Father Dale's page

So I have this idea for a Battle Herald character that uses the Exemplar Brawler to qualify into it. The build would be Cavalier 1, then Exemplar 6, then Battle Herald the rest of the way. (Cavalier would be Standard Bearer to get the Banner ability at 1st level instead of a Mount, and would be the Order of the Dragon).

The idea is to use Exemplar instead of Bard (or another class that gets inspire courage) so as to keep the full BAB, and also to be able to grant teamwork feats to the party by way of Martial Flexibility. Thus, allowing him to take any teamwork feat he qualifies for on the fly and then grant that feat to the party.

My question is how do the various class abilities stack with the Battle Herald abilities.

In particular, the Tactician ability of the Cavalier, the Field Instruction ability of the Exemplar, and the Battle Herald's Voice of Authority ability.

Voice of Authority simply states "The battle herald’s levels stack with cavalier levels for the purpose of the cavalier's tactician ability." So clearly this increases the Cavalier's Tactician ability.

Field Instruction states "This ability otherwise counts as the cavalier's tactician class feature; feats and other effects which affect tactician (such as Practiced Tactician) apply to it." So for that I'm not entirely sure that Voice of Authority would advance it, but I'm of the opinion that it does.

However, Tactician and Field Instruction operate slightly differently. Tactician only permits granting the teamwork feat gained through the ability. Field Instruction permits granting any teamwork feat the character knows or has gained through Martial Flexibility. I'm inclined to think these are different abilities from each other due to this fact and would not stack together, but the language in Field Instruction suggest that they might.

So that leaves three possibilities in how these abilities stack:

1) All stack. Tactician and Field Instruction stack as far as determining the duration and number of times they can be used, and Voice of Authority advances this. The broader usage of Field Instruction would take precedence, but he would be treated as an Exemplar of his level for using this ability.

2) partially stacks. Voice of Authority advances both abilities, but they are two separate abilities and must be treated separately. Thus, with a Cavalier 1/Exemplar 6/Battle Herald 5 would have the Tactician ability of a 6th level Cavalier and the Field Instruction ability of an 11th level Exemplar. The argument for this is that Field Instructions is to be treated as Tactician for all feats and effects, so Voice of Authority advances it; but Field Instruction and Tactician are two separate abilities and do not stack with each other. This would also have an effect with the Practiced Tactician feat, as it would seem that it would add an extra use to both abilities.

3) Voice of Authority doesn't stack with Field Instruction. The argument would be that since Voice of Authority only advances the Cavalier's ability, the Exemplar's Field Instruction doesn't advance, as the language under Field Instruction only applies as far as feats and effects and not class abilities. This would basically ruin the build concept.

Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

At 3rd level the Exemplar gains the Inspiring Prowess ability which lets him use certain bardic performances as a bard of 2 levels lower. This differs from the bard's bardic performance in a few ways, notably 1) the types of performances he can do, 2) it does not use Perform, 3) it uses a visual component only and has no audible component, and 4) the number of rounds per day he may use this ability.

The ability further states: "This ability otherwise functions as bardic performance"

My question is: Does the Examplar gain the ability at later levels to activate Inspiring Prowess with a move-and later a swift-action?

The Inspiring Prowess ability does not state this, but only has the caveat of "otherwise functions as bardic performance." The faster activation time for bardic performance is stated in its general description, along with other aspects that aren't listed under Inspiring Prowess but that I assume would also apply, such as 1) free action to maintain, 2) requires new action to change performance, 3) the effects end immediately if the bard is incapacitated, and 4) allies must have line of sight to be affected due to the visible component and a blind brawler would have a 50% chance of failing to activate the performance.

So I'm inclined to think that the faster activation times would apply, but since its not explicitly stated the argument could be made that it does not.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Just as the title suggests. Is there any official word on this? For instance, if a character has both the mindblank and the invisibility spells active, would another character with true seeing be able to see him? Obviously the see invisibility spell won't work, as its said right in the spell description for mindblank. But just curious if there is any official word?

Hi. I've got a Sorcerer (sage bloodline) who I made at lvl 16 and who just hit level 17. I could use some suggestions on spells and feats.

Actually he is taking Loremaster 1 at this level, which opens up two potential feats, one for lvl 17 and one from the Loremaster's Applicable Knowledge secret, which seems to be the best secret available.

