@Dreklord I don't think Prestigious Spellcaster is legal for PFS? While it's within the group, we decided to stick with PFS strictly.
@Pad300 thats exactly what I'm feeling. But I also love the idea of simply destroying every social encounter with confidence. If I dropped the rogue, I could stick with being charisma focused too.
I find myself leaning towards Blood Arcanist, with the Fey bloodline. Combined with Kitsune and using the Arcane Reservoir and a 18-19 intellect will net a DC 19 for Daze, and DC 20 for sleep at level 1.
I'm going to try and take advantage of poisons (partly because the prestige class has several interesting abilities associated with it). To do so, I'm thinking of picking up Bloodline Familiar, which replaces the 1st level bloodline power. That gets me a familiar, and with improved familiar (potentially need to grab Boon companion), I can upgrade from a centipede (Daze poison) to a Pseudo Dragon (Sleep poison, higher con for more doses, and a racial +2). I won't need handle animal ranks to milk them (I double checked the legality of that already, it's 1/day per con modifier). Since I'm adventuring with general the same characters, I can nab a Poisoning Sheath to hand off to some of the other characters.
I'll get 7 skills per level as the arcanist (using the favored class bonuses), up to 10 when entering the prestige class. I really want to max Disguise/Bluff/Diplomacy/Sense Motive, but I also should support the others with Perception/Spellcraft/Knowledges. I'll want to get a money maker (craft?) and a few points in perform for qualifications. Should I be thinking about grabbing intimidate too?
Still really debating the rogue level. I kinda wish I could see how the homebrew things will go before I have to make the decision, but those won't show up till level 3. Could retrain I suppose.
My friends and I have been doing some PFS within our own group for pathfinder 1e (intermixed with some homebrew adventures, so far emphasizing social encounters). The group lacks a full progression spell caster, and a party face, and I have the opportunity to play here soon (we got another GM trained up now). While we don't *have* to have a full progression spell caster, It's been a long while, so I'm wanting to go that route (specifically). I've wanted to play a Kitsune for awhile now too.
I got a laundry list of things I want:
A lot of skills (especially the social skills)
Full fledge spell caster
Wanting to take advantage of Kitune's enchantment specialization
So far, I'm taking a dip into Kitsune Trickerster (I think I can go unchained rogue as well with that, correct me if I'm wrong). That ADDs my intellect to my charisma/wisdom for social stats, which I think is amazing. I'm also picking up the
realistic likeness feat at level 1.
After that, A crossblooded Fey/Sage sorceror would work (getting INT for spells, and a +2 to compulsion spells), but I also kinda wanna aim for the Enchanting Courtesan Archetype (+6 skills per level, plus some other interesting things). That'd put me 2 levels behind in spellcasting, with a sorceror's progression (so 3 levels behind what a wizard would have).
Going wizard instead of sorceror would be awesome, but the +2 to compulsion spell DC is really, really hard to give up. Anyone have any suggestions there?
Also, beyond the feat at level 1, and potentially skill focus: enchantment to qualify for the prestiege, I don't really know what to go for. Any advice on those + traits?
Thanks for the replies! Shield slam not having a separate attack roll for the bull rush attempt clears it up.
I guess the wording of impact had me a bit confused because I had recently read the wording on the Dueling weapon enchantment (the one from PFS field guide), which does explicitly state that you would double count the enhancement bonus from the weapon (in a +1 dueling whip would give a +2 bonus to trip attempts).
If I had a shield which has been enchanted as a +1 Impact Weapon (in addition to whatever armor side enchants it has), and I do a bull rush via the shield slam feat, what is my bonus to the maneuver from the shield?
The Combat Maneuver FAQ (https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lcom&page=3?Combat-Maneuvers -and-Weapon-Special-Features) implies that I'd get a +1 from using the weapon (shield bash) if it was just a +1 weapon without Impact. The wording of impact makes it clear that I'd at least get a +1 bonus:
Impact Weapon wrote:
In addition, any bull rush combat maneuver the wielder attempts while wielding the weapon gains a bonus equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus; this includes all bull rush attempts, not only those in which a weapon is used, such as Bull Rush Strike, Shield Slam, or Unseat.[\quote]
I'm a bit of a gimmicks player. I love taking obscure rules and trying to optimize it a bit. So in this case, I was wanting to take the multiple touch attack spells and apply sneak attack to them multiple times in a single round. Of course, there are other touch attack sources (a few rods), but I was wanting to work with these spells specifically.
