It's already been established on the boards that "grapple" is a weapon (as described in Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and the Greater versions of those.) I've also been through the threads where it's been decided that boosting Unarmed Strike does nothing to help grappling because you aren't using them in the attempt.
quick side note about that last sentence:
However, the language on the Brawling enchantment may suggest otherwise.
Ultimate Equipment: wrote:
The wearer of brawling armor gains a +2 bonus on unarmed attack and damage rolls, including combat maneuver checks made to grapple...
The language that points out grapples as something that would get increased through a boost to unarmed strike kind of implies that, contrary to popular belief, it should add to it. That's not the point of this thread though.
My question revolves around the assumption that Weapon Master (Grapple) is a legal choice for Fighters:
1. In regards to class features and Advanced Weapon Training, when would one be considered "wielding" a grapple?
2. Is Mirror Move somehow completely useless, or would it be a good argument to boost CMD as the AC when you are attacked by a grapple?
Hey everyone, our table just started a new campaign and I've really wanted a character that was really difficult to put down. I already figured out the way I'd like to go about it, and already did play it for the first session. We have 3 sessions to make any changes to the builds / character ideas, and I'd like to see if there is any way for me to do this in a better fashion that might open up a feat slot.
Our table's house rules:
-20 point buy
-Hero Points system, can take antihero for a bonus feat
-Everyone selects and gains one of the -X/+Y feats (mine was power attack)
-Fighters get Combat Stamina for free
-2 traits, can take a drawback for a 3rd
-Our DM made an optional packet to fill out that gave us a selection of smaller boons. The biggest one, and one worth talking about, is a "minor" feat (basically a feat tax feat that he deems minor.)
-We have a homebrew version of Automatic Bonus Progression where we buy the big 6 like they are magic items, but they don't take up slots.
Okay so with that being said here is the build that I have so far. It's worth noting that we are starting at level 3, but I'm okay if the build doesn't ramp up for a while.
Point Buy
I wanted to just be able to survive forever, but I didn't want to become a tank that dealt 0 damage. So, for the first time, I had to hardcore dump stats. I think I like his personality from the dumps though, so that's good.
I also have a "belt of +2 Constitution" effect from our homebrew automatic bonus progression so that is going to take my Con up to 20.
Half-Orc
+2 Constitution
Intimidating -> Shaman's Apprentice - Free Endurance Feat
Orc Ferocity - I wish I could trade this for Sacred Tattoo, but I need it for feat prerequisites
Darkvision -> Skilled - I wanted more skill ranks
Weapon Familiarity -> Dusksight -> While also being able to see at night
Why Fighter VMC Barbarian
Fighters and Barbarians, in my opinion, both had lots of things going for them when it came to being very difficult to put down. I had such a hard time deciding which one I wanted to go for, so I decided to attempt getting the best of both worlds.
Thanks to the Advanced Weapon and Armor Training, Fighters can get a respectable DR/- (Armored Juggernaut + Improved Stalwart + Armor Mastery) and all good saves by level 13 (Fighter's Reflexes (+Gloves of Dueling) + Armed Bravery (+Sash of the War Champion). Also, the Fighter has access to the Orc FCB which gives that bonus 2 Hit Points in the negative. Finally, the bonus feats are helping this build turn online as early as possible.
With VMC Barbarian, gaining Rage early on let's me grab Ferocious Tenacity, in my opinion one of the strongest options for this style of build. So long as I hold my rage rounds until I'm under 0, I have no excuse for dying in a fight. Uncanny Dodge at level 7 means I will never lose the Stalwart bonus again. Rage Power at 11 will be Guarded Life, to turn 11 points of damage taken below 0 into nonlethal damage (which will then be reduced to 0 from the DR 13/- we will have at that point.)
Trying to get around Improved Unarmed Strike
I was trying to find a way around having to take Improved Unarmed Strike, as this build is rather feat starved as is. So I came across this weird little thing.
wayfinders inlay with deep red sphere ioun stones can grant Improved Unarmed Strike as long as they are set in the wayfinder. DM allowed me to get a Magical Tattoo of a wayfinder and a cracked deep red sphere ioun stone which gives me the effects permanently.
Feat Path and Trait Choices
Combat Trait - Cautious Warrior (to boost Fighting Defensively by +1)
Race Trait - Cruel Rager (with the low number of Rage Rounds I have, if I can gain cycling through items, this give me a 25% chance to keep a round of rage each turn.
