocks, but rules forum talk here: This is a legal use of the enchantment, right?

People love the Falcata for its 19-20/x3 crit range. A monowhip is significantly better, with a crit range of 18-20/x3, plus it hits touch AC and does 2d6 damage at medium size. Unfortunately, the list price of a monowhip is 70,000 gold, before enchantment.

You can just buy a +1 Transforming light melee weapon for 12,500 gold and change it into a monowhip, right? Better still, a +1 Keen Transforming one for 18,500. Sure, batteries will jack that price up over the long run, but who doesn't like those savings? Heck, enchant it yourself and pay just 9,500.

Seems like a golden option for any slashing grace whip character, such as a dex-based warpriest. (The monowhip doesn't allow you to add strength to damage, but dex is fine). You can keep the dang thing in whip form when you don't feel like burning batteries.

Thüm has been addressing the rocky outcropping where the Gathering first appeared. "...then Thüm's spear, of dwarf-iron wrought, bit deep into vermin captain's throat, freeing a red rush! The battle was ours!" He stops his recitation, and peers dubiously at the wall. "Stony silence may mean Gathering elsewhere."

Our fire beetle organ bearer left the game just as Kayla came in. Perhaps we could retcon that the departing android--who has darkvision, anyway--left that light behind? Perhaps Ozy could carry it, since it doesn't need to use both its hands.

"May be treasure under hollow hill, but nothing more valuable than gun," says Thüm, eyeing the gnome's weapon. "Gun worth more than gold, but taboo to Numerians. Tribe that finds gun gives it to Black Sovereign as tribute, pays no taxes for years--or hides it from his White Scars, keep as weapon of last resort. Only boldest warrior carries gun outside own lands. Unless..." the big man says, smiling down, "Gun looks like broken toy. But Technic League hard to fool about guns."

"Starting glorious adventures by killing vermin is ancient tradition," Thüm approves. "In battle-wise Göerta's first fight she slew seven giant rats in tavern cellar. Fourteen she was, and no fairer face has Thüm seen than hers, spattered with rat gore."

"And now Skunk Onna travels after vision--that is way of shamans, Thüm knows. Har! We are well met! Thüm is on path of glory. Spirits should guide him, but Thüm cannot see. Skunk Onna will be his eyes; Thüm will be her strong back." His massive, easy grin flashes in the dim cavern. "Mighty legends begin with paths joining!"

An umlat turns a Taldane "U" into a dwarf-rune. Knowing some linguistics, Onna might recognize this runic mix as the way Skald is written.

"Onna's tribesfolk are reborn? Strange ways. Neighbor's beautiful daughter could be own great-grandfather. "

"Gods take Aufruhrstählernvolk when we die. Three meadhalls have we, three gifts from three gods. Hall of Dreams, Hall of Giants, Hall of Steel. Only great heroes go to Hall of Steel. Thralls and chiefs go to hall of Giants, where thrall may be chief and chief may be thrall. Others go to Hall of Dreams. Aufruhrstählernvolk's greatest punishment is to be thrown out of tribe--meadhall doors shut for you forever, you freeze in dark, chased by giant wolves." Thüm chuckles at the image of some despicable exile fleeing from god-wolves.

Drop all your potions in a Handy Haversack. Not only will you not provoke when you fetch them out, you won't ever have to worry about grabbing the wrong one.

This entire thread is taking place inside a Zygomind. Wake up, fools! Wake up before it's too late!

It's hard to think of a way to add two or three new characters in the middle of this fight without throwing any pretense of narrative continuity out the window. I guess we could just say the new players' characters were with us all along, instead of the three that let us down. That would kind of cheat the new players out of an introduction, though. Maybe we could flash back to the end of the Trial and have characters join us then, and say the dropouts' characters get crushed by troll boulders in the next few seconds of this fight.

I know Iesha's heart is in the right place, but it's clear she can't post on a regular basis. We can continue with her as a guest star, if we recruit enough others.

If we can't recruit at least two reliable players in the next week or thereabouts, I think this is as far as we can go.

"Blood Gar tribe dive deep with skins full of air. You made waterproof bags--have you made bags that hold breath? Gladly will I carry them. If spells fail ere we escape hollow hill, simple skins may save lives."

