Interzone's page

How does this sound:

Because each Siege Weapon and Vehicle has a GP cost, compare the cost of the unit to the PC wealth chart, figuring the CR of a character that level.

Would that be balanced? It doesn't need to be perfect or anything, I just want it not broken

Hi folks,
I am putting together a pretty epic campaign that features a number of different large armies, and I am trying to balance them out. I am roughing it out with XP levels based on CR, but some of the armies include things like Cannons and Alchemical Dragons and other Siege Weapons/Vehicles. How much should they be worth, comparatively? Has anyone around here done this before?

Fair enough.
Thanks :)

Hi folks, I am just wondering if I have this all correct...
I have a Brawler who wants to use a pair of Tekko-Kagi. A Tekko-Kagi has the option of being used defensively like a buckler. A Brawler is not proficient with shields, and so would take a penalty based on the ACP of the buckler, but if I get that penalty to 0 there is no penalty for not being proficent, yes?
A Brawler is able to Flurry with only one weapon, so he could use one Tekko-Kagi as a weapon, and the other as a buckler with no penalty, yes?
This much appears to work fine as far as I can tell.

Can he enchant the 'shield' one as if it was a shield? (its enhancement bonus would apply only to AC/etc)
The plan is to never use that one as anything other than a shield (effectively pretending it is in fact a buckler) it is just much cooler looking having them on both hands.

Are there any problems with any of this?

I don't really read anything in the way of 3rd party material... I ended up finding what I was looking for, but it wasn't as useful as I had hoped... it is a 3rd tier mythic path ability for heirophant... but it requires spending mythic power for that part of the effect. (and only works for deity's favored weapon, so much for my Captain America plan :P)

Damn, maybe I saw it in a dream or something... I was so sure.....

I know I saw this.. SOMEWHERE... but now I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.. not sure if it was mythic, an item, a class ability, or what or even from which book but I am SURE I saw it somewhere. Some kind of ability that let something have the 'returning' special weapon quality but was immediate, so you could use all your iterative attacks throwing the same weapon... Where the heck did I see this?

Well, I couldn't see anyone getting all the way to level 20 without spending any gold or having and equipment, but even a more feasible 100k gold would still get you a whopping 50hd... and what you could do with that seems a lot more powerful than the type of magic items you could purchase for a similar cost

Well I might change the main bonus to a constant passive one, but I want the overcharge option to be limited... I like the fuel idea though. Maybe I will just price them the same as the siege weapons they are replacing would be...

I can't think of something off the top of my head, but when I am stuck for a name what I always start with is take the letters of a literal description of the character (DRAGONQUEEN for example) and make an anagram.

i.e. Orcish Sorcerer who blasts stuff = ORCBLASTS = Brassclot the Orc

Just going off of base non-magical mundane weapons, but including all proficiency types, which weapons are great? Which are terrible? Are there any weapons that you consistently build a specific class around, and weapons that just clog up the weapon list in the book with their highly situational uselessness? Have you ever come up with ideas for making a terrible weapon useful?

For example, the Lucerne Hammer is great. But I see a lot of hate for daggers, and starknives seem terrible.

I found a pretty great use for a Starknife actually, as it is basically the only decent light thrown weapon that is a deity's favored weapon, so my mythic cleric of Desna starknife specialist with Mythic Guided Hand feat gets to add his Wis to all attack AND damage rolls for melee AND range.. booya.

Hi folks, I am working on a few things for a campaign I am putting together, and one of things I am adding as this upgrade for an Alchemical Dragon: (the wording is still wonky, I only just came up with it)

Alchemical Rocket Boosters:
These powerful engines can be mounted on the side of the vehicle instead of siege weapons. They can be used to provide bursts of speed when necessary. Activating them requires a DC X Craft: Alchemy check (Haven't decided on DC yet). They can be used up to 12 times a day. When active they increase your acceleration by 10ft and your maximum speed by 20ft. This speed increase lasts for 5mins, and can be kept up by expending additional uses. Alternatively, you can overcharge them for a greater burst, increasing acceleration by 30ft and maximum speed by 100ft instead, but this bonus only lasts for 5 rounds, and then the engines can't be used again for at least 1hr so they have time to cool down.

