Finneous Emberstorm's page

I was thinking about spellcasting and how having most spells having verbal and somatic components required them to be 2 actions.

What if it was changed so that there was only a single type of casting action, and verbal, somatic and material became traits.
I think it would have a few benefits.

1) It would cut down on the action types for spellcasting. (I honestly think having 3 different action types for spellcasting and 3 more types for item use is a bit much)

2) It would free up design space for more single action (or variable action) spells without requiring them to be verbal or somatic only.

3) It would make spells follow the same format as weapon actions. They just list how many actions it takes and have stuff like Attack, Open, Stance, etc. in the trait list.

My group is taking turns running Doomsday Dawn.
My turn is next and I'll be running In Pale Mountain's Shadow.

We are a large group with 6 PCs.
On page 3 of Doomsday Dawn it says to adjust encounters for groups larger than 4 PCs. (With rules for this in the bestiary).

For groups of monsters this is easy (just add more). And for single enemies its easy enough (add a second, possibly weaker one).
I'm reluctant to just add the elite template to enemies as I feel that this might skew the numbers.

So my question is this:
What should I add to the final fight in the adventure where all the enemies are different?

Is it still possible to cast (or memorize) a spell (not heightened) in a higher level spell slot?
I didn't see this specifically called out in the book but i may have missed it.
If not then its going to severly limit use of lower level spells that are always good but never hightenable (like true strike).

Hi,
I'm in a group where we take turns GMing. I was wondering, if we were to take the PDF of Doomsday Dawn and divvy the adventures out among us as soon as we get it, for the people running later adventures would this spoil the earlier adventures they would be playing in?
Or is this set up more like an adventure path where it really wants a single GM for the whole thing?

Hi,

I don't post much, but I found an interaction with the new power attack and +1 weapons that i think is unintended.

This has nothing to do with old power attack at all.

NOTE: I do not mean this negatively at all.
I really like what I'm seeing and can't wait to see how it all fits together. I just mathed this out for fun and thought it should be mentioned.

It seems to me that if you have a +1 weapon, then power attack is less useful especially if you only have 2 actions to attack with, but sometimes even if you use all 3 to attack.

Going under the following assumptions.

Power attack adds base weapon damage.
+1 weapon adds base weapon damage.
20's always crit.
crits double all damage.
power attack only increases 1st attack in a round.

Assume a weapon does base damage X and extra damage added to the attack form anything else is Y.
so a basic attack does X+Y.
a +1 weapon does 2X+Y,
power attack does 2X+Y,
and power attack with a +1 weapon does 3X+Y.

NOTE: If power attack with a +1 weapon does 4X+Y, then all this math is meaningless. (but it was still fun)

Lets assume 20 rounds of combat with each attack roll getting every number exactly once for ease of math.

I'll list 3 columns, the number needed to hit in the first, the damage with power attack in the second, and the total damage from both single attack actions in the third.

20+, 6X+2Y, 8X+4Y only crits
19, 9X+3Y, 10X+5Y
18, 12X+4Y, 12X+6Y
17, 15X+5Y, 14X+7Y
16, 18X+6Y, 16X+8Y
15, 21X+7Y, 18X+9Y
14, 24X+8Y, 22X+11Y: second attack hits on a 19 here
13, 27X+9Y, 26X+13Y
12, 30X+10Y, 30X+15Y
11, 33X+11Y, 34X+17Y
10, 36X+12Y, 38X+19Y
9, 42X+14Y, 44X+22Y first attack starts critting on a 19 here
8, 48X+16Y, 50X+25Y
7, 54X+18Y, 56X+28Y
6, 60X+20Y, 62X+31Y
5, 66X+22Y, 68X+34Y
4, 72X+24Y, 76X+38Y second attack starts critting on a 19 here
3, 78X+26Y, 84X+42Y
2, 84X+28Y, 92X+46Y

As you can see not using power attack usually is better, with a few possible exceptions around the 15-16 range if X>Y. Possibly 13-17 if X is significantly better than Y.