Faith Trait - Fate's Favored (picked it with the intention of eventually getting a stone of good luck but I can easily switch this one out)
Drawback - Infamous (story relevant)
House Feat - Power Attack (to stay relevant in damage)
House Feat - Combat Stamina
Optional Packet Feat - Ironhide (Feat prereqs and it was deemed minor enough)
Shaman's Apprentice - Endurance
Antihero - Diehard
Magic Tattoo Feat - Improved Unarmed Strike
Level 1 - Tenacious Survivor
Fighter 1 - Ferocious Tenacity (retrained at 3rd level when I got rage)
Fighter 2 - Dodge
Fighter 4 - Crane Style
Level 5 - Stalwart
Fighter 6 - Deathless Initiate
Fighter 8 - Weapon Focus (Falchion)
Level 9 - Fast Healer
Fighter 10 - Deathless Master
Fighter 12 - Deathless Zealot
Level 13 - Improved Stalwart
Fighter 14 - Greater Weapon Focus (Falchion)
Fighter 15 - Weapon Specialization (Falchion)
Level 17 - Extra Rage Power (Greater Guarded Life)
Fighter 18 - Greater Weapon Specialization (Flachion)
Fighter 20 - undecided
Equipment Choices
Falchion - Eventually adding keen will give us a 25% to crit, gaining a round of rage back thanks to Cruel Rager. It will also be a nice bump to damage by becoming a pseudo-crit fisher. I will try to get speed, courageous, and/or furious when WBL allows for it.
Full Plate - Best armor in town, with Armor Training, I can get pretty good Dex to this eventually as well. Going to +5 for sure, might get the Fortification line to stack up with Zealot making me almost Critical Hit proof.
Cord of Stubborn Resolve - Best way to get Rage Cycling from items as far as I know.
What this gives us once everything is online
-Hit point pool will be d10s + high Constitution bonuses (eventually +12)
-Compatibility with Heavy Armor will help keep AC respectable
-Once our HP falls below 0, Guarded Life will kick in and reduce damage by level. Deathless Initiate will also kick in and give us +2 untyped bonuses to Attack and Damage.
-If our HP falls too low (Constitution Score + 2/level [thanks to Fighter FCB]) and Guarded Life can't save us, we can use Ferocious Tenacity to reduce the damage down further.
-If we ever are dropped to death, we stay alive for 5 - 12 rounds thanks to Tenacious Survivor and can be healed back up for the cost of one negative level.
-Damage will be able to stay at a competitive level thanks to Weapon Training + Rage, Saves will be solid because of Fighter's Finesse and Armed Bravery Advanced Weapon Training.
It looks like you already have a build planned out, why are you asking for help?
Honestly, I hate the flavor of Crane Style in this build. I dislike having to do all of that cheese, getting Improved Unarmed Strike, Dodge, and Crane Style.
I'm looking for help bypassing the need for those feats. The main issue I'm having is finding a way to reduce the fighting defensively penalty down to a reasonable amount.
Other comments are acceptable and requested as well, any way to shave some feats off what is required to get off the ground and running. Thanks for your time.
Let's talk about making a character that is the living fortress for his party. Soaking damage and keeping his party out of harms way.
Before anyone spins off on this tangent, I know that, historically, full defense builds don't generally work in Pathfinder because of the lack of Taunt-like CC. Still, I'd like to explore the options available to see if a wall is achievable.
Stacking AC / DR / Hp is obviously important, but only goes so far. We will also need to have resistance / immunities to elements. Strong saves are also vital.
I would like him to weild a Tower Shield to use as his main defensive tool. Other than that, it's pretty free game. Defense away.
Some stuff I also know about but haven't been able to piece a build together.
Stawart:
Stalwart / Improved Stalwart can net you DR 10/-. You could get Bolstered Resilience to double it to DR 20/- if you could find a way to deal with Fatigue (Oracle maybe)
Fighter all Good Saves:
Fighter Advanced Weapon Training + Sash of the War Champion can give you a +6 to Reflex and Will by level 20. Putting the Fighter at all Good Saves by 20.
Mobile Bulwark Style:
Mobile Bulwark Style can be pretty dope, the highest feat in the chain, if I understand the rules properly, grants you invincibility to one attack per round.
Phlanax Fighter:
Phlanax Fighters can provide their cover to allies (like Mobile Bulwark Style) but can also gain Evasion against some AoE spells
Bodyguard Feat, Shield Wall...I'm at work so these are kinda spitfire. I always think of these posts when I'm at work.
Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance ^__^
In an upcoming campaign, I thought it would be fun to play as a quirky / borderline insane engineer obsessed with the mystical wonders of clockwork.
That being said, I am having a hard time fleshing out the mechanical side of things. I want him to have a large array of clockwork creations with different abilities to rely on in combat (read:minionmancers), and possibly ride a mech around (not like a gundam...think more like the Mechanic Class from Maplestory, or Rumble from League of Legends).