So how does that seem as far as numbers go? And what should they cost?
The idea is to give up armaments in exchange for not needing to get caught in a firefight. In this campaign there will be a fairly large number of flying vehicles etc.

Distant Scholar: Hexographer is PERFECT. That is EXACTLY what I was looking for, thank you very much!

Hi folks, I am trying to track down a pre-made map (including features i.e. Forests, Hills, Plains, Rivers etc that are used in the Kingdom system) with hexes on it... All I can seem to find is completely blank hex grids (I don't want to have to draw an entire map right now) or ones that don't have the type of terrains used in the Kingdom building rules system, or ones that already have kingdoms made on them...
Anyone know where I can find such a thing?

Alright I have decided on the following so far:

Bard: Minstrel
Wizard: The Answer
Ranger: Scarecrow
Samurai: Warlord
Magus: either Paragon or Champion
Cleric: Curse

But I am still not sure about the Witch, and I am trying to think of something for the twins (Fighter and Monk) that relates them... hmm

Wow, these are some great suggestions! Thank you very much both of you. I especially like 'The Answer', 'Scarecrow' and 'Warlord'.... lots of help and lots of inspiration :)

I am working on a campaign setting that includes a whole bunch of superhero/supervillain npc's, and I want them to all have code names... think x-men type of names.

So far there is Wrath, Saint, Starchild, Brute, Chaplain, Leyline, Serpent, Mastermind and Ghost...

The ones that still need names:

NG female Human Weapon Master Fighter specializing in twf/throwing Wakizashi

and her twin sister

LN female Human Qinggong Weapon Adept Monk specializing in teleportation and energy blasts

CG male Catfolk Archivist Bard with massive Knowledge and a focus on singing

CG male Human Beast-Bonded Witch with Compsognathus familiar (so he can turn into a dinosaur :D) and a focus on offensive hexes

LN male Human Void Elementalist Wizard with a very heavy emphasis on dispelling and countermagic

CN male Strix Falconer Infiltrator Ranger (haven't finished the build yet)

LE male Human Ronin Samurai with Beast Rider via Racial Heritage so he can ride a pteranodon, he is specialized in shield bashing and carries a Vorpal Katana

NE male Tiefling Bladebound Kensai Magus, with dervish dance and an unhealthy relationship with his weapon

CE Undead Lord Cleric with disease alternate channeling

Any ideas?

Just wanted to echo what someone said earlier about messing around with some randomly generated characters.. I did that for a while just as a mental excersize, rolling out random stats, rolling for race/class/archetypes and such.. Then you just choose feats/skills/traits/gear and see what you can come up with... It is interesting what can come up, I had a number of results that I would never have thought of myself.. It is kinda fun...

Dotting because wow these are awesome :)

Kuranes Delapore
NG- worships Desna

Chelaxian Human Void Elementalist Wizard 6
Dual Talent alternate racial trait

Str 11
Dex 16 +2 racial +2 enhancement
Con 14
Int 17 +2 racial +2 enhancement +1 level
Wis 10
Cha 7

Traits: Reactionary, Magical Lineage - Magic Missile
Skills: Escape Artist, KN: Arcana/Nature/Planes, Perception, Survival, Spellcraft, Stealth
Feats:
*Scribe Scroll
1- Improved Initiative
3- Craft Wondrous Item
5- Toppling Spell
5- Dazing Spell

Void Elementalist School, Opposed School: Water
Arcane Bond: Signet Ring

Gear: Headband of Vast Intelligence +2, Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2, Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver (Trip), Lenses of Detection, +1 Light Crossbow, +1 Dagger, Handy Haversack, Bookmark of Deception, other mundane gear.

Kuranes is a dark haired man of medium height and build with vibrant green eyes and a goatee that he fidgets with when nervous. He is brilliant, and devoted to his research, but rather unnerved by what he has discovered thus far. He is simultaneously fascinated by and in deep loathing of the Dark Tapestry. After an unfortunate encounter with an Aboleth that he barely survived he has developed an intense phobia of deep water. He is very careful and logical, able to discover the rational cause of events around him, but gets manic and paranoid if he realizes something is unexplainable... He is a member of the Pathfinder Soceity, and has been sent to track down Nostra Montagna (The former member of the party who turned out to be a spy), an ex-pathfinder who has stolen valuable information regarding a secret and disturbing cult...

Thanks for the help, everybody!

