EyeOfTheBeerholder's page

Here are a couple of solutions:
- Play a Necromancer and use both classes to reach an insane HD pool of Undead minions. Bonus points for violating Gestalt guidelines and throwing Mythic Theurg in somehow. With your Undead army, you will now have more actions, than you could ever hope for.

- Oracle/Eldritch Scion Magus with Broad study has quite a lot of Arcane and Divine Spells and a decent Action Economy.

I think the problem with large races without using the Bestiary Monsters as PC-rules ends up kind of wonky flavorwise.
Many of the weaker large creatures like ogres, minotaurs, or even herd animals like the aurochs have a CR of 2 or higher and enormous strength scores.
If you just made normal balanced large pc races like a "Goliath", that uses the orc statblock, but replaces weapon familiarity and Ferocity with being large, those races would look pathetic next to actual large sized creatures.

Normally players and monsters use the same rules in 3.PF. Some Advanced Race Guide Races ignore this, but it clashes with the inner logic og the game.

Balancewise such a weapon is not going to be to strong at all and it's ability is mostly flavor to most groups. It will prevent some enemies from coming back, but this just causes the heroes to fight something else instead.
You could look up the sword of Kas from the Greyhawk setting an artifact weapon made to slay the lich/deity Vecna for inspiration.
There are also other ways to prevent targets from being resurrected. The easiest way to do so would be to create undead from them and take them with you. If you turn your victim into a shadow or similar incorporeal Undead, you can have that Shadow come with you and until it is taken down no resurrection.

It all depends on how you implement it. Being an Artifact there should be some plot highly focussed around it and it should play a visible role in the campaign.
If it's just a plot device to explain your assasin, that would be somewhat lame. If it gets a bigger role, that would be interesting IMO:

- Maybe the artifact indeed steals the souls of it's victims. The only way to free them is to destroy the artifact. To find out how you have to locate it's creators a powerful coven of nighthags in the river of souls, who then to have it broken it sundered with a Holy Avenger in a Dragon Graveyard.
- The artifact is just a weapon, that ages everyone it hits instead of dealing physical damage.
- The artifact actually raises it's victims as an (Advanced?) Allip. Driven mad by their new form the assasin has these creatures wander aimlessly and barely recognizeable. Only if one finds and slays those beings can the victims be resurrected.

Would probably just have them make a Combat Maneuver check against the monster's CMD. The recommended strength check makes sense, but monster and characters are more balanced around their CMBs.

Another way to treat this would be to treat this as an aid another action to help with escaping the creature's limbs and add in some circumstance bonus due to a door slamming into the creature's limbs.

Well, the Half-Dragon is a +2 and gives +8 strength and otherwise lesser abilities. The Half-Fiend goes from +1 to +3 and it's Smite starts out weak, but will outscale your template at high HD.

So probably a +3, maybe more.
If we put it on a ghoul, we create a critter with the following stats: 25Hp 22AC +9/+9/+9(d6+d6+7+paralysis DC13)[average 42damage]
This results in a creature with an insanely squishy HP pool, but way to high damage and AC. Guaranteed to slaughter a low level hero in melee, but way easier to kill by a spellcaster.

It probably will not help you and result in way more unbalanced monsters, than just grabbing something of a higher CR.

I think the easiest way to beef up monsters for an overly strong party would just be to multiply monster HP by 1,5-2,0. This would make the battles less rockettag and allow the critters to pull off their gimmick before getting flattened while not messing up any of the system's math by unbalancing the ratios beetween Attack and AC, Saves and DCs etc.
You can still use a beastie somewhat above the party.

Shriekers aren't that sort of problem. They're not a direct threat, they alert others - that's always been the shrieker's role, the living alarm trap. The description I see doesn't even mention a CR or damage.

I accidently clicked on a third party stat block in the SRD.

The toad cannot attack at all, but can still give you 50XP as a low level adventurer.
The Dodo is CR1/4 but way weaker than most creatures of it's CR.

The clockwork goliath is CR19 and has no real Special abilities or qualities, while suffering from low Construct Hit Points.

Isn't it more efficient to just use Burning Hands on your party? Same spell level as Produce Flame, doesn't require a Druid dip, and you heal everyone by (1d4 per caster level):2 [max 5d4]. No need for sneak attack dips either, and you can use a trait like Magical Lineage or Wayang Spellhunter to add Intensify metamagic and raise the max to 10d4.

And who knows, maybe if you add additional material components like Alchemist's Fire, you might even create a permanently heal-burning party?

No, because you can hit with Produce Flame once per Caster level. So the example character would be able to heal the listed amount three times with one casting.

He should however just be a Samsaran with Mythic past life and wouldn't have to gimp himself by taking a druid level. He could just be Rogue1/Sorcerer1 and add the Spell to his Sorcerer Spell list.

Bumping this since we got a lot of new monsters since then and there is a lot to talk about left.

The CR2 Axe Beak's Sudden Charge(free action trip after charging) ability is rather depressing since it will often not be able to use it.

The CR1 Shrieker is rather pathethic. It cannot attack at all only deal d4 on a failed DC11 Fortitude save. If you save once you are immune.

