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My GM is saying we can't figure out the abilities of summoned entropic dire tigers because they just look like normal dire tigers. Is this a thing? I thought knowledge checks just worked.

Also he says we can't tell they're using smite law, we just know we're taking horrible amounts of damage.

We're level 10 tier 4 with huge knowledge bonuses to everything. I feel like we wouldn't be that dumb.

Are there any rules anywhere one way or the other on this?

Been playing a spell warrior in PFS and some questions/irregularities have come up.

1) Does Enhance Weapons affect natural weapons/unarmed strikes? The ability doesn't have a clause saying otherwise like magic weapon does.

2) Can the skald choose different abilities to grant each target or must they all be the same? Say I'm a level 1 Spell Warrior buffing a fighter with a +1 katana and a rogue with two masterwork short swords. Can I give the katana frost and give the short swords +1 enhancement, or must I give them all +1 enhancement (which might be useless for the katana?) or give them all frost which would be useless for the short swords?

3) How do the terms "overlap" and "stack" apply to giving enhancement bonuses here? It's clear that I can't, for example, give a shock weapon another shock property, but if I give a +1 weapon another +1, does it become +2 or just have redundant +1s? Redundancy would only help in the edge case of dispel suppression I think.

What would be an appropriate spell level for a wizard spell that closes and locks 1 door per 4 levels within close range? This spell would use existing locks on the door and not use a mechanic like that in arcane lock.

Any input would be helpful.

Gee, I wonder how much of this will be sanctioned for PFS...

Looks cool for big bads, though.

In melee combat, you can help a friend attack or defend by distracting or interfering with an opponent. If you're in position to make a melee attack on an opponent that is engaging a friend in melee combat, you can attempt to aid your friend as a standard action. You make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains either a +2 bonus on his next attack roll against that opponent or a +2 bonus to AC against that opponent's next attack (your choice), as long as that attack comes before the beginning of your next turn. Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and similar bonuses stack.

You can also use this standard action to help a friend in other ways, such as when he is affected by a spell, or to assist another character's skill check.

Does the bolded section have any relevance in PFS? If so, how would that work?

1. My PC has a whip and is adjacent to an ally who is engaged in melee with an enemy who has cover from my whip attack. If I use the Aid Another action to grant an attack or armor bonus to my ally, does the cover bonus apply to my Aid Another roll?

Questions.
1) Does 1 point of damage give my adamantine heavy shield the broken condition? Or does the damage need to be more than the shield's hardness?
2) How does this ability interact with sneak attacks and other precision damage?
3) How about non-physical damage that's dealt by a weapon?
4) If you spend a mythic point to negate the damage, is the shield still broken? Because 0 damage is "not enough to give it the broken condition under other circumstances."
5) Presume the shield has the broken condition. Can you still use it for this ability?
6) If you use a broken shield as a sacrifical shield, does it automatically get destroyed? Or does it still need to take enough damage to destroy it?
7) Can you use a Ring of Force Shield with this ability? If so, how do the broken and destroyed conditions interact with this?
8) How does non-lethal damage interact with a sacrificial shield?
9) Can you use this ability when flat-footed?
10) How does this ability interact with Shield Other?

So for example, if I pick Baphomet as my religious rival, will I get the bonus when I fight Baphomet itself?

In getting ready to actually play some more PFS, I reviewed the chronicle sheet for the only scenario I've played so far, last July. My level 1 character joined a party where everyone else was level 4 and we played subtier 3-4.

I didn't know this was an issue and apparently the GM didn't either. I only discovered it now because I thought it was fishy I got 1,494 gp on my very first scenario at level 1.

Does this matter?

My party is level 10 and we're just starting Fortress of the Stone Giants. My character, a wizard, usually has one casting of teleport memorized. So far we've encountered two situations where advance intel has caused him to want to teleport: saving Turtleback Ferry from Black Magga and the upcoming stone giant raid on Sandpoint.

My understanding from what the GM has said is that the adventure expects the party to travel overland to deal with these emergent situations. Well, what's a wizard to do? He figures if he can get there instantaneously he can at least warn the townsfolk, party or no party.

The issue is that at his current level, he can take 3 other people with him. We have a party of 6 plus animal companions and cohorts. This leads to party splitting and the GM is faced with the decision to A) give us time to prepare a massive defense of the location and wait for the rest of the party to arrive on foot or further teleportation or B) have the monsters attack prematurely against a partial party.

We defeated Black Magga with a partial party but I don't know how the Sandpoint Raid will play out.