Interzone wrote:

Making a character to replace a dead one for a just-turned 6th level party. The rest of the group is a Paladin, Cleric and Alchemist.

Conditions:

Level 6
Either full Wizard or one level dip +Wizard 5
25 point buy
Non-evil, can't be involved in Necromancy
Either human or as close to as possible (Elf would be ok though)

Looking for an idea that is at least reasonably powerful, but is interesting.

Any thoughts?

Try an Elven Void Mage - they are very cool and very powerful. As an elf, you'll get a ton of uses of Reveal Weakness through their favored class option. You can also take the Spellbinder route as an elf which I also reccomend as part of the character.

I will say though, when I made this character, while he was in no way shape or form in any way a necromancer, I did take a number of spells from the Necromancy school because they fit the flavor of the void of space (Blindeness/Deafness, Suffocation, etc.) and because of that, I took the Spell Focus & Greater Spell Focus feats for Necromancy.

Wow... I've never seen that one before...

I had already pretty much finished the build, but now I am probably going to re-do it... Thanks for the heads-up!

Thanks for the ideas, folks!
I like the Cold Mage idea, but the last arcane caster I played was a cold-based sorcerer so I want to try something different.
And yes, Wayang is out. It is not that I am not allowed, I just want to play something as close to human as possible.

Right now I am thinking most along the lines of the Air Elementalist... especially the Magic Missile focus... Maybe a force-magic specialist..

Making a character to replace a dead one for a just-turned 6th level party. The rest of the group is a Paladin, Cleric and Alchemist.
Conditions:

Level 6
Either full Wizard or one level dip +Wizard 5
25 point buy
Non-evil, can't be involved in Necromancy
Either human or as close to as possible (Elf would be ok though)

Looking for an idea that is at least reasonably powerful, but is interesting.

Any thoughts?

Hey everyone..
I was just watching "X-men: First Class" and was inspired by the part with Azazel attacking by grabbing people, teleporting into the sky, and letting go...
Is there any way to reproduce this in Pathfinder?
If not for a PC then at least for a villain?

The Awesome Display revelation for Heavens Oracles is pretty crazy with the right build...

Unless they fix it I would say by far the best one is the Dual-Cursed Oracle's Misfortune. Even if they fix it to only work on enemies, it is still REALLY REALLY good.

I see on the link that it is in the Animal Archive book released this year, but I have seen it mentioned for a long time... What book did it originally appear in?

Just something for future:
Even if you can't afford all that much, one of the best things you can invest in to protect yourself from these situations is a +1 Ghost Touch Net.... All it takes is a ranged touch attack to hit, the entangled condition is an AWESOME one to get onto an incorporeal foe (Effectively -2 AC and -4 on attack rolls, half speed, can't run or charge, interferes with casting) and very importantly you automatically succeed at the opposed Str check, so it cant move beyond the range of the net (no hiding in walls)

Cast Terrible Remorse on him to make him feel the sorrow of causing so much trouble for everyone...
He will most likely make the save, at which point he will be unable to act for a round, then you surround him and beat him down. After all, even very high AC is not unbeatable AC :)

One other use of it is to maximize your use of a limited ammunition of a specific material, say if you only have 3 adamantine bullets and your target has DR 20/Adamantine... You would probably be better off doing 3 Dead Shots over the course of 3 rounds than doing one full attack or some such.

From PRD:

'A reincarnated creature recalls the majority of its former life and form. It retains any class abilities, feats, or skill ranks it formerly possessed. Its class, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, and hit points are unchanged.'

'The reincarnated creature gains all abilities associated with its new form, including forms of movement and speeds, natural armor, natural attacks, extraordinary abilities, and the like, but it doesn't automatically speak the language of the new form.'

So it would not retain the natural attack abilities of its previous form anyway (since they are not class abilities/feats/etc.)
It would get the natural attacks of its new form (none as a human.)

Being a low-Int creature though, it would probably be quite confused at being a new race...

I was under the impression that everything was covered clearly? What parts of the RAW are you confused by?

With a Wis of +4 you could prepare two 1st level spells, plus one spell of one of your domains, and 3 orisons (0 level spells)

I did something similar before... when I did it it was:

Death: Cleric with lots of death-stuff
War: Fighter with large retinue of warriors
Pestilence: Antipaladin with lots of condition-based cruelties and spells
Famine: Witch with amped up versions of Cup of Dust/Feast of Ashes spells, Blight Hex and stuff like that.

