Framane's page

Are you still looking for player for this game? I'd be interested in playing an Eagle Shaman/Eagle Domain Druid.

I think there is a mistake in the verbal duel tactic on page 52.
They state that Bartelby prefers to open with baiting, red herring and rhetoric, but both baiting and red herring can't be used as opener.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply John ^_^

I'm currently playing a Name-Keeper Shaman from Adventurer's Guide with my Shattered Star group and there are a few things I find odd/not detailed enough.

Firstly, you lose the spirit animal to gain a bonded object like a wizard. Problem is bonded object allows you to cast any spell from your spellbook, which as a Shaman I am lacking. My DM told me to simply swap "spellbook" for "spells-known", but shaman also doesn't have spells-known. Like a cleric, you pick from all Shaman spells when preparing your spells. Does that mean I effectively can cast any Shaman spell (of an appropriate level) once per day? That is quite powerful, even if Shamans don't have the most impressive spell list.

Secondly, that is probably simply an oversight, but without a spirit animal, I shouldn't even be able to prepare spell at all. I guess I simply commune with my bonded object instead, but that was omitted from the archetype description.

Thanks to any and all who can point me in the right direction for this :-)

Do you know what restrictions and effects are affecting your characters?
Say you are affected by an effect like Faith-Staeling Strike that prevents the casting of divine spells, do you know you can't do that? Or do you only become aware that something is wrong if you attempt to cast one, possibly wasting a standard action.
Same goes for penalties or other conditions that have no apparent visual effects. If you're affected by Pessimism do you know you have -2 to attack rolls or is it the DMs job to substract 2 from their rolls in secret or do you simply know you are feeling bad without knowing what that entails?
I'm not asking if the PCs know what spells, what monster, what abilities or whatever else is causing the penalties or restriction, there are Knowledges and Spellcraft for that, but rather if the players are aware of the effects it has on their characters.

Those are all nice suggestions and while resetting the wealth by level at every level-up seems a bit lengthy, I guess it does a good job of accounting for consumables and it allows you to trade in you older items for better. Plus it really makes new characters on the exact same baseline as old ones. I kinda like it :-) Plus I guess the time you spend on having a bigger gp amount to work with, will be compensated by not having to calculate the difference in price for item that they want to upgrade.

We are also usually banning the use of item creation feat in our games, but I could see the effect of Item creation feat on starting wealth for high level character a nice thing to include in this system too. 1 or 2 feat for +25%, +50% on your wealth, limited to some category, is not "broken" I think.

Thank you guys, feel free to bring more ideas on this subject

So, my playgroup is planning on starting a Wrath of the Righteous campaign after one we are running now, and I was wondering what to play.

I bought the Mythic Adventure when it first came out and beside a quick one-time session, I never got to play mythic ever since.

This AP is the only one that includes mythic AND it goes to level 20. There is so much I would like to do, but I don't know which one should I go for.

Cyclopean Seer Oracle: Hierophant Main reason I would want to play this is to hit that sweet lvl 20 ability that allows me to select my result on any dice roll 1/round. With starting CHA at 20 (18+2 racial), +5 from level-up, +5 from inherent, +6 from item, +10 from mythic and +2 from Enhanced Ability universal path ability, you get to 48 Cha and can pick 19 on all d20. If the DM allows me to start as middle-aged, I could hit the auto 20! Unfortunately, the other ways I found to get that missing +2 all seems to be evil or require multiclassing, which aren't an option here. Possibly Shadow mystery as I always wanted to play a character based on shadow conjuration/evocation, but I might pick battle to profit from the auto 20 or life if we need healing or to interact with the channel myhtic abilities.

Wizard, sorcerer or arcanist: Archmage Because mythic spells exists and many seems insanely cool. Probalby an evocation or enchantment specialist, but I could see a transmutation or even maybe an universalist, haven'ts played one till 3.5 haha.