Imagine the terror when the characters discover the name of the elusive enemy they've pursued for many adventures is..."Madame Gazebo".

Other possible killer NPCs: The Gazebo Knight. Gazebo the Mad. Doctor Gazebo. The Dread Pirate Gazebo. Count Maladicti Von Gazebo. Gazebo, Destroyer of Worlds.

A broad smile splits the graying black beard of the burly man in leather, furs and iron. "No doubts or laggard questions have I, rockmother. Gladly I will I follow your kinsman"--he nods at Arkady--"to the hollow below the hill where your cunning man has fallen, returning with his body be it living or dead."

If an ethnographer ever visited the land of the Aufruhrstählernvolk, met Thüm's people and heard them speaking, he would quickly identify an Ulfen influence in their way of speaking, their permanent winter residences, their weighty names and their slightly paler skin, all of which set them apart from other Kellid tribes--perhaps the remnants of a lost Iobarian colony that interbred and assimilated into tribal society. However, if an ethnographer ever had visited them, he was quickly punched to death for asking rude questions, so the origin of the tribe's cultural peculiarities must remain a mystery.

Concern wrinkles the barbarian's brow, and he pauses at his task of whetting the immense poleax he's brought with him into the town hall. "One request must I make." He kicks the bulging rucksack at his feet. "Here are Thüm's things, his tent and his pot, his blanket and cot. If from dark caves he does not return, let them be sold, and let that little gold go to buy a raven from your priests, to be sent to Göertrüd Göertadotter to say that her father has fallen and the honor of her family is now hers to carry forward." Thüm smiles fondly at a vision of his eldest daughter raising a cairn to his memory.

Inspire Competence +2, available to a level 3 Bard: "A bard of 3rd level or higher can use his performance to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be within 30 feet and able to see and hear the bard. The ally gets a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as she continues to hear the bard’s performance."

FAQ: You count as your own ally.

Inspire Competence, Two sentences later :

A bard can't inspire competence in himself.

Bachelor snuff is ineffective on females--and on non-humanoids, which might explain all the human/dragon interbreeding out there. (“I thought you said you were using bachelor snuff!” “Uh, on reflection, Shapechange might not actually change my creature type...”)

For any weapon we name, there is a set of creatures that cannot use Weapon Finesse with that weapon. That should not be read to mean that no weapon can be made Agile.

My interpretation/house rule is that any weapon can be made Agile, but the Agile enchantment only functions when the weapon is wielded by someone who could use Weapon Finesse with it.

So, back to the original poster: I would let someone put Agile on a heavy shield, and any character that could use Weapon Finesse with that heavy shield would gain the benefit of Agile.

...for spontaneous caster the metamagic feat is sadly not an option, it takes too long to use...

Hmm, I have to disagree. Using a metamagic feat will increase a spell’s casting time from a standard action to a full round action, which means no move action, but with a good range on spells and a good concentration check bonus for casting defensively, full casters should be able to get by on 5-foot steps much of the time.

Well I died in that campaign last night. Apparently lawful people are banned from this kings castle...As we passed through the gate I was disintegrated, no save, by a Glyph of Law Bane...

You should add this to one of the "Worst GM Ever!" threads in the Gamer Talk forums. Laughing afterwards helps.

SLA'S change casting times to std action. I'd love to be wrong about it.

"A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description. "

Dominate Person’s spell description specifies one round. The phrasing in the spell-like ability rules quoted above establishes a casting time for spell-like abilities that aren’t based off an existing spell; it doesn’t override existing spells’ casting times.

Or so I read it.

...a reasonable encounter for the group would be three mariliths and some cronies.

Mariliths aren’t great monsters for their CR, but let's roll with that. You don’t specify what the Marilith’s mooks are, but let’s suppose they include six succubi.

Succubi A through F: I ready an action to use Dominate Person on the first creature that injures one of my mistresses and has not yet been Dominated.

Shadowdancer: (Pops out of stealth, hits a Marilith)

Succubi A: Dominate! DC 23 will save.

Shadowdancer: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Succubus A: Well, that was easy. Kill your former companions.

