Graeme's page

I've just realised that with the SLA FAQ allowing SLAs to help qualify for prestige classes, it's possible to get into Arcane Trickster with a single level of a magic-using class. For example:

Half-elf (Drow Magic) - Rogue 3 and Wizard, Sorcerer or Magus 1

That meets the sneak attack requirement (+2d6), the Mage Hand requirement, and the 2nd level arcane requirement (darkness as a SLA) - all in the minimum number of levels to meet the skill requirements (disable devices 4 and escape artist 4)

Assuming a 15 point build, I was thinking:

STR 10 DEX 18 (15+2 racial) CON 12 INT 15 WIS 10 CHA 7

Traits: Reactionary (or any other trait giving +2 initiative), Magical Knack

Feats (to level 5)
1R) Toughness
2R) Weapon Finesse (via rogue talent)
3R) Dervish Dance
4<spellcaster>) +1 INT for stat bonus
5AT) Improved Initiative

What do you suggest as the most appropriate spellcaster to go with this idea? I was thinking Magus for the ability to cast while in armor, plus taking a second level later gives the option to combine sneak attack with spellstrike, but I'd be losing out on the arcana until I took a third level of Magus.

Would Wizard be a better option? The idea is that the magic is mainly supporting the ability to get into position to sneak attack. For example, Vanish followed by a sneak attack with Shocking Grasp.

As the Spellcraft skill description says nothing for or against taking 10, I had assumed that a character could take 10 on spellcraft rolls out of combat, such as for identifying the properties of a magic item or deciphering a scroll.

But then I read the description for the Magic Lore class ability for the Archivist archetype of Bards

Magic Lore (Ex): At 2nd level, an archivist gains a bonus on Spellcraft checks to identify magic items or decipher scrolls equal to half his bard level and may take 10 on such checks. An archivist can use Disable Device to disarm magical traps as per a rogue's trapfinding ability and gains a +4 bonus on saves against magical traps, language-dependent effects, and symbols, glyphs, and magical writings of any kind. This ability replaces well-versed.

If it's a class ability for an Archivist to take 10 on Spellcraft rolls for identifying magic items and deciphering scrolls, does that mean that normally a character cannot take 10 on those rolls?

Consider the following scenario. A 3rd level character with a 10 CON was knocked down to -3 hit points. The hit that did that also poisoned the character and he lost 3 CON due to ability damage.

The core rulebook says the following on constitution damage:

Constitution: Damage to your Constitution score causes you to take penalties on your Fortitude saving throws. In addition, multiply your total Hit Dice by this penalty and subtract that amount from your current and total hit points. Lost hit points are restored when the damage to your Constitution is healed.

Since his CON has dropped from 10 to 7, that's a bonus change from 0 to -2. Therefore he lost an additional 6 hit points, taking him to -9.

A character dies when they reach negative CON hit points, but which CON will be that be - the permanent CON (10) or the temporary CON after ability damage (7)? In one case he's still alive and in the other he's dead.

Which is it?

I know this won't be optimal, but I wondered if the following scenario was a reasonable approach.

I currently have a 3rd level ranger with a 14 WIS. I've been looking at various animal companions because it seems to be almost universally accepted that the Companion Bond wasn't worth taking.

Then I looked at Horizon Walker. At 3rd level, a Horizon Walker gets Terrain Dominance, which states, in part:

When dealing with creatures native to that terrain, the horizon walker treats his favored terrain bonus for that terrain as a favored enemy bonus (as the ranger class feature) against those creatures.

To get to 3rd level Horizon Walker after Ranger, the character will have at least three favorite terrains (at least one from Ranger and two from Horizon Walker), which means potentially a +6 in one terrain, or +4 in two terrains (though he'll only have terrain dominance in one terrain at 3rd level Horizon Walker)

Is that getting to the point where having a Companion Bond becomes useful? That would mean a +3 or +2 for all party members within 30 feet against one creature native to that terrain at the cost of a move action. The downside is that to get to that point, the character will need to be at least 8th/9th level (depending on whether the character can become a Horizon Walker at 6th level when they get the 6th rank of Knowledge(geography), or if they have wait until 7th level).

I've seen several threads on the messageboards with builds for animal companions. One common build for Rangers is that for a small cat, and those build often give the small cat Weapon Finesse and Agile Maneuvers at levels 1 and 2.

I've just been looking at the revised FAQs and saw the following:

Weapon Finesse: If I have this feat, can I apply my Dex bonus to my combat maneuver checks instead of my Strength bonus?

This strongly implies that a small cat does not need both feats to be effective - it only needs Weapon Finesse. That is, the trip attempt it gets from its Weapon Finessed bite would use DEX, not STR for the CMB.

Is this correct? If so, that frees up the small cat to take a different feat (like Power Attack or Toughness) at level 2, and reignites the Small Cat vs Wolf wars for Ranger builds....