Derklord wrote:
To be fair, the rules always implied it to be that way - the rules on holding a charge say "You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a natural weapon) while holding a charge." It makes no sense that touching an enemy would be a free action when touching a friend takes a standard action, and the word 'normal' in "normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a natural weapon)" is clearly about it not being a touch attack. RAW, the FAQ actually only enabled something previously impossible, namely making touch attacks to enemies in subsequent rounds.
Thats certainly one argument, I interpreted the rules differently. Why is getting a full attack with punches, aiming for unprotected areas, easier than touching them without aiming for unprotected areas? I wasn't hoping for "free actions", I was hoping for the same treatment as attacks/full attacks (hence the attack roll), though I guess other "attacks" also can only be done as standards (grapples, overruns, repositions, etc...).
I'm sure theres a thread somewhere going through the arguments, this thread wasn't meant to get into the rules.
"Touch Spells: In the Magic and Combat chapters, it says that I can touch a single ally as a standard action or up to six allies as a full-round action and that I can combine delivering a touch spell with a natural attack or unarmed strike. But what if I just want to deliver the touch spell to an enemy? It just says I can do it “round after round.”
Making a touch attack against an enemy by touching it, beyond the free action to do so as part of casting the spell, is a standard action. It can’t be used with a full attack."
I stopped being active here before then. It kinda leaves open multiple charges a round via natural attacks, or spell striking Magi.
I'm trying to get a rogue build that uses frostbite as it's main go to for damage. Naturally, Major Magic comes to mind, but it's either 2 castings a day (not enough) or 1 for every 2 levels (also not enough). I'm really hoping to get 4+ castings a day at level 3.
Dipping and then using pearls of power would be alright, but I really want the caster level to scale. I really want to stick with rogue or a high sneak attack dice class (slayer could be acceptable).
Any thoughts on how to accomplish this?
Bonus points if it is an SLA, the DM is letting people take monster feats if applicable, and reach SLA looks really tempting.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B09K3JmqNZeVY0h5MGFyVFRwU3M?usp=sha ring
It may be easier to download them to view them. If you have gimp, you can view them in proper order. The PDFs are just what I could fit to reduce printing costs, and so the levels may be out of order. This mostly follows the 3e stronghold builders guide.
I don't like the idea of water running into the weapon port, as that could affect aim, so the reverse effect decanters are out (I also have no real space to put them. Torpedo ports are also out, I've already planned for, and drawn the ballistae. Creating bulbs along the bottom would make the ship's speed suffer too :(.
As for personnel, the ship is run as much as possible by constructs. People are used to aim the weapons, but loading/arming is handled by other non-creature means.
Yes, the cost is in millions of gold. This is not for a player, this is for a demi-god level character (who was, at one time, a player... but thats a long story).
However... This all assumes that the character in question is buying everything. A cannon is 6000 gold, but what if he made the cannon itself? That's 2000 gold in raw materials. What if he had a supply of such materials from a cheap labor force? Or an extremely powerful friend who is also on the levels of demi-god?
Once you have the raw materials, the only cost is really time. I'm using rules from the dungeon builders guide from 3.5, so we can treat the ship as a stronghold. Now add in the lyre of building, a high performance skill, some constructs, and a way to be immortal or sleep through construction.
= One massive ship.
There are tons of other factors going into this, but the cost is only *kinda* relevant (just a useful number to tell my friends).
I'll post a link to the google drive at some time for all to see. I wanna finish making the 3d model though (I just got the floorplans printed, 2 years in the making and I'm almost done!)
I've done the numbers on crew and everything else, placed places for eating, sleeping, bathrooms, armories, storages places, etc... I've calculated displacement and waterline, placed siege equipment appropiately etc. I've gotnit, don't worry.
It's a ship to house a demigod anyways, and it's made of steel reinforced ice, with the equivalent of liquid nitrogen running in pipes that gives the ship regeneration.
I have 531 UW ballistea, 1168 cannons, and about 300 other special things. The ship is 44 inches by 12 inches, with each 5ft square equal to .234 inches.
While the largest deck, there are about 14 floors.
About the size of an aircraft carrier. I had to put the project down for about 6 months and mixed up my numbers between total siege and just ballistea.
EDIT: there is a blueprint with each thing placed. Room isn't an issue. Just needed an anti water effect. Thanks for the maths though!