My question is, any advice I can give to the GM to strike a balance in this? My alternative is walking around with all my L5 spell slots filled with teleports and bonded object reserved just in case this sort of thing comes up. I don't want to do that.

The Bard spell Saving Finale allows you to end your performance to immediately allow an ally to reroll a failed save. How does the bard know the save is failed? I had this come up when a ranger ally got exposed to disease. He failed his save but in character I would have no idea whether he made it or not so the spell went uncast.

Seems a rather worthless spell most of the time unless the effect of the failed save is obvious.

Name: Dweomer

Alignment: Neutral

Preferred Alignments: Any

Role: Consortium of mages and tradesmen, spellcasters for hire

Player Roles Accepted: All

Membership: Arcane spellcasters and all those with an interest in magic within the River Kingdoms; Martial guardians, traders, crafters, and other support characters

Goal: Dweomer will be a true guild of spellcraft. Unraveling the mystical secrets of the River Kingdoms, acquiring magical knowledge and wonders, providing magic support and sharing to other companies, and creating a network for scholarship and trade will be our priorities. Game mechanics will guide how this is realized: we might be able to do things like sell and share spells and spellbooks, hire out arcane mercenaries, and maintain a high quality magic forge. Or, those in game activities might not be possible and we will instead focus on sharing player knowledge and being expert players of arcane characters. Accumulation of wealth in all its forms will also be a focus.

A note on playstyle: We recognize that the Crusader Road will be a dangerous place. Our members will be free to act how they like outside our stronghold, but our first priority will be to create a safe place for research, crafting, and trade. Members will be advised to not jeopardize that safety and to maintain civil and respectful relationships with other members.

Membership: We anticipate that roughly one third of our members will primarily be arcane spellcasters and that an additional one third will be hybrid concepts. Pure martial, rogue, and divine characters will also be welcome as all will have roles within a society of magic.

Who Should Join?: Join if you’re interested in:
Playing an arcane character.
Fighting and exploring with ready arcane support.
Crafting with access to arcane resources.
Exploring the arcane lore of the River Kingdoms.
Trading

Heirarchy: Heirarchy will depend on guild size and game mechanics. If possible, there will be two separate heirarchies: one for mages and one for combat and support. Details will be developed as the game nears release.

Relationships Dweomer will strive to maintain good or neutral relationships with other companies of the Crusader Road to the greatest extent practical. War is bad for business and bad for research. If game mechanics and economics permit, members will be welcome to hire out as mercenaries to get their fix of combat.

Holy Crap, Toth Bhreacher. Why doesn't this guy just take over the planet? He's a level 15 wizard, probably worth millions, with an army of golems and level 10 spellcasters at his disposal. And there he is, chilling in a small city, selling bodyguards to nobles. Weird.

The other high level wizard we've seen recently in this line is one level higher and lives in the freaking sun.

Can't wait to check this out - I've been waiting for more info on the Empyreal Lords, esp. Korada.

I've been reading Mergy's Methods and Papers and Pencils and enjoying them both. I've searched a little bit for similar blogs but come up with nothing. Anyone have recommendations for some good reading?

Looking for ways to get Perform checks as high as possible. Let's go with level 1. External bonuses are fine if they can be produced by level 1 characters. So far I have:

Class Skill +3
Skill ranks +1
Skill focus +3
Ear for Music trait +1
Masterwork Instrument +2
Art/Music Variant Channeling +1
Guidance +1
Charisma +X

For a total of +12 + CHA bonus. I'm sure there are ways to get it higher.
Can you take 10 and/or aid another on perform checks?

I'm making a Cleric who wants to be a Wizard, and is in denial about his divine powers. Eventually, he will get to be a Wizard and eventually a Mystic Theurge but for now I want to concentrate on making the other PCs believe he's a Wizard (in or out of character).

So far I've given him the Trickery and Magic domains, Hidden Priest archetype, ranks in bluff, sleight of hand, UMD, Knowledge (Arcana), and Spellcraft. Theoretical magician trait.

So I'm looking for suggestions to make him more convincing. How can I mask channel energy and cure spells? What about bless, guidance, and other common divine spells? Yes, I know I can just not cast these spells, but I want to have my cake and eat it too.

Building a Dragon Disciple for an all-arcane themed party for another player and looking for suggestions. The following stipulations apply:

-Player wants to use the Magician archetype. Straight bard might work too.

-Member of the White Grotto from Inner Sea Magic, so will eventually get +3 caster level in bard, including spells known/per day. This will probably happen around level 7 or 8.

