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Thanks, Pizza Lord, good advice all around.

I’m expecting to encounter a mirror that has trapped an NPC that we need to rescue. I also don’t know where in the dungeon that the mirror might be located, so I might encounter it without intending to. I’m hoping that invisibility might be a layer of protection in such a circumstance, to avoid a dicey saving throw.

Yes, that’s logical and what I was assuming/hoping for as a PC who might be encountering said mirror in a dungeon soon, if the clues we are finding are correct. Testing the theory will require expending some resources and hoping that the DM sees it the same way. Thanks for weighing in!

So a mirror of life trapping can trap a creature that sees its own reflection in the mirror and fails a save. Does an invisible creature (who cannot see invisible things itself) avoid the life trap automatically? Or does the power of the mirror work anyway if you are within 30 feet of it?

Two relatively easy and quick solutions:

Use the automatic bonus progression rules, which obviate the need for constant stat, armor, and weapon bonuses and the like: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/unchained-rules/automati c-bonus-progression/

Get you geared up properly quickly, either via an easy encounter with extra loot or a plot device like a patron

I won’t repeat what the others have said, which was spot on. Some additional thoughts:

Ask yourself whether, separate from Tristan’s death, you want to play in this dark game right now. Between your work situation and the general craziness in the world, can you get the positive experience you seem to be seeking? A dark game doesn’t have to be depressing, but it can be.

If the answer is ‘no’, then continue looking for other ways to play with these friends and others in ways that do bring you joy and fulfillment.

If the answer is yes:

You say Tristan’s story is over. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, depending on how you and the DM think about it. There may be no resurrection in your game, but there are several other paths that could lead to a continuation of his story. Maybe your fellow party member only thought you were completely dead and left the job unfinished. Maybe someone came along and found your almost-corpse just in time and saved you for some reason that can be an interesting plot development. Maybe Tristan is dead, but his long-lost blood brother/sister or the missing biological parents learn of his fate and pick up his quest where he left off. Or any of a number of other similar solutions.

In any of the above, consider how your choices as a player and PC affected the outcome. Tristan is determined to be naively heroic in this dark world. That isn’t a problem in the abstract, but his inability to listen and learn is. You got feedback in and out of character that his definition of heroic equaling rushing in recklessly most of the time was incompatible with long term survival and the broader party’s goals. At that point, it goes from being heroic to being something else. Here again, I would suggest looking for ways for Tristan or a follow on character to redefine his or her understanding of heroism over time, learning from experience and advice from others. Maybe as a paladin, he has a divine revelation or dream that helps guide him down a better path.

Good luck and enjoy having a set of friends willing to communicate and reunite even after such a situation!

Not necessarily dead. As Mr Charisma noted, there is probably a save. And the poison may not be automatically lethal even on a failed save. Foe example, Here’s the pit fiend’s poison bite description:

Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 32; frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 1d6 Con damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Have initiatives posted for all to see, and someone responsible for announcing who is on deck to go next.

Have all likely buffs and debuffs preloaded into character sheets if you are using something like Hero Lab, so you can avoid mental math and just turn them on and off with a click.

Have a turn clock - if you can’t declare your action within 15 seconds, then you are delaying or passing on your turn.

Have the DM announce ACs and health status for foes, to save time asking and confirming hits/misses. There are a few cases where this will help players choose whether to use a particular bonus or ability, but the increase in speed is worth it.

tell the players when they seem to have gained the maximum or sufficient information in a social encounter, to avoid wasting time as conversations drag out needlessly.

Similarly, have multiple ways for the PCs to learn key bits of plot info, so that progress is not derailed by a single skill failure or missed clue. Even be ready to have an Npc give them what they need, perhaps at a penalty in terms of treasure or other consequences.

A few other thoughts re things to consider:

Stick to the Core Rulebook, to avoid decision paralysis in character building, spell selection, etc. That will also tend to make it harder for those who do have time to optimize to outshine those who don’t have the time.

Let folks know ahead of time that you will allow rebuilding of characters at certain points as they level up, so they don’t worry too much about mistakes made out of ignorance early on.

This really applies to any RPG, but have a session zero to explain what kind of campaign you plan to run, and talk about the kinds of characters folks want to create that would fit in that campaign. If you are going to heavily focus on combat or intrigue or social interaction, then people won’t unknowingly create characters who don’t contribute easily to the specific style of play. For example, a big dumb fighter with few skills beyond killing things will probably be bored in a game with mostly diplomacy, stealth, and the like.

TL/DR version: The channel probably didn't affect most or any of the folks in rooms 9 & 10, and if it did, they probably would have a pretty good idea who did it.

