Grenage's page

you'll need the concentration number in case the caster is in combat.

see Concentration Check Table

Excellent, thank you. :)

Wonderful, thank you for answering that so quickly. :)

Hi guys,

Hopefully I'm not being too dim; assuming this NPC template and offensive spell:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npc-0/shaman-half-orc-adept-2/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/burning-hands/

The NPC text says "Adept Spells Prepared (CL 2nd; concentration +4)"

Does this mean that the NPC is a second level cleric, and that their number of available spells will be 2?

The spell text says "Any creature in the area of the flames takes 1d4 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 5d4)"

Does this mean that the NPC will be dealing 2d4 damage?

That's great, thank you for explaining it so clearly!

Quick question that I'm struggling to answer; let's take a lizardman for example:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/lizardfolk/

In a full-round action, would the second natural attack be handicapped, or do I just use the attacks as listed in the stats?

Hi relativemass,

I guess I could sneakily add in the hp mid-fight, if it looks like it's going to be over too quickly. I'm keen to avoid fudging the dice to save people from an unfortunate end, but ensuring the fight isn't too simple doesn't seem so bad.

Out of curiosity, what sort of sources do you look at for alternative builds?

There is, but I guess with Drow poison - if you fail once, stacks are almost irrelevant, as you're out for the count.

Ah, everything is starting to look a lot less over-powered; the devil is in the details. So a monster can't turn up with 10 poisoned arrows at level 1.

Grenage wrote:

I guess so; my main concern would be four Drow attacking, as the poison stacking would make it somewhat more of a problem.

Are you running poison right? Poison only 'stacks' if you fail the saving throw. Which in this case means that you're out of the combat anyway, so you're unlikely to get attacked a second time unless it's to finish you off.

Ah yes, of course. Not sure how I missed that.

That I didn't realise; certainly makes a big difference if it's a melee weapon.
I assume NPC monsters could have a vast quantity of poisoned projectiles prepared.

Great, thanks guys!

I guess so; my main concern would be four Drow attacking, as the poison stacking would make it somewhat more of a problem.

I guess there's only one way to find out!

Blimey, so they really do only get a second chance at saving after 10 round? That's a pretty hardcore poison!

Creating a scenario, I thought I'd use four Drow as a template for the monsters. They look simple enough, are CR1/3 - perfect for four level 1 PCs - until I notice the poison quality:

Drow Poison—injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes; initial effect unconsciousness for 1 minute; secondary effect unconsciousness for 2d4 hours; cure 1 save.

I've not used poisons before, but after checking, this seems quite brutal:

The Drow attacks, and makes a successful hit with his poisoned sword.
The PC has to save or immediately fall unconscious.
The PC fails and falls unconscious for 1 minute + 2d4 hours.
The PC gets to roll again once a minute (10 rounds) to try and save.

I must be misunderstanding this.

Hi Knight Magenta,

That's great info, thank you; I hadn't noticed the case duration of sleep until you mentioned it. We've played a few games and sleep has always been cast as a standard action - I did think it seemed particularly overpowered... now I know why.

Murderous command and Charm seem like good alternatives, and fit in with the 'vampish mind control/charm' angle.

Thanks again!

Hey Cyrad; thank you for your reply.

But sleep effectively takes someone out of the fight - isn't that always pretty potent? I see what you mean about magic being rather easy than 'good'; I suppose there's no reason I couldn't use silver or good.

Aye I've heard that it's sub-optimal to have fewer monsters, and most of the encounters I've prepared are 3-4 strong at a time. I just want something a little stronger as a one-off; it's mostly for a bit of flavour.

I remember reading a lot of threads like this in my younger days, mostly for online games.

I'm not sure what impact it would really have even if Paizo did drop Pathfinder and try something new; I mean, the system and existing content would still be around.

Let's assume I've got a level one party, and I'd like them to encounter a single challenging creature - CR2 sounds good.

I want the creature to be a vampire child, so I find something that sort of fits the bill, and change the flavour:

Let's choose a Dretch.

Now I'd like the abilities/details to be a little more in line with a blood-sucking creature of the night, so I do some direct substitutions:

Outsider Demon --> Humanoid Undead
DR 5/cold iron or good --> DR5/magic or silver.
Immune electricity, poison --> Undead immunity traits.
Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10 --> Resist cold 10, electricity 10.
1/day—cause fear (DC 11) --> 1/day—sleep (DC 11) (Dominate Person seems OP at CR2).

Would doing such trivialise, or make the fight much more difficult?

Wonderful, thank you guys; I suspected that might be the case, but it makes such a difference one way or the other, I thought I had better check.

Good to know about the range increments, also!

For example, I'm using a Mite - one of the feats is 'Point Blank Shot'; and the mite has a dart. PBS grants a bonus if the attack distance is under 30ft, and the max range of a dart is 20ft.

A) Does this mean that the feat has been included in the Mite's attack and damage rolls.

B) If the monster had a crossbow, would it be assumed that PBS was NOT factored into the attach and damage rolls?

Skyrim
Divinity: Original Sin (sequel coming out around now)

Probably my two favourite games in the last 10 years.

D3 was a bit of a mindless click-fest for me, but it's horses for courses; a lot of people like it.

My God, just a swift action; I could cast another spell or attack on my turn? That's pretty amazing!