Shadowdancer: That’s against my nature! 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22 But I’ll do it for you, sexy! (Poof into stealth)

Former companions: ruh roh.

Related to players cheatin’ with dice: Can anyone recommend a source for polyhedral dice that are both fair and exceptionally readable cross-table? I’m thinking oversized, high-contrast dice with simple numerals and no distracting detailing.

Actually, witches get all their class-granted spells when they gain a new familiar. The quote I cited above clearly says "These are in addition to any bonus spells known by the familiar based on the witch’s level." This means that the familiar knows all the spells that you would normally get just by taking witch levels, you only lose the ones you add via scrolls and other means.

No, you're cutting that sentence off. The whole sentence is, "These are in addition to any bonus spells known by the familiar based on the witch’s level and her patron (see patron spells)." It refers to patron spells only.

Reading it your way, a witch would have a net gain of two spells per spell level when she lost a familiar.

Glibness is a spell that is only on the bard spell list, no other. Its listing says it only has somatic components, but the bard class description says all bard spells have verbal components. There are other, less commonly used bard-only nonverbal spells, like Resounding Clang and Borrow Skill.

Is this a case where the specific (the spell description) overrides the general (the class description)? Or do these spells have a verbal component when bards cast them?

If the spell description overrides the class description in these cases, is that also true of nonverbal spells like Mislead, which can be cast by other classes?

Ravel Puzzlewell from Planescape: Torment. Sympathetic, empathetic, and sadistic; wise, passionate, and conflicted; she is your torturer, your lover, and your murderer, many times over. Extremely well written, with one arresting bit of voice-acted dialog: “What can change the nature of a man?”

The prevention of mental control has nothing to do with evil creatures.

Relevant excerpt from the spell:
...
Second, the subject immediately receives another saving throw (if one was allowed to begin with) against any spells or effects that possess or exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment [charm] effects and enchantment [compulsion] effects, such as charm person, command, and dominate person. This saving throw is made with a +2 morale bonus, using the same DC as the original effect. If successful, such effects are suppressed for the duration of this spell. The effects resume when the duration of this spell expires. While under the effects of this spell, the target is immune to any new attempts to possess or exercise mental control over the target. This spell does not expel a controlling life force (such as a ghost or spellcaster using magic jar), but it does prevent them from controlling the target. This second effect only functions against spells and effects created by evil creatures or objects, subject to GM discretion.

The entire paragraph you quoted describes the second effect of the spell, protection from mental control. The final sentence of the paragraph makes it clear that the second effect (i.e. every benefit in that paragraph) only works if the source of the control is evil. Mental control by good or neutral sources is not prevented by Protection from Evil.

The necromancer is the most powerful class. It can bring flamebait conversations that were thankfully over more than a year ago back to life just by posting at the end, without reading what has gone before.

The Cyclops (CR 5) scares me. They can get one guaranteed natural 20 a day, and their x3 crit weapon means that a critical hit is going to do around 50 damage (more with Power Attack), instant death to most level 5 characters.

You know what would look good on a cyclops? Gunslinger levels. Dead Shot plus Flash of Insight with a large musket sounds like fun for the CR.

Fun fact: As prestidigitation cannot duplicate other spell effects...

Fun fact: since a Wish spell could do anything someone might consider using Prestidigitation for, Prestidigitation cannot do anything.

Emmit Svenson wrote:

Voadam wrote:

I struggle to come up with a good use for hallucinatory terrain as well.

Place ...hallucinatory hills to conceal your campsite...

"Structures, equipment, and creatures within the area are not hidden or changed in appearance."

It specifically can not be used to hide creatures.

You could not affect creatures with this spell to make them invisible or appear to be trees, correct. Hallucinatory terrain features should still block vision, however. It would be a strange interpretation of the spell to say that people on one side of a hallucinatory hill can look through it to see a duck waddling around on the other side.

I guess if you interpret the spell to mean that insects buzzing around make the illusion become selectively transparent so that they remain in full view of all onlookers, it would be a pretty awful spell. Hopefully we all have more common sense than that.