My reasoning: The cleric might not be chanting, but must present her holy symbol, so there is a visual clue. Also, Mysterious Stranger is correct that Channel Energy is a burst, so she needs line of effect. Looking at the map, that seems incredibly unlikely that all those targets are in line of effect given the geometry of the hall, doors, and rooms. And even if they were, any affected ones would be able to see the cleric presenting her holy symbol as the negative energy washed over them, assuming nobody did anything else to block line of sight without blocking line of effect (e.g. darkness or fog cloud.) And of course, if she had line of sight to affect them, then she could use selective channeling, per the inverse of the OP's original logic.

Hah, yeah, never underestimate the power of greed to motivate the PCs to find a solution you had not imagined :)

Arcanist gives flexibility and staying power, sort of the best of wizards and sorcerers together.

I’m with avr on this one. You speak and understand Billy Bob the Dwarf’s pidgin elvish just fine, and can speak it back. Anyone who only understands real Elvish will probably have no idea what you are talking about.

It works as Sandslice said. For more details on the rules for this, check out https://www.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?Name=Ability%20Score%20Damage,%20Penalty, %20and%20Drain&Category=Special%20Abilities. Or look on p555 of the CRB.

Thanks

So I could theoricaly get an army of undead just with command undead. Interesting.

How is the volume of spells like Demiplane defined then? I can increase duration, range and area but no feats increases volume?

Following the progression of spell slots, at the end there would be some overflow after spell levels 9. If they made space for it.
Some classes I think allow

I guess I would need invent a feat and ask for an ability to exchange some low spell slots for a higher one.
Crossing finger for a Create demiplane, Greater, 'Widened' spell level slot 12.
XD

I think you may have misunderstood the answer re total HD of undead with command undead. There is no specific limit on the number of undead, but their total (e.g. sum of) HD is limited. So you can have a bunch of skeletons or a smaller number of more powerful undead under your command (or a mix), whose total HD added up do not exceed the limit.

Yeah, rules seem pretty clear on this one. Most people trying to pull shenanigans with this want to add bonuses for the substituted skill on top of the perform bonus. The DM would be right to shut that down. But the RAW is “When you make a skill check, you roll 1d20 and then add your ranks and the appropriate ability score modifier to the result of this check. If the skill you're using is a class skill (and you have invested ranks into that skill), you gain a +3 bonus on the check... Skills can be further modified by a wide variety of sources—by your race, by a class ability, by equipment, by spell effects or magic items, and so on." A DM can of course make house rules, but there ought to be a reason, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to a player on a major class ability.

I think your original inclination is right. The homunculus probably is not living, therefore is not a valid target for the spell. This is not clearly stated in the description, nor in the Construct creature type rules, but is strongly implied in the latter. Constructs share many key traits solely with the only other non-living creature type, undead. No healing, resurrection, CON score, etc. They are destroyed, not killed.

That said, if you are playing in a home game, it sounds fun, and isn’t a gateway to some game-breaking power move, why not?

There is also this rule. Double Movement Cost
When your movement is hampered in some way, your movement usually costs double.

Still in GM interpretation-land, but it does seem to me that the RAI is that you couldn’t take a 5’ step if entangled.

It’s unclear to me what the RAW Is in this case, but allowing a character to save tens of thousands of gp by combining the two items doesn’t seem quite right to me. That’s the rough price difference between adding the extra abilities to the Amulet and having them on the Body Wrap.

Thanks, gnoams, I agree that different methods can work better for different cases. Some folks are math challenged, so that auto tool comes in handy for them. Saved a DM buddy of mine last night :) I was doing the math for him when I noticed the auto tool. Both gave good results, although the map I was doing for him was one of those annoying cave maps that didn’t have the grid across the whole map sheet. Thanks for all your advice!

The above was great, but led me to accidentally find a tool that takes away the need to do math at all:

--Drop your map onto the map layer
--Zoom in on a 3x3 square area of your map so you can be precise in the next steps  
--Right click on your map.
--Click on 'advanced'.
--Click on 'align to grid'.
--A text box will open up.  Leave this text box open for now.
--Follow the instructions to highlight the 3x3 square of your map.
--A dialogue box will pop up with info re your square size.  Probably worth making sure that your squares' dimensions are equal (eq X by X, not X by Y), assuming your map is reasonably well drawn.
--Click on "align to grid!" Your map squares should now be the same size as the Roll20 grid.
--Alt click and drag your map to line it up on the grid, as necessary.

Voila!

The Gamers Live folks (Zombie Orpheus Entertainment) do a twisted, audience participation version of Pathfinder. Pretty funny stuff.