(The sorcerer has robes of Arcane Heritage which treat his sorcerer level as 4 higher for purposes of determining bloodline powers, so he is essentially lvl 21 for bloodline purposes. Hence no need to worry about increasing sorcerer levels and why I took a level of Loremaster)

He has a few spells known to choose this level. He gets an 8th and a 7th for levelling, plus another 7th or lower for favored class bonus. I'm also considering taking expanded arcana once or twice which would allow for up to 4 more 7th or lower spells. But I'm definitely open to other nice feats as well, or another loremaster secret if theres a good reason for it.

I'll post his relevant stats here. Note that he has an additional 2 spells known per level due to human favored class bonus, plus additional spells known for 8th, 6th, and 4th level from the arcane bloodline bonus. Also, his Int is at a +11 modifier, and he gets a +2 to his save DC's for transmutation spells.

human Sorcerer (sage) 16/Loremaster 1

Feats: Eschew materials, Improved Initiative, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Reach Spell, Quicken Spell, Empower Spell, Silent Spell, Still Spell, Persistent Spell, Dazing Spell, Skill Focus (Know (arcana))

Spells Known:
8/Ploymorph Any Object, Moment of Prescience, Power Word Stun
7/Grtr Teleport, Magnificent Mansion, Ice Body, Greater Scrying
6/True Seeing, Greater Dispel Magic, Analyze Dweomer, Chain Lightning, Mislead, Disintegrate, Greater Heroism
5/Overland Flight, Wall of Stone, Corrosive Consumption, Fickle Winds, Echolocation, Feeblemind, Telekinesis
4/Dimension Door, Dragon's Breath, Enervation, calcific touch, Dimensional Anchor, Solid Fog, Fear, Charm Monster
3/Dispel magic, Communal Resist Energy, vampiric touch, shifting sand, versatile weapon, tongues, haste
2/Invisibility, knock, darkvision, false life, glitterdust, frigid touch, gust of wind, warding weapon
1/Identify, Shield, chill touch, magic missile, true strike, unseen servant, silent image, ray of enfeeblement

So I need 1 to 2 feats. And also one 8th lvl spell, one 7th lvl spell, and one 7th or lower spell. Additionally, if any of the two possible feats are for expanded arcana then I'd need spells for that too.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

edit: oh we are using just the CRB, APG, UC, and UM books.

Ok, so I have an Oracle of Lore who just hit fifth level, and I have to choose a feat. He is the parties only spellcaster, so I do mostly utility spells for him, and hes also real good at knowledge skills and social skills (bluff, diplo, sense motive). Also, he just got a Circlet of Persuasion (+3 to Charisma based checks).

I was thinking of taking extra revelation as his 5th level feat, and getting the Lore Keeper revelation (he could use Cha instead of Int for knowledge skill checks). He already has Sidestep secret and focused trance, and I plan on taking Mental Acuity (+1 inherent bonus to intelligence at 7th and every 3 levels thereafter) at 7th level.

He has a 15 Int (+2 mod) and a 21 Cha (+5 mod) at the moment. Both of those are unbuffed and with no magic items boosting either. By eigth level both of those will be up by 1 point, increasing the mod by 1 each.

My question is this: If he does take Lore Keeper so that he can make knowledge checks using Cha instead of Int, will his Circlet of Persuasion bonus to charisma based checks then apply to his knowledge skills?

If so, that will give him a huge boost to his knowledge checks, essentially a +6 to all knowledges (+5 Cha vs +2 Int, and then the +3 from the Circlet).

It seems as if the circlet would apply in this case; I can't really see a reason it wouldn't.

However, if it were to not apply, I probably wouldn't take the extra revelation feat to get Lorekeeper. Theres quite a few feats I could make use of. And while a +3 boost to all knowledge skills is nice, it doesn't sell to me like a +6 bonus would. And I probably wouldn't get the revelation till 15th level if thats that case (taking Mental Acuity at 7th and Arcane Archivist at 11th.)

Any thoughts on this?

OK, adamantine weapons and armor have hardness 20 and "one-third more hitpoints than normal."

For magic weapons and armor, each +1 enhancement bonus adds +2 to the items hardness and +10 hitpoints to the items hitpoint total.

Now, mixing the two together--does the adamantine property increase the base items hitpoints by 1/3 or the enhanced items hitpoints by 1/3?

Example:

- a regular Greatsword has hardness 10 and 10 hitpoints.

- a nonmagical adamantine Greatsword would have hardness 20 and 13 hitpoints.