Crossbowman of Abadar: Champion This one I simply wanted to play for a while and mythic does have some pretty cool options for a ranged crossbowman (fighter) or bolt ace (gunslinger). I would be using the Measured Response feat and possibly the combat stamina option to roll as few dices as possible. Everything as to be perfectly calculated! Why would you allow randomness and chaos in this world!
Side note: Always wondered what would happened if you fire an Unstoppable Shot with Limitless range using a brilliant energy bolt or arrow? Does it circle the globe forever? Does it goes to outer space and pierce through to the end of the universe? In any cases, do the silly rule of "your attack happens during your round" mean that it does all that under 6 seconds(which makes no sense)? Could you attach a message to a regular arrow and send it to another planet if you have a straight shooting line to it?

Vital Strike combatant: Champion, Guardian or Marshal The mythic Vital Strike feat is pretty neat and other combat feat also seems to be really nice. Could be combined with the Crossbowman build, but I'd rather go melee for this one. Fighter is the obvious choice, but barbarian, paladin and others seems viable.

In any case, I would probably take the Universal Path ability that allows you to grant spells as a deity because when else can you do that xD

Looking for play-by-post games. Interested in trying solo game (whether playing a single or multiple PCs) and would love to be mythic, but neither are a must. I don't mind using alternate rules. I can also join mid-campaign and am willing to play any class.

I am willing to play any campaign, including playing in APs I already played in or ran, as long as you see no objection with it. I make it a point to separate player knowledge from character knowledge.

Game I DMed: Iron God, Reign of Winter, Strange Aeons, Giantslayer, the first 4 book of Kingmaker, and first 3 books of both Serpent's Skull and Carrion Crown.
Game I played (books): Rise of the Runelords (1-2), Curse of the Crimson Thrones (1, 4-6), Shattered Star (1-2), Skulls & Shackles (1-5), Mummy's Mask (1-6) and Hell's Rebel (3-4 + current)

I am mostly free at night from 11 PM to 6 AM EST Saturday evening to Thursday morning as I'm working night shift as a kind of security guard/email sorter and I have a lot of free time there. I could also make updates at other times, but don't expect anything between 11 AM and 5 PM EST.

Maybe it's because we changed with time, because I remember loot time being fun 10-15 years ago, but nowadays, the way we play it, it basically is me reading the items of the loot one by one, that the loot keeping player (a job none wants to play) will then write on the party loot sheet. After the session, or whenever they get downtime, they will then open d20pfsrd to note the price and maybe 1/20 of the time will instead decide to actually keep the item. When they get to a town, if the town wealth allows it, they then total up the worth of the stuff, sells it then they split the gold (counting items kept by PCs as part of their share at selling value) and simply buy stuff they need if the town can supply them.

Maybe it's because we play shorter sessions then we used to do. Back in my school days, we played once per month, sometimes we started playing on Friday evening and stopped playing only Sunday late afternoon. Back then, of course we role-played with merchants and whatnot, we had time for it. Nowadays, we play 3-4 hours sessions every other weeks and it feel like we never make actual progress (Pathfinder increase in the number of encounters required to level up from 13 to 20 might have something to do with that). Whenever I suggest actually playing a shopping encounter, my players (or partners when I'm playing) treat me like I just proposed to dump their character sheets in a fire. Can't really blame them, they already did that a whole lot of times.

Maybe it's also because they value too much the default proven and tried go-to magic items (Stat boosting belts and headbands, ring of protection, amulet of natural armor, cloak of resistance, magical weapons and magical armors and shields).

Maybe it's also because we play Adventure Path now. The loot might tend to be so frequently inappropriate for them, that they don't even bother reading what is it they find anymore and would rather sell it to get that thing they know is good for them.

I considered rules from Pathfinder Unchained to remove the big 6 and I am building another homebrewed game using scaling magic item versions of the big 6 as artifact that the PCs seek through the land. It is not quite as if using Automatic Bonus Progression as each player has had to prioritize what bonus they wanted and they will get 2 wonders, 2 prizes and 2 baubles each, based on these priorities.

So, I was thinking about this, about how loot works:
1. You determine how much wealth is appropriate to go up from their current level to the next one.
2. You look through the SRD/book to turn this wealth into items that your PCs might or might not actually use.
3. You divide this loot among an appropriate number of encounters.
4. Your PCs kill the monster/find the treasure, you call them one after the other while the player write down a few items for themselves and write the rest in the party loot to sell.
5. They get to town and sell their wares. You or the PCs now have to search for these items once more in the SRD/book to determine how much they sell for and to determine if it's worth selling or if they'd rather just keep it.