Air bubble is probably what I need. The ship has over 2k UW ballistea in it, so brilliant weapons would be super expensive. There's living quarters nearby too, so flooding the lower decks isn't smart as it removes a layer of protection. Additionally, by flooding, creatures and swarms in the water could go through the gun ports and get at the gun crew, who would be disadvantaged in the water.
Due to the size and maneuverability of the ship, torpedoes are not a good option: no guidance systems exist yet, and aiming would be hard. Though, the ship does have 10 submersibles with 2 torpedoes each :). Good thoughts though!
I've created a massive, 360ft / 120ft / 120ft warship. The actual model is 3 ft long. In it, I placed underwater ballistic on the decks that would be under the water line of the vessels. The question is: if they open the gun port door, what spell would be triggered to prevent water from rushing in that would also allow bolts to fire out?
Greater grapple would provide a benefit, allowing you to persist the grapple further on.
Releasing a grapple is a free action, why can't I do it last instead of first? As for your example, making a save is not an action, you never get to decide -when- you save. There's a clear distinction there that I hope you understand. If anything, so long as it's within the parameters set for the ability, the person who forces the save on you gets to decide when you need to make the save.
In bullet point form:
1. The save happens on your turn because of your spell, you decide when it happens.
2. The save happens not on the defending person's turn when they'd normally have agency.
3. Saves are not actions, you don't really get to decide when you're going to save!
I'm 100% with Ravingdork. Also, who is really going to be using such reach?
** spoiler omitted **
There are ways to get martials doing this. Alchemists handing out infusions, for example. And most of those are magic items. Also, Enlarge Person.
My point was mostly that martials are the ones using these setups (through friends). Why would a wizard want this other than using better touch spells?
Throwing out stackable reaches hurts martials (at least those that use martial techniques in combat), not casters.
Grapple says "If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold."
If you do something else as your first action, then you've got Schrodinger's Grapple. You haven't released the grapple, nor have you maintained it. It is for this reason that I believe you must do one or the other before doing anything else.
If it is indeed the case that you must release or maintain a grapple before doing anything else, then your question(s) become moot.
I think this would be correct if the grapple condition "naturally" ends at the start of your turn (which is probably the case).
However, if the grapple naturally ends at the end of your turn, and requires a free action to let go (so you can full attack with two hands), then I don't think Schrodinger's Grapple applies: They are simply grappled until end of turn, or a free action to end the grapple, or the end of your next turn if you maintain. That's a big IF though, but it avoids the possibility of ambiguity.
Grapple wrote:
Although both creatures have the grappled condition, you can, as the creature that initiated the grapple, release the grapple as a free action, removing the condition from both you and the target. If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold.
I was wrong a bit in my last post: The grapple simply cannot end naturally.
Perhaps the Schrodinger's Grapple can be avoided by declaring that are going to maintain, but that you are going to draw a weapon first?
Grapple says "If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold."
If you do something else as your first action, then you've got Schrodinger's Grapple. You haven't released the grapple, nor have you maintained it. It is for this reason that I believe you must do one or the other before doing anything else.
If it is indeed the case that you must release or maintain a grapple before doing anything else, then your question(s) become moot.
I think this would be correct if the grapple condition "naturally" ends at the start of your turn (which is probably the case).
However, if the grapple naturally ends at the end of your turn, and requires a free action to let go (so you can full attack with two hands), then I don't think Schrodinger's Grapple applies: They are simply grappled until end of turn, or a free action to end the grapple, or the end of your next turn if you maintain. That's a big IF though, but it avoids the possibility of ambiguity.
Attacking is an option in grappling and requires a CMD check, once you do this you are still grappling them (provided you win). You cannot full attack without releasing the grapple.
I can see the full attack reasoning, but I don't think that attacking must be done through CMB checks. For instance, Move action maintain (CMB), -then- standard action vital strike (against AC) should be legal. I mean, the defender can do it, why not the controller of the grapple (so long as he maintains the grapple)?
Additionally, at what point is my foe no longer considered grappled if I choose not to maintain the grapple?
If I have greater grapple, and I take my first action as a standard action to attack, is my opponent still considered grappled then? What I full attacked instead (using other limbs)?
I'm assuming that they are grappled until the end of my turn, or I spend a free action to let go.
The -20 to CMB in an effort to not gain the grappled condition has very little to do with being able to grab multiple opponents. You simply do not gain the grappled condition, meaning you don't lose some of your dexterity bonus, and you can still make attacks of opportunity, among other things.