- a +1 Greatsword (thats not admantine) would have hardness 12 and 20 hitpoints.

So it seems clear that a +1 Adamantine Greatsword would have hardness 22. But would its total hitpoints be 23 or 26?

If I factor the adamantine property's adjustments to hitpoints first on the base item, that would make the base hitpoints 13, and then adding the +10 for being a +1 item would make it a total of 23. But if I factor the magic bonus first before adjusting it for being adamantine, I'd have a base hitpoint total of 20 (10+10), and an adjusted hitpoint total of 26 (20 x 1.33).

I'm inclined to think that the adamantine property gets applied first, as I can turn a nonmagic adamantine sword into a magic one, but I can't turn a magic nonadamantine sword into a magic adamantine sword. Anybody have any answers?

**************

Also, how would I apply the extra damage from say a flaming sword on a sunder attack? Say a succesful sunder attempt with a flaming sword does 20 damage plus 4 fire damage. I know that the fire damage would be halved before applying hardness. But do I apply the hardness to the total damage done after halving the fire damage, or would I apply the hardness separately for the base damage and the fire damage.

Against say a +1 greatsword (12 hardness, 20 hitpoints), if I apply the damage combined the total damage done to the weapon would be 10 hitpoints [(20 + 2 fire) - 12 hardness]. If I apply the damage separately the damage done to the weapon would be 8 hitpoints [(20 - 12 hardness) plus (2 - 12 hardness)], and the fire damage would have no effect as it can't overcome the hardness of the weapon. Any thoughts on that?

I'm DMing a Pathfinder campaign using one of the adventure paths. In tonights session the PC's will be entering a dungeon type complex. As they travel through the dungeon they will be encountering several various Symbol spells placed throughout.

Now, these are magical traps that can detected and disarmed by the party rogue. The party rogue has an excellent perception check (half-elf with Skill Focus!), and also has the Trap Spotter rogue talent that gives her an immediate perception check to notice traps within 10ft of her.

The problem for the PCs is that the symbols are triggered on sight, and that they are visible from up to 60 ft away. Additionally, some of the symbols are placed where they become visible as soon as the party opens a door, so that as soon as the door opens and somebody looks inside, the trap would be triggered.

Additionally, disarming symbols is a difficult thing to do, and takes 2d4 rounds, which would trigger the spell before the rogue could even complete the disarming of it.

Does this sound right? Is it just going to be impossible for the rogue to disarm any of the symbols that are triggered by looking at it?

I don't care either way, just want to make sure I do it right so I don't upset the players. I don't want them to feel cheated.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

A duelist can add Int bonus to her "Dexterity bonus to modify Armor Class." Does this modify her CMD in any way, by letting her add the same Int bonus to her CMD?

It seems clear that because she's adding this Int bonus to her "Dex bonus to AC" that it would be basically limited by the Max dex bonus available from armor, such that a 3rd lvl duelist with 16 Dex and 16 Int wearing a chain shirt would have an Ac of 18 (4 from armor, 4 from Dex/Int) rather than 20 (4 from armor, 3 Dex, 3 Int). Also, if denied her dex to AC she loses the Int bonus to AC as well.

CMD works similar to that in that she loses her Dex to CMD if denied her dexterity to AC.

Still, CMD says to add "any circumstance, deflection, dodge, insight, morale, profane, and sacred bonuses to AC to CMD." This doesn't specifically include "Int bonus to Dex bonus to AC."

This also raises another question, in that does the Max Dex bonus permitted by armor cap the amount of Dex that can added to CMD? (i.e. would a character with 16 Dex wearing Full Plate add +1 or +3 to her CMD from Dexterity?) The entries on CMB/CMD don't seem to suggest this, but its not clear.

So, two questions basically. Does Canny Defense allow the duelist to up her CMD with her Int? And does armor limit the amount of Dex that can be added to CMD?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

We started our first campaign using the Pathfinder RPG rules. I had GM'd a few sessions a few months back using the beta rules in a homebrew campaign setting, but we got sidetracked so we started a new campaign.

This is also our first campaign in the Golarian setting. I am going to run these guys through the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, updating it as appropriate to the new rules.

Every one has been excited all week about playing their new characters. I think the new abilities and choices for each of the classes has made people look forward to advancing their characters even more so than before. I was getting a couple emails each day over the past week from the players asking about potential character choices both for starting out and about how things would work with abilities later on.

We started the new campaign in the new world last night. The PCs were able to defeat Gaedron and return to Zellara's home by the time we ended our session.