That is without even taking differences in between playgroup in how the loot is actually split between party members and if the actual selling has to be role-payed or if it can take place behind the scenes.

I will admit that the core system DOES make treasures horde more realistic, but I find it really adds a lot of tracking and I think the time spent on looting the bodies and buying/selling items could be spent better on role playing, combat and other non-combat encounters.

What I had in mind was Schrodinger's loot. i.e. simply handing out gold when PCs level up and follow the Characer Wealth by level table for this. For instance when a level 8 pc, (estimated wealth 33,000 gp) goes up to level 9 (estimated wealth 46,000 gp), he would gain the difference (13,000 gp). That money could be instantaneously used to buy gear and it would simply be as if the nondescript loot they found battling monsters and searching the catacombs was actually this gear they are now "buying" and it simply wasn't defined yet, hence the term Schrodinger's loot.
If a player would want to use an item that was used by a defeated enemy, I would allow it, but that item's value would be taken off of it's future(s) level-up loot.
I would also allow players to lend money to others, but that would be a personal choice and nobody could, let's say, force the monk into giving up her share of loot because "She doesn't need gear anyways, right?"

PROS:

• It makes it so the loot is automatically equal for everyone.
• Even if someone joins mid-campaign, they should still have close to the same amount of wealth as anybody else.
  
• It saves a lot of time for both the players and the DM compared to the old-fashioned way.

CONS:

• It is less realistic.
• Consumables item might loose in value as it means you fall behind the rest of the party for a one-time boost.

CAN GO EITHER WAY:

• It changes the time the loot is gained. If the PCs would normally have access to shops, it delays the loot gain; on the other hand, if they aren't near civilization for a few levels, it will instead accelerate the loot gain.
• Players can do both their level-up and shopping at the same time. Makes it so level-up break takes longer when taken mid-session; but for level-up taken in between sessions, it helps things flow more easily.

Do you people think my alternate method of handling loot would work well? What adjustments, if any, would you make before running it?

I want to know before actually using it in my games as my playgroup is often concerned about alternate rules and doesn't want to even look at them if they don't feel the change would be worth the effort.

I personally think that a Dazing Acid Splash prepared or cast using a 5ft level slot instead of a 3rd level slot would:

• Count as a 0 level spell for DC and other thing for which it would be worse than being 3rd level.
  
• Count as a 3rd level spell for recall, concentration and other situations in which it would be worse than being level 0.
  
• Count as a 5th level spell only for the actual spell slot it used in your daily spell per day limit.

But that would be my interpretation. Expect those rules at my table.

P. 166 - Manasaputra, Solar Pitri

Cosmic Fire DC is different in the Aura line (DC 35), then in the special ability description (DC 31).
Correct DC should be 31 (10+12+9).
+4 difference might be from Ability Focus or racial bonus, but none are in the stats block and it already has its 12 feats. Might have been removed later in dev and not corrected in both places.

Radiant Transformation DC is also different in the Special Attack line (DC 30), then in the ability description (DC 31).
Correct DC should be 31 (10+12+9).
For this one, I would assume the ability was changed from Charisma-based to Wisdom-based and the change was again not reflected in the stat block or vice versa.

Only relevant thing I could find is this:

Spell Slots

The various character class tables show how many spells of each level a character can cast per day. These openings for daily spells are called spell slots. a spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell. A spellcaster who lacks a high enough ability score to cast spells that would otherwise be his due still gets the slots but must fill them with spells of lower levels.

It doesn't specify if the spell is treated at original spell level or at the level of the slot you prepare it in, but I'm pretty sure the FAQ applies only to Metamagic.

In my play groups, we wouldn't increase the concentration check to cast a charm person prepared in a 5th level spell slot and wouldn't force you to use 5th level pearl of power or magus to recall it.

Just realized you were asking about Core Rulebook option only. You can disregard my post about playing a witch, sorry.

If you want a debuffer that can heal, I'd suggest going the Witch way.