Ah I gotcha thank you sir. The second you've gained the grappled condition you can't take any more attacks that round also even if you have two or three remaining correct?
Correct
This is incorrect. You may continue making your attacks that round, and may even initiate multiple grapples if your grab ability with your tentacles lands their attacks.
Grapple does not prevent you from grappling other targets. You can start attacking other targets as well (The exception to this rule is the lockjaw spell, which has special rules for its grab ability).
The next round you have to spend a standard or a move action (with greater grapple) to maintain the grapple.
Thought I'd point this out, but the Battle Oracle's Manuever Mastery seems to stack in interesting ways with Rage Prophet...
1 level oracle, 10 levels Rage Prophet would have +7 BaB from rage prophet levels, and +11 from "oracle" levels for a single combat maneuver. Add in 5 levels of barbarian, and a 16th level character effectively treats his BaB as 23 for one combat maneuver (16 is late, but the benefits do start coming in early)
I've been wondering about how to take advantage of this with a Grapple barbarian with a dash of poison. A human or half-elf can get skill focus for free, and Eldritch Heritage: Serpentine lets your bite attack do Con damage. Animal Fury is a free bite attack with grapple maintains, and greater hive totem (reachable by level 8) gets you more poison later on (both poisons delivered by bite attacks).
It's a better bonus, but only lasts a round :P. The point was, just with stuff off the top of my head I'm already close to exceeding my goals, it shouldn't be hard to get what I need.
This isn't too hard to overcome. A 1 level dip into barbarian would get +10 speed. Expeditious Retreat is a level 1 spell that is easily wandable. A swift action gives +20 from the ki pool (untyped). Thats 90 speed right there, which doubles to 180 feet. Falling damage maxes out at 200 feet.
Suppose, in a last ditch effort, I throw myself from a 200ft cliff down onto an enemy that was threatening to destroy the McGuffin that would save the world. Assume that I made whatever roll was required to hit the target
How much damage would I deal?
1. 20d6, the same amount of damage I would take?
2. Do I count as a falling object, and deal 3d6 (doubled to 6d6 for falling more than 150 feet)? If so, wouldn't I then only take up to 6d6 damage
Falling Objects wrote:
Note that a falling object takes the same amount of damage as it deals.
3. Is this an invalid act of honor, the attack automatically fails, and I plummet to my death as the planet becomes doomed to darkness?
Finally: What would happen if I were wearing Boots of the Cat, which makes it as if the GM automatically rolled 1's on the damage for the damage that I take?
The devs were probably leaning towards the spell not counting as a weapon (as there is a distinctive difference between spells, and weapon-like spells, and weapons). You could rely on that for PFS and other events, as it is the more conservative voice.
I would have figured that since they are not affecting the same part of the equation, that they don't follow the same multiply rule as other calculations.
For instance, for a character two handing a weapon and criting, the equation is:
damage dealt = (weapon damage + str * 1.5) * 2.
The total strength damage contribution becomes 3x, not 2.5x
Taking a serious look at the math for option C, the best bet would be saying that multiplying by 1/2 twice should come out to 1/3x (similar to multiplying by 2 twice should come out to 3x), if anyone has an opinion on that I'd love to hear it.
High Jumper (Ex): When a ninja with this trick makes a high jump, the DC for that jump is half the normal DC. The ninja must have the acrobatic master trick before taking this talent.
Ninja, Ki Pool wrote:
At 10th level, she also reduces the DC of Acrobatics skill checks made to jump by 1/2 (although she still cannot move farther than her speed allows).
Do these stack to make high jumps for level 10 ninjas only dc1 per foot (dc10 to jump 10 feet)?
Three ways I can see this going:
A. Not at all, for a total of 1/2 dc (dc20 for 10 feet).
B. Fully, for a total of 1/4 dc (dc10 for 10 feet).
C. Follows the multiply rule (see quote below) in some weird way, with differences in calculation probably dependent on GM's.
Multiplying wrote:
Multiplying: When you are asked to apply more than one multiplier to a roll, the multipliers are not multiplied by one another. Instead, you combine them into a single multiplier, with each extra multiple adding 1 less than its value to the first multiple. For example, if you are asked to apply a ×2 multiplier twice, the result would be ×3, not ×4.