YouR build is interesting and different from the dorn dergar characters I’ve seen! A couple of additional thoughts:

I think Power attack is required for the Cut from Air chain too, unless you have some way to bypass that requirement.

What is your stat array like? You’re going to need Str, Dex, Con, and maybe Wis. The last especially if you don’t do the usual Steel Soul. your other magic counters don’t kick in until mid-game.

Good luck!

MrCharisma wrote:

Yup, but assuming the average bar there wouldn't be many (and I thought we weren't giving the PCs IUS).

Also this might be a good reason to pick up a chair and use it as an improvised weapon. -4 to hit, but you can take AoOs.

Yep anything like that was excluded because if you build for unarmed combat of course you'll be good at unarmed combat. I'm interested in looking at the ones who are skilled adventurers but not built for unarmed combat. How well do they do if put into a general brawl like the ones you see on movies where everyones fighting everyone else but not seriously trying to kill anyone.

Ah, I see it now. I misread this sentence: "For the purposes of this discussion consider a non-monk specced to fight unarmed (e.g. improved unarmed feat) to be included in the class along with hybrid classes like Brawlers."

I didn’t catch that "include in the class" meant "equate to monk". And then glossed over the next sentence too :) I’ll read more carefully next time.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Without Improved Unarmed all of these attacks provoke AoO's as well.

True, but if nobody is armed then nobody can take AoOs, so it's a moot point.

Except those who have Improved Unarmed Strike are considered armed. Doesn’t that mean they would get those AoOs? Paired with combat reflexes, that would be a huge advantage.

AVR is 100% correct. Perhaps ask the DM if other spells can be disrupted after casting is complete, but before discharge. Such as every Symbol or Glyph spell in his dungeons...

Heyho,

i am struggeling with the wording of wall of force, maybe since im not a native speaker, but what does "Effect wall whose area is up to one 10-ft. square/level" mean exactly?

Can i create a rectancle around me of 10*90, or 20*40, 30*30?
Or is the Wall 10ft high and 10ft wide, so i could create a wall, which is 10high and 90ft long or 20ft high and 40ft long?

Your second answer is correct. From the text in the description:

’The caster can form the wall into a flat, vertical plane whose area is up to one 10-foot square per level.‘

So it is one single plane (a flat surface) that is vertical with surface area of dimensions up to the limits described.

Blasphemy has the [sonic] descriptor, which means that it even affects deafened creatures, per the magic section of the PRD. That suggests that plugging your ears with your fingers or earplugs isn’t going to help. The way this is explained in the rules is that sonic spells cover a wide range of frequencies, and so aren’t generally blocked by such measures.

Potions are inexpensive and you can use them by yourself. Is there any pattern to how you die, that you could counter by using different tactics or by getting magic items to protect against specific kinds of threats that kill you most often? Can you get a henchman or hire an NPC to help protect you while you shoot at the enemy?

Huh, neither my GM or I ever considered that possibility. We both thought of it as separate from the weapon damage rolls. It would simplify it though.

Thanks Blahpers.

I agree, it’s bonus damage to the strike, similar to applying STR or enchantment bonuses. Add it all up (base damage plus bonuses) and apply the DR once to the total.

Per the PRD, Total Concealment prevents the AoO. Same is true for cover.

"You can't execute an attack of opportunity against an opponent with total concealment, even if you know what square or squares the opponent occupies."

I generally call for initiative once at least one party is aware of the other. Otherwise, how do you know which side opens the door? There ought to be times where the baddies don’t just sit there and wait to be victimized by PC murder hobos. This also allows for things like the readied attacks that you mentioned. If they haven’t yet gone in the initiative turn, then they can’t have readied attacks, after all.

You are probably remembering the ability to take a 5’ Step as part of a readied attack. That is explicitly allowed in the rule (look in the combat section of the CRB.) I’m not aware of any such provision for AoOs. Btw, AoOs aren’t an immediate action, but rather are their own thing.

The full round action is on your turn, but the immediate actions from Saving Shield and the like typically will occur on someone else’s turn. So that is totally legit. Note that you can use free and swift actions even on your turn when you use a full round action too.

You have to choose, and the weapon needs at least a +1 enchantment bonus to add any special abilities on top of. So to add Igniting, you’ll need to pay for a +3 equivalent in total. Here’s the relevant text from the prd:

Some magic weapons have special abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted). A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10. A weapon with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus. Weapons cannot possess the same special ability more than once.

Gotta have water walking. Condition removal spells, cure disease, remove curse, create food and water (fishes and loaves). Is there a water to wine spell?