For extra debuffing, I'd go Hafling to stack Hafling jinx with Evil Eye (Malicious Eye feat) and/or Bouda archetype, especially if your DM approves that Bouda Eye = improved Evil Eye and thus can be used with the Jinx.

For extra healing, Hedge Witch or Hex Channeler both gives a boost.

So, I'm taking my 13th level (Phantom Thief (Rogue)7/Noble Scion PrC 6) and I was wondering what feat to take. I don't have spare money for now, but future magic items suggestions could be cool. I still have the body, chest and feet item slot free and some other slots could be swapped if need be. The only thing I considered so far is a Designating weapon, but as I said, no money for now.

A little about me:
My character is not "optimized" by standard definition and is instead an insane skill monkey. He has +9 INT (29) and with Human and favored class bonus to skill point, that brings him at 19 skill point per level.(8+9+1+1). Most of my gear are AC boosting items, +5 to skills and saves boosting. My damage output is close to null (+15/+10 1d6+7 and no sneaks), but I already built god knows how many heavy damaging rogues in my years as a player and I wanted to try something else for a change and I don't mind. Note also that the DM house-ruled that I can pick an extra skill unlock (and get the other Phantom Thief bonuses to these skills) instead of sneak-attack from the Dilettante Study feature of Noble Scion.
So far I've taken the Greater Feint feat tree and can allow my allies to touch an enemy per round with no Dex, other new rogue likes it a lot, wonder why ;-), also has the Assault Leader Rogue talent (Once per day, when you miss, an ally get an attack of opportunity against the target of the attack), and the Enforcer feat (Whenever you deal non-lethal you can make an free Intimidate to demoralize the target)
So I usually feint as a move action and make a single attack, if it hits, I shaken my opponent, if not an ally gets a free attack.

A little about us:
Playing through Hell's Rebel and we'll be starting book 5 next session. Party is composed of an Unchained Summoner with an Azata eidolon that one-rounds anything and everything, a Kensai Magus that prides himself on having 46 AC and being only touchable on Nat 20 by DM, a Dwarf Barbarian with good DMG output and tankiness, a newly added vanilla Rogue as his Archer died in the last dungeon and a 1 level lower (Noble Scion cohort) blaster/utility spell user Wizard. Used to have a Cleric, but the player quit the game because of conflict with work schedule. As you can see, beside my cohort, I'm the only character with access to many skills, which was the deciding factor in making this build when I joined the campaign during book 3.

Looking for:
Since I now don't really fail my skill checks, continuing to increase them might be a bit redundant and I'm trying to explore other options that improve my allies. Also, note that I do not use my Swift action and my Standard action is used to make a regular attack action so I could easily take a feat that involves using one or both of these actions, as long as I keep my Move action for feint. It could be things that impose penalties on the enemy (but not only against you) or give bonus to ally.
My "default" feat for this level if I don't find anything better, would be Extra Rogue Talent (Multitalented) to get extra uses of Assault Leader.

Not looking for:
Things that boost me only.

Feel free to give suggestions for later levels too as we should finish the campaign at level 17.

I guess it could also be argued that if you have let's say a transaction limit of 500$ on your debit card and that the store has a 750$ limit per transaction, increasing my debit card limit to 1000$ still doesn't let me spend more then 750$ per transaction at that store.
Or for Magic fans: If there is an ability that states I can't gain more than 5 life per turn and another one that says you gain 10 life, the can't takes priority over the can and you can't.

I agree with you that having multiple pool would be the most logical way of running it. Thanks, I will inform my player (in reality he is a Gestalt Oracle/Wizard, but I simplified for the question)

Also, for the racial hit dice, that was specifically for monster with the ability to use animate dead as a spell-like ablity, if I ever got the urge to slap some class level on one to create an encounter.

I agree that it does not let him control 6 HD of undead creatures per caster level for multiple castings.

For instance, if you animate a 7 HD creature and later animate a 14 HD one, you would lose the control of the 7 HD one. But you could have animated and controlled both at once.

Like I said, animate dead seems to specify that only undead from previous casting can become uncontrolled.

