JacT's page

I'm playing as an Awakened Warcat Feral Hunter (3 levels of Noble Tiger from Noble Wild, and 3 levels of Feral Hunter).

I know that Noble Wild has rules to replace Wands, Rods, and Scrolls, but my group rotates GMs and I'm the only PC that is playing as an animal, so to prevent complicating the GMs job I'm not using most of the new rules/features that NW introduces (especially in regards to magic)... I'm casting magic using the same rules as the human players.

As such, I'm running into a couple of problems
1) I can hold a wand/rod in my mouth, but I can't speak at the same time to use them properly, nor can I hold the wand/rod in my paws.
2) I don't have an easy equipping myself with items, nor pulling items out of a bag during battle.

Whatever we come up with, I'll need to convince the group that it'll work, so I can't use my Tail to hold the items, because Cats don't have prehensile tails.

I know alchemists can grow an arm, but a two level dip is a bit steep. If there's a reasonable feat or spell I could turn into a wondrous item, that would be great. If there's another feasible method, that would be great too.

Btw, I'm primarily a melee fighter, but I'm also the party's only real magic user.

Hi,
I'm planning on playing a Noble Warcat that will take levels in Feral Hunter (I'll be following the Tiger species stat block, since there is no Warcat the book). My goal will be to collect lots of money so I can hire Druids to Awaken every Warcat that I come across and rescue from the evil Orcs.

Level 1 (20 point buy)
Size: Small
Str: 16
Dex: 16 (+4 Tiger, +2 Noble Great Cat lvl 1)
Con: 12
Int: 12 (it should be noted that there will be a Paladin with Int 5 in the party)
Wis: 18 (+2 Tiger)
Cha: 7
Feats: Multiattack
HP: 9
AC: 14 (+3 from Dex +1 from size)
Bite: +3 Attack, 1d4+3 Damage
2x Claw: +1 Attack, 1d3+1 Damage (+1 from half Str)

Since I'll be the only Noble Animal (and the only player/gm that will be following the Noble Wild rulebook), my biggest concern is that I'm properly balanced compared to the human characters (if I'm too weak I'll die in battle, and if I'm too strong the GM will smite me).

1 - Am I way too weak? My AC is less than that of my Wizard character when he was at level 1. When I do a full attack, my damage will average that of a 1d10+5 (should all of my attacks hit), but for a standard action attack I'll only be doing a 1d4+3, which is far weaker than the Paladin that do a 1d10+Str as a standard action.

2 - I'm concerned that Deeds cost XP to gain them... nothing else in pathfinder does this (which was a design decision), so this seems like it was unchanged when being brought over from D&D 3.5. I've read in the forums that when converting spells from 3.5 to Pathfinder, I should just take the XP value and x5gp. For a level 1 Deed that would be 625gp, which could get me a +1 AC or +1 Enchantment to my bite.

Is that the conversion I should use? I could go out and kill a CR 1/3 enemy to gain back that XP spent for a level 1 Deed, but 625gp is over half of the gold I'll earn on the way to level 2, so in that comparison it seems a bit steep.

3 - What about drinking potions and the such? If I need to drink a potion while in battle, it might be tough to get someone to pour it down my throat. My GM doesn't think an animal with Int 12 could physically open the potion with his claws/mouth and then proceed drink the potion (I think it'd take a full round to do that, but he's not buying it). Is there an ability or magic item that I could get to help with this? I know there's Grant Hands, but the Paladin will have to get to level 9 before he can cast it, and I'm not expecting to ever run into other Noble Animals that could give it to me as a Boon.

Your input is appreciated.

Here's my character concept:
A Bladebound Kensai Kitsune that uses a Scorpion Whip as it's Black Blade. With the Kensai Weapon Focus and the Kitsune alternate racial feature Natural Finesse, I'll be able to use Slashing Grace at level 1, and I'll get a +4 (from Dex of 19) to hit, damage, trip, and disarm with the Scorpion Whip, and I'll do all of that with a 15ft reach. I won't threaten with the Scorpion Whip until level 7, but I can use the Cestus to get AoO and help Flank (should I ever get into that unfortunate situation).

I was thinking I'll be CN, and was kicked out of my home due to a prank going to far and accidentally killing people. And I was given a LN Intelligent Scorpion Whip for the purpose of leading me to my redemption (my GM will allow it to be intelligent at level 1 if I don't treat it as magical or MW, since it makes good story, and he'll allow it to be a different alignment than my character even though the Black Blade is supposed to be the same alignment).

Stats (20 Point buy, Kitsune gets -2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha):
5 Str (7 - 2)
19 Dex (17 + 2)
12 Con
17 Int
8 Wis
10 Cha (8 + 2)

I was originally going to make a Bladed Scarf Dancer, but I've since decided to go with a Kensai that acts as a Scarf Dancer (and considers his Scorpion Whip to be a Bladed Scarf).
Additional Equipment on Body
Haramaki
Pickpocket's Outfit
Pocketed Scarf (I can't help myself from stealing things).
Spell Component Pouch
All those items along with the Scorpion Whip, Cestus, and Buckler will weigh a total of 15.5 lbs, and the Carrying Capacity is 16 lbs.

I'm thinking I can carry my rations, water, Spellbook and a couple other items in a Sack and I can drop the sack whenever battle starts, assuming I'm in a cave or somewhere else that I can't use my horse for carrying things.