Now for the 3 action attack routine.
Note I'll be assuming that the two -5 attacks on both sides cancel out and leave them off the chart for easier math. Plus it lets me copy/paste the chart above for the power attack side. :)

20+, 6X+2Y, 8X+4Y only crits
19, 9X+3Y, 10X+5Y
18, 12X+4Y, 12X+6Y
17, 15X+5Y, 14X+7Y
16, 18X+6Y, 16X+8Y
15, 21X+7Y, 18X+9Y
14, 24X+8Y, 20X+10Y
13, 27X+9Y, 22X+11Y
12, 30X+10Y, 24X+12Y
11, 33X+11Y, 26X+13Y
10, 36X+12Y, 28X+14Y
9, 42X+14Y, 34X+17Y first attack starts critting on a 19 here
8, 48X+16Y, 40X+20Y ^ also third attack starts hitting on a 19
7, 54X+18Y, 46X+23Y
6, 60X+20Y, 52X+26Y
5, 66X+22Y, 58X+29Y
4, 72X+24Y, 64X+32Y
3, 78X+26Y, 70X+35Y
2, 84X+28Y, 76X+38Y

So now that we have the chart lets solve each one and see what ratio of X to Y we need for each one for power attack to be good.

20+, 6X+2Y, 8X+4Y
19, 9X+3Y, 10X+5Y
18, 12X+4Y, 12X+6Y
Power attack is only better here if Y is negative (highly unlikely)

17, 15X+5Y, 14X+7Y
-14X-5Y, -14X-5Y
X vs 2Y
X would have to be more than double Y for power attack to be beneficial.

16, 18X+6Y, 16X+8Y
-16X-6Y, -16X-6Y
2X, 2Y
/2, /2
X vs Y
X would have to be greater than Y

15, 21X+7Y, 18X+9Y
3X, 2Y
X vs (2/3)Y
X would have to be more than 2/3 the value of Y for power attack to be beneficial

14, 24X+8Y, 20X+10Y
4X, 2Y
X vs (1/2)Y

13, 27X+9Y, 22X+11Y
5X, 2Y
X vs (2/5)Y

12, 30X+10Y, 24X+12Y
6X, 2Y
X vs (1/3)Y

11, 33X+11Y, 26X+13Y
7X, 2Y
X vs (2/7)Y

10, 36X+12Y, 28X+14Y
8X, 2Y
X vs (1/4)Y

9, 42X+14Y, 34X+17Y
8X, 3Y
X vs (3/8)Y

8, 48X+16Y, 40X+20Y
8X, 4Y
X vs (1/2)Y

7, 54X+18Y, 46X+23Y
8X, 5Y
X vs (5/8)Y

6, 60X+20Y, 52X+26Y
8X, 6Y
X vs (3/4)Y

5, 66X+22Y, 58X+29Y
8X, 7Y
X vs (7/8)Y

4, 72X+24Y 64X+32Y
8X, 8Y
X vs Y

3, 78X+26Y, 70X+35Y
8X, 9Y
X vs (9/8)Y

2, 84X+28Y, 76X+38Y
8X, 10Y
X vs (10/8)Y

So in the cases above it can be more useful to use power attack depending on the ratio of X to Y.
Even if X is only half of Y (as in the cases of [1d12+13], [1d8+9] and [1d4+5]) you gain benefit from power attack if you need from a 9 to a 13 (and suffer no loss on an 8 or 14).
But if X ever drops below 1/4 Y (as in [1d12+27],[1d8+19] and [1d4+11]) power attack will always be a bad choice with a +1 weapon.

I realize I have no idea how much static damage players get so I've no idea what Y could be.

I hope i didn't bore anyone too much and if i made any mistakes let me know.

Again, this is not a complaint or meant negatively in any way. I just saw this and it looked unintended, so i wanted to mention it.