I can see that this kinda falls out of common sense and I would probably house-rule it to cap at what you can control, but I'm asking strictly from a RAW/PFS point of view.

Formula Alembic

There you go, and at 200 GP and not consuming the potion, this item is pretty neat.
Note, that I think that scribing it "in the normal fashion" refers to the ability to add formulae from other formulae book and as such, I think you would still need to spend gold for special inks.

EDIT: Indeed it would cost money "An alchemist can also add formulae to his book just like a wizard adds spells to his spellbook, using the same costs and time requirements." and "Materials and Costs: The cost for writing a new spell into a spellbook depends on the level of the spell, as noted on Table: Spell Level and Writing Costs. Note that a wizard does not have to pay these costs in time or gold for spells he gains for free at each new level." Cost is spell level squared *10 gp (5 gp for lvl 0, 10 gp for lvl 1, 40 for lvl 2.. up to 810 gp for lvl 9 spells.

At 5th level, a cruoromancer can control up to 5 Hit Dice worth of undead creatures per caster level instead of the normal 4 Hit Dice of undead when casting the animate dead spell. He also gains the following blood infusion ability.

Commanding Infusion: When using this infusion with animate dead, the cruoromancer can create a number of Hit Dice of undead equal to three times his caster level instead of twice his caster level.

This ability replaces the 5th-level wizard bonus feat.

Regardless of the type of undead you create with this spell, you can’t create more HD of undead than twice your caster level with a single casting of animate dead. The desecrate spell doubles this limit.

The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled. You choose which creatures are released. Undead you control through the Command Undead feat do not count toward this limit.

Now let say my wizard 5 Cruomancer cast animate Dead in a desecretated zone, that means he can create 3 times his caster level of undead(s) per Commanding Infusion and doubles that limit with desecrate for a total of 6 times his caster level in HD, which means 30 HD of undead(s) animated at once.

We can see that this archetype can create more HD of undead(s) then he can control with a single casting of animate dead.
Now, there is this line "If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled."
Am I safe to assume that as long as you don't cast animate dead again, you should be able to keep your 30 HD worth of undead(s)?

Regardless of the type of undead you create with this spell, you can’t create more HD of undead than twice your caster level with a single casting of animate dead. The desecrate spell doubles this limit.

The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled. You choose which creatures are released. Undead you control through the Command Undead feat do not count toward this limit.

So I was wondering how this interacts with multiclassing or possibly with racial HD and class level.

For instance how much HDs of undead could a wizard 5/cleric 5 could control?

Do you get a pool for each class at 20 HD each? (Can't control a 21 HD undead, but you can control 40x 1 HD skeletons)
Do you get a combined pool of 40 HD at your combined caster levels?
Do you get a single pool at your best caster level, 20 HD in this case?

At 1st level, a spirit whisperer forms a mystical bond with a spirit. The spirit whisperer picks a spirit from the shaman’s list of spirits. At 1st level, he gains a spirit ability granted by that spirit. At 8th level, he gains the greater spirit ability granted by that spirit. At 20th level, the spirit whisperer gains the manifestation ability granted by the spirit. He uses his wizard level as his shaman level for determining the effects and DCs of abilities granted by the spirit. In addition, he uses his Intelligence modifier in place of his Wisdom modifier for these abilities. He does not gain hexes, spirit magic spells, or the true spirit ability typically granted to a shaman by these spirits.

This ability replaces arcane school and the bonus feat gained at 20th level.

It was hidden with the level 20 feat replacement ;-)

Also, finding a way to add Speak with dead to your spell list could work. Easiest way would be to ask your DM.
Personally, if my player asks for a spell that make a flavorful match with their concept and it doesn't impact their power in a meaningful way, I would grant them. Worst case scenario, I would have them research it as if creating a new spell and simply assume they succeed on the research since the spell they are searching has already proven balanced.

But I'm sure there are other RAW ways to communicate with dead people.

The way I'm reading in and would play it is it gives no actual skill unlock and simply allows you to Bluff people into thinking you actually have occult powers. If the person is trained in Occult skills, their knowledge of that skill might allow them to pierce your lies. Otherwise, they automatically believe you are in touch with the occult. In any cases, the result is totally false. Your character makes it seems like spirit are whispering words for him to write on the page, but in reality he's simply writing random words and faking it to be true. Like a barbarian could do, but you learned how to do it in a believable (to the untrained eye) fashion.