His personal combat skills would be lacking, but he would utilize his wacky clockwork creations (read:wondrous items) if he had to personally fight.
I also know this will be a gold intensive thing since crafting, especially constructs, isn't cheap. I do, however, want them to be clockwork constructs mechanically (no Sythesist Summoner flavored as Constructs)
A build isn't necessary, rather just options that might guide me in the right direction. If you do wanna take a whack at a build, I'm pretty much locked into Gnome for the race and I am leaning towards a Wizard for class (flavor spells as clockwork devices). We are starting at level 4 and use 23 point buy, hero point system with optional antihero system, automatic bonus progression, and 2 traits but you can get a 3rd if you also take a drawback.
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Was checking out the Chakra system and it describes opening Chakras as a Swift Action. The only requirement is that you have to be double the level of chakra.
The maintain portion states that during the rounds that you have chakras open, you have to make the Will and Fort saves. Failure resulting in damage or losing your Chakras.
So what happens on the turn you activate the Crown Chakra? Do you have to make the DC 38 saves beforehand, losing all progess if you fail? Or do you open the Chakra - thus benefiting from the double d20s, and then make the maintain roll?
Also, when do you have to use the swift action? I see it as...
1. Turn Starts, Immediately decide to Maintain/Drop/Open, make the Save, benefit from Chakra
2. Turn starts, make save for having open chakra, open/maintain/drop, gain benefits
3. Turn starts, open/maintain/drop - at some point during turn make saves
That was poorly worded in hindsight but I think you get what I'm asking. Thanks :D
I am aware that you have to take the shape of a bestiary statted out animal, but my question is why.
The normal statted out Wolf gives you the abilites a large one would have (bite 1d6 medium plus trip, scent, and low-light vision, 50 feet of movement) and you can also pick the large one, Dire Wolf, and get stuff as well. Why not just scale natural attacks one more (2d6 from 1d8) and give the abilities of a wolf?
Note this applies to more animals, just using wolf as an example.
Is there a specific reason we can't just get the size animal we want (using Beast Shape) and getting the size modifierds, then checking the base statted out creature for the allowed abilities/base natural attacks to scale with size? Is there like a really broken combo somewhere I'm overlooking? It just seems silly that, keeping this example, a Wolf themed Druid has to either stop at Large or switch themes once they unlock Beast Shape 3.
Idk if Advice was the best place to post this (I dont post that often '_>') thanks though!
-Edit-
Conversely, why can't someome do that in reverse? Like playing a small T-Rex.. I know the Eagle Shaman or whatever its called got the specific errata to be able to play a Young Roc.
Do you think it would destroy game balance in any sense to just allow them to choose a size and animal in a homebrew game? If so, why?
I don't think this was talked about yet on here (a search of Ship + Travel, and Ship + Speed didn't bring anything)
Travel times for ships seem to be really inconsistent.
Overland travel for a walking human is 3 miles per hour across 8 hours for a total of 24 miles per day. If you take their speed of 30 feet per round and convert it to miles per hour (x10 for 1 min, x60 for 1 hour, ÷5280 for 1 mile) you get roughly 3.4 miles/hour or really close to the estimated overland travel speed.
However, lets take the sailing ship for example. The overland chart suggests it can move 2 miles per hour for 24 hours to total out to 48 miles per day (slower than humans walking btw) but when you take their 90 feet per round and convert it you get about 10 miles per hour or 240 miles per day.
Then if you include the fact that if a ship has favorable winds its max speed is doubled, thats a whopping 480 miles per day! (10 times the listed overland speed)
That is a pretty significant difference. Is there anywhere that clears up this inconsistency? Or should our overland travel just be handled with a ton of rounds for further distance per day?
So I'm getting ready to start a longer campaign (running from 1st level to roughly 10th across a few different campaign arcs) and I wanted to plant some lore of legendary monsters in hopes that way down the road the PCs could encounter.
How can I 1.) Make the PCs aware of these creatures well in advance without red flagging them as "end game bosses" 2.) Expand on said creatures stories throughout the campaign without having it be a looming threat.
Example: In Pirates of the Caribbean, the Kraken would have been some legendary beast that, at some point, the main PCs (in this case the crew of the Black Pearl) would have learned about in their early travels. That is why they are so scared when they finally do encounter it.
Anywho, lets say that a Wyrm Imperial Sky Dragon with DR 20/magic took a class level, and for his feat he chose Bolstered Resilience. Would that feat just literally do nothing as it would double his DR 20/magic to a max of DR 20?