If you are already part of the hunt, there are a million ways to slow them down and derail the hunt. Bad mushrooms in the cook pot; you eat them too, to avoid suspicion. Everyone gets sick and either goes home or delays the hunt. Be clumsy and make a racket as you approach the lair. Volunteer to scout ahead, and cruelly warn the dragon. That sort of thing. Not as extreme as killing the nobles, so less likely to result in you being banished or worse. Just don’t get caught...

Hi, everyone.

1. I just want to confirm that a Monk's AC Bonus would stack with the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer's Draconic Resilience natural armor bonus?

I'm thinking yes, because they are different types of bonuses.

2. If such a character were to somehow gain the ability to apply a different ability modifier to armor class, would that stack with the Monk's Wisdom bonus to armor class, too?

You are right re the bonuses to AC stacking, because they are different types. I think that the answer to your second question is yes too, but don't have a rules cite to prove it.

Also, just because I'm guessing you are combining these two classes to make a powerful melee guy, remember that per the PRD: "A monk with natural weapons cannot use such weapons as part of a flurry of blows, nor can he make natural attacks in addition to his flurry of blows attacks."

I'm working on a home brew in which the PCs work for various patrons in Absalom as grunts in the "Shadow War" that the powerful wage in that city.

I want to play a drow who knows she'll be a target if anyone realizes what she is so she disguises herself as the normal elf version of herself.
When she arrives at 1st level in addition to putting points into disguise, she has the trait "Keeper of the Veil" trait set to disguise and a disguise kit. This gives her 13 for her disguise skill.
As soon as she can afford it (1600 gold)she'll buy a "False Face mask" and set it to a fair skinned blonde version of herself giving her over 20 for disguise.
I don't intend for her to be a magic class so what are some other ways for her to keep her identity a secret.

Morag

For 1800gp you can get a hat of disguise and do the same thing with no roll. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/hat-o f-disguise/

Gisher wrote:

CRB wrote:

Immediate Actions

Much like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action. However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time—even if it's not your turn. Casting feather fall is an immediate action, since the spell can be cast at any time.

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action and counts as your swift action for that turn. You cannot use another immediate action or a swift action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate action when it is not currently your turn (effectively, using an immediate action before your turn is equivalent to using your swift action for the coming turn). You also cannot use an immediate action if you are flat-footed.

So you can't use both during your turn. You can use a Swift Action during your turn, then an Immediate Action after your turn, but then you can't use either type until after your next turn.

Question is though, does Deadly Critical count as being on your turn or after it?

Per the quoted text above, it depends on when you make the hit that is a critical. If that critical hit occurs during your turn, then the immediate action is on your turn and counts as a swift action. If the critical hit occurred when it wasn't your turn, such as on an attack of opportunity, then it would be an immediate action. Either way, you wouldn't be able to use it again until your next turn.

You would have to apply the oil to the target creature(s), which would be inefficient at best. It takes a full round to use an oil on a single unconscious target. How would you get it on an unwilling, conscious target?

Each box of pawns has a logo and numbering system with the critters in alphabetical order. I put them into bags in groups of 10, based on the numbering system, with the numbers marked on each baggie in sharpie. Then you just look them up on the back of the box, find the baggie you need, and pull out the critter. You can store them in the original boxes that way. Not perfect, but simple and cheap.

So, I'm planning to make a weapon out of a high hardness, but low-as-heck HP (20 hardness, 5 hp), and I'm looking for ways to protect it. I know about the Impervious enchantment that can be put on it, and I fully intend to slap that on as soon as I can. But there's gotta be other things I can do that I'm just not finding. Any ideas?

Bladeguard is 40gp and protects against some nasty effects. Lasts for 24 hours, so it is easy to apply ahead of time. Saved my magic adamantine dorn dergar at least twice.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateEquipment/gear/alchemicalRemedie s.html

I apologize if this question has been answered already, but I couldn't find it if it was. I am surprised it isn't, given the plethora of discussion regarding whether or not Bane stacks with itself.

Both the Furious and Bane abilities increase the weapon's enhancement bonus under different circumstances - do these increases stack if both circumstances are met? Such as a raging Barbarian with a +1 Furious Bane(Monstrous Humanoids) Greatsword fighting a Minotaur - would that Greatsword have an effective enhancement bonus of +3 or +5?

Bonuses of the same kind (in this case enhancement bonuses) do not stack. There are a few exceptions, but this isn't one of the them. From the PRD:

Stacking: Stacking refers to the act of adding together bonuses or penalties that apply to one particular check or statistic. Generally speaking, most bonuses of the same type do not stack. Instead, only the highest bonus applies. Most penalties do stack, meaning that their values are added together. Penalties and bonuses generally stack with one another, meaning that the penalties might negate or exceed part or all of the bonuses, and vice versa.