Depends on his other capabilities to be honest. A level 1 Commoner with that ability would still get eaten by an average wolf or flattened by some random ogre.
A kaiju with that ability on the other hand would be a near-unstoppable calamity and a horror to fight, if it gets some ranged attack.

You could have an ability that makes the character impervious to all magic direct or indirect, but that does not seem to be what the OP is talking about. There was a race of being in the old Wizards of the Coast Primal Order supplement that did have such and ability. But they were not able to interact with any kind of magic at all. A magic sword would pass right through them as if it did not exist, but again that is not what the OP is talking about.

The Wizard is also somewhat of a tough SOB himself. A level 20 wizard has a Base attack bonus of 10 after all.

Are you looking for obscure rules, or possible houserules?

In my games, potions take a move action to consume; everyone is an "Accelerated Drinker". And Quick Draw isn't just for weapons. And you can make potions from higher level spells. And they're not always strictly potion-able spells, either-- you want a potion of Obscuring Mist? Of shatter? Of fireball? Go for it.

With those changes and the fact that anyone can use a potion, such items see some use in my games. Still not a ton; they're not amazing or suddenly better than other options, but they start to compete.

Actually always assumed Quick Draw was more than weapons.

With the swim thing, looking at the grippli...they're 6rp. Aren't dwarves 12? I say: give him a swim speed to match his climb speed and the +...8(?) that goes with it. Then he's on par with the lowest-point core race. Gasp.

That's a possibility indeed.

Does he worship a deity with the Alchemy Subdomain for Divine Alchemy?

Cayden Cailean has some traits and feats that make potions more effective for you, but not really helpful for others.

I like Druidic Herbalism when I am diving deep into potion production, personally. I have a Gear Gnome Druid VMC Cleric (Brigh) with Druidic Herbalism AND Divine Alchemy. Lol.

These are both cool, but won't work.

RAW brew potion is inferior to scribe scroll, there's no way around that. There are a few different tricks you can do though; if the cleric worships Caydean Cailean then there's the brewkeeper PrC which works fairly well for a cleric. Nethys's dagger might be available in this desert. A reagent extractor can be used to make one potion into another.

A couple of items which make drinking potions in combat easier are a sipping jacket or a Cailean fighting tankard.

If they do take additional traits then accelerated drinker might be useful for the second trait.

The extractor is amazing. The cactus seems like a waste of money, but if he harvests it for free it's cool.

I'm not sure why a modest bonus to swimming is a problem even conceptually though, swamps and similar don't have high DCs to swim them.

Never looked up swim DCs, but I will.

Variant Multiclass Magus gives you an Arcane Pool. You could than proceed to pick the Accurate Strike Arcana.

You could also use a Wand with some spells, that give you multiple Touch Attacks to full attack with. Produce Flame or Chill Touch would be a weak touch attack, that's usable multiple times per turn, but there might be similar spells, that would give you a stronger one.

A scroll of Undead Anatomy IV can turn you into an Incorporeal Undead, that attacks with Touch Attacks.

One of my players is a Grippli Cleric, who has decided to make brewing Potions his gimmick. (We are playing Mummy's Mask btw)
He is also trained in Alchemy and has Profession(Potion merchant) to make some money with this. Since we also have a Wizard, who has the superior Scribe Scrolls, I am looking for ways to make him competitive or at least have some fun with his potions.
Most feats for potions I found so far are rather garbage with the exception of Potion Glutton and Vaporous Potion, which could allow some neat tricks.

Having an absolutely abysmal Strength score(5), he is also a rather bad swimmer and would like to get good at that. After all he is a frog.
One way I see getting Extra traits and pick up Wisdom in the Flesh, but as a cleric he is already feat starved and wasting feats on being able to swim is a rather terrible use of ressources.
As far as magic items go a "Ring of the Sea Strider" seems like the best thing he could get, but even with the +8 from said Item he still would not reach impressive ranks.
I would probably be willing to somewhat exceed Wealth per Level for a swim item, since it's highly situational especially considering the Campaign takes place in a desert and will soon be outclassed by flight anyways.

So yes: How could I somewhat minmax Potion Use and what are some easy way to make a character into a natural swimmer?

Also are there some other feats or spells cool for a character like this? He mostly uses his Prehensile Tongue to deliver spells.

It sounds like you don't really need to give hints that it's a lady. ("Well, that narrows it down to half of all sentient humanoids.") You need to give hints that it's this specific person.

I don't know to what extent they know this baron's daughter, but possible clues would be:

Both the daughter and the stranger use the same phrases.

The daughter mentions something that only the stranger should know.

The stranger gets an injury; later, the daughter has the same injury. Or vice versa.

The stranger pays them for help with a valuable item that they previously spotted in the baron's home.

The stranger says something about her father that accidentally reveals to them who her father is.

They have to sneak in to the daughter's room for some reason, and while there they find the strangers clothes.

I like this approach, but with the PCs not entering the palace one would need to modify the hints.

You could explain these mistakes with her being nervous due to rumors of a planned assasination.