I rather like extend. It's cheap and useful. Metamagic rods are better if they're available, but in case your local magic mart is out it's still a useful feat.

+1

Yeah Extend Spell is another one of the nice ones, forgot that off my previous list.

The best thing in my opinion about metamagic is using to do things that would be otherwise impossible.
Maximizing a Fireball is kind of fun, for example, but you could much better things by just casting a 6th level spell...
Whereas using Reach Spell to cast a Bestow Curse wih a 4th level slot from 40ft away without getting in danger instead of trying to get up and touch a big beastie is awesome, and there isnt really an equivalent you could do with a 4th level slot...

Persistent Spell is one of the absolute best metamagics because as far as I know there are basically NO spells that force the opponent to save twice... and it allows you to add that to any spell.

Maximize and Empower spell are two of the very weakest metamgics, because all they are doing is increasing dmg/healing/etc, whereas higher level spells already DO that (usually much more efficiently) So not only are you not getting new options for versatility, you are getting weaker options than you could have for free.
Likewise Intensify is only really good in particular cases.. not as a general use feat.

Metamagic feats can be awesome for the right characters...
As others have mentioned, they are much much better for spontaneous casters due to the increased versatility of using them on the fly (And honestly, the full-round casting time is not as big a deal as it sounds a lot of the time I have found)

Here are my favourites:

-Persistent Spell ! This one gets an exclamation mark because holy moly it is ridiculously good. +2 spell level to make things have to save TWICE... this pretty much doubles the chance of a spell getting through. Best for SoS kind of spells, but useful for almost anything that allows a save.

-Quicken Spell - As others have mentioned, this is preactically required at higher levels, but really isnt much worthwhile until you are casting 6-7th level spells or higher.

Reach Spell - This is one of my personal favourites, and I feel like it is somtimes overlooked. +1, +2 or +3 to spell level to increase range by the same amount (touch to short to medium to long range)
Very nice for using touch spells without getting to close the action, or for some long distance action.

Intensify Spell - this one is a bit more specialized, and you need to have more of a specific plan to make good use of it (fireball, shocking grasp or common uses, especially the latter for Magi)

Dazing Spell - As others have mentioned, this one is fantastic. +3 spell level is steep, but the effect of potentially taking multiple targets out of the action is great (and on an easier-to target Will save if there is no save assocaited, which is nice)

Some metamagic is much more limited in scope, and is way better to get on a rod, these include Elemental Spell, Ectoplasmic Spell and Piercing Spell (to pull out for creatures immune to energy types, incorporeal creatures and creatures with SR, respectively)

Rime Spell - This one deserves special mention... You have to be built more around it (only works for cold spells) but it is REALLY good. For only +1 spell level you get to cause an entangled effect on ANYTHING damaged by the spell, with NO SAVE. Wow.
This is something that is very useful against LOTS of different creatures.. half speed, cant run or charge, - 2 on attack rolls, -4 dex (which of course implies -2 ac as well) and interferes with spellcasting.

I noticed the stuff about highest damage notable things, and it made me wish we had kept track of those things...

One thing I do remember was the Most Damaging Full Attack...
The party was in the final encounter with Jhavhul, things were going back and forth.. and then Koro Skyflame (14th level Strix Musket Master Gunslinger) manages to get off a full-attack with his gun... with Rapid Shot this was 4 attacks... after a crazy string of rolls he ended up with two hits and two crits! with a x4 weapon... After everything was rolled and calculated he did a total of 284 damage in the one round...

Needless to say the fight was very much in our favor after that.
It wasn't enough to kill him, but very appropriate the killing blow was also a crit, from !Abawe (The Moldspeaker) wielding the Awakened Tempest.. a satisfying conclusion..

Another thing I remember (although not the exact numbers) was the groups resident tank stepping into a room of inivisible Janni Captains and taking the full force of 8 of them full-attacking, all 2d6 sneak attacks...
He had been at full health, and even with them rolling fairly badly he was dropped right down to 3hp.

We all enjoyed this campaign a lot.. the flavor of the story was fantastic.