The combat was very appropriate for the level. Seeing as how NPCs with class levels are now CR equal to class level -1 instead of straight class level, I went through and increased each NPCs class level by one to maintain the CR level. This worked out very well, making the combats last a little longer and making the enemies a little scarier, but not to the point of potential deaths. (Giggles as a 2nd lvl fighter with Power Attack and cleave did knock out one PC in one good shot and had the party a bit scared, but they took care of him.)

There was a great deal of nonlethal damage getting done to the PCs, from the drain spiders doing 1 nonlethal per hit to some falling damage here and there. I liked this especially at this level, as it keeps the PCs on edge but isn't likely to kill them off, which has always been a concern at 1st level as one good crit from a javelin chucking kobold could take out a low hp PC. The extra negative hitpoints available for most PCs due to a decent Con score also provided a nice extra cushion.

The battle with Gaedron was probably the most exciting 1st level fight I've been involved in. Gaedron through out some good insults and had the PCs boiling mad. On the first round of combat Gobblegut climbed out of the water and chomped the half-elf rogue/archer, dropping her to negative hit points and had her in his mouth. He would have taken her down in the water to die had the Paladin not critted the croc and dropped it in one shot! Gaedron then shot the Paladin, staggerig her (she had a lot of nonlethal damage from elsewhere). The Fighter almost cut Gaedron down, but Gaedron got a succesful feint off and sneak attacked the fighter, dropping him to negative hit points. At the end of the fight, 3 PCs lay unconscious and two were close to it, but everyone survived.

One of the PCs kept saying "Man this is intense!"

All in all it was agreed that this was the best 1st level adventure we've had.

Finding Zellara's severed head also made for a great twist. The Sorcerer player's jaw literally dropped when I told him what he found in the hatbox!

Just wanted to say thanks guys! The rules look like they are going to be working out great, the Golarian world looks very fascinating, and the adventure was very well designed with good fights and good plot. We are all very excited about playing Pathfinder and in exploring Golarian further!

I'm kind of putting together, just for fun, a character that uses a sword and shield. This seems like a much more viable character than in 3.5, so I thought I'd see how it looks. I have some random questions regarding using a shield as a weapon, so I thought I would present them and see what others thought. Please point out anything incorrect I might say.

OK, lets say I have a 15th lvl human fighter with 20 Str and 20 Dex who uses a longsword and a shield.

If he has Improved Shield Bash he can keep the AC bonus from the shield when he uses it to make attacks. That seems pretty straightforward.

Lets say he also has Two-Weapon Fighting. So he could use the shield to make an off-hand attack with the regular penalties. Thus, he could attack with the sword and a light shield at +18/+13/+8 and +18 (just counting BAB, Str and two weapon fighting penalties, not enhancements or other bonuses and penalties). A heavy sheild would be a one handed weapon so using that would drop all his attacks by another -2.

If he took improved TWF he could make a second offhand attack with the shield at +13 (or +11 for a heavy shield), and greater TWF would give a third attack at a +8 (+6).

I think, but I'm not certain, he could instead of using the shield as an offhand weapon use it to make iterative attacks. So he could take a first attack with the sword at +20, a second attack with the shield at +15 (heavy or light), and a third attack with the sword at +10.

If he had Shield Slam, then any attacks he makes with the shield can also get a free bull rush attempt. My understanding is he doesn't have to bull rush if he doesn't want to, but he can on any attacks with the shield that he chooses. He'd make a CMB check after each hit with the shield, using the BAB he used for that attack, combined with any penalties on the attack for TWF.

So for example, using greater TWF and shield slam with a light shield: He makes attacks with his longsword at +18/+13/+8, then attacks with the shield at +18. He decides not to shield slam here. Then with his second off hand attack at +13 he decides to shield slam. He hits and gets a free bull rush attempt with a CMB of +18 (+15 BAB for second iterative offhand attack, +5 Str, -2 TWF.) He beats the targets CMD by 4 and pushes the target back 5 feet, deciding to move with him since he hasn't taken a 5 ft step. He then makes his third off hand attack with the shield at +8 and hits, and makes another shield slam, this time rolling a CMB of +13 (+10 BAB for third iterative offhand attack, +5 Str, -2 TWF). He beats the targets CMD by 8 and pushes the target back another 10 feet, but since he already moved 5 feet and has no move actions left he can't move with the target.