There would also have no daily/weekly limit as it is not actual skill unlock and you could lie all day about being able to find water with a stick.

Think of it like a palm reader or something similar, in a world where divination is actually proven to exist, yet still is not widespread.
1. Your average Joe: He can try to fake knowing how to do those stuff, but since it's hardly widespread, there would probably be penalty on the Bluff check as to the veracity of the lie and of course the results are wrong.

2. False Medium doing it: Still no actual results from the skill unlock, but people think you know what you are doing. Since this doesn't give you results, you can either give white lies or other open ended cryptic gibberish, but your lies could be eventually pierced by people doing back checks. Note that you could use other skills to achieve said results and maintain a facade: There is nothing preventing faking dowsing for water and "discovering" that water source you found with Survival the previous day; or casting a silent still suggestion while faking hypnotism; or faking automatic writing by writing stuff you know about your customer that you learned by Gathering Info around town.

3 Actual Medium (or other Psychic): You can use your skill unlock with the limit imposed by them, you could invest in Bluff and appropriate means or multiclass in False Medium to be able to fake it the rest of the time and keep your real use for important or wealthy customers.

We played it by skipping the Latent/Carrier stage too, as this would come the closest to mimicking how contagion works without the alternate rule.

For this, I would say that since the feat specifically states that it stacks, and that specific rule beats general ruling, then it would stack no matter who did the attack. Also, rule of cool, if both player spend a feat and attack the same guy, and both crit, it would be lame to be denied their feat effect. Plus, if that enemy is being flanked by 2 rogue with bab +11, I really don't think the bleed damage is going to be his main concern. Depending on if they are Two-Weapon Fighting or not, that is from 6 to 12 attacks next turn, all with sneak.

For the healing part, neither the bleeding critical nor the Bleed general rule seems to mention that it does not stop all bleeding at once and that would be how I rule it in my games.

@ Lady-J
Not really, it has a Caster Level 3rd prerequisite. So at minimum, you would have to dip 3 level to take it and even then, you would still be a caster. Not really a good option.

Master Crafsman kinda workaround that, but only for a subset of items tied under a specific craft skill and I would only use it for mega fluff characters (not that I never play fluffy character, I'm playing a Phantom Thief in a game right now haha)

There is 2 things that I see primary:

1. When determining a magic item price using the item creation rules, you take the effect of the item into consideration, not the prerequisite spell. Yes, the item has cat's grace and remove fear as prerequisite, but it does not duplicate these effect on the wearer, it simply use them for fluff reason, because they are thing that approaches the most the intended effect. Like Vorpal would probably have decapitate as a prereq instead of keen edge if decapitate was a spell in the Core Rulebook

2. There are exception to the guideline in the table.

Note that in any ways, things that enhance class features are not on the table, so it would need a DM (or designer) decision anyways.

As RAW you can not take the lower DC of another action (Lore Warden's Know Thy Enemy) to gain the benefit of an action of a higher DC (Kirin Style).

Note that you also can't use a higher DC to gain the benefit of a lower DC, Know Thy Enemy and Kirin Style are 2 different abilities that need to be activated separately to gain their benefits.

The only thing I could see that might prevent this from working, is the no retry clause on Knowledge skills. It could be argued that since you already made a check against that creature, you are not allowed to roll a new one. I would rule that this only applies to the base use of Knowledge and not to extra use like the one the feat gives.

Kirin Path can be use for a normal knowledge and ANY other knowledge (including lore wardens' Know Thy Enemy)checks. This could be used to avoid the DC 15+CR, but do not gain the saves and dodge Bonuses from Kirin Style and by extension Kirin Strike.

Also, Kirin Path does allow you to take 10 on all Knowledge checks even Know thy Enemy, but the movement part of the feat is limited to while using Kirin Style. If you didn't know, taking 10 is to consider that your d20 landed on a 10. This won't allow you to avoid the DC 15+CR, but you know that you won't get screwed by the dice.