I've been working out a character like this, but took the ranger/slayer route. IIRC (I'm on campus and the file is on my home computer), the build is something like:
2 slayer (Get shield slam asap)
2 siege breaker (STR to bull rush dmg)
4 slayer (Get shield master early, as well as a bonus combat feat via rogue talent)
1 Barbarian (Rage class feature for raging throw)
3 Fighter (Weapon mastery = gloves of dueling)
The idea is TWF with shields and bullrushing. The only thing I've been trying to resolve is how to move with enemies that I bull rush, I don't want to knock them away from me. While it is homebrew, my DM is fine with a dwarf picking up the Stone Shield spell (with an appropriate class dip) and casting it as I bull rush someone so that I bull rush them into a wall of stone (He likes the rule of cool). But he's going to be for PFS :(.
Kensai Finesse Magus with a defending Wakazashi. Stupid high Dex and Int for all of the dodging, stupid high initiative so you don't get caught flat-footed. Take suspicious as a trait (if you get traits) for sense motive class skill so you don't get feinted. Take Long Arm as a spell and lunge as a feat to smack enemies from 15' away so they can't 5' and full round you. With Shocking Grasp you'll still be hitting like a truck, and unless your GM is metagaming hard, enemies will see you as a soft target to attack (initially).
Throw in combat reflexes, bodyguard, arcane strike, gloves of arcane striking, and benevolent armor and your DM will cry.
If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
With a weapon that deals nonlethal damage (like a sap, whip, or an unarmed strike), a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.
The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.
I'm planning a character focused around bull rushing, and I want to solidify some of the rules before I play it. From what I understand, combat maneuvers are considered attacks (hence true strike works with them). Assume each of following is against a target who is flat footed. Which of the following are true?
A. If I bull rush a target and have an ability that deals damage whenever I bull rush someone (IE Siegebreaker fighter's level 1 ability), do I get extra damage from sneak attack?
B. If I bull rush someone, and have to qualify for the damage (such as from Raging Throw or Merciless Rush), and it successfully deals damage, do I get sneak attack from that?
C. If I shield slam someone, they take damage from the shield (which gets sneak attack). If I also successfully deal damage with the bull rush (such as from Siegebreaker fighter), does that get sneak attack damage as well, even though there was only 1 attack roll made?
In essence, is the rule of thumb as follows: "You get 1 sneak attack roll for every attack roll that deals damage", not including the exemption FAQ regarding spells such as scorching ray?
UnArcaneElection, you almost sound as if you wrote a guide on the magus class :P (I did the section on Kensai magus, although I haven't updated it in forever).
My hesitancy with Skirnir would be how late everything comes online. Shield Slam requires BaB 6, which delays it to level 8 if using retraining, 10 if not.
I do like skirnir, but it always striked me as a late game magus archetype (> lvl 8). I'm currently planning a PFS character.
A better option (IMO) would be a 3 level dip into some other magus archetype, and then switch into something else (perhaps slayer for early access to shield slam). Pick up the wand wielder arcana, and then true strike + shield slam all day long.
Well, He's a dwarf in full plate (probably), covered in spikes, with two shields, covered with spikes... Should his nickname be Spikes? ("Yo Spikes, get over here!").
I guess he would look somewhat like a hellbat from Star Craft 2
While raging, when you attempt a bull rush combat maneuver, you can spend 1 additional round of your rage as a swift action to add your Constitution bonus on your combat maneuver check to the bull rush. Further, if you bull rush an opponent into a square another creature occupies or into a solid object, the opponent and the creature or object take bludgeoning damage equal to your Strength modifier + your Constitution modifier.
Merciless Rush:
When you bull rush a creature and your check exceeds the target's CMD by 5 or more, you deal damage equal to your Strength modifier to that target.
FAQ:
Do ability modifiers from the same ability stack? For instance, can you add the same ability bonus on the same roll twice using two different effects that each add that same ability modifier?
No. An ability bonus, such as "Strength bonus", is considered to be the same source for the purpose of bonuses from the same source not stacking. However, you can still add, for instance “a deflection bonus equal to your Charisma modifier” and your Charisma modifier. For this purpose, however, the paladin's untyped "bonus equal to her Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws" from divine grace is considered to be the same as "Charisma bonus (if any)", and the same would be true for any other untyped "bonus equal to her [ability score] bonus" constructions.
Raging Throw and Merciless Rush both include strength damage as an "untyped" bonus to damage. However, neither of these abilities use a damage roll (no rolling is done). Also, they occur in two distinct situations. Do I deal 2x strength damage when I exceed a target's CMD by 5 or more -and- knock them into a wall?