Gallant inspiration looks like a great choice for my Bard, but I'm a little unsure when I would cast.

If Bob fails his attack, and I'm two further on in the initiative list, do I cast the spell for his competence bonus on my turn - or early?

I also assume that it's just one attack, not all of the attacks on Bob's turn.

That's great, thank you!

I was told that this feat allowed you to boost your performance by 1 - so inspire courage might give +2 or 3 at level 5.

Reading the text, it says that it boosts the DC by 1. That isn't the same thing, is it? I would have assumed the DC applied to monsters for offensive songs.

Aye, it's probably hard to paint a bedroom with a gauntlet. ;)

yes, I think the STR bonus and the RP flair will do nicely enough. :)

Perfect, thank you!

Hi there,

I'm only a level 4 bard (Arcane Duelist), so I don't qualify for a second attack or anything (or is that only fighters?). So I've only really got the option of one attack with the longsword or the gauntlet, if I'm not TWF - is that correct?

I thought that might be the case; it's still a pretty huge bonus, and great for RP!

Thanks for clearing it up. :)

Hi there,

I've been given a +1 adamantine gauntlet by our GM - it can't be removed, and it gives a +2 STR bonus. It works as an unarmed attack, this much I know. I normally just use a longsword with two hands.

I'm unsure on how two-weapon fighting works when you don't have a feat; do I get to make a one-handed longsword attack and an unarmed gauntlet attack, but both with penalties?

Can I forego the gauntlet attack and use my longsword with two hands?

Any help clearing this up would be great.

I will do; there's obviously more to it than I'd given credit.

Great, thank you. We tend to fluff the rules on the fly rather than look everything up to double-check, so I'm a little off on the small print.

Possibly also the big print in this case.

Ah I see, thank you for explaining that so clearly; I appreciate it.

Oh, I thought that a 5-foot was effectively a move action used, but no AoO. Thank you.

Oh blimey; so it's a movement and one claw (or sting) attack OR no movement with two claw attacks AND a sting attack?

I need to start taking 5-foot steps away from monsters after I attack!

Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate the replies; thank you for the note on one attack when moving - I am assuming two claw attacks would be one attack when the description is such: 2 claws +2 (1d4+1).

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone could clarify the rules on monster attacks; what they can/can't do in a round. Here's a couple of monsters:

Cave Scorpion:
Melee 2 claws +2 (1d4), sting +2 (1d4 plus poison)
Special Attacks rend (2 claws, 2d4)

Troglodyte:
Melee club +2 (1d6+1), claw –3 (1d4), bite –3 (1d4) or 2 claws +2 (1d4+1), bite +2 (1d4+1)

Can the Cave Scorpion make two claw attacks AND a string attack in a single round? Is the rend damage an additional 2d4, assuming both of the claw attacks hit?

Can the Troglodyte make a club attack, a claw attack, AND a bite attack in one round? Can the Troglodyte alternatively make two claw and a bite attack in one round?

Surely if the monster attacks are unbelievably powerful, it's going to be obvious without telling them?

An attack that does 70 damage and requires 40 AC to block, for example.

That sounds interesting Wolfsnap; you should definitely let us know when it's ready!

Aye, Rylar - I guess one just has to prepare all you can, and be ready to improvise. I figure as long as we have some generic encounters and plot scenarios on the side, they can be worked into whatever happens.

Thank you for both angles; the initiative with or without combat seems pretty alien to me, as we've never played a game that way. I think the heads of our more loquacious players would explode.

Great; glad to know I wouldn't be breaking any cardinal rules.

Thanks for the tips!

I was planning on having one of the earlier scenarios feature 'enemies' that slowly grow in number around the party, as the situation develops. That way the party will have to make a decision to nip it in the bud with action, or keep talking.

Do GMs ever initiate combat, but allow the situation to be diffused after initiative rolls?

It would never have occurred to me to have NPCs roll intimidate against PCs; that's an interesting idea. Guess I need to think more like a PC from the NPCs point of view.

Thank you; visualising the scene sounds like a really good idea, especially for keeping it all fluid.

Thank you, to both of you. I'll take a look at Ultimate campaign!

That's a good angle, thank you. I guess I'll just have to keep it vague where possible.

Hi guys,

I'm curious how you handle situations where the players could resolve a situation using combat, or perhaps through discussion - but without indicating heavily that diplomacy was an option.

For example, if you are roleplaying a barkeep or vendor, it's pretty obvious that it's a RP situation.

If ten goblins jump out in front of you, and the GM screams "roll for initiative" - it's pretty obvious it's a combat scenario.

Can people try to diffuse the situation after initiative rolls, or do you wait for the players to initiate combat? I get the impression that most players won't attack unless a combat scenario has been declared, but I could be wrong.

In the games I've played in, it was always pretty obvious what you should cut in half - I'm keen for my game to be more ambiguous.

Brilliant, thank you. In this particular instance the Sprites would merely leave the group unconscious.

Thanks a lot for clearing that up, and then some.

The mites look like another good option for a CR1 encounter - although I might reskin them. :)

Oh, that makes a bit more sense - and they do a lot less damage. The crit calculation is made after the damage? That would be a potential for 2.

I might need a few more Spirites, or something else to back them up.

I'm not misreading the power of Colour Spray, am I?