Kirin Strike can not be be used in the first turn. Due to swift action limits.

Indeed, you would need to wait till the 3rd round to use it (2nd round if you were able to activate the style during surprise round).

Found what I was thinking in Horror Adventure p. 44
"When a character takes levels in a class, he must decide whether to take the standard class features or those presented by an archetype. Each archetype replaces specific class features from the parent class, and the choice to take an archetype does not need to be made until a character reaches the first level that includes a class feature that is altered or replaced."

And true, as I think Lady-J is referring, you could use retraining rules to pay for your new archetype.

That's what you meant by focus! *light bulb*
Thought you meant spell focus gave +1 to damage haha.
Sorry, my bad then.

I'm also thinking no for the first question.

For the question about taking the archetype after some level, there is two things to consider:
1. Does the archetype replaced anything on previous levels? Like, would the character already have lost class feature because of the archetype.? If not, there is still time to take an archetype, can't find a quote on this now, but I'm pretty sure I read that in a book. For instance you take your 1st barbarian level with no archetype, when you get to level 2, you could take the Brutal Pugilist or the Invulnerable Rager archetype because they didn't replace any 1st level feature.

2. Was the book in which this archetype published a new thing? (to your playgroup or new released) Then it depends on how chill your DM is.
"Players with existing characters should talk with their GMs about whether or not these alternate class features are available in their games, and if so, whether players can retroactively modify their characters to adopt them."

Ah ok, I understand, but then why did you write "a acid splash with focus would do d3+3 (1 F, 1 O, 1 M)" wouldn't it be d3+2?

Also, Spell Focus increases the DC by 1, it does not increase damage done by spell.

Ironically since my player are Munchkins I expect one to have Permanent Arcane Sight or See Invisibility by then, for them invisibility is less invisible then stealth lol.

Since I'm unsure of the validity of adding a move in the middle of a full-round action, I'll go another route. I settled upon using Master Sniper to have him make 2 attacks while sniping, still better then only one.

And also, it's "boss" encounter as in final battle of arc, but for this one there are gonna be 4 different rogue build NPCs. This one was built to be undetectable while snipping. Took a feat and rogue's edge (stealth) to remove sniping penalty and a greater sniping bow (+15) and racial Tiefling trait (+5) for +20 on sniping. So instead of the regular -20 on sniping he will have +20 when sniping. I expect him to stay hidden for a while.

The INT build one (probably a poisoner) will have Greater Feint and will be the one to set up sneak for the whole team. I expect him to quickly be targeted as PC realizes just how much a pain he is.

Also, for the records, I'm the DM on this. I'm building a NPC "boss".

So I take it there is a rule that says you can't use an action in the middle of another action? Otherwise, scenario 3 from method 1 could be plausible :-/

Othewise, couldn't you at least make single attack full-round action as per interpretation 2? Like the gunslinger dead shot or something simillar? The feat mention a single attack, bit not the attack action nor a standard action attack.

Method 1:
Since sniping is a move action, it simply mentions that "...you can make one ranged attack..." because 99% off the time that will be true and they write so to alleviate the text. Which would mean that you could make a full-attack and snipe as your extra move action. Depending on other rule interactions and table variance this could mean:

• That you are never discovered but that only the first is sneaky
  Think the bandit shoots the arrows at the guard but hides before they hit, when the first arrow hit, the guard is then aware that other arrows are coming and will not stand there waiting for the other ones to hit his vitals.
  
• It might mean that you stay hidden and sneaky for all attacks.
  Same as above, but guard is not so quick on his feet and he doesn't have the time to react.
  
• It might mean that you remain hidden (and sneaky) only for the first 2 attacks.
  Bandit makes attack 1 from hiding and then spends a move action to hide before being found, if he is succesful he can make attack 2 from stealth and unless something else enters in play, he makes additional attacks without being hidden and he his now being observed by the guard.
  
• Or assuming move action can't be taken during a full-attack, you could "snipe" after all attacks, but it will only help you against your last target if its a new target or if DM allows you to remain hidden if your attacks miss and only the last one hits.
  Bandit shoots arrow one hit guard 1, arrow 2 hit guard 1, arrow 3 kills guard 1 and arrow 4 hit guard 2, he can hide.
  He shoots 3 arrow that miss and just his last arow hits the guard, but he since the missed arro didn't break stealth the guard never had time to notice were he was shooting from before the bandit made the stealth check.