Here's my character progression (I'll be starting at level 1 and ending whenever I die):
1: Arcane Pool, Cantrips, Spell Combat, Canny Defense, Weapon Focus (Scorpion Whip), Natural Finesse (racial trait), Slashing Grace(Scorpion Whip)
2: Spellstrike
3: Black Blade, Whip Mastery
4: +1 Dex, Perfect Strike
5: Bonus feat (Weapon Versatility, lets my Whip do S, P, or B damage as needed), Impersonate (because I'm a prankster Kitsune)
6: Magus arcana(UMD Familiar, or maybe Wand Wielder?)
7: Fighter Training, Iaijutsu, Improved Whip Mastery
8: +1 Int, Improved spell combat
9: Critical Perfection, Fox Shape (all the better to steal with and gather intel, and assuming I have a Headband with +4 Cha)
10: Fighter training
11: Bonus feat (Greater Whip Mastery so I don't drop my whip), Superior Reflexes, Odd Level Feat (Extra Arcana, I should be able to convince my GM to let me use Spirit Fingers from the Scarf Dancer Archetype, since the Whip is flexible like a scarf).

With a Buckler, I'll have an AC of 17 at level 1, and the AC will increase by 1 for every level due to Canny Defense (Max of my Int mod). I know I'll have the 5% spell failure until I can get a Mithal Buckler, and I won't get the Shield AC when casting with Spell Combat, but as I'll have Diminished Spell Casting, so I won't be casting as much as I could.

Overall I'm going for a character that can control the field and act as a debuffer, with a secondary purpose of dealing damage (really depends on the situation). I think I need to skip on Improved Trip and Disarm, as I can't really afford the at the early levels (due to all of the Whip feats). I also think Maneuver Mastery isn't worth it, since the Magus is already at 2/3 Bab growth, and the arcana only works for one maneuver.

I think this character will be pretty powerful, even if he does have a few quirks, such as not being able to lift anything and constantly arguing with his weapon. I just want to make sure that this will work out, and that there isn't anything I'm overlooking, such as the Cestus getting in the way of Spell Combat or Slashing Grace, or maybe the Scorpion Whip isn't as good as I think (since reading between all of the forums on that weapon is a bit confusing), or for other reasons.

Thanks for any input and sorry for the TLDR,
JacT

I'm making a Bladebound Kensai Kitsune which allows me to get Slashing Grace at level 1. My starting stats are 20 Dex and 5 Str, I'd like to only use the Black Blade weapon as multiple weapons are too heavy to carry around. I'm wondering if these two feats work together, letting me use my Dex for damage while treating the weapon as Blunt or Piercing to overcome DR. I could probably convince my GM that they work together, but I'm personally feeling 50/50 on this, so I was wondering what the general consensus was.

Slashing Grace -
Prerequisite(s): Dex 13, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus with chosen weapon.
Benefit: Choose one kind of light or one-handed slashing weapon (such as the longsword). When wielding your chosen weapon one-handed, you can treat it as a one-handed piercing melee weapon for all feats and class abilities that require such a weapon (such as a swashbuckler's or a duelist's precise strike) and you can add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to that weapon's damage. The weapon must be one appropriate for your size.

Weapon Versatility -
Prerequisite(s): Weapon Focus, base attack bonus +1
Benefit(s): When wielding a weapon with which you have Weapon Focus, you can shift your grip as a swift action so that your weapon deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage instead of the damage type normally dealt by that weapon. You may switch back to the weapon's normal damage type or another damage type as a swift action.

I know that the magically crafting rules state that the only actual required requirement is the crafting feat itself, and you can add +5 to the DC for any requirement you don't meet, but the word "MUST" in "creator must be an elf" feels like it's an exception to the rule.

I see 3 ways to interpret this:
1) A non-elf can just add 5
2) Only elves can make this item
3) A non-elf can make this item with the help of an elf

What's the consensus on this?

I also want to make a Folding Boat. It seems like a waste to take 2 ranks in Craft (ships) to make 1 boat, but I wouldn't mind walking to the harbor and finding out who build's their ships.

Thanks

My friends and I are all newbs, and we've been playing Pathfinder for a few weeks now (everyone is new to pathfinder and has never played D&D before), and everyone has reached level 2. My GM wants to play too, so I'll be GMing my own side quests to run on the odd nights.

I've been looking around and I found the Time Thief page, and I read the "The Time Thief in Your Campaign" where it said
"They might be associated with a god of time and history, taking the role paladins occupy for gods of good and justice. On the other hand, their role could be more clandestine—a cabal of hidden time-manipulators who battle behind the scenes to ensure time is undisturbed by fate-eating demons or chronal necromancers who wish to resurrect dead timelines. Such an organization could easily become patron to a group of adventures, guiding player characters to face threats that time guardians have defeated over and over in replayed histories."

1) Are there any Pathfinder classes/races that would be good as a part of a nefarious group of time altering villains?

I like the idea of having a Time Thief Quest Giver that will send the party on quests to stop this group. It'll let me do cool things like having the party reface an already defeated Boss from the Main GM's quests (but now brought back from another timeline and has reinforcements to make the battle different). I've already found the Swiftblade and Time Oracle from other threads, but I'm looking for more classes and interesting races to use so I can make the group somewhat varied. I'm thinking my Time Thief NPC will be level 5 so she can have "Personal Time" so she can guide the players (or manipulate them when necessary), and I'd have her often run ahead of the group to weaken higher level bosses so they are effectively at a CR that the party can handle (I'd cut the XP down since the boss was pre-weakened, but this would let me show the party more advanced things in the game). She'll be a Half-Drow with Drow Nobility, so she can use levitate and feather-fall to take shortcuts that the party can't yet follow.

2) Does this plan sound reasonable? With the party at level 2, would their enemies even have enough abilities to make this an interesting enough series of quests? Or should I hold off on this until everyone is higher level?

A lot of what I've found on the boards have mentioned things from D&D, but I'm not familiar enough with the games to try to bring them over as I'm not sure of what changes I'd need to make for balancing, nor do I want to make my own classes for the same reason (at least not yet).