I gotta disagree Eleclipse, while I like what you are going for, you can't expect your players to have the kind of stats your characters are going to have, sure the PLAYER worded it badly, but his CHARACTER would have said it in a much more tactful and elegant manner.

Let's face it your players are average goons who probally have a 10 or 11 in charisma, expecting them to be able to sweet talk folks as if they had a 35 charisma is no more likely than the 10-11 int players being able to solve puzzles like a 35 int mage.

It's not a reasonable expectation of the player. In your example I'd suggest taking the basic jist of the message "you can trust us to safeguard it" and the natural 20 would be a reflection of how well the character actually sells the idea.

Yeah, not everyone is a master storyteller. You're the GM and presumably a pretty good storyteller if you are running this kind of campaign. So when your PC (whose player can't on the fly conjure up the Gettyburg address) says "you can trust us to safeguard it", have your NPC repeat it back to the character in a more engaging way that fits with the storyline you have in mind. "Oh yeah, that way I wouldn't end up like Zargon the Nearly Magnificent, who tried to keep everything of value hidden under his mattress but lost it all to the malign agents of the Nightstalkers Guild."

So in my campaign my barbarian has gotten a large broadcasted from a recently dead hill giant. Now he wants to use it as his main weapon, he completely understand the negatives he takes but wants to know would he have reach when using the weapon because it is larger then normal. So does he gain reach when using it?

I don't think so. There are rules for creature size extending reach and reach weapons extending reach, but I couldn't find anything that suggested that weapon size itself affects reach. So assuming "broadcasted" from your original post was supposed to be "broadsword", then as a non-reach weapon, the outsized broadsword wouldn't extend your reach. It would be worth searching the rules forum and FAQ to see if others have asked similar questions and gotten different answers.

I want to make a character in Pathfinder but I can't afford the beginner box/materials. Anyone know of a guide or something on getting started? I've played a little bit of D&D 3.5, so I'm not totally blind, I just need something to explain how to make a character in Pathfinder.

You can get the PDF of the rules for just $10 here (along with free mini-adventures, etc.): http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/products/beginnerbox

All the basic rules are also available for free online as part of the Pathfinder reference document: http://paizo.com/prd/

And another version can be found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

Enjoy!

Amulet of Natural Armor

"This amulet, usually containing some type of magically preserved monster hide or other natural armor—such as bone, horn, carapace, or beast scales—toughens the wearer’s body and flesh, giving him an enhancement bonus to his natural armor from +1 to +5, depending on the kind of amulet."

Sweet! And enchancement to a bonus my character doesn't have! I guess these things don't work for most characters.

See how it says "his natural armor"? Standard races don't have natural armor. So how... pray tel... does a character get any benefit from wearing one of these amulets?

Do you think, maybe, that we just consider his 'effective' natural armor bonus to be +0?

Wouldn't the 'effective' flanking bonus of all noneligible attacks be +0? Of course it is.

Default rules for flanking gives a +2 to melee attacks when you flank. All other attack rolls have an 'effective' +0 flanking bonus. because they don't get the +2...

Insert specific Feat text which always trumps general: "your flanking bonus on attack rolls increases to +4."

And BAM, just like that, your attack rolls get a flanking bonus of +4.

This is RAW. If this isn't RAW... then Amulets of natural Armor provide no benefit if you didn't 'already' have a natural armor bonus. But that is rediculous, because we all know that they in fact do work, even if you don't have a natural armor bonus.

RAW for natural armor is this (from the Barkskin spell description): "A creature without natural armor has an effective natural armor bonus of +0."

Whereas there is no such text for an effective "flanking bonus on attack rolls" that I am aware of. I suppose you could make a logical case for it, but apparently not a RAW one.

I know the original rules on favored class say the following:

Favored Class
Each character begins play with a single favored class of his choosing—typically, this is the same class as the one he chooses at 1st level. Whenever a character gains a level in his favored class, he receives either + 1 hit point or + 1 skill rank. The choice of favored class cannot be changed once the character is created, and the choice of gaining a hit point or a skill rank each time a character gains a level (including his first level) cannot be changed once made for a particular level. Prestige classes (see Prestige Classes) can never be a favored class.

However, this predates the retraining rules. Has anything changed the above to allow you to retrain your favored class and/or the bonus choices you make at each level?

Thanks!

Thanks for the good ideas, all. I just found the Shrink Item spell too (3rd level Sorc/Wiz), which seems pretty cool.

Thanks!