Method 2
It only works when you make a single attack AND it cost a move action and it is not written like this to alleviate the text.

This would still mean that it could be used with extra move action to do a special attack that takes a full-round action, as long as that full-round makes only one ranged attack and does nothing else that would prevent the stealth from working beside the attack itsef.
Still neat, but less wow.

Which one do you guys think is the correct method of interpretation?
Also if Method 1 is/was true, which of the sub-scenario would be corret? if so, is there a clarification somewhere or is it simply common sense?

Thanks Rysky didn't know that, but it does make sense now that you mention it.

So my problem with this is that Sniper Shot require a full-round action, but it specifies that the bonus damage from Focused Shot (a prerequisite for it) is among the damage that it allows you to do at any range... but Focused Shot is a standard action and as such is not really compatible with it.
Was it an oversight and is it supposed to allow use of Focused Shot as part of a Sniper Shot or is that mentioned just in case you somehow get an extra standard action?

Thanks a lot, it's a relief to finnaly be able to tell my friends that there will be a game this week :-)

Is this because my order got delayed?
Because it's really sad that because the order I made on October 6th got lost in your system and only corrected on November 10th, that I won't be having my PDF as a Pathfinder Adventure Path subscriber who preordered the book.

Preorder Note: The Curse of the Crimson Throne Limited Edition Hardcover is not included in the Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription, but Pathfinder Adventure Path subscribers who preorder the book will receive a free PDF version when their subscription ships.

Hi you fixed my problem with the order not having shipped, but now that it has shipped, the Curse of the Crimson Throne PDF is not showing in my download. Was it not included or is it a side effect of the previous bug?

Hello I see you tried to charge me, but it didn't went through. I made a payment to my CC and tou should be good to give it another try :-)

So the maths would look something like this: adding 1d6 per 3 extra vials, having a DC equal to 15 + 1/2 the number of vials and for the splash, 5 ft. + 5 ft./2 vials.
These seem to be reasonanble and not make stacking alchemist's fire broken enough that it's a go to for mass damage. Coupled with the -4 for improvised weapon, I think we have a winner :-)
thanks for the feedback Cevah :-)

I've read a lot of threads about doing full-round attack with splash weapons or t
TWF with splash weapons but what about when you don't wanna throw them one after the other but rather in a bunch?
Like take a crate of Alchemist's Fire and throw it in your opponent's face or if they want to tie 10 flasks of Acid together with twig and whatnot. Or simply buy a huge glass container and fill it with dozens of Holy Water flasks?
Surely being drench in Holy Water does more damage then being splashed?
I've been asked that numerous times and by various playgroups (and somehow never been asked about doing a full-round attack with those)
Is there an actual rule for that? If not, how would you play it? I guess I could impose penalty on the attack roll and maybr on the range as well as not simply adding the damage straight. Maybe like every flask beyond the first adds only half damage and gives -1 to the attack roll?

Hello, I've made an order with you on october 6th (Order # 4062077) but that order shows as being complete even tough books from it never shipped.
If I look at the individual items from that order, it says they've been moved to order # 4102148 for some reason. But this order doesn't show on my order history and I actually have to follow the link on the previous order to get there.

When will it ship? Because my playgroup pitched money in to cover the price of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Limited Edition and they're all starting to be pretty inquisitive about when we'll finaly be able to start playing it, especially my DM. Could you at least make the PDF available for download so I can send it his way so he can start prepping?

I alreaydy tried to contact you by email a week ago, but looking through other people threads it seems your emails are quite busy, so I'll give this a try.

For the pool of blood in area D6, it says "The vertical pool of blood is opaque, but can be passed through as difficult terrain." and "making it pool vertically in the 15-foot-long hallway."
My interpretation was that it was vertical river (a bit like a floating curtain) that started under the wheelchair and flowed towards C15 as it got wider (or higher if you prefer).

Does you stay in your Dark-Half when you go unconscious?