At the top end, I think a level 20 witch would prefer to have 15 level 1 Pearls of Power than a single CL 20 Wand of Hex Vulnerability. True, there might come a day when you want to cast Hex Vulnerability 17 times, but I think the flexibility and and reuseability of the Pearls makes them the better choice.

That probably holds true of any witch with greater healing hex.

Instant Enemy: With this spell you designate the target as your favored enemy for the remainder of its duration. Select one of your favored enemy types. For the duration of the spell, you treat the target as if it were that type of favored enemy for all purposes.

It specifically calls out for all purposes, not for instant enemy, but all purposes.

So you’re arguing that a ranger with favored enemy: undead and a mace of disruption has a chance to poof into dust any creature she’s used instant enemy on? Fun.

And that a ranger with favored enemy: animals could use instant enemy to cast animal growth on her party’s barbarian. Or on herself, for that matter.

And that a ranger with favored enemy: plants could use instant enemy to cast command plants on opposing undead and constructs.

Kinda sounds a leeeetle silly to me. I do not interpret the spell’s wording that the caster treats the target as a favored enemy for all purposes as meaning mean the target suddenly becomes vulnerable to effects that don’t apply to it.

But hey, your game, your rules. Has anyone there figured out that they can use favored enemy: construct and a mace of smiting to make their critical hits instantly lethal to most everything in the game?

There’s enough ambiguity in the illusion rules that different GMs would rule different ways.

In a game I ran, the caster would see through her own figments automatically, and if she told her companions in advance of a figment she planned to cast, they would get a will save at +4 to see through it when it appeared.

Enemies entering into the fog would count as interacting with it, and get a normal saving throw. Enemies at a distance would have to spend an action studying it carefully to get a save.

There isn't a rule that states you "can't", but since Pathfinder is a permissive game what you need are rules that state you "can".

The rules do say you can. A shield is a one-handed weapon. The rules allow a medium-sized character to wield a large-sized weapon as a two-handed weapon, with penalties.

One might argue that a medium-sized character gains no AC benefit from wielding a large-sized shield, but we’ve found no rule that says that.

Nothing in RAW prohibits you from wearing Colossal chain mail either, except possibly weight.

And hey, Fine armor ought to be much lighter than Medium. Everybody should wear it. : D

Unlike a suit of armor, a shield isn’t something you have to fit inside. :) The straps on a large-sized shield are no doubt inconvenient for a medium-sized character, and the weight and balance might be problematic. Thus the penalties. The titan mauler archetype eliminates these penalties.

Good luck finding a GM that will allow this stuff.

Oh, that’s easy...I am a GM who would allow “this stuff”. Letting someone take a specific archetype in order to swing whopping big shield around doesn’t break game balance or tone. Is it really worth whipping up house rules to stop?

Xill’s Touch
School: Necromancy (Sorcerer/Wizard 4)
CT: 1 standard action
Range: touch
Area: 1 living creature
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of powdered xill carapace)
Duration: 1 hour/level

As Ghoul’s Touch, and if target is paralysed, the caster implants 2d6 xill eggs in it. The xill's eggs hatch in 24 hours, at which point the young consume the host from within, inflicting 1 point of Con damage per hour per young until the host dies. The young then emerge and planewalk to the Ethereal Plane, if possible, to mature. A remove disease spell (or similar effect) against this spell’s DC rids a victim of all implanted eggs or active young, or they can be cut out one at a time with DC 20 Heal checks (each attempt takes 10 minutes). If a check fails, the healer can try again, but each attempt (successful or not) deals 1d4 points of damage to the patient.

Summon Froghemoth + Unnatural Lust

Vampiric Hunger + Lipstitch

Rain of Frogs + Blade Barrier

Eruptive Pustules + Skinsend

I love the Banner of Ancient Kings. But.

There's no way to keep it from getting sundered. It's cloth. Any creature from a tribal or feudal culture will recognize the importance of morale in a fight, and cut the thing off your spear. Ditto for military opponents. Ditto for anything with enough spell knowledge to recognize the magic item.

One swipe of a blade from some 2-HD mook and your big Flagbearer bonus becomes a debuff for an hour. All the bonuses that you and your companions would normally get from Courageous weapons are gone. And on top of that, it takes a 16th-level casting of Make Whole to fix it, so until your party is leveled that high, you'll pay thousands of gold every time it's destroyed, if you even have a scroll or can jet back to a city.