In the above routine, if he were using a heavy shield he would take an additional -2 to all attacks and CMB rolls since his off hand weapon isn't light.

OK, lets add in Shield Master. This says he takes no penalties on his attack rolls with a shield when using another weapon. And he gets to add the shield bonus as an enhancement bonus to attack and damage. (I've read elsewhere that this means just the base shield's shield bonus, not enhancement bonuses to the shield or Shield Focus abilities. Thus a +1 for light shields, +2 for heavy sheilds.) Now if just using the shield in the normal attack routine, not taking extra attacks with TWF, this feat would offer no benefit (aside from the enhancement bonus).

Now if using TWF with sheild master, he takes no penalties to the shield attacks for using another weapon as well. Thus I presume that with a longsword and a light shield our fighter with Greater TWF would full attack at +18/+13/+8 and then with the shield at +20/+15/+10, since he doesn't take the penalty to attacks with the shield. I'm presuming that Shield Master doesn't negate the second and third off hand attack penalties of an additional -5 and -10, although the way the feat is worded it suggests that it might; I just can't see that being the intent though.

Now doing the same routine with a heavy steel shield, it looks like the fighter would get an additional benefit, since shield master should reduce the penalty for using an offhand weapon thats not light. Thus using a longsword and a heavy shield, hed take a full attack at +16/+11/+6 with the sword and +20/+15/+10 with the shield. I may be wrong on this though.

It also looks as if Shield Master would negate penalties to the CMB of making a shield slam when using a shield in a TWFing routine, as appropriate.

Double Slice looks like it should work with using a shield as an offhand weapon. I see no reason why it shouldn't but I may be wrong of course. For the same reasons, Two weapon rend should work as well. Two weapon defense of course wouldn't work, since the shield bonus from the feat wouldn't stack with the actual shield bonus from the shield. (although there could be instances where it would grant a benefit, such as fighting defensively with a non magical light shield, or not having Imp shield bash.)

Finally, the bashing quality added to a shield gives it a +1 enchancement to attacks and damage makes its damage as if it were two sizes larger. Thus, a heavy shield with this property would do 1d8 damage, a light 1d6, plus the enhancement bonus. It looks as if a heavy spiked shield with the bashing property would then do 2d6 damage. The enhancement bonus apparently wouldn't stack with the bonus from Shield Master however, although the damage increase should still work.

So lets say I have a +1 heavy spiked shield of bashing. It gives me a +1 shield enhancement bonus and a +1 enhancement to attack and damage. Lets say I want to add another +1 enhancement to attack and damage, as if it were a magic weapon. Whats the appropriate cost for adding this ability? I'm going to presume that its +6,000 (the cost of making a +1 weapon into a +2 weapon, i.e. 8,000 - 2,000.) even though the shield isn't actually a +1 weapon. I could be wrong on this though. I'm just presuming that the shield is considered to be a +1 weapon for purposes of adding additional weapon properties to it.

One final question: Does someone who uses TWFing and double slice get any additional benefit from Power Attack in the offhand if using a one handed weapon or shield in the offhand? i.e. would he get the -1/+2 benefits on the offhand since hes getting full Str damage, or is it still the -1/+1 benefit. I'm inclined to say the latter.

OK thanks anybody who took the time to read all this. I know its a lot. Please point out any errors I made. Thanks!

I was wondering if anybody could clarify how this spell works so far as bringing back to life a recently slain creature.

It seems that, after applying the healing of the spell to a slain creature, if its new hitpoint total is greater than its negative Con score it would come back to life. And if its new hit point total is less than that, it stays dead.

But can a creature have more negative hit points than its negative Con score? Can a creature with Con 15 have -22 hit points? I know in 3.5 that a creature couldn't have more negative hit points than -10 at which point it was just dead (barring certain magical effects such as the Delay Death spell). Is that restriction lifted now? Otherwise I fail to see how this spell would fail to work, as even 1 point of healing would be sufficient to bring the creature back.

Or is this meant to work simply as just a formula type thing? i.e. Calculate what the creatures negative hit points would theoretically be from the damage that killed it, then apply the healing. For example, PC with 14 Con has 10 hit points, he then takes 40 points of damage, taking him to -14 hit points (the limit) and dead. Cleric casts breath of life on him and it heals for 25 hit points. Since the damage he took would have taken him to -30 hit points if he could take that many negative hit points, and breath of life healed 25, then the creature would now have -5 hit points and be alive but unconscious. Is that how it works then?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!