The bonuses to Stealth are untyped and would seem to stack. By default, I don't think (total) concealment stacks with other sources of concealment, so if the coat-and-cloak user spends the standard action to gain total concealment, s/he would not gain a greater miss chance from remaining stationary.
Maybe snag the spell-like abilities from the various gnome racial features? Or give players a catalogue to choose from at character creation, since some of the gnomish SLAs always struck me as being of quite limited utility.
I've not seen one either, which I lament to no end. I'm guessing the problem is a lack of punch and/or versatility (oddly enough). I've played a few bloatmage characters (never past character level 10), and it always seemed like I was waiting for just another few levels before it could really shine. Ironically, I suppose it's a top-heavy class?
Can a tower shield be used as an improvised weapon, rather than using the shield bash rules? The Catch Off-Guard feat chain, the Surprise Weapon trait and the Gloves of Improvised Might might at least put it on par with an actual weapon.
The saddest I personally got was when a particular game, which had amazing intra-party interaction and plot, ended unresolved due to scheduling issues. I like to play characters with tragic aspects, so when sad things do happen to them, it actually feels satisfying to have that part of their story interacted with and/or resolved. In a years-long game of Planescape (before Pathfinder was even a thing), I played a goblin bard that sang laments of his dead tribe, exterminated by adventurers. He was joined by the tribe's guardian spirit, a giant ghost raven that watched over him as the last remnant of the clan. Toward the end of the game he found out which adventurers had done the deed, and he began setting up an elaborate revenge scenario in an old opera house. The raven spirit started communicating its concerns to the other PCs, speaking against this vindictiveness over preserving the tribe's legacy. My character went ahead with it despite protests. Appalled by what had been done, the guardian spirit - in effect the last remaining member of his family - abandoned him. I didn't cry myself, but my character sure did, and another player shed a tear too. :V
Sketching out a feat and rage power plan, I came up with this for an oversized goblin feral gnasher: 1: Extra Talent (Brute Sphere) (Spheres of Might)
Unfortunately, the build doesn't seem to have room for more talents in the Brute sphere to get the Muscular Surge, Giant and Titan talents until really late. I would have liked to include Sleeper Hold even earlier too, though I'm not sure if it interacts with Swallow Whole like I think it does...
1: Looking at the "associated feat" mechanic at http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/using-spheres-of-might, having the Barrage base sphere counts as having the Rapid Shot feat for the purpose of prerequisites. It does not give you the feat's functionality on top of what the Barrage sphere ability itself does, but it helps to make you qualify for the Snap Shot feat, for example. 2: You can still take the Rapid Shot feat and use it as normal. The feat and the sphere ability serve two different tactical purposes: Rapid Shot allows you to make an extra attack when you perform a full attack (i.e. just shooting, not moving). Barrage allows you to make an extra attack when you perform a regular attack as a standard action (i.e. moving and shoot). Until you get your first iterative attack, it would seem that Barrage is the better option. From there, it depends on your tactical situation.
1: I don't think so. AoMFs grant their enhancement bonuses to "attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks and natural weapons". The roll in question utilises neither your unarmed strike nor natural weapons, nor is it a standard combat maneuver with a CMB roll attached. In fact, there is no damage roll - the target takes damage equal to your relevant ability modifier, and that's as far as the ability goes. 2: I think point 2 was included for completeness' sake, so people would not get confused about whether combat maneuvers are attack rolls. Its function is effectively covered by point 1, but it was probably added for clarity.
This is, as far as I know, not something that is explicitly written in the rulebooks, so it will depend on the universe you are playing in and what you can agree on with the player. My interpretation is this:
I'm not really interested in playing a Huge plate of Jello (and you get DR, and immunity to flanking and precision damage). I am. :V So reading in this thread that the oozemorph isn't meant to be played as an ooze is a bit of a disappointment in that regard. Still, I'm sure it'll work great for a reluctantly oozy character concept.
My take is that not all feats are created equal, thus it would be a misstep to price all feats equally.
You could work with your DM to make a cantrip for this purpose. There are some guidelines for researching entirely new spells in the core rulebook: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/magic.html The particular function you're describing seems to fall between a couple of different existing cantrips: Light for light, Spark for setting small things on fire, and Prestidigitation for other little magic tricks. The wizard I'm currently playing often uses the "create small objects" function of Prestidigitation to emphasise and illustrate his points in conversation. If I were your DM, I'd let Prestidigitation create a little dancing flame in your hand that sheds light as a candle and can ignite small flammable objects if held against them. It might be stepping on the toes of the Light and Spark cantrips, but Light makes a brighter light source (torch level) that can be given away, and Spark can be used at range.
In this particular case, I'm actually just looking to get a Staff of Mithral Might. :P Reading over the referenced feats and such again, the wording "cast at +1 caster level" does seem like it sufficiently distances the ability from "having a caster level of X" for use as prerequisites. The wizard build in question is the one detailed here (though starting at a higher level than anticipated back then), and the staff's selection of spells are ones I expect to use with some regularity. SheepishEidolon's suggestion happens to fit the circumstances perfectly, though, so I might ask the DM for such a house rule.
Sometimes there are things in the Pathfinder system that don't make sense from the perspective of the characters in the game. In my particular case, I have a character who's come into possession of a golden gun that makes enemies bleed gold coins - every point of damage is bled out as 1 gp. Naturally, I've started making plans already:
Trolls have regeneration 5, so damaging the troll enough to make it unconscious, then applying 5 bleed damage from a series of Wounding attacks would seem to strike the right equilibrium. But how would my character come to know this? PS: As an aside, I know this would tip over the wealth by level balance, but my DM has a knack for turning such things from get-rich-quick to horrible disaster - which is all part of our fun. :) |