If you can provide ways around that problem, you will have written a very useful guide.

The [fire] descriptor spells have been a recurring theme in trying to counter my argument about the spell requiring the [light] descriptor if it was to emit light. I didn't go there originally, because it is entirely irrelevant... Is Glitterdust a [Fire] spell?

Nope, and neither is Sepia Snake Sigil, another Conjuration [Creation] spell. But both emit light.

Glitterdust's spell description says the created dust sparkles. You insist on reading this as the dust is reflective. This is purely your interpretation. Since the spell does not specify that the dust sparkles only when light is cast on it, it is a closer reading of the text to say it emits light. Since this explains how the dust visibly outlines invisible objects for the spell's duration, this is also an interpretation that harmonizes with the rules as written.

Incidentally, I'm not writing to convince Remy--no textual evidence is going to change his mind. This is for gamers who search the forums for an answer to this question and stumble across this thread--it's important that the one voice giving the wrong answer not be the final word in the thread.

A beautiful and unscrupulous elf takes advantage of human’s ridiculous inheritance laws.

She’s wed and buried seven human aristocrats so far, and her estates have grown vast. She has several half-elven children who look older than she does, and is encouraging them to start families of their own so that her great-great-great grandchildren can look after her in her old age.

Step 1: Read Dante’s Inferno.

Step 2: Tell anyone who sees you that you’re making an inspection of Asmodeus’s realm on behalf of the other lawful gods. Demand guides and safe passage. You spent skill points on diplomacy, intimidate and bluff, right?

Step 3: Make an inspection of Asmodeus’s realm on behalf of the lawful gods. (What, did you think I was telling you to lie?) Without actually saying it, give all the devils you meet the distinct impression that what you observe will get back to Asmodeus--watching them fawn over you will be amusing.

Step 4: Make an inspection of interplane gateways part of your tour. When you get to one leading back to your homeworld, hustle your butt through it.

Step 5: That thing you did that got you in this situation? Don’t do it again.

...if your solo boss fight in a Jurassic Park campaign is not a motherf@*@%ing T-Rex, you're doing it wrong!

....The velociraptors were the PCs. That's why they are so...clever. And so much more interesting than the human characters...The campaign ended in a TPK.

Moral of the Thread:

If you play the Jurassic Park adventure path, make sure your party includes a velociraptor monk with Crane Wing.

Giving the rogue an auto-disable in that situation will set up expectations for the rest of the game--basically, that he can one-shot any mook he can sneak up on. If you’re comfortable with that, then go for it.

Sooner or later, the rogue will sneak up on something you don’t want him to one-shot. Be prepared to explain why he can’t slit the throat of the evil witch as easily as he slit the throat of his big, burly guard.

There’s a subset of cursed items with negative effects that are much more powerful than the effects PCs can inflict on their enemies with non-cursed items. Avoid giving your PCs these big guns.

A good example is Dust of Sneezing and Choking, designed to be a hazard for PCs to overcome, easily used as a weapon which can absolutely wreck endgame encounters.

There are three kinds of traps in the real world.

1) Traps for hunting...2) Traps for warfare. ...3) Traps for security.

If you have deadly traps in an inhabited dungeon you have probably failed to think through your dungeon ecosystem.

There’s another kind of trap: pest control. Humans put all kinds of lethal traps in their houses, just not any that can hurt a human. Mousetraps, ant bait, glue traps, etc.

A well-thought-out lair trap will be deadly to likely intruders, but harmless to the occupants. Gas traps in undead lairs. Appropriate energy traps in dragon lairs. Spiked pit traps in the lairs of casters with Overland Flight.

We also can’t overlook the possiblity of poorly-thought-out traps in, say, goblin lairs.

Back on topic...sorta...

What’s the best 5th character to add to this party?

Bard (Archivist)
Bard (Archeologist)
Bard (Dervish Dancer)
Bard (Sound Striker)

I’m thinking a Bard (Daredevil) for the AC buff, but maybe a Bard (Magician) would work out better.