-Human

-Rolled stats are 8, 12, 13, 13, 15, 18.

-Starting with or dipping into a different class might be acceptable.

Any recommendations for feats, gear, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

No spoilers, please.

I'll be either running or playing in RotRL when the hardcover re-release comes out. My gaming group is interested in running an all-arcane party. At least one PC will be a serious crafter. We also tend to like using lots of hirelings, Leadership, run businesses in town when we're not adventuring, etc.

Is this feasible in the AP? Will there be enough downtime to craft, return to town, set up strongholds, etc? Or do you pretty much run and gun in this AP?

Also, we're eyeing the guilds and universities of Inner Sea Magic. Would this be doable, and if so, which is the best fit?

I'm the GM. In a party of casual roleplay-focused players, I have one optimized PC (weapon-master fighter) who routinely deals 100+ damage on full attacks, at Level 9. First three attacks are all +20 to hit due to manyshot and haste. He also has Clustered Shots, so DR isn't very helpful.

I've had some success with tougher monsters, but I don't want them to be so tough that the other players feel like they're not contributing.

I've also used weather effects, wind wall, control winds, control water, slow, dazing and stunning effects, disarm, sunder, charm and dominate, catch arrows, grapple, etc.

Problem is, most of these tactics are wearing thin, and when I use them it's very obvious to the group that I'm designing encounters around this one guy's PC.

Any suggestions to add more variety to my tactics or make things more subtle?

I'm trying to compile a list of ways to increase a character's caster level check (not necessarily their caster level, though this obviously helps). Looked around the boards a bit and didn't really find what I was looking for.

These are the things I've come up with so far. Any restrictions to what the check applies to are listed in parentheses.

Anything I’ve missed?

Also, what broad categories of thing do you need to make a CL check for?

Other than beating SR, there doesn't really seem to be a rhyme or reason to when CL checks are required instead of spellcraft checks. Anyone have a good explanation?

Thanks.

Anyone around N. VA, specifically western FFX Cty, interested in a home Kingmaker campaign? Sundays.

The monk class states that the monk is proficient in the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shortspear, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, and spear.

With the introduction of the temple sword, brass knuckles, and cestus (and many more in UC), there are weapons with the property "monk" or in the monk weapon group that are not on this list.

Am I missing something? Is there somewhere where monks have been granted proficiency in the expanded list of monk weapons, or must they take feats to use each of the new weapons?

I have houseruled that they are automatically proficient in all monk weapons, but I'd like to see it written somewhere.

I've been looking over poisons and I'm trying to figure out if they can be viable to build a character around. Any insight would be appreciated.

- For the first few levels, they seem OK, since most have middling DCs. The costs, however, seem prohibitive, especially for low level characters or a low fantasy setting (in which you'd expect poison to be more useful). Are there any poisons that are useful later on?

- Outside of Rogue and Alchemist class features, are there any ways to alter poison use to get more bang for your buck?

- There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the prices. For instance, Deathblade costs 1800 gp, does 1d3 Con damage for 6 rounds, with a DC of 20. Wyvern Poison costs 3000 gp, does 1d4 Con damage for 6 rounds, with a DC of 17. Is the possibility of an average of 3 extra Con damage really worth a -3 hit to DC and 1200 extra gp? What seems to be the rationale behind the pricing?

- I won't even get into the mess of crafting poisons.

After playing a bard, I think that versatile performance is both a little too powerful and has the odd effect of having 0 ranks in a skill for the first several levels then having it suddenly jump to 20 or so.

I'm considering changing it the next time I GM so that it reads as follows:

At 2nd level, a bard can choose one type of Perform skill. He can add his ranks in that skill to the bonus of associated skills. The total bonus of the associated skill may not exceed the total bonus of the Perform skill. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the bard can select an additional type of Perform.

So if a bard has 5 ranks of Perform (Dancing), 1 rank of Fly, a CHA of 18 and a DEX of 12, his total bonuses would be:
Perform (Dancing): 12 (5 ranks + 4 ability + 3 class skill)
Fly: 7 (1 rank + 1 ability + 5 versatile performance)

This still give the bard an incentive to pump their performance skills but doesn't lead to silly situations like charisma score raising their acrobatics check.

Seem balanced?

Also, I'm considering introducing a Perform (Street Magic):
"The bard employs clever legerdemain and trivial magics to create illusions and effects that daunt, dazzle, and delight. Street Magicians often study the works of true Wizards in an attempt to replicate the appearance of their power."
Versatile performance bonuses to Sleight of Hand and Spellcraft.