Interzone wrote:

But Saranrean is what you would call the followers themselves, right? I know in the Legacy of Fire AP it is possible to get the title "Abbott-Protector of the Saranrean" or some such.

That would be an error.

Ahh thanks for the clarification... We are just nearing the end of the campaign... I will tell the Oracle who has the title :)

I am assuming the latter.

In my group the least common are Cavalier, Samurai, Ranger and Bard.
The following have only come up rarely: Rogue, Gunslinger, Witch and Magus.

But Saranrean is what you would call the followers themselves, right? I know in the Legacy of Fire AP it is possible to get the title "Abbott-Protector of the Saranrean" or some such.

Well if it sounds like fun to you (and it does to me) just roll on the list of drawbacks from the cursed item section sometimes when the party finds an item or something. I think I am going to start doing that! :)

The Magic Jar ability is a spell-like ability, spell-like abilities never require any material/focus/etc components.
So the whole issue of the gem is irrelevant.
The only condition on summoned creatures (even if they are permanent) as far as casting is they can't use dimensional magic (such as plane shift/teleport/etc) and they can't summon (so your shadow would never be able to use his ability to summon more shadows) but other than that anything he has is fair game.

For reference: (from Universal Monster Rules)

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp) Spell-like abilities are magical and work just like spells (though they are not spells and so have no verbal, somatic, focus, or material components).

That is what I am thinking, but I just didn't feel it was entirely clear so just looking for some feedback about what people think, if anyone else has had this come up, etc

:)

As the title says...
I have a player who is a bard and for various reasons is most likely going to be taking the Dragon Disciple prestige class.

We need to know whether this item would work have any effect on the player.

Druid would definitely be the best bet I would say...
The question I would have is 'does the character want to emulate a Shaman in general? Or does she want to emulate a certain Tree? (Enhancement/Elemental/Restoration)'
Because that will have an impact on how best to proceed...
The very first pathfinder character I made was intended to be an equivalent of my WoW character (An elemental shaman)..
It didn't work out too well since I was very new to the game and I was working with just the CRB... These days with all the material out there and more knowledge I think any of the paths could be mimicked quite well. So what does she want specifically?

Sounds legit.
The ghost retains all its special abilities (nothing about losing casting/etc) except those that are physical...
So inspiring music, casting spells etc should all be fine.
Plus, of course, you are the GM... anything you want to happen can happen :)

Hmm....Box of Distant Voices. Price unknown; moderate conjuration.

This burnished wooden box has been carved with reliefs of all sorts of bizarre and fantastic creatures. The interior seems perpetually shrouded in shadow, and is prone to making bizarre speech-like echoes in any sort of breeze. A knowledgeable user who concentrates on the box can make contact and communicate (but not otherwise interact) with a random extraplanar creature. The creature is under no compunctions to tell the truth or even answer questions appropriately. Whatever entity the user of the box makes contact is granted a psychic image of the user and his or her surroundings, as if using clairvoyance and clairvoyance. The user of the box, however, does not gain this ability.

DM secretly rolls d8
1- Alien entity from the Dark Tapestry
2- Lawful Neutral outsider
3- True Neutral outsider
4- Chaotic Neutral outsider
5- Lawful evil outsider
6- Neutral evil outsider
7- Chaotic evil outsider
8- Random good outsider

1/day the box can open itself and speak to anyone within earshot (rolling randomly for an outsider as normal).

That is freaking awesome...

Bad ideas include:

1) More Wishes!
2) One-night stand with Shazi!
3) Gold!

More helpful ideas:
1)Immunity to fire for the party for a day.
2)Mass Freedom of Movement
3)Refreshing all daily use abilities and spell-slots
4)Raising the first party member who falls dead.
5)A one-shot spell-turning against the first Wish used against the party.

Since Shazathared is unlikely to pervert any of the wishes due to her relationship with the party, I would phrase the Wish something like, "In our most desperate hour, I wish (x) would happen." That way, she doesn't have to be around for the power of the Wish to occur.

Funny thing about #3 on the bad ideas...

Yeah, I ended up going with:
"I wish that the next time someone tries to use the power of wishes against any of us that it backfires on them"

Nice insurance :)

The first couple are basically already covered by the party (Communal Resist Energy for resist fire 30 etc)
but numbers 3, 4, and 5 are fantastic ideas, thanks for the inspiration!